On Friday night the stage was set for a pure metal meltdown, hosted inside Brooklyn’s own Saint Vitus Bar. The watering hole for all things heavy would host a major league lineup that would include the likes of Jungle Rot and headliners Suffocation. Both of these bands played killer sets and can easily play whole shows on their own. But on this night we were here for San Jose, California Gore-Death Metal legends Exhumed. And after a weekend of recovery, we are still shaking the chill off from the outstanding show.

Shortly after 11pm the men of Exhumed took the stage to a gigantic applause from the completely sold out room. Exhumed is still hot off their latest album “All Guts, No Glory,” and the lion’s share of the set reflected this in an extremely satisfying way. And with little dialogue with the crowd they launched into an early set that included pure death face melters like “The Beginning After The End,” “Dis-Assembly Line,” and “Through Cadaver Eyes.” The expert speed-death instrumentation paired brilliantly with the flawless sound proofing and design from the venue which drove the capacity crowd into a frenzy, yielding one of the best mosh pits this writer has seen in years.

With each song clocking in at right around three minutes, Exhumed was easily able to overload their set time with nearly twenty songs, providing the faithful with a palpable cornucopia of career spanning nuggets.  “Limb From Limb,” “Under The Knife,” and “Funereality” clearly showed how well these guys can satisfy the hunger of true blue death metal fans while at the same time throwing the thrash metal community tons of love. As a fan of both genres I was blown away hanging on every sweet lick from Bud Burke and Matt Harvey and double kick drum beat perfectly produced by Michael Hamilton.

As a horror fan like myself, you can really connect to many of the over the top gross imagery the band overstuffs into each track. The cover of 2011′s “All Guts, No Glory” has the boys donning zombie like make-up as they pretend (we hope) to rip flesh from bone. This gore themed frenzy carried well into their set as they chucked huge chunks of figurative meat into the crowd with pulse pounders like “Slaughtercult,” ”Casketkrusher,” and of course the title track to “All Guts, No Glory.” The horror-slasher vibes continued as they had a Leatherface dressed guy wield a chainsaw on stage. It doesn’t get better than that folks! Needless to say we were glad a bar was mere steps away to provide us with plenty of cheap cans of brew to mellow us slightly after an insane and intense set. It seriously looks like metal is back and taking no fucking prisoners.

- Jay Rubin

Arts & Culture

Friday, October 19th – Once the rain stops falling it’s time to get your culture on! Make your way to the free,”Empire State of Mind Art & Fashion Event.” Acclaimed artist, ErocksNY will unveil her 2012 collection while designer Talia Tyree-Clark Fashion Launch! (DEG Productions )

Sports

Sunday, October 21st – The G-Men return to MetLife Stadium on Sunday to take on the Washington Redskins. Do Eli and the boys have what it takes to crush this almost evenly matched team? (New York Giants)

Music & Entertainment

Friday, October 5th – Movie release day. Quiet night tonight? Check out these two flicks coming out today. It’s a frightful weekend at the cinema loaded with ghosts and murder! The found footage horror continues with, “Paranormal Activity 4″ (PG-13). Critics are saying it’s the scariest one yet, or maybe they are simply whistling through the graveyard! Next up, “Alex Cross” (PG-13), a murder-mystery starring, “Madea” himself Tyler Perry. Might have to skip that one. We will see you at the movies!

Sunday, October 21st – Do you believe in a thing called love? If so, you need to be front row center this Sunday at Terminal 5 when glam rock revivalists, “The Darkness” tear the roof off the joint! That’s right, singer Justin Hawkins is back and they are kicking serious butt! Arrive early and check out NYC favorites, “The Dirty Pearls.” (Terminal 5)

Nightlife

Saturday, October 20th – Myspace, which still exists apparently hits NYC in a major way this Saturday with a show featuring Chromeo and Questlove performing DJ sets. (TriBeCa Grand )

Other

Saturday, October 20th – Roll out the barrel, its, “Das Best Oktoberfest” at L.A. Venue right here in NYC! That’s right for one day, ticket holders will have the choice of two sessions (afternoon and evening) to consume unlimited beer from around the world, purchase authentic German Brats, and dance the day away to toe tapping Oomph music! But unless you were the lucky LocalBozo.com reader who won our tickets today, you’ll have to purchase any of the remaining passes in cash at the door cause this puppy’s almost sold out. (Das Best Oktoberfest)

