The Final Cut - U.F.O.T.M

From their 1993 album Consumed, a favorite from start to finish for more years than not, at this point. The opening samples from Flatliners always get me. 

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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

28) City of the Dead/ Treehouse of Horror VIX

29) The Rocky Horror Picture Show/ The Convent/ Lords of Salem

Every time I watch Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem, I'm struck by how sad it is, how beautiful it is, and how absolutely, gloriously blasphemous it is. I like most of Zombie's films to one degree or another, but this film is beyond anything else he's ever done. 

We also watched The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and it's funny that I never realized Patricia Quinn is in both films. That's another thing I've always dug about Zombie's films - how he casts his heroes. 

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Playlist:

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

Goblin - Phenomena OST

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

My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult  - Eponymous

Jeff Grace - House of the Devil OST

Danzig - Danzig II

Ritual Howls - Virtue Falters

Beach Creeper - In Surf Of

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Shapes of Midnight

The Final Cut - Consumed

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Dreamkid - Daggers

My Apple Music Halloween Playlist

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Card:

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

• 21: The World

• 20: Judgement

• Five of Wands

Faced with stagnation, pivot into what comes next.

I read this twofold. First, that my annual Halloween celebration is nearly over and once it is, I'll pivot back into work mode on the book (been slow and feeling a little frustrating, as I've mentioned here recently). Also, I think I need to skip ahead of the scene I'm stuck on and work on the scene after in order to free myself of the block.

Dave Stewart & The Spiritual Cowboys - Party Town

I first heard Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys' song "Party Town" back when I saw Flatliners in the theatre, circa 1990. I've loved this song since, but it took me forever to introduce it into my rotation.

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31 Days of Halloween:

We watched Jordan Downey's The Cycle this past Saturday. Fantastic film! 

I had some small issues with the interpersonal dialogue at times, but overall, this is an expertly film, made on a studio scale - look at the production values! - and it features a gnarly, throw-back practical monster. Can't recommend this one enough - just hit Shudder.

Also, as I'm focusing on integrating as many first-time watches into this Halloween viewing season, I've begun marking all first-time viewings with *.

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

..

The trailer for Jeremy Saulnier's new film, Slayground popped up and apparently it is a Horror flick! Saulnier making a straight Horror flick? Oh man...

Only issue here is, this hits theaters January 29th! So wish this was landing in time for Halloween. I am very excited for this. I love all of Saulnier's films... well, except Murder Party, which I tried several times years ago and couldn't get into. I'll have to give that another go at some point. Everything since, however, has been fantastic.

 

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Read:

I neglected to mention here that I finished reading the revised Gunslinger a few weeks ago and immediately picked up King's first collaboration with Peter Straub - The Talisman - for a reread. This is all part of my planned Dark Tower/Territories deep-dive. After The Talisman, I'll read the sequel Black House for the first time, then roll right into the just-published Other Worlds Than These.

I'm halfway through and this one is a tough read for me. I walked away from my first experience with it - oh, say about fifteen years ago - not really a fan. There are parts of it I really, like, and other parts that leave me cold. I'm coming to realize as I reread this now, that those parts often have to do with the absolutely brutal child abuse in this one. This is like the anti-Goonies; The Talisman takes the idea of a young kid on mystical adventure that was so popular after its publication and shows what a scenario like that might really look like. Between The Oatley Tap and Sunshine House, there's a lot of really challenging stuff in here. That's great, though. I think the last time I read this, I didn't quite understand what I was getting in to. I'm not saying The Talisman is going to suddenly enter my top five King novels by the end of this read, but I'm definitely appreciating it a lot more this time through. 

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Playlist:

Marilyn Manson - One Assassination Under God Chapter 2

Walter Rizzati - The House by the Cemetery OST

Dead Man's Bones - Eponymous

The Damned - Night of a Thousand Vampires

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

Blut Aus Nord - Hallucinogen

My Apple Music Halloween Playlist

Danzig - Black Aria

Danzig - Black Aria II

Portishead - Third

Tones On Tail - Everything!

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Card:

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

• Two of Pentacles

• Eight of Swords

• Ace of Cups

Adaptable approach made difficult by an emotional bombshell. 

Hmm. No idea how to interpret this at the moment. That said, I see the Two of Pentacles a lot when I work with Grimm's Hand of Doom deck, and that makes me think there's definitely something about the card that 'sticks.' It may be constant change - I think I'm fairly good at that, even though my routine has definitely solidified since arriving in TN four years ago. 

2018: October 23rd

From the B-Sides and Rarities Box set released back in the early 00s. Such a strange track; Cave definitely has a sense of humor - anyone that doesn't agree needs to absorb the entire And No More Shall We Part record - but rarely does it come off like this... not even sure how to describe it, other than it's awesome!

My friend Kristen Renee Gorlitz is the upcoming Drinking w/ Comics guest on Friday, November 9th at 9:00 PM. She also just launched a Kickstarter for the continuation of her comic The Empties. Best freakin' tagline EVER, "There are many ways to ruin a relationship. Turning into a zombie is one of them..."

Brilliant! Check out the trailer below and support her Kickstarter HERE



31 Days of Horror is quickly coming to the final stretch and I still have a handful of 'must-watch' movies left. Last night crossed off a big one. Regardless of a setting that, while being visually stunning, feels more ridiculous every time I watch it, Flatliners will always be one of my favorite movies, especially around this time of year. I love EVERYTHING about this one. And watching this last night means we have to watch Jacob's Ladder tonight, which although not standard Halloween fare, compliments Flatliners as part of a late 80s/early 90s sub genre that really only exists in my mind. Angel Heart and Serpent and the Rainbow would also fall into this same category.



31 Days of Horror

10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy
10/21) Satan's Playground

10/22) Flatliners

Playlist from 10/22:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Rarities and B-Sides Vol. 1

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - The Good Son

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds - Let Love In

New Order - Power, Corruption, and Lies

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Automatic

Alice in Chains - Rainier Fog

Killing Joke - Nighttime

Card of the day:

Emotion honed by intellect. This perfectly describes last night. Perfectly! For today, I'm looking at applying that same intellect to the emotional deluge I've felt of late in editing the first two parts of the novel for continuity, which is really difficult at the moment.