Everything Old is New Again

I got to work one day in the middle of last week to find that the top story on every one's minds would not be included in that morning's broadcast. We would be airing stories of mainly local interest while the rest of the country murmured excitedly about the spectacle Michael Richards had made of himself at a comedy club a few days before. I admit I was schocked. I was even more shocked when I went to youtube and watched the full video made during his racist tirade against a couple of noisy audience members. Shocked by the language and anger, yes, but also shocked because I would have expected Michael Richards to have gotten used to hecklers by now. This man has been in the business of comedy for decades, you would think he'd know how to handle a noisy crowd.

My shock turned to disappointment when I later saw him on Letterman, doing his best Hugh Grant/Mel Gibson impersonation and offering meaningless apologies to the audience, and to the African American community in general. I understand the need to get in front of the bullet and make your apologies, but it was the same old 'I'm not a racist' crap you hear from everyone who gets caught being a racist, and it was so obviously not meant, that the overall apathy I felt towards the incident turned into the anger that most people had already felt.

See, in the end, no matter what pretty things we try to say, we are ALL racist. At least a little bit. We all see someone walking down the street and immediately form a snap-judgement based on what we've been brought up to believe. It's something that everyone does, and it's not going to go away in my lifetime. Most likely not in my daughter's lifetime, either. I admit it, I immediately make incorrect judgments about people I see when I first meet them. All that talk about not judging a book by it's cover is never going to be accurately applied in the real world. The thing is, as human beings capable of rational thought, we dismiss those judgments and allow ourselves to form a more informed opinion. But sometimes, rational thought leaves us, and we're left with these horrible stereotypes that we see everywhere. As in what happened to Mr. Richards.

If Mr. Richards had done the talk show rounds and admitted to being a racist, admitted that it was how he was raised, and that he tries to deal with it but apparently he's going to need help, I would have respected the man. Instead we've taken another opportunity for a few people to have an open conversation and covered it up with generic apologies that no one really means.

Rest in Peace

I was at work today, planning to post something about the new Bond film, when across the AP wire came the news that Robert Altman had died. This certainly isn't unexpected, he was getting up there in years, but it's still depressing. I'm not what one would call a devotee of Altman, and I'm certainly no expert, but I've always enjoyed his films and try my best to see whatever new he has coming out. It can be argued that he got into a groove with his films and stuck close to his formula of intertwined stories, star-studded ensembles, and famous overlapping dialogue. Look beyond those window dressings and you'll see that up until the last he was looking for new stories to tell, new genres to explore. Most famously Gingerbread Man, a thriller that he took on merely because he'd never made one before.

He has an enormous catalog of classics to look into, but it'll always be a shame that there are no more to look forward to.

Those Creepy Dead Folks

For Halloween, I put some thought into what I should write about. What about horror is so important to me that it deserves the top spot on the calender. The answer was actually pretty simple; Zombies! I love zombies, zombie movies, zombie books, zombie comics, songs about zombies, the game Zombies!, all of it. Zombies make everything more fun, and they've been the most consistently enjoyable monster in all sorts of horrible movies. Zombies have great inherent terror. No matter how fun or funny the movie, you can't mask how terrifying the thought of a horde of dead loved ones slowly chasing you down and trying to eat you is. That's where Shaun of the Dead got it so right, the movie never shied away from the fear aspect of it, making the comedy that much more convincing.

George Romero gets all the credit for creating the zombie genre way back with Night of the Living Dead, and while he didn't quite create zombies, he certainly stylised them in a way that is still widely used today. Zombies may run, they may even have minimal vocal abilities, but in the end they're just variations on the type of zombie created. When I first saw Night of the Living dead, I enjoyed it, but felt that maybe it would have been better had I seen it when it was first released. I felt that it was a bit slow and unsophisticated for our times. I was an idiot. As I've gone back to it over the years it's genius was slowly made evident to me, and I now realize just how great a feat George Romero pulled.

