MY HEROES HAVE ALWAYS BEEN MONSTERS PART 53; DON COSCARELLI

When I was a kid, my favorite toys were Masters of the Universe. I had a pretty good collection for a poor kid. One Christmas, my dad even got me Castle Greyskull. I have to say, though, I hated the name 'He-Man.' I didn't get it, such a dumb name. And the cartoon? Fuck that cartoon, I always hated it. Fortunately, I discovered a movie called The Beastmaster (1982). The Beastmaster was a fantasy epic that contained some really scary scenes, featuring humanoid bat creatures, and followed a lone warrior that traveled with a falcon, a panther, and two ferrets-all of whom he could communicate with. After I saw The Beastmaster, my He-Man figure lost his armor/bandoleer thing and Skeletor's giant black panther lost his armor, and He-Man was from then on The Beastmaster and all my MOTU stories became Beastmaster stories.
I had no idea, then that the director of The Beastmaster would wind up having a much more profound influence on me as a writer. Don Coscarelli wrote and directed the film, but more importantly, he wrote and directed the horror classic Phantasm.
I was well into my obsession with the big slasher franchises of the 80s when I rented Phantasm one Fangoria that month (July 1988) so I felt like I should get to it. I watched it on a Saturday afternoon and I can honestly say I had no idea if I liked it or not. It certainly filled me with dread, but I was also confused. I felt like I missed something. I let it go for a while, waiting for the sequel to make it to VHS, which, from reading Fango, sounded really cool. And hey, it was!

weekend. The second film had been the cover feature in
Phantasm II built on the first film in a really interesting way and inspired me to re-rent the first film again. This time it made more sense. Taken together with the third film, Lord of the Dead and the fourth, Oblivion, the Phantasm franchise presented worlds within worlds. Layers of reality, dreams and hallucinations becoming corporeal, misdirection, and no rules to govern the universe. Phantasm 1-4 are a slow burn end of the world about a kid named Mike (Michael Baldwin) growing up in the twilight years of Earth as an entity known only as 'The Tall Man' (Angus Scrimm, RIP) plunders grave yards across the country, creating slaves for inter-dimensional world conquering. Teaming up, first with his older brother Jody (Bill Thornberry) and later with Jody's friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister), Mike becomes a man between 1 and 2, becoming a hardened soldier in the war against the dead. As does Reggie, who we first meet as a mild mannered ice cream man and soon becomes a four barrel shotgun toting bad ass. Phantasm was as out of step with Jason and Freddy in the 80s as Clive Barker's Hellraiser. Surprisingly, there was only one attempt to expand on the Phantasm universe outside of the films and that was in Stephen Romano's (Eibon Press, Fulci Comics)single issue comic.
In 2002, Coscarelli returned to the director's chair with one of the best horror films of the last three decades, Bubba Ho-Tep. Based on a story by Joe Lansdale (Hap and Leonard), Bubba Ho-Tep was a wild and off-beat concept inside an emotional and down beat story about a seventy year old Elvis Presley living out his last days under an assumed name in a Texas retirement home that's being menaced by a soul sucking mummy. Elvis was played by Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead) and Ossie Davis played John F Kennedy. I don't know if anyone was prepared for how smart, exciting, cool, and quirky Bubba Ho-Tep was. I've had to watch it annually and it hasn't diminished a bit from repeated viewings.

