Blood Manor 2012 (Review)

Well I've now attended Blood Manor for 4 consecutive years. You'd think I'd be jaded now but Blood Manor seems to change up things every year which is always a plus. Jimmy Lorenzo, Jim Faro and Mike Rodriguez have a reputation of running a well oiled haunted house and it's well deserved. In years past they have outside acts consisting of painful torture and contortionists to keep the crowd entertained and it will be brought back this year. Who doesn't like seeing extreme pain? But at the end of the day, it's the house that makes Blood Manor.

Photo via Downtown Traveler

Accompanied by veteran Blood Manor alum Leslie from Downtown Traveler, this preview night has always been a great kickoff to the haunted house season.  I've said it year after year, the actors and set designs are what make he masses flood to Blood Manor. The actors at Blood Manor are mini comedians. If you give them time, interact with them, talk and joke with them you'll laugh and be completely shocked by what comes out of their mouths. It's imperative you don't rush from room to room (even when you're ordered to do so). The actors want to talk to you, make fun of you and scare the shit out of you. It's your job as a scaredy cat to make it happen.

During my visit I was called some odd things, viewed a deformed baby and sat down on a bloody table for some open heart surgery. And through some new technology, I saw myself as a zombie.This interactivity, though brief is what make Blood Manor leave it's patrons happy. Sure they have rehearsed lines, the growls and screams come out of nowhere but you need to talk to the crazies in order to make it all worth it.

I've always thought the actors, dressed in their mental patient outfits, zombified gore and stellar makeup can bring about a sense of horror close up. The victims scream endlessly, begging for help as you mock them (oh wait, I guess I'm the one who decided to do that). I want a quick snap personalized experience if possible and the actors clearly when they are on their game can do that.

Photo via Downtown Traveler

The set design and rooms are always beautifully classics of monster lore of the past. New rooms include a Dr. Frankenstein laboratory with a funky new interactive TV. The mad doctor's autopsy at the morgue was a nice touch. I believe it was the best room so far. The fucked up Thanksgiving dinner banquet has always been a solid room and with some creative lighting furnishes it with some creepy crawlies. Also a steam punk room complete with prepackaged steam punker was new. The staples of bacon carcasses and zombie strippers is always a good time as is corridors with utter darkness and laser tech. The finale brings back the 3D effects which for the newbies, will be wicked cool.

I still think the actors rush you a bit from time to time, but that must be a prerequisite with the job when there are large crowds itching to go in. I'd also appreciate if I got to do more interaction (like the impromptu surgery) or maybe dance with a stripper? How about firing that cannon? The more audience participation, the better I always say.

My suggestions as always is to take things slow. You really need to slow the pace in order for you to see the scene unfold. Sometimes you'll bump into the group in front of you or the group in back of you comes out of nowhere. Then you get a clusterfuck of a mess of 6-10 people jam packed into a room. If everybody didn't rush through, I guarantee Blood Manor would flow seamlessly with scares.

Blood Manor is a staple of NYC Haunted Houses. If you've never been, it's a must go. They are indeed the blockbuster of all the haunted houses in the city combining Tim Burton style rooms with a mix of Universal monsters horror and high tech wizardry. They seem to always be on the cutting edge of pushing the tech aspect of haunted houses and the actors come full prepared to torture you with invisible scares and smart ass remarks.

Also I did mention zombie strippers right?

The Vitals

• The official site
• Like on Facebook
• Follow on Twitter
• Blood Manor opens this Friday 10/5.
• Blood Manor is located at 163 Varick Street (Soho) Subway: 1 Train to Houston St or C/E to Spring St.
• General Admission tickets are $25 and R.I.P. tickets are $40
• Blood Manor runs until 11/3/12.
• Special Thanks to Jim Faro, Jimmy Rodriguez!

 Check out the trailer below.

Categories: blood manor, blood manor review, haunted house, new york city, nyc halloween haunted house, nyc haunted house, nyc horror

IAmA REAL Blackout Haunted House Survivor, AMA

Some guy on Reddit is claiming he's been to Blackout Haunted House. I mean sure, if you've gone to 1 haunt last year, you're a survivor....but does that make you can expert? Fuck no.

You've read my walkthroughs and reviews and I think I can do a better job of answering your questions and so can The Raven & Black Cat who's been to most of them as well.

Head over to OUR IAMA and ask away!

Categories: blackout, blackout haunted house, halloween, nyc halloween haunted house, nyc haunted house, nyc horror, reddit

Hello Reddit! Check out all my Blackout Haunted House Reviews!

Hello Reddit! It seems you found my walkthrough of his amazing haunted house in NYC. As a fellow Redditor myself, I've posted links to my experiences in the past. Never actually been on the front page though.

I've been going to this haunt since 2010 when it was super secret. I've even went to all the Spring haunts (where only 20 people get invites) to participate in glorious horror role playing.

All are fucked up as advertised.

Check out all my walkthroughs and reviews of Blackout below.

• Vortex Theater's NYC Halloween Haunted House Review (2010) 
• Vortex Theater's NYC Halloween Haunted House Walkthrough and Spoilers (2010)
• Vortex Theater's NYC Halloween Haunted House (SPRING EDITION) Walkthrough Review (2011)
• Blackout Haunted House Review (2011) 
• Blackout Haunted House Walkthrough (2011)
• Blackout Haunted House: Spring Edition (2012)

If you have any questions or comments let me know. Maybe I should do an AMA? I'll be going to Blackout next week so be sure to check back here to read a review of the 2012 version.

You can go also leave any comments/questions on The Jaded Viewer Facebook Page or on Twitter.

I hope you all read in horror of my experience at NYC's best haunted house.

Categories: blackout haunted house, haunted house, nyc halloween haunted house, nyc haunted house, reddit

Blackout Haunted House 2012: Tickets now on Sale

News has hit over at Blackout Haunted House. First, tickets are now on sale. Second, they've opened up a second front in Los Angeles. So LA gets to experience torture terror for the first time.

Head over to the official site and Facebook page for more info.

Also, they've dropped a new video preview. Check it out below.

Categories: blackout, blackout haunted house, haunted house, nyc halloween haunted house, nyc haunted house

I Am a Ghost (Review)

I Am a Ghost 

I Am a Ghost (2012)

Directed by H.P. Mendoza

You'll have noticed a lack of reviews of late. I've been focusing on that other blog I do. The other reason for the lack of reviews is I've just been picky in what I've been watching. The horror screeners I get are full of poor men's attempt at what Hollywood wants. That's not what indie horror is.

