This short horror movie was filmed in a single shot and features well-known Spanish actor Luis Tosar. The word “cólera” translates as both “fury” (as in the old word “choler”) and “serious infectious disease” (as in the disease Cholera), so this story of an angry mob chasing a resident with a zombie-like disease is particularly apt.

(via Laughing Squid)

Creature effects artist and puppeteer Kevin McTurk has worked on lots of effects-heavy films, such as Jurassic Park, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Interview with the Vampire. He recently had a successful Kickstarter for “Victorian Ghost Story Puppet Film” The Mill at Calder’s End, and it looks pretty awesome. Here’s the new trailer:

Mike Mignola, creator of “Hellboy,” is one of the concept artists on this, and there’s quite a lot of other high-powered talent involved. There’s a neat “making of” video here, and more photos and information here and here.

Looks marvelously spooky.

The Secret Pumpkin gift exchange was conceived as a way to soothe those spooky souls pining for October by sending them a little Halloween in April. It’s similar to a Secret Santa exchange but the gifts are supposed to be spooky in nature; you can read my previous description and details here.

And now it’s time to open up registration for next April’s exchange! If you’d like to participate, go to the Secret Pumpkin site:

1) If you did not participate last year, click the “Join” link and fill out the form.

2) If you DID participate last year, log in, click the “Update Profile” link and change the “Activate My Membership” option to Yes.

(Just in case it isn’t clear–folks have been confused in the past–I’m the person who manages the site, so you aren’t blindly submitting your mailing address to some anonymous stranger.)

I’d previously suggested that participants should join one of the two Halloween listservs which originally spawned the exchange, but they’ve withered away so much that they may actually be defunct; instead I send occasional reminders directly to the participants.

Non-U.S. residents are welcome to participate, with the caveat that international shipping can be beastly. I try to match participants in the same country with each other so if you’re outside of the U.S. and want to play along, encourage your friends to sign up as well.

The deadline for signups is October 15. All that I ask is please, PLEASE don’t sign up for the exchange unless you’re serious about following through. We occasionally have participants flake out, and their Pumpkins are always sorely disappointed.

C’mon and join! It’s lots of fun, and getting something unexpectedly Halloweeny in April is a treat.

This BBC documentary was hosted by Mark Gatiss.

(via Beans)

In October of 2010 Neil Gaiman posted A Modest Proposal (that doesn’t actually involve eating anyone), in which he mused that there aren’t enough traditions which involve giving books and suggested a solution to that:

I propose that, on Hallowe’en or during the week of Hallowe’en, we give each other scary books. Give children scary books they’ll like and can handle. Give adults scary books they’ll enjoy.

I propose that stories by authors like John Bellairs and Stephen King and Arthur Machen and Ramsey Campbell and M R James and Lisa Tuttle and Peter Straub and Daphne Du Maurier and Clive Barker and a hundred hundred others change hands — new books or old or second-hand, beloved books or unknown. Give someone a scary book for Hallowe’en. Make their flesh creep…

I wrote about the tradition back in 2011, but was just reminded about it by this retweet from Gaiman:

Come get your All Hallows Read posters. @neilhimself approved! pic.twitter.com/ermypQrNfr

— Sabrina Snow Witch (@introvertedwife) September 5, 2014

It’s a tradition that’s well worth supporting, and there are plenty of ways to participate. Gift a book to a friend, or give one–along with a nice tip–to the pizza delivery guy. Bring a printout of the poster to your local library and suggest a spooky read-a-thon. Arrange a book-swap party: Have everyone bring a favorite scary book (with which they can bear to part) and leave with a different one. Read from a book of age-appropriate spooky stories at a child’s Halloween party and send the guests home with copies.

And if you hand out books to trick-or-treaters, I hope you follow the advice of the All Hallows Read site’s FAQ:

You can give out scary books or comics to trick or treaters on Hallowe’en if you want to, obviously. (We recommend looking the child in the eye and saying, “Take it. Read it. Trust me… around here… a book can be… safer than candy.” Then chuckling to yourself, as if remembering something unfortunate that happened to some of the local children only last year.)

Duck! Here’s another bunch of random stuff I’ve found whilst trawling the deeps of the intartubes. A few have no attribution, so if you happen to know the source for any of these please leave a note in the comments. (Click to view larger.)

