All I Ever Wanted Was A Totally Killer Autopsy

 

I'm back from L.A. and ready to go full October. Let's start with some Bauhaus. For my money, one of the greatest songs this band ever recorded. Not easy to say, becuase 98% of all their songs could fall into that category. I mean, there are really no less-than-stellar Bauhaus songs, and yes, I'm counting Go Away White when I say that. Something about this one, though, really resonates in a timeless manner. Maybe it's the title, maybe it's the upright bass, maybe it's the genuflective lyrics that seque into nonsense - conceivably to stress how ridiculous existential contemplation actually is. Whatever the case, this is one for the ages.

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31 Days of Halloween:

I re-watched The Autopsy of Jane Doe on Monday night. I don't know; the first time I saw this film, it floored me, but every subsequent viewing has just rubbed me the wrong way. I love the performances, but there are little things about the script that irk me. Like the Sheriff's timelock of "I need a COD by morning because otherwise, I can't explain her presence at the crime scene to the press." What? How are the press gonna know? 

Honestly, I'm being a bit of a prick here. I think my real issue is that, between my first and second viewing of this flick, I saw the Director's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and hated it so much it spoiled this. I need to give Troll Hunter another shot because that's one I've only seen once and long before either of those others. Interestingly enough, my prejudice wasn't strong enough to spoil this year's Last Voyage of the Demeter, so maybe my issues with Jane Doe are legit. I don't know.

Next up, last night's movie was Nahnatchka Kan's new Amazon Original Totally Killer. This one was at Beyondfest, and my Horror Vision Cohost and I almost went; however, the day it played ended up being a low-key one, so we did not. Here's a trailer:

I was certain I would dislike this, however, turns out I really enjoyed Totally Killer. It's clever, but not in an overly ostentatious manner. Also, it's just a lot of damn fun! If you're afraid this was going to be another cutesy Blum House take on the post-modern Slasher, well, yeah. It kind of is. For me, however, it's one that really worked. Also, they freakin' NAILED gym class in the 80s.

1) When Evil Lurks/VHS 85/Adam Chaplin

2) Tales From the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 6 "Collection Complete"

3) VHS

4) All You Need is Death

5) Slashers (2001)

6) The Beyond/Phenomena

7) The Convent

8) Evil Dead 2

9) The Autopsy of Jane Doe

10) Totally Killer

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Playlist:

BADBADNOTGOOD - IV

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

Harsh Symmetry - Imitation

Boards of Canada - Geogaddi

Boards of Canada - Music Has the Right to Children

Sleep Token - Take Me Back to Eden

Van Halen - Eponymous

Zeal and Ardor - Eponymous

Boris/Merzbow - 2R0I2P0

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - May Our Chambers Be Full

Deth Crux - Mutant Flesh

Medeski, Martin and Wood - Uninvisible

Bauhaus - The Sky's Gone Out

Final Light - Eponymous

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Card:

Just one card, this time from Missi's Raven Deck, for today:

A reminder to think BIGGER! Literally, just before pulling this card, my thoughts were mired down in a very localized, small facet. This is a reminder to "I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. And I've started to focus out beyond the edge of the board. On a bigger game."

Bauhaus 2022

 

My friend Eddie over at The Comic Bug attended the Cruel World fest a few weeks ago and it was on a video he shot that I first saw Peter Murphy's new look. Oh my god! These guys were already one of my favorite bands, but seeing Murphy here, I'm blown away. I mean, for a second I was like, "Why is Rob Halford singing for Bauhaus." Then I realized, no, I just hadn't seen a photo of Murphy since... well, probably some time around 2006 when Go Away White was released (an album I still defend vehemently). Anyway, in looking around on youtube, I found alleyc8Cat's channel with this full set. So cool they posted, and in looking at the other videos on the channel, I subscribed immediately. If you dig, give them a like and a follow HERE.

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NCBD:

I'd been wanting to see Jacob Gentry's Broadcast Signal Intrusion for some time now, so when it landed on Shudder recently, I moved it up the queue.     

 

The film takes place in Chicago in 1999, so major props for doing a great job taking me back to that particular time and place. Also, Gentry is very good at lovingly incorporating his cinematic loves in a way that is pleasurable to those who share the same feelings (Videodrome!), and overall, the story and concept are really cool. That said, this film has its share of problems, and despite liking it quite a bit, I have to admit that BSI feels like it ultimately falls flat on knocking down a lot of what it sets up. 

