Horror Comedy: "Freak Out", The Movie

Another classic has been brought to life again! This time to laugh a bit (or a LOT)!

Horror cult comedy "Freak Out" is now on DVD for you to enjoy... and laugh about! It includes a lot of new features to stand up to the fantasies of the horror-comedy movies fans!

This time a crazy homicidal idiot has been let loose!!! You can't miss it!!! You could be the next victim of his killing spree... You may laugh yourself to death!

Winner of many prizes from movie festivals all over the world, it pr0mises to be a success!

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Check Out the press release:

Freak Out

So chilling… you'll laugh yourself to death.

Anchor Bay Entertainment, an IDT Entertainment company, gives cult film fans yet another treat with the November 7 th DVD premiere of Freak Out , director Christian James's first excursion into stomach-clutching, bloodcurdling and drop-dead hilarious horror. Winner of numerous accolades including the “Commendation Award” for Feature Films at Manchester's Festival of Fantastic Films, “Best Genre Cross-Over” Award at the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival, and an official selection at the Montreal Fantasia Festival, Freak Out is set up to please both “serious” and “spoof” horror fans alike. SRP for the 2-disc Special Edition DVD is $19.98 and pre-book is September 27 th 2006 .

Turning the great horror movie clichés on their severed ears, Freak Out opens like all great slasher films -- with a flashback of an incidental character. Young Cliff is being dropped off at school by his alcoholic mother, only to be tormented by his teacher and peers. Thirteen years later, Cliff escapes from a mental institution to find that the school that he vowed revenge on is no longer standing. Disappointed and with nowhere to go, Cliff wanders onto the doorstep of horror film addicts Merv and his best friend Onkey. With visions of slashers and maniacs and box-office grosses (oh my!) dancing in their heads, wannabe schlock kings Merv and Onkey fit Cliff with a potato sack on his head and cover his face with a hockey mask, transforming him into the ultimate homicidal filmaniac. Things soon take a turn for the worst after the killer “finds his groove,” dispatching shoppers and employees alike in a supermarket. With their Frankenstein officially out of control – killing everyone in sight -- Marv and Onkey start to have second thoughts. Can they stop their own creation or are they – and the town -- doomed?

Freak Out has already created a buzz among comedy and horror aficionados. The film has been critically acclaimed by Rue Morgue, calling Freak Out “one of the finest indie horror-comedies of the year,” All Things Zombie who raved “a winner, destined to be a fan favorite,” and Arrow-in-the-Head who dubbed the film “A high-rolling, non-stop laugh fest.”

Freak Out is stuffed with an asylum-full of bonus features including:
Two audio commentaries with Director/Writer/Producer Christian James, Actor/Writer Dan Palmer and Actor/Producer Yazz Fetto (#1); Christian James, Dan Palmer and Actors James Heathcote, Nicola Connell and Chilli Gold, moderated by BBC Radio 1 movie critic James King (#2)

“Making Out” Behind The Scenes Featurette
“Geek Out” Featurette – Internet movie critics expressing their views on the movie
“Bum-Feeling 101” Sketch featuring the characters of Freak Out
“5 Minute Film School” Humorous and informative film school-type tips
“Honey, I Blew Up The Looney” Featurette
“The Video Store” Spoof films
17 Deleted Scenes
Zaniac Music Video

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Just for you to get the taste, here's an hilarious preview:

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Some useful links:

Official Website: FreakOutMovie.com
Freak Out @ Myspace.com
Buy it on Amazon: Freak Out (DVD)

Vampire Myths Around the World: Africa

• Adze
• Asasabonsam
• Impundulu
• Obayifo

Sorcerers amongst the 'Ewe' tribe in southeastern Ghana and southern Togo in Africa were often thought by the tribesfolk to be possessed by a vampire spirit known as an 'Adze'.

This vampire has the appearance of a firefly and flies around preying on young children, drinking their blood but also drinks coconut water and palm oil.

If caught it will revert to human form.

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Source: VampGirl.Com

This vampire originates from the Ashanti people of Southern Ghana and is also found in Togo and the Ivory Coast.

These vampire creatures hide in trees in dense forests and attacks and kills anyone who walks underneath.

The 'Asasabonsam' is of human form except for its iron teeth and hooklike legs which it uses to trap its victims.

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Source: VampGirl.Com

Witches in the eastern Cape region keep these vampire creatures as servants which they use to attack their enemies.

The 'Impundulu' is passed down from mother to daughter in the Witch's family and, rather like the 'Incubus', is able to transform into handsome male and seduce its witch mistress.

This vampire is thought to possess an insatiatable appetite for blood and will drain its victim to the point of death if allowed to do so.

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Source: VampGirl.Com

This vampire originates amongst the Ashanti tribes living on the Gold Coast although it does reappear under different names amongst neighbouring tribes.
For example, In Dahomean folklore it is called the 'Asiman'.

The 'Obayifo' is another example of witchraft as this 'living vampire' is the spirit of a male or female witch that is able to leave its body and flies around at night feeding on young children.

This vampire, which has the appearance of a glowing ball of light, is also said to cause blight in crops: as well as drinking blood, the 'Obayifo' is partial to the juice of some fruit and vegetables and will destroy whole fields if it drinks too much of this.

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Source: VampGirl.Com

History of Vampires

For those who are interested in the origins of the vampire myth (amongst some other curiosities!) here's a very good page: "Vampires in Myth and History - by Beverley Richardson"

It pretty much covers it all, from the Slavic Vampires to legends involving Bats, mentioning the Gypsie lore and the Romanian roots of vampirism.

I liked it and I thought it was interesting without being boring to read. Hope you enjoy it.

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Here's a little introduction to what the article is:

" Vampire myths go back thousands of years and occur in almost every culture around the world. Their variety is almost endless; from red eyed monsters with green or pink hair in China to the Greek Lamia which has the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a winged serpent; from vampire foxes in Japan to a head with trailing entrails known as the Penanggalang in Malaysia.

However, the vampires we are familiar with today, although mutated by fiction and film, are largely based on Eastern European myths. The vampire myths of Europe originated in the far East, and were transported from places like China, Tibet and India with the trade caravans along the silk route to the Mediterranean. Here they spread out along the Black Sea coast to Greece, the Balkans and of course the Carpathian mountains, including Hungary and Transylvania.

Our modern concept of the vampire still retains threads, such as blood drinking, return from death, preying on humans at night, etc in common with the Eastern European myths. However many things we are familiar with; the wearing of evening clothes, capes with tall collars, turning into bats, etc are much more recent inventions.

On the other hand, many features of the old myths such as the placing of millet or poppy seeds at the gravesite in order to keep the vampire occupied all night counting seeds rather than preying on relatives, have all but disappeared from modern fiction and film.

Even among the Eastern European countries there is a large variety of vampires."

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Continuining with the topic of vampires in history, we also have one article about it in Wikipedia => Vampire