Coscarelli's next film (after shooting two episodes of Showtime's Masters of Horror) was an adaptation of the David Wong novel John Dies At The End (2012). I was fortunate to catch the film at the Nevermore Film Festival in Durham NC. I had been obsessing over the trailer leading up to the fest and my god it did not disappoint! The story centers on best friends, David and John, who have been exposed to a drug called Soy Sauce that opens doors to other worlds. Similar to Phantasm, dreams and hallucinations could become physical threats, as monsters from the multi-verse spill into our world, with nothing but a couple of numb skulls standing between them and our world. Hilarious, gross, and smart, Coscarelli boiled the sprawling novel down to a fast paced, action heavy thrill ride. It also featured an amazing animated sequence from David Hartman, who would go on to direct the fifth Phantasm film, RaVager (which I fully love).
Going back to Bubba Ho-Tep, that movie dropped at a time in my life that I would call my 'wilderness period.' I had been struggling as a writer since mid '98 to write...anything. Before I graduated high school in '94, I had moved on from Stephen King and Clive Barker to Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs and the horror and sci-fi elements in my writing started taking a back seat to more character dramas and political content. I got into Charles Bukowski and Hubert Selby Jr and almost never picked up a horror novel. In 1996, I went to see Scream with my friend Jase on opening night. I still rented horror movies on a regular basis, but that night with Scream I misunderstood wes Craven's intentions and felt like I was being made fun of for being a horror fan. Scream opened the flood gates for the late 90's teen horror deluge and it felt like horror slipped right out of my life completely. But when Bubba Ho-Tep came out I was reminded of how much horror meant to me and that was the beginning of me finding my way back into writing new material. I went back to the Phantasm films (as well as Argento's films that were finally becoming available in uncut versions from Anchor Bay) and in 2011 I completed my first novella, Conspiracy of Birds-a story where reality and time were slippery and dreams and hallucinations had physical ramifications. Just last month I released my latest collection of short stories, and the closing tale, "The Jennings Point Story," owes a lot to my love of Coscarelli's work.

Coscarelli is coming to Syracuse in October with his new autobiography, True Indie along with a double feature of the remastered  Phantasm and Bubba Ho-Tep. I'm ridiculously excited and will be bring my Phantasm II issue of Fangoria and my special edition Anchor Bay DVD of Phantasm to get signed. Here's hoping we get the Ho-Tep sequel Bubba Nosferatu soon!

Keep watching the skies, nerds!

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK; 10.3.15 OCTOBER HAS BEGUN MIX

CATCHING UP WITH LIFE

Wow, a lot has been happening lately! The two most notable bits of news are polar opposite in the good/bad variety. We lost Dave Brockie the man who was Oderus Orungus of GWAR. He was just 50! It sucks. I owned GWAR's two films Phallus In Wonderland and Skullhead Face. Both were endlessly entertaining and hilarious. And disgusting. And awesome. Oderus's appearance on the Fearnet series Holliston was a great joy.
At the other end of the spectrum comes the surprise news that PHANTASM V; RAVAGER is complete! I loooove Phantasm and I'm a huge Don Coscarelli fan. This film means a lot to mean and I can't wait to see it. It looks amazing...

The Walking Dead season finale was great except that it was only five minutes long! Seriously it was over so quick, but damn if it wasn't a nice place to stop; "They're screwing with the wrong people."
Bates Motel keeps getting better. I was completely skeptical about this show in the beginning, but I'm sold. Last week's episode gave us a taste of the Norman Bates to come. This week's episode helped solidify what a great crime drama the show is.
We plowed through the four original Psycho films last month, because it'd been a while and I was happy to see just how well they all held up over the years. Made me miss Anthony Perkins.

I've got a collaborative project in the works that I hope to be announcing soon. All I'll say is that your IPod will thank you.
Some other things to be looking for;
Epic release of the Creepshow OST from Waxworks Records. It's gore-geous!
Mego style 8" figures of Ash from Evil Dead and Iron Maiden's Eddie (as The Trooper) are coming soon from NECA. I have their retro Jason figure and it's one my favorite pieces in my collection.
Werewolves In Siberia's new album, Beyond The City of The Dead, is out now and  is fantastic. If you love '80's style horror/synthwave music this album will on heavy rotation on your audio consuming device!
I've got some new fiction done and ready to roll and I've made some major headway on three book projects, including the first volume of My Heroes Have Always Been Monsters. I'll be posting bits and pieces here soon.
All right, it's almost 3 am, the hour of the wolf. I better go now. Take care, fiends! Reviews and new chapters of Heroes are just around the bend!

