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Exclusive: Vicious Brothers Interview

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Colin Minihan and Stuart Ortiz are The Vicious Brothers. Although fairly new to the horror movie-making game, they are well on their way to becoming the genre’s most anticipated movie-makers. With the success of their films “Grave Encounters” and “Extraterrestrial”, the duo are indie superstars.

Stuart Ortiz and Colin Minihan; The Vicious Bros. at "Extraterrestrial" premier.

Stuart Ortiz and Colin Minihan; The Vicious Bros. at “Extraterrestrial” premier.

Both men grew up on the west coast; Colin in Tustin Ca., and Stu in the tree farming town of Port McNeill, Canada. It was on this Canadian island that the two collaborated and wrote “Grave Encounters”. With a love of horror and a penchant for wit, the film makers infuse scares with visual asides, giving alms to the casual horror fan and tribute to the most devoted.

The Viscous Brothers took some time out of their busy schedule to talk to me and iHorror about what motivates them, their attitudes on working together and what fans can expect from them in the future.

 

iH: Where did you guys grow up?  

 Colin: A little logging town in British Columbia, Canada called Port McNeill. We wrote Grave Encounters there. 

Stuart: A shitty suburb in Orange County called Tustin.

 

iH: What was the first movie you saw that made you say, “Yes, I want to be a director”?

 Colin: Jurassic Park was a big one. Probably the James Earl Jones narrated Behind The Scenes of Jurassic Park helped as well. 

Stuart: Terminator 2 and Back to the Future.

 

iH: Who is your favorite director?

 Colin: impossible to answer but off the top of my head  80’s/90s Spielberg. Late 90’s Fincher. Early 2000’s Aranofsky… Danny Boyle… 80’s Carpenter… Tarantino… 

Stuart: Same as above, + Zemeckis + Cameron.

 

Grave New World!

Grave New World!

iH: “Grave Encounters” was one of those films that turned a popular technique and made it fresh again. It appears that you guys know your stuff. And you repeated that success in part two. You are clearly fans of horror and sci-fi. It is very clever that you incorporate things that fans will get and appreciate, but also appeal to the non-aficionado who might not get the homage; almost like a Pixar film; they are for kids, but adults will get jokes that fly over the kids’ heads. Is this an idea that you incorporate into every script, or do these ideas come together while filming?

Colin:  Pixar! Vicious Pixar. I’m down.  I think we just try and have fun doing what we’re doing…we like to have some humour in our films…adult humour mixed with the occasional fart joke. We like to have some good laughs on set and throughout the writing process. 

 Stuart: It’s important to us that our scripts will satisfy the complete non-genre/doesn’t-care-about-genre dude who just wants a fun movie to watch on a Friday night, but also have that added level of subtext that will satisfy the fan-boy/cinephile.

 

iH: Do you guys ever have disagreements while filming? 

 Colin: Rarely. 

Stuart: All the time!

 

iHorror Award Nominee

iHorror Award Nominee

 

iH: Who would be your dream actor/actress to work with?

 Colin:  there are too many to list… I’ll go with   Christian Bale & Sigourney Weaver.

Stuart: Matt Damon and Julianne Moore.

 

iH: What was the last great horror movie you saw?

 Colin: The Descent I re-watched like a week ago and dug still. 

Stuart: I really liked Occulus. 

 

iH: Any plans for a “Grave Encounters 3” (fans, me included, love the series so far)?

 Colin: We’re still trying to make that happen!

Stuart: We have a genuinely cool idea for it that will bring back Sean Rogerson as the star, but it’s just a matter of things coming together.

Scream if you want part 3!

Scream if you want part 3!

 

iH: What are you guys working on next? I understand if you can’t tell me details, but perhaps a small tease would suffice. 

 Colin: We’ve been writing like crazy. One is a survival horror movie set in the desert. Another is a paranormal investigative thriller, and we’re attached to a few things that could click this year!

Stuart: We’ve also got an idea for a television series, but that’s very hush hush right now!

 The Vicious Brothers will be pitching more than a schooner in a squall this year. Their love of the genre will continue to be expressed onscreen, and Hollywood and fans are taking notice. When you watch a Vicious Brothers film you will understand that their style contains a certain Gestalt; a captivating assembly of the genres most interesting pieces.

“Grave Encounters” is available from Amazon.com here.

“Grave Encounters 2” is also available from Amazon.com here.

Look for “Extraterrestrial” on DVD and streaming soon!

 

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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