Man Man Week: The Fog or China

From their 2004 debut, The Man in the Blue Turban With a Face, we have yet another example of how versatile this group is. I love the elements they draw from Tin Pan Alley and 50s Doo Wop, fusing them with something all their own.

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Watch:

Paul Duane's All You Need is Death proved to be one of the highlights of this past year's Beyondfest lineup, and now it's finally being released worldwide. I can vouch for this trailer - it does not give away the movie. 

 

Having seen the film, I can tell you to try your best to see it on the big screen. Duane's approach to Horror thrives on an almost subconscious, microcosmic level while also employing some really big, frightening images. This combination works so well on the big screen, with a professional theatre audio system, especially in regard to Ian Lynch's score, which I can only hope someone releases on vinyl.

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Read:

I've been pretty scattered lately and have not been very successful in reading. I'm chipping along at Malcolm Devlin's Then I Woke Up, which is excellent, but my attention's compass is wonky, pulled from due North by all manner of interfering metals. That said, I recently picked up the missing issues of two early 00s comic series I've been dying to dive into.

First, Mike Baron and Mike Norton's The Night Club, which I'd been missing the final issue of since I picked up the series back in 2005:

Next, from right around the same time, Keith Griffen's Tag.

I'm using the image of the Deluxe Edition Boom! eventually published, however, I was interested in the original issues, as I had two of the three. There was a subsequent series, Tag: Cursed, that I haven't read, but the first two issues of this first one always stayed with me. Ostensibly a zombie story, Tag is a pretty interesting take on what was even a bloated subgenre back in 2005, only two years after The Walking Dead comic started, the same year George Romero returned for a fourth time to his original continuity with Land of the Dead. Tag presupposes an infection you can pass by tagging another person. The pull quote on the top of issue two says it all:

Very much looking forward to reading both of these once I get my head on straight again. 

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Playlist:

All Hell - The Howl (single)

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muukalainen Puhuu

Waste of Space Orchestra - Syntheosis

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Glasgow Eyes

Man Man - The Man in the Blue Turban

Lustmord - Much Unseen Is Also Here

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Card:

From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE. Also, Grimm recently launched a Kickstarter for his new deck, The FaeBound Tarot, which you can marvel at and acquire HERE.

One card today, because I haven't touched the deck in a while and wanted a generalized, "this is the 48 year of your life" kind of reading.

I went with the lighting I'm working in at the moment, too. It felt appropriate. Knowledge above salvation. Sounds great.

New Music from Mars Red Sky!

From the upcoming album Dawn of the Dusk, out December 8th on MRS and Vicious Circle. For whatever reason, I can't seem to find a link to pre-order the physical media, but I'm sure that will arrive before the record's release. In the meantime, digging this new track.

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31 Days of Halloween:

My friends and I had the absolute privilege of rounding our 2023 Beyondfest out with a double feature at the lovely Los Feliz 3. 

First up, Documentarian Paul Duane's first narrative film, All You Need is Death. Please believe me when I say this one was revelatory! 

If you search go HERE, you'll see the inception of my stated fascination with "British Occult Films" - this is what I was using to discuss what has essentially become branded as modern entries in the resurgence of Folk Horror. Back when I was seeking out films like The Droving, Without Name, and the like in the wake of seeing Ben Wheatley's Kill List, Folk Horror hadn't yet become a household word, so English or UK Occult. Regardless of genre tags, these films were entries in a much more nuanced attempt to use the pre-Christian origins of modern society as the soil from which to mine Horrors born of folklore and the swirls mists of the pre-English, pre-industrialization world. That is very much the impetus for Duane's All You Need is Death, which explores the world of people who collect ancient folk songs. There's no trailer for this one yet, as in talking to Mr. Duane after the film he stated XYZ Films is releasing All You Need Is Death to the U.S. in mid-March. I'll definitely be watching for it, so when more info becomes available, I will post it here. In the meantime, here's a poster:

Next up was the new remaster of Maurice Devereaux's 2001 game show parody Slashers. This is one Terror Vision is putting out on BluRay in a couple of months. I couldn't find a trailer I could report, so here's the opening sequence:

This is a fun little gem from the early 00s and also, a movie my good friend Dennis had recommended to me over and over back when we'd hang out once or twice a week and watch flicks. I never saw it back then, and it had actually been on my mind about a week before Beyondfest announced this screening; fortuitous indeed.

The tally for 31 Days of Halloween so far:

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2)Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

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Read:

I'm still slogging through Clive Barker's The Scarlet Gospels; truth be told, I haven't had much chance to read since I've been in LaLaLand, but there's also not a lot of excitement for me to finish the final 80% of the book. That said, I saw my A Most Horrible Library cohost Chris Saunders the other night, and as he always does, Chris gifted me a small handful of books he found thrifting. I'm mailing most back home to Tennessee so I don't have to weigh my luggage down with them, however, one that I'm keeping out in case I have some time and can't bring myself to return to the Gospels is this old gem: 

Originally published in 1990 and edited by Steve Niles long before he hit it big with 30 Days of Night,  I've seen this one around for years. I might have even had a copy at some point. Either way, what a great line-up of authors for one Anthology. Pretty excited to dig into this. 

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Playlist:

Led Zeppelin - Get the Led Out Playlist

Spotlights - Seance EP

Mars Red Sky - Dawn of the Dusk (pre-release singles)

Frankie and the Witch Fingers - Data Doom

The Damned - Evil Spirits

Wire - Pink Flag

Pigface - Notes From the Underground

Gang of Four - Entertainment!

Drug Church - Hygiene

Gang of Four - Songs of the Free

Red Lorry Yellow Lorry - Talk About the Weather

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Card:

Sometimes, what looks like defeat is actually a breakthrough (if you're wise enough to see that). Not entirely certain what this is in reference to. I'm tempted to read everything as being about work at the moment, but that's just because I'm on-site in person and a little baffled by the manner in which things are changing. I guess we'll leave it at that.