Just Some Halloween Fun
I can’t help but have the Silver Shamrock theme run through my head every time I look at the calendar in October. As of this moment, there are 9 more days until Halloween. I’m fine with putting on my pumpkin mask now while I sit in front of the TV. But since I don’t want worms and bugs coming out of my head on the big day, I think I’ll wear my bigfoot costume instead.
I know everyone’s looking for fun things to do during the spooky season. Me and my gang of horror idiots have been busy filming new shows and promoting the horrortober season like busy, twisted elves. So, for those of you who can’t make it to a haunted attraction, spooky hayride or pumpkin maze, here are some things to get you in the proper mood.
Are you a fan of the Halloween series? Have you seen Halloween Ends yet? The Final Guys (5 of us this time around!) give our picks of what to watch and read and then dive into the final chapter of Michael Myers…or is it? It’s making money so let’s face it, he’ll be back.
Speaking of Final Guys, we also just dropped a special episode where we interview producer Peter Phok, the man behind such horror greats as Pearl, X, Stakeland, The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers and more. He was a blast to talk to and is living the horror and Hollywood dream.
My Halloween Video Visions column is dedicated this year to all things Bigfoot. This time around, I’ll be your video store curator as I walk you through the Video Visions squatch section, offering you 32 Bigfoot Movies That Scratch That Squatchy Itch! And here I am last year chilling out while watching Elvira between trick or treaters.
Need a great book to read with creepy tales from some of the best horror writers in the game? And it just happens to have the best cover of the year? Check out Human Monsters! This one’s a can’t miss and it features my buds, Tim Meyer and Chad Lutzke.
And with all of this Halloween goodness, you know you have to have a great pumpkin ale by your side. Luckily, the Monster Men conducted our annual pumpkin ale tasting while talking about the horror heart throbs that get our motors running. The dat after filming this, I was sick as a dog with Covid, so I had it in this video. I think I did pretty, pretty good for a guy who was hours away from being laid low for 2 weeks!
Halloween Horrors and Humor For Hellions
Well, howdy Hellions! We’re just a few flips on our Dilbert desk calendars from the greatest day of the year. Sure, the fates have tried their best to destroy what we love most, but I say we spit in their bleary eyes! I have a couple of things to help get you in the mood (and no, it’s not me singing Let’s Get It On in the shower. I’m saving that for when I start an Only Fans account).
First up, the Monster Men practiced social distancing like good little ghouls for our 10th annual Halloween special. Hard to believe we’ve been at this for a decade. While we discuss the various things you all can do in quarantine (one is quite saucy, I must say), we also look at the great and not so great horror movies that hit the silver screen in 1978.
Now, choosing the movie to end Horrortober on Halloween night is no easy task. You can dip into the same old well with Carpenter’s Halloween or maybe Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Or, you can read my latest Video Visions column and discover what I’m sure will be a new classic in your lair!
CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER A NEW WAY TO CAP OFF HALLOWEEN ON YOUR TV SCREEN!
Now get your costumes ready, your beers chilled and candy corns….well, candy corning. Happy Halloween!
Monster Men For Your Ears
AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!!!
First, thank you to everyone who has watched and supported the Monster Men video podcast for the past 10 years. It’s a true labor of love and we’re honored that folks tune into our insanity.
Well, after being video-only for all this time, we’re finally adding audio to the mix! Right now, you can catch interviews with authors Chad Lutzke and Laurel Hightower. More back episodes to come. Click here to get the full list of places to find our audio podcast. We’ll be adding more in the coming weeks. We hope you dig it and maybe this can open things up to longer form interviews just for audio. Let me know what you think.
Pandemic Horror Hangouts
Well, I have to say, this pandemic has definitely gotten Jack and I to increase our production of Monster Men episodes. Craving some sort of social interaction and realizing everyone is looking for something to take their minds off of things, we’ve been interviewing someone every Sunday night and just shooting the shit, talking horror, how we’re dealing with the coronavirus, baseball, booze, comfort movies and more. So, if you’re looking to have a little fun in your favorite genre, I encourage you to give these a watch. Next week we’ll have an episode with author Glenn Rolfe. Any suggestions for future guests?
Grab your favorite adult beverage and sit back for an hour and let’s all forget about the shit show going on in the world…
Interview with horror author Laurel Hightower
Interview with author and audiobook narrator Chris Sorensen
Interview with author Matt Manochio
Hanging With Author, Director and Actor Terry M. West
Terry M. West is living the dream. Or at least my dream. My horror dreams. He’s done just about everything within the horror genre and has a hell of a lot of war stories under his belt. I first came to know him a few years ago, thanks to the magic of social media. We formed an instant mutual appreciation society. I was thrilled to provide the forward to his book, GRUESOME: A GATHERING OF NIGHTMARES.
