Welcome to the Know Shit! Halloween issue! To add a spooky flare to this intro I decided it needed a REALLY scary sentence. First, I looked up “top ten scariest sentences of all time”. There was a lot of lines from Stephen King and H.P Lovecraft but none of them were quite what I was looking for. They were all too subjective. What I needed was a sentence that was objectively terrifying so I had to take it upon myself to cook one up. There is one three-letter word in the English language that is guaranteed to scare even the most hardened reader so the key was to use this word in the sentence as much as possible, see if you can guess what it is. Here’s the sentence I came up with: The BOOmer BOOkie bamBOOzled the BOOkkeeper by BOOgieing in his gumBOOts from BOOkshelf to BOOkshelf so the BOOkkeeper BOOted him from the BOOkstore. I nearly had a heart attack just writing that so I can only imagine how you must be feeling right now. Now that you’re appropriately petrified, enjoy the quiz!
Check your answers so far and see how you’re doing… or else.
(Answers are near the bottom of the page.)
Some horrormation gems…
I think animation is a very underused medium when it comes to horror (in western media at least). With a few exceptions, it’s hard to come across animation that plays within the darker side of genre. There is one place however, where works combining this cross-section of genre and form are abundant: YouTube. Without the restrictions of corporate gatekeepers, YouTube holds some great creator driven animation/horror gems. SO given it’s the Halloween issue, I thought I’d share a few of my favourites…
Opal
To say “Opal” is a hidden gem is probably a bit disingenuous given it has nearly 10 million views on YouTube BUT it’s popular for a reason; it’s really good. You might recognise the name Jack Stauber from his music (much of which has blown up on TikTok in the past) as well as some viral YouTube shorts mixing animation, claymation and live action. Here, he brings his musical and filmmaking talents together and puts them on full display in this animated horror/musical.
The Kid and the Camera
The kid and the Camera plays upon 80’s kids show tropes in a fun way that helps heighten the horror elements beautifully. We get a bit of a mixture of animation and live action in this one with the live action elements being used to great effect, leaning into its low budget limitations. This one is scary!
The Night Shift
“The night shift” is the third in a series of horror short films by creator Rodrigo Goulão de Sousa. All three are great but this one is my favourite. The animation is polished and the sound design is visceral. It’s short but it leaves a mark. I found myself thinking about this one for a while after.
A year ago, the creator Rodrigo Goulão de Sousa released a proof of concept trailer for a larger project called “Playground” which looks incredible. You can watch it Here.
OctoBOO!er Playlist
Got ya. Now if your heart can take anymore, enjoy this Halloween playlist of spooooooky-ish tunes.
Answers (pt. i)
DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU’VE COMPLETED PART ONE OF THE QUIZ!!!
Harry Houdini.
It is believed by many that his death was caused by a punch to the abdomen from a student in his dressing room a week earlier although this has never been proven.
B. Real human skeletons.
The whole production of this movie was a mess to the point where it was allegedly taken over and ghost directed by the film’s producer Stephen Spielberg.
This podcast goes in depth into the chaos of the troubled production. It’s a fun listen!
Treehouse of Horror.
D. Ground up Egyptian Mummies.
The paint was described as an ‘rich and earthly reddish-brown’. Wild. Learn more about it here.
Here are some paintings that used Mummy Brown paint…
I got this fact from a great trivia podcast called Who Knew it with Matt Stewart. It was just so shocking I had to use it. You can listen to the podcast here. I highly recommend it!
Batman.
Batman: The Long Halloween is a classic batman series from writer Jeph Loeb and the late artist Tim Sale spawning animated adaptions and serving as one of the primary inspirations for 2022’s “The Batman”.
True. Pumpkins ARE berries.
Boos.
Clyde.
Ryan Gosling.
Dead Man’s Bones released one self titled album in 2009 with songs such as My Body’s a Zombie for You, Pa Pa Power and Werewolf Heart. The band eventually broke up around 2012 due to Shields and Gosling’s filling schedules.
Mammals.
Bats are the only mammal capable of flight (unless you count flying squirrels but they can only glide).
Firebolt.
Iron Man, C3PO and Pennywise.
Innocent. Witches that floated were believed to be guilty and were sentenced to death, often by burning at the stake. Learn more here.
Monster Mash.
Fresh.
The critic’s consensus on Rotten Tomatoes says: “A slim-cut slice of bizarre horror, Slaxx effectively balances quirk with gore -- and has the good sense to get out before its oddball premise starts showing its seams.”
On the other hand, the audience score sits at a rotten 45%.
Answers (pt. ii)
DO NOT READ UNTIL YOU’VE COMPLETED PART TWO OF THE QUIZ!!!
True.
Heidi Klum.
Heidi Klum has become well known for her bizarre Halloween costumes. In the past she has also dressed up as Betty Boop, Jessica Rabbit, an apple, Michael Jackson in Thriller and herself.
Edna "E" Mode (voiced by director Brad Bird).
D. Chicken Feed.
A. Tuna.
More than 300 Kit Kat flavours have been released in Japan, some limited edition and some ongoing. Flavours include: Matcha, Party Ice Cream, Orange Chocolate, Pistachio, Sakura, Sake, Peach, Peach Parfait, Japanese Plum, Ocean Salt, Salt Lychee, Salt & Lemon, Cookies & Cream Ice Cream, Sweet Potato, Chestnuts, Apple Pie, Coffee, Banana, Vegetable Juice, Pancake, Melon, Melon & Mascarpone Cheese, Grape, Wasabi, red bean paste sandwich, Yogurt Sake, Rum Raisin, Sparkling Wine, Soy Sauce, Chilli, Ginger Ale and Apple Vinegar.
Regina George.
Kramer.
Tusk.
The film, born out of an idea from Kevin Smith’s podcast sits at a 46% critics score on Rotten tomatoes. Although not very well received, the film has been praised for having “some of the most grotesque imagery to come out of the 2010s.” If you’re curious, search up clips of it. It’s wild.
October.
William Shatner.
E. All of the above.
Unfortunately I DID make all of those up but that’s not to say the Leprechaun film series isn’t full of bizarre moments including the Leprechaun freestyling a full rap song in the sequel “Leprechaun in The Hood”.
Rage.
The Dark Tower.