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Groundhog Day Part 12: The Fake Slasher Film in The Monster Squad

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Today is of course Groundhog Day, the one day out of every year where the fate of the seasons lies in the hands of a goddamn rodent. Ole Phil saw his shadow today, which, unfortunately for all of us, means that six more weeks of winter is headed our way.

In the 1980s, the slasher sub-genre pretty much mined every single holiday on the calendar for all they were worth, with films such as Silent Night, Deadly Night, My Bloody Valentine and New Year’s Evil becoming annual traditions for us horror-hounds.

Groundhog Day, however, was left out in the cold – one of the few holidays to not receive its own horror movie. Well, not a real one, at least…

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It’s not uncommon for movies to feature fake movies within them, as it can be quite costly to acquire the rights to use clips from actual movies. Released in 1987, The Monster Squad did just that, introducing a faux slasher franchise called Groundhog Day.

In the film, horror buff Sean Crenshaw desperately wants to go see the franchise’s 12th installment with his friends one night, though his dad informs him he has to stay home and babysit. In a later scene, Sean is using his binoculars to watch the drive-in film from the roof of his house, where we see a brief snippet of the fake movie.

All that we ever really learn about the franchise is that it centers on a guy with an axe who comes back from the dead with each new installment, and in Groundhog Day: Part 12 he once again crawls out of his grave to do some killing. Typical slasher fun, to say the least.

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Last year, nearly 30 years after the release of The Monster Squad, artist Nathan Thomas Milliner and co-writer/director Fred Dekker teamed up for a fun little art project, which saw Nathan designing a poster for the faux movie. He and Dekker also wrote up a little synopsis of the series, providing the villain with a name and fleshing out the story a bit more.

In Nathan’s words…

Groundhog Day

The Groundhog Day slasher series went on for a record 17 entries beating out the famous Friday the 13th series. The 17th film, GroundHog Day 17: LARS STARS which found our lunatic fighting aliens in space, was the final nail in the coffin. The story was of Gravedigger Lars Murmeltiertag–a Norwegian immigrant who was killed by a group of teenagers one night in 1958 while hanging out in a cemetery one cold night. Lars was pushed into the grave he was digging and broke his neck. It all happened on Groundhog Day and 20 years later, LUNATIC LARS rose from the grave he died in, donning a Groundhog mask and a pick ax and started his bloody revenge.

Not really…

This was the fake movie series within the movie THE MONSTER SQUAD. Fred Dekker and I collaborated on this piece and it was a real pleasure. I hope everyone enjoys it.

So, you see, Groundhog day did in fact get its own slasher series – if only within the confines of one of the best horror movies ever made. For now, it’ll have to do!

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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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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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