Attack of the Giant Leeches!

Brett Kelly's remake of the Corman classic is available on DVD at Amazon. Or if you prefer to watch on your computer or Portable Device you can buy it for download here.

Kelly is also a guest at this years FOF/FanExpo!

Quoth the Raven!

For those of you who know that horror started before the turn of the century, check out House of Usher. This site run by Peter Forrest, of Kanata, has been the "premiere Edgar Alan Poe fan site for over a decade". And he's got the awards to prove it. From bibliographies, to online works, to music inspired by the poet himself, this site is a treasure trove of all things Poe. Whether you're a long time fan, or whether you're new to Poe, you owe it to yourself to check this site out.

And while on the subject of Poe, Feedbooks has a vast variety of Poe's books available for free download in a variety of e-book forms. They also have a great selection of Lovecraft, for fans of that author as well.

Some films you may not have seen...

This article is actually a few years old, but I just found it trolling then web. An interesting list of films not necessarily out of Hollywood. Other than Megladon, I haven't actually SEEN any of them, so if any of our readers have, please let me know!

A little Fine Art....

This looks rather interesting... Being held at the Carelton University Art Gallery and admission is free.

Howie Tsui’s Horror Fables

Curated by Sandra Dyck

27 April – 14 June 2009

Ottawa-based artist Howie Tsui explores themes of subversion and cultural assimilation through a blend of traditional Asian imagery and Western underground aesthetics. Horror Fables presents his new large paintings, made on paper in the form of Ming Dynasty scrolls, which conjure a phantasmagoria of beasts, ghosts, demons, and gods (and the occasional everyday human) who populate fantastical landscapes.

Tsui’s work is informed by a variety of dark subjects, including Asian ghost stories, Buddhist hell scrolls, Hong Kong vampire films, neo-conservative propaganda, and twentieth-century genocides such as the Nanking massacre. He describes the exhibition’s overarching theme as a struggle against “powerful, merciless structures,” citing as examples corporations, political regimes, and social constructs. It also satirizes, in the broadest sense, the atmosphere of fear perpetrated in the West since 9/11 and captured in now-banal catchphrases such as "axis of evil" or "war on terror".

Dim lighting and a spectral soundtrack culled from 1960s Japanese horror movies attend your passage through the artist’s haunted world. There, you'll find a space both abnormal and paranormal, where dread and glee, the grotesque and the sublime, fluidly co-exist.

( reposted from the Carleton University Art Gallery Website)

Rue Morgue Festival of Fear '09

So the good folks at Rue Morgue have announced the first of their special guests for the 2009 Festival of Fear! The Poster pretty much covers it! Bruce Campbell, AND Roger Corman... Think I might actually stand in an autograph line this year!

See into the future....

Well, ok... maybe not REALLY... but if you DO want to know what's happening before anyone else in the world of horror films, the do yourself a favour and check out UHM- UpcomingHorrorMovies.com. From lists of what's coming to rumours, to cast and crew changes, to pics from the set... this site has it all! Oh and it's free! Check it out today!

A tale of two skulls...

So last weekend turned into "skull killer" weekend with the rental of two very different movies featuring killers wearing skull masks...

First up is "Midnight Movie", directed by Jack Messitt.

Set in a rundown old movie theatre, the movie revolves around a killer acting out the plot of the cult 70's movie being shown on the screen (cleverly titled, "The Dark Beneath"... which should give you an idea of what we're up against here). While the gore fx aren't bad, the acting is average at best, and the plot veers from questionable to flat out "what the?". A note to all filmmakers... sometimes you DON'T have to have a "twist" to sell the audience!

Which brings me to - "Laid to Rest", directed by Robert Hall. Someone once said that greatness wasn't doing the extraordinary, but doing the ordinary, extraordinarily well. Well that pretty much sums up Hall's work on this movie. There's is nothing here that we haven't seen a hundred times before, but we've seldom seen it done this well.
The movie involves a woman who wakes up (in a coffin no less), with no memory of who she is or how she got there, but she's being pursued by a serial killer wearing a Chrome skull mask, who kills everyone she comes in contact with. Nothing original there... but in Hall's hands, this stock plot is brought to life. From decent acting, which really helps us care about the characters, to some great FX - Hall is the FX guy behind "Terminator:Sarah Connor Chronicles" and "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" amongst others - to careful pacing, to a good ending, this movie is just done WELL.

Some readers may remember I was duly impressed with Hall's other film "Lightning Bug". That combined with the previews I saw at Rue Morgue last year had me waiting for this film, and I have to say I was NOT disappointed. I will go out on a limb here and say that this is quite possibly the best Slasher Film since the original Halloween. I'm looking forward to Hall's next work.

Happy Birthday to Us!

Well, today marks the official one year mark of OttawaHorror.

I'll admit I didn't get as much done this year with the site as I had hoped- courtesy of a certain animated TV series which pretty much ate up my life for about 8 months- but we're still here and here's hoping we can get more done this year! Thanks to MA and Josh for the help!

Happy Birthday to us!

(Image from "Creepshow")