John Carpenter: Purveyor of Poor Taste, Deranged Genius….Or both?

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Terror from Beyond the Daves is pleased to welcome back guest writer, Brandon Engel, for his fascinating perspective on a horror legend. 

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It’s all about personal taste. It’s easy to understand why audiences are either charmed or repelled by The Wizard of Oz, The Goodbye Girl and E.T.: The Extra-terrestrial. With “slasher movies”, although it’s easy to understand why many viewers reject such films, it’s a little more ambiguous why they attract such large cult followings.  What is the appeal? Perhaps, the best way to arrive at the answer is to look at the career of the man who is credited with cementing the slasher movie formula, screenwriter/director/producer John Carpenter.

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Jack O’Lantern Spectacular 2014 Part 1!

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Halloween is a particularly spooky time in Terror Dave Albaugh’s native New England.  He’s fortunate to also be working at a place that has a unique way of celebrating the holiday, The Roger Williams Park Zoo! Jack O’Lantern Spectacular is their big event and features a gigantic collection of skillfully carved pumpkins and we’ve featured it for the past several years (you can see last year’s introduction HERE). Like last year, I won’t be able to see it for myself so, like many of you, I’m relying on David to send us pictures from the big event (though this should not imply that pictures are a suitable substitute so, if you’re able to get there, DO IT!) . Because these are real pumpkins, they eventually die and new designs are sent in as replacements. So even if you are fortunate to attend one night, you’re bound to see something new via these posts. Every year has a theme and 2014 is “The Alphabet” promising a cornucopia of thrills from A to Z. The event began October 2nd and will run until November 2nd. And so, without further adieu…

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HALLOWEEN NOVELTY SONGS: MUSIC TO DIE FOR! Part 5

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On September 7, 2011 I published the first in a three-part series (seen HERE) covering a favorite topic of mine, Halloween novelty songs. I initially became a fan thanks to the Dr. Demento Show (visit the official website HERE) that I would listen to as a young teen every Sunday night, pulling in a weak signal from a Boston-area station. Like all good things, the Dr. Demento Show eventually went off the air in this area but thanks to Rhino Records I was able to start building up a collection of novelty songs, with an emphasis on my favorite holiday, Halloween.

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