WHAT'S YOUR TOP 3 HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME? GHOULISH GARY PULLIN GIVES US HIS!

If you're a horror fan then you probably know the name Ghoulish Gary Pullin. An amazing artist who has created many outstanding eye-popping pieces for posters, magazines, records, and films and a 2009 Rondo Award winner. In my personal collection I have Waxwork Records' original soundtracks for RE-ANIMATOR and CREEPSHOW which Gary created original artwork for. They are drop dead gorgeous! Gary and his work will also be featured in the upcoming film TWENTY-FOUR BY THIRTY-SIX!

So for the month of Halloween I've asked a few people to share their top 3 horror films of all time, for any of you planning a scare-a-thon for Samhain and are pressed for what to watch. Well Gary was kind enough to share his top 3, so take it from a true monster kid...

Gary's first choice is one that I haven't seen and I feel like a chump, because everyone I know who has seen it talks about how scary it is. Starring George C Scott (Exorcist III, Dr Strangelove, Hardcore), THE CHANGELING is about a composer who tragically lost his family. He's consumed by grief and his friends convince him to get away for a while, so he rents a turn of the century house, but things get worse when he discovers the house is haunted by the ghost of a murdered child!

...yea, this is the year I watch THE CHANGELING!

Gary's next choice is one we have in common, THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON! What a fantastic picture-what an incredible monster...It's rare to find a full body monster suit from the 1950s that looked so realistic and gave such an iconic performance (there were actually two people who played the creature-Ben Chapman for the above the water scenes and Ricou Browning for the underwater scenes). In the film, a paleontologist discovers a fossilized hand with webbed fingers, marking the link in evolution from sea to land creatures and leads an expedition into the Amazon to try and learn more. There they encounter the curious monster who becomes enraged after being attacked, but also infatuated with the sole female member of the crew, Kay (Julie Adams). Though it came out much later than the original Universal Classics, the Creature is still counted among their ranks and will be included in the new line of shared universe remakes. One of the gems of the monster cinema and an unimpeachable classic. 

And for his number 3 pick, Gary chose a modern classic that just hit Blu Ray back in August.

SESSION 9 landed with little fan fare back in 2001, flying under the radar. It is criminal this movie wasn't a hit! I saw it at a midnight showing and it was seriously one of the scariest films I've seen. Shot in Massachusetts, SESSION 9 is about a crew of contractors hired to go into an old insane asylum and clean out the asbestos so the place can be torn down. Are they alone in the place, or is someone not what they seem? No frigging joke, the last half hour is intense! No spoilers and no more details, if you haven't experienced this underrated jewel, you need to add this your Halloween viewing schedule.  

Thanks, Gary, for sharing your top 3 favorite horror films! Too learn more about Ghoulish Gary and purchase his art you can go HERE to check out his official site. And you can follow him at @ghoulishgary on Twitter and Instagram and he'll be a guest at MondoCon, October 22-23 and Days of the Dead: Chicago, November 18 - 20. And check out the official trailer for TWENTY-FOUR BY THIRTY-SIX below...

 

 

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK; THE RAMONES AND HORROR

What do you know about The Ramones? I mean really? How deep does your knowledge go, how many albums do you own, what are your favorite deep cuts? I can't imagine anyone not, at the very least, owning a best of or the first couple of albums. To the uninitiated or casual fan, the assumption is that The Ramones made one great album and kept making it. Well...yes and no.
The Ramones didn't evolve from album to album as radically as The Clash, but they certainly improved as songwriters and musicians and the production value generally improved as well. They kept the songs fairly simple, straightforward, and short-occasionally adding synths or horns or strings, but at heart, it was always "1-2-3-4!" and go! They always took great 60s pop and played it with the speed and tone of a buzz saw, throwing in a few pretty ballads along the way. To me, there were albums that weren't as good as others, but there has been no Ramones studio album that I would call awful. At worst, an album like Pleasant Dreams was perhaps not as good as Subterranean Jungle. 
Other than being great innovators and inspiration for countless pop punk clones, what makes The Ramones specifically relevant Stranger With Friction? The Ramones recorded some great horror punk songs. Some even before the kings of horror punk, The Misfits. Here's a 6 song playlist of great horror moments and dark humor from 'da brudders'...

