There were several complications, mainly my nerves, some faulty headphones and the fact that I neglected to turn my speakers off instead of just down which is where the resulting echo came from. Ah well, you live and learn, right? We ain’t professionals, that much is obvious!

For those of you that choose not to listen to or to download the ‘Gorecast’ then we’ll be aiming to include written reviews of the movies in addition to the audio ones. Although, that does mean you’ll miss out on Jamie’s unique views, dulcet tones and pretty vast knowledge of the genre and me blagging my way through the whole thing in my strange, irritating Northern/Southern hybrid accent.

In the first episode we basically use the time to review 2007’s Freakshow and 1993’s cult classic Freaked and also to babble a bit about new DVD and cinema releases and what we’ve been watching lately. Next time there’ll be much of the same except we’ll be moving on from freaks and onto devils, reviewing Needful Things and Faust : Love Of The Damned so keep your eyes and ears peeled for that.

In the past week or two we also managed to launch our TV reviews section with The X Files, seasons 1 & 2. We’ll be adding to those very shortly, with seasons 3-9 already completed, as well as Being Human, seasons 1 & 2, Dexter and Fear Itself on the way.

If you have any suggestions, if there’s anything you’d particularly like to see on the site or if you’ve got any feedback, good or bad then please chuck us an email at mail@gorepress.com. If it’s positive feedback then I’ll send Jamie round to your house with cake and beer and if it’s negative then we’ll prize your eyelids open with matchsticks and make you watch Manos : The Hands Of Fate on repeat until you relent and change your mind. Seriously though, all feedback is gratefully received and graciously welcomed so let us know your thoughts!

In our first ever foray into podcasting we manage to get everything wrong, the sound is a bit crappy and we swear far too much. But we had fun, and that’s what counts. There was a bit of a Skype-based muddle, so some of the audio is a bit funny. Fuck it though, the echo gives me gravitas.

We review 2007’s Freakshow and 1993’s Freaked, as well as share some inane banter about what we’ve had going on in the last few weeks, a certain magazine, and forthcoming horror releases.

If you have any feedback on this episode of the Gorepress ‘Gorecast’ then send it on over to podcast@gorepress.com and hopefully we’ll have the next installment in a couple of weeks time!

The music credits are as follows:

Dirty 13 – Sam Russo

Freekz (That’s What They Call Us) – Tim Burns

Rats And Jackals – Sam Russo

Tinned Peaches And Diamond Rings – Sam Russo

Song from Freakshow – Unknown

In the words of its producers:

“CUT is a claustrophobic thrill ride, only relenting on its increasingly unbearable tension and heart stopping shocks to inject a little humour to soften the blow and increase the fun! Because it takes place in one shot, the audience feel part of the film, they have to go through every step of the way with our characters; the fear builds for our protagonists as it does for the audience, there is no escape! Our filming concept creates an incredibly exciting, uniquely terrifying, never before witnessed viewing experience.”

Gorepress caught up with Zach Galligan during his visit to the UK for the London premiere. You can read the full interview here. Cut is available now from Amazon.co.uk and all good movie retailers.

A Mother (Rhona Mitra) and her young son live a quiet life in a rural town surrounded by family and friends, who, unbeknownst to her are skinwalkers; creatures from Navajo legend that are akin to werewolves. As per the very same legend, an opposing pack of skinwalkers rides into town in order to kill the boy before his 13th birthday. If they don’t then it will present an opportunity for their ‘curse’ to end and therefore jeopardise their very existence. Add to that several complications including the lead villain (Jason Behr) actually being the boys’ Father, whom everyone long thought was dead and you have a passable storyline. It’s the braindead manner in which that storyline is executed that ruins proceedings.

Saying that I hated Skinwalkers on the basis that it has no substance is actually only half the story. Don’t get me wrong, there are occasions when I love nothing more than disengaging my brain, sinking a few alcoholic beverages and being entertained by mindless action, usually involving Jason Statham or one or more American wrestlers-turned-‘actors’. The problem here is that while Skinwalkers certainly ticks the ‘mindless’ box, the action that it offers isn’t enough to make up for it. Sure, there are lots of guns, motorcycles, leather-clad females and (sort of) bad-ass werewolves but they all fail to meet the standards that they should. It’s stylish enough but not a lot really happens.

The acting is all very melodramatic stuff, with the ever reliable Elias Koteas being the only real highlight, and it has much more in common with a US daytime soap than a horror movie, removing any of the tension in one fell swoop. The actors, much like the rest of the visual aspects, are pretty but insubstantial. The gore is all very ‘safe’ too, in the respect that the audience doesn’t get to see very much and when they do, it’s usually from a distance. When these elements combine, all we’re really left with is a Twilight-esque, teen-oriented soap opera with some half-hearted lycanthropic lore thrown in for good measure.

Surprisingly, for a film that I wasn’t enjoying very much in the first place, I was a little angry when it ended prematurely. At around only an hour and twenty minutes, I felt short-changed and wanted more explanation, more action, more of a climax, anything to make me feel like I hadn’t wasted a portion of my life on what is essentially a feature length version of a 14 year old boys’ masturbatory fantasy (see : the utterly superfluous sex scene). It’s akin only to the sort of sinking feeling one gets when they watch a sub-standard horror movie only to get to the credits and find they’ve unwittingly viewed Uwe Boll’s latest cack-fest, can never rewind time and un-watch it and are now a lesser person for the experience.

The only real saving grace is the werewolf make-up. Instead of the obvious CGI that could have been involved, the werewolves were left in the very capable hands of the late Stan Winston and his decades of field experience. They are wonderful creations that hark back to a simpler time and give the film its only genuine boast.

Skinwalkers could have been much more than the sum of its parts. It is, in essence, a movie for morons; the cinematic equivalent of a Baywatch Babe, nice to look at but useless when it comes to intelligent interaction. If it was made to appeal to teenaged boys, then the makers have achieved their goal. If it was made to appeal to any sort of wider audience then the whole thing is an unfortunate exercise in redundancy. It’s surprising that James Isaac went on to direct the vastly superior and exponentially more enjoyable Pig Hunt. Let’s just hope that means he’s learnt his lesson and progressed from lamentable tripe like this. Avoid.

Rating: 2.5 out of 10 stars

As mentioned previously, it is clichéd but in such a way that it’s actually to the film’s benefit rather than its detriment, as what director John Llewellyn Moxey has done is hark back to the style of the Universal horror pictures of the 1930’s and 40’s – in the Ye Olde Village (TM) doors creak and shadows loom, there’s secret stone passageways bedecked by cobwebs and lit only by torchlight, thick fog rolls out of nowhere (occasionally giving an unplanned chuckle as it looks like the fog machine might have gone haywire and belted out too much) spooky sounds and chants emanate from unknown sources and there are rows of listing tombstones in an ancient graveyard full of dead trees that reach up like withered hands grasping for freedom… All great stuff in the Gothic tradition and if you are (like me) a fan of those old Universal movies then you’ll get a kick out of it because it really is done beautifully, the set decoration is fantastic and the black and white photography is crisp and suitably eerie when required.

Though Moxey’s direction often has that “solid if workmanlike” quality of someone who’s mainly had a career in television (working on everything from The Avengers and The Saint to Magnum, P.I. and Murder, She Wrote), there are some inspired moments that really give it a little kick – sometimes it’s just the way the camera moves, as in the prologue where there’s a shot of Selwyn on the stake and the camera closes in to an extreme close-up of her face (which has a peculiar quality, perhaps because it played in reverse as the camera really pulled back from her), or the odd placement of the camera in the corners and slightly at an angle which effectively complements that “not quite right”, nightmarish feel that the characters are experiencing once inside the village, something which at the time wasn’t so commonplace as it would become after being put to such wide use in Romero’s Night of the Living Dead eight years after City of the Dead’s release.

What’s interesting about the film’s style is that by 1960 a lot of these Gothic conventions had already become anachronistic and were on the way out in horror cinema, indeed it’s telling that perhaps the most widely-recognised uses of the form in that decade were by way of parody/homage on family-oriented TV comedies The Addams Family and The Munsters (with Scooby-Doo getting in on the act by 1969). Even in terms of the British film industry’s contribution to the genre, the success of Hammer’s The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula (aka The Horror of Dracula) and The Mummy had set in motion a different Gothic aesthetic that would drive future projects, one which played to these being shot in colour and so had lusher tones, especially that legendarily vivid red “Hammer blood”, the appearance of which (alongside Hammer’s great tradition of having buxom beauties in heaving corsets) were signs of censorship relaxing somewhat and a move away from the more implied horror of the Universal pictures, which to some degree City of the Dead preserves. This is particularly noticeable when compared with later films of the era which deal with similar themes, like Witchfinder General or Cry of the Banshee (the former being a great film starring Vincent Price, and the latter being a bad knock-off of it which happens to also have Price picking up a cheque for being in it), both of which are more openly violent and sexualised. That, or you have films that took the black magic and placed it solidly in the present day, mixing in more psychological components and the battle between the supernatural and science, like Jacques Tourneur’s fantastic Night of the Demon or the underrated Night of the Eagle, something which The City of the Dead had the potential to do plotwise, but never truly explores.

Speaking of the plot, it doesn’t hold any real surprises overall (though there is at least one plot twist that you may not initially see coming – let’s just say there’s a chance it might have been lifted structurally from Psycho, which had been released a few months prior), but it does have a nice sort of Lovecraftian feel in the way that the witch’s curse seems to grip the village and the people living there, like they’re suspended in time and in a place of everlasting torment, purgatory for the crime they committed against her. In the acting stakes, Christopher Lee is suave yet suitably sinister in a smallish role and Patricia Jessel is good value as the unrepentant hag, hovering somewhere between a twisted psychopath and the Wicked Witch of the West, so a little camp but fits in well with the movie’s tone.

All in all, The City of the Dead isn’t quite a classic and it’s not going to rock any worlds, but that being said it’s entertaining stuff with a solid production and tons of atmosphere. If you’re in the mood for some Gothic, spooky fun, well then you’re likely to be in for a pleasant time. Would make a good Halloween treat.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

At least half of the movie is told through flashbacks. We are, in turns, celebrating George’s 40th birthday with him, the night before his hospital admission and also suffering through the hellish present alongside him too. From the garishly colourful opening dream sequence, Sublime is quite a submersive film, in that the audience is able to feel every injustice performed on George in the hospital construct and every elative moment that he spent with his close family and friends as well. It jumps about with no real linear narrative but surprisingly this isn’t detrimental to the overall feel or pace.

Having only ever seen Tom Cavanagh (TV’s Ed) in comedy fare, you could safely colour me sceptical but he delves deeply into the imagined psyche of his victimised protagonist and succeeds in coming out the other end with a well-rounded, if thoroughly flawed character. He’s also helped along by a cast of familiar faces (although their names will almost certainly escape most casual cinephiles) that include Paget Brewster, Kyle Gallner, Kathleen York and David Clayton Rogers.

Sublime is a film of two halves, it is part psychological thriller and part gross-out horror, the two sides of which don’t always mesh so well. Particular mention has to go to one of the climactic scenes which is both wincingly grotesque and horrifyingly vivid but its inclusion feels almost exclusively as though it is supposed to appeal to the horror crowd that might have been dissuaded by the psychological thriller tag.

