Flavours of the Month: October 2019...

Comic book creepiness, Netflix goodness, and a neon-tinted apocalypse are just some of what's been setting the tone of my October 2019...

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Sleaze Fiend Magazine Issue 3.5

The latest issue of Sleaze Fiend Magazine is here! This time around it's a combination of new material (100 pages worth) and a selection of the best bits from the now sold out 1^st and 2^nd issues. You can pick up a copy of SFM 3.5 as well as Issue #3 by visiting Weird World Publishing's online store HERE.

New bonus material for this issue includes: “XXX Drive-In: From The First To The Last”, an examination of the curious oddity that were open air drive-in movie theatres that specialised in showing adult movies (even curiouser is that there are still two that are operational, both in Texas)! There is also a look into G&A Books, a notorious adult book store that was a fixture of the 42^nd Street of old, a review of Hard Ticket To Hawaii by yours truly, and “Archie's Satanic A Go-Go”, which is an article about a bizarre sideline in Archie comics between 1972 and 1975 that featured stories filled with gore, horror, and Satanism...

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3 From Hell (Rob Zombie, 2019) Review...

Find more horror movie reviews HERE.

“Hello, America. Did you miss me?” 3 From Hell is the belated third, and likely final, entry in Rob Zombie's grisly 'Firefly family' saga. Following on from the psychedelic slasher circus of 2001's House of 1,000 Corpses and the down 'n' dirty killers on-the-run road movie of 2005's The Devil's Rejects, 3 From Hell might seem inexplicable considering the spectacular guns-a-blazin' finale of the previous film (arguably Zombie's finest cinematic moment), but the story's continuation, maybe somewhat incredibly, actually works.

“Free The Three!” Having been riddled with lead, the audience discovers that Otis (Bill Moseley, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), Baby (Sheri Moon Zombie, The Lords of Salem), and Captain Spaulding (the late, great Sid Haig) clung to life and were promptly sentenced for their heinous crimes. Now, ten years later, they are perceived as cult anti-heroes as a TV documentary within the film lays out with star struck groupies watching on from the sidelines, championing The Devils Rejects' status as the ultimate in anti-authoritarianism – they are the ultimate expression of freedom in a fucked up world. Reflecting the bizarro cult status that world's most notorious serial killers have gained – such as the likes of Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and John Wayne Gacy among many others – this extended opening sequence proves to be one of the film's most fascinating and enjoyable moments, thrusting the fringe-dwelling Firefly clan into the limelight...

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Castle Freak (Stuart Gordon, 1995) DVD Review

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“I could wake you up, Sleeping Beauty. You are in my castle.” Director Stuart Gordon and actors Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton had a good run together with the iconic 'H.P. Lovecraft meets splatter' flick one-two punch of Re-Animator (1985) and From Beyond (1986). However, with those two titanic entries in the horror genre, one of their other efforts – 1995's Castle Freak – has flown somewhat under the radar. Re-teaming with screenwriter Dennis Paoli, Gordon explores some deeply dark themes as he pits a self-imploding family man against the embodiment of his monstrous, tortured soul...

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A Token of New York City's Sordid Past

Along with my copy of the latest Sleaze Fiend Magazine (Issue #3.5, a combination best-of/new material, out now), my Editor in Chief Nick “Bat32” Canales also included a little slice of New York City's grotty past for me – a Show World token.

Show World was located in NYC's Midtown area on 8^th Avenue, close to the notorious 42^nd Street (hallowed ground for grindhouse cinema fanatics), and was opened in 1977 by Richard Basciano, sometimes nicknamed 'The King of Porn'. Show World was the adult emporium against which all others measured themselves, and featured a variety of x-rated pursuits. Those who dared to enter into the neon-streaked building could buy these octagonal brass tokens for a quarter – 20mm in diameter – and feed them into coin slots, which would raise a partition and reveal a live nude performance on a stage, flanked on one side by a series of private booths (and a mirrored wall on the other)...

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