The Night of the Vampire

Okay, I realize I've slacked off majorly on my attempt to do a new horror related blog every day in October.  What can I say, I just got bogged down with other stuff.  Anyway, tonight I found out that Roky Erickson, one of my all time favorite musicians and horror rockers, was playing a show in Detroit.  This is about the closest this living legend has come to Cleveland in a long ass time.  Had I known, I would gladly have driven, or even walked, to see this show.  Interestingly enough, my brother and my friend Charles (owner of My Mind's Eye Records, best record store in Cleveland) were both going to this show, and neither one thought to mention it to me.  But I digress.




The reason I rate Roky at the top of the horror rock heap is because he sings this shit like he really and truly believes it.  Here he is from 2007 doing one of his classic songs, "Night of the Vampire".  If you're reading this on Facebook, click on the "view original post" link to see the video clip.

Pumpkin - It's Not Just For Pie Anymore

And now for something completely different... a recipe.  This past weekend my wife and I went to Cascade, Maryland to visit with our friend Bridget.  While there, we decided to enter a pumpkin baking contest that was part of a festival going on in town.  I know, not exactly edgy and rock and roll, but whatever.  Since I figured (correctly) that everyone else would be entering the usual pumpkin pies, cakes, breads and cookies, I decided to do something different:  chicken enchiladas in a pumpkin sauce.  Although one of the three judges was clearly impressed (I saw him go back for seconds), the other two seemed less so.  Long story short, I did not place.  Bridget actually won first prize with a pumpkin pecan roll and my wife got third with her gluten-free pumpkin cake.  If you want those recipes you'll have to talk to them.  If you're feeling adventurous, though, here's my recipe.  I make no claims that this is "authentic" Mexican cooking.  It's just something fun I came up with, and I personally think it tastes pretty damn good. 

Filling
 
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast

1 tsp salt

½ tsp cumin

Sauce

1 tbsp vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 small white onion, diced

2 cups pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)

1 cup of water

1 tsp ancho chili powder

2 roasted poblanos, sliced

½ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp sugar

2 tsp salt

½ cup heavy whipping cream

Final Touches

12 corn tortillas

8 oz. shredded Chihuahua cheese

Poach (fancy word for boil) chicken breast until cooked through. Allow to cool in refrigerator. When cool, shred chicken, season with 1 tsp salt and ½ tsp cumin and set aside.

Roast the poblanos.  Easiest way to do this is in the broiler.  Cover the broiler pan with aluminum foil.  Cut poblanos in half and place cut side down on pan.  Broil for about five minutes.  The skin should be black and the flesh of the peppers nice and soft.  Put the peppers in cold water and peel off the skin.  Dice the peeled peppers and set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Dice onion and garlic. Heat oil in large dutch oven or sauce pan. When oil is hot, sauté onions and garlic until onions become translucent. Add pumpkin, water, peppers and spices to pan. Bring to boil, then add ½ cup cream to the sauce and mix well. The sauce should be fairly thick but still thin enough that it will pour over the enchiladas easily.  Reduce heat to warm and cover until needed.  By the way, although I think fresh pumpkin tastes better, it's a pain in the ass to puree enough to work with in a sauce.  Unless you have a good food processor that can handle it, I'd say use canned.

Steam tortillas or microwave them for a few seconds, whatever you prefer just so long as they are soft and warm. Take about 2 tbsps of shredded chicken and place on tortillas. Roll tortillas and place in large metal or glass baking dish. Pour sauce over enchiladas in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, until cheese is melted.

For my vegan friends, instead of chicken try filling the enchiladas with black beans or whatever else you like.  Omit the cheese and cream, and if necessary add a little more water to the sauce.

True Scotish Pirate Metal

Like it or not, pirates have infiltrated Halloween to a large degree.  I blame those horrible movies with Johnny Depp, but that's neither here nor there.  I only mention this as an excuse for including this next video in my series of increasingly infrequent Halloween blogs.

Scotland's Alestorm play a mix of heavy metal and sea shantys, complete with pirate-y vocals.  It's absolutely ridiculous, and I don't think I could stand to listen to a whole album's worth all at once, but this video for "Keelhauled" from their most recent album Black Sails at Midnight is a hoot, and the song is kind of catchy.