"Mama, where's your little daughter?

she's here, right here on the altar

You should never have opened that door

now you're never gonna see her no more

You don't know what I can do with this axe chop off your head

so you better relax"
"You Should Never Have Opened That Door", from Leave Home (also available as a demo on the 1st album) is about, well, you read the lyrics. That's it. A mom walks in on some sort of witchy ceremony and whoever has her daughter is going to chop off her head if she doesn't relax. Dark as hell stuff in a super catchy song. Think of The Misfits' "Last Caress", what a sick song, but you'll never get it out of your head!

"Oh, oh, oh

Sitting here with nothin' to do

Sitting here thinkin' only of you

But you'll never get out of there

She'll never get out of there.

Texas chain saw massacre

They took my baby away from me

But she'll never get out of there

She'll never get out of there

I don't care, wohoho

When I saw her on the corner

She told me told me told me told me

She wouldn't go far

Ooh, now I know I'm so much in love

'Cause she's the only girl that I'm ever thinking of"

"Chainsaw" kicks off with screeching sound of a bandsaw, whatever, before launching into such a "Ramones" kind of love song, full of longing trumped by apathy. It's such a funny little tribute to one of the most horrifying films ever made, Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 

"Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

That's what they want to give me

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

What they want to give me

I'm a teenage schizoid, the one your parent despise

Psycho therapy, now I got glowing eyes

I'm a teenage schizoid, pranks and muggings are fun

Psycho therapy, gonna kill someone

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

I like takin' tuinal, it keeps me edgy and mean

I'm a teenage schizoid, I'm a teenage dope fiend

I'm a kid in the nuthouse, I'm a kid in the psycho zone

Psycho therapy, I'm gonna burglarize your home

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, hey

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy

Psycho therapy, psycho therapy, psycho therapy"

No, not specifically horrific, but considering how often mental illness plays into horror movies, "Psycho Therapy" fits right in.

"Everybody said so man you could see it on T.V.

They stood there ashamed with nowhere to go

Nobody wants them now the kids are alright

Every day is a holiday and pushin' people around

I'm making monsters for my friends

I'm making monsters for my friends

Someone caught one I could see so myself

I had to call 254 so they wouldn't blame me

We wanted to know how much trouble there was

When we asked our daddy he said it's just because

I'm making monsters for my friends

I'm making monsters for my friends

I don't wanna open a can of worms and

I don't want any Spagetti-Os

And I could always tell when

someone is holding a grudge

I'm making monsters for my friends

I'm making monsters for my friends

I'm making monsters for my friends

I'm making monsters for my friends"

I can barely make heads or tails of these lyrics, but it's got MONSTER in the chorus and so it goes on the list. Great song from The Ramones last album, Adios Amigos. 

"Hey, daddy-o

I don't want to go down to the basement

There's somethin' down there

I don't want to go

Hey, Romeo

There's somethin' down there

I don't want to go down to the basement"

Pretty typical of the debut album, short set of catchy lyrics repeated for about two minutes. It speaks directly to that kid in all of us who didn't want to go down into that dark, lonely basement with all the spiderwebs and shadows. Here's a cool fan made video to go along with it.

"Under the arc of a weather stain boards

Ancient goblins, and warlords

Come out of the ground, not making a sound

The smell of death is all around

And the night when the cold wind blows, no one cares, nobody knows

I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary

I don't want to live my life again

Follow Victor to the sacred place

This ain't a dream, I can't escape

Molars and fangs, the clicking of bones

Spirits moaning among the tombstones

And the night, when the moon is bright

Someone cries, something ain't right

I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary

I don't want to live my life again

The moon is full, the air is still

All of a sudden I feel a chill

Victor is grinning, flesh rotting away

Skeletons dance, I curse this day

And the night when the wolves cry out

Listen close and you can hear me shout

I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary

I don't want to live my life again

Oh no, oh no

I don't want to live my life again, oh no, oh oh

I don't want to live my life again, oh no, no, no"

There was a great synergy to The Ramones writing "Pet Sematary" for the film adaptation of the great Stephen King novel, since King references The Ramones in the book. This is certainly one of their top 20 songs of their career. 

If anything I hope you're inspired to dig deep into The Ramones' catalogue. There are several great tracks just as good as "Blitzkrieg Bop" or "I Wanna Be Sedated". And don't forget, if you're not in it, you're out of it! 

