Midnight Horror Show

It's end of October 1985 and the crumbling river town of Dubois, Iowa is shocked by the gruesome murder of one of the pillars of the community. Detective David Carlson has no motive, no evidence, and only one lead: the macabre local legend of "Boris Orlof," a late night horror movie host who burned to death during a stage performance at the drive-in on Halloween night twenty years ago and the teenage loner obsessed with keeping his memory alive. The body count is rising and the darkness that hangs over the town grows by the hour. Time is running out as Carlson desperately chases shadows into a nightmare world of living horrors. On Halloween the drive-in re-opens at midnight for a show no one will ever forget. Proudly brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from The Darkest Depths. Interview with the author: What was the inspiration for this novel? In the late 90's, I produced and starred in a TV show where I hosted public domain horror movies in character as "Boris the Undead Hepcat," kind of a mash-up of Dean Martin and Beetlejuice. The show was definitely amateurish, but also a true labor of love and an ode to all the horror hosts I'd grown up with. Over the years I'd thought about trying to bring the show back, but none of my ideas for it were very satisfying. Then one night I was playing The Cramps during my commute home and kind of letting my mind wander. Listening to Lux Interior tease every possible threat and innuendo out of old rockabilly lyrics put this image in my head - It looked like my old horror host character, but it was something else. Something much darker. A real monster pretending to be a fake one. This book is his story. Tell us a little about your lead characters. David Carlson is police detective haunted by past failures and the everyday tragedies of working class crime. He's a relative new comer to the town of Dubois ("rhymes with noise") Iowa, but he's made it his home and is committed to protecting it. While struggling to find clues, Carlson develops a bond with video store clerk James West. James is 19 and still trapped in the small town he never belonged to. He dreams of escape...and finds it at the movies. Why should readers give your work a try? Midnight Horror Show comes from untold hours haunting video stores. From long, lonesome drives through endless cornfields. It comes from desperately searching the airwaves and staying up way too late to get a glimpse of something magical, and terrifying, and true. This book is my love letter to the monsters, who were there for me when no one else was.

A Bram Stoker Award finalist for Best First Novel: This endlessly inventive thriller pays homage to 1950s Hollywood horror films—with a demonic twist Schlock horror director Landis Woodley lives in a decaying mansion in the Hollywood Hills. When he abandoned the movie business—after being reduced to filming skin flicks and peep shows—he also left a laundry list of enemies, including the IRS. But avid fan Clint Stockbern is determined to write a piece on the alcoholic recluse for Monster magazine. Woodley agrees to the interview—for $600 in cash. As the tape recorder starts rolling, Stockbern travels back in time with Woodley. He hears recollections of Attack of the Haunted Saucer, the worst movie of all time, and Blood Ghouls of Malibu. But he really wants to know about Woodley’s masterpiece, Cadaver. Shot on location in the Los Angeles County morgue, the film was rumored to have used real corpses and everyone associated with the production has been fatally haunted since its 1957 release. But the truth is far more terrifying than Stockbern imagined. Is a dead Satanist, possessed by the devil, reaching out beyond the grave? Or is the reporter the final victim in a diabolical scheme dreamed up by mortals? Horror Show is a wild and wacky romp that sends up mid-century Hollywood horror movies and schlockmeisters Roger Corman, William Castle, and Ed Wood.

The official art book for the new Netflix/Intrepid Pictures horror TV series Midnight Mass, from creator Mike Flanagan. A small town on an island experiences miraculous events – and frightening omens – after the arrival of a charismatic, mysterious young priest. The cast includes Kate Siegel, Henry Thomas, Zach Gilford, and Hamish Linklater. Midnight Mass: The Art of Horror is a large hardback illustrated book featuring visual and written materials covering all elements of Intrepid Pictures’ Midnight Mass limited series - debuting on Netflix in Fall 2021. This book is the perfect gift for any horror fan and will contain a slew of behind-the-scenes and background material, such as production art and set photos throughout. Readers will gain an insightful understanding of how the show was made with interviews of the cast, crew, executive producer Trevor Macy and Mike Flanagan himself. Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy are the minds behind The Haunting of Hill House, a successful horror TV series on Netflix. Their most recent film, Doctor Sleep, was the critically-acclaimed sequel to Stephen King’s The Shining.

