Hello, everybody! We've only got seven days left on The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and since the Mad Doctor's busy preparing a Halloween party at the Monster Shop, I'm posting on the Harbinger for Day 24! Today I'm reviewing a goofy haunted house movie called Monster House. This one is a computer-animated movie that just might be the first horror movie made for kids!
Monster House tells the story of D.J. Walters (Mitchell Musso), a pre-teen kid who is spying on the spooky old house across the street in his neighborhood, which is owned by the mean and hysterically angry Mr. Nebbercracker (Steve Buscemi). Nebbercracker, who constantly drives people away from the house and steals kids' toys that are left on the front lawn, finally has a heart attack after one explosive tantrum concerning a basketball that D.J. and his friend Chowder (Sam Lerner) are playing with, allowing D.J. to gain a mysterious gold key. Later, D.J. overhears his babysitter Zee (Maggie Gyllenhal) and her boyfriend Bones (Jason Lee) discussing the house and an often-repeated story that Mr. Nebbercracker did away with his wife. When D.J. and Chowder investigate, they discover that the house is actually alive, and tries to eat anyone who comes near it! It's up to D.J., Chowder, and their partner-in-investigation Jenny Bennet (Spencer Locke) to solve the mystery of Nebbercracker's old house and save their neighborhood.
This film is fast-moving and funny, and strangely enough, it's shot exactly like a horror movie, with plenty of long pauses and jump scares, which is very different for an animated film. Producers Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg and director Gil Kenan have animated this film using performance-capture technology, which was also used in the film The Polar Express. The resulting three-dimensional character construction makes for a thoroughly creepy but funny film-watching experience, though some of the scenes with the house may be a little too intense for very young kids. All in all, this film is a great choice for a Halloween family rental, so check it out!
Don't forget to come back tomorrow as we count down to Halloween!
Sincerely,
Frankie Franken
Hey, you guys, this is Harriet Von Lupin, your roving reporter for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and gang, we are counting down to the Big Day! ARRRROOOOOOOO!! Today I'm doing a movie review, and I've got kind of a weird one for you. This is a movie called Teen Wolf, starring Michael J. Fox.
This movie was a little weird for me because even though it's one of 
Mad Doc's favorite films, I wasn't real sure about the werewolf end of it. It's like Punkin felt about that movie The Witches when she reviewed it; this isn't how real werewolves act. I'll talk about that in a minute, but first, my review!
The Fox guy is cast as a kid named Scott Howard who kinda has a sucky life; he plays on a lousy basketball team and wants to date this snotty but pretty girl who doesn't even like him, while he's like completely ignoring the fact that he's got a really cute girl right there, who really likes him. Scott wants to be something special, and eventually he finds out that he is; he's a werewolf, in a family of werewolves because his dad's one too. (The scene where Scott's like transformed in the bathroom and then opens up the door and sees his dad there, who's transformed too--that was funny!) Anyway, Scott tries to control the transformation, which doesn't work (I coulda told him that) and his whole school ends up knowing he's a werewolf. He ends up being real popular and stuff, and he gets the snotty pretty girl, but he finds out that there's kind of a price for all this popularity.
Now, like I said, this isn't how werewolves act. We don't have this whole problem thing going on when our Change first hits; we have parties and invite the family. (Sometimes, because werewolf Clans are so big, those parties last for days.) Also, a werewolf wouldn't use his abilities to get popular, which is what Scott does, and he even has this other friend selling T-shirts and stuff for him. This was the stuff that made me, as a werewolf, not like this movie. But there is a really cool message in this movie about being yourself and being true to what you really are, and that was something I did like, 'cause that's what being a werewolf is, and you should always be true to yourself, even on Halloween when everybody's dressing up! (Plus, I'm sorry, makeup dudes, but you got it wrong, 'cause Scott looks more like a Wendigo than a werewolf. I've seen 'em and I know what I'm talking about.)
So if you're looking for a cool werewolf movie for Halloween... well, I hear that Wolf Man thing is good. But like I said, this movie has some pretty good stuff anyway, even though it's not actually a werewolf movie, in my opinion. But hey, that's me. So try it and see. (Hey, that rhymes!)
Love to all you readers, and see you soon for more 31 Days Of Halloween! OWW-WOOOOOO!!!
Harriet Von Lupin
POST-MORTEM: I heard there was like a cartoon show made from this movie, and there was an episode of it on that Youtube thing that Mad Doc likes. It was kinda cooler than this movie, in my opinion. --H.V.L.
Good evening, darlings, and thank you for reading our 31 Days Of Halloween. Recently I posted an overview of the Big D (also known to humans as Count Dracula) as he has appeared in films, and someone who is a newcomer to our little Halloween soiree asked me why I had not included The Fearless Vampire Killers (1966) in my list. Simple; the Big D is not in this film. The main vampire in FVK is Count Von Krolock, who reminds me very much of a head waiter I once met while traveling in Prague, oh, years ago. But I digress.
