As we moved into the second day of NYCC 2016, there was a lot more cosplay to behold. We also saw more cool toys. Here is the first part of some of my favorites in both categories from that Fri.
Let's be honest here. In a sea of Suicide Squad movie inspired Harley Quinns, it's hard to stand out. But, a couple did, like this lovely lady above.
It's Purge time, motherfuckers!
Wanted at NYCC: more horror related cosplay like this awesome Saw inspired one!
Let's take a little break from cosplay, and go look at some cool toys. Oh and calm the fuck down we will get to more cosplay in a bit! First off, here is some stuff for my anime loving readers, including lots of Dragonball Z toys.
And, now for my fellow monster and horror fans, the King of Monsters, himself, Godzilla and friends!! All of these are from Diamond Select, by the way.
Godzilla's best buddy, Anguirus!
Holy shit! It's Titanisaurus! Hardcore Godzilla fans will recall that he teams up with Mecha-Godzilla to attack Tokyo and beat-up Godzilla in the movie The Terror of Mecha-Godzilla.
The Godzilla: Final Wars incarnation of Gigan. Fucking badass!
Now back to more cosplayers, cause I always keep my promises!
This is the Ghost Rider that is currently on Agents of SHIELD. BTW, I haven't watched that show in ages and don't plan on ever going back to it. I am not a fan of this version of GR (in the comics, anyways), even though I am a huge GR fan, overall. That being said, this cosplay kicks all kinds of ass.
And, let's end not with a cosplay or a toy pic, but instead a pic (taken by Negative Pop) with me and a three beautiful ladies who were giving away samples of a juice.
From Oct. 6-9, 2016 New York Comic Con (NYCC) returned to the Jacob Javits Center in NYC. As always, I was there for all four days of madness. Let's begin with the first day, Thurs.
The following is some of the coolest toys and cosplay that I saw on that day:
Honestly, the only other mini-mates set I own is the Deadpool exclusive from NYCC a couple of years back. But, this Jessica Jones set is so awesome, that I will have to get it!
We had to stop by NECA. I wish they sold more stuff at the con, but I'm guessing my wallet doesn't wish that. Anyways, they had some great toys on display.
The Vasquez figure is just so fucking badass!!!
Speaking of stuff that I love but is too expensive for me, here is a statue from the best werewolf movie ever, Joe Dante's The Howling!
And now, on to the cosplayers, we go! Here are some of my favorites from Thurs:
Not actually a cosplayer but this beautiful doggy came with his cosplaying parents.
Godzilla first attacked Japan in 1954 (though in this movie, it's the then current monster that did, not the classic look), and then returned in 1996. Both times he was drawn to energy. During the attack many die including the leader of a squad. A female who survives vows to destroy Godzilla.
Due to the Big G's hunger for energy, energy is banned from being used. This prevents the King of Monsters fromattacking again. But, our plucky heroine is determined to kill him anyways, with some genuis' help. They work to modify a black hole making satellite to blast him away. But, their experiments mutate an ancient dragonfly creature. Many are unleashed and kill innocents. They feed off of Godzilla, who has found a secret entry plant and is headed back to Tokyo. Anyway, the giant, car sized bugs help to bring life to their much, much larger queen, Megaguirus to full life. As the monsters battle in Japan, our heroes attempt to send them into black hole forever.
The 24h entry in the franchise and second in the millennium series (the first being Godzilla 2000), Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus is decent enough. It's mostly just serviceable, with some of its faults really hurting it.
The plot is a little reminiscent of Godzilla Vs. Destroyah, but it is no where near as good. It's interesting to note that they come together on the Sony Blu-ray double feature. While, both feature the acts of those trying to do good by stopping Godzilla and how those actions create bloodthirsty monsters, it's mostly overlooked here. Thus making a much less morally interesting narative.
Instead we are made to care for boring characters. The acting is good; I just don't a flying fuck what happens to anyone or feel like cheering them on. And, that's a problem cause they're in a big chunk of the movie.
The CGI is also terrible. The giant dragonflies look fucking awful. It definitely makes them less scary and threatening when they look like crappy Playstation 2 graphics. This sucks cause when they first appear and kill a couple it's a messy horror movie moment dammed by shitty graphics.
