Happy Birthday Jason!

Fright-Rags is saying Happy Birthday to little Jason Voorhees with a sweet retro-looking limited edition G.I Jason T-shirt available for pre-order from today through Sunday at Midnight. It's totally available here, but only for a few short days! The perfect shirt to take off when losing your game of Strip Monopoly!



order soon before the offer expires!
P.S. THIS LINK WILL EXPIRE at 11:59pm (EST) Sunday, January 15!!!

Happy Friday the 13th!

Today marks the first of three Friday the 13ths we'll see this year. Whether you're friggatriskaidekaphobic or not, you're sure to enjoy a little Crispin Glover action on this fine day.



Speaking of Mr. Glover, he's in Chicago TODAY! He spoke this morning with WBEZ's Eight Forty-Eight and this weekend he screens his two films at the Music Box. Get yer Crispin on!!

Happy Friday the 13th, y'all!

Oh yeah...and it's Friday the 13th

I pity the hyper-sexually active camp counselors of the world on this most unholy of holy horror days...

Horrorbles Galerie des Terrors screening schedule! (2/4 - 2/6)

This weekend at Horrorbles Galerie des Terrors!
6729 W. Roosevelt Road, Berwyn, IL (708) 484-7370 (Facebook event HERE)

Friday, February 4th
Death Ship (1980) 6pm
Survivors of a tragic shipping collision are rescued by a mysterious black ship which appears out of the fog...


Saturday, February 5th
Friday The 13th (1980) 1pm
Camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to re-open a summer camp that was the site of a child's drowning.


Saturday, February 5th
Torso (1973) 6pm
Someone is strangling coeds in Perugia. The only clue is that the killer owns a red and black scarf


Sunday, February 6th
Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954) 1pm (In 3D!!)
A scientific expedition traveling up the Amazon River encounter a dangerous humanoid amphibious fish creature.


$3 "Popcorn Cover" per screening

*Any $25 in-store Purchase gets you a FREE Month-Long Pass for 2 to watch any of the movies playing! Plus Free Popcorn!

Only 16 seats available per showing...advance reservation suggested!

**Screenings subject to cancellation due to private parties**

It's Friday the 13th...

Not only is it the most superstitious day of the year, it would have been this chap's 111th birthday:

The most famous profile in cinema history and the man behind the camera on some of horror's favorite films, including The Birds and Psycho, also shares a birthday with this charming fellow:


So, does anyone want to go camping tonight? If it should rain, I know a great little motel we can stay at instead.

Kitley's Krypt MYSTERY PHOTO #51

Another week, another MYSTERY PHOTO!

Jon Kitley, pillar of the Chicago Horror Community and head honcho over at KITLEY'S KRYPT, wants to challenge your horror knowledge. Week in, week out, he posts a Mystery Photo - sometimes from an obscure horror title, sometimes just an unusual shot from a well-known classic. We figured our faithful Claw readers would enjoy the challenge!

Our last photo was from THE FINAL TERROR (1983) . Chalk it up to low expectations, but this slasher/survival flick from future Fugitive director Andrew Davis is pretty… damn… good. Equal parts Friday the 13th, Just Before Dawn, Deliverance and Southern Comfort, what could have been just another maniac-in-the-woods programmer turns out to be loaded with suspense and boasts a raft of soon-to-be-stars in early, strong performances. Check out this cast list: Adrian Zmed, Darryl Hannah, Rachel Ward, Joe Pantoliano... For slasher fans looking for something a notch above the schlock, Netflix this suckah now.


Let's see how you fare with this week's selection:



Send your guesses to: jon@kitleyskrypt.com

If you provide the correct answer, your name will be announced next week on the Kitley's Krypt website (http://www.kitleyskrypt.com), along with a new photo. Even if you don't know the answer, we welcome any sorta-kinda educated guess! So, send in your emails today and good luck!

Kitley's Krypt MYSTERY PHOTO #34

Another week, another MYSTERY PHOTO!

Jon Kitley, pillar of the Chicago Horror Community and head honcho over at KITLEY'S KRYPT, wants to challenge your horror knowledge. Week in, week out, he posts a Mystery Photo - sometimes from an obscure horror title, sometimes just an unusual shot from a well-known classic. We figured our faithful Claw readers would enjoy the challenge!

Last week's photo was from one of the lesser-known-to-the-mainstream-but-highly-revered-by-serious-genre-fans (especially those of the '80s slasher variety), Joseph Zito's THE PROWLER (1981) . With outstanding gore f/x by master of splatter Tom Savini, this is one of the finer examples of the subgenre and well worth seeking out on DVD, especially considering the commentary by Savini and Zito alone is worth the price of a rental. The two would team up again for Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, which many feel to be the apex of the franchise.


Let's see how well you fare with this week's offering:



Send your guesses to: jon@kitleyskrypt.com

If you provide the correct answer, your name will be announced next week on the Kitley's Krypt website (http://www.kitleyskrypt.com) , along with a new photo. Even if you don't know the answer, we welcome any sorta-kinda educated guess! So, send in your emails today and good luck!

Crap or Class - Building a Horror Library ( and why Zombie Strippers doesn't suck )

Waiting out the traffic after work today, stopped at Half-Price Books. Again. Seriously addicted to that place. Had to face a moral decision that's been prodding my half-rotted brain for a while.

As I stood with "The Descent" in one hand and "Freddy Vs. Jason" in the other, asked myself, "who's this for?" Are my tapes and vids a library to which I turn on cold, lonely winter nights, or is it a collection that I proudly display on those happy occasions I entertain guests in my hovel?

