#august underground 2001

[blogginaturfuneral]

KOЯN “Blind” (but not korn) 📹 / August Underground 2001 📼

[daily-rayless]

25 Years of Rosa

I've been doing this character appreciation series for a while now, and it's about time we got to a very special character – the first character from the first JRPG I ever played that I first really fangirled over – the first character that was my Number One Favorite Video Game Character – Rosa Farrell from Final Fantasy 4.

June 1999

We are going so far back that I have no idea what my first Rosa fan art was. It's not this – but I wanted to highlight it because I was incredibly proud of myself. Rosa, all sad and anguished because she's missing Cecil.

But let's talk some about her, the good and the -- maybe? -- bad.

October 1999

I first played FF4 in May 1999, on a rickety and unreliable Super Nintendo. The cartridge was prone to failure and wiped out my first save once I'd gotten the team underground. But by then, I was invested, too invested to give up and play Chrono Trigger or something. I had to find out what happened to Cecil and Rosa and everyone, so I slammed that cartridge right back in and started up a new game. Fortunately, that one lasted all the way through.

January 2000

As I said, it was my first JRPG, and I adored the medium, especially the story. Along with having a rickety SNES, I also had a house with a not-great internet connection, and this was long before you could easily look up Let's Plays and videos of your favorite scenes. Convinced in my young mind that the game might never properly work for me again and would never, I don't know, be republished, I immediately sat down and wrote a detailed, dramatized summary of the whole thing just so I wouldn't forget it.

April 2000

And my favorite element of the story was Rosa, the healer, the archer, the female lead. Maybe it's just that FF4 was my first game, but I like to think there's a special spark to Rosa that makes her stand out.

June 2000

I was bubbling over with enthusiasm and, along with writing out a detailed summary, I subjected my patient and obliging mother to endless dissertations on the characters and story. I specifically remember talking to her about Rosa, and her commenting that Rosa was a traditionally “feminine” character, even “passive” – a healer, a love interest, needing to be rescued not once, but twice.

November 2000

And I think that's worth exploring – as neutrally as possible. On one hand, in fiction we do have a very long history of imperiled, secondary, predominantly supportive heroines, and the fact that so many had to be written that way reflects something bad in the real world. On the other hand, I really do believe that most tropes are just tropes, and even if they've been overused, often badly used, that doesn't mean they can't be used.

August 2001

In a lot of ways, Rosa is a very safe character. Though she's a studied mage and master archer, that's not why she's in the story. Her main involvement is as a love interest, both to the hero Cecil and his rival/best friend Kain.

November 2001

Rosa's reason for joining the adventure comes down to her love for Cecil. She isn't seeking her own quest. She never states a goal that isn't Cecil's. In fairness, the game is very stripped down, and none of the characters voice very complex motives. You could just as easily say Cecil is Cid's reason for joining the adventure.

November 2002

But Rosa's story beats all come down to Cecil and Kain. Surely, on such an adventure, Rosa would grow and discover things about herself, but you never hear about it. What you hear about is her worrying about Cecil, worrying about the fate of the world, taking care of others, and of course getting kidnapped. All very safe, non-disruptive things for a female character.

June 2004

There are even moments where the game leans into a slight but still apparent sexism. At the siege of Fabul, despite Rydia and Rosa being practiced fighters and valuable mages, they're sent to tend to the injured while the men go off to fight.

June 2005

This is echoed at the end of the game when Cecil himself, who knows full well how powerful Rosa and Rydia are, still forbids them to join him in the ending level. There's some brief resistance, but then the girls, in all apparent obedience, quietly leave while the men remain to save the world.

September 2005

Part of it may be that Rosa comes from a very early video game, but if we look at sci-fi/fantasy itself as a genre, we had more boundary-pushing heroines long before the early 1990s, at least in the West. By then, we already had Princess Leia, Red Sonja, Alanna the Lioness, and others.

April 2006

Rosa is brave, talented, and loyal, but is she ultimately a regressive character?

October 2007

I don't know if I have a perfect answer to that. What I do know is that one of the things I've always loved most about Rosa is that she knows her own mind. Yeah, she'll support you. Yeah, she'll cast Protect and Haste on you, and then she'll Cure you when Bahamut takes your HP down to 1. But she does not do it meekly.

2008

One of her first scenes is her comforting Cecil as he deals with his thorny ethical angst. But she quickly stops murmuring kindly to him and tells him he can't just mope and complain about things. He has to take a stand. He has to own his actions – change himself, one of the themes of the game. She sees it long before he does, and she isn't exactly tender as she tells him.

July 2009

She joins the adventure for Cecil, but she doesn't join with him. He leaves without her (she doesn't beg to come with him, she has things to do) and when he goes missing, she sets off on her own in search of him, going faster and getting farther than he did before desert sickness stops her cold.

March 2010

And at the end of the game when this selfsame Cecil, this guy who grew up with her and is in a relationship with her and knows her so well, tells her to go home and be safe while he and the guys save the world, she does meekly turn around and leave. But she doesn't go far. She and Rydia stow aboard his spaceship and travel with him and the men to the moon. Whereupon she tells Cecil, with no ambiguity, that he cannot keep her from coming.

October 2011

Which is a good thing, because I have beaten FF4 many times, and let me tell you, you are not surviving the ending boss without Rosa Curing you, Protecting you, and probably Lifing you more than once.

February 2013

So have I exonerated Rosa? I've shown how assertive she really is. Have I proved she's not regressive?

October (?) 2018

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of the assertive woman = automatically good female character theory. A woman can be physically weak, even psychologically timid, and still be an incredibly interesting, complex, and strong character. And another can be bold and brave and badass and still remain uninteresting and shallow.

2020

But I think I've shown that, whatever Rosa is, she's not passive.

August 2021

Being a back-row archer isn't a problem, being a healer isn't a problem, being conventionally feminine isn't a problem. Even, at the end of the day, being a “safe” character isn't actually a problem. It comes down to how well the character's written – and, even more subjectively, how they connect with the audience.

May 2024

Rosa connected powerfully with me. Since then, other characters have come and eclipsed her number one spot in my heart. But I still love her a lot, and I don't want to see her dismissed.

[brokehorrorfan]

August Underground will be released on Blu-ray + DVD on August 15 via Unearthed Films. The 2001 found footage exploitation film is notorious for its realistic portrayal of snuff.

Fred Vogel directs from a script he co-wrote with Allen Peters. Vogel and Peters also star. It was followed by August Underground's Mordum in 2003, and August Underground's Penance in 2007.

Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by writer-director-actor Fred Vogel and Ulta Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger (new)

Audio commentary by writer-director-actor Fred Vogel

Audio commentary by director Fred Vogel and actors Aaron LaBonte & Ben LaBonte

Audio commentary by “The Killer”

Introduction by writer-director-actor Fred Vogel

10 Questions with Fred Vogel (new)

Toetag Masterclass: From Storyboard to Screen (new)

Dave Parker Interviews Fred Vogel (new)

Hammer to the Head: A Closer Look At August Underground

On Location

Behind The Brutality

Too Real For Comfort - An Outsiders Perspective

Photo gallery

Trailers

Imagine walking down the street and finding an unmarked VHS tape. Curiosity piqued, you take it home and pop it in. What starts off as a couple of men screwing around with a video camera quickly transforms into an shocking sequence where two unidentified psychopaths tape their exploits in graphic detail. The devastation of your morals continues throughout the entirety of the footage, while subtly revealing the killers’ shattered pasts via the interaction with their victims and each other.

Pre-order August Underground.

