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Capt McNeely

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Horror Fuel

Jack the Stripper – Not a Typo

Everyone knows the name Jack the Ripper. The serial killer who was never captured from the 1800s in London; however, there is a much less publicized killer from England dubbed Jack the Stripper. Like his near-namesake, he slaughtered prostitutes, was never captured, and the killings ceased on their own for an unknown reason. Between the years 1964-1965 The Stripper murdered 6-8 women and deposited their bodies near the River Thames. His victims were not sexually abused, but they were left nude and horrifically mutilated for the public to discover. No connection between the victims was ever confirmed, but it was highly thought that they were all prominent members of the underground pornography scene in London. John Du Rose, the chief of Scotland Yard at the time, searched vigilantly for the killer, and a list of over 7,000 suspects were interviewed…but to no avail. Then Du Rose had another plan. He held a news conference where he announced that he list

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Jan 3, 2017
Horror Fuel

The Grimm Sleeper – A Modern Serial Killer

I have thought about how to close out this year of absolute insanity. So many deaths! Musicians, actors, politicians…nobody was safe from 2016! So I thought that instead of a list of bests or worsts (although those are always fun and interesting) I will focus on the umbrella theme of this year: death. There was a very high profile serial killer sentenced to death this year. I knew nothing about it until researching for this article. He is horrific enough that he will surely join the lore of killers we read about in books and see in film adaptations. His story involves multiple victims, picture-trophies, possible countless other victims, and spreads over three decades. Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was born on August 30, 1952 in California. He was married, had two children and served a term in the U.S. Military. His neighbors described the man as “friendly and quiet” and he would often chat with them as he worked on

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 29, 2016
Horror Fuel

The Little Mermaid – Pain, Love, and Death

Years ago, when I was in school, the entirety of students were shuffled into the gym for a long-forgotten reason, sat down on the hard, wooden floor and “The Little Mermaid” was projected for us all to watch. I think that my favorite part of this Disney version was the singing seagull who walloped through the hit song “Kiss the Girl” with guttural la-la-las until he was physically silenced by the little red crab. I loved the juxtaposition of a happy little tune on a romantic date trying to set the mood for some smooching and this seagull is bellowing in the background just trying to fit in…why is he the only animal in the whole Disney-oceanic world who can’t sing? In this well-known version of this cartoon the foul-singing fowl is painful on the ears, but the original story is filled to the brim with pain and misery. Hans Christian Anderson wrote a tale of a young mermaid who

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 29, 2016
Horror Fuel

SCREAM’ Turned 20: Where Are They Now? Scream 5?

Last week (12/20) SCREAM —also known as the film that made slasher movies scary again— turned the big 2-0. Twenty years later, three sequels and a awesome TV series (which will be getting a season 3 in case you forgot) and now talk of a fourth sequel by the star and famed writer, where do we begin? So if you stood tuned to my articles, I’ve covered everything to do with SCREAM: The TV series, including reviews, recaps and season updates. MTV’s series acted as the final project based around the infamous SCREAM franchise that Horror Master and my idol Wes Craven, was attached to before his shocking and untimely death in 2015. Craven stood as director of the franchise since its 1996 launch with the writing hand of then fresh face Kevin Williamson. With three sequels on hand, Craven sadly couldn’t stay with us long enough to produce any others, but as previously stated he did manage to have

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 27, 2016
Horror Fuel

Krampus: The Christmas Demon

It’s been in vogue the past couple of years to address Santa’s counterpart, Krampus. Cartoon appearances, a few movies (one of which was a major motion picture), t-shirts and sweaters, various other media are all filling up with this Christmas Demon. But, where did he come from? Why did he disappear? And why is he back? So, sit back, get cozy on a chair in your new Christmas pajamas, and let’s explore the legend of this anamorphic demon. The origin time period of Krampus is unknown. Like St. Nicholas, he pre-dates Christianity and has been found in Alpine regions, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, he has stretched all through Europe and around the world. It seems, however, that his origins are in Norse folklore. The daughter of Loki (yup, Thor’s brother) is named Hel and oversees the land of the dead. Legend is it that she bore a son to an unknown father who she named Krampus

