(Dan Bush, AJ Bowen, Jacob Gentry, David Bruckner)

The very best part of my job (aside from all the sex with actresses, I mean) is when I get to see a small horror flick early and then spend 14 months reminding the genre fans that, yes, it's still on the way. (Like that freaky French one about the terrorized preggo woman. It's coming, trust me!) It was about 14 months ago when I first saw (and really enjoyed) an Atlanta-made indie genre flick called The Signal -- and then I ran into the Signal gang again a few months later at SXSW. The film was received quite enthusiastically at both festivals.

Directors Jacob Gentry, David Bruckner and Dan Bush were in Philadelphia recently as part of a promotional tour for the film. Along with head baddie AJ Bowen, I took the guys to have their very first Philly Cheese Steak, and then we headed back to the theater for a Q & A session with the audience -- but not before we stopped at the Philadelphia Art Museum and the knucklehead quartet did their Rocky Balboa sprint up the steps. (See photo!)

So yeah: I liked the flick long before I liked all the goofballs who made the movie, so I thought it would be nice to offer a quick little reminder: Magnolia Pictures is releasing The Signal tomorrow (at these theaters), so if you're a serious horror fan who likes to whine and moan at all the studio-backed PG-13 horror crap that hits the screens every month ... here's your chance to support a smaller flick. You'll have a good time and you'll feel good about it, too.

It's been almost a year since we got acquainted with the rather excellent indie horror flick The Signal at Sundance, and I bet you kind of forgot all about it. (How irritating is it when a distributor purchases a film you really want to see ... and then that's the last you hear of it for a year?!?!) But I know for a fact that Magnolia Pictures is more than gung-ho about the Atlanta-made and entirely cool movie; I suspect they were just writing for the right time to go theatrical. (As of this very second, February 22 is the release date. Just a little while longer, unless they bump it again.)

Anyway, you know I wouldn't bring the movie up and then not follow up with something juicy, so if you're a fan of the nasty stuff, click your mouse here to enjoy the all-new theatrical trailer for The Signal. Enjoy.

Directed by three different guys in three separate chunks -- but it's NOT an anthology piece -- The Signal tells the story of an electricity-borne infection that causes people to wig the hell out and kill whoever has the misfortune to be within whacking distance. And while you'll be able to see a few differences in each of the three sections (sorry, "transmissions"), I was surprised at how well the segments fit together.

And to the teenagers who only go to see horror movies with big-name actors (like, um, that chick from Buffy?), I can promise that you'll dig this newcomer cast. The Signal boasts two "dreamy" guys (the evil A.J. Bowen and the heroic Justin Welborn), some weirdly excellent comic relief from Scott Poythress and Cheri Christian, and a lead actress who's as surprisingly commanding as she is girl-next-door hot. (Her name is Anessa Ramsey, and she's plenty hot.)

Oh, and the flick's really creepy, grimly amusing, exceedingly violent, and strangely kinda ... touching, too. But I don't want to spoil it...

A few days back, Bloody-Disgusting.com shared a few brand-new pics from the upcoming studio horror flick The Ruins -- and this morning they were kind enough to point us towards the even brand-newer teaser trailer. Having just read the book a few weeks ago, I can say it doesn't look like they changed a whole lot from Scott Smith's source novel. (He also wrote the adaptation, which might explain things.)

Anyway, the trailer is hosted over at AtomFilms.com, but they've given us the option to embed, and embed I shall. Click away, horror freaks. (Directed by first-timer Carter Smith, and starring folks like Shawn Ashmore, Laura Ramsey and Jonathan Tucker, The Ruins opens on April 4 -- unless Paramount decides to bump it up for us!) To those who haven't read the book, I ask ... does this trailer do it for you? Would you plan a trip to these Ruins?

If you thought Rose McGowan with the machine gun leg was something else, just wait till you feast your eyes on The Machine Girl! Yes, that's right: A sweet Japanese teenage lass has been damaged beyond repair by the evil Yakuza, but with the help of a stump-mounted machine gun (and a whole bunch of other freaky weapons), this gal's gonna have her revenge! And how!

If you have a strict aversion to over-the-top arterial sprays and hardcore gore, then definitely don't check out this brand-new Machine Girl trailer over at Twitch.com. Anyone else should feel free to enjoy the Asian insanity. According to the Twitchers (and they know their Asian genre fare, trust me), The Machine Girl comes from the folks responsible for Death Trance (which I haven't seen) and Meatball Machine (which is certifiably bizarre), plus the trailer certainly looks chock-full of over-the-top chop-socky. Sign me up.

