Happy, happy Halloween...

My Top Ten picks for Halloween viewing

This Sunday will be Halloween. So it's time again for my annual picks for Halloween film watching. It's finally cold outside and the leaves are falling. Perfect weather for a few horror movies.

10. Unhinged (1982)

Every Halloween feast needs a cheesy treat or two. Sure we know it's bad for us, but damn it we still enjoy it. That's Unhinged. Bad for you but definitely entertaining. You won't even realize your brain has rotted away. Three girls (Two of which, look completely stoned.) on their way to a rock festival crash in the middle of nowhere. they wake to find themselves in an isolated mansion belonging to some crazy old woman and her spinster daughter. Odd happenings and bad acting ensue. As an added bonus the film is filled with some nice Fall foliage.

9. Baron Blood (1972)

A creepy old castle with a torture chamber in the dungeon, a fog ensconced countryside and a badly deformed undead evil Baron. There's some very, very red blood. This is classic Mario Bava.

8. Psycho III (1986)

A highly enjoyable entry in the Psycho franchise directed by Anthony Perkins himself. Perkins does a fine job in front and behind the camera. The murder scenes are staged very stylishly. More akin to Dario Argento then the slasher films that were then all the rage. The film embraces the dark humor of the original. The second film was very well done, but played it far more serious. then there's Jeff Fahey. He plays a wonderfully sleazy douchebag in this one, trying to seduce every woman that crosses his path. You won't soon forget the insane light seduction thing he does whilst nude.

7. Madman (1982)

Set just before Thanksgiving, Madman has the perfect atmosphere for Halloween viewing. I never had the pleasure of seeing this entry from the golden age of the slasher film till recently. It was a very informative experience. I learned of the legend of Madman Marz and that Mr. Marz does not take kindly to being called out. I learned that telling said legend to a bunch of wiseacre teens will only lead to tragedy. I also discovered that Gaylen Ross (Francine in Dawn of the Dead) is really hot! Also Madman Marz has one hell of a theme song.

6. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Two things go perfect with all that Halloween candy on the 31st. Edgar Allan Poe and Vincent Price. This is my favorite of the Roger Corman Poe films. Price's Prince Prospero, a wealthy servant of Satan, is all sorts of crazy and he's having loads of fun playing him. One of the most ambitious films in Corman's Poe cycle. The atmosphere, costumes, scenery and use of colors all come together perfectly.

5. Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974)

This time of the year the air grows cold and our thoughts turn to the impending holiday season. what better way to prepare then a little Christmas set horror. Silent Night, Bloody Night is one of the best of the bunch. Weirdly stilled acting, the always welcome Mary Woronov, John Carradine's character ringing a bell instead of talking, the killer's strange phone calls and a crazy sepia toned loony bin flashback. All of it adds together for a one of a kind viewing experience. Now were the hell is a special edition of this film? I'm waiting.

4. Exorcist III (1990)

I remember it like it was yesterday. Sitting in the dark watching of the theater and WHAM! One of the few times a film used a jump scare that not only worked but it didn't feel cheap. The fact that the studio made director William Peter Blatty add a totally unnecessary exorcism climax hurt the otherwise somber tone of the film.

3. Sole Survivor (1983)

Carnival Of Souls and the 80's slasher had a love child and they named it Sole Survivor, I'm in love. A prime example of early '80's low budget horror. Tis another X-mas set horror film. But this holiday is set in a constantly rainy environment. Denise (Please call her Dee-Dee) survives a plane crash were everyone else bites it. Death isn't too pleased with that. There's a creepy tone that's lighted by a strip-poker game and a horny comic relief cabbie. This one will stay with you.

2. Season of the Witch (1972)

Perfect for fall. There's decaying leaves and a dream monster for that Halloween feel. George A. Romero’s Season of the Witch is a somber and strange look at femininity, witchcraft and the break down of a family. I remember renting it one night along with a few other horror films. I watched it last. Big mistake. It was around four in the morning. The weirdness of this film mixed with an empty house and my tired brain made for one spooky viewing experience.

