Scream of the Demon Lover and Demon Rage a couple weeks back...

I missed Howard the Duck at the New Beverly last night cause I had free tickets to see The Faint with Chromeo and Spank Rock and DJ AM in some field in downtown LA.

Joysticks at Midnight on October 27th. Before that, Grindhouse Film Festival double feature on the 23rd with Bone and God Told Me To.

Not sure if I’m gonna review this months fest. Scream of the Demon Lover was the superior of the two films. The opener, Satan’s Mistress or Demon Rage was a real mess, but entertaining. Lana Wood did not show. It would have been awkward if she did.

The trailer reel was to die for. The Exorcist, The Exorcist II (both unusual teaser trailers), Fear the Devil (some weird regional shit), The Devil’s Rain, Mark of the Devil, Mark of the Devil II (wow, never seen that one), Roller Boogie (with Linda Blair), and some others I don’t recall. Awesome.

Deep Red this past Saturday at midnight

Saturday night, on my birthday, I lucked out and made it to a midnight screening of Deep Red (Profondo rosso) at the New Beverly as part of the Midnight Movies series that Amoeba is putting on. Unfortunately the print was bad and not properly set up, though this was not the projectionists fault as he explained to us that he would be basically restoring the print as he played it, whatever that means. There was a several minutes delay in between a couple of the reels, interrupting the film, but this movie was well worth the wait to see on the big screen.

The print was the Hatchet Murders version of the film, which appears to be the same cut as the nonsensical American VHS version of this movie that I first saw, but who cares, I’m there for the visuals, not the story. It was still beautiful, I assure you.

One note, when we got their my buddy asked all the men in line in front of us if this was the line to buy tickets, or just to be seated. No one answered, except for the eccentric man chatting on a cell phone who actually had a date. The rest of you who did not turn your heads, fuck y’all.

workprint vs. theatrical cut – Halloween

it’s here in detail.

Day of the Dead - the remake

I skipped out on a test screening of the new Day of the Dead today at the MGM studios. If you’ve ever been to one of those, you know they involved a hell of a lot of waiting – in line (where I’d probably fry in the heat wave), and in the theater (where I’d probably freeze my balls off due to the air conditioning). Yeah, I did not want to sit around and rot in a roomful of dudes (screening – “males only”) without any plus-ones to keep me company, because who the fuck would really go to this movie?

On the back of the form… a disclaimer… “Note: This is not a sequel to the film Dawn of the Dead (2004).”

the motive – Halloween

“It became much more about Michael and his mom in the early scenes. It’s never really said, but you get the feeling at the beginning of the movie that Michael kills to protect his mom.”

read it here – yeah..

Halloween

I’m listening to a podcast on Halloween right now. They are really getting into depth, going through each Halloween movie in order to properly prepare for ripping the remake a new one…

I saw the new Halloween on opening day at the Chinese Theater – sadly not in the main theater, but in one of the Mann Chinese Six. On the way out I was given a survey about the movie, the kind you get a test screenings. I should not have filled it out, as I paid, but I was curious. Many of the questions were about weather I saw or was a fan of the original Halloween; it’s sequels, and horror in general.

About a third of the questions were about the trailer for The Mist.

Of course I gave the new Halloween the lowest ratings possible. Man, what a boring and conflicted piece of crap that film is.

...

cinebeats.com - looks good

Toxic Zombies aka Bloodeaters (1980) screening at Grindhouse Film Festival

I’ll be quick. This movie is one of the most dull that I’ve seen at Grindhouse. It is also one of the most low budget. However, the movie is a labor of love (as I like to say) with one man acting as director, editor, producer, writer, and as the male lead. With that in mind the movie is quite an accomplishment. Charles McCrann, I wish I could congratulate him, but he was murdered on September 11th in the World Trade Center bombing.

This film has recently come out on DVD. It may be something that you readers would enjoy. For me, I’d say seeing it with an audience really helped. You could show anything to the Grindhouse crowd and it would go over well. People are there to have fun. My guess is that I would not make it through all of Toxic Zombies at home, but then again I’ve had my fill of zombie films. I’ll take this one over any of the new ones – which I continue to bash to anyone who will listen.

The FX were pretty entertaining and the blood certainly flows. The marijuana field is never shown. Creating a fake marijuana crop - not in the budget. I could do without the dude who played the retarded kid (I could do without the character at all – good for laughs from this non-pc audience), but he was spot-on compared to the 25+ yr old woman playing \the role of the little girl. She sucked. Believability: zero.

I skipped out on Man from Deep River as I said I would. Before Toxic Zombies they showed previews for Cannibal Holocaust, Cannibal Ferox, The Vampires’ Night Orgy (looks like a mess), 1974’s Cannibal Girls (looked unfunny), and Satan’s Cheerleaders.

Toxic Zombies

Grindhouse Film Festival is tomorrow at the New Beverly. They have hardly promoted this one, no flyer, the new bev site says TBA, no bulletins, but I guess the movies are Bloodeaters (aka Toxic Zombies) and The Man from Deep River.

I’m not gonna watch Man from Deep River, déjà vu… I wrote about why before when it screened fairly recently, but Toxic Zombies, playing first, should be fun.

another one

The Celluloid Cesspool – they just put up screenshots of Land of the Minotaur, which is actually the most recent film I watched at home.

Why has my blog gone out of favor? As long as I’m still on one blog-roll I will prevail!! The posts are not as frequent, nor are they as good, but I’m not done yet. I got shit on my mind.

Revenge of the Dead and Beyond the Door double feature at the Egyptian

I was all stressed out and cracked-out-acting at the show as I wanted to go out afterwards to a club downtown. Fortunately the Egyptian is not prone to the lags that occur regularly at my beloved New Beverly Theater. When they said they were “behind schedule”, they were 3 minutes behind. Everything ended before midnight and that was with an unexpected appearance by Beyond the Door director Ovidio G. Assonitis who was in town from Italy to record a commentary for the Beyond the Door’s upcoming DVD release.

I have a Revenge of the Dead tape that I bought at Amoeba about five years ago and plowed through about half of. Amazingly I retained next to nothing of that movie and when seeing it on the big screen I only recognized the big abandoned building. The visuals are prettier on the big screen – I know I found the video version unattractive. The music rocks. Surprisingly the title card in the theatrical version read “Revenge of the Dead”, and not the original title, Zeder. This Pupi Avati movie was deliberately incorrectly market as a zombie film on tape and maybe in the theaters as well. At the screening, the sound cut-out for the last few minutes and through the closing credits. I though this was deliberate. No.

This movie is far from perfect and got scant applause from the theatergoers. It’s been available on DVD for some time, which surprises me as it seems like the type of movie that would fall through the cracks.

