Horror Documentaries and Buttholes (full disclosure; there are no buttholes in this post)

For the horror fan, simply watching horror movies is never enough, you always need more more more. So when I'm in a horror movie lull or can't make up my mind - I like to pull up a chair and watch how my favorites were made, or watch the history of this amazing genre. Here's a few classics that I watch frequently:
(and "His name was Jason" isn't on here because... I HAVEN'T WATCH IT YET OMG I KNOWWWW - i'm terrible, but I found a copy on youtube soooo....[you can actually find all these docs on youtube])

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Silence of the Lambs - the inside story

I think this was made for the E! network before it played nothing but reality shows, i'm not sure, but it has that feel to it. But regardless it's a well made interesting look into the movie that almost didn't get made but ended up winning the top 5 Oscars of that year. The doc explains how Gene Hackman originally bought the rights but backed out, and how Anthony Hopkin's was convinced his role in Hollywood was over until this ground breaking role came along.

It's quite an intimate look at the goings on with the studio at the time and what seems to be everyone having zero faith this movie would ever be made.

Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?

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Never Sleep Again: the elm street legacy

If you're a Freddy fan - you've already seen this a few times. A great, in depth look at the franchise itself, the creators, director, actors/actresses, and everything in between. It has some great behind the scene footage and photos.
And this guy is FOUR HOURS LONG and hosted by our main queen Nancy (Heather Langenkamp). I mean, horror documentaries always deliver, and this is almost too much, you're basically like WE'RE NOT WORTHY.
It starts with the original film and finishes with my all time fav Freddy vs. Jason, covering each film with enough time and respect.

When I was alive, I might have been a little naughty, but after they killed me, I became something much, much worse. The stuff nightmares are made of.

Scream Still Screaming: the ultimate scary movie retrospective

I'm a massive massive MASSIVE fan of the Scream series and this doc really does it justice. It talks about the history of the script, how it was originally called Scary Movie, and how it became a trilogy (obviously made before the fourth was released). It also touches on the backlash that came with it because of the teen violence and how Wes Craven realllly didn't want to do it.
I mean, this whole movie was doomed from the get go, especially being released during the Christmas season, but it kicked ass and continues to. YES, EVEN SCREAM 4 YOU JERKS.
Everyone is in this film from Neve Campbell to Matthew Lillard, Jamie Kennedy and Parker Posey etc.
And try and get to the end without turning on Scream.
 
Now Sid, don't you blame the movies. Movies don't create psychos. Movies make psychos more creative!

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss (three part series)

This is a documentary on horror movies in general, starting from the very first and ending with Halloween. It was a three part series made for the BBC by writer and actor Mark Gatiss (from Sherlock and an avid horror fan himself) where he takes a personal exploration through the history of horror movies. Each episode is an hour long. Episode one "Frankenstein Goes to Hollywood", Episode two "Home Counties Horror" and ending with Episode three "The American Scream".
This is a really wonderful doc to watch if you're a huge horror fan, and Mark does justice to the horror genre by treating it respectfully and fairly. I remember the first time watching this one I ended up with a two page list of movies I NEEDED to watch or re-watch. 
Mark also sits down with some of horror's legends and shares old footage that I'd never seen before.

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The American Nightmare 

This is a hella dark documentary that pairs horror movies with the horror going on in the world. It includes some of the biggest names in horror like Romero, Cronenberg, Carpenter, Hooper, Craven etc and they share the very honest inspirations that came for their films. While showing some of the more gruesome scenes from the movies, they cut it with gruesome scenes from every day life, specifically the Vietnam war which inspired many directors and the civil rights movement. It's definitely not for the faint of heart, and is quite graphic, but I'm not sure why I'm even telling you that considering you wouldn't be reading this blog or seeking out this doc unless you had that sick mind all of us horror fans cherish.
This one is honestly just fascinating to watch for someone who wasn't born when all of this happened, and it gives me a chance to start to understand the true darkness of these films.

the exorcist that haunted a maze.....idk...titles are the worst

Allergy season has arrived. I had three months of glorious snot free fun but it's all over and the hell begins. Which means spring is here - rain and sun alternatively every 5 minutes for an entire month, and all the pollen you could dream of. And that means I stay indoors, more than usual, and read a lot of books while ignoring the sun streaming through the window, and watch horror movies. So this post is brought to you by pollen - an introverts great excuse to not "hang out" for 9 months. 

What I've been reading lately:

aka I'm on a good book roll and I'm gonna brag about it

The Exorcist

First of all...wtf is on the cover? This is the exact cover I have and every time I put the book down I would just stare uselessly at the cover going WHAT IS IT?! WHY IS THIS THE PHOTO THEY CHOSE?
Second of all....I've owned this book for six years and am livid with myself for not reading it six years ago.
I'm not going to explain the plot to you because you must've been living under a rock not to have heard about it. Young girl gets possessed - says some crazy shit - girl gets an exorcism - people die - everything's fine.
As phenomenal as the movie is, the book is even better. Especially the scenes where the adults view Regan, it's honestly horrifying and disgusting and captures the imagination in the worst ways. You become attached to the priests a lot more in the book, and the background characters are far more developed and lovable. I highly recommend reading unless you are currently possessed in which case maybe you shouldn't because you might get ideas.

