HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2019: At Midnight The Gauntlet Begins!

As I write this, in two and a half hours it’ll be October and The Halloween Horrorfest will begin in earnest.  There’s still time to sponsor a day by becoming a Domicile of Dread Patron at the $3 level or higher (which will also net you some neat essays and reviews, plus advance access to Thomas Deja’s Watching and the upcoming Patreon Exclusive Pacific Rim Rialto!).  The only rules are that I have to be able to find the film relatively easily, and I can’t have written about it in the previous Horrorfest.  I provide a list of everything that was covered last year--and all those essays are still available for you to enjoy elsewhere on this site.

But what can you look forward to in the coming days?  Here are the days that have already been set up:

OCT 1st: Rockula (sponsored by William Bibbiani)
OCT 2nd: The Haunting (1963; sponsored by Brian Trenchard-Smith)
OCT: 6th: At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul (sponsored by Chris Honeywell)
OCT 10th: Horror Express (sponsored by Desmond Reddick)
OCT 11th: The Night Stalker (sponsored by Greg Lamberson)
OCT 15th: The Butterfly Effect 3 (sponsored by Patreon Damian Crawford)
OCT 19th: Tragedy Girls (sponsored by Patreon Angie Bulkeley)
OCT 25th: The Prowler (sponsored by krešimir zvonarić)
OCT 31st: Freddy’s Dead:The Final Nightmare (sponsored by Mike Blanchard)

As you can see, we’ve got some celebrities sponsoring days, and lots of days still going free.  If you join the Patreon at $3 level or more, I will give you a link to the schedule so you can choose the day you want to sponsor and fill in the movie of your choice! 

Last year, I barely made it through--join me every night to see if I survive this time!

See you tomorrow with my impressions of Rockula. 

Covered During Last Year’s Horrorfest:
A Bay of Blood 
Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood
Await Further Instructions
Cat People
The Mist
Zombie Hunter
Venom (2005)
Mayhem
The Whip And The Body
Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II
Blue Sunshine
American Psycho
American Mary
Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf
The Mummy (2017)
Blood on Satan’s Claw
Witchboard
Tourist Trap
Johnny Gruesome
Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman
See No Evil 2
Sleepy Hollow
It Follows
Rabid
Q The Winged Serpent
Frightmare (1983)
The Car
The Lords of Salem
Marebito

Meanwhile, Over At Dread Media....#631

It’s time to get some religion in you this episode!  First up, Des and Darryl get their ram horns on with the Robert Fuest masterpiece The Devil’s Rain.  Then Rich The Monster Movie Kid watches the classic Larry Cohen flick God Told Me To.

The trailers are here, as is Ernest Borgnine talking about The Devil’s Rain and Willard, advice on how to respond to people who say ‘God Told Me,’ and music from a band called The Devil’s Rain and Paul Kelly

Listen to Dread Media #631 here

The Modern Fandom Manifesto Required Listening: Geek Cast Radio

My friend Mike Blanchard had me on his general fandom podcast Geek Cast Radio recently, obstensively to talk about sequels and whether making them are necessary--but we ended up devoting almost three hours to not only sequels, but sports,potato chips, Georges Batroc and the Modern Fandom Manifesto.

This allowed me to elaborate on the 18 tenants at some length (for some bizarre reason using Star Wars Fandom as an example a lot).  If you’re interested in the Manifesto--and I have to imagine some of you are, as Mike has promoted the Hell out of the Manifesto when I showed it to him last week--give this a listen.  You can find the episode here.

The Halloween Horrorfest 2019 Is Coming...and you can program a day of the month-or-more marathon of malevolent horror films.  To learn more, go here.

HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2019: Countdown Commencing!

Surprisingly, it’s still hot out...but it doesn’t change the fact that this time next week will begin the gauntlet that may drive me mad but will give you tons of spooky fun!

