Stephen McClurg's Blog, page 53

The Year in Reading 2016

Shelf of Fame 2016

Books I found particularly moving, thoughtful, or useful this year.

Fiction

Dracula: Bram Stoker

I love Gothic novels. I’ve read this maybe four or five times. The more I read it, the more I enjoy it and all its strengths and weaknesses.

Gulliver’s Travels: Jonathan Swift

I had read a children’s version of this growing up and missed everything but the fun stuff. The satire here is incredible. At the end he writes against colonization and discusses America specifically. There’s an allusion to Rabelais’s Gargantua and Pantagruel. I need to read more Swift. I’m surprised how many levels Swift can write on and still be serious and comedic at the same time.

Naked Lunch: The Restored Text: William S. Burroughs

I wish I had read this when I was younger so that I would have written more fiction. Then again, I probably would have written bad versions of this.

Writing and Education

Responding to Student Writers: Nancy Sommers

Very useful. I picked this up because I had some problems and questions about my own practice in responding to student writers. It actually directly answered some of my questions and gave me good advice on continuing to improve this part of my professional practice. I try not to get complacent with my teaching and I find it useful to find small, helpful books like this one to review basic skills that need attention or improvement or even just a little reflection.

Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print: Rennie Browne and Dave King

My wife wrote a novel that went to an agent several years ago. This book was recommended. I finally got around to reading it this year. Clear, concise, and useful.

Essays and Criticism

Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s: Kim Newman

I’m hoping to read more histories and horror criticism this year. Newman’s book was a blast to read and I came away from it with new thoughts about some older films, and new additions to my list of need-to-see movies.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking: Susan Cain

Great book for introverts. Eerily familiar situations and reactions to situations. This book also helped me advocate in various ways for personal space, of not being ashamed that I recharge alone or with one or two friends at a time.

A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again: Essays and Arguments: David Foster Wallace

People love him and people hate him (or maybe his fans?). Seems like that’s what happens when someone reaches iconic status, not to mention takes their own life. I love many of the essays in this collection and I also liked reading the extended versions for the first time.

Terrors of the Screen: Frank Manchel

I’ll acknowledge that this wasn’t a “great” book, but it’s fantastic for what it is. It’s a guide to horror films for young readers that came out in 1970 and is exactly the kind of book I was checking out in late elementary and middle school. Definitely a nostalgia pick, but when I read it, I also compiled a list of films mentioned. It’s a great list–almost a Great Books of pre-1970 horror movies, including great choices from the silent era. Maybe I’ll post it here sometime later, though I did leave off some films that I have frequently viewed.

Poetry and Philosophy

The Collected Works of William Shakespeare

The years it’s taken to read this were worth it. I read everything, the poems, the collaborations, the pieces hinted at being somewhat composed by the Bard. What should make every writer feel good is that there are clunkers here and that’s okay. This was about my third time reading the sonnet sequence, and while oddly I didn’t like certain ones as much as I used to, much of the sequence opened up to me. I could see larger patterns and structural ideas this time, whereas in the past I think I was just kind of starry-eyed about reading Shakespeare.

The Dream Songs: John Berryman

I can’t wait to read these again. And his other work for the first time.

The Fragments of Heraclitus

I have been reading versions of Heraclitus since 1995. I’m at the point that I now want to dip into the major criticism and some of the newer non-public domain translations. I’ll likely be reading bits of Heraclitus until I can’t read anymore.

The Nature of Things: Lucretius

Difficult, but worth the time. Fascinating. Bizarre and down-to-earth. I had started several translations over the course of about five years. I enjoyed the Penguin one by AE Stallings so far the most.

Nicomachean Ethics: Aristotle

Another thinker that evokes awe and ire. I find that dealing with the writing itself is often more interesting and fruitful than some of the particularly passionate positive or negative criticism.

On the Sublime: Longinus

I found this a fun read and one that I wanted to start over after I finished.

Plato: Collected Works

Like Shakespeare, a reading experience decades in the making. Wonderful. Frustrating.

General Favorites 2016

Books that left traces.

