The Lucky 13: Week Nine: Serial Killers

One of the key elements established by the modern horror film is that you don't necessarily need monsters to generate terror. Rather, very often, as the old cliche goes, the worst monsters of all are ourselves. In other words, the real-life evils of the human mind can be far more terrifying than any make-believe supernatural entity. Perhaps that's why the serial killer sub-genre has proliferated so much in recent decades.

This week in The Lucky 13, both here and at Brutal as Hell, we pick our very favorite serial killer movies--and I think you're going to find some of the most eclectic choices selected thus far in our little ongoing group project. For example, on our side here at the VoH, who would've thought that this particular sub-genre would feature not one, but two Vincent Price movies? And oh yeah, that Lecter guy shows up, too...

B-Sol on Theater of Blood

Just when I thought it wasn't possible for me to love Vincent Price more than I already did, along came this absolute gem of a movie into my world. As an English major with a concentration in Shakespeare, and an unabashed horror fanatic, this film was literally tailor-made for me. The film revolves around a series of brilliant murder set-pieces. And Price is utterly remarkable throughout each, playing the part of the vengeful Lionheart with such gusto that one can't help but be completely enraptured by him. My particular favorite is the fencing scene, in which Price reenacts the duel from Romeo & Juliet, his face a gleaming mask of self-satisfied, evil glee as he spouts purple prose to no end.

Theater of Blood is an exceptionally dark and vicious comedy. While unceasingly funny, it is also surprisingly bloody, featuring fairly graphic scenes of organ removal, electrocution, beheading and more. In fact, I'm hard-pressed to think of a gorier Vincent Price flick at the moment. To watch Price chew up the scenery, letting Shakespearean soliloquies fly left and right, it's almost impossible to describe my elation. You can tell he's really enjoying himself here, and that carries across to the viewer. He also gets the chance to appear in a series of fairly ludicrous disguises, adding another level of delicious camp to his performance.

Theater of Blood proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Vincent Price was a national treasure, and it is truly sad that he is no longer with us. Yet with thoroughly enjoyable films like this left behind, it's assured that he will never, ever be forgotten.



Cinema Suicide's Bryan White on The Silence of the Lambs

On my list of top movie villains of all-time, Hannibal Lecter occupies the second spot (number one, with a bullet, is Darth Vader). He has killed as many as 30 people. He manipulates. He terrorizes. He eats their corpses. Hannibal Lecter is an unstoppable killing machine, a brilliant mind and the face of unblinking, primal evil. With only 15 minutes of screen time and uncanny chemistry with Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs, Lecter became a household name and a pop-cultural icon of horror. Any character that evil and despicable that can win your heart, even after he chews a cop's face off, is a very special thing.

The Silence of the Lambs is an anomaly in horror. Most horror flicks tend to blow out the legend of the American serial killer to cartoony proportions. The killers are these menacing, raving lunatics who live to kill and spend all their time murdering, plotting and terrorizing their victims, but The Silence of the Lambs approached horror and serial murder with a true-crime novel sensibility. It reels in the natural Hollywood tendency to go balls to the wall for scares and instead opts for a slow burner that creeps up on you. In this context, Lecter is a bit excessive but he's also not the star of the show. Agent Clarice Starling is searching for Buffalo Bill, a composite of Ed Gein and Ted Bundy, played to maximum creep-factor by Ted freakin' Levine. Levine in his role as the gender-confused murderer gave us the sort of scenes that stay with people forever. Since 1991, "I'd fuck me" and "PUT THE FUCKING LOTION IN THE BASKET!!!" have achieved the sort of quotability afforded only The Simpsons in the past. That's not to discount the amazing lines given to Anthony Hopkins. The bite mask and fava beans still resonate to this day in our culture.

Somehow, director Johnathan Demme managed to crawl out of his off-beat hole, previously having directed bizarro comedies, The Talking Heads tourfilm and sleazy women in prison flicks, to craft one of the most morbid, oppressive horror films of the 20th century. This was the '90s answer to Hitchcock's Psycho, and a worthy successor at that. The Silence of the Lambs came to define the very essence of the police procedural movie and set the bar high for competing pictures. All the pieces to the puzzle fit snugly, an amazing cast meshed perfectly with Ted Tally's tight script, leaving us with one of the most effectively unsettling horror movies of all time. If you need further proof that Roger Corman is one of the most important figures in American filmmaking, this is it. Demme is yet another extremely talented filmmaker to emerge from Corman's class. Corman even has a cameo as an FBI director (George Romero also pops up quickly toward the end). Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to my dinner. I'm having liver with fava beans and a nice chianti.



