Trailer: KRAMPUS (1958) will take care of the naughty children

Sadly, this "lost" Christmas horror film doesn't actually exist, but dang, it'd be a lot cooler if it did.  The faux traler is from Midnight Crew Studios, makers of the impressive WNUF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL.

Evening Entertainment: Holiday BumperJam 2014

Rob Dean and Kyle Johnson's hour-long mixtape of Christmas specials and holiday-themed content that serves as a "greatest hits" package of noelly goodness.  I've tried not to replicate anything they used on this site, but it's tough when it comes from all this stuff - and, what, I'm NOT going to include Jan Terri?  No, Jan Terri shall be everywhere at all times, as the gods intended.


Holiday BumperJam 2014 from Neurotic Monkey on Vimeo.

A fan film following up on the CRITTERS franchise that serves as a pitch for WB's upcoming web series

It's tough to keep up with all the newer fan films based on established characters, as there's just so dang many of 'em, but Jordan Downey's deserves your eyeballs because (1) it's well-made, looks professional and respects the rules of the franchise it follows and (2) is a follow-up to the CRITTERS movies, a franchise that isn't exactly known for its devoted roster of fans that create original content.  The six minute short is pretty much all set-up, but it seems to have a fine regard for the world that the original four films had established.  Here's CRITTERS: BOUNTY HUNTER, just in time for Crites-mas.

Evening Entertainment: "No Small Parts" looks at the life and career of Warwick Davis

Warwick Davis has been a notable figure in genre film since playing Wicket the Ewok in RETURN OF THE JEDI, no matter how many layers of make-up his face is covered in.  The latest episode of "No Small Parts" looks at Davis and his career, and serves as a fitting mini-biography of underappreciated figure.

Afternoon Music Video: Guy Pearce's "Fly All the Way"

I wasn't sure what to expect from the first video from MEMENTO, L.A. CONFIDENTIAL and PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT star Guy Pearce, but I don't think it would have been this, an increasingly bizarre (and disturbing) video featuring Pearce is a wide variety of pitchmen.  It's pitched with just a little more obvious self-awareness than an Eric Wareheim music video, but Tim White's journey into the land of the weird is certainly a compelling one.

(Thanks, Nerdist!)

Morning Music Video: Elysian Fields - "Channeling"

Start the day with some magic musical mushrooms.  There's a hell of a lot of visual crazy going on in Steven Mertens' music video, but it's the sort of crazy that works beautifully with Elysian Fields' groovy track.


Elysian Fields - Channeling from Steven Mertens on Vimeo.

PES makes a submarine sandwich

The idea of making things look like other things may seem like an easy trick, especially in the hands of PES, the animator behind great shorts like FRESH GUACAMOLE and KABOOM!.  In his latest, a butcher puts together a submarine sandwich out of decidedly non-sandwich items.  It's two minutes well spent.

Afternoon Music Video: Public Service Broadcasting- "Gagarin"

Public Service Broadcasting may be more well-known for their more instrumental, Man or Astroman?-ish sound, but this dancier, brassier track points in a more club-friendly direction.  There's still plenty of influence coming from vintage ephemera culture, though, utilizing BFI National Archive video and audio to add to the visual of dancing astronauts.

Afternoon Music Video: Fur Trade - "Same Temptation" feauring Bat Boy

What ever happened to Bat Boy, the creature whose exploits were chronicled in the pages of the Weekly World News (and the comic strip by Peter Bagge)?  This video directed by Kheaven Lewandowski tells his tragic tale with a well-rendered B&W that pitches the story right on the edge of sincere and camp.

Music Video: The Decemberists' "Make You Better" directed by TAPEHEADS' Bill Fishman, with Nick Offerman

A relatively low-key song for the indie folk band, off of their latest album, but the video's great, an entertaining take on vintage music shows, directed by TAPEHEADS' Bill Fishman and featuring host Nick Offerman as the band performs in his '70s-era, "Midnight Special"-esque TV series called "The Old Blue Rock Palace Show."  (Fishman also directed the great music videos for Bootsy Collins' "Party on Plastic" and The Ramones' "I Wanna Be Sedated.")

Afternoon Music Video: The Slow Poisoner's "Hot Rod Worm"

Stop motion animation (courtesy Michael Granberry), vibrant colors and a rockabilly vibe come together for a great wild ride in this little flick about, well, a hot rod worm co-directed by “The Bridge” co-author John Skipp.