The Fearless Vampire Killers is personally satisfying to me for two reasons; first, it reveals many "vampire hunters" for the
annoying and slipshod vigilantes that they are*, and second... well, not to reveal too much about the movie, but the vampires get to unlive instead of being staked off. The film opens on our two "heroes," the doddering Professor Abronsius (Jack MacGowran) and his shy, rather put-upon assistant Alfred (Roman Polanski, who also directed this film) as they enter a small Central European village where the locals perform regular rituals to ward off Those Nasty Vampires. (Honestly, if I had a dime for every time I went into a Central European village and some waiter in a restaurant tried to serve me chicken in garlic sauce... you just can't have a decent vacation in a small town anymore.) Staying at the inn, which is run by the lecherous Shagal (Alfie Bass) who has naughty designs on his busty tavern help Magda (Fiona Lewis), Alfred takes a liking to Shagal's daughter Sarah (Sharon Tate), who immediately becomes the not-so-unwilling victim of Von Krolock (Ferdy Mayne). Krolock also turns Shagal into a vampire minion, which leads to the funniest line in the film: when Shagal tries to turn Magda she attempts to ward him off with a cross, which leads the very Jewish Shagal to laugh, "Oy vey, have you got the wrong vampire!" (Memo to any would-be vampire hunters: know your holy objects and how to use them.)
I also enjoy this film for its delightful atmosphere, which echoes the best of the Hammer horror films, and the farcical elements played against the lavish background provide an interesting contrast. The cast performs excellently as well, and despite my dislike of vampire hunters, Polanski's Alfred is a likable character who is a great straight man for MacGowran's clueless and obsessive Professor Abronsius. The film also does a good job of parodying the more foppish aspects of vampires, as noted in Mayne's aristocratic, patronizing portrayal of Von Krolock and also in actor Iain Quarrier's portrayal of Von Krolock's son Herbert, who has a few designs of his own on Alfred (and I'm not telling, because it's very naughty). One more reason I like this film: it is the only vampire film in existence to have a vampire named Herbert. Good, solid Anglo-Saxon name; none of this over-umlauted Vladivostolikus Transyl-wanian Gothic nonsense. And of course, we are treated to the innocent beauty of the lovely Sharon Tate as Sarah. This charming actress unfortunately met her end at the hands of the Manson "family" four years after this film was released, and through her portrayal of Sarah one is reminded of what a pity it was that she was taken from us so cruelly and soon.
The Fearless Vampire Killers is my personal pick for the Halloween season for anyone who likes a few laughs along with their scares, and has my highest recommendation. Incidentally, I showed this film to a few acquaintances of mine who are vampires, and they didn't get it. (Pedants.) But of course, they never understood why I laughed all the way through the film version of Interview With The Vampire. To each his own, I suppose.
Wishing all of our readers warm felicitations for the Halloween season as always, and do return tomorrow as we continue our countdown for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween. Tally ho!
Regards,
Bethany Ruthven
*Seriously, if you'd ever woken up from a pleasant day's sleep to find a grubby collection of superstitious peasants with a bunch of crosses and stakes being led by a great swaggering git in leather armor all standing over you, you'd know why I'm adverse to vampire hunters. But thankfully, those are old days gone by. --B.R.
Howdy! This is Punkin Nightshade writin new postins for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and we done started countin down to Halloween! Today I am speakin to you about a movin picture that is not only a good one for Halloween, but also right interestin. It's called Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, cause Tim Burton was the feller what directed this movin picture, and it was based on an old folktale about a feller what ended up married to a dead lady. The interestin thing about this movin picture is that it is not made with human actors, but instead a bunch of little puppets usin stop-motion photography. It is also a musical, which means that ever now and then they sing a song about some of the story goin on, and is not like an opera where they sing it all the way through and sometimes in another language.
This picture starts out bein about Victor, who is a nervous kind of feller who's goin to get married to a girl named
Victoria. His parents and her parents have set it up, cause Victoria's parents are floocy folks what don't have no money, and they figure if they marry up Victoria to Victor, whose parents are common folks that does have money, then everbody in both families will be set, cause this picture is takin place in the Victorian age where havin both money and social status was desirable, which is kind of like now. Anyway, Victor ain't wantin to get married to someone he don't even know, but once he meets Victoria he takes a shine to her, and she to him. They start rehearsin on the weddin, and cause both the parents are meddlin with everthing in the vows, Victor gets so wound up he can't say his vows properly, and durn near burns up Victoria's mama's dress, and the pastor kicks him out the church and tells him to get them vows or don't come back. Victor goes out to the woods to practice, and finally says the vows right after he puts his weddin ring on an old tree root, what looks like someone's finger. Only it ain't no tree root, and after Victor says the vows that tree root grabs hold of him and somethin starts comin out of the ground, and this was where it got interestin for me cause I ain't never seen no puppet show what had folks comin out the ground before, and the one that comes up is a dead bride named Emily, who is the Corpse Bride from the title. She kisses him, and they get whisked off to the Land Of The Dead.
