This year wasn't a great year for films. Especially horror films, which in all honestly is really the only genre that matters anyway.
But my list isn't just a bunch of horror films, there are a few others in there also...a few others.
 
10. Them (ils) directed by David Moreau & Xavier Palud
     The first of three French films that made my list this year. A story about home invasion, based on true events, with a shocking ending. Rather terrifying.
09. Hell's Ground directed by Omar Khan
     Pakistan's first gore film! A group of kids taking a short cut thru the wilderness always spells disaster in films, add in zombies, and a quasi Texas Chainsaw family and your in over your head.
08. Frontier(s) directed by Xavier Gens
     The second Frenchie of the list taking place during the 90's street riots in France, a group of activists fleeing the country to Amsterdam decide to stay at a hostel. First off, no, this isn't like Hostel at all. They stay with a Nazi-Sympathizing family that run the place, did I mention that they are also cannibals, and one of the activists is a Jew? Great film!
07. Dance of the Dead directed by Gregg Bishop
     One of the best zombie films in the last couple of years. Zombies at a high school prom! I wish my senior prom would have been that exciting...
06. Hell Boy II: The Golden Army directed by Guillermo del Toro
     I will go on the record stating that del Toro is one of the greatest directors of our time, every one of his films have been amazing! HellBoy II was spot on with the comics just as the first one was, and what can I say...I am a comic book nerd. Fantastic writing, amazing visuals, and great creatures! Loads of action and Ron Pearlman as Red! What more can a guy ask for?
05: Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer directed by Jon Knautz
     Tagged as Evil Dead for a new generation, that is a prety bold statement. I wouldn't go as far as to say it was of Evil Dead capacity, but it was fantastic! Great story, great characters, and Robert Englund!
04: Inside directed by Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury
     The final French film on the list, and the most BRUTAL film I have seen in years. A pregant woman who is nine months along, and is going to the hospital in the morning to be induced into labor, gets an unwelcomed house guest. A woman dressed in black, with a pair of enormous scissors. Her agenda is to leave with a new born baby. So, guess what the scissors are for? Fucking Brutal! Blood, Guts, Fecies, Placenta, you name it this film has it! Not for the squeamish.
03: Mother of Tears: The Third Mother directed by Dario Argento
     Lets just say I have been waiting for this film to be made, for a good decade or so. Never thought it would happen, but it finally did. This film ends Argento's Mother Trilogy (Suspiria, Inferno), and Argento does it with style. Everything you have come to expect of an Argento film, just throw it out the window. Sure, its artistic, but not as much his other films. Argento goes for straight mayhem in this one. Hey, maybe I am biased because he is my favorite director, but this movie is amazing and I will fist fight you if you say otherwise.
02: Cloverfield directed by Matt Reeves
     Now, before anyone starts to ask why this film is so far up, let me answer that question...because it is AMAZING! This is a great giant monster film! The best monster film since The Host crawled out of the Seoul's Han river in South Korea back in 2006. I have heard so many people complain about this film, it made me sick, the camrea was too shaky...serously? You knew what you were getting into before going to see it. My favorite is, "You didn't even get to see the monster!" What fucking movie were you watching? I saw an enormous monster obliterating NYC and everything else in its path! The viral campaign alone for that film was amazing, not to mention the Easter eggs and hidden footage in the film and dvd, plus the message after the ending credits said backwards! Comon' J.J. Abrahms is a goddamn genius! When the sequel comes out you can bet your ass I will be in line ready to see it at midnight! If you disagree with me about this picture, some talk to me and I'll tell you why you are wrong, and why you secertly like it.
01: Batman: The Dark Knight directed by Christoper Nolan
    Batman, comon! Second best superhero ever! This film was an absolute masterpiece! I found nothing wrong with the film. I don't need to say anything else about it.

Others:
Best DVD Release: Vampyr Criterion Collection directed by Carl Thedor Dreyer
     This 1932 black and white, german, quasi-vampire film deserved the treatment Criterion gave it! On two discs, a HD transfer from the original film stock. Hours of extras including; audio commentary, new English text version,  a documentary on Dreyer's carrear, visual essays about the film, and a radio broadcast of Dreyer from 1958. Also included, a 215 page book on the writing of Vampyr, The Screen Play, and essays written on the film. If this sounds like something you'd be into I suggest paying the fifty bucks for it at Barnes and Nobel!

