Mocata's Den of Horror

For Halloween, there are so many movies to watch to get into the spirit of the season, as well as books to read, and, of course, music to listen to.  I already wrote a bit about Denial of God's most recent album, The Hallow Mass in my post about the book, The Reel Ghoul , so here are a few more that I think really capture the spirit of Halloween. Acid Witch: Evil Sound Screamers This is the third full-length album by Acid Witch, a band that has referred to its own music as "Halloween metal".  That makes Acid Witch a natural choice for Halloween music.  The lyrics often incorporate horror movie themes and Halloween.  There is also some of the stoner doom kind of stuff, which initially put me off from the band, but then I heard some of the band's music and was able to look past the stoner stuff, which I have never really been a fan of.  Evil Sound Screamers , to me, seems to be the most Halloween-oriented album thus far.  Though still present, the stoner ele...

The Beast Within is something of a forgotten gem of '80s horror.  Released in 1982, it features Ronny Cox (who would later appear in Robocop and Total Recall ), Bibi Besch, R.G. Armstrong, and others, including Paul Clemens as the main character, Michael MacCleary, who has inherited some monstrous curse from his unknown father.  Born as the result of an attack on his mother, Caroline (Bibi Besch), on the night of her wedding to Eli MacCleary (Ronny Cox), Michael is raised by the two as if he were any normal child, rather than the result of a sexual assault.  When, in his late teens, Michael starts exhibiting strange symptoms and the doctors are unable to determine the cause, Eli and Caroline return to the town where the attack occurred all those years ago, looking for answers.  Unknown to them, Michael heads there as well, driven by some instinct inside him. U.S. theatrical poster Michael begins to show signs of some personality change, developing an obsession with...

The Reel Ghoul is a book of movie reviews, primarily horror, but also including some action and sci-fi films.  Written by life-long horror fan, Ustumallagam, over a roughly three year period, the author had initially intended to publish them in an old-fashioned 'zine form, but found himself with too much material for that smaller size publication and instead opted to publish them in book form through Feral Books. Front cover Ustumallagam is also known as the vocalist for the Danish band Denial of God, which has been releasing music since the early '90s.  To date, the band has three full-length albums, numerous EPs, and a couple of demos to its credit.  Much of the discography would be tough to track down, as is pretty common with metal bands in general due to things going out of print and labels going out of business, not to mention the very international nature of the music.   Back cover The reviews in this book are fairly short and to the point.  He typically ...

With Halloween rapidly approaching, I wanted to discuss a movie that is good for watching around that time of year.  This year, I want to talk about a cult classic of the '80s, Trick or Treat .  Starring Marc Price (aka Skippy from Family Ties ), this film tells the story of a metal fan who is an outcast at his high school, which is also the school his hero, Sammi Curr, attended 20 years earlier.  After hearing about Curr's sudden death in a hotel fire, Eddie (Marc Price) swings by the local radio station where he talks to the DJ, Nuke (played by Gene Simmons).  Nuke gives Eddie an acetate of the final, unreleased Sammi Curr album, which cheers the distraught kid up.  Eddie listens to the record at home and soon discovers this is much more than a regular musical recording.  Through this recording, he is able to raise the spirit of his hero, Sammi, who begins wreaking havoc on the town, starting with helping Eddie best the assholes who enjoy harassing him at...