Assonitis spoke briefly saying that the Beyond the Door DVD should help found Beyond the Door III, which already exists (1989) and he should know, he produced it. I actually reviewed that strange film in this blog several years back. Of course Mario Bava’s Beyond the Door II (1977) is the best of the series, but it really is completely unrelated.

Beyond the Door was unsuccessfully sued by Warner Brothers for visual copyright infringement. Assonitis said there is no such infringement, but The Exorcist is clearly copied. That’s too bad because the movie would stand on it’s own without the rip-offs, but I guess that is what audiences wanted to see – and did see. The host stated that pretty much anyone over 35 in the theater had probably seen this movie and a guy in one of the floor seat said “it was a huge hit”. I don’t know.


The story is awesome and fairly original, even different from Rosemary’s Baby, which Assonitis cited as an influence. It was a very satisfying movie to see in the theaters.

Asked about the state of horror in Italy, Assonitis said it was “horrific”. It seemed like he was going to leave it at that, but then he said that Argento makes a movie every once in a while.

Egyptian at the Egyptian

One thing nerds make certain is that, while the missing reel concept in Grindhouse is funny, theaters, no matter how dilapidated, did not used to show movies with missing reels. Collectors do end up with prints with missing reels, but you might not think these prints would be screened, but yesterday at the Egyptian the print of Frankenstein Created Woman was missing so much footage that a missing reel could be to blame. Though this was the “UK version of the film”, I highly doubt that there is a cut of it that leaves out the transformation, as featured on most posters for the movie. No scene where Playmate Susan Denberg wears her white tube top appeared on screen. This movie was not edited for content.

Other scenes were chopped or cut short. I suspect damage to this print would be the reason why, though the print looked great when intact. I’m not pissed about this or even annoyed, I just find it fascinating. Frankenstein Created Woman (Terence Fisher 1967) played after the earlier Hammer film, Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964), and what a difference three years makes! Frankenstein makes the Mummy look like, well, an artifact. This Mummy movie suffers from the absence of either Peter Cushing or Christopher Lee. It’s one of the more obscure and forgotten Hammer titles, still not on DVD. The movie is not at all unwatchable, but it could really use a harder edge. The audience reacted most audibly to the affair Jeanne Roland is involved in (cheating on the male lead) rather than the Mummy’s attacks and the villain’s speeches. I think that says it all.

If I’m wrong about the missing reel in Frankenstein, pleased let some nerd come to this blog and correct me.

Corrections:

I did not specify in the last post that the Troll 2 screening was over on the west side at the Nuart.

Also, the night I attended The Devils and Blood on Satan’s Claw screening at the Egyptian I missed a Last American Virgin and Fast Times at Ridgemont High screening at the New Beverly. Members of both casts were supposed to be on hand with Eli Roth moderating a discussion. Does anyone know how this went down?

Read an advance review of The Invasion here – I saw the God-awful preview before Skinwalkers.

Also:

Read Chunklet

Read Gawker – they say they just got back from LA.

long post – read it all! Skinflutewalkers, B+C, Troll 2, Blood on Satan’s Claw…

I’d already read the bad reviews of Skinwalkers and even watched the trailer (which is something I do only when I have no intention of ever seeing the movie), yet tonight I went to it. First of all, thank you Culver Plaza Six for selling $6 tickets, unheard of in LA! The cheap price made this shit easier to swallow. Friends asked me to go see this at the last minute tonight. My buddy works in the industry and just wanted to see how poor filmmaking can be and still get a national release. Well thank you After Dark films for lowering bar and delivering shit. We’ve got these asshole’s ugly “Horror Fest” billboards all over town. Their promo that runs before the movies, the one with the Godzilla-sized goth girl walking through a city, is the gayest thing I’ve ever seen. Then grabs one of their billboards off of the top of a building… unreal.

Skinwalkers sucks. Did you know? There is not a single person who likes it in the whole fucking world so I don’t need to state my case. This has to be a few tiers below the Blood & Chocolate movie a ripped on for 4 or 5 posts.

Last night I was out with some friends hitting up Hollywood clubs and found out to late (I was the driver) that Troll 2 was playing at a midnight screening. What’s more, Claudia Fragasso was flown in from Italy at the last minute – I found this out today. While I love Troll 2 and am glad to see it getting attention, unfortunately I’m told that there were far to many comedy bits (stand up comics and a slide show?) and crowd interaction games preceding the movie. Cut the shit, we want the show. I guess during the Q+A people asked Fragasso how he made the “worst movie ever made”. He said, “whatever, you people don’t know anything about making movies…” and he’s right, they don’t. All they know how to do is watch dvd’s, get fat, and scratch their balls. Disgusting slobs. Fuck em’.

The Egyptian Theater is doing some horror and fantasy month. Last weekend I walked down there and saw The Devils (Ken Russel) with The Blood on Satan’s Claw. You know, I lot of men dig Braveheart and Glatiator and jerk off to that shit, but they should really be watching The Devils if they wanna see a political speech delivered with some impact – that movie pulls no punches – truly one of the best films ever made.

Blood on Satan’s Claw is far better on the big screen than on vhs. Great sets and landscapes. Internet research has told me that the plot is full of holes and characters dropping in and out since it was converted from an anthology screenplay to a feature-legnth story. I can see that. Still, there are a few dumb moments that cannot be explained. If the floorboards in your haunted attic were rising up on their own, would you stick your hand down through the crack? If then your arm was grabbed by the furry claw of Satan, would you retreat to the bed and immediately go to sleep in that very same room? Such antics had the audience engaged in unintentional laughter. Also funny, the illustration of the grinning beast in the ancient book of witchcraft. That one got 3 or 4 unintentional laughs, but I wasn’t laughing at the end of the movie when the demon actually looked like that stupid sketch. What a burn.

Taking a girl on a date to the 3-D pornos at the New Beverly may have been a bad idea and it may explain why the girl and I are no longer hanging out now, just a couple of weeks later. Sadly the theater was almost empty and the patrons may or may not have been mostly perverts. Awesome movies though. Playmates in Deep Vision 3-D is up there with some of the better Zucker movies when it comes to jokes. The final scene in Playmates, sex on a bed in the wideopen hills, is absolutely beautiful, one of the most amazing things I’ve seen on the big screen. Director Stephen Gibson must have gotten lucky though, because on the Wildcat Women, made later, he sucks, wow. That’s a very violent and nasty movie, if you are wondering.

They gave us “Deep Vision 3-D” glasses with the same logo on them that is shown on screen during the credits. Obviously these glasses are very old. What warehouse have they been sitting in for all these years?

Get your ass out to the New Beverly Cinema for some shows.

