The Happy Undertaker...

... is the site of Drazen Kozjan, a Canadian artist. The artwork reminds me of Charles Addams work, but far more colourful and modern. Do check it out by clicking on the artwork below.

Casting Call: Ottawa Zombies

If memory serves me correctly, there are quite a few zombie fans in the city. Are there are just as many film fans and actors?

Freezing Rain Films has released a casting call (brought to my attention by the always on, April Lim) looking for "Ottawa zombies".

They are seeking craft service coordinators, script supervisors, production assistants, camera operators, and production sound mixers according to their website. In my opinion, it is up to you to pitch your skill so check out the nuts and bolts here, and some basic information on the Ottawa Start blog.

The production is called The Monsters Among Us which to some, can describe a city all to well! As a side note, they are also seeking locations so check the locations tab on their site for instructions on how to submit photos of your spooky farmhouse or abandoned shopping mall.

Watchin' Movies...

Do you like horror movies? Of course you do... that's why you're reading this blog.  Do you like the internet? Of course you do... that's why you're reading this blog. Wanna put them together? Of course you do! So without further ado, some great legal spots to watch horror films on the net...

YouTube

YouTube, the grand daddy of video sites, has some excellent old films in their complete form here.  As far as Horror goes, you won't find the latest releases, but you will find a great selection of classic B-Movies, along with some not so classic ones. Video quality is well, YouTube, but best of all... it's 100% free!

Crackle

Crackle.com is relatively new site (formerly Grouper) run by Sony, and largely offering their films and television shows. It was previously unavailable outside the US, but is now available in Canada as well. It's a mix of both old and new films, especially as far as horror goes, but it's number one offering for me, is the original "13 Ghosts". Video quality is excellent, and much like Netflix, it will remember what you've been watching and let you pick up where you left off. It also has a neat Google Chrome web app if you use that browser. It uses Flash only for video, which means if you're an iOS user, you're out of luck. It's a free service, but it is ad supported.

Netflix

Unless you've been living under a rock lately, you've undoubtably heard that Netflix has landed in Canada. Netflix is of course the Big Daddy of streaming movies. For $7.99 a month, you get all you can stream (within of course your bandwidth limit). The quality is excellent, including streaming in HD (for some titles).  The big issue most folks have is of course the selection. While the selection of Horror films is amongst the largest on the service (and certainly the largest of the three here), it does tend toward older titles, with newer releases taking longer to arrive than at your local video store. For me the big selling point of Netflix is it's portability. I can start watching a movie on my TV, pause it, pick it tomorrow on my laptop, pause again, and then continue later on my iPod. Plus where else can I get Aliens, Resident Evil AND ThanksKilling all in one place...

So how about it OH readers? Any legal movie sites we've missed that you like? Let us know.

The first horror film...

We all love our horror films... some may prefer the "classics", while others prefer the latest and greatest. But did you ever wonder where they all started?

Below is Georges Méliès, 1896 film "Le Manoir du Diable"("The House of The Devil") - widely considered to be the first horror film. Méliès, for those thad don't know, is regarded as the father of modern film, and is also credited with the first Science Fiction film.

The more you know...

Our first Movie Night of 2011!

Greetings Ghouls and Boys!

After a bit of an unplanned hiatus, Ottawa Horror has it's first Movie Night of 2011 - Friday Jan 21st, 2011 at the Mayfair Theatre, 1074 Bank St.

Our film this time is the cult classic "Demons", set appropriately inside a movie theatre.

"Predating the Scream films by over a decade, this self-referential slasher from the son of the great Mario Bava (Diabolik) traps a group of moviegoers at a horror film premiere, then brings the titular baddies off the screen to eat, kill and possess them. Hellishly fun."

The show starts at 11:55. See you there!

Happy New Year - A new Decade Dawns!

Greetings all!

First, a Happy New Year to all of you! May 2011 and the new decade bring you the cheers and fears!
We know we've been away for a while, and we apologize. It's been a busy couple of months around here for all us, with the Holidays, Exams, Performances and much more. Like most blogs, this one is run by "normal" folk (as normal as any of us around here are...) and sometimes our "real" lives can run away with us.

But this is the New Year and the New Year is time for resolutions... So we here at Ottawa Horror resolve to do our best to keep this site going for you and keep up with updates. And YOU can help us! Do you have a story idea? A whole article? Seen a great horror film and want to tell everyone? Write for us. Email us at stories@ottawahorror.com with your idea, or your article, and we'll do our best to get it up on the site. Have you made a film? Written a novel? Throwing a classic Horror Movie Party? Email stories@ottawahorror.com with the details, we'll do our best to get it on the site. And don't forget our new forums. They're free and fun, but we can't keep them going without you. And tell a friend!

Finally, in the spirit of New Years Resolutions, here's a great little resolution from the Creepy Puppets... 'cause you just never know!