The Horror Of...Halloween Night, The Ghoul (1933)

Five days in and we need to be taking Halloween serious. This is Condition: Candy Corn. So let's temporarily up our game with some classic horror. Let's challenge the mind with a film that doesn't try to dazzle us with more than a two colors. No CGI. No rock songs. ..Is this homework? No! It's classic horror!

So make plans for a fun watch on any stormy night. A film deemed the first of Britain's talking horror movies. A film that brought back a son to his homeland after a quarter century, and a booming American career as the looming start of Universal Horror.

 The mysterious and terrible tale of death, live, and estate planning.

 The Ghoul.

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, The New Addams Family - Halloween with the Addams Family

Another Halloween day, another chance to build our frightfully fun mood. But what should we be watching?

I know what you are thinking. Am I in a time loop? He's already done this one. But no, this is The New Addams Family, a series made in Canada at the end of the 90's. They were continuing the tradition of bringing us delightful Charles Addams fun and tommacabrey.

The result was taking a series of New Yorker cartoons in the 30's to a comedy series in the mid 60's to a movie series in the 90's and creating a new series at the end of the 90's. (And there is a step in there I left out, as we'll be looking at that later this month.) Now some would say we shouldn't play with old concepts like this. Dump 'em. And, you know, if that makes you happy, GREAT! But I'd like to just sit back and enjoy what they are trying to do with this concept. (Some people are just so weird.)

The show revamped the opening, which is for the best. You can't keep reusing it, though it is a freaking classic. Instead the show opens with a faster beat and little more fun. New era, different energy levels.

Perhaps some will complain, but it's fun. The show is supposed to be fun and goofy and they put it out there for you to see.

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, Trick or Treats (1982) - Not every film...

Halloween is a season, and the truth is that in a season some moments are highs, and others are not. In light of that truth...I'll be snacking. But just to test out potential treats for Trick-Or-Treaters, of course. Only the best!

At the same time let's look at a film that does fit nicely into this season, but will never top anyone's list of To See Horror Films (I think, you can prove me wrong if you'd like.).

The topic is awkward to me as I do try and focus on movies I genuinely enjoy for what they are, and this film does have interesting points to it...Still, I am not interested in tearing down movies. It's a common enough past time for so many online.

But this film drives viewers to ask themselves so many questions. Like, "Why?" Or, "Why?!" Or even, "WHY?!"

When you slowly start to wonder if movie your watching is trolling you.

So, I guess, where some ask, "Why?", I'll be asking, "Why not?" ...sigh...

Let's look at one of the variety of movies that decided to take a variation of the name Trick or Treat, and see if we can find treats amidst it's WAY TOO MANY tricks.

And remember, every horror movie marathon needs it Lunch Break/Nap Time/Gotta Make a Call movie. This may be the one for you.


Trick or Treats

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, The Addams Family - Halloween with the Addams Family

It may still be early in this Halloween season, but I feel the distinct lack of things creepy, kooky, spooky, and definitely ooky.

We have only one choice for who to call on to fulfill our quota.

The Addams Family.

And what better day to call on the family, but on Halloween, which takes us back to 1964 and the first season of the show. But wait, do you know the Addams?

Originally created by Charles Addams as a reoccurring humorous cartoon in the New Yorker, the collection of macabre and happy outsiders took on a limited life of their own. The cartoons were reprinted and books were reprinted for years. The family were built around two parents, two kids, a grandmother, and 2 older men in the family.

When Addams was approached about a sitcom built around the characters he was asked to flesh out the characters further, and this resulted in the basic characterizations that we've been enjoying for decades now. Jovial. Iconoclastic. Contrarian. Family focused. Civic Minded.

The Addams Family.

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, The Midnight Hour (1985)

The calendar page turns again, and we walk back down a familiar haunted path. The season starts anew, like the zombie freshly risen from it's grave. Ghoulish fun must be had. The macabre hunger must be fed.

So turn down the lights and get ready, because the knocking you will soon hear at your door will be the Halloween's spirit. Welcome it. Bid it to enter. There can be no escape.

Get the hot chocolate. Pass the tiny candy about. It's our time again.


To start us off I want to go to grand offering of the 1980's. The Midnight Hour.

