House of the Wolf Man

Words cannot explain how excited I am for this "old school" horror movie coming soon to DVD! Seriously the movie fits right in with the old Universal classics and even features most of the classic monsters as well. The plot (as seen in the trailer below) is about 5 people brought to a castle, presume ably the "House of the Wolf Man". I don't have much more concerning the plot, but do you really need anything else to convince you to grab this movie once it's out?  Oh and by the way the movies stars Ron Chaney, the great-grandson of Lon Chaney, and the grandson of Lon Chaney, Jr. (who I'm sure needs to introduction, but just in case, he played Larry Talbot in the original Universal Wolf man movies) This movie has the look, the sound, the legacy in Ron Chaney, and the overall feel of a great modern "retro" Universal Monsters film.  Get ready for some throwback nonstop creature action violence! Hopefully I'll have a better write up on this soon. But for now just use this to whet your appetite.  By the way visit the official site over at http://houseofthewolfman.com/ for a Hi-Def trailer and some more publicity stills.  You may also want to visit Taurus Entertainment  the company handling the DVD release of the film.  Amazon.com lists the movie hitting it's shelves on September 28th, just in time for Halloween! 


Also don't forget about the first annual Halloween Overkill Horror Draft.  If you're interested check this link out here.  Make sure you comment on that post to let me know if you want in or not.  Spots are running out so hurry over there and sign up!

Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America Review!

5 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns

Jolly Jack-O-Lantern Rating Scale

Halloween: The Happy Haunting of America 10th Anniversary Edition is a tour of haunted attractions across the U.S. hosted by Daniel Roebuck and company and produced by Chuck Williams.  The 10th Anniversary Edition adds 10 new haunts to the documentary, and the DVD itself is jam packed to the maximum with bonus features. This new edition is also full of small celebrity cameos. Look for stars like Robert Englund, Angus Scrimm, Alice Cooper, Don Coscarelli, Tony Todd, and Doug Bradley. 

My first observation about the main feature, "Halloween...The Happy Haunting of America 10th Anniversary Edition Presented from the Magic Castle," was that it wasn't necessarily a documentary in the traditional sense but more of a visual documentary, consisting of a series of pretty quick videos of each haunt.  That is not to say that the haunts weren't researched very well, because I got the impression that the filmmakers spent plenty of time recording footage. The parts where Mr. Roebuck introduced each video segment were also full of informative anecdotes about each haunt (and about the Magic Castle, which is where the 10th Anniversary Edition was filmed). On a side note: I would like to say that my home state of Michigan was given much love because nearly half of the haunts featured were located in MI.  If you ever get a chance to head up to MI you MUST go to see the spectacle that is Erebus haunted attraction in Pontiac, MI.  As Mr. Roebuck will inform you in the DVD, this attraction actually made it into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Back to the review.  Although I was expecting full video walk throughs of each haunt, that was not what I found here. But that doesn't really take away from the quality and theme of the feature itself, since the images that are provided give you a good sense of what the rest of the haunt must be like. I would also imagine that part of the idea behind this was to get the audience off their asses to go see these amazing attractions in person. I think of the main feature as more of an introduction to what the filmmakers thought were the best attractions to go to.

There are so many special features on the DVD it would be difficult to review them all, but one that's not to be missed is "Dr. Shocker's House of Horror." In this short segment, you'll get a glimpse of a massive collection of horror related masks, toys, statues, posters, and other treats all housed in what I believe to be a small museum in Mr. Roebuck's basement (?).

Overall, I believe this DVD is a must-own for Halloween enthusiasts. While the DVD has a few shortcomings, as a whole it proves to be a Halloween fan's dream, providing glimpses into the most famous haunted attractions and a wealth of Halloween extras that must be seen to be believed! It is clear that the creators of this video, like me here at HalloweenOverkill, have a Halloween obsession and for that, this DVD goes into the HalloweenOverkill Hallow of Fame.  Also click here to check out the whole extras list and purchase the DVD.

 

The Landlord Review!

 3 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns
Jolly Jack-O-Lantern rating scale

Sorry if this first review of mine sucks or is uninformative or too full of fluff, I am new to this!  Comment or email me your suggestions.
First off let me say WOW, didn't see that one coming!  For a film that was shot on a micro budget (20K according to the website) this movie was pretty damn good.  This is one of those films that doesn't suffer from the small budget and in my opinion a larger budget wouldn't have added anything more to the film as the special f/x and gore were done very nicely.  I don't really want to get into the technical aspects of any film that I review so I will skip all of that here other than saying that some of the dialog didn't match up with the characters' mouths, but that could have just been my copy of the film (this is no way detracted from the film itself).