(just a little blast from the past I've been writing to)

ONE WEEK TILL HALLOWEEN...WHAT ARE YOU WATCHING???

I can watch horror all year, as I'm sure many of you can, but there's just something special about watching really good horror flicks around Halloween (duh, yea I know).  Let me throw out a few suggestions to go with your Jasons and Michaels and Freddys.
1) PHANTASM...If you haven't seen this film, perhaps you've seen director Don Coscarelli's other movies Bubba Ho Tep or John Dies At The End. (No? You need to fix that ASAP!) Phantasm is about two brothers, Mike and Jody, and their friend Reggie who wind up having to go up against an under taker called the Tall Man who steals the dead he's supposed to be burying and turns them into shrunken minions. He also is armed with flying silver spheres that will give you quite the...headache. Bloody, weird, creepy. One of my favorites.

2) THE BEYOND...Guess what? You've inherited an old hotel in Louisiana! But...It sets on a doorway to hell. Sorry. The Beyond is a brutal and creepy tour de force from Lucio Fulci, director of Zombie, Cat In The Brain, and City of The Living Dead to name a few. The Beyond is his masterpiece. Beautifully shot, nightmarish in it's logic. This film is fantastic. And there's zombies. Fulci does really good zombies.

3) THE BROOD...If you've been reading this blog for any length of time you already know that David Cronenberg is one of my biggest heroes. His cult hit Scanners, remake of The Fly and 'adaptation' of William Burrough's Naked Lunch are unimpeachable master classes in film making. But of all his movies the only one that really freaked me out was The Brood. Kids in horror movies are creepy, kids in The Brood will make your blood run cold. While a psychologist runs a woman through an experimental therapy, bizarre and brutal murders are occurring, committed by mutant children. Frightening and disturbing.

4) BASKET CASE...A young man and his deformed siamese brother go looking for revenge against the doctors who separated them. This one has as much heart as it does scares. Set in the sleazy New York City of the early 80's, Basket Case, from Frank Henenlotter, is an offbeat and wild flick. I caught it late night on tv when I was a kid and damn if it didn't get under my skin!

5) PRINCE OF DARKNESS...One of my favorite John Carpenter films! Creepy and hopeless and a bit more cerebral than most of his other films. Prince of Darkness is a claustrophobic supernatural horror tale set in an abandoned church which may hold the end of the world. Throw in some cryptic warnings from the future through dreams and Alice Cooper as a zombified bum and you've got a kick ass flick. Not to mention the great Donald Pleasence!

Pleasant nightmares, fiends!

John Dies At The End...Reviewed!

 So a pal gets me a free pass to see one flick at the Nevermore Film Fest here in Durham NC, where a bunch of movies including one of my top five faves, Dawn of the Dead, was playing, as well as the new film Found (which looks pretty damn exciting itself), but the choice was simple. There was only one choice, one film I had to see above all others...John Dies At The End!

I've talked about this movie here before, posted trailers, images. I've driven my wife crazy talking about it. Now I've had about 24 hours to reflect upon this little epic, chomping at the bit to talk about it, but I'm not going to!
Yes, this is a review, but no I'm not telling about anything that happens in the movie. You want it spoiled, plenty of places to go. Here I'm giving you my emotional response to the film, which you can base your decision upon whether you too will see it or not.
Long story short; see John Dies At The End. It is a hilarious, gory, mind blowing film. It's not just everything you want in a Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho Tep, the Phantasm series) film (genre melding/smashing what-the-f-is-gonna-happen-next action) but it's everything you want in a really good movie. It transports you, it helps you escape-fully-into another world. It's a roller coaster, gets your heart thumping, your mind racing, and it ENTERTAINS you! Beginning to end, no lulls, nothing to roll your eyes about. Get ready, fiends, you are in for a treat!
5 Severed Thumbs Up, this is a modern classic!