My Coffee Shop of Horrors order has arrived! Been shopping from this great horror themed online coffee store for years! Best part is, it’s not just gimmicky names, but their coffee blends are really delicious, and they have a large variety. I ordered two of my favorites, Reanimator, a South American and Indonesian blend and Le Petit Mort, which is a blend of sweet medium roast Colombian Supremo coffee mixed with French vanilla. Yum!
Coffee lovers curious to browse their shop, or give their coffees a try, hit the link below to check these great folks and their great coffees (and teas!) out!
In Search of Darkness and its sequel were four-hour documentaries about 80s horror films from producer/creator Robin Block and writer/director David A. Weiner. Now the duo are back with a nearly five-hour documentary about 80s science fiction films called In Search of Tomorrow! The 80s was a great time for science fiction flicks and filmmaker David A. Weiner presents a host of movie footage and interviewees for in-depth coverage of some of the all-time classics, while also focusing on some of the decade’s more obscure films.
New documentary follows the format of the others, covering each year of the decade and some of the films made during that that year. It’s Weiner’s best yet as this flick really holds one’s interest firmly, delivering a fun and informative look back, that keeps the audience engaged for almost five hours! It’s a true love letter to 80s science fiction cinema!
Weiner rolls out a multitude of guests discussing classics, cult classics and some well-intended bombs, from a decade that cranked out sci-fi at a fever pitch! We get scenes from a great number of films, including classics like The Thing, The Terminator, Robocop and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and cult films like Buckaroo Banzai, Galaxy of Terror and Earth Girls Are Easy. We also get interview subjects such as Peter Weller, Nicholas Meyer, Clancy Brown and John Carpenter, to name just a scant few, and we also get some new perspectives like those of journalist Angélique Roché and podcaster Dr. Andrea Letamendi. Actors, directors, FX legends, production designers, along with contemporary journalists and 80s experts, all provide their own point of view and share dozens of personal on-set anecdotes. It makes for a nice variety of perspectives. It’s a wonderful retrospective that really does not feel as long as it is and is delightfully uncensored in both scenes shown and commentary made by its multitude of entertaining guests.
As with the In Search of Darkness documentaries, this one has an extensive running time at four hours and fifty minutes. It sounds like a long-haul but goes by very quickly and if you are a fan of 80s sci-fi flicks, or even better, old enough to have been there at the time, then watching this is a great way to spend a lazy afternoon, or a Saturday evening on the couch. In Search of Tomorrow is available for pre-order starting today and running till 3/27 at www.80sscifidoc.com. There were a lot of films not covered, so bring on In Search of Tomorrow part II!
MZNJ PERSONAL NOTE: As I said with the last documentaries…Being old enough to have been in a theater for a lot of these flicks, not only did this documentary take me back to my favorite era of movies, but actually brought to my attention a couple of flicks I missed. Bravo again, Robin Block and David A. Weiner!
The Birthday Massacre are a cult favorite band and they have released their latest album, Fascination, two years after 2020’s awesome Diamonds and it is their eight studio album, not counting their live album Show and Tell. The Canadian Goth rockers lead by front-woman Sara “Chibi” Taylor deliver nine solid tunes in the Birthday Massacre tradition that should delight their loyal fans. This newest album is named after the first track on the disc, a moody and melodic song about love and life lessons learned. As with all their tunes, the guitars and keyboards are well-mixed to create their signature sound. Once again this is a consistent album and while each song is worthy of being a favorite, some stand-out tunes are “Cold Lights”, “One More Time”, and personal favorite “Like Fear, Like Love”. The songs are produced by band members Michael Rainbow, Michael Falcore, and Brett Carruthers, who co-wrote them along with lead singer Chibi. The songs are filled with darkly poetic lyrics, that not only tell somber tales of lost love, inner turmoil and other subjects but also evoke haunting imagery when listened to. Chibi’s vocal range is used to full effect, as always, taking us from soulful, to haunting, to melodic depending on what the songs are trying to say. Her musicians’ contributions are all strongly present with the current line-up: Rainbow on rhythm guitar and vocals, Falcore on lead guitars, Phil Elliot on Drums, Owen Mackinder on keyboards and Brett “Bat’ Carruthers on bass. All great musicians who collaborate to form this gothic/rock band’s unique and multi-layered sound that has satisfied fans for literally twenty years! Another solid disc from a band who have delivered eight original albums with not one bad song amongst them. They are also great live, if you are interested in checking them out, and it’s recommended you do!
