Throwback Thursday: The Lost Boys (1987)

Credit: imdb.com

“Sleep all day party all night. Never grow old, never die. It’s fun to be a vampire”. Is the motto for this horrifyingly humorous movie. Teenagers Sam (Corey Haim) and older brother Michael (Jason Patric) are moving with their now divorced mother, Lucy (Dianne Wiest) to the Californian beach town of Santa Carla. They move in with Lucy’s father (Bernard Hughes) who is a rather peculiar man. He collects all sorts of strange items…. The two brothers soon go out in the town to explore the wonders of their new home….


The family goes down to the boardwalk, and the brothers go to watch some music. Lucy finds a boy who is lost, and takes him into the video store. She asks the clerk if he can help her. At that moment the boy’s mother walks in. She thanks her, and the clerk admires Lucy, and proceeds to get her a job at his store. While watching the concert, Michael spots a rather attractive woman by the name of Star (Jami Gertz). Michael and Star make eye contact, but she soon walks away. Michael isn’t going to let her get away obviously, so he chases after her. At that time, Sam is at a comic book store, where he meets two peculiar boys, Edgar and Allan Frog. (Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander) They give Sam a vampire comic, and say that it will save his life. The brothers they say are also vampire hunters, and will stop at nothing till they are all dead.

Michael finally catches up to Star and things aren’t looking good for him. Star hops on the back of a motorcycle belonging to a punk-rocker looking man. This man is David, (Kiefer Sutherland) and his gang. They drive off into the night. The next time Michael goes to the boardwalk, he buys a leather jacket, and once again goes looking for Star. He follows her again, and finally gets a chance to talk to her. He asks her to dinner, and they proceed to leave when they are unfortunately greeted by David and his gang. David tells Star to get on the motorcycle and leave. Michael of course isn’t going to let that happen. David tells Michael to follow him to a location on the beach. Michael accepts it, and they all take a wild ride on the beach. They finally get to the destination. It is a giant cave full of dark things. David gives Michael a wine bottle. Star says to not drink it, and that it is blood. David does not listen, and proceeds to drink it. They make Michael do other daring things throughout the night, such as hang from a bridge and let go, which as Michael is falling he wakes up in his bed.

Sam is back home taking a bath, when Michael starts feeling a very deep pain in his chest. He walks up the stairs and attempts to attack Sam. Their dog defends Sam and bites Michael’s hand. Sam immediately questions him, and realizes that Michael’s reflection in the mirror is glowing, and that he is a vampire. Sam is petrified, and locks his room. A massive chain of events unfolds until they get to the final battle, with a twist you never saw (or maybe) coming.

By far not the best movie ever, but it is still one of my personal favorites, and I say that for many reasons. An all-star cast and well-written script is one reason. The Frog brothers’ sense of humor always makes you smile, and their courage is also great to watch. Finally, this is about blood-sucking neck eating vampires, not the awful, mediocre, sparkly vampires (if you can even call them that) these vampires have a sense of persuasion, strangeness, humor, creepiness, and pure awesomeness that all fans of horror can enjoy.

Reimagination 2014: The Meetup

Written By: William Lieb, Reimagine Media
Photographs: Alexander Popichak, Reimagine Media

GM Abby Goldstein talks to the
Reimagination Participants

The bands of Reimagination 2014 came to an introductory meeting for the Reimagination CD project. After an introduction by WYEP General Manager Abby Goldstein and Greg Joseph of the Clarks, the bands met with their producers to discuss rehearsal schedules and to better understand the recording process.

The Artists for the CD are:

The artists and producers of the Reimagination CD

• Pachyderm
• Prinse Tay
• The Options
• Driven Lifeless
• Grace Tandon
• Swag Monkeys
• Hat Co.
• FYFS
• William Forest
• Jessica Bitsura

Jessica Bitsura and Grace Tandon meet with producer Joy Ives

The bands seemed excited and energetic to get started. Recordings will be done at Church Recording Studios. Things have been temporarily set back due to an electrical fire at the facility, but the CD project is still moving forward and Church Recording Studios is excited to be a part of the project. Stay Tuned for Updates!








William Lieb is a WYEP Reimagine Media Contributor from Peters Township
Alexander Popichak is a WYEP Reimagine Media Contributor and Photographer from the Carlynton School District

If you are interested in contributing to Reimagine Media, please contact Matthew Spangler at matthew@wyep.org or Alex Woodring at alex@wyep.org

Throwback Thursdays: Puppet Master

Submitted by John Cantwell, Reimagine Media

Cheesy, strange, terrible effects, eighties music, and absolute humor dissonance. Puppet Master is a cheesy classic with some of the most memorable scenes in horror history. (If you like amazing terrible classics like this….) It starts off in a hotel in the year 1939 with an elderly puppet master Andre Toulon giving finishing touches on a puppet. Well, the touches are not just painting… He has a peculiar power which can make objects (puppets in this case) come to life. Meanwhile, two Nazis are tracking him down to find out more information on his power. Toulon knows they are coming, and decides to hide his creations in a secret compartment in a wall. The Nazis finally arrive to his room, and Toulon pulls out a pistol. As they walk through the door, he puts the gun in his mouth, and kills himself.

