Evel Knievel RIP

Evel Knievel is dead at age 69. Part of my childhood died along with him and, if you grew up in the 1970s, you probably know what I mean.

New Review Friday... Naschy, Beauty Queens, Diaries and More!

Just finished a review update over at the Exploitation Retrospect website. Be sure to stop by and check out new reviews of:

• HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMBS: BCI's great new DVD of the classic slice of 70s Eurotrash
• THE EROTIC DIARY OF MISTY MUNDAE: Why does Doug watch Misty Mundae flicks? Find out...
• BEAUTY QUEEN BUTCHER: an obscure take on the CARRIE theme gets the DVD treatment from Camp Motion Pictures
• MOONLIGHTING WIVES: check out this Joe Sarno romp that's as old as your trusty editor
• CINDERELLA 2000: the classic tale gets the Al Adamson treatment in this bawdy 70s update

Check out these reviews plus hundreds more at Exploitation Retrospect: The Journal of Junk Culture and Fringe Media.

Naschy Strikes Again as HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE!

Though the late, great Klaus Kinski will always be nearest and dearest to my trash film loving heart, my exposure to the whacked out world of Paul Naschy continually reminds me of why I love these damn movies in the first place. While I don't love absolutely everything I've seen (the snoozy COUNT DRACULA'S GREATEST LOVE and overrated BEAST WITH THE MAGIC SWORD perplex me to this day) his flicks all have a decidedly off-kilter sensibility that makes them like a carnival funhouse – you just never know what's around the corner.

Take the fabulously entertaining HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE for instance. After a credit sequence set to a jaunty brauhaus score that belies the horrors to come, we arrive at the local tavern where everything's big – the beers, the boobs and the idiots. Udo, the most drunken idiot of the bunch, decides to head home by himself, a bad move in this med school town where Gotho the hunchback (Naschy) is on the prowl.

Sure enough, Gotho pounces on the drunken lout and the next thing you know he's hacking the poor guy's appendages off in the basement of the med school. Udo, as it turns out, was the boyfriend of Ilsa (Maria Elena Arpon), a terminally ill young woman who grew up with Gotho and is one of the few people to treat him with respect and dignity. While others look down upon, tease, throw rocks at and generally mistreat the hunchback, Ilsa loves his visits. Which means she's not long for this world.

When vicious, teasing med students keep him from being at Ilsa's side when she dies, Gotho goes wild and kills another drunken med student and steals Ilsa's body from the morgue. Escaping to his subterranean lair decorated in early Spanish Inquisition, Gotho wiles away the days waiting for Ilsa to wake up. Oh yeah, and keeping the rats off her. (In one of the flick's most notorious sequences, Gotho lights the rats on fire to keep them off Ilsa's body. And thanks to the animal rights standards at the time, well, let's just say that these are not animatronic rodents.)

And that's just the film's first twenty minutes! The flick – with story and script by Naschy – gets super crazy with the introduction of Dr. Orla (Alberto Dalbes), a university professor researching what every crazy scientist researches in these flicks: How to create life from death.

With his university funding axed, Dr. Orla pounces upon Gotho's love for Ilsa and promises to "wake her up" if the hunchback will let him move his lab down into the caverns. Poor Gotho just wants his Ilsa back, and if he has to build a sulfuric acid pit with retractable cover and wire an underground cave for electricity, by golly, that's what he's gonna do.

Yes, Gotho is a multiple murderer obsessed with a dead woman. Yes, he's got a crazy ol' hump and a "gorilla's face." But there's something quite lovable about this deformed, love-sick, homicidal handyman.

At this point, HUNCHBACK detours into more craziness than I can possibly describe. Let's just say that Dr. Orla continues to walk the fine line between brilliant and insane, the Spanish Mariette Hartley (Rossana Yanni) gets herself a little Hunchback Love and there's a howling Synthesized Protoplasm locked in a cavern cell. And I didn't even mention the teenage lesbian S&M chicks at the local women's reformatory!

HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE is fun-filled Eurotrash with off-the-wall plot twists, a nicely layered performance by Naschy, and enough B-movie grue and gratuitous violence to please gore fans. I've seen the flick a couple times now and while I've always appreciated Naschy starring performance I've really grown to love Dalbes as the nail-biting and out of control Orla. His obsession with the mutant protoplasm drives the flick's second half and he eats up his scenes with gusto.

I'm really hoping that HUNCHBACK will follow in the footsteps of HORROR RISES, NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF and the upcoming HUMAN BEASTS and get a world class video release from the folks at BCI.

Collecting K-Tel Records

I loved K-Tel albums, not just as a kid but also as an adult, kinda grown up collector. Here's an article on collecting those dynamic, super smash compilations.

Paul Naschy Does Double Duty in HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB

BCI continues to pull out all the stops with their Spanish Horror Series and the latest entry – Paul Naschy's 1972 Eurotrash classic HORROR RISES FROM THE TOMB – is no exception.

Opening in mid-15th century France HORROR RISES has all the earmarks of one of those Medieval witch-hunt/possession flicks. There's the loud, babbling brook, the ponderous narration about witches, plagues, pestilence and the dark powers of Satan. We've even got warlock Alaric de Marnac (Naschy) and his witchy woman (Helga Line as Mabille de Lancre) getting accused of all sorts of accursed things – celebrating black masses, eating flesh (dead and living) and drinking blood. No sooner do I realize that Naschy is playing the warlock and one of the accusers (Alaric's brother Armand) when they lop off Warlock Naschy's head and dangle Mabille topless and upside down from a tree! All of which happens before the credits, but not before Alaric puts a curse on 'em all.

Fast forward to the present day (well, 1972) where Hugo de Marnac (Naschy again) and his painter buddy Maurice Roland (Vic Winner aka Victor Alcazar) are getting all sorts of paranormal signs that things just ain't right. Maurice gets obsessed with a pair of dark eyes, paints Alaric's decapitated head, a seance they're attending goes horribly wrong, and Naschy turns into John Belushi! No, wait, it's just that when he wears those button up sweaters he looks like Earl Keese from NEIGHBORS!

On paper, Hugo's idea to visit the old family estate to search for the legendary corpses of Alaric and Mabille seems like a great idea. On paper. Actually, I'm lying. Considering that Maurice is the ancestor of one of the guys that killed Alaric it doesn't seem like a good idea at all. And when they're accosted on the road by a couple thugs – who are then murdered in cold blood by the town's roaming vigilantes – it may have been time to turn the whole caravan around and call this The Worst Idea Ever. (Roadside thugs are a common Naschy plot device, turning up here as well as in PANIC BEATS and NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF, just off the top of my head.)

