Macabre Amusements
Tea Time with the Dead: The Victorian Tradition of Cemetery Picnics
by Maledicta | 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...
Book Review: Anno Dracula
by Maledicta | Aug 27, 2018 | Categories: Books and Macabre Amusements. Tags: Anno Dracula, detective, Diogenes Club, Dracula, Kim Hunter, Steampunk, vampires, victorian, and Vlad Tepes. | 0 Comments
People love to wonder “What If…” What if the South had won the Civil War? What if Hitler had beaten the Allies in World War II? What if Napoleon had a B-52 at the Battle of Waterloo or if Eleanor Roosevelt could fly? (Okay, I borrowed the last two from...
Scream and Scream Again: The Story Behind the “Wilhelm Scream”
by Maledicta | 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...
The 15 Best Urban-Legend Horror Movies
by Maledicta | 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...
Zdzislaw Beksinski – Painter of Nightmares
by Maledicta | Aug 5, 2018 | Categories: Art, Macabre Amusements, and Oddities and Curiosities. Tags: poland, Sanok, and Zdzislaw Beksinski. | 1 Comment
Step into the surrealistic dystopian world of Polish artist Zdzislaw Beksinski (1929-2005) The dark and powerful paintings of Zdzislaw Beksinski have been described as hellscapes or living nightmares – terrifying, surreal, grotesque, and apocalyptic. His work...
Stryx – Italian TV’s Satanic Disco Variety Hour
by Maledicta | 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...
The Weird World of the Halloween Sound-Effects Artist
by Maledicta | 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...
Discovering Giallo: The Best Horror Subgenre You’ve Never Heard Of
by Maledicta | 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....
25 Spooky Summer Date Ideas
by Maledicta | Jul 2, 2018 | Categories: Halloween 365 and Macabre Amusements. Tags: date night, Halloween, spooky, and summer. | 0 Comments
Summer is a time for adventure and exploration. When you share it with someone you love, summertime can also be very romantic. The days are long, events are plentiful, and it’s the perfect opportunity to get a date night on the calendar. When you love Halloween...
Book Review: Dark Tourism
by Maledicta | Jun 24, 2018 | Categories: Books and Weird Tourism. Tags: auschwitz, dark tourism, death tourism, mummies, ossuary, and thanatourism. | 0 Comments
Back in October 2017, we featured an article about the phenomenon of Dark Tourism, AKA Black Tourism, Grief Tourism, or “thanatourism.” As tourists seem to be increasingly drawn to places linked to death, disaster, atrocity, or ongoing...