We're talking horror comics!! Give me your recommendations!

Let's talk horror comics!

I'm a big comic nerd, my only problem being I suck at keeping track of them all. I've probably read 100's of #1's and then forgotten to continue with the rest of the series. But for Christmas from my amazing family in England I received a substantial gift card to amazon so I'm buying a tone of Volume 1 + of comics to round out the stories and my collection. 

I love Marvel comics of course, the Star Wars series and spin offs are great, especially the Princess Leia story line. I also love Ms. Marvel, Loki Agent of Asgard, and the new female Thor story line. 
I'm also head over heels in love with the new reboot Archie comics which are being created by Mark Waid and Fiona Staples (known for another amazing comic series - Saga). 
But what I love most are horror comics. Some of my favorites are The Walking Dead (I gave up on the show by the way, just kept reading the comics), The Strain, and Revival. 

So since I'm about to spend some money like crazy on Amazon, let's talk about the comics I'm picking out and why you should be reading them too. And if you've got any recommendations, put them in the comments!

OUTCAST 

Written by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and drawn by Paul Azaceta 

 

It's a supernatural horror story that tells the tale of Kyle Barnes. Kyle's life has been destroyed by his loved ones being involved in demonic possession. But when he meets a reverend who believes in demons and believes himself to have been possessed at one point, the two of them set out to unveil what lies behind the demonic manifestations he keeps encountering. The first issue (which I have read) was published in 2014 by Image Comics.

So far it looks like there has been 14 issues released and two volumes. I've ordered volume one (issues 1- 6) and cannot WAIT to read it. I love Kirkman's writing style and the complexity with which he writes his stories. And the art work is gorgeous and creepy.

HARROW COUNTY

Written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Tyler Crook

Originally a serialized prose story called Countless Haints and released on Bunn's website, it ran for ten chapters before it ended. Then later it was made into an ongoing comic with Crook coming on board. It's published by Dark Horse Comics and currently has 8 issues and one volume (which I have purchased) which includes the first 4 issues. 

The comic tells the story of Emmy who lives on a farm with her father next to dark mysterious woods where back in the day a town witch was hung, shot and burnt. On the eve of her 18th birthday, Emmy discovers she is connected to the woods and the creatures within them.

A beautifully illustrated creepy comic. The panels are truly stunning and I just love the whole feel of this story and can't wait to read the rest of it! 

iZOMBIE

Written by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred

Published by Vertigo in 2010, iZOMBIE tells the story of Gwen Dylan who is a gravedigger in Oregon. She's friends with a beautiful 1960's ghost named Ellie and a were-terrier named Scott. Gwen herself needs to eat a brain once a month to keep herself from losing memories and intelligence. So being a gravedigger makes this pretty easy for her. Except, when she consumes the brains, she takes on the deceased's thoughts.

In 2011 it was nominated for the Eisner Award for Best New Series and in 2013 it was made into a TV show for the CW. Which I have not watched yet because I want to devour the comics first!

I've read the first two issues of this story and absolutely fell in love. It's so cute and fun, and Gwen is a great lead and her rag tag group of friends are adorable. I can't wait to get into the full story and see what sort of adventures they all get into.

This series has ended at 28 issues and 4 collected volumes. I've purchased number 1 which includes issues 1 to 6. 

I've also ordered Wytches Volume 1 but I haven't read any of those yet. Stephen King likes it though and that's good enough for me.

Also I thought I'd link my Goodreads profile as I don't think I've done that yet. Feel free to add me!
Click here

Alright, 
That's it for me today! Go read more comics and stay spooky!

Making a Murderer Until Dawn ~

HELLO WORLD!

Well, the madness of Star Wars and Christmas is over and I can get back to this blog and to the horror genre.
Quick though - Star Wars The Force Awakens was everything I dreamed of and more. It changed my world. I have never cried so much in a public theater since Dobby was cruelly murdered. I was a fucking wreck when I came out of that movie. BUT it was worth the wait, it was worth the hundreds of dollars I spent on merchandise, and I can't wait to see it again in the New Year.