Fiction

The Castle of Otranto: Horace Walpole

The Cat’s Table: Michael Ondaatje

Come Along with Me: Classic Short Stories and an Unfinished Novel: Shirley Jackson

Divisidero: Michael Ondaatje

The Drowned World: JG Ballard

The Horror Hall of Fame: Edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin Greenberg

My Brilliant Friend: Neapolitan Novels, Book One: Elena Ferrante

The Neon Bible: John Kennedy Toole

Sense and Sensibility: Jane Austen

Snuff: Chuck Palahniuk

Vathek: William Beckford

Nonfiction

Bad Feminist: Essays: Roxane Gay

Don’t Be a Jerk: And Other Practical Advice from Dogen, Japan’s Greatest Zen Master: Brad Warner

Electronic Revolution: William Burroughs

For a New Novel: Essays on Fiction: Alain Robbe-Grillet

The Gnostics: The First Christian Heretics: Sean Martin

Sweet and Savage: The World Through the Shockumentary Film Lens: Mark Goodall (and JG Ballard)

Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists: Kay Larson

Art/Comics

Art of Noise: Destruction of Music by Futurist Machines: Luigi Russolo

Codex Seraphinianus: Luigi Serafini

Swamp Thing: Alan Moore, et al.

Tales from the Crypt: The Official Archives Including the Complete History of EC Comics and the Hit Television Series: Digby Diehl

Poetry

The Collected Poems of AE Housman

Omeros: Derek Walcott

The Wild Party: The Lost Classic by Joseph Moncure March: Edited and illustrated by Art Spiegelman

The Year in Writing 2016

I never get as much material out in the world as I intend to, but I don’t necessarily consider that a bad thing. I’ve been publishing since the ‘90s, and manage a few things every year while teaching. Since the birth of my first daughter, instead of keeping up with music and other hobbies, I’ve focused on writing and submitting to publications, which is itself another job on top of revising, editing, and reading journals to find good fits for my own work. Besides family duties, I teach full time and took on two new classes this year. Teaching English 101 and 102, more specifically grading the amount of essays that these classes produce, is taxing and often uses the same brain space that I use for writing and reading.

Grading essays = less writing.

Personally, it’s been a tough few years. I lost two close mentors, one being my grandfather. At some point, I’ll be able to write about it, but I haven’t yet. I lost a friend from grad school, and several former students. The holidays create a longing for former times and loved ones gone, but there’s comfort in creating new memories with the ones I have close and as I get older, I’m less of a curmudgeon about some things.

Among the several positives in my life, I’ve got a few strong email friendships, regained two good friendships, one that may be also a writing/editing partnership and one that often allows me to nerd out about difficult music.  A couple of former students have been steady email writers and those conversations have meant a great deal this year.

A longtime friend and writer unintentionally helped me re-see how I work. I’ve been writing and publishing poetry for over a decade, but each poem is quite different and I’ve never successfully put a decent manuscript together for various reasons. I’m about 70% done with the first draft of a book-length manuscript. I now have several project ideas lined up. One is a collaboration with a writer/illustrator and it is well into a draft, but we’re both family men, so we’re taking our time. My process feels healthy and I’m getting more work done than I ever have without the art guilt I’ve had in the past.

The first half of the year was busy and difficult. In January, Derek Ballard and I were able to get  our comic over at Study Group. Is it the end of Ghoulanoids? I’ve written quite a bit of material for it, but I don’t know. Actually, Derek and I have a backlogue of pieces, some of which you may get to see in 2017, but I don’t want to say too much because I feel like I jinx this stuff every time I talk about it.

Through Study Group I got to work with Josh Burggraf on a Valentine’s Day comic called “Love’s Labor.” This was totally fun and Burggraf’s stuff is just awesome. I wanted to write in a voice I had never used in comics and use that as a filter for thinking about the Classical Greek definitions of love. Josh was completely open to the topic and brought it all to life with his art.

Somewhere around this time I published the basic rules for a game for improvised music that I originally wrote a decade ago.

Right around the beginning of summer, I wrote liner notes for a fantastic rock album and started an ongoing column called Test Prep, a companion piece to the horror podcast The Terror Test. I’ve been able to use this space to connect philosophy and horror, two of my favorite interests. I’ll likely do an end-of-the-year column before getting ready for next year.

In October, I wrote about the films I watched in a horror movie marathon that lasted the whole month. Reed Randolph and I collaborated on The Coven of Lonely Gourds, a kind of 13 nights of Halloween project. Reed not only gets contemporary horror, but also I love that he knows all the older stuff, too. I had wanted to try to write something like this for a long time, something that is light-hearted, goofy, ghoulish, and allows me to pay a small tribute to writers like Poe and Gorey who I’ve admired almost my whole life. 

