Icons of Fright and HYAENA Gallery are teaming up for HUGE October Horror/Dark Art Giveaway. I know Icons of Fright readers are the most cultured horror fans on the internet so we know you'll appreciate this one.

It's no big secret that the Hyaena Gallery is one of favorite places to visit when we're in the Los Angeles area. The gallery is a big, big supporter of horror art, dark and lowbrow artists and it's fans. 

Bill, Hyaena Owner, has provided us with 3 prize packs, each consisting of 21 signed and numbered gallery posters (a $175 value).

You will win 21 of these EXCLUSIVE, extremely limited edition posters featuring artists such as:

Eric Pigor, D.W. Frydendall, Jeremy Cross, Jeff Rebner, Big Tasty, Kat Philbin, Clint Carney, Erick De La Vega, David Coot, Delphia, Mickey Me, Ted Von Heiland, Krys Sapp, Gus Fink, Christopher Perrin, Glenda Rolle, Clara Boo, Miss Withers, John Mahoney, Dan Chesser, and more!

Wanna enter? Send us your name and mailing address to: hyaena@iconsoffright.com. We're giving you until November 12th to get your entry in. (This is such a great, unique contest we wanna make sure everyone gets a chance to enter!).

And if you like odd things, or you are an odd thing, and you happen to be the Los Angeles/Burbank area be sure to stop by Hyaena Gallery:

1928 W. Olive Ave.
Burbank, CA 91506
Tel: 1-818-972-2448

Take a look at this amazing prize pack:

 Come out and show your support for SWEATSHOP and other horror films at the NYCHFF, a festival dedicated exclusively to horror lovers.

Read the official press release below, which includes contact information for the Tribeca:

NEW YORK, NY – November 5, 2009 – Organizers of The 2009 New York City
Horror Film Festival (NYCHFF) today announced this year’s feature film
lineup which includes over fifty feature and short horror and Sci-fi films
from America and around the globe ranging in subject matter from terrifying
to gory to hysterically funny.

Tickets for the 8th Annual NYCHFF and complete schedule of films in
competition are now available online at the festival’s website:
http://www.nychorrorfest.com/.

The NYCHFF will take place November 18 - 22, 2009 and will be held at the
Tribeca Cinemas, located at 54 Varick Street at Canal Street.  The NYCHFF’s
Kick-Off Gala will take place on November 18 at 8:00pm at BLVD (Spring &
Bowery) and will feature five bands, 20 short films, complimentary cocktails
and more.

Programming for the festival includes more than 50 horror and Sci-fi feature
and short films, parties, and panel discussions.

“We received more entries than ever before this year and are thrilled by the
high caliber of excellent films submitted for this year’s festival,” said
Michael Hein, founder of The New York City Horror Film Festival. “The 2009
NYCHFF will prove to be one of the best years of the festival for film
aficionados and general horror fans.”

The festival’s 2009 feature film presentations are:

*Cornered (Feature / Horror) *

*Directed by Daniel Maze <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2859393/>*

A serial killer is stalking the gritty streets of Los Angeles. It’s all over
the news, but that doesn’t stop the crew at a local convenience store from
their weekly poker game. Now, trapped inside the store with a deranged
killer the group must fight to make it through the night alive. Stars Steve
Guttenberg, James Duval and the hysterical Ellia English.**

*Must Love Death (Feature / Horror / Comedy) *

*Directed by Andreas Schaap*

Disappointed by love and suicidal people, Norman arranges to meet a group of
like-minded people. But when he arrives at the meeting the alleged suicides
goes very wrong and hilarity and blood start to flow freely.

* *

*Sweatshop (Feature / Horror) *

*Directed by **Stacy Davidson*

A group of rave promoters decide to throw a party in an enormous vacant
factory... But when the oversexed friends throw back a few drinks and begin
setting up, they soon realize, a beastly all-seeing presence resides in this
enormous place, and it drags a mammoth, inhuman weapon that serves only one
purpose: to end the lives of anyone who trespasses here.

*The Revenant (Feature / Horror / Comedy)*

*Directed by D. Kerry Prior*

Officer First Class Bart Gregory is killed while fighting in Middle East.
His body is shipped back to the United States and laid to rest, but before
the lid can be put on his tomb, Bart inexplicably awakens in his coffin and
climbs from his grave; A Vampire? A  Zombie? No…..A Revenant!  Now, this
average guy must feed on human blood or rot away.

