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6/23/12
2/28/12
Father's Day
A Queer Horror Fan Says Thank You
So Troma's / Astron-6's Father's Day has been the topic of much debate tonight over on Facebook and while I won't get into some of the arguments made for and against it, I do wanna impart a wee bit of sincerity here. Years ago, one of the masters of our genre, Clive Barker, said that he would no longer pursue any cinematic endeavors until Hollywood got over its homophobia. By that, all Barker has been striving for was the option of creating a horror film with a leading gay character. It wasn't to be about him being gay mind you, he just was, end of story. Hollywood's reasoning of course was that unless they were acknowledging the gay factor in every scene, audiences wouldn't accept a gay character who just was (oh I dunno, like it was normal and everyday or something). As a gay film fan, I've been so over films beating me over the head with the gay shit for a decade now. I know that film has the ability to educate and enlighten and for those reasons the occasional story about queerness has it's place. However, as someone who happens to be gay yet is not defined by being gay, I want to see something a bit more close to the truth, something a bit more honest. Where is my gay hit man, action hero, super villain, scream queen or any number of other film defined characteristics? Nowhere in sight. Sadly us queers are still regulated to the stereotypical role of queen / gal pal. This is 2012 now right? Someone shoot me.
Adam Brooks as Ahab. Just look at that badassery.
Which brings me to Father's Day. As a gay horror film fan, I can't express how much something so small has meant to me as Father's Day being inclusive of us homos....without making a big deal about it. Though there are leading gay characters in the film, I do not view Father's Day as a queer film, which is the point (and arguably what Mr. Barker has strived for). It is a grade A horror / exploitation / grindhouse throwback with gay characters, incidentally. The simmering homophobia that lurks under the surface in some reviewer's write ups about the movie is staggering. You'd think it was wall to wall cock and balls orchestrated by Chi Chi Larue if you were to listen to some of those asshats. It's not. The leading man is straight. There is more female nudity than male (yet 20 seconds of male genitalia is enough to send some nerds screaming back to their parents basement in order to denounce the film as a whole online....something tells me if you aren't mature enough to handle nudity of any stripe, you aren't mature enough to watching Troma's admittedly immature antics). One supporting player is questionable and finally another is in fact gay. But it isn't a big deal. It's neither a crutch or a crux that the film rests itself on. That queer character, though flawed, is ultimately as heroic and honorable as any of the movie's other monster fighters (an eclectic group comprised of a ex-con drifter, a priest and a stripper) and fits right in with the film's lead character who is unquestionably modeled after stoic, brawn, manly men (the antithesis of someone who would accept a fey thing named Twink fighting by his side, but accept him he does). It might not be a queer film per se, but strike a mighty blow it does for equality in the horror genre (it's s shame that in 2012 this is still something that I feel needs singled out and praised, but there it is nonetheless ladies and gentlemen...we still have a long road to hoe). Maybe Father's Day and its attendant echo of inclusiveness won't be heard by everyone, but I certainly heard it. And for this I would like to thank every one at Astron-6 (the Canadian production company behind Father's Day); Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Matt Kennedy, Conor Sweeney and Steven Kostanski. Thanks to Troma Films and Lloyd Kaufman for taking a chance with this film and giving it a generous push and granting it distribution. Thank you guys first and foremost for making an asskicking, rude, anarchic, gory, fun horror film and thank you again for being a voice for gays and lesbians in horror films (whether you intended to or not) by making us gratifyingly....incidental. Either way, you would have had me at "Lock up your fathers." Now how about that sequel?
To visit Astron-6, you may do so by clicking here.
To visit the film's official site to discover what cities it will be playing and when, simply click here.
So Troma's / Astron-6's Father's Day has been the topic of much debate tonight over on Facebook and while I won't get into some of the arguments made for and against it, I do wanna impart a wee bit of sincerity here. Years ago, one of the masters of our genre, Clive Barker, said that he would no longer pursue any cinematic endeavors until Hollywood got over its homophobia. By that, all Barker has been striving for was the option of creating a horror film with a leading gay character. It wasn't to be about him being gay mind you, he just was, end of story. Hollywood's reasoning of course was that unless they were acknowledging the gay factor in every scene, audiences wouldn't accept a gay character who just was (oh I dunno, like it was normal and everyday or something). As a gay film fan, I've been so over films beating me over the head with the gay shit for a decade now. I know that film has the ability to educate and enlighten and for those reasons the occasional story about queerness has it's place. However, as someone who happens to be gay yet is not defined by being gay, I want to see something a bit more close to the truth, something a bit more honest. Where is my gay hit man, action hero, super villain, scream queen or any number of other film defined characteristics? Nowhere in sight. Sadly us queers are still regulated to the stereotypical role of queen / gal pal. This is 2012 now right? Someone shoot me.
