Grotesquerie E5, E6

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“Red Haze”

“Good Caesarean Work”

Okay, this week was completely bat shit crazy.

Lois and Sister Megan wound up in a little town, being chased by someone/something. The town itself is absolute horror show of violence. All the women appear to have been assaulted, perhaps even as the day moves along. Sister Megan ends up shot. It was all surreal.

My guess is that the smoke from the pit they were at last episode had some kind of reactive property causing everyone to be angry and violent. It sure seemed as if Lois and Sister Megan were being affected too as they were very sharp and biting toward each other during this wild time in this little town.

The show also revealed a couple of secrets, including a connection between Nurse Redd and Marshall. It explained why she was so crazed about Lois turning over power of attorney for Marshall to her. Honestly, Nurse Redd is just as unbalanced as anyone on this show.

The serial killer Grotesquerie was the one to shoot Sister Megan as he followed them throughout the opening scene. He took Andrea, the bloody woman Lois and Sister Megan picked up at the end of episode four. She also seemed to be an identical twin to the clerk at the hotel they stopped at who appeared to be constantly being beaten.

Father Charlie made a return to the side of Sister Megan’s bed and immediately chastised Lois for her use of her as bait.

This led to a horrific series of scenes involving women who had forced c-sections and were allowed to then bleed to death. The babies were being taken for some bizarre reason. The scene at the end of episode six where there were a group of women who were hooked up to breast pumps feeding these babies is horrendous.

Then the show left us on a cliffhanger, just a remarkably cruel and hateful one. A masked figure snuck up behind Lois with a knife and she turned and shot him. It is clearly intended to be Grotesquerie and Lois pulled off the mask from his face. We as an audience did not get to see the face in the terrible end. I felt very upset about having this mask pulling scene being done so we could not get the reveal and would have to come back next week.

Two episodes each week means that the show will end on Halloween, which is very appropriate.

Sorry About the Demon (2022)

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The October 5 of 13

So, this one was a horror comedy. I found it on Shudder, as most of the list for this The October 13 is this year. I found it to be really silly.

After dealing with a bad break-up, Will (Jon Michael Simpson) rented a house from a family. What Will did not know was the family, the Sellers, had rented him the house because they had made a deal with the demon that was in the house, Deomonous (voiced by Tony Vespe), to possess him and take his soul to Hell instead of their daughter Grace (Presley Allard).

This movie was funny at times. At least I chuckled here and there. Otherwise it was fairly messy with the plot and just silly as it can be. It was absolutely corny and silly. I am not sure if this was intended to be a parody or if it is just meant to be a horror/comedy. Either way, the film was not the worst thing I ever saw. I did not like the way it started, as it seemed fairly stupid to me. However, Jon Michael Simpson had a charm about him that made me want to keep watching, even though I wanted to stop watching at first.

Overall, it was not the worst film I have seen. It is not great, but if you are in the right mood, this could be a fun family horror/comedy for Halloween.

EYG Comic Cavalcade #119

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October 10, 2024

Another Saturday night and I am getting the Comic Cavalcade out. It has been a very busy time as I have a bunch of new movies, a ton of TV series, the Dodgers and, of course, school. I have to look for the opportunity to squeeze the reading into my schedule.

Books this week:

Ice Cream Man #13. Written by W. Maxwell Prince and art by Martin Morazzo. I have cover B with art by Wes Craig. This was the final issue of Ice Cream Man that I needed and it took forever for it to arrive from eBay. It is one of those gimmicky books that it seems Ice Cream Man specializes in. It is a palindrome, meaning it could be read forward or backwards. It was a fun gimmick and I love the creativity of Ice Cream Man. I am glad to have finally finished off the complete series in my collection.

Groo the Wanderer #8. This is another series that I was able to fill out as this is the final issue of Groo’s Pacific Comics run that I needed. Todd was able to obtain this book for me and I was very pleased to get it. Now I just have a handful of issues of the Marvel (Epic) run to complete my Groo collection.

