Freddy in Space

The Art Of THE STUFF!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sat, 18 May 2013 05:05:00 +0000

I don't know what it is about killer consumer products, but two of my favorite horror movies of all time are Halloween 3 and The Stuff, both of which I'm kinda sorta obsessed with. There, I said it.

This here post tonight is a bit random, but before bed tonight I found myself on Google, looking for different artwork from The Stuff's theatrical and home video releases, and I figured why not share what I found with you guys. So I've really got no words to say other than this...

I love The Stuff. And if you do too, here's a gallery of awesome Stuff artwork, from around the world. Several of these feature the same art, only slightly modified, but I wanted to throw them all in here, for completeness sake. Besides...ENOUGH IS NEVER ENOUGH!!

Enjoy!

I think it's time for Scream Factory to give The Stuff a much deserved Blu-ray release...who's with me?!

Friday Fun Fact : 5/17/13

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:07:00 +0000

Did you know...

Friday The 13th : The Final Chapter and Pumpkinhead share a filming location? After the motorcycle riding youngsters accidentally kill Ed Harley's son, they hole up in (and are subsequently butchered in) the very same cabin that was used as the Jarvis cabin in Final Chapter, four years prior!

Here are a few screen grabs I took of the cabin, as seen in both movies!

FINAL CHAPTER

PUMPKINHEAD

FINAL CHAPTER

PUMPKINHEAD

FINAL CHAPTER

PUMPKINHEAD

The cabin still stands in Topanga Hills, California (the photo at the very top of this post is a recent image of the property) and it has also been used as a filming location for many other movies and TV shows, including Eraser, Entourage and most recently, Parks and Recreation.

Considering both Jason and Pumpkinhead have hung out in there, I've gotta go ahead and crown this to be the most badass cabin of all time!!

Wait, What? There's A SAW Roller Coaster?!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:51:00 +0000

So I totally got screwed tonight by Cablevision. Right before Hannibal was about to start, the cable cut out, and still over an hour later now has yet to return. So I did what anyone in my position would've done; I got off the couch, plopped my ass in my computer chair, and took to YouTube to go on some virtual ride-throughs of theme park attractions, like the Universal Jaws and ET rides. It's just something I like to do every once in a while. It makes me happy. And I need to be made happy, when Cablevision bends me over and has its way with me.

As I was poking around YouTube, looking for rides, I came across one that somehow had completely missed my radar, which is fairly surprising given I'm pretty well tuned into cool goings on in the horror world. At least, I thought I was.

What I discovered is that over in the UK there's a Saw themed roller coaster, which was launched in March 2009 at a place called Thorpe Park. Yes, that's right. A roller coaster based on a horror franchise; the very first of its kind, anywhere in the world!!

Billed as "the world's most terrifying coaster", SAW - THE RIDE is a gnarly looking construction that takes brave riders 100 feet in the air, at speeds up to 57mph, and subjects them to all manners of horrific torture, including headache inducing inversions, close contact with spinning saw blades, and even splashes of blood. I say headache inducing because the theme park's gift shop sells headache tablets for the ride, due to various complaints from guests. Seems only fitting, for a ride based on a violent horror film!

Check out a full front row POV ride-through of the Saw ride!!

In conjunction with the ride, Thorpe Park launched Saw Alive in 2010, a live action horror maze that takes you through six locations from the films, with live actors bringing various iconic traps to life.

Though the ride operates all year round, the live action maze now only runs during the Halloween months, as of last year.

Needless to say, onto the Bucket List a trip to UK's Thorpe Park goes. And I don't even like roller coasters!!

Now, back to being pissed at Cablevision, already in progress...

The Freddy In Space Toy Box : The Hawthorne Village Of Horrors!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:04:00 +0000

It's likely that at some point in your life, you've known an old woman who collected pieces from a company called Hawthorne Village, the leading exporter of mini handmade villages. Highly detailed and full of little accessories, Hawthorne's villages are like small scale worlds come to life, recreating iconic scenes and locations from movies as well as real life attractions and environments. Oh, the comfort and warmth they bring.

Beginning in 2004, Hawthorne Village began catering to the horror fan with the Hawthorne Village of Horror Classics, a run of iconic horror movie locations that began with three choice locations from Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday The 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which included mini figurines of the villains from each of the films. From there, the line grew to include several other locales from those three films, as well as new additions from Dawn of the Dead and even Bride of Chucky.

The horror collection, like all of Hawthorne's pieces, were sold on a subscription basis, meaning you essentially had to subscribe to a recurring service in order to get them. You'd send out the money, and every couple months you'd receive a new piece. Not exactly sure how it works, but that's the basic gist.

Because they were never simply made available to purchase one at a time, and were only made in limited quantities, the Hawthorne Village of Horrors pieces have become quite rare over the years, selling for at least 100 bucks a pop (if you can even find them), over on eBay. In fact, they're so hard to come by that very few pictures of them even exist, on the entirety of the internet. Which is one of the reasons I wanted to make this post; so that there would be a place to see pictures of each of the horror locales released by Hawthorne, all in one easy to view spot. You're welcome, internet.

My extensive research turned up a grand total of 13 (possibly 15*) Hawthorne Horror pieces, from the aforementioned six films. Come with me, as we go on a guided tour of those 13 memorable locations!!

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE : THE SAWYER HOUSE

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE : THE GAS STATION

TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE : GRANDADDY FRANKLIN'S HOUSE

Coolest of all, that last one actually came with a Franklin figurine...

...the first and only time Franklin was ever immortalized in toy world!

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET : 1428 ELM STREET

NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET (DREAM WARRIORS) : WESTIN HILLS PSYCHIATRIC CENTER

FRIDAY THE 13TH : CABIN #1

FRIDAY THE 13TH : CABIN #2

HALLOWEEN : DOYLE HOUSE

DAWN OF THE DEAD : MALL

DAWN OF THE DEAD : AIRPORT HANGAR

DAWN OF THE DEAD : TRUCKS

BRIDE OF CHUCKY : TOY STORE

BRIDE OF CHUCKY : TIFFANY'S TRAILER

*Now up above I mentioned there were possibly two additional pieces, which you'll see below. I found these in a YouTube video showing off the entire Hawthorne Horror collection, but I've never seen any pictures of them anywhere else. They appear to be graveyard scenes from Friday The 13th (Part 7 Jason, though it looks like a scene from Jason Lives, with Tommy Jarvis) and Bride Of Chucky, but I can't be sure if they were officially released, or put together from parts of other Hawthorne Village sets. Figured I'd include them, just in case they are legit!

And that concludes our tour of the Hawthorne Horror village. Until next time, we shut the Freddy In Space Toy Box...but don't worry, it never stays shut for long!!

New Release Review : Aftershock

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:43:00 +0000

Though Eli Roth's name has been attached to several horror movies in the last few years, the last one that he actually wrote and/or directed was Hostel : Part 2, back in 2007. In that sense, 2013 sort of marks Roth's return to the genre of blood, guts and boobies, thus far producing (and directing the pilot episode of) the Netflix original series Hemlock Grove, and co-writing/starring in a little low budget Chilean film called Aftershock, which just saw release here in the states. His return to the director's seat, the cannibal flick Green Inferno, is also set for release later this year. But it's Aftershock we're here to talk about tonight, as you probably gathered by the title and header image of this post.

