WOMEN IN HORROR RECOGNITION MONTH 2013

Yay! Finlly it's back! Women in Horror Recognition Month has returned to assist the female geniuses of the horror world in gaining opportunities, exposure and education through philantropic events, printed articles and interviews and endless types of online support. At the same time Women in Horror Recognition Month wishes to break down social construct and educate the public in terms of discrimination within the business and how the public can help females in reaching equality and the opportunity to create and share their concept of life, pain and freedom.

Strong, artistic females that aren't afraid to break away and set an example, are truly and personally inspiring to me. I often feel that women (no, I'm not one of those who androgynize people) are more artistic and emotionally expressing themselves, so encouraging the public to get involved with underrepresented female artists can also turn the public into a positive platform for aspiring women that need an extra spark of courage and enlightenment.

Last year I published a few entries on female rolemodels (or simply just hot females) within the genre, both characters and artists; Women in Uniforms, The Femme Fatale of Female Villains, Feisty Females & Classic Scream Queens, Female Horror Icon Moments, Fabulous Female Writers, Female Filmmakers and Fabulous Female Artists. This year I haven't planned on posting anything personal in relation to WiHM but I would recommend you to take a look at this year's ambassadors - amongst them some of my personal favorites that I'll be following.

BLOGS
Two of my favorite horror bloggers have taken on the task of enlightening us of the female power on different levels within horror; Brittney-Jade Colangelo at Day of the Woman and Christine Hadden at Fascination With Fear. I also stumbled across Disturbed - Patient #9 which is a twisted but fascinating blog posting both personal thoughts, imagery and videos.

PODCASTS

Dark Dolls talk all things horror related, wheter it's books, movies or real life events. They are also open for submissions of independent movies, books, music, PR etc. The Whorer takes a punk-fem-queer approach to horror films and offers diverse episodes from tv-show and movie analyses to horror history.

FILM FESTIVALS
Ax Wound Film Festival (US) is this year supporting WiHM on the big screen by accepting short and feature horror film made by women. Jennifer's Bodies (UK) is hosting its 2013 film festival in Edinburgh, Scotland and accepting submissions directed, produced or written by women. Popcorn Horror's (UK) mission is to show the world that you don't need to be a famous movie producer to release an amazing film. Popcorn Horror is open for submissions and is building a community based on its content providers.

SHORT STORIES & REVIEWS

Sirens Call Publications is always on the lookout for new talents and if you have a piece that shows creativity, originality and a desire to share your story - don't hestitate to submit. Nina D'Arcangela posts some juicy book reviews at Spreading the Writer's Word and Bleeding Dead Film Reviews offers a wide range of both short and feature film previews and reviews.

A RUN-DOWN OF THE BEST & WORST HORROR OF 2012

Another horror year has drawn to an end. Safe to say that 2012 was a solid year for horror television. Not only did The Walking Dead offer us its best season so far - True Blood was, as usual, a delight to watch. I also stumbled upon the haunted mansion on Upper East portraited in 666 Park Avenue, which sadly ended abruptly when ABC pulled the plug and cancelled the show. Although giving the creators time to tweak the last episode it, didn't offer as much closure as it left behind unanswered questions.

American Horror Story: Asylum has this past season been the most disturbing and unnerving freak show I've ever seen. It successfully manipulates the mental elements in horror that so cunningly touches us in the most awkward and uncomfortable ways.

As for the horror movies of this past years there have been som treasures and some stinkers. A few have surely surprised us by pushing the genre boundaries and taken a new approach to storytelling. These following ten movies are my personal favorites from 2012.

