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Jeff Lieberman is one of my favorite directors that you don’t hear referenced often enough. He has directed several awesome movies that have dealt with subject matter like killer worms (Squirm), LSD freakouts (Blue Sunshine), homicidal mountain men (Just Before Dawn), brainwashing aliens (Remote Control), and a serial killer stalking the streets on Halloween (Satan’s Little Helper). Thankfully, legendary drive-in critic and movie host Joe Bob Briggs will be shining a spotlight on Lieberman during this year’s special Halloween presentation of his Shudder series The Last Drive-in with Joe Bob Briggs, a special that’s called Joe Bob’s Beelzebub Bash! The special is set to air on Friday, October 25th at 9pm Et on Shudder and AMC+ in the US & Canada.

Lieberman has confirmed that he’ll be a special guest on Joe Bob’s Beelzebub Bash – and if he’s the guest on a Halloween special,...

When it comes to Halloween slashers, John Carpenter’s Halloween still reigns supreme all these years later. Not only did it launch an enduring franchise, but it inspired a slasher craze. Of course, it’s far from the only slasher movie set around our favorite holiday.

This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to Halloween slashers beyond the Halloween franchise that similarly bring the carnage and holiday spirit in equal measure.

These slashers unleash buckets of blood (and then some), using Halloween as a stunning backdrop for the mayhem, from pumpkins galore to haunt attractions from hell.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Dark Harvest – MGM+, Prime Video

Director David Slade (30 Days of Night) and screenwriter Michael Gilio (Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves) adapt Norman Partridge’s 2006 Bram Stoker Award-winning novel Dark Harvest, unleashing Halloween carnage that upstages the barebones story.

If you are a horror fan then there is a big chance that you might have heard about the horror streaming service Shudder, and if you have its subscription you might be wondering what’s in store for you in September 2024. Don’t worry there is a host of new and old horror movies coming to the service in the upcoming month and we have listed the 10 best movies coming to Shudder in September 2024.

Candyman (September 1)

Candyman is a gothic supernatural horror film written and directed by Bernard Rose. Based on a short story titled The Forbidden by Clive Barker, the 1992 film follows the story of Helen as she investigates a local legend of the Candyman but her investigation takes a dark turn when a series of brutal murders start happening. Candyman stars Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen, Bernard Rose, Kasi Lemmons, Vanessa Estelle Williams, Xander Berkeley, Stanley DeSantis, and Ted Raimi.

Just in time for its 10th anniversary, fans of Circus of the Dead will be excited to hear that official novelization is on the way! Written by Joshua Millican, and available starting on November 26th from Encyclopocalypse Publications, pre-order links just opened and we have all the details:

Synopsis: A sadistic group of clowns kidnap an unsuspecting man and his daughters, forcing him to play a deadly game in order to save his family.

Written by Billy “Bloody Bill” Pon and Lee Ankrum, Circus of the Dead has amassed a rabid cult following in the years since its release. The film stars Bill Oberst Jr., Parrish Randall, and Chanel Ryan. A sequel was recently announced and is currently in pre-production.

The novelization was written by Joshua Millican, and has been 100% approved by “Bloody Bill”.

“I’ve been a fan of Circus of the Dead for almost as long as anyone,...

The sun is out and the screaming is about to start, because the sensational 9th Annual Tampa Bay Screams Horror Convention is set to thrill horror and movie enthusiasts once again. The convention will take place from Friday, June 28th to Saturday, June 29th at the Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center, located at 4951 78th Ave. N. in the sunny Pinellas Park/St. Petersburg, Fl.

This year’s event promises an indoor celebration of horror, sci-fi, and pop culture, offering a weekend packed with excitement for fans, collectors, and cosplay artists. The convention will be open from 5 Pm to 10 Pm on Friday and from Noon to 5 Pm on Saturday. Best of all, there is free parking available for all attendees.

The Tampa Bay Screams Horror Convention is renowned for its vibrant atmosphere and extensive lineup of activities. Attendees can look forward to meeting horror celebrities, exploring the “Dealer’s Dungeon” vendor expo hall,...

Edgar Lansbury has sadly passed away.

The Tony Award-winning producer and the younger brother of the late Angela Lansbury died on Thursday (May 3) at 94, according to his family.

Edgar died in New York City at his home in Manhattan, his son, David Lansbury, confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

Keep reading to find out more…

No cause of death was given.

Edgar Lansbury produced the popular 1974-75 Broadway revival of Gypsy, where his sister Angela won a Tony Award.

He also worked on the Broadway and film versions of Godspell, and won a Tony Award for Best Play in 1964 for his Broadway debut of The Subject Was Roses, via Deadline.

His film and television credits include Blue Sunshine, Squirm and Coronet Blue, and stage credits also include American Buffalo (1977) and Lennon (2005).

