Bookworm Wednesday - The Look of Horror (1990)

On the dusty, cobwebbed bookshelves of the Madisonville Public Library sat a huge 12.5 x 11.75 coffee table book aptly reading the title in large letters THE LOOK OF HORROR - Scary Moments from Scary Movies by Jonathan Sternfield. The silver cover with random images from random horror movies screamed at me from the shelf and it was inevitable that I was take it home and read every word on every page. Twice. After sampling some of the book in the creaky library aisles, I chose this book and this book ONLY to take home on that day sometime in the summer of 1994. Now, 20 years later, I find myself wanting to look at this book more and more as we share our anniversary together. Yes, that's how much this book means to me. Ha!

This book and I have a long history together. Just look how beautiful it is!

Sold from just the first two pages

At about 145 pages (which may not seem much but remember its length and width) this book is large and in charge. Unfortunately, wrong information is sprinkled through the book but not so much that it makes it unreliable garbage. Is this a book that could be considered a definitive piece of literature for horror movie fiends? No. But it's entertaining and as a kid in the pre-internet era, I fucking LOVED the huge ass movie stills featured in the book. It was hard to not rip some of them out and plaster them on my walls, but I contained myself. 

Spanning the genre in almost every way, this book takes films and has them designated into chapters:

Monsters

Aliens

Murderers, Maniacs, & Mad Doctors

Creatures

Bad Kids/Weird Kids

Ghosts & Demons

A Mixed Brew

MONSTERS  

In this chapter we have simply what its title states - monsters! Some of these monsters are in fact vicious and vile but some are sympathetic creatures who are wrongly dubbed a monster, such as Frankenstein's "monster". The films featured in this chapter are Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Howling, Night of the Living Dead, I Was a Teenage Werewolf, The Phantom of the Opera, Cat People (1942 and 1979), Dracula (covering Lugosi, Hammer's version with star Christopher Lee, and Frank Langella's portrayal in the 1979 version), The Mummy, The Fly (both 1959 and 1986), The Wolf Man, Nosferatu (both 1922 and 1979), Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Hunger, and An American Werewolf in London. 

As you can see, these movies vary from the early Universal monsters to '80s monster-fests but each one a classic and deserving of its place in this book. The write-ups are not long, but they pack in a lot of useful information on the films. I also respect that all versions of the films with remakes are covered because this was back when remakes were good - mainly due to the fact that these were still the golden years of film-making right before CGI took (strangle)hold. 

ALIENS

I guess you could call this the sci-fi horror part of the book. The movie kicking off this chapter is Invaders from Mars. Both versions of the film are presented which is a plus because both versions are worth watching and owning. Moving on we go to I Married a Monster from Outer Space, both versions of The Thing, Alien (of course), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 and 1978), War of the Worlds, and The Blob (1958 and 1988). 

MURDERERS, MANIACS, & MAD DOCTORS

Yep, you could take a stab in the dark and say that this is one of my favorite chapters, especially considering once you flip the page seen above, the next thing you see is Vincent Price from the 1953 remake of House of Wax. Remake? Yes, some don't realize this but 20 years prior to this version in 1933 there was a movie called Mystery of the Wax Museum starring one of the earliest scream queens ever Fay Wray, and this was the original House of Wax. I knew of the movie before reading this book, but the information is there in case you're wondering.

Next up, the Halloween movies. Actually it essentially just covers parts 1 & 2, but part 3 is briefly mentioned and a gory still from the movie is present. One of the selling points for me on this book as a kid. Check it out...

Jamie Lee Curtis running from Michael Myers in part 2 and opposite of her is Garn Stephens who has just suffered the wrath of Conal Cochran the evil mask-maker in part 3

Up next, the movie John Carpenter refers to as "the grand daddy of horror films" Psycho, then the chapter continues on to Fatal Attraction, When A Stranger Calls, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (expect a blog on this movie soon!), The Abominable Dr. Phibes, The Spiral Staircase, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Dressed to Kill, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, the Friday the 13th movie series, and the A Nightmare on Elm Street series. I'm telling you, you just can't get enough of the large, colorful images in this book! 

No caption required...

CREATURES

Here you go, folks! Your classic assortment of CREATURE FEATURE movies! I don't know about you, but this just screams Sunday afternoon movies with a sandwich plate lunch and a glass of homemade lemonade. Well, in my house that's what we were eating probably. 

So here comes the list of movies you'll find in this chapter: King Kong, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Them!, Jaws, Godzilla, Willard, The Birds, Wolfen, Tarantula, and the fun William Castle classic starring Vincent Price The Tingler. I find it almost odd that Wolfen wasn't featured in the "monsters" chapter with the other werewolf movies, but hey, it fits in either chapter. I think it's one of the most underrated movies ever, so I'm just glad to see it featured in this book. Hey look, GORE!!! 

1981's 'Wolfen' delivers the gory goods so perfectly you'll lose your head! 

BAD KIDS/WEIRD KIDS

A creepy image from the 1972 childhood horror film 'The Other' 

Starting us off right is the 1984 movie Firestarter. I've teeter-tottered so much with this movie. I loved it when I was a kid, hated it throughout my twenties, but now I have to say that I can watch this movie and find sentimental value in it as well as cinematic value. Definitely not my favorite Stephen King movie or film but its presence in this particular book is welcomed.

