365horror

This chapter is one of oddity, for the singular reason of friendship. As I’m sure many of you have experienced as you have lived your lives, friends come and fiends go. But where do they come from and why? One such friend of mine was a young guy by the name of Pratt. (here, referred to by his chosen surname and not by socially issued, insult. Also, as it was the first year of secondary school, everyone surrendered their first name as recognition of progression and maturity). 

I don’t remember where this guy came from and why we became finds. I already had more friends than I needed, but Pratt was a new addition. He was in our new school, same age and year, but not in the same class. (myself being in the higher academic regions, with Pratt in what was usually referred to as The Beach Ball class) He had a totally different upbringing than I was used to. He had a father on the rigs which he saw very seldom. A very friendly mother who had fostered a whole house of kids. Crazy really, but honourable. I remember seeing one of the bedrooms on he top floor, like a military dorm. I digress.

So this was back in 81. We had video breaking all sorts of boundaries in society and technology. The rental shop was the new way to view films, and as such, all sorts of Euro crap was rebranded, renamed, rebadged and released for our consumption. I must add, all without the approval of Jim Ferman et al at the BBFC. One of Pratt’s foster brothers was an early adoptee of this new tech and spent his days in front of the TV watching poor quality films. This particular day, it was roasting hot, sun beaming, classic childhood summertime, I remember being drawn towards the living room, the TV and he Horror which Pratt’s brother had rented. It was an American teen slasher. (but remember, this was the dawn of the slasher in relative terms. The gloves were off for dominance amongst the Jason’s and Michael’s)

Hell Night. …. Thats right… Hell Night. It’s not on anyone’s radar. It’s not recognised. It’s not credited. It’s basically been forgotten with a lot of the other trash of the day. But for me, it’s buried deep inside my mind. It was hot, sunny,  think Chopper’s and hot pants, melting Tarmac, epidemic of flying ants too. (summers are not like this any more) In Pratt’s living room, the curtains were drawn, the huge sofa occupied by the extended foster family of maybe 12ish kids, all under the respectable viewing age, and the movie was creepy as hell.

The film is of simple premise. College kids wanting acceptance into their Delta Zeta Omega residence need to spend the night in a spooky old house, historically, one that a family was massacred in a few years earlier. Unbeknown to the teens, one family member remains. ‘Seth’ is a towering beast of a man. Strong, monstrous looking and demented in the brain. He stalks the kids, keeps them locked inside and plays the game of cat n mouse, picking them off one by one. This is a tried and tested formula, even back in ’81, but Hell Night still deserves a bit more than being forgotten. It’s a damn sight better than most, even some which spawned a whole host of sequels. It’s director Tom DeSimone was an old veteran of cheap film, and had a whole host of semi erotic glitzy sleaze boxed up for people’s renting pleasure. Hell Night was his dabbling into the horror genre and what an entry was made. The film has a real unease about it. Tension, wariness, and something which other slashers steer away from which is ‘common sense’. Here the victims kind of stick together rather than splitting up, exploring the house, looking in the basement. It’s this realism of character which makes this film stand out and allows Seth to grow into a real threat of a villain. He’s everywhere, strong, physical, fast, vicious, dominating, silent with a damaged brain. Do we have some clues here? Frankenstein once again anyone?

I was ten years old watching this. Terrified the living daylight out of me. I can still remember walking home in the sunlight, traumatised, mind in darkness. This was a true milestone for me, one which I often recall. I remember mentioning this film to various people a few years later when my love for horror really began to bloom, only to find it was dismissed as American trash. By that time, my palate was maturing to the finer euro delights and as such, I often dismissed our US offerings. Shallow was I to turn my back on this one.

Although it has been said that Linda Blair was the selling point of this film, it’s a financiers trick. The film has a lot to offer. I’m also very surprised this little gem hasn’t been pinpointed as a Hollywood remake. It has dollars written all over it.

As for Pratt, for some reason once again unknown, we went our separate ways at the end of that summer…. and he was never seen again. 
 

It must have been some time around 1981 when we got our first video player, the ultimate Sony SL-C5. Smooth sleek design, a classic which set the benchmark to all those other machines at the time. Of cause, the C5 was a Betamax. Superior in many ways to the more commercially successful VHS with incredibly crystal clear quality viewing. I can vividly remember my folks binging it home: for some reason, they got the bus home with it, even though the car was on the drive. Must have been a killer carrying it. The miracle that was the video player/recorder back in ’81 was stunning and quite difficult to express by today’s standards and realistically, it wasn’t really that long ago. 

