Texas Frightmare Weekend 2015: Day One

 

Yes!!! Here we go, horror fiends, with the monster TFW posts! This year was my third time attending Texas Frightmare Weekend and it was just as amazing, wonderful, fantastic as the previous two years. But, this year was maybe a bit bigger and more exciting because Frightmare was celebrating its 10th year in existence, and founder Loyd Cryer really knocked it out of the park with all the amazing guests he lined up.

 

My personal experience was also enhanced a lot more because I not only snagged myself one of the coveted VIP passes, but I was also able to get a room in the host hotel. The previous two years I stayed off-site, so I missed out on the late night parties and other convention shenanigans - but not this year! This year I tried to be there for almost all of it to really get the full TFW experience. Here's some pics of my awesome VIP swag bag.

 

 

Alright, enough of that. Let's get into all the cool shit I got to do.

Friday night I had a photo op and a screening to attend, plus I had to scope out the vendors and make mental notes of what I wanted to buy. I wanted to save all of my more anticipated meet-and-greets for Saturday when things were more exciting, so I just got a few of the "smaller" (for lack of a better term) guests this first night.

First up was director Don Coscarelli. I know he was there for the Phantasm reunion that they were having, but I am sadly not a Phantasm fan! I've only seen the first film. Anyway, Don was an amazing first meet of the convention. I handed him the Bubba Ho-Tep picture I picked out for him to sign, and all I had to say was how much I loved the movie before he starts telling me stories of what Ossie Davis was like on set. We also discussed the odd but awesome tone of the movie. When I told him that Incident On and Off a Mountain Road was my favorite Masters of Horror entry, he said he really appreciated hearing that because he was nervous about being in the company of so many other amazing horror directors for that. No need, Don, your film was amazing! Don was so incredibly nice and he gave every fan in his line a great conversation, and that's the kind of celebrity I always appreciate at cons. Wonderful guy!

 

...and an action shot with the Phantasm ball.

 

 

Speaking earlier of Masters of Horror, my next meet was an actor in my really-close-second favorite entry. I'm sadly not as familiar as I should be with Udo Kier's earlier work, but I have loved seeing him in stuff like Blade and Halloween, etc. One of my favorite horror scenes of all time is in John Carpenter's Cigarette Burns when Udo is feeding his own intestines into the film projector, so I was really hoping that he would have a Cigarette Burns picture at his table. And, lo and behold, not only did he have a picture from that movie, but the picture was of that very scene! Ah, it must be fate. Udo was also a very cool guy. I love his accent.

 

 

I was very undecided this year about what order I wanted to do my meetings because I had SO FREAKING MANY OF THEM to do. So I stopped at my favorite poster vendor - they have the best deal on 11x17 prints at buy 3, get one free - and spent what felt like an eternity trying to pick out the four I wanted. One was a Hellraiser poster, and one was pretty cool because it was a "Stab" poster, in honor of the guests from Scream. The other two are ones that I got signed later, including my next meet and greet with...

 

...Camille Keaton! Very excited and honored to meet this lady, and she was so sweet and conversational. She also liked the sparkly skull earrings that I was wearing, so bonus for me! I told her that she should be so proud of herself, obviously talking about I Spit on Your Grave, and she gave me a wonderful smile and "thank you" for that. I also gave her praise for What Have You Done to Solange? and she gave me a great signature and picture with her!

 

 

 

The two big headliners this year were Neve Campbell and Skeet Ulrich. Neve wasn't allowing pictures at her table because they thought she was going to be too busy, so I got a professional photo op with her and Skeet because he was also going to be wearing the Ghostface costume for the pics and that is just fucking cool. When I walked up to get in position between them, Skeet noticed my Carrie t-shirt and says, "Carrie?!" I'm not sure if that was an exclamation of disapproval or what, but it was still pretty funny. And our picture came out awesome!

 

Time for some food and then the first of two movie screenings I went to this weekend. I was actually strangely excited for Gutterballs 2: Balls Deep, because while the first one was a bit much in some parts, overall I could appreciate the campy craziness of it. Director Ryan Nicholson was there to introduce and talk about the movie, and he told us that we were the first audience to see it and that it was mostly a rough cut (uh oh) and that the last third of the movie wasn't going to make a whole lot of sense (double uh oh) and that it got very nasty and brutal at the end. Oooookay. He was definitely right. The look and feel of the sequel was pretty much the same as it was for Gutterballs in the first part of the film, but yes, there is a point where the movie goes off in crazy direction and then just ends with a lot of sexually brutal stuff. I didn't really hate or love Gutterballs 2 - there were some interesting trippy scenes - so maybe I'll have to see it again when Nicholson is done with it. Gutterballs 3: No Holes Barred (OMG) is apparently coming in 2016.

