Countdown To Halloween Day 5--Serial Killers: Silence Of The Lambs

Since the shocking recent death of Tom Petty (RIP!), actress Brooke Smith talks about the use of "American Girl" in the film--it's choice, her performance--read about it here.  

From Musick Hund: Cronenberg Publishers Novel Description

About the Book 

Stylish and camera-obsessed, Naomi and Nathan are lovers and competitors – nomadic freelancers in pursuit of sensation and depravity in the social media age, encountering each other only in airport hotels and browser windows.

Naomi finds herself drawn to the headlines surrounding Célestine and Aristide Arosteguy, Marxist philosophers and sexual libertines. Célestine has been found dead and mutilated in her Paris apartment. Aristide, suspected of the killing, has disappeared. Naomi sets off in pursuit, but the secrets she discovers are as seductive as they are disturbing.

Nathan, meanwhile, is in Budapest photographing the controversial work of an unlicensed surgeon named Zoltán Molnár. After sleeping with one of Molnár’s patients, Nathan contracts a rare STD called Roiphe’s. Nathan then travels to Toronto, determined to meet the man who identified the syndrome. Dr. Barry Roiphe, Nathan learns, now studies his own adult daughter, whose bizarre behaviour masks a devastating secret.

These parallel narratives become entwined in a gripping, dreamlike plot that involves geopolitics, 3-D printing, North Korea, the Cannes Film Festival, cancer, and, in an incredible number of varieties, sex. ‘Consumed’ is an exhilarating, provocative debut novel from one of the world’s leading film directors.

Weird Shark News

Apparently someone left a dead shark on a NYC subway slap-dab in the middle of this year's shark week!

In other news:  a cat celebrates shark week!

The Exorcist (1973)

Getting back to proper horror, this is one of the rare Oscar nominated films in that snubbed genre to actually win something.  Granted the best supporting actress NEVER should have gone to any other than Linda Blair--it went instead to Tatum O"neal....who just 10...I guess they just couldn't help themselves!  Ellen Burystin too was up for best leading actress and lost out to Glenda Jackson.  Finally, Jason Miller (Father Karras) lost the best supporting male award to John Houseman, who did probably deserve the win.  And speaking of strong women roles not always winning....especially if it involves casting out the devil himself, the following is link to an article in Salon by Michael Barthel sent to me by a reader entitled "The Oscar's Women Problem," which makes some excellent points.  I remember solidly rooting for Katherine Bigelow, director of The Hurt Locker not least which was because it is a bleak, scary and down right gritty/realistic/depressing story about the personal ravages of modern warfare, but also yes, because she was a woman going up against the guys, one of which was her ex-husband James Cameron who was up for making a movie that cost way more than any other in history, Avatar (and she did give us horror buffs Near Dark!).  So check it out if you like.

Won For Best Sound:  David Knudson & Christopher Newman 

Won For Best Adapted Screenplay:  William Peter Blatty 

Nominated For Best Supporting Actress,  Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Art Direction--Set Design, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Director, & Best Picture

Ever Wondered About Zombie Pharmacology?? (This From A Reader)

Well, Daily Beast top blogger Andrew Sullivan as a gateway piece on his blog about "real zombies"--you know the kind that are supposed to be found in Haiti, such as is featured in The Serpent And The Rainbow--which despite that it claims to be based on a real story, it, in fact, 99% fiction.  Anyway it's interesting and can be found here.

From The Folks At Onion

New Study Finds Best Sunscreen Is Layer Of Human Blood

Now that several news outlets (real ones) reporting that people are taking to Facebook to show how nuts and ignorant that they really are, by taking stories at The Onion seriously; here's a story from the good folks that work so hard to make up the news  is True Blood friendly--read it here.

Pick of the week: A grueling, erotic shocker from Japan

Pick of the week: A grueling, erotic shocker from Japan

Here's something interesting from Japan. Something, perhaps, to celebrate coming from a country so recently devastated.

The Lonely Lady Detectives

The Lonely Lady Detectives

At Scare Me will love mysteries! Here's an interesting article on some television's most recent hard boiled female detectives in difficult job conditions.

This Is A Cool Article On Zombie Brains!! (Real Ones--Sort Of)

posted from CNN

Here  is a link to a very interesting blog article on CNN's Overheard entitled "This is your braaaaaaiiins on zombies" discussing Dr. Steven Schlozman's new novel The Zombie Autopsies; co-authored with illustrator Andrea Sparacio.

And let's not forget about other essential zombie reading!

Kindle

And of course, the ever so important and useful:

Obviously from Amazon

George R.R. Martin Picks His Favorite Science-Fiction Films of All Time

George R.R. Martin Picks His Favorite Science-Fiction Films of All Time

Here is a direct link to The Daily Beast on Martin's top 10 Science Fiction films.

Fantasy Films

Fantasy

Author George R.R. Martin has a rundown of the top 10 Fantasy films of all time....in his opinion, at The Daily Beast.  Keep in mind this is his stuff....I question, for example, why there is no Harry Potter film among these.  Ladyhawke better than the earliest Potter flicks??  I mean, have you heard the soundtrack?  Dragonslayer is here, but no one ever seems to think of the action packed Reign of Fire as a fantasy film.  Dark City a fantasy film??  It's a space alien film--it's really strays into the realm of pure horror, much like R. Scott's Alien.  I see there is a mention of various Arthurian films, but none of other poetic epics that have recently found themselves all the rage of film makers, like, for example Beowulf.  Of all the recent film strolls into Viking epics, Icelandic filmmaker Sturla Gunnarson's Beowulf and Grendel, starring Stellan Scarsgård, Ingvar Sigur∂sson, Sarah Polley and  Gerard Butler (who is "Creedy" in Reign of Fire),  is rock solid.  Is it too "realistic" to be considered "fantasy"?   Even IMDb doesn't list it so.  Yet there is a sea hag, plain a day, in it.  In any case to each there own.  It's still a fun read.






Of course nothing beats the silliness below for me personally: