Are you ready for one of the best editions of Tex Massacre’s Horror In Your House in years? Now this is how to kick off the month of October, and hopefully you guys are able to pull together enough cash to check out all of these Halloween treats. Arriving in stores today are the DVD/Blu-ray releases of the highly anticipated Trick ‘r Treat and Ghost House Underground/Lionsgate’s The Children, Offspring, The Thaw and Seventh Moon. Then there’s the remake of It’s Alive, Thomas Jane’s Dark Country and the new DVD release of The Gate. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, read on for the full list.

Horror in Your House
October 6, 2009

AUDITION: Shout Factory (Blu-ray)

A middle-aged widower is urged by his teenage son & film producer friend to start dating again. They devise a plan to hold a phony film audition to meet new women. The widower falls for a beautiful ballerina with a suspicious past & their courtship veers from polite romance to psycho nightmare!

Tex Says: This new DVD and Blu-ray issue of Takashi Miike’s masterwork of the bizarre features 90-minutes of supplementary material plus audio commentary from legendary filmmaker. The film touts a new 1080P high-definition transfer from the internegative, with a new 5.0 digital stereo soundtrack mixed from the original audio elements. It neglects to mention however that it the film is not remastered even in the slightest so the 1080p transfer is far below the standards of most Blu-ray enthusiasts.

BLEED WITH ME: R Squared Films

After a long night tending bar for a bunch of annoying drunks, Laura isn t really feeling up to a long bus-ride home. She hails a cab and settles into the back seat, relieved that her terrible night is over. She doesn’t know it yet but her evening is about to get worse. A lot worse.

THE CHILDREN: Lionsgate

You brought them into the world. They will take you out. A family anticipates a Christmas filled with sledding, laughter and hot cocoa as they head to their vacation home in the secluded backcountry…The holiday cheer takes a fast turn for the worse after a mysterious flu-like virus sweeps through the kids. One by one the children become deadly. Amidst the suspicion, mayhem and murder, the parents fight for survival against their own twisted offspring.

TEX SAYS: Damn this is a tough week to pick just one movie for the “Pick of the Week” call this one a tie (with TRICK ‘R TREAT) and get your asses to the store to grab this brilliantly creepy thriller!

CHILDREN OF THE CORN (2009): Anchor Bay

From Donald P. Borchers comes the resurrection of the most unholy shocker of all: It’s 1975, and a young married couple – Vietnam vet Burt and preacher’s daughter Vicki – are driving cross-country straight into the heartland of Hell. Here in Gatlin, Nebraska, the town’s bloodthirsty children – led by the boy preacher Issac and his teen enforcer Malachai – have slaughtered all adults by command of He Who Walks Behind The Rows. Now two new Outlanders have arrived…and The Time of Sacrifice is at hand.

DARK COUNTRY: Sony

Two honeymooners rescue a mysterious car crash survivor in the Las Vegas desert. But their decision to save the man becomes increasingly regrettable when he turns on them, forcing the newlyweds to do the unthinkable. In a blur of paranormal chaos, the couple must take drastic measures to cover up their actions from the local police, ultimately leading each character to an inescapable fate.

A DEADLY LITTLE CHRISTMAS: Razor Digital

On a beautiful California Christmas Day, the Merriman family celebration is interrupted by massacre and eight-year old son Devin walks out of the house with a blood-covered knife. Now, 15 years after little Devin brutally murdered his father and the family housekeeper, he escapes the sanitarium where he has been locked away with only one thing on his mind– another bloody Christmas! Produced by David Sterling for horror fans that long for the slasher films of the ’80 such as Friday the 13th, Silent Night Deadly Night, Don’t Open Till X-Mas, or Christmas Evil comes the scariest slasher film of all–Deadly Little Christmas!

TEX SAYS: Hey…isn’t it a little early to start putting the Christmas decorations out! Shesh….

THE DESCENDENT: Echo Bridge

As Ann Hedgerow – an indirect descendant of Edgar Allan Poe – begins to explore her family’s past, she meets novelist Ethan Poe Ethan, also a distant descendant of Poe, is tormented by visions of his famous ancestor. When Ann and Ethan begin a romance, the dark – and deadly – secrets of Poe’s legacy emerge…will Poe’s stories inspire a real-life horror-tragedy?

TEX SAYS: Katherine Heigl and Jeremy London star in this 2002 movie they’d probably rather forget.

FEEDING GROUNDS: Grizzly Peak Films

A young group of friends head out to a cabin in the desert. Something has landed in the desert and it needs to eat.

THE GATE: Lionsgate

After an old tree is removed from the ground, three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from the hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.

TEX SAYS: Throw away those old DVDs horror fans and grab this great special edition of a totally awesome 80’s horror film. It’s got stop- motion animation, satanic heavy metal and Stephen Dorff before puberty for all you 30-something ladies out there.

IT’S ALIVE: First Look

When a young woman learns that she is pregnant, she leaves graduate school to set up a home with her boyfriend in the country. The fate of the happy new family takes a gruesome turn when animals and people end up brutally dead – all with a strange connection to their newborn. Could their new child be the monster responsible for the gruesome murders?

IT’S MY PARTY AND I’LL DIE IF I WANT TOO: Scotchworth Productions

Join Sara and her friends as they celebrate her 18th birthday in the notoriously haunted Burkitt Manor. The EVIL in the house is there and it has decided to bring along some uninvited guests.

KARLOFF & LUGOSI HORROR CLASSICS: Warner

The Walking Dead (1936): Jolted alive as the monster in the classic Frankenstein, Boris Karloff is resurrected anew in the eerie tale of a man framed for murder. Sent to the chair… and seeking revenge after being brought back to life by science.