Taking a Break From the Halloween Blogs to 'Whip It'

I've already botched my attempt to do a horror related blog every day in October, anyway, so screw it.  I'll get back to the horror soon, but today I'm going to do a quick review of Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It.


Bliss (Ellen Page) is a fairly typical 17 year old girl whose mother pushes her to take part in beauty pageants.  It's not exactly her thing, but there doesn't seem to be much else to do in her small hometown of Bodeen.  Then one day Bliss discovers there is a roller derby team based out of nearby Austin.  She goes to see a match and decides to try out.  This being a sports movie, the team Bliss tries out for are the roller derby equivalent of the Bad News Bears, perenial losers The Hurl Scouts.


The plot hits a lot of the beats you'd expect a movie like this to hit, and by the end there's probably more extraneous drama piled on than necessary.  On the plus side, Whip It has a few unexpected twists on the usual formula, the characters are likable, and the jokes are funny and flow naturally from the situations.  It's not a great movie, but it's an enjoyable one.


Ellen Page is excellent in the lead, playing a more vulnerable and realistic teenager than she did in 'Juno' and coming across as completely believable.  Good supporting cast, too, including director Barrymore, Alia Shawkat, Marcia Gay Harden, Juliette Lewis, Kristen Wiig, and an almost unrecognizable Jimmy Fallon.  As for Barrymore's direction, it's nothing flashy.  Just solid meat and potatoes storytelling, which is fine in my book.  3 out of 4 stars.

Let Jerry Stay Lonely

I don't know, maybe he's doing it to prove a point.  Maybe he needs the money.  Hell, it's possible that he really and truly just loves playing.  Whatever the reason, though, I just can't stand to see Jerry Only and what passes for the Misfits these days.  Especially not when there are plenty of other good horror rock bands out there.  Of course chances are, most of these bands will be opening for the Misfits when they come to your town this Halloween season, so if you absolutely must go, go early and support these lesser known bands.  You don't really need that "Crimson Ghost" shirt, buy some merch from the opening acts instead.  I already covered Fort Wayne, IN's Grave Robber in an earlier blog, and here are a few more bands that will rock your crypt.


Calabrese - "Backseat of My Hearse" (Arizona)





Cult of the Psychic Fetus - "In My Coffin" (Ohio)





Diemonsterdie - "One Night at Devil's Rock" (Utah)





The Lurking Corpses - "Graveyard Devourment" (Indiana)





Others - "My Lips Are Dead" (New York)



Others - My Lips Are Dead

Others - Dark Prince Rise - Out Now!|MySpace Music Videos

Darkest Before the Dawn

George Romero's Dawn of the Dead is like cinematic comfort food for me.  Spending two hours with Peter, Fran, Roger, and Stephen is like getting together with old friends.  Even though I think Romero made a better zombie film with 1985's Day of the Dead, this is the one I always come back to.  I can't help but put it one on at least once a year, and what better time of year to do that than the Halloween season?

Dracula Yucks

It’s always a risky proposition to go back and watch something you enjoyed as a kid but haven’t seen in decades since.  Nonetheless, when I saw a new shrinkwrapped copy of Love at First Bite for sale for a mere 3 bucks, I couldn’t resist.  I last saw this movie when it played on Star Channel (the predecessor to The Movie Channel) back in 1980 or so.  I thought it was funny at the time, but there are a lot of things a 10 year old kid thinks are funny that seem pretty stupid now.

Believe it or not, George Hamilton actually makes a pretty good Dracula, and Arte Johnson’s Renfield is great.  Richard Benjamin’s commitment-phobic psychiatrist and Susan Saint James’ neurotic fashion model seem even more relics of the past than Hamilton’s centuries-old count, though.  While the civil rights movement and feminism had made considerable strides in American culture as a whole by 1979, you wouldn’t know it from this movie.  There’s plenty of cringe-inducing racial humor, casual gay bashing, and Saint James saying things like, “A career for a woman is kind of like fooling around for a man.  It’s fun until the right person comes along.”  Every single black character in the movie, most of whom are comic relief petty criminals or gang members, calls white people “honkys”.  And just for pure seventies nostalgia, I had to laugh when Richard Benjamin ordered an “uncola” at a restaurant (that’s a 7-Up to you youngsters).  There’s also one significant change to the film’s music on the DVD – the song “I Love the Night Life”, which became a hit in part because of this movie, has been replaced with a less appropriate number.  Bummer.  Some of the jokes still work, but not enough to really recommend to anyone who isn’t nostalgic for the disco era. 

