Oct 10 2014
Late 80’s Finnish Psychobilly (what a combination, eh?) band Tom Cat Rebels had a plethora of covers in their short-lived career. One of their songs was a cover of Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer.” It’s an interesting take on the song, though I have to side with the original. There’s something generally evil about it.
A demo version that included a cello appeared over a year ago. It’s an addition of a very unusual, deranged element to an already psychotic song. What do you think?
VS.
or
Oct 10 2014
It’s hard to say which now-defunct museum sounds more interesting: The Museum of Funeral Customs or Jones’ Fantastic Museum (which had horror author Wilum Hopfrog Pugmire playing a vampire who scared guests).
For years I assumed the “Davy Jones” associated with “Davy Jones’ Locker” was a famous sailor of some sort. It turns out he’s actually a sea monster!
Chris Carter had wanted Carl Kolchak to make an appearance in an episode of The X-Files, but Darren McGavin didn’t want to revisit the character.
The Ring novel series is much more complicated (and bizarre) than its cinematic counterparts.
Stephen King has a surprisingly large amount of unfinished, unpublished or rarely reprinted material in his body of work.
Here are all the notable graduates of “The Corman Film School.”
It’s funny how Cry Baby Lane gained a reputation as a movie so scary it was never shown again just because people couldn’t understand why Nickelodeon felt no need to rebroadcast a disposable TV movie. Now if you want to talk about a banned Nickelodeon Halloween event…
Kurt Vonnegut once wrote an interesting take on the story of Frankenstein called Fortitude. On a related note, there’s a movie about a young girl’s search for Frankenstein’s monster and a musical stage comedy called Frankenstein, or The Vampire’s Victim.
King Kong has had quite the career in comic books, despite the complications with the character’s rights.
Speaking of which, comic books play a large role in the annual Rutland Halloween Parade (and vice versa).
Just like last year, let’s close things with a bunch of lists. This year’s selection includes a list of “Monster of the Week” characters from The X-Files, a list of Halloween TV specials, a list of all The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” episodes, a list of unusual deaths and a list of vampire traits.
Oct 10 2014
To quote the description given at the new listing:
“Making up for lost time, we drive into the heart of the Season with music from Zombie Ghost Train, The Loveless and more. We also have Killer Kuts from Kraig Khaos, The Monstermatt Minute and we head down the HIGHWAY TO HELL with Heather Buckley’s Oddscurities.”
Remember to email 6′+ (contact at 6ftplus.com) or leave a comment below about the show, whether you liked it or not. Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes, but above all – enjoy.
You can find all episodes of 6′+ over at the official site as well as on iTunes, Stitcher and Spreaker. They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.
Oct 09 2014
The lo-fi surf-influenced horror rock of Monster A Go-Go is great for any party, especially for those going on during this month. Head over to Goblinhaus.com and pick up the release TRANSYlVANIA-MANIA to get a fearful earful of some of the best stuff around.
45 Grave’s wikipedia page lists them as “progenitors of the horror punk subgenre,” which means they helped started the damn thing. In addition to horror punk (they’re known for “Party Time” from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD) they dabble in some instrumentals, like “SURF BAT.”
I like them both. What do you think?
Oct 09 2014
It’s been a long time since I shared free coloring sheets for Halloween, so I imagine you have since run out of new material for the little ones in your life.
If you enjoy this vintage promotional coloring sheet from The Monster and the Ape that Hollywood Gorilla Men was kind enough to share, then you’ll go ape over Vintage Cinema Ads’ uploads of these three coloring sheets for King Kong.
From Zombos’ Closet has lots of pressbook scans featuring coloring sheets, such as the one from The Terror which illustrates this article. I particularly enjoyed the ones offered for The Giant Claw, Something Wicked This Way Comes and Krull. Those last ones should also appeal to older coloring enthusiasts due to the subject matter and smaller spaces between the lines.
Speaking of coloring pages with appeal to both younger and older audiences, Bogleech is selling a coloring book which is designed to gradually go from kid-friendly to gruesome. There are sample pages available online, both kid friendly and not so friendly.
Coloring Page Kids.com has a ton of freebies available, ranging from a complete spooky alphabet to more standard Halloween fare.
