One of My Favorite Decorations

A lot of my Halloween decor stays up year round-- I know, you're surprised, so just go ahead and pick up your jaw bones now. One of them lives permanently as my kitchen witch-- kitchen witches are supposed to be good luck in the food arena, and help keep your concoctions from burning.

Hilariously, I hung her by my print of "Le Chat Noir" by Rodolphe Salis. Accident, or Providence?

I knew she was old, but had no idea how to figure out her age. All I was sure of that she was old (instinct), and made in Germany (stamped on her leg). In May I stumbled across a really cool site, run by a man named Mark B. Ledenbach, and it turns out this guy is the end all be all in terms of Halloween collectibles! I emailed him and politely asked him if he would be willing to look at a picture of my witch; if he didn't want to do that, could he please recommend a site I could go to? He was very nice, and invited me to email him a picture, which I immediately did.

Some of the folks I've told this story to have asked me why I bothered so I'll answer that here: I am burningly, consummately, obsessively curious. If you make the mistake of telling me something I'll probably ask you a million questions about it, to the point that it drives you nuts because I. Must. Know. NOW. Drives my parents spare. So even though I have no intention of parting with her, I needed to know all I could find out about her.

Turns out she is very old, as I suspected-- Mark estimated around 1920's, in fact. She's what's called a German die cut, and because she's in such great shape she's worth a small chunk of change. The best part of this story is that I got her while thrift crawling; what can I say? I love going through other people's junk.

I love old die cut Halloween decorations and look for them every chance I get-- I used to stare at the awesome Beisel cut outs that every teacher in the universe had during the '80's. I would make up stories for each of them: as a result I am looking for those same cardboard leers now.

You should really, really check out Mark's site, it's an awesome way to murder and afternoon!
Go now, and revel in the encroaching season!

The Best Writers You're Not Reading!

I'm a bit on a book kick right now...mostly because my cable is was still being hooked up at our new place which has turned me to my books again. So I've decided to give a shout out to two authors who I feel have not gotten a lot of credit out in the writing world. And both of these writers are old friends of mine. I suppose you can consider this post a favor to a friend of sorts but honestly, I would not bother writing a post praising something I didn't like...unless its another attempt to tear into Exorcist: The Beginning. Regardless, they are both extremely talented writers and I feel deserve a shout out on our pithy little Internet soap box. So without further ado, here are two writers I truly feel are worth checking out.

Christine Morgan
Cured Meat found in The World is Dead Anthology and The Barrow Maid found in History is Dead Anthology
Christine's two zombie stories are stellar and I was lucky enough to be a beta reader for both stories. WHY she picked me is a bit of a mystery since my "superior" grammar and spelling is a tell tale sign that I am really not a writer. I think its because I am an avid zombie fan and she was just giving me a bone (No pun intended). And while both stories are about zombies they are completely different from each other .Cured Meat is a story told through a zombie's perspective and The Barrow Maid is a Nordic historical tale. The Barrow Maid is well researched as a historical piece and well...two words...Viking Zombies!! Its fun, action packed and gives you what you want; zombies swinging swords, kicking ass, and taking names. My particular favorite though is Cured Meat. It's an extremely unique story and Christine voices the zombie both in a human yet extremely creepy manner. Both are wonderful reads. The Anthologies have many other fantastic stories in them as well so I assure you they are worth picking up! But personally, Christine's are my favorite. You can find both anthologies on Amazon. And if you want to read more of Christine's work (she also writes fantasy, horror, and children's books!) check out her websites http://christine-morgan.net/ and http://www.sabledrake.com/.


Rob St. Martin
The Truthseekers Series
While this isn't strictly horror, Rob's Truthseekers books do have some elements of horror in them (vampires, zombies, magic, and some gruesome murders). So far he has two out and is working on a third...he BETTER be working on a third or I will go up to Canada and strangle it out of him. Truthseekers is a young adult series that I became addicted to at the age of thirty-three. The series follows a girl name Ashley, who moves to a small town named Blackriver after her parents are brutally murdered. Her adventures are told in a series of short stories that begin to revel strange conspiracies that involved her family and will soon involve her. Yes, I made that sound very vague but there is so much to the story and such a rich world created that I don't want to give anything away. The reason I became addicted to his series is because he never talks down to his audience, making his work intelligent and accessible to both teens and adults. Don't let the young adult label fool you, this is a great story, a interesting world, and some quirky characters.
You can pick up Truthseekers: Welcome to Blackriver and and Truthseekers: Birthright on Amazon. You can also order them from http://www.sabledrake.com/books.htm . And to find more on Rob's work you can go to his website: http://talyesin.com/

Enjoy!!

