Dollar Bin Horror Spotlight - Monster Cops

Monster Cops is a Web Series that takes a mockumentary look into the world of Shadow Company, a secret government agency dedicated to investigating and protecting the world from Monsters. Each episode is shot in a style thats a mix of COPS and Blair Witch. It ranges from serious and dramatic, to light hearted and funny. The acting ain't too bad and the story is pretty entertaining. I love how each episode seems to have something for everyone, whether it be the tone or the type of monster being dealt with that episode. Currently, the creators are working on making a dvd of the episodes and are asking for your donations to help. If you would like to help out, or simply check out the episodes, head on over to www.monstercops.com and read the blog and check out the vids. Heres a little preview of their newest episode, Monsters vs. Cops!

Winners Winners Chicken Dinners!

*Drum roll please* It's time to announce the winners of the Sherlock Holmes vs Jack The Ripper video games!

Cal M. sent this awesome rendition of his comic character, Ted, as Mr Holmes!

Hawk sent use a bit of evidence from Sherlock's viewing glass.

And Rashed sent in a little graphic art!

Congrats to all the winners, your prizes will be shipped next week. In all honesty, these were all the entries. I'm a little sad more people didn't enter and I'd like some feedback from the readers. Was it because you had to make artwork? Was it because you don't have an Xbox? Or were you just not interested in the game? Let me know! I'm working on getting more contests going and I wanna know what to do differently for the next one.

Favorite Zombie Books pt.1: Guides

In this multi part posting, I'll give you my favorite books to help you read up on some zombie literature. The first post will show you three indispensable books for when the shit really hits the fan: guides.


The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brookes
This is the Holy Grail of zombie survival guides. This book tells you everything you need to know to survive through the apocalypse. What weapon should I use? Where should I hide out? Can zombies swim? All these questions and more will be answered by this book. It goes into great detail in order for you to understand everything you need to survive. It reads like a real manual, is easy to comprehend, and in the event of a zombie attack, I wouldn't be caught dead without a gun in on hand and this book in the other.


The Zombie Survival Guide: How To Live Like A King After The Outbreak by Etienne DeForest
Ok, so we know exactly how to survive an apocalypse...but what fun is that if you spend the rest of your life running, hiding, and fighting? Wouldn't it be great to have a trained zombie to all your work for you? Well my friends, this is the book for you! But no only does it teach you how to train a zombie, it gives you all the information you'll need to rule your new found post-apocalyptic playhouse. Plus it's full of more survival tips, so be sure to carry this one too!


The Zen of Zombie by Scott Kenemore
"Wait this isn't a survival guide at all!" you may be thinking to yourself. But what do all the action movie heroes always say? You gotta THINK like you enemy to BEAT your enemy! This book will teach you everything you'll need to know to get into the mindset of the undead. How to act, think, talk, and care (or lack there of) like a zombie would. And once you can get into the head of these undead fiends, theres no stopping you! Plus, if your not facing a zombie apocalypse at this very point in time, the tips in this book can make your day to day life more bearable!

Keep these three books close to you at all time when the shit hits the fan, cause we all know we tend to forget important shit in times of stress.

Dollar Bin Film - "The Bat"

A crazed killer known as "The Bat" is on the loose in a mansion full of people.

As we all know already, if Vincent Price is in it, I love it. But this time, we not only get the master, but the lovely Agnes Moorehead plays the co-staring role of the novelist who turns out to be the hero of the film! The story of the film has actually been made twice before this one was made, but Price adds his fresh flair to the story through his acting. And it's a great story, full of mystery and suspense. Is the killer a man, or a beast with wings? If you've seen it, you know the answer. If you haven't, it will keep you guessing till the end.
P.S. if your REALLY broke, This film has fallen into the public domain and can be freely downloaded from http://www.archive.org/details/The_Bat.mpeg

Five Dolla Holla: Pumpkinhead

A man conjures up a gigantic vengeance demon called Pumpkinhead to destroy the teenagers who accidentally killed his son.

This film is multi-faceted for me. Not only is it scary as all hell, but it's emotional. As soon as the little boy gets hit with the dirt bike by the asshole drunk who thinks it's perfectly fine to push around his girlfriend, I was both angry and sad. Hell I was rooting for Pumpkinhead most of the movie! It's like the movie intentionally wanted to get you pissed off at the dude just so you felt great when he got fucked up (am I going to hell for rooting for a demon? oh well)! The acting was pretty good for an 80's film and yes the effects were a bit cheesy, but the whole film is just so fun to watch, I don't think anyone will care about a bit of cheese. I now know why so many horror fans love this movie, and I'm on board the love train for Pumpkinhead!

