"Homewrecker"

Filmmaker and horror fan Robert Hensley has made a delectable short film in the genre with the title Homewrecker - let me give my opinion on it before Robert explains it all to you.

I really love that he has gotten to the root of horror films from my youth, yeah they weren't all slasher films and bloodbaths, stuff like that. They had character, and played upon our inner anxiety and fears. 

Robert's short which won the Direct Monthly Online Film Festival is well deserved. It does  a quite modern take on an old tale La Llorona and it works like a charm. I have actually watched it a few times, it's that good. I felt the best way to convey the cool factor of it to all of you minions was this statement from the man behind it all Robert Hensley!!! 

"When did horror films become a vehicle for grotesque gore and franchisable maniacs with the weakest of plots barely gluing it all together? Thankfully, filmmakers such as James Wan are producing films which throw back to a more story and character-rich horror genre. This, too, is where I found the inspiration for HOMEWRECKER.

Rona

A huge fan of Hitchcock and Carpenter, I set out to create a short horror film which built up a sense of anticipation. The audience knows something is going on, something is coming, and it all leads up to that reveal. Blood and guts were incidental to the story as a whole.

I was inspired by the traditional fable of “La Llorona,” also known as the Wailing Woman or Woman in White. There are several variations of the tale, all featuring a beautiful woman who married for money, and kills herself in despair when her husband leaves her for another woman. In one version, she kills her children in a rage and then takes her own life when she realizes what she’s done. In all the various tellings, she comes back and walks the riverside where she drowned and wails for the loss of her children or her marriage. Whoever hears her scream is cursed to die.

For HOMEWRECKER, I focused on a failing marriage and a philandering husband. This was the catalyst for Rona to take her own life and her transformation into a vengeful spirit. While “La Llorona” is always connected to water: a stream, a river, or a lake, I chose to consider more domestic uses for water such as bathing, showering, and laundry. 

C&C (Chests & Crack)

The first horror film I actually had permission to watch was “My Bloody Valentine,” which has an infamous laundromat scene. Being a child of the eighties, the horror films I grew up with were R-rated, T&A, boy’s club franchises. I also wanted to pay tribute to these movies in some way. Getting permission to film a scene in a laundromat was a start!

Nudity was another. However, I made the decision to keep my female talent clothed, and undress the men, turning T&A into C&C (chests and crack). I cast actors who were not afraid to disrobe and appear nude on camera for a vigorous sex scene, which builds along with the drama happening with Rona at home.
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Finally, the colors, saturation, and tones in the finished film find comparisons to the horror films of the 70’s and 80’s. Jason Lange, our cinematographer, who lit and shot HOMEWRECKER by himself, created a beautiful visual tribute to the films which inspired me."

Become a Homewrecker at:

https://homewreckerfilm.weebly.com/  

The Horror: John Carpenter's Halloween

Happy Halloween Peeps! Hope all of you have something groovy planned to celebrate the coolest day of the year! 

I personally love Halloween and am a huge horror movie fan, and those of you who know me, or have been paying attention, you know my favorite horror film of all time is John Carpenter's Halloween.

When it came out I was too young to attend an R-rated film by myself, so my Dad took me and some friends. It the first of many horror flicks I would go on to see in a theater. 

Can I tell you? This is the only movie of it's type that truly got under my skin and scared the shit outta me! We lived in the suburbs at the time and were surrounded by lots of trees and land and when my parents were gone and I was home alone I used to psyche myself out and see Michael Myer's ghoulish white William Shatner ass mask looming for me in the dark. Yeah, I had a really vivid imagination, still do actually. 

So how else did you think I was going to celebrate this most holy of days here on Entertain Me? With a montage of images from the film that freaked me out the most, naturally. To this day even though I am less afraid while watching Halloween, there is still something about it that really unnerves me. Beware of the Boogeyman tonight!!!

Peek-A-Boo, I See You

Watch Out Jamie Lee!!!

Don't Tell Mom, The Babysitters Dead

Dressed To Kill
Michael Myers

Hit Me With Your Best Shot!


