Hellbent for Horror

What are you dressing up as for Halloween? I have some ideas...

This month I went to the Sinister Creature Con in Sacramento, CA. 

This convention focuses on the technicians behind the shock effects, and it's filled with artists demonstrating their work and their passion for everyone to see. 

This Convention is the brainchild of Tim Meunier, who also runs the Sacramento horror film festival.  I had a great weekend at the con and at the amazing after-parties that featured make up effects from some of the artists in residence. 

One of those make up effects was turning a woman into a mermaid to swim in a pool behind the bar at one of the parties.  Simply amazing and beautiful work by Nicole Chilelli and Vicious Vanity FX. 

I was fortunate to be able to interview 3 of the artists at the convention.  Two make up and special effects artists (Erin Koskella/Koastkilla SFX, Margaret Caragan/Pandora FX) and another artist (Kaci Hansen/The Homicidal Homemaker) who uses food as her medium to create horrific looking, but very tasty dishes. 

All three are passionate about their work, and were happy to talk about their inspirations and love of creating horror.

Happy Halloween!

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play, PlayerFM, and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Have you gotten your Halloween scare yet?

In this episode, I give a selection of movies to watch for this Halloween season. 

My list skips the "old reliables" in favor of some lesser known films you may not have seen before. 

It's a mixture of old and new, American and foreign, monsters, ghosts, and some new disturbing characters. 

I hope you find at least one in this list that surprises and creeps you out. 

Happy Halloween!

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play, PlayerFM, and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Movies Covered:

Lady in White (1988)

The Devil's Backbone (2001)

Near Dark (1987)

Stake Land (2010)

Habit (1997)

Ginger Snaps (2000)

May (2002)

American Mary (2012)

The Devils (1971)

Santa Sangre (1989)

The Poughkeepsie Tapes (2007)

Pontypool (2008)

The Signal (2007)

The Descent (2005)

The Strangers (2008)

A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)

Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

The Pact (2012)

Session 9 (2001)

Jeepers Creepers (2001)

My Halloween celebration has a soundtrack. 

And, along with all the standards, I collect "non-traditional" horror songs; ones that induce dread, or shock, maybe even fear. 

In this episode I share some of the songs that are mainstays in my October playlist.  Maybe some of these songs will inspire you, and become part of your own celebration of Halloween. 

Happy Listening.

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play, PlayerFM, and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Songs covered:

"Pretty Polly" by Dock Boggs 

"Country Death Song" by the Violent Femmes 

"O'Malley's Bar" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds 

"Do You Love Me? (Part 1 and 2)" by Nick Cave  

"The Devil's Own" by David Sylvian 

"We Die Young" by Alice in Chains

"Them Bones" by Alice in Chains 

"Twist of Cain" by Danzig 

"Intruder" by Peter Gabriel 

"I Want You" by Elvis Costello

"Black Angels, Movement 1: Departure" by Kronos Quartet 

"Viginti Tres" by Tool 

"Drift" by Fear of God

"Disturbing the Priest" by Black Sabbath 

"Dead Skin Mask" by Slayer

"Victim" by the Golden Palominos

"Subway Song" by The Cure 

"Delia's Gone" by Johnny Cash 

"Car Chase Terror" by M83 

"Frankie Teardrop" by Suicide 

"Sun Arise" by Alice Cooper

My biggest thrill doing this podcast is getting to talk to people about this stuff. 

I really want to start conversations with you...and now I get to!

Recently, an H4H listener named Bradley J. Kornish started an email conversation with me.

I decided it would be fun to do a phone interview with another passionate horror fan!

Bradley J Kornish is the creative force behind Black Ark Studios and Black Ark Magazine.

He is the author of dark fiction and horror including the web serials 'Mother' and 'Goth Girl'.

You can find more info at http://blackarkstudios.com/

Bradley's website and forum are up and active and he encouraged other writers and creatives to join in...

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Topics Discussed:

#horror

#horrorpodcast

Movies last a couple of hours, but you spend significant time with a book. 

Reading is a direct upload of words that transition into your own images that go right to your brain.  It can be powerful. 

And horror books let you live with the scare and the thrill for days! 

In this episode I talk about my love of reading, and how horror stories and books from the library deepened my love of horror, and helped me get to know myself.

