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MOVE OVER, KRAMPUS: Meet Perchta, the Belly-Slitter!

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Written by Dr. Jose

There is perhaps no better-known Christmastime monster than Krampus, the half-goat, half-demon from Germanic folklore who punishes the children who were bad during the holiday season. He is the anti-Santa. (Anti Claus, if you wanna get cute about it.) He’s big, has horns, and he’s terrifying. Most people are probably familiar with those creepy turn of the century greeting cards that feature him scaring tots while wagging a big, red tongue.

But did you know he has a female equivalent? Her name is Perchta, and I’m here to tell you: she is far, far more scary than Krampus – in fact, she’s downright horrifying.

Hailing from the same West Germanic folklore as Krampus, Perchta has embodied many interpretations over the centuries. In traditional narratives, she was the goddess of Alpine paganism. She was closely associated with the Wild Hunt – a myth involving elves, fairies, and the dead – which spelled certain doom for anyone who witnessed it. Under the designation Frau Perchta, she was thought to be something far more innocuous: a white-robed goddess who oversaw spinning and weaving. However, contemporary culture has rebranded her as something a bit more insidious: a “rewarder of the generous, and the punisher of the bad, particularly lying children“.

Her physical description varies, though none of it pleasant: occasionally she’s been described as an old woman with a very wrinkled face, hook nose, and disheveled appearance. Other times, she’s a shape-shifting beast, with one foot bigger than the other. Perhaps most creepy of all, she’s been described as having two faces: a nice expression for the good children, and a wretched one for the bad.

What really sets her apart from Krampus is her punishment of the naughty ones. Krampus delivered coal and sticks to the children he thought were bad. Perchta? Well…

If you were good, you had nothing to worry about. Come the 12th night of Christmas, Perchta would sneak into the homes of everyone who had been good and worked hard that year and would leave a small silver coin for them. Those who’d been bad, however, would have their bellies slit open – their organs would be removed and replaced with dirt, pebbles, and straw. She also slit open the bellies of those who didn’t feast enough during the holidays; if you weren’t eating, drinking, and being merry, then you were in direct violation of not invoking the holiday spirit and therefore at risk of a slit. And if slitting bellies wasn’t bad enough, she was also known to boil the female yarn-spinners who didn’t get their work done.

Suddenly, coal and sticks don’t sound like such a bad punishment.

These days, Krampus and Perchta have become almost interchangeable, mostly due to the well-known Alpine celebration Krampuslauf (“Krampus run”), the wintertime event where men dress as Krampus and parade through town. Perchta is often also represented during Krampuslauf, but is usually seen wearing very similar attire or almost identical masks to that of Krampus.

If I were them, I’d give Perchta her own distinction. Otherwise, she might get mad. And I wouldn’t want to be on her bad side.

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New ‘MaXXXine’ Image is Pure 80s Costume Core

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A24 has unveiled a captivating new image of Mia Goth in her role as the titular character in “MaXXXine”. This release comes approximately a year and a half after the previous installment in Ti West’s expansive horror saga, which covers more than seven decades.

MaXXXine Official Trailer

His latest continues the story arc of freckle-faced aspiring starlet Maxine Minx from the first film X which took place in Texas in 1979. With stars in her eyes and blood on her hands, Maxine moves into a new decade and a new city, Hollywood, in pursuit of an acting career, “But as a mysterious killer stalks the starlets of Hollywood, a trail of blood threatens to reveal her sinister past.”

The photo below is the latest snapshot released from the film and shows Maxine in full Thunderdome drag amid a crowd of teased hair and rebellious 80s fashion.

MaXXXine is set to open in theaters on July 5.

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Netflix Releases First BTS ‘Fear Street: Prom Queen’ Footage

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It’s been three long years since Netflix unleashed the bloody, but enjoyable Fear Street on its platform. Released in a tryptic fashion, the streamer broke up the story into three episodes, each taking place in a different decade which by the finale were all tied together.

Now, the streamer is in production for its sequel Fear Street: Prom Queen which brings the story into the 80s. Netflix gives a synopsis of what to expect from Prom Queen on their blog site Tudum:

“Welcome back to Shadyside. In this next installment of the blood-soaked Fear Street franchise, prom season at Shadyside High is underway and the school’s wolfpack of It Girls is busy with its usual sweet and vicious campaigns for the crown. But when a gutsy outsider is unexpectedly nominated to the court, and the other girls start mysteriously disappearing, the class of ’88 is suddenly in for one hell of a prom night.” 

Based on R.L. Stine’s massive series of Fear Street novels and spin-offs, this chapter is number 15 in the series and was published in 1992.

Fear Street: Prom Queen features a killer ensemble cast, including India Fowler (The Nevers, Insomnia), Suzanna Son (Red Rocket, The Idol), Fina Strazza (Paper Girls, Above the Shadows), David Iacono (The Summer I Turned Pretty, Cinnamon), Ella Rubin (The Idea of You), Chris Klein (Sweet Magnolias, American Pie), Lili Taylor (Outer Range, Manhunt) and Katherine Waterston (The End We Start From, Perry Mason).

No word on when Netflix will drop the series into its catalog.

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Live Action Scooby-Doo Reboot Series In Works at Netflix

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Scooby Doo Live Action Netflix

The ghosthunting Great Dane with an anxiety problem, Scooby-Doo, is getting a reboot and Netflix is picking up the tab. Variety is reporting that the iconic show is becoming an hour-long series for the streamer although no details have been confirmed. In fact, Netflix execs declined to comment.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

If the project is a go, this would be the first live-action movie based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon since 2018’s Daphne & Velma. Before that, there were two theatrical live-action movies, Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004), then two sequels that premiered on The Cartoon Network.

Currently, the adult-oriented Velma is streaming on Max.

Scooby-Doo originated in 1969 under the creative team Hanna-Barbera. The cartoon follows a group of teenagers who investigate supernatural happenings. Known as Mystery Inc., the crew consists of Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and his best friend, a talking dog named Scooby-Doo.

Scooby-Doo

Normally the episodes revealed the hauntings they encountered were hoaxes developed by land-owners or other nefarious characters hoping to scare people away from their properties. The original TV series named Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! ran from 1969 to 1986. It was so successful that movie stars and pop culture icons would make guest appearances as themselves in the series.

Celebrities such as Sonny & Cher, KISS, Don Knotts, and The Harlem Globetrotters made cameos as did Vincent Price who portrayed Vincent Van Ghoul in a few episodes.

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