At the end of last month, I saw an advertisement for the American Cancer Society‘s Read Every Day in October Challenge. And boy did I get excited. I enjoy the opportunity to read more, and this sort of challenge is something I can easily hold myself accountable for. Typically I read nothing but Halloween/Horror in October, but I had a few books on my faith that I wanted to read as well, which made for an interesting month. (I know there’s still one more day of the month, but I have plans to read the last two chapters of a book and then I will be complete.)
My horror choices this year were all about re-reads. I have a lot of new horror that I haven’t read yet, but to be honest, with this being my first Halloween after the death of my mother, I wanted to choose comforting things, books I had previously loved, to see if I loved them as much the second (or sometimes third) time around.
Children of the Dark by Jonathan Janz – 392 pages My first read of this book was actually an audio listen, which I very much enjoyed, but honestly I liked reading the book much more. Mainly because I’ve heard Jonathan do reads of his stories in person and they were so good that anyone else reading his books, no matter how well they do, just don’t do them justice.
Exorcist Falls by Jonathan Janz – 279 pages This book definitely worth a second read. I feel like there were things I missed the first read-through, and enjoyed this second one quite a lot.
The Nightmare Girl by Jonathan Janz – 245 pages Once I started, I just couldn’t stop with Jonathan, one of my favorite authors of all time. His books definitely withstand the test of time, and this is one I highly recommend to everyone who hasn’t read it yet.
Harmlessly Insane: The Complete Collection by Evans Light and Adam Light – 589 pages These brothers are great authors, and this collection is one of my favorites. It has a nice combination of the two, and their short stories are some of the best I have ever read. I needed some nostalgia and this definitely gave it to me.
The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red by Joyce Reardon – 277 pages This is my third read of this book and honestly it gets better every time I read it. It goes hand-in-hand with Stephen King’s mini series from back in 2002 called Rose Red. While the mini series is about a college professor’s psychic investigation of an old house with a couple of her students, the book is the diary of the wife, Ellen Rimbauer, whose husband originally built the old house. I would highly recommend enjoying both. One answers questions that the other doesn’t, and vice versa.
And now to the books on my faith:
True Devotion to Mary by Saint Louis de Montfort – 176 pages I have always felt a drawing to Mary, and a true relationship with her, and having consecrated myself to Jesus through Mary earlier this year, I was excited when I sat down to read this book. In fact, I wish I had read it before I consecrated myself. (Father Michael Gaitley‘s book was great, full of information, but this added a lot.)
The Road to Self Awareness by Ian Murphy – 237 pages I found out about this book because I happened onto a blog post where someone was talking about it and how much they gained from it, and was so moved by the post that I bought it immediately without even reading the description. A lot of what he shares are things he learned during his weight-loss journey, realizing that he needed to take care of his whole self, rather than just parts of his self. The great thing about the book is that the advice given can be used for anything you’re trying to work towards, not just weight.
The Scriptural Rosary, edited by Reverend Victor Hoagland – 64 pages This was a quick read and one that I have read many times since I first bought it. For anyone who says the rosary, it adds so much more to it. Literally. There is a scripture for each bead. It really made me think more about the rosary I was saying and helped me to focus more on what I was doing.
The Holy Rosary, The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception – 64 pages This is another great rosary book, and a quick read. For each step of each mystery, there’s a meditation to think about while you are saying the Hail Marys that follow. It also includes how to say the rosary and the prayers that are said through it for those who are learning (or, like me, forget one line in the big prayers every time).
So… that’s a total of… 2,323 pages. Wow! Unfortunately I only received a $30 donation (from myself), but that’s $30 and I’m very proud of it.
Meghan: Hey, Michaelbrent. Welcome to this year’s Halloween Extravaganza… extended edition. It’s always a pleasure to have you here. What is your favorite part of Halloween?
Michaelbrent: I’m a dad, so my favorite part is definitely stealing candy from my kids after we trick-r-treat, then scratching my head and positing on the possibility of candy-stealing gremlins when my kids notice all their Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups have disappeared.
Meghan: Do you get scared easily?
Michaelbrent: Absolutely. I’ll scream (loudly) during horror movies, because I love to let myself go and just enjoy the terror. And my kids love watching me when I play a scary video game. It’s like watching someone tapdancing during a seizure. And I’m okay with that: at least my cowardice is entertaining.
Meghan: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and why?
Michaelbrent: Hmmm…scariest movie would be a toss-up. There are just so many good ones out there! But if you define “scariest” as “biggest effect on ME,” it would probably be either The Shining or Watcher in the Woods, both of which I saw when I was around eight years old, and both of which sent me (literally) screaming down the hall when it was time for bed. I’ve rewatched both since then, and no longer scream about it (at least, not as much), so I feel very brave as a human. Conquering fears for the win!
As an adult, I do scream and shriek with the best of ‘em in the theaters, but I rarely STAY scared long after credits. Though there was a film called Aterrados (in English, Terrified) that just hit me in the right spot: I not only screamed during the movie, and that night I woke up FREAKED because someone was looming over my bed. Turned out it was just a hat on the bedpost, but sleep had pretty much gone bye-bye at that point.
Meghan: Which horror movie murder did you find the most disturbing?
Michaelbrent: Probably the one with the four colorful children with bizarrely stretched bodies and faces. Teletubbies is a nightmare in the waking world.
Meghan: Is there a horror movie you refused to watch because the commercials scared you too much?
Michaelbrent: Nah. Though there are definitely plenty that I’ve said, “Looks like that’s not for me.” I love horror, but there are still images and ideas that I think are not great for me, so I avoid those things. Not a judgment on others who might think differently, just there are definitely “no-go” areas in media that I choose to avoid for personal reasons.
Meghan: If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
Michaelbrent: Probably Prom Night or one of those ilk: something where pretty much everyone who gets killed is a super-good-looking teen. I’d be safe on every level.
Meghan: If you were stuck as the protagonist in any horror movie, which would you choose?
Michaelbrent: Final Girls. I wouldn’t make it through to the end, but at least I’d have fun deconstructing the movie before I died!
Meghan: What is your all-time favorite scary monster or creature of the night?
Michaelbrent: Hmmm… I don’t think I have one. There are SO MANY GOOD ONES!
Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Michaelbrent: Definitely that “stealing candy from my children” thing.
Meghan: What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed song?
Michaelbrent: I love the Halloween main title song. Awesome, and so iconic!
MeghanL Which horror novel unsettled you the most?
Michaelbrent: Probably The Shining by Stephen King. Not so much for the story, but because I remember reading it as a kid in the one room in my house where I wasn’t going to be disturbed by parents or siblings: the bathroom. So there I am, sitting on “my thinking spot,” and I turned the page to the part where the topiary animals come alive…and right then an earthquake hit. The unsettling part was trying to decide if I should play it safe and run for cover (but sacrifice my dignity as my pants were still around my ankles), or just sit tight, as it were, and hope for the best.
Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Michaelbrent: I’m no longer allowed to discuss this due to the terms of the settlement. But it does have to do with six rubber bands, a rabid penguin, and a single phone call made to the Bolivian Embassy in Uruguay.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Michaelbrent: Probably the Jack the Ripper one. Not about who he is (I know that, but am prohibited from revealing it due to the terms of the above-named settlement), but how he got so many of the bloodstains out of his clothes!
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Michaelbrent: The Haunting of Hill House, hands down. Shirley Jackson’s book is one of the greatest pieces of horror literature ever written, and still sends shivers down my spine every time I read it.
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Michaelbrent: I’d like to say “crowbar” or “M16” or “grenades,” but honesty compels me to ask if “whimpering” can be considered a weapon. Because that’s probably what my go-to would be.
Meghan: Okay, Michaelbrent… let’s have some fun —
Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf? Werewolf. I’d have hair again!
Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion? Z-poc, definitely. Stay out of crowds, aim for the head. Seems simpler.
Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard? Probably zombie juice. Which I’m assuming is some kind of smoothie made of old fruit.
Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week? Amityville.
Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese? I have no answer for this one.
Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs? Definitely the cotton candy. Cauldrons are SO last-year.
Boo-graphy: Michaelbrent Collings is an internationally bestselling novelist, produced screenwriter, and speaker. Best known for horror (and voted one of the top 20 All-Time Greatest Horror Writers in a Ranker vote of nearly 20,000 readers), Collings has written bestselling thrillers, mysteries, sci-fi and fantasy titles, and even humor and non-fiction.
