tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62394156308668191452024-02-18T19:04:08.336-08:00Dead In The SouthIf you are looking for ill-informed and grammatically troubled posts about horror in media, this is the place for you.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.comBlogger725125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-5635345856607385922013-10-07T13:48:00.002-07:002013-10-07T13:48:47.649-07:00John Hornor Jacobs Invades RedditOne of the best horror writers in the business, John Hornor Jacobs (<a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2011/08/southern-gods.html" target="_blank"><i>Southern Gods</i></a>, <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2012/10/this-dark-earth.html" target="_blank"><i>This Dead Earth</i></a>) is currently accumulating questions for an AMA (that's Ask Me Anything for non-redditors) on Reddit. John is not only a writer you should be reading, he is a personal friend. Click <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/horror/comments/1nwv4p/iam_john_hornor_jacobs_horror_fantasy_southern/" target="_blank">here</a> to ask him a question.<br />
.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-14399058483287095602013-09-26T12:24:00.001-07:002013-09-26T12:24:59.956-07:00Fright Night 2<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2JG3w_GyjT5kbVRm8ChpmQrGCrd6Gr4TMqOd1l_6yFdUdLLhLR5slLb3syXwl2b2NaIzAyIpYaXkurXg7GZGgf2F1IXcIAviQ7fS-0D1BTHhsfNPsbJSp1xByfiQtL6MdbGhiflRRLHi/s1600/Fright-Night-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp2JG3w_GyjT5kbVRm8ChpmQrGCrd6Gr4TMqOd1l_6yFdUdLLhLR5slLb3syXwl2b2NaIzAyIpYaXkurXg7GZGgf2F1IXcIAviQ7fS-0D1BTHhsfNPsbJSp1xByfiQtL6MdbGhiflRRLHi/s1600/Fright-Night-2.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a>A most unusual sequel.<br />
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Generally speaking, we expect sequels to carry on the story line from the preceding movie, or at least the general tone or spirit. While<i> Fright Night 2</i> is ostensibly a sequel to 2011’s remake, it really is as much of a remake as the last one was. The characters of Charlie, Amy, Peter Vincent, and Evil Ed return (despite Evil Ed’s demise) without any knowledge of vampires or the events of the first film, and Jerry the vampire is now Gerri the vampire, and female. Curious. As near as I can remember, it doesn’t have anything to do with <i>Fright Night Part 2,</i> the original sequel to the original film.<br />
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Charlie (Will Payne), Evil Ed (Chris Waller), and Amy (Sacha Parkinson) are American university students (all played by British actors, of course) whose class has gone to Romania for a course, field trip or something else. Not exactly sure on that one. Their professor is the sexy Gerri Dandridge (Jaime Murray), and Charlie spies her one night from a window dining on a young woman. Gerri is a vampire! He tries to convince Amy and Evil of this, but they haven’t seen the previous <i>Fright Nights</i>, so they are hard to convince. Eventually Evil comes around, and suggests they consult Peter Vincent (Sean Power), the famous host of a ghost-hunting reality TV show, who just happens to be in Bucharest. Vincent scoffs at them and tells them vampires aren’t real.<br />
The plot plays out pretty much in the same fashion as the original and remake of Fright Night. The major change is Gerri is Countess Elisabeth Bathory, and that Amy turns out to be a virgin born at midnight during a blood moon, whose blood can either turn a vampire human or allow them to walk in the daylight. Gerri wants Amy, Charlie wants to save Amy, things work out for Evil Ed as well as you’d expect, etc., etc.<br />
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The movie is barely passable for a straight-to-dvd feature. The movie lacks the humor which helped elevate the first two versions of the movie, and suffers for it. The actors are competent but bland with the exception of Jaime Murray, who really, um, bites into her role. This one is for hardcore vampire movie fans and those who can’t bear to miss a sequel, even if the sequel to a remake is really a remake itself.<br />
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<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-88900044388106377262013-02-02T12:50:00.004-08:002013-02-02T12:50:54.027-08:00GNOH Interviews Nicholas Vince<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My friend Jim McLeod has an <a href="http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com/2013/01/interview-nicholas-vince-chattering.html" target="_blank">interview up with Nicholas Vince,</a> who played the Chattering Cenobite in the film adaptations of<i> Hellraiser</i> and has now turned his attention to writing horror stories. Jim's site, <a href="http://thegingernutcase.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Ginger Nuts of Horror</a>, is a must-read on a regular basis, and this interview does not disappoint. Check it out.<br />
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KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-75223510792406911922013-01-24T13:31:00.002-08:002013-01-24T13:31:18.195-08:00WITA # 6: Hans-Åke Lilja<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6YgWZffgIh4hI4RAds7zGd37rZRyhUOE_XAPVVuiCgTZ7-I1tDtJq6v50M9u8_11IyPEzERwhVxY7rRAlqHce9L4cZPJx517eO99zOaZPDUw0K4DmfTYJjACy16cI2kbBihV-N2JH0JbU/s1600/lilja01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6YgWZffgIh4hI4RAds7zGd37rZRyhUOE_XAPVVuiCgTZ7-I1tDtJq6v50M9u8_11IyPEzERwhVxY7rRAlqHce9L4cZPJx517eO99zOaZPDUw0K4DmfTYJjACy16cI2kbBihV-N2JH0JbU/s1600/lilja01.jpg" height="320" width="212" /></a>Continuing to re-print some of these old interviews I did for Cemetery Dance in the We Interrupt This Author series, here is a brief talk with <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Hans-Åke Lilja, who is one of the chief chroniclers of Stephen King's writing career. This interview is reprinted courtesy of Cemetery Dance, on whose website it appeared on August 16, 2010. As always, the material is a little dated.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">For over thirty years, Stephen King has been the dean of horror writers, and arguably, his biggest fan is Hans-Åke Lilja, the proprietor of the Lilja’s Library website at <a href="http://www.liljas-library.com/">http://www.liljas-library.com/</a>. Mr. Lilja has collectd the information acquired over many years into a new book from Cemetery Dance called <i>Lilja’s Library: The World of Stephen King</i>, available now, and illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne. It will stand as one of the great resources for information about Mr. King’s life and work, and Mr. Lilja was kind enough to talk with us about the book and about himself.<br /><br />Dead In The South - So, your book from Cemetery Dance is called <i>Lilja’s Library: The World of Stephen King</i>. Tell us about it.<br /><br />Hans-Åke Lilja - It’s a collection of the reviews and interviews I had done for the site up till mid 2008 as well as some I did exclusively for the book. It’s a version of the site that you can read in bed. It also has a very nice intro by Bev Vincent and an interview (also by Bev) with me about the site.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />DITS - You are one of if not the biggest of all Stephen King fans. What is it about his work that speaks to you?<br /><br />H-AL - The main thing is that he can tell a story really well. He makes you feel for the characters. He makes you care about them. He makes you feel like you know them. And on top of that he also has the ability to take something really ordinary and turn it into something scary, in a believable way. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />DITS - How long have you been a Stephen King fan, and what got you started?<br /><br />H-AL - I have been a fan since the mid 80’s when I got a copy of <i>Carrie</i> for Christmas. I got hooked and read everything he had written after that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />DITS - Since you have knowledge of Mr. King’s work I can only envy, what is your favorite or favorites among his many books and stories?<br /><br />H-AL - Oh, that is the hard one! I can’t pick just one. I really love <i>The Long Walk</i> which also shows King’s ability to create great characters. Who else could write a book about people walking? I also love <i>The Dark Tower, The Stand, IT </i>and <i>The Talisman</i>. Of the shorter works I really like “Secret Garden, Secret Window” and “Survival Type”.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQfDpD6ftJURrQRFRf6yCjWhVMKeDSZ4NYTOf9fsrBLON1tBtThwYM0hyphenhyphenu6BKEvx0R9M8Y1uewXS_XLFx8SJfVhpKi72pdE-cgtikh1xI2xE3779Rg85jeXp7RDhqgcms7SXjgjHo1N1j/s1600/liljaking2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzQfDpD6ftJURrQRFRf6yCjWhVMKeDSZ4NYTOf9fsrBLON1tBtThwYM0hyphenhyphenu6BKEvx0R9M8Y1uewXS_XLFx8SJfVhpKi72pdE-cgtikh1xI2xE3779Rg85jeXp7RDhqgcms7SXjgjHo1N1j/s1600/liljaking2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>King and Lilja</i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />DITS - Over the years, there have been many projects in connection with King announced that never saw the light of day, books that were never completed and movies that were never filmed. If you could wish just one of these projects into existence, what would it be?<br /><br />H-AL - That’s easy. I would love to see the animated movie version of <i>Eyes of The Dragon</i> that was planned some years ago. And if it were to be done today it would probably be even better since the technique is so much better. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />DITS - Do you have any ambitions to write fiction yourself?<br /><br />H-AL - No. Unfortunately I have no skills for writing stories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />DITS - Now that this monumental task is completed and the book is out, what is next up for Hans-Ake Lilja?<br /><br />H-AL - I’m part of another book coming out next year called <i>The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Trivia Book</i> that I co-wrote with Brian Freeman and Kevin Quigley. It’s a quiz book about almost every King movie done. It’s also beautifully illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne.<br /><br />After that I really don’t know. I’d love to do another book about King but I need to find something that hasn’t already been written about and that isn’t as easy as one might thing… I will also keep the site going and I have some plans for it that I hope to be able to realize.<br /><br /><br /></span>KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-83612588783157799992013-01-22T14:43:00.004-08:002013-01-22T14:44:52.555-08:00The Breed (2006)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM1XtLGP5esMNhNsYIyx98TeHcYkrUfwYgXLfmZSRo4dSQKlWvbBVQubPblTTo9QqBGSJfhi4kFIf54KCD88RMmH4L_MO538j2R1W-DtoQ98rEy_KLSt-7hwcnMbFk-LQGGdNt4XuBnVtw/s1600/The-Breed-2005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM1XtLGP5esMNhNsYIyx98TeHcYkrUfwYgXLfmZSRo4dSQKlWvbBVQubPblTTo9QqBGSJfhi4kFIf54KCD88RMmH4L_MO538j2R1W-DtoQ98rEy_KLSt-7hwcnMbFk-LQGGdNt4XuBnVtw/s1600/The-Breed-2005.jpg" height="320" width="226" /></a>Although I have a soft spot for all sorts of creature features, I run into a bit of a personal problem when said creatures turn out to be dogs, as I tend to like dogs a lot more than people. In my entire life, I have only met one or two dogs I didn’t get along with; while the number of people I haven’t liked is {supercomputer is busy calculating this}. Anyway, on to <i>The Breed.</i><br />
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After a short introduction of a couple docking their sailboat on an island and getting attacked by dogs, we see a seaplane loaded with five twenty-somethings. They are two couples and their Token Black Friend. TBK is doomed of course, because black guys in horror movies don’t last as long as a drummer for Spinal Tap. The two white guys are brothers, with the younger one a high-achiever who is going to medical school and the older the ne-er-do-well of the family. This is a setup for conflict between the two, but since the older brothers is surprisingly competent, it isn’t as much of a contrast as the filmmakers intended. The other two are the girlfriends, one played by Michelle Rodriquez, which immediately started me to speculating about when and how she would die. Rodriquez is the distaff version of Sean Bean, rarely making it to the closing credits with a pulse.<br />
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The five are flying to the remote island for a holiday, because the two brothers inherited a house there from a recently deceased uncle. I was having trouble identifying with them, since the only thing I’ve inherited from an uncle was a pair of old boots. The only other building on the island is an abandoned facility where they experimented on dogs, supposedly shut down because all the dogs got rabies and had to be destroyed. Not giving anything away if you looked at the picture of the movie poster above, but group is soon under attack by a pack of feral dogs and trapped in the cabin, where they try to outwit the fidos and escape. It seems that the experiments performed on them made the dogs super aggressive and super intelligent, although there must be limits since they haven’t invented rocket launchers or anything.<br />
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There is something of a subplot about those characters that have been bitten and survived becoming more aggressive and losing control, as if the bites had given them rabies or maybe just made them irritable at being gnawed on by Lassie, but this goes nowhere at all. Maybe they were saving that for <i>The Breed 2.</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbyfYph8C9E9t6ABlsuIT0gayE7uYEwM7ybMHjiPbceBkorZq8pgTGv4bYgtVpM-HBhR4J4Ki8EhVqFHVDYu-u9z1nE0YeKCPEmArYDzFnDikl4mtrwWuXgmotoeNqOs3QmHbqmf8ElyN/s1600/The-Breed-2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHbyfYph8C9E9t6ABlsuIT0gayE7uYEwM7ybMHjiPbceBkorZq8pgTGv4bYgtVpM-HBhR4J4Ki8EhVqFHVDYu-u9z1nE0YeKCPEmArYDzFnDikl4mtrwWuXgmotoeNqOs3QmHbqmf8ElyN/s1600/The-Breed-2.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A tense scene from the movie, showing the cast being attacked by one of the killer dogs.</i></td></tr>
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Anyway, both acting and direction are competent, with only a few fast cutaways needed to conceal vicious dogs wagging their tails and sporting doggie smiles. The script isn’t particularly dumb by the low standards of this sort of movie. The scenery is nice (It was filmed in South Africa). I suppose the final judgment on the movie is that it is a perfectly bland, middle of the road horror-thriller. There is nothing much to recommend it or trash it. If you are in the mood for this sort of thing and have nothing else to watch, it will pass the time well enough, I suppose.<br />
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The moral of the movie’s story is always carry bags of Milk Bones on your vacation. You will make friends with the murderous dogs, and they’ll eat your friends instead.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-59542804828632926682013-01-17T12:42:00.000-08:002013-01-17T12:42:06.694-08:00The Fog (2005)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1F1OLYy7ZNYvWUQVbgvgtdQ80FFW2THMAWdtVqGYxKm43g7p8OLBI7bQ_hBm2rO27c7oM1GiwmtRXswrhZcS61297V6v1uX99c7sePwkKOmOEtTn5RgLRbo0leVRjre65ESkBbuaLd3u/s1600/Fog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih1F1OLYy7ZNYvWUQVbgvgtdQ80FFW2THMAWdtVqGYxKm43g7p8OLBI7bQ_hBm2rO27c7oM1GiwmtRXswrhZcS61297V6v1uX99c7sePwkKOmOEtTn5RgLRbo0leVRjre65ESkBbuaLd3u/s1600/Fog.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a>Way back in the aughts (You remember those. No? They ended three years ago! Fewer drugs, dude.) there was a mini-wave of remaking horror films from the 70s/80s. <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-original.html" target="_blank"><i>Halloween</i></a>, <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2009/02/friday-13th-2009.html" target="_blank"><i>Friday the 13th</i></a>, <i>Nightmare on Elm Street </i>and Arthur all got remakes, with enough success to encourage studios to keep doing it.<br /><br />John Carpenter’s 1980 film <i>The Fog</i> was a fairly obvious choice to be remade. Successful at the time, it isn’t held in quite the same reverence as some of his better-known films, and Carpenter himself has said is feels dated. So, cast some good looking young TV stars, use modern special effects and it couldn’t go wrong. Right? Oy…<br /><br />Nick Castle (Tom Welling, <i>Smallville</i>) owns a charter fishing boat harbored in Antonio Bay, Oregon. Despite the name, Antonio Bay is a small island off the coast of Oregon. He takes fisherman out for brief excursions with his completely incompetent mate Spooner. We only get to know Spooner briefly, but in that short time he manages to almost capsize the boat with the anchor winch and ignores the small matter of engine trouble at sea. Gilligan was better. One day, Nick and Spooner are floating along when they snag their anchor, disturbing a small bag. This is significant because…I guess because that’s how the movie starts.<br /><br />Back on shore, we learn there is tension in the town between young entrepreneurs like Nick, who want the town to spend to upgrade the marina, and the older generation who spent the funds on a statue of the four founding fathers of the town. This is supposed to be a heated controversy, but neither Nick nor the town elders seem to be able to work up much enthusiasm for the fight. The timing is crucial, since this is the 100th anniversary of the town’s founding in 1871. Wait, when is this movie set? 2005? But…Try not to think about it.<br /><br />Nick has an old girlfriend Elizabeth (Maggie Grace, <i>Taken</i>) who has been gone to New York for a while, and a new girlfriend Stevie Wayne (Selma Blair, <i>Hellboy</i>) who is the owner and sole operator of the town’s radio station. Nick is surprised when he picks up a female hitchhiker late at night (in a creepy don’t-get-in-the-truck way) and finds it is Elizabeth, who has apparently walked back to Oregon from New York. This would seem to trigger a heated lovers’ triangle, but none of the three can work up much interest. Stevie has a son, whose purpose is to be put in danger.<br /><br />Meanwhile, disturbing that bag (or possibly the 100th/134th anniversary thing, or sunspots or something) has triggered a strange fog that darts in and out, hence the name of the movie. The fog is filled with ghosts, who murder people indiscriminately and really hate streetlamps. It seems that in 1871, there was another mythical Oregon island with a prosperous trading colony. Through trade with China, they all caught leprosy. That isn’t how leprosy works, but whatever. Cast out from their island (by who?) they search for a new home. The good founding fathers of Antonio Bay promise them half the island, but rob them, lock them on their boat and burn them alive instead, and use the stolen wealth to build the town. This does seem like the way to get a monument to yourself, judging by history. Rather than take their revenge on those who actually wronged them, the ghostly lepers wait a century or more to punish the relatively innocent descendants and unconnected people living in modern Antonio Bay.<br />