*Nosferatu**; Orlok The Vampire in 3D!! (Feature / Retrospective)*

*Directed by F.W. Munarau*

This classic 1921 silent film Directed by F.W. Murnau and staring the
immortal Max Shriek as Count Orlok is reborn completely restored, remastered
and brought back to life in gorgeous 3D. This is a once in a lifetime
opportunity for film fans to see one of the greatest and one most
recognizable classic silent horror films in 3D on the big screen!

*Maidenhead (Feature / Horror / Art House)*

*Directed by Jim Spanos *

Poor Martin doesn’t have much of a life. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, he
hasn’t been sleeping well, and he still lives at home... with his father,
who is an obnoxious, bloodthirsty monster strapped to a bed. Did we mention
he isn’t sleeping well? Martin (AJ Bowen of *House of the Devil *and *The
Signal) *spends his days going numbly about the business of tending to his
Dad’s grisly needs. Every day is just like the last, until Martin meets an
innocent church-going girl named Meredith, who gives him hope of something
more. But what about Dad?

* *

*The Shadow Within (Feature / Horror / Ghost)*

*Directed by Silvana Zancolo <http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0952846/>*

In a gloomy and sinister atmosphere, little Maurice Dumont can’t escape his
infernal reality. Dominated by an inhuman mother who rejects him, an absent
father and the ghost of his brother who refuses to die. In a claustrophobic
overwhelming environment, obsessed by dead and living presences, Maurice
seems to have no way out, as death silently creeps into his old gothic
house.

*Maniac (Feature / Retrospective & Achievement Award)*

*Directed by Willaim Listig*

This 1980 grindhouse classic is back on the big screen! Starring Joe Spinell
as the deranged Frank Zito.  Frank is an embittered loser who talks to
himself and his dead mother, stalks a pretty model (legend Caroline
Munro<http://www.allmovie.com/artist/caroline-munro-51346>),
and spends his spare time brutally murdering and scalping women. A pristine
35 mm print will screen as part of this Lifetime Achievement Award program
dedicated to Director / Producer William Lustig.

*William Lustig Lifetime Achievement Award*

As a kid, auteur William Lustig avidly watched a huge volume of lowdown
trashy exploitation fare on 42nd Street’s grindhouse theaters. Working way
through the film business, Lustig found himself at the center of a storm of
controversy when he made the grim, and gory landmark horror film "Maniac"
which boasts an incredibly intense performance by legendary character actor
Joe Spinell and hideously graphic make-up f/x by horror icon Tom Savini.
Lustig followed up with the tough, gritty and exciting urban revenge thiller
"Vigilante." He delivered another winner with the terrific "Maniac Cop," and
the series follow ups 2 & 3, Hit List"and the suspenseful serial killer
thriller "Relentless" all excellent and entertaining.  Lustig's last film as
a director was the nifty fright flick "Uncle Sam." William Lustig has also
produced a staggering 84 films and TV projects to date. He went on to create
the distribution company Blue Underground that lovingly restores and puts
out some of the best classic genre films of all time!

*Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet (Feature / Horror) *

*Directed by Frank Sabatella*

Long Island, 1978: A young girl named Mary Mattock gruesomely murders her
family and is locked away at the notorious Kings Park Psychiatric Center.
Ten years later Mary escapes, leaving a grizzly wake of bodies and blood.
Gunned down by the police, Mary meets her own demise outside the sanitarium
walls. This incident gave birth to the legend of Mary Hatchet’s walking
ghost and the mischievous night named in honor of her death, BLOOD NIGHT!
Starring genre favorites Bill Moseley and Danielle Harris, Blood Night puts
a neck-breaking spin on the gory and gut wrenching slasher films of the
80’s.

The 2009 New York City Horror Film Festival—is presented by Moodude Films.
For more information and tickets, visit the festival’s website:
http://www.nychorrorfest.com/.

--Phil Fasso

For Landis and Baker to be honored should be no surprise to anyone, as AMERICAN WEREWOLF is an iconic horror film known for its black humor and great special effects make up.  For Davis to win shows just how impressive his documentary is.  Congratulations Paul, you should be proud to be in such privileged company.

 Check out the Horrorfest site for other winners.  And take a look at the trailer below.  It's nifty.

Screen Daily says that actress Krysten Ritter is already attached to the project, which should start filming in March, 2010.

Read the full article here.

 --Phil Fasso

Okay, so that picture is a hint.  I just couldn't resist a little decapitated loving for you Icons fans.

