October has got to be the most popular month for horror movies. Everyone seems to crave a little scary viewing, even if they don’t identify as “horror fans”. Just try calling your local video rental store and checking stock on classics like The Exorcist, Scream, or Halloween– or just flip on the TV and see how many times those movies are rerun.
Whether you’re a veteran of gore or just want to get a little spooked this Halloween season, director Sam Raimi has a treat for you. You don’t even have to leave the house to rent it or have cable TV! He produced a series of exclusive shorts for FEARnet (a pretty cool horror and thriller website and video-on-demand provider) called Devil’s Trade. The story follows characters who buy a mysterious wooden cross from an online store called Devils Trade, and discover that the item is cursed. And not “fall on your face in public” cursed or even “break a couple bones” cursed. The 25 minute series is rated TVMA for good reason: while tension is its best asset, there’s no shortage of freaky, gory deaths. For such a short series, there’s a good amount of character development so you’ll actually care when each person gets he axe, which has become rare in new horror.
For another free short horror series, check out the new FEARnet exclusive that promotes 30 Days of Night called Blood Trails.
If you’re a fan of the paranormal, you’re going to want to carve out about 7 hours tomorrow to watch Most Haunted Live. Broadcast on the Travel Channel from 8PM EST on Friday, June 1, through 3 AM on Saturday, June 2, the MHL crew will be taking over Eastern State Penitentiary (or E.S.P.). The event will also be extended to the Internet, with multiple streaming webcams located within areas of the ESP.
This is their first US visit (as the show usually takes place in the UK), and they’ve chosen their location wisely. The visually stunning Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA, is considered one of America’s most haunted places, and has a dark and controversial history. It also hosts “Terror Behind The Walls”, one of America’s best loved, most terrifying, Halloween Haunts. (With all profits going towards preservation of the Prison. How cool is that?)
If the show gets you eager to see some real ghosts, there are plenty of Real Haunts located throughout the US. Happy ghost hunting!
Apparently, I’m the last one to know about modifying LEGO “mini figures” (the little dudes and dudettes): there are a lot of sites out there on the topic! If Legos aren’t your thing then you may have missed this phenomena too, but like many subjects, if you add at least a vaguely creepy aspect to it then it’s a lot more interesting. Case in point: A Lego Revivening and some Lego Halloween Monsters at Flickr. Look at those details!
Like the unrelenting undead, many Lego fans just keep barreling forward with their ideas and take the next logical step into making movies. My favorite of the ones I found is All of the Dead, a very short black and white film containing some great zombie chaos and cliches. Another funny Lego zombie shorty is Toxic Waste. Watch for the full sized items in the door barricading scene towards the end. There’s also a very abbreviated Lego Chainsaw Massacre, and a painstakingly shot-for-shot accurate Thriller with Legos. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve watched a Lego guy’s skull get bashed in with a hammer or try to do the Thriller dance.
What other creepy stuff can you do with your little Lego dudes? The evil mad scientists at Evil Mad Scientist Labs show you how LED lights + LEGO Minifigures = tiny creepy Halloween decorations. It’s a dang easy project and makes for very unique Halloween decor.
Have you made or found any creepy Lego projects online? Drop us a comment!
With Halloween so many months away, we’re always on the lookout for more landmarks to help us make it through the year. Back in September we wrote about the impending debut album from the fantastically creepy Creature Feature. Five months of nail biting later, Curtis and Erik have finally unleashed The Greatest Show Unearthed upon the world. Like Halloween, it was well worth the wait.
The album immediately sets the mood with the pop and hiss of an old recording, a ghostly circus calliope, and a monologue from Curtis’ dastardly ringmaster character. Suddenly, you are entering their Dark Carnival, wide eyed for the wonders that might be in store. The musical depth of the album is established a few moments later, as the duo manages to create a rich combination of music, character voices, and assorted sounds that seem to come from an entire circus full of ghouls. What’s even more impressive is the fact that Curtis and Erik write, perform, record, produce, mix, and master all of their own music “without any help from outside sources”. While they have both been in bands before, such a well-crafted debut album, especially one that was independently released, is a rarity. Every aspect is top-notch, from Curtis’ vocal range and fiery guitar solos to Erik’s deft use of the keyboard and various electronic background sounds. Their extreme dedication to following their vision, unhindered by a record label or other “handlers”, is undoubtedly responsible for the solidity of the album.