In November, I added to my catalog of cavaleras and had a couple of poems go up over at ShufPoetry.

I think Decembers will be about reflection, more than output. Finals season is brutal. Next year, if Test Prep is still going, I’ll try to keep that going through October and then take December off. I’ve enjoyed coming home from work, cooking, and then watching Christmas movies or cartoons with the family and not worrying about getting to the desk.

Seven Cavaleras

I celebrate Day of the Dead by writing “cavaleras literarias.” Some people write poems for loved ones, but another tradition is to write humorous “tombstones.” I write the latter–-or try to. I mostly try to make fun of myself for my students.

Here Lies McClurg (2016)

All day he read in a nook.

I yelled and gave him a look,

“The world is rife

with the stuff of life!”

“No thanks! I’ll just wait for the book.”

Here Sighs McClurg (2015)

There once was a boy named Stephen

Who felt nothin’ was worth believin’,

until he got probed,

by a celestial globe,

now his mind and his butt are a-grievin’.

Here Lies McClurg (2014)

He had no pals, not even a beagle.

On game days, even the sweet became evil.

But before season’s end,

He thought he’d find a friend,

No chance!–for he yelled “Roll Eagle!”

Here Lies McClurg (2013)

He grabbed a second warm cider–

An excuse to sit down beside her.

But he wanted to die

Hearing Miss Muffet reply

“I’d rather go sit by the spider.”

Here Lies McClurg (2012)

He hated the grocery store–

A nightmare more than a chore.

So sad he bid adieu

while looking for glue,

Now he’s the clean-up–aisle two.

Here Lies McClurg (2011)

Slowly her hand was raised.

The others all thought she was brave.

But she wasn’t prepared–

for when the question was aired

her teacher just stopped and he stared.

Here Lies McClurg (2010)

He had but only one wish,

To play in his native English,

But his eyes, they teared,

As he sniffed and he feared,

“They’ll only remember the beard!”

 

 

Skull by Trini Mora!

Halloween Horror Binge: Week Four, Part II

I Sell the Dead (2008)

Well-acted and fun horror comedy about grave robbers that weighs in heavier as comedy than horror. It’s not bad, but these are often not my thing. I wanted to see Angus Scrimm in one of his last roles, especially since he was excited about playing violin in this. In the right setting, this would be perfectly fine, but I’m a much bigger fan of Cemetery Man (1994). When the kids are older and want to watch some horror movies together, this will be fun.

Hole in the Wall (2011)

This one is bizarre and bizarrely local. Wisconsin backyard micro-budget horror. These folks seem to be into the Guinea Pig series, Troma, and Jorg Buttgereit. See who can make it through the first short without blowing chunks of squeaky cheese curds.

The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears (2013)

An art film full of giallo imagery and ideas. Fantastic soundtrack. Most people are just not going to like this movie. Constant camera and lighting effects, indirect storytelling, etc. If you know giallo motifs and like art film, then this is a blast. I liked it better than Under the Skin (2013), but not as much as Berberian Sound Studio (2012).

Cub (2014)

A Belgian horror film that is surprisingly good for a “lost in the woods” movie. It features better acting and storytelling and more interesting characters than typical slasher-in-the-woods fare, but aspects of the ending are not as amusing or original–still, that won’t keep me from watching this one again.

Mile High Horror (2015)

A horror anthology of shorts collected from a film festival and it feels like it. A wide range of style,  mood, and skill. With a few exceptions, these definitely feel like amateur films. That’s not necessarily bad, it just depends on what you want to sit through as a viewer. I was happy to see a few stop-motion entries here, even if they’re uneven. I’m glad others still find interest in the form.

 

And there it is. 31 in 31.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Halloween Horror Binge: Week Four, Part I

Winding down this one-man festival and excited about watching something other than horror movies. I don’t think I’ve ever said that before.

Tormented (1960)

Perfect late-night B-horror classic, like a Vault of Horror or Vampirella story. I remember watching these kinds of films in elementary school late at night on the weekends. I love the voices, dialogue, sound design, the score, and I would love to find a nice transfer of this one.

A jazz pianist, played by Creature from the Black Lagoon’s Richard Carlson, becomes increasingly unhinged after a girlfriend, who tries to blackmail him, leans on a loose railing and plummets to her death. Is he haunted by ghosts or guilt? Either way there are some fun special effects here. Juli Reding is stunning.

