Horror Shout Outs at the Oscars!

This isn't only a great day for women in Hollywood, its a FABULOUS day for horror fans!

The gal of the hour (and the one I was rooting for), Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for best director! She is not only the first woman in history to win best director, she is also the director of one of THE BEST vampire films ever made, Near Dark! Granted, she didn't win for Near Dark... since that was made over 20 years ago...but still, props to a fellow uterus for winning!

Also, Roger Corman won a lifetime achievement award which makes be endlessly happy. Call him a hack all you like but you can't deny those Vincent Price Edgar Allen Poe films he did are total unabashed AWESOMENESS. I love ya, Roger, you old coot!

Also, Hollywood gave us horror fans a shout out with a little tribute to horror. A little cheesy tribute to horror yes but HEY, any bone ya throw to me as a fan is usually appreciated! Though I still stand by my convictions that it should have been introduced by Kathy Bates instead of the Twilight folk. Not because I hate Twilight (I'm pretty indifferent about it) but because I really don't consider Twilight in the horror genre. I also don't consider Edward Scissorhands to be a horror film either but they stuck that one in there too. *shrugs*
Oh Hollywood. You crazy.

See the tribute here. This also includes the great Paranormal Activity parody they did on the show:

And...erm......anyone else thought Eli Roth looked adorable in his little tuxedo?


He was there with his bro-mantic partner, Quentin Tarantino. I think they make a cute couple and just want to fold Eli up and put him in my pocket...even if he is over six feet tall. I may not think his movies are the end all be all and yes, he can be kinda a douche at times...an adorable adorable douche. But he'll always be a little pocket gore hound to me.
...Don't you ask me to explain my attractions! Stacy already admitted to wanting to have sex with Jason so at LEAST give me this!
Don't judge meeeeee!!!

"A.D." Animated Zombie Trailer! I do believe I just wet 'em in GLEE!

YES I am a posting whore today.

Okay folks, THIS is awesome shit!
The hubby pointed this out to me. Apparently its a teaser trailer for a computer animated zombie flick that is looking for backing. This looks AWESOME!!!



I found a little more info on the film here at zombieinfo.com
And this follow up, too!

Anyone out there have further info perhaps? I must know!
Oh MAN I hope they make this movie!

And One for my Homies...

I'm a huge Oscar nerd. I've been so since I was in Junior High. And I also have a vagina. This pretty much makes me root for my fellow vaginas when they get nominated in categories that vaginas tend to be overlooked in, namely Best Director.
So imagine my delight when I found out a fellow vagina, Kathryn Bigalow, has been nominated for best director this year for her work on The Hurt Locker. I'm sure you're all asking yourself "Umm Cins....yeah that's great but what the Hell does this have to do with Creepy Kitch?"
Well folks, turns out that Ms. Bigalow directed one of the BEST vampire films of all time (and my favorite) Near Dark! Awww yeah baby! She also directed the extremely weird and short lived series "Wild Palms" as well as the creepy Sci-Fi film Strange Days....and Point Break but I can forgive her for Point Break.
Anyways, Congrats to you Kathryn Bigalow! Not only are you a fellow vagina but you did a damn fine job on Near Dark!
No go kick James Cameron's ass!

Also want to give a shout out to some other horror/cult film Alumni who got Noms this year.

• Woody Harrelson, my favorite guy from Zombieland has been nominated for Best supporting Actor...not for Zombieland though (zombies are still being snubbed by the Oscars it seems).
• District 9 has been nominated for Best Picture and is the one I'm rooting for. It won't win but damn it it was good! Inglorious Basterds is my other choice because it rocked and Eli Roth was strangely hot in it. (I discovered he is not short like I always thought he was. I always thought he was pixie sized).
• Quentin Tarantino is nominated for best director for Inglorious Basterds, the crazy bastard who brought us Grindhouse, Kill Bill Vol 1 and 2, and various other movies involving blood and body parts.
• Christoph Waltz is nominated for best supporting actor and he freakin' deserves it. He was amazing in Inglorious Basterds.

You can see the full list of Noms here.

It is a good Oscar year for geeks for sure!

Cins Adventures in Fan Girling

I am back from Con! And I'm now sporting a fashionable head cold!
Mucus. All the cool people are wearing it now, you know.

Anyways, I am only posting here at the moment to show something of awesome magnitude.

For I taken a photo with Keith f'ing David!

