Suburban Vampire Will Return with a DARK SHADOWS Treat Monday, Sept. 5

Suburban Vampire will come back to life after a summer of intermittent blogging next Monday, September 5.  I'll be kicking off my pre-Halloween season of guests and giveaways, starting with a cast member of the original Dark Shadows series.  Save the date and stop by.

In the meantime, check out MTV's new vampire/zombie/werewolf mockumentary series, Death Valley, which premiere's tonight at 10:30 PM ET/PT.

MTV Shows

www.mtv.com/shows/death_valley/series.jhtml

Spooky New Trailer for THE WOMAN IN BLACK

I swore I wouldn't blog much until Labor Day, but I had to post this delightfully eerie diversion...



Before the movie version of The Woman in Black debuts February 2012, be sure to read Susan Hill's excellent novel upon which it's based.

FRIGHT NIGHT Treats

I'm about to embark upon intensive manuscript revisions that will keep me busy until Labor Day weekend. Before I hide away from the blogging world, however, I thought I'd post more clips from Fright Night, which hits theaters this Friday, August 19. Enjoy... and feel free to leave a note in the comments section saying whether or not you liked the movie.  







Official Website: www.welcometofrightnight.com

VAMPIRISM BITES, Season 2, Premieres Today

The second season of the comedy series Vampirism Bites debuts today on vampirismbites.com and blip.tv.

This season: Belle gets to know her "mother," the Dracula herself, while the being known as The First Hunter works his way toward the only goal in his crusading, undying life: the end of all vampires. Or is that really his goal?

An additional thirteen episodes of the series will air on Wednesdays.

VAMPIRE MOB News

"Back to Rectify the Situation," the third episode of Vampire Mob's second season, is now available at vampiremob.com. The episode stars John Colella, Reamy Hall, Marcia Wallace, Kenny Lombino, Dan Olivo, Joe Tabb, Carmen Mormino, and Peter Spruyt. You can also catch the entire first season over there, but be warned of language fit for mobsters and uncontrollable bouts of laughter.

Music Mondays on Hiatus until September, but...

Due to summer vacation taking a toll on my blogging schedule, I'm holding off on posting any more Music Mondays until mid-September. On Monday, September 5, I'll be hosting a Dark Shadows event and contest, so definitely mark that particular date on your calendars!!

In the meantime, if you have any vampire/gothic/Halloweenish song requests, please send them here.  You can find my list of all the songs I've spotlighted at my Vampire Music Mondays page.

AT STAKE: VAMPIRE SOLUTIONS

The makers of At Stake: Vampire Solutions, an indie film about vampire exterminators (yes, exterminators, not hunters), just released their new trailer. Here's the movie's synopsis:

Memphis film student, Evan Shandling, decides that his senior film should be about how the economy has effected local businesses. So with that in mind, Evan packs up his camera and heads south into North Mississippi to document one of the hardest-hit and most dangerous jobs around, vampire removal. Embedding himself with the small vampire removal company, At Stake: Vampire Solutions (AS:VS), Evan documents, interviews, and goes on calls with AS:VS workers as they struggle to keep their business afloat and make it to the next day alive.

Parental advisory: This trailer is not yet rated and contains language unsuitable for younger viewers.


For more At Stake: Vampire Solutions enjoyment, head over to the film's mock website: www.as-vs.com.

A Message from the Creators of VAMPIRE WEDDING (Casting Contest Included)

So you think you know vampires, don’t you?

Yes, those night creatures with an allergy to garlic and a genuine
dislike of the light, covered with the blood of their last victim, yet
hunting for more.

Correct? Not really, or at least not totally. Because vampires also have a conceited side, they crave not only blood but fame.  They like light too (in the sense of footlights) and to show up with pride their fangs, especially in front of a camera.

To satisfy their thirst for fame and celebrity, UK Company Castalides
Pictures gives the opportunity to millions of aspiring (and real)
vampires to play one with the launch of the very first cross-media
global vampire casting campaign, THE VAMPIRE WEDDING CASTING COMPETITION, by using Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iPhone, and Android APPs to cast them.

All the blood-hunters can easily download a brand new iPhone and iPad
App called VAMPCASTING from www.vampireweddingmovie.com/mobile. This App is totally free and unique in its kind: it is in fact the very first App created by a film production company to cast aspiring
vampire extras from all over the world for the launch of the Vampire Wedding comic miniseries and feature film.

To use this App is as easy as biting a neck: once downloaded it will take users straight to the "Vampire Casting" page, where they can click to take vampire photos to upload to Facebook at www.facebook.com/vampirewedding or to send it by e-mail straight away. It is also possible to view your "Saved Vampire Photos" in a built-in image gallery. There are also tabs to click on at the bottom of the App such as "About VW," to find more information on Vampire Wedding and the casting competition.

The best shots will give the fanged contestants the chance to be
featured in the comic book or to play a vampire in the Vampire Wedding movie.

In order to take part in the three casting competitions, aspiring
vampires would need to let their imagination go wild and post their
best vampire impressions on the Vampire Wedding Facebook fan page -
www.facebook.com/vampirewedding.

The winners will:

- Become the vampire of the week on the Vampire Wedding website as well as on the Facebook fanpage, where a banner with their picture will be published.

- Become immortal by having their very own character drawn as a vampire in the artwork of the Vampire Wedding comic book.

- Play a vampire in Vampire Wedding film: winner will have the
opportunity to play a vampire on the film set.

The casting campaign was presented at the London Film & Comic Con from
July 8 to 10 by Gina Varela, The Devil's Rock actress, and attracted a great deal of interest from both LFCC and horror film audiences and is creating a big buzz on the net. In less than a few weeks, the company’s Facebook fan page received hundreds of pictures from aspiring and professional actors and
aspiring vampires from all over the world, with most of them giving a vampire impression by showing fangs and fake blood.

