Oct 02 2013

The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection

Flow like Poe...

Named for the famous poet, Caedmon Records specialized in spoken word releases for decades. The company is best known to horror fans both for their classic albums featuring Vincent Price and for releasing some of the first commercially available audio versions of stories by H.P. Lovecraft. So when I heard that HarperCollins (who had purchased Caedmon in the 80’s) had been reissuing Caedmon materials from the archives under their HarperAudio division, I was very excited.

But despite getting top billing on the cover, it should be noted how Vincent Price’s contributions to The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection are limited to the final 2 discs in this 5 disc release. Instead, the bulk of the work in this collection is performed by Basil Rathbone. This admittedly does make sense since he was Caedmon’s go-to guy for Poe readings until his death forced them to approach Price to take over. Besides, it’s not like Rathbone didn’t do his fair share of horror roles during his long film career. While this might be a disappointment to Vincent Price fanatics at first glance, it’s really not a problem as both actors provide excellent performances. And when I say performances, I mean it. Both men get to show off their acting skills in these recordings rather than take the easy way out by simply reading them.

Rathbone’s contribution is the following mix of poems and stories: “To-,” “Alone The City in the Sea,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Haunted Palace,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Black Cat,” “The Raven,” “The Facts of the Case of M.Valdemar,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” “The Bells” “Annabel Lee” and “Eldorado.” Price, on the other hand, handles these short stories: “Ligeia,” “The Imp of the Perverse,” “Morella,” “Berenice” and “The Gold Bug.”

With no music or sound effects to distract from the stories, the listener is free to focus on the delivery of said stories. And believe me, their deliveries really shine in this collection. In addition to bringing a definite “horror” tone to “The City in the Sea” and portions of “The Bells” and perfectly conveys a sense of love and loss in his take on “Annabel Lee,” Rathbone also perfectly shows madness, anger and/or fear in “The Masque of the Red Death,” “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “The Tell-Tale Heart.” His performance in “The Cask of Amontillado” has to be heard to be truly appreciated. In “Ligeia,” Vincent Price shows that he has sorrow and mourning DOWN while in “Berenice,” he delivers perfect pronunciations of exotic terms and makes the ending extra chilling. “The Gold Bug” (which has more macabre imagery than one might think) features some especially amazing voice work during the code translation scene. The only negative is the voice Price uses for a slave character, but that’s admittedly due to how Poe wrote the character.

Sadly, the audio quality itself is not without its problems. Almost all of the works performed by Rathbone have the volume suddenly get lower at random times only to return to normal sometime later. This usually happens numerous times and while turning up the volume can help at some points, it results in ear-shattering moments when it goes up again. After much careful listening, I can confidently say this is not due to Rathbone’s performance and it has to be some sort of technical issue. Vincent Price’s material is much more stable volume-wise although “Ligeia” has noticeably different audio quality than the other two Poe works presented on the same disc, presumably due to it being sourced from a different Caedmon release than the other two. As this release is made up of material from several separate vinyl releases, some works are presented with their titles given while others just leap right into the story. Another issue is how the packaging claims the readings are unabridged when they are clearly not. The most notable shortened tale is the presentation of “The Fall of the House of Usher” and the version of “Berenice” appears to be the toned-down version Poe released after the original was criticized as being too horrific. It’s worth noting, however, that the version of “Ligeia” used in this collection is the one that includes Poe’s “The Conqueror Worm.” I suspect this decision to use abridged versions was due to the space limitations of vinyl LPs, but don’t know if the unabridged claim originated with Caedmon or HarperAudio.

The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection is packaged in 3 cardboard folding panels held in a cardboard box. Sadly, the panels are loose sleeves of sorts that let the discs move around in and potentially get scratched (especially since the second and third panels include two sleeves that hold the discs one on top of the other). Each disc lists the Poe works featured on them, along with the running time of each track (each work is contained on a single track).

Originally presented on CD in 2000, HarperAudio reissued the 6 hour collection in 2012 with a reduced price (as noted on the slightly modified cover art). Given the issues with the audio, I applaud them for lowering the price, but can’t help wishing they had gone back and remastered the audio. Some more secure packaging for the CDs would have been nice as well. I also imagine that some listeners would prefer to have the longer stories spread across several tracks. As a Vincent Price fan, I’m happy his recordings didn’t suffer from as many issues as Basil Rathbone’s contributions to the collection did and will definitely go back to the discs featuring his work due to the easier overall listening experience. But seeing as how both actors made even stories I knew by heart seem exciting and new, I would happily pay for an improved version. If said issues are the result of damaged masters and are therefore impossible to fix, then some sort of notice on the box would be nice.

Despite my issues with the album, I encourage HarperCollins to keep releasing horror materials from the Caedmon archives. After all, there are still several spooky Vincent Price albums in desperate need of a CD release (in addition to David McCallum’s readings of various stories by H.P. Lovecraft). I’m positive that issuing those titles on CD without the audio issues I noted above would result in rave reviews, in addition to bringing in a lot of sales.

Special thanks to HarperAudio for the review copy!

Oct 02 2013

Getting In The Mood: ‘Songs The Lord Taught Us’

Every day this month, I’m listening to an album to get into the mood for Halloween. Either I’ll pop on something new, or dig up an old one I hadn’t listen to in a while. Today was Songs The Lord Taught Us, because it felt like a day to listen to The Cramps.

The Cramps are akin to The Beatles, though never reaching the popularity of the latter. But both bands, when first arriving, were very connected to their influences. The Beatles covered “Twist and Shout” and The Cramps covered “Sunglasses After Dark.” The Cramps upcycled a lot of forgotten and abandoned rockabilly songs, thanks to Lux and Ivy’s endless collecting off-the-beaten-path sounds. It’s a bit jarring when you hear the iconic lick from “I was a Teenage Werewolf” from some clearly-older song.

The Cramps were mad scientists and they took a lot of dead things and made them live again. If you haven’t listened to Songs The Lord Taught Us, then you really should. I can’t believe I wrote that. I might have well typed out HEY THIS STUFF CALLED PIZZA? YEAH, BETTER GIVE IT A GO. I THINK IT’S GOING TO BE A KEEPER.

Anyway, here’s a bit of Lux Interior Halloween Goodness for you.

Oct 01 2013

Chilling Ghost Stories

When in Leathbridge, visit scenic Quiet Side cemetery!

The story behind Chilling Ghost Stories is quite interesting. It begins in the early 70’s, when cousins Barbara Freeman and Connie Regan decided to quit their jobs and make a living from telling stories after receiving much acclaim while telling stories to audiences while working at the same library. Although there was some struggling at first, their hard work and talent eventually paid off. In addition to countless live performances, “The Folktellers” also released a book, several albums, home video releases and even a stage play! Four years after the two parted ways for solo careers in 1995, Connie (now Connie Regan-Blake) released an album called Spirits Walk that included re-recordings of two stories she had originally performed in the 1983 Folktellers album Chillers. Long after the CD went out of print, she reissued it under the new title Chilling Ghost Stories in 2009.

In “Rag Doll” a new teacher in an isolated rural community learns the reason why her employers seem so eager to make sure she doesn’t stay after school. “Two White Horses” is an allegedly true tale of a return from the grave that’s also notable as being Connie Regan-Blake’s signature story (along with being the first scary story she ever told). I’ll let her explain further: “From that first telling – almost 4 decades ago I could feel the power of it, especially since it is a true story. Over the years, it has continued to grip teenage and adult audiences. I once told it to 20,000 people from the main stage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival – an amazing experience – connecting with that many people through a simply told story. That telling was also broadcast live across Canada on their national radio (I even had someone recognize my voice from that radio broadcast on a plane when I was flying back to the states).” Next come the two stories that originally appeared on Chillers. A young woman discovers the shocking secret of her seemingly charming suitor in “Mr. Fox” while in “Mary Culhane,” the titular heroine has to match wits with a living corpse. In the final tale, “The Veil,” a man must go through several ordeals in order to save his wife and child from fairies. Yeah, I said fairies. Contrary to their popular depiction as friendly little winged beings, the fairies of legend tended to be much larger and not so nice (in addition to having more complicated origins than one might expect).

Continue reading

Oct 01 2013

I Got The Spirit But Lose The Feeling

(aka Fuck You Spirit Halloween 2013)

Happy Halloween Season, ladies and gentlemen and all those in between. There’s a lot of swearing in this one.

