Mocata's Den of Horror

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 ...

Lucio Fulci was an Italian film director who worked in just about every genre there is.  He did sex comedies, westerns, historical/period pieces, gialli, and basically anything else Italian cinema had to offer during his long career.  His directorial credits go back to short documentaries in the late 1940s. Laserdisc edition by The Roan Group However, it wasn't until the late '70s that he would begin the work that would form his legacy, whether he liked it or not. VHS release by Anchor Bay Entertainment 1979 saw the release of his film Zombie (aka Zombi 2 , Zombie Flesheaters , Woodoo , Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us , and many others).  This film would kick off the most celebrated part of his career, with films like House By the Cemetery , The Gates of Hell , The Beyond , and The New York Ripper to follow.  Written by Dardano Sacchetti (who ended up taking his name off the movie) and Elisa Briganti, Zombie was Fulci's first foray into horror.  He had previou...

Time for a little self promotion. I recorded an EP last month, which has just been released digitally.  It is no nonsense death metal, with horror-inspired lyrics.  As it turned out, every song was inspired by Italian horror movies: Burial Ground ; Papaya, Love Goddess of the Cannibals ; Beyond the Darkness ; The Beyond .  Although it is a digital-only release at the moment, I would like to have it released as a 7" record, which was the format it was really geared toward.  If you like Mortician, Impetigo, Gorelord, and the like, head on over to Bandcamp and check out Revel in Horror and Gore.  And while you are there, check out the releases by Xenward and Grand Guignol as well. https://mocata9.bandcamp.com/releases

Many companies have come and gone, leaving a mark on the home video market for horror, exploitation, and general-all-around grindhouse cinema over the years, all the way back to the days of VHS, with companies like Vestron, Paragon, and Wizard through to more recent years with DVD and Blu Ray releases by companies such as Dark Sky, Shriek Show, and Severin.  One of the most revered, if least productive, to ever rear its ugly head would have to be Grindhouse Releasing.  The name says it all-- the company is focused on the glorious years of the grindhouse era, namely the '70s and '80s part. Since the company's beginning in the '90s, it has obviously worked with a "quality, not quantity" method, usually having years between releases.  In more recent years, however, the output has picked up a good bit.  This has been mainly since Grindhouse Releasing got into the Blu Ray movement.  The main reason for the increased output is likely the fact that most of these mo...

Earlier this year, Eibon Comics announced that it was redoing the old graphic novel of Lucio Fulci’s Zombie ( Zombie Flesheaters to those in the UK and Zombi 2 in its native Italy) originally released through Blackest Heart Media, this time in color and expanded into an ongoing series, from what I have read.   The first issue of this new version went on sale more than a month before it was due to ship and sold out rapidly.   Happily, I was able to order a copy before it sold out.   Eibon and since stated there will be a second printing of the issue and that future issues will be printed in higher quantities. My copy of Zombie Issue #1 arrived recently and I am quite pleased with it.   It is just as Eibon advertised it.   The presentation alone is remarkable, including the outer sleeve each copy comes in.   My copy also came with a liner note booklet about Eibon and the development of the comic sleeves Eibon is putting all of its comics in, as...