Lucky for us neither Hugo nor Maurice is that sharp and they head out to find Alaric's head with the help of a couple locals. Once they discover the chest containing Alaric's decapitated head everybody in the vicinity seems to go nuts. Locals start hacking up everybody in sight, chicks in costumes by Frederick's of Hollywood start walking around the woods, and creepy organ music starts playing. Constantly.

It's at this point that the flick – with script by Naschy – goes haywire. Alaric's decapitated head rejoins his body and he and the reanimated Mabille go cruising through town looking for victims. Nude victims. Hugo and Co. start looking for ways to stop the horny pair which results in everything from an ancient talisman that's like a cross to a vampire and supernatural girl-on-girl action to zombies (yes, zombies), shotgun blasts, and lines like, "You stay here. It's going to be disagreeable." Surprisingly, though, there don't seem to be any werewolves.

You have to admire a flick that feels like they took every single horror film idea they could get their hands on, put 'em all into a blender, and came up with this crazily entertaining concoction filled with warlocks, "vampire women", zombies, bared breasts, cheesy skeletons, dime store effects and more. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since Naschy wrote the treatment in a day, used his family's estate as a main location, and had friends portray some of the roles.

The new BCI release looks great, presenting the flick in a letterboxed format with a new, clear and colorful transfer. Extras include an introduction by a weapon-wielding Naschy, audio commentary with the star and director, a trailer (which calls the film FEAR RISES FROM THE TOMB), deleted (clothed) scenes and more.

More Spanish horror is on the horizon including the oddball HUMAN BEASTS and legendary HOUSE OF PSYCHOTIC WOMEN, both due out after the first of the year. Keep on buying these low-priced, excellent slices of Eurotrash and hopefully they'll keep making them. HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE anyone???

All Aboard HORROR EXPRESS

This is one of those flicks that I knew of and friends talked about, yet it had somehow flown under my radar, never making its way into my VCR or DVD player. Until now.

With only a handful of titles left in the Eurotrash Paradise 1972 Survivor Game, HORROR EXPRESS remained the only title I hadn't seen. (Others making it to the Final Five are WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO SOLANGE?, THE HUNCHBACK OF THE MORGUE, LADY FRANKENSTEIN and TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD.)

So with laundry to be folded and eBay stuff to be sorted and photographed, it seemed like a good time to check out this Hammer-esque slice of 70s Eurotrash. Amazingly, I'd not only managed to not see the film but also never read much about it over the years, knowing only that it starred Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (see what I mean about "Hammer-esque"), featured Telly Savalas as a menacing Cossack, and had something to do with a prehistoric creature rampaging through a turn-of-the-century train.

But it's much more than that and it wouldn't be a stretch to describe this as a riff on THE THING thanks to a plot twist that reveals the murderous creature to be an alien life form and not a prehistoric, unfrozen apeman at all. Sort of.

Look for a full write-up of this early 70s Eurotrash-lite classic coming soon.

Romantics Sue Over Cover Version

Detroit rockers The Romantics have sued Activision over the use of a soundalike cover of "What I Like About You" in a version of Guitar Hero released earlier this year.

'Shake Some Action' Hits the Shelves

Back in the 1980s, every year at Thanksgiving dinner my brothers and sisters would goof on me because I would hand out a highly detailed Christmas list complete with the item and where it could be purchased. My brother-in-law would joke that the only thing missing was the brown paper bag he'd have to put over his head to ask for a Hüsker Dü LP.

Sadly, not much has changed. I still find myself regularly shooting my wife e-mails detailing DVDs, CDs and books I'd like to add to my shelves. And why not? Let's face it, local stores aren't carrying 'Muchas Gracias Senior Lobo!' or the Digimovies Klaus Kinski Horror Trilogy Soundtrack CD, both of which I received for Christmas last year.

One of the latest items I've let her know about is the awesome looking 'Shake Some Action' by John Borack. Billed as "The Ultimate Power Pop Guide," the book goes into the author's picks for the 200 definitive genre releases and features contributions from some of the genre's noted authorities and artists.

Plus, what book on power pop is complete without a disc of rarities from such artists as Rubinoos, Dom Mariani, Paul Collins/Peter Case and many more?

Check it out over at Not Lame's website – just make sure to save a copy for me.

There Was Nothing "Natural" About That Guy

The following is taken from the pages of ER #33/34, our Winter 1992 Conspiracy-themed double issue. Today celebrates the 16th anniversary of Klaus' death and the continued interest in him as an actor, author, artist, performer and poet makes me wish he was still around to bask in the deserved attention – and defend himself against those who would rather take potshots at his personality than admit that he was a truly gifted actor. A man who gave it his all whether he was starring in one of Herzog's epics or playing a time-traveling bad guy in a TV movie with William Devane and Lauren Hutton. Look for some Klassic Kinski Moments coming to this blog over the next few days...

Me: Did you hear who died? Kinski...
Lou: Aw man, now I'm really depressed. What did he die of?
Me: They're saying natural causes.
Lou: Bullshit -- there was nothin' natural about that guy.

On Saturday, November 23rd, 1991, exploitation actor extraordinaire Klaus Kinski was found dead in his Los Angeles home. With his shock of white hair, rubbery face, spooky bug-eyes, and somewhat bizarre accent ("zoom kind uv collactive intelligence"), Kinski made a lasting impression on both the film world and the ER staff.

From his first film -- 1948's MORITURI -- through his work in more recent fare as CREATURE (aka TITAN FIND), K2 always left the viewer wondering, "How much of this is real and how much is an act?" Up front, confrontational, and often shocking, Kinski was so real it was surreal.

Having made headlines for his hostile relationship with director Werner Herzog (a relationship that brought out the best in both men), Klaus splashed into the news again with his autobiography, All I Need is Love. Pulled from shelves after only a brief release, rumors abounded as to why. Though Random House maintains that legal wranglings with an Italian publisher were the real reason, we prefer to believe that the book's near-pornographic prose, vividly detailing many of K2's 160-some alleged sexual encounters, frightened the weasely publisher. Either way, this sucker's a collectors item to be cherished.

Though he'll probably be remembered more for being "Natassia Kinski's father," a candle will always burn brightly in these offices in HIS memory. When all is said and done, Klaus Kinski will be remembered as one of a kind... a true original.