A month ago, I received a comment on a past article I wrote, which in itself is an odd phenomenon. In a sea full of horror blogs, we’re good but we’re not the most popular. We usually get only spam comments (first world problems) on what we write here.  Making this comment even more odd, it was negative.

You suck and Spirit Halloween is the best Halloween retailer in the whole world. ( a.k.a fuck you Strange Jason)

I imagine whoever wrote that was wearing the Chick Magnet costume or something even more dumb (and there’s plenty more) they got with their Employee Discount when they worked at Spirit Halloween last year.

Spirit Halloween, owned by Spencer’s Gifts, will have over 1,000 stores in operation this Halloween season. There will be more Spirit Halloween stores in the New York City region than there will be hits on this particular blog post. I am a small fish in an ocean, so that my diatribe against the sexist, racist and homophobic costumes that are a staple of Spirit Halloween’s inventory elicits a comment, I have to wonder just what the fuck? Did they hire someone to just search out any negative word-of-mouth about the store? If so, that would be hilarious.

While looking into Spirit Halloween, I found that they operate The Spirit of Children program, a charity that brings Halloween to children’s hospitals by orchestrating Halloween parties; in addition, Spirit Halloween conducts in-store fundraising for these hospitals. As of 2012, since the 2006 start of the program, they’ve raised over 11 million dollars for 130 hospitals across the country. That would be great if they didn’t raise the money by selling racist, stupid, and outright cheap costumes.  It’s like how Breaking Bad starts out – Spirit Halloween sells meth to raise money for orphans (or something.)

Spirit Halloween, for those of you who don’t know, is also the main source for all those ‘sexy’ costumes for women – the sexy cartoon characters, the sexy horror characters, the sexy what the fuck character, the sexy racism. I’m all for people being sexy and dressing how they want, but the continued emphasis that there’s always a ‘sexy’ costume section of Spirit Halloween debases Halloween into not a celebration of costume and fun for a woman – these costumes continue send the message that  ‘Halloween is another night of the year where you are only to be lusted after and sought as a fancier sexy version of a child’s toy.’

Hey – If a woman (or anyone) wants to dress up as a sexy nun or an erotic construction worker, please. Go ahead. There are plenty of places for you to buy these outfits ALL YEAR ROUND and I encourage you to engage that side. But don’t use Halloween as an excuse to walk around outside in lingerie. What I’m getting at is stop using Halloween as an excuse. If you want to do it, do it without having to wait until October 31st. Do it without someone giving you permission to do so. I don’t want to keep this provocative costumes OUT of Halloween, but that anyone – women, men or whoever – should feel that safety to dress however they want all year around. The Sexy Halloween Costumes seems to put these behaviors in a ‘once every year in October’ category which ultimately means surrendering the choice to someone else.

But – there always caveats. Dressing as some other ethnicity as a costume makes you an asshole, no matter who you are – sexy or not. And if you’re the type to dress up as a sexy Leatherface, you’re probably the type of individual who would be more satisfied MAKING the costume yourself then shelling out fifty to sixty bucks for some cheap shit Made In China sold to you by a shitty corporation that looks to fuck up Halloween. Yeah – Spirit is overpriced. If you would pay sixty bucks for a priest-with-a-boner-robe, you’re simply encouraging Spirit’s horrible pricing.

Not to mention the multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple allegations that Spirit Halloween and its parent company, Spencer’s Gifts, engage in intellectual property theft – that means they rip off artists by stealing their ideas, probably by buying their work and ‘reverse engineering’ it. They’ve been caught so many times now, their whole attitude is ‘what are you going to do? we’ve got lawyers. Come at me, bro.” And lord, the bros.

But, overall, Spirit Halloween, in my opinion, perpetuates the bullshit attitude of assholes who think that once a year, it’s perfectly fine to act like a racist asshole or be some drunk sexist idiot in facepaint or to demand the female form be plastered in over-sexified skin-tight wrapping for their amusement. This is a holiday for the creeps and the freaks and Spirit Halloween has tried to pull in the dipshit for the sole purpose of making a buck. I welcome everyone who wants to celebrate Halloween but those, who I have come to know, that really enjoy this holiday don’t shop at Spirit. They either make their own costumes out of cobbled parts or have been working on them for months. They might spend MORE than sixty bucks on their outfit but they did it in parts and labor, not some prefab outfit that is someone else’s idea of a costume.

