Fright-Rags is gearing up to release exclusive shirts and posters to commemorate the 35th anniversary of one of the most influential horror film's of all time, John Carpenter's Halloween, as well as the 25th anniversary of the fan-favorite sequel, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. These items are officially licensed by Trancas International Films.
Fans can celebrate "The Night He Came Home" with Fright-Rags' Halloween box set, which is limited to 800 pieces. Enclosed in a collector's box, the set includes a shirt (unisex, womens or hoodie) designed by Justin Osbourn, an 18x24 screen-printed poster by Gary Pullin (with 100 randomly inserted glow-in-the-dark variants), a Judith Myers headstone resin magnet, a prismatic sticker and a Rabbit in Red memo pad.
Osbourn's design is only available on a T-shirt in the box set, but fans can also get it separately on an American Apparel baseball shirt. Another Halloween design, by Christopher Lovell, will be available on a T-shirt, girls shirt or zip-up hoodie. It shows cinema's most iconic boogeyman, Michael Myers, looming over the Myers house.
Lovell also designed a shirt for Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, which features Michael and his niece, Jamie Lloyd. To accompany the shirt, artist Kyle Crawford created a screen-printed poster, which showcases Michael's infamous mask from Halloween 4. The poster is available as a regular 18x24 print (limited to 400) and a glow-in-the-dark variant (limited to 100).
These items will be available exclusively from Fright-Rags.com. Pre-orders launch on Tuesday, September 10 at 10am EST. The box set will be specially priced at $70 until September 17th. If they do not sell out by that point, the remaining sets will be sold for $80. Orders are expected to ship in late October.
Hollywood has no shortage of remakes and reboots these days. Every time we turn around there's another one in our faces and let's be honest, most of them are not pleasant to sit through. Perhaps it's a fair to say that the powers that be in Hollywood took note of the outrage of most movie goers and decided to re-introduced prequels. Prequels have definitely gained significantly in popularity in the 2000's with more than fifty being made in just the last 12 years as opposed to the sixteen or so done between the 1948 - 1999. For those of you who don't know what a prequel is (I'm hoping that's no one)... it's a remake, but not.
Paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet. Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.
The performances are about what you'd expect from a film with a 35 million dollar budget. I personally haven't seen a performance from Winstead that I didn't like... so far... I don't think... ok, not that I remember anyway. She has a great range and is really good at expressing emotion in her face making her performances believable. Eric Christian Olsen is another one that I like a lot. This is a more serious role than I'm use to seeing him in so it's nice to see that he can be more than just the resident goofball. Other than Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who's skills I think are terribly under estimated, the rest of the cast is basically unknown to me. Of course during reviews I always check out the IMDb pages which usually brings up an "Oh yeah!" moment or two. I was disappointed in how under used Edgerton was. Having not really read any synopsis or reviews for this film, I was almost certain that Olsen would've been "the man". Guess that's what I get for making assumptions, I'll try not to do that anymore... yeah right!
Overall, director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and writer Eric Heisserer did an awesome job weaving this story together and making it intersect with John Carpenter's 1982 The Thing fairly flawlessly. I know this because as soon as 2011's prequel was over, we watched the one from 1982. Although I had seen it a million times, the similarities between the two were pretty dead on. From the room where they stored the alien when it was encased in ice to the dog chase ending. One literally leaves off where the other begins. I did find myself questioning a few things when it was all said and done but nothing that ruined it for me. This prequel was one of the rare good ones and I'd definitely recommend it to fans of John Carpenter's The Thing.
I was recently contacted by the Rasmussen brothers, Michael and Shawn, regarding their new film DARK FEED Which is currently in post production. They also recently penned http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000118/ THE WARD which had a limited theatrical release this past weekend. DARK FEED will be their directorial debut and as luck would have it, they've just added a dozen new stills to the film’s Facebook photo album.
Here’s the synopsis:
DARK FEED centers on a film crew shooting a low budget movie in an abandoned mental hospital with a shadowy past. The late nights and lack of sleep are taking a toll, and the longer this crew works, the more the leaky, wet building seems to be coming back to life, feeding off its new inhabitants. Something hiding in the hospital's walls is slowly seeping out and infecting their minds.
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While most people scour the Internet and movie news sites looking for the "next great movie" that's coming out, I just kinda hang back and keep an eye on the indie scene. As far as I'm concerned that's where the greatness is coming from these days. After all, wasn't Hatchet just an indie glimmer in Adam Green's eye when it came about? Or how about Feast, Pontypool, Ginger Snaps, Eden Lake, May or one of my new faves, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon? The list could literally go on and on. Watch any of these films and you will see what a micro budget, some imagination and a little hard work can deliver. It's getting to a point where I don't even go to the theater for big studio horror anymore. What's the point? It's all over done, re-done or just plain done. There's absolutely nothing original coming out of H-Wood anymore. At least not as far as horror goes. I'd rather just wait for a screener or DVD release and kick back at home with a few friends (who am I kidding, I don't have friends) and a little alcohol. Don't get me wrong, indie horror has it's share of stinkers too but when a gem like one of the aforementioned films comes around... instant gratification.
I'm quickly becoming aware of the effort that goes into a micro budget film be it short or feature length and I'm gaining a new respect for the people that make it happen. From directors/producers who put in their own money to actors who put their best face forward on a strictly no/low paying gig.
Raymond Did It is a slasher film in the tradition of Halloween and Prom Night. When twelve-year-old Bryce Rourke is accidentally killed in a playground scuffle, his friends decide to blame Bryce's developmentally delayed older brother for the accident. Raymond is taken to a state hospital while the true killer walks free. Six years later, Raymond escapes from the hospital to seek bloody revenge for his brother's death.
This is not your typical indie horror cast. Lindsay Felton from VH1’s Scream Queens plays Tammy, who was Raymond's only friend and the only one who had any remorse whatsoever about Bryce's death. Also from Scream Queens, Jessica Palette appears as Jayme, and horror veteran Elissa Dowling stars as the manipulative Paige. Newcomer Kyle Hoskins plays Raymond in his first feature-length film and he tears the screen up with his imposing 6'5" bulky stature. He's not really given much to say but just knowing the back story of the character, it's easy to sympathize with his character and it doesn't hurt that he pulls off the timid nature of Raymond pretty well.
Travis Legge pulls out (IMO) a very solid micro budget horror here. It doesn't have the normally shoddy sound that is infamous in these kinds of Indie films. The score is reminiscent of John Carpenter's original Halloween. (I can think of one shot in particular that brought me right back to the streets of Haddonfield.) The down side, there are a couple of choppy scenes (not overly noticable) and one or two rushed kills but the gore makes up for it. One little hint... washing machine. Not to mention the ending kinda leaves it open for a sequel. Will there be a sequel Mr. Legge?? C'mon, you can tell me.
In my opinion Legge has created one of those gems that come along every so often and he's someone who will do very well amongst the horror fiends and I for one can't wait to see what he does next..... Perhaps The Social Media Massacre with me?? Time will tell.