SWF'S FILMOGRAPHY SERIES PART ONE

There's not many directors as polarizing as Rob Zombie. From his difficult-delivery debut, HOUSE OF A 1000 CORPSES, to his last film, LORDS OF SALEM, Zombie has driven critics and fans alike crazy, especially when he took on the untouchable masterpiece HALLOWEEN and then followed it up with a weirder, more 'Zombie'-like sequel. Recently, I saw someone on Twitter remark, "I know Rob Zombie and Eli Roth have good movies in them, but they haven't made them yet. 31 isn't going to change this." 31 is Zombie's latest, currently with a 6.3/10 on IMDb. Which means more than half the critics liked it, but with a fair number of detractors. So it goes for Zombie-but is it because his movies aren't all that good or because they occupy a niche market that will just naturally repel common folks?

Zombie, once a production assistant for PEEWEE'S PLAYHOUSE, gained international fame with his original band White Zombie, before going solo in the late 90s. The thing that always impressed me about Zombie was his visual aesthetics. Whether it was painting the set of HEADBANGER'S BALL or directing a segment in BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD DO AMERICA or all the music videos he directed, I always admired his taste and style even if some of his music left me cold. When word came that he'd be directing a film (THE CROW 2037, never released), I, like many, was intrigued, but it would take a few years for HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES to finally come out.

Originally working with Universal, who refused to release the film because of the violent content, before getting picked up by Lionsgate, H1kC was met with mostly bad reviews upon release in 2003. It's not a perfect film by any stretch, coming off more like an extended White Zombie music video mixed with the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, but the years have been kind to the picture and I enjoy far more these days than I did when I first saw it.

Set in 1977, H1kC follows a group of young people who run into the Firefly family, basically TCM's Sawyer clan as seen through the trippy, kalaidescopic, rock and roll eye of Zombie. We meet Otis (Bill Mosely), Baby (Sherri Moon Zombie), Mother Firefly (Karen Black), Tiny (Mathew McGrory), Dr Satan (Walter Phelan), and Captain Spaulding (Sid Haig)-a colorful cast to say the least all cult film stars. (A bit of trivia; McGrory's film debut was in the zombie flick HATE THE LIVING! which featured a mad scientist that looked like Rob, called Dr Eibon.) All the elements were in place for H1kC to be a killer throwback grind house horror flick, which it is, though it may have been a couple years ahead of it's time, as evidenced by the fact that it's sequel, THE DEVIL'S REJECTS, didn't suffer as much critical backlash and is considered by many to be Zombie's finest film.

Stylistically HOUSE and DEVIL'S is quite different. Where HOUSE is a visual orgy, DEVIL'S plays more like a Sam Peckinpah (THE WILD BUNCH) western. A very fucked up, grind house western. Picking up in the aftermath of H1kC, TDR has Otis, Baby, and Spaulding on the run from a crazed lawman out for revenge. Mosely shines as Otis, delivering some amazing, unforgettable lines, like "Boy, the next word that comes out of your mouth better be some brilliant fuckin' Mark Twain shit. 'Cause it's definitely getting chiseled on your tombstone." and "I am the Devil and I am here to do the Devil's work." He is absolutely chilling, even outshining his signature role of Chop Top from TCM2. While TDR may visually be a more subdued film, Zombie pulls no punches with gut churning violence and squirm inducing situations.

Zombie's love of TCM is all over these films, so much so he would have been the perfect choice to head up the remake of TCM, instead he took on a different 70s classic, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. Bloody Disgusting named HALLOWEEN Zombie's worst film and lots of reviewers agreed. Many of the complaints stem from the fact that Zombie stripped the original story of it's subtlety and mystery and gave us a full blown Michael Meyers origin story with nothing left to the imagination. Something I balked at upon first viewing myself, but subsequent viewings have revealed what a well made film HALLOWEEN actually is. I love the cast, the cinematography, the intensity. It's a great Rob Zombie film, but sadly it's not a great HALLOWEEN film since it betrays the original to such an extent. I've reconciled that though, to me all Zombie's films feel like they take place in the same world-a Zombie-verse, if you will. His Michael is just the Michael of the Zombie-verse and doesn't diminish Carpenter's in that sense. I would venture to say that if more of the detractors could compartmentalize the films and really set Zombie's apart, they may find a better film than they remember. Not to mention that Tyler Mane plays an amazing Michael. Loved him. And Malcolm MacDowell as Dr Loomis? Fantastic choice.

