Drew Bolduc is the mind behind and face of The Taint - only one of the best movies I've ever discovered as a reviewer of stuff and fan of obscure horror. The Taint, for the uninitiated, is a revolting, beautiful thrill ride about Misogyny, the end of the world and raging erections. Bolduc is currently following up The Taint with Science Team, which is, in the words of the man himself, about "violence, drama" and "telepathic aliens." Personally, I can't wait. I had the chance to speak with Mr. Bolduc about all things Taint and Science Team. The two questions I really wanted answering: (1) what makes a good cock? (2) When am I gonna get a sequel to The Taint? Joel H: Hi! Thanks for taking the time to talk to us. How are you? Drew Bolduc: Very good.
JH: How is work coming along on Science Team?
DB: We are doing fundraising now and starting preproduction.
JH: What can we expect from the film? DB: Violence. Drama. Telepathic aliens.
JH: Will you be acting in this, as you did The Taint?
DB: I don't think so. I would prefer to focus on being behind the camera this time. It is very hard to go from being a character to know what is going on.
JH: Can we also expect a VHS release of this? DB: There is a good possibility.
JH: What do you make of the recent cult resurgence of VHS technology?
DB: I don't think it is irony or anything like that. There is a permanence to VHS.
JH: You first came to our attention with The Taint, which you acted in, co-wrote and directed. Was the film well received by audiences?
DB: Yeah, surprisingly. It did really well.
JH: How did the idea for that film come about?
DB: I wanted to do horror, I wanted to shoot by the James River and I wanted to do a parody of misogyny in movies. We were men making the film, so it is a fine line to where the joke really begins and ends. The movie had to be hypocritical to work.
JH: We were particularly impressed by the many representations of cock in the film. What, in your opinion, makes for a good drawing of a cock? Length? Girth? Jizz coming out of the end?
DB: Character. JH: Thanks to The Taint, my friends and I enjoy screaming such things as “no! She was so hot!” whenever an attractive actress dies in a horror film. Have you had anyone quote lines from the film at you yet? DB: Yeah, I think so. That was one.
JH: How did Troma come to be involved with its distribution?
DB: We played at Tromadance and they contacted us about it from there.
JH: Have you met Lloyd Kaufman?
DB: Yeah, I worked on special and visual effects for his most recent film, Return to Class of Nuke 'em High. JH: What are your ambitions?
DB: Right now, all I want to do is make Science Team. JH: Is there anyone out there that you'd like to work with in a future film or project?
DB: Hm. Lots of people I guess. Anybody who is passionate and cares about what they do really.
JH: Which are your favourite horror movies? DB:The Shining, The Thing, Evil Dead 2. JH: Finally, as an enormous fan, I have to ask - do you think we'll ever see a sequel to The Taint?
DB: That is very hard to say. JH: Drew Bolduc, thank you!
Eagle-eyed visitors may notice that I rarely use The Horror Review Hole to promote anything, other than myself. I once received a snotty e-mail from a PR dude, once, because of my whiny (ish) review of Saw VII. He had gone out of his way to send me a review disc, but still, fuck Saw VII.
I'm even worse with movie news, in that people ask me to support this, or share that, and I generally don't, because dinner is ready, or Coronation Street is on (Eileen is going to Egypt this week), or I'm drunk. The one exception I'll make, every time, is for The Taint.
I first viewed The Taint in 2010 - still fairly early days for me and my reviewing of stuff. Spoiler: I loved every moment of that strange, stupid, dirty picture. I've seen mountains of no-budget shit since then, but The Taint has stayed with me. I was tainted. It's since become legendary in my circle of friends, in that I made every single one of them watch it as soon as I realised how awesome it was. I've been to journo' screenings of Evil Dead, The Hobbit and Mama. I spoke to Robert Englund and even met Eli Roth once. But The Taint is my favourite free thing I have ever seen or done. That may sound like hyperbole (and braggartry) and it probably is (Robert Englund is an awesome dude) but I fucking love The Taint. This is a beautiful movie in which a man, draped in an American flag, zooms around on a skateboard shooting Misogynists' gigantic erections off. My friends and I still shout "Noo-oooo! She was so hot!" every time a pretty girl dies in a horror film. Ahem. Gushing over, now for the other thing.
