New Music from Dead Man's Bones!

So excited to have these guys back. No pre-order for a full album yet, but I'll be watching for that like a hawk.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary*

7) Beware Boiúna*

8) Milk & Serial

9) Pumpkinhead

10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)

11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings*

12) Carrie (Mike Flanagan)*/ John Carpenter's The Thing

13) The Roost / Return of the Living Dead III*

14) Trigger Man

15) Evil Dead Burn

16) Pulse*/ Lord of Tears*

17) Impetigore*/ Sator

18) My Soul To Take*/ The Serpent and the Rainbow

19) Terrifier

20) Evil Dead 2013/ All Hallows Eve

21) Crystal Lake*/ Friday the 13th

22) All Hallow's Eve 2*/ A Nightmare on Elm Street

23) The Last Drive-In Halloween House Party: John Carpenter's Body Bags/ WNUF Halloween Special*

24) The Cycle*/ The Howling

25) Dark and the Wicked/ Pet Sematary/ November

26) Cobweb/ Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VII and VIII 

27) The Ninth Heart*/ Flatliners/ Suspiria

From Juraj Herz's The Ninth Heart, which I watched for the first time yesterday. This is included in Severin's All the Haunts Be Ours Vol. II set, and I'd yet to watch it. The first two acts are okay, but they do not prepare you for the absolute grandeur of the third. This is the intro to that, but what comes after, even, is just jaw dropping.

I've only watched a handful in this set so far, but I'm back in that Folk Horror mindset, so I'll be posting more about the other films in the weeks ahead.

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* Indicated first-time viewing

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NCBD:

Nice quiet week for Halloween. Here we go:

As I predicted, I like Void Rivals so much more as a book about a handful of folks wandering through the galaxy.

Thought that was bloody John Constantine on the cover for a minute! Still enjoying Ram V's old school Vertigo "spies and Magick" book, interested to see where it's going.

So good to have this book back, and the newsprint on the first issue was spectacular. Not sure if that's the plan going forward, but I'm into it if it is.

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Playlist:

Dead Man's Bones - Lost in the Night (single)

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Halloween III: The Season of the Witch OST

Ain Soph - Rituals

Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Bauhaus - Volume One: 1979-1983

Samhain - Unholy Passion

Samhain - November Coming Fire

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Fvnerals - Let the Earth Be Silent

Chelsea Wolfe and Tyler Bates - X OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Ace of Cups

• 09: The Hermit

• 20: Judgement

Confidence comes from isolation in a flashpoint - I'm currently stuck on a scene in Shadow Play II and I think this is telling me I need to spend some concentrated time alone with this. I've not been writing as much lately because I'm still experiencing pain in my back and urinary tract from the kidney stones - will they ever fucking pass?! - so all my recent sessions have been "thin." 

I need to change that.

Gris Gris

From Dr. John's 1968 album Gris Gris - Mr. Brown turned me onto this a handful of years back and it's become part of my regular October rotation.

 

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31 Days of Halloween:

A couple nights ago I rewatched All Hallows' Eve. This one is pretty freakin' grimy - even moreso than the first Terrifier flick - but I was in the mood. After, I found myself wondering about the sequel. I finally watched that yesterday, and I have to say, not what I was expecting at all.

There's a definite jump in budget here. The Art-wave of money clearly brought in some extra dough and the Producers put it to pretty good use. Also, gone is that grimy vibe; All Hallows' Eve 2 is way more in line with something like Tales of Halloween than its predecessor. Not everything works, but I'll tell you, I watched a few of the shorts herein and then had to come back to it the next day. In that time, I started reading the book I talk about in the "Read" section below, and then it hit me - thematically, this has way more in common with the EC Comics paradigm than it does any modern anthology. And that really endeared this one to me. Not sure I'd watch it again outside of maybe showing it to a friend, but I enjoyed my time with it for sure, and I didn't feel like I needed a shower after it ended, like I do with the first All Hallows'.

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary*

7) Beware Boiúna*

8) Milk & Serial*

9) Pumpkinhead

10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)

11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings*

12) Carrie (Mike Flanagan)*/ John Carpenter's The Thing

13) The Roost / Return of the Living Dead III*

14) Trigger Man

15) Evil Dead Burn

16) Pulse*/ Lord of Tears*

17) Impetigore*/ Sator

18) My Soul To Take*/ The Serpent and the Rainbow

19) Terrifier

20) Evil Dead 2013/ All Hallows Eve

21) Crystal Lake*/ Friday the 13th

22) All Hallow's Eve 2*/ A Nightmare on Elm Street

Also, K and I put paid to Crystal Lake. 

The Horror Vision's review will land on Monday, but in short, this divided me completely down the middle. I don't want or need anything this offers (other than Linda Cardellini on screen), but part of me also acknowledged that this was bound to happen, and as far as explaining the monster - something I don't think you should ever do - while I'll always prefer the elegance of Adam Marcus just dropping the Necronomicon in Jason Goes to Hell and letting us interpret that how we may, this show's "science" actually wasn't a bad way to go.