So, for the first few months, I watched a small handful of movies, over and over and over.  Ned Kelly (with Mick Jagger), Gone with the Wind, Butch Cassidy and then there was Halloween. A strange collection of films thinking back. I can remember my folks watching Halloween first, screening and weighing up how nasty and possibly how disturbing it could be and drawing to the conclusion that I, at age 10, would be ok to watch this one. From that point on, Halloween was played probably once a week with friends sometimes, who left my house pale as the day, parents wondering why their children couldn’t sleep at night after the horror which thy witnessed. For me though, the first viewing was one of mixed emotions, excitement and terror, one which I embraced and took the white knuckle ride. Myers’ picking off the local girls, his dominant pose, expressionless mask and unknowing rationale. Back then, I’m not sure how much I actually understood what was going on, not that there is a complex plot or anything, but I seem to think I used to skip the first 20 mins or so to get to the real spooky stuff. Myers behind the white heart with glasses etc. The wardrobe scene was and possibly still is quite harrowing but I loved it. 

I find it quite amazing though, thinking back on this journey of mine into my horror milestones that Halloween is my second notch after my primary introduction with Frankenstein five years earlier. Only after my 365 project did I realise the mirroring of the 70′s horror offerings with the original Universal classics. Myers, Leatherface, Pluto et al, all reincarnations of horror henchmen from the castles, Hunchback, Phantom, wolfman and of cause, Frankenstein. Unstoppable villains, silent, overpowering, masked and monstrous with a real direct link between Myers and Frankenstein both in stature, dominance and power. Again, how much of an impact has this film had on my young mind?

For the following year, we’d joined the local video shop. Ours was a real classy one with a massive selection of every type of film. Walton Road video. I used to stand looking at covers, imagining the plot, the adventure and always knowing that the films I’d be quite interested in would never be selected by my folks. Virus, Exterminator, Martin, Shivers, Microwave Massacre, GBH. Pigs was one such film, with a picture of a pig on the cover eating a human hand. (I might have imagined this one) but instead, we’d be taking home Kramer vs Kramer. A friend of mine at the time, Kevin, lived near this video library, above a pub. His brother used to rent the lot. He’d tell me all about them, full detailed plots which only encouraged my desire to watch horror and films of the fantastic. 

Next time, further obsession with Video rental, Linda Blair and a lost unrecognised classic from the ’80′s.

Are people born to appreciate film, theatre, music, literature? Myself, a self professed   cinéaste,  I believe i am a product of circumstance, hand crafted from a very early age to appreciate cinema for better or worse. My parents introduced me to a wide variety of films staring Brando, Dean, Astaire, Monroe, Laughton, Curtis, Douglas, Day, Davis, Lancaster, Sellers, and I soaked them up mentally and emotionally. I watched anything and everything put in front of me, soon devouring my sisters favourite films and my Brother’s love for the Marx Brothers. For me, film is everything. A journey through an artists mind, transformed onto celluloid for the interpretation of an audience.

Let me take you right back to where it all began to one of my earliest memories. I was four or five years old. For some reason, probably illness, I was allowed to stay up late, curled up on the family sofa with my Parents, my sisters and brother all watching late night TV. I don’t remember the film starting, only becoming aware of select scenes. Did I watch the whole film? No idea. Maybe just soaking up a few scenes but it was at that exact precise moment that caused the trigger inside, the power of cinema to effect and influence not only an emotion from what I was witnessing, but the conception of the cinéaste and my first love: Horror.

‘We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein’. The immortal opening line of Universal’s 1931 masterpiece. Watching the film today, it’s amazing how dynamic and adventurous it still looks. Filmed during the golden age of cinema, a time of mostly static scenes, James Whale introduces some spectacular camerawork amongst over enthusiastic sound stage sets. The film is based on a play by Peggy Webling, a very different plot to that of Mary Shelley’s classic novel and for those of you out there who have somehow been oblivious to the legend that is Frankenstein, it’s primary plot surrounds a young scientist (Here, Henry and not Victor as in the novel, played by Colin Clive) who is seeking to conquer life and death, creating a new living creature out of human parts. He soon realises he’s made a mistake, the monster (Played by Boris Karloff) escapes, although with revenge deep in its damaged brain. A memorable scene, and the only one shot on location is between Karloff and Marilyn Harris, who plays Maria, a young girl. They play a game of throwing flowers into the lake which turns sour when the monster decides to see if the girl will float. It’s a beautiful cinematic moment, one which is till the subject of controversy, debate and censorship. The monster is eventually hunted down by pitchfork wielding townsfolk, the father of Maria and Henry, who has a final dramatic moment with his creation where they tumble together before he stumbles and falls from windmill. The monster overlooking, surprised, shocked, lost and alone. 

