Movie Night at the Rec Hall -- Oculus

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

This week we stared into the abysmal unending corridors of reflected horror with the haunted mirror story to take on all haunted mirror stories: Oculus. Known for the classic take-double take scares that mirrors have provided in horror cinema over the past 4, maybe 5 decades that mirrors have been in movies, I was somewhat skeptical of the scares that Oculus would provide. Although there are quite a few of those present in this film I was pleasantly surprised by how the rules of this particular haunted mirror were laid out and felt the movie did a good job balancing scares with reality. One pleasing feature was that the mirror cursed, possessed or otherwise, could not physically hurt you in any way, shape or form. The quirky thing about this mirror was that it has a funny way of distorting the affected persons vision and thoughts eventually driving them crazy. Although you may see or hear some bizarre things the reality may be that it is not actually there.

The real Oculus which will steal Men's Souls as they immerse themselves into the MMORPG's of the future

The premise of the film is interesting enough. Two young children grow up in a house that goes all amityville horror story on them. Their parents are killed in a bizarre fashion and the youngest son gets locked away at the tender age of ten and undergoes extensive therapy and treatment until his 21^st birthday when he is released and deemed mentally competent to realize the circumstance of his families past are not the fault of some screwy ghost mirror. He gets out just in time to meet up with his older sister, who just so happens had been obsessed with tracking the ghost mirror down and has decided it would be best if the two of them return it to their old family home and exonerate their family name. One, because the mirror must be stopped but mostly because she’s tired of having to live with the stigma of being born into a family of psychopaths for her teenage years. It was worse than wearing braces.

This provides one of the films interesting juxtapositions. The sister is intent on helping her brother remember the truth. The brother is desperately fighting for his newly acquired sanity and is afraid he will fall into relapse. When things start to get weird the audience can be convinced that this must be the work of Satan’s looking glass, but could it be possible that the trauma of the past events had truly driven them crazy? Well the audience has to decide that.

Cameras can be deceptive too. I wouldn't lie to you, Dave.

The movie does a wonderful job explaining how certain haunting events are occurring, and the use of cameras and technology help to clarify what is real and what isn’t, but by the end of the movie nothing is really certain. If you were to hallucinate and start seeing things that weren’t there isn’t it conceivable that looking into a digital camera that seems to give the all clear could also be part of the hallucination? I don’t know and you won’t either, but Oculus is one entertaining ride.

Another feature to note that I thought would bomb out, but was well played, was the telling of the two stories simultaneously. I had mentioned earlier that this Brother/Sister combo had traumatic experiences when they were young, but this is not completely revealed to us in its entirety. While they seek the answers of their youth as adults, the movie will seamlessly cut to a flashback of their younger years. Normally this back and forth flashback business plays off as a little bit of moviemaker misdirection to get cheap thrills, but it doesn’t feel forced in Oculus. At one point the two stories nearly merge into one giving a wonderful sense of finality to the movie, which I enjoyed.

Fractured Mirror Monsters are not to be trifled with

The whole movie in my opinion is an allegory on the perils of drug usage, and reminds people why they should never take ten hits of LSD and stare into a mirror for too long. You need to be a lvl18 wizard before you can attempt that, and Oculus is here to remind a new generation of this. Check it out, but for the love of God, do not watch the movie while it is being reflected into a mirror, not even your iphone can save your soul then.

Movie Night at the Rec Hall – Chemical Peel

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

This week at Horror Camp we had the pleasure of viewing the Movie ‘Chemical Peel’ released to video earlier this month. And I have to say it has been a while since I have seen a horror movie that had so well boiled down the genre to just the essentials. No over the top killers, no paranormal activity, no need for pursuits, this movie has none of that. Just a house full of panic-stricken women trapped together in excess of 48 hours without a man in sight to calm them.

You'll never make it through the night, bitch!

It sounds horrible, and I certainly would have never watched the movie if I had known what it was about. But don’t kid yourself; Chemical Peel is the equivalent of a Lifetime Original movie with all the gross out gore you can stomach. I know that sounds terrible in and of itself, but the backstabbing the catfights, the crying! Oh the sweet crying! It’s all there and it terrific!

That's caged heat, boyo!

