Monday 31 October 2022
31 Days Of Horror Movies
My results on RPGnet. I think I did pretty well considering how this month got busy and I had to pause for two weeks.
Ghostwatch
Ghostwatch
(1992)
Clip
As noted before, I was there. But...
I never got to see Ghostwatch as intended when it aired 30 years ago tonight. I saw it as the BBC intended, with the note in the Radio Times listings magazine stating it was a drama and the announcement and drama ident at the start.
I like to think I would have figured out that it wasn’t a real live broadcast sooner rather than later, but as it was I just got to appreciate the craft, which is very clever, and when it was over I turned over to BBC Two for the Vault Of Horror night of films and mini-documentaries.
So I’ve always been a bit jealous of people (like Howard Ingham) who didn’t know...
Last Night In Soho
Last Night In Soho
(2021)
Trailer, not the most spoilery available
A fashion student in modern London starts to dream... or maybe not dream... the life of a singer in the same streets sixty years earlier. And things from one time start to affect the other...
After playing with horror throughout his career, Edgar Wright aims for the real thing. His style sometimes clashes with the mood, but it’s certainly an intriguing attempt.
Wendell & Wild
Wendell & Wild
(2022)
From Henry Selick, director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, another stop-motion movie about two contrasting worlds, though here the comparison between fostering, juvenile detention and the private prison system and Hell shows that at least Hell has the excuse of being run by demons.
The Curse Of Bridge Hollow
The Curse Of Bridge Hollow
2022
Trailer
A rationalist science teacher moves his family to a small town, and needs a moment to deal with the fact that his daughter just discovered their house was once home to an evil wizard and unleashed a curse resulting in Halloween decorations coming to life.
Note for spiders, and an old word for Romani which is still in use here but I thought was outmoded in the US.
While coming from Netflix it’s been described as the kind of thing the Disney Channel would show around this time, and I think that’s a fair assessment. Though maybe with more chainsaw action.
I believe the Spirit Halloween movie has a similar premise. And the threat of the curse resulting in Halloween forever came up in the seasonal Ghostbusters RPG adventure Pumpkin Patch Panic. So this would make a good Halloween-y one-shot setup, as it already has!
Happy Hallowe'en!
Actual trick or treaters! In double figures!
With costumes where I understood the reference! And ones I didn’t!
And a kid in a The Purge style light-up mask! Who couldn’t see where he was going with it on!
Huntober 2022 Overview
It seems like my take on Hunter: The Reckoning would have some low-key paranormal mysteries, as the prompts highlighted a few and I went with them.
1: I, Hunter
4: Safehouse
12: The Weird Find
15: Investigation
19: Lost Fight
20: The Final Shot
22: Weapon Of Choice
24: Faith
27: Unusual Methods
Vamptober 2022 Overview
This year’s prompts nudged me towards a lot of gloomy and reflective vampires.
8: Memoriam
11: My Safe Haven
Huntober 2022 31: The Death Of A Hunter
Huntober 2022 31: The Death Of A Hunter
“No ID on him. Waiting on prints.”
“I wouldn’t count on it. This looks like a professional hit...”
Attempt at foreshortening inspired by the Underground RPG.
Vamptober 2022 31: The End Of Me
Vamptober 2022 31: The End Of Me
“It’s going to be a beautiful day.”
Sunday 30 October 2022
S.A.S. Rogue Heroes
S.A.S. Rogue Heroes is a new series from the creator of Peaky Blinders and oh boy does it show. Adapted from real research (covered in a documentary series reshowing after it which has already flagged up some dramatic inaccuracies) it features period and non-period music, shaky history, a fistfighting poet with a moustache, and a ghostly father turning up.
The “rogue” part of the title refers to the S.A.S. being created ad hoc for commando missions with little oversight, had to steal a lot of their equipment and catch lifts from desert reconnaissance scouts, and generally acted like the kind of special forces that player characters tend to end up being in war-based campaigns.
Huntober 2022 30: The Horrors Beyond
Huntober 2022 30: The Horrors Beyond
“Why does Meyer have two shadows?”
A future Vampire game Harpy
Due to an electronic music event nearby this weekend with Lothian Buses providing transport, I saw an ad for it and this woman in an audience shot. It turns out that the folding fan is event branding, but the image of someone coming to a rave all in black (complete with sunglasses) with a lace fan said Cool Vampire to me very clearly.
