Psst! Hey You. Wanna See A Free Horror Movie? How About Two?

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

Ah, public domain movies… free to watch without the guilt (or smugness or those who don’t believe in guilt) of messy piracy to fret about. Anyway, what are YOU doing home on Halloween? I’m here posting stuff because I’m behind on updates this month and need to keep you kids quiet while I catch up a little. So go make some popcorn, get a big fizzy drink (or non-fizzy if that’s your thing), plop down in front of your tee-vee (OK, monitor) and catch these two 1970’s vampire flicks. Yeah, it’s Count Dracula’s Great Love and Countess Dracula, so if you’ve seen them already, feel free to change the channel or go to bed early. Speaking if going to bed early, these aren’t for young kids or anyone allergic to exposed pretty lady parts (hey, I took a few anatomy classes, so boobs bother me not), dubbed English dialog and plenty of fake looking stage blood. Now that MY ass is covered (hey, it’s chilly in here!), enjoy the films!

Holy Christmas, Batman! I Know Where You Live! Maybe.

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

So, yeah… you (yes, YOU) thought he left the country for good after The Dark Knight Rises, huh? Well, apparently Batman is alive and well and… living in the Bronx? OK, then… Woo-hoo! Or I at least HOPE that’s Batman in that apartment simply because I’m seeing Xmas lights in the shape of a bat, that holiday is about two months away and I have my fingers AND toes crossed that the person behind that window is re-purposing last year’s lights into assorted shapes for every holiday. This is the first time I’ve seen these lights around here, so I could be wrong and someone is actually selling Bat-Lights out there. I could just hang around outside that apartment building one day and ask people coming out if they know who lives in that apartment, but that’s kind of stalky and awkward, last time I checked. That and if there IS a Caped Crusader up there, he’d probably think I was some arch-nemesis asking for his apartment number and I’d be the one being stalked… eek.

Onechanbara Z Kagura With NoNoNo! Promos: Sexy Zombie Killers Are OK Any Year…

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

With all this fuss and bother in the news here about Halloween costumes for ladies getting TOO (and ONLY) sexy this year (yeah, you can buy “sexy” food and other bizarre outfits from any costume shop wanting to make a fast buck), I say the ONLY outfits that should never be criticized are the many sexy zombie killer get-ups worn by the digital dolls in any Onechanbara game. Hell, who’s going to tell a lady in a bikini with two VERY sharp swords she knows how to use that she’s not dressed correctly? That, and these gals have earned their stripes long before this “controversy” kicked into gear. The Onechanbara games have been around for about a decade already and while it’s not a big AAA title, it does have a loyal fan base of male AND female players. Granted, that top video will be seen as intentionally sexist and stupid to some, but it’s not an actual documentary and your sense of humor needs a tune-up if you try and take it too seriously.

I missed posting the second promo video a few weeks back because I’d forgotten to set alerts for D3Publisher’s YouTube page (oops). That’s been rectified and it’s above. Given that the third promo is entirely in English as are some of the game’s menus… my grubby little fingers are indeed crossed tightly (and it’s hard to type this way, mind you!) that D3Publisher of America is perhaps considering a localization of this one at some point. Onechanbara games are pure fluff and bouncy bits, but the over the top gore quotient combined with the ridiculous amount of hours of gameplay, costumes and characters to unlock make them strangely addictive once you get past the jiggle factor. I’ve always found it amusing that nearly all of the males in this series of games are either zombies, other hideous monsters or rescue bait, so in a weird way, this is a sort of Otaku version of “girl power” complete with cosplayers popping up in some places.

Anyway, D3PUS? What’s up with Onechanbara Z Kagura with NoNoNo!? Any plans to bring this sexy slashy thing over to the PS3 sometime soon? I sure hope so, as I’d hate to import another game I won’t have the chance to play otherwise…

Mega Man Might Not Be Getting A New Game, But Music-Wise? He’s Quite Well Covered…

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

And of course, Capcom is being trolled harder since these announcements by “fans” who are more like nasty barnacles more than people who seem to “enjoy” anything the company is putting out on the game front these days. Yes, poor MM has been through some development hell lately (although he’s popping up in some interesting fan-made and professional non-MM game projects) and sure, you can scream at Capcom until you turn bluer than the Blue Bomber about anything else you believe they’ve done wrong since the Great Clock was first constructed. But, NO. You can’t poop on the work of these talented musicians that happen to be Mega Man fans as well who’ve worked an ass cheek or two off making music for your listening pleasure just because the Internet allows you to rant at your leisure (no matter how ignorant you sound)… Continue reading →

Speaking of Halloween, Here’s Your Music for the Day…

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

So, on the way to where I’m at now, I overheard some kids talking about scary music for Halloween and in passing, I didn’t hear anything scary coming out of their mouths but I immediately though of my go-to Halloween song ever since I heard it on the soundtrack to 1987’s horror/humor film I Was a Teenage Zombie. While this campy gore flick isn’t exactly a “classic” to some genre fans, it’s funny in spots and yes, has some icky scenes that will put the squeamish behind a chair with a blanket on their heads.

That said, it’s the film’s soundtrack that’s the most amazing thing about it. The Fleshtones, Violent Femmes, Alex Chilton, Smithereens, Los Lobos, Del Fuegos all contributed some great tunes to this flick, but it’s Dream Syndicate’s eerie slow burner, Halloween that kills everything else here. Yes, it sounds like a Velvet Underground or Lou Reed song (that’s part of the charm), but it creeps into your ears with a fade in, has a brilliant, moody guitar solo and if you happen to be listening to it while walking down a dark street, the last lines in the song will make you either look over your shoulder or walk backwards until you’re in a better lit location.