Sunday, October 21st -After nearly a week of marrying eating and movies together the highly innovative, “NYC Food Film Festival” comes to a close. Dry your eye, because Sunday’s, “The Lowcountry Oyster Roast” ends the festivities on a very high note! Guests will enjoy five cool films while chowing down on all-you-can-eat Bulls Bay oyster roast and a sideboard of Classic Lowcountry Dishes by Chef Robert Stehling of Charleston’s Hominy Grill. (NYC Food Film Festival)

And as Always, Droid users- make sure to Download the official LocalBozo.com App for FREE from Google Play (formerly the Android Market)! Get all the information we can fit onto your smart phone, NOW!

The post-apocalyptic thriller genre in film is not necessarily a novel concept. Yet time and again with the release of a new film paying homage to a similar sort of premise, it remains to be frighteningly intriguing each time. Enter “The Day” (R), a brand new movie in this popular trope of grind house filmmaking. The film is a savagely brutal, in your face character study, packed to the gills with much of the pending end of the world set pieces that attracts us to movies in the first place. However below that surface lies a deeper story that makes “The Day” a terrific film and a breath of fresh air for the genre.

“The Day” stars Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, Lost) as Rick, the leader of a gang of survivors left from an apparent end of days. As the film opens we see Rick followed by the rest of the group played by Shawn Ashmore, Ashley Bell, Cory Hardrict, and Shannyn Sossamon- five survivors trekking through a barren hell-scape looking for any kind of shelter and food to sustain them. The incredibly dark and depressed demeanor of the group and their dire surroundings sets an immediate tone of uncertainty, which is a pervasive factor throughout the entire film.

Once the characters arrive at their much needed place of shelter, the film takes an even darker and more confining tone. The shelter comes in the form of a mysterious house which foreshadows some horrific circumstances of things to come both inside and outside of its walls. The minimal set pieces that exist within the bulk of the film easily pay tribute to the classic horror film, “Night of the Living Dead” and crime-thriller, “Assault on Precinct 13.” Both of these highly notable works used one location to tell the tale of terrifying external forces trying to get inside to cause harm. “The Day” perfectly captures this tension, while at the same time elevating it with excellent acting, great modern film making techniques, and surprises. And speaking of surprises, this film has a ton of them. Repeatedly, you know something is coming but you don’t know when. The director and writers have perfectly choreographed these jarring and often very gory events to maximize the audience’s shock level.

Any fan of the gore and horror genre will feel right at home with “The Day.” From start to finish you can tell how much the film’s creators prefer a more traditional hard R rating, choosing to not hold anything back. Although it is worth mentioning that at the same time, the violence and bloodshed do not at all dilute the narrative. These graphic scenes only help to enhance a very bleak yet uplifting snap shot of the human spirit at work. Since we are running this piece as “The Day” is released, we are happy to celebrate it with an in depth audio and transcribed interview with Dominic Monaghan who both starred in and produced the film. Listen in as the “Lost” and “Lord of the Rings” actor discusses the process of creating the film, its tone and style, relating his previous career works to this new film, and what exciting projects he has coming up in the near future.

- Jay Rubin

 “The Day” starring Dominic Monaghan, Shawn Ashmore, Ashley Bell, Cory Hardrict, and Shannyn Sossamon is rated R, has a runtime of  90 minutes and is released on Wednesday, August 29th.

LocalBozo.com:  LocalBozo.com is happy to have with us Dominic Monahan of the new film- “The Day,” coming out on August 29^th from Anchor Bay and WWE Studios. Dominic how’s it going?

Dominic Monahan: Hey, everything is going great! I’m driving around in crazy, balmy weather in Los Angeles. I’m from England so I’m not used to anything that gets above eight-five degrees. So, I’m just trying to hide underneath my A/C all day.

LocalBozo.com:  Well, try to keep those windows closed because it’s very smoggy and who knows what going on in L.A. these days.

DM: I love L.A. It’s a fantastic city. I’ve been living here for almost ten years now. But I have to say I’m fiercely allergic to the air. You know I get really bad hay fever and sinus problems like that. So that’s one of the few bummers about L.A.  But it’s a great place to live.