I don't mean this to infer anything about the behind the scenes struggles, although it is impressive just what he was able to get away with, I mean that the movie itself is an impressive and compact work. Right from the beginning the movie wastes no time(a trait many zombie films share), throwing you into it unexpectedly fast. Most horror movies have a time of lengthy buildup, with creepy foreshadowing as we get to know the characters and try and guess who will live. Not so with zombie movies, for the most part. Right from the opening scene the action starts with a surprise death that gives us no time to wonder about who will live through the movie, introducing all the characters as the horror unfolds. It took me awhile to realize what Romero was doing here, how he wastes no moment of film progressing the story, and yet none of the characters ever explain the plot to the audience. Every scene without dialogue, where the characters are doing things like boarding up windows and doors, has a voice over from a radio announcement or TV news story, filling the audience in on whats going on out in the real world without pausing the film's action. The movie is tight and fast moving despite basically setting all the action in a small, claustrophobic setting that never changes throughout the film.

A lot of talk goes into the end of the movie, and the famous image of Ben, a black man, fighting off the groping hands of the all-white zombies. George Romero says this was never a political statement, that Duane Jones was chosen only for his acting ability not the color of his skin. And while I can't imagine that the thought never once crossed his mind during production on the film, I'm inclined to believe it was only a happy accident that dovetailed nicely with one of the underlying themes of the movie. It may be at it's most subtle here, but this movie definitely showcases Romero's left leaning political views without once becoming preachy, or shoving it's ideology down your throat.

The same might not be able to be said about his sequel, Dawn of the Dead, but this film was never once meant to be subtle. Humorous, dramatic, with more action and a much larger scale than the first movie ever imagined, this is the movie that will haunt Romero to his grave. No matter what he does, it will most likely be compared(probably unfairly) to this masterpiece. Where 'Night...' started abruptly, this movie throws you right into the maelstrom. It may take multiple viewings to pick up on all the information thrown at you as the camera cuts between a frenzied newscast trying to keep people informed about the rising zombies(despite the decade between the movies, this one may as well take place concurrently with Night) and a swat team raiding a tenement building whose occupants aren't quite ready for marshal law.

The movie slows down significantly after this scene, taking it's time getting to that famous mall where the majority of the movie is set. Again the main thrust of this movie is a small group of survivors holed up against a growing zombie horde. The difference here is that the survivors aren't hoping for rescue, but are in fact escaping civilization as the zombies begin to outnumber the living. All zombie movies have the not-so-subtle implication that the zombies are us, that people as a whole are mindless and ever-hungry consumers, but this movie twists it in a way. While the movie is always fun and over the top and comic-book in style, the subtext is incredibly bleak. In this film the zombies aren't the threat, the humans are. In fact our group of survivors carve out a nice little life for themselves, and even get to work repopulating their shopping mall sanctuary. The zombie threat is eventually banished from their lives, and all they have to fear is boredom as they create the ultimate in luxury living. It isn't until a passing group of human scavengers notices the mall that their paradise is lost. In this movie the zombies may be the ever present threat, but it's humanity that opened the doors for them, making it all too easy for the zombie to replace the living human.

Despite this bleak message, the movie is, as I mentioned, pretty fun. The pinnacle of zombie apocalypse wish fulfillment. We all secretly want an apocalypse, or at least some major event that thins the herd a bit, but in a way where the people we love or respect are left alive. Zombies give us the best possibility, in that as long as we keep our wits about us it really isn't that hard to avoid or destroy the immediate threat to our lives. Plus, who doesn't want to occasionally pop a cap in that mouth breather who, say, talks through a movie on his cellphone. As you can see, zombies offer the best of all possible ends to our way of life.

That isn't necessarily the message of Romero's next, and for awhile considered his last, zombie film, Day of the Dead. For awhile I only saw Day of the Dead as a disappointing case of 'what if?' What if Romero had been able to film this movie as he originally scripted it? What if budget were no problem and all those action set-pieces were up there on film? I no longer think that would be a very good idea. Some directors do their best work with limitations in place, and I think George Romero is one of those directors. My enjoyment of his films, with the exception of Dawn of the Dead, generally seems to go down the higher his budget goes.

