The Beast Inside

 

I rewatched Kevin Tenney's 1988 classic Night of the Demons the other night, and ever since, Dennis Michael Tenney's closing credits anthem "The Beast Inside" has been stuck in my head. What was it about late 80s Horror flicks practically requiring a rock anthem? Did it begin the year before with Dokken's Dream Warriors, from A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors? Probably. I'd be curious to make or find a list of other flicks from this era that adhere to that trope. I'll bet there are many.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) VHS 94 (don't waste your time)

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street 84*

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

* Followed by The Movies That Made Us: Nightmare on Elm Street; not a Horror flick, but worth noting

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Read:

I've been pretty behind on my reading of late, partially because I've struggled with books I haven't really liked. Here's a breakdown of what I read and liked and what I've decided to give up on.

I was not expecting to dig this as much as I did.  Not since Grant Morrison's 3 years on New X-Men has anyone made the X-Books relevant to me again. Hickman's approach is a genius way of rebooting a major franchise without actually rebooting it, i.e. this new version doesn't eschew the long and varied history of the X-Men, but instead, strikes a vein of gold at that classic continuity's heart that we never knew was there but works perfectly to re-create these characters.

The first past of this two-part (oh why aren't there more?!?) Sandman/Locke and Key crossover came out back in March or April, so I almost missed this second part. I went back and re-read the whole thing in a sitting and was completely blown away. Can we get an ongoing Sandman title written by Joe Hill and illustrated/colored by Gabriel Rodriguez and Jay Fotos? Please? Preferably one that goes back to the days of Morpheus, although, with that line-up, I'd read a Brute and Glob book.

I didn't get a chance to grab these variants, however, I had to post them here just to share their beauty.

Now, onto a HUGE disappointment. Granted, when we're talking Clive Barker, I have to wonder if it's my own baggage that I'm bringing to the table that is preventing me from connecting with this one, however, The Scarlett Gospels just feels... like Barker paid someone else to write this in an approximation of his tone that gets the Horror and Gross shit, but totally misses the nuance.

Lastly, I don't know John Palisano very well, but I consider him one of my favorite people I met while hanging out with the L.A. chapter of the Horror Writer's Association, and his latest novella Glass House proved an interesting experience.

This is, I think, a deeply personal piece of experimental fiction that, through its first-person narrative, really digs into the uncertainty of modern life lived in L.A. I can't say everything about this book worked for me, however, it's a damn interesting trip, with some lovely prose throughout. 

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Playlist:

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - Confessions of a Knife

Dennis Michael Tenney - Night of the Demons OST

Type O Negative - October Rust

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Crowded House - Don't Dream It's Over (single)