You’ve got seven days to make me watch the horror movie you want.  There are still 26 slots left, and a lot of different types of horror can be represented.  If you look to either side, you’ll see the five films chosen already in case you’d like to be inspired.  There are still two people who have yet to choose something (So snap to it, Angie and Derrick...lol!), but other than that it’s wide open.  And if I have more than 31 choices, Halloween runs into November this year.

There are two ways you can sponsor a film for the Horrorfest.  You can:

....become a patron at the Deja’s Domicile of Dread Patreon at the $3 Tier or Greater, or...

...make a one-time donation of $3 or more at the Halloween Horrorfest Paypal Pool.  If you do either of these things, you will be sent a special link to my Halloween Horrorfest Schedule.  Just fill in the movie and day you want, put your name down and you’re all set.

Please note that the Paypal Pool is only good through September 30th!  If there’s space left, you can still participate, but if you wait a while those slots may be limited.

Get to it folks, or I may just choose to rant about how good Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II is for 27 days.  That’ll be satisfying for me and Diana ‘Darcy The Mail Girl’ Prince, but will it be for you?

Meanwhile, Over At Dread Media....#630

Oh, oh--Chongo!  It’s time to do it again folks, as we look at two reboots that are different from the original property...one wildly so.  First up, Des and I return to the mid-oughts for the Zack Snyder/James Gunn version of Dawn of the Dead, and end up...defending Zack Snyder?  Then Rich The Monster Movie Kid reviews the gore soaked, horror-based reworking of a beloved Hanna-Barbera property, The Banana Splits Movie.

The trailers are here, as is a ‘Special Report’ that was included as a extra on the DVD version of Dawn, an essay on the rise and fall of Hanna-Barbera, and some Banana Splits-y music from The Dickies, and the Banana Splits themselves.

It’s not just you.  The Banana Splits rocked.

Listen to Dread Media #630 here

Meanwhile, Over At Dread Media....#629

Two men.  Too much alcohol.  Lots and Lots of Questions That Need Answers.  You know what that means...

It’s another round of Ask Me Anything with Des and Darryl!  Join them as they field questions about Eurohorror, worst films from favorite directors, directorial etiquette, ideal dinner guests and more!  Des tells me he doesn’t remember much of anything about the session, so it’s over an hour of drunk talking!

Below is an essay on On Set Etiquette, some recommendations for underseen Eurohorror, the horror short Drunk, some scary drunken encounters (and one funny one), and music about drunks (or by drunks) from Something Corporate and Azazel!

Listen to Dread Media #629 here

FAN TAKEOVER FORUM!: The Butterfly Effect (2004)

This article was suggested by Domicile of Dread Patreon Damien Crawford.  Patreons at certain levels get the ability to assign essays and article to me on a quarterly basis.  To learn more and to sign up, go here.  You can also sponsor a film for me to watch and report on during the 2019 Halloween Horrorfest by making a one time donation here.

We all have triggers that connect us with past traumas.  Some of mine are child abuse, animal torture, and inappropriate/inaccurate depictions of mental health services.  This film involves all three...and it’s impossible for the film to work without these triggers being in place.  They’re inciting incidents that drive main character Evan (Ashton Kutcher) to continue on his journeys into his past even though things get grimmer and grimmer.

That being said, an assignment was given and the show must go on.

If I divorce my own hang-ups from the film itself--after all, it’s not the movie’s fault that there are some scenes that pull my memory strings in a way I don’t want a horror movie to pull them--I do think it’s pretty...problematic, very good looking and well-made film that needed to, ummmm, smile a little bit.

Here’s what I mean.  The film starts off very dark, with its implied depictions of child molestation, a scene where someone sets fire to the main character’s dog and a pretty ignorant depiction of a mental asylum in the first twenty minutes...and it remains dark as our hero mourns his lover’s suicide, murders his lover’s brother, goes to prison, has to deal with a version of his lover that has become a scarred junkie prostitute, becomes an amputee, tries to commit suicide himself, and so on.  There’s such a pall of despair and bleakness over this whole film that it desperately needs a moment of levity so the audience can breathe.  And given that this film features three actors who are capable of skating the line between darkness and light in Kutcher, Amy Smart (who deserved a much, much bigger career than she got) and Elden Hensen, it seems weird that writers/directors Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber don’t allow us even a brief second of relief from all the Truly Awful Things they parade in front of us.

