Your Favorite Toy

 

From Ritual Veil's 2017's Wolf in the Night EP, available from Avant! Records. The Ritual Veil Bandcamp is located HERE.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One In Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth

10/17 - Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

10/18 - Random Acts of Violence/Two Witches/Let the Right One In Episode 2

 

Two Witches is a new film that just hit Arrow's streaming app on 10/17. Pretty damn good, and would make a fantastic double feature with H6LLB6ND6R. Props to Peter Tsigaridis on his first feature.

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NCBD:

Pretty big haul this week. Damn. 

Not entirely sure I'll be continuing this one, but I can at least give it to the end of the second issue, if not the first arc (much like the last).

A Halloween one-off that immediately earns my $$$ by featuring not just Moon Knight but Man-Thing (aka Ted) on the cover. SOLD!

The final issue! Holy sh*t! End of an era indeed. I will miss Deadly Class so very much. This and Black Science - both by Rick Remender - defined a certain era of my life, and as sad as I was to see Black Science end a few years ago, it's Deadly Class that will be taking my heart with it. That said, I always prefer the books that leave too soon than those that overstay their welcome. Kudos to Mr. Remender for holding his ground on all these titles launched under his Giant Generator imprint. Can't wait to see what's next.

Moon Knight!

Issue one blew me away. 

So far so good on this Predator series. This issue, I believe we have a big throw-down coming. 

Final Issue? I'm not really sure. This story is, as I've said previously, completely insane. 

Yes! Finally, the fireman's story!

I really can't wait for this series to get in gear; feels like it's been MONTHS since issue #1. 

Love this cover. That face on Forge's vest - Krakoa? Either way, it's creepin' me the f*&k out.

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Playlist:

Fantômas - The Director's Cut

Diamond Galas - The Litanies of Satan

Sa Bruxa - Ritual

Ritual Veil - Wolf in the Night EP

Odonis Odonis - Spectrums

Various - Every Day (Is Halloween) Chicago Industrial Playlist

Here Lies Lucy - Heaven or HLL EP

Carpenter Brut - Blood Machines OST

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Card:

I've been wanting to pull the Raven Tarot back out, but as I've been in three-card-spread mode, and I can't imagine doing a spread with all Major Arcana cards, I had to find a way to augment the reading. Then I thought, hell -why not mix two decks. Voila! A lot of good ideas bring abound fresh ideas, fresh breath and better circumstances.

AHS NYC

 

Happy Monday, October 17th! Here's some Dance with the Dead to wake all our asses up! From the B-Sides: Vol. 1 collection, which is available on the group's Bandcamp HERE.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One in Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

10/16 - Spider Baby/101 Scariest Horror Movie Moments/Night's End/Behemoth

Jennifer Reeder's Night's End hit Shudder a few months back as a Shudder original and kind of got pushed right past my radar by all the other titles that came in hot on its heels. Luckily, while browsing back through the "All Movies" heading, I stumbled on it. Fantastic film. a tight 81 minutes, this one really pulls you into the protagonist's inner world with visual cues, then kind of explodes all over the place in the final act. Loved it.

Also, we have the first episode of AHS NYC dropping this coming Wednesday, and I'm pretty excited. I don't think it's any coincidence that this season lands just after David Bruckner's Hellraiser and appears to focus on a lot of the same imagery and even, possibly, an extension of the scene that inspired Barker to write the original The Hellbound Heart. 

Will this be American Horror Story's version of Hellraiser? Probably not exactly, but it looks like it will scratch a similar itch.

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Playlist:

Boy Harsher - Burn It Down EP

Boy Harsher - Careful

Miranda Sex Garden - Fairytales of Slavery

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Public Memory - Veil of Counsel EP

G.I.S.M. - Detestation

Jammes Luckett - May OST

Goblin - 2013 Tour EP

Claudio Simonetti - Phenomena OST

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

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Card:

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

Say no more. This is one of those "loud and clear" readings: I haven't gotten shit down with writing in weeks. The second week in LA, when I stayed with friends, fine. That's an excuse. Working, commuting, seeing almost a flick a night and a concert? But I've been back a week tonight (technically a week tomorrow morning) and I've only written once. That has to change. I need to focus my energies on that time, and apply my Will. 

Havana Lied

 

Currently eying a vinyl copy of this in Denmark. One of my favorite albums of all time, and absolutely perfect for the grey, rainy Autumn weather I'm currently immersed in.

 

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One in Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

10/15 - Halloween Ends/Ed Wood/Plan 9 From Outer Space

BIG movie day yesterday. I've hyperlinked two of those entries because I wrote Letterbxd reviews for each. Also, the episode of The Horror Vision that will drop later today/early tomorrow will be our Spoiler-Free/Full-Spoiler Halloween Ends entry, so definitely check that out if you need a reason to see it (then stop it when we go spoilers), or, if you've already seen the film, Butcher and I do a fairly deep discussion on it. In a nutshell, we both really liked it.

