First, allow us to wish everyone a Happy New Year! 2021 was almost the bear that 2020 was, or maybe even moreso, and those hoping for a slower 2022… it remains to be seen.

2022 didn’t start off well for Dreamhaven Books. Our favorite bookstore suffered a break in around New Year’s, there was a lot of loss and damage. So before we start hawking our own wares here, take a moment and send some love (and buy some stuff) from www.dreamhavenbooks.com

Now…

We stayed under the radar in 2021, but we did make it out to a couple of shows, chiefly Cinema Wasteland and Horror Realm. Trying to stay safe and sociable was, you know, a challenge. Still, we managed to premiere a number of things this year including:

A Feast of Flesh now on blu-ray. With a new commentary by cast and crew and a remastering from the original DV tapes. Designed to be our “sell-out erotic vampire movie” but ended up being “our female empowering, morality-neutral, vampires vs. the IRA movie.” We’re still pretty proud of it. It subverts a lot of vampire conventions – a couple of which I’ve noticed cropping up in some recent vampire fiction (the idea of other symbols, non-Crucifix-related, that faith doesn’t mean religion, etc.), so that’s neat. You can grab it from our site HERE.

OR: try out our new service at Kunaki:

Pick up Severe Injuries on blu

OR A Feast of Flesh.

Just $20.00 each.

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Exploitation Nation #11 – 12. 2021 did not want us to release magazines. It fought us every step of the way. And yet, we managed to eke out two unique issues.

ExNat #11 – CULTURE: CANCELED! – is our Anti-Censorship issue, but honestly, it spends more time explaining what isn’t censorship (vs. business decisions, changing public mores, etc.) than condemning any particular practice. We have some interesting interviews exploring these ideas: Director Jeff Burr (From a Whisper to a Scream), punk director Alex Cox (with whom I have a very bizarre back-and-forth regarding punk en toto), actress Jill Scholen (The Stepfather) who talks extensively about Thunder Alley (but I could only find stills from The Stepfather). Linnea Quigley talks to filmmaker Jason Paul Collum about the controversy surrounding the original release of Silent Night, Deadly Night, and the coup de grace is an extensive look at the German Cult Classic Killer Condom, courtesy of Justin Channell. This includes never-before-published artwork by H.R. Giger and Jorg Buttgereit! So another decent deep-dive into movie history from ExNat. Cover by Ryan Hose!

 

 

 

Exploitation Nation #12 – We’re Still Standing: is a different beast entirely. After a meaty interview with Something Weird Video’s Lisa Petrucci, we dive into the “We’re Still Standing” bit, which reads like a Sears Christmas Catalog of indie artists. We reached out to more than 100 independent filmmakers/artists/performers who survived the pandemic and continued to make art – and asked them to promote themselves and one other person. And over 30 people responded! If you want a quick guide to some of the most interesting people still making stuff, pick up this issue.

 

 

 

 

 

Grindhouse Purgatory #20 – with this issue, Grindhouse Purgatory bids farewell to Vic Diaz, William Smith, and itself! With #20, Grindhouse Purgatory comes to a close with a new dose of grindhouse cinema, wrestling, and the sleaze of yesteryear! Reviews include A Boy and His Dog, Forbidden World, a posthumous interview with Ted V. Mikels. Thanks for twenty great issues, readers!

 

 

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Also in 2021, we released our first hardback: Nightmare Pavilion and Other Supernatural Stories by Andy Rausch. This collects his original Nightmare Pavilion novella – an adaptation of Herk Harvey’s Carnival of Souls – and joins it with 12 other creepy, violent, and occasionally hilarious stories. It’s a handsome and solid book, physically, and amazing and transportive within!

 

 

 

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Finally, we bid that wretched year farewell with something unique: The Shatter Dead Collection by Scooter McCrae. To pair with the beautiful blu-ray put out by Saturn’s Core / Vinegar Syndrome, Happy Cloud sat down with Scooter to bring you this one-of-a-kind glimpse into the making of an indie cult classic. The original screenplay is heavily annotated by McCrae, including dozens of never-before-seen on-set and bts photos; then you get treatments for proposed sequels and a full-length never-before-seen screenplay for the film’s official (but as-yet unfilmed) sequel! With an intro by Fangoria’s Michael Gingold, this should be a must-have for any fan of ‘90s SOV or film making in general. It’s a real War Journal, folks, and can be picked up here.

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The last sales I want to mention involve some of our older stock. We made available a 3-pack of DVD-Rs of our documentaries: The Spicy Sisters Slumber Party, Blood Bath: Blood Wrestling Vol. 1, as well as the anthology, Brinke’s Tales of Horror. You can grab that three-pack HERE.

 

 

 

In addition, we also have a large number of back-stock DVDs for sale: Grab The Resurrection Game, Splatter Movie: The Director’s Cut, and Demon Divas and the Lanes of Damnation for just $20! Click HERE.

 

 

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As for 2022? Well, we have a lot of goals for this year. A lot of good intentions are paving our way to Hell.

* We want to do a new webseries and a pilot script has been drafted.

* There’s a plan in the works for a monthly video blog – we might as well, we painted the guest room Chromagreen!

* We will be present at April’s and October’s Cinema Wasteland and the March Horror Realm this year (barring calamity or furthering of the plague).

* There will be at least one issue of Exploitation Nation. We’re planning on our usual two, but we’ll see how it goes. ExNat #13 is focusing on some of the pioneers of the SOV era, including Charles Pinion (Red Spirit Lake), Brad Sykes (Nightmare Factory), Tim Ritter (Truth or Dare); AND we talk to the folks behind the upcoming Dr. Caligari blu-ray from Mondo Macabro including writer Jerry Stahl, restorationist Daniel Bird, and a follow-up with the one and only Stephen Sayadian! So…that’s exciting.

We will also be launching a brand new publication this year, hopefully by April. Writers are writing and the planners are planning! News will be coming forthwith!

Stay tuned and, as always, thanks for supporting Happy Cloud Media!