Happy International Artist Day! Today we celebrate the dark fantasy art of Diana Levin of Ghoulish Bunny Studios!
Diana Levin’s art could be described as both whimsical and menacing. Her imaginative and unique style embrace death and horror, all while capturing the natural beauty of an enchanted forest or a fantastical world.
Diana and her author husband Shawn Givens travel around to different conventions and trade shows all over the USA. They’re two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Stop by and say hello!
Enter the 5th Annual Halloween Haiku Challenge for a chance to win a witchy prize pack containing a canvas bag and an enamel pin featuring the art of Diana Levin!
Title: The Boogeyman Director: Rob Savage Starring: Chris Messina, Sophie Thatcher, Vivien Lyra Blair Distributed by: 20th Century Studios Running Time: 1hr 38m
Based off the 1973 short story by Stephen King, I found this one on Hulu the other night. I hadn’t read the story before, so I thought maybe it would be a paranormal movie, but it kinda turned into a creature feature. For anyone new to the lore, a Boogeyman is predominantly North American mythos of a hellish creature that hides in closets, under the bed, or other dark creepy places and eats children who misbehave, or in this case, are just unlucky.
A recently widowed psychologist Will Harper (always solid Chris Messina) and his two daughters, teen Sadie (Yellowjackets star ingenue Sophie Thatcher) and young Sawyer (very talented Vivien Lyra Blair) are still reeling after the unexpected death of the mother, when the youngest girl suddenly finds stalked by the Boogeyman. It’s a little unclear how the creature came to find young Sawyer, maybe the family’s collective grief invited the Boogeyman into the home.
Or it could have been this sad welp below, who lost his family in the movie’s opening scene.
Lester Billings (played by my new favorite character actor David Dastmalchian) shows up in doc’s office, totally unannounced, without an appointment, and talking about the creature that comes for your kids when you’re not paying attention. Dark stuff and the doc Harper agees, there’s something off about this dude. For some creepy reason, while Harper is in the next room calling 911, Lester decides to check out the families’ closets and quickly finds out the Boogeyman eats adults too. Btw, the Boogeyman is also an extreme multi-tasker because it manages to haunt two families at the same time.
Now about that Boogeyman, filmmakers kept all the traditional tropes to make their monster feel familiar to audiences, hiding in the dark, afraid of light, mimicing voices, fast traveling like ghosts or a spirit, but, then, they also smartly added some new characteristics to unnerve and surprise filmgoers, moving away from a paranormal entity to a more corporeal physical creature.
It was ugly, had tentacle-like appendages walked on ceilings, moved in all directions, making it near impossible to outrun.
Monsters are not all powerful though. In fact, they have a lot of limitations, and Sadie and Sawyer turn out to be two smart cookies, who manage to defeat the Boogeyman, for now at least. People should probably still check under the bed and in the closet.
I found this PG-13 horror thriller to be a short enjoyable romp. The film relies on the creeponess of the dark, jump scares and the anxieties of a grieving family to scare audiences. Much like Lake Mungo, a film I reviewed earlier this month, grief is a powerful negative emotion that really opens you up to supernatural. Since there’s no gore, sex, and only mild use of drugs and bad language, The Boogeyman is probably good for families looking to introduce older kids into horror.
Scariest scenes: When young Sawyer rolls her lamp ball under the bed to reveal the Boogeyman for the first time and another jump scare moment when the Boogeyman suddenly appears and grabs Sadie.
Hammer’s unique story mash up between Burke and Hare cases, legendary serial killer Jack the Ripper, and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a mesmorizing gender-bender thriller.
Set in infamous Whitechapel at the height of Jack the Ripper’s murderous spree, Dr. Henry Jekyll (Ralph Bates) hell-bent on his quest for immortality, crosses moral barriers with his experiments.
At first, the young doctor pays a local mortician to acquire body parts of newly-deceased women who end up in the morgue, but when supplies run low, the doctor enlists the grisly services of two lowly gentleman, Burke and Hare, who indiscriminately kill unsuspecting victims and bring their dead bodies to Dr. Jekyll.
But Dr. Jekyll’s serum has unintended consequences, when it transforms his own body into the body of a beautiful woman, who he eventually names Mrs. Hyde (Martine Beswick). He tells his noisy neighbors, including his admirer Susan (Susan Brodrick), that the alluring woman now living with him is his recently widowed sister.
Between The Ripper and Burke and Hare, the city of Whitechapel is gripped by fear. Someone eventually finds out about deadly duo’s murderous deeds and they succomb to the town’s pitchfork. This leaves Dr. Jekyll at a disadvantage, just as he was making progress with his serum.
Sister Hyde quickly realizes her demise is tied to Dr. Jekyll’s research, so she begins stalking the dark alleys of Whitechapel herself for young female victims to murder in the name of science.
