Horror Spot: Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I hope all of our viewers and visitors enjoyed the second year of The Horror Spot. I tried to have something, be it a review or article, almost everyday this month having to do with something horror. Almost successful haha.



I had a lot of fun and want to continue Horror Spot for now on. Maybe have a review here and there throughout the year carrying the Horror Spot name. Then go nuts again next October with a month full. So again thank you for being patient with all this and I do hope you liked the Halloween themed month. So enjoy you candies, and horror movies, your costume parties, or what ever you all do to celebrate Halloween.



Jose

Horror Spot News: FX Renews American Horror Story For Another Season

Horror Spot News: FX Renews American Horror Story For Another Season

In a well-timed announcement — it is Halloween, after all — FX has renewed its haunted-house drama American Horror Story for a 13-episode second season.

The psychosexual thriller, from Glee co-creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, centers on the Harmons, a family that moves from Boston to a haunted house in Los Angeles in an attempt to reconcile after an affair and a miscarriage. It stars Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange, Evan Peters and Denis O’Hare.

The cable network will air a four-episode Halloween marathon tonight beginning at 10 p.m. ET/PT. The fifth episode, the conclusion of the two-part “Halloween,” will air Wednesday.

American Horror Story - Small Screen/Horror Spot Review

American Horror Story - Small Screen Review

Episode Four - “Halloween (Part 1)”

The Harmons hire interior designers ("fluffers") to make over the house to help it sell. Mistaking the arriving Chad (Zachary Quinto) and his partner Patrick (Teddy Sears) as the fluffers. Unknown to the Harmons, the couple are the former owners who were killed by the Rubberman in the house one year ago. Ben cuts himself and Patrick heads off to help him. Chad tells Vivien that he caught Patrick cheating by checking his phone bill, suggesting she do the same.




Larry pays a visit and harasses Ben, demanding payment for killing Hayden. But Ben tells him off and throws himout. Ben also agrees to continue sessions with Tate, but outside the house only. Addy argues with Constance about wanting to dress as a "pretty girl" for Halloween. Constance laughs at her, saying she will never be a pretty girl. Violet meets with Tate, demanding to know what is in the basement. Tate says it is the still-living abomination created when the insane Dr. Montgomery tried to bring his dismembered child back to life by sewing the pieces together with various animal parts. Violet is unimpressed by his story and demands to go on a real date.

Confronted with his phone bill, Ben tells Vivien that he and Hayden are over and that she will not contact them again. To make up with Addy, Constance buys her a “pretty girl” costume. On Halloween night, when “the dead can walk freely”, Moira visits her comatose mother in a hospice. She disconnects the life support, but is unable to pass on with her pleading mother’s departing spirit. Vivien thinks Ben is not telling her the truth, demanding he leave, but the baby begins kicking, an impossibility at 8 weeks. At the hospital, an ultrasound reveals that the baby is more developed than it should be. The doctor collapses after seeing the baby on-screen.

While trick-or-treating, Addy is fatally hit by a car and Constance attempts to get her to the Harmon’s lawn before she dies. Violet is alone in the house when Larry arrives demanding his money and she does not see the Rubberman behind her. The Harmons return from the hospital to find the house broken into and Violet missing. Ben answers a knock at the door, finding Hayden’s ghost standing there covered in dirt.

Seriously a great episode and the beginning was beyond great and intense. The interactions and verbal barbs that Chad (Quinto) and Patrick (Sears) exchange just grabbed you. Then the reveal of the Rubberman made me think that Patrick was the one in the suit yet look at this he wasn’t. So now the question goes back to who the hell is in the suit. It doesn’t help that Tate wears it to scare Violet.

Horror Spot: Trick R Treat DVD Review

Horror Spot: Trick R Treat DVD Review

by Jose



Four interwoven stories that occur on Halloween: An everyday high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer; a college virgin might have just met the one guy for her; a group of teenagers pull a mean prank; a woman who loathes the night has to contend with her holiday-obsessed husband.

