With Halloween approaching Balladeer’s Blog is doing its usual holiday-themed posts. This time around I’ll give a brief synopsis of western-flavored horror flicks. In keeping with my blog’s theme of covering out of the way topics I won’t be examining movies that are too well known, like Billy the Kid vs Dracula, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter or The Terror of Tiny Town. Ditto for more recent movies like Sundown and Billy The Kid in Hell. As for West World and Welcome to Blood City, those are more science fiction than horror, so they aren’t included either.
BLACK NOON (1971) – Roy Thinnes stars as an old west preacher who falls in with a coven of witches in the town of Melas (Salem spelled backwards of course).
The witches tempt Thinnes into thinking he’s a prophet and healer, then use his vanity against him and his wife during their dark ritual of the Black Noon, which takes place during a mid-day eclipse.
CURSE OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN (1974) – A medical student and his hippy friends try to renovate a dude ranch haunted by the Headless Horseman. No, it’s not the figure from the Washington Irving tale, but an old-west gunslinger who was unjustly hanged, losing his head in the process. The Horseman now roams the dude ranch by night looking for victims to frighten. SPOILER: The Continue reading
October 1st kicks off Balladeer’s Blog’s usual mixing of horror items in with my usual topics. I review horror films from the silent movie era onward as well as 
POSSESSION (1981) – Halloween Month continues here at Balladeer’s Blog with a review of the thoroughly bizarre cult film Possession, from Polish director Andrzej Zulawksi. Because I review everything from mild horror films to extreme works, I’m offering my usual COURTESY WARNING for readers who prefer less transgressive movies. 
I’m far from alone in praising Possession to the Heavens, so my take on it may seem like a mere rehashing for those who are already passionate fans. However, in my opinion only the full 2 hour and 4-minute version is worth watching, not the trimmed-down versions. 
Halloween Month rolls along with this look at a very old British series of telefilms that presented some classic horror tales during Christmas Season. The tales themselves were NOT set around Christmas, so they make for nice Halloween Season viewing, too. 
THE STALLS OF BARCHESTER (Dec 24th, 1971) – Dr. Black (Clive Swift), a scholar cataloguing the book collection at Barchester Cathedral, comes across the diary of a former Archdeacon who murdered his predecessor so he could rise to the position. The killer was then haunted by ghostly figures in the form of the carvings on the cathedral’s choir stalls. Also starring Robert Hardy, Thelma Barlow and Will Leighton. 
MAN-SIZE IN MARBLE (1887) – One of the iconic Edith Nesbit’s short horror stories. This was first published in the December of 1887 issue of the magazine Home Chimes. Nesbit later included it in her collection of short stories titled Grim Tales (1893). For modern readers – and possibly Victorian Age readers, too – it’s always clear where the story is headed but it’s still worth checking out. 
October 1st kicks off Balladeer’s Blog’s usual mixing of horror items in with my usual topics. I review horror films from the silent movie era onward as well as obscure stories from the 1800s and earlier, like they’re Halloween counterparts to my Ancient Science Fiction reviews. 
THE MONSTER-MAKER (1897) – Set in San Francisco, this W.C. Morrow tale was praised by the one and only Ambrose Bierce. A truly unique monster gets cobbled together by a mad scientist but instead of a castle in Europe the action takes place in Frisco. Experimenting on a suicidal young man, our insane Dr. X turns the lad’s body into a globe-headed, lobster-limbed abomination. The scientist’s courageous wife and a police detective work to bring down the madman. 
PAGANINI HORROR (1989) – Directed by Luigi Cozzi, better known to us fans of psychotronic movies as the Italian Ed Wood. Three women and one man constitute a heavy metal band desperate for a hit song. They strike a Faustian bargain with the mysterious Mr. Pickett, played by Donald Pleasence. 
Playing the piece while filming at the mansion causes Paganini to rise from the dead and lets loose other forces of Hell. Those characters not butchered by the masked, undead maestro via a knife that pops out of his violin are slaughtered by the supernatural forces now at large in the house. 
Before MST3K there was … The Texas 27 Film Vault! In the middle 1980s, way down on Level 31 Randy and Richard, machine-gun toting Film Vault Technicians First Class hosted this neglected cult show. Balladeer’s Blog continues its celebration of the program’s 40th anniversary year.
APOCALYPSE CULTURE (1987) – Call me a purist, but the only Apocalypse Culture book I like is the very first one from 1987, not the later editions nor the sequel from the year 2000. By 2000 the book was pointless and unnecessary since the internet was already replacing such publications as Apocalypse Culture, Answer Me! and much of the Loompanics catalogue. 
