Horror Talk: 01.07.11

Greetings, boys and ghouls! Welcome back to Horror Talk, hosted once again by your friendly neighborhood gorehound and indie filmmaker extraordinaire, Travis Legge.

Before we delve too deep into this week in Horror, let me begin with a sincere apology for my tardiness. Normally Horror Talk posts on Wednesday and this week I was unable to hit the deadline. I’m typically not one to let such things slip past me but this week it was simply unavoidable.

However, my tardiness is accompanied by some very good news! My first feature film, Raymond Did It is now completed! We have finally wrapped the hellish, but rewarding, post-production process and we have a film that I am TRULY proud of. We are currently booking screenings and talking to U.S. and foreign distributors so it is a very exciting time around here. It has been a long road to finish this movie and we have had more than our share of delays, but I feel that the final product is worth the wait. I only hope you will agree when Raymond Did It hits select theaters in February!

In Movie news, the first full-length trailer for John Carpenter’s The Ward hit the Internet this week.

I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this is for me. I am a lifelong fan of John Carpenter and when he “retired” from filmmaking after Ghosts of Mars I was heartbroken. His episodes of the Showtime original series Masters of Horror were wonderful, but only made me miss his filmmaking even more. So when I heard The Ward would mark Carpenter’s return to the big screen, I was impatiently giddy. Looks like I will continue to be so for now, as the film has yet to find U.S. distribution. The trailer for John Carpenter’s The Ward can be seen at http://www.slashfilm.com/john-carpenters-ward-trailer/

Keeping in line with a hospital-like setting, but shifting protagonists much further along in life, it was announced this week that Kristoffer Aaron Morgan’s horror film The Home has been picked up by Dimension films. In The Home “a young man is nearly killed during an accident that leaves him physically and emotionally scarred. To recuperate, he is taken to a secluded nursing home where the elderly residents appear to be suffering from delusions. But after witnessing a violent attack, he soon realizes that the screams behind the walls are caused by more than hallucinations, and the residents are being preyed upon by twisted, monstrous nightmares that lurk within the home itself.”

The premise sounds like a slightly more serious Bubba Ho-Tep, which would be enough to draw me in, but when you look at the cast they have assembled, including Cloris Leachman, Louise Fletcher, Ed Asner and Louis Gossett Jr., this film clearly becomes a must-see.

If you have Louis Gosset Jr. in your cast, you have my vote. Ever since Enemy Mine I’ve been hooked on the man’s work. No details have been announced on the release of The Home but we will certainly keep any eye out for this one!

At the Box Office, Black Swan managed to hang onto its top ten spot, Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale took a nose dive, bringing in only $20,000 and the controversial Blue Valentine opened on four screens bringing in over $193,000.

Guess that shows the MPAA that you cant keep people from wanting to see ukulele-laden relationship dramas with censorship. Of course, the organization has made its customary vow to hit horror harder in the wake of the heavily publicized battle by the Weinstein Company to reduce the NC-17 rating initially awarded to Blue Valentine to an R.  Which is simply one more reason to SUPPORT UNRATED HORROR!

Speaking of UNRATED horror, Adam Green’s Hatchet II hits DVD, Blu-Ray and Netflix on February 1st.

While an UNRATED DVD release is nothing new Hatchet II made a very bold statement last year by releasing on over 60 screens without the blessing of the MPAA. It was unceremoniously yanked from theaters, so if you missed it the first go-round, pick up the DVD or Blu-Ray next month.

That brings our time together for the week to an end, kiddies. Before we lay this week’s Horror Talk to rest, I would like to take an opportunity to wish a very happy birthday to director John Singleton.

While not a horror filmmaker in the strictest sense, Singleton’s early career brought us films such as Boyz N The Hood and Higher Learning which focused on the true horrors of inner-city life, race relations, drugs and crime in a way that reminded us that reality is usually far more horrific than fictional boogeymen that chase babysitters and promiscuous teens through white suburban settings and abandoned summer camps. For that, we honor Mr. Singleton and wish him a very happy birthday!

Many Bloody Returns,
Travis Legge