Time for heads up about tonight’s CineMacabre screening of Maniac (on 35mm), with director Bill Lustig in-person to introduce it and do a Q&A afterwards. If you bring some fresh scalps, he might even sign ‘em.

Sadly, I’ll going to miss the event, as I’ll off to New York for a few days. So, if anyone knows of any cool horror happenings worming their way through the Big Apple this weekend, feel free to share.

Have fun with this nasty little number, folks.

(More info: here)

This poster works for me. Great composition and use of colour to suggest apocalyptic doom. I also like the way the mist creeps under the door to draw your eye to the film’s title. And there are some nice touches that fleshes out the world of the film. The older style lights in the parking lot and the spruce trees in the background tell us that the story takes place in a small, somewhat secluded town.
More importantly, though, it’s true to the film. This is the story of David Drayton’s struggle to save his boy from the unseen horror in the mist. It’s that fear of the unknown, and the central conceit of Stephen King’s story: ambiguity. The mist equals ambi-friggin’-guity, which is why the original story ends on that note (something that Darabont missed in his adaptation, but that’s another rant altogether). The upturned cars and impenetrable fog makes for a scarier image than any monster.
The Korean poster for the film offers a different take.

The main thrust of David protecting his son is still there, but now they’re in a smouldering city full of army men. The mist under the door looks more like smoke from the ruined skyscrapers and the army dudes seem to be the threat. That or Godzilla farted and they’re trying to clean up — it’s tough to tell what’s going on out there, even though nothing is hidden in the mist anymore. Also, why does it look like the inside of the supermarket exploded? I like the bloody hand print on the glass, but given the absolute devastation outside, it seems unlikely all that glass would hold up so well.
Nitpicky, I know. Perhaps something was lost in translation for this fairly nonsensical poster. At least it’s not as bad as the one for the special edition two-disc DVD release, though.

So, clearly they took the Korean poster and monkeyed with it. And by “monkeyed” I mean dumbed down. For starters, David’s son is gone and a woman added, presumably Amanda, the woman our hero sort-of hooks up with. At least they’re wearing matching outfits, so that’s, uh, cool. Actually, it looks like they’re standing in the burning ruins of the GAP wondering if they should show up for their shifts tomorrow.
Funnier yet is the “END IS NEAR” scrawled in blood on the window. Whoever decided that was a good idea is surely going to Cliche Hell. Given the absolute pants-shitting devastation surrounding the characters, this is redundancy at its finest.

From Tattoonow.com:
Hyperspace Studios presents Scratch Art - A collection of scratchboard art by tattoo artists This impressive collection of scratchboart art comes from well over 150 talented tattoo artists including Filip Leu, Shige, Carson Hill, Dee Dee Sergua, Gabriel Cece, Jon Clue, Guy Aitchison, Jack Rudy, Dan Hazelton, Zsolt Sarkozi, Nick Baxter, Kim Reed, Kore Flatmo, Nikko Hurtado, Michele Wortman, Markus Lenhard, Don McDonald, Timothy Hoyer, Aaron Cain, Bugs, Cory Kruger, Larry Brogan, Anil Gupta, Marcus Pacheco, Durb Morrison, Tim Kern, Steve Morris, Nate Beavers, Bob Tyrrell, Joe Capobianco, James Kern, Miek Devries, Needles, and many many more! From Needled.com: One would never dream of calling the renowned Guy Aitchison a scratcher, a kitchen table tattoo hack. But he’s playing on the slur with a new project called Scratch Art, in collaboration with his wife Michele Wortman, explaining “We chose this medium as it parallels so much with aspects of tattooing. Like tattooing, it is an unforgiving medium that does not allow for erasing; we also chose this theme because of the irony of reference to ’scratch’ artists in tattooing. Amusingly, so many of us are far from scratch artists; this industry has grown artistically and the awareness of true artists in the tattoo field is undeniable.

Buy a copy today!

The New York Post has a story about Lloyd Kaufman picketing the Tribeca Film Festival, in full chicken costume, of course.

I guess the Fest really ruffled his feathers. Ahahahahahahahaha…

Full story here.

(Thanks, Alex)

Tonight is the night, my fiends! When the clock strikes 8, and the moon is out, the PIN-UP GHOULS will crawl up from their tombs and haunt The Gladstone Hotel for the evening!

A collection of 20 brand new horror pin-up girl illustrations by Rue Morgue graphic designer, Justin Erickson. Limited edition prints will be available for purchase. Also, only available at the show will be super limited edition hand-bound books collecting all 20 Pin-Up Ghouls, plus the extra concept drawings, and more!

The eerie event is presented by Rue Morgue Magazine and Daniloff Productions.

SEE!
20 new horror pin-up girl illustrations & The Real Undead Pin-Up Ghouls.

HEAR!
Terror Tunes by Rue Morgue Radio’s TOMB DRAGOMIR.

WIN!
A PIN-UP GHOUL based on your own likeness! (for the ladies)

And much more!

Vampires! Zombies! Ghosts, oh my! One night only! Don’t miss out, because once these Ghouls are buried, they won’t rise from the grave!

Friday, May 2nd at The Gladstone Hotel. Doors open at 8pm.

Official Sponsors:
Rue Morgue Magazine, The Gladstone Hotel, Daniloff Productions, Darkside, Toronto After Dark Film Festival, Jagermeister, Amsterdam Brewery, West End Offset, Praxis Gallery.”

If you’re a fan of The Thing, you’ll appreciate 5 Cats That Look Like Wilford Brimley.

Too funny.

Boingboing posted the link, but I also noticed some of Poletti’s other sets tailor-made for horror geeks. For instance, one of fave bad movies (penned by Edward D. Wood Jr. and featuring Criswell), Orgy of the Dead (NSFW), gets some love.

Story via: boingboing.net

The Book of Revelations, 1999
Acrylic, fabric, paper, blood on panel
62.2 x 77.5 cm

I just discovered (via Cracked.com) a fun website called The Editing Room, where the painfully concise and witty Rod Hilton writes condensed and wonderfully acerbic versions of Hollywood screenplays. For example, he efficiently cuts to the heart of Rob Zombie’s Halloween.

A choice excerpt:

DAEG is taken to an INSANE ASYLUM where MALCOLM MCDOWELL interviews him.

DAEG FAERCH

Why do I have to stay here all the time?

MALCOLM MCDOWELL

Because Rob Zombie seems to think that devoting half the movie to justifying your behavior will actually convince the audience that you’re a misunderstood hero rather than an evil villain.

DAEG FAERCH

I need to get out of this place, doctor.

MALCOLM MCDOWELL

Why, because you’re only becoming more insane and detached from reality?

DAEG FAERCH

What? No, have you seen my masks? I’m auditioning to be in Slipknot and I don’t want to be late.

[I think you could also go with: What? No, I’m just running out of wall space for all these obvious papier mâchè metaphors.]

Read Rod’s whole rewrite here.

(I swiped the still from Bloody Disgusting, by the way)