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Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Double Feature at Castro and Some Upcoming Movies

In less than 24 hours The Exorcist and Babadook take over the Castro Theatre! As a fan of both movies and both entities, I can't wait to see how the two compare and contrast, and play off of each other (if at all). Really, I'm just excited to rewatch both of these films on a big beautiful screen. The first film of the night, The Exorcist, starts at 7pm, The Babadook starts at 9:25pm. 



We are also coming to the last couple of weeks of the Stanford Theatre's Hitchcock fest, and it's going to end on a high note! This weekend promises tons of espionage, accusations, and grand mcguffins with North by Northwest and The 39 Steps. These movies are playing Thursday through Sunday, so you have a lot of chances to catch them. Times and more info can be found at Stanford Theatre's site.

And finally, David Cronenberg's new film, Maps to the Stars will be released in American theatres this Friday. It has an interesting cast and plot, but other than that I'm not trying to know too much about it beforehand. So far, the Balboa and Elmwood are the only bay area theatres I have found that are playing it but I'm sure there will be more names on the list soon. I've gushed about the Balboa many times before, but I have yet to visit Berkeley's Elmwood. I'd be interested to hear about it if anyone decides to check the movie out there.

Enjoy!
-Huntress

Monday, February 23, 2015

Bluray Tuesday!


February 24th 2015



Whiplash: Amazon - $16.99

A young musician struggles to make it as a top jazz drummer. This Film was one of my favorites of 2014 and I highly recommend this film to anyone. J.K Simmons received a Academy Award for best supporting actor during last nights Oscars for his amazing performance. Tom Cross won a Academy Award for best film editing. Last but not least Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley won a Academy Award for best sound mixing. These are all deserved wins.

 Whiplash (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

New Years Evil: Amazon - $17.97

During a New Year's Eve celebration, a Punk Rock & New Wave show host gets a phone call saying that when New Year's strikes in each time zone, someone will be murdered--and she will be the last one.
I am looking forward to checking this film out. Released from Scream Factory is this slasher film I blind bought this release and will check it out sometime this week. 

New Year's Evil (Blu-ray) 

Big Hero 6: Amazon - $18.90

Brilliant robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada finds himself in the grips of a criminal plot that threatens to destroy the fast-paced, high-tech city of San Fransokyo. With the help of his closest companion, a robot named Baymax, Hiro joins forces with a reluctant team of first-time crime fighters on a mission to save their city.
Big Hero 6 isnt quite a horror film but since this film won best animated feature during the 87th annual Academy Awards i thought I'd post. Also there are a few exclusives for this release Target will carry a steelbook packaging for this. Best Buy will have an exclusive lenticular slipcover. Walmart will have a bonus disc dvd.

Regular

Big Hero 6 (Blu-ray)

Target Steelbook

Big Hero 6 (Blu-ray) 

Walmart Bonus Dvd

Big Hero 6 (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Best Buy Lenticular Cover

Big Hero 6 (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art

Intruders 2015: Amazon - $14.96

After the traumatic loss of her mother, a teenaged girl tries to uncover the dark secrets behind her new home, in spite of her father's disbelief.
This is a Dvd release only from Sony pictures but is also a new horror/thriller being released this week and seems like a interesting film with ICarly.

The Intruders (DVD)

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Everly or A Whole Lotta Dead Whores

6 of 6 Viewers "Liked" "Everly" (2015, USA)
Here's what the citizens of the Overlook Theatre had to say:

KillDozer - "Top notch action, filled with memorable characters. For true fans of Japan style mafia massacres, you can feel the love that was put into this action masterpiece. Solid acting and score will take you back to a time when entertainment was key in action films. The challenge of setting the film in a single room location was well met and only added to the atmosphere. 100% fun and needs to be shared." Collection Worthy - 4 Stars

The Berkeley Blazer - "Lord almighty there is some good stuff in here, specifically Salma. Hayek achieves the perfect pitch of nobility, vulnerability, tenacity, flippancy, and ferocity that the role demands, all while maintaining her irrefutable image as an object of desire. The film built around her starts strong; steady outburst of rising shotgun (literal and metaphorical) violence leaves the mouth agape and the heart full of glee, while sardonic repartee keeps the character dynamics sympathetic and the pacing amusingly brisk. Clever circumstantial touches here and there work: the man on the couch, the one note setting. All work to create an atmosphere that feels playfully experimental and entertaining. Yet, when those pesky and inevitable narrative threads begin to arrive and call for attention, the film quickly deflates into an inane bludgeoning machine with progressively sloppier dialog, torture porn contrivances, and the worst kind of sentimentality, making the viewer care less and less about the film or what happens to it's principle characters. Though this film the ball in the end drops, it's still worth a look if you're partial to this type of film. - 3 Stars

