Blog Archives
Graphic Horror: The Monster of Frankenstein
The Monster of Frankenstein aka Kyōfu Densetsu Kaiki! Frankenstein 1981
Another day, another obscure Marvel anime released by Toei in the early 80’s. This was produced just one year after their Tomb of Dracula adaptation, this time they adapted yet another Marvel adaptation of a classic horror icon with Frankenstein. There were a couple things that I noticed very early on when comparing the two films, first is that many of the American dub voice actors would later go on to lend their voices to the iconic original dub of Akira. And second, that this was a much better film overall than Dracula. It’s still a long ways away from being a good movie, but it’s not the hilariously bad mess that Dracula was. This was a very serious and somber look at the tale of Frankenstein with a combination of some unique ideas as well as some of the standard ones. For the most part, I did enjoy it even if I knew how it was going to end up.
Filmwhys #51 The Silence of the Lambs and the Death of the Incredible Hulk
Filmwhys has returned! The intended 1 month-ish hiatus stretched out into 3 months, but we are back and episodes will be coming on a regular basis. In fact, two more episodes have already been recorded and will be posting every other week. No Filmwhys Extras for now, though they may return sporadically in the future. But for now, episode 51 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is David Babbitt from 24 Panels per Second who asks me why I haven’t seen the Silence of the Lambs, one of the few horror films that have won an Academy Award for Best Picture and introduced the world to Anthony Hopkins’ version of Hannibal Lecter. And in return I ask him why he hadn’t seen the Death of the Incredible Hulk, the last of the TV movies from the TV show with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno.
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Graphic Horror Blogathon Wrap-Up
March is ending today and with it another year of my Graphic Horror Blogathon. I’d like to thank everyone who participated this year while I myself had some ups and downs. There were some great films selected this time around and I hope it grows to include some more next year and that this will grow as a blogathon and hopefully get more interest in films that don’t actually have any connection to a pre-existing graphic novel or comic book. Make sure you take the time and visit some of the other sites that joined in this year, they are all great and I thank them very much!
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Graphic Horror: Road to Perdition
Road to Perdition 2002
It’s time to finish off my participation in the Graphic Horror Blogathon with a bang by covering one of only a small handful of actually well received and well known comic book adaptations that I have yet to cover here on this site. And while it isn’t exactly a horror film, Road to Perdition does have enough thriller elements and more than enough striking visuals that I’m glad to share it as part of this project. It’s the story of a mob hitman on the run while simultaneously out for revenge, but more than that it’s about the relationship between a father and son and how they end up connecting with each other though these trying circumstances. Not only that, but this is one of the most acclaimed and star-studded comic book movies out there starring Tom Hanks, Paul Newman, Jude Law, and an early role from the man who would be James Bond Daniel Craig. It’s an amazing film, and if you haven’t seen it before, definitely seek it out before reading this, as I will be delving into this film in its entirety spoilers and all.
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Graphic Horror: Dr. Giggles
Dr. Giggles 1992
It’s tough for me to decide which of the two recent films I watched are better: Virus or Dr. Giggles. I think I would give the edge to Virus, only slightly due to some of the innovative special effects. Dr. Giggles is very much just a standard psychopath killer horror movie overloaded with as many doctor puns as they could fit in. The most entertaining part of the film was picking out actors that I recognized from their later work, like Larry Drake who went on to play Durant in Darkman, Holly Marie Combs who played the sister no one remembers from Charmed, Doug E. Doug from Cool Runnings, and Glenn Quinn from Angel. It’s filled with plenty of horror tropes, some weird doctor-like contraptions, and not really much else in the way of plot or scares. It was produced in part by Dark Horse Entertainment and also had a tie-in two part comic book that came out right around the same time as the film.
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Graphic Horror: Virus
Virus 1999
Moving my way down in quality for this year’s Graphic Horror before hitting the planned high point at the end comes this lovely gem that came out the same year as the Matrix but with a wholly different interpretation of special effects. It actually started its life as a movie script, but was considered to be too special effects intensive at the time and so it was first made into a comic book from Dark Horse. John Bruno was cutting his teeth working on special effects under James Cameron before getting this film as a director, and unfortunately it really shows that he was more of a special effects guy than a full director. There are many issues with this film, but the special effects work really is not one of them. While there are a couple name actors with Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland, they are definitely not bringing their A games. It’s a horror film with a small cast that doesn’t know whether it wants to be a slow burn thriller, a gore fest, or a survival action film, and the blending of these genres do not work very well at all. It has some fun moments here and there, but for the most part, it’s a rather boring slog-fest.
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Filmwhys #49 An American Werewolf in London and Punisher: War Zone
Episode #49 of the Why Haven’t You Seen This Film Podcast where my guest is Dean from The Science Fiction Film Podcast as well as a couple other podcasts who asks me why I haven’t seen An American Werewolf in London, a classic horror film and one of the best werewolf movies ever made filled with still some of the most impressive practical effects which created a new category in the Academy Awards. And in return, I ask him why he hasn’t seen Punisher: War Zone, one of the many attempts at bringing the Punisher to film, one of the only superhero films to be directed by a woman, and filled with ridiculous to the point of being comedic ultra-violence, even though it’s unfortunately not all that great in the end.
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Graphic Horror 2015 Week 1
Here’s a roundup of the Graphic Horror posts from this first week. In case you missed it, this March I’m hosting a blogathon taking a look at horror and thriller films that have been adapted from comics & graphic novels (or should be adapted into a comic book). If you missed last year’s blogathon, you can check it out here. There’s still plenty of time to join in, the blogathon is running all March long. This week we had a few people join in, and I myself took a look at one such film so check out this week’s participants right below.
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Graphic Horror: Whiteout
Whiteout 2009
Kicking off this month in Graphic Horror is a film that I hadn’t really heard about before making my superhero and comic book movie list. It came out in 2009 and starred Kate Beckinsale playing a US Marshall in Antarctica. The movie isn’t so much a horror movie, but it’s definitely a thriller. There’s a murder plot, paranoia, and lots and lots of snow. The mystery unfolds in a generally satisfying, but ultimately predictable way, and the film stretches the incredulity of life in Antarctica on the verge of winter. It’s not anywhere near a bad movie, but it’s definitely a forgettable one which makes me realize that it’s not that surprising that I had never heard of it before now.
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Graphic Horror Blogathon March 2015
It’s that time of year once again. I started this last year and I plan on continuing it again this year. Most bloggers take the month of October as the time to focus on horror movies since it’s near Halloween, but I thought that March is a good month to take a look at horror movies as well, to help spread the love of horror outside of the fall months. And besides, March is still the early part of the year which is generally the cinematic dumping grounds with a lot of poor movies in theaters. I’d love to make this a big event, and this year I’m keeping things a bit more simple so I’d love it if you would join me!
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Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights 