31 Days of Halloween - Day 4

It's never too early to decorate. If you need a special project to give your home that old haunted house look nothing is more classic than filling it with cobwebs. Here's how to do it.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3 - Movie

An island of fishermen, scientists, and alcoholics is menaced by killer crabs. Many of these are big, but really normal sized crabs, but one of them is about the size of a bus, and comes equipped with an impenetrable shell.


Island Claws (1980) is something of a leftover from the 70s range of environmental horror movies such as Squirm (1976), Food of the Gods (1976) Frogs (1972), Empire of the Ants (1977), Day of the Animals (1977) and Prophecy (1979). If you've seen any of those films you know exactly what you can expect from this one. There's a lot of talking about things that don't further the story, local color which has the same impact, drinking, walking around, and scientists working on experiments to increase the size of crabs (for food reasons) although there's nothing to link this work with the crabs attacking people, nor the existence of a giant crab. There's also a leak at a nearby nuclear reactor, which again is not made to be a direct cause on the behavior, nor size of the crabs, so it's all a bit confused. In spite of this, the path of destruction left in the wake of the giant crab is impressively done and adds some real suspense and awe. The giant crab itself, a practical effect, is actually pretty impressive, though maybe not enough to recommend this film.

As a bit of trivia the screenplay was co-written by Ricou Browning who played the gillman during all of the underwater scenes in Creature from the Black Lagoon.







 

31 Days of Halloween - Day 3

Spooky records were such a staple of my childhood, and something I still listen to every season. You can read about my two favorites here.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 2, Movie 2

In City of the Dead (1960) a college student (Venetia Stevenson) travels to a small New England town to research its history of witchcraft for a term paper. She uncovers more than she bargained for. When her brother and her brother both set out to investigate her disappearance they discover that witchcraft is still very much alive in this town.

This movie is filled with atmosphere; creepy character actors, fog by the acre, off-kilter cemetery, rich black and white cinematography, unsettling details. There are also some interesting parallels to Psycho (also 1960) which elevate the film from a simple supernatural mystery into something more complex and sinister.

This film also had some added charm for me. While the city of Whitewood, MA is fictitious, the driving directions on how to get there situate it not too far from where I currently live. I could get there in twenty minutes, or less, depending on how much fog is unleashed. As far as I know, we didn't have any witch hunts here on Cape Cod, and no one in New England burned them at the stake, as they do in the opening scene. For a film made in the UK they do a fair job of creating mythologized puritan New England.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 2 - Movie 1

Today's first movie only qualifies because of its subject matter, but even though most of the characters in Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) are vampires this is not a horror movie. Lovers Adam (Tom Hiddleston) and Eve (Tilda Swinton) are the epitome of cool, but find their idyllic lives endangered by Adam's tiring of existing in a world where the primary occupants are bent on destroying it. The arrival of Eve's reckless sister brings further danger to their lives and drive them towards a more trying existence.

This film, by Jim Jarmusch is exquisitely beautiful, and moves forward at a purposefully languid pace that allows us more time to focus on the compelling characters that occupy the story. The past few years have given us some truly outstanding vampire movies. this is one of them.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 2

If you are looking for some craft projects that will fill your month up, here's a bunch. From monster busts. masks and miniatures to famous haunted abodes, you'll find them all here, here, and here. 

Countdown to Halloween - Day 1 - Movie 2

After an attack at a stable leaves one dead and two missing, a sheriff puts together a rescue party. The victims were spirited away not by Indians, but by something worse, violent, cannibalistic troglodytes.

Bone Tomahawk (2015), starring Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins and Lili Simmons is like a weird western version of John Ford's The Searchers (1956). The anticipation of bad things about to happen is palpable throughout. The characters, while archetypes, are also well rounded, and don't follow the predictable paths that you'd expect. The violence, when it's there is sudden, loud, and brutal. This is a really good, well made film, and I recommend it.







 

31 Days of Halloween - Day 1 - Movie 1

A young man, learning of his father's disappearance returns home to try and end the curse that's plagued his family for generations, uncovering dark secrets and terrible creatures which try to pull him into the same trap that's claimed his own father.

The Mill at Calder's End (2015) is a remarkable film. In the space of about 14 minutes, we get some of the best moody atmospherics, and a creepy Victorian ghost story filled with building dread, as well as the presence of Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, and Barbara Steele. The characters are all played by incredibly detailed puppets, something which you often forget over the course of the film.

Everyone involved deserves a big round of applause. The art direction, lighting, cinematography, sets, music, script, direction, and voice performances are all top notch. There are so many beautiful and beautifully ghastly visuals in this film. One of my favorites is a moment when the light flickers across the family crest transforming it into a far more sinister image.

This is a really beautiful film and must be seen.

The disc also includes, director Kevin McTurk's earlier horror film told with, not as sophisticated, puppets, but still an impressive work, The Narrative of Victor Karloch.

You can order both films here.

31 Days of Halloween - Day 1

Welcome to my 13th Annual Halloween Countdown. This year has been a busy one for me and I have not had the time to devote to what I was hoping to offer up this year for my countdown. Instead, each day I will be offering up some posts from Halloween Countdown's past. I know this seems kind of lame (and it might be), but I began this in 2006 and every October has had at least one post a day, but more typically three, since there were daily movie viewings as well. That's a lot of posts. I also decided that nor everyone has seen every one of my Halloween Countdown posts going back to 2006, nor will they take the time to peruse them on their own (which you are welcome to do. Simply click on each year's October in the side bar). I've decided on a selection that both represented the presentation of ephemera found in a wide variety or sources, such as old magazines, as well as posts that exemplify what Halloween really means to me personally. There's a lot of good stuff in here, so check back every day to find out what's in store. There will also be a daily movie, and  in some cases two a day, though my time this year is pretty restricted.

To begin this year's Countdown, I'll begin by posting some interconnected posts on what elements I find absolutely necessary to a successful Halloween and my ideal viewing marathon if I could ever take the full day to just sit in front of the television, or better yet, a movie screen. You can find these posts here, here, and here.

Also, don't forget to visit my companion blog, The Grim Gallery, for monster goodness every day throughout the year.

A Week Away

Countdown to Halloween 2018

Mad Scientist #33 now available for pre-order

Issue #33 of Martin Arlt's wonderful, Mad Scientist magazine is now available to pre-order )or, if you are attending G-Fest you can pick up a copy there). The issue is devoted to dinosaurs and features a wrap around cover that I created as a 3-D cut paper piece featuring the cast of The Lost World (1925). You can view the full contents, and also order, here.

Quatermass and the Pit

Issue #40 of Little Shoppe of Horrors, the outstanding magazine dedicated to the films of Hammer Studios, is dedicated to one of my favorite genre films, Quatermass and the Pit. I created two cut paper illustrations for this issue which can be found among the outstanding articles, photos and artwork all behind this amazing Mark Maddox cover. This issue ships this month. You can find ordering information here.

The Grim Gallery

My companion blog, The Grim Gallery, has entered it's eight year of celebrating all things monstrous. If you like monsters in movies, art, or literature, take a look.

Work In Progress

Here's a sneak peak of a magazine cover I'm currently working on. Stay tuned for the completed image.

Hellraiser Revisited

The folks behind the Clive Barker Podcast have been revisiting the Hellraiser comics published by Marvel/Epic in the late 80s. This includes, so far, two of the three stories I contributed.

You can listen to the discussion of issue #8 here and issue #12 here.

2500 Monsters

My sister blog, THE GRIM GALLERY, just put up its 2500th post. That's 2500 images of monsters from the screen, literature, pop culture and art. If monsters are your thing go check it out.

Recent Commission

This is a recent commission. Cut paper.

Ask Me Anything #62

After nearly a year's absence, Ask Me Anything returns.

On first Monday of the month you can usually find a post like this one allowing you to hit me up on any topic and I'll do my best to answer it.  Ask me anything you want.

Questions can be posted in the comments section below, and I'll either answer them there, or in a separate post sometime later in the month.

I've been asked a lot of good, thought provoking questions in the past as well as some really banal ones, all of which I tried to answer. You can see the previous questions by visiting Ask Me Anything  #1, #2 ,  #3, #4, #5, #6 , #7 , #8, #9,  #10,  #11,  #12 , #13, #14,  #15 , #16, #17 , #18 , #19,  #20,  #21, #22,  #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #35, #36, #37, #38, #39, #40, #41, #42,  #43, #44, #45,  #46, #47,  #48, #49,  #50,  #51, #52 , #53, #54, #55, #56,  #57,  #58,  #59, and #60 and #61.

Answers not found following the questions can be found in the archives section for each associated month under Ask Me Anything.

Now ask away. 

Reteamed with Frazer Irving

Frazer Irving has a new sketchbook available. It features eleven portraits created by Frazer with accompanying short stories by P D Brierley. T Brownhill, L Ryrie, N Wilson as well as myself on four of them. It was a lot of fun.

You can obtain a copy here.

Milestone on AMC

I haven't had the opportunity to watch it yet, but the fifth episode of Robert Kirkman's Secret History of Comic Books focuses on Milestone Media, the publisher behind Xombi, Kobalt, Hardware, and Static, characters that I've written. I have nothing but fond memories of my days at Milestone and the people that are all, still, members of the Milestone family.

You can view the episode here.