Horror Shock Lolipop

Contests: Win Your Favourite Items from The Soapy Shop of Horrors!

2012-01-23T02:58:00.001Z

We know what you're thinking. You're thinking: "I'd really like to win some free stuff!", and so, dear devils and deviant dolls, we've teamed up with The Soapy Shop of Horrors so that you can! The colour / scent of each soap can be customised to suit your taste. So whether you want jasmine-scented pink skulls, chocolate-scented green gargoyles, or just want a surprise, you're sure to find something you love among Suze Laing's horror-themed soaps!

"We'd really like to win some free stuff!"

We're giving 1 lucky monster the chance to win their favourite 5 soaps, and 2 runners up will receive one each! All you have to do is send us an e-mail in the 'Contact' section or comment on this post telling us which 5 soaps you want to win, and you'll automatically be entered! (Make sure you tell us which colour and scent you want too, unless you want a surprise).

You can find the full selection on The Soapy Shop of Horrors' website.

Closing date: February 1st, 2012

Good luck!

Games: Monstermind

2012-01-21T18:42:00.003Z

Monstermind on Facebook

'Monstermind' is a Facebook game, in which you try to build a prosperous town while making monsters to attack your ~~friends~~ enemies with, set in 1940's-1960's sci-fi horror movies. Even the music is a gloriously cheesy monster movie score!

MONSTERMIND on Facebook

Your town, which will automatically be called '*your first name*-wood', is pretty empty when you first acquire it, but it doesn't take long to change that! Build houses for population, commerce buildings for money, defence to protect your lovely monsters...or people, and decorations to slow down enemy attacks. You can also change the name of your town, by clicking on it and typing/deleting. Naturally, I chose to call my town 'Horrorwood', since I'm just that original. Heh.

Now, whilst creating a thriving little town, in which you balance the population number with the amount of commerce, is all very fascinating, the best part of 'Monstermind' comes when you get to unleash your mutated creations onto another player's town! Kyahahahaha! You unlock new creature types with each level, from giant apes to giant women, and destructive robots to zombies! The first time you use them, a little information box Every kind of monster has its own strengths and weaknesses, so it's a good idea to experiment to see which ones work well together in the town you're attacking.

For example, zombies might be fashionable horrors right now and you might want to use them, but they cannot take on tanks! Just leave those to the bigger, tougher monsters and let the zombies run shamble in when there's not much defence left. This is important, because you get to keep all of the surviving monsters after each attack. The more creatures you have left, the more you will have to use next time. The key to all the attacks is to take out the Town Hall as quickly as possible, because nothing can function without it!

Initially, you can only attack / be attacked by your friends' towns and Doomsday, but if you hire Eva for 100, you can spread terror and destruction to random player cities too. This makes it much easier to gain experience, collection items, and extra money. Of course, they can then send their monster minions to demolish your town too, so you need to defend it!

There are also quests that appear on the left-hand side of the screen from time to time. When you click them, an old fashioned TV appears and plays a little animated movie telling you what you need to do. Not all of the movies are finished (it simply says "coming soon"), and sometimes it can be difficult to tell what you should be doing, but there is a text summary at the end of the films. Also, the animations remind me of the cartoon 'Dexter's Lab', but I'm not entirely convinced that wasn't intentional.

For all its fun, 'Monstermind' is still a Facebook game, and they can be pretty tedious, and highly frustrating when you get to the point where you suddenly need to spend a stupid amount of real money in order to progress. That's usually the point when I stop playing. However, 'Monstermind' is different, because even though you can buy addons, you don't need to. You can trade in the collections to acquire specific things, such as monsters, buildings, and decorations for free, including some which can only be bought with real money ordinarily. Hopefully they'll keep this feature, as it's something that makes 'Monstermind' much more enjoyable than other games of a similar type.

Overall, 'Monstermind' is an amusing and enjoyable sci-fi horror-themed game that provides procrastinators everywhere with more distractions than usual. It has a cute charm for those who just want to cuddle the monsters, mixed with just enough destruction to keep budding world dominators entertained for hours!

Shopping: The Soapy Shop of Horrors

2012-01-20T00:11:00.000Z

It's a dark and stormy night; a thick fog rolls in, distorting everything in sight, including your own reflection in the steam-covered mirror in front of you. Everything is silent and still, except for the low gush of flowing water. Suddenly, through the eerie mist, you see zombies, bats, spiders, skulls, brains, and all sorts of horrors in front of you! A shiver of terror creeps down your spine, but, being the knowledgeable spook slayer you are, you know just what to do...dissolve them in your bathwater! For these are no ordinary ghouls, dear devils - oh no! These are the fantastically frightening soaps from The Soapy Shop of Horrors, where "horror isn't just for Halloween...it's for bathtime too!"

Each of these creepy cleaners are designed and handmade in the UK, by Soapy Shop of Horrors founder Suze Laing. She started the shop after "buying some “Halloween” soap for friends in the U.S.A" and, after finding that the UK selection was somewhat limited, she began to make her own. Following this creative soap crafting, Suze had a breakthrough moment, and realised that "maybe, just maybe, others would want some oddly shaped soaps too, and not just at Halloween!". She was right!

'Bat' by Soapy Shop of Horrors

As well as the products being gory and gorgeous, they're amazingly detailed, and most look like little sculptures rather than soap! This level of detail, together with with the ability of the buyer to choose the colour and scent combination desired, for most of the items on sale, and really affordable prices, make The Soapy Shop of Horrors a very unique and delightfully strange find. Moreover, the little facts about the featured soap horror character, at the bottom of each page, are a great bonus, and make the website interesting and endearing too!

'Skull' by Soapy Shop of Horrors

Many thanks to Suze Laing for permission to use the images and video!

To find out more, or to buy a Soapy Horror, take a look at the sites below:

The Soapy Shop of Horrors

Twitter

Facebook

Suze Laing's Website

Friday 13th: Jason & His Gingerbread Victims

2012-01-13T23:42:00.003Z

As you all know by now, today is Friday 13th, and in addition to being a notoriously unlucky day for the superstitious, it is also Fright-day Foods time here on HSL! Today's Creepy "cooking" is:

Jason Voorhees & His Gingerbread Victims

Ridiculously easy how-to guide after the bloody machete cut below↓

Friday 13th: 13 'Friday the 13th'-themed Items

2012-01-13T09:30:00.000Z

Next up: 13 items featuring the 'Friday the 13th' movie series:

1. Jason Voorhees Goblet

Jason Goblet from Haunt Your Home

It's made of plastic, cheap, and fairly tacky, but I actually really like this! Say what you will about my lack of taste, but I want one :D They're available from Haunt Your Home, along with an array of other Friday the 13th items, including a Freddy Krueger & Jason platter, Friday the 13th bowl, and Jason shot glasses.

2. Friday The 13th Nike Dunk Sneakers

Friday the 13th Nike Dunk Sneakers designed by Mizzee Customs

I'm usually not a fan of sneakers, but even I have to admit that these custom Nike Dunk Sneakers from Mizzee Customs are pretty great. The details - from the "blood splatter" to the picture of Jason and one of his victims to the 'Crystal Lake' writing and red soles - make these unusual and aesthetically pleasing too! They're available on DunkSneaker.com.

3. Jason Voorhees Musical Halloween Lights

I found this video over at I-Mockery.com and, even though the company that made the lights don't seem to know the difference between Friday the 13th and Halloween (listen to the music), I still think these are awesome for two reasons: 1) I'd rather hear the Halloween theme than the annoying echo-ki-ing and ma-ing from Friday the 13th, and 2) These ones look much better than the official ones (below). :D

Official Friday the 13th lights from Entertainment Earth

4. Jason Voorhees' Dog "Machete" Sculpture by Undead Ed

Sculpture by Undead Ed

Obviously, Jason never really had a dog in the movies, but this is an art piece by Undead Ed, and since I've never seen another one, it's in this post! After all, "Even Jason from Friday the 13th needs a pet...Dogs are a PSYCHO's best friend!". The sculpture was already sold on Undead Ed's Etsy page, but you can still view the listing here.

5. Women's Jason Costume

Women's Jason Costume from HalloweenCostumes.net

I guess if Jason has a dog, he might also want a sexy psycho ~~fangirl~~ girlfriend too? Or maybe this is what Mrs. Voorhees looked like in her younger days? Who knows? And more importantly, who cares? :D

"Horror movies are showing the love to the ladies with this women's Jason Voorhees mask! This sexy horror movie costume features a black, polyester dress with a Jason-mask logo in the front (**note that the logo is purple, not white as pictured)."

The logo is purple? Oh yeah! Remember that time when Jason wore a purple mask? Yeah, me neither. >.> Also, the "mask" she's holding is actually a bag, which is kind of cool I guess. The costume is available at HalloweenCostumes.net and goes with their Men's Jason costume, which I won't even start on.

6. Camp Crystal Lake Sign

Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake

This Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake sign on Entertainment Earth would make a great addition to a horror / 'Friday the 13th' display for those who didn't just want to have Jason figures everywhere.

7. Pop! Jason Bobblehead

Jason Voorhees Bobblehead on NeatoShop

You knew it was going to be somewhere on the list. There's a bobblehead of just about everyone, and Jason Voorhees is no exception. In fact, there are quite a few, but this one is definitely the cutest! It's still listed on NeatoShop, but sadly, I think it's out of stock now.

8. Funko Jason Plushie

Jason Funko Plushie

Another cute addition to the Friday the 13th plethora of merchandise is this adorable little plush toy. As the shop page says, "Jason has never been so cute and cuddly!". I'm pretty sure there's a reason for that. Then again, if he looked as harmless and unassuming as this, it would certainly make catching his victims a lot easier! Another found on NeatoShop.

9. Mezco's Cinema Of Fear Jason Roto Plush

Jason Roto Plush

If you like your horror plushies to look a little more horrific, then this Jason roto plush from Mezco might be more your style. Standing at an appropriate 13" tall, this "cuddly killer" comes with his trusty machte and is dressed in a hockey jersey. I rather like this one; I also rather like that Mezco are trying to draw in as many customers as they can by saying that not only will horror fans appreciate this toy, but "hockey fans that enjoy their team a bit more on the aggressive side" will love it too!

10. Jason Hockey Mask Cap

Hockey Mask Cap

An alternative for those of you that really don't want to wear a mask! It's available from TheMovieShop.com. Unfortunately, instead of looking like a creepy horror icon, you might just end up looking like a 'Mighty Duck'. That's pretty scary too though.

11. Friday the 13th Mouse & Mouse Pad

Blood-filled Mouse Pad and Hockey Mask Mouse

According to Friday the 13th the Film Franchise, this mouse pad / mouse combo pack was given out to some lucky contest winners and select members of the press to promote the release of 'Friday the 13th 2009'. The mouse is a hockey mask and the mouse pad is filled with blood. It doesn't look particularly comfortable to use, but it's still pretty fantastic!

