AMC Wants You To Stay Home Scared This Weekend (Or: Zombies Are Safer Than Fireworks)

Posted on July 2, 2014 by geelw

If, for whatever reason you still haven’t seen AMC’s The Walking Dead and are now interested in playing a bit of catch up binge-watching or you’re a fan wanting to stay in one place and practice for some “actual” zombie apocalypse by hunkering down with some rations and camping out indoors while all hell breaks loose outside, here you go. AMC will indeed be running EVERY episode of the show starting Friday at 9AM/8c. Right after the final episode of Season 4 ends on Sunday night at 9pm, there’s some NEW contest afterwards – a Talking Dead Season 5 Preview Special, hosted by Chris Hardwick with guests The Walking Dead Showrunner and Executive Producer Scott M. Gimple and actress Aisha Tyler. I’ll probably catch that special just because all of the shows I normally watch are on hiatus and I’ll be bored to tears (unless I have a game or movie to occupy me of course).

I generally avoid these pre-season antics because as I’ve noted countless times, I prefer to go in cold to a new season of a favorite show, not get a head full of information swirling around for months or a year or however long it takes to complete a season of shooting. Of course,I could simply forget what I’ve seen by the time Season 5 rolls around, as there’s so many other things going on…

Escape Dead Island Trailer: Live Men Tell Plenty of Tales…

Posted on July 1, 2014 by geelw

Is anyone else getting a distinct Telltale Games vibe from the art in this Dead Island spin-off game headed to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall? No? Well, okay, it’s not an EXACT lift from those excellent adventure games, but I’d bet a smelly coin from a zombie’s pocket that developer Fatshark Studios was inspired by that series when they were cooking up this one. That’s not necessarily a bad thing at all, as if it’s done right, I can see Dead Island appealing to gamers in a slightly different manner than it has previously. That and I wonder if those stylized visuals also mean this one’s Vita-bound as well? That would be pretty cool at the end of the day. Anyway, we’ll see what’s what soon enough, right?

Funko Is Bringing Your Shelves Some Scary Collectible Goodies Soon…

Posted on July 1, 2014 by geelw

Once again, Funko is whipping out more reasons to lighten your wallet and fill your shelves. This time, it’s the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock, immortalized (or is that “immoral-ized”) as a Wacky Wobbler (and I have the feeling Hitch would love being a bobblehead), available for sale this October. Take a look and while you’re looking, think of someone you’d love to give this to (even if it’s yourself, because one should always think of him or herself first when gift-giving):

If you can’t wait until October (what, you have a date with a paid assassin or something?), In August, you can snap up these six new awesome ReAction figures from some classic (well, 1978 and up) horror flicks you may have seen once or twice. Take a peek between those fingers you’ve not got covering your face, why don’t you:

Now that you’re suitably scared (well, okay, suitably thrilled and whipping out your wallet), you may as well know that keeping these killers in their packaging is probably a very darn good idea. Just a suggestion… for safety’s sake.

MOEBIUS: Horror Fans, The Unkindest Cut of All Is Coming Your Way in August…

Posted on July 1, 2014 by geelw

Ouch. Just reading the description for RAM Releasing’s upcoming horror film MOEBIUS should get a few guys to slam their knees together like a bear trap with a hair trigger mechanism:

When she catches her husband having an affair, a woman attempts to castrate the cheater for his wrongdoing. Unsuccessful, she instead inflicts the unspeakable act on her own son, setting off a series of grotesque yet provocative events ranging from a hurried genital transplant to pain-inflicted orgasms that all merge in a continuous thread of delirious storytelling. With both husband and son damaged and living in grief, the wife returns as the family heads towards destruction even more horrific than before.

Kim Ki-Duk, whose signature style pushes the limits of challenging filmmaking and often blows right through them, won the Golden Lion with PIETA at the Venice Film Festival last year. The prolific director is set to shock audiences again with Moebius, his latest perverse statement on family tensions, sexual boundaries and society’s issues with each.

During August, the film will get a limited run release in North America at the following theaters:

Los Angeles – August 8 – The Cinefamily, 611 N. Fairfax Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036

New York – August 15 – Cinema Village, 22 E. 12th St, New York, NY 10003

Chicago – August 22 – Facets, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave, Chicago, IL 60614

before making its Video on Demand (VOD) debut on August 29 via all major providers (Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, Verizon, etc.) and digital VOD at iTunes, Amazon Instant, Google Play, Vudu, Xbox, Playstation, Rovi and Samsung Hub.

Yeah, I’ll be reviewing this one in August – I have a screener on the way, but I may need a teddy bear, a blanket, a few bottles of wine and a noise-canceling room to block my screaming. My knees hurt already from slamming together, so I can’t wait to see what the actual film does… O__o

Alien: Isolation Is Calling Me (Let’s Hope Sega Is Listening As Well)…

Posted on June 30, 2014 by geelw

Okay, Sega. I wasn’t at E3 this year, so tell me you’re rolling into NYC with Alien: Isolation and a few others sometime soon. I have a few appointments in July, but I’ll clear out the better part of a day just to see this in action and play it a little. Not TOO much, as I don’t want to pee myself in public (ha, ha). Just enough so that I know it’s on the right track (and I already do, but hands-on is better than too much “journalistic overconfidence” any day of the week). Um… that is all for now. Oh yeah, Sonic the Hedgehog had a birthday recently. I baked a cake, but ate the whole thing because he needs to watch his weight with that new look and all…

Dracula Untold Trailer: I’ve Got The Overbite Rewritten Blues…

Posted on June 27, 2014 by geelw

(Thanks, CBM Trailers!)