Lord Battle - "Joe Lynch loads a one-bedroom apartment with girls, guns, and gratuitous amounts of violence. "Everly" isn't reinventing the action wheel, she's managed to make it interesting again." - 4 Stars

Huntress - "This movie packs a cities worth of action into a studio apartment and leaves very few moments to catch your breath. Some of the characters felt almost fantastical but I never questioned that they could come from the films corrupted reality, and I loved the creative shots that came out of Joe Lynch's camera doesn't leave the room rule." - 4 Stars

B4DK - "A crazy action movie in a small space. Feels like a different take on "Kill Bill"." - 4 Stars

The Impostor - "Joe Lynch delivers a solid action film with a character we actually rooted for. Salma Hayek stepped up her game for this film, her delivery of the heroine is top notch, took me by surprise. Humor that was placed throughout the film was okay some funnier than others but as a whole Joe did a great job for his first action film. I'm looking forward to see what he comes up with next." - 4 Stars


The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*

Far from being the 35th Dogme film, Everly is a film with creative parameters. Described many a time by director Joe Lynch as "Die Hard" in a room, the main rule put in place is that the camera stays in the room. Now getting to this part of the review would suggest that you've seen the film or just don't mind spoilers (yes this is your final warning), so you then know that this rule is eventually broken. Don't be too hard on writers Yale Hannon and Joe Lynch though, the Dogme movies always broke at least 2-3 rules anyway. The reason I started off talking about a film movement from 1995 is because the rule didn't just limit the camera movement but it also demanded that Everly's apartment now become one of the most important characters in the film. One of my favorite things about this film is the way it shoots the interior of her place so lovingly. With slow pans moving along at a speed perfect to appreciate the architecture and decor (Oh what I would pay for a window like hers!). Like a director using soft light on an actress in a close up. My favorite moments in this film take place after the room has been significantly beaten and holes have been shot through the hallway wall. The holes become windows and an awesome medium for suspense, as we can now not only hear but see her assailants coming to claim their bounty. And all of this is only enhanced by the fact it falls on Christmas.
The movie had some pretty straight forward themes so instead of talking about them I just want to mention how awesome/interesting all of the characters were. This film used the characters that invade Everly's place as a window to the culture outside of the building. Now I understand that a lot of the invaders live in the same building and are just different flavor of whore but this still makes the world feel vast and full of different flavors. In fact, until the end scene where the camera leaves the building and we get Joe's cameo, I imagined this was a Shadowrun/Neo-Tokyo type world. Obviously I was a bit off, but this is a world of mercenaries looking for cash. Everly herself is quite the Street-Samurai, only she doesn't know it yet. One thing I rarely ever comment on about a film is how attractive/unattractive the lead may or may-not be. Salma Hayek is stunning in "Everly", now this could easily be the down fall of a film. Take Oculus for example, the first thing KillDozer said was "When I saw how pretty the lead was I instantly thought I'd hate the film. Since most of the time pretty people mean studio trash.". I already praise Joe Lynch for many reasons but after seeing how he captured and displayed Salma on screen, I realized his genius is much more profound than I had guessed. Treating a busty whore (no offense Salma) as a sympathetic action hero is no easy task. Joe nails it though (excuse the pun, he's married ; ), by showcasing, maybe even exploiting her beauty in the early stages of the film, but covering her up as we move through the story. This suggested to me that as viewers we had been treating her like every other man did in this world, ogling her freely, but now things are getting serious and its time we pay attention to what she has to say and plans on doing about it, or else...
- Lord Battle

And if you're wondering why I refer to Joe Lynch as Joe it's because we are on a first name basis since I feel we are best friends, only after listening to hours upon hours of the Movie Crypt Podcast.
 ( I recommend you do the same!)

