Horror Crush: Riley Dandy

It's time for another induction into this site's Horror Crush section. This time around it is a relative newcomer in the gorgeous form of Riley Dandy. And, bonus, her induction directly ties into the Christmas season!

Dandy was born on September 17, 1996 in Los Angeles, California. This blonde haired and green eyed beauty is an actress and model and been acting since 2013. She started her career on various short films.

Her first venture into horror was The City of Gold (2018), which I've never seen or heard of before, to be honest. The movie apparently has something to do with the Peruvian jungle, gold, and the city of El Dorado. The trailer makes it look like an action/ adventure flick, but IMDb has it under those two genres, as well as horror. Being it mentions something about demons being inside the mind of the lead character in its plot description, I guess we'll just go with that. Anyway, Dandy has a lead role and clearly looks beautiful. Anyone out there seen this? Let me know in the comments section if you have. 

Still, it's her latest movie, Christmas Bloody Christmas (2022), currently playing in theaters and streaming exclusively on Shudder, where I first saw her and was immediately became a fan. In it, she plays Tori Tooms, who runs an indie record store with a definite punk/ metal bent to it (on a side note, I miss stores like this here, in NYC). She and her co-worker/ friend/ dude who is totally crushing on her, Robbie Reynolds (Sam Delich), go out for drinks on Christmas Eve. The problem is that a military grade robot turned store Santa is malfunctioning and going on a bloody killing spree. With them caught in his axe wielding ways, they'll have to try to stop his unstoppable, metal ass.

Writer/ director Joe (Bliss, VFW) Begos delivers an absolutely killer sci-fi/ horror/ holiday movie that mixes elements from Silent Night Deadly Night and The Terminator, while simultaneously playing homage to them (especially the second flick). It moves at a good pace and leads to an exciting and suspenful climax. Begos also gives a really good looking movie with some spectacular splatter. The gore FX, and the robot, for that matter, are really well done with some brutal kills, including, at least one, that legitimately made my jaw drop! This ranks among my favorite horror movies of the year and is destined be become a Christmas time favorite among horror fans. 

Dandy is fucking awesome in the lead role of Tori. As a matter of fact, she is one of the year's very best final girls (right alongside of Amber Midthunder's Naru in the great Predator prequel, Prey). As such, she's tough and badass, on top of being absolutely fucking gorgeous! Plus, her character wears a Cephalic Carnage patch and a fucking Death tee(!!), curses like a sailor, drinks hard (she LOVES her some whiskey!), loves sex, and sings the praises of Motorhead and the Ramones, all while shitting on Sammy Haggar era Van Halen, Load era Metallica, and post-Badmotorfinger Soundgarden. Her character's taste in horror movies ain't the best, as she thinks that Freddy's Dead, Alien Covenant, etc. are the best in their franchise (obviously this is done on purpose), but no one is perfect. My point is that the character of Tori is definitely top quality girlfriend! Where do I meet a girl like this? Also, it's great that we have moved away from the boring, unrealistic, virginal final girls of yesteryear.

Riley Dandy is not only stunningly beautiful but also a great actress. I really hope she does do more horror movies in the near future. But, one thing is for sure, she has already cemented her place as one of the great modern day final girls. And, it is with all of this being said, that I happily induct her into Horror Crushes!

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THE ZOMBIE WEDDING Reveals Cast: Cheri Oteri, Vincent Pastore, Heather Matarazzo and more!

Vineland, NJ – November 29, 2022 – Weekly World News Studios, the entertainment arm of the Weekly World News tabloid universe, is in the midst of principal photography on The Zombie Wedding, its first feature film, just wrapped Principal Photography in Vineland, NJ. The following are confirmed in the cast: Cheri Oteri (SNL), Krystina Alabado (American Psycho), Mu-Shaka Benson (The Blacklist), Kevin Chamberlin (The Addams Family), Donald Chang (Squid Game), Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse), Seth Gilliam (The Walking Dead), Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos), Deepti Menon (Never Rarely Sometimes Always), Christine Spang (Succession), Ajay Naidu (Office Space) & Micky Dolenz (The Monkees).

