fright-club.co.uk | 1
#4 October 2010 www.fright-�club.co.uk
M A G A Z I NE
Paging Dr. Gordon Cary Elwes interview Independent movie set report On the set of Master and Victim Saw: Part 3 of the Ultimate Game Plan Content only suitable for those 18 years or older
2 | fright-club.co.uk
WIN
E T A M I T UL E H T SAW N O I T C E COLL AND IRT H S -� T D SAW 3 To celebrate the release of Saw 3D in cinemas we’re offering you the chance to re-live the terror of Jigsaw’s master plan with SAW THE ULTIMATE COLLECTION on DVD and a Saw 3D t-shirt to wear whilst you watch it.
ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LOG ON TO WWW>FRIGHT_CLUB>CO>UK AND ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR WHO MAKES HIS LONG AWAITED RETURN IN SAW 3D? A:
DR LAWRENCE GRAHAM
B:
DR LAWRENCE MALCOLM
C:
DR LAWRENCE GORDON
GOOD LUCK! Terms and conditions: 2SHQ WR 8. UHVLGHQWV DJHG DQG RYHU ZKR DFFXUDWHO\ FRPSOHWH WKH RIÀFLDO HQWU\ IRUP DQG HQWHU EHIRUH FORVLQJ GDWH 7KH 3UL]H LV RI FRSLHV RI WKH 6DZ 7KH 8OWLPDWH &ROOHFWLRQ ER[ VHW DQG RI 6DZ W VKLUWV :LQQHUV ZLOO EH GUDZQ E\ DQ LQGHSHQGHQW MXGJH RQ DQG QRWLÀHG WKHUHDIWHU YLD H PDLO 1R FRUUHVSRQGHQFH ZLOO EH HQWHUHG LQWR -XGJHV GHFLVLRQ LV ÀQDO 1R SXUFKDVH QHFHVVDU\ WR HQWHU 2QO\ RQH HQWU\ SHU QDWXUDO SHUVRQ 1R UHVSRQVLELOLW\ ZLOO EH accepted for entries lost, corrupted or delayed in transmission. 7. This competition is not open to employees of the promoter, associated agents or anyone concerned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
Editor’s Note
fright-club.co.uk | 1
You’ll have to find out in Saw 3D at cinemas now To celebrate Halloween, we’ve delved a little deeper into the history and tradition surrounding this annual event. A little bit of history never hurt anyone, so enjoy this study whilst coming up with your costume or consuming some early Halloween treats.
Claire Richardson, Editor Happy Halloween everyone and welcome to issue 4 of the Fright Club e-magazine. ‘Tis the season for all things horror and this issue we have some great treats for you all.
Speaking of costumes, we take a look at how Saw-inspired makeup effects are done – our willing model had no idea what she was letting herself in for. I think she was pleasantly surprised at the results... though maybe I’m mistaking a grimace for a grin. That’s all for now folks but enjoy the Halloween festivities and don’t forget, we’re now on Facebook so why not drop by and let us know what you think of the magazine, Saw 3D and all things horror.
With Saw 3D soon exploding into cinemas up and down the country, we decided to take a closer look at all of the movies in the Saw franchise with Doctor Gordon himself, Cary Elwes, who is making his much speculated and long awaited return Until next time... to the franchise. What happened to Doctor Gordon after he chopped Claire off his foot and crawled to freedom? crichardson@lionsgatefilms.co.uk
2 | fright-club.co.uk
C o ntributors
Rachael Koczan
Stewart Malcolm
Russ Gomm
Mark Bowsher
Sean Cockwell
Layout, design & creative production by www.globaltatproductions.com Additional layout by Steven Smith ssmith@lionsgatefilms.co.uk We want your horror stories! To not represent or endorse such contribute reviews, stories, images advertisements, views, opinions, or anything else please contact or statements. crichardson@lionsgatefilms.co.uk Lions Gate UK Limited Fright Club Magazine contains 60 Charlotte Street advertisements, views, opinions, London, W1T 2NU and statements of the individuals participating herein. Lions Gate Š 2010 Lions Gate Home UK Limited and its affiliates do Entertainment UK Ltd.
IsSue #4
fright-club.co.uk | 3
An Interview with Cary Elwes Page 4 ________________________________________________________ Haloween Movie Night Page 10 ________________________________________________________ by Sean Cockwell “I Could Help You, But I’d Rather Stand and Record” Page 18 ________________________________________________________ by Russ Gomm Face of Fear Page 24 ________________________________________________________ by Claire Richardson and Rachael Koczan A History of Halloween Page 29 ________________________________________________________ By Stewart Malcolm Eastbourne – the New Home of Horror? Page 34 ________________________________________________________ Master and Victim set report. By Mark Bowsher Top 10 Most Cringe-Worthy Saw Traps Page 42 ________________________________________________________ by Claire Richardson Halloween in Popular culture Page 48 ________________________________________________________ by Claire Richardson SawThe Ultimate Game Plan Part 5&6 Page 51 ________________________________________________________ by Sayoko Tietz, Kerry Porter and Steven Smith
4 | fright-club.co.uk
Saw 3D coming to cinemas October 28
fright-club.co.uk | 5
AN Interview WIth CARY ElWES The groundbreaking, record-breaking Saw series continues with the seventh and final entry, Saw 3D. Returning to the successful horror franchise he helped originate is Cary Elwes playing iconic character Dr Lawrence Gordon once more. Last seen severing his foot to escape a bathroom trap, Gordon now joins other Jigsaw survivors seeking counselling from a self-help mentor whose similar past as a previous victim figures directly in each one’s fate. “I never expected Saw to be such a hit”, remarks the ever-debonair Elwes, star of The Princess Bride and the upcoming The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn and Yellow Submarine remake. “It was just another acting gig sent to me by two hungry Australian filmmakers, (director and cowriter) James Wan and (co-writer and co-star) Leigh Whannell. Their pitch was amazing, coupled with a short film they had made visualising the ‘reverse bear trap’, I was sold. I try to get involved in projects that intrigue me and Saw
was so inventive and well written I was immediately hooked. They were extremely prepared and had a specific style they wanted to use, which hit the trend at the time for harder edged horror. Don’t ask me why, because the horror genre really isn’t my thing really, but I just got the whole concept”. Elwes became fast friends with Wan and Whannell as a result of Saw and continued to keep in touch with them throughout their meteoric rise up the horror ranks. “They’re good guys they really are
6 | fright-club.co.uk
“In Saw 3D you see me crawl to a hot pipe where I cauterise the wound.”
and it’s great to see people come up in the world whose hearts are in the right place and deserve their success. I kept abreast of what was happening in the series regarding my character (Saw III showed an unconscious Gordon not played by Elwes, Saw V revealed him being set up as a possible Jigsaw suspect) and I was flattered the scriptwriters saw Gordon as important enough to the through-line to keep me in the loop”.
got ‘The Call’ asking if I would consider bookending the series naturally I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to read the completed script”.
