Columns Archives - Page 24 of 30 - Cemetery Dance Online

Al Sarrantonio: The Weird King of Halloween

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 28, 2017April 23, 2017RevelationsAl Sarrantonio, Columns, Kevin Lucia, RevelationsLeave a comment

I first encountered Al Sarrantonio the same way others most likely did; in his Orangefield Cycle, which regales the tale of the strange Pumpkin Capitol of Orangefield, New York, through the novels Halloweenland, Hallows Eve, Horrorween and the novellas The Pumpkin Boy and Hornets. In Orangefield, strange things happen around Halloween. People die mysteriously, create suicide pacts, conduct pagan rituals, and see strange things from other worlds. Like the mythical Pumpkin Boy, a robot with a pumpkin for a head. Or Samhain himself, trying to take advantage of Halloween’s thin dimensional walls in his repeated attempts to sneak into our world as the advance scout of an unholy army lead by something far worse. Continue Reading

‘Thinner’ and the Blame Game

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 21, 2017April 12, 2017What I Learned from Stephen KingColumns, Jason Sechrest, Stephen King, Thinner, What I Learned from Stephen KingLeave a comment

What I Learned from Stephen King by Jason Sechrest

“There are no curses, only mirrors you hold up to the souls of men and women.” – Stephen King, Thinner

A disclaimer before we begin: As is the case with most of these doo-dads, there are spoilers ahead for those who have not read Thinner. More spoilers than usual in fact, as I found it necessary to employ the book’s end in my final analysis. If you, Constant Reader, should wish to check out now, we will hold no grudge, nor lay the blame. For if there is anything to be learned from Thinner (and I believe there is, or I would not have written said doo-dad), it is that blame is like a spinning wheel. Round and round and round she goes… Continue Reading

“An Island Unto Herself” and “Vicious Cycle”

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 14, 2017April 12, 2017Exhumed"An Island Unto Herself", "Vicious Cycle", Barry Hoffman, Cemetery Dance #1, Cemetery Dance #26, Columns, Exhumed, K. Edwin Fritz5 Comments

Hello again, folks. This is the 6th installment of monthly double reviews studying the structure of great horror fiction published in our beloved Cemetery Dance.

Last time I reviewed two Bentley Little titles: “The Janitor” from Cemetery Dance #1 (1988) and “We” from Cemetery Dance #64 (2010). This marked the 2nd time my little column compared an older and a newer story from the same author. I know I liked it, and readers seemed to as well.

Fortunately, I get to do this again this month with a pair of Barry Hoffman stories. His two pieces were published in Cemetery Dance in 1988 and 1997. And while they may not be separated by the two full decades like we saw with Mr. Little, Mr. Hoffman’s stories nevertheless show both growth over this span of time as well as a certain, unique thematic element.

Let’s see if you can figure it out before I connect those dots…Continue Reading

Why Jason Loves the ’80s More Than You

Cemetery Dance OnlineApril 7, 2017April 2, 2017Video VisionsColumns, Freddy Krueger, Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives, Hunter Shea, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Video Visions3 Comments

People ask me all the time who the next Jason, Michael or Freddy will be. I tell them there’s a better chance of a Glenn Miller-hip hop genre emerging on pop radio than ever seeing the likes of our favorite killing machines from the ’80s. They were a product of a very special time in horror cinema. The best we’ve been able to come up with since then is Saw. A puppet and dying old dude really don’t shiver me timbers. Continue Reading

My First Fright featuring D.J. MacHale

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 13, 2017March 12, 2017My First FrightAre You Afraid of the Dark?, Columns, D.J. Machale, John Brhel, My First Fright1 Comment

I’m a big fan of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, the horror/fantasy TV series that ran on Nickelodeon back in the ’90s and early 2000s (if you’re unfamiliar, think Tales From The Crypt Jr., or The Twilight Zone for kids). The show wasn’t my first introduction to horror, but it definitely helped fuel my then-burgeoning interest in the genre. Seen by millions over the last few decades, Are You Afraid of the Dark? is likely the first fright for more than a few writers pounding out spooky fiction today. So, I couldn’t help but wonder, what would it be like to interview the brain behind the show, an architect of First Frights himself, and find out what, in turn, inspired him.Continue Reading

“The Janitor” and “We”

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 8, 2017March 5, 2017Exhumed"The Janitor", "We", Bentley Little, Columns, Exhumed, K. Edwin Fritz3 Comments

Hello again, folks. This is the fifth installment of monthly double reviews studying the structure of great horror fiction published in our beloved Cemetery Dance.

Last time I reviewed my favorite story from Cemetery Dance #1, Anke M. Kriske’s “The Departing of Debbie” and William Peter Blatty’s semi-controversial “Terry and the Werewolf” from Cemetery Dance #62 (2009).

If you want to know about some really great early horror fiction and/or give your respect to our recently-lost great, Mr. Blatty, do please check it out.

This month, I’m going to review 2 stories from the same author, a man who is clearly one one of Cemetery Dance’s favorite repeat contributors based on the fact that he’s been published in Cemetery Dance numbers 1, 2, 4, 7, 13, 14, 34, 36, 39, 50, 64, and 71. He has been published by CD more than only one other author (that’s a column for another day), and has been there since the beginning.