Don’t Torture a Duckling (1972)

I’ve been wanting to see this for decades because of the title and because Lucio Fulci is the director. Considered his first giallo with gore effects, it doesn’t feel like other gialli. A main reason for that is that is takes place in the country, rather than the city. The setting feels like something out of Pasolini’s Accatone (1961), rather than the cities of glass and fashion in many of Argento’s films.

It’s got priests, detectives, the locals, their kids, a mentally-challenged peeping tom, a reporter, and police. And a witch. Oh, and the young, beautiful lady with a sports car visiting from the city.

Wow, there’s some bad expository dialogue and editing here. And more jointless dummies were harmed in this film than any other Italian exploitation film I can think of. Most of them had some form of googly eyes, too. I wish I could blame all the problems on dubbing and translation, but I can’t.

Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972)

Early low budget slasher film starring a drove of Warhol’s Factory friends including Mary Woronov, Candy Darling, Ondine, and others.

Besides budget, the script is the main problem. It’s kind of twisty and silly, and ultimately feels unbelievable, even considering the circumstances that this is a drive-in horror movie.

The actors are mostly good, though there’s too much voiceover. There’s an attempt to do some interesting things with various types of color filming, but there’s sometimes aggressively bad editing to go along with it. For fans of Woronov and horror completists.

Don’t Go in the House (1980)

This one’s a mixed bag and I like it more than I should. It has a few tropes I am tired of: the psychoanalytic explanation for the killer and the alligator-in-the-toilet ending. However, I like the cinematography. For a low budget horror film, this must have had a talented or experienced crew. I loved the decor, the colors, and the lighting.

And the discotheque scene!

This makes no sense chronologically, but it seems like Dan Grimaldi was asked to play Norman Bates as Mark Linn Baker as Larry Appleton from Perfect Strangers, with a dash of dramatic Dustin Hoffman thrown in.

Def by Temptation (1990)

The Blacula films are some of my favorites. I was hoping that this one would be something like those. I don’t like Def as much as those movies, but I can appreciate its ambition.  James Bond III, as writer, director, and producer, wants to bring a little of everything into the movie: action, horror, sexy sax, smooth jazz, hip hop, philosophical and ethical discussion, and comedy.

That ambition makes the film feel silly and unfocused at times. Almost feels like Bond didn’t like horror movies, but watched a bunch of trailers of wacky Italian horror films like Demons, and honestly, it’s probably on par with something like The Church. Bond seems out-of-place as the lead, especially since he’s surrounded with really talented people. Though Cynthia Bond doesn’t have much to do besides play the femme fatale, she does everything she can with it. Kadeem Hardison, Bill Nunn (RIP Radio Raheem!), and Samuel L. Jackson are stronger than the material they’re asked to deal with here.

Halloween Horror Binge: Week Three

The Black Sleep (1956)



If you’re a fan of classic horror, then this is a must-see. By the end, you’ve got a dungeon full of various weirdos and and monsters and, of course, they get loose. Can Dr. Gordon Ramsay(!) fight them all off and clear his name or will he join them in their revolt? Either way, it’s fun watching, almost like the sweaty, illustrated monsters of Cracked-era Dan Clowes come to life.

The idea is that a doctor has developed a drug that allows him to do specialized brain surgery. The problem is that he’s the only one doing this kind of surgery, so he’s using a lot of patients in order to map the areas of the brain. His hopes are to eventually operate on his wife who is in a coma.

Features Basil Rathbone, Akim Tamiroff (in a role originally for Peter Lorre), Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi, John Carradine, and Plan 9’s Tor Johnson.

Frightmare (1974)



The hair and costuming are fantastic, likely many of the clothes are just taken from the actors’ closets, but they are fabulous nonetheless. Or at least I was taken by 1974 British fashion-sense. As a horror movie, it’s pretty good, too. The story is a little convoluted and silly, but there is some surprising gore. Well-acted and fun for a classic horror movie night.

Shock (1977)



Bava’s last feature and it feels like it was not only co-written by son Lamberto, but also largely directed by him as well. I’ve been watching a lot of Bava lately and this was just ok, even a disappointment when one considers some of his other films. Felt more like bad Fulci, than great Bava.

