Category Archives: Horrorthon

Horror Film Review: Wendigo (dir by Larry Fessenden)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2001 film, Wendigo, tells the story of a family in the Catskills.  Some families go to upstate New York and they hang out with the dance people and learn a lesson about tolerance, class conflict, and dirty dancing.  Others leave New York City and head up north because they’re trying to get away from the stress that comes from being a New Yorker.  The film is about the latter and, to be honest, I don’t blame them for leaving the city.  While it’s true that I don’t live in New York, I’ve seen enough clips of Bill de Blasio speaking to know that I also would want to get away from that 8 foot monster.

Of course, there are monsters in upstate New York as well.  Just as South Texas has to deal with chupacabras, it would appear that Upstate New York has a Wendigo problem.  According to the film, the Wendigo is a man who turned into a monster after committing cannibalism.  The Wendigo can assume any shape and …. well, it’s basically just a real bitch to be around, I guess.

At least, that’s how it inititally appears when George (Jake Weber) and his wife Kim (Patricia Clarkson) and their son Miles (Erik Per Sullivan) are just starting out their trip upstate.  George accidentally crashed into a deer and gets into with a local hunter named Otis (John Speredakos).  Otis is really upset that George took out that deer before he got a chance to.  George apologizes but it doesn’t seem to do much good.  Later, when the family reach their cabin …. well, things just continue to get out of hand.  Are they being harassed by the hunters or is it the Wendigo?

Or could it be both!?

As you may have guessed, I had a bit of a mixed reaction to Wendigo when I saw it.  On the one hand, I appreciated the way the film captured the feeling of isolation and there’s a few nicely surreal dream sequences.  If you’ve been reading this site for a while, you know how much I appreciate an effective and surreal dream sequence.  However, Wendigo is also a rather slowly-paced film.  It’s only 91 minutes long but it felt much longer and Otis is such a total caricature that it made it difficult for me to take his character seriously as either a hunter or, for that matter, a legitimate threat to anyone’s safety.  As a viewer, I took one look at Otis and I thought to myself, “There better be an actual monster in the film because if this guy is the villain, it’s going to be a long 90 minutes.”

As for the cast, Patricia Clarkson and Jake Weber were believable if not terribly interesting as the parents.  It was especially interesting to see Clarkson in a horror film, as this isn’t a genre with which one really associates her.  (Jake Weber at least has Medium on his resume.)  Erik Per Sullivan also did an okay job as Miles.  I was glad that he wasn’t as annoyingly precocious as a lot of a child actors tend to be.  The supporting cast is a mixed collection of performers who try too hard and those who don’t seem to be trying at all.

Wendigo has got some effective, Shining-influenced visuals and it ends on an appropriately ambiguous note.  The film has its moments but, ultimately, it was a bit too slow-paced and uneven for me.

Horror On the Lens: This Is Not A Test (dir by Fredric Gadette)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

For today’s horror on the lens, we have a low-budget apocalypse film from 1962.  The film follows Deputy Colter (Seamon Glass), a deputy who tries to take charge of the formation of a shelter and who quickly reveals himself to be a mentally unstable fascist. Though this film undoubtedly gets off to a rough start, it soon develops a convincingly ominous and almost dream-like atmosphere.

After watching the film, be sure to check out my review from last year.  And, as always, enjoy!

Music Video of the Day: Silence by Vaughan (2020, dir by Olivia Sofia Ferrara)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

So, technically, this is not a horror-themed video.  As much as I want to devote every day in October to horror-themed music videos, there aren’t quite as many out there as you might think and we’ve been doing this for a few years now.  (Actually, I guess I should say that it’s not so much a case of finding a horror-themed music video as much as it’s finding a good horror-themed video.  There’s maybe a thousand videos out there featuring a singer going on about murder while his drummer plays his practice solo but that doesn’t mean all of them are worthy of being a music video of the day.)

That said, this video definitely has an October vibe to it.  Between the soulful voice of the singer and the shadowy images, it’s a haunting video.  This song is about looking for love in a cold world and certainly, that’s what a lot of paranormal beings spend October doing.  One could imagine this song being sung by a ghost and that’s good enough for me!

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: Baywatch Nights 2.8 “Last Breath” (dir by Gregory J. Bonnan)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

On tonight’s episode of Baywatch Nights, Mitch investigates the disappearance of two lifeguards.  Could it have something to do with an automotive accident from the past?  When a third lifeguard goes missing, Mitch’s investigation goes into overdrive because this latest lifeguard is a co-star and if something happen to her, they’ll have to redo the show’s opening credits.

This episode takes a break from the usual paranormal stories that were featured for most of Baywatch Night‘s second season.  But the underwater cage is still pretty creepy!

This episode originally aired on November 17th, 1996.

Enjoy!

 

The TSL’s Horror Grindhouse: Harpoon (dir by Rob Grant)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2019 Canadian film, Harpoon, tells the friends of three friends and a boat.

