Results tagged “terror”

Visions of sugar plums not giving you your terror fix? Head out to the Troc tonight at 9:30 for the DVD release extravaganza of Unholy Sideshow, a local independent horror movie from West Philth Productions.

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Thursday post only collects the latest announcements, so definitely check the Tuesday post for any you may have missed.

Judging by the, as of this writing, abysmal freshness rating of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, a lot of people don't agree with me, but I thought The Invasion was a pretty good movie. It's apparently the fourth film adaptation of a story originally told in a Collier's magazine serial (and which was later turned into a novel), but the only other movie version I've ever seen was the first one - 1956's Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That film, which is quite excellent, used the concept of a secret invasion of plant-like aliens who could replace humans with not-quite-perfect-replicas while they were asleep as a metaphor for Cold War paranoia. The 2007 version of the film takes the horrifying concept of our loved ones - and ourselves - becoming weird emotionless others that we don't recognize, and goes off in an entirely different direction with it, using it as a stepping-off point to examine humanity and its relationship to violence, and concluding finally that the lasting terror will come not so much from outer space, but from ourselves.

LAist was comped front row seats by the Dodgers due to Malingering being struck by a foul ball last week, and she came back with some great photos, and earlier made fun of 4th of July on Venice Beach. But the biggest stories of the week was that the Mayor's Hot Tamale was revealed, and that a Kwik-E-Mart was erected in Burbank.

Despite the fact that Transformers is a film based on a cartoon, which itself was based on a story that a marketing company came up with to sell a line of toys, and despite the fact that it was directed by Michael Bay (a piece of news which, when it first came out, caused thousands of nerds to cry out in terror, and then become suddenly silent... before running to the internet to voice their displeasure), I was pretty excited about it. I tried to temper my excitement, though, to avoid a let-down. I tried to tell myself that I shouldn't expect something really intelligent or moving. I tried to tell myself that it would be a big, dumb summer blockbuster, and would therefore be all about action, with very little character development and probably not a lot of good dialogue, and that I should embrace that - that I should go in expecting that. Anyway, there would be tons of action, plenty of giant robots hitting each other, and lots of incredible visual effects, and that would be enough to make a really entertaining movie.

Happy Father's Day! For those of you who have dads, are dads, or know dads, this one's for you, from all of us at the Gothamist network.

Every Tuesday and Thursday, we'll be posting events that are going on sale during the current week. This Thursday post only collects the latest announcements, so definitely check the Tuesday post for any you may have missed.

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend.

Not only is that the title of the latest album from Philly's own The Capitol Years, but it's also what we feel the need to do this weekend after reading that a guy tried to fly from LA to Philadelphia with a magnet and some wires up his ass. Magnets are the new butt plugs.

Director David Fincher's latest film, Zodiac, is, like a number of his other films, another crime thriller examining tortured, obsessed, and violent human beings. But this time it's based on a true story: that of the serial killer who called himself Zodiac, and who was active in the area around San Francisco in Northern California for a number of years during the late '60s and early '70s. But really the film is less about the killer and more about the men looking for him, and how their passionate desire to find and catch him, and their agonizing inability to actually do so, tears apart their lives.

Does anybody recognize this particular photograph of the Golden Gate Bridge? I found it on Flickr under a Creative Commons license, but it looks almost identical to one of the opening scenes of "Full House."

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend.

This week's title is inspired by a quote by the ever-talented Willem Dafoe: “Film is fragmented and gets into lots of other people's hands. There are a lot of pleasures that theatre gives me. You get to perform uninterrupted.” We couldn't have said it better. Now, on with the listings!

A tall, icy glass of our favorite internet junk, just for you.

On Saturday night, this self-admitted scaredy cat, armed only with a little determination and a very strong man to hold my hand, headed over to the Eastern State Penitentiary for their annual “Terror Behind the Walls.” It is, no doubt, a Halloween extravaganza, made even freakier by the fact that it’s held in a real prison. From the moment you walk up to the prison, you are fair game. Sure, that man outside the prison walls might be standing under an “Information” booth, but he’s an actor, too, covered in ghoulish makeup and prepared to scare.

You know who's going to be upset about those Bikini Bandits? The Houston school system. Houstonist also reports on some redevelopment shenanigans over a landmark theater.

Even as the stores sport back to school sales (which depress us, even now), summer lingers on your friends the -ists. This week's collection of links provides some of the best, worst, and oddest bits of summer fun. So, bring your laptop up onto the roof, make yourself an umbrella drink or ten, and enjoy this week's choice posts from across the Gothamist network.

What's interesting on TV this week.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend.

Best of the week is compiled and edited by Seattlest's Dan Gonsiorowski.

CBS 3 reports that the City of Brotherly Love is conducting a review of our current disaster readiness plans, which it then intends to have completed by the end of June, "just in time for the 4th of July holiday." (Phillyist thinks this is great, although we're not clear why Independence Day is relevant here, since any meaningful review completed on June 31st is unlikely to be fully realized by July 4th.)

What are you favorite local bloggers talking about lately? We've got your blog news right here...
• Banana Slug finds proof that of what Republicans have really been up to, and it ain't pretty. We couldn't even finish our breakfast.
• You can sleep easy now - Wook has confirmation that Axl Rose is still rocking the corn rows. Yep, Axl and Bo Derek.
• The newly conservative Canadian government is already trying to overturn same sex marriage. Read more about it at Coffee House Studio.

Editor's note: Jim Genzano attended the first night of Exhumed Film's terrifying triple features series. It resumes this Saturday night at 8 p.m.

Voted the Sixth Best Haunted House in all the land by AOL Digital City, Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary promises to scare the pants right off of you. Quake in your stylish boots as you are admitted through Intake and harrassed by sadistic security guards. Be wary of the Maximum Security wing, where you're sure to meet a couple of hardened and extremely crazy criminals! Cry out in terror in the 3D Experiment!

If NYC has an unsubstantiated terror threat against their subways, so must we all share in the paranoia, er, wealth. Due to police activity Market East regional train station is shut down, effectively also cutting off service at 30th Street Station and Suburban Station.