Zombos' Closet of Horror Blog

The Bloody Bloggers Awards Nominations Are Now Open

The Bloody Bloggers Award Nominations are now open, and will continue until the end of February. There are 13 categories and nominees can appear in more than one category.

To be considered for nomination a League of Tana Tea Drinkers member must recommend you. (You can also email me with your URL and which category, or categories you feel your blog falls under, and I will consider your blog for recommendation to the League, too). My email address is available through the About page.

In March, the Bloody Bloggers Award Nominees will be announced and voting will begin. Even if you don't make it as a nominee, I will compile a directory listing of every participating horror blog and do my best to promote it.

The Bloody Bloggers Awards are the first multi-category, peer-reviewed, and community-based recognition of those bloggers who toil away the extra midnight hour to present the best in horror blogging to reach the heights of horrifying excellence.

When voting opens in March, every horror blogger (and their readers) will be invited to email votes in for their favorite nominee in each category.

So get cracking!

The 13 award categories are:

• Best All-Around Horror Blog (includes blogs that cover a range of horror-related topics)
• Best Horror Sub-Genre Blog (includes genre-specific blogs like slasher, gore, zombie, etc)
• Best Horror Author Blog (includes blogs written by authors)
• Best Horror Art Blog (includes graphic designers/artists of horror, and coverage of horror-centric illustration and photography)
• Best Spooky Blog (includes blogs with a Halloween-centric or paranormal (ghost/folklore) scope)
• Best Queer Horror Blog (includes blogs with a homosexual-centric approach to covering horror)
• Best Classic Horror Blog (includes blogs covering classic horror up to 1970)
• Best Horror Comics Blog (includes blogs that are horror comic-centric in their coverage)
• Best Feminine Perspective In Horror Blog (includes blogs with a female-centric approach in their coverage of horror)
• Best Sounds of Horror Blog (includes blogs that focus on covering the music and sounds of horror)
• Best Horror Podcast Blog (includes blogs which primarily podcast their horror coverage)
• Best Monsterkid Blog (includes bloggers who express their horror passion through their experiences, and who are not necessarily movie-centric. This category also includes blogs that focus on memorabilia and toys related to horror).

The Bloody Bloggers Awards Are Coming For You

Beware, the League of Tana Tea Drinkers is brewing a special blend just for horror bloggers to sip. It is time we stopped howling at the moon over misnamed and nominee-mismatched Best Horror Blog awards, done with little understanding of what we do and why we do it.

The Bloody Bloggers Awards are coming. Not all will win, but all can participate in 13 frightful categories guaranteed to make your blood run cold.

If you dare...

LOTT D: Movies Of Apocalyptic Proportions

Beware! The members of the League of Tana Tea Drinkers open their bomb shelters to reveal a never-ending parade of pre and post apocalyptic movies. You are warned! And pack a light lunch.

 

The Moon Is a Dead World: Doomsday

I wasn't sure what to expect from Doomsday, coming from director Neil Marshall who also worked on the very popular film The Descent from 2005. It looks like a zombie film but it's technically not about zombies; it feels like a comic book but it's not that either. But though Doomsday looks a lot like The Descent's gritty, dirty world, it's lacking in the scares and the intensity that drove it.

TheoFantastique Ponders the Apocalyptic In Three Movies

Legion: Apocalypse and the Postmodern Imagination

In the history of the Western world the Judeo-Christian apocalyptic has been the most influential. In that religio-cultural context one of the key apocalyptic texts has been St. John’s Book of Revelation.

Hitchcock's The Birds as Precursor to Nature Apocalypticism

A couple of weeks ago my wife found a copy of Hitchcock’s The Birds at the library and she checked it out for me. We watched it later that day, and later I then watched the bonus materials that went behind the scenes. I was struck by two things...

2012 and the Mayan Calendar of the End

2012 taps into the long undercurrent of millenarianism and apocalyptic thought in Western culture. This overlaps with environmental concerns, prophets and prophecy, ancient civilizations (with the Mayans being of special interest as 2012 and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull indicate), and especially the Mayan calendar.

LOTT D: Horror Comic Crypt 2

The bells strike the midnight horror. Dare you enter the comic crypt with The League of Tana Tea Drinkers to dig up the dirt on horrifying comics (and those others)? Who knows what you may discover buried deep between the covers. Make sure your flashlight's batteries are strong, pack a good midnight snack, and mind the rats. Now let's go.

