Michael Headley: Dude this will be our big break!
Todd Kaufman: How do you figure?
Michael: Everyone loves vampire movies right now, so we could make our own!
Todd: Genius, dude!
Michael: But while the audience is watching the horror movie, we can perform some songs during the movie.
Todd: Geniuser, dude!
Michael: I mean they have to watch us perform, what else are they going to do? Press the forward button?
We’ve grown to love “Buffy” more and more over the years. Our appreciation for Joss Whedon has also grown, as he’s managed to deliver cult series’ that are immortal in spite of their short lived, and often under appreciated shelf lives on television. This October, we’re naming our Top Ten Buffy episodes of all time, and it wasn’t an easy decision. There were some really good episodes we left out of the equation, but in the end we were happy with this definitive list of ten episodes we just love to watch over and over.
Were people actually clamoring for a big screen adaptation of a soapy daytime horror melodrama from the fifties that only hardcore horror fans know? Did we really have to have a big screen adaptation of a Gothic soap opera? It’s no wonder director Tim Burton approaches the adaptation of “Dark Shadows” with a tongue in cheek often derisive attitude. The show is obscure among the broader audiences, and even when he fine tunes the film with goofy humor and testicle jokes, it’s still so niche that not even hardcore Burton apologists will enjoy what he has to offer. Like most recent Burton productions, “Dark Shadow” is gaudy, busy, and feels like Burton going through the motions without an inch of heart injected in to the narrative.
For fans of gore and horror, the number one necrophilia/horror magazine is back with their nuclear summer issue. Celebrating the end of the world, the magazine is still strictly for folks with a strong stomach and not for the faint of heart. After a very good letter from magazine founder Robert Rhine about the nuclear apocalypse, there’s an interview with GWAR founder Oderus Urungus about the band’s history, his association with horror director Adam Green, and the group’s newest album. “Talkin’ Street Trash” is a great interview with writer and producer Roy Frumkes, who discusses his dark horror comedy “Street Trash,” which has just been granted a brand spanking new edition on Blu-Ray this year. Frumkes speaks of his experience with special effects, his history with “Street Trash,” his days as a zombie on “Dawn of the Dead,” and various other projects.
Stephen King creates the ultimate boogeyman and he is neither man nor monster, despite the visage of a clown called Pennywise. “Stephen King’s It” is filled with the usual King doldrums of a small town with hidden demons, and at least one character that wants to be an author. That said director Tommy Lee Wallace’s adaptation is a great horror film, and a perfectly good bit of nostalgia. “It” gets a lot of flack for deviating from the original novel, but considering it is a television movie, director Wallace does a bang up job. “It” for being only TV movie packs a ton of iconic horror moments, as well as an Oscar caliber performance by Tim Curry.
“Salem’s Lot” presents a very humanistic approach toward vampire folklore. Ben Mears, filled with desperation and literally nothing left to lose in the face of a fantastic situation, finds himself in a local morgue prepared to face down one of the unholy walking dead by taping together two tongue depressors and scotch tape, supplying a makeshift crucifix. This little device ultimately aids him in the battle with a horrific vampire who slowly rises from her sheet in all her terrifying glory. It about sums up the whole of “Salem’s Lot,” a film wrapped around despair and tension where a small town’s unrest and inner turmoil of infidelity and abuse is brought to the surface when faced with a hidden menace in the shadows, in the form of a vampire striking down town residents one by one.
You would think a horror movie about a killer doll would age after so many years. And you’d be correct. “Child’s Play” while not the worst movie ever made, certainly has lost much of its impact since its initial release. It’s not a horrifying movie by any means, but it’s not the worst of the killer doll sub-genre I’ve ever seen. Chucky may not be the Zuni Fetish Doll from “Trilogy of Terror” but he’s a charming horror character you love to hate.