John Carpenter's Halloween on IMDB:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077651/?ref_=nv_sr_2   

The Halloween Five

Satan In Disguise -
Michael Shinafelt

"Happy, Happy Halloween, Halloween, Halloween. Happy, Happy Halloween, Silver Shamrock!"

Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a quite underrated movie. John Carpenter and Debra Hill were approached by Universal to do a third Halloween film after the studio picked up the sequel to the indie smash Halloween.

Their plan? To do a franchise under the Halloween banner every year, with a different theme. Turns out the public demanded and only had love for Michael Myers. Gotta give those two credit though for trying to be innovative and fun!

Which brings me to the theme of this year's Season of the Witch post. I am going to give you five of my favorite fright films, in no particular order, with the exception of number one. I bet you already know what that is...

Halloween
Always Number 1!

1) Halloween - This is my one and only when it comes to sheer horror. I can not count how many times I have seen it and how much I love it! It was the first horror film my Father took me to, and it scared the shit out of me. It is still under my skin to this day, even though I know what's coming. Jamie Lee Curtis rules!

2) Excision - Teen angst, domineering mothers, delusional aspirations of being a world class surgeon.
This psychological gore fest is a brilliant feature debut from Director/Writer Richard Bates, Jr. It also features two great performances from AnnaLynne McCord and Traci Lords.

3) Psycho - Like mother like daughter. Janet Leigh shocked the world of cinema by appearing in Alfred Hithcock's then explicit and never seen nothing like it thriller Psycho. Janet as you may or may not know was the mother of future Scream Queen and Halloween star, Jamie Lee Curtis. This movie still holds up today as a master class in film making and what an intelligent slasher film could and should be.

4) The Hunger - was anything sexier than Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie slashing their prey's throats with an ankh and drinking their blood at the height of orgasm? Well, one more thing in this awesome vampire flick was, the sex scene between Deneuve turning Susan Sarandon into her latest immortal fling. Tony Scott's best.

5) Cat People - No, not the original in 1942. That one I never saw the big deal about. But the re-imagining of it by auteur Paul Schrader. While the film is more of an erotic fantasy. It is peppered with enough horror elements and violence to really set it above the cut. With Malcom McDowell at his freaky best and Nastassja Kinski doing what she does best...meow, sex kitten.

While these are not the only Holiday Flicks I love, they are the cream of the crop to me. With John Carpenter's Halloween always remaining #1 in my blackened heart.

Happy Halloween! Until next year...

Follow me on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/MShinafelt    

Jamie Lee Curtis Goes "Psycho"

Like Mother, Like Daughter
Jamie Lee Curtis & Janet Leigh

OK, everyone knows I am a HUGE horror fan! So it stands to reason I am quite excited about the premiere of Scream Queens (not Screaming Queens) September 22nd on FOX. 

A main attraction for this horror junkie being Scream Queen Supreme Jamie Lee Curtis. Jamie was in one of my all time favorite slasher/suspense flicks John Carpenter's Halloween, and as you recall followed that up with a bunch of others in the 1980's such as Prom Night and Terror Train.

It was most likely her destiny to fill the role since her Mother, Janet Leigh was one of the original Scream Queens when she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Psycho. Another of my favorite things!

You know the movie where the female lead gets killed off in the first fifteen minutes of footage, yeah that one.

Well Jamie Lee recently Tweeted this image with the caption: "Recreated Mom's PSYCHO shower scene 4 a special ep of @ScreamQueens,"

Yes!!! I know where I will be this coming Tuesday the 22nd at 9 pm!

Scream Queen, Scream at: http://www.fox.com/scream-queens

Happy Halloween !

Wanted to take a minute and wish everyone a Happy Halloween....!

Being a fan of all things horrific and supernatural, Halloween is my favorite Holiday as it brings those things to the forefront of everyone's psyche for an entire month, love it!

