New Horror 2023 – Day 24

“Vomit forth the poison in my brain.”

“The Doll” by Daphne du Maurier (1937)

The ways in which a mind responds to you, and the work it takes to tamp it down.

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“But will my loving husband be glad to see me!!?”

“Shadows on the Tomb” by Joe Certa (1952)

Waiting for someone to die is just no way to be.

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“If you wanna plant something, like, there’s a dead guy following us.”

Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island dir. Jim Stenstrum (1998)

This animation is so much better than my memories of the reruns of the 70s show. It’s also legit spooky, if not exactly frightening to my adult brain. But still fun to see them break format.

New Horror 2023 – Day 23

“A scripture that would begin in apocalypse and lead its disciple to the wreck of all creation.”

“Vastarien” by Thomas Ligotti (1987)

Ohh, is the forbidden book/knowledge really a Lovecraft thing? Because I’d call it a biblical thing. In any case, here’s another one, and this one definitely has that unsettling sense of some creepy or forbidden world just beneath the veneer of our own reality. It has the same vibe as Mad God [compliment].

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“Can’t he see it’s already dead?”

“The Horror Beneath” by Leah Moore, John Reppion, Timothy Green II, Michelle Madsen, Nate Piekos (2006)

Oh man, another comic that sets up an intriguing story but is way too short. This is a kind of terror I don’t see as much, just that warning we all know and don’t heed about digging too greedily and too deep.

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“So don’t you know, she had to die… she had to die.”

Slumber Party Massacre II dir. Deborah Brock (1987)

What is… happening. I knew this movie well from the many gifs I’ve seen of key scenes featuring that guy with the drill guitar, but that stuff doesn’t even happen until 85% of the way into the movie. In other words, it’s mostly Slumber Party before it gets to Massacre, and it’s also a musical, and it’s all nonsensical but it still works.

New Horror 2023 – Day 22

“What most of them really needed was a good long drink of arsenic, as far as I was concerned.”

“Black Bargain” by Robert Bloch (1942)

This is supposed to be tied to Lovecraft mythology stuff, and I suppose there’s an element of the unknowable horrors here, but it just comes across as a good spooky demon story.

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“She was interested in his skin.”

“A Dog and His Boy” by Evan Dorkin, Sarah Dyer, Jill Thompson, Jason Arthur (2006)

I love this! It’s got a human in it but it’s mostly from the point of view of some dogs in a suburb, and that’s a perspective I long for. Just keep those humans on the sidelines and tell me what the animals are thinking, because sometimes…

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“Do you happen to have a pair of birds that are just friendly?”

The Birds dir. Alfred Hitchcock (1963)

Sometimes the birds are absolutely terrifying. I mean, they’re dinosaurs. Those clawed feet and sharp beaks are no joke. This one’s a tougher watch when you know Hitchcock was an obsessive weirdo toward the blonde actresses he loved to cast.

Ten more days of spooky fiction! Where does the time go?

New Horror 2023 – Day 21

“I’ll give you just the essentials, and you can make of it what you please.”

“The Woman’s Ghost Story” by Algernon Blackwood (1907)

The spirit as an inextinguishable longing.

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“God as daddy the deranged.”

“I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison, John Byrne, Eric Shanower, James Sinclair, Chris Chalenor (1994-1995)

The title would have hit so much harder if there’d been a different choice at the end there.

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“The only thing I have not provided is your anesthetic.”

Saw X dir. Kevin Greutert (2023)

I was so tuned out of these movies that I did not realize they were releasing at a pace of one per year for six years, with sporadic releases thereafter. This one brought the squelch that I’m not especially keen to see, but it also kind of softpedaled in the end. Damned if I do, damned if they don’t.

New Horror 2023 – Day 20

“My clothes have but to fall and you will see before you a succession of mysteries.”

“The Lady of the House of Love” by Angela Carter (1979)

This can only be described as deliciously decadent decay. Carter does a magnificent job of just painting the most awful, crusty, gothic place you can imagine.

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“Can’t tell if the embers are dying or my eyes are.”

“Smoke and Cedar” by Abby Howard & Alina Pete (2016)

I was loving this but it ends so suddenly. Sometimes you want to leave them wanting more, but not starving for narrative.

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“You’re the bitch that brought our misfortune!”

Exposed to Danger dir. Yang Chia-yun (Karen Yang) (1982)

This one’s kind of a slow build-up, and not much mystery, but the tension does eventually hit along with a neat twist. The final confrontation is a great sequence.

New Horror 2023 – Day 19

“Always someone loving some thing more than that thing
loves them.”

“The Fog Horn” by Ray Bradbury (1951)

Okay, now I get it when someone says their only love is the sea.

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“It reaches in, plucking the shadow of the axe hanging in the window…”

“Shadow of Death” by William M. Gaines, Al Feldstein, Graham Ingels (1953)

That’s the stuff. Some asshole comes along and gets murdered for his transgression. It’s maybe worrisome how much I enjoy that aspect of the EC Comics stories… but that’s fiction for ya.

