Demon Ouija Board

This is one of my favorite Whitest Kids U Know comedy sketches, pulled straight from their official Youtube channel. I don't have much to say about this one, only that it's a both a hoot and the weirdest use of lightsaber sound effects I've ever encountered. Enjoy!

There's always room for giallo

For those not in the know, "giallo" is a term that (for English-speaking horror fans) usually refers to an Italian genre of violent mysteries and thrillers. The word itself is translates as "yellow," which refers to the yellow covers of the books that spawned the genre. You see, a company called Arnoldo Mondadori Editore published a line of pulp mystery novels called "I libri gialli" in 1929, which was eventually renamed as "Il Giallo Mondadori" in 1946. The name itself came from the distinctive yellow background used on each book cover. The line sold very well and prompted other companies to start putting out similar novels with such covers. Naturally, film companies wanted to make adaptations of such best-sellers and the giallo film genre was born.

When many horror fans think of gialli, several genre conventions come to mind:

1. Explicit violence and nudity

2. A mysterious killer wearing black gloves (and sometimes a mask)

3. Murders often being investigated by someone who isn't in law enforcement

4. The films often (but not always) having a bizarre title. Here are some examples:

Four Flies on Grey Velvet
Five Dolls for an August Moon
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage
Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key
You might be surprised to learn this, but you can make your own giallo, complete with strange title, without a film crew or budget of any kind! Just head on over to Braineater.com's Do-It-Yourself Giallo Generator, follow the easy-to-read instructions and you're all set. Feel free to post your favorite creation in the comments section!

To learn more about giallo, please use the giallo Wikipedia entry as a starting point. Trust me, my brief summary only scratched the surface of the information that link contains.

Straight out of R'lyeh

Worn out by werewolves and think Mummies are dusty and dull? Frankenstein’s monster not giving you a jolt anymore? Think that Vampires, in all forms, suck? Have the old horror icons lost their luster or, perhaps, you are in need of a change of pace?

Time to crack open the Lovecraft and get yourself acquainted with Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Based out of Vancouver but coming straight from R’lyeh, this group is fronted by Toren Atkinson, an artist who has contributed to Call of C’thulu roleplaying game. He and guitarist Warren Banks wrote the game Spaceship Zero, which is also an album by their band.  

Rock and roll and Lovecraftian mythos make for a good combination. ‘Great Old Ones’ and ‘Cthulu Strikes Back’ are good introduction albums, while ‘Spaceship Zero’ and ‘Shadow out of Tim’ are more sonic stories. Start with the first two, progress to the latter, go mad in the meantime. They’re a fun rock band that doesn’t let the subject of the work bog down their music.

This band played at Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2008, which would hint that they’re more nerd than spooky. But sometimes, it’s not all crypts and ghoolies.

Exhuming Dead Ernest

As you might recall from my last blog post, it's been rumored that a TBS horror host by the name "Dead Ernest" was actually played by media mogul Ted Turner. I first heard about the rumor from an old issue of Scary Monsters magazine and there are several references to it online. In fact, that last reference reveals that the show existed much earlier than I had originally thought. So early, in fact, that the "TBS" it was on was a far different animal than the one we're all familiar with. The history of TBS is complicated. Really, really complicated.

I was very pleased to discover that the webmaster of E-gor's Chamber of TV Horror Hosts had apparently gotten in contact with Ted Turner's assistant. After all, this saved me the trouble of having to do it myself. As you've probably guessed, Ted Turner never played Dead Ernest. However, he was apparently very fond of the character. You know, that probably explains why Monstervision hung around TNT for so long, going from a horror marathon to a bumper that played before showings of certain horror films to the Joe Bob Briggs-hosted show of the same name. On the other hand, that show was forced into becoming a "movie in general" show, so I could be wrong.

On a final note, I find it quite odd that there's so little information about Dead Ernest online. Maybe I'm just missing the right links due to Google pulling up stuff on a novel and britcom of the same name. If anyone has any links or information about Dead Ernest they'd like to share, feel free to post them in the comments section.

Well, isn't this interesting?

Quick bit for today. Haven't really talked about spooky hip-hop for a reason: outside of maybe a few songs off of one Necro album, there's very little 'horrorcore' that I like. To each their own, right?

Seems one zealous fan is accused to chopping four people up into pieces. It's CNN so the reporting is shoddy. Here's hoping it's not another case of West Memphis 3 bullshit, where they round up some kid, citing that he's involved in horror and spooky and wearing all black as the prime evidence. More details at the MTV.com piece.

Let's see how long this YouTube page stays up. Go for the crappy amateur beats, stay for the hilarious comments. In all cases, the accused is innocent until proven guilty.

Grandpa, could you whip me up a blog entry?

Movie reviewer Scott Foy (aka The Foywonder) has posted a clip from the episode of TBS Super Scary Saturday featuring King Kong vs. Godzilla (hosted by "Grandpa" Al Lewis) on his Youtube account:



In the above clip, professional wrestling personalities Michael "PS" ("Purely Sexy") Hayes and Jim Cornette debate which of the monsters they're representing will win the battle. The sketch's loving parody/recreation of wrestling promos (love that 80’s WCW logo) is quite amusing and it ties in nicely with the similar publicity Japanese and American campaigns used for the film's original release.

Wrestling fans are probably going to hate me for saying this, but the wrestling angle also ties into how the King Kong winning fight was totally rigged. There's a soft spot in my heart for the big lug, but I'm a Godzilla fan first and foremost. Honestly, do you really think a fire-breathing monster than can shrug off artillery fire like it was nothing could be defeated by a monster that was trounced by biplanes? I mean, come on.

It's been said that the reason Kong was scripted as the victor was due to Godzilla still being a villain at that point in the series and King Kong having been more popular at the time. You can read more about the issue, along with notes on the film's production, the never realized follow-ups and a debunking of the "Godzilla wins in the Japanese version" urban legend here. Or, if you want a more scholarly resource, scroll through the publicity campaign link I posted earlier or click here. I bet many of you reading this never would have guessed that the original Japanese version was more of a social satire than a serious science fiction movie.

I know I've already commented on the bizarre "He's 'Grandpa,' but not 'Grandpa Munster'" licensing issue in a previous entry, but I'm still amazed Turner Broadcasting was willing to make such a legally iffy choice as the host of their horror movie show. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Al Lewis and his work, but I wonder if TBS Super Scary Saturday was a quickly-created replacement for Dead Ernest. In case you're wondering, Dead Ernest was another TBS horror host from the 80's. His biggest claim to fame was that he was rumored to have been played by the superstation's owner, Ted Turner! You know what? I'm officially intrigued enough by this to do a little digging into the matter. Stay tuned!

Somewhere a man named Williams is screaming...

It's rare to get an in-depth look at the making of a bad movie. You might occasionally find a honest director's commentary on a bad movie's DVD release, but you'll have to search through the untold number of denials and blamefests that tend to appear in commentaries for such films. Even when one is found, the commentor's desire to keep the conversation from straying from what's seen onscreen can limit the amount of time spent on a particular subject. That's why the Bad Move Report's "Making a Bad Movie" section is such a treasure.

In it, b-movie reviewer Dr. Freex (aka Freeman Williams) discusses how his interesting Lovecraftian tale "Nightcrawlers" slowly but surely mutated into the much-derided movie, Forever Evil. The good doctor details the project's growth from a simple idea to the troubled filming (along with the film's legacy) over the course of eighteen segments. Said segments come complete with behind-the-scenes pictures and comparisons of the original script to what made it onscreen. Although I know that the DVD release of Forever Evil. has a commentary track, I can't imagine that it has the same impact as the website. Check it out, you won't regret it.

