Universal Studios Florida Halloween Horror Nights 2015

This Blog page will be updated as soon as information has been gathered.
There will not be several different Blogs.

If you are a person that loves Halloween, Horror movies, Scary stuff, Zombies and whatever else that falls in that area, you have to visit Universal Studios Florida during the Halloween Horror Night seasons. This is the 25th Anniversary year and the excitement that I have experienced in the past several years that I have been going, have started coming back.

There are two shows that I'm looking forward to seeing one that has been playing and with be changed is Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure. The other could be but has yet to be announced is Rocky Horror Picture Show that has been popular in the past.

Halloween Horror Nights (HHN) is one of the best "Haunted Attractions" that you can attend. For the 2015 season they are having an historic number of haunted houses with nine houses.

For those that have never been to a HHN the houses are not your typical haunted house that you visit in your your home town. Each house is movie quality built set that puts you straight in to the movie and in the middle of scenes that scared you when you were watching it from the comfort of your seat in a movie theater. Now it is you that they are after.

The first house that was revealed is: Freddy vs Jason. This movie came out in 2003 and focus on two iconic American slasher characters that fight one another. As a member of a haunted attraction, I look forward to seeing this house and how they are going to turn this in to an incredible house. (more information will be added)

 The second announcement came in hot with Insidious. The first movie was released in 2010, the second chapter came out in 2013 with a house in in the same year, now that there is a prequel movie Chapter 3 that was released this past June, it make perfect sense to have this house updated to the new movie.

There are so much information left to be revealed in such a short time left. Opening weekend starts September 18th that is just two months. If you are there on the opening weekend, lets meet up and discuss. I will be there all weekend long until Monday.


(Opened 7.16.2015)

iHorror.com Nexflix movies

iHorror.com just released their "20 TOP HORROR FILMS ON NETFLIX: The Best Scary Movies You Haven't Seen But Should"

I'm going to list them all here and then I'm going to give you my review based on how I felt while watching them. There are several that I have seen before but were not too impressed with. All movie descriptions were copied from the Rotten Tomatoes website.

20. Odd Thomas

Small-town fry cook Odd Thomas (Anton Yelchin) is an ordinary guy with a paranormal secret: he sees dead people, everywhere. When a creepy stranger shows-up with an entourage of ghostly bodachs - predators who feed on pain and portend mass destruction - Odd knows that his town is in serious trouble. Teaming up with his sweetheart Stormy (Addison Timlin) and the local sheriff (Willem Dafoe), Odd plunges into an epic battle of good vs evil to try to stop a disaster of apocalyptic proportions. Based on the best-selling thriller by Dean Koontz, Odd Thomas is a supernatural action thrill-ride from the acclaimed director of The Mummy and G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra. 

19. The Canal

Sitting in an empty theater, a film archivist watches the grainy footage that will be his undoing. David and his wife are perfectly happy-or so he believes. When he finds out the home he shares with his wife and son was the scene of a ghastly turn-of-the-century murder, David dismisses it as ancient history. That is, until the sinister history ripples into the present and casts a shadow over life as he knows it. And when a looming secret shatters his marriage, David can't help but suspect the dark spirits of the house are somehow involved. In his drive to unveil the shadows hidden in the walls, David begins to descend into insanity, threatening the lives of everyone around him. Through ghastly imagery and a chilling score, Ivan Kavanagh's The Canal is an Irish ghost story that will leave you with a fear of the dark and a dripping chill down your spine long after the film's conclusion.

18. Late Phases

Crescent Bay is not the ideal place to spend one's golden years, especially since the once-idyllic retirement community has been beset by a series of deadly animal attacks from the ominous forest surrounding it. When grizzled war veteran Ambrose McKinley (Nick Damici) is forced into moving there by his yuppie son Will (Ethan Embry), the residents immediately take offense to Ambrose's abrasive personality. But that take-no-prisoners attitude may be just what Ambrose needs to survive as it becomes clear that the attacks are being caused by creatures that are neither animal nor man, and that the tight-knit community of Crescent Bay is hiding something truly sinister in its midst... Following the release of his Here Comes The Devil, as well as his scene-stealing segment "B is For Bigfoot" in the horror anthology The ABCs of Death, Adriån Garcîa Bogliano cements his status as one of the top horror filmmakers coming out of Spain with LATE PHASES. In a bookend of sorts to his performance in the cult hit Stake Land, Nick Damici commands the screen here, coming on the heels of last year's Sundance vigilante thriller Cold In July and the critically acclaimed cannibal drama, We Are What We Are.

