Curse of Dracula comic from Dark Horse

 

TITLE-The Curse of Dracula

SOURCE-3 issue mini series from Dark Horse Comics

Yea  I read the classic Marv Wolfman/Gene Colan run on the Tomb of Dracula comic. Loved what I read and  wanted more. Then maybe 2 years ago was in a local pawn shop and saw a longbox behind the counter. Knowing the shop owner is a collector I assumed it was his personal collection. Asked if I could look through it. Got told sure and every comic was priced. Found all 3 issues of Dark Horse's late 90s Curse of Dracula mini and saw it was Wolfman/Colan working on it so grabbed them. And like what happens with piles of comics in my collection ,these got put in a short box and I forgot about them.

The other night wanted something to read after dinner,been trying to each night after dinner is ate and kitchen is clean sitting at the bar and reading for an hour. Plan was read the first issue and head out to the pier to relax. Got so into issue 1 and went ahead and finish the other two.

Now going into this mini I figured it was Wolfman/Colan taking ideas from their Tomb of Dracula run they didn't get to use and changing stuff enough where Marvel couldnt sue. Nah this is very different. This Dracula is based on the Bram Stoker original. And while we got a team of vampire hunters like TOD had this team is so different.

Modern day a new member is added to the team and we learn Dracula is working on getting political power in the USA. Having a connection to a Senator that is about to run for President. Then we get a twist,that I didn't see coming. And issue 3 ends with a new person possibly becoming President while Dracula has control of them. Guessing Wolfman/Colan figured this would sell great and get another mini series. It sadly didn't.

The writing is great,sure for the late 90s it feels a bit wordy. But unlike a Silver Age X-men comic I read recently this isn't wordy without needing to be. This wordy works on setting the mood and tone.

And the art OMG! Appears they just used Gene Colan's pencils,have read before he prefered to not have his pencils inked. Which makes this art stand out.

Like this gorgeous 2 page spread from the first issue. Sorry for the crap picture. Look at how smooth the coloring looks. And you can see the linework in the art.

And this cover from issue 3. Would love a poster of it.  Always loved Gene Colan's art and that is a major reason I bought this series.

Do not think there is a tpb of this mini. Appears you can get the three issues for close to cover price. And it is worth that. 

The Curse of Dracula gets a read if you love horror and a buy if you are a Gene Colan fan.

31 Days of Horror 2025 Day 08 Fright Night II

 

TITLE-Fright Night 2 New Blood

SOURCE-Unrated FOX Blu Ray

I had skipped this thinking it was  a sequel to the remake. And really felt like Fright Night didn't need a remake. Then was at a Dollar General, found this sealed for 4 bucks. Figured worst case keep the digital copy and sell the dvd and blu ray and make my 4 bucks back.

So instead of a sequel to the remake we get another remake of the original. Yea stuff is changed. It is updated for modern day. And now the lead vampire is a female. But this is Fright Night just slightly changed.

The biggest changes is the abundant nudity and blood/gore. Like piles of nudity and gore. Got a blood bath scene that is loaded with both.

The stand outs are the lead vampire, never seen this actress in anything else. But she commands your attention when she is on screen. And the new Evil Ed. Who looks like the old one just fatter.

Worth seeing but keep in mind this is a remake.

Fright Night II New Blood gets a C.

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 20 Last Voyage of the Demeter

 

TITLE-The Last Voyage of the Demeter

SOURCE-Universal Blu ray

For the past 7 or so years I rarely see ads on TV. Most of what I watch is either off dvd/blu ray or streaming. And with streaming when an ad break starts I usually have a book or comic nearby and I read during the ad break. Which is why in the summer of 2023 I had no clue about this movie until a friend was asking if I was going to go see it. After she told me the basic idea behind the film I knew I had to see it. 

Pretty much now I rarely goto a theater to see anything. Not really the price of a ticket keeping me at home it is more lack of a good theater near me. And how now people can't sit through the movie without having to use their phone. Not sure how people dont realize that the bright screen of their phone is just as distracting as talking on it. I just chalk it up to the general public are assholes and morons.

This movie is a neat idea. Taking one chapter from the Bram Stoker classic Dracula,the chapter about Dracula's trip by sea to London,and making an entire film about it.Fleshing out what needed to be fleshed out.

A young doctor barely manages to get passage on the Demeter. After finding a young woman who is almost dead in a crate he realizes something ain't right. 

Then the animals on board the ship start dying and disappearing.  Yep we got a vampire on the ship and where do  you run when out at sea and there is a vampire on the ship?

Well shot and with a great score,this is a throwback to the horror made 60 years ago. A slow build. Where the sense of dread is huge. And when a horrific act happens you are a bit relived to have the tense broke for a short bit.

