Monthly Archives: December 2013

A Ghostly look at A Christmas Carol

29 December 2013

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Okay, so Christmas Day is over …but it’s still the holiday season for a few more days, damnitt!  So check out this awesome, well-crafted piece from Michael at Parlor of Horror as he gives you A Ghostly Look at A Christmas Carol! The moment when Bob Cratchit proving he’s real, not a bad dream, to Scrooge, scared the hell out of me in every version I’ve seen (still does).

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A Ghostly look at A Christmas Carol

ghost stories charles dickens christmas carol book

People tend to overlook that A Christmas Carol is not only a Christmas story, but it is also a ghost story. It seems as though Charles Dickens had quite a few ghost stories in his authorship and I have been reading them in his collection of ghost stories. Although there are many film versions of A Christmas Carol which include comedic takes and cartoon parodies, I wanted to focus on some of the more serious releases.

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My favorite old classic ‘A Christmas Carol’ film is the 1951 version with Alistair Sim.  I’ve been watching this every year since I can remember. One thing that makes this version so good is the ominous score by Richard Addinsell. The deep baritone of the oboe matches the dark and grim feel of the film.

Lately I’ve been more engaged by my second favorite…

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Horror Boom Christmas Countdown For the Holidays – Watch The Tales From The Crypt Episode “And All Through The House,” Boils and Ghouls!

25 December 2013

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Naughty… or NICE?

Happy Holidays!

HORROR BOOM

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I brought up the ominously titled “And All Through The House…” when I wrote about American Horror Story Asylum’s Christmas Episode, A Very American Horror Story Christmas (OK, that joke has now played out) “Unholy Night”. The scene in the cold open where a little girl finds murderous Ian McShane in their living room six days before Christmas wearing a Santa suit, but isn’t scared of him because she thinks he’s Santa, definitely brought this comic AND this episode in mind.  It’s 22 minutes long (kind of short for a cable drama) and well worth your time… especially the ending, which still creeps me out (a perfect reveal). The TFTC episode is also much closer to the original comic than the version starring Joan Collins that was in the 1970s anthology movie. Check it out below…

Property Of HBO© For entertainment purposes only.   Any problems getting it to…

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Digging into the Short Film Christmas Pile

24 December 2013

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OK, there was no way I could NOT re-blog this amazing list/collection of ten holiday-themed horror shorts from Axe-Wielding Alex at Pieces of Darkness. If you only watch one, check out the scene from 976-EVIL 2 that is near genius in blending It’s a Wonderful Life and Night of The Living Dead.  “Little Cracker” is especially creepy too, and… you know what? Watch all of them. You won’t be disappointed!

Pieces of Darkness

The Twelve Slays of Christmas 2013

For the tenth Slay of Christmas, this genre gave to me, ten vids-a-streaming, Santa’s assassin, crazy dancing eyebrows, Santa vs. Zombies, the anti-Santa Nackles, BILL GOLDBERG!, four creepy songs, Tales from the Crypt, Santa’s demon Krampus, and a scream queen hanging free!

Hopefully my previous slays have gotten you into the horror holiday mood, but if not you are in for a treat today. That’s right, this Axe-Wielding Santa is early for you good boys and girls and I come bearing the gifts of 10 short horrific films. Now, I’ve dug really deep into the pile this year to ensure that you don’t just get all of the same as previous seasonal holiday lists on other sites. But I will admit that there are a few chillers here that I found listed elsewhere that I…

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Horror Boom Creepy Holiday Countdown 2013: Watch The Scary Short Film “Santa”!

22 December 2013

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You know, this one doesn’t really need much of an introduction.

Thanks to the tip-off from Arrow Through The Head’s Eric. We have no background into on the short (yet-we weren’t going to wait to find any before posting it). It’s just really cool… creepy as hell, and probably something I shouldn’t have watched after dark and right before bedtime. Eeeek!

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Hannibal Back For Seconds in February

20 December 2013

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It’s about time Hannibal ‘s back! We’ll need something to fill the void after the American Horror Story Coven finale at the end of January, too (unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for Friday, February 28th for the Hannibal season 2 premiere). The tagline for Hannibal Season Two premiere teasers? “Embrace the Madness“.

As soon as they start running raw new footage in the promos, we’ll let you know! Bring it on.

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Horror Boom Creepy Holiday Countdown: The 11 Most Unintentionally Creepy Christmas Ornaments!

17 December 2013

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“So, how can we give our little Santa figurine that extra little bit of flair?” “How about we stick a light inside his head? Like he’s … glowing with Christmas cheer or some shit? Just do it, I’m sure it’ll look fine.”
You were probably too distracted by Santa’s glowing demonic eyes there to notice what he’s sitting on: a tiny little house. And if you don’t think a gigantic Santa whose eye sockets are burning with the fiery embers of hell itself squatting on your roof is terrifying, it’s only because you haven’t seen the video of it in action yet.

-from the “11 Most Unintentionally Creepy Christmas Ornaments” article at Cracked.com

(hit the photo below to cut to the chase, or keep reading for a link at the bottom)

Nope, no serious nightmare material here!

Nope, no serious nightmare material here!

Here we go with another Creepy Holiday Countdown link. What is it, now, 8 days away? AAAAAAAAAIGH! That’s scary enough on its own. Where did that rum eggnog go?

