Reasons Why Black Panther Deserves the Oscar Nominations

We know the unneeded "controversy" about Black Panther's Best Picture Oscar nomination. Simply put, I think it does deserve the recognition of being one of the best movies of 2018...for multiple reasons.

People overlook how difficult it is to build a cinematic world anymore. One measure of a great film is acting...we've surely seen lesser films than this both in terms of acting and even story content that have been nominated and even won (in the past 20 years, but even before that). Of course, everyone has their own subjective take on why a film is or isn't great or remarkable...that's what keeps art important, that it can mean something different to so many. There is NO universally loved film or piece of art, but there are movies that stand the test of time and remain important landmarks of the era.

Even with a film like Avatar, which really does have a simplistic story, it will be looked back on as important in cinematic development to the era of its origin.

We have come to take spectacle for granted so much so that we sneer off things that would have been considered groundbreaking cinematic achievement because we've seen so much, but a film like Black Panther speaks to people in a different way...we look at film in such a polarized lens now, in a way. When we think "groundbreaking", its generally in terms of something with technology, but this film will point to a different revolutionary cinema that is arguably just as important...cinematic black culture and empowerment. I know people use that as an argument AGAINST the film, but I think that's kinda silly.

History will find it to be a pretty important movie, and when a mainstream movie can be that important to millions of people, I would argue it's worth on a level aside from the wondrous, lush setting and superior acting. It's also a movie that you can go all in on...that is, an escape to a different world, one that resembles in many ways the art of its fantasy source material but somehow still reflects this timeline of current events.

Yes, the story! It resonates politically and on a level that some moviegoers wouldn't even recognize...the division of Black America unto itself. That's no small feat...if the film had failed on that huge (conscious) subtext, we wouldn't be talking about it so much now. There are still great divides in the most effective ways of liberating an entire group of people that go all the way back to Martin and Malcolm and is reflected by the two main characters' philosophies.

I saw an outpouring of debate over T'Challa vs. Killmonger's ideologies that really got me thinking and looking at this film in a different way aside from the effectiveness of its Blockbuster-y achievement. So while I was left to consider the differences of the grey areas of those characters (and contemplate who I think I might relate to in the scenario), my 9 year old was just ooohing and ahhhing for the superhero goodness, lost in the movie's grandiose world.

The action sequences ARE on point, and I'm seeing a lot of naysaying over the achievement (or non-achievement) of the effects, but the presenting of Wakandan technology is both fresh and clever over and over throughout. There is NO perfect CGI, but the imagination that drives the tech is pretty surprising and fun, and brought to life in a pretty credible fashion.

Speaking of "fashion"...

The costuming and overall style of Black Panther is truly astounding. Its unique and familiar at once, helping to transform the scenery of Wakanda into an even more effective setting. It's beautiful work.

It's really important that some mainstream films do reverberate with a group of people, and in ways BP reminds me of a gigantic scale version of a film like "Big Fat Greek Wedding" or "Slumdog Millionaire", but we've been conditioned over and over to believe that a "fun" movie, or a horror movie, action movie, genre movie can't also be important.

Even if it's on a level that our personal and subjective experiences are not equipped to truly understand.

Halloween Machine's 10 BEST HORROR FILMS OF 2016

Its that time again! A fresh new year of horror ahead of us means a look back at the BEST of 2016, which was one of the very best years for horror in quite some time!!
Agree? Disagree? Weigh in by commenting!

Here we go...

THE RUNNERS-UP:
10 Cloverfield Lane - Awesome genre mash-up
Monsterland - Extremely creative anthology

Blair Witch - Divisive horror surprise
The Monster - Provocative creature feature
The Wailing - South Korean insanity
Southbound - Effective Anthology
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House - Slow burning stylish throwback
Volumes of Blood: Horror Stories - Super strong indie anthology
Phantasm: Ravager - You CAN go home again
The Barn - Eighties Halloween love letter
The Autopsy of Jane Doe - Unique and frightening genre bender


10 - THE SHALLOWS 
Entertaining and suspenseful shark flick with a great performance by Blake Lively. One of the more surprising horror offerings of the year.

