My town of New Haven holds a Grove Street Cemetery, which I wrote about before. The gates beckon that THE DEAD SHALL BE RAISED. While walking there recently, I decided to snap a few pictures. You'll find that there are a couple plaques on the welcoming lodge up front.
New Haven isn't the most spooky of New England Towns, though it's getting pretty scary due to the rising random-death-by-murder rate. Fuckers be dying around here for no real reason. I keep asking "what the fuck is happening to New Haven?" but I guess it's always been like this. Dei Gratia.
At the Grove Street Cemetery, you'll find some plaques. The first one isn't all that special, more or less establishing that this graveyard is important to the town. There are some other gravesites out on the edge, more towards Westville, East and West Haven. If you want your body buried right in New Haven, Grove Street is where you want to go.
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By the grace of god, or 'Dei Gratia.' When I have some free time and the weather isn't miserable, I'll have to snap some pictures of the actual graves. It's a nice site that's well kept.
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Here's the real reason I took some pictures. New Haven is home to Yale, which in itself has enough freemasonry/Skull and Bones/Secret Society cultism to keep any person busy. Walking by, I happened to spot some chalkings that seemed interesting enough.
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I didn't bother to take any pictures of the Latin above it, since it said the same thing.
IN ORDER TO BE COME IMMORTAL,
FIRST ONE MUST DIE.
Eh. I wouldn't really lose my shit over that. Yeah, the coupling of opposites - yeah, big fucking deal. If you want to be spooky, but out some fucked up opposite-coupling, like so:
That is not dead which can eternal lie. And with strange aeons even death may die.
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So what we have here is seven size-10 footprints outlined in chalk in a half-circle with some vague crypto-cultish bullshit in front of a cemetery that has THE DEAD WILL BE RAISED welcoming you. Either I smell some drama-club level initiation bullshit or some kids decided to be some level of deeeeeeeep which in our world, deep is only measured on how far down you want the body.
What better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo that to look at the most famous luchadorenmascarado (Masked Mexican wrestler) of all time, El Santo?
Born as Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta in 1917 and started wrestling sometime in the 1930s. He actually went through several names before he adopted the name we all know and love: Rudy Guzmán, El Hombre Rojo (the Red Man), El Demonio Negro (The Black Demon) and El Murcielago II (The Bat II). But this string of names came to an end in 1942, when his manager convinced him to join a new team of rudos (brawling, tough guy wrestlers, who sometimes act as villains) he was putting together. Rodolfo was offered a choice of three names: El Santo (The Saint), El Diablo (The Devil) or El Angel (The Angel). This team gave him both his name and trademark silver mask, as they were to wear silver costumes. The choice was allegedly due to the popularity of the Saint and the striking image of The Man in the Iron Mask. That July, "El Santo" was introduced to the world. He went on to form a tag team called La Pareja Atómica (The Atomic Pair) with the legendary Gory Guerrero (father of many famous pro wrestlers, including Eddie Guerrero).
[Etsy.com's tagline is "Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade." Coincidently, there's a lot of spooky on Etsy, and each Tuesday, we highlight one of the sellers. If you're looking to spruce up your look, redecorate your tomb or get a gift for that special something in your afterlife, Etsy.com is a place for spooky econo.]
All right. You've committed that you're going spooky. You have accepted that you are odd and strange, through and through. Zombies are your sunflowers. Cobwebs, vampires and all things dark and dreary make you happy. You are a creepy-crawly.
You're eventually going to have to upgrade your quality of merchandise. Sure, going gonzo over the Halloween selection each year is sure to generate a worthy display for your living space but instead of shelling out the cash over some plastic, do yourself a favor of considering this week's Tuesday uEtsy spotlight, Vicki Death.
Her Estsy site reads that she is "[i]nspired by the love of Horror and tattoos." And it shows. Vicki Death's artwork demonstrates a lovely style, capturing the hotrod and zombies feel common the horrorpunk and psychobilly scene.
But, as seen in the Bela Lugosi portrait, Vicki Death has some demonstrative talent which means that you're getting quality. Everything is handpainted and really, you're not going to find prices this competitive. A 5"x7" inch original painting under fifty bucks american? It's a steal.
Let's say you have a hot (freshly dug up) date and you've got them to come back to your place. What do you want them to see when you walk them in - the entire set of plastic toppers off of some Halloween novelty candy items you got from target? Or do you want to wow the fangs off of them with some original artwork. Look, blood and mad science can only get you so far in your love and professional life. Save yourself some stress and when you feel like it's time to spruce up your tomb, check out Vicki Death.
‘An Evening With PuppeTose’ is the darkest of the PuppeTose Theatre productions we’ve reviewed so far; it’s also perhaps the most intelligent of the four. What makes it so astounding is that it is the chronologically second, following 1999’s ‘Valley of the Robots,’ with ‘Random Stories Grab-Bag’ and ‘PuppeTose Street’ following after.
Ah, Free Comic Book Day. A day of free comics and special sales at numerous comic book stores that falls on the first Saturday in May of each year. 2010 marks the 9th annual celebration of the event since its creation in 2002.