H.P. Mendoza's I Am a Ghost is what indie horror is.

I have to be thankful I am part of a horror blogger inner circle that makes sure I see films like this. Thanks to Cortez the Killer at Planet of Terror (see his review) I feel reinvigorated in writing reviews for The Jaded Viewer. This film was a breath of fresh air and my fellow inner circler Chris at All Things Horror agrees (see his review here). It's what we as horror bloggers live for. Seeing something different, something unique and something with tons of risk that pays off big time.

Mendoza's I Am a Ghost is a slow burn ghost story that channels all the suspense of Kubrick film and releases it's madness Ti West style. You have to admire a film that throwsback to a cinematic style of vintaginess and still delivers. Add the fact the entire movie is centrally focused on one character, Emily (Anna Ishida) and in one setting, an old Victorian house and it's a bit risky endeavor. But that's why indie horror is a frontier. You'll never know if it will work if you don't try right?

I Am a Ghost plays with the viewer, forcing a WTF in every brief but cryptic scene until it slowly lets you in on the secrets that plague our dear Emily. Like a non linear jigsaw puzzle, all the pieces begin to make sense as the picture progresses (the eggs!!!) and once you see the entirety of the film, it's quite a sight to behold. It's full of chilling moments, superb acting and a twizzer twist on the ghost genre.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

Emily, a troubled spirit, haunts her own house every day, wondering why she can't leave. With the help of Sylvia, a clairvoyant hired to rid the house of spirits, Emily is forced into a 'patient/therapist' relationship, uncovering disturbing mysteries about her past that may help her move on to 'the next place'.

Awesome Review-O-Matic 

I've slowly tried to give some leeway into the slow burn horror film. In both Ti West outings, I've been for and against it. It just depends on what's burning. In Mendoza's I Am a Ghost, the burn is full of dreamlike imagery of scenes of repetitiveness. Emily is a girl that seems oddly off. We see her repeat activities such as waking up, eating breakfast, getting groceries and cleaning. She's stuck in routine, but it seems her life in this Victorian house is not as it seems.The first quarter of  the film is a slow burn to get us use to what's been happening before were thrown into this story. Whereas you'd be bored by a slow walker, a creaky floor or a few jump scares or whatever, the snapshots of Emily in "her life" and its loopiness is a montage of foggy delight. You're put in WTF mode and it draws you in.

In her parent's room, she hears a disembodied voice of Sylvia a medium (hired by the homeowners) who is trying to help her "to the light". She cannot see Sylvia, and vice versa. In a farside twist where the ghost doesn't know she is a ghost, Emily is TOLD she is a ghost and believes it. Read that sentence again because it's important.

Sylvia's conversations with Emily revolve around the nature of "closing", her memories, her death and her routine. If she leaves her parent's room she forgets everything. The movie is a cinematic darling in it plays with a stylized Del Toro-ness. There is a bit of shabby humor between Sylvia and Emily that breaks all the spooky tension. It's like modernity meets a stubborn old man stuck in time. The conversations slowly give us a glimpse of Emily's situation as does the imprints she has left in each room.

As the film concludes, a reveal puts all the pieces together and Emily confronts what she has dreaded the most.

Anna Ishida's performance is stellarly fantastic. To act by yourself, with a voiceover as your only partner must have been challenging and she does a great job in pulling it off. There would be a point where you'd think she'd have to be overmelodramatic but her subtlety in her performance was without a doubt what made it great.

Mendoza's story could easily draw comparisons to The Sixth Sense, The Others and The Innkeepers but that would be a disservice. What this film does is create a sense of dread, hopelessness and mystery and reveals a young woman's disturbing secret has not been eliminated in death. It's a journey through a photographic album of a life that was full of hardship and pain, where our instinctive nature to see a happy ending won't be answered. The very nature of the ghost story is that it is suppose to scare you. But here we are in a comforting role though the scares do come in a frenetic ending.

H.P. Mendoza is a talented filmmaker who clearly has pulled the best the old guard and the new guard have created and made a film that resembles the best of both. You will not be disappointed to see a film that has a new story to tell, a style all it's own and an eerie take on the what goes bump in the night.

Make sure you see this film.

Gore-ipedia

A few scenes of the red stuff, nothing your grandma couldn't handle

WTF moment

The visual of Emily's secret...shivers

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

I Am a Ghost is playing the film festival circuit. Be sure to check out the official site, follow H.P. Mendoza on Vimeo and Twitter. He just wrote a film called Yes Were Open starring Parry Shen. I'm pretty psyched to see what other films Mr. Mendoza has in store, hopefully he continues to do a few more in this genre.

Rating:

Check out the trailer below.

I AM A GHOST (Reviews Trailer #1) from H.P. Mendoza on Vimeo.

Categories: 2012 horror movies, ghost stories, ghosts, independent cinema, indepentent horror, indie horror, ti west, Top Terrifying Supernatural Moments

The Dead (Review)

The Dead

The Dead (2010)

Directed by The Ford Brothers

I wrote a list last year of my The Remaining Best of the Rest Horror Movies of 2011. I had only seen 3 movies on that list and now I've seen my 4th. The Dead was #6 on that list and I figured it had the making of a classic zombie film.

I wasn't wrong.

The zombie craze has died down a bit (we still have The Walking Dead thank the Universe) and so this hit my radar in a big way. It's a film that has shades of Cannibal Holocaust mixed in with Lucio Fulci's Zombie 2 and a tad of Day of the Dead. Shot on 35mm, it really has a look of a film discovered from the 70s or 80s. And it that way it honors the past of the essence of a zombie film. Slowly decaying reanimated corpses, slow moving hordes of the undead, bright blue eyes of the infected and the craving of living flesh.

It's the roots of a zombie film and it's awesome. The African setting is a sight to behold. The scenery, the cinematography can't be duplicated. The grittiness, the sweltering heat, the jagged mountain formations and the never ending desert are sights to behold.

Sure the story was rather pedestrian, the action scenes generic but the feel of zombie madness is ever present. You feel like your in danger in the pitch darkness as is our main character and it's all about survival, not jokes. The reality of The Dead is that you only can think about one thing: survival.

It's the zombie film that countless others have tried to make but failed. This isn't your Resident Evil zombie film. It's a "no more room in hell" one.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

When the last evacuation flight out of war-torn Africa crashes off the coast, American Air Force Engineer Lieutenant Brian Murphy (ROB FREEMAN) emerges as the sole survivor in a land where the dead are returning to life and attacking the living. 

