I used to post monthly "best of" posts recapping the coolest stuff that came my way every month. People seemed to like them, but I burned out on writing the posts. But--I'm giving it another go. What better month to kick things off again than October, the greatest month of all?
The Savage Hunt of King StakhAmong the rogue's gallery of horror movies I watched in October, The Savage Hunt of King Stakh really stood out as something special. Savage Hunt is a Belarussian film from 1980 that has recently been restored for the Deaf Crocodile imprint. The film is about a man who stumbles into the castle of a beautiful young woman who seems doomed to die from a horrible curse that haunts her family line; due to the misdeeds of the past, she believes she is fated to be killed by a spectral huntsman. Of course, there's more to the story that just the threat of looming catastrophe. Savage Hunt mixes folk horror, elements from from Euro Gothics, and a certain Radcliffean sensibility that feels rare in horror cinema. Beautifully filmed, this one haunted me for days after watching.
House of 1000 CorpsesI spent some time in October studying the Bible aka the recent House of 1000 Corpses production book. If you know me at all, you know that this movie means a whole hell of a lot to me. The book contains Rob Zombie's shooting script, behind the scenes and candid photographs, pre-production design illustrations, and stellar art by David Hartman. The House of 1000 Corpses book is probably only for the diehard fanatics, but fellow obsessives will thrill to see how lines from the film evolved, as well as all the material that was cut from the script. I love Rob Zombie's character drawings here; they absolutely capture the development of the film's grindhouse aesthetic. Also, the notes from the cast to Rob Zombie make it pretty clear that this project was a blast to work on. Now I gotta go watch the movie again for the thousandth time.
Jo Kaplan, When the Night Bells Ring and It Will Just Be UsI've been meaning to read a novel by Jo Kaplan for a while, so I decided there wouldn't be a better time than October. I read When the Night Bells Ring first and loved it so much that I immediately bought a copy of It Will Just Be Us to chase it with. (My copy of When the Night Bells Ring, purchased on eBay, came signed even though that wasn't mentioned in the listing--neat.)
When the Night Bells Ring is a novel with dual timeless. In the "present," we follow a duo of women scavenging for resources in a world ravaged by a climate apocalypse. Their roving takes them into an abandoned mine, where one of them is injured and their means of egress is taken away. As they explore, they find the journal of a woman who moved to the town that used to work the mine back in the nineteenth century. Her story is one of a wary community of miners who fear the predatory attacks that came from within the mine itself. The storylines converge in a really interesting way, but I won't spoil that big reveal. Instead--just pick this up.
In some ways, It Will Just Be Us is a much more straightforward read: the hermetically sealed life of a reclusive woman living in a haunted house with her aging, increasingly erratic mother is shaken up by the arrival of her pregnant sister. When her sister comes to stay after a fight with her husband, a new specter comes to the fore--and it might be the "ghost" of the main character's unborn nephew, prophesizing the atrocities that he will commit later in life. But what can be done to stop the coming of a monster? Between It Will Just Be Us and When the Night Bells Ring, Jo Kaplan has become an author to watch.
Frayle, Heretics & LullabiesDoom metal--with a pop sensibility? This shouldn't work, but it absolutely does. I've been a fan of Frayle for a while now, but it feels like they've been building up to their definitive release; their previous records are really good stuff, though you get the sense while listening to them that they were still assembling their unique voice. Heretics & Lullabies is the culmination of that effort--it's their first truly great album. The riffs are slow-moving and crushing, as the genre demands, but Gwyn Strang's whispery soft voice adds a texture you don't really get in doom metal. More importantly, the band isn't afraid of writing music with actual hooks in it.
Cartoon Roots: Halloween HauntsI picked up this disc of olde timey Halloween-themed cartoons dating from 1907-1936 on a whim. I went into this expecting nothing more than a collection of historical curiosities, but I came away pretty impressed by the inventiveness of these animated shorts; in particular, the way that older cartoons approach animation--the frenetic chaos of it, the melodramatic repetition of gesture--stands up pretty well for itself against more modern techniques and conventions. There is also a real willingness to get weird with it, possibly because there was no set template yet for what a cartoon should look like. Some of these are manic fever dreams, and they're all the more entertaining because of it.
