Category: Horror

EERIE Archives Volume 4 featuring Archie Goodwin, Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, Tom Sutton, Al Williamson, Ambrose Bierce & Edgar Allan Poe!

EERIE Archives Volume 4 will be 256 pages when it is released on February 6, 2024.  Here’s the lowdown…

Follow your Cousin Eerie on a funeral march through the haunted halls of comics history in EERIE Archives Volume 4, now in a value-priced softcover format!

Join an all-star lineup of comics creators—Archie Goodwin, Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, Tom Sutton —as they mine your nightmares for ghoulish gold. Includes the adaptations of “The Death of Halpin Frayser” by Ambrose Bierce and “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe and a lengthy interview with legendary comics illustrator Al Williamson.

Collects EERIE magazine issues #16–#22.

  Deal me in.  Pre-Orders are available now.

CREEPY Volume 6 featuring Harlan Ellison, Neal Adams, Archie Goodwin, Don Glut, Frank Frazetta, Tom Sutton, Ernie Colon & Vaughn Bodé

Creepy Archives Volume Six will drop on March 26, 2024.  Clocking in at 288 pages it will feature…

The Eisner Award winning horror anthology series is now available in value-priced paperback editions!

Creepy Archives Volume 6 conjures a blood-curdling assemblage of shock, havoc, and nightmares by top comics fearmongers Archie Goodwin, Don Glut, Frank Frazetta, Tom Sutton, Ernie Colon, Vaughn Bodé, and more, and including “Rock God” by Hugo Award winning scribe Harlan Ellison, and illustrated by comics legend Neal Adams. Turn your happy home into a treacherous tomb with this terrifying tome!

Collects Creepy magazine issues 26–32.

  Deal me in.  Pre-Orders are available now.

CREEPY Archives Volume Five featuring Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko, Reed Crandall, Angelo Torres & Alex Toth!

Creepy Archives Volume Five will drop on January 23, 2024.  It’ll be 224 pages of horror comics fun!

The Eisner Award winning Creepy Archives series is now available in value-priced paperback editions!

Enter a world of the finest in spine-chilling storytelling from comics legends Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko, Reed Crandall, Angelo Torres, Alex Toth, and more. Creepy Archives Volume 5 unearths a treasure trove of horror, homicide, and hauntings that set the stage for many a nightmare. Includes the adaptation of the harrowing H. P. Lovecraft classic “The Rats in the Walls.”

Collects Creepy magazine issues 21–25.

  Deal me in.  Pre-Orders are available now.

Creepy Archives Volume 5

“London After Midnight” starring Lon Chaney – A Rare Still!

I continue to hold out hope that someday a print of London After Midnight will be found.  London After Midnight starred Lon Chaney, was directed and co-produced by Tod Browning.  There is no known copy of the film (the last known print was destroyed in a fire in the 1960s) and is considered to be the most “sought-after” lost film. From WikipediA…

London After Midnight (also marketed as The Hypnotist) is a lost 1927 American silent mystery film with horror overtones directed and co-produced by Tod Browning and starring Lon Chaney, with Marceline Day, Conrad Nagel, Henry B. Walthall and Polly Moran. The film was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and was based on the scenario “The Hypnotist”, also written by Browning.

I truly hope that a copy of the film is found for fans, like me, to see.

“The Walking Dead: Dead City” – Season 1 (2023) starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan & Lauren Cohan / Z-View

The Walking Dead: Dead City – Season 1 (2023)

Written by: Eli Jorné (eps. 1-2, 4, 6); Keith Staskiewicz (ep.3); Brenna Kouf (ep. 5)

Directed by: Loren Yaconelli (eps. 1-2); Kevin Dowling (eps. 3-4); Gandja Monteiro (eps. 5-6)

Stars: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan, Gaius Charles, Mahina Napoleon, Zeljko Ivanek, Logan Kim, Jonathan Higginbotham, Karina Ortiz, Michael Anthony, David Chen and Lisa Emery

Tagline: Keep Your Enemies Close

The Plot…

Maggie’s son, Hershel, has been taken hostage by a sadist known as “The Croat”.  The Croat was an enforcer for Negan, when Negan led The Saviors. So Maggie recruits Negan to go with her to Manhattan to rescue Hershel.  Negan agrees on the condition that Maggie’s group give Ginny, a young orphaned girl, refuge.

Maggie and Negan head to Manhattan unaware that three Marshalls are tracking Negan who is wanted for murder.  Because of their past history, Maggie and Negan’s partnership is uneasy at best.  Add in the complications of the Marshalls, New York City full of zombies, dangerous survivalist groups, plus the sadistic Croat with plans of his own… let the fun begin!

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

The Walking Dead: Dead City – Season 1 clocks in with just six episodes, which is a smart move.  I think all of the Walking Dead spin-offs should come up with a story to tell and get to it,

I wasn’t too sure about the pairing of Negan and Maggie.  Maggie’s hate for Negan should override every reason for her to be around, much less work with him for a common goal.  Then the writer’s came up with a plausible reason… to save her son.  I liked how Negan put his murdering her husband back on Maggie when he asked her “How many husbands have you killed?”  Maggie also got to see how Negan using over-the-top “theatrics” when murdering a person kept a group from attacking them.  Well played, writers.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Laura Cohen are two of the most popular Walking Dead characters.  They have the star power to carry the series.  Zeljko Ivanek plays The Croat with zeal.  Gaius Charles as the Marshall is an interesting character that I believe will be come more important in season two.  Lisa (Ozark) Emery is a welcome addition to the cast. She was mean in Ozark and now she’s mean and creepy.

