News

In 2000, during the prime of the slasher boom from the Scream trilogy, the Wayans brothers made Scary Movie, which is often regarded as the best horror parody of all time. It led to a franchise, with each new entry poking fun at whatever was popular in the genre at the time. However, despite how popular they all were, they all pale in comparison to a little film from 1981 called Student Bodies. This horror parody lovingly mocks slashers, and it's surprising just how effectively it has all the tropes nailed down for a subgenre that was just starting to explode. 1981 gave us Halloween II, Friday the 13th Part 2, The Burning, and The Prowler among many others, and Student Bodies had them all figured out immediately. A cast of no names produced a parody that all horror fans need to see.

Watching cheesy horror films with friends is a blast as everyone laughs over the films' ridiculous plots. The 1980s was an important decade for horror films where the best, and cheesiest, examples of slasher films and iconic killers were introduced. Many of the cheesiest horror films from the '80s are purposefully comical and pay homage to the greatest creative figures and tropes in horror.

There's comfort found in watching a hair-raising horror movie with others, but a similar community can be just as appreciated for comedy horror films that are beyond ridiculous. Many horror films lack scares but excel in outlandish plots, wild and over-the-top acts of violence, and, especially when it pertains to the '80s, aged special effects. Horror films have yet to wane in popularity, but the genre saw a peak in the '80s.

The decade introduced iconic horror characters and saw a rise in the popularity of slasher films.

It’s become common for movies once trapped on VHS to make that great leap to Blu-ray. And thanks to boutiques like Culture Shock Releasing, hidden gems like The American Scream are available again after being nearly lost to time. Those uninitiated viewers could be hesitant as they try making sense of this 1988 movie’s poster. Is this a slasher? A holiday travelogue? A teen comedy? The simple answer is “yes to all of the above.” The American Scream is indeed a mélange of familiar beats and elements, but everything is put together so strangely that the final product comes across as unique.

Made with a budget of around $200,000 and shot in just ten days in Camp Nelson, California, The American Scream turned out better than expected. Especially since director and co-writer Mitchell Linden threw the script together in a hurry; he was set to go on his honeymoon when...

No director in Hollywood has a weirder résumé than Alan Smithee. Between 1969 and 2015, his credits included the Richard Widmark western "Death of a Gunfighter"; the horror comedies "Student Bodies" and "Ghost Fever"; the Jodie Foster thriller "Catchfire"; the franchise sequels "The Birds II: Land's End" and "Hellraiser: Bloodline"; episodes of hit TV series like "MacGyver" and "Tiny Toon Adventures"; and music videos for artists like Metallica, Destiny's Child, Wu-Tang Clan, Whitney Houston, and Jennifer Lopez.

But there's a reason for that: "Alan Smithee" is not a real person. It's a pseudonym invented by the Director's Guild of America for filmmakers to use when they no longer want to be credited for their work. This usually happens when they're replaced on a project, or believe that studio interference has altered the film so much that it no longer reflects their vision. That's why you'll sometimes see "Alan Smithee" credited on TV...

He’s a squirter. First we got cosmic with Adam Egypt Mortimer’s outstanding imaginary friend tale Daniel Isn’t Real, then we got hot with the 1981 parody Student Bodies before getting fancy (and super duper queer) with Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope. Now, we’re getting weird, gooey and tragic with David Cronenberg‘s masterful remake of The Fly! In the film, […]...

Rope-a-dope. After queering up the castle in James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein, we got cosmic with Adam Egypt Mortimer’s outstanding imaginary friend tale Daniel Isn’t Real before getting hot in the 1981 parody Student Bodies. Now we’re going back in time again to check in with the sociopathic (and possibly definitely queer) duo in Alfred Hitchcock‘s […]...

Finally, the Daily Dead “Class Of” series has reached my beloved birth year, 1981. For the genre, 1981 signifies an important moment in the history of horror. With the introduction of two slasher icons, Michael Myers in 1978 and Jason Voorhees in 1980; the beginning of the sequel boom that would dominate the rest of the decade was born in 1981 with Halloween 2 and Friday the 13th Part 2. These two sequels are merely the introduction to the rise of slasher cinema for the 80s, with 1981 providing a variety of examples like The Burning, Graduation Day, The Prowler, Funhouse, Happy Birthday to Me, Final Exam, Night School, Student Bodies, and My Bloody Valentine.

1981 also proved the best year in the history of horror for werewolf movies. The iconic American Werewolf in London set the gold standard in practical transformation effects. The Howling is a demonstration of how horror and humor can coexist perfectly. Wolfen...

Stars: Richard J. Gasparian, David Karsten, Holly Kaplan, Robert Small, Stephen James Carver | Written by Richard Gasparian, Robin Nuyen | Directed by Robin Nuyen

Housesitter… The Night They Saved Siegfried’s Brain is the story of Andy, an idealist medical student with a serious Elvis obsession, who is determination to perfect his rat-to-rat brain transfer to “help mankind and change the face of modern science”. After his final experiment fails and blows up, Andy loses his chance to travel abroad and study at the prestigious Reinhardt Institute. With his future in doubt, and with no place to live, his future looks bleak. Little does Andy know that his beloved professor and mentor, Doc Crosby, is actually a mad scientist who has been murdering people and stealing their brains for experiments in his makeshift “black and white” laboratory.

When Doc realizes that his own brains so severely damaged from experimenting on himself,...

Stars: Trae Ireland, Baron Jay, La’Princess Jackson, Joe Karam, Daryl Keith Johnson, Monica Davis, Chris Sapone, Michael Joseph, Viet Wilcots, Tracy “Stresh” Mcnulty, Joe Bohn | Written by Christian Ackerman, William B. Keller | Directed by James Cullen Bressack

I’m always down to watch a film by James Cullen Bressack, I have been since the first time I saw his film My Pure Joy. Since then I’ve seen pretty much every genre film he has put out – including his last, Blood Craft, which was a fantastic slice of mainstream horror from a writer and director more synonymous with extreme fare… After all we’d tried to release a number of his films in the UK via our “Nerdly Presents” banner, an effort which saw Bressack’s Hate Crime officially make the banned by the BBFC list – that’s how extreme his films are/were.

So when I saw his latest film,...

Stars: Dave Peniuk, Angela Galanopoulos, Darren Andrichuk, Emma Docker, Chris Allen, Starlise Waschuk, Terry Mullett, Cynthia Chalmers, Gerald Varga, Hans Potter, Katherine Alpen, Jason Asuncion, Andrea Bang, Stephanie Bally, Léonie Armstrong | Written and Directed by Matt Frame

[Note: With the film screening as part of this years Horror-On-Sea Film Festival, here's a reposting of our review of the fantastically funny horror Camp Death III in 2D!]

Apparently shot on a budget of $35,000Cdn, Camp Death III in 2D is – at first glance – a terrible, low-budget pile of cinematic crud featuring some of the worst acting ever committed to celluloid. That is until you realise instead that the film in fact both a loving tribute to, and an over-the-top Troma-esque parody of, the slasher movie: in particular the Friday the 13th franchise. A parody that takes the idea of parodies to the [il]logical extreme!

Undoubtedly inspired by the outrageous cinematic stylings of Troma, Camp Death III in 2D follows a group of camp counselors and troubled youths, composed entirely of excruciating social stereotypes and slasher movie tropes, who are all...

Stars: Dave Peniuk, Angela Galanopoulos, Darren Andrichuk, Emma Docker, Chris Allen, Starlise Waschuk, Terry Mullett, Cynthia Chalmers, Gerald Varga, Hans Potter, Katherine Alpen, Jason Asuncion, Andrea Bang, Stephanie Bally, Léonie Armstrong | Written and Directed by Matt Frame

Apparently shot on a budget of $35,000Cdn, Camp Death III in 2D is – at first glance – a terrible, low-budget pile of cinematic crud featuring some of the worst acting ever committed to celluloid. That is until you realise instead that the film in fact both a loving tribute to, and an over-the-top Troma-esque parody of, the slasher movie: in particular the Friday the 13th franchise. A parody that takes the idea of parodies to the [il]logical extreme!

Undoubtedly inspired by the outrageous cinematic stylings of Troma, Camp Death III in 2D follows a group of camp counselors and troubled youths, composed entirely of excruciating social stereotypes and slasher movie tropes, who are all...

How did the idea for ‘The Ultimate Guide to Strange Cinema’ come about originally?

Well like I explain in my foreword I gained a lot of inspiration from fanzines which was where you had to get film education pre-Internet age. Also, this book is sort of a love letter to my VHS renting days at my local mom and pop store. Writing this book brought me right back to being young and sitting in my room devouring every fan zine I could and the excitement of learning about films like The Beyond and going to the rental shop and checking out crazy stuff like Psychos in Love. I wasn’t sure if other fans would also get a nostalgic thrill out of a reference guide, but a number of people have really respond to it, which they consider a lost art.

