Troll 2

A family vacationing in a small town discovers the entire town is inhabited by goblins in disguise as humans, who plan to eat them.

Troll 2 with a rating of 2.6 on IMDB is known as one of the best worst horror movies. And I agree, it's a bad horror movie and because it really is so bad, it gets funny. Now I've watched this movie with Rifftrax because I really did not feel like watching it in a serious setting (which this movie should not be seen in anyway). If you don't know what Rifftrax it's funny commentaries along with the movie. It makes watching these types of movies much better! You can check out their website: http://www.rifftrax.com

Going back to the movie, it's called Troll 2 but there aren't any trolls in there WHATSOEVER. Nope, not even 1! And the green slime which comes whenever someone ate the food from the goblins (yes they are plenty of goblins, no trolls though) kind of reminds me of nickelodeon slime... "Troll 2 - sponsored by nickelodeon slime!" Wy not? 

Either way the movie is known for it's overacting and just generally bad acting like this scene which has been going around on youtube for what seems like forever:

"But then why watch it if you already know that it's a bad movie?"Because it's funny. These are not the type of movies you should watch in a serious setting. It's entertaining because -just like many other best worst movies- they weren't meant to be bad, but came out that way instead (don't ask how or why). And for one, I like to watch these movies with a bunch of friends and just comment on it and laugh while it's playing. So much fun! Perhaps while showing this movie, eat some green food and drink some green stuff! Just to get the atmosphere going.

Either way I recommend this movie if you're into the bad kinds of movies that turn out to be funny. If you're not sure whether or not it's your kind of genre, you can try watching it with Rifftrax. Then you're in the right type of setting for these types of movies. Here's a clip from the movie with Rifftrax:

 

Cinema Macabre: John Carpenter Double Bill

Yesterday was the first night of the Cinema Macabre in the small theatre called Cavia, which was the John Carpenter night, better known for directing Halloween and The Thing. 

I attended the night along with a couple of friends and I did not realize you could only pay with cash, so thankfully a friend of mine payed for my ticket which, again thankfully, was only 5 euros. We grabbed a drink (I don't recommend the white wine) and we went ahead and chose our seats. There were about 7 rows, and after a short speech from the organizers the first movie started: Prince of Darkness. A movie from the 80's which is based on the end of the world through religious ways. I liked it. It had a couple of scares and I liked the story.

Then there was a break and the second movie started: In the mouth of madness. I really liked this one! Especially the Lovecraft references. It's a very different kind of horror. But this one was also part of the trilogy of movies John made revolving around the apocalypse. This one was through the art of writing books. I highly recommend this movie, it's weird and trippy with a couple of scares. I'll probably watch this one a second time, or buy the dvd.

I'm really glad they organized this event and I'm happy to hear that they are planning to organize these every 2 months. I think I'll be a regular here! It's a great way to watch older horror movies in a theatre setting, especially in such a cozy theatre. Do recommend! Especially if you love horror movies.

Spooky nightmare

Yup I had a pretty intense nightmare last night, whereby I woke up all icky and sweaty and scared and afraid to fall asleep again even though my eyes did not want to stay open, which made it all more scary for me somehow. Aaaanyway let's get this story typed out now!

I was talking to my supervisor in Amsterdam about job opportunities and he mentioned a group in New York that performed excellent research in retrotransposon activity. Well I did prefer to do my research in GBM, but this sounded very cool as well, so I agreed to it. Catch was I would live in a student zone in NYC, I didn't mind since I'm used to that and as long as I have a place to stay in the beginning I'm happy. I figured I can always look for a different place there if it didn't suit me.

I was in NYC, walking down the street, it was daylight and very busy with many students running around and throwing with water balloons and having fun. 

Picture from google

I was with my sister and we just bought/rented (?) a house outside of the city. I didn't mind having to travel over an hour to work as long as I had a nice place to rest (doesn't sound like me here...). The garden was dead and the house looked like something from the 60's. But hey, my sister was happy with it and I didn't mind. Then the weird stuff started. There was

a lot of wind sometimes in the middle of the house, weird sounds... I remember talking to my dead dog and being happy that she was at my side and protecting me. I also had to tell my parents that she was very thankful for the life she had living with them. I was starting to worry that now that I openly accepted the link I had with my dog's spirit that maybe other spirits would also show, perhaps the bad kind. This scared me.

The weird stuff in the house continued, I got locked up in the washing room and could not get out. I screamed and kept hitting and kicking the door and called for my sister who was just in the other room, and all of a sudden she opened the door, like it was never locked. She never heard me, just wondered why I was taking so long. So we figured at that point that we're dealing with an evil spirit. She went to the bathroom and my parents came by to check on us. I kept looking at the bathroom's door, since I did not trust the silence, but my parents were not worried. My sister took very long so I decided to check it out, only to find that she was hung by the chain from the toilet. She was dead. 

