Spookiest Night of the Year!

EXERPT FROM THE JOURNAL OF DR. OPTILUIZ COOLENSTEIN...

Greetings, Dear Reader,

     Dr. Optiluiz here to wish you the happiest of Halloweens, everyone's favourite holiday! What, you prefer Christmas? HEATHEN! Oh, I'm just kidding, of course. I promised that the blog would be back soon, and here we are with an extra spooky post just in time for your spooky shenanigans, we hope you like it!
     Regarding the comic, I think most people overlook the fact that Pac-Man was the first-ever survival-horror game. What, you don't believe me? It's basically Slender with ghosts and drugs instead of pages. There's a video somewhere on youtube that explains this better than myself, but I'm too lazy to look for it.
     I've never mentioned it before on the blog, but I believe there's a curse that shows up on every October 31st and affects yours truly. The curse has been going on for about six years, and involves me making awesome plans for All Hallow's Eve. Plans that eventually self-combust and leave me with nothing to do on my favourite day of the year. That's why I like to consider the entirety of October as Halloween-Month, making sure that the curse doesn't suck out all the fun.
     As a part of my Spooky October, I've been watching some Halloween classics that I heartily recommend. Today, in fact, I saw the original Fright Night for the first time and the theme song has yet to leave my mind. I fear that it shall never be far from my thoughts. On the other hand, I live-tweeted Jason Goes to Hell: the Final Friday last night, which was a sack of shit that burned away a few years from my life. I hope your Halloween marathons are more successful, dear readers.
     Also, as you probably can already tell, I've been reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is honestly much better than all the adaptations. I'm also preparing a post defending found-footage films by comparison to epistolary novels, but that will have to wait.
     I believe that this is all for now, but we'll surely meet again soon. Be it during the full moon or the dark hours of the morning, our paths shall cross again. Do you hear that? The children of the night... What beautiful music they make!

As always, thank you for reading, and enjoy your Halloween!

- Doctor Optiluiz

PS: Why don't you enjoy this most entertaining music video?

   

Pets and Holy Cow, Batman, It's Almost Halloween!

Greetings, Epic Clubbers!

     Optiluiz here again after an astoundingly prolonged absence (I've said that so many times that it now sounds like a cliché). I know you're probably thinking "Why is the artwork different this time?" and "Snake, what took you so long?" but we'll get to those matters soon enough. For now, I hope you enjoyed the comic :D.
      Since I've last posted on our honorable blog, life has gotten pretty hectic. I'm actually juggling college with life as a freelance translator and a reviewer for Bloody Disgusting! It's worth it, however, because money is the source of all happiness and I'm finally doing something I'm proud of.
     All of this has caused the blog to fall behind in my priorities, however, and Max has also had a period of "I'm not willing to draw this horrible comic". I can't blame him, however, since I know I'm not the best humorist in the world. In any case, my lovely girlfriend, Ana, has stepped in to draw comics for us! We'll be featuring more of her work soon and I hope you like it.
     I've been trying hard to keep the spirit of Halloween alive this month, but life hasn't made it easy. I'm not giving up, however, and I imagine that this following week will be filled with slasher movies and themed snacks to keep me entertained. I've also been playing Until Dawn (amazing game!) and reading Salem's Lot.
     I think this is all for now, but I hope you've enjoyed this rather delayed post. We'll be posting again shortly, and I hope our readers will still be here when we return. I leave you now with a spooky music video, to set the mood.

Thank you all so much for reading,

-Optiluiz out...

PS: I've had a life-long dream of flooding my basement and turning it into a swamp for 20 crocodiles.

PPS: Max says it's a fetish, he's wrong.

Black Cats and Goblins on Halloween Night!

Greetings, Boys and Ghouls!

     Optiluiz here on this most frightening Friday night to present our celebration of All Hallow's Eve! Here in Brazil, in spite of the inappropriate weather and lack of general knowledge regarding the holiday, there are still some great people ready to get in the Halloween spirit, and I'm one of them! Because of this, tonight I have a Halloween party to attend to and I'm psyched! I'll be going as Jason, as I've mentioned before, and afterwards there will be general seasonal goodness at my house. Now, onto the news...

     Today also marks the publication of my Halloween tale "An Innocent Rite", which is now hosted on Saturday Night Reader alongside my other stories! I recommend that you click on the link and check them out for a great, spooky time. Also, our last Halloween movie review was posted a few days ago, and I think you should check that out if you feel like discovering more about the origins of my chainsaw obsession. Now, here's my very own Orange Jack' O' Lantern (With a Jason-faced lollipop inside as well!). 

