Jeremy Renner's Appearance in THOR Revealed - WOOT WOOT!!!! ;)

Okay so I am majorly geeking over the prospect of THOR.  I don't know if it's because Kenneth Brannagh is pushing the boundaries by having The Wire's (and LUTHER) Idris Elba as Heimdall, I mean he cast a black man as a Norse God.....shock horror, he should be white!  The thing is, the way I see it, Idris Elba is one powerful son of a bitch of an actor and I'm actually happy at this casting.  

Anyhoo, it has been announced that Jeremy Renner's character of Hawkeye is gonna appear, but not in full costume.  Here is what Worst Preview's has to say:

Renner won't appear in costume, but as a SHIELD agent with a bow and arrow working for Agent Coulsen (Clark Gregg). In the scene, Thor is trying to get to his hammer, which is embedded in rock and is enclosed by a makeshift glass complex, courtesy of SHIELD.

As Thor sneaks into the complex and fights several SHIELD agents, Coulsen orders a special agent into a crane high above the ground. It is revealed that the agent is Renner. At that point he pulls out his bow and arrow and takes aim at Thor while waiting for Coulsen's orders.

Read more: http://www.worstpreviews.com/headline.php?id=21157#ixzz1I7Hf1cgC

Now my only problem about all this THOR casting came after someone mentioned, I think it was on Charlie Hunnam's Facebook that my beloved JAX would make a great THOR.  Can you imagine!?!  I mean LOOK AT HIM!  Hunnam, Elba AND Renner in the same film.  One day I tells you...one day!  *sighs*

R.I.P. Farley Granger

It always saddens me when a Hitchcock star dies, it reminds me that times are indeed a changing and that the last of the Golden era of Hollywood have all nearly left us.  Yesterday it was announced that Farley Granger is the latest, following Elizabeth Taylor last week to pass.  Farley Granger was 85.  

Farley Granger had a career that spanned 6 decades both within film and TV, with his first supporting role in  1943's THE NORTH STAR.  It was his third role in 1948 (ROPE), starring alongside the wonderful James Stewart and John Dall that was to be one of his most memorable.  This was the first of two starring roles in a Hitchcock film, both with murderous happenings, the second STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951).  The former just edging its way to the front to be my favourite of the two.  

ROPE, based on the infamous Leopold and Loeb murder in 1924 of 14 year old schoolboy Robert "Bobby" Franks has Granger and Dall portraying characters based on Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb (see pic below), the two wealthy and stupidly intelligent University of Chicago students who together thought they could pull off the perfect crime.  Admittedly they failed and were busted pretty soon after however it made for a fascinating case and is said to be the first case that was ever considered Trial of the Century!

Of course Hitchcock being Hitchcock, this tale of dark, macabre fantasies was right up his alleyway, and rightly so as it makes a bloody good story!  The movie was loosely based on the play ROPE by Patrick Hamilton, very loosely actually as this was an English play with only vague similarities in comparison to the finished film. 

 Having already worked with the wonderful Hume Cronyn on Shadow of a Doubt (a film that featured Farley Granger's co-star from the movie ENCHANTMENT, and one of my all time favourite actresses, Teresa Wright), Hitchcock enlisted him to do the treatment for the screenplay of ROPE with Granger's partner of the time, Arthur Laurents adapting the play to suit American audiences.

Hitchcock's ROPE has the wonderful story of a dinner party hosted by our own Leopold and Loeb who have strangled their "inferior" classmate David and invited a small number of guests including David's father, his fiance Janet Walker (played by a shockingly underrated Joan Chandler) and served their buffet meal on the very chest that they have David's strangled corpse cleverly concealed in. 

Granger is absolutely superb playing the wealthy, intelligent, albeit less cocky of our two murderous protagonists.  Overtly nervous that their University mentor Rupert Cadell shall see right through their whole charade and therefore destroy everything for the egotistical pair.  

Rope is an amazing film, and still completely relevant in this day and age...I think.  It has wonderfully dark and humerous dialogue, and is in fact the source of one of my most favourite quotes of all time, delivered by the wonderfully quirky Janet Walker.  "Freud says there is a reason for everything, even me"

The second murderous collaboration with Hitchcock as I have already mentioned was STRANGERS ON A TRAIN.  Farley Granger plays professional tennis star Guy Haines, a man who has a chance encounter on a train with Robert Walker's fantastically queer Bruno Anthony.  In all fairness, your name is Bruno Anthony, you're gonna turn out to be a bit of a nut no matter what cards you are dealt in life.  Fortunately for us (fortunate of course because we get this superb character), not so fortunate for Farley Granger's character, or his estranged wife...Bruno is 110% KOOK!!!  

