Entries from April 2007 ↓

The Grand Horror episode for the Midnight Podcast (04-25-07)

The Grand Horror episode for the Midnight Podcast 24 min and 50 sec (04-25-07):

 

On this Wednesday edition of the Midnight Podcast, I talk to MaT Kisser the director of the horror movie The Grand Horror.......Thanks to Dustin of the Dead for the Midnight Podcast theme music.......

 

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Midnight Podcast – The Grand Horror

On this Wednesday edition of the Midnight Podcast, I talk to MaT Kisser the director of the horror movie The Grand Horror…….Thanks to Dustin of the Dead for the Midnight Podcast theme music…….

Tales of Horror 64 No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales Of Horror Presents  No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales of Horror 64 No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales Of Horror Presents  No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales of Horror 64 No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales Of Horror Presents  No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales of Horror 64 No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Tales Of Horror Presents%26amp;nbsp; No Defense Against Demons Part 1

Necessities Poll



Once again I'm proud of our readers for making wise decisions in a zombie crisis. We all know that the most critical period for survival in the event of an outbreak is the first hour or two, while gaining your bearings and beginning to enact your survival plan. It was that period that our most recent poll tested.

A full 46% (393) of our readers chose weapons as the most important necessity to be secured for zombie survival. This seems to me to be the right answer. After all, what good is food if you can't even protect yourself long enough to eat it? What good is water if you get eaten before you can drink it? What good is group numbers if no one in that group is capable of defending themselves (or anyone else in the group for that matter) against zombies? Frankly I'm disappointed that only 46% chose this option.

Coming in second in the poll was water (20% - 170). This seems fairly reasonable to me since if we take threats in order of their immanence, water should be second. After death by zombie, you're most likely to die of thirst next. You'll certainly die of thirst long before starvation.

In third we had group numbers (17% - 142). To me this one could easily have been above water, so it makes sense that it was barely nudged out by water. After all, group numbers is really another tool (along with weapons) for surviving the most immanent threat to life - zombies.

In fourth place was transportation (10% - 85). This is an interesting one. If you find yourself in a city you're simply not going to survive if you stay there, no matter how many weapons you have. I'm sure for these 10% that is what tipped the scales. But how do you plan to get to that transportation in the first place if you don't have any weapons? Further, what if you don't live in the city? Why concern yourself with transportation above everything else?

The fifth most chosen answer was food at 6% (50). This just seems silly...absolutely silly. A person can survive more than a month with no food. Granted that time will be knocked down significantly under high stress survival situations, but the point still stands - food should not be considered a necessity in the early stages of zombie survival. Concentrate on living in the short term before you concentrate on surviving in the long term.

In last place, surprisingly, was night vision aids (1% - 7). To me this just seems utterly absurd! Why in God's name would anyone choose food over being able to see in the dark when a hoard of zombies is on the loose? In my opinion this could have come in as high as 2nd or 3rd and at the very worst 4th. Remember that we should prioritize necessities by order of the eminence of the threat that they protect against. If that is the case, then night vision should come before even water. A person can go a couple days without water (although, admittedly it will suck), but night falls for about a third of every day! When it's dark out and there are zombies around I assure you you'll be aggressively bartering your canteen for a pair of night vision goggles or a flashlight!

Well, there's my traditional assessment of the poll results. Feel free to rip me to shreds for my idiocy.

Necessities Poll



Once again I'm proud of our readers for making wise decisions in a zombie crisis. We all know that the most critical period for survival in the event of an outbreak is the first hour or two, while gaining your bearings and beginning to enact your survival plan. It was that period that our most recent poll tested.

A full 46% (393) of our readers chose weapons as the most important necessity to be secured for zombie survival. This seems to me to be the right answer. After all, what good is food if you can't even protect yourself long enough to eat it? What good is water if you get eaten before you can drink it? What good is group numbers if no one in that group is capable of defending themselves (or anyone else in the group for that matter) against zombies? Frankly I'm disappointed that only 46% chose this option.

Coming in second in the poll was water (20% - 170). This seems fairly reasonable to me since if we take threats in order of their immanence, water should be second. After death by zombie, you're most likely to die of thirst next. You'll certainly die of thirst long before starvation.

In third we had group numbers (17% - 142). To me this one could easily have been above water, so it makes sense that it was barely nudged out by water. After all, group numbers is really another tool (along with weapons) for surviving the most immanent threat to life - zombies.