Day of the Dead has the weakest story of the series, and a cast of thoroughly unlikable characters played by mostly mediocre actors. After a characteristically strong opening scene, featuring a horde of zombies shuffling through a decimated Florida city, the movie moves to a series of claustrophobic bunkers where a dwindling group of survivors work for the military to find a possible cure. The movie never picks up after that opening until the climax, and the bulk of the movie is watching unlikable, unwashed people yell and bicker amongst themselves. Without much story to hang the movie on, Romero throws out the cleverness of his exposition from the previous films and merely has the characters explain whats going on in the world around them. Also, the mistake of too much information is made here, as Romero attempts to explain why and how the zombies have begun roaming the Earth. Explanations are rarely interesting to me, not because I like mystery(although I do), but because the reasons for events are rarely good enough. Such is the case here, and he demystifies and humanizes the zombies a bit too much. Aside from a few scary scenes in a zombie corral, makeup and gore effects from Tom Savini that remain peerless to this day, and Bub, the movie falls flat.

In the 80s, Night of the Living Dead co-creator John Russo, who had fallen out with George Romero, decided to make his own sequels. Luckily for us film goers, first time director Dan O'Bannon got involved. O'Bannon, who had written Alien and other sci-fi/horror films, decided, wisely, that Romero had already done an excellent job with sequels, and really didn't want to step on his toes. And so we got this wild mix of comedy, gore and action that is both a sequel to, and a loving parody of George Romero's films, as well as a good standalone movie. The movie is funny throughout, but also scary as hell at times. The teeming hordes of zombies running(and wanting to eat brains, this time) after our heroes is every bit as scary as anything in the original movies, and the two characters who slowly become zombies, although used for comedic effect, are quite disturbing. Part 2 was majorly disappointing, being mainly a remake of part 1 with diminishing returns, but part 3 was actually pretty good. And is it wrong of me to say that the zombie girl gets progressively hotter the more zombified she becomes? Probably. But true. Just look at her!

Night of the Living Dead spawned, as you can see, a bunch of sequels and COUNTLESS imitations, some good, some bad, but many profitable. Night made a lot of people a lot of money, but unfortunately George Romero was not one of them. In an attempt to at last make money off this series, he enlisted Tom Savini to direct a remake of the original Night in 1990. It's an impressive film debut from Mr. Savini(who previously had directed Tales from the Darkside episodes), keeping most of the beats from the original, although the movie is missing most of the political undertones that Romero usually litters his films with. Mainly it's a showcase for Savini's always impressive effects, but beyond that it's a pretty tight and suspenseful horror film. More forgettable than the original, but in no way a bad movie. Unfortunately Romero's timing was off. A decade later and he may have actually made a fair amount of money on this deal, but as it was the zombie fad had died out.

Check back with me tomorrow as I continue about zombies for awhile and go over some notable, non-Romero related films.

Bits and Pieces

I'm short on time today, but what else is new. My time restrictions are a little tighter today, so I'm going to do a quick rundown of some horror-themed reading material.


I work in a comic shop, which means that lately most of my reading has been of the 4-color kind. A lot of people tend to look down on that, even if they can appreciate that comics can be intellectually stimulating, it's still seen as a guilty pleasure. Frankly, I'm okay with that, even though I think a lot of comic writers deserve recognition from circles larger than just the comic book 'geeks'. My recommendation is one of those writers.


Anybody who's visited this blog more than once has probably heard me mention Warren Ellis, if not you've probably seen the link to his website on the right side of your screen. He's one of the most prolific writers in comics today, with never less than 4 series going on at the same time. He writes constantly, with varying levels of quality, but when he's good, he's peerless. Well, he's maybe second to Alan Moore, but no one today is at that level. One of the most interesting things about Mr. Ellis' career is his dedication to smaller, more personal projects while still continuing his higher-profile work for larger publishers. One of these books is Fell, a slight experiment in form, with it being much shorter than a normal comic, but without any advertisements, each issue being a self contained story, and all cheaper than just about any other book out there. He's stated that his reason for this book is the sympathy he felt for fans at conventions who wanted him to sign blank pieces of paper, saying they just can't afford to buy comics regularly.