Maybe it all comes down to the dumb ass costumes. If you want to dress up as a ‘suicide bomber,’ have the balls to do it on the 4th of July. You want to wear a sombrero and a poncho and be some Mexican stereotype? Do it on Thanksgiving.  Do it in the middle of April. Do it not in a house party with all your friends but on the city bus in the morning-after commute. Have some guts and let the world know you’re a piece of shit. Don’t use ‘oh, it’s Halloween’ as some kind of get-out-of-being-called-a-shithead card. If you want to engage in such obnoxious behavior, have the spine to do it year round. I might respect you for finally owning up to being a complete fuck of a person who thinks becoming ‘Big Chief Wood‘ for one night is a good idea. But if you look as Halloween as an excuse, my god–Take your racist, sexist, moronic behavior out of my holiday, you half-ass, amateur hour twit.

So, Alax. In summary: Fuck me? Fuck you, bro. And Fuck Spirit.

Happy Halloween, everybody.

Sep 27 2013

6′+ Episode 76 is Up!

2013 Logo IconTo quote the description given at the new listing:

“The tribute album Creepsville ’13 has taken up our time, so we wondered what other music is 25 years old. So, get ready for some cuts from The Lurkers, The Radium Cats, The Dickies and more. We also have Monstermatt Patterson an Dr. Gangrene, bringing you jokes and movies right out of the eighties (it’s not old – it’s retro.)”

Remember to email 6′+ (contact at 6ftplus.com) or leave a comment below about the show, whether you liked it or not. Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes, but above all – enjoy.

You can find all episodes of 6′+ over at the official site as well as on iTunes, Stitcher and Spreaker. They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Sep 26 2013

The House of Seven Corpses

It's also the House of 1 star out of 5

A film crew shooting a low budget movie at a mansion with a history of violent deaths happening in it. With tensions already on the rise due to shooting woes and an overbearing director, things only get worse when mysterious happenings start complicating matters. Could the use of an authentic occult ritual in part of the film be to blame?

Sounds like a great setup for a horror movie, doesn’t it? With great performances by John Carradine, John Ireland, and Faith Domergue (in her final horror role, no less) and spooky atmosphere, it seems like a guaranteed good time. Too bad it’s all squandered on an overly long movie with a hopelessly muddled script. I defy you to make sense of the ending. The film and its advertising seem to hint at the antagonist being undead (but fail to provide any solid explanation for their behavior) but the writer’s official explanation is completely different and has almost no relationship to what we see onscreen! When the movie within a movie’s zombie looks better than the “real” one, you have a huge problem on your hands. It found it particularly hilarious that when the “real” zombie approaches a crew member, the guy in question immediately screams in horror instead of assuming it’s another crew member playing a joke. I also have my doubts about the evil-sounding incantations in the film were actually from the Tibetan Book of the Dead as shown in the film.

I simply can’t understand all the love for this film seems to have online. Yes, the Utah Governor’s Mansion is a cool location and the music is appropriately eerie, but that doesn’t make up for the mess that we get onscreen. Oh, and said music? Most of it is just stock music from The Outer Limits. If you want great music, writing and chills, just watch that series instead!

Although Severin Films recently released this in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, my review is based on Geneon’s bargain bin DVD release of the film. Geneon’s release admittedly doesn’t have any extras, menus, or chapter stops! Sadly renting was not an option for me and I can sleep easy knowing I wasted very little of my money on this dud. Apparently this release was just a port of Image’s previous release of the film, which offered an open matte transfer but left the tinting out of the day-for-night shots. On the plus side, the audio was perfectly fine. That link also provides more details on the Severin release, which I can only recommend if you either are one of the people who somehow love this movie or if it turns out the commentary track explains the various plot holes. I’d love to know who was responsible for the fate of Cleon the cat. And even then, only rent this so that the sting of wasting 90 minutes on this mess will be minimized (and make sure to pick up something else that you’re sure to enjoy, because you’re going to need it).

