After officially having its coffin nailed shut at the end of 2024, “What We Do in the Shadows” ended its six-season run. For all of you who might still be having withdrawals, here’s the show’s popular ‘Jackie Daytona costume’ meme. This weekend, raise a bloody glass to our sexy, bickering, and slightly idiotic vampire friends. Any regular human bartender would agree it’s the right thing to do.

#killermemes&comics #whatwedointheshadows #jackiedaytona #mattberry #halloweencostume

If your 500-year-old skeleton is too slow, just get yourself some extra horsepower!

What happens when you strap cloaked skeletons on horses, give them swords, and let them occasionally nibble on hapless Portuguese folks? You get a novel drive-in classic and an international audience eager for a second helping, that’s what! 

Written and directed by Amando de Ossorio, TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1972) sketched a tantalizing tale inspired by the Knights Templar, a powerful, skilled, and innovative Catholic military order that burgeoned in the Middle Ages. All good things must come to an end, though, and the group collapsed a few hundred years later in a grand frenzy of political fuckery that included the requisite torture and death.

Turning the maligned knights into undead avengers, rising from their graves each night to snack on tourists, de Ossorio positively ran with the concept. The result was an irresistible mix of questionable acting, rape, murder, and cool, slo-mo skeletons on horseback that became a global hit. Afterward, there was only one thing left to do: crank out some sequels. 

Like its predecessor, RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD exists in a number of versions, but the most complete ones begin the film with the original persecution of the Knights Templar. Their distinct, white mantles are toasted a crispy black as each knight is sentenced to be set afire, but not before they have their eyes burned out first just, you know, for good measure…and to reiterate the whole *blind* dead thing.

Hell hath no fury like a templar scorched, and you can’t keep a good ghoul down for long. When a crazed hunchback offers a human sacrifice to the knights, they’re soon poppin’ up all over the place again! You can only imagine how pissed off the Templars are once they find out the townspeople are actually preparing a 500th anniversary shindig celebrating their defeat. Ooo-wee!!! 

De Ossorio has cited fellow drive-in touchstone, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968), as one of the main inspirations for his franchise. Never has the influence been more obvious than his first sequel: A group of townsfolk hole up before inevitably double-crossing one another to keep from being shish-ke-babbed by the galloping undead. 

Despite the expected limitations of its budget and era, I was surprised by how effective RETURN OF THE BLIND DEAD was more than 50 years after its debut. For quite a while, I had purposely avoided it, making the admittedly small-minded assumption that there wouldn’t be much left to drink after a second trip to the Templars’ well. But if ripped-out hearts, hacked-off limbs, and decapitations are your bag, then this little number could slake your nagging thirst for the macabre. Even better, it might get you second-guessing whether you’ve been sleeping on de Ossorio’s other works, as well.

#historicalhorror #returnoftheblinddead #knightstemplar #middleages #catholicism #amandodeossorio #nightofthelivingdead #portugal #driveinmovies

I remember being a little surprised when I originally saw FRIGHT NIGHT PART II back in the day. It exceeded my expectations, but I don’t know how it would hold up for me now after all this time. I need to spin it again sometime soon.

Much like director Tommy Lee Wallace’s earlier sequel, HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH (1982), the film has seemed to garner more fans in recent years. These newfound fans have no doubt spurred a forthcoming 4K release from Synapse Films, so fans should keep an eye out for it in 2026.

Taken from Fangoria Poster Magazine #3 (1988)

#onesheetwonders #frightnightpartii #tommyleewallace #halloweeniiiseasonofthewitch #synapsefilms #fangoria

Today, we bring you a nifty little item. This is the original design sheet for Freddy’s glove in Wes Craven’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET. Dated April 28, 1984, roughly six months before the film hit theaters, Jim Doyle sketched out on a sheet of graph paper the design for one of the most iconic weapons in film history. This included details that noted use of a Wells Lamont brand work glove, as well as where to position the finger loops for maximum finger dexterity. Without a doubt, this is a great example of ‘the making of a monster’ and a priceless piece of film history.