Daria Nicolodi gets more to do than just play a victim and she may be one of the best things about the movie, although the dialogue and general story here aren’t top notch. Her ex is likely haunting her son or the house or a basement room or a fireplace or her dreams or a giant glass hand, or all or none of these.

Shock features one of the most bombastic, suspense-killing scores in Italian exploitation film history. That’s impressive.

Castle Freak (1995)



This reminded me of the times we used to drive across the bridge and go to some small, bizarre gas stations/video stores and grab horror films often based on giant VHS cover art alone. Okay, that “we” is really me and my stepdad because I wasn’t old enough to drive, and that last “us” is really me.

Anyhow, if you’re a fan of Stuart Gordon films like Re-Animator (1985) or From Beyond (1986), you’ll likely enjoy this one. I even like Dagon (2001). And I often half-remember Gordon as the director of the fantastic weirdo movie Society (1989), but it was directed by Re-Animator’s co-producer Brian Yuzna.

Castle Freak, while partially based on a Lovecraft story, feels more like a tribute to Argento, particularly Phenomena (1985). There’s even a bit of hand carnage that repeats and extends one of the gags in Argento’s film.

Barbara Crampton. Jeffrey Combs. ‘Nuff said.

Almost forgot: So Crampton and Combs inherit a castle. And it has a freak in the basement.

Sauna (2008)



Finnish horror film that reminded me of Black Death (2010). Takes place during the late 1500s and Finland and Russia are settling borders after a war. The soldiers and diplomats sent to do this come upon a strange town with a strange sauna in a swamp.

Slow, moody, atmospheric–kind of if Bergman had gone full horror. Ville Vertanen seems to be partially channeling the Max von Sydow of The Seventh Seal (1957). Still thinking about this one. Not perfect, but it has kept me thinking.

The Theatre Bizarre (2011)



I like horror anthologies. They are often a hoot, but they are rarely perfect or even very good. This one is no exception. Tom Savini and Richard Stanley are here, but “The Accident” is probably my favorite, though it is far from straightforward horror and it definitely feels out-of-place.

If you’re a fan of horror anthologies then you’ll like this. There’s a whole slate of new ones I’ve missed, but I’ve always been partial to the Amicus ones like Asylum (1972) and Tales from the Crypt (1972). Other personal favorites are Black Sabbath (1963) and Creepshow (1982), which had effects by Savini. It captures creepiness and comedy in a style similar to the old EC comics in which it pays homage.

Penny Dreadful (2016)



I know it’s TV, but I’m counting it since I watched the whole final season and it’s more explicit than most of the things on this list.

I’m not really interested in the whole “Golden Age” of TV that’s often written about these days. I’m sure its demise has already been reported. I’m not a good TV watcher, not because I dislike it, I just try to spend time on other things. Growing up, I watched at least four hours of TV a day, if not more. Probably more. In fact, yeah, way more.

I have a huge list of shows I want to watch, but I prefer watching movies. While I like Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead, I can’t stomach the constant tension that those shows generate and have only made it through a few seasons of each.

With TV, I tend to watch comedy or food shows. Tim and Eric. Monty Python. Chef’s Table. Every now and then something speaks to me and I can get through it. I like the newish Sherlock Holmes series. I liked Black Mirror as an anthology show. Actually, it may rival Twilight Zone in quality and I love the Twilight Zone. I’ve been slowly re-watching Tales from the Crypt episodes and am in season three.

Likely, you will have heard that Penny Dreadful is great or that it is terrible. I love the influences the show plays with—Gothic literature, particularly of the 19th Century. I like most of the characters, even if I don’t like everyone’s story arc. The show is fun, especially if you know the sources and don’t read spoilers. There’s some great writing and unexpected twists, particularly for fans of the literature. The show knows and loves its sources.

Also, I’ve read lots of comparisons to “new television” to novels. I don’t really feel that at all. These shows generally work where there are multiple character arcs within an episode arc, within seasonal arcs, within the full series arc. I suppose there could be something Dickensian about this structure if one thinks of reading Dickens in the original installments. But I don’t feel TV really does what a Duras, Woolf, or Beckett novel is able to do.

It feels more like comic books to me. An episode is like an issue, a season like a trade collection, and a complete show like a compendium or omnibus.

 

If you made it through all that (Thanks!), go check out the Halloween series I’m working on with artist Reed Randolph. We’ll be updating through Halloween.

