I just uploaded a new capsule review to the Vault archives, for KLOWN KAMP MASSACRE! Described as "Friday the 13th" meets "Killer Klowns from Outer Space," this low-budget slasher/comedy received high marks from Vault contributor Kenny B. Check out the trailer for it below:
If Troma keeps doing what they are doing, this film could end up for free on Youtube in the near future! If that happens, then I'll definitely check this one out!
Well, that's it for tonight folks, but have no fear, for I have a few more of Kenny's reviews in reserve, plus I'll be taking part in an upcoming roundtable/blog-a-thon called SLATEROCALYPSE later this month. Also, I'll be recording a Youtube video soon, answering the handful of questions posed by some of the Vault's Facebook fans a few weeks back. So stick around, because there's a lot of new content coming your way!
Though I post about movies and such on this here blog about 99% of the time, today I'm doing something a bit different. I'm going to talk about two independently created video games for your PC that are free to play. (Yeah I know, I should be talking about these over at the Casual Gaming Blog, and I will, but these games are totally up your collective alleys! I just had to share!)
First up is TERRORDROME (visit the official site HERE), a supremely bad ass fighting game created with MUGEN. The creators have designed an impressive cast of fighters featuring a few familiar faces such as.... FREDDY KRUEGER, JASON VOORHEES, UNDEAD JASON VOORHEES (complete with broken chain around his neck), CHUCKY, GHOSTFACE, THE CANDYMAN, THE TALLMAN, ASHLEY J. WILLIAMS, LEATHERFACE, MICHAEL MYERS, and MATT CORDELL (aka THE MANIAC COP). Yes, you read that right folks, its a HORROR THEMED FIGHTING GAME and it is very well done! Despite the fact that Terrordrome's creators took the download link down on the site, due to pressure from several companies that didn't want their licensed characters to be included in the roster of a free, fan-made video game, you can still get your paws on this bad boy. ( ----> DOWNLOAD Version 2.7 NOW! ) Along with a lot of fixes, each character has their own "unleashed move" to deal out some real damage to their opponent. Check 'em all out in the following video.
The game still remains unfinished at the moment as its creators plan on adding Dr. Herbert West and Pinhead as playable characters. Plus there's still some music and sound f/x to add, along with a few new stages, and some more tweaks to the fight mechanics. I tried this out when it was in version 2.3, and I have to say that it has come a very long way. Though it can be glitchy at times, this is a really cool game that should have been snapped up for a legit release, not forced to become a "personal" (i.e. covert) fan project that certain studios don't want you to enjoy. (My sincerest "F*CK YOUS" to Warner Bros. and... Orion Entertainment? I thought they went bankrupt?!) Be sure to download and give it a shot, and share it with a friend.
Next up is a somewhat new MORPG that is rendered in awesome 8-bit graphics! Enter the world of... NESTALGIA! (Think of it as "Final Fantasy" meets" Dragon Warrior 3" meets "World of Warcraft.") Create a character, fully customize him/her, team up with others, go on quests, enter PvP matches, and more.... FOR FREE! The best part of this is that you get the entire game for free, not just MOST of it. (I'm looking at you "Age of Empires Online.") You can buy a subscription to get additional add-ons, but it isn't a necessity in the least, and probably goes towards the cost of keeping the game servers going. Check out the trailer for Nestalgia below, then give it a try, so you can have fun and wax ... nestalgic! (Zing!)
If you like what you see, or are just plain curious, visit the official site and download the game and try it out! It is currently a boring and rainy night here in my neck of the woods, so I know what I'm doing for the next few hours....
On 23 June, 2012, in an interview for the popular American radio show, Coast to Coast AM, the CIA’s former liaison to the entertainment industry, Charles ‘Chase’ Brandon made extraordinary claims about the so-called “Roswell incident,” in which the US military is widely believed to have retrieved extraterrestrial materials and bodies after a mysterious object crashed in the deserts of New Mexico.
Brandon declared:
Chase Brandon
"I also absolutely know as I sit here talking to you that there was a craft from beyond this world that crashed at Roswell, that the military picked up remains of not just the wreckage, but cadavers."
Most explosively, Brandon recounted an occasion when he saw direct proof of the alien nature of Roswell while conducting research at the CIA’s Historical Intelligence Collection (HIC) as part of his role as CIA Entertainment Liaison Officer (ELO). Brandon claimed he had the rare opportunity to look inside a box labelled “Roswell” containing “materials... papers... [and] other items” but stressed that he “cannot, will not, under any imaginable set of circumstances tell you what I saw in there specifically,” with the implication being that to reveal more specific details would be a breach of national security.
