iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Maybe the can was intended as bespoke nutcracker? Smash walnut, repeat?

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

In Fadeaway (1926, dir. Dave Fleischer), Max fucks around with KoKo and Fitz only for them to escape into his real world and fuck with him. Entirely possible several hundred people die offscreen as a result of their tit-for-tat, nightmarish tomfoolery. KoKo busts out of a pig's insides. Grand stuff.

An animated pig against a white background. The pig is lying down, and the movement of something trying to get out from inside can be seen pushing against the pig's skin.

Same image only this time the pig's side is torn open and a foot (in clown shoe) and leg has pushed its way out.

Similar image of the pig, with two legs having pushed their way out of its back now hovering in the air

The pig again, looking messed up and done in, KoKo the Clown sitting on its back with his head turned towards us, smiling

062

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Koko's Haunted House (1928, dir. Dave Fleischer) is one of the Fleischer brothers' inventive, charming - and unsettlingly creepy - KoKo cartoons. In this one, the clown investigates another animator's haunted home, discovering skeletons, ghosts and ghouls. Imaginative and beautifully made, what fun.

An animated skeleton's head against a black background. In its eyes sockets, Koko the clown and his dog Fitz can be seen looking frightened.

Fitz having just entered a room through a doorway sees an angry looking ghost cradlng six wailing child-size ghosts.

A skeleton in a room with a black background stands next to a post which has two signs on it showing hand prints in a 'stop' shape.

Koko pulls Fitz down a hallway with several ghosts running alongside or after them. Fitz is looking back, worried, as one ghost elongates its neck to try and reach for him.

051

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

Another very enjoyable 7 minutes or so with a 'Walt Disney Comic', this time The Cat's Out (1931, dir. Wilfred Jackson). A cat tries to catch a bird, then falls foul of the residents of its Halloween-all-the-time nocturnal neighbours: giant birds and spiders, scarecrows, bats. Some beautiful frames.

An animated cat creeps along a roof, sneaking up on a bird singing on top of a weathervane

That same cat on the ground surrounded by bare trees on which rest several sleeping owls. The cat is crying out in fear as behind it, a bird is poking at its back.

The arm of a scarecrow set against the night sky and a full moon. There's a bat standing on the arm, its wings fully outstretched, a wicked expression on its face.

083

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Hells Bells (1929, dir. Ub Iwerks) - a 'Walt Disney comic' - has Satan and some minions having fun in hell playing some tunes. But when he tries to feed his minions to Cerebus, his three-headed dog, things start to go wrong. A wild 6 minutes, packed with nightmarish imagery, but you know, for kids.

An animated Satan presiding over hell. Cerebus, a three headed hell hound, lies at his feet. Two demons are dancing, while on a ledge, other demons play instruments made of bone. A fire pit is to the right of frame.

A demon is playing bass of some kind, only in the instrument is made from the skeleton of what looks like an animal

Satan holds up one of the two dancing demons, and Cerebus sits on its back legs ready to eat it. The other smaller demon looks up at Satan in shock.

1356

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 15/12/2025

The Snowman (1932, dir. Ted Eshbaugh) has a young chap and his animal chums build a snowman and inadvertently summon some sort of demon to bring it to life. It proceeds to cause chaos, hunt them down and generally be a dick. Some gorgeous images throughout, an entertaining 8ish minutes of weird fun.

Screenshot from The Snowman: in a winter scene, while the body remains inanimate, the arm of a snowman has come to life, its hand stretched out into a sharp fingered claw

Screenshot from The Snowman: the face of the snowman coming to life like a monster, its eyes twisting, its mouth opened into a grimace, the inside bright red, water dripping like drool from it.

Screenshot from The Snowman: at a lakeside a small deer looks frightened, and behind it the snowman stands arms outstretched, hands balled into fists, looking down at it with wicked intent.

1132

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Lonesome Ghosts (1937, dir. Burt Gillett), a little diversion that has bored phantoms calling up Mickey, Goofy and Donald's 'day and night' ghost extermination service and inviting them over just to fuck with them. The wild horror imagery of earlier cartoons is gone, but it's still good, silly fun.