The Zombie Wedding, written by Greg D’Alessandro, Chief Creative Officer of Weekly World News Studios, was originally launched as an interactive theater event in New York. Joe Corcoan (the original Producer of Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding) produced the theatrical event and is also a producer on the film. The Zombie Wedding is the first ever wedding of a human bride and a zombie groom. Directed by Micah Khan (Safe House), the film follows the story of a young couple in Vineland, NJ during the zombie apocalypse, who decide to go ahead with their wedding, even though it seems like an impossibility to pull it off. The humans turn out to be more difficult than the zombies and the ceremony takes a turn for the weird when the Zombies become brain deprived. In the end the wedding delivers a universal message of acceptance, love and understanding.

"As a huge fan of zombies, aliens, Bigfoots and cryptids, I’m ecstatic to direct The Zombie Wedding and bring the Weekly World News universe’s first film to audiences. Greg’s script immerses you in a wacky, absurdist wedding gone wrong. Our amazing cast is sure to create anxiety about zombie apocalypses breaking out during your special day,” said Director Micah Khan

This “ZomCom” is a comedy/horror/romance with original music throughout. The Zombie Wedding is about zombies, but it has a strong heart and a message of universal acceptance, peace and understanding. Original music produced/recorded by Jean-Paul Bourelly, including a new version of Nile Rodgers' Le Freak. 

The town of Vineland, Cumberland County, The NJ Film Commission, Weekly World News Studios and outside investors provided needed funding and support to bring the film to fruition. Weekly World News Studios received a 99-year lease for a production building with a soundstage in Vineland for film, television, podcast and other work intended to stimulate the local economy. 

“Thomas Edison made New Jersey a pioneering film center in the early 1900’s. The state, county and Vineland community are building on that legacy to support this film and those that follow,” said Greg D’Alessandro , WWN Studios’ Chief Creative Officer.

Grace Lovret and Robert Dragotta are Executive Producers. Greg D’Alessandro , Joe Corcoran, Sue Wolf and Maria Capp are Producers.

Micah is represented by Candice Kreinbrink at ESE Management and Josh Sandler at Granderson Des Rochers, LLP. 

Weekly World News Studios is tapping the 43-year history, 300+ character library and 115,000+ articles of Weekly World News to create entertainment. There are two more Zombie films scheduled to be filmed in Vineland by the end of 2024. The next film “Zombie Family Vacation” will begin production in the summer of 2023. Also under development is Saucers In A Small Town!, a film written by Ed Naha (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, Trolls) about a 1969 Berkshire County, MA alien abduction covered by WWN reporters. Other projects include a TV series in development, a WWN documentary, a YouTube/TikTok series hosted by the B-52’s Fred Schneider, and the forthcoming Metaverse launch of Planet Weekly World News on The Sandbox.

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New York Comic Con 2022: Sunday

The last thing I expected on Sunday, October 8, 2022, the final day of New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2022 was that it would be the most packed day. But, while I cannot confirm or prove that to be the case, it certainly felt that way. Enough so that my friend Danni, also mentioned it, as did vendors we talked to. Whatever the case might actually be didn't really matter, cause my friends and I simply had a great time. 

Now, I should mention that originally I was gonna do a group cosplay (which would have been the first time ever for me) with them for Bob's Burgers. But, when one of them got sick with COVID (she's well now, if you must know), she cancelled, and those plans went out the window. So, I decided to do another day of my Logan cosplay.

And, as Logan I met up with Deadpool early in the day. Well, his decapitated, talking head anyways. He was bought over by OH! Collectibles and was so fucking awesome!

My friend Danni even shot a video of it, which you can see below. It's from my TikTok, which you should absolutely be following, if you aren't already.

