All posts by Patti PaulterGeist

Owner, operator, and fuzzy retro feelers giver at NightmareNostalgia.com. Worshipper of our Lord and savior Boo Berry, Patti is a seasoned pro having written for the top horror websites and magazines over the past few years until she decided to go balls to the wall and make her own focusing on pure feel-good nostalgia. Mom to two humans and three furballs.
Games

[GIVEAWAY] Win a Switch Code For Clea: The Halloween Adventure Game Dropping on Oct. 30th

Image Leave a comment

Alright my nostalgic nuggets! Sekai Games and Invertmouse have offered me some codes to giveaway to YOU, the fans of Nightmare Nostalgia for some virtual Halloween fun with the upcoming horror -anime adventure game, CLEA!

What is CLEA you ask? Well, it’s a thrilling skill-based survival horror adventure. Coming to Nintendo Switch™ and releasing this week on October 30th, players can experience a Halloween ghoulish fest with console exclusive featured costumes of characters from games published by Sekai Games, (soon to be revealed)!

After experimenting on the Chaos Servants, Clea’s parents have let the monsters loose in the Whitlock Mansion. Trapped inside by her family, Clea must find her way out and escape with her little brother in tow. This Halloween help Clea solve puzzles and avoid the Chaos Servants in this exciting paper theater game!

In CLEA, players follow the young woman and her brother as they attempt to escape a house filled with beings that mean them harm. Players must stay alert, listening and wondering where these creatures could be. Solving puzzles, hiding, collecting and using objects to safely get through the sinister mansion and escape. 

So basically the premise involves outwitting the Chaos Servants who are on the hunt. Listen for their footsteps, peek around doors, and stay far, far away from impending dangers. Hunt down key items and solve the puzzles designed to lock you from the outside world and unveil the family history,  and possibly discover their  bloodline is filled with dark memories. Obtain memory orbs and uncover your family secrets through bonus chapters.

Sounds pretty fun to me!

Other key features include:

  • Jump-scare free horror game, requiring you to be on your wits and listen to your surroundings.
  • 2D gameplay with beautiful HD paper doll style graphics
  • Fully voiced in English with Xanthe Huynh (Sword Art Online, K-On), Anairis Quinones (RWBY) among others.
  • Local leaderboards to compete against your friends who can uncover the mystery fastest.
  • Brand new title theme from video game music great Dale North.
  • No pre-scripted scares, promise. Your skills and actions will determine Clea’s fate.

So now, how do I win a code to play? The rules are real simple! I have TWO codes for the Nintendo Switch to giveaway for TWO lucky readers, starting today October 28th, 2020 and ending at 12:00 AM October 31st, 2020. All you have to do is share THIS article to your FACEBOOK social media account (MAKE SURE IT’S PUBLIC), and that’s it! I will randomly pick two winners on Halloween, no tricks! Only treats! So two fans can have a fun virtual gaming Halloween Night! Winners will be tagged in the original Facebook post at Nightmare Nostalgia’s Facebook page and I will DM the codes!

Sekai Games

Sekai Games’ sole focus is to deliver a wide variety of video game genres to the worldwide market to all major console marketplaces. From our large selection of Japanese adventure games to our very own in house developed new IPs, we hope that the rich selection of unique titles colors up the collections of fans from around the world. This initiative is directed by game veterans with over 15 years of experience in the industry.


InvertMouse

InvertMouse is an indie developer out of Sydney, Australia. Developing games since 2014, InvertMouse began their journey into video games with beautifully detailed visual novel adventure games, before experimenting more with new gameplay experience with games such as Clea. Today, InvertMouse produces games for all current gen platforms and are actively developing new exciting ideas for upcoming games.

News

Google Data Exposes Each State’s Most Popular Horror Icon

Image Leave a comment

With Halloween just a few days away, (WOOHOO!) data analysts over at FrontierBundles.com have taken their annual research about horror villains to Google and analyzed fifteen popular icons from classic, pre-2000 horror movies. Over the past twelve months, the team searched each film in Google Trends and pulled the results on September 4, 2020.

