Ever since I first saw it I fell in love with it. I read the book that it was based on and I fell in love with that. I’m talking about The Stand but more specifically the TV adaptation of it. However, there was always one person that caught my attention and although he was a minor character, he played a very important role in the show. His name was The Trashcan Man and he was a highly schizophrenic firebug who was recruited by the stories protagonist, Randall Flagg (aka the Devil), to find a nuclear warhead. He would then use the warhead to destroy and kill the resistance against him. He was played by Matt Frewer who also in Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead, so he knows his horror movies. My main plight is that The Trashcan Man, in the TV miniseries, isn’t that he is used for evil but he isn’t that bad of a guy. I think he is a very misunderstood tragic villain.

The way that the film introduces The Trashcan Man sets him up like he is a misunderstood character who had a terrible childhood. He was a delinquent who enjoyed starting fires and the constant torture, torment and ridicule by his peers didn’t help at all. Throughout the show he is plagued by their voices as they make fun of him and harass him. This leads me to believe that he may start fires to try to blow the memories of his tormentors out of his head or to try to take his mind off of things. I also believe that Flagg misled him into believing that he is doing the right thing. He treats Flagg as though he was his savior and dedicates his life to helping him out but in the end he doesn’t. Things happen for a reason and those chosen by Mother Abigail and Flagg were chosen for a reason; perhaps Trashcan Man was chosen by Flagg but served for God. Unknowingly, he brings the nuke into the crowd of people only to let God’s hand come down and set the nuke off. It makes me believe that he was a good guy after all… that he just had the bad luck of getting persuaded by the wrong person.

I really enjoyed this turn in his character even though it was last minute. While the rest of the characters in the story have really identifiable attributes, it seems that The Trashcan Man had a very different and subtle characteristic. I don’t think he was a bad guy because he is insane, he doesn’t know what he is doing and you have to feel sorry for him. He had demons that he couldn’t let go but he ended up saving the world from Flagg’s army. He went from being a tragic villain to a hero in the blink of an eye and that’s why he is one of my favorite characters in the series and in the book.

2009 was one of the finest years for horror in quite some time. Unfortunately, a lot of solid horror movies went under the radar. I thought I had seen everything when a search for the best horror movies of 2009 proved that I didn’t know what I was missing. I took it upon myself to catch up with the horror world and I have not been disappointed. One film that I went into with standard expectations, and which greatly exceeded them all , was Splinter.

Splinter starts off with a young man being attacked by some kind of rabid animal, followed by a common horror opening where we meet a young couple in unfamiliar woods. Seth, a very dorky Biology PhD (played by a solid Paulo Costanzo, who you probably know best from Road Trip) and his girlfriend Polly are trying to celebrate their anniversary, but end of breaking their tent. Of course, Seth is more than happy to ditch the wilderness and hit up a crappy motel. We’re then introduced to Dennis and his girlfriend Lacey, who are on the run from the law. Dennis and Lacey kidnap the couple, but they don’t get far. That’s because a tire blows out when what appears to be the same rabid animal from the beginning runs out in front of them. The creature appears to move even after being totally obliterated, and Dennis sticks himself with what looks to be a black splinter when he picks up the tire that hit the creature. The group makes their way to a gas station, where Lacey finds the now deformed, spike-filled body of the gas station attendant, who proceeds to chase after her and rip her apart. The three remaining characters now have to find a way to survive a parasite that feeds on blood and turns corpses into walking, blood-thirsty spike-filled messes.

Ouch...

I’m not really doing it justice, and I don’t want to ruin anymore of the movie, so I can’t really say anymore, but Splinter is definitely one of the more fun and suspenseful horror movies I’ve seen in a long time. The movie really owes a lot to The Thing, one of my favorite horror films of all time. One prick from a parasite-infected body and once-healthy limbs become blood-thirsty attackers. There’s a great deal of suspense here, especially during some escape attempts, but I won’t ruin anything for you. What’s also very important is that we come to really care about these characters. We even come to feel a bit of respect for the criminal who hijacked the young couple early in the movie, which is a pretty admirable feat. I did think that the movie was a touch too short, and maybe a few additional scenes would have made it feel a little more complete, but I suppose you could also say that this movie just left me wanting more. Director Toby Wilkins (Who also made The Grudge 3, but we can forgive him for that), does a great job of amping the tension, and leaves you constantly cringing with the thought of one of the characters getting cut up by one of the infectious splinters.

Overall, Splinter is a solid horror movie that doesn’t try to do too much. The payoff is great for horror fans, as Splinter is one of the more tense, humorous and exciting horror films of the past few years. If you’re tired of remakes, re-imaginings, or prequels, this movie is definitely worth a look.

I never thought it would make a difference to me if my partner would like horror movies or not. Of course I’d like it if he did, but I didn’t think it would be a deal breaker…..until recently. I have developed a new type of allergy against people who don’t like horror movies. It is not just men, but also women that steer clear of the genre have started to agitate me. It’s not that I want everyone to feel the same as me, I’m all for freedom of speech and expression, but it really really bothers me when someone tells me they are not into horror because they find horror movies boring, stupid or don’t even see them as a proper genre.