#fearflashbacks #anightmareonelmstreet #wescraven #jimdoyle #wellslamont #gloves #freddykrueger #newlinecinema

As I’ve slogged through the interwebz, I’m finding that the HELLRAISER series is the perfect target for meme culture!

#killermemes&comics #hellraiser #cenobites #dating

How do you kick off one of the most hotly contested horror films in history? By giving as little information as possible, that’s how!

Kubrick was a very intelligent guy, and that usually goes hand in hand with being pretty goddamn weird, too. Naturally, when ol’ Stanley adapted Stephen King’s 1977 bestseller, “The Shining”, for Warner Brothers, he decided to do things his way, taking a hard left and discarding a lot of King’s narrative and intent. This also included a landmark, wordless teaser trailer that erupted in a slow-motion torrent of blood, helping galvanize the film’s awesome image in the annals of horror cinema.

Today, we give you THAT trailer, which was possibly the very first thing audiences ever saw in conjunction with what would become one of the most famous fright films ever.

#terrifyingtrailers #theshining #stanleykubrick #stephenking #warnerbrothers

Time to get gross!

Today, we have another poster courtesy of the old Fangoria Poster Magazine. This time, it’s a gooey, hapless victim from John Carpenter’s PRINCE OF DARKNESS. Who woulda thought that orchestrating this type of thing would get you a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame years later?

#onesheetwonders #princeofdarkness #fangoria #johncarpenter #hollywoodwalkoffame

For me, this will always be the quintessential example of the “Italian Cannibals” cycle popularized in the 1970s and 1980s. 

Ruggero Deodato’s international hit, CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST (1980), immediately became notorious for its boundary-pushing look at Amazonian tribes and encroachment of the white man. Its faux documentary look, early use of the ‘found footage’ motif, graphic sexual and animal violence, and smug social commentary whipped worldwide audiences into a frenzy, instantaneously cementing it as one of the most notorious and profitable horror films of all time.

With any success, imitators can be expected to crop up 9-18 months later. This cash-in is one of the most reliable things in the entertainment industry. Just like clockwork, Euro gorehounds were treated to a new, somewhat streamlined version of Deodato’s infamous hit in the summer of 1981. This time, however, there was no message, no social commentary, and the subgenre’s grimy nihilism was honed to a very sharp point. 

For its belated U.S. debut in the fall of 1983, CANNIBAL FEROX found a muted release under the name MAKE THEM DIE SLOWLY that featured no advertising and very few theaters willing to show it. Ultimately, the real boon for Lenzi’s gorefest was the burgeoning home video market. I still remember the oversized ThrillerVideo box on the shelves, which featured the same garish artwork that emblazoned the flick’s original one-sheet poster. “Banned in 31 Countries” the cover screamed, though this was mostly a Madison Avenue gimmick to get asses in cinema seats. This was a commonplace practice back in the day–hell, even THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE (1974) was less than truthful in its marketing materials.  

Getting down to brass tacks, there’s no denying that CANNIBAL FEROX is strong stuff. The goopy mixture of rampant violence, misogyny, and bigotry–all the way to the film’s unsurprisingly cynical finale–can still easily deconstruct viewers and make them feel like they just ran the Boston Marathon rather than watching a horror movie. There’s a dangerous sense of realism and loss in this film that I felt was never equalled in the “Italian cannibals” subgenre, and this includes the movie’s more successful inspiration. What Lenzi pulls off with CANNIBAL FEROX is grotesque mutilation, gritty authenticity, and a draining sense of helpless emotional depression. If that isn’t an accomplishment in the horror genre, I don’t know what is.

#unclean&unseen #cannibalferox #makethemdieslowly #womanfromdeepriver #umbertolenzi #cannibalholocaust #ruggerodeodato #cannibalism #thrillervideo #thetexaschainsawmassacre