Horror Highlights: COMET TV’s September Viewing Guide, THE LODGERS, MOTHER! Artwork, Grimmfest 2017 Lineup, YULETIDE TERROR Book, SLASHED! THE MUSICAL, SCARED TO DEATH

Comet TV has released their viewer's guide for September, let's take a look, including Godzilla 2000 and Godzilla: Final Wars. Also: The Lodgers TIFF Screening, mother!-Inspired artwork, the lineup for Grimmfest 2017, details for Yuletide Terror book's Indiegogo campaign, Slashed! the Musical, and Museum of Pop Culture's Scared to Death Event. Enjoy!

Comet TV's September Programming: "AIRING ON COMET in September.

YOU DON’T NEED A SUBSCRIPTION TO WATCH THESE GREAT MOVIES…

THEY’RE AIRING FOR FREE ON COMET!

Godzilla 2000
Godzilla Wears a Tinfoil Hat: Did you know Godzilla is a UFO believer? Unfortunately, years upon years of reading about alien abduction conspiracies on the internet can't prepare the King of Monsters for what happens in Godzilla 2000....When a UFO is awoken from a million-year slumber deep in the Earth's crust, it employs a series of sneaky tactics (gene-snatching, reckless driving, and more) to give Godzilla a real extraterrestrial beat-down.
Monday, September 4 at 9:30P/8:30C
Saturday, September 23 at 4P/3C
and Saturday, September 30 at 5P/4C

Godzilla: Final Wars
Godzilla's Futuristic Birthday Bash: Godzilla sure knows how to throw a wild birthday party. For the King's 50th anniversary, legends from the last five decades of monster mashing return for a futuristic kaiju feast. Godzilla: Final Wars takes us to the 28th century where Earth has been ravaged by giant monsters, giving the Xiliens (a group of aliens who dress like they're in a 90's goth rock band) a chance to claim our planet as their own
Saturday, September 23 at 1A/MIDNIGHT
Saturday, September 30 at 5P/4C

Catch Godzilla Films all month on COMET TV.

GODZILLA DOIN’ WORK Movie Marathon

Labor Day, Monday, September 4 starting at 10A/9C

Every Saturday

starting at 2P/1C

Weekdays, September 25-29

starting at various times

Classic Films all Month, Fridays on COMET TV

Starting at 8/7c

9/01 From Dusk Till Dawn
9/08 From Dusk Till Dawn 2
9/15 From Dusk Till Dawn 3
9/22 Cypher
9/28 Futureworld"

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The Lodgers Screening Details: "The first screenplay by David Turpin, the film was directed by Brian O’Malley (Let Us Prey) and stars Charlotte Vega ([REC] 3: Genesis), Bill Milner (X:Men: First Class), David Bradley (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and Eugene Simon (“Game of Thrones”).

SYNOPSIS:  A gothic ghost story about orphaned twins Edward and Rachel who share a crumbling manor in 1920’s rural Ireland. But they are not alone. They share the house with unseen entities who control them with three absolute rules. As separate fates draw them apart, the twins must face the terrible truth about their family’s ghostly tormentors.

THE LODGERS will screen on the following dates [at TIFF]:
Public - September 8, 2017 / 7:15 PM / Scotiabank 3
Public - September 9, 2017 / 4:15 PM / Scotiabank 3
Public - September 15, 2017 / 3:00 PM / Scotiabank 11”

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A Look at James Jean's mother!-Inspired Artwork: "A couple's relationship is tested when uninvited guests arrive at their home, disrupting their tranquil existence. From filmmaker Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream), mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer in this riveting psychological thriller about love, devotion, and sacrifice."

Written and directed by Darren Aronofsky, Mother! stars Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer star in mother!, directed by Darren Aronofsky. Paramount Pictures will release Mother! in theaters on September 15th.