You could imagine The Bad Seed makes it in here as well as Village of the Damned, but it's the films that kind of slipped under the radar that I enjoy most out of all these bad kid movies and those are Audrey Rose and The Other. Then you have telepathic maidens such as Carrie and Amy Irving's character in The Fury (this movie has an ending so explosive you'll get a headache just watching it). Also featured is the 1987 vampire classic The Lost Boys. I'm more of a fan of Near Dark, but the movies in this book are mostly ones which were more known, especially at the time this book was written. 

GHOSTS & DEMONS

*rubs hands together*
Ah, yes! We have arrived at my favorite chapter. Ghosts and demons, oh my! Our first venture is the classic 1963 black and white creep-fest The Haunting. A chilling movie that stayed with me through the years mainly because of one scene - the scene where Julie Harris thinks she's holding Claire Bloom's hand but Ms. Bloom is still in her bed on the other side of the room. Julie Harris in a shaky voice says, "Who's hand was I holding?" and THAT creeped me out and that's why that movie is successful. 

The next movie needs no introduction, but I guess I should tell you what it is so that you know what I'm talking about. The Exorcist.The 1973 classic, "go to" possession movie of all-time really. Whenever I checked this book out from the library I had to make a promise that I wouldn't torture my brother with the following pages...

Where's the crucifix and split pea soup?!

Is that my favorite movie in the chapter? Nope! That would be reserved for the one and only series of films The Omen.Before reading this book, I had only seen the first Omen movie, so the image that appears from part two made me anxious to watch it. It was my luck that we had just moved into town and we had cable TV and HBO. My mom caught in the guide that all four Omen movies were going to air in a marathon on HBO and her being the mom that she is, took the time to record them all. Thanks to her I woke up the next morning and had all of the movies on tape. I indulged in them quite often. Part two became a favorite because it's a great film, but also because I had a crush on Jonathan Scott-Taylor who played Damien in the movie. Yeah, I was a weird kid. 

Can't be beat! 

Other movies include such essential classics like Rosemary's Baby, House on Haunted Hill, The Old Dark House, The Entity, The Amityville Horror, and The Shining. Poltergeist is also in this chapter, but I cannot stand that movie. Sorry. The Entity however was a movie I had never seen before and thanks to this book, I rented it and was genuinely disturbed by the ghost rape action. Another movie to expect a blog about in the future. 

A MIXED BREW

Tell it to call you "Billie"

The final chapter in the book is a mixed brew indeed - a mixed brew of monsters, supernatural beings, and a possessed car as well as a possessed doll. We have House of Usher, Child's Play, Christine, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Little Shop of Horrors (1960 and 1986), Island of Lost Souls, Creepshow, and if you're in the mood for a strange Oliver Stone movie about a possessed hand, a movie aptly titled, The Hand starring Michael Caine. I'll say it again... a mixed brew indeed, but not a bad apple in the bunch! 

So that's it! I hope you enjoyed this journey into this beautiful book. As I said earlier, it's not the most definitive book you'll own in your collection, but it's fun, it's entertaining, and you'll have plenty of amazing images to stare at if you're crunched for time and can't watch a movie at your leisure. Every page is splashed with color images and quick, fun write-ups. Fortunately, it's easy to find on amazon, so if you're interested and think that you may need this in your collection... BUY THE DAMN THING!! I did! 

I'll leave you now with the last image in the book which is dubbed THE look of horror - the beautiful Lee Remick from one of my all-time faves, The Omen! 

TV Terror Tuesday - Kolchak The Night Stalker: The Zombie (1974)

Not to be confused with Kojak, Carl Kolchak (played wonderfully by Darrin McGavin) is an investigative reporter who follows through on researching and covering cases of the unusually bizarre, and sometimes centered around the supernatural - making for some exceptionally creepy as HELL episodes for its time. Always sporting his powder blue seersucker suit and straw hat, Kolchak often drove around Chicago in his yellow Mustang convertible hunting down vampires, zombies, and other odd creatures. Sounds weird on paper, but the show was an amazing addition in the annals of TV terrors. The show aired from 1974-1975, only lasting 20 episodes as well as two unproduced episodes, and each episode was an hour long giving time for stories and characters to develop.

For tonight, the episode I am choosing is the first episode of Kolchak I ever saw: The Zombie.

I would say my first viewing was circa 1998, I was 14 years old, and my father had just picked up a VHS tape from a local book and music exchange store with two episodes on it; this was obviously one of them. I was intrigued, so he filled me in on what the show was about and knew that I would enjoy the zombie episode in particular because of my obsession with Voodoo. I have always been a huge fan of '70s TV shows, like the Night Gallery series, so this helped me get cozy with the characters, the music, and the overall look of the show. The theme song starts out kind of happy and light, but takes a darker turn when the title comes across the screen. When Kolchak types the word "victim" on his typewriter, I knew this show was going to get good. From the opening theme where Kolchak first appears whistling, written by the amazingly talented Gil Mellé (also of the aforementioned Night Gallery fame), to the montage of Kolchak in his Chicago office during the opening credits, I was instantly hooked. Once the episode officially started, I was ready!

               

What I instantly liked, along with the theme, was the sense of humor that Kolchak had. The show was a serious creepfest but didn't take itself too seriously. Trust me, with an episode like this you need a few laughs.

Kolchak goes to investigate and take pics at the scene of a police shoot-out and gets nothing for his efforts. So that he isn't left empty-handed, Kolchak checks in with and pays Gordon "The Ghoul" Spangler who works at the morgue for information on the brothers who were killed in the barn shooting. Turns out one of the men pulled from the scene was a black man, not one of the brothers, who had already made an appearance in the morgue the previous week dead from six .44 magnum slugs. That's odd enough, but when he says that chicken blood was found on the body, this is when Kolchak's ears perk up. The other murders that have occurred are men belonging to an exclusive group of people in the city and their spines were snapped by someone with incredible strength. 

Kolchak ends up on the South side of Chicago looking for number runners who are NOT part of the gang who is getting offed, and he finds them - one of which is played by the recognizable, tall and lanky actor Antonio Fargas, known for his roles in the Starsky and Hutch TV show and as Pam Grier's brother in Foxy Brown. Later, these men meet up with their higher-ups; these men ARE the ones being knocked off. They meet in a parking garage where Kolchak follows them and records their conversation, giving opportunity for a hilarious scene of Kolchak's tape recorder to go haywire and rewind right after the meeting has disbursed. Unfortunately for him, the recorder has given him away; he is found and a gun appears by his head. His tape is destroyed but he offers to help them find out who is killing off all of their men. He tells them that whoever was involved with the death of Francois Edmonds is being killed and those who are still living will soon be killed. 

After digging a little bit, in AND out of the grave (just watch the episode), Kolchak tracks down Edmonds' mother Mamalois Edmonds (played by Paulene Myers in some interesting old age make-up) and pays her a visit. No information is really gained in his adventures to her house, until his departure where he finds a chicken carcass stuffed in the trash can in front of her house. This provokes more digging from Kolchak and he watches Mamalois grab a chicken from a cage and retreat to the Voodoo shrine in her storage building. As she holds her ritual, you can slightly make out his name being chanted by her and then after she cuts the chickens head off, she writes his name in blood on a small, wooden box. It appears that she wants Kolchak dead because of his involvement of the case and asking too many questions.

In fear for his life, Kolchak yet again does more digging. This time for information on how to defend himself from a zombie. He tells his boss and the captain how to kill a zombie off by pouring salt into the mouth of the zombie and sew its mouth shut while it sleeps. More humor ensues in this scene as the captain's retort suggests that next you would baste the body and eat it and Kolchak doesn't break his serious mood and replies, "No, you just light the candles around him." So what's next for Kolchak? Well, finding the body of Francois Edmonds of course.

The final five minutes of this episode will have you holding your breath and sitting on the edge of your seat. For its time, the zombie make-up is really effective and almost gory for a TV show in 1974. When Kolchak finds the body of the zombie in the back of a hearse in a junk yard, he commences with the salt experiment and gets as far as pouring the salt into its mouth, but once the needle hit the lips, its eyes open! Kolchak runs away terrified, and who wouldn't; the zombie is a lumbering juggernaut who could snap spines in two. As the zombie sits upright out of the hearse, the tension builds and your only thoughts are how the hell Kolchak is going to get out of this mess. Thanks to the junkyard's amenities, Kolchak runs on top of a car and as the zombie follows he hooks the zombie and it hangs over Kolchak's head in the final moments.

Going by an almost traditional recipe for zombies, this episode makes for great classic TV and makes me giggle now that zombies are commerce. This episode came at a time when knowledge on zombies were limited to the Voodoo religion. Keep in mind, only few people may have been exposed to George Romero's modern take on zombies at this time, so this was a startling thing to see on network television. If you haven't seen this episode, the entire thing is on youtube. I'll link it below.

As for Kolchak, expect more reviews of other episodes in later blogs as I simply LOVE this show and this character.

Enjoy!

Lords of Salem (2012)

House of 1,000 Corpses had its moments, The Devil’s Rejects was eh, and I’m not even going to comment on the two Halloween abominations because from what little I have seen of those does not count for me to have a true opinion; however, The Lords of Salem…

Wow!

As usual, Rob Zombie lines up the stars for his films: Ken Foree, Dee Wallace, Patricia Quinn, Bruce Davison, Judy Geeson, Michael Berryman, and many more. Of course Sherri Moon Zombie is the leading lady, again, but she surprisingly did a fantastic job and didn’t annoy the piss and vinegar outta me in this subtle and tame role. No, in fact, she acted human in this movie as opposed to her “cackling psycho” norm which she came to be known for doing as part of the character Baby in both House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects. The fact that she overreached what to her is normalcy gives this film another redeemable aspect. It also helped that she looked the part instead of just looking like herself; the same cookie cutter image she seems to always have in her husband’s films. So that right here is a good start for me, but guess what? It gets better! If the acting is great from Mrs. Zombie, the one aspect I dreaded most, then that should tell you that the rest of the stellar cast did an amazing job as well.

According to IMDB, there were so many other actors and actresses who were supposed to be in the film but did not make the final cut: Camille Keaton, Sid Haig, Clint Howard, Udo Kier, and Daniel Roebuck to name a few. Don’t know what happened with that, but it would interesting to see how these actors fit into the story and what they would have done with their characters.

