Grindhouse Trailer Classics Volume 1 (DVD)

Volume 1 of “Grindhouse Trailer Classics” brings fans fifty five of the best grindhouse trailers around, and they’re all available on one compilation on volume one of the DVD from Intervision Picture Corp. There are zombies, Nazis, cannibals, and exploitation galore with some of my favorite grindhouse flicks present and accounted for. They’re shameless and very well put together trailers that revel in the insanity of the films and deliver onslaughts of really surreal imagery.

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Diabolique Magazine No. 17 (Aug/Sep 2013) [Magazine]

Diabolique-17

For folks who want to avoid all the insider stuff you can usually find on the internet, “Diabolique” ventures to offer something different in the horror spectrum. There’s less focus on the Hollywood aspect of horror, and more on the more underground anti-establishment perspective that horror aficionados will definitely appreciate. This is the first time in a while I’ve read a magazine without skipping past a section I just didn’t want to waste time on. The centerpiece of the magazine is the wonderful history of the horror comedy.

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The House of Seven Corpses (1974)

The-House-of-Seven-Corpses

As far as murder mystery movies about evil houses, “The House of Seven Corpses” is not a masterpiece. I’m by no means intent on watching it again for at least a few years, but it makes a good argument for nonsensical genre fodder that doesn’t even try. The main character’s cat gets in to a stare down with a painting on a wall featuring the head of a severed cat. There’s the “Tibetan Book of the Dead” that’s bandied about like it’s an encyclopedia, and did I mention a zombie pops up in the end? Why? Who the hell knows? The zombie just gets out of its grave, kills the entire cast, carries a naked girl to his grave, and the movie ends.

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Bada$$ Mothaf**kas (2013)

badass-mothafuckasOh, Marilyn Joi. You truly are a babe. I may begin looking for your films just to bask in your curvaceous glory. That said, “Bada$$ Mothaf**kas” is the newest trailer compilation from Full Moon Entertainment, the sub-genre for this fun series is blaxploitation. To host the fun, they turned to the man, the myth, the legend: Fred “The Hammer” Williamson. He doesn’t just have a good time hosting this compilation, but is damn funny.

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Nothing Men (Digital)

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a long time friend with author Doug Brunell, but this review is as objective and fair as possible.

Reading “Nothing Men” is a lot like the beginning of a rollercoaster, where you’re riding up further and further and building up to momentum. You’re sitting waiting thinking “Here it comes, here it comes,” and when the rush finally does come, author Doug Brunell delivers on a final half that soaked with blood, guts, and an ending that will likely make you re-think travelling to small towns ever again. “Nothing Men” made me think about the like of Herschell Gordon Lewis, Tobe Hooper, and prompted flashbacks of films like “The Wicker Man” and “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.”

No matter how far you run, you’re never really quite out of the grasp of the environment and its deadly residents that dwell in its bowels, and that sends a surge of dread and a bleak atmosphere in “Nothing Men” that’s wrenching. Especially in its final pages. Author Brunell simply doesn’t let his characters off the hook, and punishes just about everyone in the book. It’s almost like a splatter version of “Funny Games” at times. Partly they pay for playing god, and partly for their hubris in the situation. Hubris is the ultimate undoing for just about everyone in the book, and Brunell unfolds layers of Valley Bottom slowly with every chapter.

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Three on a Meathook: Interview with Author Doug Brunell

I was first introduced to Doug Brunell back in 2004, when I discovered his column “Excess Hollywood” at Film Threat. His column was often so addictive and volatile I spent a few days reading the entire archive. When I joined Film Threat in 2005, I made a point of befriending Doug, because he’s simply one of my favorite online writers and I had to pick his brain and learn from him. Since then, Doug has been a consistent source of creative inspiration, an all around nice guy, and someone who isn’t smug about his talent. After reading his gory new horror novel “Nothing Men,” we interviewed Doug about his book and views about movies and entertainment since he is still a very ardent and influential voice in film criticism.

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Our Top Ten Tarantino Characters

Above all else, director Quentin Tarantino has a talent for creating some of the most memorable film characters of all time. Ever since his debut with “Reservoir Dogs,” he’s shown that he can take much of his favorite influences and transform them in to appealing and charismatic characters with great back stories that you can quote until the cows come home. Whether you think of him as a hack or a true artist, Quentin Tarantino is one of the rare filmmakers who can build his characters as pastiches of his favorite pop culture influences and still be able to come out fresh as a daisy. While most of his characters are all derived from some source, Tarantino’s charismatic writing, sharp one-liners, and flashy personalities for each persona grants even the weakest character in the Tarantinoverse some sense of staying power in the collective memories of fans and movie viewers alike. Whether it’s the Bear Jew, Vinnie Vega, or English Bob, you know when it’s a Tarantino character. And you love them, even when you hate them.

In celebration of Tarantino’s newest, and very explosive film entitled “Django Unchained,” we present our Top 10 Tarantino Characters of all time. So far.

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