....and yes, I know that there is the ‘frat boy’ sequence....but Bress and Gruber insinuate this unsettling feeling that both Evan and Kayleigh are lesser people during it, that they may even be monsters not as great as her brother, but pretty nasty as they are.

While I’m on the subject, I think one of the failings of the film is the muddiness of the script--which is pretty amazing given this is a time travel story that is told wholly chronologically.  There was a long stretch where I was convinced that the reveal would be that Evan was as much of a monster as Tommy is, and the weird undercurrent in that frat sequence serves to bolster this impression.  I found myself somewhat let down by the fact that what our directors were hinting at wasn’t so.  I wonder if I wouldn’t have had that misinterpretation if our writer/directors had given us a little more light in this almost two hours of darkness.

This is a well done film, and I can certainly see why this has a rather impressive cult following.  I have nothing against the cast (in addition to the three leads, the film is graced with the presence of Melora Walters as Evan’s mother and, as we all know, Melora Walters makes everything better).  I was actually pleasantly surprised at the acting of some of the people playing the cast’s younger selves--I was particularly impressed by John Patrick Amedori and especially Irina Gorovaia as the teenaged Evan and Kayleigh, who I could believe would grow into Kutcher and Smart.  It does not look like a film made for 13 million dollars (except for maybe that chintzy, too-small-for-its-own-good prison set).  I do not want my problems with some of the subject matters that trip my own traumas to prevent those of you who might like this to experience it.  If you think this is for you, you most likely will enjoy it.  I did not, as I think it could have been improved with a little more work and a greater reliance on a cast that had capabilities it did not take advantage of.

I suppose I should mention the ending.  I did watch all three, and I have to say the one they went with made the best of it.  The ‘happy ending’ seemed like a betrayal of the entire film’s message (that sometimes not getting what you want in the first place is the best thing for all concerned) and the infamous ‘baby ending’...while it sort of ends up in the same place thematically as the extant ending, the whole sequence in the hospital is played so seriously that it ends up being ludicrous rather than profound.

So The Butterfly Effect wasn’t for me.  It doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t be for you.  Use your discretion.

Hey!  Wanna Help Support This Blog And Get Cool Goodies In Return?  Then head on over to The Domicile of Dread Patreon Page and join me on my crusade to Make The World Stranger.  For as little as a dollar a month, you’ll get new fiction and exclusive essays.  Invest a bit more, and get other stuff including advance access to my new television podcast Thomas Deja’s Watching, the Patreon Exclusive Podcast Cinematic Mirage (First episode, focusing on Tales From The Crypt: Dead Easy, is available now for Patrons at the $5 level or more; new episode on The Hunt coming soon), movie commentaries...and even the chance to assign me articles that’ll be published on this very blog!

THE MOVIE OF MY LIFE PHASE ONE: Candidates for 1979

WANDA NEVADA

We lost Peter Fonda recently, and this western comedy features him as the male lead, a gambler who ends up winning a precocious 13 year old Brooke Shields in a card game.  To my shock, Fonda also directed it (the last of three he made in the 70‘s, including the absolutely stupefying counterculture sci-fi thriller Idaho Transfer).  There’s a couple of reasons why I want to watch this--it’s another in the strange line of films Shields made that kinda sexualize her before her time, and the villain is played by one of my favorite character actors of the era, Sevren Darden.  There is a plot about treasure hidden in the Grand Canyon, but I imagine this is mostly Fonda and Shields riffing off each other and....well, I’m in the mood for some Peter Fonda, and I always like digging up the more peculiar fare of an actor’s cv.

