Swamp Thing, you make my heart sing?

Today I pay hommage to one of my favorite monsters, who hasn't had as much screen time as other monsters, like vampires or werewolves, but can still be just as spooky and has some interesting roots.

Swamp thing came from comic books, created in the DC comic book world by Len Wein. His first appearance was in 1971, and the story line has changed a few times (those familiar with the workings of comic books are probably used to this). Basically it envolves an experiment gone wrong, and the after math leaves the scientist Alex Olson to live in the swamp. He is half man, half vegetable matter, and he fights to protect his new swamp home.

A few years later the story is updated again where a scientist named Alec Holland gets hit by a bomb intending to kill him, and the burning chemicals and him running into the swamp somehow later turn him into a half man half plant beast thing. It happens, I suppose.

Swamp thing later got a t.v. series that ran from 1990 for only 3 seasons. Swamp thing was played by Dick Durock, and swamp thing even has a couple of movies.

So far as I have found, this is the earliest of Swamp thing origins, that he was created in the world of comic books, and wasn't around in any mythology.

So let's look at the creature from the black lagoon.

There's something about this face that I can't help but love. It reminds me of the game Call of Cthulhu and what I imagine a Deep One to look like. 

Where swamp thing gets its roots from the comic book world, the Creature from the Black Lagoon owns its heritage to a South American legend of a creature lurking in the waters, part fish, park alligator, part man. 

Rumors of this strange creature were heard by Universal Picture's William Alland, who produced the movie Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954. This movie makes the monster somewhat human, having an attraction to the heroine (much like in King Kong) and the movie has an excellent stalking scene where he watches the woman swim, follows her, and when he has the chance to touch her....he hesitates. 

Better yet, when she thinks there's something there and she dives under the water to check, the creature hides while she passes over head, as if SHE'S the monster. It's a short but well put together scene. 

Though Swamp thing has not made many appearances outside of the comic book world, the Creature from the Black Lagoon has continued to be seen, from movies like :

*The Monster Squad, 1987

*Abbot and Costello Meet the Creature from the Black Lagoon

* and even, Hotel Transylvania, 2012

There are a few Creature from the Black Lagoon looking monsters in this, but they made it very generic looking. The one in this photo on the left sort of looks like a giant frog. 

As a side note, the Monster Squad's version of the Creature from the Black Lagoon is my favorite, as he has a scary looking face with obvious, nasty looking teeth, and better yet, he's in COLOR! (as oppose to the black and white creatures we saw in Universal Studios). 

So this is the basic history of each of this relatively similar monsters (they both live in water...that's about it for how similar they are) and hopefully we will see more of both of these awesome monsters in future movies and shows. 

Short story number one: Lily and the dead man

Lily and the dead man

(by Jen, October 18, 2012)

Lily stared down at the man beneath her, his handome green eyes gazing wildly upward, while his dark brown hair was splayed in a frantic disheveled fashion about his head. Some of the hair was just touching his pale cold forehead, while the rest was ruffled upward away from his face.

She leaned down, frowning at his handsome features, and had the situation been different she wondered if she would have liked him. But the plastered look of terror that will forever torment his face was unappealing.

Lily noted the blood. Bright red splashes that adorned his face and chin, pooled at his throat, and was spattered across his t-shirt adorned chest. It looked like the blood had simply danced across his shirt, leaving tiny footprints behind their elegant wake.

Lily touched the blood, imagining its sudden escape from his once warm body, how it must have leaped and galloped from his wanting flesh, driven by the excited beating drum of his heart and the rising melody of his screams, before he must have fallen into silence.

Now the dance was over, the music hushed to a sudden quiet when his voice stopped, forever leaving his body. Then his breath would have left him in an unnoticed sigh, so soft, so insignificant it was as though he had never breathed at all.

Tentatively, Lily touched her own face. Did she too, die with such a look of terror?

She tasted the blood upon her lips, not hers, oh no, but his. She had killed him after all, in her own stupor of pure instinct and a strange undefinable hunger.

