As everyone who has ever spent a Halloween here at Perverse Osmosis knows, this collective entity loves itself some Zeke. We dedicated a whole October to them a few years back, and they are on moderate listening rotation for your humble narrator. That said, our friends from Seattle hadn’t released much since Til the Living End, which, for many of us, is not we had come to worship. I know that bands gets bored of playing the same stuff, and that it is important to grow as a musician, but still. I am out for one thing: 78 RPM mayhem. The band went into semi-retirement and key parts left, leaving me to wonder if we had seen the last of Zeke.

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Onto B12: Queen’s Harvest, which is another intro-level module that came out well past when I was an intro-level adventurer. That said, a beginning DM could do much worse than using this module to start off the tales of Gimlor, Drylin Maidenkisser, and the rest.

Highlights:

• There are lots and lots of orcs and goblins running around the keep. Big surprise, none of them are well-led, and all of them can easily be tricked, bribed, or otherwise disposed of. Also, killing them works.
• Orcs don’t like taking orders from hobgoblins. No kidding–who does?
• There are a lot of good names in B12: Dyarr-Dakk, Klossarek, Ratgrobb, and Skrakkbak could be the name of a humanoid law firm.
• Ogre and the Owlbear- not only a potentially lethal encounter to start off the dungeon crawl but also the newest comedy duo filling the pubs in Highport.
• After defeating the evil cleric, fighters, and assorted other rabble, the party, or what is left of them, is well rewarded. Platinum pieces show up, and we all know how good those are. Plus there will be some good arguing, haggling, etc. over who gets the sword +2 or the short sword +2.

Are you adequately prepared to laugh?

In case the viewer did not see the first two, a helpful reminder:

And now, a lovely outfit, courtesy of Miskatonic University, from Beyond Re-Animator:

Another closer view. I don’t think these tees are on sale anywhere:

Herbert West, breaking bad.

Color me blood red:

On a different note, I don’t know why I hadn’t seen Slasher/Blood Rage before. It was probably available for rent at Bootlegger or Winner’s Corner in the late 80s, and it would have been extremely in my wheelhouse. If prime material plane me was still teaching classes in horror, I would have used this number as a way to show overt Freudianism in slasher movies.

This image would make a great t-shirt.

Let’s just say, mom is working through some stuff:

No wonder he is a killer; look how he does his tie:

Another hidden Hammer classic, Hands of the Ripper (1971), which combines a maybe possession with some top-shelf Freudery and some not-inconsiderable gore.

Apropos to none of these ingredients, this figure may be one of the most frightening:

This is what happens when you mess with the daughter of Jack the Ripper.

Although it is highly unlikely that Dario Argento ever saw Hands, the mise-en-scene is right out of Suspiria.

Hammer’s 1971 Blood From The Mummy’s Tomb is loosely based on Bram Stoker’s novel The Jewel of Seven Stars (1903). Very few people are watching this movie because of its connection to a later Stoker novel; they are watching it for Valerie Leon.

Still using quotation marks around the title I see.

Say what one will, but this is mighty fine neckgear.

Look closely here Buffy fans: ‘Tis a young Giles, probably using his Ripper nickname.

As I mentioned, Valerie is the reason most of us are watching the movie.

Even this snake is bewitched by Valerie.

Blood is classic enough to be an entry in the TCM site. Not bad for a bunch of cardboard props.