Before I officially switch gears here though, there is one important actress who stands out from the rest of the cast with her performance; she blew me MILES away from the couch that I was sitting on. One name, three syllables: Meg Foster. The ice-blue eyed actress, who has appeared in movies such as the 1988 sci-fi classic John Carpenter’s They Live and the William Lustig’s 1989 crime thriller Relentless as well as countless other movie, TV and theatre roles, really upped her game on this film. Her portrayal of Margaret Morgan, I guess you could say she is the head witch, has been somewhat ignored and that pisses me off quite frankly. People who review this film only talk about Rob Zombie, Sherri Zombie, and how horrible they think the movie is, or about how he casts the same people over and over, but no one really EVER gives credit where it’s due to Meg. Sure there may be reviews out there that praise her performance, but not enough. Very little good has been said about this movie and still somehow this performance of Meg's slips under the radar. So sad. But I’m here to gloat about it and tell you that it is amazing and, again, she makes the movie worth watching. I had to take a moment to find her in the movie and once I realized who she was and the role that she was playing, I didn't care if the rest of the movie did suck because her ability to achieve semblance of a dirty witch from Hell without being recognized blew me away. I was looking for those icy blue eyes and instead found a void of a woman in a role that I could not imagine anyone else portraying.

Now that I have expressed my love for Meg and my thoughts on the acting in the film overall, I’m going to step over to the story line. The movie kicks off with a badass title sequence totally reminiscent of ‘70s occult greatness. Diving into the story, basically, Heidi Hawthorne (Sherri Moon Zombie) is a DJ of a radio station which she shares air time with two guys "Whitey" (Jeff Daniel Phillips) and Herman (the familiar and lovable Ken Foree) and she is sent a cool looking wooden box containing a record labeled “A gift from the Lords”. She plays the record, and though it sounds awesome in my opinion, it causes some crazy shit to go down for Heidi such as hallucinations, coughing up blood, and having disembodied flashbacks from the 1600s. Her visions include a coven of witches holding a Black Mass; they are dancing naked around a fire, worshiping Satan, and playing music. The residents of Salem intrude on the witches and put them on trial soon to be found guilty of witchcraft and then of course they are all burned at the stake. Margaret Morgan (the amazing Meg Foster, I’m sure you didn't forget) curses the accuser, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and all of his ancestors. Hmmm…Hawthorne. Yep! Heidi Hawthorne is one of his ancestors. It all ties together in a story line that has kind of been done before, but it still has unique aspects about it and let’s not forget it gives us the amazing Meg Foster. (I will keep repeating this as much as I have to, ha!)

I would say around the midway point of the movie it starts to meander a little bit as far as the story goes, but imagery stays pretty strong. Some memorable shots include when Sherri Moon coughs up blood while listening to the record again and she hallucinates men with black, rubber masks killing her friend, the red neon cross hanging on the wall, the burning of the witches, and the scenes where Sherri is in the autumnal cemetery with her dog and experiences more hallucinations. Strong imagery can sometimes save lack of dialog and a lagging story, and this is the case in some parts of the movie. But I think this is one of the aspects I like most about this movie. Also, it takes place in the ‘70s and for the most part it succeeds in presentation. Again, though the story wavers a bit, the acting is still great and all of the actors and actresses deliver in all aspects. There are a few vicious scenes that I won’t spoil for you if you haven’t seen the film. If you have, then you know what I’m referring to. Expect many creepy images throughout the film too. I won't begin to explain here because you simply just have to see the movie to understand how it all fits together.

Lords of Salem isn't for everyone. Some people would still look at this as a crap effort from Rob Zombie if they’re fans of his and if they’re not a fan then chances are it would be difficult to sell them on it simply because they would expect the splashy music video approach that he can have with his movies. Something about the trailer drew me to wanting to see the film and I’m glad that I gave it a chance because I understand his approach to this movie – a heavy ‘70s Satanic/occult influence with imagery that is, dare I say, more mature than his previous films. His sixth effort has proven to be his best in my opinion. The fact that it seems to get so much hate makes it even more enjoyable. And if I can stress just one more time, if anything, watch it for Meg Foster’s performance; she will forever be seen with even more respect than before from me.

Basically, if you like Satanic cinema with moody atmosphere and vicious delivery then you may enjoy Lords of Salem, but don't just take my word for it...!

Before you leave there's just one more honorable mention I must make about this movie and that's its soundtrack. Like Zombie's other films, there are some '70s classic rock songs and some Rick James funk, but you also have one of the best classical pieces of all-time (Mozart's Requiem In D Minor, K 626 - Sequentia: Lacrimosa Dies Illa) and original pieces by the guitar virtuoso John 5. Some nerve jangling stuff for sure. Wanna hear some? Click the video below. Sweet dreams. The Lords are coming...

                                      

When the Pantry Door Creaks...

This is going to be cheesy (literally, in some cases) but hang with me here. Ever since I mentioned Totino's Party Pizzas in one of my previous blogs, I just simply HAVE to make a quick post and tell you some of the staples in the Sumner (my maiden name) household on movie nights. The following is a list of foods that I devoured as a kid and I still to this day enjoy quite often. Here they are in no particular order. Ready? You may get hungry...

Totino's Party Pizzas!
Okay, so I said they were in no order, but this one has to come first because I've been addicted to these things since as far back as I can remember! I prefer them cooked directly on the oven rack, but I'll eat it either way it's cooked. There's something about ripping the pieces apart in a primitive way and eating it like there's no tomorrow. When I lived on Long Island they were $3.00 a piece, so I NEVER really bought them while living there. I will hate you forever, Long Island, and that is one of the many reasons. Take THAT! Ha!