Anyhoo, the two of them get to talking and Guy tells Bruno how he is dating the daughter of a senator, the lovely Anne Morgan (played by Ruth Roman).  Guy wants to marry Anne and make the move into politics, there is only one thing that stands in his way, his estranged wife Miriam, a horrible and unfaithful kind of cow of a woman.  Even back in the good old days there were gossip columns and Bruno had read all about Guy's marital problems with the oh so delightful...NOT...Miriam.

  

Whilst having lunch in Bruno's compartment, Bruno tells Guy how he wants rid of his father and concocts the perfect double murder.  He will kill Miriam, leaving Guy to marry Anne, whilst Guy can kill his father.  As the two of them have no previous connection and live in different towns, there is no identifiable motive for either crime. 

Guy quickly finishes his lunch and hurriedly leaves the compartment and more importantly (and rather stupidly), his cigarette lighter, a gift from Anne that easily identifies him.  Bruno pockets the lighter and in his deranged little mind, thinking he has a deal, sets off to Guy's hometown to track down Miriam and kills her.  

After Guy hears of Miriam's death and realises it was Bruno who committed it, he obviously starts to get edgy.  Bruno reminds Guy of their "agreement" and tells him that he has to keep up his side of the bargain, otherwise his lighter will find its way to the scene of Miriam's death and henceforth implicate Guy in her demise.  Guy realises he is ultimately screwed when the only alibi he had on the train, a professor he knew, was completely plastered and can't even remember seeing him.  Aaaah, the joys of long train journey's!  Bruno sends Guy the key to the house he shares with his parents, along with a map to his fathers room and a gun.  

Farley Granger and Robert Walker play off each other with great ease and the story trots along at a fine pace with the viewer not knowing what next to expect from the volatile Bruno.  There is a particularly wonderful scene where he crashes a party thrown by the senator.  Whilst mingling with the guests, and causing Guy to be particularly at unease, he is demonstrating how to strangle someone without them screaming, as you do.  He gets a little carried away when he sees Anne's younger sister Barbara, who kind of resembles Miriam (Guy you sick freak, haha) and whilst having a flashback to killing her, he keeps on choking his subject.  Barbara points out to Anne that "His hands were on her neck, but he was strangling me."  Anne puts two and two together and Guy has to confess about the whole murderous state of affairs. 

Now credit must be given for all performances in this film but especially Farley Granger and Robert Walker, with an extra nod to Patricia Hitchcock as Barbara, a character that she clearly had an absolute blast playing!  Unfortunately for Robert Walker, he actually died shortly after this film was made, at the age of just 32.  Having suffered from psychiatric problems and mental illness previously (how apt I hear you say!), Walker's housekeeper found him in an emotionally unstable state and called his psychiatrist who administered a dose of sodium amytal in the hope of calming him down.  Walker suffered an acute allergic reaction to the drug and died shortly after his breathing stopped and all efforts to resuscitate him failed.  

I guess in comparison, Granger was definitely the luckier of the two and went on to lead a long and fruitful life with a career of varying success in both film, TV and on the stage.  He spent the last few decades of his life with partner Robert Calhoun who sadly died of lung cancer in 2008.  

Whilst he had a career in which he covered such a large portion of work, for myself personally, he shall be remembered for his work with Hitchcock.  Two wonderfully memorable performances in movies I can watch time and time again without ever getting sick of them.  Although I have to admit I am really in the mood to go and watch ENCHANTMENT now.  :)

So yes, rest in peace now Farley Granger.  And if you haven't seen either of these movies then I urge you to do so a.s.a.p.  You won't regret it!  And if you do then clearly your taste in film sucks balls, haha!!!

I HATE LA - The Feature

I am super excited to be able to share the new trailer for the feature film I HATE LA.  7 (Kick Ass!) Lady Directors...11 Interlocking Horror Vignettes...1 EFFED Up City!!!!

