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. 

---

---

---

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

---

---

---

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. 

---

---

---

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

---

---

---

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.

Slide 2 Me

I saw Drug Church at Nashville's Basement East this past Saturday. Fabulous show! I'd been to this venue once before, back in 2023, and I forgot it's one of the easier Nashville locations to get to, so I'm going to stop being so gunshy about hitting shows there. 

The driving here is really prohibitive. There's so many exchanges to get to some locations, and traffic is as bad or worse than LA (believe it!), so there have been a few events I purchased tickets to in the last year that I ended up not going to, simply because, on a week night after a day's work, the thought of doing these drives is daunting, to say the least. Good to know The Basement East is pretty painless. 

Anyway, great show, great crowd. I watched a bunch of younger dudes doing full-on stage-dive cartwheels from the stage back into the crowd, and it was amazing. At a high-energy show like this, I miss the pit, but I especially miss surfing. I learned quite some time back, though, that the ramifications to those activities now can be pretty substantial. At 50? Maybe I'm buying my own pity story, but it's best to err on the side of caution, lest I remove myself from the flow of my daily life with crutches or a cast. 

"What a drag it is, getting old."

Yeah, but also, I'm mostly okay with it. I mean, I did all that shit when I was younger (never stage dove - it's far more acceptable today. Back in the Aragon Brawlroom days, bouncers would throw your ass out of the show for that shit), and it's cool to see the younger gen do it while I sit back, bang my head and drink my beer.

---

---

---

Watch:

After 8 years, I canceled Shudder. It wasn't easy, because I've really been a huge supporter of them since I signed up back in the spring of 2018. But they had it coming after canceling The Last Drive-In. Ultimately, I understand that Shudder and the folks that run it aren't to blame, that it's the parent company AMC. I also understand that by canceling that and taking the $30 AMC+ deal for a full year, I basically just made the opposite statement I wanted to make. 

Here's the deal, though: I've known for a few years that AMC is shitty to Shudder. I mean, you can pay for Shudder, or you can pay for AMC+, which includes Shudder. Not only that, but the Shudder portal on AMC+ actually has more Shudder material than Shudder does. 

That's just messed up.

 This has been stuck in my craw for a while now. I want to watch a particular movie with Joe Bob, it's not on Shudder, but it is on AMC+'s Shudder. WTF? I held off as long as I could, but by doing that, I've already made my statement. Now, I'm looking at my pocketbook. So it's backward, but it's what I need to do at the moment. 

And the first movie I watched on AMC+'s Shudder portal? Nothing I couldn't see on Shudder, but still... Oily Maniac had been on my list for a while, so I dialed up this batshit crazy Shaw Brothers Horror flick and fell down a rabbit hole of whatthefuck.

So really, not much has changed, except I saved myself $69. I would have rather not canceled Shudder, but this is where we are.

---

---

---

Read:

I blew through Brian McAuley's latest novel, Breath In, Bleed Out, over the weekend and loved every twist and turn!

Equal parts a Slasher and a Mystery, this book had me guessing and wincing almost all the way through. The writing is crisp and lean - no fat here, so the plot pulls you right through. The characters, too, who are fantastic, are a great mix of folks you root for and folks who, well, maybe deserve the awful deaths they get. And the deaths? Breathe In, Bleed Out has some diabolical kills. One in particular, which I'll just say involves heat and a rattlesnake, really impressed - and disgusted - me.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST

Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain

Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I

High on Fire - Electric Messiah

Converge - The Dusk in Us

Converge - Love Is Not Enough

Nun Gun - Mondo Decay

Drug Church - Hygiene

Drug Church - Prude

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

Drug Church - Paul Walker

Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury - Drokk

Vitalic - OK Cowboy

---

---

---

Card:

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

• Three of Swords

• Five of Cups

• Five of Pentacles

Not gonna lie, I'm a little freaked out by this pull. We'll see.

Ashes and Diamonds!!!

 

Daniel Ash's new project, Ashes and Diamonds, harkens back to his Coming Down and Foolish Thing Called Desire albums from the early 90s, only overlaid with new elements that really make this record shine. Ash has brought along Bruce Smith (Public Image Ltd/The Pop Group) and Paul Spencer Denman (Sade/Sweetback) for the ride, and the three hit on all cylinders. A great listen from start to finish, Are Forever is available from Cleopatra Records. You can order the album HERE. 

Coming out of October and the customary Bauhaus, Tones on Tail jag that always ensures, it feels great to have a new Ash project to get to know. 

---

---

---

Read:

I am proud to finally announce that my new novel, Black Gloves & Broken Hearts, is now on sale at Barnes and Noble, Indiebound, Bezos Utani, or anywhere else you buy your books. 

Here's my solicitation blurb, which really tells you all you need to know:

"When incoming High School Senior Lisa McCready's boyfriend and classmates are brutally murdered at a party in the woods, the quiet suburban community of Sundown Hills transforms into a paranoid nightmare. Betrayal, corruption and dark family secrets push Lisa dead center into a burgeoning class war, where rival millionaires plot to steer the town's future between reliance on big oil and the incoming age of legalized weed, electric cars and social conscience. As she struggles for answers, the killings continue and Lisa finds the world she knew is little more than a lie to placate the masses and keep a Satanic 1% in power."

I'm super proud of this one. Previously, I'd have told you Murder Virus was the best thing I'd ever written. This takes that crown and runs with it.

---

---

---

Watch:

limage/textsdd I was originally going to post about Predator: Badlands, however, I'd rather talk about something that inspired excitement as opposed to disdain. Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani are back with a new film and it looks INSANE. Of course it does - that's what they do!

Coming December 5th to Shudder. This just looks like Mario Bava on ten gallons of LSD. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Smile OST

Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - La Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomimi

Ritual Howls - Their Body E.P.

Ashes and Diamonds - Are Forever

Slow Crush - Aurora

The Damned - A Night of a Thousand Vampires

The Damned - Fiendish Shadows

Perturbator - Age of Aquarius

Sharon Tandy - The Best of Sharon Tandy

lords. - bleeding out (single)

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

---

---

---

Card:

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

• Page of Swords

• Five of Cups

• Three of Cups

Disappointment leads to impetuousness. To find out way back to Harmony, I drew a fourth card and was told to take a journey. Anyone know where I can get some mushrooms?

Young Widows - Call Bullshit

My friend Chris is in town and we're heading to Nashville's Eastside Bowl tonight to see Young Widows and Russian Circles. Here's a track from the Widows' new album, Power Sucker, which is currently on my best of list for the year. 

You can check out more tour dates and merch for Young Widows on their Bandcamp HERE.

Also, Russian Circles' Bandcamp can be found HERE.

I'm relatively new to Russian Circles, but Young Widows I've been digging on since back when their debut Settle Down City landed in my mailbox. 

---

---

---

NCBD:

I'm off today so I'll be heading into Rick's earlier than usual to pick up my books. Here's what's coming home with me for NCBD, September 24, 2025:

One issue remains after this month's Void Rivals before we are catapulted into the eagerly anticipated Quintesson War. Crossovers and Events are generally not my thing, but being that the entire Energon Universe is kind of one big crossover, I'm hoping Kirkman and company show the big two how to do these correctly. I've expressed my love of the Quintessons here before, so to have them up front for six issues is going to (hopefully) be a dream come true.

Now one of my most anticipated books each month, Zander Cannon's Sleep continues to keep me hanging on every issue. 

I was just talking about this on a recent episode of The Horror Vision, so I'm overjoyed to see the second chapter of James Stokoe's Orphan and the Five Beasts finally hitting the stands. The art in Stokoe's pages must take an insane amount of time, so I'll be reading this one slowly, with a keen eye on all the details that make Stokoe's work so rewarding. 

I'm behind on Condon and Alan Love's News From the Fall Out, but the first issue left quite the impression, so I'm looking forward to catching up this week and getting current. 

Regarding this cover: As a life-long fan of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow with virtually no good adaptations of the source material or even just jaunts with the Headless Horseman, you have my attention, Mr. Spears. Please - the floor is yours. 

As I mentioned in Monday's "Card" section of this page, I'm still putting off my Lazarus reread that is meant to be a welcome refresher before jumping into this final Lazarus series. This series just hits too close to home these days. 

I started buying this Death of the Silver Surfer series for the covers, but the story is turning out to be pretty good, even if we all know there are no real stakes here. Still, even though I don't have much interest in most of what Marvel is doing at the moment, I always keep my eye out for mini-series, as there have been quite a few over the last five years or so that I really liked. The Death of Doctor Strange was incredibly good, and while this isn't that, it's keeping me hanging on from issue to issue. 