 

Christmas is obviously still happening - it's only Boxing Day. But Mitch and I had a great day yesterday as this is the first year in a few years that we've been able to afford gifts for each other. Also we cooked a real turkey breast! And it was incredibly stressful.

BUT what I'm really here to talk about are two things:

Until Dawn and Making a Murderer.

 

Mitch got me Until Dawn for Christmas and I spent about 6 hours playing it last night (could be more, it was all a blur) and finished the game up today with another few hours under the belt. As I type this Mitch is currently starting the story himself so we can see how different it can be.

THIS GAME IS AMAZING.

And I know I'm late to the game but my broke ass can't afford video games so bear with my lateness.

Little history:

Until Dawn is obviously a video game, it's called an "interactive drama survival horror adventure video game" which is a mouthful. Basically it's like being in a horror movie - from the safety of your couch/floor/ottoman (if you're me). It was released in August of this year and was met with an extreme love from fans and critics. It took the video game world by storm.

It is designed to be played multiple times as you make decisions quickly as the game goes along that determine the outcome of the story and characters. Each time you play should be a unique experience. It uses the "Butterfly Effect" as well which means any choice or action by you can cause unforseen consequences later on. Which usually end up being traumatic. (RIP WOLFIE - IM SO SORRY).

Some of the decisions you make are so damn moral and ethical it makes you want to puke. Like, my back got so sweaty. I was so stressed out. There's also an auto-save system that basically prevents you from reloading and trying to change a decision you made. The only way to change it would be to start all over again.

So since Until Dawn is basically a horror movie - let me give you this perfect horror movie plot:

7 friends - Sam (played by Hayden Panettiere), Mike (Brett Dalton), Chris (Noah Fleiss), Ashley (Galadriel Stineman), Emily (Nichole Bloom), Jessica (Meaghan Martin), and Matt (Jordan Fisher) are hanging out at their friend Josh (Rami Malek) and his twin sisters' cabin on Blackwood Mountain (in Alberta - hometown ya'll!!). After the friends pull a prank, embarrassing one of the twins, the two of them run off into the wilderness. But they are soon chased by something we cannot see and eventually fall to their death.
Flash forward to a year later and the 7 friends are invited back by Josh who wants to forget the tragic (still unsolved) events of the year before and just "party like porn stars" (what?). But once the 7 arrive, things get dangerous quickly. And Blackwood Mountain has a mysterious past involving mines, an insane asylum, and Native American history.

The game is divided up into chapters and in between each chapter you are met with a weird therapist who asks you all sorts of questions that then determine what will happen in the next chapter. There's an interesting segment where you are asked to choose which scares you and dumb old me answered honestly only to spend the rest of the game screaming every time a crow flew at the screen.

You guys, this game is amazing. It is just SO much fun to play, and so much fun to watch other people play. It's also terrifying! I was screaming my ass off and jumping out of my seat the entire time. It was such a thrill ride. I can't wait to play it again and see what happens next time. It really does feel like you are in a horror movie and I can't believe I waited this long to play it.

MAKING A MURDERER 

 

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past two weeks you've probably heard the uproar over Netflix's original fascinating documentary Making a Murderer. I was immediately hooked on this show because umm...ten part true crime documentary? sign me up. This is me, the same person who has watched all 6 hours of the Staircase documentary multiple times, and all of the Paradise Lost episodes over and over. So yeah, I was good to go.
BUT I was not prepared for the rage and emotion I would encounter. I started it on a Wednesday, stayed up till midnight watching the first 6 hours (which for me is unheard of on a week day) and then rushed home the next day from work to finish the final 4.

Let's back up though and I will tell you the story of Steven Avery.

SPOILERS IF YOU PLAN ON WATCHING THE DOCUMENTARY. 
If you haven't seen it yet - stop what you're doing and watch it RIGHT now.

