Monster Bash Menu

Yum!

September is here, and I couldn't be more excited.

Aughost has come and gone, and Monster Bash preparations are now in full effect.

I have my costume half complete.  All of our props and decorations came upstairs on September 4th.  Now, I am decorating and planning the locations of everything.

Monster Bash 2011 promises to be the biggest, best and spOooOoOoOkiest one yet!  I find myself moving away from a typical "theme" like Monster Bash 2008 had, and more toward a room-by-room concentration.

Monster Bash 2011 will also have a more cohesive focus on menu as well.

This will be revolutionary for Monster Bash.

Let's take a trip back -

Monster Bash 2006 - we just got our feet wet and had snacks and whatnot.  We did, however, have the always-disgusting "Kitty Litter Cake": (Click the words for the recipe)


...and that went over big.  This was also the debut of "Toxic Punch"...which has since become a deliciously evil staple of our Monster Bashes:

Here is the top secret recipe for Toxic Punch that I found via google search:

1 Bottle Hawaiian Punch

1 Bottle Sprite or 7-Up

1 container of Rainbow Sherbet

Optional - Gummy Worms, Eyeball Ice Cubes, Dry Ice

And there you have it!

Anyway, more of the Monster Bash 2006 focus went toward the "Mad Scientist Lab":


Monster Bash 2007 - this was the first year we really took MB up a notch. Not so much on the menu side of things, more on the games/fun aspect.  MB2007 was the inception of the "Monster Bash Scavenger Hunt" as well as the "Mummy Wrap" and "People eating Peeps" contest.  This year, we just ordered sandwiches from Luigi O'Gradys.  There really wasn't much in the way of spooky foods, but the reigning champ foodwise of MB2007 was the oozing Spider Cake:

I loosely based the recipe on the one from this website, and then I tweaked it because I find that green pudding oozing out of a chocolate cake tastes better than green jello.  Just a personal preference.  Also, I used chocolate licorice for the legs and some candy corn for decoration.  He was pretty tasty...and gross.

Monster Bash 2008 - this year we had a "murder circus" theme and therefore, all foods had to be big-top style fare:

We had corn dogs, cotton candy, kettle corn,  graveyard cupcakes, etc etc.  Not so much in the way of gross or frightening, but a cohesive theme so it worked out nicely.

Monster Bash 2009 - was a hiatus year.

Monster Bash 2010 - was a Monster Bash "Light" due to our spoOoOOooky matrimony.  This year we had some help for the brownie dessert:

and the pumpkin cake:

 

which were delicious editions.  We also had pina ghouladas:

and eyeball caprese:

Wow, the evolution of Monster Bash food has really blown my mind.  What will MB2011 bring?

I can't give away details, but I can say this:

Expect DISGUSTING, yet delicious, deadly delicacies.

G del T makes me fear the Dark

It's been awhile since I've had a chance to Monster Bash Blog, but rest assured, SpOOoOOOOoOky things are in the works!

I have lots of frightening films, abhorrent activities, and evil events that need to be discussed...so let's get to it!

Guillermo del Toro is no stranger to Monster Bash Blog - I love this guy.  He produced "The Orphanage" which was incredible, as you'll remember from my earlier post about it...and he wrote and directed "Pan's Labyrinth", which was also great.

So of course, when we went to see another movie and the trailer for "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" came on, I was super pumped.

I mean really, who wouldn't be, look at this thing:

Now, I had no idea until after I saw the movie, but this movie is apparently a "remake" for the 1973 movie of the same name:

I use the term remake loosely because the two don't seem to be identical in the storyline, but close enough.

Honestly, let me cut to the chase.... just go see this movie.  Immediately.  Go right now after reading this, because this movie was G-R-E-A-T.

I was a little skeptical at first because the villains are like 6 inches tall, I don't like bratty kids being the star, and Katie Holmes is in this, but it scared the crap out of me, Katie Holmes was pretty decent in it, I had a love/hate for the little girl.

Guillermo del Toro wins again.

Haunted Hayride / House Aficionado

It's the most...wonderful...time...of...the year!

No, not Christmas...why does that always imply Christmas?

It's the most..spoOoOoOOoOkiful...time...of...the year!

I am so pumped. This is what it all comes down to...I'm weeping a little while I type this...

Listening to "Feed my Frankenstein" on repeat while planning Monster Bash games/menu, tormenting my mother...I mean seamstress...to finish my costume, watching spoOoOooOoOoky movies over and over again, pumpkin everything, inserting the words "autumn" and "fall" and "spoOoOoOooKy" into everything in my vocaBOOlary, mummy meatloaf, ghostatoes, I could go on and on...

But the best part of all? Going to a new and spOoOOoky location to try!

One year it was Blood Manor in NYC

Then it was Corrado's in Hackettstown (actually we've done this a couple of times, that's how good it is)

Always DePiero's  and whatever store is on Rt. 17....I heard a rumor that DePiero's is closing and while it's probably true, I'm in denial and refuse to believe it.  So don't even tell me if it's true or not because you heard it here first, Monster Bash Blog is dispelling the rumor right here and now.  Even if it does close I'll still show up every year in my costume and scare all of the developers.