12. Jason Voorhees Mask Cake

Hockey Mask Cake

Horror-themed cakes are always fun! This one was made by Wing-Ding on Cake Central. "Fondant covered and the "blood" is thickened colored piping gel. The cake is red butter cake torted with red vanilla pudding. It also has chocolate buttercream." Yum!

13. Jason Hockey Mask Ring

Hockey Mask Ring

Released by Gentle Giant, whose name seems completely inappropriate here, this hockey mask ring was sold on Big Bad Toys, and various other outlets. Gentle Giant made a few other Friday the 13th-related items too, but they seem to be sold out now.

What's your favourite 'Friday the 13th' item? Let us know!

Friday 13th: 13 Facts About Friday 13th

2012-01-13T08:06:00.000Z

Boudi's Lucky 13 Brand Logo

Dear dolls and devils, in honour of today being Friday 13th, today's entries will be filled with suitably themed posts! To start things off, 13 facts about this (un)lucky day:

1. The name for the fear of Friday 13th is paraskavedekatriaphobia (from Greek: Paraskevi = Friday, dekatreis = 13, phobia = fear) or friggatriskaidekaphobia (Frigga = Norse goddess after whom Friday is named, triskaidekaphobia = fear of the number 13).

2. There are always at least 1 and at most 3 Friday 13ths in each year.

3. Public figures born on Friday 13th include: Fidel Castro (August 1926), Butch Cassidy (April, 1866), Samuel Beckett (April 1906), and Margaret Thatcher (October, 1923)

4. In some Spanish-speaking countries, and Greece, Tuesday 13th is an unlucky day.

5. In addition to today, there are two more Friday 13ths this year in April and July.

6. Asteroid 99942 Apophis is expected to make a close approach to Earth on Friday 13th, 2029.

7. The Olympic Games in Athens opened on Friday 13th, August, 2004.

8. The British Medical Journal found that although less people drove on Friday 13th, more accidents and hospital admissions due to vehicular accidents occurred, when compared to other Fridays.

9. Due to the fears of their passengers, some ocean liners will not leave the dock until after midnight on Friday 13th.

10. There are never more than 14 months between each Friday 13th.

11. Four movies in the 'Friday the 13th' franchise ('Part III', 'The Final Chapter', 'Part VII: The New Blood', and 'Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday') were actually released on Friday 13th, as was the 2009 version of 'Friday the 13th'.

12. A year with 3 Friday 13ths occurs only once approximately every 11 years.

13. The superstitions surrounding Friday 13th are thought to exist because of the combination of 13 and Friday, both of which have negative connotations in their own right. However, in the 19th Century, a book called 'Friday the Thirteenth' was released and did much to popularise the bad luck superstitions surrounding this date.

Games & Reviews: The Binding of Isaac

2012-01-11T13:30:00.000Z

Released on Steam last September, and loosely inspired by the Biblical tale of the same name, 'The Binding of Isaac' is an independent 2D game, designed by Edmund McMillen and Florian Himsl. A small boy called Isaac lives with his mother on a hill, where they live a simple but happy life. Isaac draws pictures, while his mother watches Christian TV shows. One day, Isaac's mother hears the voice of God, telling her that her son is evil and needs to be cleansed of the corruption around him. So she takes his toys, crayons, and even his clothes away from him in an attempt to purify him.

However, this is apparently not enough, and she hears the voice of God a second time, telling her that Isaac is still a sinner. This time, Isaac's mother locks him in his room, hoping that this will please her Lord. Unfortunately for Isaac, it doesn't, and his mother once again hears the voice of God. He demands that she sacrifice Isaac in order to prove her love and devotion to him, and she agrees to comply immediately. Isaac hears her conversation though, and escapes into the basement just before his mother reaches him. Sadly for Isaac, the basement happens to be full of monsters!

You go through the game as Isaac (or other unlockable characters), making your way through the many rooms of the impressively vast basement, where he is forced to confront all sorts of horrors, both in the present and from his past. Whilst the plot sounds pretty serious and gloomy, it really isn't and the game is full of surprises, dark humour, and the bizarre.

The controls are fairly simple and easy to remember, but are written on the floor of the first room in every chapter, just in case you should forget.

It is honestly an addictive game, especially with the random enemy and terrain generator at work, ensuring that no two play-throughs are the same. Whichever levels you get though, you can be sure that they'll be filled with creepy-crawlies, blood (and other bodily fluids), utterly strange power-ups, various secrets, and...poop.

Overall, 'The Binding of Isaac' is a fun, quirky game, that doesn't take itself too seriously and provides hours of entertainment. In addition to the gameplay being enjoyable, the music, written by Danny Baranowsky, is also fantastic and sets the mood of each area wonderfully. It's surprising, especially considering that the game only costs £3.99 (or £4.98 if you buy it together with the soundtrack). Well worth it!

To play the demo, buy the full game, or find out more, check out the links below:

The Binding of Isaac Demo on Newgrounds

The Binding of Isaac Steam Page

The Binding of Isaac Wiki on Wikia

Movies: Warm Bodies

2012-01-11T09:06:00.004Z

Hello there my spooky kids!

I'm spamming you with movies lately but I just feel there are a bloody great bunch coming out this year!

This time, I'm gonna introduce you to "Warm Bodies".

Being totally honest, this movie first caught my eye because of its main actor, Nicholas Hoult, who stole my little heart in the first season of the TV series "Skins", but after reading the synopsis it's not just him starring in a horror movie what makes this movie appealing for me:

" After a zombie becomes involved with the girlfriend of one of his victims, their romance sets in motion a sequence of events that might transform the entire lifeless world. "

Romance between a zombie guy and a human girl? It really doesn't sound like the typical zombie film does it?

"Warm Bodies" directed by Jonathan Levine will be released the 10th of August this year.

Movies: The Woman in Black

2012-01-09T02:30:00.000Z

Hello there my spooky kids!

Here I come with another great movie being released pretty soon.

"The Woman in Black" is based on Susan Hill's novel of the same name and due to release in the USA on 3 February 2012 and in UK cinemas on 10 February 2012.

This movie actually caught my eye first because you will all recognize the main actor: Daniel Radcliffe, better known for his Harry Potter role ;) I think it will be interesting to see him out of Hogwarts, and even more in a Horror thriller!

Here you are the summary of the plot!

"Young lawyer Arthur Kipps leaves his son in London to settle the legal affairs of the recently deceased Alice Drablow. He discovers that a series of inexplicable accidents and suicides have forced the parents of her village to barricade their children indoors, as if protecting them from an unseen foe. When Arthur stays the night all alone at the Drablows' foreboding house, he hears the screams of a drowning child and sees decaying children listlessly wandering the marshes. He will soon discover these haunting figures share the same date of death, and the same killer.

The ghost of a scorned woman, who was unable to save her beloved son Nathaniel from drowning, The Woman In Black, takes on a horrifying form. Set on vengeance, her veil hides gaping sockets eaten away by scavengers and her curse hides an even darker secret - whenever she is seen, a child dies.

In the face of hostility from the local residents, Arthur dredges up Nathaniel’s skeleton and buries it with his mother, hoping the evil spectre will finally rest in peace. In a cruel twist of fate, the Woman In Black turns her claws towards Arthur’s young son. To avoid a fate worse than death, Arthur must now sacrifice everything he holds dear and save his child."

Movies: Tim Burton's Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie

2012-01-08T12:21:00.008Z

Hello there my spooky kids!

Great news for every Tim Burton fan (and I include myself in there!).

We will get TWO new movies from this horror genius this year;

First one I'm going to talk about: Dark Shadows, and the release date is actually quite close, the 11th of May!

Among the cast, we find the usual names such as Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, and other not-so-usual but interesting ones such as Michelle Pfeiffer.

The movie's based on a TV show from the 60s and it's a vampire-related story.

The second one is "Frankenweenie", starring Winona Ryder, which will be released the 5th of October and tells us how Young Victor conducts a science experiment to bring his beloved dog Sparky back to life, only to face unintended, sometimes monstrous, consequences. I'm pretty sure you're familiar with this one anyway since it's based on his old shorts... ;)

Don't know about you but I'm bloody excited about this!

Movies: Paranormal Activity 4

2012-01-08T12:11:00.003Z

Hello there my spooky kids!
How did you all start the new year? I hope in the most spookylicious way possible ;D!

Today I bring you some news you've probably already heard: we're gonna get another Paranormal Activity sequel, coming out this year.
The release date for "Paranormal Activity 4" is set to October 19, 2012 and very little is known about the plot, but we've already watched enough of these movies to have a general idea of what it will be about I think! ;)
I'm not a big fan of these movies, but for those of you who are, hope you enjoy the news!

Art & Dolls: Georgie D'Kay

2012-01-07T17:28:00.001Z

Hailing from Akron, Ohio, "deviant doll artist" Georgie D'Kay takes unassuming little pretties and transforms them into the brilliantly bizarre beauties known as Little Murderess Dolls and ArachnoKids.

ArachnoKids

Each serenely scary doll is hand-crafted, meaning every one of them is finished to a high-quality standard and unique. It is unsurprising then that her D'Kay's work has been featured in galleries and collections including Thirteenth Floor and Oddmall.

Even more impressive than her dolls, are Georgie D'Kay's absolutely gorgeous and amazingly detailed 3D sculptures on canvas, which are both haunting and divine. Particularly wonderful are the macabre "Corpse-Art" pieces 'Red Catrina' and 'Two-Headed Corpse Sculpture', which would make an outstanding adornment to any wall.

To see more delightfully dark artwork, and to keep up to date with Georgie D'Kay's work, be sure to visit the links below:

Georgie D'Kay's Website

Many thanks to Georgie D'Kay for permission to use the images!

Comics & Art: Charles Addams

2012-01-07T16:29:00.000Z

Charles Addams (1912 - 1988), aged 63 (Photo: Wikipedia)

If you happen to use Google search today, you'll notice that it's taken on a delightfully spooky look. That, dear devils, is because today is the 100th birthday of American artist Charles Addams, the creator of the legendary Addams Family comic strip. Or rather, it would have been, had he not passed away in September 1988. That technicality aside, it's wonderful that we can still all enjoy the fabulously macabre wit that Addams left behind!

Addams Family Google "Doodle", celebrating the 100th anniversary of Charles Addams' birth

Tee & Charles Addams Foundation

Movies: "Saint"

2011-12-16T11:50:00.001Z

Hello there little monsters!
First of all, our apologies for being absent all this time!
As you've noticed we've been extra busy and couldn't update HSL but we're back on track and with tons of cool stuff to share with you all our spooky loves!

And since Christmas is right around the corner, I'm gonna recommend you something Christmassy, but, of course, filled with horror!
The movie's called "Saint", and there you can see a not-so-saint St Nicholas spreading death instead of presents.
Interested? then check this little summary + trailer. And enjoy! Spooky Christmas for you all my lovely monsters!

"An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, SAINT re-imagines jolly old Saint Nick as a murderous bishop fulfilling a grisly prophecy under the December full moon. Packed with creative yuletide horror, SAINT is a fun chiller that follows local teen Frank (Weeber) as he sets out on a bloody, high-energy battle to save Amsterdam from the wrathful "Sinterklaas" and his minions."