In addition to popular success, Michaelbrent has also received critical acclaim: he is the only person who has ever been a finalist for a Bram Stoker Award (twice), a Dragon Award (twice), and a RONE Award, and he and his work have been reviewed and/or featured on everything from Publishers Weekly to Scream Magazine to NPR. An engaging and entertaining speaker, he is also a frequent guest at comic cons and on writing podcasts like Six Figure Authors, The Creative Penn, Writing Excuses, and others; and is a mental health advocate and TEDx speaker.
I Am Legion 1: Strangers — You wake up in the morning to discover that you have been sealed into your home. The doors are locked, the windows are barred. THERE’S NO WAY OUT.
A madman is playing a deadly game with you and your family. A game with no rules, only consequences. So what do you do? Do you run? Do you hide?
Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer. A madman. Born in the blood of a dying mother, raised in the underground lair of an insane father, he travels the world looking for those who keep secrets and sins. He finds those who have fallen short, and teaches them the lessons they need to leave their mistakes behind. Even if he has to kill them to do it. Because sometimes murder is the only way to teach a proper lesson.
So when he sees a man kidnap two people on the side of the road, Legion knows it is time to teach again. Soon he finds himself caught in the crossfire of a coup in a Russian crime syndicate. He is captured, beaten, bleeding, in chains; cut off and alone.
It’s just the way he likes it. Legion has found his students. And for them, life is about to become frightening and so much… stranger.
Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer.
A madman.
Raised in the underground hideout of an insane father, he searches for those who keep secrets and sins. Then he teaches them how to leave those mistakes behind. Even if it means killing them to do it.
Because sometimes murder is the cost of a proper education.
That’s why, when he comes to a neighborhood in the grips of a vicious gang war, he knows the time has come to teach.
Soon Legion – and his imaginary brothers, Water and Fire – are caught in the middle of a vicious fight for control of the Downs, the worst part of a city on the verge of anarchy.
Legion is facing enemies on all sides. Hundreds of men will stop at nothing to capture or kill him.
Legion will teach the lessons. And the students will never forget, no matter how long – or short – their lives may be.
Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer.
A madman.
Raised in the underground hideout of an insane father, he now travels the world searching for those who torment the weak, who harm the innocent. He uncovers the secrets and sins of evildoers, and teaches them how to leave those mistakes behind.
Even if it means killing them to do it.
But this time, the tables have turned. The ghosts of Legion’s past have come for him; the victims of his madness have returned to torment and destroy him. Wounded, weak, near death: for the first time, Legion is not predator, but prey.
Now, aided by a woman and her daughter—who have themselves been surviving in secret terror for a decade—he must survive long enough to battle his past, to destroy the ghosts that have come for his sanity and soul…and to kill all who would harm his new friends.
Tracked by a crime family more twisted than anything he has ever seen, threatened by a madman whose strength is greater than anything he has ever experienced, Legion has never been closer to danger. They want his pain. They want his death. And they will stop at nothing to achieve their aims.
But Legion is a good teacher. So he will run. He will hide.
And then, when the students are ready…he will teach.
Meghan: Hi, Rebecca! Welcome to this year’s Halloween Extravaganza. What is your favorite part of Halloween?
Rebecca: It used to be the dressing up in costume, coming up with the wittiest ensemble for a party. One year, a guy I was dating dressed up like Bob Ross and I was a “happy cloud.” The year I got married, my spouse went as Jesus and I went as a nun. Nowadays, what I like about the holiday is much subtler: I like the smell of the air at that time of year, the leaves, the fact that it gets dark earlier and there’s always a classic scary movie playing on television somewhere.
Meghan: Do you get scared easily?
Rebecca: I don’t, not at traditional things anyway. I worry about things, and I am definitely a bit high-strung, but it’s difficult to really scare me. Every now and then, something in a book or movie will take me by surprise, though.
Meghan: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and why?
Rebecca: There really hasn’t been a movie as a whole that frightened me. There are scenes that have scared the bejesus out of me the first time I saw them, though—don’t get me wrong. Tim Curry’s mouth full of sharp teeth in It. The way the camera motion changes at the very end of The Blair Witch Project. The eyeball peeking out from the crack in the door in Black Christmas. Toni Collette crouched on the bedroom ceiling in Hereditary. Come to think of it, that last one still creeps the heck out of me!
Meghan: Which horror movie murder did you find the most disturbing?
Rebecca: When I first saw Midsommar, I thought the big hammer on the cliff-diving survivor was shocking. A silver lining is, when I saw the film in the theater, a group of chatty women were seated nearby; after that scene, they got up and left.
