Tag: Horror

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All The Boys Love Mandy Lane

All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, starring Amber Heard and directed by Jonathan Levine is a clever thriller that isn’t at all what it seems to be. This movie has such a wickedly delicious twist at the end, that it’s hard to talk much about it without giving anything away.

Mandy is a high schooler who has returned from the summer all grown up and filled out; all of the boys truly do love Mandy Lane. Friends with the school outcast, Mandy is unequivocally unimpressed with her outward appearance and the obvious affect it has on all of the boys. Heard is captivating in this role and excels at exuding an innocence and sexuality that is pure catnip to all men. Mandy is a true blue kind of girl. She runs track, doesn’t drink or do drugs and is still a virgin.

Invited to a party at a secluded ranch over the weekend, Mandy is clearly a bit more grown up that the rest of the group. Here we have the usual suspects:pretty athlete, handsome athlete, nerdy rich kid, mean girl and slutty girl. All of the actors inhabit their roles wonderfully and it’s very easy to invest in them and their survival. There is also an extra handsome ranch hand working at the house who throws a bit of a wrench into the situation.

It truly would be a crime to reveal anything else about this film. All you need to know is that Mandy Lane is original and smart with sharp tongued dialogue and an overall feminist message that everyone can appreciate and made me particularly giddy.

 

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Archives Renfield's Resurrection

Your Horror Influences or From the Cradle…to the Grave

Welcome back all you freaks, creeps, and ghoulunatics, to another piece of cerebral sewage from everyone’s favorite grave robber, Renfield. Taking time out from robbing, uh, I mean, taking inventory of another grave, so that I can annoy, explain, and enlighten all you young witches and warlocks out there.

As the next generation of horror whatever (fill in the blank to suit your needs) we must look back at what it is that got us here in the first place, our influences. Much like our family heritage, our influences are the contributing factor to whom and what we are today. When I was a young grave robber an older beatnik (yes, she actually was a real beatnik) in my literature class in college approached me and handed me a book by Jack Kerouac entitled “On the Road”. She said to me “You’re already a rebel; know you just need to find out why. Read this.” I have to admit, it was different than anything I was used to reading. But the point was that I won’t forget what she was trying to tell me. You have to know where you come from to figure out where you are going.  

When you start creating a film, book, or band, you immediately start replicating ( the industry likes to call it “paying homage”) the things that influenced you from an earlier age. If you are part of the 25-40 age group, this would most likely be splatter films. If you are 30 something and up and raised around the Bible belt, you may be influenced by the Exorcist, the Omen, or the Rosemary’s Baby movies that created the “Satanic Panic” of the late 70’s. (At seven years old, my mother sat me in front of the Exorcist and said “Here, watch this. This is what happens when you’re bad.” And they have no idea why I ended up in therapy.) Maybe you are a purest and prefer the quintessential ghost story like that of the “The Haunting”. Today’s younger heathens may prefer the torture porn genre of Turistas and Hostel that was popular early in the new millenium. In Europe there are the Italian giallo films which cross the mystery genre with horror. Then you have the hybrids that use take a little from each genre and blend them (for evidence of these, please see the original “Saw” film which could be considered giallo as well as fall into the torture porn category).

How about all you authors? Poe anyone? Maybe you enjoy your cosmic horror from Lovecraft. Maybe you prefer the modern writings of King, Barker, or Saul. Or perhaps you look to other genres. Maybe your inspiration is true crime, history, or even romance.  I’m not saying any of these is wrong. With your own twist, you can look into any story and “bastardize” it to fit your agenda. (Google images of MacFarlane’s Twisted Fairy Tales for what I’m talking about.)

Finally, look around. Your resting place is a vital influence to you. Your surroundings come into play in a major way when trying to set the scene for your work. Stephen King has the cold small towns of Bangor, Maine. Anne Rice is influenced by the voodoo bayous of New Orleans. I come from the Lone Star state of Texas. It has plenty of legends that would keep any artist full of ideas for a lifetime. It’s home of all sorts of weird crap like the UT clock tower shooting, president Kennedy assassination, Marfa lights, Bigfoot forests, ghost pirates off the coast, UFO abductions, cannibal native Americans, Bonny and Clyde, the Waco cult, satanic Mexican cults, and Anna Nichole Smith.

