"Return Of The Living Dead" Print #2 - Godmachine

MOOOORE BRAINSSS!

As I was posting the last Return Of The Living Dead Tarman illustration from British artist Godmachine, he dropped another one! And this one is just as good!

2 hand-numbered color variants of everyone's favorite undead stringy slime guy crawling out of a Trioxin 245 barrel, rendered in Godmachine's signature dark and menacing comic style.

Grab one for yourself (and throw in a matching shirt!) over at Cellar Door Gallery.

 

"Return Of The Living Dead" Print - Godmachine

More BRAINSSS!

I am loving this Return of the Living Dead illustration by British artist, Godmachine. A creepy, comic-styled rendering of Tarman that still maintains a wonderfully dark and menacing feel. So much nostalgia for the film and an unexpected source of inspiration for an upcoming prop in the works.

Grab a shirt, grab a hoodie, grab a duffle bag. All are available on the Haus Of Godmachine website.

  

Slasher Dave - "Virus Of The Living Dead"

Slasher Dave's brand new release absolutely oozes with that ominous 70s tropical island groove that would make any maggot-ridden Italian zombie sit up. A straight homage to the blood-drenched horror films of Lucio Fulci and the glorious soundtracks of Fabio Frizzi, Virus Of The Living Dead is a superb throwback to Italian horror flair. Modern synth with a late 70s vibe. This is a must-add to your playlist. Enjoy!

The Creeps Are Creeping! The Spooks Are Spooking!

The undead have returned to Highbury Cemetery for tonight's trick-or-treat! (Yes, unfortunately it's tonight, not Halloween night like it should be...) But regardless, we have been hard at work getting the Cemetery ready to go for another year of creepy, crawly fun. The tombstones are out, the ghouls are gathered, the lights are in place...

One quick shot to whet your whistle, and then it's showtime for us. See you on the other side!

  

"Monsters In Therapy" Series by Iain Burke

Here's a cool little retro-inspired screenprint series that I found while perusing Etsy. Monsters In Therapy by Iain Burke of Mummy's Hand perfectly encapsulates that tiny dark corner of self doubt that sometimes boils up in each of us.

And yes, even spooky monsters aren't immune to it, as each character questions themselves in a unique and truly humorous way.

I really love the 60's old-school monster illustration style of the entire series, paired with bold blocks of color and cool typography. Simple, spooky fun! Enjoy!

Check out the full 13-print series over at the Mummy's Hand Etsy shop!

  

Throwback Thursday: Halloween, 1987

Time for one last Throwback Thursday photo for this Halloween season! My first three posts were hilarious photos from Halloweens long past: Halloween 1974-75, Halloween 1976-77, and Halloween, 1978-79. It's a great glimpse into a young boy's quest to finally find a "cool" trick-or-treat costume...

For the final installment, I'm going to jump ahead from the previous posts. I'm going to revisit Halloween, 1987 and a photo that I have never posted before!

In 1987, I was 14 years old. My partner-in-crime Jim and I were inseparable. We skated together. Listened to punk rock music together. And we loved all things horror! The 1980s was the golden age of horror films and were were both hooked! We managed to watch all of the Halloweens, Friday the 13ths, and Nightmare on Elm Streets that we could get our hands on. We even got to see a few underground flicks like Pieces, Motel Hell, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and An American Werewolf in London. The horror section at the local video store was a gold mine!! 

Our bible was Fangoria Magazine. We would scour each issue, paying special attention to the groundbreaking practical effects in all of the stories. And then we'd order all the catalogs that we could from the mask and f/x companies that advertised in the back of the mag. It was pure magic.

And during the Halloween season, we began to experiment with our own practical makeup effects. A far cry from the days of the old plastic Ben Cooper costumes!

Every time I see this photo, I laugh. It's a perfect snapshot of the time, showing exactly what we were into back then.

Simple wound appliances with cheap fake blood and rough makeup. And check out my mullet! Jim was always a mask guy, and rocked this gory masterpiece. (PLEASE NOTE: if anyone knows what company created this one, we would LOVE to know. He has been wanting to get another copy of it in his collection!)

This photo was taken at my grandmother's house. She had the perfect neighborhood to really score the candy during a night of trick-or-treating. It was actually one of the last years we went out, although we then transitioned into hitting as many haunted houses as we could during the season. And with living in Northeast Ohio, there were a TON of haunted houses to visit.

I get super nostalgic when I see this, because it reminds me of that weird time when we were no longer kids, but not quite teenagers. But it always makes me feel really good because these two ghouls are now 31 years older and they still dress up and celebrate Halloween together, visiting haunted houses, running our yard haunts and keeping the spirit alive for the next generation.

