A Visit to the Evans City Cemetery!

"They're coming to get you, Barbara!"

With those words, spoken in a passably good Boris Karloff impersonation by Russell Striener, movie history was changed forever. I set out to discover that history.

I gassed up my Jeep (The U.S.S. Nostromo) last night and made the decision to brave the impending storms, rain, and 50 MPH winds to make a long overdue pilgrimage to the Evans City Cemetery. Yes, verily did Doctor Zombie bravely enter Zombieland, a land of Steelers fans and - it's been rumored - cannibals. (Seriously. I hear Steelers fans eat their own young. Gruesome indeed!)

Anyway, I drove halfway to Evans City yesterday evening and spent the night at my family's hunting camp on the Ohio/Pennsylvania border.

I woke early, having slept unwell because of the rain and winds, and was on the road by 7:30. By 8:45 - I was in Evans City. Today was a great day to make the pilgrimage to what could - arguably - be one of the holiest meccas for a horror fan EVER. It was a perfect October day. Cool, stormy, and the wind blew and swirled the fallen autumn leaves like disembodied spirits. I couldn't have asked for a better day!

Evans City is - for those of you joing us late in our programming - where George A. Romero filmed his 1968 zombie masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead. I'm fortunate that I live so close to Pennsylvania and, if you'll remember, last summer I made the pilgrimage to Monroeville and the Monroeville Mall.

You can read about that adventure by clicking here!!!

At that time I vowed to return and visit the holy land of zombie films itself. Evans City. Romero's Night of the Living Dead changed the face of horror movies and also changed how we saw zombies. Rather than there being portrayed as the magically or chemically voodoo'ed victims of Haitian sorcerors - they became the ravenous, undead monsters we all know and love today.

And it all started here.

You can imagine my geekish joy as I drove southward out of the small town (where Romero also filmed his paranoid, government conspiracy film, The Crazies , a few years later. The Crazies was a good movie, but its recent remake is one of the rare exceptions to the rule in that the remake was exponentially better than the original)... and suddenly I was there.

That iconic road cutting up into the forest.

Here's a picture of it from the original movie...


And here's what it looks like today. Note the new sign just to the right of the Nostromo.


Here's a closer look at the new(ish) sign...


I made my way up the hill with anticipation and, as you round the curve at the top of the hill, you see two newer signs on the drive in. The first replaces this sign from the movie...


It now looks like this...


Further up the road is a nice new Evans City Cemetery marker that is really, really new.


Just past this sign, following the curve of the hill, I was suddenly there. Immediately as you enter the cemetery, you pass the famous chapel. I swung around and, based on these shots from the movie...



... used the Nostromo as a fill in for Johnny's groovy blue coupe!


Then it was a matter of finding the other graves. At first I was a bit anxious about it. The cemetery's actually quite big, especially seen from the chapel near the entrance. But then I realized that, based on where I was standing when I took the shot of the chapel, I was already there. All I needed to do was turn around because Romero filmed everything in the same area. Seriously - he literally turned his cameras around and shot the follow up scenes.

So I set up capturing the sights on film. First, I found the grave that stood in for Johnny and Barb's dearly departed old man.

Here's them approaching it in the movie...


...and here's Doctor Z doing the same! (In his snazzy Night of the Living Dead t-shirt! Bonus points for the 31 Days of Horror T-shirts!)


Here's a better shot of the grave. I should note that many of the trees in the original movie were blown down in a tornado several years ago, so there's very little of the shade that you see in the original film.


Here's one of Barb from the other side (as she walks away from Johnny when he delivers his famous line), and also how it looks now...



That last shot may look familiar. Although I moved the camera maybe three or four feet, that's also the same place where Bill Hintzman's Zombie # 1 makes his first appearance.


And, today... what a nice beautiful sunny sort of day in this nice cemetery...


Wow. It got awful dark. I just got a chill...


Wait... is that something moving up there?!?


Look's there's one of them now! They're coming to get you... Aahhhh! It's Doctor Zombie!


And of course, this is the point where the zombie attacks Johnny... and Barb cowers in fear...


Not as pretty, but just as scared...


This next part was, I thought, going to be difficult. I looked around for the grave that Johnny was killed on, but all of the graves looked so much alike I was afraid I wouldn't be able to find it. Luck struck out of the blue and I turned from the grave where Barb cowered above, to see the one the next row up. To refresh your memory. Johnny gets attacked, and he is pushed to the ground, striking his head on a gravestone and - presumably - dying.



My concern was that I couldn't read the name on the screen captures I had with me. At no point can you see the name on the tombstone... but then, as I said, I turned and saw the headstone. If you look above, there's a very distinct circle pattern in the marble on its side. That what I saw and I breathed a sigh of relief...I'd found it!



But then I had my skull bashed in by another passing zombe. How rude!


Here's some more shots of Johnny's car driving...



And my attempts at recreating them...



Some further comments on these. In the second one, with the power lines... this is in a newer part of the cemetery and there are tons of new tombstones that - obviously - weren't in the shots from 1968.

About the one with flag... how fucking cool is that?!? I managed to get a shot with a flag as well. Near as I can tell, that is a flag placed on the same grave for the same US Vet. I took a picture of the tombstone because I thought it was cool that he contributed to Night of the Living Dead, and could also help me in my geeky idiocy almost 45 years later. Plus - Doctor Z. loves graveyards and the stories they tell. And Staff Sgt Elmer McClelland must have had a great story.