10. CITADEL
Citadel brings you to dilapidated council flats and crumbling social highrises in a dirty British suburb, a dystopia called Edenstown. After the gruesome opening where Tommy Cowley's (Aneurin Barnard) wife is silently attacked by a gang of hooded children who stab a syringe in her highly pregnant belly, Tommy's left with their nine month old daughter and a severe agoraphobia. Convinced that the hooded gang is out to kidnap his daughter Tommy turns to the local vigilante priest (James Cosmo) who reveals to Tommy that the children aren't the result of a greater malaise - they're plainly a disease unto themselves and must therefor be extincted. And you're dying to know; are these unloved children from broken homes or creatures far more sinister than that? Together with the priest, and his blind son, Tommy sets out on a final battle to save his daughter. And his sanity.

9. EXCISION
AnnaLynne McCord does the convincing role of the disturbed and delusional high-school student Pauline, who daydreams of her future career in medicine and obssesses over her surgery-skills. While struggling with being an outcast in school and living up to the demands of her controlling mother (Traci Lords), Pauline plots how to lose her virginity and to save her younger sister from the effects of her cystic fibrosis. AnnaLynne McCord's gaunted sebhorrea face and awkward boyish appearances make for the perfect illustration of a flesh-obsessed fanatic who takes her visceral fantasies and self-diagnosed mind too far when planning the ultimate move to impress her mother.

8. THE PACT
When a young woman (Caity Lotz) returns to her childhood home after her mother passes away, she senses a mysterious presences disturbing the house peace. Unidentified noises and things that go bump in the night keep her awake, objects start moving and a picture of an unknown woman posing next to her mother in her younger years keeps falling to the floor. What starts out as a low-budget chiller turns terrifying with a shocker ending, turning the usual haunted house to an omnious cover-up that shows how far a person is willing to go to protect a loved one. Although not a pact per se, The Pact still shows that not all pieces need to fit together to make a surprising revelation, leaving you confused and creeped-out.

7. DARK SHADOWS
Yet another horror comedy from the master of modern fairytales Tim Burton, Dark Shadows is based on the gothic soap opera produced for television between 1966 and 1971. The master of Collinwood Manor, Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp), has everything a man during the 18th century could wish for; a wealthy fortune and appealing looks. But when breaking the heart of the town-beauty Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) he's doomed to a fate worse than death as Angelique, who is a powerful witch, turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. Two centuries later Barnabas is unearthed and returns to his ancestral home, now inhabited by his dysfunctional descendants, amongst them the head of the household Mrs. Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) and the family doctor, Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter).

6. THE TALL MAN 
The small town of Cold Rock, WA, is struggling with economic hardships and growing class differences as the prospect for the town's recidents is slowly diminishing when the mine that has been the main source of employment is shut down. In the midst of battling poverty and lack of resources, the adults in Cold Rock are one by one experiencing yet another heartbreaking tragedy; the children keep disappearing from their playgrounds, their schools and even from inside their homes. Rumours surrounding the circumstances of the disappearances are widely spread; some believe it's a local child molester. Some say it's the Devil himself. Some talk about the town's own urban legend figure; The Tall Man - a mysterious man abducting children into the woods, after which they're never seen again. When the town nurse Julia Denning's (Jessica Biel) son goes missing the chase builds up in an intricate and inscrutable pattern, where The Tall Man's mysterious role decreases and the hidden role of nurse Denning slowly increases. The Tall Man is a heart-wrenching, shocking thriller that never fails to turn corners.

5. HOUSE AT THE END OF THE STREET
What feels like a 70's remake during the first 30 minutes, yet another high school-slasher during the next 15 minutes and a total "What the hell is this movie really about?" halfway through its running time; House at the End of the Street suddenly jerks into high-gear and presents a whole new side of the usual protective big brother.