Fell plays right into my interests, with it's incredibly creepy and disturbingly gruesome mysteries, and the fact that it's all self-contained. I've been really interested in condensing information lately, getting out as much information as possible for the least amount of exposition. Fell, despite having only 22 pages to tell an entire story, never overcrowds the panel with dialogue or narration. Warren Ellis has always had respect for the artist, and always gives enough room for the art to convey the emotion. Speaking of the art, Ben Templesmith gained fame in horror circles for 30 Days of Night(probably one of the most overrated comics in recent years, by the way), but his art never really impressed me before now. He's a great artist, but he always struck me as wrong for comics, since his style is so abstract. It's usually too dark and sketchy to make out any action. With Fell, however, he reigns back his normal style and makes it much more linear and clearer to the eye without losing anything of what makes his art unique.

The book only has 6 issues out so far, and since it's one of Warren Ellis' 'personal' projects, it's not very regular, but it's worth getting into. Ironically enough the book has gone through multiple printings, and finding the first couple issues of this 'cheap' comic could be quite pricey.









On the subject of Warren Ellis, I must also recommend the series 'Planetary'. It isn't a horror book by any means, but it should appeal to any horror fan(they go to Monster Island in one issue. Another has a giant Praying Mantis). Now is a GREAT time to get into the series, and I say that because the final issue just came out last week. The reason it's great to get into this series now that it's over is because you can read the entire story in one go, as opposed to the interminable wait we fans had during it's regular run. Although the final issue came out last week, the previous issue came out in 2005.


Now that the series is over, I can't say that it's the greatest comic book currently being published, which rest assured it was during most of it's run. The series starts slowly, and may be off putting to some readers due it's format. The series follows a team of archaeologists who specialize in the bizarre, and these people don't take a very active role in events for the first part of the run. It's weird, the book ending just before, or starting just after, big events take place. Big events happen, but you usually only hear about them for awhile. Once the book picks up though, everything becomes worthwhile, as mysteries unfold so ingeniously that you often don't even realize there's a mystery there until it's solved. The book is really an outlet for Warren Ellis' varied ideas, and a place to play around with every genre imaginable, touching on horror, sci-fi, superheroes, mysticism, 50s style sci-fi, aboriginal legends, and metaphysical philosophies.




It really is an excellent book, and well worth the money spent on a collection of trade paperbacks. So go buy it!

Most Influential Part 2

[Author's Note; So yes, I missed yesterday's post. Both lack of time and an all around lack of energy conspired to make me miss my earlier pledge to post daily on this site. I apologize. I have decided not to make up for it by posting twice today, since that doesn't really help my original goal. I did this not only as a tribute to Halloween, the greatest time of the year, but also to kick start my floundering writing habits. Trying to write to full posts in one day wouldn't help me regain momentum, it would probably just tire me out. Maybe I'll go past my original deadline by a day or two and add it to the end of this project.]

A few posts back I wrote about The Shining as one of the most influential films on my life. This is another. That doesn't mean this film is an outright classic, or even that it's held to a higher standard than others in my collection. What I'm referring to is the effect it had on my life, if it actually added to the collection of personal quirks and tics that make up my personality. In that regard today's film(s) is very influential indeed.

The Blob has always been one of my favorite movie monsters, up there with Godzilla or The Creature From The Black Lagoon. Certainly it doesn't have the sympathetic qualities of most monsters, such as Frankenstein or aforementioned Creature, and it definitely doesn't have the style of, say Dracula, but the Blob has something a bit harder to define that's always captivated me. It's an overall sense of doom and dread that most monsters don't get. Something akin to zombies, although both are usually seen as a bit hokey. The Blob has no mind, no rules by which you might stay alive, and it's unavoidable, inescapable, and damn near indestructible. All it does is slowly devour everything around it, growing exponentially as it does so. It's the type of fear I've always enjoyed most, and it's one of the rare occasions that it's pulled up with some top-notch gooey effects.

