Happy Halloween!

And so it is that we've passed another Horror Month. It's Halloween. The final day of October, the time of the festival of Samhain! 

Y'know what? I'm just gonna let Conal Cochran say it best:

So that's it. The day has finally come. Enjoy your candy, dress up in your costumes and your masks, watch something spooky, and have a Happy Halloween! As always, just remember:

"The dark side is always there, waiting for us to enter — waiting to enter us. Until next time, try to enjoy the daylight."

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: All Hallows, Part 5"

"We are two of a kind, you and I-"

"I've never killed anyone. Don't intend to start now." Sybil said as he eyed the blonde woman intently, ready to draw her gun once again the moment she made a false move.

"Oh, that's not what I mean and you know it..." The blonde woman chuckled. "I mean this..." She tapped her forehead with a single finger.

"We...moisturize?" Sybil asked.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Prey"

Spooky! In! SPAAAAAAAAAACE!

So, you know that annoying feeling when you wake up in the morning and find out you're in the year 2032? Right? Absolutely sucks!

MadCap's Table Top Tales - Dean Winchester Build (5e)

And now, we have our final build of Horror Month 2021. Since we've spent the month dealing with monsters, I think it's only fitting that we bring in a monster hunter: namely Dean Winchester from the TV series Supernatural. Y'know, that series I've been reviewing for a while. You've probably heard of it.

Dean's a wise-cracking, ass kicking, good ol' boy in need of some major therapy. Life may get him down and even kill him on...many, many occasions, actually. . .but with Sam at his side and himself behind the wheel of his beloved '67 Impala, Dean is always ready to crank up the mullet rock and apply a boot to the ass of every demon on Earth and in Hell and more than a few other things, too.

Ready? Let's kick it in the ass!

What If...Michael Myers fought Jason Voorhees?

Why, yes, this is my reward for getting through Halloween: Resurrection. How ever did you guess?

From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things"

I've never been a huge fan of zombies. Out of all the things in horror, they just don't really appeal to me like others do. Maybe I just don't care for them for the same reason that the Cthulhu Mythos has never struck a chord with me like it has with so many others. I like the thought of there being some kind of hope in the darkness of horror. The massive, uncaring eldritch beings that are so much more than anything human can understand and the innumerous hordes of the undead seeking to consume the flesh of the living really just don't hold the same appeal to me because of that.

And yes, I'm aware a major theme of the Cthulhu Mythos is regular humans standing up against the darkness and screaming "We matter!", but you get the idea.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Halloween: Resurrection" (2002)

Well...it's time.

Trick or treat, motherfucker.

. . .yeah, that line is still stupid almost twenty years later.

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: All Hallows, Part 4"

October 31, 2018

The previous night had ended with Lilah being eerily calm. She had gone through the rest of her vault, gathering together a few items of interest and setting them aside for use. She had dismissed Anthony, telling him to return the following night at sunset. The night had come, and he had returned to that office with the glass floor.

"Come in." Lilah spoke from within the still open space in the wall. Anthony walked into this room that should not exist, seeing that Lilah had taken out only one of the items in question: a goblet with its outer edges forged to resemble unnerving demonic faces.

"What is-"

"Secrets above your Circle, Wallace." Lilah said, pouring a now not smoldering bit of ash into the cup. "Give me your arm." Anthony raised a brow. "Your arm, Apprentice. Now."

MadCap's Table Top Tales - Michael Myers Build (5e)

Another October Thursday, another October D&D build. I've seen a lot of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger builds, but you know what I haven't seen a lot of? Michael Myers builds, and that's a shame. After all, Halloween is what popularized the slasher film genre and allowed either one of those two to exist, and yet for some reason Michael is always living in their shadow...which is where he likes to lurk and occasionally stab somebody from. 

Michael Myers was first brought to us in Halloween (1978) by filmmakers John Carpenter and Debra Hill as a boy who murdered his sister Judith at the age of six, spent fifteen years in Smith's Grove Sanitarium, and he's made his way through ten movies (as of this post) and two abominations that for some reason didn't get a legal ban on Rob Zombie ever making movies again since. So, today, we're going to be building a better slasher with applied D&D! So here we go!

