It’s funny how I know so much about Dracula and still can’t get enough of the character or the concept no matter where I turn. Intervision’s “The Trail of Dracula” is an hour long look in to the history of Dracula through the ages. There are tons of interviews and accounts from the creation of Bram Stoker’s novel, and the unauthorized adaptation called “Nosferatu,” right down to his pop culture influence in the modern age like “Vampire Hunter D” and “Castlevania.” While I would have loved a more thorough examination of the vampire legend and its various incarnations of cultures all around the world, “The Trail of Dracula” explores how Dracula eventually was crafted.
X-Rated Alley: Sin [Blu-Ray/DVD], 42nd Street Forever: Peep Show Collection Vol. 17 (DVD), 42nd Street Forever: Peep Show Collection Vol. 18 (DVD)
For consumers and collectors interested in erotica that’s both artistic and evocative, Cult Epics releases Nico B’s “Sin.”
Interview with Scream Queen and Author Carrie Keagan
I first learned about Carrie Keagan during her stint on “Attack of the Show” in the mid-aughts. As one of the hundreds of men in America smitten with the bold, funny, quick as a whip, and daring journalist, I’ve been following her career and am pleased to see Ms. Keagan is now starring in two highly anticipated upcoming horror films. Carrie Keagan has an insatiable appetite for horror movies, and is a bonafide horror geek and self-professed “Gore Whore” who can be seen playing a Burlesque dancer/zombie fighter in Staci Layne Wilson’s “Fetish Factory,” and as a bride to be turned monster in “The Fiance.”
Thanks to talented director Staci Layne Wilson, I was lucky enough to grab an interview with the very busy Carrie Keagan, who is taking on more film projects, huge television projects, and even released a memoir.
Green Room (2016)
Jeremy Saulnier has a habit for taking the characters he writes and literally throwing them in to the furnace to be scorched. With “Blue Ruin” he set his character down a path of destructive revenge, and in “Green Room” he takes absolutely zero prisoners. He doesn’t just build on four characters that end up in the wrong place in the wrong time, but he punishes them severely. “Green Room” is yet another superb dramatic thriller about innocence succumbing to evil that’s beyond pure emotion and impulse. Patrick Stewart’s character is a villain who works with a horrific sense of swiftness and cold instruction like a businessman trying to clean up an insignificant spill. The moment we meet him he’s a man unencumbered by emotion or anger, despite the fact every move he makes could mean the end of his lifestyle as he knows it.
The Short Films of Ithaca Fantastik 2016 [Ithaca Fantastik 2016]
As only a few short films were seen, here are mini-reviews for each of these titles.
Curve (Australia) (2016)
A young woman wakes up sitting on a curved surface, clinging to it for dear life. This short is very simple in concept, yet possibly one of the most grim and dark short seen this year. There is not clear, or unclear, way of the situation this young lady is in and signs are accumulating that others did not have any luck in her position. Written and directed by Tim Egan, the film has no dialogue and only one character, making the most of its location and the situation the character is in. The star, Laura Jane Turner, gives a very good performance and keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat as she tries to get in a better situation. The film is grim and her performance suits it well, showing desperation and a need to survive.
Little Miss Perfect (2016)
As changes happen around her, an overambitious teen turns to weight control in order to feel more in charge of her life and herself. Written and directed by Marlee Roberts, Little Miss Perfect is an intimate look at an exemplary student’s descent into anorexia as a way to feel in control of her life while also being a cautionary t tale about the dangers of leaving teenagers unsupervised and about the influence online strangers can have on one person. The film’s story gathers the perfect confluence of reasons for this to happen: Disappearance of her mother, absent father, peer pressure, starting to date, internet influences, popularity of “thinspo”, etc.
K-Shop (2016) [Ithaca Fantastik 2016]
Following his father’s death and an accident with a client, Salah starts down a revenge path against racists and those who have wronged his father and himself. Written and directed by Dan Pringle, this vigilante-horror film delivers plenty of vengeance and bloody violence with some original ideas on how to get rid of the bodies. It has themes that will hit close to home for some such as racism, familial duty, wanting for a better life, etc. Of course, what makes the film interesting is the less than common (and advisable) path the lead takes towards his goals. His vengeance is violent, bloody, and rather merciless.