Shit Movie Fest

The Best Movies I Still Own on VHS (Vol.2)

2012-03-09T10:20:00.000-05:00

Here is Volume 2 of my old VHS collection posts. Many of these videos were bought from either "Moon Light Video" or "SouthWest Video" when they both went out of business.

SouthWest Video was originally a "West Coast Video" so they had a much better selection when they were open and even when they went under. That was in the late 90s/early 2000s because I don't ever remember them making the switch over to DVD. Anyway here goes Vol. 2.

Class of 1999

The unofficial sequel to my favorite movie of all time "Class of 1984"! Both were directed by Mark Lester, but where '84 was strictly an 80s punk movie Class of 1999 is a lower budget science fiction Terminator clone. A lot of great people are in this including Malcolm McDowell, Stacy Keach, and Pam Grier! There's also a sequel to this staring Cody from "Step by Step", but that's pretty horrible.

Disorderlies

Do you remember the Fat Boys? Well, if you do there's a good chance you have seen Disorderlie. One of those fun movies I remember from childhood, nothing more nothing less.

The Burning

My video store never carried "The Burning" or did and the copy was stolen. So before The Burning got it's long overdue DVD release I owed this bootleg copy I buoght off a seller on Ebay. This version was an uncut import containing all of Savini's gore effects. I forget what I paid for it, but whatever the cost it was well worth it.

Arena

I remember enjoying this when I was younger. The monster SFX still holds up too!

Alligator 1 & 2

The first Alligator is a classic, than again so is Alligator 2: The Mutation . . . But for all the wrong reasons!

Dr. Giggles

Very underrated 90s Slasher. If Dr. Giggles came out a year after "Scream" it would have made bank!

Young Einstein

Only in the 80s could this dude be a "Star".

Evil Ed

It's a no brainer . . . and for $3.99 it wasn't.

Mother's Day

This box has been to hell and back! It's faded, torn, and bent up, but the movie plays fine :)

April Fool's Day

Another banged up box. I love still owning these tapes though because these were the tapes I first rented and are responsible for me seeing all my slasher favorites.

Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space

Even though I own this and most of Wood's movies on DVD I could never part with my first copy of Plan 9!

That's it for Volume 2 of this VHS feature. I'll be at Monster Mania all weekend so, more than likely I won't get to Volume 3 till sometime next week.

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

15 of the Cheesiest Songs in Movie History!

2012-03-07T00:00:00.047-05:00

Much like the list last week of my "15 Favorite Songs featured in Horror & Cult Movies" I'm sticking only to songs that were made for the movie they appeared in, so sorry Dirk Diggler but "You Got The Touch" won't count!

All of these songs fall into my category of "so bad they're good" and made each of the movies they appeared in all the more memorable. These are the 15 I could think of off the top of my head. If there is anymore you think I might have missed please feel free to comment below.

15: Idiot Control

Heard in the MST3K episode "The Pod People". To this day Idiot Control is one of my "Favorite Worse Things Ever!"

14: Friday Night's A Great Night For Football

As heard in "The Last Boy Scout", this song is a brilliant spoof of Hank Williams Jr's Monday Night Football theme.

13: Pretty Poison ~ "Catch Me I'm Falling"

From the John Cryer film "Hiding Out". This song and video sum up the 80s perfectly.

Big Big Hair!

12: All Night Long/Jessie From Nightmare on Elm Street 2's "Dance Scene"

Elm Street 2 is the worse in the series, but because of scenes like this it's also the funniest!

11: Dwight David ~ "The Last Dragon"

There are a lot of cheesy stuff from this movie, but this song is the master!

10: Tim Cappello ~ I Still Believe

I still think Tim should have been revealed as the Head Vampire in the Movie . . . Just saying!

09: Corey Feldman's Singing in "Rock 'N' Roll High School Forever"

I wish some studio would put out The Eradicator's "Greatest Hits"!

I'm sure it would sell.

08: DVDA ~ "Now Your A Man!"

Trey and Matt's theme for "Orgazmo" is one of the funniest movie themes ever.

Those guys are geniuses for coming up with this song.

07: Coupe De Villes ~ Big Trouble In Little China

I'd love to hear the back story on how this song and video ever saw the light of day!

06: These Two Songs from the James Spader Movie "Tuff Turf"

Paris Hilton's Aunt Can Get It!

Who knew Spader could sing?

05: Brock/Davis ~ Hard Way

From the prom scene at the end of "Just One of the Guys"

Do those guys know how to rock or what?!?

04: "Warm Side of the Door"

As heard in "Silent Night, Deadly Night". I can't help but LMAO when this part comes up in the movie!

03: "Rocky 4" Montage Songs

Remember Rocky "There's No Easy Way Out . . . There's No Short Cut Home!"

02: Songs from Karate Kid 1 & 2 . . .

So you knew Joe Esposito's "Best Around" was a shoe in for this list

But I happen to think Peter Cetera's "The Glory of Love" from K.K2 is way cheesier!

01: The Teen Witch Rap "Top That"

"Top That" is perhaps the biggest trainwreck in cinema history!

And I love every second of it!

Well that's the list . . . agree/disagree? Leave your comments below.

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

The Best Movies I Still Own on VHS (Vol.1)

2012-03-06T21:30:00.002-05:00

Since I did that post over the weekend about the 15 Worst VHS Tapes I Still Owned, I felt I needed a follow up to show some of the good stuff I managed to hold on to. I kept these video tapes because I never got around to replacing them on DVD and also because of their sentimental value. This list will be broken down into about 2 or 3 posts. With the first one having about 20 tapes featured and a quick anecdote on each . . . Enjoy :)

The Howling

I guess you are wondering why it looks like an actual Werewolf got to this tape. Well, one sorta did. My dog Penny had a bad habit of eating anything in sight and ironically enough this movie found itsself in her path! I miss that dog with all my heart, but man she was not kind to my stuff.

Penny the Perfect Angel

Penny the SheBitch

Death Wish 2

This was how my Dad introduced me to all things Bronson. I am forever in his debt, besides him giving me life and all!

Summer Slam 1991

The Best Wrestling Card Ever I.M.O.

Puppet Master

I remember finding this at Kmart of all place for $10. At the time that was a major score.

Puppet Master 1 - 3 will always hold a special place in my heart.

The Stuff

This movie is a big part of how Shit Movie Fest came to be. The Stuff played at the very first party and I will always hold on to this tape because of it!

Depeche Mode: Some Great Videos

If you know me than you know Depeche Mode is my favorite band. I remember finding this at a yard sale at my old grade school back in the early 90s, good times!

The Exterminator 1 & 2

"I think you need to take a shit. It's coming out of your mouth instead of your asshole". I owe my buddy Jim for talking me into renting these back in the day. When our video store went under I ended up buying both movies for less than $5

Chopping Mall

This movie needs a Blu Ray release. I have a DVD but it's just a scan of this :(

Cool As Ice

Moving right along . . .

PsychoMania

One of the first movies I may have ever watched with Chris. Back when we used to have to watch Shitty movies without getting to drink beer.

Repo Man

Oddly enough I never owned this one on DVD. There is something about watching Repo Man on VHS that adds to the viewing experience.

Billy Idol: Vital Idol

Before there was Youtube videos like these were VITAL to own!

Mac and Me

I may or may not have liked this more than E.T. When I was younger I owned this but never owned E.T.

Rock 'N' Roll High School Forever

One of my favorite "So Bad It's Good" movies. When I meet Mary Woronov later this month I am so getting her to sign it, lol..

Piranha 2: The Spawning

Without a doubt the Best Box Art of All Time!
(Editor's Note: and James Cameron's best film)

Well that's all for this edition. I'll try to get Vol. 2 by the weekend :)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Vintage Print Advertisements #5 (Disney Adventures Edition Vol 1.)

2012-03-05T23:01:00.008-05:00

This past weekend at our monthly SMF party James Kaminski ( ALIEN ASYLUM ) brought a big bag of epicness with him to help out with the blog's Vintage Print Advertisements feature . . . That bag was filled with nothing but "Disney Adventures" magazines from the early 90s!

All in all there was about 50 books loaned to me (with more to come!) and all of them were packed with 90s GOLD. You will be seeing ads from "Disney Adventures" on here for the next few months.

I remember having a good amount of these books back in the day. I always loved the 'cartoon character hanging out with the famous person' covers that most of them featured. For this first all "Disney Adventures" edition of V.P.A I grabbed 5 random issues. I scanned the covers along with a few ads from each for your enjoyment :)

Pinocchio and Jacko from June 1993

One wanted to be a Real Boy and the other just wanted to have a Real Boy.

Disney's Always Making Dreams Come True!

Mack and Mickey 1993

By 1994 I doubt Disney would return Mack's calls :|

This cover is one of the best ones :)

Beast and The Beast!

I think by this point Luke Perry was just starting his 10th year as a H.S. Junior . . .

I have to ask, for what reason would Sonic ever need a car?

Great show and great game, miss that series!

"Toys" was one of the most horrible movies I have ever seen (when I was a kid) I can't see this game being much better.

Wasn't much of a Movie either!

I have a theory that character could have gotten a game back in the 90s. Crash Test Dummies is my Exhibit A.

Penguin, Nobody Wins When They Play a Tiger Game . . . Nobody!

Actually, this one don't look that bad

Ok, so these ads were all from a Back 2 School Fashion Section . . .

X 2: The Merchandising . . .

Be sure to put your finest White Man Can't Jump gear on next time you head on out to Sizzler!

Are those mom jeans the boy(?) on the left is wearing?

I think they got Nirvana confused with the Pauly Shore classic "Encino Man".

That's it for now. I'll have another one up in a few days! And James thanks again for all these books. I have been having a blast paging through them!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

15 of the Worst VHS Tapes I Still Own

2012-03-04T11:07:00.002-05:00

The amount of VHS tapes I still own are pretty limited. I would say I own a little more than a hundred. I started to switch over to DVDs I phased most of my collection out and only kept the movies that weren't readily available on disk at the the time. When I was going through the boxes yesterday to do that "TV on VHS" post I realized I that I still had some horrible movies in my possession! Here are 15 of the WORST. I scanned their front and back covers for your amusement . . .

01: I'll Spit On Your Grave Too!

What I thought would be a sequel to the classic "I Spit On Your Grave" turned out to be a shot on video knockoff. I wish I saw the back cover before I got it off Ebay :(

02: Mosquito

"In The Terrifying Tradition of Alien and Predator comes Mosquito!"

I picked this up from a local video store for a dollar when they went out of business. The joke was still on me!

03: White Lies

Ever since seeing "Go" I have had a thing for Sarah Polley and I think she's a great actress to boot, but this "Made-4-Canadian TV" rip off of "American History X" deserves to get curb stomped!

