Let's Talk About Horror Fiction and Film

[Spaceman Spiff]

Svengoolie continues to be great; literally everything I've been wanting in a horror host. I really wish you got him out there. I have no doubt you'd enjoy him.

I've placed my order for The Whisperer in Darkness Blu-ray, since the HPLHS is now taking orders. I threw in a tentacle pint glass for good measure.

Other than those purchases, I've been kind of neglecting my horror needs lately, aside from Svengoolie. I need to remedy that. I've been feeling the urge to have a great time with a horror flick in the theater, and I hope The Cabin in the Woods will deliver that. I've also been hearing good things about the African zombie movie, The Dead, so I'll check that out.

Anyone here seen it?

 

[RJDiogenes]

I think I remember reading about The Dead in a Horror magazine a few months ago-- it must have been Famous Monsters.

In the last couple of months, I've read quite a bit of classic Horror (among other things) that I've gotten cheaply for my Nook. Manly Wade Wellman, Algernon Blackwood, Clark Ashton Smith et cetera. Great stuff.

Also, Chris Mihm's latest movie, coming out in May, is an homage to William Castle. I'm looking forward to that.

Still no sign of Svengoolie on the local affiliate, though.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

They've just started listing Svengoolie on another local affiliate, funnily enough, just as "Svengoolie." On one channel, they list just the movie title with no hint of the horror host, and on the other, just the host with no hint of the movie he's playing. I've set both to record, just in case they're not the same. Supposedly, his ratings keep going up, so it may not be long before you get to see him.

This week's was Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, which is, of course, good viewing.

I still haven't read any horror in a while, but here are some spooky little guys I picked up.

Frankie, Bride, and Mummy.

London Vamp, Invisible Man, and Nosferatu.

They only made six of those stylized horror guys, but I wish they made more. A Wolf Man would have been great. Also, Frankie isn't obscene; that's a key around his neck that goes to a lock on the Bride's chest.

I've also been collecting these little zombies that they sell at Walgreens.

I did a warm-up sketch a few weeks ago based somewhat on the astrozombie.

Fun little guys!

 

[RJDiogenes]

They've just started listing Svengoolie on another local affiliate, funnily enough, just as "Svengoolie." On one channel, they list just the movie title with no hint of the horror host, and on the other, just the host with no hint of the movie he's playing. I've set both to record, just in case they're not the same. Supposedly, his ratings keep going up, so it may not be long before you get to see him.

Maybe he's got a listing of affiliates on his website. I'll take a look. Or I'll check the digital listings, but I don't think they go that far ahead.

I still haven't read any horror in a while, but here are some spooky little guys I picked up.

Frankie, Bride, and Mummy.

London Vamp, Invisible Man, and Nosferatu.

They only made six of those stylized horror guys, but I wish they made more. A Wolf Man would have been great. Also, Frankie isn't obscene; that's a key around his neck that goes to a lock on the Bride's chest.

Very nice, especially the Mummy. Maybe they'll make more, but it's odd that Wolf Man wasn't among the first batch. Wolf Man don't get no respect.

I've also been collecting these little zombies that they sell at Walgreens.

Hey, they're like green army men for horror geeks. Something to play with when you're home sick from school.

I did a warm-up sketch a few weeks ago based somewhat on the astrozombie.

Nice. And speaking of warm-up sketches, I ordered a graphics tablet-- also a new laptop, since my old one died a few weeks ago. I can't wait to try it out.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

What kind of graphics tablet? Planning any spooky drawings?

I did a more zombie-ish take on The Purple Smurf with a tablet here, along with a Ghost Rider.

(I don't usually post my stuff on here, but what the hell.)

Lately I've been doing lots of warm-up doodles of zombies sketched and inked, as well as the occasional weirdos.

I also broke in a new sketchbook with renditions of a couple of those toys.

 

[RJDiogenes]

It's a Wacom Bamboo Capture Graphics Tablet. I got it for 82 bucks at Overstock; hopefully it will be here by the weekend.

Oh, yeah, spooky drawings are in the future; that's always a recurring theme in my writing and art. Actually, I'll be teaming up the graphics tablet with Comic Life and doing a few more comic book style stories like the ones I've done on Halloween the last several years, and when I get enough together I'll publish a comic through Lulu.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

You can't go wrong with Wacom, really. I've been pretty pleased with every product I've purchased from them. I used to use an Intuos, then around September I finally shelled out the cash for a Cintiq. It was pricey, but worth it. I do all kinds of stuff on it now, including the more finished-looking ones up there.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I'm glad to hear you endorse Wacom; I've been crossing my fingers that it's going to be good. I was originally going to get something more pricey, but then my laptop died its final death (and I wanted to get a replacement that I'm sure if powerful enough to run Moviestorm, which is something else that I've been wanting to experiment with).

I love the way your finished pictures look-- the lines really look like brush strokes. In fact, it was your earlier work that made me want to get the tablet. My problem is that all my life I focused on my writing over my art, so not only am I somewhat unskilled, but drawing something takes freakin' forever. It's one thing to devote that much effort to a single drawing, but a comic strip takes many drawings-- if you've looked at any of them, you'll see that the art is much simpler than in my single drawings and that I abuse the concept of copy and paste as much as possible. I'm hoping the tablet makes it all much easier for me.

By the way, Ghost Rider is my favorite.

 

[Pingfah]

Your stuff is great Spiff, I didn't realise you were a good artist!

 

[RJDiogenes]

He's great. He's got an effortless, quirky style and a gentle, yet macabre, sense of humor. Like a few people I've met online (including yourself), he deserves to be doing his thing professionally.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, it looks like Svengoolie is on This TV, which my cable company actually carries. I might actually be able to watch this weekend.

