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DanXIII

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Movie Review: The Basement (2018)

Bill (Jackson Davis), your normal, average everyday murderous psycho (we all know one, amirite?) kidnaps Craig (Cayleb Long) and begins to enact a really cray-cray scenario (while dressed as a clown as one does); namely Bill wants Craig to pretend he’s him, then he will play various people responsible for his imagined capture and torture…seriously Bill, what the actual fuck is your boggle bro? Anyway, these F’d up shenanigans continue on, increasing in intensity as they go as Craig’s gal pal Kelly (Mischa Barton) wonders why he seemingly fell off the face of the Earth. Soon she begins her own bit of detective work, but will she find Craig before Bill reaches the climax of his grizzly game? The greatest strength The Basement has going for it is the multi-faceted performance of Davis as ol’ Batshit Bill. This dude is a powerhouse of acting as he gleefully transitions from personality to personality (some male, some female…but all with appropriate costuming)

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DanXIII

Sep 10, 2018

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Johnny Gruesome (2018)

Johnny Grissom (Anthony De La Torre) is one put upon metal head; he gets static from the jocks, gets suspended from school, his father attempts to kick his ass, and his psychotic best friend murders him for driving too fast which puts all of Johnny’s friends in the hot seat since they were witnesses and all that. The gang definitely sweat that last one, so they try to cover-up the murder as an accident…which would go a lot smoother if Johnny didn’t return from the dead hungry for revenge! Now friendships are strained and no one is safe from Johnny’s vengeance from beyond the grave! Johnny Gruesome is one slick fright flick my creeps! Johnny is your classic teen rebel, and his quest for revenge is pure horror comic book cool (think Rebel Without a Cause adapted by EC Comics) ! De La Torre makes for an engaging lead, and the make-up used on his undead visage is truly superb…he’s

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DanXIII

Sep 9, 2018

MoviesReviews

Blu-ray Review: Found Footage 3-D (2016)

Because we live in the age of meta-as-fuck entertainment; Found Footage 3-D tells the tale of a group of semi-pro filmmakers who get the bright idea to make the world’s first 3-D found footage fright flick…and they plan on documenting the production of the film every step of the way. so with that goal in mind, they haul ass out to an isolated cabin and begin making their magnum opus. Of course before too long the supernatural shenanigans (namely aghostly being appearing in the footage shot) begin stackin’ up (as personal squabbles rage on); and once they are sure the film’s producer isn’t F’n with them things go south six ways to Sunday! First things first; let’s talk about the 3-D gimmick of this film briefly. The 3-D in this film is actually incredibly well-done, and if you are one of those folks that gets a headache at the mere mention of 3-D, fret not you can watch it in

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DanXIII

Sep 8, 2018

DocumentariesIndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: World of Darkness (2018)

Personal anecdote time (it’s relevant, trust me): I was always a Dungeons and Dragons type of guy (with some other tabletops thrown in), and never played Vampire:The Masquerade. The game seemed tailor made to my interests, and I had friends that played…hell, I even had some of the books (collected for the breathtaking Tim Bradstreet (who is interviewed in the doc) artwork, and avidly watched the TV show spun off from the game…but I never rolled a single die. Why? Who the fuck knows! Books could be written on the mind-boggling choices i made in my misspent youth…but this whole thing brings us to the review subject at hand… Comprised of interviews with the creators, players, and appreciators of Vampire:The Masquerade; World of Darkness is a deep dive into what made the game, and White Wolf, the company that created it, so special and influenced not only people to play the game but embrace the vampiric, Goth lifestyle as well.

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DanXIII

Sep 8, 2018

ForeignIndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: Molly (2017)

In a desolate post-apocalyptic world, a woman (who seems to have raided Tank Girl’s and Punky Brewster’s closets simultaneously) named Molly (Julia Batelaan) and her predatory bird hand out ass beatings to anyone stupid enough to fuck with her…she also happens to possess super powers. Also on hand is a bald headed ponce of a warlord that lives in a colony of abandoned off-shore oil rigs, and creates violence-crazed mutants which he makes fight in gladiatorial combat. Of course that chocolate gets all mixed-up in that peanut butter as the warlord hears tale of our super-powered protagonist and realizes she could be good sport for her pits, so he send out his marauders to collect her. Meanwhile Molly befriends an abandoned child whom she must defend while kicking marauder asses up under their hats! The first thing that hits you about Molly is it’s vibrant use of lurid color. The film may be set among the desert sands and scrub

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DanXIII

Sep 8, 2018

IndieMoviesReviews

Short Film Review: octOber (2018)

