My Summer Lair Chapter #176: If you could be taken out by any classic movie good guy who you would you want to take you out?
This My Summer Lair conversation is so fun. Some of the movies BJ and I discuss: Aliens, Total Recall, RoboCop, The House On the Left, Toys of Terror, House on Haunted Hill, Sudden Death and of course BJ’s movie: The Return now screening at Blood in the Snow Film Festival.
The Return is a sci-fi/horror movie written and directed by BJ Verot. Only when he’s not writing or directing BJ is according to his incredible titles on IMDB: a Stunt Driver, Stunt Performer…Stunt Coordinator. Yes!
He’s fallen dangerously, he’s driven dangerously and sometimes he’s even been killed dangerously. So cool: I wanna know how what he does is different from Evel Knievel?
And speaking of different: his movie? The Return. It starts out as a horror: it’s creepy cool but then slowly becomes a sci-fi something. I can’t say much more. But man: it’s twisted.
I really enjoyed this quirky chat. Do follow BJ’s socials (see below) to check out if and when The Return is playing at the film festival near you. Shout out to Blood in the Snow for setting this up.
175 | Carolyn Mauricette (Blood In The Snow Film Festival)
My Summer Lair Chapter #175: What Makes A Horror Classic A…Classic?
Carolyn Mauricette is a once a year friend: I see her every year at the annual Blood in the Snow Film Festival which is incredible: Toronto has an outstanding horror community.
As for Carolyn, she is an accomplished horror film writer. She’s written for Rue Morgue, Hollywood Suite, Graveyard Shift Sisters and she is a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer-approved critic. View From The Dark is her deep dive into race and representation of people of color in genre film.
As for Blood in the Snow, she is one of 5 programmers for the Canadian film festival which broadcasts horror, sci-fi, and underground cinema. BITS was founded by Kelly Micheal Stewart in 2012. He was on My Summer Lair last year. Blood in The Snow is one of our best film festivals as you’re about to hear it has so much goodness, gore, and ghouls to offer. And this year it’s on TV via the Super Channel. For more details on that here’s a handy video.
Among this year’s films, we discuss Hall, Come True, Hail to the Deadites, and For The Sake of Vicious. Though stick around for our Doctor Who debate as well as the astonishing number of horror movies we get into from Blacula to The Planters.
135 | Dead Dicks & Majic (Blood In The Snow Film Festival)
My Summer Lair Chapter #135: What Happens When Dead Dicks Meets Majic?
Switching up the standard program with this episode which gives you 2 interviews.
I am on location at the Blood in the Snow film festival media day at Super Wonder Gallery! Unfolding over 6 nights Blood in the Snow is a showcase of contemporary Canadian horror, genre, and underground cinema and always worth the price of admission!
First up is an interview with the filmmakers behind Dead Dicks: the Montreal based and married duo Chris Bavota and Lee Paula Springer. As the witty, though darkly humorous title implies Dead Dicks is a movie with a splash of horror but like modern horror mixed in with a classic family drama addressing topics of dependency, identity, and mental illness.
This is a cool weird movie…I’m still not sure what I’ve seen.
The second movie interview is Majic. And this is my jam! If you’re into alternative and speculative stories i.e. the current Man in the High Castle where the Allies lost WWII and the Nazis won…it’s incredible and currently on Amazon Prime then you’ll dig Majic.
“An anti-conspiracy video blogger thinks she is slipping into an alternate reality after being approached by an old man claiming to have worked for the legendary Majestic-12 (aka majic), the covert US spy agency, created after the UFO incident at Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.”
Yo…I know!! For Majic I talk to lead actress Paula Brancati who you might have seen in Slasher or Being Erica and Erin Berry the director. They both did such an outstanding job with this movie. The ending is TIGHT!!
And that was my media day adventures at Blood in the Snow for 2019. Thanks to Jen, Kelly, Kirk and Carolyn for always being so warm and welcoming and putting on this freshtastic festival.
Sorry to you if the listener if the sound wasn’t as crisp: the hazards of being out of the Girth Radio HQ and on the road. I will do and be better next time.
Recorded: Saturday November 23, 2019 at 1:30pm EST at Super Wonder Gallery
134 | Audrey Cummings (She Never Died)
My Summer Lair Chapter #134: What Are Finger Cookies?
The TV guide description to She Never Died is “when a girl goes missing a woman with a mysterious past tracks down the people responsible.” On the surface that sounds like a lot of movies but then Se7en is just two cops chasing a serial killer and we all know it’s far more than just that.
The woman with the mysterious past is Lacey played by Olunike Adeliyi who is magnetic on screen. Having met her a couple of times I can attest that she’s a ball of energy so it’s a solid choice. Her dynamic performance including casual one-liners and vicious stares is captivating as she slowly reveals how she is cursed with immortality.
Which is the connection to the 2015 Henry Rollins movie: He Never Died. When looking to build on that success of that movie writer-director Jason Krawczyk wanted to do a sequel however when Henry was no longer available switched genders and directors.
Which is great: it’s how Audrey Cummings got involved with this sister sequel and makes her return to Blood In the Snow a fantastic film festival of Canadian genre. And leads to me asking what are finger cookies?!
She Never Died makes its Toronto premiere on November 22 and continues to roll on playing the festival circuit.
Check it out and not just for Olunike’s performance; pay attention to some of the smaller roles they are enchanting.
Recorded: Friday November 8, 2019 at 5:30pm EST at WeWork
Trailer Alert: Blood in the Snow Film Festival
Wrapped up day 1 of Horror-Rama…saw a dude who was a perfect Freddy…hat, ratty sweater, that face…knife-glove run into Pennywise the Dancing Clown and they hugged and laughed like they don’t go around murdering children. Gonna have some sweet night terrors tonight.
And I chatted with magician Ryan Brown who performed some close up magic tricks for me! So cool; dude performs illusions in a haunted house…Screamers every year. Yo…
Lastly I attended the packed panel-announcement for the 6th annual Blood in the Snow Film Festival. BITS is a Toronto film festival “celebrating the best in contemporary Canadian horror, genre and underground film.”
Blood runs (get it?) November 23-26 at the Royal Cinema with after parties at the Monarch Tavern and this year features a poster gallery at Super Wonder Gallery. Hanging at Horror-Rama was a reminder of the dark and lovely aesthetic of horror movie posters. You instantly know a good one when you see it.
The panel-announcement was hosted by BITS programmers Kirk Haviland, Jason Tannis and Carolyn Mauricette. (Girth Radio’s good friend Jen Gorman who is now the Festival Coordinator was around as well, always fun to talk horror with her…the entire BITS team have a deep and infectious passion for this genre. Five high em when you see em during the festival.)
This years line up is all killer no filler; some movies that stood out: Red Spring…a post-apocalyptic (I’m already in) world run entirely by vampires and the humans are dwindling. Get them humans!
Buckout Road…about the most haunted road in North America (which is curious…what is the most haunted road in North America?)
Blood Child…this one cuts deep!! “a young woman who resorts to the South East Asian black magic practice of raising her own ghost child in order to get over a devastating miscarriage. But the child wrecks an unspeakable evil upon the household once the woman finds herself pregnant again..” Raising a ghost child!! 100% in.
There’s also Darken which a sci-fi horror movie that takes place in a parallel universe (fascinating…), The Child Remains (lotta kids coming back for revenge this year…) and Kill Order (trailer is not yet ready but the premise sounded fresh…). Plus a short film showcase. Plus cool educational panels.
There’s lots of excellent happenings at this year’s BITS. Expect some Girth Radio interviews, photos and more as we get closer to the festival.