Whale’s autobiographical association with this film can be seen throughout, although this could just be critics reading far too much into the film and the directors own life. Horror which he witnessed during his time fighting on the front line of the Great War, masked soldiers hiding the true character, emotion and heart, unable to speak, or express behind the mask. After the war he moved from his British homeland to continue his career as a film maker. His own homosexual social life was one that he never tried to hide and embraced his true self, although at a time in history he must have still felt slightly outcast and different from his peers (although, I’m sure many were in the closet). 

The impact that this film has made upon the world is huge. Iconic and respected as a masterpiece in its own right, but it’s important to recognise that this film changed everything, introduced true modern horror to the world of which ripples can still be felt in today’s cinema, not only in the numerous remakes and re-imaginings, but the whole idea of a villain, who cannot be harmed, stronger, unstoppable, masked and monstrous. These few words will fill your mind with the regular horror names, Jason, Michael, even Freddy  and Pinhead, but Halloween and Friday 13th have all the genes from that initial beautiful creation from Whale.

From my own point of view, how has this film affected me? I’m not sure to the extent, but there are several key characteristics which I’m sure are a direct result. I’m a pretty tall guy, 6’4″. I’ve always been taller than everyone I know, pretty much and I never go a week without being caught in a crowd where I’m at least a foot taller than everyone else around me, resulting in a kind of distance between me and the rest of the crowd, a real Frankenstein syndrome effect. I was also quite a sickly child, often suffering, taking time off school, spending my days on the sofa, which also had a worrying effect on me in my youth of having a body which might let me down, the reality and awareness that we are in our own shell that could just stop working or malfunction. 

One of the biggest psychological impacts that the film had on my tiny 5 year old mind was the Horror of the human body, (probably the reason i have grown to love the films of Cronenberg, but more about this later in the project) one that people would run away from in terror, although the person inside was good and pure. This was a huge learning experience for me at a very young age, to recognise the good inside anyone and understand that not all monsters are bad. The relationship in the film between Henry and the Monster is one of pure love and affection, stronger than Henry’s love of his fiancée even. At the age of 5, I can’t say for certain, but this must have had a huge impact on the way a child witness’ love and companionship, obviously I wouldn’t have understood homosexuality, but the connection and love between the same sex, the respect and heartbreak that can occur, gave me that seed, that depth of liberal thinking. 

The early memories of that film on that night are fond ones which I hold inside. It was from a warm close, safe time in my life with a loving family. The monster came stumbling into my life, his gaunt dominant expression, powerful, strong and brutal with a kind heart and desire to learn and live and grow. The world was against the monster, but nothing could stop him. This was the beginning for me, my first trip to horrorville. 

Ever wondered what would happen if a diminutive, chainsaw-wielding, puppetcidal maniac were running amok in the Jim Henson universe?

Of course you have! And here’s your chance to see it in all its printed glory.

Fuzzyface: The Agnew Chainsaw Massacre 3 is the graphic novel that’s a must read. And now, it’s being made available in a reprint campaign on kickstarter.com.

Originally published and debuted at Phoenix Comic Con 2010 by the comic book imprint Anti-Hero Brand Press, Fuzzyface was written by the enigmatic Venus of Necro and drawn with the original character created by John Chihak, creator of Youth in Asia.

Simon Bisley, the artist behind DC Comics’ “Lobo’s Back,” and Heavy Metal magazine calls Fuzzyface, “Bloody Frankenbear!” Fuzzyface is also supported by the likes of Jimmie Robinson, creator of Bomb Queen from Image Comics and Mike Debaflo, comic book cover artist at Zenescope, not to mention a horde of rabid fans and creators alike.

Fuzzyface is the tale of professional sidekick Agnew Pennyworth, who has ridden around in John Chihak’s backpack in Tucson, Arizona, for the past decade and a half.

One day, Fuzzyface decides he’s going to don the faces of his often furry and usually inebriated victims.

But don’t get the wrong idea, Fuzzyface: The Agnew Chainsaw Massacre 3 is a love story under all the stuffing that hits the fan.

Fuzzyface will be posted on kickstarter.com as a project Friday August 19, 2011. To help fund the project, pledge to the campaign. Only if we reach our goal will backers’ pledges be collected. Our funding goal is $3,500. This will get a large reprinting of the book, buttons, postcards and other promotional material to spread the gospel that is Fuzzyface. If we ecee

We are offering special incentives to our backers . Included are original art from the book, a chance to have your pinup style picture of Fuzzyface added to the graphic novel and in four very special instances, backers will be added to the mayhem where they will be victims of Fuzzyface. Meaning, your likeness will be comic book, puppetized and put into the book and you’ll be one of Fuzzyface’s many victims. Every backer gets something. From a “What Would Fuzzyface Do?” postcarsd or buttons with new artwork, to signed copies of the book, or one of five original pages being offered. Not to mention the eternal thanks and gratitude of two creators who know that sometimes all it takes is a smidge of furry mayhem to make the world a little bit happier.