Bring on Season 2.

The Walking Dead: Dead City – Season 1 (2023) earns 4 of 5 stars.

“Bloodthrist” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

Bloodthrist has the look and feel of a drive-in movie.  And who doesn’t like a good drive-in movie once in a while?

Lionsgate’s BLOOTHIRST, starring Costas Mandylor, Tara Reid and Robert LaSardo, will be available on digital and on demand on October 31. After the apocalypse, only two tribes remain: desperate humans and the roving vampires that feed on them. Across the desolate West, John Shepard (Costas Mandylor, Saw IV) seeks the aging head vampire, hoping to destroy him and free mankind. But when Shepard and his posse of native sons and farmer’s daughters joins forces with a local militia, they learn that they’re closer to the Master than they think…

George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” Alt Print by Paul Mann!

Paul Mann, Bottleneck Gallery and Image Ten have teamed to create a new alt poster for George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.  There are three variants of this limited edition print.  All are 24×36 and hand-numbered.  You can see a bigger version of this one as well as the green and blue variants by clicking here. (You can even get one if supplies last.)

Mike Flannigan’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” – The Trailer is Here!

She’s coming for them all.
In this wicked series from Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth.

“Mr. Sardonicus” (1961) / Z-View

Mr. Sardonicus (1961)

Director: William Castle

Screenplay: Ray Russell

Stars: Oscar Homolka, Ronald Lewis, Audrey Dalton, Guy Rolfe and William Castle.

Tagline:  YOU decide the fate of Mr. Sardonicus during the “Punishment Poll”! Vote “mercy” or “no mercy” right in your theatre seat!

The Plot…

The year is 1880.  Sir Robert Cargrave (Lewis), a world famous physician gets a letter from Maude (Dalton), his former lover.  She requests that he come meet with her husband in a matter of great importance.  Because Cargrave still has feelings for Maude he goes.

Her husband is the rich and feared  Baron Sardonicus (Rolfe).  Upon arrival at Castle Sardonicus, Cargrave is greeted by Krull (Homolka), Sardonicus’ disfigured servant.  When he meets Maude, she says that if Cargrave cannot cure her husband, Baron Sardonicus will take it out on her!  Baron Sardonicus enters the room so she cannot say more.  Cargrave is shocked to see that Sardonicus wears a mask.

We learn that Baron Sardonicus’ face is hideously disfigured.  Sardonicus expects Dr. Cargrave to cure him.  If he doesn’t then Maude will be “punished”.  As Dr. Cargrave decides his next move, he learns that as deformed as Sardoniscus’ face is, his sadistic behaviors are even worse.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)

William Castle, the King of Movie Gimmicks, came up with a winner.  Before the start of the film, William Castle tells the audience that the cards they were given on entry will decide the ending of the film.  Before the last scene, Castle will return to tell the audience to hold up cards with glow-in-the-dark thumbs.  Sardoniscus will either be given “mercy” or not depending on how the majority of the audience votes. Thumbs up equals mercy.  Thumbs down, no mercy.   Truth be told, there was only one ending – no mercy.

Most William Castle films focus on horror and jump scares.  Mr. Sardonicus places emphasis on suspense.

Mr. Sardonicus (1961) rates 3 of 5 stars.

“Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” starring Kurt Russell & Wyatt Russell – The Trailer is Here!

The trailer looks cool.  Add in Kurt and Wyatt Russell and I’m sold.  Deal me in!

When monsters emerge, secrets follow. Monarch: Legacy of Monsters premieres November 17 on Apple TV+ https://apple.co/_Monarch

Following the thunderous battle between Godzilla and the Titans that leveled San Francisco, and the shocking revelation that monsters are real, “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” tracks two siblings following in their father’s footsteps to uncover their family’s connection to the secretive organization known as Monarch. Clues lead them into the world of monsters and ultimately down the rabbit hole to Army Officer Lee Shaw (played by Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell), taking place in the 1950s and half a century later where Monarch is threatened by what Shaw knows. The dramatic saga — spanning three generations — reveals buried secrets and the ways that epic, earth-shattering events can reverberate through our lives.

“Vindicta” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

The poster doesn’t do much for me, but the trailer has my attention!

DIRECTED BY: Sean McNamara
STORY BY: Steven Paul
SCREENPLAY BY: Ian Neligh
STARRING: Elena Kampouris, Sean Astin and Jeremy Piven
EXECUTIVE PRODUCED BY: Scott Karol and Charles Cooper
PRODUCED BY: Steven Paul

About Vindicta: When a city is terrorized by a sadistic serial killer, a seasoned detective and a newly recruited paramedic are forced into a deadly game of vengeance, only to discover the key to stopping the bloodshed lies in unlocking the truth of their own haunted pasts. Elena Kampouris (Children of the Corn), Sean Astin (The Lord of the Rings franchise), and Jeremy Piven (Entourage) star in this edge-of-your-seat thriller from the director of On a Wing and a Prayer.