The Vampire as Comic Relief?

OK, so you can argue that in a post "Twilight" world, the Vampire has already crossed into the "pop-culture/ no longer a monster" territory - no to mention "Count Chocula" and The Munsters. But now they've been reduced to comedy relief and hawking burgers?... sigh...at least he doesn't sparkle...

Horror music video from Xray Eyeballs

Blood spattered goodness abounds in the Xray Eyeballs video for Crystal. How come we never get sick of voodoo doll stories? Always hilarious, and when done right, quite grotesque.

Good music too! Their album Not Nothing came out about a month ago so add that to the record store shopping list. The video contains adult situations, and bloody scenes, so really it depends on where you work that it may be not safe for. Daycare: NSFW. Intensive Care Unit: NSFW. Fake Blood and Robot Army Factory: SFW.

Are Zombies dying?

So I found this while trolling the interwebs today:

Social Media: Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse

If you look at that link you'll see that this ACTUALLY FROM THE CDC (The Center for Disease Control in the US). That's right... they're actually telling you to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse... well sorta...

The article is actually about emergency preparedness, and they're just using the "Zombie" angle to grab folks attention. But this leads to an interesting question...

When Romero made "Night of the Living Dead", he brought a new "monster" into the fold - The flesh eating Zombie. While the idea of Zombies -reanimated dead- have been around for much of recorded history, Romero was the first to turn them into something that wanted to kill and eat us. Previously the fear of Zombies was becoming one - now it was being killed by them... and then becoming one. In the late 1960's this was terrifying to a lot of folks.

But something has happened. As the Universal Monsters - Dracula, the Wolfman and the Mummy before, Zombies have gone from counter-culture, to pop-culture - witness the Honda Civic ad I posted here.  They have gone from terrifying ("Night of the Living Dead"),  to subversive ("Dawn of the Dead"), to comical ("Army of Darkness", "Fido") to hawking products and services. Does this spell the end of the Zombie as a "horror" creation? Will another Stephanie Meyers turn them into romantic fodder? Or will some filmmaker come forward and push the envelop, and once again make us fear them? I'm curious to hear your thoughts and opinions.

Bizarro's zombie portraits and assorted wonders

After leaving graphic design education and working on projects that went bust, some artists would throw in the towel - not Luke Mantha. In what spare time he can find, he continues with ink and pencils. In the last three years while living in Ottawa, he has been experimenting in computer assisted design doing what he knows best - teasing forward the darkside of his imagination. 

His Simon Bisley tribute piece, The Zombie, October 2010.

A self portrait, from a hand that is shaped by Spawn comics, nightmare worlds and The Maxx...

... expect madness when asking Bizarro to re-touch an image for you.

His models and friends are beautiful people, and some would say he renders them even more so. 

Yet, the people that exist in his world on paper outnumber the people that have seen inside his sketchbooks.

                                          owners image, modified by Mantha

Since my interview with Mantha in 2009, he has been working full time, and not drawing as much as he would like. As he said then, while flipping through a new sketchbook of blank pages, “one open door leads to other closed ones right?”

See more at the Bizarography facebook.

Indie cult director Brett Kelly (My Dead Girlfriend, Prey for the Beast) is one of Canada's most prolific independent filmmakers. With a staggering 18 feature films to his credit and more on the projects on the way, Kelly shows no signs of slowing down.
The latest DVD offering from Brett Kelly Entertainment is the release of a 2 disc, 3 movie set of some of Kelly's earliest work titled NORTHERN FRIGHTS: THE EARLY FILMS OF BRETT KELLY. The set includes Kelly's first feature film, the lycanthrophic THE FERAL MAN (2002) as well as the slasher/mystery film FINAL CURTAIN (2004) and the boogeyman tale THE BONESETTER RETURNS (2005).
The DVD set also includes commentary tracks, behind the scenes footage, interviews and more. NORTHERN FRIGHTS was released May 1st and can be pre-ordered directly from the director's website: www.brettkelly.net

It is that time of year again...

It is not Friday the 13th, that has past. Not halfway to Halloween anymore... this time of year is the most dreaded and horrific of all. I can hardly bring myself to type it.

Wedding Season.

Shrieks of terror! Moans of sheer agony! Maniacal laughter from bridesmaids and mothers-in-law resound! Yikes!