Meghan: Is there a horror movie you refused to watch because the commercials scared you too much?
Rebecca: As a kid, there was one movie commercial that terrified me: the one for the first A Nightmare on Elm Street. Granted, I was very young, but I remember the montage very well: Freddy Krueger’s arms stretched wide across a narrow alleyway. I was grateful that the rating made it impossible for me to see it in the theaters.
Meghan: If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
Rebecca: I’d have to say Rosemary’s Baby. The late 60s in Manhattan was a swinging time, and the Castevets seem like decent neighbors—as long as I’m not sharing a wall with them (I’m a light sleeper). I’d double up on the birth control, though.
Meghan: If you were stuck as the protagonist in any horror movie, which would you choose?
Rebecca: Nightbreed, hands down. The book and the movie always spoke to me; I felt like a bit of an outsider growing up. Still do, to be honest. Being secretly dosed with LSD, set up for murders I didn’t commit, shot, and well, bitten doesn’t sound like very much fun, but being able to look at David Cronenberg for hours on end and then having a squad of fellow misfits to feel at home with: that seems like a fair trade off.
Meghan: What is your all-time favorite scary monster or creature of the night?
Rebecca: The boogeyman, for sure. I was never much frightened of vampires or werewolves or anything like that. To me, those creatures exist outside, and you can avoid them. Boogeymen, though: they make your home their own, and they creep about when you least expect them.
Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Rebecca: The decorations. When I worked as a librarian, I’d change the décor of the space with the seasons. I had a giant box for each: a winter box, a St. Patrick’s Day box, even a Mardi Gras box. For Halloween, I had seven giant boxes, including one with an unsettlingly large and hairy stuffed spider I’d string up in a dark corner.
Meghan: What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed song?
Rebecca: “Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo. I’m a diehard Danny Elfman fan, and that’s one of their catchiest tunes, for certain!
Meghan: Which horror novel unsettled you the most?
Rebecca: I read Stephen King at an age that I think was much too young to be reading him. When I first read The Shining, I was sharing a bedroom with my little sister, and there was a small bathroom right across the hall from our room. It had a nightlight, so the room glowed that eerie bluish-white color until morning. From my bed, I could see the edge of the shower curtain, and after reading King’s scene with the woman in the bathtub, that’s all I could think of when I woke up at night. For weeks, I couldn’t get up to pee because I was too scared.
Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Rebecca: I live in a very small Cape Cod-style house, and the second floor is unfinished. The area is a giant storage space, for all intents and purposes. At night, it sounds like someone is walking around it, and over the past few years—since before the pandemic, even—I’ve found random things missing from the first floor: a lipstick here, an unwrapped bar of soap there…things I remember putting one place only to find them totally gone the next day. Sometimes I really do wonder if someone is secretly living on my second floor, and every once in a while, when I am home alone and writing, the house dead quiet, I swear I hear someone creeping down the stairs and into my kitchen.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Rebecca: I’d like to be that stoic scholar and say I want to know if God exists, how the universe was created, or what happens to us after we die, but truth be told, I’d rather know what happened to D.B. Cooper, what wiped out the hikers on the Dyatlov Pass, and of course, the real identity of Jack the Ripper.
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Rebecca: Someone told me that urban legend of the black-eyed children, and there’s something about it that truly unsettles me. I will likely weave them into a short story someday, just to shake their residual creepiness from my mind.
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Rebecca: That would be a tie between a machete axe and an entrenchment tool. My spouse has been giving me weapons as Christmas gifts for nearly a decade—it started out as a joke that I was preparing for the zombie apocalypse. I’ve acquired quite the arsenal, and I know how to use all of them, and trust me when I tell you: the machete axe or the entrenchment tool is the way to go.
Meghan: Okay, let’s have some fun – Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf?
Rebecca: Vampire. I’m not a hairy person naturally, and I think the werewolf upkeep would throw me for a loop, even if it were only once a month.
Meghan: Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion?
Rebecca: Aliens. I can’t even imagine how the world would smell in a zombie apocalypse.
Meghan: Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard?
Rebecca: As a vegetarian, I’d have to choose the zombie juice, though had the dead bodies been fresh, it might have been a toss-up.
Meghan: Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week?
Rebecca: Poltergeist, for sure, no matter how sexy James Brolin and Ryan Reynolds are in those beards.
Meghan: Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese?