Best Mail EVER!

First I apologize in advance-- I took the below pictures with my phone, and they're awful. I'm going to get an actual camera soon, but I'm waiting for the all-mighty financial aid to kick in.

About a year ago I was moved to send my first-- and probably only-- fan letter, to Doug Jones. I assume you know who he is if you're reading this dank little corner of the web, and if you don't then please imdb his name. And get some fucking culture, while you're at it.

I sent poor, poor Mr. Jones a stuttering, nervous declaration of my appreciation, and thanked him for being so kind to his fans; I have never heard anything but praise about how friendly and genuine he is to those who've met him. It's nice when people take the time to appreciate their fans, you know? I've heard so many horror stories from people meeting celebrities and it not going well that I would probably not approach anyone I recognized. Because you see, underneath my razor blade hide and the venom I spew with every acerbic word, I'm surprisingly.. oh, I dunno, marshmallowish? I once commented to a friend of mine that it's hard being an evil marshmallow, and I feel those words stand!

I didn't hear anything from Mr. Jones, and that was okay, I wasn't really expecting to-- guy's pretty busy, after all.

Flash forward to this past Monday; school was due to start the coming Wednesday, I had worked later than my usual 5 pm, and frankly, I was all whupped and done in. I needed a cookie and something spooky on the teevee and then bed. I also needed out of my bra, but that's because underwire actually craves the blood of its wearer. It's not just true, it's SCIENCE!

I saw I had a pack of mail on the back of my love seat, including a large manila envelope. There was no return address so I figured it was probably junk mail of some kind, but was mildly curious at the "DO NOT BEND" instructions on the letter's face. I opened it, spacing out, looking forward to my last day of sleeping in before classes, and I see.. Abe Sapien.

..the hell?

I pull it out and discover.. a fucking SIGNED PICTURE SET of Doug Jones as Abe Sapien. Along with this? A hand-written letter, thanking me for my patience and for being fan.

Holy.
Crap.

I'm not gonna lie; after the day I'd just had I teared up a little. As soon as I can, I'm getting a frame, and this is SO going up on my wall.

For those who can't read it, it says "To Stacy-- thank you for your charming letter!". Doug Jones is the nicest man EVER.

This is the bottom picture, signed as Doug Jones and as Abe Sapien. Not caught in this snapshot is "There's Love!!". I will see every movie this man is in, ever. Ever.

Like I said, my snap shots are awful, so when I get a decent camera I'll take a better shot so you can see it in all of its glory!

Isn't this totally the coolst thing in all of forever?

Got any similar stories and I would LOVE to hear them!

Halloween Movie Madness! Week 3 - Reeker

Okay so I'm cheating just a bit. Since I knew I'd be moving this week I figured I'd watch two movies last week....JUST in case I couldn't get to one this week. I have a feeling I won't be getting to one this week.

But if I do, I'll post again! I know! You're all SO excited!

Contain yourselves.

Anways, I checked out Reeker on Showtime (Showtime has been a WEALTH of horror films lately!).

A quick overview: A group of stereotypical college kids are ride sharing to a Burning Man like get together in the desert. Unfortunately along the way their car breaks down by an abandoned motel. As they work to get the car up they begin to find terrifying things like people who are now only torsoes and a horrific odor following them. The odor belongs to The Reeker who is a creepy bastard with a BO problem and nasty looking weapons. Chaos ensues.

Not much of a synopsis but then its not much of a story. But despite its simplicity it wasn't horrible. Actually its better than I expected and I did like the slight twist ending that it had. Its hardly an award winner but its entertaining at times.

But what it did lack was...well coherency. Maybe I'm just dense (actually it probably IS because I'm dense) but there were a lot of moments that just made me tilt my head and say "...wha?". Random flashback scenes, strange moments of mangled bodies, some sort of subplot with a drug dealer following them are scattered through the film. Though most of this explains itself in the end, it confused me more than made me hunger for what it was all about and I ended up yelling "Explain yourself, movie!" at my TV more than once.

The characters were very two dimensional but not overly annoying...except the stoner guy...hated him. I especially liked our leading lady from South Africa, Gretchen, who turned into quite the bad ass near the end. And while the blond named Cookie (I kid you not) was a bit bland, she had a pretty awesome death scene in an out house. And for those of you who have seen this movie, did the weird contraption in the toilet remind anyone else of the trash compactor monster from Star Wars?