9 - LIGHTS OUT
Spooky story with solid acting and a fantastic monster. Brisk pace and great effects.

8 - OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL
Another mildly divisive entry, but the general consensus is that this sequel was much better than reasonably expected. Great atmosphere and a huge improvement over the weak first film.

7- THE INVITATION
Clever, suspenseful thriller with an outstanding cast. Inspired lunacy.
                                                                                                         

6 - I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER
Tense and well made horror with outstanding performances by Max Records and Christopher Lloyd.

Lloyd and Records share a quiet moment.

5 - GREEN ROOM
The conceit of a horror film is rarely as realistically presented as this astounding punk rock nightmare. Patrick Stewart is a creeper and the late Anton Yelchin gives yet another in a line of strong horror film performances.

4 - HUSH
Director Mike Flanagan continues his career ascension with one of the most intriguing and intelligent slasher style films in years. Kate Siegel co-wrote and gives a remarkable turn as the deaf writer who must channel her creativity if she wants to survive the night.

3 - THE CONJURING 2
Its the attention to the detail of the time period that powers this frightening sequel, along with more believable chemistry and strong acting by the likable duo of Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga. Some nifty scares and a spook house penchant keep it at least on par with the borderline masterpiece original.

2 - DON'T BREATHE
Stephen Lang is jaw dropping as a home invasion victim and Jane Levy has another solid outing for director Fede Alvarez (Evil Dead remake). Detroit setting heightens the effectiveness of this thriller, abundant with surprises and nail biting situations.

1 - THE WITCH (The VVitch)
Many horror fans loved it, some claimed to hate it, but chances are everyone remembers the details of this ominous period folk story. It's an admittedly slow burn for the disengaged, loaded with atmosphere, spooky settings and some of the best acting of the year from ANY genre. From the cinematography to the haunting score, THE WITCH was one of the first theatrical horror releases of the past year and gets the HALLOWEEN MACHINE nod as the best picture of 2016.

                                        Wonder what great horror films await us in 2017?! Happy viewing!!

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Five Alternative Scary Songs to Listen to for Halloween

FIVE ALTERNATIVE SCARY SONGS FOR HALLOWEEN

It’s pretty widely accepted that Bobby “Boris” Pickett’s “Monster Mash” is the Halloween anthem, pretty much worldwide. And deservedly so; the song captured the spooky spirit of the Halloween season in a catchy and influential way.

There are a number of other songs that we’ll call “the usual suspects” as well; songs that are pretty much always played at Halloween parties and show up on every other Halloween ditty compilation.

With that in mind, here is a list of five “alternative” Halloween songs. The only criteria is that they have to contain some of that creepy Halloween spirit that makes a great addition to the season, and they have to be, well, different…that is, you won’t find the likes of “Ghostbusters”, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” or “Addams Family Theme” here.

What you will find, hopefully, are a few minstrels of the macabre, contributing chilling choruses to your autumn nights. And some of these are even danceable.

5) The Charlie Daniels Band – “The Legend of Wooley Swamp”

Pretty much everyone knows that “other” Charlie Daniels Halloween canticle, the one about the red fella who goes down to Georgia on a soul-stealin’ mission. But how about this ultra-creepy little carol, an ode to the ghost of a greedy old man by the name of Luious Clay? Clay, it turns out, is known to get up and walk around. After a group of bad guys dig up Lucius’ 13 mason jars full of cold hard cash and leave ol’ Lucius for the alligators, he retaliates from beyond the grave. And does so with a voice as loud as thunder, so we’re told.

And remember, if you ever go back into Wooley Swamp, well, you better not go at night. That’s the rumor, anyway.

4) Jan & Dean – “Dead Man’s Curve”

OK, so this song isn’t a little known secret or anything – it hit as high as #8 on the Billboard top 100 back in 1964 – but it isn’t one of the songs you hear ad infinitum every Halloween. Why that is isn’t entirely clear; it’s a spooky, extremely well crafted (co-written by Beach Boys melody genius Brian Wilson) and memorable ditty, after all. And it’s been covered numerous times, by artists as varied as The Carpenters and Blink 182. It’s generally more thought of as being part of the “Teen Tragedy” song boom of the time period, but it’s just as easily at home playing in the background of your hoppin’ Halloween hullabaloo (say that three times fast).

