Halloween 2018 Horror at Home – October’s Blu-Ray Releases

While Halloween has been underway since early September for some of us, October is the official start of the spooky season for many. One of the easiest and most fun ways to get into the right frame of mind is by sitting down with a big bowl of candy corn and your favorite adult beverage to enjoy some scary movies and TV shows!

Every Tuesday in October I’ll be running down some of the best spooooky releases coming to home media.

To find out what’s coming this week, read on!

Halloween 2018: The Horror of John Carpenter

Sometimes it’s hard for me to define the idea of “favorite”.

Any day of the week I could claim that John Carpenter is my favorite director. He directed my favorite movie – Big Trouble in Little China – and is responsible for many other films that I consider “must-haves” and have bought multiple times in various formats. Movies that I can’t say I like because I adore them. I watch them annually (or more) and devour each minute because, in my eyes, they’re cinematic perfection.

I don’t feel this way about all of Carpenter’s films, though, which is what drove me to write this post.

There are a few films in the Carpenter library that, for one reason or another, don’t work for me. I don’t consider most of them bad by any stretch, they just don’t connect with me the way the ones I love do. And I can’t think of another director whose work I’m so divided about. For example – I’ll watch Escape from New York any time. It’s excellent. But I find Ghosts of Mars to be so bad that I can’t even get through the whole thing for my occasional “It can’t be that bad” revisit.

What I’m going to do today is run down John Carpenter’s horror films and how I feel about them and maybe why some seem so perfect and others seem far from it. Obviously I could write entire articles about each movie regardless of how I view them, so I’ll keep these brief. Also, I’m not covering everything Carpenter has directed – just his theatrical horror releases. They Live isn’t included because to me it’s science fiction with horror elements. The Thing, on the other hand, is the inverse of that.

Your opinion may differ. If so, I encourage you to start a website and write a post about John Carpenter. I’ll read it. I promise.

Needless Things Podcast 234 – Halloween 40th Anniversary Live from Dragon Con

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-qjeun-9c1aea

Recorded LIVE at Dragon Con 2018 for the Horror Track!

John Carpenter’s Halloween changed horror cinema 40 years ago. Our pal Derek Tatum put together a roundtable of luminaries to discuss the original as well as the upcoming sequel. Our own Dave West moderated a fantastic panel consisting of author Mari Mancusi, author/illustrator Catherine M. Scully, author Valerie Hampton, and author Clay Gilbert.

The group discusses the impact of the original film and the significance of its holiday setting. Michael Myers, Laurie Strode, and Samuel Loomis are also discussed in-depth, as their complicated relationship contributes hugely to the lasting appeal of the film.

Listen in as this talented group dissect one of the greatest horror films of all time on the newest episode of the Needless Things Podcast!

Buy your tickets for next year’s magical Dragon Con experience now before prices go up!

Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!

“Procrastibate” by LeSexoflex.com

Interstitial music provided by The Mystery Men?

You can follow Dave as Phantom Troublemaker on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!  

Halloween 2018 – “Spooky” Podcasts to Try

Throughout the month of October I spend a lot of time reading creepy books or watching scary movies. Just because you have to sleep sometimes doesn’t mean that you should stop enjoying the Halloween-time excitement. Podcasts are trying to keep you up at night, and some of them are doing a pretty damn good job. I’m not saying that straight audio will ever replace a good movie, but it’s almost as good as reading a book. If you haven’t been giving any of the many, many horror/paranormal podcasts a try this is the month to do so. I’m going to run down a few of the best for you today. Not all of them mind you, I have strict rules about what we listen to at bedtime. Loud laughing and fluctuating volume are a hard no for me when I’m trying to sleep. I also just can’t get into the fiction podcasts that the husband formerly known as Mr. Tibbs seems to love. One thing I like about the podcasts on my list is that it doesn’t matter if I fall asleep because most of them have short stories, and I assume that if I fell asleep during a particular story that it was probably for the best anyway. The serialized fiction has to be paid attention to. If I didn’t have other things to listen to on the way to work it might be different, but as it stands I just can’t devote that much attention to anything else in my life.

Halloween 2018 Toy Review – IT (1990) Pennywise the Dancing Clown Action Figure from NECA

NECA has been on a roll this year with their line of “Ultimate” horror figures.

Rather than releasing the same figure three of four times with different accessories, they’ve embraced one that includes everything – extra heads, hands, hatchets, noisemakers; whatever.