Halloween Coloring Pages definitely lives up to its name and Pinterest is a great resource for leads on free coloring sheets as well.
Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for the content on or anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of visiting or downloading from any links on those sites. Attempt at your own discretion.
Oct 09 2014
It’s the 9th of October and it’s my annual reminder that Spirit Halloween is a peddler of cheap shit and horribly racist and sexist costumes (and just some downright idiotic ones). And that’s even before you factor in the allegations of their parent company stocking goods which are claimed to use stolen designs.
I mean, look at something. You’re shopping on their website and hey – take a look at this STITCH CHOKER they’re selling:
Fuck. THAT SURE LOOKS FAMILIAR. LIKE, something we wrote about four years ago-type-of-familiar.
OH SHIT.
If you want to read more reasons why you’re an asshole if you go into Spirit Halloween this season, check out these reasons here and here. I don’t need to repeat myself as to why you’d be a shithead TO THE FULLEST DEFINITION OF THE WORD if you frequent any of those establishments.
And another Halloween Tradition is upheld: Fuck Spencer’s Gifts. Fuck Spirit Halloween. And if you shop at either of those stores: Fuck You.
Oct 08 2014
The Tombstone Brawlers are no more. Iron Maiden will never die.
The Tombstone Brawlers were staples of NYC Psychobilly. But they’ve metamorphosed into The Omega Men. Like them and be a fan of them. We’ve got two Tombstone Brawler albums to remember the good times, of which one has this Iron Maiden cover.
Iron Maiden. People LIVE AND DIE for Iron Maiden. Mostly Europeans, but Americans love ’em too. I mean, heavy metal. Iron Maiden and Motorhead are the whiskey-infused blood of metal. Though, King Diamond is touring this year – and that’s awesome.
I like both covers. But there’s something about Iron Maiden’s original that just WORKS.
What do you think?
Oct 08 2014
So, it’s official?
After years of trying to get a Third Ghostbusters off the ground, with reports of Bill Murray returning a shredded script to Dan Aykroyd, we get confirmation that the writer (Katie Dippold) and director (Paul Feig) of The Heat are going to helm a third Ghostsbusters movie that will start “hilarious women.”
This doesn’t confirm that the entire cast WILL be women, as speculated and suggested by Bill Murray.
This is great…except…sorta? Look, I had two Ghostbusters movies and a cartoon series as a kid. I’ve pretty much don’t claim any ownership on the property anymore, so if they want to have an all female cast, that’s great.
But here’s the catch – I’ve been on a binge of the archives of ‘Doug Loves Movies’ and he talked about how he wasn’t surprised that ‘Bridesmaids’ was a great movie because, and I paraphrase, ‘it starred a lot of funny women in a movie directed by a man.’ It wasn’t meant to be serious, but it did highlight that despite these movies that put women up front, it’s behind the camera that’s still occupied by men. You can have Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Kristin Wiig and Melissa McCarthy fighting a Zuul-possessed Rebel Wilson in a script penned by Katie Dippold and it’s still going to be a Paul Feig movie.
So, we need more women directors. You can argue that it’s a meritocracy but if you think that Paul Feig’s auteurship is really what made ‘Bridesmaids’ funny, I disagree.
That is all.
Oct 08 2014
A rejected version of the “Library Ghost” prop from Ghostbusters was later retooled for use in Fright Night!
Japan is home to dining establishments based on Resident Evil and Suspiria.
Although the names of the men used to create Frankenstein’s monster have never been revealed, the identity of the woman used to create his “Bride” is one Madeleine Ernestine.
Afterlife With Archie isn’t Archie’s first attempt at serious horror, as Sabrina the Teenage Witch used to act as the host of a horror comic book. What else an I say? The 70’s were a weird time for Archie comics.
The titular characters in Invasion of the Blood Farmers were initially going to be aliens before budget issues resulted in them getting the origin used in the film.
There was almost a crossover between Picket Fences and The X-Files. Seriously.
There was a made for TV sequel to Rosemary’s Baby. Speaking of which, the Devil costume seen in the 70’s cheapie Asylum of Satan is claimed to be the one used in Rosemary’s Baby.
Although plans were made for a game based on The Car, Kenner ultimately abandoned the idea.
