October 30, 2009

Six Other Movies To Watch
On Halloween Night

October 30, 2009 / Movies (Horror) / 1 Comment

Oct 30 2009

Sure, you know all the usual horror movies we watch and recommend for Halloween viewing. But what about those other movies? You know, the ones a little harder to come by, not often mentioned, and spoken about in words that end with a self-deprecating laugh.

Well, I will not apologize any more. These movies are creepy fun for a Halloween night, after you have eaten your twelfth candy bar and littered the floor with candy corn as you rummage deep into your trick or treat bag looking for the dark creamy stuff instead.

Make sure to watch them with others, though. It is no fun laughing in the dark, all alone, on Halloween night. You never know who is listening.

Spookies (1987)

If you are looking for the perfect second-half of a double bill Halloween show with Plan 9 From Outer Space, look no further. Spookies is a film to be savored for its underdone acting, overbearing dialog, and incoherent story. So rarely do horror films reach the pinnacle of hilarious “what the f*ck” ineptitude this film achieves so easily.

The Video Dead (1987)

It starts off innocently enough. The Hi-Lite delivery service delivers an unmarked crate to an unsuspecting writer. We know he is a writer because he is sleeping the day away, surly, and says he does not even watch television. He must be a blogger, too. Over his protests they leave the crate in his living room. He manages to pry the crate open and plug in the battered, rotary channel dial, black and white television set. He checks to see if it works, but only one show comes in clearly no matter which channel he turns to. The show is Zombie Blood Nightmare and not much happens in it except for zombies continuously staggering around in the woods.

Shrooms (2006)

Hack and slash, and run run run…to Glen Garig. The one place in the forest they really shouldn’t be going is where they wind up. Before that, everyone is screaming at the top of his or her lungs for everyone else. So my question is this: when being stalked in the forest, can anyone hear you scream? Based on this movie the answer is no. As panic sets in, Tara manages to do a Looney Tunes into a tree, face first. While I think Elmer Fudd had better timing, she’s not bad at it.

Scarecrows (1988)

Escaping in a hijacked plane with the pilot and his daughter, after a robbery worth millions, a para-military bunch is double-crossed by one of their own; a very nervous guy named Burt. He jumps out of the plane with the big–and heavy–box that holds the robbery money, with apparently no plan on how he’s going to carry it once he is on the ground. Being the dumbest of the bunch, he is murdered first; but not before he happens upon the Fowler residence, nestled snuggly amid lots of really creepy-looking scarecrows perched all around the wooden fence encircled with barbed-wire and lots of warnings to stay away. The weird weathervane on the roof, with the pitchfork and pteradactyl, is a clear sign this old homestead is more deadstead than homey.

And for more serious scares…

Uzumaki (2000)

Taken from the three-volume manga by Junji Ito, the town of Kurozu-cho is beset by spirals spinning into the lives of the townspeople, driving them to madness, bizarre change, and gruesome death.

Dead Birds (2004)

A horror story set in the Old West. Bank robbers flee to a lonely house in the woods. But they are not alone. Strange things lurk in the shadows and under the bed, and when they think they are free from danger, it becomes the most dangerous time indeed.

Ghost In the House of Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931)
Part 1

October 30, 2009 / Movies (Horror), Universal Monsters / Leave a Comment

Oct 30 2009

Zombos Says: A Classic

Shadows were everywhere. Ominously large shadows mingled with mysteriously short ones. As I tripped and groped my way through them, the dank, dust-laden air irritated my nose and throat. Lightning flickered occasionally, revealing the shadows for what they were–only briefly, gone in an instant–leaving a faint mental snapshot behind, confusing me even more.

“Did you find it yet?” squawked a petulant voice in the darkness.

Startled, I dropped the two-way radio and banged my head on the sloping attic roof as I stooped to pick it up. Rubbing my head, I tapped my foot along the floor, hoping to find Zombos’ blasted new toy. I found it. I pressed the talk button.

“No, I’m still looking,” I whispered.

“What? Why are you whispering?” he asked.

Good question. I cleared my throat. “The dust…I’m still looking. The lights are out and I can’t see a damn thing. Are you sure you left it up here?”

“Yes. Of course I am sure. I definitely remember I put it–what? Oh? But I thought–oh. Never mind then, Zimba found it. You can stop looking.” He clicked off his radio.

Lightning flashed through the dormer window as I stood in the darkness, desperately searching for reasons why I should remain valet to the once renowned B-movie horror actor, now known only by a few remaining–and just as decaying–fans. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I sighed and began the arduous journey back through the clutter of shadows towering and tilting across the west attic’s floor.

Suddenly there came a tapping, then a frantic rapping on the dormer window behind me. At first I thought it was a tree branch blowing in the wind but realized no trees were high enough to reach the mansion’s attic. I went to the window. A lightning sprite lit up a large flittering shape outside. Thunder rumbled, shaking the window’s broken latch open. A spray of water blew into my face as a flopping ball of wetness and blackness rolled onto the floor. Startled, I tripped over something in my surprise and fell backwards. The ball unfurled into wings. It was the largest bat I had ever seen.

“Damn, it’s a night only Frankenstein could love,” said the bat, shaking his wet wings. “Hello, might you hand me that please?”

I stood there. My lower lip hung an inch lower than my upper one. I reached into my pocket to see if I had left the two-way radio on. Nope. I then felt my head to see if I was bleeding or had a bump suitable for hallucination. Nope. I still stood there.

“I say, if you would, I’d appreciate it greatly.” The bat pointed the tip of his right wing at my left foot. I looked down and saw a small Al Capone slim cigar sticking out from under it. I lifted my foot and used the tip of my shoe to roll it to him.

“Ah, many thanks,” he said. He folded his wings together and used their tips to pick up the cigar. “You don’t happen to have a light?”

I checked the two-way radio and felt my head again. Still nope.

“I’m Wally,” he said.

“Wally…the bat,” I mouthed the words without a sound. I stood there looking at him. He looked up at me. We looked at each other for about a half-minute. “We don’t allow smoking in the mansion,” I finally said.

“Yes, well, it’s soggy and flat anyway.” He dropped the cigar and flicked his wings, sending droplets of water across my patent leathers. “Sorry about that. I must say, this is the most cluttered attic I’ve ever been in.”

We looked at each other for another half-minute or so.

“Is that an English accent?” I asked. Bat hallucinations speaking with English accents always fascinate me.

“I hadn’t noticed myself. Must have come from my hanging out at Oxford.” He flicked his wings again. “Sorry. Force of habit.” He puckered his lips as if he were whistling. We continued to look at each other in silence.

My mind began to wander. I, understandably, at a loss for words, and Wally the bat looking, forlornly it seemed, at his wet flat cigar. An odd night indeed and one more suited to mad scientists. My thoughts meandered around English accents, lightning storms, undead monsters, their reluctant brides, and other times…

…

Ghost In the House of Frankenstein
Frankenstein (1931)
Part 1Read More »

Meet the Horror Bloggers:
The Drunken Severed Head

October 30, 2009 / Bloggers, League of Tana Tea Drinkers / 1 Comment

Oct 30 2009

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.

…

Meet the Horror Bloggers:
The Drunken Severed HeadRead More »

Interview: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies
With Paul Castiglia

October 30, 2009 / Authors / 5 Comments

Oct 30 2009

Paul Castiglia has been writing and editing comic books and pop-culture articles for 20 years, most notably overseeing the Archie Americana paperback series of classic Archie Comics reprints. His past forays into horror-comedy include providing a chapter for the book MIDNIGHT MARQUEE ACTOR SERIES: VINCENT PRICE covering Price’s comedic horror films with Peter Lorre, and writing the comic book based on the animated series Archie’s Weird Mysteries. He has also edited the upcoming Archie Comics Haunted House trade paperback collection of spooky stories.

Paul’s blog, Scared Silly, will post its first review at midnight tonight, kicking-off his adventure writing about classic horror comedies for his upcoming book, Scared Silly: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies.

Here’s my interview with Paul to wet your appetite.

How does a writer and editor for Archie comics wind up doing a book on classic horror-comedies?

Simple, I’ve always been a fan of the horror-comedy genre, and I’ve always wanted to read a book that provided an overview of the entire genre. Since none existed, I figured the only way I’d be able to own a book like that would be to write it myself!

It really goes back to my childhood. I was a child in the 1970s, when movies and TV shows from past decades were routinely rerun. I grew up watching the classic comedians on TV, particularly Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello; and I grew up watching a lot of cartoons. Both of those pastimes fed into my love of comic books.

Originally I was scared of films like “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein” (heck, when I was real little I was also scared of Herman Munster!), but ultimately the comic relief alleviated the scares and somewhere along the line I developed a particular fondness for the “spooky” comedies.

This fondness served me well when it came time to write the “Archie’s Weird Mysteries” comic book series (based on the TV cartoon of the same name) and a chapter in a book about Vincent Price films covering the horror-comedies where he was teamed with Peter Lorre.

Horror and comedy seem to be opposites; so why do you think horror-comedies have always enticed audiences?

Psychologists will tell you that the difference between a laugh and a scream is slight. In fact, sometimes people laugh when they should be screaming. “Nervous laughter,” they call it. Both are a form of release, and when combined they make a formidable pair: what better way to relieve the tension of just being scared than with a laugh right on top of the scare?

In the end, it goes back to the basis of all stories – the idea that being a hero means conquering a problem. If you can laugh at your fears, you are that much closer to conquering them.

…

Interview: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies
With Paul CastigliaRead More »