Episode 63 - Wheels on Fire

It's time to hit the road this summer. Feel the wind in your hair. Get into a fist fight with a couple of toughs with your girlfriend at your side singing rock ballads just before you drive off a cliff and return from the dead. Or you could just join Corey and Maddy as they discuss infamous biker films 'Psychomania' and 'Streets of Fire' in the first of two biker movie episodes this summer.

Check out this episode!

Vintage Comics - Black Magic, Issue #2: The Cloak, Out of Your Mind (Pg. 18 - 26)

I get the impression this first story might have been influenced by a disgruntled tailor with a fussy customer. People, for the last time, if you turn around and find a store or building that you knew wasn't there the last time you looked--and there's an eery fog surrounding it, complete with appropriately perched blackbirds and wind chimes--do not go in, and do not buy anything. Or at least don't accept packages from mysterious gentlemen with sinister smiles.

Horror Flick of the Week: The Shrine (2010)

I feel like horror is one of the few genres that tends to truly suffer if you reveal the ending of a story. That, and obviously mysteries or thrillers. The Shrine is a movie you should watch first, without any sort of spoilers, if you really want to see the story in its entirety and get the most out of it. Because...well, I can't say much. What I will say is this: when you are traveling, if the people in a village don't want you to be there...go away. Don't explore. Don't stick around. Don't argue. Just leave.

That, in essence, is one of the establishing factors in The Shrine that really helps set the mood. It's not merely a mystery, but a supernatural thriller. The best kind. Also, of course, best enjoyed in the dark at night...possibly alone, unless you absolutely need someone to cling to. On another watch, I realized this one still held strong, and that made it even better for the kind of story it is. Nice, creepy, and a sort of moral story (which all good horror should be, if you follow the premise any good, dark Grimm faerie tale.)

Please, do yourself a favor, and watch this movie. It's on Netflix...it's waiting for you. Also...maybe avoid the forest for awhile. Just in case.

Book(s) of the Week: The Devil's Storybook

Back in middle school, our library had a hidden room. Well, not so much hidden as restricted, but I like to imagine there was a bookcase in front of the door, blocking the secrets no 5th-6th grader should ever find themselves privy to. I was a pretty avid reader at the time, and still am, so the librarian let me sneak into the room one day and pick out any book I wanted to read.

There were so many to pick, so many delightful books with thick and embossed binding. Most of them were just kept in that room because the reading level was too high, or the copies were too valuable to let kids touch. I was one of the lucky few, the chosen ones, and I knew I had to pick the perfect book. I was told this would be my only chance...so I took a good half hour to find something I would never regret reading...

Tucked on one of the bottom shelves, with an orange-ish red binding, and looking practically new...I found it. A part of me thought this book wasn't supposed to be there, that some evil (and magical) force had conjured it into being. After all, a middle school library with a book about the DEVIL? It was unbelievable! So I pulled it out and flipped it open, examining some of the amusing illustrations of a trickster devil often finding himself the fool of his own pranks. With some trepidation, I took the book to the front desk and asked to check it out.

She didn't even look at the title. That same voice telling me this was not supposed to be here told me she must be seeing something altogether different than one I was. Perhaps to her a picture of a bunny rabbit snuggling a teddy bear was on the cover, or maybe a battalion of unicorns. No matter. I checked the book out, and I read it that very night. I read it once. Then the next day I read it again. And the following week or so I kept re-reading it until I had to check the book back in.

I was right, you know. Not about the book being magic...it really wasn't. In fact, many of the stories were charming little fairy tales with a somewhat less than intimidating version of Lucifer often being made to look like an idiot. But she never did let me back into that room...part of me suspects it's because she actually read the cover when I checked the book back in.

I'm sorry this was such a long story just for a 'book of the week' article, but I didn't know how else to tell you how wonderful this little book is, and how much it deserves to be discovered again and again by anyone who's willing to take a chance...

Halloween Playlist 2014

Digging in the digital closet for a few tunes to liven up an otherwise dead party? Well, don't worry. The 2014 playlist is finally ready, with 13 tracks old and new. Spooky and fun enough to get the bones rattling.