Although past installments have carried horror-related titles and there are plenty of tie-insbetweencomic books and horror, but comic stores deserve our support for also carrying horror magazines, trading cards, models, DVDs, etc.
For more information, please visit the official website and its Wikipedia entry. That's where we learned something that should be of interest to our German readers: they're getting their own version of the holiday on May 8th!
As a sequel of sorts to an earlier post by Weird Jon, I thought I would compile a list of websites I enjoy. Well, with the exception of the onesalreadylisted on the sidebar...
Cold Fusion Reviews - One of my favorite bad movie review websites. I love the comments given by the Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound at the end of each review.
Digital Monster Island - The best place to go for reviews of giant monster movies on DVD.
Grindshow.com - Sideshow gaff (prop) manufacturer Doug Higley's website, complete with pictures and user testimonials. The "atomic fish" is very similar to the "atomic mystery monster" attraction noted above.
Cinematic Treasures - A website devoted to the noble goal of preserving classic movie theaters.
MonsterTalk - At long last, a skeptical cryptozoology podcast!
Orgone Research - Don't let the name fool you, this website has nothing to do with serious research of that junk science. Instead, it offers a variety of articles and musings by my JREF forum buddy Matt Crowley. The debunking of so-called "Bigfoot dermal ridges" is not to be missed.
Dr.Hermes Reviews and Retro-Scans Daily - The good doctor offers a wide variety of movie and literary reviews, including plenty of horror stuff (of course) on his website, while his Livejournal offers scans of posters, covers, ads, and more!
Atomic Monsters - No, this didn't make the list due to the name. The clever, well-written reviews are what won me over. Fast connection speeds and Flash are a must for viewing the site.
Don't forget, tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day 2010! That's right, comic shops all over America are giving away free comic books and having special sales on May 1st. Don't miss out on this!
Originally debuting as a self-published work in 1996, Edison's Frankenstein is back in an expanded and updated edition that's more than double the original's page count (along with a tie-in DVD-R release of the film). And the timing couldn't be better, because 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of the original silent Frankenstein film's release!
Author Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr. presents a wealth amount of information in a way that never seems boring or "dense" to the reader. Not only does he chronicle the complete genesis of the silent film's creation (including reproductions of short film's "script" and intertitles), but the book also covers the history of early American cinema and the Edison company (along with biographies of the film's stars and details on company founder Thomas Edison). Some horror fans might be tempted to skip the non-Frankenstein portions of the book, but that would be a very foolish mistake. I found the biographies of Charles Ogle (who played the monster) and Mary Fuller (who played Dr. Frankenstein's fiancée) to be particularly interesting, due to how Mr. Ogle's career changed and how Ms. Fuller was involved in the creation of movie serials. I was also surprised to learn that Warner Brothers and Universal both owe their existences to Edison Studios.
Other chapters cover the creation of Mary Shelley's original tale, stage adaptations (and how they may have influenced the monster makeup used in the 1910 film), other Frankenstein films (and the 1910 version's possible influence upon some), and the saga of formerly "lost" film finally getting released on home video. There are plenty of pictures from a variety of sources, with the ones from the titular film and other silents being of understandably lesser quality due to the well-worn nature of their source prints. A few other pictures are somewhat pixelated, possibly due to the conversion for the .PDF file for the e-book version (more on that later). According to an e-mail conversation I had with the author, there were no such problems with the original scans. On the plus side, most of the pictures look great and many of the Universal Frankenstein's monster pictures should be familiar to (and please) monster kids old and new.
Like many, I had assumed the scant few film clips available from the film in the 90's were the only usable scraps from otherwise completely deteriorated film reels. The truth was that there was an honest-to-goodness conspiracy to keep the film from being released in full!
[Etsy.com's tagline is "Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade." Coincidently, there's a lot of spooky on Etsy, and each Tuesday, we highlight one of the sellers. If you're looking to spruce up your look, redecorate your tomb or get a gift for that special something in your afterlife, Etsy.com is a place for spooky econo.]
From the UK, we have LipsTattoo Designs, offering their handmade jewerly for all things creepy. LipsTattoo Designs was an early supporter of GdL16 on Twitter. We're glad to spotlight them for this Tuesday uEtsy.
Applicable for both boys and ghouls, LipsTattoo is perfect if you need some unique accessories to compliment your style. Broches, Badges and bows for your hair are all offered, along with some specialty items like death lily greeting cards or a specially painted teapot.
There's definitely a unique look to all LipsTattoo Designs which captures the more playful side to creepy and weird.
Most of these pieces are a steal, specially if you're located in the UK. But shipping across the pond is incredibly reasonable.
PuppeTose Theater Presents: Random Stories Grab-Bag
There’s a neat scene in ‘Premonition,’ the first of three stories in PuppeTose Theater’s Random Stories Grab-Bag. A dragon stalks the character Helgi, a soothsayer within a castle and despite there being no real frame of reference other than both are the trademark PuppeTose puppets. Through choices in editing, the scene effectively conveys a heightened sense of drama in a short period of time with ‘actors’ that are nothing more than wires, strings and shaped pieces of painted newspaper and flour.
I'm bummed. You see, I was looking up the contact information for one of my favorite video stores and discovered that they had since closed their doors. I even tried calling to double check. It's a bit odd for me to count Video Oasis as one of my favorites, seeing as how I only visited once and never rented anything, but I think the following will explain why.