@master_gio007 Logan talks to Deadpool's head at NYCC! #cosplayer #cosplay #logan #logancosplay #wolverine #wolverinecosplay #deadpool #deadpoolhead #marvel #marvelcomics #comicbook #nycc #comiccon #xmen ♬ original sound - Giovanni Deldio

Here are some of my favorite sites and cosplays from Sunday:

This SpongeBob Squarepants inspired cosplay is from one of the best episodes of the classic series. It goes to show that sometimes simple is still awesome, when done so well and with such ingenuity.

The following statues were all from Diamond Select's booth:

I started out talking to Deadpool's head, so I got to, coincidently enough, ended the day, more or less, battling that that merc with a mouth, himself!

I also got to pick up two Funko Pops an Obi Wan Kenobi (I mean it definitely seemed and felt fitting enough since I had just cosplayed as him two days before) and Jon Davis, of Korn:

And, with that I bid farewell to NYCC. I had a great time, and from now on in, I hope to be cosplaying all the days that I will be attending. Did any of you guys go? If so what were some of your favorite memories from the con? Let me know in the comments section below.

New York Comic Con 2022: Thursday

New York Comic Con 2022: Friday

New York Comic Con 2022: Saturday

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Monster-Mania 52, Nov. 2022

In what was a totally unexpected and unplanned twist, my friend hit me up yesterday and asked me if I wanted to go to Monster-Mania in Oaks, PA. And, my reply was pretty much fuck yeah! This would be my first time ever in Pennsylvania and to a Monster-Mania not in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. 

Now, admit ably these last couple of days have been hard for me, with my doggy, Zoey's, birthday coming up next week on the 16th and the first anniversary of her passing being next month on the 12th. So, it was good to have something to do if only get my mind off of things. And, the guest was fucking stacked! We were going on Friday, which is when New York and New Jersey got hit with a shitty rain storm. With the holiday weekend and bad weather our drive in took four fucking hours, but we got there and had a blast.

The first celeb we went up to was the gorgeous Robyn (Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks) Lively. She might have been the highlight of the con (though, to be fair, everyone was super nice to us), being so incredibly friendly and sweet. She talked to both for a nice amount of time. And, in my case, happily showing me pics of the Twin Peaks convention she and other members of the cast attended two weeks ago in Orlando, Florida. You see, I had bought the cover to my complete series Blu-ray to get signed, and I told her how that was one of my all time favorite TV shows of all time. I don't think I can stress, how awesome she is in person. She even, remembered us as she left and waved goodbye to us, later that night!

I then decided to meet some of the cast and crew of Terrifier 2. I haven't seen this sequel, which has become a critical and box office hit, in spite of its indie/ low budget status. That being said, I am a huge fan of the splattery first film. 

First I went over to meet Elliott Fullam. I've been a huge fan of him, having followed his metal channel Little Punk People for the longest of time. He's interviewed legends like Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, King Diamond, etc, and done a great job of that. It's great to see him in a franchise horror flick with such a following. He's really a cool and friendly, little dude, in person. He also liked my battle-jacket, which is always flattering to hear.

His costar the gorgeous Lauren LaVera was sitting next to him. And, she was so sweet and all smiles, as I met her. I've been hearing great things about her performance in the slasher sequel and can't wait to see it for myself!

The last of the those from this movie that were there, that I went up to, was the writer/ director/ FX artist of both movies: Damien Leone. We talked to him for a bit and learned that he once delivered flowers to the Godfather house in Staten Island! And, that a doctor now lives there. 

Some members of the The Monster Squad cast members were also present. That's one of my favorite movies of all time, so I had to meet at least one. And, so I went up to Ashley Bank, who played the little girl Pheobe. She was super sweet in person and called us troopers for coming in this shitty weather. She also joked with how her fellow LA folk freak out on the roadway when it rains over there, even slightly.

The last celeb I met, might be the one I was most pumped to meet: Devon Sawa! Funny thing was I was watching this past Wednesday's excellent episode of Chucky and loving his acting as the asshole priest. As such, I thought to myself how much I would love to meet and low and behold it happened! He was really cool and friendly in person as he talked to us. 

