M.R. Gott's Blog, page 18

Halloween Bash...With Reed Rothchild Jessica Biel and quality horror= boners for days..

This was one beautiful atmospheric puzzle.  Laugier has created this depressed community the oozes fear and uncertainty.  Even though there are miles of land everything just feels claustrophobic and urgent.  The twists come out of left field and previous occurrences take on a completely different meaning.  Halfway through the second act you kind of figure out where it's going, but you'll never be able to figure everything out. This film is not only tense, but it's also very moving.  By the end I really wasn't sure who the good guys or bad guys were.  All I know is that I haven't seen a horror/suspense film this powerful in a while.  Laugier is one talented director that knows how to manipulate your emotions and create tension.  This one comes highly recommended.  Even Biel wasn't terrible acting wise.

Funny or Scary: Very chilling stuff and it makes you think.
Scariest Scene: When Julia chases after her son in the abandoned warehouse
Overall Corpse Rating: 7.5 blown away corpses.

Click for Full Review

Happy Halloween

Special Thanks to all my guest bloggers, 

Stay Scared, if only for another night...

M.R.
Hope to see you all Tomorrow Night at the Hooksett Town Library in NH at 6:30  If anyone would like an e-signed copy  of Where the Dead Fear to  Tread send me a message via facebook or goodreads with your email address as well as who  you would like it made out to.

Halloween Bash...Halloween Trilogy...

Halloween Bash...Scott Baker's Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat.    For us Monster Kids and Horror Hounds, these words hold the same enchantment as Merry Christmas.  Except, rather than opening an elegantly-wrapped package to see what Santa bought us, we open the door of a haunted house to see what Satan conjured up to scare us. 
It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me that Halloween is my favorite holiday.   As a kid, the anticipation used to begin weeks before that unholy night when the costumes started hitting the stores.  I’m not referring to the stores of today that pop up across the area a month before and sell nothing but adult costumes and accessories to satisfy every fear or fetish.  Those from my generation remember the cheap-ass costumes our parents used to buy from Woolworth’s or Gorin’s.  You know the ones I’m talking about.  The crappily-made one-piece body suit with the plastic face mask that your mother always had to enlarge the eye slits on because they were so small.  I would stand in front of the display for an hour debating what I wanted to dress up as (I recall over the years being Frankenstein, a robot, and an astronaut).  Once purchased, my mother would never let me play with the costume because the material was so flimsy I would be lucky to get one wear out of it, so I was forced to stare at it through the cellophane window of the cardboard box like I was admiring some ancient relic in a museum display case. 


Finally that Hallowed Eve arrived and my parents would take me on my rounds (if the weather was cold, my mother would make me wear a coat over my costume, but that’s a story for my therapist).  For me it was never about the chocolate.  I only ate a small portion of the goodies and let my mother scavenge through the rest.  The thrill was parading around town in my costume, pretending to be someone else, and proudly declaring my love for monsters.  After that night, I would play with that costume until not even duct tape could hold it together any longer.

While the innocence of those childhood memories is gone, the excitement of the holiday is still there.  This is not because the stores are filled with countless decorations that inevitably become part of the permanent décor of my house (my study is on the verge of having just as many statues to famous monsters and fetishes as it does books).  Nor is it because television broadcasts monster movie marathons for a month, most of which I record until my DVR is full.  Halloween is the one time of the year when the macabre becomes mainstream. 

Forty years ago as a bona fide Monster Kid I was an outsider, the geek in school who never fit in.  I thank God I had close friends who shared similar interests (Curtis, who was as big of a monster geek as me, and John, who was into superheroes and comic books) plus parents who not only supported my obsession but nurtured it.  I never lost my passion for horror and monsters.  In fact, over time it intensified until, in 2003, I eventually began writing in the genre.  But by then horror was the norm.  Conventions celebrating horror, Sci-Fi, fantasy, anime, vampires, zombies, and every other imaginable aspect were held practically every weekend. 

The change in the way of thinking reminds me of a scene from Hotel Transylvania.  (Yes, I’m citing a cartoon to make my point.  And, yes, this is a spoiler alert.)  The basic premise of the movie is that, more than a century ago, Dracula had set up a hotel deep in the Carpathian Mountains to provide monsters with a safe haven from villagers who hunted them down, and since then they have lived in isolation from the rest of the world.  In the climax, Dracula and several monsters must travel back to the city to prevent his daughter’s boyfriend from leaving Transylvania.  The monsters’ apprehension turns to amazement when they stumble upon a festival being held in their honor, and they discover that they are now considered rock stars to the townspeople. 

I feel the same way as Dracula did in the movie.  For decades my love of monsters and horror was out of the ordinary and firmly placed me in the geek camp, but today I’m more mainstream than ever.  So now I’m going to go hang some creepy Halloween decorations, prepare a bowl of candy, and scare the hell out of the trick or treaters. 