Written by Roth, Guillermo Amoedo & Nicolas Lopez, and directed by Lopez, Aftershock tells the horrifying tale of a group of young friends who are out partying and living the life in Chile, when a massive earthquake hits and thrusts them into a fight for survival against both mother nature, as well as the even more terrifying human nature. Aftershock hit limited theaters and On Demand outlets last Friday, the latter of which is how I was able to see it tonight.

And I dug it, a whole hell of a lot.

In many ways, Aftershock plays out very much like Hostel, with a first half full of sexy ladies and horny dudes trying to bed aforementioned sexy ladies, and a second half that hops on board the express train to horror town, turning the intensity levels up to an 11. Just like Hostel, the first half of the film is both fun and engaging, as we get to spend a solid half hour with a group of characters that we know aren't all going to join us for the end credits. It's funny because horror fans are constantly complaining about most horror films lacking in the story and character departments, and yet I've heard so much hatred for films like Hostel and Wolf Creek, because of their long, slow starts. And I've heard that same hatred for this one.

The way I see it, for a horror film to be effective, you have to first spend some time getting to know the characters, before their horrific nightmare begins. That's really the only way you're going to care about the characters, and thus, the only way the tonal shift to horror is going to mean anything, or have any impact. Call me crazy, but a horror film with a slow getting to know you buildup is a horror film that's headed down the right path, if you're asking me.

And Aftershock very much heads down that right path, in the early going. Though the characters aren't all instantly likeable (in fact one is right off the bat kinda nauseating, if only because he was blatantly inspired by a certain chubby bearded dude from The Hangover), and though there are a few easy roads taken to get you to feel for them (hey...uhhh...I have a daugher! And...uhh..I had an abortion!), I personally found myself drawn to the characters by the time the horror element came into play, which again went a long way in making those horrific events feel both real, and as impactful as they should've felt.

And boy oh boy, does Aftershock get incredibly horrifying, once the 'quake hits. The second half of the film is pure nonstop violence and brutality, to the point that neither the characters, nor us viewers, are ever really given a chance to breathe. Whenever the characters start to find some semblance of comfort...WAM!, they're hit right over the head with a hefty dose of cruelty. Ya see, the earthquake is only the beginning of their horrific ordeal. Turns out the 'quake destroyed the local prison, unleashing some of the baddest men in Chile onto the city streets, free to rape, pillage and plunder, at their leisure. Yea. Not a good night to be out and about.

One of the biggest compliments I can give Aftershock is that it reminded me (in tone at least) of some recent brutal French horror films like Frontier(s) and Inside, where cruelty and horror is around every little corner, and you're never given even the slightest bit of reprieve from that horror. Anxiety inducing, is how I'd sum up both of those films, as well as Aftershock. Since that's the vibe they were clearly going for, I'd have to consider this little film a big success.

Also want to say that a terrific job was done by Lopez and company in making Aftershock truly feel like a large scale big budget disaster flick, even though it was made for a mere $2 million. In fact, I got more of a sense of disaster than I get from the majority of disaster films that have budgets 50x the size. You really feel the chaos and the terror of the situation, almost as if you're actually a part of it. Not an easy thing to pull off, and certainly something to be commended.

I've read a lot of negativity in the past couple days about Aftershock, but I personally found it to be one of the better horror films I've seen this year, and I've gotta go ahead and highly recommend you give it an On Demand rental. An interesting and unique blend of a horror film and a disaster film, Aftershock taps into the real frightening idea of how a society can so easily become unhinged, in the face of disaster, and manages to be highly effective both as a gory Eli Roth style horror film, and a realistic and terrifying disaster film.

Intense, brutal and anxiety fueled, Aftershock is a nasty little film that shouldn't be missed, by anyone who likes their horror horrifying. Give it a watch, and let me know what ya thought, in the comments section below!

More Awesome Fake Criterion Covers!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 14 May 2013 23:16:00 +0000

Whenever a cool fake Criterion cover for a horror movie is posted on the Tumblr page Fake Criterions, a site devoted solely to fan submitted faux cover art, I save the image in a little folder on my desktop. And whenever that folder has a good number of images inside of it, I like to come on here and help get them out there in the world.

So here are some more awesome fake Criterion covers, mock ups that show what it might look like if these films were released by the prestigious Criterion Collection!

See more over at Fake Criterions, which is regularly updated with new submissions!

Things I Love : Scott Spiegel's Whacky Point Of View Shots!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 14 May 2013 22:27:00 +0000

Back in August of last year, I made a post titled 10 Directors That I'd Like To See Make More Movies!, and one of the guys on that list was Scott Spiegel, a director who I consider to be an underrated little gem, in the world of horror. In addition to writing Evil Dead 2, Spiegel wrote and directed Intruder and From Dusk Till Dawn 2 : Texas Blood Money, and most recently directed the third installment in the Hostel franchise...three movies which I personally am a fan of.

The thing I love about Scott Spiegel is that you always know a Scott Spiegel film when you see one, thanks to his unique and fun visual style. Though I'm not gonna sit here and say he's a master of horror or anything, Spiegel clearly has a lot of fun making horror movies, which is what makes the horror movies he directs so much fun to watch.

In particular, Spiegel has a lot of fun with the camera, infusing his films with unique camera angles and fun stylistic choices that you just don't see in other films. For example there's a scene in Texas Blood Money where a character is cracking a safe, and as he turns the dial on the lock, the camera itself turns with the dial. It's those fun little touches that make Spiegel's films a pleasure to watch.

But my hands down favorite of his unique camera tricks are the many bizarre point of view shots on display in all three of his movies, literally putting us inside different surfaces, objects and even people. In what other film can you see someone get bitten by a vampire, from the point of view of the inside of that vampire's mouth? Only in a Scott Spiegel flick, that's for damn sure!

Here are a handful of my favorite of Spiegel's oddball POV shots, to show ya what I mean!

INSIDE SHOPPING CART POV

INSIDE TELEPHONE POV

INSIDE GARBAGE CAN POV

FLOOR POV

INSIDE COOLER POV

INSIDE WATER BOWL POV

INSIDE VAMPIRE MOUTH POV

INSIDE SHOTGUN BARREL POV

INSIDE VAMPIRE SKULL POV

INSIDE VAMPIRE RIBCAGE POV

INSIDE METAL POLE POV, AFTER ROBERT PATRICK IMPALES A VAMP ON IT

INSIDE MOUTH POV...WHILE BUGS CRAWL INTO IT

Only you, Scott Spiegel. Only you. And for that, I salute you. Now please...

Make more movies!!

NECA's 8-Bit Jason Action Figure : The Freddy In Space Exclusive Story Behind Its Creation!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 14 May 2013 03:53:00 +0000

So last night I posted about NECA's upcoming Comic Con Exclusive Jason figure, made to look like the oddball version of Jason that appeared in the Friday The 13th NES video game, from back in 1989. I mentioned that I had never even seen any toy customizers come up with the brilliant idea to repaint an existing Jason toy and turn it into an NES Jason toy, an idea which I praised NECA for coming up with. Though I still bow before their feet for actually producing these incredibly awesome and highly unique figures, I learned something about the genesis of the toy that is pretty damn cool, and I wanted to share it with you guys.

Oddly enough, what I learned was that this toy actually began its life as a custom figure, information that was relayed to me by reader Heath Rhoads. Shortly after making last night's post, I got a message on Facebook from a guy by the name of Will Edwards, informing me that he was the customizer in question. So I asked Will to type up some quick words about his custom, and how it ended up becoming a real NECA release, a request that he was happy to oblige.