Sublime is a stylish and thought provoking, but sometimes meandering and ultimately bleak, piece of horror cinema that might leave you with a bitter taste in your mouth. It’s worth giving up just shy of two hours to invest in watching it but if you’re already depressed or have an existing fear of hospitals it might be one to miss.

One line, uttered by George’s teenaged son best sums up Sublime; “Maybe if you spend your life worrying, then the only way your life will have meaning is if what your fear becomes real.” Ain’t that the truth.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 stars

I arrived in Glasgow shortly after 4pm, met up with my old Dad for some fish and chips and then headed up to the GFT to hook up with the other fest goers. I was there for less than five minutes when some of the regulars showed up. It was dead good to catch up with some of the folks that I haven’t seen since last August.
I had to deal with some GoreZone related ribbing, but it was all good. I tried to avoid saying anything that might get me in trouble. I think I just about managed it. Throughout the weekend people were asking me if I was me (which I am) and congratulating me on being a man, sticking it to the man, and not bowing down to the man. I tried in general to not talk about it too much, but thanked everyone who gave me messages of support because I really do appreciate it.

So I saw a bunch of movies, some of which I will review, some I won’t. I’ve got to be honest; there will be no Amer review. I fell asleep, and I fell hard. I kept waking up and seeing how amazingly beautiful it was, but just couldn’t keep my eyes open. From what I saw, it was a giallo through the eyes of Gaspar Noe as a film student. The directors and producer, Helene Cattet, Bruno Forzani, and Francois Cognard, gave an interesting Q&A, and I will have to make sure I track down the movie to watch it again when I wasn’t up until 7am drinking beers and debating racism with my family.

I was a bit gutted that the uncut, fully restored showing of A Lizard in a Woman’s Skin was neither fully restored nor uncut, but either way, it’s always good to see Fulci on the big screen. Always. I can’t wait until the promised version hits DVD, which should be very soon.

Frozen director, Adam Green, didn’t manage to make it over. If you follow him on Twitter, you will know how gutted he was to be stuck on a static plane in the snow. So in his absence, 2001 Maniacs: Field of Screams director, Tim Sullivan, read out an email from Green to introduce the film, complete with a rant about Avatar. Frozen played really well, and was easily my favourite of the festival. Also, Sullivan is one charismatic dude, and funny to boot. Especially in the 2001 Maniacs Q&A session, I didn’t get to interview him but I did get to ask a question during the Q&A. Obviously, I asked him about how Miles Dougal (Brian from Psychocop Returns!) got involved. He seemed pretty impressed that I even knew who Miles Dougal was, I felt good about myself all day.

There was a pretty fun short called Deadspiel, obviously Canadian, about a curling match between zombies and humans. Nicely put together, if a little slow, which is a pretty great punchline. Also they showed some excellent trailers, especially Stoner, which has made it onto my ‘Oh Shit, I Gotta Watch That’ list. George Lazenby and Kung Fu together, the idea just makes me so happy.
[REC] 2 blew me away, I really like where they went with the story. I may have preferred it to the original. Splice didn’t fulfil its promise but was still an admirable science gone wild movie, and yes, I would (when you see the movie, you will understand). It got pretty icky in parts too. Harpoon: Reykjavik Whale Watching Massacre was a stand out, played straight with a few notes of comedy, it really worked for me. A couple of members of the young, pretty cast were about to introduce it, but didn’t come back for a Q&A.

Stag Night was a decent enough The Hills Have Eyes-style backwoods slasher type movie, but more interesting than the movie was the punch up that kicked off in the second row. You know you’re in Glasgow when a fight breaks out in the cinema. I don’t really know what happened; apparently a guy was being drunk and annoying enough to make some guy start wailing on him. He got about ten or fifteen punches in before security came, and kicked the pummelled dude out (which prompted a few quick people to dub the event “FightFest”). It was exciting viewing. Director, Peter Dowing, chatted a little bit about the fight after, and imparted the tidbit that he was an assistant animator on Raggy Dolls. I remember loving that cartoon when I was a kid, but don’t remember why.

Jake West popped up to show us some of the stuff cut from Doghouse, which apparently included more symbolism, some of which I caught and some that passed me by. Neil Marshall and his lovely partner in crime, Axelle Carolyn, also turned up with the first five minutes of Centurion. Anything with Fassbender and tonnes of gore will get me salivating good and proper. Also Chris Smith showed up to give us a taster of The Black Death, which didn’t hit me too hard, but I will definitely check it out when it hits cinemas.

I didn’t fancy queuing up for any of the freebies, so didn’t get any of the copies of Dr. Chopper or Mr. Halloween they were doling out like sweets in October, although my good buddy Frank did give me a copy of Sergio Martino’s The Violent Professionals. I didn’t get any of the t-shirts they were handing out either, mainly because I didn’t want a certain section of the horror community thinking I was under the employ of the FrightFest fellas (which I’m not, although I do throw the odd review their way for their site. I can think of worse things than working for living legend Alan Jones).

So I am now on the train home, after a massive Subway and my body weight in coffee, to sleep through until next week. Reviews of everything I actually watched coming soon, but until then don’t let the bed-bugs bite.

Love
Jamie.

Something is wrong with the residents of Ogden Marsh. The doctor’s noticed it, the town sheriff’s noticed it, the family burnt alive by their insane dad has certainly noticed it. And the army has noticed it, and will do anything to stop this madness from spreading. Anything.

The Crazies really is that simple. An extremely dangerous virus has infected a small American town and the non-infected few are forced to fight back against neighbour, friend, family and the U.S. Army. Even the “why?” question behind the infection’s origins are answered within the first five minutes, paving the way for one long string of violent attacks and hiding-from-the-crazies moments.

Timothy Olyphant is our hero, Sheriff David Dutton, a no-nonsense good guy with a pregnant doctor wife (Radha Mitchell) and a loyal deputy (Joe Anderson). Olyphant plays Sheriff Dutton sympathetically and with his usual charisma, proving himself adept at playing the likeable protagonist. Radha Mitchell fails to evoke anything but the rolling of eyes as she blunders into danger every five minutes. The majority of the extras casting is touched with characters who make enough impact to be noticed later, when they’re less neighbourly and more psychotic. These characters are functional but necessary, which also reflects the script work.

Writer Scott Kosar created the screenplays for remakes of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror, while co-writer Ray Wright wrote Case 39 and Pulse, and the resultant script for The Crazies is expectedly perfunctory and ticks all the necessary cliché boxes. Yet The Crazies is not trying to be vastly inventive (director Breck Eisner’s most notable film to date was Indy rip-off Sahara). As a remake of George A. Romero’s 1973 original, the creators already knew it lacked innovation, so they stuck to creating a swift, brutal, enjoyable film. And it works.

The Crazies is extremely violent. Although it is a fifteen certificate in the UK, the death-toll is humungous, mostly thanks to the application of a lot of bullets, God bless America. There are other non gun-related deaths though, notably a nasty pitchfork incident and a painful knife-in-the-throat moment, which certifies Timothy Olyphant as being “totally bad ass”. It does feel that the creators of the remake could have been more inventive, however, as a town full of nutcases can’t all own guns. The action is constant, though, with explosions, firefights and car crashes throughout – all well directed by Eisner. For sheer entertainment value, The Crazies will please even the most hyperactive horror-hound.

What it does with violence, however, it lacks in tension for the most part. There is the occasional nail-biting exception, but The Crazies never truly scares or challenges, it simply entertains. Perhaps the most interesting element in The Crazies is Deputy Clark’s possible descent into insanity, played with excellent subtlety by Joe Anderson, whose increased agitation could be stress… or something a lot more infectious. This is not explored in any other characters, and the way the infection works is baffling.

Is the infection water based? Is it airborn? Why does it make some people sing or laugh, while others just stop speaking altogether? How come some people act aggressively but are basically coherent? It’s not explained, and perhaps it’s not necessary. The audience is here for the carnage, and they receive it in bucket-loads.

The Crazies is a good film. It is not exceptional as it’s too predictable but it’s not boring as it’s constantly visceral. Blood, bullets, fire, explosions, stabbing, clichés and a vomiting of unoriginality – The Crazies is a derivative but enjoyable horror film.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Darren and his friend Steve receive an invite to the Cirque du Freak, a ridiculously amazing freak show circus experience featuring a wolfman, a snakeboy, a woman who can re-grow her own limbs and other absurdities. Sneaking out of their houses to watch the show, Darren (in a moment of teen stupidity) steals a mad-looking red and blue spider from Larten Crepsley, a real-life vampire. Incredibly poisonous and extremely fast, the spider escapes and attacks Steve, who’s immediately plunged into a coma. The only way to save him is the antidote, and the only person with the antidote is Crepsley. Darren heads to the vampire to ask for his help, but he quickly finds out that it will come at a great cost when he is forced to become… The Vampire’s Assistant.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is based on the first three novels in Darren Shan’s The Saga of Darren Shan, an extremely popular collection of children’s horror books now available in 30 languages and in 37 different countries. The film is co-written by Brain Helgeland, the Oscar-winning writer of L.A. Confidential, A Knight’s Tale, Mystic River and Man On Fire, among others, so it’s in decent hands. At least, that’s until you look at who else is involved. Cirque du Freak is directed and partly written by Paul Weitz, the man responsible for the face-slappingly bad adaptation of Phillip Pullman’s The Golden Compass and brainless sex-comedies American Pie 1 & 2. Any hope of gravitas and intelligence becomes a distant dream, and Weitz’s involvement shows.

What Cirque du Freak suffers from most is incredibly poor editing. With the plethora of deleted scenes on the DVD, it’s clear the running length got out of control and a lot had to be snipped. The result is some confusing scene changes, some entirely missing scenes and a disjointed flow to the film.

The script itself is tongue-in-cheek throughout – “the idea of taking a group of disgusting, weird, deformed people and exploiting them for money. Not in our town” – but the direction, acting and tone do not match up with it. It feels like Eerie, Indiana but dumbed down to its basest, stupidest level.

John C. Reilly, Willem Dafoe, Salma Hayek, Orlando Jones and Ray Stevenson clearly smelt an easy paycheck and did a job. Early on in the film, there is a baffling and mildly embarrassing scene between John C. Reilly and Willem Dafoe, where they discuss the “Vampaneze” and mutter on about the Vampire Council in a bored and awkward manner. Dressed like pantomime characters, their presence signals the beginning of the steep collapse of the film. Every actor thereafter hams it up to the extreme, and it becomes even more embarrassing.

It is the children who steal this show, though, with Chris Massoglia’s Darren setting the right level of cockiness and insecurity. It’s Josh Hutcherson who really shines though, playing Darren’s aggressive friend Steve. Coming from a damaged home and rejected by Larten Crepsley for having “bad blood”, Steve easily turns to the evil Vampanize to “turn” him. The result is a nasty little teen bastard vampire, and he carries the only sense of menace in the entire film.