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Read:

This past week on NCBD, I picked up this new DC's Finest Horror Collection:

This is an early 550 page tome filled with reprints of select issues from books like House of Mystery, House of Secrets, The Witching Hour, Unexpected, all published between 1970 - 1971. To say the EC paradigm is at play is an understatement. Featuring work by Lein Wein, Bernie Wrightson, Alex Toth, George Kashdan and Jerry Grandenetti (to only name a few), this is a slice of Horror history. And as a fan of Sandman, it's nice to finally read some of the framework Gaiman used as the spine for that series; Cain, Able and an earlier version of the Kindly Ones are on full display in their spectral glory. 

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Playlist:

Boards of Canada - Inferno

John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies - Cathedral

Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

Ritual Howls - Ruin

Revolting Cocks - Beers, Steers + Queers

Misfits - Collection 2

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2

Dance With the Dead - Malombra

Matthew Pusti - Onslaught OST

Beastmilk - Climax

Big Black - Lungs

Goblin - Phenomena OST

Walter Rizzati - The House by the Cemetery OST

Dr. John - Gris Gris

Gnaw Their Tongues - All the Dread Magnificence of Perversity

Nabihah Iqbal - Heaven Can Wait (single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• 03: The Empress

• Ace of Wands

• Page of Cups

Okay, this is startlingly similar to Monday's pull, so let's think on this a moment:

• Eight of Cups

• Page of Wands

• 03: The Empress

I'm not nearly skilled enough to eke out an interpretation here, so I had to consult the google. 

First, it struck me there may be some significance in moving from the Eight of Cups to the Page of Cups. If anyone knows any texts out there that might discuss these kinds of inter-card leaps, please let me know. Apparently, moving from an Eight to a Page in Cups indicates leaving mastery behind for fresh, uninitiated vigor. Applied to the suit of Cups - Emotions - that tells me I have to get around or 'over' myself on something I'm doing, probably with my writing. 

What am I emotionally attached to here that I cannot let go?

The recurrence of the Empress suggests I'm ignoring something I know, or something my subconscious is trying to tell me. The move from Page of Wands to Ace of Wands says the time for experimentation has lapsed and I need to lean into my talent or 'foundational gift.' 

Grimly Fiendish

Before Mr. Brown gifted me a CD copy of The Damned's 2022 live album, Night of A Thousand Vampires, I would have told you my list of great live albums was limited to three: The Who: Live at Leeds, Slayer: Live Undead, Slayer: Decade of Aggression, and Ozzy Osbourne: Tribute. Now there's five, because The Damned's two-disc live show recorded at the London Palladium on October 28, 2019 is stellar. I mean, start to finish, this is a total banger in every sense of the word, and it earned an immediate place in my October regular rotation. Here's a favorite, among a double album chocked with favorites.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary

7) Beware Boiúna

8) Milk & Serial

9) Pumpkinhead

10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)

11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings

12) Carrie (Mike Flanagan)/ John Carpenter's The Thing

13) The Roost / Return of the Living Dead III

14) Trigger Man

15) Evil Dead Burn

16) Pulse/ Lord of Tears

17) Impetigore/ Sator

18) My Soul To Take/ The Serpent and the Rainbow

19) Terrifier

20) Evil Dead 2013/ All Hallows Eve

Larry Fessenden's version of the classic, Universal monsters comes to a head in the new film Trauma Or, Monsters All, due out November 4th. Here's the trailer:

I am looong over due for a rewatch of both Depraved, which I haven't seen since it was in the theatre back in 2019 and Black Out, which came out VOD in 2024 and which, although watching, I remember next to nothing about. Fessenden's seminal NY vampire film Habit, which I know quite well. Still, the prospect of all these characters meeting in the new film - I expected Depraved's Adamand Blackout's Charley to meet, as they did briefly in Blackout's after credit scene, but I did not expect Habit's Sam to enter the mix. So cool! To think, Fessenden has basically been building to this for his entire career! So cool.

Trauma Or, All Monsters gets a limited theatrical rollout, so I may end up having to hit the Belcourt for a screening.

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NCBD:

Trim week, but some goodies in the box for sure:

I don't know if I'll be fortunate enough to snare one of these "C" covers, but I'm going to try. Regardless, loving Sean Murphy's new dystopian series.

Oh man, the cover! I feel so much for this Abe Lincoln robot. If Destruction Be Our Lot continues to head up my top comics of 2026 list; the places this is goes are fantastic, and judging by this image, we're getting out of the "Robot World" and into what's above ground. I'm rooting for you, Abe!

I've always said that Spider-Man has the most Halloween-esque rogues gallery, so how can I pass this up? I'm still not sure about this "Treat" villain that's essentially a female Hobgoblin - Ol' Hobby being my favorite Spider-villain of all time - but I see pumpkin bombs and I fork over da cash, capiche?