The Sinful Dwarf plays at Sherman tribute double feature

Sherman, the owner and operator of the New Beverly Cinema, passed away unexpectedly on July 18th. I'm not one for writing eloquent obituaries, so I'll just tell you the man was loved by a lot of people and his operation, my favorite theater in LA, brought a lot of people much happiness. Happiness at a low cost I might add. That with a sense of community - the place could not be beat and hopefully still can't be beat, though the future of the theater is understandably in jeopardy. You need to go out and see a movie there (today would be a good day since they are showing 3-D pornos)...

The theater went dark following Sherman's death. It was and is a family-run operation. The re-opening was for Grindhouse film festival's July show - The Sinful Dwarf (1973) and Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1974), which is by the way one of the first movies I reviewed on this blog. Harry Novak supplied trailers, the dirtiest ones playing before the late film (Sinful Dwarf), not that Castle of Freaks is without its perversions.

Before the movie the audience participated in a mass-dixie cup toast to Sherman with some liquor, perhaps Old English. It was one of the greatest double-features I've been to, energy was high, the movies were exotic, the crowd appreciated how lucky they were to be seeing these films in a theater with the other fans. Thank you Sherman, rest in peace.

I don't matter if you have the DVD or the tape - everything looks better at the New Beverly so get out there!

Hostel: part deux

Where to start. I've been thinking about this movie since I saw it yesterday, trying to put it in perspective... how good is it? How bad is it? The answer is important to me as I had hopes that Eli Roth would be the future of horror.

With Hostel 1 Roth stole a bunch of kills from recent Asian horror films. Pretty amusing I thought. Unfortunately in Hostel 2, the movie's biggest kill is a rip off as well. Eli Roth, you already did the stealling thing, it's not so funny this time. Like in Hostel 1 where Roth pays off Takashi Miike by giving him a cameo in the film, this time Italian director Ruggero Deodato shows up.

At the same time, I'm told Roth has been hyping the ending of this film as a huge shock. "“There's one scene in this film that's gonna change horror history. Even the guys from [effects company] KNB looked away as we shot it, and those guys live and breathe that shit! It's special, I'm really proud!" Well, are you changing horror history or admitting it was already done by Deodato by putting him in your movie? Sounds like you are saying one thing to the mainstream press and one thing to the fans in the know.

I can say without a doubt that Hostel: Part II is not as good as Cabin Fever or Hostel.

There is some good stuff in there. Sadly, less stupid dialogue, though that is a plus for some. Many think Roth can't write dialogue, but I certainly enjoy the ridiculous chatter in his first two movies.

Roth does throw in a cool twist similar to his switching of the main characters in Hostel. I expected the main characters to switch here, but he did something else.

Unfortunately the opening scenes here are awful and scenes from Hostel 1 are shown in flashback - lame. The movie picks up with the introduction of new female main characters who are drawing a male model in an art school overseas - Italy I guess. Full frontal male nudity is shown. Retaliation for the criticisms Roth received due to all the naked girls strutting about in Hostel 1? I was amused.

Hostel 2's final scene (not the one I discussed above - but the very last kill that ends the movie) is implausible and somewhat of a let down. I wish I could say that this part was funny as it is clearly meant to be, but it's without a doubt inferior to a similar scene in the first Hostel. A nice attempt, but I'm pretty sure it is falling flat with most viewers.

At times this movie is a lot of fun. The villains steal the show. I actually am interested in the evil organization behind the killings in this series, whereas in the Saw movies I could give a shit about Jigsaw and his elaborate plans.

Hostel 2, highly enjoyable 75% of the time, but certainly a step backwards for Roth - who at this point may or may not be headed for greatness. I avoided the press about this movie prior to seeing it, but it would appear from what I've read on message boards that Roth was a little too outspoken about the film. People have been pretty polarized about this director for a while now, with a number of fans hating his guts. Perhaps he should stay off of the TV for a while, give those guys a little less ammunition.

...

So I finished my 16mm film two weeks ago and the marks the end of my frequent trips to Costa Mesa and back to Hollywood. Thank God.

Here our some sites I recommend...

"Quit Changing the box/cover art!!!" at Exploited Filth. I could not agree more.

La Secte Du Vice - lobby cards for Rats - Notte di terrore or um... The Riffs III Die Ratten Von Manhattan... guess that's the German title.

The Horror Blog where I have participated in recent round table discussions.

Got out to the movies, New Beverly Cinema on Monday for Kurosawa's Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Amazing.

the internet critics all agree, but I don't!

Not so much speaking about my fellow bloggers, but definitely about the big internet movie sites, I am odds with you all about the three big critical smashes of the year that you just have to love to be smart and cutting edge and a proper dick sucker.

Pan's Labyrinth - moves everyone, not me. What a pile of bullshit. Bad use of Hellraiser moster and Harry Potter stuff. Did you know fascism was bad?

The 300 - Did you know fascism was good? Just kidding, I don't buy that argument, cause this movie cuts from speech to speech... and what does it mean? Whatever you want it too, they didn't say anything.

28 Weeks Later - fake ugly Scarlett Johansson for you fanboy molesters - she is underage.

I'm not quitting blogging. I've been busy with my 16mm movie as I've said before.

QT in person at Death Rage, Cry of a Prostitute, Italian crime double bill

Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse film festival is coming to an with a couple of Bruce Lee movies today and tomorrow. Last night I believe he presented Death Proof and Cry of a Prostitute in person as it was advertised on the internet that he would attend. I can only image that there was a crowd, unlike the night before when I attended the same 2 movies, not expecting Tarantino to be there, but happy to see him show up unannounced.

Man it has been a hell of a run with all of these killer movies playing and I'm bummed now that the Grindhouse Film Festival will be running only once a month as before. I believe two movies from Rolling Thunder director John Flynn are scheduled for the future as he died recently, in fact he died since attending a screening at the Grindhouse Film Festival just last month.

American-turned Italian star Barbara Bouchet was the guest of honor at Friday and Saturday's Italian crime double bill. She is a fan of many of her movies, a good number of them being b-movies and Italian sex-comedies. The Q+A focus completely on her, with no questions aimed at Tarantino about his Grindhouse film. Still, Tarantino probably talked more than Bouchet, going of on various tangents about Italian directors and Italian horror. It was rather fascinating really and completely hilarious. Tarantino's buddies Joe Dante and Eli Roth were also in attendance.

As I mentioned, Bouchet is proud of her career in films that garner little respect from anyone other than Quentin Tarantino and fans of foreign b-movies like me. None the less, Cry of a Prostitute is a film she could not recall, perhaps in part because of the title being different in America, but all perhaps largely in part due to the role, that one might one to forget utilizing a selective memory.