We had talked for some time about having him on Monster Men, but life and scheduling always got in the way. Despite some technical issues at the start, we finally made it happen! Terry talks about directing Caroline Munro, horror cons and an incredible secret about his start in writing. We did not see that coming. Check out our interview with an all around awesome guy below…
And when you’re done, check out his bestselling story, CAR NEX. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to figure out how to steal Terry’s wicked cool office.
On Dracula’s Castle and Pet Sematary
What’s shakin’ Hellions? Remember the old Marvel Two-In-One comics where The Thing was paired each month with a new superhero? Well, I may not have scrapped against the Yancy Street Gang, but I can present a horror two-in-one.
First up on Monster Men, author J.H. Moncrieff takes us on a tour of Dracula’s Castle and the Haunted Forest of Romania. I am green with envy. Or is it pea soup?
Next, the Final Guys travel up to Maine to see if we can reunite with our beloved pets of the past. Does the new Pet Sematary rise above the original? Church still smells bad.
The Horror Movies of 1987
The Monster Men are kicking off a new series of episodes where we go back in time and look at the horror movies that came out in a specific year. We started it all off with 1987 (the last year I was a single man) and boy, what a year! It may be the best of all time. Give the episode a watch and tell me what you think. What was your favorite horror movie of 1987? Also, what years would you like us to explore next?
31 Days of Terror
Let’s play a game.
A Halloween/Horrortober game.
It’s called 31 DAYS OF TERROR – CHAPTER 2. If you’re like me, you want to fill your Halloween season with horror. For me, one of those ways is watching a horror movie every single day. But the questions is always, what movie do I watch?
Enter 31 Days of Terror.Â
31 Days of Terror is a roll the dice game where chance selects your movie each night. Author Steve Hutchison has compiled categories and lists of movies in this great second edition. It’s easy to fall into the same old same old with your Horrotober movie selections. The great thing about this game is that it will suggest movies you’ve either forgotten or never heard of, along with plenty of tried and trues.
This is the second year the Monster Men have played the game to help build our viewing list. Watch our latest podcast to see what 31 movies we came up with this time around and see if there are any forgotten gems you want to add to your own. I know we rolled a few very welcome surprises this time around.
And by all means, BUY THE BOOK so you have a fun way to build your own Horrorotber viewing list each and every year.
So, what movies are you planning to watch? Hellions want to know.
Missing The Video Store
As convenient as all of the streaming options are, I still miss my weekend visits to the video store. I miss the sights and smells, the community and the free popcorn. I miss holding a potential rental in my hand, that tactile connection you made as you browsed the aisles. I miss staff picks from people I knew (as opposed to algorithms today).
I have a sneaking suspicion I’m not alone.
If you’re like me, you might get a kick out of my latest Video Visions post over at Cemetery Dance. Sure, I miss video stores. But I’m one of the arrows that pierced their hearts and stole their souls. To find out why, you can read I KILLED THE VIDEO STORE, right here.
If reading’s not your thing, not to worry! The Monster Men dedicated a whole episode to browsing those video store aisles way back in 2013. The sentiment has only gotten stronger with the passing of the years. And I still have that bucket hat.
Do you feel the same? What do you miss the most? Let’s all have a communal love-in about our favorite video stores.
Creepy Movies For Halloween and Casting Remakes
Tis the season for lots ‘o horror movies. There are so many to choose from, it’s always difficult to decide what to watch. If you’ve been following what I’ve been watching on Twitter under hashtag #Horrortober, you’ll see I’ve watched over 30 so far. I’m hoping to hit the 50 mark this year. I give a rating for each movie so you know which ones to avoid and which ones to pop in the Blu Ray player or get On Demand.
Catching up on a couple of episodes of Monster Men, we review perfect movies for Horrortober like HUSH, DON’T BREATHE, GREEN ROOM and NEON DEMON. These 4 flicks will definitely have you waiting for the Great Pumpkin.
Next up, we wax unpoetic about unnecessary remakes and who we would cast in each. Do movies like Jaws, Alien and Escape from New York need to be remade? Hell no! But we all know that Hollywood can’t help itself. It will happen. If it happened today and we were casting directors, here’s where we would take things. The big question is, how would you recast them?
Hunter Shea 