Chiller Theatre: Oct. 2018

Due to a nor' eastern we had to reschedule our plans to hit Chiller Theate from Saturday,  Oct. 27 to Sunday, Oct. 28, 2018. There also ended up being a gas leak/ bomb scare on that Sat, but you can read more about here.

So, on Sun, we headed off to enjoy the greatest convention in the world: Chiller!

The first person I went up was Hammer Horror legend and former Bond girl, the lovely Martine Beswick. I told her that my friend, and I had had recently seen Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde. I also told her that we loved the film, and that it now was one of our favorite Hammer movies! She was very sweet and spoke to me about Italy and even complemented me on my hair, which completely blew me away! To say that I was flattered would be the understatement of the year!

Terrifier is the best slasher film of the year, and, as such, I was so happy to talk to David Howard Thorton, who plays the evil Art the Clown. He is so incredibly nice and friendly in person, that he talked to us for a good ten minutes! During this time, a fan cosplaying as Art the Clown got a pic with him!

After all these years, I finally decided to meet the lovely PJ Soles, who of course "totally" played Lynda in John Carpenter's masterpiece Halloween. She was also in classics like Carrie, Rock n' Roll High School, and Rob Zombie's The Devil's Reject's. Speaking of RNRHS, we talked a little bit about the awesomeness of The Ramones. After all, she had their shirt on, and I have a patch of theirs on my battle-jacket. I also learned that she is not, actually a horror fan! Soles is legitimately one of the nicest celebs you could ever meet. She is so impossibly sweet and down to earth, that every fan loves her!

My friend Freddie and I, both met the lovely Lisa Loring, who played Wednesday Addams in The Addams Family TV series among other great roles. She was very sweet, as well, and we both got a pic with her. She is such a freaking legend!

We also got to catch up and say hi to Mr. Chiller, himself, Kevin Clement, who runs this amazing convention. None of this would be possible without him. And, while he was not doing well some time before, he is feeling good now. He is even walking around on his own. He looks great and is truly one of the nicest guys you could ever meet. Bless him and Chiller!

The last person that I met was the gorgeous Kelly Hu, star of Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan, Martial Law, X2: X-Men United, and countless more. She was, without question, the person that I wanted to meet the most; at this show as I am a huge and long time fan of hers. I can tell you that she is awesome in person! Not only is she breathtakingly beautiful, and clearly does not age, but she is also super friendly. Not to mention energetic! She was lively and seemed genuinely happy to meet and talk to her fans. Meeting her is one of the true highlights of this year for me!

These are my movies that I got signed at the con:
From Russia with Love by Martinez Beswick and Halloween by PJ Soles.

Finally, this is the swag that I bought at the con:
From Severin Films: 3 Blu-rays for $50- Anthropopagus, Absurd, and Eaten Alive (the Umberto Lenzi cannibal movie)
A Cannibal Holocaust $5 turtle in which proceeds went to the TSA (Turtle Survival Alliance)- if you have seen this movie, you know that it has a horrible scene where a turtle (among other poor animals) gets killed for real. Being that this was for a turtle charity made me feel great about buying and owning this, as I love that movie but HATE that scene (and all the other real animal killing scenes)
And, for buying a copy of Screem magazine, I got a free Blu-ray of Trilogy of Terror!

And, so ends another Chiller, we already can't wait April for the next one!

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TERRIFIER (Review)

Title: Terrifier
Writer/ Director: Damien Leone
Cast: Jenna Kanell, Samantha Scaffidi, David Howard Thorton, Catherine Corcoran, Pooya Mosheni
Year: 2017 (Released in 2018)
Min: 82

We start with a prologue, where pretty talk show host Monica Brown (Katie Maguire) is interviewing a horribly disfigured woman. This poor woman survived an attack by a killer named Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton). Art, himself, is actually watching the show from his TV set, while applying his makeup. After the show, Monica is in her dressing room talking on the phone. She makes some mean and bitchy comments about the victim, only to have said victim come in and gouge her eyes.

