Chadwick H. Saxelid's Blog: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties, page 49

Pandemic 1918 by Catharine Arnold - Book Review

I had two thoughts come to mind, again and again, while reading Pandemic 1918. My first reoccurring thought was, "Damn, we got lucky with this recent pandemic." The second was, "Shit, the more things change, the more they stay the same."

We got lucky because the COVID-19 pandemic, while bad, did not unleash the hellish apocalyptic landscape that pop culture and infotainment sources love to envision and exploit. Thank mythical-god for that, at least. The nightmare scenario of the 2011 bio-thriller Contagion remains a chilling hypothetical "What if?" As does the End Times scenario of Stephen King's The Stand. 

But there were a lot of disheartening similarities between the 1918 pandemic and that of 2020. People dismissing and/or downplaying the looming viral threat? Check. People fighting mask mandates? Check. People believing that the 'true' illness was, if fact, not what people were actually getting sick and dying from? Check. People arguing that the illness was actually a bio-weapon? Check.

Did we learn nothing? Because it kind of seems that way.

The 'average' seasonal influenza tends to kill the elderly (those over 65), the very young (those aged 5 and under), and the immunocompromised. A fact that helped a few medical professionals be somewhat dismissive of an outbreak of influenza in the early days of the 1918 pandemic. Only after a distressing and disturbing number of healthy adults, the kind that usually contract and recover from the flu in a matter of days, got sick and died did the severity of this new strain of influenza begin to be taken seriously.

Not that there was all that much that could have been done, other than encourage people to engage in social distancing and stay outside, in the fresh air, for as long as possible. Because the medical technology and resources needed to combat the pandemic did not exist yet. Then again, the people of today are pushing back against those technologies and resources. Go figure. 

Which brings me to another frustrating similarity between the 1918 and 2020 pandemics. There were a lot of commentators and pundits that liked to dismiss COVID-19 as a nuisance. One that was no more dangerous than the flu. My response to these incredulous at best, and down right callous at worst, statements was to think, "Don't you know how many people die from the 'average' flu every year?" In the United States alone the number fluctuates from 10 to 50 thousand people. Globally, on average, the total is half a million. That is a lot of people dying from what is being dismissed as a nothing burger of an illness.

But the deaths from the 1918 pandemic dwarf those numbers. An estimated 100 million people died. What made this outbreak so virulent and deadly? Current research and testing point to the 1918 influenza being a form of bird flu that adapted to humans. An adaptation that provoked a lethal auto-immune response called a cytokine storm. That is what some are theorizing killed so many people.

Theories aside, Pandemic 1918 is filled with chilling and heartbreaking stories and images of the global devastation that was wrought by this new strain of influenza. One I think a lot of people should read, especially those who still dismiss COVID-19 as being 'no worse' than the flu.

Arena (1989) - Soundtrack Collection

The elevator pitch for Arena might have gone something like, "Hey, think Rocky, only he has to fight the Predator instead of Apollo Creed!" Too bad the pitch is more exciting than the film itself.
Composer Richard Band, in his liner note for this Intrada release, shares how the music he wrote and performed for Arena marked a turning point in his career. "Up until then," Band writes, "I had primarily composed for orchestra, using electronics in only a few scores. But Arena called for something different - a truly futuristic electronic score."
With the assistance of Gary Chang's Fairlight and Synclavier, Band was able to achieve the "driving futuristic feel" he desired. He also came to understand the necessity of becoming better versed with the technology, which he now recognizes as his first step towards going fully electronic in the 1990s.
While this might not be Band's best electronic score, it is by no means terrible. Like so many other scores for movies of this kind, the music is one of the best things about it.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #10

Joshua Leonard and Heather Donahue working together in the editing room at Montgomery College in Maryland. Although film teacher Michael DeCoto considered the two to be polar opposites, personality-wise, "they seemed to enjoy working together," DeCoto admitted in a recent interview. Leonard clearly loved movies, but his commitment to a professional career as a filmmaker was questionable, according to DeCoto.

Working Together
The first nine cards of this Topps series detailed the weird and gruesome mythology behind The Blair Witch Project (1999). Now the focus seems to be turning to the trio of characters featured in the actual film, creating an equally fictional backstory for them.

Dracula (1931) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 26, 1931The first of the Universal Monsters arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area in March of 1931. The weird, terrifying, and fascinating film would be a huge hit, leading then studio head Carl Laemmle Jr. to up the ante with another monster movie. More on that later...
Bela Lugosi delivered a commanding and seeming star making performance that, sad to say, he never managed to escape from its all encompassing shadow. There are far worse things to be remembered for, though.

Jujutsu Kaisen, Volume 2 - Manga Review

The battle against a cursed womb residing in a detention facility takes a tragic turn when Yuji Itadori appears to loose control of Ryomen Sukuna. 

Volume 2 of Jujutsu Kaisen overflows with sorcery battles and expansive world-building. New characters and group dynamics are introduced while a variety of backsides get kicked, good and hard.
It turns out that the higher-ups of Jujutsu High are not too keen about a cursed object vessel attending the school. An opinion that seems to be shared by some of the second and third year students. Something that 'forces' Satoru Gojo to engage in some outside-the-box thinking and teaching.
But there is more going on than that. Powerful curses are also plotting and planning their own nefarious schemes for the Itadori-Sukuna one-two combo, which means all these fireworks are just the prelude for much bigger battles to come.
Any magic system that requires the binge watching of movies as a form of prep is one I can get behind. Add a trash-talking second-year student that just so happens to be a panda and my nabbing and reading the third volume of Jujutsu Kaisen is a sure thing.