Based on what he claims to have seen in the box, Brandon stated unequivocally: “100 percent, guaranteed... Roswell happened. There was a craft, absolutely cadavers,” but added, “Beyond that, I have no idea where anything else went.”
The “Roswell Incident” first came to public attention 65 years ago on 8 July, 1947, when the Roswell Army Air Force (RAAF) hastily announced to the press its “capture” of a downed “flying saucer” on an isolated ranch. A few hours later, the RAAF changed its story to the effect that what had been recovered, in fact, was a common weather balloon. The United States Air Force (USAF) was to change this story again in 1995 with the announcement that the “weather balloon” had been a Top Secret high-altitude spy balloon. This story was then officially re-written in 1997 to account for several apparently non-human bodies multiple eyewitnesses claimed were recovered from the crash. The bodies, the USAF equivocated, were human corpses, test dummies, or both.
To date, Brandon is the most senior CIA officer – former or serving – to have claimed direct knowledge of an extraterrestrial link to the Roswell incident. Brandon worked for the CIA for thirty-five years, twenty-five of which he spent in the Agency’s elite Clandestine Service as an undercover, covert operations officer. His foreign assignments involved international terrorism, counterinsurgency, global narcotics trafficking and weapons smuggling. He was also an Agency foreign political affairs analyst, Presidential briefer to Bill Clinton and an instructor in paramilitary and espionage tactics at secret CIA training camps. In 1996, Brandon began his ELO role in which he advised on numerous films and TV series– often uncredited – quietly shaping scripts, characters and concepts. In other words, he is an expert at working both the news and popular media. It fits, then, that Brandon was speaking in the context of a promotional interview for his new fictional UFO-themed book, The Cryptos Conundrum.
Judging from online chatter, the UFO community is wondering if Brandon’s Roswell comments may herald the much anticipated ‘Disclosure’ of alien reality. Brandon’s book passed through the Agency’s Publications Review Board (PRB), and his radio interview should, as standard procedure, have also been subject to prior approval by the PRB. If Brandon’s comments were subject to official approval, and if he was speaking the truth, then this might indicate that the CIA is using him to work what the Agency calls a ‘limited hangout,’ whereby previously hidden information is released to the public in order to prevent a greater exposure of more damaging details.
In this context, it is noteworthy that Brandon carefully absolved the CIA of any on-going complicity in an active cover-up of the Roswell incident. Brandon implied that all that now keeps this information from the public is 65 years’ worth of storage dust and the patchy institutional memory of the powers that be. As Brandon tells it, the Roswell incident is as dead as the alien cadavers he claims must be stored “somewhere.” Yes, Roswell was real and extraterrestrial, says Brandon, and yes, the evidence was “put in cold storage,” but today’s Agency should not be held accountable for the actions of a handful of panicked and perplexed Cold War-era agents who shuffled off their mortal coils decades ago and who took what little knowledge they had to their graves. And those Agency employees who do occasionally stumble across Roswell evidence today have no real understanding of what they’re looking at or what to do with it. In terms of a revelation about the existence of aliens, Brandon’s rendering is about as depoliticized as it gets.
Victor Marchetti
Victor Marchetti, former special assistant to Deputy CIA Director Richard Helms, once said that the government uses limited hangouts “when their veil of secrecy is shredded and they can no longer rely on a phony cover story to misinform the public.” In such instances, said Marchetti, “they resort to admitting – sometimes even volunteering – some of the truth while still managing to withhold the key and damaging facts in the case. The public, however, is usually so intrigued by the new information that it never thinks to pursue the matter further.”
Fittingly, in 1979, Marchetti himself raised eyebrows with his own public statements on the UFO issue. In an article for Second Look magazine, Marchetti wrote: “I do know that the CIA and the US government have been concerned over the UFO phenomenon for many years and that their attempts, both past and recent, to discount the significance of the phenomenon and to explain away the apparent lack of official interest in it have all the earmarks of a classic intelligence cover-up.” He added, “My theory is that we have, indeed, been contacted – perhaps even visited– by extraterrestrial beings, and that the U.S. Government, in collusion with other national powers of the Earth, is determined to keep this information from the general public.” However, Marchetti was merely voicing an opinion and does not claim to have seen proof of extraterrestrial contact with his own eyes, as Brandon does.