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<br />There is also a drunken priest who wanders around misquoting the Bible, various impalements, and a lot of broken streetlamps. I don’t reveal the ending of movies so as not to spoil them for those who haven’t seen the film, but in this case I don’t understand it anyway. Something happens, but who knows why.<br /><br />The actors are good looking but uninspired. Even Ms. Blair, who is normally an interesting actress, looks like she wishes she were somewhere else. The direction is flat. The modern special effects don’t really look as good as the 1980 version. There really isn’t anything about which to recommend this movie.<br /><br />My favorite anecdote related to this movie is the director insisted that Selma Blair, a petite woman, wear formidable falsies in her role. Why? The role of Stevie in the original version was played by carpenter’s then-wife Adrienne Barbeau, who was fairly busty. Again, why? This is apparently yet another mystery of <i>The Fog</i>.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-12840242633973296122013-01-17T09:52:00.004-08:002013-01-17T09:52:47.291-08:00WITA #5: Al Sarrantonio<br />
I am continuing to put these old interviews from my column <i>We Interrupt This Author </i>back on-line, courtesy of Cemetery Dance, on whose website this first appeared on August 3, 2010. I feel they may be of interest to some, although the material in them is obviously dated. Thanks to CD for allowing the re-publication of these pieces.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPUpoH06WVZvCs1qXyoltJBDJwKd3z1aaiKD5MgOkdQ_OARJPSjpQ3P0oVlqDpcPtJ1cyx75yXCiNrRr7hSdyhFi9U5u42aENxLKi03-5cb6c1_YXHMMMqQXyw-YZ7yNSO8t5ZseV1nBT/s1600/Orangefield.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoPUpoH06WVZvCs1qXyoltJBDJwKd3z1aaiKD5MgOkdQ_OARJPSjpQ3P0oVlqDpcPtJ1cyx75yXCiNrRr7hSdyhFi9U5u42aENxLKi03-5cb6c1_YXHMMMqQXyw-YZ7yNSO8t5ZseV1nBT/s1600/Orangefield.jpg" height="320" width="210" /></a><b>Dead In The South</b>: Your latest book from Cemetery Dance is <i>Halloween: New Poems</i>. Tell us a little about it.<br /><br /><b>Al Sarrantonio</b>: The goal with this one was simple: to put together a book of brand-new poems about Halloween, something that's never been done before. Luckily for me, everyone I asked came through. I even persuaded Joe Lansdale to write some poetry -- something he'd never done before! And, being Joe, he not only did a great job, but he managed to imbue his half-dozen contributions with the same edge he shows in his fiction. And the book ended up exceeding my hopes as far as format goes -- oversized, beautiful cover art by Alan Clark and magnificent interiors by Keith Minnion. These two guys never cease to amaze. I do think anyone who picks up this book will take it down and re-read it every October.<br /><br /><b>DITS</b>: In addition to <i>Halloween Poems</i>, you are also the author of <i>Halloween and Other Seasons</i>, <i>Hallows Eve</i>, <i>Halloweenland</i>, and several other stories with a theme centered on the greatest of holidays. Other than the obvious, what is it about Halloween that attracts you as a writer?<br /><br /><b>AS</b>: Halloween is an iconic time of year, a bridge between hot (summer) and cold (winter) and a hinge on which the entire calender turns. The present children's holiday is fascinating enough, but the ancients were very serious about this time of the year, and infused it with a lot of magic, religious significance, and mysticism. If that ain't fodder for a writer's imagination, I don't know what is.<br /><br /><b>DITS</b>: You recently co-edited <i>Stories</i> with Neil Gaiman, and you are known as one of the best editors of anthologies in the field, with <i>999</i> being high on the list of indispensible horror anthologies. How do you go about making sure that your anthology will stand out from the crowd?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7XxI2EylnOV3ZYloDH0FiFmeNYsyIBKE7ZDzs4VzFlx01nr8PgJpCZE0FLVUdOLkt0_lTXb2PScIDdCEkNVwTsty3o5FQmvpx12hKbmYYcx-DO8v4hraZIyU2xFOnJiGwqOsrwfDhPZc/s1600/999.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjE7XxI2EylnOV3ZYloDH0FiFmeNYsyIBKE7ZDzs4VzFlx01nr8PgJpCZE0FLVUdOLkt0_lTXb2PScIDdCEkNVwTsty3o5FQmvpx12hKbmYYcx-DO8v4hraZIyU2xFOnJiGwqOsrwfDhPZc/s1600/999.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a><br /><br /><b>AS</b>: I don't do anything but my job as an editor, which is to buy the best stories I can get my hands on, and then present them in an order which is pleasing to the reader. Everything else -- and I mean EVERYTHING -- is in the hands of the contributors. I've been extremely fortunate to work with some of the finest writers in the business, and they always seem to come through. Which makes me lucky and happy as hell.<br /><br /><b>DITS: </b> You’ve also written several books in the science fiction field. How do you go about adjusting from a horror mindset to more scientific orientation?<br /><br /><b>AS:</b> It's not much of an adjustment. All of my sf has been of the science fantasy kind, and I manage to mingle some horror elements with the rest of it. Science fiction was my first love, and I just can't let it go. I'm particularly proud of my Five Worlds trilogy, which had a LOT of horror in it. One of the main characters, the Machine Master of Mars, had his lips snipped off by his brother, whose essence is encased in a huge ant-like carapace!<br /><br /><b>DITS: </b> In an age where the short story is increasingly rare compared to the more lucrative novel length, you are one of the few authors who is just as prolific writing short stories and novellas. Do you feel that one length or another better suits your style?<br /><br /><b>AS: </b> I like 'em both, but approach them differently. To me, the short story is an art form with particular demands. Every word counts. Novels provide a broader landscape, and you can wander a bit and stretch out. I'm very serious with short stories. Novel-wise, I tend to smile a bit more.<br /><br /><b>DITS:</b> Finally, what projects lie in the near future for you?<br /><br /><b>AS: </b> Another anthology is in the works, as well as a new Novella Series book from Cemetery Dance (centered on Halloween, of course). New short stories will be popping up here and there, I can never stop writing those. Looks like my story "Pumpkin Head" will be made into a short film in the near future. Perhaps a new novel, which is just beginning to take shape. In other words, more of the same -- which I hope is a good thing!<br /><br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-17492911871003298842013-01-16T14:21:00.002-08:002013-01-16T14:21:55.258-08:00SEAL Team 666<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In <i>SEAL Team 666</i>, Jack Walker is going through the selection process to become a U.S. Navy SEAL, one of the world’s elite Special Forces organizations, when he is graduated early to join an even more exclusive group: SEAL Team 666, a five man (and one dog) team of operators that deal with supernatural threats to the United States. It seems that Jack, due to an incident in his childhood, has the ability to sense supernatural danger, which makes him valuable to the group beyond his basic sniper assignment. Unfortunately for Jack, his spidey sense initially manifests itself as complete paralysis, which could be a problem in combat situations.<br />
<br />Jack has little time to adapt to his new role, as the team is off in pursuit of a Karen rebel in Myanmar who plans to bring forward an ancient demon, controlled by a custom suit of human skin. Casualties among the good guys mount rapidly as time runs out to stop the final ceremony.<br />
<br />Weston Ochse is the author of one of the best novels dealing with the supernatural in the last twenty years, <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2009/02/scarecrow-gods.html" target="_blank"><i>Scarecrow Gods</i></a>, and this is the launch of a new series blending military fiction (think Tom Clancy) with supernatural literature. I don’t think this is as good as <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2009/02/scarecrow-gods.html" target="_blank"><i>Scarecrow Gods</i></a> – there isn’t the depth of characterization found in the earlier novel – but few books are. I think this will be good reading for those looking for a book filled with action and horror. I will certainly look forward to the next book in the series.<br />
<br />Irrelevant trivia: because it is a pet peeve of mine, I was overjoyed to see that Ochse refers to the ammunition storage devices for the rifles used by the SEALs by the correct name of “magazine.” Too many writers use the word “clip”, a mistake they beat out of you in basic training. (Few modern weapons use free-standing clips, although many types of magazines contain clips.)<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-86817321688562751842012-11-14T08:08:00.002-08:002012-11-14T08:08:22.647-08:00Benjamin Kane Ethridge on Collaborative WritingAs part of DarkEva’s blogtour for Benjamin Kane Ethridge’s new book <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2012/11/dungeon-brain.html" target="_blank">Dungeon Brain</a>, Mr. Ethridge graciously agreed to write a guest post. It’s about time we had a little class around this joint.<br />
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Collaborative Writing Dos and Don’ts<br />By Benjamin Kane Ethridge<br /><br />I’m asked often about the writing process, but never the co-writing process. I’ve co-written an epic fantasy novel, two novellas, a handful of short stories and soon I’ll be working with another writer for a shared world anthology meta-story. Now, while I’ve had some experience in splicing a story together it must be said that I am always learning. Every writer is different and every marriage is different. You have to approach it with a measure of caution, common sense and honesty. First off, you need to know thyself. If you’re still trying to figure out how to write something, it might be difficult to work with another—or, it might be just the thing to teach you something about your own process. I’ve prepared three dos and three don’ts for collaboration that should be considered prior to this endeavor.<br /><br />DON’T fight with your partner. Suggest your feelings about the direction of the story. If they don’t see it your way, it’s time to make a decision. Will the effect be devastating or irrevocable? If no, then carry on. If yes, do you want to pull out of the project? That’s your decision and it must be made sooner rather than later. Out of respect to your collaborator, you should do your best to find common ground.<br /><br />DO discuss the trajectory of the story beforehand. It’s okay if you both don’t want to outline, but I suggest at very least knowing what you’re aiming at before you fire the gun.<br /><br />DON’T leave your partner waiting for long periods of time. Everybody has different lives, different schedules and can write at different velocities, but at least attempt to return your work at a similar rate. If he or she writes twice faster than you, then make an effort to increase your own pace a little. That’s the best you can do. I bring this up for the story’s benefit. While advantageous to wait before returning to edit a piece, I don’t believe it’s helpful to halt creation of a story mid-flow. If you dally too long, you might not only throw yourself off, but another person as well.<br /><br />DO keep your partner entertained. There’s nothing better than receiving a new portion of the story that ends on a cliffhanger. It gets the story-mind working. Move the plot along and your partner will be eager to pick up on where you left off.<br /><br />DON’T remove large portions of prose or dialog from your partner’s contributions without careful discussion and justification first. Slipping into the nursery in the dead of night and tossing someone’s baby out the window is way not cool.<br /><br />DO communicate constantly. Try different approaches to see what works. Do you need to finish a chapter? Reach a certain word count? And where? Do you want to end mid-paragraph, sentence, etc? You will find out how easy or how difficult it is to jump back into a moving story. Some writers get stuck and there is nothing wrong with having your collaborator come up to bat early—in fact, that’s what is truly awesome about collaboration, the two heads are better than one deal. As long as you’re honest and keep those lines of communication going, you’ll be surprised at the tales that these unions can produce.<br /><br />About the Author: <a href="http://bkethridge.com/" target="_blank">Benjamin Kane Ethridge</a> is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novel BLACK & ORANGE (Bad Moon Books, 2010). For his master's thesis he wrote, "Causes of Unease: The Rhetoric of Horror Fiction and Film." Available in an ivory tower near you. Benjamin lives in Southern California with his wife and two creatures who possess stunning resemblances to human children. When he isn't writing, reading, videogaming, Benjamin's defending California's waterways and sewers from pollution.<br /><br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-56186283102727125582012-11-06T21:25:00.002-08:002012-11-06T21:25:37.982-08:00Dungeon Brain<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is part of a blog tour organized by the Mistress of Horror herself, the one and only <a href="http://thedarkeva.com/" target="_blank">Dark Eva</a>.<br /><br />I read a lot of books, but it’s a little bit rare to come across one with a truly original concept. Novels tend to recycle the same old tropes, with only the execution to set them apart. I can’t say that about Benjamin Kane Ethridge’s new novel <i>Dungeon Brain,</i> as it definitely took me to unexpected places.<br /><br />When the story begins, June Nilman, whose surname seems quite appropriate, wakes in an abandoned hospital somewhere in a dystopian future. It’s a world devastated by war, where programmed content is fed to the inhabitants through ocular implants. June has a few problems. She suffers from some form of amnesia, but even worse, her brain has apparently been stuffed with myriad other personalities and memories, a sort of punitive schizophrenia. Finding herself in the mental mob is a difficult task. In addition to her psychological obstacles, she has a human nemesis in Maggie, a Nurse Ratched-type character who seems to control the institution as well as a type of alien creature that acts as a sort of security patrol.<br /><br />June needs to escape, and to do so she needs to access the personalities locked in her head, with the danger of being lost inside them. Even if she manages to escape the labyrinthine facility, Maggie, and the creatures, there is no way of knowing things will be better outside her prison.<br /><br /><i>Dungeon Brain</i> is more science fiction than horror, but it is certainly horrifying science fiction. Losing oneself inside yourself is probably about as scary a possibility as exists, and the novel reinforces Douglas Winter’s thirty-year-old assertion that horror is an emotion rather than a genre in and of itself.<br /><br />Ethridge writes with clarity and literary depth, and does an excellent job of creating the feeling of existential terror that permeates the novel. His writing shows a sense of craft above what you typically encounter in the horror field today while still connecting on the visceral level where horror (emotion or genre) lives. This is the first of his books I’ve read, but it won’t be the last.<br /><br />You can order <i>Dungeon Brain</i> from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dungeon-Brain-ebook/dp/B009YFCL4A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1352265837&sr=1-1&keywords=Dungeon+Brain" target="_blank">Amazon</a>, and check back here on the 14th for a guest column from Mr. Ethridge.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-47901295454579291382012-10-27T10:20:00.000-07:002012-10-27T10:20:01.288-07:00Photo From the New Hellraiser<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-3480568346680373872012-10-19T14:16:00.002-07:002012-10-19T14:16:44.600-07:00Quiet House: A Halloween Story<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If you are in the mood for a little seasonal reading at a great price, I would recommend “Quiet House: A Halloween Short Story” by Norman Prentiss, author of one of my favorite novellas, <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2008/12/invisible-fences.html" target="_blank"><i>Invisible Fences</i></a>. This story of psychological horror tells about the first year Jeremy is old enough to trick-or-treat, his anticipation at being able to visit the legendary Myrick house, his disappoint, and the consequences of a thoughtless act of revenge. The story is only 99¢, and can be ordered through <a href="http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/e_prenti06" target="_blank">Cemetery Dance</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-House-Halloween-Short-ebook/dp/B009NU3XUW/ref=sr_1_5?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1350681152&sr=1-5&keywords=Norman+Prentiss" target="_blank">Amazon</a>.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-19092183517856545542012-10-17T14:23:00.001-07:002012-10-19T14:18:40.136-07:00The Final Destination<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgdFI6YWtvzbEnRqhXa7EAdErtk4VXNuu-Cx8QwFyU2JsTfJ3M6qOO5yX6e75swJikEndeWynx_DRW-dOJejtDLQB50YuPz_G8GnYqIg4qJF9lRQ0OkOgUdipPZT0NZLz7HGl8bxVtnae9/s1600/TheFinalDestination.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgdFI6YWtvzbEnRqhXa7EAdErtk4VXNuu-Cx8QwFyU2JsTfJ3M6qOO5yX6e75swJikEndeWynx_DRW-dOJejtDLQB50YuPz_G8GnYqIg4qJF9lRQ0OkOgUdipPZT0NZLz7HGl8bxVtnae9/s1600/TheFinalDestination.jpg" /></a>The <i>Final Destination</i> movies (of which there have been five to date, with further installments planned) have always been a guilty pleasure. The theme of inescapable fate, with death coming to those who thwarted it with various Rube Goldberg-esque machinations, was fairly repetitious, but there was a certain fun-loving quality amidst the gore, and I enjoyed the first three installments to some degree. Not enough, I suppose, since the fourth movie, titled <i>The Final Destination</i>*, sat on my shelf for over a year until I finally got around to it this week.<br />
