Movie Review: STUDIO 666...

Earlier today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch Studio 666—the campy horror flick created by and starring the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl.

I've been a huge fan of the Foo Fighters for over 15 years, so I was curious to see how members Rami Jaffee, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear and Grohl would portray themselves in this movie. I didn't expect Oscar-caliber performances by these Grammy Award-winning musicians; I just wanted to see how gnarly their (SPOILER ALERT) death scenes were going to be in this flick!

Needless to say, Studio 666 didn't disappoint in being as gruesome as possible in depicting the demonic demise of one of my favorite rock bands. And if there was ever a song that actually lasted for 40+ minutes, chances are it would probably be featured on KLOS 95.5 FM here in Los Angeles. That radio station, which is one of my favorites, plays lots of 1980s classic rock songs that seemingly go on forever...

Along with the Foo Fighters, Studio 666 also stars Whitney Cummings, Will Forte, Jeff Garlin, Leslie Grossman and Jenna Ortega...who doesn't seem to mind being typecast as the injured girl who's crawling along the kitchen floor about to be whacked by the main killer at the beginning of a horror film. (Watch the latest Scream movie.) That is all.

THE BROKEN TABLE Update: The Haunted House FearFest is Less than Four Weeks Away!

Happy Twosday, everyone! Just thought I'd mention that my short film The Broken Table will begin showing at the Haunted House FearFest (HHFF) in the United Kingdom 24 days from now!

As mentioned in this earlier entry, tickets are now available to purchase for HHFF's online screening program—which will run from March 18 to 27. Check out my previous post for more info!

The Broken Table is an Award Nominee at HHFF, which is a huge honor! Even if it doesn't receive any more accolades at this exciting event, I'm just happy that other people around the world will have the opportunity to watch the short psychological thriller that my amazing cast and crew brought to life almost three years ago.

Have a nice day...and buy passes for HHFF now!

The 94th Annual Academy Award Nominations...

Here are some notes on today's announcement:

- As mentioned in my review for the film last month, Nightmare Alley rightfully received a nomination for Best Cinematography. It is also up for Best Picture, Production Design and Costume Design.

- Dune: Part One is up for 10 awards: Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Visual Effects and Original Score.

- Free Guy, No Time to Die, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Spider-Man: No Way Home are all up for Best Visual Effects...though it will most likely be Dune that wins the award.

- Billie Eilish received a Best Original Song nomination for No Time to Die. Adele's Skyfall is still my favorite Bond song.

- Licorice Pizza is up for Best Picture...which means I just might finally watch it since all of those radio and TV commercials for this movie didn't convince me to do so.

- I still watch the classic sitcom I Love Lucy on TV, so I just might see Being the Ricardos since Javier Bardem (who plays Desi Arnaz) and Nicole Kidman (who portrays Lucille Ball) are up for Best Actor and Actress, respectively.

- I might also watch West Side Story (even though I never viewed the 1961 original) since Steven Spielberg is nominated for Best Director... We'll see.

Click here for the full list of Academy Award nominations. Happy Tuesday!

Images of the Day: Ghostface Artwork #2...

As promised in this entry from earlier this week, I worked on a second illustration of Ghostface from Scream and finished it yesterday! I nearly used up three black Crayola markers for the background of this drawing...and then utilized Adobe Photoshop to adjust the brightness and contrast afterwards. That is why my final image looks much crisper than how it appears on a sheet of paper (shown at the very bottom of this entry).



So which other horror movie villains should I draw next? Michael Myers from Halloween? Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre? The psycho with the baby mask (above) from the two Happy Death Day films? That last one sounds intriguing!
Click on this image to enlarge

THE BROKEN TABLE Will Be Screened at the Haunted House FearFest Next Month!

Here are some updates regarding next month's screening of The Broken Table at the Haunted House FearFest! The event takes place in the UK's West Yorkshire from March 18 to 27.

PREVIEW SHOW FULL URL:

https://xerb.tv/channel/hauntedhousefearfest/virtual-events/2952

XERB DOWNLOADABLE PROGRAM HERE:

https://www.hauntedhousefearfest.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/HHFF-Program-2022.pdf

TICKET PRICES:

12 SESSIONS – $36$
6 SESSIONS – $24$
Plus a 3 For 2 – $12

TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE HERE:

https://xerb.tv/channel/hauntedhousefearfest/virtual-events

MERCHANDISE:

If you fancy, there are some horribly delicious merchandise in the form of Official Selection - Beer & Fear - Logo & Poster T-shirts at TEEPUBLIC

https://www.teepublic.com/user/haunted-house-fearfest

I hope that you partake in the festival and enjoy the screenings next month! Happy Friday.

Images of the Day: How My Drawing of Ghostface Came to be...

