Movies
Bloofer Lady Recommends: Volume #1
While we spend most of our time on Bloody Disgusting pushing forthcoming theatrical and home video releases, we thought it would be nice to tell you about other random products that you guys might dig. Bloofer Lady has joined our team and will be bringing you the odds and ends of the horror-verse. Read on for Volume #1 of “Bloofer Lady Recommends”.
Going Out In Style, written by Douglas Keister, examines architecture that is located in some of the most beautiful cemeteries in the United States. Did you know that some of the most famous American architects, including Stanford White the infamous `Red Velvet Swing’ murder victim, also designed mausoleums? Isn’t that peachy-keen? Included are big and beautiful color photographs that are fascinating to look at. Even Ghirardelli’s mausoleum from Bloofer Lady’s favorite cemetery, Mountain View in Oakland, is included. Also, Keister goes into detail about the different periods of cemetery construction and various mausoleum styles. This is a must have book for anybody interested in cemeteries and would look great placed on your coffin table.
This is one of the coolest documentaries that Bloofer Lady has ever seen. Scott Michaels, the brainchild behind the website www.Findadeath.com and Dearly Departed Tours in L.A., takes you around to the most famous death scenes in Hollywood and its surrounding areas. He gives detailed descriptions of what took place and shows you where the scenes are located so you can scope them out for yourself. The most chilling part is when he is let into the former apartment of actor Jack Cassidy, who burned to death inside. His ghost is supposed to haunt it and that segment sends shivers down my spine! Michaels knows what he is talking about and is fun to watch. You can go to the his website and purchase it there. It’s a scary good time!
This album by The Misfits changed Bloofer Lady’s life. Before I first heard it I didn’t know that such a perfect blend of punk and horror could possibly exist. Glenn Danzig’s deep voice makes me warm and fuzzy, while his lyrics talk about some of my favorite horror films. What a combination! Favorite songs include every single one of them. I’m not kidding, I love every single song on it. How can you not love such classics as `Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?’ and `Astro Zombies’? I have owned this album for about twenty years and I still listen to it on a regular basis. If you have never heard it do yourself a favor and go out and buy it, because you shouldn’t miss out on a chance to listen to one of the most influential horror punk albums ever made.
The Victorians loved celebrating death and were very sentimental about it. Considering that they lived with the specter of it hovering over them every day can you blame them? In order to remember their loved ones they would buy cameos, necklaces and other pieces of black jewelry in order to tell the world that they had lost a dearly beloved. The pieces were quite often made of jet, a type of coal, and some people, like Queen Victoria, wore such jewelry their whole lives. Mourning was a way of life by golly! They even made hair jewelry. That’s right, they took the hair of the deceased and wove it to make things. Spooky! These antiques can be quite expensive, which is a shame, since Bloofer Lady thinks that it would be awfully nifty for everybody to have a haunting piece of jewelry in their homes.
Black cats always get a bad rap, but they are nothing but cuddles and fun! Forget what you have heard about them bringing you bad luck, having a black cat in your house will bring you nothing but joy and happiness. Plus, when they shed you won’t see their fur all over your black clothes! Neato! My black cat is smart as a whip and can even play fetch. Imagine that, a spooky kitty that thinks it’s a dog! If you get a black cat not only will it fit into your planned Halloween decorations it can also make you feel warm and squishy because you will know that you helped save the life of a cute little spooky feline.
Visit Horror Crypt for more from Megan aka Bloofer Lady.
The trailer for Ti West’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol raised a lot of eyebrows when it dropped earlier this week. While plenty of folks initially dismissed Ebenezer as a derivative project meant to cash in on the recent wave of unnecessary prequels that expand the backstory of beloved characters (such as 2023’s Wonka), Charles Dickens’ original novel already made a point of exploring Ebenezer Scrooge’s origins in detail – meaning that this new film is likely just a particularly faithful adaptation of the source material under a different name.
Couple that with the fact that the movie is being helmed by a genuine horror auteur and I think it’s safe to say that the latest iteration of the first modern ghost story is in good hands.
That being said, one detail that immediately jumped out at me during the brief teaser (other than a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it nod to Johnny Depp’s iconic bedroom death scene from the original A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the fact that many of Ebenezer’s ghosts appear to have been directly lifted from the iconic John Leech illustrations that accompanied the first edition of Dickens’ novel.
Here are a couple of stills from the trailer compared to the original artwork:
The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Phantoms in ‘A Christmas Carol’ and ‘Ebenezer’
Marley’s Ghost in ‘Ebenezer’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’
Mainly working with old-school wood and steel engravings that would later be transferred to print, Leech was instrumental in crafting the iconic look of history’s most influential phantoms – especially since Dickens is said to have been deeply involved with the creation of these so-called “comic illustrations.”
And since the novel is commonly said to have popularized spiritualism in Victorian England, much of the ghostly iconography that we still see in genre media to this very day (including some of Ti West’s previous films) can be traced back to the author’s partnership with Leech.
Ebenezer won’t be the first A Christmas Carol adaptation to borrow heavily from these designs, but I can appreciate how Ti West is incorporating an important part of horror history into his latest film.
Ebenezer will be available in theaters starting November 13.
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