I often think about how things might have been different if we had the internet and social media back in the day. But what if the teenagers in one of the most iconic horror movies of all time had social media?” What if the Nightmare on Elm Street kids had Facebook? What would that be like for Freddy Krueger’s Elm Street children? Here’s a look at the Elm Street Kids’ Facebook timeline — a modernization — taking place in 2016 Springwood, Ohio as their nightmares about the Springwood Slasher unfold.
Get ready because it’s time for some good ol’ fashioned Halloween holiday boozin’
Check out these 6 spooktacular Halloween Cocktail Recipes this Halloween. There are a handful of party favorites here, and TWO 40oz. Of Horror originals!
Oh, and these drinks are LOADED, so don’t come crying to me if you have a night of #BoozinGoneBad…
Ingredients:
2 oz. Dark Rum
1/2 oz. Dry Vermouth
2 Black Olives
Orange Sugar (optional for the rim)
Directions:
Pro Tip: Here’s how to chill a martini glass in a pinch. Before you start mixing the drink, fill your martini glasses to the brim with ice water and set them aside.
Ok, we’re ready for the ‘tini. Pour the rum and vermouth into a shaker over a handful of ice. Now shake the shaker until it becomes very cold. Dump the ice water out of the martini glasses. Are they frosted? Good. Now strain the bloody concoction into the now chilled martini glass, and garnish with the black olive.
Ingredients:
10 ounces Crystal Head vodka
5 ounces Triple Sec
2 ounces Bitters
1 cup Fresh Squeezed Blood Orange Juice
2 cups Black Cherry Soda
Grenadine for the Rim
Directions:
Frist of all, if you’re not using Crystal Head vodka, Dan Aykroyd won’t be happy. In a large punch bowl filled with ice, pour vodka, triple sec, bitters, blood orange juice and black cherry soda.
Chomp your teeth and stir the concoction like you’re hungry for human brains. Rim each glass with grenadine before filling with the punch mixture, and serve. Drink and hope for the best. Boozy!
Ingredients:
1 1/4 oz. Strawberry Vodka
1/8 oz. Rose’s Lime Juice
3/4 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream
Splash of Grenadine
Directions:
This one requires some finesse, so listen up, Timothy! Chill the vodka for better smoothness. Add vodka and lime juice to a shaker, shake and strain into a shot glass. Using a straw, dip some Bailey’s Irish Cream into the shot. Once you submerge the straw into the Bailey’s put your finger on top of the straw to hold the Bailey’s in the straw. Dip the straw tip into the vodka and slowly release your top finger. This is some real Martha Stewart, crafty business here, Bub. The Bailey’s will curdle a little bit due to the lime juice and you should be able to make strands of the cream. Repeat the straw/Bailey’s process to build a “brain” in the shot glass. Add a splash of grenadine to the concoction to add the ‘blood’ to the mix.
Now shoot it down your throat like a bloody-brain-bullet.
Ingredients:
1/2 ounce White Rum
1 1/2 ounces Golden Rum
1 ounce Dark Rum
1/2 ounce 151-Proof Rum
1 ounce Lime Juice
1 teaspoon Pineapple Juice
1 teaspoon Papaya Juice
1 teaspoon Superfine Sugar
Directions:
All the rums, son! Stir together all these ingredients except the 151 and pour into a 14-ounce glass three-fourths full of cracked ice. Float the 151 as a lid (by pouring it into a spoon and gently dipping it under the surface of the drink). Then, if the spirit moves you, take a match to this mixture; it will burn. Be careful here, Philip, don’t go getting yourself a million views on YouTube because flaming alcohol is only funny when it happens to other people.
Garnish with mint (either straight or dipped in lime juice and then superfine sugar) and/or fruit. (A particularly fetching touch: On a toothpick, impale a lemon slice or pineapple cube between two maraschino cherries and lay this fruit kabob atop of the drink).
A couple of these and you will be knocked on your ass like you got in a fight with Rick Grimes.
