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Martyn’s Top Ten Vampire Films

11 November 2009 7:43 AM, PST | FilmShaft.com | See recent FilmShaft.com news »

The vampire has been a key figure in folklore, literature, television and cinema. Its popularity, at present, has never been so high. It is easy to see the appeal: immortality and sex. Since death is the fate that awaits us all, a creature that we invent and imbue with an indeterminate lifespan, captivates the collective imagination like no other. Due to sexual liberalism and relaxed censorship of the 1960s, the erotic sensibilities inherent in the mythology were allowed to fruition in cinema. What once was implied, could now be shown in all its sexy glory (see the films of Jean Rollin). Gothic horror and romanticism may be the classic home of the vampire, but in cinema, they have found a new place to spread wider-reaching nightmares.

In recent times, the everlasting monster has been tamed. Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga saw them turn into something akin to vegetarians and teen heart-throbs, »

- Martyn Conterio

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Hello, My Name is Scott and I Love the 'G.I. Joe' Blu-ray

6 November 2009 5:32 PM, PST | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

Back in August was when G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hit the screens, and while I had no reason to expect anything but a merciless brain-pummeling from the experience, I walked out suitably impressed with the flick's popcorn-tastic mentality. I even ended my review with this: "Truth be told, the flick's action centerpiece, a crazy chase through Paris, will soon be on heavy blu-ray rotation around my house." Yes, the director who slapped me with The Mummy Returns and pummeled me with Van Helsing is now back in my good graces. (The awesomely amusing Deep Rising is always the tie-breaker for Stephen Sommers.)

You can enjoy my wonderfully insightful G.I. Joe review right here if you like, but this time out I just want to focus on the blu-ness and not the wackness: If you liked the flick, you want to own it on Blu-ray, trust me on that one. »

- Scott Weinberg

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Short horror by women at the New York Horror Film Festival 2009

6 November 2009 3:51 PM, PST | Pretty/Scary | See recent pretty-scary news »

The 2009 New York Horror Film Festival (November 18 thru 22) at the Tribeca Cinemas in New York City, USA has a great lineup of shorts and features directed and produced by women this year. The creepy spin on the Van Helsing tale Abraham's Boys (Dorothy Street), dark fairy-tale White Radishes (Christina Won), Together (Gigi Romero), award-winning short Death in Charge (Devi Snively) and claymation feminist horror short Barbee Butcher (Sophie Lagues) all follow feature film The Shadow Within by Silvana Zancolo.

Horror produced by women at the fest includes The Familiar (Jennifer Snick), Must Love Death (Anna Wendt), and Sweatshop (Katherine Banks, Kristi Boul and Laura Bryan.)

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- Superheidi

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Badasses of Horror: Part One

5 November 2009 4:34 PM, PST | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

If you want to talk about badass crap, you really can’t do a hell of a lot worse than the horror genre. Whether it’s crazy Eastern Europeans with slicked-back hair and overly developed canine teeth chomping down on the necks of scantily clad maidens or demented, murderous psychopaths running around in body armor made from human skin and carving X’s into the chest cavities of wayward coeds with gasoline-powered gardening implements, horror never seems to disappoint when it comes to violent homicide or paint-bombing dungeon walls with a thick coat of crimson substances. Therefore, in an effort to promote my new book Badass: A Relentless Onslaught Of The Toughest Warlords, Vikings, Samurai, Pirates, Gunslingers, And Military Commanders To Ever Live (in which I talk about such real-life badasses as the notorious Vlad the Impaler; see the trailer here), I will attempt to discuss some of the toughest »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Ben Thompson)

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Stephen Moyer, Sam Neil and Frances O'Connor topline distaster epic Ice

4 November 2009 2:31 PM, PST | QuietEarth.us | See recent QuietEarth news »

Vampire Bill, dino expert, Dr. Alan Grant, and that mom from A.I. fighting against the dangers of a second ice-age? Bring it on!

From the producers of the 13-part network series, Crusoe and the upcoming 2-part modernization of Day of the Triffids comes an adaptation of James Follett's 70's post-apocalyptic disaster novel, "Ice."

Synopsis:

Ice sees the destructive effects of climate change cause unimaginable devastation and panic worldwide as the human race finds itself contemplating the dawn of a new ice age.

It is 2020. Findings by environmental scientist Professor Thom Archer suggest that Halo, the corporate energy company drilling on the Greenland Glacier are causing it to melt.

Archer's warnings are ignored, so he heads to the Arctic to find indisputable evidence. Upon arrival, he realises humankind is under immediate threat, and races home to save hisfamily.

The glacier collapses, with devastating consequences. Astonishing weather patterns emerge and »

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Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 11/3

3 November 2009 9:03 AM, PST | Cinematical | See recent Cinematical news »

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

Here's my problem with the picture: a furiously-filmed chase through the streets of Paris should be spectacular and thrilling. Instead, it's incoherent, routine, even disappointing. Director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) turns in another by-the-numbers action spectacle, this time starring Dennis Quaid, Channing Tatum, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Marlon Wayans, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There are better ways to waste your time and money. Skip it. Also on Blu-ray.

Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Tony Scott's remake is a higher-grade disappointment, coming achingly close to delivering an unqualified success. Derailed by John Travolta's unrepentant scenery-chewing, which goes far beyond the bounds of bad taste, and an unhealthy preoccupation with explaining everything, the film motors along reasonably well, fashioning a paranoid tale of post-9/11 terror and ticking time bomb suspense. Denzel Washington is eminently watchable, and »

- Peter Martin

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Coroner’s Report: Stan Helsing

30 October 2009 5:00 AM, PDT | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »

There are probably a lot of reasons why Stan Helsing shouldn't appear in the Coroner's Report.  I mean, it's not scary and no one dies.  It's a straight up comedy.  No, worse than that, it's a parody.  A spoof.  We all know how well those generally end up being.  But, like most true addicted horror fans, I'll take just about anything that promises to cater to my tastes.  Horror jokes, monster parodies, and some boob shots.  Stan Helsing gives us most of that and manages to be "surprisingly not terrible."  Now, the movie is not good by any means, but I think it's watchable, unlike my fellow Rob Hunter.  I must admit, some parts are down right terrible and awful and angering.  But for some reason, I kind of enjoyed it. Stan Helsing followers out titular slacker video store employee, Stan Van Helsing, obviously in the lineage of the greatest of monster hunters.  After »

- Robert Fure

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Dracula The Un-dead (Book Review)

29 October 2009 7:45 AM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

He is, without a doubt, the most famous vampire (yes, even more famous than Edward from the Twilight franchise). His villainy is legendary and his story inspired centuries of sequels in both books and movie form. Spawned from the genius of Bram Stoker, Dracula gave readers the original figure who started the bloodsucker craze. Now, in 2009, an actual descendant of the Stoker line is bringing Vlad the Impaler back to life.

Dracula The Un-dead (out now in hardcover from Dutton) was written by Dacre Stoker (Bram’s great-grandnephew) and Dracula historian Ian Holt. Equipped with Bram’s personal notes and thorough research, they have turned out a novel that is definitely worthy of sitting on the shelf beside the 1897 classic.

Told from several perspectives (as was the original), Dracula The Un-dead re-introduces readers to favorite characters like Mina Murray/Harker, Jonathan Harker, Dr. Jack Seward, Arthur Holmwood and Abraham Van Helsing. »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Jessica Leibe)

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Free Movies: Bram Stoker’s Dracula is on Hulu

28 October 2009 12:37 PM, PDT | Slash Film | See recent Slash Film news »

Free is the best way to see some movies. Take the Coppola-directed Bram Stoker's Dracula. The film was a disappointment on many levels -- it is miscast, skewed quite far from the book (contrary to the title) and oddly stagebound. And yet it has a few bright shining ideas and performances, and some killer production design. Thanks to Hulu you can now watch the entire film for free. This version of Dracula was released in 1992 after no small amount of hype within the geek community. (A short comic book adaptation beautifully drawn by Mike Mignola heralded its arrival, for example. Mignola also contributed production design and storyboards to the project.) The film boasted a few seemingly incredible casting choices (Gary Oldman as Dracula, Anthony Hopkins as Van Helsing, Tom Waits as Renfield and an early look at Monica Bellucci as one of Dracula's brides) and quite a few head-scratchers. »

- Russ Fischer

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bonus Halloween oh-no! DVD of the week: ‘Stan Helsing’

28 October 2009 8:58 AM, PDT | www.flickfilosopher.com | See recent FlickFilosopher news »

There were so many crappy, cheesy, dumb, and otherwise worthy of an oh-no! DVDs this week that I can’t resist pointing them out. What is it about Halloween that inspires people to make really really stupid movies? In the vein of spoof cinema like Austin Powers and the Scary Movie franchise, Stan Helsing lampoons contemporary film audiences’ never-ending fascination with what makes our blood curdle. In the story, hapless video store clerk Stan Helsing (Steve Howey) and his friends must make a routine video delivery on Halloween night before going to a Halloween party. But when a chain of seemingly random mishaps strand Stan and the gang in Stormy Night Estates, Stan learns of his true destiny as a descendant of the legendary monster-hunter Van Helsing. With his motley band in tow – including his best friend Teddy (“Saturday Night Live” star Kenan Thompson), he will battle evil in the »

- MaryAnn Johanson

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Competition: Win an iPod Nano with NBC Universal

27 October 2009 8:33 AM, PDT | HeyUGuys.co.uk | See recent HeyUGuys news »

NBC Universal have been kind enough to give us an iPod Nano that one lucky HeyUGuys reader will be able to watch their favourite horror movies on. This Halloween, a whole bunch of them are available at a special price on iTunes! You can watch Shaun of the Dead, Hitchcock’s masterpiece Psycho, Van Helsing and The Skeleton Key with Kate Hudson – for only £3.99. These are now all available at iTunes.

