September's Horror Block Un-Boxing!

My September Horror Block arrived today! So I un-boxed it and took a few pics to share with you guys' what I received this month. And always, if you want to subscribe for yourself to get awesome horror goodies every month go here (I am not affiliated with them in any way, just a HUGE fan)

Tomorrow is also the first day of the October horror movie challenge!!! I'll post my calendar below.

Let's get started!

This month was pretty sick!

Obsessed with these vinyl figures. The alien is SO detailed and I'm obsessed. Of course I had to reorganize my action figure shelf at work to make room but it was worth it.

These are awesome and so much fun. They're interactive coasters. Each side has a creepy mouth on them. You can rest your drink on them, or spend half an hour wearing them all one by one on your face.

Night of the Living Dead on DVD which I obviously already own but this comes with a documentary that I'm intrigued to watch. Also Night of the Living Dead fridge magnets where you can make your own threatening sayings to scare whoever tries to eat your food.

Of course it also includes the latest issue of Rue Morgue which is a thick one this month with a very special article on the Ouija and I can't freakin' wait to read it!!!

And last but definitely not least, a very amazing Silence of the Lambs t-shirt.

gif credit

So tomorrow I kick off the horror movie challenge with a "re-watch" week where I obviously re-watch some horror films I've watched in the past two years that I've been meaning to get around to again. I'm starting off with Deliver us from Evil because I remember it being quite scary and unique.
The next set of movies are brand new films (all of which are available on itunes) which I am putting my faith in. I'm sure I'll be let down here and there.
Next up is all girl horror movies followed by two horror documentaries because I couldn't find enough all girl horror movies to fill a whole week which was depressing. Then we have movies where the lead character is a total psycho. Then Insidious 3 because I realized it would be out by then and I'm dying to see it. And finally the last batch of films are some of my favorite horror films to watch leading up to the big day itself. Which of course is Halloween on Halloween. A tradition I've maintained since I was a young teen.

Join in if you want! Or create your own and celebrate October the best way possible!

Finally, last on the agenda today - yesterday I popped into the Dress Sew by my work and picked up a new Halloween candle which melts away to reveal a creepy gargoyle.

I also picked up a shark costume for my dog because why wouldn't I. He absolutely hated it but I enjoyed every moment of it.

That's it for tonight ya'll. I'll see you a lot more this upcoming month as I share the reviews for all the horror movies I plan to watch and if any great horror news comes up, you bet I'll cover that.

Stay spooky!

Would you rather stab someone with an ice pick or...stab someone with an ice pick?

I have tried so hard not to watch horror movies in the last two weeks leading up to October. But I failed miserably. Well, not miserably. But pretty bad. It started with Stephen King's birthday where I watched Misery in his honor. Then, in my defense, Mitch watched one by accident yesterday so I joined in. You know when you finish a movie on Netflix and it starts playing another one that resembles the film you just watched? Mitch watched Braveheart and Netflix felt it appropriate to start playing Would You Rather. Because fucked up dinner parties and freeing Scotland are one in the same. Of course, when Would You Rather was over I felt it was time to show Mitch Creep...which he actually enjoyed! I think he needs to have more faith in horror movies. But I'm not going to take for granted that my boyfriend watched THREE horror films with me this week. He the real MVP.

And after a weekend of bingeing reality TV (have ya'll seen The Quest?! That show is fucking epic), I decided to cleanse my palate today by watching Inner Demons.

So...let's talk about Would You Rather and Inner Demons, because that's what this blog is all about....

First up;

WOULD YOU RATHER

Obviously, since Netflix felt this was the second best thing to Braveheart, I went into this film knowing nothing. I've seen the film on Netflix for AGES but the movie poster always put me off. The actual poster which I didn't post here is a close up of an eyeball with a razor blade being held against it. I've got a real issue with eyes or teeth in horror movies. I just wanna internally combust.

So this movie came out in 2013 and stars Brittany Snow who you may know from any romantic comedy ever. It also stars one of the dudes from Trailer Park Boys. Jeffrey Combs also plays the villain in this film, and you may know him from Re-Animator. And the only redeeming quality of this film.

Premise? Brittany Snow is caring for her sick brother and her parents are dead and there's debt and hospital bills and etc etc so after being introduced to Jeffrey Combs character who is an eccentric millionaire, she agrees to compete in a game at his home and accept the money he's offering.

This girl has obviously never seen House on Haunted Hill, or The Haunting or any movie ever where an eccentric millionaire invites a stranger to his house.