Drew Bolduc is back, with Science Team. While it looks very different to The Taint, colour me intrigued.
You can support the film at Indiegogo and Facebook. I would urge you to do so. More on Science Team as we get it.
In a bid to spread my bollocks across the web like some sort of porky whining margarine, I recently contacted HorrorTalk, begging for the opportunity to do some writing for them. They relented, and sent me a few screeners forthwith. Below are the reviews I wrote for them. Have a look, and keep your eye out, in case they let me defile their otherwise lovely website some more.
Of course, you'd know this already if you followed The Review Hole on Twitter or Facebook. So do that too. Your life will be ever so slightly better or worse for it.
As a blogger, it's good practice to keep an eye on what the people want. To this end, I like to check out the search keywords feature on Blogger and a few other keyword analysis sites I use. Call it an invasion of your privacy, or a bit like the end of The Dark Knight, but if I keep a watch on such things, I can find out who reads this blog and adjust my content accordingly. Some of you, by the way, might be in a little trouble if the police ever come a'knocking. I'd keep your computer away from PC World, that's all I'm sayin'.
This post, I'm going to use as a sort of FAQ, answering a few questions that have come up recently and providing a few requests. Because I'm nice like that. Who knows, it might become a regular feature. (Otherwise, feel free to ask me anything on Formspring or something, like the fifteen year old girl I am at heart). Below, the best keyword searches and then, my answers.
Q:) When did they find the Titanic?
A:) September 1st, 1985, by Newfoundland.
Q:) Who was the other test monkey in Planet Of The Apes?
A:) There were three - Caesar, Bright Eyes and Koba.
Q:) Which 4 minutes were cut from A Serbian Film?
A:) Parts of individual scenes, mostly those involving children.
Next up, someone asked for someCaptain America jokes. (Q:) What do you call a black Captain America? (A:) Captain America, you racist. The rest are all puns on him being shot in the head and jokes about Chris Evans the crap English TV personality. Anyway, the best joke (well, more one-liner) about Captain America is the one the man made himself in The Ultimates, whilst punching an alien Nazi to death. Someone tells him to surrender, and Cap says:
He's here all day folks. If Joss Whedon doesn't include that line in The Avengers, I swear to god he is dead to me.
A lot of the following keyword searches come from kinky buggers looking for something to tickle their fancies. Megan Fox in bondage, mostly, but also Zooey Deschanel, Suzi Lorraine, Liv Tyler and Gemma Arterton in the same sort of situation. But it's not all boobs and bondage, for a few of you were looking for Timothy Olyphant "his balls" and Wentworth Miller's body.
A:) The only one I really know is Spot, Data's kitty.
Q:) Humains movie spoiler
A:) It was Fred Flintstone what done it.
Furthermore, the Killer Tiger movie you're looking for is called Burning Bright. And yes, Titanic 2is a real film. It also accounts for at least 10% of the traffic to this site, so I guess I'm glad it exists. Sadly I have no 'zombie tickle torture' for you, nor any 'Hillbilly rape comics'. And now, presenting the two most requested images:
Deanna Troi cake and Harvey Keitel's penis. What is wrong with you people?
Just to stress, that isn't me. I kind of wish it was, but it isn't. The point being, I have been chosen by the rather brilliant Maynard Morrissey and his HORROR MOVIE DIARY for their horror blog of the month feature. So head on over there for a fun Q&A session with none other than myself, AKA yours truly. I enjoyed it immensely. And you should go follow the Horror Movie Diary if you're not doing so already. Cheers y'all. Back to silly inconsequential reviews forthwith.
As some of you may or may not care know, for the past eight weeks I have been training to run a 10 kilometre mini-marathon thing in memory of my late little brother, Jake. You can donate some cash to the cause here; and some already have. Thank you to the completely awesome Jinx of Totally Jinxed fame. Not only did she send a little money my way, but she provided no short supply of support too. Thanks Jinx - consider this post in your honour. Plus, your blog is one of my favourites.
Well today I went out and I ran those 10 kilometres*. I did it in one hour and three minutes - pretty good, when one considers the fact that I fully expected that little jog to properly kill me. Even better when one considers the fact that I've been doing nothing but drinking beer, eating McMuffins and watching stupid horror movies for the entirety of my 'training'. My still being alive is testament to the fact that doing things the half-assed way will out sometimes. To be fair, my viewing schedule did consist of Run Fatboy Run (my main source of inspiration), Marathon Man (useless) and Running Man (gotta be prepared for violent emergencies). I ate a Snickers barjust before too (GET IT**).
