Lawrence Zombie Walk

• Lawrence Zombie Walk
South Park Gazebo (1141 Massachusetts in Lawrence, KS)
Thursday, October 7, 7-8:30pm

From the organizers:
The 4th Annual Lawrence Zombie Walk has arrived! We will be gathering around 7pm to get things started, but the actual walk will START AT 7:30 PM. Plan on arriving IN your zombie attire, ready to go. More updates will be made very soon! As always, please be respectful to downtown businesses, as well as other people. Keep your blood to yourself (don’t wipe it on windows or buildings), and don’t try to scare kids. If someone looks scared, just walk away! DONATIONS: We will be collecting items for the local food shelter and humane society, so any old (or new!) blankets, towels, etc would be extremely helpful, in addition to non-perishable food items, for both people and animals. Let’s help make a big difference this year!

Horror Corner: “The Changeling”

Here at The Rathaus, we, as in Tricia and Carter, have an admittedly geeky tradition – for the entire month of October, just to set mood for Halloween, we regularly watch a horror film at least one of us (usually Tricia) has never seen before. Over the past few years we’ve made it through most of the mainstream must-see horror films – like Friday the 13th, Halloween, The Exorcist, Hellraiser, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing, Rosemary’s Baby, The Wicker Man, Silence of the Lambs and The Shining – and have now moved on to examining the lesser known gems of a very diverse genre.

And because Tricia is a verifiable scaredy cat – incapable of watching a horror movie of any kind without hiding her eyes at least once – and Carter is grizzled veteran of the grotesque – who’s seen Audition more than once and has watched parts of Men Behind the Sun – our reviews will be a solid assessment of just how frightening each film is. So in hopes of introducing all of you to some spine-chilling, blood-curling and maybe even scream-worthy movies over the next month, we present the first installment our horror film extravaganza 2010. Feel free to leave us any suggestions in the comments section or through our twitter and facebook.

First up, The Changeling, 1980

It was the perfect family vacation for composer John Russell (George C. Scott) and his family when a freak automobile accident claims the lives of his wife and daughter. Consumed by grief, John, at the request of friends, rents an old turn of the century house. Mammoth in size, the house seems all the room that John needs to write music and reflect. He does not realize that he is not alone in the house. He shares it with the spirit of a murdered child who has homed in on John’s despair and uses him to uncover decades of silence and deceit. With the help of Claire Norman, the one who aided John in procuring the house, they race to find the answers and soon learn that a devious and very powerful man guards them.(IMDB)

Watch the trailer here

Carter’s take: George C. Scott delivers a solid performance as John Russell in this haunted house thriller. The first half of the movie uses many of the conventions you might expect in this type of horror film – creepy noises, plenty of gloomy passageways and some eerie references to Russell’s dead child – none of which were particularly effective for me. Only after Russell participates in a seance with a spooky medium are the scares, intrigue and action finally ramped up. But even at its peak The Changeling never had my pulse racing and the ending was far too predictable. There were some interesting visuals of the ghost that horror buffs might find interesting because of the similarities to The Ring.

Tricia’s take: This was our first scary movie of the season so I was of course scared out of my wits. I’m totally into 1980 right now (fashion, film, etc) so when Carter presented me with the list of horror flicks to choose from, I jumped on The Changeling because I figured it would be quite a bit more campy, and therefore less scary, than the rest. I’ll admit some of the action did look a bit cheesy, but that did not detract me from believing in the ghost of the murdered child. And although I laid in bed quite a while that night listening for any out of the ordinary sounds, I’d have to agree with Carter, it wasn’t that scary as most of what has stuck with me from the film was the fashion (definitely a good reference point for some fall fashion inspiration, and I die for Claire’s winter hat).

Long Lost Vampire Tales Rise From The Dead

There was a time, not long ago, when getting caught reading, watching, or having a remote interest in anything vampire related relegated you to the lowest, dorkiest rung on the ladder. This was before the Twilight series was a gleam in Stephanie Meyer’s eyes, back when the Vampire Diaries was a series of books read by nerds in their bedroom closets, back when Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise was the hottest thing in fangs. Needless to say, vampire tales weren’t as widespread as they are today.

What follows is a list of four books and one TV show I discovered way back when I was a frustrated vampire lover, desperately hungry for anything undead. These little bits of fangtastic delights are mostly lurking in the shadows of the vampire realm, still undiscovered by all but the most obsessive vampire fans – although they’ve been around since before Robert Pattinson could even read grownup books. In any case, each of these tales have put a stake in a special place in my heart, I hope you enjoy!

