The Collection Trailer

I don't care much for "torture-porn" horror movies, but I enjoyed 2009's "The Collector". "The Collector" was directed by Marcus Dunstan and offered a twist on the trapped in a house horror scenario. Marcus Dunstan directs the sequel and actor Josh Stewart returns. The release date is November 30th, 2012. ~ Danny Stygion

Chase Merkley on 'The Collection':

Just saw the trailer to the sequel of 'The Collector' called 'The Collection'.

Will I end up watching this? Probably, and not because I think it looks like a great horror movie. It looks like people will end up dying in hilarious ways, and I do enjoy laughing. Laughing is also a great work out, and you can't beat a good work out.

Premise:

Arkin (Josh Stewart) escapes with his life from the vicious grips of “The Collector” during an entrapment party where he adds beautiful Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) to his “Collection.” Instead of recovering from the trauma, Arkin is suddenly abducted from the hospital by mercenaries hired by Elena’s wealthy father. Arkin is blackmailed to team up with the mercenaries and track down The Collector’s booby trapped hide out and save Elena from his sadistic rituals^[3].

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Horror Films 2012: The Stupid, The Yawn, and The Horror

Sinister

Horror Films 2012:  The Stupid, The Yawn, and The Horror

Written by:  Chase Merkley

Last week I gave you my list for the best remakes that have been released, and I figured I should give my opinion on these new horror films that'll be coming out in the next couple of weeks.  What gives me any right to give an opinion on a horror film before it's release?  Horror films is my favorite genre, and even though most of them are without a doubt awful, I don't ever see myself finding a new genre to love.  Horror films is one of those genre's that can bring any other genre within it's atmosphere.  What do I mean?  Picture you taking your girlfriend or your boyfriend to a romantic comedy.  Your other partner is excited to see if 'Logan' and 'Grace' will fall in love and in the middle of the film, 'Grace' get's a knock on the door and she ends being stabbed to death.  Not very funny and it seems that the film lost its romance; but in a horror movie you could have a romantic storyline surrounded by a horror element like a killer in the house, or an alien aboard a ship.  October is my favorite month of the year, but these past couple of years, I have been truly disappointed at some of the crap that these studio's have been releasing.

People tend to say, "Don't judge a book by its cover!"  I have been told by countless number of times that I shouldn't judge a film by its trailer, but I always tend to ask, "Isn't the point of a trailer to spark my interest?"  I have made plenty of trailers to know that it's not hard to put together and make rather interesting.  Most of us will always judge a film by seeing the trailer.  When you sit in a theater and the trailer ends, most of us tend to look at the person we went with and either give a look of, "that looked interesting," or some just say what's on their mind like myself, "That looks really stupid."  This article is on the new horror films that will be coming out and my opinion on them from just watching the trailers.  Want to know what I'll spend my money to see?  Find out below on which films will look stupid, only be viewed if I'm in a yawning (bored) mood, or look to be a decent horror film. 

HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET--'A mother and daughter move to a new town and find themselves living next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents. When the daughter befriends the surviving son, she learns the story is far from over.'  How do I feel about this film just by reading the synopsis and watching the trailer?  Well before I could even get into a minute in the trailer, I found myself shaking my head.  In the trailer, we find out that the boy is still living in that house where his parents were murdered by his insane sister.  Why is he still living there?  That's one of the most idiotic things that took me away from this trailer.  This is a very typical horror trailer.  New people move in, hear from people from the town what horror has happened, and then the main character finds out everything, but does she/he live to tell about it?  Nothing in this trailer makes me interested in any of the characters, nor story.  This trailer rips off so many other horror films before it, it's utterly embarrassing.  Just by the trailer alone, I know exactly what will happen and how this film will end, but I will save you from what may be spoilers.  In the trailer, it says, "Pray...You Don't...Discover it" talking about the secrets within the film.  I can honestly say that I didn't have to do much discovering to know what exactly is going on.  In my personal opinion, I honestly believe that this film is only getting a theatrical release because of Jennifer Lawrence getting famous so quickly with X-Men and Hunger Games.  It just feels that this film was made a couple of years ago, and the studio said, "Whoa, Jennifer is famous.  Quick!  Find whatever other stuff she made and release it!  NOW!  HURRY!"  House at the End of the Street looks stupid.

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V.H.S--'When a group of misfits is hired by an unknown third party to burglarize a desolate house and acquire a rare VHS tape, they discover more found footage than they bargained for.'  Okay, so here comes yet another found footage horror film.  Am I the only one who is seriously annoyed with this gimmick?  When the trailer starts, one of the character's describes the plot as he records his other misfit friends while they're drive during the night.  Why is he filming that?  What is the point of them recording themselves breaking into a house to find a rare tape?  Absolutely makes no sense.  Another thing that left a bad taste in my mouth is when the quotes came onto the screen.  In a lot of trailers, the studio decides to throw in quotes on the film that was said by other people who have already seen it to hopefully convince you, "See!  You'll like it!  I promise!  This person did!"  This film confuses me because usually you know who said the quote(s), but in this trailer it just has quotes with no source, except for one at the end.  For all I know, the Production Assistant could've said those quotes.  So this film is nothing original, but tried to act like it by telling you that there are five stories filmed by different directors.  Nothing new.  I tend to always choose the low budget horror films compared to the bigger budget ones because I know that the cast and crew are more passionate about the project, but I'm not too sure on this one.  Do I think it'll suck?  Not really, but I don't see it being a decent horror film either.  I wouldn't pay to see this in a theater, but if I found it on Netflix I wouldn't be against checking it out.  V.H.S looks to be a yawn for me.

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SINISTER--'Found footage helps a true-crime novelist realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity.'  Okay, so this is ending up like another typical horror trailer.  Something happens in a house, new family moves in, finds out what happens, and then some crazy stuff goes down.  Just by the trailer, I can see no originality in the characters, but Ethan Hawke was able to make me continue watching.  The producers of this film also did 'Paranormal Activity' and 'Insidious.'  We all tend to notice that really successful films within the same genre tend to show up in a trailer if the same studio is involved to help draw more attention.  Did it work for me?  I was a sucker for Insidious, and I thought Paranormal Activity was the only decent one compared to its sequels.  So yes, it ended up making me slightly more interested.  Ethan Hawke was another reason I kept watching the trailer.  He is a very underrated actor, and I know he rarely does these kind of films so I was immediately hooked into the trailer just by him alone.  The director, Scott Derrickson, also sparked my interest since he directed one of the better PG-13 exorcism films, 'Exorcism of Emily Rose.'  Another thing that sparked my interest was of course the rating.  Yes, I tend to look at a horror film and see what its rating is, and I do mostly get a little disappointed when I see no R rating attached.  With Ethan Hawke, Scott Derrickson, and an R rating attached to Sinister, I will without a doubt end up watching this when this comes out.  Sinister looks to be a decent horror film.

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PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 4--I would give you a synopsis, but the people behind this film believes I'll be more interested if they don't release a plot.  PA came out in 2006, and became a success for a very low budget film.  When I first saw PA, I will admit that I really enjoyed it.  Hated the ending, but the rest of the movie was fantastic.  Sequel ended up being really dumb, and the third one that came out last year was pretty much the same thing.  It seems to me with the SAW franchise done and over with, a new annoying franchise will have to take its place and it looks like PA is perfect.  PA-4 might be one of the worst horror trailers that I have ever seen in my entire life.  I can't even say that this film looks stupid, because I would be complimenting it by doing that.  I watched the first one to enjoy a decent horror film, I watched the second one to hopefully enjoy it, and I watched the third one to just laugh at the whole film.  I will not be watching this crap that some people call 'horror.'  This trailer insults me as a horror fan.