As I mentioned before, Rob went full Zombie on HALLOWEEN II and for the most part it paid off, though there were moments that dragged the film down and could have been left on the cutting room floor. Sherri Moon Zombie played Michael's mother in the first film and returns as a malevolent guiding spirit in II. It adds a weird, dreaminess to the film that feels so out of place in a HALLOWEEN film, but makes sense in a Zombie film, with loads of cool and creepy visuals that may have been a warm up for his follow up feature, LORDS OF SALEM.

If you think of Zombie's films musically, his first four are exactly what you'd expect from the man behind such shock rock metal classics as "Dragula," "Living Dead Girl," "Thunderkiss '65," and "More Human Than Human". LORDS OF SALEM, though, was a more down tuned doom metal. A much more serious, solemn, mature, and slower film. LoS still fits the style of the Zombie-verse, but embraces more a ROSEMARY'S BABY vibe rather than TCM.

Starring Sherri Moon Zombie, Ken Forree, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Dee Wallace, and Meg Foster, LoS is about a rock DJ, Heidi (Sherri), who receives a mysterious record that triggers hallucinations and flashbacks to her town's dark past. On the surface it's a witchcraft film and a disturbing one at that, but since the first time I saw it, I've wondered if there wasn't some subtext there, as with the aforementioned ROSEMARY'S BABY, which also contained a subtext that spoke directly to it's era. To me LoS sort of seemed like a metaphor for impending motherhood, but specifically for someone with a checkered past that would lead to fear and anxiety about the prospects of the responsibility. Maybe I'm over-thinking, but LoS feels like a much deeper movie than the surface content would suggest. Unfortunately though, as well made as it is LoS is my least favorite of Zombie's films, mainly because it reminds me so heavily of Roman Polanski and like Polanski Zombie doesn't quite land the film in a satisfying way. It's all build up and right when it gets good it's over. It's why I don't like ROSEMARY'S or NINTH GATE. It's really too bad, since LoS is Zombie's classiest and most ambitious films. That said it's certainly still worth watching.

This year, Zombie has returned with a film that looks like a return to H1kC roots. The trailer for 31 gives us Malcolm MacDowell dressed like a Victorian-era aristocrat, Sherri on the run through a fucked up labrynth and a shit load of psychotic, homicidal clowns. Zombie has promised us a film full of blood and madness just in time for Halloween and I can't wait to see it. It also stars Jeff Daniel Phillips, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Kevin Jackson, and Meg Foster. It's about five carnival workers who are kidnapped and forced to play a game where you win by surviving a life and death struggle against the psycho clowns for twelve hours. It sounds like the most typically Rob Zombie film of all, which I think will probably also make a pretty fun ride.

People whine on-line that all Zombie's films look like the 70s never ended, but I want to know why that's a problem. It's a style, as I said-his own universe and it's consistent and well done. Look at David Lynch's films, especially BLUE VELVET and TWIN PEAKS, there's an idyllic 50s look and feel to those works, though they aren't period pieces. And take John Water's films, they certainly exist in their own Waters-verse, taking and leaving what they need from pop culture. There's certainly more than a little of both Lynch and Waters in Zombie, just like the way his music pulls from such wildly varying sources-metal, disco, hip hop, industrial, and rockabilly. While for now, Zombie probably won't stop being a polarizing filmmaker, I think history will be kind to his films. Even Cronenberg was savaged by the critics and now his films are indispensable classics.

(Final note, I did skip Zombie's animated filmTHE HAUNTED WORLD OF EL SUPER BEASTO. So, no need to point that out, thanks.)

(Original Rob Zombie logo at the top of the article is by King Vulture, 2016.)     

POSTS FROM THE GRAVE; REALITY 86'D

Hola, fiends! Remember that great blog BASEMENT SCREAMS? Really kick ass site and the man behind it, Ol' Dirty Murphy, is a helluva guy. Well back in 2013 he let this guy guest post for his DAMAGED; EXPLORING PUNKS ON FILM series. I took on Dave Markey's rare and hard to see Reality 86'd, which chronicled the last Black Flag tour. Basement Screams has gone away, unfortunately, but maybe one of these days J-Murph and I will get our shit together and do that Podcast we talked about!