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant is an unfortunate, missed opportunity. Opting for silliness instead of seriousness, what could have been the next Harry Potter became just another mediocre children’s film, full of poor acting and lazy directing. Zany, enjoyable, colourful, but flawed throughout, this is reasonable, watchable stuff.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

Once there, she is shown to her room and meets an assortment of the remaining tenants, all of which are preparing to leave in timely fashion before the building goes boom. The caretakers son Jimmy (Cameron Bright; the creepy kid from Godsend and Uwe Boll cack-fest Ultraviolet) takes a shine to her and tells her the tale of the supposedly genius Architect; Joseph Malestrazza, who built the apartment complex and lived there until, in a police raid, he was found dead, surrounded by 16 people whom he had killed and sealed in cement, inside the walls. Sam begins to find it increasingly difficult to tell fact from fiction as the buildings secrets start to come to light and she eventually finds herself the unwilling recipient of Jimmy’s alarming obsessions.

Walled In expects the viewer to suspend disbelief on a number of aspects, the most far-fetched of which is that we are supposed to believe, without question, that The OC’s Mischa Barton is a demolitions expert with a degree in Engineering. Sure, she ties her hair back, keeps the make-up to a minimum and bumbles about in lumberjack shirts but she always looks like a fish out of water. Her acting skills also leave quite a lot to be desired. Deborah Kara Unger has an impressive body of work and is always a delightful addition to everything I’ve seen her in but opposite Barton her dialogue becomes wooden and stilted. None of the conversations between Barton and any other character have any realistic flow to them. It makes the whole thing seem forced and strangely languished.

The building itself is the most interesting character in the movie, sometimes managing to look sumptuous and labyrinthine and other times, looking like nothing more than an aging duplex. I suspect that most of it was constructed on a soundstage somewhere but if it were a real building, inside and out, it would surely have been restored and be attracting visitors looking for an architectural and cultural treat.

Walled In is almost devoid of any gore which would be absolutely fine if it offered any notable scares in place of the red stuff but alas, it never does. The plot, while relatively interesting, is a half-baked affair that peaks before the conclusion and doesn’t offer anything in the way of common sense or sufficient explanation. It often shows promise but then goes and does something utterly nonsensical that nullifies all of its’ prior potential.

If Walled In had had a better script, a more capable lead actress, a plot that didn’t have more holes than Swiss cheese and a few effective frights then it might have been worth watching. As it stands, give this one a wide berth.

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars

Episode Guide

• 2.1 – Little Green Men
• 2.2 – The Host
• 2.3 – Blood
• 2.4 – Sleepless
• 2.5 – Duane Barry
• 2.6 – Ascension
• 2.7 – 3
• 2.8 – One Breath
• 2.9 – Firewalker
• 2.10 – Red Museum
• 2.11 – Excelsis Dei
• 2.12 – Aubrey
• 2.13 – Irresistible
• 2.14 – Die Hand Die Verletzt
• 2.15 – Fresh Bones
• 2.16 – Colony
• 2.17 – End Game
• 2.18 – Fearful Symmetry
• 2.19 – Dod Kalm
• 2.20 – Humbug
• 2.21 – The Calusari
• 2.22 – F. Emasculata
• 2.23 – Soft Light
• 2.24 – Our Town
• 2.25 – Anasazi

The X Files Season 2 is brilliant throughout, featuring some now iconic episodes and some really innovative ideas. The X Files is shut down, Scully is abducted and alien clones are discovered.

The Good:

There are a lot of episodes worth mentioning in Season 2, but specifically the ones below.

The Host

• The famous Fluke Worm episode, constantly referenced to in later series. When a corpse is found in a sewer, Mulder believes he’s being forced into grunt work only to discover something horrible lurking in the sewers.

Blood

• A small town appears to be going insane, as electronic devices begin to instruct the residents to murder everyone in sight.

Excelsis Dei

• A rape in a convalescence home becomes the focus of Mulder and Scully when the rapist appears to be invisible. A haunting, nasty little episode.

Die Hand Die Verletzt

• A town with a lot to hide becomes the focus of mysterious witchcraft and the presence of something truly evil.

Dod Kalm

• Mulder and Scully climb onboard a U.S. Navy Destroyer to investigate what happened to the dead crew, only to discover the bizarre aging of the vessel is affecting them… and their rescue boat is missing.

And many more. Season 2 contains excellent episodes throughout, featuring ghosts, scientific experiments gone horribly wrong, a lethal outbreak, a demonic child, a freak show murderer, voodoo and the now-iconic alien abduction episodes featuring Duane Barry.

The Bad:

A few episodes do slip into predictability (Oubliette, Revelations and Syzygy) but this is not hugely detrimental to the Season as they’re well created and acted.

Noteable Guest Appearances:

• Michael J. Anderson (Twin Peaks, Carnivale) – Episode Humbug
• Shawnee Smith (Saw 1 – 6) – Episode Firewalker
• Terry O’Quinn (Lost, Millennium, Alias, The West Wing) – Episode Aubrey
• CCH Pounder (Ends of Days, Orphan) – Episode Duane Barry
• William Sanderson (Blade Runner, Deadwood, True Blood) – Episode Blood

Overall:

Season 2 of the X Files is brilliant from beginning to end, with innovative, exciting episodes every week, some of which are now iconic. Quality stuff.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Solomon Kane is an evil man. He murders without thought – for profit, for vengeance, for fun – and he’s damn good at it. It is 17th Century England, and he realizes something that changes his existence forever – Satan wants his soul. Renouncing violence forever, Kane becomes a Puritan, knowing that if he ever kills again that Satan would find him instantly. At first, this seems a feasible thing for Kane to do, but when a mystical evil spreads throughout the land, he is forced into taking up arms and damning his soul forever – for a promise, for good, for redemption.

This storyline might sound a little trite, but it’s well executed. Kane befriends a loving family, but when they’re attacked and their daughter (Rachel Hurd-Wood) is kidnapped, it becomes Kane’s mission to rescue her from the horde of possessed bald-headed psychopaths roaming the land and enslaving the weak. There is an eye-burning witch, a mask-wearing magic brute, an army of black-eyed bastards and a completely insane finale involving Jason Flemyng and a giant beast. It’s over-the-top, but well constructed and enjoyable throughout.

It is James Purefoy’s take on Solomon Kane that holds the film together though, and it’s a solid, believable central performance. The smaller characters do not particularly shine and are merely functional, with Pete Postletwaite doing a decent job of being Pete Postletwaite and Kane’s arch nemesis Malachi only appearing at the very end, but this is not detrimental to the story. It’s got a solid pace and it’s gleefully violent – swords, axes, monsters, child-killing, crucifixion, magic, madness and monks – Solomon Kane has a lot to offer.

Solomon Kane is based on the graphic novels of Robert E Howard, creator of the Conan series, originally published in the Weird Tales magazine and first appearing in 1928. The adaptation has been reasonably faithful, keeping the wild mix of violence, magic and redemption, and still has a lot of potential for further “volumes”.

There is the occasional scene that grates in Solomon Kane – like a church / Mackenzie Crook / zombies sub-plot that seems pointlessly shoe-horned in for literally no reason, and also Kane’s hilarious “sneak entrance” into a castle that actually takes him to a courtyard in front of the castle entrance… only to be assaulted by hundreds of guards. It’s silly, but then Solomon Kane features a witch who turns into crows, creatures in mirrors and the devil’s reaper who wields a giant flaming sword – it’s not supposed to be hugely sensible…

Solomon Kane is great fun. It is solid entertainment that is nasty, stylish, a bit stupid, occasionally laughable but immensely enjoyable. If you can look past the wild premise and crazy magical elements then it’s a sword-swinging brutal thrill-ride, but if you find the whole idea a little absurd then you best avoid this forever.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Written, produced and directed by award winning filmmakers Paul Feeney, Ryan McDermott, & Sean Candon, Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders is a high concept independent short film filled with numerous memorable characters, laugh out loud moments, original creature effects and a taste of true British comedy with a sprinkle of horror. Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders has been the recipient of the Special Commendation Award 2009 at the Festival of Fantastic Films. Already hailed as “a British Hellboy” by Joblo.com, a “triumph” by the Salford Star and “a balls out out, eyebrow cocking horror comedy romp” by Filmrant, this thirty minute horror/comedy is proving to be a cult smash amongst audiences at home in the UK and across the pond in the US.

I met up with Mark Macready himself, actor/producer Ryan Mcdermott, along with Paul Newberry and Nathan Head, in a busy Costa coffee in Manchester city centre.

GP: So what are you up to then, guys?

Ryan: So we’re taking the short, and putting it online which is going to hopefully lead into making the feature film version, just getting it out there. It is going to be a really interactive experience as well, we’re going to let everyone watch the short and once we start making the feature we’re going to be live tweeting from the set, live cam and stuff like that. We’re going to give loads of opportunities to people to get involved, in a really groundbreaking kind of way. And what we’re going to do while making the feature is put together ‘webisodes’ that are going to include the characters which lead up to the events in the feature film. It’s going to be a real online cross platform universe.

How are you funding the feature?

Ryan: Private investors. We’ve been quite lucky with the short playing in so many places, we’ve got two investors. So we’re just waiting on their decision to see what they want to do. I’m going to go to Cannes, the short is going to be on the Short Film Corner. It’s probably going to be around the next twelve months getting the money together, and anyone who has got money, just seeing if they will invest in it. I mean there are some people who let the fans fund, but we didn’t want to do that. We wanted to get the money ourselves and give back to the fans, who then give back to the project by supporting it. So funding is coming on well.

The short is getting quite a lot of attention, I see its won some awards, how did the short come about?

Ryan: I met Paul Feeney, the writer and creator in college, we were given one of these projects. You know, to shoot a thriller, or to shoot a horror and he asked me if I like David Duchovny from the X Files and I said “I do indeed” so he said he had the British X Files right here and would I be in it. I said “yeah sure” and we shot it. It was horrendous. It was so bad. But there was a little bit of something in it and then Sean Candon who directed the short saw the tape and asked us to develop it because there was something in there. So Paul went away and wrote the short film…and then the three of us got together and said that I would produce it and star, Sean would direct, and Feeney would write it. He ended up being in it, and Sean did too as its hard to get actors who fit the style. We were very lucky with Nathan and Paul, as they really got the style, that Garth Marenghi-type serious delivery of the ridiculous. It’s very hard to play that straight.

How did you find the roles?

Paul: It was good, it was hard. Because it’s a horror parody there is a delicate balance between straight and comedy. If you imagine Julie Hagerty in Airplane when she is doing those serious moments, its a bit more that style, a bit more on the serious side of parody. It was about getting into these niches and levels of the parody, and it was difficult to get that balance.

Nathan: I think because some of the dialogue you got, like in the first train station scene, wouldn’t have worked if you had done it silly…

Paul: It wouldn’t, you’re right.

Ryan: The line when Paul’s character comes on is “Fuck me sideways and call me a cunt, what the hell are you doing here?”

Paul: And talking about vaginas as well…

Ryan: That’s right, the monster in the short, the Archangel, does nasty things to ladies parts.

Paul: It wouldn’t sound right if you were saying it in a silly way.