Also on goodreads if you go to the page for this book, someone asked the question "is it scary, i'm going to read it to my 5 year old?" and I'm not entirely convinced that I didn't write it from the future.

The Maze Runner - series

A young adult series! So original!
But seriously, every fucking YA book I pick up and read seems to magically have 6 or 7 other books that follow it. Why can't ya'll just write one nowadays? Do young adults need 1000 book long series to fully understand what's happening?
BUT the Maze Runner and it's companions were actually super fun and one of the rare times I even bothered with an entire series (except a song of ice and fire - love you boo). They're also super quick reads because they are incredibly suspenseful and I may have stubbed my toes multiple times while reading and walking.
It's a post apocalyptic world...stay with me...where a disease released by the CDC has wiped out most of humanity....stay with me....and to find the cure they locked up a bunch of kids in a giant maze and made them try to survive....see? it was worth staying with me.
The maze is only in the first book but the kids continue on through trials and distrust and death and although I never fully understood the scientists logic, I bought it.
It's also a movie now! Which I watched half of before wandering off somewhere else. I'm determined to re-watch though.
Warning....there are only two female characters. Which kinda super sucks.

I Am Haunted

Ya'll know I love me some Ghost Adventures. It's probably one of my favorite TV shows and I believe every single second of it and I even watch all the spinoffs like Aftershocks and that one where other groups investigated while Zak looked gorgeous and paced back and forth judging them.
This is Zak's second jump into writing and I devoured his first book in about two days. The first one is more about how Ghost Adventures started, the science behind the paranormal, and some really interesting theories on residual spirits.
This one is more about the effects of ghost investigating, some personal tidbits about life after the success of the show, and lots of juicy details about Zak's purchase of, and future documentary about, the demon house.
This book is basically only for people who give a shit about Ghost Adventures. The first one is way better to recommend to up and coming paranormal enthusiasts, but this is just straight up beautiful self indulgent Zak-ness. 

I am currently devouring The Silence of the Lambs. I started it yesterday morning and have barely been able to put it down since.

GO READ BOOKS YA FILTHY ANIMALS

stuff to buy and stuff and thangs

I have spent many hours dancing through the pages of Etsy, dreaming of all the things I would love to purchase. Then I wake up the next morning and close my shopping cart and it all becomes a distant memory.
BUT recently I made my first ever purchase off of Etsy for my cosplay for Fan Expo in three weeks and I was thrilled with how easy it all was. And it opened the flood gates.

Our house is a treasure trove of horror items from a Chucky doll, to multiple stuffed birds, to horror movie posters, a bottle of vampire blood etc etc but when it comes to flaunting my love of horror on my own body, I only have 1000+ t-shirts (exaggeration) to wear with pride. This is where Etsy comes into play. The shops and their creators have a endless supply of hair bows and necklaces and bags to show how much you really love horror.

Here are my favs:

First up:
These little displays that have little trinkets inside by etsy owner youmadewhat. They have a tone of them on there from zombies to vampires to obscure old horror movies and each little display is completely unique. I am OBSESSED with these and the toughest decision will simply be choosing just one. And honestly, they're pretty fairly priced for what you're getting.
Check 'em out here

IN LOVE with these bottle cap necklaces featuring all our favorite old school movie monsters. You can get all 7 for under $10. And there's 7! So you could wear a different one every day of the week...or all at once..WHO CARES..it's your choice. I will be purchasing these ASAP.
Check 'em out here

*insert clever Poe pun*
A one of a kind Poe necklace to hang around your neck from a crazy seller who has a lot of text on her or his page that I definitely did not read. The man himself, who is fudging nuts and whose writing terrified generations. Who better to have close to your tell-tale heart?! HA! I did it!
Check it out here

I've been a fan of this girls' shop for a few years, but have never bit the bullet and bought anything. Mostly because there's SO much to choose from. Most of her store is these amazing little pouches covered with amazing vintage horror photos like Vampira, Godzilla, Rocky Horror etc. She even does a JAWS one. I'm straight up obsessed.
Check her out here

And last but not least:

Show your love for your favorite horror guys by wearing them in your hair :D
I want all of these and I will probably never wear these because I don't think I could pull off bows? But I want them ANYWAYYYY. And they're super affordable at just over $10 and are completely custom made. So maybe you'd rather have Pinhead or Rick Grimes? This could be done.
Check 'em out here

Happy daylight savings day or whatever nerds! I've been sick for four days and feel like hot garbage but the sun is shining and the Monster is pouring and things could be worse. Have a great Sunday!