Tour film starring Black Flag, Painted Willie, and Gone 1986

Directed by Dave Markey, completed in1991, unreleased officially

Black Flag toured like no other punk band before or after. Their tour schedules were grueling, spirit breaking affairs that took months in cargo vans and brought them to every out of the way dump in America. They were true trail blazers, opening up the US for every other punk/indie band who followed. This could be one of the reasons the band burned through fourteen different members in less than a decade.

            When Flag went out for six months in ’86 to support their In My Head album I doubt anyone knew this would be the band’s swan song. On the album, drummer Anthony Martinez had replaced Bill Stevenson (Descendents, ALL) and before the tour bassist Kira Roessler left and was replaced by Cel Revulta.  In My Head may have been Black Flag’s finest recorded moment, sonically speaking-crystal clear production, a consistency in song writing, and a cohesiveness that albums like My War and Slip It In lacked.

            Tensions were high in the band and had been for some time particularly between  founder Greg Ginn and 4th vocalist Henry Rollins. Ginn had become more interested in instrumental music while Rollins had matured and hardened into a creative force in the band and not merely a yes man for Ginn.  The all instrumental Process of Weeding Out seemed like a clear message to Rollins, but he stuck it out.

            They struck out across the country with Painted Willie (Dave Markey was the drummer/vocalist)  and Ginn’s jazz/punk three piece Gone (which featured future Rollins Band rhythm section of Sim Cain on drums and Andrew Weiss (Ween) on bass). Markey brought a Super 8 camera along and captured this odyssey. The end result of Reality 86’d is a loose, irreverent look into a LSD and weed driven journey of thirteen individuals that at different times come off as brilliant, silly and/or boring. No one seems especially self conscious, the bands sound amazing (particularly Gone). It’s an adventurous art film and captures the last recorded moments of one of America’s most influential bands (you can clearly see the roots of Grunge). But what’s missing is an emotional depth, probably due to the fact that Markey didn’t know that he was capturing the end of Black Flag, in other words, this ain’t no Last Waltz.

            I would say there are two books that are required reading to accompany Reality 86’d that give the film a gravity and an emotional punch that it lacks on it’s own. First and obviously is Rollins’ Get In The Van; On The Road With Black Flag. The last half of his book are intense reading and especially the Apocalypse Now feel of the ’86 tour. Second is Rollins’ friend Joe Cole’s book Planet Joe, which chronicled in wild detail this tour along with the first Rollins Band tour. Cole served as roadie and documented some of the most harrowing moments of those six moths. (Cole would tragically be shot dead in ’91 when he and Rollins were being mugged outside of their home).

            Reality 86’d is an important document, it has a great psychidelic/punk vibe like it’s a vision of the future from a more primitive time and should have a place on every punk or music nerd’s shelf. But sorry, sunshine, you can’t own it. Not legally anyway. Greg Ginn blocked any release of this film for reasons known only to him. Even as recently as 2011 he demanded it be taken down from Vimeo, where Markey had uploaded it for free viewing,  but the internet wins, because you can view it all over over the web (I watched it on Youtube). I hold out hope that Reality 86’d will get an official release someday along with Flag’s ’82 demos which any fan must hear.  Flag has reformed, going out on tour and releasing a new album this year, so all hope may not be lost, but then again, I’m an optimist.

3.5 Severed Thumbs Up (or 3.5 Screaming Jamies, if you like)

EXCERPT FROM MY UPCOMING HORROR NOVEL, SPELLBREAKER

OK, trying something new...I'm going to be posting parts of my in-progress new novel, Spellbreaker. I won't be posting the whole book here, but I'll regularly put up bits and pieces. Hopefully you'll be hooked! I'd love to get your feedback over the next few months, how you feel, what's working for you, etc.
ZERO CASE from SPELLBREAKER
(Copyright Tim Murr/ St Rooster Books 2015/16)

The newest of the Spellbreakers  was a 24 year old woman named Texas Hill. Named that by her father, Alan,  after she was born in Detroit instead of back home in Fort Worth. Alan designed show and racing cars. Texas grew up fairly normal. She, her brother, Gary, and mother Gabriella would travel around the country with Alan. Cars were her world. Alan built vehicles for big Hollywood movies and unique personal cars for movie and sports stars.

