Halloween Ghostly Ghouls Door Poster
And Frankenstein Face
These Happy Halloween door decorations set the mood rather well, don't you think?
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About From Zombos’ Closet Blog
Zombos’ Closet
Welcome to Zombos’ Closet, a rather dark and cloying place, filled with untold treasures and just plain lousy stuff that Zombos keeps stuffing into it. I am Iloz Zoc (just IL to my friends), full-time and long suffering valet to Zombos. You remember Zombos, don’t you? A grade B actor in numerous grade C horror films, most of which are forgotten by his few remaining and decaying fans. He is such an aging dilettante; always looking backward, while reluctantly moving forward into the new age of horror on screen and in print. He pines for the old, less gory days, but secretly enjoys those zombies and slashers, and the occasional science fiction or fantasy tidbit. And I, his patient and understanding servant, am charged with finding more and more room in his immense closet to accommodate his passions of the moment. And then there is Zimba, Zombos’ dark mistress of the sonnets. She hates horror with a passion, and his acquisitions even more. So many nights have I waited until she falls into her undead sleep, to slip into the dark hallways of the mansion on tiptoe, precariously balancing those acquisitions oh so quietly past her door, trying desperately not to wake the unholy beast within. It was bad enough that Zombos had to give up the hearse for a mini-van after they were married, but give up his treasures, never!
But you, dear reader, will find something of interest, I’m sure…we’ve been hear since 2006, patiently waiting for you.
Okay, sure, my closet, to be precise, is pretty well stuffed, too.
So many horrors, so little time to be terrified; frightful, isn’t it?
As a horror fan starting in the 1960s, I grew up in Brooklyn with three theaters in walking distance (the Loew’s Oriental and the Benson on 86th Street were my favorites). Many weekends and many nights were spent watching horror and sci fi movies (my mom would take me to the horror movies, and my dad took me to the sci fi ones). My first true scare was watching Night of the Living Dead (I was way too young for that!). My fondest memories are watching all those wonderfully good (and some frightfully awful) movies on my local NYC channels , hosted by either Zacherley or the Creep, and eating way too much sugar-loaded cereal on Saturday mornings while I watched Scooby Doo, The Monster Squad, and Groovie Ghoulies.
So you can see how I’d turn into a horror fan with a blog. Scary, isn’t it?
From the old to the new in horror movies in reviews and views, here and there you will also meet up with these curious characters in those reviews, along with their sundry adventures. Chalk it up to the cheeky writer side of me.
Zombos and Zoc — my alter egos, so to speak.
Zimba—Zombos’ alluring wife.
Zombos Jr—Zombos’ annoying son.
Glenor Glenda—Our rather sensitive housekeeper. She never can make up her mind.
Lawn Gisland—Ex-rodeo and silver screen cowpoke, all six feet and three inches of him. Having starred in numerous television Westerns during the 1950s and 60s, he and Zombos go way back together. He hung up his spurs and retired to Florida to wrestle gators for the tourists. Getting bored with that, he had an itch and scratched it by touring as a trick-riding and fancy shooting cowboy for the Smith and Walloo Brothers 3-in-1 Circus. For a man his age, he doesn’t show it. Zombos often jokes that Lawn must keep a decrepit looking portrait in his attic like Dorian Gray. All joking aside, I think he’s right.
Jimmy Sosumi—Zombos’ crackerjack estate lawyer. His motto is ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way…to make money.’
Paul Hollstenwall—Our annoying neighbor, purveyor of bad movies, which he insists on showing us at every opportunity. The Hollstenwalls live at 0004 Gravestart Lane, a short energetic walk from the mansion.
Pretorius—Our quite ancient groundskeeper who keeps a very neat lawn.
Chef Machiavelli—A culinary god; we’d starve without him.
Other points of interest:
- Lots of wild Mexican Horror Movie Lobby Cards
- Lots of Horror and Science Fiction Movie Pressbooks
- Love those Halloween Decorations and Fascinations
- Oodles of Reviews of comics, books, magazines, and whatever else strikes the horror in me
Enjoy,
JM Cozzoli
Please Note: If you are legally blind and would like to learn more about the Mexican lobby card and pressbook images on this blog, please contact me at [email protected].
