How The Mike Met Horror, Volume 2 - The Television

How The Mike Met Horror, Volume 1 - The Books

Once I got through the books that my parents gave me to test my awesomeness, I was ready for the real gift to children of the '80s and '90s - the television.  And though most of my youth was spent with a combination of Transformers/G.I. Joe/Masters of the Universe/Thundercats/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (OMG, there were so many awesome things!) on the tele, there were a few things scattered into the mix that helped push me toward my budding affection for the dark and dreary side of entertainment.

Like the books I listed in Volume One, these are some pretty common picks for folks my age - but that doesn't mean they didn't pack a lot of punch for little The Mike.  So let's take a look.

(And, if you missed the explanation behind this series, you should know that all credit for this idea belongs to the wonderful Mrs. Christine Hadden over at Fascination With Fear, who does lists better than anyone in the Western Hemisphere. For that, I salute her.)

A Pup Named Scooby Doo

Most kids love Scooby Doo (I do too) and loathe the many knock-offs of the show that occurred later in Scooby's run.  I agree with most of them - because, let's face it, NO ONE EVER liked Scrappy or that weird white version of Scooby with the goatee - but yet there was something about A Pup Named Scooby Doo that just enamored The Mike from day one.  I guess it's kind of the Army of Darkness to the original Scooby's Evil Dead.  And I'm OK with that.

Perhaps the thing that made me laugh most about A Pup Named Scooby Doo - and I did laugh at it often, still do on occasion - is the ridiculous monsters put forth on screen.  I'm not saying they were great, but I still love to draw my version of the "Totem Pole Monster" (which is LITERALLY the only thing I know how to draw) and can still sing the "Cheese Monster" song.  (Because any song with the lyrics "Mozzarella...nasty fella....here comes the Chhhhhheeeeeeeesssssseeee monster!" is worth singing.)  Was it a cheesy show? Absolutely, and literally at times. Did they introduce a character named Red Herring who was always accused but was only once the monster? Yes they did. Did it make little me smile and make me want to watch more monster mysteries? You betcha.

Disney's DTV Monster Hits

This thing was something special.

A one-time-only presentation that aired sometime in October of 1987, this one hour (with commercials) special featured Jeffrey "Mr. Rooney" Jones as the magic mirror on the wall that hosted a collection of animated music videos featuring some awesome music and plenty of Disney's favorite characters.  There was Michael Jackson's Thriller, Monster Mash, Ghostbusters, and plenty of other great tunes.  Even today, I still picture images from this special whenever I hear Stevie Wonder's Superstition or the Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams - which was definitely the most bizarre and engrossing segment of the show.

Luckily for little me, my grandmother happened to tape this special when it aired, which means I watched it as many times as I could when I was at her house.  Sure, I could have watched any of the other videos she had - and there was one that I'll cover when we get to movies later this month - but this was the "scary" movie of the bunch.  So I sat, and I stared at the old Disney images, which had been matched up perfectly with pop music - and I loved every second of it.

And, like all good things, you can now watch it on You Tube. Ain't life grand?

Count Floyd

Horror hosts were a big deal a lot of places in the '80s, but little The Mike didn't get to see a lot of them.  I certainly knew who Elvira was, mostly because her breasts face were all over the place, but I never was up late enough to see her show.  No, the first horror host I really knew was the undeniable Count Floyd - and I'm still pretty excited to have viewed him.

Though the character originated on the sketch comedy bonanza SCTV, my experience with Count Floyd was due to Joe Flaherty's appearances on the animated spin-off The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley.  On most episodes, Count Floyd would promise a "real scary story", though his show-within-a-show never seemed to turn out the way he wanted it too.  Count Floyd didn't necessarily teach me anything about horror - but it's another one of those things that kept horror in my mind and made me smile.

OK, now we're getting to the real stuff.

What, you're telling me a Nickelodeon show isn't the "real stuff" when it comes to horror? Boy, you're missing out.

It was a much simpler time in my life when SNICK was destination television for The Mike and family.  There was Ren and Stimpy that got me in the door, but then there was Are You Afraid of the Dark.  And this show, to those of us where were 9-11 years old, was basically The Twilight Zone with awesome early '90s kids telling the stories.

Unfortunately, Are You Afraid of the Dark has been a hard show to find on home video, so my memory of the show is pretty bare at this point.  But I remember the excitement, mostly that joyous feeling that seemed to run through the house every Saturday night as we sat down to watch the horror show that was completely OK for us to watch.  I'm not sure that I've been that excited about a TV show since then.

(And, now that I've written this, I find that tons of episodes are on YouTube.  I was dumb for not checking, wasn't I?)

Unsolved Mysteries

I don't think I'm overstating myself when I say that Unsolved Mysteries might have had the biggest impact on my sense of wonder than anything else I watched as a child.  If you don't believe me, talk to the counselor that I had to talk to after I emphatically claimed I saw a UFO at a high school football game.  In retrospect, I may have been a spaz.  But I was not afraid to believe.

And so it came to pass that I hid out in my childhood bedroom with a 13 inch black-and-white TV, listening to Robert Stack tell me about terrible true stories and fantastic tales from people that belonged in looney bins.  I was in awe of this show, and I - because I was about 8 or 9 years old when I started devouring every episode - kind of let myself believe everything I saw.  Seriously, I think this show is about 90% responsible for how insane I am now. And I kind of love that about it.  Robert Stack, you complete me. 

Tales From The Crypt

Like Stephen King was in my post on books, this was kind of my graduation from being a kid with horror.  My parents might not know it, but I was up way later than they thought on most Saturday nights during my teenage years.  But unlike others in the family - *cough*my sister*cough* - I wasn't out partying and missing curfew.  I was laying in bed and watching syndicated episodes of Tales from its first few seasons on network television.

By the time I got around to Tales From the Crypt I had already seen a lot of horror cinema - more on that next week - but there was something about the Cryptkeeper that made me feel like an official horror freak every time I watched Tales.  Did I still change the channel every time he unleashed his blood-curdling laugh in the opening? Well....I'm going to plead the fifth on that one. I'm not going to tell you that I was a giant scaredy cat who was tucked safely under the covers with his feet nowhere near the edge of the bed.  That would be too much incriminating information.  I'm not saying it.

But it might have happened.
---------------------------------------------------------

Television played a big part in leading me to horror, even if there was a heavy dose of comedy and  plenty of cheese involved.  It wasn't the biggest piece of my horror fandom, but these shows definitely filled some of the gaps and reminded me how much I loved the spooky and macabre in my entertainment.  But movies were always where I felt horror lived....which means we can talk about them next week.

As always, join in the comments and let me know what kind of TV shows inspired your love of horror.  Next week I'll talk more about my horror birth via movies. I promise you'll be a little surprised by what you learn.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm watching some Are You Afraid of the Dark.

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.

-------------------------------------------------------

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!

How The Mike Met Horror, Volume 1 - The Books

I told y'all it was coming, and now it's here.  As the main course of From Midnight With Love's October festivities, I offer up an autobiography in four chapters, listing the inspirations that led me to become the dude I am today.

The first of four categories might be a surprise to some, as I discuss how books influenced my path to blogdom.  I often crack wise about books, because I'm lazy now that I'm old and mostly watch movies, but it would be a bald-faced lie if I told you all that books aren't important to the growth of anyone.  Do you think I could sit here and type these semi-sentences and use words that are probably too big for the point I'm trying to make if I hadn't read a butt-load of books? Of course I couldn't.  (Though, to be fair, few of the books I've read use words like "butt-load".  That's a different story for a different day.)
Not all of these books are exactly works of art...but they all had a special place in making The Mike happen.  And that's why I'm here tonight. So let's do this.

(And, if you missed the explanation behind this series, you should know that all credit for this idea belongs to the wonderful Mrs. Christine Hadden over at Fascination With Fear, who does lists better than anyone in the Western Hemisphere. For that, I salute her.)

