Blood Capsule #203

THE PRESENCE (1992)

A couple of months back, give or take, I reviewed Fright Night Part 2.  I had so much fun with it, I decided to explore the rest of director Tommy Lee Wallace's resume.  One title kept sticking out.  This title, as a matter of fact.  It's a made-for-TV morsel that was intended to be a pilot for a series that never germinated.  I've covered a lot of those lately.  Strange.  Anyway, The Presence feels formulaic, like it could have been directed by anyone.  Synopsis!  After a plane crashes in the Pacific, the inhabitants wash ashore on some remote island.  They find bananas, coconuts, and an abandoned military base.  Two of the men are groped by a tentacled critter, and as a result, they begin to mutate in different ways.  So what happened on this island?  And should our survivors be worried that ol' Frank is developing reptilian features?

I suppose it would be more appropriate to say that he's turning into an amphibian, but I'm not your biology teacher.  I will only tell you what you need to know.  That is, The Presence has a fishman in it!  This sub-subgenre is the bee's kneecaps.  Whether it's the Gillman in Creature From the Black Lagoon or the mucky sex offenders in Humanoids From the Deep, I'm a huge fan of these particular monsters.  Unfortunately, the fauna in this flick is pretty insignificant in the overall scheme of things.  It doesn't even kill anyone.  All told, the majority of The Presence would fit nicely in the action/adventure section of your local video store.  I had to see it, though.  I had to be sure, y'know?  For what it is, it's competent.  The pace is kinetic, and hey, we get to ogle Kathy Ireland in a pink bathing suit.

Recommended to fans of driftwood and Beach Blanket Bingo.

Random Match Alert

You want random?  I got random.  Here's a match from late in Hakushi's WWF run.  He doesn't even get an entrance, as it's obvious they're pushing Goldust to the moon.  The match itself is a banger.  For my money, the New Generation Era went just as hard as any other era in the history of American pro-wrestling.

Blood Capsule #202

FUNERAL HOME (1980)

If I had my druthers, I would have watched this movie on VHS.  I've been after the Paragon big box version for years.  You could say that it's one of my holy grails, along with other choice heirlooms that are out of my price range.  Of course, I only want it for the artwork* (pictured below).  The movie itself is almost inconsequential.  It's certainly not atrocious, but it's not something I've been dying to write about.  An early instance of "hick horror," Funeral Home follows 16-year-old Heather.  She's staying with her grandmother for the summer and helping out with the family business.  To wit, they run a bed and breakfast, but the domicile used to be a funeral parlor.  It isn't long before guests begin to disappear.  So we have a slasher on our hands.  Who is doing the slashing?

No, it's not Wink Martindale.  Is he still alive?  I digress; the killer's identity is exceedingly easy to predict.  The lack of any real twists hinders the final product more than anything.  If I had to smoke out a silver lining, it would be the menacing atmosphere.  Director William Fruet does a swell job of framing an otherwise uneventful exposition.  Trivia! He also shot Blue Monkey, Killer Party, Spasms, and upwards of 27 (!) episodes of Goosebumps.  That's a lot of Goosebumps.  If Funeral Home was written by R.L. Stine, maybe we would find out that the title location resided in outer space.  Yeah, that's what it needed.  A little spice.  As it stands, it's just a 3-Z'Dar affair, and that's being generous.  Nothing to see here, folks.

*The Blu-ray is adorned with the same image, but pfft.  Where's the fun in that?

Make Room for Dom

Went to a wedding yesterday.  Only succeeded in making me want to watch The Stepfather 2.  As for the rest of the week, you can expect more Blood Capsules and maybe a short story.  I'm going to post it on Patreon in five installments, starting maybe tomorrow.  I know that's a lot of maybes, but it's definitely going to happen.  If you decide that you want to read it, click HERE and sign up like all the other cool kids.

Album Cover of the Whatever

This sleeper hit of sorts juuuuust missed my Best Metal of 2024...So Far list.  The band is Thanatotherion.  The subgenre is black metal with some ambient touches.  The album cover is insane.  Seriously, that's one for the books.

Best Metal of 2024...So Far

This list is in no particular order.  I hate making lists of any kind, but since we're at the halfway mark of the year, it seems like the thing to do.  It will be interesting to see if any of these records will wind up on my year-end list.  Note!  I'm currently listening to Severe Torture's Torn From the Jaws of Death.  I suggest you do the same.  It just about ripped my head clean off.