And so, as I finished those last shots, I logged into my Kindle and geekily announced my whereabouts. And then, sadly, I bid adieu to the Evans City Cemetery.

I made two more quick stops on the way. First, I drove further south from the cemetery and - again by pure luck - found another shot that I'd hoped I could find. About 4 miles down the road is a distinctive curve from the intro..


How it looks today...


Then, as I turned around and headed back towards Evans City, I decided to stop at a convenience store because I required the sort of sustenance that every road-tripping zombie needs - human flesh. Unfortunatly, they had none, so I had to settle for some spicy beef jerky and a diet Coke Zero. The thing is, I walked in and immediately saw a big Night of the Living Dead poster by the Coke cooler. You see, the chapel in the cemetery is falling apart. Sadly, Evans City has decided the cheapest way to deal with it is to knock it down.

So, several of the people involved in the movie are working to save it for its historic value. I couldn 't agree with them more.

To that end, there's a charity event next weekend in Zelionople (which is about 5 miles away).

Being the geek I am, I asked the lady behind the counter of I could take a picture of it. She said abolutely and commented that it was funny how many fans of the movie visited the town because of the cemetery. She also laughed and said that George Romero himself visits the store quite often (I imagine it's to replenish his cigarettes. The man is a smoking fiend!). Apparently he lives nearby. Even funnier, she said she had no idea who he was until she saw a news story about the chapel a few weeks back.

I thanked her, bought my beef jerky and coke (and threw in a couple Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins. Mmmmm!) and ran and got my camera. I snapped a picture of the poster and seriously debated whether I should camp out in the parking lot of the convenience store to stalk down and meet the master himself, George Romero. Cooler heads prevailed and the logical part of my undead brain won the argument with the calmly constructed argument that Mrs. Zombie'd probably divorce me if I didn't get back home soon.


The funny thing is - in a strange twist of fate - I'd snapped a quick photo of the theater where the benefit's being held when I'd driven through Zelionople earlier in the day. I snapped it because I thought 'How goddamned cool! An old time theater playing classic horror movies in October.'

Pure coincidence!



So I left Evans City behind. But I didn't leave alone.

Like I said, the chapel's falling apart. While I was walking around it, I found several old pieces of mortar laying around. I couldn't help myself... I grabbed one off of the ground. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, but it is a piece of horror cinema history, and it will hold a place of honor amidst the other memorabilia I've collected over the years. Moreso if they fail to save the chapel. Sad, indeed!



Some final words:
The Strand Theater in Zelionople has information on the benefit to save the chapel.

Check out the Save the Chapel Facebook page for ways you too can help save the chapel.

And if all of this has you jonesing to see the original movie - or at least the parts that I talked about - I've attached a clip of the entire cemetery scene. Enjoy!



(Note: I used a mix of screenshots of the original Night of the Living Dead for the comparison photos in this story. Some of them are black and white, and others are color. I know some of you out there may consider the colorized versions borderline blasphemous, but truthfully, the updated and colorized version is a much better copy and made clearer screen grabs.

In other words, don't get your panties in a bunch, Nancy... Dr. Z.)

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 15

I'm wearing today's shirt because it's a special day. I'm going on a little road trip, and you'll be reading more about it in a few days.

Suffice it to say, I love this short!

The problem is, I hate to post a picture of it. Although I proudly wear it because it is based on one of my favorite movies of all time... I am conflicted about it.

You see, the iconic little girl on it is named Kyra Schon. She's all grown up now, obviously. The thing is I now know that she did not get compensated in any way for the shirt I bought. Like I said, I bought this shirt before knowing this, but it still makes me - as an artist - feel bad.

You see, her zombie image (the picture was actually taken outside, in the daylight, outside of shooting in 1967)has been printed, and reprinted on everything from coffee mugs, to lunch boxes, to posters, to my beloved t-shirt. So, please think of the fact that Kyra's never seen a red cent for the blatant misapproppriation of her own image before you buy something NOTLD related.

So, you know how I make up for it? I visit her site The Ghoul Next Door and buy some of her awesome art and schwag. Or, I buy some stuff if I see her at a convention.

It's the right thing to do.

You should do the same.

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 14

Chilly today. Brrr. Chilly and damp. Typical Northeastern Ohio fall weather.

So, in lieu of a t-shirt, I'm going with a horror themed sweatshirt.

What better way to fight the cold than with a sweatshirt from everyone's favorite school of higher learning? Its dark bricks, its ivied walls, its library that holds some of the most ancient, insanity inducing tomes ever laid to paper.

I'm of course talking about Miskatonic University -- HP Lovecraft's eldritch seat of learning in gable-roofed and decaying Arkam MA.

Funny story. Back in high school, the guidance counselors sent out a form for the students interested in college. They asked for our top five picks and what we were thinking about majoring in. They would, in turn, get us the brochures, application packets, and entrance information for the schools. They'd then help us apply and get accepted. This was, of course, in the days before the internet, so you had to mail away for all that stuff.

Anyway, the whole process was a good idea in theory. Until you take into account smart ass geeks like myself and my friends.

I put down that I was interested in Pre-Med, English, or Criminal Justice and wanted info on Bowling Green State University as my first choice, Miami of Ohio as my second, Ohio University and, last, if there was no way into the others, Kent State.