His name is Mr. Bentley Little.

Let’s get to it…Continue Reading

Epilogue, Part Two

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 3, 2017March 2, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the RoadLeave a comment

Twenty Years Ago

Now

Tomorrow

Twenty Years From Now

Eventually, the road leads you here. Continue Reading

Those Crazy Swedes

Cemetery Dance OnlineMarch 2, 2017February 19, 2017Video VisionsColumns, Hunter Shea, John Carpenter, The Thing, Video Visions2 Comments

John Carpenter’s The Thing was one of the very first VHS tapes I ever bought because it was, and still is, my hands-down favorite horror movie. Coming in at #2 is Alien. I’m a sucker for flicks with isolated, well-defined characters getting picked off by terrifying creatures. That also explains my infatuation with The Descent.

The Thing tape had a shelf all by its lonesome, a place of special importance, flanked by posters of Loni Anderson and Samantha Fox. Aside from being creepy, gory and this side of awesome, The Thing was also associated with a very special memory.

It’s the movie that made my father throw up. Continue Reading

Stephen King: News from the Dead Zone #195

Bev VincentFebruary 28, 2017March 6, 2017Stephen King News from the Dead Zone1922, Bev Vincent, castle rock, Columns, Gerald's Game, Gwendy's Buttons, It, Mr. Mercedes, News from the Dead Zone, Stephen King, The Dark Tower, The Mist4 Comments

Castle Rock.

A little town in the lakes region of Maine, just south and west of Lewiston-Auburn, population somewhat less than two thousand. Not much to make it stand out from all of the other little places in the state. The founders made full use of the Castle name. Castle View is right next door. Nearby bodies of water are the Castle Stream, Castle River and Castle Lake, and the town is the county seat of Castle County. The more affluent people live on Castle Hill.Continue Reading

Epilogue, Part One

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 24, 2017February 22, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road1 Comment

November 16, 2016

Brian and his oldest son have spent a week in Seattle. His oldest son, now twenty-five, is a social worker by day, and a budding rock guitarist by night. He is a fan of Alice In Chains, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Mother Love Bone, and the rest of the grunge-era music (which is now considered classic rock—something that makes Brian feel that full weight of fifty that he knows will be drawing down on him next year). Given this, Seattle makes sense for what will be their first father and son vacation since the now-young-man was ten years old.Continue Reading

Charles L. Grant, Part 2: The Short Stories

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 23, 2017February 23, 2017RevelationsA Glow of Candles, Black WIne, Charles L. Grant, Columns, Kevin Lucia, Revelations, Scream Quietly, Tales from the Nightside5 Comments

Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.

This sentiment haunts me. It has since I first heard it quoted by Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. The quote in its entirety, by Henry David Thoreau, is even more chilling:

The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation, and go to the grave with the song still in them.

The implications make me shiver. Most men lead lives of quiet desperation. Most of us are gripped by worry, anxiety, fear, and a crippling helplessness. But it’s repressed deeply inside; quiet, restrained, shackled, bringing us to the brink of madness without ever quite plunging us over the edge. And in the end, we go to the grave with the song still in us, never able to express what we wanted to—needed to—while shuffling through this numbing thing called “life.”Continue Reading

Full Circle

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 17, 2017February 16, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road5 Comments

The second to last weekend of October, I made my way up north again, this time for the Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival in Haverhill, Massachusetts—a mass-signing event organized by Christopher Golden and involving about twenty or thirty horror authors. Podcast co-host Dave Thomas accompanied me for this part of the tour, and we stayed at the home of author James A. Moore.Continue Reading

R.I.P. Fangoria and a Plea for Uncle Bob

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 15, 2017February 13, 2017Horror Drive-InBob Martin, Columns, Fangoria, Horror Drive-In, Mark Sieber1 Comment

I admit it. I’m an old softie. Yes, longtime gorehound that I am, horror reader, rough and tough machinist for the Navy, I am a sentimental fool sometimes. When I read that Fangoria as a print magazine is almost certainly gone, I got teary-eyed.Continue Reading

Home Movies

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 10, 2017February 10, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road1 Comment

Mary SanGiovanni and I have a ritual when we curl up on the couch at nine o’clock in the evening and watch television together. I always pick the first movie, and she always picks the second. We do this because I am always ready for bed by eleven at night, and Mary often stays up until one or two in the morning—and also because she likes to pick the worst horror movies you’ve ever seen. Continue Reading

That Guy

Cemetery Dance OnlineFebruary 3, 2017February 2, 2017Brian Keene's End of the RoadBrian Keene, Columns, End of the Road1 Comment

In early October, Mary and I climbed into the Jeep and drove from Pennsylvania to Louisville, Kentucky, where we were both guests at a fairly new convention called Imaginarium. The organizers put on an excellent event. It is geared primarily towards writers, and it encompasses all genres. I highly recommend investing the money and traveling to the next Imaginarium, particularly if you are a beginning author. There were some fantastic, informative panels, and some wonderful networking opportunities.Continue Reading

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