Today is 73rd birthday of Barbara Steele, star of such horror classics as Black Sunday, The Pit & the Pendulum, the original Piranha and Nightmare Castle. Those of you unfamiliar with Ms. Steele, start with Black Sunday (1960), her only collaboration with Italian director Mario Bava. Her dark beauty and irresistible sensuality have made her a favourite of horror fans for decades and inspired many acts of devotion, including this one by yours truly:
Barbara Steele tattoo by Bob Tyrrell
RESIDENT EVIL: AFTERLIFE
Starring Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter and Shawn Roberts
Written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
If you’ve followed the Resident Evil movie franchise this far, odds are you have accepted the fact that they value action over horror, are not terribly well-written and don’t religiously follow the video game series that inspired them. With those expectations in mind, Resident Evil: Afterlife, the fourth live-action RE film, boasts some astonishing set pieces, impressive visual effects and a wholly ridiculous story.
The DLB spoke to The Last Exorcism star Ashley Bell last week for his Rue Morgue Magazine blog. That will be posted next week, in conjunction with the film’s DVD release January 4.
As a taster, here is Bell talking about her upcoming role in the apocalyptic action film The Day, directed by Douglas Aarniokoski (Highlander: Endgame):
Actor Stephen Dorff, currently receiving plaudits for his role in the Sofia Coppola film Somewhere, recently updated The DLB on rumours that he and his Blade director Steve Norrington were thinking of revisiting the character in a prequel:
TRON: LEGACY
Starring Garrett Hedlund, Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde
Directed by Joseph Kosinksi
Written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz
The question I had to ask myself walking out of Wednesday night’s TRON: Legacy screening was “would my 12-year-old self like this movie?” That was the age I was when I saw the original TRON in 1982. I didn’t have a chance to revisit the original before seeing this belated sequel, but I have warm memories of it. I also have colder memories of sucking at the attendant video game.
Thanks to Perez Hilton (I never thought I’d write that) for posting this image of actor John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in the upcoming The Raven, a new film from director James McTeigue whose last film was the ill-fated Ninja Assassin.
Luke Evans (Clash of the Titans) has been cast as Emmett Fields, a detective who partners with Poe to search for a serial killer who has kidnapped the author’s fiance Virginia (Alice Eve) and mimics the author’s work in his killings.
Look for The Raven sometime in 2011.
KILLING JOKE
The Phoenix Concert Theatre
Toronto, ON
Date: December 7, 2010
When asked by interviewers about the incredible intensity of Killing Joke’s live shows, frontman Jaz Coleman often describes it as “white heat.” It evokes an incandescent, almost unbearable state of performance, and I’ve certainly felt it during previous KJ shows. Whether or not the 32-year-old band felt it during their Tuesday night Toronto performance, you’d have to ask them. The crowd didn’t seem to, at least at first.
Nine Inch Nails’ debut album Pretty Hate Machine has recently been remastered and re-released, and it sounds great. You can preview it here: Pretty Hate Machine reissue
To celebrate the occasion, Trent Reznor and his team have constructed a microsite, Pretty Hate Machine, which includes the “Head Like A Hole” and “Down In It” videos, as well as live footage and interviews from the 1989-1990 time period, and wallpapers for your PC, iPhone and iPad/Android. Ch-ch-check it out!
New York singer-songwriter Diane Birch made quite a stir with her debut album Bible Belt last year, on S-Curve Records. Now the pastor’s daughter and erstwhile Goth has channeled her teenage love of the musical macabre into The Velveteen Age, an EP collaboration with the Phenomenal Handclap Band available Dec. 7.
Among the songs Birch has massively reworked:
This Corrosion (Sisters of Mercy)
Kiss Them For Me (Siouxsie & The Banshees)
Bring On The Dancing Horses (Echo & The Bunnymen)
Atmosphere (Joy Division)
Primary (The Cure)
Tarantula (This Mortal Coil)
A Strange Kind of Love (Peter Murphy)
Heinous holidays to all our fangtastic fans Stateside. Be sure to save a few shekels for the latest issue of Rue Morgue, due on newsstands shortly. Besides my article on the new “Art of Hammer” art book, here is what else you can expect from RM’s year-end spooktacular: Continue reading
Dark Lord Bunnykins's Blog 