Creature Feature definitely has a focus in the macabre song topics that it explores, but unlike most bands with a theme or novelty aspect, their music has a versatile range. Borrowing from rock and electro they have created a sound that is beyond a simple “gothic rock electro” hybrid. They’re very visual artists and each of their songs invokes a mental image and feeling that draws the listener into their storyline. When you listen to Aim For The Head, you’re tempted to check your windows for the scraping fingernails of the undead. In Such Horrible Things, each of the wicked transgressions comes to life, and yet invokes a little conspiratorial smile from the listener. Their love of B-movies and vintage Sci-Fi à la Ray Bradbury flavors the entire landscape of songs, and in the near future it should spill into the music videos and movies that they are dying to create.
Around Halloween, the search for creepy tunes often leads even the most musically discerning of us to trite standbys (Monster Mash anyone?) or bands that are well-themed but unappealing musically. With Creature Feature you get the whole package: an album perfect for a Halloween party, but catchy and meaty enough to earn a place in your daily CD rotation. Grab a copy of The Greatest Show Unearthed for $15.99 post-paid through their website.
Another one of our favorites is the annual showing of The Simpsons Halloween Specials entitled Treehouse of Horror. The first Simpsons Halloween special was aired October 25th 1990 and is arguably still one of the best episodes. The next 9 years everyone got to enjoy a new Treehouse of Horror right before or on Halloween, but then things changed. Fox started airing the episodes after Halloween. Why? Well, according to the Wikipedia page on the subject, Fox’s contract with Major League Baseball’s world series takes precedent over the airing of the newest Treehouse of Horror before Halloween. So now we are stuck with a rerun of last years episode before, or on the 31st and the newest episode is aired after Halloween. The next episode is Treehouse of Horror XVII (17) and is set to air on November 5th 2006 with guest stars Richard Lewis, Dr. Phil McGraw and Fran Drescher.
If you are like us and need your fix of Simpsons Halloween Specials before Halloween rolls around you can purchase the Treehouse of Horror DVD. I want to give you fair warning though that this is only episodes V, VI, VII and XII (5,6,7 & 12). Yes it is disappointing, but when you need a fix, you need it. As of this writing there isn’t a DVD out there with more or all the Halloween episodes. The lowest price we found is from eCampus (less than at Amazon) and if you haven’t ordered from them before don’t worry, they are good. We’ve ordered from them numerous times and they have consistently low prices, fast shipping, and good service. The DVD includes one of our personal favorite episodes “The Shinning” as well as “Nightmare Cafeteria,” “Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace,” “House of Whacks,” and more.
For those of you who can’t get enough Simpsons Halloween Specials you can construct a Simpsons Halloween Village, with spooky sounds and lights. These are definitely collectibles as they are hand-cast and hand painted with great attention to detail. Enjoy the figurines of classic Treehouse of Horror characters like a Witchy Marge Simpson, a Bart-headed fly, Devilish Flanders, Count Burns, as well as buildings of The Simpsons family home, and the Kwik-E-Mart. All these and more are available exclusively from CollectionsToday.
It may be a little early for some of you, but we’ve got a couple spooky listening suggestions to put you in the Halloween mood. Music and broadcasts with a creepy, horror theme to them are part of a small but growing genre. Rue Morgue Radio claims to be “the world’s original all horror broadcast”, and at just over 2 years old it appears to still be leading the way. From their parent company, Rue Morgue Magazine (around since Halloween 1997), RMR features music, film and other art with a horror theme. Every Friday you’ll hear music from the likes of the Misfits, Barnes & Barnes, Alice Cooper, and Midnight Syndicate and interviews with notable horror movie makers and writers. There are also excerpts and trailers from movies (both new and old), and reviews of horror movies from a duo called The Caustic Critics. Like any podcast, some episodes are much better than others, but it’s an overall excellent broadcast that we tune into every week.
One of the bands featured several times on RMR is Creature Feature, a 2 piece band from Ventura, California that makes us squirm with delight! The first thought that popped into our heads as “The Greatest Show Unearthed” began playing was an easy, if incomplete, comparison. Creature Feature sounds like the soundtrack to a Tim Burton movie. Their lyrics read like one of his poems, and the mood and tone are of the same casual insanity. But beyond the lack of pretense and seemingly perfect aptitude for all things macabe, Creature Feature posesses a greater flexability. Of the 4 songs available on their MySpace page (their website is in the works), we hear promises of dark fun with a price, light-hearted nursery rhyme style obituaries, a tense zompocalypse narration, and a first person kidnapping plot with some genuinly creepy moments. Needless to say, we’re in love. Creature Feature will be playing in October in San Diego and we’re planning on doing a blog post about the show, so tune in next month for more on Curtis Rx and Erik X, aka Creature Feature.