Lonesome Ghosts title card showing small silhouettes of Mickey, Goofy and Donald against an almost expressionist sky of greens (like trees) with a large ghostly figure looming through it.

Four translucent ghosts in green suits and hats with bright red noses crouch around a newspaper open on the floor, in an old, dilapidated room of a house.

Shot of a classified ad that reads in part "We exterminate all kinds of ghosts day and night service"

Mickey, Goofy and Donald stood at an open doorway, the door to the house on the floor in front of them, a snowy landscape behind them. Mickey holds a shotgun, Donald a net, Goofy a box and an axe and mallet.

152

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Felix the Ghost Breaker (1923, dir. Otto Messmer) is a great, weird little cartoon. Felix tries to catch a nap on a grave (haven't we all?) only to be disturbed by a ghost who then causes chaos at a farmhouse. But Felix isn't convinced... Charming, wild, surreal, gorgeous horror-for-the-kids fun 🎃

Felix, an animated black cat, is stood in a graveyard at night. He is gesturing at a grave and headstone and saying to camera (via speech bubble) "That's what I call an ideal resting place!"

The same setting, except now a ghost has risen up from behind the grave and is hovering above Felix, a grin on its face, pointing down at Felix who is looking up at it.

The ghost in close-up, a sinister look on its face, pointing directly at the camera

062

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

The Mad Doctor (1933, dir. David Hand) is more delightfully macabre Mickey Mouse horror-themed fun. A determined Mickey must pursue a doctor who has dognapped Pluto for sinister experiments in his lair. Enjoyed this probably more than The Haunted House, except for its slightly weak ending. Good fun.

A castle sits on a huge rock that looks like a skull. A figure drags a dog across a bridge leading up to it. The castle is set in a desolate location, a storm blowing around it.

The silhouette of Mickey against a brick wall is menaced by the silhouettes of what look like two monsters with clawed hands.

Mickey is at the top of a short stairway looking through a window. Each of the stairs behind him have opened to reveal a skeleton inside them. They, along with a skull on top of the bannister are looking up at Mickey.

283

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

The Haunted House (1929, dir. Walt Disney) finds Mickey lost in a vicious storm and seeking shelter in an abandoned house. Not really abandoned, though: its menacing inhabitants force him to play an organ while they dance, before he escapes. The genuine stuff of nightmares, full of macabre imagery.

Title card for (A Mickey Mouse Sound Cartoon) The Haunted House

Animated frame: In a hallway, Mickey Mouse has lit a match to illuminate darkness. On the wall, his own shadow has changed into a ghostly figure, raising arms and clawed hands.

Animated frame: In a room, a hooded figure moves towards the camera, pulling up the hood of its cloak to reveal a skeletal face.

Animated frame: In a bedroom, a bed has been lowered from a cupboard. A skeleton is sat up in the bed, its face in a grimace towards Mickey in the corner of the room, who looks at it in fright.

183

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 5h

It’s pretty good fun if you have just under 20 minutes free at any stage

100

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 5h

Does also feature an adjusted Bugs introduction

Bugs Bunny stands with hands on hips staring at an exaggerated witch (green skin, distorted features, witch’s hat) staring back in shock. Caption reads “Ehhhh…what’s up, witch?”

130

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 5h

Bonus today’s October feature: Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special (1977) finds Bugs, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the cat et al up against a witch and other things that go bump in the night. A short, silly bit of Halloween fun with an opening of classic imagery that says no horror stone will be left unturned.