1. The Haunting (1963)

I watch this one every October. The Haunting is a masterpiece of editing and storytelling. This is the film to show anyone that thinks "old" movies are boring. Robert Wise direction here is top-notch. The camera is almost always in motion, giving us a sense of the house's malevolent forces in motion and Eleanor's cracking sanity.

Hump Day Posters: Halloween

Fingers like snakes

Hump Day Posters: Suspiria

15 Directors Meme

It started on Facebook and is now burning it's way through the film blogs. How it goes is that you list 15 Directors off the top of your head that influenced the way you look at movies. I was inspired by these wonderful posts at Cinema Du Meep, Radiator Heaven and The Dancing Image.

So, without further ado and in no particular order:

Alfred Hitchcock

Stanley Kubrick 

George A. Romero

James Whale

Sam Raimi

David Cronenberg

Dario Argento 

Ishirō Honda

John Carpenter

John Woo

John Hughes

David Lynch

Michael Mann

Sergio Leone 

Bill Rebane

Rollin' the dice with Satine Phoenix: An Interview

By indrid13

Satine Phoenix: model, artist, role player? Read on to learn how all of these things come together in the life of our newest interview subject!

Can you fill us in a little about the webseries I Hit It With My Axe?

Satine: I Hit it With My Axe is a webseries about a group of girls (models, porn stars, strippers) who play Dungeons and Dragons. It’s more of a reality series than a scripted webseries. We play and our game is filmed. Much like a 3some, we coax girls who are kind of interested in D&D into playing with us as guest stars and eventually they realize they love it! (www.hititwithmyaxe.com)

How has the fan community embraced the series so far, and have you received any criticism (positive or negative) about the modified rules you play under (not listing skills, not using feats or alignments, etc.)?

Satine: At first the community thought we were a bunch of Hacks trying to cash in on the growing numbers of Geeks coming out of the closet. When we voiced that we actually knew what we were talking about they started to embrace our internet presence. Mostly people realize, Porn Stars or not, that they either like watching D&D or dislike watching D&D. What it comes down to is the Game.

As mentioned above, you are playing a modified mix of AD&D and 3rd edition in I Hit It With My Axe. Do you have a preferred edition that you have played outside of the series?

Satine: I LOVE D&D. I don't care if it’s AD&D or 4th Edition. I'm not so familiar with 4th Edition but I’ll play anything that I have time to play. It’s about the game, not the rules.

What is the longest D&D campaign you have played, and what did the campaign entail?

Satine: I Hit it With My Axe is the longest D&D campaign. In most of the games I’ve played in the past it was pretty certain that at the end of the game you'd gain a level, but I didn't get more than 5 sessions deep before we played with other characters/players and had to make new characters of our own. I didn't mind. It would have been nice to play ANYTHING over level 5. Who knows? One day. A girl can dream can't she?

Any chance the campaign from I Hit It With My Axe would ever be turned into a MMORPG?

Satine: I don't know what the future holds for IHWMA. We play because we enjoy it. The powers that be have the answer to your question!

Changing gears, I'd like to touch a bit on your artistic endeavors. As an artist myself, I am fascinated to hear about the creative process of fellow artists. Can you walk us through the steps you take in creating one of your illustrations like those collected in your book Burning Quill?

Satine: I started drawing as a way to voice what I felt inside. My characters generally aren't planned. I have a feeling and I touch the pencil to paper and voila: out comes a drawing. Now that I do commissions for people I have to plan what I draw. I have to say that I enjoy drawing for myself best. My dream is to one day have people buy what I create for myself, but saying that, I'll only be able to sell them in book form, like Burning Quill. I get very attached to my drawings. They're like my children. I'm learning to let go.

We share a common interest in fantasy films. What film in this genre would you say is your favorite, and do you have any esoteric gems you have seen that our readers may not be familiar with?