In 2007, Edgar Lansbury won the John Houseman Award from The Acting Company to honor his commitment to the development of...

Edgar Lansbury, a Tony Award-winning producer and younger brother of actress Angela Lansbury, died Thursday at age 94 at his home in Manhattan, according to his son. No cause was given.

Peggy Gordon, who played in Lansbury’s Godspell, posted the news on Facebook.

“My huge adorable and adoring Godspell family, we have now lost our surrogate daddy, Edgar Lansbury. How blessed was he to live such a full, rich, wonderful life surrounded by people who adored him. Don Scardino says there will be a memorial probably this fall. Contact any and all of your Godspell family members from all ten original companies, plus London (hi Gay) and anyone else I”ve missed. Man, if Joe Beruh was waiting for Edgar with a cigarette in his mouth, I have no doubt Edgar made Joe stomp on it. Love never dies. It’s an energy that only transmutes into matter. That’s all of us.

Edgar Lansbury, the Tony-winning producer and younger brother of famed actress Angela Lansbury who guided the Broadway and big-screen versions of The Subject Was Roses and Godspell, has died. He was 94.

He died Thursday at his home in Manhattan, his son David Lansbury told The Hollywood Reporter.

Lansbury also produced the popular 1974-75 Broadway revival of Gypsy that starred his sister in a Tony-winning turn and worked on other films including The Wild Party (1975), directed by James Ivory.

Angela Lansbury, winner of five Tony Awards and star of Murder, She Wrote, died on Oct. 11, 2022, at age 96. His twin brother, TV producer Bruce Lansbury, died in February 2017 at age 87.

Lansbury’s first Broadway production, the intense family drama The Subject Was Roses, opened in 1964, ran for two years, and won a Pulitzer Prize and the Tony for best play. Written by Frank Gilroy and directed by Ulu Grosbard, it starred Martin Sheen...

Exclusive: The world premiere of Rumana Molla’s Indo-Belgian film Minimum and the UK premiere of Indian actor Anshuman Jha’s directorial debut Lord Curzon Ki Haveli will be on show at this year’s UK Asian Film Festival (Ukaff).

Prominent figures including actors Shabana Azmi and Karisma Kapoor will be feted for their roles in Indian cinema at the annual event.

Ukaff, which says it is the longest running South Asian film festival in the world, will run its 26th edition from May 2 to 12 in venues across London, Leicester and Oxford.

Themed ‘Climate of Change,’ the festival will open with the premiere of Minimum at the BFI IMAX in London, while Lord Curzon Ki Haveli will close out the event at the Regent Street Cinema.

Indian industry veterans such as Kapoor, playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy and designer Rina Dhaka are expected to attend the closing gala in London, with...

A few decades ago, trans people in films were almost all monsters. Now they tend to be inspirational figures or the locus of tragedy. The key thing about all of these portrayals is that they’re made by outsiders who may feel sympathy but rarely have real empathy. They absorb as much for each other’s work as from research interviews, and the result is something that often feels parodic, missing the essential understanding of what trans experiences are like. Blue Sunshine was made by a woman who has been through it herself, and that shows in every fibre of the film. It cannot, of course, speak for or to everyone, but if you’ve found the subject in general hard to get your head around, this is the film that will enlighten you.

It is also, quite simply, a superb piece of cinema, and one of the highlights of the 2024 Glasgow.

Blue Sunshine Photo: Glasgow Film Festival

The past few years have seen a slew of films concerned with telling trans people’s stories – mostly focused on the process of gender transition. Some of them have enjoyed a good deal of critical and box office success, and one of two have successfully told stories that trans people themselves can relate to, but none of them really compare to new Indian contribution Blue Sunshine. Perhaps that’s because it was written and directed by someone who is trans herself. She also stars in it. On the other hand, her success is extraordinary, because she’s a complete beginner – prior to taking on this project, she had never even set foot on a film set.

I met Samyuktha Vijayan just before the 2024 Glasgow Film Festival, where Blue Sunshine is screening. We began by discussing the films that are already out there, and the narrative traits that many.

Mark Goddard, one of the stars of the classic 1960s CBS series “Lost in Space,” has died at the age of 87.

On Friday, the actor’s wife, Evelyn Pezzluich, said Goddard died on Tuesday after he was hospitalized with pneumonia. The post from Pezzluich was shared in a Facebook status by an account named “Lost In Space Remastered Blu-ray Disc Edition.”

“I’m so sorry to tell you that my wonderful husband passed away on October 10th. Several days after celebrating his 87th birthday, he was hospitalized with pneumonia,” Pezzluich’s message said. “We were hopeful when he was transferred to a rehabilitation center, but then doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis for which there is no cure.