*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others at the screening got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not effect the rating.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Digging Up the Marrow and Some Upcoming Movie Dates

The long awaited day when Digging Up the Marrow would begin its tour finally came. Last week on Thursday, a huge percentage of the Overlook citizens (and some non-citizen film lovers) took a trip to the East Bay to witness the unveiling of Adam Green and Alex Pardee's collaboration, Digging Up the Marrow. We came from all directions and assembled at the beautiful Landmark Shattuck in downtown Berkeley. 

Photo borrowed from the ZeroFriends instagram
In all of the excitement and hurrying around (because Lord Battle and I had about seven people's tickets and have a habit of being fashionably late) I didn't get nearly as many pictures as I would have liked. I just didn't have enough hands to balance everything, so I borrowed the one above from the Zero Friends instagram. I also just noticed all the little silhouetted creatures lining the theatre, which makes me love this place even more. The walls of the lobby were lined with a lot of great titles, some I've seen, others I thought I missed. There were already reasons to come back to this theatre. But really, all I could think about at that moment was getting our tickets printed and our seats claimed. 

The room Digging Up the Marrow was going to be shown in had an Egyptian theme throughout its walls, which had a very different feel from the 1920's interiors of the Castro or Stanford theatres. It was a nice change, not that I don't absolutely love the classics. Before the movie, Adam Green and Alex Pardee came out to greet and welcome the sold out room. They introduced the movie and gave a brief back story of how it came to be, which listeners of the Movie Crypt probably know by heart by now. It's such a cool story, and definitely gives me reason to believe in some kind of destiny or fate. For two people, who have never met, to be so completely on the same page ad not even realize it... I'm still kind of amazed by the whole thing. 

After their intro, Adam and Alex took their seats and Digging Up the Marrow began! Here is all I can say: I went into this movie knowing as little as I could because I have faith in Adam Green as a filmmaker and story teller, and I expected a lot out of it because of that fact. And I was very impressed.

After the movie, Adam and Alex came back out for the Q&A, but there were not many questions. Someone did ask about the possibility of sequel. The response was that the end was left pretty open but that they didn't know of anything in the works.

Next on the itinerary was the merch buying/ autograph signing part of the night. This was when all order in the theatre quickly faded away, basically as soon as the audience shuffled into the lobby. A hoard of excited people rushed the merch tables and art exhibit, which felt like they were not given enough space. Those who were still waiting to reach the tables talked about the movie we had all just experienced. Horror fans or not, everyone had only good things to say.

We eventually made it up to the merch table and to both Adam and Alex, and they were both nice enough to personalize a couple of things to the theatre. And, even though I had been mentally preparing myself for days, I still managed to feel like a big doofus when I talked to Adam Green.





Lord Battle and I also made sure to grab at least one VIP ticket between us, so that we could get one of these, also signed by both Adam and Alex.


I feel very lucky to have been a part of this event, and I'm happy to say that all the people that we got to come out had a great time. The Overlook Theatre will definitely be reviewing this film soon!

You can join in on the excitement of this film in just 2 days, as it will be hitting Video on Demand this Friday the 20th. You can also preorder a copy here. If you are the patient type, Digging Up the Marrow will be coming to more cities in about 2 weeks.

Another note about this Friday: The latest installment in the Naruto movie franchise,  Naruto: The Last, has been brought to America and will be showing at the New People Cinemas in San Francisco, and New Zealand's What We Do in the Shadows will be released in theatres in the states. I don't think I've seen any advertising for this movie but it's been out in New Zealand since last year. This is a horror comedy documentary about four different-era vampires living together in New Zealand. It was co-written and co-directed by Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi. I know Jermaine from Flight of the Concords mainly, but I'm not familiar with Taika Waititi. There are 4 bay area theatres that will host this movie starting Friday. They are Landmark's Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, Landmark's Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, Rafael Film Center in San Rafael, and Camera 3 in San Jose. Other theatres and dates are posted on the film's site.

And finally, this is the one week mark of an awesome double feature showing at the Castro Theatre: The Exorcist and The Babadook. The first movie will start at 7pm, and the second at 9:25pm. On a related note, Linda Blair will be a featured guest at next month's Time Tunnel Toy Show, which is March 7 and 8. She will be signing autographs on Saturday March 7th ONLY and proceeds will go to the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation. Also scheduled to sign at this event are Gigi Edgley (Farscape) who will be there for both days, and Kyra Schon (Night of the Living Dead) who will only be there on Sunday. Updates and other info for the event can be found on their blog

Hope you guys can make it out to at least a couple of these events!
-Huntress

Monday, February 16, 2015

Bluray Tuesday!