Videos & Advertising: Freddy Krueger - NES Power Glove

2011-11-06T23:42:00.000Z

Now I'm playing with power!

Videos: Halloween Light Show

2011-10-28T20:37:00.000+01:00

Hello there my spooky kids!

How are you doing? Excited for Halloween? I surely am!

And that's why I bring you this spectacular video today!

Don't know about you, but I'd love to live in that house...

This is Halloween! Enjoy!

Movies & Animation: Pumpkin Moon

2011-10-27T16:10:00.000+01:00

Based on the Simon Bartram children's book of the same name, 'Pumpkin Moon' is a delightful, animated Halloween tale, directed by Hilary Audus. The story centres around a black cat that gets caught in the middle of a battle between a group of "good" jack-o'-lanterns, and some "evil" witches that want to take over the world. (Naturally. I mean, what else would evil witches in a kids movie want to do?)

The unusually large, orange, Pumpkin Moon is apparently what gives life to the jack-o'-lanterns, as well as all the Halloween decorations that the witches summon.

The animation isn't that wonderful, but it's a very sweet, spooky film, and even a little bit sad at the end. Though I won't tell you what happens of course ;) Also, for those of you that don't like musicals and cheesy songs, there's only one corny number in the whole film. Admittedly, the movie is only 30 minutes long, but still, it's not so bad.

If you have the DVD version of 'Pumpkin Moon', you will also get the extras, which consist of a mummy puppet and scary helper hands demonstrating how to make various creepy Halloween decorations. They look quite effective and are all super simple to make.

More screenshots of 'Pumpkin Moon' after the cut below:

READ MORE>>

TV series: American Horror Story

2011-10-10T20:24:00.000+01:00

Hello there my spooky kids!

I bring you some info about a new TV series you will probably enjoy.

"American Horror Story" has been created by Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy (You might be familiar with them if you follow "Glee") and it's a horror-drama series which first episode just aired this past 5th of October.

Here's a little summary of the plot:

"American Horror Story follows the Harmon family, Ben (Dylan McDermott), Vivien (Connie Britton) and Violet (Taissa Farmiga), who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair with one of his students. The family moves to a restored mansion, unaware that the home is haunted. Ben and Vivien try to rekindle their relationship while Violet suffers from depression."

I already watched the first episode and can tell you it's pretty good! so if you're up for a little TV horror, this is your series!

Games: Chucky-themed Video Game from TikGames

2011-10-10T12:30:00.000+01:00

Back in May, TikGames announced that they were working on a console and PC game featuring Chucky from 'Child's Play'. There haven't been many details since then, but the TikGames website says:

"Utilizing an original storyline, players will have the opportunity to play as the killer doll and experience his exploits first hand while extending his gory legacy. True to the nature of the films, Chucky will use his full repertoire of stealth and guile to dispatch victims in a multitude of distinctive methods. In the end, it will be up to the player to decide how many (or few) people survive this stealth-action romp."

I guess, from the description, you play as Chucky and go around killing people, much as he did in the movies. However, whether or not it will be any good, or even happen remains to be seen, but it's certainly an intriguing concept. If you can't wait, you can download a digital pack of wallpapers and icons from TikGames' Facebook page here.

Source: TikGames Website

Art, Jewellery & Fashion: Haus of Bizarre

2011-10-10T04:17:00.000+01:00

Le Petit Corbeau by Haus of Bizarre

"The Haus Of Bizarre was started by two siamese souls conjoined by the heart but torn apart by their limbs for conducting experimental surgery on countless patients that were committed to the Haus.

Bizarre rumors have been heard of the two still roaming the Haus conducting their experiments on whatever poor treacherous souls that maybe unlucky enough to have entered the Haus Of Bizarre"

Niqo

Nivec

That is the wonderfully horrific premise of the dark, horror art, jewelry and clothing shop, Haus of Bizarre, taken from their website (which is in itself an aesthetic and aural delight). The Haus creates everything from horror-inspired t-shirts, to macabre fine art prints, to decadent gothic jewellery, and everything in between.

Blood Feast T-Shirt by Haus of Bizarre

Although the most horrific thing about many makers of clothing, jewellery and art in a similar vein is the exorbitant cost of their items, Haus of Bizarre manage to pair devilishly unique oddities with extremely fair prices. For example, a t-shirt costs approximately £10.50 whilst a gorgeous coffin necklace is only around £9.00. They sell items through their Etsy store and the HoB site webstore and, even if you don't have any spare coinage at the moment, it's still worth taking a look, as their creations are really strangely beautiful.

Blood of Dracula Coffin Necklace by Haus of Bizarre

Links:

Vintage Prosthesis Art Print by Haus of Bizarre

Many thanks to Haus of Bizarre for permission to use the images.

Art & Dolls: Steampunk Freddy Krueger by Abomination Nursery

2011-10-10T01:02:00.000+01:00

I don't make a secret of the fact that Freddy Krueger is not one of my favourite horror characters. In fact, he pretty much annoyed the hell out of me every time I watched 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. So when I tell you that I LOVE a Freddy-inspired figure/horror doll, you know it must be fairly amazing! Yes, amazing really is the best way to describe Abomination Nursery's 'Steampunk Freddy' OOAK horror doll.

Steampunk Freddy by Abomination Nursery

The doll is now up for auction on Ebay and there are a multitude of other devilishly dandy shots of 'Steampunk Freddy' accompanying the listing. Abomination Nursery's creations just keep getting better and better. If I had the money, I'd buy this myself!

Steampunk Freddy Krueger Ebay Listing

Abomination Nursery

Science Sunday: Spooky Sounds from Saturn

2011-10-09T23:16:00.000+01:00

Source: Hubblesite.org
Back in 2005, NASA's Cassini spacecraft first recorded some radio waves being emitted from Saturn, known as Saturn Kilometric Radiation (SKR). Even in 2011, it continues to orbit and gather data on Saturn, including SKR, which can be converted into sounds that are audible to the human ear. Although radio waves from planets had been recorded before, Cassini's instruments are of a higher resolution than those of previous crafts, such as NASA's Voyager, which allows it to gather more information and to "convert the radio waves into audio recordings by shifting the frequencies down into the audio frequency range".
The resulting sounds are quite eerie; sounding more like the soundtrack to a creepy sci-fi horror movie than the emissions of a majestically beautiful planet. However, this phenomenon isn't limited to Saturn, and was also first recorded on Earth in 1979. The radio waves coming from both planets produced very similar sounds, and scientists believe that both are related to the Aurora Borealis on Earth and the auroras at Saturn's Northern and Southern poles.

Source: Hubblesite.org

It's not just Saturn and Earth either, the noises of space in general are bizarre, like a spooky cosmological opera. Or perhaps I'm just getting carried away now...still, they are hauntingly strange.

To hear space recordings and read more about the Cassini mission, follow the links below:

Events: The Chamber's Halloween Thingy

2011-10-08T22:10:00.000+01:00

As there are every year, in the build up to Halloween, there are going to be a multitude of parties and events around the world. One such event is The Chamber's Halloween Thingy, which will take place upstairs at Splash in Baton Rouge on October 14th.

There will be best costume prizes and other surprises at this spooky fund raising event!

DJs:
Remission - 9:00pm
Candi Horror - 9:45pm
Tuggy - 10:30pm
FLYHAED - 11:15pm
Brad Vaccine - Midnight
LostTwistedSoul - 1:00am

"On Oct 14, please use the main downstairs entrance. There will be a $5 cover that grants access to both floors*. We're partnering with Splash to benefit the Our Lady of the Lake Children's Miracle Network. All of the door proceeds will be donated to their cause.

* Downstairs Splash is hosting their annual Turnabout benefit. The bartenders will be performing and drag queens bartending. Sounds complicated. But, they're not messing around and also donate bar revenue to the charity."

Comics: Zomblicity Print Issues 1 - 3

2011-10-08T18:59:00.000+01:00

The UK based zombie web comic 'Zomblicity', by Robin Sandiford & Farcreazy Farid, will soon hit stores in a print version. Issues 1, 2 (part 1), 2 (part 2) and 3 are now available for pre-order on the Zomblicity website.

Zomblicity Book Preorder:

Get in early before the stores and get your hands on these Limited Edition prints of Zomblicity, for a discounted price (RRP £3.50). First issues come sealed with sticker packs.

Price: £3.00 GBP
Postage & packing: £1.50 GBP

You can also buy stickers and the iPhone download version of Zomblicity on the webstore as well as t-shirts from libbyvickers.com.

Art & Toys: Plaseebo Night Gamer TRON Series

2011-10-08T16:15:00.000+01:00

Night Gamer TRON Series

Bob Conge/Plaseebo's new customs, the 'Night Gamer TRON Series', will will debut at the New York Comic Con 2011. The first 5 NGT figures will be available for purchase in the Cult Yard at the Tenacious Toys booth No. 876. Each of the 5 Night Gamer TRON Series 7" vinyl figures is a unique hand paint using metallic colors with glass eyes and dual motion-actvated color changing LED units that create an effect inspired by TRON. Show price of $150.

Bob Conge will also be doing a group signing along with Mike "NEMO" Mendez and Rob "OsirisOrion" Ingellis, at 3PM on Saturday October 15th, at the Tenacious Toy Booth #876. They'll all have some other goodies as well, so make sure you go and see them!

Advertising: Phones4U, "Missing Our Deals Will Haunt You" - Ghost Girl and Zombie

2011-10-08T15:19:00.000+01:00

I happened to be watching TV the other day and during the ad break I saw a Phones4U commercial (below):

It's part of their current "Missing Our Deals Will Haunt You" campaign, which I can only assume they've wheeled out for October/Halloween. There's also a zombie version, which I haven't seen on television, but found on YouTube:

He's a rather eloquent zombie indeed! It won't encourage me to buy a phone from them, but I do appreciate that they're at least trying to get into the holiday spirit (pun intended :P)!

Movies: "The Raven" trailer!

2011-10-07T20:04:00.000+01:00

Hello there my spooky kids!

High-five to all those Edgar Allan Poe fans!

A new movie related to the author is going to be released next year.

Its title, "The Raven", though it will have nothing to do with the poet's work.

The movie is actually about the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, days in which Poe will be involved in the haunt of a mysterious murder who inspires his or her crimes in the writer's work!

The trailer has already been released and you can watch it here!

Dolls & Art: Little Gothic Horrors

2011-10-04T04:07:00.000+01:00

After the fun of posting something for the Blogger Zombie Walk, another great part of the event was discovering so many fantastic blogs that I'd never seen before. (If you haven't checked the other blogs out yet, you really should!) One of the afore mentioned wonderful "new" blogs I found was 'Little Gothic Horrors', which belongs to Emma Yardis, an Australian doll artist and purveyor of all things spooky.