The Land Of The Dead in this movin picture ain't nothin like you'd expect, neither. It's real colorful and bright, and everbody's mostly skeletons, and always goin down the pub cause since they're all dead, they ain't got nothin to worry about overmuch. Victor learns that Emily was kilt on her weddin night, and that she has been waitin for her true love ever since. Victor don't want none of that, cause Emily is dead and he's livin, so he runs off, but Emily finds him and gives him a weddin gift, which turns out to be his old dog Scraps from when he was a little boy. Scraps is uncommon well-named, since he is now a skeleton. Victor tries to trick Emily into goin back to the Land Of The Livin, cause he is really in love with Victoria, though Emily is fairly nice for a dead person. But it don't work, and Emily snatches him back to the Land Of The Dead in front of Victoria. And that's where the plot starts thickenin, cause Victoria's parents decide she's gone crazy in the head and start plannin to marry her up to this evil lookin, snidely kind of feller named Lord Barkis Bittern, who's been hangin around the weddin party ever since the movin picture started. Meanwhile, Victor has decided he's fallin in love with Emily, and he starts figurin out how to be dead so he can marry up with Emily, until it is revealed what's really goin on. The rest of the movie is about Victor tryin to save Victoria and work out this whole mess.
All the puppets in this picture had a live actor doin their voices. Johnny Depp plays Victor, and he has done a mess of other pictures with Mr. Burton, such as Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow. Mr. Tim Burton's main squeeze Helena Bonham Carter plays the dead Corpse Bride Emily, and Emily Watson plays Victoria. Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse play Victoria's parents, and Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney play Victor's parents, and all of them is British and are real well-known in England and such. Richard E. Grant is another British actor who is doin old Barkis Bittern, and he has been in a picture called The Little Vampire that's right good. And there is a couple of other older British actors named Christopher Lee and Michael Gough, who done durn near just about everthing there is to be done, and they're playin the pastor and this old codger skeleton in the Land Of The Dead who is tryin to help out Victor and Emily. This here cast is a crackerjack.
All the music and songs in this film was writ up by Danny Elfman and John August, and Mr. Elfman is doin the voice of Bonejangles, who is a singin dancin skeleton what leads everbody in the pub in a dancin and singin routine. Old Mr. Tim Burton has made some mighty strange but very interestin movin pictures, and most any of his pictures like Beetlejuice or Mars Attacks would be good for Halloween. If you're interested in a love story along with your spooks, then this one is a good one right here.
So I am done here, and blessed be to y'all. Be sure you come on back tomorrow for our 31 Days Of Halloween, cause we're countin down towards Halloween time!
Sincerely,
Petronella Nightshade
Hello, everybody! This is Frankie Franken with more of our 31 Days Of Halloween. Today I was thinking about Bethany's post on Dracula, and I considered that maybe I should write something about Frankenstein. Even though the Mad Scientists' Guild has largely labeled Mary Shelley's novel as an inaccurate and unscientific account of the First Experiment (which is, basically, making a Creature like me), the book is one of my favorites. Plus, I'm kind of wondering if the Guild understands that it's actually a novel, and not a scientific text. But that's neither here nor there.
Since Bethany listed a lot of films in her post, and since everybody likes to watch scary movies around Halloween, I thought I would list some of my favorite films about Frankenstein--some that I think are some of the best. So here we go!
Frankenstein (1931). This is the first widely popular Frankenstein film, and the one that's really set the tone for all other Frankenstein movies. Boris Karloff's portrayal of the Creature has been the defining and iconic performance for many others. Even though the movie isn't really close to Shelley's story, this film is still cool, and Jack Pierce's makeup (which is another icon in history) is fantastic for the time.
The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935). This was Frankenstein's sequel, and it does 
carry on a plot thread from the original novel, which is the monster's desire for a mate. For my part, while this film is cool, I think the ending is very sad, and I also think that the director (James Whale) missed a great opportunity to make a more tragic film than it was. However, I did get a groovy hairstyle out of it!
The Curse Of Frankenstein (1957). A studio in England called Hammer Film Productions made this film, which, along with the international hit Horror Of Dracula, returned the story of Frankenstein to prominence. However, the Creature doesn't get a lot of screen time in this film; instead, it concentrates on Dr. Frankenstein, who is played with great verve by a wonderful actor named Peter Cushing. This film, like Horror Of Dracula, was also a hit, and spawned a number of cool sequels with Cushing returning as the good doctor.
Dan Curtis' Frankenstein (1973). This is a made-for-TV film that is probably one of the closest adaptations of the original novel that's ever been done! Bo Svenson plays the Creature, who even looks like Shelley's description. No box head in this one!
Frankenstein--The True Story (also 1973). This British film came out the same year as Dan Curtis' Frankenstein, and ended up overshadowing it. Though it has great atmosphere, the film is only like Shelley's original novel at the end; for most of it, the Creature and Dr. Frankenstein are good friends until the Creature begins to deteriorate.
