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Welcome to The Gingerbread Bates Motel

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Written by Maxwell Robison

Gingerbread houses are an important part of any Christmas tradition, many families use the time building them to celebrate the season together. The Keeling family decided to take that tradition to a new and slightly morbid level this year with their gingerbread interpretation of The Bates Motel from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1960’s thriller Psycho.

Made entirely from edible material this master piece took 3 weeks to build from conception to completion with jaw dropping detail that any model maker would be envious over.  I had a chance to speak with Aaron Keeling, one of the artists involved in the construction of this behemoth of a gingerbread house to ask him some questions about what went into it.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

iHorror: Thank you for taking the time to talk to me today, I’m sure you are exhausted from all the work this took. How long did it take to create this monster?

Aaron Keeling: Thank you! My back is killing me from leaning over cookies for a week and my hands are stained with food coloring, but i think it was worth it. My dad started doing blueprints and baking pieces about 3 weeks ago, but once we all got together and started putting it up and decorating it took just under a week.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

iH: Is everything edible?

AK: Everything is edible except for the base (which is made from styrofoam) and the lights.  The windows are melted candles and the super clear windows for the interior scenes are made from thin sheets of gelatin.

iH: How many pounds of gingerbread did you have to use?

AK: We ended up using about 25 pounds of flour, 6 bottles of corn syrup, 3 pounds of butter, 4 pounds of brown sugar, 18 pounds of icing (two 9 pound bags of sugar) and a bunch of spices. It was probably 30 pounds of gingerbread that we made, though not all of it was used in the final piece.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

iH: How large did the finished piece end up being?

AK: The finished piece was 4 feet by 4 feet at the base and about 2 feet high at the top of the house.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

iH: Some of the detail is amazing, how did you do the carpets?

AK: The wallpaper and the pictures were posted on edible paper and the rugs were printed on thin sheets of fondant.

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

iH: How many people worked on the whole project all together?

AK: Our core family of 5 worked on it. My Dad, Mom, my brother Austin, my brother Carter, and myself. We had some help from three friends as well. So, 8 total, though not everyone worked on it the whole time.

iH: How did this tradition get started? Have they always been this big?

AK: The tradition got started about 30 years ago when my parents got married.  We’ve been making a gingerbread house every year since then. Every year they get bigger and better!  Last year was the first year we ever attempted to do the interior with our “Overlook Hotel” gingerbread.

iH: What is your favorite scene that you worked on?

AK: My favorite scene is the bathroom scene, because I loved flicking all the blood everywhere, haha. I definitely got a bit carried away with it, theres way more blood in our version than the movie, but it is more fun that way don’t you think?

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred: Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred: Aaron Keeling

https://imgur.com/gallery/OeSOu

cred. Aaron Keeling

Make sure you check out the whole shoot of The Gingerbread Bates Motel right here.

and if you want to check out The Keeling Family’s 2015 The Gingerbread Overlook Hotel go here.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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