halloween09

We've got all sorts of fun new things planned for Horror Squad this October (especially once I manage to wander my way home from the movie geek heaven that is Fantastic Fest), but one thing we'd like to kick-start today is the 31 Fates Worse Than Death feature. Yep, every day this month we will offer up a cinematic fate worse than death. To illustrate what I'm talking about, we'll start with...

31. The fate of Anton Bartok in Chris Walas' 1989 horror film The Fly 2.

It basically goes like this: He's the puppet-master behind a nefarious corporation that does horrible things to people like Martin Brundle (Eric Stoltz) and Beth Logan (Daphne Zuniga). I mean ... truly horrible things. If you've seen the film, then you know how evil Bartok (Lee Richardson) is, but ... man oh man does he pay for his evilness in a stunningly cold-hearted way.

I'm not sure which of the flick's four screenwriters (Mick Garris, Frank Darabont, and Ken & Jim Wheat) came up with the horrific capper, but here it is: The head baddie gets "morphed" together with a sickly dog ... and is forced to eat slop. It's both ridiculous and oddly haunting, and therefore a perfect choice for our first official Horror Squad "Fate Worse Than Death"!

By: Kevin Kelly

If you're a fan of the classic Universal Studios movie monsters, including Dracula, Frankenstein, the Werewolf, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Mummy, and more, then you've probably found yourself haunted by a severe lack of ginormous books that focus on your obsession. With Halloween just around the corner, Michael Mallory's Universal Studios Monsters: A Legacy of Horror arrives just in time.

It's chock full of over 300 black and white and 25 color behind-the-scenes photos, original movie posters, publicity shots, and articles from people like James Whale (director of Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and many more), makeup marvel Jack P. Piece, FX man John Fulton, and more. It's officially endorsed by the studio, so I'm not sure if this will be the Bela Lugosi tell-all expose that you're looking for.

The whole package is 252 pages long, and at 9" by 12 ", it can double as a blunt object if you need to brain anyone. Check out an exclusive pic from the book just after the break.