Back in the 80s and most of the 90s, every movie came with an MTV-friendly music video. For The Lost Boys, it was this video for Lou Gramm’s Lost In The Shadows. Lou sings in what appears to be a wooden cage while scenes from the movie play. Music videos that acted as advertisements for movies were a big thing and I always looked forward to seeing them on MTV.
Lou Gramm was the lead singer of Foreigner when he recorded this song. He left Foreigner in 1990, rejoined in 1992, and then left again in 2003. He rejoined the band for a few performance in 2025 during Foreigner’s farewell tour. Lou has survived both drug addiction and a brain tumor and is still performing as a solo artist.
Batman: Bloodstorm is the middle chapter of Doug Moench and Kelley Jones’ wonderfully deranged Batman & Dracula trilogy, and it might be the best of the three because it finally gives the premise somewhere to go beyond “Batman versus Dracula.” The first book, Batman & Dracula: Red Rain, established the hook: Gotham is invaded by vampires, Batman defeats Count Dracula, and the cost is that Bruce Wayne himself becomes a vampire. Bloodstorm picks up immediately after that ending and asks the question that makes the whole Elseworlds experiment click: what happens when Batman is now the thing he swore to destroy?
The answer is grim, pulpy, and a lot of fun. Batman has retained his mission, but he is no longer simply a man using fear and discipline to fight crime. He is a creature of the night with a hunger he cannot fully control, fighting remnants of Dracula’s undead army while trying to keep from becoming Gotham’s next monster. That is a great setup, and Moench understands why it works. Batman’s usual moral code—especially his refusal to kill—is not just challenged here; it is structurally compromised. He has to destroy vampires permanently, he needs blood to survive, and every act of violence brings him closer to the edge.
What makes Bloodstorm more interesting than a standard vampire-Batman novelty is that Moench treats vampirism as both a horror curse and a metaphor for Batman’s already obsessive, self-punishing nature. Bruce has always lived in darkness, dressed like a nightmare, and used terror as a weapon. Here, the metaphor becomes literal. He is isolated, increasingly unstable, and forced to confront the possibility that his crusade is not noble self-sacrifice but addiction dressed up as virtue. The book’s central tension is not whether Batman can defeat the vampires; it is whether he can preserve any part of his soul while doing it.
Moench leans into that internal torment without turning the book into a dry psychological study. This is still a big, gothic comic-book melodrama, full of blood, thunder, graveyards, ruined Gotham streets, and villains chewing the scenery with admirable commitment. The Joker’s arrival is the obvious but effective escalation. If Dracula was the ancient evil who turned Gotham into a hunting ground, the Joker is the chaotic local disease that infects the remains. He takes over Dracula’s undead followers and turns the vampire threat into something even more unpredictable and cruel. It is one of those “of course” ideas that feels inevitable once you hear it: the Joker with an army of vampires is almost too perfect for a dark Elseworlds story.
Catwoman also plays a major role, and she is one of the book’s more emotionally effective elements. Her relationship with Batman gives the story a human anchor amid all the fangs and shadows. Batman is barely holding himself together, and Selina Kyle becomes someone who can still see the man underneath the monster. That does not make the book soft, but it gives the tragedy a direction. The supporting cast also includes Alfred and Jim Gordon, which helps keep the story connected to the familiar Batman mythology even as the world becomes increasingly unhinged.
Kelley Jones’ artwork is the reason this book has such a strong identity. His Batman is not the sleek, athletic tactician of modern comics; he is a towering, crooked, almost demonic silhouette, with a cape that seems to have a life of its own and a cowl that makes him look like something crawled out of a nightmare. In a vampire story, that exaggeration is exactly right. Jones’ Gotham is a place of jagged architecture, oppressive shadows, distorted faces, and bodies arranged for maximum gothic impact. The book is drawn by Jones with inks from John Beatty and Malcolm Jones III, and the result is one of the most visually distinctive versions of Batman DC has ever published.
Jones’ style is not for everyone. His figures can be elongated, his anatomy deliberately strange, and his compositions sometimes favor atmosphere over clarity. But in Bloodstorm, those qualities become assets. Batman looks like a vampire even before the story reminds you that he is one. The Joker looks genuinely repellent rather than merely clownish. The vampires have a theatrical, old-school horror-movie menace, and the color work gives the whole thing a blood-soaked, moonlit finish. Jones had grown as an artist since Red Rain, with stronger page images and more distinctive action staging, and Bloodstorm feels more confident than its predecessor, more willing to commit to the grotesque beauty of its premise.
