A small tribute to the 1990s Nickelodeon horror anthology 'Are You Afraid of the Dark?'. Music by me.
Click here to see the original opening sequence.
Oct 31, 2013
Halloween 2013 - Pt. I
They call her 'Sister Slipper' and 'The Ghost of Fever Hospital'. Every night, she'd be sent out to check on the patients in only her dressing gown and slippers. Except that one night, she never came back. You can still see her sometimes, wandering the hospital grounds, searching for candles and lanterns to guide her through the dark...
Oct 7, 2013
Lately...
I was planning on making a celebratory 1st of October post, but it appears that the date has snuck up on me and slipped by unnoticed, so this is a little late. Feels strange that it's less than a month until Halloween and I'm not working furiously on props and preparing for the big day. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm scaling back a lot this year. I have this weird constantly-lingering guilt about not doing much propwork or blogging, but otherwise it's been a nice and (mostly) relaxing 10 months.
I'm currently halfway through a two-week school holiday, which has been pretty busy so far. We decided to give my bedroom a complete makeover - painting over the weird blue walls, tearing up the worn and paintstained carpet, shifting and getting rid of furniture... It's brighter now and feels much more clean and spacious. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...
I also did an interview with the awesome Damian of the awesome 'Misadventures of the HalloweeNut' blog several weeks ago as part of his '13 Days of Halloween' series. It was heaps of fun and got published on his blog a few days ago. Click below to check it out:
A huge thanks to Damian - it was fantastic to be a part of this.
Jul 20, 2013
Goosebumps
Sorry about the lack of activity lately. The blog's been pretty quiet since Halloween last year and is probably going to stay that way for a while. It's not that I've been keeping secrets - I just haven't done any prop-work since The Backs. Still not quite sure what's happening this Halloween. I know I'm not going to be doing any sort of public display. I've got a short video planned that I'd like to get started on soon, and hopefully by Halloween I'll have one or two props built and photographed to accompany it in some sort of disjointed blog post. Can't really guarantee anything at the moment.
One thing I do have to show for my absence is 'If It Were Stine' - a Tumblr blog I set up several weeks ago. I have a special place in my heart for R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series, and I thought it would be fun to turn some of my favorite horror films into Goosebumps covers. Well, the first one came out much better than expected and I decided to set up a blog. Tumblr is rife with fan-made posters, movie barcodes and cinematography palettes, so I figured my Photoshop experiments would fit right in.
Click here to check it out: If It Were Stine
May 28, 2013
Minimalism
Was getting sick of the old blog design so decided to give The House Of Marrow another makeover.
I decided to go for a sparse black&white look. While it took some serious custom CSS to get the static sidebar working on all browsers, I'm really happy with how it's come out. Since the normal archive widget wouldn't fit anymore, I've created a new Archive page, and an About page to go with it. The Archive is still under construction (it's takes ages to code all those links), and I'll probably be forever updating the music/movie lists in the About page, but I figure this design will be here to stay for a while.
P.S. Click here to see the horrid orange and green design I had back in 2010... you've been warned.
I decided to go for a sparse black&white look. While it took some serious custom CSS to get the static sidebar working on all browsers, I'm really happy with how it's come out. Since the normal archive widget wouldn't fit anymore, I've created a new Archive page, and an About page to go with it. The Archive is still under construction (it's takes ages to code all those links), and I'll probably be forever updating the music/movie lists in the About page, but I figure this design will be here to stay for a while.
P.S. Click here to see the horrid orange and green design I had back in 2010... you've been warned.
May 2, 2013
The Backs 2013
Down the bank and through the trees
Where dead leaves whisper in the breeze
Where flowers die in earth bone dry
Is where the cabin sits
An orange flicker in the gloom
As grim and lonely as a tomb
And far from light and far from sight
Is where the cabin stays
Up the earthen path unpaved
Past pumpkins carved with faces grave
And logs and bricks and skulls on sticks
Is where the cabin waits
We're Halfway to Hallowe'en.
Apr 30, 2013
Logs, Shears & Skulls on Sticks
Setting up The Backs today. I'm going for a sparser, less overgrown look this year - although, that's not to say it won't be featuring new props. I'll be taking photos at late afternoon and then again once darkness has fallen, They should be posted up here in the next few days. Till then, Happy Halfway-to-Halloween...