He continues, “Although I said in the Saw DVD commentary that Gordon wouldn’t have lasted two blocks with his bleeding stump where he severed his foot, I was agreeably surprised by how he does indeed survive. In Saw 3D you see me crawl to a hot pipe where I cauterise the wound. Clever and inventive but I can’t tell you any more about the story as I’m contractually obliged to reveal nothing that might spoil audience enjoyment. Let’s just say I saw the completed movie recently and I was shocked at how brilliant it was. I called up producer Mark Burg straight after and told him to send over some sedatives as I was never going to be able to sleep that night!”
Elwes is back in Saw 3D because of that continuing plot relevance and because the fans campaigned heavily for his return. “It seems like a lot of pressure was put on the filmmakers to bring Gordon back from bloggers, emails, letters and websites”, he acknowledges. “I don’t know what I did to be championed by them so strongly but they have my eternal gratitude. So I did have an inkling I might figure in Saw 3D because of that groundswell of public opinion. When I eventually If Elwes likens the first Saw to
fright-club.co.uk | 7
acting in a play – “Because it was shot very fast on one economical set” he recalls – then Saw 3D was the complete opposite. “There was clearly more money to play with in the Toronto studio because of the franchise success, the production values were far better and we had time to explore different avenues in character terms.Some of the Saw 3D cast - Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor, Betsy Russell - were series veterans like me so it was great to discuss and celebrate the plot machinations together. Although I had spent time with real doctors at UCLA for Saw I didn’t feel I needed to do any more medical research this time out. And because we had all grown up through the series, there was no messing around. We knew what was expected, we knew what was needed to make the scenes effective and we knew the director shorthand endemic to the series to ensure we upped our game”.
There wasn’t much difference in approach between Saw helmer James Wan and returning Saw IV director Kevin Greutert according to Elwes. “Both are sweet people and very gentle souls.That always amazes people when I say that, as they think they’d be the complete opposite.Both have a keen eye, a great sense of story and are wonderful with actors. Kevin made the grade from editing the entire Saw series to directing it so he knows even more about fine-tuning performance to get exactly what he wants. Not that I was in the opening sequence (where a grisly Jigsaw trap tableau takes place in a department store window) but I think that shows how much the series has evolved and matured. No one in the growing crowd is phoning the cops, they are all filming it on their mobiles! If that isn’t a statement on how much of a rubber-necking society we’ve become then I don’t know what is”. Filming in the 3D process didn’t
8 | fright-club.co.uk
“...although I would never say never, this last one is definitely the best” mean any change in acting style for Elwes either as he reports. “I didn’t have to adjust my performance in any way. Nor did anyone else. Obviously the director and the cameraman were working out points-of-view more conducive to the dimensional technique. There were certain depths of field they wanted to play around with and moved us into position to achieve that. But as far as performing went, it was as natural as anything. Do I like the 3D trend? Yes, when it can be applied so brilliantly to something like a Saw movie. The process does seem to lend itself well to the horror fantasy genres; the reason why so many of the classics are being looked at with
regards possible upgrades. The Princess Bride would be a fun one to reformat, especially regarding the swordfights!” Cary Elwes couldn’t have been happier to re-enter the Saw universe. “It was just so fantastic being welcomed back by so many
fright-club.co.uk | 9
Will Hoffman get what’s coming to him? old friends on the studio floor. It was like stepping back into a familiar pair of shoes, comfortable and very relaxing. I feel really blessed to be a part of the most successful horror franchise in history, especially when it has been so inventive. I mean the torture
traps in Saw 3D are so outlandish and messed up, they are amazing. The series has run its course now and, although I would never say never, this last one is definitely the best�.
10 | fright-club.co.uk
Halloween Movie Night Halloween! What does that spooky little old word conjure up for you? Would it be John Carpenter’s classic horror movie or perhaps Rob Zombie’s flawed but interesting remake? Maybe it brings to mind kids hassling old biddies for sweeties or thoughts of dressing up in silly costumes for a themed party and pretending that you are having fun? By Sean Cockwell For me it conjures up all of the above and as much as I love Carpenter’s Halloween it’s not really what I want to sit through again (no really!) when it comes to such a spooky evening in.  Nor is the idea of kids, being patrolled by their parents, banging on my door for no good reason but to stuff their faces.  As for fancy dress parties, aren’t they just a reason to get noticed and be applauded for your costume?  You wouldn’t ever catch me dressing up... ever!  No, my idea of a perfect Halloween evening is as follows:
R5 (0#. 5 5- & .5 ( 5) 5 / # -5 round that are up for watching a bunch of horror movies R5 -%5 ." '5 .)5 ,#(!5 (# & -5 and alcohol R5 & .5 ,)'5 3)/,5 )&& .#)(5 a mixture of movies that you feel may tickle your group’s sensibilities R5 0 5 "5 !/ -.5 , 15 5 *# 5 of paper with a movie choice on, this way no one is just picking something they feel safe with R5 0 5 ." '5 #&&5 )/.5 questionnaires for each movie rather like filling out scorecards for a Eurovision evening in (not that I have ever done that for Eurovision, I have just been
fright-club.co.uk | 11
12 | fright-club.co.uk
told about it! Honestly!) For my evening I have chosen the following from my vast collection of movies for the small assortment of chums that are attending my horror evening to select from: R5 The Midnight Meat Train... Vinnie Jones gets brutal on the underground R̓ Friday the 13th... The recent remake that isn’t really that good, but would make for decent background later in the evening when people stop watching and talk more R5 Hatchet... Decent comedy horror that doesn’t skimp on the splatter R5 The Children... Chilling Brit flick that surprises throughout R5 The Mist... Superior Stephen King adaptation, which is more about the horrors we bring upon each other than the horrors lurking outside in the mist R5 My Bloody Valentine... I only
had two pairs of 3D glasses with my copy. Would a 2D viewing be up to much? R5Frontiers... Vicious French flick that gets more outrageous as it goes along R5Fright Night... Always nice to revisit an Eighties classic and this ‘vampire next door’ tale would lead nicely into... R̓Let the Right One In... Where again there is a vampire nextdoor; only this tale isn’t for laughs, it's more bleak and affecting and a genuine classic of modern horror cinema. The selection process was done as follows. The names of all the above movies were typed on strips of paper and rolled up. Each guest would pick out a crumbled bit of paper from the tumbler and announce the movie they selected at random. The following were selected and
fright-club.co.uk | 13
“The Midnight Meat Train – Vinnie Jones gets brutal on the underground.â€? watched in this order: R5Äť 5 "#& , ( R5Äť 5 # (#!".5 .5 , #( R5 . " . R5 ,# 35." 5gith  My guests – all friends – made for an eclectic, but well formed group.  There was Adrian who seemed to rate the movies on the amount of cleavage exposed; Sue, a horror fan much like me; and Steve and Neil, a couple.  Steve loves horror movies; Neil doesn’t see the point of them.  You couldn’t wish for a more diverse bunch of people in such a small number.  I could barely wait to see what the guys thought of the horror offerings this evening presented.  Â
gorefest, Steve and Neil, Adrian, Sue and I took to our chairs and began the viewing - first up The Children.  Director Tom Shankland has fashioned a suitably grisly tale. Here one Christmas two sets of parents find themselves fighting for survival against their own children with unexpectedly nasty results.  Spoilers ahead!  The movie appeared to get the evening off to a good start.  I witnessed people grimacing and jumping occasionally, however the score cards showed that you can never really tell from such initial reactions.  Steve and Neil rated the film a measly 5/10 offering a very busy plot as the reason.  However they did praise the acting from With alcohol, some little nibbly the child actors.  For them their things and a Pizza Hut delivery to favourite moments included the sustain us through the evening’s pencil going into the eye and that
14 | fright-club.co.uk
“...such as when a parent chooses one child over another.”
