For starters I want to say a few words about one of my heroes who passed away suddenly yesterday. Michael Eyedea Larsen was a true artist who took everything he did to new levels. As a young battle rapper he wowed the Hip-Hop world with a near immaculate freestyle ability that earned him first place titles at both HBO's Blaze Battle and Scribble Jam. My favourite battles are Eyedea battles, it was uncanny how quick he could spit that shit off the top of his head and just murder his opponents. His Battle with RK is legendary in my eyes. That backup dancer line blows my mind everytime I hear it.
After winning those battles he got alot of attention, major labels approached him with deals but he turned them down and signed to Rhymesayers with DJ Abilities. As a duo they released three albums each with their own distinct sound and content. First Born, their first album is heavily philosophical dealing with lots of metaphysical themes. E&A, their second is a return to Eyedea's battle roots and is on some straight B-Boy look how fresh we are, we're the dopest shit, it's fun as hell and a great example of his technical ability on the mic. By The Throat, which dropped last year, their final and maybe finest album, is an intense emotional work dealing primarily with loss either through death or emotional conflict. It was my favourite album of last year and spoke to me on alot of levels. My childhood friend had passed away and my then serious girlfriend broke up with me within in the span of about a month. I spun the record almost constantly during that time in my life. Eyedea was my comrade and compatriot. The lyrics on certain songs seemed to almost be written specifically for the situations and emotions I was living through. That if I was as talented they would be the same lyrics I would write. It made me feel less alone.
That was right around this time last year, and now Fall has taken away another friend. I literally started panicking last night in disbelief when I seen the news online. I didn't know Eyedea but at times it felt like he knew me. I was just going to write up a retrospective on his career and his music but this turned personal and I feel like I'm leaving important parts of his work out. Enough about me then.
Eyedea also had several side projects outside of Eyedea and Abilities. His solo work as Oliver Hart is fantastic and shows his talent not only as a poet, emcee and philosopher but also as a producer. Face Candy. his live project that coupled himself and other freestyle emcees with a jazz band is brilliant. The live albums capture a real raw energy amongst himself, his peers and the band. His talent off the dome is in full effect there and you can feel the words bubbling up like he isn't even in control of them. Carbon Carousel the grunge-esque band he fronted is equally as incredible. He sang and spat with a real passion, his lyrics full of real art. Listening to Carbon Carousel you could feel his passion for what he was doing, the catharsis of it. He sounded at home, like he wasn't even a rapper in the first place and maybe he wasn't. By the Throat was a hybrid of everything he did and as a final album it is a testament to an excellent and varied career. He was an artist with a unique understanding of the human condition. Thanks Eyedea, for putting ideas in my head, for showing me just how fresh someone could get on the mic and for letting me know I wasn't alone.
Eyedea's Mom has set up a memorial Facebook page and paypal account to pay for his services Here.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Blair Witch Project, They Live!, [rec]2
I'm not sure if i'm going to get 31 movies done by the end of the month, however I am watching a fairly healthy amount of films so it shouldn't be too too bad.
The Blair Witch Project
wiki / imdb
This film was a pretty big deal to a 12 year old slothmonster when it dropped. It was right around the time I discovered independent and low/micro/no-budget films and combined my new found obsession with them with my love of the paranormal, unsolved mysteries and the woods in the fall. It was also scary as hell and really, still is. If you can suspend disbelief and distance yourself from the countless times it was parodied and lampooned all over the place and take it at face value it really is a smart, unnerving horror film that relies more on atmosphere, conflict amongst the characters and the sheer desperation of their situation to create the horror as opposed to the standard fare of jump scares and monsters. After rewatching it the other day I was surprised at just how scary a simple pile of rocks or a bundle of sticks in crude effigy could be.
The Blair Witch Project
wiki / imdb
This film was a pretty big deal to a 12 year old slothmonster when it dropped. It was right around the time I discovered independent and low/micro/no-budget films and combined my new found obsession with them with my love of the paranormal, unsolved mysteries and the woods in the fall. It was also scary as hell and really, still is. If you can suspend disbelief and distance yourself from the countless times it was parodied and lampooned all over the place and take it at face value it really is a smart, unnerving horror film that relies more on atmosphere, conflict amongst the characters and the sheer desperation of their situation to create the horror as opposed to the standard fare of jump scares and monsters. After rewatching it the other day I was surprised at just how scary a simple pile of rocks or a bundle of sticks in crude effigy could be.
They Live!