The film itself follows the hilarious hi-jinks that ensue when a landlord tries to rent out a floor of an apartment that is possessed by a few (creepy might I add) demons.  There is also a side plot running throughout the film about the landlord's sister who is a scheming police officer.  The main demon in this film, Rabisu (a real prankster who, for whatever reason, appears to have a hilarious Jamaican accent), has officially possessed one of the floors and feeds on the unsuspecting tenants.  The plot twist comes when one of the new tenants catches Gary's (the landlord) eye and he starts to "really" like her.  That's about as much plot as I'm going to give you. You should rent it to see what else happens but I can promise you this, the scenes that involve the demon and Gary are seriously hilarious.

This is one of those films that I heard little about and am glad I did because I feel it is one of those films that you should go into blind.  Like I said being that it is a micro budget film it was very well put together and funny throughout.  I can't wait to see what this director (Emil Hyde) does with his next project.  I say give this one a rent if you aren't sure still, or buy it if you like low budget horror/comedy type films.  Either way I don't think that you will be disappointed.  Also visit The Landlord website and purchase the DVD or BluRay by clicking here. For 10 bucks plus shipping you can't go wrong!

HalloweenOverkill's First Giveaway!!!

WARNING: Prize photos not safe for work or children.  No total nudity but pretty damn close, just a warning!

Come one, come all to HalloweenOverkill's first fantastic, freakish, fiendish, frightful, f-in giveaway!  On the menu today we have some epic trick or treats for you to sample from the awesome guys over at Wild Eye Releasing.  Here's what you can win in this giveaway and how to do it.

1.  Become one of my followers of this site (following me on twitter would be sweet too, but not required) over there on the right -------> (If you don't know how, then you aren't eligible. Just kidding! Throw me an email at halloweenman666@gmail.com)

2.  Comment on this post and tell me what your favorite death scene in a horror movie is. You must also leave your email in the post to be eligible.

3.  Go visit the guys over at Wild Eye and check out their catalog of films including the upcoming Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated (this is not a must but it would be nice to check their site out anyways).

4.  Everyone who becomes a follower and then comments on this specific post right here will be entered and drawn at random for the grand prize using Random.org to ensure fairness.

5.  Contest ends June 6th, 2010 at 11:59 E.S.T.

Now on to the good stuff, here is what is up for grabs in this giveaway:

1. Two Goth Kill stickers

2.  A Wild Eye logo button (about the size of a nickel)

3.  A set of big promotional photos from the Wild Eye film The Bloody Ape. This set also includes a nice shot from a scene in the film which was autographed by the director Keith J. Crocker and the star of the film George Reis (the 2nd photo is the one not safe for work or children in case you were wondering).

4.  A copy of Goth Kill on DVD!

Here is a description of the film straight from the back of the DVD case:

When Catholic priest and inquisitor Nicholas Dread finds out that innocents are being burned as witches he decides to do something about it.  Unfortunately for him, his superiors don't agree and he is burned at the stake along side two women he forced confessions from.  While dying, Nick curses God and makes a pact with Satan to reign over his own kingdom someday at any cost.

Now in 21st century New York City, Dread has returned to finish the deal.  His end of the bargain with Satan must be fulfilled, and many will die so Dread can take the throne in his kingdom of over 100,000 corrupt souls.  He just has to find the right bunch of victims...  And it just so happens the best goth club in the city is ripe for this bloodthirsty butcher bent on revenge!

Can a group of Goth's and wannabe vampires hold their own when the real thing arrives?

The winner of this giveaway will have these items shipped to them in a padded envelope. The picture cards including the autographed one are inside of a plastic slipcase.

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter! (And good luck also.)

Jolly Jack-O-Lantern Rating Scale

Ok ghouls so in preparation for the first big review (coming soon) I have decided upon a rating scale I will use so that you have some sense of how good or bad the movie was besides just the worded review. Plus every one loves a rating scale right? So here goes with the explanation
1 Jolly Jack-O-Lantern = Abysmal, the worst of the worst, not even worth a rent.  Any movie receiving a 1 JJOL will also receive the seal of suck which is this right here


















2 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Not the worst of the worst, but pretty much SYFY channel material
3 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Decent, run of the mill horror film, worth a rent, maybe a purchase
4 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Very good, fun to watch, worth owning
5 Jolly Jack-O-Lanterns = Gold!, HalloweenOverkill Hall of Fame, A must own! Epic!, Legendary!
So what do you think?  Is there something I should change?  Love it?  Hate it?  Also I wanted to point out that I added a twitter feed so you can follow me on twitter now as well.  It should be over to the right, so click on join the conversation to see my twitter page.  One more thing before I close the night out folks.  Do any of you enjoy carving pumpkins?  Do you also love eating watermelon?  Is there any way those two activities may fit together?  If not lets just say you may want to buy a watermelon and bust out your pumpkin carving tools early.  If you're wondering why, its all connected to the Wild Eye contest that will be running next week.  I will drop the details this weekend so stay tuned and keep your eyes peeled.
p.s. This was another late night post without the editor so it may look like a total catastrophe.