Interview: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies
With Paul Castiglia
Paul Castiglia has been writing and editing comic books and pop-culture articles for 20 years, most notably overseeing the Archie Americana paperback series of classic Archie Comics reprints. His past forays into horror-comedy include providing a chapter for the book MIDNIGHT MARQUEE ACTOR SERIES: VINCENT PRICE covering Price’s comedic horror films with Peter Lorre, and writing the comic book based on the animated series Archie's Weird Mysteries. He has also edited the upcoming Archie Comics Haunted House trade paperback collection of spooky stories.
Paul's blog, Scared Silly, will post its first review at midnight tonight, kicking-off his adventure writing about classic horror comedies for his upcoming book, Scared Silly: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies.
Here's my interview with Paul to wet your appetite.
How does a writer and editor for Archie comics wind up doing a book on classic horror-comedies?
Simple, I’ve always been a fan of the horror-comedy genre, and I’ve always wanted to read a book that provided an overview of the entire genre. Since none existed, I figured the only way I’d be able to own a book like that would be to write it myself!
It really goes back to my childhood. I was a child in the 1970s, when movies and TV shows from past decades were routinely rerun. I grew up watching the classic comedians on TV, particularly Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello; and I grew up watching a lot of cartoons. Both of those pastimes fed into my love of comic books.
Originally I was scared of films like “Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein” (heck, when I was real little I was also scared of Herman Munster!), but ultimately the comic relief alleviated the scares and somewhere along the line I developed a particular fondness for the “spooky” comedies.
This fondness served me well when it came time to write the “Archie’s Weird Mysteries” comic book series (based on the TV cartoon of the same name) and a chapter in a book about Vincent Price films covering the horror-comedies where he was teamed with Peter Lorre.
Horror and comedy seem to be opposites; so why do you think horror-comedies have always enticed audiences?
Psychologists will tell you that the difference between a laugh and a scream is slight. In fact, sometimes people laugh when they should be screaming. “Nervous laughter,” they call it. Both are a form of release, and when combined they make a formidable pair: what better way to relieve the tension of just being scared than with a laugh right on top of the scare?
In the end, it goes back to the basis of all stories – the idea that being a hero means conquering a problem. If you can laugh at your fears, you are that much closer to conquering them.
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Interview: Classic Hollywood Horror-Comedies
With Paul CastigliaRead More »
Interview With The Sleeping Deep’s J. B. Palmer
Jeffrey Blake Palmer’s Lovecraftianesque The Sleeping Deep screenplay is winning a lot of film festival awards these days. Before his head swells bigger than a blowfish–what with all those kudos and attention–I thought it best to snatch him away from his busy schedule and lock him in the closet for a bit, until he answered a few questions about his work and his inspirations.
Tell us about the young monsterkid who grew up to be Jeffrey Blake Palmer.
Ooohh, perhaps my mother would be better suited to answer that question…
FADE IN:
I was born and grew up in the quaint New England mill town of Dover, New Hampshire, which I would later capture on film in my feature On the Fringe. It was idyllic, charming, safe. I was fond of dismantling anything electronic (radios in particular), doodling in my notebooks, goofing off around the neighborhood. Seems I was always lost in thought, my head cluttered with artsy-fartsy ideas all vying for attention. Definitely was a bit of a daydreamer. But I never terrorized the neighbors’ pets, only my younger brother.
I do have fond memories of spending Saturday afternoons during the summer watching Creature Double Feature on Channel 56 in our cool basement entertainment room. Man, those were the days.
Where does your ambition to film and script movies come from?
I think my ambition really boils down to embracing an artful life. Film and filmmaking is a collaboration and combination of so many disciplines, from composing musical scores to special effects to acting, costume design, writing… it’s truly a celebration of the spice in life.
The deal was sealed when I stumbled onto a film class in college and was surrounded by freaks, nerds, weirdos and misfits. I immediately decided to pursue a film degree at Keene State College, a small state school in south-western New Hampshire and I’ve been at it since.
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Once Again, The Apocalypse (but now due 2012)
Nice to see the apocalypse has been rescheduled. Like one of those near endless Friday the 13th sequels, you just can’t keep a good hoax down. But now the date is 2012, so I hope you can wait. I know the suspense is simply killing me.
Fueled by a crop of books, Web sites with countdown clocks, and claims about ancient timekeepers, interest is growing in what some see as the dawn of a new era, and others as an expiration date for Earth: December 21, 2012.