 

Steven Avery is a man from Wisconsin who comes from the lower middle class and lives with his family on a used car lot. When he was in his 20's he was convicted for a rape he did not commit, based purely on hearsay from a bitter cousin who was married to the police chief. And so Steven spent 18 years in jail until DNA analysis proved he was not the man who had committed rape. In fact, it had been a man of the name Gregory Allen who was a known sex offender in the area. And who went on to commit a few more crimes when he should've been locked up in jail. Instead, Steven rotted away in jail, innocent.

He was released finally and began to sort out his life. He reconnected with his children, fell in love with someone new, started working for the family business, and continued on with the rest of his now free years. Steven was encouraged to file a lawsuit against the Manitowoc County for the obviously flawed police work that was conducted. The lawsuit was $36 million.

 

Now here's where it gets messy. Soon after filing the lawsuit, Avery was accused of the murder of a young woman by the name of Teresa Halbach. Why? Because he was the last person to see her alive. She visited his car lot to take photos of a van he was selling. And after that, she disappeared. Instead of the police doing what any good detective would do - looking first at the closest people to Teresa - they instead blamed Steven and banned him from his home and land. They held onto it for 8 days while they conducted some pretty shifty searches.

The car that Teresa was driving was found on Steven's land, mysteriously cleaned of all DNA evidence EXCEPT for splatters of Steven's blood in the front seats, and Teresa's blood in the trunk. Then the car key was found in Steven's bedroom, after already being thoroughly searched three times, and again - the key was wiped clean of DNA except for Steven's.

So, let's take a minute here. You killed Teresa - what's the first thing you do? Get rid of evidence. You clean the car, you don't drop car keys on the floor of your bedroom, and hey - you own one of those giant car crushers - why not just crush the car to make absolutely sure the evidence is hidden.

 

But according to the police, Steven did none of that. He committed murder and then acted like a complete idiot - leaving perfectly placed evidence all over his land. Including the findings of Teresa's burnt body remains in the fire pit right underneath his bedroom window. Oh, and in a barrel a few feet away, oh, and in a quarry a few miles away. Yeah, okay.

Then enters Brendan Dassey - Steven's unintelligent young nephew who a few weeks after all of this is pulled out of his class, interrogated without a parent present, and basically coerced into admitting this murder happened and in fact, Brendan helped! According to Brendan's statements, the two of them murdered Teresa violently in Steven's bedroom and then burnt her body in the fire pit. Which....none of that makes any sense when you look at the evidence.

And so, Steven and Brendan are sentenced to prison for a murder neither of them committed, based on minimal evidence and obviously coerced interrogations.

 

The show plays out the history, the crime scene, and the trial itself. It's an absolutely beautiful piece of documentary work and regardless of where you stand on all of this, it is addictive to watch it all play out. I've been aggressively recommending it to everyone. And spending hours online researching it and yelling about it all. It reminds me SO much of the West Memphis Three case.

I implore you to go watch this amazing and beautiful show and form your own opinion.

Alright, that's pretty much all from me for now. Headed to Calgary next weekend to see the family and then I'll be back into watching horror movies and reading horror novels and updating this bad boy.

Quick news before I go:

WE'RE GETTING A NEW MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY!!!!
And no, I'm not pregnant.
We're getting a second fur baby. His name is Obie and we are re-homing him from Oprah who is just not in the best situation to keep him right now. So Tony is getting a baby brother and he will be here in February. I can't freakin' wait.
Look at this adorable mug:



He is going to destroy me.

Stay spooky ya'll!

Return to The Enfield Haunting - episodes two and three

EPISODE TWO

Things are heating up in the Hodgson household. The activity is getting more and more intense and now that Playfair is a believer, things are moving along quickly. Grosse is starting to experience violent hallucinations and they're done very cleverly where every time you believe he's really committing these acts, only to be pulled back into reality.
Playfair pays a visit to the Grosse household and we learn more about Grosse's wife and what happened to their daughter Janet. She died tragically in a motorcycle incident and Grosse and his wife believe she's been trying to contact them.

Playfair invites a medium couple to visit the Hodgson house and are treated to a real possession. The woman advises our team of investigators to not contact the spirit, that the house is a "house of death". Grosse doesn't believe her and believes she's a fake, but Playfair and the Hodgson family believe everything.