The first issue of the Vampire Wedding comic miniseries, penciled, inked, and colored by DC and Marvel comic artist legend Eduardo Barreto, will be presented at the end of October at the London MCM
Expo Comic Con.

ON VAMPIRE WEDDING COMIC BOOK & MOVIE

Vampire Wedding is a romantic horror comic miniseries and upcoming
film created by Robert Huttinger and produced by Castalides Pictures'
directors Francesca Lombardo and Robert Huttinger. Robert Huttinger
is a writer, producer, and creator of high-concept TV series and motion
pictures, such as best-selling RTL action TV series Cobra 11 and Cops
2000. He also has a romantic comedy film, Kiss the Frog, produced by
Michael London (Sideways, Get Smart, Milk, The Informant) with Katie
Holmes starring, currently in production.

The pages of the comic are penciled, inked, and colored by Eduardo
Barreto, a top artist from DC Comics and Marvel Comics who has worked
on The New Teen Titans, Superman, Batman, Star Wars, Marvel Knights,
Aliens vs. Predators, and Indiana Jones. The cover art of the comic was
created by Franke, an illustrator from Vienna. He has worked for
production companies all over the world, doing political cartoons,
comics, tattoo designs, and record covers, to name a few.

Vampire Wedding trailer: www.youtube.com/user/vampirewedding
Vampire Wedding website: www.vampireweddingmovie.com

Music Monday: FRIGHT NIGHT Soundtracks

The 2011 version of Fright Night, a suburban vampire(!) movie starring Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin, and Toni Collette, opens one week from Friday, August 19.  The soundtrack will follow on August 29 and features a score composed by Ramin Djawadi.

Before we gear up for the new music, I thought I'd take a moment to pay homage to the soundtrack from the original Fright Night, which starred Chris Sarandon as vampire-next-door Jerry Dandridge (the Colin Farrell role in the new film). The movie debuted in 1985, which means the music bears a distinctive 80s sound. Notable Fright Night songs such as Brad Fiedel's "Come to Me" are heavy on the electronics and light on the gothic vibe, but they're still a part of vampire movie history, so I'm offering a small taste. Tease your bangs, grab your boom box, and enjoy.

Dusk Comics

Dusk Comics, an independent publisher of comics and graphic novels, including superhero pulps, supernatural thrillers, and fantasy manga, just announced their late-2011/early-2012 publication schedule:

Fall 2011

The Trials and Tribulations of Miss Tilney
Cub reporter Henrietta Tilney is sent on her first assignment, to interview accused mass murderer Lord Beowulf Harwood. But young Henrietta quickly finds out there is much more to this story and its subject. Will this plucky young reporter get her story and survive with her life intact? A Penny Dreadful in three parts!

Bonus: The Trials and Tribulations of Miss Tilney Victorian Costume Contest

Fullmoon Stories
Shock and horror, together at last.
This is old-school horror, not your modern hack and slash that passes as scary with physical threats, but old stories that have the power to touch you deep.

Early 2012:

Dusk, Vol 3
Light is being shined into the darkness, illuminating some of the hidden truths. Finally get to read how Eve and Vampire Lord Ash first met. Read how Ash was turned into the damned monster that he is. Come join us as we delve in the sordid past of the tragic figures of Dusk and learn how they got their deep scars.

For more information about all Dusk Comics titles, head to www.duskcomics.com.

Here Come the Poes

Val Kilmer & Ben Chaplin (as Poe), Twixt

As I've mentioned before, I've been falling drastically behind on blogging this summer because of progress on my book manuscripts and the fact that my kids and husband are home for two and a half months. But... I have had time to keep up on my Entertainment Weekly reading—my revered Friday-night guilty pleasure.

Last week I read the Comic-Con wrap-up issue and saw a photo featuring a movie audience wearing 3-D glasses shaped like Edgar Allan Poe's face. My first thought: "Oh, the audience is watching that upcoming John Cusack Poe movie, The Raven." Nope. They were watching another film that features Poe: Francis Ford Coppola's Twixt. Oddly enough, neither film is a biopic about the famous troubled author of dark tales, and each treat him more as a character than a real-life man. Furthermore, an upcoming TV series and a farcical movie are creating their own versions of the famous nineteenth-century writer.

Here are the various E.A.P.'s you'll be seeing soon on big and small screens:

Twixt
The story: A writer with a declining career arrives in a small town as part of his book tour and gets caught up in a murder mystery involving a young girl.
Poe's role: From what I can gather, Poe appears in dream sequences that involve the main character's trippy search for answers.
Who plays Poe?: Ben Chaplin

John Cusack

The Raven
The story: A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life, in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
Poe's role: Crime solver.
Who plays Poe?: John Cusack

Poe
The story: Follows Edgar Allan Poe as the world's first detective, using unconventional methods to investigate dark mysteries in 19th-century Boston.
Poe's role: Crime solver.
Who plays Poe?: Christopher Egan

Lives and Deaths of the Poets
The story: Comprising a series of approximately 50 comic vignettes, the movie is the fictional story of what really did NOT happen to famed poets who have so enriched all of our lives..
Poe's role: Hard to tell from the website, although he's listed as an author and beer drinker.
Who plays Poe?: Greg Coale

I'm happy Poe is having his moment in the modern cinematic spotlight, but the guy married his thirteen-year-old cousin, made a huge impact on the horror genre, invented the modern detective story, and struggled with drinking and depression.  Do we really need a fictionalized version of him?  Isn't he interesting enough as is?  My challenge to filmmakers: bring us a gripping, straight-from-Poe's-letters biopic.