Abigor -  Taphonomia Aeternitatis

Caligula's Horse - Charcoal Grace

Unaussprechlichen Kulten - Haxan Sabaoth

Dool - The Shape of Fluidity

Wheel - Charismatic Leaders

Sarcasm - Mourninghoul

Suldusk - Anthesis

Severe Torture - Torn From the Jaws of Death

Sebastian Bach - Child Within the Man

Blood Capsule #201

BURIAL GROUND: THE NIGHT OF TERROR (1981)

File this one under "movies I really should have seen by now."  Burial Ground feels like a lost Lucio Fulci joint, which means it's right up my alley.  For the record, my alley is littered with refuse and alcohol-scented bums that look like George "Buck" Flower.  Back on topic, Dom!  The plot is so bare, that if it were a person, I would be concerned for its well-being.  All gaunt and rawboned, the script follows an archeologist who has uncovered a putrid crypt, a baronial thing of stone that houses an army of the undead.  And that's it.  My meager synopsis could almost pass for the script itself.  There are plenty of characters, but you will only remember Michael.  Oh, Michael.  He is the awkward son of our leading lady.  Don't ask me to pinpoint his age.  Most likely, he frequents kindergarten (the jury's out on whether he's a student or a teacher).

Burial Ground is notorious for its rampant gore.  Again, I'm reminded of Fulci, but as much as I love The Beyond and City of the Living Dead, they are a little harder to penetrate.  This flick doesn't follow dream logic.  No, it's wide awake, and the breakneck pace ensures viewer participation.  Once the zombie action starts in earnest, it doesn't let up until we see the ending credits.  Needless to say, the special effects are stupendous.  While it may be true that exploding heads lose their charm after awhile - wait, hold up; that's not true at all!  Add Burial Ground: The Night of Terror (a.k.a. Zombie Minus One...just kidding) to your chopping list pronto.  It's an effortless watch.  I'm deducting one Z'Dar because of Michael.  Oh, Michael.

Discography Diving

Does anybody else do this?  Discography diving is not unlike dumpster diving, I reckon, but it can be rewarding.  What you do is you pick a band, preferably a band that has amassed a substantial catalog.  Maybe it's a band you've been meaning to get into and just haven't for some reason.  Sear Bliss is the example I'll be using for this demonstration.  I feel like I need a projector.  Next slide!

So Sear Bliss.  They're a Hungarian atmospheric black metal band, and I noticed they had a record coming out soon.  That's what prompted me to check them out, though I have yet to listen to any of their modern stuff.  I went back to their debut, 1996's Phantoms.  Right up front, I can tell you that this album is superior to the Ben Affleck movie of the same name.  Actually, it's awesome.  Unspeakably awesome.  Allowing for the new one, they have released nine full-lengths, so I predict more diving in the not-too-distant future.

Man, dig that guitar solo in "Aeons of Desolation."  Yowza.  The demonstration is over.  Hey, it's a sleepy Sunday.  What do you want from me?

Blood Capsule #200

This review was requested via Patreon.  If you'd like to request a review (and please do show mercy on me), click HERE.

THE GIANT CLAW (1957)

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said about irritable bowel syndrome?  I jest, but The Giant Claw does have a sizeable reputation.  Somehow, I had managed to avoid it until last night, and that's not cool.  I was curious to see if it offered anything past an absurd marionette.  The plot gets brownie points for embracing pseudo-scientific piffle.  I love that stuff.  Here, the monster dodges radar detection (it's dodgy alright) with an invisible shield of some sort, as it's composed of anti-matter.  I have no idea what that means, and I'm assuming that director Fred F. Sears didn't either.  Tragically, Sears passed away almost immediately after production wrapped.  My first instinct is to follow that up with a tasteless joke.  Something about talons clutching the coffin.  I don't know; you fill in the blanks.

Side characters broach the topic of folk legends.  This could be one of the first films to introduce a prospective cryptid into the cultural zeitgeist.  So it's worth noting for at least one reason other than...y'know.  I'm trying to focus on anything else, but the ridiculous beastie is making it difficult.  I did notice that most of the dialogue felt natural, which threw me for a loop.  Trivia!  The special effects were very nearly rendered by Ray Harryhausen, but producer Sam Katzman couldn't justify spending that much money.  Well, I hope he's happy.  I'm glad that I watched The Giant Claw myself.  Apart from the obvious, it's business as usual for a budget picture from the 1950's.  That's definitely a good thing.

