You know the drill ladies and gentleman, you wait impossibly long for another Master Bates Motel podcast and eventually one turns up where we talk a load of nonsense around the subject. We’ll try to be quicker with the next we promise. We’ve just had an awful lot on. SOZZA.
In The Diary of Anne Frank, who’s author, you’ll be intrigued to learn, was also called Anne Frank (I’d like to think she’d have been a Belieber), wrote “No one has ever become poor by giving, especially in the case of indie, grassroots horror movies, because those are more absolutely banging than Miley Cyrus’ seminal album Bangerz“.
It’s a great point beautifully made and there’s no finer example of this than the important and necessary Popcorn Horror. To get this out of the way, yes, I am the film reviewer of Popcorn Horror.But that isn’t the cause for this piece. No, in fact I am the film reviewer for Popcorn Horror because I think it is important and necessary.
My relationship with Popcorn Horror started when it was first mentioned as one of the new, unique ways people were distributing movies during a lecture on my masters course at Screen Academy Scotland. From the moment I downloaded the app (when Popcorn Horror was an app) I was hooked. When I wrote for Culture Bomb our first magazine had free advertising space, and Popcorn Horror was the first I offered it to. And not just by the style and quality of the content. I was incredibly impressed with the fact they did what 99.99% of other content providers don’t do. They valued the content makers enough to reward them.
Just to reiterate how important that is, they value and reward the people who make the horror content.
In a time when so, so many content providers think that content makers should be grateful to even be considered to grace their webpages, Popcorn Horror recognizes that if content makers cannot get rewarded, then not much content can get made. They rile against the greedy modern notion that “exposure” is payment enough for hours of work 0n something different to entertain us.
In a way, Popcorn Horror really inspires the same kind of spirit that made the legendary Night of the Living Dead possible. The spirit that says you don’t have to go to a big studio and production company and have your artistic vision compromised so it’s no longer recognizable just to get it near-made.
And now look at Popcorn Horror. My how, and I hope no one from Popcorn Horror towers will mind me saying this but, we’ve grown. Since I climbed aboard the good ship PH the fine vessel has gone from an app to a full blown site, offering some of the most unusual, innovative and varied horror content you could ever possibly imagine. There is honestly nothing the discerning horror fan could ask for that isn’t covered by Popcorn Horror.
So, if you value fantastic content that you’ve never seen before, a thriving community that’s truly passionate about the most underrated yet meaningful genre in cinema (yes, horror, dumbass), and most importantly an ethos that inspires, nurtures and provides for independent horror content, be it my reviews, Cara’s cool news and views, or the myriad pieces of art available on the site, you owe it to horror and yourself to donate just a small amount to the Popcorn Horror Kickstarter campaign.
Support real horror through this link.
Follow @PopcornHorror on Twitter
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When you go into a shop that sells movies, and you ask for a film that meets a certain criteria, you should be met with two responses:
In my earlier reviewing days I walked into an HMV with just such a criteria that needed filling. I needed to get a horror film that fit the site’s weekly theme, and this theme was “horror films featuring a villain that seduces someone/people”. When walking into the HMV and asking for a film that met this I was met with “I don’t know” followed by a silent, telepathic “because I know nothing about the products I am selling”. And this wasn’t just the once. There are numerous times I’ve asked for such advice, every one met with absolutely no knowledge of the section the staff are working in.
Eleven down, one to go. Twelve Months of Terror is nearly at an end and I take absolutely no pleasure in saying that. But then if you’re leaving wanting more, that’s only a good sign, isn’t it?
As a little filling between your Thanksgiving ThanksKilling Turkie and Christmas Silent Night, Deadly Night turkey, here’s some high-res art you can print off and slap on your wall as a part of, and then soon after, memento of the shock-til-you-drop post-apocalyptic podcasting project that is Goats In The Machine’s Twelve Months of Terror. (more…)
Like all good horror movie monsters, Popcorn Horror has risen once again, stronger and more imposing than it was ever before.
I had been hoping to write this post a month ago when Popcorn Horror first relaunched but its been a fairly heavy writing/recording schedule.
For me there is something a little bittersweet about this new iteration of the pioneering platform that is Popcorn Horror. I’ve always been a fan of their mobile based delivery system for grassroots, independent horror films. It kept me more entertained on the bus back my last workplace than Youtube ever could and it genuinely supported up and coming film makers in a genre I am passionate about. (more…)
Gobble, Gobble melon farmers! Here we are (again) to rock you like a hurricane (again).
This month Twelve Months of Terror/#HASHTAGTMOT sets the table for something bright and breezy, cheap and cheerful.
Since we’re British and we don’t get the chance to have two cracks at the turkey in a year, we’ve taken this opportunity to experience a little bit of the great American Thanksgiving, following up our Pumpkinhead pie by letting the Turkie have a crack at us. (more…)
Well here it is, Goats In The Machine’s long-in-the-coming look at the Leprechaun sequels, namely Leprechaun 2, Leprechaun 3, Leprechaun 4: In Space, Leprechaun 5: In the Hood and Leprechaun: Back 2 tha Hood.
In the name of continuity, and frankly to make the whole experience less painful, Louise Boyd and I are compelled to follow the format of our original Leprechaun episode; namely drinking profusely throughout the the show. Before long we’re hurtling down a whisky greased and beer lubricated chute towards oblivion, taking pot-shots at all installments of arguably the worst long-running horror franchise.
This frankly very well thought out Guest post is by comediac Phil Mason. You can read his ace blog The Housebroken Geek and follow him on Twitter. And by can I mean should.
Pumkinhead. Over 10 feet of unstoppable demonic fury & vengeance. Summoned by infernal dark magics, his only purpose is reaping terrible bloody vengeance on the living. With tooth & claw he stalks the land, unrelenting, unstoppable. If you look into his cold reptilian eyes there is no mercy, no pity, only your slow agonising death.
Coming once more into our mortal world, Twelve Months of Terror returns with its Halloween special on Pumpkinhead. My, it feels like a long time since we covered Carrie, doesn’t it? Perhaps that’s why I was hit by a wave of sadness over the fact this whole experience is drawing to a close. This would explain the bouts of hysteria I suffer throughout this episode anyway…
This month Louise Boyd and myself, RJ Bayley delve into a Halloween film other than Halloween (for once) and find something very interesting as a result.
Goats in the Machine 