Hannah - Victorian Gothic Ghost Art Doll from Little Gothic Horrors

Each "delightfully dark little doll" are handcrafted and based on a pattern that Emma designed herself. You might think that having the same pattern for all the dolls would get boring, but actually the details, colours and fabrics ensure that the Little Gothic Horrors all have their own styles and personality, which is really fantastic.

Yvette - Victorian Gothic Ghost Doll from Little Gothic Horrors

As part of the Blogger Zombie Walk, Emma is currently running a contest to win Zola Zombie, so if you'd want to be in with a chance of winning, simply go to the post on the Little Gothic Horrors blog, and leave a comment that includes the word "zombie". You'll have to hurry though, because the competition ends on October 8th! If you don't happen to win, don't worry! Zola's zombie kin, Zara Zombie, is also available for purchase through the Little Gothic Horrors' Etsy store.

Zara Zombie Art Doll from Little Gothic Horrors

To visit Little Gothic Horrors or to purchase a doll of your own, you can click on the links below↓:

Food & Drink: Spooky Cupcakes from The Fabulous Bakin' Boys

2011-10-02T15:56:00.002+01:00

Over the past few days, there's been a veil of mist shrouding my house, the graveyard near it and everything else my eyes can spy through the panes. This morning it officially transformed itself into a fog, and the town into something like an eerie scene from Silent Hill along with it. That, of course, can only mean one thing... ~~Pyramid Head is coming for me~~ my favourite time of year is here and Halloween is fast approaching too! The time of spooks, scares, devils, the dead, wicked little fiends and..trick or treating.

Naturally, as the name of the act implies, it's only nice to give the threatening, sweet-addicted hordes some form of sugary treats, for banging on your door at night, in their most beautiful guises of the year. Of course, you could give them regular Halloween candy, which I'm sure they would love, but alternatively you could provide them with something not ~~entirely~~ consisting of sugar.

That, my undead friends, is where the object of this post comes in. You may remember that just over a week ago I posted about The Fabulous Bakin' Boys Spooky Flapjack Fingers, from last Halloween. Well, as it happens, they have come out with a new range of Halloween goodies this year - Spooky Cupcakes - and they've been kind enough to send us two boxes of them to review. (Yes, we got them for free, but I assure you, if we don't like them we'll say so!)

The cupcakes come in two types - Blackcurrant 'N Apple and Choc 'N Blood Orange - both of which are suitable for vegetarians. I think perhaps the Blackcurrant 'N Apple would have been better if it'd had a more corny, Halloween name too, but it's not really important.

"Consisting of two layers, a chocolate or apple flavoured sponge with a fruity blackcurrant or blood orange toppin', the spooky treats contain only natural colours and flavours and are baked in a nut-free bakery."

The packaging is very creepy-cute, with vampire bats, spooky castles, gravestones, witches, crazy cats and spiders on them, and I do appreciate it when it seems as though a company has actually put some effort into box designs, especially during Halloween. The back of the packaging mainly explains the Halloween contest that The Fabulous Bakin' Boys are running this month, which we'll get to later. The back also provides various contact links and manufacturer locations, whilst all the nutritional information is given on the side panels.

The cakes themselves are not as interesting-looking as the packaging and, once removed from the wrappers, are rather like other generic cupcakes. Even just adding a small decoration or spiderweb pattern to the top of each one would have been enough to give them a spooky look. This doesn't really matter if you're giving them out to trick or treaters, but if you want them as unwrapped treats on a party table, you might want to add something to them first. However, the icing colours are considerably brighter that most store-bought cakes, which does give them a somewhat cutesy, Halloween feel.

The Apple 'N Blackcurrant frosting is very creamy and fruity, which I liked a lot. I couldn't taste much of the apple flavour in the cake, but it was still a good fusion of tastes. I don't like choc-orange flavoured food, so I only tried one little piece of a Choc 'N Blood Orange cake. It did taste very much like chocolate orange and the icing had an equally good fruity/creamy combination. Madame Luciel did the real taste testing though, and assures me that if you like choc-orange, you'll think these are yummy!

Another feature of the cupcakes that makes them ideal for trick or treaters is that they are all individually packaged, which means no sticky fingers (at YOUR house anyway) and no accusations of poisoning the local kiddies...heh. However, this is also where we come back to the "Trick before you Treat" competition! On each wrapper, there is a challange; "Can you hold a cupcake on your nose for 10 seconds", "How many cupcakes can you juggle?" etc. If you attempt one of the "tricks" stated, and have someone photograph you doing it, you can then submit the picture to the Facebook contest page. I tried a few, and failed miserably! (So no photos :P) See if you can do any better!

Grand Prize
The winner of the Trick Before You Treat competition will win their height in delicious Fabulous Bakin’ Boys cakes. Two lucky runners up will also win a sample pack of Fabulous Bakin’ Boys goodies.2nd Prize

2nd Prize
Two runners up will win a selection box of Fabulous Bakin’ Boys cakes.

Prize Eligibility

Only persons residing in United Kingdom who are at least 13 years of age can enter.

Contest Starts:

September 28, 2011 @ 09:00 am (BST)

Contest Ends:

November 07, 2011 @ 02:00 pm (GMT)

The treats are available at a special introductory price of £1.00 per pack of six (RRP £1.49) in Tesco, ASDA, Budgens, Londis, and Dairy Crest, as well as on EasyJet flights.

To enter the contest, or for more information on The Fabulous Bakin' Boys, you can visit the following sites:

Many thanks to Claire from Bottle PR & Fabulous Bakin' Boys for the cupcakes and information!

Blogger Zombie Walk Post: When Zombies Make Cakes

2011-09-30T10:31:00.000+01:00

So finally, here it is, The Blogger Virtual Zombie Walk~!

Sadly, I didn't manage to complete the original idea I had for the post and I was getting a little worried I wouldn't have anything to post today. However, luckily enough some of my zombie friends, from the graveyard across the street from my house, stopped by and demanded to use my kitchen ("KITCHEN OR BRAAAAINSSSS!"), so I thought I'd photograph their culunary efforts. No zombie photos though, because the flash drives them crazy!

They aren't very tidy fellows, but they produced a rather lovely little cake, featuring gingerbread self-portraits. Of course, them being in the latter stages of decay meant that they left some unplanned decor, in the shape of their random body parts, on the confection as well. Fingers, hand bones, ears...

One of them even lost his tongue!

But worry not for this poor zombie, dear readers! For he managed to reattach it with some icing and piping gel! After some trial and error experimentation on the little gingerbread folk, that is...

Unfortunately, I never got to taste this cake, as it was made of pureed brains and I am a vegetarian. But judging by their noisy devouring, I think we can assume it was delicious. Or, at least that I'm safe from the undead and their fragile chomping jaws for a while. Hurray!

Now that you've read Horror Shock Lolipop's contribution, I absolutely must insist that you go to the next blog on the walk below for some rotting good reading↓ If you're doing this in order, the next one down should be Vanessa Morgan :)

Books: The Shining PART TWO?

2011-09-29T23:15:00.001+01:00

Apparently Stephen King has now finished the sequel to 'The Shining', and the title of this book is 'Dr. Sleep'. The book is about Danny Torrance who is all grown-up. He, (trying my hardest not to make any sarcastic comments) runs into a gang of psychic vampires, who call themselves 'the tribe'. Also in the book someone is trying to prevent the Kennedy murder?

What are your thoughts on the sequel?

~~I personally believe he ran out of ideas. He just put a lot of ideas in a hat, drew out a few and voila.~~

Source: Iltalehti IMDb Slashfilm

Fashion & Halloween: The Ultimate Halloween Contact Lens Guide!

2011-09-27T21:57:00.000+01:00

Alright hairy men and dreadfully gorgeous ghoul-ladies, this is the ultimate Vagina-Guide for your Halloween contact lenses! I will present the best sites for three price ranges. And the reason for why I am already posting a guide for lenses is, better get them -before- they are sold out or that they won't come in time. Ready? set, now go!

YouKnowIt

I have already mentioned YouKnowIt before, and I will do it yet again, hence they are the best site when it comes to cheaper lenses. They have a very quick dispatch time, free worldwide shipping. Site is easily navigatable, lenses are colour-,theme-, and brand-cathegorized. If you're on a low(er) budget for your costume, this is the best site. YouKnowIt is really known, so trust me, the most popular lenses will be sold out the closer we get to Halloween.
(They also sell costumes and make up for your halloween needs as well.)

EuroLens

Eurolens sells also cheaper lenses, but this is the best place to get more expensive Special Effect lenses. They also sell Sclera lenses, and bigger lenses than the normal size. Click on the link above and it will take you right away to the FX lenses. They have a very broad selection of these kind of lenses, which is always a huge plus. Not to mention the price compared to other sites.

WARNING: If you live outside the US, your lenses will arrive first after 3-4 weeks. I have ordered twice from this site, and never found any kind of options for faster shipping. They do have faster shipping within the US though, which, well, is quite unfair. I had to wait almost a month for my Angelic Blue lenses, so if you're going to order from EuroLens, ORDER NOW.

9MM SFX

Now for the most expensive and most amazing lenses for your halloween needs. These lenses are custom made, takes around 5-10 business days to complete, prescription lenses may take longer. You'll be amazed of what kind of lenses they offer. Also check out ABOUT section, you'll find a long list of movies which 9MM provided lenses for.
So also bear in mind, when halloween is getting closer, they also will be getting more orders. Order already now, to be on the safe side. Especially if you're going for sclera lenses, (and never used them before), you will have time to practice putting them in, since you'll really need the time.

>>All the photos in this blog are from 9mm.<<

Events: Amsterdam Zombie Walk & Halloween Party

2011-09-26T05:01:00.000+01:00

Ah, zombie walks! Making humans into beautiful rotting creeps since who knows when. Their popularity seems to have grown along with the love for all things walking dead recently, but this zombie walk is different because...it's in the Netherlands! Honestly, that's the important difference here, because I'm writing about it for Johnny Madrid/Tim E. who lamented that nothing like this ever happens in the Netherlands. Well, here you go! (You know, because the Netherlands only consists of Amsterdam, obviously. Heh.)

The Walking Dead Zombie Walk & Amsterdam Halloween Premiere Party

On Saturday, October 29th, 2011, a horde of infected undead will spew into Amsterdam to take part in The Walking Dead Halloween Party and Zombie Walk. These zombie-only events are being organised by Amsterdam Halloween and FOX International as promotion for the zombie series 'The Walking Dead', season 2 of which premieres in the Netherlands in October 2011.

The walk, which is free to participate in, leaves from Metrostation Rokin (NZ-lijn) at 8:30pm, meaning you need to arrive at 7:30pm. After the walk, there will also be the Amsterdam Halloween Party/Walking Dead Launch Party at WesterUnie from 10:00pm - 07:00am. Tickets for the party cost €27,50 each.