Plot:

Five interwoven stories that occur on the same night. A couple finds what happens when they blow a jack o' lantern out before midnight, a high school principal has a secret life as a serial killer, a college virgin might have met the right guy for her, a group of mean teens play a prank that they take too far, and a hermit is visited by a special trick or treater.



Review:

So finally this damn movie was released. Straight to DVD but at least it was released. I personally have been waiting to see Trick 'r Treat ever since it was announced a year or so ago. But due to studio shenanigans it was delayed and delayed. Given a release date then delayed some more. I guess since it was something new and not a remake or sequel the studio decided it won't make money. Yet you constantly see utter shit being released in theaters. But that is for another day. On to the movie.

It was well worth the wait. Trick 'r Treat is hands down one of the best Halloween inspired movies I have seen. Notice I didn't say best horror or best movie. I know how people get when you say certain things. Back to the movie. When I think of Halloween I think of candy, jack o lanterns, ghosts, witches, zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, freaks, crazy maniacs, and that one neighbor who hates everything. That is Halloween right? Well you get all that and some more with Trick 'r Treat. From the beginning to end it's non stop fun and scares.



Trick ‘r Treat obviously takes place during a Halloween night. With the movie being an anthology. Where we have different stories taking place with different characters that all in someway or another interact with each other. To me it was a great way to showcase many characters and themes in one movie. Just like Tales of the Darkside, Creepshow, and Campfire Tales. I don't want to spoil the movie too much so if you don't want to know certain things then look away.



The sack-head kid is great and creepy as this Halloween ghoul that you see everywhere and basically carries the movie. The zombie children at the rock quarry lake are terrifying. The werewolf girls are freaking great. I loved how there transformation was done. Very similar to how werewolves turn in the Hellboy comics. With the skin being cut and ripped off to reveal the werewolf inside. Oh and for your True Blood fans Anna Paquin is a hottie in her Red Riding Hood costume and as one of the she-wolfs.

Final thought:

I highly suggest that every fan of Halloween or a fan of the mentioned classic horror anthologies pick up a copy and enjoy what I believe is a true Halloween movie. Oh if anyone has Halloween movie parties definitely include Trick r' Treat.


Rating: 5 out of 5

Gifs from UndeadCritic and Crayonsinboxes

The Secret Circle - Small Screen Review

The Secret Circle - Small Screen Review

Britt Robertson (Cassie Blake), Thomas Dekker (Adam Conant), Phoebe Tankin (Faye Chamberlain), Jessica Parker Kennedy (Melissa), Shelley Hennig (Diana Meade), Gale Harold (Charles Meade), Natasha Henstridge (Dawn, Chamberlain), Chris Zylka as Jake, Nick's brother


Episode 7 Review - “Masked”

Halloween episode! With guest start Richard Harmon.

Deciding the Circle needs to have a little fun, Faye convinces Cassie to throw a big Halloween party. Good lord what was Faye wearing at the beginning of the show. She was so damn hot in it haha. Intent on getting Jake back, Faye goes all out on her Halloween costume. After a fight with Diana, Adam turns to Cassie for advice. Cassie tells him that regardless of what his father says Adam needs to follow his heart and fight for Diana.

Meanwhile, Jake and the other witch hunters (including a high school friend) set their sights on the Circle. Abducting them and stealing a personal item. Jake prepares a spell to kill each of them properly. Cassie sneaks over Nick’s old house, next door. Looking for something to see what Jake is up to. Cassie finds a knife with the hunter symbol and confronts Jake who snuck up behind her. Jake plays it off and deflects it off on dead Nick. Showing Cassie a roll of weapons he has supposedly found. Eventually they are all caught and almost killed. Cassie reveals some dark magic power, which is hinted at through out the episode and it may come from her father. Jake finds out too and rushes over to the hunters. Telling the head guy that they can not kill them off properly due to her dark magic. He brushes it off until Cassie uses just that and kills off their friend-now-witch hunter. Jake tells the guy to run and he injures himself to blend in with the group once again duping them to believe he is a victim too.