To celebrate this freaky film frivolity, we’re running a competition to win a brand new shiny iPod Nano that shoots video – with thanks to NBC Universal. Since this is such a great prize, we’re going to need something from you. We want you to tell us your most terrifying horror film and why (max 100 words).

The prize winning entry will have their entry on a post here on HeyUGuys so make them good!

Send you entries to psycho@heyuguys. »

- David Sztypuljak

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50 Influential Scream Queens: Part 1

27 October 2009 5:54 AM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

Given man's unwavering fascination with woman, it's no surprise that the female star acts as the anchor to a dominant portion of horror pictures. I mean really, who wants to see a bare chested man tearin ass through the woods screaming at the top of his lungs while a bladed assailant nips at his heels? I don't - I know that much, although I'm certain there are plenty of men who would disagree (and that's okay with me, to each his own!). The simple fact remains however, women bring a unique appeal and certain sensual atmosphere to film that no man ever could. And it's not all about gratuitous T&A.

There's a comforting quality in the hands of the heroine; a fascinating maternal strength that, as a man I cannot genuinely relate to. I can however admire, and in many cases it's nearly impossible to not admire the lone »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Matt Molgaard)

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Weekly DVD & Blu-Ray Chopping List 10/27/2009

24 October 2009 10:01 PM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

Curious to know what frightful films and devilish discs will be available to view in the privacy of your own digital dungeon this week? Fango's got you covered.

Below the jump you'll find the full list of titles arriving in-stores this Tuesday, October 27, 2009 in our weekly version of the famous Fangoria Chopping List.

It's the last big batch of new releases prior to Halloween, so choose carefully and gather up the frights!

Note: Some product descriptions provided by Amazon. Clickable links lead to Amazon.com

The Asphyx

Robert Stephens stars as Sir Hugo Cunningham, a 19th-century amateur scientist and dabbler in psychic phenomena. His experiments in the new art of photography lead him to discover the Asphyx: an apparition that appears suddenly in the moment before death. He postulates that if the Asphyx can be trapped it may render a creature immortal. He begins humbly, experimenting first with a guinea »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (James Zahn)

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Stan Helsing (Film Review)

23 October 2009 1:17 AM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

It’s a harsh thing to say, but some people just aren’t funny. Bo Zenga is one of those people. He was an executive producer of the dreadful Scary Movie, and an executive producer and co-writer on the atrocious Snoop Dogg-starring Soul Plane. This time around, Zenga is a triple threat, serving as the writer/director and one of the producers of the flagrantly unfunny Stan Helsing, a Scary Movie ripoff/parody (opening today in New York and La) that is a crime against comedy and sets a new standard for adolescent, idiotic, witless humor. Sophie’S Choice has more laughs than this woebegone chaff. So do yourself a favor and skip this incompetent horror satire. No need to thank me, folks. I’m just doing my job.

Do I really have to describe the plot (what’s in a word?) of this film? I guess that’s part of my job too, »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Allan Dart)

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New Moon TV Spot Gives Man on Man Action

22 October 2009 10:20 PM, PDT | www.canmag.com | See recent CanMag news »

I've spent so long bashing the first Twilight movie that I am embarrassed to say that I'm going to willingly allow myself to be dragged to the theaters for The Twilight Saga: New Moon by the Gf. While the teaser trailer had me thinking that Summit was giving us more of the same, the last trailer was impressive and this latest TV spot shows even more visuals. Giving you ladies something to gaggle about, this preview features man on man action.

The Twilight Saga: New Moon TV Spot

It looks like Edward's a bit envious about Jacob's toned up body, while Jacob has to cheat to win a fight. While I do like how big they make the werewolves, I still don't get why they didn't just use the same werewolf affect used in Van Helsing, as that was badass. The werewolves here are soooooooo cartoony. But I'll let it slide. »

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The Wolfman – Trailer

22 October 2009 9:11 AM, PDT | The Scorecard Review | See recent Scorecard Review news »

The Wolfman

Directed by: Joe Johnston

Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Emily Blunt, Hugo Weaving, Anthony Hopkins

Rating: R

Release Date: February 10, 2010

Trailer Score: 7/10

My Thoughts: Benicio Del Toro as the Wolfman? That’s its own little movie orgasm wrapped in euphoria, wedged firmly between dead cool and awesome. The preview is well-produced with some choice writing thrown in for the thinkers, but some of the elements are obvious rip offs–with an idea this good, you gotta watch out for the rip offs…is that you Gollum?