Hercule Poirot, Mystery By Night

Starting in 1920 the world began it's journey beside a curious and discerning little Belgian newcomer to British society. Mr, Hercule Poirot.

A creation of the great Agatha Christie, he can be seen as an amalgam of many living and fictional detectives of the day. But the unique combination of traits made the character beloved to this day. For Christie though the character became an annoyance, "a creep", but she had an audience for him so she had new stories published of his into the 1970's.

The small man in his impeccable clothing, the fastidiously managed mustache, curious walk, and broken English was idea to be contended with. He might seem a humorous figure, but in truth he was an experienced and knowledgeable investigator.

Once he was a respected Belgian police officer who rarely failed to bring his targets to the law. Respected and happy living in his homeland, his time there came to an end with the invasion by Germany at the start of World War I. Injured in the fighting he was taken to England as a refugee.

There he took time to convalesce and find his feet in this new land. Grateful for the security of England he decided to apply his skills anew, now as a private detective.

As a detective he was highly successful, often being called into cases of the highest echelons of British society to sort of thefts, murders, and disappearances. The work helped make him wealthy enough to eventually retire and only take cases of personal interest.

Dready. Set. Halloween!

October has sprung and it's time to start up or prepare a marathon of spooks, scares, macabrey, terror, candy, masks, rotten eggs...Sorry, I feel my mind is wandering onto other To Do lists.

And I was pleased this year that even in August I was seeing the Halloween treats coming out in some places. Christmas likes to make it's presence known so early, so Halloween needs it's space in our lives to. Oh, if only Halloween could move to grab Thanksgiving and push Christmas back.

But maybe I'm being silly.

Subspace Review: The Orville Episode 1 - "Old Wounds"

The Orville is going into it's furth week on air and I finally have a chance to sit down and consider just what we are getting.

Also of note, this week continues the shows move from Sunday to Thursdays. And I can't hate the change as that last week my DVRing of the show left we with only the first 10 minutes of the show. (Luckily it is available via streaming with some cable services and it is on Hulu and iTunes. So check it out if you haven't yet.

This opening episode, as with all pilots, is given the duty to establish the premise of the series, introduce the characters, and then start events moving. It is a simple story, but there's a reason since The Next Generation all Trek pilots are 2 hours longs. This first episode chose to work with just one hour. So it gets us into space, meeting an alien threat, and using some tech tech and quick thinking to save the day. It's a quick run jaunt. I'm sorry so people felt jilted by the episode, apparently.

It's the age we live in. We all eagerly await the Chance. We all eagerly await to chance to be hyped and find that next Binge Series or Put Bacon In It Trend. The chance to be affronted, to be offended, to be insulted that it's remake or re-imagining or another of a genre or dares have a given style. We wait for enough Internet Avatars to get weirdly pissed about a show or movie.

Trek was lucky up to Enterprise in how nascent social media was. Even for that show it was limited, mostly BBS threads. But, going back to TNG, I can only imagine the experience online is Twitter had been around when that show started. It would have been savage, brutal, and cruel. Suffice to say, I'm just tired of riding these damn hate trains.

So let's get to know the show!


The premise.

The Orville is a series that borrows heavily from Star Trek, which isn't a bad idea seeing as that's a 50 years old ongoing interest. The show takes place 400 years in the future in an utopian period of a flourishing Earth that is part of a grand galactic union of worlds and peoples.

At the same time, with it's humor, crass moments, human foibles, and New York setting in the first episode, I also flash to Futurama. It's weird to me how I've seen so few reference the similarity. If you hear about a scifi series with a comedic bent, you should have Futurama come to mind, especially with how heavily it borrowed from Star Trek itself.

Trailers in Short - Gotham Season 4 - Just Enough Prep Time

Tonight sees the return of Gotham to FOX, moved to Thursday nights this season. What shall we do?

Actually, just what will Gotham do?

I fell behind on Gotham review quite a while back and do need to go back and at least do season reviews for the show. I do want to take time to ruminate on where the series has gone. I was onboard for the show with the first season.

Many were uninterested, or choose to take a very conservative view of comic and Batman lore (You can portray character one way, the history can unfold only one way. The "one" way is "my" way.). But the show has played with conventions and origins, creating their own take.