NIGHTWING

If you peruse my Twitter account, you’ll know I am rather fond of bats.  I kind of think they have gotten a bad rap and are really cute in their ways.  This film, coming as it did at the end of not one, but two film trends--the Nature Attacks and Disaster subgenres--is about a plague of vampire bats that may or may not have been conjured by a Native American curse to prevent a tribal elder from selling oil rights to an Evil Tycoon.  It’s directed by Arthur Hiller, the Oscar nominated man behind 1970's Love Story, and was apparently such an awful experience for him he stuck to comedy for the rest of his natural life.  The cast is made up mostly of character actors of the era (the closest thing to Big Names in this mess are Strother Martin and the great, still alive David Warner), and it was a pretty big bomb.  I want to see how badly the reputation of my favorite Chiropteran buddies are besmirched by this ill-advised attempt to cash in on dying trends.

1941

There are several generations who probably don’t even know this film exists....but this ‘epic’ (wedged oh-so-comfortably between Close Encounters of The Third Kind and Raiders of The Lost Ark) is the Steven Speilberg film that put some humility into him.  This wild slapsticky comedy about Los Angeles panicking over an imagined attack by Japan in the wake of Pearl Harbor was a massive disaster, made all the more disastrous because of its budget.  It’s the film that prevents him from having one of those runs that John Carpenter or Dario Argento had--Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom kind of replaced it as his big misfire, but that film didn’t crater like this film did (it was a major hit, truth be told) but trust me....this one is his Greatest Embarrassment.


MURDER BY DECREE

Bob Clark, who directed this feature, had an odd career.  You know him best for, depending on your age, Black Christmas, Porky’s or A Christmas Story...and because of those three highs, a lot of other work from his eclectic cv has fallen through the cracks.  This is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche, considered by some Holmesians as the best, in which Christopher Plummer’s Holmes goes after Jack The Ripper.  It’s got a great cast (I should probably warn you that the presence of Geneviève Bujold, playing one of the Ripper’s victims, did help influence me in choosing it for the poll) and is supposedly one of Clark’s best films.  I ignored it when it was released because I wasn’t into Holmes at the time....but I’d like to correct that ignorance.

As always, go to my Twitter Page to vote.  You’ll have one week, at which point I will have to view what you chose and report on it.  This will be the last poll until November, as next month I’ll be pre-occupied with The 2019 Halloween Horrorfest, which you can still help program!

Hey!  Wanna Help Support This Blog And Get Cool Goodies In Return?  Then head on over to The Domicile of Dread Patreon Page and join me on my crusade to Make The World Stranger.  For as little as a dollar a month, you’ll get new fiction and exclusive essays.  Invest a bit more, and get other stuff including advance access to my new television podcast Thomas Deja’s Watching, the Patreon Exclusive Podcast Cinematic Mirage (First episode, focusing on Tales From The Crypt: Dead Easy, is available now for Patrons at the $5 level or more; new episode on The Hunt coming soon), movie commentaries...and even the chance to assign me articles that’ll be published on this very blog!

Meanwhile, Over At Dread Media....#628

It’s time to enjoy the outdoors, have some pancakes and tell some scary stories in this episode.  First off, Des and Duane tries to keep their minds active as they visit Eli Fucking Roth’s Cabin Fever.  Then Rich The Monster Movie Kid tells us what he thought of the recent Guillermo DelToro-produced adaptation of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark!

The trailers are here, as is a side by side comparison of Cabin Fever with its 2016 remake, an audiobook adaptation of the book upon which Scary Stories... was based, and music from National Barks and Lil Dicky!

Listen to Dread Media #628 here

THE MOVIES OF MY LIFE PHASE ONE: COMA (1978)

There were three reasons I placed this in the poll for this year.

One was the massive popularity of the novel, the second done by Robin Cook.  Cook had apparently studied major blockbusters of the early 70‘s and fashioned this thing in their image...and it paid off for him in spades.  I admit to buying (or shoplifting--I was going through the typical teenager shoplifting-is-fun-until-I-get-caught phase at the time) the paperback and trying very, very hard to get through the 306 pages of clinical exposition, old school 70‘s paranoia and chaste smuttiness.  I failed.

