Curse of Chucky trailer!

Crazy excited about this, it's been far too long since I've spent an evening with my friend til the end...

Friday Night Drive-In

Special guest host for the Drive-in this week! Show up for the legendary Mr. Joe Bob Briggs, stay for Tobe Hooper's classic The Funhouse...

Maniac Review

Holy shit. Can you imagine a world where nobody bitched and whined about remakes? A world where news of a remake or reboot of a beloved film or franchise from our past filled us all with joy and excitement? A world where Frito from those Hobbit movies turned in a performance so amazingly good, you wonder why you aren't the first in line to see every single thing he does? Well friends, if every movie were as good as the Maniac remake, we'd be there already.

William Lustig's Maniac from 1980 is a movie I've only seen a couple of times, and until recently it had been years and years since I'd seen it. Turns out, older me ended up enjoying it way more than younger me ever did. Still, I'd be lying if I said I was in a big hurry to see the remake. I wasn't familiar with director Franck Khalfoun, and I'm wasn't a huge Elijah Wood fan. In fact about the only thing that had me mildly interested was Alex Aja's involvement. Through word of mouth though, I kept hearing how amazing it was. In fact to this day, I've not heard anything negative about it. So I gave it a watch, and walked away ashamed that I didn't jump on the bandwagon immediately, and attempt to see this in a theater somewhere before now.

Frank had it rough coming up, we get flashbacks of memories he has of his mother, who has to be the worst parent seen in film in decades. So it's no wonder he turned out to be a little "disturbed". Frank works as a restorer of mannequins, who just also happens to scalp beautiful women in his spare time. He runs into a photographer named Anna, and she asks for his help in setting up a gallery showcasing her work. He reluctantly agrees, and the two of them become friends. As they get closer, Frank begins to fall for her, at the same time struggling with his desire to remove her scalp from her skull.

I honestly can't think of a single thing this movie does wrong. I had absolutely no complaints when the credits rolled. It's probably one of the best all-around movies I've seen this year. The cast is amazing, especially Elijah Wood. It's gory, at times brutally violent, and somehow even ends up being effectively dramatic at times. I didn't feel particularly connected one way or another to Joe Spinell's "Frank" from the 1980 version, but damn if I didn't feel for Elijah Wood's "Frank" in this one. The flashbacks of his mother were heartbreaking, and while I can't say I agree with what he did, I can understand. Dude has every right to be completely fucked up. Watching him struggle with his feelings toward Anna, I couldn't help but sympathize with the poor bastard.

I can't speak for the die hard fans of the 80's version, but for the rest of us, there is absolutely no reason to skip 2012's Maniac. Elijah Wood turns in the performance of his career, and it's simply one of the most entertaining movies of the year. Two thumbs way up from the Batcave.

Infinite Playlist - Fault Line

One of my favorites drops a brand new album this Tuesday! I love me a new August Burns Red record, not only because it's new music, but also because it means I will get to see them live again soon, and believe me, these guys put on a HELL of a live show. This is the first track released from "Rescue and Restore", titled Fault Line. Enjoy.

Screen Grabs

Bring Home American Mary!

Out today on DVD and Blu-Ray! Make sure and grab yourself a copy, this movie is fantastic. Wanna read what I thought about it? Check out my write-up here.

Mine should be arriving in the mail today from Amazon, who have it available on both DVD and Bluray at a criminally low price. Check the links below...

American Mary DVD $9.86
American Mary Blu-ray $12.86

New Media Shelf

Everybody remembers the first media shelf I built, yes? Yeah well, that mug has been full for a while. Since filling it, I've been using other means of storage for the dvds and blurays that wouldn't fit on it. I'd been meaning to find the time to start on a new one, but free time isn't something I have a lot of.

Then one day, I was looking around for something on the web, and I came across a photo of a bookshelf that was shaped like a coffin. I knew what I had to do. We found a site that had the plans for the bookshelf, and then modified them until we got it fit for dvd storage. Friends, I give you my new media shelf...

Apologies for anyone stopping by who's seen it on the countless other places I've posted pics. I'm sure you're tired of looking at it, I'm just in love with it. This is the last time, promise. And just because, here's the old one today, all filled with goodies. Just look at that Living Dead Dolls Freddy that Binky got me. Isn't he the cutest?

Man of Steel

Simply put, one of the greatest superhero films of all time. It's the Superman movie comic book fans have always wanted. A++.

Hatchet III

Victor Crowley is back again, wreaking havoc in the swamps of Louisiana, and he's brought his belt sander with him. The Hatchet films are usually worth it if you're just looking to have a good time and watch gratuitous amounts of the red stuff fly across the screen. Adam Green's creation was heralded as the "return of American horror",  and Adam himself proclaimed that Victor was going to be the next horror icon. The end result fell a bit short of those lofty goals in my opinion, as I'm not crazy about the look of Victor, and while they're fun while they last, I feel like there are far better examples of American horror out there. For this third installment, Adam Green once again writes, but steps aside and lets BJ McDonnell take the helm in his directorial debut. The end result once again left me with mixed emotions.

Hatchet III picks up at the exact moment that Hatchet II ends (just as it did with Hatchet), which means all three basically play as one long movie. Still not as long, or nearly as boring, as The Hobbit though. Anyway, Victor does a Michael Myers (after just having his head blown completely off with a shotgun, he calmly sits straight up), and once again escapes into the swamp. Meanwhile, after narrowly escaping her encounter with Victor, Marybeth (Danielle Harris) walks back into town, shotgun in tow, and admits to having killed Victor Crowley. Of course the police immediately dismiss the existence of the local swamp legend, and a group descends in to the swamp in search of the truth. Cue wanton, bloody dismemberment.

The best way I can think of to describe Hatchet III is "Hatchet-lite". This is the Diet Coke of Hatchets. Meaning there is absolutely no depth here whatsoever, it simply is what it is. There was opportunity for one particular plot theme to be further explored I thought, but the movie simply doesn't bother with it. Don't want to spoil it, but there's a big missed opportunity in my opinion with the manner in which Victor was dispatched this time. That's not to say that the two previous entries in this series were deep by any means, mind you. This third film follows the formula to the letter, it's a cookie cutter sequel, and if not for the kills I probably would've dismissed it altogether. Speaking of which, even the kills aren't all that great this time. There's plenty of them, but they're not particularly spectacular or rememberable.

The best part of the film is the cast, hands down. Adam Green has that Rob Zombie filmmaking trait of getting actors we grew up watching in horror films to be in his new horror films. This time around we get not only Hatchet staples Danielle Harris and Kane Hodder, but Zach Galligan (Gremlins), Caroline Williams (Stretch from TCM2!!!), as well as a few other notable faces. Derek Mears (Friday the 13th remake's Jason) has a role, and I believe this ends up being the first time two actors to play Jason in Friday the 13th films are on screen together. They all perform well enough, Galligan is a bit over the top at times, but he was Billy in Gremlins, so I'll forgive him.

When all is said and done, sure, it's nice to have another Hatchet movie to watch, and things are wrapped up all nice on this trilogy if it ends up being the last one. I would be ok with that I guess, but I'd be lying if I told you I wouldn't be up for another trip into the Honey Island Swamp one of these days, hopefully with someone other than Adam Green involved. I feel like there's potential that just hasn't quite been met yet, and for fuck's sake, will somebody get Crowley a mask of some sort?