Break out the champagne, because the first volume of my new historical horror anthology, VEIN PASSAGES, has arrived!
“Vahalla Ferox” debuts TODAY as a exclusive on UBHB. The best thing about it? For a limited time, you can read it for FREE! What a world! Here’s a blurb for ya:
Christopher Mulley turns eight years old today. He’s grown up his whole life on the Isle of Man, hearing his father tell enchanting tales of how their ancestors overtook the Vikings to claim the island for the United Kingdom.
Now, that rotting Nordic army has returned from Valhalla, and 800 years of vengeance is about to be turned loose.
The festivities for the island’s national holiday are brought to a grim and sudden halt as the Viking undead begin a march inland from each shore. Rusted axes, spears, and swords strike down the guilty residents with no quarter, while flames lick pristine houses and smoke chokes the once quiet countryside. Soon, the Mulleys must run for their lives, only to find nowhere to hide from the fate that has come for them—a colossal, underworld terror that will stop at nothing to right the wrongs of the past.
What the hell are you waiting for?! Head over to the “Fiction” tab found on the site’s homepage to take your first step into terror! Remember: this is a limited-time exclusive, and the content is recommended for adults only.
Thanks to all of you friends, subscribers, and fans that made this possible. I really look forward to continuing this series and hearing from all of you!
Ah, the monthly pay cable magazine! As a geeky horror fan, I always looked forward to seeing this arrive in the mail each month. Here’s a clipping I saved from late 1983 promoting the cable debut of George A. Romero’s CREEPSHOW!
Yep, me and my Vikings arrive this coming Tuesday, October 8th. VALHALLA FEROX, the first volume of my new historical horror novella series “Vein Passages”, will debut as a limited-time exclusive here on UBHB. Best of all, you can read it for FREE. Damn, life is good, ain’t it?!
Have a weird and wonderful weekend, and get ready for the slaughter…
Long before the internet, “Terror in the Aisles” offered up a very uneven but very satisfying compilation for fright fans.
Kids nowadays have no idea what we had to do to catch our favorite horror films in the ‘olden days’. Sleepovers at your rich friend’s house. HBO free preview weekends. Swiping your grandfather’s video store card. Hell, my generation put as much effort into seeing verboten movies as we did into getting laid.
Forty years ago this month, Universal Pictures was putting some real muscle behind the release of TERROR IN THE AISLES, a scattershot documentary highlighting some of the most suspenseful and violent moments from more than 50 years of film. From straight-up horror offerings such as PSYCHO and JAWS, sci-fi terrors like ALIEN and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, and even uber-violent action films like VICE SQUAD, MS .45, and NIGHTHAWKS, TERROR IN THE AISLES promised heart-pounding scares in spades.
Universal seemed to pump a lot of money into the release, probably because acquiring all the rights to make the damn thing undoubtedly cost a pretty penny. Its accompanying TV spots featured everyone’s favorite pair of horror boobs, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, and, in one of my geekiest horror fan moments, I actually sat by the VCR for over six hours to tape those commercials. I can’t believe I just admitted that. (Yes, I think I still have the tape.)
My mother was famous for fainting at the sight of blood. When cleaning, she would duck into my bedroom to give it a quick dusting, keeping her eyes down so as not to catch sight of its gore-plastered walls. As you might assume, she wisely opted out of being my chaperone for TERROR IN THE AISLES. (That head explosion from SCANNERS alone would have sent her screaming for the exits.) Therefore, one of her co-workers was drafted in her place, and off we went for one of the more memorable horror outings of my childhood.
The film worked on a clever albeit lowest-common-denominator level in that its droll hosts, Nancy Allen and Donald Pleasance, offered all their snarky comments in narrative bumpers from inside a packed movie house. It was a neat little juxtaposition for the audiences of TERROR IN THE AISLES to watch our onscreen proxies call out characters for their bad choices (“Don’t drop the knife, asshole!”) or get busted by ushers for toking on joints. This set-up gets even more interesting when we see Allen sex it up in clips from Brian De Palma’s DRESSED TO KILL, or Pleasance give his spiel in HALLOWEEN about Michael Myers being the personification of evil.