February 17th 2015



New week new Bluray releases! This is a expensive week for Bluray collectors, lots of new releases and Tv series arrive on Bluray and Dvd. Birdman is at the top of my list to pick up I have heard nothing but good things. Horror titles are also being release as well as other Oscar nominated films. 


Birdman: Amazon - $19.96

A washed-up actor who once played an iconic superhero must overcome his ego and family trouble as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim his past glory.
I hear this is a must see film and one of the best of 2014. I will check this out for sure this week. Also this release comes in a cool red case vs the usual blue Bluray case.

Birdman (Blu-ray) 

Animal: Amazon - $14.99

When plans for a weekend vacation hit a dead end, a group of close-knit friends find themselves stranded in unfamiliar territory.
I saw this back during its run on VOD and I actually enjoyed this film as a kick back horror flick.

Animal (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

VHS Viral:  Amazon - $13.97

Fame-obsessed teens who unwittingly become stars of the next internet sensation. A magician performs real magic -- at a price. A scientist enters a parallel universe. And skateboarding teens find themselves playing first-person shooter with real zombies.
Out of the 3 VHS films i felt this was the weaker of the trilogy. I loved the first two and they are apart of my favorite found footage films. I was looking forward to this film and had high expectations.

V/H/S: Viral (Blu-ray) 

The Phantom Of The Opera (1989): Amazon $15.89

A darker version of the classic Gaston Leroux novel. A young soprano becomes the obsession of a horribly disfigured composer who has plans for those oppose himself or the young singer...
I have never seen this film but am interested in checking this out especially because it has Robert England in it.

The Phantom of the Opera (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art 

Game Of Thrones Season 4: Amazon - $34.99

Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne has begun. It will stretch from the south, where heat breeds plots, lusts and intrigues; to the vast and savage eastern lands; and all the way to the frozen north, where an 800-foot wall of ice protects the kingdom from the dark forces that lie beyond. Kings and queens, knights and renegades, liars, lords, and honest men...all will play the “Game of Thrones.”
Best Buy has exclusive covers and bonus disc
Target has and exclusive bonus disc and book
Walmart has an exclusive mini funko pop of Jofferey 
I am looking forward to season 5 of this amazing show. many retailers has exclusives for this season. What exclusives are u picking up?


Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray) 

Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray) 

Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season (Blu-ray) 

Monday, February 9, 2015

Bluray Tuesday!


February 10th, 2015


Happy Bluray Tuesday! It's my favorite day of the week. This week sees the release of Nightcrawler, Fear Clinic and Poker Night. These films are all blind buys for me and I look forward to checking these all out this week. 

Nightcrawler: Amazon - $22.99

A young man stumbles upon the underground world of L.A. freelance crime journalism.
I have heard nothing but good things about this movie so this one is on the top of my list to watch sometime soon.

Nightcrawler (Blu-ray)

Poker Night: Amazon - $12.19

When you become a detective in Warsaw, Indiana, you go to Poker Night, where you play against some of the best cops in the business, who tell you stories about their time on the job. After new Detective Stan Jeter leaves the game, he is caught by a vicious psychopath and locked in a basement, where he must match wits against his captor.

Poker Night (Blu-ray) 

Fear Clinic: Best Buy - $9.99

A doctor (Robert Englund) seeks to help the survivors of a tragedy by animating their fears as hallucinations, but the experiment goes awry when a diabolical presence enters the picture.
This is a Best Buy Exclusive until it is released at all retailers in May.

Fear Clinic (Blu-ray) 

Nekromantik 2: Amazon - $22.99

A female nurse desperately tries to hide her feelings of necrophilia from her new boyfriend, but still has pieces of the corpse of the first movie's hero in her possession.

Nekromantik 2 (Blu-ray)
Temporary cover art

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Walker Stalker Con: The Impostor and Lord Battle Invade

In previous posts I had said that some of the citizens were going to be volunteering at the SF Walker Stalker convention and out of all of us, only the Imposter planned on going for the weekend. There were a couple of reasons none of us actually ended up volunteering after watching the combined 2 hours and 45 minutes of webinars, whose poor sound quality was only surpassed by what was actually being said which then became redundant and full of small talk.