---

---

---

Watch:

Last Saturday night I sat down and watched Brandon Christensen's latest flick, Night of the Reaper. Here's a trailer that won't spoil anything:

This one is a bit of style over substance, but not intentionally so, and it's pretty fun. That said, the "twist" did not feel earned at all, and I'm still a little bit confused as to whether the logistics actually work. Still, this would make a fun Friday night beer bottle flick for sure. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Young Widows - Power Sucker

Zeal & Ardor - Eponymous

Hellbender - Hellbender OST

Ozzy Osbourne - No More Tears

Young Widows - Settle Down City

Opeth - Blackwater Park

Drug Church - Prude

Led Zeppelin - Live EP

Roy Ayers - Ubiquity

Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road for the Hit

Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth For Christ Choir - Like a Ship Without a Sail

Butthole Surfers - Rembrandt Pussyhorse

Joy Division - Still

Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician

---

---

---

Card:

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

Also, if you head over to Grimm's Kickstarter HERE you'll see his upcoming The Eldritch Lace Tarot Deck, you can hit the "notify upon launch" button and then you can get on this seriously unbelievably awesome deck. 

• Queen of Cups

• Queen of Pentacles

• Nine of Swords

An abundance of feminine energy is never a bad thing; Coupled with the Nine of Swords, I take this as a "pay attention to what the women in your life are saying" connotation. 

Dethroned Under a NCBD Haze

As the wait for the next Perturbator album announcement languishes on into June, I find myself drawing even more inspiration from his previous albums than previously. Which is really saying something because since discovering James Kent's music circa 2015, thanks to Bloody Disgusting, Perturbator and all of his side projects have become integral to my own creative process. 

In particular, 2019's Lustful Sacraments continue to fascinate and inspire me. There's such an amazing evolution here; not content to remain defined by a genre he helped popularize the modern version of, Kent has moved away from the sound of his earlier records and really begun incorporating new elements into his compositions. My two favorites of Kent's records so far remain this one and his 2022 collaboration with Cult of Luna's Johannes Persson (Final Light). Where I'd consider Dangerous Days and The Uncanny Valley to be the two best examples of modern "Synthwave," I'd say Kent's newer work is unlike anything I've heard prior. Oh the places these records take me!

---

---

---

NCBD:

Here's this week's pull, with a side note that I'll be stopping at my shop in Chicago to grab some stuff as well.

The final issue of the gloriously resurrected EC's Horror Anthology series Epitaphs From the Abyss doesn't sting so much now that I've read Blood Type and realize Oni will be continuing this brand with full-issue mini-series anthologies, as well as the new anthology Catacombs of Torment, out July 16th.

Life is good for Horror fans. It's good for comic fans. And it's especially good for Horror comic fans!!!

The first issue of James Tynion IV and Michael Walsh's Exquisite Corpses was kind of a cross between Rob Zombie's 31 and 

Judging by this cover, one of the plot points of this book that has kind of irked me may finally be resolved with this issue. 

"The Horror Men" has proven a fantastic arc for the overall Phantom Road mythology. I love seeing some of this world's history, especially because it feels like learning about the start of this weird in-between place will carry over to big things when we move back to the current timeline with Dom and Bev.

I should finally be picking up my Z-News backlog this weekend when I'm in Chicago. Can't wait!

Another new book from Oni Press, this one sounds as though it's modeled after Phillip K. Dick's life, so I'm definitely giving it a try. Here's the solicitation from League of Comic Geeks:

"More than just a writer, more than just a science-fiction icon, Benjamin J. Carp was a cultural revolutionary. Across 44 novels and hundreds of short stories-including the counterculture classic The Man They Couldn't Erase-Carp pushed the boundaries of literary respectability for the sci-fi genre and his readers' perception of reality itself . . . until decades of amphetamine abuse and Southern California excess finally ended a mind-bending career that always just escaped mainstream success. He died in 1982. Until 2025 . . . when Benjamin J. Carp awakens, alive, in a burned-out motel on the fringes of Los Angeles. He remembers dying. He knows he shouldn't exist. Is he a dream? A robot? A ghost? A clone? A simulation? In his own time, Carp pondered all of these scenarios intensely through his fiction-and, now, as he treks from Studio City to Venice Beach and onward into the paranoid sprawl of 21st-century Los Angeles, he will be called to investigate his greatest mystery yet: himself. In the tradition of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly and Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice comes a uniquely fascinating and hilariously deranged excursion into the metatextual nexus where existence and oblivion, past and future, genius and madness, and glitter and grim reality all meet just beyond Hollywood Boulevard . . ."

