253 spooky themed games! That's how many I've covered on the blog already! You can find a list of them all by clicking here, but there are still hundreds more to get through! So lets get cracking and take a look at some more, starting with some tiny pixelated zombies...or more accurately, ZXombies!
ZXombies (ZX Spectrum) :
1983 - The year the dead started rising from their graves....Poor Magenta has had her entire family wiped out by a zombie horde, but through fighting these evil brain munchers she has become a bad-ass zombie slayer on a mission to rid the world of the undead and look damn good in the process!
That's the premise of this simple little game by Xenopunk, where you move your little character around the screen attacking zombies as the pop up from the gravestones littered around. It's a slow moving affair, and seems to have been programmed in basic...and there seems to be a bit of luck to getting your hits on the zombies...but somehow the game manages to be quite addictive as you try to better your score each time you play.
Not really a gamethat does anything spectacular then, but one that should still bring you some brief enjoyment if you do decide to load it up...you can find it by clicking here!
ZXombies - Dead Flesh (ZX Spectrum) :
I'm not sure if this is a sequel, a spiritual successor or just a game that shares a similar name to the previous ZXombies, but this game by James Broad certainly has a lot more meat on it's bones! This time you play as an army Major who has lost his squad to the zombie menace, but who finds new purpose as he hears the cries of help from stranded survivors. Armed and ready, you search for these poor individuals and try to escort them to safety while blasting your way through the waves of the undead.
You have a few weapons you can flick through to help out, and you'll find ammo and health and other pickups scattered around as you flick from screen to screen. Once you find a camp of survivors you hold down an action button to get them to follow you, and then you lead them past the monsters to try and get to a safe haven. This gets harder as you go, and occasionally, bigger and nastier zombies appear, like the multi-limbed monstrosity you can see in the screenshot above..
As well as looking out for the flesh eaters, you also have to be careful not to be standing to close to the explosive barrells that litter the screen too, although they are handy for clearing a lot of enemies at once. Also hindering your walk to safety are locked gates, and to open these you'll need to keep the action button pressed for a few seconds until the gates are unlocked, whilst also having to protect the suvivor tagging along beside you.
It all makes for a pretty fun and addictive game, with a nice tune to bop along to as you go! I did find it a bit trickier once I had rescued a few of the survivors and the bigger zombies started appearing, and sometimes had an issue with the gates, but thats probably more due to me playing on a laptop and pressing the wrong keys than anything to do with the game! It's definitely a great little spectrum game, way more interesting than the first ZXombies and well worth a download and play! You can find it by clicking here...
The Last Guy (Playstation 3) :
So at the end of last year I finally got myself a PS3, and hurriedly started gathering up as many of the games that were exclusively released for it as possible, both physical copies and digital games that until then I had never heard of, having been tied to the Xbox 360 for years. One such game was this bizarre but brilliant masterpiece from Sony's Japan studio....
The best way to describe it would be to ask you to imagine if you had the game Snake on your mobile phone, and it somehow malfunctioned and merged with both Google Maps and that weird japanese zombie film you downloaded to watch later. Okay, so maybe that isn't the best way to describe it, but it's about the best that I can do....
I suppose you could try listening to the guys in this next video, who are the 'developers' (not really) of the game...
So yes, a giant purple beam has struck the Earth and created yet another zombie epidemic...you play as The Last Guy, a hero who has the ability to move quickly and use infrared vision to see what buildings have survivors inside that he can rescue by taking to a landing zone, where they will all be rescued by helicopter. There are also special VIP survivors who will boost your score and stamina levels, so you can move even quicker...
The more people that leave the building and join your group of survivors, the longer the chain of people becomes, and you have to wind your way through the top down citites, which have been created using actual satellite map data, avoiding various types of nasty zombies. Luckily you can boost by using some energy that rises the more people that join your line too...and there are also special VIP survivors who will boost your score and stamina levels, so you can move even quicker!
The monsters are a weird bunch though! There are zombies who charge at your group, giant insect zombies that rush through and disperse the group rapidly....there's a even a giant zombie that appears as a gaint pair of eyes and a mouth on the map, whose roars deafen everyone and make them all rush back inside instantly too!
There are various pickups that can help you out, such as extra energy or those that make you invisible to the monsters breifly, but the game is still really challenging, and it will have you tearing your hair out as much as it will have you laughing at the weirdness of it all...
But it's addictive as hell, and it's definitely an exclusive worth checking out, especially if like me, you're a fan of Japanese weirdness in games!
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So there you go, another three Gruesome Games to keep you busy this Halloween, and there'll be a lot more before we're done with this month, so keep an eye on the blog! Pop back tomorrow for something else spooky and remember to check out what the other bloggers are up to in the Countdown by clicking the badge below!
