I watch a lot of horror movies. I won’t say I’m an expert on the genre, but I totally know like 100 times more on the horror film genre than anyone I’ve ever met. Which in a way makes me sad, but I will move on…
Below are my recommendations of little gems you’ve probably never even heard of. While there’s still more on my list to see (Let The Right One In comes to mind) this Top 10 comes from my past 13 years of horror movie viewings.
Have any worthy omissions? Tell me in the comments!
I’m always looking for more.
So the thing I hate about having a Twitter account is the Trending Topics and how people will just tweet about what’s up there to join in on the crowd. Currently that world is spammed with Michael Jackson posts.
To say everyone is talking about Michael Jackson since last night is an understatement. We are in full-blown funeral party mode and people are simultanously freaking out and commemorating at the same time.
At the bar last night (as I assume every freakin bar in the world) it turned into an impromptu MJ dance party which I thoroughly enjoyed, but then this morning getting onto N-93 I saw a huge semi teetering on the edge of the rail like it wanted to jump onto the other side.
IMAGINE BEING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY AND SEEING THAT TRUCK *ALMOST* JUMP ONTO THE TOP OF YOUR CAR?!
Anyway, Michael Jackson deserves to be remembered whether you’re sick of hearing his music today or not. None of the least reasons being THIS.
Weird crazy musical performer guy Dan Deacon gets asked weird random questions by weird DJ host guy Red Foxx for Karmaloop. I’m assuming this must be while he was in town performing at the ICA.
But I don’t really know.
I’m not actually that cool, so I’m not really in the know.
Hey everyone, Alex is expanding the blog and wanted to elicit some help from his cool friends. My name’s Cat Mooney, and I’ll be contributing along with a few others on things musical, fashionable, artsy, and scary. I’m a freelance writer in Somerville and, in the words of Mr. Dakoulas, share his “penchant for horror mythos and foreign dance pop.”
Let me start by sharing my love for True Blood with y’all. I have been a huge fan since it started, and finally, after seven months of waiting since the end of the first season (really, HBO, way to be a tease), Season 2 is in full swing! You might have heard of the record-breaking 3.7 million viewers that tuned in for the premiere (making it HBO’s most watched original program since the Sopranos aired in ‘07).
Well, HBO made up for their time lapse slightly with Escape the Everyday Sweepstakes, where you can explore different sets from the show (Merlotte’s, the cemetery, Vamp Bill’s living room) for objects and daily contests for prizes like Season 1 DVDs or $10,000 towards HBO TV/Phone/etc.!
Choose to play on the human side or vamp side and earn points for your team. (I chose to stay mortal and we’re waaaaaay behind, so help a sistah out?) You can play the instant-win games and enter contest codes daily until July 3 (watch TB videos for codes here).
-Cat
Here’s a Season 2 clip to keep you satiated until Sun.
I was sent a link to these posters a while ago by my friend Simone. I’m not sure who the artist is, but they were done for a series of film showings at the Plaza Theatre in Atlanta called “Silver Scream’s Spook Show”.
Not only do I appreciate these for their imagery, but I absolutely love how they’re done in a more clean approach to color and details. (Plus look at the type! GAH!) I doubt these were actually silkscreened, but they easily could be. In fact, most of them could just be done in B&W, as you get all the detail you need in the black layer.
MY FAVORITE.
I’ve purposefully tried to keep the style of design coming out of DPM in this same vein. Too much nowadays you see these horror puke illustrations that throw on a million shades of color and scratches—which isn’t bad, but it’s for a certain horrific fan.
Dance Party Massacre is for that horror fan too, but my plan is to experiment with more simplified details and typography to perhaps bring it to another crowd too. This will also allow the line to expand beyond what is typically gory and scary.
I hope to somehow make horror relatable, but also respect the genre. This could mean some designs will be ironic, fun takes on classic horror, while others will be straight up awesome versions of the most cliched stuff. And other times, I mean, it’ll just be a good time!
My friends were right.
They told me to listen to Passion Pit and I’m glad I did.
Actually the convos went something like this. (separately)
“I’m seeing my friends play tonight, Passion Pit!” -Friend 1
“Have you listened to Passion Pit yet?! They’re sooo goood…” – Friend 2
And Friend 3 put it on in the background one night.
These 3 convos happened in like a matter of days.
Passion Pit just released their first real CD “Manners” and I can’t believe they haven’t been around longer than 2007. Some people say they’re gonna get big real fast—like MGMT style. I wouldn’t be surprised
The music video is above for their first single, “The Reeling”. Ya, like whoa! Maybe these guys have a lot of money to get good people? Or maybe the guys are just good. (Watch it in HQ BTW)
Anyway, I’ll be looking into them! They’re from Cambridge and they come to back to the city to play June 18th! (sold out though)
I don’t know how, but Kris Boothroyd has managed to open his first retail store at the age of 20. The Massachusetts local started up a t-shirt line, Free Idea, in 2007, and he will now be selling it at his own store in Fitchburg, MA.
The shop will also have a spot for other apparel lines, with Dance Party Massacre being one of them. The grand opening of the shop is this Saturday!
FREE IDEA SHOP GRAND OPENING
Saturday, June 6th, 2009
41 Elm Street, Fitchburg, MA
Doors open at 1PM
The Distillery in South Boston is an artist community with studio and living spaces home to some of the most well-known artists in Boston—including a few friends mentioned in this blog before. (Check out the list here.) Sunday they will open their doors for Spring Open Studios. Down the block, art studios at King Terminal will also be open to the public.
SPRING OPEN STUDIOS @ THE DISTILLERY & KING TERMINAL
60+ Artists / 2 Locations
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Noon—6pm
516 E 2nd St & 570 E 1st St, South Boston
Free and Open to the Public
If you know me and you don’t know that I love the Scream series (a true fan could say “trilogy”) then you really don’t know me at all! The first film is a huge reason why I became interested in the horror genre, pop culture, and fandom. Whether people think the first film (and ultimately its sequels) is a good movie, it’s very hard to deny the impact it had on the horror genre, slasher films, and teen culture in the 90s.
Besides breathing new life into a slasher genre that had dried up since the 80s, Scream also brought on a popular trend of “post-modern”, self-referential horror with the likes of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend—to name a few. These slew of movie series were also the launching pad, and the cementation of, the next “It” people in Young Hollywood.
Basically the epitome of Scream’s allure—clever, scary and fresh.
Not the least of these people being Scream’s idea man himself, writer Kevin Williamson. He also created and wrote for the quintessential “WB Teen Drama” Dawson’s Creek, eventually dropping out of head reins for the show because he became too busy with other projects like The Faculty, Halloween: H20, and Teaching Mrs. Tingle.
Not that surprising, he also had to opt out of writing Scream 3 due to his schedule, but ultimately nothing after his wave of popularity brought on by Scream kept him in the public eye for long. Screenwriting wasn’t happening, and all of his TV work became prematurely canceled. A much touted reunion between Scream director Wes Craven, and himself, on the werewolf movie Cursed turned into what many would call a disaster. Reshoots, rewrites, and recasting resulted in just a mishmashed, ho-hum monster story.
Screenwriter Kevin Williamson.
With the current state of horror films being either remakes or sequels-which-are-basically-remakes, it’s not surprising the ultimate trilogy of the horror genre, Scream, be up next for the treatment.
There’s even talk of creating an entirely new trilogy.
All of this really comes down to is the Weinsteins want money, but I have to say trying to keep the same crew together shows an amount of respect not always seen in Hollywood. I absolutely think Scream 4 is pointless, because it’s not as if Kevin Williamson came to the table saying he has an amazing story left to tell that wasn’t done in 3 entire movies.
However, I always thought Williamson’s absense on the 3rd Scream was apparent and I am at least interested to see what his brain might come up with. The man also goes back to his roots of teens and horror with his new show The Vampire Diaries debuting on The CW this fall. Could this be the start of a comeback for Kevin Williamson, or just another Cursed attempt?