---

---

---

Watch:

Aaron Martin and Ian Carpenter's new series Hell Motel premiered on Shudder with two episodes yesterday and I have to say, so far, I love it! The setting, lighting and camera work are top-notch, as is the writing. There are some very intriguing plotting mechanisms at work here, and they made for a pretty thrilling two-episode premiere. We're going to be covering this weekly on The Horror Vision - first episode will drop next Monday, then every Wednesday thereafter (the show airs on Tuesdays). 

From what I've seen of the two creators' other series, the anthology Slasher, it appears to be a bit of a mixed bag. That said, I've only watched Flesh & Blood and two episodes of Ripper. I loved the former but did not care for the latter. I dig these guys' style overall, though; there's something of a Channel Zero-meets-AHS, with the influence of AHS being more dominant but little flourishes here and there that make me think of Zero. 

Top all this off with the fact that Adam MacDonald looks to be the series Director (he did the first two episodes but is listed as "Director" on the series' main IMDB page) and you've got a great schematic. And they deliver, big time. I watched episodes one and two TWICE today and found I liked it more the second time around. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

Calderum - Mystical Fortress of Iberian Lands 

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

John Harrison - Day of the Dead OST

Tangerine Dream - Sorceror OST

Greg Puciato - Mirrorcell

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Young Widows - Power Sucker

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

---

---

---

Card:

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

• Nine of Swords

• Ace of Pentacles

• Eight of Cups

The Nine of Cups can denote Cruelty, Bad Dreams and/or Violence. Ace of Pentacles is a breakthrough in Earthly concerns, nad Eight of Cups is poison. Sounds to me like the Earthly breakthrough - i.e. success - may be arrived at through violence or poison. That's a scary sentiment; I've long held people who use violence or hurtful machinations as a way to get what they want are the definition of evil. I realize while typing this that this Pull is a reminder to tread lightly with certain people at work, as I deal with a lot of "Corporate People" and those are often the people who operate in this capacity.

Mammoth - The End

The song is a bit polished for my taste, but this video put a great big smile on my face. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, with Effects by Greg Nicotero, this is a damn good time. 

You can visit Mammoth's site HERE for merch and tour details.

---

---

---

Watch:

I am a HUGE fan of the Flesh and Blood season of the Horror anthology series Slasher. I tried the follow-up season and couldn't make it very far, and although I recently realized the original seasons are still on Netflix, I've yet to find the time to go back and finish the first Season - which I liked when it first hit streaming - and give two and three a chance. 

Despite this herky-jerky relationship with Slasher, Flesh and Blood made enough of an impression that when I saw Bloody Disgusting post about this new upcoming anthology series by the same creators, I was intrigued. After watching the trailer, I am in!

Hell Motel starts up on Shudder June, 17th. If I remember correctly, Slasher's new episodes drop weekly, not altogether, so if that carries over to this, that's something to look forward to for sure!

---

---

---

Playlist:

Ghost - Skeletá 

Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon

Deadguy - Work Ethic EP

Various - Learn to Relax: A Tribute to Jehu

The Bronx - The Bronx (I)

Alcohol Funnycar - Time to Make the Donuts

---

---

---

New Perturbator!!!

I feel like I've been waiting for the new Perturbator album forever, and now we finally have the first single. I don't love the video, but the track is cool. As usual, though, I'll be holding out for the full album to hear it again. Need that context. 

---

---

---

Watch:

Here's a new Irish Folk Horror flick I do not remember hearing about before this past weekend when it popped up on Shudder. You know I love me some Irish Folk Horror; this is well-timed, as Lorcan Finnegan has a new film out and in buying tickets for that tomorrow night, I've already got a hankering to rewatch Without Name, which is possibly my favorite of the Irish Folk Horror genre. 

 

This is Writer/Director Aislinn Clarke's second feature-length film. Their first, The Devil's Doorway, is on a list I have somewhere and is currently streaming on AMC+ (But not their Horror subsidiary Shudder, fuckyouverymuch AMC+), so I'm adding both of these films to my watch list with hopes to have a nice, spooky double or triple feature soon.

---

---

---

Playlist:

The Cops - Free Electricity

Hangman's Chair - Saddiction

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Undreamable Abysses

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium: Nahab

Hayden Pedigo - Long Pond Lily (single)

Hayden Pedigo - Letting Go

Ghost - Ghost - Skeletá 

Ghost - Infestissumam

Nuxx Vomica - Compilation LP (pre-release tracks)

---

---

---

Exister Exhuma

As I wrote about last week, I'm really only now getting to know Exister, the late Luis Vasquez's final album. Go figure - the one that didn't make that big of an impression on me upon its first release has become my favorite. 

