Vintage Comics: Beware, Issue #8, Lost Souls, When Witches Summon (Cover - pg. 15)

 Returning with some more long-awaited vintage comics, this year I've got a fun one for you. An evil witch, a ghostly treasure, headless men and undead crusaders. I can't help but wonder why a music professor was so dedicated to his craft that he'd seek out a dead witch party to find a forgotten song.

Horror Flick of the Week: Trilogy of Terror (1975)

I'm going to preface this by saying this is not the greatest anthology film of all time, but it is one of the most iconic. Obligatory pretentious 'every true horror fan' (or at least the ones old enough to have grown up with video store memories) remembers the image of the vicious little tribal doll with his sharp teeth and endless torment of poor innocent Karen Black - - which, incidentally is one reason I'm featuring this movie for the week. Karen Black.

She was memorable. A character actress who may not be absolutely infamous in the mainstream, but still left her mark in 70s tv movies and independent film. Directed by Dan Curtis, based on stories by Richard Matheson, trilogy of terror is a fun and cheesy exploration of Karen Black's character acting skills. It's junk food. It's relatively tame by today's horror standards. Yet some elements of the movie are still a little disturbing. They stick with you, and if you watch it once, chances are you'll come back again for several re-watches of Trilogy of Terror.

Vintage Comics: Nightmare, Issue #3: The Werewolf of Washington Square, Cup of Moonglow (Cover - Pg. 13)

Whew! Almost mid-October (happy Friday the 13th, and I hope you're enjoying a bit of Jason slaughter today!) The posts are warming up, and so is my grad school homework. Still, I've found time to upload yet another vintage comic. This one is in far worse shape than the others I've managed to scrounge up, but the art is - - well, how should I put it? Cartoonier? A little more offbeat? Somehow, at the same time, certain elements of these stories are also pretty detailed towards realism. In fact, the werewolf face is remarkably similar to Dr. Hyde in the '31 film. 21 years after the fact, I can't help but wonder if the artist sourced a lobby card or old poster, perhaps?

Following on the tail-end of the glory days (pre-code horror comics), I sort of appreciate the pulp-ish inspiration they clearly drew from on the cover art. It's also a victim of radio-style dialog, per usual for the earlier stuff, but there's a certain charm to that too. The first story is...well...I mean it's a basic werewolf plot. Incredbly basic. Bare bones down to the character name (Eric Lupin.) The second story proves yet another age-old fact. You can't trust men. You can't trust women. You definitely can't trust gigantic Amazonian witch snakes.

Odd Monsters

Bored with the bogeyman? Not finding the clown thing too funny anymore? Are vampires in your nightmares just sucking you dry? Well, not to worry, there's plenty of 'wonderful' creatures out there to ensure that your psyche stays freshly traumatized for years to come. Keeping the Japanese one to just one, because their mythology is so broad with yokai and spirits, that you can't possibly cover them all in one go.

Katawaguruma/Katawa Guruma

Origin: Japanese

The female counterpart to the Wa nyūdō, this creature appears in the shape of a woman (usually naked) burning in eternal torment with the lower portions, or attached to, an ox cart wheel. The causes bad luck, ill fortune, and misery to those who encounter her, what's more...the bad luck doesn't just stop at one person, it can spread through the entire community associated with anyone who has met her. She also harvests the souls of the 'impure', the cruel, the sinful, etcetera, etcetera.

Likhoradka/Tryasavitsa

Origin: Slavic

Embodying a tall woman with black, messy hair, Likhoradka will spread  horrible calamities and plague wherever she goes, and to whomever she encounters. She can also possess anyone she chooses.

Black Annis/Agnes

Origin: British

Save your jokes, this lady is not someone you want to mess with. Absolutely hideous creature, a wizened crone with gnarly black claws, sharp teeth, one eye, and mottled blue skin. Some say her claws are made of iron, some say they're just...particularly strong, I suppose. Residing around Leicestershire, Agnes spends most of her free time tearing travelers to pieces, redecorating her cave with the flayed skin of small children, and generally just being a terrible neighbor. Meg Mucklebones, anyone?