Newly divorced Sarah (Elisbeth Shue) and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) move to a woodsy, rural town to get a fresh start from their hectic life back in Chicago, when learning that their neighboring house has been the home to a grisly double murder. Years earlier the supposedly brain-damaged daughter killed her parents in their bed and disappeared, leaving her brother Ryan (Max Thieriot) as the sole survivor, who bizarringly decides to stay in the murder-house. It's not long before the gentle, sad-eyed Ryan picks up Elissa in his car during a rainstorm on her way home from a party, and delivers her safely to her mother. Yes, the oldest trick of all times; making the audience side with the underdog. The teen melodrama aside, this is still more angst than chills until its final act delivers a suprisingly good twist that although not answering all questions, still leaves you satisfied. And yeah, I also have a girl-crush on Jennifer Lawrence.

4. THE WOMAN IN BLACK
The young lawyer Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) travels to the marshy east coast of Britian to handle the paperwork of Eel Marsh mansion's recently passed owner. Still mourning the loss of his wife during childbirth, Kipps is faced with little welcome and no smiles in the little village of Crythin Gifford. Finding himself literally stranded at Eel Marsh when the island that the house is resting on is surrounded by the incoming tide from the nearby ocean, Kipps is suddenly confronted with the sinister and the supernatural. The apparition of a wraith in a black mourning dress catches his attention and the poltergeist acitivity that follows "The Woman in Black" is far too hair raising for the audience to not appreciate this as a more than qualified remake, and far too interesting for Kipps to leave uninvestigated.

3. THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
The Cabin in the Woods is a simple idea executed into a whole different story. It positions itself amongst all previous slasher movies, all character clichés and genre zones just to deconstruct these very components into what can only be described as a wickedly entertaining caricatur and a brutal genre exercise. The rythm of the movie skilfully maneuvers its audience between stereotype assortments and commited actors, from scares to laughs, from hoarder basements to social science labs á la 'DHARMA in space', from hilbilly zombies to canned Silent Hill monsters, from haunted old cabin to futuristic force fields á la The Hunger Games in a surprising transition. The Cabin in the Woods is a ritual sacrifice that'll require a lot more than just the blood of a virgin; it'll need its movie audience too. Because this is a playground for a completely new set of horror chess. A total game-changer.

2. V/H/S

V/H/S is basically divided into six different sequences, opening with a group of sleazy criminals filming their en route of harassment which includes attacking women and acting like complete jerk-offs. For those who've read some of my previous posts you might be aware of the fact that I loath any sexual brutality or female opressing behaviour. Which made the first couple of minutes of V/H/S intolerable to me. Luckily the storyline changes direction as the gang breaks into a house to steel an important VHS tape. Who ordered this job or why is never explained (or I just missed that part) but wandering around the house leads them to different tv-monitors and recording devices, from which each of the five found-footage stories play out for the audience. Containing dusturbing nasties, each hand-held horror story has you on the suspense delivering unique turns and surprises; with shaky camera work, partly doubtful acting and seemingly incomprehensive plots and storylines. But despite its low-budget effects and low-rent feel it flashes some very sinister images and has some disturbed visual tricks up its sleeve. Truth be told - this is one of the scariest and disturbing movies I've seen for quite some time.

1. SINISTER
Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is a true crime writer who, with the plan of writing his next book, moves his family (his wife Tracy, his 12-year old son Trevor and younger daughter Ashley) into a new house in Long Island, where the previous family was hung from a tree in the backyard. All but one. Their youngest daughter, Stephanie, is still missing. With the purpose of solving the murders and find the missing girl, Ellison sets up his ordinary office with a cardboard box wall of clues and evidence and starts the material hunt for his new bestseller. With the help of the Sheriff's deputy and a local occult professor, Ellison starts to piece together a gruesome murder puzzle. A puzzle which effects the entire family. Ellison's son starts having his night terrors again, his daughter Ashley starts painting images taken from the 8mm films on her bedroom walls and Ellison himself leaves his wife on the verge of a nervous breakdown watching him fall into pieces due to his obsession battling his paranoia.