I’m not one who needs explanations - if you read these pages, you know that. However, there’s a certain pact a filmmaker enters with their audience when they introduce certain tropes/concepts into their film. By using certain known plot devices as red herrings, this film feels like it cheats a bit. Tone over substance, and while I’ll always err on the side of tone, elements of this film rub me a bit wrong. Ambiguity is fine unless it's substituted for story, and that's definitely the case here when it comes to anything other than the awesome setup:

"In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with discovering the dark conspiracy behind them."

I will say, there are three points in this film where it makes like it’s going to do something so tropey it knows the audience will roll their eyes, then it intentionally doesn’t do that. Those three instances helped BSI gain a lot of ground in my good book, but also made me wonder if the film is that self-aware, couldn’t it have been refined a bit more?

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NCBD:

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Playlist:

Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual

Joe Doe - Fables in a Foreign Land

Blut Aus Nord - Disharmonium

Peter Gabriel - Melt

Mastodon - Hushed & Grim

Zombi and Friends - Vol. 1

Zombi -Shape Shift

Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman

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Card:

Too tired to interpret this now, so just recording the Pull for posterity's sake.

New Music from Bauhaus

 

Today is my 46th birthday, and it looks like the four original members of one of my favorite bands saw fit to get me a little gift. That's right, a new track from Bauhaus, and one utilizing the ol' Exquisite Corpse technique we last saw them employ on my favorite Bauhaus album, The Sky is Falling. Hopefully, this means we have a new album coming. I personally LOVED the band's most previous album Go Away White - the first post-break-up. 

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Play:

I surprised the hell out of myself yesterday by ordering a Nintendo Switch. Why?

 

I think I first got wind of Puppet Combo's low-fi indie games after reading a Bloody Disgusting article a couple years ago. Other than a love for DDR, I haven't played video games since the original Nintendo, so as much as I loved Glass Staircase when I bought it for my computer, I really didn't have the time or gumption to play it. But Puppet Combo's overall 70s/80s horror-inspired games are so damn cool to look at. Well, an article on BD yesterday announced his game Nun Massacre was hitting Nintendo Switch today, and I took it as a sign. Couple with that an interest King Butcher, my co-host on The Horror Vision, has stoked in me with the reviews of the newest Metroid game and Valfaris on previous episodes of our podcast, and I figured it was a win-win. 

Plus, how the hell do I pass up a game called Nun Massacre?

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Playlist:

Blut Aus Nord - That Cannot Be Dreamed (pre-release single)

Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

Drug Church - Hygiene EP

Spotlights - The Age of Decay (single)

Deftones - Rosemary (single)

Peturbator - I Am the Night

Bauhaus - Drink the New Wine (single)

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Card:

I felt like my Thoth mini deck (thank you, Missi!) hadn't been seeing any real action of late, so I decided to do my birthday pull using it. Here we go:

All good signs for prosperity. Which is a relief. Our plans to exit LaLaLand keep getting pushed around. First my medical shit, then the Nashville market - another reason to dislike Angelenos - now work stuff. The move is imminent, however, I also have a CRAZY idea for a short film project that the Universe seems to be telling me to reach for, so maybe I'll be here just long enough to try.

King Volcano is Here

 

It's about time I brought out the Bauhaus. Of course, it hasn't been easy getting into a Halloween state of mind with the heat wave in LA, however, it appears *fingercrossedfingerscrossed* to have broken. 80? 75? I'll take it. Especially with the sun setting noticeably earlier now. So yeah, King Volcano is here...

In the course of posting this song, I came to realize that neither Burning From the Inside, nor The Sky's Gone Out are on streaming platforms at the moment. This leads me to believe there may be a rights struggle between Murphy and the rest of the band. Interesting...

Also of interest, I randomly found that two days ago, Crippled Black Phoenix released a cover version of "She's in Parties", the first Bauhaus song I ever heard and the one that made me an immediate fan.

 

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31 Days of Halloween:

Last night's viewing was a classic, 80s Horror flick:

Well, classic to me. I'm not sure why I have such a soft spot for this one. I definitely love the set design and the lighting. I especially love the outdoor sets, like the cinema and it's "Continuous Horror Marathon All Seats $1.99" marquee, or the street in front of Dante's Shuffleboard and the pay phone next to it. Hell, I just love that there's a business called Dante's Shuffleboard. Also, being that Robert Englund made his directorial debut here, the movie definitely borrows from A Nightmare on Elm Street's dream sequences. The scene where Hoax confronts Spike in the boys locker room looks awesome with its bluish-green fog. Ridiculous for a locker room, but cool nonetheless. 