What can people expect from the book?

Expect to...

The original cast of the 1990s teen comedy “Student Bodies” reunited in Et Canada’s Toronto studio to reminisce about their behind-the-scenes memories, just in time for the show’s 20th anniversary. “I think it wasn’t until recently, on Facebook when we put up the video mentioning that there might be a reunion that we realized just […]...

Stars: Rita Artmann, Joe Bauer, Dryden Bingham, Daniel Bradford, Andrew O’Sullivan, Jess Thomas-Hall, Mark Theodossiou, Laura Jane Turner, Carmel Savage, Meisha Lowe, Johancee Theron, Cameron Sowden | Written and Directed by Joe Bauer

At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking The Killage is steaming pile of filmic horse shit, filled with some of the worst acting ever committed to celluloid. That is until you realise instead that the film in fact one of the greatest movie spoofs since the Leslie Nielsen classic, Airplane! I really should have guessed given the pun-tastic title…

Undoubtedly inspired by the outrageous cinematic stylings of Troma, The Killage follows a group of eleven recruits, composed entirely of excruciating social stereotypes, and one dorky camp instructor, who embark on a weekend-long work retreat in the quasi-wilderness of northern south-east Queensland. Of course this being in essence a slasher movie, the retreat doesn’t...

Roll up for the best of this year’s Halloween horror cinema, from the Dead & Breakfast all-nighter in Derby to The Exorcist with added ouija board experience in Muswell Hill

To the traditional sounds of Halloween – screams of terror, groans of pain, revving chainsaws, retching in the aisles and the like – come some more tuneful emanations this hallowed eve. Film-plus-live-music events are this season’s must-have, it seems. The perennial Chills In The Chapel, at Islington’s Union Chapel, has been doing this for a while. This year it brings electronic composer and John Carpenter collaborator Alan Howarth to preside over doomful synth accompaniment to Escape From New York (Fri), and a medley of clips from the Halloween franchise (31 Oct). In a similar vein, Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin perform their score to a screening of giallo classic Profondo Rosso live for the climax of Sheffield’s gruesomely varied Celluloid Screams horror festival this Sunday.

So you want to spoof a horror film? Well, there are already a few examples—some successful and some not so much—on how to do this. Scary Movie took the horror genre into overboard goofy and slapstick spaces. Shaun of the Dead played it straightforward with a near pitch-perfect mix of comedy and horror that appeased horror fans and crossed over with appreciation from non-horror fans as well. Scream played the genre against itself, establishing horror film rules and mixing it with great subgenre slasher elements, making the Wes Craven film a horror classic.

Of course there are others that could be discussed, early Abbott and Costello and the Universal Monsters movies or the 1981 spoof Student Bodies, but director Todd Strauss-Schulson’s The Final Girls is an impressive edition to consider. With a PG-13 rating, don’t turn away just yet hardcore horror fans, Mr. Strauss-Schulson hits nearly every...

By Todd Garbarini

I have been a fan of the Italian giallo subgenre for 30 years since my initiation into it was precipitated by my first viewing of Creepers (1985), the severely cut version of Dario Argento’s Phenomena, my personal favorite film of his. Subsequent viewings of films by both Mr. Argento and his mentor, Mario Bava, as well as Lucio Fulci, Lamberto Bava, Luigi Cozzi, and Michele Soavi solidified a love for the putrid and the fantastic, and anyone who has seen these movies knows how delightfully entertaining they are: off-kilter camera angles, ludicrous dialogue, and what writer Todd French referred to as “a maddening narrative looseness” are present in these films in a way that they are absent in other genres. There is just nothing like an Italian giallo film. With all of the mock horror films that have been made going back to 1981’s Student Bodies and the later,...

Welcome to the latest episode of The ScreamCast! Each episode sees hosts Sean Duregger and Brad Henderson take a look at another slice of home video horror. This episode sees the ScreamFest gang tackle horror comedies, new Scream Factory releases and more…

Horror-comedies were nothing new back in 1981, but Student Bodies beat (just barely) September the 14th as the first Slasher Parody to make it to theaters. This week we discuss the new Olive blu-ray of Student Bodies as well as our Stream Screams pick, C.H.U.D. II; and our Vide-omg pick, Enemy Territory!