I have always been a fan of the old Tales from the Crypt comics and television show. The segments had incredible writing with a plot twist. Then, the real rock star of the show was the Crypt Keeper himself. The old dead bastard had the best dark humor puns and influenced my use of “plague on words” today. “Leave it to Cleaver”…that’s awesome.

Music is another source of misguided influence. Music has always been the redheaded step child that people love to point fingers at when something goes wrong. But music is a good influence on many things as well. Musicians like David Bowie (known mainly for his music ability) and Sid Vicous (not known for his music ability) defined a generation of punk fashion. KISS redefined the way a brand could become marketable when they slap their name on everything from toys to condoms (Kondoms?) to coffins (Koffins?).  I know that judging by my gothic good looks, long black hair, black clothes, pale skin, and motorcycle boots that people are quick to blame rap music for the violent stories that I’ve shitten, er…written, but they forget that Johnny Cash was “The Man in Black” that sung “I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die”.

Think about how all these things can cross over. Alice Cooper has been an influence to me in my music, writings, and even my films. Some of the most visual ideas did not come from his onstage antics, but rather his music videos. To give you an idea, I have a full size gothic/electric chair in my man cave (see “He’s Back” video). There are multiple size chains seen hanging from the rafters every few inches in the barn scene of my short film, “County Road” (see “Poison” video). A huge topic of most of my writings contains mentally unstable patients in psych wards (see practically any Alice Cooper video). I probably watched too much Headbanger’s Ball on MTV when I was younger. Again, my parents wanted to know why I needed therapy.

So the next time you set out to create something, think back to what influenced your choices that went into your work. Was it music, a person, literature, or maybe a restraining order? Stop for a moment, reflect on it, and pay your respects. Whatever it is, do it right and make it your own. You just might be the new influence on the next generation.

This week check out Adam Wingard’s movie, “You’re Next” and the book “Too Much Horror Business” by Kirk Hammett.

Now, I have to get back to work. This grave isn’t going to rob itself…

Until next time, rest in pieces.

Renfield Rasputin

Renfield curses the living in Texas and Louisiana and writes horror stories and movies…badly.

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Archives Renfield's Resurrection

Top 10 Women in Horror

So to celebrate Women in Horror week here is my Top 10 picks. Most of these women still have restraining orders on me!

10. Calico Cooper – Daughter of Alice Cooper. Without a feature film under her belt as of yet, she has done some modeling, replaced her mother on stage as Nurse Rosetta in her father’s show, and had a major part in Wednesday 13’s video “Get Your Grave On”. She never returned any of my phone calls, texts, or emails and I’m sure the cop she sent with the restraining order to my house was only a joke. “Call me, Cali!” (Waiving phone sign in the air).

9. Shawnee Smith – As Amanda Young in the Saw series. (She also played Julie in The Stand made for television movie based on the Stephen King novel). As everyone’s favorite heroin addict, Amanda was the only person (other than Jigsaw himself) to be featured in every Saw film. Smith pulls off this vital character to the story and in turn makes us empathize for Jigsaw alongside of her. Whether she was trapped in a reverse facial bear trap, or administering glucocorticoid steroids to Jigsaw, Shawnee/Amanda won our blackened goth hearts.

8. Danielle Harris – The queen of the new generation of scream queens. Starting off young in Halloween 4, and 5 and then again as an adult in Rob Zombie’s remake, this kitten has claws. She has battled Michael Myers, Victor Crowley, vampires, and urban legends. This chick actually looks hotter with the more blood you splash on her! Bedroom eyes, sassy smile, sweet, petite, and tattooed.  Me-freaking-ow!

7. Ingrid Pitt – Made famous by her many vampire Hammer Horror films. This buxom polish actress inspired legions of women to “vamp” up their styles in their roles of sexy vampires. Before her death she was the featured voice of Countess Bathory on Cradle Of Filth’s album “Cruelty and the Beast”.