Not gonna lie - I hate this cover. It's the color scheme. Still, this book has been cooking and a recent leak - if it's true - says some major things are en route, so my complaints are skin deep at most. 

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Playlist:

The Damned - Night of a Thousand Vampires

Godflesh - Decay

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

The Final Cut - Consumed

Ain Soph - Rituals

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Cups

• Ten of Pentacles

• Five of Swords

Contemplating stability is the first step to stability.

Wow. Loud and clear.

Genital Shame - Wellness Plan

 

I LOVE this album so far. This is the first music from Genital Shame I've heard, but it instantly left an indelible mark. Basically a one-woman show, the band is the brainchild of Erin Dawson. Really blown away by this. There's a moment in the third single released so far, "Górecki Peace," that completely transforms the track into something I've never heard before. The metal returns, but it's altered, and the song plays out its final approximate four minutes in a way that now feels inverted. It's brilliant arranging, and overall indicative of a project that's using Black Metal as a launching pad. Always my favorite 'flavor' of Black Metal.

I am very much looking forward to the full album dropping on October 30th. You can pre-order the new album, Wellness Plan, from the Genital Shame's Bandcamp HERE.

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31 Days of Halloween:

I have a new thing this year where I'm going to be super selective about the non-films I log, and when I do, I'm going to simply log them for the day I finish them. 

K and I began Mike Flanagan's Carrie last Friday with three episodes, did three more Sunday night, and then finished up Monday night with the final two. Holy cow. 

 

First, I am not really a fan of Depalma's film. I just don't think it's as great as people remember it. I saw it later in life and, while nostalgia skews my opinion of plenty films, that is not the case with this one. 

I don't know that Mike Flanagan's Carrie qualifies as "Horror" - at least not yet - but it's moving in that direction. He apparently wants three seasons to tell the story he's set out to, and I'm hoping that happens. What we do have here are the horrors of the modern world, and it's often pretty hard to watch. Bullying, narcissism, obsession... the social media paradigm in all its horrid glory.

I'll say the writing here is exquisite - I honestly think Carrie is the best Flanagan series yet. I'm not sure it's my favorite of his, but it's the best. 

The architecture that brings things to a head in the "arbitration" episode is so well woven. Everything matters, everything pays off, everything brings the characters exactly where they need to be in this intricate narrative machine. 

Helping sell all this is the acting, which is all top notch. Summer H. Howell nails Carrie White as such an interesting cross-section of personality traits. Shy and awkward, but with a simmering strength that comes out long before the TK does. And Samantha Sloyan! A Flanagan regular who never disappoints, her performance evolves in such a maddeningly believable and stoic manner that you almost feel like you're watching her socials. Also, I have to mention Siena Agudong as Sue Snell, as Sue is my favorite character in the Carrie mythos thanks to the through line in Carrie 2: The Rage and how Amy Irving develops that character across two films separated by over twenty years. Agudong brings her to an entirely new level, and once again, her story continues beyond the first installment.

Also, allow me to say this: I think there's a much larger tie-in to Flanagan's eventual Dark Tower adaptation here than just one little easter egg sign. No, I think subsequent seasons of this show may prove to be the beginning of the road to the Dark Tower. Of that, I will say no more at this time.

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary

7) Beware Boiúna

8) Milk & Serial

9) Pumpkinhead

10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)

11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings

12) Carrie (Mike Flanagan) / John Carpenter's The Thing (theatrical viewing)

13) The Roost / Return of the Living Dead III

I also watched Brian Yuzna's Return of the Living Dead III for the first time. 

I don't know why, but I always assumed this would be awful. Not the case! I actually really enjoyed this, and it felt pretty consistent in tone with the first two flicks in the series. I mean, nothing will ever be Return of the Living Dead, but hot damn if this wasn't along similar enough lines that it felt related. Also, I have such a fixation on any story that takes place in underground tunnels, as a large part of this does.

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NCBD:

This week's comics waiting for me at Rick's!

The unfortunate thing is, I somehow never subscribed to this book and totally missed the 11th issue! That's okay, I'll track it down before I finally find the time to sit down and reread both The Nice House on the Lake and this sequel series in a weekend.

Yet another facsimile! Yet another Batman facsimile! Yet another Batman cover I have seen my entire life that I have never read. 

Beachhead. 'Nuff said!

ARAH and the Skybound book are really showing me how much I love Beachhead's character. Always one of my favorite Joe figures as a kid, he's visually the closest thing the Joes have to a Cobra visage on their team, but he's also a certified bad ass!

If this entire issue is a, "... meanwhile, back on Cybertron" issue just to stoke the flames of our curiosity of what's coming out of Megatron's cocoon next issue, well, I guess they should have withheld the cover solicitation for #38. Either way, this book still kicks ass.

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Playlist:

Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

My Apple Music Halloween Playlist

Samhain - Final Descent

Godflesh - Decay

Genital Shame - Wellness Plan (pre-release singles)

Dreamkid - All Thriller, No Filler (single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Three of Swords

• Page of Cups

• II: High Priestess

There's a big shift in tone coming up in my work, and I need to embrace it, not recoil from it. That change will be a battery that may carry me through the rest of the book.