When Brittany Snow's character arrives at the house she's introduced to the rest of the players of the game and as they all sit around the dinner table they realize this game wasn't as easy as they all thought.

SHOCKING

The game is the sleepover of pre-teen girl favorite - would you rather. Aka, at a sleepover, you would say "would you rather - kiss your math teacher or kiss steve? (steve probably has really bad acne and BO)" all the girls squeal and say things like, "YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE" "OMG GROSS STEVE'S ADOPTED".

Only this version of the game is a lot more violent, and sounds a lot like the game I would've played if I ever got invited to sleepovers. Would you rather whip someone at the table? Or stab someone in the leg with an ice pick?"

At first the group of players tries to stick together and beat this quirky mustache wearing millionaire at his own game, but soon it all falls apart as they realize only one of them is getting out of this game alive.

The premise of this movie was outdated and boring. Other films have done a way better job at this. The "shock" ending was predictable. Where there needed to be emotion, and would cause you to feel emotion, especially the ending, there was none. I'm not surprised though.

The plus side of the film is that it's actually quite fun to watch with other people because there's lot of gory moments you can yell at together, and inevitably you're going to talk about what you would do in that situation.

Ice pick, I would always choose the ice pick.

4/10

INNER DEMONS

I've actually wanted to watch this for awhile. I had it on my to-watch list last year after seeing the trailer. I liked the premise because I am a sucker for Intervention. Like, I luuuuurve that show. I could sit here and watch it for hours. Which I have done, on many a day. So an Intervention type reality show films a drug addicted girl who turns out actually has a demon inside of her and is using the heroine to dull the demon. And you know what, I actually think that's a pretty unique idea. The drugs numbing the demon, not the documentary style found footage demon possession horror film.

The movie came out last year and stars Lara Vosburgh who is devastatingly beautiful. This is also her first film and I think she did a really impressive job.

The first part of the film introduces us to Carson (the drug addict) and her family and the film crew. The production assistant is a young guy named Jason who is a rookie at all of this. He gets emotionally invested in Carson and struggles to stay behind the camera. He's also the only one who believes that she's possessed. Carson seems pretty calm about being possessed tbh, that might also be because of the heroine, but she knew exactly what demon was possessing her and she was very meh about it. She's also a teenager though, so, ya know.

She gets taken into a rehab facility where she detoxes which allows the demon to come through. Jason tries to help her as she completely loses control. Eventually he injects her with heroine which calms down the demon but also gets her kicked out of rehab and back into her parents home.

It was definitely a bit of a slow build like most possession movies are but I really did enjoy it. When the demon was shown they relied very heavily on CGI which was a bit disappointing. And in the final scene which I didn't see coming for once, the CGI kind of pulls you away a bit because it's so noticeable.

I was also really annoyed about how chapped Carson's lips were. I kept applying lip chap to my own lips while watching it because I was so bothered by it. So at least my lips are silky smooth now.

 
7/10

Well, October is next week and so begins the 31 day horror movie challenge. This is my third year of attempting it but I have not been able to complete it. So, I'm not promising anything, but I've got a good feeling about it, and even less friends than last year, so I really have no excuse.

Sofia will also be participating in the challenge, I sent her the completed list last week. This is her first year. She's also in high school so if she manages to pull it off she deserves a damn medal. Or I'll get a call from her teachers asking me to explain why Sofia has flunked all her classes for the sake of a horror movie challenge. She will also be writing reviews of the movies which I will post here alongside my own. She's a horror newbie so I thought it would be an interesting perspective.

I'll post the list later. It's completely selfishly catered to me so don't get your hopes up. BUT if you do wanna join in, leave a comment!

Anyway, tonight is the super moon/lunar eclipse or something? So I'm gonna go summon Satan and stuff.

Stay spooky!

Special King Edition!

Hey guys,
It's a day I always celebrate every year because it's the birthday of my favorite writer in the entire universe and a horror legend - STEPHEN KING!

Today is his 68th birthday and I thought I'd take this opportunity to reflect on how much he's impacted my life, and how great of a guy he really is.

So strap in, this is gonna get sappy.

16 years ago on a whim at the library on the army base where I lived, I picked up a book at random. I had recently started reading adult novels at the tender age of 11 and had decided to find some adult horror novels. Long were the days when Fear Street scared me, and I wanted to be scared. I asked the librarian who an adult horror author was, and naturally she suggested Stephen King. He has, and always will be, one of best known horror authors.