Anyways, another year it was Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly.

And I can't forget Sterling Forest's Forest of Fear in NY

Of course there's Frightfest at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ.

I love it all...

This year, to add to the tradition, we are finally making the trip to Headless Horseman in Sleepy Hollow, NY.

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am.  It looks like this year they're doing some sort of old mining town story where the mine collapsed and the town went into chaos...sounds FRIGHTENING!!

August = Autumn

I realize some people will take offense to my title, and that's ok...not everyone is built for an extended Fall Funfest of Fright...but I think they're just in denial of the inevitable.

Don't you see it?  The weather is changing now...it's different.  It used to be 95-100 degrees...now...in the morning...it's what we North-Easterners like to refer to as "brisk".  Sure, Summer is still holding on...for now.

76 more days, can you believe it?  I sure can't.  I've been working very hard to make Monster Bash 2011 the biggest, baddest, most spoOoOoOoOoOkiest party yet!

Rumor has it we have ghouls coming up from Florida to celebrate, so this year is going to be bigger than ever!

What are you being this year?

Poison Ivy

"Leaves of Three...Leave them Be!"

Seriously, poison ivy is so villainous that it has its own poem!

Poison ivy has been an eternally feared phrase in my house growing up.  My dad is so insanely allergic that he won't even eat mangoes... that's how serious this plant it.  It even affects the ingestion of other fruits!

I can remember being in 6th grade and having such a bad reaction that my one eye was swollen shut and my entire face and arms were covered in poison ivy for what felt like forever.  I shuddered with horror at the thoughts of cortaid

benadryl, and that gross oatmeal aveeno garbage that doesn't work...ugh...I was constantly asked "What the hell happened to your face?!" and am forever scarred for life because of it. 
Of course, poison ivy is only horrible if you're sensitive to the urushiol (totally looked that word up), and you have a reaction to it. Other than that, you could tear the weeds out all day like William Bartlett, the poison ivy man:

I could watch this video all day.  Look at him go! And he'll keep coming back til they're gone! 

You know something, I think this could be the premise for a spOoOoOoOOoky movie!  Like, a backwoods man (Bartlett) creates a dungeon made of poison ivy that he harvests from innocent people's lawns, then when he goes to collect payment he kidnaps said innocent people...murders them...and FEEDS them to his poison ivy plants!  THEN, the plants TAKE OVER THE WORLD!  Ivy-pocalypse! WHOA!!! coming soon on Fearnet!

Now, I know why you're really here....you want to see gross poison ivy rash pictures...right?

Well, first what you need to do is go to poison-ivy.org and check out their hall of fame...it is not for the faint of heart.

Here's the worst one i've ever seen / the winner:

ooof...

and my favorite:

Have fun playing in the woods!

Cannibal Holocaust...um....

There are some movies that I feel like I maybe would have been better off having never seen.


Cannibal Holocaust is probably one of them.

I really ate up the hype (no pun intended)...this movie was so controversial and realistic, that the director, Ruggero Deodato,  was actually arrested and had to stand trial.  He had to bring the actors into the courtroom to prove that he didn't make a "snuff film".  To me, that makes a movie beyond scary.  When real life is blurred so much with a movie that people can't tell the difference.

Here's the trailer, but before you watch it be forewarned that there is nudity in it...odd for a theatrical trailer these days but eh, what can you do:

This movie is like the original Blair Witch, except way more violent. It depicts the "real" disappearance of a group of documentary filmmakers who had gone missing after traveling to the Amazon to film indigenous tribes.

An anthropologist from NYU decides to lead a rescue team to go and locate the missing filmmakers, but instead discovers a reel can that holds the evidence of their demise.

Throughout the movie this song is playing, at what seems like the most inopportune times. It doesn't really go with the movie itself:

Weird. It's like being in the waiting room at a dentist's office, no?

Anyway,  the guy who goes to rescue them discovers that they weren't very respectful of the tribes and he ends the movie being unsure of "who the real cannibals are".

Now, the movie itself wasn't what interested me, it was the controversy surrounding it.

First of all, there was so much animosity during filming that it's almost like a reality show within itself. There was so much tension during filming that I'm surprised this movie was even made. Cast members didn't get along, people kept getting shorted on pay, Columbians being paid in lunches instead of money and being forced to sit in a burning hut to get a "realistic effect", and most of all...the animal deaths being real.

I love animals. 

Couldn't they have found some props to use instead? Like a rubber chicken or something?

And this brings me to the controversies of this movie:

1. Snuff Film. When the movie was released, it was actually confiscated and Deodato was arrested because it was believed that the actors really were killed. All actors had signed contracts to not appear in any promotional type of media to keep up the appearance that they were really killed, and authorities were fooled. Deodato had to void the contracts and bring the actors into the courtroom to avoid life in prison.