Ingredients:
1/2 – 3/4 oz. Peach Schnapps
1-2 Tbl. of Baileys
1 tsp Grenadine
Directions:
Pour the Peach Schnapps into a good sized shot glass. Float the Baileys on top of the Schnapps. Pour the grenadine through the Baileys and watch it drip down. If it looks disgusting as fuck, you made this drink to perfection. Drink and let your brain explode.
1. 40oz. Of Horror’s Very Own Jason Takes Manhattan
Ingredients:
2 oz Old Grand-dad 114
1/2 oz Sweet Vermouth
2-3 dashes Angostura Bitters
2 Bacardi 151 Cherries
Directions:
This is a 40oz. of Horror original, so watch out! And if anyone ever tells you a Manhattan is a cocktail for grannies’s, tell them, “Piss off!” They probably can’t handle bourbon anyway. Also, tell ’em your granny is Pamela Voorhees.
2 – 5 days before you plan on serving this wondrous cocktail, put cherries in a jar and fill up the jar with Bacardi 151. Seal it up and put it in your refrigerator.
When it’s time to get fucking weird, pour the Old Grand-dad 114, sweet vermouth, and bitters into a shaker over a handful of ice.
“Damn,” you say as the 114 proof Old Grand-dad fills your nostrils, “we’re in for a fun night!”
Now shake that shit. Shake it until the shaker is so cold it hurts your hands! Strain the booze into a chilled cocktail glass and plop in a couple of the aforementioned 151 cherries.
Tell your friends, “Goodnight!” and drink it like a boss.
BONUS #1 – A 40oz. Of Horror Hangover Cure – The Bloody Motherfucking Mary
It should be noted that Bub and I actually made the three Bloody Marys shown here. Click on the Instagram link and see for yourself. We went to the store and bought all this shit specifically to make the most epic Bloody Marys known to man.
Ingredients:
1.5 ounces of Bacon & Cucumber Infused Vodka Hoosier Momma Bloody Mary Mix (I like the Spicy Hot version)
1 Strip of Cooked Bacon
1 Peperoncini
3 Cocktail Onions
2 Garlic Stuffed Olives
1 Baby Corn
1 Smoked Oysters
1 Whole Pickle
1 Cocktail Shrimp
3 – 4 Monterey Jack Cheese Cubes
1 Jalopeno
3 – 4 Pepperonis
1 Red Onion (roughly chopped)
1 Olive-Wrapped
1 Anchovie
1 Spring Onion
1 Lime Wedge
1 Celery Stalk
Directions:
If you currently have a hangover, I appologize for making you read through, and shop for, all those ingredients, but stick with me. You’ll be cured in no time!
Fill a pint glass about 3/4 of the way full with ice cubes. Pour in the vodka and enough of the Bloody Mary mix to get you close to the top. Don’t forget that we’re about to unleash the most ingredients you’ve ever used in your entire life, so leave some room for water displacement (I learned that shit from Mr. Wizard). Mix the the bloody by pouring the mixture, ice and all, into an empty pint glass and then back again. Ok, you’re good to begin garnishing.
Go ahead and put the big celery stalk and spring onions in first. Look at that green pop! Classic blood right there. Time to get real weird. Using wooden skewers, begin stabbing the shit out of all the smaller veggies, cheese and meats. Think about them like mini kabobs. Think about the flavors you like together. Add the skewers to the drink. Now you should have a number of kabob “fingers” sticking out of the glass. Use them to hold your lager ingredients in place. Give everything a quick squirt of lime and add the lime wedge to the pile. Dangle the bacon out of the glass. Find a good spot for that smoked oyster. Don’t forget about that big pickle. Hang cocktail shrimp from the rim of the glass and so on and so on. You will DEFINITELY need a straw for this drink.
Sip and relax. Not only will this epic Bloody Mary recipe get you feeling human again after a night of #BoozinGoneBad, but your appetite should start coming back and it really turns into a meal. The salty, spicy, greasy goodness of all the ingredients will have you back to your old self in no time!
BONUS #2 – And if you’re feeling especially froggy…
Check out this recipe from the Tipsy Bartender. It is based on The Walking Dead and it’s guaranteed to make you a walking corpse.
What is your favorite cocktail recipe? Have you tried any of these. Let us know if the comments section below.