LocalBozo.com:  Your new film, “The Day” has that fantastic post-apocalyptic feel which I love in this type of movie. Can you tell me what drew you to the film?

DM: I tend to do things based on material. And the material in this script was really strong. It was a great role they wanted me to play the leader of the gang. It was all about the script for me and the way they sold me on the character.

LocalBozo.com: “The Day” is unquestionably a hard R edge to it that so many films of today lack by going PG-13 and holding back.  If you could, please speak about that, and also talk about some films you loved from your childhood that compared to it.

DM: I don’t strictly chase after anything in particular apart for good material. So, it (The Day) happens to fall on the side of having a hard R rating and it doesn’t pull any punches you know. It’s certainly something that comes with a bit of a warning, but it’s not necessarily the type of material that as an actor I run around to get but it was the strength of the material. In terms of films that we were influenced by- it would have to be films like, “The Road.” Viggo Mortensen, who is a friend of mine just did a stellar performance in that. The world was very bleak. And you know a lot of these post-apocalyptic films had influence in that project. There are also elements, and it’s not as fantastic as, “The Matrix,” but the Matrix is a post-apocalyptic film. We really like the idea that no one really knows what has happened. These guys are on the ground dealing with it. That’s sort of the same in “The Matrix” to a certain extent. They don’t know how it got to this point but, they are trying to stay alive throughout.

LocalBozo.com: “The Day” has a real minimal look to it. And this shouldn’t be seen as a spoiler to anyone but, most of the scenes take place in one location, one house. And I feel that it has a real “Night of the Living Dead” element to it. Can you speak to that?

DM: Yes, there is some “Night of the Living Dead” stuff for sure. I think we were paying homage to that in some of the scenes where all you can see is silhouettes of people coming towards the house in a very siege mentality.  It was definitely one of the films we drew from. And some of the classic Hammer Horror films were also homaged in there as well. There’s the low lying fog, and some of these characters who come out of nowhere and shock you and scare you. We had a few scary children there as well. There was also an influence from “The Omen” and stuff like “Don’t Look Now,” which was an old Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie film which I really like. I think that good writers steal from other good writers, and that’s kind of known throughout history. That’s not say the script is not original, but it is certainly influenced by some of the higher quality horror-thrillers out there.

LocalBozo.com:  Dominic, you have a rich history on television as a cast member on “Lost” and on the big screen in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. In these roles you were also in life in peril situations. Please speak about any of your personal input that you added to “The Day.”

DM: I was lucky enough to be one of the producers on this film. So, I was hopefully helpful in working out how this film was going to get shot in a very small amount of time- what actors need in that regard, and how to move things along as best as I can. I mean, I’ve been really lucky that a lot of the projects I have been in deal with life and death where people are in extraordinary circumstances. The experience of that which is great. I think what’s helpful there is to try and keep it as level headed as possible. When ordinary people are in extraordinary situations, they don’t suddenly put on a cape and fly around. They remain human. Now, I was quite turned on by the idea that they are just normal people; they are just trying to stay alive. They are trying to get through life where the stakes are high. And I always attempt to make my performances as grounded as possible. It’s almost like, what would the audience do in that situation? The audience responds well to a hero type character that’s just like them.

LocalBozo.com: That’s totally right. All of the characters are grounded and seem like they could live in our modern world. But at the same time, moviegoers get that horror movie feel, of course gore-hounds get alot of what they want. And you get the action and suspense and it really rolls into one movie that many people can enjoy, so I thank you for that sir.

DM: My favorite thing about the film that it’s made very clear, very quickly that this is a film where anything can happen. We will kill people in surprising way. We will have a hero become a villain. We will have a villain become a hero. Nobody’s safe here and I love that about these films because the audience very quickly realizes that they can’t hang on to anything, they are going to have to let go.

LocalBozo.com: The WWE was one of the backers of this film. Can you please tell me what their on set input was, if any?

DM: We actually made the film as a strict independent with Gold Circle Films. And then we showed it in Toronto and Michael Luisi, the head of WWE Films just fell in love with the project and thought that it was perfect for the fan base of WWE. And I think that was very shrewd, because the fan base of WWE is basically young enthusiastic men and ladies as well. The fan base likes these sorts of thriller, horror, and siege movies. The film was made independently, but when WWE bought it they really marketed it well for an audience that is going to lap this up.