On the run in a hostile and inhospitable parched landscape, where sudden death lurks around every sun-burnished corner, Murphy has to use his wits and ingenuity if he is to get home alive to his family. When Murphys path clashes with that of Sergeant Daniel Dembele (PRINCE DAVID OSEI), whose village has been torn apart by the reanimated dead, they join forces. 

The two desperate men from two very different cultures fight side by side to survive across the incredible vistas of Africa as the world succumbs to the deadliest of viruses. 

Awesome Review-O-Matic

From the opening scene to the last, it seems our mercenary mechanic Brian Murphy is always in danger. Every successive scene seems to have zombie danger. From crash landing on to the beach, BOOM! zombies on the attack. Zombies in the jungle, zombies in the villages, crazy zombies all over the place. Armed with a gun and nothing else, our trust Macgyver is able to get a car running in the sweltering heat.
He soon meets up with  Sgt. Daniel, a AWOL soldier who is looking for his son. They team up and look out for each other in this new hell. What The Dead does is a bit different in your typical zombie movie team up. Nobody becomes super buddies. It's a more serious tone, jokes are a rarity. Both Brian and Dan know that the land is full of potential hazards and they gotta keep on their toes.

The two kick ass elements of The Dead are surely the scenery and the zombie kills. The rural landscape of this Africa is where no zombie movie has gone before. Zombies in cities, on farms. We've seen it. Seeing zombies in that Fulci island sorta way is taking it back to its roots. Zombies on beaches, zombies on dirt roads, zombies in the dead of night with those ominous blue eyes. That's some spooky, suspenseful shit.

At one point our duo go to an abandoned air field and Brian investigates a tunnel in a hanger. It's an effective scene. As they bring back gas for their car in the middle of the night, they both are throttled by hungry flesh eaters, many in different forms. Legless zombies, armless zombies.

Which brings us to the kills. Sarge Daniel is armed with an M4 and a machete and he knows how to use the fuckin Machte like Treach from Naughty by Nature. Decaps, arm caps, you name it. From what I can tell, we get our kills o'natural. Less CGI which made me happy. Sure the standard gunshot to the heads are there but it had that Zombie 2 feel to most of the kills.

The personalities of both Brian and Daniel are plain, but there logic echoed my own. At one point Daniel sets up a string can detection system. In another Brian sleeps in a tree. It makes sense and I'm glad the Ford Bros made it a point to put that in there.

Clearly there is a point of African war theme here. It seems tribal factions have stopped fighting in order to unite to fight the common enemy, the undead. The theme of family, sense of identity and survival are all present as well but don't become to preachy.

The Dead is a throwback to the vintage undiluted zombie apocalypse movies of old. African zombies are actually a new twist to the cluttered world of the genre but proves quite effective. We've seen the  Resident Evil game have a version within Africa as a setting but in a movie it makes it feel all the more gritty and hostile.

The movie is indeed short on story, developed characters and thrilling WTF awesome action scenes. But it makes up for it in a landscape of beautiful cinematography where this safari is no longer one inhabited by animals, but of the dead. A movie that can take the genre back to why I love Fulci gives me hope. And oddly enough, that was the message it tried to echo at the end.

Gore-ipedia

Zombie kills galore
Headshots
Bodyshots
Machete mutilation
Hit and run trauma
Tire head trauma

WTF moment
Somebody dies in the most stupid way that got me going WTF

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

The Dead is quite effective to making me reminisce about the golden age of B-movie zombie films. It's not at the tier of Zombie 2 or Dawn/Day but it never dumbs it down for the audience. It's seriousness made it all the more terrifying. In the end, it's a survival movie and one that can be called a cult classic in the making.

The Dead is out on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Rating:

Categories: 2012 horror movies, lucio fulci, the dead, western zombie horror, zombie, zombie 2, zombies

Van Damme in Mortal Kombat: Bloodsport Edition

Well this video below is absolutely post worthy. Bravo TheVanDammeFan2009. This made me want to watch Bloodsport all over again. This Van Damme fan has made many such video game Van Damme mash ups but this has gotta be the best.

Check it out below.

Categories: bloodsport, chong li, JCVD, Jean Claude Van Damme, kumite brackets, kumite tournament brackets, mortal kombat, ray jackson, van damme

The WTF List: The Expendables 2

It's all about the Van Damme. Insano Steve and I saw The Expendables 2 first day it came out and clearly I was here for the Van Damme show. I openly rooted for Jean Claude. When he first came on screen, I applauded and howled my ass off. Oh man did he try to act. Some monologue about respect, uranium and fighting like a man.

The other jabronis gave a big cheer to that punk Texas Ranger. I was spinkicking my way to happiness when Jean Villain made his appearance on the screen. The Expendables 2 is more of the same old murder death kills by our gang of happy go lucky mercenaries but what part 1 lacked in a bad guy is made up into pure unadulterated awesomeness with Van Damme.

Onto the WTF List (pretty much Jean Claude edition)

1.) They kill all of Mongolia
2.) Cue Arnold cameo
3.) Cue Bruce cameo
4.) Holy shit, JCVD's got his own Bulgarian gang!
5.) Have you noticed all action movies now are filmed in Bulgaria? Bulgaria, where life is cheap, sets can be built by slave labor and the extras playing soldiers actually died while filming
6.) Scott Adkins is now forever is JCVD's action BFF 
7.) OMG...yeah you saw JCVD spinkick a knife into Chris Hemsworth!!! Fuck yeah!
8.) Van Damme's acting is like hearing two squirrels fuck. It's horrible, makes no sense and he clearly he has no idea what he's actually saying. But it's funny as fuck.
9.) Dolph is actually playing himself...just an FYI
10.) I mean Jean Villain just wants to be a rich as fuck motherfucker. At least he's only using men for the slave labor
11.) This is an actual line: "I have people who are willing to pay ten billion dollars for that plutonium in the mine. Three days." (really 10 billion dollars for plutonium? Couldn't you trick some Libyans by giving them pinball machine parts?)
12.) I'll admit, the Chuck Norris joke was funny.
13.) The Arnold/Bruce ambiguously alpha male duo was solid
14.) Stallone vs Van Damme: I counted 2 spinkicks from JCVD. Where was the Dim Mak? Make him say "matte" JCVD!
14a.) Every Stallone fight scene resembles the final scene from Demolition Man
15.) Van Damme kinda dies like a pussy
16.) Something guns, something punching, something pa pa pa power!
17.) The Couture ear jokes were corny
18.) Hot asian chick should have been played by Jamie Chung. Every hot asian chick should be played by Jamie Chung
19.) At least Statham got to throw some knives
20.) Next super team: Jackie Chan, Scott Speedman and Michael Dudikoff

What did you all think of The Expendables 2?