Bouchet's first scene features her taking a milk bath in a barn, rubbing milk all over her breasts and thighs while the camera lingers on the dripping milk for an extended period of time. She also gives head to a banana for at the dinner table, not eating any of it. Bouchet is also beaten with a belt, which drives her to suicide, but what really takes the cake though, is the scene where she has sex in the kitchen while her naked body in shoved into the bloody open carcass of a pig hanging from the rafters. I kid you not.

ok check it out... TV_Obscura

Despite homework assignments, my bullshit 16mm short, and lots of parties, I still got out to QT's Grindhouse Film Festival in time to catch the last 25 minutes of Grave of the Vampire and then the entirety of the rare treat Jailbait Babysitter, of which nothing was written about on the internet at all - I did extensive searches. Both John Hayes movies are ripe with directing problems (Grave I've seen before) yet each have their moments, especially Babysitter, the tale of a virgin on the run, trying to fit into an adult world as a wannabe escort. It's more outrageous than the synopsis sounds, believe me, in fact you might need to take a shower after watching the old and hairy meet the under age and innocent in a 70's bedroom.

I just got some rabbit ears for my TV and I do get some LA channels now, a whole bunch of them in fact. On that subject check out the yahoo group TV_Obscura that discusses 70's television including all those made-for-TV horror movies that have cult followings today.

Fight for Your Life (1977) and The Muthers (1976) playing now

These movies are playing one more day at the New Beverly Cinema as part of the two month Grindhouse Festival. The Muthers is a blaxploitation film made in the Philippines involving the sex slave trade - yeah it crosses genres. Director Cirio H. Santiago has brought us dozens of jungle films and woman in prison films, as well as the occasional horror movies such as the hilarious Vampire Hookers and the awful Black Lagoon-style Demon of Paradise. The Muthers certainly has its moments, but I think I'd be pretty bored watching this at home on tape where no one is yelling at the screen. Too many campy machine gun shoot outs.

Fight for Your Life is a must see. I've never heard so many racial slurs in a single movie, well not since Coonskin a few weeks ago. Here is a revenge film for ya. The final showdown is not to be missed. I think the writing and story are terrific - victims. Definitely a film about race that intends to give you food for though, that is if you can get past the shocks.

more grindhouse films from the past to be released on DVD

Not there are not already lots of goodies on the market, but not everything is in print, not at all.

Note: I am not endorsing this company, just reporting the releases as news - and saying: send me shit! You guys might have noticed I lost interest in writing up some new direct-to-DVD shit and even turned down having some DVDs sent to me. Well that may be have been crazy - I was going through hard times, but what I really want to get my hands on are classics, so companies, take note.

link: Deimos to Kick Off Grindhouse DVD Line

Have not heard of the first batch of movies, except for the Paul Naschy films, which are killer. He's going to be at the Los Angeles Fangoria convention and may be the only guest I want to see - besides some of the usual suspects whom I love and respect, but have seen several times.

Saw the Grindhouse feature film and I liked it, though Death Proof has me scratching my head. Never seen Vanishing Point. Maybe it's got those strange wide shots Tarantino used. I rather liked those shots, but for the most part I have no idea where Tarantino was coming from or what movies he was borrowing his style from.

I really enjoyed how Don't parodied the British/Euro/gothic horror (specifically some American video nasties, banned in the UK, like Don't Go in the House with it's similar trailer) I love so much - I've never seen that stuff spoofed before.

tonight - The Girl from Starship Venus and The Legend of the Wolf Woman

Sex and violence at the New Beverly Cinema for QT's Grindhouse Film Festival.

the douche report - enjoy it:

In my telecommunications class a guy says he does not think they should "be allowed" to release HD or Blu-ray DVDs because he has a hundred regular DVDs and does not want to replace them. He is a dumb fuck for several reasons.

A) Who said you had to replace your current DVDs? If there being a superior version of a title on the market of a DVD makes you feel inadequate, then perhaps your real problem is that you are inadequate in the member department - really.

B) A hundred DVDs? So what? That's not so many, plus I bet his collection is 70% the same as any given set of hundred DVD's every other douche in the class has sitting on their shelves. Go fuck yourself.

C) DVDs ain't shit. They look like shit on a big screen. They ain't magic. Got this quote at Popcorn and Sticky Floors...

"Video (think DVD) killed the spirit and showmanship that movies was all about and turned the mob-mentality of a theatrical screened movie into a solitary, consumer experience that plays into the arrested-development "collector" mentality of these nerds who just want to "own" everything that came out in a certain genre and sit there like lumps and fast forward through everything. But they don't own the movies, they just own the bad, shitty little xerox copy."

- Jack Stevenson

Add to that what I said before. The douche is not even a collector of anything rare or special. Look, there are legit concerns about the new formats and their value for the consumer - especially since niether one been established as the dominant format yet, but this guy is just on the wrong track with his bullshit.

Bob Clark and son killed by drunk driver

I'm sure some of you have heard about this already, director Bob Clark and his 22 yr-old son, Ariel Hanrath-Clark, were killed by a drunk driver in a head on collision, Wednesday night.

I previously wrote a long recap on Clark's last visit to the Hollywood Grindhouse Film Festival (now in the public eye thanks to Quentin Tarantino), where I raved about A Christmas Story, the original Black Christmas, and Clark's general enthusiasm and good nature. I believe he had also showed up for the December Grindhouse the previous year and was expected to continue doing so as part of a Christmas tradition.

Clark's movies, besides A Christmas Story and Black Christmas include Porky's, Porky's II: The Next Day, and the zombie films Deathdream and Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things. Clark's more recent films were not popular with critics or fans, Baby Geniuses and Baby Geniuses 2, but the man had more exciting projects up his sleeve.

I can't write an eloquent obituary, so this will have to suffice, but belive me I am upset and angry.

In breaking news, Clark's killer has been deported.

QT's Grindhouse Festival still in full effect - Hollywood, CA

The festival is still going and I've gone to most of the shows. I really should re-cap everything since some of these movies are really rare, but we shall see. Someone said that Jason Lee was at the Blood Splattered Bride, Slaughter Hotel, Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary triple bill yesterday, but I did not see him.

Some people at these screenings have never seen these kinds of movies before. If I was a fly on the wall, and I AM a fly on the wall when I go to the films alone, I hear all kinds of dumb shit. But before you take me to be some jaded jerk, realize I'm not as bad as all that, see I despise those that think that just because they watch so many of these movies, that they live in these movies. No, you are not a serial killer, you are a movie nerd. You can laugh at death on the screen, but in real life you would piss yourself.

sceneholocaust.com will be shut down on April 5th by the way.

I've been out to QT's Grindhouse Festival a bunch

I'm taking down the site sceneholocaust.com since I don't really see the need to pay for it anymore. I was using it for video hosting. Here, blogging will continue as normal.

