the jaded viewer

The Strain

By Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Hey! Look at what we have here. The jaded viewer actually reads a book! Yes, I do read on occasion. I got this book for free for being a VIP after visiting Nightmare: Vampires, a haunted house in NYC.

So yes, it took me about 3 months to read a book. Well it was 400 pages so it was kind a long. But I'm glad I finished it. It's what you call a blockbuster action book. Pure Reading Rainbow, out of this world escapism at its best.

Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan co-wrote a solid novel, that easily reads from page to page and is filled with haunting visuals, NYC under attack from a deadly plague of vampirism and characters that are very real and very relatable.

The story is classic vamp noir. A plane lands in NYC unknown to the public that the Master, an ancient rogue vampire has set foot in NYC and unleashed the deadliest strain of a disease that has no cure. The vampires described are the non sparkly kind. Very reminiscent of the "Reapers" in Del Toro's Blade 2, they are demon-ish, their organs and innards become all squishy and reconfigured and they have "satin red eyes" and mandible mouths with stingers.

Bent on stopping this new undead army is Dr. Ephraim Goodweather of the CDC, his partner Nora and a mysterious old man named Abraham Setrakian who knows more about the Master and the upcoming plague.

It's a very Blade-like story, but I think the elements of the book that shined for me were the detailed passages about how individual New Yorkers experienced, coped and survived the outbreak. The back story of Setrakian is also compelling as is the family dynamic of Eph. But being a born and bred New Yorker, the descriptions of NYC are dead on. From Queens to Brooklyn to the Bronx, each description of the city were 100% accurate.

The Strain is the first of a trilogy, with The Fall due out this year and The Night External as the last chapter. If your looking to escape those sparkly vamps, priest vamps, tween vamps and vampires that may or may not be gay, then get infected by The Strain.

Here is a trailers promoting the book.

Labels: comic books. graphic novels, guillermo del toro, nightmare vampires, nyc horror, pan's labyrinth, the strain, vampire diaries, vampire kids, vampires

Posted by the jaded viewer at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

So the jadedviewer asks me "Hey, you want to check out this haunted house?". Initially, I was very skeptical of the experience. I'm about as "jaded" as they come to such silly so-called interactive role playing adventures. But with the promise of free tickets, who was I to say no? So off to the 'Blood Manor' we went, .....

On a cold wet Friday, we proceeded to the far far far west side of Manhattan to the infamous Blood Manor. As we approached our destination on the desolate street, suddenly my jabroni sense started tingling. Lo and behold, the jabronis were out in force that night. Much to my surprise, it was not fun loving hipsters waiting on line. Instead, the jabronis skewed younger, and much more ethnic. This was not the usual horror crowd. My indifference was slowly increasing.

With the power of the jadedviewer's press credentials, we were whisked to the very front of the line by the friendly PR lady. Oh yes, the guilty pleasure of preferential treatment! Yeah, I hate those people when I'm on the other side, but when you're getting the VIP treatment, it beats the hell out of waiting in the rain like a sucka. Our tour guide really sold us on the horror that awaited us, and that along with skipping the line, actually got me pretty psyched for our trip through the house.

What first struck me was how high the production values were in the individual rooms. Each room had a specific theme to them and the specific details in each were quite impressive. The mannequins in the rooms and the animatronic characters were all well researched and realistic enough. The actors' makeup was movie quality and their acting was professional yet lighthearted.

My favorite room was the 'Apocalypto' room with the caged cannibals and random savages. Other highlights included the slaughterhouse, the stripper zombies and semi-hot ghoul girls, multiple cameos by slasher movie icons, the 3D rooms, and the guy with a penis for a head. These may sound like spoilers but you really have to experience for yourself to take it all in. If you are somebody predisposed to be scared by horror movies, this will definitely be a huge thrill.

The only couple of annoying things I felt was in the beginning, I got a bit lost in the all dark room. A helpful ghoul was nice enough to get out of character and nudge me towards the exit. Also, not a huge fan of the strobe light, but I do see it's merit in terms of the context of a horror movie. Otherwise, I actually wanted to linger around the rooms a little longer to take in all the handiwork the creators put into the rooms, but the actors were so busy 'scaring' me, that I kind had to move along on the tour.

In summary, me and the jaded viewer had a good time at the Blood Manor. During the Halloween season, it really puts you in that creepy mood. A lot of the other people on the tour looked like they were having a great time as well. And certainly, you will be talking about all of the action afterwards, especially who got scared by what, and who screams like a girl. So, if you have the chance, it's definitely worth your time to head out to the far west side and get your horror on. Yup, the Blood Manor is creepy fun for urban youth of all ages!

Blood Manor is open now and will be open all Halloween week (excluding Monday). Check out the schedule at the official site. This week, the hours run to 1am and on Fridays and Saturday run up to 2am.

It's located at 542 West 27th Street (btwn 10th & 11th Ave).

Tickets at the door are $30. Online for $25 and there are special "RIP" passes at $40.

Here are some links for more information.

• Official Site
• Facebook Site
  

Labels: blood manor, blood manor review, haunted house, nyc haunted house, nyc horror

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Wow. That pictures worth a 1001 words. The first one that comes in my head is gushy.