sledge injury. Both Sue and Adrian rated the movie much higher with an 8/10. Sue liked the fact that the movie was never predictable and she found it gripping throughout. On the other hand she found some of the parent’s behaviour unbelievable, such as when a parent chooses one child over another. Adrian liked the pacing and was particularly impressed with the kitchen seen in the movie....no really! Sue liked that the children did actually come to sticky ends whereas Adrian again went off on a tangent and liked the size of the turkey about to be cooked in an earlier scene. Adrian also noted on his sheet that people are not to eat the red snow. Go figure! Next up The Midnight Meat Train, or as Adrian referred to it on the response sheet, Vinnie Gets
The Train With Sue. As Sue was intending to get the train home at this stage in the evening (she later got a cab instead) Adrian wanted to make reference to this. Sue had read the Clive Barker piece this was based on, a short story by the same name, so kind of knew what was coming but that still didn’t make her too comfortable about watching a film where people get killed on a late train. This movie was more of a winner with both Steve and Neil. Neil is not a big horror movie fan so for them both to rate the movie 8/10 was high praise indeed and in fact The Midnight Meat Train turned out to be the most liked flick of the evening. Steve and Neil were positively bubbling over in their enthusiasm liking the plot, the gore, especially the eyeballs flying out of heads and were also full of praise for the lighting and camera angles (oooh,
fright-club.co.uk | 15
get them!) and enjoyed the use of implements. Steve and Neil felt that the movie’s best moments were the teeth pulling and eye-popping out scenes. They considered where Bradley Cooper’s hero jumps on the back of a train the movie’s silliest moment. Sue and Adrian were slightly more subdued in their praise of Midnight Meat Train but still keen overall. Sue put this down to her knowing what to expect from it. She rated the movie 6/10, Adrian 7/10. Sue was impressed by the movie’s special effects, Adrian by its pacing and ample lashings of gore. Adrian didn’t respond to the characters, he didn’t like any of them except for Vinnie’s; meaning no audience empathy there from Adrian. With pizza now delivered and nearly consumed I decided to change the tone of the
evening. Having had two laughfree horrors to watch so far I felt a comedy horror was in order so I stuck on Adam Green’s comedy horror Hatchet. I am a big fan of this movie, enjoying the cameo appearances and the balance between shrieks and giggles as a group of tourists end up on the receiving end of legend Victor Crowley’s hatchet. Adrian and Sue were not fans, scoring the movie just 3/10. They found all of it far too silly and said the best moment came after they realised it had finished. Steve and Neil were slightly more favourable in their opinion awarding the movie a 6/10 and enjoying its mix of horror and comedy. What didn’t sit well with them, or anyone else really, was the rather abrupt ending which had everyone looking at each other as if to say what happened there?
16 ||fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk
With alcohol now affecting the evening’s participants the score sheets fell to the wayside so I thought to see them off I would put on the Friday the 13th remake, knowing that at some point soon they would be disappearing in cabs home. It did its part,no one properly watched it, same as at the box office really, with the conversation now overriding all else. As my small band of guests disappeared into their taxi’s home they all expressed how much they enjoyed the evening and it kind of begs for a follow-up sometime soon.
So there you go, you don’t need to go out and spend loads of money at some Halloween themed party to have a good time; all you need to do is find a few choice mates and crash down for a few hours watching movies you may not have seen before. It worked for me, and I for one cannot wait to do it again... oh yeah, not that it matters, but I lied about the fancy dress. Of course I do it; it’s just that since dressing up as Baby Spice no one is keen for me to do it again. Now that is something really scary!
fright-club.co.uk | 17
18 | fright-club.co.uk
fright-club.co.uk | 19
“ I COULD HELP YOU,
BUT I’D RATHER STAND HERE AND RECORD ”
‘The Blair Witch Project’ is a film that has always stayed close to me. Could it be because I can relate with the struggling film-makers journey or that I could never shake the feeling of dread from reading the first ‘fake’ newspaper articles on a trip to the States? Either way, for me ‘The Blair Witch Project’ is more than just a movie. Now eleven years later, with a new release of the film on Blu-Ray, it’s time to take a trip back into the woods… By Russ Gomm In October 1994 three student filmmakers disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland while shooting a documentary… A year later their footage was found.
before us. The very idea that the footage was real was both thought provoking and horrifying. However the creation of a feature film using this ‘found footage’ was just a very small piece of the puzzle that was In 1999 ‘The Blair Witch Project’ the mystery of the Blair Witch. hit us like a force of nature and seemed completely unstoppable. I have always remained certain that For many viewers the film was a upon the films release in the UK nausea inducing 81 minutes of pure in October of 1999 a vast amount terror as we watched the last days of its power had already been lost. of Heather, Mike and Josh unfold Remember, films are often released
20 | fright-club.co.uk
earlier in America than in other markets. Many people in the UK are probably still unaware of the effect the film had on American audiences who had less time to consider and question the publicity and marketing being used. I would like to take you all back to that year to rediscover the events that created some of it’s well deserved mystery and power and look at some of the hype and hysteria surrounding the film.
