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Eric Brummer Electric Flesh, 1996
‘Electric Flesh is a riot of images thrown at you with maximum enthusiasm. Meaning is irrelevant. The only meaning is that this is cool. It’s a 15-year-old metalhead’s Algebra I notebook brought to life for eight minutes. Well, a chaste 15-year-old metalhead as most of the ones I know would have drawn massive dicks on all of these monsters, including the skull with batwings. That would have probably had dick wings, actually.’
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Piggy Soda Dog Nightmares – My New Best Friend!, 2024
‘Dog Nightmares follows Emily, a young woman who has lost her dog, Bailey. She tries looking for the pooch, only to end up rediscovering a strange dog-man hybrid she befriended as a kid. It’s told through her old childhood drawings, clips of the William Wegman shorts on TV, and eerie photographs and video footage of something lurking in the shadows. It’s a short series that packs a lot into its grim tales, with hints of domestic abuse, trauma, and insanity on top of its offputting canine creature.’
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Mike Heynes SCHLOCK! HORROR!, 2005
‘The souvenirs of a once great movie empire have been left to gather dust as the film industry embraces a brave new world of CGI. All that remained were a few moth-eaten props and end of the line merchandising gimmicks.’
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Unknown Untitled, 2021
‘This was included in an anonymous horror compilation.’
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Alluvium Valle Verde, 2022
‘Valle Verde takes the form of a VHS tape that Alluvium found in a metal box under a strange statue in the grounds of Parque Ecológico, La Plata, Argentina. It depicts a video game for the PS1 he had never heard of before. Aside from needing a peripheral called the ‘THBrain,’ it looked like a regular, Animal Crossing-esque life sim game. But as its on-screen avatar explores the world, it starts showing strange things.’
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Noble and Sue Webster Fucking Beautiful, 2000
‘Inspired in part by their drive to Glastonbury’s music festival, and their wait on a hillside, as the sun was setting, to hear a performance by David Bowie, the couple also cite the cover of Gary Numan’s ‘Warriors’ LP as an influence on this work. ‘We’ve ascended above the trash,’ says Sue Webster of The Undesirables, thus completing (in the tradition of nihilism) a classic circuit of Western romanticism.’
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Kane Pixels The Backrooms, 2022
‘On January 7th, 2022, interest in the Backrooms creepypasta was bolstered when a YouTube user named Kane “Pixels” Parsons released a viral found footage short about a camera operator who finds himself trapped in the Backrooms, unknowingly stalked by wire-like entities, one of which eventually decides to give chase. The video was given a VHS filter to disguise the CGI nature of the project, and many viewers were impressed with the lifelike camera movements that made the video feel real.’
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Starbag Figurebreeze Blackwater-EP, 2023
‘Blackwater-EP stands out from the crowd by being an analog horror musical. It chronicles a would-be serial killer roaming through his school with a video camera, picking out his victims. Then it jumps ahead 30 years to the school’s derelict ruins, where the killer returns to the scene of the crime. It makes for eerie viewing, especially in the first half where it looks like old 1980s camcorder footage. It may even be an actual old video repurposed for the project. Even with its freaky distortion, the video would be nothing special on mute.’
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Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg One Lost Egg, 2022
Styrofoam, epoxy putty, glass, resin, acrylic paint, polymer clay, metal wire
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Parker Boisvert Various, 2020-2024
‘Boisvert’s work often gets brought up in relation to analog horror, as it does have some grungy, live-action camera work among its stark, black-and-white animations. But it’s more personal and expressive. Appearing first in May 2020 via the _Boisvert YouTube channel, it follows an antler-headed figure trapped in their home trying to live without giving in to his demons. They’re a mix of figurative dark figures, representing depression, isolation, willpower, rage, and more. Or so the interpretation goes.’
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Kyle Edward Ball Heck, 2021
‘Heck feels like a prequel for Skinamarink, and Wikipedia confirms that Ball created it as a proof of concept for what he hoped would be a longer cinematic endeavor.’
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David Zink Yi Untitled (Architeuthis), 2013
‘According to the latest scientific research, a real-life architeuthis can grow to up to 46 ft long and lives in the sea at depths of up to 12,000 ft. It was only one year ago, in 2013, that an international research team managed to capture film footage of a giant deep-sea squid in its natural habitat – a world first, although the existence of giant squid had been scientifically established since the nineteenth century with the help of carcass parts washed up on beaches. Accordingly, David Zink Yi presents his architeuthis as an unmoving, lifeless form, pressed to the floor. It seems as if this deep-sea dweller too has been washed ashore and has perished, snatched away from its natural environment.’
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Alex Kister The Mandela Catalogue, 2022
‘The Mandela Catalogue is a series of videos spread across a series of VHS tapes. Some of them play out like instructional videos, others like surveillance footage. But they all feature people in Mandela County, Wisconsin, succumbing to mysterious figures called ‘Alternates.’ They’re shape-shifting creatures that take the form of other living things, then stalk their targets before eliminating them and taking their place. They can be indistinguishable from a person’s loved ones, human, animal, or otherwise until they attack. The Alternates can also affect TV and radio broadcasts, warping the videos and changing their messages. Their uncanny looks, using real police photofits, caught on quickly, freaking viewers out across the web. Alex Kister aims to continue the series, though after some behind-the-scenes drama, it may take a while to catch back on.’