He also asked me who's autograph I had on my DVD of Final Destination. I told him that it was Ali Larter. And, how I got it at an old Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, when she and the rest of the cast were promoting the second flick. He said that damn that's a long time ago, which, of course, it is! In all the talking we had with him and being how tired I felt, I almost left said DVD on his table. But, he he called out to me telling how I had forgotten it. Glad he did because replacing her autograph is close to impossible!

After that I visited the Elm Street house! Well, at least a background set up of it, anyway.

These are the autographs that I got:

Devon Sawa: Final Destination

Elliot Fullam: Terrifier 2 pic (which was shot in the character that he plays room but with his record and art collection)

Robyn Lively: Twin Peaks

Ashley Bank: The Monster Squad

Damien Leone: Terrifier

One thing I really liked was the fact that they had a big ass dealer's room, a couple with some good deals. I didn't buy a whole lot of swag, but I did get:

A KidRobot Phunny Godzilla

And, from Severin Films Booth:

The Strange Vice Mrs. Wardh

Nightmare Castle

Day of the Animals

I've seen all three of these movies before, and they're all fucking good!

We headed home at closing time 10PM, which meant we got home late. We were dead tired (and hungry!), but we had a blast. I would definitely go back to this version of Monster-Mania!

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New York Comic Con 2022: Saturday

Saturday is usually the biggest day at New York Comic Con (NYCC), and I was ready for to be just that. It ended up being even bigger on Sunday, but I didn't know that at the time. All I knew was I was gonna have a blast and debut my new Logan cosplay. It's based on his look from X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Said movie, well it isn't good, to say the least. But, I love the look and thought it would be fun to do a different cosplay of a character, that I had already done before (another first for me!). Spoiler alert: It was!

The only other thing I actually knew was that the very first thing that I was doing was meet Alex Vincent, who played Andy Barclay in the Child's Play/ Chucky franchise. As a huge fan of said franchise, I was excited to finally meet him. He was really nice and very humble. This was the case even as I gushed about being a fan of the movies ever since I was a kid (on a side note, I'm totally wearing Chucky PJs, coincidently might I add, while I write this), like the geek that I am. Anyway, the resulting pic is one of my favorites ever!

After that I went to the Topps booth to see what Garbage Pail Kids product they had. And, imagine my joy when I saw their mascot Adam Bomb! I thought this was one of the coolest things I saw all week!!

I would come back later that day, to this booth, to get this year's edition of the Garbage Pail Kids: Oh! The Horror! card set with two exclusive cards.

And, now for some of my favorite cosplays from this Saturday:

Cosplayer Heather Marie's Doctor Octopus was so awesome! That made me so so very flattered when she called me Logan after seeing my cosplay. I simply had to get a pic with her. Which led to someone asking if Logan could catch COVID (being I had  face mask on). We joked about it, but yeah, that's a good question. Can he catch the corona virus? Let me know what you think is the answer in the comments section below. 

This simple but cool take on the Captain America shield, by making into a Metallica- Master of Puppets shield is really one of my favorite cosplays/ things I saw at the con. I mean this fucking rules! As does Metallica!

This pic from above is from my friend Nelson D. Martinez's Instagram story.

People seemed to really like my cosplay, which added to the fun for me. Saturday really was a blast and was huge, but little did I know that the next and last day would be the biggest! 

To be concluded...

New York Comic Con 2022: Thursday

New York Comic Con 2022: Friday

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Death Metal Legends Morbid Angel Announce 40th Anniversary Headlining Tour for Spring 2023!

Photo by Chris Casella

Legendary death metal icons MORBID ANGEL will celebrate their 40th anniversary this Spring with a month-long US headlining tour! The United States Tour Of Terror 2023 will commence on March 15th in Pensacola, Florida and run through April 22nd in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Support will be provided by Revocation and Crypta as well as Skeletal Remains from the March 15th through April 4th and Vitriol from April 6th through the tour’s conclusion.