Groo: Minstrel Melodies #2. Sergio Aragones & Mark Evanier are the creators on this Groo book. I have been enjoying this current take on Groo, as the story focuses on the story told by the Minstrel and his daughter, Kayli. I do love a rhyme and there is plenty of that in here.

Fantastic Four #26. “Blood Brothers” Written by Ryan North and art by Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was by Joshua Cassara & Dean White (Gold Medalist). Johnny and Reed come across something paranormal in Ben Grimm’s Aunt Petunia’s house, where the FF have been living. They go through a ton of trouble trying to put the genie back in the bottle, figuratively.

Exceptional X-Men #2. Written by Eve L. Ewing and art by Carmen Carnero. Cover art was done by Carmen Carnero & Nolan Woodard. Some mutant drama taking place at a high school soccer game and Kitty Pryde is smack in the middle. She’s not a high school student (perhaps it is a college game. Not sure). Kitty and Emma Frost are being set up as the opposites of the same coin, kind of like Xavier and Magneto were.

The Terminator #1. “Out of Time” Written by Declan Shalvey and art by Luke Sparrow with Colin Craker. Dynamite Comics has had some real winners lately and I did enjoy this Terminator book. It did not feel as if it were a story that would continue over several issues and that the next one would be a new story. Still, I am curious about what they do now.

Jonny Quest #3. Written by Joe Casey and art by Sebastian Piriz. I got cover C and the cover art was by Anthony Marques. More action with Jonny and the crew in an attempt to find their way back to their own time. Unfortunately, certain problems are blocking that from happening. Again, I am not as familiar with Jonny Quest and some of these characters are probably ones that a fan of the show would recognize. I still am enjoying the book so far.

Space Ghost #6. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Francesco Mattina did the cover art. This is the third straight Dynamite Comics book in the Comic Cavalcade. Space Ghost takes on the fires of Moltar and the dynamic between Space Ghost and Jace has been damaged from last issue. This issue deals with that relationship as the story is narrated via Jace’s journal.

Seance in the Asylum #1. Written by Clay Mcleod Chapman and art by Leonardo Marcella Grassi. Andrea Mutti did the cover art (Bronze Medalist). A fascinating new series from Dark Horse that looks at the idea of spectral therapy and the ways into the spirits beyond this world. It is a very interesting looking book with some art and coloring that really emphasizes the tone.

Amazing Spider-Man #59. Written by Zeb Wells and penciled by John Romita Jr. Cover art was done by Romita Jr., Scott Hanna and Marcio Menyz. It is a brutal throwdown between Spider-Man and Tombstone as Spidey is determined to not allow Tombstone to kill his daughter. Very brutal in the story as it is nearly all fighting in the issue.

Phoenix #4. Written by Stephanie Phillips and art by Alessandro Miracolo. Cover art is by Yasmine Putri. Jean Grey and Captain Marvel hang out together during a celebration of the Kree-Skrull alliance. Meanwhile, Carol gives Jean some spacefaring advice.

The Ultimates #5. Written by Deniz Camp and art by Juan Frigeri. Cover artists were Dike Ruan & Neeraj Menon. Captain America goes to chase after the individual who claimed the arrows Iron Lad made after Clint Barton rejected the idea. This mean there is a new Hawkeye in the Ultimates. And I liked her.

Minor Arcana #2. “The Fool: Part Two”. Written and illustrated by Jeff Lemire. Theresa tried to do a reading for one of her mother’s regular customers, and things go weird for her. She travels to a different plane of existence and meets Gene. All this was too much for Theresa as she went to hit the bottle. Jeff Lemire is right near the top of my current favorite comic book writers and just about anything he does is something I want to read.

Geiger #7. Written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Paul Pelletier. Cover art was done by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson (silver Medalist). Mister Geiger has been having some troubles lately as he has been showing how violent he could be. Still, he is out saving animals and kids. Geiger has been one of the most solid of the Ghost Machine imprint.

