Author Archives: Doc

Isle of the Dead (1945)

Posted on by

10 of the October 13

With this year’s October 13, most of the films have been from the last 10-15 years. I wanted to find something older to add to the list, so I went to HBO Max and found a film from 1945 featuring EYG Hall of Famer Boris Karloff called Isle of the Dead.

According to IMDB, “On a Greek island during the 1912 war, several people are trapped by quarantine for the plague. If that isn’t enough worry, one of the people, a superstitious old peasant woman, suspects one young girl of being a vampiric kind of demon called a vorvolaka“

The film was a slow burn for much of the runtime, as the characters stuck on the island began to fall from the plague. However, once the identity of the “vorvolaka” was revealed and she went on her spree in the end of the film, the story picked up rapidly.

Boris Karloff gives a great performance as General Nikolas Pherides. The General was very much suspicious of Thea (Ellen Drew) and the combination of the sickness and his own paranoia led to a madness gripping him. Karloff was definitely the stand out of the actors involved.

The music of the score worked extremely well, creating a sufficient feel for each scene.

The story was simple and the horror did elevate near the third act. With a strong performance from an iconic horror actor, Isle of the Dead ended on a strong note.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel (2018)

Posted on by

9 of the October 13

This is the third Hell House film that I have seen. I have not gone in any specific order. I started with the original Hell House film and then, for the October 13 for 2024, I watched the Hell House LLC: Origins film.

This, the first sequel to the original, has been on my queue on Amazon Prime for quite awhile now.

The film had some moments to it, but it was a step down from the other Hell House films that I have seen. The found footage/documentary format does work well for this series. This film added the “Morning Mysteries” talk show idea to help build the suspense of what was going on.

However, the twist at the end was laughable. There were good moments leading into this, but none of them would be as remembered as this horrific ending twist. It is perhaps one of the worst ending sequences I have seen in a long time.

Even if I had been engaged with the film up until the ending, that would have truly wrecked it. As it is, I was mildly interested in the film prior to this, but it took a major nose dive after that.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #53

Posted on by

#53

The Rookie

This is the second show in the Top 100 to star Nathan Fillion. He was Malcolm Reynolds in Firefly (#72) and now he is John Nolan in The Rookie, a police drama on ABC.

John Nolan is a middle aged man who decided that he wanted to change his life and become a police officer for the LAPD. As a forty + year old, being a rookie is a challenge and John faced everything imaginable.

The Rookie has gone through a lot of different side characters and has developed into more than just Nathan Fillion’s show, but he is still at the center of the show after seven seasons.

Other actors appearing on The Rookie include:  Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Titus Makin Jr., Mercedes Mason, Melissa O’Neil, Eric Winter, Afton Williamson, Mekia Cox, Shawn Ashmore, Jenna Dewan, Tru Valentino, and Lisseth Chavez.

What I like the most about the character of John Nolan is how compassionate he is. He goes out of his way in an attempt to try and aid anyone that is placed in front of him, including the criminals he is dealing with. That kind of reminds me of one of the main reasons why, as a youth, I was attracted to Spider-Man.

The show has also found a huge success in the romance between Lucy Chen and Tim Bradford. Tim started as her training officer, but after she moved past rookie status, the pair became a couple worth rooting for.

The Rookie is scheduled to return for an eighth season. The show does some very creative episodes designed to keep the originality alive.

Sunday Morning Sidewalk #39

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Open Casket”

That insect coming out of the mouth of that little dead kitten…. that was horrifying.

The second episode of The Haunting of Hill House was all about death and the after effects for those who were left behind.

Grief is a powerful emotion and this episode really shows the realistic ways people grieve, all mixed with the strange supernatural goings-on surrounding this family.

With Nellie’s suicide being the backdrop of the storytelling, the episode’s focus was on Shirley and her own problems. Shirley insists on preparing Nellie’s body for the funeral, something that everyone around her feels is a bd idea. We get flashbacks to the Hill House when Shirley discovered a group of deserted kittens and tried to help them. However, the kittens were sick and ended up dying (except for the last one, which was taken away by her parents).

We saw several moments when dealing with death, particularly with the idea of an open casket. I have to say that I, personally, hate open caskets. They kept referring to “fixing” the body, but I have never seen an open casket where the body seemed right.