“He received excellent care at the beautiful Pat Roche Hospice Home and was able to die peacefully and with dignity,” Pezzluich continued. “His children and I had...

Mark Goddard, known for playing Major Don West on the CBS series “Lost in Space,” died in Hingham, Mass. on Oct. 10 of pulmonary fibrosis. He was 87.

In statement posted to Facebook, Goddard’s wife, Evelyn Pezzulich, confirmed that the actor was hospitalized with pneumonia and then transferred to a rehabilitation center, where the doctors discovered he was in the final stages of pulmonary fibrosis.

Goddard’s “Lost in Space” costar Bill Mumy also confirmed his death in a Facebook statement: “R.I.P. to Mark Goddard. A truly beloved friend and brother to me for 59 years. I knew this was coming for the past few months. Shortly after a great phone chat he and I had on his 87th birthday in late July, I became aware that I would most likely never see or speak with him again. The last words we exchanged were ‘I love you.'”

“Lost in Space,...

Mark Goddard, who played Major Don West, the hot-tempered pilot of the Jupiter 2, on the 1960s CBS adventure series Lost in Space, has died. He was 87.

Goddard died Tuesday in Hingham, Massachusetts, his wife Evelyn Pezzulich told The Hollywood Reporter.

Goddard had worked as a regular on the Four Star Television series Johnny Ringo and The Detectives when he was approached by his agent about coming aboard the new Lost on Space, created and produced by Irwin Allen.

The sci-fi show revolved around the adventures of the Robinson family: Professor John Robinson (Guy Williams), his biochemist wife, Maureen (June Lockhart) and their children Judy, Penny and Will (Marta Kristen, Angela Cartwright and Billy Mumy).

Major West also was on board, as was a stowaway, Dr. Zachary Smith (Jonathan Harris), and a robot (designed by Forbidden Planet‘s Robert Kinoshita, played by Bob May and voiced by Dick Tufeld). Their space colonization mission,...

Brand new Boutique label Treasured Films follows up its inaugural release of The Last Hunter with something a little different; Jeff Lieberman’S satirical seasonal shocker Satan’S Little Helper (2004), available now from Treasuredfilms.Co.UK

It’s Halloween and nine year old Douglas (Alexander Brickel) is obsessed with playing his favourite video game ‘Satan’s Little Helper’, something he immerses himself in when his big sister Jenna (Katheryn Winnick – Vikings) comes back to visit. Before long Douglas happens upon a serial killer dressed up as the dark prince himself, and naively thinks his video game has taken on a new lifelike dimension. As the situation become deadlier, however, Douglas begins to think it may not be a game afterall as his family and all around them try and survive Halloween night from his devilish new friend.

Making its UK Blu-ray debut this satirical shocker from cult auteur Jeff Lieberman also stars...

On this episode of Daily Dead's official podcast, Scott Drebit, Derek Anderson, and Jonathan James catch up to discuss their recent viewings, including Ti West's X, Jeff Lieberman's Blue Sunshine, and a drive-in screening of Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn (written by Quentin Tarantino). The co-hosts also talk about some of their own exciting projects, including Scott's upcoming book A Cut Below: A Celebration of B Horror Movies (coming in the fall of 2023 from McFarland), as well as Jonathan James and Oliver Levang's comic book story Hell Racer, which was one of the finalists in the Platform Comics 10K Challenge!

You can listen to the new episode of Corpse Club right now on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, TuneIn, YouTube, Pandora, and SoundCloud!

Looking for more scary good Corpse Club content? Be sure to check out our Corpse Club website and memberships. Not only can you view past episodes,...

Stars: Brion James, Richard Crystal, Zalman King, Robert Walden, Mark Goddard, Charles Siebert, Stefan Gierasch, Alice Ghostley, Ray Young, Bill Adler | Written and Directed by Jeff Lieberman

Showing as part of this year’s Fantasia Midnights program, Synapse Films premiered their restoration of writer/director Jeff Lieberman’s cult favorite Blue Sunshine. The 1977 film about former hippies suffering from homicidal acid flashbacks will be getting a 4K release at an undisclosed future date, and the image quality is noticeably better than on my DVD. But, what about the actual film? Glad you asked…

Blue Sunshine begins at a party where one of the guests is doing an impersonation of Rodan. “The artist?” asks one of the guests. “No, the monster” But a real monster is about to show up as Frannie loses his wig and his mind and begins shoving guests into the fireplace.

Jerry narrowly avoids becoming his next...

Charles Siebert, a character actor who is probably best known for his role as Dr. Stanley Riverside II on “Trapper John, M.D.,” a well-liked spin-off of “M*A*S*H” that ran on CBS for seven seasons from 1979 to 1984, has died at the age of 84.