We were all very shocked and because it was getting dark we figured to all sleep in the same bed so we'd be by each other's side. I then had an out of body experience where I saw the phone-cord choking all 3 of us at the same time, when I saw us waking up, I woke up from the nightmare. 

What also scared me was that my teddy bear positioned so it was looking at me. It always sat at the exact same spot so this is just normal, but at that moment I had to place the bear somewhere else. It's been a while since I've had a nightmare like this, and my morning was not fun because of it! So I was happy I was meeting a friend in the city. 

I didn't know I was a vampire? ~Dreams

Aaaaand here's another freaky dream I've had. Again I decided to write it down much later, because it's still nagging at my head and I didn't feel like opening up my blog to write it all down when I woke up. Anyway here goes:

I was in some sort of camp with old buildings that were falling apart. We were in a hall with several dusty tables and a blackboard where a hairy teacher was explaining the facts about being a vampire. He pointed at me and said that I was the perfect example of someone who was a vampire but still didn't believe in them. I responded with that I don't drink blood, I age, and I can't run very fast. I am human. To which his response make me ponder my existence. His response was: 'You've told us you've been feeling very tired the last year, sometimes you've been feeling more energetic. These times were all when you've had raw meat. The blood in there made sure you got your energy. Next to that you're a night person. You have no problems working at night. You can feel the mood people are in and you notice many things going on around you before they actually are. Your dreams are also too vivid for a plain human being. We are not immortal like in the movies, we are just evolutionized in a certain way that we differ from humans. There are also werewolves out there. Those are the ones that have a lot of muscles and have very low IQs. They don't have to be hairy or change into wolves. The wolf comes from the fact that they have an affinity with dogs.' 

Yeah I didn't say much from there, and I was basically confused. What is going on? I don't know anyone here, how did I get here? There was a loud bang outside and we all ran out. 

I was fighting a werewolf now, like the ones from the movies and not at all like the teacher explained them to be. The fighting also went just like in the movies, very violent, only difference was that I was also discussing with that werewolf whether I was a vampire. The wolf thought I was but I still didn't buy it. It's all just bullshit. 

Then I was running inside one of the buildings trying to escape something. I had no idea what, but I ran fast (for a change, because usually in dreams I run painstakingly slow). I turned around and I was alone. 

Then I woke up.  Maybe I should do what Stephenie Meyer did with twilight and make a lot of money by making this small piece in 5 books. I mean, we apparently have vampires and werewolves in there anyway... But that does mean more writing for me to do huh? Maybe another time... 

<3

Painting from Luis Royo, who used to be one of my favorite artists about 8 years ago. I think it suited this post :)

Halloween Horror Show makeup look

Hiya!

So I was looking on youtube for inspiration 2 weeks before this event. I love playing around with makeup and trying out different looks. That's why I'm always excited for events like these where I can go crazy-wild wild makeup :D Yey!!

I actually went with the first look I tried out the evening, because I was quite happy the way it turned out to be honest. I didn't expect it to work out that well so I was very happy :)

The image that inspired me for this particular look was this one:

Image from google

The only thing that made me doubt this look a little was that I had to sit with the thick layer of makeup on my face for at least 11 hours, and after a while my face starts to itch when I'm wearing that much. But I decided around 7pm to just start with the makeup, and if I didn't like it or wouldn't think it would last for the many hours of sitting and watching horror movies, I can always take it off and have enough time for something a bit more simple. 

I finished the look a bit before 9 and I was very happy with how it turned out, especially for a first go with this particular look. So I decided to leave it and just go with it.

I finished the makeup by also adding the bones and shading to the neck, like the original picture, and created a big bun with one of the larger donuts you can buy in a drugstore and pinned a white flower at the side, which you can sort of see in the picture below:

Yes we were goofing off during the first break :D This was around 2:30am and we were going strong!

After the Halloween Horror Show I finally got home around 11am. I have to say that I was surprised at how good the makeup still looked after 14 hours! It did fade a bit and get very shiny, which doesn't show in the picture, but trust me I was almost functioning as a mirror to others! If I want to wear this look more often I'll probably invest in one of those clear matting powders. 

It was a fun night and I can't wait until next time!!

<3

Halloween Horror Show at Pathe Tuschinski 26/10/13 00:00

The movie theatre where they hold the Halloween Horror Shows. (Taken from the Pathe website.)

Hiya!!

Every year there's a Halloween Horror Show where 4 of the newest (usually not yet released in the cinemas here) horror movies are shown along with various short films and special previews and lastly also prices to the best costumes. This was the 5th year it was organized and was my third time there. I have to admit that the movie line up was the best one for me this year!