Updated October 2, 2016: After having viewed the true Hollywood classic of the original (yet again), The Birds, there were a few interesting notes to take away from it that passed me by before; notes which contribute to elements of The Birds II: Land’s End. Tippi Hedren’s character of Helen in the film works at a general store and helps the townspeople in time of crisis. Interestingly, the waitress who helped nurse Melanie’s wound in the restaurant in the original, was named Helen. I feel this could be a definite homage to a secondary character that provides aid, only this time instead of a restaurant, it’s at a store. Secondly, and most eyebrow raising, is that Melanie explains to Mitch midway through the film that her Mother left them and found some guy out East. Taking into the consideration the timeframe of both films, and that the sequel does take place on the East coast, that Tippi’s Helen character would be Melanie Daniel’s half-sister. I realize this is a stretch but the elements are clearly there to connect both films and I feel that it supports my feeling that the original script/screenplay by Ken and Jim Wheat, as well as Robert Eisele, were trying to take the film seriously and give something to fans of the Hitchcock classic. At this point, it is all up to interpretation, but I most certainly will continue to enjoy the film through my theories here because you just never know.
Originally Published on 40oz. Of Horror Published by Jeff T. Smith on November 16, 2014
There are three all-time classic horror movies that my Mom loves: Psycho, Halloween and The Birds. Growing up amidst my array of The Real Ghostbusters, Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, these were the three horror movies I knew about and got to see. Terrified, I secretly knew one day I could see myself enjoying more of this genre. The early 90s were not that impressive among even the best of horror fans and by 1994, the horror genre itself was pretty well dead. Sure there was Jason Goes To Hell or Phantasm III, but the spark that made the 80s so renowned was most definitely extinguished. Still, on that Fall day in 1994, when I visited our local Waterdown Jumbo Video, I remember the excitement my Mom had on when we saw The Birds II: Land’s End on the New Release Wall. By that time, I was head over heels for movies like Jurassic Park and had just gotten to see all the Jaws and Aliens movies. A new trek into the world of killer birds was just what I needed.
“My character in this film is not at all similar to Melanie Daniels … I play someone completely new.”
What we didn’t know by that time was that this sequel was already despised by those genre fans who watched it upon its original Showtime Cable Network Broadcast in March 1994. We didn’t know that the final version was so disappointing to Halloween II director Rick Rosenthal that he took his name right off the film, opting to use the Alan Smithee label instead. The film, set 30 years after the Alfred Hitchcock original, picks up on the East Coast (instead of the West Coast). The story revolves around Ted and Mary Hocken (Brad Johnson and ‘The Last Boy Scout’s Chelsea Field) and their two young daughters who take a summer break on Gull Island. The family is dealing with the loss of their son after a freak vehicle accident. The after match being Ted’s instability in maintaining his career as a Biology Teacher and Mary switching jobs to the Island Newspaper. So far so good right? The movie has a compelling family tale to get behind and how will they deal with the threat of this wildlife gone awry. I’ll proudly admit right now that I enjoyed this movie but would not have enjoyed it as much if not for the return of original Birds star Tippi Hedren. Melanie Daniels returns! Well, not really. Even in the original script draft, writers Ken & Jim Wheat did not have Melanie returning prior to any commitments by the actress herself. Instead, Hedren portrays local Helen Matthews, owner of the proverbial General Store and privy to all happenings of Gull Island. For a smaller role, Hedren still delivered here bringing that much needed class and value to the story and segue for new viewers from the original. In my own childhood mind, and my Mom enjoyed this aspect, I made believe Helen was Melanie having gone through extensive psychiatric therapy to overcome the horrors of her past and start life anew. Sadly, Hedren herself confirmed in Fangoria #130 (which covered The Birds II) that “My character in this film is not at all similar to Melanie Daniels … I play someone completely new.”
