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Shape of Fear



Last Updated: 6/10/2009

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[02 Sep 2009 | Wednesday] 
Michael Myers isn't simply back, he's madder than ever, yet his fury puts plenty of gore on the screen but little blood into Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN II. To find out if this sequel is a cut above the rest or a cinematic slash and burn, read The Shape of Fear's full review.

8:09 AM 
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[19 Feb 2009 | Thursday] 
A quick note to all my longtime friends of THE SHAPE OF FEAR here at MySpace and on the website:

I'm currently rebuilding an all-new SHAPE OF FEAR website to cover all aspects of Rob Zombie's new film, HALLOWEEN 2, coming this August.  This will not replace the existing SHAPE OF FEAR website, which will remain archived for complete access to you fans and friends.

But all newly updated material will debut only on the new SHAPE OF FEAR website, and this same MySpace profile which I'll update when the new site launches soon!



THE SHAPE OF FEAR will get an entirely new look, reflecting the dark and dangerous vibe of Rob's new film (and the teaser poster he's revealed).   Everything you see at THE SHAPE OF FEAR and on the much larger FilmEdge.net website which hosts it is built by me alone, so please be patient while I try to update SHAPE OF FEAR and all the other work I have ongoing.  I'm rocking it all as fast as I can.

Thanks always for your friendship and support here.  Sorry I've been lax in keeping up with you all lately, but real life demands and caring for a family member stretch my hours thin every day.  Often I just can't spend as much time updating the website and this profile as I'd like.  If you can stick with me, I'll do my best to make it worth your while.

Here's to another bloody good August at movie theaters with Rob and everyone working on HALLOWEEN 2!

Scott


5:25 AM 
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[06 Nov 2008 | Thursday] 
THE SHAPE OF FEAR opens our 30 Years of Terror convention photo gallery with star portraits of some of your favorite HALLOWEEN actors, including PJ Soles, Nancy Loomis, Dick Warlock, Daeg Faerch, Dee Wallace and Kristina Klebe.

Many more photos will be added soon, including more pictures from HALLOWEEN filming locations, convention panels starring actors and filmmakers, plus more!  Check out our opening gallery now online at THE SHAPE OF FEAR.
3:14 PM 
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[03 Nov 2008 | Monday] 
As The Shape of Fear rolls out its coverage of this weekend's 30 Years of Terror convention celebrating three decades of horror straight from Haddonfield, we're glad to report this confirmed news: there will be a new HALLOWEEN film in our future!



Producer Malek Akkad officially reported that deals are currently in the works to continue the HALLOWEEN series with a new follow-up to Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN from 2007.

Read more details and rumored speculation on this project now at The Shape of Fear Breaking News at FilmEdge.net!
2:48 PM 
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[01 Nov 2008 | Saturday] 
Day One of the HALLOWEEN 30 Years of Terror convention is in the books (except for tonight's special midnight screening of John Carpenter's 1978 chiller), and here is a sample from The Shape of Fear's exclusive photo gallery of the filming location tour:

HALLOWEEN star Brian Andrews (young Tommy Dolan) still can't shake the Shape!



The original Myers House from Carpenter's film still stands in Pasadena as an office building now.



The Shape still lurks behind horror cinema's most famous hedge!



Someone's stolen Judith Myers' headstone again, next to the infamous Sinclair tombstone.



Stay tuned through the rest of this 30 Years of Terror weekend for more photo updates of all the HALLOWEEN franchise stars and crew!  And happy Halloween to everyone...thanks for your support!
10:53 AM 
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[31 Oct 2008 | Friday] 
The Shape of Fear is checked in and ready to begin celebrating HALLOWEEN at the 30 Years of Terror convention in Pasadena, starting on Halloween this Friday!


First up is a bus tour around the various Southern California locations which double for the fictional Haddonfield, Illinois — the original Myers house, the Wallace and Doyle homes, plus nearby locations used in Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN and other infamous sites from HALLOWEEN II, A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE FOG and other films.

Halloween night will be topped off by a midnight screening of John Carpenter's classic HALLOWEEN.