Went out to Quentin Tarantino's 2 month Grindhouse Festival for 4 shows in the last 2 weeks. I guess I ought to get into detail about these screenings when I find the time. Of course it's been a blast.

I've got a few movies on the back burner that I wanna trash, some people to ridicule, and more views on inbreeding and why it is -surprise- disgusting. I'd really like to post more, but I'm stressed out about my 16mm film final.

check it out... DVDschlock.com

http://www.dvdschlock.com

tons of screenings- exploitation / Herzog / Jodorosky / Suspiria

First read about Jenna Bush "comparing" herself to Anne Frank - the article is funny on several levels. I don't think she really compared herself to Anne Frank, but she definitely mentions Anne Frank - so it's half true, right?

now the local news:

As you might know, Quentin Tarantino is programing two months of $7 double and triple features at the New Beverly Cinema, home of the beloved monthly Grindhouse Film Festival. The Newbev site lists the movies, they started on Sunday, with links to each film's imdb page. Highlights include Rolling Thunder, Autopsy/Eyeball double feature, Blood Splattered Bride, and so much more.

Will Larry ever forgive me for not watching his bootleg Holy Mountain videotape he lent me a few years back? No. But at least i can see it on the big screen March 20th - March 22nd at the Nuart. This run follows 4 days of Jodorowsky's El Topo.

Warner Herzog in person at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica, March 22nd, 23rd, 24th, and 25th with screenings of Nosferatu, Aguirre, the Wrath of God, Grizzly Man, and more, three of the nights being double features.

Night Tide starring Dennis Hopper at the Egyptian, Friday, March 30th.

Suspiria at the Nuart, midnight, 4/13.

Did I get carried away with last night's post?? - about the Wrong Turn family

You could accuse me of posting drunk... but no.

This new google/blogger entity is acting all fucked up, like it has a pair of parents who are brother and sister themselves. I really wanted to post this little observation last night...

inbreeding fucked up weirdos not just for the Wrong Turn set...

This fucked up brother and sister are a couple - they have kids - two out of four are fucked up. They just want to live normal lives, but that ain't gonna happen - it's an absurd proposal. You know, it's bad enough when anyone has kids, but brother and sister breeding FOUR times! Come on, they are disgusting.

I'm all for sexual freedom of gays and lesbians. These two, the incesest couple, are gonna set those movements back and give the conservatives ammo to propose all sorts of laws. Fortunately the couple live in Germany. Maybe they can teach their own kids to fuck each other too. It's only right and natural.

They have two kids that suffer from defects. Hmmmm, big surprise.

....but they love each other....

Blood and Chocolate rebuttal

I know it's old news, but I love it when a blog takes issue with something I wrote. Recently I discovered this rebuttal to my Blood and Chocolate post "audiences laughing their asses off when title 'Blood and Chocolate' hits the screen during preview" - the first of several posts I wrote on that movie. The article that quotes me extensively is from the feminist blog The True Confessions of an Hourly Bookseller and is titled "Synergy and Sexism Mess Up Blood and Chocolate Marketing" - though I do not think this post implies that my writing on the movie is sexist.

Basically her point is that the title is not confusing to the targeted market - teenage girls. I considered the market to be all teens. In the end I think the debate can only be settled by box office receipts. I will quote wikipedia on the matter. "The movie was a box office bomb, taking in only $2.1 million in the United States on its opening weekend and dropping out of the top 20 grossing movies in only its second week of release."

I'd also like to note that upon the weekend of the release they changed the poster in the newsprint ads, obviously to make audiences 'get it'. Shown here with the old above the new.

Academy Awards

I did not watch em', but you can see the Kodak theater outside of my bedroom window, so I looked out regularly to make sure that all was well with the exterior of the building. I'll admit to snooping around a bit down on Highland when the stars were arriving, you could see them, but they were far away from where the general public (all foreign tourists) could stand. I could not ID anyone.

Everything is still lit up beautifully down there. The area is always lit, but it's brighter tonight. The helicopters have only recently stopped buzzing.

I still don't have television in this place nor did I have the time to go over a friend's house and watch the ceremony this evening. My stop motion movie is due in the morning - it's done and printed to tape. Am I happy with it? Hell no. It's watchable on a computer screen, but it's not going to look too good screening in front of the class with the focus problems and light leaks and all.

ass deep

Hey, I've been too busy with my 2 minute stop-motion epic to post.

Grindhouse Film Festival this Tuesday is Black Shampoo and The Human Tornado - it's very unlikely that I can make it, which sucks because there may be big-name guests.

Check out Robert's Blind Vengeance trailer made for a trailer-making contest for QT's Grindhouse. Many Grindhouse Film Festival regulars are in this short. Do you know which one is me?

back 2 basics

I'm watching a horror tape for the first time since God knows when. This one is just what I need to get me to sleep. I've got an early morning tomorrow.

The video? Crawlers, known in some parts as Troll 3, who knows why? I guess once the Italians got their hands on the franchise they could not let go. Fabrizio Laurenti and Joe D'Amato direct under American pseudonyms. Yes, it is THAT Joe D'Amato who did Anthropophagous: The Beast, Buio Omega, Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals, and a bunch more European classics. I guess most of the European director's that we love took a dive in the 90's. Yeah, you probably know that this movie is crap and I really am a sucker for having wanted to see it for so long. It's edited like shit, it's written like shit, and it's even shot like shit. Avoid.

you're invited but your friend can't come

This week's LA Weekly, with Morrisey on the cover, has got the story on the Sundance experience. It ain't pretty... well maybe it is if you are a god among men...

Also some Sundance selections get trashed - the state of indie film in America today...

mooninites, Boston Globe, magnetic lights, street team, whatever, the megapost!

Back East, this is the big story - I won't offer much commentary, all bloggers are saying the same stuff I'm sure. Here are some articles I wanted to save from possible future internet oblivion - well I want to save you the trouble of registering for any more logins at websites - read up, it's today's news.


first cover story:

Froth, fear, and fury
Cartoon devices spur antiterror sweeps; two men are arrested

By Suzanne Smalley and Raja Mishra, Globe Staff | February 1, 2007

Enraged city and state officials yesterday readied a legal assault against those responsible for a guerrilla marketing campaign that dotted the city with small battery-powered light screens, setting off fears of terrorism and shutting down major roadways and subway lines for parts of the day.


Authorities last night were retrieving the 38 magnetic signs depicting cartoon characters under bridges, on storefronts, and outside Fenway Park, among other locations, that were installed as part of a Turner Broadcasting System marketing blitz for a Cartoon Network television show.