I have a feeling I just wasn't paying enough attention to this movie to really get into it. Oh wow, hows THAT for a review huh? "So I watched a movie and I'm reviewing it but I didn't really pay attention to it". I did watch it, but unfortunately Reeker dragged in enough places that I ended up getting distracted by shiny things on my carpet. There are long moments of things not happening. I'm sure they were trying to build suspense but it dragged. And there's a whole lot of set up in the beginning of the movie that I feel didn't pay off much. I wanted to see some slasher action and I felt it was trying to be something more but not really getting there.

But honestly? That out house death scene and the fight on top of the motor home at the end did make it worth my watch. The gore is pretty fun too. Not a ton of gore but what's there is well done. Also I did like the design of The Reeker too and if this movie had a stronger story I think we could have had a pretty good Horror villain to add to the top cannon.

While I wouldn't say "go out and buy this!" I think its worth watching on cable for some mindless fun. Its not horrible but its not memorable either.

I did hear the sequel, No Man's Land: Rise of the Reeker is a lot better than this one. did anyone see that?

Creepy Reads. Take two...or three. I forget.

Its been a while since I've slung out some book recommendations so here are a few!

Gill's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez

A short read but insanely hilarious. A story about a redneck vampire, a truck driving werewolf, a ghost and her ghost dog, a large kick ass woman, and many almost Lovcraftian twists and turns. Plus it shows you the true meaning of the Magic 8-Ball and why girls named Tammy are evil. Freakin' HILARIOUS! What I enjoyed most about Martinez's work is how cinematic he writes. Its very easy to visualize everything he puts out on the page. Its a very quick read and really fun.

Monster also by A. Lee Martinez

While I didn't find it quite as funny as Gill's All Fright Diner, its still pretty dang fun. Monster is the story about a guy named Monster who's job it is to collect supernatural creatures, sorta like a dog catcher in Hell. This of course leads him to meet up with Judy, a supermarket clerk and Slacker. And this leads to an almost end of the world plot involving ancient Gods and a crazy cat lady. Gill's was funner but I felt Monster had a more interesting story, really rich characters, and a fantastic world created for it. And I know I'm going to enjoy a book when it opens up with a Yeti eating everything in the Supermarket frozen foods section.

Heart Shaped Box - By Joe Hill

Now for a COMPLETELY different pace. Stac recommended this one to me and to be honest I was pretty skeptical after reading the summary. The story revolves around an aging rocker named Jude who buys a haunted suit off of Ebay. But I assure you there is SO much more than that to the story. I would say more but it would give a lot of the surprises away. Hill creates a wonderful complex character in Jude and as the story progresses you learn about him, his past and his sins. The book is haunting and bleak but with a surprisingly optimistic message. It also goes in directions that are completely unexpected. A great page turner, and one of the creepiest and frightening ghost stories I've ever read. Books don't usually scare me. Heart Shaped Box did.

Zombie CSU - By Johnathan Maberry

Johnathan Maberry is slowly becoming a favorite of mine. First with Patient Zero (which I finished and it was AWESOME!) and now with Zombie CSU which was one of the most enjoyable "nonfiction" books I've ever read. Yeah, I did say nonfiction. Let me explain. Maberry interviews experts in Forensics, Medicine, Police, Military and more to discuss how these professionals would really act in a zombie uprising. He writes each chapter like a police case file and gives some wonderful insight that we don't get from the movies. Maberry is obviously a lover of the zombie genre and his love shows through in this book. And being a zombie genre lover myself I hung on every word. Its a really unique book, well researched, and has some great supplements such as zombie quizzes, movie recommendations, and interviews with zombie authors and artists. My favorite chapter of course was on zombie pop culture. If you like the zombie genre, this is a must read.

And that's all for now! More to come when I'm able to unpack my books again!

Halloween Decor

Alright my pretties, it's about that time of year, as we all know! As I am currently sifting through my vintage paper decorations for stuff to send to Cindy (and possibly putting stuff up around the house. There may or may not be at least two five foot tall paper skeletons up in Chez Spooky as I type this.), I wanna see your favorites!

Gimme pics of your homes, things you like to decorate with, haunted houses, or just things you'd like to one day own!

Bring it on!


I personally love vintage stuff, but I put up anything-- and I DO mean ANYTHING that catches my eyes. I'll update with pics once I get my lights up!

Time-Life The Enchanted World: Ghosts

I am a legitimate, to the bone product of the 1980's. I watched Transformers and G.I Joe, He-Man, and even She-Ra though I hated her and possibly thought her twin brother was hawt. But some of the staples of my childhood in that most neon-colored of decades have been forgotten, and I am here to remind you of them, starting with a book series that my mom got: Time-Life Books "The Enchanted World" series. Anyone else remember these? Here's the commercial, to stir the blood into remembrance, as it were:





We had a ton of these; my mother is the progenitor of my morbid streak, though she's much less open about it than yours truly. I LOVED these books when I was a kid; I was about five years old or thereabouts when Mom started getting them. If I begged enough she might read pieces of it aloud to me as I played in the backyard and she worked on her tan. I started out just looking at the pictures, then eventually reading the captions and little stories told in the margins; by the time I was in high school I knew my favorites cover to cover.

