Vintage Comics - Black Magic, Issue #2: I've Seen You Before, Yesterday You Died (Pg. 27 - End)

This first story in the final portion of this Black Magic issue reminds me of a Hammer Mummy movie, with its tendency to give innocent characters the darker fates that they don't quite deserve. It's fantastic, actually. One of my favorites I've shared so far. The second is oddly reminiscent of an old radio show I can't quite recall the name of, with the singular reminder that one can never truly escape or prevent their fates (or the grisly future of another.)

Vintage Comics: Nightmare, Issue #3: The Werewolf of Washington Square, Cup of Moonglow (Cover - Pg. 13)

Whew! Almost mid-October (happy Friday the 13th, and I hope you're enjoying a bit of Jason slaughter today!) The posts are warming up, and so is my grad school homework. Still, I've found time to upload yet another vintage comic. This one is in far worse shape than the others I've managed to scrounge up, but the art is - - well, how should I put it? Cartoonier? A little more offbeat? Somehow, at the same time, certain elements of these stories are also pretty detailed towards realism. In fact, the werewolf face is remarkably similar to Dr. Hyde in the '31 film. 21 years after the fact, I can't help but wonder if the artist sourced a lobby card or old poster, perhaps?

Following on the tail-end of the glory days (pre-code horror comics), I sort of appreciate the pulp-ish inspiration they clearly drew from on the cover art. It's also a victim of radio-style dialog, per usual for the earlier stuff, but there's a certain charm to that too. The first story is...well...I mean it's a basic werewolf plot. Incredbly basic. Bare bones down to the character name (Eric Lupin.) The second story proves yet another age-old fact. You can't trust men. You can't trust women. You definitely can't trust gigantic Amazonian witch snakes.

Horror Flick of the Week: Train to Busan (2016)

I'm going to preface this with a quick 'I didn't actually want to see this movie in the first place, I'm tired of zombies, they've never even been at the top of my list for monsters in general.' But...damn it...this one was awesome. It touched on every little point you need in a good horror adventure. I thought I was honestly about to watch Snowpiercer 'with zombies!'

This was one of the few times I was glad to be proven wrong. Not to mention, my favorite South Korean actor (Gong Yoo) gets a pretty juicy role in it, too.  I really don't want to go into much detail, because it's just a movie you need to watch star to end on your own, but let's just say if this movie was a video game, I'd probably play it until the disc melted.

Horror Flick of the Week: The Fly 2 (1989)

Maybe it's because the movie came out the year I was born, maybe it's because I think Eric Stoltz was incredibly cute in this movie. Whatever the reason, I actually prefer this sequel to the remake than the first part.

This is a very good late-night movie, as most of my favorites tend to be. When you're hardly awake, and your body gives you the option of immediately falling asleep when your head hits the pillow, or to just chill out in front of the tv flipping through the weird stations you don't bother with during the day. I saw this when I was 12, which was actually the most active late-night movie year in my life.

The combination of atmosphere, setting, and the sheer isolation the protagonist faces dealing with his 'affliction'...it's just the perfect formula for a fun horror film. Not to mention it came out right at the peak of incredibly horror SFX before the decline in the mid-90s as the people were discovering they much preferred really bad CGI to the look of actual visceral horror. Can you tell I'm bitter? Yes, I'm bitter.

There is something in the film too, which I think a lot of horror directors today have forgotten about, and even most non-horror directors. I actually felt for the characters, sympathy. There's of course room for the anti-hero in a well-written screenplay, but I don't think it is ever nearly as powerful as caring about what happens to him/her when you're watching a movie. It makes the next terrible moment actually terrible, and in The Fly 2, there are so many little (and a couple of major) moments that legitimately make me sad every time I watch this, and enhance the power of the more gruesome moments.

With that in mind, if you are an animal lover, the kind who can not handle bad things happening to sweet little pets...maybe you should stay away from this movie.