Blog Archives
Tea’s Weird Week: I Dream of Gein-y
QWERTYFEST MKE took place this past weekend and it was just fantastic. I don’t even know where to begin, but me and my event co-organizer Molly Snyder are incredibly grateful to everyone who participated and made it a great experience. Hundreds of people showed up for QWERTY events at State Street Pizza Pub, Turner Hall, Central Library, Interstate Theater, Newsroom Pub, Forest Home Cemetery, and Falcon Bowl. There will be lots to sort through and discuss and photos to share in the future.
It was a lot of work moving dozens of typewriters, boxes of merch and supplies, tables and chairs, etc. so I took Monday off for rest and recovery, to lay in bed and watch TV. I decided to check out the new Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix, but I was so tired I kept falling asleep during the show and somewhere around episode 3 or 4 I just shut the TV off and passed out. I didn’t see enough to say if I can recommend it or not, but I can definitely recommend not using it as a portal to dreamland, cause I had some real weird dreams about Ed Gein hanging around at QWERTYFEST. Yikes! From what I did see, it seemed to be wildly inaccurate, but that’s show biz for ya. Anyway, I just wanted to share some random Ed Gein related notes:
–If you want to read a really well done (but disturbing) and much more accurate telling of the Ed Gein story, I recommend the graphic novel Did You Hear What Eddie Gein Did? by Eric Powell (The Goon) and Harold Schechter.
–I was glad to see Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, depicted (by actor Ethan Sandler) in scenes talking with Alfred Hitchcock (played by Tom Hollander) about Gein on the show. Bloch spent his formative writing years in Milwaukee, he lived for many years in an apartment above Glorioso’s (old location) on Brady Street, where he clacked away thousands of words for pulp magazines like Weird Tales. I wrote about him for Milwaukee Record ten years ago: https://milwaukeerecord.com/city-life/bloch-buster-milwaukees-connection-to-psycho-h-p-lovecraft-and-robert-bloch/
More recently, I wrote about Bloch for QWERTY Quarterly, and I’m actually reading some of Bloch’s work right now and plan to write more about him for an upcoming project I’m hoping I’ll be able to announce soon.
Like other things in the Netflix show, this conversation between Bloch and Hitchcock likely did not happen. Bloch didn’t know a lot of the details of the Gein case (many details did not come out until later) and didn’t have an understanding of Gein’s psychology as he appears to have here. Bloch said the main theme he got from Gein to create Norman Bates was Gein’s solitude in a small town setting. Gein and Bates also share a very unhealthy relationship with their mothers.
–I don’t know if they went there on the show, but one of my favorite Gein stories was that the great Werner Herzog was interested in filming a Gein documentary. It’s speculated that Gein might have exhumed his own mother’s grave, though this was never investigated. Herzog was ready to dig the grave up (without permission) and actually showed up with a shovel, but his directing partner chickened out and it didn’t happen. I talke about this and other wild Herzog moments in a TWW column from 2022, “High on the Herzog.”
Tea’s Weird Week, Episode 002: QWERTY
Tea talks to his QWERTYFEST MKE co-organizer Molly Snyder; Tea and Heidi talk weird news about Super Tardigrade Soldiers and more; Jenny tells us about her “Long Days Travel” to North Carolina.
https://teasweirdweek.podbean.com/e/teas-weird-week-episode-002-qwerty/
Tea’s Weird Week: TWW podcast returns, I’M YOUR HOST is now available online for your Fall viewing pleasure
One project I’m proud of is I’m Your Host (2024), a documentary on Kenosha area horror hosts that I’m a producer on. Inspired by an article I wrote for Milwaukee Magazine, Alicia Krupsky directed, Christopher Kai House was a producer and Alicia and Stephen Vincent Anderson shot the footage, mostly on location in Kenosha. Local bands with some association with the horror scene filled the soundtrack.
The project began in 2021 and the following year we were awarded a Milwaukee Film Brico Forward Fund Award, which gave some budget for expenses and some free legal advice and other services. Sadly, the Brico Award no longer exists. There were some “work-in-progress” screenings in 2023 at the Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Film Festival and at UW-Parkside in Kenosha. The film officially premiered at the Milwaukee Film Festival in 2024 and went on to be screened at the Seoul International Short Films Festival, and was screened and won awards at Port of Fear Film Fest in Kenosha, New York Tri-State International Film Fest, and the Seoul International Short Films Festival.
Official blurb:
Vampires, witches, werewolves, and ghoulies – Kenosha has the highest population of horror hosts per capita, who produce their own homemade TV shows showing cult-followed horror films. This documentary explores their relationship as a community, their triumphs, and a tragic loss that bonds them together.