Update: A Young Person responds -
I've spent ages staring at this trying to work out why this is weird, but it's because I'm perfectly used to people bringing folding fans to dance events isn't it?
Thank you, Young Person!
Candyman (2020)
Candyman (2020)
Shadow puppet teaser, a technique used for stories told in-character in the film
As one of those legacy sequels that uses the original title, I was expecting Candyman 2020 to be more fully standalone, using the original film’s events purely as the legend that inspires the new one, but it’s a more direct sequel in some ways.
While it focuses strongly on the bigotry highlighted in the original, and revisits other elements like the Philip Glass score and the title sequence taking a look at the city from an unfamiliar angle, it’s also different tonally (as well as from the previous sequels it ignores but doesn’t specifically erase) and that while the original was famously serious this has a lot more humour, being partially a snarky look at the art scene.
The DVD comes with some deleted scenes including an ending, and some shortish featurettes and a 20-minute special talking about Black horror films with creators and experts on the subject.
Saturday 29 October 2022
Huntober 2022 29: Unexplained Creature
Huntober 2022 29: Unexplained Creature
“Routine surveillance outside a club and... It’s a glitch in the recording. But it’s every recording of this one person.”
Vamptober 2022 29: Don't Trust The One With Fangs
Vamptober 2022 29: Don’t Trust The One With Fangs
After a first thought pointing out that almost all vampires have fangs...
“One each from the pack that tried to move in on Long Street. They won’t be bothering us again.”
How to spell Arrr?
I once again very slightly challenge you with the Guardian Kids Wordsearch! From last Saturday! With words to do with pirates!
Friday 28 October 2022
Vamptober 2022 28: What Makes Me Remember
Vamptober 2022 28: What Makes Me Remember
“Her name was Constance. This is the only photograph I have of her. Hard to imagine now, how rare that was.”
Garbage, Witness To Your Love
Having provided lyrics for me to quote in Vampire games since 1995, Garbage finally make their own thee and a half minute vampire movie. Witness To Your Love.
Thursday 27 October 2022
Huntober 2022 27: Unusual Methods
Huntober 2022 27: Unusual Methods
Remote viewing, psychometry, can require sensory deprivation. What might you be able to see?
Vamptober 2022 27: Something To Unlive For
Vamptober 2022 27: Something To Unlive For
“When the Symphony Orchestra returns for the autumn season, and I always hope for some Brahms in the year’s programme.”
Wednesday 26 October 2022
Huntober 2022 26: Light In The Darkness
Huntober 2022 26: Light In The Darkness
“Always good to get a coffee before heading home.”
“Yeah. And it’s a nice sunrise.”
Vamptober 2022 26: Fight Until The Last Drop
Vamptober 2022 26: Fight Until The Last Drop
“You killed me! I’m gonna return the favour.”
Star Wars: Andor 1.08: Narkina 5
Star Wars: Andor
1.08: Narkina 5
Are we doing a prison break episode? I hope soon, this is making me antsy.
Is the prison a bit THX 1138? A bit.
(And why is the music a bit Vangelis?)
Tuesday 25 October 2022
Neil Gaiman, Bloody Sunrise
Neil Gaiman and FourPlay String Quartet, featuring Lara Goodridge, Bloody Sunrise. A first single from their debut album Signs Of Life, about an amusingly forlorn vampire.
Huntober 2022 25: The Reason I Hunt
Huntober 2022 25: The Reason I Hunt
“It’s not safe to carry photos of your loved ones if they’re still around.”
Vamptober 2022 25: Faith(less)
Vamptober 2022 25: Faith(less)
“May the light of Caine guide you through the night.”
Monday 24 October 2022
Vamptober 2022 24: The Masquerade
Vamptober 2022 24: The Masquerade
“Jane Doe, about the right age and size. Once we crash and burn your car someone will take care of the paperwork and your family can have a closed casket service.”
Sunday 23 October 2022
Huntober 2022 23: Forbidden Artefact
Huntober 2022 23: Forbidden Artefact
A driftwood cross with a figure made of bent old nails. Someone went to a lot of work on this to ward something...
Vamptober 2022 23: Can Vampires Feel Love?
Vamptober 2022 23: Can Vampires Feel Love?
“I just wish I could have met you before. You could have heard my heart beat too.”