04: Bloody Murder

Without a doubt the most original movie I have ever seen. I can't believe no one thought to have a killer wear a hockey mask up until this point!

05: Immortal Combat

Roddy Piper and Sonny Chiba in a movie together!

I wish I could say this was awesome, but sadly I can't.

06: Double Dragon

People always say how awful the "Super Mario Brothers" movie was, but I thought this was WAY worse!

07: L.A. Wars

I love at the top where it says "Vince Murdocco" like he's a huge household name, lol.

08: Johnny Be Good

So many good people are in this movie, but it's painfully unfunny!

09: Captain Planet . . . A Hero For Earth

This show has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, but yeah it was horrible.

10: Lady Dragon

I'm not going to mock this women's fighting skill because they were top notch, but she couldn't act to save her life, but I guess that's why I sorta enjoyed her movies in the first place. There's a certain charm to them.

11: SideShow

There was a time when I would buy whatever Full Moon Pictures would put out. This movie stopped me from doing that!

12: Redneck Zombies

The Worst Zombie Film ever made (in my opinion) not named "Zombie Lake".

13: Meet Wally Sparks

Meet Wally Sparks . . .

I really wish I hadn't!

Rodney had so many great movies in his lifetime, but this was his worse.

14: Laser Mission

I got this bad boy signed by Ernest Borgnine!

I still wonder how many others can claim that.

15: Bible Man Adventures

BibleMan stars Willie Aames of "Charles In Charge" fame fighting bad guys with verses from the Bible! I picked these up at a Goodwill store unopened a few years back. I have no doubt some kid got these for his birthday one year and tossed them in the trash. His Mom felt so bad so she donated them to Goodwill the next day.

Well, there you have it. These may not be the worse movies of all time, but for what I still own on tape they take the cake.

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Television Shows on VHS

2012-03-03T16:06:00.001-05:00

As I'm sure many of you are aware of by now, there has been a bit of a VHS resurgences in recent years. . .

Tapes of movies that have never gotten a proper DVD release can still earn a seller good money on Ebay/second hand markets and there's also some companies even going as far as releasing newer movies on VHS as a limited edition!

Even though I still consider VHS to be a dead format I still try my hardest to incorporate at least one tape into the monthly Shit Movie Fest Parties.

But one thing that is VHS related that I can't bring myself to feel nostalgia for is television shows on tape!

Now while I do remember having tapes of "Tales From The Crypt", "Kolchak: The Night Stalker", Nick's "Are You Afraid of the Dark" and the T.M.N.T. cartoon (and enjoyed watching them over and over again). There are a few problems I remember when looking back at these tapes! For one, the amount of room you'd needed to store most of these shows was crazy if you had a complete set ?Heck just look at the size of these "Highlander: The Series" box sets, lol.

You'd need a second house just to store full sets of say "M.A.S.H." or "Bonanza"! And besides the amount of space you save on the shows being on DVD I ask was there ever a bigger ripoff than these things? Most shows would run you about $19.95 a pop for a tape with only one or two episodes on it. Nowadays you can buy a complete season of a show for less than that. Now you can get all 144 episodes of "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer" on DVD for less then $100 OR you could have gotten those tapes that featured 2 episodes (out of order no less) for for $12.99 a piece !

Now, while sometimes I regret buying shows on DVD also for reason ranging from getting bored from watching them after a couple times, to when a company only puts out the first season or two and not the rest, but at least DVDs are pretty cheap and don't take up a lot of space in my room!

I own the complete series of some shows and I do actually re-watch them (every now and then). Those are "The Sopranos" "Dexter", "OZ", Tales From The Crypt", "Freaks and Geeks", "Undeclared", "Arrested Development", "The Simpsons", "Daria","Nip/Tuck", "Mr Show" and certain seasons of "South Park".
But I sorta stopped buying TV shows as often now and just wait till the show's run is over to just get the one big box set that usually comes out soon afterwards. Hence no seasons of "The Office", "How I Meet Your Mother" or "The Vampire Dairies"

What are some shows you remember owning back in the day? And do you buy shows on DVD now or just stick with watching them via Netflix or HULU?

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

It's beginning to look alot like Horror Convention Season!

2012-03-02T10:12:00.001-05:00

Around this time next week I will be leaving work, heading home for a bit to freshen up, and than I'll start getting my gear together for MonsterMania 21 in Cherry Hill, New Jersey!

Oddly enough this show will also mark the one year anniversary of the first Horror Con I ever attended, that being Monster Mania 17. Since then I made it to a nice amount of other shows up and down the East Coast and also made some great friendships along the way. Next weekend I'm really looking forward to hanging with everyone at the Hotel Bar, sneaking beers from the SMF Cooler with Jay and Steve of ICON vs. ICON, and buying some awesome stuff from dealer rooms in the process.

So while I wait for next Friday to come I figured why not make a post looking back at some of the cool shit I bought and some of the signatures I aquired from the celebrity guests in the past year :)

I'll start off first with Toys, Books and other Horror Related Memorabilia I purchased:

This Little guy comes from a company name Werepups

I named mine "Quist" from the first Howling film, the detail to the pups are top notch and I love the fact each one comes with it's very own Silver Bullet just in case!

"I Spit On Your Grave" Sculpture from ClayGuy

I got this at HorrorHound last fall from the Clayguy. I had seen a lot of pictures of his sculptures online, but it wasn't until I saw his work up close that I knew that I needed to own one. I ended up going with the Bathtub Castration scene from "I Spit On Your Grave", I hope to get Camille Keaton to sign the tub sometime in the near future, lol.

Vintage Looking Halloween Decorations

I bought these Halloween blocks last year because well they remind me of a time when Halloween was still fun. I loved putting all kinds of stuff out to celebrate the Holiday, but now it would end up just getting stolen. I keep these on my windowsill so every day is Halloween :)

Halloween 3 Movie Tie-In Book

This was something I didn't even know existed, but I found it for cheap at the show in Maryland. Part 3 is my favorite from the series so I was curios to see how faithful the book was.

Knee High Horror (poster stands)

Knee High Horror stands are awesome. Check their site out and you are bound to find one for a movie you like!

Now here are some of the signatures I have gotten in the past 12 months:

I try to stay away from getting the 8x10 Photos that the stars have on their tables. If I have a poster/print or toy of a certain movie they were in than I usually go with that. I feel that it's more personable that way. Here are some of the cooler ones I have gotten . . .

Bret "The Hitman" Hart

When I meet Bret at a Wrestling Con last fall I was going to get him to sign his autobiography, but
I couldn't find it anywhere in my house that morning. I brought with me the next best thing . . . The Hitman DVD the WWE put out a few years back.

I was thinking about what to get him to sign on the cover and it hit me . . . Get him to say something from his infamous "El Dandy" Promo from his WCW Run . . .

To Tom

(Never Doubt El Dandy)

- Bret "The Hitman" Hart

Martin Landau

When I meet Martin Landau at Saturday Nightmare I had him sign a 8x10 "Is That Something you Might Be Interested In?" His Entourage character Bob Ryan's favorite saying . . .

Cast of "A Nightmare On Elm Street"

I got Robert Englund, John Saxon, and Amanda Wyss to all sign this Elm Street Poster by Chris Ott of London 1888

"They Live" Cast and Crew

Speaking of posters by Chris Ott I got this "They Live" Print signed by both John Carpenter and Roddy Piper

I kinda wish Piper didn't sign all over Obama's Face . . . But it's all good, it's fucking Roddy Piper for crying out loud! My plan is to get Meg Foster to sign it next week and Keith David hopefully at some point.

I still have a couple boxes of VHS Tapes in my house. I brought along these two at a past con to get signed . . .

Lance Henriksen

Lance was kind enough to sign my old beat-up VHS copy of Piranha II: The Spawning! And he also got a good laugh out of seeing it.

Ernest Borgnine

I also got Ernest Borgnine to sign my VHS Copy of Laser Mission! He didn't get why I wanted him to do it, but if I was in that movie I'd want to forgot about it also!

Michael Rooker and Tom Towles

I got both men to sign my copy of "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer!"

Zach Galligan

When I meet Zach Galligan aka Billy from Gremlins I got him to sign one of my Vinyl figures.

I didn't own Gizmo at the time so I got it on Stripe's box :)

And last but not least when I first meet Tom Atkins I told him about the "A Night of Tom Atkins" SMF party we did last March. He got a kick out of it and agreed to take a picture with the old SMF banner. After he took the picture he also wrote his name on it. I will forever cherish that piece of paper! I even got a "Thrill Me!" Night of the Creeps 8x10!

Well that is it for now. Next Friday really can't come quick enough! See you at the show and I'll have a full recap up the Monday after!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

March Happening Here on the SMF Blog . . .

2012-03-01T22:17:00.002-05:00

So I was just going over my daily planner/calendar for the month of March and it appears I have some pretty awesome shit lined up so far. Most things I will end up doing recaps for here on the blog.

I have a Shit Movie Fest party, 2 Horror Conventions, a couple concerts, two 35mm movie screenings, and a birthday all taking place this month! Here's everything coming up that I am pretty excited for . . .

Friday March 2nd:

Night of the Creeps 35mm Screening at The Colonial Theatre

The Colonial in Phoenixville, PA will be hosting a screening of "Night of the Creeps" as part of their monthly First Friday Fright Night Event! As I was saying a couple days ago in this post, Creeps is one of my favorite B-Movies. I can't wait to see Tom Atkins and the Tom Atkins' mustache on the big screen!

(Go HERE For More Info About This Event!) P.S. The Above Poster by Charles Moran will be on Sale there in the lobby :)

Saturday March 3rd:

The Walkman at the Union Transfer . . .

I haven't seen this band in close to 5 years, but I remember them sounding great live. Their song "The Rat" is a masterpiece and I look forward to hearing their new stuff too (something I don't say that often).

Sunday March 4th:

SMF Presents: All American Sleeze Vol. 2

Sunday Chris and I will be hosting are monthly Shit Movie Fest party. This month's theme is Sleaze! These parties are always the day I look forward to each month.It's an event filled with Great Friends, Bad Movies, Good Eats, and Lots and Lots of Beer!

Chris did an great write up last week HERE that's worth checking out. If you live in the Philly area and are interested in coming hit me up on Facebook and I'll give you the details.

Wednesday March 7th:

MINDLESS SELF INDULGENCE (M.S.I.) at the Trocadero …

Speaking of bands I haven't seen in awhile, I'm seeing M.S.I. with a buddy from work next week. He and and I used to see these guys about 3 to 4 times a year up to about 2008 then we stopped for some reason. They are the ultimate 'love them or hate them' band. I happen to find Jimmy Urine to be a Genius! On Wednesday Night SMF will stand for "Stupid Mother Fucker"!