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A group of vacuous twenty-somethings – who are supposed to be students, I guess – go to a track together to attend an auto race. None of them seems very interested in it but Hunt (Nick Zano), who is only there because he wants to see a wreck, and who is a dear friend to the others despite having a personality that makes you want to run over him with a steamroller. He gets his wish when a car wrecks, spins into the crowd, and kills the entire group along with various other bystanders in grisly fashion. Boy, that was a short movie, can’t say I’ll miss them thou – oh, it was just a premonition by Nick (Bobby Campo). He manages to get his friends, some of the bystanders, and a security guard out before the fatal accident. Well, that’s a more disappointing end, bu – oh, yeah, it’s the same setup for the other films. They have cheated death, but death doesn’t take that lying down, and will get them in the sequence they were supposed to have died. A few gory deaths, a trademark scene of gratuitous nudity, and a fiery climax at a 3D movie (how meta!) and it ends the same way as the others did.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Gallagher has gone too far!</i></td></tr>
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There are a couple of differences. Nick continues to have vague premonitions (unlike the first specific one he had) although that mostly leads to frustration because his friends absolutely refuse to believe him. After all, his vision only saved their lives. There is also a minor twist that someone who has cheated the reaper can’t die until it’s their turn in the sequence again, which would allow you to have a pretty exciting day or two. I can’t see that these additions add or detract from the movie, but one change does: Tony Todd is not in this film. If you have seen the first three, you know he appears as a mysterious character to explain things to the victims-to-be and to thoroughly creep them out. Todd had a scheduling conflict that kept him out of this one, and the film suffers for it, for as I’ve said before, a movie should have as much Tony Todd as possible.<br />
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The big failing here is there is no reason to care if the cast survives, with the possible exception of George (Mykelti Williamson), and in the case of Hunt and Racist (that’s the only way he’s referred to in the film or credits) you actively root for them to get it. If you don’t care about characters, you won’t care about the movie, and <i>The Final Destination</i> definitely falls short of the guilty pleasure status of its predecessors.<br />
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<i>The Final Destination</i> was the first in the series to be filmed in 3-D, but I watched it in 2-D since I’m not a fan of splitting headaches.<br />
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* I’m sure it’s an example of some form of OCD, but I can’t express to you how much it irritates me the other movies are titled <i>Final Destination, Final Destination 2, Final Destination 3</i>, and <i>Final Destination 5</i>, but this one is called <i>The Final Destination</i>. Consistency, people! It makes my shelf look unorganized.<br />
.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-22357923717021586102012-10-16T12:21:00.002-07:002012-10-16T12:21:58.773-07:00The Faculty<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL928Ktc7GYV_NIiGIrCKhopRc2eLLOxqJfpGqmdjzKRSmeG-KSimQDy429MvekYkLFO5aiz-tFTNQAl-eVu8akscJAFn_RTjUl4dgFOEUlkQrL3uZsPnGtZpl-8VMuXIaktLehgk2F_g/s1600/TheFaculty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL928Ktc7GYV_NIiGIrCKhopRc2eLLOxqJfpGqmdjzKRSmeG-KSimQDy429MvekYkLFO5aiz-tFTNQAl-eVu8akscJAFn_RTjUl4dgFOEUlkQrL3uZsPnGtZpl-8VMuXIaktLehgk2F_g/s320/TheFaculty.jpg" width="206" /></a>Back in the 1990s, Kevin Williamson probably did more than anyone to bring horror movies back to popularity. The writer who was best known as the creator of the angsty teen drama <i>Dawson’s Creek</i> also created the <i>Scream</i> and <i>I Know What You Did Last Summer</i> franchises, making slasher movies hip for Generation X. In 1998, he turned his formula to a re-visioning of the alien body-snatching subgenre, with<i> The Faculty</i>, directed by Robert Rodriguez (<i>Sin City</i>, <i>From Dusk Till Dawn</i>).<br />
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In a typical high school in Ohio, we find a fairly standard collection of students. There is Delilah the mean girl (Jordana Brewster), Zeke the slacker drug dealer (Josh Hartnett), Stokes the goth girl everyone thinks is gay (Clea Duvall), Stan the jock who wants to be known for more than his physical skills (Shawn Hatosy), and Casey the hopeless geek (<strike>Frodo</strike> Elijah Woods). We are introduced to each in short illustrative vignettes, most notably a group of students picking up Casey and slamming him crotch-first into a flag pole, over and over. As a confirmed hobbit-hater, I approve of this. The kids have little in common except the usual teenager’s belief that adults are aliens. In this case, they’re right.<br />
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Starting with the teachers, people are taken over and controlled by alien entities that love water and conformity. Our gang of misfits are the only ones who tumble to the truth before it’s too late, and it is up to them to stop the alien takeover. They have two advantages. Stokes is a science fiction reader, so she knows they only have to find the alien queen and kill her to end the reign of terror. They have a weapon when they discover Zeke’s homemade speed is lethal to the invaders (Nerdism: Zeke says his power works against the water-based aliens because it is a diuretic. I think he means it is a dessicant, because it doesn’t give the ETs an uncontrollable urge to pee.).<br />
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This is not a terribly well-regarded movie. Robert Rodriguez has mostly disavowed it, saying he only did it to learn how to work with CGI and to satisfy a contractual obligation. It is the only one of his movies without his distinctive special features on the home video release, and has little of his individual style. It currently has just a 6.3/10 rating on imdb.com.<br />
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Still, I love this movie. It doesn’t take itself very seriously and try to be something it’s not. It is, I think, a lot of fun. Williamson was the first screenwriter to write a slasher movie where the characters realize they are in a slasher movie, and here, thanks to the character of Stokes, they are aware of the science fictional precedents. Stokes quotes Robert A. Heinlein’s <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2010/08/robert-heinleins-puppet-masters.html" target="_blank"><i>The Puppet Masters</i></a> and Jack Finney’s <i>The Body Snatchers</i>, even getting the name right on the later. Curiously, she doesn’t mention John Carpenter’s version of <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2009/10/john-carpenters-thing.html" target="_blank"><i>The Thing</i></a>, but that maybe because The Faculty steals/pays homage to it so directly. For instance, when our heroic band decides to test themselves to see if any of them are aliens, it is virtually the same scene as the test sequence from <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2009/10/john-carpenters-thing.html" target="_blank"><i>The Thing</i></a>, right down to the couch and the revealed alien crashing through a wall to get outside.<br />
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If this sort of a thing interests you and you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to give <i>The Faculty</i> a try. If you are a political conservative, you will probably be delighted when Jon Stewart gets stabbed in the eye. (In the interest of political balance, liberals should watch <i>Anaconda</i>, where Jon Voight gets eaten by a snake.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The police say they have some questions for Bill O'Reilly</i></td></tr>