From Beyond Depraved's Joe Monster on The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Thirty-three years before a pessimistic bloke named Jigsaw made his way on to the horror scene with face traps and other insidious devices, Vincent Price was busy exacting his own unique brand of justice upon those whom his character viewed as immoral. The said character went by the name of Dr. Anton Phibes, a musical genius who studied extensively in theology and who spent his spare time viciously murdering people. One does not need a brooding atmosphere of dread and bleak performances to create a solid serial killer film. If anything, The Abominable Dr. Phibes shows that a movie can showcase the mad workings of a systematic assassin and have a fun time while doing it.

This is Vincent Price at one of his finest hours, in the type of role that those who know him could instantly picture him in upon hearing his name. Here he plays a tragic anti-hero seeking vengeance against a medical team that he believes was responsible for the premature death of his beloved wife. He carries this out by executing his targets in the same fashion as the Biblical Ten Plagues of Egypt. Bloodthirsty bats and vermin, impalement by unicorn statuettes, and achingly slow death by blood draining and hypothermia all play out to the pounding blasts of organ and sweet melodies of violin. Even under a restrictive cast of his own likeness, Price manages to display a full range of powerful emotions solely through his ever-staring eyes and body gestures. It is a role that proudly displays Price’s great strength and versatility as a master thespian and King of Terror.

The film is also immensely impressive from a technical standpoint as well. Director Robert Fuest (who helmed many episodes of The Avengers) pulls off numerous intricate and visually compelling shots with his camera. The cinematography lends a whole other layer of vitality to the film, each color seemingly bursting from the screen and painting all the gory proceedings in a beautiful and lavish manner. The art deco sets are another highlight to watch out for, Joseph Cotten’s home and Phibes’ diabolical lair prime examples of this supreme craftsmanship. The humor in the film is spot-on, each actor delivering their lines in a perfectly snappy fashion. The movie has an air of the theater, each bit part and minor character fully realized and played to the hilt for the biggest laughs. The feeling of eccentricity compliments all the ghoulish goings-on in a way that has to be seen to be appreciated.

The Abominable Dr. Phibes should be in the “must watch” list of every horror fan, whether they be budding enthusiasts or seasoned veterans of the genre. It is a movie that will remind you of what fun it is to be in love with horror. If you’ve already had the insidious pleasure of viewing this film, then you know full-well of the feel-goodness this brings on in its audience. If you haven’t though, be sure to amend your terrible sins as quickly as you can and do just as the doctor prescribes.




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Head over to Brutal as Hell to see what Marc Patterson and his crew have come up with. And if you're interested in taking part in the future, just give Marc or myself a holler.

Week 1: Grindhouse & Exploitation
Week 2: Creature Features & Monster Movies
Week 3: Demons, Witches & The Devil
Week 4: Gore!
Week 5: Horror Comedies
Week 6: Vampires
Week 7: Psychological Horror
Week 8: Werewolves

Join us next week, when we delve into the domain of ghosts, haunted houses and psychic phenomena!

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TRAILER TRASH: Jack the Ripper Edition!

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The Tuesday Top 10: Favorite Inbred Movies

I never quite realized just how many horror movies focus on inbreeding until I sat down to compile this particular list, a special request from a very special Vault Dweller. Apparently, there is much horror to be found in the illicit, deranged fruits of incestuous breeding. Can't say I can argue with that one. So without further ado, I give you some of the most infamous examples of horror flicks featuring wacked-out inbreds....

10. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986)
This collection of cannibalistic Longhorns has to take the cake as far as the homicidal families of horror go. And although this go-around wasn't as horrifying as their original appearance, it was a hell of a lot more graphic and gory, and depicted in awful detail just what this opportunistic family was capable of doing to make a buck in tough economic times...

9. Cabin Fever (2002)
Bizarre psycho rednecks are only tangentially involved in this tale of a flesh-eating virus run amok in the woods, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention it. I know I can't specifically prove that these particular backward yokels are in fact, inbred, but I say we can bend the rules just a bit to embrace the entire spectrum of deranged rednecks, ok?

8. Nightbreed (1990)
Speaking of homicidal country bumpkins who may or may not be the product of sibling sex, this underrated Clive Barker gem is rife with them. The bizarre mutants of the film are, in fact, nowhere near as warped and terrifying as the idiotic yet dangerous locals who come after them for a good ol' fashioned country mutant lynchin'!