Kanontsistonties

Origin: Iriquois

Say what you will about Native American mythology, it seems to me that they really take the cake for the creepiest monsters out there. As much as I adore the Windigo, I felt like maybe delving into something a little less popular. Varying in size from miniscule to massive, the Kanontsistonties are essentially flying skulls with bat wings and a desperate craving for...you guessed it...human flesh. They are the product of two possibilities, victims of murder by beheading, or...they used to be cannibals in life, and decided they just couldn't kick the habit in death either. They can't stop, as they have no stomachs, so they're pretty much doomed to eternal hunger.

Cheval Mallet

Origin: French

Horses. You can't trust them. I had a horse step on my foot once. I didn't like it. So when I learned of the Cheval Mallet, it came as no surprise that it turned out to be an evil horse. Well, that and the fact that I took French in high school, so the connection wasn't too hard to make. Essentially, it appears at night as a beautiful horse, tricks you into riding it...and that's it, for the rest of your life (and onwards), you're trapped for eternity riding a beautiful horse. A beautiful evil horse. Or it drowns you. They like doing that, too.

Horror Flick of the Week: 'Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990)'

I feel like maybe a lot of people would disagree about this, but honestly...I enjoyed this movie a lot more than Creepshow. Don't get me wrong, Creepshow is awesome, and the framing structure with the animations were pretty freaking cool. Yet...as a kid...Creepshow didn't put me through the roller coaster ride of emotions this movie did. Each story really does have its own awesome appeal, the cast is great, the writers are awesome...

https://youtu.be/R9lVoUKk-8Y

The fact that the framing story to this is a Hansel and Gretel-esque tale with a witch preparing to cook a little boy to serve at her supper party makes this an absolutely delicious watch for the Halloween season, and I think it does the series it's associated more than justice (in fact, it's actually considered a spiritual successor to Creepshow, too.) I can't praise this movie enough. For the love of god, if you haven't seen it yet, watch it this year as soon as humanly possible.

Horror Flick of the Week: The Witch's Mirror AKA El Espejo De La Bruja (1962)

Spanish is a beautiful language, no matter the dialect. Mexican Spanish in particular is the one I'm accustomed to hearing the most (being from Texas.) I love the husky quality of a slow speech in a Mexican film, especially when you combine it with the crackle of old cinema, and the eery atmosphere of shadows created in a black-and-white picture. Combine that with angry witches, curses, mirrors...you've got yourself an incredible picture.

On a dark night, preferably a rainy one too, watch this one by candlelight. Keep your phone off. Don't let anything distract you...and soak it in like a bath. It's how all true horror should be experienced, especially dark classics like 'The Witch's Mirror', which tells the story of a witch...obviously...who tried to protect her god-daughter, but failed...and seeks vengeance on the young woman's husband who murdered her through the power of the same magic she had tried using for good.

Book(s) Of the Week: Monster Road

Back in the 90s, I was wild for books. I still am, but the point here is that I devoured every book fair that came to school. Especially when it came to book lights and horror stories. Monster Road was one of my favorites. Perhaps it was the cover that drew me to it, or the fact that I'd run out of Goosebumps books, but this one was pretty easy to miss tucked back at the bottom 'L' shelf.

Written by David Lubar, Monster Road tells the story of Kevin taking a road trip with his eccentric scientist Uncle. Eccentric and wildly naive, every single monster Kevin's uncle meets on the trip strikes him as something absolutely mundane and non-supernatural in any way. What's more, he seems to come up with a solution for most of their problems in the process.

My old copy I had of Monster Road sadly fell to pieces, but that's the sign of a well-loved book. At least for a kid. Monster Road is a great little story to read with your kid, or to just let them read on their own, lying in the somewhat sketchy area of 2nd grade - 4th grade reading level.

Spooky Coloring Pages

Something for the kiddies today, just to remind you all 'tis the season and such. Scavenged from the dark recesses of Google images....here are just a few of my favorite coloring pages featuring the subject of things that go bump in the night. I claim no credit for these images whatsoever.

...Yes, I may have a skeleton issue. I CAN QUIT WHENEVER I WANT!

2014 Vintage Halloween Hotties

Ahhhh, October at last. I already feel that last breath of warm Texas air submitting to the cooling rush of Autumn. It's hard to believe that 12 months ago we had our last daily posting challenge. But here we are again. Today I decided to start it off with a little special treat for all of you, and a very witchy delight it is. Time again for vintage Halloween pin-ups of actresses and models from yester-year...