Day 24: Videodrome (1983) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Videodrome (1983)

It's another Cronenberg bit of body horror, "Videodrome" (1983).  A movie which seems more relevant and prescient today than it was when it was first released with the merging of human with media and machine. 

Actually, "Videodrome" was sort of the reason for this whole weird format for "31 Days of HELL-O-Ween" for 2026, where I thought it would be fun to do James Woods with his flesh gun saying "Long Live the New Flesh".  From there, I thought it would also be amusing to have speech balloons for all of them and hence the format change-up this year.  I'm not sure why I decided to have them all as full body digital paintings, but here we are.

And, as always, everything spun out of control where, for some dumb reason, I thought it was be fun to also have them be animated (albeit, very slightly).

One week to go!  Queue "The Final Countdown" by Europe...

Here's an Animated .GIF for Videodrome:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 23: The Exorcist (1973) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
The Exorcist (1973)

It's "The Exorcist" (1973), a classic of the horror genre.  Possession is nine-tenths of the law, so they say (an obvious joke I've made many times before).

Here's an Animated .GIF of Regan asking for pea soup.  Lots and lots of pea soup:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 22: Robot Monster (1953) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Robot Monster (1953)

Here's another classically bad B-Movie, "Robot Monster" (1953), this one from the 50's.  The conquering alien menace was a diving bell style helmet with antenna on it, placed on top of a gorilla costume.  Y'know, super cool!  The poster featured a skull, as well, but in the movie itself, it was just a blank helmet.  Needless to say, the skull looked cooler, so I went with that, of course.

Mostly, the movie is boring, like most of the bad movies out there--a nuclear family (ha!) is all that is left of humanity after being wiped out by the alien, Ro-Man Extension XJ-2.  There is lots of pointless wandering around, slow-moving walking chases, and the classic ending of "It was all just a dream... Or was it?"  GASP!

Here's an Animated .GIF of Ro-Man, with his dream of nuking the last of the human race out of existence so he can be done with his mission to Earth:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 21: Troll 2 (1990) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Troll 2 (1990)

"Troll 2" (1990) is often in the running for "Worst Movie Ever Made".  There are so many classic bad lines: "They're eating her!  The then they're going to eat me!  Oh, my Goooooooodddd!"; "You can't piss on hospitality!  I won't allow it!"...  It really is a bad movie in the most unhinged, delirious way.  Watch it in a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" sort of way and imagine Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo are sitting next to you.

And here's the Animated .GIF for "Troll 2".  The Trolls are always Goblin their vegetables!

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 20: Return of the Living Dead (1985) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Return of the Living Dead (1985)

"Return of the Living Dead" (1985) hits that sweet spot of humor, satire, and horror, IMHO, along with 1980's punk aesthetic.  In this case, it's Tarman, out from his barrel of 245 Trioxin.

Oh, you already know what Tarman from "Return of the Living Dead" would be asking for..

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 19: Alien (1979) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Alien (1979)

It's the Xenomorph from the 1979 classic, "Alien", often called a "haunted house in space".  Which isn't wrong... There's a living area with a giant, hissing critter that jumps out and says "Boo!" every once in a while.  But, also has a strong sense of direction and tension wondering who will be next.  A movie filled with strange landscapes and designs that lent themselves to look like something, well, alien.  Although, to be honest, as the series and spin-offs propagated, there were probably some questions that were probably better left unanswered.

I'm also reasonably sure there's a joke here somewhere about asking for flowers before putting that thing in me; I supplied the ingredients, you all can finish that half-baked joke.

And, yeah, it was a bit of a cheat to put in a previous drawing of mine as part of the punchline, but I believe it worked, time is tight, and I still have... 10... 11... 12 days to go?  Hoo-boy...

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 18: Mars Attacks (1996) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Mars Attacks (1996)

"Mars Attacks" (1996) is a gleefully fun, chaotic movie filled with little green men (and woman) who pants Humanity at every turn and laugh while the World burns.  The effects don't hold up very well, and didn't even when the movie first came out.  I know they were trying to do a fake stop-motion effect for the Martians with Industrial Light and Magic, but I didn't think it ever jelled.  I would like to see everything left the same, but the Martians and effects given another pass through a Cray Computer out there and see how it would come out today.

