"Scary Sounds Of The Night" CD

Another Friday in October means another Freebie Friday!

This week's offering was another blind purchase. When the CD case states, "This CD is guaranteed to create the ultimate creepy atmosphere with its chilling sound effects, haunting melodies, and pulse-pounding orchestrations" you don't take that bold claim lightly.

But then you see the silly, childlike illustration of the owl and witch on the front cover and think there is no way the bold claim could be true. Could it?

This week's offering is Scary Sounds of the Night from 1997. I think. Because the polar opposites of the artwork becomes a theme once you actually open the CD case, too. The CD artwork says the release is called Scary Sounds of the Night. But when you actually insert the CD, the album is simply referred to as Halloween Night. A telltale sign that nefarious bootlegging is going on, but also a telltale sign that we are in for something good!

And yes, the audio itself is surprisingly good! It starts off with the standard, echoing "spooky sounds" collection, but then it morphs into a cool mix of organ and sounds, and then rolls back into a collection of high-quality sounds (thunder, organ, howling wolves, cats, heartbeats, etc.). Plus the CD quality production makes this a better-than-average release. And at just over an hour in length, it is well worth the listen.

Don't judge this book by its cover! Give this one a spin and prepare to be guaranteed to be scared!

DOWNLOAD "SCARY SOUNDS OF THE NIGHT" HERE.

Ken Russell's "The Devils"

In 17th-century France, Father Grandier (Oliver Reed) is a priest whose unorthodox views on sex and religion influence a passionate following of nuns, including the sexually obsessed Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave). When the power-hungry Cardinal Richelieu (Christopher Logue) realizes he must eliminate Grandier to gain control of France, Richelieu portrays Grandier as a satanist and spearheads a public outcry to destroy the once-loved priest's reputation.

“The restoration of the material is like cleaning the Sistine Chapel with saliva. It is insane, the epic size of the film. I mean, I’ve seen it on the big screen in Telluride at a theater – but I’ve never, never seen the movie until I saw this restoration.” - Guillermo del Toro

An enduring masterpiece of cinema starring Academy Award-winner Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed, Ken Russell's The Devils is a prescient epic of obsession and corruption – and a defining work of art from seminal filmmaker Ken Russell. 

Assembled from the original camera negative, this new 4K restoration presents Ken Russell’s definitive vision of The Devils by referencing the edit he privately constructed in 2004. Ken Russell's The Devils is the uncut and unfiltered theatrical experience that Russell always envisioned – and the first time the film will be presented restored and in 4K.

I actually didn't know anything about this 1971 film but was super excited to go see it in the theater after watching the trailer...only to find out that the nearest theater to me playing this is 22 miles away. Dang. Hopefully they release this on a streaming service. Go see this if you can, as it's only in theaters for one week starting tomorrow.

The Neighborhood Trick-Or-Treat Flyer (AND Signs!)

The annual neighborhood trick-or-treat announcement flyers have finally been printed and are ready to be distributed to 125 houses throughout my development. And this year, it comes with a little extra...

In recent years, I have become the unofficial official flyer creator and distributor, which I do without complaint. Designed and printed by me and distributed by my son and a few of his neighborhood friends, we fulfill the incredibly important task of signaling the countdown to the big night.

And every October, we have abided by the HOA-mandated trick-or-treat date being the Sunday before Halloween. We have followed our Township's general rule, which truth be told, didn't always make sense. Especially to a Halloween purist like myself. But I begrudgingly went along each time, and managed to still always have a good turnout and fun event.

Now fast forward to this year. Someone noted on our neighborhood Facebook group that Halloween fell on a Saturday and trick-or-treat should be moved to that date. And cue the hysteria. Neighbors agreeing. Neighbors disagreeing. Neighbors claiming a different date would only cause mass confusion. Neighbors creating polls to vote on the date (Halloween night won by a 75% to 25% margin), the HOA chiming in with a long list of points to not change the date, only to then come back days later saying the final decision was not legally up to them, and then finally a consensus decision to change it to Saturday, October 31st... and it only took THREE WEEKS of back-and-forth.

But did we just slay the dragon? Did we just get a say in planning our neighborhood festivities?? I think we did! So as the unofficial official flyer maker, I chimed in stating that the date change would be called out in the new flyer and I also volunteered to create signs for the entrances to our development. This way, there would be absolutely positively no confusion as to when it was.