I'll do my best to update The Blog of Fear and The Shape of Fear website throughout this weekend with highlight photos from each day, with complete coverage and photo galleries from the 30 Years of Terror convention opening next week.

So stay tuned, Michael fans, because it's Halloween all week long here at The Shape of Fear!
1:01 PM 
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[28 Oct 2008 | Tuesday] 
Calling all HALLOWEEN fans to check out our in-depth review of Rob Zombie's HALLOWEEN 2-Disc Unrated Director's Cut now available on high-definition Blu-ray.



Fans of Zombie's work cannot miss the massive new 4-hour documentary Michael Lives: The Making of Halloween, which gives unprecedented access to the filmmaking process during pre-production and on sets and locations during filming.

HALLOWEEN gets a stunning transfer to high-definition in this Blu-ray release as well, in full 1080p image and Dolby True HD audio that will blow you away.  Read our full Shape of Fear review now... and Happy Halloween!

Visit Wayne Toth's HALLOWEENTOWN store
1:57 PM 
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[25 Oct 2008 | Saturday] 
The event of the season is only one week away for you Michael Myers fans: the 30 Years of Terror convention begins next Friday, October 31st in Pasadena, California, and runs screaming in fright through November 2nd.



Celebrating the 30th anniversary of John Carpenter and Debra Hill's original suspense shocker HALLOWEEN, literally dozens of actors, crew and filmmakers from all nine films which bear its name will be attending!

A very short list of top talent appearing and speaking at the convention includes: P.J. Soles, Charles Cyphers, Tommy Lee Wallace, Dean Cundey, Dick Warlock, Alan Howarth, Tom Atkins, Danielle Harris, Kathleen Kinmont, Scout Taylor-Compton, Daeg Faerch, William Forsythe, Dee Wallace, Daniel Roebuck, Sybil Danning, Ken Foree and many more!

A limited number of tickets and VIP packages are still available through the official 30 Years of Terror website., so order yours today before this event sells out.  Convenient hotel accomodations are also available at a special group rate through the site too.  Plus check out the complete guest list and the full daily event calendar including the Horror's Hallowed Grounds Bus Tour of the actual homes and neighborhoods where John Carpenter first unleashed Michael Myers loose three decades ago.

The Shape of Fear will be attending all three days and I look forward to seeing you all there at the weekend Michael finally comes home to Pasadena... where it all started!
1:48 PM 
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[24 Oct 2008 | Friday] 
It's the last full weekend before Halloween and the perfect time for The Shape of Fear's look at HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS, currently haunting the dark and winding paths of terror at Universal Studios Hollywood!



I got my first thrilling taste of Halloween Universal-style back in it's heyday of the mid-1980s, when a pack of ghostly horsemen stormed the studio tram on a backroad and pulled an unsuspecting guest right out of the seat next to my girlfriend.  Of course the guest was a stuntman, planted on the tram, but she freaked out, I laughed and applauded and have always had a cold spot in my heart for USH at Halloween since.

I must admit that some recent years' efforts atop the hill near Hollywood didn't live up to those heady days of daring stuntwork and erasure of the line between reality and fiction.  When HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS returned at USH, often the experience was spoiled by massive overselling of tickets, insanely crowded park conditions, drunken guests and general disappointment.  Not enough monsters and too many long lines.

I'm glad to report that 2008 marks vast improvements in the scare quality and quantity at HHN, and though the lines may still be long for the most popular mazes, the results are worth it!

Four very large, complex and highly detailed mazes of terror beckon guests into their shadowy clutches: A Nightmare on Elm Street - Home Sweet Hell, Friday the 13th - Camp Blood, Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Back in Business, and Universal's House of Horrors - Meet the Strangers.



While all four mazes are chock-full of creepy masked monsters jumping out at you from every twist and turn, the two bona fide corpse-pleasers are the Friday the 13th and Texas Chainsaw haunts.  Their superiority over the other two mazes are only slight, but their combinations of excellent layouts, ultra-detailed sets expertly lit and decorated with props (how's a VW Beetle for a haunt prop?) create fantastic illusions of interor and exterior scenes of horror inspired by the films.