That's certainly empowering, but it's a bit scary, too. I need to be sure I recognize this when it happens, as there's an aspect of the the Three cards that pertains to change and an association with the Three of Swords in particular that warns of sorrow. Nothing causes sorrow faster than resisting necessary change.

Pumpkinseed Appreciation Post

From the end credits of Stan Winston's 1989 Directorial debut, Pumpkinhead. Music by the film's Composer, Richard Stone. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

I've watched Stan Winston's directorial debut from 1989 probably four or five times, and every time I'm blown away by the attention to detail, craft and overall strict visual aesthetic.

But that's Stan Winston, right?

Talk about Southern Gothic! The swamp and hallow structures here are meticulous and gorgeous in their dilapidation, exterior and interior. Speaking of interior, the lighting really gives this film the look of something you're not meant to see. Like Ed Harley, you're trafficking in things best left alone, and when hell comes to collect, it spares no one. I get the sense the final girl - who is really only a final girl because Harley's sacrifice allows her to survive - was an afterthought. 

And what of Pumpkinhead? Being that the demon appears to bond or outright become the person who summoned it for revenge, I guess I'd always assumed each summoning was an iteration that would eventually be repeated. Like a perennial plant. And I'd wager it was this question, once again brought about by the final scene where Haggis lays the now fetal monster back into its grave, only this time wearing Ed Harley's necklace, that saw me finally 'take the plunge' and hit play on the sequel two days later. 

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary

7) Beware Boiúna

8) Milk & Serial

9) Pumpkinhead

10) Deathgasm (The Last Drive-In Presentation)

11) Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings

Released in 1993, directed by Jeff Burr with FX by KNB, this is one of those sequels that based solely on the once lucrative home video library sales that helped buoy Horror in the 90s, pre-Scream. I don't think anyone asked for this, and I don't think anyone involved had any illusions as to what they were doing. That said, while Blood Wings has its problems, it's also a pretty good time, especially when things with the monster get going.

Yeah, I could have looked for a post with better image quality, but sometimes, seeing these faded tv spots and trailers really accentuates the time and place context of the film. And while Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings - which really probably should have been called Son of Pumpkinhead - was not nearly the film the original is, well... I still kind of enjoyed finally checking it off my list. While the first half is a slog, the second act picks up and every moment the monster is on screen is great.

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Playlist:

Dreamkid - Daggers

Ritual Howls - Ruin

Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

Zeal & Ardor/Carpenter Brut - Devil Is Fine X (single)

Faith No More - The Real Thing

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Deafheaven - At Work In The Fields Of The Bomb EP

Genital Shame - Wellness Plan (pre-release singles)

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Night Creeper

Lustmord & Dave Lombardo - The Pulse of Atoms

Trivium - The Crusade

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Halloween III: Season of the Witch OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Ace of Swords

• 13: Death

• 11: Justice

Intellectual breakthrough that leads to a large change and a well-deserved accomplishment.

I pulled this and wrote the above generic interpretation, then sat down for a writing session. Revisiting this post for a final polish after said session, I realize this pull was a nod toward today's writing. I wrapped up something in far shorter order than I anticipated, and it really was due to a breakthrough where I stepped back and looked at the situation and characters different than I had been. 

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - I'll Cut You Down

 

The opening track from their 2012 masterpiece Blood Lust. This track marches like old school Sabbath, man. Seriously...

Seeing this band live again really helped solidify the fact that, in my eyes, Blood Lust is their best album. That said, every one of this band's albums is pretty stellar from start to finish. The only one I've had a bit of a tough time cracking is the 2013 follow-up Mind Control, but hearing them open with Mt. Abraxas seems to have opened the album for me. 

Also, I never really thought about it before, but Kevin Stars' vocals are kind of like if Chris Latta-era Cobra Commander or Starscream had a metal band.

Full set list, or as full as I can remember with a little help from the googles:

• Mt. Abraxas (Mind Control) 

• Waiting for Blood (The Night Creeper)

• Death's Door (Blood Lust)

• Ritual Knife (Blood Lust)

• House by the Grave (no keyboard solo ending, though; Shapes of Midnight)

• Bedouin (Wasteland)

• Don't Let It Control You (Shapes of Midnight)

• Pusher Man (The Night Creeper)

• Melody Lane (The Night Creeper)

• Withered Hand of Evil (Blood Lust)

• Only Death Is Your Handcuff, i.e. Solo la morte ti ammanetta (Nell' ora blu)

• Shapes of Midnight (Shapes of Midnight)

• No Return (Wasteland)

A really nice curation of tracks from all their records except the debut, Vol. 1. I don't think I could have asked for anything else that we didn't get. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

Last night I watched Infirmary, a brand new found footage flick on Shudder. Here's the trailer, which I have not watched, so proceed with caution:

Written by Katy Krauland and Nicholas Pineda and Directed by Pineda, this is a pretty good found footage flick. FF's not really my genre, but I can recognize it when it's used effectively, and this does. I didn't love the characters; I could have actually just watched the camera pan around the abandoned hospital with the awesome score by Stephan Bolch, who I am unfamiliar with (but not for long) and also known as Theatre of Delays. All in all, though, a solid watch.