Comedy Wildlife Photography Award finalists
The Comedy Wildlife Photography Award finalists, more of them cute than embarrassing this year.
Saturday 22 October 2022
Huntober 2022 22: Weapon Of Choice
Huntober 2022 22: Weapon Of Choice
“A short sword like a gladius doesn’t have the hacking power of something longer and heavier, but you can wield it one-handed easily and it fits in a laptop bag.”
Vamptober 2022 22: Fashion Never Dies
Vamptober 2022 22: Fashion Never Dies
“The Little Black Dress is a timeless classic going back nearly a century. Ditto.”
Freaky
Freaky
2020
Trailer with narration not featured in the film
The release date was part of the high concept. Freaky Friday The 13th.
Because it’s a body-swap comedy between a masked slasher and a Final Girl.
(Although due to delays we finally got it in cinemas here on a non-13th Friday. By that point they could have just waited six weeks for the next one.)
So I watched the DVD on Friday the 14th, but we work with what we have.
You know how in movie posters they put the star names on top with the biggest star on the left and then a bunch of character pictures with them in the middle so some of the names and faces don’t line up? That always bugs me. But for this poster the mismatching names are on purpose...
(It’s a bit of a spoiler because we don't get to the chainsaw till the end.)
From Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon, making a career out of Buffyish horror-comedy spins on modern fantasy plots, it’s brisk and funny and silly-gory. (And has a bit of the “establish a normal day” bit that HDD required, to show how different our hero’s days before and after are.)
It takes almost half an hour to get to the swap, which surprised me because it’s the central concept you know about going in.
I was expecting it to stick to TV or movie type teen dialogue but it has some more realistically rough language in there.
Tagged for The Watch House because Milli and Ziggy did a body swap episode, and I threatened a Milli and Victoria one as well.
Wreck
Wreck
BBC Three, 2022
BBC Three, the “youth” channel, was home to the original Being Human so after a few years online-only it came back to broadcast with a couple of horror shows in its 2022 schedule. Red Rose was about a group of school leavers under attack on and offline from a lifestyle app that knew far too much, and Wreck, running now for spooky month and all online here, is a comedy slasher set around the young staff of a cruise ship. Our hero is the brother of the girl we see jump rather than be killed by the slasher disguised in the ship’s mascot costume, who signs on to find out what happened to her. On the way we get mysteries, conspiracies, romances, and danger in unexpected places. (It’s not the only genre-adjacent series where I’ve seen a fight in a ball pit due to Psychoville, but it’s still unusual.) It’s tonally very swingy but the setting adds a lot.
(And of course I’m thinking how it could work as a game setting.)
The Twilight Zone (2019)
The Twilight Zone
2019-20
Previous TV revivals of The Twilight Zone used the name and the approximate format for anthologies of short SF/F/H stories, but this one, produced and hosted by Jordan Peele, is expressly about The Twilight Zone as a source of ideas and images. Every episode has visual references and quotes in the press kit, Peele plays the on-screen narrator like Rod Serling, and one of the episodes in the opening double bill is Nightmare At Thirty Thousand Feet. There are a couple of great episodes here but it doesn't always work. Though that was always true of The Twilight Zone.
One advantage this version had is that streaming meant episodes could vary wildly in length, especially in season two, so only a couple overstay their welcome. (Although 8 manages it for me despite being one of the shortest.) My favourite here is A Small Town, a light-hearted take on sympathetic magic.
No Exit
No Exit
2022
Trailer
Getting caught up on my 31 Days, 31 Horror Movies reviews.
No Exit came out in February to basically no fanfare at all. Adapted from a novel I’d never heard of, and not the Sartre play of the same name - although it does have a tiny cast of strangers in an isolated location so could probably be a play too.
It centres on Darby, an addict in rehab to avoid jail time when she receives a call that her mother’s in hospital and leaves without permission, and then gets stuck in a snowstorm with a handful of other people in a park visitors’ centre. And then discovers one of the vehicles in the parking lot has a child bound and gagged inside.
Directed by Damien Power, maker of the Australian kidnap horror-thriller Killing Ground, this is also a kidnap gone wrong in a dangerous isolated environment. It plays like a mystery to begin with before shifting into a thriller that plays like a mostly serious take on the Coen Brothers or Fiasco RPG “desperate people making things worse” crime subgenre, and like them it includes some really nasty violence once it ramps up, some wince-inducing and some gallows humour, and it has some “oh really?” twists, but it’s a much more humane film than Killing Ground (which I found pretty unpleasant) and I liked it overall.
