Top 5 Best Horror Series

This season has come to an end and with it all my hopes of entertainment for the hateful summer to come (as far as TV is concerned of course). So finding myself in dire need of a distraction and in an attempt to prove to our readers that we shall never silence, I venture two sets of top fives with the best and, my personal favorite, the worst horror related TV series of the year!

So I hereby give to you my best...

 Number 5

BEING HUMAN

In lack of a fifth series actually worth giving it the time of day or, in this case, night I can only give you, since I am bound by the number, one that was merely watchable. I know that I haven't even mentioned it all this time, a fact which by itself speaks volumes, but it being so indifferent actually got it a spot in the blog!

The tale of yet another tortured dark soul straggling with the beast within along with a werewolf and a ghost setting up house pretending to be human. I must say I am more partial to the original British version since the cast in the American one fades in comparison.

Number 4

GRIMM

Not a great start but good enough to catch my eye, and a much more interesting ending to land it in number four. Wolves, trolls, ogres, witches with a german twist and a secret society or Wesen elite if you like, pulling the strings and threatening war on humans. Did you really think that Grimms were the brothers who wrote all those fairy tales you grew up listening to?

Number 3

SUPERNATURAL

Call me sentimental but there is something about those Winchester boys that no matter how lame the script is it always saves the day! I pretty much avoided talking about this season in the hopes of a comeback by the end of it. False hopes as it turned out, but, still, those boys have a great sense of humor...

Number 2

THE RIVER

If you told me a few months ago, right about when it aired, that it would be one of my favorites I would have laughed in your face. As it seems I should not form opinions based on only one or two episodes - even though I still believe those first ones do set the mood for what is to follow - but I should really start giving second or even third chances. It started pretty weak but by the last few episodes I found myself hooked and wanting for more.

Number 1

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

I am at a loss for words. I can't find anything else to say than you must watch!!

Death Valley and the horrors of horror

There are many side effects to being deprived of actual human contact as well as many days of constant fever. One of those side efects is hating everything new you see or read.

So, after careful consideration I've decided not to post anything I' m not absolutely sure about. (And believe me I've seen a lot these past few days).

I've seen films that deserve a closer look -given my state of mind at the time- I've seen new series I didn't really like that much, but said to myself don't be too quick to judge, give it another episode or two. I've started reading books I wanted to close shut after 20 or 30 pages, but put them away till everything went back to normal again. . .

There is though, one single thing that I hated so much and with every painful breath I took that I had no choice but to write and warn people about.

Welcome to "Death Valley", a seemingly not so bad idea but given in such a poor, stupid, tasteless, non creative way, that it actually gives a bad name to the people responsible for such an insult to fans of horror everywhere.

I don't know where to begin, so I will talk about what awful thing comes first, second and so on to mind.

Let's see, dialogues; who wrote them? I really would like to meet the people MTV has in its payroll.

Characters; really? Cops looking for doughnuts in the middle of a zombie chase, or looking at porn during an attack? Is that supposed to be funny?

Actors, well I'd rather be silent on that one...

Well, I should have known that it would be a disaster the minute I realised MTV had its claws into it, nevertheless I gave it a shot (serves me right not to trust my instincts!).

Anyway, a word of caution to all of you out there, time is too precious to be wasting it but if for some reason you find yourself wanting to watch it, by all means watch away, just remember you had been warned!!!

PS: Any different opinions would be more than welcome.

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

We all grew up listening under our covers, time and time again, to the same bed time stories. Fairy tales about misunderstood monsters, love scorned witches, hungry wolves and all kinds of dark and troubled creatures, and battles between good versus evil in which good always prevailed.

What if not all of those stories were, indeed, stories? What if there was not only a little, but a lot of truth in them? What if those fairy tales were not the end? What if there was a whole world out there that we have just chosen to forget or even not see? That's a very interesting notion, don't you think?

That is exactly what the brand new series "Grimm" is all about. Taking all those twisted villains who haunted our childhood dreams, giving them not only life, but also a hold of our adult nightmares.

Though it is too soon to decide whether I like it or not, I must say that I am intrigued. . .

Remember Friday the 13th?

Lately I've been thinking a lot about when I was younger. Maybe it's the summer, the heat or even overexposure ti the sun always making me feel reminiscent; whatever the reason I found myself thinking about years past. I tried to remember what were the series I used to look forward to watching and then I remembered!