2. Impalement. The "impalement scene" was actually examined by the courts because it was believed that she was really killed in that manner. Deodato had to explain how he created the special effect: "a bicycle seat was attached to the end of an iron pole, upon which the actress sat. She then held a short length of balsa wood in her mouth and looked skyward, thus giving the appearance of impalement"- Wikipedia.org.

3. Grisly sexual violence scenes. There is alot of this in this movie. Rape, gang rape, genital mutilation, this movie had it all...yikes. It caused many countries to have difficulty rating it during censorship, some even banned it.

4. Animal cruelty. 7 animals were killed, and 6 were presented onscreen (taken from Wikipedia):
* A coatimundi (mistaken as a muskrat in the film) has its jugular veins cut open by the character Miguel.
* A large turtle (about one meter long) is captured in the water and dragged to shore, where it is then decapitated and its limbs, shell, and entrails are removed. The actors proceed to cook and eat the turtle.
* A large spider is killed with a machete.
* A snake is killed with a machete.
* A squirrel monkey has the top of its skull chopped off with a machete.
* A pig is kicked twice and then shot.

These were the scenes that I physically could not watch. It's too disturbing. Deodato has since condemned the fact that he had chosen to kill live animals, but since it's forever on film it makes me pretty upset. Not only the fact that they were killed, but the manner in which they are killed is horrifying.

So that's Cannibal Holocaust in a nutshell.  Pretty disturbing stuff!

Don't Be Afraid to Exorcist III

Ah, the Exorcist.

Let's be honest, the Exorcist is one of the greatest horror films of all time.  Now, I've never seen part 2, but from what I've heard, it was pure garbage.  Thanks to my good friend Netflix, The Exorcist III had magically made its way to the top of my queue and arrived at my house last night.  At first, I was worried for The Exorcist III, because the original is such a huge act to follow and part 2 was a huge flop...but at the same time I was hopeful, because William Peter Blatty, who wrote the novel and screenplay for the original, was at the helm for part III.  Here's a trailer:

The Exorcist III is based on the sequel novel to the original Exorcist, called Legion. 

Before I had seen it, I had only one question : Is it going to be exactly the same movie as the Exorcist?

I mean, how many different movies can be made about exorcisms...there's only so many ways they can go, right?

But I can say with confidence, the answer is a surprising : No.

What I really liked about the movie is that it tips its hat to the original, and gives you little tidbits that tie them both together, but other than that, it's its own film.

Basically, the movie takes place 15 years since the death of Damian Karras.  Father Dyer, who had given Karras his last rights in the original, and the police lieutenant who was there, go to see the movie "It's a Wonderful Life" on the anniversary of Karras's death every year.  Dyer and the lieutenant Kinderman, are good friends and have almost an odd couple-esque type of banter.

Kinderman has been investigating the crimes of the Gemini Killer, who was a notorious serial killer who was supposedly dead.  However due to a recent string of murders that feature the Gemini Killer's unique MO, Kinderman begins to doubt that the Gemini Killer is truly dead.  The crimes are also religiously driven, which some deaths being crucifixions or having to do with religious figures....and also people who's names begin with a "K".
The deaths are also pretty gruesomely described, however very little gore is really seen.
This part especially creeped me out:

Kinderman, perplexed by all of this, finds out that Father Dyer is in the hospital and makes a stop to visit him...shortly after, he finds out that Father Dyer is murdered, also in the same manner as The Gemini Killer's victims. Including the double "L" at the end of words

How did the killer know that that was a movie they both saw together?!

The hospital then gets put into a lockdown, because as Kinderman reveals, only a small select few knew the real MO of the Gemini Killer, and not the one released to the press as a way to weed out the fakes.

While the hospital is in lockdown, Kinderman is told that a patient in the psych ward room 11, "Patient X", has no identity, and was found 15 years ago near the scene of Karras's death, and claims he is the Gemini Killer. What shocks Kinderman the most is that the patient looks identical to Damian Karras:

What are the chances?! This patient X, goes back and forth between looking like Karras and then looking like the real Gemini Killer, and describes killing all of his victims. It turns out he uses the senile dementia patients in the hospital to carry out his deeds...

like this one...
ahhhh!!!

Another priest, Father Morning, comes in to save the day and perform an Exorcism, but it goes horribly wrong and he almost dies. But along with Kinderman, they are able to save Karras's soul and give him a proper burial.

There were a few weirdo moments...like this one....

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be in a heaven where Fabio isn't:

how'd Fabio get in there and get such primo camera time?

Anyway, I actually really enjoyed this movie. I mean, it wasn't gory or bloody, but it was like a cool CSI episode mixed in with a supernatural horror movie. If you were scarred from The Exorcist II: The Heretic, I would say don't be afraid to give Exorcist III a shot...


Lastly, I just wanted to leave you with this...BIGGEST EXORCIST III FAN EVER: