Merry Christmas

My wish to all of you is that Santa was wise and generous; that you got to spend the holiday with people you love and that you are smart enough appreciate what you have.

More of this, anon.
Prospero

The Gayest Thing You'll See This Week

Star Trek Voyages, the official on-line Trek series, has boldly gone where no Trek went before and created a gay story line. It involves Kirk's nephew Peter, an alien virus similar to AIDS and a Klingon attack. Gay geeks can finally rejoice! (via)

More of this, anon.
Prospero

Cats

Okay - I came across both of these things today on Videogum. It was like kismet.

First - here's a fan trailer that reportedly took a year to make. Some people have too much time on their hands:

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Next, an insane person. Some people have way too much time on their hands:

I can't decide whether this woman is insanely brilliantly or brilliantly insane. I just know that it's funnier every time I watch it. Maybe because I'm tired of being a 'wide' animal, too.

More of this, anon.

Prospero

Happy Holidays!

I won't be posting much this week, if at all. I just wanted to wish all of my readers (all three of you) the very merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years. Happy Hannauka, Happy Kwaanza and Good Solstice, too.

I may pop in once or twice to drop a note or two, but I wouldn't count on it!

Emjoy your holidays!

More of this, eventually.
Prospero

The Year's Best Horror Movies

Unlike almost any other genre, the horror film is often dismissed by critics simply just for being a horror film. But there are plenty of really good horror movies - The Exorcist, The Silence of the Lambs and An American Werewolf in London are three that immediately spring to mind. And just like every other genre, there are good and bad horror movies. Sadly, the good ones rarely get the recognition they deserve. So, in an attempt to correct that and, in the order of release (though not necessarily the order in which I saw them), here are the best of this year's horror movies (IMHO):

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Teeth

Writer/Director Mitchell Lichtenstein's feminist parable concerns the urban legend known as Vagina Dentata. Jess Wexler gives a truly terrific performance as Dawn O'Keefe, a young woman who has taken a vow of chastity, only to discover that her privates are even more dangerous than the preacher who led her to take that vow would leave her to believe. Hilarious and horrifying, Teeth will make every man squeeze his legs a bit closer together upon viewing and give every teen pause before getting his girlfriend drunk and trying something stupid.

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Diary of the Dead

The 'Godfather of the Dead,' George A. Romero, returns to his roots and joins the "hand-held camera" trend for his fifth entry in his "Living Dead" series. A group of student filmmakers are shooting a mummy picture in the woods when the zombie plague breaks out, and the young director decides to record the events that are unfolding about them. Intense and relentlessly horrifying, Diary of the Dead is Romero's best entry in the series since 1979's original Dawn of the Dead. Horror icons Wes Craven, Stephen King and Guillermo del Toro all have uncredited voice cameos, along with director Quentin Tarantino and Shaun of the Dead's Simon Pegg.

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The Ruins

Scott Smith ("A Simple Plan") wrote the novel (and the screenplay) on which this nasty little thriller is based, about a group of Americans on vacation in Mexico who find themselves trapped atop an ancient pyramid with a vicious, intelligent and very carnivorous entity. The book seemed a bit silly when I read it, though Smith's character development and less-than-happy ending more than made up for that. Director Carter Smith (no relation) ramps up the tension and the gore, while managing to elicit terrific performances from his talented young cast, which includes Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men) and Jonathan Tucker (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre).

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The Strangers