The premise is simple. A group of girlfriends get together to celebrate their friend’s bachelorette party at a secluded house in the outskirts of their old home town.  An unfortunate accident releases a noxious gas that blankets their valley overnight, and the women are trapped in the house with no one to save them but themselves! Fear quickly pervades the household as hope of rescue dwindles with the passing hours, and half baked theories are thought up ranging from terrorist attacks to engineered government super viruses, even a reference to a contagious Ebola outbreak! Any, if not all, of these theories being simultaneously true.

One thing is certain, that gas is no joke. Caught directly in it and you only last for a matter of minutes, and it is slowly seeping into the house making these poor women look all the more unpretty every time they tear up. Which is almost constantly. But the real killer isn’t the gas it’s DRAMA, and there is plenty of that abound. The movie is a real nailbiter, and the head bitch in charge is Such a BITCH, OMG!

Always be prepared for your Sun family outing!

To be fair these women have a reasonable amount of things to be worried about and handle themselves well. If the situation were reversed and a group of fraternity men were stuck in that house they would get themselves killed much faster trying to one up each other and play hero. To their credit, the women in Chemical Peel actually do go from ripping into each other to helping each other. Like most people they are just caught wholly unprepared for a scenario as severe as the one they found themselves in, and quite reasonably start to freak out.

I'm supose to be getting married tomorrow!

This is why I like Chemical Peel as much as I do. Being a participant of a Horror Movie you always have this edge. As viewer you can say, “You shouldn’t do this, or don’t do that”, but the viewer always has the comfort of being in a relatively calm state and watching the movie from a secure location. Modern Horror is combating this stance by playing up an old concept. Let them be sensible, a person or group of persons who can evaluate a situation and make a plan of attack in confronting their fears. This isn’t new but the approach takes some of the terror edge of the pursuit away from the overall feeling of the movie.

This can be annoying.

 It’s a nice sentiment and a step in the right direction for some pictures. I just feel like you end up losing some of the enjoyment of some flicks because in the end, you want to feel superior to the characters on the screen. You want to have the ability to say, “That would never happen to me because I would never let my fears overcome me” Even though the reality of the situation is you probably would. Chemical Peel reminded me of that, and I recommend watching it with a loved one or close girlfriend with some red wine and some popcorn. 

Enjoy!

Movie Night at the Rec Hall

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

This week at Horror Camp we start off the October Scream season with a lesser known flick from the Queen of Screams, Jamie Lee Curtis in Terror Train. Terror Train is an inventive horror movie with a twist on its theme that makes for a real unconventional thriller. The movie itself is a story about a fraternity prank gone awry and the subsequent revenge of the victimized character as he methodically stalks and picks off those who have wronged him years later. The basic premise to this particular movie isn’t particularly unique to the 80’s but it’s the differences that make the film stand out.

The location of these tragic events takes place, as the title suggests, on a train. But not just any train a small train rented to private parties, in this case a group of aspiring medical students celebrating a masquerade new year’s party to decompress from the stress of their studies before making their way into, what one would assume, a promising post college career in medicine.

Dude, Oakford medical only offered me $512,000 annual salary, cheap assholes!

This makes for an extremely difficult premise. Our jaded killer has to navigate narrow train cars undetected and dispose of his victims in ways that no one else would notice. Or in the case of the movie when noticed continue on his killing spree with an aware group of people on the lookout for him. The movie presents a unique and brilliant solution. When the killer kills someone he can don their costume and move undetected through the party, unbeknownst to his next victim.

Now we have a killer whose identity is suspected by those who realize who he is, but they have no way of knowing which party goer is the killer. This leads to a unique who-dun-it. Could the killer be the kindly coal-hand who works his job on a nothing train outfit for the love of shoveling coal on a classic train, could it be the aloof but highly talented magician hired to perform for a bunch of hard case college drunks, or could it be Jamie Lee Curtis herself suffering from some guilt-induced nervous breakdown for her role in tricking and mentally destroying a nerdy albeit shy young man, who could only dare to love her, and be caught up in a malicious but psychotically scarring frat trick. Probably not the last one, but the results lead to many intense moments where the killer becomes intimately close to his victims before finally striking, donning a new but terrifying mask before killing his intended victims.

It was the train under that mask all along! AAIIEE!!

The killings themselves are kinda pedestrian actually. Some occurring with no explanation at all, what, how and when did that happen, I don’t know, whatever. But the killings themselves didn’t really sell me on the movie. To tell the truth it was the character driven story, and final chase, reveal, and finality of the movie that I found extremely rewarding. Nothing over the top just decent acting. I had actually got sold on the fact that the jerks who were going to be killed were actually scared human beings, and I found myself empathizing with both the killer and the victims. For me the movie is both tragic and fulfilling at the same time.