What If...Evil Ed Returned?

Long ago, Charley Brewster had a vampire living next door. The vampire in question kidnapped his girlfriend and turned one of his only friends into a fellow creature of the night. Eventually, with the help of a charlatan turned do-gooder, Charley was able to slay the vampire known as Jerry Dandridge and bring and end to his reign of terror.

There was only one problem...despite the best efforts of the aforementioned Peter Vincent, Charley's friend Ed (unlike a certain heavy metal band's mascot) wasn't dead. Or, rather, was still undead. As Charley and Amy made out in Charley's room, the flash of a pair of eyes and a cackling laugh told us that Evil Ed would be returning to menace Charley...and then Fright Night Part 2 came along and...it didn't happen. Evil Ed was barely mentioned.

So...what if he came back to menace Charley and Amy once again?

From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: Bloodlust"

"Dr. Blake...Dr. Strange...you're needed in Ward 3.
Dr. Blake...Dr. Strange."

So, last week, we dealt with clowns. Now, we deal with something infinitely less terrifying - vampires.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Waxwork" (1988)

A little more of an obscure offering for Horror Month 2021. What? You've never wanted to see Billy from Gremlins take on Chancellor Gorkon?

. . .no?

. . .just me?

. . .well, you're getting it.

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: All Hallows, Part 3"

"Are you enjoying the show?" The man in the white suit, grasping the mic in hand. "I always like a...live audience."

"Oh, bad puns..." Grace groaned. "And I thought you were hot..."

"Hey!" Isaac snapped, raising a brow.

"Oh, hush!" Grace nudged her sire.

"Are we just ignoring the zombies or...?" Hope asked.

"What? You don't like your new clientele, Miss Devereaux?" The man in white asked.

"Dead men don't pay their tab." Hope replied.

"Witty. Very witty." The man in white chuckled as he got off the stage, holding the glowing green light in his hand. "I must say, I'm surprised that Brook caught onto my plot so quickly...the Tremere usually aren't so aware."

"What in the Hell are you talking about?" Isaac demanded.

MadCap's Table Top Tales - Dr. Frankenstein Build (5e)

It's alive! It's alive! . . .or so I'm told, anyway. For this week, we have Victor Frankenstein - the original doctor rather than the monster he created. . .which is also Frankenstein for those that want to be pedantic about it. Before Herbert West, before Maggie Walsh, before freaking Doctor Doom...there was Victor Frankenstein.

Victor Frankenstein was a role first played by Augustus Phillips in the silent 1910 film produced by Thomas Edison of all people. Most people tend to know him with the face of Colin Clive (pictured above) as Henry Frankenstein from the 1931 film adaptation of the Classic Universal Monsters vein. He is a scientist who perverted the very essence of life in order to create life all his own and now he knows what it's like to be God. . .depending on the adaptation you're going with. In the novel, he's a tragic figure whose creation causes him to lose his friends, family, and his mind. In most of the movies...well, he's the reason why we have the Mad Scientist stereotype.

So let's have a look at what we need to make Victor Frankenstein.

What If...Freddy Krueger had never resurrected Jason Voorhees?

Last time, we got to see a world where Tommy Jarvis stayed on as the killer for the Friday the 13th franchise. This time, we'll be moving to another killer in another universe not at all dissimilar to it. In this universe, after being destroyed by a pipe bomb in his "definitely final movie", Freddy Krueger was cast into the bowels of Hell. We know, in the main universe, he sought out and brought back Jason Voorhees, setting off the events of Freddy vs. Jason.

In this universe, though? Let's take a look.

From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: Everybody Loves A Clown"

You're never the same after your first pig in a jar.

And for the third time, no.

Alright. Now we've got that out of the way.

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives" (1986)

Okay, now this is actually really good.

