Aug 28th Horror Trivia Screening Guide

To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.

Cuckoo (2024)

Humane (2024)

Uncle Sam (1996)

Midsommar (2019)

The Brood (1979)

Under Paris (2024)

Fall (2022)

Becky (2020)

Under The Skin (2013)

Creepers (1985)

Demons (1985)

Repo: The Genetic Opera (2008)

Studio 666 (2022)

The Lure (2015)

Duel (1971)

Trilogy of Terror (1975)

Ghostwatch (1992)

Salem's Lot (1979)

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2010)

Threads (1984)

Someone's Watching Me! (1978)

Cat Scratch Fever

A Fond Farewell.

Skinny Puppy played their last show in Toronto on Wednesday. And it was awesome.

First time at History, it's pretty swanky.

Ogre live.

“I hope you make sure we're properly dead before you start oh Rip Beak!”

R.I.P. Angelo Badalamenti (1937-2022)

Gutted to hear of the passing of composer Angelo Badalamenti. He was 85. This man was a creative giant and composed the music for my favourite soundtrack of all time - Fire Walk With Me. Rest in peace.

Glad + Sad.

A banner weekend is upon me. Not only is The Quarry out, but it's also my niece's 25th birthday as well as the Spooky Flea Market, TSFF, the Sigur Ros show and my gal Valentina is fighting.

However, heard about Julee Cruise and that's a big bummer.

Rest in peace Ms. Cruise, hope you find the White Lodge.

PG For Short!

Psycho Goreman is now streaming on Shudder. And what better way to celebrate than a 90s themed rap video.

Sick indeed.

Here below is the new video from Milkblood entitled Sick Of Being Honest featuring a creature designed by my artist pal Trevor Henderson.

It's been really cool seeing Trevor's creations show up around the 'Net. Reactions to his Siren Head creation remind me of how Slender Man got started back in the day. It starts with discussion groups and fan videos (even a indie game at this point) and next thing ya know, it's on popular YT shows. Can a movie be far behind? Couldn't happen to nicer cat.

House of Shock 2020

Behold! Canuxploitation curator Paul Corupe's newest Halloween mix tape. Enjoy, boils and ghouls! 

Yes Please!

John Carpenter recently revealed there will be a third stanza of his awesome music series Lost Themes. Here's a preview track.

The album drops February 5 via Sacred Bones. Cannot wait!

Apt Title

My Youtube viewership has ballooned over the last few months (I may actually do a future post on the individuals who have been keeping me going during this trash fire of a year) and in doing so I discovered another retrowave band by the name of Midnight Danger.

Here's a track from their latest album called Endless Nightmare. Enjoy!

R.I.P. Ennio Morricone 1928-2020

Here's a fond farewell to perhaps the greatest composer that ever lived. Rest in peace, Ennio Morricone.

Rise of The Synths.

I just watched this cool synthwave doc on Vimeo.

It's now available for rent here. If you're a fan, it's pretty comprehensive and will probably give you at least a half dozen new artists to follow up on.

A Familiar Monstrosity.

After winning monthly horror trivia at Storm Crow, I took home this eye-catching vinyl.

Easiest way to describe Bukkakecore is aggressive drum & bass with Japanese porn samples mixed into it. It's actually pretty bangin'. Anyhoo, when I actually took a good look at the cover, I realized it looked familiar. Only someone as batshit as Japanese artist Shintaro Kago could come up with something like this. I recognized it because I happened to meet him at his art show a few years back at TCAF.

Artist Shintaro Kago at TCAF 2016

Weird how things come around like that, isn't it?

Short of the Week #81: Withorwithout

This music video for the band Parcels is a bit old, but I dig the High Tension/You're Next vibe. Plus it's got Milla and terrific direction from Benjamin Howdeshell. Enjoy!

Videogram Lunchmeat

A few weeks back, Swedish synthwave artist Videogram put his Lunchmeat VHS tape on YouTube. It was originally released in 2015 to commemorate his self titled album and features his music set to clips from such grindhouse flicks as Driller Killer, Naked Massacre and Alien Factor. Enjoy.

For more info on Videogram, click here.

More Like "On Bore" Amirite?

This week's VHS was Don Edmonds' 1980 rock n' roll slasher, Terror on Tour.

Several women are being murdered during concerts of controversial rock band The Clowns. Could the killer be a fan? Or even a member?

I'm not sure what I was expecting with this movie, but considering it was from the guy who brought us the first two Ilsa flicks I surely hoped for something less dull as dirt.

Technically it's a slasher in that nubile groupies were picked off one by one, but the movie meandered so much I often wondered if I was watching either a Drugs PSA or a biopic about a hot new rock band. Pacing was a huge problem, as the killer's most brazen rampage happened like thirty minutes into the movie. There's nowhere to really go from there, right? And they didn't even pay off the fact the band were using trick knives onstage to stab their go-go dancers. That's a no-brainer.

It didn't help that like, six people were all wearing the same black-and-white make-up, so there's no way to really differentiate anyone. Literally the only ones with anything to work with at all, are the two roadies – both red herrings, as one paints his face wishing he could be in the band and the other gets pissed because his alcoholism gets him fired. I mean, Imdb had to tell me “The Soup Nazi” was in this.

No idea which guy this is...

And then there were the female roles, such as they were. Meaty roles in slashers (if you're not the Final Girl of course) were anemic at best, but there was no hiding the fact that ladies were meant to be empty knife holders. The sound on my VHS was pretty tinny, but I could swear that one of these chicks comes up to a band member at one point and says. “I think you're better than The Beatles or the Kiss.” Shit, Dyanne Thorne could've helped this movie immensely.

Terror On Tour was made at the height of the slasher boom so there's really no excuse for to how stale it was. I mean, even assuming the music was supposed to be this movie's strength, it's not even as catchy as the ditties presented in stuff like New Year's Evil and Killer Party.

redruM

Hey all. Since ceasing my Don't Kill the Messenger weeklies, I don't really post about cool stuff on the Net anymore, but I couldn't pass this one up. Here's the new video from Australian artist Pogo aka Nick Bertke where he makes music with sounds from Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining.

I've literally watched this thing a dozen times since I discovered it last week. I wish I had the equipment/time/inspiration to do shit like this. For more of Pogo's videos, check out his YT channel here.

Rats!

Rats make everything better. Ghost agrees with me! Here's their new video where they go all Italian horror!!!

Thursday Beats!

Here's the latest video from Videogram for the single “Test Subject 011” using some very familiar visuals. Enjoy!

Check out Videogram's Bandcamp by clicking here.

John Carpenter in Toronto.

The maestro John Carpenter brought his Anthology tour to Toronto on Sunday night. I had taken a huge gamble not travelling to NYC when he played there last year in hopes he would eventually come here, and it paid off. What an amazing show!

Looking out at the crowd around me, it was a who's who of the GTA horror community. It was a popular comment on my social media feeds that this show was akin to a religious experience and truth be told, for a bunch of heathens like us, this is about as close as it gets. And pray at the altar we did.

The almost ninety-minute set hit all the greatest scores of Carpenter's illustrious career as well as selections from his Lost Themes album including my favourite track, Wraith. For those who missed it, here's a little taste. Enjoy!