If you’ve ever attended a Music Box Massacre, you know well that Movieside Film Festival founder Rusty Nails doesn’t skimp on the extra toppings; of course there’s the obligatory line-up of brain-bashing horrors both old and new (this year’s event sees the Music Box playing host to the Midwestern premiere of Bruce McDonald’s deliciously apocalyptic Pontypool in addition to projecting a print of the 1945 Boris Karloff classic Isle of the Dead), but on top of that you’ve got spectacular special guests, charity auctions for Vital Bridges, and dealer booths selling some of the best horror memorabilia around.

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July, 1989. GoreZone No. 8. Cover story: “Balun insults everyone — Is splatter dead?”

Hardly a triumphant celebration of the sticky stuff for a magazine touting the tag-line “All the splatter that matters” — who could have ever guessed that the kings of gore were about to take over Hollywood? That was one year after Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II burst up from the fruit cellar to scare us all silly, and two years after then-obscure New Zealand director Peter Jackson’s deliciously vile Bad Taste was speculated to become the next Rocky Horror by GoreZone’ sister publication Fangoria Magazine.

Flash forward to 2009, when Raimi is responsible for what is arguably the most successful comic book film franchise ever and Jackson is sitting pretty with an Oscar for Best director.

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For over a year now, horror blogs have been abuzz with news about director Michael Dougerty’s Trick ‘r Treat, a playful homage to everyone’s favorite ghoulish holiday and by all accounts more fun than an apple stuffed with razor blades. But don’t wait ‘till Warner Brothers unceremoniously dumps this potential perennial classic out on DVD this coming October to get scared silly -– if you live in the Chicago area, just head on down to the Portage Theater this coming Saturday, August 15, 2009 for a horror triple bill that’s sure to make your blood run cold.

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Live near Chicago and looking to kick-start your sci-fi summer the right way?

Well you’re in luck, because the Music Box theater and Rusty Nails are set to deliver fourteen hours of laser-blasting, body-shrinking, space-tripping, damn dirty ape-fighting, enzyme-barfing mayhem to a silver screen near you. That’s right, the Sci-Fi Spectacular is back, and this time special guest Gary Lockwood is dropping by to greet the fans personally.

Tickets are $20 pre-sale at Laurie’s Planet of Sound, and Music Box Theatre and ticketweb.com, and $24 day of show at the door.

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On Thursday morning, the nominations for the 81st Oscar presentation will be announced. And because I spend far too much time thinking about these awards - analyzing the different guild nominations and critics awards - I humbly offer these predictions on what to expect. As always, these do not reflect my personal opinion of what constituted the best Hollywood had to offer in 2008, just an educated guess as to what Hollywood thought about itself last year:

Best Picture:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

Best Actor:
Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn - Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

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As a die-hard horror fan, one of my favorite things is to walk into a movie theater and witness something truly unexpected and terrifying. To me, the thrill of gazing up at the screen and being rattled to the core by something I’ve never seen before is what makes it all worthwhile. It’s a bit of a rarity these days, but it still happens on occasion, and it’s reassuring to know that some filmmakers are still interested in exploring our fears by telling great stories — rather than simply remaking one of their favorite films or cashing in by churning out an endless series of uninspired sequels.

Looking ahead towards the dark horizon of horror, it appears that there are some sinister treats in store for macabre-minded moviegoers in the coming months. Though it’s impossible to tell whether any film will ultimately live up to the hype that precedes it (it is, after all, fairly easy to cut a great trailer for a crappy flick), here is a list of promising horror films that have gotten some recent buzz while making the festival rounds and setting the blogs ablaze.

Please keep in mind that given the genre and subject matters, many of these trailers are NSFW.

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According to a recent AP article, the copyright holders of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window (namely, the estate of Sheldon Abend) have filed a lawsuit against Steven Spielberg and co. for alleged plagiarism in producing Disturbia.

Call me crazy, but what are they thinking?

First, it’s impossible, according to U.S. law, to copyright an idea per se; this isn’t a “gray” area, it’s a black and white. The only exceptions would be instances like one experienced by Art Buchwald, when he delivered a concept to Paramount that they passed on and then turned around and made into Coming to America. But Buchwald actually had a physical treatment in hand that he had submitted - one that had actually been optioned by Paramount in the early ’80s.

If we’re talking about forbidding similar concepts for movies without issuing due credit, 90% of Hollywood could be sued inside out. (Just think about the late ’80s, for example, and how many “age swapping” films were produced during that period, back to back). And if a court precedent suddenly makes it illegal to loosely model one’s narrative after Alfred Hitchcock in script form, just imagine the implications for Brian DePalma - a life sentence.

To me, this looks like yet another instance of people desperately clamoring for damages with very specious legal claims.

io9 has posted a clip from the upcoming big screen CG adaptation of Science Ninja Team Gatchaman — the original animated Japanese “team of powerful teenage do-gooders” show that set the stage for such awesome acts of spandex as Power Rangers.

At least it’s kind of a clip. It’s mostly just a shot of a futuristic city street and about 2 seconds of the Phoenix taking off. I guess that sort of qualifies as a teaser trailer. Anyway, it’s better than nothing and it’s good to see that they’re taking their art direction cues from Speed Racer. This proves my theory that the common through-line with modern adaptations of futuristic early 70’s anime are smooth, neon colored lighting patterns. Gatchaman’s due out in 2009.