News

Did you catch the trailer for the upcoming Black Phone 2? There’s some pretty gnarly stuff happening there. Derrickson’s film appears to be a total departure from the tone of the original, opting instead for a blend of Sinister and A Nightmare on Elm Street. It’s bloody. It’s bonkers. It’s pretty damned scary looking, and brimming with subtle horror homages.

Among them is a deep cut sequence that diehard slasher fans will surely lose their minds over. Whether it’s intentional or not, the scene where Ethan Hawke’s Grabber is skating across the ice with an axe toward the camera calls to mind one of the best, yet often forgotten, slasher movies around. Luckily, the film is now streaming free online, so you can travel back to 1983 and relive one of the earliest and best slasher entries. Read on as we explore more about...

The holidays are over, which means we are now knee-deep in the dark days of winter. In many parts of the world, a bleak coldness has set in. As I sit here writing this, a bone-chilling wind is howling outside, literally shaking my house and making me want to burrow under some blankets and not go outside until April rolls around. Now is the perfect time to hunker down and stream some icy horror movies as you wait out the winter. Below, I've rounded up 10 wintry horror movies you can stream this month, in all their chilly glory. And because I know someone, somewhere, will be wondering about this: no, "The Shining" isn't on here. And there are two reasons for that. One: I already listed "The Shining" in a previous horror streaming column and I try not to double dip, and Two: believe it or not, "The Shining" is currently unavailable to stream anywhere.

Horror fans have Canada to thank for a lot of their favorite movies from the ‘70s and ‘80s. Black Christmas, Prom Night, Happy Birthday to Me, My Bloody Valentine — all these fright flicks and more were in fact made in Canada. And for a lot of these vintage movies, they were produced in the Great White North because of an enticing tax incentive. It was all part of a desire to fire up the country’s movie industry. And so long as these potential productions were chiefly shot and edited in Canada, as well as starred mostly Canadian actors, the movies’ costs were up to 100 tax deductible. Like those before him, producer Peter R. Simpson (Prom Night III: The Last Kiss) acted on this attractive business offer, though his timing could have been better. By the time Curtains came out in 1983, Canada’s most significant era of “B” movies was...

Director Richard Ciupka’s Canadian slasher updates the old dark house theme as a group of aspiring actresses convene in a spooky mansion while trying to avoid a masked figure armed with a sickle and a bad temper. The 1983 film benefits from the welcome presence of Animal House’s John Vernon, John Steed’s former partner Linda Thorson and the exquisite Samantha Eggar.

When one looks back at mid ‘70s to early ‘80s horror, it’s quite surprising to see how many Canadian made films are nestled among fan favorites. Titles such as Black Christmas, Shivers, Prom Night, Happy Birthday to Me, and My Bloody Valentine continue to delight and shock veteran horror lovers or those just starting their jagged journey down the terror path. There is one, however, that due to a troubled production and poor distribution, seems relegated to the discount bins of time. Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on, uh, Curtains (1983), an unsung slasher weirder than a sack full of rabid beavers.

Released by Jensen Farley Pictures in March of ’83 in the Us, and September of ’84 by Norstar Releasing in (my home and) native land, Curtains received a very limited release in both countries, but coming as it did at a time when the Canadian film industry had...

By Todd Garbarini

When I was a teenager, the Boy Scout troop that I was a member of consisted of nearly 25 scouts. We had a few older scouts whom the rest of the younger scouts looked up to, and during our weekend camping trips the seniors made every effort to scare the beejezus out of us youngsters with ludicrous tales of ghosts or killers hiding out in the woods. These stories were often woven around a campfire in the late hours of the evening when we were all seemingly vulnerable. During the summer of 1980, Sean Cunningham’s Friday the 13th was doing well at the box office, so I was already aware of these “murderers in the woods”-themed films. This didn’t make it any easier for us to go on camping trips! The success of Friday the 13th gave birth to countless carbon copies of young adults-being-stalked-in-the-woods films.