Alternate foreign market art for Terror Train

So let’s spend a little time on the cast. You have the experienced conductor with dreams of leaving the biz to one day invest in the RV industry. He’s fatherly and sensible, and knows enough not to freak out at the sight of a dead body. These kids could either be messing with him, or at the very least bring financial ruin to his business. My take is this guy is grace under pressure, and when he tells those little shits “Yes there’s a killer on the train, No we cannot find him, and Yes you are getting back on the train because we are in the middle of nowhere and you will freeze to death if you stay here” convinced me he wasn’t some doddering old fool who was getting kids killed, but the calm voice of reason.

You have the magician played by a young David Copperfield, and Oh boy was that a treat to witness. Dark, mysterious, the eyebrows he had it all. The passion for his magic tricks *ahem * illusions, very striking. He was riffing and scatting all over them smart ass frat boys with an ever present smile on his face, as he made card after card appear and disappear before my delighted eyes. I can only assume he had simultaneously made every panty melt for every sorority sister on that train.

The dedication. I can't look away.

Much to the Chagrin of Frat boy Prank master Doc, who undoubtedly is the biggest asshole in the world. The control freak of the group, he sets a lot of these events in motion. You know he’s going to get his at some point in this flick, but he legitimately gets driven insane and starts shrieking violently as the train turns against him, as though he were the boy who cried wolf at his hour of need only to be laughed at himself by his fellow partygoers. The finality in his voice as he accepts the cruel fate that his own machinations wrought, Ohhh that's classic horror cinema boys and girls.

Welcome to the party!

Last of all ,of course, the stars of the film Jamie Lee Curtis and the killer who stalks her. Let’s just say Jamie Lee lives up to her screen cred. She's coy yet defiant dressed in her half pirate costume. Her pants say she’s ready for action but the sash accentuates her sexuality just like a good girl horror movie heroine should be. She's obviously in terror as the very people who are closest to her are taken away one at a time. Not afraid to scream and run when it’s necessary until it’s just her and her assailant, but if she is backed into a corner she is prepared to defend herself and not fall to pieces. The very end of the movie is the big reveal. We see Jamie Lee with her Killer unmasked and prepared to confront her, and it’s strikingly intimate. Rather than beg and bargain her way out she makes peace with the situation in the only way that could of possibly saved her, and when the killer is finally disposed of the movie ends, not necessarily with a bang, just it’s over. The terror is done. It’s strangely fitting and on the whole I liked it. No fluff. No explanations. Just the end. It works.

So on the whole I thoroughly liked this movie and I’d recommend it to anyone who is interested. Terror Train is legit. So until next week’s movie which is still yet to be determined, check out terror train or some other Jamie Lee Horror flick and let me know what you think. Until then stay warm around the Horror Campfire, and don’t catch cold.

Camp Announcements

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

With the advent of 2014, we bring to a close our inaugural season here at Horror Camp. The site will be open again and resume regularly scheduled features starting again at our season opener, tentatively scheduled for May. Until then check back periodically to review some of the highlights from our last season, and be on the lookout as Horror Camp will be hosting occasional workshops, and weekend retreats before the May Season opener.

Once again I'd like to thank everyone who lent your support to the site, by following and checking out the features we have to offer. And I'd like to thank anyone who came to check out the site once, even if you'll never return again it was great that you took the plunge to see what Horror Camp is about. It's been a great and wonderful experience sharing some of our favorite horrific moments around the Horror Camp-Fire, and I hope to see everyone again during season 2.

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Inspired by yesterday's post, Tiger Attack! I sought out an image of a monster that could tame a tiger. That monster being the self-made immigrant turned millionaire Tony Montoya. Tony dreams of riches and power, and due to hard work and never compromising his ideals he succeeded in realizing his dreams. Not only did he manage to tame a pet tiger to roam the grounds of his palacial estate, but he even managed to tame that she-tiger, Michelle Pfeiffer and make her his wife.

Here we see Tony in that now classic seen in the finale of  DePalma's Scarface where he confides in his only friend left, Snorty the Blowman the cocaine snowman. This happens shortly after he kills his best friend, but before he wastes his sister, which is moments before he is overrun by Columbian assassins.

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

Contributed by Luke Merrill

Tiger Attack!

