Go Forth and Win, You Lovers of Horror!

If you're like me, you  realize that Bill Adcock over at Radiation-Scarred Reviews is one of the most knowledgeable dudes writing about genre flicks on this here internet. (If not, you should learn that.)

There's a good reason I'm telling you this now. Bill has a pretty sweet little giveaway going on over at RSR, where he's asking us horror fans to get a little nostalgic. If you click on this link right here, you can get all the details of The Radiation-Scarred Reviews Nostalgia contest, which will offer some horror flavored goodies to three lucky readers, provided they follow the simple steps to enter the contest.

So head on over and check it out before it ends on August 20th, and feel free to tell Bill that The Mike sent you if you're so inclined. Even if you don't want to win, you can still go check out his collection of reviews (he even recently reviewed The Manitou(!), a film which also recently blew my fragile mind) and enjoy one of the most well-written and diverse sites out there.

It's a can't lose scenario. Go forth and win!

October Horror Goodness From Around the Web, Part Two

We're like halfway through October you guys! I, for one, am a bit flummoxed. You know how they say time flies when you're having fun? Well I say time flies when you're having horror. 

I don't have a lot of time to share the goods with you this week, so this is gonna be a short and sweet post listing some good stuff going on.  So let's hit it!

(And, of course, all the folks I mentioned last time are still doing awesome stuff.  So catch up with them again too!)

• Chris and Mike, two dudes with attitudes from the undeniably cool All Things Horror, are hosting the second iteration of Shudder Fest on October 26th and 27th.  That poster above (and that link) have all the details, but the thing you need to know is that I'm totally heartbroken that I can't be there. If you're in the area, make sure you get your horror lovin' butt there. If not, make sure you keep your eyes on the site for reviews and plenty more goodness.

• The Vault of Horror has long been one of the titans of horror blogs, and B-Sol kicked off this October by revealing a list of The Top 25 Horror TV Shows of All-Time, as voted on by several of us folks who love horror.  I can even say "us" - because I was one of the voters. Now I'm not gonna tell you what my list looked like yet - never waste a good post topic, right? - but I will tell you that I'm probably the only guy who voted for Poltergeist: The Legacy. And that's probably a good thing.  (I'm sorry, there's a weird "I was a '90s teenager" nostalgia thing that propelled me.)

• I just recently found the blog of The Nitrate Diva, but it didn't take long to feel at home.  Anyone who's spending much of October talking about classic horror - and I'm talkin' 1930s classic horror here! - is awesome by me.  There's Fay Wray, there's Freaks, there's a breakdown of vampirism, and there's even a bunch of links to good stuff thanks to her own Horror Blogathon.  Dig that stuff, dudes and dudettes.

•  I'm a sucker for one-a-day horror lists in October, and Chris over at the bloody awesome blog The Conduit Speaks is bringing the goods this month.  For example, he's already mentioned C.H.U.D. and Clownhouse.  I don't want to tell you I'm in love with his picks, but I'd probably do something crazy like giving them my number and telling them to call me maybe. And you should too.

•  Blogger/Author/Jack of All Trades James Gracey, who pulls double duty while keeping up the wicked blog Behind the Couch, has dedicated the month of October to the macabre at his photo-a-day blog, Camera Obscura.  These pictures are worth a lot more words than I can give them, but you seriously would be missing out if you didn't click over and check out the spooky goodness there.

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That's just a small dose of the awesome horror stuff on the web, and I'll be sure to bring y'all more by the end of the month. In the mean time, feel free to leave links in the comments below and tell me what horror goodness you've been enjoying.

And, last but not least, here's the best thing in my October so far - my brand new niece. What has two thumbs and an awesome horror loving uncle who gives her Halloween outfits and Halloween monkeys? That girl!

Three hours old, but already a Midnight Warrior!

October Horror Goodness From Around the Web, Part One

If you're like me, you probably start most things you write with "if you're like me."  You also might think everyone else is better at horror writing than you.  Which brings us to my favorite part of the month - the part where I get to share some of the cool horror goings on from my favorite sites and folks with all you Midnight Warriors.  Here's some cool goodness I've found in October's first days.

• One of the most amazingly named blogs in the history of history, Chuck Norris Ate My Baby, is promising to serve up all sorts of goodness in celebration of CHUCKTOBER.  I, for one, am prepared for some wicked cool stuff. Your host, Matt-suzaka is serving up several special features, and most interesting to me is his look at video games intersecting with genre cinema. Check it out!

• Over at Fascination With Fear, Christine and Marie are running another Festival of Lists, offering up a list of good stuff for each day of the month.  No site that I know if is as thorough as this one, so make sure you're keeping up.  Today's post features two of horror's most terrible apartments, looking into two bizarre treats from the '70s that make me smile.

• Kindertrauma has long been one of my favorite sites to haunt, as Aunt John and Unkle Lancifer prove that horror is truly everywhere.  On Sunday, Kindertrauma celebrated their fifth birthday, recounting their first post and how the site was inspired by The Waltons. Yes, The Waltons. You have to read it to believe it - but that's true for most of the awesomeness over at KT.  Congrats to the guys over there, and long live Kindertrauma!