The first Blob film I saw was, I'm sorry to say, the 1988 remake. I was ten when it came out, and I don't remember when I actually got to see it, but it was probably on cable, and most likely a couple years after it's theatrical release. Before that I had long been interested in the Blob due to the countless books about 50s sci-fi movies I would check out from the library, mainly for their pictures. The original film is a good, fun time, and completely indicative of what was going on in popular culture at the time. Movies, music and other forms of entertainment were being marketed towards kids in much higher volume than in any other time in the 20th century, and The Blob exemplifies this by making the kids the heroes, and the parents just don't understand the threat until it's almost too late. I really can't think of much to say about this film that hasn't already been said, so I don't think I'll try. It should be noted, however, that the theme song kicks ass, and everyone in Alaska should be VERY worried about global warming releasing the Blob from it's prison.

Jack H. Harris tried to get a sequel off the ground, but was unable to until the 70s, when he got the assistance of, of all people, Larry Hagman. Larry Hagman directed the film, and to call it a good film would be misleading, although it certainly isn't without it's enjoyment factor. I think it's a good film, but I realize I'm more than a little biased. The film isn't scary, but I don't think it's trying to be. It's also not funny, at least, not in the way I'm sure the filmmakers intended. To give an example, Dick Van Patten's comedic relief character did nothing but give my girlfriend the heebie jeebies whenever he showed up.

The plot concerns a stereotypical African American man-slovenly, with a jive-talking growl and bickering with his wife as he settles into his easy chair to eat and watch TV-who brings home a frozen piece of the Blob and stores it in his freezer, next to the steaks. There's no explanation for this, no attempt to explain why this man would have a piece of the Blob, or why he thought putting it in his freezer was a good idea. The film is ALMOST a parody of the original Blob, but it mainly comes off as a parody of itself, and although it may not have many of the hallmarks of a good film, it's nevertheless enjoyable and goofy and great for a gathering of friends.


The 1998 remake, on the other hand, is everything that Beware!... was not. Capitalizing quite well on the inherent terror of the Blob, this time casting the titular monster as a mutated government experiment gone wrong and loose in a small Midwestern town. It's definitely an 80s film, although that mainly surfaces in the styles and lingo the kids use. In this film the kids are again cast as the heroes, and the adults do everything they can to not listen. The effects used for the Blob in this one are never less than disgusting, in particular the death scenes that show the blob slowly devouring people layer by layer. First the skin, then muscles, then bone. I know it's not fashionable to like remakes, but this one is actually quite good. One of the better mainstream horror movies of the late 80s, with an always appreciated appearance by David Lynch regular Jack Nance.



This movie had two effects on me. One; when I clean out my garbage disposal it never crosses my mind that it might turn on accidentally, but I'm always a bit worried the blob might be down there. And second: if you ever watch a movie in the theatre with me, and you pay close enough attention, you'll see me look up to the ceiling just to make sure the blob isn't about to pick me out of my seat.

Weirdsville, USA

One of the most well-remembered shows from my youth is Eerie, Indiana. The show ran from 1991-1992 as I was entering my teens, and it fed my appetite for the bizarre and supernatural at a time where I was still a bit too squeamish for most horror films. It's available on DVD now in a complete collection, sadly missing is any form of extras, but for a show this cool having it on DVD is worth it alone. Joe Dante was a creative consultant, and frequent episode director, on the show, which featured other fine directors such as Bob Balaban(Parents) and Tim Hunter(The Rivers Edge). If the talent lineup is any indication to you, this family show was mature in a way that may surprise a lot of modern audiences. It was creepy-fun in a way that most Joe Dante projects are, but it was still surprising to me as to how dark some of these episodes became.

The show was a lot like a kids version of the X-Files(but before there was an X-Files). The two heroes, Marshal and Simon, are the only people in the town of Eerie Indiana who realize that it's the center of weirdness for the whole world, and each episode showcases another adventure they have in trying to gather evidence to show the world. Most often they don't try to prove anything to anyone, and instead merely catalog the evidence in their cluttered attic. The difference between this and other shows of the supernatural is that the show often doesn't try to explain the weirdness, or sometimes even resolve it. Often it just shows that the world is a strange place, and it's always going to be that way. It's a great message for kids that today would have to be wildly toned down from it's original dark roots.