Time to get things rollin........

I have decided that the blog must be energized!  Not sure how I went from posting everyday to just once in the past few days, and lets be honest those birthday posts weren't very exciting were they?  I'm sure we've all had these crazy weeks before right?  Finishing up school (Dean's List again!), Grandpa recovering from a nasty infection which left him in the hospital for a week, birthday celebrations (my Sister and I are a day apart, so this weekend was crazy), and getting ready for the big move, have all put the blog on the back burner.  Sorry Ghouls!  Anyways all is well and much of that is in the past now (except for the move) so what better way to get this summer started than to do my first few movie reviews!  I'll have plenty of those reviews coming up soon for you followers out there complete with a rating scale that will be implemented with said reviews.  Also keep your eyes glued to Halloween Overkill because coming next week I will finally be having the blog's first giveaway!!!  That's right the amazingly astonishing wonderful folks over at Wild Eye have provided me with some goodies to giveaway (the picture above is of one of their titles, Gothkill).  The giveaway/contest (haven't decided what to do yet) should take place around sometime next week or maybe even this weekend.  So overall these things should get the blog moving and I myself promise to keep them moving form here on out.  Also if you're interested, my wife and I are about halfway through Alan Wake, the new psychological thriller for the xbox 360, so I should be doing a review for that soon as well.  So, what do you think, sound like a decent kickoff to summer?  Also I'd like to note that my editor (a.k.a. wife) is already sleeping so there will be no editing of this post, terrible right?  I know.

Horror Purchase of the Week

Hit the jackpot today folks!  I'm certain I know of one blog out there that would be proud of me.  I picked up A Val Lewton Horror Double Feature: I Walked with a Zombie, and The Body Snatcher for $3.00 at Big Lots.  I make a trip to Big Lots about once a month because you can always find cheap horror dvds in their bargain bin, and this trip did not disappoint.  There were several other Val Lewton Horror Double Features as well as other horror movies, but since I will be moving in about 2 months figured I'd better keep my purchase as lean as possible.  Anyone ever seen either of these? If so, what did ya think?

Halloween Overkill's Hidden Horror Delights

Once a week I will recognize films that may (or may not) have flown under your radar.  These are films that have not received very much mainstream press or reviews on the big sites.  To make up for this I will dip into my tomb of horror DVDs and feature one that I feel didn't get the big push that it should have.  That is not to say that these movies will gain much critical acclaim from you guys but you may just expose yourself to a movie worth laughing at or find a hidden gem that you never knew existed.

The first movie on this list comes from the "Fangoria present's Gorezone Video" series.  Skinned Deep is the name of this little piece of cinema bizarre.  The movie was directed by Gabe Bartalos, the special f/x mastermind involved with such classics as: Friday the 13th VI:Jason Lives, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Dolls, Darkman, Leprechaun 4: In Space, From Beyond, and the list goes on.  This is one movie you have to see to believe. 

The story goes that a young girl's family is massacred but she is kidnapped by one of cinema's most bizarre families of all time.  Characters such as Plates  (you'll understand his name if you see the movie), Surgeon General, Mom, and Brain are all part of this freak-show family that kidnap the young girl.  The movie is very gory, a little bit disturbing, and sometimes even a bit funny.  I don't want to spoil the plot too much for those that haven't seen it yet, but again you must see it to believe it.  Oh and by the way the character Plates is played by everyone's favorite little person, Warwick Davis of Willow and Leprechaun fame!  Head over to Amazon (just click Amazon) to buy it at your own risk for only $9.95.  Let me know in the comments if you've seen this little gem.

Ghoulies/Ghoulies 2 Wins!!!!

The people have spoken.  The Ghoulies double pack wins the free Kellogg's DVD choice contest with an astounding 50% of the votes ( 9 out of 18 ).  Thank you to all who voted and after I receive my free DVD from Kellogg's in about 13 years I will be reviewing both films.