TOO MANY COOKS + kittens = TOO MANY KITS = A Thing That Should Not Be

Y'know, I think of myself as a "glass half-full" kinda guy.  I genuinely enjoy everything that I put up on Watch This Thing unironically - even the most ridiculous stuff, because they create their own little world with a distorted, glorious logic all their own.  I don't like pointing out things that are so genuinely bad that they have to be made an example of.

But then there's this.  I'd call it a "parody" of the hit online sensation TOO MANY COOKS, but that seems like it overshoots the film's ambitions.  It just takes the concept of TOO MANY COOKS, adds some cute cats, adds some "funny," "random" names and hopes for... what, exactly?  What is this for?  WHO is this for?  Surrealist kitten fanatics who really feel the need to have an online in-joke stripped to its most basic, dumbest core?  Is it, in itself, an experiment in meta-humor on how you can basically just slam two concepts together and hope for the best?  It's honestly horrible and awful and a terrible idea and I'm oddly fascinated by its mere existence. 

"The Pet collective" isn't some deranged cat lady who watches the hell out of Adult Swim in between changing her dozen litter boxes, by the way.  It's a megalith in the cute pet video market, sporting over 400,000 YouTube subscribers and over 250,000 Facebook fans.  They've also made half-assed versions of DIE HARD, GONE GIRL and SCREAM with pets, in which the idea isn't any more well-developed than "let's put cute pets into some scenes from a movie everyone knows."

It's a strange world.

Jinkx Monsoon delivers a deranged kitty litter-themed kiddie party in a music video cover of Radiohead's "Creep"

Monsoon, the winner of season five of "RuPaul's Drag Race," delivers Tidy Cat Harley Quinn realness in a cover of Radiohead's song, delivering a version that's twisted in a way completely different from the multiple other covers of the song that have cropped up since its' first release.

Watch This Thing - Stop-motion animated video for Herb Alpert's "Chattanooga Choo Choo"

Yes, seriously.  79-year-old Alpert, best known for his albums with the Tijuana Bass, recorded a version of 73-year-old song and issued an animated music video for it, and it's.. pretty great and full of shoe-tapping goodness?  

Watch This Thing - Vintage VHS trailer for CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Utilizing some classic flicks and well-placed effects, Frank Ireland's "vintage" VHS trailer re-imagines CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER as a late '80s Cannon flick, and it looks just as entertaining as the actual film.  Who knows, the movie might have been improved with the addition of Jeff Fahey.  (What wouldn't?)  Albert Pyun couldn't have done better.

Watch This Thing - Banditas' "When He Comes Home"

A picture-perfect evening for a picture-perfect '50s family quickly becomes less than perfect thanks to the hubby's infidelity in Ben Phillippo's creepy, twisted video for Banditas' garagey , mean rumble of a track.

Watch This Thing - Low-fi music video for Cloud Nothings' "Now Hear In"

You can go two routes when making a retro music video correctly -- you can try to use old-style visual effects to create an eye-popping spectacle with newer visual trickery and HD styling (BRTHR does this masterfully) or you can do as authentic as possible, making something that genuinely seems like it could have aired on MTV late at night in 1989. Jordan Blackmon's video for Cleveland-based Cloud Nothings' track goes the latter low-fi route, which makes sense, as the song is pure garagey indie rock goodness.

Watch This Thing - The mock trailer for THEY STOLE THE POPE'S BLOOD

I do enjoy a good mock trailer, and this one, for a film "banned in 47 countries, but especially in Peru" fits the bill. THEY STOLE THE POPE'S BLOOD is a tale of papal intrigue full of ridiculous plot twists, bad dubbing, and just a hint of religious satire. It's also a blaxploitation film. And a Mexican wrestling film. And a science fiction film with a robot. Or something. Written by Michael Varrati, who also wrote the recent TALES OF POE anthology.

Watch This Thing - A breakneck pace of perfect shots in the music video for Tiga's "Bugatti"

This is the sort of hypnotic image combination that electronic dance music is made for, and the video is a perfect companion to the song. Mildly NSFW, but deserves attention as a work of just being a great fusion of audio and video.

Watch This Thing - Famous album covers come to life in this fantastic video for Roy Kafri's "Mayokero"

Kafri and artist Vania Heymann collaborated on this short, which not only cleverly animates famous album covers to reflect the music it features, but also tells a  compelling story of "outdated" technology. Keep your records, kids!