I first learned about the store through its reputation back in 1995. Its selection of cult and obscure titles from all genres was often praised in the It's All True column of the now-defunct Editorial Humor. That column, along with the paper's profiling of local events in Massachusetts, set Editorial Humor apart from other humor piece/comic reprint papers (like Funny Times) due to their focus on everything weird. Be it crackpot inventors, television shows, movies, or the strangest the internet had to offer, It's All True would tell you everything you needed to know. It also sponsored/promoted "Channel Zero," a showcase of various bizarre movies and television shows (and occasionally things like bad poetry) that traveled from one venue to another. I remember reading that an installment about Japanese superhero programs was held at a bar, while others were presented at indie movie theaters.
Etsy.com's tagline is "Buy, Sell, and Live Handmade." It's a clean and simple way for the Internet to have a crafts fair. There's a lot of creative people out there and they're willing to sell you stuff at reasonable prices.
There's a lot of spooky on Etsy. Most of it is reasonably priced for this economy. If you're looking to spruce up your look, redecorate your tomb or get a gift for that special something in your afterlife, Etsy.com is a place for spooky econo.
Justin Erickson (www.justin-erickson.com) is a Toronto-based artist with a particular passion for the horror and the macabre. He's a Sheridan graduate and he currently works as a Graphic Designer for Rue Mourge Magazine.
His Etsy Shop (http://www.etsy.com/shop/JustinErickson) has prints of his work for sale. Most cost just twenty bucks american (not counting shipping.) You have some spooky pin-up models, sincerely macabre pictures and a peanut-butter-chocolate series of combining Lucha Libre with Classic Monsters of Filmland.
If it's la noche de el vampiro or you just feel like decorating your walls with some attractive ghouls, head on over and pick yourself up some from Justin Erickson.
Despite the name, PuppeTose Street isn’t a parody of Sesame Street, though both utilize puppets and seem to be about learning. But those taught by Fuller and Milo are not the lessons of Muppet-stock. Along with Gypsy Bitch, Louis Lackluster and the landlord, Buford T. Hick, the cast of PuppeTose street teach you a lesson or two with each episode.
Sharing — “If you’re going to have sex with passed out women, you NEED TO WEAR A RUBBER.”
Personal Responsibility — “Remember: When hiding your intoxicants, make sure you’re not too intoxicated to remember.”
Be Prepared — "Zombies are so fucking stupid. I wouldn't be a stupid zombie. I'd be a - smart zombie. I'd know how to get brains.I'd have brains IN RESERVE. I'd have a system of when I got all fucked up 'cause I needed a brain and I couldn't find one - I would have one. And nobody would fuck with me either, 'cause I would be dead."
We've already discussed the day twicenow, so consider this your last RSD reminder for 2010. Now get out there and support your local indie record stores! Remember: Plenty of sales and freebies await you.
Maybe you saw this mentioned on an Attack of the Show segment recently but there's a site called Kickstarter, where creative sorts can set up an account to help find funding for their projects. Transylvania TV, something I mentioned a while ago, has something set up for their Halloween Special. If you like their stuff, feel about floating twenty bucks their way or more. It's like a pledge drive and you get something better than a Tote Bag.
If any of you readers of GdL set up your own Kickstarter, let us know. We're all about passing the world along.
Like many horror fans, I check out Amazon.com a lot: Looking for deals and new releases, doing research for future articles or just checking out old cover art to kill some time. More often than not, I'll happen upon something that I hadn't set out to look for, but still find interesting enough to squirrel away the link for future use. And, well, the future is now:
Jim Knipfel's The Buzzing seems like a really odd novel. It's got a human private eye whose last name is "Baragon" and despite references to Godzilla movies and other Toho productions being fictional, the Seatopians from Godzilla vs. Megalon are treated as if they exist within the book's universe.
Glen Danzig, Doyle and Jerry Only don’t need to get back together. If they ever do, I know five million people who will drive, fuck and/or kill for tickets for that Misfits reunion but at this point, those three (plus Robo) don’t need to get together.
What brought this up? I found youtube videos of not one but TWO (!) GWAR tribute bands – Wharghouls and The Heat Seeking Moisture Missiles. How much brass do you have to have to attempt making a GWAR tribute band, knowing that you need some resources to ever come close to the fantastic spectacle of the original act? I tip my hat to those two bands for coming together for a mutual love of GWAR and the music. These two bands have brass by the ton.
Tribute bands are a strange animal. When living in a tri-city area, there was a club that seemed to spend three nights a week hosting a tribute band.
BANDNAME: A TRIBUTE TO ORIGINAL BAND was always in the listing. BADFISH: A TRIBUTE TO SUBLIME. EARTH: A TRIBUTE TO BLACK SABBATH. DARK STAR ORCHESTRA: A TRIBUTE TO THE GRATEFUL DEAD. And fuck, how many KISS tributes are out there? If there’s any band other than GWAR that seemed un-tribute-able, I would have to say Motorhead. That’s just a bit too close to heresy for me but who knows?