[chaoticframes]

August Underground (2001) dir. Fred Vogel

[kdnss77]

August Underground (2001)

basic info: directed by Fred Vogel and co-written by Allen Peters. classified by the genres of horror, found footage and snuff.

overall ratings: imdb: 3,5/10 rotten tomatoes: 48% letterboxd: 2,1/5

plot summary: the plot itself revolves around a sociopathic duo: firstly - a gruesome, torture-loving serial killer and secondly - his loyal companion, capturing his monstrous acts within the eye of the camera. their endeavors, which include kidnapping and severely injuring a young woman, as well as slicing into pieces a body of a man killed by Peter (played by Fred Vogel, the director himself) or beating up a prostitute they came across, have found their place on a video tape in a conveniently chaotic style, proudly following the foundations of the infamous found footage convention.

my thoughts: but to get real. could the adjective "good" be ever found under the same label as the subgenre of snuff? it's rather quite self explainable, just as the subjectivity in terms of sympathy for sickening mixture of brutality, gore and shameless, sexual depravity. because in its own kind, this particular title (and the subsequent sequels) are in fact quite remarkable. the characters feel disturbingly real, just as their doings. both the obscene and surprisingly casual, such as getting a tattoo in terms of the second matter mentioned. i've seen reviews saying the movie lacks gore cuts and that they shouldve been more frequent throughout its full length, so as to make it more entertaining and even less humane. but for me personally it creates a well crafted balance. just two guys on a killing spree, having the best time of their lives. giggling uncontrollably and documenting things that are plainly unimaginable. and at the same time could be happening anywhere, anytime or even at this particular moment. although i have to agree, that - except for the realness of the protagonists - they themselves lack some initial depth that would enable a potential viewer to immerse oneself in this ordinary, yet horrible turn of events. all i managed to feel for both Peter and his bro was hatred, but only for the reason of their actions. no personality or motifs included. guess that would be the lacking piece of puzzle for me, regarding this part of the August Underground series in particular.

my rating (on a scale from 1 to 5): 2/5

favorite quote: "You know what I don't understand? I don't understand, you know, like, in, y'know, in the Bible, and y'know, the stories that you hear, y'know, they're always upset, and weeping, and crying and stuff like that. These people just have a stoned look on their face. Get it?"

the images used were found by me on the internet, credits to their original uploaders.

[august-undergrounds]

every time I see your new username I think of the 2001 psuedo-snuff film of the same name and briefly wonder why I'm following a fan account for it and then I remember that's not. you're not actually that you named yourself that for multiple reasons

changed this forever ago but im cleaning out my ask box n you're right, i renamed my blog again

1) because my online partner in crime and boyfriend sid was born in august

2) because of the track august underground on ethel cain's album preachers daughter, it's my favorite track on the album

[transthehorrors]

TransAugUndVictim

-> a transharm ID where one wants to be or feels like they should be a victim of the killers in August Underground (2001)

-> coined by me for @rqichigo

-> credit is appreciated

[blogof1000corpses]

Hey Slasher Sisters!

I wanted to start the New Year with another entry from the Disturbing Movie Iceberg. I have an entire month of disturbing cinema planned for January, however depending on how busy work gets, I may only get two or three finished. I thought the best way to break in the New year was with one of the most infamous and most known entries on the iceberg -- August Underground.

As with any entry from the Disturbing Iceberg, I was nervous to watch August Underground. Although disturbing cinema has hardly ever gotten to me, the rush of uncertainty as you press play on a "disturbing" film never goes away. So, does the reputation of "August Underground" hold up, or is it just a teenage boy's ultraviolent fantasies? Read more to find out 👻

[everygame]

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 (PS4)

Developed/Published by: Vicarious Visions / Activision Released: 4/09/2020 Completed: 20/08/2022 Completion: All challenges completed and all golds, baby! Trophies / Achievements: 49%

It’s August, 2022. I’m sitting at a desk. It’s April, 2000. I’m sitting on the floor, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on Nintendo 64. It’s August, 2022, I’m sitting on a couch, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater on PlayStation 4.

It’s January, 2001. I’m sitting on a futon, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on Sega Dreamcast. It’s August, 2022, I’m sitting on a couch, playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on Playstation 4. It’s August, 2022, I’m sitting at a desk.

…

Alright, you’re probably thinking: 1. That’s probably the weakest parody of that bit in Watchmen I’ve ever read and 2. Are you serious that you actually played THPS 1 and 2 on N64 and then Dreamcast???

Yeah, I’m completely serious! But I’m not sure I’ve ever played anything that decoupled me from time as much as playing this did. It’s interesting, because you’d assume that I’d be able to experience this almost as something new, considering they’ve upgraded the graphics, aged up all the skaters, and even updated the game systems to match the post-THPS2 games what with reverts and that. But I think it’s actually to do with the hypnotic nature of the Tony Hawks games. They are pure “zone” games. A level loads, and you have to pretty much lose yourself to getting the highest combo–your fingers move really without any conscious thought, and what gets into your subconscious is that soundtrack; itself a sort of concentrated bomb of memory and emotion. 

It’s… weird? It’s weird that playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, to me, is like riding a bike. I literally haven’t touched one of these since Tony Hawk’s Underground on PS2 (“It’s December, 2003…”) and yet here I am, there I was: trick to revert to manual to trick to revert to manual to grind to manual like it hasn’t been, um, nearly twenty years.

I suppose I had forgotten how to do specials (you don’t rush the inputs, basically) but once that was locked in I was golden. Not that this wasn’t still a challenge for my clearly aging wrists, as once I decided I was going to 100% this with golds the marathon “fail, restart, fail, “just one more go”, fail, restart” session I pulled on the last level in THSP2… well, let’s just say for the first time in my gaming career I was having to ice my hands and wrists. God knows what long term damage I did even the first time I played these.

Anyway. This is as good as it always was. I think it’s a bit of a shame the original no-manual/no-revert play is relegated to a game mod option instead of actually being a way to play through the games properly, but I suppose the original games still exist if I ever want to play them–I’m not going to, but it’s interesting how the “final” incarnation of THPS gameplay put such an emphasis on just chaining special vert tricks; maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like the earlier system made you do more street skating for high scores (which I like more, I think?) 

I don’t really know how well this did, but I suspect it was a bit like Activision’s attempts to get Guitar Hero up and running again–if you were there the first time and you actually play it, you remember how fucking great it is, but they miked the franchise so relentlessly that it’s hard to get up the urge to actually play it again. At least this one doesn’t come with several hundred dollars worth of quickly obsolete plastic, so I say… give it a go, I’m glad I did.

Will I ever play it again? Interesting fact: THPS2 had five extra exclusive levels on Xbox, and they’re not here! Though apparently parts of those levels were re-used in later games, so it’s possible those five levels are considered “non-canon”. I’d maybe play THPS2 on Xbox then one day, but I’d prefer a THPS 3+4 package please! I never played them the first time.

Final Thought: It’s March, 2041. I’m sitting in a burned out building, hoping that the roaming kill squads don’t check this quadrant today. My wrists really, really fucking hurt. I should never have played Tony Hawk’s in April 2000, January 2001, December 2003 and especially not in bloody August 2022!

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi, either via a one-off donation (pay what you like) or by joining as a supporter at just $1 a month.

[spy-in-the-house]

SpyInTheHouse 674.fm podcast 064 27022023 [SCIENCE FRICTION 01.23]

The February '23 Spyinthehouse Excursion - as always presented by Psycho Thrill Cologne and 674.fm as well as mixed and compiled by Claus Bachor - this time draws a line from earlier Rave Club Cologne anthems such as Armando's "Uhaceeid" or Adamski's "Killer" in the relevant Ben Chapman Remix, to timeless electronica club classics by Duplex, DJ ESP, Millsart/ Jeff Mills, Abe Duqué, or Mike Huckaby to contemporary productions by Oliver Way, Byrion The Aquarius, DJ Bone, Thomas Barnett, Drivetrain/ Derrick Thompson, Rennie Foster, Paranoid London, Marcell Dettmann or Chicago's Traxman and many more.

