PIMP MY STUFF
OCTOBER KOMIKON 2012 TITLES

So, with this year's ¡Qué Horror! rundown all done, let’s turn our attention to some Komikon hijinx.

Any of you mighty fine folk who plan to be there on October 27 and to drop by the Alamat table will have these titles to choose from (in alphabetical order):

BATHALA: Apokalypsis

Issue 5B (of 7) [Black-and-white]

By David Hontiveros and Ace Enriquez

What if there was only one superhuman in the whole world?

What if the world was about to end as predicted in the Book of Revelation?

What can one superman do to hold back the hand of the Almighty?

Rescued by the People from his torturous captivity in Abaddon’s locust hive on the Guadalupe Bridge, Bathala must now face the four Angels of the Euphrates to prevent the slaughter of 2 billion people.

Meanwhile, Harold Hernandez and the UP are just waiting for their shot at putting an end to the hero once and for all.

KADASIG

Volume 1: The Skeleton at the Feast

Issue 1 (of 5) [Black-and-white with colored cover]

By David Hontiveros and Ian Sta. Maria

Kadasig has served the Lady Ibu for centuries.

He was human, once. But today, he is a living, breathing kutummu, his skin now merely the scabbard for the seemingly infinite array of weapons he draws from inside himself, weapons he shapes from his own flesh and bone, to best serve the Lady in the only way he truly knows how.

He is the Lady’s kallaapu; her knight, her enforcer.

He is her beet tilli; her arsenal.

He is her kak daami; her bloodstained weapon.

And she is about to use him to finally lay her enemies low…

Picking up where the Underpass story, “Katumbas” left off, “A Life Less Ordinary” is the first of five chapters of The Skeleton at the Feast, chronicling the further adventures of the tsinelas-wearing badass, Kadasig.

Δ: A Vision of Dust

Issue 1 (of 4) [Black-and-white with colored cover]

By David Hontiveros and Xerx Javier

In the many rooms of the House that is the World, there are arelim and shedim. Most men know them as angels and demons.

On occasion, both these races have been known to spill their seed onto humankind, producing hybrids forever caught between species, having characteristics of both, but belonging to neither.

Lucio Portador is one such hybrid.

He is the first point of our triangle.

Δ: AVoD is a four-issue limited series about three individuals who are trying their best to be who they yearn to be, while having to deal with all the weird sh!t baggage of who they are.

See all you mighty fine people at the Kon, which will be held on October 27, 2012, Saturday, at the Bayanihan Center, at Pioneer, Mandaluyong City!

you can’t drink just six,

Dave

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2011
The Wrap-Up

So, there we are. Thirteen primary titles, plus four additional ones. And yes, one of those additionals wasn’t really a runner-up, but Little Deaths is an anthology that must be seen by those horror fans who aren’t put off by sex and sexual situations. And though it snuck onto the list because Simon Rumley’s “Bitch” was in it, I must also point out that Andrew Parkinson’s “Mutant Tool” was quite definitely one of the most bizarre horror tales I saw within the past twelve months, regardless of length. Heh.

Now, before we get on with the candidates for ¡Qué Horror! 2012, I’ll be going through another new ¡Qué Horror! feature, the Auxiliaries, titles that may not be what people will automatically think of as horror films, but were nonetheless some of the most noteworthy movies I had the privilege of viewing over the past year. I’ll kick off the Auxiliaries in November: four batches, ten films.

I’d also like to stress that there’s nothing stopping you from checking out each of the 2011 candidates. Just because they didn’t make the final cut, doesn’t mean they’re no longer worth your time; there are good reasons why each of those films became a candidate in the first place. (Two of the Auxiliaries actually come from the candidates list, so you’ll be seeing them there anyway.)

Other than that, I guess the only other thing to say is, once again, have a Happy Halloween.

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2011
The Preliminaries

Here we are. October again, and time for this year’s final list of the 13 best horror films I’ve seen in the past year.
As you may have noted if you’re a regular visitor to the Iguana, I’ve been keeping an online track of the candidates for this year’s list: 44 in all. As I’ve done in the past, I’ve tried my best to spread the ¡Qué Horror! love around, so this year, I’m instituting a list of runners-up, wherever applicable.
As always, you can break down the horror scene into the current sub-genre trends; these days, you’ll find zombies, vampires, found footage, faux docs, home invasion, just to name some.
To avoid instances where, say, zombies threaten to overrun the list, I’m giving each sub-genre a single slot, but in cases where the decision was difficult, or there were just several noteworthy titles, there will be a runner-up. Just think of it as a bonus, other films that are worthy of your time and some ¡Qué Horror! love.

As always, cut-off viewing date was September 30, and the list is comprised of the 13 best horror movies I saw for the first time within the window of October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011, regardless of initial public screening date.

