New Fright-Rags tees!

FRIGHT-RAGS continues to bring the awesome with three new t-shirt designs inspired by CREEPSHOW, HIGH TENSION, and SLAUGHTER HIGH! On top of that, they have temporarily brought six classic designs back from the dead, have a good selection of shirts on clearance (select shirts are 35% off - CLICK HERE!) and (surprisingly) still have some leftovers from their Limited Edition release of THE THING! (A damned  beautiful shirt that really SHOULD be a poster design methinks.) There's something for everyone over at Fright-Rags HQ; hopefully you have some spare cash, or a credit card that isn't yet maxed, so you can revel in the glory of some Fright-Rags tees! Check out the newest designs below:

Did you know: The movie High Tension has nothing to do with high-tension wires?

Ever notice that the word SLAUGHTER contains LAUGHTER?

The Raid: Roach-demption

Each shirt is $21.95 and comes in all sizes (S - 5XL) and would look insanely awesome on YOU! Don't actually see anything you like here? Well there may be some cool new designs coming in March that you'll just have to have! There are hints at: A LEPRECHAUN-themed tee (just in time for St. Paddy's Day), an APRIL FOOL'S DAY tee, a FREDDY VS. JASON (limited edition) tee, a new CHRISTINE t-shirt design, and a few other goodies.

This is all conjecture on my part based off of an e-mail received from the Fright-Rags mailing list, so when I get official details, I'll type up a quick post and confirm (or discredit) my guesses! I'm pretty damned sure I'm right on, though I am perplexed by the "we're going on a tour of destruction with the ultimate band of killers" portion of the MARCH MADNESS teaser.... Band of killers? Could they have an original design featuring all of our fave slasher villains in a rock group? I guess we'll all find out soon enough!

'The Thing' opens to frosty reviews

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

The Thing has opened in US cinemas today with critics failing to warm to the Antarctic-set sci-fi horror prequel. John Carpenter’s 1982 movie of the same name is regarded as a classic of its genre - a perfect movie - and so a frosty critical reception for this new version was to be expected.

Variety notes that, “Apart from [Mary Elizabeth] Winstead's flamethrower-toting paleontologist, bravely battling an extraterrestrial menace that hides inside its human prey, this unfrighteningly icky "Thing" is memorable mainly for illustrating CGI's gross deficiencies relative to old-fashioned makeup f/x.”

Slant Magazine was also unimpressed, finding the movie to be sorely lacking the tension of the 1982 version:

“Rather than attempt to recreate the precarious mix of psychological tension and gore struck by Carpenter's version, The Thing favors the latter, maintaining a sideline interest in suspense but no real devotion to prolonging it.”

The filmmakers can take solace in Salon’s review, however, which describes the movie as “a lovingly constructed tribute and companion to Carpenter’s 'Thing,' not a knockoff or a replica. It’s full of chills and thrills and isolated Antarctic atmosphere and terrific Hieronymus Bosch creature effects, and if it winks genially at the plot twists of Carpenter’s film, it never feels even a little like some kind of inside joke."

Not terrible, then, by any means – but perhaps a little redundant. Check back here at Silver Screen Saucers in a few days for a box-office report, and for more critics’ reviews of The Thing, head on over to Rotten Tomatoes.

Avengers Trailer is GO + New FRIGHT-RAGS tees!

Been a while since I posted anything, so here's a dose of awesome to kick off your Tuesday. First up, the 100% official trailer for next May's THE AVENGERS has hit the web and it looks amazing! Robert Downey Jr. looks like he'll be bringing his A-game as Tony Stark, and will provide a good foil for fellow Avenger Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America. Check out this trailer and get excited:

CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT! 

(Video was too big to embed on my blog.)

Now for something more holiday oriented. Those magnificent folks over at Fright-Rags have released SIX new horror-themed tees that are cool as hell, plus they are briefly re-releasing their much-loved "We Belong Alive" shirt design. All sales of that shirt will be donated to the ongoing war against breast cancer. (Forget saving the whales; save the boobies!) Check out the designs below then pony up some dough before they are gone!

Buy this for a very good cause.

"I'm gonna sleep in your bloody carcasses tonight!"

Laid to Rest 2: Electric Boogaloo

Is there someTHING in my teeth?!

Your bones will stay crunchy in milk!

The chocolatey goodness will drive you MAD!

Snap, Crackle, BRAIIIIINS!

All shirts are $19.95 (plus shipping and handline), except for the extremely limited (200 shirts only) Rue Morgue THING tee and the limited edition "We Belong Alive" design. Both of those bad boys are $24.95 apiece, and well worth it!

Well that's it for today b-movie fans. I'm going to try and get off my lazy arse and get some new content up on the site soon (this is after all, my month to shine). I'm thinking a few new reviews and maybe a podcast on the main site, along with some fresh new content here at the main Vault blog and over at Genre Watch, The Casual Gaming Blog, and The Riff Brothers should sate you as October rolls onward. Check back soon for new stuff and if you haven't started watching Horror flicks daily, you best start because there's only "twenty more days 'til Hall-o-ween! SIL-VER SHAM-ROCK!"

'The Thing': new featurette

Silver Screen Saucers

Contains new footage and interviews with the stars...

‘The Thing’ prequel: news round-up

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

A new Russian poster for the 2011 prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi horror The Thing offers a glimpse of the craft that brought the alien beastie to Earth...

Also, a new clip of the movie reveals yet more mimicry of John Carpenter’s original...

Meanwhile, writing for the UK Guardian, Ben Child does not have high hopes for the prequel, noting that the director, Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., “hardly has the pedigree of a The Thing-era Carpenter, being best known as a director of car commercials,” adding, “Hollywood is not quite what it was in 1982.”

Considering 1982 gave us not only The Thing, but also E.T. and Blade Runner in the sci-fi genre alone, it’s hard to disagree.

'The Thing': new red-band trailer

Silver Screen Saucers

WARNING: contains violence, gore and potential plot-spoilers...

'The Thing' 2011: 'chilling' new footage

Silver Screen Saucers

Empire Online reports on the forthcoming prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi/horror classic, The Thing, providing a fresh clip of the movie for your viewing pleasure (see below).

"This story picks up a thread briefly touched on in the [original] Thing, wherein we learn that the alien had been discovered under the Antarctic ice, deep-frozen, and brought inside by the staff of a Norwegian Antarctic base. Given the havoc it wreaked in John Carpenter's film, it's no spoiler to say that not all of them would, with hindsight, describe the decision to bring the thing indoors as a good one."

Although billed as a prequel (which, technically, it is), judging by its trailer, in terms of both style and content The Thing looks to be more of a straight remake of Carpenter's 1982 version.

The Thing (2011)...

The Thing (1982)...

The Thing prequel (2011) stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton and Eric Christian Olsen. It will hit US cinemas on October 14. UK cinemas December 2.

'The Thing' trailer

The trailer for The Thing prequel has arrived...

Though by the looks of it, it's not so much a prequel as it is a straight remake.

'The Thing' prequel poster

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

The prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 sci-fi/horror masterpiece, The Thing - also entitled The Thing - is due for release in the U.S. this October.

The new film's plot will not differ significantly from that of the 1982 version, which saw a group of American scientists at a remote research outpost in the Antarctic stumble across a parasitic alien with the ability to mimic any living creature. The prequel will show what happened at the neighboring Norwegian research outpost shortly prior to the events of Carpenter's movie.

The sense of dread and paranoia conjured by Carpenter in his original The Thing arguably has not been matched since in the genre (or, indeed, in any genre), so this winter's offering - directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead - has much to live up to.