My love of Atom Age sci-fi horror — specifically, flicks where radiation makes shit turn BIG — comes from my late mother, who adored the stuff and would tune into Channel 56’s Creature Double Feature whenever those movies were aired. The Deadly Mantis was her favorite, though she also gave high marks to The Amazing […]

(from Billboard, 11/12/1977) I was going to make a joke about Halloween 1977 being the special day when one could see King Kong snort lines off Darth Vader’s naked ass cheeks, but realized it probably happened on a nightly basis during the height of disco’s decadent phase. Recommended listening: Until you can’t boogie oogie no […]

From the days of old, when T’Pau was in the Top 10 charts and Games Workshop was a weirdly cool alternative to TSR’s stodginess instead of a punchline attached to its most profitably prominent IP comes White Dwarf #91 (July 1987), which featured the following house ad for its line of “Gothic Horror” miniatures. Why […]

The House That Dripped Blood was a 1971 British horror anthology film, one of many such releases from Amicus during the period. It’s big selling points were the fact its various segments were adaptations of Robert Bloch tales and its cast included an all-star lineup featuring not only Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, but also […]

Listen to them, the children of the eurodisco! What music they make! Recommended listening: Did I mention there’s a promo video? Because there is one, Satan help us all.

Boris Karloff is horror royalty, whose presence could elevate even the worst cinematic drek — and he starred in a lot of it, especially during his final years. Unfortunately that legendary status has been somewhat undercut for me by the utterly random epiphany I had some years ago that he bears a striking resemblance to […]

The unconvincing gorilla suit was a staple of stage and screen dating back to at least the late 19th Century. Need an exotic menace for an old dark house? Someone to send a slapstick ensemble into a state of comedic terror? A zany bit of zest for a struggling sitcom? Just throw someone with the […]

During the pandemic years, I took a very holistic and intensive approach to Spooky Month. Having a surfeit of time to kill, I filled with with a robust roster of appropriately themed movies, TV shows, videogames, comics, prose, and old time radio shows. It was a glorious time to discover, re-discover, revisit, and generally wallow […]

(excerpts from Van Nielsen’s Field Notes on Prime-Time Draculas) Rollin Handula: Master of disguise, strong affinity towards the moon. Daughter also a vampire of minor reknown. Won an Oscar for his poignant portrayal of another elderly ailing Dracula. Swanula: Do not be fooled by the diminutive stature!!! Has made multiple demonic pacts with terrifying entities […]

“The Nice Price” was a late 1970s branding initiative by CBS Records, where perennial backcatalog faves got badged and repriced as midbudget offerings. Nearly all of my old Clash tapes and CDs sported the sticker when I bought them. The copy of Combat Rock that Maura scored for me somewhere still has its one on […]