The art also helps cover some of the book’s rougher edges. Moench’s writing can get a little overwrought, with characters delivering dialogue that sounds like it was marinating in candle wax and thunderstorms. But that is part of the charm. This is not a grounded crime story; it is a gothic pulp nightmare, and the dialogue mostly matches the artwork’s operatic intensity. When Batman broods, he really broods. When the Joker menaces, he really menaces. The book knows what tone it wants, and it commits.
The main weakness is that Bloodstorm occasionally mistakes escalation for depth. The story has strong ideas about Batman’s hunger, guilt, and moral collapse, but it sometimes circles the same emotional territory: Batman fears becoming a monster, Batman resists the hunger, Batman worries that he is losing himself. That tension is effective, but after a while you want the story to find new angles rather than restate the central dilemma. The Joker is a blast, but some of his scenes lean on shock value and broad villainy rather than the sharper psychological warfare he can bring out in Batman.
There is also the issue of pacing. At 96 pages, the book moves quickly, but its plot can feel like a bridge between the clean Dracula showdown of Red Rain and the even darker final chapter, Batman: Crimson Mist. It introduces a compelling status quo—vampire Batman, Joker-led undead forces, a Gotham sliding further into ruin—then has to resolve enough of it to set up the next installment. That gives the story momentum, but it also means a few developments feel rushed or designed more for shock than long-term payoff.
Still, those flaws do not sink it. Bloodstorm is more focused than Red Rain because its conflict is personal rather than merely external. Dracula was the big villain, but Batman’s own transformation is the real antagonist here. The book understands that the scariest version of this premise is not “Batman fights vampires.” It is “Batman is a vampire, and he still thinks he can save Gotham.”
Batman: Bloodstorm is a proudly excessive piece of ’90s DC horror comics: moody, violent, melodramatic, and visually unforgettable. Doug Moench gives the story a genuinely compelling moral crisis, while Kelley Jones turns every page into a gothic fever dream. It is not flawless—the dialogue can be purple, the pacing can be uneven, and the book occasionally leans too hard on grimness—but its best moments have real power. If you enjoy Batman stories that push the character into moral darkness without losing sight of why he fights in the first place, this is an easy recommendation.
As the second part of the Batman & Dracula trilogy, it also works better if you have read Red Rain first, since it begins directly from that book’s aftermath. But on its own terms, Bloodstorm is a strong example of what Elseworlds did best: taking a familiar hero, changing one essential rule, and discovering that the character becomes both more frightening and more tragic. Batman has always been a creature of the night. This book simply asks what happens when the night finally claims him.
In 2o2o’s One Nation Under God, David Gutierrez (Isaak Presley) is a new student at an exclusive private school. (He was selected via a lottery of intelligent but economically disadvantaged kids.) On the first day of school, David makes a point of saying “One nation under God,” while reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. His classmate, Gordon (Thomas Kasp), corners him outside of class and tells him that he’s not allowed to say that in school. Since Gordon’s father happens to Headmaster Kingsley (Casper Van Dien), David’s first day is not off to a good start.
However, the debate coach, Mr. Truman (Kevin Sorbo), hears about what David said and decides that David should definitely be on the debate team. The topic for the semester is whether or not “God should be in schools.” Gordon is already prepared to argue the negative. Can David argue the positive?
But first, presidential candidate Sen. Viera (Antonio Sabato, Jr.) stops by the school for an assembly. He’s a graduate from the school and it’s felt that appearing there will be a good PR move for him. He’s accompanied by one of his strongest supporters, former football player and U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker. When David stands up and asks Viera about his own beliefs, Viera stumbles over the question and his aides quickly end the assembly.
Stunned by David’s question and ashamed of his own inability to answer it, Sen. Viera decides to make his religious faith the center of his campaign. His wife is happy but his campaign aides are freaking out. They’ve got a big debate coming up with Governor Palabra (Summer Selby) and they just know that she’s going to accuse Viera of wanting to legislate morality.
Meanwhile, David has his own debate to prepare for. Fearful that Gordon will lose the debate and also whatever chance he may have to attend an Ivy League college, the Headmaster plans to bribe David to lose. David’s single mother could really use the money. Will David sell out or will he stick to his beliefs?
As you can see, there’s a lot going on in this movie but, ultimately, every subplot serves the same purpose, which is to tick off any liberal who happens to watch it. Sure, there’s a lot of talk about the importance of faith and also the importance of freedom of speech but the main purpose of this movie is to upset liberal viewers. Judging from some of the reviews of this film that were posted on Letterboxd, the film appears to have accomplished that. My personal opinion is that, if you spend more than an hour composing an angry review about a relatively obscure film starring Kevin Sorbo, you’ve already lost the war. I always find the frenzied reaction to these type of films to be a bit amusing because they’re really not any more heavy-handed or one-sided than the typical mainstream film. It’s just they’re attacking from the right instead of the left.