So, to celebrate this day, I wanted to share the trailer to my favorite horror movie ever, "John Carpenter's Halloween". I had to tag "John Carpenter" lest it get confused with the awful Rob Zombie remake. Carpenter understands what Zombie never could, the less you know about walking evil the more terrifying it is, the biggest mistake Zombie made in his re-do was giving a lot of back story as to why Michael Myers became who he was.

This was the first horror movie that had a huge impact on me and the only one that ever really got under my skin. Images of Michael Myers in his white mask walking towards me with a butcher knife gave me the creeps for years after.

Beware tonight you never know what is out there waiting for you....Happy Halloween!

The Horror: Liz Adams

Liz Adams: Filmmaker/Vampire

Filmmaker Liz Adams is an Award Winning Director/Writer for her controversial script for "Side Effect" which was selected to represent the American Film Institute in their prestigious Directing Workshop for Women, and is the first horror film to come out of the thirty-four year program.

She is also a hot genre director at the the film company "The Asylum" with two astute B-Movie disasters under her belt the well received "Air Collision" and "Super Cyclone".

Liz is a huge fan of Sci-Fi, Action and most importantly Horror...here with her Top 5 Horror faves of all time is Ms. Liz Adams...!

MS: Alright Liz, hit us with your 5 favorite Horror Movies and why you like them. 

LA: OK, five favorite horror movies and why. You know, off the top of my head I’m going to have to go ‘old school’ – first film that comes to mind as a fave is:

Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING – I love the performances, I love the visuals, and the wonderful ambiguous cocktail of crazy and supernatural. The scene that I always wonder about is when the freezer opens to let out Jack… other than that one moment I think you could make a case for the whole thing being in his head.

MS: I love this one too, I saw it at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery one year on Halloween, for at least the tenth time.

LA: What a blast that must have been!

MS: It was!

LA: Next I think I have to go with John Carpenter’s THE THING – superb storytelling,  great performances – the ‘blood test’ scene had such a huge impact on me – I still enjoy seeing the practical effects in that movie…plus sci-fi and horror together, I love it. 

MS: This is one of the few times I think a remake has been better than the original.

LA: I agree.

LA: Time to go a little off the beaten path I’m going to go with George A. Romero’s MARTIN – I love this movie because it deals with my favorite horror subject – humanity’s own violent impulses – it is a pretty obscure film about a young kid Martin… his Eastern European granduncle speaks of a family ‘curse’ and treats Martin like he is a vampire and even though he has no fangs or supernatural abilities - he begins to act like one – breaking into homes, drugging women and drinking their blood. If you haven’t seen it – check it out.

MS: I can't believe you have seen this, I love it too! Here I thought I was the only one who knew about this gem.

LA: Then, I have to go with another classic – Brian DePalma’s CARRIE – great performances and the ‘horror’ of going through adolescence and high school is relatable… I love the ending!

MS: Adolescence is a horror. The ending is awesome!

LA: To wrap it up I have to go with another combo – musical and horror and finish off with Frank Oz’s LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS – I love the music, I love the performances – who can forget Steve Martin as the Dentist, right? I love Levi Stubbs as the plant – what is not to love about this movie.

MS: Nothing. This movie is pure fun, I agree!

Freak out with Liz Adams at: 

http://www.sideeffectthemovie.net/Home.html

R.I.P. - Ernest Borgnine

I was on the phone with my friend writer/photographer Jay Jorgensen when he told me the news: Ernest Borgnine had passed away. Jay is a huge "The Poseidon Adventure" fan along with many of his friends....who Ernest did many kind things for in the City of Angels.

Here is the official report: Ernest Borgnine, the beefy screen star known for blustery, often villainous roles, but who won the best-actor Oscar for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95.

My personal memories or Ernest? "Escape From New York" where he played "Cabbie" - one of the best low budget, not to mention John Carpenter movies ever. Oh, and "Deadly Blessing" with Sharon Stone (yes, I am a SS fan, big time) where he played a crazy Amish Dude.

Of course "Poseidon" and let's not forget this gem....

Yep dude, you ruled !