This film to my amazement was not as bad as I expected. It had several know actors that you would recognize when you see them. The story kept moving at a decent pace unlike some "B" movies where you are waiting to die before the victims are. The low part of this movie is the creatures themselves. One of the better scenes is the transformation sequence where you that you were watching a cheap remake of "An American Werewolf in Landon". Although cheaply done, you know were they got their idea.

17. 13 Sins

A cryptic phone call sets off a dangerous game of risks for Elliot, a down-on-his luck salesman. The game promises increasing rewards for completing 13 tasks, each more sinister than the last.

16. The Den

After receiving a grant for her graduate thesis, Elizabeth Benton (Melanie Papalia) logs onto a video-chat site known as THE DEN, on a mission to explore the habits of its users. During one of her random video-chats, Elizabeth watches in horror as a teenage girl is gruesomely murdered in front of her webcam. While the police dismiss it as a viral prank, Elizabeth believes what she saw is real and takes it upon herself to find the truth. Her life quickly spirals out of control as she gets pulled deeper into the darkest recesses of the internet. And eventually, Elizabeth finds herself trapped in a twisted game in which she and her loved ones are targeted for the same grisly fate as the first victim.

Just finished watching this one and it too was a good movie considering. There was a lot of build up and the story kept flowing along and made you guess what was going on and what was causing the problems. You will enjoy this movie all the way to the end. It will make you want to start searching the internet for websites like the den.

15. Grabbers

On Erin Island, an idyllic fishing village off the coast of Ireland, charming but somewhat work-shy Ciaran O'Shea, is tasked with greeting Lisa Nolan, a straight-laced young officer who has arrived from the mainland. Not that there is much for them to do, aside from dealing with the occasional drunk, and that's usually O'Shea himself. But strange doings are afoot: the crew of a fishing boat disappears, whales start appearing dead on the shore, a local lobsterman catches a strange tentacled creature in his trap. Soon it becomes clear to O'Shea and Nolan that there's something big out there, and that it's hungry. It's time to rally the villagers, arm the troops...and head to the pub.

14. The Expelled (a.k.a. F)

A terrified group of teachers and students are locked inside of a high school by a mysterious gang of vigilantes who waste no time in picking off the unlucky victims one by one.

13. The Horde

When their partner is murdered by the Nigerian trafficker Adewale, four corrupt cops are planning a violent revenge and decided to enter her refuge, located on the top floor of a dilapidated building in the Paris suburbs.Adewale senses the arrival of the police and fires first, killing the agent Jimenez who, once dead, back to life trying to bite his teammates. It is just the beginning of a siege by a horde of zombies that have surrounded the building hungry for human flesh.

This movie was intense and exciting. The drawback is that it is subtitled so be prepared to read.

12. Housebound

Kylie Bucknell is forced to return to the house she grew up in when the court places her on home detention. Her punishment is made all the more unbearable by the fact she has to live there with her mother Miriam - a well-intentioned blabbermouth who's convinced that the house is haunted. Kylie dismisses Miriam's superstitions as nothing more than a distraction from a life occupied by boiled vegetables & small-town gossip. However, when she too becomes privy to unsettling whispers & strange bumps in the night, she begins to wonder whether she's inherited her overactive imagination, or if the house is in fact possessed by a hostile spirit who's not particularly thrilled about her return.

11. Here Comes the Devil

HERE COMES THE DEVIL combines modern indie filmmaking and storytelling with a hint of '70s-styled psychological horror that may not just be psychological. Francisco Barreiro and Laura Caro play parents Felix and Sol whose preteen son and daughter inexplicably reappear after being lost overnight on a desolate, cave-riddled mountainside after a casual hike became every parent's nightmare. The good luck and good fortune of their return soon changes, as the children's behavior suggests ominous and unspeakable events the night the children were lost that continue even now. As a loving couple - and loving parents - try to care for and protect their children, the ancient and half-whispered legends around the caves and the mountain and those who have gone there before become too strange to believe ... and too dangerous, no matter how insane, to ignore.

