Witch Board

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Angelhead: "Marvis Hazel Griffith, seen here in 1926 with the Ouija Board that was later connected with her untimely death. Her friends and family told reporters: 'Hazel was forever using the witch board. Always up late at night trying desperately to contact her deceased grandmother.' The night after she told her relatives that her grandmother Mary had indeed contacted her via the 'talking witch board.' She died alone in her father's study, the Ouija Board resting on the floor beside her. Cause of death remains 'unknown.'"

Under the Weather

Been feeling icky all day, but I refuse to get sick!

Are You Afraid of the Dark?

I have been wanting to do a post on AYAOTD for a long time. My friends and I all grew up watching the show as young kids remembering how scary we all felt when ghosts would appear or when scary monsters would show up. Years later when we all met in High School, we talked about how much we used to miss growing up in the 90's and how much we missed our favorite TV shows including: Doug, Hey Arnold, The Amanda Show, All That, etc... and of course the one and only: Are You Afraid of the Dark?

After a while, we started to turn our get-together's into 90's nights where we'd watch silly episodes of AYAOTD, Goosebumps, and plenty of other cheesy 90's shows and movies. Not only is watching AYAOTD nostalgic, but now it's extremely laughable, as predicted. We'll laugh at everything in the entire production from the acting, writing, costumes, sets, to the overall direction and of course, the special effects.

An amazing example of AYAOTD's brilliant special effects:

Recently one of my friends sent me a link to Beauch87's YouTube Channel which includes plenty of summaries of classic AYAOTD episodes, here's one of his hilarious summaries:

This is a ridiculous parody of AYAOTD that my friends and I made in our film class last year. Enjoy the cliché elements!

The Girl Who Stood on a Grave

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... Reminded me of the Stephen Gammell illustration for the story "The Girl Who Stood on a Grave" from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

"She picked out a grave and stood on it. Then quickly she bent over and plunged the knife into the soil, and she started to leave. But she couldn't get away. Something was holding her back..."

The original drawing for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Stephen Gammell:

The Guests

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This reminded me of "The Guests" in Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz.

Original drawing by Stephen Gammell for Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.

The Sandman (1992)

Sweet Dreams...

View Short Film Here

The Twilight Zone

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Watching The Twilight Zone classics was definitely a great way to spend New Year's Day. I didn't really remember that the marathon was on SyFy until last night, but I caught a few episodes before bed. It always fascinates me that there have been so many shows inspired by The Twilight Zone concept (every episode is a different scary story), but none hold up the way The Twilight Zone does. I suppose the show One Step Beyond does (it aired just before The Twilight Zone and is supposed to be based on true paranormal encounters), but many shows that came after just don't frighten us as much. I suspect that it is due to the fact that The Twilight Zone doesn't only rely on monsters, ghost, or aliens. Instead, it relies on the fear of them existing, the fear that there is more to what we think we know. It also contains lots of psychological themes, often having to do with people's memory, dreams, or uncertainty. When I watch episodes I have seen before, let alone ones that are new to me, I still find them entertaining and often pretty meaningful.

The Intro

Stephen Gammell: He started it all...

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When I was about six-years-old, I remember when my brother (who was nine at the time) brought home the book "Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" and the moment I saw the illustration on the cover of the book, I was curious. I had never seen a drawing like that before, mainly because I was used to the cutesy style that most children's books are in. I remember constantly looking at the cover of it when my brother read it, and when he'd put the book down I would still stare at it. I asked him about the book and he told me that it was pretty scary, the cover made sense.

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It wasn't until I was about nine when I went into our school library and saw the book again. This time I had more guts and decided to check it out (rare for me, I hardly ever read books by choice). When I opened the book, I saw that there were more creepy illustrations, many more. The creepy style that illustrator Stephen Gammell portrays so well motivated me to want to read every tale. Of course when I did, I fell in love with the scary stories told by Alvin Schwartz. This was the first time I was really exposed to scary stories, and the first time I fell in love with them. Also the first time I had seen artwork so different, so inspiring.

Pretty soon the other kids in my grade had discovered the book and the two others in the series, "More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark," and "Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones." I woke up many times with terrifying nightmares because of the drawings, but never quit reading the series. I would check them out over and over again. Kids at school would trade them around too, there was always a good ghost story to talk about.

Every now and then I open one of them up to look at the brilliant sketches and to read a few of the tales... very nostalgic.