Thursday, September 28: Automatons invade New York!

I'm thrilled to announce that Automatons (2006) will be screening at New York City’s Two Boots Pioneer Theatre this December. Running from December 13-26, except for Christmas Day, Automatons is a black & white, low-tech, no-budget effects film about the horrors of war and robots (in case you didn't know).

Peppered throughout the film's run at the Pioneer will be appearances by various members of the cast & crew. On special nights, audiences will find a genuine AUTOMATONS robot waiting at the theatre entrance, introducing the film, or perhaps sitting in the seat behind them.

The end of the human race is here! Time's running out! Get your tickets in advance and check show times by following this link:
http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/automatons.htm
The Two Boots Pioneer Theatre is located at 155 East 3rd Street, between Avenues A and B (closer to A).

"AUTOMATONS is a smart, thought-provoking tale equipped with the moody ambiance and intellectual integrity of a classic episode of THE OUTER LIMITS. That's high praise indeed."

That's what Steven Puchalski said in one of my favorite magazines, Shock Cinema! Check out the new issue with Ron Perlman on the cover to read the whole review, as well as Jeremiah Kipp's interview with Ron about his career and latest film, Larry Fessenden's The Last Winter (2006).

Speaking of Ron, he'll be appearing this weekend with Larry at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Secaucus New Jersey. Our friends Max Brooks and Doug Buck will also in attendance, along with an army of genre superstars.

Lisa and I will also be lurking around the Ghastly Greetings booth, pushing the horrific greeting cards, T-shirts, Halloween calendars and other merchandise. I'll also be showing the Automatons trailer non-stop!

And finally, October is nearly upon us! It's time to put up your Halloween decorations, get out your Misfits records and warm up the DVD player in the month long- celebration of our favorite holiday -- Halloween! To celebrate, I'll be yakking about (at least) one horror movie a day here on this sitesite.

Please make a habit of stopping by and sharing the magic of classic monsters and axe-wielding maniacs with me all month long.

 

 

Sunday, September 24: Quickly Please!

So the Oldenburg Film Festival was a delight! Everyone was amazingly cool and all of the filmmakers there (myself included) got the real VIP treatment. Thanks to Torsten, Annie, Sima, Patra, Michael, Henrike and everyone else for being such wonderful and generous hosts.

Automatons (2006) was very well-received and I got to meet some great folks and see some neat stuff, despite my being super jet-lagged and asleep almost the entire time I was in Germany. Anyway, here's what I saw:

Even though I knew it would be opening in New York in a few weeks, I HAD to see American Hardcore (2006) immediately. The film is an exhaustingly thorough history of the US punk scene of the early 1980's. The film's director, Paul Rachman, is one of those great folks that I mention meeting.

Another one was Matthew Harrison, who was there with his project The Deep and Dreamless Sleep (2004). It's a modern day telling of Dante's Divine Comedy, set in New York City. It features a great combination of modern and classical dialogue. It's also one of the few DV films I've seen that embraces the format, rather than being sheepish about it.

I rushed from The Deep and Dreamless Sleep to catch the end of The Guatemalan Handshake (2006). From the small part that I saw, I knew that it was something special. Later on, when I got to see the film in its entirety, I was totally blown away at not only how well-made the film is, but what a strong script it has. I highly recommend this wonderful film. I also recommend director Todd Rohal and his lovely girlfriend, Lea, who kept me company throughout the fest.

Todd and I both loved the Daft Punk's Electroma (2006). I don't even know how to describe this film, it's simply amazing. For the next two days after seeing it, I kept catching Todd with this pleased little smile on his face, and then he'd say, "I just can't stop thinking abut that Daft Punk thing. I just keep thinking about it." With not a single human face or line of dialogue for 74 minutes, this film must be seen to be believed.

Finally, the big closer of the fest was Darren Aronofsky's ambitious new film, The Fountain (2006). Suffice to say, there were hundreds of folks in the theater for that one and I think I was the only person who liked it. It reminded me of a Alejandro Jodorowsky comic. I spent a good part of the after party defending the film, but I nobody was really buying any of it.

I never went over any of my recommendations this month, but here's a quick look: The Day of the Beast (1995) is a modern cult classic featuring the end of the world, Christmas and the Antichrist.

If you've ever read Cashiers du Cinemart, you know that Black Shampoo (1976) is editor Mike White's favorite film, and deservedly so. A blaxploitation version on the Warren Beatty film Shampoo (1975), our hero cuts hair, fights crime and does every woman he meets in the back room of his beauty parlor.

In Blood in the Face, a bunch of documentary filmmakers infiltrate a sort of "White Power Woodstock", interviewing Nazis, Klansmen and other racist nuts. As scary as this sounds, the dumb bigots profiled in this film are actually unintentionally hilarious. You'll never fear the KKK again.

I know that when we think of Turkish cinema, we think of rip-offs of American films like the Dünyayi Kurtaran Adam (1982) and Seytan (1974). Now G.O.R.A. (2004) may be satirizing big-budget American science fiction films, but it sports high production values and is totally original. The humor here is pretty broad, which I normally would hate, but this film is actually pretty funny.

Finally, A Thief in the Night (1972) is one of my favorite feature-length Christian scare films and one of the classics of the genre. It's mainly because the film is so atmospheric and frightening. In this film, The Rapture comes and we get to see what happens next. The scene at the beginning of the film, where a woman who realizes she's been left behind, is absolutely chilling. This film was followed by several sequels.

 

 

Friday, September 15: VOTE!

I'm back from my recent travels with a ton of stuff to talk about, but I'll have to wait until I'm settled in again to give you all of the news.

In the meantime, you must go to Fuse.TV and vote for The Roost (2005) under the "Best with Less" category for the 2006 Chainsaw Awards! GO VOTE NOW!!!

Also, Max Brooks' new book, World War Z, is out now. Max will be speaking on how to survive the zombie war this evening at the NYC Astor Place Barnes & Nobel at 7pm.

If you can't make it, be sure to pick up the book and visit with Max on one of his other upcoming appearances. All relevant info can be found at: worldwarz.net.

 

 

 

Friday, September 1: Your Attention Please!

This is going to be a busy month for me, so I'm trying to get ahead on September. I probably won't be posting much the next few weeks. But I'll make it up to you in October, when I present a horror movie each and every day of the month in honor of Halloween.

But first -- September. The big news is that Automatons (2006) will be showing for the first time ever at the Oldenburg Film Festival in Germany on September 7! I will be there to introduce the film and for the second screening on September 10. Tell all your friends in Deutschland!

A nice piece appeared on Fangoria's web site this week about both the Automatons premiere in Germany and The Last Winter (2006) premiere in Toronto on September 11.

Speaking of film openings, our friend Dwiff has been all up my butt to let you know about the "world premiere (not counting festivals and the 5:00 show...)" of  This Film Is Not Yet Rated (2006), Friday September 1st.

Oh! And The Roost (2005) came out on DVD in the UK this week. It'll be out in the US on October 3.

Before I'm off to Germany, Lisa and I are off to Toronto Canada for the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear to push Ghastly Greetings products and Automatons on an unsuspecting public. That's this weekend from September 1-3 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, if you're in the neighborhood.

If not, maybe you can visit us at the Ghastly Greetings booth here in the New York area at Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in Secaucus, NJ. That one runs from September 29-October 1.

That's it for now, I've got to get packing!