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Grimmfest 2017 Lineup Revealed: Press Release: "GRIMMFEST, Manchester’s Festival of Horror, Cult and Fantastic Film is back, bigger, bolder, and bloodier than ever before. 5TH-8TH OCT, VUE PRINTWORKS, MANCHESTER, UK. Manchester Printworks will once again find itself under siege by blood soaked hordes of horror enthusiasts and film freaks, as Team Grimm unleashes… the Ninth Configuration with the support of our key sponsor THE HORROR CHANNEL.

Highlights include:

WORLD PREMIERES!

Grimmfest is proud to present the world premiere of the remarkable and utterly unique BORLEY RECTORY. Using an elaborate mixture of live action, stills, paintings, and model work, it's an immersive, eerily atmospheric, and elegantly retro-styled exploration of the Most Haunted House in Britain. Over six years in the making, it's a real labor of love for its creator, Ashley Thorpe. Featuring a score by Ex-Banshee Steve Severin, and with a cast including the League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith, Julian Sands and HELLRAISER's Nicolas Vince, it's an extraordinary cinematic experience.

MANCHESTER MACABRE!

To kick off this year’s festival, however, something a little closer to home. Grimmfest supremos Simeon Halligan and Rachel Richardson-Jones return with the Gala World Premiere of their much-anticipated third feature HABIT; a visceral cinematic visualization of Stephen McGeagh’s acclaimed cult novel, which captures perfectly the dark heart, and sinister sub-cultures of Manchester city.

The film has already been snapped up by numerous high-profile festivals, and will soon be flying a blood-spattered flag for the city, all around the world. Much of the film was shot only five minutes walk from the festival venue, so this is a chance for a truly… immersive cinema experience. Always assuming you don’t mind getting a few bloodstains on your clothes…

By way of contrast, Grimmfest is proud to present the World premiere of gritty and claustrophobic; an old-school, no-nonsense men-on-a-mission movie in the vein of Robert Aldrich or Sam Fuller, which pitches cynical soldiers against pre-Nazi experiments in the Trenches of No Man’s Land in the final days of the First World War. They are also delighted to be hosting the International Premiere of FAKE BLOOD, the new film from Rob Grant and Mike Kovac, whose previous movie, MON AMI, was a Grimmfest hit a few years back. A mordant and malevolent mockumentary exploring the difference between movie violence and reality, it's a pitch-black comedy that shifts into increasingly chilling and uncomfortable territory, a real masterclass in audience manipulation, that leads the viewer step by step towards its quietly horrible punchline.

EUROPEAN PREMIERE!

Grimmfest is delighted to be hosting the European premiere of MOHAWK, fresh from wowing audiences at top genre festival Fantasia in Montreal. In the wake of last year's brutal and harrowing BONE TOMAHAWK, the film offers a savage confirmation that the Weird Western is well and truly back with a vengeance. The much-anticipated follow-up to Writer-Director's Ted Geoghegan's critically-acclaimed festival favorite WE ARE STILL HERE, MOHAWK juggles elements of such confrontational classics as ULZANA'S RAID, SOUTHERN COMFORT, and even HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, yet possesses an eerie ambiance and shifting narrative ambiguity all its own.

THE FEMALE OF THE SPECIES IS DEADLIER THAN THE MALE?

With the Grimmfest team, there's always method in their movie madness; even if it stems from the darkest corners of their subconscious. So, this year's festival has a fiercely feminine focus. In M.F.A, Francesca Eastwood, daughter of Clint, demonstrates that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree with her steely turn as a rape-victim turned vigilante. Adelaide Clemens (SILENT HILL: REVELATION, THE GREAT GATSBY) goes in search of a missing twin and stumbles into a world of Nazi-inspired experiments and callous clinical cruelty in the unsettling RABBIT. You'll also have a chance to meet sweet, small-town Canadian serial killer POOR AGNES (Lora Burke), whose approach to dating is somewhat...extreme; and there’s some old-fashioned Gothic Romance with a uniquely Russian twist in THE BRIDE. All films are receiving their UK Premieres at Grimmfest. There's a chilling exploration of female self-image in the Regional Premiere of the icy, futuristic body-horror, REPLACE, co-written by cult auteur Richard Stanley, and featuring the legendary Barbara Crampton. Last, but by no means least, the festival will be exploring the traumas of post-natal depression in the bone-chilling STILL/BORN. Written by the multi-talented Colin Minihan (IT STAINS THE SANDS RED), and boasting a powerhouse performance from Christie Burke as the increasingly troubled mother, the film will receive its Regional Premiere at Grimmfest.

WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SEE?

Every year the Grimmfest team strive to find films that will push the envelope, that will offer some truly head-spinning visuals, and leave the audience reeling. This year is no exception. Grimmfest are truly thrilled to be presenting the UK Premiere of the utterly jaw-dropping DAVE MADE A MAZE, Bill Watterson's guaranteed-to-gain-a-cult-following directorial debut. If ever a film could be described as “pure Grimmfest”, this is probably it. Part slacker comedy, part retro-80s fantasy adventure, and playing like a manic mash-up of Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman, and previous Grimmfest favorite JOHN DIES AT THE END, it brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “cardboard set design”. Grimmfest will also be offering a rare opportunity to see TAG, the latest manic masterpiece from cult Japanese auteur Sion Sono on the big screen, prior to its domestic release on DVD and BluRay. The Grimmfest team assures ‘you really do want to see this one on as big a screen as possible’. Beginning with the single most mind-blowing sequence the Grimmfest team has seen in years, this is utterly ‘off the chain’, even by Sono's standards; a high-octane, break-neck, no-holds-barred splatterfest, which also finds time to offer an oddly affecting meditation on identity and belonging.

FESTIVAL FAVOURITES!

There are always films every year that the Grimmfest team know their fans will want to check out. The films that are getting all the love at other festivals around the world. And this year they’ve secured some cold-blooded corkers. Keeping with their focus on gender politics, they’ve got leery laddishness confronted by a duo of particularly fatal femmes in British Horror comedy DOUBLE DATE, fresh from earning its writer-star Danny Moran the “Rising Star” award at Frightfest. There are more lethal ladies to be found in white-trash pulp-noir 68 KILL, the latest from Trent Haaga, writer-director of Grimmfest favorite, CHOP. Featuring an all-star cult cast including Matthew Gray Gubler and Anna Lynn McCord, best known for their work with another Grimmfest favorite, Richard Bates, Jr (EXCISION, SUBURBAN GOTHIC, TRASH FIRE), and Sheila Vand (A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT, XX), it's a torrid, twisted tale of wild, white trash women and weak-willed, morally-bankrupt men on the road to nowhere good. Elsewhere, Grimmfest has a shocking seasonal spin on the Home Invasion genre in BETTER WATCH OUT; while the extraordinary Javier Botet (THE REVENANT, CRIMSON PEAK, [REC]) stars in FREEHOLD, a queasily comic variation on the classic “hider in the house” scenario, in which a brash estate agent falls victim to a former client's increasingly devious war of attrition carried out right under his nose, in his own home. The festival also boasts old-school Outback Horror in the devious and brutal Australian shocker KILLING GROUND; two very different explorations of playing for the highest stakes of all in RUIN ME and GAME OF DEATH, and as the horror community mourns the late, great, Tobe Hooper, the long-awaited return of LEATHERFACE, in a rip-roaring rebooted prequel, helmed by ferocious French extremists Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, directors of the infamously visceral À L'INTÉRIEUR / INSIDE. And they are still to announce their closing night movie premiere!

SHORT SHARP SHOCKS

As ever, the Grimmfest shorts selection has something for everyone. They've got Elder gods and Demon Births, urban legends and urban blights. Oh, and a white rabbit, just for luck.

Grimmfest runs 5th-8th October at Odeon Printworks, Manchester UK.