Disney+ Star here, Hulu in the US. In the Halloween section rather than the Horror section, which seems wrong.
Friday 21 October 2022
Huntober 2022 21: If I Was The Monster
Huntober 2022 21: If I Was The Monster
“Did they know their neighbour was a demon? They should have. Doesn’t matter now.”
Vamptober 2022 21: Special Diet
Vamptober 2022 21: Special Diet
“My sire said she bottled the last of an old enemy’s heart blood in 1942, and a taste of his memories with it. I didn’t ask how.”
Taylor Swift, Midnights
After folklore was a Changeling album, Midnights is a disco Vampire album. Maroon is the end credits track.
Thursday 20 October 2022
Huntober 2022 20: The Final Shot
Huntober 2022 20: The Final Shot
“If I still needed my heart that would probably hurt.”
Vamptober 2022 20: The Worst Night Of My Unlife
Vamptober 2022 20: The Worst Night Of My Unlife
“Oh God, no...”
Wednesday 19 October 2022
Vamptober 2022 19: Let The Darkness Embrace You
Vamptober 2022 19: Let The Darkness Embrace You
Because the light doesn’t want you anymore.
The Watch House at 19
Retroactive post for the anniversary of the first session of The Watch House, having looked and found the date in the Actual Play for the series.
The game made for some labour-intensive Christmases!
Star Wars: Andor 1.07: Announcement
Star Wars: Andor
1.07: Announcement
“That’s just love. Nothing you can do about that.”
Back to the starting planet and little revealing flashbacks after the Aldahni strike had effects, so both previous three-parters factor in.
Poor ol’ Syril. I’m sure he’s going to do something awful again but I can still feel sorry for his current position.
And a beachfront resort planet called Niamos introduced with a tracking shot of birds over water?
Edit: somebody made the Niamos Vice joke already.
Tuesday 18 October 2022
How to choose a horror house (or game) theme
Universal Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights behind the scenes with creative director John Murdy.
He offers some advice that also applies to game pitches and one-shots as well as practical points that would suit LARPs in particular.
Also clear colour pictures of the La Llorana house. Which, yikes.
Huntober 2022 18: This Place Reeks Of Monsters
Huntober 2022 18: This Place Reeks Of Monsters
“Any nightclub with good enough security to keep monsters out is probably owned by one.”
Vamptober 2022 18: Can We Drink From Each Other?
Vamptober 2022 18: Can We Drink From Each Other?
“Yes, but it gets weird.”
The BBC at 100
The British Broadcasting Corporation was founded (as the preceding British Broadcasting Company) on October 18th 1922.
Monday 17 October 2022
Huntober 2022 17: Hidden In Plain Sight
Huntober 2022 17: Hidden In Plain Sight
“When you’re looking for vampires, always check the second sketchiest paid blood bank in town first.”
Vamptober 2022 17: When Sun Used To Shine
Vamptober 2022 17: When Sun Used To Shine
“This is my last photo with my sister, from the summer before... well, y’know.”
Sunday 16 October 2022
Huntober 2022 16: The Unusual Hunter
Huntober 2022 16: The Unusual Hunter
“I hear the voices of the dead. Victims crying out for justice. Can you help them?”
Vamptober 2022 16: Things I've Learnt
Vamptober 2022 16: Things I’ve Learnt Since I Died
“I always wanted to master a musical instrument, and it’s not like I don’t have the time any more.”
Saturday 15 October 2022
Revisiting Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker
And following The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, rewatching The Rise Of Skywalker after three years avoiding it. Without the weight of expectations and knowing what’s coming, I can appreciate the handful of things I liked. Most of the emotional hits that work are pure nostalgia, many powered by John Williams taking motifs from across the saga. C-3PO’s sacrifice almost works, though I know how it works out. It certainly works better than the Chewie’s Fine Actually cliffhanger.
But, urgh, that start. Especially with a silent montage that they could have at least put Palpatine’s message over, instead of making it an online exclusive premiered in Fortnite.