A lot of classic Canadian genre films are making the transition to Blu-ray this year. Some have had a long home video life, and have been widely available throughout various formats, and others, like Curtains have had a practically non-existent presence on any format. From what I understand, a terrible version of the film was released in a random multi-pack, and featured audio and video quality that may have rivaled a third generation VHS dub. Synapse have resurrected Curtains, in a way only Synapse could. One thing you can be sure of, when a title is announced as being released to Blu-ray by the label, is that they’ll either put out a perfect, preserved transfer of the film, or they’ll release nothing at all. A lot of the time their releases get delayed, because they aren’t happy with how it has turned out, and they would like...

For the last week of July, there may not be a lot of titles being released onto DVD and Blu-ray, but the ones that are making their debut are absolutely an impressive bunch.

On Tuesday, Synapse Films is bringing the 1983 cult classic Curtains to Blu-ray for the very first time ever and Paramount is making every Twin Peaks fan’s dreams come true this week with their Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery box set, which includes all the missing footage that we’ve all been waiting to be released for decades. Other titles coming out include the indie thriller The Den as well as a new Mystery Science Theater 3000 collection from Shout Factory.

Curtains (Synapse Films, Blu-ray & DVD)

John Vernon (Chained Heat, National Lampoon’s Animal House) and Samantha Eggar (The Brood, The Exterminator) star in this horror classic from the golden age of the slasher genre.

A...

Originally planned for a July 8th release, Synapse Films has bumped the release date for the new DVD and Blu-ray of the Eighties slasher flick Curtains back a couple of weeks to July 29th. We've waited this long for a release; another two weeks is a cakewalk!

Curtains Release Details

John Vernon (Chained Heat, National Lampoon’s Animal House) and Samantha Eggar (The Brood, The Exterminator) star in this horror classic from the golden age of the slasher genre.

A group of women gather for a weekend casting call at the secluded mansion of director Jonathan Stryker (Vernon). He’s searching for the perfect woman to play the role of the crazed character “Audra,” and these women are just dying for the chance to play her! Stryker’s last star, Samantha Sherwood (Eggar), is so determined to get the part, she committed herself to an asylum to prepare for the role.

Synapse are still hanging in there, and rocking us with some unexpected Blu-ray announcements. Among them, was the long-lost Canadian cult film, Curtains. From what I understand, this is actually the first time this film will be legitimately available on home video, and in the best home video format available. Now is the best time ever to be a horror fan. Even if you are not a fan of the new releases, we still have amazing releases like this to look forward to, that allows us to re-discover lost classics. Synapse is known for taking their time with titles, and not releasing them until the final product is perfect, so that is what you can expect on the 8th of July when Curtains finally comes home. Check the press release below.

Curtains

Label: Synapse Films

Blu-ray

Prebook: 06/03/2013 Street Date: 07/08/2013

Srp: 24.95 Upc: 654930316290 Cat: SFD0139

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Language: English English Sdh...

Caroline Munro is one of the nicest, upbeat and most gracious personalities I’ve met. Acting in films for nearly four decades, she has amassed an impressive filmography of genre titles. Caroline was able to take some time out of her traveling schedule and talk with me about her career.

Jonathan Stryker: How did you end becoming an actress?

Caroline Munro: I suppose really it was all by accident. I didn’t set out to be … Continue reading →

Horrornews.net...

Synapse Films is bringing another cult classic horror title to Blu-ray and DVD for the first time. Very few horror fans have heard of 1983′s Curtains, let alone have seen it, but you’ll get your chance on July 8th:

“Unseen On Home Video For Over 30 Years, The Canadian Horror Classic Makes Its Digital Home Video Debut From Synapse Films!

“… the classiest, most chilling thriller to come along in quite a while… rich in surprises of a gripping sensuous nature.” – The Hollywood Reporter

John Vernon (Chained Heat, National Lampoon’s Animal House) and Samantha Eggar (The Brood, The Exterminator) star in this horror classic from the golden age of the slasher genre.

A group of women gather for a weekend casting call at the secluded mansion of director Jonathan Stryker (Vernon). He’s searching for the perfect woman to play the role of the crazed character “Audra”, and these women...

Someone Is Waiting, Someone Is Watching…

Curtains

Available On Blu-ray And DVD July 8!

