SHOCKtober Day 12

Dr. Phibes (The Abominable Dr. Phibes)

Graboids (Tremors)

SHOCKtober Day 11

The Stuff (The Stuff)

I love that someone's favorite character is a jar of...well, stuff. Horror movies rule!

Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th parts 1-1246895)

This guy must be pretty obscure or something because I've no idea who he is.

SHOCKtober Day 10

Lefty Enright (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2)

Sayeth the chooser:

"Dennis Hopper effortlessly walks the line between tongue in cheek and genuinely badass in away I don't think anyone else has quiet managed. Watch!!! Him freak out then delight a Hardware Store Attendant. Marvel!!! As he kicks in a mural of Daniel Boone and releases a torrent of intensities!!! Clap With Glee!!! As he makes a room full of serial killers shit their pants with a rendition of the old hymn "Bringing In The Sheeves".

How much do I like Lefty Enright? I have unironically used his phrase "Lord, show me what I fear so I don't fear it no more." IN ACTUAL PRAYER. So there you go, from Dennis Hopper's lips to God's Ears, my choice for best Horror character."

Carrie White (Carrie)

There's never a time that Carrie White doesn't break my heart into a zillion pieces. And though things didn't quite work out for Carrie and Tommy at the prom (umm, understatement), at least they're together again in our SHOCKtober festivities!

SHOCKtober Day 9

The Things (The Thing)

You guys, I saw a trailer for the remake of Carpenter's film. I...will...not get angry about remakes anymore! I will watch the original (err, the original remake, technically speaking, I guess) and that's that.

Ray Cameron (Night of the Creeps)

Umm. Yes.

Sayeth the chooser:

- reluctant hero
- great dialogue, including best movie tagline ever
- sympathetic backstory
- gets to do a scene with the legendary Dick Miller and ask him for a flamethrower
- oh yeah, and HE IS PLAYED BY TOM ATKINS!

SHOCKtober Day 8

Bruno (Spider Baby)

Sayeth the chooser:

"My favorite horror movie character is Bruno, the loveable chauffeur from "Spider Baby." I love that he keeps a foot in the outside world but totally commits himself to the Merrye "children" and their insane worldview - he's careful to talk to the girls in a way that makes sense to them, and even when he's disciplining them he does it in terms they understand. But he never just gives up and caves to the insanity: he keeps order within the demented boundaries of the household (cannibals stay in the basement), and does his best to protect the outside world from the Merryes as much as he's protecting the Merryes. When he realizes it's time for drastic steps to be taken, he's willing to go down with the ship. ("It's gonna make a big flash and go bang!" "Oh boy!") And he does it with love. His tearful farewell speech to the girls, when he gathers them to his knee, just gets me every time. He loves his family and he loves his work. He's an example to us all! When I go bonkers, I want Bruno to take care of me. "

He is super huggable.

Herbert West (Re-Animator)

Doing science.

Herbert's appearance reminds me that I REALLY need to revisit all the Stuart Gordon Lovecraft flicks. Really.

SHOCKtober Day 7

One could write a...a...blog post about how awesome today's favorite characters are!

Mind you, I said "could", not "is going to".

Laurie Strode (Halloween, Halloween II, Halloween H2O, I will not acknowledge Halloween: Resurrection except right there where I said I'm not going to acknowledge it)

"Alberto VO5 Hot Oil Treatment? No, I've never heard of it. Why do you ask?"

She's the Final Girl, isn't she? I mean, really.

Minnie Castevet (Rosemary's Baby)

I know it's a classic and all, but I was never into Rosemary's Baby like, at all (I KNOW) until a random viewing of it a summer or two ago. I get it now. I do. I get it.

Also, I don't know why I feel like telling you this, but when you enter "Minnie Cast" into Google image search, the predictive results are "Minnie Castevet" and "Minnie Cast Iron Multifuel Wood Log Burning Stove 6.5kw". So there you go.
`

SHOCKtober Day 6

Chucky (Child's Play)

This is kind of my new favorite picture ever. Oh Chucky, you rascal!

