Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter

What better way to celebrate the true meaning of Memorial Day: by remembering those brave soldiers who fought and died to win the Civil War by conquering the armies of the Confederacy (who were actually led by VAMPIRES). 

(*some spoilers ahead)

And we owe it all to the one man brave enough to not only stand up to them, but to assume the responsibility of leading our country: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

I mean, who could forget this turning point in US history, where Abe discovers how to win the war:

SOON:

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Honestly, this film was fun from start to finish, over the top in the best ways possible, and funny in its taking itself so seriously. The visual effects and costumes are pretty damned good as well. Watch this with some friends and have fun Mystery-Science-Theater-ing the hell out of it. 

Literally worth watching just to watch Honest Abe twirl his silver-tipped vampire-choppin' axe around.

I rate it 7/10 Jackos!
[🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 _ _ _]

"I had killed a monster.

And I would kill again.

But no amount of death could make me forget." 

-- Abraham Lincoln

Watch the trailer below:

Happy Half-O-Ween! Enjoy this 24/7 Halloween radio station!

 The 1st of May is celebrated around the world for several reasons - International Workers' Day, Beltaine/Beltane (an ancient Irish/Celtic holiday), and a bunch of other festivals which you can read about in this Wikipedia article. 

For Halloweenies like myself (and, I'm guessing, also you if you're reading this), we also know that it's Half-O-Ween, Halfoween, or however you wanna spell it -- it's halfway to Halloween! And in case you need a fix of Halloween music, there is a great 24/7/365 Halloween radio station called Dead Air, which is listener supported and commercial free! 

Click the pic below to tune in. 

Attack of the Demons

I recently watched the animated horror film, Attack of the Demons, which is currently available to stream on Shudder. At first, the animation style reminded me of South Park, but the tone was entirely different and pulled me into a world of nostalgia. 

The plot takes place in a sleepy town called Barrington, Colorado in the 90s at Halloween. Three former high school friends - a horror film nerd, a music lover, and a video game enthusiast - reconnect for the town's Halloween festivities, but they are unprepared for the supernatural events about to occur.

There's lots of fun Halloween imagery throughout, and plenty of nods to music, film, and video games that fans will appreciate - Shoegaze music, Giallo films, and old-school video game arcades.

An "unknown name" shows up for the evening's Battle of the Bands event -- 

-- is that Sunn 0)))?? *

(*needs more fog machine)

Overall, I enjoyed this movie. It's got a fair bit of cartoon gore & guts, a good score, and plenty of suspenseful moments. The only thing I had issue with is the voice acting, which was pretty flat and did little to add emotion/intensity - it didn't ruin anything, it just didn't make the film better.

I give this one 7/10 Jackos!
[🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃_ _ _ ]

To my email subscribers:

Just a quick post here to let you know that Feedburner, my former email subscription service, is ending support very soon (July 2021). To continue getting notifications for my blog posts, add your email at the new gadget shown in the screenshot below, under "Subscribe" - or click the image link in green below:

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Petrichor Pumpkins!

Now playing: The Midnight, "Horror Show"

Gorgo big!

29th March, 2021 marked the 60th anniversary of the release of Gorgo, a monster movie in which a Godzilla-like creature ravages London. I watched it tonight because I'd never seen it before.

Gorgo (1961) Original Trailer

Overall, this one was fairly enjoyable. I absolutely love Gorgo's design, and if you like monster movies in which the monster gets a lot of screen time, you'll love this one.

It's free to watch on Amazon prime right now, so check it out!

My rating: 6/10 Jackos
[🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃_ _ _ _]

Beauty routine

(from the Bugs Bunny Looney Tunes short Water, Water Every Hare, which you can watch by clicking the pic above)

 

Horror Movie Posters I've Made

My brother is an independent horror filmmaker, and I have a standing offer with him to design posters for any movies he makes. 

In the past few years, he's made a feature length film, Falling Angel (2018, 53 mins), and just recently, a 6-minute short called Window of Darkness (2021) that he's entered into several short horror film events.

Here are the posters I made!

(As of this post, Falling Angel isn't available to watch online)

Watch Window of Darkness below!

Window of Darkness from Augustus Marinak on Vimeo.

If you're in need of a poster design, contact me via the contact form in the left-hand column! I take commissions.

Autumn splendor in rural Japan

Sometimes YouTube recommendations really hit the nail right on the head.

Tonight, this showed up in my feed, a short video about a beautiful countryside village called Shirakawa, in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. 

The video lives up to its title as relaxing virtual tour, with peaceful autumn visuals; the viewer can almost smell the crisp earthy air and and feel the soft grasses between their fingertips. 

Enjoy this if you're in need of some relaxing vibes, or are impatient for Fall to arrive, or both!

Ghost Towns of Washington state

Tonight I attended a virtual event hosted on YouTube by Pretty Gritty Tours, a Tacoma, WA area travel & tour guide organization. 

This presentation featured some of Washington state's many ghost towns, with lots of historical info, photos, video, and tourist tips. Some are more well-known and still function as towns with people living there (like Roslyn WA, which is best known to some as a central filming location for the 1990s TV series, Northern Exposure), and some have almost completely crumbled with time, long abandoned. In all, there can be found the beauty in decay, intriguing artifacts, quietude, and varying degrees of spookiness. 

I really enjoyed this video and I'm looking forward to future Pretty Gritty events!

Valloween weekend: Ernest Scared Stupid

It's Valloween weekend! Last Thursday was a snowy day here in western Washington state, so my partner & I felt like having a Throwback Thursday 80s/90s kid nostalgia night for ourselves, with fish sticks & curly fries for dinner and a classic Ernest movie: Ernest Scared Stupid.

Confession time: I had never seen this movie before last night. 

I grew up in a family that loved all the Ernest movies, the Ernest TV show, etc. - but somehow, I only managed to see Ernest Goes to Camp and Ernest Saves Christmas.

"I'll send 'em a nice card!" 😂😂😂

Eartha Kitt as Francis "Old Lady" Hackmore was absolutely amazing & over the top in the best way possible. She was so immersed in that role that I didn't even know it was her at first - mind=blown. How the hell did they get someone like her to be in an Ernest movie??

"Oooh, Charades? I love Charades!"

And, just in time for Valentine's Day - "Does that include the giant album with every troll love song ever written?"

Neb's rating: 9/10 jackos
[ 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃_ ] 

Now watching: Netflix's Night Stalker series

I'm not normally super into true crime, but I've been hearing this series is fantastic. I'm only about 20 mins into it so far, but I'm hooked. Fascinating and terrifying.

Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer

Full Wolf Moon

Last night was the Full Wolf Moon. 

No matter what time of year it is, the moon always brings me back to the mystical, mysterious feelings that I associate with autumn & the Halloween season.

I spent part of my evening meditating, reading Tarot, and drinking tea. 

Do you feel a connection to the Moon? Do you have any special practices related to the Full Moon or any of its other phases?