Don’t forget to check out TheScreamCast.com for the show notes and for more news and reviews of Scream Factory releases and make sure to follow them on Twitter too!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download...

The last week of August features an eclectic array of titles that should be of interest to horror and sci-fi fans. In order to give viewers a chance to revisit last season before the next run of the series begins in October, Anchor Bay Entertainment is releasing season five of The Walking Dead on Blu-ray and DVD this week. Scream Factory has put together another killer cult classic double feature with their Blu-ray presentation of Metamorphosis and Beyond Darkness, and for those of you Clive Barker enthusiasts out there, you’ll finally have a chance to own the Master of Horror’s visionary short films, Salome and The Forbidden, for the first time ever this Tuesday.

Other titles arriving on August 25th include Blu-ray releases for The Sender and Student Bodies from Olive Films, newer indie horror films like Beg, Morbid and Atom the Amazing Zombie Killer, and both Jacob...

Olive Films Announce August Bluray Titles

Independent U.S. distributors Olive Films have announced that they will add a number of new titles to their catalog in August. Amongst them are: Keith Gordon’s The Singing Detective, Mickey Rose’s Student Bodies, Guy Ferland’s The Babysitter, and Roger Christian’s The Sender. The Singing Detective The Singing Detective boasts a line-up of top rank talent ...

Hnn | Horrornews.net - Official News Site...

Made entirely with CG, Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn will premiere at Walker Stalker Fan Fest in July. Also in this round-up: release details for Wave 7 of Funko's Comic-Con 2015 exclusive figures and The Sender and Student Bodies Blu-rays.

Night of the Living Dead: Darkest Dawn: "Night Of The Living Dead: Darkest Dawn is a new fully CG take on the 1968 classic, “Night of the Living Dead.” This is the story of a group of survivors fighting to stay alive when a mysterious plague unleashes the undead on New York City. Barricaded in an abandoned apartment building, the characters from the original film face new terror and question each other’s compassion and sense of humanity as they fight to stay alive against the army of the walking dead...It was directed by Krisztian Majdik, Zebediah Y. Desoto, and written by David Schwartz, Zebediah Y. De Soto, Jib Polhemus,...

My First R-rated Movie Or…

How I Became The 007 Of Covert Forbidden Film Viewing

By Alex Simon

For those of us who grew up in the suburbs in the pre-home video, pre-cable TV and pre-Netflix coupons 1970s and early ‘80s, there were few dangerous pleasures as heady as sneaking into an R-rated movie at the local multiplex. The multiplex cinema was a ‘70s phenomenon that made regulating children’s viewing habits infinitely more difficult than the old days of stand-alone, single screen theaters. Ironically, the new freedom that filmmakers enjoyed with the advent of the MPAA rating system in late 1968 was almost in perfect synch with the rise of multi-screen cinemas. Some things do happen for a reason.

You never forget your first...

My first R-rated film was during Thanksgiving of 1976. We were visiting my dad’s family in Birmingham, Alabama and the men adjourned after dinner to go see Two Minute Warning,...

There are three kinds of sequels in this world. The sequel that continues the story of the previous installment in a series, the sequel that has fuck-all to do with the original and creates a completely new story in lieu of the absolutely workable earlier installment and sequels in name only. So I ask you where a movie like Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers fits in? Sure it continues the original story with its focal point still on Angela Baker though we now refer to her as Angela Johnson, but if you mean to tell me that Michael A. Simpson created a continuation story from the original Robert Hiltzik classic as anything more than a way to get exploitable elements on screen then you might not have seen Return to Sleepaway Camp, a true continuation of Hiltzik’s vision. When I watch Sleepaway Camp II I think of it as...

I'm here in Boston for the video and board game convention Pax East, and we just got a preview of a brand new horror board game hitting shelves soon. Entitled 'Student Bodies' this zombie board game places you in the roll of a high school student recently infected with the dreaded virus. For 2-5 players, this light tactical game challenges you to race across the hex-mapped school to the lab in search of an antidote. Zombies, strange items, and your fellow students will all try to stop your progress. As an added twist, if your character dies before you get the antidote you flip your character board over and play as a "smart zombie" complete with a special set of skills. Expect this board/card game to release in August, and feast your eyes on this artwork in the meantime. ...

