You better watch out, you better not cry……you better not pout because there’s a really good Christmas horror movie that you need to watch this year! I know, I know – it’s Halloween season. But I had the pleasure of finally sitting down and watching Craig Anderson’s Red Christmas and it indeed got me into the Christmas horror movie spirit!
Tension in movies is good for your heart. I don’t know exactly if that’s a proven fact and I’m not a doctor, so take it for what it’s worth. But speaking of tension, I keep hearing that a new movie called The Invitation has loads and loads of it.
What’s The Invitation you ask? Well the rather long synopsis below should help you out:
“Will and Eden were once a loving couple. After a tragedy took their son, Eden disappeared. Two years later, out of the blue, she returns with a new husband… and as a different person, eerily changed and eager to reunite with her ex and those she left behind. Over the course of a dinner party in the house that was once his, the haunted Will is gripped by mounting evidence that Eden and her new friends have a mysterious and terrifying agenda. But can we trust Will’s hold on reality? Or will he be the unwitting catalyst of the doom he senses?”
Having already played a few festivals last year, The Invitation is getting a lot of positive buzz and after you watch the teaser trailer below, I think you’ll be just as in as I am. Look for it in select theaters and VOD on March 25th!
If barf bags are involved in the screening of a horror movie, you know that can only be a good sign. Trust me, I’m not a vomit fiend or anything like that at all – but there’s something “special” about getting handed a barf bag before viewing time. Publicity stunt? Maybe. Over-the-top promotional gag? Most definitely. But when you see the trailer for the new gooey insect horror flick called Bite, you might understand the marketing ploy:
I can admit that I’ve always had a fear of getting bitten by an insect and having it’s eggs be laid inside the wound and inside me. I still get creeped out by the spider scene from the movie The Believers. So naturally when I watched the trailer for Bite, I got the willies. Overall, it seems it won’t win any major points for originality as it looks to heavily borrow from David Cronenberg’s version of The Fly. Not that that’s a bad thing mind you, but we’ve kind of seen the whole ‘person transforms into an insect’ done before. I’m looking at you Ticks. But it’s hard to argue with the fact that Bite is already being praised for using grotesque gooey practical effects to enhance the infected girl’s transformation after she’s bitten on a Bachelorette retreat.
Yes, we’ve talked barf bags – but what about the news that people were fainting and actually vomiting after watching Bite on the big screen during the Fantasia Film Festival? I actually do believe it, and hopefully I’m not getting roped into some devious and elaborate marketing scheme that will make me wake up one morning with egg on my face. I do love eggs, but not enough to be humiliated. I would assume that Bite will be making more festival rounds, especially after the buzz it’s generating (positive reviews are coming in as I type this) and considering that Halloween is coming up soon as well. Stay tuned for more info and keep the Pepto-Bismol close by!
2014 for the most part was pretty uneventful as far as horror movies go in my opinion. Yes, there were some winners with a lot of stinkers mixed in, but 2015 is looking like it will get off on the right foot with the spooky independent flick, It Follows.
Not digging the poster too much, but what I am digging is the buzz that’s going around associated with It Follows. Of course I’m always a bit skeptical when a horror movie is being toted as “The scariest movie in years…..“, but I’m a sucker for that kind of hype. I keep hearing that the soundtrack is amazing too, and I’m always a sucker for an amazing soundtrack.
I’ve tried to steer clear of any spoilers or even of details involving the plotline. This sounds like a movie that you need to go into fresh, and all I really know about the premise is that it involves sex and weird encounters after the sex. Luckily for everyone with anticipation like me, there was a new teaser trailer released this week to give you blue balls before It Follows gets it’s US release in 2015. Watch it and get excited. But not too excited, because then you might be let down if it ends up not being “The scariest movie in years…..”
Make it stop! Make it stop!!!! Perhaps I’m overreacting because I’m deathly afraid of spiders, but this may be the most unnerving horror movie poster ever. Just glancing at it makes you envision what it would be and feel like to have your eyes forced open while tiny spiders crawl all over them and your face. Shudder. Kudos to those involved with the marketing for Phobia and I’m not even sure if something like this happens in the actual movie, but based on the poster alone, I’ll be watching.
For those who are interested in seeing and knowing more about Phobia, it will be going the DVD route on November 25th. I’m always down for supporting the indie horror films, and hopefully Phobia can live up to the hype of the poster. Check out the new trailer below too, but I’m sorry to report that no spiders on the eyeballs are shown. I’m sure that you all are extremely crushed.
I always knew there was a reason I never joined the Cub Scouts. Maybe because if I had gone on an excursion with my fellow Cubs, I could have run into a murderous feral boy who wants to do nasty, bloody things to me. What kind of patch would you get for surviving that?
Welcome to a refreshing new Belgian horror film from first time feature director Jonas Govaerts called CUB (or WELP if you’re in the Netherlands). Here’s the synopsis: ‘Troubled twelve-year-old Sam (Maurice Luijten) heads off on a summer camping trip with his Cub Scout troupe. When the highly imaginative boy claims to have seen a creature in the woods, his counsellors naturally assume that their campfire tales of a monster named Kai have gotten to him. But the danger Sam sees is all too real: watching from the darkness is a masked, feral child whose menacing snarl and quick movements go unnoticed by all except for Sam. As the mocking taunts of the other boys isolate Sam further from his pack, he becomes increasingly convinced that a terrible fate awaits them all.’
And here’s the trailer!
For a small independent horror movie, CUB looks damn good. I really dig the acapella song playing throughout the trailer while the carnage unfolds. Makes it extra creepy and extra effective. I’m really hoping that this one lives up to the hype of the trailer and of the word of mouth that it’s getting. Loving the whole ‘Lord Of The Flies with an even more horror twist‘ feel that’s going on here too. CUB will start playing festivals soon, beginning with TIFF’s Midnight Madness program. Stay tuned for more info on screenings and reviews that will be popping up after the festival. Time to go practice building my own fire now……
For over two years now, I’ve been hearing about this “fresh” and “inventive” horror movie called You’re Next. In my eyes, it sort of fell into the category that Cabin In The Woods and Trick ‘r Treat occupied, as it was another horror movie that was getting rave reviews from various festivals but just couldn’t seem to get a big enough push to get on the big screen. Then it finally happened. The animal masks starting appearing. The hype train started rolling down the tracks. And before you knew it, ads and posters and a marketing machine for Adam Wingard’s You’re Next were everywhere. The hype was real, but would the movie accept the daunting task of living up to it? Continue reading