2016 Comic Challenge 259 Tales from the Darkside #02

TITLE-Tales from the Darkside #02
PUBLISHER-IDW

Found issues 2 and 3 today.Which works out nice cause it a two part story.Same creative team as issue 4 also.

The schlub of man has since a young age had odd things happen to and around him fairly often. When we meet him he is getting fired from his current job. On his way home  his car breaks down. But he gets offered a ride.

Seems there is a connection between some experimental pregnancy drugs from the 70s and a bunch of now adults who randomly warp reality while having a seizure.And this man driving the car offers our lead a chance to stop the seizures.

The lead of course takes the offer to stop all the craziness.Goes to the foundations main office.But as he is getting put to sleep there is a hint that maybe he was lied to. And maybe this "dark version" of himself that he sees while in the seizures will instead be in control all the time.

Yep this is a damn good horror comic.The art is good and adds to the story instead of distracting from it. The writing and dialogue are also pretty good.

Tales fro the Darkside #02 gets a Buy!

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 26 Doctor Death Seeker of Souls

Title-Doctor Death Seeker of Souls
Source-Scorpion DVD

This is one of those early 70s horror films I had read about for decades. Seeing short reviews of it in piles of horror cinema reference books I owned/read.But I never saw the VHS,if it got a release on VHS,for rent at any store. It wasn't until a few years back when Scorpion Releasing put it out on DVD that I finally got a chance to see a film I had been curious about for years and years.

And well... I was kind of disappointed. It is kind of your typical early 70s supernatural horror film. Something that you would see second or third bill at the drive-in. Speaking of the drive-in the kill at the drive-in in this film is the best part of the entire film.

Doctor Death Seeker of Souls gets a D+.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 25 Swamp Thing

Title-Swamp Thing
Source-Uncut first release MGM DVD

Yeah I know the cover above isn't the cover on the DVD,but it looks so much better. I got lucky 6 years ago and got the uncut first release of the film for $5. The first DVD release in the States was of the R rated cut,which mostly got the R cause of a few instances of nudity. Some parent complained,cause the back of the DVD case said PG.

Alec Holland is a scientist way out in the swamps of Louisiana. And he is working on a top secret new chemical. He finishes it about the time Alice Cable comes to visit. When Anton Arcane shows up. He wants the formula. A fight breaks out and Alec ends up covered in the new chemical and out in the swamp. And it is assumed he has died.

But he didn't. He comes back as the plant creature Swamp Thing. The rest of the film is Arcane trying to capture Swamp Thing,and Swamp Thing and Alice falling in love.

Now I remember this film kind of bombing,but it did good enough to get a sequel years later, Then a TV series that lasted 3 or 4 years on USA. One good thing that came out of this film was with a Swamp Thing film in theaters DC wanted a Swamp Thing comic on the stands. So the Saga of Swamp Thing title started. Which in a bit less than 2 years later got taken over by Alan Moore and became one of the best comics to come out from the big 2 in the 80s.

Swamp Thing gets a B-

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 24 Tiny Toons Night Ghoulery

Title-Tiny Toons Night Ghoulery
Source-VHS rip

As far as I know this is the only Tiny Toons special to never get released on DVD.I never saw it back when it came out so getting a decent looking VHS rip of it was a nice find.

The Night Ghoulery title should let you know that this is a homage/parody of the old Rod Serling Night Gallery show. So this is an anthology. With a bunch of short stories with the various Tiny Toons characters showing up.

The stories are fun.The animation looks great. And over all it is funny.

Tiny Toons Night Ghoulery gets a B+.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 23 Stephen King's It

Title-Stephen King's It
Source-VHS

Recently started going thru my stacks of VHS. Some of them are labeled some are not. So been kind of interesting seeing what is on these various tapes. On one tape was a recording of when some channel aired the tv mini series Stephen King's It a few years ago.

Ahh It,this was one of my most anticipated adaptation of a King novel. Maybe 2 years before the mini series premiered I had read the novel. And was wondering how they would be able to keep it true to the novel and still air it on broadcast TV.

Set in the town of Derry Maine,It is about an evil entity that feeds on children. Every so many years It kills a few children then disappears again. Until it meets up with a special group of children. This group is made up of all the outcasts at the local elementary school. And thru the bond they share they managed to kill It. Or so they thought.

They grow up and one by one move away from Derry. With only one of them staying behind.Now they are approaching middle age and find out that It is back. So can this gang of now adults manage to stop It?

This aired over 2 nights. Each night it was 2 hours with commercials. The first night covered the half of the story when they were kids. And the next night covered the last half when they are adults. It is surprisingly gory for a network TV mini series. And thanks to the great acting from Tim Curry It is packed with scary moments. Even having to tone down some parts of the novel didn't hurt the mini series too much.

What hurt it was how they handled the final battle with It. In the novel it gets very metaphysical. And has a bunch of connections to King's Dark Tower series of novels. In the mini series It is revealed to be a giant spider. Which our gang defeats. Yep a giant spider. I get that it would have been hard to recreate the battle from the novel. But they could have done something better than Hey it is is a giant spider.

Stephen King's It gets a C+.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 22 Halloween Resurrection

Title-Halloween Resurrection
Source-DVD

Yeah I know this movie sucks. But if you have been reading my blog everyday this month you will know I dedicated this years 31 Days of Horror to Brandon Lee,no not the actor. Brandon was the biggest fan of this entry in the long running Halloween franchise I have ever met. And earlier this year he asked me to include it in my annual October horror movie reviews. So Brandon sir,this one is for you.

At the end of H20 Jamie Lee has killed Micheal,by cutting off his head. Well seems that isn't what happened. Somehow Micheal switched places with someone and Jamie killed an innocent man. Not long after this film starts Micheal comes and after 7 entries in his part of this franchise manages to kill his sister.

After that Micheal heads back to Haddonfield. And some stupid TV producer has gotten the amazing idea to set a reality show in the Myers old home.So we get Micheal stalking and killing the annoying types you see on most reality tv shows.

Hell the only reason I own this film is to complete the franchise. I have only watched it 4 times now. The first time was not long after I bought the DVD. Then watched it a second time cause it had a commentary,which is decent. About 2 years ago Brandon asked me to watch it again,and to keep in  mind all the things he loved about the film. I did and still didn't care for the movie. And the final time was so I could do this review. The acting ranges from horrible to OK at best. The FX work is pretty good. Hell it is the best thing about the film.And while I am not a huge fan of the Halloween franchise,honestly I enjoy the first,3rd and 4th films.But I don't hold them in as high a regard as lots of the horror community.

Well Brandon you got me to watch this horrible film again sir. No idea if you even know I wrote this review. But if you do I hope you enjoyed it. You are missed sir.

Halloween Resurrection gets a D-.

2016 Comic Challenge 258 Tales from the Darkside #04

TITLE-Tales from the Darkside #04
PUBLISHER-IDW

If I am remembering right,these issues are based on Joe Hill scripts for an never produced updating of the classic syndicated horror anthology TV show. Joe Hill gets credited for script and Michael Benedetto gets a Adaptation credit.The always great Gabriel Rodriguez gets the art credit.

Set in the present day "A Window Opens" starts off with your typical suburban teenage girl.She is driving home,gets distracted by her phone. Looks up swerves to miss a man that suddenly appeared in the road.Which causes her to plow into her new neighbor's mailbox.

Doing the right thing she goes and knocks on the door. Tells the parents about the mailbox. And quickly gets asked to babysit the two children,who's eye never leave their tablets.

With the base now built,we get a modernization of that classic Twilight Zone episode where a young Bill Mummy was wishing people into the cornfields.The twist is whatever the two evil looking kids draw on their tablets screen appears.

Yeah now I gotta track down all the previous issues of this series.Plus see if there is a trade out or about to come out.

Tales from the Darkside #04 gets a buy.

31 Days of Horror 2016 Day 21 The Fly

Title-The Fly
Source-Blu Ray

Yep the Cronenberg remake of the classic sci fi film. I first saw this at a young age. And loved it. Had kind of forgotten about it till one night while talking to a buddy that is a huge Cronenberg fan. Went looking for the DVD and found I could get the Blu Ray cheaper than the DVD.

Jeff Goldbloom is a scientist who is trying to make teleportation a reality.After a few failed attempts he gets brave and tries to teleport himself. What he didn't know is a common household fly is in the teleportation pod with him. So it's DNA gets mixed in with his. And the rest of the film shows the horrible consequences of this.

Of course since this is a David Cronenberg film it has to be about body horror. That is the main theme in most of Cronenberg's films. The acting  is damn good. And this is the best Geena Davis has ever been. The FX work is soooooooooooooooo damn good. I have a strong stomach,but there is a few scenes in the film that make me want to vomit.

The Fly gets a A+.

2016 Comic Challenge 257 Charles Burns' Black Hole

TITLE-Black Hole
PUBLISHER-Fantagraphics

I am pretty sure I reviewed the first issue of this series earlier this year. Got a copy of the collection of all 12 issues and been reading it over the past few days.

Holy fuck. I have been a fan of Charles Burns for a long time now. And this is the best thing I have read from him.

Really it is hard to explain this series. The bare basics is a virus is out. It only seems to infect teens. And if you get infected it causes your body to mutate. Some get lucky and have a mutation they can hide. The others end up living out in the woods.

But there is so much going on under the basic plot. Lots of stuff I am still trying to puzzle out.I am thinking this virus is really what all of us go thru the first time we have sex.But then it might be the stuff we all feel as teens,how we don't fit in and feel like we are a totally different species.

The great black and white artwork is stunning.Where as Frank Miller used this style of b/w art to recreate the mood of film noir,Burns seems to be using it more as a way to get you to focus more on the story. Not that the art is bad,hell it is better than 90% of the crap that is coming out from the big 2.

Black Hole gets a BUY!

2016 Comic Challenge 256 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fearbook

TITLE-Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fearbook
PUBLISHER-Avatar

Ok now I see why I never see much talk about the Avatar remake based TCM comics. They all  seem to follow the same plot.

This time instead of Krug and company it is a car with some women and a hippie. Same carnage. Looks good.But after reading it once you don't wanna read it again for a bit.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fearbook gets a pass.