Other mentionable additions to the stack of 2012's worth-watching
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Prometheus, The Possession, Lovely Molly

The total dissapointments of the year
The Apparition, Grave Encounters 2, The Loved Ones, The Devil Inside, Cassadaga

Yet to be watched
Paranormal Activity 4
Mostly anticipated for 2013
Carrie, The Lords of Salem, World War Z, Evil Dead, IT, The Host, Horns, I, Frankenstein, Warm Bodies, Dracula 3D, Haunt, Insidious Chapter 2

REVIEW: SINISTER (2012)

 "Sinister is a frightening new thriller from the producer of the Paranormal Activity films and the writer-director of The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Ethan Hawke plays a true crime novelist who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies that plunge his family into a nightmarish experience of supernatural horror." - (C) Summit

OBS! THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS! 
So last night my boyfriend texts me, saying we're gonna watch Sinister when I get home from work. Great, I thought, having waited for it for a couple of months now, despite not having read or knowing anything about it. Sometimes you just have that weird feeling that a movie's gonna be really good. And it was. Damn it was.

Ethan Hawke does the convincing and committed role of Ellison Oswalt, a true crime writer who's famous for his debut book Kentucky Blood, in which his reporting exposed some cracks in the local police department's murder investigation techniques. And as a result, cops don't like him very much.

With the idea for his new book, Ellisson knowingly moves his family (his wife Tracy, his 12-year old son Trevor and younger daughter Ashley) into a new house in Long Island, where the previous family was hung from a tree in the backyard. All but one. Their youngest daughter, Stephanie, is still missing. With the purpose of solving the murders and find the missing girl, Ellison sets up his ordinary office with a cardboard box wall of clues and evidence and starts the hunt for material for his new bestseller.

Stumbling upon a box of homemade Super-8 reels in the attic, each labeled with a disturbing title (BBQ '79, Pool Party '86, Sleepy Time '98), Ellison rigs up his home movie theater, pours himself a whiskey on the rocks and starts watching. Each of the 'snuff' footage shows a gruesome set up of a family being simultaneously murdered in sickening ways, suggesting that the murder Ellison is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose work dates back to the 1960's.

Once the filmstrips have begun rolling the movie itself suddenly takes on a dark tone.  After reviewing the films over and over, Ellison discovers a special mark and a demonic face that turns up on each of the footage. With the help of the Sheriff's deputy and a local occult professor, Ellison starts to piece together a gruesome murder puzzle. A puzzle which effects the entire family. Ellison's son starts having his night terrors again, his daughter Ashley starts painting images taken from the 8mm films on her bedroom walls and Ellison himself leaves his wife on the verge of a nervous breakdown watching him fall into pieces due to his obsession battling his paranoia.

Sinister skillfully uses fragments of the supernatural to underline its investigation of the human mind and foibles of paranoia and insecurity, and does so with originality and a few genuine scares that will make you wet your pants. Apart from the few jump-and-scare tactics (desynced in video/audio which gives them a nano second's head start to your brain), it builds and broods atmospherically on the evil and hostility that mankind is capable of. When the demonic face from the filmstrips is identified as not only Mr. Boogie, but as the pagan Babylonian deity Bagul - he is inevitably invited to continue his work, resulting in the final film, House Painting '12.

On a personal note, this has been the atmospherically creepy and frightening movie I've seen in years. Adding to the scare is the fact the while we were watching the movie with all the lights in our house off, the globe lamp that's placed on one of the taller stereo speakers next to the TV suddenly lit on its own. An hour later when we were in bed (I'd already fallen asleep and J was laying next to me, watching Netflix on his computer) a flashlight on our dresser at the other end of the room suddenly turned itself on.

REVIEW: THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PT. 2

Yeah, I did it. Last night I went as Team Sceptic-but-still-hooked and saw the conclusion to the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn Part 2. It wasn't as dull as I'd expected (due to the twisted end), but it wasn't as upmarket aspiring as I'd hoped the finale would be, either. At times it was cute. Mostly it was the same naïve, antagonizing cuddling and fiddling as it has been for the last couple of years.