I’m glad to say that the film is now available to watch online. You can rent or buy I’m Your Host and bonus– it comes with a download of a sheet of horror host trading cards and the posters Alicia designed as a bonus: https://artforanti-villains.vhx.tv/
And all this is discussed on the newly rebooted Tea’s Weird Week podcast. Me and my co-host Heidi Erickson talk with Alicia about the project, plus weird news on radioactive shrimp, a barefoot LEGO running champ, Pazuzu, and more. Jenny Sanchez tells us about her trip to Wall Drug In our new “Long Days Travel” segment. It’s time to get weird! Audio engineering by FlatlineAudio138. Listen here: https://teasweirdweek.podbean.com/e/teas-weird-week-episode-001-im-your-host/
Please Clap Dept.: QWERTYFEST MKE is happening Oct. 3-5. We’re going to discuss it on next week’s TWW podcast. Meanwhile, see more here: www.qwertyfest.com
Tea’s Weird Week: Cotton. Balls. The Nadine Zine is on the Loose!
I’ve collaborated with illustrator extraordinaire David Beyer for close to 20 years now. He’s done illustrations for my books and events. There’s been art shows and pet portraits and David edits the Currents Comix Page in the Riverwest Currents, a page I founded 22 years ago (time flies?!) What can I say, the guy has style! So when he asked if I would contribute to his Twin Peaks fanzine, I immediately got a coffee as black as Midnight on a moonless night and several dozen pies and donuts and got to work.
I have fond memories of Twin Peaks. When I was in my early 20s (this was the late 1990s), I lived with a bunch of roommates in the Riverwest neighborhood. One of my roomies, Shelly, had a complete VHS box set of Twin Peaks. I had seen a few David Lynch movies by this point but had never seen the show. For weeks we had a ritual where all the roommates would gather in the living room at night, drink beer and watch a couple episodes. “We’re gonna have a TV party tonight,” as the song goes. It was a carefree time.
I loved all the weird characters, of course. And the strangest of the strange was probably Nadine. She sports an eyepatch, is obsessed with noiseless drape runners, and for some reason has superhuman strength. She has a particularly kooky storyline in season 2 where she awakes from a coma and thinks that she’s still a high schooler.
The piece-de-resistance of The Nadine Zine is a comic David drew, a-ahem-Nadine’s eye view (Oh, Ed!) of some of the plot points of Twin Peaks. I contributed a short appreciation of one of my favorite characters– the no nonsense Special Agent Albert Rosenfield. The talented Anna Alicia Rodriguez (who I’ve also collaborated with a few times) wrote and illustrated a nice tribute to Audrey Horne. Some of David’s other pals contributed some vibrant gallery pages. Get me a glass of water cause my socks are on fire!
Well done! In a truly Lynchian twist, the publication is only available via eBay. Haaaaa, I love it: AN EBAY EXCLUSIVE. Order a copy right here. It’s $15 shipped, you don’t have to snipe someone’s bid on it: https://www.ebay.com/itm/236087374601
And remember: the owls are not what they seem. Want TWW delivered to your inbox? You can sign up for my Substack HERE. Follow me on: Facebook Bluesky Instagram
Tea’s Weird Week: Send in the (Killer) Clowns (Again)
Back in October, I published a zine/e-book titled Political Monsters: How Presidents Influence Horror Movies. This explored an old theory which I expanded on. The Political Monsters Theory says that we get more vampire movies during Democratic Party administrations, more zombie flicks for Republican ones, with the monsters reflecting fears of the parties in power. After analyzing movie lists, I found this theory checked out for the most part. I also found an interesting new development– under Trump’s first administration, the MAGA Party had brought a new fear– there was a big spike in evil killer clown movies. When Biden won, vampire movies were back in. In particular, there were a wave of Dracula-inspired movies like Renfield, Abigail (inspired by Dracula’s Daughter), and The Last Voyage of the Demeter.
The graceful last act of the Biden-era vampires is the remake of Nosferatu, which crept into theaters on Christmas. The story, also based on Dracula, is a box office hit, which will certainly inspire more vampire productions. Dracula and company will always be retold. But with the MAGA Party clown car pulling up to the White House on January 20, expect vampires to take a coffin nap while we hear more evil giggling on the horizon.
As I mentioned in Political Monsters, this is probably the least of concerns about what will happen in the next Trump era. But weird pop culture/ social stuff is how I cope, so I’ll be following this trend by launching CLOWNWATCH 2025. Here are the first reports of evil clowns we’re expected to encounter on screen in 2025/26.