The film is going to be premiering on April 3rd in LA at the monthly BleedFest, hosted by the wonderful Fies sisters Elisabeth and Brenda.  Not only do they put together and host this monthly event, it is down to them that I Hate LA exists.  After her amazing feature debut The Commune (which totally freaked the living shit out of so many of the people at my Jennifer's Bodies Women in Horror event.) this is their follow up to prove that  the women are equally as good as the boys in this industry!!! :)

Maude Michaud - A Wonderfully Macabre Interview With A Wonderfully Macabre Woman!

Wow, okay so your short SNUFF is a wicked little film.  From the grainy black and white texture of the Super 8 film to the wonderfully dark chords striking though the background like an organ of doom.  I’m a sucker for old black and white silent films and this made me think of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger, just style wise and creepy music with a killer kind of way.  What kind of films inspired you as a young film maker and made you think, I could do this?

My first exposure to horror films was Poltergeist III, which I watched on cable TV when I was still a kid. I remember thinking: “wow, there’s something else than stupid family-friendly movies?! I wanna see more!”  From this point, I started seeking out any thriller, horror film or creepy entertainment I could find, asking the help of my grandma who is a huge Hitchcock fan.  So yeah, Poltergeist III is responsible for my love of horror.

However, even though I grew up watching mostly horror and thrillers, it is the wave of US indie films of the mid-90’s that really inspired me to become a filmmaker.  I remember spending a whole summer (I think it was summer of ’97 or around that time) discovering these films. I think it was Reservoir Dogs or Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge or Greg Araki’s Doom Generation (or a mix of the three!) that really inspired me to pick up a camera and do everything I could to become a filmmaker.  I first started to experiment with ‘safer’ themes and dramatic shorts, but it didn’t take long before I went back to my first love and focused my work on horror!

What is it about the idea of snuff films that fascinates you so?

I’m fascinated by ideas that bother me; I don’t know why, but it seems that these themes and ideas are the ones that get the creative juices flowing! In the case of snuff films, what bothers me is the fact that someone would enjoy watching a filmed murder knowing it happened for real. It forces me to reflect on my own enjoyment of horror films. As horror fans, we can all enjoy an entertaining death scene, but to the point of wanting to watch someone die for real… that is just plain sick and terrifying!  (and worth exploring in the context of a horror film)

I love the contrast of all the things you love and portray in your work; it’s all very dark and macabre and a little bit fab.  The Portrait is based loosely on the 1882 Edgar Allen Poe short story The Oval Portrait.  Nearly 130 years later and it still translates beautifully without losing any of its original meaning.  Is this one of the things that appeals to you about Poe?

Yes, I always found the dark romanticism present in Poe’s body of work to be timeless. Same for his stories which, as opposed to the work of more recent horror authors, can still be enjoyed without feeling dated.  I also love that a lot of his writings deal with madness, which is a theme I particularly love; and I like how he writes about macabre, yet beautiful things.  

As far as the adaptation of The Oval Portrait goes, it has always been my favorite Poe story.  I remember reading it for school and finding it breathtakingly beautiful.  To this day, it has been haunting me and I have been wanting to create something to celebrate it. A few years back, a friend told me about the idea of creating an anthology of short films inspired by Poe, so I instantly told him about wanting to do my adaptation of The Oval Portrait. Unfortunately, the project fell through, but the idea for the short remained and this is how The Portrait was born.

Where did you get the idea for your delicious turn in the Twisted Twins Massive Blood Drive PSA?

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do and had trouble finding inspiration. I didn’t want to do anything that was too dark or too cliché, I wanted it to represent who I am, and I wanted it to be fun and simple, but I didn’t have any specific idea! I was brainstorming and, at some point, I thought about the idea of a housewife stabbing a big cake and fell in love with it! Also, the cake was a nice symbol for the celebration of the Women in Horror month and I always sing and dance in the kitchen, so it would be natural for me to do so for the video!

I’m someone who’s really happy and bubbly, so the overall attitude in the video is 100% me. Plus, I love the whole retro look and I thought it, along with the psychotic-smile as I repeatedly stab the cake, would add a nice touch of light-heartedness/humor to the clip and would show another side of me that people don’t necessarily get when they watch my films.

Is there one particular story that you have always dreamt of bringing to life?  This may be a novel, a short story or even a real life story?  Something you feel really passionate about and think that you could do it true justice?