Back in 1971, the idea of a man transforming into a woman was really taboo stuff. For some moviegoers, that in of itself was the horror. Despite the obvious misogynistic horror trope of making every other woman who appears on a screen a victim, this film really pioneered LGBTQ and woman empowerment themes.
Martine Beswick really stands out here with her cutthroat and sensual performance as Sister Hyde. She’s one spooky bitch, and probably deserves a little more attention in the pantheon of horror villains. If you’re new to Hammer Horror, definitely give this wickedly smart thriller a watch.
Part spy thriller, part goth horror, all parts 1970s grooviness, complete with sherpa vests, The Satanic Rites of Dracula takes place two years after Dracula, A.D. 1972. An undercover cop for Scotland Yard barely escapes the clutches of an evil mysterious cult in London.
In his dying last breaths, the agent recalls witnessing the horrifying bloody ritual sacrifice of a beautiful young naked woman, seen in secret photo evidence that he smuggled out of the compound.
With their colleague dead, Inspector Murray and Scotland Yard are at a loss for answers, so they call on Professor Van Helsing and his scholarly granddaughter Jessica to help decipher the satanic symbols and identify cult members.
While Inspector Murray, Jessica, and others go to the compound to dig around, Van Helsing reaches out to an old friend he recognized in the photos, with hopes of infiltrating the satanic cult made up of government officials hellbent on destroying the world and bringing back the Prince of Darkness.
Christopher Lee returns for his 7th and final performance as Count Dracula for Hammer Films. Also reprising their roles, Peter Cushing starring as Professor Lorrimer Van Helsing (a descendant of Dr. Abraham Van Helsing) and Michael Coles as Inspector Murray; and a young and absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumely shines brightly as Jessica Van Helsing, the woman Dracula hopes to make his new bride.
A heavily edited version of Satanic Rites of Dracula was redistributed in the U.S. in 1979 as Count Dracula and His Vampire Bride. You will find it streaming under that name on Plex, a free streaming service with an overwhelming ton of ads.
Legendary screen actor Peter Cushing reprises his role as Professor Van Helsing in Brides of Dracula, a sequel to the popular Hammer film, Horror of Dracula.
Count Dracula is dead, but his disciples live on, terrorizing Transylvania, all thanks to a young school mistress Marianne Danielle, played by Yvonne Monlaur, traveling to a small village to teach girls French and etiquette.
After her stagecoach mysteriously rides away leaving her stranded, Marianne meets the Baroness Meinster and agrees to stay the night in her castle.
Marianne sees a strange man in the chamber across from hers. In the middle of the night, she sneaks over and finds that the man is actually the Baroness’ son and her host keeps him locked up.
Ignorant to the dangers, she helps Baron Meinster escape and unknowingly releases a monster.
The undead Baron wrecks havoc on the local village, but thankfully, infamous vampire hunter Van Helsing, who has been called upon by a local priest, is back to save the day!
Released in 1960, Brides of Dracula was directed by Terence Fisher, a frequent collaborator and director of Hammer films. Despite losing the charismatic Christopher Lee as the titular character, Hammer had vision to expand the vampire universe and this was their first film doing so. I’ve read online that the production was plagued with problems, but totally worth it, as this is one of best Hammer films I’ve seen.
Brides of Dracula is now streaming on Prime Video with paid subscription.
‘Ber months may start tomorrow, but Summer isn’t over just yet. There’s still 23 days left to celebrate Summerween. I couldn’t decide which is scarier, horror films featuring spooky cabins or mysterious beaches. So, here’s a double list with the best of both worlds. From creature features to crazed killers, you can find all of these films streaming somewhere. Let me know which list you think has the scariest movies.
As July ends, so does our tribute to the red, white, and ghoul. Many of us wonder what we’d do in an apocalypse. How long would we survive? Would we lose our humanity or becomes the heroes we crave to be? Truth is, we’re already creating a nightmare dystopian society, casting aside freedoms and replacing them with fearmongering, discrimination, intolerance, and violence.
Back in 1968, George A. Romero foresaw this great nation descending into chaos as gun culture and extremist ideals gained more popularity because of easy access to guns and lack of education. He saw a nation at war with itself long before the monsters showed up. His movies often contained scathing critiques of class warfare, over-militarization, moral corruption, and empty consumerism, all of which Americans still suffer greatly today.
Dawn of the Dead, 1978
Romero may have been psychic, as he didn’t think adding zombies would really change the American landscape all that much and I tend to agree. If we continue down this treacherous path, we won’t have much further to fall. The day Americans unite may very well be the day they drop the bomb.
George A. Romero
There’s one thing for certain though, you can count on the fight in America. Even the quietest, most gunshy American has a sense of revolution instilled in their soul. Communists, terrorists, extremists, zombies, we’ll fight them all! We’ll never lose that pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. It’s truly the American way.
Zombieland, 2009
With that in mind, here are my picks of the best ten American zombie films, showing the world our American fighting spirit!
Halloween Horror Haiku 
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