This box spells "home" to me :)

Popcorn
Q: What's a movie without popcorn?!
A: NOTHING!
So yeah, I'm with the majority of people on this one, I love popcorn. Personally, I prefer lightly salted and no butter, but I'll eat it any way. I will occasionally get down on some cheddar popcorn, too. It's rare I crave kettle corn but it happens from time to time. Billy hates it, so I stick with our usual "homestyle" popcorn which is plain but great with salt. Must be eaten out of our monster bowl too. We have our priorities here.

When I was a kid though, Orville Redenbacher had some cheddar cheese popcorn to KILL for! I remember my mom would pour the popcorn into a giant, silver mixing bowl and then she would put my serving in a little tupperware bowl. I would always plop on the floor and inhale it like a starving wolverine after smoking a fat doobie. That cheddar popcorn is quite a sentimental memory of my childhood so thanks, Orville!

Look at this guy! He knows he's the shit! 

Just look at those golden puffs 

Kool-Aid (drinks and pops)
Fuck yeah! I will drink the shit outta some Kool-Aid...and eat it, too! I loved all flavors, but I remember rainbow punch being the most amazing fluid to pass through my child body. Kool-Aid serves a lot of purposes really; I drank it, ate it as frozen popsicles, and dyed one of my doll's hair with it. I even owned Kool-Aid comic books and a videotape from Kay-Bee Toys called Wacky Zany Video from Kool-Aid.

I'm regularly a consumer of just water, juice, beer, and liquor, but I will get the hankering for Kool-Aid from time to time and sometimes I have to satiate it. With vodka. Juuuust kidding. Or am I?! ;)

Apparently Rainbow Punch was someone else's favorite or else why would there be a random scan of this? 

...and someone took the time to post this on Youtube? God bless 'em

Dots
When it comes to candy, I could list SOOOO many things. Dots are some of my faves though. Some people hate them, but I love them. Even the green ones! Here is the box I remember most...

Super Soft Pretzels
Dipped in nacho cheese, please! How could you not love these things?! Pouring the salt on could sometimes be a bitch, but it was part of the fun. Still is!

Doritos
As a kid, I loved chips, but Doritos were my thing. I loved all flavors, but c'mon! Nacho cheese is the best. Now that I'm a 30 year old woman who likes to drink on the weekends, I have found that Doritos are my whiskey snacks. They just taste good together. Now if only I could get back 3-D Doritos and Black Pepper Jack Doritos, I'll be a happy lady. Doritos how I remembered them...

Not very appealing for the appetite, but it gets the point across on how the bag looked circa 1988

Yep, I even remember Jay Leno being the spokesperson at one point. I'm not sure whether that's sad or snazzy. 

If you don't remember this flavor, then I'm old...

Okay. This is about all I can stand talking about food at five minutes to midnight. I imagine one of these days I'll remember tons of other snacks that I have ingested or still ingest over the years up to now, but until then I must bid farewell. Expect another one of these blogs because this was too fun! 

Bookworm Wednesday - Xerox Ferox

The Wild World of the Horror Film Fanzine! By John Szpunar

Before I tell you about the ultimate underground horror fanzine reference book, Xerox Ferox, here's a back story on why this book should be considered important to ardent horror fans like myself who love to read about the films they adore watching. We all have our stories, so here's mine...

For a little girl growing up in Western Kentucky it's no surprise that I thought Fangoria was the only horror magazine in existence. Hell, before I even knew of Fangoria I dreamed of a magazine dedicated to horror movies, so imagine me choking back the tears of excitement when I begged for my first issue at age 11 circa 1994 in a little place in the Madisonville mall called Readmore Bookstore. Oh memories of buying R.L. Stine books and Fangoria magazines.

Jump forward to 1998 when I was 14 and 15 and I found my first issue of Deep Red issue 7 buried in a box full of Fangoria issues that I already had. Location? Fantasy Comic Shop in Madisonville, Kentucky and this was the ideal hangout for anyone who was into comics and horror movies. The place was small, jam packed with all kinds of memorabilia, and even though it was somewhat dingy, it was home. So back to this said box in which I was pilfering through. Something told me to keep digging in that box and I'm glad I did. Everything grabbed me about Deep Red - the image of the needles under the eyes from Dario Argento's Opera on the cover, the title Deep Red, the familiar name Chas. Balun, and the meaty size of the packaged deal itself was enough for me to space out for a minute with adrenaline pumping and shaky hands trying to flip through the pages but was clearly too excited. All I was thinking was, "Oh, this is too good to be true." True it was, is, and always will be. I also scored some older issues of Fangoria that day from the '80s, and an issue of Famous Monsters of Filmland, so I can't ignore that awesome factor of my visit but my discovery of Deep Red came that day and my mind was both blown and expanded; this mag was my entree into the underground horror magazine world and I was seeing for the first time horror movies presented in a way that wasn't commerce. No slick pages, no Hollywood swells, just stripped down and dirty horror and exploitation movies talked about by people who understood them for what they were and presented in a true light. Needless to say after that comic shop visit, I didn't leave my room for days!