Ryan: It had to be said deadly serious, even though what is being said is utterly ridiculous. It’s getting that balance which is very tough. We shot ten days originally, and when we got that footage back it was neither serious nor funny. It wasn’t anything really, just bland. Nobody really knew the style, and what happened then was we re-wrote a lot of it, shot it and eventually it started to come out in the re-shoots. The script got a lot better, from watching that ten days worth of footage we could say where the comedy worked and the performances were working but the dialogue wasn’t complimenting the performance which had to be reworked. We discovered during the re-shoots that Mac is an extremely fast character, he doesn’t wait around. In the earlier version, we had Mac sat around saying “Where’s my wife?”, and we realised that this guy would never just sit there. From the minute you meet him, he is go, go, go, go, and that was something we really needed to get across.

Manchester is an important city for me, how important was Manchester to the film?

Ryan: So, so important. It really annoys me in these English movies where they are all set in London, and there is nothing else that exists outside of London. We wanted to do that with Manchester, and make it a huge character for the film. The branch where they work is called the Greater Manchester Paranormal Investigations Department, the GMPID. What a mouthful. But it was really. I think it was a fresh take on it, I don’t think anyone has really done Manchester. 28 Days Later had a bit around here.

Living Dead At Manchester Morgue shot parts at a hospital in Salford, which has been gutted out from the inside now which is a shame.

Ryan: Was that 70s?

I think it was around ‘74…

Paul: It was up Pennine way, wasn’t it?

They shot a little bit in Manchester, and then everything else was done elsewhere. The shots of the hospital are just incredible, it was really good to walk around in Salford and find it. See a part of classic Italian horror in our own city.

Paul: I need to find a copy of that.

Ryan: I’ll have to get hold of that. We’ve got a shot of driving up towards McDonald’s in Salford by all the 70s flats, with Mac in his car. Whenever anyone sees it, they always comment on that part. I wish we had done more of that, but we didn’t really have a lot of time. In the dialogue Mac talks about how the city is key for him. He puts the city before his wife and that’s what begins the story, his job protecting the city comes between him and his wife and then when she is taken, it really hits home.

So the feature will be set in Manchester too?

Ryan: Definitely.

Are you going to take a bit more time to develop the city as a character in there?

Ryan: Already, in the treatment written by Paul Feeney and myself, it is kind of spanning every aspect. From suburban streets down to the docks, around Deansgate, and the forests and woods. Those really eerie parts of Manchester are a huge part of it. Also in the webisode series, it’s going to play a big role in there as well, in creating that world.

Paul: Manchester is definitely a huge part of it, the people too. That’s why Paul Feeney named it the GMPID, the Greater Manchester Paranormal Investigation Department. It’s just instantly recognisable.

Have you had any scary experiences in Manchester in general? I remember once I tried to walk to Salford Uni from Prestwich, I looked it up on Google Maps and it was a pretty straight route through the Albert and Peel Park. And I just got the most lost ever, I was walking around there for about three hours just not knowing where the hell I was and eventually I found a an old sewage plant and a road back to where I started. It was one of the scariest experiences of my life, I thought I was going to die!

Nathan: I get pretty scared when I’m under Piccadilly Station, under the bridge. You get used to walking under there, but it can be scary!

Paul: Once I was with my mum and it was that big football match, if you remember…

Ryan: Oh, with the riots! With Scotland?

Paul: Yes, and there was two cockneys, me and my mum, on the tram and it was full of football fans and they were jumping on the tram. It was really frightening. My mum was waving a red flag to try and pretend we were from Manchester.

Ryan: One thing that really scared me as a kid, which we were really to get into the movie, was the old train station in Swinton. I would go on the train to Manchester with my Grandmother, and it used to scare the hell out of me. It was so scary.

Nathan: They’ve modernised it now…

Ryan: Yeah, they’ve put in an electronic board. That won’t last the weekend… But, it was scary. It was always something that haunted me as a kid. We managed to do a big scene, a death scene, there which was something I really wanted to do.

Paul: And even shooting that, there was loads of drunks coming past the bridge all shouting over and it was scary.

Ryan: Really rough, yeah.

So the film has been to a lot of festivals, have you been going with it to gauge reactions and how has that been?

Ryan: That’s been probably the best thing about it, seeing the reactions. It’s really nice to get a review, but when you are in there and you see the actual reaction and feel it when you come out, people are looking at you. It feels a bit strange, but very nice.

Nathan: At Mayhem in Nottingham, they had this thing called An Experiment In Fear where they had this person strapped to a heart monitor while they were watching the film to see what the scariest moments were.

Ryan: That was really cool! We’ve been across Manchester, we’ve been to Nottingham, we’ve been down to London, Portsmouth. We flew to New York for a screening there. Every audience is very different. At Mayhem they were really primed for it, as it is a pure horror film festival. I think one of the most amazing reactions was where it was the last film on, and the films before it had all been very serious, very gory and realistic horror. Then this man with a silly eyebrow and a silly voice pops up, and they was like “ooh, what’s this?” I really miss it, and I can’t wait to hopefully get back out with the feature film.

Paul: It was all absolutely brilliant, I think one of the organisers of Mayhem is the director of Mum & Dad…

Stephen Shiels?

Paul: Absolutely brilliant guy. I had such a wonderful time. It was really funny because a lot of the audience were so used to just watching horror films, and you see them thinking “what the hell is this?” when it has just started but once the audience engaged with each other in the humour of it, that’s when it takes off.

Ryan: It takes that first five minutes to break the ice. In that first five minutes, it’s just Mac and his wife talking…

Nathan: At every festival we’ve been to, we have always sat at the back just in case…

Ryan: Just in case we have to get out quick…

Nathan: But it’s gone down really well everywhere.

Ryan: We’ve been very lucky, even in New York it went down well. That was a bizarre one because I’m sure they just thought “what the bloody hell is this?”, they were sat there just looking around. And then suddenly that first laugh came which broke it, by the end it got a really good reaction. For me, Paul and Sean, that was the most nerve-wracking one, because the American audience can be very difficult. Certain things that didn’t get big laughs here, got big laughs there. And certain things that got big laughs here, didn’t get big laughs there, very different sense of humour.

Nathan: One of the biggest laughs in America came when a character gets shot…

Ryan: A female cop gets shot and the Americans go wild…

They probably just saw the gun and got excited.

Ryan: Probably, probably… And it was a Texan who shot her.

British horror is going through a bit of a renaissance lately, what British horror flicks have influenced you guys?

Ryan: I like the Neil Marshall stuff. He updated it, he brought it back. I haven’t seen The Descent 2 yet, which I know he didn’t direct. He was just executive producer…

It was alright, not as good as the first…

Ryan: I need to check it out. I just really like what he has done, he is someone who has brought it back and in a cool way. It’s not just B movie stuff, although some of the plots are B movie, it’s good horror that looks big budget and I like that.

A lot of people were down on, uh, on, uh…

Ryan: Doomsday?

Doomsday, yeah! I loved it. It’s one of the best films to watch on the big screen.

Ryan: It was a great experience, and I don’t think it worked as well on DVD. I really liked the size and scope of it on the big screen, and I’ve seen it again on DVD. Seeing it on the big screen just made it. I really liked it. Neil Marshall is great.

What about you guys?

Paul: I really liked Mum & Dad, because Britain has this culture of things happening behind closed doors. It has that British Hostel feeling for me. I really liked that, and I loved the characterisation in it. It’s a great film.

Nathan: I know they technically aren’t British but the Hellraiser films. I know only the first two and a half are British but I love them!

Ryan: You’re a big Hellraiser fan, aren’t you?

Nathan: Huge!

Are you excited about the Nightbreed found footage?

Nathan: I’m looking forward to that! Apparently there is a scene in the cemetery with a giant stop motion cat with a women on its back walking around. I’ve seen the test shots in the studio, but I’m looking forward to seeing that. I don’t know if it’s going to get a DVD release, did they do a screening at the weekend?

I’m not sure, but I know a lot of people are lobbying for a DVD release of it. There is a lot of good being found lately, I don’t know where it’s hiding but it’s coming out slowly…

Ryan: Someone is digging into the archives aren’t they…Someone is going in and pulling the stuff out…

Getting back to Mac, was it a difficult shoot?

Ryan: It varied, those first ten days were very hard, very tricky. We were all learning so much. There were too many people, too many cooks.

Nathan: It seemed quite high pressure, it might have just been because it was massive production…

Ryan: Yeah, those first few weeks we different a bit too complex than it needed to be. Myself, Paul and Sean then sat down to talk about how we were going to do it differently. We decided it would just be the three of us, us holding the lights and doing everything. We got one person to do the make up, minimised everything so we could just work with the actors. That is when it became very fun, we really bonded at that point. We all knew each other reasonable well, but for me that was when I really got to meet Paul and Nathan and become friends with them. Which is what we have done really. I mean these guys are actors really, but they are sat here helping me push the movie which I really appreciate. Same goes with everyone, really, who worked on the second half of the film. We all stayed in touch and stayed really good friends, on the photographs from Mayhem we are all there together. We were lucky, it was a really good experience, the second half of it…

Nathan: I still enjoyed the first bit but I’ve got fonder memories of the re-shoots…

Paul: Especially the parts at the train station and the warehouse.

Ryan: I think out personalities came out, through the first half I was just Ryan, producer, not being an asshole… Well, I hope I wasn’t an asshole! I just couldn’t really engage with anyone or talk to anyone because my mind was in a million places. But the second time I got to get closely involved with everyone.

Paul: I was always happy with both sides of it. Obviously, it did relax. It was quite hard to come back and redo scenes, you get a bit paranoid. You think “what did I do wrong?” but actually they’d gone back and seen what was wrong and they knew how to make it right…

Ryan: You guys didn’t have a clue, did you?

Nathan: I could understand why things were re-shot, for lighting and things like that. I’m glad really because it was like a practice run, we better understood the characters during the re-shoots.

Ryan: We were lucky…

Did any of that initial shoot make it into the final cut?

Nathan: There is a bit in Korkinsky’s flat that’s part of the original shoot…

Ryan: Yeah. The raid on Korkinsky’s flat, that’s the original. The She-Snake sequence, and the train station sequence.

Nathan: Some of the actors were different, because they couldn’t come back.

Ryan: That was a shame, because we lost some great people. But we got, in a fate kind of way, people who are more suited to the faster paced version. Ashleigh Edwards Pitt now plays Friday, but originally she was played by a friend of ours called Lynsey Little. Lyndsey suited the very film noir version that we had, very calm, relaxed, femme fatale. But when we came back, we didn’t think Mac would interact with this kind of a character. I think it has to be a sexy demon, leather clad girl, when Lynsey couldn’t come back we then met Ashleigh who was perfect for that kind of approach. Ashleigh is a great example of what the re-shoots brought in. But mostly it was the pace of it, each scene had to end up with a punch, or with a gun. Each scene had to have a big moment.

Paul: I think there was a lot of good stuff in the first version. A lot of good ideas, and good creatures. But a lot just didn’t work for what we needed.

Nathan: I was quite disappointed that some of it didn’t make it to the final cut, like in the GMPID when you saw the other monsters. You just see a werewolf, in the final version, being interrogated, but there was a zombie prostitute and there was a mummy. I don’t know why that didn’t make it through, but I really like the zombie prostitute…

Paul: I liked her too…

Nathan: Her make up was really good, have you any of the photos?