Chris Higgins (Friday the 13th Part 3)

"But what's happening behind me doesn't even make any sennnnnsssssssse!"

Chris doesn't get nearly enough love when the topic of Final Girls comes up. Why do we always forget about this axe-wielder who wielded an axe into Jason's friggin' head? Give the girl some respect, all of us besides the person who chose Chris as a favorite! Really, she's the last decent Final Girl the Friday films had. *tear*

SHOCKtober Day 5

Grandpa (The Lost Boys)

Gramps is the only Lost Boys character to get a vote. That's so rad! In your face, Coreys and Kiefer! And you too, Jami Gertz!

Tommy Ross (Carrie)

I want to lie in a bed of his pillowy hair. Oh, and here's why the chooser chose this...choice.

SHOCKtober Day 4

These two favorite characters couldn't be more different...or maybe I mean ALIKE.

(I mean different)

Pinhead (Hellraiser, Hellraiser in Space, Hellraiser in the Computer, Hellraiser in the Old Days, That Hellraiser with Kari Wuhrer, Some Other Hellraisers Probably)

Sayeth the chooser of Pinhead: "Pinhead. Specifically, Doug Bradley as Pinhead, because fuck that new guy. I don't even know his name, but seriously, fuck that guy. Also, if I can be even more specific, Doug Bradley as Pinhead in the original Hellraiser. The sequels are mostly awful."

Scotty Parker (Silent Scream)

If anybody every asks why someone would choose Scotty Parker, I would just silently point to this picture. SILENTLY and SCREAMINGLY, I mean.

SHOCKtober Day 3

Oh man, some choices here. Some real fuckery that gets in your head!

Zelda (Pet Sematary)

Did you know that it's a dude playing Zelda? It is. I always thought it was Amanda Plummer.

The Dwarf (Don't Look Now)

I love this movie. I love this OUT OF NOWHERE DID THAT REALLY JUST HAPPEN WHAT IS THAT ending. I love Donald Sutherland's fro and stache. It's all so good.

SHOCKtober Day 2

Today, we've got some decidedly non-human favorite characters. That's okay. We here at Final Girl do not discriminate.

Except against Paul Reiser, of course.

Xenomorphs (all those Alien films)

The Xenomorph is on the right and looks rather friendly, I think.

Gizmo (Gremlins)

"I coulda been a contendah."

SHOCKtober Day 1

The votes are in! Your favorite characters have been named! Here's how it's gonna work, y'all. Hold on to your pants and brains, because it's pretty complicated: I'm going to...drum roll...publish a couple of characters each day! Nearly everyone got but one vote, so they're not in any ranked order. They just...are. Isn't that freeing?

This was a super tough assignment, I know. In fact, I still haven't chosen my favorite. But you have! So let's get this started with...

Heidi (The Initiation)

Sam (Trick 'r Treat)

Honestly, I can't believe that Heidi didn't get all the votes, but whatever, you guys.

Can't stop the SHOCK (tober)

So, I'm doing a SHOCKtober celebration over at Jill Sandwich as well. It's the same idea as FG's 2010 listmania, but...you know. Horror video games. Head on over and check it out, then send me your list! I love lists. Everyone loves lists. Hooray!

It's coming! SHOCKtober is coming!

Attention good people of The Internet! The time is here! That's right- it's time to begin preparations for next month, which is October, which around these parts is known as SHOCKtober, which is the best month of them all.

I realize I have been terribly remiss in my Final Girl duties. This summer has been...mmm, I don't know. Strange? Awful? Sort of both. But summer is drawing to a close, so I say: fuck summer. It's time for the shelves of my grocery store to be stocked with Candles of Doom and plastic skulls! It's time for horror movies to be everywhere! This ain't no place for summer. So git, summer! Git on now!