Then, as an afterthought, in the fifth place, I put Miskatonic University because I'd heard good things about their Medieval Metaphysics program. I didn't think much about it besides the fact that my friends and I would laugh about it.

I had, in fact, already been accepted to BGSU... so I was just going through the motions.

Until I was called to the guidance counselor's office. The conversation went something like this.

Counselor: Zombie, I can't seem to locate anything on this... (reading)... Miskatonic University.
Zombie: Really? Well that's ok... I.. uh it's my last choice anyway.
Counselor: Well, I want to make sure we look at all of your options. It's the only out of state school you listed. Can you tell me a little bit about it.
Zombie: Uh. It's a small college in Massachussetts. It was actually one of the first founded in New England.
Counselor: And why did you want to go there?
Zombie: Um. For Medieval Metaphysics. They have the only program for it.
Counselor: Medieval Metaphysics? That's a new one.
Zombie: My Uncle Howard Phillips went there a few years back. That's why I liked it. He... ummm.. talked very highly of it and it's academic excellence.
Counselor: Well, I'll see what else I can find.
Zombie: That's fine. Like I said, I'm probably staying in state anyway...

So I went back to the geek hut (mine and my friends' table at lunch) and laughed about it.

Damn, though, if the guidance counselor didn't think I was serious. Every time I saw him the rest of the year, he said he was working on it.

I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

And, truthfully, if Miskatonic University were real... I can't say I wouldn't have tried to apply there anyway...

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 13

I miss you, X-Files. I miss you on Friday nights. I miss you, and the really creepy over the top monster episodes. Things like the Flukeman, the Ice episode, or that really fucked up episode with the atavistic, inbred, hillbilly mutants that lived under the bed. I miss the episodes that were so horrifying and over the top, they gave me a reason to plan my Friday nights around you when I was in my 20's.

Most of all, I miss you Mulder and Scully. I miss Scully's hotness, and I miss Mulder's dogged belief that there were things out there too scary and terrifying to believe. That was, before you totally jumped the shark and gave us two Mulder-less seasons. Even a Robert Patrick T-1000 couldn't save your spiral into irrelevance. How the mighty fall.

But, back in the day, you were wondrously creepy and chilling!

What started for me, as a child, with Leonard Nimoy and In Search Of, The X-Files fully cemented. Fear of the unknown, the paranormal, the extraterrestrial, or the hungrily cryptozoologic; all of these things are what make Halloween so fantastic.

I want to believe.

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 12

Little chilly today. Long sleeve t-shirt. Brrrr...

This is from Las Vegas Harley Davidson and, truthfully, I don't remember who bought it for me (I've never been to Vegas). Whoever it was, they know me.

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 11

OK, OK... I know this one's a stretch.

This isn't necessarily Halloween related. To the normal person.

I, however, have never been what - by any reasonable definition - what one would call normal.

So bear with me while I make a weird, makes-sense-only-in-my-mind connection between today's t-shirt and the 31 Days of Horror T-Shirts.

You see, the shirt today was from a movie that I'm certain many here know and love. And, to me, it encapsulates the wonder and magic of childhood. It captures the same feeling of longing and anticipation I felt for Halloween every year. I love this movie.

I'm talking about the sublimely awesome 80's movie - The Goonies.

How I longed to be a goonie. I grew up in Willowick and lived 8 houses from the southern shore of Lake Erie. Myself and my friends, in emulation of Mouth, Chunk, Data, and Mikey; spent a not inconsiderable part of our youth trying to find caves and hidden treasure in the muddy cliffs of the lake shore. Sadly, alas, we never found any caves in the cliffs. Or any pirate ships for that matter.

And, if you think about it, this movie had some pretty horrifying moments. From the cruelty and implied torture of the Fratelli's, to the dead body in the ice cream freezer, to the deformed and grotesque Sloth - this movie was chock full of horror related visuals. It had pirates, skeletons, and spooky caverns too!

Like I said, I think The Goonies is one of those movies that - for me at least - has that same sense of adventure and amazement that typifies childhood. And that's the same thing I love about Halloween. Some of my fondest memories from childhood involved the lead up to Halloween and the trick or treating, much as my other fond memories involved exploring the Lake Erie shore and playing down at 'Shit Creek' with my buddies. Shit Creek, by the way, was the outlet of a creek that ran under Shoregate Shopping Center and poured out in a wooded area on the Lake Erie shore near Cresthaven Drive. There was a real cave there, man-made, but a cave nonetheless. It just smelled really, really bad!

So, horror t-shirt? I say yes. And, since its my blog, I say it is! Thhbbbtt!

Goonies never say die!

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 10

In 1978, recent UCLA grad John Carpenter and his partner, Debra Hill, unleashed a movie on us that changed the horror world.

Produced for a mere $325,000, and eventually grossing millions of dollars - this small budget film is considered by many to be the most successful independent film of all time.

It's contribution to horror, and film-making in general, cannot be understated.

This is the movie that created an entire horror film genre (the slasher flick), spawned a myriad of copycats that - in almost all cases - failed to match the original, and gave us a horror villain who has become synonymous with Halloween.

I'm, of course talking about John Carpenter's Halloween.

This is the perfect horror movie. From the single cut, trailing intro, to the POV shots of Michael Meyers, to the jarring, horrific goodness of John Carpenter's staccato piano score - this is one of Doctor Zombie's favorite movies. Halloween is the single most influential horror movie of the last 35 years.

