No, no, no,
No, no, no,
Hell no all the way,
Oh what horror it is to get a tacky gift today, hey!
Are the ghosts of bad Christmas presents past haunting you? Is the dread of finding a delightfully thoughtful gift, instead of another frightfully awful one, dancing madly in your head instead of sugar plums? Why chance disappointing someone again with more of those darn Fandango movie gift tickets that say, "I gave up! Didn't have a clue!" Any one of these stocking-stuffers will electrify any horror fan more than the Frankenstein monster, and show them you really care.
In his book, Sundays with Vlad: From Pennsylvania to Transylvania, One Man's Quest to Live in the World of the Undead, journalist Paul Bibeau packs his lifelong fascination with vampires into his Gladstone bag and heads for the hills of Transylvania to find the true Dracula. What he finds along the way is hilarious, delirious, and never disingenuous. From the foothills of the Carpathians, to the wild woods of New Jersey and the wide aisles of Wal-Mart, his search for the real Dracula will leave you wishing you were along for the ride. Along the way you will meet Bela Lugosi Jr., fighting to protect his famous father's rights of publicity, enter the Goth world of eternal night, with or without fangs, and trip the light fantasy with LARPers, those cheeky-geeky live-action, role-playing savants we all publicly deride, but secretly yearn to be.
Have a horror fiend who loves to travel? Or hates to travel and needs a really good reason to go? Then give him or her Creepy Crawls: A Horror Fiend's Travel Guide by Leon Marcelo. Shiver in terror as you walk through the fog of Highgate Cemetery in the North of London, or nervously look over your shoulder as you trod the same steps that ill-fated Barbara took in Night of the Living Dead as you walk among the graves of the Evans City Cemetery in Pennsylvania. No matter where you may go, you can find terror-filled delight waiting for you in places as diverse as New Jersey's Blairstown Diner (Friday the 13th), Dario Argento's Museum of Horror in Rome (for giallo enthusiasts), and my favorite, Danvers State Insane Asylum in Massachusetts (H.P. Lovecraft's inspiration for Arkham Sanitarium). In his "butchermobile," author Marcello visits the literary, cinematic, and cultural creepy crawls that will bring a gasp to your throat and a chill to your soul. In a punny style that hearkens back to Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine, he will take you to all those places your mommy warned you about. Just make sure to hide Creepy Crawls from her or she'll throw it out, too.
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