horror movies

by Christopher on Mar.30, 2013, under horror movies, Movie Review

Conspiracy Documentaries as a genre may have just jumped the shark. The Shining is considered one of the greatest horror films ever made and there’s tons of interesting real information out there about its making. I’ve been a fan of the film since watching it in high school and finally being able to comprehend what the movie was all about. There’s a lot that can be said about the movie and its content. I could debate the changes between the book and Kubrick’s vision and why he made them. Or we could discuss if what Jack is seeing is real or just a hallucination. We could discuss the behavior of the characters and why they make the decisions they make. Or a plethora of other subject the film raises. Like almost all of his films, Stanley Kubrick wanted there to be different interpretations and discussions. He wanted us to have to work to understand what he was trying to show us and in most of his films, he didn’t care if you got it or not. He made the film he wanted to make and The Shining is no different. (more…)

by Christopher on Mar.21, 2013, under horror movies, Retro Horror Movies, reviews, vampires

Vampire movies are a young persons game. Lonely emo vampires searching for meaning to their existence perfectly fits into the emotions of lonely teenagers. So I’m not really a fan of modern vampire movies because they’re just not something that I can relate to on any level anymore. But I still like revisiting some of the vampire flicks I grew up with and recently I picked up the blu-ray edition of “Vamp”, a film I remember liking as a 10 year old boy but does it still hold up?

Vamp is basically the “After Hours” with vampires. If you have seen After Hours, which is great, then you can see how that might work. Kevin and AJ are tasked with finding a stripper for their fraternity. Since Neither have a car they bring Asian stereotype #1003 Duncan (Gedde Watanabe) playing a horny nerdy loser who doesn’t have any friends. The three of them head to a seedy side of the city to find the sleaziest of stripper clubs.

They eventually end up at a club that only opens “After Dark”. AJ heads in alone first to try to chat up a stripper to take back to the fraternity. Duncan can’t stand waiting and says quite possibly the best line of the whole movie. Kevin gives in and heads inside with Duncan where they get to see a truly bizarre bit of “performance art”? If you don’t know who Grace Jones is then you didn’t grow up in the 80′s. She was a very tall Jamaican woman with very strong features that make her both very unusual and beautiful at the same time. (more…)

by Christopher on Feb.12, 2013, under horror movies, Retro Horror Movies, reviews, VHS

Oddly enough there are still a lot of movies that haven’t made it to DVD or blu-ray or were ported to DVD for a short period and are almost impossible to find today. Fright Night Part 2 is one of those movies that had never been given a proper release. If you do find a DVD you can expect to pay upwards of $100 just to get it. My desire to own the movie wasn’t that high so I went the cheap route and purchased an old VHS rental of the film.

Fright Night Part 2 is one of those movies that I haven’t watched since it was originally released back in 88′. I was 11 years old and I thought it was pretty good at the time but then again I was 11 years old. So I was kind of excited to dust off the ol’ VCR and put in the flick! If you’ve seen the original Fright Night then you’d be excused to say that Part 2 is almost a remake of the first. It begins with Charlie Brewster, now a college student who has undergone years of therapy to expunge the delusion that he killed a vampire. Now he believes that it was a serial killer and his mind just made up that he was a vampire as a coping mechanism. Ok, so Charlie is now dating a much more attractive psych student named Alex, who can speed read. Peter Vincent (Roddy Mcdowell) is still hosting Fright Night on TV and Charlie still stays in touch with him though he hasn’t told Peter he no longer believes in Vampires. (more…)

by Christopher on Dec.05, 2012, under Canon 5D Mark III, HDSLR Filmmaking, horror movies, Retro Horror Movies, Slasher Movies, video

