The Horror of...The Abominable Snowman

Welcome to you, from here in the blaring cold. And as I make my way through it all I can think about is...how freaking cold it is. Damn! It's cold. Horrifically cold.

So let's pull something from the annals of chilly horror. Figures in the dark and cold world, isolated and alone. Forces around them that could spell their doom. No, it's not something from the more recent reign of horror. So no Steve Niles tonight. (That's for another night.) Rather, we will go back fifty some years.

It's off to the Himalayas. Cold peaks, and myths of towering beast that can't be believed to be real. No, you mustn't believe. And it's also a brush with horror royalty. Peter Cushing. It's taken too long to get to him, but know we can enjoy the man.

So hire a sherpa. Get your toque on. and grab your pack. We're heading out in search of

The Abominable Snowman

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 11 - The Vessel - "Katrina darns socks in Hell!"

Welcome back to Sleepy Hollow. We are almost to the end of the season! Yeah. They have a 12ish episode (Is the last one a two parter, or two hours?) season for Sleepy Hollow. And I approve. I would rather have each episode of a season more focused on their prophesied quest and the mystery of what threats are coming for them. We don't need a fat on this show.

It's lean cheesy horror fun.

So let's look at the penultimate episode of season 1.

And what we get this time around, it's time for an exorcism.

"The Vessel"

Friday the 13th on Almost Monday the 13th - Episode 4 - A Cup of Time

Well, it's not Friday the 13th, but it is around the 13th of the month...That sounds good enough, right?

So let's delve back into to that series that is oh so late 80's, Friday the 13th: The Series.

Now up to this point we've covered the 1st two episodes of the series. And I would move on to the 3rd now. But, that one seems such a better fit for next month that I want to jump to the 4th episode of the series for now. Next month we'll face the Cupid Statue. This month...

"A Cup of Time".

Sleepy Hollow Review - Episode 10 - Golem - "You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

Ah, here we are. Back in Sleepy Hollow. And, what do you know? The show has come back on tonight! So, I at least am keeping up my pattern of putting these reviews out just as a new episode comes on.

"Congratulations! It's a plot point."

But it is nice to remember where we've been after weeks away from a show. And when we left off before the 10th episode, Ichabod had learned that he was a father. Very "was". The kid was born in the 18th century. But the episode left me unsure how we would find Ichabod, going into the 10th episode of the season. He had gone a bit Evil Dead on the evil creature.

So what will Ichabod be like now? Will he go alpha male on us? Will he go angsty and angry? Will he join Fathers For Justice?

"I am a man! What?! I am a man! What?! ..."

The episode opens with him an ax again, cutting wood. It's not a good sign. Guys on TV shows cutting wood has often been a way to represent virility or machismo. Not a good sign.

Luckily, when Abbie arrives he stops, and slips back into normal mode. He was cutting wood to bide his time. He has a son he never knew. He lived centuries away. And he has no knowledge about who he was, or how he lived. It's frustrating, and Ichabod did some work to just wait, until he could get answers.

"Christmas logs. You just have to carry it until Christmas
Day, What? It's a revered modern tradition."

Abbie does her best to engage him. And her way with Ichabod is to wrangle him. With Christmas approaching, she brings up modern traditions, which always provokes Ichabod. But it has become their way of bickering in a friendly manner.

(Also, it's Christmas. Thanksgiving episode. Christmas based episode. Is tonight's based around New Years? I feel like I'm playing the Calendar Man side mission in Arkham City.)

They are interrupted when a taxi arrives. Abbie knows nothing about it, but it is just what Ichabod has been waiting for. The Sin Eater.

Yes, oh yes.

The Sin Eater returns to the show for the first time since..."The Sin Eater". It's nice to see a character return. Plenty have come through that I'd like to see more of. And the Sin Eater, or Henry Parrish,

In this episode we are given more of a chance to appreciate the eccentricities that John Noble brings to the role. He's so fun, understated, and glum that I just want them to spin him off to his own show. Just have him go around sniffing out sin and righting wrong. Then he'll exit and go back to being depressed and moody.

Ichabod asks the Sin Eater to use his powers to help him access Purgatory.

But Parrish is unsure. He doesn't use his power in that manner. He fights sins and then leaves.

But Ichabod is determined. He needs him to act, so he can get answers to the fate of his son.

And Parrish relents. But he warns Ichabod. There will be repercussions.

The Horror Of...New Years, Hogfather Part 4 *UPDATED*

Now we get to Part 4...What?!

I must  be getting sick of this movie by now. ...Nope. Still love it. Love Pratchett's work. Love Discworld. Love the characters. And I always love the way this story, and others, look at our society.

Terry Pratchett's work and world is breathtaking to me. He takes fantasy tropes and makes them his own. Where else would you find a wizard and the first tourist riding on the back of a dragon that shouldn't exist, then find themselves as businessmen flying on an transatlantic flight, and then back to being a wizard and a tourist? No one else thinks like that.

And this movie does a wonderful job of maintaining so much of Pratchett's humor, logic, thoughts, and magic. So things had to go, and I miss them. But the choices do not fail the end result. Nearly 3 hours (it was originally shown over multiple nights on Sky TV in the United Kingdom) of good entertainment. A Death that you grow to love. Peril to fantasy beings you start caring about. And Susan kicking ass.


But now let's return to the story.

Still, first, here are the other parts of our blogging saga: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

The Horror Of...New Year's Night, Hogfather Part 3

I guess I'm stretching this holiday out a bit into a second day. Well, a new year needs more than a single day to be gotten used to. New years are a lot like new shoes, except it's pronouncedly harder to return years for a different color.

But things have gotten serious in this matter of the Hogfather (Hence a more serious hat today.). As we saw last night, Death has had to literally step into the Hogfather's boots.


But what Death can do is limited. He can try and spur belief by making the Hogfather's rounds. But even then, Teatime is at work with magic to quash what belief there is in him.

Someone else is needed. The Wild Card.


At the start of Hogswatchnight the governess, Susan Sto Helit is at work, putting her two charges to bed. She is reading to them, and giving them an object lesson.


Susan is played by Michelle Dockery. She is better known these days for being in Downton Abbey. She was also in Hollow Crown and Hanna. This was one of her first roles outside of theater. Her Susan is young, but world weary. She's also conflicted. She wants to be normal. She isn't. She's anything but that. But she's striving to fit in with the real world.

The Horror Of...New Year's Night, Hogfather Part 2

Well, what do you know? The sun did rise today. Should have bet on it.

At least the new day and year means we can continue looking at Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. As far as the Discworld goes, it isn't clear yet if it will see another sun rise. Not without a Hogfather.

And the question of him will be a great concern to our next player on the stage. Death.

Death enters the picture...with the first death of the story, of course. The fellow knows when to make an entrance. But he shows only when it's his time.