The second reason was because there is a very specific sequence where Geneviève Bujold infiltrates the Jefferson Institute, a place we’ve known was Pure D Bad ever since Ultra-Creepy Elizabeth Ashley showed up, and is shown a room filled with coma patients suspended in a room on wires.  Scenes and stills from that sequence were prominent in the advertising campaign, and those scenes and stills creeped the Hell out of fourteen-year-old-me.

The third reason was because I have been in love with Geneviève Bujold since my High School Days, and she’s in the bulk of this movie.  Okay, admittedly loads of that screentime is composed of Bujold climbing up and around air ducts and accessways (At one point removing her shoes and pantyhose for stealth) but still....

Michael Crichton, who directed this, was a medical student, so I guess it looked good on paper when MGM wanted him to make Cook’s best seller into a movie.  And the best parts of this movie are the little bits where we get the sense of medicine not as a holy calling but as a job--the moments where doctors and nurses are talking about mundane things as they’re cutting into their patients.  There’s none of this glamorizing of the profession in the first hour, and for that first hour it sort of drew me into its world.  I like especially how Crichton sets up the character of Bujold’s love interest (played by Michael Douglas) in such a way that I did not know if he was pulling a John-Cassavettes-in-Rosemary’s-Baby or not until the last few minutes of the film’s close to two hour running time.

And then we get hit with a 70‘s era Elevator Music Love Montage, and things start going...off.

See, up until the point where Bujold and Douglas’ Susan and Matt head up the cape for some lovemaking and antiquing, the film maintains its sense of reality barely.  Even as Susan gets a little hysterical in her emoting, I was able to forgive it.  I was able to accept that Lance LeGault’s windbreaker-wearing assassin is supposed to be scary instead of silly. Hell, I was able to forgive Geneviève Bujold’s not-quite-American accent and the jarring tiny roles by Tom Sellack and Ed Harris.  I was able to do so because Crichton is actively interested in the mechanics and politics of a major hospital.  But Crichton is a clinical director; this montage transitions the film into the blood-and-thunder phase that it was only flirting with up until that point and it starts falling all to pieces.

But even with the way Crichton whiffs the last half--starting with the introduction of Ashley’s Mrs. Emerson, who practically rubs her hands together maniacally while informing Bujold that she is the only occupant besides techs and guards in the Not-Sinister-A’Tall-Medical-Institute in the middle of nowhere, and leading right on through to the ‘shocking twist’ of the villainous mastermind being the character played by the actor perhaps being best known for playing psychotic villains--I cannot take away from him the fact that he nails the one iconic sequence in the movie in Bujold discovering the storehouse containing the coma patients.  There’s something so...wrong about the sight of all these naked people (wearing some form of body stocking so we don’t see the naughty bits) in this sterile gunmetal grey box, their bodies being manipulated by a computer through a series of wires that puts the fear of medicine in me more than some of the more graphically frightening stuff does. It certainly still creeped me out for this viewing.

You know, even with the way the film goes insanely off the rails in the last act, with Bujold being ‘operated’ on by the villain while Douglas crawls through vents looking for the device that will feed carbon dioxide into her anesthesia, I think I’m going to end up mildly recommending this film.  There’s enough that Crichton gets right in the first half of the film and in setting the atmosphere of this Big Ol’ Medical Institution--and there’s enough good acting as a whole (the actor who plays the main villain, whose name I will not reveal in case you’re interested in seeing this, is not surprisingly great and manages to keep his ‘reasonable’ facade on credibly even after he’s unmasked) that makes sitting through the silliness worthwhile. 

