Vampire Instructionals- Back To His Crypt

Some weeks ago, we introduced Mad Lab fans to our little creation, a wee vampire kid who did his best to school other vampire kids in the ways of the blood sucker.

Each episode saw the little guy choosing a "How To" topic, that ranged from "How To Turn Into A Bat" to "How To Drink You-Know-What". He even covered a subject that few non-vampires realize is very important to these creatures of the night: DANCING.

For that important topic, the little guy took his time and warmed it up, over THREE episodes.

The clips were very fun to make, and we had some great feedback. And they featured the great voice talent of young Marco Bertolo, who may very well have a long career as a cartoon voice actor ahead of him, now that he's cut his teeth in cartoon land (his vampire teeth, that is).

We hope you've enjoyed this run, and in time we hope to bring the little guy out of his crypt for more cartoon adventures. Maybe we'll team him up with other monster kids, or send him on some serious world-saving adventures (after sundown, of course). Time will tell!

In the meantime, if you haven't watched them all, here's the latest- "How To Drink You-Know-What".





See you soon, little vampire! Have a nice nap. We'll be careful when we wake you up next-  you're liable to be pretty thirsty.

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

"Classic" is thrown around very loosely, but we sincerely mean it as our shivery fingers type today...

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark was written by Alvin Schwartz and published in 1981. It's a collection of urban legends, myths, and generally weird stories gathered largely from American folklore. The stories are direct and chilling.

But what many recall from this book are the illustrations, by Stephen Gammell. Can you imagine a collection of stories for kids being published today that are as disturbing as these? Nope. But in part, that is what made the 80s the 80s- "kids stuff" had real bite.

And these images STUCK. Show the above image to an entire generation, and they'll cover their eyes! But then- peek out to see it again... and again. Remarkable.

If you don't have a copy of this book, you can get one cheap via Amazon. It's exactly the right book for this time of year: chilling, unnerving... and wonderful.

Pipes- Ghostwatch

The gloves come off now... things get truly spooky as we get closer to the 31st.

Do you know Pipes, who haunted a British family? The ghost was featured on British TV some years ago, on a Halloween program called Ghost Watch.

That program lives on, in what many call the scariest event in British television.

We leave it to YOU to find out more... but this clip will get you started...

Dr. Tongue's Evil House of Wax

October is upon us! It's the month of spooky spookiness, and chilling chillingness.

Here at Mad Lab, we usually try to mix a bit of humour with our horror. To a large extend we trace it back to things we loved growing up. Things like The Muppet Show (when Alice Cooper and Vincent Price appeared), and The Hilarious House of Frightenstein, a locally-produced television show that went for chills and laughs.

As kids, we loved being chilled by this stuff, but even as we found it spooky, we also knew it was for fun. That mix of fun and scary is a wonderful thing.

So check this out: the still-amazing SCTV crew, doing their own version of 3D horror.

We humbly propose that it doesn't get much better than this.

Enjoy!

Vampire Instructionals

If you are a fan of Mad Lab Productions, you probably know that just yesterday we launched a little mini-series called VAMPIRE INSTRUCTIONALS. The first episode is called HOW TO BECOME A BAT.  

The premise is a very simple and direct one: a kid vampire takes it upon himself (itself?) to create little instructional animations to school OTHER kid vampires on key aspects of vampire life (unlife?)

With the first episode only being online for 1 day (as of writing this), we have nearly 100 views. Considering we're a small company who is just promoting this via our own FB page and Twitter, and doing it in a fairly quiet way (since the series is just a cute little thing, not some big blockbuster project), that's not bad at all. The clip is getting around, and people are watching. Thank you, internets.

So things are good, but there is ONE area that's proving to be a bit of a challenge. It's a tricky situation, but there's no way around it. It's sure to be an ongoing issue, but what can we do? We made our bed (coffin?) and now we have to lie in it. The challenge is: dealing with this little vampire we have making these things.

Catching him (it?) was the first trick. Never underestimate the fangs of vampire, even a little one. And working within his hours of productivity was the next hurdle. That kid is a night-owl, to say the least.

But he's clever, and other little vampires seem to be able to relate to his (its?) take on things...and the little critter has a pretty good sense of humour.

He (it?) doesn't bite- as long as you keep his fridge stocked with the red stuff.

And we DON'T mean Kool-Aid.

So let us know what you think, and be sure to check our YouTube Channel next Monday, for Episode 2. Here is Episode 1- HOW TO BECOME A BAT:

We're moving (ok, reposting) our short zombie films on YouTube. Check it out, and please offer us comments on our YouTube channel, because we're really trying to build a name for ourselves on our channel. On that channel, we'll soon be posting other short films that we've done in the past, AND new content that will be regularly updated. Thanks for watching!