So here's a little Freddy In Space Exclusive backstory on the creation of NECA's 8-Bit Jason action figure, along with images of the original custom figure that was the basis of the toy you see above. Take it away, Will!

Everyone that knows me knows what a fan I am of Friday the 13th. Back when I first played the game on the NES, I always wondered why they made Jason purple and blue. Back around 98 or 99 when the first action figure came out, I eyed it and thought “Maybe I’ll repaint this to match the game.” Never did. Countless figures and years go by and I never do it. Now this February I bought NECA’s Part 4 figure that came out. Two weeks later I bought the paint, resulting in the abomination you see here.

Far as I can tell, I’m the first lunatic to ever do this. Well, I showed it to NECA. They loved it. Two months go by. Then I get a message from them on Twitter. It basically said “Thinking about NES Jason for a San Diego Comic Con Exclusive. Depends on approvals.” Wow! As the past two weeks have gone by, there was still that doubt it would happen. Until yesterday with the message “Pay close attention to the SDCC reveal today.” And then THIS.

It’s actually happening! And I might even get a credit on the packaging! This is so freakin’ cool! Never in my entire Friday the 13th loving life did I think that one day I’d inspire a piece of F13 merchandise. And if they DO credit me on the box, I’ll be part of F13 history!

__________________________________

Indeed you will, and I damn sure hope you get the credit you deserve for inspiring this toy. Thanks for sharing your story Will, and kudos to you for such a brilliant idea!!

Also kudos to NECA for realizing the brilliance of said idea, and mass producing an awesome custom. Perhaps even bigger props to them for getting in touch with/giving credit to the person that inspired them, rather than just flat out stealing the idea, and pretending they never even saw Will's custom. Hate to say it, but that's the way a lot of companies probably would've handled this situation, so that they'd get all the credit for themselves.

This is why we love you, NECA!

If You Only Donate To One Kickstarter Campaign In Your Life, Make Harbinger Down That One...And Help Save Practical Effects!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 13 May 2013 23:27:00 +0000

For the past couple weeks, any and all discussion about Kickstarter has quickly veered off into bashing Zach Braff, who recently used the fundraising platform to get a few million bucks for his next movie. The main gist of the hatred was that Kickstarter is a place for young upstarts to get money to make their independent films, not a place for already established filmmakers like Braff to fund their projects. Though I totally understand a lot of the backlash Braff received for taking to Kickstarter, I've also been one of the very few to tell people to take a chill pill, and get off his back.

The way I see the whole thing, Braff showed that Kickstarter can be used by two different groups of people (as it pertains to using it to fund films)...

1) The aforementioned youngsters, who have a hunger to make their first movie, but no money or connections to make that happen.

But also...

2) Established filmmakers, who want to make a film outside the studio system, the sort of project that no studio has any interest in funding.

When it comes to the horror genre, this second group of people are really the ones that should be harnessing the power of Kickstarter, and using their fan base to make the kinds of ballsy and original movies they want to make. And so when Braff was able to nab a cool two millions bucks from his fans, to make a non-studio film, I saw it not as a slap in the face to the young filmmakers whose projects are cluttering up Kickstarter, but rather an exciting launching off point for other established filmmakers, to finally kick the studios and their (oftentimes) idiotic ways aside, and start making movies the way movies should be made; without the involvement of a big machine that's more interested in money and marketability, than it is allowing a filmmaker to make the movie they want to make.

Again, when it comes to horror, this way of making movies is particularly exciting. If you think about it, the best horror movies are oftentimes made outside of the studio system, and our best filmmakers did their best work outside of that same system. Remember when guys like Craven, Romero and Carpenter were picking up cameras and making movies with their friends? And remember what happened once the studios got involved? Imagine if we raised Romero a few millions bucks to make one more zombie movie, with the complete 100% freedom to make the movie he wanted to make? Think about it...

It was just a couple weeks back that I was talking with a friend about this, and lo and behold, it came to my attention just last night that two established and well known figures in the horror filmmaking community have done precisely what I was hoping someone would come along and do; use Kickstarter as a way to make the sort of kickass horror film that would quite frankly NEVER get made, by the studios they have spent their careers working with. And when it comes to these two guys, it's all about the two words that make my knees weak and my pants bulge outward...

PRACTICAL. EFFECTS.

The names Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. may not ring off any bells in your head, but when I list off a handful of movies they've worked on, I think those bells will start ringing pretty damn loudly. They've run an effects company together since 1988, called Amalgamated Dynamics Inc, and their IMDb resumes read like a laundry list of some of the best creature feature horror films of all time, including Aliens, Tremors, The Monster Squad, Pumpkinhead and Predator. Woodruff Jr. even donned many of the suits the two worked on, bringing to life characters like Pumpkinhead, Monster Squad's Gillman, and the lead alien in Alien 3 & Alien : Resurrection. Needless to say, when it comes to practical effects and horror, these guys know their shit.

One of the most recent horror films ADI worked on was The Thing pre-make, which seems to have directly inspired their journey to Kickstarter. Long story short, ADI spent a long time making incredible practical effects for The Thing, the majority of which were completely replaced by CGI, to the point that most of their work was never even seen on screen. You've probably by now seen the video they uploaded onto YouTube after the film came out, to show what the effects were supposed to look like, but check it out below, if ya haven't. It's pretty much the perfect example of why practical effects will always be more effective than CGI...

Not only were fans incredibly bummed out about the absurd studio decision to ruin the movie with hideous CGI, but so too were Gillis and Woodruff, who decided to do something about it. And so, they launched a Kickstarter campaign a couple days back for a film they want to make called Harbinger Down, a Thing-esque creature feature with 100% practical effects, and 0.0% CGI. Wer'e talking animatronics, makeup effects, miniatures and stop motion, all working together to create a truly old school creature flick, completely 100% devoid of that nasty beast called computer generated imagery.

Now of course, no studio wants to make a horror flick the way horror flicks used to be made, because that's just not hip and current, but Gillis and Woodruff are not gonna let that stop them. Just as Zach Braff used Kickstarter to make a film a studio wouldn't fund, so too are they. And they need the help of each and every lover of practical effects in order to get Harbinger Down made. That's where you come in. You who can't stand CGI. You who misses the days of good old fashioned practical effects.

Here's a little blurb about the plot of the film, along with the impressive Kickstarter video pitch...

A group of grad students have booked passage on the fishing trawler Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on a pod of Orcas in the Bering Sea. When the ship's crew dredges up a recently thawed piece of old Soviet space wreckage, things get downright deadly. It seems that the Russians experimented with tardigrades, tiny resilient animals able to withstand the extremes of space radiation. The creatures survived, but not without mutation.

Now the crew is exposed to aggressively mutating organisms. And after being locked in ice for 3 decades, the creatures aren't about to give up the warmth of human companionship.

In order to pay for everything needed to get Harbinger Down into our lives, Gillis and Woodruff Jr. need $350,000, a daunting goal that could very easily be reached, if we all pitch in and help out. In fact, in just a couple days, $65,000 has already been raised, and those who donated have secured some pretty awesome perks, from Blu-ray copies of the film all the way up to actually being killed on screen in the movie.

Personally, I see this particular campaign not as a way to secure some cool perks and rub elbows with effects icons, but rather to help change the way effects are created for horror and science fiction films; out with the new, in with the old. Of course, one movie is never going to change the way studios think, but this project represents a terrific opportunity for us to let our voices be heard, and show those big studios that we no longer want movies that are driven by CGI. We've been complaining about this for years, and now's the time to do something about it, and help the guys who brought films we love to life bring another awesome film to life, the way they used to have the freedom to.

