Category Archives: Horror

It’s Alive! Happy Frankenstein Friday 2026!

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While it’s true that Halloween is arriving tomorrow, and you’re probably neck-deep in celebrating the Spooky Season these past three-plus weeks, but today there’s yet one more holiday to be found during Spooky Season: Frankenstein Friday!

Observed on the last Friday in October, this unusual holiday was the (mad) creation of New Jersey resident Ryan MacCloskey, who in 1997 wanted a reason to celebrate author Mary Shelley and her legendary literary Prometheus, and thus…Frankenstein Friday was born!

So, how can you best celebrate this monstrous day of remembrance?

Well, you could read the Shelley classic, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, of course.; that’s a good place to start. And there’s certainly no lack of Frankenstein and Frankenstein-inspired movies you could watch, from Thomas Edison’s silent movie to the 1960s Hammer Films, all the way up to last year’s stellar adaptation from Academy Award–winning director Guillermo del Toro.

Speaking of movies, as part of its Halloween programming Turner Classic Movies is running Bride of Frankenstein, the 1935 Universal monster movie directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff as the Monster, Elsa Lanchester as the Bride (and Mary Shelley!), Colin Clive as Frankenstein, and the scenery-chewing Ernest Thesiger as the giddily diabolical Dr. Pretorius. It airs at 6:30 pm, Eastern Time—a day late for this celebration, but that’s all right. (Unfortunately, they’re not running any of the other movies in the series, including the original Frankenstein—which, by the way, is celebrating its 95th anniversary this year.)

There’s also comic books! The Bride of Frankenstein Lives #1 is the first issue in a new miniseries that went on sale from Image Comics this week. Writer Kelly Thompson and artist Mattia De Iulis present a sequel to the classic film in which the Bride “must discover where and who she came from and begin what every living thing begins…the process of staying alive.” Sounds intriguing!

So, Happy Frankenstein Friday, Monster Kids young and all. Now get ready for the big day tomorrow: Halloween!

Halloween Movies 2026: AMC FearFest

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AMC’s annual FearFest celebration has been running all month, but this Saturday is dedicated to nothing but the adventures of Haddonfield, Illinois’s personal boogieman, Michael Myers, with the Halloween on Halloween Marathon. And as is often the case with AMC, they don’t run the movies in sequence, so it’s never a straight marathon, which never makes any sense, but…okay.

The trick-or-treat carnage begins at 6:00 a.m., (EST) with 1981’s Halloween II (because that’s naturally where you’d start, right?), followed by Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers. Then Rob Zombie’s 2009 remake of Halloween II arrives at noon, with Halloween III: Season of the Witch (no Michael, but still a good movie!) and Zombie’s 2007 Halloween remake closing out the afternoon.

(Hey, AMC, why are the Rob Zombie movies out of order and not linked? There’s only two of them, y’know!)

For the evening, your daylong wait is over as John Carpenter’s original (and still the best) Halloween arrives at 7:00 p.m., followed by a rerun of Halloween II and…a repeat of Carpenter’s Halloween? Okay…

And then taking you through the overnight hours, into the Day of the Dead, are reruns of Halloween 4 and 5. So it goes.

What, no Halloween H20: 20 Years Later? No Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, or Halloween: Resurrection? Seriously, AMC, you need to get some, er, new blood in your Myers lineup.

Look into that for next year, would you?

Halloween Movies 2026: FreeForm

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The Freeform channel focuses on family friendly types of programming (well, it is a Disney channel, after all), so it’s no surprise that the annual kid-oriented 31 Nights of Halloween schedule has been stocked with perennial favorites like The Addams Family (starring Raul Julia, Angelica Huston, and Christina Ricci), Edward Scissorhands, Monsters Inc., and Hocus Pocus. This year it’s joined by the debut of the young adult witchcraft series Coven Academy. 

Scattered among the old standards—which tends to endlessly repeat the Addams Family/Hocus Pocus/Scissorhands grouping—were the original Ghostbusters as well as Ghostbusters: Afterlife (a really good sequel) and Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (a…not so great sequel), plus the three Sam Raimi–directed Spider-Man films, and Spider-Man: Homecoming. Oh, and one showing of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, the animated feature best known for its stellar adaptation of Washington Irving’s classic story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

So what’s on the menu for Halloween?