 

Halloween Horror Binge: Week Two

Robot Monster (1953)

This movie has one of the silliest monster/alien designs I have ever seen. The poster creature looks pretty cool, but trust me, the one on the film doesn’t equal the menace of the two-dimensional version. Still, if I had extra cash and could collect models, sculptures, action figures, etc., I would love to have one of Ro-Man Extension XJ-2. It’s bizarre and amazingly bad, as is this movie. This one is genuinely hard to get through and most viewers will see the plot points from about five minutes in. Lazy writing, bad dialogue, bad cinematography, it’s got it all.

Grizzly (1976)

I have always wanted to see this because of the poster, which I just found out was done by Neal Adams, a celebrated artist in comics. While this feels like an okay plot point-for-plot point remake of Jaws, I think I would have enjoyed it more as an eight-year-old. You do get Christopher George here, an actor I like. He’s always reminded me of a more out-going Lee Marvin. They were of similar age and both decorated Marines.

I imagine most people reading this remember the explosive ending of Jaws. Well, this one ends in bazooka versus bear. You can guess how that goes.

One of the funnier aspects of the film is how they trained the eleven-foot-tall bear “Teddy” to “roar.” They would give the bear marshmallows, and then hold one in front of his face to make him reach out with his snout out, call “Action!” and then dub the roaring in post.

Pieces (1982)

Unintentional Christopher George double-feature! This is one of his last movies and it’s a good one, well, if you’re into gory slasher films.

Pieces is one I remember from the VHS era, but missed. I always assumed it was an American slasher film, but it’s actually a blend of European giallo (black-gloved killer, police investigators, fairly silly psychological explanations) and American slasher. If you’ve seen a lot of these types of films then you’ll understand the fusion here.

There are also elements of other films. Reminiscent of the mayor not wanting to close the beaches in Jaws,  the admin doesn’t want to close the school even though there’s a chainsaw killer (black gloves and chainsaw!) lurking around campus.

If bad acting, lack of logic, and lack of motivation bother you in horror movies, stay away from this one. I enjoyed Pieces probably more than I should have.

Pieces has one of the most ri-DIC-ulous endings ever!

Conquest (1983)

Strap on your leather undies and get prepared to get chapped in places you didn’t know you had.

This movie is somewhere between Conan and Zardoz, but with a  budget that only allows it to make creatures as good as the background Cantina creepies. All of that is good to me. There’s also a mostly nude witch with a golden Destro helmet and lots of pet snakes. Her henchmen are somewhere between Howling III: The Marsupials background makeups and acrobatic, skinny Chewbaccas. Everything is filmed in fog and has a muddied, multiple exposure look of something like the original Clash of the Titans, but without stop-motion animation as a reason for it. Maybe that’s to help the mythological or fairy tale aspects of it. It really comes of as Bunuel filming Conan as a fever dream.

There are some interesting and well-done effects, combined with some string-operated flappy bird puppets. Fulci throws in a group of Lugosi-era bats for good measure. Since it’s Fulci, we also get zombies! Bravo!

The movie includes an outrageous, ill-fitting, but perfect, in that Italian exploitation sort-of-way, Claudio Simonetti score. Simonetti was a member of Goblin, so you know he means business.

Video Violence (1987)

Honestly, I need to process this one more. Partially because it seems to be made by a guy who disliked the interest in horror he saw in his own video store. I think there’s something interesting about that—that he would hate horror films so much that he would make one!

I’ve seen several people mention the creepy “authenticity” of this being filmed on video given its subject. I don’t feel that. I think it was mostly a budget decision, but kudos to anyone who made a relatively decent film on video. It was an awful medium to work in.

Most people are not going to sit through this given its “cheap” look, and I get that. The movie’s not bad and in some ways a precursor to some of the tendencies in horror that happened decades after it. For me, it’s one worth thinking about, even if viewing it partially seems like a chore.

1408 (2007)

An abomination. I’ve always been bothered by the ire that gets launched at Ed Wood and Plan 9 from Outer Space as the worst movie ever made. I think there are plenty of worse movies (see above review for Robot Monster) including 1408, which at least one critic said was the “best horror film of the year” when it came out. I feel like only someone who doesn’t like horror movies would say that.

