The Saturday Night Horror Show was a weekly event in my childhood.
- Monsters – the Creature Feature
- Tales from the Darkside – The Morality Play
- Friday the 13th: The Series – the Occult & Supernatural
- Freddy’s Nightmares – the Slasher
Friday the 13th: The Series continues to this day to inspire Dark Arcanum. Two adult cousins and their mentor faced death and hidden terrors every week in order to save others. A common theme ran through the entire series.
Freddy’s Nightmares was the crown jewel of this weekly event. A number of episodes, incidentally, were directed by a man named William Malone. He would go on to direct some of the movies that tapped into my adult fears I would grow up to become a huge fan of his.
The Saturday night horror shows were fun. They were never too explicit, instead depending on the dread of the unknown to carry their messages. They were concise stories, wrapped up before the next one started.
As of late, I have come to feel as though too much horror is too dependent upon the loins, and not enough on the true unknown. It feels as if writers are clambering over themselves to break new taboos rather than create any work of real horror.
Half of the philosophy of Dark Arcanum is a return to that fun state of horror. While I am certainly guilty of colorful language, those nights crowded around my brother’s 12” black & white television screen are fiercely influential on this project.
There is a second philosophy that began with The Iron Doll. This philosophy creeps its way into every episode, not entirely unlike any of the horror series listed above. There is a trinity of forces at work, with tarot cards serving as one of many bridges between the two extremes.
In this regard I serve as the reckless storyteller from old EC horror comics and as the occultist mentor found in Jack Marshak.
The philosophy, as such, is as much philosophical as it is fun. As I tell stories and you listen, this philosophy will become more apparent.