Random Match Alert

Okay, so this match isn't entirely random.  It's certainly interesting, given the heights to which Rhea has ascended.  As for Io, I think I've made it clear that she's, like, destined to be my wife and stuff.

A book update!

What does my book have to do with The X-Files, you might be wondering?  Absolutely nothing.  I've just been watching a lot of The X-Files lately.  I recently added the Comet app to my Roku, which is where I meet up with Mulder and Scully on a nightly basis.  Man, I love that show.  But you asked about my book, didn't you?  I'm eyeballing a July release date.  Of course, things could always backfire.  I should probably say "sometime this year," but I'm thinking July.  We shall see.

Also, you should know that I'm going to publish the paperback version first.  Kindle will come later, but that's going to take some extra work.  It's a learning process.  Apparently, the online version has to be formatted a certain way.  I won't bore you with the details.  Like I said, it's a learning process.  I'll try to keep everyone in the loop.  That's all for now, kids!

A Band: Weapon

I'll make this direct and to the point, which is fitting because Weapon's music is a direct punch to the gut (the good kind).  Who is Weapon?  They were a blackened death metal band that hailed from Canada, releasing two EPs and three LPs before calling it quits in 2013.  As is usually the case with unsung obscurities, I don't remember how I chanced upon them.  Naturally, Weapon was done kicking ass when I did find out about them.  I'm most familiar with their third album, 2012's Embers and Revelations, but you should know that all of their material is worth scoping out.

So what do they sound like?  I just perused the "Similar Artists" tab on Metal Archives out of curiosity, and I would say the closest touchstones are The Chasm and late-era Rotting Christ.  Also, I'm hearing a hefty dose of Behemoth.  To be specific, I'm hearing shades of Demigod and Zos Kia Cultus.  It's becoming popular in the underground to slag Behemoth, and I don't know why.  That's probably a tangent I should neglect to pursue, but personally, I love those Behemoth records.  Your mileage may vary.  Weapon's tunes are stippled with blastbeats and a generous portion of lead breaks.  If you're a fan of guitar solos, this is the band for you.  And wouldn't you know it?  I'm a fan of guitar solos.

Lyrically, we're in Satanic territory.  I would bemoan the trite themes being dissected here, but at least this stuff is well-written.  As a writer, that's honestly more important to me than the content itself.  So yeah.  Check out Weapon.

The Night Flier

For anyone who cares, this is probably the last full-length (I consider at least four paragraphs to be full-length) review that I'll write for the site.  For awhile anyway.  Reason being, I want them to be reserved for somewhat special occasions.  Plus, working on a book full of Blood Capsules has conditioned my brain to think in terse, laconic terms.  By the way, this is definitely a special occasion.  I love The Night Flier.  It's one of my favorite films of all time (top 5, easily), and as a matter of fact, I thought that I had reviewed it already.  What better way to end Vampire Month than to talk about the most underrated Stephen King adaptation out there?  No one ever mentions it.  Drives me nuts.

The late, great Miguel Ferrer stars as Richard Dees, a character that has surfaced in other King tales.  He's a blood-hungry reporter working for Inside View, a salacious rag most comparable to Weekly World News.  His boss gives him first crack at a story too bizarre to be real.  Some lunatic is flying into desolate airports in the pitch of night and butchering everyone there.  Victims are marked with neck wounds, "holes as big as railroad spikes."  So what's this guy's deal?  Why does he think he's a vampire, and how did he get a pilot's license?  Dees, a pilot himself, is determined to find out.  We spend most of the film with him, and I'm going to need a whole new paragraph to praise Ferrer's performance.

He is such a dick.  Dees has been hardened by life, and as such, he is full of acid words for anyone unfortunate enough to veer into his vicinity.  He pelts poor Katherine, a fresh-faced journalist competing for the front page.  She is played with poise and pathos by Julie Entwisle.  Trivia!  Entwisle married director Mark Pavia not long after shooting wrapped on The Night Flier.  More trivia!  Pavia and King co-wrote a sequel nearly twenty years ago, but the funding wasn't there.  Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself.  I need to pat cinematographer David Connell on the back.  Despite a scrawny budget (the film was originally headed for theaters before premiering on HBO), the imagery is crisp.  Prismatic colors bleed off the screen.  Damn near stained my carpet.