For more information on both events, you can check the sites below:

Amsterdam Halloween

The Walking Dead Zombie Walk on Facebook

Event found via Dutch Daily News

Television & Reviews: The Fades, Episode 1/6

2011-09-26T01:44:00.000+01:00

'The Fades' is a 6 part supernatural horror serial, currently showing on BBC Three, that centres around a teenage boy (Paul - Iain De Caestecker of 'Lip Service' and 'Coronation Street') and his inadvertent stumbling into a battle between the living and the dead. This will only be a quick review, as I often think it's unfair to judge a whole serial solely on the first episode.

Whilst on a location/prop scouting hunt with his horror-obsessed friend Mac, Paul sees a man (Neil - Johnny Harris of 'New Tricks' and 'Whitechapel') and woman (Sarah - Natalie Dormer of 'The Tudors' and 'Game of Thrones' soon too) embroiled in a grisly fight with some kind of creature. When he returns home, Paul begins having apocalyptic nightmares, which are so terrifying that they cause him to wet the bed. I wouldn't have mentioned the bed-wetting specifically, but they make quite a big deal out of it in the show.

Neil later finds Paul at home and explains that the creature he saw was a "Fade", which are the ghosts of the dead who's souls do not "ascend" after they die. It isn't about good and evil, Heaven and Hell; the ascension is completely random. Those who ascend move onto somewhere else, and those who do not are trapped on Earth, eternally wandering in a land they cannot touch. However, a "Fade" has managed to break through to the human world and is now on a killing spree, and Neil fears that more angry souls may follow suit. So, of course, he and the others fighting the Fades (including Helen, a female priest played by Daniela Nardini of 'This Life') need Paul's help.

The first episode was very much an introductory one to let the audience get to know the characters, their relationships with one another, and the basic story premises. It manages this task quite well, whilst still keeping the plot reasonably entertaining, by moving events along at a steady pace and not re-explaining the details repeatedly. (I don't know about everyone else, but my attention span is not that short. Once or twice will do thank you!) Having said that, there are quite a few dream scenes that are essentially just Sarah and then Paul crawling about in ashes, but they did change slightly each time, so I'll ignore that.

I think the main part of the storyline that I really disliked was the sub-plot involving Paul, his sister Anna and Anna's friend Jay (Sophie Wu of 'Casualty' and 'Hotel Babylon'), whom Paul has a crush on, of course. It makes the show have the feel of a teen drama/soap opera and it's really unnecessary. This is made worse by the fact that Anna (Lily Loveless of 'Skins' and 'Bedlam')'s acting is way over the top, even for the portrayal of a teenage girl! I suppose some people might also find Mac (Daniel Kaluuya of 'Skins' and 'Psychoville') annoying, as the horror-geek character has been done numerous times, but actually I found his horror-related commentary pretty amusing.

Other than that, there are also a few cringe-worthy moments when Neil is explaining how the souls "shine" before ascension and fade out if they don't ascend, but ignoring that as well, 'The Fades' is not bad so far. It's not an outstanding show, but perhaps given some time to develop it could be. Really, I'm determined not to just dismiss this series like I did with 'Bedlam'. Besides, it's worth watching, if only because it's not yet another series about zombies. I love zombies, but enough is enough already!

If you missed episode 1 of 'The Fades' last Wednesday, you can catch it tonight (Monday) at 10:30pm and tomorrow (Tuesday) at 4:10am on BBC Three. Alternatively, you can watch it online through the BBC Three iPlayer (see links below), where it will be for the next month (I'm not sure if those outside the UK will be able to watch it there though, sorry). Episode 2 airs first on BBC Three this Wednesday, 28th September, at 9:00pm, when "Neil takes Paul to see an ancient Fade, who foresees his importance in the looming battle". Let's hope it doesn't turn into 'The Sixth Sense' meets 'The Matrix', eh?

The Fades Episode 1 on BBC iPlayer

The Fades writer, Jack Thorn's blog about the show

The Fades broadcasting schedule

Events: Blogger Zombie Walk

2011-09-24T00:00:00.000+01:00

Do you like zombies? If you do, you've come to the right place! If you don't, well...you should read this anyway. Very soon - next week in fact! - the second annual Blogger Zombie Walk will take place, and this year we're taking part too, so you know it's going to be amazing ;P

Bloggers that want to participate can click the picture above to see full details on the Ghost Hunting Theories blog. Once you've registered, you'll need to make a zombie-themed post on Friday, 30th September, with a list (and link to) all the other participating blogs along with it. The list will be in the same order at every blog, so anyone who reads each post can easily follow the "zombie walk" to the next blog.

Fright-day Foods: Halloween Cake Bars & A Bug Casket Cake

2011-09-23T16:08:00.001+01:00

It could be the jack o' lanterns in the window. It could be the various disgusting decorations on the door. It could be the vile zombie/blood soaked/stitched together hostess that greets them at the door. It could be the eerie music floating over the windy October air. I don't know the reason, but the trick or treaters venture to my house on Halloween each year. So, as I like to be sociable for one out of 365 days, those who bother to dress up receive some sort of sugary placation. Below is a photograph of some of the "treats" I gave out last year. There were also candies on offer, but these cake bars and mini rolls from Cadbury seemed most popular...

The cake bars were also the right size to make a casket for the top of a cake I made last year. There are no how-to guide photos unfortunately, but I can tell you what it's made of.

The cake is a basic chocolate sponge cake recipe, he casket in the centre is a Cinder Toffee cake bar decorated with icing, the bugs are almonds painted with food colouring and detailed with icing, and the maggots are cashew nuts with icing lines on them. Very simple and fun to make. I did rush it, so it wasn't the neatest thing I've ever produced, but then again, for Halloween, I don't think it has to be!

Fright-day Foods: Spooky Flapjack Fingers

2011-09-23T15:10:00.001+01:00

This week, as well as posting a spooky food tutorial for Fright-day Foods, I thought I'd also post some creepy confectionery that I bought/was bought for me last year (no, I don't get Halloween gifts, but when people see Halloween/horror things, they feel the urge to get it for me apparently, heehee). The first item is Spooky Flapjack Fingers from The Fabulous Bakin' Boys. Being quite honest, the "spookiest" thing about these is the packaging, because the actual product is essentially just finger-shaped flapjacks with jam in the middle. I don't know what else I was expecting really...~~actual bloody fingers.~~

These were one of the gifts I received last year, so I don't know how much they cost, sorry. I think they were purchased in Sainsbury's though, so perhaps they'll have them again this year. I am glad they at least made the effort to put out a Halloween product, complete with spooky rhyme, though. Whilst those of you in the US might be used to seeing a mass of Halloween fare in the shops each year, here in the UK there usually isn't much, so anything like this still makes me smile!

Science Sunday: Mind Controlling Cordyceps & Zombie Insects

2011-09-11T23:33:00.000+01:00

Imagine you're an ant, going about your day & minding your own business, when all of a sudden you start to feel a little strange. You try to walk down an innocent looking tree, but instead your brain makes you walk up. You don't know what's going on, so you turn to your colony for assistance. They'll know what to do, right? Well it turns out, they do, and quickly drag you as far away from the nest as they can so that you don't infect anyone else. Now you know there's a real problem, which isn't helped when you start to feel a movement inside your tiny exoskeleton. Then, all of a sudden, it all goes black and a weird, alien creature bursts out of your body. R.I.P. Mr. Ant.

Cordyceps infected bee (Photo: Erich G. Vallery, USDA Forest Service)

Whilst that might sound like the plot of a bad B movie, it's actually a (very simplified) version of a real phenomenon. It isn't in fact an alien creature, but a genus of parasitic fungi called cordyceps that attack insects by infecting them with their spores. The spores grow inside the unfortunate bugs until they eventually explode out, causing the death of the effected creature.

There are literally hundreds of different species of cordyceps, each adapted to prey on individual types of insects. One species, cordyceps unilateralis, implants its spores into unsuspecting insects, infecting their brains and causing them to become living zombies. The cordyceps then forces them to walk as high up into the trees as they can, which goes against their natural behaviour. This ensures that the parasite's spores will spread over the widest area possible when they eventually burst out. Creepy stuff!

Art & Toys: Rotten Rainbow Zombicorns by Abomination Nursery

2011-09-10T21:29:00.001+01:00

Rotten Rainbow Zombicorns

These zombie unicorns are new custom horror toys from the ever-creative Abomination Nursery. If you could never quite decide whether to be a pretty princess or a little horror fiend, these are definitely for you!

With their pointy uni-horns, zombicorns would make for pretty deadly zombies, don't you think?

Art & Toys: Bob Conge / Plaseebo - Brain Rider

2011-09-10T20:43:00.001+01:00

'Brain Rider'

Bob Conge / Plaseebo will be showing the above, one of a kind, 'Brain Rider' custom at the Toy Art Gallery's “Brain Evolution” Custom Group Show. Conge's custom displays his distinctive figure-painting style and is a combination of the Jumping Brain and a version of Plaseebo's much loved Skulloctopus. The exhibit features interpretations of Emilio Garcia's 'Jumping Brain' figures submitted by artists from around the globe. Other contributors include Daniel Goffin, Itokin Park, Tokyo Plastic, Nebulon 5 and many more!

The 'Brain Rider' backstory

"Toy Art Gallery is proud to present Emilio Garcia’s “Brain Evolution” Jumping Brain Custom Group Show. Emilio’s signature creation has enraptured collectors since it’s debut, and this show truly captures the evolution of the Jumping Brain as it explodes across a huge array of forms and mediums. “Brain Evolution” features exclusively produced 6” resin Jumping Brains customized by a huge selection of artists from around the world."

'Brain Evolution' will run from 7pm - 11pm on September 16th and continue until October 10th, 2011 at Hollywood's Toy Art Gallery.

Fright-day Foods: Filo Blood Fountains

2011-09-09T23:16:00.000+01:00

On the surface, this isn't strictly a horror-inspired dish, but when you pair it with other spooky foods and a scary setting, it really works well. It's especially easy if you make the Blood Shakes we featured previously too, as it has the same strawberry sanguine sauce. You can find the sauce guide here: Blood Shakes in Syringes. Alternatively, you can just make the simple strawberry only version from the following guide.

Recipe and how-to guide after the cut below↓

Nostalgia: Childhood Horror Cartoons

2011-09-08T23:30:00.000+01:00

The other day, I had a very nostalgic flashback to my childhood as I was cleaning old VHS tapes away in the garage, and to my suprise, I found my Count Duckula tapes. I mean who didn't watch Count Duckula, The Addams Family, Little Dracula, or even those old Bugs Bunny halloween specials? Not to mention the numerous other amazing cartoons.

But these days, sadly the cartoons and children's television shows are more, well to be blunt, f*cked up. I randomly was watching a children's show on the TV, and it truly felt like having an epileptic seizure and an acid-trip at the same time. I had one of those 'I have been poisoned' moments, "This drink tastes like almond! I have been poisoned!" ...Anyway, you get the point, hopefully. (Not that cyanide gives hallucinations, but that is hardly the issue here!)

What I am trying to say is, what the hell are these people creating? And thinking THIS is a lot better to show kids than something by far more educational like The Addams Family. Very poorly drawn and animted shows, colours flashing, men in costumes bouncing and touching each other, oh! So educational. If I ever have kids, I will show them these kind of cartoons I watched and grew up with.

