Days of the Dead 2012

This was the Con's atlanta debut, so it was small. The hotel was nice , but location made me feel like it took as long to drive down there as it did so browse every room. The word today is next year's is being moved to the Marriott down town, which is encouraging as the trek discouraged me from attending all three days. The high light for me was meeting Laurence R. Harvey of Human Centipede 2 fame, who was very sweet and humble man, as well as Ogre from Skinny Puppy/Repo! a genetic opera, who stopped to talk to my daughter about her Cthulhu doll and the finer points of picking your nose as a baby.
Interesting to see the pseudo celebrity status some of local cos-players have taken on. Chambers of Horror and Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse were represented but there was a noted lack of presence in terms of the other Georgia haunts. I think the healthy Haunt community keeps the Horror scene in Atlanta as vital as it is today, while guys like Shane Morton and Luke Godfrey, keep the horror arteries unclogged and flowing with monthly/quarterly events its also something more hands to need to come to the table to keep the horror scenes growth.
I think a hug opportunity was lost to not have fan tracks/ panels , as they dark fantasy panel has proven at dragon-con, it is a huge element to the sub-culture and other mediums like comics,books and even video games keeps the larger horror pulse throbbing. I think aside from vampires and zombies, occult studies, bdsm lifestyle and even forensics / true crime would have been welcomes additions.
For me mission was accomplished in supporting the horror community and getting to see friends, I looke forward to the growth in this cons future

Human Centipede 2

with his cult classic " human Centipede" Director Tom Six, could have stuck to a formula and had a sequel fans of the torture porn sub genre would have still applauded. but rather than play it safe he took dramatic creative chances, making a black and white with little dialogue . Going into the movie i was aware of these elements. The first film was one of my favorite horror movies of all time and one of that films strengths was Dieter Laser's performance. Laurence Harvey, an unknown was really behind the 8 ball, when it came to measuring up against Dieter. With Harvey's character Six took it in a much different direction and here is where the EraserHead comparison's begin. It some ways it feels like a torture porn homage to the Lynch film. any time David Lynch is an influence i'm all for it . This however is not what the audience expected.
Since the first film, a serbian film was released, and her the heavy metal analogy comes into play, as with metal where the listener need harder faster music to meet their fix, horror requires increased stimulus as you are searching for the grail of what will shock or horrify you more. Six obviously aware comes at it with finesse and hit you like a savvy boxer with different combinations and flourishes than the first film. with the first sequence , there was relatively little gore, this movie picks up the blood and guts or gaping holes in the face, though it shot in a way where this doesn't seem to be the case ,as the black and white gives it a coat of grime.
It wasn't until i was at the end of the film that i realized the actual human centipede had little to do after it's construction took place in the last twenty or so minutes of the film, however i do get Tom Six's thinking of " well they have already seen ass to mouth and adults crawling around in diapers, so lets go this route."
with out giving away to much , the end was not as satisfying as the first film and felt as if it took me into the more predictable realms of the genre, but over all i look forward to more viewing and entering the lush filth of this re-envisioned world and only hope this movie gets more recognition than it has thus far

taking the sparkle out of horror

Ok , to get this one started let me come clean on the fact i did read the twilight books, did i think they were horror , no bubble gum fantasy, think i went through all of them in a couple weeks, but i like cotton candy some times, buffy, anite blake etc -so i am tolerant of entertainment for the sake of mindlessly wanting to check out , but do i hold the harry potter books in the same regard as robert e howards conan , no
i would not call any of the twilight movies good, the acting has been horrendous, what i am more concerned about is this marketing ploy studios are taking to make this teen horror lite every where you turn, granted the ya aisle in the book store is filled with the crap and hopefully they won't make tv shows or movies out of all of it before the day is done, some times it works better than others - i personally liked the show the gates which only got one season, i also think supernatural is a good show , its dark fantasy not horror- horror you are being scared or repulsed in some way , well why am i worried about this trend and how do i think it's going to effect real horror
not sure if you have heard about the bbc banning human centipede 2 , it contains more of a sexual element ,
for what it was i think human centipede was the best film that came out that year, it used restrain and threatened to show you the gore , played it cards well
i think if it came out in the late 80's in the heyday or the gore films , no one would have batted and eye, aside from some nervous giggles at the premise
i think this sanitizing of horror and trying to make it teen friendly is dangerous as studios are pitched these things granted i think little red riding hood from a butts in seats perspective showed there is only so much gas in that , the kids who were into twilight if they stick to genre films are going to want something with more meat as they get older or then trend will fade, i think Dracula is going to make a comeback, but in the sense of the more Vlad like warrior vampire, just from what i have read about movies coming out, granted they could turn him into a romance novel vlad, like the phantom of the opera's last appearance on screen
the thought of all this crossed my mind while watching teen wolf , its not as bad as you might think and i am glad were wolves are getting some solo time with out having to share the spotlight with vampires - but while i like game of thrones , at the moment teen wolf is my only option for monsters on tv , sure true blood is coming back , Charline harris books do not belong in the horror section either, neither do most of anee rice's lestat books though the may fair witches can stay there - the show true blood comes across darker than the books- due in part to alan ball - entertaining as hell but not horror- what happened to the masters of horror show?
is dexter and the walking dead our last refuges ?
i am confident human centipede the full sequence will see the light of day stateside even if it goes straight to video - the out look for the rest of the year is a little bleak , and yes i saw troll hunter back in feb,
its august for don't be afraid of the dark and the apparition , and um the remake of fright night,
sept the month ramping up to october nothing - apallo 18 is science fiction
the month of halloween - the thing remake and paranormal activity 3 - i really like these films but don't want them to be the only worth while thing in october- where the release date on lords of salem?
december nothing from paranormal 3 to the end of fucking jan of 2012 amityville the lost tapes and then tim burtons dark shadows in may -
in giving holly wood the vote of my dollar, all of this sugar coated dark fantasy crap - will be streamed on my computer if you want to sell me over priced pop corn - make it worth my while
grim times ahead for horror - here's my review of preist - it wanted really bad to be underworld and i am legend - file it along side jonah hex