My initial response when I read the question was ‘no’; I have scripts and ideas that I’ve been wanting to make for years, so the priority would be to make those over adapting other existing works. However, I decided to give it some thoughts as I never really stopped and pondered the issue. 

First, I’d have to say Chuck Palaniuk’s Snuff, but it’s already being made as we speak.  There’s also Bret Easton Ellis’ Lunar Park which is one of my favorite books and would be an amazing challenge to adapt to the screen. And I’d love to make my own version of Valley of the Dolls, while remaining more faithful to the book, which would probably end up being a nine hours, three-parts epic!  ;)

Hollywood is a very fickle place and I imagine you have to be downright thick skinned to live there.  When I showed your short Hollywood Skin at my Women in Horror Month Event, Jennifer’s Bodies, at lot of the women there really appreciated it and loved the fact that there was someone out there recognizing that not everyone is an emaciated skeleton.

I think the message is universal and speaks to a lot of women… and men too! You’d be surprised how many men thanked me after seeing the film and told me they were really touched by it… So far Hollywood Skin has touched a lot of people and I keep hearing positive comments from people who loved it. It’s really motivating and it pushes me to keep making films, so thank you for telling me about the positive response!

There is this insane belief in Hollywood that you have to be a drone of everyone else and if you’re not good enough, then you’d better get to the plastic surgeon to have a little chop, chop, chopping done here, there and everywhere!  The thing is, when people watch these big Hollywood movies and see these glamourous stars looking “perfect”, it’s not reality.  But it is so hard for some people, and unfortunately more so for women, to see that.  I love that with Hollywood Skin, our protagonist has literally taken matters into her own hands to achieve that look.  And that maniacal smile afterwards, that’s the most fucked up thing about the short in my opinion.  It makes me think of the line from the Manic Street Preachers song 4st 7lb “Such beautiful dignity in self abuse.” 

I just love that maniacal smile! It was really important to push the obsession as far as I could to drive the point across… and for her to take matters into her own hands. I feel the insanity of her action reflects the insanity of these beauty standards.

This short is obviously a statement about all the superficiality of Hollywood and the fact that hearts are broken every day.  What are your thoughts on Hollywood as a whole and do you think you could ever live there?  And more to the point, would you want to?

As far as superficiality and unrealistic beauty standards go, I don’t think it’s only Hollywood’s fault; I think the entire fashion/media/image industry should be blamed, and most of us too for buying into the idea and consuming these superficial ideals. 

That being said, the first time I went to Hollywood, I understood how someone who is fragile and moves there can be quickly crushed and destroyed; it might be the city of dreams, but everyone living there is pursuing the same dream!

Despite all this, I love Hollywood and I try to go there as often as I can. There is something exciting in the air, especially for a cinephile! And things can happen very fast... I also know amazingly talented women filmmakers who live there and I love visiting them and collaborating on projects.  I’d love to live there one day, if this is where my career is taking me… but I don’t think I’d permanently establish myself there.  I’m too much of an “East coast” girl at heart!

Okay I know we’re all about the feminism but the boys deserve a shout out every now and again, ha!  Who personally stands out for you?  Not literally of course! ;)

David Cronenberg!  He’s one of my role models as a director; I really admire and respect his body of work and the themes he tackles.  I’d love to one day be able to look back and have a similar career path.  I must also mention David Lynch who has been a HUGE inspiration for me aesthetically and in terms of how far I can push an idea and how I can tell it differently.  And last but not least, Vincent Price; I’ve been under the spell of his macabre charm for the longest time and I’m a huge fan. 

This coming April at Bleedfest (hosted by the looovely Elisabeth and Brenda Fies), they’re having a little retrospective of your work and also showcasing some new stuff too.  How much are you looking forward to this and what can fans expect to see from your new shorts?

I am so excited about this! This retrospective will be an important milestone for me, so I’m looking forward to the occasion! As for my new shorts, I will be launching the first two episodes of my web-documentary series on which I’ve been working for the past two years, so this is super exciting! I’ll also premiere Elizabeth which is a collaborative mini-short I shot in L.A. with Lis and Brenda Fies and my friend Michelle Ayoub last summer; it will be included in I Hate L.A. Too. The Portrait will also have its festival premiere for the occasion, and I’ll sneak peek my next short Red by presenting two scenes from the film!   

