31 Days of Horror Youtube Movie 01

And here is Horror Rises from the Tomb. It is the dubbed version. Looks like  a VHS rip.

31 Days of Horror 2014 Comic spotlight Crossed

I just recently got told about Crossed. Created by Garth Ennis almost 6 years ago,it is set in a world where something,possibly a virus,got out. Whoever is infected goes mad. And develops a cross shaped rash on their face.

Ennis' 10 issue run follows a small group of survivors. Fairly early on in this run they decide to head to Alaska. Hoping that the harsh climate and conditions will cut down on the number of crossed in the area.

Now it takes a lot to shock me. But this comic did it at least 5 times in 10 issues. People talk about all the shocking moments in The Walking Dead comic. I have read up to issue 100 of WD and nothing in those 100 issues comes close to a scene in issue 3 or 4.

The art by Jacen Burrows reminds me of Steve Dillon. I have now read a few other titles from Avatar and it seems they have a kind of house style. Burrows is a good example of it. The artwork is clean and fairly detailed. And he draws great gore and scenes of mayhem.

The only real drawback I see to this 10 issue run is if you are buying the actual comics and not the trade or hardcover. The comic is $3.99 an issue cover price. And it does read really quick. There is normally 1 or 2 double page splashes each issue.

Crossed by Garth Ennis and Jacen BUrrows gets a A.

31 days of horror 2014 Day 02 Horror Rises from the Tomb

El Espanto Surge Del La Tumba AKA Horror Rises from the Tomb
1972
Brentwood DVD

I discovered Paul Naschy in the early 2000s. One of my Aunts got me one of those Brentwood 10 horror movie packs. Which had "The Werewolf vs the Vampire Women." I watched and enjoyed this. So months later I found a 4 pack of horror films from Brentwood.Which had this,and a weird cut of Lucio Fulci's "House by the Cemetery".

But like I seem to do with lots of those cheap multipacks,I bought the set and it sat on my shelf unwatched for years. Then today I had a friend over visiting. And she wanted to watch a "scary movie". So I pointed her to my shelf of unwatched multipacks. And this is the film she picked.

We open up with Naschy,playing a warlock,and his woman being beheaded back in the middle ages.Fast forward to the early 70s and a group of people are at the castle where Naschy died.

This turned out to be a fairly fun piece of Euro Horror.Sure the plot is kind of nonsense.no idea how much of that is because of the sub-par dubbing. But the gore effects are good. And there is plenty of nice looking women in the film.

I actually enjoyed this enough that I will track down a better copy. For years this film was believed to be in the public domain. Then I think it was BCI that put out a nice special edition.

Horror rises from the tombs gets a C.

31 Days of Horror Day 01 Hell's Highway

Hell's Highway
2002
Echo Bridge 20 pack DVD

With these packs all you got to go on is the film's title and maybe the cast. I picked this one based on the title and wow was it horrible.

A car full of collage kids are on a road trip. Heading down the back roads of the Southwest. They run into a girl that is hitchhiking. Turns out she is crazy. They kick her out of the car.

But run into her over and over again. Even after they see her die she keeps showing up.Then we get a twist at the ending that if they expanded on it would be interesting. But they don't. Well fuck it it was only a quarter.

Hell's Highway gets a D.

31 Days if Horror 2014 prologue part 2

31 Days of Horror Prologue 2014

NWA BIW 071114 Purple Haze vs Jerimiah

Cheap dvd finds July 2014

Now the last few months I haven't been buying many DVDs. Mostly because I haven't found anything I wanted for a price I was willing to pay.

Well it was a few days back,I happened to need to kill some time while stuck inside my local Family Dollar. After looking through there dvds,nothing worth grabbing,I saw on the back side was those "Treasure Hunt"dvds. What these are is ex-rental dvds in a cardboard sleeve. I saw they were really cheap and started digging through the box. Found 3 films.

VHS-Saw the first 30 minutes of this right after it hit VOD. Figured for how cheap it was I would grab it.

Unlucky Charms-This 2013 release from Full Moon is one I have been wanting to see. So happy to see the Full Moon Videozone is back.

Ooga Booga-Another Full Moon release from 2013. This one I saw about 45 minutes of it last year.

Now if that was all I found it would have been a good trip. But later on that day I found out that Dirt Cheap had 2 huge bins of ex-rental DVDs and they were even cheaper. So the next day I stopped by there and grabbed 12 things.

Now I bought this set as soon as it came out. Mostly for the original broadcast cut of the pilot. But some how that DVD got scratched up. So while looking through the bin I was so happy to find the first dvd which is the one with the pilot.

Z Channel- I saw this great documentary last year or the year before.It is about the first premium uncut movie channel. Which was a LA based thing. When I opened the cardboard sleeve up this dvd looked like it had never been played.

Teenagers from Uranus-I had no clue what this was when I grabbed it. From the title I figured it was some band or a skateboarding video. When it is actually a mid 2000s era Jackass ripoff. Pretty damn entertaining.

The Omen Special Edition-Shockingly I didn't already own this 70s horror classic. Checking it out and there is plenty of good extras.

Masters of Horror:Sounds Like-Sure Masters of Horror was hit or miss. But they did load each dvd release down with extras.

Fangoria Presents Germ Z-Back in the 90s Fangoria released a handful of movies. They all pretty much sucked. But I took a chance on this one. Seems to be a mid 2000s zombie film.

