Between October 1,2014 to October 31,2015 FWYW artist and founder Bradley Beard created a series of 421 horror-themed portraits and released them daily on Facebook for 396 consecutive days. This self imposed challenge has become known as the 13 Months of Horror and to commemorate it’s 5th anniversary, Bradley is sharing it once again on Facebook and Instagram. FWYW will be collecting each week’s and sharing them in our blog so please enjoy as we present to you The 13 Months of Horror – Revisited.
DAY 8 – SALEM’S LOT
Today is the start of Week 2. I figured I would have this one waiting for you bright and early, give you something creepy to wake up to. This design depicts Reggie Nalder as Mr. Barlow from the 1979 made for TV movie of Stephen King’s Salem’s Lot. Mr. Barlow is without a doubt the most frightening vampire portrayal ever on screen. When I saw this premiere on television, I was at our friend’s farm in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota. I was watching with the other kids in the back bedroom and our parent’s were in the living room drinking. During the scene in the movie when the boy is in his bed and his dead vampire friend is floating outside his window scratching on it, our fathers decided it would be a novel idea to do the same thing to us. When the scratching started, the girls in the room screamed and I may have peed, I can’t quite remember. Needless to say, this movie freaked me out!! Check this one out on video or else Mr. Barlow may be seeing you tomorrow… not me.
DAY 9 – TALES FROM THE CRYPT
It’s Zombie Day… again!! Everybody loves zombies, don’t we? I know everybody is gearing up for the season premiere of The Walking Dead on Sunday. Today’s design is of horror legend Peter Cushing as Arthur Grimsdyke who rose from the grave to exact revenge on those who caused his death in the 1972 Amicus Studios movie Tales From the Crypt. The stories are loosely based on the classic 1950’s EC horror comics. It involves 5 people lost in a catacomb where each has their death revealed to them. Amicus Studios defined the horror anthology in the 1970’s with movies like Torture Garden, The House That Dripped Blood, Dr. Terrors House of Horrors, Asylum, Vault of Horror, and From Beyond the Grave. All of the above movies are great Halloween fun, rather tongue in cheek scares with a classic twist ending. See you TOMB-orrow!!
DAY 10 – MAD LOVE
Love is in the scare… Uh, I meant air. Let me take you on a quaint little stroll down the PSYCHO-path. Today’s design is of horror icon Peter Lorre as Dr. Gogol from the 1935 MGM classic Mad Love. In a very quick NUT-shell, the plot revolves around the pianist Stephen Orlac whose hands become disfigured in a train accident. His wife Yvonne convinces the brilliant yet deranged Dr. Gogol to replace his hands. The good doctor then becomes obsessed with Orlac’s wife and we end up with a very bizarre little love triangle. Peter Lorre defined the screen psychopath in the 1931 classic M and absolutely refined it in this roll. The level of psychosis he conveys is truly chilling. And speaking of chilling… another path awaits you tomorrow…
DAY 11 – THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
Holy look-alike, Batman! We’ve got a doppelganger on our hands. Today’s design is of Conrad Veidt as Gwynplaine from the 1928 Universal Studios silent classic The Man Who Laughs. The movie is more melodrama than horror but with the expressionist gloom of director Paul Leni, the movie exudes a much darker tone. The make-up was designed by the brilliant Jack Pierce who designed the majority of the classic Universal Monsters. Please pardon my shameless color palette in this design but it was by choice that I wanted to make the obvious association. What many people don’t realize is that Conrad Veidt’s makeup from this movie was the inspiration for the Joker. So stay tuned tomorrow for another thrilling design… same bat time, same bat channel.
DAY 12 – DAY OF THE DEAD (Revisited)
Zombie Day? AGAIN? Oh crap… Really? You’ve got to be tired of them, right? OK, I promise you that after today, no more zombies!! Today’s design is of actor Sherman Howard as Bub from the 1985 George Romero classic Day of the Dead. Bub is the “pet” zombie of the character of Dr. Logan, a deranged scientist who believes that zombies can be trained. My favorite scene is where the good doctor puts headphones on Bub to test his response to music. C’mon… a zombie wearing headphones? Are you kidding? This just screams artistic interpretation… I just couldn’t resist. And you’d better not resist either because I will be back again tomorrow to appease you with another artistic temptation.
DAY 13 – THE GORGON
So far all of my monsters have been male but today I will give the ladies their due. What do you think, ladies? It’s about time, huh? Today’s offering is of Barbara Shelley as Medusa’s sister Magera from the 1964 Hammer Studios classic The Gorgon. Both Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing star in this film to round out an all-star cast. The film talks place in a small town in Germany where several of the residents have been mysteriously turned to stone. It is discovered that the spirit of Magera is possessing a young towns lady who transforms her victims with her gaze during the full moon. I am extremely proud of this one as the color palette evokes a true creepiness. Remember not to look into her eyes unless you really want to get stoned. LOOK for me again tomorrow.
DAY 14 – BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES
I woke up this morning and it seemed the perfect day for a little monkey business. Today’s design is of James Gregory as General Ursus from the 1970 20th Century Fox classic Beneath the Planet of the Apes. A strange story about apes that go into battle with an underground band of psychic mutants that worship the atom bomb?!? (Who was smoking what?). It does however contain the most disturbing scene from any of the classic Planet of the Apes movies. Try to imagine anything more frightening than crash landing in the future and the first thing you witness is a megalomaniacal gorilla general intoning in a speech “The only good human, is a DEAD human!” as star James Franciscus did. Until tomorrow, GO APE!!