At this point I’ve seen everything on the Facebook group page, I’ve seen the trailer and the make up is one of the things that really stands out…

Ryan: Thank you. We were very lucky with the girl that we had who did the make up, Lindsey Genter, who actually ended up playing Dr. Gish in the film just because we were out of actors. We were like “who the hell is left to play this role?” We were worried at one point that it might turn into a bit of a disaster project, like is this another Wolfman? Thankfully, it wasn’t. Lynsey stepped in to play Dr. Gish, she had never acted before, and she is a great talent. She saved our bacon on a lot of the stuff with the make up, and then we had a really great effects guy called Oliver Starkey come in. He enhanced all those effects, he gave it the look that it has… The grain, it was just shot on standard HD. If you see it without the grain, the colours aren’t as crisp because we didn’t have the money to light professionally.

Nathan: He added some really good effects on the swamp as well, didn’t he?

Ryan: He added all the wind, the lightening and the rain. CGI rain, it’s pouring and no one is getting wet…

So where do you guys stand on the CGI versus practical debate that’s obviously ongoing?

Nathan: I’m mixed, I like CGI if it’s not over the top. Sometimes you don’t even know when CGI has been used like when it is just used to touch something up… But when whole characters are CGI like Jar Jar Binks, I think it can cheapen it. If it’s done really well though, like in Jurassic Park, it can really work. I was worried about seeing Avatar because I was expecting it to be Jar Jar Binks: The Movie but it worked really well in that too.

Ryan: Coming from a producer point of view, it’s whatever is cheapest to do on the day. You have to go with it. But I love what Peter Jackson and [Guillermo] Del Toro do, how they integrate live action with that CG effect. Especially Blade 2, a great example of that, where they had the practical mouth opening and then had the CG. I love the puppetry side of it, we were talking about Gremlins earlier… I really want to own one of those gremlins. But I do like both, both have pros and cons. We had to go with a lot of CG to enhance stuff, but I think it works.

Nathan: It looks good.

Ryan: I just take issue with films that use it for blowing up heads and it’s really obvious.

That’s my biggest bone of contention at the moment, CGI blood. I don’t know how expensive corn syrup is… I watched a film recently with Dolph Lundgren called Command Performace. He plays a rock drummer who has to save the Russian Premier…

Ryan: He’s still working?

He is! But the blood in that is so obviously CGI, it’s almost like Roger Rabbit…

Ryan: It just looks animated…

Nathan: You don’t really need it, even if you can’t afford corn syrup just get some ketchup out of the cupboard. I know its the wrong colour, but you could do something…

Ryan: Spit Vimto out or something…

Nathan: It was chocolate sauce in Psycho!

Ryan: Was it?

Nathan: Chocolate sauce!

Ryan: I wish I worked on that movie. Nom nom nom nom.

Haha! So have you seen many other shorts on your festival rounds? Were there any you were into?

Nathan: Horrorshow!

Ryan: Treevenge!

Nathan: I loved Treevenge!

Ryan: That’s has got to be the best short I’ve ever seen at a horror festival, I love it so much.

Nathan: I liked Dr. Psycho’s Chamber Of Sadism too.

Ryan: Have you seen that one?

I haven’t, I’ll have to check it out…

Ryan: It’s the shortest, most insane thing I have ever seen.

Nathan: It’s quite wacky, isn’t it?

Ryan: It’s very quirky. Lots of girls, lots of gratuitous nudity. It features a really cool up and comer, Eleanor James, who has that horror, B movie queen quality. She is getting a name for herself at the moment, I hope we can get involved with her.

Nathan: That would be good…

Just picking up on Horrorshow, the Neon Killer short… I really liked that one and the Trannibal trailer he also did…

Ryan: He did Trannibal and he did Slash Hive…

Nathan: I’ve seen the Slash Hive one, it’s like a trailer?

Ryan: It’s amazing… Slash Hive was done for the Grindhouse Trailer competition, just like Treevenge last year. Ben Robinson did both of those, great guy.

Paul: Was that with killer bees?

Ryan: It was killer wasps, but it’s madness.

Ben Robinson has this excellent way of shoot that just makes everything look so authentic…

Ryan: I think Ben has been ready for a long long time for something big, I think he was cinematographer on most of the shorts for Horrorshow. I just feel really fortunate to know him, I hope we can get him involved.

Is it out on DVD yet?

Ryan: It’s not.

Nathan: I need to see it again, I haven’t seen it since last year!

Ryan: So Horrorshow and Treevenge are the big ones for me.

Paul: I love Treevenge too, the bit at with the baby. You think there is no way they’re going to do that…

Ryan: And they do it. It’s ballsy. So good! I couldn’t look at our Christmas tree the same this year…

Nathan: Did it talk?

Ryan: Like an ewok.

Paul: Horrorshow is brilliant though.

Norman Warren is obviously an icon, have you met any icons at festivals who weren’t as friendly as you’d hope?

Nathan: I wouldn’t say anyway, I’d get done for slander.

I’m just trying to illicit a little scandal…

Ryan: We’ve been really lucky, everyone has been really nice. The good thing about the horror community is that everyone is so open, it just shows on Twitter, and interested in knowing each other. You feel like you’re in with a nice crowd, I don’t think you could do that with any other genre. I don’t think you can engage with a drama community, how would you find them?

There’s nothing like a drama community out there, really.

Ryan: Sitting round, talking about Keira [Knightley]…

Paul: It’s harder to market too…

Horror fans are generally a lot more forgiving too. They tend to see past the bad parts and focus on the good stuff…

Nathan: I know what you mean, if a film has good gore or death scenes it can still be good. The Saw films have gone downhill, each one is worse than the last but I still enjoy them because of the interesting deaths and the gore is quite good.

Ryan: I like stuff like Evil Dead and Bad Taste because they aren’t perfect but still so cool… We have had with a couple of reviews people saying that the acting is a bit wobbly but it’s a parody, we’re deliberately doing it. Some people really get that, some don’t.

Nathan: People who are fans of the Evil Dead films do understand… Some people seem to be expecting a mainstream blockbuster, and they’re expecting it to be polished with a really obvious story. Some people just don’t understand that underground horror thing.

Ryan: We’re just lucky enough that there is something in it that people see that we can develop. It’s a kind of a high concept thing, and we want to do it big.

Do you have plans for a franchise or a trilogy?

Nathan: I hope so!

Ryan: Well the idea is that we do three, Paul has written the ending. It was written a while ago, a certain aspect of it was actually written in college years ago and it’s one of those surprise endings…

Is it the butler?

Ryan: Damn! You got it! We’re going to make this one and make it as good as we can, then see where it goes. Everything has been a blessing, I am glad we even made it this far. The night before the première I watched it with my brothers, they really enjoyed it and I thought it was the biggest pile of shite I’d ever seen. I genuinely didn’t think anyone would enjoy it, and then when we put it on the reactions… I was very surprised by it all.

Nathan: The thing was, at that screening we had special offers on cocktails on the bar…

Ryan: Everyone was pissed, basically…

Well that seems like as good a place as any to wrap this up, any final words?

Ryan: Thanks for coming down, we really appreciate it. We’re really grateful for everything. I think if you work hard, if you live it morning, noon and night, it’ll happen.

Paul: Follow us on Twitter, @MarkMacready

Thanks guys!

Ryan kindly gave me a copy of Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders for my viewing pleasure, so here is a bonus review of their short.

Mark Macready is a no-nonsense tough guy, living in an all-nonsense world of monsters, shape-shifters and demonic killers. When faced with the guilt of his wife being kidnapped while he was off pandering to his other love; the city, he goes on a rampage to find her and destroy all those who get in his way.

Mac is your basic anti-hero, a heady mix of Snake Plissken, Ash and Hellboy with a uniquely British lilt, and is excellently mis-played by Ryan McDermott. In fact, the whole cast is wonderfully bad. If acting like you can’t act is an art, this lot are the new Expressionist movement! Brilliantly shot by Sean Candon, there are some of the same flourishes that marked early [Peter] Jackson or [Sam] Raimi outings. The script pops and crackles with ridiculous, OTT, and some genuinely witty, dialogue. This short had me laughing out loud and making mental notes of what to say if my wife gets taken by a murderer. Although some parts were a touch over-scripted, to the point where the plot had to grind to a halt to make sure everyone got their lines out. The characters are clear cut archetypes from many films that have come before but all are played straight, without any winking or gurning.

It isn’t all rosy though, it is certainly a film marred by its budget. Through all Mac’s arrogance there is a likeability that isn’t quite exploited to it’s fullest. Despite the fact that the make up is excellent for the most part, some of the CGI is ropey, even for a parody, and some of the smaller roles such as Dr. Gish, Stone, Korkinsky, and even Friday, are under-explored. Although I can forgive the maligning of smaller characters in such a short running time, I really hope they are explored more in the feature version. Also there isn’t enough focus on the Archangel, I would love to see his particular method of murder shown in some depth, just to prove what a formidable foe he really is.

I wasn’t entirely satisfied by the ending, the lack of resolution left me wanting. I’m sure it was done deliberately to get both fans and investors salivating over the prospect of a feature version.
Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders is a competently directed and well written, short, with some moments of genuine tension, some fairly moving stuff, and a whole heap of laughs. It all bodes well for the proposed feature version, and I am already positioning myself in the queue to see the further adventures of Mac and the rest of the GMPID.

I would give it a solid 7 skulls.

Demon Warriors begins with a screen declaring “This movie is to make people realise that suicide is a sin and afterlife is a misconception. This is an imaginary story. It happened in a world where people were misguided about the sin of suicide and were cursed for their sins in a parallel world called Opapatika.” It’s a mental, religiously didactic start, but a very intriguing premise.

Although the opening parable claims Opapatika is a world, Opapatika are actually supernatural beings brought into existence when certain people commit suicide. Our presumed protagonist is Taesit, persuaded into shooting himself in the face by an enigmatic Opapatika, who wants to use him to gather other Opapatika together, his reasons hidden. The other Opapatika really do not want to be gathered, and a war begins between newly Opaptika-ed Taesit and four angry Opapatikas. Taesit has an army of seemingly endless soldiers, while the Opapatika have some very extreme powers.

The result of the Opapatika fight is furious, bloody carnage, and as the lines of allegiance blur, Taesit begins to question who he’s fighting for and quickly learns being an Opapatika comes at a heavy price.

Demon Warriors is visually arresting, featuring some great urban scenery and spectacular fights scenes. Some of it is utterly incredible – an alleyway battle between one Opapatika and a squadron of soldiers is brutal and brilliantly choreographed. The machete through the hand moment is so painfully stylish it’s a wonder to behold. The violence is more Kill Bill than actually realistic, with blood spurting from cuts and blades never blunting, but it’s immensely good fun. Bullets blow open skulls, swords slice off limbs, hundreds of people die. It’s manic, massacre-filled mayhem. It’s just a shame the storyline doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Demon Warriors suffers from a confused mythology that any audience will find hard to follow. The reasons for Opapatika’s existence is unknown, as only a small portion of suicide victims become them. Their purpose is unclear, their love of a random, sedate woman is unclear, the weird-clawed uber-Opaptika’s motivation is unclear, the subtitle translation is often flawed and the main twist is baffling and unexpected. Yet all this doesn’t particularly matter, as it’s a furiously wild ride of insanely enjoyable violence.

