THIS MODERN NIGHTMARE

HAPPY POE DAY!

January 19th was EDGAR ALLEN POE's birthday!! Hope you went out and friggin celebrated one of the finest dark fiction writers who ever lived.

REVIEW OF GIRL NEXT DOOR (NEXT STOP CLOVERFIELD)

For those who don't know, the latest edition of Cinema Knife Fight , the movie review column I write with Michael Arruda, is up on FearZone.com. It's a review of the new DVD of JACK KETCHUM'S THE GIRL NEXT DOOR. Check out the review here:

http://fearzone.com/blog/cfk-gnd

Also, CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT has finally been added to the FearZone menu. What this means is if you click it on the menu, it takes you directly to all of the columns we've written so far, all in one place. This is pretty cool. Or you can just go to:

http://fearzone.com/category/cinema-knife-fight

What's up for future columns? We just turned in the review of the DVD SEE JANE RUN (coming soon) and we are working on the review of CLOVERFIELD now.

As for CLOVERFIELD, I don't want to say much about it until the review comes out. But I will say this: Go see it. Now.

MONSTER MOVIES FROM MAINE

I was in Maine last weekend, seeing two independent horror movies by director Andy Davis, THE MONSTER IN THE WOODS and "2." This double-feature was part of the "Night of Maine Film and Music" event in downtown Portland. It was a fun night and I got to spend some time with my friends Pete Dudar and Cheryl Mercer, who both had roles in the films.

THE MONSTER IN THE WOODS is a Bigfoot movie in the spirit of 70s flicks like THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, with a legendary monster in the woods of Maine that gets hunted down by two cryptozooligists, Anna (Jana Regan) and Kline (Seth Holbrook) who team up with the local sherrif (Dennis Dorion). Along for the search are Terry, a TV reporter (Cheryl Mercer), and big-game hunter Jack Killington (Paul Drinan) who's obsessed with finally proving that the the Bigfoot legend is true. The movie is a lot of fun, and features lots of great supporting characters including a spooky little girl (Carolyn Higgins) who has a psychic link with the creature, a chicken farmer (the very funny Jerry Walker) who had some birds stolen by the monster and a bunch of hillbillies (including Michael Best as the hilarious motel manager Jeb) who jump at the chance to go hunting in the woods when the game hunter offers them cash rewards for the capture of Bigfoot. The monster itself is both cool and funny and there's another unexpected creature at the end that got the best reaction of all.

"2" takes place in the town of Biddeford, Maine, after some kind of plague has turned everyone into zombies. There are only two people left, David (C. James Roberts) and Sarah (Molly W.B. Roberts), and neither of them can remember their lives before all the craziness started. The movie opens with David waking up in a car and finding a baby that has turned into a zombie in the car seat behind him that tries to attack him (David has no memory of who the kid is - is it his son? The fact that it probably is makes this scene all the creepier), and then there's some two-by-four action as he saves Sarah from a group of hungry creatures, but there isn't much action again until the last 20 minutes. Until then they find shelter in a deserted mill, there's some talk (Sarah reveals that she's pregnant) and lots of trips outside to forage canned goods from the nearby grocery, as well as some good character development as David slowly starts to lose his mind (easily the most interesting aspect of the film). There's a strong sense of atmosphere throughout, but it could have used more menace (most of the times when David goes outside to get food, he hardly comes upon any zombies at all). A constant sense of real danger would have amped up the suspense and the scares. But it's still a good one and there are some inspired moments, such as some zombie commercials (the best feature Amy Dudar for "Zombie-Gone" and Pete Dudar's Zombie Workshop show) that David hallucinates while watching static on a TV set, and a run-in with his zombified mother (Diane Dupris). The zombies themselves are suitably effective when they're finally allowed to run wild.

Both films have great production values and good acting, which transcend their shoe-string budgets. I don't know when these films are going to get distribution, but they're certainly worth checking out. Davis and his producer/co-cinematographer Olin Smith did a great job putting out a very professional-looking product.