Best known for the literary classic The Outsiders, S.E. Hinton is apparently very fond of Supernatural and has written numerous fan fiction about characters from the show.
One of the earliest dramatic television shows is the 30’s series The Television Ghost, which consisted of a man dressed as a ghost telling the story of how he died.
Once upon a time, Miramax had plans on making a modern day anthology film. However, the project never came to be since two of the planned three segments were deemed so impressive they were expanded into feature films: Mimic and Impostor. The third segment, Alien Love Triangle, saw limited release as a short film.
When the exploits of a Japanese serial killer made Toho nervous about a planned zombie movie, they reworked the project into the science fiction film Mikadroid. The already completed zombie props were then used to depict corpses in said film.
During the planning stages of the first Godzilla movie, the king of the monsters was saddled with some unusual design concepts.
Oct 08 2014
That’s right, the fourth annual International Independent Video Store Day is a mere 10 days away! So be sure to mark your calendars and clear your schedules. You can learn more about the event (and see which stores in your area are participating) at the official Video Store Day website. Please spread the word!
Oct 07 2014
I thought that by the time this popped up, the AV Club would have debuted the video of GWAR covering the Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls.” Maybe because that was leaked prior to the release of the video, they’re delaying it (or securing it as the finale for this season of AV Club’s UNDERCOVER series, where bands go in to cover other people’s songs.) GWAR has won the “Which band did you think was the best” vote, two years in a row. Their first trip saw the band render Kansas’s “Carry On My Wayward Son” as a metal haymaker, following it up the next year with a version of Billy Ocean’s “Get Out Of My Dreams (And Into My Car)” that was divine in not only incorporating elements of “Baba O’Reilly” by The Who but actually making that ridiculous Billy Ocean song enjoyable.
So, as we wait, I’m write this out before the debut of GWAR doing “West End Girls.” This will be the second time GWAR has appeared at the AV Club with a new bandmember in tow. “Carry On My Wayward Son” was the informal debut of Pustulus Maximus, the character that replaced Flattus Maximus, who was retired with the untimely passing of GWAR guitarist Corey Smoot.
This time, GWAR appears with two new members, replacing another recently lost member. Two people replacing one seems a lot, but this time, the band lost their lead singer, founding member and overall face of GWAR – Dave “Oderus Urungus” Brockie. Brockie died due to a heroin overdose in March.
And that fucking sucks.
The future of GWAR was uncertain until this summer’s GWAR-B-Q and subsequent appearances at RIOT FEST. News came out earlier that former GWAR member Mike Bishop, who first portrayed bassist Beefcake The Mighty, would take over for vocals. It’s Bishop who sang “Cool Place To Park,” “Eat Steel,” and “Fight” on past GWAR records. He has returned to the group as Blöthar the Bezerker. He’s joined by Vulvatron, a co-vocalist who is the first female member of GWAR since Slymenstra Hymen left in 2000.
GWAR isn’t unfamiliar with cover songs. On, in my opinion, one of their best albums, the group did justice to “School’s Out” by horror rock icon Alice Cooper.
Alice Cooper. What’s there left to say about Alice Cooper? I really like WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE. The guy might now be a Christian Republican, but he still puts on a great show. Personally, I’d go to a GWAR show before an Alice Cooper one, mainly because I could afford GWAR. Plus, the blood. Gotta love the blood. But both Alice Cooper and GWAR are pioneers of shock and roll, with an emphasis on showmanship backed by quality music.
So. Which one do you like better?
Oct 07 2014
Lighting is one of the most important aspects of spooky decorating, whether it’s for a haunted attraction or just for your house on Halloween night. Dim light can create atmosphere and hide flaws in (if not enhance) props while a light in the darkness and can lure eyes (or people) to a specific location. Lights shining under a glass tabletop can make the potions placed on top glow and two lit windows can make a house seem alive, especially if said windows are of the “quarter round” variety. You don’t need to have tons of lights; you just need the amount that’s right for what you are trying to achieve. As the above picture from The Old Man and the Street shows, you can make a house look incredibly creepy just by using colored floodlights.