So, although it pains me greatly to do so, I will note two pretty cool horror themed wedding notes that came my way this morning. If you live in the area, no doubt you have shopped at Spirit, the Halloween store. Although dated, their blog has some great hints about organizing a horror themed wedding. If pop-up poly-haunts are your cup of kool-aid, then they would be your first stop. Yet, the blog post does delve into the more mature and beautiful, as weddings should be.

"Perfect for relaxed, gothic weddings held in the summer months, a small church wedding and cemetery picnic create a charming atmosphere. They’re also inexpensive without scrimping on class and ambience." - Read the full post at ottawahalloweecostumes.com

If you want to forgo the Bride of Frankenstein cake-topper and bouquets of plastic bones for a classic day, think location. One adventurous couple chose one of my favorite buildings in the whole city, The Mayfair Theatre. Yes, today -- instead of posting notes on A Serbian Film -- I am reading a blog of a creative and wholly beautiful wedding ceremony that took place there. Also, if you want to commission a filmmaker to capture your wedding in F.W. Murnau style, First Kiss Films would be the right people to talk to.

"I love this venue so much that this is where my hubby and I decided to get married. Since we both are filmmakers and it was filmmaking that brought us together it felt like a natural location for us to say our vows."

So, yes; Bleck. Yuck. Weddings. Ew. That done, I leave you with a bride I actually enjoyed.

On Evil: Horns, and less fictitious devils

For those not already acquainted, Joe Hill is the son of author Stephen King. Horns is his standout piece of work to date and addresses a theme close to the heart of all horror, if horror has a heart.

Evil.

Evil is the grease of the mighty wheel churning out the scary stuff. Within the first few pages of Horns, you get the picture; People Are Evil. Even when they are eating a doughnut on the couch or lifting weights, evil thoughts are frothing around in the background. In his story, Hill has people's evil thoughts overflowing onto one poor sap cursed with the budding powers of a devil. And yes, he has budding horns as well.

Not long ago, I had the pleasure of pre-interviewing a very cool human being. Nothing to do with horror mind you, he was one of the founders of ICUC Moderation Services. The basic question was about internet based commentary that is filtered out -- the stuff the public does not get to see. "Evil! People are so evil..." began the conversation I did not expect. In the next ten minutes, between a few seething swear words and the revving of his car engine in the background, he gave me very censored description of the type of junk they scour from popular websites. The picture he painted while we spoke (he, hands-free and hugging the highway with me at my desk, enraptured) was a portrait of the hidden savages that come alive online. It left me wondering why humans don't just give up and hit the streets naked, mud-streaked and begin decapitating one another for kicks. Seriously. Evil.

People are Evil.

So. Here we are. Fiction in one hand; a budding demon who can hear the most secret and vile things simmering in the background of our private minds. In the other;  a sanitized internet. Sanitized with good reason, because people are evil.

I urge you to take a spin through Horns. Then, when you read a particularly horrid bit, take a look around. You might be on the bus, in the library or cafe, but there will be people somewhere. Let us know what you think.

All comments will be moderated.

175 Days of Horror Trailers.

This was just too cool not to pass on. Stitched Doll (one of our earliest minions) has decided that since it's only 175 days to Halloween, she's going to post a Horror Trailer to her blog Anxiety, Couture and Monsters every day from now till Oct. 31st! I don't know if she'll make it, but either way, you're bound to see some great trailer between now and then. To date we have "CastleFreak" and "Wrestlemanic".

Check it out, and subscribe while you're there ok? 'Cause that's just the cool thing to do!

Happy Birthday to US!

Greetings Ottawa Horror Minions!

On April 27th, Ottawa Horror turned three. Our first post was in 2008, and I'd like to think we've come quite a way since. I'd like to thank all our contributors over the years, Ralph, Josh, MA and Lydia. We couldn't have come this far without you!

So what's next? Well... lots. We've got some cool stuff on the way, including a podcast, a DVD and some other goodies, so stay tuned - and bring a friend. We'd love to see more folks joined up in 2011. We KNOW you're out there... And come out this Friday May 13th to Club SAW and the PSOP CD Release Party and help us celebrate! You can even win tickets!

Of course, part of birthdays is growing older... at some point, you need to grow up, cut your hair, get a real job, and a car -even if you're a zombie...






Seriously... is this funny... or just the proof that Zombies have become the New Universal Monsters. Next we'll see one in a Rebecca Black Video!