Before the days of of graphic, torturous horror movies that do nothing more than splash blood and gore across the screen, there were monsters….`

Kids spent what little change they had to sit in a darkened theater and get their shivers from larger than life creatures that would later on be haunting the shadows under the bed, lurking in closets, and spawning hundreds of remakes for years to come.

Right now we have an awesome selection of old school monster movies that may just make you remember all the things that can go bump in the night:

Dracula (1931) – The grand classic starring Bela Lugosi as the eerie blood sucker from Transylvania who sets out to turn innocent young women into vampires.

Frankenstein (1931) – The mad scientist who pieces together lifeless body parts to create one of the most memorable monsters of the silver screen, played by Boris Karloff.

The Mummy (1932) – Boris Karloff appears again, this time as Im-Ho-Tep, an Egyptian high priest who after being embalmed alive, is revived 1000’s of years later. He awakens and attempts to find his lost love.  Not only is this a scary one, but Karloff managed to tug at the old heartstrings a little with his tortured soul in love. That is devotion, man.

The Invisible Man (1933) – Based on the novel by H.G. Wells, this film stars Claude Rains as a mysterious doctor who discovers a serum to make him invisible. However, the serum slowly drives him to commit unspeakable acts of terror.

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) – Boris Karloff returns as the misunderstood monster who longs for a mate and twisted Dr. Frankenstein is only too happy to comply and brings to life one freaky bride (Elsa Lanchester).

Phantom of the Opera (1943) – Another Claude Rains monster. This time he is a crazed, disfigured composer bent on revenge towards those who stole his music.

Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954) – In my opinion, one of the freakier monsters of old. A “living amphibious missing link” who gets captured by scientists,  falls in love with the scientist’s female assistant, escapes, kidnaps the girl and tries to evade the rescue team. I get a little shiver just thinking about him!

Night of the Living Dead (1968) – The zombie movie that redefined the horror genre for Hollywood and made a household name of George A. Romero and launched numerous sequels, remakes and copycats.

So if you feel like being scared by all the classic boogeymen, then come visit us and peruse our Wall O’ Ghoul…er Cool.

Sweeeet Dreams…muahahahahahahaha!!

I am not usually drawn to the horror genre as far as movies go. I think real life is scary enough without the added bonus of having violent monster dreams.

The exception for me is the horror/comedy. I adore Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland. Those zombies scare me a little less because the quippy gems coming from the main characters ease the blood and gore splashing across the screen. So when I saw a film in our New Release section titled I Sell the Dead, I became instantly intrigued.

The film stars Dominic Monaghan (Lord of the Rings, Lost) as Arthur Blake, a criminal sentenced to death for corpse snatching. He tells the tale of how he got into his particular line of work to a gruff priest name Father Duffy, played by Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Sons of Anarchy), who is there to document Arthur’s final words.

Arthur’s partner in crime is Willie Grimes (Larry Fessenden, who also produced), a well weathered thief who shows young Arthur the ins and outs of dealing with the dead. Their relationship is amusing and by the end of the film, out right hilarious. No spoilers, but they definitely go to great lengths to defend each other.

Soon the pair find that the real money is in becoming “ghouls”. The difference between a grave robber and a ghoul is that a ghoul will steal anything. Dead or….undead. Their new job means handling all manner of unusual things. It also means dealing with the rival House of Murphy. A collection of freaky ghouls who don’t care for the new competition in the graveyard.

The writer/director Glenn McQuaid first had this story as a short film in 2005, but gained enough attention to make a feature. He does a phenomenal job of capturing the 19th century, Gothic horror look and feel to the film. Misty graveyards, perfect costumes and props, and great actors to embody his creepy characters. I like that the production value was not over the top. The use of lighting really helped tell a tale that took place mostly in dark cemeteries. I felt he spent most of his energy on character, story and the creatures,  which made every little effect pop that much more

As an added bonus to the DVD, there is also the graphic novel of the film included with the disc (McQuaid had many comic book scenes in the movie that just made it cooler) and a great behind the scenes documentary that shows all the fun stuff that comes with making a film.

All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. If you like old school horror, then you will enjoy this movie.

To quote Arthur, “Never trust a corpse.”

Dig it man.