7. Redneck Zombies (1987)
Speaking of rednecks, this film is filled with the undead variety. The reason? Well it seems that Jethro and Goober done accidentally hooked up the moonshine still to some nuclear waste. Yes, that's actually the plot. An early direct-to-video underground fave of the 1980s.

6. Lake Dead (2007)
Some money-hungry relatives descend on the property of a deceased relative, only to discover a gaggle of homicidal (and most likely inbred) psychos taking up residence inside. One of the early entries in the After Dark Horror-Fest.

5. Black Christmas (2006)
This inferior remake plays up the inbreeding angle, with our homicidal leading man, Billy, fathering a daughter with his own mother, and later trying to blind her after killing his mother and her lover. When Billy escapes the mental institution to get some closure with his sister/daughter, all holy hell breaks loose.

4. Spider Baby (1968)
The degenerate, multi-generational inbred Merrye family takes center stage in this chestnut. They're so messed up that their minds turn to mush as they approach adulthood, and they begin to do unspeakable things that must be covered up by their ever-loyal chauffeur. Proof that the gene pool needs a little chlorine every once in a while.

3. Wrong Turn (2003)
Just your basic, "young people being stalked in the woods by demented country inbreds" flick, this one nevertheless has some good scares and memorable effects--especially the infamous shovel-to-the-face. Oh yeah, and it takes place in West Virginia. The check from the WV Tourism Board is on the way, fellas!

2. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Once again, the unforgettable collection of Leatherface, The Hitchhiker, Grandpa and the Old Man, rear their (extremely) ugly heads here to represent for seriously effed-up backwoods cannibals everywhere. This movie is an unassailable horror classic, and would easily get the number-one spot, if it weren't for...

1. Deliverance (1972)
Admit it, when you first read what this list was about, the first line that entered your head was "Squeal like a pig!" This movie has literally become synonymous with the dangers of backwoods America. Burt Reynolds, Tom Voight and Ned Beatty are three city slickers utterly terrorized by a gang of sodomizing wackjobs. But seriously, I think Gilbert Gottfried said it best--given the choice of having their way with any of these three guys, why in the hell would they choose Beatty? Just askin'...

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**SPOILER PIC** Michael Myers to Be Maskless for Majority of Halloween Sequel

Ryan Rotten of Shock Till You Drop landed a fascinating little interview with Halloween 2's makeup designer Wayne Toth on this Easter Sunday. The FX guru discusses a range of topics, including his surprisingly positive response to the bogus fan art that hit the web a couple of months back, the extensive use of dream sequences in the film, and most provocatively, the fact that The Shape will apparently be without his iconic mask for roughly "70%" of the sequel!

Here's Toth on the subject:

"I thought the reaction was pretty much going to be, What? No mask on Michael Myers?' But it's like anything else, as long as you're doing something cool, people get it. No one has dared to change the character, they just put him in different situations and that gets old pretty fast. Be daring with Michael Myers and change it, I think that was the appeal with this movie. It wasn't limited to a remake, like last time. We're taking it a step further."

This is bound to create some division in the fan community--which was already divided as to whether or not the remake sucked in the first place. For the rest of the interview, head on over to STYD. As for this "new design", the spoiler-wary among you might want to divert your eyes or jump to another site, 'cause I'm about to share an on-set peek of actor Tyler Mane sporting Michael Myers' maskless look. Here's the infamous shot which has been dropping jaws at STYD:


Well, no one can accuse Rob Zombie of being without balls. Although I'm tempted to say that without the Shatner mask, it kind of becomes less "Halloween" and more "Crazy Homeless Guy in a Jumpsuit Randomly Stabbing People". Stay tuned, true believers.

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What If Your Urban Legend... Were True?

Cropsey.

If you grew up in the Northeastern U.S., particularly New York, at any time during the past 25-30 years or so, it's very possible that name holds a sinister meaning for you. That's because it was one of the area's most commonly repeated summer camp urban legends.

I can remember sitting around the campfire on Staten Island during my cub scout days, listening panic-stricken as the pack leaders told us all about the one-armed axe-wielding maniac who lived in a cabin in the woods, half his body covered with burns. Eager to chop up as many campers as he could in retribution for the fire caused by careless kids, which led to the death of wife and kids, as well as his own disfigurement. I guess you could say that Cropsey was our Jason.

Little did I know that although the popular tale was greatly embellished as any urban legend will be, it was actually based on a very real case. In other words, Cropsey was a real guy.

