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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 17h

Day 14. Phantasm 2. Goes bigger on all the concepts of the first film. Baseball bats, custom shotguns, oversized chainsaws, and other assorted weaponry put into play against the forces of The Tall Man and his murderous chrome death spheres! A wild and imaginative movie directed by Don Coscarelli.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 1d

Day 15. Ghost Story. Great pace and atmosphere and a selection of fine actors from the early years of classic cinema. Directed by John Irvin from the novel by Peter Straub. Creepy with lots of good scares.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 1d

Day 16. Wolfen based on the novel by Whitley Strieber. Not your average urban Werewolf/folk-horror. Set in New York capturing the essence of the city just before corporate developers changed it's character in the early 80's.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 3d

Day 17. Dario Argento's Inferno. Second part of his Mother of Tears trilogy after Suspiria and much like that movie another mad tale of witchcraft shown to us in a visual feast of light and color. Score is by Keith Emerson. The sequence in the image above is a terrific slice of cinema strangeness.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 4d

Day 18. John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness. This is a really great thriller which is all about the premise of no matter how hard you try to get through a desperate situation once you lose any chance of hope things become pointless. A great ensemble of actors are put through the wringer in this one.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 4d

Day 19. Ken Russell's Lair of the White Worm. Bizarre, funny folk horror, a product of its era but most undeniably a Ken Russell creation if you've ever seen any of his films.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 6d

Day 20. Salem's Lot, aired in 1979. Thanks to my Mom, I, an impressionable 9 year old got to see it in all its nightmarish glory. Directed by Tobe Hooper it has since had a sequel and two remakes that never measure up to this version.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 6d

Day 21. Warlock. Richard E. Grant and Julian Sands play early American colonials transported through time to the present, (1989), to finish their supernatural slugfest. Lori Singer gets caught up in the ensuing mess. Big story, dumb but fun movie that went through a very troubled production.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 6d

Day 22. David Koepp's Stir of Echoes is a very effective bundle of jump scares packed into a really good story. Underated in the field of haunted house stories but well worth a visit.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 9d

Day 23. House directed by Steve Miner. House became a favorite of mine when I first saw it in 1985 with its bizarre creature effects, wonderful matte paintings done in the pre-digital analog age. A story all played for shocks and laughs that still holds up and led to three sequels.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 9d

Day 24. Peter Medak's The Changeling. A case for creating effective scares with the less is more approach.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 11d

Day 25. Vamp, directed by Richard Wenk, a terrific script with great one-liners and wonderful array of weird characters including Grace Jones adorned with Keith Haring body art. Shot on the streets of Los Angeles with a synth score by Jonathan Elias.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 11d

Day 26. William Friedkin's The Guardian. The director of The Exorcist tries his hand at the supernatural again in the early 90's with what is essentially a big budget pagan/folk horror B-movie. A gruesome effects laden serving of fun and a great performance from Jenny Seagrove.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 13d

Day 27. Dario Argento's Suspiria ranks high in the field of horror cinema based on just its style alone and especially Luciano Tovoli's cinematography. The first of a trilogy is a great watch, just go with it and be a little forgiving of some of the Italian actors english dialogue delivery.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 14d

Day 28 belongs to Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions. A tale that plays out like a noir detective story depicting the city of Los Angeles as a place riddled with supernatural and paranormal activity making the most of locations such as the Magic Castle. Holds up well despite some 90's dodgy cgi.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 15d

Day 29. The Oscar for lighting goes to whomever it was that set up all the amazing blue and orange hued illumination in this creature feature from the late Stan Winston. Feels like a story out of EC's classic horror comics and done much better than Creepshow.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 16d

Day 30 is brought to us by the late great Terence Stamp playing the Devil in Neil Jordan's The Company of Wolves. A visually rich dark fairytale with the most amazing art direction on a minuscule budget.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · 17d

OCTOBER! Halloween count down starts with this franchise episode which takes a sharp turn spectacularly off a cliff away from the formula that made it a success but is something very fun on its own.

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Aug 30

My poster for this years band line-up at Wasteland Weekend.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Aug 10

This is in the works but not on this release. I think the makers of the doc contribute a commentary track for the movie on one of the discs. www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOqA...

The Juggers Are Coming Sizzle Reel 2024

YouTube video by Banshee Hills

www.youtube.com

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Mar 27

They are all very good but Over The Garden Wall is such a brilliantly executed piece of storytelling. I work in animation and avoided it based on my perception of it visually.Then my son made me watch it over the Christmas holidays and I was happily surprised by how sophisticated it is.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Dec 28

Forgot to put this up here, so, while we are still in the midst of this holiday...

Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Dec 24

Well that seems like a natural extension of his character. Have a great Christmas!

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Dec 2

This was announced the day after the Vinegar Syndrome sale.

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Ray Smyth @raysmyth.bsky.social · Nov 29

It just dropped in 4K at Vinegar Syndrome in the US.

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