While I was never lucky enough to own the actual "Mars Attacks" cards from back in the day (I did have an ungodly amount of "Star Wars" cards, and other movie-based Topps cards), I have seen them published in books when I was younger, and now they can be found on the Internet.  But, they also went hard, were darkly funny. and delightfully gruesome.

Here's an Animated .GIF of... [Martians break in as the artist and his computers are set on fire and used to toast marshmallows, which are then also set on fire and used to toast even smaller marshmallows].  Ack! Ack! Ack!:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 17: The Blob (1988) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
The Blob (1988)

"The Blob" (1988) was a great remake, in the mold of "John Carpenter's The Thing" (1982)--it took a relatively well-known B-Movie and remade it into a Grand Guignol of paranoia and terror.  People you didn't expect to die would suddenly be half-digested on a wall, or someone is pulled into a sink in ways that are really horrifying.  The special effects and buckets of slime in "The Blob" still stand up today--another crowning achievement of 80's horror, IMHO!

Of course, I am slightly biased, as this is the stuff I grew up on, for better or worse.  Probably mostly worse, now that I think about it; but I stand by my decisions.

Here's an Animated .GIF of The Blob:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 16: Hellraiser (1987) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Hellraiser (1987)

Hey, hey, it's marginally past the halfway point, and to celebrate it's the 1987 Clive Barker directed bondage fetish/meets blood-soaked gorefest, "Hellraiser".  The introduction of the Cenobites to the horror canon is a good inclusion, IMHO.

Yea, Pinhead was only known as "Hell Priest" or "Lead Cenobite" in the first movie, and only got his reluctant nickname after the movie came out, but it is one of the few times where the alleged wisdom of the crowd was actually correct: Pinhead is a better name. 

Here's an Animated .GIF of Pinhead having such sights to show us--a completed Rubik's Cube!

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 15: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Whew, this one is uncomfortably close to the deadline, but here's Freddy from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), with a little under an hour to spare.  It's the quintessential "He'll kill you in your dreams" character.  The first movie was far more a straight-up horror/slasher style movie with a few bits of comedy, before becoming a semi-self-referential comedy with horror/slasher bits to it.

Here's an Animated .GIF of the beloved 80's horror icon, Annie Lennox from the Eurythmics, along with Freddy Krueger:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 14: Halloween (1978) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Halloween (1978)

He's got a denim onesie, a very sharp chef's knife, and he has a silver spray-painted William Shatner mask and knows how to use it: It's Michael Myers from the John Carpenter classic, "Halloween" (1978). 

Here's an Animated .GIF of everyone's favorite Ambassador of Halloween, Michael Myers:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 13: Friday the 13th (1980) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
Friday the 13th (1980)

Hey, hey, done with the "Friday the 13th" (1980) many 10's of minutes before midnight!  This one was done much later than I would have liked.  I had finished the digital painting I originally planned for today, October 13th, and started working on Jason Vorhees for October 14th.  I then realized "Hey, wait-a-minute, TODAY is the 13th!  Why don't I finish up Jason for today's post instead, and flip-flop the two?"  So, I finished up Jason for today's post instead, and flip-flopped them.  Sigh, if I were a smart man (and I've never been accused of such a thing), I would have noticed that much earlier and done it right the first time.

Originally, it was gonna be Jason with his trademark hockey mask and machete, even though he didn't get it until "Friday the 13th: Part 3" (that's right, folks--he was a zombie kid in the first one, and wore a gunnysack over his head for the second one, before moving on to the hockey mask in the third movie).  Y'know, half-@$$ it a bit.  But, then I thought it would be more interesting to do up the child, Jason V., as he was in the first movie and ask for the hockey mask.  And here we are...

Here's an Animated .GIF of young Jason, fresh from a swim in Camp Crystal Lake:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

. 

Day 12: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) - 31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026

31 Days of HELL-O-Ween 2026:
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

It's all about family in "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974).  A messed up, creepy, psychopathic family.  But, you know what they say: "Blood is thicker than water."  And, in this case, there is lots and lots of blood--not necessarily theirs.

While not as graphic as many horror movies afterwards, it's creepy vibe is off the charts.

Here's an Animated .GIF of everyone's favorite make-up influencer, Leatherface:

* * *

STEP ONE: Here are the quick pencils done on a 2,000px x 3,000px canvas @ 300dpi in Rebelle 8 Pro.

* * *

STEP TWO: Here is the finished digital painting.

* * *

Done Digitally with Rebelle 8 Pro.

.