Straight from the jaded viewer mailbox is something I was aware of but never actually went to. Every Halloween I hear of live walkthrough haunted houses in NYC where people go through a damn spooky ride where you get touched, see some crazy artistic yet mesmerizing scenery and get a total blend of gothic nights and scares.

This brings us to Timothy Haskell's Haunted House called Nightmare. This years theme is the ever popular Vampires. Though they seem far from the Twilight and Vampire Diaries and more of the bloodysucker and ripped throats. Yay.

From what I read and seen, Nightmare is an experience like no other. Truly psychological and bent on tapping into your worst fears, it seems like this year they are trying to make each and every participant feel like they are Lestat or Dracula's victims. I'm going to go this year and report back on this interactive scare-a-thon.

If you live in or around NYC, it seems like it's worth the effort. I'm sure as we get closer to Halloween, everybody will think of ways to get scared or scare others. Shouldn't we just have professionals do this for us?

Here's some videos to give you the heebee jeebees.









And some yummy, messy photos.





The house opens on September 25th and runs thru November 7th. It's located at the NOHO Event Center on 623 Broadway at Houston (enter on Mercer Street). Tickets are $30 (advance) or $35 at the door. More info here.

For more info head over to the official site. For some behind the scenes stuff, check out Timothy Haskell's blog at iscareyou.com.

I'll planning on going in the next few weeks so I'll let you know what's the what's what and I'm sure I'll let the right one in.

Labels: nightmare vampires, nyc haunted house, nyc horror

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Keeping up with the NYC independent horror movie circuit, the name Larry Fessenden comes to mind. Fessenden and Glass Eye Pix is responsible for bringing the best independent cinema to the independent minded masses.

I stumbled upon a name familiar to me while I was doing Burrowers research. The name?

Graham Reznick.

My friend had shown me a short he did a while back which I thought was good. My friend did some of the music and sound effects on that one as well as this new project. So I was surprised that he had made an indie film that had just premiered here in NYC last week.

I Can See You seems to be getting some rave reviews and I may be headed to check this little flick out.

The tagline: A psychedelic campfire trailer is utterly unique and the plot is well, buzzy vague.

Three young ad-men enter the woods for a photo shoot, but a girlfriend's mysterious disappearance sparks a harrowing descent into unreality.

One can only know if this may or may not be horror but some mind altering non linear madness. You can decide for yourself.

Check out the trailer below.





For more information, check out the official site.

Labels: i can see you, i can see you trailer, indepentent horror, larry fesseden, lsd, nyc horror, nyc movie, psychedlic

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Ohhh the glory days of sleazy exploitation and grindhouse flicks!!

Everybody should see this trailer once.

Labels: 1970s, exploitation, exploitation film, grindhouse, nyc horror, riot on 42nd street trailer, sleaze, times square

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

After watching the trailer for Stag Night, the first question that popped into my head was...

Really?????? Every year, 2000 passengers go missing on the subway?????
Get the fuck out of here.

But who am I to argue. I'm sure they have certified NYC MTA stats to back that shit up.

Stag Night is brought to us by Peter Dowling, who wrote Flightplan. The plot sounds like Judgement Night, but on a train.

Four guys on a bachelor party get off the subway at a station that shut down in the 50's and, after watching a transit cop get brutally murdered, find themselves running for their lives beneath the streets of NY.

The movie stars Kip Pardue, Breckin Meyer, the hot Vinessa Shaw and Scott "Boyka" Adkins.

Which begs the question, why is Boyka (from Undisputed 2) running from a crazed NYC serial killer? He can fuckin spinkick the shit out anybody.

So if your on a NYC train, don't get off a stop that looks shady. Do as the tagline suggests.

Stay on train (or get out when its your stop)

Check out the trailer in all its absurd glory below.

Tags:
stag night trailer, stag night , serial killer NYC , boyka, nyc subway, nyc horror, scott adkins, slasher,subway,vinessa shaw

Labels: breckin meyer, kip pardue, mta, nyc horror, scott adkins, serial killer movie, stag night, stag night trailer, subway cinema, vinessa shaw

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Q: The Winged Serpent

Q: The Winged Serpent (1982)

Directed by Larry Cohen

[It's a mini rewind review here at the jadedviewer.com. These were orignally posted on Netflix before they banned me. Enjoy!]

I was figuring this to be a cheesy B-movie, Godzilla/King Kong like movie...but it didn't have any cheese.

I can appreciate a film where you can MST3K it but this was so bad I was writhing in pain while viewing it. I think it might have had to do with how I can't tolerate David Carradine and how the serpent had like 10% of screen time!

Instead I had to endure a dumb plot revolving around a totally unlikeable character. Larry Cohen made It's Alive and some other B-movie flicks. At least those had good, cheese.

Rating:

The Trailer:

Tags:
q the winged serpent, q the winged serpent review , larry cohen , david carradine, monster movies, b movies, 1980s horror, bloody violence, nyc horror, chrysler building,

Labels: 1980s horror, b movies, cheesy, chrysler building, david carradine, larry cohen, netlfix, nyc horror, q, q the winged serpent, q the winged serpent review trailer

Posted by the jaded viewer at 9:28 PM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post