In 1958 Alfred Hitchcock "presented" a Milton Bradley board game named WHY. The premise for the game is that six people were coming home from a masquerade party one night, and took shelter from a storm in a spooky old house. They were never heard from again. Now their ghosts are haunting the house, and you need to find out "WHY." The game is similar to Clue, and if you care about how it's played you can read the instructions here.
The game has fun and cool art work. First here are the murder weapons cards...
Here are the masquerade ghost cards...
Now here's the spooky house game board. It's extra huge so you can use it as desktop wallpaper, or actual wallpaper for your home.
And last, but certainly not least. Possibly the greatest motion picture director ever... Ladies and gentlemen please give it up for Mr. Alfred Hitchcock...
I have a ridiculously large collection of travel brochures. I started collecting them as a kid on family vacations, and it's been a habit that has carried through to adulthood.
Here are two vintage brochures for haunted attractions near and on Mackinac Island.
First is the Haunted Fort. (To read brochure text, click photos to enlarge)
Front Inside Back
Now the Haunted Theatre...
Front Inside Back
It's interesting the that both of these attractions were advertised as a "entertainment experience" or even "educational" - not scary or terrifying.
Sadly the Haunted Fort is no longer with us, but the Haunted Theatre is still around! Check out their website, and their very, very reasonable prices. It you do check their website you'll find they're still using the pictures from their 20+ year old brochure. And weirder still, pictures from the Haunted Fort brochure are on the site too! So it looks like the figures from the Fort found a home in the Theatre.
Finally through the amazing power of YouTube I found a short little video of the Haunted Theatre. If this doesn't get you to book a trip to Mackinaw Island I don't know what will.
Above is an honest-to-goodness fortune cookie fortune that I got not too long ago. Although I don't believe in supernatural nonsense like this, I choose to look at it as a sorta cosmic green light to do things like the holiday animation below.
Now if you're the type who likes your internet videos to feature Jackass-like stunts, or overly emotional pleas to leave Britney alone - you'll be sorely disappointed.
But if you're looking for something fun, unpretentious, and crudely animated I think you're in for a treat.
Well I hope you appreciated that just as the fortune cookie foretold.
You know, I got this honest-to-goodness ticket at the supermarket the other day. I wonder if this has any cosmic significance for my life.
I was looking through some old files, and found this Photoshop drawing I made. I thought it turned out pretty good, but any similarities to Frankie Muniz is purely coincidental.
With the popularity of modern gory horror films like SAW and Hostel, I bring you my small contribution to cinematic gore.
I’ve worked as a member of the VFX team for an ambitious independent science fiction film named Inzer0. Inzer0 is not a gory film at all, but I added a bit of digital gore that’s gotten a very strong reaction at public screenings.
I was given a shot from a fight scene between the good guys and bad guys. In this shot a bad guy’s face is slammed into a wall. Here’s the shot as it was sent to me before I added the effect (there is no audio)….
I’m not going to go it to any detail about how I created the effect, but I used Photoshop and After Effects. Now without further delay, here’s my gruesome handiwork (still no audio, but please feel free to make your own sound effects as you watch)…
So there you have it. I'm expecting a call from Eli Roth any day now.
Above is a photograph of the Michigan State Fair midway taken in the late 1970’s.
That is the extent of what I know. So now the important question: what exactly is the Haunted Disco?
1. Is it a disco themed haunted house? 2. Is it a discotheque where you can dance with ghosts and monsters? 3. Is it a live show?
There’s obviously a live show of some sort going on, but I’m assuming that’s just to attract paying customers who will then go inside. Let’s examine the photo in more detail to see if it provides anymore information.
THE STAGE Here we see some guy in a Frankenstein-like mask doing what appears to be the robot. The two backup “dancers” look to be completely uncomfortable or disinterested. Written on the wall behind Frankenstein is, “GET DOWN TONIGHT” Is that a clue to a bigger show that happens after sunset?
SIGNAGE “Universal Productions Alive Haunted Disco” is clearly legible. There is certainly no relation between “Universal Productions” and “Universal Studios" in Hollywood, but I’m guessing that name was selected for intentional confusion with the Hollywood Universal.
The signage on the bottom is almost completely illegible. The words “Strange” and “Horror”(or is it “Terror”?) are just barely readable.
BANNER ART On the right we have three haunting faces seemingly representing three generations. It’s a rather restrained and esoteric work for carnival art.
On the far left is partial shot advertising of some kind of “exorcism’. I’m thinking this could be a variation of the old girl-to-gorilla sideshow act.
Now here’s something that caught everybody’s eye. It’s awfully racy for a family event like a state fair. I’m sure there were complaints, but who wouldn't be just a little curious that there might be some hot two-headed topless chick inside. Come on, imagine the Penthouse Forum letter you could write if she was real.
CONCLUSION
I don’t think I will ever know what the Haunted Disco truly is, and maybe not knowing is more fun.
I do know this… I got about 300 words out of a single 30 year old picture.
I'm sucker for a gimmick. Even if I'm not interested the product, I'm always intrigued by merchandise that's "new and improved," has a unique mail-in promotion, or comes with some little toy surprise.
I'm especially intrigued by the PR stunts and gimmicks used to promote horror movies. The king of these stunts was William Castle. He was responsible for gimmicks like fake skeletons flying over move goers heads, and buzzing the theater seats during the film.
One of the coolest sounding gimmicks ever was for the film The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies. It was shown in glorious "Hallucinogenic Hypnovision." Now prove me wrong, but it sounds so much more fun to see a movie in Hallucinogenic Hypnovision than George Lucas's THX cinema audio system.
Unfortunately I wasn't born in time to experience these wonders.
The last original horror movie gimmick I can think of came from the obscure low-budget 1978 monster movie Slithis (alternate title: Spawn of the Slithis).
As part of a PR tour the Slithis monster made personal appearances at local theaters. Here's a UPI photo dated 5/5/78 that shows Slithis at the University of Nebraska. The students in this pic don't seem very impressed.
Besides the personal appearances, Slithis's big gimmick was an advertised "Survival Kit" handed out ticket buyers.
This was a "kit" in the very, very loosest of terms. In actuality it was a 4 inch folded card (on rather dainty pink card stock no less). When opened, on the left was an important Slithis survival warning, and then on the right was Slithis fan club info. To complete my little Slithis Survival Kit presentation, here's a scan of both front and back. Now if you're very clever you can print out your own survival kits. Just be sure to use pink card stock. I'm not responsible for your Slithis survival safety if you choose a different color.
If I've whetted your appetite for all things Slithis, check this guys site for an extremely long review of the film. Also here's the Slithis TV spot... Slithis... Slithis ... Slithis...
