Texas Frightmare Weekend 2017

I made my annual trip to the Frightmare convention in Dallas for Saturday. Got there early, got a few autographs, didn't stick around too long. Now, I'll be rambling about my experience this year, just as I always do.

I went with my usual team of @DerTables and Justin, from my old job. So after scouting the place out, my first stop was at Michael Berryman's table. $30 for an autograph and a picture with him. Nice guy, commented on how the movie on my shirt was awesome.



Right after that, I jumped into the next line, featuring Dean Cundey, director of photography. Now, he's got an impressive resume', including several Carpenter films, Zemeckis, and even Spielberg movies. Can't say no when he's only charging $20 for an auto and a pic!



So then we wandered around a bit more, until we found the highlight of the event, Frank Henenlotter himself. He had NO line, and was only charging $20! Dude was cool as shit, and we talked about the penis busting through the wall in Bad Biology, how he ought to make another movie, and how cool Something Weird is. Very friendly guy, and even drew a picture of Aylmer on my autograph.



In the table right next to him, as expected, was Rick Hearst. $20 for pic and autograph. His main claim to fame is Brain Damage, but Der talked to him a little about his soap opera career, which is fairly extensive. Very nice guy.



There weren't too many people I was adamant about seeing, but the last one I deemed necessary was Michael Pare, from The Philadelphia Experiment, Bad Moon, Streets of Fire, etc... $40 for a pic and an autograph. Cool guy, he talked about how much fun he had making "Bad Moon", and praised Eric Red as a director. I mentioned the Steven Seagal movie he was in. "Maximum Conviction", he says, and I told him it bothered me how they built him up as a villain, then Seagal just kills him, no challenge. He told me Seagal doesn't work with other actors, and wouldn't fight him. Steven Seagal, that fat fuck. 😄





And that's about the extent of my visit. I bailed pretty early on, but there were a few more points worth noting.

• Dario Argento had a massive line, and disappeared very early. I didn't even see him.
• Freddie Highmore and Ryan Hurst had big lines, and even bigger lines for the Bates Motel panel.
• Debi Sue Voorhees has grey hair now?
• Wilford Brimley charged too much, and didn't stick around too long. Diabetes!
• There were at least 5 chicks with big, awesome boobies.
• One of them had a huge, intentional hole in her jeans that showed her whole ass. Nice!
• Danny Lloyd, the kid from The Shining, had a BIG line. Why?
• I bought some movies a guy directed, one of which is called "Stabbed in the Face" https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2671270/. How cool is that?

Here's the guest list: https://www.texasfrightmareweekend.com/guests/
If anyone has anybody wants to know about anyone specifically, I'll tell you what their lines/cost were.

2017 Black & White Challenge Results Thread

Well, the first B&W outside the IMDb went pretty well. I gave an honest effort at winning for about a week there, but Beatnik once again got way ahead of everyone else in record time and made me lose motivation. So, fuck you, once again, Beatnik.

So, how 'bout it? What was your favorite FTV of the month? what was your least favorite? What was the black & whitest?

My favorite FTV was The Eyes Of My Mother (2016). Not saying much, though. That's the only one I liked a lot. As usual, I delved into some awesome 50's and 60's Horror/Sci-fi rewatches, with stuff like The Killer Shrews, Night Of The Blood Beast, Robot Monster and Terror In The Midnight Sun.

I'm gonna go with The Green Murder Case from 1929 as least favorite. Nothing I watched was all that terrible either, but this is one of the mre boring ones. However, it happens to be the only talkie I've seen from the 1920's. Didn't know there was any.

As far as the black and whitest movie I saw. That'd be 1942's Lucky Ghost by a mile. Considering how the African Americans in this movie are portrayed, I can see certain people finding this one a bit racist. Probably only fags. I thought it was funny.

Thanks to everyone who continues to support this challenge and Trash Epics.


Psychotronicbeatnik - 64 Films, 257 Points

Rogerthemoviemaniac8 - 25 Films, 171 Points

Johan_WoW - 38 Films, 155 Points

Tromafreak - 40 Films, 115 Points

Peeptoad - 24 Films, 91 Points

Box_a_Hair - 23 Films, 83 Points

Fozmalucachu - 21 Films, 58 Points

OnyxHades - 16 Films, 53 Points

Slasherfan85 - 7 Films, 28 Points

NoseOfNicko - 5 Films, 11 Points

Soapbox_Qustodian - 3 Films, 6 Points

DerTables - 6 Films (?)

What's the worst monster?

I was just watching The Creeping Terror, and got to thinking. This is possibly the worst monster ever.




Or not...

peep's weekly Kentucky Derby thread...



... IF I remember to post in it!

Anyway, this week's Derby news:

2-year old champ Classic Empire is nursing a foot abscess and will miss his next prep race: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/219939/classic-empire-out-of-fountain-of-youth



Pletcher-trained One Liner just rocked home in the SW Stakes with a 102 speed fig (highest of the potential Derby horses this year). He earned 10 points for his victory: https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/219961/one-liner-laughs-last-in-southwest-stakes-victory

Review: Sole Survivor (1983)



Sole Survivor predates Final Destination by 17 years and you can see it had an obvious influence on Final Destination although Sole Survivor is the more well made film of the two and it is the far more creepy. The movie focuses on a young woman who happens to be the only survivor of a tragic plane crash. Following after being discharged from the hospital, she begins getting the foreboding feeling like she is in danger or harm, she begins to see these strange "people" following her and watching her every movement. All her friends and her doctors are convinced that she is suffering from a type of "survivor syndrome," where she feels guilt for being the only survivor and seeing so many people die from the crash. She begins to feel unworthy or not deserving of her life. It becomes apparent that "death" is not pleased with her for having survived its grip so it begins to send the recently dead to claim what it believes its due.

