Reading, Discussion, & Signing October 29, 2009 @ 7 pm BOUND BROOK, NEW JERSEY Bound Brook Memorial Library 402 East High Street | ALL AGES
Join us on Thursday, October 29, in my haunted home state of New Jersey. By special request, it’s my only Halloween appearance while I continue work on The Next Book. I look forward to scaring you! - J.G.
Yes, it’s the debut of the first trailer for A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. It’s a well-crafted peek at the upcoming remake. Careful observers will notice . . . well, nothing especially interesting in any given glimpse at the actual movie.
You’ll still want to see it. We all will. The FX will surely rock.
But will it be anywhere near as clever or as creepy as A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET III: THE DREAM WARRIORS? That’s the only question worth asking.
UPDATE: The soundtrack for this post is now provided by Dokken! See below.
It’s true! PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is coming to a theater near you!
Of course, this post is about the new movie, and not lowercase “paranormal activity,” the eerie unexplained phenomena that give you goosebumps in the middle of the night.
The movie is an allegedly terrifying thrill ride in the shaky-camera, this-is-real tradition of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, the NIN YEAR ZERO trailer (highly recommended), CLOVERFIELD, QUARANTINE, the TERMINATOR SALVATION trailer (considerably better than the movie itself), and glorious DISTRICT 9, savior of the summer multiplex.
If you happen to live in a major U.S. city, and if you happen to be old, then be sure to stand on line all day for a free advance screening of the R-rated pic on September 24.
In the mood for monsters? Then, check out the bathing beauty below.
Panamanian cave monster: What is it?
Actually, the story behind the photo is somewhat tragic. According to Telemetro, several teenagers spotted the creature crawling out of a cave in Panama. Fearing for their safety as it creeped closer and closer, the teenagers beat the mysterious cave monster with sticks. Before very long, its lifeless body plummeted into a pool of water, never to creep again.
(It only wanted to be their friend! Easy to relate, no?)
Today, BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM debuts on xBox 360, PS3, and PC. Even if you are not a gamer, there is much to be feared and admired in the game’s presentation and storytelling. It’s an extraordinarily well-crafted tribute to Arkham Asylum, the decaying repository for Gotham City’s fiercest foes.
Two key influences seem to be 1.) Batman’s 3D graphic user interface during the climactic sonar scene in last year’s THE DARK KNIGHT, and 2.) more interestingly, ARKHAM ASYLUM: A SERIOUS HOUSE ON SERIOUS EARTH.
AA: ASHOSE is a hugely unsettling 1989 graphic novel written by Grant Morrison and illustrated by Dave McKean, who is most famous for CORALINE, THE GRAVEYARD BOOK, SANDMAN, and other ghastly collaborations with Neil Gaiman. In AA:ASHOSE, Mr. McKean brings the haunted hospital to life by combining his stylized sketches and paintings with old & eerie found objects (a dissected stopwatch here, a piece of string there). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Meanwhile, the place itself seems to take its name from Arkham, Massachusetts, which happens to not exist in real life. Rather, it’s a town created by famed horror author H. P. Lovecraft.