Best remake: Funny Games directed by Michael Haneke
     Essentally, I despise remakes, but this was actually remade by the writer/director of the original. Just an English version, because Haneke views Americans as idiots...he's probably not too far off with that assumption. His original didn't see a theatrical release in the states, and dvd sales were down also, so he believed that Americans didn't want to see it because it was foreign. He was probably right, the film was amazing, and disturbing. Whats it about? Well, a family goes to their lake side home for a weekend, when two young men show up from the neighbors home asking for eggs. They don't want to eggs, th ey want to place a bet and play a game. They bet the family wont be alive by 9:00am the next morning. The game, torture the family. Haneke is a genius, because people love seeing torture in films, but they like a happy ending. Well he gives you what you want, then takes it away in a most unusual way. BUY THIS! Actually, I'd say watch the original by the same title, then the remake, but since its a scene for scene remake, you dont really have too.

Best Exploitation: Gutterballs directed by Ryan Nicholson
     A slasher film that takes place at a bowling alley. Two rival bowling teams of kids in their 20's, and when I say rival teams, I mean they fist s, fight, in the alley. This film has great gore, loads of blood, sex, dick, cunt, tits, full on on-screen intercourse, and a killer who wears a bowling bag on his head. Check out the uncut "balls out edition" being released in January.

Best Non-Horror Horror: Doomsday directed by Neil Marshall
     Marshall said he wanted to make a film of all of his favorite films combined; Road Warriors, Mad Max, Alien, and thats exactly what he did. A full on action packed post-apocalyptic good time.

Best Animated; Resident Evil: Degeneration directed by Makoto Kamiya
     For anyone who loves the video games, hates the films, or loves the films. Actually, it has nothing to do with the films! It centers on a T-Virus out break in an airport after the Raccoon City disaster, where two of our favorite RE characters meet back up after a few years, Clair Redfield and Leon Kennedy back to kick zombie ass! Non-stop zombie fun!

Biggest Disappointment: Quarantine directed by John Erick Dowdle
(See my Quarantine review here! Quarantine Review )

Worst Film of 2008: Five Across the Eyes directed by Greg Swinson and Ryan Thiessen.
    Ok, this was filmed about 2 years ago, but it was never released until the dvd this year, as far as I know. Swinson and Thiessen should never be allowed to look at another directors chair again, let alone actually be allowed to direct a film! Every horror magazine raved about this film, one even comparing the killer to Michale Myers! WTF! How can you see the comparison!?! This movie was complete shit! A van full of high school girls on their way home from a football game take a wrong turn and accidentally hit a womans suv. The woman chases after them and threatens them with a gun. Scares the piss out of the girls, litterally. Ok, so they go on their way home, get lost again and the woman tries to wreck them and the chase begins. She beats the girls, shoots at them, kidnaps one. Girls screaming, puking, bitching, screaming, bitching, crying, puking, shitting in ones hand and throwing it out the window onto the womans windshield, oh and screaming. Thats about it. When you see this film, run away.

Best Comedy: Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanmo Bay directed by Jom Hurwitz & Hayden Schlossberg
     What can I say? I love this movie. So funny! It has everything a comedy needs; stoners, racist government officials, NPH, rednecks, a cyclopes, NPH in a whore house, NPH on shrooms, every stereo-type known to man, and George W. Bush. I dunno how to explain why I love this movie, all I know is that in the theater Morgan and I pissed everyone off from laughing so hard. Pfft!

Best Western: Sukiyaki Western Django directed by Takashi Miike
     Miike is Japans greatest director, he has directed over 20 projects in the past two years, and has over 70 projects under his belt and there is no end in sight. Inspired by the original western films from Italy, known as Spaghetti Westerns. Thats right, the western films were originally from Italy, and they were good! Sukiyaki is a Japanese dish, and Django is one of the most infamous Sp Westerns ever, Miike decided he would make his on version of the classic tale, which in turn ended up being a prequel of sorts. Two clans, the reds and the whites take over a gold mining town, both looking to seek the treasure the town holds. This town holds a tragic love story, and a tale a revenge. One day a gunslinger stolls  into town and everything goes to hell. SWD is loaded with action! Gun fighting, Sword fighting, fist fighting, and Quentin Tarantino! I loved this movie! It has a complete Japanese cast and is filmed in English! This one came out under the radar this year, and was over looked by the majority of people.

