Friday, October 31, 2014

Reintroduction to Penny Dreadful

Tonight Showtime is reshowing the first two episodes of Season 1 of Penny Dreadful. You can also get them easily off the Penny Dreadful iTunes account at the moment.

(Yes, owning the Blu Ray, and having a previous copy, I did grab the 2 episodes again.)

Next month I'll be resuming my reviews of Penny Dreadful. So let's look back to the first two reviews of the series.

Do you believe there is a Demimonde?


Episode 1 - "Night Work"



Episode 2 - "Seance"




Constantine - Episode 1 - Non Est Asylum - "To Edit a Pilot."

Finally we get to see the results of being John Constantine and Hellblazer to TV. I did touch a bit on what the show will be bringing from the comic, and adding, previously.

Based on what I've heard about the pilot, and know about the changes the show has gone through, it seems the episode is largely intact from the first finished product. But let's address this stuff as we look at this episode.



But, yes, the Dr. Fate reference is still intact. Yeah!


The episode opens with Constantine checked into Ravenscar Hospital. Constantine is locked up, by choice.

It's motto: Hey, we're not Arkham.

Getting to know Halloween.

Halloween, and our holiday traditions can become rote. It's nice to sometimes look back at origins and interesting aspects of history.

Let's learn about Halloween.


The Origins of Halloween and Trick or Treating




25 Curious Halloween Facts You May Not Know



(Found these on curiosity.com.)


The all female Ghostbusters trailer we needed.

I think we all knew in our hearts we needed this. And here it is. A group of middle school kids have brought up a remake of the original Ghostbusters trailer. Only they've swapped the genders.

Prepare for joy.





Thursday, October 30, 2014

Treats to come on Halloween

It's an odd thing. People often like to put down the candy corn.


Is it a silly name? Yes. Is it an odd shape? Yup. Is it a weird color choice? Of course.

But does it taste bad? No. It's fine. I wouldn't want to sit and eat a bag of it. It isn't that good. Besides, that's a bag of sugar.

But the attitude towards it is odd.

As a counterpoint, remember this from your Halloweens nights?


A popcorn ball. If you've never seen it before passed to you as you Trick or Treated about, it is a thing you could get.

Why? I can't fathom. They are dreadful. It's like seeing a rice cake as a treat.

Sure, you can add flavor. But still...


Bleech!

So I hope no kids will be getting that Halloween night.

On the plus side I actually have seen a new treat that, to me, is kind of cool.


Caramel Apple. And it works. Surprised me, but it actually has a nice taste to it.

Something good came from this Halloween season.


Web Series to watch on Halloween

With Halloween here, you may need some viewing choices via your computer, or phone, or tablet.

Here are some web series that may prove a diversion amidst everything else you'll be dealing with today.

Plus there's an extra video at the end.


Carmilla
A missing roommate leads to a new one. And I think she might be a vampire.



Frankenstein, MD
Victoria takes bold strides into her destiny, and comes to regret it all.



Monster Management
It's time to rebrand your nightmares.



Spooked
Paranormal hunt, but with some humor.



And here's a video looking at the problems that come when you are a serial killer with a franchise to keep going.




Happy Halloween!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, Monster Management (Web Series)

Well there is another choice for a fun web series to enjoy this Halloween night.

Monster Management

Coming from Cracked.com, it's another fun short series. This one tells of the efforts to manage and rebrand classic monsters by a pair of marketing specialist.




Here's a playlist for the series. It's still in the process of being released.


The first episode was about their efforts with Frankenstein's Monster. Time to be more...CW.

Episode 1 - "Rebranding Frankenstein"




Episode 2- "Why People Want To F#@% Horrifying Movie Monsters"



Witches are up. No more retro. Time to represent modern sexy sexy young women, not child eating.


The Horror Of...Bedlam, In Short

A fun film to while away a bit of an afternoon with is a lesser known work by Boris Karloff. It's interesting in allowing Karloff one of his opportunities to play a monster of a very human sort. From 1946, an RKO Film...


Bedlam


It's a story of late 18th century England. A time when hospitals for those with psychiatric issues were horrible places meant mostly for locking them away. ...And it's not like that issue continued at all in the the 20th century... One such place is Bedlam, as it's called.

We meet our heroine, Nell, a protege of a rich lord.


They are out for a ride when they pass Bedlam. People are gathered, as an inmate of the asylum has died while trying to escape.

They see it is a man that was a friend of the lord. Angered at this, the lord demands the head of Bedlam come and see him at his home.


Enter Karloff. He's playing Sims. He's a struggling playwright and poet who's worked his way up in the world to be in charge of Bedlam. But he would rather spend his time writing plays, and currying noble favor.


What you should know about Ebola.

A lot of bad information and a lot of panic has swirled around the topic of Ebola. News media has largely been seeking BREAKING NEWS. And some governors have been aching to engage in some overkill, to look more like Alpha Males.

Here's a nice, calm and humorous look at what Ebola is and isn't.