Click for All of Scott's novelsScott M. Baker was born and raised just outside of Boston, Massachusetts, Scott M. Baker has spent the last twenty-two years living in northern Virginia. His first zombie novel, Rotter World, was released by Permuted Press in April 2012. 
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He has also authored The Vampire Hunters trilogy (The Vampire Hunters; The vampire Hunters: Vampyrnomicon; and The Vampire Hunters: Dominion) and several short stories, including the chapbook "Dead Water," "Cruise of the Living Dead" (Dead Worlds 3 anthology), "Deck the Malls with Bowels of Holly" (Christmas Is Dead anthology), and the soon-to-be-published steampunk zombie story "Last Flight of the Bismarck" (Machina Mortis anthology). When he is not busy writing, Scott can either be found relaxing on his back deck with a good cigar and a cup of iced coffee, or doting on the four house rabbits that live with him.You can check out his blog at: http://scottmbakerauthor.blogspot.com/
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Halloween Bash...South Park A Nightmare on Face Time

Click below to watch the new South Park Halloween Episode.  

Halloween Bash...Celebrating Halloween with the Horror Community at Ravenous Monster

Myself and some other authors and film makers share our thoughts on Halloween at Ravenous Monster.  Click Below for more.

Halloween Bash...with Reed Rothchild...There was no better time for kids movies than the 80's.

The movie starts off two hundred years in the past where Van Helsing is trying to use a magic amulet to trap Dracula for eternity.  Dracula escape through a time portal and ends up in present day 1987.  A group of friends that call themselves "The Monster Squad" discover that Dracula is plotting to take over the world.  They enlist the help of Creepy German Guy and The Frankenstein Monster to stop him and save the world.

If that doesn't sound like a fun premise for a kids movie then I guess you have no imagination.  In case you had any doubts this holds up really well.  The special effects look terrific considering they're over 25 years old and them monsters' makeup is amazing as well.  The really cool thing about this movie is that it was kind of a re-introduction to the Universal Monsters from the 30's.  It was the first time I ever saw any of the classic monsters on the big screen and I'm sure it was the first time for others my age as well.  The monsters all look great and stand up to the high standards set forth in the original films they appeared in years ago.  The kids in this are pretty great as well.  There's a bit of overacting, but they deliver classic lines like "Wolfman's got nards"  and "you guys are chicken shits" with ease.  There are tons of laughs and the action sequences are still pretty damn thrilling.  Plus there are a ton of little touches that always crack me up like Sean's "Stephen King Rules" T-shirt and Eugene's letter to the "army men" about the monsters in his room.  The Monster Squad original theme song to close out the film is just icing on the cake.  This is obviously a better film if you grew up with it, but I fully believe that those seeing it for the first time now will find at least something they like about it.  It comes highly recommended.

Funny or Scary:  If you're a little kid watching both.  If you're older then still be smiling and chuckling throughout.
Funniest Scene: "Wolfman's Got Nards."  Also Eugene's letter.
Overall Corpse Rating: 8 kid friendly corpses.

Halloween Bash...Angel Life of the Party

Click here to watch Angel's one and only Halloween episode 'life of the party'

Halloween Bash...The ultimate play list

Halloween Parties require a great deal.  You have the decorations, changing your abode into a hellish entity.  You have the snacks, class dishes turned ghoulish.  Then you have the music.  It's easy enough to get a few horror movie scores creating ambiance, you probably even threw on Thriller, or Werewolves of London so that the drunks can dance, but there can be so much more.  Here are some suggestions for the ultimate playlist.


Lou Reed-The Halloween Parade

Bauhaus - Bela Lugosi's Dead

Donovan-Season of the Witch

Ministry-Everyday is Halloween

Einsturzende Neubauten- Armenia (Play this now, trust me)


Welcome to My Nightmare-Alice Cooper

Andre 3000-Dracula's Wedding.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds-Up Jumped the Devil

Siouxsie & the Banshees - Spellbound (Extended '12 Version)

Siouxsie & the Banshees-Halloween


Spinnerette - The Walking Dead

And choose your favorite version of This is Halloween from Nightmare Before Christmas

Also covers of songs like Paint it Black add a foreign element to the recognizable.

Lastly The Second Half of David Bowie's Album Heroes from Sons of the Silent Age on works great.  Most of it is instrumentals with a gothic noir feel to it.

For those who want background images I would recommend Zombiethon, currently available streaming through Netflix.  This is a compilation of 70's Italian zombie features, focusing primarily on nudity and violence with original feature linking the clips.

Happy Halloween.

M.R.

Halloween Bash...Mystery, Suspense & Horror - Author Panel at the Hooksett Library in New Hampshire

Hooksett Public Library
Mystery, Suspense & Horror - Author Panel
Please join us for an opportunity to meet three local authors. Learn about their mystery, suspense & horror novels, in addition to their writing and publishing experiences . One lucky attendee will win a mystery door prize.The author panel includes: M.R. Gott, author of Where the Dead Fear to Tread (horror). To learn more about M.R. Gott please visit his website: wherethedeadfeartotread.blogspot.com/Richard Hatin, author of Evil Agreement (mystery & suspense). To learn more about Richard Hatin please visit his website: richardhatin.com/Joe Smiga, author of Gateway to Terror, (suspense). To learn more about Joe Smiga please visit his website: joesmiga.com/
Date:

Thursday Nov 1, 2012

Time:

6:30 PM  -  8:00 PM

Contact:

Mathew Bose    603.485.6092    mbose@hooksettlibrary.org

Location:

Hebert Media Room