For years I tried to talk Mom into letting me have them-- I doubt seriously they've been read all that much since I left home, but she would never give them to me. It's like that damn Monster Mash record, all over again.

Until I finally just found my own on eBay, my sister and I would slap the SHIT out of each other over who got this album when Mom died. We're a delightful bunch.

Most of my friends didn't remember these books at all, probably because it was a mail-away deal, not something you could just impulse buy at the local book store. Those who did usually only had Witches and Wizards, the first volume in the series. Mom has at least ten of these volumes, which was apparently unusual.

I wanted to read these books again so badly, but didn't want to pay God knows how much on eBay. Compounding the problem, I didn't know the name of the series (The Enchanted World). Doing a search online for a book called Ghosts usually ends up about how you'd imagine it would. But one day Bevin, my frequent (and often unwilling) partner in crime (as opposed to Cins, who is ALWAYS willing to shit stir) and I lucked out one day whilst shopping in Seattle. We went to Half Price Books, a store whose very existence makes me ridiculously happy, when a familiar brown cover (Magical Beasts) caught my eye as I was heading upstairs to look for more glorious girl-smut to add to my forever expanding library. The book was on the very top of a tall shelf, unnoticed for who knows how long; only reason I saw it was because it just happened to be at eye level with my head at the right angle when I was on one specific step. Between myself and Bevin (she bought Water Spirits, I bought almost all of the rest) we decimated that shelf. I got almost all of my favorites (still need Gods and Goddesses and Water Spirits) and a few other my mom doesn't have. Several of them are of a decidedly spooky bent, and perfect for this blog and the upcoming season!

My favorite as a kid was Ghosts. Simple, elegant, freaky as Hell's own gate. I would haul this out every time I had a sleep-over; great fodder for scaring the piss out of myself as well as my poor victim, usually one of my best friends, D.J. Heh. I'll have to remind her of that.

Skeleton or not, I'd still kiss him. With tongue, all lickory like! Painted by Horace Vernet.

This book is so very cool and creepy; the cover alone was enough to give myself the chills, and more than once, even as a teen, I had to put the book away when home alone because I'd unnerved myself. I self-medicated with My Little Ponies. (True fact: Cins was a My Little Pony in a former life! I was a witch.)

The book utilized a wide variety of artistic talent-- in researching this, I made some surprising discoveries. I also discovered that other than cover pictures, you can't find SHIT for these books. So I took photos; I could have scanned but eh, I'm lazy.

Click any of the pictures below for size GIGANTIC, so you can read the text on some of 'em!

This is just the flyleaf. There are three or four of them like this; how effing scary is that?! Painted by John Jude Palincar.

There's a lot of tricks like these in this book, and freaking LOVE it. Book credits this to Yvonne Gilbert.

This is one of the pictures I "hid" from; didn't like to actually look at it, as it were. Called the Ankou, a representative of Death in Bretagne (Brittany). Credited to Mark Langeneckert.

This is from the story titled as The Hooded Congregation, a story from Sweden. Scariest Christmas eeeeever. This and several other contributions in this book was done by Chris Van Allsburg, the artist who wrote and drew The Polar Express, Jumangi, and Zathura! I find it hilarious that I knew this guy's work from this; we never owned any of his children's books.

"Clattering on the staircase and howling in the hall, ghosts known as screaming skulls terrorized anyone who sought to displace them from the houses that once had been theirs." (pgs 58-9) Painted by John Jude Palencar.

This snippet is the reason my younger brother and I don't like to go near random wooden stakes in the ground. Seriously. Painted by Marshall Arisman.


Does this really need words? Painted also by Marshall Arisman.

One of my favorite ghost stories of all time, painted by Judy King Rieniets.

The Wife's Revenge; if my husband poisoned me and drove me to suicide he'd be lucky if the least he got was a haunting. Created by Kuniyoshi, a famous Japanese artist who was born in the 18th century. Old school horror!


She sees you. Everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE. Go check under the table cloth. G'wan. Have a peek. Painted by Gary Kelley.

Remember the story of the bride who wanted to play hide and seek at her wedding reception? Yeah, they found her. Eventually. I'm gonna play trick-or-treat at my wedding reception just to see the uneasy looks on everyone's faces. Painted by Rick McCollum.

