// Category Archive for: Halloween

A Lot Of Very Careful Hatred: Rituals

Published on September 29th, 2010 in: Canadian Content, Conventions/Expos, Halloween, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies |

By Less Lee Moore

Rituals is a “lost classic,” one of those films that every horror fan (or film fan) should see, but probably hasn’t. It’s a Canadian production from 1977, starring Hal Holbrook, Larry Dane, Robin Gammell, Ken James, and Gary Reineke. Although it definitely contains elements of the slasher film genre, one of the things that sets Rituals apart from the pack (besides the fact that it came out before Halloween) is the middle-aged, all-male ensemble cast.

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Near Dark: The Night Is So Bright It’ll Blind You

Published on September 29th, 2010 in: Halloween, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies |

By Jemiah Jefferson

Near Dark was released in 1987, the same year that The Lost Boys came out and stole all its thunder. Unfortunately for Kathryn Bigelow’s vampire film, it was the last one produced under the DeLaurentiis Entertainment Group, which went bankrupt almost immediately after Near Dark had finished production, and thus was robbed of a proper publicity process.

I certainly had never heard of it by the time it came on cable (Cinemax, probably) when I was 16, whereas I’d seen The Lost Boys in the theater. I avidly watched The Lost Boys, another cable staple, crushing very hard on the beauty of Kiefer Sutherland and Jason Patric, and seriously digging the slash-worthy homoerotic tension between their characters, and yet even then I got the sense that Near Dark was the superior film, much darker, more complex, bloodier, and Corey-free.
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Coisa Ruim: Portugal Does Horror

Published on September 29th, 2010 in: Halloween, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies |

By Julie Finley

Coisa Ruim (a.k.a. Bad Blood) is a Portuguese supernatural drama. It’s not Brazilian-Portuguese, but an actual Portuguese film. I make note of that because there are very few Portuguese films to actually make it to DVD, especially in the horror genre. That’s the only reason I stumbled upon it; it was one of the only Portuguese films I could find!
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You Pull One Thread, And Everyone Unravels: Session 9

Published on September 29th, 2010 in: DVD, Halloween, Horror, Movie Reviews, Movies |

By Maureen

Don’t call it a haunted house movie.

Session 9 is a movie from 2001 about a four-man Hazmat team assigned to remove asbestos from the now-defunct (but very real) Danvers State Asylum in Danvers, MA.

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The Sick Brick: Eric Weber’s Lego Art

Published on September 29th, 2009 in: Art, Current Faves, Halloween, Horror, Issues, Movies, Q&A, Toys and Collectibles, Underground/Cult |

Interviewed by Less Lee Moore

Eric Weber is an incredibly interesting and inspirational person. He’s a cult movie junkie, horror film fanatic, Divine devotée, and luckily for us, he writes about these things for Popshifter.

He’s also a visual artist who includes sketching, painting, and photography in his repertoire.

When he’s not following one of his many artistic and creative pursuits, he reenacts scenes from some of his favorite films in Lego form and photographs them.

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Top Five Vampire Songs

Published on September 29th, 2009 in: Halloween, Horror, Issues, Listicles, Music, Staff Picks, Top Five Lists |

By Lisa Anderson

As Halloween approaches, we start hearing certain seasonal songs like “Monster Mash” and “Spooky”; we may also dust off our copies of albums by supernaturally-themed acts like Rob Zombie. However, I would like to share my list of the top five vampire songs that aren’t really about vampires.

Some of these are from my vamp-loving early adolescence, but they all taught me that a song can be about more than one thing. They may be heard at any time of year, but scratch the surface, and they still remind me of everyone’s favorite children of the night. (The last one? Is just for fun.)
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Driving Me Backwards (Apologies To Brian Eno)

Published on September 29th, 2009 in: Halloween, Horror, Issues, Music |

By Jimmy Ether

As a kid, backward masking gave me chills. But, I was also intrigued by the idea of spinning records backwards to see what crazy messages I might hear. The creepiest one to me at the time was Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven.” As the urban legend goes, Jimmy Page purchased Aleister Crowley’s mansion and was, effectively, living with Satan. He then encoded backwards messages of this experience into “Stairway to Heaven”. If you play the fifth verse of the song backwards, you hear an account of life with this terrifying Prince of Darkness.
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Tatt-screwed! Top Five Wanna-Be Scary Tattoos

Published on September 29th, 2009 in: Halloween, Horror, Issues, Over the Gadfly's Nest, Top Five Lists |

By Ann Clarke

A few weeks back, I was out at dinner, and some guy walked by sporting a rather alarming tattoo on his arm. . . in blood-dripping scrawl, it read “Junkie.” My partner and I laughed to ourselves. We got in the car, and it got me thinking of other bad tattoos I’ve seen on various people who have passed my way.
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Moon: Look At Yourself

Published on September 29th, 2009 in: Current Faves, Halloween, Horror, Issues, Movie Reviews, Movies, Reviews, Science Fiction |

By Jemiah Jefferson

Moon is a great example of how to make an engaging, gripping science fiction film with not too much money, but a solid appreciation of cinematic and narrative possibility. It is a remarkable achievement from well-regarded journeyman actor Sam Rockwell and director Duncan Jones, who knocks it way out of the park on his first feature film.
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Five Things That Truly Terrify Me About Halloween

Published on September 29th, 2009 in: Halloween, Horror, Issues, Top Five Lists |

By Jesse Roth

5. There are strange phenomena known as “hell houses.”

Earlier this decade, I happened upon several articles and a rather interesting (and frightening) documentary dealing with a relatively recent Halloweentime event. Inspired by both the creative possibilities and horror potential of the haunted house, as well as their own ultraconservative evangelical beliefs, several churches across the southern United States were inviting the public to tour their “hell houses.” For a nominal fee (or sometimes for free), tour goers could navigate an otherwise typical but intricately decorated haunted house that substitutes ghouls and chainsaw assassins for graphic depictions of both biblical and modern “sin” (adultery, abortion, etc.). At the end of this joyride, members of the sponsoring church would invite members to absolve their various sins by committing their lives to Jeebus, and maybe some gratis candy and cider.

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