UPDATED - REVIEW: "Hausu" or "House" - A Japanese Haunted House Film on Acid

What the Alamo Drafthouse is to Austin, The New Beverly Cinema is to Los Angeles: a gem of a revival movie theater that's been going strong since 1978 and with a little help from Mr. Quentin Tarantino, hopefully way into the future.  Thanks to a tip from Brian Collins of Horror Movie A Day fame, last night I went to see a 1977 film called House (or Hausu) there.

No relation to the 1986 Steve Miner directed, William Katt starrer film of the same name, House could simply be defined as a "Japanese haunted house horror picture."
That simple definition would be given if you had a gun to my head and said "You need to define this film in 5 words so that any idiot will know what it's about!"  The real story is that this film defies explanation.

Take Evil Dead, add in copious amounts of nonsensical Anime dialogue and late 70s special effects, shake in some Terry Gilliam-esque animation, wind it up to Run Lola Run speed and put it all on a burner set to "explode."
You will see things you've never seen.

You will see a man turn into a pile of bananas.
You will see a piano eat a person.
You will see a freaky cat painting vomit blood.
You will see a lampshade kill a girl.
You will see a bear wear a uniform.
You will see a witch disappear into a refrigerator.
You will see a disembodied head bite a girl in the butt.
You will see more than that.

The film is certainly a fun watch and at 87 minutes will be over before you know what hit you.  Film buffs will see where other directors from De Palma to Raimi got some of their ideas.  (I'm now convinced the Evil Dead franchise was influenced by this film.)

I really don't know what else to say except SEE IT.  It'll be an experience you can brag about to your other film aficionado and horror fan friends.
Don't believe me?  Check out the trailer HERE or in the embed below:



As it's not available on DVD in the U.S. (though numerous fan sites have predicted its release this year) your best bet to check it out is on Janus's brand new print theatrical tour.  See the list HERE and certainly go see it should it hit your city.  Got a region free DVD player and can't wait?  Then go to the Amazon link below to snag the UK Region 2 import.  

If you have seen it, lived to tell the tale and want the merch to display as your badge of honor, check out the Criterion store for men's and women's t-shirts or the glorious demonic cat-visage poster HERE.

UPDATED OCTOBER 2010!:  Hausu is on DVD AND BLU-RAY from the masters of all spinning silver discs: CRITERION!  Go.  Order.  Below.  Now.  Please.

This Weekend: Horror Movies on TV

As one of the first weekends in some time without a horror movie being released theatrically, those looking for some scary to watch should look no further than the warm glowing, warming-glow of their nearby flatscreen TV.

MTV's Home is Where the Horror Is:
MTV continues their experiment into the Saturday night horror movie-thon by airing James Gunn's Slither on Saturday night.  As someone who really enjoyed the Dawn of the Dead remake written by Gunn, (relax, I love the original too) I can't believe I still haven't seen his horror directorial debut about alien slugs.  

I think MTV's programming idea is pretty great.  In a day and age when you don't really get destination programming much anymore, plunking down on the couch for a horror movie every Saturday night is definitely something I can get behind.
Here's the schedule they've had:

2/13 House of Wax
2/20 The Amityville Horror
2/27 Land of the Dead
3/6 The Hills Have Eyes
3/13 Slither
3/20 Deep Blue Sea
3/27 House of the Devil 


Not a bad little line-up. 
Plus you're getting modern movies that aren't complete crap or ancient direct-to-video garbage. 
For instance Ti West's House of the Devil airs at the end of the month.  That's only been on DVD for like a month!

Yes there will be commercials, but looking at the below plug it looks like we're still getting the gore. 


 

Turner Classic Movies:
Thanks to a tip from Vinnie Rattolle's Blog HERE, you can check out Turner Classic Movie's more classic horror fare like Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Them! and --the most interesting-- Shanks. 
What's Shanks?
It's only schlock-meister William Castle's last film starring Marcel Marceau.  Piqued your curiosity? 
The plot revolves around Marceau playing dual roles as both a deaf-mute puppeteer and a scientist who learn to manipulate the dead like marionettes.  Not available on video so set your DVRs to check out this rare-seen classic.  Read Vinnie's write-up HERE. 

SyFy Channel (the artist formerly known as "Sci-Fi Channel"):
Look let me lay it on you right now:  We're not getting an Evil Dead 4. 
Bruce Campbell is too old. 
Sam Raimi is too busy. 
And have we not learned anything from the new Star Wars films? 
Be careful what you wish for... you just... might... get it. 
Soooooo time to pass the torch to the new crop of wise-cracking horror movie bass-asses. 
Enter Jack Brooks:  Monster Slayer.  If I had to summarize:  What if Mario (minus Luigi) fought Freddy Krueger?
I have not seen this movie and I have heard mixed reports from "It's fun" to "Terrible, dude." 
Regardless, I have seen the trailer and I see what they're trying to do and why not chance a no-risk free-watch on television?  SyFy has gotcha covered on Sunday.  