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Today's Snowman was inspired by a very special Christmas special of Dr. Who which aired last year. Although only being introduced to the adventures of the Doctor for the first time, and being confoundedly lost as to who the reoccuring characters are, how a time traveler ends up in an 1800's version of London that has killer snowmen, and what the hell a tardis is, I was impressed by the design of these menacing snowmen. 

The Dr. Who snowmen were all completly CGI rendered, so they were a little bit more expressive when it came to fangs and menacing glares, but I think this recreation effectivelly catches the look, and is a faithful reproduction of the cult shows highly advertised 2012 special.

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Image taken from Epidemic Fun's collection of bizzare snowmen

Day 5. No explanation needed. 

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Image by flickr user mpburrows

And now presenting for your approval, your daily dose of snowman horror here at Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown. And an actual snowman for a change. A classic scene from the well loved Gulliver's Travels, which isn't a horror novel by any means. Although the prospect of watching the Jack Black movielization (or God forbid, made for television Ted Danson version) is a terrifying concept to me personally, but then again that's just me.

It does strike me that if the creator lopped off one of the twigs and replaced it with a metal gauntlet (and gave him a little more chin) it would cease to be a Gulliver's Travels homage and would become an Army of Darkness (of Evil Dead fame) scene. Army of Darkness director Sam Raimi lovingly ripped off this scene for his own movie and used it as a vessel to create Evil Ash. Evil Ash being created as a result of Bruce Campbell being tied down and forced to swallow one of his miniature deadite counterparts that spawned from a shattered mirror. He always had bad luck with mirrors.

As a matter of fact, when I look closer at this picture it looks like that little one on the chest might take a plunge down the old scream canyon himself. I hope the big guy has a shotgun ready. Klaatu Verata ..... Nickel? 

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Alright I've dilly-dallied long enough. I should've started off the countdown with the obvious inspiration for all modern contemporary grotesque snowmen with the master himself, Bill Watterson. Watterson infiltrated a generation of impressionable little children day after day with his 4 panel tribute to childhood creativity and deviance, Calvin and Hobbes. Never had I been so determined to read the newspaper as a child only to read that one corner of the comics section where Calvin and Hobbes resided.

For myself winter was the most exciting time to read the comic. Every season would feature an insane sledding expedition, epic snowball fights, and of course grotesque snowmen. Watterson personally shattered my preconceptions of what snowmen should be like, and without him I would never have been prone to venture out to make snowmen today. How it came to be that decapitated, mutilated and freakish snow creatures could be featured in a mainstream periodical in the early 90's boggles my mind, but it worked and the world is better off for it.

Watterson so impacted the medium of art and comics that many artists still tribute Watterson with creative homages to their favorite Calvin and Hobbes scenes. I've included a few below.

Bill Amend's Foxtrot 

Marvel's Wolverine gets a slice of the action (that tagline is used way too often)

DC/Vertigo's Death from the Sandman series

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Snowman

With 10 days left until Christmas we release our second in a collection of grotesque, demented, or just bizarre snowmen. Today's snowman was stumbled upon on Liana Bortolozzo's Blog post regarding artist, Tony Tassert. Some of Tassert's work caught my eye by using iconic horror imagery and tweaking it slightly to express angst or irony or something artsy, symbolic, and/or meaningful. Of course art mixed with horror is a double edged sword which is simultaneously redeeming and destroying the genre, but for myself the appeal to horror is that in not taking it seriously you are often surprised when something substantial and thought-provoking is presented.

This Sculpture aptly named "Snowman" is described by Bortolozzo as "underlying something slightly rundown, rotton and sticky, and a little bit sad." Tassert's comments on the piece were as follows: "Could I take something that's so banal, so quoted, that everybody has kind of made, and could I treat it like a Giacommetti? Could I give it that pathos and existential angst?" Typical artist fare. An artist creates something commonplace in an attempt to destroy it in the minds of their viewers or provoke a reaction. Kinda has that Warhol ring to it, the sort of art where you look at it and say well I could of done that, except for the simple fact you didn't do it, and you didn't think to do it, so poo on you.

Anywho, on reflection of the piece I think Tassert does an excellent job, he expertly created something which looks like it had been eroded by nature for weeks and he conveys expression with minimal materials for maximum effect. It looks as though a piece of art that you would just stumble across naturally outdoors through time and exposure to the elements, not a carefully crafted piece built from the ground up. If I look at this long enough I can almost envision the artistic process in deciding just the right placement of materials and angles to give the final effect. 