Young Frankenstein (1974). This film is one of the coolest and funniest Frankenstein movies out there, and it's also the movie by which all parodies of Frankenstein must be judged. Instead of parodying Shelley's novel, director Mel Brooks wisely went for the old cliches of the 1930's Universal Monsters films, making this a farce and a loving tribute. And in this one, the Creature gets to tap-dance!
The Bride (1985). People say that this is supposed to be a remake of The Bride Of Frankenstein, but in this one the pop singer Sting is playing Doctor Frankenstein, and the whole look of the movie reminds me of the Hammer Frankenstein films. This, in my opinion, is the movie that James Whale should have made, and I love the ending.
Frankenstein Unbound (1990). This was made by Roger Corman, and it's really cool, but it's also really weird. In it, a scientist's attempts to develop an energy beam open a rift in time and send him back to 1817 Switzerland, and right in the middle of the original Frankenstein story, which in this movie really happened. Amazing.
The Monster Squad (1987). Even though this really isn't a Frankenstein film, I included it because the Creature plays a very pivotal role. Bethany reviewed this film a while back, and she loved it. I did too, and it's a perfect film for Halloween.
Van Helsing (2004). Many people really hated this film when it came out, but I love it, and since it's another monster-mash movie like The Monster Squad, I included it here. Shuler Hensley, who played the Creature in this film, would go on to play the Creature in the musical stage adaptation of Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein on Broadway! Talk about getting stuck in a part!
Incidentally, speaking of musicals, I'm going to end this post with a couple of neat websites for you to check out. Authors Mark Baron, Jeffrey Jackson, and Gary P. Cohen have written a musical adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein that was performed off-Broadway in New York, and drew a devoted fan following! See it here and hear the music at www.frankensteinthemusical.com. You can even buy the original cast recording, too!
And of course, there's my favorite Frankenstein website, the Bakken Library's Frankenstein Exhibit, which has an online virtual exhibit showing the original laboratory that Victor Frankenstein would have used, information on Mary Shelley herself, a view of an 1831 edition of the novel, and even a link to the complete 1818 text. The Bakken Library is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota; if you're a resident or happen to be in the area, visit the Library and see this cool installation. Visit it by clicking on the link above.
So that's my post on the Creature who may or may not have inspired my creation. After all, Dad says he's never really read the book Frankenstein, but there's a copy in the castle library so it must have made some impression. For some reason, he's started keeping it next to some books on raising a teenager, which could mean anything.
Anyway, be sure to check out all these groovy films and websites, and be back tomorrow for more 31 Days Of Halloween! See you soon!
Sincerely,
Frankie Franken
Tomorrow: The Countdown Begins--10 Days To Halloween!
Hi, you guys, this is Harriet Von Lupin doing The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween! Since I already did some stuff about cool music for Halloween, I decided I wanna do some more, and Mad Doc's given me the perfect band to talk about! So today we're going to Philadelphia, 'cause you know what's in Philadelphia? Werewolves!!
That's right, Philadelphia is the home city of a groovin' monster band called The Young Werewolves, who have
been rocking there since 2002. The band consists of guitar player Wolfman Nick Falcon, bass player Shewolf Dana Kain, and drummer Jonny Wolf (boy, gotta love these names!), and they all share howling duties! Their music is a cool and rippin' mixture of 1950's-style rockabilly and punk rock (which are also the musics of choice around the Mad Doctor's Monster Shop!) with a healthy dose of monster and B-movie references in their lyrics. Their musical influences range from the Ramones to the Misfits to the Stray Cats to the Monkees to Buddy Holly to the Cramps. (Gee, I'm beginning to wonder if this band actually knows Mad Doc.) They've been part of the Philly club circuit for a long time, but have also opened for national acts and gained great reviews from music critics and horror fans! Their latest album, Cheat The Devil, was produced by horror movie actor Sid Haig, who also does spooky narration on the album.
This band is definitely one of my favorites and makes me wanna howl! ARRROOOOOOO!!! Check them out at their website (just click the link on my title up there) and go to this link for their Myspace page to check out tracks from Cheat The Devil and place your order today for some rockin' Halloween party music!
See you tomorrow for more MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and that's all for that! OWW-WOOOOOOOO!!!
Harriet Von Lupin
MAD DOCTOR'S NOTE: In addition to being a great and talented band that did a lot to make me feel better about the state of modern music, they were kind enough to share a link with us at their website. Do yourself a favor and check out these cool Young Werewolves. --M.D.
Hey, y'all! This here is Punkin Nightshade, speakin to you through this computer blog for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and today I am in a swivet cause I am doin a movin picture review about somethin I know a lot about. I have been doin postins about vampire slayers and swamp things and first one thing and then another, but this one is about witches. This here movin picture is called The Witches, and it was first a book by a 
feller name of Roald Dahl, who lived over in England and had writ another book about a young boy named Charlie and a chocolate factory, which was made into a movin picture twice. The picture was produced by a feller named Jim Henson, who was the feller who made up those Muppet folks, and had also made him up one of those special effectin departments called Jim Henson's Creature Shop, which I am mentionin here cause I just like that name. They done a bunch of stuff our Mad Doctor likes.