3) Alice Cooper – “Former Lee Warmer”

Alice is pretty much the king of Halloween music, in a way; his “Welcome to My Nightmare” is one of the most played three or four Halloween songs, in my estimation. You could choose any number of his songs for the list, including such melancholic, uplifting little ditties as “Years Ago” and “This House is Haunted”. But there’s something about this bizarrely lovely song. Former Lee appears to be the dirty little secret of his family tree, and one of the saddest, creepiest moments comes when Alice discloses that Former sometimes works up the nerve to look out the window and wave at his father’s grave.

Alice has stated that he doesn’t recall making the album Dada, home of this impressively unusual song. That makes it even a little more odd, perhaps. For a bonus Halloween treat, watch the fan-made video on YouTube one late fall night. Pretty nifty.

2) Tom Waits – “Oily Night”

This song might make some of your party-goers take pause for a moment and stare at the speakers. The best way to describe “Oily Night” is simply…weird. It’s full of strange sounds, odd percussion and a super deep voice repeating the refrain in a mantra of darkness. If you listen to it and think, “Whatever, this isn’t scary”…well, hey, at 3 AM, open the windows, turn off all the lights, lay on the couch and turn it up. Should make for a pretty memorable experience. Or just the strangest nap you ever took. So, either way.

1) Jim Stafford – “Swamp Witch”

Why this 1974 song isn’t played everywhere on repeat every October is beyond me. It’s got everything a Halloween fan would want; great, mysterious lyrics, steeped in folklore-ish atmosphere, spookified music and vocals. It’s brilliant. Stafford drawls out the story of Black Water Hattie and the Black Bayou with convincing ease; you might be reaching for the light switch or waking up your significant other by the time you get to this lyrical moment:

They never found Hattie and they never found her shack
And they never made a trip back in
'Cause a parchment note they found tacked to a stump
Said “Don't come looking again.”

Happy listening! And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Paul Counelis is a writer for Rue Morgue and Halloween Machine, and is an author. His newest release is Spook Sleuths: The Legend of Old Man Gooch and is available, along with five other new titles by other Fear Front Publishing writers, here at The Fear Front Publishing Website.

A Horror Fan's Defense of THE WITCH (even though it doesn't NEED it)

By now, most die-hard fans of horror movies have heard about THE WITCH, if not seen it. Of those fans, most have formed an opinion (even some who haven't seen it, but who are going in with preconceived notions or bias based on the perception of hype). First off, let's get it out of the way right at the top...that's not a fair way to judge a film - how many people involved with horror like the movie, or how many creative ways Stephen King found to say "it's scary". Pretty much completely irrelevant aside from marketing.

But...because this has now sorta become one of the main issues of horror over the past several years (based on the success of "art house" horror like the masterpiece The Babadook and the extremely interesting and unique It Follows), and with so many horror fans citing "It didn't live up to the hype" as a "reason" to dislike what are AT THE VERY LEAST films whose ideas and settings have not been regurgitated ad nauseum, let's just agree to disagree on that point (that is, IF we disagree...if we agree, just nod your head in satisfaction).

See, here's the thing that these folks might not have considered: there is a CHANCE that casual fans of horror will actually enjoy this film...and that's because
A) They aren't hardened to the "scares" by years of watching virtually hundreds of horror movies of all types, and
B) They likely haven't been waiting the months it took for The Witch to go from festival favorite to mainstream theater.

For people who generally or mostly enjoy films of other genres aside from horror, the pace of The Witch will not seem unusual. The time spent establishing the environment and the way the characters interact will not be all that radical. The most crucial aspect of The Witch, in my opinion, is the atmosphere and the way first time (!) filmmaker  Robert Eggers allows the New England family of the 1630s to feel completely and wholly enveloped in a cocoon of claustrophobic proportions, and with no viable means to escape. That in itself is pretty impressive, in an era where having a damn cell phone in a horror movie has to be explained right away in order to allow the next events to unfold in an effective manner.