But a few things we did learn were that:
-volunteers get a free shirt that they wear while working
-2 autograph cards which they can redeem with any 2 celebs they wish

This seemed weak for the 12 hour days Huntress, KillDozer and I were looking at. But that wasn't the half of it.

In the past, volunteers would get their shirt signed by everybody at the convention, but this resulted in people leaving their shifts early. Then they changed the policy to 2 redeemable tickets, which came with a catch. You only get 1 per day you work, whether it was for 6 or 12 hours, and they may not work for the celebrities in higher demand, as they can only be redeemed at the celeb's convenience. Then we learned that the tickets could only be used for autographs on your volunteer shirt, which looked like this:






















(The lady sitting down to the right is wearing the free shirt.)

And as if all this wasn't bad enough, when your shift was over you had to leave unless you had a ticket. By the time we heard about volunteers needing a ticket, the con had been sold out for several days, at least. We were all under the impression that since we were working the event, we would at least be able to stay and check it out afterwards, so the only person who actually secured a ticket was the Impostor.

Remember, there was also a mandatory orientation at 7 am each day and you couldn't volunteer without going to it. So if you had an afternoon shift you had to get there at 7, leave until your shift, and then come back closer to your time.

We had known about the 7 am orientation for a while now. We even rented a hotel room nearby so that it could feel like a mini vacation in the city and not just work. Sadly, we didn't learn about all the other restrictions until the night before. We had been on the fence up until now, mainly hanging in there just to meet other bay area horror fans, since one of my goals is to network horror events in the bay area. But all of this was also on top of hearing Adam Green's experience with Walker Stalker on the Movie Crypt. He mentioned a couple of times that they hid him and the cast of Holliston in some secluded corner because none of them charged for autographs or pictures. He hinted to this event being more about making money than meeting the fans, but didn't want to sound like he was talking badly about the event. These final discoveries made it pretty clear that we shouldn't be participating but no one was saying it. It wasn't until we woke up late on Saturday that it was clear we weren't going. That was when I texted KillDozer about it and we both admitted that this wasn't going to happen. But I had told the Impostor that I would take him to the con and I fully intended to keep that promise. On the way there, we figured that we should cancel the room we rented, since we didn't need it anymore. That cost about 90% of what it would have to actually keep the room.

For a minute, we entertained the thought of maybe getting a couple of tickets and going into the con with the Impostor, but the stress of traffic and lack of parking squashed that. And no one was selling tickets. We ended up dropping him off and hanging out on Haight Street instead. We said he should call one of us when he was ready to go and we'd come grab him. We spent quite a bit of money at Amoeba buying VHS, blurays, DVDs, Laserdiscs, and vinyl which I don't regret. The whole time we were shopping, we were getting texts about the shoulder to shoulder crowds, the endless lines, and that the ATM charged $40 that it didn't actually give to the Impostor. Before all these negative texts, we got a kind of cool one.


The Impostor had a confirmation print out for two day passes, one for Saturday and one for Sunday. When he went up to the volunteer in charge of passes, they asked what he had. He told them 2 passes, a Saturday and a Sunday. Without checking or scanning the print outs, the volunteer grabbed both out of his hand and gave him two weekend passes. Seeing as the Impostor had just described the event as all the worst parts of Comic-con without any of the pros, the idea of driving over there and dropping one of us off didn't sound too tempting. We decided that I'd go with the Impostor on Sunday, with the soul intention on catching Robert Englund's panel and getting in his autograph line early to meet him.

(Walker Stalker branding price guide.)

The next day we came prepared with two Nintendo 3DS' and two copies of Super Smash Brothers. This of course was a necessity because even though Mr. Englunds panel was to take place shortly after the con opened, he was signing 3 hours later in a different building. We managed to show up only slightly late and still find pretty good seats (well, okay seats...). Robert Englund is a professional celebrity and told many great (and in depth) stories about his films and cinema in general. Sadly the audience had a very short attention span and once a story went over 2 minutes 80% of the crowd had already mentally checked out.

(The Impostor sporting his Freddy sweatshirt from Fright Rags while filming Freddy.)