Apart from those, Lis and Brenda will also screen a few of my older shorts that have toured the festival circuit and I’ll be there for a Q&A!


And lastly, what can we expect to see next in the macabre world take over of Miss Michaud?

There are a lot of exciting things coming up! First, I’ll finally be launching my web series Bloody Breasts; I’ve started the project as part of my masters’ thesis two years ago and it evolved with time from a straightforward documentary on women and horror to a multi-episode web documentary series! I plan on keeping a steady pace of one episode per month; the first season will explore the question of women’s place in the horror genre and will feature interviews with many different women filmmakers, journalists and actresses. The editing is going very well so far and I already have some ideas for season two if I have a good positive response with season one.

I’m also in the sound editing stage for Red (pictures of Isabelle and Olga below ), my latest short, so I’m preparing a big fall release for it, starting with the festival circuit. Right now, I’m keeping quite busy preparing the marketing for it and conceiving the poster, which promo pics I’ll use, etc… I might cut another trailer, but it’s not 100% sure yet. As I already mentioned, those who will be there at Bleedfest in April will get a nice little sneak peek!

Last but not least, I’m also developing my first feature film for which I want to start pre-production later this year. I can’t say much about it right now as I’m still juggling a lot of things, but you can expect an official announcement along with the launch of a web-financing campaign in late-April/early May.  

A Serbian Nightmare

Okay so shock topic of the moment in Ye Olde World of Horror is the downright stupid fiasco over Angel Sala, director of Sitges International Film Festival and the possibility that he might go to jail over the fact that he screened the controversial A SERBIAN FILM at last October's event.  This is absolutely absurd.  Sala is being accused of screening scenes of child pornography.  What a crock of shit!  There is no ACTUAL child pornography in this movie.  Yes it is implied and it's sick as fuck but it still doesn't count as child pornography, end of!  As Dai Green previously mentioned firstly in the February 2011 episode of THE GASH and then in her artiicle on HorrorNews.net, this is an absolute fiasco!  It was actually after hearing Dai talk about it on The Gash that I decided I really wanted to see it.  Thankfully I got to see the uncut version as well...apparently over 5 minutes have been cut from the version of the film that has been released.  It will be interesting to see what they cut out. 

The thing is, everyone is getting so up in arms about this movie and so much ridiculous controversy is around it.  The film is so over the top however that I actually laughed through a large part of it.  The infamous "newborn porn" scene, oh my god, it is so ridiculous.  I found it near impossible to be offended.  It was shocking but just so absurd at the same time.  What pisses me off is the fact that it's okay to brutally beat, rape and then hack the head off some poor tied up girl with a machete but have some sicko fornicating a new born mechanical baby and that's it...suddenly it's wrong.  Yeah it's sick but so is having sex with a donkey...yet that too seems to be acceptable.  The controversy surrounding this movie is that of its "child pornography" and you know what, if it was a film where it was all Gacy like or what not, then fine, give it that label.  This however is a film where no one is safe, everyone gets royally fucked...man, woman,child...donkey!  There is no bias here!  

As so many people have pointed out - what kind of a sicko would make a film like this?  I remember when SAW first came out, I was working in the cinema and I was IN LOVE with this movie, like seriously obsessed.  The amount of people who commented on what kind of a sick person would think of something like that.  Well you know what...James Wan in honestly one of the nicest people I've ever spoken to.  He is lovely.  I think that you will find that the large majority of the horror folks are a wonderful group of people and whilst they might make movies that involved disturbing subject matter, in real life they spend their time raising awareness around the awful things that are depicted in their movies.  Just because someone thinks sick things, doesn't make them a horrible person.


Think about some of the best crime novelists, are they evil human beings who deserve to be jailed...of course not, don't be ridiculous.  In a world where there is so much evil and that bad things happen every day, it's hard for one not to be affected by them.  We know they happen.  And you know that there are some sickos out there who think about/do this sort of thing.  It is a seedy world we live in with a lot of disturbed people.  We hear about this kind of shit in the papers, where is the wrong in putting all this together to make an dark and disturbing movie?  It's not like it was a romantic comedy with a little bit of child rape put in for fun!  The film maker was in no way, shape or form glamorizing the things that were happening.  And more to the point, Angel Sala was not glamorizing this either.  To make a man face criminal charges for showing child pornography at a festival when not even the director or the writers of this film have been charged, not that they should, but what the fuck, where is the sense in that!?!