A documentary film will be screening later this month at the Tribeca Film Festival by two Staten Island natives, Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio, who investigated the legend and came up with the grisly truth behind the real-life madman who inspired the Cropsey tale.

Having grown up with this story, and still remembering those restless nights in the scout cabin, listening intently to every sound in the woods, fearing that the killer would barge through the door at any moment, I've got great interest in checking this one out. If you do as well, go to the official movie website for more information. Screening times are as follows:

• Sat, April 25th 11:30pm . . . . . . . . AMC Village VII
• Sun, April 26th 3:00pm . . . . . . . . AMC Village VII
• Tues, April 28th 11:00pm . . . . . . School of Visual Arts
• Sat, May 2nd 8:30 pm . . . . . . . . . AMC Village VII

**UPDATE** Cropsey co-director Joshua Zeman checked in this afternoon with this important bit of clarification:

Andre Rand, the man profiled in the film, isn’t the actual inspiration of the collective CROPSEY. The collective CROPSEY has been around for decades. Somehow as kids we assigned the name from the urban legend CROPSEY to the man living in the woods in Staten Island who was going around and allegedly snatching kids. The film looks at how we attached the myth to the man... And is our attempts as now as adults to discover whether the urban legend of our childhood was actually true.

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Dexter Among SAG Nominees

The venerable Screen Actor's Guild released its nominees for the 15th annual SAG Awards this morning, and everyone's favorite lovable serial killer was on the list.

Michael C. Hall earned a nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, but I think he's got some stiff competition against Jon Hamm of Mad Men and sentimental favorite Bill Shatner of Boston Legal. Dexter was also acknowledged with a nom for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. However, I would think that one would be a lock for Mad Men.

But I'm glad Dexter is getting this kind of recognition. I also think it's unfortunate that Battlestar Galactica, and Edward James Olmos in particular, were ignored in the same categories.

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It Finally Happened--A Dexter Copycat

One of the first things I thought of when I first got acquainted with the excellent Showtime original series Dexter was, "I wonder if anyone's going to copy this guy in real life?" And lo and behold, someone has.

Canadian news service Canwest is reporting today that one Mark Andrew Twitchell, a 29-year-old filmmaker from Edmonton, Alberta, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of 38-year-old John Brian Altinger. Apparently inspired by vigiliante serial killer Dexter Morgan, Twitchell allegedly targeted Altinger because he suspected him of cheating on his wife. Luring him to the very garage where he had made some of his short movies--under the false pretense of hooking up with a woman he had met online--Twitchell is accused of killing Altinger, a la his favorite TV character.

How can we be sure he was emulating Dexter specifically? Well, it looks like his Facebook status as of last August was "Mark has way too much in common with Dexter Morgan." Police have also obtained Twitchell's latest unflimed movie script "House of Cards", in which a serial killer kills an unfaithful husband after luring him to an abandoned garage under the false pretense of hooking up with a woman he met online. Way to cover your tracks there, Mark. Geez, if Dexter had been this dumb, it would've been a very short TV series.

The eternal question obviously arises of whether or not a TV show can be accused of inspiring a crime. Now, those of you who have read my posts on this kind of stuff before know that I take a kind of moderate, Devil's-advocate approach to these issues. I'm open to both sides of the argument, and I'm not arrogant enough to claim that I have the definitive answer. I am curious to know what others think, however.

It's far from the first time something like this has happened. Children of the '80s will remember the infamous John Hinckley, a man obsessed with the movie Taxi Driver who shot President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster. Then there was Natural Born Killers, which led to a whole bunch of copycatting yahoos. And most recently, The Dark Knight inspired a couple of Virginia teenagers to make Joker-esque terroristic threats using playing cards. And for anyone who makes the argument that a piece of media can never inspire a person with free will to do crazy things, I direct your attention to a little book known as the Bible.

I tend to lean toward the opinion espoused by many, that works like Dexter don't directly inspire criminal acts, but rather define the manner in which they're carried out. Meaning, people like John Hinckley clearly already have a screw loose and are likely to do something nuts; watching Taxi Driver just helped him formulate a game plan, it didn't put the idea in his head.

But does that absolve the book/movie/show from all blame? After all, one could argue that Twitchell may never have gotten the idea in his head to premeditatedly murder someone for being immoral if he hadn't observed that very specific behavior on Dexter. And let's not forget, this has been one of the very fears behind a lot of anti-Dexter sentiment. Again, I'm not advocating for censorship--hell, I love the show--I'm just keeping an open mind to all possibilities here. What do you think?

