Chaney had just reached the exit, turning off the Interstate into Birmingham, when the feeling came over her. Disquiet, foreboding, and familiar, a nagging sense that something, somewhere, wasn’t right. Am I feeling guilty now, or what? Chaney dismissed the thought, pulling a cigarette free from the pack and lighting it. She turned up her…
Month: September 2018
The Necessity of Folklore
Necessary to our shared human history, that is. Necessary to our understanding of ourselves. Necessary to a people’s establishment and maintenance, its common spiritual and psychological identity. It is, along with our recorded histories, the soil in which our cultural roots are sunk, and we will either stand, nourished, or wither and fall dependent on…
The Curse of FURY OF THE DEMON
Never let the facts get in the way of a good story. Every storyteller knows this. There was this silent film entitled FURY OF THE DEMON. The film is now considered lost, as are so many of those magnificent old silent movies. In this case, though, it may be for the best that the film…
Ruminations on the Emmys
Darren Criss won for his performance in AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE ASSASSINATION OF GIANNI VERSACE, and deservedly so. Judith Light and Penelope Cruz were also nominated for that series, and also deservedly so. And I was thrilled to see my boy Finn Wittrock getting some respect. He competed against Ricky Martin and Edgar Ramirez—all for…
A Brief History of Censorship, Part Two
It’s been fascinating, for me, at least, reading up on the subject, learning about it so that I could pass that knowledge on to you, our faithful followers. The milestones along the pathway to the ratings system we have today. A lot has changed in a relatively short time. When I was a kid, and…
Dead Animals
Three horses—albeit horses of the miniature variety—and a dog in Monroe County, Kentucky were killed by some kind of animal. Two of the horses were found floating in a pond, the third in a barn with its throat torn out. It would seem the ones in the pond also suffered similar injuries, as their deaths…
Just Take My Damn Money, Already
I’m a sucker for this kinda stuff. A big ol’ sucker. BREAKOUT BEASTS is the new toy line from Mega Construx. You buy an alien-esque plastic egg. The egg is built to pop open at its “equator” and inside is filled with neon-colored slime—and a monster! The creatures are billed as “buildable” so that likely…
Tarzan vs. the Wolfman
No, that movie never happened. But wouldn’t it have been awesome if it had! There ARE connections between the two characters, though, and not just in the conceptual sense. Both are metaphors for the blurring of the line between human being and animal. Tarzan is a man who was raised by beasts, the latest iteration…
GLEN OR GLENDA? vs. MANIAC
“Comparing and contrasting the Devil imagery in Ed Wood’s GLEN OR GLENDA? and Dwain Esper’s MANIAC” would have made for a more accurate title for this article, but it was a tad too long, I thought. Last week I watched the latter film, impressed by the depths of inadequacy it managed to plumb. Something I…
THERIOPHOBIA: FEAR THE BEAST Part Sixteen
There it was. The red Camaro. Candy Paradise. Leland’s heart started to pound. He hadn’t waited long at all. Stay cool. Don’t get excited. Mistakes happen when you get excited. Leland repeated these mental commands in an unspoken mantra. He cranked the van and pulled out. He had to time it just perfect. Candy signaled,…