Check out this original 1994 Showtime commercial spot
So it’s a Made-for-TV movie and has that mid-90s yawn factor at certain points but it also mixes up the internal family drama by having Mary get up-close and personal with her new boss Frank (James Naughton) and includes the stereotypical Lighthouse keeper (Jan Rubes) warning of the evils brought forth by mankind’s treatment of nature. Spoiler alert – they kill off the Family Dog Scout when he heroically protects the youngest daughter from a vicious Bird attack. You can also look closely at one of the Mayor’s lackeys because its none other than I Know What You Did Last Summer’s Muse Watson. The Birds II is also more grisly than its predecessor right from the opening scene where a marine biologist is brutally attacked complete with eye gouges. Not only were optical effects utilized, but this film also brings the animatronics into the forefront. Why do I mention this? Because nowadays, every filmmaker and his mother would probably use CGI. It’s a damn shame that the pinch of penny now forces people to opt for CGI over the real thing so-to-speak. The animatronics were provided here by Kevin Brennan (Return of the Living Dead III) and his special effects team.
The Birds II: Land’s End is a total guilty pleasure
Total guilty pleasure or the fact that it is now so rarely seen, or available, that I still love pulling this movie from my VHS archives and plugging it in. I am so much a fan that a few years back when I had the opportunity to meet Tippi Hedren at Horrorhound, I didn’t ask her about the original, I asked her about The Birds II! Many interviews have taken place with Hedren having a sour reflection on this film, but she maintained a positive light as she told me that she had no plans to make Helen be Melanie and it was a nostalgic return to a movie that helped define her career. So far, MCA Universal Home Video has kept this loathed entry tucked away in the archives with only this original VHS release in 1994. Scoring only a 2.8/10 on IMDB, I have no doubt many of you out there who are familiar with this are unilaterally cheering ‘GOOD!’ Not I, in fact, I would welcome a DVD or Blu-Ray release with some special features documenting the production and post-production debacles that made this film what it is. The majority of my horror friends don’t have a clue this film even exists until I show them the VHS sitting in my collection. For any true, open-minded collector, I recommend revisiting The Birds II: Land’s End because remember, “Man may own the land, but the birds … they own the world.”
Palmer, Randy. (1994) The Flap Over The Birds II. FANGORIA. New York, USA: Starlog Communications International, Inc. www.Fangoria.com
I wanted to revisit the Halloween costumes our generation wore during the golden era of Halloween in the 1980s and 90s. Our costumes were nothing less than battle armor that protected us as we ventured into the darkness in search of every illuminated porch light in town. They transformed us into 4-foot-tall elite trick-or-treating, candy-eating, smell-my-feeting machines. So here they are:
The 9 Halloween costumes you KNOW you wore as a kid
[Readers, I recommend that you see the film first to avoid spoilers contained in the following article but it is up to you as this analysis is meant to raise questions and perspective to your viewing experience.]
Gestalt psychology was based around set patterns and the perception of these patterns. It was how the viewer perceived that specific pattern that could give insight to their inner conflicts. Goat made its limited theatrical release back on September 23rd and is currently available on iTunes. The film deals with the repercussions of individuals who fall into a set pattern. The pattern here is the controversial ordeal of “hazing.” A long time tradition found on campus grounds where a Fraternity would rush junior pledges through a series of obstacles all so they could get a chance to join that Frat house a.k.a. Brotherhood. The depth of the rush week tradition, and the series of events that occur, are much harsher than a simple prank all in the name of good fun.
Not meant to be fun
Goat, directed by Andrew Neel, written by David Gordon Green, Andrew Neel and Mike Roberts, based off of the memoir book by Brad Land and produced by James Franco, is exactly the trip through the deep, dark and horrific depths of that life. There is no fun to be had while viewing this film and nor is it meant to be. The movie opens with a distorting and eerie shot showing a group of frat boys, in a semi-circle, yelling and looking down towards something or someone off-camera though we do not see exactly what they are directing their attention to. The speed is slow and the sounds are ruffled, with only the tense atmospheric music by Arjan Miranda to tell the audience that they are going to embark on a serious ride through something beyond rationale comprehension. This shot is very important to the overall story arc that will come into play much later though this specific scene will not.