6. Vampira (Maila Nurmi) – Inspired by the comic strip version of Morticia Addams, this Broadway dancer inspired other horror themed television hostesses with her gorgeous gothic looks. She enjoyed a successful career in B Horror films, but later left the industry. The beautiful scar that she placed on our memory never left us though.

5. Jamie Lee Curtis – The original scream queen. Horror has been in her blood ever since her mother Janet Leigh was murdered in the Psycho shower scene. (Leigh later returned to join Jamie onscreen during the filming of “The Fog”). Yeah, she does Activia commercials today, but she has the right to advertise anything she wants today.

4. Morticia Addams (Carolyn Jones) – The character was originally from a comic strip by Charles Addams. Carolyn Jones breathed new life into the tall, thin, matriarch of the family. Phased by very little, but obviously had something to hide behind locked doors with the way Gomez would jump at any chance to kiss her neck and hands. The Tease always pushed him away; maybe it was her way of saying “Later if you’re a good boy.”

3. Lily Munster (Yvonne De Carlo) – My heart is thumping as I write this! Okay, let me take a breath. Many monster boys tuned in wishing their mother looked like the temptress with a white strip in her hair and vampire bat necklace. (I bought Mrs. Rasputin a replica of it…You know…just to wear when…uh…yeah). Watch an old episode and look at the way she glides when she walked. Elegance really is poetry in motion. “Oh baby Lily Munster, ain’t got nothing on you!” – Black No. 1, Type O Negative

2. Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) – Ok, so she had sex with Elvis, and she totally ripped off Vampira (which later resulted in a lawsuit between the two). But she is witchy, quirky, curvy, and loaded with quick witted horror/sexual humor. Now I love, Love, LOVE curves on my dark haired, pale skin beauties, and this one has the Jack O’ Lanterns to line my driveway!  I met her two years ago at a horror convention and got the obligatory picture and autograph. Perspiration started flowing, my eyes popped out, my jaw hit the ground, my tongue rolled across the floor as I panted like a dog at the sight of her.  This was the woman that caused me to go into puberty at the sight of her lying on a couch. She was in her late 50’s but looked better than more than half of the 30 year olds I know. I guess she could sense I was about to have an aneurism when she put her arms around me for a picture and whispered in my ear, “Sweetie, you’re trembling.”  (Be still my dead heart).

1. Mrs. Rasputin – Yeah, that’s right, my wife! She never exactly done anything in horror, (other than me) but she’s into me, and I’m into horror, so therefore by the six degrees of separation, she’s into horror. Did you follow that? Now why exactly does this Italian Jennifer Connelly look alike with massive curves in all the right places, have anything to do with a creep like me is beyond me.  (Actually, I do. It’s my electrifying, rugged, good looks and my charismatic personality. But don’t take my word for it. Ask anyone.) But over our time together I’ve noticed her wardrobe is changing to all black, her hair keeps getting darker, and her clothes have turned over the years from Guess and Express brand to Harley Davidson, and the décor around my house is starting to look more and more gothic. It doesn’t hurt that she looks amazing walking around in my old Danzig t-shirts either. Our first date was to see Freddy Vs. Jason, we were engaged on Halloween, honeymooned at the Bell Witch Cave, and spend each anniversary in a different haunted hotel in New Orleans.  She supports my love for everything in this genre, and that means morgue than words to me.

 

Honorable Mention:

Anne Rice – As an author, I’ve learned more from reading her stuff than any other author of the modern era. Her works include gothic vampires, witch covens, and even romance all based around the city of New Orleans. Her use of detail in her stories is amazing. Try this; pick a location in one of her books. Google that location. It will exist on a map AND be precisely how she described it. In her book The Blood Canticle, she writes “I see you (Lestat) having coffee all the time in the second window of Café  DuMonde.” I heard a rumor that she then paid a Lestat look alike after the book was out to sit in that same window on Halloween to drink coffee while people walked by! I met her once and she told me “If Lestat was real; he would look just like you.”  I also own one of her gowns she wore at her Lestat Ball, a token from the all, a beer (unopened) that was made specifically for the Ball and two of her dolls from her personal collection. No, I’m not a stalker. My shrink calls me an “avid collector”.