Siebert appeared on various TV shows, starting in the 1950s and through the late 1990s, when he appeared on “Xena: Warrior Princess” while also directing several episodes himself (he also directed episodes of the campion series “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”). Among the primetime shows he guest-starred on were “Murder, She Wrote,” “Dallas” and “Matlock,” alongside daytime soaps like “As the World Turns” and “One Life to Live.” He made several appearances on “The Love Boat,” including one where he played his character from “Trapper John, M.D.”

Also Read:

Maggie Peterson, ‘Andy Griffith Show’ Regular and Singer, Dies at 81

You also might remember Siebert...

In the 1970s and 1980s, shopping malls were popping up all over America, and it was only a matter of time before they became a favoured setting for horror films – where better to plunge a knife into the heart of American consumerism and idyllic suburban life? It wasn’t long before malls in the movies were crawling with supermarket creeps, rabid shoppers running amok, and masked psychos in the ventilation system, plotting to burn the shoppers’ paradises to the ground!

To celebrate the release of the ultimate mall horror, the cult 80s slasher Phantom of the Mall: Eric’s Revenge, on Limited Edition Blu-ray from Arrow Video, here are eight more mall-based chillers featuring everything from security robots running amok to Christmas shopping trips ending in complete and utter chaos.

Rabid (1977)

Canadian horror maestro David Cronenberg sets an outbreak of rabies in humans in the Cavendish Mall in Quebec, where shoppers...

[Editor's Note: Just Before Dawn celebrates its 40th anniversary on November 27th! We hope you enjoy this special edition of Let's Scare Bryan to Death that celebrates the film's 40th anniversary!]

Welcome back to Let’s Scare Bryan to Death! As you are aware from my interview with Gena Radcliffe a few months back, I’m a big fan of the Kill By Kill podcast, a show that started with a full run-through of the characters from the Friday the 13th franchise, but has since moved on to covering all sorts of well-known and deeper-cut horror movies with humor and panache. So, it was only a matter of time before I had to have a chat with Patrick Hamilton, the show’s co-host who has a knack for finding ’80s oddities that are just off the beaten path.

Of course his selection for this month, Just Before Dawn, is no exception. Ironically...

Jeff Lieberman first appeared on the horror scene in 1976 with the release of his movie Squirm. The film was well-received when it debuted, garnering praise for its special effects and pervasive atmosphere of dread. Aside from these two notable aspects, Squirm also accomplished something else that was incredibly difficult—a feat that one would have otherwise thought to be nearly impossible—it actually made worms scary. It has since gone on to become a cult classic, forever cementing Lieberman’s name into the lexicon of genre cinema.

Over the years, Lieberman would make several more films that would also draw acclaim from both fans and critics alike. With titles like Just Before Dawn, Blue Sunshine, Remote Control, and Satan’s Little Helper, he would further establish himself as a force to be reckoned with in the world of genre filmmaking.

One of Lieberman’s greatest strengths is his ability to write.

While it may not be a Friday, Tuesday the 13th does have a bit of a nice ring to it, too, which makes it a perfect day to add some great genre Blu-rays and DVDs to your home entertainment collections. Scream Factory is doing the (dark) lord’s work yet again this week with their Collector’s Edition of Vice Squad (which I cannot wait to check out) as well as their stunning Steelbooks for both Galaxy of Terror and Forbidden World.

For those of you who enjoy “talkies” (a phrase we coined in our house for our favorite dialogue-heavy films), Radioland Murders arrives on Blu for the first time ever this week, and the third season of Riverdale hits both formats on Tuesday as well.

Other notable releases for August 13th include Avengers: Endgame, The Velocipastor (ahead of its Blu-ray release on September 17th), A Dark Place, Devil Music,...

Andy Anderson, the drummer who enjoyed stints with Iggy Pop and the Cure while assisting an array of artists as a session musician, died Tuesday. He was 68.

Just last week, Anderson revealed on Facebook that he had terminal cancer. Despite the diagnosis, he wrote, “

lease, no boo hooing here, just be positive, for me it’s just another life Experience and Hurdle, that one has to make yet another Choice in life, be cool, I most definitely am and positive about the situation.”

Founding member of the Cure Lol Tolhurst...

There are some actors who aim for a sort of modest-to-Method-run-amuck realism — they want/need you to see every muscle straining in the name of disappearing into an everyman character, to prove they can turn the quotidian task of putting on socks into an elaborate tribute to commitment. There are some performers who prefer a more minimalist approach, for whom less-is-more is a mantra. And then there are others for whom no gesture is too broad or baroque, the kind who not only want to plays all the scales but...