The 674.fm radio broadcast mix itself features 50 vinyl-only tracks by Drivetrain/ Derrick Thompson (2), Rennie Foster (2), Byron The Aquarius feat Kyle Hall, Jamie 3:26, Byron The Aquarius, Steve Crawford, Mike Huckaby (2), Billy Lo, Oliver Way (3/ remixed by Aphrohead, Plaid, Robert Hood), Duplex (3), Dave P feat. R.T (3), Acid Maria & Abe Duque, Myriadd, Gerd (2), Adamski (remixed by Ben Chapman), Armando Gallop, Paranoid London, André Cannon, Marcel Dettmann (3), Thanos Hana, DJ ESP/ Woody McBride, RHYW, Traxman, Thomas Barnett (3), DJ Bone (3), GEN-Y (2), Sound Synthesis, Mike Wilson & August Artier, Millsart/ Jeff Mills (2), Gigi Galaxy/ Gary Martin (remixed by Delano Smith), Arbilla (remixed by Scan7/ Lou Robinson), Gene Le Fosse & Abe Duque//

⦿  FULL TRACK LISTING

01 DRIVETRAIN [DERRICK THOMPSON]: It Can Never Be The Same (Part 2) [ A1-Track from "Empress Enigma" SRT-179 US Test/Promo-12” / Clone Distr. | 2023 ] 02 RENNIE FOSTER: Guiding Light [ B1-Track from "Empress Enigma" SRT-179 US Test/Promo-12” / Clone Distr. | 2023 ] 03 RENNIE FOSTER: I Haven't Forgotten [ B2-Track from "Empress Enigma" SRT-179 US Test/Promo-12” / Clone Distr. | 2023 ] 04 DRIVETRAIN: It Can Never Be The Same (Part 1) [ A1-Track from "Empress Enigma" SRT-179 US Test/Promo-12” / Clone Distr. | 2023 ] 05 BYRON THE AQUARIUS [BYRON DEWAYNE BLAYLOCK] feat. KYLE HALL: Evolution [ A3-Track from "Black Man Of The Echo Tree" House Of Underground HOU-004 / DVDE FRA 12” | 2023 ] 06 JAMIE 3:26 [JAMIE WATSON]: Feelin' It [ B-Side from "Live My Life / Feelin' It" Nu Groove Records NG 119 / Defected UK 12” | 2022 ] 07 BYRON THE AQUARIUS: People Of The Kemet _ Dub Version [ B2-Track from "Black Man Of The Echo Tree" House Of Underground HOU-004 / DVDE FRA 12” | 2023  ] 08 STEVE CRAWFORD: Arctic Vibration _ Osunlade's Yoruba Soul Remix [ B-Side from Upstairs Asylum Recordings UA-010 US 7” | 2022 ] 09 MIKE HUCKABY: The Jazz Republic [ A1-Track from "The Jazz Republic" Cross Section Records C.S.-119 UK 12” | 1997 ] 10 BILLY LO [SEDFAT ERDOGAN]: Reality Of Life [ A-Side from Rumpsheyka RSK-006 BEL Promo-12” | 2001 ] 11 MIKE HUCKABY: Jazz Delirium [ A2-Track from "The Jazz Republic" Cross Section Records C.S.-119 UK 12” | 1997 ] 12 OLIVER WAY: Music's So Special _ Aphrohead Remix [ B2-Track from "From The Shadows Remixes" EPM Music EPM-OW01 Ltd. UK 12” | 2022 ] 13 DUPLEX [CHRIS AARSE & JOHN MATZE]: < Meta > [ A2-Track from "EP 4" Clone C#18 / Clone Distr. NL Promo-WL-12” | 2000 ] 14 OLIVER WAY: Dust Storm _ Plaid Remix [ A2-Track from "From The Shadows Remixes" EPM Music EPM-OW01 Ltd. UK 12” | 2022 ] 15 DAVE P [DAVE PEOPLES] feat. R.T [RICK TURNER]: Kingdom Of Space [ B1-Track from "Project V Saturn EP" Sakskøbing SKKB-016 / Subwax Distr. RU 12” | 2022 ] 16 DUPLEX: Scenes Of A Life EP 5 B2 [ B2-Track from "EP 5" Clone C#21 / Clone Distr. NL Promo-BL-12” | 2001 ] 17 DAVE P feat. R.T: Atlantis Incident [ A1-Track from "Project V Saturn EP" Sakskøbing SKKB-016 / Subwax Distr. RU 12” | 2022 ] 18 DUPLEX: Monotremata [ A2-Track from "EP 5" Clone C#21 / Clone Distr. NL Promo-BL-12” | 2001 ] 19 DAVE P feat. R.T: Gigabyte 52C [ A2-Track from "Project V Saturn EP" Sakskøbing SKKB-016 / Subwax Distr. RU 12” | 2022 ] 20 ACID MARIA & ABE DUQUE: Turn Down The Lights [ B-Side from Abe Duque Records ADR 010 US WL-12” | 2005 ] 21 MYRIADD [ACID PHREEX aka CRAIG STANTON]: The Way We Were _ Original Mix [ A-Side from Signals SIG.MMXII.VII UK Promo-10” | 2012 ] 22 GERD: We Bring U Muzik _ Original Mix [ A1-Track from Nu Groove Records NG 123 UK 12” | 2022 ] 23 ADAMSKI  [ADAM TINLEY] feat. SEAL: Killer _ Adamski & Ben Chapman Remix [ A1-Track from "Killeremix" MCA Records MCAX 1400 UK Promo-12” | 1989 ] 24 GERD: We Bring U Muzik _ Warehouse Mix [ B1-Track from Nu Groove Records NG 123 UK 12” | 2022 ] 25 ARMANDO GALLOP: Uhaceeid [ A1-Track from "Volume 2" Missing Dog Records MDR007-009 / Barney's Distr. US 12" | 1989 ] 26 PARANOID LONDON [GERARDO DELGADO & QUINN WHALLEY] with MATADO PINTADO: Suck A Dick _ Vocal Mix [ A-Side from Paranoid London Records PDON-012 UK 12” | 2022 ] 27 ANDRÉ CANNON: Total Recall [ B2-Track from "Tracks From The Dungeon Vol 2" L.A. Club Resource LACR-033 US 12” | 2022 ] 28 MARCEL DETTMANN: X12 [ C1-Track from "Fear Of Programming" Dekmantel DKMNTL-095 NL 2x12” | 2022 ] 29 OLIVER WAY: Stained Glass Shadow _ Rober Hood Remix [ A1-Track from "From The Shadows Remixes" EPM Music EPM-OW01 Ltd. UK 12” | 2022 ] 30 MARCEL DETTMANN: Renewal Theory [ A3-Track from "Fear Of Programming" Dekmantel DKMNTL-095 NL 2x12” | 2022 ] 31 THANOS HANA [THANOS PAPADOPOULOS]: Jon Always At 1210 [ B1-Track from TH Tar Hallow TH-006 / TAR Electronics NL BEL-12” | 2017 ] 32 DJ ESP [WOODY McBRIDE]: 4 Days In The Laboratory [ A1-Track from "The Mad Scientists" Communique Records COMMUNIQUÉ 008RE / DBH-Music Distr. US 12” | 1995/2022 ] 33 RHYW [ALEX TSIRIDIS]: Skull To The Chest [ B1-Track from TH Tar Hallow TH-005 / TAR Electronics NL BEL-12” | 2016 ] 34 TRAXMAN [CORNELIUS FERGUSON]: Dat Hot Number [ B1-Track from "The Jackin EP" Factory Music Chicago FMC-004 / DBH-Music Distr. US 12” | 2022 ] 35 THOMAS BARNETT: Motorize [ A-Side from "Motorize EP" Exarde XRD-010 RU 12” | 2022 ] 36 DJ BONE [ERIC DULAN]: Rising [ A1-Track from "Black Market EP" Fabric Originals FRO-002 / Fabric Records UK 12” | 2022 ] 37 THOMAS BARNETT: Dirty Bounce [ B1-Track from "Motorize EP" Exarde XRD-010 RU 12” | 2022 ] 38 DJ BONE: Fulmination [ A2-Track from "Black Market EP" Fabric Originals FRO-002 / Fabric Records UK 12” | 2022 ] 39 THOMAS BARNETT: Overlords [ B2-Track from "Motorize EP" Exarde XRD-010 RU 12” | 2022 ] 40 DJ BONE: In Solution [ B1-Track from "Black Market EP" Fabric Originals FRO-002 / Fabric Records UK 12” | 2022 ] 41 MARCEL DETTMANN: (Batteries Not Included) [ C2-Track from "Fear Of Programming" Dekmantel DKMNTL-095 NL 2x12” | 2022 ] 42 GEN-Y: Type 0 7 [ B1-Track from "Earth Experience" Clone West Coast Series CWCS-018 / Clone Distr. NL 12” | 2022 ] 43 SOUND SYNTHESIS [KEITH FARRUGIA]: You Are The Force [ B1-Track from "Exit Planet Earth - Krypton" 20:20 Vision EPE08 UK 12” | 2022 ] 44 GEN-Y: Kirby Step [ B3-Track from "Earth Experience" Clone West Coast Series CWCS-018 / Clone Distr. NL 12” | 2022 ] 45 MIKE WILSON & AUGUST ARTIER: Akira's Cry [ B2-Track from "Exit Planet Earth - Krypton" 20:20 Vision EPE08 UK 12” | 2022 ] 46 MILLSART/ JEFF MILLS: Got To Get Down [ B2-Track from "Every Dog Has Its Day Vol. 4" AXIS-030 US Promo-Single-12″ release | 2003 ] 47 GIGI GALAXY [GARY MARTIN]: Interview With An Alien _ Delano Smith Remix [ B-Side from DET 313 DET313E / Sushitech GER 12” | 2023 ] 48 MILLSART/ JEFF MILLS: Untitled [ A2-Track from "Every Dog Has Its Day Vol. 4" AXIS-030 US Promo-12”/ Single Version | 2003 ] 49 ARBILLA [PHIL ROBERTSON]: Virtual Reality _ Scan 7 Remix [ A1-Track from "Envision EP" Xistence Records XIST001-12 IRE 12” | 2022 ] 50 GENE LE FOSSE & ABE DUQUE: Take Me To Heaven [ A-Side from Abe Duque Records ADR 010 US WL-12” | 2005 ]