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Sarah Sitkin Untitled, 2010
‘The idea of creating moulds of the human body came to artist Sarah Sitkin while she was talking to her grandmother. “She asked me to take a mould of her foot,” the LA-based creator explains. “She wanted me to make a prosthetic appliance to correct her overlapping toes. During the mould we had a conversation about the disconnection she was feeling between the foot she knew was hers and the foot that was before her.” This conversation ultimately led Sitkin to think about what it means to simply ‘have’ a body, and the “lifelong struggle to identify with our ever-changing physicality, to preserve it, and to maintain agency over it.”‘
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Greenio Super Mario 64: CLASSIFIED, 2023
‘Nintendo 64 launch title Super Mario 64 has inspired its odd urban legends, like how every cartridge is allegedly personalized for each owner. One person’s copy of the game will play better for them because it was designed for them specifically. It’s more of a joke, but the YouTube series Super Mario 64: CLASSIFIED wonders what it would be like if it were true. They take the form of VHS recordings of a broken demo build of Super Mario 64. Through each video, it gradually becomes apparent that Nintendo was hiding a very dark secret about the game’s creation, one that may threaten the world as a whole.’
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Gooseworx Ｄ Ｅ Ｅ Ｐ _ Ｂ Ｌ Ｕ Ｅ, 2020
‘At first, BLUE_CHANNEL doesn’t offer a lot. The first video, THE_BLUE_CHANNEL, is literally just a blue backdrop with VHS distortion and the word ‘BLUE’ superimposed on it, set to wonky music. Then DEEP_BLUE occasionally changes the aspect ratio, hides subliminal messages (“You don’t belong here”), and offers a better look at the creepy figure hidden at the end of THE_BLUE_CHANNEL.’
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Kerry Stewart The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You, 1993
‘A door, off white, by Kerry Stewart, has a frosted glass pane that reveals on the other side a charity collection box boy, the type once found on every high street.’
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Martin Walls The Walten Files, 2021
‘The Walten Files involves a Chuck E. Cheese-like animatronic restaurant. The story involves a man called Anthony coming across a set of videotapes from the defunct Bunny Smiles Company. They were behind the Bon’s Burgers restaurant, which mysteriously vanished in the 1980s. It stands out from the crowd as it’s an animated series. Its main videos gradually reveal the mystery behind Bon’s Burgers, its animatronics, and its founders, Jack Walten and Felix Kranken. The visuals are crude, which adds to the disturbing atmosphere each video builds up, and lore that’s just as dark and bloody as its video game-based forebear.’
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Stephen Krasner Untitled, 2015
‘In the 2015 horror movie The Devil’s Candy, artist and metalhead Jesse Hellman moves into a new home with his wife, Astrid, and daughter, Zooey. The previous owners of the home had died, leaving behind their son Ray who regularly hears the voice of the devil. Upon the death of his parents, Ray finds that he is no longer able to drown out the voice, and begins to murder children in the town. At the same time, Jesse begins to hear the same voice and, falling into a trance-like state, paints a horrifying scene of children’s faces, their eyes smudged with black and mouth open in silent screams. Among the faces is his own daughter, who grips her head in pain and is surrounded by red-hot flames. Ray turns his attention to Zooey, and as her parents fight to keep her safe, Jesse soon realizes that all the faces he has been painting are those of the missing and murdered children in the town.’
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Paul Catalanotto The Children Under the House, 2022
‘Julia Luu, a child therapist, finds that a young girl’s imaginary friends might be more than they seem.’
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Vinyl -Terror & -Horror Samtalekøkken, 2012
‘Vinyl -terror & -horror is a collaboration between Camilla Sørensen and Greta Christensen. We are working in the field of cinematic soundscapes with a high tolerance level of possible hi- fi disasters.’
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Rob Voerman Tarnung #3, 2009
‘I try to create the architecture of fictive communities living in remote areas or occupying existing city-landscapes. The communities will consist of a mixture of utopia, destruction and beauty, a symbiosis of hippie-communities from the seventies, with their often highly decorated self-build structures, the cabin of the Uni-bomber hidden in the Montana forests, art-deco and other influences. Romanticism combined with the grim qualities of terror. It is often a direct translation of destruction in a purely aesthetic form.’
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Kazuo Adamski Non-existent person portrait #193, 2024
oil on canvas F8 (455mm by 380mm), none sketch, none model, none training, no thinking
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Alex ‘Jadusable’ Hall The Father, 2020
‘Ben Drowned combined a written creepypasta about a haunted copy of The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask with video footage. The distorted music, glitchy movements, and the game’s already morose and creepy atmosphere made it stand out from its rivals in haunting terror.’