The three friends are Jonah (Munro Chambers), Richard (Christopher Gray), and Sacha (Emily Tyra).  Jonah is a perhaps overly sensitive young man who is struggling to come to terms with not only the death of his parents but also the mountain of debt that they left for him.  Richard is wealthy, has an anger problem, and it is suggested that his father might have murdered at least one person.  Sacha is a nurse who is going out with Richard.  Richard claims to love Sacha but that still doesn’t stop him from cheating on her.  Jonah is obviously in love with Sacha but, just as obviously, he would never betray his best friend …. or would he?

The boat is a yacht known as the Naughty Bouy.  It’s a really nice yacht.  Richard owns it, though he doesn’t appear to be much of a sailor.  The film’s rather sardonic narrator (voice of Brett Gelman) lists a number of superstitious beliefs that Richard, Jonah, and Sacha overlooked when they boarded the yacht for the day.

Here’s just a few of them:

  1. It’s never safe to have someone named Jonah on a boat.
  2. It’s not safe to take your first step onto a boat with your left foot.
  3. Apparently, it’s bad luck to have a redhead (like Sacha and, for that matter, me) on a boat.
  4. Never kill a sea gull.  “That’s a big one,” the narrator tells us, right after Jonah and Richard kill a sea gull.

Now, I really can’t go into too many specifics about what happens on the boat without spoiling the film.  And this is a film that you really should watch without any knowledge of what’s about to happen.  However, I will say that the friends eventually end up stranded out in the middle of the ocean.  Some of it’s because of bad luck.  Some of it’s because the friends all seem to secretly hate each other.  Two of them may have teamed up to try to kill the other one …. or maybe someone’s just being paranoid.  One of the friends ends up with hole in their hand, courtesy of a spear gun.  The important thing is that they eventually find themselves trapped out in the middle of the ocean, forced to depend on one another even while possibly thinking about killing each other.  Secrets and lies are revealed and hard decision are made.  It would all be really dark, if not for the sardonic commentary of the narrator, who not only tells us who these three are but who also keeps informed as to what they’re doing wrong.

It’s a good movie, one that immediately captured my attention and kept me guessing as to what was going to happen.  If I’ve been vague about the film’s plot, it’s because this film earned the right to not be spoiled.  It’s an occasionally grisly thriller with a wonderfully dark sense of humor.  The three actors all did a wonderful job bringing their three less-than-lucky characters to life.  Fans of Degrassi will especially be interested to see Munro Chambers, giving an excellent performance as a character who might initially remind them of Eli Goldsworthy but who eventually turns to be someone else altogether.

Harpoon really surprised me.  Keep an eye out for it and, for the love of God, don’t kill any seagulls.

 

Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge (1979, directed by Ron Satlof)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

This, the final of the three Spider-Man “feature films” that were basically edited episodes of the Spider-Man TV series, finds Peter Parker (Nicholas Hammond) in Hong Kong.  Spider-Man having adventures in Hong Kong sounds like it should be fun and the 2nd half of this “movie” was filmed on location but, even with all those elements (and a young Ted Danson in a small role), Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge is just dull.

Min (Benson Fong) is a rich Chinese businessman who stands to be appointed to a position in the Chinese government but only if he can prove that he didn’t sell secrets to the U.S. during World War II.  Min needs to find three Marines who can clear his name.  Because Min is an old friend, J. Jonah Jameson (Robert F. Simon) assigns photographer Peter Parker to help Min track the men down.  Why would Jameson give that responsibility to Pater Parker?  I don’t know.

Min’s granddaughter, Emily (Rosalind Chao), thinks that Peter is a coward because he always disappears whenever Min is attacked.  It’s a good thing that Spider-Man always mysteriously shows up whenever Peter isn’t around because otherwise, Min would be in a lot of trouble.  It turns out that a steel baron named Mr. Zeider (Richard Erdman) wants to stop Min from clearing his name because Min would stop Zeider from getting a big construction contract.

Eventually, Peter, Min, Emily, and a former marine who can clear Min all end up in Hong Kong, where Spider-Man gets to fight kung fu masters and hopefully save the day.

Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge has all the elements to be an enjoyably cheesy 70s adventure film but it fails because it’s not really a movie.  It’s just two episodes of a TV show that have been edited together and, with the exception of a few of the fight scenes in Hong Kong, there’s nothing cinematic about it.  As opposed to the previous two Spider-Man “films,” Nicholas Hammond just seems bored in this outing and the scenes with Rosalind Chao scolding Peter for being a coward are too much like Lois Lane complaining about Clark Kent never being in the same place as Superman.

Spider-Man: The Dragon’s Challenge also misses the opportunity to bring in any members of Spider-Man’s gallery of wonderful villains.  How hard would it have been to replace Mr. Zeider with Wilson Fisk?  The Silver Samurai could have at least made an appearance.  Instead, Spider-Man’s just fighting another corporate villain.  It’s a wasted opportunity.