Happy 2-2-22! Just thought I'd share these work-in-progress photos that I took of the Ghostface artwork I drew last weekend. As mentioned in my previous entry, I plan on drawing a second illustration of the Scream movies' iconic villain...though I probably won't start on it till this weekend or most likely next week.

Stay tuned!
Click on the image to enlarge

Artwork of the Day: Ghostface in Crayola...

Just thought I'd end this month with this artwork I drew of Ghostface over the past weekend. I intend on creating one more illustration of this classic movie villain sometime this week, but in the meantime, enjoy this artwork in all of its hand-drawn glory...courtesy of a mechanical pencil, a DuraPoint fine-tip pen and Crayola markers.

And read my review of the newest Scream movie here. Happy Monday!

On This Day in 2002: Remembering BLACK HAWK DOWN...

20 years ago today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch Black Hawk Down...director Ridley Scott's intense movie about the 1993 raid that U.S. special forces conducted in Mogadishu, Somalia, to apprehend a group of Somali warlords.

Known as the Battle of Mogadishu, this military operation resulted in the deaths of 19 American soldiers, the capture of a U.S. serviceman and the downing of two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters by enemy-launched rocket-propelled grenades. It was this operation—despite it being a technical victory since the targeted warlords were successfully captured—that led to the United States withdrawing from Somalia less than one year after starting what was supposed to be a humanitarian and peacekeeping mission in that wartorn and famine-ridden country.

Black Hawk Down was an intense movie from start to finish—with Ridley Scott conveying riveting action sequences using the narrow camera shutter-angle technique that he employed so well in the Oscar-winning epic Gladiator less than two years earlier.

Not only was Black Hawk Down such a well-crafted war film, but it unsurprisingly employed an amazing music score by composer Hans Zimmer as well. The most-memorable track from that score is Leave No Man Behind...which is featured in the YouTube video embedded below. That track is so engrossing that I used it for the Cinematography Project which I shot during film school at Cal State Long Beach in 2002!

Ridley Scott can do no wrong...even though I never watched his recent flick, House of Gucci. Happy Tuesday.

Movie Review: SCREAM...

Earlier today, I went to my local AMC theater to watch Scream, the latest installment in the hit slasher film franchise that began with the original Scream movie 25 years ago.

I never saw the four previous flicks, but I didn't need to...as I watched this new film just to see how brutal Ghostface was compared to other masked cinematic killers like Michael Myers from Halloween, Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th and even the psychotic college student wearing a baby mask in 2017's Happy Death Day. And needless to say, Ghostface did not disappoint!

I'm not going to go into the mythology of this series since I'm unfamiliar with the overarching storyline between all five movies, but I will say that Scream had an exciting young cast in which it was pretty difficult to discern which character (or characters?) was ultimately the knife-welding maniac with a black cloak, the game-show-host voice, and the Halloween ghost mask.

Apparently, what made the first Scream so successful in 1996 was its satirical take on horror flicks—with the new Scream film continuing this tradition by poking fun at so-called "requels"...movies that are a combination of reboots and sequels. Unsurprisingly, references to actual requels were made in Scream; with one of the main characters mentioning the new Halloween movies that were released in 2018 and last year, respectively, this past November's Ghostbusters: Afterlife and of course, the Star Wars sequel trilogy.

Scream also made me think of the now-concluded Supernatural TV series with its climax...during which the main villain(s) yammer on about their master plan to the captive protagonists before the villain(s) prepare to vanquish them with a knife. Supernatural was known for its villains giving bombastic speeches instead of immediately dispatching monster hunters Sam and Dean Winchester so that all the evil creatures in that universe could finally breathe freely.

Despite the villain(s) not knowing when to shut up and just get rid of the heroes already, I give Scream two thumbs-up. The brutality of Ghostface ensured that this movie would be a top-notch slasher flick that presumably lived up to the spirit of its four predecessors.

Like The Matrix: Resurrections, however, it remains to be seen if Scream was just a final and proper sendoff for the legacy characters who appeared in the previous movies...or this flick will support one of the characters' critique in that this franchise will continue indefinitely since "Hollywood is out of ideas."

We shall see!

Another Selection for THE BROKEN TABLE!

I just found out via email today that The Broken Table is a Semi-Finalist at the Phoenix Shorts Film Festival! This amazing event usually takes place at the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in Ontario, Canada—with the actual screening originally scheduled for January 25.

Unfortunately, the Ontario government has put in place new COVID-19 restrictions (which were active since January 5) in response to the Omicron variant...and will last till at least January 26.

It should be on January 26 when I find out if The Broken Table was upgraded to an Award Winner! It'll be cool if it is...but I'm already happy that my short film is considered a finalist.

There are still 27 other festivals that I need to hear from! Happy Thursday.


"Jennifer said hi."