The Spooky Old Tree

The legend may have grown over the years - I think one version of this story has me wrestling a bear - but one of my very first memories is "learning to read" The Berenstain Bears and The Spooky Old Tree when I was not yet three years old. It was my absolute favorite bed time story, and it was read to me so many times that my parents and I claim that I could pick up the book and re-tell the story to myself while I was still two years old.  Again, I'm not sure if this actually happened - I don't believe I've ever been that smart - but I know that the first thing I remember loving to pieces was this horror tale for children.

It's been a long time since I was that little boy who (pretended to) read a book for its horror contents, but I'm relatively sure I can still recite the book word for word.  (It starts with "Three little bears. One with a light, one with a rope, and one with a stick.")  At my current age, I'm not sure there are many chills - or as the book calls them "shivers" - left for me in The Spooky Old Tree.  But I'm pretty sure that this was the first horror story I learned, and that makes it extraordinarily special to me.

Those Orange Back Monster Books from the Library

These books actually have a name - the Crestwood House Monsters Series - but if you ask any monster fan who grew up in the late '70s and early '80s they probably know what you mean when you mention "the orange back books".  At least in my neck of the woods, they were kind of a big deal.

As best as I can remember, each book focused on one classic monster and retold the story of their films in a matter of fact way.  Even though they were re-telling fictional events, the way they were presented made them feel like they were basically research books for monster nerds.  In fact, I did a project on monsters for a school fair when I was in 2nd grade, and these were my main source of information.  I'm not saying I was the star of the show - that'd be boasting - but I don't remember anyone else from that 2nd grade fair whose booth was as popular as mine. I don't remember anything else from that 2nd grade fair, actually. But I know that I was awesome, and that (at least according to my mother) I've been a superstar ever since. (My mom never actually said that. But I know she would say it.)

The Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Series

As I got a little older, things like The Spooky Old Tree just weren't scary enough for little The Mike.  So, I asked for more "scary" stories...and I literally found more scary stories.  In this case, I found scary in three books of folk tales compiled by Alvin Schwartz, which retold urban legends and ghost stories that have been passed down through the generations and complemented them with spooky illustrations.  I feel like a lot of my respect for horror history came from these books, because this was about the time when I started trying to remember these horror stories so I could re-tell them myself.  I understood the idea that these were passed down through time, and that really lit my horror fire.

One of the first horror tales to truly corrupt my mind came from one of these books.  It follows two farm brothers and an abused scarecrow named Harold, who - naturally by horror standards, but surprisingly by young The Mike standards - rises up and gets revenge on the farmers who torture him.  I forgot the details of this story for years - even lamenting my inability to recall the "perfect" scarecrow story I once loved in a review once - but I always had the image of the scarecrow atop the farmhouse in the distance stuck in my brain.  And then I remembered that everything is on YouTube and found the audio of the story. And it was good.

The Amityville Horror

My relationship with The Amityville Horror is kind of like that line from The Royal Tenenbaums. To paraphrase - "We all know that The Amityville Horror isn't true...but what I'm presupposing is: Maybe it is."  I mean, I'd seen the movie, I'd heard how it wasn't real, even though a bunch of money grubbing folks tried to say it was. I was smart enough to know crud when I heard crud.

At the same time, I must admit that the presentation of this tale - at least to a middle school version of The Mike - was quite convincing.  I know it's hard to explain, just like that circular Tenenbaums quote that was intended for comedic purposes, but the part of me that knew this was all bollocks also wanted to believe that it wasn't. I sat there and I read the book and I was like "This isn't real...but it could be." I guess I just wanted to keep the horror dream alive, and The Amityville Horror at least gave me a chance to talk about a horror story and say it was a little bit true.  (Even though none of the horror parts were.)

The works of Stephen King

There's not a lot I need to say about why Stephen King is important, and I already said most of what I could say about King last October.  Yet I'm sure that many other horror fanatics out there can relate to the feeling I had when I first read King's work.  It was as if I had graduated from childhood horror fan to adult horror fan.  Y'know that feeling you got when you first got to watch R-rated movies or got to drive the car without your parents? It was that feeling, but with horror stories.  I was in the horror big leagues.