*
p.s. Hey. ** PL, Hi. Similar vegetation, that’s interesting. And strange. No, honestly, I don’t like the ‘Sluts’ cover very much. It just looks like something meant to bait gay readers. I like covers that are more complicated, I guess. If you have the artistic goods plus the looks to flirt successfully, why not, right? ** Dominik, Hi!!! I could see why people thought Berger was handsome until he opened his mouth, and then yikes (for me). I listened to a little of Soko, and, yeah, it’s quite nice. I, of course, recognized love’s karaoke of yesterday. I think that was kind of the last REM song I really liked. What is this feeling called love? What is this crazy scene I can’t work out no how?, G. ** Charalampos, That doc is hard to find? Huh. Like I just said, I don’t get Berger’s attractiveness, other then maybe technically. I’m weird, though. ** Misanthrope, Maybe they skied at a beginner slope in which case even hills could do the trick, I guess? What to do about David? Short of a forced intervention, he has become a difficult puzzle. ** Steeqhen, That’s a project indeed. I love pop-up books. If I was rich I’d probably collect them. There’s a great pop-up book store/museum-ish place here in Paris you should check out the next time you come back. I don’t think you need Diarmuid’s book to write your thing. It’s cool, but it has a number of inaccuracies too. How was the photoshoot? So nice to be needed, especially artistically, yeah. February? We need to finish the film completely, and there’s stuff to do and funds to raise to get there, so that’ll surely be February’s overriding thematic. Hoping to get to Efteling. There’s a rare screening of ‘Permanent Green Light’ coming up in Paris, and it’ll be nice to talk about that one again. Stuff like that. Did you break down and go to the ball game? ** James, It’s always blog time technically. At least in Paris, cocaine is back in vogue, I’m told, yes. Berger would have appreciated you. And probably felt competitive. Were the 2010s a good time for indie music? Why not, I guess. Oh, gosh, thanks about ‘Closer’. Keith Levy later Sherry Vine starred in one of Ishmael Houston-Jones’ and my performance works ‘The Undead’. That’s why he’s on ‘Frisk’. And in the show he sang a killer version of Husker Du’s ‘New Day Rising’ which he/she would never sing now in a million years. I’m kicking, thanks, with ice cubes for toes. Watch out. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey. Maybe that would be something to market, hm. Although in our film the only score is the sound of the haunted house, which is what she did — well, and one song sung by one character that she didn’t write — and it’s not exactly Oscar nomination material, sadly. Excellent about the writing start. Don’t worry about volume if you are, just keep leaking if nothing else. ** jay, Hi. Well, like I think I said, if I had groupies I probably wouldn’t even notice. My radar doesn’t go that way naturally. Oh, okay, it’s true that in the ‘Closer’ -> ‘Try’ era I did get fanmail where guys sent me sexy photos of themselves, and I guess I did ‘hook up’ with few boys at my readings, but we stayed in touch afterwards, so that seems different? Wow, thanks about the crush on my fictional self. I’m honored, and my past constructed self is winking back at you. I really need to get back into gaming. I took a short break, and then the habit fell by the wayside. And I do really want to play that ‘Lorelei’ game you recommended. Lots of love back from so far unstressed here and me. ** Bill, I’m actually quite surprised that book has never been translated into English. Seems kinda of inexplicable. Sorry to hear about the rough days, but happy they’ve smoothed out. ‘Spa’, okay, I’ll look into it. Thanks, bud. ** Lucas, Hey. ‘Wild at Heart’ is one of my least favorite Lynch films. But I think I’m in the minority. And I do love ‘Lost Highway’, so take that into account. There are great things in ‘WaH’ no matter what. Worth watching. Another week? Poor dude, that’s tough. Yep your chin up. And, yes, mega-luck on quitting cigs. Your future will reward you generously if you can. ** Steve, Yeah, Semiotext(e), right. I’m thinking there must be a rights issue, although it’s in French, so … It sounds like you should be nothing but amused and thrilled by his riposte. Nice you’re reviewing the new Destroyer. I’ve only heard the single, but I love it, and I just got tickets to see him live here. Curious to hear what ‘Being Maria’ is like obviously. I don’t know of Bertolucci talking about that, no, but he did stop disowning ‘Luna’ finally, which I understand he disowned because he thought it got a little too close to home, so maybe that was his reveal. I have a hard time getting Solidarity Cinema to work unfortunately. It’s molasses slow, but I keep trying again. ** Dan Carroll, RPG vibes, gotcha. Well, great for the reading time then. Cool you like Puce Mary. I’m a huge fan, obviously, I guess, and she’s a good pal of mine. Lives here in Paris. I would guess that, yes, Arca is pretty pricey at this point. I love ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ too. How awesome, and with Moseley there. I assume it was a blast? ** Chris Kelso, Hi, Chris. No, I’m not so into the idea of my books being adapted as films. They’re books and meant to work as books. More interesting to write something specially intended to be visualised. But if some amazing person had an amazing idea of how to transform a novel into a visual experience, I’d certainly engage with them. I so feel for you on the funding front. You’ll get there though. You sound like you’re sufficiently on it. I would just say try to raise enough funds to be able to cover the post-production too because those funds are even harder to raise on their own. We had no funds for the post- on our film going into it, that’s what really fucked things up. You can do a post about ‘Vantablack’, of course. That would be very welcome. I’m really excited that ‘Room Temperature’ is finally, finally going to be born, yes. Thanks a lot, man. ** Bernard Welt, Mr. Welt! Strangely I don’t think that Berger story was in the post, although it’s kind of famous, isn’t it? I did not know that about Georgia Holt. In fact, embarrassingly, I didn’t even know Lucy Ricardo ever went to Paris. I’ll see if YouTube can help me. The horribleness over there is absolutely unbelievable. And piling up higher every day. This is the key moment, right? Here’s where we find out what fighting back with sufficient force post-internet involves. Were the IRL outbursts re: Occupy or George Floyd blips or trial runs? I’m very worried, as I know you are, that people are so drugged by the belief that venting on social media is the entire playing field that they won’t be willing to invent the level of rebellion that this moment insists upon. That it’s taking time is no surprise, but … oh, I don’t know. Who knows how to fight this thing and not just hope/rely on elected officials and a romantic notion of the court system. It’s so huge. Unbelievable. Scandinavia is wonderful. Try to rent a car or something and drive around in Norway. It’ll blow your mind. Hope you get down here too, obvs. Love, me. ** Tyler Ookami, Hey, Tyler. I was good friends with this guy John Wentworth who was Lynch’s right hand man during the ‘Twin Peaks’ and concurrent films era. If you look at the credits of Lynch’s stuff back then, he’s all over them. Lynch offered to give John 1M to direct a film (he’d made a few shorts), John approached me to write the script with him. He wanted to adapt this novel ‘The Brave’, which Johnny Depp later ended up directing a film based on. But, like I said, we couldn’t agree on things. He said he was going to write the film on his own, but he never did, I never knew why. So I would have been the film’s co-writer, and John would have directed it. You and I rely on much the same sources. So great, those places, although I can’t get Solidarity Cinema to work well, even with Plex. I don’t if that’s because I’m in France or something. All hail those file swappers. What a mess. ** HaRpEr, Thanks about the premiere. I should be able to announce it in about three weeks or so. I like anecdote books too. I have a thing for oral history books like ‘Please Kill Me’, for instance. Me too, Birthday Party and the first three or four Bad Seeds albums are great. The whole preacher schtick doesn’t interest me. Maybe you have be religion damaged to fall for that something. Nice day you had, albeit with a little ouch in there. ** Justin D, Thanks, Justin. I can’t wait for the eventuality when you can see it. We’re working on how to get it out and about. MUBI featured Zac’s and my film ‘Permanent Green Light’ for about three weeks or a month. That’s what they bought, and then that was it. So it might be the same with those other films they list. But they shouldn’t say ‘not available at the current time’ or whatever as if the films will be back in play again. They should say ‘was available here in the past’ or something. That’s a bit of tomfoolery on their part, I think. Happy you liked ‘Gates of Heaven’. Such great things in it. That long shot of the woman in the red dress sitting on her stoop and meandering verbally all over the place about her son and her cat and etc. is so amazing, for instance. Snow! No snow here, just icy clear skies and a lot of buttoning up of the top button. Enjoy your daylight. ** Right. Today’s post is pretty self-explanatory, I believe? See you tomorrow.