A cartoon screenshot showing the silhouette of a witch set against a full moon in a dark nighttime sky

A cartoon screenshot shows a cut/hole in a wooden wall in the shape of a bat’s head, and in the shadow behind it, the bloodshot yellow eyes of some kind of creature staring out

A cartoon screenshot shows a white sheet ghost floating down a hallway by a door with a ‘do not disturb’ sign hanging from it

Title card for Bugs Bunny’s Howl-oween Special shows the name written on wooden boards lodged in a bare tree that looks like it has hands

182

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 7h

Today’s October feature: a grinning, malevolent Green Giant visits 1950s’ television from an alternative dimension full of countryside monsters to make sure children know they had better fucking eat their peas and corn if they know what’s good for them youtu.be/M_fxLZb_qXY

youtu.be

Scary Green Giant!

YouTube video by sonofretrotvluver

021

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 9h

I’m genuinely fascinated by how several people got together on this and made so many bizarre, and agreed, clumsy choices and painted it up with nice clothes and locations. Armitage is having a ball though, playing apparently several separate characters at once.

010

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 9h

Like people, these things can be messy but still inherently likeable haha

110

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 9h

Not sure it’s a good thing that all drama will be like this soon, messy and borderline incoherent, or objectively much worse, boring with it, but sometimes pretty people, locations, and a menu of bizarre aesthetic choices are all you need

140

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 10h

Happy to report Winter, the Richard Armitage ‘maverick forensic pathologist’ thing on ITV is absolutely unashamedly trash bollocks and gloriously entertaining as a result

250

Reposted by Jamie

Andrew Kelly @andrewkelly.bsky.social · 11h

James Harrison @filmnoiruk.bsky.social has established the November annual Film Noir Festival as an essential cinemagoing treat. New programme now launched. Book here: www.southwestsilents.com/filmnoiruk

075

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 22h

Adding aesthetic value, there’s no shame in it

010

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 22h

Today’s October feature: ‘Terror of the Sweet Honey’, ep 8 of Ultra Q (1966) finds romantic jealousy and professional sabotage leading to a GIANT FUCKING MOLE causing chaos in the countryside. Trains are trashed, volcanoes erupt, shit gets wild. This show is always good monstrous fun.

Two men in overcoats and a woman, her hair held back with a thick headband, look seriously at something offscreen. Behind them, we can see a tent and the arm of a soldier at edge of frame, another soldier visible further back.

In a cave, a silhouetted figure walks towards camera, smoke and shadows filling the rest of frame

A giant mole roars at the exit of a mine. In front of it, vehicles show scale, small in comparison

0344

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 22h

There’s still time for Ron to re-record Sparks songs in a thick Hungarian accent, who knows?

110

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

“….the final curtain call. The house went completely dark, except for a green spotlight on Lugosi's face, that turned his blood red lips jet black. As he closed with "there are such things," he vanished in a puff of smoke, and his maniacal laughter filled the theater.”

150

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

In 1951, Bela Lugosi toured Britain in a stage revival of the Hamilton Deane play that had brought him fame and notoriety over two decades earlier. From Frank J. Dello Stritto’s ‘Vampire Over Britain’: “A highlight of the 1951 Dracula performances was Lugosi's address to the audience after…

Poster advertising a Brighton performance of Dracula by Hamilton Deane and J.L. Balderston starring‘Hollywood’s master of thrills in person!’ Bela Lugosi written in large red lettering. An illustration of a silhouette of a bat has the name Dracula over it, and below another illustration shows the Count leering over a woman on a bed, with another tag line of ‘Beauty at the mercy of a monster’.

1145

Reposted by Jamie

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I'm proud of my three collections of ghost stories and weird fiction, not least because together they've apparently created a sense of what Newmanesque might mean. Get them here: www.amazon.co.uk/stores/Ray-N...

Municipal Gothic (black, yellow, brutalist tower block); Intervals of Darkness (black, red, illustration of a mysterious void); Thin Places in Hard Concrete (pink and pale blue, floating brutalist staircase). There books, 37 stories.

110829

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I really enjoyed it, it’s for the most part very, very, very good

010

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Yeah, comedy-as-business guys usually have about 45 minutes of the weakest shit going. Sam Tallent’s novel Running the Light really brutally, ruthlessly skewers the crowdwork guys and corporate comic gig, even though he himself is (tangentially) part of it.