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
I was a teenager when I found this one, and the story of the little half-breed vampire Nothing trying to make his way in small town Missing Mile, North Carolina really sunk its teeth into my imagination. After reading the gruesome, exhilarating, and terribly attractive adventures of Nothing after finally meeting some of his kind and heading to New Orleans, I was tempted to run away and change my name to Nothing too. Ah, what might have been.

Obsession and Possession by Lori Herter
Yes, these are pretty much straight up romance novels. But lets not kid ourselves, most vampire tales have more than a little touch of bodice ripping melodrama. And at least they’re up front about what you’re getting, “A night of passion . . . an eternity of unquenchable desire.” They are for the vampire lovers who, in the immortal words of Toby Keith, want “A little less talk and a lot more action.” Stick a stake in me, I’m done!

The Need by Andrew Neiderman
Tired of the usual…vampire meets girl, vampire struggles over whether or not to suck girls blood/make her like him, vampire and girl fall in love, vampire fights his kind/his brother/himself… story? Then this one’s for you. We’ve got vampires that feed off human essence – sort of, but not exactly like the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal.  Oh yeah, they also begin to change sex when they hit puberty.

The Vampire Odyssey by Scott Ciencin
Here’s another story of a half-breed vampire, raised by a human mother who – surprise – happens to be a police officer! Hijinks ensue as Dani (the vamp) and Sam (her mom cop) move to big bad Hollywood where anything can happen – especially to a shy, confused vampling with self-esteem problems. I don’t want to give away too much, but there’s enough of everything – from sex, to violence, to mystery, and (of course) drama – in this ripping story of the rich, famous, the undead and the forces who fight to save us all.

Forever Knight created by Barney Cohen and James D. Parriott
This is one of the original vampire TV series, starring Geraint Wyn Davies as Detective Nick Knight. Now, this night beat cop is – as you may have guessed – not your normal cop. No, he’s an 800 year old vampire trying to atone for almost a millennium of sins by working the mean streets of modern day Toronto. Too bad he can’t stay off the blood. This show, which ran on CBS as part of their “Crimetime after Primetime” lineup in the early nineties, contains plenty of awesomely horrible special effects.

So if you’re feeling like a good long suck, check out some of these lovely works of vampire fun. They’ll never grow old and stale, but you better hurry before Stephanie Meyer or the CW get their hands on them!

by: Meghan Bainum

Free Halloween Mask From Blackbooks Stencils

Halloween is fast approaching and if you’re like us you still don’t have a costume figured out. Luckily the dudes at Blackbooks Stencils have your back with this free hand sprayed, laser cut, limited edition, one size fits all clown mask that is sure to impress your friends or at least creep them out. Why a clown mask you might ask? Because as Blackbooks Stencils put it, “Clowns are scary. Period.” We concur.

Get your FREE clown mask here

posted by: Brent Carter

Neckface’s Solo Show Devil’s Disciple x Video Interview

Neckface’s artwork, both in the street and the studio, is drawn with a distinctively shaky hand, often depicting the bloody, violent and frenzied activities of witches, demons and other assorted hairy monsters. So it’s fitting that Neckface’s solo exhibition at O.H.W.O.W. in Miami entitled Devil’s Disciple will take place on Halloween night. They say the devil is in the details, which I never understood, but given the details for this show it finally makes some sense.

Details of Devil’s Disciple (via O.H.W.O.W.):
“Neckface will turn Miami inside out for his premiere solo exhibition in the Magic City. This Halloween night, Neckface will deconstruct all 10,000 square feet of O.H.W.O.W. and build a world like no other. Featuring a large-scale haunted house installation, complete with Neckface’s iconic imagery, the Devil’s Disciple exhibition is designed to frighten viewers as they enter the space.

“The crux of the exhibition though will surely be Neckface’s new work. A deviation from the norm, it is chock-full of his signature imagery interweaved with a personal dimension that is much more palpable in the paintings. After so many years of crafting a persona and building up walls around himself and his moniker, the reclusive Neckface has finally cracked open the door ever so slightly and let us into his world.

“With the introduction of historical and pop culture references into the visual storytelling, the paintings have grown more complex and more intricate. This newer imagery is balanced by considered application of wit throughout the work in the signature Neckface hand style. In addition to the paintings, a series of metal mask sculptures will be on display. Reminiscent of African Woyo masks, Neckface reworks the sculptures with sharp edges and creates an object that is distinctly contemporary and unmistakably his.”

As a teaser to Devil’s Disciple, the NYC based artist has set up a dead dummy in the window of the gallery, drawing attention from both the public and mainstream media outlets like ABC News.

We’ve also included this entertaining interview with Neckface from 2007 so you can get to know this slightly demented artist a little better.

See more of Neckface’s work here