Books were my salvation…and my corruption!

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Topics Discussed:

#horror

#HorrorLiterature

#HorrorMovies

#PetSematary

#StephenKing

#AlfredHitchcock

#RoaldDahl

#TheBirds

#DaphneDuMaurier

#TheExorcist

#WilliamPeterBlatty

#AgainDangerousVisions

#HarlanEllison

#RayNelson

#RayBradbury

#CharlesLGrant

#William Golding

#RamseyCampbell

#PeterStraub

In this special edition of Hellbent for Horror I review the new movie Blair Witch 2016, directed by Adam Wingard. 

This is a sequel to The Blair Witch Project, and I can't help but think of this new movie in relation to the original.  So, that's what I do in this episode. 

I recorded some of my thoughts about both movies. 

What made the first movie so original?  Does the new movie hold up under that weight? 

Does it blaze its own trail or get lost in the woods?  

Special bonus: hear my comparison of the original Blair Witch Project to Roberto Rossellini's Rome-Open City and the Italian neo-realism movement.

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Topics Discussed:

#horror

#horrorpodcast

#blairwitch

#theblairwitchproject

#romeopencity

#jaws

#theexorcist

#italianneorealism

Coppola, Scorsese, Friedkin, Altman, Penn, Bogdanavitch, Spielberg…

Carpenter?

You're damn right.

All of these directors earned their place in Cinema History.

Each of them made at least one great movie that made an impact where the film changed the direction of how movies look and feel.

Each of them influenced a new generation of film directors.

And yet, John Carpenter rarely gets included in lists or conversations that also include the other maverick filmmakers of the 1970's.

And John Carpenter changed the course of the horror film not once, but TWICE.

Once, to great acclaim.

Once to great condemnation.

Listen: art is art and a good movie is a good movie no matter what the source material might be.

In this episode, I talk about John Carpenter's contributions to great movies and great art, and those two times that not only altered the course of horror films, but also altered his career and his legacy.

You tell me: Why is Silence of the Lambs billed as a "psychological thriller," and not a horror film? 

It looks and acts like a horror movie.  Or is it that when movies hit it big with the general culture that we can't label them horror movies?

I think there are lots of examples of movies billed as "thrillers," or "suspense," or even "drama" that are actually horror movies, and in this podcast I begin calling some out. 

In this episode I'll talk about Silence of the Lambs, and compare aspects of Platoon and Full Metal Jacket to look for horror aspects. 

I'll delve into Deliverance and even Dirty Harry.  Dirty Harry a horror movie?  I think so. 

Maybe I can convince you.  I'm feeling lucky.

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Topics Discussed:

Silence of the Lambs

Platoon

Full Metal Jacket

Deliverance

Dirty Harry

Zodiac Killer

Serial Killers

Horror

Horror Movies

Horror Podcast

#Silence of the Lambs

#Platoon

#Full Metal Jacket

#Deliverance

#Dirty Harry

#Zodiac Killer

#Serial Killers

#Horror

#Horror Movies

#Horror Podcast

Horror stories are supposed to upset the apple cart.

Great stories captivate us.  Some narratives are timeless.  Some comment on the times in which they're born.  And some stories are timeless because their meanings change with time. 

Stories can be great in themselves, but sometimes they resonate with something we experienced, our times, our culture, our politics.

And sometimes, that isn't pretty at all.

 And even widely different interpretations of the story can be right.  After all, art reflects whoever is experiencing it, as well as the intentions of the artist. 

In this episode I talk about how horror is wonderfully suited to comment (or not) on the time it's written, and sometimes the message only shows up after time has passed.

 Do the zombies in George Romero's 1968 movie "Night of the Living Dead" mean something different than zombies in Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of "Dawn of the Dead?" 

John Carpenter's "They Live" has different meanings to someone who watched it for the first time this year than someone who watched it in 1988. 

If you like or dislike Eli Roth's "Hostel," what does it say about you? 

Times change and good stories adapt to them.  And all these thoughts were inspired by a recent binge watch of Season 1 of Mr. Robot.  Enjoy!

