7 Days 'til Halloween

I received an email alerting me to the fact that the copy of Mr. Bungle's Raging Wraith of the Easter Bunny shipped yesterday. Oh glorious day! I cannot wait to double down on this one when it lands. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

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" & "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 Wicked" & "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

19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"

20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch

21) The Omen

23) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)

24) Joe Bob's Halloween Hideaway: Haunt/Hack-O-Lantern

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Playlist:

Zeal and Ardor - Wake of a Nation EP

Zeal and Ardor - Stranger Fruit

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - Ancestral Recall (pre-release single)

Emma Ruth Rundle and Thou - The Valley (pre-release single)

Deftones - Ohms 

Mr. Bungle - Sudden Death (pre-release single)

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Card:

Speed and negligence can bring about severe troubles. A great reminder on a day I woke up late for work.

8 Days 'til Halloween - New Zeal and Ardor Out Today!

 

New Zeal and Ardor dropped today! Six songs and Manuel Gagneux continues to evolve this project in ways that keep it feeling anything but stagnant or gimmicky. Love this band. Buy HERE.

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31 Days of Halloween:

Last night I went up to Hollywood and visited my friend Keller for the first time since early March. Hollyweird is not exactly a place I want to be at the moment, but tucked away in his apartment, the petri dish of the streets is far removed, so it at least felt safe. We talked, played each other a bunch of music we'd been into or found since our last palaver, and then rounded out the night with my DVD copy of Filmrise's Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait. Keller had never seen this, didn't even know it existed, and what's more, he had only days before just watched the original TCM for the first time. He's a brave man, and a student of film, so he did the scholarly thing and watched the original with the 2003 remake. Full disclosure: While there are a few small things I liked about that remake, it is a film I abhor. I hate Jessica Biel's 'acting' and the film's and its denouement's insistent on plying her character with enough water to soak her white shirt to her flesh. I hate the way the extremely impressive scene that follows the bullet through the hitchhiker's head and out the back becomes transparent in the final frame and you can clearly see the actor has been replaced with a dummy (otherwise, it's an awesome shot). I know there's more I hate about the film, but that's what I remember and I've thankfully put the rest out of my mind. 

But I digress. The original TCM is a classic, and we spent a good deal of time talking about its charms and strengths, then I showed him A Family Portrait - all in-depth interviews with the primary film's villains - Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, John Dugan, and of course, Gunnar Hansen. They tell stories about the film's set, and the absolute insanity director Tobe Hooper used to sculpt the set, mood, and performances of the cast. 

Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait will blow your mind, and it is definitely the film that helped grow my appreciation of the original film into the holy reverence I hold it in (it's not a film I watch often, and I'm not a card-carrying, memorabilia-collecting fan, but when I do find myself in the mood to watch it, I do so in quiet reverence every time). I consider A Family Portrait and essential companion piece to the original film, and lo and behold, the entire thing is on youtube:

 

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" & "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 Wicked" & "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

19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"

20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch

21) The Omen

23) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait/Masters of Horror: "Sick Girl" (Lucky McKee)

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New Creepshow animated special hits Shudder THIS Thursday, 10/29 - just in time for Halloween!

While season on of Shudder's Creepshow started out with a bang but kind of became a series of diminishing returns, I'm still of the opinion that any Creepshow is better than no Creepshow. Can't wait!

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Playlist:

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

Ministry - The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste

Joy Division - Still

16 Horsepower - Low Estate

Crystal Castles - II

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

The Misfits - Earth A.D.

The Rollins Stones - Hot Rocks 2

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Card:

Grandiose ideas and the Will to transmute them from intangible to palpable.

9 Days 'til Halloween - Deafheaven Live Daedalus

New, live Deafheaven from the forthcoming double-live album Ten-Years Gone, out December 4th on Sargent House. Pre-order HERE. 

I ordered mine along with a nifty long-sleeve shirt back in March (I think it was March). I received the shirt shortly after, and only just recently remembered the good news that there was Deafheaven vinyl on the horizon.

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31 Days of Halloween:

Believe it or not, I'd never seen the original The Omen in its entirety. I fixed that last night, however... not a fan. It has a few moments, and I enjoyed David Warner, but overall, this one just feels like it's a bunch of Hollywood types 'hanging out in horror' because it was seen as a lucrative career move after the success of The Exorcist. I'm not saying I'm right, but that's how it felt to me.

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" & "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 Wicked" & "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

19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"

20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch

21) The Omen

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Playlist:

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium

I took a break from the Halloween vibe today and whipped up a Spotify playlist based on a lot of stuff I was listening to ten years ago or so. Here it is:

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Card:

Undertaking an arduous working will tax the Will. This is an indication to replenish it, which I'm looking at my month-long Sam Hain celebration as a battery-charging exercise for.

10 Days 'til Halloween - New Kill or Be Killed

 Holy smokes! New Kill or Be Killed dropped last week and I had no idea! I've still yet to break into Greg's solo record Child Soldier, which dropped a few weeks ago, but I think as soon as All Hallows passes and November settles in, I'll start really digging into this stuff. 

New KoBK Reluctant Hero is out November 20th on Nuclear Blast, pre-order HERE.

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31 Days of Halloween:

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" & "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 Wicked" & "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

19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 "Lover Come Hack to Me"

20) George A. Romero's Season of the Witch

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NCBD

Some great stuff this week.

This book really has been fantastic. Such an interesting, original take on the Zombie genre, and a large part of the story really plays more with mashing that up with a kind of neo-noir crime story. Very cool.

Bebop and Rocksteady? Can't wait to see these two make their return to the book. 

The penultimate issue of Gideon Falls! I'll be sorry to see this one go, but I can't wait to see what Andrea Sorrentino does next!

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Playlist:

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Joy Division - Still

PLaNETS - The Dark Woods

John Carpenter - Lost Themes

Also, new installment of Bret Easton Ellis' new, serialized novel/memoir dropped this week. SO GOOD. Sign up for his Patreon HERE to get in on this.

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Card:

I feel like this week is all about fortitude, so this card makes perfect sense. Between being short at work, my back acting a bit weird again, starting in on writing again, and being on call, my hands are full and two days into the work week, I'm already feeling as though I'm running on empty. That said, I always manage to rise to the occasion.

11 Days 'till Halloween

 

Time to break out the MLWTTKK. While Confessions of a Knife is my go-to from them, the first album is pretty rad as well, and nothing on it lights my fire like this track.

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31 Days of Halloween:

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

19) Lovecraft Country episode 10/Tales From the Crypt season 1 ep. 5 Love Come Hack to Me

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Playlist:

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

Fields of the Nephilim - Elizium

Geraldine Fibbers - Butch

Naked Raygun - Basement Screams

Mrs. Piss - Self-Surgery

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Type O Negative - Origin of the Feces

Alice in Chains - Dirt

My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult - I see Good Spirits, I See Bad

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Card:

More inspiration, most likely from a larger-than-life source.

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.

Bandcamp Sunday: Chris May

 Full Disclosure: Chris is a long-time friend. Like, seriously long time. He was one of the first two people I made friends with upon moving to the Palos area in the South Suburbs of Chicago in fourth grade. Yes, fourth grade. Chris has had many musical and visual projects over the years, G. Reed for one and later, Venue being the main one I tracked. He was also a part of Schlitz Family Robinson during arguably our best, most interesting live period back in the mid/late 90s. Over the years he's honed his video editing skills to an almost unparalleled degree, and now he's doing these audio/visual works and has begun posting them on Bandcamp, and they're fantastic.