We’ve achieved a milestone here at Happy Horror today: our second year of operation!

I decided as something of a ‘special feature‘ I’d ask us all four questions that might give you loyal visitors some insight into who we are and what we’re about. Since our re-building of the site you’ve been putting up with alot of material being re-posted and we appreciate that! We’ve been striving to have atleast some new content daily. And if you’re visiting us for the first time, that’s okay, too! Make yourself at home and let’s get to those burning questions.

By the way, each of us answered these questions without talking about them. The idea was to get the most candid responses possible. Here goes!

Question #1: What memories do you have of the very beginning of Happy Horror?

Red Hawk’s response: My earliest memories are of getting everything set up, discussing with GlowStormLion & glittersoul what could qualify for the site and the brainstorming that went on in the beginning. Then I kind of rushed through my initial post with Nightblood (click HERE to read it), but I think I’ve picked up the quality since then.

Glittersoul’s response: The beginning of Happy Horror was an exciting time for us all and gave us something to do with all the movies and entertainment we already submersed ourselves in.

GlowStormLion’s response: I remember those first sweaty days with incredible clarity. The idea for the site struck and we capitalized on it swiftly. Within days we’d gotten it all set up and began to get a trickle of visitors. Used to be we’d get FIFTY people and I’d shriek for joy. All that work was such a rush, just getting the site set up as best we could. I always hoped people would enjoy it and judging by the e-mails, they do!

Question #2: What’s been your favorite article to write and why?

Red Hawk’s response: I have a few articles that stand out in my mind as favorites. One was Gaoranger Versus Super Sentai (click HERE to read it), my first five part article. Another is my review of Crimson Orgy (which we’ll be posting soon.) as it was the first time someone involved with a property approached me to review it (and hopefully not the last)! Finally, my Dark Ride article (click HERE to read) which earned me a thank you from the director himself.

Glittersoul’s response: Wishmaster (click HERE to read it) because I liked researching the backstory of the movie. I would’ve said The Omen (click HERE to read it) but I wasn’t sure that counted since it’s not a solo project. [Editor's note: If only she'd known!]

GlowStormLion’s response: That’s a tough one! I’m going to say The Omen (2006) review because glittersoul and I went through this whole fiasco just to get to see the freakin’ movie. We’d built it up so much, anticipating its opening day. There were no midnight showings in our area for 06/06/06 (click HERE to read about that) so we had to settle for a showing later that day. Then glittersoul had the creative inspiration that instead of us writing a plain ole straight-up review we should do an interview. Way fun hashing the flick out that way and I totally hope to do it again!

Question #3: What’s your favorite article another writer contributed and why?

Red Hawk’s response: Again, no single article stands out as a favorite. I enjoyed GlowStormLion’s review of Hostel (click HERE to read it) because parts of it made me laugh. I also liked his Halloween review (which we’ll be posting soon) due to it being the first one he’d done for the site since he took a leave of absence to moonlight on another site.

Glittersoul’s response: In Defense of Richard Laymon by Red Hawk (click HERE to read it) because proves himself to be a great, sound advocate for the late author’s fiction.

GlowStormLion’s response: Easy one. Red Hawk’s What I Found at Wal-Mart (click HERE to read it). Total randomness, weird toys and plain old-fashioned fun. He wondered if anyone would like it, but I really think it’s an article that’ll be funny forever. I’m hoping by responding this way maybe he’ll want to write a few more crazy toy reviews, too!

Question #4: How do you see the future for Happy Horror?

Red Hawk’s response: In the future I see nothing but growth. I hope to interact with our fans even more some day soon. I hope, also, that the site will expand further than it already has. I’ve always said that Happy Horror is for the fans of both horror AND tokusatsu (a strange combination, I know). I’d like to see the fan element stepping forward more.

Glittersoul’s response: For the future of Happy Horror I see more interactive features, more writers and more content on upcoming events. Also, I hope we’ll be part of a a network of sister sites covering other genres of entertainment.

GlowStormLion’s response: Happy Horror means a lot to me. I started it with my two best friends in the world and though we’ve had dips and bobbles along the way, it’s still here and that’s what counts. I think this fresh era of re-building is going to push us towards higher quality articles and alot more of ‘em!

A year from now I’d like to see us with a full crew of writers providing daily scoops and becoming a real mecca for fans of horror. I want our articles to be fresh and fun. I want people to come in droves and I want to keep that same spark of inspiration we had and light a bonfire of fun. I’ll stop with the analogies.

Mainly, I hope we’ll become a real magazine some day that goes along with the site. A true community of fun loving horror fans who get to absolutely wallow in our favorite genre!

So there you have it, straight from the mouths of each of our stable’s horses! We want to extend a huge thank you to all of you who’ve taken the time to read our articles. You guys are why we do this and your visits each mean SO much to us.

