2001 Maniacs (2005)

MARCH 31, 2008GENRE: COMEDIC, REMAKE, SPLATTERSOURCE: CABLE (SHOWTIME)One of the first movies watched for Horror Movie A Day (in the pre-writing reviews days, though I will try to eventually write one up for all of those forgotten little movies) was Two Thousand Maniacs, which is one of Hershell Gordon Lewis’ best-known movies. I didn’t care for it much, though I liked the ridiculous death scenes (my favorite – the barrel roll) and the delightfully awful songs. So I was a bit hesitant for the remake, retitled 2001 Maniacs, since rule of thumb is that a remake pales in comparison. Also, ano

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Comedic, Remake, Splatter,

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Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

MARCH 30, 2008GENRE: HAUNTED HOUSE, SUPERNATURALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)Ah, I remember it like it was only 22 years ago. Poltergeist II: The Other Side was the first horror movie I saw in theaters (for the record, of which no one is keeping, the first R rated one was Child’s Play 3). I don’t know for sure if I had seen the entire thing again since; while some sequences (such as the chainsaw to the car) seemed very familiar, others I had zero recollection of whatsoever, such as that baffling and ridiculous finale.For a movie in which the original director(s?) and producers did not return

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Haunted House, Supernatural,

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Ron Currie, Jr.'s "God Is Dead"

Ron Currie, Jr.'s prizewinning fiction has appeared in Glimmer Train, The Sun, Other Voices, and Night Train. He has been shortlisted for the Fish International Short Story Award and Swink magazine's Emerging Writer Award.In June 2007, he applied the Page 69 Test to his acclaimed debut novel, God Is Dead. Here he shares some thoughts on the cast should the book be adapted for the movies:When I was approached about contributing to MBTM, my first instinct was to try to dodge the specifics of the site’s premise—namely that I should choose the actor(s) I thought would best portray the book’

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Non Canon Review: Day Of The Dead (2008)

MARCH 30, 2008GENRE: REMAKE, ZOMBIESOURCE: THEATRICAL (SPECIAL SCREENING)You might wonder why this is a Non-Canon Review... that’s because I saw the Day of the Dead remake last fall at a test screening, and didn’t review it on the basis that A. I already had a review for that day and B. it wasn’t finished. My rule is, unless I love the movie almost completely (such as Repo), or it’s a complete, un-savable abomination (like Invasion), I wait for the final cut out of respect for the filmmakers. Plus, one or two scenes I like may be removed, thus making the film weaker, or one or two scenes I

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Non Canon, Remake, Zombie,

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The Cook (2008)

MARCH 29, 2008GENRE: COMEDIC, SLASHERSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)Sometimes, you just wanna turn your brain off and be visually entertained for 80 minutes. And that is precisely what The Cook does. It’s not scary, and it’s not particularly funny, but for some reason it worked for me. It moves along nicely, it’s got a cast of incredibly cute girls (even the two nerdy ones are hot), the gore is plentiful, and the film’s sole primary male member (besides the killer) has a name for AND a conversation with his penis. What’s not to begrudgingly like?The weirdest thing about the movie is how chea

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Comedic, Slasher,

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Cut And Run/American Gothic

MARCH 28, 2008GENRE: HORROR?, INDEPENDENT, SURVIVALSOURCE: DVD (ONLINE RENTALS)Here’s a first for Horror Movie A Day – A dual review! Why, you may ask?As has happened a few times before, Blockbuster sent me the wrong movie. I had asked for American Gothic, which is a late 80s inbred horror thing with Rod Steiger. They sent me American Gothic, a short film by some guy named Carlos Batts. “Fine, whatever,” I said to no one in particular, and put in Cut And Run (aka Inferno in Diretta), a Ruggero Deodato film that had a plot similar to that of his Cannibal Holocaust, only it was a conventionally

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Crap, Horror?, Independent, Short, Survival,

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The Deaths Of Ian Stone (2007)

MARCH 27, 2008GENRE: SUPERNATURALSOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)This year’s After Dark festival titles have hit DVD, so I can begin the likely burden (as opposed to joy) of watching all eight before the next one comes around. Luckily, Unearthed and Tooth and Nail are long since out of the way, and I hope to hell they are among the worst, and not the best of the bunch. Hopefully, more of them are like The Deaths Of Ian Stone, which is well-made, occasionally interesting, but ultimately “meh”. (It’s too much to ask at this point that any of them are actually GOOD).Ironically, Ian Stone works best

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After Dark Fest, Supernatural,

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The Ruins (2008)

MARCH 26, 2008GENRE: SUPERNATURAL, SURVIVALSOURCE: THEATRICAL (PRESS SCREENING)If there is one plotline that doesn’t hold much promise, it’s “Four college kids are attacked by killer vines. That talk.” And if you want to sell it extremely short, that’s exactly what The Ruins is. But as it turns out, not only is it much better than expected, it’s the best horror movie of the year so far. Take THAT, One Missed Call!The movie is based on a book (by Scott Smith, who also wrote the screenplay) that I haven’t read, and is directed by a guy I’ve never heard of (Carter Smith), and stars some folk

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Based On Novel, Supernatural, Survival,

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Isle Of The Dead (1945)

MARCH 25, 2008GENRE: SUPERNATURALSOURCE: CABLE (TURNER CLASSIC)You know, I love TCM, but they gotta start airing movies on a normal schedule. Because of their insistence of showing movies with start times that a DVR doesn’t understand, I missed the ending of Isle Of The Dead. Luckily, a very specific “plot summary” on IMDb told me what happened, but still, I like to see these things for myself. It’s not “Read The Cliff’s Notes For A Horror Movie A Day”, after all.Based on the writeup, it seems the ending was just as good as the rest of the movie. Boris Karloff is fantastic as the possibly

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Supernatural,

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Slugs (1988)

MARCH 24, 2008GENRE: MONSTERSOURCE: DVD (BORROWED)A friend practically forced me to watch Slugs, on the grounds that it was directed by the same guy who directed Pieces, a film apparently no one besides me owns on DVD (Eli Roth kept claiming it was never even made available. I bought it at Best Buy for Christ’s sake!). Needless to say, I was curious to see what else this guy had up his pseudonymous sleeve (his name is Juan Piquer Simón, credited as the more American sounding JP Simon). While not as batshit insane (and thus awesome) as Pieces, Slugs is still a lot of fun. It’s structured l

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Based On Novel, Monster,

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Shutter (2008)

MARCH 23, 2008GENRE: GHOST, REMAKE, TECHNOLOGYSOURCE: THEATRICAL (REGULAR SCREENING)I’m about at the point where not only can I not tell the Asian movies apart, I also can’t tell their respective remakes apart from one another (or the other originals). In short: they really need to stop fucking making any version in any language of a movie where a ghost haunts someone until they are properly buried. Shutter is the latest in a long line of films that are so formulaic and redundant, it’s a wonder they even bother shooting a new movie at all, rather than just release one of the others under a

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Ghost, Remake, Technology,

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Gayle Brandeis's "Self Storage"

Last March, Gayle Brandeis applied the Page 69 Test to her novel, Self Storage.Here she develops some casting ideas should the book be adapted for the big screen: The day after I received the email asking me to participate in this blog, I received an email from a producer asking if my novel Self Storage had been optioned yet. The timing still makes me smile—it's almost as if the invitation to cast my book ushered in the possibility of a real movie. I know the film world is just as unpredictable and uncertain as the publishing world, if not more so, so who knows if an adaptation will actual

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Carver (2008)

MARCH 22, 2008GENRE: SLASHER, SURVIVALSOURCE: DVD (OWN COLLECTION)Attn: Whoever sent me Carver for review – thanks! I wish I could remember who you were or what site I was supposed to review the movie for, but I don’t even recall receiving the damn thing! I was looking for another movie on my shelf and spied the film nested properly in between Candyman and The Cave. No recollection of it at all. It’s as if the Direct to DVD Fairy entered my home, took careful note of my how I sort my DVDs (an impressive feat, to be sure), and filed it away for me to find at my own leisure. And I was even m

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Independent, Slasher, Survival,

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Non Canon Review: Night Of The Creeps (1986)

MARCH 21, 2008GENRE: ALIEN, COMEDIC, ZOMBIESOURCE: THEATRICAL (REVIVAL SCREENING)As much as I love James Gunn for Dawn of the Dead and Slither, I can’t say I really believe him when he says that he never saw Night of the Creeps before he wrote Slither. There are too many similarities to chalk it up to coincidence: the arrival of the parasite, the manner in which they ‘infiltrate’ humans, the way that infected humans look... come on now. He at least read the IMDb synopsis.Doesn’t matter, because both movies are a blast, and I’m happy to have both. Creeps only has one major problem – the act

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Alien, Comedic, Non Canon, Zombie,

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The Monster Squad (1987)

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Monster,

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