One of the things that people who have seen the film and have complained about is the fact that it's not seedy and grindhouse/low budget looking.  I loved that about it.  This is the descent into one mans ultimate nightmare and I don't think it would have been as effective had it been low budget.  Visually it is a very pretty film that had money behind it, if you want to see some cheap, horrible nastiness then you should watch MURDER SET PIECES...that film I found offensive...and more just because it was so shite, I can't believe someone actually funded this crap!!!!  But then that's just my opinion!


At the end of the day, if you don't want to watch it, then don't watch it!  But at the same time, don't go ranting on about how wrong it is if you haven't even seen it and can't actually comment for yourself.  I personally liked the film.  Yes it was sick but you know what, all the stuff that makes you think 'woah, what the fuck!' is worth it just to see one of the evil guys get his eyeball knocked out and then the porn star man puts his horse sized weiner in his eye socket and skull fucks him.  Brutal but absolutely brilliant at the same time!  Haha.

Eli Roth, a director who is not stranger to shock horror is urging horror fans to sign this petition to stop Angel Sala from being incarcerated due to this censorship.  He stated on his Twitter page - “If Angel Sala does in fact go to jail festivals will stop showing any controversial or edgy films and censorship will win.”” he also states: “Whatever you think of A Serbian Film a film festival director should not spend a year in jail for exhibiting a filmmaker’s work. Please sign.”

Mah-cheh-taaaay!!! Or Machete for the Rest of Us!

Okay so I have FINALLY seen MACHETE.  Why has it taken so long I hear you ask....well, I refused to watch it on pirate, some of you may remember my irate rant back in November...and I missed it during the whole week or two that it was actually out at the cinema!  Now I don't know if I've just built up too high an expectation for this film to be downright fucking awesome that upon first viewing I've actually been let down a bit.  Maybe once I've watched it again I'll have a greater appreciation of it, it's highly possible.  I just wanted to record my initial response first.  I love admitting I'm wrong when it comes to stuff like this...that rarely happens by the way, ha!

My main problem with the film was the fact that it was kind of all over the place and just felt highly disjointed.  Now I accept that yes, this is tribute to the good old grindhouse flicks and that hells yeah, a majority of them were like a mismatched jigsaw.  I think my main problem however was the fact that whilst those films were on shoestring budgets, MACHETE had a budget of 25 MILLION DOLLARS!!!  Jen and Syvia Soska's debut DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK was filmed on mere pennies in comparisson and you know what...based on first viewing of MACHETE, I definitely rate DHIAT as the better film.  Yes it might not have a list of big Hollywood stars like MACHETE but in all its insanity and randomness, I actually think it had a better general flow to it.  MACHETE almost felt like it was constantly patting itself of the back or high 5'ing itself at every in joke and the fact that Steven Segal and Robert DeNiro are actually in the same flick!

Now I'm not dissing Robert Rodriguez, the man has done so much for indie film making, especially if you're a man!  This is probably not intentional but it's pretty fucking true unfortunately...how many women do you see as "Masters of Horror!"  Anyhoo...Robert Rodriguez broke out with his $7.000 debut El Mariachi back in 1992.  This was initially a true grindhouse movie, largely funded by 23 year old Rodriguez himself participating in clinical drug trials to raise funds.  The intent of Rodriguez with El Mariachi was to release the film in Spanish as a low budget video, however it was then picked up by Columbia Pictures who then cleaned it up with a reported several hundred thousand dollars and marketed to the American audience as the film that cost $7,000 to make.  That is dedication and it most certainly paid off.  It was his sequel to EL MARIACHI, DESPERADO that first got my attention.  This was released in 1995 when I was 16 and I totally dug it.  He followed that up with FROM DUSK TILL DAWN...the first 18 rated movie I went to the cinema to see FYI!  Haha.   Straight after this he released what is probably my favourite of his films and one that I went to see FIVE TIMES IN ONE WEEK at the cinema!  Including TWICE in one day.  Yes, I admit I was slightly obsessed.  Haha.  I still am.  That movie would indeed be THE FACULTY!