Read all about it before it’s too late: Apocalypse in 2012? Date Spawns Theories, Films…
Interview With Vince Liaguno
Unspeakable Horror
No place is darker than in the shadows of our closets…
And on each self, and in each corner, rests shoes, and clothes, and unspeakable horrors…
Editors Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder step into Zombos’ closet for a chat about their upcoming horror anthology that dares to open the creaking doors to those most personal, untidy closets we all share, where the light bulb is always dark, and the space is always pressing. And where fear is always piled deep in the farthest, darkest, corner.
How did Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet come about?
Chad Helder: In 2006, I started a website called Unspeakable Horror [http://unspeakablehorror.com] that explored the intersections between the horror genre and queer theory. Early on, I heard from Vince who was about to publish his first novel. We quickly became friends. At some point, Vince came up with the idea of publishing an anthology of gay horror stories. As a lover of short fiction, I was really excited about the prospect. That’s how it all began. Vince launched Dark Scribe Press, and the project began.
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Reviews and Interviews With A Bit of Fiction
Here are some of the reviews and interviews I framed with a fictional story that highlights the various characters living in Zombos’ mansion, or just illustrates my incessant need for cheekiness.
Interviews
Crimson QA With Austin Williams
Gospel of the Living Dead With Kim Paffenroth
Paul Bibeau’s Sundays With Vlad
Reviews
Ghost in the House of Frankenstein
Dying to Live: Life Among the Undead
Tap Dancing to Hell and a Pot O’Gold
Old Time Radio Horror:
Listen With the Lights Out!
Before EC Comics, before TV Horror Hosts, and before the mad scientists, psychos, and domestic and foreign ghosties and beasties took over the megagoogaplex screens, there was dramatized horror on radio just a twist of the dial away.
I fondly remember pulling out the old Webcor reel to reel tape player to listen to old time radio shows, and my favorite will always be Three Skeleton Key with Vincent Price, otherwise known as “that one about the rats.”
Imagine being trapped in a lighthouse with a horde of ravenous rats that have eyes and taste buds only for you; inexorably finding their way in until you have no where else to run.
With the advent of MP3 players, it is now easier than ever to rediscover the sinful pleasures of old time horror radio drama. Much of it is in the public domain these days (script writers and budding horror authors take note!), and can be found online or in CD collections for a nominal charge.
Hot on your list should be audio plays from Lights Out, Suspense, Inner Sanctum, The Creaking Door, and The Haunting Hour, though there are many more series extant.
Aside from Three Skeleton Key, other superb radio dramas to listen to are Sub Basement, and Spider, from Lights Out, and The Dunwich Horror and The House in Cypress Canyon from Suspense.
In Sub Basement, a man takes his wife to the sub basement of a big department store with plans of murder on his mind, but something else in the basement has other plans for them. And in Spider, two weary jungle hunters meet their match in another furry, but not so little or cute multi-legged, and very patient hunter. Just what, exactly, is in the closet in The House in Cypress Canyon will make your neck hairs stand on end.
Listening to horror can be quite frightening indeed. As you hear these chilling tales of terror and horror, be careful your imagination does not run too wild.
Go to Awake at Midnight to start listening. And remember, listen with the LIGHTS OUT!
Chindi Remembers Charles Grant
West Nelson (aka Chindi to Zombos Closet readers) shares his thoughts on the passing of horror and science-fiction author Charles Grant. Thanks West.
We said good-bye to Charles Grant on Thursday. You can read his obituary here and here, but I’d like to talk about the first time I met him. It was about 10 years ago and I’d been corresponding with his wife, Kathy Ptacek, for some time. She kindly invited me to a party they were having for his 100th book. It was a weekend long affair, but I couldn’t make it on that Friday. I do recall that we were all watching an episode of the X-Files that Friday night. When I saw Charlie’s name on a list of suspects that Mulder was reading, I called Kathy and Charlie to tell them. Of course they’d seen it and the celebratory noise in the background made me regret choosing work over fun.
That night I prepared a couple of pans of spicy sesame noodles with shrimp and scallops and in the morning, I loaded it all up in the car and drove to Newton, NJ. The minute I arrived, I was welcomed with open arms. Not just by Kathy and Charlie, but by their community of friends as well. At some point, I mentioned to Charlie that his work had a Dickensian touch to it. The characters you got to caring about the most were the ones who were doomed, in particular the children. He rather enjoyed that. Later, when discussing his book, Jackals, I stated that it reminded me of the National Geographic film, Eternal Enemies: Lions And Hyenas. He fairly leaped into the air and said he got the idea for the book from that video. We riffed on the name the researchers (Derek and Beverly Joubert) gave the male of the pride. Ntchwaidumela which means “He who greets with fire”. In fact, whenever we’d float past one another that night, we would bow to each other and say “Ntchwaidumela” in a most formal tone.