And my graphics tablet has shipped (though my laptop hasn't).

 

[Pingfah]

He's great. He's got an effortless, quirky style and a gentle, yet macabre, sense of humor. Like a few people I've met online (including yourself), he deserves to be doing his thing professionally.

Thanks RJ, that's very nice of you to say so.

This Horror Host thing is something I wish we had more of over here, there's a general lack of late-night horror on free to view TV, especially the Universal Monster type of stuff.

I have a few boxsets of stuff, but it's not the same as just coming across a great old movie late at night.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I mostly do cartoons these days; they're what I have the most fun drawing. One of these days I'll actually get around to putting a comic strip on the Web or something. I mostly do it for fun or to improve.

As for the lines looking like brush strokes, that's thanks to the excellent brush mechanics of Manga Studio. It's the only drawing software I've seen devoted strictly to comics. But because the brushes work so well, I'll use it for basic illustration stuff. I do all of the sketching and linework in that, then color it in Photoshop. (You can color just fine in Manga Studio, I'm just more familiar with doing it in PS.)

That's how I did this one last Friday the 13th. It was my first attempt using that method. I see the errors now, like the holes on his mask in the last panel and the lack of paint on the ground, but hey, I learned a lot while doing it. I might redraw it at some point with a less clunky punchline. "That's NOT how you make spaghetti," etc.)

Good luck with the tablet, RJ. It takes a little time to get used to looking up at the screen while drawing, instead of your hand. After a few hours of practice, it gets a lot easier.

I hope you do finally get Svengoolie on This TV. I have no doubt you'll enjoy it. I think this is the schedule for April:

04/07: Sssssssssss
04/14: Dracula
04/21: Dracula's Daughter
04/28: This Island Earth

It's great that he gets to stay clear of the usual public domain stuff.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Thanks RJ, that's very nice of you to say so.

You're welcome. I still have at least one of your MP3s around.

This Horror Host thing is something I wish we had more of over here, there's a general lack of late-night horror on free to view TV, especially the Universal Monster type of stuff.

A few of them are online. I'll dig up some links for you.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I mostly do cartoons these days; they're what I have the most fun drawing. One of these days I'll actually get around to putting a comic strip on the Web or something. I mostly do it for fun or to improve.

Yeah, do your webcomic. Or something for the Nook and Kindle. Or an old-fashioned paperback.

As for the lines looking like brush strokes, that's thanks to the excellent brush mechanics of Manga Studio. It's the only drawing software I've seen devoted strictly to comics. But because the brushes work so well, I'll use it for basic illustration stuff. I do all of the sketching and linework in that, then color it in Photoshop. (You can color just fine in Manga Studio, I'm just more familiar with doing it in PS.)

Hmm. I'll have to look at that site in depth. They also have some animation stuff. They apparently own Poser now, and Poser looks a lot more advanced than the last version I bought.

That's how I did this one last Friday the 13th. It was my first attempt using that method. I see the errors now, like the holes on his mask in the last panel and the lack of paint on the ground, but hey, I learned a lot while doing it. I might redraw it at some point with a less clunky punchline. "That's NOT how you make spaghetti," etc.)

"This is why we can't have nice things."

Good luck with the tablet, RJ. It takes a little time to get used to looking up at the screen while drawing, instead of your hand. After a few hours of practice, it gets a lot easier.

I'm going to have to wait for my new laptop to come. There's software that needs to be installed and the drive is broken on this computer.

I hope you do finally get Svengoolie on This TV. I have no doubt you'll enjoy it.

Now I'm not sure. The Wiki page implied that he would be on This-TV, but I don't see him on the schedule. Of course, he may be on a different night and time. I'll have to look further....

 

[RJDiogenes]

Well, I've got a link to one online Horror Host. I'll continue to search.

And here is a nice database of existing Horror Hosts. Penny Dreadful's Shilling Shockers, by the way, is produced near where I live, down in East Bridgewater. My Mother works for the cable company where the show is done, but she hasn't had a chance to work with Penny yet.

 

[RJDiogenes]

And I forgot to mention, yesterday while checking out This TV I taped Attack Of The Puppet People and Dr Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine, which I hope to be able to watch over the weekend.

 

[Starbreaker]

I got a couple of recommendations from the Horror Etc. podcast on what to watch tonight. One of the guys is always raving about Session 9 and The Changeling. I think Session 9 is absolutely terrible so far. It's something about David Caruso and an insane asylum and it's not making a lot of sense, really.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I don't think I've heard of either one of those.

 

[Pingfah]

Well, I've got a link to one online Horror Host. I'll continue to search.

Hey thanks RJ. I quite liked the guy, if you haven't checked out his double feature then I suggest you do, it was really quite good. The first movie is a 15 minute version of Christine played for laughs and made for $500. It's really pretty good, some genuinely funny moments, and amateur but quite well made.

I'd take his claims that it is better than the original with a pinch of salt, but well worth 15 minutes of your time. I'm going to save the second one for later as it looks good too.

I've got Session 9 on DVD, it was a blind buy for £3, it was vaguely unsettling, and also confusing at times, but with a decent payoff. Watch it, but try not to pay for it...

 

[RJDiogenes]

I like that guy, too. I used to watch him on a pretty regular basis a couple of years ago. I should remember to check in with him when I get a chance.

So it looks like no Svengoolie on Real TV, but they do have some pretty good stuff. They show the original Outer Limits (not Horror, but it does have monsters ). I've got the series on DVD, but it's nice to know that somebody is sowing it.