I thought this episode was strong, but I would be lying if I said that the non-linear storytelling isn’t difficult to follow still. I am still trying to understand who is who during these moments. It felt a little better this week, but I know that I was more into the present storyline than I was with the flashbacks because of that.

When that insect crawled out of that kitten’s mouth…. man, that caught me totally off guard.

The Haunting of Hill House is on Netflix.

Terrifier (2016)

Posted on by

8 of the October 13

I have avoided the Terrifier franchise up until this point. I figured that I could include this in the October 13 this year since I found them available on Peacock. I have always enjoyed a good killer clown.

Of course, I much prefer Pennywise to Art the Clown.

I did like the design of the character of Art the Clown. He looked good. After that though, I was not much of a fan of this movie.

The biggest problem was that none of these characters, including Art, meant anything to me. There was really no story to the film. Sure, most slasher films have a limited amount of story, but there usually is something. This was lacking completely.

The killings were gruesome and had a bit of humor to them. I had to roll my eyes at the hacksaw killing because of how impossible it would be. If you know, you know. It felt as if the gore was the only thing that Terrifier had going for it.

The ending in the morgue made no sense as there had been zero hints prior that Art was anything more than just a kook in a clown mask.

While Terrifier was just 1 hour and 25 minutes long, the sequel expanded to a whopping 2 hours and 25 minutes, which will probably prevent me from watching it any time soon. The first film did not inspire me to want to invest that long into a second taste of Art the Clown.

Gen V S2 E7

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Hell Week”

The penultimate episode for season two of Gen V brought the goods and the answers to a couple of major mysteries of the season.

In particular, we discover who the old man being held by Cipher was… and it was Thomas Godolkin. However, there was more to it than just that. Marie healed the old man, and then we discovered that Godolkin was using Cipher as a puppet. Turned out Cipher was actually some schlub named Doug.

Now, Godolkin is all better and out, ready to wipe out those supes who are not worth the time.

Marie, it seems, has made some poor choices moving forward. Her attempt at “protecting” her friends led her to using her powers against them. As she is becoming more powerful, it feels as if Marie is becoming more of a jerk. Is that just the way all powerful heroes are in this world?

This episode seemed to be quick, but it was impactful, with Cipher taking on Polarity and some of the other heroes.

Everything is set up for one banger of a finale next week, leading into the final season of the Boys.

Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital (2024)

Posted on by

7 of The October 13

For the next film in the October 13 this year, I went to Netflix for a 2024 Philippine found footage film based on a Korean film from 2018 called Gonijam: Haunted Asylum.

According to IMDB, “Reality TV stars face mounting supernatural horrors while filming at haunted Xinglin Hospital in Taiwan. As paranormal activity intensifies, group dynamics crumble and a dark force manipulates their survival choices.“

The idea of a group of online celebrities doing a livestream inside a horrendous haunted asylum and streaming their eventual deaths across the internet does not sound like a situation that is improbable. In fact, I could see something like this taking place in the world of YouTube today.

It seemed as if most of these actors were playing some form of themselves during the film. They all did an exceptional job of creating tension and anxiety through their outright terror and panic to escape the horrors that they were facing.

A few of the deaths were terrible, including the ones that were more quiet, like Zarck, who appears to have caught some kind of deadly virus and he was breaking our in scabs and growths.

While a lot of the dialogue was members of the team just calling out each other’s names (aka “ALEXA!”, “QUEN!” etc.), it built that feeling of confusion and hysteria.

This was a good use of the found footage subgenre and the movie had some interesting comments to make on the online community. The responses to the live stream on the side of the screen were very realistic.

The Devil’s Candy (2015)

Posted on by

6 of The October 13

I had never heard of this movie before, but after seeing Dangerous Animals, directed by Sean Byrne, I saw on his IMDB page that he had done another horror film called The Devil’s Candy. I was impressed enough with the Dangerous Animals movie, that I looked into this movie. It had a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and was available on Shudder.

With the positives, I added it to the possible films for the October 13 this year. I just watched it and it was a frightening thriller with some solid performances.