Satine: Fantasy Films. Well, I love the classics: NeverEnding Story, Dark Crystal, Krull, Labrynth, Howard the Duck, etc ... all of which I still watch at least once a month. I've watched probably everything offered on NetFlix Streaming that is Sci Fi or Fantasy based, good and horrible.

I've heard you mention that working in adult films is a job, and may not always be as exciting as people may think it is (I can relate to this as well, I work in the video game industry, and as much as I love my job, it's a lot of work and doesn't involve just "playing video games" all day...). What made you pursue a career in the adult industry, and what would you consider the best part of the job, and the most boring?

Satine: When I was a programmer I knew I only had a limited number of years to do the things that cute hot girls could do. I wanted to be a famous model; I wanted to be a stripper. I had a lot of sex in public so I thought it would be fun to do porn. Mostly I wanted to do it to see if I could do it. And I did. It was fun and exciting and I don't regret it one bit. Fun things about porn: Meeting fun, interesting & horny people. At the time all I could do was think about sex SEX SEX. Boring things about porn: 80% of porn people have sex the same exact way. That was boring for me. I mean, not boring really because I just wanted to have sex with everyone, but there comes a time where you want more of a connection and booty call or porn scene just doesn't fulfill the way it used to. That's when I knew I needed to get out. A year later I met a man who could satisfy me in ways all of the porn guys put together couldn't. He didn't want me to do porn anymore, he loves my art and is supportive of my creativity and next year we're getting married. Now I'm just an artist again.

Lately the worlds of geek culture and porn are intersecting more and more. What about the climate of today's pop culture do you feel has inspired this and what do you feel the future holds for this synergistic relationship?

Satine: Hmm... I didn't realize that there was a convergence. I guess it was inevitable. When it comes to time spent thinking about sex, Geeks are the ones who spend the most of that thought time in front of their computers downloading porn unlike their non-geek male counterparts who spend most of that time out hunting for girls to fornicate with. Sorry about the generalization, but in a who watches the most internet porn: this is true. (I'm not saying geeks spend all of their time watching porn, because THAT is not true) There are exceptions.

I veered away from my geek roots because my stripper and porn friends made it clear that they thought it was stupid and they would rather me go with them to the club. I just wanted to fit in, so I went. Now I just don't care if I’m cool or not. I want to play games: video & table top, watch movies & pretty much do anything that doesn't include going to clubs and doing drugs because looking back on things, that was a waste of time. Maybe society in general is tired of hiding their inner geek. Maybe people are relating more and more with the fact that they just want to be happy and don't give two sh*ts about being cool because in reality... It doesn't matter. Either you identify with people or you don't.

If you could turn any Sci-Fi, fantasy, or comic book property into an adult film, which would you choose and why?

Satine: I personally wouldn't turn any sci-fi/fantasy into an adult film, but just to indulge you, I’m [going to say]... "The Day the Earth Stood Still". I mean, come on. It’s the end of the world. You could be swallowed by the earth at any moment. More people should have been having sex.

Can you tell us a little bit about your website Sex Food and Comic Books?

Satine: Sexfoodandcomicbooks.com is a blog hub about my 3 favorite things: Sex, Food and all things video games, movies & comics. I don't make any money off of my site so it’s not updated every single day but I have found a few people who like talking about these things too and they volunteer their thoughts and blog about things. Mostly people want to blog about food. Since planning the wedding, getting a job and being generally busy with other taking over the world plans we've not been able to update or post hardly anything. But people can always find me there. It’s a really fun hobby.

Can you tell us what projects you have coming up, and where we can find them?

Satine: I'm putting together a Charity Event that has something to do with a certain RPG. I can't say much about it right now, but it’s going to be HUGE. You can find out news about it on sexfoodandcomicbooks.com

Any final words for our readers?

Satine: Famous last words, eh? Ok... Google Toltec Agreements. Live honestly. Drink a lot of water, ya Grok?!

