Terror in the Aisles 5: Killer Children Triple Feature

Well another Terror in the Aisles is knocked off the list, this time around it was children in horror and it was at the Brew ‘n View theater… also known as The Vic. On the movie list they had It’s Alive with Larry Cohen in person to talk about his film, The Children and the Chicagoland debut of Paul Solet’s Grace. It was my first time seeing Grace so I came to this event just to see this film and to see It’s Alive on the big screen.

As usual, they began to play vintage trailers or what they call ‘Trailer Trash.’ The first half was a bunch of road movies; Road Warrior and Mad Max… of which had Mel Gibson thrown in there. They showed “classics” such as The Lost World from the 60s and the hysterical Mighty Pecking Man. If I remember, I think Quentin Tarantino re-released the film but I’m not sure.

The Q&A with Larry Cohen was a little boring but it was somewhat interesting to know that It’s Alive was shunned from ever hitting the big screen in America, even though it was HUGE in India and North Africa. It wasn’t until Larry decided to pimp it out in Chicago and after the Executives were fired from the studio did he finally get it out in the public. It was a box office success! He regaled his time that he had with composer Bernard Hermann and how they became friends and just general chitchat about the film.

It’s Alive

I always thought this was a pretty disturbing and pretty scary movie, especially to those living in the 70s. ‘Course nowadays most people would laugh at it because of the cheesy effects and the fact that you don’t see anything. But that’s what I like about this movie, it really takes the old saying, “the less you see, the scarier it is” and uses it to its advantage. Even though you do see the baby in the shadows, the rest is up to your imagination.

The Children

After seeing this again, I think I’m less of a fan of it. I’m a huge fan of the editing and the movie had its creepy parts but I think the sound design was a little over the top, there was a lot of screaming for no reason and I think it was trying to be Kubrickian… on par with The Shining but it didn’t work. I might watch it again just to get a good standpoint on the film but as of right now I think it’s a very mediocre film.

Grace

I love this film. I think what really worked for me was that it’s one of those slow-burn movies that relies on a heavy amount of atmosphere. The score, the lighting, the mood, the interaction each character has and the way the actors carry out their actions. It’s so soft and somber but at the same time it’s creepy. This is where the movie really succeeds… not that it didn’t succeed in other parts. It gives me a whole new look at breastfeeding and zombie babies.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad time at the Brew ‘n View but I think it could have been better. The sound was the biggest problem because it wasn’t setup right and it was so loud that all the people in the movies sounded like they were speaking with peanut butter in their mouths. However, after seeing this triple feature I know realize that I don’t want kids for a while.

Terror in the Aisles 3

Tonight, or should I say this morning was this years last Terror in the Aisles and it was pretty damn good. The original lineup for this time around was Night of the Creeps, The Blair Witch Project and [REC] 2… but because of some trouble, they couldn’t screen [REC] 2 and instead played Black Christmas. This made a lot of people not show up to the Portage and blow off Black Christmas. Honestly, I don’t know why they would do that because Black Christmas is a good slasher movie and one of the best out there. Anyway, I also want to point out that I did not have my camera so I only have pictures of the signatures.

Eduard Sanchez’s signature.

Upon walking in, I was greeted by “Santa” and received a little leprechaun figurine and a pack of “So You Think You Can Dance?” playing cards. Fred Dekker and Eduardo Sanchez were there as guests and I had Fred sign my DVD copy of Night of the Creeps and I had Eduardo sign a promo slip for Holiday of Horrors. Fred was really nice and really laid back… I wanted to talk to him more about Night of the Creeps but I had to restrain my geekiness. Eduardo was really thrilled and kept talking on and on, probably because he was so excited, but he was a nice guy and we shook hands. He told us the story about the strange woman the group interviews in the beginning of Blair Witch and how she died recently (R.I.P.) and how her daughter tried to sue. I even got to call him Wolverine because of his muttonchops.

Now, let’s get to the movies.

Night of the Creeps: Well, if you want my opinion… you can read it right here.

Treevenge: This was a fun movie that really captured that grindhouse tone. It was bloody, it was funny and it really made you empathize for the trees… hell, it made me not want to buy a real tree for Christmas. Here is the review courtesy of Horror Society.

The Blair Witch Project: This movie was pretty scary for me when I got in theaters and after seeing it on the big screen, it brought back so many memories and so many times I got scared. I hate little kids laughing and I realized that the acting in this movie was really top notch. Plus, I have a whole new respect for Blair Witch after I know how it was made. We saw the Sundance cut of the movie. I’ll be writing a full review of it later.

Black Christmas: I have always loved this movie, but I loved it even better when I saw it on an original print. It’s a great slasher flick and it really used the element of shock and surprise to its advantage. It makes you sit on the edge and it was such a great cap to the night.

Overall, this was a very fun night and even with the absence of [REC] 2, it was worth it and I had a great time talking to friends and meeting the directors of all these great movies. I’ll be catching next year’s Terror in the Aisles for sure.

Fred Dekker’s signature
Signed: “Thrill me”


The signature of the man who brought the movie to DVD

Yeah, I had a geek moment.

terror in the Aisles 2, Part 2

I know it’s been a while since I even talked about Terror In the Aisles 2 but I thought that I should go over what I accomplished while I was there. I was very happy because I finally got to meet so many different people there from all sorts of websites as well as different celebrities. I met Stuart Conover from BuyZombie and Mitch Wells and his wife Jessica from The Horror Society and I also met Tom Holland who was the special effects guy for Evil Dead, George Mihalka who dircted My Bloody Valentine and Mike Dougherty who directed Trick ‘r Treat.