Sure, it comes off as a cross between Bram Stoker’s Dracula and (Egad!) Van Helsing, but if Benicio’s there, it has to be worth it. Benicio can make the sun shine and sprinkle it with dew, especially when he’s going through disgusting morphs and ripping people’s throats out. It’s a beautiful thing.

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- Morrow McLaughlin

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Several Clips From Stan Helsing

22 October 2009 1:56 AM, PDT | DreadCentral.com | See recent Dread Central news »

October 27th marks the day when our savior will come in the form of a pot-smoking video store clerk named Stan Helsing. Stan will deliver us from evil like only he can, and we've got a bunch of clips to prove it!

Synopsis

"Stan Helsing is the hilariously terrifying saga of lovable slacker/video store clerk Stan (Steve Howey of Reba), who heads out to a Halloween night costume party with three pals – his hot ex-girlfriend Nadine (Wedding Crashers co-star and Maxim über-babe Diora Baird), best friend/law student Teddy (SNL’s Kenan Thompson), and Teddy’s date, exotic dancer/massage therapist Mia (newcomer Desi Lydic) – only to detour into a town cursed by parodies of the most iconic movie monsters of modern times: Freddy, Jason, Chucky, Pinhead, Michael Myers, and Leatherface.

But when Stan discovers that he’s a direct descendant of the legendary monster hunter Van Helsing, he »

- Uncle Creepy

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The Wolfman Comes to Life in Second Trailer

21 October 2009 10:03 AM, PDT | Beyond Hollywood | See recent Beyond Hollywood news »

There have been several recent monster movies, such as Underworld and Van Helsing, that have been more ridiculous and benign, cast in an action mold. I don’t know if The Wolfman is going to fare any better (trailers can be deceiving), but they certainly have the atmosphere down: the dark, bent, surreal take on Victorian England, with a profusion of modern music and effects. I welcome a film that feels more grounded, about as grounded as a monster movie can be, and not over the top, with trite one-liners and cardboard cutouts for characters. You can watch the second released trailer on Apple’s official site or below. If the film comes out of its troubled production history unscathed, then it has certainly deserved it. The Wolfman is based on the 1941 classic. The director is Joe Johnston, who got his start in Hollywood doing visual work for the Star Wars »

- Jacob

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Stan Helsing signing at La theatrical gig

20 October 2009 1:28 PM, PDT | Fangoria | See recent Fangoria news »

Those who catch Anchor Bay Entertainment’s new horror spoof Stan Helsing when it opens this Friday, October 23 in Los Angeles will have a chance to greet two of its key talent. Writer/director Bo Zenga and actor Desi Lydic will be on hand to introduce a screening and sign posters.

The venue will be Hollywood’s Mann’s Chinese 6 Theaters (6801 Hollywood Boulevard), where Zenga and Lydic will be on hand for the 7:40 p.m. show. And starting at 7:20 p.m., the duo will be autographing collectable Stan Helsing posters for the first 200 attendees. The movie stars Steve Howey in the title role of a video-store clerk and descendant of legendary vampire-killer Van Helsing who, on Halloween night, is stranded with some friends at Stormy Night Estates. There, they confront a series of parodies of such film fiends as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Pinhead and »

- no-reply@fangoria.com (Michael Gingold)

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Trailer: Stan Helsing

17 October 2009 6:59 AM, PDT | HeyUGuys.co.uk | See recent HeyUGuys news »

Since Halloween is fast approaching, it means not only that a new Saw movie will inevitably be released but also a Scary Movie of some kind. This time it seems the Scary Movie franchise has had a break and made way for Stan Helsing. Could it be any worse than the movie it has formed it’s parody from, Van Helsing which stars Steve Howey and Diora Baird?! Watch the trailer to discover that the answer looks like a yes!

It’s Halloween night, and slacker video clerk Stan Helsing (Steve Howey of Reba) – along with his insanely sexy ex-girlfriend (Diora Baird of The Wedding Crashers and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning), best buddy (Kenan Thompson of SNL) and an exotic dancer/’massage therapist’ (Desi Lydic) – detours into a town cursed by the biggest monsters in movie history: Freddy (A Nightmare On Elm Street), Jason (Friday The 13th), Pinhead (Hellraiser »

- David Sztypuljak

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2009 | 2008 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2002

1-20 of 192 articles from 2009   « Prev | Next »

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