Fangoria Presents Axed-From the trailer it seems this is a UK horror. A guy gets cut from his job and gets his revenge.

Powder Blue-Been wanting to see this film for a few years. It is no secret I have a massive crush on Jessica Biel. And this is the film where she plays a stripper. Plus you got Patrick Swayze in drag. Watched the first half earlier today and it looks to be pretty fun.

Memento-Actually haven't seen this since it first hit DVD over a decade ago. It's another that I couldn't pass up for how cheap it was.

Buttcrack-I grabbed this one for two reasons.First off it is from Troma who are known for packing their dvds full of great extras. Secondly it is a movie named BUTTCRACK.

Star Blazers The Comet Empire-I saw Star Blazers some as a kid. Then again when last year Syfy channel was showing reruns. When I got the entire second season for less than $3 I figured it was worth taking a chance.

The Worst Witch-Saw this once as a kid. Then a horror podcast I use to enjoy kept talking about it. For some reason I seem to think this dvd is kind of rare. I need to see if that is true,because I found 5 copies. Sure it is just the disc. But even then if it is rare I know I can get more than I would have to pay for it. Fairza Balk is the titular heroine. Charlotte Rae plays a duel role. And Tim Curry sings a cheesy song.

So I ended up getting 15 movies for a total that was under 20 bucks. Yeah I only got the discs,but hell I got empty cases.

Pre-code comics 001

Quick bit of history here. In 1954 the comic industry created a ratings/self censorship board. The comic code authority. This was done cause of all the bad press the industry had got over the past few years. Which lead to a Senate investigation.

Like how the Hayes Code changed the way movies were made,the CCA changed the entire comic industry.I had heard for years how graphic and wild the pre-code comics were. And in the early 90s started collecting reprints of pre-code comics. With the pre-code horror and crime comics being the ones I spent the most time searching out.

Fast forward to 2007. I was listening to an episode of the sadly defunct Golden Age of Comics podcast. The host,the ever knowledgeable Bill Jourdain,mentioned how the comic he was reviewing was in the public domain. And not only that but there is a website full of public domain comic book scans. So I quickly went to the site. Now that site has changed hands. And a sister site has popped up.

This site is The Digital Comic Museum. Where all you have to do is register. Which is easy to do and free,then you get access to a huge amount of public domain comics.

Once you download the comics,you will need a comic reader program. There are many free ones. I have been using Cdisplay for close to a decade now and it works great.

So with that bit of history explained onto the first of what hopefully will be many reviews of great public domain pre-code comics.

Yellowjacket Comics #1 is from September 1944. Published by Charlton comics,who most modern comic fans will know as the original home of Captain Atom and The Question. This comic was like most comics of it's era. An anthology title made up of stories of many genres.

The  reason I selected this comic is for a 7 page horror story. Famous Tales of Terror,which is a fairly faithful adaptation of the Edgar Allen Poe short story "The Black Cat".

While the story isn't as graphic or brutal as some other pre-code horror,it  is still a really fun read. That has some very nice art. Being a Poe fan since I first read "Murders in the Rue Morgue" back when I was 7 or so,I love seeing a comic book version of what is one of Poe's best stories.

Yellowjacket Comics #1 also has other stories in it. Like the titular superhero Yellowjacket.Where Yellowjacket fights gangsters. Back in the Golden Age lots of heroes mostly fought gangsters. There wasn't that many recurring super villains back in this era. Unless you are reading stuff from DC or maybe Fawcett.

Then there is Diana the Huntress. Where the Greek Goddess is sent to Earth to fight Nazis. Now one word of warning. With lots of these Golden Age comics that came out during WWII,there is plenty of racial stereotyping. So don't be shocked when you see "Evil" Japanese villains that have yellow skin and slanted eyes and buck teeth.

Up next is a short text only piece. Back during this time-frame every comic would have a 1 or 2 page text only story. These were done so comic books would fall under the old "book rate" mailing label. That way the publisher could save money on shipping out his wares.

The next story is the Black Cat adaptation. Then there is a one page titled "Debunker" Which tries to teach the readers that a few pieces of commonly accepted knowledge are not true. Sadly on this page we get a very racist drawing of a black man.

Then there is "King of the Beasts" Which is a 6 page story about a lion tamer. The art is kind of crap. And the story is bland. But part of that might be I am so accustomed to modern comic book art and storytelling techniques.

"Harbor Lights" is next on deck.Again this one has sub par artwork and the story,which tells of a merchant marine fighting off a u-boat full of Nazis,isn't that appealing.But I bet when this came out the kids that made up most of the audience ate it up.

"Bee Lines" is a one page humor comic. Made up of 8 one panel gag strips. Humor is a thing that doesn't always translate to later generations. And none of the 8 strips made me even chuckle.

"Filipino Kid" is a war story. And while it does have some nice looking art,once again the writing just doesn't grab me. And it is also the final story in the comic.

But there is one last thing I have to mention. Anytime I get any comic made before the mid 90s,the first thing I do is sit down and look at all the ads. And Yellowjacket Comics #1 has a great ad on the back cover. One that I remember seeing a slightly updated version of in the comics I was reading back in the late 70s.

Yep a blackhead remover gun. Never seen one of them in person.But seen ads for them for years in older comics.

Yellowjacket Comics #1 is a decent comics. You get 3 good to great stories,Yellowjacket,Diana and Black Cat. If you are interested in reading it here is a link to download it.

Yellowjacket Comic #1 download Right click and save as