Boxed Set of the Year: The Real Ghostbusters!
     Take me back to my childhood! 1986 to be exact! After the second film was released The Real Ghostbusters aired on tv. It ran for 6 season and has 146 episode! I have been praying for this set, every since they started releasing TV series on DVD! My wish finally came true this year, thanks to Time Life DVD! So all 146 epsiodes on 25 discs! Incased in 5 steel book dvd cases, housed in a box that is a replica of the fire house!!!! Oh God!!! Amazing! It has 12 hours of bonus features, intriductions on some episodes, commentary on some episodes. Words can't explain how happy I was to get this! The best $180 I have ever spend in my life! I have had this set since Thanksgiving and I am on disc 17! Its so refreshing to watch a good cartoon, nay the greatest cartoon ever! Thats right, ever! If you are a fan of this series and have the cash to throwdown on it, I suggest getting it from Time Life before they discontinue it.

Honorable Mentions: (in no order)
*Automaton Transfusion
*Machine Girl
*Tokyo Gore Police
*Rogue
*Feast II: Sloppy Seconds
*No Man's Land: Rise of the Reeker
*Zombie Strippers
*Wizard of Gore (remake)
*[rec] (okay, so this came out over a year ago in Spain, and was the basis for this years Quarantine, but it should be out on DVD in the USA next year so please check it out. One of the best films I have seen in years!)

This concludes my long ass post about this years movie releases. If you read all of this, awesome...if not, I don't blame you. Let me know what you think about this films if you have seen them, or let me know what films you loved from '08, or what you are looking forward to next year.

So these are my favorite albums of this past year. For the most part I have found that I went back into hardcore mode this year, so many amazing hardcore albums were released. I could've made a top ten for hardcore alone. Also, a lot of great death metal came out this year as well. You can look at Vincent Renfields top ten for death metal, because that's all that zombie listens to anymore, even tho he is in a pop punk band. Anyway, here we go...
 
10. Have Heart - Songs to Scream at the Sun
09. This Is Hell - Misfortunes
08. Bring Me The Horizon - Suicide Season
07. Verse - Aggression
06. Blacklisted - Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God
05. Gruesome Stuff Relish - Horror Rises From the Tomb
04. International Superheroes of Hardcore - Takin' It Ova'
03. The Acacia Strain - Continent 
02. Atmosphere - When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold
01. H2O - Nothing to Prove


Honorable Mentions: (in not order)
*Protest the Hero - Fortress
*Cursed - III: The Architects of Troubled Sleep
*Altar of Giallo - A Blood Feast for the Dead
*The Banner - Frailty
*With Blood Comes Cleansing - Horror
*Alkaline Trio - Agony and Irony
*Terror - The Damned, The Shamed
*White Chapel - This is Exile
*Norma Jean - The Anti-Mother
*Stick to Your Guns - Comes From the Heart
*Ceremony - Still Nothing Moves You
*Anthony Green - Avalon
*Aborted - Strychnine. 213
*United Nations - s/t
*See You Next Tuesday - Intervals
*Dr. Acula - Below Me!
*Energy - Invasions of the Mind
*Ruiner - I Heard These Dudes Are Assholes
*Cruel Hand - Prying Eyes
*TrashTalk - Walking Disease

Top 5 E.P.'s!
05. Spylacopa - s/t
04. Cinematic Sunrise - A Coloring Storybook and Long-Playing Record
03. International Superheroes of Hardcore - HPxHC
02. One Day As A Lion - s/t
01. New Found Glory - Tip of the Iceberg


Tell me what you like off this list, or what you really hate. Tell me what you liked from this year.

That's right a FREE Renfields show in Hot Topic, at the Meadowbrook Mall on Friday, November 7th. At 7pm!
Be there!
Bring All Your Friends!
There are a crap load of fliers for this, so please pick your favorite, then repost it everywhere. OR ALL OF THEM!
Print it out!
Pass them out!
Please help me promote the shit out of this show!


















Thanks!
<3 dubyah

My undying love for the horror genre leads me to look elsewhere for good films. I stumbled upon a Spanish horror film back in early June called [REC]. I read the description and fell in love without even seeing it! A week later I find out it is released on DVD in Spain was already in the works to be remade in the states (go figure!). A few weeks later for my birthday I received [REC] as a gift from my friend Eli. I watched it that night and it was absolutely amazing! I instantly started worrying about the remake. Knowing how Americans love to take great foreign films and fuck them up, I surely thought that would be the case. I then read online that the name and the back story of the film would be changed and was going to be a scene-for-fucking-scene direct remake! I found comfort and excitement in knowing that and ready to see the remake, Quarantine.