The viewer is introduced to Brad (Ben Schnetzer, Warcraft: The Beginning and Pride) who is getting a glimpse at frat house life by attending a party by Phi Sigma Mau; a fraternity currently co-headed by his older brother Brett (Nick Jonas, Scream Queens and Careful What You Wish For). The spectacle of the party and the exhibitions by intoxicated college girls seem too good to be true, and Brad is shown to be reserved and respectful; his soul pure and will not engage in the harder side of the party ala drugs. Brad leaves the party alone, since Brett decided to stay at the house in favor of hooking up with one of the intoxicated girls, and offers aid to two guys who need a ride. Brad’s innocence puts him into jeopardy here when the two guys lure him onto a dark, country road and proceed to bludgeon him; robbing him of not just his belongings but his very being.
This introduction is central to establishing the fracture that weakens Brad’s own psyche. The audience is cleverly let into this character’s state through the visual of a selfie Brad has taken with his face badly beaten and bruised but with the cracks of the cell phone screen over top of him. The cracks stand not just in the literal but the figurative sense and we will see when he updates a picture later on how this changes.
Brad decides that he will join Brett and the other Fraternity members that following school year. We are introduced to Fraternity head Chance (Gus Halper, Power) who genuinely welcomes Brad to partake in the activities. While Brett is happy to see his brother pursuing the path to the frat house, he also has reservations that perhaps Brad won’t be able to handle it especially having gone through a traumatic experience. We are also briefly introduced to Will (Danny Flaherty, The Americans and Skins (2011)) as Brad’s roommate who instantly wants to join the fraternity as his chance at social acceptance. Will is the archetype for the average student who is not the most popular but will push himself and risk his own personal wellbeing for that opportunity to just be normal. Could be considered that Will is another depiction of Brad’s conscience and what might have been if not for his fortunate genes, guidance of his older brother, and his own haunting experience.
(Continue article after the video)
Hell Week for the Goat
Before “Hell Week” commences, which is the one initial week where all pledges (nicknamed “Goats”) will be tasked by the fraternity, there is a very important scene where Chance sits with Brett and Brad in a private study, complete with Cuban cigars. Where the audience was first lead to believe Chance is going to be the antagonist of the story, we see that he is actually rejected by his own Father and relies on the acceptance of his frat brothers and that lifestyle. The filmmakers here have not only created sympathy for the lead character, but also a secondary character that one would easily have otherwise being stereotyped.
Former Fraternity leader, and now alumni of 15 years, Mitch (James Franco, 127 Hours and The Spider-Man Trilogy) arrives on the scene to check out the house and is instantly welcomed by the current class. Mitch’s involvement in the film, however minimal, plays one of the most significant symbolic roles. We learn that he is married with a wife and children who are waiting for him back home after his visit. What began as a simple stop eventually led to Mitch sticking around for a house party complete with the booze and raucous antics. He meets Brad and engages in a psycho-therapeutic exchange of slaps and punches. This releases something within Brad while satisfying Mitch. Mitch is a man who seems to have gone to have a successful career yet comes back and cannot resist the temptation of overindulging in alcohol, reliving his youth, and reliving the violent tendencies that had once existed. It’s his fixation to still feel wanted, despite having a family who loves him back home, that brings him back. This is the damage caused by joining the Fraternity in the first place but the viewer does not yet know exactly what Mitch represents. Mitch is similar to a soldier reliving war time because he cannot escape it no matter how recognized a veteran he may be.
Hell Week for the Goat
Duality plays a major role in the film as each character deals with internal conflict. The hazing begins on the goats, and when it does, Chance is no longer the empathetic being we saw him as, but rather a leader and instigator of torture. Even Brett lives up the ritual and joins his frat brothers in the antics. The audience is lured into this mistreatment much the same way Brad and Will are, and the film asks whether or not we are ready to experience the hell week just as the characters do. As the goats are lined up, a senior frat member Dixon (Jake Picking, Dirty Grandpa) serves as the drill sergeant. During the initiation, he makes a point to tell the goats that he does not want to see them as individuals but as one unit combined together. This line dialogue is key to the allusion of the fear and eventual long-term damage to the mind.