Rebecca: I can’t do maggots, even though cheese is my favorite food. It almost seems like an extra terrible punishment to ruin it that way! Bring on the melon.
Meghan: Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs?
Rebecca: It all comes down to the smell of the cauldron. Is it putrid or soup-like, and how hungry am I? All things even, I’d say, give me both!
Boo-graphy: Rebecca Rowland is the dark fiction author of The Horrors Hiding in Plain Sight, Pieces, Shagging the Boss, Optic Nerve, and the upcoming White Trash & Recycled Nightmares and is the curator of seven horror anthologies. Her short fiction, critical essays, and book reviews regularly appear in a variety of online and print venues. She is an Active member of the Horror Writers Association and lives in a chilly corner of New England with her family. To surreptitiously stalk her, visit her website. To take a peek at what shiny object she’s fixating on these days, follow her on Instagram.
Shagging the Boss – “Lesson number one: don’t get attached to anyone. Being a cannibal is the only way to truly succeed in this business.”
He placed one hand on the door handle, then thought a moment and smiled to himself. “The problem is, once you take a bite, it will never be enough.”
After a fortuitous encounter at a local book convention, a liberal arts graduate accepts a position at a flashy publishing company under the tutelage of its charismatic owner only to learn that the press is led, and fed, by a literal boogeyman.
Optic Nerve – Shawn is a scientist developing the formula for a drug that may cure blindness by stimulating another area of the brain that controls perception. When he surreptitiously tests the drug on himself, he accidentally accesses a neural pathway that appears to allow him to communicate with a complete stranger through telepathy instead. When Shawn finally discovers the significance of their connection and of the drug’s true effects, it is too late to stop the damage their intimate friendship has set in motion to unfold
Terror for Teetotalers – What might your favorite scary movie taste like if someone were to make it into its own signature cocktail? With more than thirty recipes inspired by some of the greatest staples in horror cinema, even the most novice of bartenders can experiment with shaking and mixing a new concoction for every evening of October leading up to Halloween.
Generation X-ed – In a unique anthology of monster, folk, paranormal, and psychological horror as glimpsed through the lens of the latchkey generation, twenty-two voices shine a strobe light on the cultural demons that lurked in the background while they came of age in the heyday of Satanic panic and slasher flicks, milk carton missing and music television, video rentals and riot grrrls. These Gen-X storytellers once stayed out unsupervised until the streetlights came on, and what they brought home with them will terrify you.
Dancing in the Shadows – With her hauntingly beautiful reimagining of archetypal monsters from classic horror, Anne Rice was the undisputed queen of contemporary gothic literature. Her contribution to the movement first established by Shelley, Stoker, and Stevenson revitalized and continues to inspire dark fiction writers and readers. Dancing in the Shadows pays tribute to Rice’s legacy with tales from today’s most innovative authors, drawing from the darkness where vampires and witches, mummies and rougarous, spirits and demons move to the music of nightmares.
Featuring stories by C. W. Blackwell, Anthony S. Buoni, Holley Cornetto, Stephanie Ellis, Douglas Ford, Lee Andrew Forman, Holly Rae Garcia, KC Grifant, Greg Herren, Christine Lajewski, Tim Mendees, Scotty Milder, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, E. F. Schraeder, Angela Yuriko Smith, Morgan Sylvia, Lamont A. Turner, Gordon B. White, and Trish Wilson; co-edited by Elaine Pascale and Rebecca Rowland; Foreword by Lisa Kroger
All proceeds from the sale of Dancing in the Shadows benefit ARNO. Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO) is an organization created and dedicated to the rescue and aid of abandoned and homeless animals in the New Orleans area, including responding to the immediate needs of those in need of medical care or those too old, too young, too sick, neglected, abused and deprived of love. ARNO promotes the foster, adoption and reunion of pets with caretakers as well as spaying and neutering all companion animals through their no-kill shelter.
I remember the first time I ever saw The Evil Dead. I was in my early teens, and my folks had gone on holiday leaving me home alone. I scared myself so much that I stayed awake the entire night with every light in the house switched on. Apart from an early encounter with An American Werewolf in London, that was my first experience of being absolutely shit scared by a film. During subsequent viewings, I learned to appreciate the crude humour as well as other aspects like the kick-ass script and innovative cinematography. But that first time, it was all about pure, unadulterated fear. I was absolutely terrified, and traumatised for weeks afterwards. At that tender age, I had no idea a piece of art could stir such visceral emotions. It was epic.