The first season did have it's issues, characters misused or out of place, etc. But by the end of the season the world was gelling quite well. The weird and freaky underbelly of Gotham City was emerging. The second and third season built from there, getting weirder and freakier.

And this has been great. Some shows struggle to a stop over 3 or 4 seasons, needing to go suddenly weird and wild to stay alive. Gotham, by it's nature, only gets weirder and crazier. Cults. Secret Societies. Resurrected Madmen. Flamboyant Foes. Ridiculous Capers.

The show, since it's start has become more and more a comic book world. It's the point even dead characters return gets a shrug. And to me that is all to the shows advantage.

So let's recap a little just where the show was last year, and where we head this season.

Trailers in Short - Trekking it with Star Trek: Discovery and Orville

It is always a treat when you get to look forward to more science fiction on TV. And recent years has felt like it's given us a little boom in the genre with shows like Dark Matter, Killjoys, The Expanse, DC and Marvel shows, Rick and Morty, Dirk Gently, West World, Star Wars: Rebels, Orphan Black, and so on.

It continues with year with more, and in the Trek exploration vein to boot. How can I not be happy with that? Star Trek: Discovery and Orville.

What else is there to say to this but...

Oh, wait. Am I supposed to pick one and hate the other? Or, just hate both of them and demand they be cancelled now? Or, just ask why isn't Firefly being brought back?

I think I'll just sit and see if I enjoy what's a tap. Okay?

Semi-Heroic Reviews.

Time for adventure, time for larger than life heroics. Time for good to best evil. It's time for Semi-Heroic Reviews! ...It's the third name that popped in my head, and it amused me, so we're stuck with it.

"Holy Carpal Tunnel, Batman! Does that mean he'll review
us?"
"No. Just following our serial required 5 flow charts.
Reviewing us could kill a man."

It's time to head back to the thrilling adventures of yesterday year, or even this year.

Why? Because, like with The Horror Of posts, the point of talking about movies, TV, comics, etc, is to share things and talk about things I love and enjoy, not tear things down for fun. There's is so much out there that we can all enjoy, and some things that are under appreciated, or, even in the Internet Age Resurgence of Super Heroes, unknown to many.

So let's enjoy the bounty.

And to start us off, let's start a trek through the DC Comics Extended Cinematic Universe, and whatever acronym you use for it.

Yes, we will be heading back to 2013 with Man of Steel.

We'll move through the current slate of DC movies until we reach Wonder Woman, and then we'll have that review some time in the weeks to come, after I can see the film a few times and mull on it.

Wonder Woman Fun: Wonder Cookies!

As with all superhero movies these days, you can find a variety of companies and products to tie in. Toys are nice. Underwear and insurance are weird. But cookies...they may be the best.

Out for now in a store, hopefully, near you. Wonder Woman cookies. Wonder Cookies!

It's a fun box, that sets the stage for kids, or adults, to make some simple sugar cookies and have a Wonder Woman party...which is why I'll probably end up stocking up on some of these for when the movie is released for home viewing. (Though I suppose I could put some in a bag and sneak them into the film...)

From pre-prepped frozen rounds...

To warm cookie. (I found I need a full 15 minutes to get the cookies fully cooked and slightly brown on the edges and bottom.) The cookies are not big, they expand some from their initial look, but always remember, these are made for kids first.

After 15 minutes, you will find yourself with a tray, and some a plate, of yummy Wonder Cookies. (But remember, wait a minute or two before touching them after them come out of the oven. These cookies are fragile until they get a cool down minute.

So get out and try some, if it fits your tastes and dietary needs. Maybe even have them with a certain ice cream stores Wonder Woman themed ice cream?

And so are cookies.

And what else does this box promise?

Oh, I will be looking. I will.

The Horror Of...April Fool's Day (1986), No Joke.

Time to return to reviewing. And what horror awaits us tonight? On a night of fools? What else can we have but a pleasant end to out April Fool's Day. And why not do that with an actually April Fool's experience. A fun murderous night of fools.

April Fool's Day

The Horror Of....Grabbers (2012)

Here we are again, a St Patrick's Day...weekend. And you have to wonder what there is to watch that aligns quite well with the holiday and might give you a scare. And steering away from learning about the horrors in Irish history, I might say The Lair of the White Worm. It's about besting some snakes, and gives you some Hugh Grant and Peter Capaldi. But I've already looked at that lovely film.

