Random Shocks! This week on the Web, Halloween edition

Cthulhu’s Girlfriend – Dark Beauty Magazine

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Here’s some authentic costumes for Halloween, featured this year, 1980’s movies. checked it out!

http://www.founditemclothing.com/costume-menu.html

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Here’s a look at Ouija Boards for those of you conjuring some Halloween fun.

The Ouija Board and Other Fortune Telling Games

http://www.halloweenforevermore.com/horrific-words-articles/article-the-ouija-board-and-other-fortune-telling-games/

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Party Slashers, directed by Carl Bachmann

Check out this Kickstarter for a new horror-comedy called Party Slashers. There’s a fun scene from the film posted on the page…

kickstarter page:  Party Slashers  —- website: www.partyslashers.com

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Check out the Friday the 13^th/Thriller mix track called: ‘Camp Blood’ by Videogram. YouTube channel at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9PbUi7C4dDQ

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BloodSucka Jones – Could be a fun campy b-movie, if you are so inclined to check it out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKnc0cTBatI

bonus points for the super awesome poster!

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Here’s a nice wall plaque of HP Lovecraft transforming into one of the strange creatures of his stories. (or is it the other way around?)

http://www.blackheartmodels.com/ecommerce/tormented.html for more details.

 

 

Here’s some books and novels to check out:

The Blessed Man and the Witch
by David Dubrow:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ITU5Z7G

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One Undead Step
by Ian McClellan

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00IK9RQV4?tag=authl.it-21

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Black Chaos
zombie anthology from Big Pulp:

http://bigpulp.com

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PUZZLEMAN
by Christopher Alan Broadstone:

Amazon Page

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Coming soon: Journals of Horror, Found fiction in writing…edited by Terry M. West –
Amazon Page

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Great Halloween reading from Horror Novel Reviews.
Check out the One Hellacious Halloween anthology. Amazon link

Go here to win a free poster!

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Another horror short film:

Grave Shivers – by Brett Sims – HP Lovecraft film festival award winner!

http://vimeo.com/100371988

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If you get a chance, check out some of these wonderful creative horror projects. Enjoy!

Our Halloween Traditions: TV Shows – part II

Tales from the Darkside, and some individual episodes from my fave shows, The Odd Couple & The Honeymooners

Tales from the Darkside, episodes:

Halloween Candy and Trick or Treat – These are two episodes that are about Halloween specifically and we watch them every year at this time.

Halloween Candy is about a grumpy old man that won’t give children treats even though his son brings candy for him to hand out. The son urges him to just answer the door for a few hours. After midnight the old man is tormented by a late night trick-or-treat-er, who is actually a goblin.
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Trick or Treat, A rich and stingy banker, who owns the mortgages to almost everyone in town, sets up haunted house effects in his own home. Any child of the town can try to find the mortgage and deeds to their parent’s homes and if they do, their parents are free of debt. None of the children can make it. He is visited by a nasty witch on this particular Halloween, and this time he is the one frightened by the guest. This classic witch is on my previous blog, Scariest Witches in Film.

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Halloween related episodes from some of my fave TV shows:

The Odd Couple – Trapped (the masquerade episode) – Felix and Oscar are on their way to a masquerade party but Oscar never picked up a costume. They decide to go down the basement to find something he can wear and accidentally get locked in.
 

 
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The Honeymooners – The Man from Space – When Alice won’t give Ralph $10 for the Raccoons Lodge annual costume party, Ralph resorts to creating a costume using items around the house.

 

Our Halloween Traditions: TV Shows – part I – The Cartoons

Our Halloween Traditions: TV Shows – The Cartoons

My family’s Halloween traditions include watching some classic TV shows. Naturally, this post is geared toward the whole family so these are generally not too strong.

Every Halloween, and the week leading up to it we like watch these classic family oriented TV shows and specials.

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The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

We watch this every year. Despite knowing every line by heart and seeing it since childhood, it still begins our Halloween tradition. They now have a remastered dvd/blu-ray edition.

The Great Pumpkin on Amazon
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Disney

This 1949 cartoon of the Headless Horseman is a classic. I had seen it as a child and was both frightened and excited by the tale. Ichabod’s creepy ride home, as the sounds of the swamp seem to be calling his name, “Ichabod,” is still potent today. The Headless Horseman song is a classic, sung by Bing Crosby. Check out these great lines:

“With a hip-hop, and a clipity-clop,

He’s out lookin’ for a head to chop!”

What wonderful memories from childhood…

It is currently being sold on DVD as a double feature with another story, Mr. Toad.  The DVD title is The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Each tale is about 25 minutes long.
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The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad on Amazon

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And don’t forget…

Scooby-doo, Where are you?

Anytime of year is good for a few episodes of the original Scooby-Doo, but they are especially appreciated around Halloween. I own all of the early episode on dvd – Scooby-doo, Where are you? Let’s take a ride in the Mystery Van with Shaggy, Scooby, Freddie, Velma and Daphne, have some Scooby-snacks, and maybe catch Red Herring in a plot to scare those meddling kids away!