Adam Brooks as Ahab. Just look at that badassery.Which brings me to Father's Day. As a gay horror film fan, I can't express how much something so small has meant to me as Father's Day being inclusive of us homos....without making a big deal about it. Though there are leading gay characters in the film, I do not view Father's Day as a queer film, which is the point (and arguably what Mr. Barker has strived for). It is a grade A horror / exploitation / grindhouse throwback with gay characters, incidentally. The simmering homophobia that lurks under the surface in some reviewer's write ups about the movie is staggering. You'd think it was wall to wall cock and balls orchestrated by Chi Chi Larue if you were to listen to some of those asshats. It's not. The leading man is straight. There is more female nudity than male (yet 20 seconds of male genitalia is enough to send some nerds screaming back to their parents basement in order to denounce the film as a whole online....something tells me if you aren't mature enough to handle nudity of any stripe, you aren't mature enough to watching Troma's admittedly immature antics). One supporting player is questionable and finally another is in fact gay. But it isn't a big deal. It's neither a crutch or a crux that the film rests itself on. That queer character, though flawed, is ultimately as heroic and honorable as any of the movie's other monster fighters (an eclectic group comprised of a ex-con drifter, a priest and a stripper) and fits right in with the film's lead character who is unquestionably modeled after stoic, brawn, manly men (the antithesis of someone who would accept a fey thing named Twink fighting by his side, but accept him he does). It might not be a queer film per se, but strike a mighty blow it does for equality in the horror genre (it's s shame that in 2012 this is still something that I feel needs singled out and praised, but there it is nonetheless ladies and gentlemen...we still have a long road to hoe). Maybe Father's Day and its attendant echo of inclusiveness won't be heard by everyone, but I certainly heard it. And for this I would like to thank every one at Astron-6 (the Canadian production company behind Father's Day); Adam Brooks, Jeremy Gillespie, Matt Kennedy, Conor Sweeney and Steven Kostanski. Thanks to Troma Films and Lloyd Kaufman for taking a chance with this film and giving it a generous push and granting it distribution. Thank you guys first and foremost for making an asskicking, rude, anarchic, gory, fun horror film and thank you again for being a voice for gays and lesbians in horror films (whether you intended to or not) by making us gratifyingly....incidental. Either way, you would have had me at "Lock up your fathers." Now how about that sequel?
To visit Astron-6, you may do so by clicking here.
To visit the film's official site to discover what cities it will be playing and when, simply click here.
12/4/11
All The Colors Of The Dark
From the Comic Vaults
Originally presented in the 1974 issue of Creepy #59
Originally presented in the 1974 issue of Creepy #59
Season's Greetings
Well we went from Halloween straight on into Christmas here at the October Country, taking our longest break ever throughout the month of November and the later half of October. So, an apology is an order for all our faithful readers that were expecting us to continue with our Halloween countdown. I'm sorry. Perhaps no one was more disappointed that we didn't see it through till the end than I, considering that I had been gearing up for it for the better part of six months. Even with that sort of preparation, there remained one unavoidable fly in the ointment that could (and did) swoop in to fuck it all up: my rather vexing anxiety / panic disorder. Looking back now, I wonder to myself how I could possibly conceive that it be possible that I spend an average of 5 or more hours a day on the countdown when my little handicap has made it so I can't even sit still, or think straight, or breath for the majority of my day. I can only hope that I have better luck next year pulling it off.So here we are at December now and I have to ask myself if I'm making another one of my "We're back....again" declarations and the answer would be no, sadly. Unfortunately your host has fallen on some incredibly dark days due to, you guessed it, his anxiety disorder and it is currently troublesome enough that I just do not have the physical or emotional capabilities, to keep up with the site the way that I'd like to. So for now, slow and steady wins the race I guess. We'll be rolling out things when I have good, stable days. Nothing gargantuan is in the works until things are bit more back on track around here. Sorry to disappoint dear readers, but you're continued support and sojourns into our little corner of the web means the world to us. Really. Okay, enough personal claptrap, onwards we go.
10/16/11
It's Halloween, Everyone's Entitled To One Good Scare.
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: "I have a feeling that you're way off on this."
Dr. Sam Loomis: "You have the wrong feeling."
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: "You're not doing very much to prove me wrong!"
Dr. Sam Loomis: "What more do you need?"
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: "Well, it's going to take a lot more than fancy talk to keep me up all night crawling around these bushes."
Dr. Sam Loomis: "I- I- I watched him for fifteen years, sitting in a room, staring at a wall, not seeing the wall, looking past the wall - looking at this night, inhumanly patient, waiting for some secret, silent alarm to trigger him off. Death has come to your little town, Sheriff. Now you can either ignore it, or you can help me to stop it."
Sheriff Leigh Brackett: "More fancy talk."
All The Colors Of The Dark
From The Comic Vaults
While not explicitly a Halloween yarn, the story's celebration of "witchery week" sounds an awful lot like Halloween if ever anything did.
Originally presented in the May 1954 issue of Web of Evil #14.
While not explicitly a Halloween yarn, the story's celebration of "witchery week" sounds an awful lot like Halloween if ever anything did.
Originally presented in the May 1954 issue of Web of Evil #14.
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