Not really sure who this movie was aimed at. The friend that mentioned it to me is a huge old horror fan. But she is also a bit older than the average person going to the theater to see a movie. From what I can find The Last Voyage of the Demeter bombed. Not even making half of what it cost to make. 

This Blu ray has a few extras. Including some deleted scenes and an alternate opening. I can see why they used the opening in the film and why the scenes got cut. Then we get a commentary from the director and the producer.

What I wanted was an extra talking about how this movie has been trying to be made since the mid 90s. AFter the writer got inspired by Coppla's Bram Stoker's Dracula which came out in 1992.

The Last Voyage of the Demeter gets a C+

31 Days of Horror 2024 Day 03 Devil's Den

 

TITLE-Devil's Den

SOURCE-STARZ DVD

Not sure why but early in 2023 I was going through Jeff Burr's IMDB page,RIP SIR. Saw Devil's Den listed saw the cast and looked yep it's on TUBI. Watched it and went and ordered a copy of the DVD.

Take From Dusk Till Dawn,replace Clooney with Devon Sawa,or as the opening credits say DEON Sawa. Replace The Hammer with Ken Foree. Replace Tom Savini with Kelly Hu,an upgrade I would think. And you get Devil's Den.

Still curious why Jeff Burr used a alias on this. Had planned on getting a mutual friend to ask Mr Burr. Then well Jeff passed last year.

The plot? Devon/Deon and his buddy are smuggling Spanish Fly out of Mexico. I do wonder why they are smuggling it when every issue of Eazy Rider and Hustler I found in my dad's stash had it for sale. To test out how strong it is they stop at a bordertown strip club.

Kelly Hu is an assassin who has been hired to kill Devon. Ken Foree starts off as a Urkel like customer in the strip club but becomes a samurai.

Everything about this film makes me pose so many questions. Like why 10 years after the fact would you make a From Dusk till Dawn ripoff? Why is Burr using an alias? Why didn't anyone notice Devon's name was spelled wrong? Why isn't Kelly Hu a bigger name?

Now I enjoyed this. It is just one of those turn your brain off and enjoy horror films. More comedy than horror.

Devil's Den gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2022 Day 2 Chinese Speaking Vampires

 

TITLE-Chinese Speaking Vampires

SOURCE-Echo Bridge DVD

Back last year in  late September I was given this dvd. "Saw this and thought you might want to review it for you little Halloween horror movie reviews thing." I looked at the cover and title. Saw it was a fairly recent film and released by Echo Bridge and figured it would suck and stacked it into the "I might watch this one day pile".

Skip aheaad to today,there was nothing on DISH or the DVR. And I was uploading a video to one of my Youtube channels so I couldn't stream. Figured what the hell and threw in Chinese Speaking Vampires.

Davy Williams is our lead. He is a food delivery guy who is also a struggling actor. He goes to an audition but learns to get the role he needs to speak fluent Manderian. Knowing this movie might be his last chance to become a working actor he joins a local school to learn Manderian.

This school is ran by  Sean Eden Yi,who you will remember from piles of movies and tv shows. Yi also helped plan the stunts in this movie. Yi teaches Manderian at a night class. After signing up for these classes Davy goes out to have a few drinks with 2 buddies. At this club they meet up with 2 ladies that are also in the Manderian class Davy is in. 

Out of nowhere a bunch of CHINESE SPEAKING VAMPIRES invade the club. But thankfully a group of very Proud vampire killers,who are all mostly Boys enter the club. 

Seems a  Preacher knows that there is an invasion of Chinese Vampires and is trying to use his charisma to gather an army of vamprie hunters.

Over the next 30 minutes of the film Sean Eden Yi starts turning more and more of his students into Vampires. And one of the side effects of getting bitten by Yi is you can now speak fluent Manderian but also forget what ever langauge is your native tongue.

So your  basic plot Yi's students vs the very PROUD and BOYish Vampire hunters. 

Now the FX work goes from crappy CGI junk,like anytime a Vampire is stabbed with a wooden stake they become a PS1 era looking cloud of dust. But then there is a fight scene where our lead Davy punches one of the PROUD vampire hunters through the stomach and we get a legit well done practical FX work.

Acting wise the film is a mixed bag. Davy Williams is good as the lead,and he also produced and wrote the screen play. Daniella Brown on the other hand is wooden. She is Davy's romantic interest and is just bad.  Sean Eden Yi is great as the teacher/leader of the Chinese Speaking Vampires. He has a odd sense of humor that just cracks me up. The surprise in the cast is June Lee. That is her on the cover in the plaid skirt. She manages to blend comedy and dram well. Appears to be having so much fun making the movie. Richard Gavigan is really great as Davy's buddy and the love interest of June Lee.