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Playlist:

Dance With the Dead - B-Sides, Vol. 1

Goblin - Tour 2013 EP

Claudio Simonetti - Phenomena OST

Boy Harsher - Burn It Down

Shawn's Halloween Playlist on Spotify

Boy Harsher - Burn It Down

 

A new EP dropped from Boy Harsher, and for four tracks consisting of entirely reworking one song - the titular Burn It Down - I dig. The "Rework" version above is probably my favorite. These two have kind of blown up since I saw them open for The Soft Moon back in, Christ, 2016. A short film on Shudder, quite a few high-profile live shows and notoriety from a lot of their peers in both the music and film communities, but I hope this release heralds a new album on the horizon. 

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One in Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

10/14 - Halloween Kills

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Read:

I have to give a very enthusiastic recommendation for two Horror comics that came out recently. First, Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla's Night of the Ghoul:

My god was this first issue spectacular. Working on the premise that the screenwriter who wrote the original Universal Monsters (or this book's version of them) also wrote an autobiographical Horror film that was burned and lost due to its revelation of actual events, this book really goes deep into story and sets the stage for what will be - if Snyder's other works are to be considered - a fantastic Horror epic. Can't wait for issue two.

Secondly, Joshua Williamson and Andre Bressan's Dark Ride:

This book reunites the team who did the book Birthright, which despite not being into I mention here because I know a lot of folks who loved that book. Dark Ride presupposes a deal with dark forces decades ago has led to the creation of a mega-corporation Horror theme park - a place Horror fans travel from all over the world to visit, but which actually contains dark, terrible secrets which are all coming to a boil based on inner-family agendas. Another book that I really liked and can't wait to continue, and another with a huge first issue.

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Playlist:

Fantomas - The Director's Cut

Boy Harsher - Burn It Down EP

Boy Harsher - Careful

Cold Cave - Full Cold Moon

Bad Looks - Eponymous (Single)

Final Light - Eponymous

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Card:

Determination can disrupt harmony - I suppose in some manner of speaking that's its job - and this can lead to uneven thinking; the concern or worry that good things will not last, or after disruption, stabilization will become impossible to achieve again. I think I need a clarifier here, so:

Well, that's pretty clear, isn't it? Always nice when the cards cut right to the point.

Let the Right One In

 

How about a little Fields of the Nephilim to start this fine Autumn day, eh? I'm telling you, the leaves are crispy and colorful, the air is cool with hints of smoke and rain, and my brain is full-on October. Oh, how I have missed this!!!

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31 Days of Halloween:

First, I totally forgot that I watched the first episode of Showtime's new Let the Right One In series earlier in the week, so I've added that below. I was one of those weird moments where I was talking to someone about it the night before, my phone obviously overheard me say I was considering re-subscribing to Showtime to watch it, and the next day I had an email from Showtime offering $3.99 a month for the next three months. 

Sold.

 

I REALLY liked the first episode. Great setup for an ongoing series based on this. Reminds me that I never read the novel, and should do that at some point. The author, John Ajvide Lindqvist, also wrote Handling the Dead, which I read a few years back and really dug. 

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Let the Right One in Episode 1/Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

10/13 - Monstrous/VHS (Amateur Night segment)

While scrolling around Showtime, I noticed Chris Sivertson's Monstrous is on the platform; this is a flick I'd been meaning to see for some time, but which completely dropped off my radar shortly after I posted the trailer back in April. Ends up, Monstrous is a very well-made and gorgeous movie that I didn't quite take to, despite everything on screen looking and feeling great. This may have been due to some stomach issues I've been having forcing us to pause the film several times, creating gaps in the experience. Whatever the case, if you have Showtime, it's worth checking out.

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Read:

Almost every year I read two Graphic Novels in October, Rick Spears and Rob G's Teenagers from Mars and James O'Barr's original The Crow. This year, however, since I still haven't acquired bookshelves, A LOT of my books are still packed. I plan on rifling through everything to find these, but in the meantime, the hankering came over me the other night and I realized I would now add a third because it totally fits this time of year for me, and because it was right in front of me:

Originally reading Kraven's Last Hunt as it was published across all three Spidey titles at the time (Amazing, Spectacular and Web) in October of 1987 (I was eleven), I think this is the series that defined my love for Spider-Man. I'll always prefer the Black Costume. Not the symbiote, the black costume. I'll also always consider this a Horror story. It's damn terrifying, maybe not in the I'm afraid to fall asleep way (but what fiction is as an adult?), but in the "Jesus, that's really terrifying" way. You identify so many events in this story as dark A.F. and the ending... wow.  Anyway, I am thoroughly enjoying my re-read, for which I am using the Hard Cover I bought about a decade ago, leaving my original floppies safe in their bags and boards.