AlabamaChucky
AlaskaHannibal Lecter
ArizonaFrankenstein’s Monster
ArkansasGhostface
CaliforniaChucky
ColoradoAlien
ConnecticutFrankenstein’s Monster
DelawareFrankenstein’s Monster
District of ColumbiaCarrie
FloridaAlien
GeorgiaGhostface
HawaiiNorman Bates
IdahoGhostface
IllinoisChucky
IndianaGhostface
IowaPennywise
KansasGhostface
KentuckyLeatherface
LouisianaChucky
MaineJack Torrance
MarylandFrankenstein’s Monster
MassachusettsFrankenstein’s Monster
MichiganCarrie
MinnesotaFrankenstein’s Monster
MississippiChucky
MissouriNorman Bates
MontanaAlien
NebraskaPennywise
NevadaGhostface
New HampshireFrankenstein’s Monster
New JerseyFrankenstein’s Monster
New MexicoChucky
New YorkCarrie
North CarolinaFrankenstein’s Monster
North DakotaHannibal Lecter
OhioNorman Bates
OklahomaLeatherface
OregonAlien
PennsylvaniaFrankenstein’s Monster
Rhode IslandNorman Bates
South CarolinaFrankenstein’s Monster
South DakotaGhostface
TennesseeLeatherface
TexasChucky
UtahPennywise
VermontAlien
VirginiaNorman Bates
WashingtonAlien
West VirginiaPennywise
WisconsinGhostface
WyomingDracula

One can’t argue that Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein monster does, and rightfully should reign supreme across a lot of the states. However, it’s quite a flip from last year where Johnny boy, Jack Torrance reigned as King of the Horror Hill in Google trends- whereas this year, he only shines in Stephen King’s home state of Maine. You can compare last year’s result here.

For a more in-depth analysis, you can read the original findings over at Frontier’s website! Also, to check the data trends on the most used horror gifs on the interwebs, check out those results here!

News

Here’s the Top 25 Most Popular Horror Villain GIFS Ranked By Search Experts

Image Leave a comment

Our annual horror google search expert friends over at Go.Frontier have a new scientifically measured list on the most popular horror icons this October; and either some of you are gonna be really mad or your inner child is going to laugh your ass off. Either way- good times are to be had and hey, this is ranked off OUR internet searches. So we can only be mad at ourselves if that’s the case.

In which case, I’ll add one to the google search engines myself!

Last year, the team put together a list of the most searched horror icons by state, (you can visit that again here). This time around in light of the fact text communication is at an all-time high in 2020 and with such, we all use GIFS to get our point across in both light-hearted and sometimes angry ways; the Frontier team has consulted seven different sources to determine the twenty-five most popular villains, and then ranked them in popularity based on the number of GIFs present on giphy.com in July 2020. The GIF-making site, Tenor, is included as one of the seven sources because it provided valuable data about the GIFs. Tenor was used to find the frequency of each villain searched and the dates it was most/least popular.

Are we ready for this? Here you go!

1. Scar

King of the GIFs will have to suffice for this wannabe King of the Jungle. 

Amount of GIFs: 15,720

2. Michael Myers

Knife-wielding maniac Myers will have to set aside his feud with Laurie to claim his silver medal.

 Amount of GIFs: 13,336

3. Wicked Witch of the West

This witch may not have gotten the ruby slippers, but she did nab 3rd place in the most popular GIF list.  

Amount of GIFs: 10,013

4. Jason Voorhees

Camp Crystal Lake is missing an occupant while Jason gains popularity as the 4th GIF on the list. 

Amount of GIFs: 8,349

5. Agent Smith

The matrix collides with the real world as Agent Smith laughs his way to 5th place. 

Amount of GIFs: 8,139

6. Patrick Bateman

Turns out money can’t buy you happiness or the top spot for the list of popular villain GIF. 