110

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

A point you made, in a more clever and subtle way, I grant you

110

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

My beliefs are nobody actually *likes* them, they have been hoodwinked by aggressive marketing/branding/appearances etc to overlook the almost complete lack of substance. Or, alternatively, they are attracted to undemanding empty voids. Either works.

120

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Today’s October feature: A 1975 ep of Tomorrow with Tom Snyder. His guests are Dracula expert Professor Leonard Wolf, Famous Monsters publisher Forry Ackerman, and Peter Cushing (in America for a convention). They discuss Bela Lugosi and book-accurate stakes for the purpose of dispatching vampires.

Intro title card for Tomorrow with Tom Snyder overlaid on an illustration of a vampire and Frankenstein’s monster against a cloudy sky

Close up of Forry Ackerman’s hand and a ring on it he says is the ring Bela Lugosi wore in Dracula (1931)

Tom Snyder (right of frame) and Peter Cushing (left of frame), backs to camera, look at Ackerman and Leonard Wolf, a Dracula expert, holding a large carved stake

Peter Cushing now in suit and tie, holding the stake

1136

Reposted by Jamie

Drewcifer Rising 🎃😈 @drewdietsch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A glaring omission in my love of anthology horror is finishing TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE. Started it years ago and dropped off. No better time to restart, especially with such a great Halloween pilot. Written by George Romero and directed by Bob Balaban, you should watch "Trick or Treat".

archive.org

Tales From The Darkside S01 (1983-1985) [EN]

Tales from the Darkside - S01E00 - Trick or Treat (Pilot) [EN]Tales from the Darkside - S01E01 - The New Man [EN]Tales from the Darkside - S01E02 - I'll Give You a Million [EN]Tales from the Darkside ...

3161

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It’s a beautiful looking set and important preservation work, I hope anyone who can afford it enjoys it 😬

140

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Scouring online for information about this episode, found this fascinating blogpost if you’re interested, which makes the obvious comparison of this as a kind of genteel The Shining but goes into lots of detail beyond that, on the episode and on the series ayearinthecountry.co.uk/alan-garners...

ayearinthecountry.co.uk

Alan Garner’s “To Kill a King” Episode of Leap in the Dark and Tales from a Deeply Layered Past: Wanderings 5/26 – A Year In The Country

Leap in the Dark was a paranormal orientated British television anthology series broadcast on the BBC for four seasons in 1973, 1975, 1977 and 1980. There were 24 episodes in total, with the first ser...

040

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Tonight’s October feature: the Alan Garner-scripted closing episode of Leap in the Dark. Imagine Kubrick’s version of The Shining but with less murder and axes, as Harry wrestles with writer’s block, his failing mental health, and a muse just out of reach. Gorgeously shot, unsettling and moving.

Leap in the Dark series title card shows the silhouette of a flame in black against a red background

Title card for the episode reads To Kill a King

A close up of a hand holding a rock that appears to have a face on it. Behind the hand, we can see the water the rock was just pulled out of, trees reflected in its surface

A close up of a page in an electric typewriter, a sheet of paper in it that reads HELP typed over and over again alongside the quoted phrase “What are you going to do about it, Harry?”

1132

Reposted by Jamie

Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

A watchlist for Halloween featuring films people might have overlooked. (Not you, obviously; you've seen everything.) boxd.it/XN2Vy

boxd.it

10 lesser-known films for Halloween

Lesser-known by most people. Of course you know them.

6329

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Dead of Night overall is made up one part okay-ish Twilight Zone-like time travel fantasy, this pretty good fun horror comedy riff, and the last segment, effective enough despite it (and the kid) being annoying as shit

020

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

The BBC version of this, for the short-lived Late Night Horror series of 1968, was rediscovered this year after nearly 60 years lost

120

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Tonight’s October feature: ‘No Such Thing as a Vampire’, the second segment from Dan Curtis and Richard Matheson’s 1977 TV fantasy horror anthology film Dead of Night. In this, they indulge their Hammer Horror fancy, delivering an archly enjoyable dark black comedy of a house stalked by a vampire.