For the past years’ ¡Qué Horror! rundowns, please scour the Archive.
Beyond that, there’s not much else to say but, Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy this year’s baker’s dozen plus…

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2010
The Preliminaries

It’s pretty obvious that activity here at the Iguana has crawled down to virtually non-existent of late. A number of reasons for that, but you’re not here to hear them.
What you are here for, is the annual list of horror films that should warrant your time and attention: ¡Qué Horror!, the 2010 edition.

Sadly, unlike past rundowns, not all the entries this year will have separate, full-length reviews. I struggled with this decision, but it was either this slightly compromised version of ¡Qué Horror!, or no rundown at all this year, and I really didn’t want to break tradition, so...
As with last year, cut-off viewing date was September 30, and the list is comprised of the 13 best horror movies I saw for the first time within the window of October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2010, regardless of initial public screening date.
I should also point out that I was unable to catch a couple of key September releases before the deadline, namely the Eli Roth-produced The Last Exorcism, and the first salvo in the Night Chronicles, Devil; with any luck, I’ll end up loving them, and they’ll make an appearance in next year’s ¡Qué horror! list.

For the past years’ ¡Qué Horror! rundowns, please scour the Archive.
Beyond that, there’s not much else to say but, Happy Halloween! Hope you enjoy this year’s baker’s dozen…

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2009
The Preliminaries (2)

Before I get to last Halloween’s rundown, just some random statistics.
While ¡Qué Horror! 2008 had two sequels (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later and Eli Roth’s Hostel: Part II), three film adaptations (The Mist, from Stephen King’s novella; The Ruins, from Scott B. Smith’s novel; The Midnight Meat Train, from Clive Barker’s short story), and one foreign-language film (Juan Antonio Bayona’s El Orfanato), this year’s batch will include two remakes, one film adaptation, three foreign-language titles, and one entry that finds its origins in TV.

Now, for the record, ¡Qué Horror! 2008 looked like this:

The Last Winter (Dir: Larry Fessenden; September 2006)
Joshua (Dir: George Ratliff; January 2007)
The Signal (Dirs: David Bruckner, Jacob Gentry, Dan Bush; January 2007)
Teeth (Dir: Mitchell Lichtenstein; January 2007)
28 Weeks Later (Dir: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo; May 2007)
Bug (Dir: William Friedkin; May 2007)
El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (Dir: Juan Antonio Bayona; May 2007)
Hostel: Part II (Dir: Eli Roth; June 2007)
The Mist (Dir: Frank Darabont; November 2007)
Cloverfield (Dir: Matt Reeves; January 2008)
The Ruins (Dir: Carter Smith; April 2008)
The Strangers (Dir: Bryan Bertino; May 2008)
The Midnight Meat Train (Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura; July 2008)

¡QUÉ HORROR! 2009
The Preliminaries (1)

It’s getting to that time of year again, when I have 12 months’ worth of film viewing to look back on so I can compile a rundown of the 13 best horror movies from that time frame.
Given that when I put together ¡Qué Horror! 2008, I had yet to have seen certain key titles from that period, and this past year has proven to be a time to play catch-up as best I could, there’s a bit of an overlap between ¡Qué Horror! 2009 and last year’s batch.
So I decided to tweak the parameters of the list somewhat. Instead of a rundown of the 13 Best, Most Recent Horror Movies, I just chose the 13 best horror movies I’d seen for the first time in the past 12 months, regardless of initial public screening date.* (I did, in fact, manage to finally see a key 1995 vampire title earlier this year, but as you’ll note, it didn’t make the list; wasn’t too enamoured of it…)

Also, another deviation from last year’s ¡Qué Horror! will be its frequency: last year, I posted one entry a day for the last 13 days of October, culminating on Halloween.
Now, you’ll have noted that the Iguana isn’t as active as it was in the heyday of its first two years (long, involved story not really pertinent to this post). As such, I can’t really say I’ll be able to replicate last year’s feat, so I’ve decided to start posting as early as October 1, on an irregular basis. I may even post more than one title on any given day. That should give me enough wiggle room to get through all 13 films before October 31 comes around.
That should also give you time to hunt this year’s baker’s dozen down for a Halloween frightfest marathon, should you so wish it.
(The cut-off viewing date for this year’s batch is September 30, and there are only about 7 hours left of that; any horror film I may see for the first time this October will be eligible for ¡Qué Horror! 2010.)

Now, before I leave you to it, I’d be terribly remiss if I didn’t publicly thank my nephew Jeb, who’s responsible for my having had the opportunity to see eleven of this year’s formidable batch.
Many, many, many thanx, Jeb. This would have been a sad-a$$ ¡Qué Horror! without your invaluable help.

Next, in The Preliminaries (2), I’ll have a rundown of ¡Qué Horror! 2008.

* Which is the date listed with each title.