 

 

Normally this would have been the end of my Friday night, but since I was staying at the hotel this year, I finally got to go to the Friday night party, which they always make some special theme for whoever the guests are that year. This year they had the Phantasm Ball (haha), and because Gutterballs 2 started at the same time as the party, I missed whatever craziness happened at the beginning. I was there for the costume contest, and some guy dressed as the Babadook won. I imbibed a little and danced a little and stayed up way too late even though I knew Saturday was going to be a long ass day. Oh well. It was a lot of fun!

 

 

Oh, but all this isn't even close to the amount of awesome that I would experience this weekend! Saturday was the most amazing day, so definitely stay tuned for that!

 

 

Day Two is now available HERE!

And go HERE for Day Three!

 



Movie Review: I Spit on Your Grave 2 (2013)

 

I'm a fan of the original I Spit on Your Grave in the sense that I respect it and the filmmaker for what he was trying to do. I respected it enough to be more than a tad disappointed at the 2010 remake, which was fantastically brutal, but I felt it focused too much on inventive revenge rather than the victim's feelings. Though I didn't really have much interest in I Spit on Your Grave 2, I knew I would eventually watch it because my sick mind loves movies like this. And what did this little sequel hold for me but a big surprise.

Katie is an aspiring model who visits a photography studio one day to have some pictures taken. She immediately leaves after refusing to pose nude, but when one of the men follows her home, things only turn more and more horrific as Katie is kidnapped, and brutally raped and tortured by several men. They bury her alive but Katie miraculously survives, and hashes out a plan to get her bloody vengeance on all those responsible for hurting her.

Again, I'm really surprised at how much I liked this. I thought I knew exactly what I would get with a straight-to-DVD sequel to a remake of a controversial 70s exploitation flick - but I ended up being wrong in some aspects. The sequel definitely cashes in on the gritty reputation of the series, as the rape and revenge scenes are very graphic and disturbing, but somehow the feel of the story is different. I think it was the side story with the priest and the police officer that made everything a bit easier to deal with for me. It was actually wonderful to see, for once, in a rape-revenge movie that not all males are evil - that most of them would be appalled to know of the things that happened to this girl.

Jemma Dallender is absolutely wonderful in the lead role of Katie, a role that is incredibly difficult on several levels. She had to go from being a happy, normal woman, to one going through unthinkable pain and suffering, to one made almost crazy and violent by what she has been through. Her voice, especially when she is screaming, is almost child-like but at the same time so raw with emotion that it hurts to listen to her cry and scream. When she has to go into hardcore killing mode for the revenge, she excels. They also gave Dallender the same basic look that Camille Keaton made famous in the original ISPOYG - with the long, long hair parted down the middle - and I really like that as a nice homage or common thread between all the movies. The title also appears on the screen in way similar to the previous entries and that was nice to see as well.

I do question the character of the police officer in Bulgaria a little bit. He really does fuck-all to help Katie when she first escapes, or at least doesn't seem all that experienced in dealing with rape victims. He says her story is implausible and that she seems to be on drugs, which is why she doesn't want to go to the hospital. Okay, a couple things about that. Has he never heard of the international sex slave trade where women are drugged and taken to other countries? Does he not know that a lot of rape victims refuse medical attention because they don't want to be violated again? I'm not saying that he wasn't sympathetic toward what happened to Katie, it's just that his thoughts did not match his actions.

The violence is disturbing to say the least - at one point I even questioned if they had gone too far. The first rape is a long and graphic scene, and things only get worse from there. Katie is pissed on by one of her rapists after asking for water to drink, she is violently beaten about the face for no reason, and endures several shocks to the body and genitals by a cattle prod. Her kidnappers sell her to a disgusting, fat sadist to do whatever he wants to her for a while, and though you never see what he does to her beyond the cattle prod, it is probably most shocking to see her in the aftermath, lying on the dirty mattress in the fetal position with a huge amount of blood on the insides of her thighs.