For much of the day, police treated the signs, which measure about 1 by 1 1/2 feet and feature protruding wires on one side, as potentially dangerous. But their investigation shifted when they happened to move one of the signs into a darker area. The sudden lack of sunlight prompted the lights forming the character's image to brighten into color. Sometime between 2 and 3 p.m., according to a public safety official, a Boston police analyst recognized the image as a cartoon character, and police concluded it was likely a publicity stunt.

Turner Broadcasting System Inc. apologized about 4:30 p.m. for the campaign, which included cartoon characters making an obscene gesture.

"We really deeply regret that it was horribly misinterpreted to be a public danger, when all it was intended to do was to draw attention to a late-night television show," said Phil Kent, chairman and chief executive of the network, based in Atlanta. "This is not the kind of publicity we would ever seek."

The ordeal began around 8 a.m. when an MBTA worker spotted one of the devices affixed to an Interstate 93 ramp near Sullivan Square in Charlestown, forcing the shutdown of the northbound side of the Interstate and tying up traffic for hours. The State Police bomb squad blew the object apart with a water cannon at about 10 a.m. Then, in quick sequence just after noon, reports of similarly suspicious devices flooded police lines, sending anti terrorism forces to over a dozen locations in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville.

Last night, in Arlington, police arrested Peter Berdovsky , 27, an artist originally from Belarus, who told the Globe earlier in the day that he installed the signs for an ad firm hired by Turner Broadcasting. Berdovsky, who described himself as " a little kind of freaked out," faces up to five years in prison on charges of placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic and disorderly conduct.

Attorney General Martha Coakley's office announced late last night that a second suspect, Sean Stevens, 28, of Charlestown, had been arrested in the case about 11:30 p.m. Like Berdovsky, Stevens was charged with placing a hoax device and disorderly conduct. Both suspects are scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. today in Charlestown District Court, said Coakley's office.

Turner Broadcasting's apology did little to assuage outraged officials in the three cities, where lawyers are preparing legal efforts to recoup the cost of the police mobilization.

The deployment of scores of state, federal, and Boston police specialists, from bomb experts to terrorism analysts, exceeded $500,000, according to Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

Asked last night if Turner Broadcasting would reimburse the state and cities, Kent said, "We're certainly going to look at all the facts. We're a very responsible company and we try to do the right thing."

While police responded to the episode with swiftness and gravity, some Bostonians, especially younger adults, were amused by the spectacle and suggested authorities overreacted. But Coakley said the placement of the devices, on key infrastructure points, like highway ramps and under bridges, alarmed even seasoned investigators.

"For those who responded to it, professionals, it had a very sinister appearance," Coakley said. "It had a battery behind it and wires."

Turner Broadcasting acknowledged that it never sought approval or alerted authorities that it would put up the signs. The company hired by Turner for the campaign, New York-based Interference Inc., declined comment.

The signs, installed about two weeks ago, were part of a 10-city marketing campaign for the cartoon "Aqua Teen Hunger Force." They had not set off terrorism fears in New York, Los Angeles, or any of the other locations, and it was not clear whether they had been widely noticed in those cities. Yesterday Turner Broadcasting scrambled to alert police in the other cities to their presence.

Kent described a nerve-wracking sequence of events yesterday afternoon, when he received a call from one of the company's executives saying, "Turn on CNN." The news network was at the time featuring news of the bomb scares in Boston.

The company, realizing its campaign was probably the cause, went into damage control.

A visibly angry Menino said he would ask the Federal Communications Commission to yank TBS's broadcasting license for what he called "an outrageous act to gain publicity for their product."

The "Aqua Teen" program, launched seven years ago, chronicles the adventures of a talking box of French fries and his irreverent fast food pals. The images on the signs, including the characters with grimacing faces making the obscene gesture, are tiny video game characters that make cameos on the show, which airs during the Cartoon Network's late night programming block called "Adult Swim."

Menino and others said the campaign was especially reckless given Boston's sensitivity to terrorism threats, after planes that left Logan Airport on Sept. 11, 2001, were hijacked and flown into the World Trade Center.

Menino was also upset, he said, because top executives at Turner Broadcasting did not contact him directly to discuss what happened. The mayor said he did not receive a call from the company until about 9 p.m., and it was from a low-ranking press official.

"Give me a break. . . . It's all about corporate greed," Menino said, adding that he wanted make sure "not the guy we arrested today pays, but also the people in the boardroom have some obligation also on this issue."

But others were relishing the story, which rocketed around the Internet. Computer users e-mailed their friends links to video on YouTube that showed young people using telescopic poles to place the magnetic devices on recognizably Boston locations, as electronic music played in the background. Others went to eBay, where someone was already selling one of the magnetic devices, which was apparently removed from a South Boston location, with a minimum bid of $5,000.

Local residents expressed a range of reactions. April James , 32, said she saw one of the devices in a sandy area under the Longfellow Bridge about three weeks ago. "I kicked it first, then I picked it up," said James, a hairdresser who says she walks and jogs over the bridge nearly everyday. "It looked like a bomb. I picked it up, pulled the tape off it, and there were batteries, two on the top and three on the bottom."

James said she was not frightened by the device, which she said she returned to its spot near the sidewalk in front of the bridge, before continuing her walk.

David Abel, Maria Cramer, Mac Daniel, John R. Ellement, Michael Levenson, Andrew C. Ryan, Maria Sacchetti, Donovan Slack, and Lisa Wangsness of the Globe staff and Globe correspondents April Simpson and Michael Naughton contributed to this report.

an article offering perspective:

Marketing gambit exposes a wide generation gap

By Michael Levenson and Maria Cramer, Globe Staff | February 1, 2007

Todd Vanderlin, a 22-year-old design student, had just left Lucky's lounge in South Boston two weeks ago when he spotted what looked like an alien glowing on the side of a bridge. He pulled out his digital camera, photographed the illuminated plastic figure, and posted the images on his blog.

"I knew it was art, and I knew it was part of the Adult Swim ads, because I saw a billboard for the same thing," said Vanderlin, referring to a series of cartoons on cable television. "I see it in New York all the time."

But yesterday, a subway worker less attuned to the latest in underground marketing techniques called the police after spotting one of the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" cartoon characters on an overpass in Charlestown. The terrorism scare that followed touched off a massive response from police. When it was discovered that the electronic boards were only ads for a cartoon, serious condemnation flowed from Washington and Boston.

The episode exposed a wide generational gulf between government officials who reacted as if the ads might be bombs and 20-somethings raised on hip ads for Snapple, Apple, and Google who instantly recognized the images for what they were: a viral marketing campaign.

Among many in the young generation, reaction to the scare was smirking. "Repeat after me, authorities. L-E-D. Not I-E-D. Get it?" one 29-year-old blogger from Malden wrote on his website, contrasting light emitting diodes with improvised explosive devices.

Elected officials said there is no room for battery-powered contraptions on bridges and overpasses in a post Sept. 11 world.