Friday March 9th - Sunday March 11th:

Monster Mania 21 in Cherry Hill, NJ

I've had my room booked for this since last year! I can't wait to see my boys Jay & Steve from Icon vs. Icon and my Horror Family (John S. of Freddy in Space , his girlfriend Jen, Kristy Jett, and a few others)

The fact that there are also Horror Stars in the house is almost an afterthought, but I do really look forward to meeting Lou David who played "Cropsy" in the Burning.

Friday March 16th:

"Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" is playing at the Colonial

and "Redneck Miller" is playing at an Exhumed Films Screening the same Night!

VS.

I was too young to see B&T when it first came out and enjoyed the hell out of Redneck when I saw it at Exhume's eXfest last May.

I wish there was a way I could do both, like on that one "Flintstones" episode where Fred kept going back and forth between a dinner party and bowling with the guys . . . Or that time on "Boy Meets World" were Cory had to be at both Topanga's Sweet Sixteen Party and with the wrestler Vader's son helping his dad win a match against Jake "The Snake" Roberts . . . Anyway you get the point, I'll have to pick one, but I'm still not sure which one yet!

Friday March 23rd:

Sunday March 25: Mad Monster Party in North Carolina

Look at this line up and you'll see why I have no problem driving 9 hours down south to attend this show! I'm leaving Thursday to give myself an extra day to do some touristy crap in and around Charlotte. I'll post more about this show when it gets closer to the event :)

Monday March 26th:

The Day I turn 30

This is one of those milestones that kinda creeps up on you. When you're in your 20s it seems so far away and now it's less than 4 weeks away from happening! I'm hoping to get my friends out to "The Barcade" in Fishtown that night for some beers and old school Arcade Games :)

Me at 1 or 2 Years Old. I gave up a long time ago about ever trying to be this cool, lol.

And finally, in the last week of the month I will have a whole week of Wrestling related blog posts here leading up to WrestleMania 28! On 4/1 my buddy Stu and I are doing a Wrestling themed SMF party called "Stu-A-Maina". We are going to feature a few bad Hulk Hogan movies and than order the Pay Per View to hopefully see The Rock laying the Smackdown on John Cena's CandyAss.

-Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

15 Of My Favorite Songs Featured In Horror and Cult Movies

2012-02-29T21:25:00.009-05:00

I have always had a huge love for movie soundtracks. When the right song is used in a particular scene it can make both the scene and song iconic forever. Think about it, what is "Reservoir Dogs" without "Stuck In The Middle With You" or "GoodFellas" without "Layla" playing during the death montage? Sure those movies would still be considered classics, but you have to admit they were enhanced tenfold by the music's presence!

So I started thinking about how music has affected some of my favorite horror or cult movies and could I come up with a list of my 10 Favorite songs in that genre . . .

Narrowing down the list was a lot harder than I thought so instead of 10 I had to go with 15. To make it easier on myself I decided only to include songs that were either written for the movie they appeared in or if the song came out around the same time period (and was used for that reason). So while I love the music choices Rob Zombie included in his films or when a movie uses a classic song to set a tone such as "Mr. Sandman" in the Halloween series, I didn't incorporate them into this list. Maybe that's something I will work on as a follow up!

A youtube video is included for each song and as always feedback is welcomed, either at the blog or the SMF Facebook page . . . Anyway here goes :)

15: Bable ~ "The Howling"

The song as heard in the Howling 2: Stirba - Werewolf Bitch. Like the movie, Bable's song is a total cheesefest . . . but since they play it about 10 times throughout the film you can't help but get it stuck in your head!

14: Hole ~ "Gold Dust Woman"

This cover of the Fleetwood Mac tune was featured in the second Crow movie "The Crow: City of Angels", I always had a strong dislike for that movie, but damn if it isn't one of the best soundtracks of all time. Of all the songs on it, this song stands out the most for me. it was my introduction to Fleetwood, a band I really enjoy and more than likely would have never gave a chance if it wasn't for Miss Love . . .

13: The Fly's ~ "Got You Where I Want You"

Heard at the end of the very underrated teen, sci-fi flick "Disturbing Behavior". The Fly's song is a very catchy 90s tune and I'm not ashamed to admit my love for it. Than again it doesn't hurt to have a pre-Stepford Wive's Katie Holmes in the video. Man she was so HOT in this!

12: John Hiatt ~ "Spy Boy"

This song comes from the Al Pacino film "Cruising". Even though that movie is about a Cop going undercover to try and catch a Gay Serial Killer, the music in the movie is totally not what you would expect. Sure there's some late 70's era Disco, but there is also a great deal of Early Punk and Glam Rock tunes in it. With each song sounding very Sinister like. "Spy Boy" is the best of the lot i.m.o, but also check out Rough Trade's "Shakedown"

11: Pseudo Echo ~ "His Eyes"

The song "His Eyes" and the line "This shit box is gross!" are all that I choose to remember from "Friday the 13: Part 5"

10: Gerard McMann ~ "Cry Little Sister"

From the 80s vampire classic "The Lost Boys". There are so many awesome songs in this movie; from the Door's "People Are Strange" cover by Echo and the Bunny Men to the HHH looking Dude playing "I Still Believe" on sax. But for me the one that sets the tone best is "Cry Little Sister". It still gives me goosebumps whenever I watch the film!

09: Marianne Faithfull ~ "Love Hates"

"Love Hates" comes from the early James Spader gem "Tuff Turf". The song is featured in the opening credit scene. Never has riding a 10 speed bike looked more Badass (Sorry "Rad") Besides being an all around fun trashy movie, Turf also features an awesome amount of live performances by Jim Carroll the writer of "The Basketball Diaries" and singer of the Classic "People Who Died". Oh and I think that it's worth noting that Robert Downey Jr plays drums for his band in the movie!

08: Ramones ~ "Pet Sematary"

I love just about every song this band has put out. While 98% of them were fast paced punk rock songs, Sematary i think really showed that they could actually sing quite well when they wanted too. The lyrics are also perhaps their catchiest to boot!

07: David Bowie ~ "Cat People" (Putting Out Fires)

Although this song is originally from 1982's "Cat People" it wasn't until Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards that I really started to appreciate it. Now I include it as one of my favorite Bowie songs, but that's a list for another time :)

06: The Dickies ~ "Killer Klowns from Outer Space"

The main theme to one of the all time best Horror Comedies. It's so silly yet so clever! I still can't believe these guys didn't become huge back in the day!

05: Dokken ~ "Dream Warriors"

It's no secret by now that "A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors" is my favorite Horror Film. I love all the Freddy one-lines, his kills, and of course the title song by Dokken! Now, while I also liked their song "In To The Fire" that plays in the opening of the film, it's the song Dream Warriors that I think of right away when the movie is brought up in conversations.

04: Wings Hauser ~ "Neon Slime"

The movie "Vice Squad" is one of the sleaziest films I have ever laid eyes on, but that song sung by the lead Villain "Ramrod" (played by Hauser) is even better in my humble opinion . . . together they are a match made in Trash Cinema Heaven!

03: The Return of the Living Dead Soundtrack!

Now this may seem like cheating, but it's impossible to pick just one song off of it to represent the film, everything is perfect! If I absolutely had to I'd say "Love Under Will" Performed by The Jet Black Berries. But you really can't go wrong with any movie that features "The Cramps", "45 Grave", and "The Dammed"

02: Dramarama ~ "Anything, Anything"

From Rick's karate workout scene in "Nightmare on Elm Street 4". I don't think there is a song in my life that I listened to more than this!
I loved everything about it from the first time I saw the movie and it became more relatable later in my life after a great relationship I had that went sour!
Oh well it's still has an awesome hook!

01: Iggy Pop ~ "Repo Man"

This is another movie where I feel the music makes the movie and much like the trouble I had with picking a song from the Return of the Living Dead sdtk, I almost ran into the same problem with "Repo Man". With songs such as Black Flag's "TV Party", Suicidal Tendencies' "Institutionalized", and Juicy Bananas' "Bad Man" . . . Iggy gets the nod here with the title track. Such a campy but wicked song and it fits the movie perfectly . . .

Honorable Mentions:

The Demons Soundtrack, "He's Back" Alice Coopers' tribute to Jason, and of of course . . .

"Biscuits, Chicken, and Gravy" sung by Vernon in Hatchet 2!

There you have it. I hope you enjoyed my list and for a follow up I'm going to work on one that features only classic songs like I talked about earlier :)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

This Friday It's Miller Time! ("Night of the Creeps" in 35mm!)

2012-02-28T20:36:00.003-05:00

This Friday (3/2) The Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA will be hosting a screening of "Night of the Creeps" as part of their monthly First Friday Fright Night Event!

In the past year since I have been regularly attending the Colonial, I have already caught so many great shows and can always count on having an awesome time . . . But there hasn't been a movie I have been more excited to attend than "Night of the Creeps" this Friday! I have been excited from the time Nick, Chuck, and Joel (The F.F.F.N. Crew) first announced that they would be screening it. I think I told all my SMF buddies about it more than 100 times!
For those not in the know; Creeps is the ultimate throwback to the Cheesy B-movies of the 50s and 60s that our grandparents used to pay a dime to go see at the Drive-ins.
N.o.t.C. was released in 1986 and it stars Cult Icon Tom Atkins (and Tom Atkins' Mustache), who gives his finest performance as Ray Cameron, an aging detective with not much to live for save his love of booze and having an awesome catch phrase . . . "Thrill Me!"
Ray is in charge of solving a case of a missing cadaver from a science lab. That body may or may not be walking around a nearby college campus due to its brains being controlled by Alien Leeches!

Helping Ray solve the case and the ongoing Leeches from Space Invasion is the hopeless "Chris" played by Jason Lively (aka Rusty Griswold from European Vacation and the brother of the girl from "Teen Witch") and J.C. the best-est friend a person could ask for. As the campus gets overrun it is up to the three men and Chris' dream girl Cynthia Cronenberg (A still HOT to this day Jill Whitlow) to find out how to defeat the creatures and save the college's Formal from becoming a funeral!

I'm a huge fan of this movie and even more so it's star Tom Atkins! When I meet him last summer at Monster Mania we talked about Creeps and Halloween 3 (another favorite of mine!) for a good 20 minutes . . . I was in Horror Nerd Heaven!

The show starts at The Colonial Theatre around 9:30. There's going to be some Horror themed prizes given out before hand and there will also be a limited edition/custom made Creeps poster by Charles Moran that can be purchased!