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 27, 2016
Horror Fuel

Suspension of Disbelief in Film Dysmorphia

Suspension of Disbelief? Sit through this annoying video up until the 5:00 mark. The fan boy “host” in the above video talks in attention deficit tweets. The video uses jump cut “hip” editing to spill out unabashed respect and love for the CGI technique that brought Peter Cushing back from the grave in “Rogue One.” He spends the first five minutes elaborating on the incredible work and effort it took create this digital feat. The “host” proclaims, “I think they pulled it off.” Then, being a true “fan” he takes a swipe at all of the work done by Industrial Light and Magic, effects artist, John Knoll and director Gareth Edwards. “Now Tarkin didn’t look a hundred percent authentic,” the “host” whines, “especially the movement of his mouth, but…he looked better than any other time this has been used.” What movies has this guy made? What has happened to film audiences? In the never ending quest for “realism” in special

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 24, 2016
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: The Snare is a Twisted Cinematic Trap

While watching the opening moments of The Snare, it was easy to see that the tone of the film was going to be grim. Beginning on a completely black screen with shrill ominous chords playing in the background, it then cuts to several shots of an overgrown and neglected cemetery strewn with grey tombstones. Then it transitions to a shot of a big black spider on a branch before ending on a final sequence of shots showing a dead and decaying rabbit infested with maggots and flies. Yeah, I felt this was a pretty good indication of a rather bleak story. The story in question actually centers on a sullen and morbid young woman named Alice. She lives with her father, with whom she appears to have, at best, an awkward relationship. For the weekend she will be joining her friend Lizzy and her boyfriend Carl on a trip to a coastal town. Lizzy’s dad is an estate agent and

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 20, 2016
Horror Fuel

The Michigan Massacre

The largest mass murder in the history of the state of Michigan is a truly horrific and unique tale. Nearly 7,000 miners went on strike in Calumet, Michigan. Their strike demands were simple: increased wages, no more child labor, and safer conditions (including support beams in the mines to prevent cave-ins). The response was a stalwart “NO” because support beams were expensive and dead miners “cost nothing.” The strike had been going on for six months by the time Christmas came around and the out-of-work families decided to have a massive, community Christmas party. 500 children and 200 adults ascended the long, steep staircase at the only entrance and packed in to the upstairs of the Calumet’s Italian Hall on Christmas Eve, 1913. As the party started to wind down late at night, the children gathered at the stage to receive what would surely be their only gift that year. Just then, a man described only as wearing Citizen’s Alliance

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 18, 2016
Horror Fuel

Cinderella…The Real Story

Most people know the story of Cinderella. Poor orphaned girl with step-mother and even worse-step sisters who woos the dreamy prince charming at a ball in a dress crafted by whimsical animals and a fairy godmother. We know about the glass slipper and the stroke of midnight. We know about the happily ever after. However, like most fairy tales, the real story written by the Grimm brothers is much darker. There is no stroke of midnight, no dimwitted mice, and no bibbity-boppity-boo. So here it goes. Cinderella is not the real name of the protagonist. We never know her name (or anyone else’s in the tale). The story starts with her mother’s last words before dying of an unknown illness encouraging her daughter to always be good and kind. The loss of her mother breaks poor Cinderella and she spends each day at her mother’s grave. After a year, her father marries a woman who brings two daughters into the

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 17, 2016
Horror Fuel

Fa-la-la-la-la….La-la-la-Lawson….The Christmas Family Murders

1929 was a rough year. The stock markets crashed and it was the genesis of the dreaded dirty thirties. Many people had their lives ripped apart, but on Christmas Day, the Lawson family had their lives ripped away…by their own father. Charlie Lawson (age 43) his wife, Fanny (age 37) and their seven children, Marie (age 17), Arthur (age 16), Carrie (age 12), Maybell (age 7) James (age 4) Raymond, (age 2) and Mary Lou (age 4 months) had a large family on a failing tobacco farm in North Carolina. A few days before Christmas, Charley took his family to town and and used what little funds they had to buy new clothes and get a, now famous, family portrait. This action has led many to believe that his actions were pre-meditated as opposed to a spur of the moment psychotic break. First on the familial hit list were daughters Carrie and Maybell. They were murdered with a shot gun

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 17, 2016

More from Capt McNeely

Horror Fuel

Jack the Stripper – Not a Typo

Everyone knows the name Jack the Ripper. The serial killer who was never captured from the 1800s in London; however, there is a much less publicized killer from England dubbed Jack the Stripper. Like his near-namesake, he slaughtered prostitutes, was never captured, and the killings ceased on their own for an unknown reason. Between the years 1964-1965 The Stripper murdered 6-8 women and deposited their bodies near the River Thames. His victims were not sexually abused, but they were left nude and horrifically mutilated for the public to discover. No connection between the victims was ever confirmed, but it was highly thought that they were all prominent members of the underground pornography scene in London. John Du Rose, the chief of Scotland Yard at the time, searched vigilantly for the killer, and a list of over 7,000 suspects were interviewed…but to no avail. Then Du Rose had another plan. He held a news conference where he announced that he list

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Jan 3, 2017
Horror Fuel

The Grimm Sleeper – A Modern Serial Killer

I have thought about how to close out this year of absolute insanity. So many deaths! Musicians, actors, politicians…nobody was safe from 2016! So I thought that instead of a list of bests or worsts (although those are always fun and interesting) I will focus on the umbrella theme of this year: death. There was a very high profile serial killer sentenced to death this year. I knew nothing about it until researching for this article. He is horrific enough that he will surely join the lore of killers we read about in books and see in film adaptations. His story involves multiple victims, picture-trophies, possible countless other victims, and spreads over three decades. Lonnie David Franklin Jr. was born on August 30, 1952 in California. He was married, had two children and served a term in the U.S. Military. His neighbors described the man as “friendly and quiet” and he would often chat with them as he worked on

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 29, 2016
Horror Fuel

The Little Mermaid – Pain, Love, and Death

Years ago, when I was in school, the entirety of students were shuffled into the gym for a long-forgotten reason, sat down on the hard, wooden floor and “The Little Mermaid” was projected for us all to watch. I think that my favorite part of this Disney version was the singing seagull who walloped through the hit song “Kiss the Girl” with guttural la-la-las until he was physically silenced by the little red crab. I loved the juxtaposition of a happy little tune on a romantic date trying to set the mood for some smooching and this seagull is bellowing in the background just trying to fit in…why is he the only animal in the whole Disney-oceanic world who can’t sing? In this well-known version of this cartoon the foul-singing fowl is painful on the ears, but the original story is filled to the brim with pain and misery. Hans Christian Anderson wrote a tale of a young mermaid who

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 29, 2016
Horror Fuel

SCREAM’ Turned 20: Where Are They Now? Scream 5?

Last week (12/20) SCREAM —also known as the film that made slasher movies scary again— turned the big 2-0. Twenty years later, three sequels and a awesome TV series (which will be getting a season 3 in case you forgot) and now talk of a fourth sequel by the star and famed writer, where do we begin? So if you stood tuned to my articles, I’ve covered everything to do with SCREAM: The TV series, including reviews, recaps and season updates. MTV’s series acted as the final project based around the infamous SCREAM franchise that Horror Master and my idol Wes Craven, was attached to before his shocking and untimely death in 2015. Craven stood as director of the franchise since its 1996 launch with the writing hand of then fresh face Kevin Williamson. With three sequels on hand, Craven sadly couldn’t stay with us long enough to produce any others, but as previously stated he did manage to have

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 27, 2016
Horror Fuel

Krampus: The Christmas Demon

It’s been in vogue the past couple of years to address Santa’s counterpart, Krampus. Cartoon appearances, a few movies (one of which was a major motion picture), t-shirts and sweaters, various other media are all filling up with this Christmas Demon. But, where did he come from? Why did he disappear? And why is he back? So, sit back, get cozy on a chair in your new Christmas pajamas, and let’s explore the legend of this anamorphic demon. The origin time period of Krampus is unknown. Like St. Nicholas, he pre-dates Christianity and has been found in Alpine regions, Austria, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic, he has stretched all through Europe and around the world. It seems, however, that his origins are in Norse folklore. The daughter of Loki (yup, Thor’s brother) is named Hel and oversees the land of the dead. Legend is it that she bore a son to an unknown father who she named Krampus