I should also note that, despite all of the past films I’ve reviewed here are in the public domain, I have yet to see any solid proof that this film is PD. I’ve heard people speculate that is the case due to it appearing numerous times on TV and it appearing as part of a budget DVD line, but those are hardly solid arguments. I’ve done a little digging at copyright.gov, which seems to reveal that the film’s copyright was renewed. Just search via registration number for “RE0000861290” and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Sep 23 2013

Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane (2007)

Fotld

ZC Rating 2 of 7: Fair

Marauding, mindless zombies, no first class, no in-flight movies, and no salted nuts. And it gets worse! New Line Home Entertainment lands Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak On A Plane straight to DVD, so fasten your seat belts because it's going to be a bumpy ride.

At a time when airlines have routinely kept passengers  stranded in conga lines and airport terminals, creatively screwing-up the air travel experience for so many travelers in so many nefarious ways, can flesh-eating zombies really be more frightening than having to get through a security checkpoint without completely disrobing, or finding your seat's overhead luggage bin not already stuffed with A30, C13, and D2's carry-ons? The writers, director Scott Thomas, Sidney Iwanter, and Mark Onspaugh, attempt the daunting task of answering that question, but don't have the budget or the scripting verve to make it a resounding yes.

What they do have is a good cast which includes Erick Avari and Kevin J. O'connor from 1999's The Mummy, and a clever sense for using the 747 Jumbo Jet's confining spaces as zombies overrun the cargo hold, the aisles, rip through the floor, and barge their way into the toilet. But the promise of a cheeky, retro-fitted storyline, and characters straight from the Airport disaster movies is not realized, although the opening credit sequence, with its bitchin' song and animation, teases us with that expectation.

Yes, there's a nun–sans guitar this time, thank God–a cop handcuffed to his wise-cracking, suave criminal charge, three perky stewardesses, an aging pilot on his last flight, and fast moving bio-zombies. What's not here is the needed scale to make the aisles of the 747 a harrowing battleground, or the depth of characterization and turmoil to put you on the edge of your seat, dreading every minute the plane is in the air. It's a good popcorn and soda movie, but you will find the popcorn doesn't stick in your throat and the soda doesn't fizz into your nose like it does when watching more gripping horror fare. Missing, too, is the realism and normal discomfort of being on a plane: passengers on this flight easily stand in and walk the aisles during turbulent weather, and there's no intrusive background jet engine noise; and for a 747, not many passengers booked this trip, although we keep getting new zombies from somewhere.

Fotld02 The strongest missing element is a more dynamic and iconic personality to rally the passengers against the voracious, economy class undead. While the properly cliché characters are adequate, not much is written into them. The famous golf pro, who carries and continuously polishes his beloved club, manages to knock a few growling heads off, here and there, but, like the martial artist in Snakes on a Plane, his potential is never realized. The quiet nun, ignoring everything around her, unfairly meets her grisly end without redemption, just when she decides to get involved. The cop and the sky marshal whip out their guns, but don't rally or rescue anyone in the process. Instead, it's a free-for-all as passengers run and zombies chase in a paint-by-numbers flow of lively action.

Automatic weapons and incendiary devices provide wacky fun. The outbreak begins when an infected wife of one of the renegade scientists on-board reanimates, much to the chagrin of the hazmat-suited guard nervously holding a semi-automatic weapon in the cargo hold. He opens fire, spraying bullets into the communications box and everything else but the agitated woman. She chomps down and the zombie romp begins. With so many bullets flying around, it's hilarious the cabin isn't compromised. One errant bullet does manage to rip through the plane's interior and into the side of a flight attendant in a deft scene of mayhem. An improvised munition to blow up the zombies in the cargo hold doesn't put a dent in the plane, either, but this intentionally ludicrous scene is done well.

Cut-aways to increasingly worried military and government officials on the ground give the backstory, but tend to slow the action on the plane, clipping the tension instead of increasing it. Exterior shots of the CGI plane in flight are also glaringly budget and should have been used more sparingly. Then there are the air ducts. I'm not familiar with the 747's air circulation system, but whenever I see air ducts big enough to elbow your way through them, the words "convenient plot device"  spring to mind. The disbelieving sky marshal is quickly made a believer when he suddenly encounters one energetic zombie in one. (I bet you can't pick out the inconspicuously dressed sky marshal in the photo.)