Writer Venus of Necro lives somewhere in the Western Hemisphere. Fuzzyface is her second time writing comics. The first was G2: The Book of Grrry, which she also collaborated with Chihak. She sends her love to those who support the book and small press.

Illustrator John Chihak lives in Tucson, Arizona with his three baby dogs, Sabu, Foley and Grrry and his sidekick, Agnew Pennyworth. When he’s not coming up with the “next big thing” in comics, he works overnight shifts at a group home for adults with developmental disabilities and on call shifts at Emerge Centers against domestic abuse. To him, Fuzzyface has been the best experience working in comics to date. Oh and his three dogs appear in Fuzzyface too.

Don’t miss this opportunity to be a part of the process of creating a story made by two young up and coming creators in the comic book industry

I’ve neglected this site for a while, or should I say, I’ve neglected the genre as a whole. After a year of horror films, the past few months, i’ve been catching up on Rom Coms, Drama and Period pieces. With the awards season upon us, I’ve been bagging as many as possible in order to set my own predictions on the table which brings me to Black Swan, which in turn brings me back to the horror genre.

Natalie Portman plays Nina, a dedicated ballerina who dreams of the lead role. A vivid premonition comes true but it’s soon quite apparent that the path to success is not always the fairytale. The nightmare is about to begin. The new production is a reinvention of Swan Lake, a tragic tale, a princess is transformed into a swan who needs to find true love to release her from the curse, but her prince picks the wrong girl and our princess dies of a broken heart. So while Nina is pushing her body to the limit, her mind is crumbling with paranoia.

The film is a stunning character study which delves deep and offers multiple layers for the viewer to play with in their own mind. A crazy mother, pushing her own dreams onto her daughter, an ageing star now replaced, an eager dancer looking for competition and then there is Nina who is struggling with sanity, in need for compliments, success and love. What we also get is a balance or reality and fantasy. As we have the whole film from the view of Nina, every single scene can be questioned as to is this really happening and is it all in wrapped in desire or deep dark thoughts. Notably, the scene at the Hospital with the nail file, I’d question if Nina ever even visited the place or if this is just a subconscious dream of guilt and a desire to succeed, stabbing everyone in her way. The scene between Lily (Milla Kunis) in Nina’s bedroom reinforces this as we obviously see a graphic interaction between the two girls, yet later Lily’s involvement and attendance is questioned. Her mother (Barbara Hershey) also shows conflicting love, singled out mainly as an evil domineering tierant, although her final key scene suggests she is the only person who really knows what is going on in Nina’s head and is concerned about her daughters health. Let me also mention her lustful desire and obsession for the production’s artistic director, Thomas (Vincent Cassel); just who is he having an affair with, Nina? Lily? I’d again, argue this is all in Nina’s mind.

Now, let’s look at the horror side of things. The film is filled with classic 80′s jumps, which with big sound design allow the audience to feel on the edge of their seat, tension and terror with people appearing from behind doors, from the darkness… Classic stuff here. To fuel this, the main narrative focus’ on body horror, a finished result which Cronenberg would be proud of, although, any film fan would be aware, Aronofsky has a reoccurring theme here, the stength and power of the mind through obsession, desire and love which a poses the weakness of the flesh, the cask that we live our lives within; similar to Cronenberg although with immense depths of paranoia. Physically, we see some pretty nasty moments of skin ripping, self harm and the will to get under the irritation of the flesh. To top this all off, we have some weighty tips of the hat to Argento, close similarity to his 70′s masterpiece, Suspiria and his 80′s Opera, but also Nina’s apartment holds some uncanny resemblances to that of Deep Red; similar mirrors in the hallway and horrific paintings of Nina by her Mother and of cause, Argento’s signature theme, protagonists haunted and damaged by the actions of their past or parents. Finally, the club scene completes the salute with red and green lights filling the screen and dance floor, pure Suspiria.
Black Swan is something to watch, something experience and soak up the whole emotion of a woman on the edge and beyond. It’s beautifully horrific, uneasy and at times, difficult viewing, which gives the film that punch. Portman offers a flawless performance here, Cassel, Kunis and Hershey all support perfectly.