Friday, October 01, 2010

BETTER HAUNTS AND GHOUL-DENS REVISITED: SHAWN AND LYNNE MITCHELL'S HOW TO HAUNT YOUR HOUSE, BOOK TWO By John Rose

Welcome to The MonsterGrrls' Thir13en For Halloween, and guess who's back for their second sitting in our ghastly gallery!  Shawn and Lynne Mitchell got things rolling last year with their fantastic How To Haunt Your House book, which had the somewhat ominous-sounding "Book One" on the cover.  Now, as surely as trick follows treat, Book One has spawned.

How To Haunt Your House, Book Two is the much-awaited sequel to the Mitchells' deliciously dark debut of DIY horror, and it's even better than the first.  More tutorials on the finer points of Monster Mud and Styrofoam techniques are added, and the ante gets majorly upped with how-to's on a tomb cover for your outside electronics, a stunning tomb and cemetery gate (as well as a gatekeeper figure!), a cauldron that stirs by itself, and a witch's pantry full of glowing potions and accoutrements.  Plus, you can also learn to make apothecary jars full of organs, cages with a variety of spooky pets, and how to redress large Halloween animatronic figures so they look about ten times scarier.  As in their first book, the tutorials are clear and precise and the photography is nothing short of stunning.  The Mitchells have got it locked, and no mistake.

So if you need a book (or books, if you don't have Book One) that will show you how to craft everything you need to become "that house" for Halloween, the How To Haunt Your House series is exactly what you are looking for.  Go get 'em now!

POST-MORTEM: The How To Haunt Your House series is available from the Mitchells at their website; click our title link above to reach them.  If you're a dedicated buyer from Barnes And Noble or Amazon.com, the links are there, or just click here and here.


COMING UP:  Our first TALES FROM THE MONSTER SHOP interview from Frankie Franken concerns both proprietors of the Mitchell Cemetery.  Read it to get the skinny on the mad minds of Shawn and Lynne Mitchell... coming soon on The MonsterGrrls' Thir13en For Halloween!