Better than being scared is to be informed. And then we can help.


The Horror Of...The Uninvited (1944), In Short


Looking for some light and good horror movie fun to round out this week? An excellent choice would be a classic of haunted house movies. A house with two sides.

1944's The Uninvited.



The movie centers on two siblings from London. Roderick and Pamela Fitzgerald. And there dog.


The pair live together in London, but are away for a weekend at the coast. As they go rambling, they come across an empty old house. It's a grand thing.


Thanks to the dog, they end up inside the home, and become smitten with it.


Stricken by an impulse, they decide to try and buy the house. They visit the owners of the house, who live nearby. The house is owned by Commander Beech, who lives with his granddaughter Stella.


She's not eager for them to buy, and first tries to convince them it's not for sale. But Beech is of a different attitude. He wants done with the house.

He admits that their are stories that the house is haunted. But he doesn't believe in ghost. Still, to get rid of the house, he sells very low.


Pam and Rod move in, and plan the layout, including using the large windowed room on the second floor as Rod's music room. But in the room they feel such a chill. And it feels so damp. Rod can feel is mod drop temporarily in the room.

They also find that the dog wants nothing to do with the home's second floor.

Later, Rod meets Stella. She tries to explain why she was so brusque about him and his sister buying the house. It was her childhood home. It was also where her mother died. Ever since then, her grandfather has tried to keep her away from the place, but she's just drawn to it.




Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Flash - Episode 3 - Things You Can't Outrun - "So what would he have become if they still hanged people?" *UPDATED*

Flash continues to pick up speed as Barry trumps a malicious multiplying monster, and now finds himself facing a dissipating danger which may be his end.







This week Barry faces a new type of trouble. An enemy that can become gas. In that form, he's poisonous as well.

With these abilities, he strikes out and kills a restaurant full of a mob family. Doesn't sound like the worst thing.


But killers are killers. So Barry and Joe need the science nerds of STAR Labs to figure out what they are dealing with. And they are excited to figure the new baddie out.

"You hang out with these people?" "I believe you left me with them for nine
months, comatose." "...Sorry."

The Horror Of...Cockneys Vs Zombies, In Short

This Halloween we all need some fun and gruesome horror. And one pathway to that is a fun zombie flick. And, in my opinion, among the best of the fun zombie films is...


Cockneys Vs Zombies.


This 2012 film is a bit of joy out of the United Kingdom. Centered in the east side of London it follows some cousins who are in dire straights. Their granddad's retirement home is about to be closed down, and then tore down, by a greedy industrialist.

With no options at hand, they turn to the old family business. Armed robbery. The trouble is they aren't exactly skilled at this. So they bring in a friend who is a bit more knowledgeable, and infamous for bungling robberies. And they bring in a contact who has lots of guns, and a reputation for uncontrolled aggression.

So they hatch a plan to rob a bank, And it goes as well as you would expect.

Among the cousins we have have Michelle Ryan,well known to fantasy and Doctor Who fans, and Harry Treadaway, who's in the series Penny Dreadful currently. But the whole crew make for an amusing cast of character.

At the same time, a construction crew comes across a sealed crypt from 1666...I just got that joke.


And opening the crypt ends up bringing the results we would expect. The zombies are out and feeding.


Monday, October 27, 2014

Trailers In Short - Star Trek You Should Be Seeing

These days it seems we have one source for our new Star Trek needs. J.J. Abrams. (And now I guess we're relying on his conspiracy minded minion, who will be directing.)

But is that true?

Welcome to the world of fan films. And fan films are a vast world, with serious efforts to tell tales of beloved characters and worlds and films that are just for laughs, or love of the franchise.

In that gulf of fan films are many very amateur efforts. Labor of loves that end up put up on places like YouTube for everyone to enjoy. But there are also films that are a serious and skilled effort. These have a lot of blood, sweat, and tears invested in them. They also get cash (and need it) and professionals.

So let's delve into Trekdom and see a couple of the amazing, exciting, and very Trekkie works going on.


Sleepy Hollow (S2) Review - Episode 4 - Go Where I Send Thee - "Ah! That's where the saying "Pay the Piper' comes from."


From cursed coins we move on to evil bone flutes...I'm not reviewing Friday the 13th the Series, am I? Still, a lot of good horror fun makes use of cursed and magical items.

This time around Sleepy Hollow has a new threat that I can't say for sure is tied to the great Moloch threat. They try to imply it may be connected, but...eh. Still, it may be a force willing to do his bidding.

It seems a child has wandered out into the forest outside Sleepy Hollow. Out of her palatial home, she walked out into the deep deep woods. But it isn't a simple case of sleep walking. The child is lured. Music to sooth the savage...kid?


The Horrible Disgusting Treehouse of Horror Title Sequence Master Post!!!


Here we lay out the compilation of posts of the terrifying and terrible openings to the many many many years of Simpson's Treehouse of Horror.

Peruse if you dare.


The TREEHOUSES OF HORROR!