---

---

---

Watch:

I finally got around to watching Jang Jae-hyun's Exhuma on Shudder. This was on quite a few "Best of 2024" lists I saw and I must say, that ranking is well deserved. Here's a trailer that happily tells you very little of what to expect.

This felt more like short, episodic premium television series stuck together into a film, a bit like Demián Rugna's Terrified, so that's not a bad thing. I really enjoyed Exhuma, although I ended up breaking it into two viewings. The sad state of my life at this time is it's pretty difficult to garner 134 minutes to sit still and watch a film. Sucks, but it's my current version of reality. 

Highlly recommended. 

---

---

---

Read:

I found a pretty interesting interview with Weird Fiction/Horror Author T.E.D. Klein. This man's work was all but lost, with beat-up paperbacks from the 80s/90s going for absurd amounts of money on auction sites, so until a few years ago, I'd only ever read "The Events at Poroth Farm" (1972). Thanks to PS Publishing/Drugstore Indian Press's diligence in bringing Klein's work back into print, I finally acquired and read The Ceremonies in 2022 and loved it. Still haven't gotten around to Dark Gods, however, that'll probably happen this year.

Read the interview HERE. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love

Deafheaven - 10 Years Gone

Drug Church - Prude

Drug Church - Hygiene

Nothing - Guilty of Everything

Entropy - Liminal

Sun O))) - Monoliths and Dimensions

The Soft Moon - Exister

Ruin of Romantics - Velvet Dawn

---

---

---

Card:

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

• IX: The Hermit

• I: The Magician

• IV: The Emperor

Hunker down and make some Magick!

I LOVE my Anchor Bay DVD copy of Dario Argento's 1977 Suspiria. LOVE it. One of the awesome features is the third disc is the Score by Goblin. Still reeling from rewatching the film this p However, upon rewatching the film for probably the first time in five years (most previous time before was the 4K restoration's premiere on the big screen at the Egyptian Theatre for Beyondfest, complete with Mr. Argento present to discuss the film!), I realized that, like many DVDs, the picture leaves quite a bit to be desired. 

So, I'm finally going to upgrade, and after consulting my Horror Vision cohosts, I've decided the only place to go is Synapse Films.

Although no longer available on the Synapse website, this one is currently available for a cool $25 on Amazon. This is the one my compatriots recommended, and it also has high marks on Blu-Ray.com (Blu-Ray picture and sound review HERE)

---

---

---

31 Days of Halloween:

Yesterday evening, I watched Daddy's Head, the new film by Writer/Director/Composer/Editor Ben Barfoot. This hit Shudder last Friday. It's an excellent piece of moody, haunting filmmaking and a strong recommendation, especially for fans of The Lodge, Goodnight Mommy, or Damien McCarthy's work. This is nowhere near as weird as McCarthy's work; however, there's a restrained balance employed in Daddy's Head that really strengthens the film and reminds me a lot of Oddity, in particular.

I'll also add that this film would make the perfect "Yang" to The Babadook's "Ying" in a Grief Haunting double feature. It's kind of the polar opposite of Jennifer Kent's film.

1) The Killing of a Sacred Deer

2) The Houses October Built (2011)/Texas Chainsaw Massacre (50th-anniversary theatrical screening)

3) Loop Track

4) It's What's Inside/LONGLEGS

5) The Babysitter/Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

6) The Hitcher/Lost Highway

7) GDT's Cabinet of Curiosities: Graveyard Rats

8) V/H/S Beyond

9) Killer Klowns from Outer Space

10) Terrifier 3

11) Summer of '84

12) Rosemary's Baby/Suspiria ('77)

13) Daddy's Head/Poltergeist II*

---

* First time watch. I was right to avoid the Poltergeist sequels all these years. Awful.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Godflesh - Us and Them

Oranssi Pazuzu - Muuntautuja

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

Le Matos - Summer of '84 OST

M83 - Saturdays = Youth

Dreamkid - Chrissy (single)

---

---

---

Frank Black Teenager of the Year 30th Anniversary Tour

 

Got my tickets to join some of my best friends in the world for Frank Black's Teenager of the Year 30th anniversary tour. Mr. Black even has Lyle Workman back! 