Not insignificantly, Brandon also claimed during his interview to have spoken to JFK’s coroner, who he says confirmed to him that the President had been shot from the front and was therefore most definitely the victim of a conspiracy. Of course, Brandon’s own personal ‘disclosures’ may prove an effective way to sell copies of his book, and also to whet appetites for his forthcoming sequel, The Hour Glass. This is certainly the more mainstream interpretation of what has transpired here. Still, such a deceitful and outlandish marketing strategy runs the risk of Brandon appearing to be, well, deceitful and outlandish. For a man currently employed as Senior Consultant to SpecTal, the intelligence division of defence giant BAE Systems, Brandon’s Roswell declarations are liable at least to raise difficult questions among colleagues. Furthermore, in the unlikely event that any costs result from Brandon’s statements, such as if they prompt someone to steal material from the HIC,he could at least be sued by the government.
A former high-level Reagan Administration official told us that “if” extraterrestrial material was in the possession of the US government, it would of course be classified, while another highly-respected ex-CIA Special Operations officer stressed to us that “All [CIA] employees sign a Secrecy Agreement. Violation of that agreement can bring severe repercussions.” When we made doubly clear to this CIA veteran that our enquiry related specifically to the UFO issue, he restated his position word-for-word, with the addendum “Have a nice day.” In theory, the penalties include life in jail or even a death sentence.
As yet, however, Brandon has fallen artfully through the cracks in the national security system. Even though in practice the government is clearly sensitive about the UFO phenomenon (with reams of declassified documentation from every branch of the government revealing high-level concern about UFO incidents worldwide into the post-Cold War era), it has maintained since the closure of the USAF’s Project Blue Book in 1969 that UFOs are definitely not a national security concern. Furthermore, the very concept of ‘national security’ is more slippery than is often suggested by the image of square-jawed, be-suited men with guns. Former Chairman of the PRB, John Hollister Hedley, commented recently that even the CIA’s own definition of national security was not “hard and fast” or “absolute or constant.” Consequently, whether there is any truth to Brandon’s statements or not, Washington would be hard-pressed to prosecute, even if it had the will to do so.
We asked Chase Brandon to elaborate on and justify his Roswell comments. He has yet to reply.
We also sent the CIA a list of questions and requested a formal response to Brandon’s allegations. The Agency has assured us they are looking into our enquiry and will get back to us “quickly.” We are still waiting.
About the Authors:
Robbie Graham is a doctoral candidate at the University of Bristol for a PhD examining Hollywood’s historical representations of UFOs and potential extraterrestrial life. He holds a Masters degree with Distinction in Cinema Studies from the University of Bristol and a First Class Honours degree in Film, Television and Radio Studies from Staffordshire University. He has broadcast on BBC Radio, Radio Ireland and Canal+ TV. His articles have appeared in a variety of publications including The Guardian, New Statesman, Filmfax, Fortean Times, Adbusters and the peer-reviewed journal of North American Studies, 49th Parallel.
Matthew Alford, PhD is the author of Reel Power: Hollywood Cinema and American Supremacy (Pluto Press, 2010). His academic and journalistic work focuses on the relationship between entertainment, political power, and propaganda in the United States. His academic work has appeared in a number of peer-reviewed journals, including Scope: An Online Journal of Film and TV Studies, Westminster Papers for Communication and Culture, and 49th Parallel. He has been interviewed as an expert on Hollywood propaganda for publications and broadcasters including Vanity Fair, Media Lens, Z-Net, Russia Today, Press TV and Al Jazeera, among others.
A note from the authors about this story:
We were unable to find a mainstream outlet for our report, despite its conspicuous newsworthiness in light of this week’s 65th anniversary of the Roswell incident. Our article was submitted to the following mainstream and alternative news outlets:
Huffington Post
Telegraph
Telegraph on Sunday
Roswell Daily Record
Albuquerque Journal
Santa Fe New Mexican
Guardian
Daily Mail
Los Angeles Times
National Post
Globe and Mail
Toronto Sun
Toronto Star
Raw Story
Mother Jones
Z-Net
Alternet
GregPalast.com
Regardless of the exact nature of the UFO phenomenon, it is a great shame for those of us interested in either UFOs or government propaganda that Chase Brandon's statements have been unchallenged and, indeed, unreported outside of the UFO community and that the CIA itself has yet to respond to them, despite our enquiries. Brandon’s statements beg explanation for several reasons, not least because they indicate that the concerns of the powerful are very distant from those of ordinary citizens in a participatory democracy.