According to IMDB, “Metal music, paint, and family are the passions of struggling painter, Jesse, who lives a happy life with his wife, and daughter. Things look brighter when Jesse finds a huge old house, in rural Texas, selling at a very low price, due to its mysterious past. They move in and Jesse converts the barn into a studio. But soon, his work starts taking on a new, darker flavour – and things get even more ominous when the hulking, unbalanced son of the former owners appears on the doorstep. Jesse’s family won’t be safe until they find a way to quiet the Devil himself.“

Pruitt Taylor Vince played Ray Smilie, who lived in the house before. His presence in the film was disturbing every second he was on screen. You felt for him at first, but that does not last long as he begins to do some horrendous things.

The tone of this movie was so uneasy, filled with tension that you were never really sure where the film was heading next and whether or not this was going to turn out to be a positive ending. I like that kind of film and the mood was truly ramped up.

Byrne does a great job directing this and you can see where his storytelling highlights the important details in the film. He is one of our new voices in horror with a couple huge successes under his belt.

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #54

Posted on by

#54

Frasier

“Tossed Salad and Scrambled Eggs”

The character of Frasier is one of the longest running characters on TV, appearing first on Cheers, and then his own spin off, Frasier.

Frasier moves back to his home in Seattle with his father and brother. His brother, Niles, is like a carbon copy of Frasier, and you wouldn’t expect a pair of characters who are so much the same to work, but it does. It does tremendously well.

Kelsey Grammar and David Hyde Pierce are amazing together, becoming perhaps the most similar brothers on TV.

The storyline between Niles and his father’s physical therapist Daphne became one of the major ongoing storylines for the run of the series.

Frasier ran on NBC for 11 years.

Good Fortune

Posted on by

I was not excited about this movie. I was not a fan of the trailers that I had seen and I found the performance of Keanu Reeves to be weird.

However, after watching the full movie, and seeing Keanu Reeves’ performance in context, I understand what he was doing much more.

Accordsing to IMDB, “In Good Fortune, Ansari plays a down-on-his-luck guy who is working myriad jobs. He’s called by his friend (played by Seth Rogen), who lives in the Hollywood Hills, to do various jobs for him – put in a disco floor, fix the pool heater. Keanu Reeves “valley” angel makes it so Rogen’s rich guy situation is swapped with Ansari, so the latter has the former’s life.”

I had wondered why Keanu was playing this character in such a one note feel. After seeing the film, I understand that he is playing an angel who was never a human being, so he did not have the emotions that one might expect. Because of that, I do think I readjusted my opinions.

The film had a simple story, and was well written. It avoided some of the typical tropes of this type of film, especially the arc taken by Keanu’s Gabriel. There was some good humor here. I really liked Seth Rogen’s work in this movie. Aziz Ansari’s performance was not as great for me, but he was fine.

It is amazing that the performance of Keanu Reeves, which made me iffy about the film from the trailers, turned out to be the best part of this movie. I think Good Fortune is a good time and a fun watch.

3.75 stars

Black Phone 2

Posted on by

The first film, Black Phone, was such a surprise hit and was so great that you knew there would be a sequel at some point, despite the fact that the Grabber, played by Ethan Hawke, was killed.

Of course, Ethan Hawke returned to the film in a supernatural manner as Black Phone 2 dropped in theaters this weekend.

According to IMDB, “As Finn, now 17, struggles with life after his captivity, his sister begins receiving calls in her dreams from the black phone and seeing disturbing visions of three boys being stalked at a winter camp known as Alpine Lake.“

Mason Thames and Madeleine McGraw returned as Finney and Gwen. Finney was the kid who the Grabber snatched in the last movie and his sister Gwen used her dreams to find where he was being held at. Gwen has had some issues with dreams still and it led them to a winter camp in the mountains.

The tone of this movie is so excellent. It is frightening and anxiety-fueling. There were multiple moments that were very disturbing and unsettling.

Ethan Hawke’s return as the Grabber was awesome. It was a creative way to bring him back. It was a Freddy Krueger type of situation and it was scary.

The performances of all the actors were fantastic. I thought they all did such a great job and helped create the suspense. This was especially the truth for Madeleine McGraw’s Gwen. She had to carry a lot of the real impact of the story.

However, I do think that some of the story became too convoluted and messy. I had some issues with the story that I will not spoil here. Still, the positives of this film overweighed the problems I found in the film.