This is all so messed up that I was somewhat pissed off that cattle prod asshole did not get the worst of Katie's revenge. Again, she does things to the perpetrators that are similar to what they did to her. The guy who pissed on her gets drowned in some more piss and shit, and that was probably my favorite one because for me, the pissing on her was almost worse than anything else that happened. As weird as that sounds, it just seems absolutely disgusting and the ultimate humiliation - a show of the character's complete lack of respect for others. Cattle prod asshole should have gotten what the leader of the rape pack got in the end - a brutal and uncut scene of his balls getting smashed in a vice. Now, how all this was accomplished by a girl living with nothing in the sewers of a foreign country is hard to believe at times, but if you're worried about that stuff by this point, you're watching the wrong movie.

I absolutely love revenge films and I have to say that I Spit on Your Grave 2 is surprisingly a nice entry into the genre. It is ultra-violent and difficult to watch, like these movies should be, but a wonderful lead actress carries the film well, and the shift in location and circumstances bring something new to the series. It is definitely not one for everyone, though, so watch at your own risk.

Movie Review: I Spit on Your Grave (2010)

I Spit on Your Grave was truly and honestly the only horror phenomenon that I thought was safe from the recent remake frenzy. And don't get me wrong, I've liked a good number of the remakes that have come out so far, it's just that I Spit seemed like the kind of movie that critics and censors wanted to forget about. But now it's back and I'm frankly a little conflicted about the outcome.

So the plot is mostly similar to the original - young, pretty writer Jennifer Hills (with almost the same hairdo, might I add) rents a cabin in the woods to write a new book. She meets up with the local hoods at the gas station, embarrasses one of the dudes and rejects his advances, so they get all testosterone rage-y and assault her in various ways one night. They think they killed her, but she survives and comes back to seek her vengeance against the attackers.

The first thing to piss me off was the country bumpkin rapists not liking Jennifer because she was a hoity toity "big city gal." Same as in the original, they say that she didn't come out to the woods to write her book, she went there to have sex. UGH. I am so sick of this plot point. The rednecks always hate the city people because they think they are all rich and snobby. So cliche. Think of something else, for the love of all that is gory.

I almost completely checked out of the movie when the sheriff becomes the main instigator of Jennifer's assault. Maybe I watch too many cop shows but I have far too much respect for police officers to accept all the sadistic, crooked, or incompetent cops that are portrayed in movies. It is 2011, people, and I don't care how backwoods someone is, it is still unbelievable to me that a sheriff would be the ringleader of a brutal gang rape and (supposed) murder.

All right, let's talk torture now, shall we? First of all, the scene at the beginning where Jennifer is running and comes across the abandoned cabin where she eventually carries out her revenge was so unnecessary. They have spooky shots of the bathtub and the hedge clippers, and I'm screaming at the TV, "STOP FORESHADOWING SO MUCH! WE GET IT!" Anyway. Overall, Jennifer's methods of torture and murder were too elaborate for me (although one could argue that she did have a whole month to plan it out), but it was a nice touch that each of the men's demises paralleled the kind of person they were or the way that they abused Jennifer.

Then again, Jennifer herself kept cheapening the moments by repeating back to the men the things they said during her assault. "I thought you were an ass man," "You said, 'Suck it bitch,'" and all that weird "show horse" crap. It became almost comical, and while you were still rooting for the assholes to die, the seriousness of the crime they committed was practically lost.

One thing that made me uncomfortable about the original was how Jennifer seduced her rapists into her revenge traps. It just never felt right and although you could say that she was being clever by catering to their misogynistic attitudes to trick them, it almost confirms their feelings that women are whores and use sex to get what they want. So I'm glad the remake had Jennifer showing up as a total badass and the men being immediately afraid of her and what she was going to do to them. I especially loved how she whacked both Andy and Stanley with a baseball bat and was able to control them both at the same time. She has the power now and that is the real message of the movie.

At times, her revenge seemed almost worse than their initial crime. Although the first rape by Matthew was incredibly brutal, I was squirming in my seat when Jennifer rammed the shotgun as hard as she could up the sheriff's ass. Speaking of this scene, just wanted to say that I know what you were doing here, filmmakers. You're trying to rival the ending to The Last House on the Left remake, aren'tcha?!

