It is time I let you in on a little secret, Gossip wasn’t the movie I originally intended to review for this week. What I had wanted to review was a small film from the Czech Republic called Sílení (Lunacy). It was described as a mixture of live action and stop-motion animation that was based on the works of the Marquis de Sade but also borrows from several short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. I know, it sounds like all manner of awesome. But there were some … complications.

Now we lucked out and received the film from Netflix over a week ago, ensuring us plenty of time to screen the film and review it. Both Anna and I were looking forward to the film, and the DVD certainly had us intrigued, what with an image of a cow’s tongue inching along as if it was a worm for the cover art. Then, when the film opened with a disclaimer that the film would disgust and revile all those who watched it, our interests was definitely piqued. But something funny happened on the way to the film’s ending, it didn’t disgust us, it bored us.

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I decided several weeks ago that I would get into the Halloween spirit by reviewing a horror film next week. So I did careful research and selected an interesting unknown Czech horror film that looked rather promising, but somewhere along the way I decided that I was possibly over thinking things. Sure a film that blends live actions with stop-motion animation as it delves into the struggle with sanity while delving into works by the Marquis de Sade and Edgar Allen Poe sounds deliciously fascinating and horrific, but this is Halloween we are talking about.

So I scratched that previous film (Don’t worry, it will be back) in favor of something a bit more fitting, gore. Specifically gore is direct relation to an HP Lovecraft film. And what goes better with HP Lovecraft then Stuart Gordon and Jeffrey Combs? That is why next week I will be reviewing From Beyond.

Unfortunately for Anna she works in retail. This means she already has to deal with the looming threat of Christmas, as even now retail stores are beginning to shuffle Christmas themed merchandise onto the shelves, thus allowing the holiday’s yuletide reach to skip right past Thanksgiving, leapfrog Halloween and nestle right up next to Labor Day.

Luckily for her she has a totally righteous boyfriend. For our younger viewers righteous is not being used in a religious sense (though I would argue that I’m divine as well) but rather it is 80’s for 1337. But the point of this introduction is not about me claiming I rule, but by proving it. You see this week I decided to give Anna an early Christmas present.

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Next week I review yet another hard to find independent film. That is until its recent release on DVD. Now everyone will have the chance o watch and marvel over the combination of claymation and Edgar Allen Poe in a most perfect union. That’s because next week’s film is Ray Harryhausen Presents: The Pit and the Pendulum.