The full line up in addition to Full Festival Passes, Day Passes, and Single Film Tickets can be found at www.grimmfest.com"

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Yuletide Terror Book's Indiegogo Campaign: Press Release: "For many, Christmas is an annual celebration of goodwill and joy, but for others, it’s a time to curl up on the couch in the dead of winter for a good old fashioned fright. The festive holiday season has always included a more somber side, and scary tales of child-stealing demons to ghost stories told ‘round the fireplace go back to pre-Christian celebrations. These long-standing traditions have found modern expression in Christmas horror film and television shows, a unique and sometimes controversial sub genre that cheerfully drives a stake of holly through the heart of cherished Christmas customs.

Yuletide Terror: Christmas Horror on Film and Television, the latest book by Canadian micro-publisher Spectacular Optical, offers a definitive, in-depth exploration of the history of these subversive film and television presentations that allow viewers to engage in different ways with the complicated cultural history of the Christmas season.

Yuletide Terror collects over 20 essays and interviews that will deck your halls with insightful looks at all your festive fright favourites, including the BBC’s A Ghost Story for Christmas anthology series and contentious 1980s Santa slashers like Silent Night, Deadly Night. Unwrapping the true meaning of films featuring everyone from the Krampus and Scrooge to killer snowmen and evil elves, Yuletide Terror is a comprehensive look at TV and cinematic holiday horror from around the world and includes a compendium including nearly 200 Christmas horror film reviews. This new anthology, set to be released for Christmas 2017, is the latest addition to Spectacular Optical’s line of cult film and pop culture books including Kid Power!, Satanic Panic: Pop-Cultural Paranoia in the 1980s and Lost Girls: The Phantasmagorical Cinema Of Jean Rollin.

Yuletide Terror features new writing by both emerging and acclaimed authors including Stephen Thrower (Nightmare USA), Kim Newman (Nightmare Movies), Caelum Vatnsdal (They Came From Within: A History Of Canadian Horror Cinema), Michael Gingold (Rue Morgue), Shelagh Rowan-Legg (The Spanish Fantastic), Alexandra West (Films Of The New French Extremity), Michael Helms (Fatal Visions), Andrea Subissati (Rue Morgue), Zack Carlson (Destroy All Movies!!!), Joanna Wilson (The Christmas TV Companion), Diane A. Rodgers (Cinema Retro), Andrew Nette (Pulp Curry), Amanda Reyes (Made For TV Mayhem), David Bertrand (Satanic Panic), Eric Zaldivar (Co-Writer, Django Lives!), Leslie Hatton (Popshifter), Owen Williams (Empire), Ralph Elawani (Bleu Nuit: Histoire D’un Cinéphilie Nocturne), Derek Johnston (Haunted Seasons: Television Ghost Stories For Christmas And Horror For Halloween), Neil Mitchell (Devil’s Advocates: Carrie), Chris Hallock (Diabolique), Ariel Fisher (Rue Morgue), Lee Gambin (Nope, Nothing Wrong Here: The Making Of Cujo), Zach Clark (Writer/Director, White Reindeer) alongside co-editors Kier-La Janisse (House of Psychotic Women) and Paul Corupe (Canuxploitation).

The book also features Motion Picture Purgatory comic reviews of Christmas horror films by underground cartoonist Rick Trembles, and a cover and original illustrations by British artist Alisdair Wood.

PLUS! As part of this campaign, we will be releasing a new Christmas horror short film made to accompany the book, written and directed by Sean Hogan (THE DEVIL’S BUSINESS) and produced by Deviant Films, the team who brought you FUTURE SHOCK! THE STORY OF 2000AD. The short film—a windswept ghost story set on England’s southeastern coast called WE ALWAYS FIND OURSELVES IN THE SEA—will accompany book launch events throughout November/December in advance of its online premiere on Christmas Eve, as a nod to the British broadcasting tradition of Christmas ghost stories.