This picture starts out bein about a young one named Luke, whose granny is tellin him a story about witches and what they done to a young girl named Erica. He is stayin with his granny while his parents is off somewhere, and I don't know if she was tellin him the story to get him to behave or not, but anyhow the next day they find out that Luke's parents done been killed in an accident, so Luke is now stayin with his granny from here on. Both Luke and his granny are natural upset about the accident, so they decide they will take a vacation out to a hotel at the seashore. Luke is holdin up well, but he is the only young one at the hotel, which is uncommon filled with all these women meetin for some convention. Then Luke meets another young one named Bruno, who is a bit rambunctious cause his parents don't pay no attention to him. Everthing goes along for awhile until Luke is playin in one of the convention rooms with his pet mice, and then all them women that's conventionin at the hotel come rushin in and fill up the room, so Luke decides that he should hide himself. Then this other woman with long black hair comes struttin in and you can tell she is the grandie dame of all them other women, and they shut up the room and start pullin off wigs and masks, and Luke is seein that all them women is witches and the grandie dame is the leadin one, what's called the Grand High Witch, and they's the same kind of witches his granny was tellin him about.
Now, when I seen this part, I decided that Mr. Henson and Mr. Dahl had not ever met no real witches. There are elderly witches among us, right enough, and when it gets coven meetin time there ain't none of us that don't tart up, but these here witches in this movin picture was almost critters. Ain't no real witches look like that, which is how you can tell this is a movin picture and not the real world.
The Grand High Critter Witch tells all the other critter witches that she has got a plan to get rid of all the children in the world, cause it is part of the story in this movin picture that witches do not like children because children smell like nasty stuff to witches. Well sir, I say that this is twaddle, cause a real witch would have done with bad-smellin children what we did to little Timmy, who is a young one what lives down the road from me and is all the time runnin with the young ones of Miss Cecily, who also lives down the road and is a werewolf, and one time they was out playin and little Timmy fell in an old waterhole that had stagnant water and swamp slime in it. The werewolf cubs all set up howlin and we come to see what's the matter, and Timmy was right ripe-smellin when we got him out, so we just set him in a tub full of hot soapy water and scrubbed him till he hollered. I am thinkin from the look of them that all these critter witches is really smellin theirselves, but of course one should be polite and respectful to folks, even the mean ones.
So anyhow, the old Grand High Critter Witch wants to use a secret potion to turn all the children in the world into mice so cats will eat them, which ain't nohow practical. So Luke is hearin all this and knows he got to tell his granny so they can find out what to do, and then the Grand High Critter Witch brings in Bruno to test the secret potion on. Luke tries to save Bruno, but it don't work, and both him and Bruno get turnt into mice. So in the rest of the movie Bruno, who likes bein a mouse, and Luke, who don't, got to save the world.
Jasen Fisher plays Luke, Mai Zetterling plays his granny, and Charlie Potter plays Bruno. Angelica Huston plays 
the Grand High Critter Witch, and she has also played in some other movin pictures about the Addams Family, and got to look better in them than she does here. She does get to look all right at the start, but not for long. There is also another feller in this picture that our Mad Doctor likes, named Rowan Atkinson, and he is playin the hotel manager, who is natural upset when he finds Luke and Bruno runnin round the hotel after they been turnt to mice, cause he is worried about mice in his hotel and people not wantin to stay there. But those mice are savin the world, so that is all right. I am likin this picture fine and think it is a good picture to watch with little ones, but probly not very little ones since the critter witches look so awful. But I am also tellin you that it is not a factual picture about witches, and real witches would not hurt no young ones cause we got young ones too. So I am tellin you here as a witch that you should always look after your young ones and treat them right and keep them safe from bad folks like these critter witches in this picture, not just on Halloween, but any old time.
So I am done here, and blessings be to you and yours. We're comin back tomorrow with more Halloween postin, and I shall be doin another movin picture review soon cause I'm kind of likin it.
Sincerely,
Petronella Nightshade
POST-MORTEM: I am mentionin here that all of us and the Mad Doctor would like to say thank you and howdy to Mr. Greg West, his wife Kay, and his young ones Zephyr and Katie-Brooke. It was him what suggested that I should of writ this review, cause he showed this movin picture to his little boy Zephyr and they all liked it though it was scary. --P. N.
Hello, everybody! This is Frankie Franken with today's post for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and after reading Punkin's post I thought I would tell you about some more websites around the web that are full of monsterrific fun and laughs for Halloween. So here we go with three of the coolest, which are some of our favorite places to visit!
Haunted Dimensions (www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com) is a website run by Ray Keim, a CGI artist and graphic designer who seasonally works at Universal Studios Orlando, where he designs many props, facades, animations and other art for Universal's 
Halloween Horror Nights. Ray is a lifelong fan of Disney's Haunted Mansion and has created this website, which showcases not only his 3-D artwork but features downloadable paper models of the Haunted Mansions at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris, and other facades and props centered around the Mansion. The intricate detail on these cool models is stunning and has to be seen to be believed! And don't forget to check out his fantastic 3-D computer graphics of the various Mansions, many of which are available as neat wallpapers for your computer.