Thankfully the pratical effects are solid. Godzilla looks great and so does Megaguirus. I also like the minature work. The climatic battle is fun and rousing. Sadly, though, the ending is some real corny crap. But, stick around post credits for one cool, final post credit scene, and no it does not involve the Avengers popping up.
Godzilla Vs. Megaguirus is a flawed but decent entry. Boring humans and shitty CGI combine with missed potential to hurt the movie. Still, there's some cool monster stuff at the climax to make it worth a look. It's entertaining enough but just could've been much better.
Title: The Final Girls Director: Todd Strauss-Schulson Writer: M.A. Fortin, Joshua John Miller Cast: Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Alexander Ludwig, Nina Dobrev, Alia Shawkat, Thomas Middleditch Year: 2015 Min: 88
Teen girl Max Cartwright (Taissa Farmiga) awaits for her beautiful mom, Amanda (Malin Akerman) who is an actress and is at an audition. Unfortunately it seems as it was a bust, as she cannot escape being connected to the cult classic 80s slasher flick, Camp Bloodbath, that she was in. Even worse, they get into a car crash, and Amanda dies. Three years later Max is still devastated by the loss of her mom. There is a double screening of Camp Bloodbath and Camp Bloodbath 2: Cruel Summer that is going to be held at the local movie theater. Her friend Gertie's (Alia Shawkat) stepbrother Duncan (Thomas Middleditch), and huge horror fan, convinces Max to be present at the screening, being her mom Amanda is one of the victims in the stalk and slash flick. It also happens to be the anniversary of Amanda's death in real life.
At the screening they are joined by crush Chris (Alexander Ludwig) and his ex and Max's former friend the bitchy but super-hot Vicki (Nina Dobrev). They sit and watch the movie when suddenly a fire starts. They head to escape through the back of the movie screen. But, something happens, and they end up inside the movie, itself. There they encounter all the films characters, including it's brutal masked killer Billy Murphy (Dan B. Morris), as well as its' victims, among them Nancy, the character that Max's mom played, and the movie's badass final girl (IE the virginal girl that in a slasher movie battles and defeats the killer), Paula (the gorgeous Chloe Bridges). Emotions run high as they see that they cannot escape the movie and decide to team-up with characters to survive and kill Billy. Max, of course, also sees this a chance to save her "mom", from her death, which in playing with slasher film rules, means she must remain a virgin.
The Final Girls is an excellent meta-horror, comedy that deserves all the good reviews that it got. I actually attended a panel at New York Comic Con last year (the only panel I got to attended, might I add), but I never got to see it until last night when I popped in my recently purchased Blu-ray. I wish I hadn't waited so long to see it, cause it definitely would have made my top 10 movies of 2015 (at the number 6, if you must know), had I seen it then.
The movie is an almost pitch-perfect mix of hilarity, a truly loving tribute to slasher movies, and movie filled with heartfelt moments of pathos. Combining these elements isn't easy to accomplish, not by a long shot. But, goddamn this movie does it! The humor is really funny. I was laughing my ass off at many points in the film. The horror fan, in me, saw that the filmmakers loved and cared about slasher movies, as they are treated with respect and reverence, yet an acknowledgment at how silly they are. But, what surprised me the most was how touching it was. The relationships with the characters were excellent. Especially when it came to Max and Amanda/ Nancy.
They are the heart of the film.And, I cannot lie. There are moments that I actually made me tear up. So this film made me laugh, cheer, and cry. That's no small feat! The acting from everyone is great. I have been a fan of Akerman since The Watchmen, and she is magnificent here. She adds depth, heart, and a hint of sexiness to it all. Farmiga, best known for American Horror Story, is excellent as well. This young lady's acting ability blows many older actress out of the fucking camp. I have never watched a single episode of The Vampire Dairies and honestly only knew Dobrev as the pretty girl in that series. Well, she is phenomenal here, being funny, bitchy, sexy, and yet, in the end, very likable.
When I first heard about this being PG-13, I wondered how can you be a slasher flick homage and be that rating? I mean most, if not all, PG-13 slashers suck dick and swallow (shit a bunch of R-rated ones do, too!). But, somehow, this movie got me so engrossed that I didn't care about the rating. OK some more graphic gore would have been appreciated. Some nudity would have been fucking great, especially from Angela Timbur, who plays the dizty and slutty character of Tina. As such, she baring her naughty bits would have made sense. But, again, this somehow didn't bother me, too much. Well, not enough for me to lower my views on this film, anyway.