Obviously it is great to have friends or a partner who you can watch horror flicks with, have horror nights at their place, and go to a horror festival. But it is more than sharing these activities with my peers that gets to me. I have the notion that horror fans are usually people with a higher intelligence, tolerance level and are much more open minded and analytical than our non horror lovers. Maybe it takes to be a certain kind of person to endure the genre, but I think that just like with great power comes great responsibility; in the same way: with great horror, comes great personality.

A lot of people typecast horror fans and associate them with goths, heavy metal, and suicidal morbids that that are loners and cut off from the rest of the world. This couldn’t be farther from the truth! I have met so many horror fans who are highly sophisticated, into opera, are loving parents, popular within their community and extremely liberal in their thoughts. Having said that, I don’t mean to ‘diss’ goths and heavy metal lovers, I myself am fascinated with gothic lifestyle and like the odd metal song. The point is that horror fans are not freaks! Moreover, they are a cut above the rest. Perhaps watching a horror movie requires not only a certain amount of tolerance level, but it also takes a certain type of person to endure so much death, torture and gore with a pinch of salt. My tolerance level of blood, guts and gore has definitely increased by watching horror and it has opened me up to another level. It’s made me question about the beyond, and analyse the unknown. I’ve delved into my mind further than I would have watching a rom com!

The perfect guy

Another one of my beliefs is that horror makes you smarter. Every horror buff knows you don’t go into the woods alone, we know to take a road trip with a full tank, and even have some spare gas in the boot. We know to never pick up a hitchhiker or stop at abandoned gas stations. We sleep with the door jammed when in motels and we know to never ever piss the locals off, because THEY WILL COME AFTER YOU!! We know to always carry something that can be turned into a weapon, be it a nail cutter, a pair of tweezers, or your ice skates. We are not only street smart, we are smart. I want a guy who can protect me from Michael Myers, who knows he should wake me up pronto if I’m having a nightmare; not someone who won’t have a clue on what to do if we end up with our car broken down in the desert at night. My Ash must be out there somewhere….

The horror genre is inundated with twist endings. From Psycho to Les Diabolique, from Friday the 13th to Scream, some of the most memorable horror movies are remembered as much for their shocking (or sometimes not so shocking) twists as they are for their suspense, gore or maybe even their nude scenes. Some twists are so clever, they make an otherwise standard horror film memorable, and a good horror film great. This holds most true for the slasher genre. In the slasher heyday of the early 80s, the twist ending was king. Once Friday the 13th came along and established a long list of ground rules, including the crazy twist, all the other slashers followed suit. Sexy teens? Check. Situation where said teens are removed from adults? Check. Killer trying to cut said teens to pieces? Check. Twist revealing the killer to be someone you would least expect? CHECK!

Of course, not every twist was great. In fact, a lot of them were kind of lame.  Slashers like New Years Evil had weak attempt at twists that just didn’t make the viewing experience satisfying. Others, like April Fools Day, Prom Night, or pretty much any slasher made from 1981 to 1983 had decent twists, but nothing extremely memorable. In fact, it’s rare to find a movie where an ending is so memorable it becomes part of general pop-culture knowledge. Every so often, the planets align just right and a writer comes up with an ending so shocking, so crazy, so absolutely stunning that it nearly overshadows the film itself. This brings us to one of the most insane twists in horror movie history, the twist ending of Sleepaway Camp.

WARNING: If you haven’t seen the movie, STOP READING. Go rent it, then come back!

There's junk in that trunk!!!

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(Be warned this post contains SPOILERS) At first he’s your best friend.  With a drawl that puts you at ease he welcomes you in.  He’s the epitome of friendliness and warmth.  How lucky you are?  How fortunate, to meet such a good fellow?  And that is of course when his kind eyes shift to pure, malevolent, controlling EVIL.  Lacking any mercy and irredeemably violent, those eyes are the last thing that you see before being sent to a fate worse than death, melted down or broken into nothingness while he looks on laughing.

Am I describing the latest horror torture flick out of Europe, or perhaps the villain from yet another in a long line of horror remakes?  No on both counts.  Sometimes you find the scariest movie creations in the strangest of places.  The…creature…above is this “cuddly” guy…

Cute, but deadly...

Hand it to the makers of Toy Story 3 for creating Lotso, one of the most disturbing characters I’ve seen or read about since Dolores Umbridge (who took the crown from Hannibal Lecter).  When you look at Jason Voorhees, you do not expect him to be a nice guy.  He’s a killing machine and looks it.  Lotso is also a killing machine, but doesn’t look it.  He smiles and has soft fur that smells of strawberries.  Instead of using something as direct as a machete he sets toys up to be crushed, dismembered, and scattered by toddlers.  He does this knowingly and malevolently, seeming to enjoy the suffering that he brings about.  We’ve seen many movies where a seemingly “bad” character turns back to the light.  In Lotso’s case there are several opportunities for such a redemption and he sneers at each and every one.  This is a refreshingly candid look at life and people, and it’s surprising that a movie like Toy Story had the guts to bring it to the screen.  There is no going back for Lotso, you can make no peace with him, and there will be no misty-eyed notion of redemption.  Dr. Loomis would have had a lot of sessions with Lotso before trying to keep him locked up permanently with Michael.  It still sends a shudder down my spine thinking of what else lies behind those sparkly eyes in that very, very diseased brain.