Another trip to the Digital Comic Museum today, and also a return to Ajax / Farrell'sVoodoo Issue 9 (May 1953) for a tale of Blood and Old Bones...
I also feel I should say sorry to both dog lovers and dog haters...there seems to be a lot of posts about dangerous dogs on the blog these last couple of years! I'll try and remedy that and find some killer mice or something to shake things up a bit....
(As always, click the pics to go big!)
(thanks again to uploader Yoc for the original scans)
Don't forget to check out the other bloggers taking part in the countdown, by clicking the badge below, and I'll be back tomorrow, hopefully with some Gruesome Games!
I was nosing around on Pinterest today and discovered loads of scans of old Halloween Catalogues, something I'm not sure we ever got this side of the pond, but I hope to discover if we ever did!
These catalogues are filled with lots of cool old costumes and wacky halloween props, so I thought I'd share some here for the nostalgia of those who could get these catalogues, and for the interest of those of us who just love seeing the old costumes and items from back in the day!
Click the pages for a better look....
First up, some Jack O' Lanterns from 1919
This is from Sears, 1928
Costumes from 1928
Loving the Felix costume!
1929
I would have loved the Cat Squawk and Witch Cry noisemakers from the above page! :D
1929
Can you still get crepe-paper decorations? I used to see loads of them at Halloween, but they seem to have fallen out of fashion...
1929
Check out that 'Dude' costume above...fancy!
1929
This is one of my favourite pages...who wouldn't want a mechanical paper cat! And look at the freakiness of some of those masks!! And check out the Lightning Wumpus!!! I want all of thes things!!!!
1929
Some pretty cool lanterns, but I'm more interested in the Halloween Fortune Wheel! Definitely something that sounds like perfect fodder for a horror story plot....
I found quite a few of these pages, so expect another catalogue post later in the month! :)
Don't forget to check out the othe bloggers taking part in the countdown by clicking the badge below, and check back here tomorrow for some more spooky shenanigans!
Don't forget to check out the othe bloggers taking part in the countdown by clicking the badge below, and check back here tomorrow for some more spooky shenanigans!
(Today's stories come from the St.Louis Daily Globe -Democrat, dated Saturday Morning, January 21st, 1893)
SPOOKS AND SPIRITS
A Girl's Apparition In The Mountains
Creed Haymond, a prominent lawyer of San Francisco, died in that city a few days ago. The 'Examiner' relates this incident in his life :
For a year and a half after arriving in California in 1852, he carried the Wells, Fargo & Co.'s mail on the mountains. Brave and impetuous, he feared nothing, it is said, and only on one occasion was he ever frightened. It was no bold highwayman either, that made him fear. It was an apparition. Slender, delicate, and in the form of a young and pretty girl all clad in white, it ran across the old Sierra County road on which he was riding. His horse stopped and shook with fright and weak and sick with fear himself, the cold persperation stood out on his brow, bitter cold though that December night was. He always believed that what he saw was a ghost, and he never forgot the sensations he felt on seeing it. He never pretended to explain it.
Midway in the state of Nebraska, at a point on the plains between Grand Island and Kearney, passengers on the Union Pacific trains have occasionally seen what is know to the people of that section as the 'phantom horse'. Not the mirage nor the appearance of water in the dry arroyos of New Mexico, nor any illusion you have ever seen is so realistic as this horse ghost. It appears always on the south side of the railroad at the extreme point of vision, where the heavens and earth seem to meet, and your first impression is astonishment at seeing a horse, life size, distinct and natural in appearance, so far away. Then you wonder whether it is standing on the earth or outlined upon the sky, and before you can decide the question it has vanished or you have passed the point of view. I do not attempt to explain this phenomenon, but describe the phantom as I saw it and give the story as I heard it.
Some years ago, before that great overland route, the Union Pacific Company was constructed, at a time when the whoop of the indian, the bellow of the buffalo and the howl of the coyote were not uncommon sounds on the prairies of Nebraska, a handome, cultured man riding a well-bred horse and evidently fresh from the States, accompanied by one of those familiar characters of the West, of bronzed and swarthy complexion, wearing a sombrero and riding a bronco, left the main trail and turned in the direction of the Platte. Within half an hour they reined in their horses on the north bank of that mighty stream of sand. The river appeared then as it does to-day, a mile of or more in width, straggling streams of shallow water and numerous islands of sand. For a few moments they gazed upon the south bank, then earnestly debated the question of crossing. There was a difference of opinion, but the matter was soon decided by the handsome stranger riding straightaway into the bed of the river.