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<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-19848876543088411822012-10-15T13:33:00.005-07:002012-10-15T13:33:50.398-07:00The Wicker Tree<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3aMSnTN90GWDwPcyXUmrWXEp2gc3_wfx3CEfW0EKT45ofUR8rcTvwLAFz7kBha5QdYIwD6mI2pJp-bUJE-_rEOpaYc53gxcBEsMdjx3n28XsAqXgKK3pNN_KQRzoW5lrvcgQ0QEjo7RGk/s1600/WickerTree.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3aMSnTN90GWDwPcyXUmrWXEp2gc3_wfx3CEfW0EKT45ofUR8rcTvwLAFz7kBha5QdYIwD6mI2pJp-bUJE-_rEOpaYc53gxcBEsMdjx3n28XsAqXgKK3pNN_KQRzoW5lrvcgQ0QEjo7RGk/s1600/WickerTree.jpg" /></a>The 1973 movie The Wicker Man is probably one of the more beloved cult movies of the horror genre. It had a very spotty distribution record outside of the U.K., and in some places only made it to the screen after 10 years or more.) The story of an upright, religious, and sexually repressed policeman who investigates the case of a missing girl in the Hebrides and has his faith challenged and his life taken by the pagan locals was very daring for its time. Home video increased its notoriety, and for years the original writer-director, Robin Hardy, has struggled to make a sequel. A big-budget remake was released in 2006 that has become legendary for how awful it is. Look for youtube clips of Nicholas Cage wearing a bear suit and screaming “Oh no! Not the bees!” if you dare.<br /><br />In 2010, Hardy finally succeeded in filming a sequel, entitled <i>The Wicker Tree</i>, adapted from a novel he wrote called <i>Cowboys for Chris</i>t. Was it worth the wait? Let’s just saying I was really missing those bees before the end.<br /><br />Steve and Beth (Brittania Nicol and Henry Garret) are two sincere young Christians living in Texas, where all the men wear cowboy hats and everyone speaks with an exaggerated Southern accent. Beth used to be a successful country singer with songs about drinkin’ and whores (like all good country songs) but she saw the light and now sings turgid religious songs. Steve and Beth are engaged and wear silver rings as a promise they won’t have sex until they are married. They are the people you hope you won’t have to sit next to at the company picnic, but end up having to do so anyway.<br /><br />Scotland, it seems, has a chronic shortage of evangelical Christians, so there is a Lend-Lease type program called Cowboys for Christ that sends Protestant missionaries over to witness to the heathens. It’s a shame Scotland doesn’t have Protestant churches of their own. They could even call their church The Church of Scotland if they wanted to. But, I digress. Beth and Steve arrive in Tressock, Scotland and begin preaching and singing to those sinners. They learn the locals worship Sulis, a version of Minerva, and accept it calmly, rather than freaking the hell out like real evangelicals would. A Scottish hussy flashes her boobs at Steve, his chastity ring flies off at the speed of light, and he begins the forbidden boning. He could have remained pure if he hadn’t traveled to Scotland, the land where women have breasts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpn8tCZCTcsDQJumzM0Ei5m090w50h9BLqDKES5eX-a5KGyaH9ckP26kKfzcA53ZrizKoTRjEIUcEQFeaSNlE_pulHCJrqGSpode-4VxNitpbSdNtbghRjZvKsW-7fqXBY2IJm2ny__O2/s1600/WickerTree2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjpn8tCZCTcsDQJumzM0Ei5m090w50h9BLqDKES5eX-a5KGyaH9ckP26kKfzcA53ZrizKoTRjEIUcEQFeaSNlE_pulHCJrqGSpode-4VxNitpbSdNtbghRjZvKsW-7fqXBY2IJm2ny__O2/s320/WickerTree2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A tender, romantic moment</i></td></tr>
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<br />It turns out the pagan-ness is the result of some manipulation by the local bigwig. He owns the local nuclear power plant, which has been leaking a peculiar kind of radiation which apparently makes men sterile without any other effects. Lest the townsfolk turn against the power plant since they can’t have children, he has convinced them to wear silly masks and practice cannibalism and human sacrifice to restore their fertility. Groundskeeper Willy would be offended by this depiction of the Scots. In due course Beth gets her bare butt buttered (!), Steve is part of a very special meal celebration, a tree gets torched, and Beth has a chance to escape if she’s smart enough to do so. I’ll leave you to guess how that turns out.<br /><br />This is a terrible movie, and it’s hard to believe the same person who made the first one is responsible for this as well. The stereotypes of Texans and Scots are painful to watch, and it has the depth of a puddle. The original presented the culture clash of an authentically religious Christian against true pagans, but here, no one really seems to be much of a believer. You know all along where this is heading, and the only suspense is how they get there. Hardy is supposedly working on a third film in the series, but my expectations are now low.<br /><br />Christopher Lee was supposed to be one of the leads in <i>The Wicker Tree</i> just as in the earlier film, but an injury restricted him to a completely unnecessary cameo.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-12357131972588820402012-10-14T10:30:00.001-07:002012-10-14T10:30:23.169-07:00Poster for the new CarrieThe remake of Carrie starring Chloë Grace Moretz has a new poster. I have no idea if the movie is going to be good, but the poster is pretty cool. Amazing how often Ms. Moretz has (movie) blood on her face.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpLgdHqmV7wrX739Tx6o0rcRylfvUq961HTP8I3I8fCETrnCJg5GEWzgcxIlCdyAVwIgWshFIrvy1slMnZ3G1u3Ds5wscLqDqFVA1AZOnEULG3owNr41Tk13gka0pFnUbMnqF9-fxgRpV/s1600/newCarrie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrpLgdHqmV7wrX739Tx6o0rcRylfvUq961HTP8I3I8fCETrnCJg5GEWzgcxIlCdyAVwIgWshFIrvy1slMnZ3G1u3Ds5wscLqDqFVA1AZOnEULG3owNr41Tk13gka0pFnUbMnqF9-fxgRpV/s640/newCarrie.jpg" width="428" /></a></div>
<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-78826145210866288192012-10-08T11:13:00.001-07:002012-10-08T11:13:29.233-07:00Subspecies<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOlvYq4XJ26uyB49_6pJH-5CkVayyoj4nc_k-kD1OhaukdQH_f9_NE-4-ReAr3VjQkL9JSbpsCAfv4cHAndc6AbTj3yuwwi2Qc3f4s_MOQXd7wU1dw3Ptd2cb0hXAHtFsvCscM5mpWUwrM/s1600/Subspecies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOlvYq4XJ26uyB49_6pJH-5CkVayyoj4nc_k-kD1OhaukdQH_f9_NE-4-ReAr3VjQkL9JSbpsCAfv4cHAndc6AbTj3yuwwi2Qc3f4s_MOQXd7wU1dw3Ptd2cb0hXAHtFsvCscM5mpWUwrM/s320/Subspecies.jpg" width="227" /></a>Way back in the late 80s/early 90s, when there was money to be made in the direct-to-video market, Full Moon Features was the biggest name in the B-movie market, at least for horror fans. They had several lengthy series, the best known of which is the still-going <i>Puppet Master</i> films. In 1991, they ventured into vampire movies, with <i>Subspecies</i>, which spawned three direct sequels and one kinda sorta sequel.<br /><br />In rural Romania, vampires are still thick on the ground (The characters in the movie mention there being many vampires, although we only see three. The recession is hitting every profession.). The local vampire king is one Vladislav (Angus Scrimm from Phantasm in a cameo scene). He has a generally pro-human policy, and has left the local populace alone. He has two sons, Radu (Anders Hove) who is more the typical bad-guy vampire, as evidenced by his amazing finger extensions, and his wimpier son Stefan (Michael Watson). Vladislav is in possession of the Bloodstone, an acorn-shaped jewel from which drips the blood of saints. All the vampires crave the Bloodstone because…well, I didn’t really catch that part. Maybe the blood of saints has a chipotle flavor? I thought the blood of saints kept vampires from needing to drink human blood, but this is contradicted by the movie.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Careful where you scratch.</i></td></tr>