“
‘Curse of the Blair Witch’ was disturbing; on the same level as the BBC Halloween special ‘Ghostwatch’ which some of you may remember from 1992
”
People ask me why I love the movie so much and why it had (and still has) such a huge impact on me. The answer is very simple. It’s not just the movie. It’s everything surrounding it. I don’t know of any other film that managed to do what this small independent film
did. ‘The Haxan Five’ (directors Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick along with producers Robin Cowie, Gregg Hale and Michael Monello) created an entire fictional world of mythology for which the film was just the tip of the iceberg, and that is why I love ‘The Blair Witch Project’ so much. Incidentally ‘Häxan’ is the Swedish word for ‘witch’ and the 1922 documentary ‘Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages’ is a film that no doubt inspired them in their production and led to the company title ‘Haxan Films’. Flashback to July 11th 1999. The Sci-Fi channel aired a documentary focusing on historical events, which had led to the disappearance of three filmmakers and was entitled ‘Curse of the Blair Witch’. Now let me just highlight the fact that very few people actually knew anything about the upcoming Blair Witch movie and even fewer knew that it was all fake. The documentary was strategically screened five days before the movie opened on a (very) limited release, and was billed as a factual investigation into the mythology of the Blair Witch from early tales in 1785 to the 1994 occurrences in the Black Hills area.
fright-club.co.uk | 21
‘Curse of the Blair Witch’ was disturbing; on the same level as the BBC Halloween special ‘Ghostwatch’ which some of you may remember from 1992. After watching ‘Curse of the Blair Witch’ during a visit to America just before the films release, I was one of many viewers who were left completely shell-shocked and believed the story wholeheartedly. I can honestly say that with hindsight I am so glad at just how unexpectedly scared and intrigued I was from this fake documentary. It sent me on a personal mission to find out all I could about the movie, and the legend itself.
special features of the DVD and Blu-Ray so there really is no excuse not to watch it. The documentary began one of the most intriguing and extensive marketing campaigns in movie history.
“”
I can guarantee that anyone who saw ‘Curse of the Blair Witch’ before seeing ‘The Blair Witch Project’ got a lot more out of the film. It works as a prequel, setting the scene and explaining the history in much more detail than the film could do. It also planted the seed that the events in the film were actually real. It’s so extremely well planned and executed and if you are going to watch the movie again I strongly suggest watching this before you do. It can be found in the
Soon ‘The Blair Witch Project’ was everywhere. Newspapers, magazines, television, radio.
For many it led to the discovery of www.blairwitch.com (which is still running today). The website made more claims about the apparent truth of the legend and also
22 | fright-club.co.uk
backed up the documentary with more photos and information. The Internet was suddenly littered with references to the film and the history of the legend. Missing posters for the three students began to appear, and they were all listed as “missing, presumed dead” on their IMDb pages, adding to the realism of the story. Back in 1999 the Internet was a relatively new place to experiment with marketing but the team used it to their advantage and sent news of the witch worldwide. Soon ‘The Blair Witch Project’ was everywhere. Newspapers, magazines, television, radio. Marketing had turned into merchandise. Fans, believing it all to be real, were eager for shirts, badges, key rings, hats, trading cards, comics, video games and anything else that had the infamous ‘stickman’ on it. ‘Josh’s Blair Witch Mix’ was released and represented the tape from Josh’s car – The only piece of evidence in the original investigation,found parked on Black Rock Road. The ‘soundtrack’ CD became another part of the legend, further intensifying the myth. The strangest collectable was the actual town sign from Burkittsville, which
was stolen three times before being revamped as hundreds of believing fans descended upon the small town. The most interesting and little known piece of marketing however was a book entitled ‘The Blair Witch Project: A Dossier’ by D.A. Stern. The text presents itself as a collection of information, from police files, journals, letters and historical documents to a downright disturbing account as the families of the missing students, with the help of Private Investigator Buck Buchanan (also seen in the documentary) and Psychic Diane Ahlquist, try to uncover more about the events that took place in the woods. The book is very informative and extremely creepy, and is another reason why the film was so horrifying to me. Researching with this book and the documentary certainly make the film feel a lot more real and scary and actually make more sense of events throughout the film. Unfortunately the supporting documents didn’t seem to captivate audiences in the UK to the same extent as they did in the States. Their promotion was unsuccessful,
fright-club.co.uk | 23
or perhaps insufficient, and resulted in a great many people simply being unaware of their existence. This unawareness, combined with an increasing media discourse regarding the film, it’s actors and the directors, meant that by the time the film was released here, just three months later, many people in the UK had already cottoned on to the fact that none of it was real. When I think back to that time though, whether ‘The Blair Witch Project’ was perceived as genuine or fake, I realise just how crazy and exciting the whole thing was. The film, which had an estimated budget of just $60,000, took $1.5million on the opening weekend limited run across 27 screens in America and then went on to gross nearly
$250million worldwide. I think this tale of three missing students will always spark our interest. It has become part of our culture and if you look further than the film there is so much more to discover. Look into the book and the documentary and then revisit what I consider to be one of the most terrifying films ever made. A story filled with such drama, horror and extreme tension that at times it is almost unbearable to watch, especially when equipped with all of this prior knowledge into the legend. Rediscover Elly Kedward The Blair Witch, and remember her story. This movie is just a small part of that, and we haven’t seen the last of her yet…
24 | fright-club.co.uk
FACE
OF FEAR
Fright Club(er) Rachael Koczan is looking forward to Saw 3D so much that she couldn’t wait to get a makeover to celebrate it’s release . .now that really is a face for Radio! By Claire Richardson If you’re reading this magazine, it’s fairly safe to assume that you’ve seen at least one of the movies in the Saw series? But have you ever wondered how they create some of the really twisted visuals that c o m e out of t h e traps? Well, w e can
show you how. On a rainy Friday afternoon in September the Fright Club was invited to a make-up session in a swanky hotel room in London to see how make-up effects can be created. Our Fright Club model, Rachael, waits in the living room area of the hotel whilst other ‘victims’ have their make-up done and photographs taken, having been told to change into one of the Saw 3D t-shirts on hand so as not to ruin her own top – looks like this is going to get pretty messy. A short time later one
fright-club.co.uk | 25
26 | fright-club.co.uk
of the two make-up artists, named Paul Xavier, walks into the room, arms wide and all smiles, to call Rachael into the bathroom, which today is doubling up as a makeup studio. Another model is in the second make up chair having various bits stuck to his face that are beginning to look like deep slash marks. So, Paul asks Rachael how far she is willing to go with the make-up, asking if she only wants a few little bits added, or if he can just go crazy... Rachael looks a little uncertain before giving him the go ahead to do what he wants... uh-oh, this could get very messy. A look of glee appears on our make-up maestro’s face. As we walked into the makeup room, another model was being photographed with make-up that looked like he’d been attacked with a malfunctioning nail-gun, though, we discovered later, it was actually just broken up hair slides . Then comes the request for straws and cocktail stirrers, not the most likely of Jigsaw inspired instruments of torture but stay with us here, the end result is what counts. Whilst we wait for the accessories to be brought up, our make-up
master begins to scrape wax out of a small tin with a pen-knife which he then rolls into small ball shapes and then moulds onto Rachael’s face. Appropriately at this time, the conversation in the room turns to the works of Vincent Price as Paul gives us his best impression. When the straws and cocktail sticks are delivered, Rachael has four bits of wax stuck to her face, ready for the next stage of the make up process. The cocktail stirrers are snapped into smaller pieces and stuck into the wax, which is then moulded around them to keep
fright-club.co.uk | 27
Cocktail stirers : a weapon in the horror make-up artist’s arsenal them in place, to look like she has This is done with a brush and this pieces of metal digging into her is where Paul really goes crazy and just splashes it all over Rachael’s face face. and on her Saw 3D t-shirt (we did Next comes some outlining with say this would get messy). Slightly red and black powder to add some disturbing is when everyone decides detail to the make-up. Then comes to taste the runny fake blood (not red, sticky stuff which looks like the congealed blood), though it congealed blood, which is added should be mentioned that this is around the bits of ‘metal’ and, under after Paul tells us that it’s made her eye (not too close though), from glucose. around her nose and near her mouth to really add to the gory To top it off, Paul tears some holes in the Saw t-shirt and adds some effect. more blood. To the untrained eye, With the look almost complete, the Rachael’s Saw make-over seems next bit is to add the runnier blood. complete but our make-up artist doesn’t look too sure. Once he’s
28 | fright-club.co.uk
taken away the hair clip, Rachael looks too tidy for his liking so starts to mess up her hair, which includes scrunching it with his glucose blood covered hands. Nice.
Rachael. What do you think of your Saw inspired make-over?
“I never would have guessed, upon entering the hotel, that the whole experience would exceed The look is now complete. Get my expectations to such an extent. ready for your Assuming I was only going to be close-up marked with a few cuts and bruises, I found myself becoming engrossed in a hugescale transformation; from normal everyday girl to mutilated, beaten and battered corpse! This staggering transformation could not have been accomplished without the enthusiasm of the make-up artist, Paul. His love for his art was so contagious, it was impossible not to see the talent that he possessed or to be infected with that very same passion for costume and makeup. Overall the day was not one to forget and who knew that dressing up as a battered victim of Jigsaw could be such an exhilarating experience!”
Check out SAW 3D in Cinemas Now.
“
fright-club.co.uk | 29
a brief history of
halloween By Stewart Malcolm Photos by Kevin Richardson The doorbell resounds loudly in your hallway – a trigger alarm that consistently disturbs your evening is activated as you boomerang between the sofa and the front door. The faintest muffle of a giggle just about penetrates the door frame and the formality of the tradition makes you smirk as you peer out to the street and see a band of ecstatic children chant stridently in disharmony, the now so familiar demand - “Trick or treat!”
“
hold out an assortment of bowled goodies, a nostalgic warmth tickles you, enduring just about long enough for your re-sinking into the sofa before the feeling’s shattered by the sounding of the doorbell again. It would of course be the 31st of October and the ever-growing autumnal celebration of what is most widely known as Halloween.
The perception of Halloween is varied. It might range from the uber-indulgent who cover the entire house in cobwebs, broomsticks and pumpkin lanterns to those traditional ones who celebrate the very roots of the festival in a folklorist manner. Then there are the disgruntled for whom Halloween represents the inconvenient cropping The joy of their escapade is stark up of a yearly event, at a time in their eyes behind an array of when the evenings are getting masks and face paints and as you longer. This furthermore stirs
the faintest muffle of a giggle just about penetrates the door frame
30 | fright-club.co.uk
only disillusionment towards the consumerist and capitalist explosion of an historical date, and a merriment that has evolved far more than it perhaps should have done over the passing of time. Regardless of your feelings towards Halloween though, its history is elaborate, fascinating, and always colourful…If a little dark.
the celebration to lie with the Britons (the indigenous peoples of what is now England in the post-Roman Dark Ages) but the festival itself historically stems from the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Christian celebration of All Saints’ Day.
“” Halloween has now morphed into something far more secular
The celebration is shrouded in mystery, and Halloween maintains this cloaking trait in the use of myriad names which all refer to the very same festival. All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Eve offer alternative aliases to the more generic association of ‘Halloween’. The sixteenth century DSSHDUV WR SUHVHQW WKH ¿UVW PHQWLRQ of term ‘Halloween’, which is likened to a Scottish variant of the more convoluted All-Hallows’ Eve. The origin of the name also has roots in Old English, with one school of thought advocating for the origins of
Jack-o-Lant
Nevertheless, Halloween has now morphed into something far more secular whereby apple-bobbing and divination games have led to trick- or-treating and costume parties, with the United States forking out nearly two billion dollars a year for
fright-club.co.uk | 31
Halloween  candy  alone. Long  before  we  were  familiar  with  Michael  Myers’  knife  wielding  and  Jamie  Lee  Curtis’  shrieking  on  the  big  screen  in  October  of  1978,  Halloween  in  its  formative  years  as Â
here  that  Halloween’s  ghoulish  and  supernatural  history  originates;͞  in  ancient  Celtic  culture  it  was  believed  that  the  border  between  this  world  and  the  Otherworld  beyond  the  mortal  one,  diminished,  which  paved  the  way  for  both  good  and  evil  spirits  to  cross  over  into  our  realm  here  on  humble  Earth.  It  is  thought  that  the  wearing  of  masks  and  costumes  draws  its  origins  from  the  cultural  practice  of  warding  off  harmful  and  perceivably  evil  spirits.  The  logic  being  that  dressing  as  an  evil  spirit  would  dupe  the  genuine  evil  spirits  into  leaving  your  mortal  soul  alone.  Samhain  was  also  cause  to  harvest  food  and  slaughter  livestock  for  the  looming  winter.  The  bones  of  slaughtered  stock  would  be  ritually  cast  into  celebratory  and  purpose- EXLOW ERQ¿UHV ZKLFK KHOG D FOHDQVLQJ DQG VDFUL¿FLDO VLJQL¿FDQFH
“
terns were used to ward off evil spirits.