I know, for a 'true horror fan' the Twilight Saga is an abomination with its salad chopping, interior designing, forest hiking, teenage stalking, suprisingly slow moving, 'tofu vegetarian', sparkling vampires. It does take the humanization of vampires to an extreme when discarding the general traits of the aristocratic fiend among high society that used to identify a vampire. And it does also (as I've stated in a previous entry) set the female role back to the late 50's, as it has been doing for the last four movies. And even in this last installement Isabella Swan (Kristen Stewart) is never given enough space to reclaim her role as a strong and independent vampire female. What I liked most about the novel were the parts where she exercised her ability to project her mental shield and use it externally to weild against her enemies. Although playing with the thought of Bella having her way with flat-faced hubby Edward (Robert Pattinson) any time she wants, all Bella's traits as a vampire (the strength, the hightened senses, the ferocity, the hunger, the untamed traits of a newborn) seem diminshed as she lives in the shadow of her husband's thought of her finally being an 'equal'. Or should I say the obedient wife? All this gender and race (human/vampire/wolf) comparison both irritates and sets me off. Why does this keeping on happening? Why would a female writer deliberately make her female characters inferior, as they seem less worthy than their male mates?

And Breaking Dawn Part 2 does become very doozy and cotton candy-like with the post-honeymoon cuddling and post-transformative, weirdly enough, boring sex. All talk and no action, so to speak. The movie uses the same blue-grey production design that was also used in the previous as well as the first movie, which becomes a bit mundane after having stared at it for more than an hour. The wolves are still the same digital disaster as in the prequels and the newborn half-human, half-vampire Renesmee (what absurd name is that?) is also digitalized in her infancy. The same effects that make the fighting scene(s) a bit tacky and way too PG to actually make a good supernatural fight. One clever switch is pulled as the movie nears its end and this movie screen twist is probably the only innovative surprise from its original novel. The rest was a mediocre ending to a mediocre story.

To read more on my opinions on The Twilight Saga, check out this previous post from 2010.

REVIEW: CITADEL (2012)

"An agoraphobic father teams up with a renegade priest to save his daughter from the clutches of a gang of twisted feral children who committed an act of violence against his family years earlier" - IMDB

OBS! THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS!

Supposedly inspired by a violent mugging experienced by Irish writer and director Ciarán Foy, Citadel brings you to dilapidated council flats and crumbling social highrises in a dirty British suburb, a dystopia called Edenstown. The dingy surroundings and the bleak exteriors themselves make you cringe, and after the gruesome opening where Tommy Cowley's wife is silently attacked by a gang of hooded children that stab a syringe in her highly pregnant belly - you're left with a nauseating sub-textual message.

As a result of his wife's death (after being comatose for nine months) Tommy, played by Aneurin Barnard, is left with their nine month old daughter and a severe agoraphobia. Despite his intense therapy sessions, Tommy spends most of his days hiding out indoors in his new housing, cowering reduced to a gaunt wide-eyed emotional wreck. One night there's a banging on the door.

Convinced that the hooded gang is out to kidnap his daughter Tommy finds refuge in Marie, a sympathetic nurse that helped care for his wife during her comatose. Marie patiently explains to Tommy that his fear and paranoia are all in his head. “It’s so easy to demonize these kids. What they need is our sympathy." Well, what you got Marie, is blunt force trauma to the head.

In a last desperate search for an escape Tommy turns to the local vigilante priest, played by James Cosmo, who convinces Tommy that the children aren't the result of a greater malaise - they're plainly a disease unto themselves and must therefor be extinct. And you're dying to know; are these unloved children from broken homes or creatures far more sinister than that? Together with the priest, and his blind son, Tommy sets out on a final battle to save his daughter. And his sanity.