The day kicks off at 8:30 am (EST) with Casper, the 1995 adaptation of the comic book character, starring the world’s Friendliest Ghost along with Christina Ricci and Bill Pullman. Keep an eye out for the cameo by Dan Aykroyd as Ghostbuster Ray Stantz. Is Ray’s appearance an official part of Ghostbusters lore? Fans are still debating that, thirty years later!

Following Casper are 2003’s The Haunted Mansion (starring Eddie Murphy); 1993’s Hocus Pocus (starring Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy as the three witchy Sanderson Sisters); the 1993 animated musical Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas; a repeat of Casper…and then a repeat of Hocus Pocus.

The night closes out with the sisters’ return in 2022’s Hocus Pocus 2, and another Tim Burton animated feature, 2012’s Frankenweenie, to carry you into the Day of the Dead.

What, no The Craft? (Well, maybe Coven Academy fills that niche. Kinda.) And looking at the “31 Days” schedule, it would’ve made far more sense to have loaded the big day with the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp marathon that Freeform offered on October 16: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Edward Scissorhands, Dark Shadows, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Sleepy Hollow. Now that’s a Halloween lineup!  

Oh, well…

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at the programming for AMC’s FearfFest. See you then!

Halloween Movies 2026: Movies! Channel

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Halloween is just four days away! And what better way to pass the time than watching horror movies? Starting today, we’ll take a look at what a few of the cable channels are offering for free programming on All Hallows’ Eve. Of course, this year Halloween falls on a Saturday, so trick-or-treaters and partygoers might have other plans for that day…

Nevertheless, we begin with the Movies! channel…

As it has for years now, Movies! really gets into Halloween, with Spooky Season–themed movie marathons running throughout October—a day of vampire films, a day of ghosts, a day of alien invaders, even a day of Vincent Price flicks—and this year’s Halloween schedule is a mix of vampires and werewolves, ghosts and demons. And Vincent Price, of course!

As for Halloween, the festivities kick off at 10:45 a.m. (Eastern time) with House of Wax, the Vincent Price classic. If you’re into men turned into monsters, like the horrors to be found in the recent #1 movie Clayface, then you may be interested in Price’s villainous turn as a sculptor whose waxen figures seem a bit too lifelike…

It’s followed by Hammer Films’ Dracula adaptation Horror of Dracula and Frankenstein adaptation The Curse of Frankenstein (1958 and 1957, respectively, and both starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing); the 1950s Steve McQueen–starring monster flick The Blob; the werewolf colony tale The Howling (1981), from director Joe Dante (Gremlins, Piranha): director Robert Wise (Star Trek: The Motion Picture) unleashing ghosts on Julie Harris and Claire Bloom in 1963’s The Haunting; The Exorcist author/creator William Peter Blatty writing and directing 1990’s The Exorcist III; and Paul Schrader, director of Taxi Driver and Cat People, summoning demons in 2005’s Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist.

Programming ends in the early morning hours of November 1 (the Day of the Dead!) with the return of Vincent Price in a double feature: House on Haunted Hill (1959) and the vampire-apocalypse The Last Man on Earth (1964; based on the famous novella I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson).

Tomorrow, we’ll take a look at Freeform’s programming. Stay tuned!

Halloween Treats: The CDC’s Zombie Apocalypse Comic

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Hey, horror fans! New York Comic Con 2026 might have come and gone, but that doesn’t mean October is lacking in the availability of comics—especially ones tailored for horror readers.

Are you into zombies? How about comic books featuring zombies? If so, then here’s a suggestion if you’re looking for an unusual type of zombie tale—one published by the US’s Centers for Disease Control!

Back in October 2021, the CDC released the downloadable comic Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic—based on their most popular blog post, from May of that year—as a way to make folks aware of how to prepare for a disaster with emergency kits, whether it’s for an earthquake, hurricane, tornado, pandemic (remember, we were still in the middle of the Covid pandemic at the time), fire…or a zombie apocalypse! As the CDC describes it:

“Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic” demonstrates the importance of being prepared in an entertaining way that people of all ages will enjoy. Readers follow Todd, Julie, and their dog Max as a strange new disease begins spreading, turning ordinary people into zombies. Stick around to the end for a surprising twist that will drive home the importance of being prepared for any emergency. Included in the novel is a Preparedness Checklist so that readers can get their family, workplace, or school ready before disaster strikes.

The 42-page graphic novella by writer Maggie Silver and artist Bob Hobbs is absolutely free and still available for download from their site.