Fotld01 While the dialog is not crisp or witty, it does have its moments, and the fighter jet, scrambled to bring down the plane, complicates things for the few remaining passengers not gnawing on each other. Only one fighter jet is dispatched, though, so I suppose the Pentagon isn't too worried about the infected plane landing (or crashing) in a populated area.

The DVD comes with two commentaries, both underwhelming, and InterActual online features. I don't use InterActual, so please let me know what you think of them if you do. The commentary with the IGN editors is lively, however, as they chat about everything but the movie.

The best way to watch Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane, is with a bunch of fellow horrorheads, lots of popcorn and White Castle hamburgers, Cane Cola with lime, and Oreo cookies. Toss in Snakes on a Plane, and Spookies, and you've got a night of it.

This article originally appeared at Zombos’ Closet of Horrors.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License.

Sep 20 2013

6’+ Delay

Those of you who read our podcast’s Facebook page might have noticed the following:

“Odds are that there won’t be a show this week, due to schedule conflicts, impromptu dental appointments, car chases and the discovery of the Wolfman’s tomb.”

Sadly, the odds have become a definite thing and there will not be an episode this week. If everything goes according to plan, the next episode should be up on the 27th.

If you have any suggestions for artists/bands (or anything else you want more of on the show) please feel free to submit them to CONTACT at 6FTPLUS dot com.

You can find all previous episodes of 6′+ over at the official site as well as on iTunes, Stitcher and Spreaker. They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Sep 19 2013

Music to Haunt By: The Horrorville Haunt

Hollywood Haunts
Official Site
The Horrorville Haunt, Introsound 2013

Are you ready for Freddy?

In the years since I reviewed Monster Movie Haunts! in the first “Music to Haunt By” series, Hollywood Haunts (aka Introsound) seems to have focused more on creating albums intended for use at parties rather than spooky ambiance CDs. But don’t think that’s a complaint against the company. I’m just setting up how their latest release not only marks the company’s return to that format, but also combines it with dance music for a unique take on home haunting. To quote the instructions from The Horrorville Haunt:

“Play the Paranormal Music Tracks to create the perfect “dark vibe” for your Halloween Haunt, or chill-out your creepy Halloween props with the Paranormal Sound FX Tracks, or use both!”

While technically not the first CD containing spooky music and sound effects tracks, this is the first album I’ve ever seen that openly advises the purchaser to use it in such a matter, in addition to featuring several tracks that one could easily slip into the mix at your next Halloween party without disrupting the overall vibe of the party.

The first of the music tracks, “Freddy’s Horrorville Haunt,” gets the blood pumping and creates a sense of both pursuit and dread thanks to its loud, pounding music and sound effects. Said effects include growls, a woman screaming, lightning and “modern” horror music touches (you’ll know them when you hear them). The theremin work and wordless female vocals also nicely add to mix. “Tuned-in to Terror” has an almost carnival-style intro where a distorted voice welcomes us in and says it’s been waiting. The mix of spooky dance music, storm sounds and a woman screaming (along with evil laughter from our host) reminds me of something from A Halloween Moon, albeit with a superior layering of music and sound effects. This catchy little number would fit in perfectly in a haunted club scene. “Shock! Chiller Movie Theme” is decidedly more low key than past tracks, which I think adds to the creep factor. The spooky piano music goes great with the pounding noises and howling wind, but what really sets my imagination on fire is how, at some points, it conveys the musical sensation of crawling. Those segments make this track especially well suited for rooms featuring tons of spiders or any other creepy crawly critters. Alternately, you can have a hidden assistant bust out something like this when the “crawling” music starts up. Trust me, they’ll know it when they hear it.

Continue reading

Sep 13 2013

TGIF13 VI: The Man Behind The Mask

It just occurred to me that, despite the obvious Friday the 13th connection, I’ve never discussed Alice Cooper’s classic song “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask)” here before. That oversight ends today, thanks to this upload by lairofhorror:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qglpDlSlPzE

Now that I think about it, it’s eerily appropriate how I decided to write about a song made to tie-in with Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives during the sixth installment of TGIF13. I wish I could say this was my plan from the beginning, but the fact is that I just got lucky.