10. Extraterrestrial

From The Vicious Brothers, the creators of Grave Encounters comes a different kind of encounter, one of 'EXTRATERRESTRIAL' origin. Still reeling from her parents' divorce, April (Daytime Emmy winner, Brittany Allen) is dragged back to the vacation cabin she spent fond summers at as a child accompanied by a group of friends. Her trip down memory lane takes a dramatic and terrifying turn when a fireball descends from the sky and explodes in the nearby woods. Lead by her boyfriend, played by Freddie Stroma (Harry Potter & The Half Blooded Prince, Pitch Perfect), the group venture out toward the crash site and discover the remnants of a ship from another planet along with footprints that suggest its alien occupants are still alive. The college friends soon find themselves caught in the middle of something bigger and more terrifying than anything they could ever imagine.

09. Torment

Newlyweds Cory and Sarah Morgan take Cory's 7-year old son Liam up to the country for some much needed family time. When it appears as if Liam has run away, psychological suspense becomes straight-out horror, as Sarah and Cory must now confront a sadistic cult-like family who have been hiding in the house all along and have taken Liam for themselves.

08. The Road

The Road tells the story of a twelve-year-old cold case that is reopened when three teenagers vanish while traversing an infamous and abandoned road. As investigators try to find leads to the whereabouts of the missing teens, they also unearth the road's gruesome past that spans two decades - a history of abduction, crimes and murders.

07. Troll Hunter

Shot in a vérité style, Trollhunter is the story of a group of Norwegian film students that set out to capture real-life trolls on camera after learning their existence has been covered up for years by a government conspiracy. A thrilling and wildly entertaining film, Trollhunter delivers truly fantastic images of giant trolls wreaking havoc on the countryside, with darkly funny adherence to the original Norwegian folklore.

06. Stake Land

America is a lost nation. When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. Cities are tombs and survivors cling together in rural pockets, fearful of nightfall. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin ("Gossip Girl's" Connor Paolo) is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter (Nick Damici) whose new prey is the Undead.

05. The Town that Dreaded Sundown (remake)

65 years after a masked serial killer terrorized the small town of Texarkana, the so-called 'moonlight murders' begin again. Is it a copycat or something even more sinister? A lonely high school girl, with dark secrets of her own, may be the key to catching him.

04. Rites of Spring

After kidnapping the nine-year-old daughter of a wealthy socialite and hiding out in an abandoned school, the kidnappers fall prey to a recurring terror in this place, a bloodlust that comes every first day of spring.

03. I Saw the Devil

I SAW THE DEVIL is a shockingly violent and stunningly accomplished tale of murder and revenge from Korean genre master KIM Jee-woon (The Good, The Bad, The Weird and A Tale of Two Sisters). Oldboy's CHOI Min-sik plays Kyung-chul, a dangerous psychopath who kills for pleasure. The embodiment of pure evil, he has committed horrifying and senselessly cruel serial murders on defenseless victims, successfully eluding capture by the police. On a freezing, snowy night, his latest victim is the beautiful Ju-yeon, daughter of a retired police chief and pregnant fiancée of elite special agent Soo-hyun (The Good, The Bad, The Weird's LEE Byung-hyun). Obsessed with revenge, Soo-hyun decides to track down the murderer, even if doing so means becoming a monster himself. And when he finds Kyung-chul, turning him in to the authorities is the last thing on his mind. The lines between good and evil fall away in this diabolically twisted game of cat and mouse. Pushing the concept of revenge to its most extreme limits, KIM Jee-woon brilliantly transcends the police procedural and serial killer genres in surprising and thrilling new ways.

02. The Taking of Deborah Logan

Mia Medina (Ang) has finally found the perfect subject for her PhD thesis film on Alzheimer's Disease. For the next several months, cameras will record the everyday life of mother Deborah Logan (Larson) and her daughter Sarah (Ramsay). But as the days progress, strange things begin to happen around Deborah that are not consistent with any findings about Alzheimer's. It becomes apparent that there's something besides Alzheimer's that has taken control of Deborah's life. It's an evil that is far worse than the debilitating disease with which she was first diagnosed.