Sentinels #1. “Necessary Monsters.” Written by Alex Paknadel and penciled by Justin Mason. Cover art was by Mason & Federico Blee. This new X-book has a group of characters who I did not know and have some weird tie to the Sentinels. Honestly, this X-book did not grab my attention much, but I’ll probably give it another shot before skipping it. It will need to be better than this issue.

Transformers #13. Written by Daniel Warren Johnson and art by Jason Howard. Daniel Warren Johnson & Mike Spicer did the cover art. I liked this book as we get an origin story for Starscream, who has always been one of my favorite Decepticons. They also tied him to Jetfire, one of my favorite Autobots. This Image run of Transformers has been very solid so far.

Blade: Red Band #1. Written by Bryan Hill and art by C.F. Villa. Cover art was done by C.F. Villa & Federico Blee. Blade returned for the first time since the Blood Hunt took over Marvel this summer and he is involved with a new baddie called Spellguard. Again, these Red band books are not that bad. It just means Blade can cut off a few heads.

Plastic: Death & Dolls #5. Story by Doug Wagner and art and cover art by Daniel Hillyard. Speaking of cutting off heads, Edwyn is back in the finale of this series, seemingly riding off into the sunset with his blow-up doll, Virginia. However, the last page of the issue really leaves a question in my mind.

Other books this week: Life #2, Spider-Man: Black Suit & Blood #3, X-Force #4, Public Domain #9, Crocodile Black #5, and Conquest 2099 #1.

The Penguin S1 E3

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“Bliss”

I have been behind on The Penguin’s latest episode because of the Dodgers-Padres series, which has been must see for me. Sunday night’s next episode of The Penguin will also have to be viewed at a different time because the Dodgers start the NLCS vs. the Mets.

It is nice to have HBO Max so that I can catch up on The Penguin whenever my schedule allows it. Because this is an excellent series.

This episode gave us more details and background with Victor as he questioned whether or not he should be sticking with Oz. “Bliss” does a great job with relationships, specifically with Oz-Victor, Victor and his father, and Oz-Sofia. All the while, Oz and Sofia are showing off the new designer drug they are ready to be pushing- Bliss. Apparently, Sofia Falcone let us know that this is a drug that they had used at Arkham, which makes me wonder if that is tied to one of the known Batman baddies from there.

Again, this does not feel like a comic book movie. This is a crime story featuring a character that is known to comic fans as one of Batman’s rogue gallery. As I say every week, the performance of Colin Farrell as Oz is breath-taking. It goes far beyond just the physical transformation he undergoes. His pain from Victor’s desire to depart wounded Oz to the core. Farrell played that out brilliantly.

Victor’s choice at the end leaves little to no wiggle room (no pun intended). It is sad for the young kid.

The Penguin is excellent and we will see where this goes next.

Saturday Night

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Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!!!!

Jason Reitman directed this biopic of the 90-minutes before the debut of Saturday Night Live (called NBC’s Saturday Night) and the chaos that was ensuing.

Of course, as with most biopics, not everything is exactly as it happened as many details are switched or moved around for dramatic purposes.

The film follows Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), the producer of SNL, as he moved around the studio putting out fires (both figuratively and literally), managing talent, and desperately trying to get the show ready to go at 11:30.

This is a fun film with a frantic pace leading up to the debut. It was very possible that the show was never going to happen as there was a reel of a Johnny Carson repeat waiting to roll if the show was unable to overcome the myriad of troubles.

The cast is the strongest part of the show. Gabriel LaBelle does a great job as the eyes of the audience. Corey Michael Smith is fantastic as Chevy Chase. Dylan O’Brien loses himself in the role of Dan Aykroyd. Matt Wood was very entertaining as John Belushi. Lamorne Morris was great as Garrett Morris. Rachel Sennott had a strong performance as Lorne’s wife, Rosie. Several of the cast did not have the amount of screen time as it seemed as if they deserved, in particularly the women SNL cast members.