Happy T-Day

Quick Happy Thanksgiving wishes to all our readers. I planned to get up early this morning and crank out a post or two but last night I got into the Smoking Loon Cabernet and the Ravenswood Zinfandel which went nicely with the underrated FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and some episodes from the BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES VOLUME 1 box set.

So I'm copping out with today's post. The turkey needs to be in the oven by noon and I still need to tidy up the house and check out something for a client. Might be a bonus post later but it all depends on how many plates of sleepy I have.

Cheers!

Music Lists Here, There and Everywhere: Part 1

I mentioned Eli Roth's article on 'Best Horror Films You've Never Seen' in a previous post and I promise I'll be getting to a similarly-themed music article soon.

In the meantime, music lists are starting to pop up all over the place and I found two that I'm sure most of us can pick apart and argue about all day and all night.

First up is the Guardian's ambitious list of 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die. I haven't gone through the whole list that's been posted so far but for every inclusion that makes me smile ('Kings of the Wild Frontier', 'Damned Damned Damned', 'The Harder They Come' soundtrack, 'New Day Rising', 'Let it Be') I scratch my head and wonder how you can leave off, say, the Dead Kennedys (as important to American hardcore as the Pistols were to the rest of the world), Hoodoo Gurus and Generation X but you include the 'Grease' soundtrack?

While I'm willing to cut a bit of slack to a list of 1000 records that includes punk, rock, blues, soul, jazz, and hip-hop, I'm less forgiving of Blender's '100 Greatest Indie Rock Albums Ever.' This one seems wildly random given the limited scope. The Misfits, DKs, Flipper and Big Black are regarded as afterthoughts in the sub-80s and there's no Naked Raygun or Jawbreaker anywhere that I could see.

Not to get all "I was there" high and mighty, but I started listening to "indie" rock in high school during the early 80s and have spent the last 20+ years listening to, seeing, reading and writing about the topic. And Pavement's 'Slanted and Enchanted' is the greatest indie rock album? Ever? Really? Frankly, I always filed them in the "Overrated/Nothing Special" category.

Well, I can bitch all I want right? As long as I post my own list. And I encourage you to do the same. Somebody at a power pop discussion group I belong to suggested coming up with a list of 25 Records to Hear Before You Die and I struggled to get to that point. My initial list had about 75 titles and I quickly realized how many records – and bands – I really cherish, not just for their music but for the times and memories they represent in my life.

My criteria was based upon one record per band or artist, no best ofs or compilations, and double albums count as a single release. Here's the first five from my list (in no particular order)...

Todd Rundgren - Something/Anything (1972)
A sprawling double LP major label debut that defies categorization and quickly established Rundgren as one of the great pop tunesmiths of our time.

Too Much Joy - Cereal Killers (1991)
TMJ all but invented snarky pop-rock but never got the credit or commercial success they deserved. The songs are witty and funny without being one-note jokes (ala The Dead Milkmen) and the bandmembers were among the smartest, nicest musicians I ever encountered.

Urge Overkill - Saturation (1993)
I don't like to throw around the phrase "masterpiece" but the major label debut from this narcissistic Chicago power rock trio comes as close as anything on this list. Unfairly lumped in with the exploding "grunge" movement, UO deftly delivers solid 70s-influenced guitar rock. Nothing they did before or after this album suggested this kind of brilliance and I'm still stunned it didn't spawn a half-dozen major hits.

Clash - London Calling (1979)
Like the Ramones and Replacements, selecting just one Clash release was a tough choice, but this double album features an absolutely stunning array of tracks that for most bands would constitute an entire career. Sounds as great now as it did almost 30 years ago.

Sweet Baby - It's a Girl! (1989)
This album came out right around the time I was graduating from college and wrapping up my regular (irregular?) radio show. The blueprint for the pop-punk sound of Mr. T Experience and Green Day, this unheralded masterpiece flopped as Ruby/Slash pulled the plug on the band's tour before they ever reached Philly. Simply magnificent, high-energy rock... sort of like the Beatles catalog filtered through the Ramones.

TO BE CONTINUED...

T-Bag Raises His Tinseltwon Visibility

Since its debut a couple seasons ago I've always maintained that the best thing, the best actor, the most interesting character on FOX's outrageous 'Prison Break' is Robert Knepper as the loathsome (but lovable) T-Bag. (For those not familiar with the show Theodore "T-Bag" is every worst kind of criminal all wrapped up in one... a racist serial killing child molester who also happens to be a prison rapist. Did I mention he's the best character on the show?)

Now it seems the entertainment world is beginning to take notice of Knepper's standout performance and reward him for his work. Thanks to Superherohype.com, we found out that The Denver Post is reporting that Knepper is rumored to be up for the role as a villain in the upcoming James Bond flick, may co-star in the Wolverine spin-off with Hugh Jackman, and star in a remake of Hitchcok's THE BIRDS. All of this coming atop his co-starring turn in HITMAN, the latest shoot-em-up videogame to make it to the big screen.

Wibbage: Hy Lit Dead at Age 73

Wow, two obits in a row to start off your Monday morning. How depressing.

I grew up in the Philadelphia area and had four older siblings ranging from 6 years to 20 years my senior. So I got exposed to a lot of hand-me-down pop culture that other kids my age were not getting a dose of.

While my adolescent years were spent listening to a lot of Wee Willie Webber and Ken Garland on 610 AM WIP (now an all-sports talk station), I can still remember my sister having compilation LPs featuring Hy Lit on the cover. Lit, like Jerry Blavat, was a Philly radio staple, and he bounced from station-to-station in the city. His nighttime show on WIBG, or "Wibbage", was said to draw 3/4 of the listening audience during its heyday in the 1960s.

Lit was admitted to the hospital on November 4 for a procedure following a knee injury and died Saturday from what his son termed "bizarre complications."

Be A Winner Man or Forget It: Michael Blodgett RIP

Just found out via Final Girl that Michael Blodgett, aka Lance Rocke from Russ Meyer's BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, has died at the age of 67. Blodgett's other acting credits include ISIS, ELECTRA WOMAN AND DYNA GIRL and NIGHT GALLERY, among others.

I was not aware that he had turned his attention to novels and screenwriting after his on-camera career slowed down and he worked on RENT-A-COP, TURNER AND HOOCH and the Chuck Norris flick HERO AND THE TERROR (which was based on his source novel)!

BTW, I had never read Final Girl until this morning but folks here might dig it, especially her on-going Amicus Week.