What cartoons did you watch as a young ghoul?

Movies: Beetlejuice 2... rumours?

2011-09-07T17:42:00.001+01:00

Hello there little monsters!

Don't know if I should call this good news or bloody awesome rumours... because nothing's official or confirmed yet but there seems to be loads of talk about a sequel of the amazing "Beetlejuice" movie!

Actually there have been rumours and talking about this sequel for ages but apparently now they're becoming more intense and there's a high chance that it will make it to the big screen sooner or later.

There was even a script for it called "Beetlejuice goes Hawaiian", but the screenplay has been rewritten over the years several times, so who knows if it will be the final one.

I'm so interested in this sequel I'll keep you all up to date as soon as I have more info in my hands... until then, see ya little monsters! ;)

Movies: New Frankenstein movie!

2011-09-07T17:40:00.000+01:00

Hello there little monsters! long time no see!

I'm deadly busy, but I will try to bring some interesting stuff from time to time, and I'm starting with great news for Frankenstein fans (like me!).

Apparently, 20th Century Fox is working on a retelling of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It will be directed by Shawn Levy and the script is being written by Max Landis, but there's very little info about this project right now.

What do you think about it? High or low expectations? In my opinion, no one will ever be as good as my beloved Mr. Karloff... but this could be quite interesting! Wohooo!

Fright-day Foods: White Chocolate & Strawberry Ghosts

2011-08-26T20:36:00.002+01:00

This week's frightening foods come from the great beyond and onto your plate. White Chocolate & Strawberry Ghosts! They are super easy to make, really tasty and they look gorgeous too.

Ingredients:
Strawberries
White Chocolate
Silver Spoon Black Designer Icing

You will also need cocktail sticks.

Method:

1. Fill a bowl with hot water. Take another bowl of a similar size and put the white chocolate, broken into squares, in it. Place the second bowl on top of the first, so that the heat from the water can melt the chocolate. Make sure none of the water spills over into the melting cubes.

2. Whilst the chocolate is melting, you can prepare the strawberries. First, chop off the tops.

3. Turn the strawberries upside down and skewer them with the cocktail sticks. This gives you the base for your ghosts.

4. Cover a tray or plate with grease-proof paper and place the upside down, skewered strawberries on it.

5. Spoon the white chocolate over the strawberries, making sure you use enough to cover them. The chocolate will naturally drip into the ghost shapes. Put in the fridge to set.

6. When the chocolate is fully set, pipe the icing onto the ghosts to make the faces, and you're done!

Monster Monday: Alien

2011-08-22T22:35:00.003+01:00

"In space, no one can hear you scream", but on a spaceship, everyone can

Partly to make up for the lack of a Science (Fiction) Sunday post yesterday (thank you internet connection! -.-) and partly because it's a fantastic monster, today's Monster Monday scarer is The Alien from the, er...'Alien' franchise. I'm just going to focus on The Alien (or Xenomorph as it's sometimes referred to) from the original 1979 movie, because they develop and change over the course of the series, taking on the traits of their various host species. So, that said, on we go...

After the crew of a freighter spaceship answer a distress call eminating from an unknown moon, following which a member of the crew, Kane, is then attacked by a parasitic alien that attaches itself to his face (hence the name 'Facehugger') via a tube the it inserts into his mouth. Following this, he goes into a coma for days, but then, seemingly of its own accord, the Facehugger releases him, dies and Kane then seems perfectly fine.

However, the Facehugger had not, in fact, released him as the crew had previously thought, but had instead implanted a different parasite into his lungs. During a rather gory, and extremely memorable dinner table scene, this new invader, the Chestburster, explodes out of Kane's chest and scuttles away.

The Chestburster

This Chestburster then goes onto become the gorgeously disgusting and overtly sexual androgynous adult Alien. Dripping in acidic bodily fluids and sporting razor sharp teeth, it does huge amounts of damage to both the ship and any crew members caught in its path. The Alien is both scary and awesome and the same time; a "perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility" (Ash, 'Alien').

A less dripping, but still fascinating, lifesize
Alien suit that I saw at Torquay Museum

Credit for the design goes to surrealist artist H.R. Giger, who came up with the initial Alien design based on his 'Necronomicon IV' work, as well as the Facehugger, Chestburster, Space Jockey and alien ships. (If you've never seen Giger's work before, you need to. It's amazing! He also did the designs for the extraterrestrial in 'Species' too). However, some the praise for the long-limbed, phallic-headed alien also needs to go to director Ridley Scott and the effects team that helped to realise Giger's artistic visions of the creature on film, as well as 7'2" tall Bolaji Bodejo, who was the eponymous 'Alien' for the movie.

Super reviling, but somewhat alluring, The Alien is an aesthetically stunning, bizarre and merciless monster. Excellent!

Fright-day Foods: Witches Brooms

2011-08-19T22:35:00.000+01:00

Today's Fright-day Food is really quick and simple to make, because you don't actually have to cook or prepare anything! For Witches Brooms, you will need:

Twiglets or straight pretzels (for the broom part)
Pocky/Mikado or bread sticks (for the broomsticks)
String or florist's ribbon (to hold it together)

I used Twiglets and Mikado because that's what I found in the store, but Pocky and pretzels would work wonderfully well too.

1. Take approximately 5-6 Twiglets/pretzels and put them in a bundle.

2. Cut a length of florist ribbon/string and place the bottom of the Twiglets in the middle of it.

3. Wrap the ribbon around the Twiglets and make a single knot to hold them in place. Then, holding each end of the ribbon, continue to wrap it around, making a single knot each time.

4. When you have about an inch of both ends remaining, tie a double knot.

5. Arrange the Twiglets so that they fan out at the top slightly. This will create a small hole at the bottom.

6. Gently put the Mikado/Pocky into the hole. Make sure you do this quite slowly, as it can easily break otherwise. The Twiglets will then hold it in place.

I had originally tried to make these using sewing thread, but that isn't thick enough and makes the whole process much more fiddly than it needs to be. I then changed to florists' ribbon, cut into thin strips and that worked perfectly.

These are really easy and add a spooky touch to a horror or Halloween dinner!

TV & Animation: Ugly Americans

2011-08-19T20:32:00.000+01:00

Ugly Americans is a horror & twisted cartoon created in 2010 by Devin Clark. The show premiered on march 17th 2010, with just 7 episodes. Due to it's popularity, 7 more episodes were added to season 1. And now, well, around a month ago season 2 began, which I cannot be more thankful for! I think the best way to explain what exaclty Ugly Americans is about, read the following quote from IMDb:

"Take New York City, add every horrifying beast, science-fiction freak, and fantasy faerie, shake thoroughly, and you've got Ugly Americans."

The cartoon's main character is about a social worker called Mark Lilly, who works at the New York's Department of Integration. His bosses are demons, and his immediate superior Callie (half human half succubus) is his on and off girlfriend. Callie is one of those she-devils who get turned on by the sight of physical injury, so she is seen with Mark having their BDSM sessions. Moving along from Callie to Leonard, Mark's best buddy at work. Leonard is a wizard who is one damn heavy drinker, really doesn't do anything at work, just relies on Mark all the time.

He shares an apartment with a flesh-eating zombie who he found on craigslist. Who wouldn't want to live with a zombie? I mean c'mon now! Randall, the zombie that is, became a zombie because the girl he was into at the time had a thing going on for zombie guys. Turned out she wasn't into zombies anymore after Randall turned in to one though!

I really don't think it is that fair if I just will go on writing and babbling about the characters in the cartoon, because you really have to watch this show. Especially if you love horror (which of course you do.) and sick and twisted humour. This show luckily aimed towards adults, so there isn't really any dry and lame humour in this. You need to watch it!

Books & Events: All Hallows Read

2011-08-18T16:32:00.001+01:00

Spooky. Eerie. Creepy. Riveting. Scary. Spine-chilling. Frightening. Disturbing. Terrifying.

Be it fiction or non-fiction, blood-soaked slashing or children's ghost stories, the above words are just some of the many ways to describe a good piece of horror literature. So if you want to celebrate the best time of the year with and extra little something, why not participate in the 'All Hallows Read' this year!

'All Hallows Eve' began, after Neil Gaiman urged people to give each other scary books on Halloween, in this blog post. That really is all there is to it. You can give a book - new or old, second-hand or specially bought, well-known or obscure etc. - to someone as a gift on Halloween. The only condition is that it must be a creepy read. Who knows, you might even get a book or two in return!

For more information, visit:

http://www.allhallowsread.com/

Places: Highgate Cemetery, London

2011-08-18T00:33:00.002+01:00

Highgate Cemetery is a Victorian graveyard situated in London, England. It is divided into two parts - East and West – that, although very near to one another are, in fact, separate spaces. All but one of the photos feature Highgate (East) because Madame Luciel and I had the pleasure of visiting it not too long ago.

Highgate Cemetery (East)

Built in 1839, Highgate (West) is the older portion of the cemetery and, although we only visited the east on this occasion, it is an extremely beautiful and elegant place as well. When it was initially designed by Stephen Geary, only this part of the cemetery existed and, as it increased in popularity, it became an extremely sought after place in which to have a plot.

Highgate Cemetery (West) entrance

As the Victorians' macabre obsession with death and the afterlife even diffused into having 'fashionable' places to be buried, Lavish Gothic revival-style tombs and gateways were built, situated alongside leafy trees and wildflowers. The site continues to be a highly desirable location and some notable names laid to rest in there include poet Christina Rossetti, scientist Michael Faraday, and author Beryl Bainbridge.

Highgate Cemetery (East)

Although the western side still remains open to the public, it is now only accessible by way of supervised guided tours, in attempt to protect the Victorian mausoleums and tombs from further vandalism. Those with a deceased loved one buried in this half are given special passes, which enable them to visit unaccompanied. Had it not been for our time constraints, we would have ventured there as well, albeit with a tour guide.

Moving on...in 1854, the "newer" Highgate (East) section was constructed and, although it doesn't contain grand structures like the 'Circle of Lebanon' and 'Egyptian Avenue' as the west does, it is still a stunning location! However, unlike Highgate (West), after you pay the entrance fee (cash only!), you're then free to roam and explore, unsupervised, as much as you like.

Highgate Cemetery (East)

Tall trees, ivy and many other varieties of flowers and plants sprawl and weave between the gravestones, with numerous paths winding their way around the grounds. There are a huge amount of decorative, visually striking and easy to find tombstones, and it's worth visiting Highgate (East) for those alone. As with Highgate (West), there are also some well-known occupants, such as philosopher Karl Marx, Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, author Douglas Adams, television presenter Jeremy Beadle and the screenwriter for 'The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari', Carl Mayer. There is also a memorial grave to those who died whilst working for the London Fire Brigade.