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Want to See The Midnight Meat Train?

Clive Barker fans who were outraged at the way in which Lions Gate shafted his latest film The Midnight Meat Train now finally have the opportunity to see it. Starting today, FEARnet is offering the brutal serial killer pic as part of its cable VOD service. If you don't have FEARnet with your cable package, don't worry, it gets better. On October 30, for one day only, FEARnet has announced you will be able to watch the movie for free on their website.

Adapted from a Barker short story, the film version of Midnight Meat Train was the subject of much controversy recently when Lions Gate raised the ire of fans, and of the author/director himself, by making the last-minute decision to consign the movie to an extremely limited theatrical release, then dump it straight to DVD.

FEARnet is currently carrying an exclusive promo clip from the increasingly unhealthy-looking Barker introducing the film.

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Dexter Returns Tonight

For those of you who need a reminder, the coolest show on TV--Showtime's Dexter starring Michael C. Hall--kicks off its third season tonight at 9. I discovered the show right after last season ended, catching up thanks to the wonders of Netflix and OnDemand. This time around, I plan to catch it in OnDemand once again, as soon as True Blood ends in December--at which point I will drop HBO and add Showtime (got to play it conservative with those premium channels on a writer's salary).

But for those of you lucky enough to already have Showtime, make sure to catch it tonight. If you're already a fan of the serial killer series, you need no convincing. If you've never seen it before, now's your chance to get on board. According to the pre-season buzz, including this preview on Ain't It Cool News, it's pretty easy to jump in without having seen the first two seasons.

To get you further psyched and continue today's Dexter theme, here are a bunch of fake magazine covers that Showtime created last summer to help promote the show:



















































That GQ one was attached to a whole mock pictorial that was included in the October issue of the real GQ. I happened to be skimming through it at the barbershop yesterday when I spotted it amidst the self-important metrosexual musings. Pick it up if you get the chance--the Megan Fox interview is nothing to sneeze at, either.

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Although he never played a horror role in his entire career (aside from one episode of Suspense he did as an unknown in the early '50s), The Vault of Horror must bow in respect to the classic coolness of Paul Newman, and acknowledge his passing yesterday morning. He was one of the 20th century's greatest leading men, one of Hollywood's true class acts, and my mom's favorite actor. Rest in peace.

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First Pix from Dario Argento's Giallo

ShockTillYouDrop scored the following shots today, from the set of Italian legend Dario Argento's new serial killer flick, appropriately titled Giallo (the term for the Italian slasher sub-genre, for all you newbies.):

The pics show Argento himself, as well as Adrien Brody and French actress Emmanuelle Seigner, who play a detective and a flight attendant on the trail of a murderer who's kidnapped the attendant's sister. The film hits theaters next year, and is not Argento's first English-language effort, despite erroneous reports.

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Black House Brings the Scares, K-Horror Style

"I never knew insurance could kill people."

So says Jun-oh, the main character of Black House, the newest South Korean horror film to gain an American DVD release. And neither did I, until I saw this movie. It's unfortunate that those without an understanding of a film's original language can never fully assess its dialogue. But clumsy translations aside, Black House--a.k.a. Geomeun Jip--is a well-made and enjoyable hybrid of psychological thriller and slasher flick.

For those who care about this sort of thing, this review will contain some big-time spoilers, but there's just no way for me to do the movie justice without them. That said, this is an intelligent horror movie that deals primarily with the issues of psychopaths living in our midst every day, and how they coexist--or fail to do so--with the rest of society.

The central conflict is between the antagonist Yi-Hwa, a cold-blooded killer who remorsely maims and slaughters her own husbands and children for insurance money, and the aforementioned Jun-oh, a protagonist so deeply empathetic that he cannot even bring himself to kill Yi-Hwa, even when directly threatened by her. This clash of a pure psychopath and the most humane of heroes is particularly interesting, especially in their final confrontation--a very clever take on the classic slasher movie ending in which the killer inflicts her final wound to the hero by destroying herself despite his efforts to prevent it.

The revelation of Yi-Hwa as the murderer is one of the film's major twists, as we are initially led to believe it is her obviously odd husband who is masterminding the insurance crimes. A female movie slasher is an extremely rare thing, and the beautiful Seon Yu plays Yi-Hwa in chillingly effective fashion. Jeong-min Hwang also acquits himself well as the hapless yet good-hearted insurance agent Jun-oh.