Check out the trailer for BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS below...

Chris Mars and Johnny Thunders

In honor of the new book ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTING: An Oral History of The Replacements by Jim Walsh I dug out this photo featuring original 'Mats drummer Chris Mars.

Booted from the group after recording their final album – 'All Shook Down' – Mars embarked on a solo career that resulted in one terrific album, 1992's 'Horseshoes and Hand Grenades', as well as a few more follow-ups. He eventually left the music world behind and turned his attention to an art career that has continued to flourish. (I'm proud to say I have a Mars original – a drawing of Fred Flintstone – on the back of an "Alex Chilton" 12" single.)

Mars recently wrapped an exhibition at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York City and has several more exhibits scheduled in the coming months and years.

The photo was sent to ER HQ back in the early 90s after I mailed Mars a copy of ER #36 which featured a review of 'Horseshoes...' and a Johnny Thunders release, hence the Thunders-inspired inscription.

Check out his website at Chris Mars Publishing.

Eli Roth Talks Obscure Horror

I used to get pissed off when magazines would compile lists like "The Greatest Records of the 80s" or "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments." I'd always find large chunks of the lists to disagree with and looked at them as little more than retarded space fillers.

At some point, though, I decided that these lists aren't going away – and they're not as evidenced by the Guardian's upcoming list of '1000 Records You Must Hear Before You Die' – so I might as well forget arguing over things like why is 'Zen Arcade' included when 'New Day Rising' is the better album.

My newfound philosophy of "what don't I know on this list" has actually helped me broaden my musical horizons and finally embrace things I've never liked, or at least didn't know I liked. Kinda like how I picked up 'Pet Sounds' and ended up becoming a Brian Wilson/Beach Boys fan.

Anyway, lists are all over the place these days. They always seem to come out during that holiday lull when people's attention spans are shorter than ever and they can't be bothered with reading a complete article.

Two of my favorites of late are a couple 'Best Fill in the Blank You've Never Seen/Heard' pieces.

First up is director Eli Roth and his list of 'The Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen.' Roth catches a lot of heat from fans (just see some of the comments below the article) but I loved CABIN FEVER, sorta dug HOSTEL and thought his faux THANKSGIVING trailer was one of the many highlights of GRINDHOUSE. Still haven't had a chance to check out HOSTEL II yet, but any movie that has a Ruggero Deodato cameo is okay in my book.

I've seen a few things on the list (TORSO, TOBY DAMNIT and NIGHTMARE CITY which I need to give another look) but his enthusiasm for stuff like WHO CAN KILL A CHILD, NIGHT TRAIN MURDERS and BEATRICE CENCI makes me want to check 'em all out.

And isn't that really what a list like this should do?

I'll be back later to write about some new music finds thanks to another of these lists...

Arrive Hungry, Leave Stuffed

I've always been bummed that every other holiday seems to get its fair share of horror-based cinema, but Thanksgiving – maybe my favorite holiday since it revolves around family, food, football and drink (and not necessarily in that order) – has only had the obscure HOME SWEET HOME.

Could that all be changing? Director Eli Roth's spot-on faux trailer for the slasher-riffic THANKSGIVING was one of the many highlights of this year's GRINDHOUSE. While I'd rather Roth concentrate on making new stuff and leave the fake trailers and horror spoofs behind, I have to admit I'm amazed that THANKSGIVING seems to be taking on a life of its own.

According to a story at Slash Film, Hot Topic is now selling a poster and t-shirt for the non-existent flick and there's even talk of action figures (?!).

I'm In Love, With That Song...

It's not everyday that a large, photo-filled, hardcover book about your favorite band of all-time is delivered to your home. By courier, no less. But that was the case yesterday when the long-awaited ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTING: An Oral History arrived on my doorstep.

I first heard the 'Mats back in 1985 when I was doing a radio show at Drexel's WKDU. My show that semester aired on Saturday afternoons sandwiched between a boyfriend/girlfriend team that wore black turtlenecks and Ginny, an older DJ who I'll always associate with the Comsat Angels.

And introducing me to The Replacements.

A caller phoned in a request for "Gary's Got a Boner" from 'Let it Be' and when I couldn't find the LP on the shelves I mentioned it to Ginny who was there early pulling records for her show. She informed me that the record had been lifted from the station as had more than one replacement copy (no pun intended). That, she said, was the sign of a good record and I should probably give the band a listen. She thought I'd dig their mid-American rock sound.

Little did she know the Pandora's Box she was opening. I picked up a copy of 'Let it Be' before I got on the bus back to Jersey and threw it on the turntable as soon as I got home. I played it and played it again. And played it again. And again. Within days I'd picked up all their other albums and was making compilation tapes for anybody who would listen.

Up until that time I'd been searching for a musical identity. My tastes were all over the place and still are, but I didn't really have a sound or a band that I could call "mine". Sure, I liked the Dead Kennedys, Black Flag and Ramones but I was hardly a punk. I dug the new wave represented by Missing Persons and A Flock of Seagulls, but I was doomed to a lifetime of hair like Chachi – there would be no cool 'dos in my future.

But The Replacements were a different story. They were about my age and their music was a pastiche of all the genres I'd grown up on thrown into a blender. Listen closely and you could hear Top 40 pop. And KISS. A little bit of country. And Black Flag.

Pretty soon I was championing the band to everybody I knew. I was, for lack of a better term, a Replacements Evangelist and looking back it was probably pretty obnoxious. For me there were the Mats... and all other bands fell somewhere behind them. Each record seemed to arrive at a crossroads in my life and like every other fan of Paul Westerberg I felt like his lyrics were speaking directly to me.

I still have a fat manila folder filled with articles about the band pulled from newspapers and magazines. At one point I even entertained the idea of writing a book about them myself and promptly shelved it because who else would read it?

It's more than 20 years since I "discovered" The Replacements that winter afternoon and they remain my all-time favorite band. I don't continue to labor under the misconception that they never recorded a bad song, and the bandmates' solo work has been hit or miss at best. (Call me crazy but I think Slim Dunlap's first solo disc – 'Old New Me' – may be the best of all the post-breakup albums and his second one ain't bad either.)

Reading the preface to the book last night I couldn't help but remember my own encounters with the band over the years. The first came in 1987 when they were touring in support of the great 'Pleased to Meet Me' (which flip flops with 'Tim' as my favorite, depending upon my mood). We'd arranged an interview at the radio station and I was going to conduct it. Though station rules prohibited smoking and drinking in the recording studio we threw both out the window and stocked the room with plenty of ice cold beer and didn't bat an eye when Westerberg pulled out a smoke and lit it up as he grabbed my notepad from my hands and hid my questions.