I'm not really sure if this counts as a Horror film because really it's more of a Science Fiction story but I'm going to include it anyway because it's themes tap into some pretty scary shit and the aliens in the film are pretty skeletal looking.
I love John Carpenter, If I grow up to be John Carpenter I'll be a happy guy. They Live! is probably my favourite Carpenter film, not because it's the best but because it's the most fun and the one which speaks most directly to my own sensibilities. It's got a lot going on it, aliens, poverty, revolution, conspiracy. It has a ridiculous 5 and a half minute fight scene, it's got guns, it's got people being thrown out of windows and plummeting to what would surely be a quick death if those people weren't Rowdy Roddy Piper. The basic plot is hardened drifter "Nada" as played by Rowdy Roddy Piper wanders into LA, homeless, looking for work. He gets a job working on a construction site where he meets Frank who brings Nada to a shanty town. It's there where Nada's curiousity gets the best of him and he notices somethings up in the church across the street. The next night a government raid takes place on the church leaving the place in shambles save for a hidden box of sunglasses that Nada finds the next day. He tries a pair on walking through the city only to find they're frequency descramblers and he's able to see the world for what it really is. And things just aren't as they seem.
The original [rec] was one of the scariest movies I had seen along time. I watched it on the dark on my laptop, alone, with headphones on. It scared the hell out of me a couple times. I rewatched it several months later with a friend and while it wasn't that scary it still held up as a good movie. That's basically my feelings on [rec]2. Alot of you may be familiar with [rec] or it's plot because it had a shot for shot American remake starring Dexter's sister Deb called "Quarantine" I haven't seen it but I hear it's pretty much the same movie without the Catholic stuff at the end. So I'm not 100% sure if [rec]2 could also be considered a sequel to Quarantine because the Catholic sub-plot introduced at the end of the first film is very heavily in play here.
From there on out Nada makes it his mission to get to the bottom of things. It's a fun ride definitely worth the price of admission. It's interesting because you can see it's influenced alot of people and art after it. From Cage (opening sample on Teenage Death) To Shepard Fairey (pretty much the entire OBEY campaign.) They Live has made it's ripples. You can also Watch The Movie in It's Entirety RIGHT HERE!!
[rec]2
The original [rec] was one of the scariest movies I had seen along time. I watched it on the dark on my laptop, alone, with headphones on. It scared the hell out of me a couple times. I rewatched it several months later with a friend and while it wasn't that scary it still held up as a good movie. That's basically my feelings on [rec]2. Alot of you may be familiar with [rec] or it's plot because it had a shot for shot American remake starring Dexter's sister Deb called "Quarantine" I haven't seen it but I hear it's pretty much the same movie without the Catholic stuff at the end. So I'm not 100% sure if [rec]2 could also be considered a sequel to Quarantine because the Catholic sub-plot introduced at the end of the first film is very heavily in play here.
As I mentioned earlier [rec]2 falls into a bit of "more of the same" trappings and it loses alot of it's scariness because of it. I think the directors could tell so they added another layer of Horror over top of the creepy apartment complex and jumpscares with the demon possession and the connotations that it brings up. The film kinda comes off as The Exorcist meets Cloverfield in the creepy mansion from the first Resident Evil game and that's A-Ok but I guess my lack of religion realy prevented me from being all too scared, which is ok too because the movie itself is cool as hell. The idea of it being shot from the helmets of a SWAT team is awesome and there's a quite a few cool deaths and zombie kills for such a small cast. There's a few plot devices thrown into the mix through out the movie to create tension and while you can tell that's what they are they didn't bother me too much and were really quite effective. I'd recommend this to just about anyone as if you haven't seen the original or the remake there's plenty to scare you here and if you're a fan of the original it's a worthy sequel.
Monday, October 11, 2010
House of 1000 Corpses
Oct. 7th House Of 1000 Corpses
wiki / imdb
House of 1000 Corpses was the debut film of Rockstar cum Filmmaker Robert Zombie, and in my opinion it may be his finest work, it's hard though to decide which is better, it or The Devil's Rejects. Because while they both follow the same relative cast of characters they are very different films each with there own merits. Apples and Oranges, yo.