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<br />Anyway, Radu decides to kill his father for the Bloodstone, but is thwarted when his dad hits a switch that releases an overhead cage exactly where Radu is standing. What luck. Vladislav’s victory is temporary, however, as Radu breaks off his own fingers (!) and they turn into tiny demon-looking creatures. I swear I was not on any medication, legal or otherwise, when I was watching this. Seeing this, Vladislav obligingly runs to the other side of the room so the homunculi can get to the switch to re-raise the cage, instead of, you know, stepping on them. Radu is released, Vladislav is skewered.<br /><br />(Incidentally, the little creatures are apparently the subspecies of the title. I assumed it referred to vampires, but no, it’s a group of four-inch high toadies.)<br /><br />Coincidentally, there is the arrival in town of four graduate students to study local folklore. They are played by three attractive young ladies, hired more for their willingness to forego a no-nudity clause in their contracts than their acting ability. Well, two-thirds of them, anyway. They could not behave less like graduate students if they tried. It’s sort of <i>Valley Girls in Eastern Europe</i>. Stefan shows up, falls in love with one of the girls, and they fight to end Radu’s (short) reign of terror. Radu is disposed of, although if you remember where I mentioned sequels, you know this doesn’t take.<br /><br />Subspecies is a victim in many places of the film’s microbudget, but it is a good bit of fun. Director Ted Nicolaou does a good job of setting the mood, and was strongly influenced by Murnau’s <i>Nostferatu</i>, most obviously with Radu’s long fingers, and the creepy way the shadows of those hands look thrown against walls and across of the faces of sleeping victims-to-be.<br /><br />Subspecies was the first movie to be filmed in Romania following the fall of Communism. The featurette on the blu-ray disc shows a number of Romanians being asked if they believe in vampires. All say they do not, and think it a frivolous question, no doubt partly because they had just gotten out from under the thumb of Nicolae Ceaușescu, a dictator so beloved that when he fell from power he was given a two hour trial and an immediate three minute execution. One of the interviewees stated that Dracula was a myth made up by a “stupid American.” I don’t think Bram Stoker was stupid, and I know he was an Irishman.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-48802777622828594812012-10-06T10:46:00.000-07:002012-10-06T10:46:26.426-07:00Skyline<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44tcwqitt8OowVK4tsmG8OMPqHz0Tc_BuGmjAIjb_ykwuGWnhmh6Eh9AX_HsQHs2kdrMohT-t2XsgokQVaFJ360IKHQu_OGaHak4k6wASjXknaXf0QmNcucp2Ur-kNPZKb9hgeWXdr_Wl/s1600/skylinefinal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi44tcwqitt8OowVK4tsmG8OMPqHz0Tc_BuGmjAIjb_ykwuGWnhmh6Eh9AX_HsQHs2kdrMohT-t2XsgokQVaFJ360IKHQu_OGaHak4k6wASjXknaXf0QmNcucp2Ur-kNPZKb9hgeWXdr_Wl/s320/skylinefinal.jpg" width="216" /></a>Not the famous brand of Chili in Cincinnati. Not the small northern Alabama town where everyone seems to hate each other. This is <i>Skyline</i> the movie.<br /><br />By far, the easiest type of movie to review is one that is completely awful. The jokes basically write themselves. It’s also easy enough to rave about a movie you love. The hardest movie to review, in my opinion, is one that you never form a strong opinion about and neither like it well enough to particularly recommend it or hate it enough to mock it. This is also <i>Skyline</i> the movie.<br /><br />An artist named Jarrod (Eric Balfour from <i>Haven</i> and the <i>Texas Chainsaw Massacre</i> remake) and his girlfriend Elaine arrive in Los Angeles for a birthday party for Jarrod’s best friend Terry (Donald Faison from <i>Scrubs</i>). Terry has hit it big, and wants Jarrod to move from New York to work for him. We are treated to a dullish party where we learn Elaine is pregnant and doesn’t want to move, Terry is cheating on his wife with his personal assistant, and the building super objects to loud music. It’s a very special episode of<i> Party of Fiv</i>e. If you’ve ever watched one of those TV shows about angst-ridden yuppies and wished aliens would invade and kill them all, this might be your kind of movie, because Jarrod and Elaine have arrived in L.A. just in time for a big alien invasion.<br /><br />Alien spacecraft descend and produce bright lights. If you look at them, you become all veiny and are drawn into the light and sucked up into the spacecraft, no doubt for a nefarious purpose. The military is no match for the alien menace, and soon Jarrod, Elaine, Terry, and company are attempting to survive the attack and get the hell out of town.<br /><br />The obvious connection to be made here is <i>Cloverfield,</i> a similar and better movie about a group of affluent young things trying to survive horror. In both movies, the main characters (and the viewers) never get the full story about what is going on, and seem to be a side story to the main action. In this one, the characters seem a little less sympathetic, and the ending tends toward the confusing side.<br /><br />More interesting than the movie itself is the back story of how it came to be made. The co-directors are successful in the field of computer-generated special effects and self-financed the production, spending $500,000 to shoot the live action before adding $10,000,000 of special effects in post. (The movie was shot in one of the co-directors condominium building). It does look great.<br /><br />I suppose this is one of those films that should be seen by viewers who love alien invasion films, a group of which I am a member. A sequel has been rumored to be in the works since this came out, but has not yet materialized.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGHDX4O9C5QxPWnA9D4zy2soXUe8K_h3ywu2C83NSPm6HLUwJ-B8iZqOzGFCC5yBEmTUOP53-B4VPjXSe42-3VQ7jW6OukmDY4DPV_kTX7u6Q8NjNj3DOET3HFXNdrHYLLQYjZoL2bvN4/s1600/skyline2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGHDX4O9C5QxPWnA9D4zy2soXUe8K_h3ywu2C83NSPm6HLUwJ-B8iZqOzGFCC5yBEmTUOP53-B4VPjXSe42-3VQ7jW6OukmDY4DPV_kTX7u6Q8NjNj3DOET3HFXNdrHYLLQYjZoL2bvN4/s320/skyline2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>It will clear up. Just give it time.</i></td></tr>
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.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-54789822800175076062012-10-05T10:27:00.000-07:002012-10-05T10:27:25.632-07:00Vampire Ad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVPWXrBf_WUHIilwQLVFNz5Q-cJc6w4eu08NZPwDi9UvBxs426qAUqce9EnK-kb8Zh7_h7l7n-pk1zky2tsbLhX-45PM7g5_4LI3Y2-RxixJAfoxSOefoqAI7RsScqdj3hDq2z3_6XTXP/s1600/VampireEducation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwVPWXrBf_WUHIilwQLVFNz5Q-cJc6w4eu08NZPwDi9UvBxs426qAUqce9EnK-kb8Zh7_h7l7n-pk1zky2tsbLhX-45PM7g5_4LI3Y2-RxixJAfoxSOefoqAI7RsScqdj3hDq2z3_6XTXP/s640/VampireEducation.jpg" width="508" /></a></div>
Original source unknown.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-37893614225771126142012-10-04T15:34:00.000-07:002012-10-04T15:34:13.317-07:00This Dark Earth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmmGmOjfuEQz59KM0Bwojl9QpQhB7ApQESkTgIijd8zWvKz1tcki3vxiuDyVBr-JyOgroKX04U6zx4FlSMV47l8tDqfMbXz8DxbLse_pOB9ZxXqrr3nQ2QGQsNp9SuwySI3SpqcgxQeF8X/s1600/THIS_DARK_EARTH_HI-REZ-646x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmmGmOjfuEQz59KM0Bwojl9QpQhB7ApQESkTgIijd8zWvKz1tcki3vxiuDyVBr-JyOgroKX04U6zx4FlSMV47l8tDqfMbXz8DxbLse_pOB9ZxXqrr3nQ2QGQsNp9SuwySI3SpqcgxQeF8X/s320/THIS_DARK_EARTH_HI-REZ-646x1024.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
I’ve been a horror fan for a very long time, since I was old enough to read, but it has been only in the last few years that I’ve really interacted with the people who write the books and make the movies I’ve enjoyed. Some of those interactions haven’t gone so well, like the actress who was offended when I mentioned she’d been in a horror movie or the writer who blew a gasket when I complimented, but for the most part those who make it their business to give you nightmares are surprisingly nice. In some cases, this has led to true friendship, as is the case with the writer of the book I’m reviewing here, the multi-talented John Hornor Jacobs. I’ve known John since well before he published his excellent debut, <i><a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2011/08/southern-gods.html" target="_blank">Southern Gods</a>,</i> and I cherish his friendship.<br />
<br />I don’t remember exactly how long it’s been since I read his recently published novel <i>This Dark Earth</i>. I know it was before <i>Southern Gods</i> was sold, and I remember telling John he probably didn’t want me to read it, since I’m several years past enjoyment of zombie novels. (I realize this makes me an outlier amongst horror readers, many of whom don’t read anything much except zombie novels, but I felt for a while they have exhausted their appeal.) He wanted me to read it anyhow, and I’m glad it will. It may be the last zombie novel I will ever like, but like it I did.<br />
<br />Lucy Ingersoll is an ER doctor in Arkansas when a mysterious disease begins transforming people into maniacal creatures. The military tries to contain the problem by killing the infected and uninfected in the hospital, and Lucy narrowly escapes. She is helped in her escape by a trucker nick-named “Knock-Out”, and manages to reunite with her son Gus, just before the powers-that-be make things worse by nuking the area. Lucy, Knock-Out, and Gus survive, although at a cost. They join forces with a small military force led by Lieutenant Wallace, who can use Lucy’s medical skills.<br />
<br />The story fast forwards by about four years. Gus has proved to be quite a prodigy, and has helped the survivors establish a settlement (imaginatively placed on a bridge, ideal for defensive purposes). The zombie threat is still there, although the greater danger in this post-apocalyptic world is other human survivors.<br />So, why should you read this novel instead of other zombie stories? Because Jacobs does a masterful job creating believable characters. Lucy, Knock-Out, Gus and the rest come to life. Whether you like them or not, you understand them, and you care what happens to them. If you are a zombie fan, you definitely don’t want to miss this, and if you aren’t, you will probably be surprised how compelling it is.<br />