Upon close examination of the lyrics, the reference to “Lover’s Lake” immediately leaps out at me. I’ve heard of “Lover’s Lane” before, but “Lover’s Lake?” At first I assumed that Alice Cooper arbitrarily coined the phrase as a quick way to reference the site of a potential slasher victim buffet with Camp Crystal Lake in the song, but a little research reveals otherwise. It turns out there are actually a few lakes bearing the name in existence, with the one in Chatham, MA being the most popular. That certainly puts an amusing new spin on that part of the song!

Oh, and what’s the deal with the part about Jason being “out for your soul?” I suppose one could argue Cooper is exercising artistic license, but come on. Since when has that ever been Jason’s modus operandi? But as much as I kid (you didn’t think those nitpicks were serious, did you?), this song is awesome. I suggest listening to it while reading this informative article about it for maximum effect.

Sep 13 2013

6′+ Episode 75 is Up!

2013 Logo IconTo quote the description given at the new listing:

“Make your Friday the 13th a raucous one with the new episode featuring music from Howlers, Murder Party, Cripple Creek Fairies, Eaten Back To Life and more. Monstermatt Patterson brought the (cheese) dip and Dr. Gangrene comes prepped with some killer movies to watch. It’s time to party!”

Remember to email 6′+ (contact at 6ftplus.com) or leave a comment below about the show, whether you liked it or not. Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes, but above all – enjoy.

You can find all episodes of 6′+ over at the official site as well as on iTunes, Stitcher and Spreaker. They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Sep 08 2013

Happy 5th Anniversary, GdL16

Today, this blog turns five years old. 9/8/08 is when this site was first created as a humble blogger site, before we migrated it over to our own hosting. Things have been quiet over the summer, but usually our birthday means a greater concentrate of content; just in time for Halloween.

I want to take the time to thank every reader who has given this site a chance, to every guest contributor who has provided their voice to this humble blog, to all my fellow writers and to the co-creator of the site, Weird Jon.

Here’s to another year.

Cheers!

Sep 06 2013

6′+ Episode 74 is Up!

2013 Logo IconTo quote the description given at the new listing:

“09/08 is GdL16′s 5th, so we celebrate with music from Go!Tsunami, The Mullet Monster Mafia, The Aquabats, Radioactive Chicken Heads, Coffin Fly and more. Dr. Gangrene regifts a Recommended Movie of the Week and the image drawn on the cake looks like Monstermatt Patterson and The MonsterMatt Minute.”

Remember to email 6′+ (contact at 6ftplus.com) or leave a comment below about the show, whether you liked it or not. Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes, but above all – enjoy.

You can find all episodes of 6′+ over at the official site as well as on iTunes, Stitcher and Spreaker. They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Sep 05 2013

Back To School

The back to school season is upon us, and with it an opportunity to get some great sculpting tools.  Just head over to the eraser section of the school supplies.  You’ll more than likely find novelty erasers depicting all sorts of odd items featuring some amazing textures.  Last night I picked up a package of sushi themed erasers that are going to be re-purposed into texture stamps.

Here’s a closeup of the sushi erasers showing their surface textures.

The erasers are molded as separate parts. The rice cakes have a nice grainy texture.

The “salmon roll” bit has a very subtle folded texture.  Click through to see the larger version where it’s a bit clearer.

The “roe” stamp produces a pitted or hammered texture.

Combining stamps can produce some really neat effects. This was a rough ridge of clay stamped with the rice cake and then indented with the cap of a Sharpie highlighter. On the right I used the tail of the fish stampt to open it up a bit.  The result is very Giger-ish.

Keep in mind that this was just a quick and dirty effort to demonstrate some of the possibilities.  The bottom picture required the most effort, and it only took 30 seconds to bang out.  Taking an appropriate amount of care would produce a much more consistent finish than these admittedly rough examples.

This article originally appeared at Propnomicon.

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Aug 30 2013

Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: 6′+ Episode 73 is Up!