I know Badfish has been around for years and there are some Beatle Tribute acts that rake in the dough. If you can put on a decent replicate of something that is no longer available (such as Badfish and the Beatles) then it makes sense that it would be lucrative.
And it also seems to make sense. Tribute bands are different than cover bands. Cover bands are just that – bands that play covers whereas tribute bands pay tribute to one specific act. They look like the act, act, play the music; it’s a close imitation, a tribute to the band. In doing that, it makes the music and the band in question (the one receiving tribute, not the actual tribute band) seem larger than life; the original members were needed to facilitate the music’s creation but after that, it was meant for the fans. This is a little artsty-fartsy thinking that borderlines on hippie shit (or, internet piracy.) There’s money involved, licensing and permissions. Ask any Frank Zappa tribute act about whether the Zappa Family Trust thinks the music is owned by the fans and they’ll wave their Cease And Desist orders in your face.
But it’s nice to think about it, on the fuckedupthinking level. Which brings me back to the Misfits – the Misfits don’t ever have to get back together because the spooky music scene is to me, in essence, one giant Misfits cover band.
Hell, if you play death rock, pyschobilly or spooky surf, aren’t you required to play a Misfits cover? If you see Black Pyramid, ask Gein to show you his tattoos of Glen Danzig. There’s the Crimson Ghosts, who play surf renditions of Misfits songs. Last Halloween, a band called TV Casualty played in Philly, featuring Ted Leo, Adam Goren members of Paint It Black/Franklin. There’s MisFats and MsFits. Misfits shit is sold en masse in HotTopics across the world. Misfits bands live from Japan to Europe and everywhere in between.
If I were to hear Glen sing ‘Horror Business’ again, it would be a pleasurable novelty but it’s 2010. ‘Cough/Cool’ is thirty-three years old and ‘Walk Among Us’ is turns twenty-eight this year. Seeing some horror band bust out a cover, no matter how twisted or bizarre it might be, will be more important to me. I wasn’t around for the original Misfits. There are people involved in spooky music who spent school lives and summers with the Misfits, who saw the original incarnations in person and boycotted the fake renditions that have come out since 1997. To them, the actual Misfits are important but to the countless others who came after 1984, it’s more the music than the musicians.
If Jerry and Glen were to settle the stupid shit between them and work out a tour in 2012, marking the 35th(!) anniversary of the Misfits, I hope that all those who saw those four boys from Jersey get a chance to see them play one more time. For those who weren’t there, the music has been around and will be around for those who come after us, played by bands paying tribute to the sounds that make their heads shake and bones rattle.
Or not. We all might be dead. Fuck it. Have a drink and be happy either way, ghouls.
When the Nixon and Hogan Smoke Christmas screener came in the mail, I was psyched. The accompanying promotional material described a plot about two stoners' Christmas wish for marijuana going horribly wrong when Santa accidentally brings some zombie weed instead. As if Santa turning into a zombie wasn't bad enough, Nixon and Hogan have to juggle finishing Santa's delivery route and keeping Sasparilla the Weed Witch from stealing Santa's magic!
Further online research had told me the production company specialized in gory, over-the-top low budget horror comedies set in Strangeville. "Cool, so it'll be like a Troma movie" I had thought. Perfect to watch with my brother and our visiting from out of state cousin (who loves Troma films), right?
Wrong.
I thought we were prepared. I thought we could handle it. I was very mistaken...
A couple days late, but still smelling fresh, I have found that Troma has a Hulu Channel. (Was this covered here on GdL before? How long have I been out?)
You've got all the Toxic Avenger movies, Killer Condom, Cannibal! The musical and Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell (as well as some others.)
Although the term "Easter Egg" can refer to something hidden in anything from a computer program to a web browser, horror fans generally think of hidden surprises on DVDs when they hear the term. Since it wouldn't be much of a hunt if we just listed how to find hidden features on certain horror DVDs, we've opted to set up a link to help you search for "Easter Eggs" in the depths of alt.horror.
Also, we've hidden some articles that discuss certain Easter Eggs amongst the following:
But what is Zero Punctuation? Back in July 2007, Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw embarked on an (as he put it) "experiment" to see if he could make a video game review on Youtube using only audio and images (mostly still, some animated). The subject of the review was the Playstation 3 demo for the horror-themed video game The Darkness(based on the Top Cow book of the same name). So, direct from his Youtube channel, here's the hilarious and NSFW review:
Happily, the experiment was a success and Yahtzee was later approached by the online gaming magazine The Escapist to feature further installments there. Its success also led to the creation of his own humor website, Fully Ramblomatic. Check 'em both out!
"The award is designed to recognize research, scholarship and creativity in keeping classic horror, science fiction and fantasy alive and thriving."
Gravedigger's Local 16 didn't get on the ballot this year, presumably since we missed the nomination period. But there's still a lot of other cool people and cool stuff to vote on, so don't let our absence stop you. We're gunning for getting nominated and winning next year, but you can do a write-in this year if you really want to. Just keep in mind that doing so will probably only get us noticed rather than winning anything. No matter what, you should head to the Rondo Awards site and vote now!
Go to any discussion of horror films and you're sure to find people wondering, if not complaining, why certain films haven't gotten released onto DVD yet.