There will be a few spoilers in the coming paragraphs, so if you haven't yet seen The Witch, please bookmark this article, run to the theater, then come back and finish reading.

Done? Ok. Here goes.

Let me just be blunt: first off, you have never seen another movie quite like The Witch. Just admit it. Don't try to give a list of historical or cult inspired flicks and pretend they are like The Witch. They aren't. Not really. Much in the same way that no other film REALLY resembles The Babadook or It Follows. That does not mean you have to LIKE those films, of course, or ignore what you consider to be flaws, but let's acknowledge that these filmmakers at least tried to give us something we have never seen before. With that established (come on, stop mumbling or dreaming up a response for the comments section and roll with it here), let's explore that point a tiny bit further with a bit of a caveat: BUDGET.

The estimated production budget of The Witch is between 1 and 2 million dollars; $3.5 total. That's a lot of money to most people (aside from Donald Trump, who considers it a "small loan"), but in the world of mainstream film, that aint much. Let's look at what some comparative budgets in the horror world have given us:

THE UNBORN - $15 Million
THE FOG (2005) - $14 million
HOUSE OF WAX (2005) - $30 Million
DREAMCATCHER - $68 Million (really)
EXORCIST 2: THE HERETIC - $14 million (in 1977, no less)

You get the idea. There are dozens - DOZENS - more examples just like those. Now, I don't want to pick on those specific films, and that's not to say I didn't enjoy anything about those films (ok, except Exorcist II; even God dislikes that movie), but let's be realistic here...The Witch was made for a fraction of that, and again, even if you think you HATE the movie, its instantly more memorable than any number of these generic larger budget films. That's partially because they tried to craft a movie based on more than just effects or dimly executed jump scares with loud musical cues.

Thinking back to the very first complaint that many horror folks have leveled at this super interesting, dark folk tale, "It didn't live up to the hype," it now seems ULTRA silly, because the hype was caused by people who saw this movie in previews and festivals and couldn't believe that a movie that cost a couple million to make could be SO effective, could get SO far under their skin, that they could still be thinking about it months after their initial viewing. That's a triumph for a low budget horror film from a first time (!) feature director.

In comparison, a flat out genre phenom that crossed over is presented here for your consideration: Sharknado. That's right, the first installment of that SyFy mega-hit was made for near the same budget of The Witch. Can we acknowledge the unlikelihood that Robert Eggers was able to make a really dark, somewhat disturbing, image laden story for less than the amount of money that the ghastly CGI-informed, irrepressibly silly Sharknado cost? That's pretty crazy. If you don't believe me, give it a try yourself (that's right, I just played the "Could you make a movie better than that for that price?" card).

This is not a review of The Witch, though I suspect that at some point, I will have to delve into a much longer exploration of this bizarre film that has thoroughly intrigued me and gotten under my skin with its paranoiac themes, maybe even warranting its own volume. I watched the climactic moment of The Witch with a kind of giddy glee, a super and unexpected payoff for my patience through that seething, nightmarish ditty.

No, this is just a call to my friends and brothers-and-sisters-in-arms of horror who ceaselessly downgrade movies like The Witch, The Babadook and It Follows unfairly to reconsider before you rattle off stuff like "I believed the hype" or the even more questionable "It's not scary".

Let me ask you this, then...so what? Do horror movies really "scare" you when you've been consuming nearly every release for the past few decades? I know we all WISH that every movie had the impact of the first time we saw Halloween or A Nightmare On Elm Street, but that just ain't gonna happen...partially because that already happened, years ago when you saw those first movies.

Now, instead, its time to appreciate the creativity and cinematic triumph that some of these low budget horror directors exhibit when they try so hard to craft something of worth for us with less money than many 90 second car commercials cost. You have to put it in perspective. It's a minor MIRACLE that these movies are somehow finding their way into mainstream theaters...you should AT LEAST celebrate that fact. Look, its fair to plunk down your 8 bucks to see The Witch and then decide you didn't like the film. I have no qualms with that.

