Meet Clive Barker and more in person!

Clive Barker will be a special guest as part of a Hellraiser  reunion this Labor Day weekend at Horrorfind weekend.  The convention will be held in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and will feature Clive Barker and many more stars of horror film as well as horror authors.

 The lineup so far consists of the following.
Clive Barker- Writer and director of Hellreaiser, Midnight Meat Train and many others
Doug Bradley -Pinhead from the Hellraiser series
Ashley Laurence- Kirsty of the Hellraiser series and most recently in the Slipknot video for Snuff
George Romero- Director of Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and many more
Don Coscarelli- Director of Phantasm, Bubba Hotep and Beastmaster and many others
Angus Scrimm- The Tall Man from the Phantasm series
Reggie Bannister- Reggie from the Phantasm series and Bubba Ho-tep
Gary Busey- From the Buddy Holley story and Silver Bullet
Jake Busey- from The Frighteners
Billy Wirth- from The Lost Boys
Terrance Zdunich- From Repo! The Genetic Opera
Dick Miller- Gremlins and way too many films to list
Derek Graf- From Zombieland
Terry Alexander- From Day of the Dead
Bruce Campbell - Burn Notice, Evil Dead and Bubba Ho-Tep ( Bruce will be celebrity guest at the costume contest and will host a charity auction but is not going to be signing autos at this time)
Diamond Dallas Page- Pro Wrestler and star of The Devils Rejects, Driftwood
Meg Foster- They Live and many others
Dee Wallace- Star of Cujo, ET, The Howling and many others
Adrienne Barbeau- Star of The Fog,Creepshow and Maude

Also Horror authors
Brian Keene-the Rising, The Conquer Worms and many others
Bryan Smith- House of Blood,  The Freakshow
Joe R Lansdale- Writer of the Bubba Ho-Tep short story andJonah Hex and the Riders of the Worm and Such comic series
Jack Ketchum-The Girl Next Door, The Lost and many others

  Cancel your plans and attend Horrorfind Weekend 12

Machete: The film the fans demanded

Robert Rodriguez Brings the Machete Character to the Big Screen in a Full Length Feature Film

Machete is the newest project from Robert Rodriguez. Calling it new is a bit of a misnomer though since the idea of Machete has been around since the 90s. The character of Machete first appeared in the movie Spy Kids where he was played by actorDanny Trejo. Trejo returns to play the lead in Machete.






The plot of Machete revolves around a Mexican day laborer turned assassin. It just so happens that this is not just any day laborer, but a former Mexican federale. Machete is hired to assassinate a crooked senator but find him self set up and double crossed. Surviving the ambush he sets out for revenge. The bad guys soon find out. To quote the tag line, "They f**ked with the wrong Mexican!"

Even though the first appearance of Machete was in Spy Kids, Rodriguez admits that the idea of a Mexican day laborer, moon lighting as a hit man has been around longer than that. He wrote the original screenplay for machete in 1993. Bits and pieces of the Machete screenplay have worked into several of his films, including Once Upon a Time in Mexico.

Danny Trejo is a Rodriguez regular. He has appeared not only in Spy Kids but also in From Dusk Till Dawn and its sequels, Desperado, Once Upon a Time in the Mexico, and Grindhouse. It seems only natural that he would reprise the role he originated in the Machete feature film.



This will be the first leading role for the recognizable character actor and honestly its about time. Trejo has paid his dues appearing in literally scores of lower budget films and making frequent appearances in more well known projects. Know mostly for work in action and horror films he recently stepped away from the genre for a role in the drama Sherry Baby


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Akira Kurosawa and The Legacy of Yojimbo

This is an excerp from my article published on associated content help a brother out and follow the link back if you find the article interesting.

Akira Kurosawa is considered by most to be the master of the Samurai movie. He is also considered to be one of the greatest directors of all time. Kurosawa was born in 1910 and passed away in 1998. His film career spanned 57 years and in that time he directed 30 films. Many of his films have become popular in their own right in America and have been remade several times. Indeed for those who think remakes are a recent fad, the films of Akira Kurosawa show that the remake has been around for decades. One film that proves this point is Yojimbo.




Yojimbo is a 1961 samurai starring frequent Kurosawa collaborator Toshiro Mifune, as the title character, which roughly translates as bodyguard. Mifune is a wandering samurai with no master, a ronin. During his travels he comes upon a town controlled by two rival gangs. He hires himself out first to one side, then the other, betraying both sides in turn. He deftly coerces both sides into a climatic showdown that leave both gangs decimated and the town free.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055630/

Mifune and Kurosawa together created the iconic "man with no name" archetype. The "man with no name" concept would go on to be popularized by Clint Eastwood in a series of films directed by Sergio Leone. This was just one of many of Kurosawa's contributions to cinema. Rashoman is his most influential and critically applauded films , but no film has had as lingering an effect on film as Yojimbo, thanks to its many remakes.