     This past month has been really great for me, and I think this weekend will be a perfect ending to an awesome, creepy October. Actually, now that I think of it, it sounds like the setup to a horror film; my parents are out of town, there'll be a costume party and it's Halloween. Well, I haven't heard about any recent serial killers surrounding the neighborhood, so I think I'll be fine. Oh, I'll be sure to post some pictures here as well after the party, so stay tuned!

     I don't think there's anything else left to say other than that I've finished Night Shift (which still makes me wonder why I waited so long to read Stephen King's short stories), and I still haven't finished Fear Itself, but I'm trying! Also, I've recently played Slender: The Arrival, and I love it due to it being basically Blair Witch Project: the Game. But I guess I'll leave you to your spooky festivities now, as I have my own seasonal matters to attend to. I wish you all a happy Halloween, and I'll leave you with another Trick'r'Treat related video.

Chainsaw Cheers,

Optiluiz out.

(This is Halloween!)

PS: Yes, I know there is an actual Trilogy of Blair Witch games, but they don't resemble the movies as much as Slender.

PPS: The Orange' O' Lantern actually smells great and looks awesome in the dark when lit!

This Ain't Even My Final Form! (And the final countdown for Halloween)

Greetings, boys and ghouls!

     Optiluiz here on this fine random day of the week! I won't bother commenting on our late posts anymore, though I guess it's good that we don't give up on posting, even when life gets in the way! But in any case, Halloween is almost upon is, my friends, so why don't we all prepare for this most frightful holiday? (And by the way, I totally rock as a shoggoth/alien from "The Thing" in the comic).

     This has been a very interesting October for myself, and part of that is due to my published stories. This past week another spooky tale of mine, "Neighborhood Watch", showed up on Saturday Night Reader! I hope you all take a few moments to visit this wonderful site and read the new story and enjoy the rain! And don't forget, on All Hallow's Eve my latest scary story will also be on the site! Now here's a picture of some of my Halloween stuff to get us in the mood...

     So, these past few weeks I've been reading Stephen King's Night Shift to get in the Samhain spirit, and it's totally been worth it. I've never actually read his short stories before, and the quality of these was a real surprise. King's always been an inspiration of mine, and as a fellow short-story author, I respect him even more now. (Especially after the story about sentient toy army-men!). As I've said before, I've also been watching Fear Itself, and I don't regret a minute of it. So far my favourite episode is Eater, by Stuart Gordon (the director of Dagon!), but I'm sure the best is yet to come.

     I think that's all for today, as I still have to deal with some writing issues and prepare the coming week's last Halloween review! I can only promise you it'll be a... revving good time! Also, wish me luck on my Jason costume for Friday's party. I hope you enjoyed this week's post, and that you all have a great week! I'll leave you with the intro to Fear Itself, featuring the song "Lie lie lie" (which is still playing inside my head as I write this).

Chainsaw cheers,

Optiluiz out.

(5 days 'till Halloween)

PS: If you guys haven't checked out the much-belated Director's Cut of Clive Barker's "Nightbreed", do so right now!

PSS: Sorry for the bad quality picture, I'm using a spare phone since my good one with the decent camera died on me.

PSSS: Yes, that is a Sam bookmark from Trick'r'Treat sticking out of Night Shift.

Found Footage Abuse and Samhain!

Greetings, boys and ghouls!

     Optiluiz here once more, later than ever! I don't think we've ever updated the blog on a Sunday, but I figured, as usual, that it's better late than never. I was about to post yesterday, but technical difficulties (or evil October Gremlins, if you prefer) prevented this. In any case, here's our first shaded comic! I hope you like it! And yeah, I guess you could consider this last week's trick'r'treater's revenge. Now, to the news!

     My new Halloween story has been done for a while now, and I hope it finds a home before the 31st. It's hard to just sit around waiting for answers after submitting these tales, but I guess patience is a virtue for a reason. Also, I've got a Halloween costume party to go to at the end of the month, ain't that neat? I'm thinking of going as Jason again, as I still haven't found a Leatherface mask after all these years. Maybe one day... Well, here's a doodle inspired by my new short story (yay, it's also shaded!)