LocalBozo.com: Dominic, what are some upcoming projects you would like to inform the readers of LocalBozo.com about?

DM: I just finished creating this show called “Wild Things” which is my attempt to have people think a little differently about animals that most humans are scared of- snakes, spiders, scorpions, and bees. I go around the world trying to change people’s minds. And that’s something I am real excited about. That’s something that you can get more information about at my Twitter page, @DomsWildThings. That will come out in the early part of next year.

LocalBozo.com: “The Day” comes out on August 29^th and I expect all fans of horror, action, survival, end of the world and dramas to go out and see it! Again, thank you Dominic Monaghan for joining us here at LocalBozo.com.

For over a decade horror fans and lovers of all things cinema bizarre have been treated with a great deal of disrespect. As a firm supporter of all things shocking, countless disappointing releases have been earmarked with a PG-13 rating, relegating them to horror movie dribble. These films were released to capitalize on whatever remained of an already waning audience and teenagers looking for a pseudo-scandaless night out. While the past few years have unearthed a dearth of legitimate horror movies, not every horror flick has been dreck. This Friday a film will be unleashed that far and away reaffirms a love for the genre, based solely upon the way its creators can break apart from convention without making the audience feel stupid. “The Cabin in the Woods” (R) releases on Friday, April 13th and if you haven’t heard about it yet, you’re going to be even more impressed when you plunk down your hard earned cash for a screening.

“Cabin” comes from the minds of mega-producer Joss Whedon (Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly) and director Drew Goddard (Cloverfield), two innovative minds with regard to the moving image. Whedon worked for years to create an authentic horror film to be distributed to a wide audience and after the original studio went belly up a few years ago, this film sat on the shelf collecting dust, as well as a mythos. And now with the release a few short days away Whedon himself has gone so far as to make a video warning viewers not to spoil any of this film. While we can assure you the film is out of control and is filled with a ton of surprises, this reviewer will not spoil any of them.

So how do you review a film where anything you say about it will ruin the experience for anyone who tries to watch it? Let’s start slowly. The film stars a central cast of typical horror archetypes- including Chris Hemsworth, now of ‘Thor’ and ‘Avengers’ fame. We’ve come to know these types of characters as the slut, the athlete, the stoner, and of course, the virgin. The story revolves around a weekend getaway which finds the characters headed into the proverbial ‘cabin in the woods’ for the usual drinking, drugs, and sex. The setup for the plot is both genius and funny, breaking the conventions of all our favorite 1980′s era slasher films. The film quickly strays from anything that would dismiss it as simply a ‘Scary Movie’ type parody. Not once during its 95 minute run time, does it treat the audience like sheep.

Die hard horror nerds will have a field day with this movie. From start to finish, gore buffs will witness expertly placed horror call-backs from some of their favorite films. Admittedly it’s a bit passe to claim that a movie is a ‘rollercoaster,” but with “The Cabin in the Woods,” you’re going to want to exit the ride and get back in line for more loop-de-loops. Along with a plethora of scares and surprises packed into the film ‘Cabin’ packs in plenty of belly laughs, a credit to an well written screenplay that multitasks like a madman and succeeds swimmingly on both sides of the genre spectrum.

Once “Cabin” has been released and the surprises therein have been absorbed by viewers, it’s well within reason that this film may take on a life of it’s own. Much like “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” did in the ’70s and ’80s, “The Cabin in the Woods” is rife for a long run as a midnight movie screening. Be it in a theater or at home with some friends, it’s a perfect flick to crack a few cold ones open for. And in our cynical, cookie-cutter lives we need a movie like this to show us how much fun we can truly have sitting in the dark for a few hours.

“The Cabin in the Woods” is rated R, starring Chris Hemsworth, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford has a runtime of 95 minutes, and is released in theaters everywhere Friday, April 13th.

- Jay Rubin

Halloween may be over, but it is not the only time of the year to get your share of scares. The New York City Horror Film Festival has come to town. And with it comes some of the best works of the genre by independent filmmakers.  From November 11th-14th horror fans will have their pick of the litter with opportunities to attend a variety of feature length and short films to get their fill of terror! This is a perfect opportunity to support grass root filmmaking and at the same time make a nice contribution to the city and its artists.