Though it was more than 20 years ago I can remember it like it was yesterday... Slim, drummer Chris Mars and Paul cracking jokes and avoiding questions they didn't want to answer by cackling "So how about them Phillies?" Tommy Stinson, his hair spiked to an unnatural size and wearing checked orange pants, getting up in the middle of the interview because I'm pretty sure he was annoyed. The band drinking and smoking and seeming to have a good time, so good that we were later informed by their record company that they weren't allowed back to the station on future tours. (I have a transcript of the interview somewhere and will have to dig it out.)

It was also one of the few times in my life that I allowed the "fan" in me to overrule the "journalist" in me. I've interviewed more than my share of celebrities, actors, directors and musicians over the years, and I've always felt compelled to maintain an air of professionalism. But that day in 1987 was a different story. I lived and breathed the Replacements and though I felt like a dork doing it (and still do) I got Westerberg and Mars to sign my promo 12" of "Alex Chilton." (Slim told me "You don't want my autograph" and Tommy never returned from his trip to the bathroom.)

Though I've sold off a good deal of my 'Mats-abilia over the years, that signed, framed 12" remains one of my prized possessions.

Oddly enough, I'd encounter the band again years later thanks to Ginny, the former DJ who had first told me to give them a listen. As I said, they'd been banned from the station and our repeated interview requests had been turned down. As it turned out, though, Ginny was now working for Warner Bros. and had the unenviable task of acting as their "handler" during their spin through Philly.

Running into her before their show in support of 'Don't Tell a Soul' she told me that they'd be hanging out at a local bar after the gig. Sure enough that's where they were and at one point I found myself in a booth with Westerberg, Stinson and two women, drinking red wine we "bought" with tickets they seemed to have an endless supply of.

At one point Paul got up and sang a couple Doors covers with the local band playing to one side of the bar while Tommy continued to hold court in the booth. Mars and Dunlap stood back, far from the melee surrounding their bandmates and it was the first time it dawned on me that the band would not be together forever. You could sense a schism even in that smoky, boozy room in Upper Darby, PA.

A few years later that schism would open wide. Mars left or was dismissed from the band he helped form. Paul was pushed further and further into the role of frontman, a fact I always assumed bothered Stinson. I think Slim was just happy to play. Original guitarist Bob Stinson died and dreams of a reunion featuring the band's first lineup were dashed.

These days I'm a far cry from the drunken lout who screamed at a couple of "new" Replacements fans during a show at the Tower Theater. They didn't know "Another Girl, Another Planet" by The Only Ones – a favorite cover performed by the band – and the beer and Cisco and hatred for my then-girlfriend coursing through my veins spilled over as I let loose on them. How dare they worm their way into my inner circle? Where were they in 1985 when I was bumming smokes off cute girls and taking photos of the band at Penn's Houston Hall?

These days I'm more likely to get choked up as I sing "Achin' to Be" to my daughter or feel a rush as "Message to the Boys" comes up on my iTunes. I'm looking forward to reading the book and hearing what other people have to say about their memories of the band, but like many other fans I'll always have my own.

Free Music Wednesday: Jason Dove

I'd have to say that I'm probably listening to more music – and more varied music – than I have since my days at WKDU (the college radio station at Drexel). Unfortunately, in the days after Drexel I spent a lot of time writing music reviews for various magazines and zines and found myself burning out on all things music. Crap will do that to you.

Oh sure, there was good stuff like Urge Overkill's 'Saturation' (one of the great, underappreciated albums of the era) but there was probably three times as much stuff that made me want to never, ever listen to music again. Like Urge Overkill's 'Exit the Dragon'.

After taking a break from music reviewing, selling off tons of CDs and retreating to my collection of vinyl and stuff by the Replacements I was able to learn to love music again. My embrace of iTunes has certainly helped out on that front. I spent several weeks loading my entire CD collection into the computer and since then I've added and added to the mix thanks to subscriptions to sites like eMusic and MP3 Sugar and numerous channels on Sirius (Underground Garage, Left of Center, etc.).

But there's nothing like going out and finding some free music. Thanks to Mobtown Shank here's three full albums of free stuff from Jason Dove.

Midnight Oil on 'Thicke of the Night'

Most people probably know Midnight Oil best for songs like "Beds Are Burning" and "Blue Sky Mining" which were hits here in the United States. My first exposure to the band was back in the mid-80s when their first album to get a US release – the brilliant, flawless "10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1" – was out and the band was trying to drum up support.

One of their promotional appearances was on Alan Thicke's late night talk show, 'Thicke of the Night.' The show was the same mindless pap you'd see on Carson, but Thicke had a knack for booking great musical guests. I distinctly remember The Tubes playing on the show one night and I'll never forget when Midnight Oil was on, along with the LA Rams Cheerleaders (that'll give you an idea how old a clip we're talking about).

Keep an eye on the clip about two-thirds of the way through when lead singer Peter Garrett begins lighting newspaper on fire and a stage hand has to run up to keep the stage from going up in flames...

Less Than 2 Weeks Left in Deep Discount Sale

My DVD-buying buddies wait patiently for the semiannual sale at Deep Discount so they can raid the site's already cheap prices and add another 20% off to the bottom line. I don't buy a lot of DVDs only because I don't watch many things more than once so the sale doesn't mean much to me.

But if you're a DVD buyer, movie lover or TV buff, this sale's tough to pass up. Plus it's a great way to stock up on Christmas gifts before the big holiday rush. To take advantage of the sale just go to DeepDiscount.com and enter the code SUPERSALE when you check out. That way you'll get an additional 20% off.

Here's a few titles I heartily recommend...

The James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set: all 21 official Bond flicks, including CASINO ROYALE, all in one set. The price is already less than $10 per flick and the sale will take almost $36 more off.

RE-ANIMATOR, FROM BEYOND and DAGON: it's tough to go wrong with this trio of Lovecraft adaptations from director Stuart Gordon and word has it he may be helming another.

POINT BREAK: easily one of the most entertainingly empty-headed action spectacles ever made and it's even parodied in Edgar Wright's very funny HOT FUZZ. Oh yeah, and POINT BREAK 2 supposedly begins filming in May.