If I had to pin down the single most frightening aspect of the whole movie, it would be the trapdoor to the cellar. As innocuous as it probably sounds if you haven’t seen the movie, it still gives me chills thinking about it now. In my fevered imagination it came to represent the thin barrier between good and evil, or life and death. I’d love to live off-grid in a secluded log cabin in the woods. But if it has a trap door to the cellar, you can fucking keep it.
Wait a minute, I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s rewind a little. If you haven’t seen it, (why?), The Evil Dead goes something like this…
Five college students go on vacation to a secluded log cabin in the woods. You know they’re going to have sex and take drugs, which is bad, obvs, so you know some terrible shit is going to befall them. As I mentioned, the cabin has a trapdoor leading to the cellar. You can probably attach any one of a dozen metaphor to not just the trapdoor, but the cellar. It could represent hell (the underworld), the subconscious mind, or any number of other things. But for the sake of argument, let’s just call it what it is. It’s a trapdoor. And as you can probably tell by the way I’m still obsessing over it, it scarred me for life.
Obviously, the students go exploring, and find some audio tapes made by a researcher who talks about something called the Book of the Dead, a book of spells and incantations bound in human flesh and written in human blood. Incidentally, the original script called for the characters to be smoking marijuana when they are first listening to the tape. The actors decided to try this for real, and the entire scene had to be later re-shot due to their uncontrollable behaviour.
The tapes summon a demonic entity (or entities) and one by one the students become possessed. The next thing you know, people are speaking in tongues and getting raped by trees left, right and centre. The scene where Cheryl (Sandweiss) initially falls under the influence, levitates, and stabs her friend through the ankle with a pencil before being locked in the cellar is utterly horrifying. She keeps pushing her hands through the gap in the trapdoor and making gurgling noises. Ew. As you can probably imagine, things deteriorate drastically from that point on and pretty soon Ash (Campbell in his defining role) is locked in a nightmarish battle for survival. Things don’t improve much when he realises the only defence against his group of possessed ex-friends is to dismember them with a chainsaw. Needless to say, it gets messy. Really messy.
The only thing letting the side down is the quality of the special effects, which though innovative for the time, sometimes come across as slightly cheap and tacky. But you have to remember The Evil Dead was made over forty years ago and cost around $350,000. Finances were such an issue that the crew consisted almost entirely of acquaintances of Raimi and Campbell, who had met at high school.
Upon release, the film was met with a lot of controversy, mainly because Raimi had made it as gruesome as possible with neither interest in nor fear of censorship. Writer Bruce Kawin described The Evil Dead as one of the most notorious splatter films of its day, along with Cannibal Holocaust and I Spit on Your Grave. Largely as a result of an appearance at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival (where it was seen, and emphatically endorsed by one Stephen King) the movie did manage to generate around $2.6m, small potatoes in comparison with the $212m raked in by that year’s biggest hit Raiders of the Lost Ark.
In the UK, the film was trimmed by 49 seconds before it was granted an X certificate for cinema release. A campaign by pro-censorship organization NVLA led to it being labelled a “video nasty” and when the Video Recordings Act was passed in 1984, the video version was removed from circulation. In 1990, a further 66 seconds were trimmed from the already-censored version and it was eventually granted an 18 certificate for home video release. In 2000, the uncut version was finally released. In the US, the film received an immediate ‘X’ rating, which has since been converted to NC-17 for “substantial graphic horror violence and gore”. It remains banned either theatrically or on video in some countries.
Even the censored version is preferable to the 2013 big-budget re-boot, largely because of the unpolished, rough-and-ready approach. It’s no surprise, either, that none of the original cast with the exception of Campbell went on to have much of an impact on the Hollywood A-list.
Trivia Corner:
The cabin (near Morristown, Tennessee) used as the film’s set was also lodging for the 13 crew members, with several people sleeping in the same room. Living conditions were terrible, and the crew frequently argued. The cabin didn’t have plumbing, so the actors went days without showering, and fell ill frequently due to the freezing weather. By the end of production, they were burning furniture to stay warm. Ironically, the cabin didn’t have a cellar, most of the cellar scenes being filmed in a farmhouse owned by producer Rob Tapert’s family in Michigan.