---

---

---

Watch:

Damian McCarthy first impressed the absolute hell out of me in 2022 with Caveat, a direct-to-Shudder film about a man talked into wearing a harness in an old house on a small island in Ireland. The man is supposedly been hired by a friend to watch his niece, but there are all kinds of WTF surrounding that idea, and the film, for all its slow-burn tendencies, rapidly escalates into a terrifying dirge of haunted guilt and bad decisions that culminate in...

Well, read the book. Or, ah, watch the movie. 

McCarthy's new film Oddity was on my radar but just barely, and I was SHOCKED and delighted to find that it opened at our Clarksville Regal this past Thursday. 

So far, it is neck-and-neck with Robert Morgan's Stopmotion for my favorite film of the year. I would post a trailer, but no. PLEASE, go see this in the theatre (it will most likely be gone after this week due to Deadpool) and DO NOT read, watch, or listen to anything about it. Go in blind, and I think this will smack you in the gob the way it did me—so much so that I have tickets to see it again tonight. 

---

---

---

Play:

I've had Playdead's Inside for a couple years now, and while I have played and enjoyed it, it wasn't until this past weekend that I really fell in love with this game. Described as 'dream-like' in all the solicitation copy I've come across, I have to say, that's the perfect description. 

 

A week or so ago, my good friend Maddie messaged me about this game, saying that she remembered I had mentioned it and that she had recently become enthralled. This had me pull the game back out and pick at it off and on for a few days. Then, this past Saturday, I sat down in a darkened room with a beer and Adam Egypt Mortimer's The Obelisk on my turntable and the way the game and the music melded... it was just incredible. I left the sound up so I could hear all the atmospheric sound effects - hurried footsteps through standing water, giant industrial cranes and elevators moving and clanking, explosions, and, yes, dream-like wind and breathing - and my consciousness just folded into this world. It was beautiful. 

I don't want this one to end.

---

---

---

Playlist:

Fear - Live For the Record

Frank Black - Teenager of the Year

Black Francis - Svn Fngrs

Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs

Frank Black - Eponymous

Tomahawk - Mit Gas

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Irony Is A Dead Scene E.P.

Ministry - Rio Grande Blood

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Calculating Infinity

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

The Replacements - Pleased to Meet Me

The Besnard Lakes... Are the Roaring Night

Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk

M83 - Before the Dawn Heals Us

Zeal & Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Concrete Blonde - Eponymous

Phil Collins - Face Value

---

---

---

Card:

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

• Knight of Wands 

• Four of Pentacles

• Six of Pentacles

The firey aspect of fire, pure white hot Intellect, stripped of all other human trappings. Here, it's being applied to Earthly matters, as we can see via the two Pentacles or Disks cards that follow. Four of Disks indicates stability, and the Six support or balance. What this tells me this morning is the balancing act I now maintain Monday - Friday may require an extra dose of reasoning to maintain. Not sure if this means this will be a heavy spreadsheet week (I'm only half joking and all cringe when I reference a spreadsheet in relation to the Tarot), or if I'll just have to side step emotional reactions to things that will require logical consideration instead of capricious emotion.

Drying the Rain & Washing Your Hands

 

Wow. I hadn't heard The Beta Band in ages, let alone their big single "Dry the Rain." Then, sitting in my coffee shop writing last night, a brief interval of silence between songs on my headphones had me stop and say, "Wait, I remember this..."

---

---

---

Watch:

I took yesterday off and had that rare combination of energy and perseverance well into the wee hours of the morning, so I was able to watch a handful of films. 

Listed as Lockdown Tower on Shudder but also known as simply The Tower, Guillaume Nicloux's claustrophobic nightmare is Lord of the Flies meets Dawn of the Dead without the children or zombies. The inhabitants of a highrise tenement discover their building is surrounded by a black void that consumes anyone who steps across the thresholds of every egress from the building. Doors, windows - there is no way to leave. We start from the moment the phenomenon begins and travel forward through time with these people, seeing how the building's ecosystem evolves. Or, more accurately, devolves because, as Nick Cave sang, "People just ain't no good."

Next up, Jenn Wexler's The Sacrifice Game.

I loved this one. Between The Sacrifice Game and 2018's The Ranger, Jenn Wexler has become one of my favorite modern directors. Looking at her credits on Letterboxd, she's had a hand in a lot of films I've adored over the previous ten years; from Robert Mockler's Like Me, to Ana Asensio's Most Beautiful Island, to Larry Fessenden's Depraved, Ms. Wexler has left an imprint on the current state of Independent Horror that cannot be denied, and with the polish we see on The Sacrifice Game, I think she's poised to eventually make a breakthrough similar to what Ti West has done with his X trilogy. That makes me super happy and excited to see what may come of such an opportunity.