He's on the right...just in case you're wondering...

I'm the little white girl in the middle. The lady on the left there is my friend Trishana. For those who may not remember who Keith David is, he is in two of my favorite John Carpenter films. The Thing (Childs) and They Live (Frank).

Keith as Childs

Keith as Frank...Best fight scene EVAR.

He is also the voice of Goliath on Disney's Gargoyles. Keith is awesome. Pure concentrated awesome. Seriously. Hell, he took time out of his day to take a photo with a crazy fan girl for god's sake! Yes, that crazy fan girl was me...
Keith David, you have won my awesome award.

I also got a picture with Phil LaMar who is a gentleman who loves to hug... And kept making me laugh during the photo.

Phil is on the left...once again, in case you're wondering.

He was a regular on Mad TV and played Marvin in Pulp Fiction. A small role before he got his face shot off. LOVE THIS GUY! Seriously. An extremely nice man. If you see him? give him a thumbs up.

Phil as Marvin. Emote Phil! Emote like the WIND!

Okay, I'm done fan girling. I'll post something with substance shortly, including introducing you to an up and coming vampire film that looks insanely AWESOME.

Until then...I have to blow my nose...a lot.

District 9...I actually really liked it!

I know I know, technically District 9 is not a horror film. Its SciFi. Very well done SciFi with some really great gore, but not horror. Regardless, I felt the need to comment on it simply because it has been the best movie I've seen all summer. Granted, most of the summer films for me have me Meh at best. But District 9? Fantastic.
I won't give any spoilers since I feel that experiencing the movie with knowing very little about it is what makes it so good. But if I do give out a little squeak here and there, forgive me. I'll do my best to keep my damn mouth shut. But I do have a lot to say about this movie...probably not intelligently but I DO have a lot to say.

Shot in a sudo documentary style, District 9 is basically about aliens getting stranded on earth over Johannesburg 20 years ago. These aliens aka prawns become refugees and the organization MNU attempt to be the ones to take care of them. "Taking care of them" is used VERY loosely because the Aliens are treated as second class citizens, live in slums, and are subjected to some horrible things.I truly believe that if this film was set anywhere other than South Africa it would have come off as completely absurd. The setting is what makes the film work. The whole story is heavily symbolic of apartheid and it does not treat the subject with kid gloves. There was many a scene in District 9 that truly got under my skin, the weapons testing scene in particular. Racism (or in this case species-ism?), torture, and human (alien?) rights are strong themes through out the film and the director does not candy coat anything to make it more "action-y" or "summer film" style. Its a gritty, hard, and sometimes bleak film.

The movie starts out like a documentary, the back story told to the audience by witnesses of the "incident" that happened in District 9. The film later slips into a more traditional film narrative but continues to keep the documentary feel with its camera work. The transitions were done extremely smooth and half the time I didn't even notice the style jump. But despite the heavy subject matter the action sequences are fantastic. After we are given a detailed account of where the aliens came from and what District 9 is, It jumps right into the heart of the story. Once the action starts it never slows down. The movie is relentless and down right brutal at times earning its R rating. The CGI is flawless. And I mean that in every sense of the word. The Aliens never look rubbery or pasted on. They are extremely realistic down to the subtle emotions they show on their faces. The giant mother ship that hovers in the background looks completely believable. So much so that you sometimes forget its even there. District 9 also has some of the best mecha animation I have seen in any film....and using the word mecha has completely shown my nerd status... For you gore hounds, let me just say, when someone goes down, the go down in a splattering Technicolor dream. Its brutal, I tell you! But it never goes into the realm of clown gore.

If you're planning on District 9 being a popcorn flick, think again. This really is nothing like the usual summer fare (Transformers 2, G.I Joe, Harry Potter, etc). Not that I have anything against popcorn films. I tend to thrive off them. But it was nice to go into a film that made you think and feel more than just the usual "Awww Shit! Awesome!" that many popcorn flicks do. District 9 is far more complex and asks more questions than answers them. And it does so in an intelligent, non-pretentious way that doesn't insult its audience. It also leaves the ending open for questions instead of a sequel. I'm sure there will be fans out there clamoring for a sequel. But I truly hope they never make one simply because I feel tying up the lose ends will cheapen the meaning of District 9.

So my recommendation? Go see it! Now! Pronto! And on the big screen if possible too! It is definitely worth the ticket price!