Title card for No Such Thing as a Vampire overlaid on an image of an old European town

Close up of a woman in a white night dress, a bloody wound on her neck, an expression of fear on her face

A man in an suit lies in a coffin, trickles of blood by his mouth

140

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Good grief yes, at 6 I was still getting freaked out by Scooby Doo monsters haha

010

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This is basically Scooby Doo but with Buster Keaton playing all five members of the Mystery gang. But you know, a silent film and from 1921 and he’s at no point a dog. Anyway, otherwise so close.

020

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Today’s October feature: BOTD Buster Keaton co-directs (with Edward F. Cline) this 1921 short in which his bank clerk gets mixed up with counterfeiters, a trio of actors on the run, a haunted house, ghosts, and even a trip to (nearly) heaven and hell. Gags, stunts and daft spookiness, all great fun.

In a dimly lit room, Keaton pauses in astonishment as a white-sheated ghost walks across in front of him

Two ‘skeletons’ (men in skeleton suits) hunch over and open a door and peer out of it

Keaton in ‘hell’ having just slid down a helter skelter style slide into a cavern. He is sitting on the ground looking stunned, and near him is a desk made out of rock at which sits a man in a devil costume

1114

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Tonight’s October feature: ‘The Lost Will of Dr. Rant’, the 1951 television adaptation of ‘The Tractate Middoth’ by M.R. James for Lights Out. Stars a young Leslie Nielsen and plays out as quite faithful a version of a then-forty year old story. Effective, and made with a good amount of atmosphere.

Title card reads ‘in The Lost Will of Dr. Rant by Doris Halman

Another card reads ‘Based Upon The Tractate Middoth by M.R. James

Screenshot shows a man turning on a light in a library section, and seeing a black clad figure with its back to him next to several shelves of books.

092

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I always love that this show answered the unasked question, “What if The Twilight Zone, but instead of Rod Serling, let’s have it presented by someone who thinks you’re getting exactly what you deserve, you weak-willed piece of shit?”

050

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Tonight’s October feature: ‘A View Through the Window’, a segment from Night Visions. Bill Pullman stars and directs as a soldier becoming obsessed with why an old prairie-style house has appeared in the desert in a self contained cube. A wild twist puts this into enjoyably ripe horror territory.

Night Visions title screen shows the series name over a close up of an eye

Screen grab shows Henry Rollins, in black trousers and black t-shirt, arms and tattoos exposed, talking to camera like a Swole Serling, an image of Bill Pullman in army fatigues behind him.

Screen grab shows a desert and army base next to a rectangle in which can be seen a house, green grass and trees, brighter than the bleached out sand around it.

Bill Pullman in his fatigues stood in the desert at night. Next to him, looking like a split frame, a woman in an old style dress sits on a swing over grass, a tree next to her.

271

Reposted by Jamie

Dark Shadows News @darkshadowsnews.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Thanks to everyone who's supported our 60th Anniversary Dark Shadows charity fanzine Daytime Gothic. Here's a look at the contents – 160 pages of interviews, features, essays and fiction celebrating the TV's supernatural soap opera. Order yours from tenacrefilms.bigcartel.com/product/dayt...

Cover of Daytime Gothic II with Lara Parker.

23615

Reposted by Jamie

Jamie @vanjpes.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Murder by the Clock (1931, dir. Edward Sloman) is a macabre mystery that while not technically good (early talkie and it shows) is *huge* fun. Crypts, murders, an old dark house, hidden passages, fabulously fake cemeteries. And Lilyan Tashman having an absolute ball as the scheming Laura Endicott.

A woman stands in a dining room, paintings of important, dead men hanging on the wall next to her. Behind her, we can see the creeping shadow of someone approaching her with hands outstretched to attack.

A man in a suit on the left sits opposite a woman with blonde hair in a dress. Between them is a table with candles on it.

In a graveyard at night, a tomb has beeb opened and a man in a suit can be seen climbing out of it.

2112