“Being able to make a small contribution to the Christmas ghost story tradition has me feeling like, well, a kid at Christmas,” says Hogan. “That particular juxtaposition of Yuletide cheer with the eerie and unsettling has always been a particular delight for me, and the various seasonal UK TV ghost stories that were produced over the years are still something I regularly return to for enjoyment and inspiration. I'm very much looking forward to paying tribute to a form that has continually brought me so much pleasure/fear!”

For the full table of contents, please see the Indiegogo campaign at http://www.igg.me/at/yuletideterror”

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Slashed! The Musical: "SLASHED! The Musical is the original horror-comedy I co-starred in and produced this summer at the Hollywood Fringe Festival. It is back for eight shows only, including a performance on Friday, October 13! I know some of you had expressed interest in checking it out this summer and were unable to make it so the SLASHED team decided to offer a two-day presale to our loved ones to make sure they were able to get tickets.

Details: The show has been expanded since the Fringe run, including two new songs! That said, it will still only be less than an hour long so you all will be in and out and can plan multiple activities for the evening.

There are 55 seats available per night, so book your tickets now!”

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Museum of Pop Culture's Scared to Death Event Details: Press Release: “SEATTLE, WA – Celebrate the Museum of Pop Culture’s newest exhibition, Scared to Death: The Thrill of Horror Film with a blood-curdling opening celebration. On September 29, join MoPOP for an exclusive first look at the exhibit; plus, Q&A with filmmaker Roxanne Benjamin, costume contest, horror makeup station, psychic readings, dance party, photo ops, and terrifying surprises throughout the evening.

EVENT DETAILS

DATE: September 29, 2017
TIME: 9:00pm – 1:00am
VENUE: Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP)
325 5th Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

TICKETS: 21+ General Admission: $27 MoPOP Members: $22
Buy online at MoPOP.org

ROXANNE BENJAMIN BIO
Roxanne is a LA-based filmmaker, writer, and producer, best known for developing and producing the V/H/S franchise and additional anthologies (as producer, director, and writer) Southbound and XX. Prior to her career in filmmaking, she ran a boutique genre label in conjunction with horror website Bloody Disgusting, acquiring and releasing 10-12 titles per year theatrically and to DVD, featuring works by Sion Sono, Timo Tjahjanto, Lucky McKee, and others.  Originally hailing from "Romero Country", north of Pittsburgh, she is currently working on her feature debut.

ABOUT SCARED TO DEATH: THE LURE OF HORROR FILM
Organized by the Museum of Pop Culture, Scared to Death: The Thrill of Horror Film takes an in-depth look at more than a century of horror cinema. From blood-thirsty vampires and unrelenting zombies to fiendish slashers, this immersive experience presents the broad range of iconic horror villains and the stories over the generations that have brought them to life.  The exhibit features a macabre display of more than 50 props and costumes from film and television including A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Blade, Bride of Frankenstein, The Thing, Dawn of the Dead, Hostel, Jeepers Creepers, Pet Sematary, and more. The exhibit’s multi-media experiences include photo ops, digital artifact displays, exhibit films and oral history interviews with guest curators Roxanne Benjamin, Karyn Kusama, Eli Roth, John Landis, and Roger Corman.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF POP CULTURE (MoPOP)
MoPOP is a leading-edge, nonprofit museum, dedicated to the ideas and risk-taking that fuel popular culture. With its roots in rock ‘n’ roll, MoPOP serves as a gateway museum, reaching multigenerational audiences through collections, exhibitions, and educational programs, using interactive technologies to engage and empower its visitors. At MoPOP, artists, audiences, and ideas converge, bringing understanding, interpretation, and scholarship to the popular culture of our time. MoPOP is housed in a 140,000 square foot Frank O. Gehry-designed building. This spectacular, prominently visible structure has the presence of a monumental sculpture set amid the backdrop of the Seattle Center.”