Gary was four years older than Texas and a gear head himself. He built his first racecar from a kit and joined the dirt track circuit. His car was inspired by punk rock and Racer X from Speed Racer. He made himself into a ‘character racer’ and was a favorite with kids-including his little sister.

When she was old enough, Gary helped Texas design and build her own car (a garish pink body with a neon green silhouette of the state of Texas on the hood). The two of them were very popular and inspired other drivers to add theatrics to their suits and/or cars. Some complained that circuit was becoming a bit too pro-wrestling, but no one turned down the money. Gary and Alan developed a web series showing the Saturday night races and interviews with the drivers. Texas was the undisputed star and her pink and neon green t shirts with the slogan ‘DON’T #%$! WITH TEXAS’ sold all over the country.

Then Texas met Danny.

It was at a party out at the doom metal band Troll Wolf’s house. Troll Wolf had bought a small run down farm house out in the middle of no where (reminded them of the house in Texas Chainsaw Massacre) and turned it into a home/recording studio. They could also grow weed without molestation from the law. Troll Wolf held monthly parties that grew over time from about ten guests to a couple hundred. Texas had been dating the singer/rhythm guitarist Smoke for almost a year when she and Gary drove up for the big Halloween bash. It was early in the afternoon and the band, some girlfriends, and a few pals were getting the place ready and running power cords out to the amps on the make shift stage. Within a few hours the neighboring field would full of cars and the property would be crawling with punks and metal heads in costumes. Texas came dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo. Gary was Samhain-era Danzig, shirtless and covered in blood.

Nothing was out of the ordinary that day. Beer flowed like a river, the air was thick with smoke of the sweet leaf, and by the time the sun went down the crowd was one hundred strong. Troll Wolf stumbled on stage and started banging through a sloppy set full of Halloween themed covers and originals. There was a bonfire on the front lawn and the scarecrows that had been hung from the dead oak were being set on fire. In the field you didn’t have to walk far to see a car bouncing with fogged up windows. More than a few fights broke out, but nothing that couldn’t be contained. More beer arrived with every new car. All in all it was a great Halloween.

Between songs someone started screaming. She may have been screaming before that, but no one heard until the applause died down. Even then it took a while before people started becoming curious.

A skinny blonde girl dressed as a sexy angel came running/ limping from the field covered in blood screaming for help. At first people parted, afraid to touch her. Then they gathered around trying to help her, but she wasn’t saying anything that made sense. She just kept screaming about her boyfriend. Finally, Gary and a few big guys started running in the direction she was pointing. It was near the edge of the field that they saw a hulking beast eating out of a young man’s gut. He was laid across the hood of a car and obviously dead.

It was dark back there, but there was just enough light to see what was eating the man was neither human nor animal. Gary and the four guys who arrived first stopped about ten feet away, with a few more people coming up slowly behind.

The beast looked up at the gathering crowd, who all took a step back at the sight of it’s glowing red eyes. The beast rose to its full height of nearly eight feet and screamed at them. Many people fled, but Gary and the first four stood their ground.

Texas pushed her way through the fleeing guests, trying to check on Gary, with Smoke and the other members of Troll Wolf with her. Smoke had grabbed a machete, which he kept near the garden for snakes.

The beast was slowly approaching the group that had grown to ten strong, with everyone clumped several yards back, turning on headlights and flashlights to get a better look. Smoke waved the machete and yelled for it to get back, but the beast just chuckled.

That chuckle sent chills down everyone’s spine.

It started to pace back and forth, sizing up the group. Texas felt flush and a little dizzy, sound started to become muffled for her. Then, there was a voice from out in the darkness.

The beast spun around surprised, then bolted straight for Texas. She screamed and threw her arms up and there was a flash of lightning that hit the beast, blasting him a hard left through a car.

The first thing Texas saw when she opened her eyes was a man in black clothes, purple sneakers, sweaty and out of breath and carrying a sword. She looked over at the smoldering remains of the car and the beast staggering to its feet, smoking.

“You!” The man with the sword shouted. “Stay right there!”

Then he sprinted at the beast and swung the sword into its neck, decapitating it.                        