Because of this, I’ve been a little more liberal with which characters I buy because I know it’s much less likely I’m going to have to buy a new version of a character I love just to get a specific head or whatever. Of course, there are still the two-packs that come with one new character and one that I already own five of, but that’s just the toy biz.

Halloween 2018 Horror at Home – October’s Blu-Ray Releases

While Halloween has been underway since early September for some of us, October is the official start of the spooky season for many. One of the easiest and most fun ways to get into the right frame of mind is by sitting down with a big bowl of candy corn and your favorite adult beverage to enjoy some scary movies and TV shows!

Every Tuesday in October I’ll be running down some of the best spooooky releases coming to home media.

To find out what’s coming this week, read on!

15 Thoughts About Venom

SPOILER WARNING – THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR COLUMBIA PICTURES’ NEW FILM, VENOM

I can’t say that I was all that excited about Venom, but that lack of interest wasn’t so much about the circumstances surrounding Sony’s new movie as it was that the character just isn’t one of my guys.

I think the symbiote idea is very cool and I’ve read plenty of Venom comics – though almost nothing featuring the seemingly endless number of other symbiotes – but aside from the cool aesthetics I never latched on. My favorite iteration is probably the Flash Thompson version as written by Rick Remender and later, Cullen Bunn.

All of that might actually make me the best kind of audience member for Sony’s film, for which you have to accept the idea that Venom’s origin has absolutely nothing to do with Spider-Man. Since I don’t have the same affection for Venom that I do for say, Forge, I was ready to accept variations on how the character came to be and evolved. As long as I got some good, old-fashioned symbiote tendril, creepy-crawly action.

Did the film deliver? Read on.

TV Review – 19 Thoughts About Doctor Who 11.1

SPOILER WARNING – THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE SEASON 11 PREMIERE OF DOCTOR WHO – “THE WOMAN WHO FELL TO EARTH”

I’ve been a massive fan of Doctor Who since I first saw it in 1983.

There have been times when I haven’t loved it as much, and times when I’ve thought it was the best thing ever. But regardless of how I might have felt about any current iteration, I’ve always loved the franchise and its history.

The 2005 revival made me very happy, despite my expectations to the contrary.

A few years after the return I joined the Earth Station Who podcast to have bi-weekly discussions about the franchise with a wonderful crew. I appeared on over a hundred episodes, participated in panels at various conventions, and fairly early on launched my own Needless Things Podcast.

Eventually toxic fandom and what I perceived as a decline in quality (of Doctor Who, not of ESW – we were still fantastic) led to my amicable departure from Earth Station Who.

To keep things brief – I loved Peter Capaldi’s Doctor, but absolutely nothing else about the show. I started to lose interest around the end of Matt Smith’s run and to this day I wish he’d had the opportunity to work with a different showrunner. The same goes for Capaldi.

But I don’t want to belabor that.

It’s a new day (yes it is) and we have a new Doctor in Jodie Whittaker and a new showrunner in Chris Chibnall. I went into season 11 (40, actually, by my count) hopeful about the future of the franchise.

Am I still hopeful? Read on.

Needless Things Podcast 233 – Let’s Get Spooky!

 

https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-ycwkq-9b9231

The Halloween season has officially begun at Needless Things!

It’s the season to focus on the creepy, spooky, and macabre, and Dave has got you covered with special guests Ryan Cadaver, Salena Balls, and RT Ewell discussing all of the things they do to get in a Halloweeny frame of mind!

Movies, music, and of course hitting the stores for crazy costumes and spooky décor are all part of the season.

Listen in as the Needless Scare Team fills you in on the most fun ways to get into the spooky this year!

Be sure to join the Needless Things Podcast Facebook Group and get in on the conversation for this week’s episode! Let us know what you think!

“Procrastibate” by LeSexoflex.com

Interstitial music provided by The Mystery Men?

You can follow Dave as Phantom Troublemaker on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

Halloween 2018 – Day of the Dead: Bloodline

Have you ever wondered what happened to the guy who played the lead singer in That Thing You Do? Me either, but Day of the Dead: Bloodline is here to answer a lot of questions no one asked. I feel like there should be an Oneders (o-neders) joke in here somewhere, but I’m not going to force it. This is spoiler filled, but let’s be honest. You’re not going to watch it anyway. Well some of you might, but it’s on you. I’m going to give you plenty of reasons to skip it, but consider this your last warning.