Now available in North America 
Hi!!
Most of these seem so much better than 99% of big-budget horror films coming out nowadays. “Dog Nightmares” is fucking creepy!
Yup, yes, strictly the looks with Helmut Berger – which is kind of problematic when someone’s an actor.
I’m so glad you liked Soko, too! R.E.M.’s work was always very hit or miss for me – they have songs I could listen to on repeat for the rest of my life and ones I can’t listen to at all. Interestingly, Michael Stipe’s song with Placebo, “Broken Promise,” belongs to the latter category.
Wire! I can’t remember the last time I listened to this album. Thanks for the reminder! One Love, One heart, Let’s get together and feel all right, Od.
Dennis, Who knows? Could’ve been a bunny slope? Or maybe cross country-type skiing somewhere?
Yeah, I don’t know what to do with David. He seems to think he did nothing wrong because he didn’t wreck my car. Just the way he thinks. I’ve cut him off from money, but my mom is giving it to him now. That doesn’t help. I’m now cutting her off from using my car, so maybe that’ll help? I have no idea. He just gets desperate when he doesn’t have his fentanyl. I don’t know what he’ll do next.
I recall Tim Noble and Sue Webster floating around among the flotsam and jetsam of the YBA movement in the early 2000s. They did have something in the Royal Academy’s Apocalypse show that I remember well.
Speaking of, yesterday I ordered this photobook. Mischa Haller – Not Going Home (Photographs of Post Club Britain, 1998) “I was interested in the time between the nightclub closing and people going home, those one or two hours when the rest of the world is asleep, but clubbers are carrying on. These moments hang in the memory – eating, smoking, chatting, making a fire on the beach or meeting someone new.” – Mischa Haller. Having ended up at a fair few late-night after-parties getting up to no good myself, it might be something I can relate to.
I thought SKELETON TREE was Cave’s last great album, but after that, something vital vanished from his music. He’s trying too hard to occupy the cultural space Leonard Cohen did in the last 20 years of his life. He’s much more popular in Europe than the U.S. (his one arena tour here failed to sell well), and he seems preoccupied with joining the most stodgy members of British society.
Solidarity Cinema can be wonky, with films shutting off in the middle for no reason, although this happens rarely. It reminds me of cinephobe.tv.
I agree with Bernard’s rant yesterday. I don’t want to talk about American politics here, but the repression against immigrants and trans people is terrifying. I fear waking up one day soon to find out the U.S. just nuked Tehran or made good on Trump’s promise to invade Gaza.
Kane Pixels shot a feature-length film for A24 back in the summer of 2023 (in the break before his senior year of high school!) I wonder when it will be released, because I haven’t heard anything further.
I hear my neighbors shoveling snow outside.
I enjoyed Osgood Perkins’ forthcoming THE MONKEY. The solemnity of LONGLEGS was pretty empty, but here, he goes into dark, gory comedy, and he proves to be pretty good at it.
Hi. Why did you not like Wild at Heart? I thought I was going to love Lost Highway until, like, after the first third of the film, where I just started feeling like, okay, I see where this is going. I’m much less forgiving of Lynch when he focuses on his male characters, I’ve noticed. Thanks for wishing me luck on quitting (again) it’s going ok so far but I’ll need the luck when I see my smoker friends again. I had this incredibly bizarre dream where I was visiting this weird town which looked like one I go to all the time but with this kind of circus-y, colorful vibe for some reason. And I was just hanging out with my friends and saw people I presumably knew on the street and was begging each and every one of them for a cigarette but they either said they didn’t have any or just stared blankly at me. Funny. Also I saw the endocrinologist today and the drive there was a disaster for a number of reasons, nearly argued with my parents in the waiting room lol, but the doctor was really nice and just drew my blood to check my hormone levels. I’ll be able to start testosterone after she looks at my blood levels and calls my dad to tell him she’s putting it on my healthcare card to buy, etc. but the catch is that the appointment she made for that is on the 27th. Really frustrating especially because my friend who told me she’s privately insured got an appointment for her call to start hormones like days after the first appointment to draw blood.