Categories: 80s action, action cinema, arnold schwarenegger, JCVD, Jean Claude Van Damme, spinkicks, stallone, sylvester stallone, the expendables, van damme

Elevator (Review)

Elevator

Elevator (2011)

Directed by Stig Svendsen

Everybody has fears about being stuck in an elevator. I mean when I saw this guy stuck for 41 hours, it was fuckin terrifying. We've all done it. Looked around the people in the elevator with us and said to ourselves, could I be trapped with these people?

We've all checked our phones to make sure we've got bars and battery life. We've all checked if we have life sustaining food, you know that pack of Orbitz gum. I was stuck in an elevator for 10 minutes once. It was claustrophobic hell but at least I had my friend to keep me company.

Well Elevator tries to play on those fears but doubles the ante by not just cramming 9 people inside but by unleashing a twist. Yup somebody has a bomb in the elevator and everybody pushes the panic button. Comparisons to M Night's Devil isn't too far behind. I found that half assed Twilight zone melodrama-ish. Elevator has a more grounded approach but still goes up and down never really finding a direction to go to.

It's got some suspenseful moments, though a film like has little to do with plot but more if we're willing to spend time with these characters. Do we care enough to be stuck with these people for 80 minutes? I wasn't. These movies where one location is central, viewers tend to want to like the normals and hate the wackos. Oddly enough, they were all wackos.

Elevator pushes our buttons hoping they've pushed the right ones of suspense, thrills and angst. Unfortunately, it misses them all.

Boring Plot-O-Matic


Racism collides with corporate greed when nine strangers are trapped in a Wall Street elevator, and one of them has a bomb. They will do anything to survive.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Elevator does have a message that of when corporate greed goes awry, Occupy Wall St goes homicidal. But what has to draw you in are the characters and I have to say none of them were people I wanted to see alive.

We have the asshole douchebag comedian, the rich tycoon with his spoiled, bratty granddaughter, the journalist and her alpha douchebag broker boyfriend, the Iranian-American security guard, the fat salaryman, the pregnant eye candy blonde and the old widow.

The only respectable dude was the fat salaryman but even by the end I was tired of him. All have backstories and our strangers become an "elevator family". We do get a few twists as our strangers aren't really strangers. All have agendas but all seem to non be remotely tolerable to spend so much time watching them complain.

When you do an ensemble, you should have 1-2 main antagonists, a comic relief guy, some eye candy and a WTF guy. Elevator has them all but none do a decent job at...well their jobs. In the end, the movie plays on all those fears when trapped in a confined area. Blood starts to boil and survival instincts kick in.

There are some bloody moments and some close calls. But my pesky logic kicks in. At one point, they start streaming the local news. Are you telling me there is wi-fi in this elevator? Elevators in my building are wi-fi dead spots. How big is this elevator? It's like huge in there. Plus the NYPD and security team are the most inept in retrieving our family. You would think they'd be in constant communication with these guys as 2 of them have cellphones

My gripes aside, it's an adequate movie that fits into the Wall St. vs Main St theme. Rich vs poor, black vs white, men vs women. There is serious conflict on all fronts which make this soap opera thriller fun to watch.

In the end though, you think we'll see a twist and explanation. Something bigger than people stuck in an elevator. It never comes and all your left with is listening to cheesy elevator music while thinking you can stream wi-fi at a dead spot.

Gore-ipedia

Some blood splatter and unnecessary surgery.

WTF moment

I wish preggers blonde worked with me. Her secret got me saying...WTF.

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

If you liked Devil, this will fill your void. It's got some nice thrilling moments and you do watch to figure out what may happen next.





Elevator will be released on DVD on August 21st via Inception Media Group. Check out the official site and Facebook page.



Rating:

Check out the trailer.

Categories: 2011 horror movies, 2012 horror movies, devil, elevator, indie film, indie horror, m.night. shyamalan, thriller

What the hell should I do with my VHS collection?

I did some summer cleaning over the weekend and I realized that packed in boxes I had overlooked is my entire VHS collection. After watching V/H/S a few weeks ago, it seems my generation is now stuck with VHS tapes that are neither valuable as collector's items nor useless as Betamax tapes. VHS tapes sit on that border of being cool nostalgia and being crappy nostalgia.

The funny part is I don't even own a VCR anymore so even if I wanted to watch one of these classic horror flicks I own (like Slashers above) I can't. And really....who has recently watched an entire movie on VHS?

Seriously have you?

I think not.

I can't throw them all away because well, shits fuckin toxic and electronic. There really is no proper way to recycle VHS tapes. Trust me, I've checked out sites and some sites ask you to pay to recycle them. Fuck that. I could Craiglist my collection. Maybe somebody out there wants my copy of Police Story 3. I'm not even sure anybody would want this. I could donate my collection to the Thift shop down the block. I mean would they even accept that?

Sure I know some people would say keep it and display it proudly but I'm kind of limited on space and I think it's about time I free myself of this archaic technology. Like all good things, it's time I let go of my 80s/90s obsession.

So I ask you horror blogosphere and the horror-verse community, what have you done with your VHS collection?

Here are some highlights of my collection.

Coven (autographed copy)
MTV's The State
George Carlin Jammin in NY
Luther the Geek (via Urban Fetch)
I Spit on Your Corpse, I Piss on your Grave (why do I own this?)
Assorted horror cannibal movies via trades (Cannibal Holocaust, Emerald Jungle, Cnnibal Ferox)
Assorted porn

A lot of movies I got via trades back in the 90s and early 00s.

Here are just some of the titles.

Violet Shit trilogy
Premutos
Visitor Q
Lots of Miike movie

Look here is picture of said box. This is one of three boxes.

I have The Matrix and Big Lebowski on VHS tape! Lots of other tapes in the other 2 boxes. Clearly buying movies at horror conventions, making trades and eBaying has resulted in an overload of movies I can never watch anymore.

I need suggestions and ideas on what to do. Where is your VHS collection?