VENTURE BROS. SEASONS 1 and 2: I'd like to think most people reading this blog already have these discs, but if not shame on you. Here's your chance to make things right in the world.

Klaus, Klaus, Klaus: nothing says happy holidays like some Kinski. Why not give the gift of THE GREAT SILENCE, CIRCUS OF FEAR, VENUS IN FURS, NOSFERATU, or MY BEST FIEND.

Is It Appropriate...?

Is it appropriate to wear green to a funeral? That's what I'm pondering this AM as I get ready to put on my Jaws throwback and drive down to FedEx Field for today's Eagles/Redskins game. At least the sun's out, temps should be in the high 40s, and we'll be tailgating with some chicken, cold cuts, cool beverages, homemade potato salad, chips and dip.

Each game brings us closer and closer to the end of the McNabb Era (and Reid Era?) in Philly and a loss today could put a final, resounding nail in the coffin of the Eagles' season, dropping them to 3-6 and no wins through four division games. With a second half schedule that includes three "winnable games" (and I use that term loosely) at home against Miami, Seattle and Buffalo and four potential disasters against Dallas, Giants, Saints and (shudder) the Patriots on national TV, I fear the Eagle Faithful is in for a long, unpleasant remainder of the season.

What I've Been Listening To... Saturday Edition

I've been up since 5 AM working on a client project that I just wrapped. I have to admit that while I once resisted iTunes I'm now a full-time fan and love being able to just put the thing on shuffle and have it pick from the nearly 8000 songs I have loaded.

Here's what was offered up lately:

• Peek-A-Boo – Devo
• The Brotherhood of AlWazah – Radio Birdman
• Vagabond Dog – Naked Raygun (who knew there was a new DVD out?)
  
• Drag On – Luxury Pushers
  
• Heroin Geek – Ultraviolet Eye
• Metal on Metal – Kraftwerk
• Tiny Dancer – Elton John
• Modern Love – David Bowie
• Give Up – Gaunt
• Step into the Light – Afghan Whigs

Recent Downloads:

• Challengers – New Pornographers
• Living with the Living – Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
• Countdown – Pulp

I downloaded the first two discs because they're getting a lot of acclaim as being among the best albums (do we still call them that?) of the year. I like about half of the last New Pornographers release, but I really liked that half so I'm willing to give this new one a go. I know I've heard a Ted Leo song here and there on a compilation but I didn't have any albums until now.

As for Pulp, Edgar Wright closed his radio guest spot with them the other day but the MP3 of the show cut off before the song started. Plus, eMusic gave it a write up in their best of indie pop article (or something like that, again, I've been up since 5 and I'm too lazy to go look). I only got the first disc of the set but if it's any good I'll pick up the other next month.

I Smell an ASTRONAUT!

Check out this great collection of TV commercials and trade spots for the Mego 'Planet of the Apes' line of action figures and playsets. I was – and still am – a HUGE POTA fan and had a bunch of these items as a kid. Love the narrative structure of some of these spots. And why do they give Cornelius/Galen a weapon in one of them? I thought chimpanzees were gentle thinkers, not like those damn gorillas!

Werewolf Bar Mitzvah, Spooky, Scary

I wasn't a huge Tina Fey fan back in her days on 'Saturday Night Live,' but that may have just been her proximity to Jimmy Fallon and their incredible tendency to overlaugh at the jokes. SNL aside, I've become a huge Fey fan thanks to things like MEAN GIRLS (remember when we had high hopes for Lindsay Lohan?) and the amazing, incredible '30 Rock,' which is probably my favorite show on TV right now (battling it out with 'The Office', 'The Colbert Report' and 'The Daily Show' with 'Smallville' always in contention).

I always hear comparisons between '30 Rock' and 'The Mary Tyler Moore Show' but I feel like the late, great 'News Radio' is closer to the blueprint for this smart, silly comedy. And, like 'News Radio', I don't know how many people are tuning in for the fun.

For those who are tuning in and howled (no pun intended) at the clip of Tracy's "Thriller"-inspired novelty hit "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah", here's a full version for your listening pleasure.

Link via Music for Robots which I just found courtesy of Mobtown Shank.

Edgar Wright Does Radio

If you're reading this blog you're probably familiar with the name Edgar Wright and his work. For those of you who aren't up to speed, Wright directed the hysterical horror genre homage/parody SHAUN OF THE DEAD as well as the spot-on action flick sendup HOT FUZZ. Not to mention the amazingly accurate Euroflick mock trailer DON'T in GRINDHOUSE.

I don't know how any of that qualifies him to host a radio show, but what the hell. Wright did a two hour guest stint on LA's 103.1 the other day and guests included Borat, JUNO screenwriter and current Hollywood "it" scribe Diablo Cody, and actor Jonah Hill (SUPERBAD). Haven't checked it out myself yet, but I'm definitely curious. You can listen to the show here.

Link via SlashFilm.com, one of my favorite must-read movie blogs.

Waters to Make LAST STALL ON THE LEFT?

One of the best things about living near Baltimore is the possibility that you could run into the great John Waters while walking around Hampden or hanging at one of the local art museums.

These days, Waters is on the road with his one-man show 'This Filthy World' and giving interviews about things like stuff you hear in Baltimore and his idea for a film about the Larry Craig airport bathroom scandal.

Anybody Remember GET CARTER?

The Writer's Strike is certainly getting a lot of play in the news these days, what with NBC showing footage last night of Julie Louise Dreyfuss trying to disrupt a DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES location shoot with chanting and annoyingness.

Hell, if they want to disrupt shooting and get on peoples' nerves she should bring over her NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE co-star Wanda Sykes. These days Sykes, who doesn't have a smidgen of funny DNA in her body, has signed on to play – wait for it – a talking apple in commercials for Applebee's, the crappiest crap food chain in restaurantdom.

But I didn't come here to bitch about Wanda Sykes and the shitty food at Applebee's. I'm just wondering if the studios can use the insane amount of remakes as a way to negotiate with the writers. TV is recycling BIONIC WOMAN and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA while the stream of movie remakes and reboots continues at a frightening pace. Seriously, how much effort goes into a big-budget, big-screen version of LAND OF THE LOST or CLASH OF THE TITANS?

The latest scary remake idea to cross my path comes to us via SlashFilm who reports that Sylvester Stallone is planning a remake of DEATH WISH! Argh! Oh, and I disagree with the report's assertion that the original flick "spawned four sequels, none of which are said to be any good." Depends on who you are, friend.

