The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History
Hardcover
Edited by Stephen Jones
Foreword by Neil Gaiman
Applause Books
Release Date: September 1, 2015

Applause Books, a division of Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publishing Group, has created the ultimate coffee table book for horror geeks and fans of classic cinema: The Art of Horror: An Illustrated History, edited by Stephen Jones. The book is 11 square inches chock full of 256 beautiful pages, complete with classic movie posters, original art work, and contributions from some of the legendary minds in all field of horror fiction. The contributors guide in the back reads like a who’s who of horror history: author, painter, and director Clive Barker; acclaimed sci-fi artist H.R. Giger (who inspired the Alien franchise); comic legend, writer, and poet Neil Gaiman (who also pens an introduction for the book) are just some of the names. A book of this sort is not meant to be read straight through, but rather gazed at over and over piece by piece, like the films and tales it details.

The holidays have dawned upon us again and it seems as if the unveiling of them gets sooner and sooner each year. In a world that has seen one of its toughest and tragic years in 2015, the beauty of the holidays is more than a traditional, religious bent, but more about the communion of people and the act of humanity that seems to crawl from the cobwebs only during this time for some people. Regardless of the volume rate, whenever something can collectively bond people together with a sense of energy that runs placid and empathetic, there’s something to be said about the perennial emotion that gets reserved for this time of year. And of course with this year, comes the giving and receiving of gifts and good cheer. And as is my wont for the past few years now, I too have been rather perennial in my choices for key music items to bestow upon good friends and loved ones this time of year. So here’s some picks for this some of this years A-list offerings in music. As usual, this list goes to eleven.

Here’s the Holiday Geek Gift Guide 2015 for Music…

Universal Pictures has released a new featurette for Krampus, the Christmas horror flick from Trick ‘r Treat director Michael Dougherty.

The new video briefly dives into the folklore behind Krampus, a demon-like creature who kidnaps the kids too naughty to be visited by Santa. The video also covers the way the figure is celebrated in other countries—young men will often dress up as the terrifying creature and frighten the local children on the eve of Saint Nicholas Day, though some of the costumes are no doubt scary enough to make even adults want to flee, arms flailing about—as well as some appearances in pop culture.

You can check out the new Krampus featurette below.

Tales of Halloween
Directed by Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Adam Gierasch, Andrew Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp, Paul Solet
Written by Axelle Carolyn, Andrew Kasch, Neil Marshall, Lucky McKee, Mike Mendez, Dave Parker, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp, Clint Sears
Starring Booboo Stewart, Lin Shaye, Adrienne Barbeau, Barry Bostwick, Grace Phipps, Caroline Williams, Adrianne Curry, John Landis, Barbara Crampton, James Duval, Clare Kramer, Adam Pascal, Austin Falk, Robert Rusler, Kristina Klebe
Epic Pictures Group
Release Date: October 16th, 2015

Horror is a genre that lends itself to anthology probably better than any; whether it be short story compilations from the greats of the genre, from Lovecraft and Poe, to Barker and King, or classic cinematic anthologies like Trilogy of Terror and Tales From the Crypt. These have paved the way for a new generation of short story style scare films. Collections like Trick ‘r Treat (2007), and the more recent V/H/S and ABC’s of Death series have provided fans of blood and gore a wealth of fun times. If you’re a fan of any of those above mentioned films, then Tales of Halloween is definitely worth your time and money.

There’s a pretty good chance that you’ve seen at least one of the Blendtec YouTube channel’s “Will It Blend?” videos, in which various items are thrown in a blender to see if the machine can handle it or not. In almost a decade many things have met their end in the blender, from iPhones, tablets, and other gadgets, to sports equipment, marbles, video games, various foods both in and out of their packaging, and so much more. To save you some time if you’ve never seen the videos, yes, they almost always blend.

In celebration of The Force Awakens finally being released next month, the newest video gives none other than infamous Star Wars character Jar Jar Binks a chance to take on the blender. Not to give away the result or anything, but it’s a video that is sure to bring a smile to fans’ faces.

You can watch the video below.