2013 Logo IconTo quote the description given at the new listing:

“If you needed a reason to get lei’d, here you go: Freaky Tiki Surf-Ari 2013! Our annual showcase of surf, tiki, exotica and more. The Drool Brothers! Kava Kon! Hans Karl! Space Party! And much more. Dr. Gangrene prescribes you a Movie of the Week and Monstermatt Patterson tries to buy you a drink!”

Remember to email 6′+ (contact at 6ftplus.com) or leave a comment below about the show, whether you liked it or not. Tell your friends, leave a review on iTunes, but above all – enjoy.

You can find all episodes of 6′+ over at the official site as well as on iTunes, Stitcher and Spreaker. They’re also on Facebook and Twitter.

Aug 29 2013

Freaky Tiki Surf-ari: Les Baxter

Les Baxter
Official Site
Ritual of the Savage, Rev-Ola Records 2006 (Original release date: 1951)
The Passions, Rev-Ola Records 2006 (Original release date: 1954)

Nobody here but us placeholders.

Ever since I first started the Freaky Tiki Surf-ari, I know that someday I simply had to cover the work of Les Baxter in some way. Considering how his album Ritual of the Savage, also known as Ritual of the Savage (Le sacre du sauvage), both spawned the exotica genre and inspired me to create the Freaky Tiki Surf-ari, picking it as the subject of today’s review was a no-brainer.

Although I’ve previously touched on various aspects of both Les Baxter’s career and Ritual of the Savage several times in the past, I thought it best to take a more extensive look at his musical career. Said career began at age five when he learned to play the piano. Although this eventually lead him briefly becoming a concert pianist, Baxter opted for a (then) more modern sound and joined the Mel-Tones. However, things really took off when he signed up with Capitol Records in the 1950’s. Not only did he have several big hits, but he started the exotica genre during that time. He also composed the scores for numerous films, including several horror films. While best remembered for his work on 60’s AIP films like House of Usher and Comedy of Terrors (to name only two), his first horror score was for the 1957 film Pharaoh’s Curse.

While examining the appeal of Baxter’s work (and unintentionally noting the horror aspects of exotica), David Toop noted how he “…offered package tours in sound, selling tickets to sedentary tourists who wanted to stroll around some taboo emotions before lunch, view a pagan ceremony, go wild in the sun or conjure a demon, all without leaving home hi-fi comforts in the white suburbs.” Another link between Baxter’s exotica work and horror can be found in his often-used setting of abandoned cities and ruins in his works. In addition to reviewing Ritual of the Savage, I will also be reviewing another exotica-related album he did during his time at Capitol: 1954’s The Passions featuring Bas Sheva. This is both due to a recommendation from one of the exotica artists who I had spoken to in the past and because Rev-Ola Records packaged the two together for their CD reissue of the albums.

Our musical journey naturally starts at a “Busy Port.” Baxter’s original version is not as Peanuts-like as Lyman’s later take on it and sounds like something from a travelogue or the end of a 50’s TV show. But I mean that in the nicest way possible, as the exotic instrumentation is quite relaxing. “Sophisticated Savage” takes things down a notch to a slower pace and offers some great percussion. Oddly enough, this track reminds me of Masaru Sato’s work on Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Son of Godzilla (with the guiros reminding me of the Kamacuras’ theme from that movie). “Jungle River Boat” offers a playful sense of travel thanks to its combination of of piano, oboe, bongos, orchestral strings and plinking tones. Awhile the unisex wordless vocals give this a distinct 50’s feel, radio host/exotica fan Francesco Adinolfi has noted how Baxter used the pentatonic scale in this track, which was “used often throughout the second half of the nineteenth century to signify the East.” “Jungle Flower” beautifully starts off with soft, soothing xylophone work to represent flower petals falling. But as the piano and percussion eventually builds up, we get the peppy feel that appears so often in Baxter’s work. “Barquita” is a Spanish term for a small boat, which is musically conveyed via excellent string work and stylistic touches resembling those of the preceding tracks. All combined, they conjure up both a Latin feel and the sense of being on an aimless boat ride. “Stone God” starts with the sort of “dramatic tone” you often hear in old movies and speedy, almost frenzied nature of the percussion should please fans of Kava Kon’s “Zombie.” I especially enjoyed the use of oboes, trumpets and vibes. All in all, it’s the perfect sound for a rite to a stone idol.

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