A true highlight of this year’s festival includes an exclusive showing of cult film director, Terry Gilliam’s (Monty Python) “The Legend of Hallodega.”  This short film was made as a joint effort between Amp Energy Drinks and the good people at Talladega and it also stars David Arquette from the Scream franchise, and the Cox-Arquette marriage.

The main attraction has to be on Saturday, November 13^th.  At 10pm The NYC Horror Film Festival will be hold an exclusive screening of Wes Craven’s classic, “A Nightmare on Elm Street.”  Not only will many fans finally get the chance to see the film on the big screen for the first time, but Freddy Krueger himself, Robert Englund will be in attendance.  Mr. England will also be receiving the festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.  This honor was also given to  director of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” Tobe Hopper.

Robert Englund returns on Sunday, November 14^th for a genre panel discussion with fellow horror brethren like Michael Wright, Michael Gingold, Bill Lustig, Joe Mauceri, and Tony Todd. It will be moderated by Festival Director Michael J. Hein and the panel is a great chance to listen to these fascinating men and find out what makes them tick.  If there’s time and you’re brave enough, make sure you ask them a question.

On November 10^th, the LocalBozo crew attended the festival’s kick-off party at the New York City club Soiree, which is part of Crash Mansion.  At the party, festival goers and the general public were given a preview as to what features would be exhibited throughout the festival. The promoters were also quite generous providing tables filled with free promotional items for fans to take with them. They also had free beer for an hour, which is a great ice-breaker when partying with other horror movie fans.  Later in the night, bands took the stage for the crowd to rock out with.

If you are a fan of horror you need to attend The New York City Horror Film Festival.  Even if you are not, we urge you to try and attend one of the events, as it is a great way to support the local arts as well as up and coming filmmakers. And, hey it’s also a great way to explore your city and meet cool new people, and that’s never a bad thing. Well, unless, they are wielding an axe.

- Alan Smithee

5) Drag Me To Hell- (2009) Director- Sam Raimi

Starring: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver and Dileep Rao

Okay so this might technically be a Hollywood film, but hey, at least it’s not a remake. This is the only film that falls in that category, but it is too good not mention. Sam Raimi returns to his horror roots and it really pays off.  Drag Me To Hell is a glossed over version of Evil Dead that really packs in the scares and quite a few laughs. Raimi does a great job of building up the tension from the opening sequence and doesn’t let go until the finish.

Premise: Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer at a bank. In order to get the assistant manager job she refuses to grant a loan extension to an older gypsy woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver). Subsequently, Mrs. Ganush places a curse on Christine and within three days she will descend into hell for eternity. Can Christine break the curse?

4) The Orphanage- (2007) Director- Juan Antonio Bayona

Starring: Belen Rueda, Fernando Caya and Roger Princep

This Spanish film by director Juan Antonio Bayona is a beautifully shot ghost story that is both eerie and cerebral.  The film itself focuses more on story than actual “jump” moments, but this is the type of film that sticks with you long after you watched it.

Premise: Laura (Belen Rueda), her husband Carlos (Fernando Cayo), and their adopted son Simon (Roger Princep) move into a new home, which happens to be the orphanage where Laura was raised.  Simon reveals that he has met some ‘friends’ in the house and Laura writes these ‘friends’ off as imaginary. As they plan to reopen the orphanage, Simon goes missing. Laura and Carlos desperately search for their child as Laura begins to believe there is a ghostly presence said orphanage. In order to find her son she must solve the mystery of the orphanage.

3) I Sell The Dead- (2008) Director- Glen McQuaid

Starring: Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Larry Fessenden and Angus Scrimm

This film is truly unique and original.  The setting is reminiscent to the atmospheric films of Italian director Mario Bava. Innovative storytelling, solid acting, and a great set design all combine together to create a fun and creative horror film. The film is injected with just the right amount of humor (think Fright Night) to keep the story moving. It is a real treat for horror fans.

Premise: Arthur Blake (Dominic Monaghan) recounts his life of grave robbing to a priest (Ron Perlman) hours before he is to be put to death. He tells the story of how he and Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden) made a living off of selling all types of corpses. Can his life be saved before he meets the guillotine?