	Wire Trellis This six-foot trellis made from barbed wire is by The Dusty Raven.
	Chinoiserie Cabinet This antique cabinet is by Thomas Chippendale. In the home of my dreams, this houses my wunderkammer.
	Skull Combat Boot These are Iron Fist’s “Sugar Hiccup” design, also available as heels. I initially thought the skulls were made of seed beads, but up close they appear to be sequins. If you’ve got a steady hand the design would be reasonably easy to DIY.
	Monster Matryoshka These gorgeous things are cast resin, hand-painted by Gravlax? (That isn’t a question. The blog name is “Gravlax?”)
	Crocheted Slug This cute li’l gastropod is by Lesley Stanfield. She also has a snail and caterpillar.
	Vampire Shoes These are some of the most hilariously over-the-top shoes I’ve ever laid eyes on; extra points for taking “stiletto heel” literally. They’re a custom job by Jitterbug Boy.
	Lace-back Skull Dress As nearly as I can tell, this is by Premonition Designs. It’s available at Amazon.
	Maleficent Cupcake These dark chocolate cupcakes with raspberry filling are by Sinister Sweetshop. There’s a recipe at the link, plus a “raven wings” version of the decoration.
	Ombre Nails There’s a tutorial for this effect at Style Den.
	Skull Shawl I am heartbroken that there seems to be no pattern or design source for this. The original photo appears to be from a photo shoot done by Russian photographer Dis.
	Ouija Cake This is a replica of the Parker Brothers’ game board, and since the small print looks hand-lettered I’m going to assume the pictures are also drawn by hand. I like the slightly-3D larger letters and numbers; they appear to be icing or possibly chocolate. They seem to be a little more regular in shape, so they may have been filled in over a template and then placed on the cake when set. Country Living has a free download of the same design which can be printed onto an edible cake topper (or printed on paper to use for non-cake purposes); the rest of the cakes in the slideshow are also worth browsing. Also check out this roundup of ouija cake designs that I found during my search for this cake’s creator.
	“The Shining” Manicure The artist says that she did this by hand using “a striper brush and a lot of patience.” You can do the same if you are similarly endowed with a small brush and patience. I expect a similar effect could be achieved by gluing down thin printed paper and then embellishing with “blood.”
	Skull Ear Cuff This is available at eBuy9. Considering the surprisingly low price I question if it looks this good in reality.
	Vampire Nails I have no bloody–so to speak–idea where these originally came from. Instead I will point you to Tea & Vampires, which has a nice roundup of vampy nail art.
	Ceramic Skull Vases These are by Pottery Barn, and are lovely if you have the sort of disposable income that will allow you to drop $100 on a vase. Otherwise, I’m thinking this might be fairly DIY-able with an existing vase, a clay skull, and some paint.

This short film featuring Alan Rickman stalking a young girl has an awesomely creepy twist ending.

(Hat tip to WitchArachne)

If by “extravaganza” you mean “mildly interesting giveaway.”

I started this silly blog clear back in February of 2007 and began posting every weekday in June of that year. The ol’ blog statistics tell me that this is my 2,000th post. That seems like it should be worthy of some kind of celebration, so I am going to give away a Surprise Box o’ Gothy Stuff to three lucky(?) commenters.

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post by Friday, August 22. Specifically, you have to tell me something nice about yourself. Doesn’t matter what; could be, “I didn’t kick any puppies today. Yet.” Just something you like about yourself or that makes you happy. Three commenters will be chosen at random.

(Non-U.S. folks are more than welcome to play along, although shipping might be slower.)

Thanks for hanging out on this blog with me, for however long you’ve been here.

Update: – I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed everybody’s comments, and wish I could send everybody a prize. I have the best readers in the world.

As for the winners, random.org spat back numbers 32, 4, and 23. Those folks will be emailed separately for their snail-mail addresses. Thanks to everyone who commented!

Update the Second: – After multiple attempts I can’t get in touch with one of the winners, so I re-picked. This time random.org gave me #19. That person has been mailed separately.

The title means “First Fall,” and this animated short is simply lovely.

Abel lives in the winter and Apolline lives in the summer. Isolated in their “natures”, they never met each other. They are not even supposed to meet. So when Abel crosses the border and discovers Apolline, curiosity is overwhelming. Their encounter soon becomes more complicated than they could imagine. Both of them will have to learn compromise to protect the other…

(via Beans)

If you were a kid in the early 80s you might have been permanently scarred by Alvin Schwartz’ Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark or its sequels (1, 2). The stories were creepy folktales and urban legends; spooky enough for kids, to be sure, but what really turned their Chill Factor up to 11 was the horrifying and surreal illustrations by Stephen Gammell. (There’s a sampling of those here; when a 30th anniversary edition of the books was released with the work of a different illustrator there was an uproar from fans.)

Deadline is reporting that CBS Films has accepted a pitch from Saw writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan to adapt the short stories into a film which centers on a set of outcast kids who work to save the town when their nightmares become reality. I’m…pretty sure that was a Buffy episode.

There’s no word on who’ll star in or direct the film, but it could be a lot of fun. Seen through an adult’s eyes (and studiously ignoring the illustrations), the stories are more campy than creepy; however, for kids the books are high-octane nightmare fuel: There’s an amusing discussion of that here. The movie could thus be a family-friendly romp through urban legends or a straight-up horrorfest. And if Stephen Gammell’s work doesn’t get incorporated somehow I’m going to be sad.