The film is part Texas Chainsaw Massacre, part Last House on The Left and part Circus Sideshow with plenty of other lesser homages to 70's slashers and americana thrown in in equal measure to spice up the whole dish. And what a delicious dish it is. Rob Zombie wears his influences on his sleeves with this one and you can tell he has a real, true love of the genre, his passion is infectious making the movie a whole lot of fun. It's sometimes all over the place but nothing ever feels out of place, this is the cinematic equivalent of a carnival Haunted House or a Captain Spaulding's murder ride. We jump from Comedy to Horror and back again. We jump from bound and gagged cheerleaders to a vile stand up comedy routine to a Reservoir Dog's razor blade dance homage to Satanic Rituals and ultimately to a bizarre post-apocalyptic Science-Fiction vision of evil cyber/steam-punk doctors and mutants performing crimes against humanity in an underground lair while a family of CHUDs watch TV. If that wasn't enough through out the whole movie we're treated to Art Film-esque segments of the family going about there business or of eviscerated animals or old men in the desert speaking directly to the camera telling you that "this is hell". It's all pretty visceral stuff and it makes for quite the cinematic experience.
If you haven't seen this one yet, Do yourself a favour and check it out. Zombie's been on a losing streak as of late but that doesn't discredit this film as a modern horror masterpiece. Too much fun too ignore. Do it.
rocky horror picture show
martyrs
suspiria
the monster squad
john carpenter's halloween
house of a thousand corpses
devils rejects
nightmare on elm st.
wes craven's new nightmare
drag me to hell
the shining
dawn of the dead remake
dog soldiers
demons
night of the creeps
shaun of the dead
brain damage
ravenous
[rec2]
an american werewolf in london
splice
hatchet
david croenenberg's the fly
wiki / imdb
House of 1000 Corpses was the debut film of Rockstar cum Filmmaker Robert Zombie, and in my opinion it may be his finest work, it's hard though to decide which is better, it or The Devil's Rejects. Because while they both follow the same relative cast of characters they are very different films each with there own merits. Apples and Oranges, yo.
The film is part Texas Chainsaw Massacre, part Last House on The Left and part Circus Sideshow with plenty of other lesser homages to 70's slashers and americana thrown in in equal measure to spice up the whole dish. And what a delicious dish it is. Rob Zombie wears his influences on his sleeves with this one and you can tell he has a real, true love of the genre, his passion is infectious making the movie a whole lot of fun. It's sometimes all over the place but nothing ever feels out of place, this is the cinematic equivalent of a carnival Haunted House or a Captain Spaulding's murder ride. We jump from Comedy to Horror and back again. We jump from bound and gagged cheerleaders to a vile stand up comedy routine to a Reservoir Dog's razor blade dance homage to Satanic Rituals and ultimately to a bizarre post-apocalyptic Science-Fiction vision of evil cyber/steam-punk doctors and mutants performing crimes against humanity in an underground lair while a family of CHUDs watch TV. If that wasn't enough through out the whole movie we're treated to Art Film-esque segments of the family going about there business or of eviscerated animals or old men in the desert speaking directly to the camera telling you that "this is hell". It's all pretty visceral stuff and it makes for quite the cinematic experience.
If you haven't seen this one yet, Do yourself a favour and check it out. Zombie's been on a losing streak as of late but that doesn't discredit this film as a modern horror masterpiece. Too much fun too ignore. Do it.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Slackin yo!
Hey sorry I've been slacking on the updates, there wasn't any yesterday and there won't be any today. However tomorrow I'll have reviews up for House of 1000 Corpses, Demons and Splice. In addition to that I'll also have first impressions on newly released Horror game, Dead Rising 2 for the Xbox 360. Sunday I should have reviews up for An American Werewolf in London and for a change of pace, possibly The Social Network.
Sorry about that loyal readers (heh listen to me delude myself.)
Sorry about that loyal readers (heh listen to me delude myself.)
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
New blog, October Horrorthon!
I've decided to start blogging as to document all the horror movies I plan on watching this month. The plan is the blog will help keep me on my toes and give me the push I need to keep pounding out movies. It will also give me content to post in the somethingawful.com forum thread which is essentially acting as my basis for this horrorthon (even though I try to do something similar every October regardless) I haven't straight up named this blog "The Slothmonster Horror Blog" or something because I've been meaning to blog for a while and I figure this is a good place to start and at the end of October I'll probably just start blogging about whatever. Anyway feel free to count how many times I've used the word Blog or any of it's permutations so far in this post. I bet it's disgusting, Alright enough of this shit, onto the Movies.
The plan is to watch 31 Horror films during the month of October, ideally one a day but it's going to work out to none one day and three another etc. I've only finished 2 so far and it's the 5th already. For Shame!
