“Dark Night of the Scarecrow” – The Soundtrack!

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Shortly after the 4th of July, I stopped over at our local TARGET store and was annoyed to see that they’d already begun their “Back to School” sales. Although I understand the motivation of businesses for engaging in this long-standing practice of “pushing the holidays,” it still doesn’t prevent me from routinely rolling my eyes and getting irked by it. “Back to School” in July? Sheesh, let the poor kids enjoy their summer!

Behind the large bins of notebooks, pens, and Elmer’s Glue (all supplies that will be as scarce as water in a desert a few short weeks from now) was a few items indicating yet another holiday was in the department store wings. Unlike the advent of a new school year or even Christmas, however, I greeted this occasion more as a welcomed friend along with the knowledge that a monster & horror fan’s favorite season is just around the corner.If you are reading this blog, its a good bet that you will agree that Halloween is one of the BEST holidays along with all the wonderful Fall festivities associated with it!

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Midnight Syndicate’s 13th Hour Arrives Not a Moment Too Soon!

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Halloween. When most people hear that word they think of trick-or-treating, jack’o lanterns and candy. For someone like me, a home haunter, I think of scaring the crap out of kids and making them earn their treat! I have been doing a yard haunt since 1985 and one thing I have found is that it is getting increasingly difficult to scare the kids, in part because of what kids now experience daily in movies and video games! The reactions I used to get in the late 80’s are certainly more of a challenge these days!

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Mr. Lobo and Dixie’s Excellent Adventure!

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I was happily surprised to run into Mr. Lobo and Dixie at the annual FRIGHT NIGHT FILM FEST in Kentucky! As mentioned in our recent Atomic Age Cinema piece, horror hosts were slated to appear at this event but Mr. Lobo wasn’t one of them. Needless to say, the sight of the spectacled host wearing his signature suit & green/black striped tie was a welcomed one at that! I found the mastermind of Cinema Insomnia chatting with Blake Powell, the guru behind Midnite Mausoleum, and wasted no time interrupting the two late night TV mavericks.

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RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES: Definitely worth going “ape” over!

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Yesterday I attended an afternoon showing of the new film RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES.  Before the lights dimmed and viewers were reminded to silence their cell phones, I was immediately struck by the diverse audience this film attracted. There appeared to be equal numbers of black, white, young, old, teen couples, and even middle-aged genre fans (wink). Perhaps the finest example of the generational appeal the APES brand carries was illustrated by a man in his sixties assisting an elderly gentlemen to his seat beside me. He apologized as the older man’s cane fell on my feet and I smiled and asked if he was a big fan of the original PLANET OF THE APES. “Oh yes,” he said. “I’ll never forget the day my father took me to see it and now I’m taking him!”

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THE RETURN OF FANGORIA!

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Last year I posted a blog expressing my disappointment with what had once been my favorite horror/gore magazine (a post you can check out HERE). Over the last few years, the iconic FANGORIA  seemed to go from subversive pleasure to mainstream “sell out.” Disillusioned readers (such as myself) began flocking to newer alternatives such as Horrorhound and Rue Morgue (Horrorhound becoming my new favorite). My devotion to FANGORIA was such that this did not come without a certain level of “guilt.” In fact, I held on to the magazine long after most of my fellow horror friends had given up.

As stated in the aforementioned article, I allowed my subscription to expire and assumed (as I walked away cold turkey) that it would be a long time before I’d ever open another issue.

Never say never!

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KILLER SHARK Fans Beware! THE REEF will make your JAWS drop!

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Not long ago I wrote of meeting Susan Backlinie a.k.a “Chrissy” from JAWS. Although she couldn’t hear a darn thing I was saying (see the full story HERE) I told her how her famous scene during the film’s powerful opener was truly one of the most terrifying moments on film. Never had man’s age old fear of sharks been so successfully tapped into as was the case in the world’s first “blockbuster.”

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