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Goth Chick News – My Pilgrimage to Universal Studios Hollywood

Goth Chick News – My Pilgrimage to Universal Studios Hollywood


Breakfast view, pre tour, and the St. Denis hospital set

I have been absent for the past few weeks while I chased one of my bucket list items. As nearly a life-long fan of the horror genre, a pilgrimage to Universal Studios Hollywood has long been an ambition – to go to the place that literally gave birth to the genre. So as part of a west coast tour, I finally had the opportunity to immerse myself in the wonders of a VIP day at Universal.

First, let me say there is nothing like being a VIP at Universal. Our day started with breakfast in a private, second-floor dining room near the entrance, which provided an amazing view of what was to come. There we met Andrew P., our personal guide for the day. As one would expect, Andrew was a literal encyclopedia of studio history and explained our 8-hour day (including a gourmet lunch stop) would be a combination of “behinds the scenes” tours as well as dips into the theme park side so we could experience the list of rides we gave Andrew in advance.

The great part about that was Andrew would be escorting us “backstage” of the rides to the front of each line, but even more importantly, would allow us to linger in these areas which were air conditioned. This was important because I chose to visit Universal during an unprecedented heat wave, so the day we were there it was 114, and as you could probably guess, I don’t do well in heat and direct sunlight.

We did a lot of lingering in the backstage area of the amusement park side of Universal, but I want to tell you about what I learned and saw on the working studio side.

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Goth Chick News: (Initial) Looks Aren’t Everything…

Goth Chick News: (Initial) Looks Aren’t Everything…

With both being released to streaming, I finally got around to seeing two horror films I told you about when their trailers were first released. Abigail hit theaters in April, while the indie film The Beast Within starring Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) made it to the big screen in July.

So, what was the final verdict?

Yes, for one, and a great big no for the other – and you may be surprised which was which.

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Goth Chick News: The Chicago Fan Expo Kind of Blew Our Minds

Goth Chick News: The Chicago Fan Expo Kind of Blew Our Minds

It’s not often that Black Gate Photog Chris Z and I experience sensory overload at a convention, so this is likely a first. Last weekend, August 16-18, Chicago played host to the Fan Expo in its third year taking over the event from Wizard World.

The 2023 event boasted an impressive list of celebrities, vendors and artists. However, this year was closer to mind-blowing for a lot of reasons that I’m about to tell you. Before I wade in, this is a convention that happens in many cities in the US and Canada throughout the year. We highly recommend you go at least once, if you’re near one of the host cities. You can check out the full line up at my pre-show post.

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Goth Chick News: Bring on the Retro, 16-Bit Games Are Coming Back

Goth Chick News: Bring on the Retro, 16-Bit Games Are Coming Back

RetroRealms – Halloween Gameplay Screenshot

There is almost nothing I love better than a thunder-stormy Sunday afternoon spent playing video games. These days, those hours are spent in my souped-up home office which I have rigged for a VR system, as well as standard PC-gaming.

But it feels like only a short time ago that I was dumping quarters into upright machines at my local arcade. Like a whole lot of people, I feel an incredible amount of nostalgia toward the pixelated games which sucked down so much of early job income. This is why retro arcades have started popping up all over the place and I spent my entire tax refund a couple years back purchasing an upright arcade machine of my very own.

That said, it shouldn’t be the surprise that it was to read that a game developer was reimagining two iconic horror-movie-themed games from the early 80s.

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Goth Chick News: Buckle Up – We’re Going to the Fan Expo

Goth Chick News: Buckle Up – We’re Going to the Fan Expo

Way back in 2010, Black Gate photog Chris Z suggested we check out the Wizard World Chicago Comic Con. This was by no means a new event in our fair city. In fact, the Chicago Comic Con was first held at the Playboy Towers Hotel (yes, that Playboy) in 1972. Wizard World, original publishers of the famous Wizard Magazine, purchased the event in 1996, giving it nationwide publicity and eventually expanded to host similar events in nearly twenty cities.

By 2011 it was the largest convention of its kind in Chicago, and though it wasn’t strictly in the idiom of GCN, the show runners were gracious and granted us press passes that year. It turned out to be one of our favorite events and we have covered it every year since.

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Goth Chick News Reviews: We Can All Relate to Murder Your Employer

Goth Chick News Reviews: We Can All Relate to Murder Your Employer


Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide (Avid Reader Press, February 21, 2023)

First and foremost, this review is in no way a reference to our Black Gate big cheese John O. Speaking for BG Photog Chris Z and I, we can say unequivocally that we have never even thought of doing anything diabolical to John O. True that he forbid us to expense any more Hummer rentals or bottles of Fireball for our frequent road trips; forgetting of course, the former was for our safety and the latter for everyone else’s. Also true that he insists we fly Spirit Airlines and bring carry-on’s only to avoid baggage charges, resulting in Chris Z often going light on changes of socks in order to make room for his Ziplock bag of minibar bottles. But even with all this and more, we did not consider this delightful publication a potential “How To” manual.