You gotta hand it to the guys and gals over at FRIGHT-RAGS. Just when you think that they couldn't come up with any more awesome ideas... they toss us something super cool that we haven't seen before. Case in point, their new limited edition SEND MORE MUPPETS design, which blends the cuteness of the Muppets with the awesome zombieness of "Return of the Living Dead." It is only available for pre-order until midnight on July 9th and comes in all sizes in both t-shirts (guys and gals) and hoodies. T-shirts are running at $25.95, and hoodies are going for $49.95. Check out this kick ass design below, then CLICK HERE to make sure you get yourself one! And remember, you have just over four day to secure one for yourself.... or a friend.... or your lover.... or your brother.... or a friendly webmaster who has awesome contests on his site on a monthly basis...
Also, FRIGHT-RAGS has recently brought six more designs back from the dead for "An American Werewolf in London," "The Living Dead Strikes Back" (Star Wars/zombie movie mashup), "Dead Alive," "The Raft" (from "Creepshow 2!"), "Nightbreed," and "Ghostbusters" ("There is no Dana. Only Zuul!") These were chosen by fans who cast votes in the t-shirt Graveyard, and will only be available (for pre-order) until July 8th, for $21.95 apiece. But, if you pre-order now, you get 10% off, which knocks 'em down to $19.76! Check out the designs below, then CLICK HERE to get one (or all) of them!
All six designs available for pre-order until July 8th!
B.C. Clemmons, come on down! Out of the fourteen folks who entered, your name was drawn, which means you now have some bragging rights AND a copy of "Joe Estevez: Wiping off the Sheen" which was signed by Joe himself! You also get two DVD-Rs of "Soultaker" and "MST3K: Soultaker!" ENJOY!
Don't feel bad if you missed out on all that cool stuff because I still have another big contest going on at the moment! Pitch me your dream "Friday the 13th" movie and really try hard to sell me on it. If I choose your idea, you will win ALL TWELVE "Friday the 13th" movies on DVD PLUS a cool "Friday the 13th Part VIII" mini-poster that is signed by Kane Hodder!
The contest has been going for just over a week now and ends on July 13th at midnight! I will then pick a winner and post a video showcasing the winning movie pitch! So hurry up and get your entries in, because this contest is ending in ten days!
For more details (and ideas) CLICK HERE! Good luck slasher fans!
Hear ye, hear ye! Audition for TALES OF DRACULA on July 21st!
My pal Joe DeMuro (co-producer and creature suit actor from The Demon Messenger) is currently putting together a really cool independent film called TALES OF DRACULA.
Mainly inspired by Universal's cadre of classic monsters, this hour-long homage will will feature Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, and a cameo appearance by a Wolfman! The script is ready to go, the sets are being built, and makeup f/x guru Ron Chamberlain (who studied under Dick Smith!) is on board to create the monsters.
All that's really left now is to pull together a cast! If you think you've got what it takes, there will be a casting call on Saturday, July 21st at the Comfort Inn, on Front Street in Binghamton, NY. Auditions begin at 8:30 AM and end at 1:00 PM! Along with eight extras, Joe is looking for six actors to make up the main cast of characters. Below is a list of roles that are currently up for grabs in this production:
Click to enlarge.
So be sure to mark July 21st on your calendars, and break a leg! (Not literally.) Once the cast is finalized "Tales of Dracula" will go into production soon after. Shooting is scheduled to begin in late August during weekends.
For more information about the film and/or the casting call, drop me a line at vault_master@bmoviefilmvault.com and I'll fill you in. If I am unable to answer your inquiries, I'll pass them on to Joe and he will touch base with you.
Good luck!
UPDATE: The production has added BRUCE GREIG to the team to do some matte paintings and backdrops for "Tales of Dracula." Bruce, a New Zealand native, does a lot of work for Hollywood productions, including: "King Kong," "The Lord of the Rings Trilogy," "10,000 B.C.," and most recently "The Hobbit!" How freakin' cool is that?!
Ever been curious about who I am, what it is that I do when I'm not glued to my computer screen, what my fave movies are, if I'm wearing pants, or how I started up The Vault? Well now is your chance to get an answer to all these questions and more when you ASK THE VAULT MASTER!
For the remainder of this week, send me any and all questions you may have, and I'll answer them via a Youtube video! You may post your inquiries in the comments section below, ask them on Facebook, or Twitter, or even go the really old-fashioned route and drop me a line at vault_master@bmoviefilmvault.com! Send in as many questions as you like and I'll answer them all to the best of my ability via video this weekend! I look forward to your queries; this should be fun!
Also, a lot of interest was shown when I mentioned doing an online group chat session while a bunch of us watched a movie. I'm currently trying to make that happen and will be posting more information on that when the details are all hammered out. In the meantime, toss a few questions my way, won't you?
