Long before Redbox, grocery chains were a formidable competitor for video and game rentals.
Many, MANY moons ago, I grew up in a quaint neighborhood where I had the privilege of having both a community center and a shopping mall about a mile away from my house. Just past the community canter and a bridge to the freeway, stood an array of stores that served my childhood basic needs, such as a McDonald’s, Naugles, Pizza Hut, Sav-On Drugs Pharmacy, the ALL IMPORTANT Mom-and-Pop video rental store Action Video, and our local Smiths grocery store-which also harbored its own video rental shop inside the store walls.
It’s another store inside a store! Cue it Mike!
Being able to grab a package of Magic Middles, some cherry coke, and a rental copy of Creepshow 2 is an experience that only 80s and 90s kids really got to live through, and I’m pretty happy I was a part of it. Although I have heard some whisperings throughout the Internet of some being active in small towns around the USA, they have mostly been lost to time and overshadowed by their big brothers of local video rental stores and the dreaded Blockbuster mass market for people looking back on video rental days with their nostalgia hats on; and I personally think they deserve a lot more respect dammit.
To be clear, I was a pretty loyal customer to Action Video, the fact that my mother worked at the deli inside Smiths sometimes made it more convenient for me rent or her to pick up and drop off my weekend requests if they were available. Plus, it never hurt that the clerk gave me free boxes of Raisinets. Also, there was something quite charming about them. They were small, quaint, and very personable. Hell, some of them even donned the ever mysterious black curtain!
It was also something to look forward to if you so happened to be dragged against your will to go grocery shopping with your parents because at least you could make that request to rent Sleepaway Camp a lot more convincing since you (or they) didn’t have to walk a few store pegs down to retrieve it; just to the front of the store by the smokey slot machines!
Don’t forget your free kid cookie card that allows you one free fresh chocolate chip cookie from the bakery on the way up there!
I also have to appreciate that if Action Video or your preferred video rental stop were out of stock of your wishlist movie or NES game, you could usually rely on ye-old tiny faithful here to at least have ONE copy of what you were wanting. Yeah, the place was like the size of my living room, (at least this one was anyway) but goddamn if they couldn’t fit at least 3,000 movies in there with their magic bred’ skills. Napoleon Dynamite would have pleased. These places did well enough mind you, but I just don’t think they had the kind of foot traffic a full sized store would have- hence the chances of your beloved rental being there even higher.
So indeed, I just wanted to take a portion of my day and salute these little video shops inside grocery chains. You made that Saturday morning food shopping trip a little more tolerable.
Ok so maybe those are just my biased opinions, but there’s one thing that we can all collectively agree on making it a fact: the opening to RETURN is regarded as one of the greatest things about the movie, and stands as possibly, one of the most atmospheric intros for the Halloween holiday of all damn time. Something so simple as a few eerie scenes of a basic farm shot on the dusk of Halloween Eve in the middle of fuckwhere America, with no context, set the tone and the mood for the whole film. As light slowly fades into dusk throughout the secular shots of the farm in Autumn along with a sinister soundtrack that crescendos into your very spine, the message to the audience is clear: Evil is coming, and it is angry.
Back in October, celebrating HALLOWEEN 4‘ 35th anniversary, I spoke with director Dwight Little about his experiences and memories of the film. Of course, one of the questions I asked was about that marvelous intro and how the inspiration for such a departure from the previous two Myers films’ i.e. pumpkin credit intros, came to be. My instincts on the answer to this being something much deeper than just a few shots on a farm that were taken for budgetary reasons that just happened to strike gold, turned out to be correct.
You know, we put a LOT of energy into that, and I had asked the writeron set, ya know, how much do we actually KNOW about the origins of Halloween? I looked up some references on it and found out there’s some old Scottish agricultural tradition where the fields have gone bare and everyone has to do their last harvest to get ready for the Winter. And so there’s all this iconic imagery of scarecrows and pumpkin men, and looking back into the roots of it all is how we came up with that title sequence that seems so beloved. I just didn’t want to do the pumpkin [intro sequence again] and wanted to try something else.
So when people say, “It ain’t that deep.” Yeah. Yeah, it is. The fact that the opening sequence provides hidden context into old harvest culture and using imagery that we all associate with the Fall and Halloween seasons in a much deeper way was a clever move. To a superstitious agrarian society, not only would scarecrows keep birds away from crops, but they could also scare children away from the fields where there might be strange things hiding. The hanging ghost on the farm, representing Myers returning from the dead, is another, with Danielle Harris’ name (who plays Jamie Lloyd-Myers’ niece) splashed on the screen next to it as if to say he’s coming back just for you, babydoll. Although that in itself is MY OWN speculation, let me just have that theory, fellas.
It’s just a beautiful new way to look at those banger opening credits. Don’t you think? So with that in mind, let’s just bask in all its malevolent glory, eh?
The recent passing of Brian Lumley left the world an emptier place as loyal fans stand together with heavy hearts at the loss of a true visionary. A visionary, yes, and what he envisioned – and, in turn – shared with us all has become the thing of untold magnificent nightmares.
Lumely was a true master of the macabre and worthy successor of the eldritch terrors originally introduced by H.P. Lovecraft. Without a doubt, the man’s extensive legacy of written horrors shall unendingly sink their dripping fangs into the beating veins of new generations yet to come. Those who discover Lumley’s chilling works are never left the same as though a radiance cast in ebony takes hold and slowly consumes the imagination.