Dennnniss: Got my double volume of Dunce Codex. Back-to-back home runs w hits from many of my(our) valued lit pals & crushes. Congrats Ruben Cota! Takes one’s mind off the acute and horrifying Weltschmerz. xo Jack
Analog Horror is so a fascinating concept, definitely the ‘style’ of the 2020s, though I fear it has perhaps been a bit oversaturated with a lot of cheap copies and attention-grabs; a bit of a reflection on how fast trends move with the internet, and how things seem to grow stale through excess. That Sarah Sitkin piece is incredible, reminds me of this dream I had this morning where I was like a human butcher? I had to sow up a giant ball of human flesh in this theatre, with this guy I was obsessed with as a young teen being there, and I was screaming at him and possibly threatening to kill him, and he was probably calling me gay and saying i was doing a bad job. Quite reflective of my interactions with him as a young boy. Nothing ever happened, just a lot of delusional readings of interactions, and staring at his ass. I spent so long infatuated with him; apparently he’s a violent racist now, and everyone can tell he’s deeply closeted. Maybe I could have fixed him if he just accepted his bottom tendencies! Anyway, enough of that ramble, I feel like analog horror is so popular now because people my age have vague cloudy memories of that tech. I have this joint memory with my sibling where my mam would put on this Sesame Street dvd about sleeping, and the intro was Big Bird in an alley on his bed, making this jittery movements as he snored. It was fucking horrific, especially with how worn out the tape was, and we would be in terror. It definitely helped shape our taste in media. I love puppetry and stop motion and particularly Jim Henson muppet work. I also love ‘found footage’ and horror that is more about being a voyeur on something personal and unnerving, with a lot of my nightmares being about watching someone watching me. My friend and I want to make a bootleg Creep 3, filming it in a woods near my house, inter-splicing our footage and shoddy story with random videos, whether real or not. Our friend in spain caught a man pushing her friend down a stairs and attacking them while they filmed a project, so I kind of want to use it, but it is at the moment a part of a court case (I think?).
But yeah, it’s like how all that late 90s/early 00s shit was there in our lives, but not something that was completely comprehended. That nightmare quality of something remembered but not fully. It’s so dreamlike, which works with how films and games almost become like dreams you enter and live in for the duration. I’m experiencing that right now with Silent Hill 2 — the first game is that total analog horror terror, whilst the second game is scarier and feels so real to me, probably because I grew up with a ps2. I’m hoping that analog horror will find a way to survive past the influx of Mandela Catalogue and SCP/Backrooms ripoffs. It wasn’t my favourite film last year as the ending was shit, but Longlegs captured some aspects of analog horror that was exciting to see in a big film. Same with Skinamarink, which I know was very divisive, but I personally adored. It reminded me of this time as a child I entered into a room and turned on the tv, but the signal was shoddy and what came out with a staticy ear-destroying garble of this Irish show “Rodge and Podge”, I’ll try and link a video of them, and imagine a 4 year old being faced with this at full volume, and terrifying hissing https://youtu.be/2mX1N4A2Jlg
Bit of a jumbled waffle, but it was a good distraction for me after spending about an hour reading about the impending Great Depression 2.0 and Trump and how fucked the world is. The fact he stated he wants to displace Gazians, forcing them into other countries, and turn the Strip into “the Riviera of the Middle East” is vile and horrific. Plus the fact Israel Katz said that Ireland, Spain and Norway are “legally” obligated to take in the refugees for condemning the bombings would be comical to me if it wasn’t just so depressing; Ireland has already had this rising group of far-right, pro-Catholic, anti-immigration nationalists that spiked post Ukraine and Russia, which will just probably become even worse now. That whole issue is another universal issue due to housing crises and shit, but one that would not have been an issue for Ireland had the Irish government spent the 2000s expanding the infrastructure when the economy was booming and our population finally begun to rise. Instead they all became landlords and focused on US companies setting up in Ireland, along with a lot of bribery and corruption exposed in 2008’s recession. Now we have 15k people in emergency accommodation plus closer to 50k who are couch surfing and undocumented homeless. I like to hope that the world will get better, though I feel like we’re in for an economic crash like the 1930s, and new type of civil war, one not designated to countries, but to ideology around the West. Every country will be having left vs right fighting, and in a sense we’re already in the midst of it, but it’s taking place online. Maybe it will lead to a new type of internet, without social media. Back to an early age internet, like the type analog horror is so connected to (see, linked it back around!!!)
That pop-up bookshop sounds lovely, will certainly need to see it next time! I’m probably gonna start planning my next trip soonish. Either I’ll visit for a weekend during March, or I’ll do a proper trip after my exams (or more likely both). If I do the march trip, I’ll try stay with my friend, and the summer trip would involve me roping in some of my friends. Particularly my friend Niamh, who is perhaps the biggest Patti Smith fan I’ve ever met. We like to joke that she’s Patti and I’m her Robert, in the way that if it was the 60s we would definitely be living like them.
Yeah, I need to have that draft done by Monday which is a few days short of Diarmuid’s book arriving. I definitely think that I will try and use some of it for the final draft of that chapter, and maybe let you review it and let me know if I’ve used any inaccuracies. He had this essay about Beyond Baroque and that period + Patti Smith that I will probably quote in that chapter, though I only once or twice; it’s mainly just a chapter to set up the ideas of the transgressive, of people like Rimbaud and Sade and how their influence expanded with each generation, and also a lot of Bataille’s theory.
