The Fangoria Convention isn't due to start until Friday, but the gore and the madness have already begun - and this ain't Karo syrup. Eric Caidin, owner of Hollywood Book and Poster, co-presenter of The Grindhouse Film Festival, and a longtime supporter of the horror/comic/film fan communities, was attacked in his store on Hollywood Boulevard last Friday. The alleged attacker was Michael Copner, former publisher of Cult Movies Magazine, who stabbed Caidin repeatedly in the......

And you thought the Burger King Chicken was crazy? Check out the Crazy Chickens this week at the Mayan / Photo by upslases via flickr. TALK Could you not get into Michael Pollan last night at the Central Library? No worries because American eating habits and food policy are a hot topic this week. Tonight, the Center for Healthy Communities presents “Hungry for Change: The Politics of Food with Marion Nestle.” The nutritionist, author......

I really, really, really liked Grindhouse for many reasons that I can probably only effectively communicate to you orally and/or non verbally. But this is the written word, so alas, I must force myself. Meanwhile, you will have to imagine my excited gesticulations. I do a lot of pointing, and thumbs up, and punching motions, karate kicks, Elvis arm moves, and touchdown dance type shit when I talk about Grindhouse. It’s that type of......

Grindhouse Monday and Tuesday it's The Muthers, a combination blaxploitation and women-in-prison flick that stars Janine Bell and Rosanne Katon as a pirate duo who must rescue Bells sister from the private jail of an evil coffee plantation owner, followed by Fight for Your Life, a revenge thriller about a pacifist black minister whose family is taken hostage and tortured by a trio of convicts, until he finally snaps and wreaks his vengeance. Wednesday and......

1. Disturbia - $23 million - Paramount/Dreamworks 2. Blades of Glory - $14.1 million - Paramount/Dreamworks 3. Meet the Robinsons - $12 million - Disney 4. Perfect Stranger - $11 million - Sony/Columbia 5. Are We Done Yet? - $9.2 million - Sony/Columbia 6. Pathfinder - $4.8 million - Fox 7. Wild Hogs - $4.6 million - Buena Vista 8. The Reaping - $4.5 million - Warner Bros. 9. 300 - $4.3 million -......

Grindhouse The Girl from Starship Venus (AKA The Sexplorer) is a space nudie starring Monika Ringwald as an astronaut from Venus who lands in London's swinging Soho district circa 1975. Her mission? To research sex customs on the planet Earth. This is paired with The Legend of the Wolf Woman, a 1976 horror film from Italy whose title pretty much says it all. A beautiful woman seeks men out, has sex with them then turns......

I am in shock. Despite a ton of promotion, great reviews and legions of Quentin Tarantino fans, Grindhouse opened in only fourth place. That would be $3.4 million behind the "former ghetto rapper heads to the burbs" comedy Are We Done Yet? and only $1.5 million ahead of the "I'm Hilary Swank, and I've won two Oscars, so I can star in whatever piece of poorly conceived commercial dreck I want to" horror film......

Don't forget. If you want to see a sneak preview of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse (Planet Terror = Rodriquez; Death Proof = Tarantino), head over to the New Beverly tonight at 11 p.m. Actually, head over at 9:45 p.m. That's when tickets go on sale, and there's a good chance it will sell out. If you wanna go in true grindhouse style, I recommend rolling up in a 1970s Dodge Challenger......

Grindhouse The week begins with a pair of 70s actions flicks. The Lady in Red, which has one of my favorite taglines of all time "She's made of bullets, sin & bathtub gin!" is a gangster film starring Robert Conrad as John Dillinger and Pamela Sue Martin as his moll. (Bonus: it was written by John Sayles.) In Bare Knuckles a Los Angeles bounty hunter tracks a psychopath who murders women by using kung-fu. Then......

Grindhouse The week begins with sassy sexploitation flicks Pretty Maids All in a Row and Revenge of the Cheerleaders, then segues into Asian action with aFearless Fighters and Supermanchu and closes with a triple bill of bloody horror: The Blood Spattered Bride, Asylum of Blood and Mary, Mary, Bloody Mary. WHEN: Mon., March 26 - Sun., April 1; various times WHERE: The New Beverly: 7165 Beverly Blvd. (1 block West of La Brea Ave.) King......

I was lucky enough to score a couple of last minute tickets to last night's world premiere of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature, Grindhouse, at the Orpheum in downtown LA. I am happy to report that after months of festering anticipation, Grindhouse lives up to the hype. Grindhouse, which is actually two feature-length movies in one (total running time: 185 minutes), begins with vintage title cards promoting "prevues of coming attractions." Then comes......

Back in January, SXSW launched a contest looking for the scariest, freakiest movie trailers. In honor of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's upcoming movie Grindhouse, amateur filmmakers were invited create their own grindhouse trailers. The best submissions were presented at the festival a couple of weeks ago by Rodriguez. Here's one that I like, Hobo with a Shotgun. Simple, direct and hilarious. Plus, it delivers what it promises.......

Grindhouse There probably isn’t a single night I wouldn't enjoy going to the Quentin Tarantino-curated Grindhouse Festival at the New Beverly. On Monday & Tuesday it’s a double bill of Rolling Thunder, a revenge flick about a Vietnam vet who goes on the warpath after his wife and son are killed by thugs, and The Town That Dreaded Sundown, a 1977 film that's set in 1946 about a hooded killer stalking the terrified residents of......

Curated by… Guy Maddin Bizarro Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin (Tales From The Gimli Hospital, Careful, The Saddest Music In The World) has been invited to curate a program of films culled from the extensive collection of the UCLA Film Archive. His choices include On Dangerous Ground, Make Way for Tomorrow, Ministry of Fear and a slew of his own short films, all of which will screen over the next couple of weeks. But tonight Maddin......

UPDATE: FUCK YEAH! I have confirmation from an unnamed but reliable source that Quentin Tarantino will indeed be programming the New Beverly for March & April. It's no rumor. It's reality. Rumor has it that Quentin Tarantino himself will be taking over programming at revival house The New Beverly for March and April as a way to promote the upcoming release of Grindhouse, which hits theaters on April 6. Supposedly the Q-Man will be showing......

Not that Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez need any free publicity, but you gotta love the 1970s-style color palette and cheeseball film effects of the Grind House trailer -- complete with Josh Brolin looking like a young Jeff Bridges, Danny Trejo as the badass knife-sharpening Machete, Tom Savini as a shotgun-wielding sheriff's deputy and Rose McGowan as an amputee stripper with a machine gun for a shin.......