While we see a lot of Lorne, there is an issue with the rest of the cast. If you are not aware of who these people are, there is not a lot of time spent with them. The film seems to depend on the audience knowing who Chevy Chase, John Belushi, George Carlin, Jane Curtin, Gilda Radner are coming into the film. If the viewer does not know much about SNL, they do not go into detail about these people. It does work at one level, but I did have knowledge going in.

The film depends on its energy and the nostalgia of the audience to craft together a hectic ninety minutes prior to the debut of Saturday Night. There are some very funny moments and some amazing character bits for these people whom we know as celebrities. Roles for Willem Dafoe and J.K. Simmons are exceptional and the whole cast’s performance was well done. This is a film that fans of SNL will truly appreciate.

4 stars

Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story

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EYG Hall of Famer Christopher Reeve, who sprang to fame playing Superman in several movies int he late 70s and early 80s, gets the biographical documentary treatment going into depth about his life, his family and the horrific tragedy that changed his perspective for the remainder of his life.

The doc interviews Reeve’s children and his ex-wife, revealing the deep relationship that Reeve had and how his time as Superman affected his career and how people’s POV changed him.

There are some amazingly personal scenes and imagery of Christopher Reeve struggling post-accident that was difficult to watch at times. The emotions were in full example and heartstrings were pulled as the story moved from pre-accident to post-accident. There were plenty of times that I teared up watching the powerfully poignant moments.

Some of the toughest scenes for me was the parts including Robin Williams. Williams and Reeve were roommates during their time at Julliard, forming a lifetime friendship. The relationship had several vital moments and it nearly broke me when it was said that had Christopher hadn’t died, Robin would be alive today. Heart-breaking.

Directors Peter Ettedgui and Ian Bonhôte painted a moving portrait of the actor and how he was able to overcome his adversity to help many individuals with their own handicaps.

4.6 stars

The Pool (2018)

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The October 4 of 13

The October 13 continued today as I pulled a film from Amazon Prime to watch. It was the Thai thriller called The Pool.

According to IMDB, “Day, an insecure art director of a commercial production company is left alone to clear up a 6-meter deep deserted pool after the shooting. He falls asleep on an inflatable raft due to an unbearable fatigue. When he wakes up again the water level has sunk so low that he cannot climb out of the pool on his own. He screams for help but the only thing that hears him is some creature from a nearby crocodile farm.“

Starting off, I have an illogical fear of alligators and crocodiles. It makes no sense, but they give me a lot of stress and anxiety. I always joke that I am never going to Florida because of the killer alligators like I saw in Crawl. It is a joke, but that movie absolutely scared me. So seeing this man vs. crocodile survival tale, I was ready to be unsettled.

I will say that there were some good moments of anxiety in the film. Day, played by Theeradej Wongpuapan, and his girlfriend Koi, played by Ratnamon Ratchiratham, made an attractive couple stalked by this angry and hungry crocodile.

However, at the end of the day, it was hard to get past one simple fact. These two are dumb as shit.

I understand some things need to be exaggerated for tension, but when characters continually do the stupidest things during a film, it just pushes the level of believability. I found myself yelling at the computer screen over and over, wanting Day to do something smart once. There were so many opportunities to do something else and he constantly chose the wrong one. It was frustrating.

Then the CGI on the crocodile was at times wonky. That can be forgiven because of budgets, but when it is combined with the dumb characters, that makes a tough combination.

And for the dog lovers out there, there is a scene with a dog that is perhaps the single most horrific scene I have ever watched anywhere. The imagery of the scene will disturbing even if you are not a big dog fan, like me, and for the dog lovers out there, you will not be prepared for the shocking moment.

I had seen this receive 97% on Rotten Tomatoes so I was hopeful this would be a hidden gem. However, looking closer, the audience score is at 53%, and I can see why that is. This had some positives, but the stupid decisions, the CGI, the crocodile, and the horrific scene near the end dropped this one down for me.

Yellowjackets S1 E4

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“Bear Down”

The stories from the crash site and the present day go to show us more about these characters.