Vote in 2007 Weblog Awards, Support ER Pals

The 2007 Weblog Awards are up and while it would be wrong of me to tell you who to vote for, is it wrong for me to tell you who I voted for? And to strongly encourage you to do the same? Nah.

I only voted in two categories because, as far as I know, those are the only categories where I have a rooting interest. In the category of Best Literature Blog be sure to strongly consider our good friends at Bookgasm. Editor Rod Lott is an old friend from the world of zines and his entertainment and pop culture mag Hitch is (was?) one of the best. Plus, THG and ER contributor Louis Fowler writes a regular column for the site.

Over on the food side of things, Rachel from Food Maven also does a recipe blog called Coconut & Lime. The ranks of Baltimore food bloggers seems to be growing all the time and it'd be great to see one of our own hoist the top prize.

I think voting ends this Thursday, November 8, 2007 so be sure to get over and be counted. You can vote once every 24 hours from your computer.

Joker-Mania Continues

Don't bother reading the NY Times piece about Heath Ledger. It's a lot of talk about the new Bob Dylan biopic – in which Ledger and five other actors portray the "singer" – but SuperheroHype.com distilled all the bits in which Ledger talks about his upcoming role as The Joker in THE DARK KNIGHT.

Speaking of The Joker and THE DARK KNIGHT, kudos to Warner Bros. and the brains behind the film's viral marketing campaign. Last week fans scrambled to decode the message left by The Clown Prince of Crime and once they did they were treated to another shot of Ledger as a seriously sinister-looking arch villain for old Bats.

Now, check out rorysdeathkiss.com – the site features hordes of fans dressed up like Ledger's villainous character, posing in and around major metropolitan cities. Here's hoping the flick lives up to the hype that's building...

I'm a Baaaaad Blogger

Should I consider my Nablopomo participation a failure because I only made it three days? Unfortunately, by the time we got home from my nephew's wedding yesterday we'd logged nine hours in the car in two days, six of those hours yesterday along the stressful stretches known as The Garden State Parkway and I-95.

We got home just in time to watch the Eagles mail it in against the Cowboys, eat a Wawa hoagie, and collapse. Meaning that the last thing on my mind was jumping on-line and blogging.

Ah well, I'll keep it going for the rest of the month and consider this minor hiccup one of the pitfalls of such an experiment.

REVIEW: Bruno Mattei's THE TOMB

Bruno Mattei, rest his soul, could always be counted on to provide me with some inspired (if micro-budgeted) horror efforts, whether it's the zombie mayhem of NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES, the post-apoc hijinks of RATS: A NIGHT OF TERROR, or even his ZOMBIE 3 mop-up duty.

In other words, I was powerless when David Zuzelo of Tomb It May Concern informed me that THE TOMB was available on DVD and I could get my recommended dose of shot-on-video Mattei nonsense. This time, though, you can forget the zombies and giant rat people. This was Mattei's MUMMY-inspired Egyptian horror epic complete with human sacrifices, bleeding statues, smoke machines, more bald guys than you can shake a stick at, big-titted archeology students, and the director's trademark use (overuse?) of stock – and sometimes misappropriated – footage.

An ancient Egyptian human sacrifice plot gets foiled and the high priest at the center of the shenanigans is hauled into a chamber where a high priestess "gets him ready" for immortality thanks to the most horrific and gruesome embalming practice they've got going.

Fast forward to the present where Professor Langley and his students have arrived to search for the ancient temple seen in the flick's opening. (Like CREATURE FROM THE HILLBILLY LAGOON, the professor appears to be almost the same age as the students he's in charge of.) Not surprisingly, nobody has been able to find the temple despite thousands of years of searching and – in one of the cheesiest of all horror cliches – one of the students looks just like the gal they attempted to sacrifice all those years ago.

After their initial guide freaks out in a bar (thanks to some FROM DUSK TILL DAWN-inspired monster stripper action), runs in to a cemetery and gets accosted by skeleton footage shamelessly lifted from Sam Raimi's ARMY OF DARKNESS, the professor and his crew are forced to use a creepy local healer to help them find the temple.

It won't come as much of a surprise that they miraculously find the temple, that the students begin getting picked off in a series of "accidents", or that their arrival just so happens to coincide with the exact date the evil priestess from the opening is supposed to rise from the dead.

A little heavy on "aftermath" effects and short on real gore moments, THE TOMB does feature death by tunnel trap, the old spider-out-of-the-mouth gag, undead drummers, reanimated high priests, and enough footage lifted from other movies that it eventually stops being comical and starts approaching criminal. Oddly enough, one student is even saddled with a bizarre drug use backstory that's introduced – and never comes up again.

Between the crappy shot-on-video look and the big-titted actress playing Maria, I kept waiting for somebody to whip their dick out and start fucking them some archeology students. Alas, there's no nudity despite ample opportunity for Mattei to pile on some flesh with the gore.

While I've certainly seen – and enjoyed – worse nonsense than this, it takes a good deal of effort to get to THE TOMB'S handful of enjoyable moments. Skip this one and watch the classic NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES again or maybe track down Mattei's crazy looking LAND OF DEATH.

Zine Reviews: Uptight Moms, Transit Trains and Pack Rats

It's probably safe to say that anybody reading this blog can relate to the subject matter of YOUR MOMETER #7. This cute, old-school zine about – what else? – just how much of a pain the editors' moms were had me laughing out loud from its first pages. Everybody thinks their mom was the worst to grow up with and I can share some doozies about mine. But I digress. YOUR MOMETER is all about Cathy Catheter and Matty Monochrome's mothers, whom they describe as “hella uptight. Uptight. Strained. Stretched tight. Taut. UNRELAXED...”

The 32 mini-digest pages are fleshed out with illustrated stories (one about how their collection of MAD Magazine went missing hit very close to home), lists of things that make moms blow their tops, record reviews and the required collage. With its rough, hand-drawn cartoons and illustrations, typewriter set copy, and cut and paste feel, YOUR MOMETER feels fun, fresh and old school all at the same time. ($2 from YOUR MOMETER, PO Box 66835, Portland, OR 97290, no trades.)