Quarantine was directed by John Erick Dowdle and stars Jennifer Carpenter (from TV's Dexter). Jennifer plays a TV reporter who is assigned, along with her camera man, to the local fire department for the night to tag along and show the TV audience exactly what happens at a firehouse overnight. After some getting to know the cast, an alarm goes off and they are sent to an old apartment building. There is an older woman who has apparently gone crazy, she attacks some people, bites some people, people die. Yadda yadda yadda. These people are now "infected". By the time anyone realizes whats going on, the police have already surrounded the building and quarantined it off. They now have to work together to figure out what the hell is going on, find a way to stop it, or just find a way out of the damn building.

On the camera man's behalf, the film was shot very well overall,and yes, we are viewing this film from the TV cameraman's lens. So that means Cloverfield all over again, right? FUCK YOU! I loved Cloverfield! Anyhoo, I will give Mr. Dowdle credit. Many of the scenes were filmed shot-for-shot with the original, but he did decide to add in about seven extra cast members and about eight extra scenes. Now I thought [REC] was terrifying the first time I saw it which to me screams great film! But this film did not faze me in the slightest! Some small details were changed, like the old woman was clothed in the remake, whereas in the original she was naked. Now you are probably saying GOOD! I say not good! I mean what is more terrifying, an old woman foaming at the mouth trying to bite your face off, or an old, gross, naked woman, covered in blood trying to bite your face off? The kills and all around violence was not very gory. The original was gore- drenched. It baffles me that the American audiences love gore in their films but have actually never seen any in any American horror film (Saw is for pussies). The scenes that were added were intended for shock value, but they were lacking. I knew exactly when someone was going to pop out in the new scenes. It was that predictable. Maybe I look too much into things like timing. If there is that extra second on the shot, you know something is going to happen. The other movie goers, however, did not.

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SPOILER ALERT

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My biggest beef with this remake is that they changed the back story of this "virus". In the [REC], you find out at the end, from a notebook in the attic The Vatican  had been looking into a young woman's case of violent rage and had preformed many exorcisms on her to find she was not possessed. A Spanish scientist took the girl and concluded that she had a new form of bacteria in her blood stream that induced extreme rage. The scientist rented out the attic and kept himself secluded from the rest of the tenants so he could perform experiments on her and try to work on a cure. In Quarantine, because we are the United States and everyone in the world hates us because we are so rad, the man renting the attic was a…dun dun dun…terrorist! Biological weaponry at its finest ladies and gentlemen!
As for this young woman in [REC], we see her as scrawny, pale, and naked. Her skin looked to be falling off of her bones like a walking skeleton. Did I mention that she was terrifying? Because she was. In Quarantine there is no woman, but a man. Same description follows without the scariness. He was also wearing a pair of white underwear that had seen better days. There was no hinting that this man was the terrorist or a test subject, he was just there.
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My final thoughts are that Quarantine sucked. If you have a multi-region DVD player, please I beg you, go to www.xploitedcinema.com and buy [REC]. If you don't, go to the theaters and see this film. You'll enjoy it. I'm sure of it. It's a terrible film and you all will love it. It will make millions, just like Saw(s) 1 through 77. THEN, once you have seen it, come talk to me and I will tell you why you shouldn't like it, again.

Final Score:

Quarantine: 2 / 5
[REC]:  5 / 5

Other suggestions to watch now, because they will probably be remade in the next few years:
Them (Ils)      FRENCH
Inside            FRENCH
Frontier(s)      FRENCH
Suspiria         ITALIAN
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage       ITALIAN

Sooo...my landlord dropped the bomb earlier today, June 1st I need a new place to live. This doesn't give me much time to look around so if anyone knows of any apartments and or houses for rent that are nice but not crazy expensive, let a brother know. Looking for something in the $500 or less range.
So if you know of any places or any landlords, get a hold of me with some names and contact information, please.

thanks,
w

If you need Renfields Tickets for the Michale Graves show next Friday you can purchase them from me. They are $10. You can find me on campus this week, or come to the store and get them. I pretty much work all weekend, tuesday and thursday night. Or if you contact me, we can work something out.

My top ten films of the year! It was a great year for horror!

