Tower of foam skulls with a gap at the bottom.

The structure of the first tower is done. That gap at the bottom is where the hose for the fog feeds in. Once it’s cured, I have to remove it from the support and finish the paint job.

I made a hot box out of my bathroom so I can cure more skulls in a day. I may yet make it!

We see a dark-haired woman from the back, staring into the corner of an orange room.

Not all ghost stories are horror movies. This is one of those. It’s a lovely, only slightly spooky story about a family in a new house, told entirely from the perspective of their resident ghost. My only disappointment is that they didn’t scooby out who the ghost was. Really good. Recommended.

A mound of skulls about five skulls high. It is half painted, and bits are still missing.

So this is the work in progress. I saw a tutorial for a pile of burning skulls, and thought it looked cool. It took about 5-7 skulls. Mine takes over 50. I didn’t mean to go that big! It just happened! Also, if it’s supposed to be the skulls of my enemies, well, I’m an ambitious sort.

Of course it gets worse, because I want to build two. We’ll see if I can cure enough skulls in time.

At the top of a bed, giant, spidery legs emerge from a bag.

Do not watch Possum if you have arachnophobia. Otherwise, definitely do watch it. It’s dark and strange and creepy as hell. Sean Harris and Alun Armstrong (a fave!) are amazing. And it features, hands down, the scariest puppet I have ever seen. And I think most puppets are scary as a baseline. Muppets are okay. Mostly.

I should have put an incorrect umlaut in there somewhere.

In person, his eyes are actually a pure, intense red. A shame they don’t show up correctly on camera. He looks pretty great. This was my first foray into using monster mud. I expect more mud fun in the future.

Kinda can’t believe I sat through this whole movie. They tried to capture the spirit of a 30’s Mystery/Suspense. The actress who played Mother got the assignment, probably because she was old enough to have seen the originals. The biggest problem with this, other than being pretty boring, is that the lead actress could not carry the movie. It was excruciating.

This one I did not sit through. I did get about halfway. The idea of the revenge game they play is great. Actually, all the ideas are great. Sadly everything else–writing, directing, acting–are all decidedly mediocre. Even bad in parts. What a shame. I hope someone competent options the story someday.

And yes, I use em-dashes in my writing. Clearly, AI thinks I’m phenomenal, because it’s copied me quite a lot. No, I do not like nor use AI.

Seven stones stand in the corner of the yard. Behind them is a 12-foot inflatable cat, and a 10-foot inflatable reaper.

Today I took a break from Halloween. I bought a shelf, moved our garage pantry, and gave the fella some extra storage, which we desperately need. But I do have projects for the next two weeks! When Halloween comes, I open my garage and the kiddos come there to get candy. You’ll see what I’m working on later.

The leaves of a dense tree make a skull. In the middle is a statue of Mary.

Don’t Leave Home is considerable oversold by its poster. It was a fine movie. I enjoyed it. But it was not at all scary. More weird, atmospheric, and mysterious. Remember kids, if the nice Irish couple wants you to fly across the world and not tell anyone, maybe tell someone.

That’s what I get for using joint compound to fill some minor gaps. It wasn’t even close to dry this morning. Hoping it’s dry tomorrow. So I had nothing to do but watch movies.

Ghosts of the Ozarks is about a doctor who joins his uncle in a walled town in the middle of the woods. People stay within those walls because outside is a strange red mist filled with monsters.

It’s an excellent creepy town tale, and near the end there are some of those folk horror masks I love so much. Seriously, I’d make one and wear it on the night, except we get too many teeny trick-or-treaters who would then be terrified of me. Gotta tread that line between spooky and scary.

When The Lights Went Out is a typical “based on a true story” haunting. Entertaining, but really not very good. Best part was the slinky jump scare.

Back of a pink foam tombstone, with two channels filled with joint compound.

Today has been mostly waiting. Got the pvc in and and to wait for the foam to cure. Then trim down the foam, and fill any gaps with joint compound. I’ll sand a bit more tomorrow, but I’m not too fussed about how the backs look.

An old woman sits in a rocking chair with her back to us.

Yesterday I watched The Visit, and y’all can hate on Shyamalan all you want, I really enjoyed this creepy thing. No supernatural elements, just the horrors of getting old.

Left is a pink foam tombstone with a t-rex skull, and the name SAM NEILL. Right is a clown head and TIM CURRY with a spiderweb coming off the name. Below it says "We all float down here."

Last night after dark I got the old cheap projector out and traced the letters for Sam. This morning I realized they were completely off center, so I scrubbed it and had to wing it. They look okay. Tim was also off-center. Apparently that’s my thing. Fixed with a spider web like I meant to do that all along.

Too busy for movies!