31 Days of Halloween: Dracula (1973)

One year ago: House of Frankenstein & House of Dracula

There have been a whole hell of a lot of Dracula movies made. From adaptations of the novel to movies where they just use the name, there is certainly no shortage of Dracula movies to choose from. One nearly forgotten adaptation of the classic novel is this 1973 version written by I Am Legend scribe Richard Matheson, directed by Dark Shadows director Dan Curtis, and starring the truly awesome Jack Palance as Count Dracula.

As in the novel, Jonathan Harker (Murray Brown) arrives at Castle Dracula to conduct some business. Dracula has a strong reaction to a photo of Harker's fiancee Mina (Penelope Horner) posing with her friend Lucy(Fiona Lewis). Harker quickly realizes all is not as it seems with the Count and his castle, and goes snooping. He finds the Count's coffin, but one of Dracula's servants knocks him out and throws him into the cellar, where Harker encounters Dracula's vampire brides. The plot loosely follows the novel for a little while longer, with Lucy becoming mysteriously ill after Dracula's now-deserted ship arrives in England. Van Helsing (Nigel Davenport) and Arthur Holmwood (Simon Ward) soon realize they are dealing with a vampire, and set about ferreting him out and destroying the creature once and for all.

Several aspects of the film may seem incongruous to the very idea of Dracula, but wind up working quite well. Chief among these is Castle Dracula itself. Rather than the usual dark, decaying, monolithic edifice, here we have a castle Dracula that is positively homey. Some of the abandoned rooms, as we see, have more than their share of cobwebs, but the main rooms are well-kept and rather inviting. This makes sense, however, as it keeps Harker from learning what is truly going on until it is too late. In most film adaptations, as well as in the novel itself, Harker is instantly put on alert because of the forbidding nature of the castle itself. Not so in this film.

The cast is quite good, with Davenport's Van Helsing impressing the most among the supporting players. Palance is a revelation as Count Dracula, joining the short list of the screen's greatest vampires. He gives a nuanced and dignified performance that adds a touch of humanity to the Count that he usually lacks. When Dracula or his object of obsession is threatened, Palance unleashes a fury that makes us truly believe that he is capable of destroying his enemies with his bare hands, if need be. Sadly, the film never seems to air on TV, and is nearly forgotten today. The DVD is dirt cheap though, and Palance's performance alone makes it well worth your time and money.

31 Days of Halloween: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

One year ago: The Old Dark House

Viewing It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown has become one of the holiday's traditions, whether you watch it on TV or on DVD. One of my favorite childhood memories concerns the entire family sitting together in front of the TV watching this holiday classic. I'm so fond of the memory, I'm almost sure it actually happened.

This was the third animated special based on the beloved Peanuts comic strip. With Halloween on the way, Linus writes this year's letter to the Great Pumpkin, certain that he won't be skunked again this time. The rest of the Peanuts gang is making their own preparations, but there's still time for Charlie Brown to get tricked by that bunghole Lucy with her damn football. (Since I was in fifth grade, I've been certain that Lucy grew up to be Roseanne. Anybody disagree?)

On Halloween night, Linus holds vigil in the pumpkin patch, missing all the Halloween fun once again. Love-struck Sally stays with him. Charlie Brown has his typical luck during the trick-or-treating("I got a rock..."), and then it's off to the Halloween party! Snoopy has one of his epic Red Baron hallucinations, and Linus endures the taunts of his friends over missing all the fun once again by wasting his time in the pumpkin patch. Does his vigilance pay off? You probably know, but I won't ruin it for the five people who haven't seen this yet. And if you haven't what in the blue hell are you thinking? Quit putting it off and rent the damn thing!

Like the Garfield special, the pace of this show is pretty slow by today's standards. It still works its magic though, my nephew has watched it on more than one occasion, without squirming around and getting distracted. It can be tough to find Halloween viewing that is suitable for the entire family, and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is one of the better options. You can check right here to see when it's airing (hint: this Thursday) and to get the local time, so you've got no excuse for missing it this year!

31 Days of Halloween: The Thing On the Doorstep

One year ago: Mad Monster Party

H. P. Lovecraft is one of the preeminent authors of horror stories, and his work have been widely imitated in the decades following his death. Even contemporary authors and friends of Lovecraft such as Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith included references and homages to the mythos he was building with his stories. (Lovecraft returned the favor, referring to fictional works such as Nameless Cults, which Howard invented for use in some of his own work.) Popular recent works such as the Hellboy comics and films draw from Lovecraft, but a large portion of the viewers and readers have no idea where some of these ideas came from. For those searching for a point of entry into Lovecraft's work, The Thing On the Doorstep is an excellent place to begin.