Hmmm… suspicions confirmed. Dracula gets retold, so it’s officially “Dracula Untold” now, thus the need for a reboot of this magnitude. Big, loud, full of CG effects and hey, why not let’s get that hot singer du jour Lorde to do the theme song you’ll more than very likely hear as part of the end credits and want to download at some point? *Sigh*… Oh well. The young ones will eat it up, the weekly movie-goers will pay their money as usual, the older curmudgeonly critics will lament the lack of Lugosi’s accented mumbling sexy style, while others trumpet it as “sexier than Twilight” in those tween magazines and online haunts for the Emo chicky/Hot Topic crowd. Everyone wins… well, not really, but so goes the modern vampire movie – into the past with lots of the present 9and too much for my more mundane horror tastes). Eh, October isn’t so far away, so perhaps my mind will be changed? We shall see (as usual)…

Random Film of the Week: KONGA

Posted on June 24, 2014 by geelw

(thanks, Movie Trailer Graveyard!)

While it’s not the worst man in a gorilla suit sci-fi/horror hybrid out there (Bela Lugosi Meets A Brooklyn Gorilla or A*P*E*, anyone?) 1961’s KONGA is nevertheless a terrifyingly bad movie that’s worth a watch for a few reasons. You’ll marvel at the ferocious, scenery chewing by Michael Gough’s mad botanist/scientist Dr. Charles Decker, the kitchen sink plot that tosses in carnivorous plants, terrible, inaccurate science, botany and biology, a love triangle that’s actually a square that gets whittled away corner by corner as the film progresses and some mostly lousy special effects that make this a total howler. I’ll get back to the ape suit later and the man in it, as both are another key to making this film so hysterically funny.

You have to admire a film that wants you to believe that Dr. Decker returns from his year-long trip to Africa (he’s actually missing and presumed dead!) with some strange ideas, some recipes for a serum that can make plants and animals grow to extreme sizes and a cute baby chimpanzee. His plant experiments end up creating a number of oversize man-eating varieties including (eek) some that look like gigantic black rubber penises with green veins a’poppin’ and red tongues hanging out (seriously). Before that rolls around in your head too much, Decker’s real showpiece is Konga, that baby chimpanzee he gives his serum who SOMEHOW changes into a gorilla (Wait, WHAT? Science takes another hit, folks POW!) before using his new “pet” to get revenge on a few of his peers (spoilers inbound, but it doesn’t matter because even if it’s all given away, this one’s worth seeing for the laughs it provides)… Continue reading →

Alien Trailer: 20th Century Fox Nails This Throwback Thursday Classic You Should Absolutely Own…

Posted on June 20, 2014 by geelw

I have no idea how many times I’ve seen ALIEN since 1979, but it’s one of my favorite films, period. I’d written about it briefly but never in depth because there have been so many other and better dissections of Ridley Scott’s classic that the only thing I have to offer is SEE IT if you haven’t. The cool thing is it’s been released in so many formats that you can find it almost anywhere for whatever you have that plays legally purchased films. Of course, 20th Century Fox wants you to buy it from them HERE, so feel free to do that if you like. Personally, I’d want to grab the first four films in either the ALIEN Quadrilogy or ALIEN Anthology box sets, but if you just want to be scared out of your wits with the best entry in the franchise, go with the first one.

And yeah, I know it’s Friday, silly. I started this post last night but the internet was hating me at home because it vanished for about an hour or so and it was after midnight by the time it came back from wherever it went.

Dracula Untold Posters: Bats Just Nuts, I Say…

Posted on June 17, 2014 by geelw

Hmmm. I guess I should wait and see what the trailers look like for this upcoming Universal Pictures/Legendary Pictures co-production, but I can’t help myself about whipping out a bat of my own and swinging at these poster designs. They look cool and all, but if you’re not the only one getting a serious Batman vibe from these two like I did, well keep looking and you’ll see the same things I’m seeing. Again, I won’t judge the film at all based on the posters, but at least it seems to be set during the “proper” time period and not some “Hey, let’s move the classic vampire into the modern age!” fail face that certain popular franchise TV shows and films have done over the years. Granted, for my money there hasn’t been a truly GREAT Dracula film in many years, so this one’s got a good deal to live up to. As long as it’s better than that reboot of The Wolfman from a few years back, it just might be a good time. as always, we shall see…

E3 2014: Dead Island 2 Trailer: Summer Never Dies. But Your Character Might Not Make It…

Posted on June 14, 2014 by geelw

While definitely a wee bit on the gory side, this trailer for Dead Island 2 is also quite hilarious and worth a view for the punchline at the end. The game is coming in spring 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC from publisher Deep Silver and one of my favorite developers, Yager (Spec Ops: The Line, Dreadnought). DI2 will be powered by Unreal Engine 4 and given Yager’s expertise in programming, I’m crossing my fingers for a visceral experience featuring highly destructible environments, plenty of mayhem and some grim laughs Dead Island is known for along with any new elements the team adds in. We’ll see what’s what as more info and movies pour out, of course. But I know Yager will give fans of this franchise a nice jolt or three when they finally wrap this one up with a bloody bow next year…