One episode in particular has Marshal(our hero) vying with his best friend for the affections of the new girl in school, who also happens to have a heart condition and moved to Eerie so she could hopefully get a transplant(Eerie, Indiana is the best place to be if you need an organ quick). In the midst of the two friends showing off for the girl, Marshal's friend is hit by a car and dies, his heart ending up inside the new girl. To further complicate matters, every time Marshal goes to kiss his new love, she has what can only be described as a mild heart attack. To cap it off, there's an ending shot that may either be a throwaway joke or an implication that the girl dies in the end. That's probably off-putting to a lot of adults who never watched the show, but it really isn't that bad.

We have a tendency to look back on these stories of our youth and become shocked at how upsetting they are, but we all forget what it was like as a kid. Terry Gilliam has a great quote, which I'm going to boil down to it's essence here, that 'kids are the smartest audience'. Basically what we see as dark and scary kids see as a great adventure. We really underestimate what kids can process, and as a result end up homogenizing their entertainment. And that's a shame, because as a parent I'd really like for my daughter to have something like this, and it just doesn't exist anymore. Sure, she can watch my DVDs, but really, each generation should have it's own things, nostalgia isn't THAT healthy, especially when passed down the line.

Other episodes were often less dark, but never less weird, ranging from families keeping their children in large Tupperware containers so they never age, dogs plotting to overthrow their human captors, a vast underground storage area for every lost item in the US, and a sentient tornado that benevolently visits the town every year, avoiding doing any damage as long as the townspeople throw a festival. The highlight, and most surprising thing about the show, was a 4th wall shattering episode towards the end of the series that is more clever and unique than most episodic television, kids show or not. For this episode alone, which I will not spoil here, it's worth the price of the box set.

As far as complaints go, my only one is that the series ended too soon. That's a common complaint when something you like isn't around anymore, but in this case it's doubly true. The show was cancelled quickly into it's second season, leaving the back story of Dash X, the white-haired, amnesiac, sometime-friend sometime-nemesis of our heroes woefully incomplete. It's obvious the producers had an overarching story in mind, but with only 5 episodes the only hint we get is that it may involve an elderly alien who was stranded on earth for over a century. Other than that, though, the show was just as good as I remembered it.

I don't think it's just nostalgia tinting my vision. I think the show really is that good. Or at least that interesting, and definitely something that wouldn't be on the air today, at least not in this fashion. Just look at the late 90s remake for the Fox Kids block, which was watered down past the point of blandness. It really is a shame, because the world needs something like this today, fun and creepy and imagination-inspiring. Check it out!

Halloween Hootenanny!

It's always been a marvel to me how under appreciated surf music is. Oh sure it saw a minor resurgence in popularity in the mid-90s thanks to Quentin Tarantino, but to most people it's been a primarily unknown genre. Mention you like surf music to about 70% of the population, and be prepared to follow that up with 'you know, like that song from Pulp Fiction'. This response is even more surprising once you realize how many of these people really like surf once they hear it. And still it's an under appreciated genre. No one starts playing surf tunes to become a big rock star. Which is a shame, because despite the often simplistic song structures, it takes a lot of skill to play that music. Before I finally saw pictures of him, I imagined Dick Dale with an arm like a fiddler crab, he played so fast. And so, today I hope my post will have a twofold benefit; that I tell you about some great, horror themed music, but also that I turn you on to some really rockin' music. Probably the greatest form of music in the world.

I should mention I'm musically uneducated. It's like that old saying, 'I know what I like'. That may seem a bit lowbrow, but truly, I consider myself someone with pretty good musical taste, but I have no idea about the technical side of the art. Don't expect a lot on that.

There's a pretty big sub genre of surf music that seems as much informed by the old Universal monsters as they are by Dick Dale or The Ventures. I don't know what it is about horror or sci-fi that appeals to so many surf musicians, but damned if it doesn't fit. It probably has something to do with how geeky a lot of these artists are, and indicative of their lack of interest in widespread fame. Not to say they wouldn't like fame, it's just they all probably realize there's better paths to follow to get there. You try naming a surf band beyond the ones I've mentioned or the Beach Boys. And no, Rik, I'm not talking to you. So below are a few bands that would make some great, fun and spooky background music for whatever your celebration plans this Halloween.


