A dearth of anything truly interesting to say combined with a particularly nasty bout of Seasonal Affective Disorder have left your Uncle P in a rather dour mood of late.
I'm still keeping my Dream Journal though, and hope that my most recent bizarro dream about Alien Hands (don't ask, just yet) will result in another full-fledged screenplay, though I have to wonder where that particular scenario might lead. The dream itself involved dismembered alien hands that turned into feet which grew legs that developed into a torso... And no, I didn't eat anything strange, spicy or greasy before bed last night. I'd detail the entire dream here, but I don't want to risk your thinking I'm completely insane (as if you don't already think that, anyway).
I am still feeling rather trapped by snow (and not at all happy to hear that another major storm may be headed our way this coming week), despite having done some grocery shopping today (parking was a literal nightmare, thanks to the 8+ feet high piles of snow in the stores' parking lots). Give me a day or so to cope and I'll be back to my usual shenanigans. Or not.
In the meantime, I encourage the less squeamish among you to check out Bugcrush, a short, gay-themed horror film from 2006. Suggested by J.A. at My New Plaid Pants and posted on Post-Mortem Depression, this short (31 minutes) but effective film captures gay teen angst in a way that few modern filmmakers have been been to do. It's also probably NSFW.
No, I won't say I am writing a great movie... But I am writing yet another one and it's been ages since I've worked on it, so that is what I am off to do tonight.
Since my Let Me In review was really written on Thursday, this quickie is the 'official' Friday post.
I'll be back tomorrow with a new post over The Zombie Zone and will start the last of my Shocktober Directors posts on Sunday. Tonight, I have to figure out how to transition from Act II to Act III. Wish me luck. In the meantime, enjoy this creepy little delight (via):
I guess you have to find your heart wherever you can, though the Tin Man there seems to have gone a bit overboard, don't you think?
I wish I knew where I found this image, so I could give some proper credit. But like many things in Uncle P's scary mind, it's lost forever...
As another "Schocktober" draws close here at the Revenge, I thought an End of Summer Horror post would be fun. And to start it off, here's a short that's apparently been around for a while, but I just discovered today. Coulrophobes be warned... this won't be pretty. Ladies and Germs, I give you Happy Meal:
I'm lovin' it!
So what other horrors await us at our local multiplexes this fall? Let's see...
I'm willing to give Devil a go, even if M. Knight Sham-Movie-Maker is involved. At least he didn't direct it. We are also supposed to finally see the much-delayed release of the Renee Zelwegger, Bradley Cooper, Jodelle Ferland thriller Case 39:
And October brings us the 7th (really?) entry in the Saw franchise, Saw 3D:
Then there's Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo in Vanishing on 7th Street:
And director Darren Aronofsky has Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis and Barbara Hershey in the ballet-themed thriller, Black Swan:
But Uncle P is most looking forward to AMC's original series, "The Walking Dead:"
It seems like Uncle P will be very busy this fall, even after his show closes...
I may have been on vacation, but that doesn't mean I haven't been surfing the web for things to talk about.
First, Ross Peacock over at Obsessed with Film posted an interesting piece about "the next District 9," a short from Peruvian filmmaker Ricardo de Montreuil, The Raven, which has apparently been picked up by Universal for expansion into a feature, starring Mark Wahlberg. The Raven is about a young man who is wanted by a dystopian government in a future Los Angeles for reasons not made clear -- except maybe that he's a powerful telekinetic:
I'd see a feature based on that.
And Towleroad posted about the new documentary Bruce LaBruce: The Advocate for Fagdom. LaBruce's films include Otto; or, Up With Dead People and the upcoming LAZombie, starring gay porn star Francois Sagat as an alien zombie on the lookout for hot male flesh in Los Angeles. LaBruce's films have been labeled everything from "Brilliant" to "Utter Trash." LAZombie was recently rejected by the Venice Film Festival and will make its premiere later this year at the Toronto Film Festival. The following trailer for the documentary may be NSFW:
And speaking of gay icons, I can't believe I've never mentioned uber-hottie Paul Rudd in a "Hottest Thing" post. My friend and co-worker Mia (who made me both Teddy Z and Princess Unicorn as Christmas gifts), is equally -- if not more-so -- obsessed with the beautiful Mr. Rudd. His newest film, Dinner for Schmucksopens this Friday and it looks just hilarious:
I first noticed Rudd in Clueless, where he played Alicia Silverstone's hot step-brother, Josh. The next time I remember seeing him was in the unfortunate Jennifer Aniston film, The Object of My Affection, in which he played Jen's gay best friend with whom she fell in love. Complete garbage, redeemable only by his presence. I then saw him on stage in a production of Twelfth Night as Orsino, opposite the amazing Kyra Sedgewick ("The Closer"). The show featured a pool on stage and Rudd spent much of the play wet and half-naked. And we've all seen his comic genius in films like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and The Forty Year-Old Virgin. Here is with Schmucks costar Steve Carrell in a parody of the recent Lebron James basketball controversy (probably the first and only time I will ever mention sports on this blog):
Finally tonight is the last night of the San Diego ComicCon, the annual fanboy Mecca for all things comics and genre movies. CNN (via) reports that ComicCon has apparently outgrown the San Diego Convention center, resulting in a stabbing over seating at the Resident Evil 4 panel. Really? I mean Paul W. Anderson's zombie movies (based on the video game of the same name) aren't really very good. Of course, only a nerd would stab another nerd with a pen, but what can you expect when tens-of-thousands of costumed geeks descend upon one city at the same time. And no, it wasn't even a knife used in the stabbing, but a pen! I can just imagine the guy whipping it out of his pocket protector and thrusting it in his opponent's face. So sad.