This year they had a lot of horror artwork from Eric Peters hung in the foyer of Tuschinski. It looked very cool to have those painting of classic horror characters such as Dracula and the Joker to name a few. And after all the bags were checked for bottles or cans of drinks (these weren't allowed but at least you could transfer your drinks in cups they provided for you, food was okay) we finally got to go to our seats. Since we bought our tickets online and we got appointed seats from there, we didn't feel the need to arrive there before the doors opened, because there is always a HUGE line, which was even there when we got there 5 minutes after the start of the show. But having quite a few of these marathons we knew that the first movie would start somewhere from 00:30. So we weren't worried at all :)

Originally we would've started with Curse of Chucky, but Universal Studios called in the morning before and made the theatre cancel the viewing of the movie. The reason why is not publicly known, so they moved up the line-up and the movie we started with was Insidious Chapter 2. I was most anxious about this one because even though I am fascinated by horror movies, I scare very easily. I've seen Insidious at a previous Halloween Horror Show and it had a lot of good scares which all made me (reluctantly) jump in my seat. And Insidious Chapter 2 had even more and better scares. It was a bit predictable at times, but those jump scares! I have never been scared that much and that bad in any movie I've seen. My poor heart!

Then there was time for a break which usually lasts about 20 minutes, and then the first short movies started with the first of a short trilogy from Jason Stutter: CAREFUL WITH THAT AXE. 



It's about 2 or 3 minutes long but was made perfectly and very unexpected! Loved it! 

 

Hereafer one the next movie started which was the new version of Carrie. I was a bit apprehensive about the remake of this classic, because I tend not to like remakes that much. However, I have to say they've done a reasonable job making the movie a modern version where the highschool kids actually look much more like high school kids than the original movie and they all had smartphones. I have to say I liked the movie! I still prefer the classic mainly because I feel that the actress portraying Carrie was better suited for the role than the remake and somehow the atmosphere was better. 

Then it was break time whereafter the next short of the trilogy was shown: CAREFUL WITH THAT POWER TOOL, which, even though you know what to expect from the first one, was very well done and still very unexpected! Another 3 minutes of sitting on the edge of your seat.
Then another short was presented which was THE APPLICANT (Tim Dean). This one was not too much to my liking. Started off where you were wondering what was going on during that job interview to a twist that was kinda weird and far fetched... A little bit sci-fi horror if you will. It wasn't my style really. You can see the entire short on youtube: 

So around 5AM came the time for the third movie of the night which I was very excited about: The World's End. 



They announced that the movie was not of a particular genre which made it a huge discussion to show it in the Netherlands. It was one of the reasons I wanted to go to this marathon because I really wanted to see it, and I understand after seeing it how it's difficult to put that genre label on this one. It is more of a comedy/drama between middle aged men, but it does have a sci-fi/horror theme to it from the middle on. Not really scares but there are quite some wtf moments. I liked it! But I was also a big fan of the first 2 movies of this trilogy which were Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. It wasn't as good as the last 2, but definately worth to see! 

Now it was 7:30am and the last movie had to be shown as well as the shorts after the last break. But first there was a prize ceremony for the best costumes. I love seeing how people put so much effort in it, especially since you have to sit in that costume the entire night, which let's be honest, with a lot of makeup or schmink/latex etc on your face is not comfortable and if your outfit it elaborate you tend not to be able to sit comfortably either. So I applaud those brave enough to go for it! The winners were 2 zipper-faced girls, and the first price was a tie between a horror Sinterklaas & zwarte Piet and 2 witches (which had chins and noses stuck on.
Now it was time for the last short films which was the third of the trilogy: CAREFUL WITH THAT CROSSBOW. A very good short with perfectly fits the other 2! Then there was another short film which lasted about 10 minutes which was Fist of Jesus (Adrián Cardona & David Muñoz) which you can see entirely on youtube:



Without giving too much away, this is a splatter movie which reminded me a bit of the style from the movie Braindead. The story was very original and a lot of humor going with the gore, which is the usual go-to for splatter movies. Then there was a special preview of a upcoming Dutch movie called 'de poel' which I did not find that interesting to be honest. But then again I'm not a fan of Dutch movies anyway. The crowd also did not seem too excited because not many people applauded which was a bit uncomfortable because the director was in the room. We clapped to be nice :) Finally the last movie of the marathon started which was I Spit On Your Grave: 2.



I have never heard of this movie and because the movie was chosen at the last moment they only announced it at the start of the marathon. I fell asleep in the first part, because well I've been awake for all of the above and I was just exhausted. I woke up because the main character was screaming, which happens during horror movies of course, and then I followed most of the movie. It is very graphic and basically a sick movie really. The young woman was raped, cut, beat up, kidnapped etc, to escape the men that kidnapped her, only to get tricked back into the same house. I won't say much more, but I found it surprisingly an interesting film, even though it was that graphic. It did show the emotional traject from someone undergoing the abuse and how others can be too late to really help that person. But definitely not a film for the faint at heart! 

Now at 9:45 the night has ended and we went ahead to walk towards our bikes to have the dreaded bike ride home with all the horror makeup still on (even though it itched like crazy) and having all the people that were up and about staring at us, well especially me since I was wearing skeletal makeup. I'll post the look in another post.

<3