Final Day for Madame Isis Sword Contest

Tonight's the night! At the stroke of midnight, January 31, your the chance to be The Keeper of the Sword will be over.

You can own Damali Richard’s Madame Isis shero sword. The Devil’s Candy Store is holding an essay contest that will be judged by L. A. Banks. The winner will receive the Madame Isis sword created by Hollywood armourer, Tony Swatton (a $6,000 value).

Originally to be offered at auction, this gold-plated, gem-encrusted, one-of-a-kind vampire-killing sword will end up in the hands of the Vampire Huntress Legend most deserving fan. The winner will be presented with the Madame Isis sword on Saturday, February 14, 2009 during the Twelve Tribes Convergence Summit in Philadelphia, PA. (You don't have to present at the 12 Tribes Summit to win.)

Please read the contest rules! Unfortunately, this contest is only open to anyone 21 years of age and older. This is a real sword, forged on an anvil.

Chicago Reader Poll

If you had fun with WildClaw Theatre this year, drop on by the Chicago Reader poll and vote for us in the Theater section. http://media.chicagoreader.com/Best-of-Chicago/2009/ballot/voting/category/performing-arts

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE

From Jean Carpentier comes this amazing little homage to The Thing for Simon Gesrel and Xavier Ehretsmann.

Full Zombie Hack Coverage

Okay, talk about a slow news day. Here is the #1 news story on KXAN, Austin, Texas. That's right, the Zombie Road Sign Hack.

Mutant Chronicles

What has John Malkovich, Ron Perlman, Thomas Jane, and Devon Aoki in one place? Why the Mutant Chronicles, of course.

Zombies Ahead!

Okay, now how will you know if it's a real zombie attack or just a road sign hack?



Thanks to Chris Gagnon for spotting this!

Zombie Tools

Zombie Tools - Accessories for the Apocalypse


Photography by Chris Lombardi

We loves the Zombie Tools. Real, hand-crafted blades made for massive zombie killing.

Mort Castle's "The Stranger" hits Top 10

FOWC (Friend of WildClaw) Mort Castle, celebrity panelist for DeathScribe 2008, has seen the Polish translation for his 1984 novel "The Strangers" make the list of "10 Best Horror/Suspense/Thriller Novels of 2008" in NEWSWEEK POLSKA.

Or so he tells me. I can't read Polish. Pretty cool though, yes?

Speaking of cool things Mort Castle does, check out Sniplits.com. It's a portal for audio files (and -philes, I suppose) where you can download a great selection short stories -- from two or three minutes to a half an hour or so -- all for under a buck. It's pretty damn groovy.

I'm personally a fan of the two jazz stories there from Mort's Moon on the Water collection, but there's also plenty of good creepy, violent horror. Check out I'll Call You, read by a Chicago actor of some notoriety, Kurt Ehrmann.

Ray Frenden Rocks

Ray Frenden worked on five of these puppies for Black Tide. Art direction and animation, Motherland. Characters, Ray. Kick ass.

Laurie Hassold

© Laurie Hassold

The amazing sculptures of Laurie Hassold evoke remnants of Elder Gods unearthed at a little known dig site in the Sahara. Go to Bert Green's Fine Art Gallery site to see more of these fully-formed skeletons of alien life. There is also an excellent interview with Laurie in the current edition of Hi Fructose Magazine (Vol. 10).

Zombie Corporations

With our production of The Revenants (by Scott T. Barsotti) coming up in April, we will be talking a lot about zombies here at BLOOD RADIO. We thought we would point out ahead of time that the zombies we're talking about are not the ones the economic policy wonks on the nightly news are speaking of.

It seems that the term "zombie corporation" has now caught on to describe "propped-up, government-subsidized, bailed-out firms that aren’t really functional." That quote is from a nice little piece in Reason by Todd Seavey.

Vampire Bats for Sale

© Debra Simon "Roost"

Friday, January 9, 6-9PM
Packer Schopf Gallery
942 W. Lake Street
Chicago

Packer Schopf is having a gallery reception for Amy Talluto and Debra Simon. Both are fomr New York and do cool work. Simon actually creates life size Indian Bats which are about 2 feet in length. I want one.

B-Movie Madness at Portage Theater

B-MOVIE MADNESS
Saturday, January 17th

Come see WildClaw Theater folks at the Portage Theater as the Horror Society presents a new Indie Film Festival. This time it’s…

B-Movie Madness!!
Portage Theater
4050 N. Milwaukee Ave Chicago, IL
Saturday, January 17th
5pm - 12am

Ticket are only $15 at the door ($10 advance at: http://www.horrorsociety.com/chicago)



The lineup includes…
Better Off Undead (2007)
The Driller Killer (1979)
The Stalking Hand (2005)
It’s My Party, and I’ll Die If I Want To (2007) (“Choose Your Own Adventure” version!)
Giveaways, special guests and trailers throughout the festival!