Hey!  Wanna Help Support This Blog And Get Cool Goodies In Return?  Then head on over to The Domicile of Dread Patreon Page and join me on my crusade to Make The World Stranger.  For as little as a dollar a month, you’ll get new fiction and exclusive essays.  Invest a bit more, and get other stuff including advance access to my new television podcast Thomas Deja’s Watching, the Patreon Exclusive Podcast Cinematic Mirage (First episode, focusing on Tales From The Crypt: Dead Easy, is available now for Patrons at the $5 level or more; new episode on The Hunt coming soon), movie commentaries...and even the chance to assign me articles that’ll be published on this very blog!

IF EVERYBODY’S DOING IT, WHY CAN’T WE: Life, Liberty And....A Gorilla In A Karate Gi

August saw the debut of Cinematic Mirage.

October will, of course, be dominated by The 2019 Halloween Horrorfest (see below for more info)

But what are we going to do about September?

Well, over at the Domicile of Dread Patreon, it’s about time for the payoff to the event I conducted this May.  On September 2nd, it’s time for LIBERTY!

Okay, I know...I originally entitled this ‘Strikeforce Liberty.’  But that was when I thought it was just going to be a super-hero prose serial featuring characters I created inspired by public domain characters.

...but as I wrote the first segment, it started to mutate--probably due to my re-entering the role-playing gaming community.  I started hearing an oral history segment of the project that wouldn’t go away.  So, while it is still a serial that I’m writing (the first large project I’m doing without an outline), it’s going to be one part of a larger thing that will immerse the reader into a brand new super-hero world.  If you join us at the $1 Tier or higher, you will get everything that emerges from a world containing a super-heroic reality TV show, a secret underground government project...and an international jewel thief being hired by a gorilla in a silk gi.

(Seriously.  There are times I write stuff like this and think about how much I love writing stuff.)

You’ll get a little taste here of the first segment of this new epic below.  But if you want the whole enchilada, you’ll need to sign up at the Patreon.  The good news is that you’ll get it at any tier.  Even if you can only spare me a buck a month, you’ll be getting missives from this new Pulp Action Superhero World.

So dip your toe into my new pond of parahuman pulp.  If you want more, sign up!
--------------------------------------
A Trip To The Zoo

“This isn’t creepy,” one woman said to the other as she put her hands against the glass barrier that protected the public from the the three California Sea Lions who made the pool their home.  Her voice was husky and had a slight Gaellic lilt to it.

“There are worse places we’ve met clients, dear,” the other woman replied with a posh English accent.  Her attention was drawn to the small compact in her right hand as she gently rearranged her raven black tresses.

“If it wasn’t midnight,” Marissa shot back.  She turned away from the pool.  Her long, straight platinum hair seemed to sparkle in the moonlight.  “and we didn’t have to break in and subdue that very nice security guard.”

“That was unfortunate,” the brunette responded as she snapped her compact shut.

“I would think so.”

“It’s most likely some parahuman type.  You know how dramatic they can be.”

“You would think he’d want to meet us near the grizzly bear habitat if he was looking for drama.”

“Actually,” a voice that sounded like an earthy rumble, “the sealion pool is closer to my lair.”

“Oh, my,” said the brunette.

“Oh, my indeed,” added the blonde.

They had just been joined by a gorilla with coarse black hair and large, startlingly bright green eyes dressed in what looked like an emerald silk gi.  “Lady King.  I was expecting you to be alone.”

“Is that...an Oxford accent?” the blonde asked in stunned wonder.

“Miss Bava is essential to my operation.  Anything you need to say, you say to the both of us.”

“Very well.  Let me get down to it, then.”

“That is an Oxford accent.”

“Marissa!”

“I’ve never heard of a gorilla who attended Oxford!”

The gorilla adjusted the collar on his jacket and looked uncomfortable.  “It’s an affectation.  I find that when you deal with uneducated types to do your dirty work, they don’t believe you are genius unless you sound posh.  I was actually born here.”

“I thought gorillas and other large animals were transferred out of this place when in was renovated in the 80‘s.”

