The Shadow Out Of Time Movie

The Shadow Out Of Time by H.P. Lovecraft is one of the most interesting of Loveraft's short stories and one of his incredibly rare works that express political ideas. What's more, it has also been adapted to glorious movie form and you can enjoy the 15 brilliant minutes of the thing above. It's definitely worth your time.

Classics for a New Year

Happily all the X-mas joy is finally gone. Sadly though, the end of the previous year called for the ending of the only thing I actually liked watching. So after the last Christmas episode of the season of my newly favorite American Horror Story I found myself looking for solace.

Nothing could comfort me, no books, no games, nothing. There was nothing left to do but turn to the classics, and so I did!

I brushed up on my black and whites starting with my all time favorite Nosferatu!

Excessive make-up, lack of voices and the ever haunting face of Max Schreck in the first attempt of telling a story so unquestionably linked to the horror genre.

I kept on in the same pace with films like The Student of Prague and others... and somehow I ended up with Rosemary' s Baby, remembering how life imitates art..

Time went by and the new year came. Hopefully it will be a creative one book - film - series - gamewise.

How did you fair over the holidays?

They' re back!

How long has it been since you saw a good vampire movie? It's been ages for me! Nothing really seemed to quench my thirst for those adorable bloodthirsty beasts. Besides, what has always been a disappointment was the way vampires had been portrayed those past few years.

Why are they always presented with human emotions?

Why is there always an inner struggle to remain as human as possible?

Well, I'm happy to say that I have finally seen a film that treats vampires as it should. Beastly, primitive, relentless! Creatures with only survival in their mind, no love, no fear looking at humans like they ought to ... like dinner!

Based on a series of Korean comics, the Priest finally sets the record straight - they're fast, they're ugly, they're hungry and most of all inhuman. And, yes, they are indeed the vampires.


Far into the future humans are restricted to cities surounded by gigantic walls. The church is the absolute authority. After thousands of years of war between vampires and humans our species has finally eliminated the threat ... or so we thought. The ulimate weapon, humans with extrordinary powers recruited by the church as children and bred for the sole purpose of distraction. The order of the priests, as it is called, is finally dismantled once all vampires were gone, but is it really so?

I know that most of the film critics do not recommend it - but what do they know?

The Cube

Imagine waking up completely bewildered amongst people you had never set eyes upon till then. Confined in a place that could only be described as a white room similar to nothing you had ever seen, with no doors, no windows, no traces of escape.

No-one seemed important, yet everyone was special in his or her own way. Trying to make sense of it all, trying to comprehend the aim of the game, trying to make people work together to increase the chances (if any...) of survival.

Only one would make it to the end. Only one could feel the sweet touch of fresh air upon his face. Everyone else is doomed. Everyone else would just be used as pawns to help you check-mate. Your king should be kept safe. You should be kept safe, that's all that matters.

I won't be spoiling anything else for you. I just hope I've set the mood for watching what I consider one of the top films of it's time. Let me say this though: there is no greater monster than man himself.

Once upon a time, long before films like SAW were even considered, there was the CUBE...

Miss Lovecraft teaches Sex Ed

John Cleese's sex ed class in the Meaning of Life remains of course unsurpassed, but the short film posted above does indeed come close. And does go for the rather original Lovecraftian mood too, but I guess I'd better not spoil it for you. All you have to do to watch the truly odd Late Bloomer by Craig McNeill is press the play button. It wont take long dears... 

The Whisperer in the Darkness - a review

It's not everyday one gets to attend a worldwide premiere, but it seems the stars were perfectly aligned and I happily got to watch The Whisperer in the Darkness in a way I never expected to: in a proper movie-theater. And yes, I am indeed referring to the brand new, black and white cinematic take one the eponymous, brilliant and quite famous story by H.P. Lovecraft, that the ever-creative HPLHS has revealed at the SFF-Rated festival.

The movie, filmed to resemble a high-profile 1930s production, follows Lovecraft's story pretty faithfully and quite imaginatively, but only up to a certain point. Up to this particular point the movie is lovely indeed. The atmosphere works, the actors are more talented than your average Hollywood fare, the music is haunting, the special effects feel delightfully retro, the film's pace is successful and deeply lovecraftian, the directing is really good, the necessary mood is conveyed and everything feels old, dark and very mysterious indeed, having me believe I'm watching a true horror masterpiece. A movie better than HPLHS's very own, very excellent and very silent Call of Cthulhu. 