01. The Babadook

Six years after the violent death of her husband, Amelia (Essie Davis) is at a loss. She struggles to discipline her 'out of control' 6 year-old, Samuel (Noah Wiseman), a son she finds impossible to love. Samuel's dreams are plagued by a monster he believes is coming to kill them both. When a disturbing storybook called 'The Babadook' turns up at their house, Samuel is convinced that the Babadook is the creature he's been dreaming about. His hallucinations spiral out of control, he becomes more unpredictable and violent. Amelia, genuinely frightened by her son's behaviour, is forced to medicate him. But when Amelia begins to see glimpses of a sinister presence all around her, it slowly dawns on her that the thing Samuel has been warning her about may be real.

She is at it again

With all the flooding in Texas right now with damage in the millions and growing, but for those trolls on Facebook decided to pick on what I consider a fellow artist although I live many states away on the east coast. Her work is a wonderful inspiration to others that deal with painted body art. Her colors are bright and vibrant and with more detail than most. With the addition of her his quality photos that she takes herself, is an added bonus. I had to ask here what kind of equipment she used, she told me it was just her cell phone.

To artists of all mediums sees the work and dedication that went into creating her work, it is those who judge her based on the canvas she happens to be born with. Even though the canvas is better than most and more than likely better than the troll that keeps reporting her, she has kept within the boundaries Facebook has set up. One of her friends was kind enough to post these on her post those boundaries.

Katie McKinney continues to post nothing more than her passion on Facebook that she allows everyone to enjoy. Even though all this took place earlier in the week, I regret not being able to blog about her sooner. I hope that these challenges do not damper what she posts, I know it will not stop her life and she and other are much stronger than that. It is a shame that we can not face our accusers but it is nice that Facebook did clear her of charges that these works of art are allow to be posted.

These are the two pictures that were in question.

Here is what Facebook had to say about them.

With Halloween just Months away, I hope she finds the time to put together other paintings and shares with us. Understandable that she has a busy life with kids and a boyfriend, that they should come first. I'd like to see some classic horror works done (https://www.facebook.com/leatherface.sawyer.39), but comic book heroes are great too.

Thanks for your artwork and keep those trolls back under the bridge.

You can find her here https://www.facebook.com/PrayingforFall

    

   

Transworld

I made it to Transworld for the first time ever. came in on Thursday morning and was in line for the show around 8 or so to wait for the show floor doors to open at 10. No big deal I enjoy getting places on time, I would rather wait on other rather than people waiting on me. But anyway the show was great. I was hoping to get on the internet and post as much information about the show each night afterwards but as of Saturday night, this has been my third hotel. the first hotel had a charge to be able to use wifi so the next morning (Friday), I tried to post at the Center but their wifi was so bad that I just shut wifi off on my photo so I could at least upload pictures to facebook. We then had to switch hotels and the wifi was much better but I had not gotten the time to post anything. so now we are caught up to today.
to start off with I want to post a video that shows you have to be in the right place at the right time to see somethings that people never get to see in person. I am a huge Face-Off fan and there were so many of these talented artist here at the show whether attending or exhibiting their creations or their makeup. I wish I could post more about them.

There were so many great artist out there with their work with them to prove it. I have only just started working in the haunt industry first as an actor now as a room designer, prop building, makeup, and anything else I can create that can generate a scare.

 
 
 
 

Netherworld Haunted House

Picture from their home webpage

I am a huge fan of all things Halloween. I have been to several small haunted attractions and a few large ones. In the large category I have listed Universal Studios Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights this one because of the size and the amount of people that fills up each of the areas even though there are as many as five or so plus you have scare areas. I have been going for the past few years and looking forward to getting back there again this year for the 25th Anniversary celebration. 

The largest single attraction that I have been able attend so far is NETHERWORLD Haunted House in Norcross Georgia just outside of Atlanta. 

