The Glorious Revolution: A Niche Call to Action

Do you often wake in a cold sweat, wishing you had something to read that would make you wake up in cold sweats? Jonesing for Horror fiction?

If you’re a fan of any kind of genre literature you know that literary periodicals have always been the proving ground for the world’s most popular and influential genre authors. Conan Doyle and The Strand, Lovecraft in Weird Tales, Chandler in Black Mask, even as recently as Stephen King and Jack Ketchum to the men’s magazines that supported them early in their careers.

What’s that, you don’t read any of these? Oh, that’s because the literary press is all but non-existent these days.

People don’t read much anymore. It’s depressing, but it’s true. But…

This isn’t a post about the end of the written word, oh no! This is not some whiny internet diatribe about how ignorant people are, oh no! This is a sermon of Hope! Behold brothers and sisters, the revolution is here!.

Horror lit periodicals still exist. You just have to squint to see them. Due to my own bias here I will suggest you, the faithful reader, to investigate two new magazines.

An up and comer that you should really grab a subscription to is Macabre Cadaver. This magazine just made the jump from online to print and is run by some people who really love and understand the genre. You can either grab an online only subscription (dirt cheap) or you can be a man and order a print issue.

Another is Shroud. Tim Deal’s small press is fast becoming the one of best in the industry. Only a little over a year old and they’ve already racked up a Bram Stoker Nomination (kinda the Oscars of horror fiction) for Best Anthology. This magazine is great, and it will soon be available at Barnes & Nobles across the country. But that doesn’t mean you should wait for that.

This is the point in the sermon where I pass the dish around. Go to these website and buy a book or a magazine. For Shroud I suggest you get the special “volume one” offer under the “Magazines” tab: for one low price you get the first six issues of the mag and catch up on what you’ve been missing.

Don’t cry “economic crisis” you have enough free time and money to be reading irrelevant blogs on some guy’s movie watching habits.

The fun doesn’t end here, oh no, there are a ton of other small press magazines you should check out such as Necrotic Tissue , Cemetery Dance , and Nossa Morte, to name a few.

Oh, one last full discloser thing, I work as a reader at MC and have a story accepted for an upcoming issue of Shroud….so, ya know….buy em.

So Say We All: A brief word about Battlestar Galactica as the post 9/11 masterwork

No show in recent memory has been as extensively picked apart or lauded as Ronald Moore’s “re-imagining” of Battlestar Galactica. The internet is packed with great pieces written about it (one of my favorites is Devin Faraci’s editorial concerning the series finale on Chud). Being cognoscente of this fact I will be brief and my rant will be relatively spoiler free.

To preface my examination I must first own up to my feelings on the series: I think Battlestar Galactica, taken as a whole, is the best series to ever grace basic cable airways. It isn’t just a landmark for science fiction, but for serial story telling in any genre or medium.

For the uninitiated the premise is such: the human race is all but wiped out in the first few minutes of the Mini-series. They are attacked by the Cylons: robots (that now have evolved to look like people) who rise up against humanity. The remnants of humanity are lead across space trying to find Earth (which in this universe is the mythical “13^th Colony”) by the crew of the Battlestar Galactica, the last remaining military ship in the galaxy (think of it as a giant space aircraft carrier).

The events of September 11^th changed the way in which we view every kind of media. Some Films and Television shows have tried to tackle the topic with various degrees of success. But I believe no work has explored, mirrored and commented on this dark period in American history better than Battlestar Galactica. The parallels are endless and deliberate, but they (almost) never feel forced. Tackling such weighty subjects as war, terrorism and military politics through a Science Fiction setting grants the events of the show a certain level of detachment. It is this detachment that I believe allows the show to be enjoyed from both an intellectual and a wholly entertainment standpoint: you can take away from Galactica what you bring to it.

Sounds like Saturday morning cheese right? Dead Wrong.

The show is played entirely straight and contains a heady mix of issues like domestic terrorism, terminal illness, human rights, patriotism, religion, and every conceivable element of politics all framed with alternating tones of dread and hope. The show so excelled in this arena that selected clips were recently screened for members of the United Nations, where the creators were on-hand to discuss the issues the show raises on a weekly basis.

Not limited to political and social commentary but also loaded with first rate special effects, production values, and a stellar ensemble cast ( Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell, both multiple Oscar nominees) make this a must watch for anyone with even a passing interest in good TV. Don’t be scared away by the name or the genre: it’s good and that’s all there is to it.

So Say We All!

Gateway Ghouls: The Personal Importance of Beetlejuice (1988)

Watching Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice on its recently released blu-ray edition I was struck with a conundrum. I’ve seen the movie many times so does it technically qualify for a journal entry? In the future I may not bother writing up films I re-watch. But in this case I have something to say.

Released the year of my birth and working its way into my VHS collection at a very young age Beetlejuice holds a soft spot in my heart. In the early nineties Beetlejuice was part of the vanguard, five or six video tapes in my collection (scooped up mostly from yard sales or as hand-me-downs, tapes were expensive) that shaped me into the hardcore horror and monster fan I am today. Beetlejuice, Jaws, Aliens, The Monster Squad and others proved far more appealing to me than anything on Nickelodeon. Not one to give in easily to nostalgia I faced this recent screening with trepidation: will it be as special as it was to me all those years ago? The answer to that question is rarely yes (i.e. the slight letdown of re-watching The Monster Squad on DVD).

Branching out from the success of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice is the first full length “Burton-esque” Tim Burton film (I say full length as to except Frankenweenie (1984), another staple of my early VHS collection). The man’s trademark macabre and surreal style finds wings in Beetlejuice, and unlike some of his later work (Corpse Bride, Sleepy Hollow) this approach does not feel in the least stilted or cliché (heresy, I know, but I really liked Sweeny Todd so gimme a break I still like the guy).

The story concerns a recently dead couple (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) who enlist the help of a “bio-exorcist”, Beetlejuice (played to the scenery-chewing hilt by Michael Keaton), to get a family of yuppie/hipster city slickers out of their home. The film spawned a cartoon spin-off and mounds of toys, all of which owned by an 8 year old me.

The performances are all top notch and the special effects (a mixture of fantastic stop-motion animation, makeup prosthetics, and some not-so-great green-screen) are practical movie magic at its best. It also features one of Danny Elfman’s finest scores.

One of the many great things about the film is even though it is steeped in death it never feels like it “fits in” with its Hot-Topic-accessorized whiny and ponderous progeny. In fact, the film goes to lengths to poke a little fun at the “goth” subset. In one scene Lydia (Winona Ryder, looking a lot like the lead singer of The Cure) starts writing a cliché-ridden suicide letter, constantly revising it with evermore sophomorically incendiary vocabulary. The scene isn’t entirely played for laughs but it’s easy to see the film’s stance on life: being alive may not always be great and being dead is kind of a pain (rule books, limited space, bureaucracy).

It’s not only the Goths that get it but the bourgeois, pretentious pseudo-artists, spiritualists and any group that takes itself too seriously. The film doesn’t beat you over the head with its social commentary and it helps to raise the film above a funny little diversion and into classic territory.

Even though it is low on special features I can’t recommend the blu-ray enough. The transfer is great for the most part and it is backed by a strong surround sound mix. The neon blues and greens of the after life are surprisingly vibrant and the clarity is a hellova lot better than anything I saw as a kid.

The violence is cartoon-ish and the profanity is nearly non-existent making Beetlejuice the perfect way for any parent (even the up tight ones) to introduce there kids to a little horror.

Lost and Found- Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)

For years the only way to get Dario Argento’s “lost” film Four Flies on Grey Velvet was through some very shady bootleg avenues. A couple of years ago I finally broke down and bought a copy from a dealer at a horror convention (anyone who has ever attended one can attest to my use of the word “shady” above). The transfer was so awful I only made it about five minutes, ten bucks down the drain.

Years later-lo and behold- Argento’s lost Giallo is found. For the uninitiated the Italian Giallo subgenre is a prognosticator of the American slasher boom. Black gloved killers, convoluted plots that often defy even the most basic logic: they’re basically horror movies with a heavy mystery element.

As examples of the genres go there are far better films than Four Flies on Grey Velvet; that said it’s not without its charm. The plot is more often than not nonsensical in this type of film but the gist is a musician is blackmailed by a masked killer over his involvement in an accidental death. By the time the movies is over there will be a couple more murders, psyched out slow-motion dream sequences, and a flamboyantly gay private detective thrown in for comic relief.

There are really only two scenes that stand out in this fairly bloodless and mediocre film but boy are they good. The first is a riff on the classic “staircase murder” from Hitchcock’s Psycho, and the second is a beautiful slow-motion car wreck that is utterly spoiled by an insert shot of a rather lame looking severed head. Also in the plus column is an Ennio Morricone score that sounds like a cross between the Get Carter soundtrack and Ringo Starr on meth…hard to believe that can be a good thing, but it is.

For a movie that was thought lost by many the DVD (put out by mya communications) has very good picture quality. Some grain is present but it is certainly far better than the VHS dupes making there way around the convention circuit.

For Argento completists the film is a refreshing look back at a maestro who has lost his way (Mother of Tears anyone? Didn’t think so) while still being a lesser work. For Giallo diehards there are a couple of scenes of note, plus the bonus of an extra-implausible conclusion. For everyone else Four Flies on Grey Velvet offers nothing.

To those curious of the Giallo subgenre I suggest as good starting points Argento’s Deep Red, Lucio Fulci’s A Lizard in A Woman’s Skin or—my personal favorite—Luciano Ercoli’s Death Walks at Midnight.

Not all my entries on films are going to be this long; it’ll probably fluctuate greatly with my mood.

The Legend Begins...

Welcome to the blog...
I got stuff in the pipeline.