Last year I was all set to go up to Sundance and review all the nasty horror movies ... and I went home talking mostly about Waitress. I'm such a wuss. Oh sure, there was fine genre fare to be found (Teeth, Fido and The Signal, most notably) but I got a little misty-eyed with Kim during Waitress ... and I believe Rocchi and I actually wept a little during Grace is Gone.

But enough nostalgia, dammit! Next month there'll be me and Kim and James and (first-timer!) Erik up in Park City, all scurrying about like frozen little blogger-ants as we try to keep you abreast of all the Sundancings -- which brings us back to square one: Me. And horror movies. Let's get to it. As part of the Park City at Midnight slate we have...

The Broken -- "On a busy London street a woman sees herself driving by in her own car. Stunned, she trails the mystery woman as events take an eerie turn into a living nightmare." -- Starring the lovely Lena Headey and the awesome Richard Jenkins. Directed by Sean Ellis, who last helmed the pretty solid Cashback.

Diary of the Dead -- "When a group of film students making an indie horror film find themselves trapped in a world being consumed by flesh-eating zombies, they cleverly switch gears and use the camera to document the world crumbling around them." Directed by the master himself, Mr. George A. Romero. First Toronto, then Fantastic Fest, and now Sundance. I swear this movie is stalking me. (Full review here.)

Donkey Punch -- "After meeting at a nightclub in a Mediterranean resort, seven young adults decide to continue partying aboard a luxury yacht in the middle of the ocean. But when one of them dies in a freak accident the others argue about what to do, leading to a ruthless fight for survival." Hey, the Brits go good genre fare. I'm down.

Funny Games -- "A family settles into its vacation home, which happens to be the next stop for a pair of young, articulate, white-gloved serial killers on an excursion through the neighborhood." For my thoughts on Michael Haneke's remake (and a link to the new trailer), click right here.

I've always loved movies that take place over a limited amount of time in a limited space, say over the course of a few hours or one day, in a specific neighborhood or building. Movies that take place over many years tend to skimp on the everyday details that really make a story, but when a filmmaker is forced to closely examine a specific space, those small things can come to life. (This excludes, of course, movies based on plays in which characters sit in a single room and talk.) These two extremes separate the men from the boys; anyone can blunder through an epic, lining up blocks of scenes one after the other like columns of marching ants, but it takes a real talent to find poetry in the mundane. While I can't say that the new thriller P2, which takes place entirely in a parking garage on Christmas Eve, is a shining example, it still has one or two worthwhile ideas, despite its clumsy flaws.

Newcomer director Franck Khalfoun, along with his more experienced co-writer and producer Alexandre Aja (director of High Tension and the remake of The Hills Have Eyes), makes wonderful use of the big New York City high rise with all its sinister safety precautions that eventually turn against our heroine. Angela (Rachel Nichols) is forced to work late into Christmas Eve, finishing up an important document. Late for a Christmas party at her sister's house, she heads down into the parking garage only to find that her car won't start. A friendly night watchman, Thomas (Wes Bentley), tries to help, but to no avail. She calls a cab, but finds that she can't actually exit the lobby of the building. The locks that are designed to keep people out over the holiday are actually keeping poor Angela inside.

When movie nerds discuss Italian films, the first name that comes up is Federico Fellini, followed by perhaps Michelangelo Antonioni, Luchino Visconti, Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. Those were the five directors to whom Martin Scorsese paid tribute in his wonderful four-hour documentary My Voyage to Italy (1999). From there, more die-hard film buffs might throw in the political Gillo Pontecorvo, or the controversial Pier Paolo Pasolini, or Bernardo Bertolucci, who only made a few Italian films before swapping to English for good. Someone might even remember that Max Ophuls once made a couple of films in Italian. After a moment's recollection, someone might recall the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci. The Italian horror films would get mentioned last, and hardly anyone would suggest that horror director Mario Bava was the greatest of them all.

There are three reasons why Bava is not considered as highly as he should be. The main one is that he made mostly horror films, and we are not trained to see the artistry in that genre, just as we're not trained to see any artistry in erotic films or comedies, or any of the "body genres." Another reason is that, due to the Italian cinema's practice of dubbing, Bava's films have an "unprofessional" quality; the lips don't match the actor's line readings. This is commonplace in Italy due to many factors, but mainly due to the casting of actors with various dialects or from other countries. For example, see Luchino Visconti's dazzling epic The Leopard (1963), starring Burt Lancaster. On the Criterion DVD, viewers can watch either the Italian version with Lancaster dubbed by another actor, or the English version with Lancaster's voice and every other actor dubbed. Bava himself worked a roster of non-Italian stars, some of whom appear dubbed: Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, John Savage, Joseph Cotten, Elke Sommer, Telly Savalas, Michel Piccoli, Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele (the latter of which went on to appear in Fellini's 8 ½).

Not long ago, I brought you a short list of "the best horror flicks you haven't seen yet," and it got a whole lot of responses and click-traffic. And if spending all my time around horror movies has taught me one thing, it's the importance of sequels! So having said that, I welcome you to Part 2. Unless you're a film festival junkie (or you work in the industry) you probably haven't experienced these terrors yet, but each one of 'em comes firmly recommended by yours truly. (And yes, I DO see some lame-o horror flicks at these festivals. I simply choose to focus on the ones I dig. I'm nice that way.)

Frontiere(s) -- He'll get a lot more attention for his upcoming Hitman adaptation than he will for this blitheringly derivative horror flick, but director Xavier Gens is clearly someone to keep both eyes on. So while this freakishly frenzied French Frontiere(s) flick is little more than a genre stew made with equal parts Texas Chainsaw, Hostel, and The Descent -- there's just no denying that it's an amazingly energetic concoction. Not brilliant, but highly recommended nonetheless. (Full review here.) Arrival: Snagged as one of the "films to die for" as part of the After Dark '07 slate -- which means you can catch it starting November 9.

Teeth -- When you get to a festival, there's a certain "buzz" already in motion for certain flicks -- and when people caught wind of the premise of Teeth, that "buzz" sort of went into overdrive. Just in case you missed it: Teeth is a slyly satirical horror film about a teenage girl who goes through a rather unpleasant sexual awakening when she (and others) discover that she's got TEETH in a decidedly ... female ... area. (Full review here, and Kim's right here.) I've heard opinions that range from "brilliant" to "moronic," but I'm definitely among the thumbs-up contingent. Arrival: It looks like Roadside Attractions will be releasing the flick in New York and Los Angeles on November 30 -- which is weird because I could have sworn that Lionsgate and Weinstein had split the rights earlier this year. Expect the DVD by March of 2008.

The Mother of Tears -- Horror master Dario Argento is back with his most entertaining flick in about two decades. It's a pulpy and tongue-in-cheek apocalyptic thriller about an evil idol that causes all sorts of crazy occult-style mayhem: Monster attacks, mass suicides, witches' conventions, pure bloody murder ... it's all rather comic-booky and appreciably gory. So while it's certainly not in the same class as Suspiria or Tenebrae -- it's a heck of a lot more fun than Argento's last three efforts. (Full review here.) Arrival: The Weinsteins purchased it for DVD release, but word is that Myriad Pictures might be planning a limited theatrical release before the video date.

Sure, it's easy enough to find the up-side of the handsome hunks of horror film. Hunks are easy. They're (mostly) hot, with their nicely whitened teeth and their hair product-styled to perfection, their six-pack abs, their ... sorry, where was I? Oh, right. Hunks versus Slashers. Jeff and Monika have already brought you the hottest hunks and chicks of horror; guess who drew the short straw and had to pick the slashers? (Actually, I volunteered for this one, so I guess that says something freaky about me ... ) My mission: to determine the hottest horror slashers (at least, according to me). These are the bad boys of horror you just can't stop thinking about, the ones who keep popping up in your dreams ... or nightmares. Whether they slash with blades on their fingers, roque mallets, or your basic kitchen knife, these are the boys you don't want to bring home to introduce to the folks over Sunday dinner ... unless you want your family to be the main course.

Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates (Psycho) My mother always told me: Never date a mama's boy. Little Normie's devotion to his mother was sweet, sure, but his methods of showing it left a little to be desired. But you have to admit, there's something about a guy who might stab you through the shower curtain if the mood strikes that guarantees that you'll never be bored while getting ready for your big date night. Anthony Perkins' striking performance as Norman Bates set the bar for horror slashers for decades -- even after all these years, watching Psycho still sends shivers up your spine. (View the trailer for Psycho or go straight to the gallery!)

