Music Video of the Day: The Writing On The Wall by Iron Maiden (2021, directed by Nicos Livesey)

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

According to Iron Maiden lead singer Bruce Dickinson, this song and video are “all wrapped up in a lot of messages about greed and the destruction of the planet, with the top one-percenters sitting in their shiny castles, leaving everyone else outside to rot on a dying planet. It’s meant to be pretty on the nose about the current planetary situation”.

Taking place in a dystopian future in which the British slavishly follow behind the Americans while other world leaders ride atop nuclear missiles that are pulled by their slaves, it is fair to say that this video is “on the nose.” Fortunately, Eddie and the Four Bikers of the Apocalypse aren’t going to step to the side, especially not when there are people in ragged Iron Maiden shirts dying in the desert.

Enjoy!

Horror On TV: Circle of Fear 1.18 “Legion of Demons” (dir by Paul Stanley)

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Shy Beth (Shirley Knight) is now to the city and still struggling to make friends. Fortunately, her friend Janet gets her a nice corporate job. Unfortunately, Janet then vanishes and Beth discovers that her co-workers are more than just office workers, I won’t spoil the twist, since the title of this episode already did that.

Legion of Demons aired on February 2nd, 1973 and it undoubtedly led to a lot of viewers saying, “I think they filmed that at my office!”

Enjoy!

The TSL’s Horror Grindhouse: The First Power (dir by Robert Reskinoff)

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 1990 horror film, Lou Diamond Phillips plays Russell Logan, a Los Angeles police detective who specializes in capturing and sometimes killing serial killers. (“So far,” a news reporter breathlessly tells us, “Detective Logan has captured or killed three serial killers!”) His latest triumph is the capture of Patrick Channing (Jeff Kober), also known as the Pentagram Killer because he carves a pentagram on his victims.

Logan captures Channing thanks to a tip from a psychic named Tess (Tracy Griffith). Tess specifically made Logan promise her that he wouldn’t push for Channing to get the death penalty. However, after Logan captures him, he goes back on his word and Channing is sentenced to die in the gas chamber. To be honest, I wasn’t aware that detectives had the power to decide whether or not to go for the death penalty when it comes to prosecuting murder cases. As far as I’ve known, that’s always been the job of the district attorney’s office. Maybe they do things differently out in California….

Anyway, Channing smiles when he’s sentenced to death and then he smiles again when he’s executed. Logan shrugs all of that off but suddenly, the pentagram murders start up again. The murderer is killing people in the exact same way that Channing did and he also appears to be targeting the people who were involved in Channing’s capture. Meanwhile, Tess is running around angry because she specifically told Logan not to allow Channing to be executed.

Hmmmm …. have you figured out what’s going on, yet?

Of course you have! That’s because you’ve seen a horror movie before. From the minute that Channing was sentenced to die, you probably knew that Channing would eventually come back from the dead and start murdering people all over again. It turns out that, by executing Channing, the state of California has granted him the first power, i.e. resurrection. By committing more murders, Channing is hoping to unlock all of the other powers. Those powers include the power to appear and disappear at will, possess other people, jump off of roof tops, and mockingly laugh at anyone who tries to stop him.

Apparently, Detective Logan is not a fan of horror movies because it takes him a while to figure all of this out. (We should keep in mind that he’s a cop so his job is to be skeptical of claims of people returning from the dead.) But once he starts hearing Channing’s disembodied voice and getting attacked by possessed priests and homeless women, he really has no other option but to accept the truth and work with Tess to try to end Channing’s reign of terror.

The First Power is one of those horror films that’s extremely predictable but effective nonetheless. Lou Diamond Phillips manages to maintain a straight face, regardless of how outlandish this film gets and Jeff Kober seems to be having a blast as the flamboyantly evil Patrick Channing. Channing jumps off of rooftops and through windows with a graceful aplomb and the film actually has some fun with the idea of Channing skipping from body to body. The First Power is often dumb but always entertaining.

The China Lake Murders (1990, directed by Alan Metzger)

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

Officer Donnelly (Michael Parks) of the Arizona Highway Patrol has snapped. One day, he doesn’t show up for roll call and instead drives out to the desert. Sometimes, he pulls people over and tells them that they’ve violated a traffic law. Sometimes, he stops to help a stranded motorist. Every encounter ends with Donnelly killing someone. When Donnelly reaches the town of China Lake, he flirts with a waitress (Lauren Tewes) and befriends Sheriff Sam Brodie (Tom Skerritt). Brodie is investigating the mystery of why so many people are turning up dead in the desert and he slowly comes to realize that his new friend is the one responsible.