Anyhoo, it's kinda bad form to talk about oneself in a movie blog, so we'll nip it in the bud now. Thanks once more to Jinx and everyone else who donated and didn't take the piss. Thanks too to Simon Pegg, for being a massive inspiration and man-crush. Now, back to the reviews of shitty horror and silly Youtube music videos.
* Except for that one time I had to stop and tie my laces
** Because they used to be called Marathon - GET ITT
If you'll excuse the self-indulgent mitherings of a braggart, I beg of y'all to go out and purchase a copy of Total Film #173 (available from most good retailers... well, in Britain anyway). It's very good and it contains a list of the 25 greatest horror movies of all time, as well as interviews with Tobe Hooper and John Carpenter. But not the least because it has me in it.
Yes, do tune in to Issue 173 for my interview with Emma Watson, a Rachel McAdams/Anne Hathaway face off and lots and lots of uncredited untyping jobs. Transcribing exclusive John Carpenter and Tobe Hooper interview tapes is a highlight of this idiot horrorhound's life so far. Plus I think I might be ever so slightly a lot in love with Emma Watson. So yes, go out and buy a copy now. I'll love you forever.
Thanks most kindly to Jinx at Totally Jinxed and Freddie at Full Moon Reviews for bestowing the Horror Review Hole with its third ever award. I'm touched, not the least because Jinx, Fred and their blogs really rather rock. Thanks dudes. There are rules, because nothing ever comes for free. List ten things that make you joyous, and then pass it on to ten people. This may be quite difficult. I'm not really the sort of person that gets 'joyous' about things, but we'll give it a go.
1. HORROR MOVIES
2. Writing
3. My family & friends
4. William Shakespeare
5. Queen. See also Cash, Bowie, Meatloaf and ELO
6. Booze, Haribos and fried eggs.
7. Nicolas Cage in The Wicker Man 8. That episode of Futurama when Fry gets infested with parasites. *sobs*
9. Slaughtering & peeling your horse in Red Dead Redemption 10. Zooey Deschanel
It was actually a toss-up (don't be so filthy. Not that kind of toss-up) between her and Timothy Olyphant. But I'll take any excuse I can get to post pictures of Zooey Deschanel. A true admission: I'm incapable of watching Zooey's movies (Elf, for example) without getting all angry and wanting to punch Will Ferrell in the face. Not because I dislike Ferrell, but rather I can't stand seeing my Zooey with another man. *double sobs*
And now for the blogs. Or rather, now for laziness. If you can find yourself on our links page, then the award's yours. I know, it's a half arsed job. But I'm a half arsed kinda person.
Thanks to Billy Loves Stu for putting this out there. As we all know, I can't resist an oldschool myspace-style questionnaire; even more so when it happens to be horror related. So I done thought I'd add mine to the growing legion of horror blogs who are reposting this.
1: In Ten Words or Less, Describe Your Blog:
- Badly-written reviews, sleaze, stupidity; overuse of the word 'shitty'.
2: During What Cinematic Era Where you Born? A: The Classic Horror Era (late 30's to 40's) B: The Atomic Monster/Nuclear Angst Era (the late 40's through 50's) C: The Psycho Era ( Early 60's) D: The Rosemary's Baby Era (Mid to Late 60's) E: The Exorcism Era (Early to mid 70's) F: The Halloween Era (Late 70's to Early 80's) G: The Slasher Era (Mid to late 80's) H: The Self Referential/Post Modern Era (1990 to 1999)
- The slasher era. The year of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, to be specific.
3: The Carrie Compatibility Question: (gay men and straight women - make your choice from section A) A: Billy Nolan or Tommy Ross, who would you take to the prom? (straight guys and lesbians - make your choice from section B) B: Sue Snell or Chris Hargensen, who would you take to the prom?
- Chris Hargensen. I know she's supposed to be a bit of a bitch, but I'm a sucker for blondes. And besides, the trick with the bucket and the blood was pretty funny.
4: You have been given an ungodly amount of money, and total control of a major motion picture studio - what would your dream Horror project be?