In fourth place was transportation (10% - 85). This is an interesting one. If you find yourself in a city you're simply not going to survive if you stay there, no matter how many weapons you have. I'm sure for these 10% that is what tipped the scales. But how do you plan to get to that transportation in the first place if you don't have any weapons? Further, what if you don't live in the city? Why concern yourself with transportation above everything else?

The fifth most chosen answer was food at 6% (50). This just seems silly...absolutely silly. A person can survive more than a month with no food. Granted that time will be knocked down significantly under high stress survival situations, but the point still stands - food should not be considered a necessity in the early stages of zombie survival. Concentrate on living in the short term before you concentrate on surviving in the long term.

In last place, surprisingly, was night vision aids (1% - 7). To me this just seems utterly absurd! Why in God's name would anyone choose food over being able to see in the dark when a hoard of zombies is on the loose? In my opinion this could have come in as high as 2nd or 3rd and at the very worst 4th. Remember that we should prioritize necessities by order of the eminence of the threat that they protect against. If that is the case, then night vision should come before even water. A person can go a couple days without water (although, admittedly it will suck), but night falls for about a third of every day! When it's dark out and there are zombies around I assure you you'll be aggressively bartering your canteen for a pair of night vision goggles or a flashlight!

Well, there's my traditional assessment of the poll results. Feel free to rip me to shreds for my idiocy.

Necessities Poll



Once again I'm proud of our readers for making wise decisions in a zombie crisis. We all know that the most critical period for survival in the event of an outbreak is the first hour or two, while gaining your bearings and beginning to enact your survival plan. It was that period that our most recent poll tested.

A full 46% (393) of our readers chose weapons as the most important necessity to be secured for zombie survival. This seems to me to be the right answer. After all, what good is food if you can't even protect yourself long enough to eat it? What good is water if you get eaten before you can drink it? What good is group numbers if no one in that group is capable of defending themselves (or anyone else in the group for that matter) against zombies? Frankly I'm disappointed that only 46% chose this option.

Coming in second in the poll was water (20% - 170). This seems fairly reasonable to me since if we take threats in order of their immanence, water should be second. After death by zombie, you're most likely to die of thirst next. You'll certainly die of thirst long before starvation.

In third we had group numbers (17% - 142). To me this one could easily have been above water, so it makes sense that it was barely nudged out by water. After all, group numbers is really another tool (along with weapons) for surviving the most immanent threat to life - zombies.

In fourth place was transportation (10% - 85). This is an interesting one. If you find yourself in a city you're simply not going to survive if you stay there, no matter how many weapons you have. I'm sure for these 10% that is what tipped the scales. But how do you plan to get to that transportation in the first place if you don't have any weapons? Further, what if you don't live in the city? Why concern yourself with transportation above everything else?

The fifth most chosen answer was food at 6% (50). This just seems silly...absolutely silly. A person can survive more than a month with no food. Granted that time will be knocked down significantly under high stress survival situations, but the point still stands - food should not be considered a necessity in the early stages of zombie survival. Concentrate on living in the short term before you concentrate on surviving in the long term.

In last place, surprisingly, was night vision aids (1% - 7). To me this just seems utterly absurd! Why in God's name would anyone choose food over being able to see in the dark when a hoard of zombies is on the loose? In my opinion this could have come in as high as 2nd or 3rd and at the very worst 4th. Remember that we should prioritize necessities by order of the eminence of the threat that they protect against. If that is the case, then night vision should come before even water. A person can go a couple days without water (although, admittedly it will suck), but night falls for about a third of every day! When it's dark out and there are zombies around I assure you you'll be aggressively bartering your canteen for a pair of night vision goggles or a flashlight!

Well, there's my traditional assessment of the poll results. Feel free to rip me to shreds for my idiocy.

Necessities Poll



Once again I'm proud of our readers for making wise decisions in a zombie crisis. We all know that the most critical period for survival in the event of an outbreak is the first hour or two, while gaining your bearings and beginning to enact your survival plan. It was that period that our most recent poll tested.

A full 46% (393) of our readers chose weapons as the most important necessity to be secured for zombie survival. This seems to me to be the right answer. After all, what good is food if you can't even protect yourself long enough to eat it? What good is water if you get eaten before you can drink it? What good is group numbers if no one in that group is capable of defending themselves (or anyone else in the group for that matter) against zombies? Frankly I'm disappointed that only 46% chose this option.

Coming in second in the poll was water (20% - 170). This seems fairly reasonable to me since if we take threats in order of their immanence, water should be second. After death by zombie, you're most likely to die of thirst next. You'll certainly die of thirst long before starvation.