My very copy

From then on, my mission was to find more issues of Deep Red and find out more about Chas. Balun because up until then I only knew him from a couple of interviews I had seen with him and read his name in issues of Fangoria. By the mid/late '90s, I was kind of done with Fangoria because I was essentially done with the majority of movies coming out at that time, especially the late '90s into the '00s. Darkness Falls? Scream? Valentine? What the FUCK?! The more horror became slick and pretty, the more I wanted sleazy and ugly. I wanted filthy fright flicks with an unapologetic approach. I wanted Nekromantik NOT I Know What You Did Last Summer. Those two films shouldn't even be in the same sentence really.

So in order to read about the movies I was looking for, I would have needed the underground fanzines that I now know about. Sadly, I had no way of discovering these 'zines at the time but over the past decade, I have been able to hunt some down, discover a few along the way, and later create one of my own. I had countless amounts of books and documentaries, but magazines were a way of seeing more images and getting a concise synopsis on the movie. I love my books, but I also love my magazines and for the longest time I had to settle for magazines where I was generally only enjoying 20-30% of the content. By this time Rue Morgue was out and I always looked forward to the Classic Cuts in the back of the issue, but if it sucked then that just meant that I had to wait two months to get the next issue in hopes that it didn't fail me again. Again, I'm not knocking these magazines because there was always something for me to read in them, but as I previously stated, I wanted Cannibal Holocaust NOT Idle Hands.

Little did I know though, one day there would exist a collective bible, if you will, of fanzines and magazines that have existed and still exist in the underground. Of course, that said bible would be Xerox Ferox presented to us by John Szpunar.

As the name states, Xerox Ferox takes us through the history of the glory days of cut and paste 'zines. When fans had the attitude of "I want something done so I'll just do it my Goddamned self!". I'm thankful they did because from one 'zine to the next there has been an evolution of how horror opinions, facts, and images have been presented. So many 'zines covering so many different sub-genres, the possibilities are endless really. At a meaty 800 pages, you can imagine Xerox Ferox is bursting at the seams with the goods featuring interviews, scans of 'zines, tributes, retrospects, and so many recognizable faces and names to anyone who has devoured the underground horror scene above and beyond. John has compiled and collected so many important parts of the history of horror in this book; thus why some may refer to it as the bible, or at least the ultimate resource book for horror 'zines.

The book is easy to quick reference something because each chapter is dedicated to a specific person or 'zine. Chapter One kicks off with Steve Bissette who has an extensive horror resume and if you don't know who he is then there would be no need for you to go further into the book. But if you do know who he is then you are in luck because you purchased the book for a good reason; that reason being you recognize people such as Steve Bissette.

Moving on. More names further into the book that you should recognize include Donald Farmer, Chas. Balun, Tom Skulan, Greg Goodsell, Jim VanBebber, Roy Frumkes, and so many more. Magazines and fanzines (either featured or just merely mentioned) that are just as recognizable include Psychotronic, Gore Gazette, Fangoria, Famous Monsters of Filmland, Deep Red, Taboo, Castle of Frankenstein, Gore Creature, Liquid Cheese, Ultra Violent, Sleazoid Express, Slimetime, Video Watchdog, Stink, Slaughterhouse, Subhuman, Shock Xpress, Exploitation Journal, Shock Cinema, Shocking Images, Temple of Schlock, Blackest Heart, and MORE!

This colossal collection of carnage and sleaze from the underground provides endless reading sessions and endless sources of inspiration. The interviews are informative and will make you want to seek out every copy of every issue of every 'zine that ever existed! It seems impossible to properly review this book and cover all grounds because there is so much here in the pages; it would be ridiculous to try. I assure you it's a necessity and an important book to own for those of you horror bibliophiles who love books and magazines. But don't take my word for it...
BUY THE DAMN THING! I did...

TV Terror Tuesday - Don't Go To Sleep (1982)

As some of you may have noticed, there was no TV Terror Tuesday blog last week because things have been hectic over here wrapping up issue #2 of Evilspeak as well as drowning in schoolwork. Needless to say most of my writing energy lately has been put into these massive papers I've been writing. It's been making me feel too much like an adult. Ha!

So tonight I'm going to talk about something sentimental to revert myself back to my innocent childhood before responsibilities took over. Yes, tonight I will be reminiscing on staying up late to catch the Midnight Movie on the Fox 44 channel. The same Fox that you're thinking of, but for some reason it seemed like it was different then - or maybe the channel would be taken over by a local entity after midnight, who knows. Who cares! The point is I saw some really fucking cool movies for the first time thanks to this channel airing some of the best horror films late at night.

I've always been a night owl, and during my childhood, my father worked second and third shifts and he would come home late, so it was always a goal to stay up until he got home. Sometimes I failed, but there would be times where I would make it all the way through the night. These midnight movie airings, an endless flow of popcorn, and piping hot Totino's party pizzas straight from the oven helped me achieve insomnia status as early as age 7. With all of this said, and now that I feel cozy, time to move on to the movie...

(Contains some spoilers)

One of the first movies I ever saw late at night on this channel was a 1982 made for TV movie called Don't Go To Sleep. I saw the movie once and never could remember the title until my best friend Jamie and I were talking about made for TV horror movies one day and we suddenly remembered things that happened in the movie, but again we were trying to dig deep into our memory filing cabinet for the title. She suggested Don't Fall Asleep, or something similar, so the best thing I could think of was to look it up in my trusty Terror on Tape book (my last Bookworm Wednesday review) and I found it! Don't Go To Sleep was the title and it was just a matter of time before I placed my special order through Blockbuster which was where I worked at the time. But, unfortunately, the only way for me to order this was an $80 VHS tape which was on back order, meaning they probably didn't even have any available. I was so bummed, but luckily I have the memory of an elephant and thanks to IMDB and books featuring this film, more memories were triggered of the movie. So here it goes.