But if you're a realist, you will at least have to admit that, hey, that was one hell of a good try. Good on you, Mr. Eggers. That was a super ambitious undertaking for a couple million bucks. Or, you can just flip over on your TV remote and watch Sharknado 4, whose ad campaign lets you decide whether or not the main character of Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No lives or dies.

And if you choose that film over a shadowy, diabolical study of unhinged delusion and paranoia that takes place in inescapable thickets and groves under the watchful eye of the halcyon moon, well, not to be a snob, but I guess you sorta get what you deserve.
 

Wouldst thou like to live deliciously? I will guide thy hand.

Five Scary Movies You Can Watch With Your Kids

Scary movies are communal at the core, often best experienced with others for the optimal effect (yelling and screaming at the screen, laughing, hugging at terrifying moments). Many adults who embraced horror at a young age did so because of watching that one special flick with mom or dad, older sibling, younger sibling, or all of the above; in my case, my love of horror was DIRECTLY influenced by my parents, whether it be watching A Nightmare on Elm Street with my mother and a group of friends and family or seeing the immortal Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein with my dad one amazing Sunday morning.

For that reason, we offer FIVE movies that might be a blast to watch with your own little boils and ghouls ANY time of year. And who knows? You might even make a special memory. Now, some of these movies will be TOO scary for very little ones, so please take that into consideration before blasting your four year old with Dracula. Ratings included for a BIT of clarity, but watching something TOO scary with a little one can have the opposite affect for a youngster.

THE MONSTER SQUAD: I rented this VHS 35 times or more one summer.

5. The Monster Squad (1987, PG-13) – Fred Dekker’s comedic clash of the classic monsters is a perfect bridge from the more mild, “Scooby-Doo” type prepubescent material to a bit more sophistication – but only a bit. The fun stuff stays. The Monster Squad is entertaining from start to finish, featuring appropriate updates of the Universal Monsters, a great cast of kids, memorable lines, and Michael Sembello’s relentlessly catchy ode to eighties synth cheese “Rock Until You Drop”. You’ll be slapping your head for weeks trying to get that little ditty out of your mind.

4. The Gate (1987, PG-13) – The Gate is the other great family horror film from 1987, but with somewhat less comedy and a more heightened sense of spooky. A group of kids accidentally unleash demons from a hole in the backyard, and now they gotta save the world. Stephen Dorff made his theatrical debut with this little gem, remembered by many children of the nineties as the first time they liked a scary movie.

3. The Witches (1990, PG) – Child literature visionary Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) penned The Witches, an atmospheric, creepy look at a group of witches who want to rid the world of children. The catch is that the one person who knows about the plan is a young orphan boy that the witches have turned into a mouse. It’s somewhat dark and very entertaining, with a memorable turn by Anjelica Huston as the Grand High Witch.

2. Dark Night of the Scarecrow (1981, Made for TV) – Widely considered by many horror fans to be one of the best TV movies ever made since its release just before Halloween of ‘81, Dark Night of the Scarecrow is both a scary visual treat and an engrossing story full of pathos. A mentally ill man named Bubba is erroneously hunted down by a group of angry townspeople after a tragedy involving a little girl. In the most effective climactic scenes, a scarecrow stalks Bubba’s attackers one by one, the apparent victims of a paranormal vigilante. It is a thoughtful and creepy movie for younger and older viewers alike. “Bubba didn’t do it!”

1. Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983, PG) – Classic stories from the TV series are revisited by four big-time directors with somewhat mixed results, but the overall package of Twilight Zone: The Movie is entertaining and eerie, with arguably the most memorable moment occurring during the John Landis directed prologue. “You wanna see something REALLY scary?”

HAPPY VIEWINGS!

TALES OF HALLOWEEN - Interviews with Segment Directors ANDREW KASCH and JOHN SKIPP

This interview originally appeared in the October issue of the print mag HALLOWEEN MACHINE. As my favorite horror film of the year, I thought it might be nice to commemorate the VOD release of TALES OF HALLOWEEN by giving more people a chance to read it via internet. Here it is in it's entirety, from mid-September 2015, both of these talented and likable gentlemen in FINE form talking about their projects and the holiday that inspired their segment for that wonderful film.