The two episodes that make up this film were also the final two episodes of the Spider-Man TV show.  Despite the fact that CBS was constantly moving the show around on the schedule and that the second season only featured 7 episodes, the series still got good ratings.  However, CBS apparently feared that, by airing not only Spider-Man but also The Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman, it would run the risk of becoming known as a “comic book” network.  Since the Hulk and Wonder Woman both got good ratings and, unlike Spider-Man, had the support of the critics, they were allowed to remain while Spider-Man was given the boot and canceled in 1979.  That’s a strong contrast to today, when most exec would probably sell their first born to get a chance at some of the Marvel action.

After this, it would be another 23 years before Spider-Man again appeared on a movie screen, this time in the form of Tobey Maguire.  While Nicholas Hammond would never again play Spider-Man, one fan of his time on the show was director Quentin Tarantino, who later cast Hammond as director Sam Wanamaker in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.

Game Review: Vampire Ltd (2020, Alex Harby)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

One of the best Interactive Fiction games that I’ve played recently, Vampire Ltd. is described as being “a corporate espionage adventure (with vampires in it).”

Taking place in a world where vampires are not only known to exist but where they often become rich and powerful businessman, Vampire Ltd. has the player take on the role of Nero Brashov.  Nero is a former aristocrat, a current vampire, and a failed businessman.  But the failure is not your fault.  You were cheated by your business partner, Hadrian.  Now, Hadrian is on the verge of unveiling something that he calls the Moonlite and you’re determined to get revenge by sneaking your way into his corporate office and destroying the machine.

The only problem is that you’re a vampire and you can’t enter unless someone invites you in.  Can you convince someone to do that?

A clever and very detailed mix of horror and corporate espionage, Vampire Ltd. is a frequently hilarious text adventure in which you alternate between dealing with the realities of corporate life and your desire for revenge.  While the puzzles are not excessively difficult, they do require a little work to figure out but the game comes with a walk-through for those who might get lost.

Vampire Ltd. is a game that benefits from being played more than once.  There’s a lot that your vampire can do.  It’s not necessary to do all of it to win the game but it’s still rewarding to replay and discover all of the different things that can happen.  Fortunately, the game ends with a series of suggestions of things that you might want to try when you play a second or third time.

Vampire Ltd. is an entry in this year’s Interactive Fiction Competition.  It can be played here.

Horror Scenes That I Love: The Opening of Stage Fright

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Let’s die Broadway style!

The opening on Michele Soavi’s 1987 masterpiece, StageFright, is one of the most brilliant ever filmed.  Not only does it send up the conventions of the slasher genre but is also sends up musical theater.  Seriously, how can you not love a horror film that features Marilyn Monroe playing the saxophone?

Of course, the opening of the film only begins to hint at the violence that’s going to follow.  When a real killer manages to get into the theater, fantasy and reality blend together.

Interestingly enough, I think a real-life Broadway adaptation of StageFright would be a hit.

For now, enjoy the dancing and the mayhem!

Horror Book Review: Night of the Living Dummy by R.L. Stine

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Let’s just state the obvious.

Ventriloquist dummies are creeping as Hell and no one sane should own one.  Seriously, I’ve seen enough movies and TV shows about living dummies that there’s no way I would ever allow myself to be near one.  They’re always talking about their wild sex lives (which, considering the state of the lower half of their body, I kind of suspect that they’re lying about) and complaining about someone having their clammy hand inside of them and, apparently, if you don’t keep them happy, they’ll try to kill you and everyone that you love.  Stay away from the dummies!

R.L. Stine obviously understands the inherent creepiness of the ventriloquist dummy as well.  The 1993 YA horror novel, Night of the Living Dummy, is about two sisters who get into a dummy-inspired rivalry.  When Lindy finds a ventriloquist dummy in the garbage, she names it Slappy and soon, she’s the most popular kid around, which …. seems kind of strange.  But who knows?  Maybe in 1993, ventriloquism was really cool instead of being ultra creepy.  Lindy’s sister, Kris, gets a dummy of her very own.  She names him Mr. Wood.  Now, there’s two ventriloquist dummies in the house!

And …. they appear to hate each other….

Once you get passed the idea of a young ventriloquist being popular as opposed to shunned by society, Night of the Living Dummy is a fun little book, featuring both a realistic portrait of sisterhood and a memorably nasty dummy.  Mr. Wood is a real instigator, insulting everyone he meets and mocking a teacher for being overweight.  And yet, is Mr. Wood doing this himself or is he just an extension of Kris’s anger and jealousy towards her sister?  It’s an interesting idea, though Stine is smart enough not to get bogged down in subtext.  He understands that his readers are reading the book because they want some demonic dummy action and he delivers a lot of that.

I can’t end this review with pointing out that today is R.L. Stine’s 77th birthday!  Happy birthday and thank you for the chills!