Despite the tiny size of this library, they had a pretty great selection of Stephen King books. As any King fan knows, a lot of his novels are very great in length. So as an 11 year old just starting to dabble in adult novels, I picked the smallest. This book was Carrie.

I finished it in a few days. Completely entranced by these rich and devastating characters, I lost myself in Carrie's world and blushed when Tommy asked her to the prom, felt beautiful when she wore her prom dress for the first time, and felt the anger and embarrassment she felt when that famous pigs blood fell onto her head. I had always been a little bit on the outside of school. We moved every two or three years to a new army base and it was tough to make and keep friends. In a morbid way, Carrie spoke to me. And I remember a few times concentrating really hard on inanimate objects trying to make them move with my mind.

Next up I chose Tommyknockers. I was a huge fan of aliens (and always will be) so this was a great second choice. Then it was Gerald's Game (which was perhaps a little too "adult" for my tender 11 years), then it was Misery and so on and so forth.

I was addicted.

Horror had a new name and face for me, and it was Stephen King.

Since then I have collected over 150 King novels - first editions, movie tie-ins, cool cover art, all his new releases, graphic novels etc. I have an entire bookshelf dedicated to him, and every time I step into a second hand book store I dig through the King section for any editions I may not have. But Carrie remained close to my heart, and along with a first edition, I have 4 other copies of that novel.

King has been there for me through sadness and joy, through the times when I was counting pennies to get bus change for work, through wealth and breakups. King books to me are that warm, cozy bed you climb into in the middle of a snow storm. Most people's memories of me are with a Stephen King book in hand. Lugging those giant novels to and from work in the middle of snow storms and rain storms. Sitting on the train lost in the world of Bangor.

For years' my parents would buy me the latest Stephen King novel for Christmas and I would look forward to unwrapping the book and falling into the newest adventure. Of course, now I can pre-order them because I'm an adult and have my shit together. But those memories are so important to me and since the age of 11, King has been intertwined in my life.

He means the absolute world to me, and his stories, other than Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, are the only stories I re-read constantly. I don't even know how many times I've read my favorites like Carrie, Duma Key, Bag of Bones, Dreamcatcher or the short stories I love like Apt Pupil, The Body or The Mist.

Stephen King is an interesting man, he has had a long life of ups and downs. His literary career spans decades with 54 (soon to be 55) novels, 7 of which were under a pseudonym of Richard Bachman, 6 non-fiction books, and nearly 200 short stories. That's fucking impressive.

His first novel, Carrie, was published in 1974. It almost didn't come to light as King (who was a teacher at the time) became so frustrated he threw the manuscript in the trash. Luckily for all of us, Tabitha (his wife) fished it out and encouraged him to continue. In 1975 he published Salem's Lot, a beautiful, haunting and creepy vampire tale. In 1977 he published The Shining and so began a long and celebrated career.

But King himself suffered from a terrible drinking problem that escalated after his mother passed. After years of addiction he manged to get himself sober in the 80's, but it left an impression on his writing. Many of his characters are recovering from addiction, or are in the depths of addiction themselves. In 1999 he was in a horrific accident which almost killed him. He was bed ridden for a long time and he found himself incredibly frustrated and almost unable to write. In fact, he didn't really get his groove back until 2008 with the release of Duma Key.

King is an avid rock and roll fan, and has played in a few bands in his life. Music plays a big role in his novels as well as baseball. King loves his baseball.

He's also just a really great and interesting guy. He's an advocate for many charities, owns a creepy as hell mansion in Maine, and his twitter is filled with Dad jokes. Oh yeah, and he has pet corgis.

So, thank you Stephen King, for a life time of horror novels that changed my world and kept my imagination bright. And here's to a few good more years of new books coming into my hands, and many many years of re-reading the classics.

I am forever your "constant reader" and only hope one day I get to shake your hand and thank you for everything you've done for me. And I promise I won't "Misery" you.

Halloween Decorations ARE UP!

Halloween Decorations are up!! This year I made a skeleton wall!!!!
Can't wait to start digging through the Spirit stores and Michaels and Walmart for even more decorations but for now...my living room is full:

 

When I started unpacking and had that moment where I was like, wow...maybe I've over done it. Then I got over it and browsed through my wishlist for what to purchase next.

 

 

 

 Skeleton wall

 

Front entrance. Still so obsessed with that sign.

 

 

 

 My coffee table can now channel spirits

 

 

 

 I brought Chucky out to be on display

Oh, and I wanted to show off some of my horror POP! figures since I talked about them in the last blog. And they were perfectly lit. 