My friend Pete was overjoyed about his moments on film (he was respectively a hillbilly and a zombie). And it was great to be there to share it with him.

Also on the bill were the bands that provided soundtrack music for the films, Live Studio Audience (which did the music for THE MONSTER IN THE WOODS) and the excellent punk band Covered in Bees (who did the music for 2).

It certainly was a fun way to spend a weekend. And I even got to enjoy a delicious lobster dinner before we headed to the theater. Gotta love Maine.

(for more information about these films and others by EmptyHouse Film, go to http://www.emptyhouse.sabatos.net/)

TALKIN’ POLITICS

If you notice, I don't talk much about politics on this blog. Like religion, politics can be very devisive and I'd rather just not deal with it a lot of the time. But we've got an election coming up, and like it or not, we've all gotta do our part to try to turn this country around. Yep, it's time to think about how you're going to vote. That is, if you do vote. And you should. Especially now.

I saw the debates on Saturday night, both the Republican and the Democratic one. I wanted to get a bigger picture of who these people are and why they should or shouldn't get my vote. And to tell you the truth, it's not a real exciting bunch no matter how you look at it.

On the Republican side, you've got Huckabee, who might just the scariest SOB running, and if he gets any votes, they seem to be because of the fact that people are scared of Mitt Romney - who's been governor here for awhile, and I really have to go with the devil I know. Because Huckabee scares the shit out of me and if you want to know what Romney would do as president - it's probably similar to what he's been doing as governor here. Not much.

And I rather have that than a guy who would probably make Bush look progressive. Oh yeah, and Huckabee doesn't believe in evolution. I wonder if he believes in gravity.

Rudy Guiliani just seems like an egomaniac and a bully, and Romney's not much better. He looks like a prep school kid who feels he's entitled to something. McCain used to be someone I really liked until he changed his views on a lot of key things and he's become the biggest cheerleader for the war that Bush has. Which are too many strikes against him to even consider him a viable choice anymore. And this idea the Republicans have of making healthcare something you get yourself instead of through your job sounds downright terrifying. What are they thinking?

The only Republican who seemed down to earth and who brought up any real issues was Ron Paul, who leans toward the Libertarian side of the fence. But I noticed anytime Paul said something good, the other yahoos laughed at him like he was a nut. These slick corporate-looking guys in their suits, laughing because Paul's the outsider who has new ideas and won't play the game. Hell, I don't think I could bring myself to vote Republican after 8 years of misery, but if I did, it would be for Ron Paul. I don't agree with everything he says, but at least he's trying to look at all this from a new perspective.

The Democratic side doesn't seem much better, which is sad, because if there's an election the Democrats have a good chance of winning, it's this one. Obama comes off as smart but kind of pompous. Hillary looks like she's always suckin' on a lemon (her "likability' was brought up as an issue during the debate and she seemed surprised. But it's a real image problem). Bill Richardson was a guy I'd never noticed before, and he seems to have some ideas and lots of experience, but he doesn't have much in the way of charisma, and that's a real liability in our "beautiful people" culture. The only person I really liked during that debate was John Edwards, which surprised me. He's the only one who seemed real and who I'd want to cast a vote for, but I know he'd have to pull some miracle out of a hat to have a real chance at this thing. Everyone's talking Obama or Hillary for some reason.

I know I left a few people out who were there, but that just means they didn't leave much of an impression.

The two guys I like best are longshots, so I'm gonna have to reevaluate all this after the primaries are over and the dust settles. And this is not a final decision by any means - just an observation based on what I saw of two debates on one Saturday night. I'm trying to stay open to these people. But I don't want someone who's business as usual and who supported Bush's war. And I don't want someone who could possibly make things worse.

Which makes me really not want to talk politics or write many blogs like this one. But I wanted to share my thoughts on the debates, since I bothered to sit through them.

Y'know, we need some real change. I just hope it's for good.