Month: October 2024

Retro Ad of the Week: Halloween 1978

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr. / 9 Comments

Two more days… I remember when the original 1978 Halloween came out, I was living in Essex, MD and there was (and still is today, huzzah!) Bengie’s Drive-In Theater. We would pass the giant marquee advertising in bold letters: “HALLOWEEN.” Now, I don’t recall seeing the t.v. ads since I was only 8 eight years old, only that I figured it must have been a battle royale of classic monsters on Halloween night. Thus, I hocked the crap out my mom and stepdad to take me. True story!

They never caved, of course, and I laugh now at their faces I didn’t read for what they were until I became a parent myself and found myself in similar situations. I held the line with my kid to a certain timeframe, using my own path in horror exploration to what I felt was age appropriate. He dogs me all the time joking about it.

By the time I saw Carpenter’s original masterpiece, Halloween was coming on t.v. for the first time. Real deep fans of Michael Myers thus know there is a t.v. broadcast edit out there where some scenes were cut and 12 extra minutes were shot, including Jamie Lee Curtis wearing a towel over her head to hide her new crop. Best of all those t.v. only edits contained a deep probe into the sanitarium where little Michael was being held.

Let me tell you something, that scene creeped me out harder than the rest of the movie and I was on edge the entire way. To see a kid in my age bracket look utterly satanic like that! I happen to have a copy of the t.v. edit thanks to my dear friends, Jodi and Stan, two OG horror fiends like myself. By the time I saw the uncut version of Halloween, I was giddy at what I missed (P.J. Soles, looking at you, sister), but I also felt the sanitarium scenes could’ve been made part of an “Ultimate Cut” version.

Still my absolute favorite horror film EVER, Halloween 1978 has its flaws, and I tend to get surrounded with cynics eager to point them out, lol, but it’s the raw, primal fear factor John Carpenter shoved at us. He transformed a Hollywood neighborhood into a fictitious Midwestern terror zone and there is still nothing scarier than the initial WTF moments Mikey is stalking Jamie Lee before Carpenter takes his finger off the trigger long enough to leave you ripe for a Myers-style picking. You can’t kill The Boogeyman!

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

The Writing Life is When…

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr. / 9 Comments

The writing life…when the words burst most days, dam up on occasion. When you cheer on your colleagues, study the masters intently and chew on a healthy curd of envy you learn to eat in moderation lest it eats you in return. You gnaw through your failures and avoid temptation to respond to rejections. More often than not, there’s a growth opportunity in turndowns.

When format becomes as important as content. When you take a sip of your favorite drink to hide the sighs during comeuppance. When the marketing and networking supercedes your creative time. Giving your loved ones their just dues, even when you lose a day or night of work.

Rejoicing when you get that publication notice, dropping humble, fun, engaging interaction when being invited to be interviewed. Knowing how damn lucky you are even on a slow sales day when a reader travels far to buy your work based on name, or if you’re really lucky, newly vested friendship. Knowing an autograph is a sacred bond with someone who cares enough about your work to seek you out.

I love this chase as much as it pains me at times. I’m on my way up, however long it takes. I have felt both lonely and well in-arms with a wide world of fellow scribes who get me and vice versa. I pray my desire stays true until I have nothing left to give, having left my mark I some fashion that says I am a writer.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

Throwback Thursday Jam – Nekromantix – “Life is a Grave and I Dig It!”

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr. / 2 Comments

With Halloween only two weeks away, it’s time to ramp up the ghoul flicks and the terror jams!

Danish psychobilly legends Nekromantix are perhaps the greatest of their kind, taking what Reverend Horton Heat laid down for them and their punk-slappy imitators. We’re talking rockabilly trio style with guitar, drum and standup bass, 1950s style rock ‘n roll juiced by a speed freak’s wherewithal, almost always set to horror themes.

Since 1989, Kim Nekroman has been thwacking the tar out of his trademark coffin bass with terrror odes that swing and bop in Duane Eddy and Gene Vincent fashion in one breath, setting velocity records of madcap horror ‘core for more than half of each Nekromantix album.

2007’s Life is a Grave and I Dig It! is perhaps the group’s best and most polished album (though I favor 1992’s Brought Back to Life and 2002’s Return of the Loving Dead for their fearless bravado), for certain their greatest guitar work delivered by Troy Destroy, who is genius level here.

Shred!

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.

Cover Reveal for “Behind the Shadows,” by Ray Van Horn, Jr.

/ Ray Van Horn, Jr. / 6 Comments

I’ve been champing at the bit for this. At last, the cover reveal for my new horror collection, Behind the Shadows, snaggly artwork by the brilliant Matt Slay. 10 tales of terror culled from my love of Stephen King, EC horror comics, Bram Stoker, Saturday night ghost hosts, baseball and 80s horror with a few contemporary twists. Coming for ya soon!

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.