Honestly, I've grown pretty tired of Kickstarter campaigns, and don't usually promote or donate to them, but I have never seen a project on there that I believe in and support more than this one. I say that with 100% honesty, and I can only hope that my fellow lovers of practical effects are filled with as much passion as I am, by what Gillis and Woodruff Jr. are trying to do here. This is a pretty groundbreaking step in the effects world, and the success of this project will mean a whole lot, for the effects artists and their craft.

So if you've ever raved about practical effects and ranted about CGI, now's the time to do something. Show the studios what you really want. Vote with your money, and vote practical effects. Every little dollar helps.

Head over to Kickstarter to donate, and to learn more about the project, and the people involved. We've got until July 7th to make this happen, so be sure also to harness the power of social media, and share the campaign with all your friends!

VIVA LA PRACTICAL EFFECTS!!

NECA Busts 8-Bit Jason Out Of NES Land ... Into Action Figure Land!!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 13 May 2013 03:00:00 +0000

You ever see something so unbelievably awesome that you have to check the calendar and make sure it's not April 1st, even though you know damn well that it's not? Because I just did that.

Toy company NECA just unveiled the first look at one of their Comic Con 2013 exclusive offerings, and I think I can safely say it's not only the coolest toy they've ever put out, but also the coolest toy that has probably ever been made...by anyone...at any time. It's the kind of thing you'd expect to only see whipped up by a customizer...and I've never even seen a customizer come up with such a brilliant idea.

Jason Voorhees action figures have been released countless times over the years, by countless different companies. Companies like NECA have spiced things up by tackling different looks that Voorhees has sported, in different installments in the franchise, but for this year's Comic Con, they're thinking waaaaayyyyyy outside the box. So far outside the box that their new Jason toy isn't even based on any of the looks he has rocked within the movie franchise. Because that just wouldn't be unique enough.

Remember the NES Friday The 13th game, from 1989? The godawful one where Jason is for some unknown reason wearing a baby blue hockey mask and a bright purple jumpsuit? Yep. NECA went there.

Behold...the most unique, and most awesome, Jason Voorhees toy ever made!!

**Image courtesy of FIGURES.COM**

The fully articulated 7" action figure features glow in the dark hands, mask and feet, with an included machete and axe whose blades also glow in the dark. As if the toy wasn't awesome enough, it will come housed inside of a special window box package, designed to recreate the look and feel of the NES video game's packaging!!

8-Bit Jason will be available exclusively at this year's San Diego Comic Con, running July 17th-21st. NECA can be found at booth #3145, and the figure will be selling for $25.

I think it goes without saying that if any of you reading this plan on being at this year's Comic Con, I will reward you handsomely for sparing me from having to grab one of these on eBay for triple that price, come the 22nd!!

Friday Fun Fact : 5/10/13

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 10 May 2013 23:25:00 +0000

Did you know...

Suspiria was originally intended to feature a cast of pre-teen girls, as the ballet students? The characters were no more than 12 years old in Dario Argento's original script, but he was told by the studio and producer to raise their age, given the violent nature of the film. Argento obliged, but oddly enough didn't make any changes to his original script.

So if you've ever wondered why the ballet students in Suspiria behave and speak a bit like children, that is why!

The one change Argento did make to the movie was moving some of the doorknobs on the set up higher than normal, so that the characters would have to raise their arms to open doors, the way children do. This subconsciously created the intended childlike feel of the characters, that Argento was going for. One could argue that the script remained unchanged to also help sell that vibe, but it just as well could've been laziness, on Argento's part.

Either way, everything worked out in his favor, on this one!

Vintage Video Of The Week : He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 10 May 2013 04:14:00 +0000

Five years before joining forces with Freddy Krueger, for a small role in Freddy's Dead, Alice Cooper first united with Jason Voorhees, a partnership that resulted in one of the greatest songs of all time...

The year was 1986. With Jason Lives marking the triumphant return of Jason Voorhees to the big screen (not truly seen since The Final Chapter), Cooper put together a song called He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask), in celebration of the resurrection of his hockey mask wearing friend.

In addition to the song being included as the lead single on Cooper's album Constrictor as well as on the official soundtrack of Jason Lives, it was also used in the end credits of the film, and was even given its very own music video, featuring clips from the movie.

No idea who made this, but it is quite awesome...

This week, we head back to 1986, flip on MTV (back when they still played music!) and enjoy the music video for He's Back (The Man Behind The Mask)....this week's Vintage Video!

As a special added bonus (since listening to the song once isn't enough!), here's a death metal version of He's Back, covered in 2007 by the Swedish band One Man Army And The Undead Quartet!

The Burning's Cropsy ... On Full House?!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 10 May 2013 03:32:00 +0000

While waiting for Hannibal to start tonight, I was flipping through the channels and came across Full House, which is for me one of those shows that I can simply never flip past. If I see Full House on TV, my ass is staying on that couch and watching that episode, no ifs, ands or buts about it. But I didn't come on here to wax poetic about my life long love of Full House...I wouldn't dare put you through that.

The reason I'm here is because watching Full House tonight, for the first time in a while, reminded me of an episode that I really liked when I was a kid, which I hadn't thought about in a long time. In fact, it had been so long since I had seen or given a thought to the episode that I wasn't even 100% sure if my memory of it was correct, or if my horror polluted mind was playing tricks on me.

I say this because I was suddenly struck with the memory that there was an episode of the show that gave a shout-out to Cropsy, the slasher villain from The Burning. I can't think of any two worlds more different than the worlds of Full House and a gory slasher flick, so the memory I was having seemed far too good to be true.

Lo and behold, after doing a little research, my memory was not deceiving me.

The Season 7 premiere of the show, which originally aired in September of 1993, was titled It Was a Dark and Stormy Night, and saw the return home of Michelle and Stephanie after spending the summer at Camp Lakota. Long story short, they are very bummed to be home, so they go back to the camp, only to find that with summer gone, so too is the magic of their experience at camp. A pretty profound statement about the inability to recapture the glory of an experience, or a period of time in your life. Makes me sad just thinking about it.

Anyway. While back at the camp, DJ's boyfriend Steve tells the girls a scary story that he had promised to tell them all summer....the story of Cropsy, a former resident of Camp Lakota who was accidentally killed one night, when a bulldozer buried him alive, beneath the mud. Whenever it rains, Steve says, Cropsy returns from his muddy grave; a half man/half mud maniac, out for vengeance. After telling the story, someone covered in mud ends up coming into the cabin (I think it was Joey?), and the kids mistake him for the Cropsy maniac. At least I think that part happened...

Though the full episode isn't on YouTube, the portion where Steve tells the story of Cropsy thankfully is. Check it out!!

Now campfire legends of a maniac called Cropsy (sometimes spelled Cropsey) reportedly date back to the 1930s, so this could very well be a reference to that legend, rather than directly to The Burning, but I'm inclined to believe that whoever wrote this episode was a fan of the film, and threw that in as a little homage. There's no denying that the story Steve tells sounds a whole lot like the origin story from The Burning, only with the mud element replacing the fire element.

So yea. Pretty cool. And no wonder I always loved this episode as a kid!!

Hey, by the way. Scream Factory releases The Burning on Blu-ray May 21st. Loaded with new special features, and wrapped inside that beautiful bouquet of awesome cover art you see above. You should probably pre-order it. Just sayin'.

