British comedy has often been tempered with a strain of melancholy, but sometimes also a little of the grotesque. In fact, the darker aspects of —often exaggerated to surreal extremes—are an essential part of the landscape of British humor, so it’s no accident that the blending of horror and comedy should have become such a British pre-occupation. Horror and comedy have always been “bed fellows,” but a successful union requires a rare understanding of the anatomies of each. For every riotous coupling, there’s a dozen feeble fumblings.
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Out today on DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment, SOME GUY WHO
KILLS PEOPLE is a lot less average than its title makes it sound. It’s a sharp
and left-of-center horror/comedy focusing on Ken (Kevin Corrigan), an average-seeming
guy with a troubled past that includes physical abuse by a gang of bullies—who
begin bloodily dying in the present. Fango spoke to the two guys responsible
for the comic bloodshed, director Jack Perez (pictured left) and
writer/producer Ryan Levin.
This Saturday, New Yorkers have the chance to catch an early
peek at one of this year’s most anticipated fright films as part of the annual,
and annually excellent, BAMCinemafest. V/H/S, featuring the collected work of
Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, Ti West, Joe Swanberg, David Bruckner, Radio
Silence and I SELL THE DEAD’s Glenn McQuaid marries the beloved and time honored
anthology with horror’s current star aesthetic, found footage. Fango spoke to
filmmaker/contributor McQuaid about his segment, “Tuesday the 17th” and
crafting a cinema scarité slasher, his initial concept and the experimentation
the short afforded him.
R.J. Haddy, the schoolteacher from West Virginia with
FANGORIA pages in his scrapbook, made it to the top three.
When a movie’s vampire-slaying hero is none other than the
President of the United States, it requires an especially strong bloodsucking
villain to oppose him. Enter Adam—a character not present in Seth Grahame-Smith’s
novel ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, but created for the film (opening this
week from 20th Century Fox) and vividly enacted by British actor Rufus Sewell.
It’s been a big summer for writer Seth Grahame-Smith
(pictured left) and vampires. First came Tim Burton’s reimagining of DARK
SHADOWS, which Grahame-Smith co-wrote, and this Friday sees the arrival of
ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, which he scripted based on his own
best-selling novel. Read on for Grahame-Smith’s thoughts on adapting LINCOLN
and postmortem on SHADOWS…
Given how drastically overcrowded the zombie field is,
writer/director John Geddes’ EXIT HUMANITY (out today on DVD from Vivendi
Entertainment) merits appreciation for trying something different, providing a
fresh take on a somewhat tired genre. Canadian filmmaker Geddes (who also
edited) leads us through an undead saga set in the days following the real-life
horrors of the American Civil War.
Austin-based artist, Matt Valentine, managed to secure a
spot on FACE OFF, despite having almost no on-set experience.