And I LOVE IT!

I need MORE John Carpenter Halloween shirts!

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 9

Ahhh. Rob Zombie. How I love your early movies. House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects gave us some of the most iconic horror characters of recent years. Sherri Moon Zombie hadn't reached the point of annoyance I now feel for her. And you gave us Captain Spaulding... Sid Haig's greatest role ever.

Your homage to 70's and 80's horror films had the perfect blend of Texas Chainsaw Massacre meets The Hills Have Eyes meets Hostel.

It had suspense, it had gore, it was great. Too bad you've sorely disappointed me with your later films. You had such promise.

But back to Captain Spaulding. I calls 'em like I sees 'em!

By the way, if you're ever on the left side of Cleveland in Broadview Heights... make sure you check out the Dark Room Bar on Royalton Road. A horror-themed, industrial and metal bar - the pub has an excellent shot called the Captain Spaulding.

"Howdy Folks! You like blood? Violence? Freaks of nature? Well then, come on down to Captain Spaulding's Museum of Monsters and Mad-Men. See the Alligator Boy, ride my famous Murder Ride. Most of all, don't forget to take home some of my tasty fried chicken! Ha ha! It just tastes so damn good!" Captain Spaulding

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 8

Ahhh... Simon Pegg. If I were gay, I'd totally have a crush on you. You're so funny, so geeky, so... British.

I loved Shaun of the Dead when it first came out. I watch it at least once every couple of months and, unsurprisingly, it gets better every time I see it. He and Edgar Wright's homage to the brilliance of George Romero has, it could be argued, surpassed the master. I love this movie.

Every time I watch it, there's little bits that I discover that make Shaun of the Dead even funnier. Case in point, I just watched it last weekend again and noticed one of the funniest things I hadn't seen before.

When Shaun and Ed are watching the news, after killing the girl and big guy in the garden, the newscaster says "Stay in your homes, lock your doors." That's when they realize they've left the door open yet again and they turn... to see the tuxedo zombie. This scenes been in every trailer, and I've seen it dozens of times, but I just saw for the first time Shaun's physical reaction. Right as he screams, and before he yells the classic line, "OHHH! HE'S GOT AN ARM OFF!" watch Shaun's hands.

In a quintessentially English fashion, he wiggles his fingers in fear! It's such a great affectation. I laugh just thinking about it. Here's the zombie apocalypse, they've sat down to have a cup of tea to think about it, and they're surprised by a zombie. Shaun's reaction is to wiggle his fingers like Wallace from Wallace and Grommet!

I've attached a youtube clip below so you can see it for yourself. I may be the only one who finds it funny, but I had to share.

And in honor of the brilliance, today I'll be wearing my Shaun of the Dead shirt!

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 7

Ahhh... my second favoite hockey team, as made famous by Kevin Smith in Zack and Mirri Make a Porno. Brilliant if you ask me. My Monroeville Zombies tshirt is better than yours. Know why? I bought mine AT THE MONROEVILLE MALL! That's right, I got my zombie thmed tshirt in the very mall where George filmed his masterpiece, Dawn of the Dead! Jealous, aren't you?

31 Days of Horror TShirts - Day 6

Ahhhh... the crisp crunch of leaves, the coolth of autumn air, and the perfection of Geroge A Romero's Dawn of the Dead! In a stunning zombie green nonetheless!

31 Days of Horror T-Shirts - Day 5

One of my older shirts, this is my beloved Miskatonic University t-shirt. Sadly it's seen better days...

Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Phtagn!

October - 31 Days of Shirt Horror!

I've decided to do something a bit different. You see, I have a huge t-shirt collection that Mrs. Zombie absolutely hates. And the t-shirt collection is, if you couldn't guess, based on my strange prediliction for all that is horrific and Halloween-y.

So, to that end, I promised myself I'd wear a different horror or halloween themed t-shirt every day this month. I'll be updating daily, in addition to my other random October posts, showing you what horror themed shirt I'm wearing.

Now, I realize it's already 3 days into the new month. So,as not to disappoint, I'll post the t-shirts I wore the last couple of days tonight.

Watch for daily updates, feel free to comment on my odd t-shirts, or simply stop by to make fun of my embarrassingly large gut as it protrudes from shirts that are really very unbecoming on a mad scientist of my advanced years!

OCTOBER 1st - Started slow and wore my Zombie Squad tee. The ultimate in zombie extermination needs, ZS makes dead things deader!





OCTOBER 2nd - I ROCKED IT OLD SCHOOL! I wore a black sweater to work and, under it, one of my favorite shirts of all time. That's right, ya' primitive screwheads! It's my Evil Dead shirt! Remember - Shop smart, shop S-Mart!


OCTOBER 3rd - Wore a black fleece and threw this on underneath. It was a gift from the kids, but it's definitely carrying a zombie message. Plus it glows in the dark! The hell with the Walmart-ness of that, it's a zombie shirt. That glows! Fuck yeah!


OCTOBER 4th - Which Brings us to today! I had a business meeting, so I threw on one of my blue, Evil Corporate world fleeces so I could look all business casual. I threw this on underneath because it too is blue. This isn't the last Jack Skellington/ Nightmare Before Christmas tee you'll see this groovy, spooky month!



Hopefully this little experiment won't totally suck. I'm not sure how well it'll go over with my regular readers, but I thought it'd at least give me an excuse to pull out all of my cool, favorite tees!