We frequently disagree with mainstream critics on their critiques of horror films. It seems as though the majority entertainment journalists are not able to accept horror films for what they are intended to do: scare the audience and entertain. Not every horror film is meant to be viewed as an allegory or make a profound statement on the current state of American society.

Recently, FEARnet ran a piece exploring good horror movies that received ‘rotten’ reviews on the aggregate film-rating site Rotten Tomatoes. In the previous piece, we speculated that mainstream film critics seem to dismiss horror films as a lesser art form and perhaps tend to go in to screenings with the preconceived notion that the picture they are about to take in is automatically not going to be worth their time. Since the piece proved popular, we have elected to bring you a second round.

Since we fancy...

Most horror films have a jokester, prankster, or trickster in them. Sometimes he or she is a disposable character who dies a gruesome death in the first half of the film; sometimes the role is fulfilled by the lead or main supporting character. Whether they live or die, the jokester is almost always responsible for breaking up the tense atmosphere with well-timed pranks, tricks, or smart-assery. Writers and directors have recognized the need for comic relief since the dawn of film, but it seems that the jokester role in horror has become more finely tuned over the last few decades. So for your reading pleasure, we bring to you nine of the most memorable jokesters in horror cinema... Marty – The Cabin in the Woods Marty (Fran Kranz) is the quintessential silver screen stoner, and represents almost every character that’s ever sparked up a joint in a horror film, but...

Many psycho killers in film and television are imposing, scary creeps that no one in their right mind would ever get into a car with, or even sit next to on public transit. But a psychopath of the more cunning variety will take you out to dinner and the opera before revealing his or her true motive and subsequently stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, or carving you to death... and the funny thing is that you won’t even know what hit you. This rarer breed of maniac is all the more terrifying because there are often precious few warning signs... if any. They've learned to assimilate with modern society and blend into a crowd, or at the very least, avoid standing out. The following list represents some classic examples of this craftier brand of crazy. [Note: Big-time spoilers ahead] Norman Bates (Psycho, 1960) Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) is such a nice boy. He'll make you a...

It started with a tweet about David Ehrlich's review of the new Criterion Collection edition of Being John Malkovich ... and it turned into an article at this very website! Amazing! Basically I just threw out this tweet: "If you ran Criterion for one day, what three films would you release?" My own choices were Sorcerer (1977), Student Bodies (1981), and Crimewave (1985), but (fortunately) I have twitter pals who have much better taste than my own. (And if you don't know what the Criterion Collection is, you should rectify that as soon as possible by clicking here.) @herrmannsbutt: Clockwork Orange, Jurassic Park, Fight Club @zach_baum: Schindler's List, Buffalo 66, Barton...

Read More...

I Like Football. … There I said. I feel like some great big linebacker size weight has been lifted off my chest (please hold the jokes until the end of the article). It’s not always an easy thing to admit in front of your fellow horror lovin’ dorks. “Hey, guys did you watch Eli Manning throw for 300 yards and then dodge that sack to throw the game winning touchdown?” Crickets. If you had simply offered up your opinion on the necrophile antics of A Serbian Film you might have received a verbal response and possibly entered into a night long debate about whether shock films of the present can compare to shock films of the 70’s. The simple fact that you know who Eli Manning is beyond a Toyota commercial might just force you to hand over your geek badge.

I would definitely not call the horror community judgmental, but...

It's that time of year again - pumpkins line porches, bags of candy fill the drugstore shelves, and children everywhere are encouraged by their parents to ring the bells of strangers' houses and demand handouts.

Halloween season also is the one time of year where it's pretty much impossible to avoid horror movies. If you're a horror fan like I am, there's really no change in your viewing habits because you were probably going to be watching Suspiria and The Abominable Dr. Phibes tonight anyway. But if you're only a seasonal horror fan, it can be a bit daunting to navigate the sea of bloody entertainments that flood the airwaves this time of year.

To that end, we've put together a list of over 50 horror movies that are as funny as they are scary (whether intentionally or by accident). Hopefully with the list below as a reference, even the most...

by Jason Lees, MoreHorror.com

Ever wonder what would happen if Kevin Smith and Broken Lizard went back in time and made a movie with Cheech and Chong? Me neither, but now I know.

Heaven help me, now I know.

“Mangrove Slasher II” (or 2, depending on who you ask) is less of a movie and more of a home video made by a group of talented friends. You know the type, the movies that a group makes and then sit around at parties and laugh at seeing their buddies all bloodied. The difference here is that some of “Mangrove” is pretty good, so unlike most home movies, this one might not be too ‘in jokey’ to those who made it. Then again, maybe I just got caught up in the beer fueled haze that surrounds this flick.