Categories: horror trades, horror trading lists, straight to video, vhs

Terminator Too: A Judgement Play (Review)

"Chill out, dickwad"

That's a line from T2, as John Connor tries to teach the Terminator how to speak human as they ride into Mexico. The same kind of teaching takes place in the performance of a new Arnold, recruited straight from the audience in Terminator Too: A Judgement Play.  That's just one of the many ridiculous oddities that are incorporated in this absolutely brilliant and hilarious play from Thomas Blake, Jim Cunningham and John Moauro, the masterminds of the infamous Point Break Live.

Terminator Too is your low budget spoof play of the 1991 blockbuster and is the equivalent of seeing a Broadway play at a 99 cents store. Oh the props are ridiculously cheap, the video clips intertwined in the play have CGI that would make James Cameron weep, but what's genuinely rich in Terminator Too is the attention to detail to this Arnold classic and jokes that are clever as they are raunchy. The audience is subjected to real life 4D technology, in other words, our battles between man and machine take place with waterguns with the audience being collateral damage. It was highly suggested you buy a poncho (90% of the audience complied, I did not). I paid dearly for this mistake as I got pelted with water bullets, syringe liquid and fake blood.

I know my Arnold movies inside and out. I could easily repeat all his dialogue in T2, but I elected not to audition for the part. My Austrian accent is kinda shitty. Various wannabe actors are tested and one is chosen via audience vote. The Arnold chosen when I went did a passable Arnold accent, all muscle and was completely devoid of knowledge of T2. It's like he never ever saw the movie. Our new Terminator is helped by a hot "maid" who helps our star recite his lines via cue cards and directs his actions. Arnold would have loved this maid.

But though the "Arnold" is the star, it's the cast of Terminator Too that provides you with knee slaps and horty chuckles. Each T2 scene is meticulously created via voiceovers, video clips and outlandish props. From the infamous naked time travel entry, to the biker clothes scene, it's all acted out with LOL moments. The breakout performance has to go to Joya Mia Italiano, who plays the young thugling John Connor. Decked out in  vintage army gear and a Public Enemy t-shirt, she takes our Messiah to be into a whole new stratosphere of awesome. I got a  Amy Poehler kinda vibe from her performance, truly highest marks on my report card. Christi Waldon  plays Sarah Connor stellarly as a heroine chic and George Spielvogel plays the doctor and the Zuckerberg (did I mention Skynet is replaced with Facebook?) like a befuddled and confused mad scientist. The rest of the cast chaotically went in and out of characters seamlessly. Highest applause to them all.

It's the attention to detail that makes this play standout. Lines are stolen...ahem I mean borrowed exactly from the screenplay. Others are modified to have zingers and jokes at the end. T2's little things are acknowledged from John's stepparents, the perv orderly, the rendezvous to Mexico (which came with a complimentary watered down tequila shot for the audience) and the thumbs up from our Terminator as he makes his last heroic sacrifice.

The fact these guys know the source material inside and out makes the jokes even more amplified. If YOU know the material, it makes it a thousand more times better. Though the scenes are stellar, the "special effects" utilized are comic genius. From strategically placed tin foil "wounds" on our T1000 to the bike (errr I mean modified kid's tricycle), you'll see garage sale brilliance in every "effect". You'll never see pop guns and super soakers the same way again.

In all it's cleverness of breaking the 4th wall mid performance and inserting some random 80s references (BTTF and the Hoff), it all seems to flow perfectly. There is an intermission during the performance but that just seems to give you a break to talk about the brilliance of the first hour that you've seen.

Terminator Too is without a doubt the live action remake you MUST SEE. You'll be ducking and weaving to avoid a barrage of water bullets, laughing at all of Arnold's infamous one liners and be smack in the middle of a ridiculous Universal Studios like ride that you'll want to see again. It's not until the end did my laughter subside and I realized it was over that we all had to Hasta la vista baby.

Rating:

TERMINATOR TOO, JUDGMENT PLAY runs June 23 - August 11, Saturdays at 8pm at Santos Party House located at 96 Lafayette Street -- two blocks south of Canal between Walker and White Streets -- accessible from the N,Q,6,J & Z subway lines at Canal. Tickets are $25 available at 866-777-8932 or www.terminatortoo.com.

Check out this review as well.

Photo Credits: Terminator Too/Thomas Blake

Categories: arnold schwarenegger, best scene in terminator, broadway, play, terminator 2, terminator salvation, the terminator, theater

Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era (Review)

Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era 

Screaming in High Heels: The Rise & Fall of the Scream Queen Era (2011)

Directed by Jason Paul Collum

I'll admit it. I haven't watched a lot of the schlock 80s films that featured these scream queens. Oh I did grow up in the 80s but I was not old enough to rent these from my local video store (because creepy video store clerk would rent me gore and splatter but not T&A). But each one is recognizable to say the least with Linnea Quigley being the one with the most face value.

So this 60 minute documentary is a time trip into the past when Brinke Stevens, Michelle Bauer and Linnea Quigley ruled the VHS world. And it's a tale full of boobs, butts and cheesiness. The doc has interviews with the Big Three, directors of such awesome flicks as Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers and Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama and other 80s cult luminaries. Plus we get to see clips from all of these cult classics.

The one thing the film details is the progression of how these low budget T&A gorefests came to be. The 60s brought these type of films via the Drive Ins. The 80s ushered in VHS which served as a platform again and the 90s/00s have shown the fans of these films have grown up and become filmmakers themselves. It's quite an evolution and Stevens, Bauer and Quigley have all evolved.

Joe Bob Briggs introduced me to this world of ghastly rubber monster sex and cheese. So did USA's Up All Night. As a kid, I was mesmerized by nerds getting the girl. I was also spooked by hot girl getting slaughtered. It's interesting to see how each of the women has adapted from being a Scream Queen. Quigley and Stevens are still chugging along but Bauer has supposedly given it up.It's funny how the old story that model turned actress = scream queen is now model turned actress turned porn star.

But all in all, for an hour long doc Screaming in High Heels is an educational look back of what it took to be a scream queen. Back then, you had to establish hotline numbers, fan club mailers, attend numerous horror conventions. This is why these 3 were as big as they were. These days, these supposed scream queens get cast in one horror movie and they can promote themselves via all the social apparatus they can log into. Tiffany Shepis aside, there are a lot more fakers out there then real legit queens.

I suggest everybody take a look at this. It's not going to be that eye opening but if 80s/90s cheesy cult horror is new to you and you want to know the history of the scream queen phenomenon, check this out.