 

Comments MORBID ANGEL’s Trey Azagthoth “We are stoked about this new tour with all these cool bands! We will see you all on the road."

 

Tickets are on sale Friday, November 4th at 10:00am local time. See all confirmed dates below.

 

MORBID ANGEL w/ Revocation, Crypta, Skeletal Remains:

3/15/2023 Vinyl - Pensacola, FL

3/17/2023 Rise - Houston, TX

3/18/2023 Amplified Live - Dallas, TX

3/19/2023 Come And Take It Live - Austin, TX

3/21/2023 Marquee Theater - Tempe, AZ

3/23/2023 Virginia Street Brewhouse - Reno, NV

3/24/2023 Great American Music Hall - San Francisco, CA

3/25/2023 Brick By Brick - San Diego, CA

3/26/2023 The Regent - Los Angeles, CA

3/28/2023 Oriental Theater - Denver, CO

3/30/2023 The Rave - Milwaukee, WI

3/31/2023 Apollo Theater - Belvidere, IL

4/01/2023 The Forge - Joliet, IL

4/02/2023 The Art Theater - Hobart, IN

4/04/2023 Piere's - Ft Wayne, IN

w/ Revocation, Crypta, Vitriol:

4/06/2023 Machine Shop - Flint, MI

4/07/2023 Riverfront Live - Cincinnati, OH

4/08/2023 The King Of Clubs - Columbus, OH

4/09/2023 Jergel's - Pittsburgh, PA

4/11/2023 Gramercy Theater - New York, NY

4/12/2023 Warehouse On Watts - Philadelphia, PA

4/14/2023 Empire Live - Albany, NY

4/15/2023 The Palladium - Worcester, MA

4/16/2023 Soundstage - Baltimore, MD

4/18/2023 The Concourse - Knoxville, TN

4/19/2023 Masquerade - Atlanta, GA

4/21/2023 Orpheum - Tampa, FL

4/22/2023 Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL

 

MORBID ANGEL released their Kingdoms Disdained full-length in 2017 via Silver Lining Music. The critically adored offering reunites founding guitarist Trey Azagthoth with bassist/vocalist Steve Tucker. Captured at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida and produced by MORBID ANGEL with Erik Rutan, the record delivers eleven pieces of devastatingly dynamic death metal. Rolling Stone hailed a, “cyclone of blastbeat-driven fury punctuated with Azagthoth’s signature heaving, lunging grooves and Eddie Van Halen–on-a-bad-trip solos,” while Metal Injection crowned the record, “one of the band’s most essential efforts,” adding, “the record contains almost wall to wall instant classics, and is not only Steve Tucker’s best album as MORBID ANGEL frontman, but by extension the group’s most genre-defining effort since 1995’s iconic Domination.”

 

Orders for Kingdoms Disdained are available at THIS LOCATION.

 

“Featuring Trey Azagthoth’s molten solos, the band rediscover what they did well across their career and double down on it.” – Pitchfork

 

“…a cyclone of blastbeat-driven fury punctuated with Azagthoth’s signature heaving, lunging grooves and Eddie Van Halen–on-a-bad-trip solos…” – Rolling Stone

 

“…one of the band’s most essential efforts… the record contains almost wall to wall instant classics and is not only Steve Tucker’s best album as MORBID ANGEL frontman, but by extension the group’s most genre-defining effort since 1995’s iconic Domination.” – Metal Injection

 

“MORBID ANGEL‘s ability to manipulate sounds such that it seems it’s about to collapse and combust without ever doing so is nothing short of brilliant. For the devoted, it seems like magic…. Just incredible.” – Blabbermouth

 

http://www.morbidangel.com

http://www.facebook.com/officialmorbidangelpage

http://sl-music.net

http://www.facebook.com/Silver.Lining.Music.Ltd

http://twitter.com/silverlmusicltd

http://www.instagram.com/silver.lining.music

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Chiller Theatre: October 2022

On the Halloween weekend of October 29, 2022, it was time for another trip to Chiller Theatre! This was honestly one of the most amazing guest lists they have had in years. In fact, it might rank among their best ever! What was also cool, and, in turn more fun, was it was the biggest group of us at the con in years. As three of my friends, Freddie, Alan, and Nelson (in his awesome version of Jack Skelington look!), joined me for the kick ass good times!