Oct. 2nd Rocky Horror Picture Show.
wiki / imdb
I had heard lots about this film and had always wanted to see it but had never gotten around to it. If you're unfamiliar with what exactly it is I'll give you a quick outline. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult musical homage to B-Science Fiction and Horror films based on the stage of the (almost) same name. It's also pretty fuckin' sexual or even, if I dare, Transylvanian Tran-Sexual (forgive me lord). That being said it's had the longest running theatrical release of any movie (midnight or otherwise) with 35, yep 35, years in limited release. Screenings are big events with fans dressing up as characters and interacting with the film itself. To alot of people I guess you could say that RHPS is a pretty big deal and really after watching it I'd say it deserves the love.
Pictured above is Riff-Raff, played by writer Richard O'Brien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is his baby. He plays the Riff-Raff character to a T and it really blows my mind that this dude wrote all those songs and the plot and the dialogue, I can only imagine it was a massive undertaking, dude's got heart. I had heard mixed things about the film some people love it some people hate it. Most recently I had heard from my friends that they had tried to watch it one day and they all kinda got creeped out and turned it off, causing them to deem the only people who like the movie "girls and gay dudes". Fast forward a little while and it's ~*~*MY GIRLFRIEND'S*~*~ favourite film, She had been trying to get me to watch it for a few days and I was never really in the mood for it until one lazy hungover afternoon. We chucked it on and from the opening song I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy it. And enjoy it I did.
The film follows a newly engaged puritan couple named Brad and Janet on a sexual odyssey orchestrated by mad scientist, Dr. Frankenfurt. The movie IS a musical and it has ALOT of songs but they're all pretty badass and the cast of characters is great. I guess the main plot of the film revolves around it's namesake "Rocky" a Frankenstein monster created by Frankenfurt to be his sex slave as he's grown bored with the rest of his subservients. Rocky serves as a catalyst for all the major conflicts in the film but at it's heart the movie is really about Frankenfurt and his sociopathic tendency to use everyone around him, generally carnally, with no care for their feelings and occasionally even their lives. All in all I enjoyed it alot, it's fun, fast and sexy. I recommend it whole heartedly.
Oct. 4th Martyrs
wiki / imdb
Martyrs is a strange beast, but a completely enthralling one. The film opens with a young girl, covered in filth, clearly beaten and abused, running and screaming away from a large dilapidated warehouse. Things only get worse from here. We're then treated to a faux documentary footage of two young girls at a children's hospital/orphanage and then documentation of the abuse inflicted on the girl from the opening shot.The grainy documentary footage goes away as the police and doctors interview the girl's closest friend, trying to ascertain what happened. Things take a decidedly dark turn when she's asked to go gather the victim.
CUT. 15 Years later. A happy, affluent white family is enjoying a nice Sunday breakfast. And things only get worse from here. Even here I've probably already said too much because the absolute best way to go into this movie is without knowing a single thing about it. I only knew it was incredibly dark, violent and had to do with two abused girls. It sat in my possession for the better part of a year before I finally decided to nut up and watch the fucking thing. ~*~*MY GIRLFRIEND*~*~ said she wanted to watch some "real horror" with lots of gore so I decided it was time. Let me say I was not only not disappointed by this film but was in fact almost completely blown away by it. It's a piece of exciting, challenging cinema that at times is Revenge Film, Supernatural Thriller, Torture Porn and even metaphysical commentary. It's almost a SAW or Hostel for the thinking man but to even mention it alongside those films would be doing it a disservice. It's part of the French New Extremism movement and that's just what it is. Extreme. It's not a movie for everyone, It's incredibly violent and not in a fun horror movie kind of way. It's unrelenting. I highly recommend this to everyone even though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but as far as Horror cinema goes it's good to be pushed out of your comfort zone and this is the first genre film in a long time that really pushed me out of mine. One of the best Horror movies in years, do yourself a favour, check this shit out.
Well those are my two films for today, Hopefully I'll have a few more up sometime tomorrow for your reading pleasure. Feel free to throw me a few suggestions in the comments section as what to watch next, because my list isn't even 31 films strong yet. In fact here is my list so far:
The plan is to watch 31 Horror films during the month of October, ideally one a day but it's going to work out to none one day and three another etc. I've only finished 2 so far and it's the 5th already. For Shame!
