A young boy gets a Santa surprise Tim Sullivan's 1985 short film A CHRISTMAS TREAT

Sullivan, later the director of 2001 MANIACS and co-director of CHILLERAMA, cut his teeth with this short film about a young boy who dreams of Santa's impending arrival -- only to find the real deal is something much less holiday-friendly.

Morning Cartoon - Gahan Wilson's DINER (1992)

Illustrator Gahan Wilson's work has been featured in Playboy and the New Yorker for decades, but his gruesome  drawings have rarely made the transition to animation.  One of the only exceptions is this brief tale of a trucker whose stop at a small diner becomes more perilous by the moment.  It's directed by Graham Morris and Karen Peterson, who both served as animation directors on "Muppet Babies."

Trailers galore as Imperial Entertainment's 1987 Promotional reel will give you STAGE FRIGHT!

Imperial Entertainment provided plenty of low-rent thrills during their time as a VHS distributor, and you can relive some of that excitement with this four minute promo meant for the eyes of video store owners.  Michele Soavi's STAGE FRIGHT, which is pretty great, gives you free trick or treat bags!  NINJA CONNECTION gives you ninjas!  DEMONS 2 gives you excitement from its current theatrical release!  And THE BALLAD OF DEATH VALLEY gives you a bland western made 17 years ago.

MONSTER, a 2005 short film from the director of THE BABADOOK

Jennifer Kent is getting raves galore for her feature-length debut film THE BABADOOK, but this isn't her first time at the horror rodeo.  Her 2005 short MONSTER showed her talents as well, and the tale of a mother whose child fends off a monster in their closet packs a solid punch in a brief ten minutes.



Monster - Jennifer Kent from Jennifer Kent on Vimeo.

In Jonathan Mostow's 1985 short, DR. DOBERMIND only has vanilla

Today marks the 53rd birthday of Jonathan Mostow, the director of BREAKDOWN, SURROGATES and TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES.  (Also BEVERLY HILLS BODYSNATCHERS!)  But he got his start with this short film, an entertainingly bizarre story included on the FRIGHT SHOW/CINEMAGIC compilation released in 1985.

Birthday buddies James Karen and Thom Mathews star in a a rare featurette about RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II

Today is the birthday of two stars of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, James Karen and Thom Mathews!  So why not take a look at their most famous project's... sequel?  This little-seen behind-the-scenes news featurette about the ill-fated 1988 horror comedy follow-up features interviews with Karen, Matthews, director Ken Wiederhorn, and make-up artist Kenny Michaels.

A tour of the Ackermansion circa 1986

Today would have marked the 98th birthday of Forrest J. Ackerman, the editor of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" and one of the men responsible for making genre fandom what it is today.  This 1986 tour of his home, which housed a countless amount of horror and science fiction memorabilia, was conducted as part of a Pasadena City College student-produced show on cable.

A Mini-documentary on Linda and Christopher Lewis, the makers of the SOV BLOOD CULT and THE RIPPER

Made in 1987, this fifteen-minute short was created to sell a future project, but this little behind-the-scenes sales pitch about notorious VHS staples BLOOD CULT and THE RIPPER ("The first films shot directly for the video market," goes the claim) is a pretty nifty timepiece.  Especially when they hype the music video.   

Watch This Thing - Creepy 1980 short film LIVING DOLLS

With echoes of TOURIST TRAP and MANIAC, Todd Coleman's low-budget short film shot in Charleston, South Carolina about a janitor with a very special relationship with a group of bridal shop mannequins used to play in between programming on the USA Network in their less-structured days.

Watch This Thing - An amazing animated short mixing art from '70s horror comics and a 1973 horror novelty album

Jason Willis is a fantastic talent who knows his psychotronia (he even designed cover art for Something Weird Video!) and you can read about him here and here. The piece below uses the audio from the 1973 Johnson-Smith Novelty Company "Horror Record" and animated versions of artwork taken from Eerie Publications like "Tales of Voodoo" and "Horror Tales." The result is a bloody good time, with eye-popping visuals and a soundtrack... to die for.


The Cast of Eerie Publications perform the Johnson-Smith Novelty Company "Horror Record" from Jason Willis on Vimeo.

Watch This Thing - "Srazhenie," 1986 Russian animated short based on a Stephen King story

Stephen King's short story "Battlefield," published in 1978 and reprinted in "Night Shift," was adapted for television as part of the "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" anthology series in 2006, but this was the second time the story had hit the screen. Check out this 1986 Russian animated version of the tale about espionage in the world of toys where a hitman gets a host of unfriendly tiny visitors.

Watch This Thing - Sam Raimi's early short film CLOCKWORK

Sam Raimi turns 55 today, and he'll always have a place at the psychotronic fan table for the EVIL DEAD films.  While the short film that provided the basis for those films, WITHIN THE WOODS, has been commonly seen on the bootleg circuit for years, his 1978 short CLOCKWORK is a creepy little entry that deserves credit all its own.