My first King novel was Insomnia, his over-long tale of geriatric fright that isn't the best representation of his talents.  But I was too pumped up by the fact that I was reading Stephen King to care.  I kept reading his works throughout my teenage years, and my love for horror only continued to grow.  As I learned more about The Shining and The Dead Zone and all these other King tales I'd seen in movies and on TV, I learned that there's a lot that can be done for horror in print that can't be done on screen.

Frankenstein

I thought I loved Frankenstein from the moment I read those orange back books and even more when I saw the Karloff movie. But it wasn't until I went to college that I randomly picked up a copy of the book, mostly because I was buying textbooks and saw it on the shelf for an English course that I wasn't taking and bought it anyway.  And while I was sitting in the laundry room waiting for my laundry to get done (What? I'm from a small town, I didn't know if I could trust a tower full of 500 18-21 year olds), I read the whole thing over two nights. (This might be why I didn't have many friends, but that's OK. I'm an introvert anyway.)

Going from littleville to college was a big culture shock for me, but it was this reading of Frankenstein that reminded me of something great about horror.  People sometimes give horror a bad name by pointing out examples of the genre that aren't exactly high art, yet Mary Shelley's novel - which makes the monster a more introspective being than even Karloff could - reminded me that horror can tap into scholarly and artistic avenues as well.  I planned to grow up and be an intelligent adult, and Frankenstein was a reminder that I didn't need to leave horror behind to do so.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm not sure that "intelligent adult" thing has worked out yet, but at least I still love my horror.  And next week I'll share another few items that strengthened this love of horror in Volume 2 of this series. So come on back then, and if you have your own favorite horror books from times in your life as a horror fan, please do share them in the comments below. Until then, enjoy another selection from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which presents a scenario that you may recognize from a horror film of the '70s.  Until next time!

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!!!!!!!

Introducing The October 2012 Awesome Horror Party

...because I can't think of a catchier title than that.

Us horror freaks, we live for this month. The way I see it, it started with Halloween, and then we were sitting around one day and we were like: "You know what, we want more. We'll take all of October now."  And so we did. And it was good.

Here at FMWL, I have not been up to par - at least by my standards - over the last few months.  But October is like two hours away now, and my goal is to slow life down enough that I can make some fun stuff happen here this month.  I plan to do so in a few ways, which I will detail below.

• The end of The Mike's Top 50 Horror Movies Countdown?

I've been dragging this thing on since March as a way to get short posts out on days when I'm content challenged share a list of what are currently my favorite films in all of horror.  My initial plan was to post on all 50 movies by the end of October, and at this point I have 12 films to go.  Can I do it? We'll find out.

• Lots of links to October Horror Goodness from all over the cyber 'verse.

If there's one thing I can guarantee about this October, it's that there will be a lot of horror lovin' folks on a lot of websites that will be knocking it out of the park this month.  And if I can't be an everyday warrior in the name of our favorite genre, I will at least do my best to point you in the direction of some good stuff.

If you're one of those horror loving writers with big plans for October - actually, plans of any size will do - make sure to find me via email or Facebook or Twitter and let me know.  I hope to do what I can to dig up some of the best stuff I find this month, because the celebration of horror in October needs to be a lot bigger than just me.

• How The Mike Found Horror

One of my favorite horror fiends, Christine from over at Fascination With Fear, recently put together an inventive listing project that blew my mind.  And with her permission, I'm stealing it and making it my own.

Throughout October, I will post a series of lists (YES! More lists!) with a common theme - How The Mike Found Horror.  These lists will break down many of the things that entertained, educated, and even inspired me through my youth, and will explain how these entities made me the Mike I am today.  Some of these things may be review to my regular readers - I just might mention The Blob at some point - but I am really looking forward to talking about some of the little things that pushed me down this macabre path of awesomeness.  Think of it as one of those "This is Your Life" things....if you're old enough to know what that means. Heck, I'm not old enough to know what that means.  I just know it from when Mankind did it to The Rock.  Don't worry though, it'll be fun.

• And your regular schedule of reviews and the Midnight Movie of the Week and more stuff.

Because that's what I do.  Hopefully it's as awesome as Dr. Doom's acoustic album.