We have been hard at work on a new issue, which will be Issue #11: The Cinema Wasteland Edition. This will be out by the upcoming Cinema Wasteland Convention. You can read more about that here... www.cinemawasteland.com That is a great place to gather new readers. Issue #11 will be much larger than the regular issues, approximately 10 to 30 pages.
I got an email from some guy claiming to be able to get this zine into "every major book outlet in the US". All bullshit sensors immediately go into high gear because no such place exists for fanzines anymore, but I opted to let this play out. I replied, with excitement, about how much I appreciated his help. He wrote back and asked for my phone number so we could discuss this. He called (from a blocked number) and informed me that his fee was one thousand dollars and that he knew it was a lot of money but if I wired him the money that day, Crimson Screens would be in "every major book outlet in the United States!" I said, "well shit, how can I pass that up? let me call my accountant. What's your number so I can call you back?" He has some excuses about being in and out of the office and how it would be easier to call me back when he had the time, "you know, time is money, I can't be waiting around for calls" (lol). So I said, "give me an hour or two to get this figured out and call me back and i'll the get the info on where to wire it to". That guy called 26 times! I was born at night, but not last night....
There is a lot of solid video product coming out in February, so we will have reviews of all of that, plus other things we have aquired since issue #10.
A few people have written and asked about placing adds. We will not be printing adds. There is too little space to use it by printing adds for bootleg DVD companies.
Issue #11 will have two new contributors.
More updates soon....
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Update for January 2012...
Hello!
The two newest issues (#9 and #10) of Crimson Screens Fanzine are now available! Would you like a copy? If you do, then email me your address!!!
crimsonscreens@gmail.com
The two newest issues (#9 and #10) of Crimson Screens Fanzine are now available! Would you like a copy? If you do, then email me your address!!!
crimsonscreens@gmail.com
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Update For The Last 3.5 Months...
Hello!
I haven't updated this is forever, but I have a couple good reasons...
There is a new issue, #9, of Crimson Screens available. This one is four pages and is the same format as always. It's a mixed issue, with a good mix of horror and obscure action titles. I have been mailing them out on my free time and am about halfway through my mailing list. If you aren't on my mailing list, then email me your address and you will be added. Issues of Crimson Screens are free. If you do a fanzine/newsletter/whatever, then let me know. I love to help spread the word about other zines.
Also, work on the Crimson Screens Book is getting closer and closer to being complete. I have added a couple other writers, so the perspective will be a little more varied. There will also be chapters on long gone video stores and theaters from my area of the world (Cleveland/Northeast Ohio). I will post updates on this as they happen. Printing this thing will not be cheap, so hopefully there are no financial pitfalls that force me to dip into the savings for this.
There have been a ton of solid DVD releases in the last few months. A few of them would be:
555- from Massacre Video- SOV horror from the late 80's about a mad slasher. Known more for its box art than the actual movie itself, its a mixed bag of bad acting and extreme gore. It's not the best movie, but it is watchable and certainly more entertaining than current DTV fare.
Don't Open Till Christmas- special edition DVD- remastered print of the great Christmas time slasher movie. Unlike other similar movies, santa gets killed here instead of him doing the killing. I have always enjoyed this one since the fun days of VHS and the presentation is superb. With a lot of well done special features.
Bereavement- a prequel to Malevolence. I hated this on the first viewing. I guess I went into it thinking it would be something else. The movie is very good, with some gore and a lot of suspense and demented characters.
Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2- the original Laid To Rest was a surprise slasher hit. This one kind of drops the ball by explaining too much and having some pretty dopey characters. As in the other one, there is an abundance of gore. It's all very well done too, with no CGI, that I can tell. While not as great movie, you could certainly do worse.
Machete Maidens Unleashed- fantastic documentary about Filipino horror and exploitation movies. You can't go wrong with this title. Made by the same people who did the excellent Not Quite Hollywood movie.
The Exterminator- Blu Ray- my favorite exploitation movie, uncut, looks amazing and the commentary is a must hear. The best release of 2012, imo.
I have thought about contacting people who made a lot of the original horror fanzines, to try and do a "collection book", which would be a collection of all of the issues. I know this is a big task and I have already failed once at this, but I'm in a better position in life now to attempt this project, so if you are reading this and once published your own horror fanzine, please get in touch!
More soon!
I haven't updated this is forever, but I have a couple good reasons...
There is a new issue, #9, of Crimson Screens available. This one is four pages and is the same format as always. It's a mixed issue, with a good mix of horror and obscure action titles. I have been mailing them out on my free time and am about halfway through my mailing list. If you aren't on my mailing list, then email me your address and you will be added. Issues of Crimson Screens are free. If you do a fanzine/newsletter/whatever, then let me know. I love to help spread the word about other zines.