⦿  All about Claus Bachor/ Psycho Thrill Cologne/ SpyInThehouse via LINKTR.EE

[haveyouseenthishorrormovie]

Stats from Movies 601-700

Top 10 Movies - Highest Number of Votes

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992) had the most votes with 1,347 votes. Absentia (2011) had the least votes with 54 votes.

The 10 Most Watched Films by Percentage

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992) was the most watched film with 44.6% of voters out of 1,347 saying they had seen it. The Inhabitant (2017) had the least "Yes" votes with 0.6% of voters out of 785.

The 10 Least Watched Films by Percentage

Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) was the least watched film with 69.7% of voters out of 538 saying they hadn’t seen it. I Am Alone (2015) had the least "No" votes with 11.3% of voters out of 531.

The 10 Most Known Films by Percentage

Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1992) was the best known film, 6,7% of voters out of 1,347 saying they’d never heard of it.

The 10 Least Known Films by Percentage

I Am Alone (2015) was the least known film, 88,10% of voters out of 531 saying they’d never heard of it.

The movies part of the statistic count and their polls below the cut.

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007) Unhinged (2020) Tales from the Hood (1995) Tales from the Hood 2 (2018) Tales from the Hood 3 (2020) Quarantine (2008) Quarantine 2: Terminal (2011) I Am Alone (2015) The Hitcher (1986) Lady in White (1988)

Ghostland (2018) Dark City (1998) Event Horizon (1997) Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977) The Exorcist III (1990) Exorcist: The Beginning (2004) Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005) The Exorcist: Believer (2023) Tragedy Girls (2017) Martin (1977)

Saint Maud (2019) A Cure for Wellness (2016) The Devil's Advocate (1997) Alice, Sweet Alice (1976) 1408 (2007) Good Manners (2017) The Crawling Eye (1958) Un Chien Andalou / An Andalusian Dog (1929) Cadaver (2020) Skinner (1993)

Cube (1997) The Bees (1978) August Underground (2001) The House (2022) The Lodge (2019) Stay Alive (2006) Shallow Grave (1994) Contracted (2013) Messiah of Evil (1974) The Red Queen Kills Seven Times (1972)

Llamageddon (2015) One Hour Photo (2002) Absentia (2011) You Might Be the Killer (2018) The Haunting (1999) Onibaba (1964) Abandoned (2022) The Offering (2022) The Crow (1994) Call Back (2009)

La Llorona (2019) Suicide Club (2001) 1BR (2019) Where the Dead Go to Die (2012) El Conde (2023) Black Mountain Side (2014) Piggy (2022) The Neon Demon (2016) Prom Night (1980) Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)

Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990) Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil (1991) Prom Night (2008) Rift (2017) Slaughtered Vomit Dolls (2006) ReGOREgitated Sacrifice (2008) Slow Torture Puke Chamber (2010) Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl (2016) The Club (1994) The Last Exorcism (2010)

Braid (2018) Red Mist (2008) Knock at the Cabin (2023) Revealer (2022) Piranha (1978) What Keeps You Alive (2018) Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) Teeth (2007) Martyrs (2015)

The Woman In Black (1989) The Last Thing Mary Saw (2021) Thirst (2019) Tigers Are Not Afraid (2017) An American Haunting (2005) Troll Hunter (2010) The Power (2021) Post Mortem (2020) Vampires vs. the Bronx (2020) Bulbbul (2020)

The Inhabitant (2017) The Cleansing Hour (2016) The Wind (2018) The Mimic (2017) Errementari (2017) Witches in the Woods (2019) There's Something Wrong with the Children (2023) Antrum (2018) Love at First Bite (1979) The Night of the Hunter (1955)

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter - Wednesday, July 26 - Thursday July 27 - Part II

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on!! Find out more here.

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork: BTVS “Every Outfit” “Dirty Girls” Xx by whatshisfaceblogs (Buffy, worksafe)

Artwork: BTVS “Every Outfit” “Lies My Parents Told Me” Xx by whatshisfaceblogs (Buffy, worksafe)

Vidlet: buffy & angel - first love (edit) by vu-prod (Buffy/Angel, worksafe)

Vidlet: moonlight - Faith (BtVS) edit by vu-prod (Faith, worksafe)

Vidlet: he go vrrrm - Spike Edit (BtVS) by vu-prod (Spike, worksafe)

Vidlet: Faith Lehane Edit (BtVS) - Cochise Pocket Rocket by vu-prod (Faith, worksafe)

Fanvid: sonia j : Buffy & Faith ✗ Bad Girl by cornflowershade (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

Artwork: Accepting that these are not getting finished! by snakeliciousbaby (various, worksafe)

Artwork: I made this Buffy-themed painting for a friend... by interplanetaryartgasm (worksafe)

Moodboard: Drusilla (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) by originalwitchedits (Drusilla, worksafe)

Manip: HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS ⌞ spuffy version by l0veisntbrains (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

Gifset: [hands] Buffy the Vampire Slayer by deadwivesclub (worksafe)

Gifset: LEGALLY BLONDE (2001) || ANGEL (1999-2004) by charmedslayer (Harmony, worksafe)

Gifset: What is love to you? How would you define love? by andremichaux [incorrect quotes] (Buffy, Scoobies, Faith, worksafe)

Artwork: the chain by spikedru (Spike/Drusilla, worksafe)

Artwork: old tara sketch by softest-butch (Tara, worksafe)

Artwork: Faith x Buffy request for the pride event ♥️ by somewillwin (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

The Buffy re-watch: S1E7 (part 1) by jvstheworld

PODCAST: Lap Sweater - Angel S05E02 - Just Rewards by Pop Culture Role Call

[Recs & In Search Of]

ISO: UpstairsReasonable71 seeks Accessing all audio commentaries [transcripts or direct from DVDs]

[Community Announcements]

SoS: Living with Spike Competition [reminder for Giles and Spike story deadline] by nightshade

[Fandom Discussions]

Giles would totally go with Buffy to Barbie and ... by angelique-of-the-volturi-guard

So if Spike is in the tub then... how does Giles do well anything in the bathroom??? by a-potato-wearing-plaid and several others

Do vampires in the Buffyverse have their own underground porn companies? by aphony-cree and multiple others

[cool and pathetic scale for main characters] by hersterical

POLL (and meta): female character fucked over the most by the narrative, specifically in ways the narrative doesn't acknowledge... by variousqueerthings

[thoughts on which season is the most depressing] by variousqueerthings

ethan rayne was the scary evil transsexual coming for your children... [sarcastic] by mag200

