Random Ramblings from the Vault...

• So, The Possession. Very effective horror flick, in my estimation, and a much more sober and grave companion piece to Ghost House Pictures' other recent demonic possession release, Drag Me to Hell--that one a bold exercise in "horror whimsy", if there is such a thing. What is it with Sam Raimi and demonic possession--the guy is obsessed. Perhaps related to his religious upbringing as a conservative Jew?

• For those who enjoyed the series of Vaultcasts I did with Miguel Rodriguez of Monster Island Resort on the Godzilla series of films, stay tuned very soon for a brand new series. This time our focus is the Universal monster movies. The first one, an examination of the first three films in the Frankenstein series, was just recorded last night!

• NASA is having a student contest to name an asteroid orbiting in close proximity to Earth, so i decided to enter my kids. I explained to my son that most heavenly bodies are named for ancient gods. He then gave me his suggestion: Cthulhu. We're sending it.

• Over the years, the Vault has become an admittedly cluttered and busy place, and so to reduce the chaos and provide a more ordered and structured arrangement, I've taken advantage of the new features in Blogger and created separate pages to house information like upcoming events, links, quotes and more. I invite you to take a look at the menu bar below the top banner and have a look for yourself. Hope you like!

• After years of dutiful service, I've decided at long last to retire the ongoing feature known as "The Many Faces of..", mainly because I've run through just about everyone worth spotlighting! One more post (William Forsythe), and then I'll be rolling out something different: "Faces of Fear", a new department focusing on a different creature each time. Should be fun!

• Speaking of William Forsythe, you can color me tickled pink to see the cult fave actor join the cast of HBO's Boardwalk Empire during the second season, which I finally caught up on thanks to HBO On Demand. It certainly is a far cry from The Devil's Rejects, but I am loving Forsythe in the role of the cold-blooded kosher butcher Manny Horvitz. Wondering if there might be a potential horror franchise there. "He Answers to a Higher Authority: Satan". "Manny's--Where the Meat Is to Die For!" I could go on for hours.

• This is probably something best kept to my newly created "Other Appearances" page, but I'm proud to announce that the Ooze Cruise, the unique zombie cruise being promoted by Captain Cruella and me, is being featured in the current issue of Rue Morgue magazine (#126), which should now be on sale at most stores! Yet another magazine I grew up reading that I now get to appear in... Pretty cool.

• Speaking of the Captain and me, we had a ghoul-riffic time last weekend at the The Year of the Dead's 2013 Zombie Model Meet and Eat in Hartford! It was fun rubbing rotten shoulders with some like-minded undead enthusiasts, hearing some great music and doing a little horror networking. Best of all, it gave me the opportunity to take this deliciously ludicrous photo with the lovely ladies of the Year of the Dead calendar. It's a fine piece of work, and I encourage red-blooded would-be victims everywhere to pick a copy of their 2013 calendar now.

• I've been pining for a complete Lovecraft anthology for a long time now, and finally picked up a copy of the first-ever such edition just last week. H.P. Lovecraft: The Complete Fiction is one of those leather-bound volumes put out by Barnes & Noble, and at $20 for every single story Lovecraft ever wrote all in one place, it's the most unmissable deal this side of R'Lyeh. I took great pleasure in curling up on my couch the other night and delving into the Mountains of Madness, and I anticipate many more evenings spent with this gorgeous compendium of inspired weirdness. 

• Halloween once again ominously approaches, and as I begin to browse the stores with my young ones, I come to one inevitable conclusion: Why the hell couldn't Halloween have been this cool when I was a kid?? 

• UPDATE: I invite all you Vault dwellers to head over to Kindertrauma and check out the interview I did there concerning my horror film interests and influences. And Kindertrauma is an alarmingly kick-ass site in general anyway, so you should check it out regardless.