I'll level with you.  I'm going to give The Night Flier five Z'Dars, but it's not perfect.  I've seen the thing so many times, I don't see the pockmarks anymore.  For instance, the acting is sketchy from the peripheral players.  A gravedigger here, a hairdresser there...it doesn't add up to much.  The carnage is just gory enough.  The special effects are fantastic, and yes, that includes a nominal amount of CGI.  There are a lot of reasons why I love The Night Flier.  Chief among them?  It's cool.  No, really.  The villain is cool, the basic plot is cool, and even the short story is cool.  Speaking of which, you can find it in Nightmares & Dreamscapes.  You can find The Night Flier pretty much anywhere.  Watch it yesterday.

Album Cover of the Whatever

Vrykolakas is a death metal band based out of Singapore.  No, I don't know how the hell I come across this stuff, but all that matters is the album cover.  And that's a great one!  The music isn't too shabby either.

Blood Capsule #199

VAMPIRE (1979)

I didn't mean to scare up a host of made-for-TV horror movies from the 70's, but here I am.  This time, the network was ABC and the saber-toothed knave was Richard Lynch.  Honestly, it took awhile to warm up to Vampire.  The exposition is pretty dry.  Lynch plays a ghoul whose coffin is disturbed when a church is erected in San Francisco.  One minute, he is rising from the grave, brushing away loose ground and glowering in the direction of an improbably ginormous cross.  The next?  He's dealing in antiques.  It's an abrupt transition, especially considering that we're supposed to be afraid of some dandy being questioned about his art collection.  He says he didn't steal those paintings.  Hey, I believe him, but that doesn't stop the police from detaining him behind bars.  Like I said, the plot is...dehydrated?  Don't turn the channel just yet, though.

If you can stomach the unpalatable first act, the story takes a few detours that you won't see coming.  Well, I didn't see them coming.  The characters actually get a chance to grieve when someone dies, which is something I can't say for most genre treats.  Jason Miller and E.G. Marshall deserve honorable mentions for their performances as an architect and a retired cop, respectively.  It goes without blabbing that Lynch is dignified as all hell.  The pace stutters near the climax.  It's almost not worth mentioning, but I have to wonder if the awkward ending was intentional.  Vampire was technically a pilot for a series that was never developed.  Taken as a stand-alone piece, it's sturdy enough to recommend.  I wouldn't choose it over that same year's Salem's Lot, however.

Rassle Inn #50

Several weeks back, Tony Schiavone made some interesting comments during an interview.  A source escapes me, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.  Hey, I wouldn't lie about something so trivial.  Anyway, he was making the case that AEW is in no way similar to WCW.  Granted, he was a little defensive.  And he did actually work there, but I was there, too.  As a fan.  We all were.  Before you belittle me, I'll remind you that without us, the viewers, Nitro never would have succeeded.  Okay, I'll get to my point.  For those of you who miss WCW, I got news for you.  AEW is, like, totally WCW.  It doesn't draw the same numbers, and there is no inter-promotional war taking place, but for all intents and purposes, AEW is WCW.

In the mid-90's, free agents in professional wrestling had two basic options in the United States.  With WWF, you had more structure up top.  Concurrently, you had less money.  With WCW, your bank account was sure to swell.  The caveat?  It was a creative shit show.  The roster was so large, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle.  Inconsistent booking didn't help matters.  Nowadays, free agents in professional wrestling have two basic options in the United States.  I think you can see where I'm going with this.  With WWE, you are guaranteed structure and a professional presentation.  With AEW, you are guaranteed a fat contract.  Plus, it's a lighter schedule.  Hmm, didn't WCW run less dates and house shows than WWF?

I should make one thing universally clear.  I'm not saying that one is better than the other, even if one is objectively better than the other.  You can be a WWE/AEW mark if you want.  Buy all the merchandise.  Just don't tell me there aren't parallels between late-era WCW and Tony Khan's pet project.  Of course, there is one main difference.  AEW won't be dissolving anytime soon.  At the very least, it's cool that these athletes do have options on the table.  We've seen what a monopoly can do to the wrestling business, and it's not pretty.