 --Phil Fasso

 Read the full article here, and check out the video of Romero, courtesy CNN, below.

--Phil Fasso

 --Phil Fasso

As for my own thoughts, I've seen the original and thought it was something daring and new.  But if Matt Reeves, he of CLOVERFIELD, attempts to make this basically a dry version of the European, as QUARANTINE did with [REC], this sequel will be redundant.  It's a sad statement when American horror is now thieving quality, artistic genre films from overseas instead of developing quality ideas of their own.  Where our next John Carpenter or George Romero comes from may take many years to find out.

Read Lyons' original article here. 

--Phil Fasso

Though "Premium Harmony" has echoes of his short story "Children of the Corn," marks a long-awaited return to Castle Rock (he abandoned the town in 1992's short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes) and makes a sly reference to Derry, ME's favorite clown Pennywise, it's not a horror story.  As with many of the tales from his last two collections, it's a non-genre story that lacks any notion of the supernatural.  For what it's worth, it's a good story;  I just have my biases toward vampires and other preternatural creatures.

 Read the full story here.  You can also get King's upcoming appearance schedule at Lilja's Library, King's top fan site, and further information on Under the Dome on King's official website.

--Phil Fasso

 Check out the MTV trailer below.

Wow, 15 years ago? At the time I had to buy a ticket to another movie just so I could sneak in and see the highly controversial film, which of course, blew my little 15 year old mind away. And who could forget the Trent Reznor produced soundtrack featuring 90's acts like L7 and the Cowboy Junkies. It's really a time-capsule of a moment in film making and music.

If you'd like to enter the contest just shoot us an email over to: nbk@iconsoffright.com. Be sure to give us your mailing address so we can send it to you. Contest ends Oct. 31st! (Halloween).

For more Natural Born Killers action click on over to: www.naturalbornkillersdvd.com. 

 Here's an exclusive clip, courtesy of Warner Bros:

This year the folks at CollectSaw.com and OfficialSawStore.com (Selling the best in SAW collectibles! And yes, they ship worldwide!) have provided ICONS OF FRIGHT with 3 SAW VI Prize Packages:

• Costas Mandylor ("Hoffman") Autographed 8 x10 inch color photo. The photo shows Costas Mandylor as "Hoffman".
• Special and Valuable item that was Used in SAW 6 (VI)

 

Let's take a look at Owen's recent slap at genre fans in his article regarding the SAW series.  Here's a cuddly section:

 "For decades now, gruesome new horror movies have arrived at the multiplex with big fat roman numerals stuck at the end of their titles. Only the most fanatical droolers of the “horror community” are even still counting. I mean, really, who would seriously bother to keep track of how many interchangeably cruddy Friday the 13th sequels there are? Or how many times Freddy Krueger ever came back from the dead to brutalize a new crop of Elm Street kids? Or how often the Halloween franchise has been scavenged, rebooted, Zombie-fied, and generally flogged to death? Quick, can you name all the Texas Chainsaw movies? How about Hellraiser? Who the hell cares?"

 Well, Mr. Gleiberman, I care.  I love the genre, despite the many sequels that become further drivel with each fat Roman numeral.  I can name all the Hellraisers, all the Texas Chainsaw Massacres, and by the way, all the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Melville, and the complete works of William Shakespeare.  What annoys me about your blanket dis at all fans of horror is that it makes us all the "fanatical droolers" of the "horror community," that you double quoted as if it's grimy place for all of us to be.  You're stereotyping, Owen, giving a set of traits to a legion of fans who are just as diverse as those who love romantic comedies, or westerns, or anime.  I care enough to give rebuttal to your article, and to say that people in your position should not use it to shun entire ethnographies of fans.

You take part of your article to link the reader to your dismal review of SAW VI.  But what were you trying to accomplish by drawing the very readers who love these movies to your review?  Was it to make them feel small?  And what of your positive review of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, which you gave an A-?  In that review you state:

"With its this-is-really-happening vibe, Paranormal Activity scrapes away 30 years of encrusted nightmare clichés. The fear is real, all right, because the fear is really in you."

So you praise a poorly acted film in which absolutely nothing happens for about 84 minutes.  Were you then disappointed last weekend, when talk of applying one of those big, fat Roman numerals to it arrived?

