This Week in Horror History | IT, Hellraiser & True Blood - Sep 7-13

September has crossed the threshold. The calendar still says summer, but Halloween is leaking into the room. Store aisles glow orange, dusk arrives earlier, and every invitation feels like something you should read twice. This week, vampires announce themselves, and Amnesiac wakes in a castle that wants him to remember. Children follow a voice beneath dairy, and a puzzle box turns curiosity into a contract. Then, for our deep-cut spotlight, we accept a prom invitation from an Australian nightmare where pink satin, power tools, and one devoted father share the dance floor. So, check who invited you, leave the red balloon in the gutter, and if a tiny brass box begins...

Rearranging itself in your hands. Put it down. Welcome back to This Week in Horror History. Your weekly time machine through the creepiest anniversaries in film, TV, books, comics, and games. I'm your host, Henrique Couto, and not only is our window September 7th through the 13th, but it's my birthday week. Coming up, HBO introduces a world where vampires have stopped hiding and started demanding a place at the table. Frictional games take away your weapons, your memory, and eventually your confidence in every dark hallway. Pennywise returns to Derry and makes one red balloon into a city-wide warning, and Clive Barker opens the lament configuration for anyone who still thinks curiosity is harmless.

Then, after the break, a rejected prom invitation, a homemade dance floor, and a father-daughter tradition, nobody survives gracefully. September 7th, 2008. True Blood premieres on HBO and vampires officially come out of the coffin. Created by Alan Ball from Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries, the series imagines synthetic blood, allowing vampires to reveal they've always lived among humanity. Anna Paquin plays Suki Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress in Bon Temps. When Stephen Moyer's Bill Compton enters, he brings romance, danger, and a supernatural society with laws all of its own. True Blood mixes mystery, gothic romance, body horror, southern melodrama, and dark comedy.

Its sharpest idea is monsters don't become safe because they can appear on television and order a drink. Going public only gives hunger. new politics. So if you've slept on True Blood or you need a really solid revisit, it's available on Hulu, HBO Max, and, of course, you can buy or rent seasons through Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home. Who's thirsty? September 8th, 2010. Amnesia, the dark descent, releases four computers, and a castle full of darkness takes away the player's usual protection, the ability to fight back. Daniel wakes inside Brennenberg Castle with almost no memory.

A note in his own hand says he erased it, deliberately, and must descend to kill Alexander. Frictional games removes combat. Daniel survives by running, hiding, and closing doors. Darkness conceals him but erodes his sanity. Light steadies him but also reveals him and consumes resources. Even looking at a monster can hurt you. The player must know where it is without truly watching it. Amnesia turns seeing into punishment. and knowledge into something the mind might not survive. So if you're ready to spend an evening in the dark, it's available on PC through Steam and GOG. The Amnesia Collection is also sold digitally for PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

September 8th, 2017. It opens in U.S. theaters. and a red balloon rises from the sewer like dairy itself is sending out a little warning, a festive one, but a warning nonetheless. Andy Muschietti adapts the childhood half of Stephen King's novel, moving The Losers Club to Summer of 1989, which fit perfectly with Stranger Things being so popular at the time. Bill Denbrough and his friends already face bullies, abusive homes, and a town that rarely protects its children. No, really. The history is nerve-wracking. Then Bill Skarsgård' s Pennywise gives every fear a different face. The creature is frightening, but the film works because the losers realize isolation is part of the attack on them.

Pennywise can tailor a nightmare to one child. but friendship forces it to face down seven. The sewer is where Derry sends everything it refuses to see. Missing children, buried history, and a hunger the adults have trained themselves to ignore. It was a unmitigated phenomena when it came out. I remember I went to see it early by myself on opening night. Actually, it was the preview night. And I was just floored. I expected it to be good and fun, but I didn't expect it to be kind of generational the way it was. It really blew my mind and made me feel bad for Chapter 2 because how can you compare?

