Tonight we begin our 32 Days of Halloween mayhem with a band that I got to see live aeons ago, and have enjoyed ever since. It’s the Lovecraftian group known as The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Their devotion to songs about unspeakable horror and gibbering madness is inspiring. And they’re all quite good. But some of their songs just transcend and enter that sphere we call “Damn Good.” That’s the case with this, “Some Things Man Was Not Meant to Know.”
Now we go to Daphne, Alabama, and a car wash that turns itself into a Tunnel of Terror right before Halloween. At first, you might think that very little happens. Or that a lot of the same thing happens. And you might wonder about the limitations of putting a bunch of people in costumes with very little ability to see into an enclosed space with an advancing car and lots of large moving bits. But there is a moment in this which filled me with odd glee. I’ve even hidden it with spoilery blackout stuff so you have to hover to see it, I find it that amusing. See if you can guess which thing I’m talking about.
Sudden, random gorilla. That’s when the whole thing went from the ridiculous to the sublime. Although what happened to the inevitable guy with the chainsaw? At least have him off to one side near the exit, trying and failing to start it up.
Thanks to Scott W. for pointing out the article at It’s a Southern Thing.
Now to our feature presentation: it’s Boris Karloff starring in The Climax (oh, calm down) from 1944. According to Wikipedia (which is always right), this was originally supposed to be a sequel to the 1943 Phantom of the Opera but morphed as they progressed. Enjoy.