In many ways, the parallels between the military soldiers and the fraternity members are brought forward all throughout the movie. Once Brett begins to see the disturbing effects and grotesque displays of testosterone fueled bullying, he questions the value and what drives one to want to be part of this society. We get a scene where Dixon goes to Brett and when questioned, he basically tells Brett that because they went through it, they have to put the new pledges through that or worse. Once again, the audience sees the duality as the terrifying sergeant Dixon has let his guard down for one moment to show that he is still dealing with his own initiation from years past.
Unfortunately for Will…
Goat engulfs the viewer into the underground pledge world, wisely set in the underground for that matter, when the fraternity takes the pledges into the basement. This sequence depicts one of the most horrific elements of the film, where the pledges are brutalized by gang-violence and forced intoxication. It might be fun, however disturbing for the audience to see the crimes committed in a Rob Zombie film such as The Devil’s Rejects, but these are not backwoods maniacs out for slaughter – these are all kids, getting an education, and engaging in dark acts. On the bright side, drinking heavily and partying seems to be the perfect way to kick back and let loose, but now the same bottles are used as weapons; not the bottles themselves but the liquid inside. Constantly bombarded with various drinks while doing challenge after challenge, it makes the audience put their own drink down and think to themselves about the hurtful reality and poison that can be put into their systems. Unfortunately for Will, he throws up after one too many, and is penalized and put into a cage. The events that immediately follow this are disgusting. Trapped in the cage like an animal, the fraternity boys then gather around and urinate on him, beating the cage, pouring alcohol and other food and whatnot substances down onto the trapped student. This degradation rapes Will of any dignity he once had. He is not penetrated in a sexual way, but in an emotional and psychiatric context for which one cannot recover from. No matter how strong one may be, the thought of being on the receiving end of that treatment: dazed, confused, intoxicated, vying for acceptance – all these things remain in the regions of the brain. Will woke the next morning with his fellow pledges, cleans himself off, and goes about the day but the stress it took, and subsequent actions by the fraternity, leads to a deadly result.
Brad constantly questions his own strength and manhood, even to his brother, as to why he did not fight back during the assault, and enduring this treatment of exercises is his way of overcoming those doubts. He needs to be there just like the current frat boys because to him, he has lost everything. Much in the same way Mitch had become co-dependent on the addiction of receiving violent treatment as a way of bonding; Brad also goes about punching his fellow pledges when asked. Brett realizes the danger that Brad has gotten himself into; not only has this caused tension between two brothers, but tension among the fraternity.
After a tragic situation where in the fraternity is jeopardized, Brett is able to make the conscious decision to do the right thing. Remember, it was Brett who chose to go back to the party rather than accompany his brother home that night. Thus, Brett has been haunted by his own guilt and self-doubt whether he had made the right choices. Being party to the new pledge activities further opened his eyes to the monsters that lurked inside him and his frat brothers. While they all considered it ritual, and right- of-passage, it was in fact inherently evil. This film was not about good and bad though, it was about good people doing bad things while striving to meet the standards of a social norm. Chance, Dixon, and the rest of the fraternity are stripped of their power and reveal what true damaged and misguided individuals they are once they have nothing.
In the closing moments, Brad and Brett return home and Brad is given the opportunity by local authorities to see a line-up of potential suspects that may have assaulted him. Brad is unable to identify the individual and even Brett wonders if Brad had intentionally let the guy off the hook. Brad simply replies “They all looked the same.” Despite escaping and overcoming the ordeals of pledging a fraternity, Brad sees nothing more than one unit. Dixon had said he wanted to see the goats as not individuals but as one unit, and the establishing shot of the film now reveals itself as we are the receiving end of the bullying and how it is all perceived as one, one unit, one group, one traumatic memory. Gone is the distinction of an individual’s humanity and they are simply a lost soul forever scarred.