Nude-ipedia


These movies are where gratuitous nudity comes from


The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

Screaming in High Heels will be released 8/28. Head over to the official site via Breaking Glass Pictures.


Rating:

Check out the trailer.

Categories: 1980s horror, 80s horror, 80s slasher horror, b movies, documentary, exploitation, top 50 scream queens

The WTF List: The Dark Knight Rises

Well I figure it's been a few weeks since I saw The Dark Knight Rises. I've now collected my thoughts and figured I might as well do one of these WTF lists for one of the biggest summer blockbusters in years.

I have to admit, I liked how it concluded but to me Rises has a Revolutions and Return of the Jedi feel to it. Both are adequate finales but none could live up to their predecessor movies. All in all Bane pushed Nolan's Batman to the brink and riddled the end of the trilogy with ideas of who we are, particularly as Americans. The dirty word here is class and Nolan addresses the issue front and center. We all know Bruce is rich as fuck, but he hasn't lived the lives of 80% of us.

So here be my WTF list with obvious jokes and spoilers.

1.) Umm where's Harley Quinn?
2.) So who installed all the gizmos and contraptions in the Bat cave? Best Buy's geek squad? You mean to tell me Bruce and Alfred did it all themselves?
3.) So how much does it pay to be a Bane henchman? Minimum wage? Do I get benefits?
4.) Anne Hathaway is one of those actresses I respect as she does kid movies, Skinemax, serious indies, rom coms with nudity and blockbuster flicks. No need for stunt boobies.
5.) JGL is clearly Robin in waiting.
6.) Juno Temple is going to be a huge star. See I wrote about it already.
7.) Matthew Modine is such a spazz.
8.) I think half of Gotham knows Bruce is Batman
9.) I like this version of Catwoman. Though the costume needed that cleavage buster from Arkham City.
10.) So Gotham goes all isolation. Did everybody still have TV? Internet? If Bane shut down the Internet, heads would roll.
11.) 3 months of Occupy Bane. I mean was anybody taking out the garbage?
12.) Batman didn't use a lot of his gadgets from his utility belt this time around. Where was the Bat jammer?
13.) So nobody really bothered to look for The Bat plane/coptor/craft?
14.) I forgot to say, Bane fucking up Wall Street was fuckin awesome
15.) I didn't see the twist coming but I was not surprised. I've played hours of Arkham City.
16.) The Riddler and Penguin must be like...fuck this. Let's make trouble in Metropolis.
17.) Bane kinda dies like a pussy no?
18.) Bruce banging everything in sight it seems.
19.) So does Robin have to special order his tech and shit from Alfred?
20.) The ending seems all Inception-ish doesn't it? I don't trust Nolan. All that happy ending is in Alfred's head.

Add your own blurbs to this list. What did you think of the finale?

Categories: batman, comic books. graphic novels, comics, the dark knight

V/H/S (Review)

V/H/S

V/H/S (2012)


Directed by  Radio Silence (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin,Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez, Chad Villella) David Bruckner, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, Ti West, Adam Wingard

In 2011 I hypothesized that we would have a return to the horror anthology. Sadly, I haven't seen most of the horror anthology films I listed but when V/H/S was announced, it clearly was proof of what I knew was happening within the genre.

We all probably rolled our eyes when we heard a found footage anthology was coming via Bloody Disgusting's The Collective. Had we forest fired our way through this genre? Shaky cam was making us have nauseous feelings. But with even non horror sites jazzed by VHS's Red Band trailer, it seemed we all gasped at the images we were seeing. So would we get another Trick R Treat, the gold star of the recent crop? The answer is a close yes. In a nutshell, VHS evolves the found footage genre by being an amalgamation of FF hardcore horror.

VHS somehow pulls off what amounts to a mega punch in the stomach. 5 segments, each directed by a film veteran are wrapped around a plot of a group of kids looking for a mysterious VHS tape in a seemingly creepy house. Though not all the shorts are great, each one is solid and creative enough to put you on the edge of your seat. The shaky cam will get you reaching for the Dramamine and the acting is highly questionable. Think Troma stiffboardines.

But aside from it's drawbacks (another being which short would anchor the ending) it delivers on a promise of being a "back to the roots" kind of underground horror. Splashes of monsters, home invasion, Paranormal Activity phenomenon are just a few of the things you'll see. But the overall theme seemed to be douchebags getting their comeuppance. We all like seeing drunk, horny, misogynistic miscreant fuck ups getting slaughtered by the obvious vixen in the bottle and VHS delivers just that.

VHS is a feel good throwback to an 80s style grindhouse. Gore and nudity, the staples of any horror breakfast are plentiful and wrapped around in stories that will make every horror fan smirk and applause with delight.

Boring Plot-O-Matic

When a group of petty criminals is hired by a mysterious party to retrieve a rare piece of found footage from a rundown house in the middle of nowhere, they soon realize that the job isn’t going to be as easy as they thought. In the living room, a lifeless body holds court before a hub of old television sets, surrounded by stacks upon stacks of VHS tapes. As they search for the right one, they are treated to a seemingly endless number of horrifying videos, each stranger than the last.

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Well here be some mini reviews of each segment and a letter grade for each. Shorts are listed in the order as they appear in the film (though I think I'm forgetting the order now)

"VHS Wraparound" Segment (Adam Wingard)

Wingard directs the Jackass destructo kids segments between each short. As they investigate the house searching for the mysterious VHS tape, it seems they are not alone. Each of our Steve-Os' puts in a VHS tape which then initiates the shorts below. It's an adequate tie in, nothing more nothing less. Clearly there was a buildup here throughout the film but somehow it ends on a whimper. Wingard has little to work with but his past shorts and films plus the upcoming You're Next show this true genius at work.

Grade: C+

"Amateur Night" (David Brucker)

If you have never watched The Signal, then you're missing out. Brucker's debut film was outright inspired madness. With Amateur Night, we see the first of douchebag frat jerkoffs getting their comeuppance. After equipping the lesser of the douchebags with glasses with a cam, they venture off in search of the elusive pussy. We experience this through the POV of glasses cam. It's done well, though not without the shakiness. From a bar to a club, we see these Dane Cook fuckers roofie...err I mean seduce the hotties. As our trio get 2 hotties (a blond and brunette) into their hotel room, the silent but deadly brunette starts to reverse seduce our crew but with deadly consequences.