     Didya like it? Of course you did! The weather is suddenly collaborating with me again and making life easier and less hellish, and that really affects my writing and drawing. If only it would be cold and rainy forever... And that reminds me, I've been watching quite a few Halloween-related films, and for this week's review, we're going to tackle either Satan's Little Helper or this year's Wolfcop! You can comment which one you prefer below, readers!

     I think that's all for now, I've got some videogames to play and events to plan. I've learned how to make Jack'o'Lanterns out of oranges (since large Autumn pumpkins aren't very popular in Brazil) so I might also try to make some later. I'll leave you with an animated short by the director of my favourite horror anthology film, Trick'r'Treat! Have a great week, and be sure to come back for our review in a few days!



Chainsaw cheers,

Optiluiz out.

(12 days 'till Halloween)

Trick or Treating and Child's Play!

Greetings, Epic Clubbers!

     Optiluiz here on yet another (spooky) Friday evenin- Oh wait, It's already Saturday? Oh well. I can't be on time all the time, folks! But anyway, today's comic is another installment in our Halloween series, and I hope you enjoyed it. To be honest, feasting on the flesh of Trick'r'Treaters really saves money during these creepy times.

     Well, this is being a very peculiar October, but I am enjoying it very much. Although the weather isn't Autumn-ish anymore (damn you Brazilian climate!) I've been watching, reading and playing a lot of great stuff and most of it is even Halloween-related! Also, in a couple of weeks my new story will be online, and I'm so hyped I've decided to write one more horror-ish tale of the macabre! This idea has been in the mind-oven for a while now, but I think it's finally done baking! Next week I might even have some art for you guys... But for now, here's a collaborative doodle by Max and I!



     Cool, eh? I really love the urban legends and lore surrounding Halloween and the pagan traditions that preceded it, even this gorier ones. I have it on good authority, however, that it is very rare for Halloween candy to be anything other than awesome, so have no fear. Besides, who would eat an apple when all the cool kids are having chocolate?

     I guess that's all I have for you guys today. I'm gonna go finish Splatterhouse (which is delightfully Lovecraftian, by the way) and maybe watch another episode of the Canadian horror anthology series Fear Itself. I'll leave y'all with a really weird song that I didn't know existed until earlier this week. I hope you have a great weekend!



Chainsaw cheers,

Optiluiz out.

(20 days 'till Halloween...)

PS: This song was originally set to play during the end credits of the first Child's Play, but was cut due to its... er... 'childishness'.

Spooktober and Other Creepy Things...

Greetings, girls and ghouls!

     Spooky-Optiluiz here on this first Friday of October (although by the time you read it, it'll probably be Saturday) with tidings of madness and terror! Actually, more like comedy and fun! This is obviously my favourite month of the year (I swear it's not just because my birthday is on October first!), and I would like to share the love with you guys! Also, regarding the comic, I actually study for free here in Brazil, so I don't actually deal with these things. In other news, I'm now 20 years old and that scares me for some reason. Anyway, on to more important things...

     This is pretty much the month of horror, so the ECB will not disappoint with scary content and all things creepy! Yeah, we're actually pretty creepy most of the time, but that's besides the point. This month, every week will be accompanied by horror reviews and evil comics! The first review will probably be Hellraiser 1 and 2, and maybe we'll even get to games like Splatterhouse. And speaking of games, guess who's finally got the RPG up and running with miniatures? Yeah, me! Now all we need are maps, and everything is set. Here's a picture!



     Cool, eh? I'm appropriately populating the game with dark creatures of the night, to fit in with the October vibe! The weather is collaborating as well, and I love it! RPGs take a while to get ready, and it takes even longer to get the players together, but when it all works out (which has only happened to me once before) it's pretty amazing. There might be more pictures next week if everything works out!

     Oh, and in a side-note, another story of mine will be posted online on Saturday Night Reader! It's also pretty creepy, so I'll be sharing it here soon for you guys! This year has been pretty awesome for my writing, and I hope to write another story this month, an especially Halloween-y one. Well, I guess that's all for today, readers! I'll leave you with a beautiful music video with one of my favourite things in the world. Yes, slasher-movie villains! Have a great weekend, and hope you're here Monday for the review!



Chainsaw cheers,

Optiluiz out.

(28 days 'till Halloween!)

PS: Did you know I share a birthday with the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? And Max's birthday was this week too, but since he didn't help out this time he gets no cake!

PPS: Those are Steve Jackson's Cardboard Heroes Miniatures, by the way. More on that next week...