We then cut to, Halloween night, where two beautiful friends, drunk Dawn (Catherine Corcoran) and Tara (Jenna Kanell) are heading home after a clearly fun night. They soon encounter Art, who is carrying a large, black, plastic bag with him. Victoria is rightfully creeped out by him, but Dawn doesn't take it very seriously. When, they both head to a pizzeria for a bite to eat, the clown also walks in quickly there after. Dawn still finds it all rather funny and even takes a selfie with him. Soon after, he does something that is enough to get him kicked out of the eating establishment (we quickly learn that he left the bathroom covered in shit and piss!). The girls eventually go their own way.

Unbeknownst to them, the employee and the manager (whose decapitated head gets carved like a fucking jack-o-lantern!) of the pizza joint get slaughtered by Art. Meanwhile, their car's tire has been slashed. Tara thinks its the scary looking clown, but Dawn doesn't believe it is. Either way, they end up calling Tara's sister, Victoria (the lovely Samantha Scaffidi) to pick them up.

Tara needs to take a piss really badly, so she ends up going in a nearby building. Soon there after, Dawn hears on the radio about two people getting killed at the pizzeria that they just left by a clown! It soon dawns on her (pardon the pun) that Tara was right all along! It's too fucking late though, as Art is in the car. He soon turns his attention to Tara, and will do the same with Victoria when she finally arrives at the rat infested, dump of a building, where the majority of the remaining film will occur at.

Let's not mince words here, Terrifier is the best slasher movie since Hatchet II, hands down! This is 80's inspired splatter done right. It's brutal, uncompromising, and gory as fucking hell. The movie has been garnering strong word of mouth and reviews and is rapidly gaining an ever growing cult following, all of which it rightfully deserves.

Writer/ director Damien Leone has crafted a movie that doesn't simply play oving tribute to stalk and slash movies of their golden age but manages to surpass many of them. This is due to the fact that he doesn't have some cookie cutter bullshit that does the same tired shit over and over again. He also does not play it safe taking it to a far more extreme level than many of the weak ass Friday the 13th sequels and their ilk never had the guts to partake in.

Leone is also very apt at adding much tension and suspense. The pacing is fast and tense, resulting in a short running time that flies by. Most of the time when I watch a movie of this type I just sort of look at the screen and not much else. Watching this one, though, I was screaming at the screen and the characters, telling them to run, hide, fight back, whatever the scene dictated. I don't think there is a better sign that you have done a good job, then getting the audience to shout and be invested in what is happening onscreen.

To achieve this you need to care about the characters and for them to be played by a talented cast. The girls aren't just there to provide eye-candy, though they are certainly gorgeous. You actually don't want to see them die. Most of the cast are unknowns, save for the gorgeous Catherine (Return to Nuke 'Em High Vol. 1 & 2, Sociopathia) Corcoran, who is one of my personal favorite, current scream queens.

But, extra praise must be given to David Howard Thorton. He is perfectly terrifying as Art. Without saying a single word, he manages to be menacing and utterly bone-chilling. His creepy ass smile will fucking haunt you. And, for those of you who are scared of clowns, be prepared to clean the shit from your undies. Cause, Art manages to be more disturbing than Pennywise is on his best day.

Of course, it also helps that his look is unsettling to begin with. Also solid are the gore FX. Decapitation, slashings, stabbings, blood spurting gunshots, eye gouging, cannibalism, and bludgeonings hit the viewer with no mercy. Included in these acts is a snatch to head bisection that is more than likely the year's most memorable and shocking kill and probably one of the vicious kills by a psycho killer since the glory days of Lucio Fulci. Throw in a little bit of nudity, courtesy of Corcoran, and you have something that gives you everything you want and more.

Terrifier is a killer slasher movie and destined to become a modern, cult classic. The movie is brutal, vicious, and does not fuck around. It is also a shit load of fun and keeps you invested throughout its running time. Suspenseful directing and characters you actually give a flying fuck about played by a solid cast help things even further. And, here is hoping Art becomes the next big slasher villain, especially as how he is bought to life by Thorton. Distributed by horror website Bloody Disgusting, Terrifier is currently streaming on Amazon. It is an absolute must for those who like their throwback horror movies to be as uncompromising as possible.

4 out of 4

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