Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Taking it Back: Disney's ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter



Opened: June 20th, 1995
Closed: October 12th, 2003


If you visited Disney World's Magic Kingdom anywhere between 95' and 03' you might remember this ride. It was super frightening. I remember going on it when I was 9 or so and how I kept my eyes closed the entire ride and how now a days I am regretting it. I remember the ride being almost completely in darkness. An alien eating a soldier and getting sprayed with the infamous Disney spray machines to simulate a blood spray. You can watch a tribute to the ride in the video below which includes the original queue line areas and the ride itself. It's not the best quality but it's the only way you can experience this ride now. 

Reading up on this ride now, There was a sign in front of the attraction warning parents that the ride was not intended for children 12 and under. Apparently the ride was tested in place of the ride Mission to Mars which had been in the same building in 1994 but closed down shortly after for not being "intense enough". Some fun facts for y'all, Tyra Banks voiced the alien in the first queue area of the attraction. Tim Curry voiced the robot in the second queue room who shows how the transport system is possible. Phil Hartman was originally picked for the role and did the voice of the robot before it was reopened. It also features actors Jefferey Jones, Kathy Najimy and Kevin Pollack. 
The ride closed in 2003 to make way for Stitch's Great Escape! which is a dulled down version of this ride where Stitch gets loose and pesters guests.








Thursday, May 8, 2014

Comic-Con 2014 Exclusives

The time is almost upon us friends. The time for San Diego Comic-Con. The following are some of the recently announced exclusives for the event. More will definitely be announced soon and closer to the actual convention.


Super Freddy Retro Style Doll
Revealed on Day 5 of Action Figure Insider

This doll is based off of Nightmare of Elm Street Part 5: The Dream Child's dream sequence where Freddy Krueger becomes "Super Freddy". It is limited to 5,000 pieces. Definitely grab this one at Preview Night.

I remember standing in line last year for the NECA 8-bit Jason and accidentally cutting the line and feeling like a real jerk. Hopefully this year I will not follow in my own footsteps again. Really glad I picked that one up though because the last day, they were completely gone.


Bloody Hannibal Pop Vinyl


Even though it just has a little blood splattered on it I am a huge fan of the Hannibal television show and have been since it started. I am ridiculously excited for this line of pop vinyls. The pop vinyls line is always a mess and is a super long line but this year it is totally worth it.


This Red Burnt Stay Puft Marshmallow Man
(Not to be confused with the burnt Hot Topic exclusive)
Announced on Fugitive Toys

Apparently this guy will be a Comic-Con exclusives which is weird because a Hot Topic exclusive burnt pop vinyl was announced yesterday as well. Very interesting. The only different is the color. The Hot Topic being more brown and this one being red. Not much of a change. I think people will pick this one up because of the Comic-Con exclusive title. There's also a huge list of 52 hints of the other POP exclusives over at the SDCC unofficial blog.


Manny Taur and Iris Clops (2pk)
This pair will be available for pre-order on June 24, 2014 over at MattyCollector.com. If you're not familiar with the Monster High dolls that are exclusive here then just know that the pre-order is just about the only way you can pick these up. Outside of running to the Mattel booth as soon as Comic-Con opens or spending $400 at a booth there, which always makes me sick. 



That's all....for now.

Also check out the SDCC Unofficial Blog for more exclusives and news for San Diego Comic-Con

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Monster High: Freaky Fusions

Recently announced at Toy Fair 2014 was a new Monster High line called "Freaky Fusion"
They're all pretty unique and sets up a new movie that will be released where they apparently go back in time.


Lagoonafire (Lagoona Blue/ Jinafire)


Neighthan Rot (Zombie/ Unicorn)


Dracubecca (Draculara/ Robecca Steam)


Cleolei (Cleo De Nil/ Toralei)


Clauvenus (Clawdeen Wolf/ Venus McFlytrap)

There's also a few more coming out with the line that are pictured here along with the movie:
They include Iris Clops, Manny Taur, Invisi Billy, and Wydonna Spider, and some kind of witch girl.




Breaking Down: Sinister (2012)

I've thought about writing this article for some time now but I think it is now time to discuss my opinion on the film, Sinister. 

The first time I saw the film was at a midnight showing at our local theater with two of my good friends. They are both very much into horror as I am so I knew it would be a good time and we were all stoked about seeing the film. I had very little knowledge about the film going into it aside from a review on it listening to a radio show earlier that day.

As the film begins you're automatically shown the first super 8 family video, which we later find out is called "Family Hanging Out" and is followed by the title of the film. There's no music playing or talking, you're just set up with this image. It's a messed up and creepy way to start a movie and it draws you right in. 




A fun fact about this movie, it was all based around a dream the writer had after he saw "The Ring". In this dream he found a film in his attic. This film contains the hanging of an entire family exactly like the first scene of the actual Sinister film. Also, a bonus fact, the tree they are hung from and is through out the film is actually fake. 

I've heavily recommended this movie to close friends and friends I know that are into the horror genre. There are however flaws that most horror movies these days fall victim of. The dreaded  predictable jump scare and a creepy long black haired villain that looks like he's from a black metal group.

What I Enjoy:
The reason I give so much praise to this film is mainly because of the soundtrack. Without the music being so eerie, the film would fall short. The music is incredible and goes perfectly with the other feel of the film.  My favorite scene that is a perfectly example is the Super 8 film entitled "BBQ". 


If you have seen this film, you know that the Super 8 home made shorts make this movie as well. The scene that got me in the theater the most was the lawnmower scene. A video so simple that leaves you imagining the rest. I remember as the lawnmower was going in this scene and knowing exactly what was about to happen and still jumping. That makes a good movie.


Aside from the disturbing content of the videos and the creepy music, I feel as though this movie is not a complete carbon copy of most movies these days. It's not a remake. The story is somewhat original.  The "plot twist" is kind of given away after the cop character looks up background information for the main character but besides that, I enjoy this film for what it is.


Flaws:
My opinion is that this film is great until the Buguul character or "Mr.Boogie" is introduced. It's a bit too clique. It does make the film come full circle into the incite of why the videos were made and why but in the same way, it does make it a tad lame. This also goes for the "ghost children" scene. The one where they're kind of dancing around Ethan Hawke. That's basically the largest flaw that I have with the movie. Although Mr. Boogie shows up around the middle of the film so I guess it's not a small one by any means.

All in All, this film has a character flaw and that's about it. I love showing this film to those who have not seen it and hearing their opinion of it. If you have not seen it yet, it's definitely worth a watch.

8/10

Friday, December 20, 2013


Blackfish (2013)

Back in 07' while I was working for Universal Orlando I found out that all employees received free admission to Sea World. I was super stoked to hear this since I hadn't been to a Sea World park for at least 10 years. While in the park a co-worker and I went down to the "Shamu" tank. I'll always remember how enormous that creature was and how it should not be in captivity. So when I heard about this film "Blackfish" I was interested exactly what aspects of Sea World they were going to get into. Boy, was I in for a ride.

The film starts off by going into the former trainers of Sea World and how they depicted the park before they worked there and how exactly they got their jobs there. It was shows the greatness in working for the park. This is the light hearted segment of the film. The film than goes back to 1970 where they were capturing the Orcas. Targeting the babies and most of the time killing other orcas that were stuck in the nets with them. As they were doing this, the whole Orca family would swim near by and just cry. One of the whale poachers talks about how this breaks his heart and he lost it at the time and how it was the worst thing he's ever done. 

The whale they were capturing at the time was Tilikum, the whale the film revolves around. The first park he is transferred to is Sealand. A very small marine park in Canada. If you can even call it a park. All Sealand consisted of was three killer whales, Tilikum and two female whales. The female whales would gang up on Tilikum since he was untrained. At night they were put into a very small floating pen where Tilikum was hurt even worse. The talk about how this is how Tilikum's rage was built up. 

On February 20th. 2001, Tilikum's first victim was trainer, Kelty Burn. There's no memorial or any talk in the news about how the orca killed her. Only that she drowned. This made the park shut down. Sea World stepped in and bought Tilikum from them. They mostly bought him as a breeder and told nothing about the attack to the trainers. They told them the female whales were to blame. There were subtle hints while working with him that he was dangerous. While filming a show Tilikum tried to grab a trainer into the water. The film was then called unusable and they were even brought to court about the incident. They just said Tilikum showed no signs of being aggressive and quickly shrugged it off.    

I want to get more into this film but I suggest you all check it out. It is streaming for free on Netflix. While reading up about this film I read that the upcoming Pixar film, Finding Dory was in fact changed because of this documentary. This film is at time heartbreaking I will admit that. It definitely is worth a watch though.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Hello Followers/Friends/Fans,

    I feel like I owe an apology for disappearing off the face of the Earth from this site. I've had a crazy past few years. After my last post some not so nice things took place and I gave up on a lot of hope towards people in general. I will not say what occurred because it's all in the past. I'm going to try and slowly come back to Horror Blogging when I can.

Thank you for whoever has stuck around and gave me hope for re-starting this whole thing again.

-Maweanne.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Vince N Stilts: Hollywood Publicist Controversy

Lately, I've been helping my roommate Vince Cusimano learn how to walk in stilts. On our walks we talk about different things and this time it was about the recent controversy following Ronnie Chasen's death. Ronni Chasen was a Hollywood Publicist that was killed November 16th of this year. She was shot multiple times in the chest at 12:30 AM. The death is very suspicious since it was so early and on the busy intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Whittier Avenue. To hear more about it click the video below and hear the story from Vince.