Phil's Halloween Horror Watch: Phil attends the theatrical roadshow screening of VICTOR CROWLEY with Tiffany Shepis Live In-Person at the Osio Thater - October 8, 2017

Hello again and welcome back to my Halloween Horror Watch marathon! So in the previous post I mentioned that I was at the Osio Theater in Downtown Monterey to see two films. The second film would be a very special theatrical roadshow screening of filmmaker Adam Green's surprised latest installment of his HATCHET series VICTOR CROWLEY from Dark Sky Films!! To make the event even more amazing, Scream Queen actress Tiffany Shepis, who also appears in the film, was going to be there live in-person!!

The film's official synopsis: Andrew Yong has spent over a decade claiming that local legend Victor Crowley was responsible for the 2007 massacre that left over 40 dead. Yong’s allegations have been met with widespread disbelief, but when a twist of fate puts him back at the scene of the tragedy, Crowley is mistakenly resurrected and Yong must face the bloodthirsty ghost from his past.

Adam Green spent two years making the film in secrecy, which is an unbelievable feat unto itself!! On August 22, 2017, he surprised an unsuspecting audience during the “10th Anniversary” screening of the original HATCHET film that he held at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood with the film. Needless to say, the audience went completely batshit crazy!! The film received two standing ovations and Green announced that he would be taking the film on a theatrical roadshow around the country. As he mentions in his blog post after the screening he hopes, "that no one who saw the movie last night or who will be seeing it soon on this upcoming tour spoils anything about it on-line either." So, per Mr. Green's request, this will be a spoiler-free review.

Green proves that he still has it when it comes to delivering a film filled with laughs, blood and gore! The script is very funny and very clever, especially on how Victor Crowley comes back from the dead! It's rather quite genius if you ask me. It has a great three act story arc, fun characters and the kills are bloody plentiful. His directing is sharp, clean and fantastic; treating the Hatchet Army fanatics with a worthy installment in the HATCHET franchise!!

Actress Tiffany Shepis and I outside the Osio Theater.

The cast is incredible and give it their all! The iconic Kane Hodder returns once again as the indestructible Victor Crowley, who returns to kill again in his Honey Island Swamp again! The man hasn't lost a beat and his kills are freaking sick and bloody! Felicia Rose plays Andrew Young's publicist and she nails her part. Speaking of Young, actor Parry Shen brings depth to his role as well as laughs. Tiffany Shepis portrays Casey and is awesome in the part! Laura Ortiz of Holliston fame gives the performance of the year as Rose. Breakout Performance goes to actress Katie Booth for her portrayal of Chloe. She brings a lot of depth and vulnerability to the role and is phenomenal!

After the screening, Shepis participated in a fun-filled and informative Q&A with the audience. She recalled making the film in secrecy, working with Kane Hodder again, her humble beginnings as an upcoming actress, her Troma roots and what's up on the horizon regarding new projects she's currently involved in. Afterwards, she took pictures with her fans, and yours truly, finally got to meet this awesomely talented and lovely lady! This was one of the best nights of my life!

VICTOR CROWLEY is a funnier-than-hell, gore filled, bloody rollacoaster ride of a sequel of all time!! This was such a damn cool movie that I cannot wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray so I can watch it over and over again!! If this movie comes to a town near you, make it an effort to go see it on the big screen!! 5 out of 5 stars!! Highly recommended!!

VICTOR CROWLEY is currently on a theatrical roadshow across the country. To view the film's schedule to see if it's playing near you, visit the ArieScope Pctures website at ariescope.com. To learn more about Dark Sky Films and their film library, visit their website at darkskyfilms.com.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

Phil's Halloween Horror Watch: Phil sees BETTER WATCH OUT at the Osio Theater - October 7, 2016

Welcome back to another installment of my Halloween Horror Watch marathon! Today's film adventure took me back to the lovely coastal town of Monterey! There at the Osio Theater in downtown Monterey, they were showing two films that I was really excited to see (more on the second film later on). The first film I saw was the holiday horror film BETTER WATCH OUT, which was a wonderful way to start my cinematic day!

The film's official synopsis: This holiday season, you may be home, but you’re not alone... In this fresh and gleefully twisted spin on home-invasion horror, babysitter Ashley (Olivia DeJonge) must defend her young charges Luke (Levi Miller) and his best friend Garrett (Ed Oxenbould ) when intruders break into the house one snowy night – or so she thinks.

