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Del Toro’s World is Alive in New Museum Exhibit

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If you happen to live in Minneapolis and love Guillermo Del Toro, you should probably get to the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA).

For those who don’t live in that state you have until May 28 2017, to find any means necessary to see this new awe-inspiring horror exhibit.

Starting on Sunday March 5, “Guillmero Del Toro: At Home With Monsters” brings the prolific director’s personal collection of horror memorabilia to the art space that has been created to look like his Los Angeles home he calls “Bleak House.”

Several rooms take visitors on a journey through his inspirations and realizations of the gothic horror artform.

With paintings, original manuscripts and human-size monsters created by special effects genius Ray Harryhausen, this exclusive exhibit only showcases one-fifth of De Toro’s extensive personal collection.

Arguably the greatest horror movie director of modern times, the Spanish native has immersed film goers into the world of gothic horror. From “The Devil’s Backbone,” “Pan’s Labyrinth” and the recent “Crimson Peak,” Del Toro encapsulates the romantic part of the genre with striking imagery and out of the ordinary characters and monsters.

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“I want to see the show to explore the continuity between haunting classic horror films like ‘Frankenstein’ that have inspired him, and how this fantastic filmmaker transforms those images into his own beautiful, uncanny work,” said Juli Kroll, an associate professor of world cinema, Latin American culture and Spanish at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

Gabriel Ritter, curator of contemporary art said the idea to transform the museum into the Del Toro universe was inspired by the institute’s director, Kaywin Feldman, after reading an article about him in The New Yorker.

JOSH WHITE/ JWPICTURES

Ritter says the exhibit tracks the timeline from idea to fruition. And it all begins once you enter, “so cinematic and strange it looks like a portal, with inlaid monstrous eyes that follow and track you as you enter the exhibition. It scares the bejesus out of you.”

Sectioned by themes, the tour begins with images of birth and innocence before it progresses through displays of the occult and witchcraft. Monsters make up the mid portion of the exhibit and concludes with death and the afterlife.

Walls are crimson colored and incorporate some Haunted Mansion-type special effects with rainfall and thunder slapping outside prop windows.

Del Toro’s films also plays through video monitors and MIA will screen some of his most notable works throughout the length of the show.

JOSH WHITE/ JWPICTURES

The March 5 opening has already sold out which is a bit strange for this type of exhibit admits Ritter, but it’s clear that Del Toro is well-respected by fans and contemporaries alike.

Despite mentors telling him early in his career to not become a film maker known for being weird, Del Toro says that’s exactly what he wanted to do.

“I belong completely to the creatures I create,” said Del Toro. “There’s a kinship that is entirely genuine and spiritual to me. It’s beyond affection. There is a link between those creations and me. I love making them. I am very moved by the fantastic.”

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He says the white marble sculpture “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa,” may represent his thought processes when it comes to his imagination. That sculpture shows a divine power dropped from the heavens and the pleasure felt by a mortal experiencing such an event.

“I really feel like that’s me contemplating a monster,” he said. “I really am ecstatic at seeing a creature. I get enraptured by these creatures in a way that I’m sure has a perfectly plausible psychological reason. It’s fascinating, the cohabitation of the grotesque and the sublime. Throughout the history of art, we’ve had to do portraiture of angels alongside portraits of demons and monsters. They are a theater of the mind.”

JOSH WHITE/ JWPICTURES

This comraderies and attachments to his creations are more than just static plotlines, they are burgeoning connections that become as real as you or me.

“I am a horror director in terms of kinship with the monsters,” Del Toro said. “But I’m not interested in hating them and fearing them. I believe in loving them. In most movies, your kinship is the humans and the monsters are the scary creatures. In my movies, the scary things are the humans.”

MIA

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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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