Happy Anniversary to you Merry Readers, too!

Bookmark This Story!

Hide Sites

Originally posted: June 9, 2006 @ 4:32am PST

I own a Playstation 2. It’s quite dusty because I rarely play it. I’ll rent or buy video games, blister my thumbs for a week or so and then gradually forget about them. It’s not that I don’t enjoy them, it’s just that I can rarely stay interested in them long enough to beat them. One such game that I rented a while back was Blood Rayne 2. I’d not even heard of it, but that was what glittersoul picked up when I asked her to get me a game. I wanted something action laden and Blood Rayne the game certainly delivered!

Blood Rayne the movie was certainly full of action, as well. Before I set out to write up my review I skimmed through some reviews on various other sites. They hated the movie. They hate Uwe Boll (the movie’s director). I mean, we’re talking absolutely DESPISE the man. They’re equating Bloodrayne, the movie, with all sorts of products of generally distasteful-to-mention-in-polite-company bodily functions. Frankly, I was appalled at the viscious attacks I read. I strongly disagree with these jerks and I’ll tell you why…

For starters, the movie is gorgeous. It’s set in Romania and from what my research shows, it was actually shot there (atleast partially) as well. The time period of the movie seems to be medieval and I believe it’s a pre-cursor to the games. There’s great shots of picturesque places with horses thundering across the land, there are villages teeming with peasants and magnificent castles. Costume design for the film was quite good and some of the hairstyles were particularly inventive, particularly for Domastir (Will Sanderson, also of House of the Dead and Alone in the Dark).

Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3 and many roles in TV shows such as Boy Meets World, Sliders and Just Shoot Me) plays Bloodrayne and does a damned fine job at it. Man is that chick tall! She’s pretty good in her fight scenes and the sex scene she shares with Sebastian (Matthew Davis) is one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. Bloodrayne is a dhamphir, which is a half-human/half-vampire. Since the both the game and movie are more action-based than dramatic, we don’t see hours of character development, but considering the film’s genre I find that perfectly acceptable.

Despite the protests of countless reviewers, I found the acting quite good. It’s not serious and sometimes it can be a bit melodramatic but it gets the job done and it’s FUN. I’m not quite sure why so many people don’t grasp that a movie based on a VIDEO GAME, of all things, should be entertaining above all else. Meatloaf (the vocalist who would do nearly anything for love) makes an appearance and we get to see him die. I found that alone worth the rental. Really, though, he did an excellent job playing a rotting dilettante. I particularly enjoyed Elrich (Billy Zane) and his contemptuous, bored character who gives the most honest portrayal of political figure I’ve ever seen.

The gore in this movie was obviously high, being a vampire movie and everything. There are buckets of blood, dismemberments, decapitations and all manner of death. Just like in the game, the violence is way over the top. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of bloody special effects but these were okay, very cheesy but generally okay. I did have one tiny little issue, though. In the sword combat scenes I noticed that the swords (and other blade weapons - even the one Bloodrayne uses) don’t look all that sharp. I found this disappointing as I like to think the cast (or atleast the stunt people) are taking lethal risks to entertain me. Selfish, I know.

Bloodrayne isn’t a masterpiece of storytelling or a profound statement on morality or anything like that, but it is a damned fine way to spend an hour and a half in front of a television set. The DVD has lots of special features but I don’t see the point in reviewing those. Isn’t that a clever way to excuse myself from not watching them? So, for an end score I’ll give Bloodrayne 5 out of 5 because I enjoyed the hell out of it and I spit on those who can’t relax long enough to appreciate a freakin’ film about vampires that doesn’t brood forever like a PMSing emo girl.

Until next time, this is GlowStormLion daring you to watch something everyone else apparently hates and applauding Uwe Boll for being such a maverick.

Bookmark This Story!

Hide Sites

Originally published: June 7, 2006 @ 2:13am PST

When I went down to Hollywood Video about a month or so ago, I saw this movie sitting in the new releases, with Robert Englund staring out amongst other characters. I thought to myself, "This looks interesting." As soon as I got a chance, I added it to Netflix and bumped it up to the top of my queue. I just got it last Saturday, and enjoyed it alot. The movie has alot of humor and alot of unique kills in it. Let’s take a look…

The movie opens on a college class, where a professor is giving a lecture on the Civil War (you might recognize him as Peter Stormare who played Cavaldi in The Brothers Grimm and Andropov, the Russian cosmonaut from Armageddon). One of the students keeps flashing scenes from a frat party up on the slide show when the professor’s not looking. A glitch in his computer program, though, freezes the pictures and as a result, the student and his two friends are required to stay after class. The professor scolds them, telling them they need to shape up or their grades will suffer, then giving them an assignment that is due at the end of Spring Break. The friends (Anderson, Nelson, and Cory) are on their way to Daytona Beach when they spot a crudely-made detour sign. They follow it to a small, cozy town called Pleasant Valley, which at first appears to be a ghost town. Suddenly, all the residents run out and the Mayor, played by Robert Englund, welcomes them. Another car soon follows them in. It’s driven by Ricky, Kat and Joey, a trio they met at a gas station the day before. Finally, a motorcycle follows them in, driven by Malcolm and Leah. They’re all welcomed to the town’s Jubilee and everyone’s shown to their rooms.