Alas, this was not to be the case. After said  admittedly vaguely defined point (sometime after the first 35-40 minutes in the movie, to be more precise) The Whisperer in the Darkness choses to drive madly into the realm of silly action, in what can only be described as an ill-advised attempt to ape mainstream movies. It obviously fails, while succeeding at alienating its intended audience. A fair and marxian verdict would thus be: close but no cigar. 

A way to say we are sorry...

Holidays are finally over. So it’s time we all went back to our lives as before. I know that there was a big promise breaking from our part so this is me trying to make up for it.

We had promised a top ten list about scary Christmas stories that were never posted. Our sincere apologies for that, I just hope that the following piece can make up for it. Since the post was promised to satisfy readers and not watchers I thought that a classic gothic tale by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would do the trick. It can of course be no other than “The Hound of the Baskervilles”.

When one listens to the name Sir Arthur Conan Doyle one usually thinks about Sherlock Holmes and detective stories. That is actually true so what is a detective story doing in this kind of a blog?

Well, when the supernatural and old tales of curses and hellhounds are incorporated to the story how can we not be tempted to write about it?

The story takes place in the English country; at “Baskerville Hall”. A vast estate surrounded by moors swamps and the aura of mysterious ghostly presence. Found dead with a horrified look on his face somewhere in the haunted woods of his land Sir Charles Baskerville, terrifies his heirs reminding them of an old curse.

Sherlock Holmes is called upon to investigate the circumstances of his demise and is made aware of a tale long forgotten. One of Baskerville’s ancestors enslaved by lust and madness sells his soul to have what he cannot. His life ended hunting what he desired and one of his hounds was the collector of the price paid. And so the curse begins for all male heirs of the Baskerville estate.

Footprints found at the crime scene suggested that Sir Charles was desperately running away from something that could only be described as a ‘gigantic hound’, while Holmes receives threatening letters telling him to avoid the moors...

Has the Hellhound been unleashed once again claiming the souls of the Baskervilles?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s impeccable writing takes the reader to a place filled with fear and agony. Highly recommended “The Hound of the Baskervilles” can and will satisfy even the most demanding of readers. You can read it -for free- right here.

And for those who prefer watching to reading there are at least two dozen attempts to capture the feeling of the story in film, but if you ask me the ones that actually do are the black and white ones. There is something unearthly about the absence of color that makes those films even darker…

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.

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”.

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:

Nightmare 1984 Vs 2010

I was so excited when I heard that Wes Craven's classic “Nightmare on Elm Street” was about to have a baby sibling, at the same time though, memories of the original started popping in my head. Was the remake going to be as satisfying as the original? Was it going to be better or was I heading for another disappointment?

So, I went on and prepared a little crash test for you!

2010

Good special effects and a storyline not too far from the original. Nice casting and quite believable performances. The director Samuel Bayer managed to capture part of the atmosphere and I'm pretty sure that people who hadn't seen the original would be pleased with the outcome.

1984

The element of surprise! The first time ever that Freddy Krueger makes his appearance! Not knowing what to expect and where that is gonna come from. The perfect man, Robert Englund, as Freddy and Johnny Depp's film debut! The chills you get when you hear Freddy's song for the first time....

Score: 2 – 4



1984 wins

Thirst - a sadly dissapointing review

A film by Chan-wook Park, the writer-director of Oldboy, sporting a vampiric priest and erotic themes couldn't possibly go wrong, could it? Well, to my great surprise and even greater disappointment, it apparently could. And quite spectacularly did, for Thirst is a sub-par horror movie, that tries a little too hard to appear as some sort of deep and meaningful piece of filmic art, which frankly it is not.

Then again, as certain people tend to mistake a slow pace for true art, we can rest assured that these lost souls enjoyed the movie despite its convoluted and banal plot. Said plot is not only unspectacular and quite contrived, but also sports one of those oh-so-fashionable modern, touchy, emo vampires. Being a horror film of course we could overlook such genre cliches, but Thirst takes itself far too seriously to revel in the banality. There is no self-mockery to be found here. Thirst tries to be deep, thoughtful, sensual and all it manages is feel overdrawn.

After watching the thing I was sure it had lasted for more than two hundred minutes, which it clearly hadn't.

