Review: ‘Dream Woods’ by Patrick Lacey

Cemetery Dance Reviews

dreamDream Woods by Patrick Lacey
Sinister Grin Press (October 2016)
318 pages; $16.99 paperback; $2.99 e-book
Reviewed by Frank Michaels Errington

I love amusement parks, especially the old ones from my youth. The local ones were the best, where sometimes it seemed the rides were likely to fall apart while you were still riding them. The ones within an hour’s drive from where I grew up—Lakewood Park, West Point Park, and Willow Grove Park, all in Southeast Pennsylvania. In its dying days, the later was known as Six Gun Territory. I remember they used to have a small wooden coaster, The Scenic; exciting not because of it’s speed or height, but because of the way it always seemed like it could leave the track at any moment.Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: ‘Three Skeleton Key’ with Vincent Price

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Three men in an isolated lighthouse…a derelict ship swarming with rats…a desperate struggle for survival…all narrated by the late, great Vincent Price.Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: ‘Witches Brew’

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While the Internet has given us many things we could probably have lived without, it delivers plenty of good as well—this site being one of them, of course. But what I’m talking about today is the proliferation of short horror films you can easily find online.Continue Reading

Cemetery Dance Select Series: LAST CHANCE FOR HEAVILY DISCOUNTED STARTER BUNDLE!

Cemetery Dance Select Series
Signed Limited Edition Hardcover Starter Bundle!

Receive ALL SIX of the launch titles for
this new series as they are published!
Save BIG off the retail price AND your shipping fees,
plus lock in matching numbers for your entire set!

TIME IS RUNNING OUT!

Hi Folks!

Due to customer demand, we’ve extended the deadline to order the heavily discounted “starter bundle” of our brand new Cemetery Dance Select Series, but we cannot allow this special to run much longer!

Cemetery Dance Select Series

We do not expect these very limited bundles to last long, so if you’re interested, please place your order today!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

A Halloween Thing A Day: Bad Michael Myers Masks

Halloween Thing A Day

Seriously...look at this thing.
Seriously…look at this thing.

One of the hardest things for those who followed John Carpenter in adding to the Halloween movie franchise to get right has been the mask worn by Michael Myers. Nothing has matched (or even come close to matching) the soul-chilling look of that first mask, the now-famously-modified William Shatner hood that Carpenter used to such great effect.

But, man, if you thought the filmmakers have had a tough time nailing down that iconic look, wait ’till you see some of the misguided attempts from merchandisers.Continue Reading

“The Double” and “The Inconsolable”

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*Humblebrag… I own all 75 issues. Took me 8 years to track ‘em all down. Just look at that collection! (Photo Copyright 2016 K. Edwin Fritz)
*Humblebrag… I own all 75 issues. Took me 8 years to track ‘em all down. Just look at that collection!
(Photo Copyright 2016 K. Edwin Fritz)

Hi there folks, and welcome to “Exhumed: The Fiction of Cemetery Dance Magazine”!

Before you is the first of monthly double reviews that will study the structure of great horror fiction published in our beloved Cemetery Dance*.

My ultimate goal = trying to answer the question: “What makes us fear, squirm, shudder… and love this awesome genre so darned much?” Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: Blockhead’s Revenge

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It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is a bona fide Halloween classic. But what if it was a horror movie?

Back in 2011, the folks at Funny or Die created a trailer that re-imagined the gentle Charles Schultz masterpiece as a gritty horror flick called Blockhead’s Revenge. Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: The Fine Art of Halloween

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Art is subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. One man’s trash….you get the idea. Different people see things differently, and few things have as big a dividing line as art…except maybe Halloween. Combine the two and you’re likely to draw some severely conflicting opinions about your work.Continue Reading

Infernal Parade by Clive Barker: New Title From Subterranean Press!

Infernal Parade
by Clive Barker
New Title From Subterranean Press!

Hi Folks!

We’re pleased to report we’ll be getting copies of Infernal Parade by Clive Barker from Subterranean Press, but our very limited supply won’t last long, so please don’t wait to place your order!

Infernal ParadeAbout the Book:
From the beginning of his distinguished career, Clive Barker has been the great visionary artist of contemporary dark fantasy, a form that Barker himself has termed “the Fantastique.” Through his many novels, stories, paintings and films, he had presented us with unforgettable images of the monstrous and the sacred, the beautiful and the grotesque. His body of work constitutes a great and varied contribution to modern popular culture.

This astonishing novella, Infernal Parade, perfectly encapsulates Barker’s unique abilities. Like the earlier Tortured Souls, an account of bizarre–and agonizing–transformations, Infernal Parade is tightly focused, intensely imagined, and utterly unlike anything else you will ever read. It begins with the tale of a convicted criminal, Tom Requiem, who returns from the brink of death to restore both fear and a touch of awe to a complacent world. Tom becomes the leader of the eponymous “parade,” which ranges from the familiar precincts of North Dakota to the mythical city of Karantica. Golems, vengeful humans both living and dead, and assorted impossible creatures parade across these pages. The result is a series of highly compressed, interrelated narratives that are memorable, disturbing, and impossible to set aside.

Infernal Parade is quintessential Barker: witty, elegantly composed, filled with dark and often savage wonders. It proves once again that, in Barker’s hands, the Fantastique is not only alive and well, but flourishing. This is vital, visionary fiction by a modern master of the form.

Limited: 500 signed numbered hardcover copies
Trade: Fully cloth bound hardcover copies

 

Read more or place your order while our supplies last!

Thank you, as always, for your continued support and enthusiasm!

Review: ‘The Angel of the Abyss’ by Hank Schwaeble

abysscoverThe Angel of the Abyss by Hank Schwaeble
Cohesion Press (October 31, 2016)
306 pages; $4.99 e-book
Reviewed by David Simms

Jake Hatcher is one badass character. He’s been to hell and back, fought for his country only to be put in prison, watched people he cares for die at the hands (or other deadly appendages) or demons and other creatures. In Damnable and Diabolical, Hatcher fought off hell and survived—barely—but has returned with a vengeance in The Angel of the Abyss. If readers aren’t familiar with the Stoker-winning first book, it’s okay. Catching up can be done afterwards. Each works somewhat as a standalone but are best served to be read in order.Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: “Treehouse of Horror” Classics

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There are many things that are integral to Halloween: jack o’ lanterns, ghost stories, Michael Myers and the Great Pumpkin all come to mind. Also, the annual celebration/parodying/lampooning of horror that is the “Treehouse of Horror” episodes of “The Simpsons.”Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: The ‘Trick or Treat’ Trailer

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Ah, the ’80s, when heavy metal music was rotting our brains, and Satanic messages were buried in records, just waiting for some poor schmuck to play the album backwards and succumb to its demonic temptations.Continue Reading

A Halloween Thing A Day: A Halloween S.O.S.

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Halloween is mostly concerned with made-up horrors—a time to celebrate “safe” scares. However, a CNN article I stumbled across served as a stark reminder that, sometimes, real-life horror intrudes on even the most innocent of occasions.

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A Halloween Thing A Day: Irwin Yablans on the ‘Halloween’ Franchise

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When I’m writing about Halloween, eventually I’m going to get around to writing about Halloween. While I have a lot of affection for the franchise as a whole—and yes, that includes Rob Zombie’s two entries—my absolute favorite is the original John Carpenter classic.Continue Reading