This whole thing has been a crazy round-and-round, but I think the smart decision was made in the end. Why not have trick-or-treat on Saturday, Halloween night, so that kids can stay out later and enjoy the evening's festivities throughout the neighborhood??

So after all of that, the flyers will be going into every mailbox this afternoon and the new signs will go up at the entrances to our development. Job done for another Halloween. We are getting closer! Are you ready?

Halloween 'Zines: Witch's Brew

Last year, I added a new feature to my October blogging: Halloween 'zine reviews!! Growing up as a punk rock kid, I collected many a fanzine through the years. Small, DIY handmade photocopied, low-budget mini magazines that covered all aspects of the music genre, created and produced by the very participants within that scene. There's just something about holding a small magazine that was created and assembled by hand that always felt so tactile and genuine to me. And when I later became a home haunter, I discovered the same medium and immediately began collecting them.

First up is Dr. Wolfenbergen's Witch's Brew No. Deux 'zine. A while back, I picked up the first issue of Witch's Brew, a cool, giant 14" x 20" 8-page fold-out zine full of Dr. Wolfenbergen's signature horror illustrations done in a bold, block color, degraded comic style.

This year, I went back and ordered the second issue, a smaller 6.5" x 10",  30-page follow up, filled with new signature illustrations.

While there is no copy on any of the pages, the real selling point of this zine is definitely the art on each page. Wonderful old degraded, comic-style horror illustrations with blown out halftones and photocopy residue. Absolute bliss for your eyeballs! And check out all of that extra swag that came with it!!

Both highly recommended issues of Witch's Brew are still available in limited quantities over at Dr. Wolfenbergen's Big Cartel page.

And if you dig the stylized illustrations as much as I do, you can still get the limited glow-in-the-dark "Reaper" silkscreened poster, too!

Jeff Greinke - "The Moor"

I have shared this track in previous years, but I wanted to revisit it again. Audio plays a huge part in my annual display, setting the right amount of creepiness to support the visual aspect of the haunt. Get the audio wrong and the display loses any effectiveness in creating a cohesive, creepy feel. Which is why I have searched many genres to find just the right sound...

I make no secret of my love of the dark ambient music genre. It sets such a great uneasy mood, and I have always thought that it works really well in haunt settings. With no recognizable patterns or vocals, the audio sits nicely in the background, supporting and heightening the tension of the haunt setting, never becoming a distracting focus.

For years I have been using various dark ambient tracks in my yard haunt, and in the last 5 or 6 I have settled on what I have found to be a perfect track. A wonderful, dark balance of creepiness and eerie foreboding. I absolutely love this track and every time I play it, it instantly takes me into the middle of my yard haunt display...

Enjoy the unofficial haunt soundtrack of Highbury Cemetery, artist Jeff Greinke's 1992 dark ambient masterpiece, The Moor.

New Holland Brewing - Ichabod Pumpkin Ale

It's shocking to me that in this second week of October, most of the pumpkin beers have already vanished. I can only guess that grocers are already making way for the seasonal beers of that OTHER holiday... And it sure does make it difficult for rankings in the highly scientific Drunken Jackos Rating System, but nonetheless here we go.

Even with the slim pickings, I was still able to grab a six pack of New Holland Brewing's Ichabod Pumpkin Ale out of New Holland, Michigan. I cracked a can from the pack and was met with a subtle earthy note, that actually left me wanting something more. The beer itself poured a nice, rich copper hue and held a firm head, and quickly progressed to a slight cinnamon sweet note.

On first sip, any hope of a cinnamon pumpkin flavor was immediately bypassed by an overall and lasting malt dryness that lingered at the back of the throat. And that dry aftertaste lingered well after the first few sips.

Overall, this beer had a flat, dry and earthy flavor with an overly pronounced dry aftertaste. Not what I was expecting and not what I was hoping for. Maybe a beer for those looking for a more roasted, malty, nutty flavor.

So with that flat flavor and that aftertaste, New Holland Brewing's Ichabod Pumpkin Ale gets a 2 out of 5 Drunken Jackos. I made it through one can, but the rest will go into the party cooler for Halloween night.

I sure hope that I can find a few more pumpkin beers this season. So far, the scale hasn't pinged any real standouts...