OH! Oh, oh, oh, you wanna talk about pissing me off? How about Andy's line about how after the rape, Matthew was acting all strange and as Andy says, "I think he even feels guilty." I about jumped in the TV and ripped the dude's face off. "I think he even feels guilty"??? As if there's nothing to feel guilty about. Angry Michele. Very, very angry Michele. BUT, it was the selling point in making me really enjoy the payoff of him getting his face melted off in a bathtub of lye. 

Final Thoughts:

Not gonna lie - I LOVE how they recreated the original poster art. Grey on white looks awesome for this kind of movie and is quite evocative looking.

The sheriff's daughter's name is Chastity? In a rape-revenge movie? Is that some kind of a joke?!

Meir Zarchi, the director of the original film, was executive producer on the remake. Hm.

Blogger is also pissing me off because the text is not wrapping around the pictures like I like it. Doesn't have anything to do with the movie but it does this every once in a while and it really annoys me.

Remakes of classic horror films

This is going to be my weigh-in on the onslaught of remakes of classic horror films. A Nightmare on Elm Street just came out not too long ago, and it sucked. It sucked really hard. I Spit on Your Grave is coming out soon, and it's probably going to suck. Friday the 13th was probably the biggest suck of all remakes. No, wait, that award goes to One Missed Call... which was actually a remake of an Asian horror movie, which is a category all it's own. Let's stick to remakes of classic American films.

I have seen the remakes and the originals and I have a top three of the best remakes (thus far... 'cause Gosh knows there are going to be more). The best remake is not necessarily my favorite, but we'll get to that later.

The number one best horror remake is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In terms of sticking to the original storyline but making improvements where need be; characters; actors; and directing, TCM 2003 was a huge success. As much as you may love that classic original first film by Poltergeist-man himself, Tobe Hooper, you have to admit that the film is seriously flawed. It's a low-budget movie from the 70s with actors that are still unknown to this day. Yes, it has some creepy and gross-out moments (Grandpa sucking the blood off of Marilyn Burns finger?????? So wrong.) and the whole concept of this whacked-out cannibal family and a giant 'tard with a chainsaw is incredibly disturbing, but it doesn't really hold up well over time.

The remake improved the TCM legacy in so many ways. First of all, the characters. The most annoying film character I can think of right now is Franklin (the guy in the wheelchair) from the original. So they totally cut him out. Yea! Now add in Jessica Biel, a hippy chick, and three modestly good-looking guys and you've got a pretty good cast. There's no overly blatant stereotypes among the kids, no bitch or slut, or douchebag dude that the girls seem to love even if he is a douchebag... just some normal people in their 20s. They got good actors who took the film and their characters seriously and really turned it out.

The best and most memorable characters, though, are of course the members of the Hewitt family. In the original they were all kind of skanky, dirty, back woods dudes. They gave these new characters some real thought and got great actors, again, to play these roles. R Lee Ermy as the sheriff is the most memorable. An awesome character actor who really gets into his roles (maybe a little too much) and makes them special. Uncle Monty, no legs man in the wheelchair, is perhaps not as well developed, we just see him as a pervert because he keeps grabbing Jessica Biel's ass while she's helping him into his wheelchair. I don't know who the actress is who played the mother but she was absolutely fantastic. An old crone, the HBIC, just as disgusting and depraved as the men in her family. She can hold her own. Leatherface's character didn't really change much, but he didn't need to. Big guy, mind of a child, but knows how to work his power tools. You feel sorry for him, maybe, but not really when he's chasing you around the house with a chainsaw.

The action and chase sequences were awesome (although we didn't get a reboot of the famous dinner table scene until Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), with great set design and locations. The Hewitt house, its basement, the slaughterhouse, the crazy neighbors' trailer... they all give you a great sense of time and place in the context of the film. Set design was especially helpful in getting the real feel of the film. The whole movie is just DIRTY. Dirty characters, dirty deeds, dirty houses. The people in the movie are sweaty and dirty like they haven't showered in a few weeks. The house and other sets are dirty, cluttered, dripping with water, covered in dried blood - ook! I just wanted to jump into the movie and hose down everybody and everything I could touch.

They totally upped the gore and violence and I loooooove that. The movie can't be called Texas Chainsaw Massacre and not have someone getting their leg cut off or getting split down the crotch with a chainsaw. So thank you, filmmakers, for that. You know what we want.

All in all, great improvement on character, great actions, great gore and violence. Awesome horror film, that is just as good as, if not better than, the original.

The number 2 remake is coming next blog.