And make no mistake, One Nation Under God is heavy-handed and one-sided. Nothing about its portrayal of the inner workings of a major presidential campaign feels authentic and quite a few of its subplots fall flat. That said, I actually liked some of the songs on the soundtrack and the film itself looked like a real movie, which definitely set this film apart from a lot of other faith-based films. Kevin Sorbo is properly authoritative as the debate coach. Casper van Dien is properly villainous as the evil Headmaster. In the end, though, the main purpose of the film is to annoy liberals and it accomplishes that goal.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Hunter, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1991. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week’s episode is a difficult one.
Episode 2.6 “Rape and Revenge: Part 1”
(Dir by Gary Winter, originally aired on November 2nd, 1985)
I nearly didn’t watch this episode.
When I saw the title of this episode and then read the plot description on the IMDb, my first instinct was to try to find an excuse to get out of having to watch and review it. The plot description read: McCall is raped by a visiting diplomat and her colleague’s hands are tied when he claims diplomatic immunity. Nearly every episode of Hunter so far has featured McCall getting into some sort of trouble. She’s been kidnapped countless times. She’s been shot at least three times. She’s been in more than a few fights. In the past, that didn’t bother me because no one is going to mistake Hunter for a realistic show. But when I read what was going to happen to her in this week’s episode, I immediately imagined that the show would handle it in the worst and most insensitive way possible.
Still, I watched the episode because I’m a completist. And you know what? I was wrong.
This episode opens with Hunter and McCall investigating the discovery of a dead woman at the Curaguayan Consulate in Los Angeles. (Curaguaya is a fictional country in South America.) One of the consuls, Raoul Marino (Richard Yniguez), immediately starts hitting on McCall, despite the fact that she’s conducting a police investigation. Later, Raoul sends three different flower deliveries to McCall’s house. When Raoul then shows up at McCall’s house, she tells him to leave. He rapes her and then flees. McCall calls Hunter, who rushes over to her house and then takes her to the hospital.
Because he has diplomatic immunity, Raoul thinks that he can get away with rape. He also thinks that he can get away with shooting Hunter in the shoulder when the latter confronts him. And it turns out that Raoul is correct. With both McCall and Hunter temporarily out of action, he boards a plane to Curaguaya and returns home.
To the show’s credit, it handles McCall’s rape sensitively. Stepfanie Kramer gives a strong performance as McCall. The scenes at the hospital, where the still bruised McCall is examined by doctors and investigators, capture the fact that the trauma of being raped doesn’t just end with the act. My fear was that this episode would have McCall magically recover at the end of the hour. It didn’t. Instead, we watch as McCall goes through therapy and as she slowly reaches the point where she feels that she can return to work. But even when she does return, the pain and the trauma are still there. This episode doesn’t simplify rape or use it as just another melodramatic plot twist. For that, it deserves a lot of credit.
(My only real issue that, during a recovery montage, the scenes of McCall in therapy are mixed with scenes of Hunter recovering from being shot in the shoulder. I feel like McCall deserved to have that montage to herself.)
This is a two-part episode. The first hour ended with McCall realizing that Hunter had traveled down to San Pablo, Curaguay to get revenge on Raoul. (Hunter previously told McCall that he was taking a few days off to go fishing.) McCall then made a reservation on the next flight to San Pablo. The story concludes next week!
I share this 1997 episode of Baywatch Nights every October because it’s just wonderfully strange. Two 900 year-old Vikings have been unfrozen and are causing chaos in Los Angeles! Who can stop them?
Congratulations to the Milwaukee Brewers, who just won their first pennant and who will be making their first appearance in the World Series! A lot of people, like me, assumed the Dodgers would win the series easily but the Brewers proved us wrong. They swept the Dodgers and now, they’re going to the World Series, where they face either the Guardians or the Rays!
Good luck in the World Series and I hope the people of Milwaukee are celebrating tonight!
We have reached October 15th, the final day for individuals to file their income taxes in the United States of America and not be late. For a lot of you, this day means nothing. For a guy who makes his life in the tax business, and who has spent the last couple of months helping his clients get their taxes filed up to the very last minute, this day is a day of freedom! Happy October 15th, my friends. Let the holidays commence!
Shot in Michigan, 1988’s The Hackers lives up to its name in two ways.