There’s some mystery set up and Cusack and Samuel Jackson do all they can. Once Cusack enters room 1408 most viewers are going to have a lot of it figured out. The emotion that the writers and director want to get out of some the most difficult situations such as losing family members, suicide, just is never earned from the “thrill-ride” scenes of 1408 interspersed with tears and sad faces. The effect was better achieved when Clark Griswold gets stuck in the attic, hunkers down and watches old Super 8 films of the family, gets weepy, and then falls through the floor in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.  The shitter’s full in Room 1408, too. The true mystery and horror of this tale is how so much money and talent can be wasted.

Grace (2009)

I wanted something as good as Inside, and was hoping for something even better. Well, that didn’t happen here. The first third is intense and would be difficult for most parents and those that have suffered difficulties with starting families. At first, the movie feels disturbing and heavy. Don’t worry, that doesn’t last long.

Once Grace is born, the movie feels like a continuation of Rosemary’s Baby done by a fan of Peter Jackson’s early work. Monster babies have never been interesting to me, except maybe It’s Alive or Basket Case, if that one can even be counted.

Muppet Babies are a different story entirely.

Halloween Horror Binge: Week One

Two years ago, I watched a cycle of horror films throughout October and I wanted to do that again this year. My first week’s viewing ended up surprisingly good. I enjoyed each film for what it was, and I didn’t feel like there was a clunker in the bunch.

Atomic Brain (aka Monstrosity) (1963)

This sci-fi horror film, with heavy borrowings from Frankenstein, doesn’t seem to be well-liked. It’s low budget and if that’s not your thing as a viewer, you’re better off staying away from this one. I enjoyed it, but I have a high tolerance. Several from this week reminded me of staying up late as a child and watching Z-grade sci-fi and horror. Fond memories.

The basic plot is that Dr. Frank needs funding for all the science he does. Evidently a mean elderly lady is the only funding he can find. His experiments involve brain-swapping and she wants a young woman’s body. They hire three foreign women who seem to be in the US on work visas or something. One girl’s accent is English or Australian or Georgian, as in Savannah, Georgia.

I would actually like to see a better print of this. Despite trying everything to ineptly capture sound and image, the film manages some intriguing visuals.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)

I’ve said previously I won’t write about this one anymore, but the kids and I have watched it four times this week already.

Queen of Blood (1966)

More sci-fi horror. This one and Mario Bava’s Planet of the Vampires (1965) are said to have been influences on the makers of Alien (1979). Understandable, but neither film quite does what Alien does, but if I think of the ending when the alien becomes a dude-in-a-suit, maybe there’s very little difference besides tone.

This movie has John Saxon, who I will watch in anything, Basil Rathbone, Forrest J. Ackerman, who has no dialogue if I remember correctly, Dennis Hopper, and the voice of Frank Zappa.

Insane!

That cast list probably oversells it, but there’s some nice Bava-esque lighting, particularly the red/green contrast lighting, and some amazing footage that looks like a Space Age science textbook come to life. This is the footage that was originally shot for a couple of Russian sci-fi films that ended up here. It’s schlock, but sometimes gorgeous schlock.

The Corpse Grinders (1971)

Z-grade gore, probably meant to rival Herschell Gordon Lewis. I found it hilariously fun. A couple of gents are turning people into cat food. The cats love it, but it’s making them violent. Awkward dialogue and acting, but perfect for this sort of low budget gem.

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

Cult classic that I had missed. Hippie’s-not-welcome eco-horror. Fantastic. Mixes sci-fi elements, particularly The Department of Agriculture’s Experimental Unit’s radiation pest control, and zombies. Some of the film is beautifully shot.

Fear(s) of the Dark (2008)

A decent animated horror anthology. Ultimately, I found the imagination and art more interesting and fulfilling than the stories.

Whistle and I’ll Come to You (2010)

I like M.R. James’s stories and the 1968 BBC adaptation of “Whistle” is a classic. Beautifully filmed by Jonathan Miller and beautifully acted by Michael Hordern. Many modern horror fans might find both adaptations too slow, and even some may find them boring. I don’t.

I avoided the adaptation for a while because of how much I like the 1968 version, even though John Hurt takes the lead and I generally love his work.

There’s a lot to like. I like the slow pacing and the cinematography. Hurt is expectedly fantastic, and there is something about looking at his face and hands that express so much about the position of his character. Elderly. Retired. Sadness and guilt after leaving his wife, who seems to be lost  in a state of dementia, in a home.

That whole last part, which becomes the main thread of this adaptation, is not from the story or the earlier adaptation and that may not even bother a newcomer. As a fan of the original and the earlier adaptation it alters the character and motivation and really makes the heart of the story something different than originally intended and may be problematic for hardcore fans of James.

Just like the ones I used to know…

Last night, I was thinking about the blog and how I’ve ignored the blog. I sketched out something like the old monthly updates that Quinn and I used to do. He updated today after a long silence, so I took it as some synchronicity not to ignore.

Reading

I ordered The Horror Hall of Fame from a mail order book club sometime in the ‘90s. I read it then and liked it, but I think many of the oldest stories went over my head. In re-reading it, I’m struck by how many times I think, “This is boring, but I still like it.” This held particularly for Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows.” Originally published in 1907, it felt like watching a found footage horror film, a genre I don’t usually care for. “The Willows” had the camping/strange place element and the long build-up complete with bizarre happenings and mysterious feelings and sights unclear that lead to kind-of-an-ending. It’s oddly told in first person, which echoed found footage to me. I liked it more than most of those films, which I guess make me think, “These are boring, and I don’t like them.”

I’m enjoying Roxanne Gay’s takes on teaching, television, Scrabble, and Sweet Valley High in Bad Feminist.

Watching

Bava! In particular, Mario Bava. This guy made some incredible images. I’ve been watching his films since I was a teenager, but I’ve only recently gotten into his direction and cinematography. If you’re familiar with Italian horror, than his movies suffer from similar problems that trouble these films: overdubbing (even in Italian!), recycled plots, bizarre or illogical plot moments (Not always twists! Not always a bad thing!), music that’s fantastic, but seems out of place, etc.

But Bava’s movies are like beautiful, morbid fairy tales. If I ever have some extra cash, I’m going to seek out some nice transfers and releases for my collection. Recently I’ve watched and rewatched:

Black Sunday (1960)

Black Sabbath (1963)

The Evil Eye (1963)

The Whip and the Body (1963)

Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)

And that’s a very small part of his filmography.

Listening

Just got off a kick of listening to a lot of Steve Reich, especially Electric Counterpoint, and I probably listened to ten different recordings of it alone. Who am I kidding? I’m still cranking this up regularly.

Just discovered electronics pioneer Bruce Haack. I cannot believe I’ve never heard his work before. It’s unique, but reminds me of elements of The Residents, Dick Hyman, Raymond Scott, and David Lynch’s music projects.

Eliane Radigue’s work has become obsessive listening for me. Still digesting, but I’ve noticed I’ve liked her instrumental work more than anything that incorporates audio tracks of talking.

I’ve been checking out a mix of Clash, Kendrick Lamar, and Beach Boys records.

Writing

Recently started my column on horror films and culture for The Terror Test. We had been talking about this almost since the inception of the show, but I just couldn’t eek out time for it. Finally can and it’s a lot of fun for me and I hope it is sometimes for others. My column is called Test Prep and I usually write on subjects that lead into the set of movies or readings that are going to be a part of the next episode of the podcast. I try to take the ideas to somewhere other than just reviewing the films, since the podcast will do that. It’s been fun and challenging, and sometimes the writing has been some of the most personal I’ve done. I’ve been a horror fan since seeing Harryhausen, King Kong (1933), and the Godzilla films all around the age of five. I think I tried to shed my interest of the genre in college while studying Serious Literature and Film. I just don’t see things quite that way anymore.

You can read those columns bi-weekly—Friday-ish.

I’m also working on at least three distinct manuscripts: one of prose poems, another of odd, little 100-word poems, and another one that is sort of prose and sort of poetry and sometimes list-ish and likely to be a collaboration. My goal is to have one ready to submit by next summer. I’ve worked on some of these pieces for a few years, but I’ve finally made some time to put in the work. It means things like not ever going to a concert or movie and watching way less Bava than I want to.

I have some poetry and fiction in the submitting machine.

As always, thanks for reading!

the aftermath is also a kind of growth

Over the last few months I’ve been working on a series of projects, some of which are finally out there for perusal. More soon.

I wrote some liner notes for a fantastic rock record that may see life in other forms. Check it and the other Them Natives releases out and buy one if you can.

I’ve also written my first in a series of columns about horror films and culture as part of The Terror Test podcast.