February is Women in Horror Month, so I thought I would take a moment to reflect on my femaleness and horror. I was never one to really celebrate my astute ability to simultaneously possess boobs and watch CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST or any other random horror flick, but the more I’m in the industry, the more I realize how unusual this can be.

Just got the new Patient Zero lifesize zombie bust from Sideshow. Wow! Single best life-size zombie anything I’ve ever seen. Brought to mind a couple of things though. Staring at the gaping maw and the dead white eyes and the decayed flesh reminded me that a) nobody gets to take their toys with them when they shuffle off this mortal coil and b) all those toys eventually pass into the dust of history themselves.

Genre legend—in every sense of the word—Sir Christopher Lee will be honored at Britain’s BAFTA Awards this Sunday with an Academy Fellowship, an award honoring his lifetime achievement in cinema. The 88-year-old actor is all over the place these days, including a cameo in the recent SEASON OF THE WITCH. Here in NYC alone, fans will get to see Lee on the big screen courtesy of Fango’s February 22 screening of his Hammer return THE RESIDENT (1st photo below; see here) and Lincoln Center’s special showing of John Landis’ BURKE AND HARE on March 3 (see here).

American video posters for:

ZOMBIETHON (U.S., 1986), 24” x 37”

TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (Spain/Portugal, 1971), 19” x 25”

ZOMBIE (Italy, 1979), 17” x 22”

The holidays are officialy over. For many, it's time to take all that cheer and wonderment and wrap it tightly around rolled up newspapers like yards and yards of Christmas lights and garland. If you're like me, you may not be ready to bid the holidays adieu. If you're like me, you may also be shoveling yourself out of mountains of snow on a daily basis amongst a landscape reminiscent of Hoth. Either way, take this opportunity to embrace your resistance and come on a journey with me into the not-too-distant past. This is me making good on my new years resolution. While others hit the gym, I'm lifting and flexing my carpals in an effort to lose those unsightly and unwanted pounds of procrastination weight. So snuggle up inside your coziest tawn tawn; it's time for NEW YEARS RIFF-OLUTION 2.

In the last edition of Elegies (see it here), I began my list of Top 10 Movies I Am Most Looking Forward To in 2011, which included DRIVE ANGRY, THE INNKEEPERS, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (FULL SEQUENCE), INSIDIOUS and SUPER 8. Here are the final five:

I finally did it. After years of talking about it and swearing I was going to, I finally got a tattoo. I’m not sure why it took me so long; I’m not scared of needles or minor pain. I think I was most scared of commitment. I always had flash-forwards to myself at age 85, sitting in a nursing home trying to explain to someone that the large black smudge on my spine used to be a sweet artistic portrayal of THE TINGLER. Then the cold feet would set in, and I would chicken out.