A man lays comatose while a nurse tends to him. The color image - pocked with film specks - gives way to stark, high contrast black and white cinematography. The man regains consciousness, with no memory of who he is or what happened to him, and is soon named "John Doe." He begins a new life, taking a wife, but is plagued by visions which may or may not be flashbacks of his past. Is he remembering a violent incident which led to his mysterious predicament, or is he merely imaging what might have been? It's an important question becuse "John" soon embarks on a violent path of revenge.

When was the last time you saw a film that truly made you think about what you were seeing on the screen?... (more…)

One of the great things about running Fear Zone these last couple of years, and writing my book CHEAP SCARES! Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets, is that I've been motivated to see innovative movies I might not have caught otherwise. Chief among these have been the Glass Eye Pix, produced in part by Larry Fessenden (HABIT, WEDIGO, THE LAST WINTER). Under his Scareflix banner, Fessenden has "presented" Ti West's THE ROOST and TRIGGERMAN; Glenn McQuaid's I SELL THE DEAD, and James Felix McKenney's THE OFF SEASON and AUTOMATONS. The Scareflix are very low budget films (shot on film), but are distinctive for their originality and indie sensibilities. At a time when horror fans ... (more…)

We haven't covered magazines in a while, and I can't allow Fear Zone to pass without revisiting the two best magazines keeping horror fiction alive in that medium, CEMETERY DANCE and BLACK STATIC.

CEMETERY DANCE has undergone a startling transformation in the last year, at least in regards to its publication schedule. I believe I bought a four year subscription to this periodical, which had either a quarterly or bi-monthly schedule, eight years ago - and it's still going strong because only one or two issues have appeared per year for the last few years. But that all seems to be over now, and under the guidance of Cemetery Dance Publications founder Richard Chizmar and Managing Editor ... (more…)

I've anxiously awaited seeing I SELL THE DEAD, the latest film from Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix company, since I first saw its trailer. The film has been playing the film festival circuit all year, just completed a VOD run, and will be available on DVD soon. The initial trailer I saw reminded me of a Hammer horror, but after seeing the film, written, directed and edited by Glenn McQuaid, who has created special effects for past Glass Eye productions, I think a more accurate comparison would be Roger Corman's more humorous period piece, THE RAVEN. Despite the prevalent comedy, the film still serves up a fair amount of chills and is a welcome treat for horror fans.

At its heart, I SELL ... (more…)

More than likely, this will be Mario's last installment of MARIO'S INDIE HORROR GALLERY for Fear ZSone. I have loved this column! No one alive possesses more knowledge about obscure, micro-budget horror fare than Mario, and I love running these reviews because they show that there is so much more to horror than whatever crap is showing at the multiplex. Fear not, like Nicholas Kaufmann, Lisa Morton, L.L. Soares and Michael Arruda, Mario will continue the good fight at another site, Horror Yearbook. The spirit of Fear Zone lives on!


WELCOME TO DEER CREEK (2009 dir Jim Roberts)

Blind Sight Productions DVD

On a sunny day in a small Ohio town, the town's mayor is out driving in his truck with ... (more…)

(A note from the Knife Fighters - if you like our column and would like to continue to get your fix of CINEMA KNIFE FIGHT, you're in luck. We've created a site just for CKF. Just go to www.cinemaknifefight.com

It's currently a work in progress, but new columns will continue to be posted there, as well as columns from our archives from the last five years.

We have really enjoyed working with Fear Zone the last two years, and it will be sad to see it go. CKF was one of the first columns to be published on Fear Zone, and we'll always remember it fondly. It was great working with our Editor, Greg Lamberson, and we wish him nothing but success for the future.

Please stick with us. Cinema Knife ... (more…)

OH NO! IT'S SAW VI!

I've seen every installment of the SAW series, and I'd say the hardest part about watching these movies is trying to convince yourself that what you're seeing is actually new. After awhile, these movies tend to all blur together and seem interchangeable. Between the flashbacks to scenes from previous movies, to newly filmed flashbacks to scenes we hadn't seen before (mainly revolving around John Kramer (Tobin Bell) the "real" Jigsaw back when he was alive), and then the same torture devices we've seen in other SAW movies popping up again (how many times can they use that contraption that is like a bear trap for people's heads?), it can get confusing without a score card.

... (more…)

I stand atop a facsimile of The Empire State Building. It looks pretty good - a little pixilated, not as sharp as most current gen visuals - but the cornices are rendered adequately and scale, at least in terms of height, seems fairly accurate. The rest of the world, far, far below, the whole of Manhattan, splays out before me in a knobby stretch of angular skyscrapers. The landscape sprawls gray and more gray, punctuated with the shine of glass here, the shimmer of chrome there, interrupted by a large rectangular patch of Central Park green and brown. Again, everything looks pretty good, but again, again, shit is a little muddled and not as crisp as I've come to expect from high def ... (more…)

Deluxe Edition DVD
Friday the 13th Part 7: The New Blood
Friday the 13th Part 8: Jason Takes Manhattan

Paramount Home Video 2009

Here we go again.

Just in time to fill your favorite horror fan's dirty X-Mas stocking, Paramount has released the next 2 in the F13 Deluxe Edition DVD series, with less impressive results than the previous discs making up this ongoing cash cow. The films look and sound as good, and each installment comes with the prerequisite deleted scenes, theatrical trailer, and a commentary tracks. All cool, but not anything out of the ordinary. Missing from these DVD's are any new installments of the "Crystal Lake Massacre Re-Visited" featurettes, which were my favorite element ... (more…)

I recently wrote an article about all of the low budget horror films being produced in Buffalo, and posted an interview with the co-director of one of them. Now I'm going to review another one - HOUSE OF HORRORS: THE MOVIE, which is having its premiere at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Centre today, and is also now available as a Limited Edition DVD (1,000 copies). A non-disclaimer is in order: I shot my short film GRUESOME at the House of Horrors, a haunt attraction in my home town Cheektowaga (which means "Land of the Crab Apple Tree"), and I've met Tim Bunch, who owns the House and executive produced this movie. I also know Michael O'Hear, who plays a priest in this film; Jennifer ... (more…)