[Buffy and Willow comparison during Some Assembly Required] by coraniaid

Four times Buffy Summers climbs out of a grave... by coraniaid

Ask: Do you think Buffy and Angel "regress"...[post S3]? [no] by buffysummers

SoS: Olivia or Maggie in Season 4 [with Giles] by nightshade and others

Missing' Scenes/Scenes You Wished The Writers Had Included? updated by fauxindigo and thrasherpix

Loose ends [separating Fred from Illyria] by 1KyloRen

How did I never realize this was the name of the Buffy/Angel theme? by gimmesomespace

S7 Giles vent by total-smokeshow

Theory on Crosses and Vampires by Alternative24601

Were Spike/Buffy planned from the beginning? by atlasshrugd

OMWF / The Harvest [choreography parallels] by johnnyorac

smashed / the harsh light of day parallels by atlasshrugd

How much was SMG earning from the series? Did she get residuals? by WhatIsAName88

Gunn on the picket line [J. August Richards] by singleguy79

POLL: Which character's feelings were often overlooked or not taken seriously? by Opening_Knowledge868

How often do you rewatch Buffy? by pilatessong

How would you rank all 7 finale episodes? by donoho-59

Everyones love [interest] dies by nearlyheadlessnik101

How should I watch buffy and angel? by RiverProse

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Streamily [upcoming live events with J. Landau, J. Marsters, J. Benz and others] via dontkillspike

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

[greenbagjosh]

20 - 21 June 1998 - A weekend in Salzburg - crazy pretzels and sliding down in the Berchtesgaden underground salt mine

21 June 1998

Hi everyone

Today and tomorrow, twenty years ago, I was in Salzburg, in kangaroo-less Austria, and the Berchtesgadener Land in southeasternmost Germany.  Because I would not be paid until a week or so later, I had to spend a night in a hostel and eat cheap.  I found a good hostel just southeast of downtown Salzburg, called the Eduard Heinrich Haus.  I reserved my room by phone, on Friday on a payphone. (Payphones in 2018 are hard to find anymore)

Originally I was not supposed to go to Salzburg the weekend of the 20th/21st June, but rather on the 19th my work colleagues were supposed to go mountain climbing (actually hiking which could as well be climbing!) south of Holzkirchen. That was postponed until the 26th because of the weather forecast for the 19th – in the mountains of Bavaria, the weather can change unexpectedly, and it is hard to find shelter, so we made the safe decision to wait until the 26th.

From Munich to Salzburg, the Schönes Wochenende ticket that cost 35 DM, was valid all weekend on the slow trains.  I took the Regional Express from Munich Ostbahnhof via Rosenheim and Freilassing. The train was not air conditioned, as were many Regional Express trains at the time, so it was an annoyance to some passengers, to slide the window down when going over 50 mph, particularly between Munich Ost and Rosenheim.  I think I arrived around 10:30 AM in Salzburg Hbf.  As I noted from 7th June 1998, there was no longer any formal customs between Germany and Austria as a result of the Schengen Agreement, so the station customs at Salzburg Hbf I remembered in operation in June 1997, for 1998 it was completely unmanned.  It was still standing in December 2001/August 2002, and I think also in August 2004 when I returned for a day visit, but sometime in 2005, it was demolished to make room for more train platforms and was complete around February 2012.

I went to the ticket hall, and then bought a day pass for the Salzburg Verkehrsbetriebe for the city and also for the zones including Lamprechtshausen and also Trimmelkam, as I was curious about riding the Lokalbahn, which is now the S-1 line.  In today's money it would be EUR 13.60, now 190 Schilling if today's exchange rate of ATS 13.9 = EUR 1.00 were to be used, but it was cheaper 20 years ago.  It was a good ride up to Lamprechtshausen.  I bought myself a big bottle of Almdudler (it is herbal and tastes like fizzy iced tea) at the Billa grocery store, of which I posted a photo of it while waiting for a bus in Wildshut.  From Lamprechtshausen I took the "shuttle line" to Bürmoos in Oberösterreich.  There was not much to see or do, and I was not quite thirsty enough to drink any of the Almdudler while waiting for the train to return to Bürmoos and on to Salzburg, so somehow I walked to Wildshut.  I think I took an hour to get there.  It was sunny and I think about the 90s.  I caught the bus that went on to Oberndorf where the S-1 would take me back to Salzburg.  I was starting to get a headache so I drank some of the Almdudler but it was not much use.  I went back to Hbf to fetch my clothes bag and headed for the hostel.  I had to take trolley bus 51 and exit at Egger-Lienz-Straße and walk a half mile towards the Salzach bank more or less.  My bed in the room was ready, and I took a nap for about two hours, and listened to the former "Blue Danube Radio" station.  The station is now part of the independent channel FM4.  I remember a story about the Empress Sisi mentioned on the broadcast.

I could not stay at the hostel for so long, as I did not come to Salzburg just to sleep all day.  I had to go back to the Altstadt to see what was going on.  As the 1998 FIFA World Cup was still in group stage, there were two matches.  One was Belgium vs Mexico, and the other was Netherlands vs South Korea.  I did not have any internet at the time, even a "smart phone", so back in 1998, there would be internet set up and probably 50 people or so would wait in line, waiting 15 to 20 minutes to get a turn.  I think I waited a whole hour.  Grumpy-Old-Man would say "That's the way it was, and we *liked* it!"  Now everyone can just skip that and use their smartphone.  I thought of going up to the top of the castle but I decided it was getting too late for that.  I think I had a "Käsekreiner" and can of Stiegl beer for dinner, took a bus to the Parsch district, I guess for sentimental reasons, and when it was dark, I went back to the hostel.  Back then I did not know that the Sacher Hotel was across the Salzach from the Altstadt, until I saw an ad sometime in July 1998.  It was out of my price range at the time anyway.

Sunday morning the 21st was as sunny as Saturday.  That was the day I was going to go to the Schloß Salzburg by cable car.  I had breakfast at the hostel, washed up, checked out, then took bus 51 to Salzburg Hbf to leave my clothes bag.  I went to the castle by cable car.  At the top, there was a very good panoramic view, not just of the , but also towards Maxglan, Hallein and even a little bit of Tirol.  And also the Berchtesgadener Land which I would visit later that day.  After I took the cable car down, I walked around and found a pretzel seller.  They had so many kinds of soft pretzels that I chose three, all of them about 10 inches wide.  One with ham and cheese, one with just salt, and the other split and filled with chocolate.  I took them along and then after taking the bus to Maxglan, I ate the ham and cheese pretzel, maybe one more.  By that time I think I had seen enough of Salzburg.  I was not much of a fan of Sound of Music so I did not go on that tour.  It was time to leave Austria and then return to Germany.  

I boarded, I think 1:30 PM, the train at Salzburg Hbf, for Berchtesgaden via Freilassing.  It arrived in Berchtesgaden, the end of the line, at 3 PM.  I thought of going to Kehlsteinhaus / Eagles Nest (would do that on 19th July 1998), but I settled on the Salzbergwerke, the salt mine.  It is basically a 10 minute train ride inside the mountain, a walk through the tunnels, sliding down and also a boat ride through the salt pool.  Everyone is required to wear a rented salt mine overall (somewhere I have a selfie!) and stay with the guide at all times.  In comparison to the upper 80s temperatures, the inside of the mountain was about the low 50s.  It is constant year round, as I would find out later, namely in February 2012 when I visited another salt mine in Bad Dürrnberg near Hallein.  Coming out of the salt mine was not so fun, after it being so cool inside.  Oh no it's so hot!  The walk back to the rail station was not pleasant but I had a surprise going back to Munich.  The train that arrived in Berchtesgaden as an Intercity train, was returning to Munich as a Regional Express, it was air conditioned and my Schönes Wochenend Ticket was also valid at no extra charge. What was the catch?  It had to make its scheduled stops.  But I did not mind.

I think I arrived at München Hbf about 8:30 or 9 PM, went to work the next day.  The weather forecast for Friday 26 June would be mostly sunny, for my colleagues, excellent weather for mountain climbing.  I will tell about that sometime next week, what that all entailed.  No one got hurt (badly), everyone survived.  And I even had a chance to see a pre-production BMW Z3-based E36 series coupe - probably the coolest car I saw all that year.  

Well, have a nice rest of the week, everyone.  There were no "foreign" journeys - in relation to Germany - expected until Friday 10th July 1998.