So naturally this isn't a real snowman, considering there isn't a single snowflake in the entire sculpture, but come back soon we're saving the real snowmen for closer to Christmas. Until then enjoy the winter weather, and feel free to share any of your own bizarre snowmen with us here at horror camp.

Horror Camp's Xmas Countdown

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

With the arrival of Christmas around the corner, and the expectant torrential downpour of snow just beginning to arrive. We at Horror Camp want to ring in the season by sharing some of the most demented and terrifying collections of freakish snowmen that the season has to offer. Everyday until Christmas we will be sharing a new picture of some of the most grotesque snowmen that have ever been created.

Today's image of snowman horror is courtesy of weird tales magazine, and provides a snapshot of a potential post-apocalyptic future where space snowmen invade earth, and subjugate the populace with their laser-spewing charcoal eyes. In terms of post-apocalyptic credibility, I would say that the world-conquering laser-eyed extraterrestrial snowmen scenario is just as credible (in terms of  "can this happen in real life") as the ensuing zombie apocalypse that everyone is gearing up for. Considering zombies suffer a disadvantage of not being able to attack with projectiles, this snowman threat should be taken a little more seriously.

 So consider that when you are constructing  your survival bunker. If you are preparing for the eventuality of a zombie apocalypse don't write off the snowmen, it will be the last mistake you ever make.

Movie Night at the Rec Hall -- ThanksKilling

Contributed by Luke Merrill:

ThanksKilling

With the close of the month and the annual gorging of animal flesh followed by the ritual sacrifice of your wallet which is demanded by the event know as Black Friday, we can finally finish off our November Camp-A-Thon. In the spirit of the holidays, we close off Camp-A-Thon by watching a holiday themed horror film. This is not such an easy task. There are numerous films celebrating Halloween, Christmas, and even Valentine's Day. Unfortunately the cornucopia of Thanksgiving horror films that are both celebratory of the holiday and comedic is sparse indeed. Fortunately, this was recognized some years ago and a low-budget masterpiece was created in order to capitalize the untapped potential of this holiday. This week at Horror Camp, we are watching one of the few thanksgiving horror films, ThanksKilling.

ThanksKilling is the tale of 5 college students returning home for Thanksgiving break, only to be hunted down and slaughtered by a possessed jive-talking turkey.  Apparently, as explained within the film a powerful Native American Shaman was shamed by the white man in the pilgrim days. Using his necromantic powers he made an immortal turkey, in which to kill every white man he encounters in a revenge that will reoccur every 505 years. The Turkey is like a killer version of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, just now nearly as funny and fairly repulsive looking in terms of animal hand puppets.

You have shamed me for the last time white man.
Image coutesy of some other dude named Luke on his blog.

As far as the Human cast of the film, we are introduced to some pretty cool college kids. Our 5 hapless students represent the wide social strata that are representative of college. You have Johnny the 2nd string quarterback fully equipped with cool guy Jeep, Overweight and constantly hungry hillbilly Billy, Sheriff's daughter and good-girl next door, Kristen, Easy as apple pie Ali the slut, and last but not least inappropriately horny but horribly unfortunate Darren the nerd.

The onslaught of corny Turkey one-liners, low-budget special effects, and in your face horror movie cliches make for an entertaining watchthru. Unfortunately this is not the holiday movie you gather around to watch with your family after a fulfilling Thanksgiving Dinner. Unless of course your family has completely passed out under the influence of a tryptophan coma, with the exception of yourself and your weird Uncle Jim. The film was exceptionally corny, falling in a close second place after Troll 2 in terms of corniest low-budget film of all time. Granted we haven't screened every corny flick at Horror Camp, we have seen our fair share to make the claim. 

 This Turkey wants a piece of you!
Image courtesy of hewhowalksdeath

We watch films like ThanksKilling over here at Horror Camp because there is nothing else in terms of turkey horror, and after this series of films are concluded there probably never will be another Thanksgiving horror film. That is unless they pick up my lesser known pitch for the Wrong Turn series, Wrong Turn 6: Home for the Holidays. I recommend watching this flick at least once, probably by yourself or with a close friend who understands you are about to watch a horrible movie and will never speak of it publicly. Clocking in at 66mins it is short enough you don't get bored with it. So Indulge yourself and check out ThanksKilling it is undoubtedly one of Thanksgiving's lesser known guilty pleasures.