The photoshoot actually went really well. It’s probably like the 5th one I’ve been involved in, but was probably the cleanest and most professional. We had a makeup artist + these expensive clothes from a brand as product placement, about 6 models, and my friend as a photographer who’s studying photography and is pretty great. We did a lot of photos in the main park in Cork, with the park guards passing by to let us know how much time we had — the EiC was right to make sure I was there as I was the one cutting any pondering and talking, instead getting shit done, smoking away and giving orders like I was David Lynch in those behind the scenes clips of The Return. I was nice though, made sure everyone was comfortable in their appearance and what they were doing. We did that shoot for about 2 and a half hours outside the park near graffiti walls and this iconic bridge. I brought a sock monkey of mine as I felt so drawn to bringing him — thankfully I did, as we got some shots that were great with him and may end up being just photos for the brand. Gonna need to organize another one soon, the theme is controversy; I’m going for PETA paint throwing, crying celebrities, apology videos, attacking the camera, and some pics of people reading ‘controversial’ literature, like this one photo of Bradley Cooper and Suki Waterhouse reading Lolita
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTVsVm3qJ5oWoFHRF-w1nqj9Sk2-7K28bWKBw&usqp=CAU (hopefully this link works)
February seems productive but exciting for you. Hope you get to go to Efteling as a reward between all that film work. Haha the ball is more of a debutante type event, like a prom where everyone goes out to this hotel in suits and dresses and gets drunk. I’ve decided not to as I really don’t give a fuck, I’ll be going to one in a month anyway. The theme was ‘Bridgeton’ which would have been fun. I would’ve liked to get those waistcoats with the tail feather things, plus wear those scary tight pants that show every curvature of your lower body. Maybe I wouldve picked up a guy, but I can do that another night. Instead it’s family night, which means Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, maybe a takeaway, and gossiping with my mom and sibling.
Anyway, this comment felt almost like a blog post in itself, so hopefully this will be enjoyable to read and not a taxing drag on the PS for tomorrow. Just left the library bathroom and saw that the sarcophagus that was once under the stairs has now disappeared. Think UCC finally returned it.
Blog time again, but technically it’s not blog time ‘again’ but blog time, still. Temporal shenanigans on a Thursday. Funky stuff.
Now, the analog horror buzz I *am* the right to age to have experienced firsthand and been aware of. Although Brummer’s stuff is before my time, good as it is. Stop-motion takes such love. Dog Nightmares is more funny than scary to me. Heynes’ stuff captures the awkward cheesiness of early special effects well. Some episodes of the original series of Star Trek have made me burst out laughing with the models they use. I approve of Unknown’s Untitled, feels very Puppet Combo-y. Valle Verde looks sweet, really good like, rendering, if that’s the right word. I’m not sure what the horror element the Webster is. The Backrooms was more interesting in its early sort of, videogame/metaphysics concept in a standalone post than what it turned into once it hit ‘the mainstream.’ I really ought to listen to the Figurbreeze, loving musicals as I do. The Lost Egg is cute. Boisvert (French? Bwah-vair?) is cooler looking than it is scary. Heck’s camera is rather limited in its literal scope. Dead sea life saddens and disgusts me, so that Yi would fuck me up to see in person. I am well aware of the Mandela Catalogue and the Walten Files, even if I haven’ts en all of them. Sitkin’s Untitled is horrifying and very well done. Mario will never be scary to me, he’s too lovable. Gooseworx’s thing at the end made me exhale in amusement. Stewart’s Boy from the Chemist is quite cute, too, rather a sweet inanimate thing. I want to let him in! Re: Krasner, I can’t help but think killing children is rarely the best solution for any given problem. Catalanotto’s is cool but something of an overdone concept – scary stuff in kids’ drawings. The vinyl vid makes me want to wince, for its visuals and sounds. Tarnung #3 looks cosy. Adamski’s portrait I quite like. Ben Drowned! That takes me back. That was the only creepypasta to spook me as a kid. I love Nintendo’s history of putting some outright scary shit in kids’ games. Like Deadhand and Redeads in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – nothing like watching poor Link be paralysed by a scream and then getting humped to death. Like, man. Nintendo. What was going on, guys. And the theme for Lavender Town still discomforts me. Awesomewawesome.
Hi Dennis. My hurrays re: Room Temperature, to join the chorus.
Cocaine is rather a classic drug. From what picture of UK unis I have it seems relatively popular at some of them, but UK drug consumption seems dull to me. I loathe the stench of weed that pervades this fucking town.
I can only wonder what Berger would appreciate me for. And I’m even more confused as to why I’d make Berger seem competitive. He had more to him than I have in general, I think, but, shrug.
I think the 2000s, 2010s were a good time for ‘indie’ music. All that stuff has such a distinct sound and feel to it, to me, and it makes me picture a time for ‘music culture’ (what’s with all these ”s today, sheesh) which I’m a little bummed out to have missed. But music from that era was all quite, jittery, upbeat, artsy, really pretty, very very me. It all just makes me happy to hear and think about. So *I* think it was a great time for indie music.
I just read a little paragraph that mentioned you and Houston-Jones and The Undead, at the back of my copy of Frisk, which I haven’t yet finished, but have been reading and enjoying this week, whilst managing to avoid questioning/interrogaytion from my peers or family, phew. Hiding the books I read does remind me rather of FNAF gameplay, in that I’m so often looking up at any potential incoming nosey/judge-y people, and then looking right back down at the book. The Salinger I’ve been reading hasn’t required such stealth.
Aw, shame (s)he wouldn’t be willing to Husker Du it up the way the past saw. I haven’t listened to them in ages, or very much, full stop. Ah, music! That reminds me, new Guided By Voices album tomorrow. Universe Room. I listened to some GBV this morning, and I keep finding new music by other bands I quite like at the moment, too. Lucky moi.
Noted, I’ll dodge the chilly kicks with as much agility as a post-Thursday me can muster (hint: not much). Should listen to New Day Rising. And I neeeeed to email. Tschuss – Friday tomorrow!
Hey, Dennis,
I’m with you. Maybe an animated ‘I Wished’ or a Claymation ‘My Loose Thread’ would make the transition in an interesting way (i’m half joking, lol). I’m glad the stories exist proudly and exclusively as books – although more ‘Horror Hospital’ style graphic novels would be warmly received 🙂
God, I didn’t even think about the post-production costs. I know ‘Room Temperature’ has been a long, exhausting process – does that ever put you off making movies, or are you totally game for the abject horror of funding/long shoots? If we do secure the funding and get the movie going, I reckon i’ll come out of the experience with a thicker skin. Pretty daunting though.
