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Forgotten Holiday Horror: Home Sweet Home

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Name a holiday, there’s a horror movie for that. Even less appreciated holidays like April’s Fools Day and Mother’s Day have movies for them. Friday the 13th, though not technically a holiday, but we celebrate it as such, has one of the most profitable and iconic franchises based around it. Christmas is an easy one, also a day that has a plethora of well known slashers. But what about Thanksgiving? It seems like the closest thing we got was Eli Roth’s mock trailer for GrindhouseThanksgiving. Eli Roth has talked about making it a full length feature from time to time, but who knows if it will ever come to light (writer Chris Crum just wrote an excellent piece on this yesterday, so check it out). Of course, there is also Thankskilling and Thankskilling 3, but what about a real horror movie set on the day we get together as a family and consume mass amounts of food?

Well, it turns out back in 1981 there was a horror movie set at Thanksgiving… although that’s as close as it gets to the holiday. It’s not the central theme, nor does it feel like a holiday movie, it just so happens to take place on that day. It may as well take place on any other day, but at least they tried, even if it was only to cash in on holiday slashers. You know, for the most part. The film isn’t exactly known for being “good” or anything. It does, however, star Jake Steinfeld, the titular character from the hit 1990 show Big Brother Jake! Okay, so it wasn’t a hit, but I may or may not have watched it. Jake also had a line of exercise programs called Body by Jake and was the founder of a company called FitOrbit, a fitness and weight loss program. Maybe that would have the better movie; Jake going on a killing spree on his live exercise TV program. The guy is still into working out, so he has the perfect build for your prototypical slasher, making this the perfect role for him.

Eh, maybe not.

There is a reason this movie is forgotten. Besides not being all that great, Jake’s performance is laughable, although sometimes that’s what we are looking for even if it wasn’t the filmmakers intentions. He spends a majority of the movie bug eyed and chuckling like a lunatic (which he plays, so I guess job well done) and there is also this kid dressed up like a mime, face paint and all, with a guitar and amp strapped to his back. Can someone tell me what the objective of having a character like this was? My guess is he was a spoof on the type of character Neddy was in Friday the 13th, but he tends to stop the show for me, because I can’t take an image like that seriously. I have to pause and scratch my head, wondering what they were thinking. Who is supposed to relate to this character? The KISS army? Comic relief characters are supposed to reflect a personality of someone we know to make them relatable, but this… what is this? I’m thinking about this way too much. The others aren’t even worth mentioning, since they are your stereotyped stock slasher characters. Really, watch any slasher flick and there  ya go, they’re in this movie too. Not to say their performances were piss poor or anything, but it’s not enough to save the film.

Gorehounds will have to look elsewhere, as there isn’t much in blood and guts. To be honest, the effects are done quite poorly, certainly nothing to write home about. The story is also pretty stale and is noticeably just a quick cash in on the then slasher boom, so you have to wonder; who was this movie made for? Back then, making a slasher was like printing money. You couldn’t lose, but this is one of those films that just led to the oversaturation of the genre.

So what was I saying about the plot? It’s stale? Ok, so stop me if you’ve heard this one; a lunatic escapes from the mental hospital, steals a station wagon and heads home to murder people on a well known holiday.

Do I really have to come out and tell you what that would be?

In any case, if you’re daring enough or you like throwing money away, you can nab a copy from Amazon for a kinda hefty price and to my knowledge, it’s just a VHS rip and not even a great one.

Or you can check out the whole movie in the video below. It’s worth at least one watch and to see Jake Steinfeld act like a raving madman.

An escaped mental patient steals a station wagon and makes his way to the Bradleys’ Thanksgiving celebration, where he plans to make them a little less thankful…

[youtube id=”6ZFTEZDXwlw”]

And just to take you down memory lane… DON’T QUIT!

[youtube id=”GgpX2w1_RH0″]

Also because it’s the Thanksgiving season, here is the Thanksgiving episode of Big Brother Jake.

[youtube id=”5F5aufTJcj8″]

[youtube id=”TGNapWs2mqo”]

Home-Sweet-Home-Front[1]

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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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