ZotB: Brain Freeze ice cubes

Whilst searching for Halloween-themed items for the holiday and our subsequent party, we came across something that no zed head should be without: Fred & Friends Brain Freeze ice cube tray. As the name suggests, it makes ice cubes in the shape of miniature brains.

Regardless of not arriving in time for the party, we went ahead and made a batch of brains, using Minute Maid pink lemonade rather than water. The coloring is more appropriate, plus it goes along smoothly with a personal favorite: a concoction of fufu berry (It takes a certain kind of man to drink that confidently.) Jones Soda, a little Minute Maid pink lemonade, and a splash of vodka.

Halloween at the homestead

There is a tendency to avoid more personally-oriented posts, because we would rather talk horror than about ourselves. However, since this is about Halloween, we decided to give a little glimpse of how we celebrated at our home this year. Storage space (not to mention our bank account) is limited, so we only decorated the entertainment room. Even so, it came out quite festive for the season.

For starters, rather than removing the cat condo we included it in the decorations, using it as shelving for a set of three faux jack o' lanterns. Furthermore, Yankee Candle's "Harvest Welcome" scent gave the room a pleasant, spiced fragrance. Strong enough to be noticed, but not overbearing on the ol' olfactory system.

Adjacent to the cat condo is our big-screen television. We draped Target's "Décor" brand spider-cicle lights set across the front of the TV stand and placed a pair of faux pumpkins from Michaels on top. This also included a skull-faced faux jack o' lantern from Meijer, bearing a passing resemblance to Jack Skellington from 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'.

An otherwise ordinary wood cabin changed into a vampire's coffin by draping Walmart's dripping light set atop and around it. And for an added touch (though not seen, here, in this picture), a pair of wooden, paint stir sticks were taped together into a cross and slipped into the handles. All it really needed was creepy vampire fingers curling out, trying to pry apart the locked coffin. Ah, well. Perhaps next year.

 

Behind all this was the main spread of ghoulish goodies. Three Meijer Halloween-themed tins stored, respectively: Reese's mini peanut butter cups and Reese's Pieces, fun-sized Kit-Kats ranging from white to regular to dark chocolate, and lastly Jolly Rancher suckers with orange-colored rolls of Fruit By The Foot. A furry spider from Halloween City safeguarded Target cotton candy cobwebs, plus a bag of pumpkin-shaped cheesy potato puffs, which were also bought from the latter. (The cotton candy, quite frankly, wasn't that good. However, the potato puffs were.)  

An unknown witch decoration, witch hat from Snyder's IGA, and a generic plastic cauldron from Walmart comprised the center of the table, where we later filled it with "witch's brewskis." That is to say, mostly Redd's Apple Ale and an assortment of a few other drinks, like green apple Jones Soda. (Those witches sure do love their apples.)

It gets a little lost in the table, but there's one other item definitely worth pointing out, and that's the Frankenstein's monster ceramic glass from Spirit Halloween. This was certainly one of our more favorite additions to the Halloween decorum this year. Note the attention to detail, with its weathered wrinkles, stapled scars, and droopy-lidded, yellowed eyes. Is that not cool or what?

As coincidence would have it, among our selection of movies to watch for that night was Universal's black-and-white classic adaptation of 'Frankenstein' (1931). For those of you who are curious, the rest of our nightly viewing consisted of: Key & Peele's Halloween episode, 'The Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror episode "The Shinning," and 'Burnt Offerings' (1976), the latter of which, oddly enough, has many similarities to Stephen King's 'The Shining'.

Looking forward to next Halloween and, as an alteration to the old saying goes, "Eat, drink, and be scary!"

ZotB: beer as the cause and cure

Both are amusing videos about zombies and beer, but each uses this combination in completely opposite ways. Watch and have a good laugh on us.

On a side note, for those of you who are perhaps fans of drinking and zombies, you can purchase California-based Chateau Diana's "Zombie Zinfandel" wine. The back label reads: "2004 Zombie Zinfandel is blood-red in colour, horridly rich in concentrated fruit flavours with a finish that never dies." Personally, neither Don nor myself are much for drinking; especially when it comes to wine. Although I must confess that it does tempt me a little. If they come out with a zombie-themed vodka, I'll definitely drink zombie White Russians.

ZotB: zombie jerky

I've seen this circulating on a couple of horror blogs, so it seemed like a delectable little tidbit to share on the Niche. If you're familiar with Japanese merchandising, you're likely aware of its pop style trend and colorful flair. "Zombie Meat", blue jerky averaging at ¥399 (yen) or $4.50 USD per pack, is no exception. Considering how zombies are constantly making meals out of us, it's about time we turned the tables on them.


Maybe you're asking, "But why blue jerky?" A valid question, given that this hue isn't the first color to come to mind for zombie flesh. Personally, I tend to assume that it's going to be green, however in 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978) Romero's zombies are a shade of blue-gray. Though I can't defend the afro, unless it's another kickback to the seventies.

randomness: Mignola's Bride

Does it get much better than this? Perhaps, but nothing else comes to mind at the moment. Thanks to Frankensteinia for bringing this to our attention.