The China Lake Murders was produced by the USA Network and it used to air regularly throughout the 90s. For a while, it held the record for the highest rated basic cable film. One reason why so many people would watch it whenever it aired was because the movie started out with a warning that it contained strong violence and some sexual content. That warning was all that it took to convince most people to watch the movie. While the sexual content is tame (we see someone’s bare back at one point), the violence is indeed strong.

So is the performance of Michael Parks, who plays Donnelly as the ultimate nightmare cop. In many ways, Donnelly epitomizes everything that people hate about the police. He’s a bully who hides behind his uniform and his badge. The movie never explains why Donnelly suddenly snapped but watching him, it’s easy to guess that he’s always been a sadist. He channeled his cruelty into law enforcement and now that he’s crossed the line and is killing random people, he still believes that his uniform will protect him. Tom Skerritt, on the other hand, is the epitome of what most people would hope a cop would be, fair-minded and more concerned with helping the community than controlling it.

The China Lake Murders is a little slow. Since it’s revealed early on that Parks is the killer, there’s not much suspense during the middle section of the film. Things pick up, though, when Skerritt and Parks finally go after each other. The two veteran actors bring a lot of gravitas to their roles and their final confrontation does not disappoint.

Game Review: Night Train (2022, Evan Farris)

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Jedadiah Leland

In this Twine game, you wake up in a train. The train appears to be deserted, except for you. Outside the windows, everything appears to be dark. Do you explore the train and try to discover why you have become a passenger and just where exactly it is that you’re going? Or do you go back to your compartment and wait for an answer?

This is a short and simple Twine game, written in the style of an old Choose Your Own Adventure book. You are given various options that you can use to explore the train and hopefully learn what is going on. Make the right choices and you’ll find the answers. Make the wrong choice and you’ll fall victim to a fate of Lovecraftian horror. The game takes less than ten minutes to play and I do wish there had been a few more options but the game’s story is intriguing and it does a good job of capturing the player’s attention. This game really makes use of a classic Interactive Fiction scenario. You wake up with no idea where or even who you are. You spend the rest of the game trying to answer those questions. There are a few typos in the game but, for all I know, there’s probably a few typos in this review. None of them are serious enough to really interfere with the experience of playing the game itself.

Play Night Train!

Horror Scenes that I Love: Pennywise Visits The Library In It

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Admittedly, this scene from the 1990 version of It is a bit more goofy than scary but still, I love Tim Curry’s performance as Pennywise the Clown. When the first part of the latest version of It came out, it was kind of fashionable to dismiss the 1990 version. But then the second movie came out and everyone was like, “We waited a year for this!? Give us back our Tim Curry!”

Anyway, in this scene, Pennywise shows at the Derry Public Library and offers Richie (Harry Anderson) some balloons.

Book Review: The Surprise Party by R.L. Stine

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Last summer, after her boyfriend Evan apparently shot himself in Fear Street Woods, Ellen moved away from Fear Street and her friends were left to attend Shadyside High without her. However, a few months have passed and Ellen now feels safe about returning to Fear Street, if just for a visit. Her friend, Meg, is super excited! Meg wants to throw Ellen a surprise party! Great idea, Meg! Meg wants to throw it in Fear Street Woods, at pretty much the same location where the dead body of Ellen’s boyfriend was found. Wait, what?

Meg is shocked when she starts to get phone calls from a mysterious stranger, telling her to cancel the party. She’s even more upset when someone destroys the invitations that she spent so long working on. Meg does exactly what I would do in those circumstances. She makes a list of all the people who she thinks might be responsible. A few people are put on the list for understandable reasons, i.e., being near the invitations before they were destroyed. The rest are listed because Meg dislikes them personally. One kid is listed because he’s way into playing Wizard and Dragons. Meg’s extremely petty suspect list is probably the most realistic thing about The Surprise Party. My suspects lists are always a combination of people who have blocked me on twitter and celebrities that I’m sick of hearing about. My Congressman is usually on the list because he supports the ProAct.

Anyway, it does turn out that there is more to Evan’s death than anyone originally realized. And yes, the truth comes out at the surprise party. And yes, all of the twists don’t really make that much sense. First published in 1989, this was the second of R.L. Stine’s Fear Street books and, to be honest, it’s a little bit disappointing. There’s nothing supernatural about anything that happens. Instead, it’s just one of those mysteries that can’t be solved because Stine doesn’t give us all the clues until the very last minute. I spent the whole book thinking Meg was the culprit because throwing a surprise party in the woods where your friend committed suicide is just incredibly insensitive. And, if this was a later Fear Street book, I have no doubt that Meg would have an evil twin or something. But no, this is an early book and Meg’s just dumb.

