What to watch and listen on Halloween.

Well, tomorrow is Halloween.  And I like to recommend three films and three albums to enjoy with your family and friends.

FILMS

INSIDE

This French film is not for the squeamish.  It involves a pregnant woman who is being terrorize by a woman who's on a mission.  Lot's of blood.  A very creepy atmosphere.  And a great soundtrack.  There's one scene that makes no sense, but it won't ruin the film that much.

 [REC] 2

If you've seen Quarantine, do yourself a favor and watch the original Spanish version, [REC].  After that, watch it's awesome sequel, [REC] 2.  There are two scenes where we see the POV shots of two of the SWAT team members.  And they're awesome. 

MONSTER SQUAD

Some kids wanted to be Goonies.  I wanted to be a Monster Squad.  This is more fun than horror.  If you're a fan of the Universal Monsters, then you'll dig this flick.  It's really cute and awesome.  The dialogue can be cheesy, but of course this was from the 80's.  That's not a bad thing.

MUSIC

FANTOMAS - "THE DIRECTOR'S CUT"

Most of the songs on this albums are covers of film soundtracks.  My top 3 tracks are "Rosemary's Baby", "The Omen", and "Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer".

ABRUPTUM - "EVIL GENIUS"

Last year when I was passing out candy to fellow trick or treaters, I played this album for background music.  The horror in people's faces when they were walking up the door.  And the fact that the singer is a dwarf really makes it scary.

MIDNIGHT SYNDICATE - "HALLOWEEN MUSIC COLLECTION"

Honestly, any Midnight Syndicate album will do.  But because this album was made for this special occasion, why not?  If you enjoy original horror soundtracks, then you'll love this album. 

Upcoming Diclonius and Culpa music.

For those who don't know, I am a musician. So I decided to dedicate a post to my projects.  I've been trying to work on new music for my noise doom/post-black metal project, Diclonius and my ambient-noise pop project, Culpa.  Hopefully I can get it done by the end of the year.  I at least want to release 3 demos.  A three song Culpa demo, Vectors re-recorded, and another Diclonius demo.
This year I got my video projector and projection screen.  So hopefully by next year, I'll start doing shows.  I've been working on visual effects and hope they won't cause a problem at whatever venue I play.  I just need to get a new amp.  As soon as I'm done with the demos, hopefully I can get a gig and build my fanbase.
In early 2014, I'm gonna start working on a future ep called "Tales of the House of Murphy".  It's based on characters from the film "I Sell The Dead".  I'm pretty sure I can come up with some awesome songs influenced by them.

Be sure to check out

https://www.facebook.com/dicloniusdoom

and

https://www.facebook.com/culpanoise

-Mikey O)))-

Deafheaven - "Sunbather" (2013)

In the past decade, there have been bands who take a lot of influence from Death Metal.  And you can hear it through bands like Earth Crisis, Lamb of God, and countless others.  But lately I've been hearing some bands who have a Black Metal influence.  Of course you wouldn't call these bands "Black Metal", but you can't deny that Black Metal has a impact on their sound.

Deafheaven are one of those bands who have a Black Metal sound, but you wouldn't call them Black Metal.  They also throw in some post-rock, shoegaze, noise, and audio sample.  Very hard to put them in a box.  Especially since there are a lot of bands who also experiment with this sound.

Sunbather is Deafheaven's 2nd album.  The vocals are awesome and grim.  Similar to Ihsahn.  The guitar are a cross between post-rock, post-hardcore, and black metal.  And the drums can be very punishing.  The ambient stuff are amazing.  And there's also a track that has a Godspeed You Black Emperor influence.  

Sunbather" is a great album.  For sure it's a top contender for album of the year.  Deafheaven sure got something unique that I can get behind.  Really looking forward to their next album.  I'm sure it will have a huge impact on the extreme music scene.  I will totally say keep an eye on this band.

Baggage (2013)

You can purcase "Baggage" at http://youvebeenrobbedfilms.blogspot.com/2013_06_01_archive.html

World War Z (2013)

With zombie films making a come-back, thanks to The Walking Dead, there have been some people waiting for the theatrical version of "World War Z".  But with all the shenanigans going behind the scenes, some folks weren't sure if the movie was going to be that great.  The book, written by Max Brooks, has gotten a lot of praise.  Putting the book on film seem like it was going to be a challenge.  But I have to say, for a pg-13 horror flick, it wasn't that bad.