These books are pretty prevalent online for those interested in checking a few out. I love them and recommend them to everyone; you can get the whole set (all TWENTY ONE volumes) for about 150$, which breaks down to pretty minimal per book. Not bad for something that originally retailed in 1985 for 15$. A lot of people are selling the books individually, too, and your local library might have some to flip through; I know ours does.

Go forth! Read and better yourselves! Now please excuse me, this took me hours to write, I'm sure you have eye strain, and I need a shower.

Halloween Movie Madness Week 2! - Night of the Demons

Let us go back in time.

Let us go back in time to the glorious era when hair was large, eyeliner was considered macho, and boobs had not become %100 fake yet.
Yes dear reader, I am speaking of, the 80's.

Night of the Demons is an old school film I saw years and years ago when I began my decent into the horror movie world. I spotted it on FEARnet on demand last night and in a wave of nostalgia I ordered the sucker up. This movie is perfect Drunken Horror Movie Night fodder. And if you have not seen this cheesy gem you have no idea what you are missing!

In typical bad 80's horror movie tradition, the plot of this sucker is paper thin. The usual group of slutty teenage girls (and their virginal friend) and extremely obnoxious douche bag boyfriends (and the token black guy) all have a party in a demon possessed house. The rest I'm sure you can figure out. I love this movie purely for the fact that it has no shame. I truly believe the makers of this film knew they were going to make something cheesy and sleazy and said "Fuck the public! This is going to be epic!" And I assure you it was epic. Maybe not in a good way, but it was epic.

This movie has it all, kills, possession, tits, and extremely bad dancing. Seriously, the teenagers dance like the Peanuts gang if they were all goth. You can hear the Charlie Brown theme in your head as they dance the night away. It also has probably they most awesomely bad line in the world involving two convenient store clerks and sour balls.

And then there's Stooge.

The pig on the right...awwwww yeah.

How natural selection passed over this fine specimen is beyond my knowledge. Stooge is the father of all douche bags. All other douche bags after him were probably reproduced from his back hair when someone spilled water on him. His douche baggery is on an epic scale.

Hey Ladies, he's not single but he does screw around.

Don't you want to break off a piece of Stooge?

But you know what it has that is a wow factor I have never EVER seen in another horror film before? Brace yourselves.

It has a nipple that absorbs an entire tube of lip stick.

Let me repeat that.

This movie has a nipple that absorbs an entire tube of lip stick.

I think that sentence speaks for itself.
EQUINOX!!!

Once again, this film is far from a masterpiece. But if you love cheesy films and some hilariously bad acting go, nay, RUN to the Netflix and add Night of the Demons to your cue!

9...Not The District.

Once again...Cins is posting about a film that isn't really a horror film on a horror blog. I do strange things...for I am a strange person.

I really wanted to give a shout out for the movie 9.

I know what you're thinking. "Huh, 9 is an animated movie. Yeah its PG-13 but its still probably family fun fare that they're only advertising as serious and action-packed". At least that's what I was thinking when I saw the advertisements. Don't get me wrong. I'm a huge animation buff. In fact, Stac and I met in a Disney's Hercules chat room if that tells you anything about my love. But most main stream fantasy based animated features that claim to be for the older crowd tend to only include the word damn and have more fart jokes and a G rated film (*cough* Shrek *cough*). And while Pixar has made some extremely sophisticated films like Wall-E, The Incredibles, and Up, they are still very geared toward the younger set. Once again, nothing against family friendly since I loved all those movies. But when it came to 9, I expected the same deal. A few talking animals and possible fart jokes.

Boy I was wrong.

Dead wrong.

And I was never more pleased to be wrong.

I won't really go into the story of 9 because its very simple. Simple enough that people think its really thin. But I never thought of it as thin myself. It was shrouded in mystery through the beginning and only gave you teaspoons of information which keeps the audience intrigued. Not all the questions are answered in the film but that didn't bother me. I liked the mystery. It really worked. Also, its a fable and a cautionary tale. The story and characters are presented in a very broad archetypal manner and I believe it truly works that way, even more so when you find out how those little critters were created. The dialog is a little on the cheesy side but it didn't take you out of the moment and I felt worked for that fable feel.

The star of the movie was its breath taking visuals. The whole post-apocalyptic steampunk-esque world and its stitched together characters were so unique and beautiful that I had trouble blinking through the film, afraid I might miss something. Even if you're not a fan of the story, the visuals alone are worth the price of admission and the action sequences were terrifying and exciting (especially the "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" scene...go see it to understand what I mean).