- I would remake 'Twilight' and kill all the idiots off in the opening five minutes. Sparkletits bashing aside, I'd probably adapt one of my own terrible scripts (reworked by Tarantino or something), then hire Bruce Campbell, Timothy Olyphant and Juliette Lewis. And so The Greatest Horror Movie Ever (probably a Hills Have Eyes rip-off of some sort) is born. Of course, it'd lose loads of money and I'd never work again. But at least I tried.
5: What horror film "franchise" that others have embraced, left you cold?
- Anything Saw related. The first one was overrated, the second and third were tolerable. Everything thereafter sucks massive stinky horse balls.
6: Is Michael Bay the Antichrist?
- Naaaaaah. Have you seen The Rock? Transformers 2 and The Island aside, I generally quite like a bit of Bay. There, I said it.
7: Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Frankenstein Monster - which one of these classic villains scares you, and why?
- None of them really scare me, although Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein did make me cry when I was 10.
8: Tell me about a scene from a NON HORROR Film that scares the crap out of you:
- Again, I've not seen it since I was a kid, but I remember being totally creeped out in The Elephant Man when Merrick is chased by that mob. For shame, humanity.
9: Baby Jane Hudson invites you over to her house for lunch. What do you bring?
- Potato salad and bottles of cider.
10: So, between you and me, do you have any ulterior motives for blogging? Come, on you can tell me, it will be our little secret, I won't tell a soul.
- I just want to be liked SADFACE :-( No, I write because I enjoy it and hope one day to do it on a semi-professional basis.
11: What would you have brought to Rosemary Woodhouse's baby shower?
-Gold, frankinsence and myhrr. And a dictionary so I can learn to spell frankenscense.
12: Godzilla vs The Cloverfield Monster, who wins?
- Godzilla, but only if we're talking the proper version and not that stupid Ferris Beuller thing. I'm not sure how he'd win, but he'd blatantly would, because he's the original Cloverfield.
13: If you found out that Rob Zombie was reading your blog, what would you post in hopes that he read it?
- Reviews of every single one of his terrible, terrible movies.
14: What is your favorite NON HORROR FILM, and why?
- Too many to count. Are we calling Dead Man's Shoes non-horror? Because probably that, if we are. Otherwise, take a stand Grease and The Unforgiven. And because they're good, why not.
15: If blogging technology did not exist, what would you be doing?
- Writing movie reviews in my own faeces on the walls of pub toilets and hanging around the local HMV shouting "ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN IS TEH SUCKS" at the top of my voice, whilst scowling furiously at anyone in a Team Edward t-shirt.
Starring: Steven Seagal, Adam Sandler, Martin Lawrence, Anna Faris, Verne Troyer
Find it online: Well, not yet.
In association with the LAMB's neat little Pitch the Lamb feature (this month's theme: Buddy Flicks), the Horror Review Hole brings you a glimpse into the future, with our hitherto unseen plot synopsis of Washed Up, the buddy movie as written by yours truly. Adam Sandler and Steven Seagal star as Harry and Leslie, a pair of old schoolfriends who are reunited in the latter's hour of need. Leslie, once a slick, mean ex-CIA agent turned expert Hitman has become a fat, old, washed up mess. He reaches out to his only friend in life - Harry - in the hope of redemption. That's if he can survive the dangerous gangster (Lawrence) who's after his head... zany hijinks ensue.
WASHED UP
0
The movie opens with a prologue. Kids in a schoolyard. Meet HARRY; A stereotypical nerd-type sits alone at a table, reading a comic book. Over comes the school bully and rips his comic to shreds. Harry starts crying. The bully is about to beat the motherlovin’ turds out of him when JOHN LESLIE intervenes. He wears a long leather jacket and a ponytail. Using some cool Aikido moves, he beats the bully to a pulp. Harry smiles. He and John Leslie shake hands. And so a friendship forms.
ACT ONE
Twenty years later. Harry (Sandler) is a neurotic businessman type, married to a lovely wife (Faris) with kids. He’s still geeky, but vaguely contented. He has ambitions of one day becoming a partner in his company, but hasn’t the money. One day, the telephone rings. He answers. “You owe me! Remember that.” What? Drunkenly: “I think the walls are moving…” Harry gasps, realising who it is. LESLIE. He leaves a motel address, repeating the sentence “you owe me.” Harrytries to ignore it and goes for dinner with his wife. He’s awkward and miserable all night. In bed, he dreams of the past; Leslie coming to his defence time and time again. In the middle of the night he leaves.