Oh well. That’s life on Fear Street!

Book Review: Haunted Places: The National Directory by Dennis William Hauck

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I’ve said before, you don’t necessarily have to believe in ghosts to have fun searching for them.

Myself, I don’t believe in Ghosts, UFOs, conspiracy theories, or Bigfoot. But I still enjoy reading about them and occasionally visiting the places where they’ve supposedly been spotted. In fact, I would say that being a skeptic makes it even more enjoyable to visit a haunted house. On the one hand, you would think that, because you don’t believe in ghosts, you wouldn’t be frightened about the possibility of running into one of them. However, from my own personal experience, I’ve found the opposite to be true. Haunted houses are even scarier when you don’t believe because you’ve always got that voice in the back of your head saying, “What if you’re wrong?”

Haunted Places: The National Directory is just what the title on the cover says it is. It’s a listing of places across the country that some believe to be haunted. Some of the places are said to be inhabited by ghosts. Some of the places are better known for the UFOs that have supposedly visited. Some places have been visited by Bigfoot. There’s a few lakes that are rumored to be home to underwater monsters. It makes for interesting reading and, like many paranormal directories, it’s a treasure trove of potential inspiration for the aspiring horror writer. The latest edition of the book as published in 2002 so don’t expect to find information of recent hauntings and some of the locations may have been torn down in the past twenty year. It happens. That said, Jeff and I used this book to plan a road trip a few years ago and we had a great time, even if we didn’t see any ghosts.

International Horror Film Review: En el Pozo (dir by Bernardo and Rafael Antonaccio)

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this 2019 film from Uruguay, four people spend the day at a quarry. Needless to say, things don’t go well.

Alicia (Paula Silva) grew up in the small town of Suarez but she has since moved to the big city. When she returns to her home to visit her parents, she brings along her new boyfriend. Bruno (Augusto Gordillo) is well-educated and apparently wealthy. He’s not a fan of hunting. He finds fishing to be barbaric. He doesn’t think much of Alicia’s small town and it’s obvious, from the first minute that we see him, that he is eager to get back to the city. However, Alicia wants to spend the day at the water-filled quarry (“It’s as close to the beach as we get,” someone explains) with two of her old friends, Tincho (Rafael Beltran) and Tola (Luis Pazos). Tincho is Alicia’s ex-boyfriend and is obviously still in love with her. He gets the day off to an awkward start by telling her that he’s ready to abandon Suarez and join her in the city. Tola, meanwhile, is a cheerful joker. While Bruno and Tincho spend their timed trying to one-up each other, Tola is content to just smoke weed and drink beer. While Alicia tries to keep the peace, the tension between Tincho and Bruno continues to grow.

From the start, it’s obvious that at least one member of the group is going to eventually end up trying to kill the others. It’s just a question of who is going to snap first. The film tells its story with a deliberate pace, capturing each moment of growing tension. When Bruno kicks away Tincho’s soccer ball, we wonder, “Is this the moment that’s going drive Tincho to murder?” When Tincho taunts Bruno into risking serious injury by diving into the quarry, we again wonder if this is the moment that Bruno is going to finally lose it. Even Tola occasionally seems somewhat suspicious. I mean, no one can be that laid back! As women have done since the beginning of time, Alicia tries to keep the men from killing each other in their attempts to impress her with their displays of machismo. It takes a while but the inevitable violence does arrive and I have to say that I was actually a little surprised to see who instigated it.

En El Pozo (the name translates to In The Quarry) is a well-acted and tense film. One thing that works to the film’s advantage is that no one in the film is one-dimensional. None of them are perfect but none of them are totally evil. Bruno is correct when he says that Tincho is trying to bait him but, at the same time, Bruno is also a bit condescending to both Tincho and Alicia. Tincho may be an immature jerk but his feelings for Alicia are real. And while I sympathized and related to Alicia, I did have to wonder why she thought it would be a good idea to have her new boyfriend hang out with her ex-boyfriend in an isolated quarry. The violence erupts suddenly and the events that happen afterwards are as much a result of panic as they are of maliciousness. En El Pozo is well-acted and well-directed, with the atmosphere becoming progressively more claustrophobic as the tensions continue to rise. It all leads to appropriately dark and downbeat ending. Así es la vida.

8 Shots From 8 Horror Films: 1990 — 1993

Posted on October 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

4 Or More Shots From 4 Or More Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!

This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 (or more) Shots From 4 (or more) Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.

Today, we take a look at 1990, 1991, 1992, and 1993!

8 Shots From 8 Horror Films: 1990 — 1993