KING VULTURE'S SOUND ATTACK; 6.5.16 GIALLO IN MUSIC VIDEOS

There's not a lot of films coming out that really keep the legacy of Giallo alive, at least not that I've seen, other than an occasional gem like The Strange Color Of Your Body's Tears (2013). The Strange Color... is a lush and mesmerizing film that gives the architects and masters of Giallo a run for their money. Instead, I've been seeing the influence of Bava and Argento showing up in music videos.
I've compiled a short list of some of the cooler ones I've come across. I can't say that I'm a huge fan of all the bands, some of the music isn't the kind of thing I'd listen to much or at all, but the videos are all really cool and worthy of a few minutes of your time.

Slow Coda "Valspeak"

(might owe a little more to American 80s slashers, but watch the way the camera moves)

Harrison Kipner "Monster"

(Very much calls to mind Suspiria, because of the dancers, but the overall visuals are pretty cool.)

Johnny Butler and Dani Mara "Darkness (Mater Tenebrarum)"

(Video isn't available on Youtube, but worth a click on the link below

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/darkness-video-premiere/ )

Lioness "The Night"

(More poppy than I usually listen to, but the song started growing on me. Crazy witch action.)

Huntress "Sorrow"

(Granted the reference to Karnstein is pure Hammer Horror, the visuals owe more to Mario Bava)

Arcana 13 "Dread Ritual"

(Pure classic Bava)

Ghostface Killah "Rise Of The Ghostface Killah"

(Possibly the coolest video on this list, no joke. Wu Tang Clan, even solo, is NEVER something to fuck with!)

Coliseum "Black Magic Punks"

(Love, love, love this song. The video very much calls to mind Argento's Three Mother films.)

No doubt there's plenty more that I can't remember or haven't seen. Feel free to make suggestions in the comments or to me on Twitter @Holyrooster. If we come up with enough names, I'll run a second playlist!

JIM MICKLE'S COLD IN JULY-A MOVING AND SHOCKING JOURNEY

Even though it came out at the end of 2014, I just got to see Jim Mickle's Cold In July. Based on the novel by Joe R Lansdale (Bubba Ho Tep, Paradise Sky, Hap And Leonard novels), Cold In July is a tale of two fathers, one protective and loving/one an ex-con with revenge on his mind. Things get complicated. The film was written by Nick Damici and Mickle. You may know Damici, who also co-stars in Cold, in Mickle's Stake Land and Adrian Garcia Bogliano's Late Phases. 
I'm actually glad there was such a lag before I got to see Cold, because I definitely would have been re-writing parts of my last book. That said, a violent Jim Mickle film co-starring Don Johnson has been high on my list of must sees. Mickle's previous films, Stake Land and We Are What We Are are modern classics and two of my favorite films.
In addition to Damici and Johnson Cold also stars Michael C Hall (Dexter, Six Feet Under) and Sam Shepard (All The Pretty Horses, Blackhawk Down). The film is set in 1989 and opens with Dane's (Hall) home being broken into. Dane goes for his gun and winds up shooting the burglar by accident. It's a pretty clear cut case of a man defending his home and family and Sheriff Price (Damici) reassures Dane that the man he shot, Freddy Russell, is a wanted felon and a piece of shit. All should be fine, except that Freddy's father, Ben (Shepard) has just been paroled and wastes no time letting Dane know that his son is in danger now. The movie has barely started and Mickle and company are laying on the tension so thick. It calls to mind the most harrowing moments of Scorcese's Cape Fear or Saulnier's Blue Ruin. 
Again, we're not even halfway through the movie and we're on a fast train to every parent's worst nightmare and the real story hasn't even started yet! I don't want to give away too many of the surprises, twists, and turns of Cold In July, because it really is a very rewarding and exciting film.
The score by Jeff Grace is fantastic and really adds a John Carpenter feel to the movie, in fact, I just saw on Twitter describe the movie as John Carpenter making Blood Simple. I can't disagree and I'd throw a comparison to Sam Peckinpah at the height of his power (Straw Dogs or Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia). The cinematography is gorgeous as well.
For the fact that Cold wastes no time in getting it's hands dirty, Mickle keeps a tight reign on the pace. He balances a slow burn with a lot of action. In an age of CGI fight scenes, to see a violent shoot out unfold at slow realistic pace is almost unnerving. Mickle has an amazing power behind the camera and I think people are going to be talking about him decades from now in the same breath as the aforementioned masters.
Also, you're going to be surprised how much you've missed Don Johnson!