It then switches gears into the year 1989, four psychics believe that they have all received visions of a deceased colleague, who they think discovered Andre Toulon’s hidden secret. All of their visions consist him pointing a gun to a woman’s head. They all decide to go to the hotel where it all happened. They meet their colleague’s widow, who strangely is the woman from their visions. The widow still has her husband’s body in a casket. They observe the body, which they stab a needle into make sure he is dead. They all decide to go to bed, when strange things happen….. It is all still in the night, when all of a sudden, a puppet comes out of the casket! It has an extremely small head, a muscular body, and what appears to be almost human like sized hands. The housekeeper's assistant is taking care of the fireplace, when she hears a faint sound originating from the piano. She goes to see if someone is there, but in usual horror movie fashion, nothing is there. She then goes back to her fire poking duties, until she hears another sound coming from the piano. She looks over again, and you guessed it, NOTHING THERE! She goes back to poke the fire, and the poking stick has disappeared. She is searching for it, until she looks behind her and the human hand puppet is wielding the poker. He then proceeds to hit her in the head with it, and apparently she drops dead with an extremely unnecessary blood spatter on the ground. At the same time, two psychics (which are in a relationship) decide to perform an “experiment” of sorts. The woman looks over to discover that the door is opened… She then hears numerous footsteps from around the room. She decides to look under the bed. She is greeted by a visitor…. This time a puppet with a drill on its head! The puppet begins to “drill” and the woman dies. While the man is still on the bed, he begins to feel a tingling sensation on his torso. He thinks it’s his wife…. It’s not. In fact, it is another newly introduced puppet. But this one is putting leeches on him… He also dies. This brings it down to two more psychics left. One is intruded by oversized hand for one for the most hilarious fight scenes (if you can even call it that) I have seen in any movie. She loses the fight and you guessed it, she dies. This brings us down to only one psychic left, and I am not going to tell you what happens because it practically gives away the whole ending to the movie.

To be honest though, for a “straight to VHS movie”, it truly wasn’t as bad as I thought it was. Of course it was predictable, but you can get over that. The acting surprisingly wasn’t as bad as I would expect. In fact, I have seen worse acting in mainstream horror movies. The puppets movements weren’t bad, they were stop motion, and they actually looked somewhat believable. Not going to lie, for as cheesy as it was, it actually wasn’t that bad of a movie. I feel like the company (Full Moon Studios) did a great job with the budget they had, and pushed it to its limits. Puppet Master is a movie that can be enjoyed by any horror fan, lame scares, mediocre acting, and all around cheesiness, this film can give you a good laugh.

John Cantwell is a WYEP Reimagine Media contributor from the Carlynton School District. 

If you're interested in contributing or joining Reimagine Media, contact Matthew Spangler at matthew@wyep.org.

Throwback Thursdays: Young Frankenstein

Submitted by John Cantwell, Reimagine Media

What is the definitive Horror movie parody you ask? Young Frankenstein is the number one answer. Directed by Mel Brooks, this clever, quick-witted comedy has every element of what a parody should be. Gene Wilder portrays the great-grandson of the insane Dr. Victor Frankenstein.  Frederick Frankenstein is a science teacher at a university, and takes pride in his work. But one thing is, he does not take pride in his ancestry….

Courtesy: http://bookstevebijou.blogspot.com/

When a student asks him a question about how his grandfather attempted re-animation, he got into a fit, and repeated that he was not a Frankenstein. (He calls himself Frawn-ken-steen) As he dismisses class, an elderly man comes up to him, (calls him Frankenstein) and says that he has inherited his grandfather’s castle. He takes up the offer, and leaves immediately.

Once he gets to Transylvania he is greeted by a short, hunched, googly eyed man. The man asks if he is Frederick Frankenstein, and again he says Frawn-ken-steen. The man’s name is Igor, (which he pronounces eyegore) he proceeds to take him to the carriage, as Frederick throws his suitcase in the carriage, he notices that a woman is in there as well, and that he threw his luggage. This woman is Inga, who will accompany him on his experiments. They arrive at the castle and soon realize there is something mysterious about the place…. Dr. Frankenstein finds a hidden entrance that reveals a passage way. This passage leads to his grandfather’s lab.  He goes down to it to find a book on the desk, consisting of his grandfather’s plans for re-animation. He later becomes obsessed, and begins digging up corpses. Then, He tries to re-animate a corpse, and Frankenstein’s monster is alive!