As for my spicy sesame noodles, they were a hit. Charlie made me promise to send the recipe which I gladly did. Come to think of it, he’s the only person to whom I’ve ever given it.
When the blackout of 2003 occurred, I was in the midst of reading one of his Oxrun collections. Rather than wait for the lights to come on, I settled onto a couch and turned on a flashlight. I finished the book that night and when I went to sleep I had a nightmare I hadn’t had in years. I emailed Charlie about it and told him that I’d decided to finally write it all down. He wrote back and told me that he’d like to see it when I finished it. Sadly, I let life get in the way and I never did finish it.
Years ago, Charlie put out a small print magazine called Haggis. It was a way for his fans to get a glimpse into what was going on behind the scenes of his work. There was also a great deal of fan participation. He organized a virtual wrestling federation. We had to come up with our own characters. Mine was Loup Garou, the werewolf. I described him as George “The Animal” Steele with serious dental issues. Loup was quite tame as long as he was leashed. In truth, I’d forgotten about it until Jet Li’s Unleashed came out. Charlie was kind enough to email me to ask if I’d had anything to do with it.
People like Charlie Grant are never fully appreciated by most of us while they are here. I regret getting so caught up in my own life that I couldn’t take a day to see him when he took ill. “There’s always next weekend”, I kept telling myself. If we are to learn anything from his passing, it should be that we must cherish our friends and family while they’re here. Email and web communities are one thing, but they cannot replace real face to face encounters. It is small consolation that his funeral and the following reception were just the kind of gathering that he would have enjoyed.
We’ll miss you, Charlie. Thanks for everything.
Universal Monsters 75th Anniversary at SDCC 2006
You would never know it is the 75th Anniversary of the Dracula and Frankenstein films with how Universal Studios is “promoting” this milestone, but at the San Diego Comic Con, they remembered and celebrated with Forry and a panel of fans. Wish I had attended.
And another thing…I wonder why Universal Studios has not capitalized on their wealth of classic horror monsters in their theme park. When will Universal Studios wake up and smell the freshly turned earth? Being home to a bunch of classically scary icons like Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman and the Creature, you would think they should have come up with haunted house and scarefest attractions by now that would make an awesome bunch of monster house rides.
Hell, imagine a Creature from the Black Lagoon attraction similar to Disney’s Jungle Cruise, or walking through the streets of an old Transylvanian village, ala Disney’s Fantasy Land. Every so often you could have actors running through the streets with flaming torches (or safer reasonable facsimiles) chasing after Frankenstein’s Monster. Imagine a ride built around the movie Them!, where you fight giant ants, or a frightening tour of Dracula’s castle (Todd Browning version, of course). I love the Mummy ride, but there are more monsters, you know. Perhaps, with the new Creature and Wolfman remakes on the way, more classic monster attractions will become a reality.
Then again, they did do Van Helsing.
Biology of B-Movie Monsters
Michael C. LaBarbera looks at genre classics including The Incredible Shrinking Man, Dr. Cyclops, King Kong and Rachel Welch–sorry, I meant to say Fantastic Voyage–and shows how the science of biology and geometry in the movies is often skewed as size goes up or down. Here’s the PDF for you to read!
Sin-Jin Smyth’s Ethan Dettenmaeir
With a mysterious title like Sin-Jin Smyth, and a talented cast that includes Roddy Piper and Jeff Conaway, this is one horror film high on my must-see list. Here’s the synopsis: Sin-Jin Smyth takes place over Halloween weekend. Two Federal Marshals receive orders to cross the state border to the small town of Shin Bone, Kansas in order to transfer a prisoner during a tornado warning. Nothing is known about the prisoner except his name: Sin-Jin Smyth. The film is based, in part, on an old legend that tells of the Devil appearing simultaneously in the high plains of India and a quiet cemetery in Kansas at midnight on Halloween.
I wanted to find out more about the creative force behind this upcoming horror film slated for October release–writer and director Ethan Dettenmaeir, and here is the interview we recently had. You can also check out Sin-Jin Smyth at Wikipedia.
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