Black Phone 2 was a solid sequel, though I did not like it as much as the original. It was a strong follow up.

3.6 stars

EYG Favorite Comic Covers of the Week

Posted on by

October 17

It is Friday, not Thursday because my Parent/Teacher Conferences played havoc with my comic schedule.

I received my box of books from Keensport that was the new Mark Spears book, The Monster and the Wolf. It was a blast opening those Blind bags of those books. I really thought that those would all take the top three medal spots this week… and then I went to Bettendorf and found a few other books that changed that choice.

Also-Rans: Blue Falcon & Dynomutt #2, Iron & Frost #1, Sonja Reborn #2, Amazing Spider-Man #14 (Cover B), Hello Darkness #15, Endeavor #1, and Unbreakable X-Men #1 (Variant Foil Cover).

Bronze Medalist

The War #3

Variant Cover B

Cover art by Bjorn Barends

What a beautifully powerful cover with the representation of death. The colors are amazing and work so well. It was a variant cover and I chose this over cover A.

Silver Medalist

They Choose Violence #5

Cover art by Rahzzah

This was the cover that led to the decision to NOT let Mark Spears’ new book own the top three spots. The brutal and bloody cover was as compelling as I have ever seen. In most weeks, this would be the number one book. I mean, look at the blood around the mouth of this person. It is so disturbing and beautifully frightening.

Gold Medalist

Mark Spears’ The Monster and the Wolf #1

Cover art by Mark Spears

I decided to take all of the Blind Bag books and bunch them together as the gold medalists this week. I used the Star Wars homage issue as the example because this is one of the standouts of the books I got. It’s a lot of fun.

Daily Countdown: TV Show #55

Posted on by

#55

The Golden Girls

Thank you for being a friend….

It may not be “cool” to like this show, but I don’t care. The Golden Girls were some of the best episodes of TV you’ll ever find.

The cast of this show is the first reason it was so great. Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty and the incomparable Betty White had so much chemistry that you could sit and what them eat cheesecake and be totally entertained… and there were many episodes where that was exactly what we did.

The writing on the show was extremely brilliant as well. It was not enough that they gave us some of the best characters on TV, but they provided them with great words and plotlines.

It may seem like it is just four old women in a Miami house, but this was four rousing characters that were as relatable as you are ever going to find. Four women, who had had plenty of success outside of The Golden Girls, find their perfect scene partners with each other.

Consistently funny… the Golden Girls deserve this spot on the list.

Picture it… Sicily… 1913…

Sarah’s Journey

Posted on by

Sarah’s Journey

“Beep, beep, beep.” I woke up from my alarm clock on July 28th. It was my 15th birthday. I am so happy to finally be 15! Even though every bone in my body was excited for my birthday, I was also full of hope that my birthday wish would come true. Every year for my birthday, I have wished to go to the big city of New York. I have never been anywhere besides my small  hometown of Sippera, Nebraska. My family and I have never been able to travel due to my Dads condition Multiple sclerosis. It is really hard for my mom to get my dad around places, especially with my 6 siblings. I just really hope my dream comes true. 

I spent the whole morning hanging out with my family. “Happy birthday Olivia!” Screamed my best friend Sarah. She was so excited to spend the day with me. Later that night, it was finally time to have a birthday cake. As my dad lit the candles, everyone sang happy birthday to me. It made me feel so special considering I normally don’t get any attention with having so many younger siblings who need my parents attention more than me. I blew out my candles and made my wish. After everyone was done eating cake Sarah and I went to the shed to work on our huge painting of New york city.

My passion was art. I love to draw and paint. Sarah loves art also and wants to get out of this town too. However she wasn’t as passionate about it as me. She is an only child and everyone loves her. Some days I think my parents like her more than they like me. She was what people consider “the golden child.” I got used to it though. One of the things that has helped me get by, is my grandma. Her and I are really close and it feels like she is the only one who understands me. That night we finally finished our painting that took 2 months. My grandma called me that night and we talked for an hour. I went to sleep after that with a smile on my face. 