Weird is a very comfortable word in Jeff Lieberman’s lexicon. From the night crawler nastiness of Squirm (1976) to his mountaintop massacre Just Before Dawn (1981), his films are always a little left of the norm and all the better for it. And in between those two, he decided to take a run at a paranoia thriller nursing a major ‘60s hangover, pulsating with psychotic, Kojakian ex hippies. Welcome to Blue Sunshine (1978), a film more potent than the brown acid your great uncle said he took at Woodstock. (Although he probably wasn’t even there.)

Released Stateside in May (after a stop across the pond at the BFI the previous November) by Cinema Shares International (the fine folks behind Soul Brothers of Kung Fu), Blue Sunshine’s limited run and puzzled looks from critics saw it quickly fade away into cultdom, where it resided for decades with Lieberman’s other films...

Next month will mark the return of New York City’s Quad Cinema, a theater reshaped and rebranded as a proper theater via the resources of Charles S. Cohen, head of the distribution outfit Cohen Media Group. While we got a few hints of the line-up during the initial announcement, they’ve now unveiled their first full repertory calendar, running from April 14th through May 4th, and it’s an embarassment of cinematic riches.

Including the previously revealed Lina Wertmüller retrospective, one inventive series that catches our eye is First Encounters, in which an artist will get to experience a film they’ve always wanted to see, but never have, and in which you’re invited to take part. The first match-ups in the series include Kenneth Lonergan‘s first viewing Edward Yang‘s Yi Yi, Noah Baumbach‘s first viewing of Withnail and I, John Turturro‘s first viewing of Pather Panchali,...

Want to experience higher learning in horror? From September to December, Brooklyn's Morbid Anatomy Museum will host classes on horror presented by The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. Classes will be instructed by some of the most renowned experts and artists of the genre, including Jack Ketchum (author of the seminal The Girl Next Door), Dennis Paoli (co-screenwriter of 1985's Re-Animator), and longtime horror journalist Michael Gingold.

Press Release: With successful branches in London and Montreal, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies makes its first stateside stop at Brooklyn’s Morbid Anatomy Museum with a pilot semester of horror film, literature and pop culture classes, running from September through December 2016 and featuring classes by some of the most renowned voices in horror film, fiction and criticism.

Named for the fictional university in H.P. Lovecraft’s literary mythos, The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is a community-based organization that offers...

Monster Fest festival director, Kier-La Janisse.

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Monster Fest has appointed Canadian film programmer and author Kier-La Janisse as it new festival director.

Returning to Melbourne.s Lido Cinemas for its sixth edition, Monster Fest 2016 has been scheduled for to take place from November 24-27.

Monster Fest has also announced that submissions for features, short films and expanded cinema projects open on February 26 with an early bird deadline of April 29, a regular deadline of June 3 and a final, extended deadline of August 12.

Author of the autobiographical House of Psychotic Women, Janisse comes to Monster Fest after nearly two decades of experience on the genre festival circuit, having worked for such prestigious events as Montreal.s Fantasia International Film Festival, Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX and founding Canada.s first horror film festival, CineMuerte (1999-2005) as well as co-founding revered Montreal micro-cinema Blue Sunshine..

In addition to her Monster Fest duties, Kier-La...

This has truly been a summer of sonic shocks, my creeps, and the arcane audio keeps on a-comin’. Take fer instance the groovy ghoulies that are sittin’ here right now: Ghosts in the Graveyard! I caught these crazy creatures as they tried to film some sort of music video atop my crypt. A quick love tap from my Terror Tazer™ later, and these musical monsters are my new house band! Since they’re going to be permanent “guests” around here, why not find out what makes these beastly bards tick?

Famous Monsters. What’s the low-down on Ghosts in the Graveyard, and how did you come up with yer sinister sound?

Byron. It all started many years ago. I was in the industrial band God Module, a band that while I loved being brought into and getting to add my touch here and there, ultimately wasn’t my creation. One...

Don Kaye Apr 22, 2019

For Earth Day, we look at what happens when Mother Nature gets her revenge. Here are 20 films about animals running amok.

We should always have a healthy fear and respect for nature, and especially for all the creatures great and small that inhabit this planet alongside us. But with all the abuse we heap on both them and the Earth, it would hardly be a surprise if they collectively decided one day that they had had enough of us. It’s no wonder that many sci-fi and horror films revolve around the idea of animals attacking humans -- some of them corrupted by man-made poisons like radiation, some seeking revenge, and some, perhaps the most frightening, hunting us simply because we’re there.

There’s no better example of the latter than Steven Spielberg’s masterful Jaws, but we decided to look back at 20 movies -- from...

Squirm is a cult classic, because its premise is utterly ridiculous. A town is under siege by an army of killer works, surfaced by a downed power line that apparently nobody thought to contact Aep about. Seriously, that line flopped around and spat sparks for what? Days? It didn’t set any fires, and nobody thought that it was something that probably needed to be taken care of? In all seriousness, worms are creepy little crawling assholes, and a movie about killer worms is going to make most viewers feel a little uneasy. I know it certainly had that effect on me, and based on the fact that almost 40 years later, we’re still talking about it, I have a hard time believing that I’m alone. Scream Factory’s Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of the film will serve multiple purposes. It will allow those of us old enough to remember it,...

