everyday is halloween!

walking thru a haunted land

the plague doctor makes haunted house calls

landed in area 51 1/2

a wild patch of pumpkins

whoa there, mr. bones!

nothing but bones & a haunted dream

into the mystic

boo!

PISS Live at The Windmill

my brother from another mother, jonathan hayes, forwarded me this live performance of punk/noise band PISS from vancouver, bc.  the intro had me at boo.  then the vocalist introduces the band, gives instructions for good vibes & decent behavior in the mosh pit & warning the audience that the band uses language & images in recorded sequences & in their lyrics that may be disturbing for some.  then they go on to rip into glorious noise.  the vocalist, i'm afraid i don't know her name, even after going to their website, is brilliant.  her lyrics are more than just words for songs.  they are fucking manifestos.  her performance is searing & cathartic.  this is punk rock of the highest order & makes this old punk thrill to the noise of a younger generation who is not taking shit with a front woman of considerable power.  

everyday is halloween!

 siriusxm scream radio

yeah, i might be a square to subscribe & listen to satellite radio.  but anna & i are long-time subscribers.  we like radio with DJs & shit.  i also really dig the siriusxm app on my phone.  which i use every day.  there is a shitload of good stuff to be found on the app.  including this annual trick 'r treat, Scream Radio.  it is available only from mid october to halloween.  the short broadcast time of this channel is a bummer.  i would listen to it all year long.  hell, siriusxm has a year-long christmas music channel!  the yacht rock channel was once a summer only broadcast, but it proved too popular so now you can listen to the smooth AOR stylings of boz scaggs & christopher cross any hour of the year.  at any rate, Scream Radio is a potpourri of horror movie soundtracks, scary stories, sound fx etc etc.  which i freaking love!  if you wanna know what Scream Radio sounds like here is a youtube channel that is dutifully recording many of the station's pieces, for which i am eternally grateful, so that we can enjoy these pieces of the most wonderful time of the year, The Spooky Season, all year long, SiriusXM Scream - YouTube.    

boo!

everyday is halloween!

 dia de los muertos

buu!

everyday is halloween!

 the prowler [1981]

speaking of slashers this movie is a prime example of the sub-genre.  solidly directed by joseph zito with a clever-ish script, good editing & lighting & photography, & with a serviceable score.  but even more so is the FX by maestro tom savini with kills that are sudden, violent & gory.  this is a fun kinda stabby pic that is proof that slashers can attain the level of good trashy art.

who is 'the prowler?'  well, the movie starts with a 1945 newsreel of WWII G.I.s returning home from a long exhausting war to their families & their sweethearts.  except for one soldier who gets a deer john letter from his girl, rosemary, while he was overseas.  forward to a college graduation dance in the california coastal town of avalon where rosemary with her new beau leave the dance to neck on the water's edge.  this is when things get gooey.  a dude decked out in army fatigues, boots, gloves, helmet, long knife, &, get this, a pitchfork, & masked, pierces rosemary & boyfriend to death in mid-smooch.

fast-forward 35 years.  it is now 1980 & the college in avalon is having its first graduation dance since the horrible murders happened in 1945.  the killer is still at large.  indeed, we see him getting all kitted out for a solid night of murders.  & boy does he!  still, the filmmaker throws us a red herring or two to keep us guessing the identity of the prowler.  not in a great murder mystery kinda way but enough to keep the story's engine running.  nevertheless, the deputy sheriff, mark london, played by christopher goutman, is a solid dude who has a deep crush on our final girl, pam macdonald, played with precocity by vicky dawson.  pam & mark make a good team as they race all over avalon to find & stop the killer.

classic hollywood tuff guy lawrence tierney is major chatham, the father of rosemary, in a blink & you might miss him kinda role.  hell, i didn't know that was tierney until i read the credits!  farley granger plays the sheriff of avalon who leaves the movie early to go fishing while leaving deputy mark in charge.  interesting thing about slashers there is rarely any psychological explanations given as to why the killers are all stabby.  or why they prefer knives, & other sharp things, over firearms.  still, this is a sub-genre that is about action rather than reflection or motivation.  except for the flimsiest kind, such as the prowler was dumped by his girlfriend while he was fighting overseas.  he comes home to stab her in a fit of rage.  but why kill a rangy group of relative strangers 35 years later?  because the mis en scene is a graduation dance at the same college?  

why ask why, i suppose.  just let the story take you down its psycho road.  this pic is a very good example of a slasher that hits all its marks with a finesse that is equal to the moods of the Spooky Season.  

boo!

everyday is halloween!

below is legendary horror/exploitation critic/reviewer/actor joe bob briggs giving a short history of the slasher films.  briggs is eloquent as hell but he elides a couple of details regarding the origin of the slasher films, such as not crediting the writer robert bloch who wrote the novel based on the ghoulish crimes of ed gein that was the foundation for hitchock's great flick Psycho [1960].  small detail but it is the details that matter.  at any rate, briggs, acting here as a TV horror host, as well as a historian of horror movies, is fun to listen to.  i have to caution to my own sorta kinda appreciation of the slasher genre.  which was appreciated recently.  i wasn't a great fan of these movies during their original release dates.  cuz they seemed too sexually puritanical & focused on gory kills rather than the rich tapestry of magical storytelling that makes of my beloved horror genre.  still now i can watch slashers as the artifacts of their age.  & sometimes, after a long, stressful day, a movie whose primary construction is to get all kinds of stabby, can be, dare i say it!, cathartic.  put that in our pipes & smoke it!

boo!

everyday is halloween!

'please allow me to introduce myself i'm black cat of wealth & taste.  pleased to meet you hope you guess my name'

boo!