Highgate Cemetery (East)

However, there are also some less visible graves that have unusual/interesting features, or intriguing epitaphs. For example, there are carvings of pet dogs sitting on some, Masonic symbols, Chinese characters, and photographs of those who have passed away on others and even the word "DEAD" carved out of another. Therefore we would recommend spending a few hours in the eastern part at least in order to fully appreciate all the treasures it contains.

Highgate Cemetery (East)

Tours of Highgate (West) cost £7 for adults, £5 for students, whilst unaccompanied entrance to Highgate (East) costs £3 for adults and £2 for students. Children are also admitted, but I'm unsure of the price. For more information about opening times, directions, cemetery occupants and anything else you want to know about Highgate, please visit the official website:

http://www.highgate-cemetery.org

More photos of our visit after the cut below↓

Monster Monday: The Pale Man

2011-08-15T19:15:00.004+01:00

The Pale Man from 'Pan's Labyrinth' (Image from Bits of News)

Get ready to draw eyes on your hands, put them up to your faces and uh...devour children! Alright, maybe not the devouring children part, but for Monster Monday this week, the spotlight falls on the gloriously ghoulish Pale Man, from Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language masterpiece 'Pan's Labyrinth' ('Laberinto del Fauno' 2006).

Ofelia and the Pale Man (image from Movie Connoisseurs)

The Pale Man sits motionless, in his underground lair, at the head of a table laden with delicious-looking food. He lies in wait for any hungry children that may find their way into his chamber, with his eyes on the plate in front of him. If the child should give into temptation, and dare to eat from the platters of nourishment before them, they'd better get out of there quickly, the pallid monster will be awakened from his stasis.

The Pale Man (from jamiesandoval.com)

Against the warnings of her fairy friends Ofelia, the main protagonist of the story, makes the mistake of tasting some grapes on the table, causing the Pale Man to become animate. After killing two of the fairies, he then chases Ofelia, who is forced to run for her life and climb to safety through a magic door she outlines in chalk on the ceiling.

Even those who don't like the movie surely have to admit that the Pale Man is a fantastic monster. Definitely the stuff of future childhood nightmares!

Science Sunday: Lobotomies

2011-08-14T21:48:00.007+01:00

Lobotomy was a misguided and now largely obsolete psychiatric treatment, in which the prefrontal cortex of the brain would be intentionally damaged by inserting a long pointed rod, called an orbitoclast, through the eye socket. The orbitoclast was then thrust into the brain with a small hammer, in an attempt to bring about a change in the patient's behaviour.

The medical technique originally began as a neurological practice in 1935, and lasted well to the 1950's. The practice cost the lives of many patients that went through it, due to severing the connecting tissues in the brain that allegedly cause us to worry, in the hope of curing mental illnesses such as Alzheimer's and schizophrenia.

Rather than being cured, those that survived the quick and allegedly painless operation, often had negative repercussions, such as greatly reduced cognitive functioning or severe pain. There were, however, very occasionally some patients, such as 1940's French Canadian singer Alys Robi, who claimed that the lobotomy she was forced to undergo had actually been beneficial to her.

A still from the lobotomy scene in 'Sucker Punch'

Though highly traumatizing in reality, the procedure has inspired many intriguing cinematic scenes in film and television, such as those featured in Stephen King's 'Kingdom Hospital', William Butler's 'Madhouse', and more recently, Zack Snyder's 'Sucker Punch'.

Art & How-to Guides: Jim McGee's Monster Drawings

2011-08-14T00:22:00.003+01:00

Y is for Ygor

Originally hailing from the UK and now residing in Tokyo, Jim McGee draws familiar (and some not so familiar) faces from popular culture, in his own distinctive style. In 2010 he created a pictorial A-Z of monsters, featuring a plethora of characters from horror and science fiction, such as Vampira, Godzilla, Sadako, Ygor and many more.

N is for Neko Musume and Nurikabe

V is for Vampira

Though the drawings don't always look like exact copies of the characters/actors, they aren't necessarily supposed to and it's obvious who they are. Every monster personality is represented wonderfully well, often with a dash of humor, which will make the drawings very endearing to fans of the genre. Another nice touch is the cameos and background extras that often crop up in McGee's work. For example, The Monster, The Wolfman and Una O'Connor are all in the background of the Ygor portrait.

G is for Godzilla

In addition to the monster art, there are also a multitude of tutorial and speed drawing videos on McGee's YouTube channel. It's not all spooky, with subjects ranging from Zombina (of Zombina and the Skeletones) to Tinkerbell, Frankenstein's Monster to Totoro, but it is certainly worth a look as he updates often, and is willing to take requests as well!

A still from 'How to Draw Zombina. Horror High School. Prof Fearstone'

Each video drawing is completed in 10 minutes, with extra characters/details being added if there's spare time and space. The above still features Zombina, with Professor Fearstone (a character McGee plays in 'Horror High School') coming to life in the background. Video tutorials on how to draw Zombina, Beetlejuice and Frankenstein's Monster are included after the cut below.

To see more of Jim McGee's work, you can visit the following sites:

Jim's very own A-Z of "Movie Monsters" on Facebook

Jim's Cartoon Tube on YouTube

Horror High School

Thank you to Jim for permission to use the images!

Science Sunday!

2011-08-14T00:01:00.001+01:00

There's been Monster Monday and Fright-day Foods but today, my little horrors, we bring you Science Sunday! Every Sunday we'll be updating about things related to the world of real science-related horrors and oddities, as well as mad scientists, radioactive ghouls and everything else in the science fiction horror genre.

Previous Science Sunday Posts

As with Monster Monday and Fright-day Foods, we'd also love to see submissions from everyone else as well, so if you want to take part in Science Sunday, let us know and we'll link to your post or feature your contribution on HSL! Posts can be about any kind of horror-themed science fiction or real science-related horror. All we ask is that submissions are in by the preceding Saturday so that we have time to compile the list. To submit a link or ask a question, please post a comment on this entry, or e-mail us at: sciencesunday@horrorshockloli.com

If you want to be kind and link back to Science Sunday, please use the banner below:

Fright-day Foods: Infected Cupakes

2011-08-12T22:00:00.001+01:00

Another post for Fright-day Foods!

Many horror-themed cakes are made in the creepy cute style, largely because it looks much more appealing to eat than say, green slime and guts. However, if you want to have horror-themed eats that truly reflect the nature of the subject matter, then try these thoroughly disgusting looking (but delicious tasting) 'Infected Cupcakes'! The green cake represents the infected flesh, whilst the red fruit and white cream denote the oozing blood and pus respectively. Mmm...yummy! :D

To make these cupcakes:

I used an amalgamation of a meringue (ignore the clotted cream, just make the meringue) and a cupcake recipe, and added a dash of green food colouring to the mix (you don't need much). I also added some cream of tartar to make the mixture thicker, but it isn't really necessary. Cook them as you would cook the cupcakes, as they are more like cakes than meringues. The meringue part gave it a fruity tang, whilst the cupcake part gave a cake-like texture.

For the filling, I whisked up some low-fat double cream and put some icing sugar into the a portion of the 'Blood Shake' mixture and put it in the fridge overnight. This then gave it the consistency of a thin jam/thick sauce. I then took off the cupcake lids (muffin tops) and placed them upside down. Then the cream and 'Blood Shake' sauce went on, followed by the bottom of the cupcakes.

Fright-day Foods: Blood Shakes in Syringes

2011-08-12T11:34:00.003+01:00

The inspiration for this came from a recipe for 'Dracula's Blood Shakes' from Tesco, which was sent to me by Kei from Unfortunately Oh!. It's really simple and quick to make and can contain almost any kind of fruit and non-carbonated drink you like. They're perfect for a little extra ambiance on any spooky table!

This post is for today's Fright-day Foods...

Ingredients and how-to guide after the cut below↓:

READ MORE>>

Fright-day Foods!

2011-08-12T09:44:00.000+01:00

We've had Monster Monday, and now devils & dolls, we bring you Fright-day Foods! In addition to using horrifically bad puns, we're also going to feature deliciously disturbing delicacies (or just some horror-themed culinary goodies) every Friday.

Previous Fright-day Foods

As with Monster Monday, we'd also love to see submissions from everyone else as well, so if you want to take part in Fright-day Foods, let us know and we'll link to your post too or feature your contribution on HSL! Posts can be about any kind of horror-themed food and drink. All we ask is that submissions are in by the preceding Thursday so that we have time to compile the list. To submit a link or ask a question, please post a comment on this entry, or e-mail us at: frightdayfoods@horrorshockloli.com

If you want to be kind and link back to Fright-day Foods, please use the banner below:

Events: Run for Your Lives

2011-08-11T22:37:00.001+01:00

'Run for Your Lives' is a 5 kilometre, charity obstacle run, taking place on October 22nd, 2011, in Darlington, Maryland (1 hour north of Baltimore, 1.5 hours south of Philadelphia). Maybe than doesn't sound very scary or horror-related and it wouldn't be, except that whilst you navigate these 12 man-made and natural challenges, you'll be chased by brain-chomping zombies! Obstacles include 'The Terrible Tubes', 'The Finish Line', and 'The Uphill Climb' and many more! You can even dress like a zombie if you want to; it will, no doubt, confuse the rotting shamblers into thinking you're one of them!

There are awards to be had by anyone who completes all of the obstacles, but if you're caught by a zombie (a flag will be taken from your flag belt) then you'll be listed as one of the undead. You can either buy a spectator 'Apocalypse Pass', which allows you to watch the race and attend the 'Apocalypse Party' afterwards, or alternatively, you can register as participant, which allows you to take part in the course and attend the after party for free. All participants must be over the age of 14, but children under that age are also welcome to spectate, with those under 10 being admitted for free.

A portion of all tickets sold will be donated to the American Red Cross and the zombie virus will be spreading to even more locations next year. Save your brains - RUN!

For more information, and to buy tickets, check out the following sites:

Run for Your Lives Website

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Monster Monday - Jiang Shi, the Hopping Zombie Vampires

2011-08-08T20:55:00.004+01:00

Today Madame Luciel and myself bring you...the Jiang Shi!

Still from 'Encounters of the Spooky Kind', via Aluajala's sampler video

Jiang Shi (Geung Si in Hong Kong) are supernatural beings from China. They are also called Kyunshii in Japan and Gangshi in Korea and are brought back from the dead for many different reasons, some of which include: improper death, suicide, trouble-making personalities in life and being raised from the dead by a necromancer.

Although Jiang Shi are somewhat similar to Western vampires and zombies in the respect that they are undead, can be in various stages of decomposition and hide in caves or coffins during the daylight hours, but rather than feasting on brains or blood, Jiang Shi breathe in the lifeforce (Qi / Chi) of their victims. Depending on how advanced their rotting was at the time of their resurrection, Jiang Shi differ in appearance; some are pale white with relatively in-tact bodies, whilst others have parts missing and a green moss growing on them.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Jiang Shi however, is the way that they move. Big, jumping hops, with their arms outstretched like a zombie! This unusual movement is said to come from the difficulty the corpses have moving, due to the onset of rigor mortis (hence the meaning of their name "stiff corpse"). The clip below illustrates their movement very well, and is from the movie 'Encouters of the Spooky Kind' from Sammo Hung:

For a list of more movies with Jiang Shi-like creatures in, visit the Latarnia Forums. There is also a boss called Jiang Shi, in the Castlevania game series, which is also based on this mythology.

