I've blogged about the world of horror for well over 10 years. I've watched every inconceivable paranormal, poltergeist and ghost movie probably ever made but I've never actually done any ghost hunting IRL. In less than a month, I'll be doing just that for the first time.
With some fellow Survivors, were all going to venture to The Shanley Hotel, a supposed haunted inn with a very dark past. Equipped with EVPs and recording devices, we shall see if we can hear and see the sights and sounds of the past. Part of me wants to bring a PKE meter, Tobin's Spirit Guide and a proton pack but I would need some help obtaining those items.
I've only done one other "ghost tour" and that was in New Orleans....during the day. If you look at those pictures, I'm not even sure I took a picture of a orb or ghost though they claimed there was a 90% chance I would.
Hence my tone of skepticism. I've seen and loved both Paranormal Activity and The Innkeepers. But that's movie magic and you're guaranteed to see bumps in the night. Who knows what will happen when I go on May 25th.
But here's the deal where believer and skeptic become a debate in your own head. I believe there is intelligent life in the universe. I believe there is unknown species we have yet to discover on this planet called Earth. But believing in something and wanting to believe are two different things.
I want to believe in Bigfoot and Loch Ness Monster. I want to believe extrasensory perception and time travel. I also want to believe in the paranormal. And so we put that to the test first. Because that is worth exploring. As Q in ST: TNG said once, it's "charting the unknown possibilities of existence".
Do you believe in ghosts? Have you gone on a mini investigation of our own to a supposed haunted place?
Let me know and share some advice with me.
Hollywood keeps churning out the remake machine. And we all keep eating it. Sometimes when you haven't eaten that cake you haven't had in a while, it tastes different, has more flavors and it's actually still damn yummy.
Welcome to the Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell approved Evil Dead sequel? remake? re imagining?
If you hold tried and true to the principles of what made Raimi's cabin in the woods film all so awesome, you won't fuck it up. Even when you add some Diablo Cody and some director you've never heard of, it will still work if you go with the old school makeup and gore effects and slip in a run down Oldsmobile. What you come up with is what I tweeted after seeing the flick:
There is an audience that has seen Raimi's #EvilDead and an audience that has NOT seen the original. This version works amazingly both.
Evil Dead goes for a straight take, book of the dead unleashed blood soaked horror film. Gone are the wacky hi jinks of ED2 and Army. What we have received in this installment is what noobs and hardcore veterans haven't seen in years, a demon menace wreaking havoc horror film. I have always been a fan of these films and like the cannibal movie of yesteryear, sometimes I want to see my first horror loves from so long ago.
When your nostalgia meter gets jacked to maximum and you see a few kids getting killed by all manners of weaponry, it's a fun time for all.
Boring Plot-O-Matic
Five friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods. The evil presence possesses them until only one is left to fight for survival.
Awesome Review-O-Matic
Might as well review this like I did Cabin in the Woods. With my slasher Q&A. In this case, I'll slightly modify it to be more demon-y focused.
1.) Does the movie have..... a mysterious, insanely strong, ridiculed as a child, deformed, inbred redneck slasher?
It has a Deadite that goes all Urban Dictionary while being all possessively demonic and fucked up. There's tinge of wicked humor (let's call it Cody-isms) but more so awkward evil going all crazy.
2.) Gratuitous, over the top, super fleshy nudity?
Can you believe it? Nada. Sigh.
3.) Stereotypical teenage caricatures with a few old people who die gruesome and horrific over the top deaths?
We got our Ash-ish final girl Mia, David the older bro who borders on final guy, the nerdy tinkerer who unleashes the evil, the black tough girl and the ditzy blonde girlfriend. And yup they die waaaay over the top deaths. Our hipster has balls of fuckin steel but we'll get to that in a moment.
4.) No Plot?
It's the same old plot so pretty much no plot.
5.) Kills by our slasher that make you go "Fuck yeah!"
Our resident deadite does go all kill happy in a variety of ways. Needle trauma, brain smashing trauma, nail gun trauma, shotgun trauma, hammer time trauma.
6.)
