Kevin Lucia's Blog, page 5

Text and Subtext 53: Fatal Games

This is an interesting one, with - unfortunately - a bit of problematic reveal at the end. A bunch of Olympic hopefuls (who are being experimented on and dosed with steroids by a whole team of doctors) are getting picked off one by one, as soon as they qualify for the next round of competition. There are some pretty inventive kills, and a decent amount of suspense. However, the ending reveal is…well, tone-deaf at best, transphobic at the worst. Which is actually, unfortunately, on par for the 80s. In any case, it’s mostly an enteraining movie. Check it out on Shudder.

The Night Driver

5.

For three years we traveled all over to watch DIRT racing, most specifically in Northern Pennsylvania and upstate New York. We returned to Penn Can multiple times, always staying at The Motel 6, and added to our retinue Weedsport, Fonda, Thunder Mountain, Afton Speedway, the New York State Fair, Gasoline Valley, and Oswego Raceway – a mixture of plain, pedestrian racing and more bombastic, Carnivalesque affairs.

Back then these tracks belonged to the NY-PENN DIRT Federation, a loose association of DIRT race tracks. At the end of every racing season there was a season championship. Our first two years, the championships were held at Fonda and the New York State Fair, respectively. That third year – that fateful year – for some unknown they were held at Five Mile Speedway, in the small Adirondack town of Clifton Heights. Having never traveled to the Adirondacks specifically, or Five Mile Speedway, Gabe and I were excited to add another track to our retinue.

If only I’d known what was waiting for us, there.

If only.

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Text and Subtext 52: Stage Fright

This…was an odd one. An escaped mental patient terrorizes a play about a…serial killer. You’d think there’d be a chance for some meta here, but there really isn’t much. The killer picks off stage members and actors one by one, and some of them are so insufferable - especially the director - you’re sorta happy they’re dead. Anyway, check it out on Tubi.

The Night Driver

4.

As we checked in at the Motel 6, a guilty little part of me inside hoped maybe Gabe would change his mind about going to Penn Can. Maybe he’d be too tired from the drive (fat chance) or too hungry, and would just want to eat dinner instead. Maybe he’d rather watch some NASCAR on ESPN2, which we could probably stream on my laptop. A part of me (shamefully) even toyed with telling him I was too tired, that I needed to turn in early after the day’s driving.

I couldn’t do that, of course. Gabe and I lived for racing. It was our bond. If he wanted to go see his first dirt track race, that’s what we were going to do, my discomfort (fear?) be damned. And besides, it wasn’t like I’d ever told him exactly how my father – his grandfather – died. He knew his granddad had died in a racing accident, and that was it. He didn’t know that’s why I’d never taken him to a dirt track before; because that’s where my dad died. I certainly wasn’t going to penalize him for something he knew nothing about.

So, we checked in, unpacked, and as Gabe’s excitement about going to Penn Can grew, I screwed up my courage and decided to suck it up for my boy.

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Text and Subtext 51: Cemetery Man

This is a delightfully off-beat and wacky horror comedy about a guy who lives in a cemetery and is in charge of dispatching the dead when they rise again, which happens with frightening regularity; so often, in fact, it’s simply as much a part of his job as digging graves. At the beginning of the movie he’s content with his lot in life, but as the movie progresses and he hits one stumbling block after another in his search for love, he wonders if there’s anything more out there for him. This one is kinda bananas, and that’s a great thing. Currently streaming on Shudder.

Movie Watch Party!

Remember! Tonight, 7 PM EST, a movie watch to celebrate the release of my latest collection, WHEN THE LIGHTS GO OUT! We'll be watching an 80s favorite of mine, DEMON WIND!

It's easy to join. Make a free account with Kast when you click on the link. After that, all you need is a computer with a camera! Or don't turn your camera on, if you don't want. Whatever works for you!

See you tonight!

https://s.kast.gg/party/release-part

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The Night Driver

3.

DIRT modifieds. That’s what we’d come to Clifton Heights to see. We’d only discovered them about three years prior, on our way to a NASCAR race in Watkins Glen, New York. On the road Friday afternoon, we decided to stop for the night in the very small town of Great Bend, Pennsylvania. I’m not even sure it can be called a proper town, really. Mostly a collection of side-streets off the interstate, two gas stations, a Subway, Burger King, and a local diner; and then some residential homes along “Main Street” (which was really just Route 11 South). Great Bend makes Clifton Heights look like a sprawling metropolis.

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Text and Subtext 50: Evil Laugh

I love it when I discover gems like this, horror movies which were meta and self-aware before it was in vogue, long before the Scream franchise. Despite it’s rather corny title and premise (the killer utters a creaking evil laugh before he kills people), this is an incredibly self-aware horror movie about an killer stalking people in a mansion they’re renovating into a medical treatment center. We have the requisite horror-obsessed character who’s constantly reading Fangoria and name-dropping Halloween, Friday the 13th, and other horror staples, and he serves as this movie’s “Randy” (horror obsessed character in Scream 1 & 2), constantly warning everyone of the danger they’re in, because he’s seen this horror movie - and he doesn’t want to end up a cliche victim. And the ending is kind of a hoot, honestly. Check it out now, on Tubi.

The Night Driver

1.

I don’t expect anyone to believe the story I’m about to tell. Honestly, even after all these years, I’m not sure what to believe, myself. Not completely, anyway.

Here’s what I do know.

Something happened, that weekend twenty years ago, in the small Adirondack town of Clifton Heights, New York. Something which I can’t explain. Not rationally, anyway. But something happened. And that’s about all I know.

Well.

That’s not exactly true, is it? I do know something else. And that’s this: I don’t have much time left. I’m in good health, and there’s no reason to expect any tragedy or misfortune...and yet, I’m near the end of my road. I know this. Can feel it in my bones. I don’t regret a single thing about it, and if I had to do it all over again, I’d make the same choice. Even so, if I want to finish this in time...I’d better get started.

So.

Here goes.

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Support Dead Format

I’m sitting here, watching Fever Lake (starring Bo Hopkins, Corey Haim, and Mario Lopez), and I’m a Tubi 80s/90s VHS horror movie junkie, so it seemed like a great idea to write a quick post asking folks to support Mike Lombardo’s Indiegogo for his newest film project, Dead Format. Check out Mike’s video below, and then my video after.