Entries from August 2008 ↓

I'm looking for a gem of a movie that I saw as a child. All I can remember from the movie is that a woman gives birth to this alien/demon baby... and

In the early eighties I watched a movie that at the begging had a young woman stranded in the middle of nowhere so she went to a house just a little

I can't remember the title or any of the actor's names in a movie I saw years ago, but I am looking for some help with the title. I will try to

With all of the fowl stories circulating on the web as of late, we've been working extra hard in confirming our news before posting. Although, even when we confirm a story, sometimes the parties involved still deny it (like Natalie Portman in SUSPIRIA). I don't blame 'em, because if the deal is yet to be signed, who is to say that the news hitting the web might not quirk the deal? This afternoon we learned that Vadim Perelman is in heavy talks to helm the remake of POLTERGEIST for MGM, which was (finally) officially announced here this month. Obviously, until a press release hits the web confirming the story, nothing is official. Personally, sticking the director of HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG behind the lens of a horror film (an important one at that), sounds like the worst idea ever to me...

This morning B-D reader 'Foxboogiedowne' sent us in a snap shot of what is said to be the final poster for Saw V, which arrives in theaters October 24th. Although it looks pretty damn real, we're still working on confirming its validity and getting you a hi-res look later today. Watch this spot! In the fifth installment of the popular SAW franchise, Hoffman is seemingly the last person alive to carry on the Jigsaw legacy. But when his secret is threatened, Hoffman must go on the hunt to eliminate all loose ends.

It has turned out that Thomas Jane had started his own campaign to play Jonah Hex in Warner Bros. Pictures' adaptation of the comic book of the same name. The Movie Blog caught up co-writer and co-director Brian Taylor who explains,Hes a great guy, referring to Jane, But we… dont see the guy as Jonah Hex, to be quite honest with you. But we like him. Hex, known for having the right side of his face disfigured and wearing a Confederate army uniform, was a rough-and-tumble gunslinger and part-time bounty hunter whose adventures always ended in blood.

The other day BD reporter Tex Massacre received this box in the mail, promising that a key would soon follow allowing him to unlock the treasure. This morning Tex updated his blog with this entry detailing what was found inside the box. What he found was some really interesting hype for this year's Halloween Horror Night, which will take place at both Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood from September to November 1. Click the links above to take a look, it's always fun when companies go all out to promote their events - it's almost like showing confidence in what they have.

This year's Frightfest UK has come and gone, and what came of it (besides a flurry of talk about some short intros created by Adam Green and Joe Lynch) was that the next big thing is a film called Mum & Dad, which we first told you about here. Various sources tells us that the talk of the massive UK film festival was Steven Sheil's film, which is said to be fantastic. Inside we've got a look at the poster for the film, or you can click the title for stills and a trailer.

Review by Dana R. Davidson

As with most remakes, I expected very little going into The Wizard of Gore. Hello, Texas Chain Saw Massacre remake, terrible in my opinion, a travesty. To my happy surprise Jeremy Kasten’s version of Wizard had me at hello.

As with anything in life, say, pleasing oneself and others, or say filmmaking, stimulation, a sense of timing to result in a climax, require a commitment to the outcome, foresight, and the artistic vision to see it through. To be effective one must be detail oriented and experienced in the ways of the subject. With The Wizard of Gore Jeremy Kasten has proven that he is, in this case, the subject is filmmaking.

From the opening sequence to the ending titles the technique, heart, artistry, love of both the horror and noir genre, and attention to detail that the director was striving for, fighting for, in this Director’s Cut version was readily apparent. Complete with smart writing, good editing, interesting digital effects, cool set design, camera use, color scheme, costuming, audio, and for the most part, an enjoyable cast. I especially enjoyed Crispin Glover’s off-the-wall, zany performance as Montag the Magnificent. Also worth noting, to my delighted surprise, the Suicide Girls fit well as the brutally murdered victims.

Story. We begin near the end. Downtown Los Angeles. Edmund Bigelow, played by Kip Pardue, is a journalist trust fund baby with bloody hands. He goes to visit Dr. Chong, played by Brad Dourif. Dr. Chong uses leaches to bleed out a toxin. Cut to one week earlier. Ed and his girlfriend Maggie, played by Bijou Phillips, are at a crazy urban party where they meet a crazy bum looking dude, The Geek, played by Jeffrey Combs. The Geek invites them to see a magic show thus propelling them into a new world full of crazy drugs, sex, violence, redemption, empowerment, and secrets. Montag The Magnificent’s magic trick is to brutally kill naked women on stage but not before he monologues about life. One of my favorite lines that Montag delivers is after a kill. He says to his horrified audience, “Did you feel something? Anything?” Brilliant. Pay attention, this is a smart movie.

Do I have any criticisms? Well sadly I have a few, but only a few, which in movie review speak means that this movie is worth owning. In the highly effective opening sequence Edmund Bigelow has a voice over where his line delivery is so dead, dry, it’s a bit distracting, it pulled me out of the movie for a moment, does it ruin the movie, no, and, thankfully his performance gets better. Everything else in the beginning of the movie is immediately catching.

My only other complaint is that the stage kills (there are six) although bloody, gory, and rad start to drag a bit because when you add the repetition of place, monologues from Montag, the discussion from the audience, even though the variation on editing, audience, and kills breaks it up a bit, it can start to feel a bit long. That being said the film making techniques are very effective and visually stimulating.