Good things came from Amazon today! One of my favorites from the 80s and one of the best of the Jaws rip-offs, Alligator has finally made it to Blu-Ray, and it’s 4k as well! Directed by Lewis Teague (Cujo) and written with loads of wit by John Sayles (Piranha, The Howling) and Frank Ray Perilli, Alligator is an 80s cult classic that has been waiting for a decent release for decades! Now, thanks to the awesome folks at Scream Factory, it was released today with all the extras you have come to expect from this amazing label! I can’t wait to watch it in all its remastered glory! (Full review HERE)
Direct sequel has four friends Melody (Sarah Yarkin), her sister Lila (Elsie Fisher), Dante (Jacob Latimore) and Ruth (Nell Hudson) traveling to the small ghost town of Harlow, Texas with the intent of developing the almost deserted municipality where they recently bought property. When they reluctantly evict an old woman (Alice Krige) from her home and she dies from the stress, they enrage her deranged son…Leatherface (Mark Burnham).
This new Texas Chainsaw Massacre is well directed by David Blue Garcia from a script by Chris Thomas Devlin based on a story by Fede Alvarez and Rodo Sayagues. It is a solid enough horror flick but brings nothing new to the franchise and certainly doesn’t freshen it up much for a new generation. There is plenty of the expected gore, which is very well-done, and some nice action and intensity, but otherwise it’s nothing innovative or rejuvenating for a franchise that really has floundered since Hopper stopped making them after Part 2. The cast are all good, with our four young leads being a likable bunch and Mark Burnham being efficient, but not especially memorable, as the senior citizen version of Leatherface. Its an entertaining 83 minutes of horror and really delivers in the last act but is definitely not a new classic. It is one of the better sequels, though that isn’t saying much. Flick also stars Olwen Fouéré as Sally Hardesty, who arrives—a la Laurie Strode—to face the evil she escaped all those years ago, and new narration by John Larroquette.
Jo lives next door to The Marwick House, an ominous home that has a dark history and has seen more than one owner flee the residence in the middle of the night, never to return. When pretty Anna moves in, she and Jo become friends bringing Jo into the house for the first time. Jo and Anna soon find out that there is indeed a presence in this house, and it is very angry and may want something even more frightening than just its mere presence.
This is one of Darcy Coates more intense chillers and perhaps one of her darker stories. Aside from the angry spirit inhabiting the house, Anna’s abusive boyfriend also plays a part. There is an air of mystery as now Jo feels she must help Anna and is drawn into finding out who haunts the house and why. It has some very spooky moments and Coates weaves some very atmospheric imagery as the secrets of Marwick House are slowly revealed. There is more intensity here than in some of her previous haunted house tales and is delightfully a bit scarier that one usually expects from her. Another spooky and chilling read from Darcy Coates and one refreshingly darker than her norm.
Cult Classic Cuties are characters from some of our favorite cult classics and midnight movies who captured our hearts and/or actresses who got our attention, but sadly never returned to these types of flicks. They’re femme fatales and final girls whose sexy stars shined only briefly, not quite achieving scream queen status. And this installment’s cutie is…
With this being Black History Month, this installment of Cult Classic Cuties is going to feature a beautiful actress who despite a long and prolific career, that appears to be still going, has only performed in two horror films in the five decades that she has been working. Lynne Moody’s first feature film was the horror classic sequel, Scream Blacula Scream in 1973 and she has been acting in movies and television ever since! Her only return to the horror genre was another cult classic chiller, The Evil with Richard Crenna in 1978!
(You can read my full review for the movies she’s appeared in by clicking the highlighted titles!)
So, we have another beautiful and talented actress who only made two stops in the horror genre despite a decades-spanning career. Both films are cult classics in their own right and thus Lynne Moody definitely qualifies as a Cult Classic Cutie!
Be sure to check out our Cult Classic Cuties (click right here for the link) section to see more crush worthy ladies from cult films and midnight movies!
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS GETS A POSTER AND TRAILER!
Doctor Strange sequel has gotten a new Superbowl trailer and a cool poster! The next installment will continue the multiverse story that began in Spider-Man: No Way Home and will feature Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch and Chiwetel Ejiofor returning as Mordo! Benedict Cumberbatch reprises his role as the Master of the Mystic Arts and Sam Raimi directs! Flick conjures up on 5/6/22!
MonsterZero NJ's Movie Madhouse 