Grosse does a little investigating about the spirit from some clues given during the possession. He learns that an old man named Joe died in the house and he was a horrible and cruel old man. Playfair decides they should make contact with the spirit, despite the warnings from the medium. Joe uses Janet as a voice box and things start to get very intense.

Playfair and Grosse invite the SPR to come visit so they can prove to them it's really happening and get some proper help. When Joe remains quite, Grosse oversteps his boundaries and asks Janet to fill her mouth with water and then tapes her mouth shut. Joe's voice still comes through, convincing SPR that Joe is real, but causing Janet to lose trust in Grosse.

Janet runs away in anger but Grosse manages to find her and make amends, only to find out when he gets back to the Hodgson house that Peggy doesn't want him there anymore.

Another absolutely brilliant episode. Grosse is a character so deep and rich with emotion and backstory that I could cry, I feel for him and love him dearly. And little Janet remains so innocent yet so adult at the same time. She is fully aware of all that is going on and terrified, but she can also banter with the adults like she's one of them. I commend the actress that plays her.

I forgot to mention in the last post that the opening credits for this show are a terrifying joy to watch! 

EPISODE THREE

The SPR is now involved and they are extremely skeptical. Now that Grosse isn't allowed to be involved the SPR is performing tests and being overly critical of the two young girls. The girls then decide to go to the newspapers and claim they were faking the whole thing so that SPR would go away.

They show up at Grosse's house and let him know they lied about faking it and then show him bruises and bites that have come from Joe. Grosse and his wife remain believers and so does Playfair. They all head back to the house and decide to perform a type of exorcism to rid the house of Joe.

But of course, like any horror film, the first exorcism never holds. Joe comes back with a vengeance and this time he's brought some friends. Janet is put in the hospital but the nurses and doctors believe she's doing it to herself so they keep her under watch and perform electro-therapy on her. Grosse and his wife meanwhile are starting to show some cracks, she needs him home with her while she continues to deal with her grief, but Grosse has put all his grief into the Hodgson family and needs to be with them.

To get Janet out of the hospital, Peggy lies to the hospital administrators and says she's been making the whole thing up. Janet is released and put back in her house. Immediately the poltergeist goes nuts only this time it looks like there's multiple spirits, they've counted 35 separate voices.

After taking Janet out of the house and showing her the original Janet's grave, Janet realizes that Grosse is the reason the poltergeist isn't leaving. They call back the medium woman and she allows all the voices to come through. Janet's voice finally makes it through and tells Grosse that she doesn't forgive him, because there's nothing to forgive him for. Aka, stop blaming yourself for her death Grosse! She then passes on and takes all the spirits with her leaving the Hodgson house free at last.

The ending copies The Omen, allowing Janet to break the fourth wall and smile directly into the camera.

Absolutely brilliant show, enjoyed every moment of it. Perfect length, perfect cast, gorgeous scenery, and scares that are subtle but stick with you.

GO WATCH IT YOU MANIACS! 

Stay spooky!

The Enfield Poltergiest - real or not?

Hello everyone!
I took a little break there, no horror movies, just a lot of Bob's Burgers and New Girl. Also a whole lot of Star Wars ya'll, but that's not surprising (we're just over a month away and I don't even give a shit about Christmas - just give me some of that force awakens).

Anyway, I'm back. And I'm watching The Enfield Haunting. And oh boy, this show is wonderful.

But let's delve into the history of the famous case first:

Back in 1977 a small family in Brimsdown, Enfield, England began to experience a haunting. The family consisted of single mother Peggy Hodgson, her two daughters - Margaret and Janet, and her two boys Johnny and Billy. In August of 1977, Peggy called the police after her children claimed furniture was moving on its own and there were knocking sounds coming from the walls.
When the police arrived, a constable saw a chair slide across the floor but could not say whether it moved by itself or was pushed.