My 9 Favorite Horror Movie Nurses!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Thu, 09 May 2013 23:54:00 +0000

It has just come to my attention that this week is National Nurses Week, and I certainly don't intend on letting the week go by without milking this extended pseudo holiday for at least one fun blog post. And so tonight, we take a break from the norm to honor nurses ... more specifically, horror movie nurses. Then again, posts like this kind of are the norm, here on Freddy In Space...

Seeing as how I couldn't quite come up with 10 of them, here are my 9 favorite horror movie nurses, in honor of National Nurses Week!

**The image above comes courtesy of Death Waltz Recording's Halloween 2 vinyl soundtrack release!**

MAX - DREAM WARRIORS

One of the many charms of Dream Warriors, a movie that is absolutely chock full of charms, is that it features a 20 something year old Laurence Fishburne, in one of his earliest film roles. Or should I say, Larry Fishburne, since that's the name he's credited under. Max would technically be classified as a hospital orderly, but since the two professions bleed into one another, we'll go ahead and consider him a nurse....the world's most badass male nurse.

Then again, maybe I spoke too soon...

FREDDY KRUEGER - DREAM MASTER

Though many credit The Joker with making it hip for a cinematic villain to dress up in female nurse drag, Freddy Krueger was doing it two decades prior, in both Dream Warriors and Dream Master. In the former he overtook the body of a sexy topless nurse, and in the latter he decided to keep his clothes on, and not even bother trying to make himself look like a woman. Been there, done that. Robert Englund in drag...gotta love it!

THE NURSE - BUBBA HO-TEP

It's hard to even remember that there were other characters besides "Elvis" and "JFK" in Bubba Ho-Tep, being that they completely steal the show, but I've always gotten a kick out of Elvis/Sebastian Haff's wise cracking nurse, who is constantly demeaning the poor guy. In one of my favorite scenes, she bravely lubes up Elvis/Haff's crankshaft, in an attempt to soothe the mysterious pustule that has formed in the most unwelcome of places. A thankless job it is, being a nurse. And that is precisely why we salute you this week, nurses of the world.

NURSE ZOMBIE - DAWN OF THE DEAD

Though not seen all that much in the film, 'Nurse Zombie' has become one of the most iconic zombies in Dawn of the Dead, and actress Sharon Ceccatti is in fact still pulling in money on the convention scene, thanks to her small role in the film. A former nurse in real life, Ceccatti also appeared as a nurse in Hellraiser 3...so I guess she kind of is THE horror movie nurse!

THE NURSES - SILENT HILL

The most iconic nurses in horror history are no doubt the nurses from Silent Hill, buxom babes who are equal parts creepy and oddly enticing. They (and by 'they' I mean ugly, cruel men) refer to women with busted faces and sexy bodies as "butter faces" (as in, everything looks good, but her face), and I do believe the nurses from Silent Hill are the ultimate examples of that term. I'm not sure whether to run towards them, or away from them.

But I damn sure am running towards this next one...

NURSE MARCIA - THE DEVIL'S REJECTS (ALMOST...)

Rosario Dawson was supposed to appear in The Devil's Rejects, as a nurse who gets her throat brutally torn out by Dr. Satan. But when Rob Zombie decided to axe the character of Dr. Satan from the film, Dawson's Nurse Marcia also fell onto the cutting room floor. The scene was however completely shot, and can be found as a deleted scene on the Devil's Rejects DVD.

How is Nurse Marcia one of my favorite horror movie nurses, even though she only appeared very briefly in a scene that didn't even make it into the movie? Because I love Rosario Dawson, and I love the idea of her being my nurse. And come on. I don't exactly have all that many nurses to choose from here, so cut me some slack, will ya?

Speaking of which...

THAT SEXY NUDE NURSE FROM THE POSTER - NURSE 3D

This poster hit the internet back in 2011, for a movie called Nurse 3D, which to the best of my knowledge has not even been released yet. Regardless, I don't think there's a male horror fan on this planet who wouldn't adorn his bedroom wall with this poster, movie unseen!

DAKOTA BLOCK - PLANET TERROR

There is perhaps no sexier or more badass horror movie nurse than anesthesiologist Dakota Block, played by Marley Shelton in Planet Terror. Block refers to her pain reducing needles as her "friends", and lets absolutely nothing stand in the way of helping save the world from the zombie apocalypse, be it a broken hand, her young son's accidental suicide, or an attack from her mutant zombie husband...who by the way she planned on leaving, for an old female flame. Now there's a prequel I'd like to see!

ANNIE WILKES - MISERY

We go from sexy to downright horrifying with Annie Wilkes, one of horror cinema's most iconic and memorable female villains. Wilkes proves herself to be the worst nurse of all time when she holds writer Paul Sheldon captive, and tortures and torments him. Backstory later in the film reveals that Wilkes did the same to her patients when she was a nurse, leaving a trail of mysterious deaths in her wake.

She may not be the kinda nurse you'd like to have, but I've gotta go ahead and award Annie Wilkes the World Championship Title, of horror movie nurses!
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Who are some of your favorite horror movie nurses? Leave a comment below, and let me know!!

Join Adam Green & Victor Crowley, To Raise Money For Boston!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Wed, 08 May 2013 23:56:00 +0000

Adam Green is a guy with a whole lot going on, at the moment. In addition to launching a new podcast with Joe Lynch earlier this week, next month will see the premiere of the second season of their show Holliston (on June 4th), as well as the theatrical release of Hatchet 3 (on June 14th), the second sequel to the throwback slasher that first brought Green into our lives.

As if he wasn't already busy enough, Green just announced that later this month, he will be spearheading a three day fundraising campaign to benefit the victims of last month's horrific Boston Marathon bombings, a tragedy that quite literally hit home, for the Massachusetts native.

Green, Crowley and company are set to put the fun in fundraising from May 28th-30th, with events including an advanced screening of Holliston season 2, a celebrity auction, and even the very first public exhibition of Hatchet 3, a week before its limited theatrical release.

Check out the full press release, with all the details about the three events!

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1. Holliston Comes Home to Holliston: Season Two advanced screening and Q&A with the cast.

Adam Green returns to his hometown of Holliston, MA to host an advanced screening of three episodes from Holliston’s upcoming second season, followed by a live Q&A with members of the cast, including Joe Lynch and Laura Ortiz.

Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Time: 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Location: Holliston High School, 370 Hollis St., Holliston, MA 01746
Admission: $5

2. “Horror / Boston Strong” Party at The Palladium: Hosted by Adam Green.

Join Adam Green (Hatchet I – III, Frozen, Holliston), Kane Hodder (Hatchet I – III, FRIDAY THE 13TH VII – X), Zach Galligan (Hatchet III, GREMLINS 1 – 2) and more celebrity guests, for a one-of-a-kind party at the Worcester Palladium that includes a silent auction chock full of horror and music memorabilia, gift certificates, and other rare and amazing prizes.

In advance of the event, fans can bid on an online auction to win a private dinner with Adam Green before the party starts. More information about the auction can be found here.

Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Time: Doors open at 7 p.m.
Location: The Palladium, 261 Main St., Worcester, MA 01608
Admission: $5

3. Hatchet movie marathon: Featuring the first ever screening of the highly-anticipated Hatchet III.

Join Hatchet franchise creator Adam Green for the first-ever Hatchet marathon, including a screening of a rare uncensored UK 35mm print of the original Hatchet, an uncensored 35mm print of Hatchet II, and the first ever screening of the highly anticipated, and also uncensored, Hatchet III. Special guests from the films will be in attendance.