Edward Derby and his wife Asenath are the central figures in the story, which is related to us by Derby's best friend. Asenath has a sinister air about her that leads Derby's friends and family to discourage his courtship of her; heedless, he soon marries her. By the time he realizes her intentions, it is far too late.

The story hooks the reader immediately, as the opening line is the narrator's confession that he fired six bullets into his best friend's head. The rest of the story explains why such action was necessary. There are references to other Lovecraft stories, but nothing that necessitates reading those tales first. If you read the Penguin Classics collection that includes this story, there are footnotes to explain any potential confusion. However, I would recommend reading the footnotes after the story, as some of them can be spoiler-ish. The story is quite understandable without them. Lovecraft is not for everyone; he had a tendency to over-write, and there are times when a recounting of a character's life leading up to the more interesting events can seem interminable. Lovecraft's work is definitely in the category that rewards the patient reader who takes the time to let him/herself become immersed in the work.

Much of Lovecraft's work is in the public domain-- possibly all of it; there is some debate about that-- and can be read online for free. This story appears to be in the public domain, and it can be found on the Project Gutenberg website here. I recommend the Penguin collection for the annotations, which give more background on each story, but for those of you who just want to read the story and don't care about any of that, follow the link. It's free, so you've got no excuse not to give Lovecraft a try!

31 Days of Halloween: Halloween wallpaper

One year ago: Son of Frankenstein

In all of the Halloween decorating this year, there's one thing some of you may have forgotten: your computer! There's no reason you can't snazz up your PC/laptop/Mac/what have you for Halloween as well! To that end, today I'll be sharing some of the Halloween-friendly wallpapers I have. 

(Stupid photobucket resizes them, so they're smaller than the actual pics; if any of these strike your fancy, you can email me to get it in a larger size. Even with them shrunk a bit, the larger-than usual size of these will play havoc on the blog's formatting, but I think we can let that slide just for today, eh?)

31 Days of Halloween: DIY vinyl decorations

One year ago: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) & The Mummy (1932)

Any of you who frequent comic shops or craft stores have probably seen blank vinyl decorations such as these. We ran across these at the craft store Michael's, and naturally, I had to have a few! These were obviously designed with creating monsters in mind, and they're also much cheaper than the more generic blank vinyl figures. I have before & after photos of all except the ones based on the vampire body; I had already started drawing on those before it occurred to me to take photos of them in their natural, blank state.

This one was clearly intended to be a vampire, so naturally, my contrary ass had to go in another direction and make it a demon chick instead. She's loosely based on DesDEMONa(get it?), an original character of mine. The idea of one of these cutesy little figures having a lace-up corset, thigh-high boots, and fishnets just cracks me up. Maybe that says something about my state of mind...

It was unclear what this one was supposed to be, but I took a shot in the dark and tried turning it into a Frankenstein Monster. Lo and behold, it worked! The green wound up being much darker than expected, so unfortunately, it obscures a lot of the detail I drew on this fella. The green and brown did not respond well to the vinyl surface either, and every little stroke shows. I've got an extra, so I'll try it again at some point, with some different materials, and hopefully have better results.

This one seemed designed with a witch in mind, but I decided to make a scarecrow instead. I still want to find something that looks like old rope that is in scale with him to wrap around him, as well as a small scythe. I think he looks pretty cool in the meantime, though.

Last but certainly not least, we have Dracula. My girlfriend made him a cape, since I'm utterly useless when it comes to working with fabric(yes, even something as simple as cutting out a cape; I can't seem to keep it even and symmetrical). I simply forgot to put it on him for the photo. It didn't even occur to me to deviate from the Lugosi model, but it would be a fun exercise to do another version of Dracula at some point, assuming I can get my hands on another of these.





That's it for today! Everyone have a great weekend, and Cthulhu bless.