Cassie’s grandmother finds herself in the house of one of the elders an d finds him dead. She finds the crystal but someone is there and hits her. Stealing the crystal.

Frat House Massacre - Horror Spot DVD Review

Frat House Massacre - Horror Spot DVD Review

By Jose

Plot:

Set in the late 70s, this gritty and twisted film taps the physical and mental underpinnings of the meaning of the word "brother" in a way reminiscent of the best of late 70s grindhouse and early 80s slashers.

Cast:

Rane Jameson (Bobby), Chris Prangley (Sean), Jon Fleming (Mark), Niki Rubin (Diana), Ryan Ross (Drater), Lisa DiCicco (Erica), Adam Simon (Moose), Andrew Giordano (Tim), Bethany Taylor (Wendy), Michael Galante (Michael)

Review:

I like cheesy horror. I also like seeing old horror movies from the 80’s and 70’s. Hell we got some great and iconic movies and characters from those films. But many of them were cheesy and low budget. Still enjoyable and fun though. And that is what is key. Are they enjoyable and fun. With that said, Frat House Massacre was entertaining to me.


A movie from 2008 made to feel like a grindhouse - slasher film from the 70’s and 80’s. With success. I felt like I threw on some long lost movie from that time period. It had gore, blood, good looking victims, cheesy dialogue, nudity, etc. Everything you would expect from a horror movie
from back in the day.

So we start out with Sean coming back home for a break from college to visit his step mother and just graduated little brother Bobby. Bobby wants nothing to do with him and heads out with some friends. Later on that night the stepmother tells Sean that there was an accident and Bobby was hurt. Weeks later we see that Bobby is in a coma and Sean is second guessing heading back to college. He goes back but it seems things have changed in his frat house. We see a frat pledge abduction and then soon see a frat initiation. A rather brutal one at that too. Poor guy stripped almost naked and tied up and paddled violently. He is deemed a brother by president of Delta Iota Epsilon Mark. Everyone except Mark, Drater, Tim, and Moose stay behind. The pledge is untied and we see how brutal the frat can be. Mark forces the guy to slice his wrist and then has his neck sliced open.


Later on Sean is second guessing his frat position and soon finds himself being hazed by his own frat brothers. They end up killing him. But not really, you see it seems his spirit woke up his brother Bobby and seems to have given him a second life.


The following year Bobby is off to the same college as his brother Sean, who everyone thinks is missing. He vows to get revenge and eventually ends up joining the same fraternity. After more brutal and violent hazing from the fraternity group, more killings and plenty of drug use, Booby reveals that he is really Sean. Or at least the spirit of Sean who took over his brothers body.
Also someone is targeting the frat brothers one by one. Killing them off and causing suspicion and paranoia within the killer frat. We also find out that Bobby’s roommate and brother to Mark, was responsible for the car crash that killed Bobby’s friends and put him in a coma. At the end of the movie, the big disco party, the massacre takes place. Blood left and right, gore here and there, some beatings thrown in, and a bit of torture, and a couple of twists too. Seems that Bobby had some help in Diana, who also wanted revenge on the frat. She helped Bobby to kill off the frat brothers. Then she turns around and kills Bobby. Since he is really Sean and he was once part of the fraternity. Interesting that all this time we were watching Sean/Bobby be the main character when all along it was Diana.


The actors all did really well playing the part of college age kids from the 70’s, all were pretty believable. And cheesy too haha. You are not going to get Oscar caliber acting here. Nudity. Yes a horror movie that gives us nudity finally. Even if it was a little bit it was most welcome. I am not trying to sound perverted or anything but nudity was a big part of horror in the 80’s and 70’s. Mainly because you knew that the horny teens or college kids were always the first to die, while the virgins lived. So you get naked you ended up dead. We get some titties and even a vag shot. Oh and surprise we get some guy ass too. Even some hints of balls and hand covering cock shots. Barley covering too. I saw some shaft you dirty boys haha. Now one thing that was delivered en masse was gore. We got plenty of blood and kills. Plenty of stabs and cuts. Blood splatters and even some pigs eating humans. Glass in the eye to neck stabs. Even car splitting death. Guts hanging out and some chemical burns.

