Category: Horror

“Jurassic World Dominion” – The Poster and Second Trailer are Here!

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Jurassic World Dominion – The poster and second trailer look great.  I’ll need to see this on the big-screen!

This summer, experience the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar®-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe.

From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

Jurassic World Dominion, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, propels the more than $5 billion franchise into daring, uncharted territory, featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects.

The film features new cast members DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It), Emmy nominee Mamoudou Athie (Archive 81), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Scott Haze (Minari) and Campbell Scott (The Amazing Spider-Man 2). The film’s returning cast includes BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, Justice Smith as Franklin Webb, Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and Omar Sy as Barry Sembenè.

Jurassic World Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow, who steered 2015’s Jurassic World to a record-shattering $1.7 billion global box office. The screenplay is by Emily Carmichael (Battle at Big Rock) & Colin Trevorrow from a story by Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) & Trevorrow, based on characters created by Michael Crichton. Jurassic World Dominion is produced by acclaimed franchise producers Frank Marshall p.g.a. and Patrick Crowley p.g.a. and is executive produced by legendary, Oscar®-winning franchise creator Steven Spielberg, Alexandra Derbyshire and Colin Trevorrow.

Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment present, in association with Perfect World Pictures, a Colin Trevorrow film. jurassicworld.com

“Watcher” – The Extended Trailer is Here!

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Last month we got the first trailer for Watcher.  Then I said I thought it looked good.  Today we get the extended trailer and my opinion hasn’t changed.

US Release Date: June 3, 2022
Starring: Maika Monroe, Karl Glusman, Burn Gorman
Directed By: Chloe Okuno
As a serial killer stalks the city, Julia – a young actress who just moved to town with her boyfriend – notices a mysterious stranger watching her from across the street in this terrifying thriller.

“Rattlesnake”  (2019) / Z-View

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Rattlesnake  (2019)

Director:  Zak Hilditch

Writers:  Zak Hilditch

Starring:  Carmen Ejogo, Theo Rossi  and Appy Pratt.

Tagline:  Time waits for no one.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Katrina Ridgeway (Ejogo) and her little daughter Clara (Pratt) get a flat tire on a deserted desert road.  As Katrina changes the tire, Clara wanders a bit and is bitten by a rattlesnake.  With no cars in sight, and no cell service, Clara is fading fast.  Suddenly Katrina hears music coming from a trailer!

Katrina runs Clara to the trailer where she finds an old woman.  Katrina explains what happened.  The woman says she can help.  She tells Katrina to change the tire. There is a hospital ten minutes away.  As Katrina turns to leave, the woman says, “We can talk about payment later.”  Katrina changes the tire and returns to find the old woman gone.  She rushes Clara to the hospital, but doctors can find no evidence of a snake bite.

The doctor suggests Clara spend the night for observation.  Katrina agrees.  A few minutes later a well dressed man enters the room saying he is there to discuss payment.  Katrina tells him she has insurance. The man cuts her off saying, “What was done for your daughter doesn’t come cheap. Her little soul was spared. And now you owe one in return.”

Katrina Ridgeway, “I’m sorry, I thought you said soul.”

“Ms. Ridgeway, you don’t have long to pay your debt. You only have until sunset, which is now only seven hours away. The soul you take can be any one of your choosing, but it must be human. And it must be paid in full and on time.”

Katrina quickly comes to realize that unless she kills a human within seven hours, her daughter will die!

Carmen Ejogo is the glue that holds Rattlesnake together.  Theo Rossi is so good at being bad.  Rattlesnake is like an extended episode of The Twilight Zone.  My favorite scene is in the hospital where Katrina begins to realize the deal she’s made.  Rattlesnake is one of those films where it’s about the journey and not the destination.

Rattlesnake rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Cryo” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Cryo looks like scary fun.  Don’t ya think?

Sometimes the real nightmare is being awake. Five scientists awake from a cryogenic sleep and find themselves trapped in an underground facility. With no memory of who they are or how long they’ve been asleep, they begin to realize they may have been part of a scientific experiment gone wrong. After a series of strange events, the scientists find themselves being hunted. They do not know who is hunting them or for what reason, but the scientists begin to suspect that one of them may be the killer.

RIP: James Bama

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Last night word began leaking that James Bama had died.  I wanted to wait for a verified source.  Sadly, it is true.  James Bama died yesterday, just 4 days short of his 94th birthday.

James Bama grew up wanting to be a cartoonist.  He had his first professional sale, a drawing of Yankee Stadium, at the age of 15.  After a stint in the service, Mr. Bama began his career as a commercial illustrator.  He created art for paperback covers, movie posters, and magazine illustrations.  James Bama is perhaps most widely known for the 62 paperback covers he did for the Doc Savage series.  Later in his career Mr. Bama became known for his many western paintings.

James Bama was inducted into the Illustrator’s Hall of Fame on June 28, 2000.  He was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall Of Fame at The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards in 2005.

I first became aware of Mr. Bama’s art with his beautiful renditions of the Universal Monsters on the Aurora Monster Model Boxes.  I can remember how much my buddy and I loved the art, often more than the models.  It wasn’t until I was older that I learned Mr. Bama’s name as I saw more and more of his art.  What a wonderful and varied career he had.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to James Bama’s family, friends and fans.

“The Ghoul” (1933) / Z-View

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The Ghoul (1933)

Director:  T. Hayes Hunter

Writers:  Roland Pertwee & John Hastings Turner based on the novel by Frank King and the play by Frank King and Leonard J. HInes / Rupert Downing … adaptation

Starring:  Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger and Ralph Richardson.

Tagline: An Ancient Curse Is About To Be Unleashed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Prof. Henry Morlant (Karloff) is dying.  Morlant believes if he dies holding an ancient sacred jewel stolen from an Egyptian temple, he will be reborn.  Morlant has the jewel wrapped in his hand and warns of harm that will befall any who interfere,  When a thief steals the jewel, Morlant returns from the dead to take his revenge.  Part of the fun for the audience is trying to determine the identity of the thief, but I was just ready for Morlant to kill ’em all.

“The Alligator People” (1959) / Z-View

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The Alligator People (1959)

Director:  Roy Del Ruth

Writers:  Orville H. Hampton (screenplay), Charles O’Neal (story), Robert M. Fresco (uncredited)

Starring:  Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett and Lon Chaney Jr..

Tagline: Her honeymoon turned into a nightmare of horror!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Joyce Webster (Garland) is on her honeymoon with her new husband (Bennett) when he suddenly runs away.  After years of searching the clues lead Joyce to her husband’s family estate on a secluded bayou. (Years of searching?  Wouldn’t her husband’s family be the first place she looked?)

There she meets the one-handed alcoholic Manon (Chaney) and her anti-social mother-in-law.  Manon takes Joyce around the swampy estate which is full of gators.  As Manon shoots gators, he explains years ago one took his hand and he’ll kill any alligator he can.  Joyce also learns that secret experiments are being performed on alligators.  As Joyce pries deeper she learns the horrific reason her husband ran away…

If only The Alligator People was as good as its poster.  As you can tell from the photo below, the special effects are lacking.  Sadly, at this point in his career Lon Chaney, Jr. playing an alcoholic didn’t require much acting.  If you like bad 1950s monster movies, you’ll like this.  Despite the less-than-stellar alligator make-up there are some fun scenes of Garland in peril surrounded by alligators.  There is also a fun fight between Manon with his hook hand and the alligator man.  Unfortunately, the title of the film is misleading, but I guess The Alligator Man doesn’t sound as exciting as The Alligator People.  With that said, The Alligator People earned 2 of 5 stars.

“Jaws” by Alistair Little and “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” by Vance Kelly!

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Today at noon, Bottleneck Art Gallery will release two new prints.  The one above is the Jaws print by Alistair Little and the second is The Creature from the Black Lagoon by Vance Kelly.  You can click on the art above and below to see bigger versions.  Click over to Bottleneck Art Gallery for details if you’re interested in either (or both)!