As an aside, what the hell was that random gauntlet match on Dynamite?  Shota Umino?  Hechicero???  Why not throw in Saba Simba and T.L. Hopper for good measure?

Vengeance: The Demon

This isn't a review per se.  I just have to tell you about an awesome comic book I just read.  A series, in fact.  I recently bought all five issues of Dynamite's Pumpkinhead run from roughly six years ago.  I do own a separate Pumpkinhead comic, and it's cool, but this one...woah.  If they ever go ahead with a Pumpkinhead reboot (they might as well), the sequel needs to be based on this stuff.  Why, you ask?  It introduces other monsters.  Yes, there is a demon for each sin, and they run the gamut from a thorny witch to a Lovecraftian mess of tentacles.  Imagine this material in the hands of a company like KNB EFX.  If they took the "old school" route, it could be epic.

A part of me wants to revisit Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes and Pumpkinhead 4: Blood Feud.  Maybe I'll review all of the sequels one day.  Maybe.

An experiment...

Had an idea.  We'll see if it's readable.  Let me know if I should do this again in the future.

Last Movie I Watched (that I didn't review)

1960's The Amazing Transparent Man...I've been trying to take in more straight science fiction as part of a balanced fanboy diet.  This crime thriller was kinda-sorta based on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man.  Universal fixture Jack Pierce helped with the make-up effects.  The storyline sees an ex-military magnate bust a notorious safecracker out of prison.  He wants to orchestrate the ultimate uranium heist.  Or radium.  Plutonium?  The idea is to use a scientist's invisibility ray to assist in conducting grand larceny.  Of course, he's also holding the scientist against his will.  It's a lot of plot, but this is a cool little flick.  And I do mean "little"; it clocks in at a scant 58 minutes.

Last Album I Listened To

Sepultura's Beneath the Remains...I don't know what cosmic force impels us to revisit certain tunage, but I'm glad it does.  For years, this record hovered in one of my blind spots.  I dug it, but when it came to Sepultura, I always preferred Arise.  Now?  I'm not so sure.  This is a lean, muscular thrash attack.  Every song is killer.  Here and there, I'll pick up on clean guitar passages that add dimension to the whole affair.  I still love Arise, mind you.  I'll even listen to Roots, but I have to be in the right mood.  At the moment, my favorite track is "Mass Hypnosis."  Wouldn't it be weird if this thing clocked in at 58 minutes?  I mean, it doesn't, but wouldn't that be weird???

Last Wrestling Show I Watched

Raw...I'm grasping at straws, but I wanted to try to throw all of the main ingredients of the website into a single post.  Actually, I didn't watch all of Raw, but I will say, I'm totally here for Liv Morgan's eventual heel turn.  Now I can say that Dom and Liv are an item.  Ha!  Unrelated - aside from Bron Breakker, are any of the NXT call-ups over with the WWE Universe?  Like, at all?  You could hear a pin drop during the Creed Brothers match.  I hate saying that because I'm a bit of a tag team mark.  But Jesus, give us a reason to care.  And The Final Testament is just not working.  I guess I'm ending the experiment on an ambivalent note.  Sorry.

Blood Capsule #198

SHADOW ZONE: THE UNDEAD EXPRESS (1996)

Before I settled on "Vampire Month," I was going to call this string of reviews "Vampire Movies That No One Cares About."  Too verbose, no?  It would have been an accurate title, as I'm positive that no one remembers or gives a flying flapdoodle (sorry for the coarse language) about Shadow Zone, a series of books similar to Goosebumps.  It was one of the more successful recapitulations of R.L. Stine's ectoderm.  I know that because there were two Shadow Zone movies, both co-produced by Showtime and Hallmark.  I'm honestly not sure if the other - 1997's My Teacher Ate My Homework - was released onto home video.  One would think so, but I haven't been able to find a copy.  You are forgiven for assuming that The Undead Express was a zombie tag team (managed by Jim Gore-nette, I'm sure).  Man, that would have been awesome.

Anyway, this flick goes down like a cap full of Pepto Bismol.  The taste isn't offensive, but you wouldn't rush out to buy more of it.  Our storyline follows a teenager who haunts a video store...hmm, poor choice of words on my part.  He isn't dead; he just likes to hang out at a video store.  While that makes him somewhat likable, he's an insufferable prick to his closest friends.  They don't believe him when he says that he was accosted by a well-mannered vampire at the subway station, and why would they?  As it turns out, the underground transit system is littered with pale bloodsuckers.  They are all subservient to Ron Silver, and I can't get over how weird that sounds.  Ultimately, Shadow Zone: The Undead Express is middling, yet entirely watchable.  High-grade special effects detonate whenever a vampire is exposed to sunlight.

I'm awarding an extra half-Z'Dar for a gratuitous Wes Craven cameo.  Recommended to fans of turnstiles.

Dom Goes to Hollywood

So here's something cool and way out of left field.  I'm going to be in a movie!  Yep, I'll be wearing my thespian hat in Bobby Canipe Jr.'s Venus DIE-Trap, a tubular throwback to b-pictures from the 1950's.  Shooting commences later this summer.  I'll try to write a diary about my experience, which should be super interesting.

Click HERE to check out the Indiegogo campaign!

Blood Capsule #197

NIGHT OF DARK SHADOWS (1971)

When you last left your crippled curator (I couldn't think of a worse example of alliteration), he...er, I was lamenting the fact that I wasn't terribly familiar with Dark Shadows.  House of Dark Shadows was an amusing sit, but it didn't offer much to an outsider.  This follow-up bears only a tenuous connection to the series.  Apart from the setting, everything is brand spankin' new.  I think.  A couple has inherited the Collinwood Estate.  The husband, a painter by trade, is plagued with turbid visions of a witch hanging from a noose.  It doesn't take long for you to realize that we're grappling with a tired reincarnation plotline, and therein lies the problem.  Notice anything missing?  No.  Effing.  Vampires.  Okay, that's not a hiccup per se, but it sure doesn't help Vampire Month.

I could have thrown this one out with (or without) the bathwater, but it exists as a tangential curiosity.  I like tangential curiosities.  Of course, I was all geared up for a vampire flick, so this was a diminutive disappointment.  "But Dom," you interject.  "Is it an otherwise exemplary production?"  No.  No, it isn't.  The acting is rigid, and if you were watching these films back-to-back, you would notice that Night was furnished with less spooky ambience.  You can definitely tell that it was based on a soap opera.  Maybe that's your bag.  Personally, I wish I would have skipped it, mainly because I still have dates with actual vampires.  FACTOID: Director Dan Curtis was dragooned into shaving over thirty minutes from the final cut.  It doesn't look like we'll ever see the full version, which if I'm being honest, doesn't affect me on an emotional level.

Vampires, vampires everywhere!

I just wrote a Blood Capsule, and guess what?  My Patreon supporters can read it right now!  The rest of you will have to wait until next Sunday.  If you want in on the action, the lowest tier is only three bucks.  Mull it over.  I think we could be good friends, you and I.

Random Match Alert

The only real downside to WCW circa 1997 was that the NWO swallowed the rest of the show.  Here we have Mortis being a badass, but does the commentary team put him over as a threat?  Nope.  Schiavone is stuck talking about NWO's shenanigans.  Mortis still rules, though!  Gotta love that entrance theme.

Blood Capsule #196

KISS OF THE VAMPIRE (1963)

Here we have a non-Dracula Hammer vampire film.  There were others, but this one features a tsunami of bats enshrouding the night sky while a fanged cult cowers in fear.  Did I just spoil the ending?  Maybe, but you'll want to see it anyway.  Working off a screenplay by regular Hammer scribe Anthony Hinds, director Don Sharp lets the lavish costumes and set design do the heavy lifting.  Atmosphere is paramount.  As for the plot, we follow a couple in need of petrol for their motorcar (the Blu-ray should have come with a glossary).  Of course, they happened to break down in a quaint village, and of course, they receive an offer to stay in an august, magisterial castle.  It seems that the townspeople are sheepishly afraid of the Gothic stronghold.  Something about vampires.  It's probably nothing.

Kiss of the Vampire is a suit-and-tie fright flick.  It doesn't do anything incredibly well, but it doesn't fumble the ball either (editor's note: that could be because it's playing soccer).  The climax is worth the price of admission alone.  Those bats I mentioned earlier?  They saturate the screen in a scene so eerily reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Universal delayed the release of the film, both stateside and overseas.  I don't know if it trumps any of Christopher Lee's Dracula joints, but I like the attempts to tinker with vampire lore.  For instance, these bloodsuckers can brave the noonday sun if it's partly cloudy.  'Tis certainly enjoyable, though it's not must-see material.