Final Thoughts:

Frat House Massacre is not a great movie. But is it enjoyable and fun. That is exactly what I want to see in a movie. I want to be entertained and I want to have fun. Be it action, thriller, drama, horror, or otherwise. When the credits rolls I want to put the DVD away without throwing it against the wall or walking out the theater wanting to punch someone or myself. Frat House Massacre did what it was meant to. Be a decent homage to the classic movies while adding in some new things here and there. It also reminded me that horror movies need to get their shit together and return to their roots. Give me nudity and not just from the girls either, I want to see man ass and dick as much as I want to see girl tits and pussy. Give something for guys and for girls to see too. Stop being sexist. Give me gore and blood and crazy deaths and not so crazy deaths. There is nothing wrong with a kitchen knife stabbing or an axe or machete or a chainsaw.

Ratings: 3.5 out of 5

*trailer is Not Safe For Work

The Secret Circle - Small Screen Review

The Secret Circle - Small Screen Review

New Cast: Chris Zylka as Jake, Nick's brother


Episode 6 Review - “Wake”


The circle is dealing with Nick's death. Which I still say is such a bitch movie on the shows part. They suddenly realize that magic isn't all just fun and games. Cassie confides in Jane, her grandmother, who thinks the circle should be kept broken. Her grandmother than gives Cassie her magic stone/talisman. Telling her that no one should know she has it. No one.

Cassie finds a fire next to Nick’s house and a young guy standing in front of it putting it out with magic. Suspicions arise when the mysterious young man turns up at Nick's wake, (Jake, Nick's older brother) especially when a few people recognize him as the town's old troublemaker. Faye was his plaything and almost went nuts literally. Adam had his fathers money stolen by him as well.

Diana confronts Adam about his feelings for Cassie, and breaks up with him. A strange woman tries to attack Cassie. But fails when Jake saves her. Later on we find out that Jake and the strange lady are working together as witch hunters. Cassie finds them fighting and helps Jake and he kills that lady.

Vampire Diaries - Small Screen Horror Spot Review

Vampire Diaries - Small Screen Review

Episode 7 Review - "Ghost World"

The town of Mystic Falls is celebrating another special event. Yet things start to get out of hand when the ghosts of the past start to pop up without explanation. When Bonnie's grandmother comes back she tells Bonnie that the spell to send Vicki back has had some serious ramifications. And Bonnie is the only one that can fix it. But in the mean time various ghosts return to Mystic Falls, and grab a foothold on the Earth. Ghosts include Anna (Malese Jow), Mason Lockwood (Taylor Kinney), Bonnie's grandmother Shiela (Jasmine Guy), Lexi (Arielle Kebbel), Pearl (Kelly Hu), Frederick (Stephen Martines) and the tomb vampires.

Lexi goes out and finds Stefan, abducts him and finds Elena to help her attempt to bring the old lovable Stefan back. Mason tells Damon that there is a possible weapon that he heard of that can kill Klaus. He and Damon then set out for the Lockwood tomb to find it. Anna makes Jeremy’s life complicated and it affects his relationship with Bonnie. Also she decides to take the locket that Bonnie needs to send all the ghosts back. The tomb vampires then go after the founding members one by one, killing them.

All these plot threads go back and forth all episode until Anna gives the locket back to Jeremy. He gives it to Bonnie and she along with her grandmother break the spell. Sending all the ghosts back. Anna finds her mother and disappear. Lexi gives Elena one last bit of advice. Mason finds what he is looking for but Damon can’t get to it because of a barrier. Damon calls Alaric and he finds cave paintings, very interesting cave paintings.

Vampire Diaries - Small Screen Horror Spot Review

Vampire Diaries - Small Screen Review

Episodes 6 Review - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Elena is frustrated by her helplessness, so she convinces Alaric to teach her more about protecting herself from vampires. She obviously needs to work out more. Katherine is busy trying to wake up Michael since he might be the only person who can kill Klaus. After trying to feed him blood from various things, human blood finally works. He wakes up and tell her to get it away but Katherine reminds him that he is still weak and that he needs blood to function. He agrees but tells her he only feeds on dead blood. Michael pulls Katherine into the coffin and bites her and feeds.