With that information in mind, I can tell you that Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide Volume 1 by Rupert Holmes is only the third book in my personal history which made me laugh out loud; with the first two being Good Omens (2006) by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (1979) by Douglas Adams.

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Goth Chick News: Let’s Leave the Alien Franchise Alone Now… Please

Goth Chick News: Let’s Leave the Alien Franchise Alone Now… Please

Alien: Romulus (20th Century Studios, August 16, 2024)

To begin, I’d like to review two important facts. First, with the 2019 acquisition of Fox, Disney became the owners of the long-running Alien sci-fi franchise. Second, in 2012 Ridley Scott, who created the original masterpiece that was Alien (1979), decided to leap back in after five other directors had a go at some portion of the story. This effectively scuttled the planned Alien movie we all deserved, which would have been a sequel to Aliens (1986) directed by Neill Blomkamp and would have ignored the movies which followed Aliens. This story would have reunited Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) and Hicks (Michael Biehn), and probably would have been awesome.

Instead, what we got was Sigourney Weaver permanently bowing out from the franchise, and two prequels from Scott, which were anything but awesome. Though nostalgia and eternal optimism caused die-hard fans to make Prometheus (2012) a technical box office hit ($130M budget against a $403M take), we’d learned our lesson by the time Alien: Covenant came around in 2017. It was considered a disappointment by Hollywood standards, bringing in less than half the ticket sales of its predecessor. Personally, I wished Scott would have kept his hands to himself.

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Goth Chick News: Lego Jaws? Just Take My Money Now

Goth Chick News: Lego Jaws? Just Take My Money Now

The original design submitted by Diving Faces (aka Jonny Campbell)

During 2020 when I was looking to fill quite a lot of downtime, I discovered the Lego Ideas website. Though I have never been a Lego builder or collector, I am still endlessly fascinated by the incredible creations true aficionados come up with. At Lego Ideas, hardcore Lego builders create and showcase unique designs. There are regular “challenges” creators can enter, but the big prize goes to those ideas submitted to the new products challenge. In the end, the creation in that category, with the most community votes, becomes a new Lego set produced for sale.

In May 2022, a Lego master builder going by the handle “Diving Faces” submitted a build depicting the final scene in the movie Jaws. In that scene it’s the shark against the three heroes, Quint (Robert Shaw), Brody (Roy Scheider) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), in Quint’s boat the Orca. “Diving Faces,” recently unmasked as Lego-master Jonny Campbell, created a 14-inch-high replica of the boat, as well as the iconic shark, all with Legos.

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Goth Chick News: Bill Skarsgård as THE Classic Vampire? Yes Please

Goth Chick News: Bill Skarsgård as THE Classic Vampire? Yes Please

It was during the silent movie era, which lasted from 1894 to 1929, that Bram Stoker penned his most famous work, Dracula (1897). However, it wasn’t Stoker who decided to bring his vampire to the silver screen, but instead, German filmmaker F.W. Murnau ultimately plagiarized Dracula for his 1922 film Nosferatu, kicking off one of the first high-profile copyright cases in history.

Florence Stoker, Bram Stoker’s widow, was living in London when she received the program of the Berlin premiere of Nosferatu that proclaimed the film was “adapted from Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” She realized Nosferatu was violating Stoker’s copyright and therefore costing her royalties. As his widow, Florence was entirely reliant on Stoker’s legacy, so she decided to act.

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Goth Chick News: Crypt-Keeper Fans Rejoice for a New Generation of Horror Comics

Goth Chick News: Crypt-Keeper Fans Rejoice for a New Generation of Horror Comics

Epitaphs From the Abyss #1 (Oni Press, July 24th)

In past articles I talked about acquiring contraband horror comics from my older male cousins and reading them by flashlight. Though my dad deemed the black and white monster movies from Universal as “classic,” and therefore approved for my consumption, comics like House of Mystery or Strange Tales were verboten, meaning I worked all the harder to get my hands on them. Because of this, horror comics have always held a special place in my heart. From the trailblazing originals to modern tales like Twisted Dark and Nightmare World,, there’s no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than flipping through the horror section of my local comic vendor Graham Crackers Comics.

Tuesday morning this week, entertainment site The Wrap dropped exclusive info that brought joy to the hearts of horror comic fans worldwide. EC Comics is making a highly anticipated return with a horror anthology series Epitaphs From the Abyss.

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