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 27, 2016
Horror Fuel

Suspension of Disbelief in Film Dysmorphia

Suspension of Disbelief? Sit through this annoying video up until the 5:00 mark. The fan boy “host” in the above video talks in attention deficit tweets. The video uses jump cut “hip” editing to spill out unabashed respect and love for the CGI technique that brought Peter Cushing back from the grave in “Rogue One.” He spends the first five minutes elaborating on the incredible work and effort it took create this digital feat. The “host” proclaims, “I think they pulled it off.” Then, being a true “fan” he takes a swipe at all of the work done by Industrial Light and Magic, effects artist, John Knoll and director Gareth Edwards. “Now Tarkin didn’t look a hundred percent authentic,” the “host” whines, “especially the movement of his mouth, but…he looked better than any other time this has been used.” What movies has this guy made? What has happened to film audiences? In the never ending quest for “realism” in special

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 24, 2016
Horror Fuel

Movie Review: The Snare is a Twisted Cinematic Trap

While watching the opening moments of The Snare, it was easy to see that the tone of the film was going to be grim. Beginning on a completely black screen with shrill ominous chords playing in the background, it then cuts to several shots of an overgrown and neglected cemetery strewn with grey tombstones. Then it transitions to a shot of a big black spider on a branch before ending on a final sequence of shots showing a dead and decaying rabbit infested with maggots and flies. Yeah, I felt this was a pretty good indication of a rather bleak story. The story in question actually centers on a sullen and morbid young woman named Alice. She lives with her father, with whom she appears to have, at best, an awkward relationship. For the weekend she will be joining her friend Lizzy and her boyfriend Carl on a trip to a coastal town. Lizzy’s dad is an estate agent and

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 20, 2016
Horror Fuel

The Michigan Massacre

The largest mass murder in the history of the state of Michigan is a truly horrific and unique tale. Nearly 7,000 miners went on strike in Calumet, Michigan. Their strike demands were simple: increased wages, no more child labor, and safer conditions (including support beams in the mines to prevent cave-ins). The response was a stalwart “NO” because support beams were expensive and dead miners “cost nothing.” The strike had been going on for six months by the time Christmas came around and the out-of-work families decided to have a massive, community Christmas party. 500 children and 200 adults ascended the long, steep staircase at the only entrance and packed in to the upstairs of the Calumet’s Italian Hall on Christmas Eve, 1913. As the party started to wind down late at night, the children gathered at the stage to receive what would surely be their only gift that year. Just then, a man described only as wearing Citizen’s Alliance

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 18, 2016
Horror Fuel

Cinderella…The Real Story

Most people know the story of Cinderella. Poor orphaned girl with step-mother and even worse-step sisters who woos the dreamy prince charming at a ball in a dress crafted by whimsical animals and a fairy godmother. We know about the glass slipper and the stroke of midnight. We know about the happily ever after. However, like most fairy tales, the real story written by the Grimm brothers is much darker. There is no stroke of midnight, no dimwitted mice, and no bibbity-boppity-boo. So here it goes. Cinderella is not the real name of the protagonist. We never know her name (or anyone else’s in the tale). The story starts with her mother’s last words before dying of an unknown illness encouraging her daughter to always be good and kind. The loss of her mother breaks poor Cinderella and she spends each day at her mother’s grave. After a year, her father marries a woman who brings two daughters into the

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 17, 2016
Horror Fuel

Fa-la-la-la-la….La-la-la-Lawson….The Christmas Family Murders

1929 was a rough year. The stock markets crashed and it was the genesis of the dreaded dirty thirties. Many people had their lives ripped apart, but on Christmas Day, the Lawson family had their lives ripped away…by their own father. Charlie Lawson (age 43) his wife, Fanny (age 37) and their seven children, Marie (age 17), Arthur (age 16), Carrie (age 12), Maybell (age 7) James (age 4) Raymond, (age 2) and Mary Lou (age 4 months) had a large family on a failing tobacco farm in North Carolina. A few days before Christmas, Charley took his family to town and and used what little funds they had to buy new clothes and get a, now famous, family portrait. This action has led many to believe that his actions were pre-meditated as opposed to a spur of the moment psychotic break. First on the familial hit list were daughters Carrie and Maybell. They were murdered with a shot gun

Continue reading →
Capt McNeely
Dec 17, 2016
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