R.I.P. VICTOR MILLER

For writing Friday the 13th, you became horror royalty, with your grisly effort bestowing Betsy Palmer her most memorable role as the demented Pamela Voorhees. You also gave us the young, dream-invading Jason (Ari Lehman), who'd evolve into a relentless killer in a slew of successful sequels. 

Beyond the blood-splattered Camp Crystal Lake, you cowrote (with Earl Mac Rauch) the cult favorite, A Stranger Is Watching, based on Mary Higgins Clark's novel, and directed by Friday's Sean S. Cunningham.

In addition, you scripted Rock, Paper, Scissors, aka Rock Paper Dead (with Kerry Fleming); The Black Pearl (with Tony Record, based on Scott O'Dell's novel); Manny's Orphans (with Steve Minor, fellow Friday collaborator); and Eden Falls (with Martin Rogers and director Michael Coulombe).  

To accompany your screenwriting pursuist, you composed many books, nine of which were based on Telly Savalas' Kojak, accompanied by The Book of Worries: Hundreds of Horrible Things That Can Happen to You; Giving in to Get Your Way; Aikido in Everyday Life (with Terry Dobson); Fernanda; Windborne; Toga Party; The Glory Sharer; Hide the Children; Angel's Blood; and the Ancient Rome and American Dynasty trilogies. 

On television, you struck gold of a whole other sort, supplying acclaimed and award-winning storylines for The Guiding Light, All My Children, Another World and One Life to Live.

You were exceptional in so many ways, with so many genres, Mr. Miller, possessing a talent that could make one shiver, laugh and scrutinize everyday life. Because of that, your contributions will be recalled and cherished, keeping your legacy forever fastened, forever venerated. 

PINUP TIME: FARRAH FAWCETT IS HOLLY

 

VIDEODROME DARK FICTION ANTHOLOGY ANNOUNCEMENT

The next, Eighth Tower Dark Fiction curation (after the in-the-pipeline, Blind Dead anthology) will be based on the alternate-reality concepts of David Cronenberg's Videodrome. 

My story is entitled "Anomaly Drome," and deals with two alternate realities (loose variants of what's featured in the film) and a strange, animated formation that resembles a hand, a blue hand, to be precise. The anomaly "befriends" a gent named Robert "Bob" Riddance, and all seems cool and comfy between them, but then ... well, I don't wish to spoil the outcome, but it gets bizarre, damn bizarre. 

There's no release date set on this Videodrome derivative, but what's brewing does show enormous potential and should more than hold its own with Dark Fiction's best and strangest offerings.

Stay tuned ...✋

FOR THE FUN OF IT:

 

(HORROR OF) DRACULA: A CLASSIC MONSTERS OF THE MOVIES TRIBUTE (REVISED)

Classic Monsters of the Movies writers/researchers Nige Burton & Jamie Jones have mastered a new ("from-the-ground-up"), 36-pg edition for Hammer's breakthrough re-imagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula.

With Classic Monsters' Dracula (1958), aka Horror of Dracula (as it's known in America), we're dealing with a preluding, magazine release for the upcoming, restored version of the movie, which is said to feature once-presumed-lost footage.  

However, for what fans already know and adore, there's much to bite with this "ultimate edition." Burton & Jones not only cover the extensive construction of Hammer's classic, but delve into the geniuses who ensured it would be one to remember. Such includes director Terence Fisher, producer Anthony Hinds, screenwriter Jimmy Sangster, cinematographer Jack Asher, makeup artist Philip Leaky and composer James Bernard. 

The cast also receives deserved reverence, with affectionate bios on Christopher Lee (the titular Count), Peter Cushing (Professor Van Helsing), Michael Gough (Arthur Homewood), Melissa Stribling (Mina Homewood), Carol Marsh (Lucy Homewood), John Van Eyssen (Jonathan Harker), Charles Lloyd-Peck (Dr. Seward), Olga Dickie (Gerda), Janina Faye (Tani) ... and Valerie Gaunt (a succulent, vampire bride).  

The contents are packed with trivia, quotes and above all, exquisite photos, which capture the adaptation's amazing ambiance. 

There's no question that (Horror of) Dracula is not only one of the best horror movies ever made, but one of the best, all-around movies ever made. Burton & Jones deserve enormous credit for putting this edition together. Like the movie upon which it's based, this Classic Monsters edition is, without any dispute, one to savor and praise.

Stake your copy before the sun ascends!

https://www.classic-monsters.com/shop/product/dracula-1958-ultimate-guide-new-edition-signed-art-print/

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: SKYVIEW COMBOS (CRITTERS 2, BEETLEJUICE & PALS)

 

SALLY THE ZOMBIE CHEERLEADER'S GHOUL'S GUIDE TO HORROR: BLOOD DINER

Sally the Zombie Cheerleader has dropped a new Ghoul's Guide to Horror for her faithful, hungry-for-knowledge fleshies. It's on director Jackie (The Being) Kong's 1987, supernatural, cannibal opus, Blood Diner. 

Written by Michael Sonye, Blood Diner pays tribute to the gruesome flicks of Herschell Gordon Lewis, in particular his gory groundbreaker, Blood Feast. That means Blood Diner is grisly yet funny and would fit without a hitch into Lewis' ghastly queue.

Sally explains how the film did, in fact, begin as a Blood Feast sequel, though over time morphed into a variation on a serial killer/occultist named Anwar Namtut, whose disinterred brain is kept alive in a jar. The diabolical Anwar instructs his goofy, diner-owner nephews (the Tutmans) to gather female body parts to reconstruct the evil deity, Sheetar (aka Shitar), and use the scraps to feed an unwitting public. (Again, the concept isn't far removed from Blood Feast, seasoned with a wee sampling of Lewis' The Gruesome Twosome, among other satirical ingredients featured in the director's many horrific shares ... um, scares.) 

On further note, Sally dissects Blood Diner's production particularities and gives a thorough overview of its cast and crew, which includes an interesting reveal on Ms. Kong. And for added, educational enlightenment, the snappish SkeleKat is present to footnote Sally's tasty tutorial.

If you have a hankering for a devilish, diner dish, then this ghoulish lesson is one you shouldn't miss:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6Vd0QbdcMM