I remember the Blue Sunshine VHS sitting on my parent’s shelf right in between The Big Chill and M.A.S.H. Like most of my parents video selections, I regarded it as some boring adult crap about feelings and relationships. I asked my parents at some point what the film was about, being slightly intrigued by the trippy box cover. “Grown-up hippies”, my mom replied. That was the last thing I wanted to watch during my teens years. Thus, I returned to my gory slashers and forgot about Blue Sunshine until many years later. What my parents neglected to tell me is that Blue Sunshine may be about hippies who are all grown-up, but it is also a disturbing little horror flick!

Trip on this: In 1978, several people begin displaying extremely strange and homicidal behavior. After exhibiting symptoms of hair loss and headaches, victims go into a homicidal rage.

Stars: Don Scardino, Patricia Pearcy, R.A. Dow, Jean Sullivan, Peter MacLean, Fran Higgins | Written and Directed by Jeff Lieberman

The 70s was, shall we say, an “interesting” time in cinema. Whilst mainstream Hollywood was churning out some of its most revered movies – The Godafather, The Exorcist, Mean Streets, and pretty much the entire oeuvre of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola – low-budget cinema and in particular genre movies were exploring very different cultural avenues.

Whilst we had the likes of Night of the Living Dead, which explored soci-cultural issues, using the genre as a metaphor for much bigger “stories”, we also had the birth of the slasher movie boom in John Carpenter’s Halloween. Yet slipped somewhere in between was a strange sub-genre: the nature-run-amok film. Jaws, Piranha, Killer Bees, The Swarm, Grizzly, Day of the Animals, Kingdom of the Spiders, Phase Four, Bug; the animals ran rampant and so did zoological horror…...

During my years at McGill, I decided to stray from studying the sciences and take my love of cinema more seriously: I turned my mind towards Cultural Studies and spent my early twenties relishing in Canadian cinema, slasher films, the French New Wave, Godard’s wonderfully bizarre oeuvre, and the philosophy of film.

It’s been three years since I decided to take my career down a different path, turning towards my other major in anthropology. Right after obtaining my fancy arts degree and wanting nothing to do with, well, anything anymore, I began looking for alternatives to my film studies courses and Bazin quoting peer community. I was looking to re-ignite my passion for the screen; from the cerebral to the heart and back.

Thus, I began volunteering for film festivals, but found myself wanting and in need of more starch in my film diet. Since I’d turned...

While we’e been covering many of the Scream Factory releases for our Us readers, Arrow Video has been releasing horror classics in the UK for a while now and they recently announced their next set of Blu-ray releases. Take a look at release details, cover art, and bonus features for The Fall of the House of Usher, Lifeforce, Deranged, and Squirm. We’ve also included details for Motel Hell, which we covered earlier this week.

Motel Hell: “It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent fritters!” cackle the brother-and-sister team behind the finest smoked meats in the county. They also run the friendly Motel Hello (the ‘o’ in the neon sign sometimes goes on the blink), and no matter how many times you’ve seen Psycho or The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, you can be sure that everything will be perfectly above board here as Vincent...

There are quite a few practical reasons why so many films from the slasher genre's golden era (late '70s, early '80s) are set in the deep woods: the locations are usually just a matter of finding a suitably creepy local park, film permits usually aren't a concern, and lighting & camera setups are often easier to accomplish than they would on interior locations or sets. But for my money, the backwoods make for some of the creepiest environments for survival horror and suspense, ever since the 1971 classic Deliverance had audiences squealing like pigs. By 1981, Jeff Lieberman had already established himself as a director of unique and entertaining horror films; his bizarre conspiracy thriller Blue Sunshine is a cult classic today, and his gruesome worm-invasion flick Squirm established his skill with queasy horror in a rural setting. Lieberman's horror output thinned out considerably in the years to follow, but he...

Hey everyone! Jeff here with a very special post… This one isn’t a movie review (at least not in the classic sense), nor is it in any way related to a podcast or a film festival… Nope, this post is my contribution to the Liberal Dead Staff’s “Movies To Watch Around Halloween” series.

If you can’t tell, October is my favorite month of the year; not just because it is when the Toronto After Dark Film Festival takes place, but because it’s home to my favorite holiday – Halloween – and it’s the one month out of the year where “normal” society seems to be okay with all things horror-related. But, then again, I’m sure you all understand that sentiment, so I’m likely preaching to the choir here… As such, I won’t waste any time explaining my reason for jumping in on the fun of list-making.