In the past (I honestly nearly typed ‘The Island’), the kids began training with the gun to try and go hunting. Natalie turns out to be the best shot. She and Travis go hunting and bond on the trip. Other girls discovered a downed plane in the woods. In the present, Natalie goes out with Kevin to try and get info on Travis’s apparent suicide, which she thinks is a murder. Shauna has an affair with Adam and then goes on a weird night together. Taissa does not respond well to a party when she goes off on a rich potential donor who wants to know about what really happened.

There is a flashback to pre-plane crash involving Natalie and her abusive father. We get to see how he died. The show initially made us think that Natalie killed him, but it turned out to be an accident.

Misty is a real bizarre character. She feels dangerous in a Desperate Housewives kind of way.

There is a lot of character development in this episode, and that is very important, but to be honest, this was my least favorite episode so far. It showed us a lot of things about these people, but nothing that was that major, outside of Natalie’s father.

Agatha All Along E5

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“Darkest Hour/Wake Thy Power”

This was a fairly short episode, but it was really impactful.

Alice, RIP. I think there is something more going on here though as Agatha’s trial turned deadly with the ghost of Agatha’s mother leading to Agatha draining the energy from Alice.

Dressed as a sleep over, this had a lot of the scenes from a trailer, specifically a possessed Agatha doing the backwards spider walk that you see in a lot of horror movies.

They were on the Ouija board and Kathryn Hahn dropped a fantastic Mrs. Hart/Sharon Davis imitation. That was hilarious. Maybe a little mean too…

After Agatha killed Alice (which Agatha certainly seemed shaken by), Teen was very angry and he reacted in a violent way. He seemingly tossed Agatha and the others into the mud and they sunk away.

Even more significant, Agatha said to Teen that he was just like his mother. Then, after he dispatched of the coven, we see Teen with a purple crown that resembled that of the Scarlet Witch.

We all suspected that Teen was somehow tied to Billy, Wanda’s created son from WandaVision, but the show has been tempting us by making Teen Agatha’s son Nicholas. Apparently, Nicholas was part of the Ouija board thing too. We are just past the halfway point of the series and this felt like a significant hint that he is Billy Maximoff.

And during this entire Teen-Agatha trouble, there was no sign of Rio. Aubrey Plaza has been rumored to be Death, which was mentioned in the Ouija session. What part is she playing in all this?

Lots of questions:

  • Is Alice really dead?
  • Who is Teen? Is he Billy, Wanda’s son?
  • What is Agatha’s responsibility in all this?
  • What happened when they were sucked into the mud?
  • Nicholas Scratch is doing what?
  • Is Aubrey Plaza Death?

I wish this episode was longer. It felt too short. What we got was great though.

EYG Favorite Comic Cover of the Week

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The week of October 7

Good evening to all. It is time to award some medals! This week we have three separate companies in the places. I should throw out a honorable mention this week to Exceptional X-Men #2. I have a special soft spot for all-white backgrounds on covers and this book nearly tickled my heart enough to earn a medal. Just came up short though.

Bronze Medalist

Seance in the Asylum #1.

Cover art by Andrea Mutti.

A very eerie cover with the ghosts appearing behind someone at the table. The idea of the book had intrigued me and this cover is very striking, making me wonder what it was going to feature.

Silver Medalist

Geiger #7

Cover art by Gary Frank & Brad Anderson

Something about a three-eyed zebra that just makes a cover pop. I also love the color int he background. It makes this cover very attractive, it should make someone stop and take a closer look at the book, and isn’t that the main job of cover art?

Gold Medalist

Fantastic Four #26

Cover art by Joshua Cassara & Dean White

The Fantastic Four has had a very good year for comic covers, but this is the first time this year that they earned a medal without it being Alex Ross. The imagery of Reed and Johnny struggling to keep from drowning in a bunch of blood is an amazing visual and really solidified the gold medal this week.

Bonus Action Vol. 2 E6

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“Battle in the Big Top”

More exciting battles with our D&D party. What is cool is that it seems as if every week another member of our party is doing something awesome.