Date: Thursday, May 30, 2013
Time: 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Location: The Revere Hotel, Theater One, 200 Stuart St., Boston, MA 02116
Admission: $25

Green and special guests will also be doing a free in-store signing for Holliston on Tuesday, May 28, 2013, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., at Fiske’s General Store, at 776 Washington St., in Holliston, MA.

Advanced tickets for all three events go on sale on Friday, May 10, 2013, and can be purchased here.

Tickets will also be available at the door the day of each event. For more information regarding ticket sales, please call The Palladium box office at 508-797-9696. All proceeds will go towards The One Fund Boston.

Events are hosted by Rock and Shock and Wicked Bird Media, and are sponsored by Green Van.

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If you can't make it in person for these events, you can donate to The One Fund Boston, online. You can also help out by spreading this information around, to all the horror fans in your life. Head over to Ariescope Pictures, to learn more.

Three Must Have Pieces Of Freddy Merch, Coming Later This Year From Morbid Enterprises!!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 07 May 2013 23:39:00 +0000

So my plan today was to take a longer post-work nap than usual, and spend the night away from the blog. I figured I earned a nice little day off, and I promised myself I would stay off of Blogger all night, and give my fingers a rest.

There I was, listening to the first episode of Adam Green & Joe Lynch's new podcast The Movie Crypt (featuring a full length Friday Part 2 fan commentary!), and taking it easy for all us sinners, when I stumbled upon something that ensured that tonight would not be a night that I'd be staying off Blogger. So incredibly amazing was what I saw that I blacked out, and when I came to I was sitting here, writing up a new blog post. Oh well. So much for that. Maybe tomorrow. Because this can't wait.

What I came across were three upcoming Elm Street products, from one of my favorite new companies on the Halloween decorations scene, Morbid Enterprises. Morbid came to my attention in 2011, when they immediately caught my interest with an offering of Exorcist themed decorations that included a life size animatronic Regan (with spinning head!) that I still somehow do not own (shame on you, bank account). Last year they further cemented themselves into the annals of Halloween awesomeness with another impressive product line, including a motion activated mini Trick 'r Treat doll, as well as a six foot tall hanging Captain Spaulding decoration. A company after my own heart, for sure.

Though their 2013 catalog has yet to be released (should be any day now!), tonight I came across a few of their upcoming products on their YouTube channel as well as on the website Big Bad Toy Store, where those few items are currently available for pre-order. It looks like this year the big focus is on Nightmare On Elm Street, and rather than releasing the usual fare like a mask and a glove, Morbid has set their sights on delivering a breath of fresh air to the Elm Street merchandising scene. A much needed one, at that.

Check out three products from their 2013 line, which are three of the coolest Freddy products this blogger has ever laid eyes on...and as you might imagine, I've laid these eyes on a whole lot of them!

OK, so I know I just said they're not releasing the usual fare like a Freddy glove, but I think you'll agree with me that this is anything but the usual Freddy glove, that company after company has been putting out over the years. In fact, this is the first ever Dream Warriors Syringe Glove that has ever hit the market, to my knowledge. I have seen so many countless different kinds of Freddy gloves out there, based on the various different gloves he has worn throughout the franchise, but I have never in my life seen a Syringe Glove before, and I think it's quite frankly the coolest thing ever that Morbid Enterprises decided to make one. Oh and the syringes light up, as if you weren't already sold. An absolute must have item, that's for damn sure.

The Syringe Glove is available for pre-order from Big Bad Toy Store, for $29.99. As with the other two items you're about to see, it should be shipping somewhere around Halloween time.

Next up is the Chest of Souls Sweater, a wearable Freddy sweater with the infamous soul filled chest built into it, as seen also in Dream Warriors. Rubie's put out a similar sweater a few years back, but in addition to this one looking a whole lot better, it's also fully animated. Just pop a couple batteries into the sweater and voila, the souls cry for help, and pulse outwards out of Freddy's chest. Or rather, YOUR chest.

This one's gonna run ya $99.99, and can also be pre-ordered through Big Bad Toy Store.

And last but most definitely not least, we've got what is probably the coolest Elm Street decoration ever made; the mother fuckin' soul pizza, from Dream Master!! Just like the sweater, this homage to one of my favorite scenes from the franchise is animated, and features both cries for help and a disgusting pulsating effect. And don't worry, this thing looks a lot cooler than it looks in the image above, which must be an early prototype image or something.

Here it is in action!!

The replica Soul Pizza is $69.99, and it comes packaged in a faux pizza box. You know where to pre-order it!!

If these three items are any indication of what we're in store for on the decoration/costume front, for Halloween 2013, then we're all in for a real treat this year. We're halfway there, folks!

Be sure to check out Morbid Enterprises' website, where a 2013 catalog should soon be posted!

Awesome Fan Made Posters : Part 9!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:44:00 +0000

In order to enter the Freddy In Space 2012 Christmas stocking giveaway last year, you had to leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite blog post of the year was. The answer I saw pop up more than any other within those comments was not one individual post, but rather a series of posts that I've done throughout the years, highlighting kickass fan made movie posters.

The reason I ask that question from time to time is to see which posts you folks are digging, so I can deliver more of the content you love. And that's exactly what I'm here to do tonight.

So here are 16 more awesome fan made posters, to add to the archive. As always, click the link under each image to see more art from each artist!!

RANDY ORTIZ

FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA

"GHOULISH" GARY PULLIN

JAKE KELLY

JEFF PROCTOR

JOSHUA BUDICH

CHRISTOPHER OTT

STEPHEN VINCENT

PHANTOM CITY CREATIVE

LAURENT DURIEUX

RANDY ORTIZ

FERNANDO 'FRO' REZA

LUKE INSECT

JORDAN DEBNEY

MATT RYAN

If you enjoyed looking at these, here are many more equally awesome fan made posters to feast your eyes on!

18 AWESOME MINIMALIST HORROR MOVIE POSTERS!

17 MORE KICKASS ALTERNATE HORROR POSTERS!

15 MORE AMAZING FAN MADE POSTERS!

10 MORE FAN MADE POSTERS TO SWOON OVER!

11 MORE INCREDIBLE FAN MADE POSTERS!

12 MORE FAN MADE POSTERS TO MELT YOUR EYEBALLS!

12 MORE FAN MADE POSTERS THAT'LL MAKE YOUR BEDROOM WALLS HORNY!

AWESOME FAN MADE POSTERS: PART 8!

Awesome Art : Patrick Carson Sparrow's 100 Monsters!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Mon, 06 May 2013 22:01:00 +0000

In addition to having a pretty stellar set of facial hairs, my buddy Patrick Carson Sparrow is also an incredibly talented artist. If you need any confirmation of this statement, you can either check out his Facebook page, his Etsy shop, or just browse the vast archive of posts I've made with the label Patrick Carson Sparrow, because I've made quite a few over the years. Because I like his art. And his beard.

77 days ago, Patrick embarked on a highly ambitious artistic adventure, where he promised himself and his fans that for 100 days straight, he would draw up an image of one of his favorite cinematic monsters. 100 monsters, for each of those 100 days. A daunting task, that Patrick has been admirably accomplishing, over on his Facebook page.