Anyway, don’t miss this one–it’s well worth checking out! The “Snowman” with “Stocking” looks like a prop from a James Wan-directed ghost movie, the “Godzilla Santa” sounds cool until you see the photo–at which point you’ll hope no small children looked up at it and were terrified for life–and “So Apparently Terrified Infant Ornaments Are a Thing”…well, when you see it, you’ll wonder who is the hell thought it would NOT be creepy on a tree. We almost hope that one was intentionally creepy. The writing is hilarious, too-check out both pages! Click below–or on the photo of the ornament, also below, that unintentionally looks like a certain painting to read…

The 11 Most Unintentionally Creepy Christmas Ornaments (At Cracked.com).

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Remember Joan Fontaine With This Haunting Clip From Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” (1940)

16 December 2013

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As you’ve probably read by now, Academy Award-winning actress Joan Fontaine, the leading lady known for her string of roles as demure, well-mannered and often well-bred heroines in the 1940s, and the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland, died today at her home in Carmel, California; she was 96.

She was known best for her back-to-back roles in two Alfred Hitchcock thrillers — the 1940 Best Picture winner Rebecca and the 1941 film Suspicion, for which she won a Best Actress Oscar, making her the only actor in a Hitchcock film to receive an Academy Award.

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Her obituary on the IMDB (click her for the entire piece) stated that producer David O. Selznick snapped up the rights to the Daphne du Maurier bestseller Rebecca, in which an unnamed, demure heroine — known only as “the second Mrs. de Winter” — is taunted by the memory of her husband’s first wife, the beautiful and seductive title character. Selznick brought director Alfred Hitchcock over for his first American production, cast matinée idol and rising star Laurence Olivier as moody, mysterious husband Maxim de Winter, and embarked on a Scarlett O’Hara-style talent search for his leading lady. Rejecting Loretta Young, Margaret Sullivan, Vivian Leigh (then Olivier’s wife), and a then-unknown Anne Baxter along with hundreds of other actresses, Selznick decided on Fontaine, who though not an established star projected the right mix of beauty, insecurity, and tenacity needed for the part. Fontaine’s insecurity, however, was heightened by Olivier’s sometimes cruel treatment of her on set, as he had lobbied aggressively for Leigh to get the role, and Hitchcock capitalized on her inferiority complex to shape her performance. The resulting film, released in 1940, was an unqualified critical and financial success, catapulting Fontaine into the tier of top Hollywood leading ladies, establishing Hitchcock firmly in the United States, and nabbing the film 11 Academy Award nominations, including ones for both Fontaine and Olivier; it would go on to win Best Picture.

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Below is a classic nine-minute clip from Hitchcock’s Rebecca – the one that first jumped to our minds whenever we thought of her acting in the film.

And here’s a fan-made trailer for the film:

RIP, Ms. Fontaine. Your fans will miss you dearly.

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The “Creepy Diary” – Have You Seen It Yet?

14 December 2013

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I’d like to tell you some background on this, or how I found it, but the truth is I got lost  (it’s not that I don’t understand how to navigate my way around online, but that ADD and an internet connection can add up to plenty of lost time, especially if you want to check out anything horror-related you find that’s new to you) and stumbled on it. Yesterday I go online to get some holiday shopping done today, next thing I’m seeing a link to some creepy kid’s drawings and a heated discussion going on whether they are real or not– a large faction argued that yes, they had to be real, but the little girl who drew them probably had some mental illness (multiple personality disorder was the most popular theory).

Me?  I think they’re the product of a creative (and relatively sane) adult who had an idea for a creepy series of drawings to go with a story and wanted it to go viral. Well, I don’t know how long they’ve been floating around (someone mentioned 4chan as the first online source), but I’m glad I stumbled over them. If you haven’t seen them before, here’s the first half of the “Creepy Diary” below. I’d like to give a source, but whenever they pop up, the drawings and diary are never even vaguely credited to anyone, or signed. If I do find out who created them and owns the copyright, I’ll gladly give them credit where credit is due. They’re not part of any viral marketing campaign for a horror movie or any other kind of genre media (which was my immediate thought, but no dice). Maybe the artist/writer wanted to remain anonymous –no matter how tempting it was to put their name on it– for maximum creepiness factor.

Or maybe, just maybe…

Nah. They couldn’t be real.

Could they?

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Well, if this is what Lisa looks like, it’s probably best that your parents can’t see her… for their sake.

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Oh.

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So they just left all the stuff on the porch? Uh-oh…

Screen shot 2013-12-13 at 10.48.50 PMScreen shot 2013-12-13 at 10.49.54 PMIf you didn’t notice a disturbing theme here before, you have definitely have now. To read the entire “Creepy Diary” entry, click below for….

 

Creepy Diary – (on quickmeme).

What’s that, you say? The “Creepy Diary” wasn’t as scary as you were hoping, and you still need your fix of being terrified by something online? I see. Well, then you might want to turn all the lights off, wait till you’re either home alone or the only one awake in the house, and check out this piece featuring a little Korean online comic. Crank up the volume first… I dare you. If that doesn’t scare you, check yourself for a pulse!

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‘American Horror Story’: Gabourey Sidibe talks Queenie’s future on ‘Coven’ and doing a sitcom with Kathy Bates

12 December 2013

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Even though Gabourey Sidibe can’t say one way or another for sure, she throws out enough implications for us to be pretty sure Queenie’s not dead (unless Ryan Murphy coached her with some of her answers and purposely scripted them to misdirect us, but we doubt it). Read on for more… and we’d TOTALLY watch the hell out of that sitcom, too!

 

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