The family was visited by some members of the Society of Psychical Research including Maurice Grosse who was an inventor and Guy Lyon Playfair, a writer. Both men believed the haunting to be a genuine poltergeist. Interestingly enough, two professors of psychology claimed the young girls had faked the incidents and some members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry believed it was all a hoax.

This bizarre story attracted a lot of attention especially from British Newspapers like the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror and has been turned into books, documentaries and inspired horror films.

Aside from the knocking sounds and the moving furniture, there were also claims of demonic voices, rocks and toys being thrown and the children levitating. Maurice Gross and Guy Lyon Playfair also reported whistling and barking noises coming from Janet. Playfair wrote a book about this whole haunting titled This House is Haunted: The True Story of a Poltergeist and in it he doubted some of the events, thinking perhaps the children were exaggerating or playing tricks. This was proved when Janet was caught on tape (a video camera had been set up in the house) bending spoons and banging a broom handle against the ceiling. Both men do believe that even though the children played tricks, parts of the haunting were genuine.

Obviously this was all a long time ago but it's a case as old as time, and something that still happens today - was it truly a haunting? Do poltergeists exist? And when children are involved, how much faith should we put in their stories?

There's some great documentaries on this case which I encourage you all to watch and to form your own opinion on. Let me know where you stand!

In May of this year we were given the mini series; The Enfield Haunting, directed by Kristoffer Nyholm (The Killing) which comes in three parts. The series is based on Playfair's book. Matthew Macfadyen (Ripper Street) plays Playfair and Timothy Spall (Harry Potter) plays Maurice Grosse.

I've just finished episode one and it was absolutely stunning! Timothy Spall remains an incredibly talented actor, playing Grosse with emotion and charm. Grosse's daughter passed away a year before these events and Grosse and his wife are clearly still struggling with the grief. When Grosse receives the call to investigate the Hodgson family his wife practically shoves him out the door.

The Hodgson family are so real and adorable, Janet is the lead in this story and is an absolute spit fire. I'm obsessed with her. Grosse begins to experience the haunting and becomes a solid believer when he sees a teapot go flying off the kitchen counter. Him and Janet bond very quickly and the two of them become extremely fond of one another.

When Playfair arrives unexpectedly he throws off the dynamic - a non-believer, he is there simply to prove this is all set up by the kids. But at the end of episode one, he is forced into believing.

Episode one is flawlessly put together with some very subtle scares. It treats the haunting realistically and spends a perfect amount of time showing us the every day side of these poor kids as they deal with the fact that not only is their house haunted, it's now filled with gawking strangers looking to prove or disprove the poltergeist.

I'm going to delve into episode two right now and I suggest ya'll get binge watching with this show because it is amazing so far!

In other haunting news - me and Mitch know for sure our house is haunted. I've known since the first night we moved in but Mitch is finally a believer. We used a spirit box and got some very interesting voices come through. Most notably, when we stepped into Mitch's office where he brews his beer the box instantly said "beer", and when we were up on the landing the voice said "basket" right when Mitch was waving the box over our wicker basket. Spooky shit ya'll. Spooky shit. I'm thrilled, Mitch is terrified.

'Till next time....

Stay spooky!

October horror block arrived! Let's unbox it and freakkkkk outttttt

MY HORROR BLOCK ARRIVED!!!

And you know how much I love that thing! This month was not a disappointment, not that any month has been. Seriously, I want to marry horror block.

LETS LOOK AT ALL THE STUFF!!!

We've got an awesome Ouija board mouse pad so I can summon demons at work. Had to replace my Poltergeist one which was a real Sophie's choice let me tell you. 

A gorgeous print by Paul Hanley which I could spend forever looking at and naming everyone. So great! Running out of space on my walls though so not sure where this bad boy is going.

This movie got 14% on rotten tomatoes....so.....

My Queen Leanna Vamp's pick remains flawless. Plush Chuckyyyyyy!!!!!!!! 

I love him so much.

A special edition of Rue Morgue - Cryptic Collectibles. Aka I read through this and cry about all the toys I can't have.

And the t-shirt this month, courtesty of ShirtPunch! is my spirit animal; Jason. 