So, after watching the original 976-Evil for the umpteenth time, I checked around and found that the sequel from 1992 is currently free with Prime. I've never seen this, and was delighted to find that with Englund gone, the studio hired Jim Wynorski of Chopping Mall fame to helm the continuation of the story. Alas, I was only able to watch the first fifteen minutes or so before falling asleep, however, I'll definitely be revisiting this one over the weekend.

1) Tales of Halloween: Sweet Tooth/The Wolf Man (1941)

2) From Beyond/Monsterland: Port Fourchon, Louisiana/Tales of Halloween: The Night Billy Raised Hell/Tales of Halloween: Trick

3) Mulholland Drive/Creepshow (1982): The Crate

4) Waxwork

5) Synchronic/Bad Hair

6) Dolls

7) Lovecraft Country Ep. 8/Tales of Halloween: The Weak and the Wicken/Tales of Halloween: The Grim Grinning Ghost

8) 976-Evil

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Playlist:

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - The Night Creeper

Dance with the Dead - Loved to Death

Trust Obey - Fear and Bullets

Joy Division - Still

Iron Maiden - Fear of the Dark

NIN - Pretty Hate Machine

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Card:

Hmmm... my previous pull from this deck came back with the same card. 

Bauhaus - Antonin Artaud

A little Bauhaus to start our day. LOVE this track, and Burning From the Inside will always hold a special place in my Bauhaus heart because it was the first of their albums I ever heard.

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AHS 1984 is shaping up to be one fucking fantastic ride! We're not even halfway through the season and I'm left wondering just where the hell this is going. A lot like Roanoke, I feel like the story/setting/characters established in the first part of the season is soon going to shift into a totally different direction.



**

31 Days of Horror:

10/01: House of 1000 Corpses/31

10/02: Lords of Chaos

10/03: Creepshow Ep 2/Tales from the Crypt Ssn 1, Ep 1

10/04: IT Chapter 2, AHS 1984 Ep. 3

10/05: Bliss/VFW

10/06: Halloween III: Season of the Witch/Night of the Creeps/The Fog

10/07: Halloween 2018

10/08: Hell House, LLC

10/09: Dance of the Dead (Tobe Hooper; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 3)

10/10: Creepshow Episode 3

10/11: Jenifer (Dario Argento; Masters of Horror Ssn 1 Ep 4)

10/12: Poltergeist/Phenomena

10/13: AHS 1984 Ep 4/In the Tall Grass

**

Playlist from 10/13:

Windhand - Eternal Return

Allegaeon - Apoptosis

White Lung - Eponymous

Zombi - Shape Shift

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Card of the day:

Another reminder as I struggle to shift things around in my outline for Books Two and Three of Shadow Play: remember the grid!

2019: June 29th David J and Chrysta Bell - Bela Lugosi's Dead

I was not expecting to come across this in my youtube feed this morning. How utterly fantastic.

**

Yesterday I watched Josh Lobo's film I Trapped the Devil. LOVED IT!!! Fantastic concept, fantastic execution, with outstanding performances by everyone involved. The film is available to rent on Amazon right now for $6.99. Absolutely worth it. Here's the trailer:



We're going to do another Horror Vision this evening and I've already slated this as the movie we'll be watching/reviewing, so that'll be up early next week. In the meantime, I will definitely be adding Mr. Lobo to my list of directors who I keep a close eye on. Also on the list, for reference, are Ti West, Joe Begos, Larry Fessenden, Paul Thomas Anderson, and, of course, David Lynch.

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Playlist from 6/28:

Secret Chiefs 3 Traditionalists - Le mani destre recise degli ultimi uomini
Cocksure - Corporate_Sting
Windhand - Eternal Return
Various - A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
Lovett - The Wind OST
Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper
The Birthday Party - Mutiny/The Bad Seed

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Card of the day:

Card of the day: Beware delusions. I think this is a warning on my part to sift back through the insanely complicated story I outlined yesterday. It might be too complicated to actually pull off. But it might not be...

2018: October 21st

31 Days of Horror continued last night with yet another viewing of Panos Cosmatos's Mandy. Also, finished Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Hill House. Pretty damn tight. Being that this is a series, and they do kind of set it up for another season, I'll be curious to see where it goes.