Ormon Grimsby's Monster Creature Feature (www.mcftv.com) is a late-night horror show out of Raleigh, North
Carolina, headed by Ormon Grimsby, an undertaker for the already dead. His show features not only classic horror films but news and notes on horror culture and happenings in and around Raleigh. It's a return to the old horror hosts of days gone by, and Ormon has even featured us in his web links! Be sure to check out this super-groovy spookshow!
Finally, Atomic Monsters (www.atomicmonsters.com) is one of the most hilarious and original sites we've seen. Atomic Monsters is full of reviews of old 1950's B-movie favorites, including such classics as The Angry Red Planet, The Brain That Wouldn't Die, and I Was A Teenage Frankenstein. (No, that last one isn't my life story, but it's still cool.) Packed with nifty graphics, video clips and even a Monster Jukebox, Atomic Monsters is a fantastic and loving tribute to those old Atom Age Cinema favorites!
You owe it to yourself to check out these nifty sites as part of your Halloween celebration. And remember, you heard it here first, so tell them the MonsterGrrls sent you!
Before I leave today, I want to tell you something. October is our favorite month of the year because of all our great Halloween celebrations, but it's also a special month called National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 women and at least 500 men each year, and it is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in women. Each year in the United States, there are over 217,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed.On our posts this week, the other MonsterGrrls and I have been wearing special pink ribbons to show that we support research to find a cure for breast cancer, so that the lives of many people can be saved. If you would like to help, go to the American Cancer Society website at www.cancer.org to find out more about National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and more information on this program can be found at nbcam.org. Information about early detection of signs and symptoms and where to make donations to this cause can be found at the website of the National Breast Cancer Foundation at www.nationalbreastcancer.org.We want to wish the best to all those survivors of breast cancer out there who are enjoying this year's Halloween season with us, and we'll see you tomorrow for more of our 31 Days Of Halloween, because the party isn't over yet! We're just getting started!Sincerely,Frankie Franken
Hey, y'all! This here is Punkin Nightshade, speakin to you through this computer blog, and wishin you well for our 31 Days Of Halloween. Today I am not doin a movin picture review but instead will tell you about a funny little website that our Mad Doctor and us think right highly of. It's called Ravensblight, and was made up by a feller name of Ray O'Bannon, and it can be found at www.ravensblight.com.
Mr. Ray O'Bannon is an interestin feller and a right smart. He started out puttin up some paintin pictures he did on the Internet, but after 
awhile he started wantin to do some more stuff, and Ravensblight has evolved into the website you can go to today. There is all kind of things there, showin that Mr. O'Bannon is a very creative feller and likes to make stuff. There is an Arcade from what you can download and play some actual little computer games that he has made up, featurin monsters and zombies and such, cause Mr. O'Bannon is like our Mad Doctor in that he likes monsters. There is also a Toy Shop, which has a bunch 
of little paper toys you can download and print out on your computer and make yourself, and has got everythin from book covers to board games to a set of playin dice to a little model of Ravensblight Manor, with a little history of it too. There's musical stuff in the Music Studio, featurin original pieces of music that Mr. O'Bannon has writ and performed, and short horror stories in the Library, some of which got audio files of him readin them, and of course his paintin pictures and photgraphs in the Art Gallery. And the Theatre even has some little short films that you can watch. All in all, Mr. O' Bannon is a very busy and crafty feller, so I wanted to tell you about his website so you can come round for a visit. To my mind, it's a right smart work, so go round and visit him.
Now I got somethin else to tell you before I go. October's our most favorite month of all cause Halloween's a-comin, but it's also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This breast cancer is somethin that should not be taken lightly, cause it is a disease that is the second leadin cause of death in women, exceeded only by lung cancer. It is also the most common cancer to show up amongst women, exceptin skin cancer, and just last year in 2007 there was 40,480 deaths from breast cancer. So I am thinkin that we got to do somethin about this.
In my picture up there, you can see I am wearin a pink ribbon. All the other MonsterGrrls and I are wearin these to show that we are supportin research for breast cancer so's we can find a cure. If y'all would like to help, you can find out more from these good folks at www.cancer.org, and there's more here on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month at nbcam.org. We're speakin to you about this cause we want everbody readin this to be round for the next Halloween and a whole bunch more of Halloweens a-comin, and we sure appreciate that all them what's survived to see this Halloween is still with us. Blessings be to them and their loved ones.
Y'all be sure to come back tomorrow, cause October ain't done with yet and Halloween's comin on! We'll be back with more of The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and blessings be on you and yours!
Sincerely,
Petronella Nightshade
Good evening, darlings, and thank you for reading. Today's subject for our 31 Days Of Halloween is most definitely a Halloween film: Lady In White, a curious and lovely independent work that was written, directed and scored by Frank LaLoggia.