Unpleasant dreams, dear readers!

Carnival Arcane by Midnight Syndicate

Doctor Zombie discovered Midnight Syndicate purely by accident.

Several years back, I'd heard them mentioned a few times on various horror forums I frequented at the time... but hadn't given them much thought. I'd mentally stored them away as this Goth/spooky/haunted house music that people seemed to rave about, but I was in no rush to check them out. Almost as an afterthought, I put them on my Amazon wishlist with the intention of purchasing them when I got the chance, but with no true burning need to do so.

Some months later, in October of 2002 or 2003, I happened to be doing a painting side job in that most unholy of places - the west side of Cleveland. I had a few thousand bucks in my pocket, so, after stopping at Einstein Brother's Bagels for a Caramel Apple Latte in Crocker Park, I swung into the local Borders just to look around. There was a Halloween-inspired music rack, and there I saw Midnight Syndicate's Born of the Night and Gates of Delirium. Remembering I'd heard good things about them, and fully besotted with the warm, bloodstained feeling of October and the coming Samhain, I took a chance and bought both CD's.

Jesus Christ in a candy apple red chariot, am I ever glad I did.

I wasn't two songs into the first CD, and still getting on I-90, when I realized I was a huge Midnight Syndicate fan. Since then, their ghoulish symphonies have been a constant writing companion. I can say this with certainty - I'm a product of the 70's and 80's and an unrepentant horror fan. There's something about Midnight Syndicate's music that resonates with the part of me that never grew up; that eternal ten year old who still dearly loves Dungeons and Dragons, late night horror movie hosts, Halloween, zombies, vampires, werewolves, walks through graveyards beneath an October moon and curdled milk clouds, and all other manner of things that go bump in the night.

Seriously. If Doctor Zombie's Midnight Theater of Terror had a soundtrack, it would be something dark and moody from Midnight Syndicate.

Imagine my further surprise when I found out that they actually hail from just down the road. That's right, dear readers - Midnight Syndicate is local and they're from Chardon, which is only about 20 minutes down the road from the Theater of Terror. Northern Ohio apparently breeds all kinds of ghouls who love all that's spooky. Must be something in the water...

My frequent readers know that I absolutely love to shine a light on local artists, and Midnight Syndicate is no different. My love of their early efforts led to my purchase their other albums, and their retrospective CD - Out of the Darkness - is an everyday listen at work while I write.

Midnight Syndicate has a sound unlike any other. They perfectly capture the sound of creepy moors, dark and spooky houses, the visceral, unheard soundtrack of Halloween, and all that is dark and eerie. One of my favorite Midnight Syndicate songs, Noctem Aeturnas, was the music I heard in my head when I wrote For Whom The Gods Love Die Young, a short story in my Kindle-only horror fiction collection, Disturbed Graves: Tales of Terror and the Undead. That haunting zombie short story had a chilling soundtrack, courtesy of Midnight Syndicate.



So - what about Carnival Arcane? Obviously, being a fan, I was excited about their new release and, when I had the opportunity to pick it up earlier this week, I jumped on it.



Carnival Arcane is, in a word, perfection. Thematically, it tells the story of a traveling circus, but it's that circus we all fear coming to town. With shades of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes, or Richard Laymon's Traveling Vampire Show, or even the mystical, mystery of the wonderful HBO series Carnivale; Carnival Arcane is at times both soothing and disturbing. It is brilliant in its unrealized terrors.



Yes, yes. We all fear clowns. Clowns have become almost as trite as a dude in a hockey mask... but Carnival Arcane transcends that tired trope and takes us into a lush, decaying, musical world where there is evil lurking under the big top, or staring with cold, alien, glittery eyes from behind the wagons parked just outside of the garish carnival lights. It is about freaks, and charlatans, and animals long abused and hungry. It is about the dirty sexuality of the snake dancing woman, or the inexplicable gooseflesh that breaks out under your shirt as you have your fortune read by an old woman with a raspy, Eastern European accent. It is about the Ring Master who is too tall and too pale. It is all of these things and more.

Midnight Syndicate achieves what many musicians have tried and failed to do. They've made a concept album that maintains the illusion throughout. And they've been doing this throughout their career, which is pretty cool if you think about it.

Now, before Dr. Z throws all credibility out the window, lest you think that I am not an impartial reviewer... bear this in mind. I've often thought that Midnight Syndicate made some choices that were to their detriment - especially in their earlier CD's - choices that were too over the top. From the lugubrious theatricality of the spoken word on Born of the Night, to the overly bombastic Dungeons and Dragons marches - I've always felt they sometimes went too far in their attempts to integrate the creepiness of sounds with the perfectly fine-tuned, mood-inducing music.

Not so with Carnival Arcane. They've taken the style and genre they defined, and made a CD that is the quintessential blend of sounds; both melodic and atonal. On one hand you have well written and performed music, music that tugs at our darkest fears, and on the other, you have these sounds - sometimes obvious and at other times almost subliminal - that add to the atmospheric instrumentals.

This CD is a masterpiece, and the deviant minds behind Midnight Syndicate - Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka - have outdone themselves.



For those readers of mine who are writers or artists, believe me when I say that Midnight Syndicate is perfect music to create art with. It's deliciously dark and is perfect for you to put on after you've turned the lights off and lit a few candles. Maybe pour yourself a little bit of absinth, and let Carnival Arcane be the musical muse to your innermost Richard Upton Pickman.

