Halloween Foreplay

Halloween is almost upon us and I can’t be happier. This is a time for imagination and crazy shit. When I die I hope I am reborn in Halloweentown. This week I will be posting two Halloween stories so think of it as a double feature. Until then, I thought I would share some of my favorites that might be under your radar.

Phantasm (1979) by Don Coscarelli – True story. Once upon a time, little Shon Richards had parents who rather have their kid where they can see him rather than having him play in his room while they watched terrifying movies. Little Shon Richards saw Phantasm and for the next ten years he had a panic attack any time it was dark and he walked in front of a mirror. This movie gave me nightmares like nothing else.

I watched it a few years ago for the first time since childhood and I immensely enjoyed it. It is a creepy movie about a kid who discovers that the local mortician is stealing corpses and creating an army of monstrous slaves. It sounds simplistic but the creepy tones and rather bizarre threats keep you thinking. Heck, flying steel spheres of death is not something you can easily dismiss. It is a great mood movie for Halloween.

The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon – This nasty horror novel has been called a coming of age story and since it is set in the 60’s, the might expect something like the Wonder Years but instead it is set in a world with sexually abusing parents, evil strangers in cars and the occasional vampire circus. Three teenagers are excited to discover that an illicit sideshow is coming to town and they are hoping to see some nudity and thrills. They get a big heaping of stalkers, kidnapped family and gruesome murder all done in the Laymon style.

I guess I should warn you that this is not a traditional vampire book. You won’t see pale wispy men with feelings. Heck, you don’t even see a vampire till the last 50 or so pages. It is a book about teenagers trying to stay alive in a world that gets creepier by the page. Because Laymon wrote it, there is buckets of violence and platters of sex. You are going to love it or hate it, but I certainly love it.

Peculia by Richard Sala Richard Sala is an amazing artist who creates comics that look like the coolest black and white horror movies never made. Anything he does is gold but Peculia has a special place in my heart. It concerns the adventures of a woman who tends to go for morning walks and gets captured by witches, cat-women and the zombie. There is a fairy tale quality to her stories that are a big influence to my Island Princess stories.

Trixie’s Treats – Sometimes you just want to visit a blog that feels like Halloween all year round. Between this blog and Trixie’s Tumblr, I am never at a loss for inspiration. In my deepest funks, I can always turn to Trixie’s sites for something that either gets my libido going or the hairs on the back of my neck to rise.