10/01) Summer of 84
10/02) Rope
10/03) Dreams in the Witch House
10/04) Crash
10/05) The Fly
10/06) Re-animator
10/07) Night of the Demons
10/08) Species
10/09) The Roost
10/10) The Convent
10/11) Killer Klowns from Outer Space
10/12) George A. Romero's Day of the Dead
10/13) George A. Romero's Land of the Dead
10/14) The Apostle
10/15) Phantom of the Paradise
10/16) Candyman
10/17) Ghoulies
10/18) John Carpenter's Halloween

10/19) Halloween
10/20) Mandy

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds tonight. Can't wait! I've seen Cave solo and with Grinderman, never with the Bad Seeds. Not happy it's at The Forum, but we do what we must.

Saw the trailer for The Invitation director Karyn Kusama's new film, Destroyer. Looks fantastic, and Nicole Kidman looks as though she puts in the performance of her life.



Playlist from 10/20:

Windhand - Eternal Return
Black Sabbath - Volume 4
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland
Second Still - Eponymous
Bauhaus - In the Flat Field
Perturbator - The Uncanny Valley
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest

Card of the day:

Still one of my favorite cards. From the Grimoire, "Create within yourself a Universe."

Brian Eno - Driving me Backwards

Although I am a massive fan of the several Brian Eno albums I own those are the only Brian Eno albums that I know. My friend John - who is of an age where he experienced Eno's records as they were released - lent me Here Come The Warm Jets. It is spectacular. Right now, this song is freaking me out.

Released in 1973 I can very much hear the influence this record had on Bauhaus, Daniel Ash most especially.

Tones on Tail - Twist

This is one of those songs that I feel was made 'for me'. Love it.

TV on The Radio Perform Dreams w/ Peter Murphy & Trent Reznor

Wow. Mr. Brown sent this to me a week or so ago and I've just gotten around to seeing it.

Wow.

Murphy's voice @ 1:51.

The Pink Skulls Cover Bela Lugosi's Dead

I've been meaning to post this for about two weeks. After my Bauhaus jag two weekends ago my friend Jeffrey threw this at me - fantastic! Jeffrey is one of the fine folks who run just about my favorite recording studio ever, Apocalypse Cow. If you're in the Midwest and looking to record, contact these folk.

Bauhaus - Stigmata Martyr Live 1982

This just blew my mind.

Bauhaus - Stigmata Martyr

This is still one of the most badass songs I've ever heard. In my quest to re-read/read Neil Gaiman's Sandman from the beginning through to the end Bauhaus just jumps off the music shelf. Along with Joy Division and The Cure, Tones on Tail and The Smiths (esp. Meat is Murder for Vol. 4 Seasons of Mist) Bauhaus is a perfect soundtrack for Neil Gaiman's lush dreamscape set on the outmost fringes of the old DCU.  I'm currently reading Vol. 5, A Game of You, one of the volumes I'd not read before (I started reading the book during it's initial run with The Kindly Ones, which I believe was either the second or third-to-last volume. Of course I went back and snagged Preludes and Nocturnes, The Doll's House and Dream Country as they were published in trades and then left what was essentially the middle of the saga untouched on my "To buy and Read" list. However, I very much wait for the particular moods for music/film and comics/books to overtake me before I lock into them, i.e. I can't just pick up Sandman and start reading it anymore than I can just through on Bauhaus any old time. I have to be in that particular headspace. I've begun re-reading Sandman many times over the years, as those first three volumes are among my most read comics. However I can't always sustain the mood to go all the way through, not with all the bloody distractions of everyday life. I've also often hit the $$$ wall, starting it and making my way through the beginning volumes only to find I didn't quite have it in my budget to buy the three or four volumes I was missing. Recent bursday presents from my wife have solved that particular problem).

Whenever a comic or book strikes such a strong harmonic frequency with a particular band or album I always wonder if the author themselves - or in this case any of the awesome artists involved - listening to that same music at the time of creating. And if that is indeed the case, the fact that you can pick that up suggests to me that the author/artist's hands are literally transducing the energy in its audio wave form into energy in a visible form, like a microphone is a transducer that takes audio waves and changes them into the physical rearrangement of magnetic iron particles (on analog tape) or 1's and 0's in the digital domain?

Something to think about.

Tones on Tail

Really into Tones on Tail again. Re-reading Sandman from the beginning and it'll surely be ToT, The Smiths, Joy Division and The Cure as a soundtrack.