Doug Bradley as Pinhead (Hellraiser) Sure, all those nails stuck into his skull give new meaning to the word "hammered" -- not to mention making it a little tricksy to coordinate outfits for those hot dates to movie premieres -- but at least, in his own bizarrely twisted way, Pinhead had a sense of fair play. Of course, if you make the wrong choice, your evening is gonna go downhill in a hurry. There's nothing like giant fishhooks pulling your flesh 14 different ways to put a damper on date night. On the plus side, though, you're probably pretty safe being walked home after dinner by a guy who looks like he had a close encounter with a nail gun, on purpose. (View the trailer for Hellraiser ... or go straight to the gallery!)

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The original The Fly (1958), directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Vincent Price, is a fairly routine sci-fi programmer with one or two inspired moments. Years later, when David Cronenberg found Charles Edward Pogue's updated screenplay, he saw that there were several ways to rethink and improve upon the original story (written by George Langelaan) and to include his own favorite themes. Moreover, it was a way to deal with one of Cronenberg's own personal problems: motion sickness. In the new film, inventor Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum -- who deserved, but did not receive, an Oscar nomination) spends all his time working on teleportation pods so that he'll never have to ride in a car ever again. It was also Cronenberg's most seamless exploration of the changing of the human body via the introduction of outside elements, a theme he has very recently attempted to expand and deepen with Spider (2002) and his gangster films A History of Violence (2005) and the new Eastern Promises.

The Fly (1986) opens at a kind of science convention where inventors gather to discuss (or hint at) their latest findings. A sexy reporter, Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis), is there, hunting for a story. Somehow Seth's kooky enthusiasm intrigues her and she agrees to accompany him back to his lab to see his work. He gives her a cappuccino (from a real cappuccino machine with the eagle on top), and teleports her scarf across the room using two "pods." The pods, of course, are designed to look like huge, metallic beehives or cocoons. Seth decides he likes Veronica, but doesn't want her to write an article about his as-yet-unfinished invention, so he persuades her to hang around and work on a book instead. Together they work on the final hurdle: sending living tissue safely through the pods. In one horrific scene a lab monkey gets turned inside out. In another intriguing sequence, he teleports two slices of steak. The steak looks the same, but the teleported piece tastes wrong; it's the first time Cronenberg really dealt with food and the way the human body perceives and absorbs it. (Eastern Promises goes a little into this as well.)

In the spring of 1999, I had a unique experience. The Roxie Cinema (in San Francisco) was opening a brand-new print of Brian De Palma's Carrie (1976), which I suspect had been struck as a sort of apology for the now-forgotten The Rage: Carrie 2, released just a week before. I attended their press screening -- the very first unfurling of the new print -- but oddly enough, I was the only one to show up. Had the other critics already seen it? Or was there something else? The Roxie guys shrugged, asked if I'd like to go ahead, and I said yes. I sat in the middle, all by myself.

I've seen it again since then, and have become doubly convinced of its excellence. Along with The Untouchables (1987) and Mission: Impossible (1996) it was De Palma's biggest success and yet it's usually left out of diatribes calling De Palma a ripoff artist and a misogynist. Based on the first novel by Stephen King, Carrie uses virtually no Hitchcockian elements, and, actually, only about a half a dozen of De Palma's 28 feature films to date, do. Likewise, it's a fairly perceptive view, not of female sexuality in itself, but of the male fear of it. (And, more importantly, an awareness of this fear.) Moreover, both Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie received Oscar nominations for their performances, a justification for two strong female roles.

The Shining (1980) marks an interesting spot in Stanley Kubrick's filmography, one that hardly anyone ever mentions. Most Kubrick films are not appreciated in their own time, but while Barry Lyndon (1975) and Full Metal Jacket (1987) are beginning to enjoy a newfound critical reputation, The Shining -- stuck right between them -- is generally left out of the discussion. Despite mixed reviews (recommendations from Andrew Sarris and the New York Times, but pans from Pauline Kael, Stanley Kaufmann, Dave Kehr and Variety), it was a hit film, grossing $44 million on a $19 million budget (according to boxofficemojo.com). It was based on a young, successful horror writer's third novel, and thus it hardly warranted serious consideration. Only David Thomson, in his "Biographical Dictionary of Film," gives the film a once-over; in an otherwise negative essay about Kubrick, he calls The Shining Kubrick's "one great film," but he also calls it "very funny."