Before I start my review of the third season of True Blood, I’d like to apologize for not writing or making any videos for a while. Last month there was a very sudden, and heartbreaking, death in my family. Being so far away from home has really been very hard on me. I haven’t been able to grieve with my family for our loss. It’s been hard for me to talk about and think about, so watching movies of death just hasn’t seemed very appealing to me. However, life must go on, and so should this blog!

So we are now three episodes into the third season of True Blood, and I have to say, I’ve been very disappointed with it. The first episode was a cluster-%*!$ of annoyance. There were so many loose threads that weren’t tied up at the end of season 2 which resulted in the terrible third season opener. Everyone was so excited about the new season, but I’ve slowly become apathetic towards it.

As someone who has read every book in the Southern Vampire Mysteries series, I understand that of course, the TV show/movie wont be exactly like the novels. The writers have to become creative and change the story to keep everyone (novel readers and regular folk) engaged to provide a successful series. However, I think the writers have written themselves into a corner and they don’t know how to get themselves out.

First, the writers have built characters into much more important roles on the TV show than they are in the books, and so now, it feels like they don’t know what to do with them anymore. Lafayette is killed in the first chapter of the second book, but yet he’s still alive. What is in store for his character now? Tara is hardly mentioned at all, mostly just in passing, but has such a huge role now that I’m unsure what is going to happen to her as well. In season three she does seem sort of on track to where she should be…back in the shadows since she isn’t a very important character.

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Luke Green of Void Visions!

This is the first of several articles profiling some of the great fellow horror artists I met at the 2010 Crypticon convention.  Fun guys and it’s always fun talking art and horror.  After all, who else sympathizes with you when you get several requests to draw a pink rabbit with magenta butterfly wings wearing itsy bitsy little white shoes?

Our first victim…uh, artist is Luke Green of Void Visions.    Green is a native Norhtwesterner (automatic coolness) with a dash of Colorado thrown in.  Several of his pieces are called “Death Panels” a curious blend of commentary, symbolism, and morbidity.  The art is incredibly intricate and achieved with a variety of pens.  In an era where the computer has stabbed a stake through handwriting’s heart, the penmanship and line control required to achieve the fine lines and level of detail in this art is shall we say ADVANCED.  Another thing I like is the focused color palette, especially the use of red.  Green offers much of his art in original and print form, all available in great matte-framed prints.  The matte framing makes  these easy to hang on any wall.  It’s the sort of art you’ll notice new details in every time you walk by it.  I certainly did on my visits to Void Vision’s table at Crypticon.  Check out his store to see more! Here is one of my favorite pieces, although the photo doesn’t do the piece justice.

A quick note, I met many amazing artists at this year’s Crypticon convention.  We talked shop and traded stories on the convention.  I’ll be running a series of articles profiling these cool cats in the coming weeks!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the Horrorart.biz table at this year’s Crypticon convention.  The convention was the best one yet and it was great meeting so many art fans.  I’m still recovering (came down with a cold Monday morning), but hope to be firing on all rockets here shortly.  In the meantime, here’s a picture of my panel on quick, do it yourself makeup…

I’ll admit that Children of the Corn isn’t the best horror movie there is but it does have some pretty creepy things about it and it got me thinking about cornfields. You see, in the Midwest we have acres upon actress of corn and it’s a nice scenic thing to look at while you’re in a car traveling on the road but it’s pretty terrifying once you’re in actually inside the cornfield.  I think Children of the Corn captures that fear pretty well but some people haven’t been inside one and therefore they don’t know how it feels to be afraid of one. Sure, fear of a cornfield is pretty trivial but I assure you that it’s not.

Corn can reach up to about 6 feet in height and probably higher so imagine running into the corn blindly or being chased into the cornfield by somebody. You’ll be looking around and you won’t be able to jump or stand on your toes to look past the top of the cornstalks since it’s too high. Since corn is grown pretty close to each other, it doesn’t matter whether or not it’s night or day… you can’t see through the ears of it since it’s so thick. Somebody could be right behind or in front of you and won’t be visible from all the leaves and thick stalks. At night it’s even worse because there is no light outside and you are trapped with darkness surrounding you. It’s very easy for somebody to pop out of nowhere. Also, cornfields are vast mazes that can span acres and acres so as you are running through it, it will seem endless and it’s easy to get lost. You won’t be able to jump up because of the height and direction becomes lost. It’s like getting stuck in an endless maze not knowing where you are going.

However, with each cornfield comes something to scare away the crows and this was something that Children of the Corn also touched based on. The Blue Man is a dead police officer that was hung up on a corn cross to die and all cornfields have a scarecrow. Scarecrows have always been associatee with evil and horror from Jeepers Creepers 2 to Dark Night of the Scarecrow to The Dark Knight. I’ve often wondered this and it’s due to the fact that scarecrows look like dead people. Crucifixion is often looked at as torture so you put two and two together and it’s naturally frightening.