The film works as an independent feature because it immediately sets the tone and through the editing, be it close ups and expressions on faces, to the masterful dialogue, it contains more insight than the viewer may get upon first viewing. It is almost too dark to be mainstream but too intricate and ingenious to be in the direct-to-video bargain bin. Ben Schnetzer’s portrayal of Brad is exceptional because he opens up to showing that he is in constant struggle of his role in the world, this character’s fighting to find himself and not just be a victim of an assault or a shadow in his brother’s light. There is not a moment where you feel disconnected with his character. Films are not shot in sequence most of the time, and yet Ben played the various degrees of intensity to create a cohesive flow over the course of 96 minutes. Nick Jonas tops himself, above and beyond his character Nate in the television series ‘Kingdom’, because he starts out appearing one-dimensional but soon we see the same duality that plays through the rest of the film. The emotional strife he allows to show in Brett’s face, eyes, and actions, are resonant of our own cores; triggering feelings inside ourselves of doubt and how we choose to deal with situations. The love, doubt, fear and strength for his brother propels itself off the screen and into our hearts with every scene thus asking us what truly constitutes if a person is doing right or wrong? Danny Flaherty’s Will, as discussed earlier, is the opposite end to that particular spectrum. Will’s journey is pathetic; does the audience really want to see this kid endure or is his ignorance of the brutality happening to him make us want to see him take more just to see if he can. That barbaric sickness that lays dormant in our genes from the beginning of time is toyed with, deliberately, by the filmmakers all the while showing us the disgusting and post-traumatic stress inducing results.
Goat was nominated for the Grand Special Prize at the Deauville Film Festival and also the Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. While it is a clearly a genre outing in the drama category, the film reminds us that you don’t need a mask-wearing, machete-slaying, killer stalking the streets in order to see the reality of horror in our own humanity; a horror that secretly exists inside all of us and God help us if ever truly released.
You can check out what’s happening with the Film on Twitter: @GoatMovie, don’t forget to #GOATMovie with your thoughts. You can also check out their official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/goatmovie/
Grab your thermal-imaging cameras and your EMF detectors, gang, because ex-‘Ghost Hunters’ members Amy Bruni and Adam Berry are coming back to TV!
The dynamic duo are helming their very own paranormal investigation series, Kindred Spirits. And I. Am. STOKED!
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Ghost Hunters on SyFy. The first few seasons were very compelling. Although I still tune in each week, the paranormal analysis in recent seasons has become lackluster, and the findings are dodgy at best. In the early years, the T.A.P.S. crew had to twist lead investigator Jason Hawes’ arm just to get him to admit a location was haunted. Now they seem to raise the “Haunted!” flag on nearly every episode.
The investigative crew on the current and final season of Ghost Hunters consists of backup replacements who make me feel like I’m watching Cousin Oliver-era Brady Bunch.
Because of the way the show has progressed, I sometimes find myself questioning the authenticity of those early seasons — which is sad, because back then, I was ready to march into battle for Jason and Grant. I mean, I’m not sure if that shit is real or not, but come on… be consistent. This is supposed to be science. Where’s the show I used to love? Where are the credible, skeptical investigators who initially drew me in? Grant Wilson, one of the founders of T.A.P.S., left the show a few years ago. What’s up with that? Much of the investigative crew on the current and final season of Ghost Hunters consists of backup replacements who make me feel like I’m watching Cousin Oliver-era Brady Bunch. Grab your water skis, Fonzarelli. Ayyy!
That’s what makes me even more excited about a new show on a different channel.
From TLC:
(Kindered Spirits)follows renowned ghost hunters Amy Bruni and Adam Berry as they help real families who are tormented by paranormal activity in their homes. Scared by the mysterious happenings, but hesitant to pick up and leave their homes, these families have turned to two of America’s leading paranormal investigators to capture evidence, guide the spirits into the light and bring closure to family.
I’m pumped about Kindred Spirits.
Bruni and Berry jumped from the Ghost Hunters ship right after I felt like Ghost Hunters jumped the shark. They were two of my favorite skeptics on the show, often debunking claims and keeping the show feeling “real.” Or possibly real — you know what I mean. The pair also had great onscreen chemistry, which made their segments fun to watch. That’s why I’m pumped about Kindred Spirits. These two definitely have the potential to breathe new life into televised paranormal investigation and restore the believability of this genre. Cheers to Amy and Adam on an opportunity that this writer feels is well deserved.
Kindred Spirits premieres Friday, October 21, at 10/9c on TLC.
Check out the preview of Kindred Spirits. Will you be watching?