Citadel effectively rides on its initial tension through out the movie. The story balances between the feral reality of suburban brutality with poor economics and shattered homes, and the fragile mind of a young man who just lost his wife and is battling Social Services. For the main character Tommy, it's a parable of urban anxiety and the fear of fatherhood. For the viewer, it's an uneasy blend of horror of the psychological (the agoraphobia, the paranoia, the insomnia) and the supernatural kind; are those hooded child ruffians actually freakishly skinny zombies?

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: MOVIES IN THE SPIRIT OF THE SEASON

This year I've been a tad lazy and decided to just make two Halloween Top 10 list. All work and no play has diminished my time to actually sit down and dig through the range of new favorite characters, inventive costumes or debuting  filmmakers. So I've narrowed it down to two lists; my favorite Halloween jingles and the following - a list of the ten movies which I feel best embody the spirit of Halloween. 

10. Creepshow (1982)
This collaboration between director George A. Romero and author Stephen King brings five tales of terror to the screen, inspired by the E.C Comics of the 1950's (which were also the basis for the popular Tales From the Crypt TV series). The five stories are framed within the pages of a comic book which a young boy's insensitive father has thrown in the garbage, and are linked to each other with animated bridges in the style of the old comics. Romero and King have effectively approached this movie with a combination of thrills and gimmickal humor.

9. Pumpkinhead (1988)
A Ten Little Indians story set in Deliverance outbacks, Pumpkinhead presents a season inspired Boogeyman, conjured by a man whose son is accidentally killed by a group of teenagers who pass across their land. Despite the hollowness of the acting (at times) and the questionable props (mostly the costumes), this is a dark fairy tale that teaches us that vengeance isn't always the best course of action. At its heart this is a tale of morality that stands out from the 80's crowd of low budget horror movies. The design of the monster is a thrilling representation of something vaguely humanoid but at the same time completely alien and foreign.

8. Halloween (2007)
Rob Zombie's resurrection of John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) is one of my few favorites in the modern remake wave. It perfectly balances the brutal gore that can only be produced by Rob Zombie, and the tinkly chilling feel of 70's original. I know most Rob Zombie fans were disappointed after his landmarks House of 1000 Corpses (2003) and The Devil's Rejects (2005), and I can agree to the extent that the little boy who one day snapped and killed his sister for no apparent reason is far more scary than the Michael Myers background story that Zombie presents. However, I adore Rob Zombie's twisted touch, his perfect ear for accompanying butcher scenes with 70's country music and the way he avoided turning it into another high school slasher but instead made it a slaughterhouse stabathon.

7. Scream (1996)
As a half-parody, half-tribute to the "dead teenagers" movies of the 70's and 80's, Scream is the 90's answer to classic slashers which instantly became a success. Though the introduction and the ending are merely simple and bloody roughness, the complicated plot in between skillfully plays with the conventions of horror movies in a clever mix of irony, self-reference and blood spills. With constant references to its classic horror predecessors, Scream pays endless homage while at the same time subverting and adhering to the "rules" of horror films. This is truly the most entertaining fright fest of the 90's.

6. Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
For the die hard fans of Michael Myers (myself included) it might be hard to accept the fact that he's not the villain of the third installment of the Halloween franchise. In fact he only appears briefly on a TV screen when the main characters watch a commercial for the first Halloween movie. As a sequel to Halloween and Halloween II this movie plainly sucks. On its on though, Halloween III: Season of the Witch is a perfect little midnight movie for the season, and once I got over the disappointment that Michael Myers has no place on this film, I started to notice the aspects of it that make it such an alluring movie on its own. The key element (which is also its link to the previous movies) is the mask. It holds a gateway to a greater evil that wishes to take the life away from children. As the children put their Halloween masks on they themselves become the boogeyman, the monsters and the ghouls. The trigger of the masks is the Halloween commercial from Silver Shamrock Novelties, which is an effective detail and has become a memorable aspect of the movie.