I've been mulling over SHOCKtober possibilities for a while now- what to do during this most excellent time? Stately Final Girl Manor is changing location yet AGAIN at the end of this month, and it's going to put me out of some commission for a while. I enjoyed the interactivity of last year's festivities, for sure. Given these factors, again I say- what to do?

Well, my pal Brent Schoonover is smart and he came up with a great idea right away: favorite horror characters. YOUR favorite horror characters- who are they? Let's figure it out!

Now, before you go shouting everything all willy-nilly and chaotic-like, I need to establish some rules to the process, to listen up, maggots!

First, as a thanks to Brent for this stellar interactive idea, go visit his website and look at all of his dazzling art. Seriously, it dazzles. If you really like it, and you really like me, you should get a copy of Mr. Murder is Dead! That's right, I'm straight-up pimpin' it. But dudes, for real, we worked really hard on it- and it's cheap and it's good. So check it out!

Second, the rules of this game: send me an email with the name of your ONE favorite FICTIONAL character in all of horrordom. You don't need to tell me WHY you like this character, unless you want to. Just one! Fictional!

how could you not vote for vampire puppy?

If it's a character without a proper name, that's fine. So, say, "the bear from Grizzly" works. If it's a group of samey-sames, that's fine too- such as, "the troglodytes in the pit in The Pit" is keen. If you want to get specific for characters that have been portrayed by more than one actor, go for it. For example, I'm sure that Frank Langella is everyone's favorite Dracula, but maybe you like Christopher Lee for some reason. Stick to movies, although characters who were born elsewhere and migrated to movies (like Swamp Thing, say) are obviously a-okay.

No character is too big or too small! Do you like a heavy hitter such as Freddy Krueger best? Or are you more of an Annie Brackett type (you probably should be)? The choice is yours! Let me know and, depending on how many results I get, I'll...figure out something to do with all this info. Last year it was crazy, and this will likely be the same.

I don't envy you this task, friendos. I have no idea who my choice will be. Oh, if only Briefcase Woman had been in a horror movie!

Send your email with THE WORD CHARACTER in the subject line and YOUR CHOICE in the EMAIL BODY to stacieponder AT gmail DOT com by SUNDAY SEPT 19. Let's do this!

when there's no more room at the library...

Zombies, am I right? It's kind of amazing to me how resilient the subgenre has proven in recent years, considering its heyday, if you ask me, was in the late 1970s/early 80s...but then, I suppose, fads are supposed to be cyclical. At least, I hope they are; at long last, I've mastered the Macarena and I'm dying to bust it out somewhere.

But really, did any horror fan expect zombies to make such a hardy comeback? I didn't. Sure, they never went away completely, but for a while they were quiet, shuffling around in the background while other monsters had their moments. You know, monsters like Freddy, Michael, and Jason, who starred in some of the worst sequels in the history of...sequels. Or those monsters from TV shows on the WB, whose faces filled the dull posters for tepid slasher-style flicks and remakes. George Romero was making movies without a zombie in sight, while a DVD rerelease of his seminal film Dawn of the Dead was something to celebrate.

Oh, my friends, how the times have changed. Was it 28 Days Later that ushered in the new zombie era? Perhaps. Whether the opening of the floodgates can be traced back to one particular movie or book is irrelevant; the fact is, zombies have infiltrated film, videogames, literature, television, and even everyday life ("zombie walks", anyone?) like no one could have anticipated. Nothing else in horror (or fantasy, or...you know, genre-stuff) comes close- not vampires, despite the popularity of Twilight. Not witchcraft and wizardry. Nothing! Zombies are everywhere, and it seems they're not going ANYWHERE.

In Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead, writer/film director Jovanka Vuckovic explores...well, the book's title says it all, doesn't it? From the origins of the zombie in Haitian history to the current craze for the genre, this slim volume provides a broad look at the walking dead in all forms of pop culture.

