Mocata's Den of Horror

 I have neglected this blog this year, mostly due to focusing on music and just daily stuff like work. Still, I wanted to get some Halloween music recommendations out there for this year.  I think I will do this a little differently this time, with most of these being releases I discovered through Bandcamp.      Fleshrot - Unburied Corpse First up, we have a new band that is putting together some pretty old-style death metal.  Nothing groundbreaking, in general, but it is just plain good.  This isn't a band preoccupied with being technical and playing faster than anybody else.  This is a band trying to make some good, old-fashioned, memorable death metal, which I think the band succeeds at. Hailing from Lubbock, Texas, Fleshrot released a demo on Bandcamp, which also was released as a cassette and a 7".  This was the release that introduced the band to me.  When the album came out, I snagged a copy and have been enjoying it quite a bit....

Since I did this last year, I figured I would feature some more recommendations this year.  Being a huge metal fan, these will be primarily metal. Necrophagia- Season of the Dead and Ready for Death Okay, I am going with a double-feature kind of thing with this one.  The first full-length studio album by one of the original death metal bands and the album recorded before it that remained unreleased until a few years later.   First, Season of the Dead came out in 1987 and was Necrophagia's one and only album until vocalist/mainman Killjoy teamed up with Phil Anselmo to reactivate the band with a new lineup in the late '90s.  The lyrics are filled with horror influences, as is the cover art.  The music itself is going for a bit moodier sort of feel rather than just out-and-out speed.  It is a classic and always a great listen.  The imagery and mood make it a natural choice for Halloween listening. Ready for Death was recorded in 1986, but was not...

 I have previously discussed a couple of Italian cannibal films on here and I figured it was time to do another, so decided I may as well knock out the most notorious of the bunch: Ruggero Deodato's Cannibal Holocaust .  Most people are probably not aware of the Italian cannibal film boom from the '70s and '80s, but many people are still aware of this particular film. DVD release from EC Entertainment   Booklet from EC Entertainment DVD release With a reputation such as the one Cannibal Holocaust has developed over the years, one may wonder whether or not the movie itself can hold up to it.  After all, this is a film that shocked people during its original release in 1980, but the world has changed so much in the four decades that have passed since then, so would it have the same impact today?  Is this a movie that would instead lose any shock value it once had as audiences became desensitized?  Well, first let's talk about the movie itself and then we can...

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...

What can you say about Dawn of the Dead ?  It is one of the most revered of horror classics and arguably, the most beloved of zombie films.  A film that both shoves gruesome gore-filled scenes in your face and presents some still-relevant social commentary about consumerism, Dawn of the Dead was a follow-up to another already classic film, Night of the Living Dead , that managed to stand on its own, rather than just hanging out in the shadow of its predecessor.  It is an American movie with Italian funding, featuring a score by an Italian prog rock group, mixed with various pieces of stock music.  There is a nearly-as-classic documentary by Roy Frumkes that deals with the making of the film, Document of the Dead .  On top of all that, there are multiple cuts of the film, with each having its own group who support it as the best version. The "Ultimate Edition" DVD release from Anchor Bay Includes U.S. theatrical cut, extended cut, Argento's cut, and Document of ...

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

Aristide Massaccesi, primarily known by the pseudonym, Joe D'Amato, didn't just slog through the foul waters of horror and exploitation, but also delved into pornography, both of the softcore and hardcore varieties.  It is only fitting then, that this was his approach to the cannibal film boom that was happening in the late '70s. Blu-ray edition with slip-case from Severin Emanuelle e gli ultimi cannibali (1977), aka Emanuelle and the Last Cannibals and Trap Them and Kill Them , mixes up the jungle adventure featuring cannibals with the softcore porn elements of an independent woman reporter named Emanuelle, played by Laura Gemser, who played Emanuelle in a number of films, starting with Black Emanuelle (1976), who does whatever she needs to do to get her story, all the while taking the time to have sex with anybody and everybody she feels inclined to do so with.  While she is undercover in a mental hospital, she encounters a young woman who is violent towards nurses...

In the 1970s and 1980s, Italy released numerous movies dealing with cannibalism.  Starting with Il paese del sesso selvaggio (aka Man from Deep River, Deep River Savages, Sacrifice! , and many others), they were initially adventure movies set in the jungle.  The cannibal element was initially a minor subplot, with the later films concentrating more and more on cannibal carnage as the films also went stampeding into the horror realm.  These movies would become notorious for various reasons in the years after their original releases, some getting banned in various countries and most getting cut to ribbons in many countries.  Regardless of any controversial content these films may feature, they are an important part of horror and exploitation cinema.  I am also a big fan of these movies in general, so I am going to discuss some (maybe all), one at a time. First up is undoubtedly one of the most notorious, Cannibal Ferox .  Released in the U.S. as Make Them ...

Most people don't realize that there is much more to comic books than superheroes like Spider-man or Superman.  Over the decades, many different genres have had their ups and downs in the world of comic books: western, science fiction, horror, crime, romance, and, of course, superheroes.  Comics are also not just an American thing; they are produced in many countries around the world.  Today, I want to write about one such comic-- the Italian fumetto dell'orrore (horror comic), Dylan Dog . Two different issues of Dylan Dog Dylan Dog, created by Tiziano Sclavi and published by Sergio Bonelli Editore, debuted in 1986 and continues to this day.  At this moment, the regular series is at #400.  Dylan Dog, the character, is a private investigator residing in London.  However, he does not handle normal cases; he is the nightmare investigator.  He deals with monsters, ghosts, deranged killers, etc. Dylan Dog is a man who lives somewhat nonchalantly,...

Few things are as pleasant as having a couple of beers and watching a good horror movie.  For some horror movies, there are certain beers that are especially appropriate to drink while watching, usually due to that beer popping up in the movie itself.  Here are a few to start with.  At some point, I will likely do another, because there are certainly more than I will be listing now. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)- Shiner Premium To start off, we have Tobe Hooper's classic, which features some country guys drinking some Shiner Premium in a cemetery at the beginning.  The choice of Shiner makes sense for the movie, as it is a Texas beer, brewed in Shiner, Texas.  This particular beer was, as far as I know, discontinued for some time, but it showed up some time back on shelves, with the label looking very close to the ones visible in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre .  So if you plan on watching this one and want to really get into the vibe of the movie,...