2) Let The Right One In- (2008) Director- Tomas Alfredson

Starring: Kare Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson and Per Ragnar

This Swedish gem provides a fresh twist on vampire films.  With the “Twilight” franchise literally sucking the life out of the genre it’s great to see a film like this. Thoroughly original, dark, and twisted with a great story, it is an amazing piece of filmmaking. The Hollywood remake is currently in theaters, but we implore you: do yourself a favor and see the original. This film would have been the number 1 if I didn’t have an affinity for the horror films of the 80’s (even though this film is set in the 1980’s).

Premise: Oskar (Kare Hedebrant), a shy 12-year old boy who is bullied by the kids his age, develops a relationship with a strange young girl named Eli (Lina Leandersson) who moves in next door. Eli teaches Oskar to stand up for himself but she is hiding a dark secret.

1) The House Of The Devil (2009) Director- Ti West

Starring: Jocelin Donahue, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov and Greta Gerwig

One of the best horror films made in a long time, this movie is a perfectly paced ode to the early 80’s horror film. This film replicates that era so well that if you didn’t know anything about it you would believe it WAS an early 80’s horror film.  The House of the Devil conjures up all of the elements of that period and packages them into a Polanski-esque thrill ride. It is quite simply a perfectly executed horror film.  Ti West has a bright future ahead of him.

Premise: College student Samantha Hughes (Jocelin Donahue) is fed up with dorm life and wants to live on her own. When she finds the apartment of her dreams she realizes that she can’t afford it, so Samantha takes a babysitting job that can change everything for her. A creepy house, a walkman, high rise jeans, pizza and devil worshippers. What more could you ask for in a horror film?

- Seymour Winterbush

Twice a year, horror and pop culture fanatics of all walks of life converge at the Hilton in Parsippany New Jersey for the Chiller Theatre Expo, one of the largest conventions on the east coast for all things horror.  The convention is next weekend, October 29-31^st.  This is their official Halloween season convention and they go balls to the wall.  We at LocalBozo.com think you need to be at this event, because it is one of the best times of the year in our area.

Do you like buying stuff?  We know you do! The Chiller Theatre Convention has everything that the horror and/or pop culture fan could possibly want to own.  Learn from me- take it slow.  Yes, there are a lot of things that you will want to buy right away, but it is so important to shop around and look for value.  Otherwise, your cache of “it seemed like a good idea at the time” items will grow exponentially.  So, walk around and take your time!

If you like celebrities, especially ones’ of yesteryear (C list), then Chiller Theatre is where you need to be next weekend.  When you enter the convention floor you will see a large pit area that is literally filled wall to wall with famous faces.  This year’s celebrity guest lineup runs the gamut from TV personalities such as Ian Ziering and Patrick Duffy to horror icons like Bill Moseley, and Tom Savini.

Also, be prepared to wait in a long line. This is one of the biggest conventions and it gets bigger and more popular every year.  In conventions past, the line for autograph seekers has stretched out into the parking lot. But, if you’re a diehard you’ll wait.  Trust me it’s worth it.  A few years ago we met and subsequently took a picture with Gary Coleman (whose table was next to Kane Hodder). He’s dead now. At least he got to meet me before he passed.

For the LocalBozo crew, Saturday night is truly the best part of the Chiller Theatre. Once the convention floor closes the real party begins. As night falls, a stage is erected, turning Chiller Theatre from a house of horrors to a house of Rock!

The lineup of bands ranges from “Girl Rock” to metal but the true headliners are The Dead Elvi, the official Chiller Theatre house band.  The Dead Elvi consists of some of New Jersey’s best Rock musician’s.  Even Kevin Clement, the founder of the convention, gets in on the fun as one of the band’s guitarists.  Since their name is derived from Elvis Presley, many of the members don Elvis wigs and sunglasses.  They are known to play a mix of popular surf rock, classic rock, and even a few originals, like one of my favorites, “The Creature Stole My Surf Board.”

But please, make sure you stay for the entire set, as there are plenty of surprise guests along the way.  Remember all the famous faces signing earlier? Well, many of them stick around for the band and even come on stage.  In 2008, Ray Parker Jr. jumped on stage and did a crowd pleasing rendition of his classic, “Ghostbusters.”  The surprises continued throughout the night when Mickey Dolenz from, “The Monkees” came out and sang, “Daydream Believer.”  That’s the amazing thing about Chiller; all of these amazing people from your fondest memories are in one place.