Of course… if you’re walking backwards down a dark street, people will either be scared of you. Especially if you were smart enough to be wearing a homemade hoodie with an invunche face painted or stitched on that hood you have on your head. That will freak anyone out, even the craziest movie killing machine. You’re welcome and I get 17% if you steal my idea and start selling your version on etsy.

Two Reads From Dark Horse For The Scary Season…

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

Yeah, yeah… I know for SOME of you every day is scary, but get up and out in the sunshine once in a while and you’ll see that people aren’t SO bad after all. Then again, Halloween most certainly seems like a more than good time to stay IN after a certain hour in some places, so you’ve hopefully stocked up on food and drink, have enough TP to last a while and maybe some nice and scary movies queued up on your favorite device. Yeah, I know you still use that Betamax, so I was purposefully being vague in that previous sentence…

Now, If you’re a reader and like your things with words a bit on the scary side, you may as well venture out before it gets too dark and boogie on over to your nearest comics emporium just to pick up these two finely illustrated fright-filled tomes from the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics. Tales From the Crypt: The EC Archives – Volume 4 is a chilling collection of classic 1950’s horror from some of the best in the business back then and despite their age, the pre-Comics Code tales of terror and that excellently detailed art will have your eyeballs dancing in their sockets as your brain tells them to calm down so it can process that scary stuff it’s trying to also see.

“Feh!” you say? Followed by “Aw, how can some old smelly comic that’s older than my granny be SCARY?” and a smug “They didn’t even HAVE horror back then!”. Well there, dear troll child… let me give you a taste of things to come… Continue reading →

My Halloween Plans? I’ll Probably Go As Nostalgia…

Posted on October 31, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, allPublicDomain!)

I actually have no plans for Halloween, but if I did and had unlimited funds, I’d dress up as a movie screen and walk around showing people stuff that would blow their minds. All you fans of those modern Batman and other “retro” looking cartoons want to know where they got that funky art style from? BOOM! – here’s a classic Max Fleischer Superman cartoon that still blasts all that modern stuff out of the water. You’re one of those who like that stupidly snappy editing straight out of a music video where you can’t tell what the hell is going on? BANG! – You get Orson Welles’ F for Fake coming your way down the block.

Yeah, I’ll even hit you with the original uncut version of GREED once I get that damned time machine repaired. Some old drunk in a seedy Baltimore bar back in 1957 told me where to find a pristine print, but the damn control box blew all six fuses when I was on the way back from a detour for some dinosaur sightseeing and I’m now stuck here in 2013. The gal who can fix the thing lives in 1942 and works at a Navy shipyard. And nope, Radio Shack does NOT have the parts I need (although they DID back in 1978). Oh well, it’s not So bad here in the present if I don’t watch the news at all…

Random Film of the Week: Mark of the Vampire

Posted on October 30, 2013 by geelw

(thanks, Passion4Horror!)

Confession time: I didn’t much care for the film version of Dracula. It took me three attempts to sit through that film as a kid, but it was less due to Bela Lugosi’s interestingly languid performance than the stiff “let’s put on a show!” Broadway staging most of the movie suffers from.

Over time I’ve finally come to respect and like the film a lot more, but have always found the Spanish language version far more compelling and fun to watch thanks to the additional scenes and excellent supporting cast. Unfortunately, the Dracula in that film chose to mimic Lugosi’s singular acting style a wee bit too much while the other actors eat up the scenery in that great manner supporting players do when they’re making the best of a meaty role.

Continue reading →

The Typing of the Dead Overkill Now On Steam: Shaky Hands May Actually Help…

Posted on October 30, 2013 by geelw

…and some really BIG keys to type on if you’re really a scaredy-cat. Granted, Sega’s hilarious offshoot of it’s popular classic arcade game series is more fun to play for fast typists with nerves of steel who aren’t squeamish about a bit of digital blood and guts, but the game is fun no matter what your typing skills. Now, I’m from the two-to-three finger school myself (using more makes my hands confused because they all want to hit the same keys (stupid fingers!), but I’ve played the classic Sega Dreamcast game The Typing of the Dead with my untaught tapping skills and did pretty darn well.

Anyway, this gory great little game is on sale NOW through Steam for a measly $9.99 and yes, comes highly recommended if you’re camping out at home on Halloween and want something different to do besides the usual scaring the crap out of kids stalking your doorway for candy. Of course, in a perfect world, parents would get this game for their kids and keep them at home where it’s nice and warm, but hey – you can’t stop those little monsters from wanting to go on the prowl for free treats on NON-holidays, so I guess tradition wins in the end…

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Out NOW On Steam AND GOG.com!

Posted on October 29, 2013 by geelw

I think I’ve written MORE about Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut more than anyone else this year, so I can do this with my eyes stapled shut. Er, NOT type this post with my eyelids, as I’d be in enough pain already and please, I’d want to sanitize my keyboard first, you know. Anyway, Swery 65’s horror/adventure sleeper finally arrives on PC via Steam and (this just in!) gog.com, both at 10% off the $24.99 price for a LIMITED time with a ton of excellent Steam or gog.com exclusive content.

If you’re new to the DP experience, DON’T go in expecting it to look like some uber next-gen game (the resolution is higher, but your new 3D card won’t be taxed much pumping out those graphics) or blow you away with action straight from a non-stop FPS. DO expect a surreal, highly stylized game that surprises at many turns while being deeper on some levels you won’t even see coming (well, provided you didn’t scour the internet for hints and spoilers). This one’s strangely addictive and thanks to the included DLC, you’ll be spending many hours in Greenvale as York while enjoying that FK in your coffee. “Whatever the heck is FK?” You ask? Well, dear readers… you’ll need to play the game to find out. So go do just that, I say…