At the box office, it opened to a historic $ 123. 4 million in the U.S. and Canada. and finished its original run at about $ 702. 8 million worldwide against a reported $ 35 million budget, making it a bonafide studio blockbuster. And if you haven't watched the original in a little while, I really do recommend you check it out. It's currently streaming on HBO Max with your subscription, or you can rent or buy it through Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home. September 11th, 1987. Hellraiser opens theatrically in the United Kingdom, and a small brass puzzle box makes desire look like a door with no handle on the inside.

Clive Barker adapts his novella The Hellbound Heart for his feature directing debut. Frank Cotton solves the lament configuration while searching for sensations beyond anything ordinary life seems to be able to offer. What answers him are the Cenobites. After Frank escapes in an incomplete body beneath the floorboards, Julia brings men home so their blood can restore them. Meanwhile, Doug Bradley's lead Cenobite, later famously known as Pinhead, waits for the debt to be settled. Hellraiser isn't about opening the wrong box by accident. Frank knows it promises experiences without limits, and limits are exactly what he's sick of.

Emphasis on sick. The Cenobites simply take that desire more literally. Its North American run opened one week later with $ 4. 5 million and finished at $ 14. 6 million against a reported $ 1 million budget. enough to establish Barker's debut as a franchise starter. And what a franchise it is. Varying so very, very much. But the original is a classic, and rightfully so. It's perverse, bizarre, disgusting, and, at times, shockingly simple. A lot of the film seems to, in a weird way, take place in a staircase. But it works in context. If somehow you've never seen it, that's Bizarre, and we have such sights to show you.

It's available streaming on Prime Video with your subscription, free with ads on Tubi, the CW Plex, and Prime Video. And of course, you can rent or buy it through Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home. Tomorrow on Weekly Spooky, everybody... gets angry. Danielle Boyd turns into a werewolf, and at Strickfield High School, there are a lot of of reasons to get angry. In Anger Issues by Rob Fields, Danielle's curse doesn't wait for the full moon. A shove, an insult, a hand where it doesn't belong. One bad moment is all it takes. The rage hits, her bones change, and suddenly...

A massive silver werewolf is tearing through the hallways of Strickfield High. But Danielle isn't a mindless monster. She knows exactly what she's doing. She just has one serious problem. She really, really likes being angry. And someone has finally come to put her down. The hunter's mission is simple. Find Danielle Boyd. Kill the werewolf, then move on to other monsters, hiding in plain sight. But the deeper the hunter gets into Strickfield High, the stranger things become. A vampire walks freely in the daylight. A cheerleader radiates an unnatural cold. Another new student may be hiding something monstrous of her own.

And then the full moon rises. Hunter and Werewolf are about to collide with something neither of them expected. Because Danielle may be cursed, but she's not the monster. Everyone seems to think she is. Don't miss this brand new scary story tomorrow right here on Weekly Spooky. Make sure you're subscribed, and while you're at it, watch your temper. All right. Quick breather. But when we come back, we're headed to September 13th, 2009 for the international premiere of an Australian film at the Toronto International Film Festival. Brent turns down Lola's prom invitation. Lola's father decides rejection is not an acceptable answer.

We're back. Let's get into it. On September 13th, 2009, The Loved Ones has its international premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and one teenager discovers that declining a dance can be more dangerous than attending one. Sean Byrne's Australian feature debut stars Xavier Samuel as Brent, a high school student carrying guilt after a car crash killed his father. He plans to attend prom with his girlfriend, Holly. Then Robin McLeavy's Lola asks him to go with her. Brent politely says no. Instead, though, Lola's father kidnaps Brent and brings him to their house where the dining room has become a private prom.

There are decorations, formal wear, crowns, photographs, and restraints at the table. The design is cheerful enough to become obscene. Lola wears pink, pop music plays, her father treats torture like party planning. The black comedy never makes Brent feel safe, though. It's like Carrie turned inside out. The dangerous girl brings the dance home, straps her date to a chair, and crowns herself. The scariest relationship, though, is between Lola and her father. He's built a sealed world where every desire becomes family law and every refusal becomes a problem needing correcting. His devotion has made monstrosity the household tradition.