5. Trick 'r Treat (2007)
This delicious, gleeful anthology intertwines four different Halloween stories in a brilliant way, with each story complimenting the other. It holds a morbidly charming tone through out the movie and with its campfire-tale shivers and surprisingly fresh screenplay it never has a dull moment. With its thick autumnal atmosphere, jack-o-lanterns and bloody tricks, Trick 'r Treat is a full on homage to the Halloween season.

4. Fright Night (1985) 
Along with my top two choices, the original Fright Night has always been my must-see-every-season-movie. Perhaps not a classic, Fright Night still is a spook show of season spirit, wit, charm and the perfect amount of suburban creepiness. The story is simple and believable (if you're a horror-obsessed geek like Charley Brewster) and Chris Sarandon's suspiciously good looks is the perfect mask for the centuries of decay and seduction that this vampire neighbor has hidden in his closet.

3. The Exorcist (1973)
It really doesn't matter if you're a first time viewer or if you've re-watched this movie since you were too young to see it in the first place; there's no mistaking the gruesome tale and unnerving shocker that is The Exorcist. It's as disturbing today as it was 40 years ago. Few movies have managed to have the same mental impact on me (The Blair Witch Project, The Fourth Kind included) and the beautiful but brutal, yet simple, special effects contribute to the indescribable obscenities. Based on the last documented and known Catholic sanctioned exorcism in the US, The Exorcist displays a journey back in time where religion triumphs modern medicine and shakes the foundation of Christianity, which contributes to the movie's great historical value.

2. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Although not a horror movie per se, this low-budget freak show offers an entertaining and bizarre cocktail of musical scores, weird costumes and outrageous characters. The Rocky Horror Picture Show came to be more of a social phenomena than a great picture of cinema. It turned social identification upside down with its fetish-based transsexual love musical. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a cult classic and would best be experienced as a double feature at the drive-in midnight theaters. 

1. Halloween (1978)
Not only my favorite Halloween movie, John Carpenter's Halloween is my all time favorite horror movie. After all these years it remains untouched by the endless numbers of imitations and maniac-on-the-loose suspensers. Halloween is basically the original slasher movie; it came out of nowhere, was filmed in only 20 days and revitalized and patented the whole genre of slashers. With a stunning opening scene (seen from the child-monster's point of view) this suburban horror smash takes a scary stalkerish turn with its murder-incestious plot and twists into the bloody crescendos, which have made it one of the most influential movies ever.

HALLOWEEN TOP 10: SEASONAL SERENADES

As always, I let music play a big part in my horror watching. Therefore I've decided to put together a little list of ten jingles from this year's movie releases I feel represent the 2012 Halloween season best.

10. Michael Rault - Call Me On the Phone (Grave Encounters 2)
I really had to do some digging to find this one. I remembered I'd heard something that caught my attention watching the sequel to what actually was a decent mocumentary. But Grave Encounters 2 was such a dissapointment for me. Obsessing over a movie showing a student obsessing over a movie that's obsessing over a haunted facility? Nah, not really my thing. But this featured track was a good distraught from the poor plot and even more poorly executed acting.

9. Foreigner - Feels Like The First Time (True Blood) If you would have to choose just one song from last season of True Blood it would literally be impossible. Each episode is filled to the brim with great new indie bands, southern tunes, old classic American rock and modern punk. And old classic I was reminded about when watching the first episode of season 5 was Foreigner's debut single Feels Like The First Time. Which is a good description of my giddiness every summer when the fang banging resumes.

8. Claudio Simonetti - Kiss Me Dracula (Dracula 3D)
Writer and director of cult classics Suspiria, Inferno, Phenonema and Opera, Dario Argentino, has now returned with a 3D remake of Dracula. Some people desperately wish Argentino would stop making movies and instead aim to preserve his legacy. I, on the other hand, am all for letting the old sports return to mix their cult minds with us mortals of the modern world. I haven't seen Dracula 3D yet but doing some research on trailers and teasers, I quickly came to like this song.