The cast is absolutely outstanding in their respective roles. Olivia DeJonge is just reveting as our main protagonist Ashley. Tough, vulnerable and fierce, she could very well become this generation's new final girl! Levi Miller's Luke characters is the personification of all us young boys who had crushes on their babysitters. I mean, who hasn't had that one babysitter who we used to dream about? Ed Oxenbould plays Luke's stoner best friend Garrett. Fun fact: both DeJonge and Oxenbould played siblings in M. Night Shyamalan's 2015 thriller THE VISIT. Overall, all three of them have excellent on-screen chemistry, which elevated the film for me. Really enjoyed their performances in the movie!

Filmmaker Chris Peckover directed the film and co-wrote the screenplay with Zack Kahn. Together, these two gentlemen made one of the smartest films ever! The set-up is straight forward, however, by the end of the first act, the film did a complete 180 degrees and the movie became something completely different. I can't remember the last time I was impressed with a movie, where I figured out the plot, only to have it surprise the hell out of me! Peckover's directing is sharp, percise and moves the film at an even pace. Really great filmmaking from this awesome filmmaker!
 
Originally titled as Safe Neighborhood, the film a big splash when it was the Fantastic Fest in 2016. It went on to garner acclaim at other festivals before being picked up for distribution by Well Go USA Entertainment.

BETTER WATCH OUT is my new favorite holiday horror film of all time!! This is one of the most original, entertaining and sick horror movie I've seen in a long time!! You owe it to yourself to go see this festive fright flick on the big screen!! 5 out of 5 stars!! Highly recommended!!

BETTER WATCH OUT is currently playing in limited release in theaters nationwide, including at the Osio Theater in Monterey. To view showtimes, visit their website at osiotheater.com. To view the film's website for future screenings, visit www.wellgousa.com/theatrical/better-watch-out.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

Phil's Horror Watch, Day 22: Phil sees TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL at the Osio Theater-October 22, 2011

My horror film marathon continues with this, Day Twenty-Two! My horror film thirst knows no boundaries. Today's film adventure took me back to my other hometown: Monterey! There at the Osio Theater (home of fine indie, foregin, and documentary films) in downtown Monterey, they were showing the horror/comedy film TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL. So ladies and gentlemen, prepare to start laughing your asses off!

US Theatrical Movie Poster (2010)

Two hillbilly buddies named Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are off to fix up Tucker's new vacation home as well as go fishin' and beer drinkin'. However, along the way, they meet up a bunch of preppy, college kids who mistake them for backwoods, redneck, inbred, hillbillies who want to kill them all. As a result of this misunderstanding, our good 'ol boys' vacation goes from hilariously bad to outrageously worse, in a comical way.

This was such a funny movie! Both Labine and Tudyk are hysterical and portray their country bumpkin characters perfectly, with touches of believability, naivety, and humor. Also Dale's love interest Allison (Katrina Bowden) is fun, spunky, and very, very sexy. But what would our hero be without a nemesis. Dale must save his love from the evil, preppy, and slightly deranged college student Chad (Jesse Moss) who thinks he's saving Allison from the evil hillbillies.

Writer/director Eli Craig, along with screenwriter Morgan Jurgenson, are geniuses. They took the conventions and cliches of your typical backwoods hillbilly horror (ie THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, and WRONG TURN), a spun in it in a complete 180 degrees and told the film from the hillbillies perspective, and taking it into the comedy genre, all the while providing all the gore, blood, and half naked girls that's required. By switching the protagonist and antagonist roles, Craig and Jurgenson added a new dimension to the film. Of course, Moss played Chad so evil and demented that I was so blown away by his performance.

The film was supposed to take place in the woods of the country, the film was actually shot in Canada. Also having a great cinematographer named David Geddes was also a major factor. The Canadian forest never looked so tranquil and breathtaking.  The film toured the festival circuit and received unanimous acclaim.  The film was distributed by Maple Pictures and it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 22, 2010. It finally found an American distributor, Magnet Releasing, to release the film to theaters earlier this year.

TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL is the best horror/comedy film since 2004's SHAUN OF THE DEAD. The film has such much heart in it that you can't help but to take it all in. So go out and see this film, so when it comes out on DVD, you can brag to your friends that you saw the film first in the theater.

TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL is currently playing in limited release in theaters nationwide, including at the Osio Theater in Monterey. To view showtimes, visit their website at http://osiocinemas.com. To view the film's website for future screenings, visit www.magnetreleasing.com/tuckeranddalevsevil

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!