“Mangrove Slasher 2” is a satire, more in the vein of “Student Bodies” than “Scary Movie.

Legend Films' Student Bodies: Boasting as the "Original Teen Horror Comedy," Student Bodies follows the crazed serial murderer "The Breather" as he picks off sex-starved students one-by-one with everything from paper clips, to a chalkboard eraser, to a household bookend! You'll never look at horror movies the same again once you take in this original spoof-hit that can easily be seen as an inspiration for all of today's "Scary Movies." Legend Films' Jekyll and Hyde Together Again:The laughter is as big as the scares as actor Mark Blankfield takes on the dual role of the famed Dr. Jekyll and his "inner-beast" Mr. Hyde in the comedy hit Jekyll and Hyde Together Again. Robert Louis Stevenson would be turning in his grave at this hilarious adaptation...

Well, this week doesn’t fare much better than last. However, you can pick up the first Tarantino/Rodriguez collaboration From Dusk Till Dawn as well as some other flicks that may tickle your fancy. Read beyond the break for all the media from the crypt.

All Descriptions of the following titles are provided by Amazon.com unless otherwise noted. If you plan on buying a flick from this list, please click on the links provided or click on the cover as it helps us pay the bills around here. Also, unlike most sites, we provide the Netflix widget which we think is pretty convenient to add these films to your queue. If you don’t have Netflix, feel free to click on “Free Trial” and try it out!

The Crow: City of Angels

Format: Blu-Ray

——————-

This fast-moving, action-packed sequel to The Crow explodes on screen with hot stars...

Your Weekly Source for the Newest Releases to Blu-Ray Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011 Tom Cruise & Lea Thompson have All The Right Moves (1983) Vincent Perez & Mia Kirshner star in The Crow: City Of Angels (1996) Vince Vaughn & Kevin James struggle with The Dilemma (2011) Director Catherine Breillet’s Fat Girl: Criterion Collection (2001) Clooney, Keitel & Tarantino star in Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) Camilla Belle & Alexa Vega star in From Prada To Nada (2011) Jamie Lee Curtis returns to Haddonfield in Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later (1998) Double Feature: Houdini (1953) / Those Daring Young Men & Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969)

From the action director of Shaolin Soccer comes Kung Fu Dunk (2008) Double Feature: The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) / The Skull (1965) Forest Whitaker & Renee Zellwegger star in My Own Love Song (2010) Bruce Springsteen in The Promise: The Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town (2011) Director Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles Of A Summer Night: Criterion Collection...

Legend Films will be releasing a couple of double-bills on Blu-ray from their licensing of catalog Paramount titles on May 3rd. No specs or extras have been announced, although judging from their DVD counterparts – who were once a Best Buy exclusive – I wouldn’t hold my breath. The titles are: The Skull (Freddie Francis, 1965)/The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Terence Fisher, 1959) and Student Bodies (Mickey Rose, 1981)/ Jekyll & Hyde Together Again (Jerry Belson, 1982).

More soon, but here’s the cover art:

Source: Blu-ray...

Year:  1996Director:  Wes CravenCast:  Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Rose McGowan, Drew BarrymoreFright Meter Award Winner:  Best Horror Movie, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor

The small California town of Woodsboro is being stalked by a serial killer who has extensive knowledge of horror films and a particular interest in Sydney Prescott, whose mother was brutally murdered the year before.  Everyone becomes a suspect as the body count increases.

No other film in the last twenty five years has influenced the horror genre to the degree that Scream has.  It arrived into theaters during a time period when the genre was stagnant and slasher films were virtually dead.  However, word quickly spread that it was hip, unique, and actually scary, causing it to become one of the most successful horror films of all time.   Certainly, what caught people's attention was the self-referential script, written by Kevin Williamson.

There's only one parade scene that matters to me, and no it doesn't have anything to do with Miracle on 34th Street or even Ferris Bueller. It's the parade murder scene in Student Bodies. Sorry, but anytime somebody can get killed in a turkey float by an eggplant it's going to get my vote.  Otherwise I don't see any reason to base an entire movie around a bunch of people dressed up as pilgrims...

The horror genre is known for being the genre in which plenty of up and coming talents have been discovered. Why don't we take a look: Margot Kidder and Bob Clark of Black Christmas, Cory Monteith in Killer Bash, Shannon Elizabeth in Jack Frost, Brandon Fehr in Final Destination, and so on and so on. 