I have no idea what led me to re-watch Metallica's Some Kind of Monster the other night, but I turned it on and found I could not turn it off, despite the fact that it made me feel super gross about having a goatee in the 00s.

 

This is such an illustration of a band so far out of touch with themselves, their music, their fans, and just the actual reason people make music that it's super hard to watch. Especially considering that, while I still love their old stuff and refuse to acknowledge everything after their self-titled (which in itself I have a conflicted relationship with), I genuinely like their two most recent records. I think one thing this documentary showcases, besides how up their own asses this band was in the 00s, is that Bob Rock was the worst choice for a producer they ever made. This guy... wow. Not that hooking up with Rick Rubin helped do much besides draw a caricature of their sound for a while, but it seems like once Rubin's Engineer Greg Fidelman took over as the band's producer, things changed for the better.

The highlight of the film is when Robert Trujillo comes on board. The guy is just seems so down-to-earth, and he is an absolutely outstanding bass player, which you can see clear as day in this film.
 

---

---

---

Read:

TMNT 150 ended up being a huge disappointment to me. It sucks to say that, but it's true. I could draw so many similarities to the mess Kieron Gillon is making of the X-Books at the moment, but it would sadden me further to do so. I half-read 150, bagged it, and am happily jumping off for what comes next. We'll always have this mammoth run of (roughly) 12 years of a vast, intricate, and emotionally charged TMNT run. 

Sophie Campbell has been co-writing with Kevin Eastman since Tom Waltz left after the series hit issue #100; she's taken it to some great heights - as have all the writers and artists on the title since it started in 2012 - and the thing I've loved so much about this series is the expansion. This is by far the longest, deepest look into a Turtles continuity we've ever received, and I've loved it. Time to let it rest, before it overstays its welcome like so many long-running comic continuity's do. Yeah, I know I was hoping for Jason Aaron's upcoming run to continue in the current world, and I'm still glad it will, but this milestone issue and all its time-travel/QNA deus ex machina convinced me it's time for me to go.

---

---

---

Playlist:

CCR - Cosmo's Factory

Windhand - Eternal Return

The Veils - ... And Out of the Void Came Love

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

Windhand - Eternal Return

Moon Wizard - Sirens

Metallica - 72 Seasons

---

---

---

Card:

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

• XV: The Devil

• Five of Swords

• Five of Pentacles

The Devil again, and this time, I'm inclined to think it's because I completely missed the point of the previous Pull. I now believe I am the source of the misinformation, because I'm not approaching anything rationally. The two Fives bear that out, as Five is often conflict, and here it would be conflict of Intellect (Swords) and Earthly concerns (Pentacles).

Man Man Week - Harpoon Fever (Queequeg's Playhouse)

 

From 2008's Rabbit Habits. THIS is the song that sold me to just how odd this band is. I mean, the boneyard percussion and vaudvillian creep-outs are one thing, but juxtaposed with the bizarre digital freak-out near the end of this song, well, it's old, it's new. It's unlike anything else (accept maybe a shared DNA with Mr. Bungle's "Desert Search for Techno Allah").

 

---

---

---

Watch:

I caught the trailer for In A Violent Nature about a month ago at the theatre when I went to see Stopmotion, and it completely threw me at first. I seriously thought for a minute that the long-standing F13 legal battles had silently resolved and someone made a new film for the franchise in secret. Not the case, but that's probably a good thing. 

Writer/Director Chris Nash's feature film debut looks Brutal!  Total Video Nasty DNA. Hitting theatres May 31st, I will definitely be putting my arse in a seat at my local to watch this. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

Zombi - Direct Inject

Zombi - 2020

Goatsnake - Black Age Blues

Anthrax - Among the Living

United Future Organization - 3rd Perspective

---

---

---

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.

• Six of Pentacles 

• XX: Judgement

• Wheel of Fortune 

Earthly plateau - things are right where I want them in some respects, but XX shows it will be a balancing act to keep them there. The Wheel confirms this, but suggests it won't be quite as difficult as I think it will be. 

Ministry - New Religion

LOVING this new Ministry record. Somehow, Uncle Al almost never disappoints. This particular track, while I'm not in love with the video, is one of those Ministry songs where you can really hear the Killing Joke influence. This started back around 2003 with Animositisomina, which is interesting when you consider that Paul Raven didn't join the band until 2006's Rio Grande Blood. Not that there wasn't always a little Killing Joke DNA in Ministry, but occasionally, it really shines through.