While YOUR MOMETER partially succeeds because most of us can relate to the idea of an uptight parent who can't grasp our musical taste or romantic choices, a zine like OPUNTIA 63.1B has a tougher task in front of it. Dales Speirs' sparse, simple publication mixes it up from issue to issue, delivering a review zine, index, apa zine or perzine depending upon the numbering. This issue happens to be a review zine, but not your normal amalgamation of record, book, movie and zine reviews. Instead, Speirs tackles a decidedly niche topic: the commentaries, histories, magazines, and pastiches featuring the characters that populated the world of the popular fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. As a very casual fan (I read all the Holmes and Watson adventures as a youngster but haven't revisited them in decades) it was fun to see how writers and publishers had expanded the universe created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and conjured up new tales in which Holmes becomes a real world celebrity, Doctor Watson solves the case, or an author explains background details from Conan Doyle's work.

Though I found the zine's layout confounding at times – the 16 digest size pages are layed out in landscape fashion – the content was worth the effort. And, like any good niche zine, Speirs' look at the world of Holmes made me want to explore the topic more. ($3 cash to Dale Speirs, Box 6830, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2E7.)

WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS is another long-running zine, and one that has maintained its singular focus of celebrating, criticizing and appreciating the New York City Transit Authority for 37 issues. Editor Fred Argoff should know a thing or two about the subject, he's a conductor for the legendary transit system. Issue #37 is the comforting WTCD blend of photos, facts, observations and reviews you've come to know and love, all written in Argoff's pleasant and conversational style. Reading an issue of this zine – or the editor's equally interesting BROOKLYN! – is like sitting down and chatting with a particularly knowledgeable pal and letting them wax poetic into the early morning hours about their favorite subject.

What I love about WATCH, though, is summed up best in Argoff's letter from the editor that opens this issue. Bitching about work has become a national pastime in this world of ours but, as Fred writes, “if you cannot find things to amuse yourself during the work day, then you are in the wrong field, and you should find a new job as quickly as you can.” Of course, it wouldn't be a review of WTCD if I didn't register my one and only (minor) complaint about the publication: the photos. Though the photo reproduction in this issue is much better than in the past, a photo of a crowd exiting a train en masse is little more than an indecipherable blob of toner. Again, this is a minor quibble and one that can be easily overlooked for a zine that remains true to its roots and vision. ($2 to Fred Argoff, Penthouse L, 1170 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11230. And while you're at it send him a couple bucks for the latest BROOKLYN!, too.)

It's certainly naïve of me to think this way, but I can see zines like OPUNTIA or WATCH THE CLOSING DOORS still being published years from now. The technology required to put them out isn't going away anytime soon, and the editors seem to have an endless supply of information to share about their subjects. That isn't to say that other publishers who decide to give up the print route have run out of things to say. Quite the contrary.

In fact, I have been giving serious thought to ending the print version of THE HUNGOVER GOURMET after the next issue. Not because I feel like I've exhausted the subjects of food, drink, travel and fun. Just the opposite. The print edition simply isn't timely enough for me while the blog and website are able to share something like my recent trip to a 7-11 made over into a SIMPSONS-ized Kwik-E-Mart that day, not months later when the promotion is a distant memory in the collective, "what's now" psyche that plagues our world.

But I've been waffling on this issue since I first mentioned ending the zine in the pages of XEROGRAPHY DEBT. Yes, the death of Tower Records has been a major blow to the zin'e distribution, but the publication was never about readership or reach or core audiences. It was just another way to share my passion and the passions of others. I'm still up in the air about what to do, but I have to admit I'm leaning more towards keeping it going than pulling the plug.

I definitely fear there'll come a day when Anita j Michel hangs up her print hat and goes all-digital. And that's too bad, since Michel's SYNDICATE PRODUCT (the zine formerly known as LOW HUG) is one publication that I thoroughly enjoy reading and writing for. (Somewhat full disclosure – Anita and I have known each other for probably 20 years or so, I'm a frequent contributor to the pages of her zine, and I once gave her a very cool mushroom-shaped 70s stereo system that I couldn't move from Pittsburgh to Philly.)

Until that day comes when she decides to carry out her threat to move the publication on-line for good, we still have issues like 12.0: Year of the (Pack) Rat. Calling upon a wide array of writers and illustrators, Michel pulls together another great issue that delves into the diverse, but somewhat related, topics of collecting/acquiring/hoarding and the inability to get rid of things as well as the wonderful world of record stores, where many of us went to collect, acquire and hoard until they began disappearing one by one, from the corner shop to the corporate behemoth. It's another issue full of insight and wry observations and I'd love to see Michel turn some of these concepts into books. These tales of attachment to everyday objects really leave you wanting more. And for those of us who do want more, be sure to check out Anita's enjoyable, slightly snarky SYNDICATE PRODUCT blog at syndicateproduct.blogspot.com. ($3.00 to PO Box 877, Lansdowne, PA 19050.)

New Reviews Posted... Werewolves, Bollywood, Dolls and More

Just finished up posting the latest batch of new reviews over at the Exploitation Retrospect website. New reviews this week include:

• NIGHT OF THE WEREWOLF starring Paul Naschy
• LETHAL FORCE directed by Alvin Ecarma
  
• DEAD SILENCE written and directed by the SAW guys
• CAMP BLOOD: THE MUSICAL
• BOLLYWOOD HORROR VOLUME 1 from Mondo Macabro

Tune in next week for another batch of fresh reviews torn screaming from the pages of Exploitation Retrospect!

BON: The Horrors Of it All

Here's a new Blog of Note (or BON) that every horror fan should be adding to their bookmarks: THE HORRORS OF IT ALL. The main focus of the blog is on pre-code 50s horror comics but the author covers so much more, including horror films, actors, actresses, and more. Definitely check this one out!

Welcome to Nablopomo, Day One

"So, what's a Nablopomo?" you're probably asking yourself. Well, it stands for National Blog Posting Month and that's what November is. The idea behind the movement is that you commit to posting something to your blog every day of the month. That's it. They don't have to be long posts, detailed posts, or funny posts. You just have to post.

I've never taken on the Nablopomo challenge before but I plan to do it on two fronts: both here at the Exploitation Retrospect blog and over at The Hungover Gourmet blog. Aside from this initial post I'll do my best not to share content. That'd sort of be cheating, wouldn't it?

Anyway, I decided to tackle this challenge because work is getting busier, the holidays are coming up, life is getting crazier and it'd be really easy to slack off and let less important things like the blog take a backseat. Plus, I look at writing as a muscle and if you don't exercise it every now and then it starts to go a little soft.

So that's that. Welcome to Nablopomo and I hope you enjoy the ride.

By the way, you can also click the little participant graphic at the top of the right hand column to be taken to the Nablopomo homepage where you can read more about the event and explore some of the other blogs that are participating.