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My Introduction to Real Horror: George Romero

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We received the sad news today of the passing of George Romero, one of the icons of the Horror genre. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll see dozens, maybe hundreds, of articles analyzing his movies, looking at the life of the man himself, and looking at his impact on film and the Horror genre.

What many people forget though, is that Horror is a very subjective, and personal experience, and that’s the view I want to take on Romero’s passing. I want to share the way the man and his work impacted me.

To start, I’ve always been a Horror fan. I saw Gremlins in the theater at just four years old and immediately rooted for the monsters. I saw Child’s Play, I saw Critters, I watched all the classics. They were really just fun movies for me though, none of them inspired any sense of fear or even nervousness.

I was also a latch-key kid. My mom left for work long before the crack of dawn, and made sure I was up hours before I had to catch the bus for school, and that was when I first experienced George Romero.

It was late October, I was 13 and I was flipping through the channels at 5 AM. One station I always trusted was the Sci-Fi channel. They played classic Horror movies at 5 AM every day back then, so I settled in.

It turned out to be George Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead. I was glued to it. Even in black and white, the blood and shadows played with my head. Everything the characters did made sense, they were all the things I could think of for what made sense to respond to their situation. So when everything they did failed, I failed. Then morning came. I felt relief and elation for Ben when he made it, only to have my heart drop when other survivors dropped him without hesitation.

For a seventh grader, that hit home like nothing else. It was something I knew, something everyone knows, that sometimes you work hard, and seem to succeed, only to have everything ripped away and be left with nothing. But to actually SEE it portrayed in such a way on television like that made it real in a way few things feel when you’re 13.

It probably didn’t help that right after that I had to walk by myself, half a mile to my bus stop with only one dingy, yellow street lamp for light and a nice thin layer of fog.

That was the first time a movie really freaked me out. I was going through the house on commercial breaks, checking locks, making sure the lights were on, and peering out the windows into the darkness of the neighborhood. It also made me extremely jumpy on the walk to the bus stop.

Night of the Living Dead showed me what Horror movies could really do when they were artfully crafted. They could be more than just fun little monster movies. They can affect you on a much deeper level, make you feel things you’re not used to and that you don’t want to feel. They give you that rush of adrenaline from the fight or flight response, even though you’re safe, cozy, and warm in a theater or your own home.

This movie was likely the turning point in my life with regards to Horror. It turned something that was just fun into something deeper and stronger. It’s the reason I write Horror now, watch Horror movies and TV shows all the time, read Horror novels and play Horror video games. It turned something that was merely an interest into a way of life. (And I can probably blame it for my twisted sense of humor, too.)

For all that, thank you George. We’ll miss you.

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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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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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