the  Samhain  festival,  was  the  Celtic  festivity  for  the  transition  from  light  to  darkness  whereby  the  changing  of  the  seasons  and  the  lengthening  of  the  nights  caused  a  shift  in  cultural  consciousness  and  a  want  for  celebration.  It  is  perhaps  from Â
run through the streets in a disperate fashion taking little heed of their minder’s demands
32 | fright-club.co.uk
Though the beginnings of Halloween stem from ancient cultural and ritual practice in the North-Western regions of Barbarian Europe, more recent history has seen continuity in the festivity. The Irish artist D a n i e l Maclise
depicted a wonderful portrayal of what is essentially a nineteenth century Halloween fete. The painting was completed in 1832 after the artist attended a similar event in Blarney, Ireland, and is aptly entitled Snap-Apple Night. It depicts a jovial celebration capturing apple- bobbing, the general tomfoolery of a community gathering, and a commonplace portrayal of an Irish All Hallows’ Eve in the nineteenth century. 7KH ÀLFNHU RI D FDQGOH DQG D GLPPLQJ VKLPPHU RI ÀDPH WKURXJK WKH scoured face of a pumpkin is not an irregular feature of today’s Halloween celebrations. The decorative and illuminate vegetable will, without fail, sporadically laden the porches of some innocuous suburban setting like gothic and primitive streetlamps, and children both cheeky and angelic will run through the streets in a disparate fashion taking little heed of their minder’s demands to slow down. This is an exposé of today, but trick-or-treating
“
fright-club.co.uk | 33
draws direct parallels with the medieval practice of Souling, which originated in Ireland and the British Isles. Souling involved the more impoverished in society walking from door to door on the religious festival of Hallowmas where they received food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls’ Day, which took place on 2nd November. Indeed, William Shakespeare makes reference to such a practice in the comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona when the character Speed suggests that his master is “pulling like a beggar at Hallowmas.” Clearly Halloween held a great enough FXOWXUDO VLJQL¿FDQFH WR EH GUDZQ upon by one of the world’s greatest ever playwrights as long ago as 1593.
“
indulging in something of genuine cultural significance as opposed to solely splashing out cash
And so as All Hallows’ Eve rolls on this year, upon October’s departure, remember that the celebration is age-old, prestigious and that you will be indulging in something of JHQXLQH FXOWXUDO VLJQL¿FDQFH DV opposed to solely splashing out cash on an obscene amount of sweets and goodies for gruesomely-clad kids. In accordance with the historical theme of this article, I’ll leave you with the poem that was used as a caption for Daniel Maclise’s Snap-Apple 1LJKW LQ WKH SDLQWLQJ¶V ¿UVW H[KLELW catalogue, which so wonderfully expresses Maclise’s contemporary celebration of Halloween: THERE PEGGY WAS DANCING WITH DAN WHILE MAUREEN THE LEAD WAS MELTING, TO PROVE HOW THEIR FORTUNES RAN WITH THE CARDS ‘OULD NANCY DEALT IN;; THERE WAS KATE, AND HER SWEET-HEART WILL, IN NUTS THEIR TRUE-LOVE BURNING, AND POOR NORAH, THOUGH SMILING STILL SHE’D MISSED THE SNAP- APPLE TURNING. ON THE FESTIVAL OF HALLOW EVE.
34 ||fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk
Eastbourne –the New Home of Horror ? In the movie industry, at any level, there are always some people who talk adamantly and endlessly about that film they’re going to make later in the year. Next year. The year after. Sometime. And some people just do it. Master and Victim set report. Words and Photos by Mark Bowsher A few months ago, my university friend Mark Burns came to the conclusion that he needed a break from filming corporate videos and decided to put his HD camera to another use. His idea was to make a horror movie called Master and Victim which basically involves hot girls, video cameras and lots of blood. I was roped in to help. I always help out Burns with whatever project he’s got on at the time and in return he edits my online sketch show, C.A.F.L.T. TV, so now I’m Master and Victim’s producer. This is actually a promotion from first AD which is what I was going to be a
month before and that in turn was a step up from “would you mind coming along and giving me a hand?” Before long I found myself in Burns’s parents’ house mixing fake blood for the next day’s shoot. Our filming location was a forest on the edge of a local farm/family adventure park just outside of Eastbourne which Burns blagged getting permission to film in from a friend of a friend. It’s handy to have a whole forest to ourselves but less handy to have the sound of cows mooing in the background and in the afternoons we have to contend with a tractor dragging round a
fright-club.co.uk | 35
Tek (Rob Wainwright) takes aim.
36 ||fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk
fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk|| 37
“...filming guerrilla-style with a skeleton crew and no lighting.” cart full of excited kids. The first couple of days of filming included some of the most complicated sequences and (as we were filming guerrilla style with a skeleton crew and no lighting) the cast easily outnumbered the crew. This made it a complicated operation.
fine thank you, Mark”. “What?!” Helen, who I’ve known for quite a few years now, needs more than a little bit of gaffer tape to keep her quiet. Somehow she’d managed to manipulate the gaffer into a position where it looked like it was completely covering her mouth on camera but there was actually enough of a gap for her to talk On the first day we had most of the normally. cast on set – the ‘victims’ (Helen, Katie, Natalie, Abbie, Leila and I only ever had one gaffer-muffled Rositza), the ‘masters’ (Rob, demand from the girls - Abbie Owen, Martin and Chris) and the asked for her nose to be scratched. presenter (George). The first scene I obliged but realised I’d opened a we shot featured all the girls being whole new can of worms as then they dragged out of a van, gaffer tape all wanted their noses scratching. holding their arms behind their This kind of activity doesn’t usually backs and over their mouths. It fall into a producer’s remit; I bet was a health and safety nightmare Jerry Bruckheimer has never had to but no-one complained. scratch Keira Knightley’s nose. I check all the girls were as In the afternoon, we filmed a scene comfortable as they could be: in which Helen is attacked by Chris, who wields two rather nasty looking “You OK,Abbie?”.“Hmm.”.“Good. Samurai swords. Helen didn’t seem Katie?”. “Hmm.”. “Helen?”. “I’m too put off by the idea of getting a
38 ||fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk
“He was as convincingly brutal as she was s**t-terrified”
bit stabbed and spent quite a bit of time between shots skipping about, hands still gaffered behind her back, looking for more of the “ickle froggies” she saw on the forest floor earlier. It became quite a challenge to get her back into a serious, dramatic mood. The next day we tackled the finale which was a particularly hectic scene to shoot. It centred around the van again and involved people getting shot, dragged off screaming or getting their heads bashed in. It’s strange how some of the most intense scenes actually became bonding sessions for the actors involved. Owen and Leila seemed to really hit it off after a scene in which he throws her against the side of the van, holds a knife to her face and
shouts at her as she cries hysterically. Both of them put in amazingly energetic performances and the tension didn’t lapse a bit between takes. He was as convincingly brutal as she was believably s**tterrified. But five minutes later they were laughing and joking while
fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk|| 39
demolishing a plate of chocolate Bourbons. As the week went on the cast got smaller and smaller. Burns intended to get all the large cast days out of the way as early as possible.