Once the panel was obviously wrapping up we shot out of there heading straight to Robert Englund's booth. Surprisingly only 2 people had beat us there but before we could even properly get situated volunteers appeared behind the booth and following shortly after was Robert Englund. He promptly walked up to the volunteer at the front of the line and said; "Hey, I'm gonna be leaving earlier than planned. Let's get this going now." And before the Impostor and I knew it we were paying a volunteer.





























(Masses at the con shuffle about)

I need to elaborate a bit here as the pricing and interaction with the cash holder are interesting. So pricing for Mr. Englund was as follows:

  • $50 For a signed and personalized copy of his book "Hollywood Monster"
  • $60 For anything else signed
  • $40 For a photo with him
These are not standard horror con prices. I actually later learned that Walker Stalker sets standards for the celebrities to maximize income... Still, this is fucking Freddy so I came prepared to pay some money. I also forgot to mention that in case he had sold out of his books I brought a laser disc copy of "Wes Craven's New Nightmare" for him to sign. It turned out he had 2 copies of his book left, just for me and the Impostor. So the final total for me was $110, for the signed copy of his book and an autograph on the laser disc. The Impostor's total was $150, as he went for a signed copy of his book, A signed 8x10 and a photo. But I'm skipping ahead now, since before we even got to the volunteer handling the money, a little kid in line behind me started talking to me about how much he loves Freddy. He followed that info up with a question: "Wouldn't it be awesome if he did another one?!" I responded with a question of my own, "What's your favorite Nightmare on Elm Street?" He promptly responded "Freddy vs Jason". This caused the Impostor and I to make eye contact at which the Impostor started to crack up and turn from the kid to anxiously await our turn with Robert. I had not given up on this boy however and asked him another question, "What did you think about Ash joining that party?" Zombie boy - "Oh I hate Ash, I wanna see Pinhead fight 'em!!" I couldn't help myself and blurted out "That's stupid, Pinhead has no place in that fight. If the film makers were gonna go that route they might as well just throw in Leatherface.". This was the last we spoke.

I wasn't done making people angry though as I asked the volunteer handling the money for Robert Englund how the management was treating them. I don't know if it was the question I asked or the fact I had actually asked her opinion as a person but she looked up at me completely startled. "Huh, me?" she said. "Yeah, I was just wondering if they were good to you guys." She quickly regained her focus and answered "Oh, yeah. They are wonderful!" Now I was surprised, since I had a list I mentioned earlier that basically guaranteed they wouldn't be "wonderful". I responded "Are you sure? I was about to volunteer but after the 3 hours of webinars and the list of "benefits" it really just seemed like slave labor." This time she didn't look up from her note's and responded "Yes, I'm sure."

Robert Englund was amazing. He was animated, personal, and like I said earlier, a professional celebrity. There was really only 1 thing that happened during what felt like at least 20 min me and the Impostor hogged of his time, that feels worth mentioning. It happened when I mentioned the Movie Crypt (Adam Green's and Joe Lynch's amazing podcast!) and all I did was simply ask when he would be on it. He answered without looking up from my book he was signing, which doesn't seem strange but for him it really was. Basically he told me his people need to contact his people if they want anything to happen because he's busy and can't do things last minute. I quickly picked up on the souring of the mood and started in about how much I loved 976-EVIL. This of course brought the mood back to its happy origins. I remember once again making eye contact with the Impostor, his eyes seemed to scream, "You're lucky you saved that! Don't talk about it anymore!" I of course couldn't resist and asked if he'd be appearing in Digging up the Marrow, which conjured up the same reaction... "I'm not sure, so I guess I'm probably not." is the gist of what he said while not looking up once again. This time the Impostor came to the rescue by asking frantically if he should step behind the table for his photo, "or what?" Robert Englund then jumped up saying no, he wants us to use the light coming in from behind his table and came around to the Impostor. He then began to tell me where to stand and what angle to take the shot. This caught me so off guard that I kinda froze, which Robert responded to by just moving me.

The picture came out great. Actually all of the ones I took did. 
(I basically got $200 worth of Freddy photos!)

The rest of the con was pretty uneventful. I did talk to some guys selling a zombie miniatures game. I actually talked to one dude for like a half hour which obviously bored the hell out of the Impostor (I'll plug and post the game once we try it out). This was followed up by a brief period of scattering Overlook Theatre cards and a trip to the bathroom.









(This was a pretty rad booth for the needy horrornerd.)