Owen, it should be obvious to even the most casual observer that you have an attitude toward horror.  This prejudices your reviews of the genre's films.  Perhaps you should step into a horror fan's shoes, and see a few flicks from his point of view.  It may give you the well-rounded perspective you lack.

Feel free to write back here, Mr. Gleiberman, as I'd really like to debate this with you intelligently.

 --Phil Fasso

Many NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD fans may not know the name Charles Craig, but they will certainly know his voice.  Charles was the radio newscaster, who later appeared on the TV to announce that the dead were, indeed, coming back to life and eating the living.  For Charles, a real-life radio man from Cincinatti who previously worked for NIGHT's producer, Karl Hardman, his now iconic announcements have made him a part of cinematic legend.

Charles Craig:  I went to Hardman on staff as a writer and an actor.  I came to them out of WCKY Cincinatti, my previous radio job, where I had been doing radio and news primarily for many years.  My job at Hardman was to create radio commercials for the advertising agencies.  So that’s how I happened to be on premises.

CC:  I was in my office one day, and Karl Hardman came in.  I knew there was a film underway, at least I was more or less aware of it.  And he came in and filled me in on the concept of the movie, and what was causing all the strange circumstances, premised by the movie.  And asked if I, as a newsman, could create what might be simulated news reports of the events going on.  That was right down my alley, so I changed the paper in my typewriter and went to work.

PF:  So you wrote those parts then.

CC:  Yes.

PF:  You play a radio broadcaster in the film, and later you show up on television newscasts.  How do you think the use of the news enhances the film?

CC:  My hope was that it would add a note of verisimilitude, a believability to the whole concept.  That was how I intended to present the news reports as they were coming into the news desk, to give it a sense of immediacy, a sense of, “Hey, this could really be happening.”

I was on location out in Evans City, out in the farmhouse.  I went up initially out of curiosity.  Of course, the Hardman folks were up there too, so as long as I was there, I was not about to get out of there without getting into makeup.  So I did.

The ghouls had very little to offer by way of voices.  So I think probably the most important contribution I made was as the newscaster.

PF:  Were you surprised by the success of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD?

CC:  Well, yes, I was.  I had no idea of the audience response to this.  As a matter of fact, it was quite some time after it premiered in 1968 that I became aware of crowds were showing up for it.  And I thought, “Well, this took me by surprise.”  Very, very pleasantly.

CC:  That was a nostalgic trip for me, because I did my part of it in the former Hardman studios building, which has been totally remodeled since we were there.  But I can visualize the way it was when we were there, on Smithfield Street.  It was pleasant to be able to hearken back to those creative days.  I think where they filmed me, at one time, we were in what I could characterize as a rehearsal hall.  We were doing quite a lot of work in industrial films, live industrial shows.  And so we would rehearse music and our dance steps and our choreography and our moves in this rehearsal hall, which is now a series of partitioned offices.

PF:  You’ve recently hit the convention circuit with others from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, and you’ll be at the 2^nd Annual Living Dead Festival this weekend.  What appeals to you about conventions?

CC:  Well, I think it’s marvelous!  I was not yet on the start of the convention circuit.  It became apparent to me by happenstance.  A friend of mine from New Jersey, Jim Cironella, let me know about it.  And I said, “Yes, I’d love to be part of that,” so I did, starting in the early part of last year.  It’s amazing to see the turnout of people who really, seriously enjoy the film, and to become aware of many of the things that viewers are reading into the story;  which, as I understand it, was never meant to convey any particular message.  I know George Romero has often said, “We didn’t set out to say that at all.”  But some people are reading into it some sociological implications.  And fine, that’s good.  It wasn’t meant to be that way.  It wasn’t put there for that purpose, but it turns out that’s probably one of the things that contributes to the life of the movie.

CC:  As I say tongue-in-cheek, the movie is just like our ghouls;  it refuses to die.  It will go on, I think because it has definitely become a classic, and the timing of its release and its storyline was happenstance.  And happily so, because at that time, in 1968, the public was very much aware of space adventures.  The Russian Sputnik had been launched just a short time prior to that, and people were really interested in outer space, and what are these things bringing back to Earth.  So you had the premise of what’s causing our ghouls to come back to life.

PF:  And your voice will continue to be part of the legacy as the film goes on for many more generations to watch.

CC:  Well, thank you .  I am very, very fortunate to have been on the scene when the film was getting off the ground, and I just count my lucky stars that I was there to be able to work with this fine group of people.  Really not only good folks, but talented folks and they will always be cherished in my memory.