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David Soul, 80.

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Actor David Soul passed away at 80. Soul had a couple of notable turns in the fantastic movie genre. Soul had the lead in one of my favorite, depressing movies, “World War III” (1982). The only bleaker end to a movie can probably be found in “The Thing” (1982). Hmmm. Both released in 1982. Obviously, a very good year! I think I posted about “WW3”, years past. Look it up and catch the flick.

The clip included below is from the TV mini-series of Stephen King’s “‘Salem’s Lot” (1979). Soul gives a credible performance as a writer who stumbles upon a cursed house and some of the very unpleasant characters which inhabit it. Soul soon finds himself swapping his profession from scribe to vampire killer. Probably not a preferred career choice. Pretty harrowing final scene in this one, too.

So long, David.

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“The Cosmic Monsters” (1957) – The Earth Dies Mumbling?

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I was intrigued with finally seeing this film as it starred Forrest Tucker, who made a few of my favorite 1950’s science fiction films namely “Abominable Snowman of the Himalayas” and “The Crawling Eye”. “Monsters” is my least favorite entry.

I found it very difficult to follow the action for a couple of reasons:

  1. There isn’t any!
  2. The actors all seem to mumble through their dialogue so you don’t know what the heck is going on!

What I can glean from this snoozer is that scientists are conducting experiments concerning magnetism and cosmic rays and seem to have F’ed up and ripped a hole between our dimension and an unseen parallel dimension thus allowing an unwelcome invisible intruder to enter our space and enact nefarious deeds on unsuspecting inhabitants of Earth. This includes the wildlife in the countryside outside the lab which grow to tremendous size and want to quench their thirst with Earthlings who stumble upon them.

There is also an angle where a benevolent alien who appears in human form and speaks perfect English arrives in a spacecraft, allegedly aware of the scientists’ cataclysmic gaffe, and assists on sewing up the torn dimensional fabrics and providing sage advice to the scientists on how best to clean up their mess. Shades of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (1951)!

For a more satisfying dimensional fabric tatter-fest, go check out “The Mist” (2007).

If you do find yourself in a position to watch “The Cosmic Monsters”, be sure to crank up your television volume and see if you can decipher what is going on. Hearing aids are NOT optional.

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“Rose Red” (2002) – “The Shining’s” Little Sister

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I want to like “Rose Red” but it is just not a very scary or suspenseful movie. I don’t really like any of the characters so that impacts my interest toward this two-night Stephen King television movie. It used to be a regular event for network television to buy one of King’s properties and then create a TV movie. Some were good, others not so good. I think this is one lesser quality King works.

A team of ghost hunters head off to a notorious haunted property to see if they can find any evidence of activity. Their search will of course take a disastrous turn for the worse before they are done.

I certainly can’t fault King’s enthusiasm for the haunted house story. Certainly, “The Shining” stands as a monument to that category. It’s just that “Rose Red” seems to lean too heavily on past haunted house themes as can be found in Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House”, and Richard Matheson’s “Hell House”. There are also references to “Ghost Busters” and “The House of Haunted Hill”. Go seek out those works for more engaging and frightening examples of the haunted house tale.

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Building A Better Biological Bug And Then It All Went Wrong – “The Stand” (1994)

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There were news items circling around where the plot from Steven King’s “The Stand” has been compared to the current global pandemic featuring the irrepressible COVID-19. King denied that there were really any similarities. As we progress through this mess, more details emerge as to the origin of the coronavirus. Did it begin in one of the “wet markets” in Wuhan, China, where a varied selection of animals are sold for consumption? It has also been mentioned that there are a couple of virology labs close by the wet markets where tests were being made on bats for who knows what reason and that a doctor involved may have been infected and took the virus and spread it amongst the general public. That theory alone would make it similar in concept to King’s “Stand” beginning. Maybe one day, we will learn about the true origins of our real life virus problems. For now, take an exhilarating trip with “The Stand” miniseries from 1994. This opening clip from the miniseries, directed by Mick Garris, which shows how an influenza strain escapes from a DOD laboratory and infects the world is really good stuff. Equally killer is the usage of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper” as the soundtrack. AWESOME!!!!

haunted places, monster movie

GRAVEYARD SHIFT (1990) – CALL SEVERAL EXTERMINATORS!