Information via: Mythical Creatures & Beasts Wiki and The Castlevania Wiki

Monster Monday!

2011-08-08T19:58:00.005+01:00

Welcome boils and ghouls to Horror Shock Lolipop's first Monster Monday! We'll be featuring a different monster (from movies, books, games, mythology etc.) every Monday from now on, because honestly, who wouldn't want to kick their week off by reading about scary creatures!

Previous Monster Monday Posts

We'd also love to see submissions from everyone else as well, so if you want to take part in Monster Monday at your blog, let us know and we'll link to your post or feature your contribution on HSL! Posts can be about anything monster themed - movie reviews, art, cupcakes, game trailers, fiction, cryptids, figures & dolls etc. All we ask is that submissions are in by the preceding Sunday so that we have time to compile the list. To submit a link or ask a question, please post a comment on this entry, or e-mail us at: monstermonday@horrorshockloli.com

If you want to be kind and link back to Monster Monday, please use the banner below:

Happy chest-bursting, building stomping, blood-sucking posting all!

Books: A Field Guide to Monsters by Dave Elliott

2011-08-06T22:59:00.002+01:00

A Field Guide to Monsters by Dave Elliott

'A Field Guide to Monsters', by Dave Elliott, C.J. Henderson, R. Allen Leider and...Abraham Van Helsing...was given to be by our very own sadOasis a few years ago and since then it has become one of my favourite "monster compilation" books. Its approach to writing about our beloved creeps and ghouls is to use factual data about various fictional characters, which is wonderful, as it really does come across as a "field guide".

138 monsters are included in the guide and, whilst there aren't many post-2000 creatures (so no Sadako, Kayako, Jigsaw, Human Centipede, House of 1000 Corpses etc.), the amount of information given on each page is stunning. Each monster has a page, except for those that have been in a ridiculous number of remakes and sequels, such as Dracula, Godzilla and Frankenstein's Monster, who get two. Within that single page however, the biography, height, weight, weaknesses, powers, behaviour, lethality, family, habitat, history, intelligence, size comparisons and photograph of the featured creatures are all included.

The monsters each fit within one of seven categories, some of which are a little jumbled and similar, but generally you can find the ghoul you're looking for in the place you would expect it to be.

The categories:

Mutated Lizards, Fish and Dinosaurs (The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Anaconda etc.)
Mutated Men, Women, Animals and Insects (The Fly, The Invisible Man, Gorgons etc.)
Mutated Vegetables (Killer Tomatoes, Pods, Swamp Thing etc.)
Monster Men (Leatherface, Jack Torrance, Doctor Caligari etc.)
Manufactured Monsters (Frankenstein's Monster, Colossus, Hal 9000 etc.)
Supernatural Monsters (Zombies, Count Dracula, Countess Maria Zaleska etc.)
Monsters from the Beyond (Candyman, Creeper, Pinhead, Chucky etc.)

The whole book is very thorough, but tongue in cheek, making it both entertaining and informative at the same time. It would be a great introduction to the world of monsters for a budding fan of all things spooky, or an equally enjoyable read for those already familiar with the creatures of horror, science fiction and dark fantasy.

Books: Tales of the Sisters Kane

2011-08-05T23:44:00.002+01:00

I recently received a package, from Kei of Unfortunately Oh! (thank you!), filled with Halloween recipes, spooky brooches she had made and this delightfully strange book. 'Tales of the Sisters Kane' is a collection of cautionary rhyming tales and charming photographs by Christy Kane. The book contains four extended poems:

Lily...the seamstress
Polly...the roller skater
Callalilly...the pianist
The Triplets...and Wisteria

Lily...the Seamstress by Christy Kane

The tales, which were apparently told to Kane by the dolls she creates and photographs, are peppered with high-contrast, slightly creepy pictures illustrating each unfortunate, but life lesson-teaching fate. (I cannot stress enough how much more beautiful the photographs are in the book compared to the photographs I've taken of them!)

The Triplets...and Wisteria by Christy Kane

The style of the story telling rather reminds me of authors/artists like Edward Gorey, mixed with traditional dark fairytales such as Hansel and Gretel. However, despite that slight reminiscence, this book is very unique, unusual and is definitely one to check out if you enjoy child-like, creepy fables mixed with original and spooky art.

Callalilly...the Pianist by Christy Kane

One of the stories, 'Callalilly...the Pianist', has also been made into a great short film by Jerrold Ridenour, which features The Sisters Kane themselves:

Christy Kane:

"About the Author:
Christy Kane graduated from NYU with a degree in photography.
She has been creating dolls and documenting their happenings
for centuries. To learn more or inquire about purchasing a doll of
your very own visit www.christykane.com "

Christy Kane

Games: Zombie Farm

2011-08-04T15:42:00.001+01:00

Lately, there seems to be a multitude of Facebook zombie games looking to cash in on the current popularity of the undead lurchers. Zombie Farm is one of the newer additions and tries to claim individuality by stating that, whilst they do fight other zombies, the walking corpses do not actually eat brains, as they are vegetarian. Alright, that sounds acceptable because in various mythology, zombies just need to be necrotic creatures, brought back to life by some dark force (or even hypnotised living humans) in order to do the bidding of those controlling them. In that respect, the raising a zombie army to fight your enemies games work very well.

Yeah, don't worry about them hiding in the bushes
or the other zombies they decapitate, they're nice!

"Strawberry Paradise", but you still need brains!

However, if the zombies are indeed vegetarian, why then do you need, in addition to coins and Facebook credits, brains as a form of currency? Who exactly is eating these brains? You? Secret zombie cannibals? Or do they simply steal the brains of other zombies (and vampires and...Harry Potter??) in order to use them to fertilise their crops with? Well, the answer is no. There is really no reason for the brains, other than to enable the creators of Zombie Farm to make you buy items, seeds and zombies with them. When you consider that you can also buy brains with Facebook credits, it them becomes even more obvious that the brains are only there to make money.

Exactly...

All that would be alright, but, as with most Facebook games, you don't get a great deal for the amount of money you have to pay and you can't do very much unless you wish to pay or have a lot of your friends that also play the game. If you buy a PC or console game you at least own it and don't have to pay more just for the privilege of completing the game (excluding online monthly subscription games).

Vegetarian? Yeah right! Zombie Santa wants to eat your braaaaaaaiiiinnnnssss!

However, no one is forcing you to play or pay and the game does have some positive points too. The character designs, for example, are quite interesting, ranging from basic zombies and skeletons to zombie Batman to zombie Santa to vampires to zombie circus performers. This makes it more entertaining to look at, which is good because as with all farm management games, the play can become quite tedious and slow at times, especially if you don't want to buy currency with real money.

It's okay for you to eat brains, as long as they belong to a zombie, of course!

In addition to the characters, the "invading" is quite interesting too. You take your little zombie horde to battle another (random) Zombie Farm player's horde and, once you've gotten rid of all their nice thoughts of flowers and chocolate and made them think of brains, they fight. Regardless of whether you win or lose, you earn money and experience. If you're fortunate enough to have magic spells, you can use them to help your zombies or hinder the enemy side. There is also the possibility of losing all your zombies in one battle, but don't worry, you can always grow new ones!

Who do those hands belong to? Zombie giants?

Overall, Zombie Farm is a cute horror-themed Facebook game to play if you have 5 minutes to spare or are procrastinating. Ultimately though, spending any real money on it seems somewhat futile and I'd recommend something like Plants vs. Zombies instead if you want to buy a cute, spooky, zombie-themed game.

Zombie Farm on Facebook:

http://apps.facebook.com/plingazombiefarm/

Food and Drink & How-to Guides: Skull Eyes Cake

2011-08-02T01:21:00.003+01:00

Skull Eyes Cake by Lilia Tombs

If you ever find yourself having a zombie tea party, but don't know what kind of cake to serve, this Skull Eyes Cake might just be what you need. It would probably go down quite well with humans at Halloween or a spooky birthday party too!

Skull Eyes Cake by Lilia Tombs

Recipe and how-to guide after the cut below↓

Advertising: The Judderman

2011-08-01T00:32:00.002+01:00

I remembered seeing this advert when it was first shown and I really liked it because it looked a bit like a silent horror film (like 'The Cabinet of Dr Caligari' and 'Nosferatu', for example) and also a little like the music video for Cradle of Filth's 'Her Ghost in the Fog' (though I don't remember if this advert was before that or not). It's still a fabulous commercial, even though it never encouraged me to buy the product!

"Beware the Judderman, my dear, when the Moon is fat,
Sharp of tongue and spindle-limbed he is, and cunning,
With sweetened talk of Schnapps and Metz, and the deliciousness of judders,
But Schnapps, though sweet, has teeth, my love, and sharpened ones at that,
Beware the Judderman, my dear, when the Moon is fat."

Science & Places: Blood Falls, Antarctica

2011-07-31T21:47:00.002+01:00

Blood Falls, November 2006, by Peter Rejcek for the National Science Foundation

Located between Taylor Glacier and Lake Bonney in the Antarctic, Blood Falls contains a naturally occurring phenomenon, which makes it look as though the glacier is bleeding. Scientists believe that this sanguine effect is caused by a sub-glacial brine reservoir, as it contains iron that, when exposed to oxygen, becomes the dark red colour seen at the Falls.

Blood Falls, by the American Society for Microbiology, 2007

Whilst the crimson colour is quite striking, even more intriguing is that the organisms beneath the glacier can survive entirely without oxygen. This not only makes them extremely unusual, but it could also help to build a case for the existence of extraterrestrial lifeforms in other sub-glacial environments such as the Moon and Mars.

Story via:
Atlas Obscura and Microbe Wiki

Fashion & How-to Guides: Spooky Nail Art

2011-07-30T22:18:00.000+01:00

My friend and I were bored last week, so I decided to do some spooky nail art. It was fun and so I thought I'd make it into a how-to guide, just in case you too find yourself with nothing better to do!

Guide & close-ups of each nail are after the cut below↓

Videos: Slingshots vs. the Undead

2011-07-28T23:42:00.000+01:00

Vampire Hunter Slingshot

What is your weapon of choice in the event of a zombie attack? The traditional shotgun? Genetically modified plants? Your own severed arm? Well, if you happen to be Joerg Sprave there's only one choice...A SLINGSHOT! Sprave's hobby is making and testing slingshots and he makes an array of videos on the subject for his YouTube channel, with help from his wife (and the occasional zombie).

In addition to his serious testing videos, Sprave occasionally makes more humorous creations too such as the Guillotine and Zombie Brain Smashing slingshots (for zombies) and a vampire hunting stake slingshot.

Joerg Sprave's channel found via: Nerd Approved

Links:

Joerg Sprave's YouTube Channel
The Slingshot Channel Blog