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

Topics discussed:

Mr. Robot (2015)

Hostel (2005)

Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

The Thing (1951)

Them! (1954)

Psycho (1960)

Targets (1968)

The Terror (1963)

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

They Live (1988)

28 Days Later (2002)

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

1. Budd Dwyer

Cyber Hackers

Savings and Loan Scandal

Iran-Contra Scandal

Enemy of the State

Frankenstein

Mary Shelly

Horror as Allegory

Horror as Metaphor

Subtext

Eli Roth

Slovakia

Velvet Revolution

Xenophobia

German Expressionism

Robert Weine

Weimar Republic

Hans Janowitz

Carl Meyer

Don Seigel

Dan Mainwaring

McCarthyism

Red Scare

Anti-Communism

Giant Bug Movies

Them!

Hiroshima

Nagasaki

Atom Bomb

Los Alamos

Howard Hawks

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

Bomb Shelters

Charles Starkweather

Alfred Hitchcock

Peter Bogdanovitch

Roger Corman

Boris Karloff

Charles Whitman

University of Texas Tower

George Romero

Duane Jones

John Carpenter

Yuppies

Reganomics

September 11, 2001

World Trade Center

Pentagon

Danny Boyle

Ground Zero

Zombie Apocalypse

Zack Snyder

Tobe Hooper

Mick Garris

Horror

Horror Movie

Horror Podcast

#Mr. Robot (2015)

#R. Budd Dwyer

#Cyber Hackers

#Savings and Loan Scandal

#Iran-Contra Scandal

#Enemy of the State

#Frankenstein

#Mary Shelly

#Horror as Allegory

#Horror as Metaphor

#Subtext

#Hostel (2005)

#Eli Roth

#Slovakia

#Velvet Revolution

#Xenophobia

#German Expressionism

#Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

#Robert Weine

#Weimar Republic

#Hans Janowitz

#Carl Meyer

#Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

#Don Seigel

#Dan Mainwaring

#McCarthyism

#Red Scare

#Anti-Communism

#Giant Bug Movies

#Them!

#Hiroshima

#Nagasaki

#Atom Bomb

#Los Alamos

#The Thing (1951)

#Howard Hawks

#Julius and Ethel Rosenberg

#Bomb Shelters

#Charles Starkweather

#Psycho (1960)

#Alfred Hitchcock

#Targets (1968)

#Peter Bogdanovitch

#Roger Corman

#Boris Karloff

#The Terror (1963)

#Charles Whitman

#University of Texas Tower

#Night of the Living Dead (1968)

#George Romero

#Duane Jones

#They Live (1988)

#John Carpenter

#Yuppies

#Reganomics

#September 11, 2001

#World Trade Center

#Pentagon

#28 Days Later (2002)

#Danny Boyle

#Ground Zero

#Zombie Apocalypse

#Dawn of the Dead (2004)

#Zack Snyder

#Tobe Hooper

#Mick Garris

#Horror

#Horror Movie

#Horror Podcast

Recently I traveled to Iceland, and I spoke with and interviewed several Icelanders about their native horror folklore and legends. 

This land is rich in stories of hidden people, elves, and trolls who interfere in the lives of humans. 

In addition, the land has its own real bloody stories to tell. 

In this episode I talk about horror folk tales from Iceland and speculate on the role nature plays in these folk tales.

If you like the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes or Google Play.  It really helps.  Thanks a lot for listening. 

You can now subscribe to the Hellbent for Horror podcast now available on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

You can keep up with Hellbent for Horror on iTunes @iTunesPodcasts  

iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/hellbent-for-horror/id1090978706

Google Play link:https://play.google.com/music/listen#/ps/Ibsk2i4bbprrplyvs37c6aqv2ny

Stitcher link: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/hellbent-for-horror?refid=stpr

For you, the listeners of Hellbent for Horror, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out their service.

To download your free audiobook today, go to: http://www.audibletrial.com/HellbentForHorror

#Horror

#Horror Movies

#Horror Conventions

#Horror Podcasts

#Iceland

#Icelandic Folklore

#Hidden People

#Huldufolk

#monsters

#Elves

#Trolls

#Serial Killers

#Witch Trials

#Beheading

#Hanging

#Burnt at the Stake

#Sorcery

#Necropants

#Nabrok

#Baldour

#Yule Lads

#Horror

#Folk Horror

#Ancient Horror