Happy Halloween! Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, offers the best, hand-selected collection of horror movies around. But sometimes you need a little extra help picking exactly which great slasher, ghost story, giallo or monster movie to watch next. In celebration of Halloween, Shudder’s head curator, Samuel Zimmerman, will be offering callers his live, personalized picks for their perfect Halloween night/weekend viewing.
It’s crazy to think that this time next week it will be November 1. October is flying by and Halloween is almost upon us. If you’re looking for Halloween to last all year long, Shudder has you covered. Below are highlights of the exclusives, originals, and new content that’s being released all month long in November. The addition that excites me the most is Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which is my favorite movie of all time. The premise, acting, and score are excellent. This film was ahead of its time, and it still holds up to this day. Make sure to add it to your to-watch list, along with all of the other great content coming to Shudder in November.
In 2003 Rob Zombie made his writing and directing debut with the gritty horror film House of 1000 Corpses. The success of this movie spawned a sequel, The Devil’s Rejects, and a third entry in the series, 3 From Hell, was just released on digital and physical video this month. Let’s take a look back at these films about the infamous Firefly family, including my thoughts and Rob Zombie’s insights on each of these twisted tales.
Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers and the supernatural, announced today that Joe Bob Briggs, the world’s foremost drive-in movie critic, will return on October 25 with an all-new special, Joe Bob’s Halloween Hootenanny. The hosted triple feature will stream live at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT on Shudder in the U.S. and Canada. It will also be made available on demand later in October. Read more…
This Saturday I’m meeting Joe Bob Briggs at the New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival. A day prior, March 29, his new weekly series debuts on Shudder: The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs. For those that are unfamiliar with it, Shudder is a premium streaming video service owned and operated by AMC, serving fans of horror, thrillers, and supernatural movies and TV shows. I think it’s a wonderful service that is overflowing with excellent content that I’m constantly backlogged on. Having thoroughly enjoyed Joe Bob’s standalone Shudder specials over the past several months, I look forward to his weekly Friday night double-features. Below are more details on this show and a trailer. Enjoy!
“Big” John Harte is the former head of security for KISS. He also worked for Prince, Iron Maiden, and Billy Idol, as well as numerous TV and movie stars. His autobiography comes out this summer, and he has a Pledge Music campaign going on right now that you should check out. John was kind enough to speak with me about his impressive and exciting career.
With Halloween upon us, I want to share with you my favorite horror movies. There are many horror films I love, but these are the cream of the crop. Happy Halloween!
The last three movies I saw were excellent, and I highly recommend you check them out:
About Time
I just saw About Time and it greatly exceeded my expectations. While the premise of a romantic movie built around time travel sounded absurd, I decided to give in to my girlfriend’s recommendation and see the film. I’m glad I did because it was one of the most emotionally moving films I’ve ever seen. The acting was top-notch across the board, the chemistry between the characters was believable – especially between Domhnall Gleeson and Bill Nighy – and the dialogue was charmingly engaging. While one scene at the end of the film had me in tears, there were many portions of the movie that had me laughing hard. It was a nice balance of drama and levity, and the spectacular soundtrack did a terrific job of complimenting and enhancing the scenes. I can’t recommend About Time enough – go see it, now.
Captain Phillips
Prior to this movie, I couldn’t remember the last time Tom Hanks had a great dramatic leading role. I’m glad to report that he reclaimed his throne as arguably the best A-list dramatic actor of his generation with Captain Phillips. While watching this film, I kept thinking to myself I can’t believe this happened in real life. The story played out like a tightly-wound thriller and Hanks’ perfect portrayal of the Captain kept my rapt attention from start to finish. What impressed me most was the last scene where Hanks’ character is recovering from the trauma of the incident; the whirlwind of emotions contained within the character shone through Hanks’ superb body language. While good actors can deliver lines to paint a picture, excellent ones like Hanks can say a million words without speaking a single syllable. I was so moved by this scene that I had to fight back tears. This film restored my faith in Tom Hanks’ ability to be an Oscar-worthy leading actor and it’s one of the best movies this year.
Gravity
Gravity seems to be a polarizing film. Some people love it, while others hate it. I saw it in 3-D and thought it was one of the most visually impressive movies I’ve ever seen. Going into it, I thought that George Clooney was going to be the star, but I was delightfully surprised by what turned out to be a career-defining role for Sandra Bullock; her excellent acting and Alfonso Cuarón’s deft directing made me feel as if I were her character – struggling to live. This movie was full of tension and suspense and, by the end, I was exhausted…in a good way. Gravity is an emotional tour de force that everyone should experience on the big screen in 3-D. See it now before it’s too late.
This week only, Amazon.com has the A Nightmare on Elm Street Collection Blu-ray box set on sale for $25.99 – that’s nearly 60% off the full retail price. For horror fans that don’t own all the Freddy films in high-definition, this is an excellent deal you should check out. You can buy ithere:http://tinyurl.com/myhytuw.
I recently discovered a great James Bond video on YouTube that I had to share with you. Below is the official description and the video. Enjoy!
Approximately five minutes from each of the 22 Eon produced James Bond films have been cut together, in order and in sequence, beginning with the first five minutes of DR. NO (1962) followed by minutes 5-10 of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963), minutes 10-15 of Goldfinger (1964), minutes 15-20 of Thunderball (1965), continuing on through each of the remaining 18 Bond features (accounting for variables in each title’s running time) culminating with the final five minutes of 2008’s Quantum of Solace.
This fresh look at the “James Bond Formula” provides a new exploration of the evolution of the series into a filmmaking genre uniquely its own. With few exceptions, each title’s transition into the picture that follows it is nearly seamless, creating a viewing experience that at first might serve to remind us “if you’ve seen one Bond film, you’ve seen them all,” but looking more closely it is in fact an endearing homage to a character who single-handedly shaped modern cinema’s action/adventure formula and who continues to leave an indelible mark on generations worldwide.
Happy Halloween! Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, offers the best, hand-selected collection of horror movies around. But sometimes you need a little extra help picking exactly which great slasher, ghost story, giallo or monster movie to watch next. In celebration of Halloween, Shudder’s head curator, Samuel Zimmerman, will be offering callers his live, personalized picks for their perfect Halloween night/weekend viewing.