Seems I am easily bored by just another well mannered vampire, with a strong Christian faith no less, that effortlessly manages to overcome its new nature in stark contrast to its more, well, vampiric girlfriend. And the fact that the protagonist was sort of an ur-vampire created by a failed medical experiment didn't help at all and all the great acting and brilliant cinematography went to waste. For shame.

Bela Lugosi's Dead

I have seen, and then seen again, more than a few films promising to capture the lure and fascination of our beloved nocturnal creatures. Needless to say, I was mostly and unsurprisingly untouched by all those weak attempts to restore the awe once lost.

As a matter of fact the last vampire movie I enjoyed was Coppola's Dracula and that was a looong time ago.

There is some kind of innocence in those black and white movies or even the early colored ones that made the difference. The commanding presence of the tall and lean and ever so intriguing figure of a vampire, with only blood and survival in his mind. The cape, the make-up, the costumes, the music, the era itself, which made those films dark, romantic and me reminiscent.

I miss the incomparable cemetery scenes, caskets opening, creaking, damsels screaming for their lives.

The idea of a monster hiding under my bed or even in my closet waiting, lurking.

And as the song goes....

White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rack
Bela Lugosi's dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead
The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time's dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count
Bela Lugosi’s dead
Undead undead undead

To Nick...

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

As far as classic horror movies go The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Kabinett des Doktor Caligari) is the oldest -possibly most important too- of the lot. It was, after all, shot back in 1920 and could easily be the first horror movie ever created, though I really can't be sure of such things. Mind you, most the internet does believe this to be the case, so I guess further research isn't what matters right now.

What actually matters, you see, is that you dear lovers of horror, German expressionism and wild, romantic film-making absolutely watch this masterpiece. The film is now happily a public domain work of art and can be freely and very legally downloaded from the Internet Archive.

George Romero's Survival of the Dead

I am a huge fan of George Romero's work; really am. And I frankly believe that his zombie movies, the same movies that actually established the zombie sub-genre in horror, are some of the most interesting, unique, smart, innovative and politically intriguing horror movies ever created. The Night of the Living Dead was unique in featuring a black protagonist and anti-racist overtones back in 1968, the Dawn of the Dead was harsh in its critique of consumerist society, Day of the Dead openly mocked armies, the Land of the Dead was the only zombie-based class drama ever shot, and all of them were great films with proper characters, interesting plots and wise scares.

George Romero's 2009 zombie flick Survival of the Dead, on the other hand, is far less than spectacular. Actually, it's a right-out disappointment, that fails on so many levels, it actually managed to shock me. This is sub-standard, uninspired b-movie fare, and I simply didn't see it coming.

First of all, you see, gone are the political undertones and the original ideas in the already tired sub-genre, and in are most major zombie movie cliches. Then there's the inclusion of some dire attempts at slapstick humour, and an even more desperate attempt to test some cardboard, soap-opera inspired characters, which -surprise, surprise- miserably fail to create any sort of empathy. Oh, and in case you were wondering the plot sports gigantic holes and is roughly as interesting as watching school kids remake Romeo and Juliet. Adding the fact that the movie doesn't even try to scare anyone, well, I guess it would be safe to say this is something you'll most probably want to avoid.

It doesn't even get the atmosphere right! Seems like someone forgot to put the needed amount of zombies in it...

And, please, don't get me started on that curing the zombies subplot. Or the miserably and decidedly unfunny slapstick ending to some originally promising scenes. It simply makes me sad. George Romero deserves much better than that. 

You can find out more about Survival of the Dead at imdb and its official site. To grab a copy of the movie, you could try Amazon.

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...

The Whisperer in Darkness

Wouldn't it be great if more movies were shot in a more classic manner? Of course it would; it would make little Cthulhu happy. For now just follow this link and watch the trailer above one last time.

Worst Case Scenario

It's been ages since the spectacularly odd Nazi Zombies of Worst Case Scenario were promised to us and just over a year since the (deeply troubled and quite indie) project was officially put on hold. Being the rather informed optimist I am, well, I'm sure we can assume the film to be pretty much dead. It will probably never be made and its gore will never be seen in all its glory, though this simply can't stop the Chamber from linking to its still functioning official website and from providing you with two of the most impressive horror trailers ever created:

Dead Snow: the trailer to start things off