But I have good news! Turner Classic Movies has set up a website where you can vote for which movies should get a DVD release. The more votes a film gets, the more likely that TCM will approach the licensor or rightsholder about getting it released. You can vote for as many movies as you want, but the best thing to do is for all of us to have a certain film to specifically vote for. After all, we're more influential together than we are separately. I know this sounds corny, but together we really can make a difference!
I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of choices, but it was Twitter user bobfreelander's Tweet about voting for Island of Lost Souls. So click here and look for the place to vote (where fill in your email address) on the right hand side of the screen. Then feel free to search for other films to vote for. Remember, you can only vote once for each film.
And really, it's just ridiculous for a horror classic starring Bela Lugosi to not be on DVD...
Gravedigger's Local 16 doesn't have an advertising budget. Aside from occasionally promoting GdL16 at other sites ourselves, we only have a Twitter account and a Facebook fan page. Many of our visitors are referred here by word of mouth or find us due to search engine hits, which is why having others link to us is such a big deal. Today I'd like to pay tribute to several sites that link to or follow us, which haven't been referenced by name in any prior posts and haven't been placed in the "Union Fellows" sidebar:
Did Strange Jason's review of Valley of the Robots whet your appetite? Want more? Here's a (NSFW) preview:
These puppets ain't for kids! Amazingly, that was the tamest of the three trailers available at the official PuppeTose Youtube channel. You can order a copy (and find more PuppeTose madness) here.
We're planning on interviewing real gravediggers. Please send all leads and questions to gravediggerslocal AT gmaiL DOT com. Don't forget to let us know if you want us to use name (real or web) during the interview!
Horror bands! Strange Jason wants to talk to you. In a band? Know a band? Email strangejason AT gravediggerslocal DOT com.
Speaking of MGM, they're streaming a bunch of their movies at their website. Similarly, Troma is offering free streaming films on both Youtube and Hulu.
Indywood Films is raising funds for the upcoming Invasion of the Not Quite Dead by selling promotional packs and putting the names of buyers in the credits. See the official site and Twitter feed for more information.
We learned about Record Store Day from the Newbury Comics newsletter. All of our New England readers should sign up at their website as well, as they give out a lot of great news and coupons. The notifications on one day only "flash sales" are also handy. They once had one for 20% any vampire movie DVD, with an extra 10% off for coming in dressed like a vampire! Wearing all black and paper fangs (easily hidden in your pocket for "regular shopping") is easily worth a 30% discount. They also mention the sales on...you guessed it...their Twitter feed.
If granted the power of omniscience, I doubt anyone would notice a difference in my attitude. Perhaps I would be a little bit meaner, a little less joyous at knowing at all times the common atrocities occurring within the universe, about how effortlessly a person can inflict pain on another for those unjustified greedy and pathetic reasons. Witnessing would threaten to strip away what kindness I have left, what grace and possibility for love I hold for myself and anyone in this world, leaving me a rancid, twisted animal who would pray nightly for a real, tangible extinction.
Or, perhaps, since I would know of all the different creative expressions, the moments that people said “Fuck it, let’s do this because it’s fun,” I may hold a positive outlook on life, that all this misery and death is offset by creation for the sake of joy. I wouldn’t miss out on those pockets of sincerity that get plowed under and buried by the growing disposable commercial dungpiles filling up in the streets, gutters clogged by plastic and still-twitching bodies.
It’s something fun to think about. But honestly, I don’t think I would change that much.
You might remember the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society from my "Printable Halloween Decor" article or for their 2005 silent film, The Call of Cthulhu. Just as that "Mythoscope" film was designed to look like a 1920's silent film (as the original story was written/published then), their Dark Adventure Radio Theatre CD series seeks to adapt Lovecraft tales in the style of old-time radio shows. To date, the series has adapted At the Mountains of Madness,The Dunwich Horror,The Shadow Out of Time, and The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
The Shadow Over Innsmouth is a tale of one man's harrowing visit to a strange seaside (and mostly fictional) town in Massachusetts. The odd-looking inhabitants are very suspicious of outsiders and fiercely secretive about the practices of their religion, the Esoteric Order of Dagon. Rumors of the townspeople making sacrifices to and interbreeding with sea demons turn out to be more than the ramblings of the town drunk...
What do Godzilla vs. Megalon and Leprechaun both have in common? They both had short promotional comic books released during their theatrical runs! And if you guessed that the Leprechaun comic was riddled with as many inaccuracies as the Godzilla vs. Megalon comic, you're absolutely correct.
It should also be noted that there was a Leprechaun comic book series published in 2008 by Blue Water Productions. The series, which involved the Leprechaun traveling the world to recover his lost gold, ceased publication after four issues. This Wikipedia entry provides more plot details, along with notes on a never-released comic crossover battle between Warlock and Leprechaun. That's probably for the best, as the only thing each series have in common are that they are both linked to Trimark.
Maybe it's due to the dream I had awhile back about a video store's VHS clearance sale, but I've been thinking about custom cover art for VHS and DVD lately. More specifically, covers created by rental store employees after something happened to the original cover. I've only seen this happen a couple of times, with the styles ranging from hand drawn overs to "blank burst" advertising signs crammed it into a black clamshell case with the title written on in black marker. My personal favorite has to be a Children of the Corn cover consisting of a mostly B&W drawing of a corn stalk with a trickle of red ink "blood" on it. If memory serves me correctly, the artist even went through the trouble of designing a logo for the title instead of just scrawling it on in block letters.
However, I've noticed that practically everyone I've talked to about this has never been to a video store where this has happened. Instead, the stores used photocopies of the original cover art. Has anyone out there ever seen the sort of replacement covers I'm talking about?
This page offers horror-themed printable CD/DVD covers which are similar to the cardboard slipcases used for promotional CDs. These covers look great, but don't seem to be printable.
This page has some examples of covers put out by a professional video company that look amateurish.
Back when the 1998 American Godzilla movie was announced, Sid Pink tried to get funding for a sequel to or remake of Reptilicus by commissioning some CGI test images.
Horror remakes are always interesting and controversial: interesting, because it's always good to see the old nightmares get new blood; controversial because the movies often trample over the established cannon for the sake of 'modernizing' and 'revamping.'
Often when changes are made to the appearance of the central antagonist, they're small and more subtle. Michael Myers' pristine white mask was dirtied and slashed in the 2007 remake, but still had the William Shatner cast to it. The 2003 'Texas Chainsaw' movie tweaked Leatherface but it wasn't far from the iconic human flesh grimace. It'll be interesting to see how the Freddy Krueger appearance turns out in the coming remake. (Hit Flix has a good write-up about Jackie Earl Haley taking on the character, which raises my own optimism for the project)
Recently, I came across the following video concerning the possible Hellraiser remake.
However, I noticed very something interesting during my research. Something interesting enough to make abandon my original plans: the claim that Chinese New Year's origins are linked to a rampaging monster!
Man, does that song ever need a CD release. Don't laugh, it got a vinyl release back in the day.
The film's Wikipedia entry is a must-read. Not only does it reveal who composed the amazing song showcased above, but it also has some cool trivia. For example, did you know about the film's loose connection to the "Gamma I Quadrilogy" of Italian space adventures directed by Antonio Margheriti. It's claimed here that the films were originally commissioned by MGM as a set of made-for-TV movies. Said films consisted of: Wild Wild Planet, War of the Planets, Planet on the Prowl, and The Snow Devils. It should be noted that those films have about a million alternate titles and the ones that seemed to be the most popular were used to create that list.
Given the popularity of "franchise characters as children" shows in the entertainment industry, it was inevitable that someone would create a parody using characters from a source that was anything but "kid friendly." Enter Youtube user TheZebu'sThe Adventures of Lil' Cthulhu.
The Adventures of Lil' Cthulhu is also a dead-on perfect parody of television programming aimed at young children, right down to the use of female narrator speaking in soothing tones. It also features what is (in my opinion) undoubtedly the best Nyarlathotep joke ever made
You might be interested to know that there's also a "Lil' Cthulhu" web store selling official merchandise.
Just found out that Kevin "Sir GoGo Ghastly" Hair retired from The Ghastly Ones. They made the announcement on the site back on January 28th.
THE GHASTLY ONES want to extend a ghoulishly warm welcome to our newest member Ryan "Cousin Boris" Watusi who will be pounding the bass guitar in our band from here on out. Many thanks to Sir Go Go Ghostly for his years of service. Sir Ghostly has retired to the ghastly graveyard and we wish him all the best as well. Come see Cousin Boris' debut on Saturday April 3 at HAUNTED HOUSE AU GO-GO!!!
Sir Ghastly was one of the founding members of the Ghastly Ones. Next year is the band's 15th anniversary. I'm glad I got to see him in 2007. Wish the best for him and the Ghastly Ones. Shame though. Hopefully this means that both Ghastly and Ghastly Ones ascend to new personal and professional heights this year. One can hope.
Rather than doing my usual profile of an African-American who made some kind of contribution to horror cinema, I thought I'd do something a little different this year. Instead, I'm going to highlight the (alleged) first-ever collection of short horror fiction by African-American authors.
First published in 2004, Dark Dreams: A Collection of Horror and Suspense by Black Writers, is an anthology of 20 tales of terror edited by Brandon Massey. From classic horror staples like ghosts and vampires to lesser known creatures of the night, "Dark Dreams" has them all. Interested parties can find previews of selected stories here. I particularly liked Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due's "Danger Word," a tale of survival in a zombie-infested world. In my opinion, the rich characterization and interesting twists would've made for a perfect episode of Masters of Horror. I'll definitely have to dig up a copy of this sometime (as should you).
[The following occurred a few days ago, after the writer decided to search the "Impact" OnDemand folder for newly posted horror movies. WARNING: Minor Spoilers]
Thanks to many childhood experiences of making original characters (and monsters) with Legos, I have a great appreciation for people who figure out creative ways to make things with those nifty little plastic bricks. So you can imagine my reaction to EvilJester1214's Lego/Lovecraft ad parody:
I was, however, baffled and a bit annoyed by the random insertion of Doctor Who characters into the mix. I did some further research into the matter and found that there were a fewDoctor Whonovels featuring Cthulhu Mythos references. Although I'm less confused now, I'm still a bit annoyed by the Doctor's appearance. It's more than a little goofy to me that all-powerful alien "gods" can get beat up by some guy in a time machine. After all, much of the horror from Lovecraft's stories stems from how the Great Old Ones and Outer Gods can't be defeated. Also, wouldn't a being capable of defeating Cthulhu & co. take their place among the races that worshiped them? Frenzied chants to a man who lives in a mysterious blue box just wouldn't have the same "umph" that stuff like "...those grinning caverns of earth's centre where Nyarlathotep, the mad faceless god, howls blindly to the piping of two amorphous idiot flute-players" has.
Even if you disagree with me on the above, I'm sure we all can agree on this: Lovecraft's mind would be blown if he ever found out people were recreating things from his horror stories using kids' toys.
Nicktoons generally have at least one Halloween episode. Doug, The Mighty B, Catscratch, SpongeBob SquarePants and Rocko's Modern Life have had one. I hardly need to mention Danny Phantom in this paragraph.
None of the aforementioned shows can hold a candle to The Angry Beavers' late-October 1998 episode, "The Day the World Got Really Screwed Up." Titular rodents Norbert (Nick Bakay) and Daggett (Richard Steven Horvitz) go trick-or-treating on October 30, in an ill-fated attempt to avoid the Halloween candy rush.
By pure luck, they arrive at the home of their B-movie idol, Oxnard Montalvo. A meteor has crashed on Montalvo's property. Statues of monsters come to life, Daggett gets pissy and bad things generally happen. Since it's a Nicktoon, lots of adult-oriented jokes are wadded into the episode.
Tom Kane is great as Montalvo, spewing the most hilariously insipid dialogue imaginable. Kane plays Kane, his voice being one of the most identifiable in cartoons. This is one of Kane's best-ever roles.
Jonathan Haze, a/k/a Seymour Krelboin from 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors, voices Mann Servante. Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog, Creepshow, Swamp Thing) is cast as Toluca Lake. Mission: Impossible's Peter Graves has a dual role as narrator and General Warning.
Former Screen Actors Guild president William Schallert voices Dr. Cowtiki, a man with a knack for both science and moving the plot along. Cowtiki is the episode's authority figure, a default Schallert role. Schallert is about as good as Kane, showing films and blandly explaining pseudoscience.
The best casting has to be John Byner as the alien - yes, Bizarre's John Byner. The alien is feeding off reality in order to take over the universe, or something. The alien's motivations aren't that clear. It also has the tendency to repeat dialogue.
I have the tendency to repeat dialogue!
The thin joke of a plot is an excuse to show off monster designs. Once possessed by the alien, Servante brings the creatures to life, turning Oxnard Montalvo's world into a black-and-white reality of madness. Not surprisingly, Montalvo, Cowtiki and Lake don't live in the real world to begin with.
The Angry Beavers' odd sense of humour is amply demonstrated. Redundant dialogue abounds. Toluca Lake sprains her ankle repeatedly, screaming whenever it's dramatically convenient. The military base has a Kit-Cat clock - at least, a version that won't get Nickelodeon sued.
This is, without a doubt, the best Angry Beavers episode. It takes one of The Angry Beavers' core strengths - the juxtaposition of realistic artwork with cartoon beavers - and runs with it for a half hour. This is to The Angry Beavers what "Toby Danger" is to Freakazoid!
The Angry Beavers is among the last of the great 1990s Nicktoons. AB would be cancelled by Nickelodeon in 2001, in part due to its breaking the fourth wall in one unproduced episode. It's never a good idea to make fun of the network paying your cheques, doubly so when it's Nickelodeon and the show specifically states that it's ending.
More of The Angry Beavers' horror film allusions will be mentioned in future GdL articles. They're a staple of Norbert and Daggett's viewing habits, the horror parodies being the best parts of the show.
It just occurred to me just how much Marvel Comics seems to have been influenced by the horror genre when it came to creating some of their superhero characters. And no, I'm not talking about how many of them either made their debut in or had stories published in former horror/sci-fi comics such as Tales of Suspense,Journey into Mystery,Strange Tales,Amazing Fantasy, and Tales to Astonish.
Sure, it's pretty obvious how certain horrorstories influenced the Incredible Hulk. Dr. Banner's (usually) unwilling transformation into the destructive force that is the Hulk nicely mirrors Dr. Jekyll's relationship with his Mr. Hyde persona. Like Universal's take on Frankenstein's monster, the very large and very strong Hulk often comes into conflict with people who deal with things they fear (and don't understand) by attacking them. Like Frankenstein's monster, the Hulk's limited intelligence and speaking abilities also impede his efforts to find peace. Those factors might also explain why both have befriended small children.
However, what you might not know is that the Hulk's origin story seems to be lifted from The Amazing Colossal Man (which came out about five years before the first issue of the Hulk's comic book). Think about it: both involve a scientist being mutated due to exposure to an experimental bomb blast while trying to rescue the driver of a vehicle stranded in the test area! Come to think of it, I wonder if the name "The Amazing Colossal Man" could have influenced Marvel's decision to add adjectives to the titles of many of their superhero titles (The Amazing Spider-Man,The Uncanny X-Men, etc).
Even those without much knowledge of the character can tell that Dr. Henry Pym (aka Ant-Man) is based on The Incredible Shrinking Man. The influence become more apparent when one realizes that Dr. Pym made his debut in a science fiction story called "The Man in the Ant Hill" in 1962, wherein he is accidentally shrunk in an experiment and has to battle ants in order to survive. By his next appearance, Pym has mastered the ability to change size and created a device that lets him communicate with his former foes.
Also, is it merely a coincidence that both the Mighty Thor's alter ego and the title character in Monster on Campus are both named Dr. Donald Blake? Pat yourself on the back if you guessed that the horror movie came out years before Thor made his first appearance!
But this (seeming) influence also works in reverse. The monster costume used in 1962's Hand of Death was a blatant rip-off of the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing, right down to the trench coat and sunglasses disguise used when both characters try to blend in with the general public. I must admit to originally thinking the Thing was the rip-off until I took the time to research the year the first issue of the Fantastic Four was published: 1961. Now if only I could get a definitive answer as to whether Full Moon's Doctor Mordrid was originally planned as a licensed adaptation of Doctor Strange or if it was just a shameless rip-off...
My monthly visit GdL's Google Analytics page revealed that August's "Free D&D" entry seems to have gotten fairly popular. So as a special treat, here's another batch of free downloads culled from Wikipedia:
Similarly, Palace of the Silver Princess is interesting due to the cool monster on the cover and the fact that the original "banned" version(more info here) is now available online.
Wizards of the Coast's general downloads page offers The Secret of Bone Hill and a plethora of other freebies. They include (but aren't limited to):
Needle City of Gold Fires of Zatal Gold and Glory Endless Armies Ronin Challenge Test of the Samurai The Savage Frontier Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw
Finally, it should be stressed that the disclaimer from the Free D&D "First Edition" applies to this (and any future) installment(s). Enjoy!
You might know that Ween wrote a song for Spongebob Squarepants, and you might be cool to know that The Ghastly Ones did the music for the Halloween episode. Perhaps then, you might remember a live-action episode sandwiching Tom Kinney in a pirate costume in between cartoons, which ended with this song. Just discovered that it was Lux Interior singing. I guess I was a real birdbrain, myself.
Maybe it's due to writing about some video rental store memories in my last post or maybe it's just nostalgia for the "the old days" sparked by my dissatisfaction with the place I'm currently stuck in, but I've been thinking a lot about my past lately. More specifically, I've been thinking about Channel 68 (aka WABU).
Goodness Ghoulies, where has my head been? Weird Jon and the Atomic Mystery Monster come back and I disappear. Dig, dig, dig.
2009 ended with the finale of Season 2 of Transylvania TV and the X-mas special of Spook House Dave. Check them out. If you scrounge up some spare silver-dollars, throw them their way. Puppets. We've got some more puppetry coming up this year along with some other stuff.
Man, it's good to have WJ back. Sorry I've gone underground and been quiet for a while but it happens to the best of us. But a good gravedigger never stays buried for long.
I honest was going to call this entry "Bloody New Year," but I didn't want people to think that I was going to review British schlockmeister Norman J. Warren'sBloody New Year (also known as Time Warp Terror in the UK). Instead, all I'm offering is a trailer (thanks to Unhinged1980s' channel), some memories and a wish that you all have a Happy New Year.
Although I've never seen Bloody New Year, it holds a special place in my heart. I first saw the VHS release as a little kid in Connecticut during one of the family trips to a little "mom and pop" store called "Absolute Video." It was my first "real" video store I had ever been to, as all prior rentals had been done at the public library. Even then, I was a horror fan and would sneak off from the kiddie section as soon as I got a chance. In addition to the standard classic horror films and 80's slasher series, Absolute Video had several tapes whose covers always fascinated me and etched themselves into my brain: Mako: The Jaws of Death.Link.April Fool's Day.Prince of Darkness.The Wizard of Gore.The Being.The Kindred. And of course Bloody New Year. Although my parents did let me watch certain horror movies, they drew the line at those movies. And yet they let my younger brother and I watch Prophecy. Go figure.
There was something about its cover, an odd mix of cheesy and cool that always drew my eyes toward it whenever I visited. It's easy to imagine some employee at Academy Home Entertainment desperately gussying up a skeleton borrowed from a high school science class with various goods from the local party supply store, just so they can collect a bonus promised by the boss. But I kid because I love. In the age of DVD and Blu-Ray, covers like this are a rarity.
It's been ages since my last visit to Absolute Video. Sadly, there will never be another visit, as they closed up during the late 90's. I've long since forgotten what business eventually moved in the vacated space. The same went for another video store from my childhood, Stop and Shop Video. That part of the grocery chain shut down, apparently due to increased competition from Blockbuster Video. Although I do not know the exact fate of the "Video Galaxy 2" (yet another rental store from my youth), I fear it has also gone the way of Absolute Video and Stop and Shop Video.
As for those movies whose covers fascinated me, I've actually managed to track down and watch April Fool's Day and The Being. They haven't disappointed. Maybe I'll write about them someday; It's a whole new year full of untold promises. Hell, maybe I'll even get to see Bloody New Year one of these days!
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