If you're interested in hearing more - make sure you check out the link to their website at the bottom of the page. Midnight Syndicate by no means needs my help to sell albums. They've had several wildly successful CD's, have scored several horror movies, and even produced and directed their own - The Dark Matter. But, if I can, in my own small way, lead my readers down the gloomy path towards the darker things in life... I will. And Midnight Syndicate, and Carnival Arcane, are those dark orchids that grow alongside the path and bloom only when the full moon is bright.

Or something like that.

Was that too much? Did I wax a little too florid in my descriptions. It happens. I offer no excuse, only a simple explanation; I'm listening to Midnight Syndicate as I write this.

That's what happens!

Pick up Carnival Arcane. You won't be disappointed, dear reader. Pick it up, and relish the unpleasant dreams it gives you..

The Halloween - It Itches!

All right. I am well and truly into the Halloween mood.

I know it's still early, but I am sooo ready for my favorite season to get here. Friday night I watched John Carpenter's original Halloween and Shaun of the Dead. Sunday morning I got up early and watched the 2010 remake of Night of the Demons before anybody else in the house awoke. (Night of the Demons, by the way, was an okay movie. It was scary, had some great gore, but was a bit formulaic - right down to the horny teens and sole female survivor. That said, it was about a group of people who go to a kick ass Halloween party, so it only added to my longing for Halloween to get here).

I've straightened and re-alphabetized my horror DVD collection so that I have quick, immediate access to it should I get a sudden urge to pull out a horror movie at random. I'm getting set to rewatch The Walking Dead Season 1 in anticipation of its return next month, and I've got Trick 'R Treat lined up (with several other, select Halloween watching necessities).

Speaking of Trick 'R Treat, make sure you check out Fearnet's website. They've been periodiocally issuing short Trick 'R Treat themed holiday message from the iconic Sam character. Creepy, weird, oddly poignant... I'm sooo goddamned excited for Trick 'R Treat 2 and the return of old pumpkin-headed Sam.





Speaking of movies that fully capture the awesome feeling of Halloween, I came to the realization this weekend that I don't own Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. This seems like a tragic oversight on my part. I will rectify it soon, though.

So what else has me feeling so Halloween-y? There's a million things. Obviously the cooler weather and the falling leaves are starting to get me in the mood. Also, this week began the age old, time-honored return of haunted attraction commercials to the radio. Ohio still has a vibrant haunted attraction community and there are some kick ass ones out there in the creepy corn fields of rural Ohio, or the dingy, decaying urban factories of our cities. I haven't been to a haunted attraction in about 13 or 14 years (which, if one does the math, is about as long as I've been married. Odd that.) I plan to rectify that this year. I've heard great things about the Haunted Mansfield Reformatory haunt and I think I'll make the trip in the next couple of weeks.

If any of my friends who are regular readers are interested in going with me, shoot me an email. It'll be a blast... kooky, creepy, and all together spooky!

Halloween is here because of something else too. Two weeks ago, I bought and consumed the first of the annual pumpkin brews. wOOt! Dear, dark Pagan gods - how I LOVE pumpkin beer! It was some Blue Moon Pumpkin Brew, which is quite tasty for a commercial, mass produced beer. I also cracked open a Great Lakes Nosferatu whilst watching my beloved Browns kick the hell out of the Dolphins yesterday.


In that same vein (no pun intended!) - this weekend, I'm planning on bugging Mrs. Zombie to buy some New Holland Ichabod, which was my favorite pumpkin brew by the end of last year. It's soooo tasty!

I also get to indulge one of my guilty pleasures at this time of the year, and the stores are replete with them. What I'm talking about is my fascination with vintage and vintage-style Halloween decorations. I love classic, 1920's and 1930's postcards and greeting cards, I love Biestle classic Halloween cutout decorations from the 60's and 70's. Believe me when I say you'd recognize them if you saw them. They're the classic, brightly-colored cardboard decorations that all of our moms hung up at Halloween, or that decorated our classrooms growing up. I someday plan on finishing my mancave and will decorate it in vintage Halloween items because, in Doctor Zombie's world - and in his dark, black, undead heart - EVERYDAY SHOULD BE HALLOWEEN!

Some final links before I leave you for the time being. Again, make sure you check out Eric Pigor's site - Toxic Toons. No other artist I know of fully captures the quintessential horror elements of halloween better. I just ordered my 3rd shirt from him - his limited edition Pumpkin Witch shirt and I should receive it this week sometime. Just in time for Halloween!

For information and purchase-able Vintage Halloween items, make sure you check out Halloween Town. They have a great selection that makes me wish I was independently wealthy so I could but it all! By the by, if you're looking for a Christmas or Halloween gift for old Dr. Z... this is a good place to start!

Also - I just purchased Midnight Syndicate's newest CD release - Carnival Arcane. This is so fucking appropriate to the Halloween season and I'm absolutely loving it. It's deliciously creepy, and downright spooky. Watch for a review to follow soon and, please, check out the link to their site at the bottom of the page. If you haven't experienced Midnight Syndicate, you're definitely in for a treat.