The Texas Chainsaw maze further assaults your sense of security by clever and delightfully disgusting use of scents to complete the frightful impact of its gut-sawing scares.  This takes nothing away from the Nightmare or Strangers mazes, which still deliver plenty of monster scares in their smaller building spaces.

The terror continues through Universal's seven scare zones, which show the most improvement over previous years when I found such areas either too crowded with guests to enjoy or too short on monsters to pose any threat.  USH has clearly invested in monster talent throughout the park, then worked hard to build up spooky environments with light and sound to create good scaring atmospheres.

The Terror Tram Nightmare Tour also showed considerable improvement over previous years, with less time spent on the tram itself except to transport guests to the backlot areas dressed up for Halloween.  USH created a surprisingly dark and effect walk through the 'woods' leading up to the Bates Motel and Psycho House — mercifully, USH did not bathe Norman Bates' iconic haunted home in day-glo purple and orange lights, as they did a couple years ago which ruined the opportunity completely.  The walk through the War of the Worlds

I can only review the one live show I saw with friends, Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure.  The creative entertainment team also gave this stage show/musical a needed boost in pacing and comedic content, though it's debatable whether the topicality of this year's election really works.  I felt once the Obama/McCain jousting wrapped up, the show found its legs and sprinted ahead to realize its potential. 

The writers/producers certainly pushed the envelope on B&T's more titilating aspects as well, peppering the show with tasteful but unabashed samples of goregous ladies and beefcake studs for mature audiences to ogle and enjoy.  This show's script is reportedly in flux every week, so no two viewings may be quite the same — but it's a rollicking good time, even if the characters of Bill & Ted themselves get a bit more dated each season.

There are also three park attractions open for your Halloween enjoyment: the wild Revenge of the Mummy coaster, the get-wet monster thrills of Jurassic Park, and the hilarious Simpsons Ride.  The latter is certainly the most entertaining, but the other rides never fail to offer their own unique thrills.

To fully maximize your HHN experience, you may want to consider upgrading your ticket to a Front of the Line Pass, which lets you cut, slice and dice your way into each maze very quickly!   With an FoL Pass, you can easily experience every maze, show, tour and ride at HHN in one evening at a comfortable pace, then perhaps double-dip on your favorite scares again before the late closing time.

I've always lamented that Univeral Hollywood's HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS always got the short end of the stick as the underfunded studio stepchild to Univeral Orlando's mammoth HHN event.  But the team at USH entertainment have really raised their game here several notches, given perennial king of the haunt Knott's Scary Farm some stiff competition.

USH will always be hampered by the studio/park's layout, which inevitably leads to a fair amount of winding travel atop the hill, and that long escalator ride to/from the Lower Level Backlot.  While there's no avoiding this slight disadvantage, the HHN team got it very right in emphasizing show quality to make the event worthwhile and entertaining across the acres of haunting available.  This is a very encouraging sign that major theme park Halloween haunting is expanding in Southern California — and sell-out ticket sales show that fright fans are responding very favorably!

If you're in Southern California and seeking a good scare this season, be sure to drag your body to Universal Hollywood's HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS before it's too late!  Event dates, times and ticket information are available at the USH HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS website.  The current event schedule unleashes HHN on October 24-26, then October 30 - November 1.   Enjoy the terror... you may never get another chance again! neighborhood also received welcome upgrades in set design and monster population to maximize its value.  Overall, the Tram adds much more to the HHN experience than it ever has.
2:16 PM 
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[06 Oct 2008 | Monday] 
Our recap of the entire HALLOWEEN film franchise continues to grow with our coverage of the story, production and legacy of HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS.



While the heart (and original version) of the sixth HALLOWEEN film might have been in the right place, a studio-ordered reshoot of the ending badly undercut the good intentions of the script.

THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS retains its controversy over a decade after its release, mainly in the Producer's Cut of the film which, while widely bootlegged by fans, has yet to receive its long-rumored official release on DVD.

Read our article about what went right and wrong in the film, and how the creative choices made in it changed the direction of the HALLOWEEN franchise forever.  Check it out at The Shape of Fear now!
10:03 AM 
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