NOTE: I keep seeing them referred to as “dire wolves”, even in scholarly sources like this linked article. But it bugs me. “Dire wolves” means wolves that are dire. This is an accurate description, as far as that goes, but it isn’t grammatically correct, not if the term is meant to designate a separate species…Continue readingDirewolves: A Different Beast
Month: January 2021
MOON KNIGHT and SWAMP THING News
We knew that Oscar Isaac was going to be playing the lead in the new Marvel series MOON KNIGHT for Disney’s streaming service (although it has yet to be “officially” confirmed), and now we know that Ethan Hawke has signed on to play the big bad. We don’t know which villain he’ll be portraying, though.…Continue readingMOON KNIGHT and SWAMP THING News
The Beast of Chickenfoot
It’d been a little while since I took a roadtrip, and this past weekend presented a perfect opportunity. It was a lovely day, but cold, thus ruling out any outdoor activities. An ideal day for driving, then! But where to go? I’d heard stories about Chickenfoot, an area of Lawrence County, Alabama, for years, but…Continue readingThe Beast of Chickenfoot
The Wendigo of BLACK WOOD
I’m a sucker for a good Wendigo movie at any time. Note that I said *good* Wendigo movie. As I recall, RAVENOUS was mediocre as hell, not bad enough to be fun but not good, either. I need to go back and rewatch it, as I might appreciate it a little more now, being older…Continue readingThe Wendigo of BLACK WOOD
Mike Flanagan Wants Clayface
This is the guy who brought us GERALD’S GAME, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE, the underrated OCULUS, and the amazeballs DOCTOR SLEEP, just in case you didn’t recognize the name. The dude knows what he’s doing, for sure, and what he does best is high-quality Horror. And he wants to do a Clayface movie. That’s…Continue readingMike Flanagan Wants Clayface
The Grizzly Cometh!
A clip 40 years in the making! Or close enough! I first saw the movie GRIZZLY when it was broadcast on network television around 1978 or so. I was just a wee thing, and the film, though edited to be broadcast on TV, scared the wee out of me. (The fact that I lived basically…Continue readingThe Grizzly Cometh!
Scraps
So how exactly did we get dogs? How did wolves become domesticated? Ancient wolves sure wouldn’t have looked any more cute and cuddly than any of the other predators that hunted and preyed upon ancient human beings. (Maybe as puppies.) So how did it occur to our primitive forebears that making friends with the wolf…Continue readingScraps
411 Skeptics
One of the many communities I belong to on social media is dedicated to the MISSING411 phenomenon. This, if you are unfamiliar, is the field of expertise of a man named David Paulides, who investigates cases of strange disappearances in national parks and other wilderness areas. Most of the people who belong to this group…Continue reading411 Skeptics
“I do not believe I have ever witnessed a more disgraceful sight.” It took me a few seconds to recognize the voice as my own. One’s voice always sounds different in one’s own ears than it does to others. But I knew the voice I heard speaking, coming from nowhere in particular but all around…Continue readingTHE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF Part 62
I’ve been writing about this one for some time now. I had really hoped that it would be released to theaters in my geographic area, yet it never was. Yesterday I finally got hold of it on DVD. Was it worth the wait? Well, kinda, I guess. I wanted to like this one a lot…Continue readingMovie Review: THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW
A sense of uncleanness and foreboding grew thicker the higher I climbed, a palpable presence. Here I saw no other living thing. The air ceased to stir. I came at last to the temple site. The structure itself had long since collapsed, long before my time. Its walls lay in pieces now, broken slabs scattered…Continue readingTHE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF Part 61
Werewolves Less Popular Nowadays?
According to Screen Rant they are. I hadn’t noticed. Yes, I *did* notice that there were no big screen, big studio movies featuring werewolves in theaters right now, or for the past few years. But fewer werewolves than vampires? Fewer werewolves than appearances by Frankenstein? Didn’t seem like it to me. “The main takeaway from…Continue readingWerewolves Less Popular Nowadays?
Polish WEREWOLF Dogs
The movie is titled WEREWOLF but it isn’t readily clear that there are no actual werewolves in this film. Not literal werewolves, at any rate. It does have killer dogs, and you could argue that there are werewolves present, but they are werewolves of the mind, conceptual werewolves. Here’s the official synopsis: “Children liberated from…Continue readingPolish WEREWOLF Dogs
Vasaria
World War Two didn’t just start out of the blue. There had been a buildup for years, with the expectant publicity. News reports on the radio and playing before feature films in theaters made sure the average American stayed up-to-date on the growing Nazi threat. Germany was viewed, and rightfully so, in a very negative…Continue readingVasaria
I traveled alone. None could aid me, so I allowed none to accompany me. God alone walked beside me. “Give me the strength I will need,” I prayed. “Not for my sake, but for the sake of all those who suffer from this pestilence. As You aided me that night in the Roman Coliseum, come…Continue readingTHE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF Part 60
Our Abbot, in response to the shared question on all our lips—“Why is this happening?—came to me for an answer, believing I, as one so afflicted, might possess some greater insight. “I do not know why,” I told him. “Brother Christopher, what then can we do?” “I do not know,” I lied for a second…Continue readingTHE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF Part 59
The movie is fantastic. All the Normie haters are wrong, as they almost always are. Ignore them, if you haven’t seen this one already. You really should, as it’s as good as they come. There is one implausibility—how exactly did they get that jet all fueled and ready for takeoff without anyone noticing?—and normally an…Continue readingMovie Review: WONDER WOMAN 1984 (and the Cheetah’s Nipples)
Over on our sister site VAMPIRES.COM this week we’ve been examining supposed real-life incidents of paranormal occurrences linked to this time of year and the annual celebration of Christmas. One of the stories I came across while researching the subject, however, is better suited to this particular site, as it deals with a phantasmagorical hellhound,…Continue readingSir Geoffrey and His Headless Hellhound
Krampus: One Hoof or Two?
As I always do this time of year, immersing myself in Yuletide lore (being the folklorist that I am I cannot resist all the lush legendry associated with the holidays), I was reading through some Saturnalia esoterica and such when I chanced upon a mention of my beloved friend Krampus and learned something about him…Continue readingKrampus: One Hoof or Two?
More than an Animal
I was watching one of those Bigfoot-hunting shows—and by “watching” I mean it was playing in the background while I was doing other stuff, only halfway paying attention to it, as generally those kind of shows don’t really interest me. (Spoiler alert: They don’t ever find Bigfoot. They go out in the woods and record…Continue readingMore than an Animal
Neanderthal Funerals
“New Research Bolsters Claim That Neanderthals Buried Their Dead” reads the headline of this linked article. I had the same reaction as the writer of that article when I first read its headline: Isn’t that a done deal, I thought? Didn’t we already know that Neanderthals buried their dead? As he said: “I must admit,…Continue readingNeanderthal Funerals
Carpenter’s Creature
Once upon a time, Horror maestro John Carpenter was supposed to be making a remake of the classic Universal chiller THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON. For whatever reasons that film never got made. But maybe, just maybe, we can change that from “never got made” to “hasn’t been made YET”. With the incredible success,…Continue readingCarpenter’s Creature