HQOTW- The Shining

"The site is supposed to be located on an Indian burial ground, and I believe they actually had to repel a few Indian attacks as they were building it."

                              - Stuart Ullman

When will people learn it's just not practical to keep building over Indian burial grounds?

                                           

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all the ghouls and gals out there! Cheers to the greatest night of the year!

Eight More Days 'till Halloween!

Eight more days 'till Halloween, Halloween, Halloween.
Eight more days 'till Halloween, Silver Shamrock!

Walking Dead Returns Tonight!

"They come from the bowels of hell. A transformed race of WALKING DEAD. Zombies guided by a master plan for complete domination of the earth."

- Plan 9 From Outer Space


Tune in to AMC tonight for the season four premiere of The Walking Dead!

HQOTW- Dracula

"Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make."

- Count Dracula

Happy Friday the 13th!

Lovely

Now go and see Insidious 2! GO!

Devil's Tree, NJ Pics

I've been going to a lot of the Weird NJ locations in the past few years. A while back I made a stop by the Devil's Tree in Bernard's Township. I'm not even going to attempt to give a history of the tree because Weird NJ has already done an excellent job: http://weirdnj.com/stories/devils-tree/, but I will share some photos I took, because the tree has changed drastically since Weird NJ's photo was taken. In fact, the  "hanging branch" and a number of large branches have been removed.

Rad filters

Horror Photo of the Week- Halloween

Here's a  behind-the-scenes photo of Nick Castle/Michael Myers drinking a Dr. Pepper. Enjoy!

SDCC-Exclusive Jason Figure!

Just a few days ago, toy company NECA announced one of the products that they will sell exclusively at the San Diego Comic Con for just $25-- a Jason Voorhees figure based on the Jason from the Friday the 13th NES game. Released in 1989 on the Nintendo Entertainment System, Friday the 13th allowed you to control the one of six camp counselors who must find Jason before he kills any campers. Featuring a terrible, backwards map system, useless weapons, and a clock with too short of a time limit, this is often regarded as one of the worst video games of all time. Having personally played it, I can assure you that it lives up to its infamy. Anyway, the Jason in the game wears a purple jumpsuit and has a blue hockey mask, hands, and feet. NECA has recreated this cheesy wardrobe in the form of a 7-inch, glow-in-the-dark figure.

Happy Mother's Day!

Horror Quote of the Week- Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives

"I've seen enough horror movies to know any weirdo wearing a mask is never friendly."

                                                                                           - Lizabeth

As a quote from one of the best films in the Friday the 13th series, I think it pretty much sums up our thoughts about the slasher genre. We've all sat in front of the TV and wondered aloud why the character isn't running away from the masked killer. This quote brings some self-awareness to a film that was using a very tired plot formula, and makes an already great movie even better.

Horror Photo of the Week- The Shining

Yesterday (April 22nd) happened to be Jack Nicholson's birthday, and I did just buy the The Shining DVD, so here's a great photo from the production!

Horror Quote of the Week- Motel Hell

"Meat's meat, and a man's gotta eat."
                      -Farmer Vincent Smith

This quote is spoken by Farmer Vincent Smith from "Motel Hell," a horror flick filled with black humor and irony. The farmer in the movie buries his victims up to their necks in his garden, keeping them alive until he kills and eats them. It's a strange movie that may only appeal to certain people, but I encourage anyone to check it out.

Horror Photo of the Week- Frankenstein

Even Frankenstein's monster needs a little break sometimes! Interesting fact: Did you know that the original Frankenstein script gave the monster speaking parts, like in the book, but the dialogue was removed and changed to grunts because Karloff had a bad lisp? Well it's true; Karloff was bowlegged and stuttered when he spoke, as well as having the lisp-- not exactly the person you would expect to play such an intimidating creature!

Gayle House Ghoul Mask

Legendary mask-makers The Devil's Workshop recently released a Halloween mask based on the "Gayle House Ghoul," a character that appeared in a comic book ad for one of those horror records with "spooky sound effects." (The horror record is still available for purchase through The House of the Unusual.) Though The Devil's Workshop previously released a higher quality Gayle House Ghoul mask, this particular one is a $20 version made to look like a vintage mail-order mask. From its cheap elastic band to its overpowering latex scent, this Halloween mask just reeks (literally) of dime-store nostalgia. And I am NOT kidding about the latex smell-- it stayed on my hands and face for days afterwards, of course that's all part of the fun. Although The Devil's Workshop's website has some pictures of the mask, I've uploaded my own because their photos make the mask look grayish, when it is actually very blue in color.

                                 Your's truly.