I hope everyone had as good a week as I did, last week. Tomorrow sees my return to the day job (not a really awful thing, despite the idiocy I deal with every day). I'll have more to talk about on ComicCon and upcoming movies, as well a "Gayest Thing" post, later this week.
This post is actually about foreign films. Or, more explicitly, foreign Horror movies. Hence, the "International" which led to the bad pun, which resulted in a picture of a rather skillfully poured skull and jack-o-lantern pancakes, even though this post has has nothing to do with Halloween.
See, that rambling nonsense above is either my own pathetic attempt at Stream-of-Consciousness; an excuse to post a seemingly random picture which has no significance other than as a very bad pun; or proof that I got the keys from the night guard after I slipped a week's worth of my sedatives into his coffee all those years ago... Huh? What? Oh... sorry.
Anyway, I've been coming across more and more clips and trailers for Horror from Europe, Asia and elsewhere that looks as intriguing as (and often more original and interesting than) almost anything Americans are making (Sam Raimi or Michael Dougherty, not withstanding). This post started thanks to a link sent to me by my buddy Sean down in D.C. of a short French horror film (which you can see as the ZombieClipoftheWeek on this week's Zombie Zone). So I'd like to share some trailers you may or may not have seen, for movies of which you may or may not have heard. First up, from France is la Horde, a movie I know I've mentioned at least once. This Tarantino-inspired movie starts out as what looks like a bad-ass caper movie and quickly degenerates into a bad-ass zombie movie. Check it out:
Damn! It's Die Hard or Live Dead!* Dawn of the Living Dead Dozen? Zombie Fiction? Okay, I'll stop. It sort of looks awesome, doesn't it? No word on a U.S. release...
i09 linked to this haunting post-apocalyptic gem from Israeli film student Dan Sachar. When It Will Be Silent is both achingly beautiful and heart-breaking. I can't wait to see what he does with a budget.
Mutants is yet another French zombie flick that hasn't seen U.S. release, which makes me sad because this trailer makes Mutants look awesome, as well. There are no subtitles here, but you really don't need them. You know the drill, by now.
Yikes!
Spanish director Juame Balaguero picks up where his original left off in [Rec]2, as a tactical team enters the building to take on the rabid zombies inside:
The sequel to Quarantine, the serviceable American remake of [Rec], is going in a different direction, taking place at an airport, I believe I read.
Here's a film about which I know nothing, but looks slick as all get out. The trailer for Thai horror film 9 Wat (Secret Sunday) has an almost Lynch-like vibe to it, contrasting and combining the mundane with the surreal most effectively:
Literally translated, "9 Wat" is "9 Temples" in English, so I really don't understand why the American title is Secret Sunday. Did the distributors think Americans are so stupid we would think 9 Temples was a religious picture?
Of course, it goes the other way around, and we will soon have the American version of 2008's Best Horror Movie. Let Me In stars Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass); Richard Jenkins (The Visitor; "Six Feet Under") and the curiously hot Elias Koteas (Shutter Island; The Thin Red Line). Directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), Let Me In has the challenge of translating a very effective Norwegian horror film into very effective American horror film. If Moretz is as good as she was in Kick-Ass, then I have hope. Here's the trailer for the original:
Interestingly, the newly revived British House of Horror, Hammer, is listed as the film's distributor, so it may be just a little less American than we thought... I'm sure there are plenty more, and I'll report the ones that look interesting to me (as if you care what interests me - honestly, the gall of us bloggers to assume you actually care about our opinions). I think I'm overdue for a Forgotten Gems tomorrow night, on a film I came across while researching this post (yes, believe it or not, I do research stuff before talking about it). More, anon. Prospero * I hereby claim that title now and forever, by the way... I can see Bruce Willis taking on a horde of hungry zombie gang-members now...
Via i09 comes this story of Uraguayan filmmaker and FX artist Frederico "Fede" Alverez, who made a five minute video called Panic Attack and now has a multi-million dollar deal to expand the the thing into a feature film under the guidance of Drag Me to Hell director, Sam Raimi.
Of course, I'm just a writer and a stage director. I don't have open access to post-production facilities. Hell, I don't even own a decent still camera (though I have asked Santa for one, this year). And in all honesty, my demo video would probably be a zombie movie, instead of a giant robot movie. Still, it's mighty impressive what Alvarez has done in his spare time and about $500 U.S. (I have no idea what Uruguay's currency is called and am too lazy (and a little too jealous) to look it up, right now. OK - maybe not...
And I'm still waiting for news on the project I mentioned last night. Keep everything crossed you can cross for me. Details (good or bad) as soon as I know.