Each Opapatika has a special ability – telepathy, immortality, supreme fighting skill, the ability to conjure an animalistic ghostly version of yourself, super-speed and more. Every action, however, has a consequence for an Opaptika. Taesit, our apparent hero, has telepathy, but the more he uses it the quicker it dulls all his other senses. The super-warrior’s body is covered in all the scars of his victim’s wounds; the immortal guy can never, ever die and spends eternity in torment. It’s a tough gig, but with great power comes… a lot of confused motivations.

Demon Warriors is a fresh idea, totally bonkers and difficult to grasp, but so visually splendidly wild that its inconsistencies fail to concern. Mad, bloody and perhaps too confused for some, Demon Warriors is definitely worth a watch.

Rating: 6 out of 10 stars

Episode Guide

•   1.0 – Pilot
•   1.1 – Deep Throat
•   1.2 – Squeeze
•   1.3 – Conduit
•   1.4 – The Jersey Devil
•   1.5 – Shadows
•   1.6 – Ghost In The Machine
•   1.7 – Ice
•   1.8 – Space
•   1.9 – Fallen Angel
• 1.10 – Eve
• 1.11 – Fire
• 1.12 – Beyond The Sea
• 1.13 – Gender Bender
• 1.14 – Lazarus
• 1.15 – Young At Heart
• 1.16 – E.B.E.
• 1.17 – Miracle Man
• 1.18 – Shapes
• 1.19 – Darkness Falls
• 1.20 – Tooms
• 1.21 – Born Again
• 1.22 – Roland
• 1.23 – The Erlenmeyer Flask

The X Files Season 1 is still as fresh as it was 17 years ago. Yes – 17 years ago! It was innovative, intelligent, scary, funny and endlessly watchable. Every episode was a triumph filled with intrigue, great dialogue and a real sense of purpose. Truly brilliant.

The Good:

The Season begins with the core story of the X-Files – aliens. The initial two episodes are interesting, fresh and exciting, throwing us into the world of Mulder’s mindset and Scully’s skepticism. There are so many episodes worth mentioning in Season 1, but specifically the ones below.

Squeeze and Tooms

Eugene Victor Tooms is a name that still sends creeping shudders down the backs of those who watched these two episodes about a man/monster who had the ability to stretch his body to enter buildings undetected… in order to eat someone’s liver. Chilling stuff.

Ice

Almost stealing wholesale from the premise of The Thing, this episode features something found in the Arctic ice that infects Humans and drives them to kill.

Fire

A disturbed stalker who has the ability to create fire from nothing focuses his attentions on some British dignitaries, and Mulder has to stop him.

Beyond the Sea

Brad Dourif stars as a death-row inmate who claims to be psychic and know the whereabouts of a serial killer. While Mulder thinks he’s lying, Scully is spooked by his ability to see more than he should…

Darkness Falls

My personal favourite X File of all time, Mulder and Scully investigate a missing team of loggers deep in a forest, only to discover that one of the trees cut down contained something incredibly dangerous that can only attack at night. They hide in a well-lit wooden cabin, praying for dawn… and then the generator starts to fade.

Other episodes feature werewolves, the Jersey Devil, reincarnation, cloning, a computer with lethal artificial intelligence, a murderous ghost and a miracle healer with a deadly touch.

The Bad:

Perhaps Space could be considered a bit too bizarre an episode, where the face on Mars seems to haunt an ex-astronaut in order to wreck the Space Program he’s working on, but all the episodes are compelling and intriguing. It really is an excellent first season.

Noteable Guest Appearances:

• Seth Green (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) – Episode 1 Deep Throat
• Doug Hutchinson (Lost, The Burrowers) – Episodes Squeeze and Tooms
• Brad Dourif (Child’s Play, Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1 & 2) – Episode Beyond The Sea

Overall:

Season 1 of the X Files is consistently excellent throughout. The episodes have aged well, even if Scully’s hairdo hasn’t. They are scary, compelling, intelligent and always exciting. An incredible first season, and possibly the best of all 9 seasons.

Rating: 10 out of 10 stars

Borderland begins with two detectives investigating a home full of occult paraphernalia in Mexico City. Within minutes they’re captured and one of them is graphically and horribly tortured.

Snap-cut one year later and we’re transported to Texas, where we meet a trio of arrogant college-grad assholes, whom you instantly want to die. These are the utterly depraved Henry (Jake Muxworthy), the broody hero type Ed (Brian Presley) and the easily-led hyperactive virgin Phil (Cabin Fever’s Rider Strong). Henry’s character is especially unlikeable, muttering phrases like “rise and shine faggot” and aspiring to work on a human cloning program.

Ripping shamelessly on Hostel, the three travel to a foreign country (Mexico this time, giving Eastern Europe a rest) and annoy the wrong people. The violence this time is provided by a human-sacrifice cult, which has the police running scared and the locals terrified for the “vanished”. Everything is going well for the trio until Phil goes missing, and it’s a race against time to save him before the cult makes him its ultimate sacrifice.

The major disappointment is the lack of Danny Trejo and Robert LaSardo, who surely are supposed to be in every movie set anywhere near Mexico. Oddly, however, cameo duties land on Sean Astin’s shoulders, and he appears as an American lackey to the evil cult leader Santillan. Despite this random inclusion, Astin does steal the show in his brief appearance, adding the only piece of real tension to the film in a scene between him and Rider Strong – touching lightly upon a dangerous psychosis that is both disturbing and utterly believable.

This film is sold as being for fans of Saw, Hostel and other vivid gorefests of sadistic darkness, but after the initial ten minutes Borderland barely even touches upon the grotesquery of modern gorenography. Once the eye-gouging is complete, the majority of the violence is done with machetes and not as vividly as perhaps hoped-for. There is a nice cleaver-in-the-shoulder moment and some decent firefights, but overall this will be a disappointment for those after more gruesome torture.

Sadly, without the grisly gore, Borderland has little else to sell itself. The plot is juddering and crawling and the characters are distinctly uncompelling. The story proves startlingly simple and completely without the supernatural context the prelude suggests. Any hopes that human sacrifice will lead to something demonic are dashed, especially considering the hilariously overused “inspired by true events” tag is flashed up at the beginning.

Writer / Director Zev Berman paints Mexico in the usual clichéd colours of supernatural fear and ugly mucky yellows, and makes no concerted effort to ensure the audience sympathizes with the characters. He moves the story along efficiently, but until the finale he never adds a sense of pace or urgency to the piece.

Borderland is brutal, grim and immensely unrewarding. It’s tiresome, expected stuff that is neither dreadful nor excellent. It doesn’t contain enough torture and pain for the gorenography crowd and fails to compel as a thriller for anyone else.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars

Otis is an overweight pizza delivery man who lives in his brothers shadow and uses his spare time to kidnap young girls and create a fantasy world in which they’re his girlfriend and he’s the high school football stud. Having killed, sometimes accidentally, a couple of the girls in the past, the police are on his trail but are so inept that they haven’t come close to finding him yet. One day, delivering pizza to the Lawson household, Otis becomes infatuated with daughter Riley and promptly kidnaps her. Back at his home, he watches her via multiple cameras set up in a basement and booby traps the room to prevent her from escaping, occasionally letting her out on a chain to participate in his twisted daydream.

Riley’s parents (Daniel Stern and Ileana Douglas); a sitcom family in an unfamiliarly harsh world, in the company of the ridiculously arrogant and useless Agent Hotchkiss (Jere Burns), receive regular phone calls from Otis who taunts them. When Riley uses her smarts and manages to flee from Otis’ squalid basement, she lets her parents and younger brother know where her kidnapper lives and they decide to take the law into their own hands.

Otis has a respectable cast, all of whom put their hearts into the project and make the characters their own, including newcomer Bostin Christopher as the titular nut-job. They’re ably assisted by Ashley Johnson as the object of his deranged affection and Dance Of The Dead’s Jared Kusnitz as her thoroughly obnoxious brother, not to mention Kevin Pollack as Otis’ overbearing older sibling.

The script is amusing and irreverent and does a wonderful job at poking fun of the plethora of torture-for-tortures-sake films that have emerged in the last decade. There is little in the way of gore, until the final third of the movie but when there is, it’s both hilarious and horrifying.

Although it might not look like it on the surface, there seems to have been an incredible attention to detail paid. To give one example, every time Otis delivers a pizza the total arrives at $19.84 in what is obviously a clever Orwellian reference. It is never derivative, instead managing to be a fresh, genuinely and affectionately satirical film, without hint of ripoff or any contempt for the genre that it’s parodying.

The soundtrack is made up of cheesy but evocative 80’s classics that help the viewer fall down the rabbit-hole and into Otis’s dream world in which he’s the popular kid intent on taking his unwilling ‘high school sweetheart’ to the ‘prom’. Flock Of Seagulls and The B-52’s might not be on everyone’s list of ideal soundtrack songs but they are great within the confines of Otis’ psychosis.

Otis is not a film that will appeal to everyone, it won’t make you jump, or scare you at all in fact, but it might make you laugh and it might make you flinch. It’s a solid movie stemmed from a solid idea and for anyone becoming tired of the increasingly laboured gore-porn output, you might just find this to be a refreshingly alternative spin on a heavily saturated and overly familiar sub-genre.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

I can’t say that back when I heard the announcement that Rob Zombie would be helming a remake of John Carpenter’s classic Halloween that I was thrilled, not because I’m one of those people who hold a film in such high reverence that I consider a remake to automatically be verboten (after all, Carpenter himself has proven with The Thing that it’s perfectly possible to take an old movie that has plenty going for it in and of itself – in this case Howard Hawks’ The Thing From Another World – and with a good, intelligent script and some classy direction you can create something that’s its own beast and able to stand on its own two cloven hooves), but because both of Zombie’s previous directorial efforts, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, had left me cold.  So naturally, I wasn’t one of the people jumping up and down with excitement at his next project. 2007 arrived and on its back the promised behemoth, I bit the bullet and got in line at the cinema with everyone else to see Zombie’s take on the iconic Michael Myers…let’s just say I was less than impressed.

Fast forward to 2010 and I’m looking at the Blu-Ray sitting on my friend’s coffee table, accusation vivid in its baleful glare…well okay, so it was just sitting their innocuously, gathering a little dust, but you get my meaning. I’m often willing to give a movie I disliked a second chance, especially when time has passed between viewings, on the possibility that perhaps I missed something the first time around or that I just wasn’t in the mood for it, so my curiosity as to whether this would prove the case here was already setting the wheels in motion. What finally pushed it over the edge was the scrawl on the box which read “Unrated Director’s Cut”. I’d heard tell from various sources at the time that the theatrical version I’d seen had been horribly butchered and that a bootleg workprint of the film that was doing the rounds was vastly superior, and when this “Unrated Director’s Cut” hit the home media market it had restored many of these missing moments. So that was that, I was determined to go in with an open mind and give this movie another go-round.