Anyway, here’s mum:
Huntober 2022 15: Investigation
Huntober 2022 15: Investigation
“Hey babe, yeah, I’m there and... they’re gone, sending the photos now.”
Vamptober 2022 15: Remorse
Vamptober 2022 15: Remorse
“Who was that?”
“I don’t know. But he seemed so sorry he might have scared me...”
Friday 14 October 2022
Huntober 2022 14: Descent Into The Darkness
Huntober 2022 14: Descent Into The Darkness
Carry the light with you.
(Inspired by The Esoterrorists.)
Vamptober 2022 14: The Curse Of My Blood
Vamptober 2022 14: The Curse Of My Blood
Robbie Coltrane
Robbie Coltrane was, among other things, a musical star, a comic adaptation hero, a Bond not-quite-villain.
Thursday 13 October 2022
Huntober 2022 13: I Smell Magic In Here
Huntober 2022 13: I Smell Magic In Here
That door chime really does warn the magic store owner when certain types of customers come in.
Vamptober 2022 13: We Gather Here Tonight
Vamptober 2022 13: We Gather Here Tonight
“My Seneschal, Keeper and I are pleased to announce that your Accounting is now concluded, and you are henceforth to be considered one of the city’s Kindred.”
“I am certain you will make your sire proud.”
“And I hope you can forgive him.”
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law 1.09: Whose Show Is This?
Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
1.09: Whose Show Is This?
I liked the format-bending (though I miss the format) and it certainly runs with the promise of the style choice taken from the comics.
Wednesday 12 October 2022
Huntober 2022 12: The Weird Find
Huntober 2022 12: The Weird Find
A keyring. A lucky charm. But this one doesn’t look like it would bring good luck.
Vamptober 2022 12: Humanity Lost
Vamptober 2022 12: Humanity Lost
“Rcch. Careless of me. Nearly got some in my eye.”
Star Wars: Andor 1.06: The Eye
Star Wars: Andor
1.06: The Eye
Part three of the second three-parter. More my kind of thing than 1-3, but more on the Rogue One level than the kind of Star Wars I’d make.
Tuesday 11 October 2022
Huntober 2022 11: Paranormal Activity
Huntober 2022 11: Paranormal Activity
Angels say “Be not afraid” because it is only natural to be afraid.
Vamptober 2022 11: My Safe Haven
Vamptober 2022 11: My Safe Haven
Many bathrooms have minimal indirect lighting and locks on doors, and the bath itself is often a sturdy metal construct.
Yes the perspective is terrible I know.
Monday 10 October 2022
Huntober 2022 10: Werewolf Country
Huntober 2022 10: We Can’t Stop Here, This Is Werewolf Country
“Last seen wearing a blue all-weather jacket and black ski hat, heading into Dalton Woods on foot...”
Vamptober 2022 10: Where Bloodsuckers Dance
Vamptober 2022 10: Where Bloodsuckers Dance
Vampires having nightclubs is a common enough thing to earn a TV Tropes page. Of course - night is in the name. And of course they rarely come just to enjoy themselves.
Sunday 9 October 2022
Huntober 2022 9: Haunted House
Huntober 2022 9: Haunted House
Do you feel it? The feeling that you’re not alone? The chill breeze that shouldn’t blow this way?
Vamptober 2022 9: Will You Be Mine Forever?
Vamptober 2022 9: Will You Be Mine Forever?
“Of course,” the vampire lied.
Star Trek trailers: Discovery, Prodigy, Picard
Star Trek trailers from New York Comic Con with some news, not least for the final season of Picard.
Saturday 8 October 2022
Revisiting Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Following The Focre Awakens comes the network premiere of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, the uneven but innovative oddity in the middle of the sequel trilogy before J.J. Abrams changed his mind and undid a bunch of it.
Johnson looked back himself with Empire after five years.
Watching with my mum again...
(The island)
These look like monastic beehives from medieval times. They look like individual monastic cells on Iona, made by dry stane dyking methods.
(And she’s quite right, the Skellig Michael 6th-8th century monastery is built in a similar manner.)
Huntober 2022 8: Something Wicked This Way Comes
Huntober 2022 8: Something Wicked This Way Comes
(With apologies to the poster artists for The Dark Knight)
“Is this your card?”
Vamptober 2022 8: Memoriam
Vamptober 2022 8: Memoriam
“Portrait of... oh, is he an ancestor?”
“Something like that.”
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