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“Hi, It’s Your Mother!” Joins San Diego FilmOut Horror Block

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“I think I started off with the idea of a mother bursting in on her son having sex and not noticing,”  Daniel Sterlin-Altman told me as we chatted about his stop motion short film, “Hi It’s Your Mother!”.  The film, which will have its West Coast premiere at San Diego FilmOut film festival as part of its newly established horror block, is surprisingly light-hearted with moments of genuine comedy alongside the loss of a finger and a nervous breakdown.

The film opens with mom in the kitchen cutting up vegetables.  We see her son sneak by the door with his boyfriend, obviously up to something.  The phone rings and she tenses as her mother begins speaking over the answering machine.  It doesn’t take long to realize that this woman is “that kind” of mother.  Mom continues chopping the vegetables with a little more gusto and as the answering machine goes quiet, she cuts off her finger.

In a haze of blood loss and emotional overload, she puts the finger in the fridge and walks down the hall to her son’s room.  The two young men, who are in the middle of having sex, freeze as she bursts in, announces dinner is going to be late, and giggles as she leaves the room.

Sterlin-Altman admits he’s had people who were turned off by the onscreen gay sex, which was pretty funny to both of us because, as I remind you, these are puppets!  I can’t help but wonder if the puppets are what make it so disturbing to audiences, though.

The film was made as part of the director’s undergraduate thesis and he was happy to explain the intensive process of bringing his puppets to life.

“With this kind of film you have to create the entire environment, which in this case took about three months.  When filming began I decided to use twelve frames per second.  If I was lucky, I would shoot about 2 seconds per day.  It’s very sexy, though, to play back those two seconds after an entire day of shooting and suddenly see movement.”

In the end, “Hi, It’s Your Mother!” is a fun little romp that defies labels and the director seems comfortable with that.  He notes that while some key into the comedy, other latch on to what he hopes is a genuine sentimentality in this intergenerational story.  But don’t you worry, horror hounds, there’s plenty of blood and severed appendages to go around!

“Hi, It’s Your Mother!”  will screen as part of the FrightOut horror block of the San Diego FilmOut LGBT film festival on June 10, 2017.  The block, consisting of five short films, will begin at 10 pm.

“Hi, It’s Your Mother” – Stop Motion Short Official Trailer (2016) from Daniel Sterlin-Altman on Vimeo.

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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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Spirit Halloween Unleashes Life-Size ‘Ghostbusters’ Terror Dog

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Halfway to Halloween and the licensed merch is already being released for the holiday. For instance, the seasonal retailer giant Spirit Halloween unveiled their giant Ghostbusters Terror Dog for the first time this year.

The one-of-a-kind demonic dog has eyes that light up in a glowing, terrifying red. It’s going to set you back a whopping $599.99.

Since this year we saw the release of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, it’s probably going to be a popular theme come October. Spirit Halloween is embracing their inner Venkman with other releases tied to the franchise such as the LED Ghostbuster Ghost Trap, Ghostbusters Walkie Talkie, Life-Size Replica Proton Pack.

We saw the release of other horror props today. Home Depot unveiled a few pieces from their line which includes the signature giant skeleton and separate dog companion.

For the latest Halloween merch and updates get on over to Spirit Halloween and see what else they have to offer to make your neighbors jealous this season. But for now, enjoy a small video that features scenes from this classic cinematic canine.

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‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt

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Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.

In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.

The Strangers

This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.

The Strangers

Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.

“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”

The Strangers

The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”

The Strangers

The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.

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