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Showing posts from October, 2015

The Halloween Spooktacular V

Last Halloween, Jason and Shawn played the cruelest of tricks on Basementites everywhere . . . they quit! Fortunately, they suck at quitting, and the Basement Boys are back for their annual Halloween Spooktacular! And Halloween just isn't Halloween without The Basement's No. 1 Scream Queen -- Brooke Lewis! That's right guys and ghouls, Brooke is back to help Jason, Shawn and new co-host Amy Wickenheiser entertain your asses.

A new era begins in The Basement

A year ago, on Halloween night, Shawn and I called it quits. We'd spent six seasons reviewing and chatting about the genre B-movie, and basically burned ourselves out. There really is too much of a good thing. But our passion for podcasting -- and sitting around bullshitting while enjoying a few brews -- remained. Hence we slowly got The Basement up and running again. Thankfully, our loyal Basementites didn't tell us to go fuck ourselves, and it's been a joy entertaining you all on a semi-regular basis.

Sunday Night at the Movies: Tales of Halloween

'Twas the Sunday before Halloween, and all through The Basement, not a creature was stirring . . . except one allegedly creepy movie featuring 10 short stories by 11 of the most notorious directors working in indie horror at the moment. That's right, we're celebrating the final Sunday before the Best Night of the Year with the new horror anthology Tales of Halloween, a flick we pimped right before *cough cough* calling it quits last Halloween. Hey, we changed our collective mind. Wanna fight about it?

Amy Wickenheiser in the house

Jason is off on assignment -- sick in his bed -- but the lovely and talented Amy Wickenheiser joins Shawn for a special edition of We Came from the Basement. Who is Amy Wickenheiser you ask? For one, she's one of the stars of John Fallon's directorial debut The Shelter starring Michael Pare. So she's an actress. But she's a podcaster and personality for Geek Drunk , a site dedicated to nerd culture, and Killer Film , which is dedicated to, well, film. AND she's a producer as well. Among many other things. She and Shawn talk her career, The Shelter, and the art of nudity and sex in film. But they also discuss The Walking Dead, the dangers of posting spoilers on Facebook, the difference between Americans and Canadians, and many other nerd and non-nerd related topics. Yeah, the show has become a bit all over the map. Wanna fight about it? Didn't think so. They talk about that too, by the way. This show is a lot of fun, and offers a different vibe from

Star Wars: The Force Awakens gets a trailer

Today, I introduced my almost four-year-old boy to the original Star Wars. Not the special edition shit either, but the real deal. The 1977 version. The one, true Star Wars. He loved it. A bit scary in parts, but he couldn't stop watching. Dad achievement unlocked. Also today, the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit the world, and there was much rejoicing. This trailer gives me chills. Watching it was almost as cool as watching the original version with my boy earlier.

Sunday Night at the Movies: Hellions

Bruce McDonald is one of Canada's most prolific directors. He's the guy responsible for two of my favourite Canadian flicks -- Hard Core Logo and Pontypool, which is a Basement favourite. The man's got a great eye and vision, and always brings something unique to the table. So I was pumped to hear McDonald would once again tackle a genre movie, his first being the aforementioned Pontypool. This time he's made a Halloween-themed horror flick about murderous trick or treaters stalking a pregnant teen. Sounds like a can't miss, am I right? I said, am I right? Stick with me!

Jason talks The Final Girls

Slasher movies. Who doesn't love 'em? I know I do. And have you ever wondered what it would be like to watch a classic slasher like say, oh, Friday the 13th, and then find yourself in the movie? Did you? Well, that's what the new horror/comedy The Final Girls hypothesizes. Do the actual shenanigans live up to the possibilities? Stick with me! In truth, The Final Girls isn't as funny as I'd hoped, which isn't surprising as few movies are. But, and this is a heavy but, I did find the end product mucho amusing and surprisingly effective on an emotional level. Emotional you say? Yup, I say.

Sunday Night at the Movies: Poltergeist (2015)

Remakes. Bah! Who needs them? Clearly the Hollywood studio system and it's lack of fucks for original ideas. But not all remakes are bad. In fact, many -- those that bring something new to the table -- are pretty good, if not excellent. Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist is a sacred cow among horror fans though. It's the epitome of 80s horror, with state of the art visual effects, likeable characters, and kids in jeopardy -- something you just don't see anymore. In fact, it's a pretty kid friendly movie for its type. So how does Gil "Monster House" Kenan's riff on the classic rate? Is it one of the good or bad remakes? Stick with me!

Share your Hillbilly Horror Show love today

That's right, the Internet series Hillbilly Horror Show is looking for a little support from its fans as the latest volume in the popular franchise debuts on Amazon Prime. How can you help? Easy. All co-creator Blu de Golyer -- and us in The Basement -- ask is viewers log into their Amazon Prime accounts and rank the flick with the star rating provided. That's it. That's all.

Jason talks We Are Still Here

While It Follows received all the indie horror buzz earlier this year, a little film called We Are Still Here quietly built up a cult following under David Robert Mitchell's radar. Who's he? The guy who directed It Follows. Although I enjoyed It Follows quite a bit, We Are Still Here is the flick I was most dying to see. And see it I finally did. Does director Ted Geoghegan's tip of the hat to classic haunted house thrillers deserve the attention it so . . . um . . . deserves? Or not? Stick with me!

Five years later . . .

What a difference a half decade can make. It was Friday, Oct. 1, 2010 when our little show that could launched on 92.5FM CFBX at 10 p.m. and the world changed for Shawn and I. We were called Film Reviews from the Basement back then, and had spent one season slugging it out as a moderately successful podcast. Then Steve Marlow and Brant Zwicker of The X (pictured above) took a chance on a couple of aging film geeks -- we had originally approached them about having some ads for the podcast play on the air, they had a better idea -- and the rest is history.