It is a huge place with tons of details that you may never get a good look at because you are watching for demons to pop out and scare you. Here is a photo from their website of one of the rooms that you walk through. Everything about this room is perfect. there are movies that are being made today that does not have as much detail that this room has. If you are a haunted house owner you should do everything you can to bring it up to the bar that these people have set. 

Granted you can not have a successful haunted attraction just on room detail alone, you must have characters that come out and brings these rooms to life.So of course one of the biggest haunts have some of the best cast of characters. This is on of the "Grounds" characters that the closer you get the more detail you will see. I invite everyone to get as close as you dare this coming season. 

Taken from their website

 NETHERWORLD has a different theme every year which is incredible. This past year (2014) their theme was witches. In this photo you can see they do not play with Wal-Mart masks and dollar store make up. It is like they went on a search to be these people from their homes and sat them in to the set. Thats how real they look.

Taken from their website

Here is one of the displays that you can get your picture taken at. There are also photographers that will be glad to have you pose with the monsters. 

Ed Edmunds

Taken from Google search

Another day gone and one more day closer to being able to meet all the people I have befriended through Facebook. All the artist that have struggled before me to pave the way for learning on-line the craft that I have been able to enjoy and can't wait to get back to doing. 

This is my first trip to Transworld and I look forward to walking and talking with each group of vendors that attend. One of the people that I hope to be able to talk with is someone I have been a fan of ever sense I saw his show on the travel channel years ago. The show was called "Making Monsters" and has one of the best minds in the business, Marsha Edmunds. She is married to the man that puts all the madness together. He is Ed Edmunds. I watched every episode that came on over and over again. Watching him paint and create not only masks that you may have seen but did not know who created it, but also animatronics that will jump out and scare the poop out of you. 

There are so many creations that have come from the minds of the company of "Distortions Unlimited". I was able to locate the face and "liked" him on Facebook and it seems that he never sleeps. I would hear bell sounds going off on my phone and it would be Ed posting an article or a video to his Facebook page at all hours in the morning. Granted that I live on the East Coast in South Carolina and he lives on the other side of the country so it is expected to some extent that there would be a few come in at 1am or 2am. He only has just under 4,000 friends so he has plenty of room for more.

For those that who have not seen the show or do not know who this is, please crawl out from under the rock and check him out.

I can not say enough about this man, his team, and his company. I have yet to meet any of them and I look forward to meeting them all. If I lived closer, I would have my application filled out and ready to hand them in the hopes that they would hire me. The amount of skill it takes to get out so many different items out on time is immeasurable. I have to get a few nice pictures with them.

Taken from their Facebook

Grim Stitch Factory

Photo from Facebook

My First post leading up to Transworld next week (3/18/15) is dedicated to Grim Stitch Factory.
For those whom have never met the man behind the art they should, as I will be able to do this next week. I first learned about this place while researching on how to make a realist looking skin mask. this was a picture that I found that push me to hassle this guy to tell me how to do it.

For those that think this is gross is only looking at it from the thought that this is real. to some extent it is. There is information on his website that I invite everyone to look at. When I look at his work I see the beauty in the art and what it takes to do it. I have badgered the man too much to find out the process of what is done to get the effect but like a true artist, I was only given hints and elements to some of what it takes to make one but not the process itself. Which is fine because I spent the money buying the items and practiced a few times to duplicate one of these for me to wear in the Haunted House that I work in. I think I was on the right road to being able to get my own started, but I also work 50 hours a week and I am completing my undergrad degree so my thought process was not focused on where I would want it to be which is in the art of creating masks. But this allowed me to appreciate his work that much more. The man behind the masks is just as interesting as his creations. I have included this picture of what he says is his workshop. I looks great and you can get all kinds of inspirations for all things horror related just by looking at the pictures not to mention being immersed in the feel of the room. this picture was also taken from his website Grim Stitch Factory. 

   
My wife doesn't like what I have done with my office because I have started to add things to the surrounding much like his workspace. My wife doesn't like it because that where we sit and watch TV at night and she says it creeps her out. I just see it as a win for me. 

Whether you are in the market for a mask for Halloween, add to a collection, or even if you have been planning on creating a character for a movie, you should start with this guy. Find him on Facebook, Twitter, and on the web.
I look forward to meeting the make behind all these creations at Transworld 2015.