In 1962, an imaginative young boy named Frankie Scarlatti (Lukas Haas) is locked in the cloakroom of his school by some bullies on Halloween night. As he waits to be let out, he 
bears witness to a ghostly murder, and is almost murdered himself by an unseen assailant. When Frankie wakes up, he discovers that the janitor of the school is being arrested for attempted murder, and has been accused of a previously unsolved ten-year series of child murders in the town of Willowpoint Falls, where Frankie lives. As time passes, Frankie is repeatedly visited by the ghost of the young girl he saw that night, and begins to see a link between the girl, the identity of the real killer, and the Lady In White (Katharine Helmond), who seems to be a reappearing ghostly figure and a reclusive local legend of his hometown. Something strange and decidedly evil is going on, and it seems that it is now focusing on Frankie himself.
This is not a "scary" ghost movie in the sense of such modern items as the new version of Thirteen Ghosts, Boo, or any sort of haunted-house movie where the main ghost appears as a manic, flickering CGI image meant to resemble old film stock. This is an old-fashioned ghost story, and many people who have watched this film expecting the rather stylistic terrors mentioned above have been disappointed. What they do not understand is that it is a ghost story told through the eyes of a child, which makes Lady In White very different from your average ghost movie. Haas, who was quite young at the time, reveals quiet acting talents and is believable as an unprepossessing child with an imaginative streak who suddenly must deal with real supernatural events, lingering loss, murder and death. While the special effects in this movie are reminiscent of amateurish Steven Spielberg (especially the slightly overwrought ending), the movie eschews the usual sturm und drang of such things and instead plays to its strengths, which are story, characterization and mood.
Lady In White is a moving film that should be seen at least once, even if you are not a fan of horror, and even if you are among its detractors. Do not judge this film without seeing it first; it is a document of innocence lost, told with an unlikely sense of hope.
Now before I go, I have one last bit of business. The month of October contains, of course, the worldwide holiday for all monsterkind everywhere (and humans as well), but it is also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The National Cancer Institute has reported that during this year, there were 182,460 documented cases of female breast cancer, and 1,990 documented cases of male breast cancer. The recorded deaths for females total 40,480; for males, 450. This loss of life, in my opinion, is far from acceptable.
As you can see from my portrait above, I am wearing a pink ribbon. The other MonsterGrrls and I are actively supporting national breast cancer awareness in the hopes that a cure will be found. If you would like to find out how you may also support this cause, please go to www.cancer.org. You shall find more information on National Breast Cancer Awareness Month at nbcam.org. We wish all our readers good health in this Halloween season and many more to come, and we wish the very best for those who are surviving breast cancer for the Halloween of 2008.
I extend special thanks to Mrs. Claudia White (also known as Auntie C. to our happy band of MonsterGrrls) for her assistance in writing this review. Do return tomorrow for more of our 31 Days Of Halloween.
Regards,
Bethany Ruthven
Hi, you guys, this is Harriet Von Lupin reporting for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween! Today I thought I would write about something that I think everyone should do on Halloween, and that's taking care of your pet! After all, your pet is probably a big part of your life, and since Halloween is such a groovy time of year, you should make sure that your pet can enjoy it too. (I especially can relate to animals, since I've got a little animal in me myself!)
One thing you should definitely not do on Halloween is share your Halloween candy with your pet. Chocolate is delicious to humans, and because of the half-human thing, us werewolves can enjoy it too. But pets can't. Chocolate is poisonous to your dog or cat, and tinfoil wrappers or cellophane wrappers (you know, that clear plastic stuff) can harm a pet if they swallow it. So get your dog or cat special treats for the Halloween season for their own trick-or-treat!
Another thing you should do is bring your pet inside on Halloween, and prepare for them to stay through the night, even if they're normally an outside pet. (Now I'm really serious about this, so listen.) Halloween is a cool holiday for normal people like you and me (well, you, anyway), but for animals it can be really dangerous. Pets often get teased, frightened, or even stolen on Halloween, and there are always reports of animals who get hurt or killed on Halloween (usually by stupid mean people, but sometimes by some Very Bad People who think Halloween's an excuse to hurt animals--grrrrr). So do the right thing and bring your pet inside, because I can tell you right now that people who hurt animals are not good and will never be my best friend. (Grrrr.) Make sure your pet's got proper identification too, like a tag on its collar, so if it does get out it can be easily found and returned. I'm not big on collars (and you can understand why), but an ID tag could save your pet's life.
If your pet stays inside anyway, make sure that they're in a safe place (like another room) while you've got trick-or-treaters coming to your door. All but the most social animals will be scared of a bunch of strange people going in and out, especially if they're wearing some kind of weird costume. In that kind of situation, a dog or cat can get really stressed out and feel protective of its owner, and may bite or hurt someone. So put them someplace where they know they will be safe. (This will also keep them from running out the door when trick-or-treaters are coming in and out of your house!) And something else: keep your pets away from lit pumpkins, candles, and electrical decoration stuff, especially those little kitties, 'cause they will be curious and might get hurt, catch a lethal shock, or even start a fire. (Even if you got a lot of Halloween candy and could share it with all the firemen and the EMT guys and the veterinarian, house fires and electric shocks are something you and your pets should avoid.)