10. 30 Days of Night directed by David Slade
09.Murder Party directed by Jeremy Saulnier
08. Wrong Turn 2: Dead End directed by Joe Lynch
07. Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon directed by Scott Glosserman
06. Goal II: Living the Dream directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
05. The Tripper directed by David Arquette
04. The Host (Gwoemul) directed by Joon-ho Bong
03. 300 directed by Zack Snyder
02. Grindhouse directed by Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino
01. Hatchet directed by Adam Green

Honorable mentions:

*TMNT directed by Kevin Munroe
*Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters directed by Matt Maiellaro &
Dave Willis
*Surf's Up directed by Ash Brannon & Chris Buck
*Sl8n8 (Slaughter Night) directed by Frank van Geloven & Edwin Visser

Thats it, everything else that I saw was either okay or sucked.

A lot of great albums came out this past year! Here is my top ten, and a few honorable/dishonorable mentions.

10. Chiodos "The Bone Palace Ballet"
09. Darkest Hour "Deliver Us"
08. Big D and the Kids Table "Strictly Rude"
07. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster "II"
06. See You Next Tuesday (CUNT) "Parasite"
05. The Chariot "The Fiancee"
04. A Day to Remember "For Those Who Have Heart"
03. Every Time I Die "The Big Dirty"
02. Throwdown "Venom and Tears"
01. The Dillinger Escape Plan "Ire Works"

Honorable mentions: (in no order)
The Lillingtons "The Too Late Show"
Nora "Save Yourself"
Dead Hearts "Bitter Verses"
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza "Danza II: The Electric Boogaloo"
Poison The Well "Versions"
August Burns Red "Messengers"
Despised Icon "The Ill's of Modern Man"
Death Before Dishonor "Count Me In"
Bad Brains "Build A Nation"
Say Anything "In Defense of the Genre"
Four Year Strong "Rise or Die Trying"
The Devil Wears Prada "Plagues"

Dishonorable Mentions:
Avenged Sevenfold "s/t"
Atreyu "paper sails or some bullshit like that" fucking blows. thats all you need to know.
any other butt-rock band that has put an album out; (i.e. nickelback, stone sour, three days grace)
Thrice (all my friends like them, i hate them. sorry bros.)

Biggest Let down of the year:
Atreyu
a close second Drop Dead, Gorgeous.

I have finally compiled a list of my favorite Horror Movies EVER! In Order!

Top Ten of ALL TIME!!! Thus far....

10. Hatchet (2007) directed by Adam Green. Starring Kane Hodder, Robert Englund, Tony Todd.

09. Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) directed by Wes Cravin. Starring John Saxon, Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, and introducing Johnny Depp.

08. Night of the Living Dead (1968) directed by George A. Romero. Starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, and Kyra Schon.

07. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part II (1986) directed by Tobe Hooper. Starring Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Mosley, and Bill Johnson.

06. Evil Dead II (1987) directed by Sam Raimi. Starring Bruce Campbell and Sarah Berry.

05. Suspiria (1977) directed by Dario Argento. Starring Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini, and Udo Kier.

04. The Funhouse (1981) directed by Tobe Hooper. Starring Elizabeth Berridge, Herb Robins, and Wayne Doba.

03. Black Christmas (1974) directed by Bob Clark (RIP). Starring John Saxon, Olivia Hussey, and Margot Kidder.

02. The Burning (1981) directed by Tony Maylam. Starring Jason Alexander, Brian Matthews, Brian Backer, and Lou David as Cropsy.

AND MY NUMBER ONE HORROR FILM OF ALL TIME!!!!!

01. Deep Red (Profondo Rosso) (1975) directed by Dario Argento. Starring David Hemmings, Daria Nicolodi, and Gabriele Lavia.

Hello one and all...Lets get straight to the point, I buy WAY too many horror films. So, having said that, I am poor. At the show in Grafton on Saturday (see my user pic for details). At the Renfields merch table I will be selling a few items from my collection, which include:
An Original copy of Wes Craven's The Hills Have Eyes!
The Original issue of Joel Schumacher's The Lose Boys!
A Selection of Burnt DVDs!
A Masters of Horror Double Bill poster With Don (Phantasm) Coscarelli's Incident on and off a Mountain Road & Mick (Critters 2, The Shinning) Garris' Chocolate!
An Original Promo poster for Tobe (Eaten Alive, TCM) Hooper's Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 "Gruesome Edition" DVD!!!

NON HORROR!
A Rare promo poster for Chiodos' Bone Palace Ballet.

Prices range from $2 - $8 or so.

I am having a hard time parting with this shit, but I may add to the list. Come check it out and buy stuff, and buy Renfields merch. We may have an exclusive tee shirt for their return to the states show!