Sherri Moon Zombie – Wife of Rob Zombie. Say what you will about Rob’s films and his casting of Sherri in everything he does, but the truth remains that she played one hell of a “crazy as a shit house rat” psychopath in her role of Baby Firefly. Her Go-Go style of modeling on most of his covers and inner art work isn’t bad stuff either.

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Sympathy For The Decibel

Horror has always found a way to weave itself into other threads of our lives outside of movies and literature. My casket maker and I were sitting in a bar (no this isn’t a joke, the jokes will come later and will hopefully be better than any punch line I could dream up here) discussing horror bands from past, present and future. I’ve seen horror in every genre of music including rap and country (see Gravediggaz and Those Poor Bastards).

My first inspiration to horror rock came in the form of a cassette from Kmart when I was in 6th grade. It was Alice Cooper’s Constrictor album. I remember staying up till midnight on Halloween in 1986 to catch his comeback concert “The Nightmare Returns” when it premiered live on MTV. During which he paraded his pet boa constrictor around on stage, lacerated his guitar player’s arm with a sword, and impaled a pesky camera guy with a microphone stand. And that was only the opening song!

When I was a teen, I saw King Diamond play live. His stage was set to look like a sitting room inside Disney’s Haunted Mansion. During the encore King took his bow, shook a couple of hands, thanked his family and friends for the support, picked up the roses that were tossed on stage and exited.

No wait that was the Michael McDonald concert I was forced to watch in the doctor’s waiting room the other day. This was King Fuckin’ Diamond we’re talking about here! He lay down in a coffin at center stage while the stagehands, dressed as executioners, nailed and chained it shut as they proceeded to light it on fire! After the flames engulf the casket in its entirety, the sides collapsed and low and behold, there is no one inside. The King had defied death.

Seemed easy enough. Now I knew what I wanted to do with my life. So my shock rock career began as my friends and I began working on the build of my coffin the next day. Seriously, how hard could this have been? I saw how it worked the night before and I can assure you it would’ve worked too if my damn neighbors would’ve kept their freaking mouths shut and stayed out of my damn business! Pricks!

Hitting up the school battle of the bands was another stop block in path of becoming a shock rock god. With everything I learned from the Coop, the King, and Black Lawless I was ready to rock my high school and star as the villain in the next big horror film! We set up the amps, drums, refrigerator box coffins, and the makeshift guillotine. The guillotine was actually a road block sawhorse that we stole, nailed a couple of vertical 2x4s to it and painted it black. The “blade” was cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil. Hey, it was going to be dark and if you squinted a little…We then introduced ourselves. So apparently Mrs. Jacoby, the 10th grade Spanish teacher, somehow took offence to our name, “Venom Enema” for some unknown bullshit reason that she wouldn’t give. (Alright, quick band huddle.) Then she didn’t like our alternative choice “Hātefűk”. She taught Spanish for God’s sake, what the hell does she know about good music? (Another quick band huddle.) So they agreed to accept our third choice; “The Whistling Dixie Cowboy Monkey Band”. But it was hard to announce that was our name with a straight face as we were wearing in black denim, Slayer t-shirts and corpse paint. At this point I thought we just might as well do some weird Frank Zappa covers because none of this was starting to make sense.

The audition lasted about 30 seconds into our first aria, “Whose Bed Has Your Blood Been Under” until our bass player got dizzy from headbanging, tripped on one of the “coffins” and knocked the guillotine off the stage, breaking it on the floor. I have to say I was a little surprised because of the near Amish carpentry work that went into making it in the parking lot.

I felt like Marty McFly’s when his band was trying out in Back to the Future. Only we weren’t cut for being too loud, we were cut for being “Too bad”. And then they didn’t apologize for cutting us, but I did see Coach Sydlik high five Mrs. Jacoby. Some people just don’t understand art.

By that time our drummer started crying and it made the grease paint from his corpse makeup run. “There’s no crying in death metal!” He said he wasn’t crying but rather it was the grease paint burning his eyes. I heard a few years later he was singing in a boy band. I guess he is the sensitive one in the group.

I made a couple of bucks off of selling our song rights to Shania Twain. She changed the blood reference to “boots” but I got my $10 royalty check so I didn’t care.