On the 13th of every month I put a fresh spin on a classic movie in my RetView series over at my blog. Go here to check out the archive.
Boo-graphy: Christian Saunders, a constant reader who writes fiction as C.M. Saunders, is a freelance journalist and editor from south Wales. His work has appeared in almost 100 magazines, ezines and anthologies worldwide including Fortean Times, the Literary Hatchet, ParABnormal, Fantastic Horror, Haunted MTL, Feverish Fiction and Crimson Streets, and he has held staff positions at several leading UK magazines ranging from Staff Writer to Associate Editor. His books have been both traditionally and independently published.
The fifth volume in my X series featuring ten (X, geddit?) slices of twisted horror and dark fiction plucked from the blood-soaked pages of ParABnormal magazine, Demonic Tome, Haunted MTL, Fantasia Diversity, and industry-defining anthologies including 100 Word Horrors, The Corona Book of Ghost Stories, DOA 3, and Trigger Warning: Body Horror.
Meet the local reporter on an assignment which takes him far beyond the realms of reality, join the fishing trip that goes sideways when a fish unlike any other is hooked, and find out the hidden cost of human trafficking in China. Along the way, meet the hiker who stumbles across something unexpected in the woods, the office worker who’s life is inexorably changed after a medical drug trial goes wrong, and many more.
Also features extensive notes, and original artwork by Stoker award-winning Greg Chapman.
Table of Contents: Demon Tree Revenge of the Toothfish Surzhai The Sharpest Tool Something Bad Down the Road Coming Around Where a Town Once Stood The Last Night Shift Subject #270374 Afterword
Meghan: Hi, Joe. Welcome to Meghan’s HAUNTED House of Horror. This is your first time here so thank you from all of us for taking time out of your schedule to join in our frivolities. What is your favorite part of Halloween?
Joe: Even though I’m a horror writer, Halloween has always been more about dressing up in a funny way as opposed to being scary. The last few years, my daughter has decided that my family should dress up in themed costumes for Halloween. A few years ago we were all characters from the show Phineas & Ferb, last year we were Winnie the Pooh characters (I was Winnie the Pooh of course—I do a pretty mean Winnie the Pooh impression) and this year we will be doing Curious George characters. My son, who is going to be 16 even plays along every year so recently that has been a lot of fun.
Meghan: Do you get scared easily?
Joe: Not really. Things that scare me the most are real life things as opposed to books and movies. If I was going to say one thing scares me the most it is something happening to my family. I do like when books, movies or TV shows make me feel uncomfortable and that’s the feeling I go for when I write something. If I make someone feel uncomfortable, or if they are cheering for the hero (Or hoping something terrible happens to the villain) in one of my stories then I think I’ve accomplished what I set out to do.
Meghan: What is the scariest movie you’ve ever seen and why?
Joe: After saying movies don’t usually scare me, I will saw Jaws is probably the movie that sticks with me the most. I grew up in Massachusetts and spent many summers on Cape Cod. Jaws was filmed on Martha’s Vineyard which is just off Cape Cod and there is always that little thought in the back of your head when you’re in the ocean there when you think a shark could come up and rip you in half. That is certainly and uncomfortable feeling I was talking about earlier.
Meghan: Which horror movie murder did you find the most disturbing?
Joe: I could go with Jaws again, but another of my favorite horror movies is Hellraiser. The death of Frank at the end when he has the hooks attached to him and they are pulling him in all different directions and stretching his face out always stuck with me as particularly brutal.
Meghan: Is there a horror movie you refused to watch because the commercials scared you too much?
Joe: No. I was actually never a big horror movie fan when I was younger (though I’ve always read a ton of horror) so I find that now that I’m older I’m trying to go back and see the horror movies of the 80’s and 90’s that I never saw.
Meghan: If you got trapped in one scary movie, which would you choose?
Joe: I’d have to go with Beetlejuice here. If I was going to be stuck in a scary movie, at least this way I’d be entertained at the same time. Also, who wouldn’t want to be a ghost?
Meghan: If you were stuck as the protagonist in any horror movie, which would you choose?
Joe: Defintely Danny Torrance from The Shining. Obviously there would be some trauma I’d have to work though, but at least I know I’d survive and then I’d have this incredible superpower for the rest of my life.
Meghan: What is your all-time favorite scary monster or creature of the night?