31 Days of Halloween: The Immortal Count- The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi

Happy birthday to Bela Lugosi!
One year ago today: Werewolf of London

Years ago, when I was working at Books-a-Million, I came across a newly-arrived book. It instantly caught my eye, as the cover image was my favorite photo of Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula. (Perhaps you'll recognize it!) It was a thick, weighty tome, shrink-wrapped in clear plastic. I wanted to unwrap the book and look through it, but the book was priced out of my range, and I'm not one of those jackasses who opens a book or a magazine when I don't intend to buy it. Reluctantly, I placed it back on the shelf, but I didn't forget about it. That book was Arthur Lennig's The Immortal Count: The Life and Films of Bela Lugosi.

It took me a few years, but checking on amazon.com regularly eventually paid off, and I found a good used copy for a cheap price. (About $8 if memory serves; that's only about $4 per pound!)

The biography represents literally decades of research on Lennig's part; he even visited Hungary to search for and peruse the relevant records.He even had the good fortune to meet Lugosi, and spend a little time getting to know him. (You bet your ass I'm jealous!)

This biography is exhaustive, and dispells a good many myths and misconceptions that have accumulated around the Lugosi legend. Not one era of Lugosi's life is neglected, from his childhood to his utterly tragic death. Lugosi's stage work, from Hungary to Broadway,  his five marriages and his affair with Clara Bow, his friendship with Ed Wood; it's all here, covered in greater detail and accuracy than ever before.

One thing the biography has been consistently criticized for is Lennig's tendency to spend too much space synopsizing Lugosi's films, and i am inclined to agree; presumably, anyone who is a devoted enough Lugosi fan to read this book is very familiar with his film work. However, I consider that a minor flaw, as the summaries can be easily skimmed or skipped over if they bother you that much. Lennig does display the rather annoying habit of making Boris Karloff out to be some sort of anti-Lugosi archfiend; for whatever reason, many fans who prefer one of these iconic actors to the other feels the need to tear the other down, which makes no sense at all. Lennig appears to feel this way, as he never misses an opportunity to take a shot at Karloff.

Those gripes aside, this book is still an invaluable resource for fans of Bela Lugosi. It is the definitive book pertaining to his life, and given all that went into its creation, I don't see it ever being topped in that regard. Highly recommded.  
My score:

Rant Review: Green Lantern Corps #2, Catwoman #2, Birds of Prey #2, Supergirl #2, Captain Atom #2

If you missed yesterday's reviews, you can catch up right here. Let's roll!

Green Lantern Corps #2
Written by Peter Tomasi, Pencilled by Fernando Pasarin, Inked by Scott Hanna
Things pick up where we left off last issue, with an entire world slaughtered, and several Lanterns with them. Guy, John, and company get a chance to bury their dead, and from there, it's all-out action. Another world is attacked by the same enemies, and they seem to be immune to the GL's constructs. The Lanterns manage to stop the attackers, but not without a price, and the apparent victory is only temporary. This is a relentless issue that has me very interested to see where things are going. It's very easy for the other Lantern books to get overshadowed by the lead series, but this one is definitely deserving of the same level of attention.
My score: 

Catwoman #2
Written by Judd Winick, Art by Guillem March
The scene that caused the big stink last month is continued in the first few pages of this issue. From there, Selina is off to set her scheme into motion, and have a bit of revenge as well. Unfortunately, the same people who blew up her apartment last month are still looking for her. We also get to spend some quality time watching Bruce Wayne play his drunken billionaire asshole bit to the hilt. If you liked the debut issue, you'll enjoy this one. If you're one of the people who got honked off about it, this one won't change your mind. I think it's a lot of fun, though.
My score: 

Birds of Prey #2
Written by Duane Swierczynski, Art by Jesus Saiz
The debut issue of this series did not wow me, and this one doesn't, either. However, it is a good deal better than the last issue. Two more operatives join the team in this issue, and the mystery is deepening and growing a bit more interesting. The book still seems a little too light, though. This book is still on the fence with me, but its position is a little better than it was last month.
My score:

Supergirl #2
Written by Michael Green & Mike Johnson, Pencilled by Mahmud Asrar, Inked by Dan Green
Picking up from last issue, Kara and Kal have a talk... eventually. First, they fight. A lot. It's actually understandable, as the issue makes sure to fill us in on exactly why Kara is so confused and irritable, and why Superman's claims that he is her cousin Kal seem like brazen lies to her. The armored soldiers from last issue remove something from the ship that brought Kara to Earth, and then depart. Even though much of this issue is just a big fight, this is a solid series with potential to become quite good.
My score: 