Arcade is are latest horror short filmed in conjunction with Beyond the Grave Productions under our combined “Beyond Rogue Films”. We shot this starting last spring in an all night film shoot at Bonkers PLayland AKA Saint Lucifer’s Haunted Asylum, in Flint Michigan. Its an amazing location because its an arcade that looks like its right out of the 1980′s! We found a great leading lady that fit the look we wanted perfectly and our friend Jon Shroyer came out to do some amazing blood effects! We set out to make something of a tribute to Italian Giallo films of the 1970′s and 80′s. These films were made by the greats such as Argento, Bava, and Fulci. They were often weird gory films with total breaks in logic and comprehension but they almost always featured a leather gloved killer. So check out this fun little horror short and tell us what you think!

by Christopher on Sep.25, 2012, under Halloween, horror movies, Slasher Movies

Everything you’ve heard is true! Michael Dougherty’s long awaited, studio mishandled Trick R’ Treat is the best Halloween Movie to come out in 30 years! How this movie went direct to DVD and is not in theatres right now scaring the crap out of huge audiences is still a mystery. Did the studio really not know how to market this Halloween gem or was there another reason? I doubt we’ll find out anytime soon. But what is clear is that they mishandled one of the most original horror films I’ve seen in years. (more…)

by Christopher on Sep.24, 2012, under Halloween, horror movies, John Carpenter, Slasher Movies

It’s not a secret that I absolutely love Halloween 3. Yes I’m aware that it has nothing to do with Michael Myers and that’s precisely why it’s such a cinematic oddity. Now Shout Factory has released Halloween 3 on a lovingly re-mastered Blu-ray with lots of extras so it seemed like a great opportunity to revisit this misunderstood film.

After the success of Halloween parts 1 and 2 John Carpenter and Debra Hill Decided they had told the story of Michael Myers and it was time to try something new. Their concept was that they would keep the Halloween name alive and release new films that took place around the holiday. They brought in Nigel Neale who wrote the Quatermass films of the 50′s and 60′s to create a more psychological story about a Irish mask maker who wants to punish the world for not taking Halloween seriously. Interesting side note, The Quatermass films heavily inspired the X-Files so much so that they’re are striking similarities between Fight The Future and one of the Quatermass films. (more…)

by Christopher on Aug.19, 2012, under horror movies, Movie Review, nightmare on elm street, Retro Horror Movies

Today August 19th 2012 is the 14th anniversary of Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master. The film is often cited as one of the weaker films of the series and by many Freddy fans its outright hated but today I’m going to sing its praises!

While Nightmare 3 certainly introduced Freddy as a wise cracking ghoul, it was Nightmare 4 that truly embraced that role and ran with it. For me Nightmare 4 has a very special place in my heart. One Hot and muggy afternoon in August of 88′ I went to my local theater with my best friend and watched Nightmare 4 with glee! I was only 11 at the time and it was the first horror film I was allowed to go see in theaters. (more…)

by Christopher on Jun.12, 2012, under Canon 5D Mark II, HDSLR Filmmaking, horror movies, Millennium, serial killer movies, Slasher Movies, video

In May of 2011 Brian Lashchuk of Beyond The Grave Productions came down to my side of town with his beat up serial killer van and we shot a short film called “compulsion”. The story was originally Brian’s idea of a serial killer that finally gets his comeuppance. We expanded the story a bit, Brian volunteered to be the killer and I shot the whole thing, did the sound, and edited it. It was a 2 day whirlwind of a shoot and it was in the 90′s with high humidity the whole time. Now in 2012 a year later there are definetly things I would have done differently and there’s a couple badly lit scenes but overall it turned out pretty well. It’s heavily inspired by “The X-Files” and my favorite show “Millennium”. Check it out and let us know what you think.

On a side note this was the first film Brian and I shot under our new joint logo called Beyond Rogue Films. We shoot so many projects together that it just seemed to make sense to finally come up with a cool name for what we’re doing so Rogues Hollow Productions and Beyond the Grave Productions, combine to form Beyond Rogue Films. We have a Giallo film we hope to release by this fall and yes we’re finally starting to come up with ideas and storylines for a completely new take on the classic “Halloween”. Stay tuned!