Podcast Episode 4

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To celebrate the official beginning of summer we have changed things up a bit this week and are covering one of our most beloved sub-genre's of horror, the summer camp slasher film. We discuss 1981's low budget Madman, 1982's fan favorite The Burning and 1983's uncomfortable shocker Sleepaway Camp. In addition we list our most anticipated films for the summer of 2013. Enjoy!

V/H/S 2 - Review

Horror anthologies have always been a favorite of mine ever since I watched Creepshow and more recently Trick R Treat. I also love found footage films, D]despite many people’s tendency to shit on them, and think there's a lot more new and creative things that can be done with this genre. In no film is this more evident than in V/H/S 2.

V/H/S 2 is comprised of five segments, unlike six in the original, one of those being the wrap-around story. This, however, is a welcome change as it allows the directors plenty of time to flesh out their stories, one of which runs 40 minutes and is definitely worth the extra time. If there’s one part of the first V/H/S that I thought was most lacking it was the wrap-around story. It followed a group of troublemakers as they recorded themselves causing mayhem and ended at a creepy house where they have to find a V/H/S tape. Of course they slowly begin to disappear as the viewer is treated to each new story. It wasn't terrible but you didn't care about the characters at all because they were assholes and it felt like it was thrown in simply to provide a reason for all of these films to exist together. This time around, we follow a sleazy private detective and his partner on their search for a missing student when they come across.... you guessed it, a pile of VHS tapes that they can’t help but watch. I found this wrap-around story to be much creepier than the original film as the tapes actually affect them in strange ways and we can see someone else in the background watching them. In the original V/H/S we’re not given many hints to the origin of the tapes but in V/H/S 2 we are given a few more clues, though they still remain vague. The ending was a big step up from the first as well and turned out to be a bit of a surprise.

Podcast Episode 3

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The ABC's of Death - Review

The concept behind ABC's of Death is an inspired one. Take 26 genre directors, give them each a letter and a budget of $5000, and have them direct a short based on their given letter. The directors are given 100% freedom to write and direct as they see fit with no intervention from the production studio. It's like a visual take on the saying "when the cat is away the mice will play". The only problem is some of the mice just aren't as good at playing the game as others and can make the better players look bad. That's kind of what happens with ABC's of Death. There are a few moments of true entertainment and enjoyment but they are often overshadowed by their less entertaining and enjoyable counterparts. That's not to say these aren't all talented directors because they are, it just didn't work out for them in this format. The other issue is there is no real editing here. The letters are presented in order so we get no real sense of flow beside the fact that the letters follow each other. What follows is a rundown of each letter. The only way I could think to rate a movie like this is to rate each segment and average them together for an overall rating.