[brokehorrorfan]

August Underground's Mordum will be released on Blu-ray + DVD on October 10 via Unearthed Films. The 2003 found footage exploitation film is the first sequel to 2001's August Underground (which hits Blu-ray on August 15).

August Underground creator Fred Vogel co-writes, co-directs, and co-stars with Killjoy, Cristie Whiles, Jerami Cruise, and Michael Todd Schneider.

Special features are listed below.

Special features:

Audio commentary by filmmaker Jerami Cruise and Ultra Violent Magazine's Art Ettinger (new)

Audio commentary by Toetag Pictures

Interview with filmmaker Fred Vogel (new)

Interview with filmmaker Jerami Cruise (new)

Interview with filmmaker Michael Todd Schneider (new)

Interview with filmmaker Fred Vogel and Zoë Rose Smith (new)

Snuff Purgatory: Severed Cinema interviews Fred Vogel (new)

"Rue Morgue Disciple" music video by Necrophagia

Deleted and extended scenes

2003 US premiere footage

Photo gallery

Trailers

The found footage contained in August Underground's Modrum documents extreme scares not for the faint of heart, while unfolding a classic tale of a man and woman in love. However, the woman cannot give up her other lover, who also happens to be her younger brother. August Underground's Modrum will leave you shocked… and then leave you for dead!

Pre-order August Underground's Mordum.

[back-and-totheleft]

The Metrograph Interview

MICHAEL M. BILANDIC: I was just telling our friend Gabe that you were the first person to speak to my class at NYU, two weeks after 9/11.

OLIVER STONE: I really spoke to your class two weeks after?

MB: Yeah. Maybe not exactly two weeks, but shortly after. I moved to New York for film school in August, 2001. Then, all of a sudden, this historic event happens. Everything gets cancelled. It’s total chaos. And when they finally bring classes back, they tell us our first visiting lecturer is Oliver Stone. You showed up, you’d come straight from Ground Zero.

OS: Was it a small class?

MB: It was pretty small. Everyone was arguing about geopolitics, Afghanistan, commando units, Bin Laden. And the late underground filmmaker Nick Zedd stormed in and made some unclear accusation about Natural Born Killers (1994) ripping off War is Menstrual Envy (1992). I have no idea what his angle was, but the whole experience was a memorable introduction to film school. Are you still involved with NYU?

OS: I gave a screenwriting scholarship to NYU. Every year people get a certain amount of money if they win the prize as a screenplay writer. I was trying to develop the screenplay aspect of NYU because when I was there, no one took a screenwriting class, except me, maybe five other people. They never had screenwriting as an understanding. Cameras, yeah, but they were not into screenwriting. Anyway.

MB: Education, and particularly the teaching of history, has been a major theme throughout your career. I especially love The Untold History of the United States. In the intro, you describe the disappointment you felt reading your kids’ history textbooks as a catalyst for embarking on your own American history survey. Simultaneously, I’ve been dying to ask you about Dream School (2013-2014), the reality show you were on, where celebrities like you, David Arquette, 50 Cent, and Suze Orman teach a group of high school dropouts in a highly experimental classroom environment. You’re trying to explain the nuances of World War II and Vietnam to these disaffected zoomers. I’m curious about your thoughts on teaching history. Also, what was it like being on a reality show, when it’s a genre you’re so critical of?

OS: I did that years ago! Is it still on the air?

MB: It’s floating around.

OS: It was very strange. That was not satisfactory. I tried.

For Untold History, I came under the influence of my friend, Peter Kusnick, who is a teacher of American history for 30, 40 years now at American University. He’s a very bright man, and a liberal—a real liberal, not a phoney liberal. He’s not a Hillary Clinton liberal, he’s—he studied history. Unfortunately, America has not studied its role in World War II. [In the show] we made the point about the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan; it’s crucial to understand why we did that, and how that happened. And we’ve been lying about it for 60, 70 years, just lying about it… This history is crucial. And as you can see, I stopped making movies at a point, and Untold History took three, four years to make. It was just a mess, trying to put it into a film version. I’m very proud of that, I’m glad you pointed it out. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done, trying to tell the true history of the United States from 1898 to now.

MB: It’s so ambitious. I can’t even imagine the process of putting it together.

OS: The 12 parts take us from 1898, up to Obama [being re-elected] in 2012. People always say, “Why don’t you do Trump?” Well, you know, it’s not that simple to go back in. It takes money and time. But I do think it’s clear we’re on the wrong path. It just didn’t have to be this way, you understand? We have a strain of aggressiveness in this country. I don’t know that we can overcome ourselves, control ourselves.

MB: Metrograph is about to screen Natural Born Killers. I love movies like this where there’s a sense of chaos in front of the camera and behind the camera, and you can just feel it, you know? The prison break scene is a perfect example. It’s explosive. You’re watching it and you’re enjoying it, but also trying to imagine the reality of Tom Sizemore, Robert Downey, Jr., Woody Harrelson, and all these actual inmates playing it out in the moment. What draws you to creating these chaotic scenarios? And how do you feel when you’re in them? Do you feel blissed out and calm, or is it a frenzied adrenaline rush?

OS: I love chaos, and I love energy, chaotic energy. And when you can control it to some degree, it makes for a powerful picture. It’s in The Doors, too, if you see it. It’s in the war scenes, and in several movies, Platoon (1986) and Born on the Fourth of July. The chaos, the madness of the situation—rock ’n’ roll breeds that, mob scenes breed that, public frenzies, like the January 6 insurrection. We saw it in Born on the Fourth of July where they’re having civilian protests against the Vietnam War. I love that stuff. And I love to get an entire movie set up to this level of madness where you sense the crowd, and the extras sense it, “Wow, it’s really happening.” So many of those people who did The Doors in ’91 said to me, “Wow, this is my first time experiencing the ’60s.” [Laughs.] I can’t say it was the ’60s but certainly it felt like it was a Jim Morrison concert, right?

Now, I saw a movie a few days ago, Babylon (2022) which, it’s ridiculous because [Damien Chazelle] lost touch with reality. I’ve read a lot about the 1920s, they didn’t have orgies like that. I mean, orgies existed, orgies happened for a reason, Cecil B. DeMille did the best orgies we know, in The Ten Commandments (1956), but Damien Chazelle—I liked the movie, it had many good things in it, but that opening was overdone. It was [hands gesture dramatically outward] everybody’s fucking everybody, it doesn’t work like that. A reason has to be established. You shouldn’t lead with the chaos. The chaos should come later, is what I think.

MB: On the topic of orgies, there’s a great movie someone’s going to have to make, and I would love for it to be you—about the FTX drama. These polyamorous nerds in the Bahamas, wreaking havoc on the crypto market, everyone theoretically scamming each other, and with so many political implications. Wall Street and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) reflected their moments so perfectly. I don’t know how much you’ve been up on this scandal; is it a story you would be interested in pursuing?

OS: I mean, I’ve done two Wall Street movies, and I don’t see myself going back into that. And it takes a lot of energy to make a movie, you can’t do it lightly. Also, you can’t chase the news. Never chase the news, it’s ridiculous. I came very close because of Snowden (2016), because of 9/11 with World Trade Centre (2006), and my George Bush movie [W, 2008]. I mean, I never gave up on following the news, but I don’t want to follow it too closely.

MB: I’d like to go back to the idea of prison breaks for a moment. I’m interested in the part of your autobiography where you describe living in the East Village in the late ’60s on 9th Street between Avenue B and C, in an apartment painted entirely red. At the time, you were writing a script called Break, the title being inspired by The Doors’ “Break On Through (To the Other Side).” Supposedly it has a crazy prison break in it, which is something you would explore in later work, like Midnight Express, and Natural Born Killers.

OS: Have you ever read it? Did you see the script?

MB: I haven’t.