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“When in doubt, skewer it out.”

Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls dir. Andrew Bowser (2023)

I really enjoyed this! It takes the skit character comedy of something like Ernest Scared Stupid, throws in some real good VFX and puppets, and adds the gravitas of greats like Barbara Crampton and Jeffrey Combs to give the cast some oomf, but everyone they got was perfect in their roles.

New Horror 2023 – Day 18

“The blood left a silvery trail in the moonlight.”

“The Village Spectre” by Gianna G. Maniego (2002)

We needed a shot of folk horror this month. I’m not sure how common it is these days but those ghost stories about a local person done wrong just don’t seem to come up as much, at least not in places I frequent. That’s what experiencing most stories from the library and movies will get ya.

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“They used to eat guys’ private parts.”

“Man’s World” by Keith Giffen, Mary Sangiovanni, Bilquis Evely, Mat Lopes, Taylor Esposito (2017)

I was really intrigued by this book, an anthology of horror stories based on DC superhero characters. This one doesn’t explain much, in particular why this character does what she does when she’s possessed, but it’s still a great twist on the fact that superpowered people with benevolent intentions can still do some fucked up stuff. (Oh, I just remembered The Boys and Brightburn.)

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“Doubt her and there’ll be no pain when she’s gone.”

Embrace of the Vampire dir. Anne Goursaud (1995)

I forgot that Alyssa Milano had this stint of erotic-ish movies and TV episodes (she had a similar role but with aliens instead of vampires in an episode of The Outer Limits). It’s a fairly bare bones story meant to prop up some steamy scenes between Milano and various other cast members, and I can’t say I’d recommend it unless you’re just a fan of 90s-era extra softcore sex scenes.

New Horror 2023 – Day 17

“I was sick — sick unto death with that long agony.”

“The Pit and the Pendulum” by Edgar Allan Poe (1850)

Poe is great at just stepping you through someone’s thoughts as they experience some horrifying stuff. And this one’s plot is scant because it really is just meant to force you to sit there with this man’s pain.

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“What I want is death, not eternity.”

“Frankenstein y el Hombre Lobo” ed. Tibor Reves (1946)

I haven’t watched any Frankenstein and Wolf Man crossover movies, but this one appears to be a direct adaptation of the first movie that combines the characters. But it’s also rote and so invested in being faithful that it can’t be as good.

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“You mean that this little pebble has been out there hot roddin’ around the universe?”

The Blob dir. Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. (1958)

It’s a neat monster, though certainly looks like the contents of a can of cranberry sauce. And of course the theme here is how adults don’t believe teens when they try and tell them that there’s some fucked up shit going on. I can see where a lot of alien horror dealing in amorphous threats and digestion/melting would have come from this. Now I look forward to catching that eighties version that gets a lot more gnarly with the visual effects.

New Horror 2023 – Day 16

“There was something in me that was—was simply gibbering with delight.”

“Shambleau” by C.L. Moore (1933)

Thrills indeed. This guy was down to get familiar, but it turns out that’s not such a great idea. Lots of great detail in describing their liaison, too.

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“Really, no one can get enough.”

“Dental Plan” by Joy San (2019)

Whoa, that’s a creepy story. I like when you’re not quite sure what the thing is, but it sure is a thing.

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“Like all of you, she dreamed that one day a lover would come and claim her.”

A Night to Dismember (The Lost Version) dir. Doris Wishman (1979)

I didn’t realize it until I sat down to try and watch this, but there’s a released version of this movie from the eighties which ended up on VHS and is one of those so bad ya gotta see it sorta movies, evidently caused by numerous production woes and years of editing. The original 1979 version was lost to time until it was rediscovered on a VHS tape and uploaded to YouTube in 2018 as you see it here. I watched the first few minutes of the original release and it’s such a different movie that they need to be categorized separately. This lost version is… fine. Low budget and jumpy editing, but it feels like a much more coherent slasher movie than what I was seeing in the original release.

New Horror 2023 – Day 15

“The family curse that condemned them to be eternal renters.”

“Señor Ligotti” by Bernardo Esquinca (2020)

Real estate horror is some prime and extremely relevant storytelling (also see Dream Home). This one hits in a certain way that ya gotta have the experience to understand.

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“Ahhh! Why did you tell me that?”

“The Fisherman” by Franco, Tressina Bowling, Wes Abbott, Sara Richard (2022)

Oh man, this is fun but too short! I need a part 2.

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“You can buy these, but it’s on your head.”

Piggy dir. Carlota Pereda (2022)

I loved this. It’s unsettling and choices are made that leave you questioning just where the story’s going to go, and it’s always nice to find something that twists and turns that way. Beyond that, it just lands for anyone who was glad to get the fuck away from childhood horrors.