Two friends, Alex and Jeremy, stroll along some train tracks under a steel grey sky. Alex discusses the disappearance of his sister, and the toll it has taken on his family…and he also explains that he thinks he knows who did it…a local man named Mr. Whitman whom he claims he has seen bump off other townsfolk. Well, our erstwhile heroes get to investigating, and Jeremy is slaughtered, while Alex makes like a fuckin’ banana and splits. Of course his meddling sets of a whole lot of horror biz…biz he may not be able to survive! Stylish, super slick, and possessing a strong story (of which this is but one part of an over reaching narrative…this is part 2 for those keepin’ score at home), octOber is a mini-masterpiece of suburban horror and taught tension. It’s the type of flick that as you watch you just know something horrible is going to happen, but just what or more importantly when

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DanXIII

Sep 8, 2018

Reviews

Album Review: Ghosts in the Graveyard: The Last Halloween: Remix Album (2018)

I’ve been following Seattle Washington’s Darkwave shock rockers Ghosts in the Graveyard since the beginning (I’m like a fuckin’ horror hipster now, minus the beard and mason jars…and everything that makes a hipster a hipster), and I was excited as all unholy hell when the leader o’ this gang o’ ghouls Byron C. Miller reached out to your’s cruelly and asked him to check out a new arcane album full o’ revoltin’ remixes of some of the best terror tunes from the group’s debut Monsters for the Masses! Featuring remixes from Idoless, Dead Animal Assembly Plant, Patrick Fears, Pill Brigade, Blakk Glass, The Labrynth, Kain Kinetic, and Endless Sunder; The Last Halloween takes the already creeptastic pitch black New Wave stylings the band is known for, and rips them open and blows them up into sonic assaults that sound even more melodic, layered, and downright “huge” then they did on their first go around! Standout re-mixes for me include Thirteen

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DanXIII

Sep 8, 2018

IndieMoviesParanormalReviews

Movie Review: Diane (2018)

Stage actress/singer Diane (Carlee Avers) is discovered in the back yard of hard luck disabled war vet Steve (Jason Alan Smith)…well, her semi-clothed body is anyway along with a bloody screwdriver. After an intense, and off-kilter, grilling by the local authorities, Steve is returned home where he becomes obsessed with Diane…so much so that he begins to hear her voice late at night and has strange fever dreams involving her (tinted a strange crimson hue, or taking place in nebulous white spaces)…while his days find him even more ostracized from his community than we was previously. Before long, Diane’s appearances become rather sinister, and find that things aren’t as they appear to be! Boasting a unique and surreal aesthetic, Diane is definitely not your run of the mill police procedural/murder mystery. Every character is perfectly nuanced and acted (with Smith’s leading man performance a true standout…but Margaret Rose Champagne, Dick Boland, and Jim Thalman as the police assigned to his

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DanXIII

Sep 7, 2018

IndieMoviesReviews

Movie Review: The Girl in the Crawlspace (2018)

Ever wonder what psychological toll being the “final girl” of a mass murdering psycho would take on a soul? Well the new film from first time director John Oak Dalton titled The Girl in the Crawlspace shows us just that scenario. Jill (Erin R. Ryan) is the lone survivor of the Crawlspace Killer; a real sick ticket that keeps his victims bound in a crawlspace and engages them with psychological torture. Jill wanders the town, homeless and wraith like…a broken porcelain doll in human form. Enter psychiatrist Kristen (Joni Durian), who has recently moved back to town, along with her unsuccessful screenwriter husband Johnny (John Hambrick), who soon takes on trying to integrate Jill back into normal society at the behest of the town sheriff , as her husband tries to fit in with the locals by joining a local Dungeons and Dragons group out of desperation for human contact. Time passes and Jill begins to be integrated into the

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DanXIII

Sep 4, 2018

MoviesReviews

Blu-ray Review: Schlock (1973)

Schlock begins in the aftermath of a mass killing by the Banana Killer, so named because he leaves a banana peel at the scene of every crime. Experts predict that the murders will only increase, and police don’t have a clue as to the killer’s identity. Meanwhile, a group of teens explore a cave and discover just what is committing the crimes; a violence prone missing link, more ape than man! Once discovered, the brute terrorizes the countryside leaving murder and mayhem in it’s wake! From the description above, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Schlock is a straight up fright flick, but let me assure you it is anything but! Full of sight and running gags, corny jokes, ridiculous characters, and a fantastic creature suit by a young Rick Baker (with writer/director John Landis crammed inside); Schlock may be one of the most ludicrous, and hilarious horror comedies (a genre Landis would return to eight years later with 1981’s

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DanXIII

Sep 4, 2018

DanXIII

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