With just 23 days and 23 monsters left to go, I wanted to take a moment here tonight to share some of my favorite pieces from the quickly growing collection of hideous creatures. Why not wait until he's finished, and then make a post? Well, that was actually my initial plan, but I decided that it'd be more fun to get you guys in on the fun, and turn you onto the project before it's over, so that you can play along at home. I've been enjoying the daily monster mash over on Patrick's Facebook page, and I think you will too. It's a nice break from the usual Facebook negativity, and hatred of movies that haven't even been made yet.

So here then are some choice selections from Patrick Carson Sparrow's 100 Monsters challenge!!

See the full gallery over on Patrick Carson Sparrow's Facebook page, and be sure to LIKE the page, so that you can get your daily monster fix, delivered directly to your Facebook news feed!

Cool Promotional Shit : Addams Family Thing Mask...For Your Hand!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 05 May 2013 21:11:00 +0000

Now here is one hell of a clever little promo goody....

In conjunction with the 1991 theatrical release of the first Addams Family movie, Paramount put together these little treats for cinema goers, which essentially served as Thing masks...for your hands. Since Thing was of course a disembodied hand, they printed up little cardboard hands, with holes for you to place your own fingers into...thus making it look like your hand is Thing's hand...and vice versa. At least, that was the idea.

Reader Monkey Pudding Face (my guess is that's not his birth name...) actually just sent one of these over to my PO Box, along with a collection of other promo goodies and various other treasures. So in case you were wondering what it would look like if one were to actually stick one's fingers into Thing's two holes, I am happy to say I am able to provide such imagery for you...

Pretty well useless in terms of useability, but as a little lobby card of sorts, for the movie, it's incredibly clever and incredibly awesome. It's all about the concept, when it comes to promotional items.

Thank you for this, Mr. Pudding Face. A damn fine addition to my ever growing collection of Cool Promotional Shit!

Now why the hell didn't they make one of these for Evil Dead 2?!

Think You Know Everything There Is To Know About Zombie Cinema? ZOMBI MEXICANO Thinks Otherwise!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:58:00 +0000

One of my favorite things to do every couple weeks is head over to the post office and check the Freddy In Space PO Box, which almost always has at least one package inside of it. I encourage anyone to send anything they'd like to the box, and I oftentimes find in there both cool gifts from readers as well as products that the companies sending them want me to talk about, here on the blog.

From the latter category on my last visit to the box came a snazzy looking book called Zombi Mexicano, which immediately caught my attention. Mexican zombies of the 1970s? As the book's cover suggested, I indeed didn't know of the existence of such movies, and I damn sure wanted to find out why!

Written by Keith J. Rainville, who runs a magazine/website all about Mexican wrestlers in pop culture called From Parts Unknown, Zombi Mexicano is a 62 page full color boutique style book all about the relatively obscure zombie films that were coming out of Mexico, in the 1970s. Perhaps the word relatively is an understatement, considering these films are NEVER included in books about the history of zombie movies. Padded with movie stills and poster/promotional images, Zombi Mexicano unearths an entire sub-section of zombie cinema that has remained pretty deep underground over the years, in only 60 short pages cementing itself as the definitive compendium on Mexican zombie cinema. Well, it's also the only compendium on the subject, but that's really the beauty of what I'm holding in my hands right now.

Though I love zombie movies as much as any diehard horror fan, there's no denying that the sub-genre of the undead has absolutely been beaten right back into the ground, over the course of the last several years. It seems like not a week goes by without a new zombie film hitting DVD, and countless books devoted to zombie films continue to flood the marketplace, and fill up our bookshelves. It's gotten to the point where all of these books have pretty much bled into one another, and I'm quite frankly not even sure which ones I've read and which I haven't. With only so many zombie films to talk about, the content is repetitive to the point of boredom, and I'm honestly not sure I can endure reading anything further about Night of the Living Dead, for example. All due respect to that film, but I think I've read everything there is to read, and know everything there is to know, at this point.

Which is why Zombi Mexicano is so refreshing and unique. Not only does it get in and out rather quickly, before it gives you the chance to be bored or place the book down on your desk, never to be picked up again, but it's filled with information about a subject I personally knew NOTHING about, which is something I so rarely find when it comes to text about horror movies. We as horror fans tend to talk about the same movies over and over, and to pick up a book and read all about zombie movies that I had no idea existed was a real treat, and an entertaining history lesson, all in one.

So, with all the focus on American and Italian zombie films over the years, why has nobody ever really talked about Mexico's brand of undead cinema? Well, that could be because the zombie films covered in Zombi Mexicano were all deceptively classified as 'momia' films, the Spanish word for mummy. To make a long history lesson short, mummies are a big part of Mexican culture, which naturally led to a series of successful Mexican mummy films beginning in the 50s, which oftentimes saw well known masked Mexican wrestlers battling mummies. This trend eventually evolved into Mexican wrestlers battling zombies, though the zombies were referred to as 'momias' in the titles of the films, to cash in on the established popularity of Mexican mummy cinema. Thus, a series of Mexican 'mummy films' were born, which were actually zombie films, in disguise. Again, this is all very new to me, but I think that accurately sums it up, in a nutshell.

Zombi Mexicano focuses mostly on seven of such films, which author Keith Rainville admits are charmingly quite bad; The Mummies of Guanajuato (1970), Theft of the Mummies of Guanajuato (1972), Castle of the Mummies of Guanajuato (1972), The Mummies of San Angel (1973), Mansion of the Seven Mummies (1975), Macabre Legends of the Colonial Era (1973), and Capulina vs The Mummies (1972). Again, though they almost all have the word mummies in the title, Rainville writes that these films would all be seen by horror fans as zombie films, if only the titles bore the term zombie, rather than mummy. I've never seen any of the movies for myself, but by looking at the screen grabs present in the book, I'm keen to agree with Rainville, on this one. On sight alone, these mummies are quite clearly zombies.

Now the most interesting thing about this breed of zombie cinema is that these films can very much be seen as an "evolutionary missing link" between the earliest zombie films and Romero's zombie films, as Rainville points out. When Romero came along and made Night of the Living Dead, he turned the voodoo slave zombies of earlier zombie films like White Zombie into the flesh eating zombies that we all now identify with the term. The Mexican zombie films covered in this book, which came along shortly after Night of the Living Dead, blend together these two incarnations of the zombie, oftentimes depicting zombies as mindless slaves, and yet having the aggressive nature and grotesque look of the modern day zombie. In fact, the look of the zombies in these Mexican zombie movies even pre-dates a lot of similar looking well known horror film zombies, by nearly a decade. So yea. Definitely interesting to learn about this so called missing link of zombie cinema.

At only 60 pages, half of which are full page photographs, Zombi Mexicano is a lightning fast read that never outstays its welcome, and which took me less than an hour to make my way through (counting two bathroom breaks and the consumption of some tasty sushi). As someone who admittedly gets bored with books that are any longer than the ones written by R.L. Stine, I quite appreciated the abridged format of this book, which actually looks and reads more like a magazine. A lot of information in a quick and concise format...that's how I like it.

Am I going to seek out these seven films, now that I've read Zombi Mexicano? Though I am kinda dying to see some of the wrestlers vs zombies madness described in the book, I can't honestly say I will be doing that. But what I can for sure say is that I feel like a better horror fan for now knowing that there are in fact Mexican zombie movies out there, an obscure but nevertheless important branch of zombie cinema that all fans should have at least some minor knowledge of. And that's what the book is all about; giving us all a brief history lesson on an aspect of the genre that most of us aren't familiar with. For that, I highly recommend taking an hour out of your life to feast on Rainville's impressive brain, and gain some undead knowledge.