This is your standard made for TV movie; complete with lush suburbia and a nice home. It starts out with the family (mom and dad, Phillip and Laura, played by Dennis Weaver and Valerie Harper) moving to a new house with their son and daughter Mary (Robin Ignico) and Kevin (Oliver Robins of Poltergeist fame) as well as Laura's mother Bernice played by Ruth Gordon. This close family starts facing stress when the young daughter Mary begins to have visions and audio hallucinations of her sister Jennifer who was killed in an auto accident the prior year. When Mary starts to hear her name being called out in a raspy, almost demonic voice, you know some weird events are going to transpire - and boy do they! The first to notice Mary acting strange is her brother when she's staring up at a window as if she sees something, and from then on the family starts to take heed.

Kicking off the slew of eerie events is a scene where Mary trying to sleep. Her bedroom is dark but you can still see her toys and dolls starting to move as a harsh voice growls in the darkness, "Maaaaarryyyy". As Mary sits up quickly in bed the scene cuts to her parents talking in their bedroom. Suddenly screams erupt and they open the door to Mary's room to find that the bed is on fire and Mary sits in the middle unable to breathe. I remember when I was a kid seeing the flaming bed with her in the middle hyperventilating and unable to move was frightening. Actually, a lot of the movie is frightening when you think about it. You begin to realize that Mary is hearing and seeing her dead sister Jennifer and is convinced that Jennifer is under her bed.

So many other creepy scenes in this movie stuck with me over the years and I am aching to watch it again to see if they still creep me out. In one scene, Mary crawls under her bed to see if her sister is there and SHE IS! Other scenes include some kind of reptile crawling up grandma's legs while she's sleeping in bed and it causes her to have a heart attack, a crazy POV shot of a pizza cutter Mary is holding going up the banister of the stairs and across the wall landing on the phone line and cutting it while Laura is trying to call 911, and of course the last shot of the movie...! Enough to send shivers down my spine and I haven't seen it in years. All I can see is the outline of a head coming up over the...HA!

I'm not going to tell you. Seek out this movie for yourself (somehow) and watch it.

For a made for TV movie from 1982 the creep factor is 100% and totally delivers on scares. It's an excellent haunting horror movie with a ghostly grip that will stay with you for a long time after you've seen it. I'm sure when it first aired, those who saw this regained the classic fear of suspecting someone or something could be under the bed while trying to sleep at night. I haven't looked yet, but I'm sure it's on Youtube. I may just have to look it up and endure sitting in my somewhat uncomfortable office chair while I watch it. I'll just need some popcorn and a Totino's party pizza to scarf down to get me through!

Bookworm Wednesday - Terror on Tape (1994)

While perusing the entertainment book section at Barnes & Noble circa 1999, I chanced upon a book which would become my "go to" book over the years when referencing most horror movies. I wasn't searching for anything in particular that day which I'm glad of or else my sights would have been on something else and I may have missed out on this amazing guide to countless horror videos. The book - Terror on Tape. Its title completes with the description "A Complete Guide to Over 2,000 Horror Movies on Video".

As you can see here, my copy has a curled, peeling tail and is pretty...used.

Over 2,000 titles, conveniently in alphabetical order for easy reference if you're in dire need of a quick search. Like most guide books, this one comes complete with its own star rating system; four stars are the most, colored-in stars indicate a full star, and outlines of stars indicate a half star. Basically, the ratings go in this order: excellent, very good, good, average, fair, poor, very poor, and the worst. You can do the math from there. 

As for the content itself, it is pretty much opinion-based and often inflated, but the reviews are useful and entertaining just the same, and you'll find yourself valuing what is being stated whether you agree or not. The book is impressive not only in that aspect but also, there are shadow boxes which appear throughout with information and filmography notes on scream queens, movie directors, leading and character actors, and legendary horror icons who do it all in the industry. I'll share some images from the book below and maybe you can spot the shadow boxes as well as selected images from movies featured in the book. The reviews are not too long and not too short, very informative, and there is also information on alternate titles and certain cuts which were released through certain companies and distributors. 

 Seen here, text from the book and an image from Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy 

 Dr. Terror's House of Horrors getting some rare love. I have stars drawn near movies that I own but I stopped doing this almost ten years ago so I have some updating to do, ha!

 If you notice, on the side of the pages there is much wear and tear. Like I said, this was, is, and will always be one of my absolute favorite books to read

Those said shadow boxes can be seen here in this pic as well as more dirty finger smudges on the fore edge. 