Speaking of costumes... I know a lot of people may think it's really cute to dress their pet up in a little outfit. (That weird Jessica chick at my school comes to mind for some reason... seems like the kind of thing she would do, if she had a pet.) But your pet may not feel that way, so if it's going to make your pet feel weird, don't dress it up. If the pet's okay with it, don't dress it in a costume that's uncomfortable, or that'll, um, what's that word... oh yeah, obstruct its vision, hearing or movement, because a pet that can't see, hear or move around is not a happy pet. (After all, think how you'd feel if someone put you in a weird mask and outfit. Yeah, I know you're dressing up, but that's different.) Check the costume for parts the pet could chew off and choke on, and dangly stuff they could trip on. (A leg cast isn't a cool look for Halloween. Hey, maybe I should do some fashion news stuff...)
And just so you know, I'm not making any of this up. The Humane Society, which protects all animals everywhere (except for werewolves, but hey, we can take care of ourselves in a pinch), has all this information and more at their website, so click on this link to find out more about making Halloween a cool time for your pet! And tell 'em the MonsterGrrls sent you!
And one more thing before I go. October's the month with the Ghost Wonderful Time Of The Year (as our Mad Doctor says), but it's also National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States. According to the guys from the American Cancer Society, it was estimated that about 178,480 women in the United States would be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2007. About 40,460 women will die from the disease this year. Right now there are slightly over 2 million women living in the United States who have been treated for breast cancer. That's an awful lot of people who are somebody's mom, or sister, or aunt, or wife, or maybe just a best friend.The other MonsterGrrls and I are all wearing this pink ribbon thing (as you can see in my picture above) to show our support for breast cancer research so that a cure can be found. We want all you guys reading this to have a lot of good Halloween memories to come, so show your support too. You can find more information on this at nbcam.org, and the American Cancer Society has more information here.See you next time, and Happy Halloween! ARRROOOOOOOO!!!Harriet Von Lupin
(MAD DOCTOR'S NOTE: Harriet really isn't kidding about protecting pets on Halloween. If you should be out pranking someone's dog on Halloween night and suddenly hear a deep growl behind you and find your formerly pleasant evening full of spectacular incident... don't say we didn't warn you. --M.D.)
Today for The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween we share the unique vision of a highly unique man--Eric Pigors. If you haven't heard of him, it's because his day job is as an animator at Disney Studios, which has not showcased one of its own animators except for Disney himself and the Nine Old Men, and that's mainly why you haven't heard of him. But that's all right, because his other job is creating Toxic Toons, a series of fantastic and generally crazed horror-themed artworks that include books, T-shirts, posters, prints, and many other things, including his own self-designed Ouija board.
Eric Pigors' Toxic Toons website features a bio that lists some of his favorite mediums as "droil and snot" and 
says that he began his creations with "a broken bone and some pig's blood." Most of 
his artwork is unique in the sense that it has a very creepy, unnerving, demented quality, yet somehow manages to remain appealing in a Looney Tunes/Mad Magazine sort of way. Neck braces, hooks, peg-legs, stitches, graveyards, funeral homes, Frankenstein and general Halloween-oriented fauna are common themes in his work. Hard to believe this dude has worked at Disney Studios for 15 years doing stuff like The Lion King and Beauty And The Beast (!!!).
Pigors has done artwork for various horror bands such as Psychocharger (and can even be heard on one track of their new CD, Curse of The Psycho) and he has also done character designs for the Cartoon Network Halloween special Ed, Edd And Eddy's Boo Haw Haw. He has published four books of his artwork, which demonstrate various collage and cut-and-paste techniques in addition to his cartoon drawings. His most recent book, Unkle Pigors' Cryptic Art, has been published by Baby 
Tattoo Books, and features a foreword by Norman "Baron Shivers" Cabrera of the Ghastly Ones (with whom Eric also filmed a goofy video of Sheldon Allman's "Children's Day At The Morgue" that showcases the Unkle Pigors alter-ego and some of his work for his own yearly Halloween spookhouses). All in all, Eric Pigors' art is spooky, ghastly, gross, disturbing, wacky and tremendous fun. Check him out at www.toxictoons.com, where he currently offers a "Spooky Activity Book" for free with purchase of two Toxictoons shirts, which will stand you in excellent stead if you have no costume this season.
Hello, everybody! We've only got seven days left on The MonsterGrrls' 31 Days Of Halloween, and since the Mad Doctor's busy preparing a Halloween party at the Monster Shop, I'm posting on the Harbinger for Day 24! Today I'm reviewing a goofy haunted house movie called Monster House. This one is a computer-animated movie that just might be the first horror movie made for kids!