Regardless of 9 not being a horror film, it does have some pure unadulterated scares in it and for a brief moment or two, this movie does dip into a horror realm. Therefore I felt it worth mentioning. 9 went there. I mean it. When other animated movies would just refer lightly to the death of the human race, 9 decides to push it a little further by adding some corpses. Also, a few of the violent scenes, while not graphic, were really jarring. It never pulled its punches one bit. If you have children under the age of 10, please think twice before bringing them to this film. This is "Watership Down" territory here when it comes to traumatising films for kiddies. And I heard quite a few little youngsters in the theater screech in terror how they wanted to leave during the beginning of the movie.

Plus, it had this thing.

And this thing is HORRIFYING.

Its a baby faced snake/spider thing that I'm sure is fueled off my fear when on the screen. I had a nightmare about this damn thing! I'm an adult. I can't even imagine how I would have reacted to this nightmare fuel at the tender age of 8.

Overall, I have fallen in love with this movie. It really proves what you can do in the medium of animation and that you do not always need a chatty raccoon or a farting unicorn for an animated film to work. 9 was advertised as a serious movie and that's what you get. A bleak view of our demise but a hopeful view of our rebirth. In my book, its up there with other wonderful post apocalyptic films like Mad Max and Dawn of the Dead. I really hope it finds its audience.

I HIGHLY recommend this movie.

The Halloween Comics You're Not Reading, Part l

I love Halloween. In my head it's always orange and purple and black; even Christmas is a touch spooky with me around, because I like to pass time on Christmas Eve telling ghost stories and put Haunted Mansion ornaments on my tree. I occasionally try to count all of the Halloween stuff that's up all year round in my bedroom and always lose count/interest somewhere in the thirties.

Some of my favorite authors and artists have hat same ever-present autumn in their souls, and lucky for me, let it reflect in their work. I think I'm going to do a feature on each of them as it occurs to me, so today I'll sing the song of Dan Brereton, one of my favorite artists and creator of one of my favorite comic book series, The Nocturnals.

Meet the family!

The Nocturnals is a neat mesh of weird: you have pulp, horror, and Halloween, and it creates something really special. Essentially, this is an ensemble story about a family and the trouble that they frequently face. The saturnine fellow up there with the girl with two-tones hair is Doc Horror and his daughter, Evening. Doc and Eve fell to earth from another dimension, trying to escape the parasitic evil that took over their own planet. Eve was just a small child at the time, and as a result of her fall was seperated from her father for a year as he tried to find her. Doc ended up working for an old time gangster who eventually helped him reunite with Eve.

Around that same time period their littel twosome grew by several as Polychrome, Starfish, the Gunwitch, Firelion, and Komodo were adopted into the clan. Eventually the Raccoon began to tag along too, originally because he'd very much like to get into Starfish's pants. Each Noctunal has their own bizarre back story, and it parts of each are revealed through the different stories currently out. There's also a Nocturnals bible called Nocturnals: A Midnight Companion, which gives more in-depth character backgrounds and biographies.

Here's a quickie into:


Polychrome, or Poly for short. She's a ghost, murdered and originally a wraith, but she now cruises with this crew and helps protect instead of haunt. She's a very gentle sort of soul, and doesn't have the same appetite for violence that her adopted kin possess.

Firelion, or Phestus Gold as he is named. Used ot be a cop, then caught fire, all by his lonesome. The government rebuit him, bigger, faster, fire proof. They HAVe the technology! Too bad they all sucked, and Phestus his the road. He likes stabbing things and lighting them on fire, depending on his mood. Me likie Phestus. Lots.


Doctor Nicodemus Horror, head of the family, so to speak. His wife was killed (I think) by the same entity that he and his daughter fled from on the Black Planet. He can't be out int he sun as it's lethal to him, and he's also contracted a nasty little virus that occasionally brings out his more lupine characteristics. He's a genius and very compassionate, despite the fact that he looks like Dracula.

Evening Horror and The Gunwitch, two more members of our little group. Eve is also referred to by her loving family as Halloween Girl, a very appropriate title since she is rather a physical embodiment of that holiday. This kid is seriously spooky, and she's got a plastic jack o lantern full of toys that mean serious business when it comes to Eve's protection. Somehow she can hear ghosts, though I'm not sure if it's a gift she inherited from her mother or something in her that changed when her father dumped her through the portal as a small child. With her there is the Gunwitch, a resurrected gunslinger who is part zombie, part enforcer, and all silent, doting babysitter for Eve. He's a dead eye shot, and also just a dead eye, what with the zombification and all. He was called back into service by Doc Horror, and protects his friends with his guns. Eve made his hat.