So I could move on to the Leprechaun movies. But they are a bit on the nose, and I'd rather to start on them another day.

So why not dive into some Irish horror? And why not start with something relatively recent?

Grabbers!

Get yourself registered to vote. 2016.

The election is almost here. Just over a month from today is election day, November 8th, unless you live in a state that will allow you to early vote. (Do you?)

So that means many registration deadlines are looming. Some sooner than others. Let's review in case you need to start planning for a trip to your county courthouse, or administrative facility.

More information about voting at Voters 411. See the deadlines, ballot info, poll locations, etc. You can also use Ballotpedia, the page I linked here will allow to see a sample ballot for your district.

The Horror Of...Halloween Night, Warlock (1989)

It's getting dark earlier, and it makes October nights all the more lovely for getting down to horrible fun in front of your favorite screen. And among the 80's Must See's, Warlock should make the list.

It's a fun and odd little film. It's a mix of horror, fantasy, and time travel. In some ways it's almost The Terminator in reverse.

The Flash Review Season 2

As we ready to see what comes in the 3rd season of The Flash, let's look back at Season 2.

It was a hectic season that started off with Barry Allen, Flash, dealing with the repercussions of the first season. The effort to stop the Reverse Flash from escaping to cause more harm resulted in the deaths of Eddie Thawne and the Reverse Flash. A large tear in space/time opened up over Central City, and the Flash and Firestorm went in to try and close it before reality was destroyed.

In the wake of closing it we learn that Firestorm died in the effort. Ronnie Raymond, half of Firestorm disappeared into the gash in reality, and he is gone. The other half, Dr. Stein, is left without the ability to access their powers.
 

The Flash struggled with guilt over this, pushing everyone away. He was given control of STAR Labs, so he could use it's resources. But he still lacked the support he needed to embrace.

Once he brought his team back together (with Cisco - taking the codename Vibe, Caitlin, Joe, and Iris) he was hit by a new threat. The rip in reality was still around, and 52 distinct holes existed around the city. And through those holes dangerous metahumans were coming. And they were all targeting the Flash.

The Horror Of...Star Trek: Infestation - Taking A Bite Out Of Trek

This is a bit of a switch for me. I had intended to include other media in the annals of The Horror Of..., but it's taken awhile. So, finally, horror of the four color fright variety!

So much has been done over the decades from crypts, Dracula's reign, to the dread of the comic code, to the resurgence of gory fun. Where is the best and most obvious place to start?

Star Trek, obvious! It is the 50th anniversary. And Trek has had it's horror moments.

The horror.

Ah.

The horror!

Oh!

The horror!!

Eek!

The HORROR!!!

...

...Wait? That is horror? The hell?!

I should be reviewing that. That looks awesome! Shatner versus Dracula. Why is that not this review? And why hasn't Linkara already reviewed this?! (What the hell, man.)


I'm feeling a little dispirited suddenly.

But wait! I must have something fun to review. Something fun and horrible. A mix of Trekness with the Macabre.

Oh what terror we have.

Star Trek: Infestation. Shatner versus Zombies.

"Ugh! Ha ha, 'He's dead, Jim.' I swear if  Bones says that
one more time..."

Fantastic Beast and How To Get Ready For The Movie

This year we are getting the next in the line of Harry Potter Universe films. Fantastic Beast & Where To Find Them. It takes place early in the 20th century, and focuses on events in the United States.

So we have a new era, setting, and magical community to look forward to this Fall. But we don't have to go into this film blind, unless you want to..

J.K. Rowling released a brief history of the magical community of North America a little while back. It introduces the point where the community began to be formalized, how it functions in a non-magical land, and the threats that have emerged.

No-Majs, Ilvermorny, MACUSA, Pukwudgies, Scourers. Rappaport's Law.

Jules: Adopting a dog's life.

Ah, a post 10 months in coming.

It's been around 10 months since I visited the local Humane Society, looking at dogs in need of homes, when I finally found that one. The one you make eye contact with and know you need to go home together.

"You're narrating my life again, aren't you?"