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Playlist:

Rein - Reincarnated

Rein - Freedom EP

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1994  Edition)

Jammes Luckett - May OST

Jim Williams - Possessor OST

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets (1998 Edition)

Burzum - Filosofem

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Card:

Middle-of-the-Night pull last night with my mini-Thoth:

A new idea will require extra fortitude to pull-off, but if followed through, can change things completely. I love when every spread I pull seems to hone in on a project I'm working on.

Smile

 

I completely forgot about the fact that a new album from The Mars Volta dropped back in... early August? Really? Holy smokes am I behind. Having only heard the one other single I posted sometime back in late June/early July, I have no context for the album, however, this particular song as a single? Not a criticism, but definitely a head-scratcher. I can only imagine the impetus for this may well have been the images for the video. Either way, I'll be making the full plunge into the entire album later today. 

You can order the new, self-titled album from the band directly HERE.

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Watch:

I headed out to the local Regal Cinema last night to cross another recently released Horror film off my list. To my complete and utter surprise, Smile is absolutely fantastic. 

No disrespect to first-time Feature director Parker Finn, who totally knocked this out of the park. My misgivings with the film had to do with the trailer - I just thought it looked like something this totally is not (which is why I'm only using a poster here)!  

Smile is creepy, atmospheric, and, at times, genuinely frightening. Sosie Bacon's frenetic terror at seeing something no one else can makes Elizabeth Moss's in the 2019 Invisible Man look almost calming. We basically watch anxiety and fear eat a woman alive for an hour and a half, and it's glorious for all its moments of, literally, sheer terror. HIGHLY recommended in a theatre, as the score and sound design are top-notch.

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31 Days of Halloween:

10/1 - Trick 'r Treat

10/2 - Barbarian

10/3 - Hellraiser ('84)

10/4 - Phenomena

10/5 - Hellraiser (2022)

10/6 - The Dark Backward

10/7 - Sick/The Beyond

10/8 - Werewolf By Night

10/9 - Something in the Dirt

10/10 - Lux Aeterna

10/11 - My Best Friend's Exorcism/Grimcutty

10/12 - Smile

I'm not being completely accurate with the days while I was in LA - there wasn't time every day to watch movies, so on other days when we top-loaded extra flicks, I've taken generous liberties and spread them around to fill in the gaps. From here out, however, it's day by day!

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Playlist:

Ritual Veil - Wolf in the Night EP

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Final Light - Eponymous

Fields of the Nephilim - The Nephilim

Sylvaine - Nova

Miranda Sex Garden - Suspiria

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses 

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Card:

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

Staying grounded can lead to healthy returns, both emotionally and economically.

My First Autumn in Sixteen Years!!!

Now that I'm home and can partake properly, let's start things off in October with some Type O! This is the first time I'm experiencing Autumn since I moved from Chicago back in May of 2006, so I am EXCITED!!! Also, this is K's first Autumn ever, so it's even more of a thrill seeing the adorable wonderment that overtakes her as she watches the trees change, sits outside as a Thunderstorm rolls in, or sniffs the smell of the Dying Time that hangs in the wonderful Tennessee air.

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31 Days of Halloween:

1) Trick 'r Treat

2) Barbarian

3) Hellraiser ('84)

4) Phenomena

5) Sick

6) The Beyond

7) Hellraiser (2022)

8) Werewolf By Night

9) Something in the Dirt

10) Lux Aeterna

11) Grimcutty

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NCBD:

Pretty mellow pull this week, which is good, because I have books stacked up in my box at Rick's Comic City from the past two while I was away in LaLaLand. Here's what's on the menu for today:

I'm pretty behind on my reading, so I won't get to some of these for a while, especially if this catch-up pace at work persists (took my post-travel day off on Tuesday, as I worked until 4:30 PM Monday, then ubered to LAX and didn't land at BNA until around 1:20 AM. Collecting my bag and ubering home to Clarksville put my much-anticipated arrival at around 2:30 AM. So I was TIRED). 

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Playlist:

Sylvaine - Nova

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

The Flamingos - Best of Playlist

The Ronettes - Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes

Alice in Chains - Dirt

Type O Negative - Dead Again

Northern Boys - Party Time (single)

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right To Children

Stereolab - Pulse of the Early Brain (Switched On Vol. 5)

Cold Cave - Full Cold Moon

Rein - Reincarnated

Zombie - 2020

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Card:

I've been dying to get back to my Bound Tarot deck from Jonathan Grimm, especially since Grimm currently has a Kickstarter going for a full-on Art of the Bound Tarot Hardcover Book! You can check out and support the Kickstarter HERE. 

Today's spread:

So, delicate machinations will require a sacrifice to reveal hidden information? Also, and I almost never read the cards this way, but if you add 12+02+18 you get 32, or the day after 31 Days of Halloween, so perhaps I should set my sights on that as the day to release the free Kindle exclusive, which I originally hoped would land in October.