It's the first day of school and Elena is having a hard time since it is her one year anniversary with Stefan. Bonnie and Jeremy are having issues since Jeremy keeps seeing Anna. Klaus' sister, Rebecca, has been left behind along with Stefan, and decides to move in with the Salvatores. She joins Stefan and the others at school, and shows an eagerness to replace Caroline's place in the school. Which angers Caroline and what makes matters worse is that Tyler seems to be interested in Rebecca. Matt continues to see the ghost of Vicky, and she convinces him to perform a ritual that allows her to come and go from his world as she pleases. She says a witch from the other side promised her that if she killed Elena she can come back, forever.

The gang attends a back to school bonfire, and Damon goes to keep his eye on Rebecca. There, Elena stabs Stefan and Rebecca stabs Damon. Tyler feels that he is beholden to Klaus since Klaus essentially made him who he is today. Elena then saves Stefan from a fire after Vicki tries to kill Elena in Alaric's van. Vicki is eventually sent back to the other side by Bonnie while Damon goes back home. He hears a vase break, and, thinking it was Stefan, doesn't worry. He is pushed back by a powerful force, and as he falls Mason Lockwood appears in front of him.

Dead Girl - Horror Spot DVD Review

Dead Girl - Horror Spot DVD Review

By Jose

Plot:

Two high school boys discover an imprisoned woman in an abandoned mental asylum who cannot die.

Cast:

Shiloh Fernandez (Rickie), Noah Segan (JT), Candice Accola (Joann), Eric Podnar (Wheeler), Jenny Spain (Dead Girl), Andrew DiPalma (Johnny), Nolan Gerard Funk (Dwyer)

Review:

Two young intrepid explorers find their way into an abandoned mental hospital. While exploring the place they come across the body of a young girl in restraints naked on a bed. What do you think they are going to do? If you think they are going to call 911 and report it to the police so an investigation can happen, you thought wrong. This is one of the more disturbing morality plays that you can see in a movie. The morality tale here is what do you do with a naked dead girl in restraints?


So these two boys do many things, from beating the girl, to shooting the girl, to raping the girl, and yet the girl cannot die. This is what makes it disturbing, rather than calling the authorities, the girl becomes a play thing, something to be used, abused, and tortured. The movie explores the base level of humanity, the humanity that creates torture, demonizes people, and otherwise reduces human life to less than something to be cherished and protected. The interesting part of all this is not the inhumanity, but what happens when Ricky and JT get infected by whatever is keeping the dead girl alive. We get to see zombies, with overtones of vampirism and being infected by the dead girl comes to mind.


We also get to see JT’s girlfriend get killed and get turned into the next dead girl sex slave, along with a lot of other dead girl issues throughout the entire movie. We also get a brutal if not uncommon high school bullying scene that if you ever went to high school you either saw or participated in depending on where you ended up in the high school food chain.


Overall depending on where you are from and what your particular needs are in a horror movie, this one has a little bit of everything. Power, control, rape, murder, bullying, beating, strangulation, and a ton of other standard horror movie bits and pieces that truly work here. While jumping from the basement of the abandoned mental hospital back to scenes in the school makes the movie feel disjointed and random, the effect works here. You can see the characters struggle and then not struggle with the morality of finding a naked woman zombie in a basement in four point restraints. That is what keeps the movie interesting, and finding out that at times we will degenerate to our baser instincts will make some people cringe.


Final Thoughts:

The gore was superb, the horror was of the queasy, "I can't believe I'm watching this" kind, and all of the technical bits were perfect. Movies like this don't get made by the mainstream, commercial studios. It's movies like this that make me well and truly believe that the indie market will be the savior of horror films in general.

The moral conflict, coupled with great acting and great scripting, make this a must see for true fans of the genre. But at the same time this is not for everyone.

Ratings: 3 out of 5