Who me/Jamie Lee Part 2: Preparing to meet the hosts at Horrorhound

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By Jamie Lee Cortese:
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Yes, faster than you can say, “Svengoolie”, I’ve found myself hopelessly entangled in the horror host web, and I couldn’t be happier! While I was doing exhaustive research on Svengoolie and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, I found out about a documentary entitled American Scary that was all about horror hosts.  I found it online, and began to watch it.  From the very beginning, I was captivated.  I think my first clue that it was going to be amazing was when I saw none other than Neil Gaiman sitting in front of the camera.  Thanks to Mr. John Aranza of the Horrorbles store in––– you guessed it––– Berrrwyyyn, I was able to obtain a copy of it on DVD.  As I watched it again on my television, I remember making mental notes about the various hosts I saw that particularly impressed me and whom I might look into more, including Count Gore De Vol, Mr. Lobo, Dr. Sarcofiguy, and Professor Anton Griffin.

Adam Green’s Hatchet II: Are Two HATCHETS Better than One?

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Perhaps one of the most popular types of horror movie is the slasher film. Though there were examples of these types of movies in the early 70’s, it wasn’t until the release of John Carpenter’s HALLOWEEN in 1978 that the slasher really took off. The 80’s were filled literally with every type of slasher movie you could imagine, all capitalizing on the popularity of not only the HALLOWEEN films, but also the FRIDAY THE 13TH series and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise. Some of these movies were good…others were downright horrible. Thanks to movies being released direct to video in those days, pretty much anyone with a camcorder could make a slasher movie and try to take advantage of the public’s desire to see pretty teens get butchered. In many ways this is what burned me out on slasher films. I mean, how many times can you watch the same things over and over again? The only thing that would change from film to film was the look of the killer (even with HALLOWEEN and FRIDAY THE 13TH, Michael Myers and Jason changed his appearance from film to film).

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14 Genre Films Worth Watching Again and Again…

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So we all have our favorite movies and we all have our personal reasons as to why they are our favorites. We all also have movies that we can just watch over and over again, never tiring  of them. That is what this list is all about. What is interesting about this list, is that some of my all time favorite films do not even fall on it. Even though a movie may be a favorite of mine, it doesn’t mean that I can watch it repeatedly and still enjoy it as much as I did the first time I watched…this aspect is actually rare in a film for me. As much as I love DAWN OF THE DEAD (1979), THE FOG (1980), THE THING (1982) and HALLOWEEN (1978), I cannot watch these movies repeatedly and usually limit them to one viewing a year. This list comprises those movies that I watch multiple times a year, sometimes more than once a month…they are THAT good to me! I have listed them in alphabetical order since I do not necessarily prefer one over another.

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Killer Santas & Christmas Slasher/Horror Films!

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It’s that time of year again…the weather is cold and people are dreading maxing out their credit cards while purchasing gifts they can ill afford. Though commercialism seems to have destroyed the Christmas spirit in many people, certain traditions still hold true. Like, for example, Christmas music played by local radio stations the week after Halloween, the customary office holiday party, and the myriad of television specials hitting the airwaves. Fortunately, amid the forgetable new ones, you can still find such timeless staples as Rankin Bass’ RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS and SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN.

As adults, we can still enjoy those shows along with an entirely new holiday tradition…the Christmas horror movie. As mentioned In our earlier piece regarding Thanksgiving films, Christmas has an impressive array of its own entries in the holiday slasher sub genre. Naturally, these movies often garner bad press for portraying the holiday’s most endearing figure, jolly old Santa Claus, as a sadistic killer. While also promising lots of nudity and gore to accompany the “blasphemy,” the controversy rarely, if ever lived up to the hype.

Aside from that, a bit of parental “common sense” would go a long way. These films were obviously never meant to be seen by kids and certainly not intended to be seen as a double feature along with IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE or A CHRISTMAS STORY (even though the director of A CHRISTMAS STORY, Bob Clark, also directed the zombie classic CHILDREN SHOULDN’T PLAY WITH DEAD THINGS and the 1975 Christmas horror movie BLACK CHRISTMAS).

What we now present to you is a list of some of the most noteworthy Christmas horror movies to get you back into the Christmas spirit.

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Carving up some Thanksgiving Horror Movies!

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Hollywood has a long standing tradition of taking those special days on calendar and using them as a backdrop for horror films. Of course this bloody holiday craze began with the immortal Halloween which not only inspired its own sequels but set into motion the ’80s golden age of slashers which were often to a special occasion. Friday the 13th, My Bloody Valentine, Graduation Day, Happy Birthday to Me, New Years Evil, and Mother’s Day are all examples of the trend with Christmas inspiring its own numerous blood-soaked entries as well. There was even a film titled The Day After Halloween (which I guess sounds a lot more ominous than “November 1st”) that had absolutely nothing to do with Carpenter’s classic while cleverly riding its holiday-themed coattails. But what about Thanksgiving? Did America’s “Day of Thanks” offer us horror fans anything to be grateful for? Continue reading →

My Top 13 Movies for the Halloween Season!

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Anyone that knows me knows that I love horror, sci-fi and monster movies and pretty much watch them all year-long. When it comes to October though there are a handful of movies that I feel I must watch to get me in the Halloween spirit. This list is not in any way meant to be a list of my top 13 horror movies of all time but a list of top 13 Halloween movies. These are movies that may not necessarily be scary as hell…some are just charming and fun!  Even if these films do not fall into your top 13 list, perhaps there are some titles here you haven’t seen and may be tempted to watch!

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