April Fool's Day (1986) - Soundtrack Collection

I have three versions of this soundtrack.
The first is the vinyl album that was released by Varèse Sarabande in 1986, which is just an all-electronic presentation of the score, performed by the composer.
Second is a compact disc release of the vinyl album recording that served as the kick-off for Varèse Sarabande's 12 disc LP to CD Subscription Series. Which resurrected out-of-print soundtracks that, at the time, had not had official compact disc releases.
The third and last, but in no way shape or form least, version is the one pictured. This is Varèse Sarabande's 'Deluxe Edition' offering, coupling the actual score used in the film with the electronic realization Bernstein released in 1986. There is also a wealth of stingers and source cues tossed in.
Only thing missing, from all three versions, is Jerry Whitman's song Too Bad You're Crazy , which plays over the film's end credits.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #7

This looks to be a behind-the-scenes photo. One where actor Yaphet Kotto can be seen sitting in the background window, maybe taking a breather. 

Bloodthirsty Butchers (1970) / Torture Dungeon (1970) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 19, 1970
I am sure some might argue a mere two theaters showing an Andy Milligan double-feature would be two too many theaters showing an Andy Milligan double-feature.
Milligan's bargain basement penny dreadfuls are, in no uncertain terms, an acquired taste. One that, despite my having read Jimmy McDonough's excellent and harrowing  The Ghastly One: The Sex-Gore Netherworld of Filmmaker Andy Milligan , I have struggled to acquire.
My struggle goes beyond the rank and eye-scalding cheapness of the films themselves. Beyond the sadistic and misanthropic cruelty that is displayed in them. My struggle, and reluctant fascination with them, might best be summed up by a John Waters blurb on McDonough's book...
"Andy Milligan is one scary man."
And that is true. Andy Milligan is far scarier than any of the cheap and ugly movies he made.

Island of Terror (1966) - Movie Review

"As far as I can tell, the body doesn't have any bones."

We went to the Galapagos Islands this year, which scratched another destination off of our world travel bucket list. While on the island of Santa Cruz we visited the El Chato Giant Tortoise Reserve, where we got to walk amongst a whole lot of giant tortoises.
A handful of the giant tortoises we saw.
And there were a lot of giant tortoises there. I mean it. Those things were everywhere. A sight that got me perseverating about 1966's Island of Terror, of course. What else would an aging horror geek like myself think about while standing in a wooded area filled with giant tortoises?
Which meant that, after returning home, I had the compulsion to pluck my Scream Factory blu-ray off the shelf and give it yet another watch.
Because Island of Terror holds a special place in both my monster loving heart and my childhood memories.
My heart adores it because, first, the silicates are really effective monsters, albeit ones that a contemporary audience might dismiss as a tad too goofy looking. But one does that at their own peril. Second, there is Peter Cushing's energetic and delightful turn as an avuncular bone specialist. Third, and perhaps most important of all, is the energetic and economical direction from genre stalwart Terence Fisher.
Observations that allow me a pitch perfect segue to my childhood memory of Island of Terror, because Scream Factory was kind enough to post the very scene that scared me out of both the living room and my skin.

The blessing and curse of my reality altering childhood memory embellished the moment Dr. Landers (Eddie Byrne) fell atop the silicate with an image of him wheezing "Help me" as his body deflated. But even without the embellishment that death scene is a hard one to sit and watch. Not only because Landers was a likable character, but also because of the creepy and nauseating sound effect of the voracious silicate dissolving and slurping up his bones. I hope the audio department earned a bonus for creating that potent sounding nightmare fuel.
That scene also put me off of chicken noodle soup for a short while.
What's funny about it now is that I had my younger brother finish the movie, so I could know how it ended. Which he was kind enough to do. But what I did not know was that this would be the one and only time Island of Terror would air on our local station(s).
I came to know the bitter frustration of finding and reading the synopsis in a TV Guide listing, which read, "Bizarre turtle-like creatures menace an isolated island community." Only to learn the movie was being broadcast on Channel 40, which was a Sacramento station we did not get.
So the movie eluded me until I was able to find a bootleg at a convention. By that time my only fear was that the movie would not live up to my traumatized childhood memory of it.
I was happy to find that it did live up to that memory, though. Sure, Island of Terror was nowhere near as terrifying to adult me as it had been to child me, but I could still admire the solid performances and Fisher's deft hand at creating an aura of mystery, tension, and outright menace on what had to be a tissue-thin budget.

Anna and the Apocalypse (2017) - Soundtrack Collection

Anna and the Apocalypse was one of the movies released in 2017 that I most wanted to see on the big screen, but was unable to. Turned out it had a limited release, perhaps all of a week, at most, and I was busy with other things at that time. So I had to wait with some irked impatience for the film to become available on VOD.

That means I had expectations for Anna and the Apocalypse, which can be problematic thing. You go in expecting, or hoping, for a certain kind of movie, only to see something that is not that movie. Sometimes this is a pleasant surprise, sometimes it is not. With Anna and the Apocalypse it was the former, rather than the latter. For which I am grateful.

The ad campaign for Anna and the Apocalypse played up its zany musical-comedy aspects, making it look much more similar to the iconic British zombie-comedy Shaun of the Dead than it turned out being. Anna is a tad darker that Shaun.

While Shaun made references and in-jokes to Romero's zombie films, Anna seemed to be capturing their pessimistic tone and bitter irony. While Shaun looked and felt like a loving homage to Romero's zombie films, Anna looked and felt like the kind of zombie-comedy-musical that Romero himself would have made.

Perhaps I should put it this way, Shaun of the Dead has a Hollywood Ending, while Anna and the Apocalypse does not...