<br />I’m not really a fan of the cover, although it does look better up close than in a photograph, but if it sells the book, then that’s all it’s meant to do. Also, there is plenty of evidence that taste in book covers doesn’t reflect the zeitgeist.<br />
<br />I also keep calling the book <i>This Dead Earth</i>, but I blame that on David Wilbanks.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-9369577306213813432012-10-02T12:26:00.001-07:002012-10-02T12:26:20.867-07:00R.I.P. Herbert Lom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5rX3j_2gbMQ4DwzbZWilJyMpcxiTkFkNzYIQEgs5crBqECLjRGA6j744HcK2X2zh7n7HHq_AQm0JxORpoVVZL_9GTAXYSu3fRE6ZblE8i7W2c0_5Rc_VhOSAIkH4j_Mz9394ezVM24lS/s1600/MarkoftheDevil.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5rX3j_2gbMQ4DwzbZWilJyMpcxiTkFkNzYIQEgs5crBqECLjRGA6j744HcK2X2zh7n7HHq_AQm0JxORpoVVZL_9GTAXYSu3fRE6ZblE8i7W2c0_5Rc_VhOSAIkH4j_Mz9394ezVM24lS/s320/MarkoftheDevil.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
Czech-born character actor <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/arts/herbert-lom-frustrated-boss-of-inspector-clouseau-dies-at-95.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Herbert Lom passed away last week at 95</a>. He was probably best known for playing the long-suffering Dreyfuss in the <i>Pink Panther</i> films, but he made a number of horror movies, including the Hammer Films version of <i>The Phantom of the Opera</i>, <i>Asylum</i> and <i>Now the Screaming Starts </i>for Amicus, <i>Mark of the Devil,</i> and many others. He was also in a sci-fi movie that creeped me out as a kid called <i>Journey to the Far Side of the Sun</i>, although I doubt many people remember that one.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-30575019291749062722012-10-02T12:14:00.000-07:002012-10-02T12:14:18.447-07:00Shocktober<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So it’s the season again, and I’m going to try to get back to regular posting. Remember, for us Halloween lasts a month long. We deserve it, particularly since Christmas goes on for about two and a half months. If any of those weirdoes who think Christmas is a superior holiday give you any flack about extending the best holiday, point out to them how strange it is to celebrate a creepy guy in a red suit breaking into your house after you fall asleep. Word.<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-26781242780152648522012-09-11T09:17:00.000-07:002012-09-11T09:17:40.069-07:00Cemetery Dance #67<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dE6rZfbdtwR_KZ08NwuN29DcUnEKvX0LowsGrwjJiFIFkuJKaDeeVmzAAJiD8-ccRZ3npNGMDyu4z8yX3TwJSxJ5dvovVPGN2915UuGUL9abMraKh03aP1dosnaKgLqVTFRhKm2mGaXK/s1600/_cd067.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3dE6rZfbdtwR_KZ08NwuN29DcUnEKvX0LowsGrwjJiFIFkuJKaDeeVmzAAJiD8-ccRZ3npNGMDyu4z8yX3TwJSxJ5dvovVPGN2915UuGUL9abMraKh03aP1dosnaKgLqVTFRhKm2mGaXK/s320/_cd067.jpg" width="251" /></a></div>
The 67th issue of Cemetery Dance is now available for purchase. This is the second published issue that has featured yours truly on the masthead as one of the Associate Editors. Or, as I like to put it, the least important member of a great team. The current issue features Neil Gaiman telling the story of his trip to see Stephen King, fiction by the great Douglas Clegg and others, and the usual outstanding columns, interviews and features. I am a big fan of the cover art for this one, which is by Tomislav Tikulin. You can get a copy at cool newstands or order one online <a href="http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/_cd067" target="_blank">here</a>.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-15828896463113969042012-09-10T16:34:00.004-07:002012-09-10T16:34:49.027-07:00Empty Places<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOc7DUF_0T5DOJrlvGdZJ3J1-M8IRmOGzytew0pJnKlh43lflpH_O06qc42y7H2BVy37mH6CFkMbOzYrXOhDXWkRr2c6lfoOZZvQqa9DiYNE9JnoK7ywB3qA_UwZkm3TQILsPLfRFJo1B/s1600/epcoverweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWOc7DUF_0T5DOJrlvGdZJ3J1-M8IRmOGzytew0pJnKlh43lflpH_O06qc42y7H2BVy37mH6CFkMbOzYrXOhDXWkRr2c6lfoOZZvQqa9DiYNE9JnoK7ywB3qA_UwZkm3TQILsPLfRFJo1B/s320/epcoverweb.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
I go away for a while and Blogger has a new layout. I’ll probably get used to it about the time they change it again. Due to some bizarre goings-on, I’ve been away from this for over half a year. Dagon willing, I will be posting more regularly as we go on.<br />
<br />Gary Raisor, author of the excellent novel <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2008/07/less-than-human.html" target="_blank"><i>Less Than Human</i></a> and editor of the equally impressive anthology <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2010/08/obsessions.html" target="_blank"><i>Obsessions</i></a>, has a new release out in ebook form called <i>Empty Place</i>s. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I look forward to it, as it certainly sounds like a winner. Joe Lansdale likes it, so why shouldn’t you?<br />.<br />KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6239415630866819145.post-15198481091943614422012-02-27T13:56:00.004-08:002012-02-27T14:07:25.254-08:00The Ten Best Horror Short Stories (Pre-1960)<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3ynkqqrxUtCkJ2j_YljXVxcrdwB2ON4yBEbFZylR_-TDIVxFTaZeQP_BEDgsEu834LqZrSeaAAtBokmYBwArSrrdpAcyF4L1f16KsrhRbpwTcfBFPsKGrZXLVZyJqH9-5QbIVSRSIurP/s1600/lovecraft_colouroutofspace.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 118px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEib3ynkqqrxUtCkJ2j_YljXVxcrdwB2ON4yBEbFZylR_-TDIVxFTaZeQP_BEDgsEu834LqZrSeaAAtBokmYBwArSrrdpAcyF4L1f16KsrhRbpwTcfBFPsKGrZXLVZyJqH9-5QbIVSRSIurP/s200/lovecraft_colouroutofspace.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713940092012512690" border="0" /></a><br />I haven’t done a list in a long while, but they are always a way to fill space, er, present informed opinion. This one isn’t exactly new, to be truthful. I was taking some time to go through some old post on previous blogs (this is my fourth blog, and it was depressing to see that I seem to write worse and worse as time goes on) and came across an old post which contained a list of my favorite horror short stories published before 1960. The usual problem with making lists is that, since they are personal preference, the order/content of them changes almost immediately. (I found a list I had made of my favorite horror novels of the 21st century, and was so repelled by the books on it I can only conclude I had a secret drug habit in 2007, secret even from myself.) This list, however, seems to have held up pretty well, and doesn’t really change on casual observance.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLa4wJ0pesHKc_P1U1E8mWj_3ozNxG4VDOaEvFWT7VVHWIu6P-7to-LR8wJs0Ibs0pKYBJgbt4vifTiXipqzH5Yd-KnNVWoNbz2mbTPWX06Cmvz72_tK5MlYd2ijkrT-WCqkRAa26Bea-2/s1600/WhoGoesThere.gif"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 130px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLa4wJ0pesHKc_P1U1E8mWj_3ozNxG4VDOaEvFWT7VVHWIu6P-7to-LR8wJs0Ibs0pKYBJgbt4vifTiXipqzH5Yd-KnNVWoNbz2mbTPWX06Cmvz72_tK5MlYd2ijkrT-WCqkRAa26Bea-2/s200/WhoGoesThere.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713940214623822722" border="0" /></a><br />Largely to limit the Lovecraft content, I limited the list to one story per author. There were several stories by Arthur Machen and William Hope Hodgson which almost made the list, so those are the most notable snubs/omissions. Most people would go with "Pigeons From Hell" for the Howard story, but an explanation for my choice can be found <a href="http://deadinthesouth.blogspot.com/2009/07/dig-me-no-grave.html">here</a>.<br /><br />1. “The Colour Out Of Space”, H. P. Lovecraft<br />2. “Who Goes There?”, John W. Campbell, Jr.<br />3. “Dig Me No Grave”, Robert E. Howard<br />4. “The Graveyard Rats”, Henry Kuttner<br />5. “The Lottery”, Shirley Jackson<br />6. “The Damned Thing”, Ambrose Bierce<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgEosc0zflb7dVhvuM04oi_wO7ZHyofPiFA8tPGegv4Uai16T0j9a1fCcnSRu767PweC12YG18ORlWY3RVVjqM2M-S1dWP4X7jZS0ylKupBPp2f-QZDc-PCcoAAMtQ3uotLRdkfhhWbJp/s1600/DigMeNoGrave.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 134px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgEosc0zflb7dVhvuM04oi_wO7ZHyofPiFA8tPGegv4Uai16T0j9a1fCcnSRu767PweC12YG18ORlWY3RVVjqM2M-S1dWP4X7jZS0ylKupBPp2f-QZDc-PCcoAAMtQ3uotLRdkfhhWbJp/s200/DigMeNoGrave.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713940298246440562" border="0" /></a><br />7. “Second Night Out”, Frank Belknap Long<br />8. “The Ash-Tree”, M.R. James<br />9. “Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper”, Robert Bloch<br />10. “Born of Man and Woman”, Richard Matheson<br />.KentAllardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16034050997693995004noreply@blogger.com1