First off, it’s about a family that actually does have the surname of Hacker. Pa Hacker (Howard Coburn) drives around Michigan with his two sons, Arnie Hacker (Dale Caughel) and Eldon Hacker (Steven Picharo). They drive around Michigan and make a living by doing odd jobs. They claim that they can build and fix just about anything, even though they don’t seem to be particularly effective once they show up at their work site. Pa is gruff and kind of ornery. You can tell that he’s old school and he expects everyone to carry their weight. Arnie and Eldon are a little bit more goofy. They like to wear masks and they like to go fishing. They’re the type who will invade your personal space without even realizing why that would upset anyone. They are hicks and they’re proud of it.
Pa, Arnie, and Eldon also live up to their name in that they enjoy hacking people up. They’re the Hackers and they are really into hacking. When they see a man hitchhiking, they chop off his thumb as they drive by. When they pick up another hitchhiker, they end up strangling her. When a fisherman tells them to find another place to fish, Arnie and Eldon put an abrupt end to his fishing days.
Pa, Arnie, and Eldon have been hired to fix up the barn on a nearly deserted property. Marcie (Michelle Rank) is house-sitting and she soon finds herself being menaced by the Hackers. And while that’s definitely a scary situation, Marcie does have one big fact on her side: Arnie and Eldon are idiots. They’re the type who accidentally lose a finger while using a radial saw. Really, I’m surprised that Pa keeps them employed. If Pa simply did the job by himself, he’d probably get finished and get paid a lot quicker. Instead, he spends a lot of time dealing with Arnie and Eldon’s messes.
This is pretty much the epitome of a late 80s SOV slasher film. This was pretty much the only film that the majority of the cast appeared in, and it only has a 70-minute runtime. It’s hard to believe that a 70-minute movie could have any wasted moments, but this one does. There are scenes in which Arnie and Eldon seem to literally spend hours arguing about nothing. There’s no real suspense. The special effects are definitely on the cheap side. It’s a regional film, through and through.
And yet, there’s something oddly likable about a film like The Hackers. It’s an amateur film that was made by some guy in Michigan in 1988, and yet, I’m sitting here in Texas and I’m reviewing it in 2026. Because the film was shot on location and it was made by a bunch of amateurs, there’s an authenticity to the film that you wouldn’t necessarily get from a more professionally shot film. When it was made, it may have just been another regional horror flick. Today, though, it’s a time capsule. Watching a film like The Hackers is about as close as any of us are going to get to using a time machine.
I think for most people, that will be the main appeal of 1988’s Demonwarp. Bill (George Kennedy) lives in a cabin in the woods with his daughter. After a Bigfoot-like creature kills his daughter, Bill grabs a shotgun and starts wandering around the woods, looking for revenge. And while I’m calling the character Bill, I should make clear that George Kennedy comes across as if he’s playing George Kennedy. If you’ve watched enough TCM, you know George Kennedy as the big, burly guy who might be in his 50s but still looks like he could beat up an army of young punks if he had to. He’s gruff and plainspoken and he doesn’t have much patience for people who aren’t willing to man up and work hard. And so, when Bill declares that he’s going to kill Bigfoot, it’s the equivalent of George Kennedy declaring it. It’s nice to see that, even after winning an Oscar for Cool Hand Luke, George Kennedy still had what it took to keep the woods safe.
Unfortunately, George Kennedy is only a supporting player here. The main characters are a group of teenagers who end up hanging out at a cabin of their own and who soon fall victim to Bigfoot themselves. It takes them a while to accept the help of George Kennedy and, for that, they have only themselves to blame. Obviously, they hadn’t watched Cool Hand Luke or they would have known that George Kennedy is exactly the guy you want to listen to in an extreme situation. If only they had binged the Airport films, as I do every time before I go on any type of vacation, things would have worked out much better for them. Let Joe Patroni in the cockpit and he’ll land that plane right on top of that monster. Problem solved.
Demonwarp is an extremely silly film that I happen to like. Some of that is because I don’t really like camping but I do enjoy going to my family’s lakehouse and every stupid mistake that the teenagers make in Demonwarp is one that I’ve made in real life. Reacting to a scary sound by running outside half-naked or just in a towel? I have lost track of the number of times I’ve done that. Usually, it was because I thought I heard a catfight going on outside. When you hear two cats yelling at each other, you don’t have time to worry about getting fully dressed. Modesty can be the difference between scaring off the other cat or having to take your cat to the vet. I imagine the same is true when it comes to Bigfoot intrusions. Yes, the characters in Demonwarp did some foolish things but they’re all pretty much the same things that I would do.
The other good thing about Demonwarp is that the final 20 minutes features a twist that is so out there and downright weird that it simply has to be seen to be believed. Demonwarp is a thoroughly ludicrous horror film and that’s the main reason to watch it.