Uranium Cafe: The Sleazy World of Eerie Publications

Myron Fass was to magazine publishing what Ron Ormond and Al Adamson were to film making, only consistently lacking their sometimes dubious scruples and ethics. His best remembered for his wild assortment of magazines published from the 60’s to 70’s by the company called Countrywide Publications that he partnered with Stanley R. Harris.

My Monster Memories: Tomb of Dracula Issue 1

This is probably my favorite comic book that I ever bought. I picked it up in late March of 1972, when I was 13 years old, at my regular haunt for comics and books; Chichester's drugstore on Vineville Ave. in Macon GA.

Robot 6: Sinister Six: Alt-Horror Update

Before Halloween I posted a list of "Six Deeply Creepy Alt-Horror Cartoonists" as part of Robot 666's week-long reign of terror. Well, these avatars of alternative comics' dark side have been up to some interesting things lately.

Vault of Horror: House of Mystery Halloween Annual

I recently got my grubby hands on House of Mystery's first-ever Halloween Annual, and can honestly say it made my Halloween just a little more festive. In some ways, the issue does a better job of recapturing the old Creepy Magazine feel than Dark Horse's actual Creepy revival book--albeit in a more mature, Vertigo style.

Moon is a Dead World: Victorian Undead Issue 1

Horror has recently found a fascination in remaking the Victorian age of literature. We've seen novels parodying Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, and now we have a creation from Ian Edginton and Davide Fabbri pitting Sherlock Holmes and Watson against mindless zombies. Do we have a fascination in debauching (in a good way) the classics?

Zombos' Closet: Vincent Price Presents Issues 1, 2, 3

Using the persona of famed horror actor Vincent Price to host a series of illustrated terror tales is a demanding challenge.

LOTT D: Looking Forward To 2010

In this installment, those party-hardy members of The League of Tana Tea Drinkers ponder the vagaries of the future with a simple question: "What are you most looking forward to in 2010?" After they finish the chip and dip of course.

Day of the Woman: What Excites Her In 2010

The film was everything I wanted it to be and the exploding head was just the cherry on top of a perfect theatre experience.

Dinner With Max Jenke: 10 To Watch In '10

In considering what the future holds, it's worth remembering that some of 2009's most exciting films - like District 9 and Paranormal Activity - were completely off the radar right up to prior  their releases. So who knows what (hopefully pleasant) surprises 2010 might deliver?

Freddy In Space: Looking Forward To Conventions

My first thought was what movie i'm most looking forward to this year but this is a pretty broad question and so i'm not gonna go that route. What i'm most looking forward to this year, in terms of the world of horror, is pretty much the same thing I look forward to the most every year - the conventions.

Cinema Fromage: What I'm Vaguely Excited About

Here’s a quick glimpse at a few upcoming horror flicks for 2010 that has this nerd a bit excited!

Monster Land: Looking Forward to 2010's Horror-esque Movies

Now that we’ve entered 2010. it’s time to put together the list of horror-esque films I’m looking forward to in the New Year.

Vault of Horror: Looking Forward To The Walking Dead On TV

Well, I thought long and hard about it, and lo and behold, it turns out that the one thing in horror I'm most looking forward to is not a movie, but a TV show.

Unspeakable Horror: Looking Forward To The Wolf Man

I am most looking forward to the remake of the Wolfman with Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.  For me, the original Wolfman is a touchstone of the horror genre--not to suggest that it achieved cinematic excellence, but it did achieve far-reaching influence.

Zombos' Closet: What I'd Like To See In 2010

I'd like to see more supernatural horror in the movie theater. Stories like Paranormal Activity and Drag Me to Hell were a welcome sight in 2009; especially after too many Torture Horror entries were given screen time.

 

LOTT D: Horror Comic Crypt

The bells strike the midnight horror. Dare you enter the comic crypt with The League of Tana Tea Drinkers to dig up the dirt on horrifying comics (and those others)? Who knows what you may discover buried deep between the covers. Make sure your flashlight's batteries are strong, pack a good midnight snack, and mind the rats. Now let's go.

The Walking Dead (Cinema Suicide)

You see, everyone thinks that just because I’m a horror fan and I run a website where the bulk of the writing is dedicated to the genre that I am automatically a drooling zombie fanboy because they happen to be the monster of the moment.

The Evil Dead Rise Again (Monster Land)

With permission from Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, writer Mark Verheiden set out to do what seemed like the impossible, and recreate the celebrated 80s cult film hit Evil Dead as a comic book.

Six Creepy Alt-Horror Cartoonists (Robot 6)

For my money, the most reliably disturbing and disquieting work in the genre over recent years has come from artists who produce what you'd consider to be "alternative comics."

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire)

I'd like to think I'd make a really kickass vampire hunter.  I've got a low tolerance for weepy Anne Rice melodrama and an array of fabulous hats that make me an ideal candidate for that role.

Majestic-XII (TheoFantastique)

MAJESTIC-XII is the story of a team of superheroes charged with fighting a secret war against alien invaders. One has to wonder how these aliens–who already control most of the universe–can possibly be held off by a handful of superhumans, who seem to do nothing but engage in chaotic fist-fights with other superhumans, and moon over each other in constant, maudlin interior monologues.

Peter Normanton Speaks From the Tomb (Zombos' Closet)

His love of the dissolute images and outrageous stories that spring from the unsavory pages of horror comics, to linger in our minds long after those pages have yellowed with age, makes him the kind of person we like to be interred with...for a little chat.

LOTT D: Golden Turkeys For Your Thanksgiving

You're stuffed more than the turkey was, the parade is over, and your relatives are still picking, just not on the food. Fear not. The League of Tana Tea Drinkers delivers some cinematic gobblers to make you smile even as Uncle Lloyd tells that same old story that same old way yet again, and everybody leaves with leftovers, leaving you with the bones and the bill.

Reflections On Film and TV takes us Home Sweet Home, where the horror isn't:

Conveniently, it's both Thanksgiving-themed and a turkey. Advertised with the ad-line "The Bradleys won't be leaving home. Ever," Home Sweet Home(1981) is the not-so-riveting story of a deranged serial killer and his holiday rampage.

Evil On Two Legs dares Twilighters' rage with his roasting of Twilight:

my apologies to any twi-hards or hard-lights or whatever twilight fans are called… but wow, this movie is bad. in my mind, it’s so horribly silly and overdone that it actually pushes the dial all the way around on the quality meter, breaking through to the other side… this is truly a movie deserving of the description “so bad, it’s good.”

Igloo of the Uncanny saves the drumstick and gives us The Giant Claw instead:

We don't have Thanksgiving in the UK ( or in Igloo Land) so I'd probably just nominate The Giant Claw as my Golden Turkey, which is rather apt because it's a big bird. I seem to recall that last Thanksgiving the classic Horror Film board had a banner of the Giant Claw served up as part of the feast.

Meet the Horror Bloggers: The Drunken Severed Head

Many fans of horror, amateur and professional alike, have devoted themselves to blogging about the thrills, chills, and no-frills side of the genre as seen in cinema and print. In this ongoing series that highlights the writers behind the blogs, we meet the unique personalities and talents that make the online horror scene so engaging. Up close and personal.

In this installment, Max Cheney of the Drunken Severed Head proves he's more than just a pretty face when it comes to horror.

I am a Siamese, or conjoined twin. My other half, separate--and certainly unequal--but seamlessly connected to my self via an e-thereal broad band, is a drunken severed head named Max. We share that first name--I am Max Cheney, Jr., and I love the weird and macabre.

My love for horror started when in 1964, when I was three. I was given the 5-inch high monster figures "Pop Top Horrors" to play with. Cast in Halloween-orange plastic, they were different from other solid figures, as they had detachable heads that could be popped on and off. I had great fun switching the heads! Making an impression on me that same year was being taken to see The Evil of Frankenstein which featured a toy-like makeup design for its Frankenstein Monster. I learned from watching that film that being scared could be fun. Being born (prematurely) into a blended family, with parents whose marriage was always filled with problems, I was always an anxious kid. Finding a form of anxiety that was thrilling was a revelation!

The following year, I was watching the programs "Milton the Monster" and "The Munsters," both featuring Frankensteinian monsters, and I adored both shows. As a present for my birthday in 1965, I was given a Herman Munster talking puppet. That set me for life as a fan of monsters, but of the classic Universal Frankenstein's Monster especially.

LOTT D: Pick a Post 19 Halloween Sensation Part Two

Fear has many eyes and can see things underground, said Don Quixote. And that was before he read the League of Tana Tea Drinkers' Halloween 2009 Pick a Post Sensation. Feel free to indulge yourself. Go on, it's almost Halloween!

 

Day of the Woman vents her wrath on those annoying couples' costumes!

The annoying costumed couple. We all know them, we all hate them, and we all avoid them like the plague.

Drunken Severed Head pokes a finger at the Hand of Glory!

When I was a kid, the magazines CREEPY and EERIE kept the spirit of Hallowe'en burning in me all year 'round. In one of them, I was introduced to the legendary device of dark magic, the hand o' glory.

Classic-Horror dares to let its staff loose on Shocktober Classics!

This year, we're letting the staff decide what they want to review, leading to an eclectic selection of titles, with something to please everybody.

Lost Highway finds 10 top movies for your Halloween viewing pleasure!

The season of ghouls and things that go bump in the night is upon us once again. This means Lost Highway is digging up another list of some must see horror films to check out when all your trick or treaters have gone to bed.

LOTT D: Pick a Post 19 Halloween Sensation Part One

I bid you welcome. Read freely, and enjoy this special League of Tana Tea Drinkers Halloween 2009 Special. But be warned; like reaching deeply into the bottom of a trick or treat bag after a long night of haunting for sweets, you never know what you may find...

 

Mad Mad Mad Mad Movies dives deep into their Halloween memory in search of the Creature From the Black Lagoon!

Every October I regress in age to that wide-eyed, still blessedly un-diabetic boy, with an insatiable craving for peanut-butter taffy and a strong desire to revisit those flicks that made me love horror in the first place. I've watched and re-watched them all over the years, and they never fail to return me to that innocent, enthusiastic place, where everything was yet to be discovered, and nothing--not even black-and-white films from the 30s, 40s, and 50s--was old.

TheoFantastique draws us a pretty picture of Halloween animation classics, from Linus to Bugs Bunny!

One of the great things that I associate with the fall and the Halloween season is a collection of animation that I have enjoyed over the years. As children in the not too distant past, viewers had to wait for the whims of the major networks to air these programs, but now with DVDs, the Internet, and YouTube it is possible to add these materials to a video collection, and to enjoy them any time the viewer likes. With this post I will share several animated programs that I have enjoyed over the years.

Dinner With Max Jenke scares up the Season of the Witch in Halloween III!

Rather than a thug in overalls slaughtering promiscuous teens, Season of the Witch instead offered up a certifiably zany plot involving no less than Stonehenge, pagan magic, killer robots, and Halloween masks with frigging laser beams. Far-fetched? Hard to swallow? Bat-sh*t insane? Yep, Season of the Witch is all of that.

Cinema Suicide provides us with mood music for a Halloween night!

The general Halloween aesthetic has a tendency to put the brakes on my wildly fluctuating taste in rock and for the entire month, a few days leading up to and a few days trailing out of, my playlist stabilizes and all I listen to is music inspired by or directly related to Halloween, horror movies, the spooky and the scary. To illustrate my point, I present to you the following 13 examples of Halloweeny or horrifying music.

Day of the Woman carves up the history of Jack O'Lanterns!

The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not even a pumpkin.

Igloo of the Uncanny wonders what if? with An American Werewolf In London!

This isn't the first time I've watched An American Werewolf in London. It's my favorite horror film, so I've seen it a lot since my first viewing aged 11. Back then, armed with a clunky VHS recorder and a taped copy of the film, I learned to recite all the dialogue (this was before puberty kicked in). But don't worry, I'm not going to do that today.

Moon is a Dead World gets graphic with Wildstorm's Trick 'r Treat!

Surprisingly, the comic adaptation of Trick 'r Treat feels fairly consistent considering the use of four different artists. I love how the aspect of using references to other scenes comes into play with the comic as well as the movie; the only problem I had with this was that sometimes the characters look drastically different than they did in the other chapters.

Freddy In Space does Halloween right with UNICEF!

Ya ever feel like you wanna make a difference, at least in some small tiny little way? Well I feel that way today and I feel like I just might be in a position to do so. Most of us may be too old to Trick or Treat For UNICEF, but we're never too old to lend a helping hand to those who need it, so I've decided to launch the first annual Freddy In Space Trick 'r Treat For UNICEF campaign and I need YOUR help!

And room for one more...until part two.

Drunken Severed Head shares the Halloween reminiscences of Joe Moe!

Known for many years as a caretaker to Famous Monsters editor, punster, film fan and collector extraordinaire Forrest J Ackerman, Joe is a beloved, friendly figure on the horror film convention circuit.