Finally - keep an eye on The Midnight Theater of Terror this weekend. Doctor Zombie, Mrs. Zombie, WolfGirl, and Zombie Boy are going on a roadtrip that is so damned appropriate considering the season that it's got Dr. Z quivering in undead anticipation. Pictures, a writeup, and - hopefully - some incredible video will follow! I promise you won't be disappointed, dear ghouls!

Now, before I leave you, I wanted to point you to the video below. I was at Toxic Toons and was surprised to find this song playing in the background. It was goosebump inducing because I, honestly, had totally forgotten about this song until I heard it again on Unkle Pigor's site. Does anybody else remember singing this song in elementary school?? Like I said, I hadn't heard of or even thought of this song in probably 30 years, but as soon as I heard it I was suddenly in Mrs. Cutler's 3rd grade class again, excited because it was Halloween and so proud of my Darth Vader costume because, although Luke was cool - I knew even then that the Dark Side was much, much more fun!

This song reminds me of candy corn, caramel apples, those plastic Halloween costumes with the plastic masks with elastic bands, falling leaves, and Beistle Halloween decorations.

Geez... I need Halloween to be here NOW!

The Birth of a Monster!

As I mentioned in a recent post, I edited and released a Nook version of my favorite author's works. Lovecraft: Compendium is doing great and actually selling copies over on the Barnes and Noble platform, and it's gotten me thinking.

Which is never a good thing.

You see, my day job in Evil Corporate World is as an editor and writer. Which, on one hand, is really cool. It means I get paid a good bit of money to do what I love. The downside to that is that I'm often working on things like coporate communications, PR stuff, and business crap. In other words, stuff that sucks the creativity out of my soul and cracks and gnaws at the artistic marrow of my bones.

So, to combat that, I've decided to make a run at expanding beyond my own writing and taking a stab at expanding Doctor Z's plans for world domination. How do I intend to do that? Well, I've taken the steps to start a small, independent media venture.

Dark Autumn Media is the grotesque, alien spawn of my hubris. It'll be the non-D. Allen Crowley branch of Doctor Zombie's media empire.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

I've put together another blog to act as the temporary headquarters until I get around to a real, official-looking website. I also wanted to have a landing spot and place to go for parties interested in the other stuff I'm working on (like the HP Lovecraft project).

It's - like I said - just a shell... so don't go there and be all judgemental.

My immediate plan for Dark Autumn is to:

• Develop an online 'zine devoted to horror, fantasy, and sci-fi


• Develop more public domain collections of my favorite authors for the Nook platform


• Begin collecting stories from other writers for development into eBooks.


• Document my attempts for the edification or ridicule of others


• Eventually expand to act as a more traditional publisher.

You'll note the 'Media' part of the Dark Autumn Media title; that's because I want to expand beyond the whole writing and digital publishing as well. I also do video work and editing in my job and have always harbored a desire to do something creative in front of a camera. In fact, the genesis of the Doctor Zombie persona was an homage to the old horror hosts that used to take over the local TV affiliates in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I've also always wanted Dr. Z's Midnight Theater of Terror to expand into the video blogging sphere. Finally, I've always always always said that I learned video production and shooting for the sole purpose of making my own zombie movies.

I'm hoping to make some or all of that a reality.

Which is where you come in, dear reader!

If you visit the site, you can see that I'm already working on submission guidelines for the first anthology I plan to publish. Although the site's open, submissions are closed.

But they're not for you dear, faithful minions!

If you've ever wanted to try your hand at writing, or have reams of stories tucked away in a closet somewhere.. I'd like to offer my faithful readers the first chance at being included in the first Dark Autumn Media anthology. Please send them to me at my email (you can find it up top, on the right hand sidebar) or through Dark Autumn Media (darkautumnmedia{AT}mail{DOT}com).

I can't promise much, beyond the fact that you'll be part of a collection, be published, and be able to brag to your friends and family. I've learned tons about the digital publishing process with my own books and I'm hoping to utilize that to help other writers out. Like I said, I can't promise much, besides glory!

Wish the good Doctor luck!

Unpleasant dreams!

Melancholy and Dark Rememberances

Things have been pretty crazy for the old Doctor lately. Work's been nuts, and I've recently returned to school again in the eternal quest to finally finish my Bachelor's degree.

There have been some upsides though. I recently went to the Phantasy Night Club to see one of my favorite bands from the 90's do a reunion show. The Phantasy in Lakewood, by the way, has not changed at all since I first went there at 16 or 17 years old to see old school punk shows.




The band I saw was a local, Cleveland Goth band called Lestat. Very cool because I -seriously - LOVED them back in the day. I still, to this day, have Lestat songs on my iPod. I even wrote about them in my first novel, North Coast Gothic: A Grim Fairy Tale.. They were a huge part of my early adulthood - and I am excited that they're back together and releasing a new CD in December.



Bonus: My friend Christine (who works here with me in Evil Corporate World and you may remember as one of the fine actresses from the awesome Cleveland-based independent film company -Bad Eye Films) is an old friend of the lead singer of Lestat. In fact, he too works here at Evil Corporate World in our IT department. She even managed an introduction via Facebook, so he and I have corresponded a few times.

Shiny!

Where am I going with all of this, and how does all of this coolness in Dr. Z's life match up with the seemingly grim title for this blog post?

Well - it's a perfect storm for Dr. Z to get all melancholy and moody.

How?

