Most commented posts
- Krampusmas — 7 comments
- Wah Chang Remembered — 5 comments
- Homemade Godzilla Costumes — 5 comments
- Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: Arts & Crafts — 4 comments
- Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: Shag! and The Art Of Tiki — 3 comments
Atomic Mystery Monster
Author's posts
Apr 30 2013
The Headless Horseman
Everyone knows the story of Sleepy Hollow. Schoolteacher Ichabod Crane tries to win the favor of the wealthy Katrina Van Tassel while her jealous suitor Brom Bones schemes to get rid of his rival. Then one fateful night, Crane encounters the legendary Headless Horseman. Sounds like an easy recipe for a silent horror short, right? …
Mar 30 2013
Haunted Spooks
Haunted Spooks is the classic story of boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy meets other girl and immediately weds her so she can receive her inheritance, boy gets girl despite her scheming relatives dressing up like ghosts to scare them off. Despite some similarities in subject matter this film has with Buster Keaton’s The …
Feb 23 2013
The Haunted House
Not to be confused with the 1913 film of the same name, the film I’m discussing is the less obscure 1921 film by Buster Keaton. In it, Keaton plays a bank teller who finds his usual routine of workplace hijinks and pining for the bank president’s daughter interrupted by a bank robbery. Things go from …
Jan 06 2013
Traveling through Vermont? Watch out for King Kong!
While driving down US Highway 7 between Brandon and Leicester, you’re bound to come across King Kong. Okay, technically the giant gorilla statue holding a VW bug is called “Queen Connie,” but I know Kong when I see him! Whatever you want to call it, the statue was created by one T.J. Neil in 1987 …
Dec 11 2012
Build Your Own Krampus Costume
Those of you who remember my article about the Krampus might recall that people dressing up as the character is a holiday tradition in several European countries. Naturally, those living in countries without that tradition will recognize the inherent coolness of the Krampus and will be tempted to introduce others to the concept. And what …
Nov 03 2012
Homemade Godzilla Costumes
I’ve occasionally heard people theorize that part of the appeal Japanese monster movies have is the fact that costumes are used, with fans wishing on a subconscious level that they could be one in the cool costume crushing all those little buildings (despite the fact that doing so is much less glamorous than one would …
Oct 25 2012
Costume Crazyness 2012
I don’t have an introduction in me this year, so let’s just jump right in: The sad thing is that this “Horror Puppet” mask isn’t the worst Saw knock-off I’ve ever seen. That honor goes to a little number I saw at my local Rite-Aid. It was an overhead latex hockey mask with red dots …
Sep 29 2012
Alice Cooper’s Identity Crisis
The story goes that, back in the early 80’s, Vincent Furnier (better known as Alice Cooper) was approached by some foreign filmmakers about starring in a horror movie. Cooper was hesitant about the idea, until the filmmakers assured him that the film would only be seen in the Philippines. As it turns out, this was …
Aug 22 2012
Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: Haunted Tiki Island
Those of you who read my first article about freaky Tiki-related arts and crafts might remember some links relating to a “Haunted Tiki Island.” However, the subject of those links was so interesting that I thought it deserved its own article. Haunted Tiki Island refers to the theme used by the Haunt at Hellizondo in …
Jul 31 2012
Midnight Movie Madness
Once people figured out how to put video files onto CDs, it wasn’t long before companies tried to take advantage of this in order to supplant VHS as the format of choice. CD Video failed miserably and VCDs never really took off in the states. More specifically, several software companies decided that they wanted to …
Jun 20 2012
Horror Host Bloopers
I found this while searching for a video featuring some obscure horror host falling out of his coffin after one of the sawhorses holding it up gave way. I have to admit, it’s probably better that I failed to find it, as this selection from a 1985 episode of Bloopers and Practical Jokes features bigger …
May 31 2012
Wah Chang Remembered
As it’s Asian Heritage Month, I thought it would be the perfect time to look at the life and career of an Asian American (Chinese American, to be specific) special effects artist who I feel hasn’t gotten the wide recognition he truly deserves: Wah Chang. Wah Ming Chang was born in the summer of 1917. …
Apr 23 2012
You Get Cancelled…
Once upon a time, a man by the name of Jerry G. Bishop played a horror host called “Svengoolie” on Screaming Yellow Theater. Although only on the air from 1970-1973, the series gained a loyal following. One fan by the name of Rich Koz submitted so many sketch ideas to the show that he was …
Mar 30 2012
A Night With The Jersey Devil
According to this, the song was originally released as a special download via Bruce Springsteen’s official website on Halloween in 2008, as both a bit of spooky fun and as a tribute to his home state’s most infamous urban legend. A music video for it appeared on the deluxe edition DVD of Springsteen’s Working on …
Feb 29 2012
Thingu
It’s no secret that I love stop motion comedy videos that pay tribute to horror classics, so it should be no surprise that I was very interested when I heard there was a claymation parody of John Carpenter’s The Thing floating around online: In case you’re wondering, this was done in the style of the …
Jan 23 2012
Vampire Kids
Vampire Kids is rather bizarre 1991 horror comedy (with more comedy than horror). The premise is that a tour group gets stranded on a deserted island that has an abandoned WWII Japanese outpost on it (and Chinese hopping vampires). Said outpost has a vampirized Japanese general entombed in a wall, who gets partially free when …