Midnight, 1954. A striking woman in a torn black dress slinks down a cobwebbed, candelabra'd corridor. She stops, shrieks hysterically into the camera, then solemnly says, "Good evening, I am Vampira." Her real name is Maila Nurmi and she was the first in a long line of television horror movie hosts, commonly seen on independent stations' late-night "grade Z" offerings dressed as some zany ghoul or mad scientist. This book covers the major hosts in detail, along with styles and show themes. Merchandise tie-in and fan reactions are also chronicled. The appendices list film and record credits.

In 1948, the Australian government banned the production, importation and exhibition of horror films in a move to appease religious communities and entertainment watchdogs. Drawing upon previously unseen government documents, private letters and contemporary newspaper accounts, this book is the first to extensively cover the history of censorship and the early production of horror movies in Australia. Beginning its examination in the late 19th century, the book documents the earliest horror films like Georges Melies' The Haunted Castle (1896), and how Australians enjoyed such films before the ban. The book then explains how certain imports, like 1954's Creature from the Black Lagoon, were able to circumvent the ban while others were not. It also reveals how Australian television, though similarly impacted by government censorship, was occasionally able to broadcast films technically banned from cinematic release. The work concludes with a look at the first Australian horror films produced after the ban was formally lifted in 1969, like Terry Bourke's Night of Fear (1973).

An official guide to Buffy the Vampire Slayer describes the mythology and influences behind the monsters, ghouls, and characters through interviews with the creators and details of the episodes.

There is no cinema with such effect as that of the hallucinatory Italian horror film. From Riccardo Freda’s I Vampiri in 1956 to Il Cartaio in 2004, this work recounts the origins of the genre, celebrates at length ten of its auteurs, and discusses the noteworthy films of many others associated with the genre. The directors discussed in detail are Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodato, Lucio Fulci, Umberto Lenzi, Antonio Margheriti, Aristide Massaccesi, Bruno Mattei, and Michele Soavi. Each chapter includes a biography, a detailed career account, discussion of influences both literary and cinematic, commentary on the films, with plots and production details, and an exhaustive filmography. A second section contains short discussions and selected filmographies of other important horror directors. The work concludes with a chapter on the future of Italian horror and an appendix of important horror films by directors other than the 50 profiled. Stills, posters, and behind-the-scenes shots illustrate the book.

Pop culture history meets blood-soaked memoir as Adam Rockoff, “a passionate fan of the horror genre in all its forms,” (The New York Times) recalls a life spent watching blockbuster slasher films, cult classics, and everything in between. Horror films have simultaneously captivated and terrified audiences for generations, racking up millions of dollars at the box office and infusing our nightmares with chainsaws, goblins, and blood-spattered machetes. Today’s hottest television shows feature classic horror elements, from marauding zombies and sexy vampires to myriad incarnations of the devil himself. Yet the horror genre and its controversial offshoots continue to occupy a nebulous space in our critical dialogue. The Horror of It All is a memoir from the front lines of the horror industry that dissects (and occasionally defends) the massively popular phenomenon of scary movies. Author Adam Rockoff delivers “the sharpest pop culture criticism you’ll find in any medium today,” (Rue Morgue) as he traces the highs and lows of the genre through the lens of his own obsessive fandom, which began in the horror aisles of his childhood video store and continued with a steady diet of cable trash. From the convergence of horror and heavy metal, to Siskel and Ebert’s crusade against the slasher flick, to the legacy of the Scream franchise, and the behind-the-scenes work of horror directors and make-up artists, Rockoff mines the rich history of the genre, braiding critical analysis with his own firsthand experiences as a horror writer and producer. Filled with mordant wit and sharp insight, The Horror of It All “is an amiable and often amusing guide” (Kirkus Reviews) that explains why horror films not only endure, but continue to prosper. Be afraid. Be very afraid.