We spent a day working on a confrontation between Rob, Owen, Katie, Natalie and Abbie’s characters. And, more importantly, I got to stand-in as the corpse of one of the absent cast members which I believe was a slightly better performance than my movie
40 | fright-club.co.uk
Katie (Abbie Murison) is threatened by Slice
fright-club.co.uk fright-club.co.uk|| 41
“With a squelch we pulled her out.” debut as ‘Right Arm of Man Seen for Half a Second When Michael Sheen Gets on the Bus’ in the short film The Banker.
The first shot of the day was one from Owen’s point of view watching Abbie run off into the distance.Abbie’s fairly new to acting and her fresh-faced enthusiasm leaves her utterly absorbed in the characters she plays. Sometimes a little too absorbed. Burns directed her to run along a channel left by a dried up stream and gave her a mark to stop at. When he took the shot Abbie legged it along the channel, passed the mark and ran off into the undergrowth. There was then a muffled scream. This was odd since she hadn’t screamed in the run-through and Burns had already shouted “cut!”. But Burns could see a bit better from where he was standing.
Rob and I ran over and found that Abbie had run into a bog and was up to her ankles in dark brown smelly stuff. With a squelch we pulled her out. “Are you alright?” I asked. My answer was a muffled giggle.
The week ended, predictably, with us filming the girls eating mashed up Cheerios and blackcurrant jelly from dog bowls in an old barn (wrap parties can be so much fun). It was hard work and very hectic but shoestring productions with a small cast and crew can be a lot of fun to work on. There are no egos and everyone gets to know everyone very well. But between the laughter and the biscuits Burns captured some terrifyingly bloody and twisted moments. Now I’m just looking forward to seeing the first edit... For more news on the progress “Er…could somebody help Abbie, of Master and Victim please please?” visit www.masterandvictim.co.uk
42 | fright-club.co.uk
ToP 10 most cRINGe- worthy Saw traPs The Saw movies are probably best known for two things: the twists and their horrific traps. In anticipation of the release of Saw 3D in cinemas now we thought it was worth looking at some of the most cringe-worthy traps from the Saw series so far. These are just one person’s opinion so why not tell us yours on our Fright Club Facebook page. Contains spoilers! By Claire Richardson 1. The Rack – Saw 3 So Saw 3 is pretty intense, with arguably some of the most disturbing traps but in my humble opinion the rack tops them all in terms of nausea inducing visual and sound effects. I think it’s true that it’s not just what you see in a horror movie but also what you hear that has the strongest effect and this trap is a perfect example. A man is strapped into a trap and it is revealed that once the timer starts, his arms and legs will be twisted 360° and will end with his head being twisted too. The use of bone breaking sound effects as well as the victim’s screams means that
this is a very uncomfortable scene to watch. This scene is made all the more horrific because in this case the victim can’t get himself out of the trap, he is reliant on someone else to release him. I don’t know about you but I had to cover my eyes with a sofa cushion and put my hands over my ears throughout this trap. 2. The Needle Pit – Saw 2 The second Saw movie takes the shocks up a gear and the needle pit is a clear example of how you can make audience members cringe and squirm without showing
fright-club.co.uk | 43
The Rack: one of the most disturbing scenes in recent horror buckets of blood. Poor Amanda, trapped in another Jigsaw game where she tries to explain the rules to the others ‘playing’ the game, one of whom doesn’t want to listen to her warnings. In fact the b*****d decides he doesn’t want to take a turn facing the pain and throws her into a pit full of syringe needles making her look for a tiny key. The fact that a lot of people are scared of needles means this trap taps into a fear many people can relate too. Makes me cringe just thinking about it.
3. Safe code – Saw One of the very first Jigsaw traps saw a man named Mark wake up in a bunker-like cell where he has to contend with quite a few pitfalls. He is told to use a candle to illuminate a darkened room to find a code to a safe, amongst hundreds of numbers written on the wall. Difficult enough alone, his task is made even tougher when he is told that he has a slow acting poison in his veins that can only be cured by an antidote in the safe. Okay, that’s pretty tricky, but he is also told that he has a flammable substance
44 | fright-club.co.uk
Pound of Flesh: will Simone give up the most to survive? smeared on his skin and that he should be careful with the candle, the only source of light available to him. Wait, hold on, there’s more: the ground is covered in broken glass and he has no clothes or shoes on... how many ways can Jigsaw find to kill one man? Well. This trap seems to indicate that there are quite a few. 4. Pound of flesh trap – Saw 6 The fact that this trap involves two people using various sharp implements to hack themselves to pieces makes this one very difficult
to watch. The two people wake up and are told that they will have to pay the most flesh in the allotted time otherwise two screws will be driven into either side of their head. This is the first trap in Saw 6 so it sets the bloody and violent tone for the rest of the film, which is equally as violent and bloody throughout. This scene however is one of the most gruesome as it graphically shows these people cutting into themselves in order to survive. On seeing this trap on the big screen, I was watching it through my fingers and the person I went to see it with
fright-club.co.uk | 45
The Hair Trap: less comfortable than your regular hairdressers almost left the theatre before this to free her from the trap, part of trap even finished. her scalp has been torn away and she dies. 5. Hair Trap – Saw 4 Like the rack, the hair trap from 6. The Carousel – Saw 6 Saw 4 isn’t one that the person These are usually fun things you in the trap can get out of by would find in a theme park or a fun themselves. In this case it is up to fair, but this carousel is just a little detective Rigg who is presented different from the norm. The six with a woman in a trap that unfortunate riders of the carousel will pull her hair so hard that it are tied in place and whenever it literally rips off her scalp. Eeek, stops, another person must decide very unpleasant! In this case he whether to save them or let them is just told to leave her and that die. Only 2 out of 6 can be saved he can’t, and shouldn’t try to save whilst the other 4 are killed by a everyone. By the time he is able shotgun blast. What was horrible
46 | fright-club.co.uk
The Carousel: not like other funfair rides about this trap was that there was one person left after the 2 had been saved so he knew that he was going to die when the carousel stopped.
the knives but the trap malfunctions and he is released too soon. He then tries to attack John but ends up falling into a load of barbed wire.