For me, the book's earliest chapters are the most informative, as I am but a humble ignoramus regarding Haitian voodoo rituals and religious rites. Vuckovic spends some time doling out the history before segueing into the earliest days of the zombie genre in film and literature. I'm not terribly well-versed in 1930s and 40s horror, say, so I found myself LEARNING. This is good. I like learning.

In later chapters, such as "Back from the Dead: Zombies in the New Millenium", the book becomes a bit more "Vuckovic on Zombies" than "History" as the author provides her opinion on films and other media. There's no denying that she's an authority on horror, and her opinion is certainly an educated one- her tenure at Rue Morgue Magazine is proof of that- but I found myself getting all defensive about a few topics at hand. She calls Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead an "unnecessary remake", which...I don't know, maybe it is. But I can't help but think it's got merits of its own, completely independent from what George Romero did in the original 30 years prior. Vuckovic rips much more harshly into Paul WS Anderson's Resident Evil, and again, I found myself, you know, defending my own opinions to a book. Resident Evil is probably crap- in fact, you can probably take away the "probably"- but sometimes crap is fun. Sometimes crap is good! Obviously Vuckovic is entitled to her own opinions and NO book is completely objective, but there were times throughout that I simply wanted more "facts" and not to be made to feel like a brainless, drooling dolt because I like a certain movie or two. I may be a brainless, drooling dolt, sure, but a history book shouldn't necessarily remind me of it.

Or maybe I'm just too much of an opinionated horror fan myself. After all, I do have a blog.

"Booooook...wait, I mean braaaaiiins...."

Zombies! works best, perhaps, as a resource. With sizable lists of films and books featuring the undead- not to mention all of the titles Vuckovic discusses in the chapters proper- there is plenty of gut-munching media out there for readers to check out. Throw in the hundreds of photos and illustrations, and the book becomes all but indispensable for zombie fanatics everywhere. Romero fans in particular will be pleased; the genre's most famous figure provides a foreword and, not surprisingly, is featured heavily throughout the book. I was happy to see two of my loves- comics and videogames- get plenty of attention.

I have a few nerdy gripes (beyond my already established, whiny "But I LIKE Resident Evil!" complaint)- where's the bibliography? Zombies Ate My Neighbors is not a first-person shooter! and so on- but overall, Zombies! is a terrific addition to any genre lover's bookshelf. It's brought ample movies and books to my attention, likely giving me undead fodder for years to come (The Chilling? What's that? I have no idea, but I'm gonna check it out)...proving yet again that zombies will never die.

Unless you shoot 'em in the head, I guess.

I watched stuff: Asian Invasion!

Man, I have been watching stuff like a crazy person, I tells ya! By which I mean I've been watching a lot of stuff...not necessarily that I've been watching stuff in the same manner a crazy person would watch stuff. Although I suppose I can't say that for sure, because I've never watched a crazy person watch stuff, nor have I watched myself watch stuff.

Or have I?

Anyway.

Ju-on 2 (2000)
I've mentioned before that I'm a pretty big apologist for Asian horror films, in particular the ghost stories. It really doesn't take much to get me on board with whatever vengeful spirit is going to essentially stare at people...to death! It's simply another of horror's subgenres that I've a weakness for; I realize that's a huge list (have I ever told you about the time I LOVE MOVIES WHEREIN ONE PERSON TRIES TO DRIVE ANOTHER INSANE FOR THEIR INHERITANCE?), but I am just saying. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I super wicked enjoyed Ju-On. It is what it is, and what it is is a bunch of really scary scenarios stitched together with the barest hint of a storyline. "Yeah, if someone dies when they're all pissed off, they come back as a ghost and whatever. Oh, this lady and her kid were murdered, so here they are being scary ghosts." Simple. I like it!