This week it is Bric, who killed three of the giant villains with a single fireball. It was a huge swing in the combat and you could see how excited Jay was when it happened.

Lots of fun once again as this group has unbelievable chemistry together and are extremely funny.

Only Murders in the Building S4 E7

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“Valley of the Dolls”

A week full of cameos!

We got a new character from Melissa McCarthy, the actors (Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, Eva Longoria) returned, the Westies were back, Loretta made her way back from California, and Bev struggled to deal with Hollywood and her own bizarre shifts in personality.

Melissa McCarthy is Charles’s sister Doreen, who owns a vast collection of dolls (hence the episode title) and she, lets say, may be a touch cray cray.

We get a catfight between Melissa McCarthy and Meryl Streep. It was hilarious.

Charles, Mabel and Oliver went to Charles’ sister’s house to hide after discovering that they had been being watched by the killer for a long time. Of course, they told Howard where they were going so it seemed as if everyone knew where they went.

Howard played a big role too as he went to discover whom was cashing the social security checks of Dudenoff. He also got a phone number that, when Mabel called it, came to Vince Fish’s phone.

Oliver and Loretta straightened out their misunderstanding from the previous episode and Loretta, after the big catfight, proposed to Oliver (with a doll bracelet). He accepted so there could be a Only Murders in the Building wedding in the future.

It is revealed that the killer has ties to the first season as several of the plot holes of that season are mentioned, tying everything together in a cool idea.

Yellowjackets S1 E3

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“The Dollhouse”

Boy, when this show picked up, it really picked up.

Not saying that the first two episodes were bad. Far from it. I was thoroughly engaged with what they were doing pre-episode three. Now, after “The Dollhouse” there are just a ton of unexplained moments and storylines that have me completely engaged.

  • Who killed Travis? It looked like a hanging, but Nat was sure he did not kill himself.
  • What is with the man with no eyes? Why is he tormenting Taissa.
  • What did Taissa’s son mean when he said that she was not the bad one?
  • What happened in the attic of that cabin?
  • Is Shauna right about Jeff having an affair? And does to wrongs make a right?
  • What is Taissa trying to pull with the reporter?

I loved this episode and the storylines that the show is setting up are exciting and mysterious. I really do not know what is going on and that is thrilling.

Great acting so far. I am very pleased that season one has arrived on Netflix. I hope to be able to find season two as well somewhere.

Hell House LLC (2015)

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The October 3 of 13

I watched the most recent Hell House movie, called Hell House LLC: Origins- The Carmichael Manor for this year’s June Swoon. I had no idea that this was the fourth film in a franchise. So I figured the first film of the franchise would be a good film to use for The October 13.

This was filmed in a documentary style of a supposed incident at a haunted house called Hell House opening during the Halloween season where fifteen people died in, what authorities were calling an “unknown malfunction.” The documentarian, Diane Graves (Alice Bahlke), found the sole survivor of the crew from the haunted house, Sara (Ryan Jennifer Jones), and Sara gave her several recording made by the others at the Hell House.

At this point, the movie became a combination of documentary and found footage film, and it was absolutely insane.

The footage was remarkably creepy as it showed so many frightening moments inside the Abaddon Hotel, which was deserted and had signs that there may have been a Satanic cult here at one point in its history.

As the crew worked to get their haunted house constructed inside the Abaddon Hotel, strange things began to happen, especially with some of the clown mannequins.

Some of the stuff they got on film was frustrating at times because it never seemed to matter to Hell House CEO Alex (Danny Bellini) even when his crew was clearly suffering the effects of the hotel. There was a mystery reason that Alex was so determined to stay and, though referenced, it was never revealed. I have seen speculation that it was a financial reason and I have also seen that the answer might come in the actual sequel to this. Maybe that one has to go on a watch list too.

I found this really intense and I enjoyed this whole film. The found footage was fun and filled with anxiety. Those clowns were absolutely creepy and the little things made this all the better. This was a wonderful film for The October 13.