Some of my fave episodes:
(all with rhyming titles and campy wordplay)

That’s Snow Ghost
Which Witch is Which
What a Night for a Knight
Go Away Ghost Ship
A Clue for Scooby-doo

Scooby-doo, Where are you? on Amazon

Now Showing, On the Big screen, One night only…

If a Movie Theater near you decided to show a Classic Horror film on Halloween Night, what film would you want them to show?

Last year a theater near me decided to show an old classic on Halloween night – That Classic was John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978). Unfortunately, Hurricane Sandy hit a few days prior and most of us had no power, including the theater. Don’t know if they are going to do that again this year because of the bad turn out from last year. But, I hope so!

Okay, so here’s the question, what movie would you like to see on the big screen?

To make it interesting, let’s make it a double feature.

To qualify as classic, the film has to be at least 25 years old. You can pick something that you have never seen in a theater or something you had seen in a theater when you were young and would like to capture that feeling again.

My picks are:

Gojira (1954)
Imagine seeing Big-G on the big screen with the sound systems they have in theaters today? They could even add a little reverb in the scenes when Godzilla attacks the city to get the theater walls rumbling.
 

The Fog (1980)
Hopefully, in William Castle fashion, they would have a fog machine in the theater and every time the fog showed on screen, they would blow fog up the theater aisles, too!

So, what are your ‘Halloween night at the theater’ film picks?

Let me know in the comments…

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Reader’s choices:

Brian from Hard Ticket to Home Video picks:
The Shining (1980) & Jaws 3 in 3D (1983)
 
 

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Eric from The IPC wants to see:
Friday the 13th (1980) and Friday the 13th part II
 
 

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Xenolicker picks Evil Dead 2

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Wonderinggrace would like to see 13 Ghosts and The Exorcist

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Fringevoid picks, Phantasm and Texas Chainsaw Massacre

 

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BeerMovie wants An American Werewolf in London followed by A Nightmare on Elm Street

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Mark from Lasers, Monsters and Barbarians oh, my! picked a Universal classic, Creature From the Black Lagoon, and a lesser known Hammer film, Vampire Circus.

 
 

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Who’s next?

The Horror Movie Watcher… peeves part II

The Horror Movie Watcher… peeves part II
MORE things that annoy me:
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What’s in a name? part I –

The never ending sequel parade. Few sequels are as good as the original. Some franchises work well as a series of movies: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, James Bond, etc. Some do not, but that doesn’t stop Hollywood from riding the cash cow into the dirt. (Halloween, Wrong Turn, Pumpkinhead, Children of the Corn, Hellraiser, Friday the 13^th, Nightmare on Elm) Just say NO! to lousy sequels.

  
  

What’s in a name? part II –

The never ending remake parade. I can see doing a remake if a film was shot on a low budget, was in B&W, or is over 50 years old and can really benefit from an update. War of the Worlds, Ghost Ship, Willard, The Blob, and The Thing (1982), all benefited from remakes. Most movies do not. Some actually infuriated me: The Fog, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Haunting, Carnival of Souls, and Fright Night, are all unwatchable remakes. And, I won’t even mention Evil Dead 2013 again.

   

Tired old themes-

There are some film ideas that should be put to rest forever. Three Musketeers. Tarzan. Dick Tracy. Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Bonnie & Clyde to name a few. Early in film history, these were very popular subjects and each had several films of varying success on them. It is  – over – for these subjects. Every few years someone in Hollywood tries to resurrect these franchises. Adults would rather watch the old films and kids are not interested in these themes anymore – give ‘em up! (Although, I must say, I thought it was over for swashbuckling Pirate movies too and I was proved wrong). I would certainly put The Lone Ranger into this category. We will see if the star power of Johnny Depp can pull this tired old theme out of retirement.

       

QUESTION:
So, what tired, cliché, overused and abused themes and subjects do you think should be put to rest?

The Dangers of Halloween

The Dangers of Halloween
Ah, Halloween! Costumes and Candy, scary movies and masquerade parties, pumpkin carving and rubber masks…
… And let’s not forget; putting yourself and children in spiritual danger, attracting negative energy to your home, inviting malicious spirits into your house.

Welcome to the Dark Side of Halloween!

No one warns you of the hidden dangers of Halloween – the less obvious, malevolent dangers that lurk behind your harmless fun.
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Ouija boards – the sales of Ouija boards increase dramatically in the month of October. It is important to get information about not attracting negative entities through the board. Don’t just go about it willy-nilly or hand it to your children and let them go hog-wild in the spiritual domain. In using the Ouija Board, you are giving permission for spirits to enter your body and move your hands and fingers (partial possession). You can read more about the dangers of using Ouija Boards in my previous articles about Ouija Boards.
 
Graveyard visits – Many like to wander through graveyards just for the Halloween mood and atmosphere. Malevolent spirits are attracted to gravesites because they feed off the misery of tearful relatives during funerals. If you go into a gravesite and provoke spirits to come forth, they may attach themselves to you. Also, any disrespectful behavior can cause angered ghosts to follow you home.
 