Captain Atom #2
Written by J. T. Krul, Art by Freddie Williams II
In the aftermath of last issue's earthquake, Captain Atom is bombarded by all sorts of transmissions, temporarily overwhelming him. Retreating to the Continuum, Cap quickly learns to control the flood of information, and one of the transmissions is a video of a small boy dying from a brain tumor. Shifting into an invisible spectrum, Cap goes to the hospital to see if he can remove the tumor. There's also another glimpse of the weird absorbing creature that killed the homeless guy last month, and we get a recap of Cap's origin. This book remains a decent read, and it has some good ideas going. Hopefully it'll shift into a higher gear in the months to come, as it has potential to be something special.
My score: 

That's it for this week! Don't forget to creep on back later today, for a special 31 Days of Halloween article for Bela Lugosi's birthday!

Rant Review: Batman #2, Justice League #2, Wonder Woman #2, Nightwing #2, DCU Presents #2, Blue Beetle #2

It's another week of sophomore issues from the New 52, and awaaaaaaay we go!

Batman #2
Written by Scott Snyder, Pencilled by Greg Capullo, Inked by Jonathan Glapion
This issue maintains the momentum established in the debut, as the mystery surrounding the Court of Owls deepens. We also have a rare occurrence of Batman being dead wrong about something that is very important, and the feeling is disconcerting. Naturally, the Dark Knight always triumphs, but this definitely looks like a situation where things are going to get much worse before they get better. Snyder's pacing and characterization is flawless, and Capullo's art is better than in the debut. His art seems to be getting better as he gets more comfortable with the characters, and when Nightwing shows up, he doesn't look like he's 16 years old anymore, thankfully. This remains one of the very best comics on the stands, and I can't wait to see what Snyder has coming for us next.
My score: 

Justice League #2
Written by Geoff Johns, Pencilled by Jim Lee, Inked by Scott Williams
Another hero joins the fray, as the Flash tries to help Batman and Green Lantern subdue Superman. Obviously, things eventually calm down as Superman realizes they're unrelated to the battle he had fought before they arrived, and they attempt to investigate the mysterious box. This issue isn't as breezy and light as the first, but the focus is still on widescreen action, not that that's a bad thing. Where Batman is the three-course meal of comics, Justice League is the Snickers bar: it's just empty calories, but it's a lot of fun devouring it.
My score:

Wonder Woman #2
Written by Brian Azzarello, Art by Cliff Chiang
More gods enter the picture as Diana takes her new companions to Paradise Island. Hera dispatches her daughter Strife to take a direct hand in things, leading to a cliffhanger that, unfortunately, has already been spoiled by DC's hype machine. This is a strong issue, although not quite as good as the debut. Azzarello is weaving a compelling tale, and Chiang's art is gorgeous. It's very nice to see Wonder Woman in such great hands for the first time in a long time.
My score:

Nightwing #2
Written by Kyle Higgins, Pencilled by Eddy Barrows, Inked by J. P. Mayer & Paulo Siquiera
Dick is forced to let his attacker slip away, and then is summoned to see My. Haly, the owner of the circus in which he spent most of his childhood. When the mysterious attacker resurfaces, we get a tantalizing hint regarding what the attacks are all about, but the issue ends before we get any real answers. This issue is an improvement over the debut, and the art is very nice indeed. This title hasn't reached the heights of the Dixon-penned issues of Nightwing's previous ongoing series, but it's not too far off. If things continue to improve, it may well get there before too long.
My score:

DC Universe Presents #2
Written by Paul Jenkins, Art by Bernard Chang

Deadman's ploy to summon the goddess responsible for his plight succeeds, but gets him none of the answers he seeks. She is clearly not giving him the truth, so he takes matters into his own hands and breaks into a club that caters to the supernatural. This takes up most of the issue, and it's an enjoyable romp  that is ably illustrated by Chang. This is one of the New 52 series that no one seems to be talking about, and it's a shame. This is a high quality book that deserves a bigger audience.
My score: 

Blue Beetle #2
Written by Tony Bedard, Pencilled by Ig Guara, Inked by Ruy Jose
Things go to hell even worse than we left them last issue, as the scarab bonds with Jaime and tries to use him to dispatch the various supervillains with lethal force. Even worse, once the scarab comes back online, the aliens responsible for it notice, and they set a course for Earth. This is a fun issue, and things look to get even more interesting from here.
My score: 

That's it for today, but come back tomorrow, when we'll be looking at Green Lantern Corps, Catwoman, Supergirl, Birds of Prey, and Captain Atom!