So if you live in the Philly area and haven't seen Night of Creeps before or even if it's been awhile you owe it to yourself to come out this Friday night! The movie is filled with many awesome one-liners, impressive gore gags, and so much utter bizarreness that I can't wait to see it all play out on the Big Screen for the first time!

I'll see you all there. I'll be the guy wearing this Fright-Rags "Thrill Me!" Shirt :)

- Tom Bryce
http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Hot Asphalt and Roaring Violence - Music for the Open Road

2012-02-28T00:44:00.002-05:00

An audio compilation of the best snippets, songs andtrailer moments from the GNARLIEST Biker Films of the '60s. Courtesy of the Devil's Master, Mr. Isaac Williams. It's like a radio station for the fuzzed and buzzed.

To the Sound Cloud! HOT ASPHALT AND ROARING VIOLENCE

My love for Exploitation Cinema is at a fever pitch!

Now go visit Isaac's tumblr.

Chris_Gormley

The Sleaziest of Sleeze

2012-02-26T23:01:00.001-05:00

Exploitation films are about sex. Yes, some exploitation flicks have flesh eating zombies, chain wielding bikers, pus dripping creatures, and even hungrier flesh eating cannibals, but what defines the genre is S.E.X. The lust for it, the fear of it and even being repulsed by it; sex is at the core of any (good) exploitation film.

Like rock and roll and baseball, exploitation films are a purely American creation (that the Japanese do better). These movies speak more honestly about the American psyche than any art house film or academic documentary. What exploitation films understand is, WE (Americans, dudes, rock and rollers) will take anything at anytime, do anything at anytime and act like it was all ours from the beginning. And of course, in the end, we want to be punished for it. We do things to the extreme, even guilt. Exploitation allows us to relish in rape and then salivate over the evisceration of the rapist. Just like Private Joker’s peace sign on his army fatigues, exploitation movies say something about the duality of man (men, scumbags, ladies with penis envy and rock and rollers).

In celebration of this joyous American art form Thomas Bryce and I are hosting an event that will wallow in the truth and shining transcendence of exploitation cinema. Next Sunday we will hold 'All American Sleeze 2: Deeper into the Cesspool’ at my house in Fishtown.

Shit Movie Fest is not only a monthly party for like-minded morons, but an opportunity to challenge and expand each other’s cinematic horizons. At each event our group tries to top one another and find THAT FILM. The one flick no one has seen, even for the heaviest movieholics of the group. It is a great community and anything goes. Since we have expanded our group to both facebook and this blog I invite YOU to this month’s (or any month’s) event. Just reach out to me privately. Shit Movie Fests are house parties and I won’t give out my private info on the internets. A private IM is the only way toward group boozing, hard noshing and supreme mind’sploding.

Below is the line up for ‘All American Sleeze 2’. Please leave comments and future suggestions either on the blog or our facebook page. We would love to hear from everyone and expand the SMF community. We look forward to sharing our love of the obscure, the weird and the sleaziest of sleeze...

WARNING: The following films contain drug abuse, extreme violence, abhorrent behavior. flagrant acts of Kung Fu, kleptomania, torture, abuse by and on the Ku Klux Klan, psychomania, O.J Simpson and of course, lots and lots of sex.

Enjoy.

Story of a Junkie (1987)

The '80s, A Troma Team Release and the most disgusting locations New York City has to offer. How could you refuse?

Deatbeat at Dawn (1988)

Jim Van Bebber is the most radical filmmaker in the history of American cinema. His films genuinely worry me because he CAN and WILL do anything at anytime. Also, he can kick some serious ass!

Bundy (2002)

Despite what you think, Ted is a pretty good guy. He is just looking for love in all the wrong places, dead girls.

Savage Streets (1984)

If High School was really like this than I would have been one of the cool kids! Or not. Look, Linda Blair beats everyone's ass in this, nuff said.

and finally.

The Klansman (1974)

Lee Marvin, Richard Burton and O.J Simpson vs The Ku Klux Klan. Written by Sam Fuller. Original soundtrack by Parliament Funkadelic. Do I need to keep going?

We hope to see you Sunday (March 4th).

Chris_Gormley

Calling All Cars! (A Look Back At Playmate's Dick Tracy Figures)

2012-02-25T12:38:00.004-05:00

Looking back on the late 80s and early 90s I have some very fond memories of all the toys I had when I was a kid. I covered the WWF Hasbro line and some other random toys here in the past few weeks. Today I'm going to take a look back at Playmate's Dick Tracy line of figures!

In the Summer of 1990 when the Dick Tracy movie came out the ads that ran on TV said something to the effect of, "Move Over Batman . . . Dick Tracy's In Town!"

Since I was already a huge fan of the Bat after seeing the Tim Burton movie the previous summer I was pretty pumped for Dick Tracy. I didn't really know much about the character's history before seeing the movie, but I remember getting a toy of both Dick and Al Big Boy right before I saw the film on opening weekend. I remember not caring for the movie as much as Batman, but I still thought it was pretty cool and would beg my Dad to get me a new figure anytime we went to Jamesway or K-mart that summer. He didn't mind because he liked all the classic cars and what-not they used in the film lol. What I liked the most about those figures was that they were the perfect size to fit into my epic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles battles! I would use my steps in my house as a giant building and the Turtles had to fight their way up each flight of steps to save April and/or Splinter! Having guys like "The Tramp" or "Pruneface" cut the Foot Clan some slack!

Here are the figures I owned plus the official Collector's Case that holds up to 12 Figures . . .

Dick, Al "Big Boy" Caprice, and Sam Catchem

Steve "The Tramp", The Brow, and Influence

Lips Manlis, A Pair of Cement Shoes, and Shoulders

Mumbles, Pruneface, and Itchy

This is the front of the Collector Case

Side of the Case.

The Case's Back

Missing figures that I didn't own are below . . .

The Rodent

Pretty cool looking figure, would have much rather had him then say "The Brow"!

Flat Top

He was one of my favorites from the movie, but I never ran across him when these were in stores :(

Not to mention years later I would find out he was played by the very awesome

William Forsythe . . .

And Last But Not Least, here is perhaps the best figure of the lineand also the one almost nobody had the chance to own . . .

The Blank

The Blank, the film's antagonist, is the rarest of all the figures. According to Topless Robot, "The story goes that the Blank was initially held back from the first toy release because it had a removable mask, and would therefore give away the plot twist.

It was Madge The Whole Time!

However, when the Toyline didn't become the hit Playmates was hoping for they canceled their plans to release the Blank at mass retail in the United States." The story goes on to say that The Blank's figure was released only as a Canadian Sears exclusive in 1990, with only 3,000 figures rumored to be made!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this look back at another toy line from years gone by. I had a lot of great adventures with these guys even if the movie was only so-so :)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Where's The Fucking Bourbon?

2012-02-22T17:49:00.005-05:00

For a good while now Mike Smash (of Curious-Goods) and I have been tossing around ideas for making shirts we could sell at Horror Cons. We had a list of films that we really thought would make for a killer shirt, but one we both agreed on was doing something for "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors"! Not only is it one of my all time favorite Horror Movies, but it's one of the earliest I can recall seeing and my introduction to all things Krueger!

There's so many iconic scenes and Freddy "one liners" in Dream Warriors to choose from, but we narrowed it down to one scene in particular . . . "Where's The Fucking Bourbon? "

This past weekend while Mike was in Florida he started talking to Chris Ott of London 1888, and Chris was more than up to the task of capturing Elaine Parker's Decapitation for us! Later that night I got this outline drawing from Chris, who was already channeling his inner Kristen Parker and Staying up late, Burning The Midnight Oil (I have no doubt in my mind that he had Dokken blasting on his computer!)

A Day later it was finished and ready to go off to the printer!

I am in love with this!

I must have over a 100 Horror related shirt in my closet, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I would play a part in getting one made, and even better one as good looking as the one Chris lent his talents too! I have always been a huge fan of Chris' work and I consider this a real honor to do business with both him and Mike on what is the first of what hopefully will be many other shirt creations in the future!

So, by now I guess you're wonder how you can get one of these bad boys! Well, it's going to be a Limited Edition of only 72 shirts (1 dozen per size S-M-L-XL-2XL-3X) and it's going to be available exclusively at MonsterMania 21 in Cherry Hill, NJ (March 9 - 11)! So, if you are looking to buy one Mike Smash will have them set up on his table at this Connvention and if you don't know who Mike is get a hold of me and I will point you in the right direction :)

Sorry there will be NO pre-orders for thi item and the prices go as follows: $20 for S-M-L-XL and $25 For 2XL-3X and once they're gone . . . they're gone!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Vintage Print Advertisements #4 (Movie Ads From Philly's Past!)

2012-02-19T15:11:00.008-05:00

GrindHouse cinema at it's finest!

This time around I am doing something a little different for the latest edition of SMF's V.P.A. As you can see from the poster above I am featuring movie ads that appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News back in the late 70s/Early 80s.

To gather up these images I took a trip to the Free Library of Philadelphia yesterday and spent a couple hours in their Newspapers Archive Section.

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I haven't stepped foot in that place in over 15 year. The last time I was there was for a school project where we had to use old new papers articles as our only source.

Even though it's been a long time since my last visit not much has changed. Everything is still on Microfilm and the machines you view them on are older than dirt!

I had a nice size list of what movie ads I was looking for yesterday and I had the release dates of written down next to them, but that didn't necessarily mean that movie played in Philly on that particular weekend. This made things a lot harder than I thought. I only came across a few film ads I really wanted and the rest I printed out to give you an example of what movies were playing around the same time and the low, low prices it cost back in the day to see a show!

S.N.D.N. opened the same weekend as A Nightmare On Elm Street, but I didn't come across an ad for Elm Street whatsoever :(

See, movie audiences weren't always stupid!

One of the ads I set out to find!

Even though these 3 movies have nothing to do with each other I'd love to have been there!

Great movie!

Two movies I saw played a lot on Cinemax back in the day.

A Purple Rain, Breakin' and Beat Street Triple Feature!

I wouldn't feel right about doing this feature without including at least one Porn ad!

I love how Gone With The Wind is showcased with Flesh Gordon and Wet Lips!

Ok, well that's all I got from my first visit to the Library's NewsPaper Archives. I had a lot of fun doing this yesterday and plan on going back sometime soon. If there is any movie you want me to try and find an ad for shoot me a line below or via Facebook and I will do my best to try and locate it :)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Happy Harry Warden Day (14 "My Bloody Valentine" Posters and Shirts!)

2012-02-14T00:00:00.078-05:00

In honor of today being Valentine's Day I figured why not make a post dedicated to "My Bloody Valentine", one of my favorite Holiday Slashers and it's Coal Miner Suited Killer Harry Warden!