7. Knife chair – Saw 4 John Kramer’s first trap was used against the man who cost him and his wife their child. Cecil wakes up strapped into a chair and can only free himself if he pushes his face hard enough into a ‘wall’ of knives to hit a button with his face otherwise he’ll be left to bleed to death from the straps cutting into his wrists. He manages to push his face through
8. Circular saws – Saw 5 In Saw 5 a group of people have to go through a series of traps in order to be freed. The last of these is incredibly unpleasant as the two remaining people must put their hands into a device which will cut their hands on circular saws in order to give enough blood to free themselves. They do it but the loss of blood is terrible and the state of their hands at the end
fright-club.co.uk | 47
Circular Saws: you don’t want to imagine the state of their hands after doesn’t bear thinking about. 9. Barbed wire – Saw The first Saw movie had some pretty shocking traps, especially since there was very little like it in cinemas at the time. This trap is pretty brutal even when you compare it to the ones that followed. A man wakes up and is told that if he wants to free himself he must cross the barbed wire and make it to the exit before the timer runs out and he is locked inside. He doesn’t make it out in time and later, when the police find the body, they see that he cut himself so deeply on the barbed
wire, that they found stomach acid of the floor. Eurgh! 10. Pig vat trap – Saw 3 This trap makes this list on the gross-out factor of the description alone as it basically sees a man about to be drowned in ground up, dead and rotting pig carcass! Also, it’s the sound that plays a part in this trap – as the pigs are dropped into the grinder there is a sound almost like a pig squealing. Yuk. Once again, in this trap it’s not up to the victim to get himself out, it’s left to someone else to release him.
HalLoweEn in PoPular Culture
Halloween and horror obviously go hand in hand so we decided to take a closer look at some examples of the festivities as seen in popular horror and fantasy movies and TV shows. Contains some spoilers! By Claire Richardson Vampires, ghosts, witches, zombies all of these are very popular in movies and TV shows at the moment, with the likes of Twilight, Harry Potter, True Blood and the like making us all race to the cinemas and cling to the TV remote like it’s going out of style. With these come the inevitable themed episodes and Halloween settings. Whether they choose to see Halloween as a party opportunity or if it is viewed as the time when the crazies get crazier, let’s face it, everyone loves the theme.
that Halloween is offensive to modern witches as they are typically depicted as ‘hook-nosed hags riding broomsticks’ whereas the three Halliwell sisters are none of those things. In this episode the sisters are sent back in time to the 17th century where the witch trials are going on and they learn the other meanings behind some of the more traditional Halloween symbols, e.g. a witches hat is described as being ‘a spiritual point’ that helps to channel magic, and broomsticks are used to sweep evil from your path. According to this episode, masks are worn on Halloween so good witches can hide from evil and walk amongst demons unnoticed.
An example of Halloween in popular television is in the TV series Charmed. In a show about three sisters who are witches, it wasn’t until season 3 in the episode All Halliwell’s Eve that they explored Another show which delves into the idea of witches and Halloween. Halloween lore is The Simpsons who Phoebe, the younger sister decides unlock the Tree House of Horror on
Image by Eget Verk
48 | fright-club.co.uk
fright-club.co.uk | 49
50 | fright-club.co.uk
Image by Kevin Richardson
Apple-bobbing: not much fun in a horror movie a regular basis. One episode saw the Simpsons take on the Salem witch trials with Marge being revealed to be a witch along with her sisters.They initially terrorise the town by trying to take the children but soon realise that it’s much more fun to take sweets instead – trick or treat anyone?
being the night when ghosts and ghouls come out to play, not so in the show Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. In this show, the monsters view the commercial nature of Halloween as being much too crass and tend to take the night off. This being so, the monsters that inhabit Sunnydale don’t seem to agree as something Halloween is traditionally seen as inevitably happens on Halloween for
fright-club.co.uk | 51
kids turn into actual little monsters and real vampires, superheroes turn into helpless victims and teens become ghosts, pirates or soldiers. Maybe Buffy and Co should take the night off on Halloween instead.
Buffy and Co to try to fix. The first of these is the season two episode aptly entitled ‘Halloween’ where a night of trick or treating goes awry when a curse turns a lot of people into their costumes. As if trying to decide on a costume isn’t tricky enough without worrying about that kind of thing... All right so this wouldn’t actually happen in real life but in this episode
Halloween activities can sometimes be super dangerous... at least if you’re in a film or TV series. Fun activities such as apple-bobbing and trick or treating have a dark side in the Supernatural episode, It’s the Great Pumpkin Sam Winchester. Having not touched Halloween since the beginning of the Pilot, this season 4 episode opens with a man being killed by razor blades in his stomach when he eats some Halloween sweets – nasty stuff, which is quickly followed by a girl at a Halloween party being killed when she is bobbing for apples. She is unable to get her face out of the water, which then begins to boil. The curse then extends to everyone at a party that’s being held in a mausoleum when the dead begin to rise and attack. This episode also delves into Halloween myths and lore with masks being worn to hide from demons and treats left out to appease them. Unlike Charmed however, this episode deals with the
“...a serial killer would put a damper on any festivities.”
darker side of witchcraft and it’s up the partying. Don’t they realise to the Winchester brothers to try to that this is a horror movie and sort out the problems. scepticism leads to nothing but a bloody end? Not to be outdone, horror and fantasy films also explore Halloween. A little less gruesome, but a lot more Aside from the clearly obvious twisty is Donnie Darko. The bunny Halloween movies where teens are suit in this movie has become one slaughtered by the mask wearing of the most iconic images in recent Michael Myers, there are other years. Donnie sees the man in the instances of Halloween being the bunny suit all the way through the setting for some bloody rampages movie but the reason behind it isn’t revealed until the end. When and unusual goings on. Donnie leaves his Halloween party Having a serial killer stalking with Gretchen to go to Grandma Death’s house there is a fight with the campus would put a damper two of their school bullies. As this on any Halloween festivities, is happening Gretchen is knocked especially if they decide to crash down and is then run over by a the party. In Cry Wolf, poor Owen car being driven by a young man, can’t enjoy the on-campus fun named Frank, who is wearing the because he believes that he and bunny suit that Donnie has seen his friends are being targeted throughout the movie. by a ski-mask wearing, knifewielding serial killer known as So, there are just a few examples of The Wolf. Unfortunately for him, Halloween in recent popular TV his friends don’t want to believe shows and movies, if anyone would him when he warns them that he’s like to share a few of their favourites, seen The Wolf around the school, let us know your thoughts on the instead choosing to get on with Fright Club Facebook page.
Image by Kevin Richardson
52 | fright-club.co.uk
fright-club.co.uk | 53
54 | fright-club.co.uk
fright-club.co.uk | 55
56 | fright-club.co.uk
Look out for the next issue of Fright Club Magazine, out February 2011. In the mean time check out www.fright-club.co.uk for the latest Lionsgate horror news, reviews and competitions.
Next ISsue’s ThEme:
fright-club.co.uk | 57
villains
58 | fright-club.co.uk