For some reason the trailer for the movie isn’t on Youtube (that I could find, anyway), but here’s a TV promo from when it aired on the CBS Wednesday Night Movie:

Hail to the King

The music of Danish born vocalist King Diamond (real name Kim Petersen) is something of an acquired taste.  For better or worse, I’m afraid I’ve acquired it.  King first came to the attention of music fans as the front man for metal band Mercyful Fate in the early eighties.  Mercyful Fate had a Satanic image, with King adopting face paint that included an upside down cross.  At the time Diamond claimed to be a practicing Satanist, although nowadays he says he doesn’t follow any religion.  Regardless of all this, Diamond’s lyrics were always more horror movie fun than anything, and once he went solo in 1986 that became even more the case.  

Aside form the makeup, the thing that stands out about King Diamond the most is his voice.  He frequently sings in a creepy falsetto, with occasional “normal” singing and deep guttural growls.  His solo albums tend to be horror rock operas accompanied by fast, melodic heavy metal, and his live performances usually feature a theatrical stage show with lots of props.  While never a huge mainstream success, there was a time in the late eighties when Diamond was very popular in the metal underground, and his music has influenced numerous other bands, including Metallica who did a medley of Mercyful Fate songs on their Garage Inc. album.  King continues to record and perform to this day, and occasionally reunites with his old band Mercyful Fate as well.

Here’s an appropriate song from King Diamond’s first solo album:  “Halloween”

This video for “The Family Ghost” from King’s second solo album actually got a fair amount of play on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball back in the day.

King joins Metallica onstage in August of 2008 to perform a medley of old Mercyful Fate songs.

Put This One In Your Goodie Bag

I was just too busy today seeing Zombieland again and catching a preview screening of Law Abiding Citizen to really sit down and write a proper blog.  But I've got to keep my streak intact, so  I'm going to take this opportunity to pimp Trick R Treat, a great new anthology movie that just came out on DVD this Tuesday.  Actually I'm not sure if this really qualifies as a true anthology film.  It's more like a horror version of Pulp Fiction with several stories taking place in the same location over a short span of time on Halloween night, and with the main characters from one segment popping up for smaller parts in other segments.  I plan on doing a longer review for Scene's film blog, so that's all I'm going to say for now, other than you should rent this right away.  Here's the trailer.  Remember to click the "view original post" link if you're reading this on Facebook and want to watch.

A Boy Named Alice

They seem pretty tame by today’s standards, but when Alice Cooper first came out in the early seventies they were considered the kings of shock rock.  You may notice I’m saying “they” and not “he”.  That’s because from 1968 until 1974 Alice Cooper was not just the stage name of vocalist Vincent Furnier, it was the collective name for the band. 

It would be wrong to say that Alice Cooper was a horror rock band, but they certainly had their share of horror rock songs.  And the band’s stage show incorporated various grisly effects like Alice being electrocuted, hung, and decapitated by a guillotine. 

Why these guys haven’t  been nominated for the Rock Hall, let alone inducted, is beyond me.  KISS is actually in the running this year, but whatever their merits as a band, KISS wouldn’t even exist as we know them if it hadn’t been for Alice Cooper’s influence. 

And Alice Cooper wasn't just a cool image and a crazy stage show.  The band’s music still holds up.  Everyone knows the well known hits like “School’s Out” and “Eighteen”, but since this is part of my month long Halloween blog-a-thon, I’m going to share a few of Cooper’s more morbid numbers.  If you’re reading this on Facebook, be sure to click on the “view original post” link to see the clips.

“Ballad of Dwight Frye” This song was on Love it to Death, but I’m not sure what year this performance is from.  Judging by Alice (the singer)’s physical appearance and style of makeup, I’m guessing it’s circa 1973, though.  Alice sings this one wearing a strait jacket.

“Under My Wheels” from 1972.  One of the band’s hits, sort of a love song, but with a weird obsessive edge to it. 

“I Love the Dead” live in 1973.  This song features the decapitation gag, which was designed by magician/skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi.  It looks more convincing that a lot of what you’ll see in horror movies of the time.

And one last one from 1973, “Sick Things”.  Snakes and general weirdness.

