From August 4th through August 6th, Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Con took over the Windy City, and Daily Dead was on hand for all the horror-fied festivities. Throughout all three days, this writer served as one of Flashback’s co-hosts, and brought back some highlights from several of the panels held over the course of the convention.
From July 13th through August 2nd, the 2017 Fantasia International Film Festival offered attendees over 400 short, experimental, and feature-length film projects, which is just a mind-blowing fact to me. Over the course of several weeks, I had the opportunity to check out two titles that had been garnering some buzz as of late on the festival circuit—Better Watch Out and Fashionista—and they both delivered very unique but equally thrilling viewing experiences for this writer.
From August 4th through August 6th, Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Con took over the Windy City, and Daily Dead was on hand for all the horror-fied festivities. Throughout all three days, this writer served as one of Flashback’s co-hosts, and brought back some highlights from several of the panels held over the course of the convention.
From August 4th through August 6th, Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Con took over the Windy City, and Daily Dead was on hand for all the horror-fied festivities. Throughout all three days, this writer served as one of Flashback’s co-hosts, and brought back some highlights from several of the panels held over the course of the convention.
As far as literary-based houses go, the Neibolt House from Stephen King’s classic novel IT is prime nightmare fodder, and thankfully the folks at Warner Bros./New Line Cinema agree with that sentiment, because on Sunday evening they launched The IT Experience in Los Angeles, where attendees can go through the immersive haunt guided by their very own “Georgie” and experience all the terror Pennywise has in store for The Losers’ Club once IT arrives in theaters on September 8th.
Back in June, the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival took over Southern California, hosting screenings at numerous locations and featuring numerous genre films that horror and sci-fi fans should definitely keep on their radars in the coming months. Here are my thoughts on three of the movies that I had the opportunity to watch at the festival:
From August 4th through the 6th, Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Con took over the Windy City, and Daily Dead was on hand for all the horror-fied festivities. Throughout all three days, this writer served as one of Flashback’s co-hosts, and brought back some highlights from several of the panels held over the course of the convention.
First up is a discussion on easily one of the greatest horror movies of the last 20 years, Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects, between two of the film’s co-stars, William Forsythe and Lew Temple.
After five decades of being one of the biggest crusaders, innovators, and purveyors of independent genre filmmaking, the legendary Lloyd Kaufman shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
In Annabelle: Creation, both Talitha Bateman and Lulu Wilson are pushed to their limits as they battle against the evil influences of the prequel's titular doll who terrorizes them relentlessly (especially Bateman, whose character Janice is put through the paces and then some).
We’re only a few days away from the arrival of Annabelle: Creation in theaters everywhere, and to celebrate, Daily Dead recently chatted with two of the sequel’s co-stars, Anthony LaPaglia and Miranda Otto, about their involvement in the project, including what attracted them to their respective characters, Mr. and Mrs. Mullins, who are still grieving over the loss of their daughter after she was killed in a tragic accident a dozen years before the events of Creation.
Out in theaters this weekend is Annabelle: Creation (read our review here), David F. Sandberg’s sequel that takes audiences back to the titular doll’s horrific roots, where Annabelle is now terrorizing a group of young orphans after they move in with a reclusive couple who suffered the loss of their own daughter 12 years prior to their arrival. Creation stars Anthony LaPaglia, Miranda Otto, Talitha Bateman, Lulu Wilson, and Stephanie Sigman.
Arriving on VOD on August 8th courtesy of Freestyle Digital Media is writer/director Michael Walker’s intriguing movie-within-a-movie (one of this writer’s favorite cinematic sub-genres), Cut Shoot Kill, which follows an up-and-coming actress named Serena Brooks (Alexandra Socha) who gets more than she bargains for when she accepts the leading role in a low-budget horror movie helmed by underground director Alabama Chapman (Alex Hurt), who takes the violence in his films to disturbing levels.
Writer/director Marc Meyers is having a helluva 2017 so far. His latest project, My Friend Dahmer, has been featured at numerous prestigious film festivals ever since its world premiere at Tribeca in April, and it most recently screened as part of Fantasia International Film Festival’s outstanding programming slate for 2017. Based on the graphic novel by Derf Backderf, My Friend Dahmer takes a look at the life of infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer (played by Ross Lynch) back when he was a teenager in high school during the 1970s.
While talking with writer/director Steve Mitchell about King Cohen: The Wild World of Filmmaker Larry Cohen, his new feature-length documentary that celebrates and explores the decades-spanning career of maverick storyteller Larry Cohen, I had the opportunity to chat about a cult classic that he was involved with over 30 years ago: Jim Wynorski’s Chopping Mall, starring Kelli Maroney, Barbara Crampton, Tony O’Dell, and Russell Todd, who square off against a squad of killer robots inside a shopping mall after hours.
Set to premiere this fall is SYFY’s new paranormal-themed series, Ghost Wars, which boasts an incredible ensemble that includes Vincent D’Onofrio, Kim Coates, Meat Loaf, Avan Jogia, and Kandyse McClure. While in San Diego last weekend at Comic-Con, Daily Dead spoke briefly with two of Ghost Wars’ co-stars, and veteran actors, Vincent D’Onofrio and Meat Loaf. The duo discussed the big appeal of joining the cast of Ghost Wars, and Meat Loaf also reminisced about his time collaborating with Dario Argento for his episode of Masters of Horror, entitled "Pelts."