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China

5) Dreamscape

6) Infirmary

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NCBD:

Big week, and a lot of books that fit the season. Let's go!

A facsimile of Swamp Thing's very first issue? No way I would pass this up. 

Issue 50! 'Nuff said.

Of the Earth's final issue and I am excited A.F. I want more, but I'm also insanely happy with what we have. Can't wait to see how this all shakes out.

I recently acquired the Hardcover volume of Minor Arcana 1-15. It's so beautiful I cancelled my pull for the monthlies and decided to just wait. After rereading the whole series to date, though, I'm not sure I can wait. We'll see. I hate to double dip.

Still only here because of Micronauts, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

A new Jonah Hex series written by Michael Walsh? Yes please!!!

Yet another facsimile; you'd think with so many of these of late, I'd finally be able to spell the word "Facsimile" without the aid of grammarly. Nope.

I remember this cover from as far back as I go with comics. No idea what's actually inside, but it seemed like something I'd like to finally read. 

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Playlist:

Faith No More - The Real Thing

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

Black Sabbath - Technical Ecstasy

Electric Wizard - Dopethrone

Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Services

Odonis Odonis - Eponymous

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Wasteland

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk vinyl release)

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Ace of Swords

• Three of Wands

• Four of Swords

Two Swords and a Wands? Sounds like the pen is mightier than the sword, or the brain is a better resource for an upcoming skirmish than the fists.

Mgwai & Iggy Pop!

 

Whoah! Mogwai released a track with Iggy Pop! Wasn't expecting to find this when I woke up last Friday! Very cool.

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31 Days of Halloween:

Okay, I know I'm stretching things including Walter Hill's 1979 New York gang epic The Warriors on my 31 Days of Halloween list, but hear me out. First, it's not "31 Days of Horror," is it? Also, this flick has undoubtedly inspired thousands of Halloween costumes since its release. Plus, I was talking about it with a friend over the weekend and he was aghast to find I'd only ever seen it once and that the viewing was less than ten years ago. Couple that with the fact that I remembered very little from that viewing and, I don't know, it was just time. 

 

The David Patrick Kelly 'bottle' scene sends my soul soaring; he's been one of my favorite actors since I saw him in Dreamscape as a kid, then in Twin Peaks as Jerry Horne - one of my favorite characters in the series - in 1991. 

I'm thinking Dreamscape is getting a viewing this month, too. It's been a few years, and I'm in a DPK mood now.

I ended up following The Warriors up on Sunday with Big Trouble in Little China. Again, not one I'd normally think to log for this, but it completely works in this broader context I'm applying this year.

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

2) V/H/S/ playlist (Amateur Night; Safe Haven; Slumber Party Alien Abduction; Bone Storm; Dreamkill)

3) The Warriors

4) Big Trouble in Little China
 

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Playlist:

The Veils - Total Depravity

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

Opeth - Deliverance

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 1

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk)

Genital Shame - Wellness Plan (pre-release singles)

David Bowie - Diamond Dogs

Portishead - Third

Gallowbraid - Ashen Eidolon

Dance with the Dead - Malombra

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Card:

From my mini-Thoth deck:

• 8 of Cups - Prudence

The power to know when something is finished. 

Another obvious writing allusion, as it's sometimes difficult to know when something - a scene, a story, a character - has run its course.

31 Days of Halloween Begins NOW!!!

 

You know, I was beginning to think I did not like this new album from Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. The production this time really stripped away some of the charming grime that gives the band their sound. I deleted it from my Apple Music and abstained for a week or so, and when I came back yesterday, I found I really liked it. This song especially. With these kind of low-key 80s synths that start the song and then haunt the mix's background, I don't think I've heard anything like that before.

 

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31 Days of Halloween:

I conceived the idea of beginning this Halloween season with George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead - the greatest zombie movie in the history of zombie movies, in my opinion, months ago.

This is one of those seminal films for people my age. I'd like to think Romero's work - especially on Night-Dawn-Day - transcends my age, but regardless of that, it really is difficult to think of a more astute social commentary with high level practical FX and cinematic swagger. I love everything about this film, from Ken Foree, to Fly Boy to the Hare Krishna Zombie. 

And so, let the list begin!!!

1) George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk)

John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davies - Cathedral

Metallica - ... And Justice For All

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

Dance with the Dead - Malombra

Blood Mother - Eponymous

Godflesh - Decay

Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Seven of Wands

• Queen of Pentacles

• Eight of Cups

A postive result indeed yesterday at the GI doctor, where I finally found someone willing to talk about fatty liver with me. Despite imaging showing mild/early signs of fatty liver in July (prompted by blood in my urine that turned out to be the herald of this dreadful kidney stone that still has not passed), the doctor brought up the point that all my labs done in March for my annual showed normal liver function. So yes, positive result, especially when you add in the almost three months (four by the time I'm finished) of no alcohol I've adhered to since. Now, Queen of Pentacles denotes stability, but the Eight of Cups reminds me not to rest on my laurels, i.e. I need to shake the inner voice telling me I should just have a beer now if everything is so normal.