AH, HorrorHound Weekend. The place where dreams come true.

Not only did we meet a bunch of horror’s most awesome celebrities at this past September’s annual meeting of the ghoulish and spooky, but we caught a few really fun movies in the HHW screening room. We saw Nathan Thomas Milliner’s Confessions of Fred Krueger, which was cool, and we got to watch the original A Nightmare on Elm Street as introduced by Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, and others from the ANOES cast. It was a fitting and cathartic tribute to Wes Craven.

 

Aside from the Elm Street goodies, we got to see an early screening of what is DESTINED to be the next cult horror that will be playing in living rooms all over the world every Halloween season, and that is the frenetic, energetic 10 segment anthology Tales of Halloween. One of the segments, the home haunt fueled “This Means War”, is sure to be a favorite of Halloween Machine readers for its content, dealing with the more nostalgic, moody haunt setup vs. the modern, gory stuff.

It’s directed by two absolute vets of the horror scene, Andrew Kasch and John Skipp, and I had the absolute pleasure of getting to chat with both of these spooky cool dudes about their TOH piece and a few other subjects, including Halloween memories.

First up is Kasch, who co-directed and edited the JAWDROPPING Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again, an ambitious feat that ranks among the very best horror documentaries ever made.

For my money, it’s at #1 so far.

Paul Counelis: The crowd that I saw the Tales of Halloween screening with was just HOWLING with laughter at the segment you did with John Skipp, ‘This Means War’. Were either of you home haunters or was there any type of memory associated with Halloween haunts that led to this idea?

Andrew Kasch: I'm so glad they loved it! I have a huge admiration for home haunters and I think part of the allure was that it's something I could never do myself, largely because of a strict religious upbringing and the fact that I just didn't have the resources. And now that I'm a full grown adult, I just don't have the time. 

But my favorite thing about the Halloween season is checking out local haunted attractions and neighborhood displays. In the San Fernando Valley, people really go crazy on their lawns and the passion they put behind them is infectious. There are local places like Boney Island, The Backwoods and the Rotten Apple where it feels like these guys spend all year planning for their haunts. They're super elaborate!

After shooting our segment, I have an even greater respect for these guys because pulling off a basic yard display (especially in the two days we had) is a massive challenge!

Was there a conscious decision to kind of stay away from the more orthodox Halloween story we often see in Halloween oriented films and TV shows? I felt like the whole amazing film had a more modern, almost cynical take, but retained the Halloween-y mood and feel.

I don't think it was conscious because the movie is really a mix of filmmakers following their own interests. Some segments are wildly unconventional and others are very traditional. But we all felt that capturing the atmosphere of Halloween was essential to make the movie work as a whole. For our segment, Skipp and I were less concerned about doing something around a particular horror trope and more about exploring fandom itself. At the end of the day, we're all just a bunch of Halloween and horror geeks and it's always fun to playfully poke fun of ourselves.

Are you on either side of the home haunt styles as shown in your segment? Do you gravitate more toward the traditional stuff, or the gorier type of stuff?

We love 'em both! To us, they're like peanut butter and chocolate - two great tastes that taste great together! And in our segment, clashing the styles in a bloody fight on the lawn is ironically the thing that the neighbors love the most.

It's funny because this is a divide you see in the L.A. horror community too. We all get along great but there's definitely the clique of the "Famous Monsters" generation (Joe Dante, John Landis, Bill Malone, Bob Burns, etc) when compared to the filmmakers of my generation. And Dana Gould is definitely an old-school monster kid, which is why he was so appropriate to play Boris, the classical neighbor. You can't fake that kind of love for something.

How did you get involved with Tales of Halloween?

It all started at a friend's birthday party last summer. I was drinking with Axelle Carolyn and Adam Gierasch and we were talking about how much fun it would be to make an anthology with the whole horror community. I had an idea of doing an anthology where each segment tackled a different holiday, and Axelle said "No, it should just be about Halloween." The next morning, the three of us met for coffee at the Jumpcut Cafe (RIP) and started throwing filmmaker names together. A few weeks later, Mike Mendez came on and got Epic Pictures in the mix. Within less than a month, we were in full development. It came together ridiculously fast!

 

While I have you here, I just gotta comment on the documentaries you have been a part of. First off, for me, Never Sleep Again is easily the best horror doc I have ever seen. But it occurs to me that there is some absolutely HERCULEAN editing going on in both the Never Sleep Again and Crystal Lake films. What was it like to direct and edit those? I’m sure there was a painstaking amount of work going on.

 

Thanks! Never Sleep Again was an amazing experience and something I'm immensely proud of, but making it almost killed me. Dan Farrands and I started out doing a ninety-minute doc with whoever we could get, and it turned into 4-hours with over 100 interviews! Making a regular documentary takes years and we had an accelerated schedule because of the remake hitting theaters, so it was like compressing five years of work into six months.

By the time it was over, I was so mentally and physically beat down that it took about a month to adjust back to society and not wake up with panic attacks. It was all worth it in the end, but at the time we didn't know what the hell we had made or if anyone would watch it. 

Crystal Lake was definitely Dan's baby and a way to do what he originally wanted with His Name Was Jason. I wasn't much involved with it beyond editing, which seemed like old hat since we had done all the bonus features for the Paramount releases. But I was happy to help him realize his ultimate love letter to Jason, which is his favorite boogeyman. Dan's such a lovely human being, so anytime he needs help with something, I'm there.

I am a horror doc junkie, and I also love the Scream doc and both of the smaller features you did for the Halloween 4 and 5 releases. Any plans on a sprawling Halloween doc in the manner of the Elm Street and Friday ones? Please say yes.

Glad you enjoyed them. The smaller Blu-Ray docs have been fun to do, but I personally don't have an interest in making another big franchise doc. I loved Elm Street because there was an entire story of the rise and fall of New Line Cinema behind it, and you were dealing with a film series that changed pop culture in huge and bizarre way. Plus, even the bad installments had a lot of thematically dense material you could dive into. I don't think you can get that kind of meat exploring other horror franchises. I love how Never Sleep Again ignited the fan community to want to see all their favorite monsters get the Ken Burns treatment, but if I did another one, it would just feel obligatory. 

Also, the problem with doing an epic Halloween doc is that Trancas International is incredibly protective of that franchise, you really couldn't do one without their involvement. And if made one, you couldn't be candid like we were on Never Sleep Again.

My teenaged son Zak’s favorite show is The Flash, especially the “Nuclear Man” episode. Will you be involved at all with season 2, and what is working on that show like?

That's so cool! I actually cut a lot of that episode. I just wrapped up my work on Season 2 (which is gonna be AMAZING) and now I'm on to DC's Legends of Tomorrow - which is an even bigger and crazier show!

Lastly, any treasured memories from Halloween nights past?

The first time I was allowed to go trick or treating...which was age 8. I made up for lost times by going out all the way through high school. I had to stop when the neighbors became too afraid to open their doors. What can you do?

__________________________________________________________

 NEXT UP is director John Skipp, who is a legendary “Splatterpunk” author and who wrote a script for the ill-fated A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child that wound up being developed with other writers and changed drastically. He and Kasch worked together for Skipp’s Never Sleep Again interviews and are now developing several other projects together aside from their Tales of Halloween segment.

Paul Counelis: Being a home haunter, I really got a huge kick out of the “This Means War” segment from Tales of Halloween. Both sides of the spectrum seemed pretty realistic and joyously accurate. Did you have any previous experience with those types of haunts? How much research went into making it feel authentic?

John Skipp: Andrew goes to every single haunt in Southern California, every year. And I've been scaring little kids with monsterific trick or treat visuals ever since I was one! We went to a lot of great haunts in prep for the shoot, and talked up tons of amazing people at Scare L.A. (Which is where we met Mr. Bones, Dana Gould's animatronic sidekick.) But we've spent our whole lives soaking up that atmosphere. So it wasn't a terrible stretch.

Do you tend to gravitate toward either “side”, meaning the more traditional vs. the gorier modern Halloween haunts? I would guess with the splatterpunk background, but I don’t want to assume, because you guys had plenty of that orthodox Halloween-y atmosphere in “This Means War”.