It's a brilliant movie and one of my all time favourites.  Anyhoo, I'm totally getting offtrack here.  Even THE FACULTY which had an absolutely fucking awesome cast had an estimated budget of $15 million...even accounting for the 12 year gap inflation costs, it is still a down sight cheaper budget!  MACHETE could have easily been made with this budget and less.  Yeah having an awesome and totally random cast is great, but you know what, if these guys want to be all cool and be in an indie grindhouse flick, make the bitches work for indie grindhouse fees and then donate the rest of the money you have allocated to you to indie filmmakers!

MACHETE is the first of the faux trailers from the Grindhouse feature that included a double bill of Rodriguez's PLANET TERROR and Quentin Tarantino's DEATH PROOF (a film that bored the utter crap out of me!!!) to be turned into a feature film.  These trailers included Rob Zombie's WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE SS, Edgar Wright's DON'T and ELI Roth's THANKSGIVING.  A fifth trailer HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN was attached to the some screenings as well.  This was the winner of Rodriguez's competition South by Southwest (SXSW) Grindhouse Trailers competition.  HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, the feature debuted at Sundance in January 2011 and shall start with an initial limited release in Canada from 25th March 2011.

So what do all these ramblings come down to?  As a faux trailer MACHETE was brilliant.  As a trailer of the feature film it was brilliant.  As a film on the whole though...it might take a few more watchings to convince me of its brilliance.  When I mentioned that I thought it was disjointed on my Facebook page earlier someone pointed out that lots of grindhouse films were like that back in the day...yeah but they weren't sniffing anywhere near a $25 million budget...hell, they'd be lucky to have a couple of thousand  dollars!  So if the rules are going to be broken with budget then at least a little coherency in the film would be appreciated.

Rob Zombie has the right idea for WEREWOLF WOMEN OF THE SS - 

"I actually did sketch out a whole story. It's so insane, it's ridiculous. It involves time travel. I would love to make that movie. 'Grindhouse' was made like a traditional movie, they spent a lot of money. I would like to go make 'Werewolf' in two weeks with no money."  

This is how grindhouse films SHOULD be made dammit!!!  Oh and just for the record, I fucking love Planet Terror...even if it was made on a big budget and then had the scratches added in for extra effect!

Jennifer's Bodies - A Roundup!

So Mr Evil Bee Bee suggested that I actually do a video blog to let y'all know how Jennifer's Bodies went...and I am going to do that.  I just figured I'd start typing up my written blog as well.  Is that good enough for y'all?

I'm pleased to say, it went really well.  I have definitely built up fans of the work that was shown and that was all I wanted to do.  Hell, if I'd even made one fan out of the talent that was on display I would have been happy.  So yay, I'm super psyched to let y'all know that I have created a number of fans, that is so fucking awesome.  I am glad I chose such an eclectic range of films, not everyone is going to like all the same things so it was good to have that range.  Although I'm gutted that Emery had to leave before Splatter Movie came on because I know that he will totally dig it.

Although spontaneously throwing an event did work in my favour, having more time to plan and organise venue etc. shall definitely be better when I decide to do it next time.  The Webster Theatre is a fantastic venue, and one that I feel the people of Angus should utilise to its maximum potential as a cinema.  It's just a shame that when there is something on in the main theatre that you can't use upstairs.  That's why I struggled to get a weekend date because lets face it, weekend afternoons would definitely be a better time, haha.  Through feedback I got from people who couldn't stay for the whole thing due to babysitters and early starts etc., they all agreed that it was something that would be great to have more often, which is awesome!

I am so happy to be able to bring these independent films by such amazing women to people who genuinely want to see and enjoy them.  From initial feedback and individuals wanting to know where they can buy and pre-order these movies straight away, that's pretty fucking rad~core...to quote the lovely Jen and Sylvia Soska.  When I also told the guys about American Mary and their casting of Mary, there was a lot of excitement.  Of course.  Any genuine horror nerd would clearly be INSANE not to love this.  Katherine Isabelle is perfect in the role of Mary.

While some absolutely loved the downright grindhouse awesomeness of DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, others were mesmerised by THE COMMUNE and others loved the hilarity of the Tromaverse that is SPLATTER MOVIE.

THE COMMUNE seriously creeped a lot of people out...myself included.  Bar flicking through the DVD to see it played okay when it arrived a few hours beforehand, I was showing this film on good faith and the fact that the reviews were seriously to my liking.  To quote Leigh Addis - "It was fucking messed up.  It was unbelievable."