Story wise, it's kinda predictable of where this is gonna go. Clearly the girl is not what she seems but the twist here is what kind of monster she really is. The nudity is plentiful and the gore and splatter are top notch. Brucker's use of a glasses cam is clever and is used in a more point of view as you are exactly seeing what one of our alpha bro's see. It's a bit odd to start off VHS with a short that doesn't pack more of a punch. But you get the feel of watching something that is not willing to hold back from any horror film this year.

Grade: B-


Second Honeymoon (Ti West)

Ti West (The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers) adds his entry into VHS and it is one of the best of the bunch. A couple go vacationing in Arizona, have an odd encounter and their camera seems hijacked by a home invasion-er. Clearly Mr. West goes for the slow burn here as he is damn good at that. The more time we spend learning about our characters, the more we care. Add in a few ha ha's and a few moments of chilled goosebumpiness, and its a wicked short with a most fucked up ending. Oh did I mention the twist I did not see coming? Creative, paced perfectly and filled with nightmares, this is tapping universal fear at its finest.

Grade: A

Tuesday the 17th (Glenn McQuaid)

McQuaid (I Sell the Dead) gives us a Cabin in the Woods like, cliched filled slasher camp horror entry into VHS. The sense of levity is lifted after seeing serious disturbia in West's entry. Blonde bimbo, alpha dog douchebag, nerdy straight edge kid and final girl all make appearances. In any other year, this would have been a spoof on all the cliches we love to love but Whedon has amplified the self aware horror film. Tuesday is blah and oddly misplaced. It just felt off and waaay overshadowed by Cabin's mere presence this year. The acting was completely off, edging on Troma-ness (nerdy kid was a Troma alum).

Our slasher, a mysterious unseen video blip via our camera POV kills and kills and our final girl seems to know all the tricks. Sure there was a twist, but the golden rule of meta horror is that WE as horror fans care more about the slasher than we care about the kids. And Tuesday the 17th somehow wasn't aware of this.


Grade: D

The Strange Thing That Happened to Emily When She Was Younger (Joe Swanberg)

Swanberg has acted  in a few Wingard's films but his directoragraphy is one where I've seen none of his previous efforts. But with this entry, I'm a follower. Emily, skypes with her boyfriend (we see this via her computer screen in the forefront and her BF in a small box on the bottom right) as she describes her life and mysterious shit happening at her apartment. Later her arm is in distress and middle of the night video sessions have us and her BF seeing some Paranormal Activity in the form of children.

This is a unique way of delivering the paranormal goodiness and I found it worked well. Performances here had to be top notch (as all we see are faces on the screen) and they are. The cuteness of our Emily is appealing and even some backstory gets thrown in adds to the level of WTF. Of all the shorts, this one seemed to have full feature written  all over it.

Of course not all is what it seems and the ending is a POW! of the unexpected and Say what? Who knew you could tell an effective story via webcam?


Grade: A


10/31/98 (Radio Silence)

The group of 4 known as Radio Silence directs the last of the shorts called 10/31/98. Yes it's Halloween and our second group of alpha dogs dressed in their goofiest costumes are off to a party. They wind up at a house with no party but that doesn't stop them from their search. Not noticing the weird floating and moving objects, they wind up in the attic and see a ritual being performed with a girl in distress.

Think House of the Devil, PA trilogy and a whole lot of shaky cam shenanigans. The short has some moments of pure genious towards the end as the guys go on a rescue mission. The visuals, CGI and house come to life escape even seemed to echo some Fulci.

Kind of predictable but the best in terms of using effects to get it's horror across.

Grade: B

*********************************************************************

VHS shows off the talent of the new generation of a Splat Pack. Though without the splat. What these guys have done is take the found footage genre and evolved it into something new and exciting. Sure it makes no sense as to why a Skype footage would be on a VHS, but it is clever to to make an anthology that taps the genius of these filmmakers into one film. Two A shorts, two B shorts and a D equals 3 spinkicks. Some negatives are the same old rehashed alpha dogs getting killed is a bit contrives and the nauseous headaches from the spinning cams from all the shorts is a bit much. One can only take so much in a 90 minute run time.

Whereas the last generation of horror filmmakers has gone to the past and reinvigorated our beloved slasher and ghost genres, this generation homages the VHS video nasty by putting their own twist. Original stories, hardcore blood, boobs and splatter and a wink to the glory of the Video Home System.

You will not get a better film that does all that.

Nude-ipedia


Yes and it's awesomely gratuitous

Gore-ipedia

Lots of it. You're momma would be proud.

WTF moment

West's ending was purest WTF I've seen in quite a while.

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

VHS is your gateway to seeing the best the new generation has to offer. Once you've seen it, check out each director's filmography and witness the millennial horror generation takeover.

VHS arrives on VOD on 8/31 and in theaters on 10/5. Head over to the official site via Magnet Releasing.


Rating:

Check out the trailer.

Categories: 2012 horror movies, adam wingard, cinema verite, found footage, horror anthology, indie horror, magnet releasing, pov horror, ti west

My First Taste of Fandom: Tim Burton's Batman

With Comic Con over and this week being all about The Dark Knight Rises, I figure it was timely I share my first taste of pure, relentless fandom. No, it wasn't Star Wars, nor was it Reeve's Superman or Star Trek. My first real fandom craze was for Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster. I'm not sure there is any YouTube clips of what it was like back in that summer of 1989. Batman was released on June 23rd. I was just under PG-13 and me and my friends were mega excited. We all had watched the campy 60s version but seeing trailers for this darker, spookier version got us all hyped.

I know I saw it at least 3 times. 

I remember my friend hyping up the Batmobile (he of course was on his 2nd viewing). And the moment Batman says "Shields" I go ape shit.

When Batman goes "I'm Batman". I go gorilla shit.

When Batman goes nuts in Axis Chemical, it was freakin awesome.

Don't get me wrong, Nicholson's Joker was a sight of pure madness and evil genius. She steals the show. 

I start falling in love with Kim Basinger realizing that I can see her boobies in 9 1/2 Weeks years later. 

We all bought Batman shirts. We all had Batman sneakers. If you didn't have a Batman t-shirt, something was definitely wrong with you. That summer in 1989 was all Batman all the time. We started making our own utility belts. Basements became Bat caves.

Don't get me started with Michelle Pfieffer in her latex suit in Returns.

There is a part of me that never left that summer. Now every time I see a big summer blockbuster, I want to get that feeling back. The sense of kid wonder, a movie that made me love comic books. My first comic book infatuation was Spiderman. I was a Marvel kid and made sure I had my own "bag" in my comic book store. "Bags" was a sort of comic book store layaway program. They'd save the latest issues for you and you paid for what you could afford.

