Category: Horror

“Cryo” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Cryo looks like scary fun.  Don’t ya think?

Sometimes the real nightmare is being awake. Five scientists awake from a cryogenic sleep and find themselves trapped in an underground facility. With no memory of who they are or how long they’ve been asleep, they begin to realize they may have been part of a scientific experiment gone wrong. After a series of strange events, the scientists find themselves being hunted. They do not know who is hunting them or for what reason, but the scientists begin to suspect that one of them may be the killer.

RIP: James Bama

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Last night word began leaking that James Bama had died.  I wanted to wait for a verified source.  Sadly, it is true.  James Bama died yesterday, just 4 days short of his 94th birthday.

James Bama grew up wanting to be a cartoonist.  He had his first professional sale, a drawing of Yankee Stadium, at the age of 15.  After a stint in the service, Mr. Bama began his career as a commercial illustrator.  He created art for paperback covers, movie posters, and magazine illustrations.  James Bama is perhaps most widely known for the 62 paperback covers he did for the Doc Savage series.  Later in his career Mr. Bama became known for his many western paintings.

James Bama was inducted into the Illustrator’s Hall of Fame on June 28, 2000.  He was inducted into the Monster Kid Hall Of Fame at The Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards in 2005.

I first became aware of Mr. Bama’s art with his beautiful renditions of the Universal Monsters on the Aurora Monster Model Boxes.  I can remember how much my buddy and I loved the art, often more than the models.  It wasn’t until I was older that I learned Mr. Bama’s name as I saw more and more of his art.  What a wonderful and varied career he had.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to James Bama’s family, friends and fans.

“The Ghoul” (1933) / Z-View

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The Ghoul (1933)

Director:  T. Hayes Hunter

Writers:  Roland Pertwee & John Hastings Turner based on the novel by Frank King and the play by Frank King and Leonard J. HInes / Rupert Downing … adaptation

Starring:  Boris Karloff, Cedric Hardwicke, Ernest Thesiger and Ralph Richardson.

Tagline: An Ancient Curse Is About To Be Unleashed.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Prof. Henry Morlant (Karloff) is dying.  Morlant believes if he dies holding an ancient sacred jewel stolen from an Egyptian temple, he will be reborn.  Morlant has the jewel wrapped in his hand and warns of harm that will befall any who interfere,  When a thief steals the jewel, Morlant returns from the dead to take his revenge.  Part of the fun for the audience is trying to determine the identity of the thief, but I was just ready for Morlant to kill ’em all.

“The Alligator People” (1959) / Z-View

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The Alligator People (1959)

Director:  Roy Del Ruth

Writers:  Orville H. Hampton (screenplay), Charles O’Neal (story), Robert M. Fresco (uncredited)

Starring:  Beverly Garland, Bruce Bennett and Lon Chaney Jr..

Tagline: Her honeymoon turned into a nightmare of horror!

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Joyce Webster (Garland) is on her honeymoon with her new husband (Bennett) when he suddenly runs away.  After years of searching the clues lead Joyce to her husband’s family estate on a secluded bayou. (Years of searching?  Wouldn’t her husband’s family be the first place she looked?)

There she meets the one-handed alcoholic Manon (Chaney) and her anti-social mother-in-law.  Manon takes Joyce around the swampy estate which is full of gators.  As Manon shoots gators, he explains years ago one took his hand and he’ll kill any alligator he can.  Joyce also learns that secret experiments are being performed on alligators.  As Joyce pries deeper she learns the horrific reason her husband ran away…

If only The Alligator People was as good as its poster.  As you can tell from the photo below, the special effects are lacking.  Sadly, at this point in his career Lon Chaney, Jr. playing an alcoholic didn’t require much acting.  If you like bad 1950s monster movies, you’ll like this.  Despite the less-than-stellar alligator make-up there are some fun scenes of Garland in peril surrounded by alligators.  There is also a fun fight between Manon with his hook hand and the alligator man.  Unfortunately, the title of the film is misleading, but I guess The Alligator Man doesn’t sound as exciting as The Alligator People.  With that said, The Alligator People earned 2 of 5 stars.