Let’s look at the different types of colored lighting found in haunted attractions. Your standard lightbulb creates “white” light that, while useful in some types of setups, goes mostly unused in its undimmed form (unless it is used with silhouettes in windows and shadows on walls). Ultraviolet or “black” light can be used to make certain materials have an eerie glow but can only be effectively used in darkness without other light sources. On the plus side, this lets performers wearing a combination of black fabric and white clothing create ghostly effects. White fabric treated with RIT Whitener & Brightener glows especially well. Red is a color traditionally associated with heat and caution, if not outright danger. So naturally it is often used to light scenes where fire or blood is expected, like a boiler room or cannibal butcher shop. Green light is frequently utilized in rooms involving swamps, aliens, radiation and like. But it also is used in many other types of scenes which we traditionally don’t associate with the color. Blue is often used to simulate moonlight due to its shade and weak intensity. But they can be used for more than just casting an entire scene in a single color.
Light of any color used on one or more props in dark or dimly lit settings can be quite striking when done properly. Blue lights are also effective when used to spotlight certain props and hide what is an otherwise sparsely decorated room. They can also be mixed to great effect. Check out these pictures if you don’t believe me. Blue and green do go well together, but the stark contrast between red and green can make for some amazing visual effects. Several haunters and Halloween decorators recommend using blue to provide overall lighting, with red lights in the background and green lights aimed at props in the foreground. The contrast between red and green can also be used for transformation effects. No, I’m not talking about a variation on the Pepper’s Ghost transformation effect. It’s a much simpler effect which takes advantage of two important details about the color. We already know about how it contrasts with green, but did you know certain shades of red makeup seem to vanish under a strong red light? A person wearing scary red makeup seems to go from normal to monstrous when the light becomes green. This method was even used to enhance the transformation scenes in the 1931 film adaptation of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
In addition to the basic tips I gave to help you you get started, I have gathered up as many Halloween lighting tutorials as I could find (starting with two of the most highly regarded tutorials on the matter):
SkullAndBone.com Haunt Lighting Tutorial
Lighting: Seven Layers of Scare
Designing with Light & Shadow | Home Haunting
Basic Lighting Theory – Haunted House
Halloween Lighting Tips – Omar’s Haunted Trail
Wolfstone’s Halloween Technology Roadmap
Lighting Tip for Haunted Houses
How To Light Up Your Halloween Display & Holiday Decorations
Halloween Lighting Tips & Tricks
Lighting for your Haunted House or Attraction
Halloween Yard Haunter – Halloween Lighting Ideas and Tips
Spooky Halloween Lighting Tips & Ideas – Apartment Therapy
5 Tips for Spooky Halloween Lighting | Redbeacon
Halloween Lighting Tips | 1000Bulbs.com
As for tutorial focusing solely on black lights, Ken Pitek’s Halloween Propmaker’s Handbook has an entire chapter devoted to tips on using them in haunts and My Ghoul Friday has a wonderful web guide on the matter (along with some other creepy lighting ideas for Halloween).
There are also lots of ideas, if not full-fledged tutorials, for special lighting equipment available:
BlackLight Shelf – Muddy River Haunt
PUMPKINROT.COM: What’s Brewing: Witch JarsPortable and cheap lighting for outdoor decorations
Devils Road
Backyard Imagineering – Pirates of the Caribbean Fire
Haunted House Flicker Strobe
Lightning Light Box
Homemade LED spotlights – Haunter’s List
Taking pictures of your displays which accurately capture the lighting can be hard. Really, really hard. Thankfully there is plenty of helpful advice available online:
Halloween Photo Tips Series: Lighting | Photo LizM
5 Tips to Improve Your Halloween Photography
13 Photographic Techniques for Spooky Halloween Photos
And if that isn’t enough for you, here’s an online tool which can be used to check out lighting effects will look before you set them up. Why waste all that time setting up and rearranging things when you can accomplish the same thing with a few clicks of the mouse?
Special thanks to The Old Man and the Street for use of the image!
Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for the content on or anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of visiting any links on the above sites (or constructing a project that’s detailed on them). This also applies to the suggestions made here. Attempt at your own discretion.
Oct 06 2014
Stage Frite was a short lived Psychobilly band during the 80’s UK heyday. They hung around and played with some of the bigger bands, recording their ISLAND OF LOST SOULS album before breaking up. I like their sound, and their song “Noises” is really great. It would be nice is a current band would do a cover of THAT.