Every Friday night at about 11 o'clock me and my brother would get under our covers, switch on the TV and wait impatiently for this:

"Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil to sell cursed antiques. But he broke the pact, and it cost him his soul. Now, his niece Micki, and her cousin Ryan have inherited the store... and with it, the curse. Now they must get everything back and the real terror begins."

Those were the words introducing every single one of the episodes, setting the mood for what was about to follow.

The two cousins were left with the task of collecting every-single-one of the cursed objects. Event hough their powers seemingly helped those who posses them to prosper and avenge, their real purpose was to collect both the souls of the innocent and those of their less-well-meaning owners.

An American-Canadian production, Friday the 13th was beautifully made, won numerous awards for its visual and graphical effects and was nominated for a lot more over the years. Its great storyline -always with a pinch of humor- sometimes toyed with what was acceptable for network television, thus making it an even more interesting show!

So if you are already hating summer and the absence of anything evilish on TV, then by all means give it a go and I guarantee you won't regret it!

HO, HO, HO! Happy Horror Holidays!

It's the most wonderful time of the year! That does not mean though, that there is nothing for us who like a little bit of black amongst our colorful decorations! So I took it upon myself to make a list of films that capture both the holiday spirit and its dark side...

Here is a top ten of Holiday season films that people reading this blog can actually watch without suffering any emetic side-effects whatsoever!

10/ Let's start our countdown with "Santa vs. Satan"; a spooky little children's Christmas story where Santa comes up against Pitch, an invisible devil determined to persuade children to do nasty things by telling them that Santa is indeed a bloody murderer!

9/ Next is "Don't open until Christmas". Don't expect a masterpiece! A British look on scary Christmas with a killer targeting Santas all around.

8/ We have two with similar titles but different stories. In number 8 "Silent Night, Bloody Night". 40 years ago on Christmas day something happened, something that forced this mysterious killer take his revenge...

7/ Not actually better that the latter but not being able to resist a killer Santa "Silent Night, Deadly Night" is at number 7. What's interesting about this one is that there was actually a protest against the idea of Santa killing anyone!

6/ Up next is "Christmas Evil". It gives a new meaning to the phrase "He knows if you've been bad or good". Our Santa is a regular guy who loves Christmas and would to anything to make sure that next year we'll all be good...

5/ As far as scary is concerned this is it: "Black Christmas". Just don't pick up the phone, you never know who's calling and where from..

4/ No introduction for this one! "Child's Play". I just love Chucky!!!

3/ On the softer note "Gremlins".Why do Children never listen to anyone?

2/ Not so scary but definitely funny "Scrooged". His idea of Christmas was so nicely twisted I wonder why he became such a target!

1/ If you agree or not I simply don't care. My number one is none other than "Nightmare Before Christmas". No matter what you think of it you must agree that the idea of kidnapping Santa before Christmas was brilliant. Just imagine how that went with children!

So there it is, my list. I really would like your input. And for those of you who prefer reading to watching, Top Ten Scary Christmas Stories is coming up soon..

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.

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!

Vincent by Tim Burton

Tim Burton's 1982 darkly sardonical Vincent, the beautiful short animated film you can see above, is both visually stunning and a rather unique stop-motion film that also is a poem. What's more, and apart from the excellent Vincent Price narration, you can even spot an early Jack Skellington in there. Well, can you?

W(H)EREWOLF . . .

Remember when parodies of horror films were simple and funny, without being obscene or tragic? Remember when just a face or a performance made something seriously funny? When clever lines and dialogues made a difference and there was no need for putting 300 films together to get material for just one dignified parody?

So, this is a tribute to my all time favorite horror film parody “Young Frankenstein”...

Maybe it was the excellent performance by Gene Wilder or the colossal talent of Marty Feldman or even the pure genius of Mel Brooks which makes this film one of the best. Whatever it was, it's one of the few this writer can watch repeatedly, time and time again laughing as hard as the first one and waiting with the same -if not greater- anticipation for the favorite line...

Word games, witty comebacks, smart tricks and just the face of Marty Feldman make this unique.

Black and white to add the the thrill of the story, the classic tale of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley meets the mind of Mel Brooks and as a result a classic film is created.

It's not that I don't enjoy what the film industry has to offer these days, it's just that when I 'm home wanting to relax and have a good laugh, this is one of the first movies that come to mind...

To make a long story short, if you already have this DVD in your collection you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you don't, I seriously urge you to run to your nearest shop and buy a copy!

P.S: There wolf, there castle...