Scream Factory Blu-Ray Releases

Scream Factory is a division of Shout! Factory that is dedicated to releasing Blu-Ray and DVD editions of many obscure and cult horror and sci-fi films. The artwork featured on the cases is typically a new, original illustration, with some great examples like the Halloween II and III covers. Scream Factory usually releases one or two movies per month, with Halloween II, Halloween III, and The Funhouse being some of the best so far. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming releases of The Town That Dreaded Sundown, Lifeforce, and The Incredible Melting Man. Now, most of the films released by Scream Factory have already been released on variety of formats, like VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray. However, those from Scream Factory often include tons of bonus features like rare television cuts and bonus and behind-the-scenes footage. Another great thing about Scream Factory is that their Blu-Ray releases always come in a combo pack with a DVD copy included. That way the people like me who are too smart or lazy (depending on how you look at it) to switch over to Blu-Ray now, will already have the Blu-Ray edition when DVD's decide to go the way of VHS. Be sure to check Scream Factory out and catch up on some cult films!

There! Now isn't that beautiful?

Horror Quote of the Week- The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

"I think we just picked up Dracula."
                        -Franklin Hardesty

A great quote from one of my favorite horror flicks, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), this dialogue is spoken from handicapped Franklin Hardesty to the strange, self-abusing hitchhiker he and his friends pick up on a deserted Texas road. I'm sure Franklin would have taken Dracula any day over what was in store for him and his friends.

Horror Photo of the Week- Alfred Hitchcock

This week's horror photo is one taken of Alfred Hitchcock before his 100th episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." I would say it sums up his personality in one picture!

The Walking Dead Pirates

For those of you out there that are Walking Dead fans, have any of you noticed the "pirate" theme? Merle practically has a hook hand, the Governor has an eye patch, and Hershel just needs a peg leg for the three of them to transform into a trio of pirates. And then there's Michonne, preferring to use a sword over a gun! Is that just because she is better with a sword, or is it her natural pirate instincts kicking in?! Is Rick going to get a parrot for his shoulder, or perhaps a tricorne hat? Rick's gang is always raiding houses and stores for supplies like... well... like PIRATES! Gasp! I guess this is just the writers way of hinting where the series is headed. By the sixth or seventh season, the zombies won't even be a factor in the plot anymore. Everybody will live on pirate ships and engage other pirates in battle. Every episode will involve them drinking rum, burying treasure, and doing other various swashbuckling pastimes. Well, that about wraps up this rant!

Don't forget to share this blog and spread the word!

Last Haunted Mask Post

As it turns out, there was yet another Haunted Mask released. This one, rather than being based on the one in the television series, was based on Tim Jacobus's artwork on the Haunted Mask book cover. I can only assume that it was manufactured before 1996, when the episode aired. Well, I just wanted to get that last bit of information on this topic out there before I wrap up these Haunted Mask posts.

Stay tuned for more spooktacular horror news!

More Haunted Mask!

Continuing from the last post, I feel I should probably mention the Halloween masks that were produced for the Goosebumps television series. There was the Haunted Mask, Curly (the mascot for the book series), and one of the monsters from the episode "One Day at Horrorland" (another great episode). As you can see from the top two photos, I happen to own the Haunted Mask featured in this costume catalog. As for the Curly mask, I have only ever seen one for sale on eBay, and I have never seen the Horror mask for sale. There are reproductions of the Haunted Mask available from DWN Productions, but I never really liked them. They just look far too green, and the details are very different from the one on the show.

One last Haunted Mask post to come!

Goosebumps: The Haunted Mask

So, if you were around in the 90's, you might remember the Goosebumps television series. Its first episode, The Haunted Mask, is my personal favorite and possibly the most memorable episode. For those of you that don't know, it is about a girl named Carly Beth who is constantly bullied and scared by two boys, Chuck and Steve. To get back at them, she steals a Halloween mask from a man who tells her the mask is evil. When Carly Beth wears it that night, it becomes stuck to her face and gives her an evil personality. I won't give away the ending, but it's pretty intense for a children's program. Anyway, the episode is full of Halloween and vintage mask goodness, and I would recommend it to anyone. I just bought the VHS on eBay for $1.50, so it's not exactly hard to find. More Haunted Mask to come later!

Brand new blog!

Hello everyone! I am glad to finally get this blog started. I have been wanting to do this for a while but haven't gotten the time until now. My name is Tyler, I make short films (mostly stop motion), and I love horror, Halloween and everything in between. From retro Halloween masks to obscure horror films, I love it all! That will be what the majority of my blog posts will be about, as well as updates on whatever film I happen to be currently working on. So spread the word and keep checking back for spooktacular goodness!