Apr 11, 2013
A Word of Thanks and a Haunter Spotlight
This is a post that's been a long time coming, and one that I probably should have written up yonks ago. In light of recent events, I felt that now would be an appropriate time to finally get on with it.
When I first set up my blog back in September 2010, I never figured anyone would end up seeing it. I didn't even bother to make the obligatory 'first post' post. Just under a month later, I got my first comment from Pumpkinrot. Incredibly excited, I wrote an exceptionally embarrassing reply. I soon discovered another comment that was infact posted a week earlier than Rot's. I learnt then that nothing went unnoticed on the internet, and also that there was a comment notification tool in the Blogger settings.
Looking back on where I was then, I couldn't be more grateful for all the support and encouragement I've gotten over the past few years. I want to thank my blog followers and commenters, and all the friendly folk over at hauntforum.com for your endless praise and enthusiasm. It's you guys that keep me going, and for that, I am infinitely grateful.
I'd also like to thank all of the bloggers (and vloggers) who've featured my props and linked to my blog. It's always such an awesome and gratifying feeling to get a spotlight on someone else's blog. While writing this post, I tried searching to find all the blogs that have featured me in the past but got freaked out that I'd overlook or forget some. I guess you know who you are.
Finally, I'd like to give a special thanks to Spooky over at spookyblue.com. His site was the one that got me into prop-building in the first place, and he featured my blog when it was still in the foetal stage. Since then, we've been keeping in email contact. Kind, helpful, enthusiastic and endlessly supportive, he has been a true mentor to me.
But what's a whole lot of thankyous without returning the favour? Necropolis is a freshly-hatched blog run by a friend of mine - 'Cadaver'. I first met him because he was the younger brother of a friend (by two years), and on October 31st 2011, he and his brother showed up at my Halloween display. He was fascinated by the props and set-up, and decided to try it out for himself. His older brother and I parted ways a while ago when we went off to different high schools, but he and I keep in close email contact. He sends me photos of props he's working on, I give feedback and advice, we discuss horror movies and prop-building techniques... He's incredibly enthusiastic and seems to be churning out new props every week. He's also started at my school this year, so it's been cool seeing him round. I've recently started nagging him to set up a blog, and, as always, peer pressure triumphs. Be sure to check out his blog - Necropolis.
When I first set up my blog back in September 2010, I never figured anyone would end up seeing it. I didn't even bother to make the obligatory 'first post' post. Just under a month later, I got my first comment from Pumpkinrot. Incredibly excited, I wrote an exceptionally embarrassing reply. I soon discovered another comment that was infact posted a week earlier than Rot's. I learnt then that nothing went unnoticed on the internet, and also that there was a comment notification tool in the Blogger settings.
Looking back on where I was then, I couldn't be more grateful for all the support and encouragement I've gotten over the past few years. I want to thank my blog followers and commenters, and all the friendly folk over at hauntforum.com for your endless praise and enthusiasm. It's you guys that keep me going, and for that, I am infinitely grateful.
I'd also like to thank all of the bloggers (and vloggers) who've featured my props and linked to my blog. It's always such an awesome and gratifying feeling to get a spotlight on someone else's blog. While writing this post, I tried searching to find all the blogs that have featured me in the past but got freaked out that I'd overlook or forget some. I guess you know who you are.
Finally, I'd like to give a special thanks to Spooky over at spookyblue.com. His site was the one that got me into prop-building in the first place, and he featured my blog when it was still in the foetal stage. Since then, we've been keeping in email contact. Kind, helpful, enthusiastic and endlessly supportive, he has been a true mentor to me.
But what's a whole lot of thankyous without returning the favour? Necropolis is a freshly-hatched blog run by a friend of mine - 'Cadaver'. I first met him because he was the younger brother of a friend (by two years), and on October 31st 2011, he and his brother showed up at my Halloween display. He was fascinated by the props and set-up, and decided to try it out for himself. His older brother and I parted ways a while ago when we went off to different high schools, but he and I keep in close email contact. He sends me photos of props he's working on, I give feedback and advice, we discuss horror movies and prop-building techniques... He's incredibly enthusiastic and seems to be churning out new props every week. He's also started at my school this year, so it's been cool seeing him round. I've recently started nagging him to set up a blog, and, as always, peer pressure triumphs. Be sure to check out his blog - Necropolis.
[All props and photos by Cadaver]
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