Today I'm going to post 14 Posters covering everything from the 1981 Movie, the 2009 3D Remake, Fan-made posters, VHS/DVD Box Art , and Harry related T-Shirts . . .

The Poster above was done by the very talented Chris Garofalo

of Quiltface-Studios

Chris made this for a recent screening of M.B.V. at the The Col onial Theatre

Next We Have Some Posters For The 1981 Film's Release

Next Up Are The Posters For 2009's 3D Remake

DVD Box Art . . .

The Crappy Box Art for it's first BareBones DVD release :|

And the much better Special Edition ArtWork!

Beside the better Artwork, This is the one to own, it has scenes restored that were cut by the MPAA back in 81

Now here are two shirts from Fright-Rags, one that is in their GraveYard that needs to be voted for to be bought back to life and the other is on for sale today! (2/14/12)

Fright Rags' Graveyard ( Vote Here )

One Day Only Special Shirt!

For More Info Go HERE

Well there you have it. Remember to follow Harry's Warning and stay away from any Valentine Day Parties ;)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Vintage Print Advertisements (Week #3)

2012-02-13T20:17:00.003-05:00

Oh Yeah . . . Dig It!

P.S. I bet Red Roster did the JOB that Night!

Last week I promised some old toy ads for this edition of V.P.A. and while I found some really good ones, I didn't think it was enough for a full post (not just yet). So while I'm still working on that idea I went ahead and scanned these vintage ads from a March 1990 TV Guide for you guys!

I found this about a week ago in mint condition! It was a great blast from the past, and I totally remember some of these shows like it was yesterday. The others I can't figure out how they ever made it to the air!

I Would kill for a show like this today!

Anyone remember this Robert Englund hosted show?

A family with both Robert Mitchum and Juliette Lewis as members = Scariest Family On The Block!

Proof that TBS didn't always suck!

I use to watch these "Specials" in the hope something would go wrong, lol.

Bye ALF, It's been real!

I got nothing here . . .

I need to see this movie like Yesterday!

Ever hear of these shows? Me neither!

Nice try, but you sir are no Ponyboy Curtis!

I use to have the biggest crush on this girl. Check out the 1990 Movie "Lisa" if you have never seen it.

Totally Underrated.

If it means I don't have to worry about seeing "Beaches" I'd say this is a pro HBO ad!

Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed this substitute to the toy ads idea. I'm going to try my hardest to have that together next time around :)

-Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

All American Sleaze . . .

2012-02-12T21:06:00.005-05:00

When the Shit Movie Fest Parties first started happening there really wasn't any rhyme or reason to them. It was pretty much a free-for-all of what ever Bad Movies we could think up that people would enjoy watching and drink some beers to, but we also had to make sure they wouldn't want to punch us in the face by the time the night was over! It wasn't until Last Year (1/22/11 to be exact) that we hosted the first SMF that had an actual theme! Before there was "SpaderFest" , "A Night Of Tom Atkins" or even the ever so popular "Mystery Shit-MovieFest", There was . . .

"All American Sleaze" was a collection of the all around Sleaziest Movies ever put on celluloid. We picked 4 movies made between the Late 70s and Early 80s and each did their job at making everyone feel extra dirty by the end of the night! The choices were "Vice Squad", Hardcore", "Fight For Your Life", and "The Exterminator". Chris Gormley went ahead and made poster for the first 3 movies.Something him and his fiancé Christine have been doing ever since . . .

There has been many SMF Parties since, but "All American Sleaze" is really the one I attribute to getting the ball rolling and making these parties more into a Monthly Event. Something that I look forward to planing and being part of! On March 4, 2012 were are going ahead with a second instalment being dubbed "All American Sleaze Vol. 2" and we plan to dig even Deeper Into The Cesspool Of American Sleaze this time around . . .

So as of right now the line up is still being determined. The only movie so far that I am dead set on playing on that day is "Savage Streets" staring Linda Blair!

So please feel free to recommend or offer up your opinions on what we should feature in the comments section or on the SMF FaceBook Page! I'm looking for some gritty Grindhouse Sleaze or something you remember leaving a bad taste in your mouth back in the day!
And if I know you and you're interested in stopping by on the 4th, shoot me a text or message via Facebook and I'll add you to the Invite List :)

-Tom Bryce
-http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

SMF's Tub of Terrible Toys (Vol. 2)

2012-02-11T10:55:00.002-05:00

I'm posting this one a little head of schedule. Since I've been suffering from horrible sinus headaches the last couple of days, I figured I would post something that I was already done writing and call it a day.

As I mentioned in Volume 1 of SMF's Tub of Terrible Toys, not everything covered will be complete shit. These toys just weren't as popular as the main toy lines out around the same time (G.I. Joe, He-Man, T.M.N.T., etc)

First up we have a Kids Meal toy from Burger King.

This toy used to give me nightmares as a kid. Why would anyone want to eat something that has a face on it? And second, why does the Tender have a smile on his face? You're about to be eaten! Run! It all just creeps me out.

Do you know that McDonald's Nuggets Post that's been making the rounds on Facebook?

Still not as frightening as the Tender Toy was when I was a kid!

Moving along . . .

Next up we have the very awesome Mad Scientist and Dissect-an-Alien toy!

I remember having a few different playsets from this line, but this one was my favorite. Opening up the poor Alien and taking out his Organs was fun for the whole family!

Next we have toys from the Super Mario Brothers: The Movie line!

Confession Time: I used to take my Hooper figure and pretend "Luigi" was Keanu Reeves and reenact scenes from the movie "Speed" . . . Anything to forget how crappy the Super Mario Movie was!

They should have just did a cartoon movie and stuck with this guy!

Now these figures were part of my favorite toy line ever . . .

That being the "Real" Ghostbusters!

The Mummy and Frank come from the line where Kenner put their own spin on the "Universal Monsters".

This post right ( HERE ) has a nice rundown of the line, I used to have all of them but haven't a clue where they went off to :( BTW I added a pic of Louis Tully for good measure :)

And finally our last toy of the day isn't so much a toy, but a extravagantly stereotypical Mexican named Pedro!

Pedro is the mascot for "South of the Border". If you have traveled I-95 South towards Florida no doubt you've seen him on a billboard a few times. I had this "toy" since around 1986. I'm not sure how or why but I just do, lol.

We there you have it. That wraps up another edition of SMF's Tub of Terrible Toys!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Vintage Print Advertisements (Week #2) - Video Game Extravaganza Edition

2012-02-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Thank you for all the feedback from last week's Vintage Print Advertisements feature. In case you missed that one you can view it HERE. Anyway, I'm back this week with an All Video Game Edition.

The following ads are all from either the late 80s or early 90s, and were found in the pages of my old comic books and wrestling magazines:

Bill and Ted on NES . . . Excellent! And Game Boy Too . . . Not Bogus?

One of the all time best! I bought this on Xbox Live a couple years ago and it still holds up!

I'll still take the Pond Scum Thank You Very Much!

I had this and didn't really care for it to be honest. Nowhere near as good as the X-Men arcade game that was out around the same time.

"Streets of Rage" was a pretty good beat'em up. I liked part 2 a lot better though.

This game was so ahead of it's time! I want "Smash TV" right now!

Tiger games were always pretty bad imo. I never played this one though so I can't say for sure.

This series was pretty much on it's last leg at this point, but the live action movie was the final nail in its coffin!

A True Classic and the introduction of an icon!

The only Sega CD game that I ever played was "Sewer Sharks" because they use to have it at Block Buster Video on display. I remember a friend having "Night Trap", but there really wasn't much you could do with that one . . . So horrible!

And last but not least, who could forget the Game Genie? This was the only way I was able to play hard as shit games like Castlevania when I was 7.

Well that is all for the Video Game Edition of SMF's Vintage Print Ads. Next week I think I'm going to round up some toy ads to showcase!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

SMF's Tub of Terrible Toys (Vol. 1)

2012-02-06T21:39:00.000-05:00

For all the great toys lines to come out of the 80s and 90s there were just as many equality bad ones. I have TUBS of old toys in my storage room and that got me thinking, why not post some of the more obscure toys that I bought back in day (for one reason or another) on the blog?

These toys are just taking up space along side some of my most played with figures (back in day) which were T.M.N.T., G,I. Joes, and the Marvel and DC Super Heros. The terrible toys next to them are Karate Fighters, Freaks on Skate Boards, and generic dollar store wrestlers. Just to be clear, not all of the toys I'm going to showcase in this new weekly feature are going to suck out right. They just weren't as popular as the others from that same time period. Well, let's see if you remember any of these figures from 'Shit Movie Fest's Island of Misfit Toys'!

Our first toys were called "Slammers" and were made around 1990. Not much info is online about these guys, but I do remember having about six of them, with one resembling Joe Camel.

I only came across 2 guys for this post but 3 skateboards, go figure. Each guy has a stigmata type hole on his hands and feet so he can ride his skateboard upside down, if you choose.

Next up are the American Gladiators. Yes, American Gladiators had toys in 1991 and I had 4!

You couldn't really do much with the toys unless you bought the extra ones they put out to help you recreate the competitions and games that were on the TV show.

Like the Giant Hamster Ball!

Here are two toys that were part of a line called Karate Fighters. They were the 90s version of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots.

There was about 20 different fighters, each with a different base. It didn't really matter which one you used. No figure gave you any sort of advantage.

I'll let Jerry "The King" Lawler and Tito Santana show you how's it done.

Ok, here is a game with WWF's Sunny playing against a little person!

Now, it's generic dollar store wrestling time!

We have "NotHulkHoganBrother", Guy With An Eye Patch, a Thumb Wrestler who in no way is Hulk Hogan and a PVC Warrior!

And our last toy for today is a Caveman from 1988's Playskool Definitely Dinosaurs .

I think we found Homer Simpson's ancestor!

Who could ever forget this theme song?

I had tons of these when I was 5, but this girls stole them all off me . . .

True Story!

I hope you enjoyed another looks at some random 80s and 90s shit. I'll have more up next Monday!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

SMF's first time meeting (Uncle) Lloyd Kaufman . . .

2012-02-06T00:06:00.001-05:00

A few days ago I made a post HERE about how I first discovered The Toxic Avenger. Today I want to share a short story about the time Chris and I first met Toxie's creator Lloyd Kaufman.

About 10 years ago "Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV" was making a city to city tour. The film was being showcased in small independently operated theaters around the East Coast. We found out that Philly made the cut and our plans to see Blade 2 that weekend got pushed aside!