As we know by now, the film stars Brad Pitt.  He plays a employee from the U.N. name Gerry Lane.  While stuck in traffic with his wife and kids, a outbreak ensues, and everyone is running for their life's.  Gerry is able to get his family to safety, but the UN wants Gerry to go out and find what caused the outbreak.  Hoping that he will be able to find a cure.  He is accompanied by Marines to get him in and out.  Of course the crew gets attacked by the zombies, while trying to get some fuel for the plane.  So now Gerry and the pilot are on there own.  Gerry then goes to Israel hoping to find some answers.  Gerry is told to go to the World Health Organization (W.H.O) before the zombies manage to climb the walls in Israel.  Gerry escapes and makes it to the W.H.O facility.  And that's where he finds to answer to fight the undead.

Even though most of the zombies were CGI, it didn't ruin the movie that much.  Of course there was a lot of suspense.  And even though there wasn't any gore, the action made up for it.  If you're a traditional zombie fan, you may not like it.  Also if you're a fan of the book, you might find it disappointing.  But if you have a open mind, you might enjoy it.  Of course it isn't the best zombie film, but I think it's watchable.   Supposedly there's gonna be a unrated version on dvd/blu-ray, so can't wait to see what scene they add that didn't make the theatrical version. 

No Clowning Around (2012)

I've been planning on doing a video review of this film, but the problem is that I have trouble talking in front of a camera.  But this is a great short by Rob Dimension and Matthew Burd.  It totally deserves a review.

The film is about a clown name Mumbles, who use to host a local tv show back in the days.  The show ended up getting canceled, so Mumbles now works as a birthday clown.  The problem is that he shows up to these parties, pretty much drunk and a total mess.

We also meet his muppet, name Mr. Peepers (who is my favorite character in the film.  Hey, I love muppets).  Mr. Peepers likes to remind Mumbles that he's a total fuck up, and suggest that Mumbles kills himself (now isn't that a friend).

And of course there is Mumbles' girlfriend, Trixie, who has a bad drug problem.  Trixie also works as a prostitute, and her pimp, Lenny, has been giving her problems.  This upsets Mumbles, so he goes to confront Lenny, but things don't go to well.  But when Mumbles finds Trixie dead from a overdose, this makes Mumbles snap.  And then begins the violence.

This was a great micro-budget short.  Dimension and Burd did a amazing job.  The soundtrack was really great.  But what I love was the atmosphere in the end.  It really made the film very dark and gritty.  Glad to see that NCA won some awards.  If you want to purchase the dvd you can go to www.noclowningaround.com.  This film gets "5 Hitlers punched in the face"

Pacific Rim (2013)

When I saw the trailer for Pacific Rim, the little kid inside was giggling with excitement.  I've always been a fan of Godzilla, Voltron, Ultraman, etc.  And it's been a while since I saw a monster vs robot film.  The movie was directed by Guillermo Del Toro.  And he did an amazing job that satisfied my inner-child.

The movie is about a huge epidemic where large monsters called Kaiju, have been appearing out of the Pacific Ocean and destroying cities all around the World.  All the countries have decided to put any animosity aside, and join forces to take on the Kaijus.  They build these giant robots called Jaeger, to fight the Kaijus.  In order to control the jaegers, they need two pilots and share their minds.  Sadly the Kaijus have become more stronger, that the Jaegers were no longer a match.

Two brothers who control the The Gypsy, from the U.S., get a call to take out a Kaiju.  Things were going well, but the Kaiju ended up taking out one of the Gypsy pilot.  The last pilot made it out alive, but left the Jaeger program.  Six years later. he is asked to rejoin.  He gets a new co-pilot and is joined by other Jaegers pilots.  The plan is to close the bridge underwater, that unleashes the Kaijus, by throwing a nuke inside.  Well it was a battle and AWESOME!

I can understand why people will choose Despicable Me 2 over this, but what's really sad is that Grown Ups 2 was also higher than Pacific Rim at the Box Office.  If you're a fan of Kaiju monsters or Monsters vs Robots, Then Pacific Rim is for you.  Great action and stunning effect.  Out of all of Del Toro's American-made films, this is my favorite one.  It's also great to see Ron Perlman in this flick, too.  For sure the whole family will enjoy Pacific Rim.