I started writing this on very little sleep over the last 24 hours. Not for any bad reasons, but just choices we make in life. Sure, some of them might not be too smart, especially at my age, but it is one bad choice I will continue to make as long as I can. What is this poor choice that I am talking about? Going to the Dusk to Dawn Horrorfest at the Midway Drive-in last Saturday!
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The final lineup has been announced for this year’s Dusk to Dawn Horrorfest at the Midway Drive-in, taking place on Sept. 20th. And what a lineup!
Re-Animator (1985)
Halloween 3: Season of the Witch (1982)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Bride of Re-Animator (1990)
In just 6 days, we’ll be heading into Rosemont for this year’s Flashback Weekend! As usual, they have an incredible guest list. There is a Re-Animator reunion with Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, and Bruce Abbott, which is celebrating its 40-year anniversary! Along with a reunion for The Howling (1981), with director Joe Dante, and stars Dee Wallace and Belinda Belaski. Of course, Robert Englund is also appearing! Then there is a Terrifier reunion with 11 guests from the film series. But also, names like Devon Sawa, Charles Band, Kane Hodder, Danielle Harris, Adam Green, Ken Kirzinger, Amanda Wyss, Tuesday Knight, Andras Jones, and more.
Of course, there is also the HUGE dealer room filled with plenty of goodies to tempt money from your wallets. And as always, we will be vending there as well, with our usual array of horror reference books, while my wife will have her selection of Horror Slave custom pillows, tote bags, and more.
For all the info, head over to their website HERE, and we hope to see you there!
Naked Theater & Uncensored Horror
Published by FAB Press, 2023. 360 pages
By Stuart Gordon
I’ve been wanting to get to this title ever since it arrived in the mail from FAB Press when it first came out. But like all things in life, something else always came up. Until a few days ago when I decided now was the time. It was a Sunday, and I didn’t have any real plans for the day, so I knew I could at least start it. 3 days later, I finished it.
I’ve known Gordon’s work since his debut film, Re-Animator (1985), hit the theater I worked at when it first opened. All horror fans immediately knew him as “the guy who did Re-Animator” and would watch for his next venture into the film world. The more films Gordon did, the more interviews and articles about him came out, the more we got a hint of his history. I knew very well that he came from theater background, even being here in Chicago for quite some time, but I really had no clue to the extent he had, or the impact that he made.
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Re-Animator (1985), From Beyond (1986), and Dagon (2001)
Bringing the works of Howard Phillips Lovecraft to the screen is not an easy task. Much of the horrors Lovecraft talked about wasn’t described or explained too much, leaving it up to the reader. But when director Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna, and writer Dennis Paoli got together to adapt Lovecraft’s 1922 story “Herbert West – Re-Animator” for a movie, they changed cinema forever. Not only did they show us more than Lovecraft would ever dream of, they created a perfect blend of outrageous horror, gore, and bizarre imagery that would immediately put them in the horror history books.
The following year, they took another short story, “From Beyond”, first published in 1934, and showed even more strange, bizarre, and gooey things we’d seen before, going beyond then what the short story told us.
Then 15 years later, these three deranged creators returned to Lovecraft to take us to a fishing village filled with very unusual citizens, in 2001’s Dagon.
While Gordon’s filmography might not be filled with classic after classic, when he hit a home run, usually when he’s working with Yuzna and Paoli, they knock the cover off the ball.
Films mentioned in this episode:
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Directed by Stuart Gordon
Starring Jeffrey Combs, Barbara Crampton, Ken Foree, Ted Sorel, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Bunny Summers
For horror fans, the ‘80s were a time of sheer wonderment when it came to special effects. With the constant advancement of special makeup effects, it was a time of foam rubber, latex, and slime, with the only boundaries being imagination. One film that represents that more than most is Stuart Gordon’s From Beyond.
When I worked at the theater back in the ‘80s, Re-Animator (1985) played there and it just blew me away, between the gore and just the outrageousness of the whole story. I had already been reading Fangoria by that time, so when From Beyond was coming out, I was already excited about seeing it. And luckily for me, it played at my theater as well, so I spent a lot of time in there watching it over and over. I had recently started reading horror fiction, and thanks to Stephen King, had already started to dive into the works of H.P. Lovecraft, and had read the very short story that From Beyond was based on. In fact, the pre-credit sequence in the film is pretty much the whole story. But I think writer Dennis Paoli, along with producer Brian Yuzna and director Gordon, fleshed out the rest of the plot that, while way gorier and gooier than Lovecraft would have spelled out, I think it still felt it could be in the same universe.
Continue readingThe lineup for this year’s April Ghouls Drive-in Monster Rama has been announced! And if you’re a fan of the ’80s, then you’re going to be in for a real treat. Such a great mixture of titles, from renowned classics to some great titles that you’ll have the chance to see on the big screen.
Tickets are only $10 per person each night, plus there is camping available on both Friday and Saturday. For more information, head over to either www.riversidedrivein.com or dvddrive-in.com.
In a little less than 2 weeks, the Skyline Drive-In will be hosting their annual Super Monster Movie Fest. This year’s theme is Man Made Monsters and they have posted the final and complete list of titles that are scheduled to play. As always, they have one hell of a great lineup! Here’s is what will be playing: Continue reading
What has seemed like forever, the Skyline Drive-In in Shelbyville, IN has finally announced their lineup (well… most of it) for this year’s Super Monster Movie Fest. Earlier, they had mentioned the theme was going to be Man Made Monsters, which lead to a lot of guessing and speculation. But now, other than one more title on each night that is to be announced, we have our titles. And here they are: Continue reading
At my very first horror convention, back in April of 1988, John Carl Buechler was there. He had brought two of his creations with him, Jason from Friday the 13th Part 7 (1988)and the beast from Cellar Dweller (1986), which you could see from across the room because it was so tall. I still have the black and white still of that creature on it that Buechler graciously signed for me. He was so friendly and approachable. He had worked on so many movies that I devoured in the ’80s, from Ghoulies (1984), Re-Animator (1985), Crawlspace (1986), From Beyond (1986), Dolls (1987), Bride of Re-Animator (1989), to even the more recent Hatchet (2006). I still think the look he created for Jason in the entry, that he even directed, is still the best looking ever created on film.
As everyone probably knows by now, we have lost this incredible talent. About a month ago, his wife had started a GoFundMe page because he was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, to help pay for the increasing medical expenses. It was then announced on that page yesterday, that he had passed away early Monday morning. We are so saddened here at the Krypt of this news because of the hours and hours of entertainment he has given us fans over the years. The one positive thing is that because of all those great films he worked on, the memorable monsters he helped create, him and his work will always be remembered, and never forgotten.
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