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Paranormal Activity 3
Paranormal Activity 3 broke records at the box office this weekend. Streebo made the trip to the theaters to review the film for you and has returned with everything you need to know about the latest installment of the scariest series of the New Millennium.
Watch the video after the leap to get Streebo’s full review of Paranormal Activity 3!
The Thing (2011)
“It’s not human, yet.”
Antarctica – 1982. And so begins the prequel story to John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing. The Thing (2011) tells the story of a Norwegian Outpost that discovers an alien spacecraft and the subsequent “Thing” of the title. Mary Elizabeth Winstead plays Kate Lloyd a graduate student drafted by the Norwegian scientists to aid in the reclamation of the alien life form that they discover.
It’s not long before the Norwegians have the Thing carved out of the ice and thawing in their basement like a giant banana Popsicle. After that all hell proceeds to breaking loose for the remainder of the running time of the movie.
The creature FX by Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis feature an amazing blend of practical make-up and the latest in CGI techniques. The result is dazzling as
The Thing continues to mutate and change and sprout vestigial pseudopods throughout the entire movie much to the delight of Kaiju and monster movie lovers everywhere.
(Get more than a mouthful after the leap!)
Streebo made the trip out to see the latest effort (as a producer) from Guillermo Del Toro – a remake of the 1973 film – Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. The name “Guillermo Del Toro” is uttered with respect in the halls of the Mutantville Mothership where he is considered one of the Patron Saints of Guerrilla Filmmaking for his efforts on such genre classics as Cronos, The Devil’s Backbone, Blade II and Pan’s Labyrinth. Guillermo Del Toro wrote and produced Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark which tells the story of young Sally who is sent to live with her father and his girlfriend and discovers that there is something dark and sinister living in the ancient mansion that wants to claim Sally as their own.
I’ve just returned from seeing Apollo 18 at the theater and I have to say that I really loved it. It was creepy, intense and filled with interesting twists and turns right up until the end. Apollo 18 takes the found footage sub-genre to the moon and explains why Apollo 18 was NASA’s last trip there. Producer Timur Bekmambetov and newcomer director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego managed to create a tense, claustrophobic film with enough atmosphere and surprises to choke an extraterrestrial life form.
(Watch Streebo’s review after the leap!)
Tonight, Streebo made the trip out to an advance screening of the remake of Tom Holland’s 1985 classic Fright Night. Fright Night (2011) stars Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, David Tennant, and Imogen Poots. As a quick aside – is that really this actress’ name? Imogen Poots? Is this part of that cosmic joke the universe is playing on us to see if we pay attention? I don’t know. We’ll have to leave that to the scholars and philosophers to decide. Fright Night tells the tale of Charley Brewster and the not so friendly neighborhood vampire that lives next door played by Colin Farrell.
The name revealed little and the trailer to Super 8 revealed even less. The anticipation has been building for months. All we knew was that Steven Spielberg was producing and J.J.Abrams was writing and directing and the early reports were that it was good – very good. Well the Doctors of Horror at MVP were able to put Super 8 under the microscope and have come back with their own conclusion – not only is Super 8 super good – but it is the best horror film of 2011 so far!
Super 8 started off with a low Friday night gross of $11 million leading analysts to predict a low opening weekend – but word of mouth carried the nostaligia tinted ride straight to number one with a weekend total of $37 million surpassing expectations by almost $5 million.
Super 8 tells the story of a warm Ohio summer in 1979 when a group of adolescent filmmakers set out to win the local film contest with their latest horror film. Little did they know that during the course of shooting their film, they would witness a horrendous train crash and the subsequent military quarantine of the surrounding area – leading them on a journey to get to the root of the mystery. Super 8 stars Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Joel Courtney, Gabriel Basso, Noah Emmerich, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee and Zach Mills.
This week Johnny Brento brings us a discussion of the 2000 Horror Thriller, The Calling where an unsuspecting woman is used as a pawn to bring to fruition the rule of the Antichrist.
On her wedding night, a young woman conceives a child during an hallucinatory encounter. Several years later, as her friends and family begin to behave strangely, she pieces together clues that lead to one conclusion…her son is the Antichrist!
Directed By: Richard Caesar
Starring: Laura Harris, Richard Lintern and Francis Magee
Tagline: Evil is dead. On 3rd day it shall rise again.
Alternate Titles: 666 – The Number of the Beast ( Sweden) & Diablo (Japan)
open source video, online video platform, video streaming, video solutions
This week on The Horror, Johnny Brento shares his enthusiasm for the film, “Funhouse” and also proudly displays the one sheet from his now famous poster collection. This Tobe Hooper directed effort came to us from 1981. And featured a very game cast.
Synopsis: Two young couples on a double date go to a mysterious carnival. As a prank they decide to spend the night in the funhouse. When they witness a brutal murder, they suddenly find themselves in horrific danger.
Tagline: Something is alive in the funhouse…something that, tonight, will turn the funhouse into a carnival of terror!
“New decade, new rules.”
This week, Streebo brings you a spoiler free review for the new sequel to the Scream franchise – Scream 4 aka SCRE4M. Scream 4 stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, Emma Roberts and Hayden Pannetierre. The survivor of the infamous Woodsboro Massacre, Sydney Prescott, returns to Woodsboro on the anniversary of the original massacre to close out her book tour and confirm her status as an “ex-victim” that has now come to terms with her past and faces her days with a renewed sense of self and confidence. No sooner does she arrive in town, than the Ghostface murders begin anew.
Scream 4 plays fast and hard with the rules of horror, making sure to lay out the rules of the game along the way. Scream 4 is a fun return to the post-modern slasher and offers plenty of comments about the state of modern horror over the past fifteen years. Unfortunately, the post-modern examination feels heavy handed at this point in the game as the cover can only be peeled back to reveal the truth once and the original Scream did that fifteen years ago.
Scream 4 is filled with hot babes, goofy guys, messy kills and tons of characters that can disappear in the night so fast that they make Batman look like a cripple. Scream 4 plays with the genre and has fun with it – at times to the detriment of the scare factor – but overall makes for a fun time at the theater. Take your friends and have fun with it while it’s still playing. Be sure to watch for little Easter eggs such as homages to the earlier Scream films, horror posters, and scary movie references. They’re all packed in there for those that pay attention.
“It’s not the house that’s haunted!”
That’s the tagline to the new haunted house horror film from the producer of Paranormal Activity and writer and director of SAW – Insidious. James Wan directs this tight little spookshow about a young family trying to cope with the effects of unwanted supernatural presences in their lives.
Be on the lookout for a nice supporting role from ghost assault survivor Barbara Hershey (The Entity) as the supportive mother that calls in the psychic to help out. Insidious pays homage to all of the great haunted house films of the past and keeps the audience jumping and guessing from beginning to end. Streebo gives Insidious a 7 out of 10 on the Streebo Scream-o-meter. Go see it while you can!
Check out my full review below.