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SILENT HILL: REVELATION 3D--'When her father disappears, Heather Mason is drawn into a strange and terrifying alternate reality that holds answers to the horrific nightmares that have plagued her since childhood.'  Okay, so now we are finally be treated to a sequel to the original 2006 film based on the popular video games.  So just like the trailer says, it's been six years.  Some people didn't enjoy the 2006 film, but I happen to not be one of them.  I absolutely loved Silent Hill.  I thought the visuals were great with a haunting atmosphere, and the violence was just awesome.  I'm very surprised by this trailer because just by looking at the title, I became irritated.  Why do they think it's a great idea to add '3D' into the title of a film?  It's an awful idea, and it doesn't make me think, "Wait, 3D?  Holy balls, yes!  I must make sure my eyes view this film ASAP!"  So I was very nervous watching the trailer, but was relieved to see that the film actually doesn't look as bad as I thought.  Starts off showing great visuals and the cast doesn't look to be that bad either.  I must admit, while watching the trailer, I actually was getting really excited for this until the trailer went straight into promoting itself as a '3D' film.  Another film did this idea and it didn't turn out too well.  Do you remember what this horror film was called?  I'll give you a hint, it came out during Valentines.  That's right, 'My Bloody Valentine' released in 2009 had a similar trailer trying to convince people, "That's right!  Freaking blood in your face!  BLOOD!  3D!  YEAH!  WATCH IT!"  NO thanks.  I'll just watch the regular 2D version so I can at least see what's going on.  Even though Silent Hill seems to be really wanting you to watch this in 3D which makes me to believe that the story isn't as good as the first, I can't help but say that this film doesn't look as stupid as I wanted it to look.  I'll end up seeing this in theater's, but I won't fall for the '3D.'  This movie looks to be a decent horror film, but I wouldn't be surprised if it ends up being a yawn fest.

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So that's it.  Looks to be another disappointing year for us horror fans.  I'll only be watching Sinister and Silent Hill: Revelation 3D this October and that makes me sad to say.

Want honest reviews on your daily horror, cult, and downright gritty films? Follow me every week and see what movie’s will annoy me or make me stand and applaud. Be sure to show your support and find the low budget psychological drama that I wrote and directed called “SHiVER” page on Facebook.  Film is about a small group of people who each have their own beliefs on what it takes to survive when a mysterious infection threaten their lives.  SHiVER will be released on the page October 26, 27, and the 28th.

 chase (@) sinicalmagazine (.) com

SHiVER Facebook page

Top 5 American Horror Remakes

TOP 5 AMERICAN HORROR REMAKES

Written by: Chase Merkley

It’s not that surprising by now that Hollywood has been dishing out old material trying to revamp originality for a new generation. I know I’m not alone when I say that I become annoyed when I see a classic film get the treatment, but out of all these horrific ‘retelling’ films that have been coming out since I can remember, there are some that stand out and that surpass the original’s.

We tend to see most remakes in the horror genre. Being a horror fan, I was very disappointed to see some of my favorite films, or certain icons, being absolutely destroyed to an embarrassing degree. For example, in 2007, Rob Zombie took on an old icon in the slashing business who, when he was first introduced, just wanted to murder his little sister Laurie played by Jamie Lee Curtis. When I first heard Rob Zombie was taking on the ‘Halloween’ remake, I wasn’t as upset as I thought I would be. Zombie knows violence, and I was actually looking forward to viewing the film with my own eyes. Unfortunately, Zombie’s ‘retelling’ of the classic killer was ridiculously moronic to the point where I was hoping something would happen to the projector so I could stop watching it. Ruining the atmosphere with his ‘white trash’ dialogue and showing Michael Myer’s backstory taking away the mystery of the legend, I couldn’t figure out why the producer’s thought this would be a great idea since that’s what made Michael Myer’s so terrifying in the first place.

Of course I could write an entire book on why most of these remakes are horrendous and why they leave a bad taste in my mouth, but this is not that type of review. You want to know what the top five horror remakes are, and I’m here to tell you.

5) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003)—in 1974, horror fans welcomed a terrifying man who hid his face behind someone else’s chasing around young teenagers with a chainsaw. In 2003, the remake was released and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it actually was. The film proved that the name alone would bank almost making close to 80 million dollars with only a 10 million dollar budget, but horror fans were able to breathe and relax knowing that this horror remake had decent character’s, great violence, and showing that Leatherface hasn’t changed. With beautiful cinematography and a chilling soundtrack, this remake deserves to be on this list, especially since it helped bring about more films with other iconic killers such as Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, ect.

New Line Cinema 

4) The Last House on the Left (2009)—this is one of those remakes that I wanted to be good because I wasn’t that much of a fan of the original cult film made back in 1972. Wes Craven was considered the master when it came to this genre, so when you see Wes producing this remake and allowing someone else to bring his own vision to the story, you can’t help but end up watching. This film had everything the original had, except was executed much better with a great cast and almost brilliant direction. The original is well known for its graphic depiction of two young girls being brutally abused leading up to an intense rape scene. The remake decided to continue with the original’s intensity, and gave us the scene that all of us fans knew had to be in there. Not only did people leave the theater, some were seen crying in panic. This is an interesting horror film in that this film is all about a father and a mother seeking revenge, and revenge is exactly what this film delivers.

Rogue Pictures 

3) Dawn of the Dead (2004)—George Romero has been one of my biggest inspirations with his great storytelling in the zombie world. Dawn of the Dead was the sequel to the 1968 film ‘Night of the Living Dead.’ Dawn of the Dead is considered the best ‘Dead’ film in Romero’s series and I happen to agree. In 2004, the remake was released with a new upcoming director making a few changes to the classic. Zack Snyder did an amazing job with this film making the changes to where the zombies could now run, and were much harder to kill with their strength. Although a scene involving a cgi zombie baby not being well received by critics and fans, everyone can agree that this film surpasses the original by a couple of miles with fantastic action, superb direction, and wonderful performances.

Universal Pictures 

2) The Fly (1986)—do you remember Jeff Goldblum? Remember when he played a scientist and began to turn into a giant, human fly after an experiment goes wrong? If you have seen the 1986 film directed by David Cronenberg, then you know exactly who Jeff Goldblum is. The Fly without a doubt surpasses the original 1958 film in that Cronenberg shocked us with the disgusting, slow transformation. With a perfect cast, the film carries and soars almost all remakes practically making most people believe that this film isn’t even a remake. Basically what I mean by that last statement is if your friend came up to you and said, “Hey man, have you seen the Fly?” your immediate thought goes straight to this film and not the original. This is the reason that this film is ranked as the second best American remake.

20th Century Fox 

1) The Thing (1982)—in 1951, a film came out called ‘The Thing from Another World’ about an alien crash landing into the artic where scientists find the creature frozen in the ice. In 1982, John Carpenter did what filmmakers today can only dream of doing. Not only did he remake the film, he made certain changes and revamped the originality of the 1958 film to where it created something totally original in itself. Keeping the main concept of an alien crashing in Antarctica and scientists finding the alien creature, John Carpenter decided to not have a cliché alien. Carpenter brilliantly made this film feed on the fear of trust where the horror consists of the alien being able to copy and adapt to a host, like a human body. Who can you trust? Not only is the film brilliant with an original take on another film, but one of the other main reasons why I made this film number one is because of the use of such brilliant special effects. The practical effects in this film still stands up to some of horror films being released today. This is also one of the reasons why I couldn’t enjoy the 2011 prequel as much as I wanted due to the cgi effects. Carpenter took an original story and made it better. So what makes this the best remake? Why does this film deserve to even be considered as the best remake? Well not only does this deserve to be ranked number one, but this film is also considered one of the best horror films of all time and that alone is the reason why this film has made the number one spot on my list of the top five American remakes.

Universal Pictures

Want honest reviews on your daily horror, cult, and downright gritty films? Follow me every week and see what movie’s will annoy me or make me stand and applaud. Be sure to show your support and find the low budget psychological drama that I wrote and directed called “SHiVER” page on Facebook. Like and share and remember that with a mysterious infection where most people have zombiesque symptoms with uncontrollable rage but they can still feel and carry emotions, there’s only three things to believe in: Hope, Betray, and Survive. SHiVER will be released on the page October 26, 27, and the 28^th.

chase (@) sinicalmagazine (.) com

SHIiVER Facebook page

Great Cover Art for Horror Books

I will be self-publishing a collection of short horror stories later this year, and I'm currently in the middle of designing the cover. Below is some of my all time favorite cover art for horror paperback books.

If you like horror and great, cheesy cover art, I highly recommend: toomuchhorrorfiction.blogspot.com. The site is dedicated to just that. It is run by Will Errickson.