John Lennon was almost in WarGames (1983)

Holy cow. Is this well known? I don't think I had ever heard about this before. That would have been incredibly cool. He was killed when the script was still at an early stage of development. It's mentioned here, just a little above the Filming section.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WarGames#Development

Baltimore power station plotting guy

OK, this is a hard post to classify. I'm gonna post it in the Television forum because I saw a story about it on television. Why not.

I posted something about this once before, either here or on IMDB. It made me sit up and pay attention, partly because of how insane it is, and partly because it has a local connection for me. One of the people in the story grew up in the town next door to where I grew up, and I'm pretty sure we knew some of the same people. So, yikes.

ANYWAY, here's the story. Maybe you saw in the news today that a couple of maniacs were planning to blow up a power station in Baltimore, and just massively fuck with the whole power grid around there. One of the maniacs is a young lady named Sarah Clendaniel, and the other is a guy named Brandon Russell.

Brandon Russell was in the news back in 2017... I guess it was a few months after the IMDB message boards were taken down, but it had nothing to do with that. Here, if you want an account of why he was in the news in 2017, watch this video. If you just focus on the part of the video from 2:22 to 2:51 or so, you'll get the gist. But, this guy telling the story is pretty entertaining, so I recommend watching the whole six minutes if you have time.




Hey, he has a Wikipedia entry. Here is Brandon Russell's Wikiedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Russell


Anyway, Jeremy Himmelman is mentioned at about 0:57 in the video I posted, and he grew up in the town next door to where I grew up. He was a lot younger than me, but both towns are small and they have some common events, organizations, shopping centers, restaurants, etc. I am sure that I know some of the same people he did, soooooo that's really, really, really relaxing.... I'm pretty sure I have posted photos here of the town where he (Jeremy Himmelman) was from, because it has some old houses that remind me of the Morningside funeral home from Phantasm.

So, this whole story is a bit complicated, but just remember that Brandon Russell was the roommate in that house who didn't kill anyone, but just happened to be stockpiling shitloads of explosives, including radioactive material, in hopes of making the biggest explosion he possibly could.

Anyway, I am tired, I'm sure I'm rambling. I just thought this was a pretty scary story that we might find alarming, and just consider it one more (one more of MANY, of course) warning(s) that our whole existence is fragile as hell, and could all fall apart instantly with no warning at all.

In Search of All American Massacre - 2022 doc

You know, that spin-off from TCM2 about Chop-Top in prison? It was an on-again/off-again project by Tobe Hooper's son featuring the triumphant return of Bill Moseley, featuring Buckethead as Leatherface, and scoring the movie.

Want to know more about it? Tough luck. Consider yourself as informed as you'll ever get. Info on this is rare, so this doc will give you the most intel you'll ever have about this lost film.
Basically no relevant cast or crew members are willing to be interviewed for this, except for the actor who played grandpa. He gives us plenty of info on his involvement, but his involvement is a relatively small part it seems.

The goal of this doc is to stir the pot and see if it generates enough of a buzz. Apparently, not a lot of people know this was a thing? I knew because I was big on Cornbugs for a while there, and I finally got a bit of backstory on that dynamic.

Also, for some reason, Felissa Rose is in here to talk about stuff. It's never too late for Return to Return to Sleepaway Camp...


There's also a documentary out there about TCM4. Now that is a doc I want to see!

Finish the Quote

Would you like some making fuck?

The Acid King - 2021 true crime doc

The doc covers the early 80s satanic panic around a dysfunctional teen drug dealer Ricky Kasso who killed one of his fellow teenagers in 1984. A few points of interest:


- Features Jim Van Bebber. No, he wasn't involved, but someone probably offered him some weed and so he made the whole thing more entertaining. I'm pretty sure I saw him light up there once. Find out what his religion is here.

- The happenings occur in Suffolk County, New York. This is the same place as the Amityville Horror, even drawing a brief connection to it.

- The weirdo outcast angle is the basis for a song I very much enjoyed from the early 2000s.



Currently on Tubi.

2023 Documentary challenge

Anyone in the mood for a spot of learning for the month of February, can make your spot below.

1 point for every minute watched of any documentary (minimum duration of 30 minutes).

Add 10 points for a documentary about a dark subject matter (serial killers, war, etc.).

Add 20 points for a documentary about the horror genre or a specific horror movie.

Get an extra 25 bonus points for a FTV (including per episode of a series).

DVD and Blu-ray commentaries and mockumentaries/pseudo-documentaries will not be permitted. It's strictly for learning, well, whilst being entertained by the subject matter of course.

No YouTube videos.

The Documentary Challenge will begin Wednesday 1st February at 00:00 hrs and end on Tuesday 28th at 23:59.

Please post any questions in the shoutbox.

Have fun... learning... and stuff... 😦

Zed's Dead (2021)

Not too bad for a fan-made unofficial spin-off of Pulp Fiction.

The film shows a couple days in the life of Zed, Maynard, and the gimp, leading up to their confrontation with Butch and Marsellus. There's not a ton of plot here. It's basically just someone shows up to the pawn shop, gets killed, repeat. But it's a quick 70 minutes. It's gory and trashy, and the lead actors seem to be having fun with it.

I definitely wouldn't call it a must see, but it's not disrespectful to the source material or anything. It could be fun for some Pulp Fiction fans who don't mind cheap, trashy b-movies.

Pledge Night (1990)

I don't know how this one slipped by me. It feels like something I should have seen over 10 years ago. I think I may have got its title confused with Rush Week and thought I already saw it.

It came out in 1990, but still has that 80s slasher feel. Back in the 60s, Joey Belladonna, singer of Anthrax, accidentally gets killed in a hazing incident, and is now back for revenge.

It contains a whole lot of fraternity hazing hijinks. A whole lot. In fact, halfway through I started to forget I was watching a horror movie...until I saw a hand come out of the toilet. There's not a whole lot of gore here, but it has some fun effects and kills. And every girl show her tits. Except for the mom of one the frat boys.

Anthrax also supplies a few songs for the soundtrack. But oddly enough, it was only songs from their first album, Fistful of Metal, which was before Joey Belladonna was in the band. What were they thinking?

Brother Theodore

If you don't know who Brother Theodore was, you are in for a treat. He has a Wikipedia entry. It is impossible to really explain or describe what he did, but, just give him a chance.. here, watch this, and trust me, it just gets crazier and crazier as it goes along.

Showtime merging with Paramount+

Showtime used to be cool back in the day, but now they suck ass. Paramount acquiring them is a downgrade for Paramount, much like HBO acquiring Discovery was a downgrade. I don't understand that one, because that only lead to some convoluted fuckery and show cancellations, but what do I know? Not like I even watch half the shit that's on either one of these platforms, but all these murders and executions^{mergers and acquisitions} are annoying.