Not that "The Descent" is a super-classy, show-my-encyclopaedic-knowledge-of-the-genre film like, say, "The Ninth Configuration" might be, but it does shows that the guy who proudly displays all three Jurassic Park films on VHS on his shelf might have a little something going on.

So does one build one's vid library for those sweat-pants, nursing-a-beer nights? Or does one stock it with crowd-pleasers and lady-killers, like "Zombie Strippers" and "Cemetery Man?"

Wait, are those guilty pleasures or cool display pieces for the house guests? Hmm. Perhaps I'm looking to solve the wrong problem.

Perhaps I should not be filtering my movie buying habits, but instead instead should be filtering my house guests. Invite only those friends who consider "Martin" and "Roger Rabbit" as signs of good taste, and "The Hunger" and "Cemetery Man" as signs of immanent foreplay. I like those kind of friends.

Mr. Morlock will have to ponder this further. As he lounges in sweat pants, nurses a beer, and watches... "The Descent." Slightly classy, and dead sexy.

Friday The 13th Sale & Svengoolie at Horrorbles!

Our good friend Jon "The Monster Man" Aranza at Horrorbles has big news to share with the WilClaw faithful:

13 Hour Sale This Friday & Svengoolie Next Saturday!

Come visit Horrorbles this Friday the 13th. The store will be open for 13 hours (11am-Midnight) and everything in the store will be 13% off! If you can't join us just enter the code "friday13" when checking out for your online discount at http://www.horrorbles.com


Then come join us next Saturday, November 21st for an in store visit from Svengoolie from 6pm-8pm! We will have plenty of rubber chickens for sale and will have movies playing in the theatre celebrating the 78th anniversary of the 1931 release of Frankenstein!


email: store@horrorbles.com
store: 708-484-7370
web: http://www.horrorbles.com

Comic-Con 2009 :Jason Swag

Behold horror swag you won't be able to get unless you are lucky enough to go to San Diego!

Limited to just 500 pcs worldwide (only 400 for San Diego Comic-Con), this Jason Voorhees Bust from Gentle Giant stands approximately 8 inches tall and comes with a spear along with a removable mask revealing the terror underneath! In 1957, a young boy named Jason Voorhees drowned at Crystal Lake Camp. In 1958, two camp counselors are murdered. In 1962, fires and bad water thwarted attempts to reopen the Crystal Lake Camp. Now in 1979, Crystal Lake is finally set to reopen, ignoring the warnings from a local wacko. The murders by a mysterious stalker start once again.

While at the AFX booth, be sure to get this exclusive Jason Voorhees bust autographed FREE by the actor who portrayed him in Friday the 13th Part VI (Jason Lives) – C.J. Graham! C.J. will be appearing at the AFX booth at various times throughout the show (times to be posted in during the show at the AFX booth).

From Comic-Con 2009 :: Exclusives! Page 1 at www.comic-con.org

Yet Another Friday the 13th...Big Plans for 2009

So here we are again...the second Friday the 13th in a row. We here at Wildclaw think it might be a good omen for us...we have big plans this year. Lots of things in the hopper and we need all of you to join us for the ride. First stop on the 2009 Wildclaw express is tomorrow night: Zombie Bowling yall...Zombie Bowling. It's going to be an event to remember and hopefully reoccur for years to come. You want to be there from the beginning.

Then we have the Revenants. I had a little meeting today with our lovely Director Anne and makeup artist Sania at the Lincoln Square starbucks this morning. We were the three cute chicks discussing puss, blood poisoning, and brain splatter...maybe you over heard us while sipping your latte?

After that...Deathscribe is coming back. Bigger, Badder, Bloodier...name a B word and we might be featuring it...

Plus more podcasts, more blog posts, and a goal to be the destination for live horror theatre in the Midwest...later THE WORLD.

Ambitious? You're damn right. Now try not to trip in the woods tonight...

Ladies, don't trip and fall in the woods...

Happy friday the 13th ladies. Here's some advice to survive what is a notoriously dangerous day for young attractive women of loose morals who spend their summers at campgrounds:

#1 Always wear shoes you can run in. Though I did appreciate the evasive talents of the naked gal wearing ridiculously tall platform shoes in the My Bloody Valentine remake, it's best to stick with hiking boots or jogging shoes when you are running for your life.

#2 Never take your bikini top off in a lake...

#3 Never swim out to one of those floating platforms in a lake.

#4 Never perform #3 and follow it up with #2...you are dead for sure if you do.

#5 Never leave your clothes on a bush and then go skinny dipping. Someone is going to steal your clothes...and that someone is either the unattractive pervert guy in your gang of friends or a serial killer...or possibly both. Either way, your wet and naked and usually that means someone is about to chase you and imbed an ax in your head. Because if there is one thing psycho killers love more than killing girls, its killing naked wet girls.

#6 If you have managed to escape the campground alive, assume that ANYONE that stops to help you on the road is either: the mother of the psycho killer, a sheriff who wants to kill you to keep the story of the psycho killer out of the press, or the psycho killer himself in a snazzy new sheriff outfit.

Best wishes and happy camping...

Remakes

Getting ready for the release of Friday the 13th, they are talking about remakes at the San Francisco Chronicle. Chronicle writer Peter Hartlaub puts re-makes up against originals.

Remakes don't fare so well. I think you have to start out with a movie that is not so great to have any chance for a good remake. I, for one, enjoyed My Bloody Valentine, but then again...