Happy Halloween everyone!

  

The Nightlight Cinema Presents "Four Nights of Fulci"

I'm pretty excited by Akron, Ohio independent theater The Nightlight Cinema's October movie lineup. Classic horror movies will be shown all month long, highlighted by a great selection of Italian splatter classics.

Starting tomorrow, The Nightlight, in conjunction with Weaver Media Productions and the Movie Freaks Podcast, will present "Four Nights of Fulci," showcasing Italian horror director Lucio Fulci's gory classics:

October 9 • The House By The Cemetery

Can anyone survive the demented marauding zombies in… THE HOUSE BY THE CEMETERY?

A New York professor moves out to the sticks to pick up the work of a colleague who got into a bit of a Shining situation when he murdered his mistress and then killed himself. Undeterred by his friend’s grotesque end, the good doctor packs up the wife and kid and moves into a dilapidated mansion that comes complete with a basement door that’s been nailed shut and a ghostly young girl that constantly tells everyone to get the hell out of there.

Brutal and borderline incomprehensible, even by the loose standards of Italian horror, The House by the Cemetery closes out director Lucio Fulci’s The Gates of Hell trilogy, the director’s loose collection of atmospheric apocalyptica (The other films are The Beyond and The City of The Living Dead). Set atop a wintry hill, constantly swept in fog, The House by the Cemetery passes along like a dream. Slick with rot, the particulars of its motives and story fade away in favor of atmosphere and imagery.

- Nitehawk Cinema

October 10 • Zombie 

We Are Going To Eat You!

This audaciously disgusting spectacle from the late master of gruesome horror, Lucio Fulci, was posited as a semi-sequel to George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which was released in Italy as Zombi.

Tisa Farrow and a group of vacationing tourists travel to an island where they find a doctor (Richard Johnson) who is attempting to cure a condition that reanimates the dead. Things quickly get out of control as undead Spanish conquistadors crawl from their graves hungry for human flesh. The nauseatingly graphic set-pieces by Gianetto de Rossi include a close-up of a woman’s eye being pierced by a large shard of wood and a zombie fighting a Great White shark underwater. This relatively well-made shocker was enormously popular worldwide and led to the zombie-gore film becoming the dominant motif of 1980s Italian horror.

October 16 • City Of The Living Dead

[City of the Living Dead is a] surreal Italian gutmuncher from gore-maestro Lucio Fulci! A priest commits suicide and unwittingly opens the gateway to hell. The rotting dead rise from their graves to feed on the living in gruesome fashion, while a psychic and a journalist attempt to stop the rancid carnage. This is Lucio Fulci at his finest, so prepare yourself for zombie killing, head drilling, intestine spilling mayhem! Powered by Fabio Frizzi’s creepy soundtrack and top notch special effects.
 
- Hollywood Theatre

October 17 • The Beyond

A remote and cursed hotel, built over one of the seven gateways to Hell, becomes a yawning malevolent abyss that begins devouring both the bodies and the souls of all who enter in a graphic frenzy of gory crucifixions, chunkblowing chain-whippings, eyeball impalements, sulphuric acid meltdowns, flesh-eating tarantulas, throat-shredding demon dogs and ravenous bloodthirsty zombies. The Beyond is a towering achievement in hair-raising, mind-bending cinematic terror!

- Music Box Theatre


I have seen all of the films except The Beyond, but I definitely plan on attending as many of these showings as I can. This should be a ton of fun and should serve nicely to get us to Halloween! Hope to see you there! 

 

Happy Memorial Day!

Highbury Cemetery salutes all of our veterans on this Memorial Day!

 

Merry Scary Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very Scary Christmas from Highbury Cemetery! And here's to a ghoulish 2014!! We'll see everyone in the new year.

Santa "The Zombie Killer" Christmas card courtesy of Benjamin Tripp and his novel, "Rise Again."

Lorain County Zombie Walk, 2013

I had a chance to get out to Amherst, Ohio yesterday and attend the 2013 Lorain County Zombie Walk. I got the updated zombie costume ready and with my mom and aunt in tow, set out to spook the city!

This year, we showed up early and got a chance to snap a bunch of photos. Tons of zombies, survivors, soldiers, hearses, makeup artists, bands and vendors gathered to create a successful canned food walk to benefit Lorain County's Second Harvest Food Bank. A big, big thanks to L.C.Z.O.R.T. for setting up this annual event!


Got the chance to try out the new contact lenses!

There were lots of zombies...

...as well as a hearse/vw bus/car show.

The Umbrella Corporation showed up in full force. These guys did not mess around...