Amount of GIFs: 6,809

7. Jack Torrance

Jack Torrance shines in his 7th place spot for top most popular villain GIFs.  

Amount of GIFs: 6,493

8. Tony Montana

Say hello to our 8th most popular GIF villain—just be sure to leave the cannolis. 

Amount of GIFs: 6,242

9. Pennywise

We all float too but only Pennywise makes it into the top ten GIFs.

Amount of GIFs: 5,606

10. Sauron

This ring-welding fiend may have had his eye set to first place but comes in at 10th instead. 

Amount of GIFs: 5,064

11. Saruman

It doesn’t take a Palantiri to see that this villain makes for a classic 11th place GIF. 

Amount of GIFs: 5,055

12. Norman Bates

We don’t want to shower this motel owner with too much praise, but we hope he enjoys his stay at 12th place. 

Amount of GIFs: 3,047

13. Lord Voldemort

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named casts a spell over our list of top 25 villain GIFs as unlucky number 13. 

Amount of GIFs: 2,731

14. The Joker

This villain may have many faces, but one thing stays the same—people love a good Joker GIF.

Amount of GIFs: 2,690

15. Hans Landa

Egotistical Hans Landa may have set his sights on the top 10, but his ambition can only get him so far. 

Amount of GIFs: 1,862

16. Hans Gruber

This famous villain may be more popular at Christmas time but it doesn’t stop him from the top 25 most popular villain GIF list.

Amount of GIFs: 1,833

17. Freddy Krueger

Nightmares really do come true as Freddy leaves Elm’s Street to snatch a spot in the top 25. 

Amount of GIFs: 1,602

18. Darth Vader

The GIF force is strong with our 18th place winner. 

Amount of GIFs: 1,246

19. Thanos

It’s going to take more than a snap to get this Titan to first place.

Amount of GIFs: 660

20. Loki

The god of mischief reigns as number 20 on our popular villains GIF list.

Amount of GIFs: 540

21. Bane

Bane may have been born in the dark but he’s living large as the 21st contender for top villain GIFs. 

Amount of GIFs: 505

22. Hannibal Lecter

Hello Clarice, if you’re looking for Hannibal you can find him lurking on our 22nd spot. 

Amount of GIFs: 444

23. Palpatine

Good, good…Palpatine’s journey to 23rd place on the top 25 most popular villain GIFs list is complete. 

Amount of GIFs: 393

24. The Grinch

What does Christmas Eve and the Grinch have in common? They both come in on the 24th.  

Amount of GIFs: 373

25. Gollum

The precious final spot in this GIF list is taken by none other than this tricksy villain who only has eyes for the One Ring.

Amount of GIFs: 225

Yep. With 14% of all used villain GIFs, The Lion King’s Scar reigns supreme. I mean, I suppose the sourpuss third-in-line to the throne would be giddy to finally be on top for once-legitimately.

Some fun facts via the research:

  • The least popular villain is Gollum from The Lord of the Rings (225) or .2 percent of the total villain GIFs.
  • October 13, 2019 was a big day for The Shining fans. Jack Torrance was the most-searched-for villain that day.
  • Darth Vader was the most popular on May 4, 2020—possibly in celebration of the popular tribute May the 4th Be with You. 
  • It Chapter Two came out on September 6, 2019, when search volume for Pennywise GIFs peaked the highest. It then increased again on October 31, 2019 (Halloween). 
  • Although it’s still up in the air if Die Hard is a Christmas movie, Hans Gruber was one of the most searched villain GIFs on December 24, 2019, alongside the Grinch. 
  • On September 13, 2019, a Friday the 13th, Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees had the most search volume. 
  • The villains with the highest search volume on Halloween were The Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz and Michael Myers from Halloween.

Check out the website’s original list and findings here! So let’s hear from you guys. What is YOUR most used horror GIF? Mine? Definitely this one. And I for one would like to see a roaring surge in Spaulding GIFS, thank you in advance.