It confirmed my suspicions: Rob Zombie should not be allowed near a camera for the rest of his natural life. Anyone who finds this irredeemable piece of shit even remotely entertaining has to have checked their standards at the door. Everything about this film is completely inept and puerile, from the script upwards. The whole “redneck/trailer trash/abusive family” backstory that is meant to give us some idea as to what turns the boy Michael into the brutal killer he becomes seems to have been sewn together out of every conceivable stereotypical anecdote going; if “Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel” from The Simpsons had wandered in at this point, he would easily have been the most three dimensional character on screen. This half-arsed notion was bad enough in the theatrical version, it reaches a whole new zenith in the “Unrated” cut with a scene that had been excised (and should have stayed that way) which provides an alternate method of the fully-grown Michael’s escape from the asylum and involves two hillbilly orderlies (whose dialogue and look makes you wonder if they walked off a remake of Deliverance) raping a patient. Oh, how cutting edge, how deviant of you, Rob, throwing a little casual rape in there for no good reason, other than shock value (at which, like the rest of your execrable movie fails miserably). Throw into that mix the laziest, most shallow pop psychology you can find and this is the supposed “depth” that is meant to be the foundation of not just Michael’s makeover but the reason the remake even exists.

The story from this point on, once Michael reaches adulthood and escapes from his imprisonment, pretty much follows and often is a direct lift of Carpenter’s film, the problem being that by packing this into the last half of the movie it has none of the build-up and pace that make Carpenter’s version an exercise in suspense, instead it feels rushed and as it goes from one scene to the next you feel neither shock, tension nor, failing these two, entertainment as any possible primitive glee a fan might derive from a particularly well done bit of violence or gore is absolutely ruined by camerawork that’s so shaky that it could have been filmed during an earthquake. The editing is so MTV-quick that it should come with an epilepsy warning, and naturally there’s that other culprit accompanying them, the overcranked sound effects which make everything THUD and BOOM at every given opportunity. None of this makes it in the least riveting or scary, it’s just plain annoying, and if it’s even possible to make it worse then it manages this feat by way of the grating soundtrack, which is intrusive and just so obvious in the choices of songs that it borders on the childish, it’s the music equivalent of a paint-by-numbers. By far the worst aural offender, though, is the complete misuse of the “Halloween theme” that Carpenter composed for the original film, a tune that’s instantly recognisable to genre fans and is a vital part of what makes Carpenter’s Halloween work in that it’s not merely “creepy background music”, it lives and breathes with the beats and scares of the movie, underscoring the mood of the piece rather than being in synch with on-screen character movement or overtly manipulating an audience’s emotional response to a scene. For a man whose background is in the music industry, Zombie’s lack of understanding as to how to make the theme work on any level is baffling, there are times when it’s clearly just there because someone thought to themselves that it should be because it’s a Halloween movie, without any appreciation for making it fit in with the rest of the picture’s style and as such when it does appear, it’s hamfisted and serves only to remind the viewer of just how effective it was in Carpenter’s flick, a comparison it could desperately do without.

Plot holes and contrivances abound, as reason is sacrificed on the altar of style, like the lamebrain way in which Michael’s iconic mask is re-introduced after he escapes incarceration – so, let me get this straight, the young Michael goes on a killing spree (I’m giving nothing away here, I’d hope) and then before the cops arrive he has the time, and not to mention the foresight, to hide a mask he’s going to conveniently want in the future, by not only pulling up but then replacing the floorboards perfectly so they look undisturbed? This dunderheaded contrivance has zero meaning, substance or internal logic, the sole purpose of this move is making sure there’s a reason why the mask has that aged, grungy look that Zombie had obviously set his heart on for the promo ads and to show just how “hardcore” his vision is meant to be, something which might impress the average twelve-year-old but nobody else. It all just adds to the overall ugliness of this vision – a grungy look and unpleasant characters that nobody cares for (only Brad Dourif as the Sheriff of Haddonfield comes through with anything approaching likeability, largely because it’s a cameo part – if it had been larger I’m quite sure someone would have written in a subplot about an incestuous relationship with his daughter and dropkicking puppies whilst crying “YEE-HAW!”). As for the acting, it’s largely dreadful, Malcolm McDowell hammily sleepwalks through the role and lets his hairpiece do most of the emoting, and Sheri Moon Zombie would never be allowed in front of a camera if it weren’t for nepotism and her husband being amazed by her skanky arse. Scout Taylor-Compton is uniformly irritating in the lead as Laurie Strode, giving a performance that’s one-note and overwrought – yes, we get that you’re scared, but if you keep yelling and whimpering every time so much as a floorboard creaks under your pursuer’s weight then he’s obviously going to find you and you have nobody to blame but yourself when he guts you, you silly bitch. Sheesh!

Every minute of this overlong turkey drags and feels like an age, muddled and careening with the delicacy and grace of a rugby player in a tutu from one boring, tensionless set-piece to the next, with Michael Myers becoming more and more like Jason Voorhees in full supercharged smash-through-walls zombie mode as it goes along. And at just shy of two hours, the anticlimactic ending can’t come soon enough – Christ, in 2001: A Space Odyssey it didn’t take Kubrick two hours to go from the origin of man to him exploring the cosmos and taking the next step of evolution 100,000 years (give or take) later!

Two skulls out of ten, and one of those is just because I appreciate how difficult it can be to get a movie made and into cinemas. Please, Rob, stick to music videos, full length movies are not your forte.

Anyway, in the middle of all this excitement I had an excellent meeting with some of the folks behind Mark Macready and the Archangel Murders for a bit of genre chat and massive coffees. Those folks were top chaps, and the interview should be up very soon…

At the end of this week it is FrightFest Glasgow, and I am totally excited (despite the fact that I am worrying about a gang of GoreZone fans waiting for me with weapons), in order to pimp this very site, my girlfriend and I designed a t-shirt. Check it out! I had to edit my intense moose knuckle out of the picture for fear of the ladies going crazy (if you don’t know what moose knuckle is, then be thankful).

We used special t-shirt latex, the finest Florence & Fred t-shirts (£3 from Tesco), and an iron. It didn’t really take that long, and it was good fun to boot! We fluffed up a few, and so ran out of red latex stuff after we made Sarah’s, meaning mine had to be green. But I think it looks freaking awesome, even swathed around my fat gut! If you see me at FrightFest, chances are I will be wearing this and attempting to bother Adam Green, so come and say hello, tell me you agree with all my opinions, and ply me with alcohol.

If you want one of these, or any other t-shirts commissioning, drop me an email at: jamie@gorepress.com, and I will speak to the missus.

I have almost exclusively been watching Giallo this week, so prepare for an onslaught of Italian content in the coming weeks, as well as my FrightFest coverage!

See you all in court, and I love you all very much.

Although she’s a relative newcomer to the fright business, Bianca Barnett is already making waves. Having used the internet to raise awareness of her rising star and create a loyal fan-base in the process, she’s gone from ‘horror hottie’ to serious actress in a fairly short space of time. Given that it’s Women In Horror Recognition Month, we thought it the perfect time to celebrate one of horrors’ new female presences.

GP : So, which came first, the acting or the modelling?

BB : Modeling came first, but honestly, I grew tired of that industry pretty quickly. I realized I like standing out in a crowd, not conforming to someone else’s idea of what I should be or look like. I was literally killing myself trying and damaging my body and soul to reach an impossible standard of beauty.. I want to be known for my accomplishments, and judged by the size of my heart, not my clothing.

You’ve created quite a presence for yourself via the internet; it’s a powerful tool for self promotion but people must have been quite receptive to you anyway for it to work. Do you think the internet has helped you to create a fan-base that might not have been able to find you otherwise?

Absolutely, I wouldn‘t be where I am now without the internet and without my amazing fans and friends! It takes a lot of time and effort to promote my work. Right now, I do most of it by myself, but if things keep picking up I will have to have help. That part will be hard for me because I like being “hands-on“. I’ve become much pickier about how I want to be presented in photos and what films I want to be a part of. I think that drives a lot of people crazy, especially photographers. I feel like I’ve been doing this long enough that I know how I want to present myself professionally. Most of it has been very instinctual and I base a lot of my decisions on my intuition.

It’s always nice to see powerful women making a name for themselves on the horror circuit, be it behind or in front of the camera. Do you enjoy your status as something of a horror pin-up?

Oh yes, I’m completely flattered and honored when people think of me as attractive. I’m so critical of myself and tend to focus on my flaws, so it’s a nice surprise when people see things differently. I’m still working on my confidence and self-worth and staying positive.

Do you think you’d like to concentrate on garnering more film appearances in the future or will the modelling always be just as important to you? Is it nice being able to juggle the two?

I’d love to garner more film appearances, and hopefully that will lead to more modeling gigs. I feel like I am in a place in my showbiz career that I am ready to take it to the next level. Previously, I took almost every modeling and acting job I was offered because I was so eager to be a part of it all. Now I’ve become much more selective and I’m choosing quality over quantity. Let’s hope that the offers keep coming!

You’ve been involved in a couple of projects featuring Troma legends Lloyd Kaufman and Trent Haaga. Do you admire the Troma way of filmmaking?

I admire anyone who is brave enough to follow their hearts and make their own path in an industry. I just hope I can be as successful as they have been!

In Albino Farm, you play the primary villain, the truly grotesque and memorable creation; ‘Pig Bitch‘. I always feel that the villains are the more interesting characters in horror. What sort of preparation did you have to do to get into character?

I have to agree, the villains are usually the best part of the movie. I couldn’t wait to portray Pig Bitch – being in the makeup really helped me become the character. I tried to completely channel my teenage angst and aggression. I also studied my dog, Dixie, and based some of the reactions on her more primal behaviors.

Albino Farm got mixed reviews but one thing the reviewers seemed to agree on was that you were the best part of the movie. How does it feel when someone openly praises something you had such a big part in creating?

It’s like winning the lottery! I can’t describe the feeling in words, but I was surprised that people really seemed to like my portrayal of the character. I know I still have a long way to go as an actor, but I did try to do my best with the material I was given to work with.

Was it difficult to act through the heavy make-up and prosthetics or did you find that it made it easier to get into character?

It made it easier to get into character, but the fact that I was carrying five pounds on my head and had limited vision, breathing, and hearing for about fifteen hours a day while doing all of my own stunts, took a toll. I came down with viral pharyngitis and was extremely ill by the end of the shoot. I did it, though, and I’m proud of myself for toughing it out! I would love to do more action films in the future.

It’s an exciting time for women in horror, which seems to be reflected in another of the projects you‘ve recently been involved in, Welcome To My Darkside, a documentary looking at females in the industry, from scream queens to directors. Do you have any role models that inspired you to seek out a career in horror?

I love all of the cool, Hitchcock blondes as well as the beautiful and exotic actresses from the 1960s and 1970s. The hair, makeup and wardrobe are all so fabulous! Barbara Steele and the women who epitomized Hammer glamour are very inspirational to me.

Ok, so what’s next on the Bianca Barnett agenda? What does your future hold and which direction would you like your career to head in?

I am wanting to get better at developing my acting craft and style. I think that will increase my profile. I want the future to hold some really great movies and wonderful experiences making them. I also hope to meet as many new friends and fans as I can. I want people to look forward to seeing a picture I am in and as long as people want to see me, I will continue to act and entertain!

You can find lots more information about Bianca at www.biancabarnett.com or on her myspace page..