"Scaring an entire region, tying up the T and major roadways, and forcing first responders to spend 12 hours chasing down trinkets instead of terrorists is marketing run amok," said US Representative Edward J. Markey, Democrat of Malden. "It would be hard to dream up a more appalling publicity stunt."

The ads were the latest incarnation of viral marketing, an advertising technique that is exploding in popularity as a way to reach younger consumers inured to the effects of traditional commercials. Like viruses, the ads are intended to spread on their own, creating word-of-mouth buzz by cropping up in unexpected places outdoors and on the Internet.

The company behind the ads for "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" was New York-based Interference Inc., whose chief executive officer, Sam Travis Ewen, was recently named one of Brandweek Magazine's Guerrilla Marketers of the Year. Ewen, who is in his 30s, has also put people on subways to brag about financial advisers and sent models into bars to sit with packs of cigarettes, waiting for someone to ask for a smoke.

Jamie Tedford -- senior vice president of media and marketing innovations at Arnold Worldwide, a Boston-based ad agency -- said there have been recent marketing campaigns that backfired. He cited Wal-Mart's decision to post a blog about a fictitious couple driving cross-country to different Wal-Mart stores. The company did not disclose that it had created the blog, angering some buyers.

But Tedford said he could not recall a recent marketing campaign involving objects that were mistaken for bombs or any campaign that had that caused a citywide panic.

"You'd almost have to go back to 'War of the Worlds,' " he said, referring to the famous 1938 radio broadcast by Orson Welles. "We would all agree that this has crossed a line."

Turner Broadcasting System Inc., which broadcasts "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" on its Cartoon Network, could have saved itself the controversy by warning local authorities this was a marketing campaign, Tedford said.

Boston was one of 10 cities around the nation where the guerilla ads appeared, but nowhere else did they cause security concerns and set a city on edge.

"The hardcore watchers of that show would know it's a character, but the majority of people in these cities do not know that," Tedford said. "Turner has failed on the disclosure issue."

Turner executives said they did not forewarn local authorities, because they never imagined the campaign would cause alarm. "It was not our intent to do anything but get attention for a television series, period," Phil Kent, chairman and chief executive of Turner, said in an interview last evening.

That was apparent to many young consumers. After Vanderlin posted the images on his blog, Ewen shot him an e-mail: "I am glad you got one of the adult swim signs; there are others out there as well so keep looking up," Ewen wrote. He added he hoped people would take them as souvenirs.

Vanderlin, a student at Parson School of Design in New York City, said he was stunned to see police bomb squads swoop in and remove the characters.

"It's so not threatening -- it's a Lite-Brite," he said, referring to a popular children's game. "I don't understand how they could be terrified. I would understand if it was a bunch of circuits blinking but it wasn't. . . . It was clearly a design."

Mac Daniel and Suzanne Smalley of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

next article: the pussies speak!

After fear, delays, and confusion, expressions of outrage

By Matt Viser, Globe Staff | February 1, 2007

John Reidy, a 68-year-old financial adviser, was walking down Beacon Street when he saw the vans go by, with darkened windows and the words "Bomb Squad" across the back.

Earlier in the day, he had caught snippets of something amiss on the news, but he had tried not to worry; like many people since the terrorist attacks of 2001, he has learned to take with a grain of salt reports of suspicious packages.

But now there were sirens wailing and helicopters were in the air. When the vans sped by with what seemed real urgency, he felt a wave of fear in his gut.

"It really affected me psychologically," he said.

Hours later, after learning that the objects that had mobilized law enforcement and snarled traffic and rail service were part of an underground marketing campaign for a television show, he unleashed a stream of fury.

"There was no way of realizing what a ridiculous scam this was," he said. "I am appalled. I can't believe they could do something quite so irresponsible and stupid like this. It was a really poorly thought-out marketing scheme."

As news slowly spread among residents, commuters, and downtown workers that the wired devices attached to bridges and other pieces of infrastructure around the city were actually battery-powered lights in the shape of cartoon characters, many who were caught in the drama expressed outrage.

Some said Turner Broadcasting should compensate the city for the cost of the massive law enforcement response and for the toll in personal worry and inconvenience.

During the day, as police investigated one unknown object after another, some said they reached for cellphones to call loved ones, while others glanced at maps to check the proximity of the devices being investigated by police to their homes or offices. For several hours, confusion was rampant.

"What . . . is going on here?" thought Adam Bastein, 26, when he saw CNN showing live shots of the Longfellow Bridge on his television screen. "No one seemed to know what was happening. They just kept reporting and reporting, but no one had any answers."

He and his friend delayed a trip to the New England Aquarium because the T wasn't running.

Traffic jams caused parents to be late picking children up from school. Some people canceled doctors' appointments because they were afraid to enter the city.

"It's scary. I had friends calling me up and tell me not to come in," said Donna Manca, 40, of Winchendon, a native New Yorker who immediately thought of Sept. 11, 2001. "This is Boston -- stuff like that shouldn't happen here."

She found out the suspicious objects were harmless and part of a marketing campaign only when informed by a reporter.

"That's awful," she said. "That's a terrible, terrible thing to do, especially in this day and age."

Around midafternoon, a group of police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs scoured City Hall. They went through council offices, staff hallways, and other spaces in the building.

Some frightened council aides grabbed their belongings and left the building.

"You have to be nervous," said Lynn Wilcott, 35, who works at Massachusetts General Hospital, which sent out an e-mail message last night to let its employees know everything was OK. "A package is a suspicious package, no matter how cute it is."

Some, though, have grown immune to alarming reports after Sept. 11, most of which have turned out to be harmless.

"It seems like there's stuff like this all the time," said Keely MacMillan, who commutes from Cambridge to work in the Financial District.

"It's scary," John McGuiggan said with a shrug, "but this kind of stuff is bound to happen."

"It's a hyperawareness," said Vijay Dhaka, 32, a student at MIT's Sloan School of Management. "People are still learning to deal with these things."

Thursday, February 1, 2007
Men accused of hoax plead not guilty

By John R. Ellement and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff

The two men accused of plunging metropolitan Boston into a panic with illuminated advertisements for a cartoon pleaded not guilty today in a courtroom packed with supporters and a crush of reporters.

The two men smiled broadly throughout much of the brief proceeding as Assistant Attorney General John Grossman described the battery-powered characters as "bomb-like devices." The men, Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, face charges of placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic and disorderly conduct.

The artists shuffled into Boston Municipal Court in handcuffs. Stevens was particularly animated, grinning at the gallery of about 40 supporters and raising his cuffed hand to give a low wave.

Judge Paul K. Leary seemed skeptical of the state's case, telling Grossman that the law requires that people must intend to create a panic to be charged with placing hoax devices. This case, the judge said, seemed to involve two men who relatives say were paid to place unorthodox advertisements throughout the city.