But my heart fell in love with DC when Batman came out. I got a copy of The Dark Knight Returns and Frank Miller blew me away with his story and the art work was awesome. Full page shots of a old, muscled up Batman. If you haven't read this, you're not a real Batman fan.

But Burton's Batman is where my fandom started. Kids bought the Batman toys, the cowls, the capes, the games, the everything. (Batman the game was nightmare of mega proportions). I wore a Batman costume for Halloween 3 consecutive years. I wish there was a record of that summer but the videos below give a certain glimpse of the hysteria.

Roger Ebert doesn't like Batman but Siskel loves it.

The VHS version of Batman arrived 4 months after release of the movie which was unprecedented at the time. Check out this news report.

Were you part of the Batman craze in the Summer of 89? Do you remember what Batman hysteria was like that year? Share your thoughts!

Categories: 1989, 80s action, batman, the dark knight, tim burton

Soska Sisters unveil the full traielr for American Mary!

The fabulous Soska Sisters are at Comic Con but they've made Friday the 13th a happy day today by unleashing the full trailer for American Mary.

I'll admit, it looks devishly awesome as Katharine Isabelle may be the hot kind of psychotic we all need.

Check it out below and let me know your thoughts!

Categories: 2012 horror movies, american mary, canada, canadian horror, dead hooker in a trunk, soska sisters

They made what into what? Re-Animator: The Musical

As a horror blogger, you get all sorts of press releases, screeners, newsletters and tidbits. I read through them as much as I can but I usually tweet or Facebook it if I find it interesting. To make it into a post on the jaded viewer takes some OMG WTF type reaction from me. Hence here we are.

They made Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator into a musical?

WTF!

That's just plain awesome. I plan on seeing this AS-fuckin-P. It smells of pure Miskatonic hijinks and LOL musical numbers. Here be the official press release.

RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL comes to NYC, July 17 - 22 - Featuring George Wendt! 


RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL Featuring GEORGE WENDT (“Cheers”, Broadway's Elf) Exclusively at The New York Musical Theater Festival, July 17 – July 22 PTC Performance Space 555 West 42nd Street, New York, NY The acclaimed musical adaptation of cult film comes to New York following a sold-out six-month run in Los Angeles Winner of Six L.A. Weekly Awards Book – Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon, and William J. Norris Music and Lyrics – Mark Nutter Choreographer – Cynthia Carle Musical Director – Peter Adams Director – Stuart Gordon (director of the iconic 1985 horror film H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator) New York Premiere Tuesday, July 17th at 8:00 pm


The 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival, Red Hen Productions, The Schramm Group LLC and Gramily Entertainment present the New York premiere of RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL starring George Wendt (“Cheers”, Broadway’s Elf).


A hilarious new musical comedy based on the classic horror film (and featuring a bloody “splash zone” in the first few rows), RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL plays at the PTC Performance Space, located at 555 West 42nd Street. Tickets for RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL are $25, a can be purchased by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting www.nymf.org. For more information:www.nymf.org and www.reanimatorthemusical.com.


In 1985, Stuart Gordon directed his first feature film and created a sensation with H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator. Produced by Brian Yuzna, the cult classic delivered as many laughs as it did screams, making it a cult classic among genre fans and winning a Critic’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Gordon, co-writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris, and composer/lyricist Mark Nutter adapted Re-Animator into a musical for the stage, playing to rave reviews for a sold-out six month run in Los Angeles - and winning six LA Weekly Awards, including Musical of the Year.

RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences. “I guess he just wasn’t fresh enough,” is West’s constant refrain as his quest for fresh subjects results in the murders of half the faculty of the medical school. 

The original Los Angeles cast reteams for the NYMF production. George Wendt, best-known as the affable Norm from Cheers, plays the Dean of the Medical School who West transforms into a mindless zombie. Chris L. McKenna, the star of Gordon’s neo-noir thriller King of the Ants, is Dan Cain, Herbert’s hapless roommate who finds himself drawn into the mayhem. And operatic Jesse Merlin, who played the President of the United States in the long running The Beastly Bombing, is Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter (Rachel Avery,) only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent, Dr. Hill is still able to take his curtain call with his head tucked underneath his arm. Completing the cast are Mark Beltzman, Cynthia Carle, Brian Gillespie, Marlon Grace and Liesel Hanson, Tyler Milliron, and featuring Graham Skipper as Herbert West.


Winning the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for their work on the show, the musical's special effects team is the same as the 1985 movie's: Tony Doublin, John Naulin, and John Buechler - joined by Greg McDougal and Tom Devlin. And the blood will flow so freely that the first few rows will be designated as a “splash zone.” Laura Fine Hawkes, who last designed The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Taper Theater in Los Angeles, provides the sets, with costumes by Joe Kucharski and lighting by Jeff Ravitz. Stage managing is Mike Lemek.


Composer and lyricist Mark Nutter won a LA Drama Critics Circle Award for RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL's cheerfully disturbing score. His previous stage credits include the international hit The Bicycle Men; Christmas Smackdown (created with the equally demented Cynthia Carle); and Wild Men. He’s also known for his work on 3rd Rock From the Sun and Saturday Night Live. His recent CD Twisted Songs for Twisted Sophisticates has been banned from the airwaves.


Stuart Gordon directs. Prior to the Re-Animator movie, he spent fifteen years as the founder and artistic director of the Organic Theater of Chicago, where he co-created and directed 37 original productions, including Bleacher Bums and the world premiere of David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Gordon has also directed four more films based on Lovecraft, among them the critically-acclaimed From Beyond and Dagon. Gordon’s most recent stage credits include the still-running Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, featuring a breathtaking performance from Re-Animator film star Jeffrey Combs.


Now in its ninth year, the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) is the largest annual musical theatre event in America and is widely regarded as the essential source for new material and talent discovery. NYMF provides a launching pad for the next generation of musicals and their creators to ensure the continued vitality of one of America's greatest art forms. Hailed as the "Sundance of Musical Theatre," NYMF discovers, nurtures, and promotes promising musical theatre artists and producers at all stages of development, and inspires a diverse audience through vibrant, accessible, powerful new work.

*******************************************************************

Check out the trailer.

Thoughts? Comments? Who wants to see this?

Categories: 1980s horror, broadway, musical, reanimator, stuart gordon, zombies