At first, everything seemed to favour his decision, and he had proceeded one-third of the way across. The other ventured to follow him, and was 50 yards from the bank, when he noticed the tracks in the sand made by the first horse had filled with water. He called loudly to his companion, and turned back to the shore. the warning word was given too late. The horse was struggling in sand and water to the depth of the saddle skirts. At this moment his rider stood erect and leaped upon an island of dry, white sand. He landed upon his feet, but was ankle deep in the sand - a few steps forward and the sand was to his knees. One desperate struggle he made to bring himself to the surface, but the effort carried him waist deep. He seemed then to realize his terrible position, and lifting up his voice gave a message to his horror-stricken companion, striving by word and geture to make him comprehend it, but without success. The creeping, insidious, devouring sand was now to his shoulders.
He had taken from the inside pocket of his coat what seemed to be a package of papers, and holding it above his head was evidently trying to impress upon his companion the importance of their preservation, but his voice was silenced by the cruel sand in his throat. A moment more and it had closed over his head, entombed alive in that far away, desolate spot, and the island of sand presented the same smooth, dry and apparently firm surface. A small damp spot and near it a package of papers was all to indicate that but a moment before it had treacherously engulfed a human being.
The man upon the bank, transfixed by the fascination of horror, gazed at the spot he knew not how long. As he turned away from the weird, mysterious river he saw a short distance down the stream a riderless horse still struggling with the sand and water. Back he rode to the main trail and eastward on the trail to the first settlement. There he told the story of the man lost in the sand. He was himself one of those hardy spirits of the plains who as guide or scout was ready for any enterprise that promised adventure and life in the open air. He knew naught of the lost man - had been employed as a guide to take him to a certain settlement in the South Platte country. Who the stranger was, from whence he came, and the purpose of his lonely journey, are secrets held by the quicksands of the Platte, unless revealed by the package of paers left on the sand, which, it is hinted, were afterwards secured by one who heard the guide's story, and that large and very valuable landed property is wrongfully held by virtue of the possession of that package of papers. There may yet be an interesting sequel to the guide's story of the lost stranger, with whom the settlers associated the illusionary horse, for over there beyond the Platte, opposite the point where the crossing was attempted, to this day at intervals of time appears the phantom horse in an attitude of patient waiting, perhaps for a phantom rider.
Don't forget to visit the other participants in this year's Countdown To Halloween by clicking the badge below, or in the blog side-bar, to be taken to the countdown hub! And pop back here tomorrow for another post!
Following on from last year's 'terrifying' killer canine movie post, Dogs, Cinema of Stuff is proud to present another movie that is sure to put the fear of the devil into you next time your pad-footed pet looks at you funny....
Made for TV in 1978, Devil Dog - The Hound of Hell is about a family who have unwittingly been chosen by a bunch of dodgy devil-worshippers to raise a Barghest-infused puppy to adulthood!
They really went all out in the special effects department, and there isn't a hint of sarcasm in that statement at all...*cough*
Pop back tomorrow for another Countdown To Halloween post, but in the meantime don't forget to go visit some of the other participants in this year's countdown by visiting the hub by clicking here, or by clicking on the badge below!
Time to creep back into the murky backrooms of the Digital Comic Museum and see what suitably spooky scans they have to entertain us in our favourite month of the year!
Today's tale is from Ajax/Farrell'sVoodoo Issue 9, dated May 1953....and involves a curious killer carpet!
(As always, click the pics to go big!)
Thanks go to uploader Yoc who put the scans up in the museum!
Pop back tomorrow for another Countdown To Halloween post, but in the meantime don't forget to go visit some of the other participants in this year's countdown by visiting the hub by clicking here, or by clicking on the badge below!
It's that time of year again, and although the world has gone to all kinds of hell since I last posted on the blog, we're only interested in the type of hell that spawns all the ghosties and ghoulies and long-leggity beasties that invade our world on Halloween!
For the next 31 days a few of us bloggers will be doing our best to bring you a wide range of Halloween and spook themed content to try and keep you entertained in this weirdest of years.
While we may not be able to go dookin' for apples, trick or treating or head off to any costume parties or any of the other social activities we like to enjoy during the holiday, there will at least be a variety of stuff on our blogs that should be of sufficient scaryness to make sure that this year's Halloween is still eeriely enjoyable!
I'm hoping to be able to post something every day this month, but even if I don't manage to do that, you can still check out the other bloggers taking part in the Countdown by clicking right here, or by clicking the badge at the top of this post or in the side bar of the blog!
Tomorrow will be the start of my proper posts, but in the meantime let me wish you all the best for this Halloween season and I hope you can join us all over the next few weeks as we celebrate all things ghoulish and grisly and frightening and freaky!!