My favorite surf band-Man... or Astroman?- may not technically be spooky or horror themed, but so steeped are they in late-night matinee culture that they deserve to be on this list. The basic back story for the band is that they are a group of aliens that have crash-landed on Earth and are using the cover of being in a band to disguise their true reasons for travelling around the world, which is to recover the pieces of their spacecraft. Now, if that sounds a little off putting in it's weirdness, don't worry, this isn't a band like Gwar, where they dress up and never let go of the image. In fact the only time this really comes into play, outside of the CD liner notes, is in their live shows where they call the audience members 'earthlings'.




To give you an accurate idea of what kind of band this is, they commonly perform the MST3K theme song live, and nearly every song contains samples from 50's sci-fi movies. This band is best described as nerd-rock, right up there with They Might Be Giants, with songs like U-Uranus(all about the planet, of course), and the entire album EEVIAC is basically a reference to ENIAC, the first large scale digital computer. Song titles can be equally as nerdy, such as 'Multi-Variational Stimuli Of Sub-Turgid Foci Covering Cross Evaluative Techniques'. This band truly rocks, and belongs in any true music lovers collection. A good place to start is Experiment Zero, a full length album containing some of their best, most consistent work. Move on to Deluxe Men In Space, which is a short album of really only 4 songs, but those are 4 of the best instrumentals you're likely to hear in a long while. Listen to it and just TRY and sit still. For a better look at their sci-fi side, check out Destroy all Astromen. Actually, check out anything pre-EEVIAC, because after that they become a bit more experimental and stop writing actual songs so much, instead messing around with weird frequencies and a lot of white noise.
Essential Track: Maximum Radiation Level; Deluxe Men In Space


Rob Zombies record label, Zombie A Go-Go, put out a small string of excellent horror-themed surf, including a couple of quite good anthologies, and two artists of note; The Bomboras and The Ghastly Ones. The Ghastly Ones only released one album, A Haunting We Will Go Go, and it was pretty damn fun. The entire album played out as a soundtrack to a really neat cross between Scooby Doo, Mexican Luchadore films, and mad scientist monster mashes. Apart from that, though, the album suffered from generic, although competent and enjoyable , tunes. The Bomboras, however, have released a relatively large catalog, and everything I've been exposed to has been incredible. The standout is Head Shrinking Fun, which comes in a package mimicking old Milton Bradley board games, and nonstop driving surf music. They slow down a bit with their collection of singles, appropriately called Swingin' Singles, which really does evoke a more laid back, swanky, kinda Playboy At Night vibe.

Essential Track: Land of the One Percenters; Head Shrinking Fun

Despite their name(taken from the60's film Satan's Sadists), to my knowledge Satan's Pilgrims only ever did on album of entirely spooky material, and although it isn't really as fast paced as the previous bands, it is probably the perfect soundtrack to your party. Peppy enough to be entertaining and noticeable, but low-key enough to to not intrude on whatever else your doing, with lots of nice, creaky sound effects. Satan's Pilgrims are probably most closely related to The Ventures, with clear concise picking taking the place of lightning quick finger work.
Essential Track: Ran-goon; Creature Feature

Deadbolt may come close to living up to their self-imposed nickname of Scariest Band In The World, but their obvious sense of humor might just hold them back a bit. The songs are funny, but VERY blue, and done with a completely straight face. To really enjoy this band you should make sure you wont be offended by necrophilia, clown sex, or brutal violence. They aren't your typical surf, but rockabilly doesn't describe them either. Since the music is so similar in each track, you're supposed to pay attention to the lyrics, which are mainly about voodoo and the troubles caused by it. In many respects they owe more to the Cramps than any actual surf band. It's a grimy soundscape that Deadbolt describes, and just about everything they've done can be seen as describing one world, and that world sure wouldn't be fun to live in, but great to listen to.
Essential Track: Jimmies Grave; Zulu Death Mask

Well... I'm running out of time today, but this was fun, so I might just have to continue this later. Keep your eyes peeled for my track list of the greatest Halloween CD never sold in stores. Hope you enjoy these songs, and hope they turn you on to some new artists.