You can pick up your own copy of Zombi Mexicano over on From Parts Unknown, for $20. It is being sold nowhere else, and is limited to less than 250 copies. So if you want to learn more about Mexican zombie cinema, snatch one up while ya still can!

10 Awesome Vintage Horror Shirts!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:24:00 +0000

Over the years here on Freddy In Space, I've spent a whole lot of time talking about awesome new t-shirts, from awesome modern day companies like Fright Rags and Rotten Cotton. In fact, informing you about cool new shirts has become one of the staples of this here blog.

Today, we change things up a bit by traveling to the past, and opening up the closet you might have found in a horror fan's room, in the 80s/early 90s. Today, we shine the spotlight not on new shirts you can click a link and purchase, but rather on awesome shirts of the past.

Here are 10 kickass vintage horror shirts, from a time long gone by!

Where can you find these? Keep your eyes peeled over on eBay, where you're likely to find most of them pop up from time to time. As with most vintage shirts, the prices won't be cheap, and they probably won't be in mint condition, but one thing's for certain; badass collector's items, these all are!

If anyone knows of any other cool vintage horror shirts, drop me a link in the comments section below!

Friday Fun Fact : 5/3/13

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:30:00 +0000

Did you know...

The Toy Story movies contain several references to The Shining? In the first Toy Story, the carpeting in villain Sid's house is the same carpeting that is seen in the Overlook Hotel, only with a slight color alteration. I shit you not. Check it out!!

In Toy Story 3, The Shining is referenced again, as the iconic Overlook room number 237 pops up a couple times. It is seen both as an online username, and on the license plate of Sid's garbage truck!

Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich (he also worked on the first two) is not surprisingly a huge fan of The Shining, citing it as the film that inspired him to become a filmmaker. In fact, he is so obsessed with the movie that he runs a website called The Overlook Hotel, a Tumblr page devoted to all things Shining (thanks for that tidbit, Billy!).

The mash-up art you see at the top of this post was created by Kyle Lambert, who was inspired to mix the two worlds together when he found out Unkrich was such a fan. You can see the full gallery of 'Toy Shining' images, over on Kyle's website!

Vintage Video Of The Week : Freddy Krueger On D.C. Follies!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:23:00 +0000

From 1987-1989, comedian Fred Willard hosted a 30 minute satirical TV show called D.C. Follies, which used puppets to satirize political figures. Set in a Washington, DC bar, Willard played the bartender, and the patrons were puppet versions of presidents and other politicians, with a real live celebrity guest featured on each week's episode.

On the October 6th, 1988 episode of the show, just a couple months after the theatrical release of Dream Master, Robert Englund was that celebrity guest, playing Freddy Krueger. When George H.W. Bush goes looking for Fred Willard behind the bar, it's the Fred we all know and love that appears, in this oddball mixture of political humor and horror that ends with Freddy making out with a male puppet. Mhm.

Check out the full Freddy segment from the episode below; this week's Vintage Video!

Many thanks to reader Chris Garcia, for sending me the link to this video. If anyone ever finds any vintage videos in their travels around internet land that they think would fit well into this feature, please drop me an e-mail at MORTIS45@AOL.COM, with a link. I need all the help I can get!!

NECA Heals Freddy's Burns, This Fall!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Thu, 02 May 2013 23:09:00 +0000

Ever since Freddy Krueger burst into flames...err, I mean...burst onto the scene, back in 1984, there has been no shortage of toys made in his likeness, both officially released ones and hilariously awesome bootlegs. Nowadays, the Elm Street license is in the hands of NECA, who have for the last few years been adding to that wealth of Freddy toys by churning out a slew of new ones, based on the many different looks he has donned throughout the franchise. Hell, they're even getting ready to release a boiler room furnace display environment!

This coming Fall, Series 4 of NECA's Elm Street line sees release, and just about 15 minutes ago the above photo was posted to their Facebook page, giving us the first glimpse at one of the figures in the series; a pre-burn Springwood Slasher, with a Robert Englund likeness to die for!

No word yet on what the other Freddy figure in the series is going to look like*, but NECA did tease a few weeks back that there will indeed be two new toys, in the series. Super Freddy, please!!

This won't be the first pre-burn Freddy figure that's been released...

Back in 2004, NECA released this 7" figure as a Comic Con Exclusive. Fred came with a baby doll and two heads, so that he could instantly change from the Springwood Slasher to the burnt up dream master. Despite being a Comic Con Exclusive, you can find these for fairly cheap on eBay, these days.

In conjunction with the release of Freddy vs Jason, Sideshow Collectibles put out this 12" version of ole Fred, which came with a glove, hat and a couple newspaper clippings about the Springwood killings. I've seen these recently selling for around $30-50.

And though it doesn't exactly fit the bill, Matchbox's MAXx FX Freddy doll from 1989 is technically the first pre-burn Krueger figure ever released. I say it doesn't quite fit the bill because the idea of the MAXx FX line was that you got to essentially become a special effects artist, by turning this Max character into different cinematic monsters. So it's not exactly Fred Krueger in there, per se. Unfortunately, the Freddy set ended up being the only MAXx FX figure that ever saw release. Sad face.

**UPDATE : HERE'S THE OTHER SERIES 4 FREDDY FIGURE, ROCKING THE POWER GLOVE FROM FREDDY'S DEAD!!!!!**

Awesome DVD Packaging : '84 Entertainment's Monster Boxes!

noreply@blogger.com (Johnny) — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:15:00 +0000

When it comes to kickass DVD packaging, there is no company that deserves the world championship title more than '84 Entertainment. Hailing from Germany, '84 Entertainment released five horror films a few years back in limited edition 'Monster Boxes', each limited to only 84 pieces. Included in the Monster Box line were the Italian horror classics Zombie, House By The Cemetery, The Church and Shock, along with an oddball choice of the very American Hellraiser 4: Bloodline. One of these things is not like the other, to say the least.

But the common bond between these Monster Box releases is that they were all packed to the gills with pure awesomeness, including multiple discs, multiple cover arts, posters, photo booklets, magnets and even highly unique little trinkets, which are the real highlights of the releases for me. What kind of trinkets are we talking here? How about bloody nails, packaged with Hellraiser 4? Or what about a handheld shocker, for Shocker? A blood covered piece of wood and a messed up rubber eyeball, for Zombie? Yup. '84 Entertainment knows what's up!

Now the unfortunate thing with these Monster Boxes is that it's impossible to find pictures of them, anywhere on the internet. Believe me, I've looked. And I've looked hard. Thankfully, however, the YouTube channel of a German online DVD shop called Elektrocity has a video that shows off each of the Monster Box releases, in all their glory.

So rather than pictures like we usually do here, I instead encourage you to watch the video embedded below, to see these five incredible examples of ass kicking DVD packaging. Click play to check 'em out!

The other unfortunate thing is that I've never been able to find anywhere to purchase any of these. Never even seen any of them listed on eBay. Not surprising, being that they're so limited, and come from a different country. But if you keep your eyes peeled, I'm sure you can eventually track them down!

Check out some more Awesome DVD Packaging by revisiting the following posts; The 21 Coolest Horror DVD Packages Of All Time!, Awesome DVD Packaging: Blood Packs! & Awesome Packaging: Sadako's Cursed Box!

I will continue to keep you abreast of incredible home video releases such as these, as I come across them!