First, it's fall. Autumn always gives me such a deliciously heady mix of emotions. It's my favorite time of year and I love everything about it... Halloween, falling leaves, pumpkin brews, clambakes, the return of my beloved Browns, warm days, cool nights... it's all there. But, it also makes me really, really nostalgic. It gets me thinking about high school, and college, and the fact that I'm one year older and farther away from the expectant excitement of childhood and trick or treating.

Add into that the fact that I'm back at school, and that I just saw one of my favorite bands from my singlehood and young adult life, and you can see where I'm at.

To make things worse, a week ago I had to order a new copy of The Cure's Disintegration. I finally replaced the CD I bought back in May of 1989 (a mere month before I graduated high school) because it had become unplayable. That CD sustained me through years of moodiness and is, in my mind the quintessential Cure CD. So, with a shiny new copy in my cold, undead hands it's been a week of Plainsong, and The Same Deep Water as You. If I'm not listening to that, I listening to my copies of Lestat's Grave Desires and Vision of Sorrows.

This will not end well, dear readers. Not well at all.

Don't worry about, Doctor Zombie, though. I'll pull on my black Converse Chuck Taylor high tops, buy some New Holland Brewery Ichabod Pumpkin Ale and suck it up. Incoherent rambling, pointless points aside, I'll pull it together. I promise!

I'm not really sure where this post was going, but it started with Lestat, and it should end with Lestat I guess. I just pulled up the manuscript for my first novel, North Coast Gothic to see what I'd written about them, and figured I'd excerpt it here. It, oddly enough, encapsulates how I'm feeling.

It's also an opportunity for me to plug my novel because that's what I do. Truthfully, I haven't sold a copy of North Coast Gothic in months and I fear that it's very dated and only appeals to Clevelanders, but I still have a warm spot for it in my undead, beating heart because it was my first novel. Honey Badger don't care!

Anyway... check it out and, if you get the chance, check out Lestat. You won't be sorry.

Excerpted from North Coast Gothic: A Grim Fairy Tale

"Lyds and I went to a concert a few weeks ago...

...The concert was a small show at the Cleveland Agora. The Agora is a rundown, decrepit old theatre that brought in only alternative bands and the occasional pro-wrestling gig. You’ve got to love the Agora for itself, though. It was small and intimate, and some of the greatest bands of all time have played there. I saw my first concert there. It was a double bill of the Violent Femmes and the Dead Kennedys, I think. In an age of stadium shows and $85 ticket prices, there’s something wonderful about paying fifteen bucks for a show where you can drink with the band afterwards.

I had been feeling especially melancholy lately, and that’s why I was at the concert. I looked around me and I realized what had been bothering me so much lately. I was feeling old. I was a few weeks away from my thirtieth birthday, and I was no longer a kid. So much had happened in the last year and I was feeling so horrible disconnected from who, or what, I was. A Goth couple stood in front of me and they were twenty if they were a day. He had a black t-shirt with the name of some band I’d never heard of before and a shaved head. His girlfriend was a beautiful girl with black lipstick, a tight ass under a black vinyl skirt, and a baggy sweater. She looked at me and smiled. I smiled back and she went back to talking to her boyfriend. The guy looked happy as hell, in that innocent way that everyone did at twenty. He could have been me ten years ago.

I felt myself growing angry. At what, I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was the youth of those kids in front of me, or my impending birthday. I sat there glowering.

We had just finished listening to the opening band; a local group called Bath. They had a male and female singer who alternated songs. Their style, lyrics, and their whole set was pretty much unintelligible, but I liked their sound. I’d seen them one other time and had actually bought one of their tapes. They played for a while and, when they were done, I excused myself from my friends.

After a while, the lobby lights flicked and I returned to the theatre. I found Chris and Lyds near the stage and walked up. The lights dimmed and the band entered. We were there to see the band Lestat and they took the stage amidst machine-generated fog and red and black lighting.

The lights came up and the Agora was filled with moody music in a minor key. With no fanfare or preamble, the band’s lead singer, Razz, came out and broke into song as the crowd went wild. I’d been listening to them for years and wryly wondered if half the kids there had been out of elementary school the first time I had seen Lestat.

I felt the dark music sweep over me and I lost myself in the swirling Gothic sounds. As I’d done the first time I saw them, I fell in love all over again with the band’s guitarist; a black haired vampire named Susan. She stood in the corner, somberly wrapped up in the music her long, delicate fingers made. Meanwhile, Razz’s deep voice sang of blood and redemption and I looked around me, sighing with a sense of melancholy. Suddenly, like an epiphany, I came to a dramatic realization.

As I stood there among the sea of black clad bodies and the haze of clove cigarettes, I saw myself. Here and there, I saw a pale faced Goth with wrinkles around their eyes, or one with a Robert Smith haircut and a bald spot, or a normal looking person singing word for word with Razz. I realized I wasn’t alone.

As I’ve said before, Goth and Industrial culture is about nonconformity. But, more importantly, it’s also about finding a niche for those who are similar to you. We Goths are alike in our souls and I wasn’t the only one aging, or getting married, or having children. I had different priorities, yes. But I was still a Goth at heart. I did not have to give this up.

I didn’t know what kind of father I’d be. I didn’t know what kind of husband I’d be. I supposed I’d just have to be the best that I could. All the tragedy and all the curves of life were inconsequential. You deal with the shit as it comes along.

In the meantime, I listened and absorbed the throbbing beat of the music, the dark sound enveloping me. I embraced the music back, like one would embrace an old lover. It was like going home."