I wanted to believe that a film could come along and single-handedly revitalize the exorcism film genre.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Review: The Last Exorcism (2010)
I wanted to believe that a film could come along and single-handedly revitalize the exorcism film genre.
Monday, August 30, 2010
A Life of Horror and Wonder
213 years ago, at twenty minutes past 11 on the night of 30 August, 1797, a baby girl was born to a pair of intellectuals residing in Somers Town, London, England. She was named Mary, after her mother.
In less than two weeks, the mother was dead.
Little Mary grew up surrounded by the intellectual and literary figures who made up her father's social circle. Except for difficulty in getting along with the woman her father married when she was four, Mary grew up fairly happy, close to her half-sister Frances and stepsister Clara (better known as Fanny and Claire).
And then, when Mary was a teenager, she met and fell in love with a radical poet, a young man from the landed gentry. His name was Percy, and when he and Mary fell in love, he was already married. To escape his wife and the scrutiny of society, the young couple ran off to the Continent, taking Claire with them.
Things only went downhill from there.
In less than two weeks, the mother was dead.
Little Mary grew up surrounded by the intellectual and literary figures who made up her father's social circle. Except for difficulty in getting along with the woman her father married when she was four, Mary grew up fairly happy, close to her half-sister Frances and stepsister Clara (better known as Fanny and Claire).
And then, when Mary was a teenager, she met and fell in love with a radical poet, a young man from the landed gentry. His name was Percy, and when he and Mary fell in love, he was already married. To escape his wife and the scrutiny of society, the young couple ran off to the Continent, taking Claire with them.
Things only went downhill from there.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Hungry Like the Wahrwilf Wuhrwulf Werewolf
(A companion piece to my earlier article on vampires...)
It is no surprise that, when humanity began to romanticize the vampire, the werewolf would also be enthusiastically reimagined and reinvented.
Where once the two sorts of creature were on something of an equal footing, being night-walking terrors that one wouldn't want to tangle with, they are now rather like opposite sides of the same coin flipped in the dark of a moonlit night. The vampire is now most often seen as the slick, sophisticated monster, a gentleman (or woman) out for blood, seducing their victims along the way. The werewolf, on the other hand, is ever the animal, a person transformed, whether through chance, fate, or will, into a ravening beast.
It is no surprise that, when humanity began to romanticize the vampire, the werewolf would also be enthusiastically reimagined and reinvented.
Where once the two sorts of creature were on something of an equal footing, being night-walking terrors that one wouldn't want to tangle with, they are now rather like opposite sides of the same coin flipped in the dark of a moonlit night. The vampire is now most often seen as the slick, sophisticated monster, a gentleman (or woman) out for blood, seducing their victims along the way. The werewolf, on the other hand, is ever the animal, a person transformed, whether through chance, fate, or will, into a ravening beast.
Why Vampires are OHMIGOD SOOO Romantic.
(This post started life as a set of comments on the blog of a friend who just doesn't understand why people so romanticize a bunch of walking corpses. It was really an attempt to explain why they are romanticized when, face it...they're just dead people who drink blood. It was first fully posted in this final form on my entertainment and pop culture blog, Exhaust Pipe Potatoes and it seemed a fitting starter for this blog...)
Vampires have long been romanticized. However, if one reads up on some of the more ancient, classic vampire legends, particularly those from Eastern Europe, it quickly becomes clear that a vampire isn't a beautiful, romantic creature; it's a freaking WALKING CORPSE! As one scholar put it, originally, being bitten by a vampire was about as romantic as being bitten by your dead Uncle Boris.
The concept of the vampire as more than just a walking corpse came about because, as well as being immortal, they were well-nigh invulnerable (fire was bad...and decapitation...but most other stuff was just a scratch. Oh, and staking wasn't originally to kill them...it was to pin them down so you COULD kill them...so you had to drive the stake ALL THE WAY THROUGH.) Invulnerability=you don't rot=you are eternally young/the way you were, which is a very attractive prospect to some.
Vampires have long been romanticized. However, if one reads up on some of the more ancient, classic vampire legends, particularly those from Eastern Europe, it quickly becomes clear that a vampire isn't a beautiful, romantic creature; it's a freaking WALKING CORPSE! As one scholar put it, originally, being bitten by a vampire was about as romantic as being bitten by your dead Uncle Boris.
The concept of the vampire as more than just a walking corpse came about because, as well as being immortal, they were well-nigh invulnerable (fire was bad...and decapitation...but most other stuff was just a scratch. Oh, and staking wasn't originally to kill them...it was to pin them down so you COULD kill them...so you had to drive the stake ALL THE WAY THROUGH.) Invulnerability=you don't rot=you are eternally young/the way you were, which is a very attractive prospect to some.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Not your typical horror blog...
See the title of the blog entire? It's very true: All the World's a Horror Show. Horror is much more than filmed slashers and monster books...horror is around us in our lives every day through the deeds of murderers and ordinary people who wig out a bit. Even worse, horror is in nature in the form of everything from deadly germs to predatory creatures from the deep. We're talking man (and presumably woman)-eating squid here, people! So, this blog won't just be horror film and book reviews or the similar stuff you'll see on a lot of horror blogs. Oh, you'll see plenty of that, but you'll also see a lot of news on the horrific in everyday existence. This blog is for anyone who's interested in horror, but it's bound to particularly strike a chord with those who enjoy the notion of living in a world where every shadow shelters a demon...
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