The Alien is coming to Earth

Nutty Italian classic Alien 2: On Earth (a.k.a. Alien Terror) is coming to Blu-Ray this fall from Midnight Legacy. Time for this cheap bastard to buy a Blu-Ray player.

It features:

"Brand new 1.85:1 high definition transfer from the original 35mm negative featuring significant additional footage not seen anywhere in the world.

Ultra high bitrate AVC encode @36 MBS, on a BD-50, faithfully representing our 2k scan and preserving the integrity and look of film.

English DTS MA 2.0, fully restored from the original audio masters, and respectful of the original sound design.

Special features include the only surviving trailer from the mega rare Dutch VHS , and effects outtakes transferred directly from the negative B-roll in full HD.

30,000 piece, Limited Edition single pressing run designed as a true collector's item for the serious collector. Once sold through, this title will never be available again.

All Region."



http://www.midnight-legacy.com/index.html#

When Sci-Fi Channel not SyFy was good.

They Can Never Die: An Interview with Vains of Jenna

By indrid13

When we last spoke to Vains of Jenna, they were getting set to release their second CD, The Art of Telling Lies. Since that time, much has changed with the band. Jacki Stone, Vains of Jenna’s dynamic drummer fills us in…

Since we last spoke a lot has happened with Vains of Jenna. Can you bring us up to speed?

JACKI: Wow, yeah a lot of things have happened. As you all may know, we have a new singer. His name is Jesse Forte and replaced our former singer/ rhythm guitarist Lizzy DeVine.

Everything happened very fast and all of a sudden we were in Europe touring with the new line up. This includes another member too, Anton Sevholt. He’s official now in VAINS as the new rhythm guitarist.

We toured all over Europe between April and July this year, recorded the new song “We Can Never Die” and shot a music video for “Everybody Loves You When You’re Dead 2010 mix”.

Now we are heading back to the states and are ready to hit the road, record again etc. etc.

How was Jesse selected to join the band, were there open auditions, or was he someone you had jammed with previously?

JACKI: He was the first one on our minds when we started looking for a new singer. Over a few days we got MANY emails with guys who wanted to join the band but Jesse was the only one we jammed with and it felt great from the beginning.
We had never played together before but we played at the same club once in L.A when he was in his old band.

How have the fans reacted to Jesse?

JACKI: They have been great! In Europe they welcomed him and Anton with open arms wherever we went. The five of us has yet to play together in the states so we will see how that goes now… I’m very excited.

Can you tell us a bit about the concept behind your new music video, "Everybody Loves You When You're Dead"?

JACKI: You know… I can’t really explain… it’s a video were you gotta think and form your own opinion of what is going on. But it has something to do with death, hehe.

Where can fans go to get your new EP release?

JACKI: You can get it from iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/vains-of-jenna/id198836161) and order it online from us at our website (http://www.vainsofjenna.com) , myspace (http://www.myspace.com/vainsofjenna) and facebook (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Vains-Of-Jenna/17289385249).

You are on tour right now, where will you be heading?

JACKI: First we played at the Starline in Fresno on Oct. 1st and the day after we played at The Whisky A Go-Go in Hollywood.
After that we will be playing around in California and going up and down the westcoast… Vegas, Salt Lake City, San Diego and Texas etc.
In late October we’re gonna fly to Argentina and Brazil and play our first ever shows over there…

That will be very cool.
As always we will do everything to tour as much as we can!

Can you give us any info on your upcoming covers album, and your new album of original material?

JACKI: The cover album will be recorded pretty soon. Maybe even in October. Songs from Elton John, Pink Floyd etc. will be on there. Stuff that we grew up with, you know?
Then we will record a NEW original album sometime next year. I can’t wait to have more of the new VAINS OF JENNA material recorded and out there!!!

Any parting words for our readers?

JACKI: See you all on the road soon!!!

All photos by JP White