Séances – Asking into the air, “Is there anyone out there?” is like standing in a crowded city with thousands of dollars in your hand and saying, “I dare you to take this money from me.” Some will ignore you, some will show concern for your blatant indiscretion and still others will attack you, conspire against you, or do you harm. Most of the time, someone from your group would have to have some physic ability in order to make contact, but approach this common Halloween activity with care. How often would you invite total strangers into your home?
 
Dabbling in the Occult for fun – It may seem fun to see if something will actually happen if you try your hand at spells, rituals, and ceremonies, but the truth is; you never know what you may unleash.
 
Provoking spirits in any of the above mentioned activities will often lead to bad outcomes. You wouldn’t poke a tiger with a stick, would you? The problem is, because you can’t see entities, you don’t know what you are provoking. Just remember, even a mouse can deliver a nasty bite if poked with a stick.
 

Halloween Decorations – Gravestones on the front lawn, graphic scenes of violence, pentagrams, upside-down crosses and satanic images are all a no, no! According to a psychic medium I recently spoke with, gravestones on your property attract negative energy and spirits to your home. The spirits of murderers and evil men will be attracted to violent images you have portrayed for the holiday (images with bloody knives and death). Combine this with any of the above mentioned Halloween activities and you have a recipe for disaster. There are plenty of Haunted House attractions to visit and to get cheap Halloween scares. Most of these are not in homes and not where people live. Visit them for Halloween fun; don’t make your home a target for dark spirits.
 

As a general rule – Be respectful of the dead. I know that is not a word we acknowledge these days; politicians don’t respect each other, their office or their constituents – companies don’t respect their customers – people don’t respect the elderly – no one respects others in traffic, supermarkets or ball games – children don’t respect their parents – people don’t respect other’s religious or social beliefs – Why should anyone respect the dead? Because you can’t put a restraining order on a ghost! That’s why! Once you’ve angered a spirit, there is no telling what could happen. They are not bound by the same laws, physics and ideals that we are.
 

Whether you believe in these things or not is not important. Quite often it is the people that don’t believe that make the biggest blunders and have problems because of them. Most of the time it is not like the movies, where there is instant and violent poltergeist activity. It may take an angered spirit months, even years to build enough strength to do you harm. So be careful. And be aware of The Dark Side of Halloween.

 
 
Oh, and Happy Halloween!

The Remake Scoreboard / Horror Icons

The Remake Scoreboard – Horror movie remakes – the good and bad list. Thumbs up or thumbs down and two or three sentences why.
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The Horror Icons: Freddie, Jason, Michael, Leatherface, the Deads

Night of the Living Dead (remake – 1990)
(original 1968)
Directed by Tom Savini, this remake is most noted for exceptional performances by Tony Todd (as Ben) and a much more heroic Barbara played by Patricia Tallman. Sure it doesn’t have the same creepy vibe as the 1968 classic but the zombie details are stunning and it provides a great little twist at the very end. I own both versions and watch them both often.

Dawn of the Dead (remake – 2004)
(original 1978)
This action-packed remake provided some of the scariest zombies and zombie sequences to be seen on film to date. Gore FX, character development, and plot twists were all top notch. We got some classic Zombies in this film; the hungry little girl, the twitcher, the fat lady, the zombie baby… it doesn’t get much better than this. Dare I say it (please hold all hate mail) I like it better than the original.
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 Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake – 2003)
(original 1974)
As much as I loved the original I have to say that this was a great remake. The original had shock value and sheer terror for its time, as well as a bizarre weirdness to it. The new one is a great all around movie in plot and character, intense horror, and dark visual mastery. The action and the pacing were perfect, keeping you engaged ’til the nail-biting end. Love the detective/police investigation, bookends, too!

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Halloween (remake – 2007)
(original 1978)
Once you get over the fact that this is a different movie than the original and director Rob Zombie decided to (or perhaps was smart to) go somewhere completely different with the story, this isn’t a bad flick. One of the major differences is the original John Carpenter classic scared us with knuckle-wrenching suspense, creepy mood and atmosphere, while the Rob Zombie version shocks us with brutal violence (which is Rob Zombies forte’). Purists may scream ‘foul’ but this was still much better than all the Halloween sequels, most of which were pure rubbish.

Friday the 13^th (remake – 2009)
(original 1980)
This was not really a remake but rather an attempt to revitalize the franchise for a younger generation. If you remember, Jason, the killer in the hockey mask, was not even in the original “Friday” until the very end of the movie (and even then was portrayed as a child). With all Its slick visuals and modern FX, this “new” movie using the character of Jason Vorhees, was forgettable to me as I do not remember one character, one murder, or who the survivor was, if there was one at all.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (remake – 2010)
(original 1980)
There was no reason for this movie to be made considering the recent Freddie Vs. Jason movie had already re-introduced the franchise to a younger generation. Not only did this remake add nothing to the allure of the original Freddie Kruger movie but it actually diminished and watered down the intensity and mysteriousness of Wes Craven’s original masterpiece. Hated it.

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