You can also snag the agency’s creeptastic “Don’t Be a Zombie” poster, also free to download.

So, if you’re looking for a free treat to add to your zombie comic collection, head on over and download the comic, and related documents, for some unique Halloween reading—it’s eduterrifying!

Smashwords’ 2026 Summer/Winter Ebook Sale Is On!

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Hey, book lovers! Today’s the day when e-book distributor Smashwords launches its annual Summer/Winter Sale, during which you can purchase thousands of digital books at special prices! It runs from July 1 to July 31—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion.

As for why Smashwords gives this event such an unusual name: “Because Smashwords serves a global readership where it’s summer in the Northern hemisphere and winter in the Southern hemisphere. So whether you’re looking for a great beach read, or you want to curl up in front of a warm fireplace with a great read, we’ve got you covered!”

Included among the many participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (of course), which means you can get the following digital titles at 25% off:

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1, by Steven A. Roman (that’s me!) is a young adult novel that’s introduces readers to Pandora Zwieback, a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets professional monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world. Pan, her parents and friends, and Annie are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father.

In Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2 (also by me), Pan and Annie face even greater challenges as the vampire clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover! But Pan isn’t about to let some ancient monster win the day, not when the lives of her parents and friends—along with those of every human on the planet—are at stake, so she leads a charge of her own. But whose side is going to emerge the victor remains to be seen…

And Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase is Richard C. White’s collection of fantasy-noir, pulp-detective tales starring a private eye working the supernatural beat in the city of Calasia. From a sexy chanteuse who literally turns into a beast when the moon is full to a string of pearls that kills its owners, and from the ghost of a dead woman seeking justice to the Grim Reaper’s little girl seeking her stolen chicken, Theron Chase certainly has his hands full—of danger, death, and dames!
 
Again, the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale runs July 1 to July 31, so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher page at Smashwords and start your summer (or winter) shopping!

Beast Wishes for the New Fear!

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Looking for something to watch as you recover from last night’s festivities? Well, here’s a horror movie that might help you get through the day—or make it worse!

Bloody New Year, if you’ve never heard of it before, is a 1987 British horror film about a group of teens who become trapped on an island where it’s New Year’s Eve every day.

If you think that sounds like there’s a time loop involved, you might be right. (I mean, it worked for Bill Murray in Groundhog Day, didn’t it?) But hey, there are zombies involved, so at least the movie poster is somewhat accurate! It’s a low-budget kind of sci-fi thriller that skirts the edge of so-bad-it’s-good territory, so if you want to watch a weirdly festive movie, you could add it to your to-do list of terror flicks.

(If you’re interested in checking it out, head on over to the Flick Vault at Youtube and watch it for free.)

Hope you have a great 2026!

It’s Alive! Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein Makes Its Netflix Debut

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Halloween might be over, but the Spooky Season never completely goes away, if you’re a horror fan. And there’s no better evidence of that than today’s Netflix debut of Frankenstein, the latest creation of Academy Award–winning director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Crimson Peak, Hellboy), who not only wrote the screenplay but designed Frankenstein’s Monster as well (with some inspiration from the late artist—and Swamp Thing cocreator—Bernie Wrightson’s acclaimed illustrated version from the 1980s of Mary Shelley’s novel).

Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac (Moon Knight, Star Wars) as Victor Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) as the Creature, Mia Goth (MaXXXine), and Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained), and with del Toro assembling a cast like that, I know what you’re thinking: Is it worth chacking out?

Well, I had the opportunity to watch Frankenstein during its limited, one-week theatrical run in October (here in NY, it was at the Netflix-owned Paris Theater, in Midtown Manhattan), and I’d have to say…yes! The cast is fantastic, the characters engaging (no “Fire…bad!” one-note approach for the Creature, here he evolves into a thinking, eloquent being, just as Shelley intended), the makeup and effects are top notch, and the look and pace of the film show that del Toro is still at the top of his game.

So, if you’re a fan of the mad doctor’s Monster, or if you’re feeling Halloween withdrawal symptoms, head over to Netflix and give Frankenstein a watch. It’ll be a great way to pass the weekend!

Happy World Dracula Day 2025!

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While it’s true that today is Memorial Day in the United States—an annual remembrance of the country’s fallen military members, held on the last Monday in May—it also happens to be World Dracula Day, which was launched in 2012 by the Whitby Dracula Society 1897 (based in Whitby Abbey, England), to mark the day in 1897 when Bram Stoker’s seminal novel was first released by publisher Archibald Constable & Co.