“Since reading Lumley’s “Necroscope” series, I know that vampires really do exist!” —H. R. Giger
Lumley’s vampires dropped the romantics and are the lecherous children of Satan, who became the first vampire upon his expulsion from Heaven at the hands of his Almighty Father. Satan, dejected, lost, and insatiable stood as lord and sovereign of all demons of the night and spread his malignancy across the cold, dark corners of space.
The saga opens with Necrosope. Harry Keogh, the Necroscope has the unique ability to speak with the dead, the Great Majority as they’re known. The dead are restless, their spirits linked to their abysmal graves and after many long and lonely centuries, they crave for a chance to speak openly with the living once more. For that reason, they revere the Necroscope and divulge vital information when needed. As Necroscope Harry also unlocks a way for the dead to speak with one another and divulge vital information they’ve been sitting on for untold years.
So imagine it this way. Upon dying Albert Einstein hasn’t stopped thinking but has had many long years to further compound his wisdom and theories but there’s no one to share his revelations with. The Necroscope builds the bridge to brilliant minds of the past and, in turn, learns from their wisdom. But the dead whisper of a terrible evil ravaging both the living and the departed
Set during the height of the Cold War both the East and the West have their ‘gifted’ agents and will stop at nothing to bring one another down. Unbeknownst to the paranormal high command in England the Soviets have their own type of Necroscope. A ghoulish man who torments both the living and (especially I might add) the dead, he tears the fetid guts from helpless cadavers to learn their coveted secrets, and, worst of all, the dead feel every single thing he does and are helpless to stop him. This Necromancer, Boris Dragosani, a ruthless KGB enforcer catches the attention of an ancient vampire, and the vampire, that Old Thing buried beneath an old Romanian ruin is ready to sink his evil seed into the Necromancer’s rotting soul as a way to spread his violent will from beyond the grave.
This is just the first book. As the series spreads out (and personally the 2nd is my favorite) we learn more about these demonic things, the vampires, and the hierarchy they exist in. How the vampires, the Vamphyri, come from a dark dimension outside of the world we know and hold dear. They’re compassionless, nearly unkillable, and hold their homeworld in an icy grip of unrelenting terror. They have invaded our world and with them brought the fell presence of their father Satan. Ok I’m gonna say it, these things are METAL AS FUCK!
As someone who consumes a lot of vampire lore (I grew up in Eastern Europe, friends, the very lands of the Vampyre!) I found the Vamphyri to be unlike any other kind of vampire we’re accustomed to. True, the classics are there such as the blood-drinking and aversion to sunlight. They also can morph … or maybe it’s just merely them letting down their masks, to reveal hideous faces with grotesque bat and wolf features. The other thing that really stands out to me is how damn near indestructible they are. For example, cut the hand off one and it will sprout tentacles, eyes will suddenly bulge out and line it, and dozens of gnashing mouths ( filled with rows of fangs I might add) will start attacking you. It’ s not so easy to kill one of them. They are the children of pure evil and frankly take pleasure in that. They take, fuck, and eat whomever they so desire.
The series flows from the familiar roots of gothic horrors and gradually mutates into cosmic terrors. It grows and it builds like a fungal infestation and I found myself tearing through one book after another just to devour the next chapter in the saga. Lumely had a way of always hooking me. There were times I wouldn’t stop to eat until I finished a book. I would wake up at night thinking about the characters and worry for their safety.
One moment that really stands out to me is when a fetus calls out for help from a nearby cemetery and the whole fucking graveyard opens up as a legion of zombies march to protect the unborn child and his mother. Another one is when Harry raises a macabre troop of rotting Tartars, their bloodlust not satiated even after all these centuries in the grave, and they slaughter everyone in his way.
When it comes to vampire stories Brian Lumely certainly left his mark on the world. Necroscope’s been my absolute favorite vampire saga and I can’t imagine anyone coming close to the brilliance and imagination he possessed. I had the honor of meeting the man almost ten years ago. Got my copy signed that day and got to meet one of the few people who’ve sincerely inspired me to write. It’s with a heavy heart I write this but how could I not? The man will be missed but his legacy lives on.
Necrscope is only one of the many great contributions he made to the field of horror and bizarre tales. Lumley must also be praised for his extensive contribution to the Cthulhu Mythos, many of which I own. Some could argue few have worked more extensively in the eldritch world Lovecraft invented than Brian Lumley. If there’s anyone who has please let me know because I’ll be adding their work to my library soon. Fans also celebrate the incredible Titus Crow saga – that’s a whole article all on its own if we were to get into that.
Not to mention many fans hail Khai of Khem to be Lumley’s best work yet. Again, this is only the surface of his many darkly imaginative works.
What would these books be though without the awesome cover art? If you’re noticing a trend it’s because each of these covers were done by Lumley’s friend, the one and only Bob Eggleton. Both of these men brought us some amazing nightmares.
In closing, well what more can I say? He was a great man and one of the few heroes I was blessed to meet. I’m saddened his pen is now set aside and the typewriter that spelled vampiric horror for decades now sits in gray silence. Thank you for all the amazing stories, stories I got lost in. You took me on an adventure that started in my teens while I lived overseas and I’ve crossed the world with a copy of Lord of the Rings and a Necroscope book in my backpack. Who knew I would actually stand in your presence? Little ol’ me from St. Petersburg, Russia! What a world. Goodbye, kind sir, and again thank you.