As always, I am in no way affiliated with horror block, just a giant fan. You can subscribe yourself here

Stay Spooky!

DAY THIRTY-ONE - Halloween (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY THIRTY-ONE – HALLOWEEN (1978)

The movie that re-invented the slasher genre and cast a very long influential shadow over the horror genre we know and love. Directed and scored by the wonderful and talented John Carpenter, and co-written along with Debra Hill, it tells the terrifying story of a six year old Michael Myers who murders his sister and is then put into a psychiatric hospital. 15 years later he escapes and returns home, stalking through the neighborhood and killing anyone that gets in their way. Michael’s doctor, Sam Loomis is chasing after him, while Laurie Strode is in the middle of it all, fighting for her life and the lives of the small children she is babysitting on Halloween night.

This is the first film in the Halloween franchise which includes 7 films and stars Jamie Lee Curtis in her debut movie role. Halloween is sort of the first time we experience clean cut youth being sexually promiscuous and drinking, only to be killed by the monster, whereas our main girl is pure and innocent and manages to survive. This is copied to this day whether it was on purpose or not.

Filmed on a smaller budget, it’s a well-known fact that Halloween was in fact filmed during the spring in California instead of on Halloween in Haddonfield where it’s set. To save money, they re-used the fake fall leaves, picking them up after every shot and re-scattering them the next day. The iconic Michael Myers mask was in fact a Captain Kirk mask that cost them $1.98 back in the day. They widened the eye holes and spray painted the skin to make it what we know today. Even the costumes weren’t safe from the small budget – most of the cast wore their own clothes and Curtis’ clothes were purchased for less than $100.

In 2007 Rob Zombie re-booted the franchise, while not for everyone, I think he did a great job and gave us a deeper and richer background of who Michael Myers is and why he does what he does.

Carpenter's Halloween is an absolutely stunning film that’s carefully put together. Michael Myers is simultaneously everywhere and nowhere, causing you to be checking behind every door and in every closet. There’s not a lot of gore, but a scary amount of unnerving moments. Michael Myers is impossible to kill and a silent, deadly force ready to haunt your nightmares.

Always a 10/10 and a must-watch for any budding horror fan.

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!
I watched 31 horror movies in 31 days. I can take it easy for the rest of my life now. I've finally managed to achieve a goal.

So obviously you won't be hearing from me every single day going forward, but I've gained so many new viewers and that's kind of amazing. I will continue to share and update like I always do - horror movie reviews and news!

Stay spooky!

DAY THIRTY - Psycho (horror movie challenge - 31 days of horror)

DAY THIRTY - PSYCHO (1960)

In 1960 a movie came out that changed the way the public viewed horror - that film was Psycho. No longer were your beautiful lead actresses safe, no more were directors listening to the censors. Rules were broken and a director had cemented his place at the top of Hollywood. Psycho set new levels of acceptability for violence and sexuality, and is widely considered to be the first slasher film.

Psycho, based on the novel by Robert Bloch, was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starred Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin and Janet Leigh. It tells the story of a secretary who steals money from one of her clients and escapes to a lonely motel off of a main highway. Bates Motel is run by a disturbed young man, Norman Bates, and once the secretary goes missing her sister and boyfriend come looking. But of course, they get more than they bargained more.

Anthony Perkins was typecast after this film but he never regretted playing Norman Bates. Janet Leigh, after starring in this film, received strange, threatening phone calls and letters explaining what they would do to her character. 

Psycho was filmed on a very small budget, Hitchock had a TV show at the time and borrowed the film crew from that show to film Psycho. At first the film received mixed reviews but after outstanding box office returns the film was nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Support Actress and became critically acclaimed. After Hitchock's death in 1980 the studio began producing three sequels, a remake and a TV series. All of them failed.

 

There are so many great things about Psycho and it has a rich, fascinating history which is too much to get into here. Watch Psycho to round out your horror history and enjoy Norman Bates because damn if he isn't the most handsome serial killer - 10/10.

 

Stay Spooky!