The question of intent was a legal issue for another hearing, Grossman said. The two men were ordered held on $2,500 cash bail, which they posted early this afternoon.

The prosecutor in court said that although the two suspects may have been acting on directions from an advertising firm, they were still the individuals who put up devices that scared people and tied Boston in knots as police shutdown roads and bridges.

When explosive material teams examined the devices on bridges and underpasses Wednesday, experts thought that the electronic rectangles could have been bombs, Grossman said. The devices had a power source and wires leading to an object wrapped in duct tape. In the end, the duct tape only contained batteries -- but it could have concealed some type of explosive, Grossman said.

Attorney Michael L Rich, a longtime friend who Berdovsky lived with for a decade, represented both men in court.

Outside court, Lorraine Stevens defended her grandson, saying that fears of terrorism in a post Sept. 11th world would have never entered his mind as he posted the cartoon characters throughout the city.

"It would not enter his mind," Lorraine Stevens said. "He just doesn't think that way. He's a total pacifist. If he thought anything would be misconstrued, he wouldn't have done it."

from a message board on the Globe website, I for the most part agree with this message:

All laughs aside, I'm a little annoyed and angry about yesterday's events in Boston. But I'm not angry with Adult Swim or Turner Broadcasting. Maybe they were irresponsible, even though NECN is reporting that they had legal permits to go ahead with their campaign. Maybe on the back of those signs they should have put up a "Call this number if you have any concerns about this thing", maybe a little foresight should have been used to see where some freaked out post 9/11 "I'm going to be a citizen hero by being vigilant" type could see what someone was doing as a threat to public infrastructure.

Who I am really angry at are the news media, who blew this story way out of proportion by using words like suspicious package, bomb, and really blowing it out of the park when they said that multiple devices found all around town at key infrastructure points. I blame them for scaring the piss out of the general public for something that the entire Internet community already knew to be harmless, as well as probably most of the college students and geeks in the city. I blame them for not sending one intern, possibly an adult swim fan to begin with, somewhere after getting a photo of the device and doing some background research into what the markings meant. It really shouldn't have gotten to the point that it did.

I'm also angry at the city of Boston, and our government in general. They're patting themselves on the back for saying how they acted so timely and efficiently during this potential crisis, when the reality is those things have been hanging up around Boston for 3 week! And there's video proof that it happened 3 weeks ago! And there's 9 other cities that for weeks didn't freak out, but us, the intellectual capital of the United States, goes a bit nutso over a few moonitite light brights? Why is that by 2:00 PM, the media was still reporting a bomb threat like the city was going to explode any moment, while the blogging community knew what in the world they were, put two and two together, and it took 3 extra hours for our mayor (who by the way had a press conference at 4:20, no I really can't make that up) to fess up to saying that yes they now know it's harmless. And to arrest the guy who was just hired to put up the signs? Make an artistic statement? Exercise his free speech rights? Come on now. Now your just trying to find a scapegoat and a pansy, and you've just put someone innocent and turned his life upside down.

I hate that they're still using the word hoax. It's not a hoax if there was never a bomb threat in the first place. No one called it in. No one had any intent to harm or to cause hysteria. This is not the same as yelling fire in a crowded movie theater.

What I love? Aqua Teen Hunger Force has never had so much attention in the mass media news. The first 5 minutes of last night’s news wasn't even so much about the day’s events, as it was explaining what the hell Adult Swim is (with inaccuracies of course because the group of people we charge with telling us the truth can't ever get their facts straight in the first place). The problem at it's heart is that something like Adult Swim talks to a underground counterculture, it talks to the people who aren't really a part of mainstream society, people who are reporting on it don't understand why it exists, and what's the point. I'm sure if Mayor Menino watched a mooninite episode he'd go "OMGWTFBBQ?!", or actually that's the exact opposite of what he wouldn't do. What else I think is hysterical? Boston wants $500,000 for yesterday’s events. Ted Turner is probably laughing his ass off, that's a fraction of what the coverage would have cost him if he went via traditional channels. Think about it. 30 seconds on Super Bowl this year? 2.6 Million. All day coverage and hype about ATHF on every local channel and nationally over the wires including a full breakdown of the show? Half a million? Really? Really?

But what really makes me angry is the people who agree with the city. The ones who are going, "Oh yeah before 9/11 this would have been funny but now that we're living post 9/11, it's not cool". Shut the Hell Up. Things that were funny before 9/11 are still funny post 9/11. Because if what the idiot was saying is true, taking another cliché line, the terrorists have already won. What is wrong with people that we're living in this constant trigger finger state of fear instead of living our lives the way we want to live them, free to do what we want, and not have any sort of fear that we're going to be blown up tomorrow? The more and more I see it, the more and more depressed I get that we're just going to become pawns of our society, that we're going to be controlled by fear instead of freedom. And of everything yesterday, that's really what boils my blood. That people just don't get it. Terrorists are going to keep trying to bomb us, and we're going to keep trying to stop it, but we shouldn't change our daily routine and mindset because of it. Because is life really that important if your not allowed to do what you really want to do?

grindhouse film festival gets better every month - Jack Hill night

Tuesday night's double feature was Switchblade Sisters and The Swinging Cheerleaders. Director Jack Hill introduced the movies saying that he had just "come back from a bulimia convention" and that "the cake came out of the girl." There was extensive Q+A and some of the starlets were present. If you are missing these events I am sorry.

Blood and Chocolate reviews from elsewhere

I'm pretty sure this did not screen for critics, but I still managed to dig up some reviews... that divulge some of the silly plot details. I guess the wolves drink absinthe and the protagonist is werewolf obsessed graphic-novelist. Nerd out! I'm skipping it.

reelviews.net - "When men (or women) change into their four-footed alter-egos, they don't undergo the grotesque morphing we have become familiar with over the years. Instead, they blur from man to beast - an easy way to save money and keep the romantic aspect intact, although less sinister and unsettling."

SF Chronicle - "A good 50 percent of the script seems to be spent explaining the rules of this wolf world, where the full moon means nothing -- the werewolves can change at will -- but silver, and even silver nitrate dust, can cause death."

bloody-disgusting from Mr D. - "It’s crazy to me that Garnier was supposed to be the “next big thing” in indie filmmaking. ... Avoid at all costs, this could easily be the single worst horror film of 2007 – and we just started the New Year (sigh)."

Hollywood! Grindhouse Fest tomorrow... Switchblade Sisters plus!

It's gonna be great - check it out! Director Jack Hill to be in attendance. Double Feature: Switchblade Sisters (1975) and The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974). I'd get there early to be safe, or ask me to hold you a seat!