Also, work on the Crimson Screens Book is getting closer and closer to being complete. I have added a couple other writers, so the perspective will be a little more varied. There will also be chapters on long gone video stores and theaters from my area of the world (Cleveland/Northeast Ohio). I will post updates on this as they happen. Printing this thing will not be cheap, so hopefully there are no financial pitfalls that force me to dip into the savings for this.
There have been a ton of solid DVD releases in the last few months. A few of them would be:
555- from Massacre Video- SOV horror from the late 80's about a mad slasher. Known more for its box art than the actual movie itself, its a mixed bag of bad acting and extreme gore. It's not the best movie, but it is watchable and certainly more entertaining than current DTV fare.
Don't Open Till Christmas- special edition DVD- remastered print of the great Christmas time slasher movie. Unlike other similar movies, santa gets killed here instead of him doing the killing. I have always enjoyed this one since the fun days of VHS and the presentation is superb. With a lot of well done special features.
Bereavement- a prequel to Malevolence. I hated this on the first viewing. I guess I went into it thinking it would be something else. The movie is very good, with some gore and a lot of suspense and demented characters.
Chromeskull: Laid To Rest 2- the original Laid To Rest was a surprise slasher hit. This one kind of drops the ball by explaining too much and having some pretty dopey characters. As in the other one, there is an abundance of gore. It's all very well done too, with no CGI, that I can tell. While not as great movie, you could certainly do worse.
Machete Maidens Unleashed- fantastic documentary about Filipino horror and exploitation movies. You can't go wrong with this title. Made by the same people who did the excellent Not Quite Hollywood movie.
The Exterminator- Blu Ray- my favorite exploitation movie, uncut, looks amazing and the commentary is a must hear. The best release of 2012, imo.
I have thought about contacting people who made a lot of the original horror fanzines, to try and do a "collection book", which would be a collection of all of the issues. I know this is a big task and I have already failed once at this, but I'm in a better position in life now to attempt this project, so if you are reading this and once published your own horror fanzine, please get in touch!
More soon!
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Crimson Screens review on Lunchmeat VHS blog and more news!
Hello!
A while back, I sent a copy of #7 to Lunchmeat, not necessarily to review, but to read because they cover a lot of the same things that I do and we both have a love for VHS. Luckily, they liked it and took the time to write some nice words about it on their blog. You can read the blog here... http://www.lunchmeatvhs.com/blog/vhs-action-flicks-get-some-love-in-crimson-screens/
Also, issue #8 is still available. If you want a copy, just email me: crimsonscreens@gmail.com
I started work on a book that I will be publishing. This whole writing thing has helped me through some hard time and recently it has been helping me through some health issues. I have always been a fan of review books like the Psychotronic books, The Splatter Movie Review books, Terror On Tape and other similar titles, so I figured why not give something like that a try. There will be a lot of reviews, but it won't be a straight review book. I am going to include lots of stories that fit in with the movies I review. I have some good stories about collecting, video stores, theatres and more. I will post more info about this as the process progresses.
A while back, I sent a copy of #7 to Lunchmeat, not necessarily to review, but to read because they cover a lot of the same things that I do and we both have a love for VHS. Luckily, they liked it and took the time to write some nice words about it on their blog. You can read the blog here... http://www.lunchmeatvhs.com/blog/vhs-action-flicks-get-some-love-in-crimson-screens/
Also, issue #8 is still available. If you want a copy, just email me: crimsonscreens@gmail.com
I started work on a book that I will be publishing. This whole writing thing has helped me through some hard time and recently it has been helping me through some health issues. I have always been a fan of review books like the Psychotronic books, The Splatter Movie Review books, Terror On Tape and other similar titles, so I figured why not give something like that a try. There will be a lot of reviews, but it won't be a straight review book. I am going to include lots of stories that fit in with the movies I review. I have some good stories about collecting, video stores, theatres and more. I will post more info about this as the process progresses.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Crimson Screens #8... Out Now!!!
Hello! The newest issue of Crimson Screens is out now! Issue #8 has reviews, opinions, more reviews and thoughts on collecting. There is also a story about an old video store that I used to frequent. Email me your address for a free issue: crimsonscreens@gmail.com
Sunday, July 3, 2011
New issue of Crimson Screens.... Out Now!!!
Issue #7 of Crimson Screens is out now. It's a bit longer than the usual newsletter format and it is still free. So if you would like a copy, get me your address and you will receive one.
It is the action issue, with a lot of reviews and talk about 80's action icons like Reb Brown, Michael Dudikoff and Steve James.
crimsonscreens@gmail.com
It is the action issue, with a lot of reviews and talk about 80's action icons like Reb Brown, Michael Dudikoff and Steve James.
crimsonscreens@gmail.com
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Quick Reviews...
Unfortunuately, work and real life obligations have been cutting into my movie time, so I haven;t too much time to spend on movies lately. Luckily, things will be slowing down soon, so I will be back in action soon enough. Until then...
Bad Girls Dormitory
This opens with a few scenes of various girls getting set up and arrested for prostitution and drugs. I thought those scenes were well done, but the movie quickly loses steam. The girls are sent to a juvenile detention center, where they fight, shower, eat and have sex with the guards. There is a whole lot of nothing going on in this movie. The acting is prety bad, but not unwatchably bad, if that makes sense. Some of the guards suck too. The guards in other women-in-prison movies are tough or memorable. The ones here really can't even be convincingly creepy. There is an eventual shoot out that end the movie, but it's a long wait for little to no pay off. Pass on this and get director Tim Kincaid's far superior Riot On 42nd Street.
Scream 4
The newest sequel of one of the most annoying and "hip" horror franchises. Many years after the fact, the main character from the other movies returns home for a book signing and before you know it, someone is dressed up as the killer and killing off the cast. I hated the others in this series and didn't care to see this, but it was playing at the drive in and if I was going to see it, it would certainly have to be at the drive in. This was a pretty average movie. There is no suspense and zero concern as to wether or not certain characters die. I thought slasher movies were supposed to have cool gore set pieces, but apparently not. We get run of the mill stabbing scenes and a brief glimpse of a dismeboweled person, but it's not enough to save this movie. I hated how they go out of the way to use modern devices like webcams and texting. What if she didn't reply to a text from the killer? The movie would have ended 10 minutes in. I wish she hadn't answered that text.
Btw, Macauly Culkin's other brother looks creepy and someone should cast him in better roles than this.
He Knows You're Alone
Very early entry slasher movie about someone who is killing off soon to be married women. Unlike the movies that soon followed, this one focuses more on suspense and wonder than gore. I say it work, as the movie was fast paces and creepy throughout. This is very well acted. Also, the ending wasn't a let down at all. A slasher classic well worth seeking out.
Great White
This infamous Italian Jaws clone is definitely worth seeking out. By Jaws clone, I mean the closet possible thing to remaking Jaws, even stealing lines, character motivations, scenes and ideas. Upon release, the makers of Great White were promptly sued by Universal, assuring that this would never ever be released or distributed stateside. The plot is almost exactly the same as Jaws, but despite being a shameless rip off, this is a very watchable movie. The acting here is suprisingly adept and the pace is fast, with enough shark action to please fans of this type of movie. The shark effects are pretty shoddy and lame but it doens't ruin the movie. Worth a look!
Bad Girls Dormitory
This opens with a few scenes of various girls getting set up and arrested for prostitution and drugs. I thought those scenes were well done, but the movie quickly loses steam. The girls are sent to a juvenile detention center, where they fight, shower, eat and have sex with the guards. There is a whole lot of nothing going on in this movie. The acting is prety bad, but not unwatchably bad, if that makes sense. Some of the guards suck too. The guards in other women-in-prison movies are tough or memorable. The ones here really can't even be convincingly creepy. There is an eventual shoot out that end the movie, but it's a long wait for little to no pay off. Pass on this and get director Tim Kincaid's far superior Riot On 42nd Street.
Scream 4
The newest sequel of one of the most annoying and "hip" horror franchises. Many years after the fact, the main character from the other movies returns home for a book signing and before you know it, someone is dressed up as the killer and killing off the cast. I hated the others in this series and didn't care to see this, but it was playing at the drive in and if I was going to see it, it would certainly have to be at the drive in. This was a pretty average movie. There is no suspense and zero concern as to wether or not certain characters die. I thought slasher movies were supposed to have cool gore set pieces, but apparently not. We get run of the mill stabbing scenes and a brief glimpse of a dismeboweled person, but it's not enough to save this movie. I hated how they go out of the way to use modern devices like webcams and texting. What if she didn't reply to a text from the killer? The movie would have ended 10 minutes in. I wish she hadn't answered that text.
Btw, Macauly Culkin's other brother looks creepy and someone should cast him in better roles than this.
He Knows You're Alone
Very early entry slasher movie about someone who is killing off soon to be married women. Unlike the movies that soon followed, this one focuses more on suspense and wonder than gore. I say it work, as the movie was fast paces and creepy throughout. This is very well acted. Also, the ending wasn't a let down at all. A slasher classic well worth seeking out.
Great White
This infamous Italian Jaws clone is definitely worth seeking out. By Jaws clone, I mean the closet possible thing to remaking Jaws, even stealing lines, character motivations, scenes and ideas. Upon release, the makers of Great White were promptly sued by Universal, assuring that this would never ever be released or distributed stateside. The plot is almost exactly the same as Jaws, but despite being a shameless rip off, this is a very watchable movie. The acting here is suprisingly adept and the pace is fast, with enough shark action to please fans of this type of movie. The shark effects are pretty shoddy and lame but it doens't ruin the movie. Worth a look!
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