This DVD is bare bones. No extras at all. No subtitles no trailer no nothing but the film.

Chinese Speaking Vampires gets a C-.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 25 My Babysitter is a Vampire

 

TITLE-My Babysitter is a Vampire

SOURCE-Netflix

Most years for 31 days of horror I try to find and watch a film that is kid friendly. Like last year I watched the Zombie/Summer Camp film Bunks. So this year I was looking for something similar. I was looking up the cast of Riverdale on IMDB and saw that Vanessa Morgan(Topaz on Riverdale) was in a Disney Channel/Teletoon film called My Babysitter is a Vampire.

Ethan is a geeky high school student. One who's parents don't trust him. So the parents hire out Erica(Vanessa Morgan)

 to come babysit Ethan and his little sister while they are gone. Erica is a huge fan of Dusk,this universes version of Twilight. Erica ends up going to a party instead of babysitting. But another girl shows up to babysit.A girl that once Ethan touches her he has a vision. He also notices this girl,Sarah,doesn't have a reflection in the mirror!Yep Sarah is a VAMPIRE!!! 

Seems the party that Erica went to is full of vampires. She gets bit and becomes one. She ends up biting a bunch of people,including Ethan. And we learn that until you drink human blood you aren't a full vampire. Which means you can be cured.

For a tween/teen horror film this wasn't horrible. Matter of fact Vanessa Morgan and the actor that plays Ethan's best friend,who I think was in Bunks

,are really good. The FX work isn't bad. And I am guessing this movie was a pretty big hit. Cause while this film hit TV in October 2010 by Feb 2011 a tv show was airing. 

So if you got some kids around and want to watch a horror film that won't cause them to have nightmares...well this isn't a bad choice. I saw that the tv show is also on Netflix. Might check it out.

My Babysitter is a Vampire gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror 2020 Day 17 Bram Stoker's Dracula

 

TITLE-Bram Stoker's Dracula

SOURCE-Bootleg DVD made from the Laserdisc

Man this is one I haven't even thought about in years. I saw it in a theater not long after it came out. Then for a few years in the mid 90s saw it at least in part once a week. Mostly cause a friend had a copy and watched it all the time.

Then other night was talking to a friend and this film,and the subject of how it doesn't follow the book it is based on,came up. So I dug around in the media vault to see if I had a copy. Yep got a DVD-r that is a rip of the Laserdisc.

There is so much about this film that is good. It looks amazing. The sets and costumes look damn good. The score is really good. But all that goodness can't offset the bad shit.

Like how no one in the cast can deliver the lines without looking like they hate being there. Sure everyone remembers how bad Keanu was in this,and yes he is horrible. But Gary Oldman and Winona Ryder get praised when they aren't much better than Keanu.

Then you got the major flaw. Francis Ford Coppala and the fan press,like Fangoria,kept saying how this would be the first Dracula film to follow the novel. I had read the novel back in JR High and was waiting for a good adapatation of it. It isn't a good adaptation. Really it feels like Coppala had read the novel 60 years ago and just used the few parts he remembered. But all over the place was critics and fans raving about how it was "JUST LIKE THE BOOK"! 

I walked out of the theater after the film was over thinking "Wow that was a total piece of shit." And the many viewings of it since then haven't changed my mind. Really if this was called say Francis Ford Coppala's Dracula this would be a much better film. But calling it Bram Stoker's Dracula means to me I want to see a adaptation of the novel. Not Coppala changing most stuff from the novel.

Bram Stoker's Dracula gets a F+

31 Days of Horror Day 4 You're So Cool Brewster the story of Fright Night

TITLE-You're So Cool Brewster the story of Fright Night
SOURCE-Shudder Streaming Service

I heard about this documentary a few years ago. Wanted to see it,but never saw it for sale anywhere. Got Shudder earlier this year and saw the documentary was on there. I have watched it 3 times now.

Fright Night was a Mid 80s vampire movie.  William Ragsdale is a horror obsessed teen. And suspects his new neighbor is a vampire.

This documentary manages to get pretty much every person who is still alive and had a major part in the film. And there is a lot of info I had never heard before.

The documentary only really covers the original film. I would have liked more info on the sequel. And am still trying to forget that the horrid remake exists.

I do wish they had done a bit more on the Fright Night comic.  A few years back I got a complete run of it. And was surprised at how good it is.

If you have Shudder or any other way of watching this documentary do it. It is a bit over 2 hours long. But flies by. You're So Cool Brewster gets a B.