Terrifier 4. One of 2024’s biggest fails was killer clown movie Joker: Folie a Deux. Unlike the first Joker film, this sequel was a commercial and critical stinkbomb. Terrifier 3, on the other hand, was quite successful with a box office of $68 million, the highest grossing unrated film of all time. Director Damien Leone confirmed that a Terrifier 4 will happen, probably with a 2025 or 26 release date. Leone says this will be Art the Clown’s “final chapter,” but they said that about Freddy and Jason before resurrecting them again and again.
Welcome to Derry. Although the Political Monsters Theory examines movies and doesn’t consider TV shows, it’s maybe time to revise and reconsider this. We’re seeing movie-TV crossovers more frequently– the MCU shows, Dune: Prophecy, and The Penguin being a few recent examples of TV shows tied to a cinematic universe. A prequel series to It, Welcome to Derry will premiere on HBO with an unannounced 2025 date with Bill Skarsgård returning as Pennywise. The It movies (2017, 2019), by the way, were both released in the first Trump administration (as well as Terrifier, 2018, and Joker, 2019).
Clown in a Cornfield. This adaptation of an award-winning 2020 YA horror novel by Adam Cesare will be directed by Eli Craig (Tucker & Dale vs. Evil). The movie has a May 9, 2025 release date.
UPDATE, 01/16/2025: Unless we find info to the contrary, it appears that the first killer clown movie of Trump 2.0 is the simply named Clowns (d. Alexander Kane) with an April 1, 2025 release date.
IMDb: “CLOWNS is a tale of revenge of a filmmaker-turned-serial killer who hunts down and captures the key individuals in his life responsible for his downward spiral.”
And so it starts! I’ll continue to ride this balloon animal over the next four years. Murderous, buffoonish… we shall see how the clown car unpacks.
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Political Monsters is available as a zine: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1778576030/political-monsters-how-presidents
Or as an e-book: https://www.amazon.com/Political-Monsters-Presidents-Influence-Horror-ebook/dp/B0DFJ7DZKQ/ref=sr_1_1
TWW: 4 More Years…of Vampires or Killer Clowns?
Political Monsters Week Continues
To conclude my posts about the Political Monsters project, I want to do some monster-casting to the future. During election years, we’re bombarded by both campaigns via emails, texts, junk mail, billboards, TV and internet ads– everywhere we look.
My zine/e-book Political Monsters talks about how we get more zombie movies during Republican administrations and more vampire movies during Democratic ones– the exception being Trump, who launched a rise in killer clown themed movies. In this last year or so we’ve seen lots of vampire movies, particularly Dracula inspired ones– The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Renfield, Nosferatu. But with Trump on the periphery, there’s also been a bump in killer clown movies– Joker 2, Terrifier 3. I think if Trump is elected, the chaotic candidate will bring in another wave of evil clown movies.
But what about Kamala Harris? She would be unique in becoming the first woman president. But she’s deeply associated with the Democratic Party as Biden’s VP, unlike Trump’s unhinged splinter MAGA Party. I think Harris would continue the trend of vampire movies as seen during Biden’s term. If anything, there’s be more lady vampire movies along the lines of what we saw in this year’s film Abigail (loosely inspired by the horrror classic Dracula’s Daughter).
As I note in the Political Monsters zine, the fate of the world will hinge on the election in a couple weeks on November 5. Significantly less frightening, it may determine the amount of vampires vs evil clowns we see on the silver screen.
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You can get a copy of Political Monsters…
In person: Saturday, Oct. 19: Milwaukee Paranormal Conference, I’ll be on the vendor floor 10am-5pm at the Irish Cultural & Heritage Center. Register for a free ticket here: milwaukeeparacon.com
Sunday, Oct. 20: Political Monsters Party at Lion’s Tooth, 3-5pm. Admission is free. I’ll talk briefly about the project, we’ll do a round of horror trivia, and if you dress like a zombie, vampire, or killer clown, you get a free copy of the Political Monsters zine!
You can also buy copies at Lion’s Tooth here in Milwaukee and Quimby’s in Chicago. You can order a print copy via the QWERTYFEST MKE Etsy page: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1778576030/political-monsters-how-presidents
And an e-book version is available through Kindle/KU: https://www.amazon.com/Political-Monsters-Presidents-Influence-Horror-ebook/dp/B0DFJ7DZKQ/ref=sr_1_1
TWW: It’s “Political Monsters Week!”
Alright, well, it’s been a while since I’ve done anything significant with Tea’s Weird Week. But we’re getting into the Halloween season and this weekend I’ll be tabling with my Political Monsters zine at the Milwaukee Paranormal Conference on Saturday and at a special party at Lion’s Tooth on Sunday. Leading up to that, I thought I’d do some posts here this week tying to the project.