Soon, the townsfolk start to set their plans in motion. First, Harper, one of the sons of the mayor, starts charming Kat, who seems to enjoy the attention. Things quickly sour for her, however, when he shows a "little bit of kink" by blindfolding her… when he takes the blindfold off, she finds that her limbs are tied to four horses. With a few cracks of Harper’s whip, she’s drawn and quartered. Soon, the others start dropping like flies as the townspeople begin showing their true colors.

This movie was great and it has a ton of cameos in it. Eli Roth, one of the producers of this film (the director and writer of Cabin Fever who also directed Hostel) cameos as the same character he played in Cabin Fever. If you blink, you might miss Kane Hodder playing a Pleasant Valley resident named Jason (no hockey mask here). As I said earlier, the kills are really creative, also. The extras on the DVD are great, as well, including a TON of deleted scenes and a whole documentary on how they made the movie. I’m a big fan of Robert Englund’s work so it’s great to see that he really seemed to enjoy his role as the mayor. All in all, I give this movie a big 5 out of 5. Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!

Bookmark This Story!

Hide Sites

Originally published: June 02, 2006 @ 11:41pm PST

This review covers the original 1979 film The Amityville Horror Jay Anson’s book of the same name. Jay Anson did write a screenplay for this film but it was rejected in favor of one by Sandor Stern. Since that book will be reviewed right here on our site at another time, I’m going to stick strictly to the movie and not delve too much into the back story. With this disclaimer in mind, let’s get to the review, shall we?

Here’s the basic sketch of the story - as much as I care to say without spoiling it for those of you who may not’ve seen it (because I’m told it ends differently than the 2005 re-make). On November 13th, 1974 police were summoned to the DeFeo residence at 112 Ocean Avenue in Amityville, New York. Here they discovered all but one member of the DeFeo family slain execution style in their beds. Later, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. was convicted of their murders and sentenced to life in prison. Thirteen months later, on December 18th, 1975 the Lutz family moved in. This is where the movie begins…

I don’t know what it is about movies from the 70’s and 80’s that makes them feel so much scarier to me. It’s not just George Lutz’s (played by James Brolin) hair, either. It’s not even the tighty-whiteys he wears when he walks about the house in the middle of the night. No, I think it’s the lighting. Movies from this era (and I saw quite a few when they were edited for television, during my childhood) have such harsh lighting that doesn’t soften the facial expressions of the actors. Each shadow presents a contrast that almost always ends up making people look even creepier than they might appear otherwise. Rooms seem darker and the end effect is that the ambience is all the more unnerving.

Brolin and Margot Kidder do a superb job in their roles as George and Kathy Lutz. It seems that with all the special effects, clever dialogue and cinematic tricks available to filmmakers now we rarely see this style of performance. In many scenes the actors have nothing but their own gestures, voices and facial expressions to work with and they do quite a good job keeping you watching their performance. There’s something especially disturbing about little Amy Lutz (played by Natasha Ryan) - even when she’s not talking about her imaginary friend, there’s something in her mannerisms that suggests she’s more aware of what’s going on than the script allows her to say.

Of course, through the lens of time we may find certain elements of The Amityville Horror to be quaint or silly. The wardrobe would appear unfamiliar to younger audiences and an embarassing memory to those who lived through this time period. The house, however, certainly helps create the sense of forboding with its interior design. I’ve lived in houses alot like the one on 112 Ocean Avenue and I can tell you firsthand that they are not the easiest places to relax in. Houses like this seem just a little too silent, a little too old.

The tension which builds reliably throughout the course of the story is to be expected as part of any horror movie, but I felt this movie did it nicely. There’s no rushing from plotpoint to plotpoint and the director allows the scenes to flow evenly. There’s no forced use of jump-cutting MTV-style through the story, we’re allowed to experience a more natural pacing so that we have time to formulate our own ideas of what may lie ahead for the characters. It’ll be interesting to see how these aspects compare with the 2005 re-make which I’m eager to review.

I feel this version of the Amityville films

I bet you already knew I was going to go all sentimental and give this film a 5 out of 5, didn’t you?

Bookmark This Story!