No, it's all great! That's the funniest thing about the Great Horror Culture Divide. From the moment I landed in the scene, I was nipple-deep in the seething war between "loud" and "quiet". But to me, they're two great tastes that taste great together, and fighting about it is incredibly silly, albeit utterly human. And that's pretty much how our story winds up! (laughs)

Curious if you had Dana Gould in mind for this film while writing? He was wonderful. If not, how did he get involved?

Actually, I originally wrote the role for Doug Jones. We'd just done a talk show together, and he mentioned playing Nosferatu as his dream role. So the second I dreamed up Boris and Dante, and set their bitter rivalry in motion, I wrote Boris as a gaunt, seven-foot vampire. But it turns out, Doug already had his Nosferatu lined up, and was just being cagey. Which is awesome. Can't wait to see it!

That's when Andrew brought up Dana, who's an avid old-school horror enthusiast as well as a comedy genius. I'm an enormous fan, from his earliest days of Comedy Central (our careers took off at roughly the same time). And the minute we sat down to talk, it was clear just how much he would bring to the party. He understood Boris from the inside. Reworking the role for him was easy. And some of his best lines are on-the-spot improvs. 

So in the end, we couldn't be luckier or happier. He and Jimmy Duval kill it together. They were both a dream. The whole cast was amazing. (Including all sixty members of the supporting cast!)

I’m a huge Elm Street fan and I think Never Sleep Again is THE best horror doc of all time. I really enjoyed hearing you talk about Nightmare 5. What were some of the things you had in your original story that they didn’t wind up using?

Oooch! It's still painful to think about. But real quick, in a nutshell:

1) we showed how Freddy became a monster -- abused by cruel nuns as the bastard child of said thousand maniacs and one poor nun whose life was ruined as well -- thereby underscoring themes of parental neglect and the sins of the fathers that are the secret power behind the ELM ST. films; 

2) we made the dreams of our teens reflect their hopes for their lives -- to get out of this town, to not grow up like their parents -- and then had Freddy cruelly dash them, in deeply personal ways that reflected their terror of growing up;

3) we described the collective unconscious of humanity as a vast Dream Pool, and pegged the evil behind Freddy as a toxic oil slick on said collective unconscious. Which is how he gets into our dreams. And how we (i.e. Alice) can get into his, and fight him on his own dream turf. Which would have actually made the end of the movie make sense.

There's other stuff, but f$@% it. Water under the bridge. The big thing is that Never Sleep Again is the best thing that ever happened for me, vis a vis the whole Nightmare 5 experience, because Andrew and I have been working together ever since. So in the end, no matter how hosed I felt, it totally worked out. (Except for everybody who had to sit through Nightmare 5. To whom all I can say is I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.)

What’s next on the film projects list?

Well, we're developing a new TV series called Clowntown; and the pilot episode is playing festivals while we shop it around. It's a love project Cody Goodfellow and I have been nursing for nearly a decade, hopefully poised to explode at last. Clowns fighting monsters. Let's just leave it right there.

Past that, I'm working on three new feature scripts. Two with brilliant Fungasm author Laura Lee Bahr (Haunt, Long-Form Religious Form), another with Shane McKenzie, whose El Gigante (as directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero and the LuchaGore team) is sweeping the festival circuit right now. One way or another, it's time for Skipp & Kasch to make a feature. We're workin' on it!

Do you have any favorite memories of celebrating Halloween?

TOO MANY! I loved monstering up in my teens, twenties, and thirties. But trick-or-treating with my daughters was the best. And I think my favorite life-long costume is slapping devil horns on my head, wearing a flame-based Hawaiian shirt, and sporting a name tag on my chest that says, "Hello. My Name Is Stan." Which means they either misspelled Satan, or I'm his lame second cousin. Either way works for me! (laughs)

By the way, just wanted to tell you, the crowd just LOVED the film and your segment at HorrorHound. People were literally howling. Thanks a bunch!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Can't tell you how much that means to us! We had such a great time making it. And are really proud of Tales of Halloween, in its entirety. It's a super-fun party film that I hope people will be enjoying for years to come.