Going back to the late 1700’s, classical musician, Niccolo Paganini could have been the world’s first shock rock star. At only five feet tall with long black hair, he played violin while dancing madly to his music which led to rumors of him being possessed by the devil. In 1968 Arthur Brown introduced what we know as corpse paint to the music world while his head was on fire (you’re welcome Rammstein). Screamin’ Jay Hawkins would put a spell on you as he came onstage in a coffin (I should’ve tried that and probably the neighbors wouldn’t have meddled). The Misfits want your skull, while King Diamond wants your soul…please. Marilyn Manson (even before he was the asexual nazi dope fiend that we know and love today) scared us and our parents, as well as bands such as Rob Zombie, Cradle of Filth, Type O Negative, Cannibal Corpse, Wednesday 13, the Bronx Casket Company all sang about Halloween and the love for all things dead.

I’m thinking of putting the band back together and going out on a Venom Enema/Hātefűk reunion tour. I’ve even got a good name; The “Enema Fuk Tour”.  Oh, imagine the concert shirt art!

This week check out an oldie but a goodie movie, “Session 9”, and “Life After Sundown“ by Ghoultown.

 

Until next time, rest in pieces.

Renfield Rasputin

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Archives The Republic of Shawntario

Horror as an emotion

Recently, the great Renfield Rasputin wrote a piece in which he mentioned Horror as an emotion. I had never considered this before and found it to be a beautiful concept. I will touch on this some more today while sharing some examples from my life for context.

 

I previously mentioned that Evil Dead was the first horror movie I was ever allowed to watch. What I did not mention was the roller coaster of emotion that was my first viewing. I felt very uneasy and nauseous for most of the movie. When the terror really started to kick in I could feel my body get weaker and my heart beat faster. Why was this happening? This movie, these moving images on a low quality VHS tape; How could they produce these reactions? I think it was because of my life at that point. Let me explain

I grew up poor. I wasn’t “food stamp” poor(we don’t have those in Canada) but we were most definitely in the bottom rung of society. At the time my Mother was in the hospital battling cancer and a whole plethora of other health issues. (I know plethora means “over abundance”. Trust me when I say that this usage remains very accurate) My father was no longer able to work due to his own health issues. He suffered a heart attack the previous year. “But Shawn,” I hear you asking, “What the hell does this have to do with anything?” And to that I say “Patience, I’m getting there.”

My life at the time was filled with uncertainty and I was rife with insecurity. I was trapped at an age where I was too young to fully comprehend my situation and old enough to get the gist of it. Knowing that your situation is bad but having this odd understanding that it’s actually worse than your mind could fathom is a weird feeling.

All of that is what I felt when watching Evil Dead for the first time. Dread. Clive Barker described Dread as a feeling that your worst fears are going to repeat themselves. That what you are afraid of most is about to happen to you again. It sticks inside of you and you can’t get it out of your mind.

Watching Evil Dead, and the rest of the movies for example, reminded me of the helpless feeling that comes with watching your family deteriorate. The feeling of knowing that it’s only going to get worse. When I was watching Evil Dead, despite the fact that our circumstances were completely different I could feel for the characters. I could empathize with them. Their lives were turned upside down in moments and you knew it wasn’t going to get better for them.

Dread is a powerful emotion. It’s what kept me watching horror movies. It became addicting. It helped me understand and even cope with the losses around me. Sometimes when we are at our lowest, when things seem as though they can’t possibly get worse, it’s a realistic lesson that sets our mind at ease and not a sunshine and rainbows  happy ending.

That was kind of depressing so I will say that at this point in my life I am very happy. I get to do what I love every day which is talk about horror with like-minded people. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some wonderful people. Our writing team is full of passionate people and I love the fact that they chose to write for us and not another website. I’ve made friends through here. I don’t mean acquaintances, I mean actual friends. People I would have a beer with, people I would even consider lending money to and then harass every day until they paid me back. My life right now is great. I have a wonderful dog, an amazing cat, a beautiful girlfriend and a career. I owe all of that to horror and the feeling of dread. The emotion that comes from watching Horror.