In fact, many people enjoyed it. So many that Ju-on blew up, becoming a franchise juggernaut with sequel after sequel after remake after remake sequel after, I think, maybe even a TV show. Despite this ubiquity, I'd never crossed paths with any of the numerous follow-ups- no, not even at Ju-on-Con 2009! (which was awesome, by the way. I cosplayed as the little boy and it was so cool! I posted pics on my deviantArt page if you wanna see)- until I plopped myself down in front of Ju-on 2 the other night.

But oh, how I wish I'd stayed ignorant! Ju-on 2 is...I don't know what the hell Ju-on 2 is. The framework isn't bad- house haunted, blah blah blah- but they try to cram every scare from the original film into the sequel and the results quickly descend into...well, pretty much parody. It's a film that proves the rule "less is more" by completely dumping on the rule and opting for the "more is more" approach instead. The ghost kid and the ghost mom are fucking everywhere. Everywhere! It's like, "Hey, the audience loved 'em in the first film, let's have 'em in every damn scene in the second!" and you know what? That shit wears off but fast! Getting a glimpse of the ghost kid lurking in the dark corner of a closet = scary. The ghost kid, like, sitting in your bowl of morning oatmeal = "What the fuck is this, Quaker? The box said 'apples n cinnamon', not 'apples n dead Japanese boy'. I want my money back!"

If- IF I SAY- you are as big an apologist as I am for this breed of film (and no, I'm not calling you fat), then it might- MIGHT I SAY- be worth watching solely for the "Is that...I think it's...yes, that's really happening!" ending, when the angry lady ghost crawls out of a most peculiar locale. And when I say "most peculiar", I mean "dannnnng, somebody watched some Cronenberg before they wrote this."

All that said, I saw Ju-on Black and Ju-on White pop up on Netflix and I was all "Yeaaaaaaah gimme gimme gimme!" I'm not sure what the point of mentioning that is, exactly. Is it that if I'm a sucker for these flicks and I say Ju-on 2 stinks, it's probably pretty damn stinky? Or is it that if I'm such a sucker for these flicks that my opinion should be completely disregarded? Or is it that if I'm such a sucker for these flicks, maybe I should just marry them? I don't know, I can't make all the decisions around here.

Ring 0 (2000)
Dudes, I had the weirdest dream! I know there's nothing more boring than listening to people talk about their dreams (I mean sleep dreams, not hopes-n-dreams...although honestly, those can be boring, too. "I just want to drive a nice sedan someday!" Oh really? GOOD FOR YOU), but hear me out.

I dreamt that someone made a prequel to Ringu that's supposed to explain everything but doesn't really explain anything! And Sadako grows up and becomes a shy theatre actress (oxymoron, I know, but it was a dream)! And the scariest part was...dun dun dunnn...the theatre people!

And then I woke up and I was, like, WHAT. I was in that weird state- not quite fully awake, not quite asleep- where I couldn't tell what was reality and what wasn't. For a moment, I thought someone actually had made a Ring 0, and it was as I described...but then I woke up a bit more and it became clear that it was all a bad dream- not a nightmare bad dream, but a bad bad dream. And not a good bad dream or a "'bad' means 'tough' like it did in the 80s" dream. Just...bad. I mean, who would make a movie like that? What a terrible idea!

Still, though- theatre people. Shudder!

Audition (2000)
YOU GUYS I finally saw Audition. After years and years of

"You haven't seen Audition? You have to see Audition!"
"I know."
"Why haven't you seen it yet?"
"I don't know, I just haven't."
"Well, you should."
"I know."
"No, really."
"I know."
"You should see Audition."
"I WILL."

I have seen it with my own four eyeballs!

Aside: Does the "four-eyes" taunt/slur/tease still apply if one wears contact lenses? Or does the "four-eyes" only refer to eyeglasses and not impaired vision? I think it's a combination- I mean, certainly, it's said to make fun of someone without perfect vision...otherwise, people just wearing sunglasses could also be called "four-eyes". What to do with the contacts wearer? They still bear an impairment, which is OBVIOUSLY worth making fun of, but- GASP- they don't bear the MARK of the impairment, and they blend seamlessly into NORMAL society. What to do? Calling them "two-eyes" doesn't quite carry the same sting, does it? And unless everyone present is even aware that the object of derision is even wearing contacts, then calling him or her "four-eyes" might actually make the accuser look crazy. What a conundrum!

