Halloweeeeeeeeeeen!

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* The Myrant 2009 sketch store experiment has come to a close today; this week’s Patchwork Man sketch (right) is the end of the line.

Myrant will be changing in some significant ways between now and New Years Day 2010, and this marks the beginning of that transition.

I’m still going to keep posting new and vintage artwork for sale on a weekly basis, but now it’ll all be going over to the Comic Art Fans Gallery (see today’s post, above, in the Myrant sketch section). This frees up the topmost space in the daily Myrant blog post for something new and different!

There’s well over 120 pieces now up at CAF, and more to come. I’ll usually post a short announcement here when new work goes up, but the premiere pricing and dominance of the Myrant masthead is now officially over.

Keep your eyes peeled!
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* Meanwhile, The Vermont Monster Guide tour hits its Halloween stride tonight!

Though I’m done with all but a couple of upcoming November/December events for the book, my pal (and the book’s author) Joe Citro is still on the road.

and more. Mike Turner (who did makeup effects on Zombie Town and earlier helmed the prehistoric short film Primeval) debuted his new short film Dead Creek; Mike emailed me this morning to note the festival “was literally a packed house and the crowd was lively. People actually shrieked and gasped during my film so I was feeling sky high.” Congrats and I can’t wait to see Dead Creek, Mike!

Tonight, Joe will be lecturing about “Vermont Ghosts, Monsters and Madmen” at the Blake Memorial Library in East Corinth, VT.

For more info, phone (802) 439-5338 — it’ll be quite the Halloween event!

Note our upcoming appearances in November and December,

Joe was also on Vermont Public Radio on Thursday — with yours truly! — interviewed on Vermont Edition by VPR’s Jane Lindholm.

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* Earlier this month, Bart Croonenborghs from the Broken Frontiers staff contacted me inquiring whether I’d be up for joining their massive online party for Halloween.

I eagerly took Bart’s invite to heart, and my Broken Frontier guest blog post for Halloween is up and ready to read:

And hey, Bart — invite me back sometime soon, will ya?

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Psychokillers!!!

One more Halloween marathon suggestion from the pages of Blur Volume 4 –         

— to read about more, check out Blur Volume 4, which is available (at present) from Black Coat Press.

Psychokillers: Leave the Michael Myers/Jason/Freddie legacies to the younger set. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) is a prerequisite here. If you’ve never seen it, make it the first item in your Dinner-Hour-to-Dawn marathon. Assuming you’ve seen Psycho like all the rest of Western Civilization, let us proceed at dusk…

1. The Sadist (1962, aka Profile of Terror, Sweet Baby Charlie): This harrowing suspense-shocker based on the notorious Charlie Starkweather murder spree is finally on video thanks to Rhino. It unreels in real time, and shows what an inspired filmmaker can do with five characters, a junkyard, and a camera.

2. Paul Bartel’s Private Parts (1972): Forget the Howard Stern title, this is the real item, a pitch-black horror comedy set in a sordid California hotel jam-packed with eccentrics, deviants and crazies – and it co-stars Chip (Stanley Livington) from My Three Sons!

3. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974): Ignore the sequels, accept no substitutes. Despite the title, this is not a gorefest – there’s precious little onscreen blood-shed – but it remains one of the most horrific, nerve-wracking experiences in cinema, brilliantly crafted by a mongrel pack of Texan film students.

4. Santa Sangre (1989): An awe-inspiring, transcendental serial-killer epic by Alejandro Jodorowsky, founding father of the Midnight Movie with his blood-drenched zen-western El Topo.

5. Natural Born Killers (1994): Oliver Stone’s manic meditation on our media-pumped culture of violence may have been disowned by author Quentin Tarantino, but it’s still one of the keystones of the 1990s, and the ultimate psychokiller movie to date. Be sure to get the unrated director’s cut.

6. Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986): This one’s last because it cuts right to the bone. An unflinching, terrifying, believable snapshot of the real item – be prepared.

Subs: Peeping Tom (1960), The Honeymoon Killers (1970), Black Christmas (1974), Bay of Blood (Reazione a Catena, 1971; aka Twitch of the Death Nerve, Carnage, Last House Part II)