Hybrid Halloween Moments!!!

 

Happy Halloween! I've got today and tomorrow off and intend to soak up the atmosphere. First, woke up with The Misfits Hybrid Moments in my head! That has to be a boon that this will be a good day.

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31 Days of Halloween:

I had a spectacular October 30th last night. Here's what I watched:

Not for everyone, but Cary Grant and Peter Lorre are enough to make me love this classic Halloween comedy. The word "Madcap" got thrown around a lot back in this era, but this one deserves the description - it juggles so many plates that, even if some don't exactly 'land' for me, it's just a pleasure to watch.

Classic late-period Romero. I love this flick, flaws and all, and would take this any day over Schumacher's Falling Down, which, in the "man at the end of his rope" sub genre, definitely gets more love. 

If I love Romero's Bruiser, well then, I guess I have to marry Robert Englund's directorial debut, 976-Evil. I know this is not a 'good movie.' Couldn't care less. I think 976-Evil is the epitome of how great late 80s Horror could be, and it totally nails the Nightmare on Elm Street tone that none of the NoES movies except the original manage to.

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

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

11) Ritual (Joko Anwar)/The Final Terror/Grave Robbers

12) Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (w/Joe Bob)

13) Never Hike Alone/Never Hike in the Snow/Never Hike Alone 2

14) Puppetman

15) Creepshow Season 4 Episode 1

16) Return of the Living Dead

17) Don't Look Now

18) When Evil Lurks

19) Barbarian

20) Demons 2/All Hallows Eve

21) May

22) Let's Scare Jessica To Death

23) The Birds/30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 1

24) 30 Coins Ssn 1 Ep 2/The Church

25) Elvira Mistress of the Dark

26) To Kako (Evil)/To Kako: Stin epohi ton iroon

27) Tourist Trap (w/ Joe Bob)/Totally Killer

28) Amusement

29) The Rocky Horror Picture Show/There's Nothing Out There

30) Arsenic and Old Lace/George A. Romero's Bruiser/976-Evil

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Read:

In keeping with my annual Halloween traditions, I re-read James O'Barr's The Crow yesterday and began Rick Spears and Rob G's Teenagers From Mars upon waking this morning.

The Crow never fails to affect me; still the greatest love story I've read and the purest contemplation of grief I know. O'Barr's art and words drip with the Post Punk bands that grew to sway my tastes as a metalhead in High School, my obsession with Joy Division's Substance and Still and The Cure's Pornography following fast on the heels of my introduction to this dark, beautiful angel.

I love this book so much. The characters are, at this point, old friends I love to check back in on every year. 

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Paranoid (single)

Claudio Simonetti and Goblin - Phenomena OST

John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST

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

The Cure - Pornography

Night Verses - Every Sound Has A Color In The Valley of Night: Part 1

Wytch Finger - The Dance EP

The Sisters of Mercy - Floodland

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1998 Edition)

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Card:

A single card from Missi's Raven Tarot for this perfect Halloween morning:

When Every Day is Halloween, October 31st just means we're about to begin another journey around the sun toward the next one. 

Scream with Me, You Beautiful Man-Thing, You!

 

Yeah, I guess Michael Graves is a proud boy or whatever now, but once upon a time his unfortunate nationalist tendencies hadn't floated to the surface yet and he took over as the first Misfits singer I gave a shit about since Danzig. Wait, maybe he was the first after Danzig? I don't even remember anymore. Whatever. Either way, I had to post this track because of what you'll see in the next section of this post below. Regardless of his politics - which mind you, is mostly third-person related to me - I adore his two albums with the Misfits.

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Read:

From the final page of Marvel Comics' new Spider-Punk mini-series. What an idea - a Misfits-inspired revamp of Taskmaster!

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Dollar Bin:

If you've followed any of my comic/pop culture writings for long enough, you've heard me talk about my affinity for Marvel's 1986 failed New Universe line. I remember the ads building hype for this as if they were published yesterday:

I tried a few of the New Universe titles when they first dropped, but none of them moved the needle enough to make me spend my allowance on them monthly. Then, something amazing happened:

The Starbrand character accidentally nuked the city of Pittsburgh and the entire line of books changed, basically became a terrifying allegory for 80s Cold War Nuclear Panic. It was amazing!