First-time director Terra Shin does a solid job of building tension during the picture's well-paced and suspense-driven first half. This only adds to the payoff later, when the movie takes a turn into Saw-like "torture porn" territory. (We even get a particularly hard-to-watch car-key-to-the-eye-socket shot. After Hostel and now this, I'm beginning to think that young one-eyed Asian women are becoming a new horror staple.) And as with most films of this type, it is all extremely well photographed.

But Black House is a bit more intelligent than its American counterparts. Not content to shock us with non-stop violence wrapped in the feeblest of social messages, the movie attempts to deal more deeply with some morality concerns. If psychopaths are afflicted with mental illness, does that absolve them of blame? Do they deserve pity, or does pitying them simply make us easier prey? Is murder ever justified? The movie ventures into the kind of moral territory most slashers never do.

The movie is based on a novel by Japanese writer Yusuke Kishi, which was previously adapted in Japan into the 1999 film Kuroi Ei. I haven't seen that, so I can't compare the two (anyone who has is welcome to.) I'm not sure, therefore, whether to blame some of the movie's hard-to-ignore plot holes on the book or the screenplay (wouldn't a red flag be raised if Yi-Hwa has a history of cashing in on the loss of her spouses?)

There's also a certain amount of predictability at work--the second you see how happy Jun-oh and his girlfriend are, you just know she's going to be put in some serious danger before the film is out. But I'm not one to quibble too much about predictability. Someone once said that all the great ideas are already taken, and it's true--there are no new plot devices. Rather, what matters is how the plot devices are executed, and in Black House they are, by and large, done quite well.

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Dexter Head Honcho Takes the Dirty Sexy Money

Variety announced a major shakeup Tuesday afternoon for Showtime's runaway hit series Dexter. The serial killer drama's executive producer and "showrunner" (read: dude in charge) Daniel Cerone has flown the coop, opting for a similar position on ABC's Dirty Sexy Money.

Cerone has been the top man on Dexter since the show's beginning in 2006, following a run as a writer-producer on Charmed. Despite Cerone's departure, Dexter is still on track to kick off it's third season on September 30. Assuming that the writers strike put a crimp in its development, it's safe to guess that the season is still being scripted. No word on what impact, if any, Cerone's absence will have on the creative direction.

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LiLo Gets Razzed

Disney-Channel-poppet-turned-psycho-junkie-broad Lindsay Lohan has been getting so much attention lately thanks to a certain New York magazine pictorial, so what's a little bit more? Despite our best efforts to forget her work in last year's epic horror clunker I Know Who Killed Me, the prestigious Golden Rasberries--or Razzies--have seen fit to bestow a record-setting number of nominations on the flick.

The "film" has received a staggering total of nine nominations. Lohan herself has pulled off the impressive feat of being nominated twice for Worst Actress thanks to her double role. The twin performances have also earned her the distinction of being the only person to ever be singly nominated for Worst Screen Couple.

The serial killer pic has also gotten nods for Worst Picture, Worst Remake/Rip-Off and my personal favorite, Worst Excuse for a Horror Movie. Additionally, Chris Siverston was nominated for Worst Director, first-(and hopefully last-)time screenwriter Jeff Hammond for Worst Script, and Julia Ormond for Worst Supporting Actress.

There's a lesson to be learned here, folks. And it's that Lindsay Lohan should focus more on pictures that don't move.

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Thanks to everyone who made their voice heard in the "King of Horror" poll. Congrats to the legendary Vincent Price, who took an early lead and never lost it. Bruce Campbell also made a respectable showing in second place, and it's also interesting that Boris Karloff edged out long-time rival Bela Lugosi for fourth by a single vote. Check back tomorrow for a new poll.

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Dexter: Cable's Next Big Thing

OK, I admit it. I've never watched Dexter. Couldn't have even if I had wanted to--I got rid of Showtime after they cancelled Dead Like Me.
But after all the buzz this show has been getting, including glowing recommendations from everyone from the folks on the Bloody-Disgusting forums to my Dad (Hi Dad), I realize I need to rectify this. Thus, the entire first season is now placed high atop my Netflix queue.
Chronicling the misadventures of a strangely moral serial killer played by Michael C. Hall (who was on excellent on his last cable show, HBO's Six Feet Under), Dexter set a new record this week. According to The Hollywood Reporter, last Sunday's episode drew 1.23 million viewers, the highest ever for a Showtime series. Viewership also grew an impressive 40% from last week's ep. And with a third season recently confirmed, the word on this series is officially out. Make room for me on the bandwagon!

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