In the end it's disappointing how lame and obvious of a money grab con this turned out to be. I should have known when Adam Green complained about them hiding the cast of Hollistion at the first Walker Stalker because they weren't charging for autographs or photos. On that note buy a ticket for the Digging up the Marrow tour! Coming to the Bay Area February 12th! Support true horror, not Walker Stalker.


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Up Coming SF Film Dates


Today marks the 1 week count down to the San Francisco release of Adam Green's Digging Up the Marrow and Alex Pardee's accompanying art exhibit at the Landmark Shattuck Theatre and I can't wait! This event has been years in the making and the release has been teased for months. And it's finally a mere 7 days away. If you read my earlier post about contacting the theatre to ask about tickets, I'm happy to tell you that the manager did end up calling me back to let me know that the tickets were on sale and still plentiful. I had actually purchased them by the time she called but it was very cool that she made time to get back to me. You can still grab your tickets through Adam Green's site ArieScope.com.

There are actually a lot of notable movies coming up in the next couple of weeks. Here are a couple of the ones we know about so far: 



Black Sea is playing at several Century and AMC Theatres around the bay area. We saw it at Century 20 in Daly City, not our first choice of theatres by any means but there were about six other people there so there were no issues. I loved this movie but I don't remember seeing any commercials or anything about it. Lord Battle and I heard about it through word of mouth and went into it knowing minimal plot points. This is a modern day adaptation of the perfect Hitchcock film.
("This film is an evolution of the Hitchcockian style, featuring amazing suspense, a powerful macguffin, and a language barrier that Hitchcock once told Truffaut he'd like to use. All of these work perfectly together." -Lord Battle)



A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night will be ending its run at the Roxie Theatre today. It will only be showing at 9:30 pm. This is a great movie to see on the big screen, but the movie itself is definitely not for everyone. I would summarize it as artsy with a sense of humor. I got so caught up in the world this movie is set in that I forgot it was a vampire move at all.

And finally, an amazingly paired double feature is playing at the Castro Theatre on Wednesday the 25th:

~ ~ ~

The Exorcist and The Babadook
An old favorite paired with a brand new one. This will have to be an Overlook Theatre field trip for sure! The first movie will start at 7 pm and the second will be at 9:25 pm at the beautiful Castro Theatre.

Happy viewings!
-Huntress

Monday, February 2, 2015

Bluray Tuesday!


February 03, 2015


Its that time of week again! This week brings us a bit more horror blurays to add to our collections. Last week was a light week on new releases, this week there's a few more to choose from. The releases this week are all pretty good too. I am really excited for Starry Eyes to be released it was one of my favorite horror films of last year will be watching again in full 1080p.

Dracula Untold: Amazon - $19.99

To protect his family and people during a time of intense conflict, Vlad III submits to a vampire, sacrificing his humanity in return for monstrous power.
Dracula Untold (Blu-ray) 
Also if you are like me and love steelbooks Walmart will have this release available as an exclusive.
Dracula Untold (Blu-ray)
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John Wick: Amazon - $19.99
A former hit man is pursued by an old friend who was contracted to kill him.
I have heard really good things and a few not so good but I'm looking forward to checking this out sometime this week.
John Wick (Blu-ray)
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ABC's Of Death 2: Amazon - $13.99
ABC’s OF DEATH 2 is the follow-up to the most ambitious anthology film ever conceived with productions spanning from Nigeria to UK to Brazil and everywhere in between. It features segments directed by over two dozen of the world's leading talents in contemporary genre film. The film is comprised of twenty-six individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free rein in choosing a word to create a story involving death.
The ABCs of Death 2 (Blu-ray) 
Starry Eyes:  Amazon -$20.69
A hopeful young starlet uncovers the ominous origins of the Hollywood elite and enters into a deadly agreement in exchange for fame and fortune.
I saw this last year and loved it it was high on my personal top 10 Horror films of last year I look forward to adding this to my collection for sure. Every Horror fan needs to check this one out at some point I highly recommend it.
Starry Eyes (Blu-ray) 
Ouija: Amazon -  $22.99

A girl is mysteriously killed after recording herself playing with an ancient Ouija Board, which leads to a close group of friends to investigate this board. They later find out that some things aren't meant to be played with, especially the 'other side'.
Ouija (Blu-ray)