Dollar Bin Horror Spotlight - Redmoon Features

I was recently emailed about an inde comic company called Redmoon Features. Now I love comics, so whats better than some indie zombie comics! The site is full of comic previews, cool features to read, and while the site store is currently under construction, I hope you all can take the time to check out the hard work of the folks over at Redmoon! And because talking about killer comics just ain't fun unless your sharing, here a preview of the upcoming comic "Montague"!

Check out my New Blog!

If you were following my Rhonny Reaper's Rants blog, then you may have noticed it has miraculously changed into an entirely different blog. I really didn't use it anyways, so I thought why not turn it into something useful, something interesting, something lovely. So now, Rhonny's Rants is now Monster Beauty, a blog dedicated to women of classic horror. I's a picture blog showcasing the most beautiful and graceful women to hit the silver screen of terror. It is my ode to women in horror and I hope you all take the time to check it out, and follow it!
http://monster-beauty.blogspot.com/

***IMPORTANT NOTE***

If you were following this blog at it's old URL (ravingreaper.blogspot.com), unfollow then refollow to receive blog updates in your blogger followed blog feeds! Sorry for any inconvenience :(

Dollar Bin Horror Spotlight - Mando Franco

Mando Franco is a multi-talented man. Not only is he a stand up comic and writer, but he's starting to make his mark on the indie horror scene. He's the creator of Evil Panda Films, the director of the new horror web series 8.13, and he even has a great short film on Facebook called Lunar. Mando was kind enough to take the time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about these projects.

Q: Could you explain how you got into making short films and a little bit about Evil Panda Films?

A: I'd always been a movie lover, but wasn't too fond of the horror genre for years, because I was
one of those kids that grew up scared of everything. I was an actor before I was anything else, at 16, I was in a creative writing class and had to make a short film. I started getting back into the Horror Genre at that time. I fell in love with the movie making process and felt I may have found my calling. I kept making films and thought I needed a production company and Evil Panda Films was born. You never hear about Panda attacks or them being anything but playful. But I think they are just underestimated.

Q: You have an amazing short on Facebook called "Lunar", could you tell the readers about the production and what went into making it?

A: LUNAR was basically made for fun, but the making of it was soley to have a blast while still making a picture that someone could enjoy. After a stint gone bad with a project, all the fun got sucked out of movie making for me. So I wanted to do something on my own that wouldn't give me any outside interference and have no producer breathing down my neck and no pain in the ass DP telling me what I couldn't shoot. So I wrote the script, grabbed some friends and shot at a buddy's house. I was behind the camera the whole time, got 2 actors, one big house, and a cheesy lookin' mask and monster gloves... Threw it all together and made a cat and mouse, B Monster movie. And it was fun. It was made for fun and shot quickly. It felt like I was in High School making movies again and that's what it was all about for me. Making a flick with my friends and loving what I'm doing. I don't do this for the money, I do it because I love doing it. When money and suits get involved, you have less control and a lot of headaches. I'd rather work with people I loved with pennies than a fat budget and be miserable. It was a tiny lil production just made to show people online. And I wanted to make an entertaining lil popcorn flick, and so far I've gotten the best reviews on that flick than I've gotten on any of my other shorts.

Q: You directed the teaser for the web series 8.13, which looks exciting and fun. What can expect from the series?

A: 8.13 will scare the shit out of you. That's what you can expect... Um, it's pretty much a series
set in Los Angeles, on a particular date, I'll let you guess what it is... And pretty much it is the
dawn of a zombie uprising. When I first signed on, there wasn't really a story, so I helped develop the
story with the shows Producers, Traycee King and Beau Ryan as well as the series writer, Melissa Kay, and we came up with the characters and outline. And I made it clear, as much as I love zombie flicks... If we make this a 'horror' show, it's going to come off as campy, lets go a different direction and make it about survival. This is a survival drama, with zombies. It's very grounded and very much a... what would you do? If this really happened. So the fact that it's a grounded series with a small ensemble of characters makes it more intimate and scary as hell. So, keep an eye out, the show Launches Friday, August 13th.

Q: What are your future plans for Evil Panda Films?

A: Tons! I have a lot in store. I'm pretty much am focusing on the series right now. But in between I'm always writing. I've got a feature that supposed to hit DVD later this year at some point, and I have some screenplays I'm shopping around. But as of right now, it's 813 that is taking up all my time.
I'm thinking of maybe doing a super low low budget supernatural feature at the very end of the year, I think I'm in the place I need to be to do another feature, which will be my 5th, but I don't want to plan
too far ahead with another project. There is a good shot the series may get picked up, so that will take my career a different direction, one I wouldn't mind going. I love the show and would love to do another season, but we'll have to wait and see.