After the one-shot graphic novel that changed the status quo of the line - aptly titled The Pitt - the 8 books in the NU turned into four, and things got dark AF. Shortly after came the four-part, Prestige Format series The War, which I believe ended the first iteration of Marvel's New Universe.

When these were coming out, I know I had books 1 and 2 of The War, but I don't remember having 3 and 4. I can't imagine why I wouldn't have bought them, but who knows. I'm pretty sure I don't still have now, although similarly I don't remember ever parting with them. Recently however, I found books 3 and 4 in the Dollar Bin at the Bug. Score! Now I just have to either find or re-buy the others and I can finally read the entire series.

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Plastic:

Speaking of Marvel Comics - Jesus F*&king Christ do I want this:

Thanks to Mr. Brown for sending the advert for this my way. I'm not sure I'm ready to pony up $275 bucks for this, but... damn! If it had been anyone but Man-Thing, I wouldn't even be entertaining the idea. I'll always have a fascination with Slime/Swamp/Sewer characters (what does that say about me???).

The psychedelic variant of Marvel's Man-Thing drops tomorrow from Mondo. 

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Playlist:

Carpenter Brut - Leather Terror

Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Megadeth - Rust in Peace

QOTSA - Era Vulgaris

Svarte Greiner - Devolving Trust

Blut Aus Nord - That Cannot Be Dreamed

Mark Lanegan Band - Here Comes That Weird Chill

Helmet - Aftertaste

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Reflections - The Color Clear 

Ghost Bath - Moon Lover

Steve Moore - Bliss OST

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Card:

I don't even have it in me to interpret this at the moment, but it looks like a pretty big warning about letting emotional pile-up affect carefully laid plans.

Prime Directive: Happy Halloween

 

A little Misfits to round out the night on this All Hallows Eve, 2021. It's weird hearing this remastered version, I'm so used to the old cassette I had, I guess. Still, they didn't clean it up too much.

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31 Days of Halloween:

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

2) The Mutilator

3) Demons 

4) Vortex

5) Possession

6) The Black Phone

7) Slumber Party Massacre

8) Antlers

9) No One Gets Out Alive

10) A Nightmare on Elm Street '84

11) A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010

12) A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

13) Satan Hates You

14) Night of the Demons

15) Lamb

16) The Company of Wolves

17) There's Someone in the House

18) A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

19) Titane

20) A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (9, 10, Never watch again)

21) Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (Same. Awful)

22) The Innkeepers

23)Muppets Haunted Mansion/Freaky

24) Halloween Kills

25) The House of the Devil/A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

26) Freddy Vs. Jason (Ugh)

27)  Ghoulies

28) Titane/Boys From County Hell

29) Arachnophobia 

30) Possessor

31) The Final Girls/Donnie Darko/Witching and Bitching

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Playlist:

Halloween Spotify Playist

Manuel Galban & Ry Cooder - Mambo Sinuendo

Mastodon - Hushed and Grim

The Misfits - Collection I

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

Ritual Howls - Into the Water

Ritual Howls - Rendered Armor

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

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

The Misfits - Legacy of Brutality

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Card:

Ch-Ch-Cha-Changes.

12 Days 'til Halloween

I know a lot of folks are up in arms about Michael Graves' political leanings. Being a person who dislikes staunch adherence to either party, I feel like there are good people on both sides - although these people are the ones who definitely get noticed the least, as they're not running their mouths preaching the kind of hate and intolerance now trafficked in on both the Left as well as the Right. Either way, I haven't ever looked into Mr. Graves' political philosophies because I don't care. I love the two records he did with the Misfits and after that, well, for me he just fell off the face of the planet, which I am 100% okay with. I rewatched George A. Romero's Bruiser recently, and the Graves-era-Misfits make a cameo in, and the bonus features on the disc reminded me that the late, great Mr. Romero directed this music video for the band. How absolutely perfect, no?

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31 Days of Halloween:

I haven't watched Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning since I lived in Chicago, around the time it was released direct to video circa 2004, and in keeping with this year's attempt to watch some of the more under appreciated films in my collection during 31 Days of Halloween, I knew this would be a great undertaking. 

Here's the thing: when I first saw this, I did not want to like this movie. 

Why? 

Because it will ETERNALLY disappoint me that we got Ginger Snaps Back and not a proper Ginger Snaps 3, as in a continuation of the story started in the first film and carried through the second. Ginger Snaps 2 is one of the best sequels I have ever seen, and I SO very much wanted to know what happened next after that insane cliffhanger that changes every facet of Brigitte's story. Ghost's (a very young Tatiana Maslany) actions really throw the story to that point on its back, and the fact that the third movie didn't follow up on that was devastating. But after that initial watch, I have to admit, after rewatching Snaps Back, I'm once again resolute that this film stands on its own as a great reinterpretation of the original story.

After Orphan Black - also created by John Fawcett -  and Ms. Maslany blew up, I felt a slight reinvigoration of hope that maybe we'd get a proper conclusion to the original Ginger Snaps timeline, however, that hope is now essentially long gone. So Snaps Back is what it is, and I guess I'm okay with that.

I guess.

1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)

2) From Beyond/Monsterland: Port Fourchon, Louisiana/Tales of Halloween: The Night Billy Raised Hell/Tales of Halloween: Trick

3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): The Crate

4) Waxwork

5) Synchronic/Bad Hair

6) Dolls

7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: The Weak and the Wicken/Tales of Halloween: The Grim Grinning Ghost

8) 976-Evil

9) Repo! The Genetic Opera

10) Firestarter/George A. Romero's Bruiser

11) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 1 & 2/Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2

12) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 3, 4, and 5/House of 1000 Corpses

13) Masque of the Red Death/Creepshow (2019) Episode 7/Creepshow (1982)

14) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 6 and 7

15) The Haunting of Bly Manor episodes 8 and 9/Roseanne (88) season 2 and 3 Halloween Episodes

16) The Mortuary Collection/Roseanne (88) season 4 Halloween Episode

17) Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

18) Lovecraft Country episode 9/The Haunting/Roseanne (88) season 5 Halloween Episode

1999's The Haunting is an absolute stinker. The house gets five stars. The film gets one. Not even gonna put a trailer here.

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Playlist:

The Ocean - Phanerozoic II

Van Halen - 1984

Various - Twin Peaks: Music from the Limited Event Series

Dead Swords - Enders

Skinny Puppy - Last Rites 

Fear Factory - Demanufacture

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Card:

The fiery part of fire denotes activated Will, which fits, as I'm back in the swing of writing and it's going very well. The idea that I may finish writing two novels in one year is pretty great, and a total esteem boost when I need it most.

The Misfits w/ Michael Graves - Saturday Night

Oh, and how could I not tack this one on at the end? I don't love the second Graves-era Misfits record - Famous Monsters - as much as I do the first - American Psycho, from which the first three posts in this series were from and named after one of my favorite novels - but this is one of the highlights.

The thing with this era of The Misfits is in order to appreciate it you have to consider it a totally different band than the original line-up. You just have to. Or Glenn might show up and beat your ass.

Just saying.

Three Songs Why I LOVE The Misfits w/ Michael Graves Prt. 3

And thus, finishing the holy trinity of Graves-era Misfits.

Three Songs Why I LOVE The Misfits w/ Michael Graves Prt. 2

As if that wasn't enough...

Three Songs Why I LOVE The Misfits w/ Michael Graves Prt. 1

This usually surprises people, hell it surprised me back in the day, but as big a fan I am of Danzig and Danzig-era Misfits, it does not interfere with my absolute LOVE of Michael Graves-era Misfits. Oh, I know, I know. Calm down. I know it's sacrilege, but seriously? Aren't Danzig and the Misfits all about Sacrilege and obliterating all that you hold holy? Then why oh why elevate them to that same position? Reminds me of the Golden Dawn talking shite about Christianity when they themselves adhered to a suspiciously Christian-like hierarchy. Further proof that any good idea put into practice by this mostly dumb animal called humanity ultimately corrupts itself and becomes what it sets out to fight.

None of that baggage muddies up the Misfits though. Graves-era is obviously waaaay more polished and a bit of a caricature but it is awesome nonetheless and if you doubt me then the this post as well as the two to follow are my not-so-subtle attempts at convincing you.