Mention Joe Gage to any gay man of a certain age, and the response will be something along the lines of “L.A. TOOL & DIE is the best gay porn film…ever.” But unless they’re checking Gage’s IMDb credits, they probably don’t realize he also directed a handful of direct-to-video horror/sci-fi films in the ’80s under the name Tim Kincaid, including MUTANT HUNT and ROBOT HOLOCAUST.

For a critic like me who is not only a serious lover of horror but of films in general, watching THE REVENANT is a genuine pleasure. Written and directed by PHANTASM sequel FX wizard D. Kerry Prior, the film has been enjoying much international fest love over the past year or so, winning awards and picking up a cult of fans. And rightfully so: This is a brilliant, sophisticated horror/comedy that manages to play within a familiar framework while deftly defying clichés at every turn.

It’s not strictly a horror film, but it’s unlikely that any movie will come along this year to match the gut-wrenching intensity of the Australian indie THE HORSEMAN (hitting special-edition DVD and Blu-ray June 15 from Screen Media, and not to be confused for a second with last year’s Dennis Quaid-starrer HORSEMEN). It’s by now a cliché to describe a movie as reminiscent of ’70s cinema, but this stripped-down parental-revenge thriller truly warrants the description, and it also shows up the slick, absurd contrivances of an expensive modern schlocker like TAKEN.

If you’re a fan of actor Bill Moseley—and judging by his recently maxed-out Facebook page, many people are—you’re no doubt savvy to the fact that the rogues’ gallery of wingnuts he’s played onscreen are very closely aligned to the man’s eccentric personality. Beginning with his self-scalp-eating cannibal kook in Tobe Hooper’s TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 and continuing through his portrayal of Otis in Rob Zombie’s HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES and THE DEVIL’S REJECTS, Moseley has become iconic in the genre, working steadily in features, showing up on the con circuit and generally forging a legacy as a sort of trailer-trash kin to Vincent Price.

One of the most distinctive albums of the year, WRETCHED. FILTHY. UGLY. combines the jittery, hyperactive feel of acoustic folk rock and the trashiness of horror movies. The band behind it, Harley Poe, fabricates a unique sound all its own.

It has been a long time since I’ve been an active presence at a horror convention. When I worked for that “other magazine,” I immersed myself in all manner of geek-out goings-on, from moderating Q&As with legends like Dario Argento, Elvira and Jeffrey Combs to performing a duet of “The South’s Gonna Rise Again” with H.G. Lewis. It was a blast being able to do these James Lipton-esque riffs with my horror heroes in front of a captive audience. I loved it. And you know what? I’ve missed it…

From deep red to grey velvet, the cinema of Dario Argento drips with pungent pigmentation. Vivid color is deployed for texture and sensuality. The primary hues of SUSPIRIA’s Tans Academy pulsate with a primal femininity. The densely filtered light in INFERNO creates a heady dreamscape saturated with dangerous allure.

There have been countless grassroots undead movies in the last couple of decades, and more than a few indie flicks that applied the THIS IS SPINAL TAP mockumentary approach to the horror genre. So it’s a nice surprise that the Canadian indie REEL ZOMBIES combines the two subgenres in ways that are fresh and funny.

Image Entertainment just released the specs and cover art for its massive Deluxe Box Set of THRILLER: The Complete Series on DVD. The 14-disc package spotlighting the classic fright TV show is set to street August 31.

While visiting the set of the Dark Sky Films/Glass Eye Pix production THE INNKEEPERS (see previous report here), Fango got a chance to chat with one of its producers, Derek Curl, about another upcoming Dark Sky feature, the eagerly awaited HATCHET 2. “I flew out to LA about three weeks ago to view the final cut before they locked, and I’m telling you, it’s quite a ride,” he tells us.

Actress Raine Brown, a regular on the New York independent horror scene, recently finished shooting a new project on which she’s both star and producer. She teamed up on the movie, titled I <3 U, with equally busy Southwest fright filmmaker/actor Billy Garberina.