It's that time again: my 2012 Year of Blood was fun and all, but it's just not a proper year without the Summer of Blood, the beloved Antagony & Ectasy feature where we spend all the weekends in June, July, and August plumbing horror cinema's trashiest and slashiest dark corners. And with Memorial Day just a week away, it's time to get it started again!
I am very pleased to announce that this year will be devoted exclusively to the horror output of Canada, where the slasher film went to be taught some basic decency and etiquette, resulting in some of the very best and most intelligent movies that especially dubious genre has to offer. But it's not just going to be Canadian slashers; the whole gamut of Canadian horror is up for grabs, spanning more than 20 years of violence and mayhem and things so deadly they make poutine look like health food.
Pending availability (some of these are going to be harder than others to scrounge up), my planned schedule looks like this:
5/25 - The Clown Murders (1976)
6/1 - Death Weekend (1976)
6/8 - Prom Night (1980)
6/15 - My Bloody Valentine (1981)
6/22 - The Pit (1981)
6/29 - Visiting Hours (1982)
7/6 - Humongous (1982)
7/13 - Deadly Eyes (1982)
7/20 - Skullduggery (1983)
7/27 - Rock ‘n Roll Nightmare (1987)
8/3 - Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II (1987)
8/10 - The Carpenter (1988)
8/17 - Prom Night III: The Last Kiss (1990)
8/24 - Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil (1992)
8/31 - Cube (1997)
18 May 2013
11 comments:
Just a few rules so that everybody can have fun: ad hominem attacks on the blogger are fair; ad hominem attacks on other commenters will be deleted. And I will absolutely not stand for anything that is, in my judgment, demeaning, insulting or hateful to any gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religion. And though I won't insist on keeping politics out, let's think long and hard before we say anything particularly inflammatory.
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One of the only online events I look forward to every year. Let the Summer of Blood begin! Sacre bleu!
ReplyDeleteFuck yes! The Summer of Blood got me into this blog and I was sad a year went by without it. The cherry on top is that it's a Canadian retrospective (I live in Vancouver and I was raised in the might forests of British Columbia). It's odd for a country that has a reputation for being polite (we are), kind (we're not really) and reserved (we are) we seem to produce the some of the most bizarre, gruesome and off-putting horror out there, especially my boy Cronenberg. I'm interested in hearing your thesis on why that is.
ReplyDeleteSo, I don't want to be that guy and suggest titles for you to cover after you've already made a schedule...buuuut you really should try to find a way to fit a viewing of Pin (1989) in there.
ReplyDeleteYou know how much I love Canuck horror, so I am really looking forward to this.
Holy hell, I am so excited for a review of Cube! And not just because I'm Canadian and even other Canadians don't seem to know what I'm talking about. Steer clear of the sequels, though. Even Canada is capable of overblown sequel disease.
ReplyDeleteHm, 4 of these I own on dvd. I am proud of this fact.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely do not steer clear of the Cube sequels. The world needs an Antagony and Ecstasy review of Cube 2: Hypercube.
ReplyDeletePumped as always for this Summer of Blood. I don't think I've seen a single one of these films, although Prom Night and My Bloody Valentine and Cube have been in my sights for some time, and this might be the impetus I need to watch them.
The original My Bloody Valentine is one of THE essential slashers. I'll say right now, if I do anybody any good this summer, it will be in turning them towards that film.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Thought long and hard about throwing an early Cronenberg film on the pile, but frankly, it felt like he deserved better.
P.P.S. There may or may not end up being mid-week bonus reviews. We'll play it as it lays.
YES! Nobody does slasher flicks like the Canucks. If you can track it down - this one's particularly tricky to find - Curtains is an excellent one.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for another summer of blood retrospective! That said I actually did see the original My Bloody Valentine a few years ago and I HATED it! I could not stand any of the characters and I usually go in with low standards for slasher films! That said I can't wait to read your review! I've been wanting to see the Cube as well!
ReplyDeleteMichael- Curtains was on my longlist, but it was looking awfully hard to scrape up, especially since the hard-to-find 2010 DVD apparently looks miserable. I'm hoping to get to that one on a happier future day, when it is easy to see and love.
ReplyDeleteDouglas- Well, now I have a challenge to convince you otherwise! ;)
YES! I knew something was missing in my life and now I remember: staying up late watching horror movies my wife won't go near just so I can read along with your blog! <3 <3 <3
ReplyDelete