Give it time.

November Begins with a Dirge

As is my custom to close out October and hail in the winter, here's Opeth's Dirge for November. From their masterpiece (well, one of their masterpieces, anyway), Blackwater Park. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

Now that 31 Days of Halloween is over, it's straight into finishing our Stranger Things rewatch (we're on season four) and plunging into the murky depths of Noirvember. I have a lot of plans for this, so although I don't intend to do a movie-a-day, I'll keep a running list here just like I did for 31.

My favorite watch this year? Well, the old standards always feel great, and there were quite a few of them I didn't get to, so I'll have to work on my timing next year. However, I can honestly say that rewatching GDT's Crimson Peak was a 'peak' moment this year. It'd been so long since I'd seen it, and I really didn't remember it at all. 

Just a gorgeous film from start to finish, with all Del Toro's trappings and a healthy dose of the Modern Gothic. Gonna have to pick this one up on BR eventually.

..

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow/// The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

22) The Transfiguration///Black Phone 2

23) Shelby Oaks

24) Clown in a Cornfield/// Jack-O (The Last Drive-In Splatterween double feature)

25) Ken Russell's Gothic/// Inferno/// Lords of Salem

26) Night of the Living Dead 1990/// Night of the Demons

27) Final Destination 3/// Jimmy & Stiggs

28) Trick r' Treat

29) Crimson Peak

30) GDT's Frankenstein/// Arsenic and Old Lace/// Satan's Playground/// Rob Zombie's 31

31) Halloween (Last Drive-In Halloween Hootnanny)/// Night of the Living Dead

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Read:

I spent my Halloween morning re-reading James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses. The first volume is now collected and readily available and I can't recommend this one enough. Here's the solicitation for issue number one from League of Comic Geeks:

"Every five years on Halloween, the wealthiest families in America play a game. Twelve of the deadliest people in the world are dropped into a small town with just one goal: last killer standing wins. For the citizens of Oak Valley, Maine — this year's unlucky arena — the goal is much simpler. They must survive the night."

Sounds a bit like Rob Zombie's 31, no? Well, there's definitely a comparison to made, but it's a surface-level comparison. When you go deeper, not only do you get some of those great James Tynion IV insights into the world, you also get context for the twelve killers loosed upon an unsuspecting town. Here's the context on the twelve killers, straight from the mouth of one of the characters in issue #1:

"In 1775, the thirteen richest families in America took the reins of power from their counterparts across the Atlantic. They have ruled this country from the shadows ever since. What you know as history is a fiction performed for the masses. Ruling didn't come easy. It took nearly a century of bickering and warfare to figure out which family rules over the rest. So every five years, we play a game on Halloween. It starts the year before, each competing family draws one of the twelve cards, representing a weapon used in every game since the first... 

The ruling family's job is to find a small town in some lonely corner of America and seal it off from the rest of the world. The killers are dropped into the battlefield on Halloween night, and they must hunt and kill each other until there is a single survivor. The family whose killer survives to the end rules America until the next game."

So far, while we've been given glimpses of the power brokers in charge, we've mainly been boots on the ground with the killers and the 'collateral damage' - the innocent inhabitants of the town besieged by killers (did I forget to mention there's a large contingent of the competing families that just make side bets on how many innocents their killers can claim?). This has made for some very effective storytelling, seeing killers who maybe want something more than what they are, maybe don't and ordinary people fighting for their lives in extraordinary circumstances. We're not reinventing the wheel here, but rather upgrading its dynamics.

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Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy and Stiggs OST

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk edition)

Ritual Howls - Ruin

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

John Brennan and the Bigfeet - The Last Drive-In w/ Joe Bob Briggs OST, Vol. 1

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Opeth - Deliverance

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

• Four of Pentacles

• Six of Wands

• Eight of Pentacles

The Cramps - Surfin' Dead Live!!!

Howzabout one of my favorite tracks by The Cramps to kick off Monday? I'm off Thursday and Friday this week, and you can betcher arse I'm going to be listening to more of these guys! Originally published on - get this - their Gravest Hits album, which came out before their debut full-length, Songs the Lord Taught Us. Think of it the same way Joy Division's Substance Collection is a collection of early singles that predate the recording of their two studio albums. Either way, Surfin' Dead blew up when it was included on the soundtrack for Dan O'Bannon's 1987 Return of the Living Dead. This particular version is from the Smell of Female live album.

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31 Days of Halloween:

I hate that we're not even a week out from the end of October! I'll be cruising directly into Noirvember again this year, and plan to try Dreamcember after that, but 31 Days of Horror is my favorite. 