As I previously stated, there are times where the opinions are thick but they're not overpowering and annoying. Actually, some of the reviews you may find you wish were a little longer, but I think the book is pretty perfect the way it is. Keep in mind, these films are ones which were released on video cassette tape (hence the name of the book). You will find some TV movies in here such as Bad Ronald, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, Don't Go to Sleep, How Awful About Allan, and many more, but again, these were titles which were eventually released on video so this is why they make the cut. Of course you can imagine the range of movies covered in this book is pretty incredible. Put into consideration that this guide spans over 75 years of movies which were committed to a video cartridge - then dive into this book with the intent on learning and having some fun. You have mainstream horrors such as Silence of the Lambs, Misery, and of course the Universal Monsters catalog, to sleazy, low-budget exploitation fare such as I Dismember Mama, Bloodsucking Freaks, and Nightmare City. I can't go on listing movies because there's simply too many. Over 2,000, remember?! So if you are in need of a book that serves as a bible/dictionary then pick this one up. It may not be the definitive book, but it certainly holds a special place on my book shelf. 

Easy to find on Amazon, new and used. BUY THE DAMN THING!

The House of Seven Corpses (1974)

"Inside the house of seven corpses, is buried the memory of MADNESS!"

1974's The House of Seven Corpses has all the elements of the perfect early '70s fright film intact. Let's see, you have foggy graveyards, occasional deep choral chants for the soundtrack which are reminiscent of the Blind Dead films, more "library music" for the remainder of the soundtrack which can also be heard from The Outer Limits, nice pacing, Gothic atmosphere, a story-line that works, John Carradine...it's all here, folks! It's a shame that this movie is not more well-known as is the case with many horror movies of this nature, but here you have an ideal Friday night midnight movie that serves as a great appetizer before you sink your fangs into something more extreme later in the night and early morning. For some, this movie may come as a "slow burner", but for those of us from the generation of watching any and all horror movies from your local mom and pop joint this movie just simply feels like home.

The movie starts out with a colorful title sequence somewhat explaining how the house gets its reputation of being haunted; you see a man fall from the stairs, a woman who has drowned in a bathtub, a man getting shot, a woman hanging, a man being stabbed to death, and another man whose head is beaten in. A perfect place for the director of an occult horror drama to film his movie, right? Well, actually that is where the story picks up after the beginning credits; it moves on to a lady holding a strange ritual with candles and a pentagram drawn on the floor and right as a climactic event is going to happen someone yells, "CUT!" and you find that it's a movie within a movie kind of thing. As the story unfolds, you learn that the murders witnessed in the title sequence were occult related and John Carradine who plays the caretaker warns the movie crew that they should be careful of what they are messing with in this old, haunted mansion. Lo and behold, since the film they are shooting is occult related then you can imagine how the movie turns out. No, not their movie, THIS movie! Before I get to that, let me add that the murders they film for the movie are almost identical to those committed in the house years ago.

John Carradine as the caretaker warning the film crew of what they're dealing with in the old house

You can imagine that many aspects of the film are fairly predictable, but it works mainly for the cast and for the setting. I was surprised to learn that the movie was filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah because it really could pass for a cloudy, grey English countryside, and the house they used looks like it's yanked straight out of a Gothic Hammer or Amicus production. I'm still unclear as to if the image of the house appearing in the movie was the actual house used for filming, but either way it creates the perfect mood for the story and gives the film a nice cold and grey feel to it.

The house of seven corpses, indeed

Let's jump back for a second and talk about the cast besides our familiar John Carradine. This film also stars John Ireland (Satan's Cheerleaders) as the film director Eric Hartman, and Faith Domergue (This Island Earth, Cult of the Cobra) as Gayle Dorian - the lead actress in the film. I can't help but notice her character's name is a nod toward Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. Ireland and Domergue give strong performances in the film and help make the movie watchable in parts where the story kind of drags. There aren't many parts though where the story falls short.

The talented Faith Domergue looking hauntingly beautiful in this behind the scenes shot

Ms. Dorian's cat. (I just had to put the cat picture on here)

Carole Wells also shines in her performance as the character Anne who is the gorgeous blonde co-star in the movie being shot at the house. She also helps make the ending of The House of Seven Corpses memorable. 

 Reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, filming is going good for this crew - until these words start to summon the dead in the nearby cemetery

Another take?

 The fake corpse isn't the only corpse stirring in this scene

Shooting for the day is complete, but it's too late for them...

!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

There are some notable creepy parts in this movie. For instance, when the film crew is shooting the scene where the ladies are reading from the Tibetan Book of the Dead, the scene switches up from their filming and John Carradine taking notice to the stirring sounds in the cemetery. Little does the film crew know, but the words are reviving the dead in the nearby boneyard. There is a great shot of a foggy graveyard and it cuts to a decayed hand emerging from the dirt. Unfortunately, this is the end for Carradine's character as the corpse comes out of its grave and strangles him. As his death scene is happening, it cuts back and forth to the film shoot where the fake corpse is coming out of the coffin and killing the two leading ladies in the film.

The REAL corpse comes back from the grave 

More eeriness occurs toward the end of the movie after everyone is killed off when the creepy corpse finds Anne in a small creek and takes her body back to his grave with him. It's dark, it's unsettling, and makes for the perfect ending for the film. What you think would be a light ending, turns out to be very foreboding.

This movie may not be as good as films such as Burnt Offerings, House of Dark Shadows, or The Legend of Hell House, but I would certainly pair it up with any of them for a double feature. If you haven't seen this, and you managed to either skip or not care about the spoiler parts in this blog, then you should really grab a copy to see for yourself what a lost gem this movie really is. Luckily for you, Severin Films has a DVD/Blu-ray combo which is available from their website here: BUY THE DAMN THING!

But don't just take my word for it...!