This movie is filled with humor, and has a very funny take on Frankenstein. Everything from clever jokes, to sexual innuendos, to times that make you say, “Did he really just say that?” Proves that this movie is a laugh that will be passed down to generations.

John Cantwell is a WYEP Reimagine Media contributor from the Carlynton School District. If you're interested in contributing or joining Reimagine Media, contact Matthew Spangler at matthew@wyep.org.

Lucky Number 7

Submitted by Alyssa Gephart of the TJ Times:

The iPhone has been a pop culture symbol of change in the modern era, and with the new iOS 7 operating system of the device, Apple has worked to maintain this image with the development of a simpler, easier to use software. After months of waiting since the June announcement of the update, owners of the iPhone 4, 4S, 5, and now the 5C and 5S have access to the software. While owners of iPhones are mostly seen as adaptive to change, some are not. Apple's new OS, when compared to those its iOS6 predecessor, contains drastic changes. Most notable of these is the newly updated, simplistic theme of the home screen and Apple-Created apps (safari, music, weather, clock, ect.). The fresh theme of the device continues with the Control Center, a central hub of settings for the iPhone ranging from brightness control, to a calculator, to a flashlight.

Also accessible from the Control Center is the updated Photos app. The revised application allows users to choose from a variety of different camera functions, such as adding Instagram-esque filters on pictures taken right from your iPhones built in camera. The much needed overhaul of the app allows for greater ease of use, which is a central theme in all Apple updates. Music, an essential component of most portable Apple products, is not forgotten in the update’s attempt at making a simpler and easier to use device. iTunes radio is Apple's newest music-based endeavor, aimed at reducing user dependence upon third party apps such as Pandora and iHeartRadio. While sharing music via radio is prevalent in iOS 7, a new sharing technique has been pioneered by Apple. Proximity sharing, seen in the new Air Drop function, uses Bluetooth technologies to share images, videos, and messages with your contacts and other iPhone 5, 5C, and 5S owners with the touch of a button, all by an encrypted file and without the need for cellular data. Following this theme of low reliance on cellular data is the release of FaceTime Audio, a newly developed addition to the current FaceTime application. FaceTime Audio allows for voice communication over Wi-Fi to other iPhone users with FaceTime, giving consumers the ability for phone-like conversations without having to use minutes or be hassled by providers. Apps such as this which iOS 7 bring with it are the core of the update. Essentially, Apple has seen what its third party application creators have made and said "We can make it better," and they have. The changes found within the 667MB file are radically different than the previous updates to the device, bringing about a new style, new simplicity, and a new outlook for the future of the company. iOS 7 effectively made the future of Apple look ripe.

Album Review: The Carpenter by the Avett Brothers

Album Review By Sammie Garfinkel

The Carpenter Album Art
Source: theavettbrothers.com

Much awaited by devoted fans, The Carpenter comes as a relief for many as it has brought something different for listeners to expect. Those who have listened to the band from its earliest self titled EP in 2000 would confirm this album as the Avett Brothers’ smooth transformation from a somewhat bluegrass folk combo into a soft-rock sound. The band’s newest release, The Carpenter composes its known sweeter sound that listeners know from I and Love and You, but is also able to hold its long standing raw country roots within the harmonies. It is safe to say that the Avett Brothers are pushing forward into a new identity. This album is a testament that reflects the
balance between their pop ambitions and holdings with their traditional bluegrass folk recordings.

The emotionalism of this album depicts what fans love about Avett. The listeners “get took for a ride every time...” with "Down With the Shine", a harmonic confection of their classic banjo-plucking sound and notable songcraft that Avett has so effortlessly created. Life later takes the form of a polite composition of compelling lyrics and a solemn feeling.

Simply put, the theme of death is prominent throughout the Avett Brothers’ work, but is emphasized in this album with a daunting fear. There is also a palpable conflict between good and evil that serves as the somber reminder of the darkness in man.

Scott Avett recently told Rolling Stone, ”I don’t know if the closeness to our hearts that some of these songs have will translate to the people. But I know how impactful and how heavy it is for us.” As a devoted listener, I feel a strong connection at all of their music, but this album especially. There is a sobering truth in the song "February Seven" that encompasses why I love Avett so much: “There's no fortune at the end of the road that has no end, There's no returning to the spoils Once you've spoiled the thought of them, There's no falling back to sleep Once you've woken from the dream, Now I'm rested and I'm ready, I'm rested and I'm ready to begin....”

Sammie Garfinkel is a WYEP 91.3FM intern, as well as a Re(imagine) Media contributor. 

Album Reviews are submitted by the Re(imagine) team to the blog on an individual basis. For more information, or to join the Re(imagine) media team, please email Matthew Spangler at matthew@wyep.org