I woke up the next morning from Sarah calling my phone. “I have huge news! I am coming to your house right now!” Sarah says. A few minutes later Sarah comes running up to my room. She informed me that she submitted our painting to a huge art school in New York, and we got into the program! She knew how much I wanted to go to New York and also how much I love art so she thought this would be perfect. She asked, “should I tell them we are coming?” I said “Yes of course!” Sarah left to go tell her parents and suddenly a feeling of guilt went through my stomach. How could I leave my mom here alone to take care of my dad and siblings. That would be so selfish of me. It took me 2 whole days to build up enough courage to even bring up the idea to my mom. 

I told my mom about my situation. I heard her sigh and I got scared. Even though I thought she was angry or disappointed, I found her words very comforting. “Olivia, I know you feel like you have an obligation to stay here and help me, but that isn’t your job. You need to go out into the world and find yourself. I would never say you couldn’t follow your passion when you are the most selfless person I know.” Hearing these words gave me the courage to leave my family and pursue my dream. 

It was the next week that I left to go and get settled in before my first term started at the end of August. I got on the plane with Sarah, and our flight took off. Hours later, we landed in the big apple. I was so eager to get off the plane and go to our dorm.  However, when we got in the taxi together, New York was nothing like we imagined. People were mean, it was a rainy day, and everyone was honking their horns. Considering all of this, I saw right through the negative with my excitement. Sarah on the other hand, was a tad unsure about the whole experience. 

One week has passed and we have settled. I think Sarah is a little homesick already though. Classes start this morning and I am very nervous, yet am also happy to start improving my art. My first class was about painting. I enjoyed it so much because for once people around me understood me. I met Sarah after lunch and she told me her day has been rough. I gave her some encouragement to keep an open mind. We didn’t have any classes together and while I am used to being on my own, she is not. 

A few weeks have passed and after school one day, Sarah came to me in tears saying, “Olivia, I can’t do this anymore! I miss my family and house and I just really want to go back home!” I was a tad heartbroken but accepted her decision. The next day, she went home. She really didn’t love art as much as me. Even though Sarah had left, I was still happy that I got to do art. 

One month has passed and I got a call. My mom called me in tears saying Grandma was sick and didn’t have much time left. My heart dropped, tears streamed down my face. I told my mom I would be on the next flight home. I couldn’t help but think this was my fault. I left Grandma there and she wanted to help my family but her body just couldn’t handle it. 

As soon as I got home I went to the hospital to see her. I sobbed at her bed side for hours before I could get any words out. My parents left me alone with her to talk. I finally choked up some words and told her I could never go back to art school. Not after this. Grandma got a certain look in her eyes and said,“Olivia, you cannot give up on your dream because of me. I would never forgive myself if you did. This is not your fault. You have a huge future ahead of you filled with joy, sadness, excitement, and fun memories. But you need to go after your dream, go back to art school and remember I will always be in your heart.” She then gave me her bracelet that she had never taken off before and told me to keep it.

I had an entire week off of art school and spent every minute I could at her bed side. 3 days before I went back she passed away. I went to her funeral and barely made it through. I spent the rest of the time I was home with my family. It was time to go back and it has been one of the hardest things I have ever done. It helped knowing it is what my grandma wanted. I got on a flight back and once I arrived back, I have never felt so alone. With Sarah leaving and my grandma being gone, it was really hard. I got through art school though and just like that it was the next summer and time to go home.

Going home was hard because everywhere I turned, there were memories of Grandma. My mom knew how close her and I were and helped me through it. Every day that summer I worked on a painting of grandma and I. I never have shown anyone it because it was very personal. I knew it was my best painting so far though. 

3 years have passed and I still miss Grandma everyday. I have a new dream though, the University of CalArts. Since I went to art school, they were very impressed with my resume. However I needed a full ride scholarship to afford it. The only way to do that is to submit my art work to them. I need to submit the best ones and my painting of Grandma is the best.

After much thought, Grandma always told me to chase my dreams at any cost and remembering that, I knew this is what she would want. I looked down at my bracelet from grandma, and wrote my college application about him and submitted my painting  of her with it. 0890

After 3 weeks of eagerly waiting, I got a letter. I was so scared to open it. My mom helped open it and read it to me, and I got in! My whole family jumped with excitement and gave me the biggest hug. The day came when it was time to leave and my family sat me down and told me how proud they were of me and how much they loved me. I took a deep breath, and walked out the door excited and nervous to start my new life. I guess I am not so alone after all.