These pumpkin / jack 'o lantern fridge magnets are from a company called The Witches of Pendle, who are based in Pendle in Lancashire, UK. The company mainly specialises in witch-related items - specifically those relating to The Pendle Witch Trials in 1612 - but they also carry other merchandise as well.
For some reason, the above pumpkin reminds me of Attack of the Killer Tomatoes whenever I see him. He's cute nevertheless!
The other magnet (pictured above) seems to be some kind of pumpkin-magician-elf type guy. Quite charming really! I don't know if these two are sold anymore, but The Witches of Pendle do still make lots of other spooky things.
The Maker, directed by Australian Christopher Kezelos, is a stop motion animation in which "a strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life". It has a very definite dark fantasy aesthetic and it is animated beautifully! I should point out, though, that I adore stop motion animation, so those of you who don't may disagree with me there.
Still from The Maker by Christopher Kezelos
In addition to the wonderful visuals, music plays an important role in the film - from the f-hole shapes on "The Maker's" head to his violin playing - and the lovely soundtrack throughout is provided by Paul Halley. Of course, if you aren't a fan of violins, you probably won't like it. However, according to the creators of the film, the point of The Maker was to illustrate how little time each of us has and that "life is what you make it". So the use of stringed instruments gives the film a faster feel, I think.
It's only about five and a half minutes long, so if you want to see it for yourself you can watch it on The Maker's official website, or below.
What if the imaginary friends you had as a child came back years later? What if they were no longer the fun and playful friends you remembered, but instead had become bitter and violent distortions of their former selves, after being forgotten for so long? This is the premise of the Invisible Fiends series by Barry Hutchison. Mr Mumbles is the first book in the set and centres around 12-year-old Kyle and the vicious return of his former imaginary friend Mr Mumbles.
The story itself is aimed at older children and teenagers, but Hutchison writes well and creates vivid worlds excellently. The only real differences between his books and those written for adults are the lack of sex, slightly toned-down gore and the fact that the main character is only twelve. I don't really mind those differences, to be honest, as a lot of sex and gore scenes in narratives are just filler and, although Kyle and his "sidekick" Ameena do have their cringe-worthy one-liners during fights, they aren't irritating.
The lines between reality and imaginary are frequently blurred throughout and it's often purposefully unclear what is actually real and what is a product of imagination. For example, Hutchison uses common fears of children - banging on windows, storms, dark attics etc. - to signal Mr Mumbles' presence. However, it could easily be assumed that Mr Mumbles is simply the personification of those fears, at first and that Kyle just has an over-active imagination. This works effectively as you don't immediately guess the plot and it makes you want to read on to find out more.
There is also an unexpected and slightly odd twist involving Kyle and his parents, which still isn't explained completely by the end of this Invisible Fiends installment, but hopefully that will be addressed in later books. It is quite a big plot detail and something that will either make the series very good or not make any sense at all. It would be a shame if it was the latter though, as this is such a promising opening.
Posted as part of the Month Before Halloween event:
Halloween is fast approaching and so, ghoulish creatures, the Horror Shock Lolipop Halloween Giveaway is here! There are 3 prize packs available: The Halloween Pack, The Vampire Pack, and The Zombie Pack. You can enter via the Rafflecopter gadget below, or in the Contests section, until October 25th 2012. Open to everyone, from any country, whether you follow the blog or not :D
The Halloween Prize Pack
The Halloween Pack includes:
1 x Mister Mumbles (Invisible Fiends 1) by Barry Huchison (book)
1 x Boo Berry lip balm
1 x Sugar Skulls key clips (black)
1 x Sugar Skulls key clips (cream)
1 x Ghost with pumpkin candle
1 x Coffin soap
1 x Silver Bullet mints
1 x Grey Web soap
1 x Orange Pumpkin soap
1 x Ghost with pumpkin soap
2 x Glowsticks
3 x Little Pumpkin soaps
6 x Candy bracelets (2 pumpkins, 2 skull & crossbones, 2 skull & crossbones clock)
The Vampire Prize Pack
The Vampire Pack includes:
1 x Dracula (1931) on DVD (region 2)
1 x Count Chocula lip balm
1 x Garlic Mints
1 x Death Mints
1 x Coffin soap
1 x Bat soap
4 x Gargoyle soaps
If you don't want to enter, but still want to get your hands on these treats:
All soaps, candles, and glowsticks from The Soapy Shop of Horrors.
All mints and lip balm from Cyber Candy.
All Sugar Skulls from The Works.
And don't forget, you can still get 10% off everything at The Soapy Shop of Horrors webstore, until November 1st, by adding the code SHOCK on the shopping cart page!
If you break the rules and this little horror comes knocking on your door, don't say I didn't warn you!
For those of you that haven't seen Michael Dougherty's dark comedy horror film Trick 'r Treat, the above photos are of a 15" vinyl figure (by Sideshow Collectibles) of a character called Sam, who appears in it. Trick r' Treat consists of 4 separate stories, all happening on Halloween night in the same town, with Sam tying the plots together by showing up in each one. I won't go into detail about the movie in this entry, as it's all about Sam today, but if you want to see the trailer you can watch it below, or on the official website. I actually think the trailer doesn't do it justice, but oh well...
Anyway, back to Sam...I actually got him before the film was released (on DVD...it was never given a general theatrical release at the cinema and only shown at film festivals / events before that) for around £35 and, although I had heard of the film, I hadn't seen it at the time and bought him because I thought he was creepy, amazing and weird, haha. (I have subsequently seen Trick 'r Treat and thought it was a great movie, but truthfully, that wasn't my reason at the time).
Without the burlap sack on his head
His pumpkin-esque head is incredibly detailed with its wrinkles, stitches, veins and gory eyes and, to give him a more "realistic" look, Sideshow also applied gloss to the gory / shiny parts and matt to the rest.
Sam comes with his ominous burlap sack (pictured above) and razor sharp lollipop, which I didn't photograph of, but if you're interested it's made of transparent orange plastic, has a stripy orange and black stick, and looks like this:
I absolutely love this figure and, even if I had hated the film, I still wouldn't regret buying him!
Recommended by Death himself! (Wait...maybe that's not a good thing...)
I originally found this point-and-click, Halloween-themed escape game by TeraLumina, via Kei at Unfortunately Oh! (you should check out her blog - it's not horror, but it is fantastic!).
On a scary Halloween night, you're trapped in a frightening room. Can you escape this room of horrors and keep your wits about you?
Halloween cheese!
The object of the game - as with all escape games - is to get out of the room in which you're trapped, by finding hidden items in the room and using them for specific purposes. Sounds simple right? Well, that's because it is, but it's also quite a fun and an amusing way to pass the time if you have a spare 10-15 minutes to kill.
Stealing from the dead is encouraged, apparently!
It's spooky Halloween feel throughout - from the eerie sound effects to the undead wandering around - and there's even the added bonus of having Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor playing during the opening.
Just your "friendly" neighborhood ghost
Overall, although it's not an amazing game, it's an enjoyable Halloween-themed game that can be finished in approximately 10-15 minutes (if you're not taking screencaps and being distracted, that is). Oh, and it's free to play, too.
If you'd like to try it out, you can find it on the website below↓
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