Curtains Blu-ray

And The Curtains Part!

John Vernon (Chained Heat, National Lampoon’s Animal House) and Samantha Eggar (The Brood, The Exterminator) star in this horror classic from the golden age of the slasher genre.

A group of women gather for a weekend casting call at the secluded mansion of director Jonathan Stryker (Vernon). He’s searching … Continue reading →

Horrornews.net...

One of my favorite slasher films of the 80s, Curtains was always kind of a bitch to track down, and when you were able to find it, the print was usually shit. Synapse Films is about to change all that. Read on for details.

From the Press Release

John Vernon (Chained Heat, National Lampoon’s Animal House) and Samantha Eggar (The Brood, The Exterminator) star in this horror classic from the golden age of the slasher genre.

A group of women gather for a weekend casting call at the secluded mansion of director Jonathan Stryker (Vernon). He’s searching for the perfect woman to play the role of the crazed character “Audra”, and these women are just dying for the chance to play her! Stryker’s last star, Samantha Sherwood (Eggar), is so determined to get the part, she committed herself to an asylum to prepare for the role. Unfortunately for all,...

Synapse Films is bringing the 1983 slasher film Curtains to DVD and Blu-ray July 8th! "A group of women gather for a weekend casting call at the secluded mansion of director Jonathan Stryker (John Vernon). He’s searching for the perfect woman to play the role of the crazed character “Audra”, and these women are just dying for the chance to play her! Stryker’s last star, Samantha Sherwood (Eggar), is so determined to get the part, she committed herself to an asylum to prepare for the role. Unfortunately for all, a crazed killer in a disgusting “hag” mask is viciously murdering everyone one by one. Who will survive the final curtain call?"

The post It’s Curtains for You This July, Thanks to Synapse! appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Just when you thought you’d seen everything… here comes another 55 insane trailers to whip you into a frenzy in this collection of sick, depraved and hysterically brilliant movie previews from the golden age of Grindhouse cinema in Grindhouse Trailer Classics 4.

Following the successful and critically-acclaimed release of Grindhouse Trailer Classics 1, 2 & 3, Nucleus Films will once again take you on trip back to the “gory days” of cult and exploitation cinema with their latest unseen compilation of audacious theatrical trailers from the sleazy cinematic sub-genre known as “grindhouse”.

I’m a Huge fan of this series (check out this pic of my signed copies of the first 3 releases) so I’m super-excited to see what stupefyingly awesome trailers this collection has to offer. According to the press release, all of the trailers in this collection have been sourced from ultra-rare 35mm prints, many of which haven’t been seen since they...

Lesleh Donaldson with Cinema Retro columnist Todd Garbarini.

By Todd Garbarini

Richard Ciupka’s unfairly maligned 1983 horror film Curtains was screened recently as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Scary Movies 7 exhibition that also included screenings of Lucky McKee’s new film All Cheerleaders Die, Michele Soavi’s highly regarded Cemetery Man (1994), Eli Roth’s new film The Green Inferno, John D. Hancock’s ultra creepy Let’s Scare Jessica to Death (1971), the New York premiere of Clive Barker’s 1990 film Nightbreed - the Cabal Cut, and Peter Carter’s brilliant Rituals (1977), better known as The Creeper, which stars Hal Holbrook and Lawrence Dane in a film that is clearly influenced by John Boorman’s Deliverance (1971) but easily stands on its own as a strong piece of independent filmmaking.

Appearing in person at the Curtains screening was actress Lesleh Donaldson who played Christie Burns, the ice skater in the film.

Director Richard Ciupka’s Curtains, the 1983 Canadian thriller about six actresses vying for the part of “Audra” at the home of film director Jonathan Stryker, will screen on 35mm (courtesy of yours truly) on Friday, November 1st, 2013 at the Francesca Beale Theater near Lincoln Center at 7:00 pm. Actress Lesleh Donaldson, who plays ice skater Christie Burns in the film, is scheduled to appear at the screening. The film is part of the … Continue reading →

Horrornews.net...

Beginning on Halloween night and running through November 7th, New York's Lincoln Center is once again playing host to a horror film festival called Scary Movies, which will see both world premieres of new horror films as well as screenings of genre faves from the past.