Blood Capsule #195

HOUSE OF DARK SHADOWS (1970)

Growing up, I had seen chunks of daytime television because of my mother.  Whether it was Guiding Light or As the World Turns, I guess you could say that I peeped at soap operas vicariously through her, or at least that's how I remember it.  I don't like to admit that I enjoyed them myself.  Of course, I watch pro-wrestling now, so I'm in no position to judge.  And if I was a slice older, I would have been eager to consume goblets of Dark Shadows, a show tailor-made for horror freaks who didn't mind their scares being stagy and episodic.  I should preface the rest of this review by stating the obvious; I haven't seen one solitary episode of Dark Shadows.  Unfortunately, this made-for-TV film wasn't timbered with outsiders in mind.  The first act is blurry, as it throws characters at the viewer without much of an introduction.

I was familiar with Barnabas Collins, however.  Here, the regal vampire is presented as a distant relative.  Most of the action takes place at the Collinwood Estate.  House is light on plot until bodies begin to pile up, bodies drained of plasma.  Survivors seem to be in a trance, and I'm sure you can figure out where we're going.  To be perfectly honest, this bat-winged b-picture (make no mistake, we're in b-territory) creeps along at a laggard gait, but then suddenly, everything clicks into place.  The atmosphere is intensified (as far as I can tell, half of the budget was spent on fog machines), the gore is thickened, and it becomes harder to predict the story beats.  Does House of Dark Shadows work as a companion piece to the TV series?  No idea, but probably.  There is a sequel.  Tune in next week to see if it sinks its fangs into yours truly.

I met Darcy and Joe Bob!

Photo credit: Bobby (from Bobby's World)

Yesterday, I attended a very cool event with one of my best buds.  Joe Bob Briggs hosted a unique double feature (Bubba Ho-Tep and Donnie Darko) at the Carolina Theatre of Durham, and of course, he signed autographs on top of peddling his wares.  He also hosted a Q&A.  I had been rehearsing a question all day, but I got gun-shy.  Actually, I got shy all over the place.  Did I even say words to Joe Bob and/or Darcy?  I honestly have no idea.  I intended on introducing myself as a budding horror critic, but the whole experience was a blur.  Having said that, it was an awesome blur.

PS-I did slip my business card across the table.  There is a chance, albeit remote, that Joe Bob and/or Darcy will see this write-up.  Great, now I'm nervous again.  In summation, Joe Bob was incredible.  We could have listened to him yammer for hours on end.  The movies were icing on the cake.  The drive-in will never die!!!

Now Playing #12

Endonomos - Endonomos

Credit YouTube for this one.  I wish I could remember the dude's name, but...nope, nothing.  Damn.  Basically, this was his recommendation, and I'll leave a link if I figure out his identity.  Do you like death/doom?  If so, this album should be your next purchase.  Vocals are split between unholy growls and sullen cleans, often multi-tracked.  A point of reference?  Imagine if Crowbar played death/doom.  The opening riff of "Weary" has Kirk Windstein written all over it.  It's worth mentioning that I haven't seen anyone else make this comparison, so I could be talking directly out of my anal cavity.  I don't think so, though!  Anyway, yeah, you need to hear this record right now.  It came out in 2022, and according to Metal Archives, they recently released a single featuring Daniel Droste of Ahab fame.  Huh, I didn't know that.

Listen to "Theft" OR just download the whole thing on Bandcamp.  I'll make it easy for you.  Click HERE.

Edge of Sanity - Crimson II

It's kind of astonishing that this was essentially a solo project.  Dan Swano deserves his own federal holiday, if you ask me.  In doing research on the man himself, I was faced with the realization that some people...don't worship Dan Swano?  How is that possible?  This is, like, the third or fourth time that I've been on an Edge of Sanity kick in my adult life, and I'm working off the assumption that most other earthlings can say the same thing.  Oh, if you didn't know, this is a progressive death metal masterpiece.  FACTOID: Because this album was released in the salad days of file-sharing, its sole track (a 43-minute composition) was fractured into bite-size smithereens.  Sound strategy, but it didn't work.  I vividly remember being exposed to Crimson and Crimson II through Kazaa (or maybe it was LimeWire).