7. REO Speedwagon - Roll With The Changes (The Cabin In The Woods)
I'm all about old American rock and REO Speedwagon has produced two of my favorite rock songs from the 80's - Can't Fight This Feeling and Keep On Loving You. Avoiding mainstreamíng and making the obvious choice, The Cabin In the Woods chose one of the band's more low-key songs which I feel make a great atmospheric statue of the otherwise uncanny genre deconstruction.

6. Little River Band - Lonesome Loser (The Loved Ones)
Though released in its homecountry Australia back in 2009, I didn't come across The Loved Ones until this year. Apart from Wolfmother I've never really found any interesting classic rock from 'down under'. But Little River Band makes a good impression in the midst of the 21st century high school drama and sadistic prom theme.

5. Jessica Lowndes - In All My Dreams I Drown (The Devil's Carnival)
For a musical nerd like myself, what could be better than a rock opera? Saw II director Darren Bousman's experimental short horror film The Devil's Carnival has Aesop's fabels as its core, with the main characters each representing a fabel. Bousman has stated that The Devil's Carnival will be an ongoing project with chapter two and three already being written. With the intention of being more of a subversive experience rather than just a dark and enchantingly comedic movie, The Devil's Carnival set on a multi-city road-tour in April 2012 and with it released a 12 song album. From it I've chosen my favorite soundtrack; All In My Dreams I Drown sung by Jessica Lowndes.

4. Mozart - Requiem (The Lords Of Salem)
Being schooled in piano (Baroque, Classical and Romantic) it would be sinful not to have Chopin, Mozart, Bach and Beethoven as rolemodels and/or musical inspiration. Mozart's Requiem (in D Minor) is one of my favorite pieces. It was left unfinished by its composer upon his death and was completed by the Austrian composer Süssmayr within 100 days of Mozart's death. Whether the two men had discussed the Requiem during Mozart's last days is unknown, but Süssmayr took on the task of completing the score and his version is to this day the most played. The Requiem's well-contained complexity and the incorporation of many different musical elements and vocal forces in each bar and section makes this a triggered and atmospherical sequence to Rob Zombie's upcoming The Lords of Salem.

3. The Carpenters - On Top Of The World (Dark Shadows)
Featured in Tim Burton's latest horror comedy Dark Shadows (based on the 1960's gothic soap opera with the same name), is the 1972 song On Top of the World by the Carpenters. Although having listened to a rather large extent of 60's and 70's music during my childhood, this vocal and instrumental duo was never part of my favorites. Although this song belonged to the sibling's record-breaking run of hits, it's so far up the clouds with its cheesiness and 70's groove that it literally makes me cringe. That's why it's the perfect match for a 200 year old vampire indulging in interior design. 

2. The Singing Nun - Dominique (American Horror Story)
Safe to say, the common room scenes are my least favorite in the second season of American Horror Story. It's impossible not to balance on the verge of insanity when constantly fed this high-pitched bird like jingle. And as AHS is all about the clues, the interesting fact is that Jeanine Decker (known as 'the Singing Nun') left her nun position at the church to live with her female partner (clue #1), with whom she eventually engaged in an OD suicide. The Express also notes that she was the daughter of a baker (clue #2) and that the song originally was praise to the Spanish-born founder of her order, St Dominic. Instead American humourist Joe Queenan has written: "The song would have us believe that St Dom­inic was a humble, lovable monk who fought valiantly against the forces of darkness (clue #3). In fact he founded the religious order that brought mankind the monstrous Spanish Inquisition.”

1. Doris Day - Que Sera Sera (American Horror Story)
With its usual creepy take on everything it touches, American Horror Story: Asylum is using Doris Day's classic Que Sera Sera as its teaser tune for the second season of the US' most popular horror show. What creeps me out the most is that this is a tune my grandmother used to sing to me when I was little. It has been one of my favorite tunes ever since.