No, I mean it. This isn't the set up for a punchline. Jason Lives is just really, really good. Besides the original, it's probably the best of the entire franchise.

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: All Hallows, Part 2"

If Grace could have breathed, her lungs would have been pumping air in and out very quickly in that moment. If her heart could truly beat, it would have been racing. As it stood, she was merely standing with panic slowly loosening its grip on her mind as the rail-thin Tremere Primogen knelt down and examined the ash pile.

"Just as I suspected..." Lilah Brook muttered as she moved what looked like a stylus or some other sort of rod about, as if she were stirring the ashes. She did not even bother to look back at the tense Toreador.

"Is there a particular reason you flash-fried my co-star?" Grace asked.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Fright Night"

So...Amiga game emulated onto Windows 10? Amiga game emulated onto Windows 10.

Weird, right?

MadCap's Table Top Tales - The Creature From The Black Lagoon Build (5e)

Horror Month 2021 has finally come! Get your dice and get ready to roll, because it's time to get spoopy! As is fitting with our tradition at this point, we're going to make a character build based off of a fictional character and work them all the way up to Level 20! This month, we've got some horror builds! Let's see  what we can make of it starting with...

What If...Tommy Jarvis became the New Killer in the Friday the 13th Franchise?

A young man's mind shattered by the tragedies that had befallen him. A halfway house for disturbed teens laid waste by the blade of a madman's axe. In one world, he went on to finally confront his demon and send it back into the waters from whence it had come.

On another world, something very different happened.

But how would that story continue? Where would the story go from there, knowing what we know now?

As a certain Watcher once said, I invite you readers of mine, to pull up a chair and watch as we ponder the question...What If?

From MadCap's Couch - "Supernatural: In My Time of Dying"

"All I did was ask him - 'Who's on first?'"

So, last time, Sam and Dean and John had finally tracked down the Yellow-Eyed Demon who killed Mary. It claimed to have further plans for Sammy and the other psychic children like him. After Sam failed to follow through on John's order to shoot him in the heart, the three heavily wounded Winchester boys found themselves leaving in the Impala...and were promptly t-boned by a possessed trucker and his 18-wheeler, our final shot of the episode and Season 1 being John, Sam, and Dean unconscious and at the doorstep of death.

. . .y'know, when that was still something that still actually held some weight in Supernatural.

We pick up with Season 2's opener In My Time of Dying. Let's have a look...

MadCap's Reel Thoughts - "Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare" (1991)

Jesus Christ, what a depressing note to start Horror Month 2021 on! A poster for an incredibly terrible movie that has a tagline that's an outright stinking lie. Really, by 1991, what was anyone expecting out of this franchise? Well, New Line was apparently expecting money seeing as despite being a wonderful cure for insomnia, The Dream Child somehow managed to make enough money to be the highest grossing slasher film of 1989. Of course, with it's competition being such lauded films as Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (we'll be getting to that in a few years), C.H.U.D. II: Bud the Chud, and Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland.

. . .what's that? Why didn't I mention Halloween 5? Oh, that's simple: it doesn't suck.

Regardless, let's crack into "the best" that was saved "for last".

MadCap's Fiction Corner - "Seattle By Night: All Hallows, Part 1"

October 30, 1989

The streets of Vancouver were pretty quiet for the days before Halloween. Then again, this was also a neighborhood where most people knew to keep their head down. Even then, they weren't so lucky, and they especially weren't lucky on nights like this. This night was a night in preparation for an event that made the year of many a Sabbat Kindred - Palla Grande.

MadCap's Game Reviews - "Doki Doki Literature Club!"

Y'know, because my last attempt at playing a visual novel went so swimmingly...

No, I'm still not a fan of the visual novel genre. Hatoful Boyfriend didn't sell me on it, even if I found the game itself completely incomprehensible and bizarre. So, certainly, my opinion will change with a nice, wholesome dating sim that definitely doesn't have any-OH MY GAAAAAAAWD! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FAAAAAAAAAACE?!