Starfish, the aquatic anomaly. She was discovered as a little fetus thing in suspended animation by the good doctor. He out her in a tub back at the Tomb to study her, and to his shock, he grew a girl! She's quite volatile, and good in water or out of it. She's very good with a gun, and as the Raccoon discovers, not above slinging a punch. She's most (to me) like Eve's sister, and doesn't hesitate to call a brat a brat when needed.

The Racoon, who was called Bandit and is called Procyon Cleanhands. He was built by the Narn K Corporation in what was dubbed The Monster Shop. Supposed to be warriors for sale, they kinda ruined that by having a nasty little thing called free will. He escaped some time before the start of this story, and Doc helped him get on his feet though he soon went his own way. He has a very ambiguous moral compass and tends to be on his own side, rather than a straight good or bad guy. He thinks Starfish badly needs to get laid, by him, and is doing his hardest to make that happen.


Komodo, or the Dragon Boy. Narn K's most recent escapee, he got his wings clipped (right off) for his first escape attempt. I think he's roughly a teenager in temperament and age, and also very restless to see the world. He and Eve get along quite well.

There's your basic rundown, now go read it! Gorgeous art all through out-- the issues that Brereton illustrates as well as writes are all entirely painted interiors, and are gorgeous. Eventually I want to get some actual prints of Brereton's work for my walls, but until then I have the internets. Dan Brereton is my favorite to do the art for the books, but some stories have been done by Ted Naifah (of Gloom Cookie and other stories).

One really great idea conceived of and executed resulted in the story The Troll Bridge. Eve makes "friends" with a rotten little devils head lantern, and ends up dragging her through several different worlds. All of the artists of these respective worlds did the art for this massive cross over, and it's AWESOME. Jill Thompson gets to draw Eve in the Frightside, where she meets The Scary Godmother, another favorite of mine. She also meets Usaki Yojimbo (and is drawn by Stan Sakai), as well as Jingle Belle, Santa's daughter, you get to see a zombie gunfight, all kinds of great stuff!

If you need a jumping off point the story starts (I believe) with The Black Planet. Go. Read.

REAAAAD!

Seriously, how can I resist having such art in my home?

Halloween Movie Madness! - From Dusk Till Dawn

Okay so I figured since Halloween is coming up, I would attempt...the key word here being attempt...to try to do something special. I considered trying to do the whole "horror movie a day" thing but the hubby and I just bought a house and every waking moment of my existence not spent at work as been spent painting, dry walling, and trying to get that dog wiz smell out of the living room. So I decided to try doing a horror movie a week.

Note the two words here...attempt...try. Yes my commitment level here is really low.

Regardless! I figured this would be a good opportunity to try and catch movies I've been wanting to see, but haven't gotten around to yet or never saw in full. Its that whole commitment thing again.

I started last night when From Dusk Till Dawn came on Showtime. I've seen this movie in clips but I never really sat down and watched it.

I don't care what I'm about to say ruins my street cred. I LOVED watching this movie.
Is it the best vampire movie ever made? Nope. Probably not even close. But From Dusk Till Dawn is a Hell of a lot of fun! I believe this movie began the holy union of Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. Without this movie, there would be no Grindhouse and in my mind that would be a crime indeed! The two work seamlessly together in this film blending Rodriguez's flashy direction with Tarantino's wordy, dirty dialog into this insane horror/action movie.

The gist of the story is as follows. The Gecko Brothers are on a crime spree. After Seth's problematic brother Richard botches a hostage situation in probably THE worst way one could they take a father who was a former pastor, and his two kids hostage instead. The group go to a truck stop/brothel/strip club/herpes dispenser in the middle of nowhere to meet one of Richard and Seth's partners in crime. Unfortunately this place is infested with vampires. And not Anne Rice angsty ones either. Bloody shenanigans ensue.

Honestly the main reason I loved this movie was because of its balls to the walls bad assery. Was it believable? Nope. Were the characters insanely in depth and Oscar winning? Nope. But what it did have was great action moments and some really charming characters despite them being a titch on the cardboard side. I enjoyed the fact that George Clooney decided to play an a-hole like Seth during a time his clean cut good guy image was at its peak. This is one of the reasons I like George Clooney...that and the movie Oh Brother Where Art Thou?. But even with Seth being the a-hole he is, you still really liked him, which I felt was important. If Seth wasn't likable this movie would have probably been knocked down quite a few pegs for me.

Now I'm not saying it didn't have its flaws. After all Quentin Tarantino did have a lead role in this. Frankly, I can only take so much of that man's face for so long before I'm hoping he gets killed in some way. Quentin, you're a wonderful director and one of my favorite people to watch in interviews but hon, acting isn't your strongest suit. Stick with the one scene rolls. Also, I wanted more screen time with Fred Williamson and Tom Savini.