At the end of the walk, I was handed a slip of paper. I had done it! I had been selected as a contestent (sic) for the Best Zombie Costume...

I lined up with 5 other zombies to be judged on makeup, props and character...

...only to lose both Best Zombie Costume AND People's Choice Awards to the Steak & Shake zombie family and their secret weapon...

The cutest damn zombie baby who was munching on human fingers!

And even though I was bested by a pint-sized flesh eater, I still had a great day lumbering around for a really great cause. I can't wait to come back next year where I'll employ a secret weapon of my own - MY BABY!!!!!!!

 

New Zombie Contact Lenses

So in my last installment, I made mention of the fact that I didn't get my new zombie contact lenses in time for the Midwest Haunters Convention Masquerade Ball. They did in fact show up the day that I was already at the convention. Oh well, at least they showed up and I finally had a chance to pop them in to see how they looked.

I ended up ordering the Anakin Sith lenses from Demon Eyez. I wanted to go with more of a "Walking Dead" style zombie look, so I ordered a set that had more of an "infected" look as opposed to the traditional "whiteout" style (which I still have as a backup set).

They did take about 2 weeks to show up, but I didn't realize that they shipped from jolly old England. And even though they did take a while, I'm still really pleased with them. Very vibrant colors and cheaper than I've seen anywhere else. With a little bit of makeup, they will draw a lot of attention when they make their public debut at an upcoming zombie walk...

I even had a minute to photoshop a quick mockup of what the original zombie costume should have looked like with the new lenses. With a few color tweaks, this will be a big upgrade for the 2013 haunt season.

Day Of The Dead Zombie Mask by Trick or Treat Studios

I just came across this new Day Of The Dead Zombie mask, sculpted by Kelly Mann for Trick or Treat Studios.

From their site:

Keeping in the tradition of Trick or Treat Studios love for the unique and our love for the Mexican Day of the Dead Festival, Kelly Mann created the most incredible Zombie Halloween Mask ever produced, a mask we call the Day of the Dead Zombie.

The Day of the Dead Zombie is an artistic masterpiece of mask making and comes with 360 degrees of artist wonder. This Day of the Dead Halloween Mask has it all, including hearts, flowers, a moon, a cross and an ultra cool eight ball. This is the ultimate Halloween Mask to celebrate the Day of the Dead.

So get yourself a plane ticket to Mexico, our Day of the Dead Zombie Halloween Mask and march the streets of Mexico!

Pre-orders are being taken now and can be ordered here. This sweet piece of latex will be making its way to my shelf shortly!

 

2012 Props: Zombie Lanterns

Here is a quick costume accessory that I whipped up for our Midwest Haunters Convention masquerade ball costumes. I knew going in that a simple zombie costume just wouldn't cut it, so I took two old IKEA lanterns that were in my basement and created voodoo zombie lanterns.

Here is what I did:

I started with 3 cans of spray paint: Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Satin Black, Valspar Plastic (68123 Satin Chestnut), and Valspar Interior/Exterior Satin (85202 Satin La Fonda Copper).

I started by lightly cleaning the old lanterns.

I taped over all of the glass with masking tape and coated it with the Satin Black base coat.

After the black base coat had dried, I did an uneven, light coat of the Valspar Chestnut, being sure to leave portions of the black base coat visible. When the Chestnut dried, I very lightly spattered the Valspar Copper over everything. This made it look like speckles of rust. I was able to get the paint to spatter by doing quick, light taps on the spray nozzle from a slightly longer distance away than if you were trying to get a full coating.

At this point, I repeated the same Chestnut misting and Copper spattering to an 8-foot section of black plastic chain that I had picked up at Lowe's. The 8-foot section would then be cut into two 4-foot sections, one for each lantern. I also coated two quick links in the same paint, as they were used to attach the chain to the lantern handle.

Once all of the paint was dry, I attached the chain with the quick link and removed all of the masking tape from the glass panels on the lantern. I then put an LED flicker tea light in the lantern to see where we were at. Notice the spatters of the Valspar Copper to mimic rust.

I then used some old brown latex paint that was heavily watered down and streaked it on all of the glass panels. This gave a nice, smudged look. When the brown paint had dried, I took some heavily watered down old green latex paint (the same paint that I use for all of my tombstones) and gave a light, overall wash to the rest of the lantern. This gave a really nice patina and completed the weathered look. The final detail was to add some spanish moss, and to snap some atmospheric photos of our new voodoo zombie lanterns. They were a big hit at this year's MHC masquerade ball and they will definitely be a part of our zombie costumes from here on out.

Photo by Laura Dark Photography.