I got these cards that were advertising the Trick ‘r Treat website and how they were giving away these Sam figurines to promote the movie. I took one and I turned it around for Tom and George to sign it. The top (in black) is Tom’s signature. The bottom (in red) is George, who wished me to ‘set over’ the fact that My Bloody Valentine scared the shit out of me when I was younger.

From Conventions

It’s also funny to note that I was in the washroom taking a piss and some guy came next to me and said ‘Goddamn it, these things are always so fucking smelly.” I turned around and it was George.

This is the card that Dougherty signed for me.

From Conventions

This is some free comic book they were giving out. I never heard of it though.

From Conventions

Those are just some of the things that I got from this convention. When my friend finally gives me the pictures I will upload them to this site so you can see me with my horror crew. 

Review - Trick 'r Treat (2007)

From Blogger Pictures

After years of anticipation I finally saw the movie that I was waiting for, for two years… Trick r’ Treat, and I finally got to see it while I was at the Portage theater, along with The Evil Dead and My Bloody Valentine. I cannot begin to describe to you how amazing this movie was and how beautifully shot, acting and haunting this movie was but I will try to explain the majority of it to you. I STRONGLY recommend that you seen this movie since it is an amazing movie and original nonetheless. Dougherty did a phenomenal job crafting the film as well as the story outline.

From Blogger Pictures

The movie is broken up into several different stories that happen all in the same night that interconnect in the most bizarre and subtle way. The stories include: a young couple find out what happens when you disrespect the traditions of Halloween, a school teacher who happens to be a serial killer, a young girl is stalked by a mysterious man, a group of kids play a prank on a little girl that went too far and a cantankerous old man is visited by a demonic trick-or-treater.

To kick it off, what makes this movie so much more different then your typical Halloween based movie is that it’s about the holiday itself rather then having something happen during the holiday; this movie is about the traditions of Halloween and what the holiday stands for. Each story includes this little trick ‘r treater that appears everywhere who is the epitome of Halloween… Christmas has Santa, Easter as the Easter Bunny and Valentines’ Day has the cherubs and now Halloween has Sam. Since Halloween is such a dark holiday about death, it would make sense that Sam is not of this earth and that he would be a killer, another thing that I like about this movie. How Sam is the spirit that makes sure everybody follows the rules of Halloween.

From Blogger Pictures

There were a lot of good scares in this movie but there was also some good-natured dark humor. A lot of it was stupid but some of the humor was Halloween oriented. This is something that not many horror comedies can do right, the exception being Shaun of the Dead, perfectly blending horror with dark humor to where the humor is not overwhelming. It lightens up the mood but then the horror blind sights you when you least expect it.

Each story, it seems, is either based on a fair tale or based on some Halloween experience that all of us had dealt with at one time or another. The teacher that you always suspect is not who he say he is, having pranks being played on you, werewolves, vampires… all of the stories are like twisted, terrifying renditions of kids fair tales. It’s also obvious that Dougherty got his inspiration from Creepshow as well since the whole movie is told in the same style… coming from a comic book titled “Trick ‘r Treat” where Sam is the main character who is almost everywhere. It had the look of a creepy Tim Burton movie, the camera angles were very cartoonish and it was a very powerful movie.

From Blogger Pictures

It was a shame that this movie didn’t get the theatrical release that it should have gotten and I encourage anybody who loves horror movies to pick this movie up when they see it because it will not let any of your expectations. Dougherty himself wanted all of us to talk about Trick ‘r Treat so that the movie gets is recognition that it deserves. It blew me away and I am very greatfull for seeing this movie. Go see it or pick it up as soon as possible. 

Terror in the Aisles 2, Part I

Today is the Terror in the Aisles 2 at the Portage Theater in Chicago where they will be featuring the movies The Evil Dead and My Bloody Valentine with an extra bonus movie… the one… the only… Trick r’ Treat. I am really excited to be going and I will be meeting so many horror bloggers and website owners there as well such as BuyZombie.com and ZombiesHappen.com. From what I understand there will be other short films as I mentioned in a later post as well as competitions and, from what I understand, some gambling tables. The director of My Bloody Valentine will be attending and so will the special effects artist for The Evil Dead.

I will have a in depth review for Trick r’ Treat up on this site as well as The Horror Press… although that will be that abridged version of the review. In the mean time I will be heading up to Reckless Records to see if they have any horror movie discounts. So, tune in later tonight to see the reviews. 

Terror in the Aisles

From Blogger Pictures

As you may already know, I have been waiting for the much anticipated movie  "Trick r' Treat" and when I found out that it was getting a straight-to-DVD release I was mortified. HOWEVER, when a friend and I were walking around a video store in upper Chicago we came across an event that was taking place right in our own city known as The Terror in the Aisles 2 and they would be playing a few short movies, "The Evil Dead," "My Bloody Valentine" and..... "Trick r' Treat." I almost cried and we bought tickets and I am so excited to finally get to see this movie on the big screen. 

Below is the information:

August 15th, 2009 - 7pm

Portage Theater

4050 N. Milwaukee Ave

Chicago, IL

Fee = $12

Films:

Trick R' Treat (2009)

The Evil Dead 

My Bloody Valentine 

Shorts:

Gay By Dawn

Hellcat and Tala

Vintage trailers, dealer tables, prizes, surprises, and live charity auction for Vital Bridges and guest appearances. 

Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/74045

I am way beyond excited to see these movies and I hope to see several of my Chicagoan brethren while I am there so give me a shout out if you see me.