OS: Oh, man. It’s a script. It’s insane! It’s my first script I ever wrote. At the end—I wrote two, three versions, and the last one, I think, was the most surreal. He goes to Vietnam [as a soldier]; he dies in Vietnam—he gets killed, by American soldiers. He goes to the underworld, the Egyptian underworld. And he’s judged the old way by the Egyptian gods, very tough. He ends up, I forget how exactly, but in a prison in California, facing smuggling charges—which I did. And from there comes “the break.” There’s no hope in going through society’s methods; there’s no hope listening to conventional thought, because in conventional thought all the bad guys were in Vietnam as soldiers, you see? So he ends up in the American prison. And he breaks out of the American system, all of them break out, and that’s sort of his liberation. So I suppose I’m a rebel at heart. I’ve lived that role, to some degree as a moviemaker. And it’s been tough, because, you know, at times, they’ve given me praise, but at times they really hate me because I am trying to say things as they are.

MB: You certainly took a lot of heat for the tone of Natural Born Killers. It was really interesting re-watching it and thinking about the challenges of satire. Entertainment and politics, these days, seem to have morphed into one. We had Trump doing a borderline Andrew Dice Clay impersonation, and even Zelensky’s a former late-night comedian. Natural Born Killers, and W, really succeed in finding humor in all the madness, but it feels like such a challenge to approach serious issues from a satirical angle today when everything’s blurred into entertainment or “content.”

OS: Well, first of all, it may seem that way to you, but it’s always been that way. We had Ronald Reagan in 1980, who was an actor, and people were saying the same thing you’re saying now: if an actor can get elected—and a B-actor, according to many people—then what’s the meaning of politics? So they always say that. Trump is an aberration—but no more so than Reagan was. They made much too much of a frenzy out of Trump; they blew up everything he did into this massive disaster for the country. It’s all hype. I agree Trump had many failings, but we feasted on it. And as a result, we don’t think. This is, again, the control of the media—they tell you what to think, and they tell you how to think. Well, if you really think this through, Trump is a minor inconvenience compared to what Bush Jr. did to this country. What he did in 2000, by setting up the War on Terror, starting a war across the globe with some 70 fucking countries, to create this concept, the United States is going to be the dominant country in the world, and “you’re either with us or against us.” That is a stupid fucking policy, completely self-destructive. We’ve spent more and more money chasing more and more bullshit, starting little brushfire wars everywhere we can, sending troops everywhere. It’s been a nightmare. It all goes back to Bush and his group. To ignore that is to miss the whole point of what’s going on in the 21st century, to me; to concentrate on Trump is ridiculous.

Going back to Natural Born Killers, at the time I said it’s a satire because it’s not realistic. In the sense that, if you look at the violence—I was criticized repeatedly for the violence—the violence is ridiculous, it’s absurd, it’s comic violence. In Born on the Fourth of July I showed what one bullet can do to a spine; it can destroy a spine and destroy a man’s life. So I’ve been very realistic in my violence, in Platoon, and Salvador (1986). But in this one case, I exaggerated everything in the movie to make the point that our society was completely fucked. At the time it was the O.J. Simpson trial, and I was disgusted with it. There had been a series of things that happened in the ’90s that had been sensationalized in the media—murders, a woman cutting off a man’s dick was all over the headlines—it was National Enquirer stuff that was being put on the front pages. I noted that; I read this draft by Tarantino; I bought it—I bought it from the producers, not from him. And I changed a lot of it because it was shallow—to my mind, it was shallow and I wanted to go deeper. But I thought it was a very good surface story. The film was controversial from the beginning because Tarantino was always objecting to anybody who changed a word of his script—you know, his bullshit, he is the greatest of all time, and no one can touch what he does. But we changed it because he’d sold it, he didn’t own it. So anyway, we made the movie. And it was misunderstood from the beginning, misunderstood completely—partly that’s because of PR, partly because Tarantino was attacking the movie. But if you look at the movie—now is a good time to look at it—you’ll see a lot of what we were talking about has certainly come true in our media.

MB: It’s undeniable.

OS: The American media has glorified violence all my life. To begin with—before Natural Born Killers—on television, the emphasis, the ratings, were on violence for the most part. Shows, Westerns, where people bang, bang, you’re dead. That was the most popular form of communication in America, killing somebody. It got out of hand in the ’90s. And it’s gotten worse, and worse, and worse… The American media is the most dominant, pervasive, controlling nanny state I’ve ever seen. I can’t stand it. As you know, I’ve been fighting the media for most of my life.

MB: At the time you were also critiquing a culture of gossip and a culture of surveillance. And this is before social media?! Then that arrives and everything you’re arguing just gets exploded; every little thing becomes sensationalized, and whatever goes viral is always anger inducing. You’re on Instagram and Twitter, what’s your relationship with social media been like?

OS: I follow it to a degree, I’m not a hound. It tires me. I’m older, man, I just, I can’t follow all the bullshit. I thought it was interesting when Musk took it over, because he did purge the—the whole thing on Twitter is its government, the government got involved in media. They’ve been heavily involved with Facebook, telling them who the enemy is, what to think, how to think, and telling the same thing now to the Twitter people. Everyone’s cowed by the government, because it’s hard to say no to the big boss. We’re basically a form of social dictatorship, maybe, in the sense that you’re shamed if you don’t go along with the group. Sure, they attack some big targets, but they also scare off the smaller people who like to think for themselves.

MB: Have you been following the Twitter Files stuff? It ties in, I feel, to a lot of themes you’ve explored in your work.

OS: The investigative journalist Matt Taibbi, he’s done a lot of good work. And people like Glenn Greenwald. Many of them have pointed out that the Twitter Files has been government propaganda in this war in Ukraine. And it has. It’s taken all the information that comes to the people who want to make Twitter a freeway for democracy; you can put out information about what the Ukrainians are doing, what the Russians are doing, but anything negative about the Ukrainians is removed by censorship. And you cannot say anything positive about the Russian position, or what even the Russian position is. So we’re telling the people, “This is what you have to think about Ukraine.” This is very dangerous, because we’re not telling the truth to our people. You’re not able to hear it. And this is disgusting. This is not what Twitter was made for. So I go back to my first point that this whole country has been locked up in a kind of social dictatorship. It’s like, you cannot think certain things.

MB: It’s interesting thinking about all of this in the context of the lockdown.

OS: Everybody’s got to have the same attitude about Covid—which is nonsense.

MB: I kept thinking about Talk Radio (1988), with Eric Bogosian playing the controversial radio personality, another of your films which feels relevant to current times. With podcasts, we’re almost back to AM talk radio, or a ham-radio type thing, where people are listening to wild stuff and developing these para-social relationships. It’s funny, I also just watched a documentary about Rockets Redglare; I had totally forgotten he was the killer in Talk Radio, and the guy on the phone.

OS: You saw a documentary about him where?

MB: It took a lot of work to find it, but I can send it to you. It’s from 2003, Rockets Redglare!

OS: It’s funny, I didn’t know about that. But Bogosian, he was very talented. A very good actor. The picture was unfortunately released at the wrong time, at Christmas. It didn’t belong at Christmas. It’s gone the way… but many people like you remember it so hopefully it’ll have some new life.

MB: I have to bring this up. The deleted scene in Natural Born Killers with the bodybuilding brothers is really one of my favorite scenes in a movie. I watch it all the time on YouTube.

OS: I’ve forgotten the scene, describe it to me.

MB: These two identical twin bodybuilders [Peter and David Paul, aka the Barbarian Brothers] are being interviewed by Robert Downey Jr. in a gym, and they’re describing how they had an encounter with Mickey and Mallory. The couple usually only let one person survive, but they let both survive in this case because the couple were fans of the brothers and only realized who they were halfway through chain-sawing their legs off. It’s revealed they’re in wheelchairs now—but they’re not mad because Mickey and Mallory passed “The Edge” onto them and they can workout harder than anyone else in the gym now because of their disability. I love it. I know you worked with Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian (1982), and in Natural Born Killers the brothers reference Pumping Iron (1977) to Downey. I was wondering if you had any thoughts about bodybuilding, that scene, and working with the Barbarian Brothers?

OS: [Laughs] I enjoyed it. There were a lot of cuts—I don’t know what version you have, but there is an R-rated version, and there’s an unrated version. Do you have the unrated version?

MB: Yeah.