Frankenstein 1970 (1958): Karloff operates the lab switches and gizmos as Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Granting a film crew access to shoot a horror flick at his family castle… and now having what he needs for his monstrous experiments: fresh young body parts ready for harvesting!

You’ll Find Out (1940): Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Peter Lorre scare everyone silly planning murder to nab a young heiress’ inheritance in a spoofy, spooky haunted house tale featuring the music and merriment of popular Kay Kyser and his band
Zombies on Broadway (1945): Mad scientist Lugosi encounters two lunkheaded Broadway agents looking for a real-life zombie as an opening attraction for a new night club.

OFFSPRING: Lionsgate

They Hunt in Packs. They Feed on Flesh. They prey on innocence. They are back with a vengeance and an insatiable appetite for human flesh. Their time has come – again. Based on the acclaimed novel and adapted for the screen by best-selling author Jack Ketchum, Offspring follows the survivors of a brutal flesh-eating clan that has re-surfaced in the once sleepy town of Dead River, Maine. The locals are in for a rude awakening when they realize it’s the same pack that the sheriff thought he killed off a decade ago. Just when they thought the nightmare was over, they’re about to discover that the fight for their lives has only just begun.

TEX SAYS: It’s a Ketchum adaptation so informed horror fans should know what they are getting into. For the rest of you…be warned.

THE SEAMSTRESS: Image

An ancient curse returns with a vengeance in this harrowing descent into shear terror! While searching for her missing father, pretty young Allie and her friends are dragged kicking and screaming into a living nightmare courtesy of the Seamstress, a local legend spoken of in whispers who still terrorizes the community after her brutal death at the hands of bloodthirsty locals years before. Now armed with her very sharp sewing needles and a diabolical imagination, she won’t stop until the last drop of blood is sewn.

SENSELESS: Well Go USA

In one of the most shocking reality shows ever seen: Eliott Gast, an American economist, is kidnapped by a group of anti-globalization radicals; his capture is broadcast day after day on television and the only way he can be freed is through the viewers donations. Eliott starts to torture himself to try and understand the reason for his kidnapping, digging deep into all the sins he may have committed, while the audience watches him indulgently from their homes. Senseless delves into the mechanisms of the capitalist system and does so with the punch and tension characteristic of a thriller.

SEVENTH MOON: Lionsgate

According to an ancient Chinese myth, on the full moon of the seventh lunar month, the gates of hell open and the dead are freed to roam among the living. While honeymooning in China, a young newlywed couple takes part in a sacred event that honors these spirits. Unfortunately their enthusiasm borders on mockery and their disagreeable charm ends in angry glances among the locals. As night falls, their tour guide abandons them in a desolate field. What they thought was a joke is becoming far too real as they fight to survive the night of the Seventh Moon.

TEX SAYS: Blair Witch alumni Ed Sanchez is back (and so is the shaky-cam). Be sure to take some Dramamine before you check out this backwoods thriller.

SHOPPING FOR FANGS: Pathfinder

Two stories involving Asian-Americans intersect in this feature from co-directors Quentin Lee and Justin Lin. Katherine is an unhappy young wife who is suffering from blackouts. During one episode she lost her phone and then began receiving suggestive calls from a lesbian. Katherine’s husband Jim works with Phil who believes that he may be a werewolf. Both Phil and Katherine are on a collision course with revelations about their true natures.

SKULL HEADS: Wizard Entertainment

For generations, the inbred members of the Arkoff family have lived in peace in their remote castle in Italy. But when three art thieves unexpectedly invade their home in search of priceless treasures, the members of the clan must protect themselves. Enlisting the help of the castle’s ancient protectors–the deadly Skull Heads–the Arkoffs prepare for the fight of their lives.

TEX SAYS: Full Moon Entertainment puppet master Charles Band unleashes a new round of murderous little monsters in this latest release.

SPLATTER MOVIE: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT: Happy Cloud Pictures

Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut tells the story of a group of filmmakers shooting a film called “Tesseract”, which, in turn, is about a group of filmmakers being stalked by a psychotic killer. Gradually, the line between the film and real life begins to blur… before vanishing entirely!

STAUNTON HILL: Anchor Bay

Directed by the son of legendary cult filmmaker George A. Romero. When a group of hikers take off for a weekend of fun and adventure in remote mountain region, they unwittingly stumble across the Staunton family – for whom the hill is named – and find themselves at the mercy of a depraved, diabolical brood that will stop at nothing to rid their property of these “trespassers.” The only law on Staunton’s Hill is the law of the Stauntons…and, in this case, the penalty for defying that law is death.

TALES FROM THE CRYPTKEEP: SEASON 1 & 2

Get ready fright fans! The cartoon Cryptkeeper opens his vault of tales for your television screams. He’ll shock you. He’ll scare you. He’ll make you laugh, and always leave you with something to think about by teaching you a lesson his way. Each new car-tomb provides thrills, chills, and lessons when you watch!

THE THAW: Lionsgate

When Dr. Kruipen discovers the carcass of a woolly mammoth in a polar ice cap, he helms a team of four bright ecology students and leads them in a research mission at a remote Arctic station. The group uncovers information beyond their wildest dreams…and nightmares…when a pre-historic parasite revives and searches for a new warm-blooded host. Now, infected, the unsuspecting students are forced to choose between a quarantine that will result in their burial ground or a global epidemic.

TRICK ‘R TREAT: Warner (TEX’S PICK OF THE WEEK)

The doorbell rings, the cry goes out: Trick ‘R Treat! But, wait. What’s actually going on during this ghostly All Hallows Eve? Something eerie and unexpected. Something splattered and spooky. Something that brings ghouls, vampires and werewolves into the night. Answer the door – a shocking surprise awaits.

TEX SAYS: At this point do I really need to say anything. Just go buy the freaking movie…you’ve been waiting 2-years for it.