Following up directly after that is the man himself, Bruce Campbell, doing his best Bruce Campbell doing a Don Coscarelli impression in My Name is Bruce.   I have not seen this movie EITHER and I have heard mixed reports from "It's fun" to "Terrible, dude."  Regardless, I have seen the trailer and I see what he's trying to do and why not chance a no-risk free-watch on television?
Whoah... deja vu.

So there are my picks.  Give 'em a watch and report back in the comments on Monday and let me know what you thought.  

Rest in Peace: Corey Haim

Boy the 80s have really lost a number of its icons.  In the past year we've had Patrick Swayze, John Hughes, Captain Lou Albano, Michael Jackson, Ken Ober (Remote Control), Farrah Fawcett taken from us... and now Corey Haim
My childhood is dying off!

Why profile Corey Haim on Halloween Addict?
Well mainly because, as I've mentioned HERE I make a habit of watching The Lost Boys every October and summer.  It's part of my Halloween horror movie rotation, a fun horror film and probably the only movie from Joel Schumacher that I return to.   
So I'm going to be a little sad when I pop that disc in this coming summer and hear Sam say to his brother "You're a vampire I knew it!"
Michael:  "I am not!"
Sam:  "So what are you?  The Flying Nun?!"
-sigh-

Corey had a couple other horror movies under his belt, but nothing that stuck with me like The Lost Boys. 
There was the movie adaptation of Stephen King's Cycle of the Werewolf, Silver Bullet, a movie I didn't see until about 5 years ago and thought was pretty mediocre (A Stephen King movie mediocre? Gasp.)  Maybe the 13-year-old me would have liked it better. 

(UPDATE:  I just rewatched Silver Bullet as a final farewell to Corey and I've changed my mind.  It's a charming little werewolf movie that's very much in step with other 80s-vibe horror movies.  AND the final confrontation takes place on a full moon Halloween night.  What's NOT to like?!)

I DO remember the illustration from King's Cycle of the Werewolf  with the guy getting his cheek torn off.  I would pull the book off the library shelf, flip the illustration and be both fascinated and disgusted at the same time.  But I digress.

Then there was Watchers which I know I saw back in the day but for the life of me, can't remember a thing about.

Lastly I'm going to mention my 80s guilty pleasure License to Drive.  I watched the CRAP outta License to Drive and can still recite the DMV Instructor's monologue word for word. 
Not only do you get BOTH Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, but you get Richard Masur (Clark from John Carpenter's The Thing) and a very young Heather Graham.  Not a bad line-up for an 80s teen comedy. 

Mourn the loss.  And maybe celebrate the Corey we still have with a viewing of The Lost Boys 2:  The Tribe.
Mmmok maybe not.

UPDATED: Oscar Night: Academy Awards Tribute to Horror Movies

If you watched the Academy Awards last night you may have noticed a number of nods to the horror genre, some subtle, some overt.  But for a genre that is so often snubbed by Oscar it was refreshing to see nods at all.

UPDATED: Abraham Lincoln: President, Patriot... Vampire Hunter.

Let's play a game.  I'll say a name and you free associate.
Abraham Lincoln.

You say:
President.
On the Five Dollar Bill.
Assassinated.
Freed the slaves.
Four score and seven years ago.
Stove pipe hat.
Gettysburg Address.
Tall.
Vampire Hunter.

Whoah... what?

Debuting in book stores TODAY is the secret journal of our 16th President detailing his battle with the undead.  Written by Seth Grahame-Smith who wrote a little book called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies --maybe you've heard of it-- his follow up to that literary juggernaut: Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter takes a slant on the history/horror mash-up wrapping true events around a vampire mythology.

I smell movie adaptation on this one.  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is already entering production with an up and coming actress by the name of Natalie Portman.  But who should play the tall and bearded one?
I got one answer for you:
Bruce Campbell.
The man has already played an undead-battling Elvis and has fought legions of evil dead  so he already knows how to wear sideburns and wield an axe.
Seems a perfect fit to me.

You can watch the Official book TRAILER (Books have trailers?  Really?!  Well THIS one does.) HERE.
And you can buy Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter in hardcover through the Amazon links below. 

UPDATED:  Well THIS didn't take very long:
The Hollywood Reporter is, er, 'reporting' that Tim Burton and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) are teaming up to produce Abraham Lincoln:  Vampire Hunter for the big screen. 
Check out the deets HERE.
I tell you what: HalloweenAddict.com will be first to report that Seth Grahame-Smith's next book, unwritten at this time, is already releasing a Criterion DVD.  Yes, the window is that small now that it's existing outside of space and time.