“Jaws” by Alistair Little and “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” by Vance Kelly!

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Today at noon, Bottleneck Art Gallery will release two new prints.  The one above is the Jaws print by Alistair Little and the second is The Creature from the Black Lagoon by Vance Kelly.  You can click on the art above and below to see bigger versions.  Click over to Bottleneck Art Gallery for details if you’re interested in either (or both)!

HEAD WOUNDS: SPARROW is Coming!

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Head Wounds: Sparrow is a graphic novel written by Brian Buccellato from a story by Robert Johnson & John Alvey.  The art is by Christian Ward.  Here’s the synopsis…

Tangled up in the battle between Good and Evil, a crooked Louisiana detective with a higher purpose must psychically suffer the wounds of those he’s sworn to protect until he brings their assailants to justice.

No one would call Leo a good person – much less a good cop. But when his best friend is shot in front of him, he wakes up with a hole in his own head that only he can see, and a host of mysterious strangers calling on him for action.

Most people go about their daily lives ignoring or unable to see the divine battle for Good and Evil raging around them, but it has just become very very real for Leo. As angels and demons vie for the fate of humanity, he must choose a side or risk seeing everyone and everything he has ever known destroyed as the stakes get higher and higher.

As Leo sees the true faces of the people around him he must decide – will he do what’s best for him alone, or follow a higher purpose?

 

 

If Head Wounds: Sparrow sounds/looks like something you’d like, pre-orders are available now.  The graphic novel premieres on August 9, 2022.

“The Night House” (2020) / Z-View

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The Night House (2020)

Director:  David Bruckner

Writer:  Ben Collins, Luke Piotrowski

Starring:  Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg, Vondie Curtis-Hall and Evan Jonigkeit.

Tagline: The truth will surface.

The Overview:  Beware of Spoilers…

Beth (Hall) is a grieving widow, with no idea why her husband, Owen (Jonigkeit) killed himself.  Alone in the house that they built on a remote lake, Beth begins to have strange dreams.  Going through Owen’s possessions she comes across books about demons, pictures of other women, and more.  Then Beth begins to hear strange sounds in the house and a voice claiming to be Owen.  Is Beth losing her mind or is Owen reaching out to her from beyond?  Or could it be something even worse?

The Night House is held together by the acting of Rebecca Hall.  She’s really good.  The problem I had with the movie is it didn’t seem to know what it wanted to be.  Is it the story of a grieving widow trying to hold on to her sanity?  Is it the tale of a widow who discovers her husband was a serial killer?  Is it a haunted house movie?  When all is said and done, more is said than done.  And for that reason I give The Night House 2 of 5 stars.    

“Frank & Penelope” – The Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Frank & Penelope may not be for everyone.  Heck, it may not be for me, but I like the poster’s design and the trailer looks like drive-in fun.  Who doesn’t like a good crime/horror mashup.  The question is: Will Frank & Penelope be good?

I’ll let you know.

While on the run from the law, Frank and his stripper girlfriend Penelope come upon a small motel and diner and decide to rest for the night. The next day, after robbing the diner, they become immersed in a hellish nightmare when the proprietor — a psychotic, cannibalistic Bible-thumper with a sadistic family — take them on a life and death journey, where escape is just a heart-pounding breath away.

CAST: Kevin Dillon, Billy Budinich, Caylee Cowan, Sean Patrick Flanery, Donna D’Errico, Johnathon Schaech, Sonya Eddy, Lin Shaye

DIRECTOR: Sean Patrick Flanery

THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME by Gabino Iglesias!