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Recent Films books and quick reviews

Instead of trying to write anything deep, I thought I would just recap and mini review some of the films I have seen and books I have recently read.









Peacock- Stars Cillian Murphy, Susan Sarandon and Ellen Page.  This film reminds me a lot of Psycho although it plays the split personality a little more realistically.  Great acting from the cast as you would expect and a very interesting yet dark film.  Not overly gory or scary but you wont walk away from this one smiling.  It ends abruptly and with a lingering sense of despair

Triangle-  I generally stay away from movies dealing with the Bermuda triangle because, well they all start to look the same after a while.  I bit my tongue though and  took a chance on Triangle and don't feel like I wasted a rental.  You will think you have it all figured out early on but will probably be a little shocked at the last change in direction.  It's not really a twist because you can tell where the film is going once it turns that corner and it doesn't  feel cheap. It feel like this is the direction the director was headed for all along and not juts a cheap gimmick to surprise the audience.

The Descent 2-  No where near as strong as the first film but for a DTV sequel it isn't all bad.  The film is aided by the return of Sarah and Juno. It lacks that spirit of bonding and friendship, but  that was pretty much torn asunder in the first film.  We do see Sarah acting to redeem herself for leaving Juno and coming to terms with Juno's betrayal.  The film is hurt by having Sarah suffer from amnesia for way to deep into the movie thus reducing her from the strong woman in the first film to near helpless.  Probably the worst thing about this film is the ending.  The director should literally be taken out and beaten for adding the "twist" at the end.  Seriously beaten.

A Mexican Werewolf in Texas-  OK with a title like that I hope you weren't expecting a movie along the lines of one by Peter Jackson or Guillermo Del Torro.  Still for cheap, low budget fodder it was OK I guess.  I do feel a little cheated since apparently the monster was a chupracobra and not a real werewolf,  there is no truth to the rumors this was going to be A Mexican Werewolf  in Arizona until the new immigration laws were passed.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (remake)-  The biggest and sadly the worst film I have seen recently.  This movie was just boring.  Very few scares and the cast other than Jackie Earle Halley was entirely forgettable.  Unlike heather Langenkamp, ten years from now no one will remember who played Nancy in this one.

On the book side I finished reading The Rising by Brian Keene last week.  Mr Keene impresses me more with each book I read.  I admit I had been avoiding this book because I am a traditional ( read Romero) zombie fan.  Still this is worth leaving your zombie comfort zone.  Now if I can just find a copy of the sequel.

Right now I am readingI, Lucifer by Glen Duncan.  It is a fictional autobiography of Old Nick himself.  Its funny, witty, insightful and confusingly schizophrenic.  I am still not sure if that is what the author is intending or just his style. 

Ok it is late and my bed is calling.  Hoping to write a full review fro Nightmare this week if at all possible.  Till then keep checking under the bed and keep your toes under the cover.

Piranha 3D - Trailer

Kind of eager to see the Piranha remake because I was staying at the hotel where this was filmed, during filming. Unfortunately I had no clue till after filming had wrapped for that night. It was during my unemployed period and I was inLake Havasu for a job interview. I think the movie will probably suck, but I just want to watch so I can say "Hey I was there!"

10 Lesser Known Vampire Films

The whole world seems to be a buzz in vampire fever right now. Most of this current admiration of anything undead is due to the Twilight phenomenon. While hard core horror and vampire movie fans for the most part shun the Twilight series, its impact cannot be denied. It has awoken a bloodlust for vampires. Store shelves are filled will re releases of classic (and not so classic) vampire movies setting side by side with Twilight. To find classics like Martin and Jess Franco's Dracula on Wal-Mart shelves is pure heaven to a horror fan. The first twilight sequel, New Moon, will likely have a similar effect on werewolf films as it hits the video shelves. True most of these vampire films have little in common with Twilight and most fans of Edward Cullen would cringe at some of them, and run screaming from others. Still this availability is one of the few good things to come out of Twilight for the true horror fan. hopefully some of the twilight fans will have a look at them and develop a fondness for films a little less mainstream. With all this in mind, here is a list of some of the best lesser known ( at least to the general public) vampire films.




Love at First Bite- A 1979 comedy horror that starred the tanned George Hamilton asCount Dracula. Finally tiring of the pitchfork and torch crowd, and being evicted by the communist leaders of Romania, Dracula moves to New York in the height of disco fever. Here he falls in love with model Susan St James, who just happens to be dating a descendant of Dr. Van Helsing. What a coincidence! With Richard Benjamin as Van Helsing's grandson and a hilarious Arte Johnson as Renfield, this is a movie definitely worth checking out. Look for a cameo by George and Weezie Jefferson.
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