Gore, lots of it. Like serious decapitation, dismemberment, impalement,
hatchet frenzy steroid rages and blood shooting out at various
penetration wounds, limbs a flailing and mindless splatter and mayhem?
We get a version of happy molesting tree, some evil hand infection and some Ash-ing it up montage moments. Blood mayhem goes old school and I deeply appreciated it. You could tell the makeup and buckets of blood being used gave it that old timey horror glaze that we all love.
7.)
Geeky leader who takes charge of the hapless group as they try to
escape who befriends the hot girl who knows about the "legend" (there's
always a legend no one believes)
Our nerdy hippy who unleashed the evil dead sure can take a beating. He was stabbed, nail gunned, crowbared and beaten senseless and he kept breathing. Kudos to you dude.You must have been on meth or something.
8.)
Funny yet ill timed dialogue but also various quips and one liners that
are funny only the first time around (yet somehow funny again when you
buy the DVD and only when you're stoned)
If you laughed it was probably a Cody-ism. Thank the old gods there wasn't a hamburger phone.
9.)
Gratuitous cameos of horror legends (a famous man of the box, classic
Universal monsters, Kubrick tweens) that make you flash a metal sign
and do the Beavis and Butthead pseudo head nodding.
You saw the Oldsmobile Delta 88 and the end credits scene. A few of the Raimi trademarks also show up.
10.) Wildly ambiguous ending that can be used to warrant a sequel?
Somebody will find the goddamn Necronimicon. They always do.
I'm not going to say Evil Dead is a perfect film, but it does its job well. It's 90 minutes of furious hellish fun that takes the cabin in the woods formula and gets all creative. I mean ever since Whedon's masterpiece, I've been scarred by the cliched woods film. But Alvarez seems to genuinely care about the source material, does his fair share of homaging and actually creates his own version that shines. Is it a sequel? a remake? a chapter?
Who the hell knows. We should be glad we got this installment of the franchise and be happy.
I received an early press release from a NYC theater group that is about to launch a new interactive experience in NYC. It seems the interactive horror may have gone mainstream as it's similar to the other haunts I've reviewed in the past.
Stalker: Be the stalker or be the prey, a new interactive horror experience comes to NYC
Renegade Productions is proud to introduce a new interactive experience that will be unleashed to the people of New York City this summer. What would it be like to act as a serial killer stalking your prey? What would it be like to be the prey being stalked by a serial killer? In the world of Stalker, those questions will be answered as 2 willing participants face off head to head in a battle of wills straight out of a horror movie.
"The best way to describe it is Silence of the Lambs role playing. We hope people become fully invested in acting out their fantasies and in doing so trying to outsmart the person they are going against," says Jay Appleton, co-creator of Stalker. Participants will have to sign a waiver, give personal details of where they live and work, their social media accounts, phone number and e-mail. From this information a "stalker" will be able to taunt their prey in a variety of ways.
On the other end of the spectrum, the "prey" will also be able to piece clues to who his/her stalker is as a faux FBI dossier/profile will be given. Based upon this information, the person will have to work on finding out who this "stalker" is and prepare a way to survive and ultimately eliminate him or her. The winner will be the person who is able to outsmart, out think and out play their opponent in this real life cat and mouse horror scenario. "We think people will enjoy playing out a fantasy on the city streets where paranoia and thrills running high for a week," says Cassidy James, the other co-creator of Stalker.
Stalker will start this summer in NYC. More details are coming soon including price and ticket availability.
Welcome to the ultimate game of cat and mouse.
Stalker is designed and created by Jay Appleton and Cassidy James. They are the creators of Renegade Productions, a theater group based out of NYC.
For more information:
http://www.xxxxxxx.com
https://www.facebook.com/xxxxxxx
http://twitter.com/xxxxxx
For media information please contact XXXXXXXX at XXXXXXX, XXXXXXX.
I removed the PR info as it's not suppose to go out yet. So what does everybody think of this new horror production? Would you pay to be stalked? Would you pay to be the prey and be a pretend final girl or guy?
I'm going to have to definitely sign up for this. And trust me, I'm nobody's fool when it comes to being a stalker or being a stalkee.
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