Need Some Epic Italian Zombie Soundtracks?

Okay, so they might not necessarily be “epic”, or even zombies depending on who you ask, but Quartet Records has given fans of some of the lower quality (but still damn entertaining) zombie or plague flicks from 1980!

Quartet Records, in collaboration with Cinevox Records has released the score for Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso’s 1980 film Virus, also known as Virus Apocalipsis Canibal, and probably best known as Hell of the Living Dead or Night of the Zombies. Now, anybody that has seen this film probably noticed that there are some parts of the score that sounds a little like Goblin’s score for Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), and you would be correct. In fact, there is also music lifted from the score Goblin did for Luigi Cozzi’s Contamination (1980), and even a bit from Fernando Di Leo’s crime drama Diamanti Sporchi di Sangue (1978), done by Luis Bacalov. But it did actually have some original music in it, from Gianni Dell’Orso.

Dawn of the Dead at Music Box in Chicago

Now I will admit that out of George Romero’s Dead Trilogy (yes, nothing exists after Day), I would put Dawn of the Dead (1978) as my least favorite. I know, I know, but I will defend that statement!

BUT . . . no matter what, if you have not had the chance to see this film in the theater, and live near the Chicago area, then you need to fix that and come out to the Music Box Theatre, either on Friday, Feb. 4th, or Saturday, Feb. 5th, for a special midnight screening of the original theatrical cut of this epic film. I’ve already checked and this will be screening in the main theater too!

Scary Movie Mondays at the Starlite Drive-In!

It seems more and more of these drive-ins are holding events that keep tempting me to take more road trips! Once I hit the lotto, that is exactly what I’ll be doing, in between hitting on these old book stores!

Anyway, starting next Monday, the Starlite Drive-In, located in Wichita, KS, they will be having double and triple features  each week through most of October, with some really choice titles. If there is anyway I could get down there to see Godzilla vs Megalon on the big screen, I would definitely be there. You can see all the features below on the ad, or you can head over to their Facebook Events page HERE. If you’re in the area and can make it, I will be very envious of you!

Savini – The Biography

You can’t be a horror fan and not know who Tom Savini is. It really is simple as that. Growing on horror in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Savini was simply a god to us fans. We knew that if he worked on a movie, it was going to be worth going to see, on that fact alone. And he never disappointed. Just look at this filmography from that time. Friday the 13th, The Burning, Maniac, Prowler, and the list goes on and on. Over the years, fans idolized Savini because he even though he was a master in the special makeup effects world, he was also just like us… a fan.

Now we will get to read a little more in depth about this master of makeup effects, actor, director, and so much more, with the release of his biography, simply titled Savini.

Released by AM Ink Publishing, it will come out on Nov. 3rd, which just happens to be Savini’s 73rd birthday! There is a Limited First Edition Signed by Savini that is priced at $99.99. There is also a regular Limited First Edition that is $74.99. Or you can get it from Amazon priced at $59.99. It is 212 pages, and filled with over 400 images from Savini’s work and career. Truly a must for all horror fans. Our movie memories just wouldn’t be the same without Tom.

 

George Romero – Rest in Peace

My very first horror convention was in April of 1988, out in California. Up until then, I had never met anybody famous, especially any idols I had from the horror genre. But at the show, one of the first ones I met was George Romero. I had come walking out of the dealer room on my way to the auditorium for the Q&A’s, and there he stood, surrounded by fans like a scene from one of his zombie flicks. Except, instead of trying to eat him, they just wanted to get an autograph or just say hello and thanks. I didn’t take me long to join the growing mass of fans either. I had him sign my copy of Tom Savini’s Grande Illusions, which was my very first autograph as well. I still have that book to this day and is one of my most memorable.

Book Review: Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s

Making and Remaking Horror in the 1970s and 2000s By David Roche Published by University Press of Mississippi, 2014. 335 pages.

Sometimes I really regret asking for a book to review. Especially when I had just finished reviewing one epic size book of Psycho-Babble, and then along comes this relatively new book by David Roche. He is a professor at the Université Toulouse Le Mirail with some publishing credentials under his belt. In other words, he’s no slouch. In fact, Roche is a very smart man and can do some amazing fact finding research, which he puts to use in this book. The concept of the book is to try and figure out the differences between the original ’70s versions of Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Dawn of the Dead, Hills Have Eyes, and Halloween, and their remakes that were all made in the 2000s, or what makes them better or worse and for what reasons.

That initial concept is what intrigued me at the start. But once I dove into it, I quickly realized what I had gotten myself into once again. This is not written for the casual fan, but for a very academic crowd. In fact, I had a dictionary opened most of the time when I was reading it to make sure I was getting the point he was stating. Gotta say though…even that didn’t help a lot of times. These University style books love to go way out of their way to explain something about a movie that really doesn’t need it or even have an explanation other than what is at face value. Here, Roche does a lot of quoting from other works of this sort, as well as giving his own insight, which I frankly think all of which is putting way too thought on this stuff.  Let me give you a couple of examples.