Just remember kids, it's never too early to put up Halloween decorations. If they put them up in stores during the last week of August, then you can put them up in your home. 

Stay spooky!

HORROR HAPPENINGS (what? no!)

Happy Saturday ya'll! 
I had a surprise cold sneak up on me yesterday so I've been hacking up some nasty shit and had an embarassing coughing fit in the middle of the library. Although I should've known, I kept walking into walls for two days which is uaully a good sign something's not right. So now i'm covered in bruises and kleenex.

 
My charger for my laptop also shit the bed which I had a minor panic attack over this morning. But I saved the day by using tape to fix it. Not sure how long it will last. But praise Oprah, because I will have my laptop for the weekend to watch horror movies and live tweet celebrity big brother. 

Mitch is in Victoria and I'm going to put up the Halloween decorations tonight, most likely while watching Halloween. It's also Mitch's birthday so HAPPY BIRTHDAYYY!!!! (I don't think he actually reads this)

The reason for this update is not to complain about my cold, even though I did, but to share some of the horror news that came out this week.

Let's talk about it!

This week Stephen King was awarded the 2014 National Medal of the Arts for "his remarkable storytelling with his sharp analysis of human nature." He was awarded the medal by President Barack Obama.
I was a very proud fan and it is truly well deserved. Stephen King has been, and always will be, my favorite author, since the ripe young age of 11. He's such a massive part of my life and I would be half the person I am today without his many amazing books. King is truly wonderful and I'm thankful every day for him.

You can watch Obama present him with the medal here:

What a beautiful precious sunflower.

Next up...Funko's POP! is releasing Freddy Krueger with syringe fingers!!!!!!!!!!! From the iconic Dream Warriors scene. It's absolutely amazing and I can't wait to add him to my horror vinyl collection.

HOW FUCKING COOL IS THAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?! I'm obsessed.
You can only buy it on some Australian site right now which is hella weird, but I'm gonna cross my syringe fingers that it becomes available world wide soon.

Jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those peepers, jeepers creepers, where'd ya get those eyes.

That's right ya'll...JEEPERS CREEPERS 3 IS A GO!!
It starts filming next year right here in fucking Vancouver guys. So I'm gonna try my hardest to be an extra in that film and complete my dream of getting an imdb credit of something random like "armless victim #3".
The movie will be made by the original creative team who brought us the amazing first two films, including writer and director Victor Salva. Even better? Jonathan Breck is going to play the creeper again. YASSSSSS!!!! Screw your remakes, give me sequels on sequels on sequels.
According to Bloody Disgusting the film will show the events on the last day of the creeper's 23 day feeding frenzy. Because as we all remember well, every 23rd spring for 23 days that monster gets down and dirty. Sergent Tubbs will team up with a task force who will destory the Creeper for good. OR WILL THEY.

We'll find out soon enough.

This makes me so happy.

Let's watch the trailer for the original movie and reminisce on that tunnel of dead bodies:

And last, but not least, we finally have a proper trailer for American Horror Story: Hotel. We've had a tone of images and story ideas thrown our way. More than I would've liked to be completely honest. But we've got a pretty good idea of what this season is all about.

I feel like this season might be a transitional one as we're getting a bunch of new cast members, and I don't mean to judge...but it's a lot of cast members who seem more suited to the set of Glee. BUT...Ryan Murphy hasn't done me wrong yet so I will stay strong. Never forget that murderous rampage ending of Freakshow. NEVER FORGET HOW GLORIOUS THAT WAS.

If you've been living under a rock for the past month....AHS Hotel will feature Lady Gaga in the lead, replacing Jessica Lange for the past four seasons. She plays a vampiric blood and sex obsessed hotel owner. The original hotel owner, played by Evan Peters, is based off of H.H. Holmes, and so is the hotel itself. It also takes inspiration from the famous Chelsea Hotel. Our creepy icon this year is a dildo wearing demon, we've also got a serial killer on our hands, and....Adam Lambert?

Hold your judgement though, I'm sure we've felt like this every year. But somehow every year Ryan Murphy manages to pack a whole of shit into one season and usually wraps it all up at the end with a bow. Asylum is still the greatest season of TV EVER imo and nothing will beat that flawless, crazy ride, but here's to hoping that Hotel will come close.

 

 
Watch the trailer below:

Alright,
That's it for this weeks' horror news. Obviously a tone happened, but those are the four things that got me excited enough to blog about. I'm going to head back to decorating this house for Halloween and eating leftover cake out of a tupperware container because that's just how I live it up.

Stay spooky!