ACT TWO
Harry finds the motel. It’s a dodgy-ass area, and he gets mugged. Just as the mugger (a cameo from Rob Schneider) is about to stab him… a figure smashes the mugger over the head with an empty vodka bottle. “Did we forget something? You never let anyone push you about, pard’ner. You remember nothing I taught you?” It’s LESLIE. Older, fatter and played by Steven Seagal. He grabs Harry by the collar and pulls him into the motel bar. Drinks. Leslie's already off his tits, but he orders a bottle of whiskey and begins downing it hardcore style. Harry asks him what happened. Leslie tells him how he’s a Hitman now, only he fucked it up (he doesn’t say it, but we can assume it’s because he’s now an alcoholic and a fatty) and he’s on the run from serious gangsters. Talking of which… “Well look who just walked in.” Mobsters. They haven’t noticed Leslie yet. He and Harry try to sneak out, but he loudly drops the whiskey bottle on the floor. Shit. Fight scene!! The Mobsters (probably played by John C. McGinley and a Wayans Brother) attack. Leslie tries to fight back, and does quite well… but the Wayans Brother shoves him up against a wall and is about to shoot him when… Harry cracks a pool cue off’ve his head. He drops Leslie and the mobsters break out laughing. “Goddammit,” Leslie shouts, “remember what I taught you.” Almost gingerly, Harry punches the Wayans Brother in the throat. Or tries. Wayans punches him through a window. They join him on the sidewalk and are about to kill poor Harry rather violently when… Leslie runs them over in his truck. Harryclimbs in. They drive away. “Road trip!”
ACT THREE
Harry demands to be taken home. He’s bloody and battered. His suit is a bit of a mess. He’s had enough. But Leslie begs for his help. Pleads. “You know I would do the same for you.” Harry looks at him, knowing he can’t say no. He reluctantly uses his Cellphone and calls his wife, telling her he’ll be at a business meeting for the next week or so. “Alright,” Harry says, “what do you need?” Cue ‘hilarious’ road trip antics. On the first night, they hire a motel – but they only have one bed! Epic LOLZ. The second day, Leslie decides he needs a gun. So they go to a GUN DEALER (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Cue training montage in which Leslie hilariously fails to use a gun and shoots Mintz-Plasse in the foot. Then, they go to Leslie's old dojo so he can touch up on his fighting styles. Leslie's master is now dead, and the place is run by a bad tempered dwarf (Verne Troyer). The dwarf beats the shit outta Leslie, whilst a mad old man (played by Leslie Nielsen) sits in the corner laughing and drinking his own piss. They sit in their truck, nursing their wounds. Leslie holds a bottle of whiskey in his hands, preparing to give it all up. Harry sits with him, they talk. Harry makes his old friend realise that he is loved after all, and he’s not so alone: “you’re my best friend. I love you, man.” And then the car door opens, and there’s the mobsters pointing guns at them. Leslie beats the hell out of them, spurred on by the knowledge that he got a friend! Training montage! Set to "Best Friend" by Queen. Harry and Leslie train. We watch as Leslie improves his marksmanship, then returns to the Dojo and kicks Verne Troyer in the face. At the end, they hug.
ACT FOUR
Chicago. In a tower block, Gangster HARVEY MAGUFFIN (Lawrence) is mightily angered at his goons, who are battered and bruised from their encounter with the newly empowered Leslie. “What am I paying you for?” Standard villain shtick. The intercom goes. “Mister Maguffin, you have some visitors to see you.” He asks who it is. “A mister Leslie, sir.” There’s a gunshot. The elevator in the corner of the room begins to rise. All guns point to it. The doors open. Only HARRY. “Surprise!” While Maguffin and his goons are distracted, Leslie bursts through the window, having jumped from the roof of the opposite building. Being a fat bastard now, it’s quite the impact, and he crashes through Maguffin's mahogany table. “I’ll kill you extra hard for that, motherfucker!” Maguffin fights with Leslie. The goons attack Harry, who shoots one of them dead. He tussles with McGinley’s character (what, I can’t think up names for everyone) and, in his ultimate moment of manliness, throws him out of a window. Maguffin and Leslie fight. Leslie is old and fat, and Maguffin is just useless, so it lasts a while. Leslie (well, a body double) high kicks him in the face, so hard that it breaks his neck. Exit MAGUFFIN. The two stand side-by-side, weary but happy. In the corner, a safe full of money. Harry remarks that there’d be enough money in that safe to take over his company completely. Leslie smiles. “Who’s going to know?”