Honestly, my one and only complaint was the ending. I called it and when it happened, I was a little disappointed. But, it is off-shot by the very last thing that happens before the credits role, which is pretty fucking badass. If not for the ending, Lord only knows, how much more I would've loved this movie.
The Final Girls is a phenomenal slasher comedy. One that mixes humor, horror love, and tons of heart seamlessly. It deserves your full attention. The Blu-ray, put out by Sony, looks and sounds perfect. It has some good extra features, including some interesting deleted scenes (no, there is nudity or more gore here, in case you were wondering). If you, like I, made the mistake of not seeing it last year, rectify that shit right now and see it! Oh, and be careful not to see Final Girl released the same year and starring Abigail Breslin, thinking that it is this one. I haven't seen it and, thus cannot pass judgement on it. I'm just saying be sure you see this excellent movie, first.
It's October! And, if you are a long reader of mine, you know that I try post a lot more horror write-ups during this month. Now, I realize I been posting more and more horror posts, but I, in turn, have realized that you guys are reading more of them. So, I am replying by posting more of what you guys wanna see. Anyway, let's jump right into this month's first post:
Today I add one of my biggest childhood crushes to this site's ever growing Horror Crushes, the beautiful Cami (Camille) Cooper!
Camille Cooper was born in Los Angeles but grew up in New York. She began acting in soaps General Hospital and Knots Landing. The first time I saw her was probably in the comedy Like Father, Like Son. And, while I liked her in that, it wasn't till later that she really caught my eye. She appeared in an episode of Werewolf (All Hallow's Eve), which I used to enjoy and watch as a kid. But, I don't remember much of it, much less she being in it.
Her most memorable role is the one where I totally fell in love with her in: Wes Craven's Shocker. Shocker was Craven's attempt at giving us a new Freddy Krueger in Mitch (The X-Files) Pileggi's Horace Pinker. The movie has it's issues. Peter Berg makes for a terrible hero. It's also, at times, terribly silly or corny. But, it holds a special place in my heart. I saw this at the right age, being only about 12 or 13. I was deepening my love for horror, and Craven was one of the director's I was becoming obsessed with. This movie sealed that for me.
The awesome metal soundtrack (which I used to listen to all the time on tape), the cool FX, and Pinker were enough to make me love it. And, there was one more thing for me to love: Camille (here under the name Cami) Cooper. She was the perfect all American girl next door. Naturally beautiful, blonde, blue eyes, and with a sweet smile to die for. As our hero Jonathon's (Berg) girlfriend who gets knifed by Pinker, she was the perfect embodiment of that. She comes back as a ghost (at first blood-caked ala Carrie), to haunt and help her nice, but lame boyfriend battle Pinker. Honestly, she is more interesting and memorable than Berg, even of some this comes off corny. It helps that Cooper is quite good in the role. Though, I will say that even when I saw it, as a kid, I thought if one can have sex with a ghost, that is one I would totally try it with! Also, and this proves that I was always a weird kid, thought she looked good even covered in blood.
The next thing I distinctly remember seeing her was the movie she did right after: the oddball but hilarious and gooey horror/ comedy Meet the Applegates. She is the daughter in an all American family of giant mantises disguised as humans. I was so fucking happy to see her in this! She looked great, of course, and similarly I thought, eh, if giant bugs looked like her dating one wouldn't be all bad (yeah, I told you I was a weird kid!)! Sadly this movie has never been on DVD much less Blu-ray. And, it is a shame cause I recall it being really funny, over-the-top, and slimey!
Her last acting gig was in Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace. Now, I don't remember anything about this movie, much less her being in it. Which considering how much I loved her probably says a lot about this flick...
She serves as director of legislative affairs for The National Association to PROTECT Children. She spearheaded what was the largest crime bill for the 110th Congress. But, she made a return to horror fandom when she appeared on Scream Factory's release of Shocker. The Blu-ray is fucking awesome, and she still looks gorgeous!
I still love Shocker, all these years later, as watching it on Blu-ray last night proved to me. And, I still love Cooper. I gotta say that I wanted a girlfriend like her when I was a little kid. And, you know what? I still do! And, with that I proudly add her to this site's Horror Crushes!
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