I must say, for a film I did not care much for upon first seeing, Rob Zombie's Argento-esque Lords of Salem has become a favorite of mine. This film is so insanely blasphemous that it sometimes feels dangerous. Now that's a feat of no small measure. 

Mr. Zombie really created something special with this one. I like most of his films to varying degrees, but there's usually something I roll my eyes at in each one. Not here. This is dead serious in the way it handles its subject matter. That attitude, combined with the stunning setting, cinematography, and John 5's score, really make this a must-watch every year. Hard to believe I lived so long without it.

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1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow///The Taking of Deborah Logan

20) Tales From the Crypt: Demon Knight (theatrical screening)///Cellar Dweller

21) The Black Phone///"Dream Kill" (segment in V/H/S85

22) The Transfiguration///Black Phone 2

23) Shelby Oaks

24) Clown in a Cornfield/// Jack-O (The Last Drive-In Splatterween double feature)

25) Ken Russell's Gothic/// Inferno/// Lords of Salem

26) Night of the Living Dead 1990/// Night of the Demons

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Read:

Persistence paid off this week. Previously, I'd cursed Netflix for a seemingly small theatrical opening for Guillermo Del Toro's Frankenstein. I'd just about given up hope of seeing such a clearly cinematic film on the big screen when, lo and behold, our local arthouse theatre, The Belcourt, added screenings to their website. I procured passes for this coming Thursday, and in the interest of freshening up my recall on Mary Shelley's original novel, I began an impromptu re-read. 

Some readers may recall from previous posts I did a few years back that I have in my possession the hardback edition illustrated by Bernie Wrightson. This one is on display with several other key pieces of Frankenstein memorabilia, so I tend to eye it every day and briefly flirt with the idea of revisiting it. Now is the perfect time.

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Lebanon Hanover - Let Them Be Alien

Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

The Cure - Pornography

Type O Negative - Life Is Killing Me

Beastmilk - Climax

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk edition)

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is live for just a handful more hours! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• XII: Hanged Man

• Five of Pentacles

• Page of Swords

Decisions will need to be made that might result in a conflict over money. Stay firm and prepare to be combative. Hold your ground and you will persevere.

Perfect timing. Waging a bit of a war with payroll at the moment. 

New Music From Odonis Odonis!!!

From the upcoming self-titled album, due out November 14th on Royal Mountain Records. Pre-order HERE.

Honestly, a lot of what these guys have done since 2016's Post Plague hasn't really stood the test of time with me. Post Plague is just so good that it generated some serious fan inertia. This, however. Wow. I love both tracks the band has released from this forthcoming album, and can't wait to hear the entire thing.

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31 Days of Halloween:

 

I received my copy of Joe Bob Briggs' The Last Drive-In Blu-ray this weekend, and quickly set about watching the first of the two features included. I'd seen Joe Lynch's Mayhem once before - when Joe Bob did it during season one of the show - and rewatching it, I loved it even more. I need to procure a copy of the Steve Moore score, too. 

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1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy///The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)///All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining///The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey///John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) The Black Phone 2

17) Scream 2///Mayhem (The Last Drive-In Blu-ray

18) The Exorcist

19) The Wolf of Snow Hollow/// The Taking of Deborah Logan

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Read:

Inspired by the seasonal shift in the weather and my corresponding temperament, last Wednesday night I fired up Type O Negative's October Rust and dug Joseph Michael Linsner's Dawn: Lucifer's Halo from my short boxes. 

Originally published in 1997 as a six-issue monthly mini-series through Sirius, at first glance at this book on the shelves, I wrongly assumed this was another in the late 90s spate of T&A books that flooded the shelves of comic book shops. Then, a few months into the run, while hanging out at a friend's house, I saw the series sitting on his coffee table and picked up one of the issues and began to flip through the pages. 

I was floored. 

I sat there and read the first two issues, then drove to the comic shop later that week and grabbed what they had on the shelf. To this day I'm still missing issue #1, but I bought everything Linsner did under the Dawn character after that: Three Tiers, the NY book in '01, Return of the Goddess, etc.  

Dawn is a singular concept. Utilizing religious themes, flourishes of High Fantasy, Horror, and eroticism, this book is visually stunning and intellectually fascinating. There's a tenderness to the romantic elements of the story that really makes me feel for the characters, particularly Darrian Ashoka, who is hopelessly in love with a Goddess and awash in a reality that suddenly includes Angels and Demons of a most violent sort. There's brutality to the violence, and a grandeur to the philosophical elements that really posit Linsner's writing as the product of deep thought and intense introspection, not just directed inward, but outward toward the goal of understanding our rich and tempestuous existence.

And then there's the Art. Nothing I could post here does it justice. Yes, a large part of the art is Dawn herself, but beyond that, JML really breathes life into the Metaphysical realms with a unique and lavish style unlike anything else out there. 

Time to track down that first issue on eBay. 