About HorrorSociety:
HorrorSociety.com is a website devoted to Indie Horror Films and the fans that love them.
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/horrorsocietyfilmfestival

Romero's Of The Dead Film

George A. Romero has a new film out called Of The Dead. It has zombies in it. Here is the trailer via TwitchFilm.net.

Dr. AC's 2008 Horror Film Wrap Up

Howdy troops,

AC here. After much deliberation, below is my assessment of the year that was. All of the films listed below were personally encountered for the first time from January 1 to December 31, 2008 (i.e. no previously viewed films were eligible). To accommodate and acknowledge as many as possible, I've broken them down into various categories in alphabetical order, with my top picks denoted with an asterisk. Again, these are just my personal opinions and not meant to reflect the opinions of WildClaw as a whole.

As always, feel free to leave any comments, and we'll tag you back. Thanks so much for the past year - looking forward to more of the same in ’09!

TOP 20 2008 HORROR RELEASES
Blood Car
Cottage, The
Frontier(s)
Funny Games
Girl Next Door, The
*Inside
Let the Right One In
Machine Girl, The
Mulberry Street
*Orphanage, The
Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
[Rec]
Ruins, The
Quarantine
Signal, The
Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story
Stuck
Sweeny Todd (released late 2007)
*Teeth
Them (aka Ils)

Yep, it’s a three-way tie between the intense French splatterfest INSIDE, the beautiful and haunting Spanish ghost story THE ORPHANAGE, and the hilarious indie black comedy TEETH. What do they have in common? How about stellar acting, solid effects, terrific female roles (a far cry from the helpless buxom Hammer vixens of yore) and great storytelling from beginning to end? While Hollywood could barely manage a couple slots, thanks to the independent trenches and foreign soils, 2008 turned out to be a rather fertile year for horror.

MIXED BAGS
Cloverfield
Death Race
Doomsday
Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
Mother of Tears: The Third Mother
Repo: The Genetic Opera
Strangers, The

DISAPPOINTMENTS
Diary of the Dead
Day the Earth Stood Still, The
Happening, The
Saw V

TOP 20 HOME VIEWING DISCOVERIES (HORROR)
Next time you feel like you’ve seen it all, check one of these bad boys out

Blind Beast (1969)
Call of Cthulhu, The (2005)
Cyclops, The (1957)
Hangover Square (1945)
Hunchback of the Morgue, The (1973)
In a Glass Cage (1987)
Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971)
Nekromantik 2 (1991)
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)
Rituals (aka The Creeper) (1977)
Seeding of a Ghost (1983)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
Strangler of the Swamp (1946)
Street Trash (1987)
That Cold Day in the Park (1969)
Ticks (aka Infested) (1993)
Unhinged (1982)
Unseen, The (1981)
Who Can Kill a Child? (1976)
Woman in Black, The (1989)

TOP 12 PLEASANT SURPRISES (NOT AMAZING, BUT WORTH SEEING)
Alien Factor, The (1978)
Boogens, The (1982)
Contamination (1980)
Corridors of Blood (1958)
Deadly Eyes (1982)
Manster, The (1959)
Norliss Tapes, The (1973)
Right at Your Door (2006)
Strangeness, The (1985)
Welcome to Arrow Beach (1974)
Witch Who Came from the Sea, The (1976)
Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007)

TOP 13 “WHAT THE ^&@%^@% WAS THAT?” FLICKS
(and I mean that in the best possible pick-your-jaw-off-the-floor way)

Black Devil Doll from Hell (1984)
Blood Harvest (1987)
Christmas on Mars (2008)
Death Bed: The Bed That Eats (1977)
Eye Creatures, The (1965)
Forced Entry (1973)
Last Jaws, The (1981)
Mutilator, The (1985)
Pig F*cking Movie, The (1974)
Schramm (1993)
Thundercrack! (1975)
Video Dead, The (1987)
Visitors, The (1988)

HOME VIEWING DISAPPOINTMENTS
Atragon (1963)
Deadwood Park (2007)
Future-Kill (1985)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2 (1998)
Hitcher, The (2007)
Invasion from Inner Earth (aka They) (1974)
Joshua (2007)
Number 23, The (2007)
Reeker (2005)
Scrapbook (2000)
Sisters (2006)
Sunshine (2007)
2001 Maniacs (2005)
When a Stranger Calls (2006)

WORST VIEW OF 2008
Masters of Horror: Dance of the Dead (2005)