Thank you! I’ll put together some Vantablack info and e-mail it off to you soon. I really appreciate it.
Oh, did you ever see the indie horror game The Backrooms, by the way? There’s one called The Complex which is very cool. The whole liminalcore thing is still interesting to me. I’d also recommend the late British writer, Joel Lane, who explored that whole territory before it was cool and semi-popular.
Stay well, Dennis!
Yes, I kinda agree with you about the cover. I like it because it’s superficial, but I never thought it suggested anything about the story, and the guy is just a guy. He doesn’t pass the same vibe as the character they are talking about, so he always stroked me as just a guy. I love the superficial, but I understand you. Is there a illustrated version of The Sluts? I saw a cover once that said ‘Illustrated by …’ and didn’t know if it was only about the cover or the whole book. I can think of a comics version of ‘The Sluts’, I just don’t know if it would be good as it’s very about the medium. It could be, if the illustrator were a master in suggestion, which I’m not.
Matt once told be that the greatest artists are the simplest, the ones that know how to suggest. I’m inclined to agree, I’m good, but I’m a maximalist. There’s not space for anything. I don’t know if I suggest well enough in my drawings. I don’t want to be that kind of artist that sucks and is proud of it, but maybe that’s just how my work is.
I went to the psychologist today, it was nice. Many, many white objects. The whole room was white and the woman was blond. I almost got blinded. But she seems like a nice girl. I noticed how I can’t talk about me if I don’t correlate the fact with a film.
It’s so hot in here. God. Have you watched Emilia Perez or Anora? I’m going to watch both in the weekend, I hope I like at least one Well! See ya!
Analog horror! I thought this was something created by my generation, so it’s interesting to see earlier examples of it. I guess the whole thing is that today’s adults grew up at the end of analog video, so that aesthetic is tied to our memories of childhood? I think Skinamarink is the best of this subgenre. That’s the only movie I’ve seen as an adult that I had to leave for a minute just to remind myself it isn’t real. I get why people think it’s boring but I have a fear of the dark that I thought would go away as I grew up but never has. So yeah I felt like that movie was directly attacking me. The Tarnung is great too.
I just read My Loose Thread. I’ve been cautious about reading too much school shooter fiction bc I’m writing a poetry thing with one in it, but I’m glad I read it. I usually have to reread one of your books a couple times a year just to remind myself that I’m not gonna get stoned for writing about the topics that interest me. In it you write about a movie scene with a character sitting between two groups of friends, one insane and one sane. Is that a real movie?
And 1000 Corpses was great. I didn’t have as much fun with it as I had the last two times I watched it, but it was also a movie I usually would watch in bed when looking for something nasty , so it was weird being in a crowd doing that.
The creepypasta phenomenon is something that struck me when I read God Jr. The idea of some ambiguously haunted version of Banjo Kazooie, Crash Bandicoot, Gex, Croc, Conker’s Bad Fur Day etc. feels like something that would come out of the kids who make that stuff on Youtube. Have you gotten around to watching I Saw the TV Glow yet? I know it’s been widely discussed on here. It kind of absolves the need for a God Jr. movie at all because it mirrors it to a degree where I think it must have been a conscious influence.
It’s frustratingly uneven, but I also did like the recent critically reviled comedy film Y2K quite a bit, which I bring up because it feels like a lowbrow companion to TV Glow, even down to Fred Durst appearing in both films. It’s kind of similar in tone to Parker and Stone production but also goes for the really weird concept of parodying some of the lazier comedies of that time, Scary Movie and Road Trip and the like. As in, every single joke in the film in groaningly unfunny on its own but becomes extremely funny in the context of how precisely it mirrors the beats of those films. As in, having “stoner” characters who are not like any really stoner but like how they looked in those films and that is the joke. Even including lame moments of forced sentimentality or interrupting the credits with a terrible music video for a kayfabe soundtrack tie in. Maybe it’s too up its ass with the layers of irony and camp but I found it funny.
Dog Nightmares is really appealing because I was totally obsessed with the Wiliam Wegman sketches that played on Sesame Street when I was a child. There were a lot of odd shorts that played on Sesame Street at that time by Sally Cruikshank, Jim Blashfield, Keith Haring, and others that still haunt me a bit.
The 2010s were probably a passable time for literal independent music but an awful time for “indie” music because it was like “alternative” becoming the name for a commercial genre of music during the handover from the 90s to 2000s. It was the peak of what gets called “indie landfill” (https://www.vice.com/en/article/landfill-indie-johnny-borrell-razorlight-the-strokes-kooks-definitive-history/), like dozens of bands that were just MGMT but bad and I absolutely loved all of them in high school haha.
Well, Plex is always a pain in the ass so it’s not just you! Rarefilmm (https://rarefilmm.com/) is great too as are Rarelust (https://rarefilmm.com/, more genre-focused) and Effed Up (https://www.effedupmovies.com/, transgressive focus).
Hey. I do love this kind of thing. I was watching this video the other day about this supposed instructional video about how to rob a grave. It was made by a teenage boy in the 80s or 90s and nobody knows if it’s real or not. Probably not but the skeleton looks very real.
I’m generally obsessed with a lot of ARGs. One of the craziest is the one called ‘Pipergate’ where this old man was making these insanely edited videos, claimed to be edited and filmed by a nine year old girl called Piper, but they were highly disturbing and sexualised. Anyway, it was found out that the guy got all of these videos because he pretended to be part of a talent agency and got close to all of these families who let him film their children. He was found on the sex offender registry. Anyway, the channel went dead because he apparently died.