So, what’s the best way to celebrate the occasion if you’re a horror fan? Well, you could read Dracula, of course, or have your own movie marathon of horror flicks starring the count—there are certainly enough of those to watch, from the original Bela Lugosi classic to Christopher Lee’s Hammer films, and from Frank Langella (Dracula) to Gary Oldman (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) to Luke Evans (Dracula Untold). Not to mention movies in a more comedic…vein (c’mon, I had to say it!): George Hamilton in Love at First Bite; Leslie Nielsen in Dracula: Dead and Loving It; Nicholas Cage in Renfield; and even Richard Roxburgh’s scenery-chewing performance in Hugh Jackman’s Van Helsing.

Or you could purchase a book that helped to inspire Stoker in creating the count’s unforgettable debut—especially when it came to the presentation of his vampirie “brides.” In fact, it’s recently been ranked a “Best of #BookTok” title!

Carmilla is J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s 19th-century classic vampiric tale of love gone wrong. Laura is so desperate for a friend that when a young woman named Carmilla practically turns up on the doorstep of the castle owned by Laura’s father, she thinks her prayers for companionship have been answered. But as she comes to realize, Carmilla isn’t as interested in making friends as she is in spilling blood…

Regarded as the one of the earliest female vampire tales—if not the first—Carmilla was an influence on Stoker’s Dracula, and remains a popular character in fiction to this day. Our special edition contains six exclusive illustrations by the super-talented Eliseu Gouveia (Lorelei: Sects and the City, The Saga of Pandora Zwieback Annual #1).

“With a cover that looks like it belongs on the paranormal romance shelf in a bookstore and half a dozen illustrations provided by Eliseu Gouveia, this edition stands a good chance of tempting some younger readers to pick up this classic vampire tale…. I wish I’d picked this book up in seventh grade instead of slogging through Dracula.”—The Gothic Library

Carmilla is available in print and digital formats. Visit its product page at StarWarp Concepts for ordering information.

Smashwords’ 2024 End of Year Ebook Sale Is Underway!

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Hey, book lovers! Today’s the day when e-book distributor Smashwords (and its parent company, Draft2Digital) launches its 8th annual End of Year Sale, during which you can purchase thousands of digital books at special prices! It runs from December 12 to January 1—and yes, you’ll need to set up an account (it’s free) to take advantage of this promotion.

Included among the many participating publishers is StarWarp Concepts (of course), which means you can get the following digital titles at 25% off:

Blood Feud: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 1 is my young adult novel that’s perfect for lovers of dark urban fantasy. It introduces readers to Pandora Zwieback, a 16-year-old Goth girl who’s spent the last decade being treated for mental health problems because she can see monsters. It’s only after she meets professional monster hunter Sebastienne “Annie” Mazarin that Pan discovers she’s never been ill—her so-called “monstervision” is actually a supernatural gift that allows her to see into Gothopolis, the not-so-mythical shadow world that exists right alongside the human world. In Blood Feud, Pan, her parents and friends, and Annie are drawn into a conflict among warring vampire clans searching for the key to an ultimate weapon (or so the legend goes)—a key that just so happens to have been delivered to the horror-themed museum owned by Pan’s father.

In Blood Reign: The Saga of Pandora Zwieback, Book 2, Pan and Annie face even greater challenges as the vampire clans draw up plans to go to war with humanity. Leading the charge is a fallen angel named Zaqiel, whose previous attempt at subjugating the world was stopped by Annie—who, back in the day, was Zaqiel’s lover! But Pan isn’t about to let some ancient monster win the day, not when the lives of her parents and friends—along with those of every human on the planet—are at stake, so she leads a charge of her own. But whose side is going to emerge the victor remains to be seen…

And Chasing Danger: The Case Files of Theron Chase is Richard C. White’s collection of fantasy-noir, pulp-detective tales starring a private eye working the supernatural beat in the city of Calasia. From a sexy chanteuse who literally turns into a beast when the moon is full to a string of pearls that kills its owners, and from the ghost of a dead woman seeking justice to the Grim Reaper’s little girl seeking her stolen chicken, Theron Chase certainly has his hands full—of danger, death, and dames!

Again, the Smashwords End of Year Sale runs December 12 to January 1, so head over to the StarWarp Concepts publisher page at Smashwords and start your holiday-reading shopping!