One of the most amusing things about TERROR IN THE AISLES was the fact that, even though every single clip featured had been granted nothing more severe than an “R” rating by the MPAA (now known simply as the MPA), the documentary was initially slapped with an “X” rating until the producers pared down some of its more intense sequences.
When the dust from its opening weekend had settled, the film ended up being inched out of the top spot at the US box office by a mere $10,000. The winner? Just a little film you may have heard of called THE TERMINATOR, which debuted in theaters the very same day.
Despite its surprise success, TERROR IN THE AISLES fell into obscurity in the wake of the internet’s era of instant gratification–suddenly, anyone could go to YouTube and make their own damn version of it. However, for fright neophytes and hardcore horror fans alike, I highly recommend the awesome Shout Factory blu-ray release. Not only do you get a fine transfer of Universal’s theatrical version, you get as a bonus the radically different ‘television cut’ of the film, which is ironically over ten minutes longer!
I recently finished up a retrospective on one of the “Blind Dead” sequels that will be featured on the blog here soon. Imagine my surprise when I then ran across this hilarious little number that’s been circulating in online horror communities. I laughed so hard, I almost dropped my syrup!
We got some bad news for fans of the small-screen adaptation of Don Mancini’s CHILD’S PLAY. USA Network and SyFy announced Friday that the show won’t be renewed for a fourth season. Series veteran Jennifer Tilly also broke the news that same day via her X account.
In an article courtesy of the fine folks at Deadline, creator Mancini expressed that he was ‘heartbroken’ by the decision, but remained optimistic that Chucky could continue wreaking his havoc if picked up by another outlet. Likewise, this notion has been spearheaded by fans who’ve recently implemented a #RenewChucky campaign for the series.
You can get all the details via Deadline’s original article here.
It’s almost time! VALHALLA FEROX, the first entry in my new historical horror novella series, “Vein Passages”, will drop here on UBHB on Tuesday, October 8th!
For a limited time, each novella in the series will be featured exclusively here on the blog for *FREE* I shit you not! Weren’t expecting that, were you? After the series is complete, it will be published in book/e-book form, but for now, you can whet your appetite for blood with no money down!
Follow my blog if you haven’t already so you can keep up with all the latest updates and details. For now, though, check out the blurb below and shine up your Viking helmets. Less than two weeks from now, it’s on!
Christopher Mulley turns eight years old today. He’s grown up his whole life on the Isle of Man, hearing his father tell enchanting tales of how their ancestors overtook the Vikings to claim the island for the United Kingdom.
Now, that rotting Nordic army has returned from Valhalla, and 800 years of vengeance is about to be turned loose.
The festivities for the island’s national holiday are brought to a grim and sudden halt as the Viking undead begin a march inland from each shore. Rusted axes, spears, and swords strike down the guilty residents with no quarter, while flames lick pristine houses and smoke chokes the once quiet countryside. Soon, the Mulleys must run for their lives, only to find nowhere to hide from the fate that has come for them—a colossal, underworld terror that will stop at nothing to right the wrongs of the past.
Ah, it’s time for another entry from those old Fangoria Poster Magazines.
Yeah, LEATHERFACE: TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE III wasn’t the best sequel in horror history, but I remember when this came out in late 1990 and its original trailer was fabulous. It was a take on the ‘lady of the lake’ scene in John Boorman’s EXCALIBUR (1981), substituting King Arthur’s legendary sword for a revving, chrome-plated chainsaw. If you haven’t seen it, or you just want to relive it again, check it out here.
Today’s entry is something I kept from the Christmas season of 1986. Though the film was only a modest hit at the box office, Frank Oz’s adaptation of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS certainly rang the bell with critics, as evidenced in this advert trumpeting its award potential. To an extent, it worked–the film would go on to snag Oscar, Golden Globe, Hugo, and WGA nominations!
UNBOUND HORROR BLOG 