At the same time, horror fanatics find the film extraordinary; and by all counts, they're right. Here was a horror entry from a first-class filmmaker who had succeeded in escaping the "horror" classification. Our other masters -- Bava, Romero, Carpenter, Hooper, Craven, etc. -- started in horror and got stuck there, unable to express their artistry in any other medium, and unable to earn the acclaim of someone like Kubrick. He visited, left unscathed and left behind something truly exceptional. But where do these two sides meet? What did Kubrick bring to horror and what did horror bring to Kubrick?

Stop me when this sounds familiar: A group of kids lie to their parents, hit the road for a night full of partying, and stumble across a nightmare of monumental proportions. Sounds like your typical B-grade horror movie, right? Absolutely. Hell's Ground is an unwaveringly derivative and preposterously gory little genre concoction that borrows a lot from the finest films of George Romero, Sam Raimi and Tobe Hooper while forging very little new ground of its own. But you know what? It's still a fun fright flick, even with all its obvious touchstones and blatant inspirations. Once the movie gets the character introductions and the requisite wheel-spinning out of the way, it's a pretty energetically good time.

It's Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets Dawn of the Dead, sorta ... oh, and it came from Pakistan. Did I not mention that part? Yep, a mega-splattery zombie-strewn slasher flick from Pakistan. Shot entirely in Islamibad by a bunch of young filmmakers who clearly grew up with the same horror flicks we did. So while you're being assaulted with ideas, characters and monsters that are clearly 'borrowed' from other sources, well, it's just quite the novelty to witness Pakistan's first gore movie.

"Wait, so is she actually eating a dog?" I swear I said that to myself at one point while watching all these Miss Horrorfest videos. What is Miss Horrorfest? And how to I date her? Well, I can answer the first part for you -- Miss Horrorfest is an annual contest held by After Dark Films in which they award one lucky (and freak-ish) lady with the title of Miss Horrorfest in conjunction with After Dark's actual Horrorfest, which screens 8 new films between the dates of November 9-18, 2007. If you're a cool chick who digs horror and warped beauty pageants, then all you need to do is submit a 90-second video to YouTube with the words "Miss Horrorfest" and "Horrorfest, November 9-18, 2007" somewhere inside the Oscar-worthy masterpiece. However, the contest only runs through September 30, which is like four days from now, so you don't have a lot of time to get to it.

If you're not into the whole YouTube thing (and I don't blame you -- all those nasty comments would give me a complex in all of about two minutes), you can participate in one of four live auditions held in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and Dallas. I'm not sure whether any of the live audition dates have passed, but you can get all of the info over on Horrorfest's official YouTube page. Because I have nothing better to do with my time, I spent part of the morning watching some of these videos. While most of them are -- how do I say it -- friggin' awful, there are a few that I enjoyed. I've included the video that I liked the most after the jump, although the girl certainly pimps herself out -- and I hate people who say, "Look, I've done all these things, which means you simply have to pick me!" But so far it's the best I've seen, so head on over there and check out the rest. I think you vote for your favorite, and the winner is chosen that way ... or something. Also, stay tuned to Cinematical this October as we'll be shelling out more Halloween-themed content than you know what to do with.

The Toronto International Film Festival ended Saturday, but the deals keep trickling in. The latest: The Weinstein Co. has picked up DVD rights to The Mother of Tears, the latest film by legendary Italian horror director Dario Argento. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film will be handled theatrically by Myriad Pictures, which produced it. The plan is to pop it into select theaters sometime early next year.

The Mother of Tears is the campy and bloody finale to Argento's unofficial trilogy that also includes Suspiria (1977) and Inferno (1980). Our resident gorehound Scott Weinberg liked it well enough, calling it "Argento's most satisfying experiment in a few decades." It stars the director's daughter Asia Argento (an actress and occasional director in her own right) as a museum curator in possession of an evil urn. I like The Hollywood Reporter's description: "Beautiful witches appear, and a scary monkey chases the unfortunate curator." It's bad enough to be chased by a regular monkey, but a scary one?! Forget it!

Dario Argento has directed about 20 films and written 20 more. Most of them have appeared in the United States in some form, often as midnight screenings or at cult-favorite film festivals. Asia Argento, a chip off the ol' block, wrote, directed, and starred in 2004's controversial The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.