The first person I went up to was the lovely and awesome Heather Matarazzo. I was really excited to meet her. I consider her Elizabeth Bathory inspired death scene in Eli Roth's Hostel II to be one of the coolest gore scenes of the 2000s. I mentioned to her how much I loved the Shudder documentary mini-series, Queer for Fear, of which she was one of the celebs that were interviewed on it. She was very sweet and all smiles throughout.

The gorgeous Judie Aronson, of Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, American Ninja, Weird Science, and more was up next for me. She's still absolutely breathtaking in person! And, not only is she a total stunner but a sweetheart, too. She was very friendly and talkative as she told us about The Sleeping Car, a movie she was in that she would love to get streaming or some kind of release. I mentioned Vinegar Syndrome, as it felt like something that might they like to put out. I was also sure to let her know that she was one of the people I was most looking forward to meeting that weekend, and that I had a huge crush on her as a kid. 

After that I went up to the lovely Robin Frates who played Megan Gallagher in the first Puppet Master. She had the best deal at the con, at $30 for a combo (IE pic and autograph) at the show. Not only that but she was very sweet and all smiles, as she did a couple of pics with me. This was cause my phone wouldn't focus, at first. She also really liked the cover to the Blu-ray trilogy set, that I had her sign.

One person, we were all excited to meet was legendary actress and classic beauty Olivia (Romeo and Juliet, Black Christmas) Hussey. Black Christmas is one of my personal favorite movies, one I love more and more with the passing of time. She is so important to the genre, being one of the first final girls of the genre. Yet, she is so humble in person. She also told me that she liked the patches on my jacket, especially Elvira. And, asked me about the skull on it, as she has a shirt of it. But, you see, she didn't know what it was. I told her its the Punisher, to which she replied that it sounded scary. I explained to her, that he was not horror, but that he is instead a Marvel hero/ vigilante. 

The last person that I went up to was another of the people that I was most excited to meet, the gorgeous Terry Farrell of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, and more. She is absolute stunner in person, and so tall, at 6'0"! She was also awesome as fuck, as I told her that she was the person I most looked forward to meeting having loved her in Hellraiser III and Stark Trek: DS9. She was very flattered by my comments and was just a blast to talk. She said that she sent Pinhead to hell and should have come back. To which I wholeheartedly agreed, cause she did and should have! Seriously, she rocks and was a great celeb for to close off the day with.

We didn't stay for the party this time around, but we had an absolute fucking blast. We already can't wait till the next one in April!

Here is what I bought at Chiller:

Since I got Screem (limited edition Count Yorga cover) magazine, I got for free a Blu-ray copy of Battle of the Worlds

And, from Vinegar Syndrome I got: The Werewolf Vs. Vampire Woman (in 4K, a brand new release from them).

I have never seen either movie and really look forward to watching Werewolf, in particular, as I am just getting into Paul Naschy movies (finally!). The only movie I have ever seen from him is The Yeti Vs. the Werewolf, which was fun. Just a week or so ago I ordered and got the first of Scream Factory's The Paul Naschy Collection Blu-ray set. Any fans of his reading this? And, if so, what movies of his do you like/ recommend? 

Finally there are the autographs that I got:

Terry Farrell: Hellraiser: The Scarlet Box

Robin Frates: Puppet Master: The Blu-ray Collection

Judie Aronson: Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter

Did any of guys go to Chiller? If so who did you meet? What were the highlights for you? Let me know in the comments section below. 

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