Is it perfect, no, but what movie is. When even the sex and gore scenes are artistic how can one go wrong? Unless that is, you don’t like movies that are smartly written, require some sort of attention span, that showcase beautiful naked women being savagely murdered in the most gorriffic of ways, while at the same time done in such beauty and taste that you can’t take your eyes off it. If you don’t like things that are cool in the sense that it has style, that is has an open mind, then of course you wouldn’t like this movie.

Bottom line is that Director Jeremy Kasten took creative license in the remaking of this movie, which was at great risk knowing the kind of fan following that the original Wizard of Gore has. That to me shows he has some brass balls, which is a great attribute for a director to have. Not only did he dare to do something different, he pulled it off. If director Jeremy Kasten pays as much attention to detail to his lovers as he does to his movies they must be very satisfied ladies. I look forward to his future projects.

Watch The Wizard of Gore trailer:

As you may have noticed, I review a lot of movies here at Final Girl. Some of these movies are made of awesome, some are made of lame...this is to be expected. You take the good, you take the bad...you take them both and there, my friends, you have the facts of life. It's a rare film that crosses my path, however, that is so bad that I want to go back in time and stop myself from pushing play on the VCR. Even more rare is the film that makes me want to go back in time and stop myself from seeing the movie on the shelf...or further back in time so I can stop the filmmakers from beginning production. Or even further back so I can prevent the filmmakers' parents from having "intimate" "relations" so I can ensure the film will never get made.

This is how I feel about the 1987 Creature from the Black Lagoon wannabe Demon of Paradise.


Blah blah blah legend of prehistoric underwater lizard-man Akua blah blah oh no, he's really real blah blah blah let's follow the standard animal attack movie formula: we can't cancel the annual Parade Festival blah blah blah the scienceologist will save the day blah blah fucking blah.

Trust me, that description is way more exciting than what happens on screen. What happens on screen? NOTHING. So much nothing that when I looked over at one point and my viewing pals were asleep, I thought that maybe I was actually the one who fell asleep and I was having the most boring dream ever dreamed.

Let's take a look at some of the things I wrote whilst taking notes for this review:

• Reporter = die, please
• nothing happens. nothing happens some more. badly acted nothings happen.
• music = horrendous, always inappropriate
• more nothing happening = kill myself
• testing my resolve as a human being to overcome adversity and boredom
• why won't it end?
• hell = this
• when will it end?
• PLEASE END

Finally, it did end and I was left feeling like I'd just completed ten tours of 'Nam. Demon of Paradise was so bad then when the credits finally rolled I nearly went apoplectic, ranting and flipping it off so hard I'm surprised my middle finger didn't explode. There's no doubt that in those few moments, I could have legally been deemed a fire hazard- such was the white-hot intensity of my rage. I'm only shocked that lasers didn't shoot out of my eyeballs.

Oh, how Demon of Paradise angried up my blood! Why did Satan himself have to shit this movie into existence? Why did I have to see it in the 3-for-$5 bin at Video Hut? Why did the filmmakers not realize that a man in a rubber suit popping up out of the water every once in a while to wave at people off camera does not induce terror? Why did it have to be so boring that I couldn't even laugh at the waving monster?

Clearly, Demon of Paradise hates me as much as I hate it.

Originally, I didn't even want to bring the tape home with me: I really, really don't want this movie in my house. Since last night, however, I've reconsidered that stance and I think some good may actually come from this steaming pile of dook.

Some outreach program should take Demon of Paradise to all the Ebola clinics of the world and show one-minute clips to patients. Then they can say "See, Ebola patient? Your internal organs are liquifying and your face is being eaten away, but at least you don't have to endure the other 86 minutes of Demon in Paradise!", to which the Ebola sufferers will say "Hooray! I may have Ebola, but clearly my life could be a lot worse!"

Writer-Director Edward Romero is back with a new indie horror project that begins shooting in Los Angeles later this year. BUTTERFLY is a suspense/horror hybrid about NICK COLE, a straight-to-video horror director who is kidnapped by, LANEY, an over zealous fan, determined to impress him with her own film project. The situation goes from bad to worse when Cole realizes that the murders in Laney's film are real, and that the victims are all people from his own dark past. Think Hard Candy meets The Blair Witch Project with a sardonic edge... Watch for updates soon.

We broke the news exclusively here on B-D Back in June that Rogue Pictures was planning a sequel to their summer smash-hit, The Strangers, which racked in over $50 million here in the States. Today the news became official as Rogue has tapped Bryan Bertino to return to write the script. Bertino wrote and directed the first film. Read on for the full story.

Awesome! A year or so ago I read a script by Sean Hogan and Christine Conradt entitled Summer, which I thought was really flippin' cool. I was shocked tonight to discover that the film is already halfway through its Ottawa shoot, with Lee De Marbre behind the camera. Ashley Greene (Twilight; pictured inside) is set to topline alongside Stephen McHattie (Watchmen, Pontypool), Barbara Niven and Peter Mooney, who will all play the deranged kinfolk that Greene's character encounters on her quest to find the father she's never known.

Cabin Fever Alien 3 and Alien:Resurrection THe Hills Have Eyes 2 (2007) Jaws the Revenge Halloween 3 Exorcist 2 The Ring 2 I Still Know What

13 Tzameti Succeeds Through Simplicity and Subtlety, which can be far more thrilling than gallons of grue by taking a very straightforward concept and executing it to nail-biting perfection.