Aside to the aside: I think for Halloween this year I will be One-Eye from They Call Her One-Eye. I don't know why I haven't done it yet, or why every girl doesn't do it. Or why every girl doesn't dress like One-Eye all the time! Or, as I've mentioned somewhere before, why every guy doesn't dress like Snake Plissken all the time. Hmm. I guess eyepatches are hot!

Aside to the aside to the aside: I have had way too much coffee today.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, Audition. I've seen it! I loved it! Now we can all move on with our lives.

No, really. What more can I really say about it? It wasn't quite as much of a gross-out as I was expecting- it's got quite the reputation- but that's fine with me. It's still squirm-inducing, no doubt, but I wasn't losing my lunch or what have you. I thought the way Takashi Miike played with time- the way the story unfolded and crossed back through and over itself- was genius. It was terrific, which is why everyone was telling me to see it. I'm just glad I've joined those ranks, because now I can bug everyone who hasn't seen it into seeing it.

Battle Royale (2000)
Another one crossed off my long list of I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVEN'T SEEN THIS YET films! I tell ya friends, I feel like such a brash young go-getter, it's ridiculous! I should be in that film about Wall Street called Wall Street.

Since I'm likely the last person reading this blog to have seen Battle Royale, you don't need me to tell you that it's about a class of high school students taken to a deserted island and forced to fight to the death with all manner of weapon and non-weapon, so I won't waste your time telling you all about the plot. I WILL waste your time, however, by telling you that man oh man I loved oh loved this movie. Loved. Lurved. Loaved. I don't think I've ever been quite so entertained by violence before, except maybe the first time I launched Lara Croft off a massive cliff in Tomb Raider and she hit the bottom with a sickening thud and ended up in a sickening, if pixelated, pile...mmm, nope. Battle Royale is way more entertaining. And violent! And violently entertaining!

I swear, I was twisting my handlebar moustache- my METAPHORICAL handlebar moustache, thank you very much- in glee the entire time, waiting anxiously to see what gory (and creative, it should be said) atrocities these kids would inflict on one another next. I became every non-horror fan's idea of a degenerate horror fan, always hungering for more violence, never satisfied! I didn't even recognize myself, but then I suppose Battle Royale brings that out in people. Or me, at least. It sees your true colors shining through, and they're beautiful...like a rainbow OF BLOOD.

That doesn't make any sense, but then, what does?

Okay, plenty of things make sense, whatever. The point is, I was not at all expecting to want to have Battle Royale's babies, but now I do, even despite the fact that the ending was a bit..."But how did they...? Eh, I guess a wizard did it.", meaning that either things aren't explained very well, or I'm completely daft. Since I watched the Special Edition, which includes an alternate ending meant to "shed fresh light on the events of the film", and I was still confused, then I'll cop to being completely daft. But no matter! I've still got babies to have.

I just realized that all of these movies are listed as having 2000 as the release year. Surely that means something.

Or not.

To the Mystery Machine!

Okay, baby geniuses, I need your help. Or, to be more precise, a Final Girl cyberfriend needs your help because I am unable to provide said help.

Can you name the movie from whence this GIF cometh?

I'd post the GIF here, but it's big and I'm having problems. (that's what she said)

Let's solve this!

Film Club: Cold Prey

Once upon a time, Final Girl was all about slasher films. I'd review nothing but slashers, deconstruct slashers, write poems about slashers, write slash fiction about slashers...

Okay, I never wrote poems or slash fiction about slashers, although in hindsight, that seems a big shame. My point is that I was all about slashers because I love them. I don't care that even most horror fans think slasher flicks are on the bottom of the genre totem pole! I don't care that most of them are terrible films and most of my love stems from a childhood nestled in the warm bosom of the genre's heyday! Love is totally blind, except when it's not.