HEAD WOUNDS: SPARROW is Coming!

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Head Wounds: Sparrow is a graphic novel written by Brian Buccellato from a story by Robert Johnson & John Alvey.  The art is by Christian Ward.  Here’s the synopsis…

Tangled up in the battle between Good and Evil, a crooked Louisiana detective with a higher purpose must psychically suffer the wounds of those he’s sworn to protect until he brings their assailants to justice.

No one would call Leo a good person – much less a good cop. But when his best friend is shot in front of him, he wakes up with a hole in his own head that only he can see, and a host of mysterious strangers calling on him for action.

Most people go about their daily lives ignoring or unable to see the divine battle for Good and Evil raging around them, but it has just become very very real for Leo. As angels and demons vie for the fate of humanity, he must choose a side or risk seeing everyone and everything he has ever known destroyed as the stakes get higher and higher.

As Leo sees the true faces of the people around him he must decide – will he do what’s best for him alone, or follow a higher purpose?

 

 

If Head Wounds: Sparrow sounds/looks like something you’d like, pre-orders are available now.  The graphic novel premieres on August 9, 2022.

“The Night House” (2020) / Z-View

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The Night House (2020)

Director:  David Bruckner

Writer:  Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski

Starring:  Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Evan Jonigkeit.

Tagline: The truth will surface.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Beth (Hall) is a grieving widow, with no idea why her husband, Owen (Jonigkeit) killed himself.  Alone in the house that they built on a remote lake, Beth begins to have strange dreams.  Going through Owen’s possessions she comes across books about demons, pictures of other women, and more.  Then Beth begins to hear strange sounds in the house and a voice claiming to be Owen.  Is Beth losing her mind or is Owen reaching out to her from beyond?  Or could it be something even worse?

The Night House is held together by the acting of Rebecca Hall.  She’s really good.  The problem I had with the movie is it didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be.  Is it the story of a grieving widow trying to hold on to her sanity?  Is it the tale of a widow who discovers her husband was a serial killer?  Is it a haunted house movie?  When all is said and done, more is said than done.  And for that reason I give The Night House 2 of 5 stars.    

“Frank & Penelope” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Frank & Penelope may not be for everyone.  Heck, it may not be for me, but I like the poster’s design and the trailer looks like drive-in fun.  Who doesn’t like a good crime/horror mashup.  The question is: Will Frank & Penelope be good?

I’ll let you know.

While on the run from the law, Frank and his stripper girlfriend Penelope come upon a small motel and diner and decide to rest for the night. The next day, after robbing the diner, they become immersed in a hellish nightmare when the proprietor — a psychotic, cannibalistic Bible-thumper with a sadistic family — take them on a life and death journey, where escape is just a heart-pounding breath away.

CAST: Kevin Dillon, Billy Budinich, Caylee Cowan, Sean Patrick Flanery, Donna D’Errico, Johnathon Schaech, Sonya Eddy, Lin Shaye

DIRECTOR: Sean Patrick Flanery

THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias!

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The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias is on my to-be-read list.  I’m a fan of Iglesias’ Zero Saints and love the plot of The Devil Takes You Home.  Check it out and see what you think,

From Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author, Gabino Iglesias, comes a genre-defying thriller about a father desperate to salvage what’s left of his family, even if it means a descent into violence –both supernatural and of our own terrifying world.

Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

The Devil Takes You Home is a panoramic odyssey for fans of S.A. Cosby’s southern noir, Blacktop Wasteland, by way of the boundary-defying storytelling of Stephen Graham Jones and Sylvia Moreno-Garcia.

“The Home” – A Short Horror Film

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The Home is filled with tension due to professional acting, directing and production values.  Well done.

Set in a small, isolated 19th century Irish home for unwed mothers, a young pregnant woman must fight for her survival as the home falls siege to a group of mysterious invaders.

“The Home”

Writers: L. Gustavo Cooper & Peter Cilella

Director: L. Gustavo Cooper

Starring Alex Essoe (Doctor Sleep, Midnight Mass)