Not only has it a great screenplay but it is also genuinely-terrifying. It packs in many jump scares where the protagonist could be carrying out unexciting tasks and then suddenly these deceased "people" who do not reflect any life behind the eyes begin to show up. The soundtrack is both eerie and distressing in equal measure to already heightens the bleak, atmospheric and foreboding tone. There is also a nice amount of gore in the film to satisfy those inclined to that and there is some nudity involving strip poker to satisfy all the needs of the horror movie goer.

It was released in 1983 when the "slashers" and sequel fads were just taking off. It was a breath of fresh air in the horror genre that was beginning to run out of ideas in that decade. There is a nice tension that builds and builds to a chilling climax but it is never in a rush to get to that point which allows it to focus on nice character development. There is a strange beauty in the neon colors that are very much present in some important scenes.

Can we escape "deaths" cold grasp? Can we outsmart "death"? Does "death" chase us for what it believes its due? In conclusion, I truly believe that Sole Survivor is just too good to remain as obscure as it is. It is on Youtube as I speak, so don't miss your chance to see this work of art.. I rate it a 9.

Sad news for Holliston

Holliston is a real town in Massachusetts, made famous by Adam Green. My mom actually worked there for a few years. Anyway, the guy who played one of my favorite characters from the 2004 hockey movie Miracle was also from Holliston, and apparently he killed himself a couple weeks ago. If you check Google News for Michael Mantenuto, you'll see some disturbing allegations that he "saw something" while serving in the armed forces, fighting ISIS in Iraq or Syria, and maybe that's what drove him to kill himself.

This is really sad to me, he seemed like a good guy. Also, I liked the fact that he brought a real Boston accent to the movie Miracle... it's pretty hard to fake well, you can usually tell when an actor really has one or not. But, more importantly: RIP Michael Mantenuto.

Trash Epics Lives!

Nobody will mourn the IMDb Horror Board like me, but what's happening is a very lucky break for this site, which has gone back and forth between almost dead and almost semi-active for nearly 3 years. It seems as though every time we get some people, they always wander off once this place picks up. There's other options, still, and always will be, but unfortunately, there will no longer be THE Horror Board to rely on. Maybe some of the other options are ok too, but I assure you none of them have the peronality this place has and the freedom it offers. So, express yourself however you want, pitch ideas, and keep on spreading the word. Let's make Trash Epics great, once and for all. And more importantly, let's make Trash Epics ours!

A couple ideas for Dune fan videos

I don't know if I'll ever be capable of this, but I keep thinking of a couple of songs that it would be cool to adapt to Dune, in the form of music videos.

The first is Ah Leah, by Donnie Iris. Hmmm, which character from Dune could I possibly think would make a good subject (object?!?) for the that song... you guessed it: Alia. It even sounds like the song could be about her, in parts. It implies a sort of predestination, in the way it talks about the doomed relationship, which is certainly a pretty big theme for Alia. The "here we go again" chorus could be turned into a meditation on reincarnation... I also think you can tell that the song got started as an anti-war song, in some ways, by the way. "It ain't no use, we're heading for disaster," "we're never gonna make it,"... lots of lyrics that would work well with a sad song about tragic predestined doom, or some kind of unholy fate. All perfect for an Alia song. Someone would have to be a little clever with how they would present the images (maybe pictures you would draw??), but I bet they could do it.

I also love the way Donnie Iris fearlessly puts himself in the video, even though he really doesn't look like a rock star.

The other song I'm thinking of is Viva la Vida, by Coldplay. That could make a really cool song about Paul, maybe later in his life... his life could provide a rich montage of images that could make cool illustrations for lines in this song.

any theories about It Follows?

I have gone back and forth on It Follows. For awhile I loved it, and I would even say I became obsessed with it. But, after thinking it over, I have also had times when I really hated it, because of the ending, and also because I suspect that the director didn't even mean anything by the movie, he was just trying to make us all think he was very deep and philosophical by throwing all kinds of images out there that seemed symbolic of something. Lately I have been giving it a chance again.

But anyway, right now I just wanted to ask if anyone thought the blades of grass were supposed to mean anything. In the scene where Hugh is explaining everything he knows about It to Jay and her sister and their friends, Jay picks five blades of grass and lays them out, one next to another, on her leg. I was just thinking, maybe that was a little reference to Freddy Krueger's glove of knives. Just the idea of five "blades" lined up next to each other, I guess... what do you guys think? There were a lot of little references to various classic horror movies throughout the movie, of course, but I haven't seen much discussion of this particular thing.

Also, if anyone has any other theories about the movie that they would like to discuss... I'm game!

2017 Black & White Challenge Progress Thread

Make your spot right here.



Anything else goes here ---------> https://trashepics.com/post/9/118/