It's About to Break Out

If you watch only one giant alligator movie this year, it should be 1980's Alligator.  This is about as perfect a "nature gone amok"/giant monster movie as you can find.  Sure, it follows the structure of Jaws pretty closely, but screenwriter John Sayles puts his own stamp on the material, making Alligator more than just a cheap imitation.

One of Alligator's biggest assets is its assortment of memorable characters.  For starters, we've got a great hero in Robert Forster as David, a rough around the edges homicide detective fighting the ghosts of his past and male pattern baldness, and not faring too well against either.  Reptile expert Marisa (Robin Riker) is kind of a mess, too.  She still lives at home with her mother, and her collection of pet snakes isn't exactly a turn-on for most guys.  Then there's the fun supporting parts by character actors like Sydney Lassick (Cheswick in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) as an unscrupulous pet shop owner and perenial B-movie stalwart Henry Silva ( Megaforce, Chained Heat, Lust in the Dust, and many more) as an arrogant big game hunter hoping to add the gator to his list of kills.


But the real reason anyone watches a movie like this is to see a giant alligator use the rest of the cast as a buffet, and Alligator definitely delivers on that front.  Ramon (that's the gator's name) eats good guys and bad guys alike, and even chomps on a few dogs and a little kid.  Combining footage of a real gator with a fairly convincing full-size fake head and tail for close-ups, the effects in Alligator are surprisingly good for a low budget movie from 1980.  Even scenes where cast members are being munched on while bright red Technicolor blood gushes out look cool, if not entirely convincing. 


For all the carnage, though, the overall vibe of Alligator is one of fun.  Director Lewis Teague neither condescends to the material nor plays it too seriously.  He knows his job is to make a cheap Jaws rip-off, but like screenwriter Sayles doesn't see any reason not to make this the best cheap Jaws rip-off he can.  All things considered, I'd say Alligator is a success.  Check out this great trailer for the movie, and then put the DVD on your Netflix queue.

Grave Robbing for Jesus

For the past 5 years I sang for Cleveland horror rock band Horror of '59, so this will be the first Halloween weekend in quite a while that I won't be spending in a club playing music.  On the one hand it's kind of nice to be able to relax and just enjoy the holiday, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't kind of miss it.  One of the things I miss the most now that my band is broken up is getting to watch the other cool horror rock bands we shared bills with.

One of my favorite bands that we played with several times (although never on Halloween, strangely enough) is Fort Wayne, Indiana's Grave Robber.  Aside from their excellent songwriting and musicianship, the one thing that stands out about these guys is that they are a Christian band.  The message is there once you know to look for it, but it never comes across as in your face or preachy, which is good for a dyed in the wool heathen like myself.  Check 'em out in this Youtube clip performing the song "Altered States" from their most recent album Inner Sanctum.  If you're reading this on my Facebook page, be sure to click the "view original post" link to see the video.

Fangs, But No Fangs

Blonde bombshell Anita Ekberg (famous for her fountain scene in Fellini's La Dolce Vida) inherits a castle and the title of countess, as well as a family curse, in Fangs of the Living Dead (1969).  Fangs, aka Malenka,  was part of a classic drive-in triple feature called 'Orgy of the Living Dead' that boasted one of the best trailers of all time:





It would be hard for any movie to live up to that trailer, but Fangs doesn't even come close.  Director Amando de Ossorio eventually went on to direct the cult classic "blind dead" films, but fans of that series will find little of interest here.  There's virtually no horror or eroticism, and barely any fang work.  Even a cat fight between two of the film's top-heavy supporting actresses fails to generate much excitement.  The most entertaining aspect of the movie was the cheesy organ "sting" that kept playing on the soundtrack.  In theory, I guess this was supposed to signal a shocking moment, but it wound up being used so much that it just became absurd.  Stick this one back in the crypt.

Werewolves on Wheels and in Cleveland

It’s October, which means Halloween is right around the corner.  In honor of my favorite holiday, I’m going to be blogging about nothing but horror this month, and I’m going to try to do at least one short blog a day.  Since I missed yesterday, I’m doubling up in this post.  First up is a review of the biker/horror movie hybrid Werewolves on Wheels.  Then it’s a music video from Cleveland’s own Manimals for their song “The Symbol”, which sort of fits with the review since the song is about werewolves, also.  We’ll see how long I can keep this up.