In third we had group numbers (17% - 142). To me this one could easily have been above water, so it makes sense that it was barely nudged out by water. After all, group numbers is really another tool (along with weapons) for surviving the most immanent threat to life - zombies.

In fourth place was transportation (10% - 85). This is an interesting one. If you find yourself in a city you're simply not going to survive if you stay there, no matter how many weapons you have. I'm sure for these 10% that is what tipped the scales. But how do you plan to get to that transportation in the first place if you don't have any weapons? Further, what if you don't live in the city? Why concern yourself with transportation above everything else?

The fifth most chosen answer was food at 6% (50). This just seems silly...absolutely silly. A person can survive more than a month with no food. Granted that time will be knocked down significantly under high stress survival situations, but the point still stands - food should not be considered a necessity in the early stages of zombie survival. Concentrate on living in the short term before you concentrate on surviving in the long term.

In last place, surprisingly, was night vision aids (1% - 7). To me this just seems utterly absurd! Why in God's name would anyone choose food over being able to see in the dark when a hoard of zombies is on the loose? In my opinion this could have come in as high as 2nd or 3rd and at the very worst 4th. Remember that we should prioritize necessities by order of the eminence of the threat that they protect against. If that is the case, then night vision should come before even water. A person can go a couple days without water (although, admittedly it will suck), but night falls for about a third of every day! When it's dark out and there are zombies around I assure you you'll be aggressively bartering your canteen for a pair of night vision goggles or a flashlight!

Well, there's my traditional assessment of the poll results. Feel free to rip me to shreds for my idiocy.

Interview: Bernie Wrightson

City of Others #1Bernie Wrightson is one of the greatest living horror comics artists in the world, and almost unquestionably the greatest living horror comics artist in Western comics. Despite a career built on beautifully detailed depictions of monsters, madmen, and terror, he is also friendly and, well, just a really nice guy.

Wrightson, who is perhaps best known by many comics fans for his work on Swamp Thing with Len Wein or his stints working on the Warren titles Creepy and Eerie, has been away from comics for a few years, doing commercial and movie work.

He’s back now, though, drawing the new series City of Others. City of Others is written by reigning horror champ Steve Niles and is published by Dark Horse. The first issue of the series — about the world’s most perfect killer and his stumbling onto a much darker, more monster-filled world than he imagined existed — came out in late February. The second issue is due April 25.

I called Wrightson at his studio in California.

DBS: How did working with Steve Niles come about?
BW: Working with Steve Niles is an absolute dream. I have never had a creative partner like him before. This is just wonderful. We get together and talk about stories and plotting issues and things. It’s really like we’re sharing a brain.

The inversion of the man with two brains! What’s so different about this relationship? Is it that you guys are on the same wavelength, or is it something different about how you’re collaborating?
Steve has absolutely no ego. There’s no problem with him about letting me write, which I’ve never really had before. It’s always been a case of, I’m the artist, the writer is the writer, and we never crossed the line. With Steve it’s just total give and take. I’m having a hell of a time. It’s terrific.

How much writing are you doing on this series?
I don’t know if you could really quantify it. We’ll talk about an issue and Steve will make a lot of notes. Then he gives me a script. Then I thumbnail the script; I just do a lot of rewriting and maybe changing, maybe adding some things or taking some things out, and I give it back to Steve and then he rewrites that. Then I get that back and I rewrite it again. It just goes back and forth until we’re both happy with it.

I saw a video on YouTube that seemed to indicate that you and Niles co-created City of Others, or at least the story. Is that process unusual for you in working with other writers?
Yeah. Usually I’ve been approached by someone else. Someone sends me a script or a synopsis or something like that. I’ll take something on if it’s something I really want to do. There’s never been that kind of creative crossover before. I have written a few things myself. In terms of working with a writer, I’ve never had it this good before.

splash page from City of OthersYou haven’t done a lot of comics work in recent years. Why not?
I kind of put comics on the backburner for a few years and got into commercial work and movie work and a little of this and a little of that. I can’t really keep track of it anymore. It all kind of runs together, just jumping from one job to the next. I just kind of forgot about comics for a while, and then I met Steve. We share a love of horror movies and horror comics and monsters and all that great stuff.

And it was that shared love that got the comic juices flowing again?
Absolutely, yeah.

Given that you’ve been away from comics, did you have to stretch some creative muscles that you haven’t used in a while to do this project?
For sure, yeah. You know, the first issue of City of Others, I’m very proud of it. I just finished the third issue and am getting started on the fourth and it’s getting better and better and better. It’s like a piece of rusty machinery that’s getting oil poured on it. It’s chugging along so much more smoothly now. It’s going to start looking a lot better starting with issue 2.