Universal Monsters Illustrated, 1994 Topps card by Mike Mignola

postcard zombie prints: NotLD's Karen Cooper

Here's the fourth postcard-sized print in my series of cinematic zombies, Karen Cooper (Kyra Schon) from Romero and Russo's 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968).


Aside from the gruesome discovery of young Karen devouring her father's remains, the most memorable bit of this sequence was the stabbing of her mother with a bricklayer's trowel. In some respects, the "ghouls" of 'Night of the Living Dead' were more revolutionary than their modern, shambling (or in some cases running) counterparts. After all, these were tool-users. Additionally, unlike Romero's later adaptations, these zombies seemed to have an immediate grasp of the concept. In films like 'Day of the Dead' and 'Land of the Dead' it was a gradually learned process, whereas in this first film it was instinctive. Personally, that notion instills a greater sense of dread. I wanted to convey this in Karen, capturing her with the trowel raised in hand menacingly.

These prints are for sale, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $2.50 USD each ($8 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well. There will also be no watermark, as seen here.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

Previous postcard zombie prints:
*Trash from 'The Return of the Living Dead'
*Tarman from 'The Return of the Living Dead'
*Cemetery Zombie from 'Night of the Living Dead'

postcard zombie prints: NotLD's Cemetery Zombie

Here's the third postcard-sized print in my series of cinematic zombies, the Cemetery Zombie (Bill Hinzman) from Romero and Russo's 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968).


Hinzman's zombie appears at various points throughout the film, but the scene most memorable to myself is his attack on Barbra (Judith O'Dea), when she is trapped inside her brother's car. Something about the way he slammed his palms against the windows made it intense, so it seemed to me that it would make a dynamic pose in this print.

These prints are for sale, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $2.50 USD each ($8 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well. There will also be no watermark, as seen here.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

Previous postcard zombie prints:
*Trash from 'The Return of the Living Dead'
*Tarman from 'The Return of the Living Dead'

postcard zombie prints: RotLD's Tarman

Here's the second postcard-sized print in my series of cinematic zombies, the Tarman (Allan Trautman) from 'The Return of the Living Dead' (1985). There's also a cameo of Tarman in 'The Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave' (2005), which did an awesome rendition of the zombie, but I decided to opt for the original version instead. These prints are for sale, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $2.50 USD each ($8 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well. There will also be no watermark, as seen here.


This takes care of my current objective for 'The Return of the Living Dead' zombies, but I may be inclined to revisit it later to create a couple more prints, like the Yellow Cadaver zombie. In the meantime it's on to George A. Romero's movies, starting with the 1968 classic, 'Night of the Living Dead'. Expect to see the Cemetery Zombie (Bill Hinzman) sometime next week.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

Previous postcard zombie prints:
*Trash from 'The Return of the Living Dead'

postcard zombie prints: RotLD's Trash

While it's not affiliated with the Darkley comic project, it seems appropriate to post this here at the Niche. For an upcoming comic convention in May, I'm illustrating a series of postcard-sized prints of zombies (including infected types, like '28 Days Later'), specifically those from movies. The agenda is to finish one print per week, two if I'm feeling adventurous. These are also for sale online, so send me an e-mail if you are interested in purchasing. My current asking price is $2.50 USD each ($8 for four prints), plus an additional $2 for mailing costs. Prints will include my personal signature as well.


So this week we have that infamous pink-haired punk rocker, Trash (Linnea Quigley), from Dan O'Bannon's 'The Return of the Living Dead' (1985). As an added bonus the Tarman zombie is also included in this illustration, who appears to be rather smitten by her. Next on the agenda is the Tarman zombie, himself. Then it's on to Romero's zombies.

NOTICE: The background is the original poster artwork from the film. It's a filler and gives recognition to the movie from which the depicted character is derived from.

Travis Pitts' Scooby-Doo tee

"We've Got Some Work To Do Now"

I've seen this image circulating on a couple of horror blogs, and I can see why. Travis Pitts takes the classic cartoon 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!' and adds a dose of semi-realism with a more modern horror movie perspective. Here's what the artist had to say about the conceptual process behind his Threadless tee design:

"Sticking with my favorite theme of heroic girls (see: Robot Derby Girl, Diodes are a Girl's Best Friend) and injecting realism or plausibilty to silly pop culture icons (ex: Madness of Mission 6 = PAC-MAN), I knew I wanted to make a certain teen detective her canine companion into the sole survivors of a Monsterpocalypse for the threadless loves Horror contest.

Everyone knows that it's always the timid, quiet, second-string female character that gets the dramatic arc and has the wits and skill to survive most horror movies. I struggled for days trying to come up with a semi-realistic interpretation of this toughened, nerdy survivor-type gal- until I remembered I was dating one, and asked her to model for it. She agreed -took a series of pics herself and held an umbrella in place of the shotgun. She wasn't sure about any of them but as soon as I saw the 3rd or 4th one I knew i had my pose."

