Monday, October 21, 2013

A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku - Day #21 HORROR MOVIE HIPSTERS... GIVE ROKU A BOOSTER & BE SURE TO ADD VIEWSTER, THIS HALLOWE'EN !!!





Welcome back once more, Boils & Ghouls !!



There's now just ten days to go in the Countdown To Hallowe'en 2013... but that still leaves time for ten more posts before my month-long blogathon, "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku", comes to an end on October 31st. If you missed the previous instalments, earlier this month, the series began with details of a Hallowe'en ScreamSaver, complete with it's own spooky soundtrack, followed by a Roku channel dedicated to Vintage Horror Classics, then some Hallowe'en "How-To" videos, a Roku channel for fans of the paranormal and then another for devotees of independent horror. After that came a channel dedicated to the open discussion of UFO's and UFO-related activities plus a further selection of Cult Films, Sci-Fi Classics & Vintage Horror. Since then, we've provided details of a Roku channel brimming with creepy cocktail suggestions, another with more classic Hallowe'en movie choices, and then details of a Roku channel that mixes paranormal reality tv shows with powerful documentaries, mysteries, conspiracy theories, UFO's and plenty else besides. The next two instalments saw yet more Horror, Sci-Fi & Fantasy movies on one channel plus some Hallowe'en / Horror-themed music, courtesy of a Roku radio channel, on another. We then brought you details of a live-streaming horror channel, to add yet another dynamic to the Hallowe'en entertainment on your Roku players plus some close encounters of the third kind, courtesy of a Roku channel dedicated to the subject of aliens and UFO's. Add to that two more Roku channels bringing fresh selections of Sci-Fi & Horror Movies plus more "Halloween Horror" films, then another channel with a bunch of J-Horror, K-Horror and every other kind of Asian horror that you can imagine. Then throw in yet another helping of vintage horror movies, together with a whole host of Hallowe'en recipes to add to the macabre menu for your spooktacular soirée, plus a side-order of indie underground horror seasoned with a dash of the weird & paranormal and your plate will be well & truly overflowing with everything we've covered so far in this spooktacular series of Hallowe'en posts !!



Meanwhile here we are with only ten days to go until Hallowe'en and we're still not done with bringing horror to the masses, by streaming it directly into their living rooms, via the Roku player. So, after yesterday's focus on the indie underground horror scene, we're now providing you with details of another Roku channel geared more towards movies and TV series that are hard to find elsewhere, instead of the (perhaps) more obvious choices that are featured on other channels. Suffice to say that, if you're a horror fan looking for something more unusual plus FREE-TO-WATCH, then you'll definitely want to add this channel to your Roku player, as you settle in for some serious streaming, and enjoy even more macabre movie viewing as this Hallowe'en season continues !!








It probably comes as no surprise to you, that this TV Series & Movie-based Roku channel can be found in the "Film & TV" genre (i.e. category) of the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store (or, "Movies & TV", for those of you in the USA). Generally speaking, the 'Viewster' channel on Roku provides an assortment of hard-to-find Movies & TV Series: made up of original programming, as well as foreign movies, plus "Festival Darlings" & more, across multiple genres. With categories ranging from things like Action & Adventure to Thrillers, Classics to Romance, Comedy to Drama, Crime & Gangster to Festival Darlings, Sci-Fi & Fantasy to Horror, Bollywood to Western, or Anime & Animation to War, PLUS Foreign Language Films (e.g. French & Spanish), Music & Musicals, Documentary, Sports & more, you'll never be hard-pushed to find something that suits your taste. As such, you can expect to see anything from the modern homage to classic film noir that is thriller short "The Rules" (2008), to the mystery, drama & romance of indie film "Misguided Angel" (1998), written & directed by Stefan Jäger, to the gripping tale of microbes, medicine & money that is documentary film "Under Our Skin" (2008), directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson, which exposes the hidden story behind the controversial & fast-growing 'Lyme Disease' epidemic, or the film noir classic by Carol Wood, "The Third Man" (1949), starring Orson Welles. Then again, you might prefer to watch the documentary "Strong Bodies Fight" (2011) about the efforts of the Notre Dame Boxing Team to fight poverty in Bangladesh through it's annual charity tournament, "The Bengal Bouts", or (perhaps) enjoy the comedy classic "Brandy For The Parson" (1952), a brandy-smuggling crime caper starring James Donald, Kenneth More, Charles Hawtrey, Jean Lodge & Alfie Bass. Either way, the movies are ALL FREE-TO-WATCH and, although that means seeing them on an ad-supported basis, it's better to sit through a few commercials, and save your money for some popcorn, so you can then watch any or all of these films for FREE !!



Obviously, having multiple genres to choose from in the main menu of the 'Viewster' channel means that not all of the included content is relevant to this post. As I mentioned before, there are other loosely relevant genres included (such as Thriller or Crime & Gangster, or perhaps even Action & Adventure or Comedy) in which you might discover an otherwise hard-to-find movie or TV series that grabs you BUT, sticking to the general theme of Hallowe'en, the (current) selections to be found in the "Horror" genre (i.e. category) of the 'Viewster' channel on UK Roku player (incl. IMDB links) are as follows:-






Of course, if you've been following my series of posts throughout this month, then you will already know that my top recommendations here would be the likes of "Nosferatu" (1922), by F. W. Murnau, or "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968) by George A. Romero, closely followed by Rupert Julian's "The Phantom Of The Opera" (1925). Other standouts that I've mentioned before are Herk Harvey's "Carnival Of Souls" (1962) and John S. Roberton's "Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde" (1920) plus, of course, "Horror Hotel" [aka "City Of The Dead"] (1960) by John Llewellyn Moxey and, not forgetting, Victor Halperin's "White Zombie" (1932). Before I go any further, IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THOSE YET, then YOU REALLY SHOULD make the time to WATCH THEM over this Hallowe'en season. Aside from those films, my own PICK OF THE BUNCH, from the remaining horror movies listed here WOULD HAVE TO BE... the much more recent "Cropsey" (2009) which was directed by Barbara Brancaccio and Joshua Zeman, or perhaps the anthology of short films that is packaged under the collective title of "The Horror Vault 2" from that same year. Other than that, I'd also recommend: "Lucas Booth: Journey To Unknown" (2009), starring none other than Wes Craven, plus; Ron Bonk's film "Clay" from 2007, and perhaps; "Video X: Evidence" (2003), directed by James D. Mortellaro. Some of you might go for the 'torture porn' of "Erza: Fear Of A Faceless God" (2009), directed by Hugo Fernandez, although others (I'm sure) will find it torture to watch !! Failing that you could always give the thriller "Dark Awakening" (2007), directed by Billy Senese, a try or (maybe) Steven James Creazzo's "No Place Like Home" (2008) which adds a bit of a mystery element into the mix !! On the other end of the scale, THE ONE'S TO AVOID ARE... definitely the likes of the Vince D'Amato film, "Vampires vs. Zombies" (2004), later known as "Carmilla, The Lesbian Vampire", plus; another howler from that year, called "Unearthed", which was directed by Craig Kovach, as well as; the equally awful "Way Of The Vampire" (2005) directed by Sarah N. Bruce and Eduardo Durão. Other stinkers that could probably do with a miss are "Marina Monster" (2008) by Christine Whitlock, and "Stupid Teenagers Must Die" (2006), directed by Jeff C. Smith. Believe me, I could easily carry on naming more... but, I won't. Instead, if you'd like other recommendations from this list for you to watch, or to avoid (if you prefer), just leave a comment and I'll suggest a few. Still, love them or loathe them, these movies will ensure you have plenty of ways to pass the time between my daily doses of Roku-related Hallowe'en horror in "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku" and, at the same time, satisfy your appetite for more horror movies in the build-up to Hallowe'en !!



It may further interest you to know that, according to the channel description for the 'Viewster' channel, taken from the Official Roku Website, the content providers are also responsible for the development of the 'Viewster' channel on Roku. So, obviously, their talents don't just end with providing a FREE catalog of TV-Series & Movies to fulfil your television & movie-watching needs !! Anyway, if you'd like to discover more about 'Viewster', you can visit their Official Website VIA THIS LINK. There's even a dedicated page on their website for the 'Horror' category, which can be FOUND HERE, where you can not only BROWSE ALL MOVIES & TV-SHOWS and see all of the latest additions to the genre, but also VIEW TRAILERS & SCENES plus there's the additional facility for you to WATCH ANY MOVIE ONLINE if you so choose !! Meanwhile, you can easily connect with 'Viewster' via their Twitter Feed: @Viewster or else, get social through: Viewster (Facebook)



For those of you with mobile devices, which I'd imagine is pretty much everyone these days, there is also the ADDED BONUS OF FREE MOBILE APPS for the 'Viewster' channel which means that, whenever you're away from your Roku player, you can still watch your chosen horror flicks wherever you go... provided there is WiFi access (of course) !! Should you wish to take advantage of these FREE downloadable 'Viewster' apps, they are available for either iOS, if you have an Apple mobile device (e.g. iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch), or an Android mobile device. If you'd like to install either of the 'Viewster' apps on your device(s), you can download them using the relevant link(s) below:- 




If you have an Apple mobile device (running iOS 5.0 or later)...




Or, for those of you with Android mobile devices (running Android 4.0 and up)...





In the meantime, anyone wishing to add this channel to the Hallowe'en-themed entertainment on their Roku player(s) is going to have to do so by navigating to the "Film & TV" genre  (i.e. category) of the "Official" Roku UK Channel Store on their streaming media player (or, "Movies & TV", for those in the USA). The reason for this is that the ACCESS / VANITY / INVITATION CODE for this channel REMAINS UNKNOWN, having yet to be made public via any of the usual sources. Sadly this means that, if you are unable to access the Channel Store on your device at this precise moment, you will not be able to add the channel by simply LOGGING-IN to your Online Roku Account, scrolling down to the 'Manage Account' section, and using the "Add a Private Channel" option to take care of things using an ACCESS / VANITY / INVITATION CODE. Sorry about that !!



Anyway, that's pretty much all there is to it, except to point out that the 'Viewster' channel has been given an average score of "3.5 out of 5" from 1, 720 ratings (so far) in the channel store description from the Official Roku Website. That statistic alone should be reason enough to give this a try, never mind that ALL FILMS ARE FREE TO WATCH too (even if they are ad-supported) !!



Having said that, if this particular Hallowe'en / Horror themed Roku channel was not to your liking then FEAR NOT because there will be another one featured in tomorrow's post, continuing the month-long blogathon that is: "A MummyVision Guide To Hallowe'en On Roku"which will bring you more devilish delights EACH AND EVERY DAY from now UNTIL HALLOWE'EN and when you're done with this blog, don't forget to visit the other contributors to the 2013 Countdown To Hallowe'en and see what Hallowe'en treats they have in store for you between now and 31st October !!



Fangs again, for stopping by !!




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