OS: We had tremendous problems with it. Warner Brothers wanted an R version, and they really broke my chops. I had to go back to the MPAA several times, always making more and more [cuts]—it didn’t make any sense. I would say, “What you’re really objecting to is the chaos. You’re not objecting to the physical violence because it’s not really there. You’re objecting to the madness of the movie.” And, you know, that’s not right! Because it is a mad movie, you have to accept that it is a mad movie, like Clockwork Orange (1971) was. But they just couldn’t see the bigger picture. I was already in trouble, of course, with JFK; and I’d done Scarface (1983), as a writer, but I saw all that shit go down. They got crazy on Scarface, and they got crazy on Natural Born Killers. I make this point because they’re haggling over bullshit. When in reality, it’s the madness of our society that they’re not really dealing with. As I said to the press at the time—and they couldn’t understand what I was talking about—I said, “You know, the two killers are not so bad compared to Tommy Lee Jones, who’s the warden of a fucking madhouse, and runs it like a madhouse. Or take a look at Downey, the Downey character is insane. He wants to be a killer. He lives it. He’s living it through Mickey and Mallory, and that’s the media! I said, that’s what’s wrong! And look at the cop, the cop played by Sizemore. So of course I piss off everybody. [Laughs] I said, our cops, our prisons, our media are more fucked up than the two killers. They thought I was crazy.

MB: You see this with the censorship on Twitter, too, where you can’t even put a finger on why they ban certain things. Is it just because this is chaos or… ?

OS: I want to tell you a quick story, because my favorite deletion, and I really wish it were in there, is the courtroom scene in Natural Born Killers with [Woody Harrelson and] Ashley Judd. I think that’s hilarious. Have you ever seen the outtakes on that?

MB: Remind me.

OS: It’s the one where he goes, “Bills and bills and bills.” He gets permission to cross-examine her, Ashley Judd is one of the victims. It’s a touching scene because she is a very good actress and very convincing. And Woody—it’s just beautifully done. You got to watch it, man. It fits beautifully. The reason I took it out was length, and violence. It was too much at the time. But it really belongs in the movie, it’s in the middle—they get busted, and before they go to jail they have this trial. But he wants to be his own lawyer. He cross-examines her—and he stabs her in the heart! And of course [laughs], it’s the worst thing you can do! I mean, they’re going to throw them in the dungeon now! Ashley Judd is a sweetheart—she gets killed, oh my God. How bad can these people be? Right? I love it. I love it. [Laughs] That’s the greatest scene to me, that’s the one I miss.

MB: I just watched JFK Revisited (2021). It sounded like last week they were supposed to release the final files, then it didn’t happen.

OS: They just postponed it in another year. Or something like that. They won’t release the key files. But even then, I don’t know what would be in there. These are CIA people. They all were dealing with Cuban groups, people like [George] Joannides, [David Atlee] Phillips, Bill Harvey. Those are the guys you really want… [Allan] Dulles if possible, but there’s no files on Dulles. The CIA is where, in my opinion, you really got to look, because they were running the whole show, including [Lee Harvey] Oswald.

MB: Alright, last thing. So as we are entering 2023, I’ve been reading all these year-end lists, wrapping up the year. I was curious what your summary of 2022 would be? And what are you looking for in 2023?

OS: Let’s talk film first. As a filmmaker, I finished a very complicated documentary, a scientific one called Nuclear Now, which is on the need for bringing back nuclear energy now, and pushing it because it is the only way we’re going to close the gap with the vast amount of energy we’re going to need by 2050. Hopefully it will be out in the New Year, very early, and people will see it, but it’s a very important thing to me, it’s the most important subject on Earth. So that’s where I am at. Secondly, I co-wrote a screenplay with a partner, which I think is—I cannot tell you what the subject is, it’s not that I don’t reveal what I’m about to or hope to do, and if all goes well I’ll be able to make it in 2023, but it hasn’t been an easy business, that’s for sure. I haven’t done a feature film since 2016: Snowden. I did JFK Revisited in 2019, and Putin [The Putin Interviews] in 2017, so I’ve been busy with documentaries more than features. I’m looking forward to making one more—I hope—as well as releasing Nuclear Now.

MB: Nice.

OS: On the world front, it’s always unstable, the world has always been in change. People over-exaggerate, it’s always a dark time, you know? Americans have a very limited view of the world because they live subjected to the American media.

Now, for 2023, we’re in a shithole. As a country, we keep backing the military, we keep putting a fortune into military spending—and now we’re paying for the Ukraine war, which is insane. Because we started the war, we trapped the Russians into going in there with our policies. In other words, most of the instability in the world is created by us. And we won’t admit it. People in America don’t know about that because they have no idea we’re the provokers—we’re the most provocative country in the world. And as long as we can’t see it, we’re hypnotized. We’re hypnotized by our media. We don’t see beyond our little American periscope.

-Michael M. Bilandic interviews Oliver Stone, Metrograph, Dec 2022 [x]

[blogof1000corpses]

Movie Review Master List

Hey Slasher Sisters!

As promised, here's the master list of every movie review I've done w/links. The reviews are placed in newest to oldest order and will be updated weekly.

If you're new here, hello, my name is Rachel. I've been obsessed with the horror genre as long as I can remember and feel very passionate about it surrounding my entire life. My blog focuses on a wide range of subgenres within the horror genre including, but not limited to, cult classics, modern horror, disturbing cinema, B-movies, and experimental horror. Really, Blog of 1,000 Corpses is just my love project and source of motivation to become even more widely versed within my favorite genre. I hope to cultivate an audience that's as obsessed with violence, gore, and psychos as myself.

My scoring is a Tier system with S Tier being the highest possible score and F Tier being the lowest. The earliest reviews are based on a 5 star system. Master List Below Cut

Blog of 1,000 Corpses Master List

newest to oldest order

Is August Underground Disturbing...or Just Immature? || August Underground (2001) Movie Review

The Scariest Night of the Year || Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984) Movie Review

Is "World's Fair" Too Niche for a General Audience? || We're All Going to the World's Fair (2021)

A Holiday Film to Confuse Your Grandma || ThanksKilling (2008) Movie Review

A Unique Twist on the Slasher Narrative || Maniac (1980) Movie Review

A Vacation to the Uncanny Valley || Tourist Trap (1979) Movie Review

A Slasher Flick for the Common Girl || American Mary (2012) Movie Review

A Nightmare of Eroticism & Scrap Metal || Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989) Movie Review

The Revival Saw Needed || Saw X (2023) Movie Review

The Saw Film That Isn't Saw || Spiral (2021) Movie Review

How Does Jigsaw Hold Up as a Saw Film? || Jigsaw (2017) Movie Review

Is This My Worst Rated Film Yet? || Blue Sunshine (1978) Movie Review

Is It Possible to Adapt H.P. Lovecraft's From Beyond? || From Beyond (1986) Movie Review

Found Footage Horror Done Right || Hell House LLC (2015) Movie Review

This Movie has a Zombie Fighting WHAT?! || Zombie (1979) Movie Review

A Suspenseful Gaze at the Dating Scene || Audition (1999) Movie Review

Could This Be a New Cult Classic? || Aimy in a Cage (2015) Movie Review

Peter Jackson's Ooey-Gooey Splattergore Beauty || Bad Taste (1987) Movie Review

Cult Masterpiece or Missed Opportunity? || Blood Harvest (1987) Movie Review

A Snapshot of American Decay at it's Finest || Gummo (1997) Movie Review

A Coming of Age Story to Make Judy Blume Shudder || Ginger Snaps (2000) Movie Review

Witches and Maggots and Earthworms (Oh My) || Hellbender (2022) Movie Review

Is Damien Leone Reviving the Slasher Genre with Terrifier 2? || Movie Review

A Sadistic Acid Trip of Horrorshow Violence || Where the Dead Go to Die (2012) Movie Review

Is Smile (2022) Truly as Disturbing as Claimed? || Movie Review

Is the Cult Classic Sleepaway Camp as Good as We Remember? || Revisiting Slashers

The Complexity of Religion in Unreliable Narratives || A Review of the 2019 Thriller Saint Maud

The Halloween Sequel No One Watched || Halloween III: Season of the Witch Movie Review

Skinamarink: Kyle Edward Ball's Debut Paranormal Fairy Tale

Why John Waters Continues to Inspire -- A Review of the 1972 Cult Classic Pink Flamingos