The place chosen for the Philadelphia premiere was The Roxy Theater. I have only been to the Roxy a few times in my life, but let me say that it's the closest thing our city has left to a "Grindhouse" experience . . . Well, there is also The Forum, but that place only screens porn! Needless to say, a Troma Movie at the Roxy was a match made in Trash Cinema Heaven!

There were two showtimes that night with Lloyd Kaufman attending both in person. Chris was working during the first show so we had to see the later, which worked out perfectly for us since as soon as we got there we spotted Lloyd in the lobby drinking a coffee. Chris and I talked it up with The Man for a good half-hour, in my eyes this was better then meeting Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese. This was Lloyd Fucking Kaufman the head of Troma Studios and we were in the same room with him! Lloyd told us all about the many different projects he had in the works (none of which came to be) and how they were getting ready to release Toxic Avenger III on DVD. Being the idiot that I am, I told Lloyd that I didn't particularly care for part 3, but that I loved part 1 and thought 2 was OK. Without skipping a beat Lloyd said, "Yeah 3 was shit, but you're going to Love 4!" . . . God I love Lloyd, he's the ultimate businessman.

Lloyd excused himself because he had to say a few words after the end of the first screening. Since we had some time to kill Chris and I headed over to the CVS to buy a disposable camera (man the days before camera phones were BEAT). We wanted to grab some photos with the guys dressed like Toxie and Sgt. Kabukiman and maybe even one with Lloyd himself!

After the viewing of The Toxic Avenger IV, which I did end up loving (See, Lloyd was right!), we made our way back to the lobby where there was a lot of Troma action going on. Chris and I got our pics with Lloyd, Kabuk, and also with a Mopless Toxie. As you can imagine this was all very surreal. Not only did we get to chat with Lloyd earlier, but he graciously posed for pics too!

It's crazy, all of that was ten years ago and I remember that night like it was yesterday. The Roxy is still the go to place for all Troma premieres in our city. Just a few years ago we saw Poultrygeist there. Sadly, without an appearance by Kaufman that time around. I didn't meet him again until I went to the Chiller Horror Con in Spring 2011 in Jersey and at least this time they were able to afford a mop for poor Melvin!

Lloyd is a friendly dude and he will always have a life long fan in me. Between him making special appearances like the one in Philly 10 years ago or still showing up on the convention circuit, it shows what a standup guy Lloyd is and someone who doesn't take any of their success for granted. Sure he is there to make some cash, but he also takes the time to talk to everybody that comes to his table. And he doesn't charge for signatures or only pose for a photo if you buy a Troma DVD, something I more than likely would do anyway!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Something Wicked (Magazine) This Way Comes . . .

2012-02-05T00:00:00.003-05:00

Here is a long defunct horror magazine that gets little to no love. It is pretty much forgotten by people I talk to. The magazine's name was "Wicked" and it was a spinoff/sister magazine to Cinescape (who is also no longer in the game).

Wicked was first published in 1999 and since I wasn't aware of Rue Morgue yet Wicked served as a nice alternative to Fangoria. The first issue featured a cover story on "Scream 3". There was also a different cover featuring Johnny Depp and Sleepy Hollow. Inside there was an article on USA's criminally underrated TV show "G vs. E" and a list of the '50 Greatest Horror Movies Of All Time' (N.O.T.L.D. took the #1 Spot). At 82 pages Wicked was a well put together product and still is (I just reread it for this blog post).

Issue #1

The next issue had an exclusive set visit for the film "Jason X". I remember reading that issue and getting super excited for the movie, only to wait an additional 2 years for the film to finally come out!

I think Jason X was worth the wait. I actually love "Jason In Space" very much.

The covers to the other 4 issue that I have:

I am not sure if there was any issues after those 4, but I did a google search on "Wicked Magazine" and there doesn't seem to be much information out there. Like I said, this magazine is all but forgotten, which is a shame because it was a pretty damn good read and should have had a bigger audience. The book really reminds me of what Rue Morgue has become today. There was a lot of articles covering every aspect of Horror . . . Movies, Books, Games, Music, Etc.

Also there were some good recurring features, like a monthly rant from Bruce Campbell:

After the magazine stopped showing up on shelves Cinescape gave it one more go at trying to capitalize on the horror market by releasing this 'A-Z Guide to Halloween Horror' which was actually pretty good and worth hunting down on Ebay.

I leave you with this, the subscription ordering forum to the very short lived Wicked.

I wonder what you got in return when it was shit-canned? More than likely Cinescape's official Buffy or X-Files Magazine, lol

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

The 10 Best Sports Related Deaths In Movie History!

2012-02-04T21:23:00.010-05:00

In honor of Super Bowl Sunday (aka the most watched sporting event in America) I compiled a list of the 10 Best Sports Related Deaths and Kills In Movie History! Now this may be a very loose interpretation of what counts as a sports related kill, but for a scene to have made the cut I narrowed it down to these two requirements:

1) It takes place at a sporting event.
2) It involves sports equipment in the death

OK, on 3 break. 1 - 2 - 3 BREAK!

010: Not Another Teen Movie / Marty's Game Winning Death!

In an funny spoof of 1986's "Lucas" staring Corey Haim, "Marty" gets his big moment to shine by catching the game winning Touchdown . . . Only problem is he gets ripped in half as a result.

009: Arachnophobia / Spider in the Helmet

Todd Miller's death is attributed to a football injury, guess nobody saw that Spider go into his helmet. Watch the video from 3:28 on, unless you want to see a bunch a guys in their underwear!

008: Friday The 13th (Remake) / Jason Uses A Bow & Arrow

Man, Jason has great aim. Headshot!

007: Graduation Day / Every Single Kill!

From the mattress bed of spikes to the football arrow, every kill in this movie is a WINNER!

006: Friday The 13th 6 / Jason's Paint Ball Kill Spree

Jason makes another appearance on the list. This time annihilating an entire paintball squad!

005: Final Destination 5 / Candice's Gymnastics Death

This whole scene had me on the edge of my seat and the payoff is huge. Someone call 911, lol.

004: Rocky 4 / Apollo Creed vs Ivan Drago (Death by Steroids injected Russian Boxing Gloves)

This death is responsible for one of my all time favorite movie lines, "If he dies, he dies."

003: Naked Gun / Baseball Bloopers Montage

One the funniest scenes ever. The tiger on the field gets me every time!

002: The Last Boy Scout / Billy Cole Makes It Into The Endzone!

I'll never forget the first time I saw The Last Boy Scout, an amazing scene and powerful acting by Billy "Tae Bo" Blanks.

001: Deadly Friend / Ma Fratelli get a Basketball tossed at her head!

How can this NOT be #1? One of the greatest horror movie kills ever. It's too bad the rest of the movie is shit.

Extra Points:

The Sawyer Family Vs. A Entire Football Team in the Texas Chainsaw Massace 2

Since it was a Deleted Scene it's only a Extra Point, but it leaves the question how was this cut from the movie?!?

Escape From L.A.

Snake Plissken Knows How To Shoot A Basket!

And one more Boxing Related Death!

Killer Klowns From Outer Space's "Knock My Block Off" Scene . . .

Well, I hope everybody enjoys the Big Game tomorrow and please be safe :)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

How I found out the difference between a 'Toxic Crusader' and a 'Toxic Avenger'

2012-02-04T13:30:00.002-05:00

This will be the first in a series of posts about my life long love of all things Troma. Since it is the first I guess it would be wise to establish how that love affair began. Back in the early 90s there was nothing more shocking to me than finding out my lovable Toxic Crusaders cartoon and toys were actually based off a balls to wall horror movie named The Toxic Avenger. Up until to that point I was clueless about all things Tromaville. I just enjoyed the cartoon immensely and was thrilled that the toys were the same size as my Ninja Turtle figures. Toxie and Major Disaster had many adventures with the 4 Turtles fighting Shredder and Dr. Killemoff.

The first time I ever saw the "Avenger" name attached to the end of Toxic and not "Crusaders" came courtesy of Marvel Comics. Right around the time of the cartoon a comic named "The Toxic Avenger" started appearing at my local comic book shop. I remember getting the first two issues along with the TMNT and Spiderman books I was reading at the time. The guy at the book store filled me in on Toxie, him being from a movie before a kid's cartoon. Just like that my young mind was blown. Next time I went to the video store with my next door neighbor/childhood friend I asked his Mom if she would rent the video for us. She was one of those "Cool Moms". Not only did she rent the first movie, but she also got us the second! After that day I was no longer a little boy. No, I became a Man . . . ok I was still some years from that, but at least you could say I was a full fledged citizen of Tromavile and I never looked back. To his day it still boggles my mind how Lloyd Kaufman was able to make a deal with Marvel Comics and get a children's cartoon made out of such an X-rated product. Then again, that is why Uncle Lloyd is an EVIL FUCKING GENIUS and businessman extraordinaire.

Here are some of my oldest collected items of the man they call Toxie! I'll start off with the Marvel Comics. that came out in 1990/1991:

Here is a pic of the 11 Issue Run :)

The issue that changed me into a "Avenger" Fan

Issue #2

Issue #3, The first nonArt cover used during it's small run!

Issue #4

Issue #5

Issue #6

Issue #7

Issue #8

Issue #9 . . . The Rap Issue!

Bust A Move Toxie!

Issue #10

Issue #11 . . . The Final Comic

End Of An Era!

The actual VHS videos from where I first met the true Toxie and Class of Nuke 'Em High 1 & 2!

I got these tapes from an old West Cost Video when they went belly up. I have T.T.A. 1, but it's sitting on my desk at work so, it wasn't able to be in today's post. This is stuff I would never part with. It doesn't matter that I own the Toxic Avenger Box Set on DVD. VHS was the format that I first came to enjoy Troma Films!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this Tromamatic blog posting. Next time around I'll share the story of when Chris Gormley and I first meet Uncle Lloyd!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

This SMF Post Will Give You "Goosebumps"!

2012-02-03T00:12:00.003-05:00

Since I began to write a lot of 80s and 90s nostalgia posts on the blog I knew there was one subject that I could not skip while I'm still in my "Blasts From The Pasts" mindset. That subject is none other than one of the biggest book crazes of all time...R.L. Stine's Goosebumps!

My love affair with R.L. Stine's Goosebumps started around the time I was in the 5th grade. I was already a fan of horror by the age of 11, but up to that point the only books I read where Dr. Seuss's "Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?" and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Official Motion Picture Sticker Book. Wait, does that last one count?

A couple of times a year my grade school would host a book fair down in the school's gymnasium. One was held at the start of the school year and the other was towards the end. My Mom would always give me about ten dollars and insist that I don'tt come home with any more dragon book markers!

Yes, I have had this very bookmarker since '94!

I remember checking out each table and not finding anything I liked until I reached a book that had a photo of four skeletons taking part in a BBQ. The title was "Say Cheese And Die" and it was part of something called "Goosebumps"!