With oodles of filmmakers in attendance, and tons of movies being shown, it looks to be another can't miss event. Read on for all the details!

From the Press Release

The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual horror fest Scary Movies returns for its 7th edition featuring several U.S. and New York City premieres among its lineup of highly anticipated horror films and thrillers, genre rarities and fan favorites. Appearances include filmmakers Eli Roth, Andrew van den Houten, Cliff Prowse and Derek Lee.

Among the nine U.S. or NYC premieres are; Lucky McKee and Chris Sivertson’s high school horror-revenge film...

This has got to be the best news to break all week if you're a slasher movie fan. We just learned that Synapse Films is prepping a 2k restoration of the little seen 1983 Canadian slasher gem Curtains.

According to the Synapse Facebook page, today marks the beginning of what will hopefully be a glorious resurrection of Richard Ciupka's eerie and incredibly bizarre Curtains. The only question is whether or not the film's elements have held up over time, so let's hold our breaths and hope for the best.

From Synapse:

Today is the kind of day I both loath and love about this business. We have, in our hands, the only existing vault materials for a horror film that many love and have wanted for years to be done right on home video. I'm assigned to the task. The excitement is overwhelming just to See the film and find...

By Todd Garbarini

Horror films are a hot commodity. Some of the most well-known slasher films of the 1980’s have been re-issued on DVD and Blu-ray by companies looking to cash-in on audiences’ seemingly insatiable appetite for murder and mayhem while also introducing them to a whole new generation of fans with disposable income. Two titles that fans want on DVD and Blu-ray in the way of special editions are Paul Lynch’s Prom Night (1980) and Richard Ciupka’s Curtains (1983), both Canadian productions through Simcom, the former having fared far better on home video than the latter.

Prom Night was originally released theatrically by Avco Embassy Pictures in July 1980. It was distributed on VHS by McA Home Video in 1981 and again by Virgin Vision, Inc. in 1988. McA also released a laserdisc pan-and-scan version on their laser rot-prone DiscoVision line in 1981 (curiously, the film bypassed the RCA Select-a-Vision Capacitance Electronic Disc...

The definition of a slasher film varies depending on who you ask, but in general, it contains several specific traits that feed into the genre’s formula. Author Vera Dika rather strictly defines the sub-genre in her book Games of Terror by only including films made between 1978 and 1984. In other words, she saw it as a movement. When someone describes Brick, they don’t define it as a noir, but instead neo-noir . In other words, it’s a modern motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in those from the 1940s and 1950s. So does one consider Scream a slasher film or a neo-slasher, or simply put, a modern slasher?

Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.

For the horror buff, Fall is the best time of the year. The air is crisp, the leaves are falling and a feeling of death hangs on the air. Here at Sound on Sight we have some of the biggest horror fans you can find. We are continually showcasing the best of genre cinema, so we’ve decided to put our horror knowledge and passion to the test in a horror watching contest. Each week in October, Ricky D, James Merolla and Justine Smith will post a list of the horror films they have watched. By the end of the month, the person who has seen the most films wins. Prize Tbd.

Justine Smith (9 viewings) Total of 40 viewings

Purchase

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the best horror films ever made, in competition with Possession, The Exorcist, The Birds and Suspiria.

COLOGNE, Germany -- Kops, the police spoof from Swedish director Josef Fares, was awarded the audience prize at this year's Hamburg Film Festival, which wrapped Saturday. The follow-up to Fares' hugely successful comedy debut Jalla! Jalla!, Kops is set in the quiet, crime-free town of Hoegbotraesk. When Swedish authorities decide to shut down the local police station the small-town cops start their own mini-crime wave in order to stay in business. This year's audience prize was the first to be awarded by Hamburg newspaper the Hamburger Abendblatt. The festival's top award used to be presented by magazine TV Spielfilm. Other prizes awarded at this year's fest included the Emil prize for best children's film for Richard Ciupka's Das Geheimnisvolle Fraeulein C (The Secretive Miss C.), and the Douglas Sirk lifetime achievement award, which was presented to French star Isabelle Huppert.