Today, let’s start at the beginning. What is the “Political Monsters Theory?” In 2008, a theory began to circulate that found a correlation between the political party in power and monster movies. It suggested that we get more vampire films during Democratic Party administrations and more zombies during Republican ones. The idea is that these monsters play into stereotypical visions of those parties. The short version: Democrats being kinky necksuckers and Republicans being a mob consuming everything in their path and warmongers.
My research found that the numbers checked out pretty well from the Carter through the Bush administrations.
During George W. Bush’s administration there was an explosion in zombie movies. 9/11 and war in Iraq in Afghanistan was one factor. Easier accessibility to affordable camera and editing software for low budget filmmakers was another. The theory was upended somewhat during Obama’s administration as there were far more zombie movies than vampire ones. However, as I argue in Political Monsters, if you look at another metric– box office money vs number of films, the sparkly vampires of The Twilight Saga far outpace all the zombie movies of that era combined with a total box office of $3.36 billion.
Then, in 2019 I made an observation. A political outsider, Trump, had broken the theory with a new trend…killer clowns. During the chaotic MAGA Party administration, we saw box office hits like Joker and the two-part It movie adaptation, as well as a surge of low budget imitators. After Trump packed up his clown car and left the White House, the vampires returned with Joe Biden. The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Renfield, Abigail, Salem’s Lot, and Nosferatu are just some of the titles from 2023 and 24. In Political Monsters I also share a special tie one-term presidents Carter and Biden have with the most famous of vampires, Count Dracula.
Tomorrow (Thursday), I’ll be writing about “The Late, Great Hannibal Lecter” and on Friday I’ll give a monster forecast: “4 More Years: Vampires or Evil Clowns?”
You can get a copy of Political Monsters…
In person: Saturday, Oct. 19: Milwaukee Paranormal Conference, I’ll be on the vendor floor 10am-5pm at the Irish Cultural & Heritage Center. Register for a free ticket here: milwaukeeparacon.com
Sunday, Oct. 20: Political Monsters Party at Lion’s Tooth, 3-5pm. Admission is free. I’ll talk briefly about the project, we’ll do a round of horror trivia, and if you dress like a zombie, vampire, or killer clown, you get a free copy of the Political Monsters zine!
You can also buy copies at Lion’s Tooth here in Milwaukee and Quimby’s in Chicago. You can order a print copy via the QWERTYFEST MKE Etsy page: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1778576030/political-monsters-how-presidents
And an e-book version is available through Kindle/KU: https://www.amazon.com/Political-Monsters-Presidents-Influence-Horror-ebook/dp/B0DFJ7DZKQ/ref=sr_1_1
Tea’s Weird Week: I’M YOUR HOST will screen thrice at the Milwaukee Film Festival!
We’ve had to keep this news under our hats for weeks, so I’m thrilled to say that a documentary I’m producer on, I’m Your Host, hits a major milestone by being screened (3 times!) at the Milwaukee Film Festival. Alicia Krupsky is the film’s director, Christopher Kai House is a producer, and many other people helped make it happen. The film was inspired by an article I wrote for Milwaukee Magazine. We won a Brico Forward Fund to help make it happen. In October we staged a couple of “documentary in-progress” screenings at the Twisted Dreams Film Festival and in Kenosha at UW-Parkside.
This will be our official debut and is additionally exciting because after the festival, we’ll be able to submit the film to other fests around the world as well as being able to make it available via streaming platforms/ on DVD. But anyway, that’s getting ahead of ourselves. It’s a great honor to be part of the Milwaukee Film Fest– we’re part of both the Cream City Cinema and Cinema Hooligante line-ups at the fest (cause we’re local AND weird).
I’m Your Host screens:
Monday, April 15, 9pm: Times Cinema
Sunday, April 21, 8:30pm: Avalon Theater
Wednesday, April 24, 9:15pm: Downer Theatre
More MFF info: https://mkefilm.org/mff24
Please Clap Dept.: We are currently fundraising for QWERTYFEST MKE 2024. We got big things planned– the Boston Typewriter Orchestra, a whiskey tasting/ typewriter event, and so much more. Please help us make it happen, every bit helps us make our goal: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/qwertyfest-mke-2024/x/14628551
See Also: Here’s the Milwaukee Magazine article that started I’m Your Host rolling: https://www.milwaukeemag.com/a-look-inside-the-surprisingly-large-web-of-local-horror-hosts/
I also wrote on horror hosts for Atlas Obscura here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/elvira-svengoolie-local-horror-hosts-history
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