Why shoot from pencils? What was behind that decision?
That’s more of a practical consideration than anything else. Inking just takes too long. If I were doing this the standard way, we might be putting out like two issues a year. It takes too long to do it that way. I think it looks really good being done from the pencils.

City of Others #2Do you have a preference working in color or black and white in comics?
(In the art process) there’s penciling, then there’s inking, then there’s color. By the time I get to color, I’ve been living with that job for so long, I don’t even want to think about it anymore. And I would just rather do it all in black and white and make it as good as I can in black and white and then turn it over to a good colorist and just not even talk to him. Just let him go crazy creatively with what I’ve done. That’s how it’s going with Jose (Villarrubia) on this book. And God, I just couldn’t be happier — the guy is amazing!

Do you see a strength or weakness in having color in horror comics as opposed to doing just black and white?
I grew up on EC comics and they were full color. Then I fell in love with Creepy and Eerie and they were black and white. To me there was really no difference. It’s two different approaches to telling a story.

What do you make of the development of graphic novels? That’s certainly a big change in the industry from when you broke in.
I don’t really have an opinion about that. My days are usually so full that I don’t really have time to read any comics. Since I started working professionally, I’m not much of a comics reader anymore anyway. I’m too busy doing them to follow them. In recent years, with the graphic novels and the collections, I usually won’t see a miniseries until it’s all done and has been collected in bound volumes. I didn’t even know about League of Extraordinary Gentlemen until I saw the big two volume set!

Does the process of being in the industry, going from reader and fan to pro, take any of the magic of comics away? That you know how it’s put together now, so it’s not as exciting somehow?
Not really, no. My feeling has always been – and it certainly is about City of Others – I’m drawing the kind of comic that I would like to read. I don’t think I’m really any different than any other comic book reader. I kind of feel that if it’s a comic book I’d like to read, there will be lots of other people who want to read it, too.

City of Others #3Do you envision doing more comics work after City of Others wraps up?
I don’t really know. I don’t really like looking that far ahead. As far as we’re concerned with City of Others, we’re going to do this as an ongoing thing. There’s really no end in sight. I think word’s gotten out that it’s a 4-issue or 6-issue miniseries or something. I don’t know where that started. That’s not really the case. We’re just going to keep going with this until we run dry or don’t want to do it anymore.

That’s great. I was under the impression that it was a limited series as well, but that’s great to hear.
We’re going to try to keep tying up loose ends as we go. Steve and I, neither one of us wants to keep stringing the reader along indefinitely. We are very conscious of where the story is going and what we want to do with it.

You did some work on Land of the Dead with George Romero?
Yeah, I did some zombie designs.

What was that like?
You know, I didn’t really work directly with George. I did that with KNB. I worked very closely with Greg Nicotero. He’s a good friend of mine and no matter how busy I am I will almost always drop everything for the opportunity to work with him.

To wrap up, have you seen any great horror movies or read any great horror novels recently that people might want to check out?
I just finished Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It’s one of the best ghost stories I’ve ever read. I really enjoyed that. I was more than halfway through it before the news broke that he was Stephen King’s son. Not that that makes any difference. He’s a hell of a writer on his own. I’m about 3/4 of the way through World War Z by Max Brooks. That’s another terrific book. I recommend it.

(all images in this article are by Bernie Wrightson and Jose Villarrubia.)

Midnight Podcast Interview – Sarah Gordon

On this Tuesday edition of the Midnight Podcast, I talk to Sarah Gordon (Actress) and Dave Reda (Director) from the horror movie Bit Parts……. Sarah plays the lead actress Brenda in Bit Parts…….Thanks to Dustin of the Dead for the Midnight Podcast theme music…….

The Sarah Gordan episode for the Midnight Podcast (04-18-07)

The Sarah Gordan episode for the Midnight Podcast 26 min and 40 sec (04-18-07):

 

On this Tuesday edition of the Midnight Podcast, I talk to Sarah Gordan (Actress) and Dave Reda (Director) from the horror movie Bit Parts....... Sarah plays the lead actress Brenda in Bit Parts.......Thanks to Dustin of the Dead for the Midnight Podcast theme music.......

 

Click to vote for my Podcast!

 

Friends of the Midnight Podcast

Boggman (The Midnight Podcast's West Coast Affiliate)

Bob Dawn of The Dead (The Midnight Podcast's East Coast Affiliate)

Aaron (The Midnight Podcast's Local Affiliate)

Billy Zebubba

Reel Horror Podcast

King Zombie (A website for all your zombie needs)

Zomcast my favorite zombie podcast

Sin-Jin Smyth the Movie

Bit Parts the Movie

Bit Parts myspace page

Rock and Roll Ray

Mondo Collecto's myspace page

 

Links related to the Sarah Gordan episode :

Bit Parts the Movie

Bit Parts myspace page

 

 

If you have any questions or comments for me, contact us at the below links:

mailto:midnightpodcast@yahoo.com (NEW E-MAIL ADDERSS)

http://www.myspace.com/midnightpodcast

http://rootrot.libsyn.com

Sleightly,

Root Rot

The Ethan Dettenmaier Q&A episode part 2 for the Midnight Podcast (04-17-07)

The Ethan Dettenmaier Q&A episode part 2 for the Midnight Podcast 34 min and 45 sec (04-17-07):

 

On this Tuesday edition of the Midnight Podcast, I talk to Ethan Dettenmaier the diector of the up coming horror movie Sin-Jin Smyth....... Ethan goes into more detail about Rodger's question and he also talks about his upcoming projects....... Tomorrow I will have Sarah Gordan and Dave Reda from the horror movie Bit Parts....... Thanks to Dustin of the Dead for the Midnight Podcast theme music.......

 

Click to vote for my Podcast!

 

Friends of the Midnight Podcast

Boggman (The Midnight Podcast's West Coast Affiliate)

Bob Dawn of The Dead (The Midnight Podcast's East Coast Affiliate)

Aaron (The Midnight Podcast's Local Affiliate)

Billy Zebubba

Reel Horror Podcast

King Zombie (A website for all your zombie needs)

Zomcast my favorite zombie podcast

Sin-Jin Smyth the Movie

Bit Parts the Movie

Bit Parts myspace page

Rock and Roll Ray

Mondo Collecto's myspace page

 

Links related to the Ethan Dettenmaier Q&A episode part2 :

Sin-Jin Smyth the Movie

 

 

If you have any questions or comments for me, contact us at the below links:

mailto:midnightpodcast@yahoo.com (NEW E-MAIL ADDERSS)

http://www.myspace.com/midnightpodcast  

http://rootrot.libsyn.com

Sleightly,

Root Rot

Toronto After Dark, But Before Deadline

The Toronto After Dark film festival’s 2007 call for submissions has already begun, so if you’re interested in that sort of gig…then get moving. The second annual festival will be taking place October 19-25.

“Sure, sure, Rick,” you’re saying. “But I don’t live in effing Canada. How can I, poor, dearest I, possibly get my film festival goodness on?”

Well, we can help you with that, too. While the TAD festival is worth the trip (Plus: Duty free!), here are some of our other favorite gatherings going on in the near future that may be closer to your abode…

Sci-Fi Spectacular @ Music Box Theatre, Chicago: Over fifteen hours of classic science-fiction movies, including Metropolis, Forbidden Planet, and Serenity. Plus special guest Patricia Neal from The Day the Earth Stood Still. Tickets are only $16 an on sale now.

The 14th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival: Always one of the best festivals around, period, this year CUFF rocks Chicago from August 22nd to the 26th. That may seem a ways off, but we all know once it gets nice outside (around mid-July in these parts, maybe) time starts flipping past like a night on Wild Turkey. And if you’re so inclined, they are also open for submissions as we speak. So get your bum on over there and give it your best shot.

Found Footage Festival: One of the oddest, and most amusing, gatherings around continues it’s cross-continent tour, hitting up Toronto, Tuscson, and L.A. in the month of May. Check out their site or their MySpace page for dates.

Illinois International Film Festival: Yet another great midwest-based festival (Sorry — that’s just where I happen to live in the middle of!), kicking off this year the weekend of September 14th, but with a little extra added bonus…the horror scene contest! And that’s something near and dear to our tiny, barely-pumping hearts.

Eerie Horror Fest: While we love film fests of all shapes and sizes, focus and theme, few come so close to the top of the pile as Eerie Horror Fest in Eerie, PA. While it would be good enough that they’re an entirely horror-dedicated festival, they take it one more — this year their list of special guests include the likes of Ken Foree, Adrienne Barbeau, Tom Savini and Dee Wallace Stone. Regardless of how much a drive it may be, I suggest you get down there October 10th through the 14th. It’s more than worth the price of gas and Twinkies.

While that’s only a very, very, very small percentage of the film fests happening around the country this summer, they’re some of the big ones we highly suggest you hit up. But then again, we don’t want to miss anything else — so what film festivals are you planning your next few months around that we should be anxiously anticipating?