EPILOGUE
One year later. Harry lives in a really big, really nice house. He's having a barbeque. His kids play happily on their enormous trampoline. His wife (still played by Anna Faris) reclines by their hu-uge swimming pool. Harry smiles, flipping the sausages. At his side, Leslie, tucking into a fat hamburger.
As the credits roll, 'All-Star' by SmashMouth plays. Sandler, Seagal and Lawrence dance over said credits.
Look out for Washed Up. It'll be coming soon to a cinema, DVD, television, streaming site, dustbin or nothing near you very soon. Or not at all.
Really, brain? What the fuck?? I've watched some of the 'scariest' movies known to man, and not once flinched. I've seen The Shining, The Ring, The Grudge and The Excorcist. I've sat through all manner of torture tripe; Hostel 1-2, Martyrs(okay, that one made something of an incredible emotional impact - but it didn't really scare) and even a Human Centipede. And not since I was, oh say ten, has anything given me nightmares (back then Mary Shelley's Frankenstein managed it, Jebus knows how). Truly I thought I was unflappable.
And then last night in search of some late night TV slop, I happened across The Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows. I've seen the first one multiple times, and even that didn't bother me. Can you say overrated? The sequel eschews the 'found footage' gimmick of the first movie in favour of a more traditional kids-in-the-woods horror tale. After watching the first movie, a gang of college kids decide to head on down to the woods to see if there's any truth in the Blair Witch myth. At their head is Jeffery, a possibly-crazy tour guide and video camera fanatic. On the tour, he takes the kids to the rotted ruins as seen in the first movie. Drunkening and partygoing quickly ensues. The youths pass out. When they wake up, their cameras and research have all been destroyed. They're all suffering from amnesia. All that remains is a few tapes. What follows is like a horror version of The Hangover.
I watched it, I was reasonably amused and then I went to bed.
And then in the middle of the night, something strange and unusual and horrible happened.
(No, not masturbation, I said unusual. That happens every night).
I woke up in cold sweats with the horrific horryifying feeling that something was in my room.
No, not that. The other one (I wish I could wake up to find Linda Blair in my room).
Not even that one.
The Blair Witch, I thought in my half-asleep stupor, was in my bedroom. In a little corner, between the DVD rack and the comic book bookshelf. And that doesn't even make sense, since the Blair Witch doesn't appear in The Blair Witch 2. And it wasn't just the Blair Witch that was in my room, but the supporting cast too. That guy from off've Burn Notice, the sexy Wicca and the kinda hot Goth were all there. But not the central couple (Tristine Skyler and Stephen Barker Turner) because they were a bit bland, unremarkable and forgettable. I couldn't see any of them but I knew they were there and I knew they weren't there, all at the same time.
Book of Shadows isn't even a scary film. It's got some good ideas and creepy sequences - I really enjoyed the pagan rituals, the group's mass hysteria, mis-perception of events and especially liked the movie's ending. I even found it more enjoyable than the predecessor, which is good but a little hokey and overrated. In no way is it scary though. It's creepy yet empty, like the House on Haunted Hill remake or Event Horizon. But there's something about the meta film-within-a-film scenario that managed to pierce my normally boob-obsessed subconscious enough to creep the hell out of me. Like Freddy Kreuger turning up in one of your own dreams (no lie: I stole Freddy's fedora when he last made an appearance) there's that idea in The Blair Witch 2 that the Witch can break through the boundaries of reality and 'infect' one's perception. Spreading the mass hysteria as experienced by the kids, perhaps? Damn, I am giving this much more thought than Book of Shadows ever could deserve.
By the way, this is the film I'm scoring, not the waking nightmare. There wasn't nearly enough gore, boobs or Timothy Olyphant to get that past the 2/5mark.