Joe: One of my favorite books of all time is It by Stephen King. I love the cast of characters and the fact that we get to see them as children and as adults. Pennywise has long been my favorite monster in movies or in books. What could be better than an evil clown with cosmic powers beyond anything most people would be able to comprehend?
Meghan: What is your favorite Halloween tradition?
Joe: As I mentioned before, it’s a newer tradition, but themed family costumes has become my favorite thing about Halloween.
Meghan: What is your favorite horror or Halloween-themed song?
Joe: Its not necessarily Halloween-themed, but there is a song by Aerosmith called Voodoo, Medicine Man and it always gave off some creepy vibes for me. I listen to that song a lot when I’m trying to get in the mood to write a certain type of scene. The song is dark and starts off slow but builds to a loud, fast-paced ending that I always loved. The intro to the song was creepy as hell too.
Meghan: Which horror novel unsettled you the most?
Joe: I always have the same answer to this question and it’s a fairly newer book. The Cabin At the End of the World by Paul Tremblay is always going to be at the top of my list for questions like this. I can’t put my finger on one specific thing about the book that cause this to happen, but I read it in two days and the night after I started reading it, I couldn’t sleep. I kept falling asleep and waking up thinking about that book. The premise was great and the characters were so well written I think it just stuck with me like only a few other books have ever been able to do.
Meghan: What is the creepiest thing that’s ever happened while you were alone?
Joe: I wasn’t alone, but I was driving home from high school late one night for some reason. I was with a friend and we had to drive by a church in my hometown, which is directly across the street from the town common. It was probably around 7 or 8 at night, it was dark and cold out. Ass we drove by, I looked over into the common and there was a kid—maybe 6 years old—kneeling in the middle of the grass just staring up at the church. There was no one else around. I was so freaked out I made my friend turn around to see if the kid needed help. We hadn’t gone that far and when we got back the kid was gone. We would have been able to see him if he’d got up and left, he just disappeared. That creeped me out for a long time—still does.
Meghan: Which unsolved mystery fascinates you the most?
Joe: I don’t know if this counts as an unsolved mystery or not, but the existence of life on other planets is fascinating to me and it always has been. The more we learn about just how large space is and how much stuff is out there, the more likely it becomes that there is other intelligent life somewhere on one of those planets. I hope in my life time we get some definitive proof of life outside of our little planet. Even if we do, it will continue to fascinate me. Of course, there might already be definitive proof that the public just doesn’t know about. 😊
Meghan: What is the spookiest ghost story that you have ever heard?
Joe: I can’t think of a specific one, but any ghost story that is based in reality I find so interesting. Just like I want aliens to be a real thing, I would love if there was some way to prove that ghosts exist.
Meghan: In a zombie apocalypse, what is your weapon of choice?
Joe: I don’t think I’d be able to kill all the zombies in a zombie apocalypse, so give me a good bomb shelter with plenty of food and water and plenty of books and I think I’ll be ok for a while.
Meghan: Okay, let’s have some fun… Would you rather get bitten by a vampire or a werewolf?
Joe: Vampire, 100%. Who wouldn’t want to be a vampire?
Meghan: Would you rather fight a zombie apocalypse or an alien invasion?
Joe: Alien invasion. Put me right up front.
Meghan: Would you rather drink zombie juice or eat dead bodies from the graveyard?
Joe: I hate putting gross things in my mouth, even the thought of it makes me gag a little. That said, I could drink zombie juice like a shot and I’d have to chew up the dead body before I ate it, so give me those zombie juice shots all day.
Meghan: Would you rather stay at the Poltergeist house or the Amityville house for a week?
Joe: Poltergeist house.
Meghan: Would you rather chew on a bitter melon with chilies or maggot-infested cheese?
Joe: I love spicy foods so I’ll take the melon with chilies.
Meghan: Would you rather drink from a witch’s cauldron or lick cotton candy made of spider webs?
Joe: That’s a though one, but I don’t know what that witch is going to try to do to me, might turn me into a rat or something, so I’ll take the spider web cotton candy.
Boo-graphy: Joe Scipione lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his wife and two kids. He is the author of Perhaps She Will Die, Zoo: Eight Tales of Animal Horror, and Decay. His novellas, The Life & Times of Edward Morgan and Justice, are due out in 2023 from D&T Publishing. He is also a Senior Contributor at HorrorBound.net. When he’s not reading or writing, you can usually find him cheering on one of the Boston sports teams or walking around the lakes near his home.
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