I bought the book and since we were allowed to read what we bought for the rest of the school day I was almost finished by the time I got home. My Mom wasn't totally pleased about my book choice, but the fact that I was reading and excited about a book counted for something. I remember finishing the book by the end of the next day and wanted to read more.

During that summer I asked my Dad to take me to Waldenbooks (remember that place?) every couple of weeks. It was there that I would always find a few more books by this R.L. Stine guy. Books about plant monsters, a cursed mummy, and a living dummy accompanied me on my family road trip to Florida. I also remember getting books from his Fear Street line, but didn't I really care for them except for the book "Sun Burn".

After that summer I began the 6th grade and had a pretty strict English teacher. She wasn't just a teacher, she was also a NUN! Her name was Sister Michelle and she didn't take too kindly to me or any of the other students in her class reading the books that were quickly gaining popularity in her class!

Sister Michelle on the Top Left Row, Ok now see if you can spot me . . . .

Give up? I am in the second row and the second from the right. I was a Student Council Officer that year so hence the badge on my tie, lol

Anyway, Sister BitchFace wanted us to read "Maniac Magee" not something called "Monster Blood". She even forbade us from ordering Goosebumps directly from the Scholastic Book Club Forum that the school would provide us each month But it was all good because by that time I found out that for a mere $2.63 every month I could head to Kmart and get the new books much faster and get issues that I missed out on (from their first printing).

I haven't even gotten to the worse of it! Our local Pizza Hut ran a reading program that rewarded you a free pizza at the end of every month if you read up to four books. Of course GooseBumps didn't count as a book in Sister Michelle's eyes and it was up to her to give us the reward coupons. Many times me and my fellow students would miss out on a FREE PIZZA! What A Total BitchFace! Where was I? Oh, after thAT year of Hell I made into the 7th grade, by that time the popularity of the books were on the decline, but it was then that I found somebody who cared about the books just as much as I did; my good friend still to this day Louanne!

Me, Lou, and Bam in LA (2010)

Lou and I would trade the books back and forth, discuss at long lengths our favorite stories, and anticipated the upcoming TV show that was coming to FOX!

That was a fun time to be a fan of the series! By the 8th grade we both kind of stopped caring. I didn't worry if I missed a new book. By the time you read about 50 of them the twist endings were almost never a surprise and the ideas were getting shitter and shitter. I would only get the current one if I really thought it would be enjoyable, I had every book from #1 to 50 then called it quits, no longer was I card carrying member of the Goosebumps Fan Club or would use my official Goosebumps flashlight to read at night. But hey, it was a good run!

I knew I wanted do a Goosebumps post sometime this week and I knew I still had the books in a box in the basement. And against Mr. Stine's better wishes I went down the basement and got that box!

Look even my cat Dexter is now a fan.

The fact that I still had these books at all put a huge smile on my face to say the least. I can't tell you how fun it is to page through them. This was my tweens in a nutshell. The covers still get a chuckle out of me, with their band puns. The artwork still holds up thankfully since they were part of the reason I bought them in the first place.

In the box with the 50 or so regular books I found a couple "Give Yourself Goosebumps" books that were pretty much a spin on those "choose your own adventure" games.

But the oddest thing I found was without a doubt these two books (below). I remember a lot of Mad Magazine and Cracked parodies back in the 90s but for the life of me I can not remember buying "Gooflumps" by "R.U. Slime"! I have two of these books and both are spoofs on real titles, "Eat Cheese And Barf" being a take on "Say Cheese And Die" and "Stay Out of The Bathroom" Being a match for "Stay Out Of The Basement!

Both covers go out of their way to make sure they are not affiliated with Stine, but both look 100% like the real deal!

Now those are two books I can agree with Sister Michelle on banning!

Well there you have it. I hope you liked reading this retrospective on Gooflumps . . . I mean Goosebumps as much as I had writing it. This really did bring back so many fond childhood memories and I think a rereading of some of these classics is long over due!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

ACK ACK ACK: The Art and Toys of Mars Attacks!

2012-02-02T20:23:00.003-05:00

2012 marks the 50th Anniversary of the most mean spirited creation known to man. The 1962 Topps science fiction trading cards...Mars Attacks!

The full set can be viewed at retroCRUSH, but here are some of the most goretastic:

It's hard to believe that these cards came out in the early 60s. I don't think it would be possible to market such a thing to children now. Fox News would have a field day with this shit.

Most of us wouldn't have seen or heard of Mars Attacks if it wasn't for Tim Burton's movie of the same name!

Fresh off making Ed Wood (a true gateway for me getting into cheesy B movies) Burton made it his mission to capture the feel of a 60s drive-in sci-fi movie and succeeded in almost every way. Even if that idea went over the general public's head, the movie bombed big time at the box office. I think they were expecting the film to be in the same vein as ID:4. I always loved the fact that Burton was able to convince so many A-listers such as Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, and Michael J. Fox to do this movie along with cult actors such as Pam Grier and Jim Brown! The casting was a stroke of genius. The only person that could have made things better would have been Christopher Walken!

I loved everything about the movie Mars Attacks when I was a kid, from the dead stuffed cat to the cameo by Tom Jones. Although, there really wasn't any movie merchandise except for a small toy line that was limited to only a few figures. At least they did one for the Martian Spy Girl played by Lisa Marie!

There was some regained interest in the cards after the movie was made. So, Topps went ahead and made a new comic book series based off the cards as a tie in to the movie. I don't know how many books were made, but here are the issues I have. I wish I could say that the stories and artwork inside were as half as good as these covers.

The special mail away issue, from Wizard Magazine.

The Certificate of Authenticity it came with, lol

Issue #1

Issue #2, featuring inter-species rape

Issue #3, Martians . . . They Taste Like Chicken!

Issue #4, poor little green guys :(

Issue #5, did Notre Dame really give them permission for this?

Issue #7, guess I never owned #6

A baseball special? . . . Let that sink in for a second.

In this game human heads are used for the balls and plates!

Now, there has been some Mars Attacks Model Sets and Busts over the years, but all of those are pretty pricey! One thing that I have seen pop up online, that I will hopefully get at the horror cons next month is this:

It's a Mars Attacks! Martian Pop Vinyl Figure. The company has put out many different horror/sci-fi related ones in the past, but this is my favorite!

To help celebrate the franchise's 50th anniversary Topps has partnered with a variety of companies for a merchandising campaign that will include comic books (via IDW Publishing), bobble heads and vinyl dolls (Funko), action figures and plush (Mezco Toyz), costumes (Incogneato), statues and busts (Quarantine Studio), electronics skins (Gelaskins) and a hardcover commemorative book (Abrams Books). Topps will also be issuing a special 50th Anniversary card set. It has been announced via the official Mars Attacks facebook page that the IDW comic book will launch an all-new Mars Attack universe with plans to expand into other mediums.

I hope you enjoyed this post. If you did don't worry, you're not a sick fuck. You are just a little ACK! ACK! ACK! before seeing someone ray-gunned to death!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

The Recesses of Rural Pennsylvania: St Martha's Manor

2012-02-01T14:40:00.003-05:00

St Martha's Manor is a nursing home owned by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia located in Downingtown, PA (home of Victory Brewing). Most people don't realize that behind the property, which sits on a major road, are acres of land. Half of this land has been reclaimed by the woods and the other half has become a beautiful clearing with rolling hills. Between these two areas rests the original St Martha's Manor. Built in the 1800s the original manor was one of the Archdiocese's first retirement homes.

The old property consists of the manor, a building that appears to be a chapel and a barn. The manor is still in excellent shape, but the other two are in ruins. Below are pictures that I took while scouting the area for old hidden homes. Check out the first 'Recesses' post for the details on the project (HERE).

Enjoy.

Approaching the 'Chapel' and Barn

The Barn. The overgrowth is almost complete.

The elements have not been kind

Possibly a Chapel or maybe Staff Quarters?

The Manor, still in good shape on the outside, but who knows what kind of Horror Show lies behind those boarded windows...

Back of the Manor. Walking around back and you can see it has an extension that is not visible from the front.

View from the back of the Manor. Beyond the trees are rolling hills and beyond that...Mount Doom.

A Downed Tree. I have no evidence that a Shoggoth uprooted this tree in an horrific struggle against an Old One, but I have no evidence disproving it either.

The Road out. Just as creepy as it was coming in. You can see the New St Martha's Manor on the bottom right of the shot.

Stay tuned for the third installment.

The End

Chris_Gormley

Vintage Print Advertisements (Week #1)

2012-02-01T00:00:00.004-05:00

So, I have been thinking up different ideas for weekly features here on the blog and I think I came up with one you guys will like and will be pretty easy for me to pull off.

Once a week I'm going to scan and post some Old School Print Ads from my collection of 70s & 80s magazines. The advertisements will come from old comic books, horror mags, wrestling or any other entertainment magazines that I still happen to possess. This weeks edition comes from a few late 80s Fangorias and also some early to mid-90s WWF & WCW mags. Ok here we go!

Did you hear the news? The WWF is now on AOL!

A World Wrestling Federation Travel Club Member Or a Guy Who's Never Been Laid Before In His Life. You Make The Call . . .

Is This Ad From 1991 or 2012? Amazing That Even Back Then These Same Guys Were On The Horror Con Circuit!

Gremlins 2 The Game! Is there a way I can play this right now?

Pretty Cool Masks from the 80s

"U Can't Touch This!"

Nor Would I Want Too!

I'd proudly rock any one of these 80s Tees! Something tells me they would rip apart easier than a Hulk Hogan Shirt though!

Did Eric's Revenge really make it to the theaters?

Don't get me wrong it's a fun movie, but I thought it went straight to video.

I would still rather do this than rewatch Terminator 4 again!

This game rocked, best wrestling game made until the N64 came along!

Chris G. This one's for you!

Ok that wraps up the first installment of this new feature. I hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past as much as I did.

I got a good amount of old magazines to use and this will give me another reason to page through them again!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Jason vs. Leatherface (The 3 Part Comic Book)

2012-01-31T19:16:00.004-05:00

In 1995 Topps Comics released a three-issue miniseries that featured a battle for the ages between Jason & Leatherface. It was a non-canonical crossover between both the Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchises, but plays so well the story could have made for an awesome fucking movie!