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses (Suspended in Dusk version)

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

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

Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Telefon Tel Aviv - Immolate Yourself

Carpenter Brut - Leather Teeth

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Netherlands - Vapors

Asaf Avidan - Live at the Acropolis

Noga Erez - RADAR Reworked 

Slayer - Live Undead/Haunting the Chapel

John Brennan and the Bigfeet - The Last Drive-In w/ Joe Bob Briggs OST Vol. 1

Various - Return of the Living Dead OST

The Damned - Night of 1000 Vampires

Goblin - Suspiria OST

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Page of Cups

• X: Wheel of Fortune

• XXI: The World

Intuit change and stay ahead of it. That's the only way to survive the world as we know it today.

Again, I know that's pretty generic, but I'm running on fumes at the moment, so I'll be leaving the cards out on my desk to ponder in the morning.

77s - You Don't Scare Me

Full disclosure - adding this song from the 77s' 1984 album All Fall Down was an eleventh-hour switcheroo. In truth, I don't recall ever hearing of the 77s before last night, when this song played over the closing credits of Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill and Joe Hill's Black Phone 2. 

F*#king track made an impression, to say the least.

I drove home on the 24 with both windows down, around 11:00 PM, blaring this track, and it felt GOOD. About as good as blasting "Rock You Like A Hurricane" felt leaving my first theatrical viewing of Ti West's Maxxxine* last July. Something about an awesome, swanky rock song pumping out the windows into the night air.

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I know that song's not actually in Maxxxine, but it fit the mood of the moment just fine.

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31 Days of Halloween:

There's a lot of trepidation surrounding Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill's Black Phone 2. The trailer looks fantastic, but A) like all goddamn Bluhouse trailers, it shows too much, and B) how do you follow that first film? 

I've been a fan of these two since Sinister. I stand by that one, regardless of that unneeded final scene. The atmosphere is so... heightened. I don't know that the film scares me, but I know it scares the characters. That's something I'm not sure I've ever put into words before, but it's accurate. The success of that first Black Phone film - what these two did with Joe Hill's wonderful but curt short story, it just seemed impossible to follow through on. Not the case. 

As annoyed as I've become seeing this trailer before every movie for the last month or two, somehow, it doesn't actually give that much away. That said, I'm posting this here for posterity's sake; if you haven't seen the film yet, don't watch it. The less you see, the better. Why? Because Black Phone 2 is visually and sonically STUNNING.

That should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed Derrickson's career. The two standout additions here are the use of grainy, 16mm film stock that signifies an altered state of awareness and Atticus Derrickson's score.

Both the 16mm technique and Atticus Derrickson carry over from the duo's "Dream Killer" in V/H/S/85. I'm not the biggest fan of that particular franchise; however, seeing that segment on the big screen two years ago is something I reflect on quite a bit. The visual textures Derrickson creates, and the way they're accentuated by the score (and a cameo by Throbbing Gristles' Hamburger Lady) make such a strong sense impression... It's unlike most cinematic things. Same too with Black Phone 2. I'm not saying it's the best thing since The Shining, but this style is unlike anything else I've seen. There's a nostalgic element, but I think that's the atmosphere, not the actual technique. 

Either way, if you dug the first one, Black Phone 2 is well worth your time.

1) Incident On and Off a Mountain Road///The Funhouse (theatrical viewing)

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1 Ep 4, "Dig That Cat... He's Real Gone"///Cabin in the Woods

3) Satanic Hispanics

4) Creature From the Black Lagoon 3D///Lucky McKee's May

5) The Strangers

6) [REC]

7) The Autopsy - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities///[REC]2

8) Where the Devil Roams

9) The Roost

10) Good Boy/The Viewing - GDT Cabinet of Curiosities

11) Blood Moon (aka Wolf Girl)/All Hallows' Eve (The Last Drive-In Helloween)

12) The Shining/The Simpsons Ssn 6 Treehouse of Horror V

13) Stream (2024)

14) Creepshow (1982; theatrical viewing)

15) They Live in the Grey/John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness (theatrical viewing)

16) The Black Phone 2

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Playlist:

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Type O Negative - World Coming Down

Odonis Odonis - Eponymous (pre-release singles)

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

Dream Division - Beyond the Mirror's Image

Dream Division - The Devil Rides Out

Goblin - Phenomenon OST (Wax Work Edition)

Ghost - Infestissumam

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Cursed Moon - Rite of Darkness

Gylt - I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem

Bauhaus - Burning From the Inside

77s - All Fall Down

Beastmilk - Climax

Throbbing Gristle - Hamburger Lady (single)

Throbbing Gristle - Slut Bait (Live at the I.C.A. London single)

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.

And Grimm's Kickstarter for The Eldritch Lace Tarot deck is now live! You can go check it out and support it HERE.

• Nine of Swords

• VII: The Chariot

• Eight of Wands

Anxiety, Willpower and Action. Meaning, I have to do something about the anxiety currently haunting me. That's pretty vague, but I don't have a lot of gumption in me at the moment, so leaving this here to possibly decode later.