Halloween Scene: My Horror Toys Part 2

Posted on by TJDietsch

Last week, I showed you all a detailed view of half of the mostly-monsters toys I lined up in my office this year to get into the Halloween spirit. The first batch included a Masters Of The Universe Classics giant, one of Jack Kirby’s hottest creations, Buffy, a trio of Stranger Things characters, my guy Beetlejuice, a pair of Hellboys and horror icons like Frankenstein’s Monster, Freddy Krueger and Pinhead! Want to see who else made the cut [cue cleaver chopping sound effect]?

Enter, if you dare…

My Favorite Newer Horror Movies Of 2018 Part 2

Posted on by TJDietsch

Alright gang, once more with feeling! Unless I decide to get my act together and do a post about my favorite comic-reading experiences of 2018, this will probably be my last recap post. On one hand, it’s been fun looking back at everything I watched and read last year, on the other, I’m reminded of why it’s fun to do these sorts of posts as they happen. Here’s hoping I do more of that! Anyway, this last batch of horror movies features a five-pack of movies that not only deal with the complexities of childhood both during and after that stage of life, but also emotionally devastated me (well, all but one). Alright, let’s dive in!

Continue reading My Favorite Newer Horror Movies Of 2018 Part 2

The Great Chronological Slasher Franchise Project

Posted on by TJDietsch
Incredible art by Chris Labrenz

Last year I found myself in a strange place heading into the Halloween season, which for me usually starts sometime in September. In years past, I’d written posts about various movies and franchises for the dearly departed Topless Robot/Robot’s Voice site. I loved poring over these films, taking notes and then figuring out the best way to present them to an audience.

Oh do go on

The Midnight Comic Club Episode 5 – Halloween Comics

Posted on by TJDietsch

Well, Halloween is just barely in the rearview, so it’s the perfect time to not only call another meeting of The Midnight Comic Club to order, but also talk about comics based on one of my all-time favorite horror franchises Halloween!

I’ve written a ton about my relationship with these movies here and there on this blog, most recently here. That might help give a little more context to the episode as it goes. Also, if you’re curious, like I said in the intro, these issues are very hard to find for a reasonable price, so happy hunting if you’re interested. Without further ado, here’s the episode.

Here’s the Stefan Hutchinson JoeBlo interview I mentioned.

If you’re wondering why I don’t mention the artist of Halloween III: The Devil’s Eyes, it’s because he’s a gross dude whose name will not be mentioned here. I didn’t realize it when I recorded the episode itself, otherwise, I would have probably approached it differently.

Halloween Scene: Shock Value By Jason Zinoman

Posted on by TJDietsch

shock-valueIf you’re keeping track, and I’m not sure why you would be at this point, I’m still muddling through Stephen King’s The Stand. And yet, I stray away from time to time to check out other books like Jason Zinoman’s Shock Value, which I stumbled across while looking for various horror films in my library’s database. With a subtitle like How A Few Eccentric Outsiders Gabe Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, And Invented Modern Horror, how could I not bite, especially around Halloween! Continue reading Halloween Scene: Shock Value By Jason Zinoman

Halloween Scene: Old School Round-Up

Posted on by TJDietsch

bride-of-frankensteinAs I mentioned yesterday, I got to an early start when it came to watching horror movies this fall. So, I’ve got a lot to talk about! First, if you haven’t already, check out a pair of lists I wrote for CBR. One’s about movies and shows to follow Stranger Things up with while the other focused on the best classic horror movies to stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime!

Continue reading Halloween Scene: Old School Round-Up

Halloween Scene: 2015 Horror Recap

Posted on by TJDietsch

Usually around the end of a year I take some time to go through my favorite albums of the year and I still might do that, but I also felt like looking back at my favorite horror experiences of 2015. Thanks to Netflix, the library and a gaggle of fun freelance assignments around Halloween I got to see a good mix of old and new films this year that I wanted to look back on one more time before moving on to the new year. Continue reading Halloween Scene: 2015 Horror Recap

Halloween Scene: The Old School

Posted on by TJDietsch

noesEven though I had a lot of luck with new movies, as documented in this earlier post, I still went back and watched some old movies I’d never seen, plus a few I had seen but only once and an old favorite or two. Continue reading Halloween Scene: The Old School

Halloween Scene: My Halloween Watch List

Posted on by TJDietsch

Goodness gracious! I was looking through my unpublished drafts and found this post about the rest of the horror movies I watched during October. There’s some good stuff in here, so let’s jump back in time a few months and think scary thoughts!

dawn of the dead originalAfter a super busy September and October, I’m still catching up on all of the movies I watched for work and fun. After focusing on new films early on in the season, I decided to go through my movie collection and Netflix to make a list of films I wanted to watch leading up to Halloween. The list had a total of 26 films, though I wound up removing five. All told, I watched 13 plus the seven films making up the original Halloween franchise. I’m saving a few of them for another post, but I did want to throw out a few thoughts about what turned out to be a major rewatch experience.

As it turned out, zombies were a huge part of this year’s list. Dawn and Day Of The Dead easily made the list along with Dance Of The Dead, the Dawn remake and World War Z. I didn’t get to those last two, but I keep seeing more and more things in those two Romero movies that I love. I’ve been seeing a lot of people dump on the zombie genre lately. To them I say, watch those two movies. They are amazing films, not just horror flicks. Meanwhile, I still have a great time with Dance which is just super impressive when you take into account it’s a low budget film that doesn’t look it. This is easily one of my favorite zombie movies from the past few decades. Continue reading Halloween Scene: My Halloween Watch List

Casting Internets: My Halloween Writing

Posted on by TJDietsch

Hi All, you might have noticed that I haven’t posted much here on UnitedMonkee.com recently. That’s because I’ve been pretty darn busy between work and the home buying process (which officially ends today!). I pitched a lot of different Halloween-themed freelance ideas this month, many of which got picked up. Now that they’re finally coming out, I wanted to share them with you.

john dies at the end

 

I worked on two lists for Spinoff Online focusing on horror movies from this decade. I was super impressed with everything I saw. Hopefully I can get to a roundup post soon.

5 Recent Slasher Flicks to Take a Stab at For Halloween

5 Recent Indie Supernatural Horror Movies Worth Watching

 

legion of monsters

 

Over on Marvel.com, I write four Halloween Spooklights on various scary characters from the Marvel U:

Halloween Spooklight: Morbius

Halloween Spooklight: Dracula

Halloween Spooklight: Man-Thing

Halloween Spooklight: The Legion Of Monsters

 

Michael Myers Halloween

Finally, I did two lists for Topless Robot that took a lot of work (if reading comics and watching movies can be considered as such):

John Constantine’s 10 Nastiest Moments from the Early Days Of Hellblazer

Michael Myers’ 10 Craziest Kills From the Original Halloween Franchise