At this point, I might rank Crimson II over Unorthodox or Purgatory Afterglow, but it's splitting hairs.  I advise checking out Swano's back catalog.  He's a jolly good fellow, end of.

Vampire month?

Through haphazard happenstance, I find myself sitting on a stack of vampire movies.  I've set them aside for some time because hey, wouldn't it be neat to announce "vampire month" here at RR Inc?  A few things you need to know about Vampire Month...

8) It probably won't last a full month.

73) Aside from the obvious, there is no overlapping theme connecting the movies that I'll be reviewing.  It's a random lot, which shouldn't surprise anyone.

555) Can you identify the vampire in the image above?  Guess the correct answer and win...nothing!

Album Cover of the Whatever

Doctor's appointments!  They suck, and I've had a lot of them lately.  So I haven't been terribly productive, but give me a few days to realign my chakra.  In the meantime, listen to Ravaged by the Yeti.  They're a grindcore band.  Honestly, I'm not into grind, but I am into Rogga Johansson.  This is one of his 10,537 projects, and they're all worth checking out.

The contest is over...

...and the winner is...

Mike Mnemonic!  Congratulations!  You just won some cool, random stuff!

Decayed Decades

Heads up!  Exhumed have been uploading parts of a documentary to YouTube in piecemeal fashion.  It reminds me of Cannibal Corpse's epic Centuries of Torment DVD in terms of scope, although it's not quite as long.  Definitely worth checking out if you're a fan of the band, which I have been for awhile now.

Fright Night Part 2

I haven't written a full-length review in ages.  I've been too busy writing Blood Capsules, and I must admit, I don't know if I can retrain my brain to write four paragraphs about a movie.  I might pull something, is what I'm saying.  Hold my hand?  We should probably start with the original Fright Night.  It's overrated.  Yeah, I said it.  I've always felt this way, and while I don't hold any trenchant hatred for the film, it's merely "a'ight" for me.  Fright Night Part 2 on the other hand...I saw it on television as a wee lad and enjoyed the muck out of it.  Having rewatched it for this review, I can confirm that woah, it rules.  A lot.  In fact, it might be one of my favorite sequels of all time.  Shocked?  Me, too!

This movie does everything right.  God bless director Tommy Lee Wallace.  Let's make it official; if you have Fright Night Part 2 and Halloween III: Season on the Witch on your resume, you're a certified badass.  I realize that he was given a meaty budget to work with (relatively speaking, of course), but you have to know how to execute and take advantage of your resources.  I like that the plot finds Charley as a rehabilitated student.  It switches the dynamics up a bit to present Peter Vincent as the feasibly crazy vampire killer.  If you've been living under a coffin, we meet Regine, the sultry sister of Jerry Dandridge.  Can we just take a minute to glorify the villains here?  By the way, I'm referring to Regine's gang of miscreants, not the Menendez brothers.  If you know, you know.

These bloodsuckers are so cool, it hurts.  At one point, they go bowling for the sake of going bowling!  Granted, they decapitate someone at the alley, but still.  And does Belle remind anyone else of Damian Priest?  It would be stunt casting, but if they ever commission a remake...yeah, I know that the 2011 redux has a sequel.  No, I don't plan on renting it.  Back to Fright Night Part 2.  The pacing is flawless.  The special effects are honestly incredible, and I have no idea how they achieved certain shots without the cushion of CGI.  We even get a werewolf thrown in for good measure.  Does the re-sequel have a werewolf in it???

I'm tempted to whip out five Z'Dars, but that should only be reserved for the stuff that stands the test of time.  If I toss Fright Night Part 2 into the ol' VCR a few years from now, and I have the same amount of fun with it as I did last night, then I'll consider a perfect rating.  Where is the affordable Blu-ray?  Don't get me wrong; I'm content with my tape, but if any flick deserves double-dipping, it's this one.  As for the first Fright Night, I could be talked into giving it a second chance.  No promises.  I can't believe that Stephen Geoffreys chose 976-Evil over reprising his role as Evil Ed.  Then again, he made several questionable career choices, didn't he?

Quick update...

Heads up!  I've retooled my Patreon tiers.  If you sign up, you'll get to see select Blood Capsules a full week before they hit the site.  Plus, you can even request a review!  Give it a looksee below.  I can't pour time into this thing without the Patreon support, so thank you again to anyone who has decided to throw a couple bucks my way.

Gyaos says, "Click HERE!"