Brent's grief gives the survival story weight. He begins by treating his life somewhat carelessly. Once somebody else decides to take it, though, He discovers how badly he wants to keep it. The Loved Ones won TIFF's 2009 People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness and remains a vicious collision of teen melodrama, black comedy, and captive house horror. Dressed for the dance that no one should attend. And this one was a mind-blower for me. When I finally watched it, I was mad. It had been a couple of years since it came out. I was upset I had waited so long because, man, was it a solid flick.

And if you've never seen it or need a revisit, it has been a while. It's available to rent or buy through Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home. Now it's time to get out the creepy cake for some horror-related birthdays. First up, born on September 7th, 1940, is Dario Argento. Master of the Jolly and Supernatural Color, director of Deep Red, Suspiria, Inferno, Phenomena, and Opera. I think he's kind of one of the most overrated directors of all time, but that doesn't mean that his films aren't interesting and exciting and stylish, as well as being pretty good overall.

So a happy birthday, Dario Argento. Born on September 8th, 1971, is David Arquette. known for Dewey Riley across the Scream series, with genre turns in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Ravenous, Eight-Legged Freaks, and the bizarre but underrated The Tripper. Happy birthday to former WCW World Heavyweight Champion, David Arquette. Born on September 11th, 1940... is Brian De Palma, director of Carrie, Sisters, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, and Body Double. That doesn't even scratch the surface of how many classics the guy's directed. He turned split screens and voyeurism into a weapon aimed squarely at the audience. A very happy birthday, Brian De Palma.

And born on September 13th, 1916, Roald Dahl. The macabre storyteller behind The Witches and Tales of the Unexpected, where cruelty and wicked reversals arrive dressed as bedtime stories. And it's a little misleading, maybe. A very happy birthday to Roald Dahl and all of our horror birthdays. This week, for our then and now, horror turns invitation into a steel trap. 1987 gives us a puzzle box that opens because somebody wants whatever waits beyond. 2008 invites vampires into public life and discovers visibility does not make hunger civilized. 2009 turns a rejected prom invitation into abduction and ritual.

2010 sends an amnesiac deeper into a castle by following instructions written... in his own handwriting, and 2017 lets Pennywise call children toward the places Derry refuses to acknowledge. And for our weekly recommendation, September 10th, my birthday, 1993, not so much my birthday, The X-Files premieres on Fox. For an early autumn watch full of wet forests, motel rooms, flashlights, and things the government insists are not happening, it really is perfect. Chris Carter's pilot premiered on Fox, introducing David Duchovny as FBI agent Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully, assigned to evaluate his unexplained cases. Their first case takes them to Oregon, where young people are dying with Strange marks and missing time.

Mulder sees a pattern. Scully demands evidence. Somebody is already removing it. The series engine is present immediately. Belief and skepticism are not simple opposites. Each keeps the other from settling for the easiest answer. Evidence appears and disappears and raises a worse question. The X-Files made fluorescent offices... Cornfields and anonymous roads feel connected by one hidden current. Some weeks chased conspiracy, others opened the door to a new monster. The best episodes made the impossible feel close enough to change how you looked at your own window. After dark, I always loved me some X-Files, and I think anybody could use a refresher watch.

It's streaming on Hulu with your membership, free with ads on Pluto TV, and of course you can buy or rent whole seasons on Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at home. Because the truth is out there. Well, my spookies, that was your trip through September 7th through the 13th in horror history. Don't miss a brand new weekly spooky tomorrow. It's going to be damn good. And on Thursday for Thursday Thrills, my birthday episode, I'll be talking all about the Bill Manor in Fremont, Ohio. and the new HGTV reality show all about it and I want to say thank you all so much for your kindness and birthday wishes I really do appreciate it sent to weekly spooky at gmail.com anything you want to say I'm happy to listen Maybe I'll regret saying that, but not for now.

But now it's time for me to get back to it because I'm hoping to take a birthday off of sorts. We'll still be publishing, but you know. So until next time, my spookies, remember, our days are numbered because that's how we tell them apart. See you next week.