With this first annual edition, I wanted to bring some attention to slightly unknown talent that's been making waves or has the potential to do so in the horror community. Anybody in this talented lineup has the potential to become a breakthrough star in my opinion and I wanted to highlight that. I fully believe in the talent of each person that's here on this list. These are the ones you might not have heard of yet, but you should be keeping an eye out on them......

Veronika London - For Veronika London it isn't...

Before there was such horror spoofs as Scary Movie starring Anna Faris. Before there was such self referential horror films such as Scream from director Wes Craven. After there was Student Bodies. There was Rolfe Kanefsky's independent horror spoof of "There's Nothing Out There". There's Nothing Out There arrives to DVD today in a 20th Anniversary Edition courtesy of Troma Team Video. There's Nothing Out There went virtually ignored when it first came out, but over the years this trend setting film has went on to find an audience with multiple DVD and video releases over the years. There's Nothing Out There is a criminally underrated film that is still attracting a slow, but surely following. What was especially noteworthy about There's Nothing Out There was the fact that it featured a character who had seen every horror film there was out there and realizes that the actions that...

I just had the recent pleasure of interviewing director Jacob Knapp about his upcoming horror/comedy Down With The Boogey starring Alex Gasboro, Gary Gustin, and Emily Caruthers. Just going off the trailer alone, this film definately has some cult potential along the lines of Student Bodies. For more info. into this film, make sure to visit the film's fan page by Clicking Here.

For those unfamiliar with you, who is Jacob Knapp?

That's a good question. I should have my friends answer that one for me. I know that I love my family and my friends. I always try to to make everyone else happy both in my life and in film. I'm a big horror and comedy buff. I don't know what else to say except... talk and hang out with me to know me?

So you have a movie, Down with the Boogey, that is about to make the film circuit scene.

With Im Global/Bombshell Pictures' gleefully titillating feature Bitch Slap bowing today in limited theatrical release and via Video on Demand, this scribe sat down recently with the makers and stars of the film to discuss their ‘guns, boobs, and brawls’ opus and was thrilled to do so.

Why? In this writer’s estimation, Bitch Slap has set the bar in that sub-genre of film and now holds the heavyweight belt as the ‘Quintessential Guy Flick.’ This is fortuitous, not only for audiences with high expectations (the flick’s trailer and teaser art have been burning up the Internet for months) but also for the filmmakers, whose goal was to create ‘The Best Bitch Fight in Film History.’

Bitch Slap, which stars newcomer Julia Voth, Erin ("Nip/Tuck") Cummings, America (Friday the 13th remake) Olivo, Ron (Children of the Corn III) Melendez, Kevin ("Hercules") Sorbo, and Zoe (Death Proof) Bell (in a brief cameo,...

I don't want you to think I'm gunning for this flick, because I have a long history of enjoying films like Student Bodies, Scary Movie, Transylvania 6-5000, The Monster Squad, and tons of other mirthful monster movies, but it looks like the recent freak farce Transylmania has earned itself a spot in the hall of shame. Again, I'm pleased to note that our own John Gholson had a little fun with the flick, but here's the real story:

According to the fine folks at Box Office Mojo, and I quote, "Transylmania captured the record for the lowest-grossing opening for a movie playing at over 1,000 sites. The horror spoof grossed a mere $263,941 at 1,007 sites, stripping the 1991 feature, Rich Girl, of the title."

I'll leave it to someone smart to do the per-site math on that, but if you have a torn stub from your weekend trip to Transylmania, I think you should hold onto it.

Actress and model Mimi Weddell has died, aged 94.

Weddell died at her home in Manhattan on 24 September, her daughter Sarah Dillon has confirmed.

She became well-known for her flamboyant headwear, which was prominently featured in a 2008 documentary about her life, entitled Hats Off.

Her acting credits include small roles in 1980s films including Dracula’s Last Rites, horror spoof Student Bodies, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Heartburn, and more recently, 2005's Hitch. She also enjoyed a cameo role in hit U.S. TV series Sex and the City.

As a fashion model, Weddell appeared advertisements for Louis Vuitton, Nike, Burberry and Juicy Couture. She also appeared in photo spreads for American Vogue and Vanity Fair.

Still charismatic at age 90, she was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful New Yorkers by New York magazine in 2005.