The definition of a slasher film varies depending on who you ask, but in general, it contains several specific traits that feed into the genre’s formula. Author Vera Dika rather strictly defines the sub-genre in her book Games of Terror by only including films made between 1978 and 1984. In other words, she saw it as a movement. When someone describes Brick, they don’t define it as a noir, but instead neo-noir . In other words, it’s a modern motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in those from the 1940s and 1950s. So does one consider Scream a slasher film or a neo-slasher, or simply put, a modern slasher?

Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.

Let's face it, Kier-La Janisse is a force to be reckoned with.

Over the past 15 years, she has created the CineMuerte Horror Film Festival (Vancouver, BC, 1999–2005); founded the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies as well as the Blue Sunshine Psychotronic Film Center, Montreal's coolest micro-cinema (2010–2012); and programmed for the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema (Austin, TX, 2003–2007). That's in addition to working for the Fantasia International Film Festival (Montreal, QC), being the subject of the documentary Celluloid Horror (Ashley Fester, 2004), writing A Violent Professional: The Films of Luciano Rossi (published by Fab Press) and contributing articles for Filmmaker magazine, Fangoria and Rue Morgue, among others. And this extensive list is only the tip of the iceberg that is this woman's achievements.

I first met Kier-La in 2009 when she generously agreed to contribute to my Bloody Breasts documentary webseries by letting me interview her amid the craziness that is the Fantasia Film Festival – she...

Interested in watching cult classics Squirm, Blue Sunshine, and Just Before Dawn on the big screen? How about with director Jeff Lieberman in attendance? You’re in luck if you live in the NYC area or are interested in traveling. The screenings will be taking place this weekend and we have all the details.

The event will take place at the Anthology Film Archives on August 17, 18, and 19 and is presented by Cinema Retro Magazine and David Savage.

Squirm – by Jeff Lieberman – 1976, 92 minutes, 35mm

The undisputed king of killer worm movies! Set in hot, humid, and creepy rural Georgia, Squirm traces the havoc that ensues when downed power lines pump electricity into the soil, creating an army of vicious, deadly earthworms. Despite its over-the-top premise, Squirm is a masterpiece of slow build-up, patiently and enjoyably establishing its characters and its atmospheric milieu…before unleashing the hordes!

Screening Details: Friday 8/17 at 7:00pm,...

By David Savage

One of the most idiosyncratic and inventive voices of genre filmmaking to emerge in the 1970s was Jeff Lieberman (born 1947), whose three best known films, Squirm (1976) Blue Sunshine (1978) and Just Before Dawn (1981) have become classics of horror and sci-fi. Cited as an influence on such directors as Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino (the latter lists Squirm as an essential viewing if he’s to take you seriously), Lieberman’s filmmaking captures the low-budget resourcefulness of Roger Corman and combines it with a singular point of view -- one that seems both quirky and at times, deliriously demented.

Here at Cinema Retro, these are exactly the types of directors we enjoy tipping our hat to. So I’m excited to announce that I’ve organized a tribute to Lieberman built around these three films with the generous participation and hosting of Anthology Film Archives in New York City,...

Rachel Weisz is one spectacularly talented actress. She doesn’t get the award accolades of Meryl Streep, but she’s as good. She doesn’t get the hubba-hubba comments of Jessica Biel, but she’s as beautiful. And she doesn’t get the high profile, big budget blockbuster roles of Kristen Stewart, but she’s, well, she’s older. Her latest film is sumptuous period drama, The Deep Blue Sea, that finds her playing a young wife trapped in an unexciting marriage to an esteemed judge. A chance meeting with a Raf pilot (Tom Hiddleston) leads to a tumultuous affair that may very well be the end of her. Music Box Films released the film on Blu-ray/DVD earlier this week, and in addition to the highly acclaimed film itself the disc includes commentary from director Terence Davies, two special ‘making-of’ features and interviews with Weisz and Hiddleston. Keep reading to see how you can win a...

The 16th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and thrills starting July 19 and running all the way through August 7. Read on for the latest!

The full 2012 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed next month, and we've got all the preliminary details for you below!

Fantasia Proudly Presents The World Premiere Launch Of A Unique, All-star Travelling Art Show

If They Came From Within: An Alternative History of Canadian Horror Movies

Cinematheque Quebecoise, July 20– July 29

Opening gala July 20, 5Pm

Imagine an alternative universe of Canadian horror movies that didn’t get made, couldn’t get made and maybe even shouldn’t get made… but we’d still love to see.

Rue Morgue magazine Editor-in-Chief Dave Alexander brings together some of Canada and Quebec’s most celebrated genre filmmakers with some of the country’s best...