But the good out numbered the bad and despite the flaws, I LOVED it!...Keep in mind I did have almost half a bottle of wine while watching this movie though. It only added to the fun.

By the way, if the movie was a complete bust? I would have still sat through it just for this moment.


So final verdict? From Dusk Till Dawn is a really fun popcorn flick! It won't change your life or revolutionize the genre, but if you want to watch something that has blood, boobs, and guns, its worth checking out on Netlflix.

Discussion Time! Halloween Costume Goodness!

Since we're on a Halloween kick here at Creepy Kitch, I thought I would follow suit and open up a discussion for all.
Yay! Its sharing is caring time!
So, in honor of one of my all time favorite Holiday's fast approaching, I ask you this chilling challenge!
What was your all time favorite Halloween costume you wore?
This can be from when you were a kid to just last year. Seriously, I'm 33 years old and I still dress up for Halloween. And not in the way a typical adult female would either. For me Halloween is not "dress like a whore" day but "AWESOME COSTUME MADNESS!!" day. I really do try to go all out depending on my time and my money that year.
I think I've only missed a couple Halloweens costume wise. And it broke my heart both times to not have a costume. And I assure you I have MANY favorite costumes.
But this one was my all time favorite.

Jurassic Park Employee.
I did this costume back during my senior year in high school. I thought I was OH so clever doing this. Actually I STILL think I was clever doing this. It was 1994, the year Jurassic Park came out and I loved, LOVED that movie. Judge me all you like but I STILL love that movie and consider it one of the best movie theater experiences I have ever had in my life. I also had just recently taken a class on theatrical makeup that included a how to do bruises, bloody scratches, scars, and other fun gore.
So I decided to combine my love for the film and my new found knowledge via costume. I put together a somewhat generic looking "archaeologist" outfit of cut off jeans, tank top, denim over shirt, panama hat and neckerchief. I stenciled in the JP logo on the back of my over shirt along with the title "Velociraptor Containment Team". I even made myself an IN-GEN badge using a school photo, cardboard, and lots of packing tape. Then, using my mom's cosmetics (much to her chagrin I assure you) I managed to give myself a rather convincing black eye, bloody lip, skinned knees, and raptor claw marks across my face and arms. All with the help of Mary Kay! Okay, granted, my mom only owned shimmer eyeshadow at the time so some of my bruises had a sparkly effect but it still looked convincing if I didn't stand in the sun too long!
The best part about this costume was going Trick or Treating with my friend's little sister and brother that night. I managed to convince two other friends of mine that this whole Jurassic Park idea, was a good one. So they followed suit, putting together their own JP costumes. And while we escorted young Anne-Marie and Brendon to get their sweet surgary goodness, the three of us would put on a show for the door people involving, screaming, shaking bushes and a raptor puppet. I figured hey, if they think we're too old for trick or treating, at least this theatrical experience would earn us some candy. And earn candy it did! We came home with quite a horde.
And to date that is my favorite Halloween costume. I've done others since then (Indiana Jones with boobs, Kayako from The Grudge, A fry cook on Venus) but I had the most fun wearing my Jurassic Park worker costume.
...I am so tempted to do it again.

So lay it on me, What's YOUR favorite?

An All Hallows Sighting

I-Mockery has started their Halloween count down! Every year they two a solid two months of Halloween updates of all kinds, so go their for your ghoulish fix!

It also looks like X-Entertainment is going to start the Halloween countdown on September 16, so start looking for that, as well!

Both sites have great offerings and I visit both extensively this time of year!

Also, they have pumpkin cheesecake at Olive Garden currently. It is DELICIOUS.

It Comes.. I CAN FEEL IT!!

They do the Halloween Dance with me! It's like popping and locking, but with more candy corn.

Halloween is coming! Halloween is coooming! Halloween is cooooming!

I am skipping as I sing this! I need to get cracking on my Halloween costume-- it involves the top hat I found in San Diego.

Halloween candy is starting to creep into the grocery stores, and the local Dollar Tree has some really cool stuffage. I may do a post on what I find, actually.

This is a pointless post, fueled by cold medicine and deep seated yearning for red and orange leaves. Yes.

I put my candy in here. I was recently accused of stealing this from my five year old nephew by my five year old nephew.

Still kickin!!

Creepy Kitch is not abandoned despite us going for about a week with no posts.
The hubby and I are currently moving into a house so we've been spending all our free time painting, sanding, and knocking down dry wall. JOY!
Stac...well. I'm not sure what Stac is doing. My guess is she's bathing in the blood of young virgin men to restore her youth. Regardless, I'm sure its important stuff she's up to.

We'll be back soon!