It must be said that the convention is an amazing time for fans of horror and pop culture in general.  That is why we are pleased to tell you that the LocalBozo crew will be at this year’s Chiller Theatre in full force.  The true cherry on top of this horrifying sundae is that “Mausoleum of The Macabre” host Needles the Gravedigger, will be walking the floor interviewing convention goers and (hopefully) forcing Frank Stallone into a conversation (one can dream).  All LocalBozo.com readers are invited to come down to the convention and party with Needles—we won’t be hard to find.  For more information on all of the guests and vendors scheduled to appear, check out www.chillertheatre.com, and we’ll see you there.

- Alan Smithee

It must be said that to spoil the plot of a movie or long running TV show is a dick move.  The phrase, “Spoiler Alert”, has a very true meaning. If you have not seen the following film, and plan to see it at some point, do not read any further. Maybe you can check out some of our restaurant reviews, or maybe even view one of our Web Shots, as they are done quite well and take a long time to write, shoot and edit.  Those of you who don’t mind a spoiler, enjoy!

The late 1970′s and early 80′s brought us some of the most memorable pieces of modern horror cinema. In 1978, John Carpenter helped launch one of the most successful, sub-genres of horror, the slasher film with the classic, Halloween. But with the immense popularity of Halloween and other giants of the time like, Friday The 13^th, there are other amazing works of horror that do not get enough credit.

In 1979 a rather creepy film was released. It tells the story of what may happen if you wander into one of those odd, roadside attractions. The film is titled, Tourist Trap.

The set up is typical, a group of attractive young woman are on the road and decide to take a break for some skinny dipping in the local creek.  Well, typical for a horror movie that is.  They are then greeted by a seemingly friendly old codger, Mr. Slausen, played by Chuck Connors. He is the owner of a Wax and/or Historical Mannequin Museum (who really knows or cares) that has hit hard times since a new highway has come in the area.

The setting for Tourist Trap is quite unsettling. First off, the frontier style museum with the extremely life like figures is enough to creep anyone out. But it doesn’t compare to the odd white house set back in the woods. This is the location where much of the horror in Tourist Trap takes place. Now if you’ve seen the film you know that the house does not look like a traditional “madman’s” house seen in other slasher flicks; this one looks all too normal which makes it that much more terrifying.

The killer is introduced in typical Slasher film fashion. One of the beautiful women wanders off to the creepy house and of course she stumbles upon the “weird room,” which is usually filled with the things that reveal why the killer is the killer.  Many people, even people who worked on the film have grown to call the killer, “Plaster Face.”

It’s funny because you know that you’re watching the scene when you’re about to see the killer for the first time, but this one still catches you by surprise. The creepiness of the mask he wears is enough to give any well worn horror fan the heebie jeebies; it is that menacing.

Many times in slasher movies, the killer comes off as cheesy and extremely predictable.  They chase the girl, she falls, and he kills her. We’ve seen it over and over.  This is not the case in Tourist Trap. A very well known scene has the girls pitted against the killer and one of these girls is not so lucky. In this scene we get what I call a “Slow burn” horror kill.  Plaster Face proceeds to suffocate this young debutante in an extremely slow manner by using materials for wax mask making. He can be seen repeating a mantra to her about how her air is going to run out soon. This is some really uncomfortable stuff.

The final reason Tourist Trap is an under appreciated masterpiece, is its abrupt shift in genres.  For most of the movie we are treated with a solid slasher storyline, when out of nowhere we find out that Mr. Slausen, aka “Plaster Face”, has telekinetic powers.  This revelation produces one of the weirdest scenes ever committed to celluloid.  You almost forget everything that happened in the film up to this point because the scene is so jarring. The entire screen is literally filled with action- weird, messed up action.

Tourist Trap is one of those horror movies where once it ends you turn to your friend and say something like, “What the hell did we just watch?” And trust me, this is a good thing.  Horror like this has somewhat fallen by the wayside in recent years.  But with the power of video, we can relive all of this creepy, campy weirdness that made the late 70′s and the early 80′s one of the greatest time periods for the horror genre.

-  Alan Smithee