Last year, director Jeff Lieberman (Just Before Dawn, Squirm) came up to hang with me at the Toronto International Film Festival. Over lunch, our banter turned to a shared love of Rod Serling’s immortal The Twilight Zone and to my surprise, Lieberman told me that, way back in 1972, he had worked with Serling. Lieberman was working with the Janus Films people on a series called “The Art of Film” and the very, very young future Blue Sunshine helmer had the task of sitting down with Serling, directing his narration for the show.

Read more...

Last year, director Jeff Lieberman (Just Before Dawn, Squirm) came up to hang with me at the Toronto International Film Festival. Over lunch, our banter turned to a shared love of Rod Serling’s immortal The Twilight Zone and to my surprise, Lieberman told me that, way back in 1972, he had worked with Serling. Lieberman was working with the Janus Films people on a series called “The Art of Film” and the very, very young future Blue Sunshine helmer had the task of sitting down with Serling, directing his narration for the show.

Read more...

Though best known as a pioneer in the straight-to-cable softcore sex industry with his long-running Showtime series Red Shoe Diaries, Zalman King began his long career as an actor and had several interesting cult film credits. Born Zalman King Lefkowitz, King began his career acting on TV in the .60s. In 1978, King starred in Blue Sunshine, a weird ‘Hippies Revenge’ shocker from director Jeff Lieberman about Stanford University students who drop bad acid resulting in 10-year delayed homicidal freakouts. In Trip With The Teacher (1974), King played the scuzzy leader of a group of bikers who terrorize a group of female students after their bus breaks down in the desert. Other notable acting credits included the Corman Alien knockoff Galaxy Of Terror (1981) and the bizarre Jesus conspiracy film The Passover Plot (1976).

With a wiry, intense persona as an actor, Zalman King excelled in villain roles, but went behind the camera beginning...

Some sad news has come in: Producer, director, and screenwriter Zalman King, age 69, died this morning at his Santa Monica, California, home following a six-year battle with cancer. While best known for his erotically-charged projects like 9 1/2 Weeks, "Red Shoe Diaries," and Wild Orchid, King did dip his toes into the horror genre on more than one occasion.

He got his start as an actor in the 60's and 70's (this writer being a big fan of his back in those days) but gained the most notoriety for writing, producing, and directing the aforementioned titles. His genre-related performances included appearances on the small screen in "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour" back in 1964 and "The Munsters" in 1965 as well as the feature films Saint Francis, Galaxy of Terror, Blue Sunshine, and Trip with the Teacher.

In his later career King focused on documentaries about musicians, directing films about country singers Willie Nelson and...

Actor-director-producer-screenwriter Zalman King, among whose credits are "scandalous" sex dramas such as Nine 1/2 Weeks, Two Moon Junction, and Wild Orchid, died of cancer earlier today. King reportedly was 69 years old. Born Zalman Lefkovitz in Trenton, New Jersey, King began his show business career as an actor, appearing in small roles and bit parts in about 20 television shows during the 1960s, including Gunsmoke, The Man from the U.N.C.L.E., Bonanza, and The Munsters. In the '70s and early '80s, he had supporting roles and a handful of leads in about a dozen movies, among them James B. Harris' provocative variation on the Sleeping Beauty theme, Some Call It Loving (1973), with Carol White; Jeff Lieberman's horror thriller Blue Sunshine (1975), as an innocent man accused of murdering several women; and Lee Grant's family drama Tell Me a Riddle (1980), starring Melvyn Douglas and Lila Kedrova. In the early '80s,...

For the horror buff, Fall is the best time of the year. The air is crisp, the leaves are falling and a feeling of death hangs on the air. Here at Sound on Sight we have some of the biggest horror fans you can find. We are continually showcasing the best of genre cinema, so we’ve decided to put our horror knowledge and passion to the test in a horror watching contest. Each week in October, Ricky D, James Merolla and Justine Smith will post a list of the horror films they have watched. By the end of the month, the person who has seen the most films wins. Prize Tbd.

Justine Smith (9 viewings) Total of 40 viewings

Purchase

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Directed by Tobe Hooper

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is one of the best horror films ever made, in competition with Possession, The Exorcist, The Birds and Suspiria.

The Film:

This film is a classic from the late seventies indie horror scene. Blue Sunshine starts with a group of people having fun at a party. While singing a duet Frannie Scott’s (Billy Crystal’s brother) wig get’s pulled off revealing a bald head with long tufts of hair speckling his scalp, which teamed with his crazy eyes make for a very scary and psychotic looking killer. It turns out this is not an isolated incident, more people are suffering from the same affects as Frannie; hair loss, headaches and finally psychosis. Jerry Zipkin (Zalman King) is an innocent man on the run from the police, trying to put together what these people have in common. As he digs deeper and deeper he starts to piece together the clues, such as everyone that is affected is a graduate from Stanford and all from the same time, also...