Travis Pitts, modeling his tee

presumably Pitts' aforementioned girlfriend, modeling his tee

Travis Pitts' Scooby-Doo tee, "We've Got Some Work To Do Now", comes in sizes small to extra large for men and women on slate gray shirts at eighteen dollars each. Shirts are available for purchase here. If you liked this, then be sure to check out the rest of Travis' work at his Threadless account and blog site, ZOM-BOT Labs.

My Pet Monster

Maybe you remember this furry blue guy growing up, like I do. Now, I never saw the cartoon, movie, or children's books. Heck, I didn't even think that this plush plaything had a franchise until I learned about it recently. (Funny what you can accidentally stumble across on YouTube.) All I recall is seeing this guy among my friend Don's collection of toys when we were younger. It's a shame that he doesn't have it anymore. Would have been nice to include a photo in the post, for nostalgia's sake. I'll make due with an anonymous picture, instead.

And a little fan art made by James Groman of a more, well, monstrous rendition of My Pet Monster. Might want to keep the kiddies away from this version.

For those who aren't in the know, you're likely wondering exactly what is My Pet Monster. The toy was created by American Greetings, as in the card company, back in 1986 and since then came to grow in popularity with children during the following years, spawning a live-action direct-to-video film (1986), the animated thirteen-episode series (1986-87), and related merchandise. The video and series vary significantly in plot, but share common characteristics. The former is about a boy named Max, who is changed by an ancient, magical statue into the "pet" monster in Hulk-like transformations whenever he gets hungry. (That sounds rather familiar.) The latter follows the misadventures of Max, Chuckie, and Melanie, a circle of kids who have befriended the monster that turns into a doll with magical shackles. On an amusing side note, apparently a number of the voice actors later went on to work in another children's horror cartoon series, namely 'Beetlejuice' (1989-91).

Watch the movie, as well as episodes from the animated series, at YouTube.

randomness: Friday the 12th

A simple design, but quite clever. If you like this, head on over to Snorg Tees to purchase the shirt. For hardcore 'Friday the 13th' fans I imagine that this is a must have. Too bad that I didn't find this sooner, since last Friday actually did fall on the twelfth.

There there, Jason. Just wait until August.

Cthulhu Claus

It's late January, but after stumbling across this bit of artwork, I couldn't keep myself from featuring it here at the Niche. Illustrated by Scott Brundage, you can purchase Christmas greeting cards (even baby tees) featuring this art at the Tor.com digital store. Even though this post is rather late in the winter season, keep it in mind when Christmas comes around again. Give the little tikes another reason to be good for Claus!

Grüß Vom Krampus

Or as the English would say, "Greetings from Krampus!" This traditional season's greetings can be found on many vintage Christmas postcards, these kind being particularly popular around the turn of the 19th century 'til World War I, which feature a figure of notoriety known especially to children in Austria.

example of a vintage Krampus postcard

Saint Nicholas, the model for our American Santa Claus, is said to deliver gifts to children in Europe on December the 6th. While Santa deals with the good and the bad accordingly, giving each child their appropriate comeuppance, Nicholas leaves the dirty work to another, namely Krampus. On the eve of St. Nicholas Day, known as Krampusnacht ("Krampus Night"), Krampus goes about scaring children (and sometimes women), flogging with rusty chains and whipping with a birch switch those who are naughty, and carrying off the worst in a basket to never be seen again. Krampus is traditionally depicted as a monstrous devil or beast of sorts, covered in shaggy fur, cloven hooves, clawed fingers, horns, and a long, red tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Krampus by MissMonster -- She's currently selling
Krampus postcards and t-shirts, but for a limited time,
so if you're interested take a look.

I'm a little ashamed to admit that I hadn't even heard of Krampus until this very month, and by way of Stephen Colbert on his television show 'The Colbert Report', no less. (No disrespect towards him, as I thoroughly enjoy his program.) As Colbert himself said, we need to bring Krampus to America. As far as I can tell, the closest we have to a figure like Krampus in our Christmas culture is Dr. Seuss' children's book character, the Grinch. And by all accounts, I wouldn't be surprised if Krampus was the original inspiration for the furry, green fellow.

Dr. Seuss' 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas!', directed by
Chuck Jones -- A similar resemblence to Krampus, wouldn't you agree?
Also voiced by horror film legend Boris Karloff ('Frankenstein', 1931).

Fortunately, others have seen the need to rectify this situation. There appears to be a horror film underway that will cast Krampus, the movie's namesake, as its subject theme. I'll try to post more on that when it draws nearer to release. But until then, there's more Christmastime horror to come here at the Darkley Niche. Speilberg's 'Gremlins' and Burton's 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' are next on the Niche's viewing agenda, so stay tuned for special features on these two holiday classics.