Oct. 2nd Rocky Horror Picture Show.
wiki / imdb
I had heard lots about this film and had always wanted to see it but had never gotten around to it. If you're unfamiliar with what exactly it is I'll give you a quick outline. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult musical homage to B-Science Fiction and Horror films based on the stage of the (almost) same name. It's also pretty fuckin' sexual or even, if I dare, Transylvanian Tran-Sexual (forgive me lord). That being said it's had the longest running theatrical release of any movie (midnight or otherwise) with 35, yep 35, years in limited release. Screenings are big events with fans dressing up as characters and interacting with the film itself. To alot of people I guess you could say that RHPS is a pretty big deal and really after watching it I'd say it deserves the love.
Pictured above is Riff-Raff, played by writer Richard O'Brien, The Rocky Horror Picture Show is his baby. He plays the Riff-Raff character to a T and it really blows my mind that this dude wrote all those songs and the plot and the dialogue, I can only imagine it was a massive undertaking, dude's got heart. I had heard mixed things about the film some people love it some people hate it. Most recently I had heard from my friends that they had tried to watch it one day and they all kinda got creeped out and turned it off, causing them to deem the only people who like the movie "girls and gay dudes". Fast forward a little while and it's ~*~*MY GIRLFRIEND'S*~*~ favourite film, She had been trying to get me to watch it for a few days and I was never really in the mood for it until one lazy hungover afternoon. We chucked it on and from the opening song I was pretty sure I was going to enjoy it. And enjoy it I did.
The film follows a newly engaged puritan couple named Brad and Janet on a sexual odyssey orchestrated by mad scientist, Dr. Frankenfurt. The movie IS a musical and it has ALOT of songs but they're all pretty badass and the cast of characters is great. I guess the main plot of the film revolves around it's namesake "Rocky" a Frankenstein monster created by Frankenfurt to be his sex slave as he's grown bored with the rest of his subservients. Rocky serves as a catalyst for all the major conflicts in the film but at it's heart the movie is really about Frankenfurt and his sociopathic tendency to use everyone around him, generally carnally, with no care for their feelings and occasionally even their lives. All in all I enjoyed it alot, it's fun, fast and sexy. I recommend it whole heartedly.
Oct. 4th Martyrs
wiki / imdb
***IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THIS MOVIE MAYBE STOP READING NOW, MY REVIEW IS RELATIVELY SPOILER FREE BUT I THINK YOU SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE KNOWING AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE***
Martyrs is a strange beast, but a completely enthralling one. The film opens with a young girl, covered in filth, clearly beaten and abused, running and screaming away from a large dilapidated warehouse. Things only get worse from here. We're then treated to a faux documentary footage of two young girls at a children's hospital/orphanage and then documentation of the abuse inflicted on the girl from the opening shot.The grainy documentary footage goes away as the police and doctors interview the girl's closest friend, trying to ascertain what happened. Things take a decidedly dark turn when she's asked to go gather the victim.
CUT. 15 Years later. A happy, affluent white family is enjoying a nice Sunday breakfast. And things only get worse from here. Even here I've probably already said too much because the absolute best way to go into this movie is without knowing a single thing about it. I only knew it was incredibly dark, violent and had to do with two abused girls. It sat in my possession for the better part of a year before I finally decided to nut up and watch the fucking thing. ~*~*MY GIRLFRIEND*~*~ said she wanted to watch some "real horror" with lots of gore so I decided it was time. Let me say I was not only not disappointed by this film but was in fact almost completely blown away by it. It's a piece of exciting, challenging cinema that at times is Revenge Film, Supernatural Thriller, Torture Porn and even metaphysical commentary. It's almost a SAW or Hostel for the thinking man but to even mention it alongside those films would be doing it a disservice. It's part of the French New Extremism movement and that's just what it is. Extreme. It's not a movie for everyone, It's incredibly violent and not in a fun horror movie kind of way. It's unrelenting. I highly recommend this to everyone even though I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but as far as Horror cinema goes it's good to be pushed out of your comfort zone and this is the first genre film in a long time that really pushed me out of mine. One of the best Horror movies in years, do yourself a favour, check this shit out.
Well those are my two films for today, Hopefully I'll have a few more up sometime tomorrow for your reading pleasure. Feel free to throw me a few suggestions in the comments section as what to watch next, because my list isn't even 31 films strong yet. In fact here is my list so far:
rocky horror picture showmartyrs- suspiria
- the monster squad
- john carpenter's halloween
- house of a thousand corpses
- devils rejects
- nightmare on elm st.
- wes craven's new nightmare
- drag me to hell
- the shining
- dawn of the dead remake
- dog soldiers
- demons
- night of the creeps
- shaun of the dead
- brain damage
- ravenous
- [rec2]
- an american werewolf in london
- splice
- hatchet
- david croenenberg's the fly
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