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A mildly amusing Saturday afternoon diversion, “Graveyard Shift” was based on a Stephen King short story.  Here it is fleshed out into movie length and a large part of that filling is loaded with oozing, despicable caricatures.  A bunch of people you could care less about are tasked with cleaning up the lower level area of a mill located somewhere on the east coast.  Maybe the extraction of all the crap which has accumulated down there over the years will alleviate some of the rat problem that infests the place.  What is not known is that the mother of all rodents resides in the shadowy depths and it is ALWAYS hungry for human flesh.  Not the worst way to waste 90 minutes but stay tuned for some heavy gore scenes between the warring factions of vermin, human and rat.  The King story is quite different in that it involves one man trapped in a collapsing underground labyrinth with a gigantic rodent in hot pursuit.  Yuck!

Check out this link below which recounts graveyard shift workers’ sometimes scary working conditions.  A few good chills will be had:

https://www.ranker.com/list/creepy-night-shift-stories/rosa-pasquarella

Horror, horror movie, monster movie, mysterious places, science fiction films, suspense, unexplained phenomena

THE MIST (2007) – PHANTASMAGORICAL BUMMER

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Watching “The Mist” again recently got me to thinking about the original source material, Stephen King’s novella, and the faint memories I had of reading it.  I watched the movie and then reread the story.  The movie is very faithful to the story.  But then there is that ending of the movie….

Once of the single most downer conclusions in popular culture storytelling, I would have to say.  Granted, the scenario is imagined in the story but not actually executed.  That grim prospect is dutifully carried out in the movie.  Oh, it is an awful choice to go down that path.  I suppose there is some solace for the rest of the town’s or country’s inhabitants by concluding it this way but there is also a great devastation for a few characters.

Anyway, the story concerns an unexplainable fog or mist descending on a Maine town and the unseen, monstrous “things” which hide in the white cover and attack the unwary.  A definite sense of dread hangs over this story and the hard choices which have to be made in order to survive the shadowy beasts and the crumbling humanity which results from the dire circumstances the characters find themselves in.  There truly is no easy way out of the situation.  Or answers.

I advise you to take the time to read King’s story and to also watch the movie.  Decide for yourself if one is preferable over the other.  I choose King’s written work.  Because the movie just kicks me in the balls.

ghost story, haunted places, horror movie, mysterious places, paranormal

THE SHINING – 1980 – TRAILER

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Stanley Kubrick’s visually stunning interpretation of Stephen King’s novel.  I guess the two follow different plot trajectories.  I never sat through the entire King tome.  A cursed family moves into a rambling hotel to act as its caretakers during the winter.  Seems the Overlook Hotel has some dark secrets of its own that start to manifest during the family’s stay.  Expect a LOT of unsettling, frightening moments.   The movie takes on the tone of a nightmare.  Events, circumstances keep building up and piling on the dread factor.  Famous Nicholson over the top performance.  Amazing use of Stedicam during filming to move things along nicely.

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CREEPSHOW – “SOMETHING TO TIDE YOU OVER” SEGMENT

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My favorite episode from the cinematic horror comic, “Creepshow”.  This movie captured the flavor of horror comics infamously represented by the line put out by EC Comics in the 1940’s and 1950’s.  There are flourishes of garish, saturated colors which permeate several chapters of this episodic anthology and some transitions from live action to cartoon graphics.  Genre heavyweights George Romero of “Night of the Living Dead” fame and writer Stephen King lent their talents to the weird goings on here.  This clip details a murderous act of revenge enacted by a jealous husband upon his unfaithful wife and her lover.  The tide turns on the husband as the recently deceased refuse to stay settled in their watery grave and reappear in a rather grotesque, bloated state to return the favor.  Nice acting turns by Leslie Nielsen and Ted Danson.  Nielsen losing his mind when confronted with the undead is rather affecting.