I’m really excited because I’m going to be making this film for a class. I’ve been meaning to find an excuse to film something for a while so I’m glad I found the excuse. Half of it is going to be composed of things I’ve filmed over the years, and the rest I’ll film in the next couple of days. It will be about five minutes. I’m going to have to get good at editing again real quickly. This also gives me an excuse to pad out my YouTube channel which is currently only composed of one solitary video. I had this idea for a video based project in the summer but I got too busy so I had to push it to the sidelines, so hopefully that corpse will be swiftly re-animated.
I found this old harddrive I have and discovered all of this stuff I filmed as a kid that I forgot was even on there. I spent the evening going through it and it was like I was looking at someone else, but who simultaneously has a lot of the same interests. Weird. There’s a strange video of me doing poppers and reading my year book out loud, and several others of me getting all dressed up for nothing. The repression is laughable to look back on.
Ugh. Weird day though. My lecturer kind of made fun of me in front of the whole class. I don’t even know why anymore. He even started making fun of my scarf at some point for some reason. Sometimes I don’t know why I bother saying anything at all. There are times when I think that I’m prone to embarrassing myself, and other times when I think that I’m prone to making up things to be embarrassed by.
Hey Dennis! Great post today, I guess I’ve done something adjacent to analog horror stuff being into polaroids, tape loops, and other older mediums. I have something of a secret channel too that I can link, I have seen it covered by ‘scary youtube accounts’ video compilations too haha. Wish I could do actual analog media for it though. I have a friend, zoe wolfe, who does video art with glitch elements too who I’ve collaborated with a few times. ( https://zoewolfe.gay/ )
Did you get the book I worked with, Eusect, by chance? No rush on reading it or whatever, but hopefully you dig both the art and my friend’s writing also. How are projects on your end? I’m busy with overdue art commissions, but hoping to do more music in the future also.
hey denniiissssss, oh hey analog horror. i know that. i have a lot of thoughts on it, but the previous posters more or less got the same jist i would bring up, so i’ll spare you.
one of my main projects in the past 5 years has actually been ghost writing / editing one of my friend’s series. (not naming anything becuse it helps in popularity for people to think there is only one person behind it.), also been meaning to do one of my own, sorta. the serial killer documentary game thing i talked about a long while if you can recall. — though, the aesthetic of that is more akin to early digital cameras, digital horror(?) — i was gonna write that as a book instead but my heart isn’t in that version, and so i have to wait until i get a team together. so it goes.
Valle Verde is my favorite here — actually have been a patreon subscriber to the maker for a hot while –, mainly becuse it hits the same spot as the grandaddy of the found video game Petscop, and one of the earlier video game creppy pastas The Terrible Secret of Animal Crossing. also it has some insane production value, even so that i wish certain parts of it weren’t pull the rug under you horror and just straight up what they seem at first.
bought CODON and On Melting via asterism, currently reading the pdf version of CODON. it’s p funny, it feels like the book (and the writer) has the sense for the free form association comedy i love — and probably overdo in conversations. like my friends usually like introduce me as ‘oh, they like to just pull out the most random reference’, and this is the book i would say that for lmao. so in short, me enjoy c:
jesus christ post day was funny, mainly becuse i’ve been reading and studying the bible for prose. writerly purposes, not theological purposes. though some would argue those are the same. — also on the same note, but very different instrument. the tentacle porn talk co-incided with a friend getting really into transformers tentacle porn, which is the funniest thing i will write today.
not much on the personal side, cold as shit but what isn’t after the ice storm. been vaguely just playing warframe, a free to play shooter type game. it’s fun, though it makes you wait a lot. i guess that’s the price to pay for being free. my friend actually gifted me a costume for my main character, ember, which has her whole ass sticking out. like vague one piece swimsuit outfit.
https://i.postimg.cc/J0q4nQt6/emberassed.jpg
i have to assume it’s a big hit.
that’s about it, unless i think of anything else.
Nice post
@Jack Skelley I am waiting for Dunce codex I hope it arrives today I am so ready to see my poem and read every entry there and my bestie Face eraser again So cool
Room temperature news is awesome is it safe to say that the trailer is near us?
Hey, Dennis! Sufficiently creepy stuff today. Those Rob Voerman sculptures/installations are really beautiful. I got my hair cut this morning—a little too short for my liking, but I imagine I’ll like it in a month or so. The stylist was really chatty, and before I knew it, it was too late, haha. How are you with small talk? I really struggle with it, internally, at least. How was your day?
The Jesus resemblance could come in handy, yeah. If academia doesn’t work out I’m going to try my hand at being a cult leader. Or writing children’s books about scurvy. In exactly two of those careers the hair and beard will come in handy. Unfortunately that kind of important, the Kant kind, but that’s ok. Any reading is worth it. Scrounging for a new avalanche of fiction for after I’m through. I don’t know that I expect people to respond when I send them physical mail. It’s just a different way of thinking and expressing yourself, and formally demands a response perhaps less than a text or email does. I did get sleep last night! Here’s to hopefully getting some more tonight. The GIFs today are very cool and have been incorporated into my repertoire. I absolutely adore your GIF posts, even if you do pronounce the word with a hard G. My friend is telling me about compression socks as I write this. Scratch that. She’s asking how they work and is dissatisfied with search results, so if anybody’s an expert that’d be great. Have a good day Dennis. Hope your clothes have the appropriate level of compression.
Also re: groupies from elsewhere in the comments. I feel like if you’re a groupie then you should do it for the love of the artist instead of the fame factor or attraction or other benefits. You should feel equally passionate about Chris Hemsworth and your local band. There are many people whose works I admire with that I’d sleep with even if I’m not otherwise attracted to them, just because of the passion with the work. But I feel like that’s probably a little cruel too.