Howling at the Moon

The Young Werewolves http://www.theyoungwerewolves.com

Vampires are currently having their day in the sun (har har) thank to ‘Twilight’ and zombies have regained some coolness with movies from ’28 Days Later’ to the recent ‘Zombieland.’ There’s a new generation learning what all death rock and horror enthusiasts know – spooky is cool. Benicio del Toro and his movie ‘The Wolfman’ is slated for next year. And I guess there’s lycanthropy in the new ‘Twilight’ movie, which seems that vampires can’t go five steps without involving werewolves (see the ‘Underworld’ series. Wait, on second thought, don’t.)

Werewolves are due for their turn. Sincere werewolves, not some wereotters or were-polar bears or were-banana slug Baskin-Roberts 32 Flavors bullshit that usually happens. Wolfman. American Werewolf in London. Straight up howling at the moon.

This is good for The Young Werewolves, who you should be listening to anyway.

The Young Werewolves are sexy people playing sexy instruments, putting out some spook-rock that combines all their influences. They’re not a psychobilly band, not a death rock. They’re rock and roll. I really like the title track off their ‘Cheat The Devil’ release, mainly because outside of the word ‘devil,’ the song has nothing to do with spookiness but rather the evil characteristic of a malicious, superficial society. ‘Everyone wants to get their fill/Nobody want to pay their bills.'

But the next track, ‘Runaway,’ is a haunting cry, a very low creeping shadow of a song that is pretty spooky without invoking a monster or vampire. The Young Werewolves can play low or high, fast or slow. They can have a seductive beat like ‘Devil Dancer Girl’ or belt out a barn burning track like ‘Zombie Drag Race.’ They also pay tribute to their influences. During a live show last spring, they did covers of ‘(I’m not your) Stepping Stone,’ name checking all the bands who covered that Paul Revere and the Raiders song, as well as a version of Ratt’s ‘Round and Round.’

Each bandmember (Nick Falcon, Shewolf Dana Kain and Johnny Wolf) sings, helping the band avoid being pinned down. If there’s anything to being a werewolf, it is about negating limits. A man with the strength and savagery of a beast or an animal with the smarts and savvy of a man – the werewolf is all and cannot be caged down by definition. The Young Werewolves are like this, their music existing as a rock-bebop-punk-horror hybrid that aims at the common cause of rock and roll: fun. You’ll have fun at a Young Werewolves concert. Their music will make you grow hair in all the right places and you’ll be howling and drag racing and dancing until the moon goes down.

Beware of the Blob (factoids)

It's easy for someone watching the original version of The Blob to assume that the special effects were achieved using some sort of slimelike chemical that was quickly whipped up and thrown away after the movie finished filming. It'd also be natural to assume that slime had long since deteriorated into nothingness at a dump somewhere.

However, the truth is much stranger than fiction. The Blob was created using silicone, which was sealed up in a metal drum after filming ended. Eventually, an inquisitive fan of The Blob called up the studio and wound up purchasing the legendary prop. You can read more about it at this Horror-Wood interview.

As if that wasn't mind-blowing enough, did you that the Blob has a real-world counterpart of sorts? No, I'm not referring to amoebas; I'm referring to snottite. That's right, acidic slime actually exists. Who would've thunk it?

The Network

Last post, I namechecked Green Day, a band that inspires apathy and ennui, severe love or severe hate. Green day is a band for everyone. It’s cool to hate them, cool to like them and cool to not even care. Since ‘Dookie’ was one of the first punk-rock records I bought and it ultimately got me to stop listening to shitty alternative-rock and bad metal, I’m okay with Green Day. I’m also okay with The Network, the not-so-secret side project of Green Day.

The Network came during a period where Green Day, as a band, was trying to figure out what to do with themselves. Big major success had given way to a reflective period. Brat-pop bands like Blink-182 the like were overshadowing them. Green Day put out a couple albums that experimented with their sound. It's what the rock-and-roll writers deem 'a growth period.' Instead of releasing a series of new-wave songs under the Green Day brand and risk alienating their audience, they did what we all do on Halloween: they put on masks.

Enter THE NETWORK, a band that Green Day swears they are not, despite it’s clear that they are. I got the album used from Last Vestige in Albany on the rumor they were working with DEVO. It was a pleasant surprise. It didn’t outright suck and it had its own charms. It’s a new wave bit of music with technology, drug and hamburger themes throughout.

Plus, they do a cover of ‘Teenagers from Mars’ by the Misfits.

So, there you go. Even the rich and popular success still go trick or treating. 

I call shenanigans!

More specifically, I call shenanigans on the Eerie Publications (not to be confused with Warren Publications' Eerie magazine) comic, "The Slimy Mummy." Although it's a delightfully deranged tale with beautiful artwork, the giant mummy in the story is only slimy in the comic's title panel. On top of that, it's an uncredited remake of a story called "The Giant from the Tomb." Said story originally appeared in an issue of a comic book called The Purple Claw.

The Purple Claw is an odd character, a superhero who dresses like the protagonist of a "True Crime" comic and tends to get involved in stories better suited for horror comics. Presumably someone at Eerie made a similar observation and decided to filter out all of the non-horror elements from the original. Due to the lack of credits, it's hard to tell if this is just an unauthorized rip-off or just another example of a comic book writer reusing one of his older stories. Oh yes, that sort of thing does happen.

Getting back on topic, I remember feeling incredibly cheated when I discovered the truth about "The Slimy Mummy." One of my favorite parts of the story was the completely random act of divine intervention. I had always assumed it was dreamed up by a bored writer in order to both amuse himself and meet a fast-approaching deadline. Turns out it was just a way to reuse the climax of the original story without resorting to the silliness of having a superhero exist in medieval Europe. Such a pity.

Welcome to New Jersey!

The one time I have to go to the West coast in hell, five years, the one time I fly out past Chicago and keep going is the one weekend that Deadbolt decides to return to EST after a five year break. John from the Crimson Ghosts was there at the show and said it was one of the best he’d ever seen. And he had seen the Mummies reunion show just before that, a tandem blast of pure rock fury. I remain jealous as hell.

I flew out to Chicago to see Man…Or Astro-Man? play at Touch and Go’s 25th Anniversary, but there wasn’t that much of an adventure. I met someone who was really cool and saw a fantastic band but compared to the spooky band I would go to see a few years later, man. Let me tell you.

Click the post title for the full story.

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Storytime!

There's nothing quite like reading a good scary story on a cold October night. As a public service to those who have yet to experience this, here are a selection of websites full of great horror stories:

Six Word Tales offers up various tales of terror by Stiles White (of The Ghastly Ones fame), along with some cool artwork.

Readers of last year's Halloween countdown will remember Ravensblight as a great resource for spooky artwork and papercraft templates. What they might not know is that it also has a great library of scary stories, including some audiobook versions.

Joe R. Lansdale, the writer of the story that inspired the movie Bubba Ho-tep, has a rotating selection of his horror stories on his official website (including the previously mentioned story).

Halloween-Mask.com has an interesting twist on their stories (both scary and humorous): Every story has something to do with a mask. Thankfully, the site doesn't have as many "possessed mask" stories as one might think.

Here's something I chanced upon while looking up material for August's "Free D&D" post: A short Ravenloft-inspired horror story by Ari Marmell called "Before I Wake."

Finally, WikiSource offers a wide variety of vintage horror classics. Works by Poe, Lovecraft, Stoker and Shelley (and many more) await you if you have the nerve.

Nick or Treat!

Hey, remember how Nickelodeon used to do a "Nick or Treat" contest promotion every October? Don't bother tuning in to relive old memories, as the promotion has been long since abandoned. That is, abandoned as far as television is concerned. Why the change? Follow this link and click on the sound file. Be warned that it's most unintentionally NSFW (not safe for work) clip to ever be linked to on Gravedigger's Local 16.

Finished? I can assure you that what you just heard wasn't altered or edited in any way. It's just that the speakers' "New Yawk" accents had a rather unfortunate effect on the pronunciation of "Nick or." Try saying it to yourself over and over again and you'll probably make the same slip-up. That said, I can't blame Nickelodeon for dropping that TV promotion like a bad habit.

UPDATE: Despite the clip mentioning that this occurred during a "Nick or Treat Live" special, I thought it would be a good idea to note that the incident happened on the show U-Pick Live. Which makes sense, as I highly doubt the segment would have been allowed to air had it been taped in advance (and reviewed by editors). The show itself was not canceled over that rather unfortunate slip of the tongue.

After Dark

The Cramps

If the new internet-based society has done anything right, it’s increased the access to knowledge, perhaps to the a fault; instead of having a bereft of knowledge, the isolated youth in the far corners of the country, nay world, might have too much. Instead of starving, they’re overwhelmed.

So, it’s still up to you, dear reader, to make sure that those creepy kids know about The Cramps.

The Cramps were a band I could have used growing up. When you’re spooky, freaky or just plain nerdy in life, a band like the Cramps can give a neophyte that much needed subtle ‘fuck you’ attitude that can keep a teenage mutant going from day to day. That attitude, damn. It’s one of the fantastic things about this band, this band that blended roots rock and rockabilly with the new brash attitude of punk. The Cramps were a sexy middle finger, rigid and stiff. Listen to them and what you can hear is a confident swing of the hips, a swagger or a grin from a face that isn’t beautiful but damned, there’s something pretty powerful there when it smiles.

A lot of sex in the music, which is good for the undersexed ball of lightning and hormones that might be collecting, storing up in your neighborhood. Pass along a copy of ‘Songs the Lord Taught Us’ and have them YouTube the videos deemed ‘unsuitable for minors.’ It’s corrupting, sure, but in the way a sly whisper might be, a great reveal that life can be sweat, fun and not boring at all. Things can be as wild as you want it to be, if you want it to be. Sunglasses after dark, my son and daughter.

“A cornucopia of sex and horror.”
– Poison Ivy

That’s spooky, a call to the chemical bits of living, the pumping blood and adrenaline rushes. It’s getting scared and liking it. I think the Cramps captured that attitude, of both being the monster and being chased. If we chalk them up as a band for the season ‘cause they sang about werewolves and creatures from the black (leather) lagoon, we miss out at the core reason of the season, of the guttural reactions that make us howl at the moon. Spooky is being wild and untamed and the Cramps were about that.

Lux Interior (singer) and Poison Ivy (guitar) were the founders and firebearers for the band, surviving the many band members that come and go. Husband and wife. Pulse and throat. A wild combo, whether it be the sight of the rock goddess belting out licks on a sexy hollow-body guitar or the wildboy rolling around in skintight pants and high heels. Together, they made beautiful music. ‘Songs the Lord Taught Us.’ ‘Bad Music for Bad People.’ ‘Smell of Female.’ Goodness, gracious. Great balls of fire.

It’s up to us to pass around the word, to let everyone know about the Cramps. Ain’t like they’re some best kept secret but it’s not like they’re first on a girl’s lips when it comes to the question of ‘what music do I listen to now, as I’m stuck in this room or in this town?’ Ain’t gonna front like my blood had bled black for years. I’m a new recruit and see that years have been wasted not knowing about this band, so I spread the word with the zeal of the kid who first discovered the unexplored world underneath another person’s clothing.

My recruitment came, like it did for other musicians I’ve come to enjoy, too late. I only knew of the brightness of the person’s light when it was extinguished. Lux Interior passed away this past February, leaving behind his wife of thirty-seven years and a legacy that continues on. For those in the horror rock community, Lux’s passing at 62 was the death of rock and roll. He didn’t die young, nor was he too old. He died from aortic dissection, a terrible condition that might be easy to romanticize if it wasn’t so fatal. Finding that Ivy and Lux were married that long was, for a newcomer like me, something as astonishing as their music. Rock music is hard on a marriage, but to see two people maintain their relationship for so long clues anyone in that these two individuals were clearly made for each other. As lucky as fans of the Cramps are for the music they made, Lux and Ivy were much more fortunate to find such another that they could live, work and thrive like they did.

This Halloween will be a season that needs your Cramps records. Things are a little bit colder this year. It’s going to be a string of nights to bundle up the best you can, though if you can bust out the black leather and high heels, do it. Light a candle, light a fire. Wear the sunglasses. Blast the music. Tell all that you can, even if they know already.

Throw back the coffin lid - and RISE!

(or, "Straight out of Massachusetts")

Holy smokes, has it been a year since I last wrote something? Pretty much. Mad props to Weird Jon for keeping this undead account alive and going, even though I foolhardily put a DEAD sign on it. Blah.

How I spent Halloween 2008: handing out candy.

How I spend the day after Halloween 2008: I was in Salem, Massachusetts.

Sweet bleeding pumpkins. I haven't had the fortune of travelings this world but damned if Salem isn't one of the weirdest, weird-not-in-a-good-way places around. I went up to Salem to see a Crimson Ghosts show, right before a showing of 'DIE! You Zombie Bastards!'

Being that this was a strange pilgrimage to the land of the Pilgrims, I went for the whole day, figuring I'd take in the sights. There was a planned Zombie Walk to the theater, one that would only attract three shambling corpses (the organizers of the even, a pair in a wife/groom combo that was nicely done, and this individual guy who's use of the fake blood was impressive. At least, I thought it was fake.) The show was awesome. It was one of the best performances by the Crimson Ghosts I've seen. They worked their new 'Earth E.P.' into the set, along with references to Link Wray and Dick Dale.

But. Man, fuck Salem if you don't have any money because that place is Disney Rides the Tall Ship to New England to an outsider like me. Pirate Museums. Witchcraft Museum. Haunted Houses everywhere. And you can't walk twenty feet without smacking your face on a Psychic Booth, Tarot Shop or some itchy Palm Reading, cosmik debris spouter in a Sears black velvet poncho.

Of course, it makes sense that such a tourist town should amp up the spooky qualities and get every cent possible out of Halloween, its most profitable holiday. And every place was doing it - a bookstore was running a 'Dark Shadows' marathon with a well proclaimed 'rumor' that one of the Cast members would show up. It was only a rumor and expressed with a shrug from the clerk but yet he took time to say 'Well, maybe one of them will appear.'

Salem has this conundrum of rocking the spooky at level 13 while trying to maintain a sense of reverence for the real life government sanctioned murders of those accused of witchcraft. This is a town that has walking tours with hosts in period costume but also a statue of Barbara Eden as 'Samantha' from TV's 'Bewitched.' It was a crazy experience to see all these folks, still celebrating Halloween, walk around in costume while the cops had patches on their motorcycle jackets featuring a broom-riding witch against a full moon. If you go down to Orlando to catch a cop wearing a pair of Mickey Mouse ears, waving his full authority at you with the cartoonish stamp of the Board of Tourism in your face, how would you react? For me, I just got a headache.

This year should be even more crazy as Halloween falls on a Saturday. Tourists will flood the place and things should get crazy, I imagine. I'm sitting it out unless someone offers a ride. We can document the thing but damned if I'm going to be responsible for driving myself home after experiencing that place when it's all dressed to the nines.

The Ghoulies are good enough

[This is where I'd put a publicity picture of W.A.S.P's Blackie Lawless posing with one of the Ghoulies if I had the time to dig it up.]

I realized something very interesting about the Ghoulies series while watching the tail end of Ghoulies II on cable: It's the only horror franchise I can think of where the number of monsters actually decreases with each sequel!

There are multiple versions of certain Ghoulies in the first movie,which gets cut down to just the "main Ghoulies" in the sequel. Well, sort of. All I can say without spoiling anything is to go watch the movie to see what I mean. By the time Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go To College came around, the cast had been reduced to three Ghoulies. Perhaps this is the reason why said three were larger in that film than they were in the earlier ones. Amazingly, Ghoulies IV didn't have a single Ghoulie in it! Sure, the film wants you to believe that two "little people" in makeup count as Ghoulies, but it's wrong. A Ghoulie just isn't a Ghoulie unless it's accomplished with puppetry or sto-motion animation. Some might even argue that Ghoulies IV doesn't count as a real movie since it's just a handful of new scenes wrapped around stock footage from the first movie and 976-EVIL II. It's a damn shame, as even murderous hellbeasts deserve better than that.

Finally, it's fall!

Although leaves were falling and the air was crisp much earlier in September, it wasn't until September 22nd that autumn had officially arrived. Perhaps that's why it took most of the stores I've visited this month waited until about now to put out their Halloween merchandise. It's funny how they feel it's okay to display the Halloween candy (complete with Halloween-themed packaging) out in August, but everything else is a no-no. I say if you're going to put out stuff early, you might as well go full tilt. I guess I've been spoiled by the dollar stores putting out their stuff before everyone else.

Similarly, Music Choice's "Sounds of the Seasons" channel finally started playing music related to a holiday. Granted, they're focusing on Oktoberfest, but at least they're actually playing something fall-related. Something tells me they won't wait as long to play Christmas music in November as they will to play Halloween music in October.

Remember Record Store Day? Well, it turns out that it has a movie-themed sequel: Record Store Day Filmfest. The filmfest runs from Octoiber 21st through October 27th, so head on down to your local record store for all kinds of cool contests and DVD deals. While I don't know if this is that case for a participating stores, but Newbury Comics is having 20% off used DVD sale in addition to putting discounts on select "new" titles. To see which stores are taking part, check out the official website.

Why didn't I write about this sooner? I'm afraid some issues that've arisen over the past two weeks have been keeping me away from the blog at a regular basis. Since I don't know when I'll have everything straightened out, I thought I'd post the final GdL post for September a bit early than I'd originally planned. Hopefully I'll be able to get everything resolved in time for the Halloween countdown. See you then!

Viva Naschy!

According to my calendar, September is Hispanic Heritage Month and I feel there's no better way to celebrate this occasion than to profile Spain's Sultan of Scare, Paul Naschy. Mr. Naschy is often referred to as the Spanish Lon Chaney, presumably since both Lon Chaney Jr. and he portrayed men tormented by their lycanthropic transformations (Naschy played Waldemar Daninsky and Chaney played Larry Talbot). Another potential source of this comparison is that Naschy, like Lon Chaney Sr., has portrayed numerous horror characters throughout his body of work.

Despite being born as Jacinto Molina in 1934, Naschy adopted his stage name after transitioning from the world of bodybuilding to the world of acting. Although he appeared in several non-horror films prior to making La Marca del Hombre Lobo (which translates as "Mark of the Wolf Man") in 1968, the film is considered by many to have been when he had truly "arrived" in the industry. The film was also the first of Naschy's horror films to be shown in America, where it was retitled as Frankenstein's Bloody Terror. The reason for this was due to the American distributor having promised a film called Blood of Frankenstein to theaters and not being able to produce it due to financial difficulties. In a desperate attempt to keep their promise, an animated prologue was added to the film. This sequence quickly explained how the Frankenstein clan eventually turned into a family of werwolves known as "Wolfstein." A little more on the matter can be found in an interview with Sam Sherman in Brian Albright's Wild Beyond Belief!

Speaking of editing, some modern horror fans might forget that Spain was still under the dictatorship of Franciso Franco during the time in which several of Naschy's horror films were created. As a result of this, many horror films were subject to hastily-made edits and use of alternate takes for the Spanish release in order to comply with censorship laws. Although the uncut nudity and violence were offered in the "international" prints of the films offered to foreign distributors, their removal from the original negatives (and the differing quality of the footage from other prints) has made of mess of modern efforts to release the definitive versions of those films onto DVD. In fact, it is not unheard of for hardcore Naschy devotees to import old VHS tapes (and DVDs) from other countries in order to see every last frame of film missing from their domestic versions. I cannot help but wonder if that censorship is the reason why the portrait of Naschy villain Alaric de Marnac in 1982's Latidos de Panicos(aka Panic Beats) bears an uncanny resemblence to a painting of Franco's ancestor, Pedro Fernández de Castro, VII Count of Lemos. You can see a screenshot of the Marnac picture here (some images there are NSFW).

I am happy to report that Paul Naschy is still doing horror films today. In fact, he was given the Spanish Gold Medal in Fine Arts in 2001 and his IMDB profile indicates that there are two new Naschy films on the way. To learn more about Señor Naschy, please visit his Wikipedia entry and the Mark of Naschy fansite.

Happy Birthday to us!

It's hard to believe that it's actually been a year since Gravedigger's Local 16 first started. I know this sounds like a cliché, but it really does seem like it was only yesterday when Strange Jason set up the layout and made the first post on this blog. In celebration of this event, I thought I'd share the other names that were considered for this blog before we settled on the name we all know and love:

Frightmare Manor
The Evergraves
The Screamatorium
Deadwood Heights
Nightmare Fuel
The Night Shift
Dead Martha's Vineyard
Gravedigger's Local 113

The "Screamatorium" idea was the first of the names to be dropped. Although it sounded cool, we thought it best to do something original rather than just use a reference from The Simpsons. As you can see, we initially tried going for haunted attraction-style names and gradually shifted toward less location-specific names. Actually, now that I think about it, the never-used "Night Shift" name was a predecessor of sorts for GdL due to both names suggesting strange goings-on at night. In the end, the "Gravedigger's Local" name won out, but we ran into a bit of a snag when Strange Jason discovered there was a group using a similar name. I randomly picked a new number in order to avoid any confusion and, well, you know the rest.

DRAMA (Of the free audio variety)

It has recently come to my attention that a British company called Big Finish Productions has re-released an audio drama called UNIT: The Coup as a free download on their website. From what I can tell from its Wikipedia entry, it was originally released on a CD given away with an issue of Doctor Who Magazine in order to promote an upcoming spin-off of their Doctor Who audio plays.

For those not in the know, Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television series about the adventures of a time-traveling alien who saves the Earth (and other planets) from monsters and alien invasions. The Doctor sometimes aids (or is aided by) the British branch of the Unified Intelligence Taskforce (UNIT for short), an organization dedicated to combating unusual threats to global security. There's a note here that UNIT was originally called the "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce," but the producers had to remove the reference to the UN from the name in 2008.

I'm afraid I can't comment about the quality of the audio play, as I'm not a fan of Doctor Who and didn't bother listening to it. I only know that it involves a race of reptile-people from prehistoric times called the Silurians. However, I thought that both fans of the series and monster fans in general might be interested in such a freebie. Enjoy!

Free D&D

So I was looking for information about an old horror comic book when I stumbled across the Wikipedia page for Tomb of Horrors (link contains spoilers). Instead of containing information about a comic book, it was devoted to a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. Said adventure is apparently infamous the its sheer number of deadly traps and reputation as a player-killer. Despite its apparent lack of monsters, I thought that some readers might be interested to know that Wizards of the Coast has put up a version (revised for 3.5th Edition rules) as a free download.

After poking around Wikipedia some more, I managed to find two other monster-related free downloads: a never-published supplement for the horror-themed Ravenloft campaign setting and the monster-filled adventure, White Plume Mountain (also revised for 3.5th Edition rules). I should note that I personally haven't downloaded or opened any of these. As is the case with all links to downloadable content, open them at your own discretion.

Deep(ly odd) thoughts

So I was watching From Dusk 'til Dawn recently and was surprised to see that the staked vampires in the movie stayed dead even when their stakes were removed. Having been raised on movies where removing a stake meant a vampire would rise again, I was initially against the idea, but further consideration had me rethinking my position. Think about it, if rupturing the heart of a vampire killed it, then it wouldn't matter if the stake was removed or not. On the other hand, if the material the stake is made of is what kills the vampire, then removing it could potentially let a vampire "live" again. After all, a vampire theoretically wouldn't need organs to function and something that would permanently kill a human being might not work the same way for them. There's also the issue of how, in the original folklore, driving a stake through a vampire's chest only pinned them in their coffins so they couldn't escape. Do we factor that in and make the whole argument moot or do we ignore like most depictions of vampires in popular culture?

This actually reminds me of a conversation Strange Jason and I once had. For some reason, he had started thinking about vampires having a divorce and how the process would work. The big question on his mind was whether or not alimony and/or child support have to be paid for all eternity, while I wondered if being undead would create any loopholes. If a couple is married "'til death do [them]" part, does it mean the marriage is invalid if both parties are undead?

Speaking of bizarre monster-related conversations I've had, one of my cousins came up with an interesting series of questions about zombies: Do they simply eat until their stomachs rupture or are they able to somehow digest the flesh they consume. If they do digest their "food," then would they poop? If they do, would they just soil themselves or would they have a basic memory about things like using a toilet or going behind a bush?

Come to think of it, would vampires have to urinate after they've digested blood (assuming that's what they do with it) or would they have really bad diarrhea?

The (Vincent) Price is right

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Onion AV Club recently posted an article devoted to Vincent Price, and the films starring him that were most likely to make viewers devoted fans. I link to this both because I agree with the movie choices they list and because the users comments offer a wealth of trivia about the man. For example, I learned that he made a cameo in the movie Beach Party for the sole purpose of plugging The Pit and the Pendulum and that he provided vocal work on Alice Cooper's album, Welcome to My Nightmare (long before Price did his "rap" for Thriller). Price also appeared in Cooper's TV special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare. Said special's VHS release has some hilariously cheesy (albeit intentionally so) cover art that I doubt anyone would try doing nowadays.

Inspired by these discoveries, I decided to visit his Wikipedia entry. My favorite factoid has to be this quote:

"In an often-repeated anecdote from the set of Batman, Price, after a take was printed, started throwing eggs at series stars Adam West and Burt Ward, and when asked to stop replied, "With a full artillery? Not a chance!", causing an eggfight to erupt on the soundstage."

How can you not love that man?

Saving the best for last, check out vincentprice.org for a treasure trove of Vincent Price-related trivia, pictures, sound files and much more. Trust me, you'll be glad you visited.

UPDATE: The Price may be right, but it turns out that Beach Party trivia was incorrect. Although Vincent Price did appear in the movie and made a The Pit and the Pendulum joke, his appearance was done to plug The Haunted Palace. Had I bothered to look up the release dates prior to making this post, I would have realized that The Pit and the Pendulum was made long before Beach Party went into production.

It came from Wikipedia

Even Wikipedia isn't the most accurate source of information in the world, I still find myself browsing through when I'm bored and need to kill a little time online. I checked the information found in the links below using other resources and can guarantee that they're all true.

Even though I'm not a fan of the Saw franchise, I'm fascinated by the licensing decisions surrounding it. Not only does the soundtrack for the European version of Saw III has a Dethklok song in it, but there are also an amusement park ride and video game based on the series.

Speaking of odd choices for video games, it turns out that there was a Plan 9 from Outer Space computer game! What's even weirder is that the game is about recovering the film's reels (stolen by Bela Lugosi's double) rather than it being a playable adaptation of the game.

I find it odd that, despite J. J. Abrams' claim of coming up with the idea for Cloverfield out of a desire to create an American monster, there's a (currently) Japan-only manga prequel.

You might know John Agar from movies like The Brain from Planet Arous or Tarantula, but I bet you didn't know that he started a theme park called "Land of Kong" that featured a forty foot tall King Kong statue Sadly, the park (which had since changed its name to "Dinosaur World") closed in 2005. As noted on in these blogs, the massive King Kong statue's blinking red eyes and roaring sound effects (along with the now-outdated dinosaur statues) couldn't compete with the thrill-rides and realistic animatronic effects that can be found in modern theme parks.

It's a rare treat to get some insight the creation of the horror movie posters of yesteryear. The late Tom Chantrell, who designed the posters for Star Wars and many Hammer horror films, apparently only used a basic plot description and a few publicity stills (along with pictures of himself and others posing) in order to create his masterpieces.

Japan's first giant monster movie might have been a lost 1938 film called King Kong Appears in Edo. I say "might have" because there are some allegations that the film is a hoax and it's been theorized that the film was actually called King Kong and the "Appears in Edo" was merely the tagline. You can find an alleged publicity picture here.

When I first read that Viras (and other monsters from the Gamera franchise) had an animated cameo on the children's television series Franklin, I was convinced it was just a joke. Then I saw a screenshot...

Speaking of giant monsters, I was surprised to learn that the 1977 novelization of The Creature from the Black Lagoon changed the Gill-man into a thirty ton, hermaphroditic monster.

Finally, Poltergay. I honestly don't know what else to say about this.

Christmassacre in July

Despite my lack of understanding about the whole "Christmas in July" concept, I figured that I'd hop on the bandwagon anyway. Anyway, here are several hilarious (and NSFW) clips from Silent Night, Deadly Night II:

You're curiously attractive for a fish-man...

A discussion with a friend of mine regarding Monster Force led to us talking about Darkstalkers. Not to be confused with the Japanese OVA series Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, (although both were based on the same Capcom fighting game) Darkstalkers was an American animated series infamous for its poor quality and unintentional comedy. To learn more about it, check out the Random Action Hour's episode reviews, complete with screenshots and humorous sound files.

If you're wondering about the title of this entry, watch this:



Come to think of it, the werewolf character in the show kind of ties into the the 40th anniversary of the Moon landing...

Happy 4th of July!

Since it's Independence Day, I thought I'd share an interesting fact I learned. It turns out that the movie Independence Dayhad an audio sidequel about Britain's response to the alien invasion called Independence Day UK (aka ID4UK). From what I can tell, the play starts off sounding like a real radio program about UFOs (complete with British celebrities playing themselves) and then segues into a standard audio drama after the aliens attack. You can read more about it here.

But while that ties into the holiday, it wouldn't feel right to do a 4th of July entry without something 100% American. Since the word "force" kinda sounds like "fourth, I thought now would be as good a time as any to share the following news:

The Abominable N. Oremac informed me that Monster Force is getting a DVD release on September 15, 2009. Not unlike Van Helsing, this 1994 animated series was an attempt to make the Universal Monsters appeal to the youth of the day. In it, the titular Monster Force (whose members included Frankenstein's Monster and a descendant of the Wolf Man) protected the world from Dracula and his team of evil monsters. Judging from the Wikipedia entry, the show made some rather bizarre choices for some of the monsters' powers, such as the Mummy having freeze breath or the Creature from the Black Lagoon having a sonic scream-type attack. Come to think of it, could the Creature really be considered evil? It's just an incredibly sexually frustrated animal (being the last of your kind tends to do that). In my opinion, the only reason he went after Julie Adams in the first movie was since he desperate enough to consider pursuing a (by his species' standards) ugly, scaleless freak. I'm not saying what he tried to do was right, but wild animals aren't exactly the best representatives of ethical or moral thinking.

Getting back on topic, the short-lived cartoon also resulted in a line of action figures. You can learn more about them at this Monster Force fansite. It should also be noted that the cartoon has no relation to the video game of the same name.

Finally, I'd like to wish a belated Happy Canada Day to all our readers up north. In celebration, here's a link to my favorite Canadian horror movie-related site: Canuxploitation.

Cool cover art

I love looking at the cover art on old horror movie VHS tapes. From lurid paintings to goofy staged photographs, they have a unique style that today's DVD covers rarely match. So you can imagine my delight to discover Critical Condition Online's cover art gallery. Not only does it have tons of cover scans, but it also lists the various home video companies of the 80's/90's, provides company histories and even includes scans of vintage promotional material!

Happy Father's Day!

Watching television with one's father is a time-honored family tradition. So on Father's Day, why not relive those moments with your father by heading over to Youtube?
Both MGM and Lionsgate have uploaded several full-length movies and television shows onto their Youtube accounts. GdL readers should be interested in Amityville II: The Possession, Dark Fields, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, Parents, The Outer Limits and The Addams Family. And if the old man isn't a horror fan, then there's plenty of other types of movies and shows to watch. It may not sound like the most glamorous way to spend Father's Day, but I'm sure dad will like it more than getting yet another tie.

Grandpa and the Midnight Mutants

In 1990, Atari and Radioactive Software released an interesting action game for the Atari 7800 system called Midnight Mutants. The game dealt with a young boy's quest to save his grandfather, who has been turned into a pumpkin by Dr. Evil. What's really interesting about the game is that, as you can see from the screenshots from the game shown here, the grandfather in question is Grandpa Munster! Or is he?

You see, the game technically wasn't related to The Munsters. Apparently, only the use of Al Lewis' likeness was licensed. But, thanks to his appearance being so strongly linked to his portrayal of "Grandpa" from the series and since he was used to represent the captured grandfather of the game's protagonist, many assumed that the game involved Grandpa Munster. If the rights holders for The Munsters had attempted any legal action, I'd assume that Radioactive Software and Atari would've pointed out that since the main character was named Jimmy Harkman, then it would mean that his grandfather would be named "Grandpa Harkman" and wasn't related to character from The Munsters in any way. I'm not saying that it would necessarily hold up in court, but I'm sure they'd make that sort of argument. Although the character from the TV series is informally referred to as "Grandpa Munster" by many, he was actually referred to as "Count Dracula" in a few episodes of the show. This is because he was only the father-in-law of Herman Munster.

This unusual licensing strategy was also used on other occasions. Lewis hosted horror movies on TBS as "Grandpa" during the 80's and also hosted a series of VHS tapes from Vintage Video (aka AmVest Video). Notice that, although the Amazon listings refer to him as "Grandpa Munster," he is merely called "Grandpa" on the packaging. In these appearances, he did not wear the same makeup design used in The Munsters television series or films.

I have to wonder why they chose to use "Grandpa" in that game. Were reruns of The Munsters really all that popular with the youth of the time? Perhaps they were inspired by a similar game for the NES called Fester's Quest, which featured characters from The Addams Family. However, unlike Midnight Mutants, this game had licensed the characters. But even if that was the case, one has to wonder why they thought that children of the 80's would want to buy a game about a character from a 60's sitcom battling aliens.

Is this the end of civilization as we know it?

MGM/Comcast's "Impact" OnDemand channel is now offering the 1986 post-apocalyptic trash classic Robot Holocaust for free. Yes, as in the one that appeared on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Although the film's print is very good and has all the footage that was cut from the MST3K version, those who remember Wizard Video's claim that it was "too gory for the silver screen" are going to be disappointed. Although it does have its fair share of severed limbs, it isn't very gory and the tagline was only putting a positive spin the fact that it was a direct-to-video movie. On the plus side, it's chock full of killer robots, mutants, buck-toothed worms and other bizarre creatures!

I hope that it gets a DVD release under MGM's Midnite Movies line sometime soon, if only to see what movie it would be paired with. My best guess would be the similarly-themed Mutant Hunt. I love the original VHS box art for that movie; not only does it make promises it can't keep regarding the film's quality, but it also appears to show a half-naked Inspector Gadget going on a rampage.

Also, the big switch from analog broadcasting to digital is scheduled for midnight tonight! It also seems that even those who have converter boxes or cable might experience a little trouble. From what I could glean from the news today, you might have to press your remote's menu button and hit any option that has the word "Scan" in it if you are unable to get certain channels. You can find more information on the matter by looking around here.

I'm sure that some of you readers have fiddled with a TV antenna trying to get some horror movie to tune in a little clearer or settled with a snowy TV signal from a distant station since they were airing something you desperately wanted to see. Although the switchover will make that impossible for modern viewers, some will surely miss the ability to do that sort of thing. If you have any memories like this which you want to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Linger longer II: The Legend of Jimmy's Gold

Opie and Anthony fans are well acquainted with Jim Norton's multi-talented character, "Ted Sheckler." In this installment, Ted looks back on his career as a ghost hunter. First we have the full-length (audio only) version uploaded by Yarsh29:



For those of you with slower connections, here's the animated "best of" version by cokelogic (uploaded by foresaken797):



As with most great Youtube videos, neither of these are "work safe." By way, am I the only one who's noticed that all the ghost hunters on television basically act like Ted? Despite going to places for the sole purpose of looking for evidence of the paranormal, they run away screaming bloody murder if anything actually happens!

Oh May! George Takei and Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

I recently discovered that May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Seeing as the GdL strives to be all-inclusive, I haven chosen to celebrate by devoting this entry to the famous Japanese-American named George Takei. Although most people think of him as "Lt. Hikaru Sulu" from Star Trek or the funny guy who joked about raping Tim Hardaway, Mr. Takei has done so much more than that in the world of horror/sci-fi.

George Hosato Takei (now George Hosato Takei Altman)was born in Los Angeles, California during the year 1937. He began his Hollywood career doing uncredited dubbing work for the American versions of Rodan (1957-US version) and Gigantis the Fire Monster (1959-US version) (aka Godzilla Raids Again). Decades later, Takei would reveal the rationale for the bizarre (and out-of-date) "banana oil" line during an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Another noteworthy event in his early acting career was his appearance on a controversial (and somewhat supernatural) episode of The Twilight Zone called "The Encounter" in 1964. Perhaps drawing upon the time when his family and he were forced to live in internment camps during World War II, Takei played a young Japanese-American and the tension he faces with a racist WWII veteran.

In 1966, he got a part on a show that made him famous: Star Trek (1966-1969). Not surprisingly, he also appeared in the animated series (1973-1974), the various Star Trek movies (1979-1991) and an appearance on Star Trek: Voyager (1996). His fame from the Trek franchise (and his talent) also led to appearances in other genre films and television shows, such as his appearances in the sci-fi western films Oblivion (1994) and Oblivion II: Backlash (1996). This was followed by an appearance on the television series Space Cases (1997) and a part in the movie Bug Buster (1998). More recently, he has appeared in AI Assault (2006), the short film Showdown of the Godz (2008), an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2009) and a role in the animated movie Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword (2009). Personally, I find his role in Showdown of the Godz to be particularly interesting, as be plays the fictional owner of the real-life Monster Sushi restaurant.

For those who want to read about the non sci-fi/horror aspects of George Takei's life and career (including his work in politics), I recommend visiting the following:

The Official George Takei website
George Takei's IMDB profile
George Takei's Wikipedia entry

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

What better way for Gravedigger's Local 16 to celebrate this fine day than to pay tribute to K. Gordon Murray? Not only was he the son of a funeral parlor director, but he's also responsible for bringing tons of Mexican horror movies to the America. If not for him, many would not have experienced weird and wonderful films like The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy, The Brainiac, Doctor of Doom, and The Vampire's Coffin. He was also the first person to introduce the greatness that is El Santo to English-speaking audiences, albeit renamed as "Samson." To learn more about Mr. Murray and the films he distributed, check out "The Wonder World of K. Gordon Murray" and his Wikipedia entry.

Old news and new news

I was talking with the Abominable N. Oremac recently about the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street remake and he informed me that Variety has reported that Jackie Earle Haley is going to be the new Freddy Krueger. Although I'm glad the oft-rumored for the role Billy Bob Thornton didn't get the part, I would have cast Ryan Stiles. I know it's an odd-sounding choice, but the man looks eerily like Robert Englund did in his younger days. Then again, I wouldn't have even greenlit the remake if it were up to me.

Remember that post I did about the "Lost Collection" from Lionsgate? Well, I have some bad news. The Amazon.com reviews for the Slaughter High DVD reveal that the transfer is full frame and poor looking. In fact, it sounds like they just reused the print from the 2007 FEARnet showing. Unless this was truly the only print that was available (including checking for old theatrical prints), this is simply inexcusable. I'm shocked that Lionsgate took such a gigantic step backward.

Speaking of Fearnet, I noticed that the latest updates for the Comcast cable version include Phantasm II and all the Toxic Avenger movies. All I can say is: HELL. YES.

Wait, that's not true. I can also note how this (and the recent showing of the first and fourth Toxic Avenger movies on G4) destroys Lloyd Kaufman's theory of cable channels having some sort of anti-Troma grudge. Personally, I suspect that the reason cable channels weren't trying to play Troma stuff around that time was due to the fact that DirecTV already had the licenses. It's nothing personal against Mr. Kaufman or Troma, but that comment from the interview always bothered me.

While we're on the subject of OnDemand, I recommend also checking the other "Free Movies" sections rather than just sticking to FEARnet. For example, Pumpkinhead and The White Buffalo can be found there, but not in the "FEARnet" section. Also Movieplex (under the "Premium Channels" section) has a bunch of (free) horror and science fiction titles, including the complete Planet of the Apes film series.

IFC has a Friday night (technically early Saturday) "grindhouse" slot at midnight where they play lots of cult films. Although they show recent horror films and non-horror stuff, they also have been known to play oldies but goodies like Goke, Bodysnatcher from Hell. You can check out their grindhouse scheduling information here.

I've noticed that both AMC and the Sci-Fi channel seem to give really inconvenient late night/early morning timeslots (both for the initial showings and repeats) to the sort of older horror/sci-fi films I'm interested in. Sci-Fi is the worst of the two, as it plays those sorts of films at 4:00 am and never does a repeat showing. My guess is that AMC's trying to emulate the late night slots for horror films of the old days while Sci-Fi is burning off titles they've licensed, under the idea that less people would turn in for an "old" movie if they aired it during normal hours. I don't know about you, but I'd rather watch stuff like Frankenstein meets the Space Monster than reruns of Lost or Breaking Bad.

That reminds me, I'm stunned that Sci-Fi's decision to change their name to "SyFy" isn't some sort of April Fools' joke (link provided by N. Oremac). Apparently this is since they can't trademark the term "Sci-Fi" since it's too commonplace (more on that here). I honestly don't see why they consider that such a big deal. After all, they already own the scifi.com domain name and could have trademarked the phrase "The Sci-Fi Channel" instead. They could have taken after the Canadian equivalent of their channel by giving it a one word name, trademarking the name, and then adding "The Sci-Fi Channel" as a subtitle. Or if they wanted to be smartasses, they could've trademarked "sciffy," a nickname often used by people online to make fun of the channel.

But I digress. Getting back on topic, I didn't see any particularly interesting movie listings for Sci-Fi this weekend in my TV listings, but I did find some stuff on AMC tonight:

King Kong (70's remake) 11:30-2:30 am
And Now the Screaming Starts 2:30-4:30 am (early Saturday)
Blood of Dracula 4:30-6:00 am (early Saturday)

For those not in the Eastern/Standard time area, please check your local listings or AMC's website for the times.

Since I'm doing cable TV schedules, here's what's playing on "This TV" tomorrow:

Amityville II: The Possession 8:00-10:00 pm
Amityville 3D 10:00-12:00 am
The Angry Red Planet 12:00-2:00 am (early Sunday)
Attack of the Puppet People 2:00-4:00 am (early Sunday)

Sunday:

The Comedy of Terrors 11:00-1:00 pm
Twice Told Tales 1:00-3:30 pm
Tower of London 3:30-5:00 pm
The Haunted Palace 5:00-7:00 pm
Madhouse 7:00-9:00 pm
The Oblong Box 9:00-11:00 pm
Theater of Blood 11:00-1:00 am
Cry of the Banshee 1:00-3:00 am (early Monday)

I should note that, based on my briefly watching Once Bitten on the channel last month, that there are commercial breaks and some films might be edited for content. As I noted in the AMC listings, all times given are Eastern/Standard and people in other areas should check their local listings or the This TV website for the times.

Cat in the Brain

It seems that Lucio Fulci has directed one gory horror movies too many, as hallucinations plague him at every turn. Being offered steak at a restaurant makes him flash back to a man feasting on human flesh and hacking up a corpse with a chainsaw, while seeing a cameraman filming him for a documentary makes him hallucinate about a Nazi orgy and attack the woman interviewing him. To make matters worse, the psychiatrist he visits for help is even crazier than he is! Using hypnosis, he makes the director’s hallucinations worse and makes it so that he’ll think he’s guilty of the murders after hearing a high-pitched noise. That way, he can commit a series of murders and use Fulci as the fall guy. Which madman will ultimately take the blame? You’ll have to watch the movie to find out!

Cat in the Brain, also known as Nightmare Concert, was originally released in Italy as Un Gatto nel cervello in 1990. The film’s biggest claim to fame is the fact that it’s mostly comprised of footage from other films that Fulci or his daughter, Camilla, were involved in. These films include Zombie, Touch of Death (aka When Alice Broke the Mirror), The Ghosts of Sodom, Massacre, The Beyond (music only), Bloody Psycho (aka The Snake House), Escape from Death, Hansel and Gretel, and The Broken Mirror (aka Don’t Be Afraid of Aunt Martha). Sometimes the stock footage is used to represent movies while other instances are supposed to be actual occurrences or madness-induced visions. Due to the clever nature of the editing, it’s often hard to tell whether or not the events playing out onscreen are supposed to be real or not. This, along with the repetition of certain elements (Flashbacks to death scenes, eerie moans, people being slapped and Fulci’s attempts to reassure himself he’s not the killer) in the movie also adds to the effect that the viewer is becoming as mentally unbalanced as the main character.

While not as unintentionally funny as Pieces, Cat in the Brain still has its fair share of laughs. Although the scene of a cat eating some grey matter is an interesting way of demonstrating the protagonist's initial descent into insanity, the cat puppet utilized for the scene is hilariously awful-looking. There’s plenty of over-the-top gore and ludicrous kills, such as a decapitation via storage chest. Lucio Fulci is definitely a better director than he is an actor, as his hammy acting is obvious even when dubbed over. Although the editor made a valiant effort to seamlessly blend all the different footage together, there are times when it’s obvious that the killer isn’t in the same location as the victim. For example, it may be early evening when the psychiatrist is going after a victim in one scene, while scenes featuring the victim will be occurring in broad daylight!

So, why make a movie out of so much stock footage? There are actually several theories on the matter. Some feel that Fulci was getting sick of doing horror films and wanted to do a movie that explained his dissatisfaction to the audience and yet had enough violence and gore to keep his fans happy. Others have volunteered that Fulci wanted to create a movie so gory that it would be impossible for distributors to edit out the gore and still have a feature-length film, as his films were often censored by distributors in other countries. However, the most popular theory seems to be that Fulci was trying to provide social commentary on the public’s response to his work (especially critics). This seems to be the most likely possibility, as the film has Fulci noting that nobody would buy tickets if he made movies about love and the antagonist remarks “[d]oesn’t that stupid old theory say violence onscreen provokes violence” during his plot to frame his patient. “Stupid” is certainly an appropriate term for that theory, since numerous film editors and movie critics would be homicidal maniacs if this were true. This theory also explains the massive use of stock footage. Let’s face it, doing a movie about Lucio Fulci playing himself would seem ridiculous if they didn’t use stuff from his old movies in some way. Also, using stock footage was probably the cheapest way to get a lot of gore scenes (which was probably Fulci’s way of poking fun at people who said his films had too much gore).

Grindhouse Releasing pulled out all the stops for their deluxe, two disc release of Cat in the Brain. In fact, I understand that this release marks the first time the director’s cut was released on DVD in America. This would explain why their release is nine minutes longer than Image Entertainment’s 2002 release. If that wasn’t enough, the extras alone make this a definite upgrade for those who purchased the Image DVD (more on those later). The film is presented in a beautiful anamorphic widescreen transfer with both English and Italian mono tracks. Seeing the original quality of the footage used in the film’s trailer shows just how much work Grindhouse put into remastering it. Both audio tracks are crystal clear and are complimented by removable English subtitles.

The special features for disc one include animated menus and chapter stops, the original Italian trailer, the US trailer created by Grindhouse Releasing, a slideshow made up of various production stills and promotional materials, and a twenty-odd minute Q&A session with Lucio Fulci and his interpreter at the 1996 Fangoria Weekend of Horrors convention. Disc two offers several interviews, biographies/filmographies for Lucio Fulci and Brett Halsey (the cannibal mentioned earlier in this review), and previews. As usual, the filmographies come with interview segments or trailers for films that the biography subject was involved in.

There are two 1995 interviews with Fulci (“Genre Terrorist” and “The Television Years,” both of which are subtitled), a single English-language interview with Brett Halsey from 2005 and a few brief (subtitled) segments under the banner “Memories of Lucio.” These include comments on Fulci by Jeoffrey Kennedy (who played Inspector Gabrielli in Cat in the Brain), Sacha Marsa Darwin (who played the woman in the oven in footage reused for Cat in the Brain), and Malisa Lango (who played the unfaithful wife in Cat in the Brain). These mini-interviews are actually promotional snippets from a DVD called Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1 by Paura Productions, who seem to be connected to Tempe Video in some way. Getting back to the “main” interviews, they clock in around forty-someodd minutes each and cover a variety of topics. Brett Halsey discusses his career, coming to Italy and his thoughts about footage of him being used in Cat in the Brain during his interview, while Fulci discusses his career, television, his dislike of psychiatrists, and the making of the film (among other things).

Rounding things out are the liner notes and two Easter eggs. Although the liner notes by Lucio’s daughter Antonella Fulci, horror novelist David J. Schow and Hostel director Eli Roth are informative and offer some insight on the possible meanings of the film, they're also chock full of spoilers. One Easter egg can be found on disc one by highlighting the Fangoria option on the “Special Features” menu and hitting left. This leads to an icon that, when pressed, plays a clip of Fucli signing autographs at the Fangoria convention. The other egg can be found on disc two by highlighting the “Main Menu” option on the “Interviews” section and hit left to reveal a clip of Lucio Fulci discussing television and the difficulties he had in getting things accepted. Oh, and the first 2,499 DVDs come with a limited edition lenticular cover. Actually, the official number is the first 2,500 DVDs, but since I already got a copy…

Special thanks to Grindhouse Releasing for the review copy!

Record Store Day is coming!

Mark your calendars: Saturday, April 18th is Record Store Day. Much like how Free Comic Book Day lures people to comic stores in the hopes they'll do some impulse shopping, Record Store Day seeks to celebrate and preserve the independent record store business. Sales on used CDs and DVDs, live performances, free refreshments and promotional goodies are all part of the promotional effort (although it varies from store to store).

It may seem odd that a blog devoted to horror stuff is promoting this, but there's actually a method to my madness. Record stores have helped me (and presumably others) get my hands on music and horror DVDs that the big retailers just don't carry, especially titles from independent companies and distributors. I've saved a lot of money over the years by buying used DVDs from record stores and I've lost count of the times I've sold off some DVDs and CDs in order to purchase something I've had my eye on.

Horror fans also might be interested to know that Bruce Springsteen will be releasing a record (yes, as in vinyl) containing the once online-exclusive song "A Night with the Jersey Devil" as part of the RSD celebration.

As download-based distribution of music and movies becomes more and more popular, the survival of indie record stores becomes more and more threatened. Instead of going to their local record store(s) to check out and buy discs, many are opting for the ease of downloading stuff from Amazon, iTunes, and the like. That, combined with competition from big chain stores are driving business away from record stores. And let's face it: you won't be able to resell .mp3s you don't want if you need extra cash, but you can do that with CDs and DVDs at record stores. So let's help keep a good thing going by supporting our local record stores!

To see which stores are participating, check out the official Record Store Day website.

Lost and found

Imagine my surprise when I found a reference to Lionsgate Entertainment releasing a "Lost Collection" tomorrow while reading the Wikipedia entry for Repossessed. Searching for "the lost collection" on Amazon yielded the following movies:

My Best Friend's a Vampire
Repossessed
Slaughter High

For the sake of completeness, here are the non-horror titles in the collection:

Hiding Out
Homer and Eddie
Irreconcilable Differences
Morgan Stewart's Coming Home
Night Before

According to the profiles on Amazon.com, the DVDs will include special trivia tracks. However, they also seem to indicate that all the DVD transfers are in the 1.33: 1 aspect ratio (fullscreen). I couldn't find any information about the original aspect ratios for any of the horror titles, but the Internet Movie Database pages for Hiding Out, Homer and Eddie, and Irreconcilable Differences note that those titles have an aspect ratio of 1.85: 1. So unless it's an error on the part of Amazon or the IMDB, this could mean that the transfers were cropped from their original aspect ratios. The only other option I can think of is that the films were shot open matte, which basically means that nothing will be cropped out when the film is presented in fullscreen.

I can only hope that Lionsgate did not choose to use cropped transfers, as it would be a giant step back from their widescreen releases of Alligator and The Monster Squad. If they didn't, then I hope that the next batch of forgotten 80's films includes Blood Diner and Demonwarp.

I also found out that, thanks to a chance reading of Entertainment Weekly at the doctor's office, Warner Brothers is opening a website called warnerarchive.com. The Warner Archive Collection will offer over 100 movies that have previously gone unreleased for sale via DVD and paid downloads. I haven't had the time to go through the list of films, so here's hoping that some horror and sci-fi movies get included in the mix.

Bob Eggleton rules

Who is Bob Eggleton? He's a renowned sci-fi/fantasy/horror artist whose work has appeared on countless book and magazine covers. He's won the Hugo Award for Best Professional Artist a whopping eight times, along with snagging the Chesley Award for Artistic Achievement. He's even got an asteroid named after him! To see why he's received such honors, check out the artwork at his official website, blog, and samples from The Book of Sea Monsters.

Critters: Special Edition?

Back when the special editions of the original Star Wars trilogy came out, I saw a pay-per-view listing for Critters: Special Edition. Despite all my searching, I can't find any information about the supposed special edition online. My best guess is that it was it was a widescreen version of the film using the alternate ending. Does anyone out there have any information about this particular version of Critters?

Relics and reptiles

I was surprised to discover that not only was the movie The Relic based on a novel, but that said novel also had a sequel! In fact, you can read a sample chapter from said sequel, Reliquary, here.

Speaking of samples, you can also read samples from The Relic, an early draft of The Relic, and other novels by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child at their official website. I highly recommend checking it out, as the behind-the-scenes notes provided more insight on the creation of the reptile monster than the film did. Similarly, the Wikipedia entry for The Relic notes the various differences between the novel and film version of The Relic (but also has many spoilers).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Remember that "Leprechaun in Mobile, Alabama" thing from a few years back? The one with that inspired a hilarious rap remix? Well, someone combined it with the trailer from the movie Leprechaun and the world is better for it:



Speaking of the Leprechaun franchise, does anyone else out there remember a segment from Entertainment Tonight where the Crypt Keeper claimed that he killed and ate the Leprechaun for harassing Jennifer Aniston in the first movie? As I recall, he made him into a "nice Irish stew." In short, the Crypt Keeper is hardcore. Watch your backs, Freddy and Jason...

TGIF13 II: WOOF WOOF WOOF!

Jason Voorhees (presumably Kane Hodder) appears on The Arsenio Hall Show to promote Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. This ranks right up there with Pinhead's appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.