• Another titan of horror fandom, Final Girl, is bringing back a recurring October theme.  They call it Shocktober!, and this year's festival focuses on a different horror film that has been a part of the site's long running Film Club - which I've participated in a few times - each day.  Today's focus is on Let the Right One In, but keep checking back at Final Girl for more and more horror hits.

• One of the first Midnight Warriors ever was Nicki over at Hey! Look Behind You!, and she's on track for another 31 Days of Halloween marathon. Running alongside her usual collection of horror shorts and Film Wise challenges, I'm sure that the site will have something interesting to say about plenty of horror favorites. For example, her first feature is none other than The Exorcist, and her experience with the film may surprise you.

• TL Bugg of The Lightning Bug's Lair has some pretty big things planned for the latter part of October - don't worry, you'll hear more about them here - but today he's got a solid review of one of my favorite recent finds in zombie horror, Exit Humanity.  He's also got a take on Grave Encounters 2, which I just reviewed yesterday, that provides a more positive opinion than I did.  Dig it!

• Shredded Cheddar doesn't look like the blog of a Midnight Warrior at first glance, but rest assured that Enbrethliel has proved her mettle as a horror heroine on multiple occasions.  (In fact, she's the only non-Mike to write about a Midnight Movie of the Week, which kind of makes her FMWL royalty.)  I am expecting plenty of good from Shredded Cheddar this month, and E's started off the month by letting her readers choose which tale of horror from Stephen King will be featured there this month.  So head on over and help make it happen for one of the coolest bloggers I know.

There are plenty of other great folks and great reads I could mention, but we've got 28 more days to go! Got some good stuff you've found? SHARE IT! WE ALL NEED MORE HORROR! IT'S OCTOBER!! I'M YELLING!!!!!!!

Links and FMWL News! - Hitchcock, Flickchart, and FMWL's March Midnight Madness BEGINS!

Aloha, Midnight Warriors!  Nothing too big to post today, but I wanted to let you in on some fantastic stuff going on right about now.  Let's get to it!

• First of all, I wanted to offer a couple of reminders.  My Movies to See Before You Die columns at Flickchart: The Blog are still rolling out on occasion, and last week I presented a sci-fi classic that could have graced the pages of FMWL - Forbidden Planet.  If you haven't been over there to check out these posts, and all the other good stuff there, you should.

• Also, don't forget to vote for the Rondo Awards!  Yes, FMWL is nominated for Best Blog, but the point is that you should vote for WHATVER YOU LIKE!  If you like classic horror, and you should, this is where you vote!  Click the link on the side, click this link right here, click something.  Just vote.  (And don't feel bad, I didn't vote for me either.)

• Speaking of great blogs, I'm honored to have had a chance to participate in the Hitch on the Hump series over at The Lightning Bug's Lair.  If the cards had shook differently, y'all might not have ever gotten a FMWL, because I may have started an all Hitchcock blog.  So, go over there to see what I have to say about my favorite director, as I discuss the legacy of Hitch's early masterpiece The 39 Steps.  And make sure to check out the rest of Mr. Bugg's stuff, because he should be talking Rondo Awards right now in my place.

And now, let's talk about what's coming to FMWL soon.  As you should know by now, the 64th Midnight Movie of the Week is now posted at FMWL, and it is March.  To many, March is synonymous with a certain collegiate basketball tournament which traditionally offered 64 teams.  If you thought The Mike wasn't gonna take advantage of that correlation...you're crazier than those who get Madness every March.

So, I present FMWL's MARCH MIDNIGHT MADNESS tournament.  Here's what's up:

• All 64 Midnight Movies of the Week, from #1 The Devil Rides Out to #64 Evil Dead II have been broken up into four brackets of 16 films.  
• To create an impartial set of seedings, the IMDB rating of each film was used to determine its seed in the tournament.  Thus, the four highest rated films earned the #1 seeds, the next four earned the #2 seeds, and so on. (Ties were broken by the number of voters giving the film its rating, with a higher vote total equaling a higher seed.)
• Once the bracket was set, I had to figure out how to get results.  Though it would be fun for me to go ahead and pick my favorites, I wanted to do something else.  So, I went out and found myself a selection committee.  About 20 of FMWL's favorite bloggers and genre fans have kindly volunteered to offer opinions on the brackets, which will allow me to simply count the votes (and use my tiebreaking hammer, as is needed) while they decide which films will move on while providing their own unique insights.

There're probably some kinks to be worked out that I haven't thought of yet, but in a week or two or three we'll have one grand champion standing tall as a grand champion.   And that excites me.

So, keep your eyes open for the MARCH MIDNIGHT MADNESS tournament, which will begin Thursday night with the first bracket and an introduction to the kind folks who'll be turning in their votes regarding the winners.

Until then, enjoy this video.  And be well.