On a hot Summers day, two Catholic schoolgirls find themselves in a strange town on their mission to sell Bibles door-to-door. Advised by an odd Motel owner to try the town down the road, they drive down there and are greeted by a motley crew of townsfolk, all of which test their patience and test their faith. It isn’t until they stumble upon Lobo’s whorehouse and inadvertently witness a murder that they find themselves in real trouble. Captured, tortured, toyed with, raped and her friend Rebecca shot dead in a twisted game of Russian Roulette, Catherine finds herself in a Hospital nearby. Full of righteous anger and the need for justice she steals a nurses uniform and makes her way back to Lobo and the evil, debauched criminal element that surround him, armed only with a scalpel.

Run! Bitch Run! is essentially a re-telling of I Spit On Your Grave with a little Last House On The Left thrown in for good measure. Its major downfall is that it succeeds so successfully in mirroring the movies it wants to pay homage to, that it offers nothing new or inventive.

That said, it really is a treat for anyone who’s been missing that level of low-brow exploitation fare. From the storyline to the acting to the sublimely accurate soundtrack to the bloody revenge that follows, it’s all there. Before the film reaches five full minutes of running time, the audience is privy to full frontal nudity, oral sex, drug use, a murder, clips from a [fake] porn movie and lots of profanity. It certainly ticks all the boxes, and then some!

There are one or two surprises however; I was left guessing at which of the girls would survive to take her revenge and unusually for ‘rape and revenge’ movies, one of the principal antagonists is female which pretty much closes the door on any arguments for feminism that it might provoke. Besides those points though, the rest is thoroughly familiar although not necessarily in a bad way.

Run! Bitch Run! is super low budget and when it comes to gore this becomes obvious. The viewer seldom gets to see the actual murders, merely the aftermath. It’s hard to say whether this was down to lack of financing or to Guzman’s wish to stay as close to the movies’ influences as possible, in order to more closely emulate those that he’s paying homage to.

Despite the pretty horrifying subject matter, there is actually a degree of affection shown by the writer/director for their protagonist. It’s hard not to muster some sympathy for her and ultimately, the whole thing is pretty heartbreaking. Either way, it seems as though Guzman has admirably achieved what he set out to do, Run! Bitch Run! would almost certainly have been banned outright if Mary Whitehouse had been alive to catch a whiff of it or had it been released back in the heyday of grindhouse cinema.

It’s difficult to recommend it to anyone who’s not a fan of the original movies that Run! Bitch Run! so closely recalls but if you are, I’d say go out and grab a copy now.

Rating: 5 out of 10 stars

Although the script is pretty horrifying and the acting is expectedly bad, this is a straight-to-DVD B-movie after all, there are actually some impressively imaginative ideas in Tamara that save it from being utterly forgettable. When she returns from the dead to wreak her revenge, some of the resulting deaths are gleefully gory and unexpectedly inventive. From the boy who is beguiled into cutting off parts of his own face in front of an aghast audience to the girl who literally pukes up her internal organs to the man hypnotized into chewing on glass bottles until his oesophagus is so torn up he dies from blood loss, there’s a massive array of interesting kills going on. The budget never allows for them to look as good as they should but the clever ideas are definitely present and correct.

As the lead, Jenna Dewan can’t really act for toffee, she manages to look frumpy at the beginning and suitably bewitching after her transformation but that’s where her talents end. She’s still just about able to carry the film although none of her cohorts manage to rival her in the acting stakes.

There are several points in the movie that will no doubt cause any intelligent movie-goer to question the intellect of the films writers. For example, in an abandoned Hospital kitchen, at night, why is the room unlocked, why are there knives hanging from the ceiling and why is the deep fat fryer bubbling over with red-hot oil? Incidences like that one are a little insulting.

Continuity errors and discrepancies in common sense and physics aside, Tamara has a subtle sense of humour and some nice, if insubstantial, ideas at its heart but it suffers from a lazy and anti-climactic conclusion which manages to erase some of the good that came before it. The titular character might be an attractive prospect to some but alas, the movie itself isn’t.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars

The storyline is actually pretty darn original. Daniel is a crime scene photographer who has noticed a disturbing trend; several of the recent victims of an unknown killer were heavily into sado-masochism. Being a topic that he knows nothing about, he meets and becomes involved with a bondage queen named Divinity who educates him on the subject, rather literally. Meanwhile, Elandra, who is also into the BDSM scene (that’s bondage, discipline, sadism and masochism for the lay person) and has a rather unusual drugs racket on the side appears to have an affiliation to the brutal slayings. However, she doesn’t commit the crimes herself, she sends her minions, in the form of heinously ugly, knee-high ‘blood gnomes’ to do her dirty work instead and the drugs she sells are a by-product of the critters’ Mother whom she keeps in a cage. Sounds insane, right? It is. With a heavy dose of ‘bat-shit mental’ on top.

Blood Gnome’s budget is almost non-existent and in some respects, it’s glaringly obvious. The gore effects however, are actually fairly credible for the most part and unexpectedly wince-inducing in parts which is nothing short of amazing considering what sort of financing, or lack of, that the crew had to work with. The ‘blood gnomes’ themselves are rubbery little bastards who recall the titular hellions from the Ghoulies and Critters films and somehow manage to be creepy as hell and inadvertently hilarious at the same time.

Although the acting sometimes verges on unwatchable, it’s completely consistent and all the actors are on a par so after a few minutes its easy to become accustomed to it as they are all equally amateur. That sounds like a complaint but it’s not, the fact that everyone speaks and reacts in the same exaggerated ways actually works and manages to make their theatrical shortcomings much less apparent as it all seems perfectly normal within the Blood Gnome world.

There is a huge amount of gratuitous nudity in Blood Gnome and at times, it seems a little like a not-so-subliminal advertisement for the S & M scene but almost every instance is completely un-sexy and lacks any potential titillation value. The people involved are a largely unattractive bunch, besides the leading lady, and so most of the nudity is unwelcome but does make for a more gruesome time of it when the murderous little pests appear and get kill-happy.

Blood Gnome is nowhere near as bad as the premise makes it sound. It’s a surprisingly watchable, massively confusing and utterly mad piece of super low budget cinema. Quite frankly, I was astounded to learn that Charles Band had nothing to do with this movie. If you’ve seen any of his recent Blue Moon titles (Doll Graveyard, Gingerdead Man, Evil Bong, etc…) then you’ll know exactly what to expect from Blood Gnome as it ticks all of the same boxes and is from the exact same school of filmmaking. It’s amusing, low-brow, barmy and completely cack. Watch it drunk and enjoy.

Rating: 4 out of 10 stars

A description of the plot might appear as an insult to anyone who’s even glimpsed a werewolf story, but for those sans knowledge in lycanthropy law, here it is: haunted actor Lawrence Talbot (Benicio Del Toro) returns to his childhood home in Blackmoor, summoned by his brother’s wife when his brother disappears. His brother is found dead, ripped to pieces by some unknown assailant, naturally blamed on a “madman”. Shockingly, Lawrence is bitten by something clawed and monstrous and subsequently undergoes odd, hairy changes during the full moon. Shock! What happens next, you may wonder? A happy ending, perhaps? A jolly tea party after a cure’s been miraculously found? Or maybe just some inner turmoil and a tragedy-laden beast hunt? Who can tell?

Perhaps this sarcasm is unnecessary, as it’s a remake of the classic 1941 Wolf Man, but any attempt of homage is quickly shoved aside by ugly cliché and then beaten senseless by flying limbs and flesh-ripping violence. The Wolfman is tragically wounded by a muddled tone – a visceral monster movie trapped in a serious family drama locked in a box labeled “homage”. And worst of all, it’s just dull.

There is no secret that the 2010 Wolfman experienced a number of creative difficulties during its creation. Original director Mark Romanek left under rumours of creative differences with Del Toro, and although it was originally scheduled for an October 2009 release there was a number of rewrites and reedits required, which might be responsible for the styleless, soulless werewolf drama-horror homogeny that we ended up with.

Combining the screenwriting genius of both Andrew Kevin Walker (Se7en and Sleepy Hollow) and David Self (Thirteen Days and The Road to Perdition), you might expect a tense and understated mix of horror and drama. Yet it seems studio interference may have kicked away the potentially dramatic, intelligent werewolf drama and tipped a bucket of blood over it, hoping to drag the gore-hounds into the cinemas instead. The Wolfman is also helmed by the director of The Rocketeer, Jumanji and Jurassic Park 3, so a potentially dark, intelligent and atmospheric horror film became an incongruous mess for a number of reasons.

Yet it’s not just the writing and direction that let this monster movie down – the actors fail to add anything to the piece. Anthony Hopkins cranks up his hammiest Malcolm McDowell impression to 11, barely exerting himself beyond a one-note cliché while delivering some of the most baffling accent work of recent years. Benicio Del Toro simply exists within the film’s structure, trudging through it sullenly and depressingly, making him an impossible protagonist to sympathize with.

Even Emily Blunt and Hugo Weaving add absolutely nothing to the film. Blunt exists simply to show off her cleavage, as her actions are utterly bizarre and her character almost entirely devoid of life. Weaving’s Detective Abberline is in a constant state of moody-bewilderment, and is painted as a bad guy and a good guy, depending on the scene. The fact they weave the real-life Jack the Ripper detective into this wildly extreme monster movie is just another addition to the sense of confusion and contradiction that flows throughout The Wolfman.

If you love swift, sloppily-executed violence and don’t find obvious cliché pan-facingly frustrating then perhaps The Wolfman might entertain, but otherwise you should probably avoid this. The style, acting and storyline are all incredibly dull. Bar a ridiculous section based in a mental asylum and some impressive cinematography, The Wolfman is something everyone has seen before, and done better a thousand times.

Watch the 1941 original instead. Watch An American Werewolf in London instead. Watch The Howling instead. Watch Teen Wolf instead! The Wolfman 2010 is not worth your attention.

Rating: 3 out of 10 stars

As a not-so-subtle segue into bare-faced nepotism, it’s plausible that a lot of you horror-ites might also be fans of the much maligned graphic novel. Unfairly passed off by many as comics for grown-ups, they can be and are, so much more than that. This is why I urge you, humble horror fan, to spare a little of your time to have a look at a website called Planet Graphic Novel. It’s run by a few friends of mine and they are currently in talks with regard to giving it a bit of a make-over but in the meantime, stop by and marvel at the extensive selection of reviews and information already available.

A while ago, Jamie posted a rather amusing and somewhat derisive open-letter to the editor of Gorezone magazine on his personal blog. Last night, it elicited a response from said editor of said publication and from my rather wimpy, neutral viewpoint, I’m going to keep my opinion to myself (for a change.) Instead I think you should take a look for yourselves and draw your own conclusions, either way, the resulting arguments are funny stuff.

All in all, it might not look like much but we’ve had a rather exciting week. We’ve been beavering away behind the scenes to make the website bigger and better as usual and despite a few technical hiccups all is going well. Dave got the chance to interview the legend that is Zach Galligan from Gremlins and rumour has it that Zach loved the Gorepress line of questioning. Personally, I think the resulting answers are pretty damn interesting too. He was over in the UK to promote his new movie; a British horror called Cut, shot in one continuous take. It’s the first movie of its type and looks pretty effing exciting so keep an eye out for it when it’s released on the 22nd of this month!

That’s it for now folks, I’ve got movies to watch, reviews to write, a website to look after and a crippling addiction to World of Warcraft to waste the remainder of my time on. In the meantime, keep on horror-ing!