“Oh, I had already started constructing my home below by that time.  I just made sure I wasn’t around when Moving Day came.  I am...shall we say, not officially a member of this facility’s family.  Can we discuss business now?”

“Shouldn’t you be dressed in leather or spikes or something intimidating like that?” Marrisa asked with a touch of anxiety in her voice.

“Do you really think I should wear something so confining and uncomfortable?  The only reason I’m wearing this is because you primates get uncomfortable speaking to somebody naked.”  He cast his eyes towards Lady King.  “Is including this woman really necessary?”

“Absolutely essential.”

There was a low rumble from the great ape.  His brow furrowed.  “I appreciate your willingness to meet with me.  I was told by The Facilitator that you do not usually accept conditions.”

“I don’t.  But the mission brief he provided...interests me.”

“Yes.  This isn’t just a search for sparkly things.”

“Good. One needs to stretch one’s horizons, don’t you think?” Lady King said with a charming half-smile.

“Perfect answer,” the gorilla said.  “So tell me, Lady Olivia King....are you familiar with the legend of The Figure?”

The 2019 Halloween Horrorfest is Coming--Wanna Help Program It? Last year I watched 30 films in 31 days and wrote an essay for each one, dictated by a series of Twitter Polls--but this year you can make me watch a film you love (as long as I can find it, or rent/buy it at a reasonable price; other than that, all bets are off!)  If you either join the Patreon at $3 Tier or more, or make a one time payment of $3 or more, you can choose the film and the date...and if I get more than 31 reservations, the Horrorfest goes into overtime!  The offer ends on September 30th, so act quickly!  For further information, go to here....

Meanwhile, Over At Dread Media....#627

Do you remember two episodes ago, when Des and I namechecked Tales From The Crypt Presents Demon Knight, and we implied we liked that film.

Well, we lied.

We LOVE THIS MOVIE!

And this episode, we’re going to tell you why as we pay tribute to a Great, Great Film with an Astonishingly Great Cast.  And, after all the ooey-gooey fun of this 90‘s gem, Des gets all literary by sitting down with the new Paul Tremblay collection Growing Things.

The trailer is below, as is a lengthy interview with Tremblay, Billy Zane talking bicycle safety, a song entitled ‘Growing Things’ played in the back of a van, and the official music video from the Demon Knight Soundtrack, Pantera’s ‘Cemetary Gates’

(...and if you want to hear a bit more about the Tales From The Crypt movie franchise and the film that was supposed to start it, may I suggest signing up on the Domicile of Dread Patreon at the $5 level for the first episode of Cinematic Mirage!)

Listen to Dread Media #627 here

Phase SEVEN of...THE HONEYWELL EXPERIMENT!

It’s back to business as normal at the OcaDecaGonaGon....if you count ‘business as normal’ as ‘absolute chaos!  In my effort to expose Chris Honeywell to International Shades of Grindhouse, I get him to experience the utterly befuddling, thoroughly gobstopping martial arts actioner (?) starring (?) Jackie Chan, Fantasy Mission Force.  This is a really crazy picture that can be a little...disjointed, which should not be surprising for a film Chan supposedly made to get his friend out of hock to the Triads.

(Man, that sounds like the outline of a Jackie Chan movie, come to think of it).

Plus....gratuitous chickens, a tribe of Amazon women led by an Elvis impersonator, Nazis riding muscle cars, and a Lemon Demon song.

You can find all the wacky hijinks here

So get your Mah-Jong tiles, your kilt and your draft card and dive into this casserole of craziness!

If you would like to support this podcast and similar works--like the Patreon Exclusive Cinematic Mirage: The Theater of Movies That Don’t Exist (1st episode out now), and would like to receive goodies in return (like the serialized epic Liberty, debuting tomorrw), please consider becoming a Domicile of Dread Patreon. There are five tiers ranging from a dollar a month (which isn’t much, honestly) to ten dollars that can net you exclusive reviews, podcasts, movie commentaries and more.  Go to https://www.patreon.com/Dejasdomicileofdread to sign up!