Hallow-Holics Podcast, Ep. 4: The Devil in the Details (Angelheart, The Exorcist, Devil)

Discussing the most evil of all figures in cinematic/artistic/written history, the dark lord himself. Also a bit of Shyamalan rambling, but not too much.



This episode is archived on youtube! Watch/listen below:

The video featured in this week's post is of course the Angelheart trailer as well as a -remastered- copy of the old Fantasia sequence.

Drive-in Trailers: The Faust and the Furious

Often times, people just want to get ahead. Sometimes they’ll make very questionable bargains in order to do so. The essence of the Faustian deal is that in exchange for one’s soul, a man may get what he truly desires. But the demon in question can come in any shape. He can come in the form of the devil himself, or simply a man. But we all know who he really is…and ultimately the price is far more than anyone wants to pay.

Honorable mention goes towards the fantastic ‘Kanashimi no Belladonna’ (1973) which I decided not to post a trailer for, due to the fact that the content in question may be construed as a little ‘mature’.

Drive-in Trailers: Spelling Errors and Crazy Curses

Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts, absolutely. I don’t think this phrase generally refers to literal power, like what a witch or warlock would have, but I think it can be applied. Kind of. Usually they’re corrupt already, and the magic bit just kind of makes them a little worse. How often do you see a witch on a broomstick that isn’t out to cause trouble for local farmers? Okay, maybe Kiki. But Kiki doesn’t count, because she negates my point, and I’d rather believe everything I say is the truth. So sit back, relax, and develop a healthy paranoia for that girl or guy in mascara who always seems to stare at you when you cut in line at the coffee shop.

If you've noticed a theme of 70s film in this entry, it's because they were obsessed with witches and cults. If you didn't already know that, well...----* The more you know...

A Short Video: Purgation

I did not produce this one, nor did I write it. In fact, I wasn't even a member of this group in film directing, because mine was a crazier project I've already shared here, but...I did play a minor role in this one as the aunt. Though it does take a few viewings to catch the whole story, the director (Jason Litman) is incredibly talented. His videos were always some of the best in that class, so I thought it would be a good idea to share this one with my readers. 

A young girl visits her aunt, and goes into the basement, then reads a book that causes strange things to happen. Is it a dream, or is it reality?

Book of the Week: Horror Show

Last year, I was browsing at Half Price Books. It's pretty much a regular haunt for me, and a lot of times I'll find odd little books there that I might not have found out about otherwise...their vintage collection is especially worth a browse. Anyway, directly at the end of each shelf there's always one of those spinning wire racks filled to the brim with books on discount (usually 1-2 bucks.) That's where I spotted this beauty, in all it's schlocky glory.

It makes an excellent companion, by the way, with the last book I reviewed (Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers.) Upon a first glance, I thought it was a murder mystery novel set in the 50s. Thankfully, I was wrong. It's actually a spooky novel about a young reporter investigating an old movie director, Landis Woodley. Think William Castle + Ed Wood + A hint of Tod Browning, and you get an idea. Landis made a lot of crazy films in the 50s on micro-budgets, the most infamous one in particular carrying it's own curse.

Then we learn the story of the curse, the movie, and Landis Woodley. This is really my favorite part of the whole book, perhaps because I have such a love for a good back-story. A satanist steals a sacred item from a tribe, summons a demon, hell nearly unleashes itself on earth, somehow this all falls on Landis Woodley's set when he finds an incredibly disgusting body at a local morgue to use in his movie.

If you've read the other book, you'll learn that there are quite a few questionable films (especially Spanish ones, apparently) in the 50s wherein actors have actually dealt with dangerous animals, dismembered human body parts, and all manner of situations I doubt the SAG would approve of. Reading this book, you can almost believe the writer experienced working on a few of these movies himself.

Ultimately, it's a great 'weekend' book. Something you'll read when you want a spooky feeling, but you don't want to invest the whole week reading it. Well-developed characters, nice transitions between past and present, and even an ending I didn't see coming. I suppose you'd say that's always the best bit.

A Short Video: E-Trade Devil Commercial

So this was one of my earlier projects in a film directing class, and I figured 'what the heck', I might as well share it today, since it's definitely got a Halloween vibe.

Fun fact, that guy playing the devil? He's a fantastic playwright.