Harris Lahti, Foreclosure GothicI was expecting a novel about the Gothic menace of the housing market--something dealing with the horror of losing a house to foreclosure or the ghosts of a failed home inherited by a new buyer--but what I got instead was a powerful, literary slice of life that is rich with the small triumphs and inevitable defeats that come with the human condition. And I am not mad about it. There are definitely creepy, supernatural things going on in this book, but it is in no way a "horror novel." Hopefully that warning will spare some of you from disappointment, but I do think this is a book worth checking out. The way it follows a man from his idealistic dreams of making it in Hollywood, falling in love with a enigmatic woman, changing the course of his life to become a house-flipper so he can have a family with her, etc. is done masterfully; both the broad brushstrokes and minute details used to portray a man's life are wondrous, and the use of voice in Foreclosure Gothic is a revelation.
We drove a hour each way to go to a one-screen theater in Manlius, NY to catch Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein before it hits Netflix. There I am, in front of the theater. As expected, del Toro beautifully captures the visual language of the Gothic; every scenic tableau is a field of morbid possibility and dread. Fair warning, though: anyone expecting a movie "accurate" to Mary Shelley's vision is bound to be disappointed. There are many changes in this version of the tale, particularly in the moral nature and tone of the ending. Personally, I'm fine with the changes--they're interesting, and they serve del Toro's purpose.
The one thing I was less enthused about was that the subtext is often made text by bits of ham-fisted dialog. When a character says "Victor--you are the monster" with his dying breath--it feels like the film isn't taking its audience seriously.
Jacob Elordi is especially fantastic as the monster. His performance is nuanced, capturing everything from a childlike misapprehension of the world around him to a seething cauldron of hatred and rage. I don't put much stock in film awards, but Elordi's work in Frankenstein should be recognized!
Caitlin Starling, The Graceview PatientOf all the types of "body horror," medical horror seems to hit the hardest, for me. Caitlin Starling's The Graceview Patient is about a woman at the end of her rope dealing with an autoimmune disorder. When she's offered the chance to take part in the clinical trial for a revolutionary, experimental treatment--well, she doesn't necessarily jump at the chance, but like many people facing a medical crisis it's the only hope she has left. Obviously, nothing is quite what it seems in the hospital, though the main character's perceptions are always in doubt due to her illness and the extreme nature of the treatment she's undergoing.
WNUF Halloween Special and Out There Halloween Mega TapeI spied this blu ray set of the WNUF Halloween Special and the Out There Halloween Mega Tape and just had to pick it up because of the retro-style art on the slipcase. I didn't even really know what I was getting; the copy on the back really played up the idea that this was a compilation of a local TV broadcast from yesteryear. Well, that's the conceit, at least. The WNUF Halloween Special looks like an 80s broadcast of a haunted house investigation, complete with pitch-perfect local TV commercials, but things go horribly wrong. The Out There Halloween Mega Tape is supposed to be a 90s broadcast on the same channel, but this time it focuses on the possibility of an alien visitation. These movies are hilarious, and they absolutely capture the retro Halloween feeling, but they're also totally credible as movies in their own rights. Pick this double-disc set up while you still can!
The Autumnal PilgrimageNo October is complete without a trip to the Corn Maize out at Stoughton Farm in Newark Valley, NY. This year I think we did a personal best: we finished both mazes in 36 minutes. I also love to hit up their refreshments. Got a bottle of my favorite root beer and tried Wild Bill soda, which was great. We topped the day off with a visit to Brickhouse Pizza Co. in Owego for one of their awesome pizzas. They have the little pepperoni that curls up into glorious cups of delicious grease. Best pizza in Owego.