The series premise involves accidentally placing Jason Voorhees, the main antagonist of Friday the 13th, on a train headed for a dumping ground in Mexico when Crystal Lake is drained of radioactive waste by a company. Running amok on the train, Jason kills its crew and causes the vehicle to crash in Texas, where he meets and befriends Leatherface and his inbred family (consisting of Cook, Hitchhiker, Grandpa and several other original relatives, all of them dead). After he lives with the family for a day relations between them and Jason ultimately sour due to a series of misunderstandings, which results in Leatherface and Jason battling. In the end the Hitchhiker apparently kills Jason with a sledgehammer and the family dumps him in a nearby lake. But Jason rises several hours later and decides to begin trekking back "home" to Camp Crystal Lake, away from the place that encouraged dangerous thoughts like friendship!

There were many different comics I purchased back in the day, but nothing ever beat this crossover. Watching Jason interact and kill with the Sawyer family is fucking hilarious. Its one of the best "Fish Out Of Water" stories I have ever read. I scanned the cover art from the 3 issues and some of my favorite panels.

Great Cover to Issue #1, even though neither Jason or Leatherface look like that inside

Issue #2 has Jason Sitting At The Head Of The Table

This is a very clever homage to the Norman Rockwell Painting "Freedom From Want".

How Metal Is This Picture? Jason should start a band just so he can use this for the first Album's Cover Art!

Ok, Now On To The Pages Inside!

"Jason Has His Hate To Keep Him Warm"

Come on Jason couldn't you just have booted him or something, total Overkill!

Here you dropped something.

Incase you were wondering Jason isn't a total Tard, he does know how to spell his own name afterall!

This room must make Jason feel right at home, after all he kept his Mom's head in a shack for years!

I wouldn't take Leatherface for a fan of "Iron Man" or reading for that matter!

Sir you just done FUCKED UP!

After an Brutal Fight between Jason and the Sawyer Family Jason decides he's over being part of a family and takes "The Long Way Home" all the way back to Vermont. That's only about a 2000 Miles Walk, but that should be nothing for Jason since we all know he's the Fastest Man Alive . . . Or is that just when he's chasing some Big Titty Blonde in the Woods?

A full set of this Epic Encounter Runs Anywhere between $60 - 100 on EBAY, but if you see it for cheaper grab that shit cause this really is a must own for any Slasher Fan!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

My 25 Favorite Fango Covers

2012-01-30T23:00:00.006-05:00

Long before there were horror websites and blogs, the #1 source of news for us like-minded horror junkies was (mostly) magazines and in it's heyday nobody did it better than FANGORIA!

My pile of Fangoria :)

I began my love affair with Fangoria back in the early 90s. The barbershop I used to get my hair cut at always had them lying around along with copies of Rolling Stone, National Geographic, and Playboy. I remember so many issues of Fango from that time period. Whenever it wasn't featuring whatever god awful Stephen King movie that was soon to come out (Post "It"/Pre Shawshank) Fangoria would have so much gold in their issues!

Fangoria was my first exposure to many of the movies I still cherish to this day! Thanks to Fango I always knew when a new Puppet Master movie was in the works, knew to beg my friend's Dad to take us to see "Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight", and developed my first horror nerd crush, Mindy Clark (courtesy of her appearing as her "Return of the Living Dead 3" character Julie Walker on a cover!) Also, I would always take note of The Video Eye of Dr. Cyclops' movie recommendations for my next trip to the video store. I just wished my family was rich enough to own a laserdisc player, but I learned to familiarize myself with names like Savini, Romero, Argento, and Fulci!

It wasn't until about 1997 when I finally had a little of my own spending money (thanks to a dangerous paper route) that I was able to afford buying the magazine myself. I remember my very first issue had the underrated sci-fi classic Starship Troopers as the cover story. I bought issues here and there for the next year, but it wasn't till issue #171, with the teaser of George Romero possibility directing a "Resident Evil" movie, that I haven't missed a single issue.

That was almost 14 Years Ago! In those years I have also managed to track down some of my favorite issues from my childhood and pick up ones that were way before my time at Horror Conventions (or off of Ebay). Fangoria has been losing a lot of steam in recent years with the stiff competition on the news stands coming from what me and many others consider to be better magazines, "Rue Morgue" and "HorrorHound". Also, they have to compete with the 1000s of horror related websites out there. I sadly won't be surprised to hear the news of Fangoria's demise in the next few years. It has already happened to countless wrestling and video game mags that I used to read in my teens. Print has gone the way of the Dinosaurs! There is always hope; in the last year Fangoria has been focusing more on interviews with legendary horror icons and classic film retrospectives and less on direct to video crap and 'tween shit.

Since I have been in 'Nostalgic Mood' lately (hence this post) I decided to look back on my collection and post picks of the '25 Best Fangoria Covers'. All of these have been scanned from my private collection. If I don't own the issue I won't include the cover. Covers such as Jack from the Shining or American Werewolf in London would have no doubt cracked my top ten list if I owned them.

Anywho, I hope you dig it and please leave comments here or on the SMF FaceBook page with some of your favorite issues and covers. Depending on the response I may do a 'Worst of' or maybe the 'Best of Rue Morgue Covers' in the future. For now here are my favorites Fangos:

025: Issue #77 Nightmare On Elm Street 4

Great Freddy Cover, with the best kill from the Blob Remake and Elvira's Awesome Rack on the Lefthand Side!

024: Issue #257 Feast

Look at that face, how can you not want to see this movie?

023: Issue #105 Body Parts

Only recently picked up this issue at a Horror Con, reason being because I love this movie!

022: Issue #102 Dolly Dearest

Just a cover I like because it makes you say hey "I love Chucky, so who's this Bitch?"

021: Issue #247 The Fog (Remake)

What a great looking cover for one of the worse movies I ever seen!

020: Issue #224 Cabin Fever

I love Fango best when it showcases Gore and this cover of Eli Roth's first hit is greatness!

019: Issue #231 Hellboy

A fine look at everybody's favorite Boy From Hell . . .

018: Issue #245 The Devil's Rejects

Now that's some BadAss Rejects

017: Issue # Black Swan

Yes it's pretty much just the main poster art, but it's still so striking you can't help but to want to know more!

016: Issue # Nightmare 3

Freddy, Savi, and House! What more can you ask for?

015: Issue # Evil Dead 2

Classic Cover for one of Best Horror Films Ever!

014: Issue #271 DoomsDay

I only thought the movie "Doomsday" was so-so, but that's one hell of a Gruesome cover!

013: Issue #227 Kill Bill

A Crazy 88 on the cover of Fango, Pretty Sweet!

012: Issue #279 The Unborn

Never actually seen this movie, but that doesn't make the cover any less awesome.

011: Issue #26 The Hunger

One the most Underrated Vampire Movies got it's due in this old school issue.

010: Issue #261 GrindHouse

It's covers like this that made me stick with Fango after all these years!

009: Issue # Phantasm 2

Booooooyyyyy!

008: Issue #238 Seed of Chucky

Even Chucky's a fan of Fangoria!

007: Issue #171 George Romero / Resident Evil

The Issue made start to shell out my own money!

006: Issue #174 The Beyond

If the Small Soldiers Picture wasn't on the side this may have been #1 on my list!

005: Issue #127 Return of the Living Dead 3

One of the first issues I remember reading, I got this signed by Mindy last year!

004: Issue #1 Godzilla

The one that started it all, got this back in the 90s for $20 in Mint Condition!

003: Issue #95 Total Recall

Get Your Ass To Mars!

002: Issue # Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Nancy and Freddy

Dream Warriors is my Favorite Slasher Film and I consider this photo to be so Iconic. When I meet Heather for the first time I needed to get this badboy signed!

001: Issue #9 Motel Hell

This was always the issue I always wanted to own and finally got my hands on it at Chiller this past October!

Well there it is, my Top 25. There are still a lot of back issues I am looking for. Hopefully I will come across them at Monster Mania in March :)

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest

Looking Back at "The Gate & The Gate 2: The Trespassers"

2012-01-30T18:57:00.006-05:00

I have been a fan of horror movies roughly my whole life. Today, I take a look back at one of the earliest films responsible for me falling in love with the genre . . .

1987's The Gate.

With a remake by Alex Winter still in the works I wanted to take a look back at the two original films.

The first Gate is one of those movies you would always find playing non-stop on cable TV back in the late 80s. The Gate wasn't really scary and since the movie was rated PG-13 my Mom really didn't give me shit for watching it, just as long as it didn't conflict with her seeing that day's The Young & The Restless or Sally Jessy Raphael. There are many memorable scenes throughout the movie and Stephen Dorff (Glen) and Louis Tripp (Terry) were very relatable. They were just like the kids in your neighborhood that you would get into stupid shit with. Now, granted there was no hole to Hell in my hood . . . but you get the point.

In the past ten years I have revisited the movie a few times and I still manage to love it. I know most of it hasn't aged well, but The Gate will always hold a special place in my heart. The scenes where Terry thinks he is dancing with his Mom (only to find out it is a dead dog) and the construction worker in the wall are my two favorite creepy parts in movie history.

Another thing that has always impressed me about the movie was the stop motion animation of the little Demons and Giant Demons at the end of the film. Sure there has been a million better looking monsters over the years, but this was all pretty cutting edge shit for the time it came out!

Demons and Fireworks . . . when you're 7 there really isn't anything cooler!

I didn't see the 1990 sequel until I was about 15 or so and I never really cared for it. Even though it was nice to see Terry once again (being even more awkward then before if that's even possible), but without Dorff in the film the whole thing just didn't feel right. All of the magic from the first movie was missing. I often wonder would I have felt the same thing about the first Gate if I had seen it during my cynical teen phase and not when I was 7. Just one of those things to ponder for sure.

Here are some posters and other miscellaneous pics from both movies. Please feel free to leave your input or feed back on these two movies in the comment section below :)

This was a clay model actually used in the movie that I found last fall at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire! How and why it got there remain a mystery, but I know I had to snap a pic of it as soon as it caught my eye!

The front and back covers of my Gate VHS tape. This thing has been through the ringer. I picked this tape up from my local Mom n' Pop Video Store whent they went under. It was only fitting since I rented it more times than any other customer!

Even though I was not a big fan of the sequel I still picked it up so it would alway be with it's VHS brother (God I'm a Dork!). The movie was released by "Moon Light Video" in their dying days.

An Old School Gate Poster, from the size of it I'm guessing it's from the UK

Poster by Phantom City Creative, from a recent Screening

Poster by Lil' Tuffy for an Alamo Drafthouse Screening

The Crappy Re-release DVD artwork, meh.

And finally, here is Fright Rags Gate Shirt that is sadly No Longer In Stock . . .

But you can change that by voting it out of the GraveYard right here. . .

http://www.fright-rags.com/graveyard-c-26.html

Well hope you enjoyed my look back at The Gate, a movie that in many ways acted as a Gateway into my introduction of Horror!

- Tom Bryce

http://www.facebook.com/ShitMovieFest