There was also a lot of love for the shorts shown and funnily enough, the most excited talking I heard in one of the breaks was about probably the smallest physical character...yet the BIGGEST character and no I'm not talking about the peepee of the PSYCHOSEXUAL victim...of course I'm talking about Hero, the lovely little pooch of Elisabeth Fies...HERO!!!  That dog definitely gained a lot of fans

Oh and thank you Rachel for taking time out from Uni and coming through from Edinbugers for the night for this, you are a fucking star!  Even if you did turn down the opportunity to rub my bottom.  Haha.  Maybe save that for when there isn't a crowd, lol.

I'm looking to get more in depth reviews and opinions to y'all but the overall geekage was definitely GOOD!!! <3

ONE DAY REMOVALS - Possibly the SWEARiest and Funniest Movie EVER!

You know how every now and then you come across a film that is just so fucking rad you can't help but HAVE to tell everyone about it!!!  Like FUCK YEAH!!!  Haha, yes, when you watch this film you will understand the ridiculously gratuitous, yet fucking hilarious use of bad language.  Like seriously, these guys are true contenders to anything in a Rob Zombie/Quentin Tarantino film...and that's just because they're from fucking Aberdeen, haha.

Now I have shown this film to some unlikely viewers (my Fibromyalgia Support Group).  These were people  who wouldn't in a million years have watched it had I not shown them...I basically made them, but what the hey.  They LOVED it!!!  This included one of my mates mums, haha.  It's the story of two removal men and a not so ordinary day in their life where things just go from bad to fucking hilarious!!!

This low budget, independent Scottish film is one of the funniest things I have seriously ever seen.  And it doesn't matter how many times I see it either, it's still fucking hilarious and none the less shocking!  This is Scottish GRINDHOUSE at its very core and I'm telling you, even my gran would probably appreciate some of the deaths in this...they are so funny and just 'what the hell just happened there?!' that if you DON'T pee your pants watching it, you clearly have a problem!

Now this is definitely a comedy, just one with a number of bodies piling up in the back of it!  If swearing like REALLY offends you, then definitely stay clear as far away from this bitch as possible.  Although, had that be the case, you wouldn't be anywhere near my blog in the first place.  HA! :)

PSYCHOSEXUAL

So the horror genre has a long history of being known for women being used for their lungs....and their, ummm....lungs!!!  Yes people, tits and scream queens are two things that are synonymous with horror and unfortunately, it's a reputation that has long tainted the idea of women in horror in general!  Those days are soon to be a thing of the past though!!!  With such a strong undercurrent of female talent emerging from the dirty underworld, like blood seeping down the string of a tampon and making its mark on your pretty white pants and it ain't shifting!  Although the movies and talent are awesome, bloody pants...not so much!

Anyhoo, so guys that were at Jennifer's Bodies last night got the chance to witness Elisabeth Fies wonderfully bloody short PSYCHOSEXUAL!!!  Now wolf whistles and Leigh's pee pee comments aside, this did seem to go down a treat.  Actually, the wolf whistles and pee pee comments made it even more enjoyable.  I forgot how much fun it was to objectify men.  So used to it being the other way round, especially having worked in a pub!  No wonder Lis had such a hard job finding someone for the role, American men do NOT like to be objectified apparently.  British guys are just the same, haha.  Yes, the guys who have to have tits in their daily paper, hate to be the ones being objectified.  

With all this in mind, how would you then like to be counted in as a producer on IMDb for the feature film version of PSYCHOSEXUAL!?!  Hell, even an Associate Producer?  And here's the genius part...you know when you see actors/producers/directors, hell, anyone...listed under a different name?  It could be married names, alter ego's, even if they so choose, their porn star name.  Well, this is the chance for YOU to get your porn star name as a producer credit on IMDb, AND help support a film that is quintessentially a super awesome chick taking matters into her own hand and turning the knife on the male of the species.

There are lots of other ways to contribute and perks that you can get, including signed pictures, thank you in the end of the short, the feature...hell, if you want I'm sure we could arrange a perk of having some of the Victim's hair sent to you with a photo...that's totally psycho sexual, I think it could work...Lis!?!  That's not too creepy is it?  ;)  So yay, either click on the link at the side of my page or here to get to the page where you can find out all the fun quirks of supporting this amazing woman and her beautiful film. <3