by
M.I.K.
To my knowledge there were two Buster Books Of Spooky Stories published, one cover-dated 1975 and one 1976. The following story is from the latter. According to an article by Edward Berridge in Hibernia‘s Thirteenth Floor collection, the Buster Book Of Spooky Stories was conceived as a way of using strips from an unpublished horror comic which would have been named Chiller, but didn’t surface due to the publishers getting cold feet. This may be where the other Curtis Bronson story published in the book is from but not the one reproduced below. This one is actually an altered reprint from elsewhere.
So where did this story originate? From the pages of a comic called Smash! , circa 1969. The Buster Book version has been changed so that it features the character of Curtis Bronson. The character Bronson replaces originally had blonde hair, no moustache and went by the name of Angus McCraggan.
And the mysterious Septimus Drood? He was originally beardless and went by the name of Cursitor Doom. I’ll be telling you more about him when I post the second half of this tale.
Continued Next Week!
by
Ghastly McNasty
The police are closing in on Uncle Terry but he can still find time to enjoy the tourist attractions in Blackpool.
by
Ghastly McNasty
I picked up a rental of ‘Five Across The Eyes’. The story? On coming back from a football game, a group of young women are lost on taking a shortcut through a back road. They are pursued by a deranged driver.
The DVD cover was dotted with “award-winning” blurbs. It must be good if it won awards. It was even described as “smart” and “original”.
Unfortunately, I should have taken a large pinch of salt on reading this “rave” review.
I was bored to tears listening those women talking about inane things. The movie is really about 5 women being hysterical; crying and running all over the place. There were no scary moments nor any suspense.
Yes, there were some scenes of gore which would appease a few horror fans. However, I’m not interested in gore. It seems to me that current horror movies are all about blood-letting and that disappoints me.
I suppose the concept of a group of women being chased by a stranger for no reason can be scary never mind cliched, but it was poorly executed.
Grainy video footage and awkward camera angles. The actresses couldn’t act, in fact they should get a refund from their acting school. The dialog were weak.
For the love of God, please do not waste your time watching this DVD.
(Update)
I rate this movie 3 out of 10. And I’m being too kind.
by
M.I.K.
More interesting than those rubbish shrimp things…
Piccy by me, and here’s a link to the original, more colourful version that I did before I “aged” it… http://malcolmkirk.deviantart.com/art/Sea-Zombies-77797631
by
Ghastly McNasty
Terry is now in Blackpool where he’s not too popular with the locals! Terr Smash!!!
by
Ghastly McNasty
From the twisted mind of Back from the Depths very own Countess Duckula. The Theatre of Terror is pround to present The Bucket of Blood. Countess’ own take on this very unusual pub sign and how it got its name.
by
Ghastly McNasty
I’ve just finished a good read from Ramsey Campbell, a unusual combination of Lovecraftian mythos and English folklore.
Its plot concerns the Price family who live in a small English town near a sinister wood called Goodmans wood, and how they are inescapably drawn in to it by the entity that exists there.
The family consists of Margo, an artist, and Lennox, a professor who is now in a local mental hospital because of his experiences in the woods. Their adult children are Heather, a solid, ‘unimaginative’ type, and her sister Sylvia, who is in many ways her opposite. Sam is Heather’s 23 year old son.
The woods themselves have a history of local folklore concerning the “Good Man”, although as Sylvia points out, “It’s often placatory, that kind of name.” At night, local girls see the “sticky man” outside their windows. And at the centre of the woods lie the remains of a mysterious tower torn down by the locals generations ago…
Throughout the novel, the woods are frequently described as if they are actively moving by themselves, rather than passively being moved by the wind or lit by the sun. Actions are implied and motives for them are suggested. It isn’t too long before you start asking yourself: “What are the trees? What are they, really?”
Campbell heightens this effect by using the somewhat unreliable nature of human perception. It’s a very persuasive technique (since this is what tends to be behind “paranormal” experiences in real life) and works well as we see the woods through the eyes of the characters.
The way in which these strange sights affect their emotions as the story unfolds is also handled very convincingly. At the beginning of the story, the characters only think they see something. Was it just a trick of the light, or was something there? About halfway through the story the characters start to want to deny those perceptions…and towards the end, Heather, the least imaginative one, desperately wishes for the time when she could actually doubt her perceptions.
The Lovecraftian aspects of the story are very nicely done. The woods display intricate patterns and colours which are tantalisingly just beyond the human mind, objects that seem to lack one dimension, and other subtle spatial dislocations. There’s also the fate of one unfortunate mage who, while travelling through the void, is reduced to a disembodied spirit which has suffered some kind of unimaginable damage “… that now cry’d out sans Voice for it import’d not what Manner of Bodie in which to procure its own swift Death”.
I found the conclusion to the tale satisfying, as the woods finally drop the pretense and reveal the sheer size and scope of the entity that was using them to “reach for the world”. There’s also a nice twist as things return to “normal” at the end, and an unexpected use of theme of the crazy person who understands the truth of what really went on…
Recommended 9/10
Read it with some trees around 🙂
by
M.I.K.
I found this while perusing the Comics UK site. Plug from classic British comic strip The Bash Street Kids, (from The Beano), and someone who looks suspiciously like Vincent Price on the cover of the same comic.
I really want to read that story now. I also found something related to Scream! comic. The cover of the last issue of Cor!!, featuring the Really-Ghastlys from Fiends and Neighbours. Cor!! was the comic in which they originally appeared.
by
Ghastly McNasty
Just a quick contribution for now…
I found this enjoyable article on the classic Hammer Horrors while looking up some stuff about the new Hammer studios. It comes from a site called “Obsessed With Film”.
It’s got a bit of the history of the original studio, good summary of the impact of the movies in their time and place, and some great pictures.
“More Sex and Violence, Please, We’re British”
by
Ghastly McNasty
I’m a member of the Alan Moore Fan Club group over on Myspace. One one the other members, aaron, has created these great South Park characters based on the heroes in the legendary graphic novel Watchmen.
You can have a go at making your own using the South Park Studio
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