I can't help myself. Along comes a film like Cold Prey (aka Fritt Vilt, 2006), and my love blossoms anew...and I don't even feel like I need to hide my ardor because Cold Prey isn't on the bottom of the totem pole. It's a damn fine horror movie that just happens to be a slasher flick. So there.

The film is full of genre tropes, and seasoned horror fans will likely roll their eyes as they check items off the list of...you know, genre tropes:

• a group of friends (two couples and the odd man out, natch) head off for a weekend of fun (in this case, snowboarding action)
  
• their cell phones can't raise a signal
  
• there's a sensible girl (the Final one, natch) and a not-so-sensible girl who makes out in the backseat with her man
  
• there's leg trauma when snowboarding action leads to snowboarding accidents for the odd man out
  
• the killer has a collection of mementos
  
• so on and so on and so on

Cold Prey, however, is all "whatever" about these tropes and turns most of them on their heads, making everything feel as fresh as a snow fall on a Norwegian mountaintop. Most of this oh-so-fresh feeling comes from the characters themselves: though they're not fleshed out with life stories and awkward narrative conversations, they're...solid, if that makes sense. In a shocking twist of events, they're not annoying! They're friends! The not-so-sensible girl is actually totally sensible! The odd man out isn't an irritating prankster! Jannicke, the Final Girl, is one for the record books! For the most part, they act like people would likely act when they realize that the abandoned hotel they're using for shelter isn't completely abandoned...because there's a killer in there.


Even the killer in Cold Prey is a delightful change of pace from the slasher norm. Sure, he's got a backstory (albeit just a tantalizing piece of one), a mask of sorts, and a weapon of choice- the pick axe- but he's not some backwoods mountaintop cannibal. He doesn't torture anyone. He doesn't try to sex up the girls. He doesn't arrange the bodies in some bizarre mise-en-scene for the Final Girl to stumble across, he dumps the bodies elsewhere. He kills people who stumble into his lair the way people kill spiders lurking in corners. It's self-preservation! And craziness, of course, but I appreciate the simplicity of it.


All of this bucking of trends is wonderful, but I wouldn't care a fig- not a single fig!- if Cold Prey wasn't successful. As it is, I find myself caring about it several figs worth. It's a beautiful film to look at, both inside and outside the abandoned hotel (which features a sly nod to The Shining's Room 237). The location is truly isolated, and the whole thing is right scary. Just enough gore, just enough everything.

Who says slashers are dead? Not me! My love remains an eternal flame- not unlike the one The Bangles sang of in "Eternal Flame". Or maybe it's completely unlike the one they sang of- I don't know the words to that song.


A wee note on the sequel: much like Halloween II (1981), Cold Prey 2 picks up where the first film left off and promptly moves the action to a hospital. It is really, really good. Surprisingly good. As good as the first film. In some regards, better. It might even be better than Halloween II. That's right, I said it! I loved it. I don't think it's gotten a Region 1 release yet (region-free DVD players are the best thing ever!), but it's definitely worth tracking down.

Film Club Coolies, y'all! Show 'em love.
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Goretical Stimulation
KL5-FILM
All Day Permanent Red
Smogo's Movie Journal
The Horror Review Hole
No Room in Hell
Soresport Movies
Scare Tactic
Full Moon Reviews
I Will Devour Your Content
Vegan Voorhees
Life Between Frames (reviewing the whole Cold Prey trilogy!)
Scarina's Scary Vault of Scariness
Man vs the Inevitable
Horror, Gore, and More
Post-Mortem Depression
Kitsch or Kill
The Deadly Doll's House of Horror Nonsense
Bloody Mary's Horror-i-flick Movie Revue

Slasher Studios

Cinema Gonzo

Not This Time, Nayland Smith