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The Devil Takes You Home by Gabino Iglesias is on my to-be-read list.  I’m a fan of Iglesias’ Zero Saints and love the plot of The Devil Takes You Home.  Check it out and see what you think,

From Bram Stoker, Anthony, and Locus award-nominated author, Gabino Iglesias, comes a genre-defying thriller about a father desperate to salvage what’s left of his family, even if it means a descent into violence –both supernatural and of our own terrifying world.

Buried in debt due to his young daughter’s illness, his marriage at the brink, Mario reluctantly takes a job as a hitman, surprising himself with his proclivity for violence. After tragedy destroys the life he knew, Mario agrees to one final job: hijack a cartel’s cash shipment before it reaches Mexico. Along with an old friend and a cartel-insider named Juanca, Mario sets off on the near-suicidal mission, which will leave him with either a cool $200,000 or a bullet in the skull. But the path to reward or ruin is never as straight as it seems. As the three complicated men travel through the endless landscape of Texas, across the border and back, their hidden motivations are laid bare alongside nightmarish encounters that defy explanation. One thing is certain: even if Mario makes it out alive, he won’t return the same.

The Devil Takes You Home is a panoramic odyssey for fans of S.A. Cosby’s southern noir, Blacktop Wasteland, by way of the boundary-defying storytelling of Stephen Graham Jones and Sylvia Moreno-Garcia.

“The Home” – A Short Horror Film

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The Home is filled with tension due to professional acting, directing and production values.  Well done.

Set in a small, isolated 19th century Irish home for unwed mothers, a young pregnant woman must fight for her survival as the home falls siege to a group of mysterious invaders.

“The Home”

Writers: L. Gustavo Cooper & Peter Cilella

Director: L. Gustavo Cooper

Starring Alex Essoe (Doctor Sleep, Midnight Mass)

Evidence Points to NEW Suspect as the ZODIAC KILLER!

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Speculation as to who the Zodiac Killer was, is always a popular topic.  There are so many folks who have done extensive research and most often they come up with the usual suspects.  Not so with Jarett Kobek.  Kobek did the research, but facts led him down a different path to a new, viable suspect named Paul Doerr. 

Tim Molloy at MovieMaker provides an excellent overview of Kobek’s findings in his piece Zodiac Killer Revealed by His Love of Comic Books, Author Says.  Molloy’s article is definitely worth a read.  It details how a card sent to police/newspapers listed four ways the Zodiac planned to kill: “By Fire, By Gun, By Knife, By Rope”.  Many Zodiac researchers linked the quote to the 1952 Western comic book, Tim Holt #30.  Kobek took this finding and ran with it.

Kobek realized that the number of comic book collectors at that time was relatively small.  His next step was to start researching comic book fanzines of the era.  Paul Doerr’s name came up in letters to the fan magazines.  His writing style and the content of his letters struck Kobek as being similar to the Zodiac’s.  Then Kobek discovered that Doerr was on the mailing list for renaissance fairs.  Of course in one of the Zodiac attacks he was wearing a Medieval executioner’s hood.  In other letters Doerr talks of killing and making a bomb.  Click over to Molloy’s piece for full details.

Jarett Kobek’s book, How to Find Zodiac lays out the evidence leading to his belief that Doerr was the Zodiac Killer.  Here’s the synopsis…

“A scruffy masterpiece of criminology. It seems to me that either Kobek’s painstaking deductions are correct, or we must urgently revise the laws of probability.” – Alan Moore, author of From Hell

Dear Reader,

This is not the Zodiac speaking. The one thing that I ask of you is this, please read this book. It is called How to Find Zodiac. Being that this book is about the Zodiac, it offers a new suspect. The theory is probably correct. At the moment the theory is unproven. But the idea is a bomb waiting to go massive. Can you see the flaws in the hunting method or will you just agree and say case closed. Either way one thing is true. Zodiac can never look and seem the same after you read this book. It was written by Jarett Kobek.

It will be interesting to see how Zodiac researchers react to Kobek’s research and suspect.