---

---

---

NCBD:

Light pull this week, but there are some goodies, so let's get into it:

A new Last Ronin series? Whoah! This slipped by my radar completely until about a week ago. Apparently, if I understand this right, this series is set a number of years after the original series and follows more grown-up versions of the four new turtles that Casey (Jr) was training. I love the Miller-esque dystopia of the first Last Ronin series, so definitely sign me up for this next round. I love to see the evolution of future worlds like this. 

Here's another one that slipped past me - David and Maria Lapham have a new series called Underheist and I missed the first issue! I'll be grabbing that as well as this week's number two. Everything the Laphams do is fantastic, so I can't wait to see what this new one has to offer.

Void Rivals returns! I honestly had only realized it must have been on hiatus - probably because I've been so preoccupied with the other Energon Universe series. I feel like this family of books is moving in to take over the fervor I've held but watched wane for the X-Books since Hickman. I don't know if my brain finds something to fill the, ahem, void, or if 

Speaking of the X-Book, I still haven't found any issues with Gerry Duggan and his X-Men. Solid, every issue. And what's this? Lockheed returns? Can't wait to see this. Where the core Fall of X books have been a mixed bag, Mr. Duggan continues to drive his RBI percentage up by turning in solid episodes of the core 'team' book in the family. Also, love seeing Kitty and Ilyana side by side with swords!

---

---

---

Watch:

Recently, I was psyched to see that Shudder added the first three Coffin Joe movies to their ever-expanding roster. I am not super familiar with these, but back in 2004, my friend JFK (where are you?) mentioned these to me and I started a hunt that didn't end until I walked into either Generation Records or Village Revival Records in Greenwich Village, NY and found a copy of At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul. I picked that up and gifted it to JFK for Christmas that year, and after we watched it one night, I haven't seen a Coffin Joe flick since. Until now.

"The Brazilian Freddy Krueger" is how Coffin Joe is often described, and while there is a simple comparison there, that's a bit of a misnomer, and probably the reason I walked away from that first viewing twenty years ago less than impressed. So despite the fact that I myself have used that comparison recently, I offer here the caveat that Coffin Joe is not a supernatural being (at least not in the early flicks) and he doesn't invade his victims' dreams or materialize in gross and grandiose ways. He's a terribly evil human being, an undertaker with no empathy and a greedy soul, and he terrorizes the town in rural Brazil where he resides as a rich and powerful citizen. 

On the surface, these flicks feel a little quaint. At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul is from 1964 Brazil for god's sake, so that's to be expected. But, if you really pay attention and move past that surface layer, these are some pretty f**ked up films. What's more, let's think about that year of origin again: 1964 Brazil! These are also SO ahead of their time, even in the States, and slot in nicely with some of the other creators releasing Horror films at the time; if you google "Horror Films Released in 1964," you get a list that includes Roger Corman, William Castle, and Hershal Gordon Lewis.

Ultimately, Coffin Joe - the character created and portrayed by Brazilian cinematic jack-of-all-trades  José Mojica Marins - won't be for everybody, however, in rewatching the first film last night, I found a decidedly more cerebral and, honestly, disturbing experience than I remembered. Strip away some of the limitations of the day, some of the slightly archaic approaches to the accouterments of the Horror genre - maniacal laughter, spiders (no laughing matter for me), and female hysteria, and you have an amoral villain who commits grievous acts in the name of a rather messed up approach to child-rearing. Joe is an icon in Brazil - hence the real reason for the comparison to Mr. Kreuger - so Shudder adding these films is another way in which the service continues to promote a more well-rounded fan base for the genre. Something we're all the better for. 

---

---

---

Playlist:

The Body & Dis Fig - Orchards of a Futile Heaven

Uniform & The Body - Mental Wounds Not Healing

Witchfinder - Hazy Rites

Black Sabbath - Volume IV

The Devil's Blood - The Thousandfold Epicentre

Justin Hamline - The House With Dead Leaves

Godflesh - A World Lit Only By Fire

Dio - The Last in Line

---

---

---

Card:

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

• XI: Justice

• Four of Wands

• VIII: Strength

Approaching a situation or decision without bias leads to empowerment. Again, another character nod to the book I'm writing. I turned in a solid hour and a half last night - actually made it out to my old coffee shop and was really able to lose myself for the duration of the session. These characters are growing in depth and complexity, and the cards are assuring me I'm on the right path.