Macabre Amusements

Tea Time with the Dead: The Victorian Tradition of Cemetery Picnics

Tea Time with the Dead: The Victorian Tradition of Cemetery Picnics

by | Sep 9, 2018 | Categories: Macabre Amusements and Oddities and Curiosities. Tags: cemetery, garden cemetery, picnic, rural cemetery, and victorian. | 1 Comment

  Within the wrought-iron and stone walls of American cemeteries—beneath the shade of oak trees and tombs’ stoic penumbras—you could say many people “rest in peace.” However, not so long ago, people of the still-breathing sort also gathered there to rest – and dine –...

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Scream and Scream Again: The Story Behind the “Wilhelm Scream”

Scream and Scream Again: The Story Behind the “Wilhelm Scream”

by | Aug 27, 2018 | Categories: Macabre Amusements and Oddities and Curiosities. Tags: Foley, Sheb Wooley, star wars, and Wilhelm scream. | 1 Comment

  Click here to hear the original Wilhelm Scream!  The Wilhelm Scream is arguably the most famous sound effect in the history of cinema. As of the beginning of 2018, the scream has appeared in as many as 372 films and numerous TV shows. Some of the popular classics of...

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The 15 Best Urban-Legend Horror Movies

The 15 Best Urban-Legend Horror Movies

by | Aug 20, 2018 | Categories: Macabre Amusements, Maledicta's Movie Corner, and Video. Tags: candyman, horror film, ringu, slender man, the grudge, the ring, and urban legend. | 0 Comments

  As ranked by Vulture.com   This month, Slender Man opened in theaters after a long and winding road to the box office (including multiple release-date changes and a mostly absent marketing campaign). The central story is based on the internet lore surrounding the...

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Stryx – Italian TV’s Satanic Disco Variety Hour

Stryx – Italian TV’s Satanic Disco Variety Hour

by | Aug 5, 2018 | Categories: Macabre Amusements, Oddities and Curiosities, and Video. Tags: Amanda Lear, devil, disco, Enzo Trapani, Grace Jones, Italy, satanism, Stryx, and TV. | 0 Comments

  For a short time in 1978, Italian TV viewers could enjoy a musical/variety show with Grace Jones, medieval satanic imagery, and even a cameo from the Devil himself. Picture, if you will: A lithe blonde woman climbs onto a translucent, elevated platform, wearing a...

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The Weird World of the Halloween Sound-Effects Artist

The Weird World of the Halloween Sound-Effects Artist

by | Jul 15, 2018 | Categories: Halloween 365 and Macabre Amusements. Tags: Disneyland Records, Halloween, haunted house, Leigh Haggerwood, party, and sound effects. | 1 Comment

  A chain rattles, and the wind blows. A skeleton’s bones clatter, and a woman shrieks. A wolf growls, and a ghost whispers in the darkness. Halloween, amirite? The Halloween sound effects album is a staple of the holiday, almost as inextricably linked to it as...

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Discovering Giallo: The Best Horror Subgenre You’ve Never Heard Of

Discovering Giallo: The Best Horror Subgenre You’ve Never Heard Of

by | Jul 15, 2018 | Categories: Macabre Amusements and Maledicta's Movie Corner. Tags: crime, Dario Argento, Fulci, Giallo, Italian, Mario Bava, mystery, and slasher. | 0 Comments

  Giallo originally referred to the pulpy crime novels penned by Italian authors in the Mussolini era, after Il Duce banned the import of American and British books of the popular genre. They sported yellow covers, hence the name—giallo means “yellow” in Italian. In...

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