Tags: Campy Horror, Creature, Horror Camp, Movie Night at the Rec Hall, Thanksgiving, ThanksKilling, Turkey, Fowl-Play, Holiday Horror Film

Movie night at the Rec Hall -- Troll 2

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Earlier in the week, I had made mention of collaborating with my friend Jonathan Alexander (Al from the Grog), but as we were set up for filming Al become overcome by raging mind harpies and was set into convulsions for nigh 7 days and 7 nights. Perhaps next week we can do our shoot as scheduled.  But things roll on at Horror Camp, and we present our 2nd campy movie of our Horror Camp's November Camp-A-Thon. And we won't fail to deliver in terms of campy horror films.

Last week we reviewed Rubber which turned out to be a well-made clever homage to campy Horror Flicks. Well this week we won't have any confusion as to the artistic merits of this weeks feature. This week we are watching the campiest of Horror Film of all time, Troll 2. Arguably one of the worst movies ever made, Troll 2 has garnered a massively huge cult following. Rife with over-the top acting, unbelievably constructed special effects, and an action packed late 80's/early 90's soundtrack, Troll 2 is an infectious treat to behold. Truly the king of bad horror flicks Troll 2 can be (and should be) watched over and over and over again and again.

Troll 2 opens up with a young boy, Joshua, being read a story by his loving grandfather regarding a young man's encounter with a troop of man-eating goblins. At this point it is important to note that there is not one troll present anywhere in this film, only man-eating goblins. The grandfather continues on with his story. Apparently man-eating goblins are vegetarians and in order to eat men they must trick them into eating a trans-mutagenic substance that converts the person into a half-man half-plant. The helpless victim is then devoured by the goblins who conveniently can shape shift between human and goblin form. A cautionary fairy tale to be sure.

It is later revealed that Joshua's family were planning on taking a vacation to get away from it all in the small rural town of Nilbog. In tow close behind the family are the daughter's boyfriend and his 3 goofy friends. It is soon discovered that not everything is okay in the small town of Nilbog, and only young Joshua can recognize the situation for what it truly is. The small town of Nilbog (Goblin spelled backwards, naturally) is entirely populated by flesh-eating monsters who are only interested in feeding you their oddly green colored food in an attempt to eat your family.

Hilarity ensues in the film's attempt to portray legitimate acting. With catchy one-liners delivered in dead-pan seriousness, you can't help but enjoy Troll 2. Some of the more hilarious scenes in the movie include an embarrassed friend's transformation into a tree (he doesn't want to talk about it) , a bizarre popcorn induced sex scene, and tons and tons of slimy green chlorophyll blood.  Sporting a young child protagonist and a PG-13 rating Horror Camp highly endorses this movie to our younger child campers. All children should stick to their guns and prevent monsters from eating their families. Horror Camp teaches responsibility to our younger campers first and foremost. This movie is also a great counter argument to the dangers of vegetarianism, as excessive veganism obviously does weird things to a person's mind.

So that concludes our movie night for week 2 of our November Camp-A-Thon. By this point you should have shaken off all of that residual Halloween fright. Be sure to come back next week to see our 3rd feature of Camp-A-Thon, our celebration of the outrageously silly in horror films. So until then stay away from small rural towns, and eat a steak for crying out loud. Anything beats being turned into goblin chlorophyll mush. This is your Head Counselor wishing you unpleasant and hilarious viewings.

Tags: Horror Camp, Campy Horror, Movie Night at the Rec Hall, Goblins, Troll 2, Nilbog,

Arts and Crafts Tent -- Fun with Chocolate Sauce

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Today's Arts and Crafts feature is on that well known beloved food additive, Chocolate Syrup. Known the world over for making milk awesome, Chocolate syrup has been made the topping of choice for anyone with that insatiable sweet tooth. With something as sweet and wholesome as good ole fashioned american chocolate milk, what could possibly make chocolate syrup so prevalent to Horror Camp?

Unknown to most Chocolate syrup has an old history with the special effects departments of many an old time horror film. In the old days, predating CGI, Horror movies would have to create their own sickly skin-crawling version of blood. Most notably blood would be made using various food colored additives, such as red-dyed cornsyrup. But before color, movie makers had another trick, Chocolate Syrup. In the Black and White era chocolate syrup gave that rich thick blood-like consistency that was so believable in the movies back then, as long as you couldn't see the color who's to know the difference?

Blood Ice Cream! You're Sick! You're Sick!

Great Horror classics such as Hitchcock's Psycho and Romero's original Night of the Living Dead are just two of many films who capitalized on the use of chocolate sauce in their black and white masterpieces. So if the masters can use this low cost trick in their movies, whats to prevent our campers from using the same tricks to spice up their dime-store film attempts.

The following film was an experiment with chocolate sauce my friends and I undertook in order to aid my friend Jonathan Alexander (Al) Borowski for a college project at the time. On loan from The Grog  (Al's website which explores local issues amongst other things) the images from the film can be seen below. The results were a bizarre (if not at times comical) undertaking that produced some real memorable effects. Although the overarching tones of murder/haunting/suicide make for a dark tone in the movie and slip-shot choreography make for a real laugh, it still remains watchable to me to this day. I still have fond memories of making it even though it made for quite the mess when it came time to clean up.

Those stains will never come out.

So to all my would-be horror directors out at horror camp. Just remember to set that camera to black and white and remember your Bosco. You too can have some of those Hollywood style special effects just by taking a trip to your local grocery store. Be sure to check in this weekend, where I revisit with my friend Al, as he lends us some of his studio space to celebrate Movie Night at the Rec Hall (& the Grog) this Saturday.

Tags: Arts and Crafts Tent, Horror Camp, Haunting, The Grog, Bosco, Black and White

Movie Night at the Rec Hall -- Rubber

-Contributed by Luke Merrill

Rubber

This week at Horror Camp we open up our November Camp-A-Thon (our celebration of Horror Flicks too silly to be taken seriously) with Rubber. Rubber is the type of film that can't be categorized easily. Filmed in the avant-garde ( life imitating art, imitating life) style of a foreign french film, it contains highly stylized cinematic elements. The Film's movie within the movie take on storytelling leads to moments of great comedic value. Ultimately though, the film is about a sentient rubber tire that decapitates many, many people, which in my opinion puts this film in the Horror Camp, so to speak.

The French will make movies about anything.

Rubber opens up in the middle of the desert, where a montage of seemingly random events paves the way for a local police man to deliver an impassioned speech to a group of spectators. He goes at length to explain that seemingly arbitrary circumstances happen within movies, and are taken as fact for no reason or explanation what-so-ever. He goes on to tell this group that they are about to see a film that celebrates this phenomena of "no reason". The speech is not only interesting but absolutely necessary in order to enjoy this film. Because to accept what you're seeing with no explanation, is exactly what this movie is bringing to the table. 

The man departs and the spectators are given binoculars and are instructed to look out into the desert. Now the film can begin. We focus in on a rummage pile where a lone automobile tire begins to stir. After some time the tire digs itself out of the ground, and sets itself upright. After some failed attempts at rolling it sets out upon it's way. Along the tire's path, it encounters a plastic bottle, which it decides to crush. Then it encounters a desert scorpion, which it decides to squish. It finally encounters a glass bottle. Rolling over it isn't going to cut it. So the tire, in the movies surprising turn of events, breaks the glass bottle with it's psycho-kinetic powers, pretty out there, right? If that wasn't cool enough, the rubber tire then encounters a rabbit, and proceeds to give him the same psycho-kinetic treatment. The rabbit is thoroughly decimated in a rain of rabbit guts and gore. After this encounter the tire finally makes it to the road and encounters man.

You're not being paranoid, It IS looking at you!

From there the movie gets pretty amazing as the tire pops the heads off of just about everyone who wrongs him, with the exception of one lone travelling french girl who becomes the object of the tire's affections. The fact that the spectators are in the desert, watching all of this happen, plays an intricate role in the film as well. The interplay between the "actors" and the spectators who watch them provides some of the films most memorable and comedic moments. 

Rubber is a pretty great film. I really had no idea what I was getting into when I first started to watch it. Based off the premise, I just assumed it was a modern day over the top unrealistic horror flick. Funny thing is, that is exactly what it is, but I had no idea it had so many levels of thought or artistic direction. So anyone wanting to view this film on the merits of being a stupid over the top horror film, might find themselves surprisingly disappointed. The film may not have you fearing for your life, and questioning the sentience ( and psycho-kinetic prowess) of the common everyday objects around you, but you will have a good time watching it.  So until next time make sure your tires are thoroughly bolted to your car, where they belong. This is horror camp's Head Counselor, signing off.

Tags: Campy Horror, Movie Night at the Rec Hall, Rubber, Horror Camp, Foreign Film