What can be said about Creedence? They’re a fun band and The Dude likes them. Their original is pretty fun – you can see how the band seems almost jovial as they play it live. They bop along.
Which one do you like better?
Oct 06 2014
Ray O’Bannon has not only updated his yearly selection of Halloween treats, but he’s really outdone himself this time around. And there’s even more free downloads on the other sections of his website!
wikiHow has great articles on nice tricks you can play on Halloween and a must-read one on how to avoid annoying performers in haunted attractions.
This guy has a rather unique idea for a yard haunt.
Speaking of yard haunts, you can make quick and easy corpses thanks to Instructables.
Do you have an old plastic pumpkin treat pail that’s just gathering dust? Why not use it to create concrete pumpkin planters!
Chad Savage offers a ton of free creepy fonts and Christian Annyas has a breathtaking collection of lettering and typography culled from 80’s horror movie posters.
The official Facebook page for the cult classic Spookies has a great selection of rare images…and several cast and crew members looking back on what went wrong. You can also find some cool merchandise from the film here. But if you want to see an example of a bad movie which wasn’t the result of someone meddling with the script, then you should check out this interview with the writer of Mega Shark Vs. Mecha Shark.
Those who enjoy crocheting should appreciate this free bat pattern.
If last year’s massive selection of free printable Halloween window silhouettes somehow just wasn’t enough, you can find more here.
With just a few items found around the house, you can make a giant spider to scare visitors on Halloween. But what’s a spider without a web? Thankfully HGTV has a tutorial on making spider webs out of trash bags.
If you loved the original artwork from the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, then you need to check this out.
Sam Haynes has a free album download available, but only for a limited time. Get it while you can!
The above PD image was taken from Defense.gov
Gravedigger’s Local 16 is not to be held responsible for the content on or anything that may occur (be it good or bad) as a result of visiting any links on those sites (or constructing a project that’s detailed on them). Attempt at your own discretion.
Oct 05 2014
The Young Werewolves usually include a cover on all their releases (plus, they did a version of RATT’s “Round and Round” on the mostly-covers album ROCKABILLY & PSYCHOBILLY MADNESS. They’re due for a new album so here’s hoping we hear from them in 2015 (or sooner.)
It’s a good cover. The original has its charm, but Idol is so totally tied into a certain decade. I lean towards The Young Werewolves.
Oct 05 2014
It seems that every year I put together what seems like a complete listing of websites devoted to reviews of various haunted attraction, I always wind up finding more. Which means I end up doing a sequel the very next year. But this time is different since I was very thorough in my search. So, in no particular order, here are the fruits of my labor:
Jill Kill
ScreamFreak.com
Long Island Haunted Houses
Hollywood Gothique
Hickory Haunts
Haunted USA Tour
New England Halloween
hauntreview
Virginia Haunted Houses
Scare Season
Scared Insider
Fear Carolina
Maryland Haunted Houses
Kitsuneverse: [Haunt Reviews]
Mid South Haunts
Haunted Attractions and Tours | The Nerdcronomicon
Nights of Fright
Horror-ible reviews
Honolulu Haunted Houses
The Dark Rider: Haunted Attraction & Dark Ride Reviews
The Raven & Black Cat
the jaded viewer
Scranton Haunted Reviews
horrorlust
Denver Haunted House Guide
Haunted House Reviews IL | Kim Kraynak’s Blog
Colorado Haunted House Reviews
Haunted House reviews | EDDIE RAY BREAKS THAT SHIT DOWN!
Haunted Puget Sound
Motor City Horror Club
Mind Grapes
Delmarva HAUNT Reviews
InSanity lurks Inside
October Panic Attack
Atlanta Haunt Review
Horror Fields
Haunt Review Crew
Haunt Hunters
Arkansas Haunt Reviews
Theme Park Adventure
Tennessee Haunted Attractions
Haunt Review Crew
Wisconsin Frights
HAR5481
I also noticed a few of the sites I linked to last year now have alternate URLs:
Horror Tourers
HauntFreaks
Is It October Yet?
So while I’m sure some new haunted attraction review resources will appear by 2015, I’m not so sure there will be enough to justify a fourth installment then. We’ll have to just wait and see…
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