Farewell Leslie Nielsen

Though we claim to be all about horror, we never kept our admiration or need for a good laugh in forms of a parody from you. That is why it’s only fair to pay our respects even delayed to a figure linked with comedy and parody the last decades.

One of the great comedy actors left us yesterday. The name Leslie Nielsen always brings to mind films such as Airplane, Naked Gun or Dracula: Dead and Loving it.

In his career that started in 1956 though, and ended abruptly there are more than a 100 films of all kinds. More than 50 years of creation and expression is the legacy left behind by this talented man.

This is not an obituary, this is merely small little reference in a small little blog to a person that has in some ways in one time or another made all of us laugh or even cry.

Choose your Living Dead

What you see above is not another version of classic zombie flick Night of the Living Dead. Oh no. It's a game. Yes, a game. A properly -though limited- interactive experience that let's you choose your own way through a re-cut version of the film. To start playing simply click play on the above clip and enjoy killing of your character in Editing the Dead.

And then, for those zombie lovers that simply cannot watch Romero's classic one more time, we have a rather different interactive movie: The Outbreak. Click and enjoy.

A Supernatural Comeback

Season 6 of the series and the drama goes on!

As anticipated Sam is back, or is he? Well something is back!

Eight episodes in the series and god is nowhere to be found. Rebellious angels roam the earth having given in to temptation and using every divine weapon imaginable. Demons are loose with no shepherd as well. Heaven and hell in turmoil and human kind stuck in the middle being collateral damage.

I'm liking the idea of angels with human pettiness acting like abandoned children trying to get the attention of the absent father, playing with their “toys” without caring about the consequences.

What I'm not liking is the resurrection of yet another member of the Winchester family! How many are there any way?

Just stop bringing people back from the dead!

Aliens and Humans Unite

Without being exactly sure if it falls under the category of horror, Aliens Vs Predator is one of the few films this one can see without complaining.

A little bit of Aliens, Predator and Indiana Jones mixed with a lot of action and a beautiful setting (half somewhere lost in the glaciers and half in an ancient pyramid) makes for a not so bad film.
Aliens visiting earth in ancient times giving them the gift of building and in return asking for worship and human sacrifice.

Thousands of years later those aliens return setting in motion a trap in order to find humans to be sacrificed for the ultimate hunt! Things go wrong so the predators are left to deal with the newborn beasts with the help of humans. After a lot of chasing, grieving and killing, the star of the film stands alone having saved the earth and been acknowledged by a superior race.

What else can one ask for?

And in case you were wondering why there isn't anything here about the sequel, I can only say “It's not worth mentioning”.

Watch The Night Of The Living Dead

Night of the Living Dead the 1968 indie classic directed by George Romero is the independent black-and-white horror film that turned zombies into a cultural phenomenon. and managed to create a whole sub-genre in horror, while bravely sporting a black protagonist. Also and despite being a deeply political low-budget film, Night of the Living Dead was a major hit both with audiences and critics. Then again, if you are reading this very blog, you're probably aware of all that and we'll spare you the history lesson.

What you might have missed though is the fact that Night of the Living Dead is now in the public domain and you can either watch it for free below or even download it from this place. We're letting you know because a) we're nice like that, b) we love free stuff.

It's the start of a new Vampire Season

I was dreadfully awaiting for this season's episodes of "The Vampire Diaries". And I must confess that it took me this long to write a whole new review because I physically couldn't watch any of them until recently. The memory of last season was still so painful that it only became worse when I saw that the series was scheduled for a second one!

But still, I built up my courage and sat to watch seven episodes in a row...

I was hoping for a new twist of things or maybe something different to make me change my mind and begin to see it in a different eye. In a nutshell I was hoping for a miracle!

No miracle here...

Same old, same old. After the first episode I started watching the rest in fast forward, again! Nothing to sparkle any kind of interest. Nothing new or unexpected. Nothing to persuade me that this is anything else but a poor attempt to transfer a (not so good if I may say) film on TV and gain from its success (which I do not really understand!).

I will, against my better judgment, keep on watching the series. I will keep on putting myself through this. Not because I expect anything to change or because I have time to waste, but because I would love nothing more than to have the chance to write more pieces like this one in the future!

It's the Walking Dead Premier!

The Walking Dead, the TV version of it to be precise, premiered this very Halloween on TV, and though I really don't know whether it was a commercial success or not, I must admit this was way better than anything I expected. The first episode showcased the series' faithfulness to the -excellent- original material, its well casted actors, the rather amazing production values and some of the best zombies you've ever seen. It's the first time since Romero's early masterpieces that the undead have been depicted in such a beautiful, terrifying and sadly human way.

This also happens to be the first modern horror TV series that, despite targeting the mainstream, chooses a sedate character-centric pace and prefers to develop its setting instead of focusing on a barrage of action scenes. Oh, and it's far gorier than expected.

The plot, centering on a contemporary sheriff's deputy who wakes up in a hospital right after the zombie apocalypse destroyed everything he knew, is, well, truly interesting and will not be spoiled here. I will though let you know that things will very soon pick up and that the simple struggle for survival against zombies will very soon turn into a story about human passion, bravery and -mostly- the evil that men do.

Vincent Price - House on Haunted Hill

We should really have managed a post for Halloween, but life, you see, can always get into the way of blogging. So, let's make amends. Here's a (whole) classic horror film from 1959 for you to watch and enjoy. Here's House on Haunted Hill (IMDb) starring Vincent Price to entertain you: