August 8

Today is an anniversary, and it's one that makes my heart ache. So those of you familiar with my comfort movie post know what I will be doing today.





*

Getting Away...But Being Followed

Haven't updated this blog much as I've been busy with my Etsy shop. Also, I am taking a break from the North and hanging out for a bit back home in the South.

Sat outside on the back porch this morning enjoying the fog and drinking coffee when I saw something strange...



Thanks, Pumpkinrot, for sending a bit of Halloween my way.


*

Hey, I Know Those Faces...

I found a blog the other day that is using one of my photos as it's header. It works well as a header...I wish I'd thought of that!



Four of my pumpkins from last Halloween!:
Seritan's Musings


*

Plants & Blood & A Barber, Oh My!

I finally got to watch a good horror movie on Tuesday - The Ruins. I gotta say, it was pretty damn fantastic...original idea (from the novel of the same name by Scott Smith), talented cast, and a very promising up and coming director - Carter Smith. I saw his short Bug Crush awhile ago and was extremely impressed. It's good to see a new horror director get a good gig. Hopefully he'll go on to do more...a glimmer of hope in the dark tide of tired horror remakes.



Other flicks:

Baby Blood, 1990 - Oh those wacky French! A woman becomes impregnated by a being that only wants human blood, hence a splatterfest ensues. It's your standard 90's horror fare...meaning mediocre at best.

The Barber, 2001 - Malcolm McDowell stars as a barber living in Alaska who may or may not be a killer. Interesting concept (I'm always seduced by the idea of stories set in remote, cold places), but utimately it doesn't live up to its potential. Still, it wasn't that bad and if you like McDowell it's an okay way to kill some time.

*

Catching Up

I've watched quite a few movies (and still need to write about Mother of Tears, Douglas Buck's shorts, and The Last Winter) and haven't been posting as I watch. So, it's time to get them listed.

Raising Jeffrey Dahmer, 2006 - I'm all for a movie from the perspective of parents of a serial killer, but not one that is thinly veiled and poorly written propaganda championing the father's status as an innocent bystander. It's one hundred minutes of Lionel Dahmer looking confused, and flashbacks that are frequent, scattered and unclear as to where they fall in the time line. I swear the actor playing Jeffrey didn't bother to spend even 5 minutes studying the tone and body language of his character, but instead opted to play it according to how he thought a psycho might act. The abominable jazz score is incredibly ill chosen and is just one in a long line of bad decisions made on the part of those who made this movie. To put it plainly, it just downright sucks. (Also, this film was made with the cooperation of Dahmer's parents, another indicator that this is all some elaborate attempt for Lionel Dahmer to clear his conscious. Whether he failed as a father or not, I have no clue. But it is clear that desperately he wants someone to tell him that he didn't.) Skip this one.

Deadly End ,2005 - Young newlyweds move into a house and quickly become the focus of one seriously demented neighbor. This one is a well made low budget film that packs some good punches and some of the most squeamish gore I've seen in awhile. Nick Searcy steals the show as the neighbor from hell.

The Eye , 2008
The remake. Blah.

Driftwood, 2006
A lot of potential, some cool actors, and an opportunity missed. Very disappointing.

Unholy, 2007
Unholy, as in God Awful. I love Adrienne Barbeau, but this one was nearly impossible to sit through.

World's Worst Neighbor
in Deadly End

*

Dr. Malavaqua is a Good Doctor

Watched an old favorite while drinking my morning coffee - Transylvania 6-5000.


*

Poem

My best friend's 7 year old son wrote this poem. He is one smart, funny, talented kid.

Eye Ball

My eye is a juicy
ball.
When I drop it...
it will
burst!
It's safe in my
socket
till then...


Jacob B.


*

Ed Harley, Tragic Hero

As I was watching Stan Winston's Pumpkinhead the other day, it occurred to me that all the elements of the story are those of a Shakespearian tragedy. Because it was released in the 80's, had a group of teens in it, and was titled Pumpkinhead, the true beauty of this film, and its subtle genius, have been overlooked.

Please keep in mind that this post is not meant to be on the level of an academic paper, it's just my observations. Also, I am writing this assuming the reader has seen the movie, so I won't be giving a scene to scene description. I do, however, give away the end, so if you haven't seen it, consider this your spoiler warning.

Elements of the Shakespearian tragedy:

1. Shakespeare's tragic hero will be a man of rank, and the events that befall him will be out of the ordinary and fatally disastrous. The hero falls unexpectedly from a high place, a place of glory or joy. He is fundamentally a good person, but will contribute to his own destruction due to a flaw in character, or because of a tragic error.

Ed Harley, our main character, is a store owner and a loving single father. He lives in the country with his young son--a life portrayed as simple, but good. When his son is accidentally killed by one in a group of teens who've come from the city, Harley goes to the old witch to invoke Pumpkinhead and take revenge.




2. That men may start a course of events but can neither calculate or control it, is a tragic fact. All of Shakespeare's tragic protagonists are capable of both good and evil. The playwright always insists on the operation of the doctrine of free will; the (anti)hero is always able to back out, to redeem himself. The hero, though he persues his fated way, is, at some point, torn by inner struggle. But, the author dictates, they must move unheedingly to their doom.

The accident occurred in Harley's absence, so he is unaware that all but one (Steve - the one responsible) of the teens are horrified and are desperately trying to get to a phone to call for help, leaving only Steve's brother behind to stay with the boy until his father returns. However, Steve, fearing jail time due to a prior offense, doesn't allow the rest of the group to call for help, going as far as to lock two of them in a closet.

Harley calls upon Pumpkinhead to take revenge. Not long after, after significant inner turmoil, he has a change of heart. He is fundamentally good and only acted irrationally out of emotion (his tragic flaw). He also realizes that it was an accident and comes to understand that the teens tried to get help, but the knowledge comes much too late. He goes to the witch and begs for it to be called off, but even she is unable to stop it...much to her delight. Steve, our antihero, steps forward to take responsibility, even offering himself to the creature, but it is of no use. It's been called to kill them all and nothing can stop it.



3. Shakespeare also introduces the supernatural - ghosts and/or witches who have supernatural knowledge. This supernatural element cannot be explained away as an illusion and contributes to the action always in close or direct relation to the hero.

As a child Harley witnessed Pumpkinhead killing a man. This is why he knows the creature is real and not just a legend or the subject of a macabre children's song.

The witch Harley goes to and Pumpkinhead himself represent the supernatural element of the Shakespearian tragedy, as neither is a dream or an illusion. The witch knows how to call the creature, and it instinctively knows who its victims are.



4.The center of the tragedy may therefore be said to lie in the actions of the main character, his flawed perceptions, and human frailty. In Shakespeare, the hero recognizes his responsibility for the catastrophe which befalls him too late to prevent his death.

Harley goes to battle Pumpkinhead himself, desperately trying to protect the teens that are still alive. He realizes that if he dies, it will die. He shoots himself, thus ending his life, and the vengeful creature's. But death does not bring his soul mercy or rest. The witch buries him, and he will serve as the next Pumpkinhead.



In addition to the whole Shakespeare bent, this film is well written and beautifully shot. The use of color and the cinematography are poetic. There are long, fluid shots that are flawless. The scenes between the witch and Harley are pure gold, and the creature is a wonderful score in the props vs. CGI contest.


*

Halloween ABC

I bought this book over ten years ago and it's a favorite in my collection (I've been collecting children's Halloween books for about 20 years now). The little poems are wonderfully macabre and the illustrations are playful and beautiful.

Halloween ABC
Poems by Eve Marriam
Illustrations by Lane Smith






*

Lately

Trying to get some writing done, as well as some other things, so both my blogs have suffered. At least I can do a quick list of movies I've watched lately:

Otis (2008)
I wanted so much to like it, but the tone was all over the place. It tried to be too many things. Too bad because the cast was great. I love the guy playing Otis.

The Invasion (2007)
A complete waste of two talented actors, Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
Perfect from beginning to end. I love everything about this movie; the cast, the cinematography and the trippy ass score. I had seen this a long, long time ago, so I decided it was time to sit with it again.

Screamers (1995)
YUCK

The Signal (2007)
Everybody loved this one and I just kept getting bored. I always feel guilty when that happens...like I somehow missed the obvious. I was in a bad mood - maybe that's a good excuse (?) - but I don't feel like revisiting it anytime soon. So, I'm in the minority on this one.

Alone in the Dark (1982)
How can you not like a movie when it stars Jack Palance, Donald Pleasence and Martin Landau? It was fun, but way too many convenient things occurred for this movie to be good. A pure popcorn watch. (I've actually seen this one before. I watched it with a friend who hadn't seen it but wanted to.)

Sisters (2006)
Why? Why do this? Another pointless remake of a perfectly good film.
And it was Douglas Buck's first major film to direct...that total sucks because I think his shorts are fantastic. I can't wait to see what he does next - his slate is still clean as far as I'm concerned.

Frontière(s) (2007)
Slick, beautiful, gory and I've seen it all before. The French version of Saw meets Hostel meets The Hills Have Eyes meets Wrong Turn meets...you get the idea.




*

Still Here

New post soon. I promise.

*

There's A Fish In The Tub...A Really Stinky One

I know today is Friday the 13th and every horror fan is getting their Voorhees on, but I look forward to this day for a different reason....because the day that follows means I'll be watching this:


I just can't help it, I find this movie oddly endearing. It's been a favorite of mine ever since I was a kid watching it over and over on Cinemax (or as we sometimes called it "Skinamax" due to their "Friday After Dark" series...but that's a whole other story). I proudly own the VHS and will make all members of my household watch it as we drink coffee tomorrow morning.




The Van Helsing character is a scream.

Is it wrong that I know every line of this movie? It is...I know.


*

Another Please

My dad only drinks Miller High Life. I generally stay away from it (I like the darker stuff), but come Halloween time...it's a whole different story.



(Yes, I drink it because of the cool can.)

*

Some Them There Horrors

I've seen several horror movies these last few days and have meant to post the list. Here they are, with three reviews (i.e. my opinion) coming soon (Mother of Tears, The Last Winter, & Family Portraits: The Shorts: Cutting Moments/Home/Prologue).

Mother of Tears (2007)
The Last Winter (2006)
Snowbeast (1997)
Teeth (2007)
Don't Open Til Christmas (1984)
Mama Dracula (1980)
Blood Tide (1982...Opps, I've already seen this one!)
Moon of the Wolf (1974)
The Creeper (1977)
Family Portraits: The Shorts: Cutting Moments/Home/Prologue (2004)


*

La Terza Madre

Today I finally get to see Dario Argento's Mother of Tears. I've been waiting to see this ever since I heard it went into production. It was released in Italy last Halloween, and is, of course, only getting a limited release here in the states. The city I used to live in won't be getting it (oh how they ignore the south), so it's a good thing I moved (though, I miss the south more than words could ever express). Few in the States get to say they've seen an Argento film in a theater, so I'm damn lucky to have the chance.

I'll do my best to post a review this weekend.


*

Popcorn, Cotton Candy & Diesel Fumes

A lazy, rainy day here. Horror of the Zombies plays in the background as I do laundry, clean house. In a black pot a dark carnival candle is burning. The scent it gives off makes me think of a short story from Ray Bradbury's The October Country titled "The Dwarf." Here's an excerpt:

Aimee watched the sky, quietly.

Tonight was one of those motionless hot summer nights. The concrete pier empty, the strung red, white, yellow bulbs burning like insects in the air above the wooden emptiness. The managers of the various carnival pitches stood, like melting wax dummies, eyes staring blindly, not talking, all down the line.

Two customers had passed through an hour before. Those two lonely people were now in the roller coaster, screaming murderously as it plummeted down the blazing night, around one emptiness after another.

Aimee moved slowly across the strand, a few worn wooden hoopla rings sticking to her wet hands. She stopped behind the ticket booth that fronted the MIRROR MAZE. She saw herself grossly misrepresented in three rippled mirrors outside the Maze. A thousand tired replicas of herself dissolved in the corridor beyond, hot images among so much clear coolness.

She stepped inside the ticket booth and stood looking a long while at Ralph Banghart's thin neck. He clenched an unlit cigar between his long uneven yellow teeth as he laid out a battered game of solitaire on the ticket shelf.

When the roller coaster walled and fell in its terrible avalanche again, she was reminded to speak.

"What kind of people go up in roller coasters?"

Ralph Banghart worked his cigar a full thirty seconds. "People wanna die. That rollie coaster's the handiest thing to dying there is." He sat listening to the faint sound of rifle shots from the shooting gallery. "This whole damn carny business's crazy. For instance, that dwarf. You seen him? Every night, pays his dime, runs in the Mirror Maze all the way back through to Screwy Louie's Room. You should see this little runt head back there. My God!"

"Oh, yes," said Aimee, remembering. "I always wonder what it's like to be a dwarf I always feel sorry when I see him."

"I could play him like an accordion."

"Don't say that!"

"My Lord." Ralph patted her thigh with a free hand. "The way you carry on about guys you never even met." He shook his head and chuckled. "Him and his secret. Only he don't know I know, see? Boy howdy!"

"It's a hot night." She twitched the large wooden hoops nervously on her damp fingers.

"Don't change the subject. He'll be here, rain or shine."

Aimee shifted her weight.

Ralph seized her elbow. "Hey! You ain't mad? You wanna see that dwarf, don't you? Sh!" Ralph turned. "Here he comes now!"

The Dwarfs hand, hairy and dark, appeared all by itself reaching up into the booth window with a silver dime. An invisible person called, "One!" in a high, child's voice.

Involuntarily, Aimee bent forward.

The Dwarf looked up at her, resembling nothing more than a dark-eyed, dark-haired, ugly man who has been locked in a winepress, squeezed and wadded down and down, fold on fold, agony on agony, until a bleached, outraged mass is left, the face bloated shapelessly, a face you know must stare wide-eyed and awake at two and three and four o'clock in the morning, lying flat in bed, only the body asleep.

Ralph tore a yellow ticket in half "One!"

The Dwarf, as if frightened by an approaching storm, pulled his black coat-lapels tightly about his throat and waddled swiftly. A moment later, ten thousand lost and wandering dwarfs wriggled between the mirror flats, like frantic dark beetles, and vanished.

"Quick!"

Ralph squeezed Aimee along a dark passage behind the mirrors. She felt him pat her all the way back through the tunnel to a thin partition with a peekhole.

"This is rich," he chuckled. "Go on-look."

Aimee hesitated, then put her face to the partition.

"You see him?" Ralph whispered.

Aimee felt her heart beating. A full minute passed.

There stood the Dwarf in the middle of the small blue room. His eyes were shut. He wasn't ready to open them yet. Now, now he opened his eyelids and looked at a large mirror set before him. And what he saw in the mirror made him smile. He winked, he pirouetted, he stood sidewise, he waved, he bowed, he did a little clumsy dance.

And the mirror repeated each motion with long, thin arms, with a tall, tall body, with a huge wink and an enormous repetition of the dance, ending in a gigantic bow!

"Every night the same thing," whispered Ralph in Aimee's ear. "Ain't that rich?"

Aimee turned her head and looked at Ralph steadily out of her motionless face, for a long time, and she said nothing. Then, as if she could not help herself, she moved her head slowly and very slowly back to stare once more through the opening. She held her breath. She felt her eyes begin to water.

Ralph nudged her, whispering.

"Hey, what's the little gink doin' now?"

They were drinking coffee and not looking at each other in the ticket booth half an hour later, when the Dwarf came out of the mirrors. He took his hat off and started to approach the booth, when he saw Aimee and hurried away.

"He wanted something," said Aimee.

"Yeah." Ralph squashed out his cigarette, idly. I know what, too. But he hasn't got the nerve to ask. One night in this squeaky little voice he says, 'I bet those mirrors are expensive.' Well, I played dumb. I said yeah they were. He sort of looked at me, waiting, and when I didn't say any more, he went home, but next night he said, 'I bet those mirrors cost fifty, a hundred bucks.' I bet they do, I said. I laid me out a hand of solitaire."

"Ralph," she said.

He glanced up. "Why you look at me that way?"

"Ralph," she said, "why don't you sell him one of your extra ones?"

*

Trick or Treat

The full collection of Tales from the Darkside came today.

Treat.


*

Christmas in June

One of my most favorite purchases ever was a 50 pack of movies I found 2 years ago in a bargain bin.


(I also got the 50 Horror Classics movie pack, but it was the lesser of the two for me.) I relished the countless nights of putting in the next dvd, sitting back and discovering what was there. A few favorites emerged: A Bell From Hell; Christmas Evil; Funeral Home; Silent Night, Bloody Night; and several more. I was so bummed when I had watched all 50.... my treasure pile exhausted.

So imagine my unabashed joy yesterday (while on the hunt for a copy of Pumpkinhead--why do I not own it yet?) when I found this:


It's a mix of films from the 30's, 40's, 70's, & 80's. To say that I am in heaven would be a colossal understatement. As I write this I'm watching a selection: a made for TV horror called Moon of the Wolf, with Geoffrey Lewis and Royal Dano ~ Mr. Tom Fury of the lightning rods from Something Wicked This Way Comes. (Made for TV horrors are another untapped treasure trove I'd love to get my hands on.) It's fun, groovy, and the stuff dreams are made of.


*

The Far Side

*

À l'intérieur (aka Inside)

There are rules in horror movies...understood agreements between viewer and filmmaker as to what can be done and what can't...promises of sorts. The filmmakers are always playing at the border of the forbidden, hinting and gesturing that they will cross that line, and the viewer sits back dreading and ashamedly hoping that perhaps this time the rule will be broken. From time to time, it gets pretty damn close. We are relieved when it remains intact. We settle back into the safe zone, the zone of having not seen what we feared to see. We have once again been successfully horrified, but not scarred. We have been threatened by the unimaginable, but the threat slunk away when the credits rolled, without making good on its word.

But then, once in a great while, a filmmaker comes along and does the unthinkable. He dances us straight into the dark, and what was once beyond the pale is suddenly all around us. The French film À l'intérieur is one of those films.

From the very beginning, we are in uncomfortable territory: our main character is pregnant and her husband has been killed in a car accident. The night before she is to be induced to give birth, her last night at home alone, a woman shows up who desires only one thing: the baby. Set on Christmas Eve in the time of the riots, the hope for help seems doubtful at best. Neighbors are out at holiday dinners; the police are preoccupied with street violence and vandalism. But, help does come. It comes again and again. Each time we are filled with hope, and each time the violence is shocking, and, in one awful instance, heartbreaking. With each newcomer the violence escalates, further bloodying the walls and damaging the mind of our already damaged main character. This is the type of movie where you find yourself talking to the screen, informing, begging, pleading. The brutality is horrifyingly exquisite. And as you think to yourself that it can't get any worse, it does. It does it with a grace that, at times, borders art. (Correction: it IS art.)

And that promise that is ultimately broken? Well, that one you'll have to see for yourself.

This movie is not for everyone. It's not even for all horror fans. No doubt some who see it will deem it vile trash, corruptive, and criminal. I thought it was well-written, well-acted, graceful, monstrous, and terrifying.






*

Halloween 4

The opening sequence of Halloween 4 has some of the best Halloween imagery I've ever seen.

It's A Hard World For Little Things

Truly one of the most beautiful, most chilling films ever made.

The Halloween Tree

Excerpt from Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree:

The Ravine.

The ravine filled with varieties of night sounds, lurkings of black-ink stream and creek, lingerings of autumns that rolled over in fire and bronze and died a thousand years ago. From this deep place sprang mushroom and toadstool and cold stone frog and crawdad and spider. There was a long tunnel down there under the earth in which poisoned waters dripped and the echoes never ceased calling Come Come Come and if you do you'll stay forever, forever, drip, forever, rustle, run, rush, whisper, and never go, never go go go...

The boys lined up on the rim of darkness, looking down.

And then Tom Skelton, cold in his bones, whistled his breath in his teeth like the wind blowing over the bedroom screen at night. He pointed.

"Oh, hey -- that's where Pipkin told us to go!"

He vanished.

All looked. They saw his small shape race down the dirt path into one hundred million tons of night all crammed in that huge dark pit, that dank cellar, that deliciously frightening ravine.

Yelling, they plunged after.

Where they had been was empty.

The town was left behind to suffer itself with sweetness.

*

Blood Moon Music

The DVD box art for my beloved Blood Moon is a prime example of bad and misleading marketing, not to mention it's just down right atrocious. But give it and click and hear the very cool music which opens the film.



And I promise this will be my last entry about it...for awhile at least.

More Blood

I feel like I should have gone into more explanation in my last post about Blood Moon (also known as Wolf Girl).

The story is about Tara (played superbly by Victoria Sanchez), a sixteen year old girl who was born with hypertrichosis (excessive body hair) and has been with the freak show since she was a baby. Like anyone, especially a teenager, all she wants is to fit in and be accepted...to be "normal." When the traveling freak show arrives in a small town, the son of a local research scientist becomes smitten with her and offers her an experimental drug his mother is working on. From there, well, things go down hill and it doesn't help that she's become the focus of a group of sociopath teens (played very well by four talent actors including Shawn Ashmore and Shelby Fenner, and not one cliche character in the bunch). The end is surprising and heartbreaking. You really should check this one out.

Here are a few photos, followed by some clips.













Harley (ring leader and father figure) and Tara













Tara











Harley on stage










Teens



World of Wonders (Unfortunately this video jerks a bit)




The Pluck Song



Scientist and her smitten son

And now after all this writing about it, I think I'll watch it!

That Screaming in the Background Is Just My Lullaby

Horror movies are a major part of my life (obviously, seeing as this blog exists). Probably 80% of everything I watch is a part of the horror genre. They are an element in my life that, no matter what is happening, I can count on and I often take comfort in them. The following is a list of what I call my "comfort movies." Whenever I've had a bad day, feel sad, have a major stressful or painful event, I find myself turning to these movies for comfort again and again. They are like a great big security blanket that wraps me away from the world.

But bad things don't necessarily have to happen for me to watch them, sometimes it's just that I want to feel something familiar -homey. These films, for whatever reason, feel like home to me. I never tire of watching them. They are never far from the DVD player, and I even own some on VHS.

Now, all that said, it doesn't mean that all these films are winners...not all of them are examples of fine cinema, though several of them are.

Here they are in no particular order.



THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE, 1973

The whole atmosphere of this film is fantastic. The cinematography is gorgeous and conveys the mood and feel of the film perfectly. I find myself constantly pausing it so I can take in the unique frame of a shot. The opening theme music is some of my favorite in the horror genre.





BLOOD MOON (AKA WOLF GIRL), 2001

This is actually one of my main comfort movies. I played it over and over again one weekend when I had a terrible headache and didn't get out of bed. Even as I lay with my eyes closed, I followed along with the dialogue, listened to th music, and saw the scenes play out in my mind.

Unfortunately, the trailer for this unknown gem is misleading. While it is technically in the horror genre, it is more of a drama set in a standard horror frame -a traveling freak show. It has several musical numbers (strange, I know) with Tim Curry and Grace Jones as performers in the show. I'd kill, or pay a very large sum, to have this soundtrack, but to my knowledge (and ALOT of internet searching) there isn't one.

The movie is beautiful, very original (how often do you see that these days?), well acted, and very genuine. It has a big heart without ever being sentimental or cheesy.





SUSPIRIA, 1977

The original trailers for this were, well, awful. This is a fan made trailer that is much more representative of the feel and mood of the film. Also, it showcases GOBLIN's absolutely flawless score which belongs to horror's movie score canon.





THE BEYOND, 1981

Fulci at his best, in my opinion. The ending shot is to die for.





THE SHINING, 1980

This is my all time favorite movie... ever. It's PERFECT. I've included the trailer (goddamn! I love love love this trailer), and the breathtaking opening sequence which is vast, beautiful, and bone chilling at the same time. Talk about feeling small and isolated.

Trailer




Opening Credits





Halloween III: Season of the Witch, 1982

What can I say? I love everything about this movie. It gets quoted at my house alot. LOVE the opening sequence. Cochran is one of my favorite villains of all time. And yes, I own the "special edition" score.





Fright Night, 1985

I think I have every line in this movie memorized. Also another bootlegged score in my collection.





DEEP RED, 1975

Another fabulous score by GOBLIN. I couldn't decide which trailer to feature since they are both fabulous in their own way. So, here are both.

The original Italian trailer



The American trailer





DAY OF THE DEAD, 1985

My favorite Romero. Is that wrong?





THE HAUNTING, 1963

I think this is the greatest haunted house movie ever made. No special effects here... just scary as hell.





GRAVEYARD SHIFT, 1990

Stephen Macht as the psycho boss Warwick steals the entire movie.





MACABRE, 1980

Okay, so this one is, well, a little embarrassing. All horror fans have some movie like this...the dirty little indulgent secret kept in the back of the closet...that one movie we absolutely adore but would never tell other horror fans for fear of being shunned. It's cheesy, uneventful, and just plain stupid...and I love it. The build up is unbloody and the climax is ridiculous. And I just watched it again as I wrote out this blog entry. (I also watched Suspiria while making this list.) Note: There is nudity in this trailer.

Wash Your Hand Before You Eat...It

The Severed Arm, 1973. Watched it yesterday. Fantastic concept, not so great execution. Beginning was okay, the middle was terribly boring, and the end was a gem. This is one I'd love to see remade....and I never say that.

Dark Tales

Bought this yesterday... all 90 episodes.

When Networks Were Cool

I miss local stuff like this (though, I'm not from Albany).

Over The Moon

Listening to Steam by Loscil.

Movies, etc.

I recently watched:

The Living and the Dead (2006)
The Weight of Water (2000)
Targets (1968)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)


Been listening to:
The Album Leaf - various songs from three of their albums
M83 - M83
Sweeney Todd Soundtrack

a different kind of blog

i've decided to challenge myself to create some kind of halloween art every single day. i'll be chronicling my endeavor at thepumpkinhollow.blogspot.com*. check in once in a while and let me know what you think!

***the link above has been corrected! (linked to wrong blog before.)

lil' pumpkins

i've started working with clay to create little pumpkins. i hope to start selling them sometime soon at www.pumpkinhollow.etsy.com, along with a few other halloween-esque goodies.

i'll stop trick or treating when i'm dead

i love this photo by diane arbus.

home

books

Reading Book of the Dead, a gift from my sweetie, as well as Weird Pennsylvania.

absence

lost my password for so long.

test
test

Dr. Loomis, you say the nicest things...

For fans who love the movie Halloween, a little something to play with:

Dr. Loomis Soundboard

Horror Montage

A friend pointed this little gem out to me. I love Rosemary's Theme playing over the images--it touches on the intimacy that lies deep in the horror genre.

Warning: this is very graphic.

Original Trailer

Trick or Treat

The creator of this little short, Michael Dougherty, has a movie coming out in October titled Trick or Treat. I haven't looked forward to a film this much for a very long time (though now I have two, this one and Rob Zombie's Halloween).

There can be only one

Ain't It Cool News posted a review the piece of vomitous wanna be hack tripe that is known as the upcoming Day of the Dead "remake." I would have been much more vicious and used loads foul language, only I plan to never lay eyes on one single frame of the puny thing.

There can be only one Bub.

Help Save Internet Radio

We always become aware of political issues when they effect something in our lives. There is one happening right now that may force the end of something very cool I've only just discovered: SomaFM--an internet radio station. Not only SomaFM, but the thousands of small independent internet radio stations that are a way to tap into and be exposed to non-mainstream music.

For example, I love ambient electronica. It's most certainly not for everyone. It's wordless, minimalist, long, quiet, full of atmospheric textures....and considered boring or just plain weird by some. But for me it's a way to relax, and it never fails to put me in a creative state of mind--one of the few places that brings me happiness & a sense of wholeness. Of all the people I know, only one other digs it as much as me, and he's several states over. We fans are few and far between, but if you count us up nationwide we are a pretty sizable little sub-culture. Getting our hands on this type of music and learning about all the different artists is not very easy. The internet has pretty much been my one and only tool for exploring this genre of music--though the search can still be difficult...following little threads here and there. So, having a radio station that plays nothing but the tunes is an unprecedented windfall for a fan like me. It's like having an unending, always evolving laundry lists of music and musicians to check out--bands and artists I would not have found any other way. And it's a windfall for the artists as well--it's a tool for fans finding them. I hear music on the station, then I go buy the music--helping to support the artists. It's win-win.

And, it's all about to go away.

A bill has been introduced that will save independent internet radio from the huge royalty payments that the CRB recently handed down. Please call your Representative right now (I did it--it was painless) and ask him/her to cosponsor the "Internet Radio Equality Act", H.R. 2060, introduced by Representatives Jay Inslee (D-WA) and Donald Manzullo (R-IL). This bill will set royalty rates that internet radio pays to the same reasonable level that satellite radio pays. US Citizens: Please call the House switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask to speak to your representative, and ask them to support H.R. 2060, the "Internet Radio Equality Act" today!

It's not saving the world, but it is making it a bit more pleasant to live on it. Please call.

SomaFM

Amazing internet radio station I came across a few days ago. SomaFM. I am especially fond of Drone Zone. If you are into this type of music, this is a gold mine.

Enjoy.

strangle little love

My newest obsession:

Opacity

i've found my little place

if there's a heaven, and if i get to go, and if it gets to be whatever i want, it will be this...

(excerpt from "The October Country" by Ray Bradbury)

"October Country...that country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and the midnights stay. That country composed in the main cellars, sub-cellars, coal bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose passing at night on the empty walks sounds like rain."

i could be there. content there. always there.

what would make my life complete

dear nbc,

if pam and jim don't end up together i will egg your house, roll your lawn, and light bags of doggie doo on your porch.

i'm not kidding.

hello, sweet aaron

just found an old poet friend on myspace. hope he remembers me and adds me as a friend. talented boy....

little blood splatters all along the wall

Check out the lobby card for Suspiria I found. Lovely.

Please do go here for the world's best Halloween everything, especially wallpapers for your computer as they are sinister & gorgeous & everything yummy:

www.pumpkinrot.com


When Severance hits town, go see it. It's gory, hilari-sick fun.

And check out Let's Scare Jessica to Death. A bit hard to find, but you can netflix it.

If you're not watching Dexter, get Showtime now and catch up! Dexter is my new horror-love. Besides, you should have gotten it when Masters of Horror started a year ago--that's good eats!