But there it was, a hunger she only quelled once she'd sunk her teeth into his neck, where they danced, clinging, thrashing, tummbling about the room, bathed in the romantic flashing red and blue lights of a world gone mad.

Finally he fell, breathless, screamless, lifeless at her feet, arms tumbling unthinkingly to his sides. His handsome eyes gazed at her while Lily stood, stilled and startled by death's revelation.

This was how she had died. Someone had danced with her, serenaded to the music of her desperate screams, while they surrendered themselves to their own terrible hunger. Someone had watched the terror that had frozen on her face, as her breathing stopped and her heart shivered and shook into a quiet nothing.

But Lily didn't feel angry about her death. She tried, when she thought about it, but instead of the old familiar burning of rage in the pit of her stomach, all she could find was that same impatient hunger that knawed at her dead flesh, that knawed at what she felt for certain was her very soul.

All around her she could hear screaming. Little musical melodies that wept and cried, gunshots that rang and hit an impossible nothing.

She started for the door when she saw him stir. Her unnamed snack was twisting his head and looking at her, mouth opened in silence to ask a question that could not be asked or answered. She looked at him, understanding. He felt the same hunger that she did.

Lily held out her dead bloodied hand to him, gesturing for him to follow. Rising, he did, and into the screaming, crying world they walked, driven forever onward by an unending hunger.

Werewolf movie, older than me but very good!

It was August 27, my 26th birthday, and just before midnight I was bored. Borrowing a friend's netflix account, I managed to find something unexpected; a werewolf movie that I hadn't heard of before!   

Not only was it a movie I hadn't heard of, but it was based on one of Stephen King's books "Cycle of the Werewolf" and the movie came out in 1985, so it's only a year older than me.

As far as the plot goes, this follows the basic werewolf movie structure, where people start getting torn apart, and someone eventually notices the coincidence that these horrible deaths are occuring during the full moon. 

There are a few key differences in this movie that I feel make it exceptional. First, instead of going into the usual, blood thirsty craze that most werewolves go into, the werewolf in this movie knows exactly what its doing. At least to some degree, it is in control of its actions and who it kills. 

Because of this, the movie is able to give us a few hints and clues as to who the werewolf is, leaving you pondering and guessing at least for a little while. 

Secondly, this movie has an unusual main character, especially for a werewolf movie. 

The main character, Marty, is handicapped and confined to a wheelchair. (Though the wheelchair doesn't stop him from trying to stop the werewolf, much to his credit).

The actual werewolf transformation was interesting, and pretty good considering it was made in 1985, and I was impressed with how the werewolf turned out. Not as scary as the werewolves from Dog Soldiers, but pretty good.

As to be expected, there are some unrealistic and a few bloody scenes, but overall nothing terribly over the top. (Well...expect for that guy who got his head slapped off. That was kind of....different)

 I will note, however, that some of the werewolf sounds sound a lot like the dinosaur sounds they've used in other movies.

All in all, great movie and worth a watch! 

Get yourself Registered!

Thanks to the Supernatural Registration Authority, you can now register yourself as a supernatural entity. This serves as a way to keep track of the supernatural beings located throughout the world (at least the ones who have internet) as well as a way to prove to both other monsters and humans alike your supernatural status.

Registration is free but mandatory for all supernatural beings, and for $5 you can get a basic package that includes a public profile page, and for $12 there is a full package deal that includes an ID card.

picture below is from the website.
http://www.supernaturalregistration.org/index.php

disclaimer: Monster Blog nor Jen Monster does not own or is affiliated with the Supernatural Registration Authority.

For the love of monsters

Throughout all of human history, humans have been creating and believing in monsters and demons. We fill the night with tales of witches and werewolves, of ghosts and gremlins, and these stories don't just scare us, they fascinate us. The human species seems to have a fascination with fear; in such cases as roller coasters and watching horror films that give us nightmares. We may at times run from the things we fear, but we also seem to search out the things that scare us. But why?

I am one of the many who have a love for the 'creatures of the night'. The monsters we have created and are popularized by our cultures, the monsters that represent fear, death, and even love. In this blog I will talk about monsters old and new, their history, and why we love the things we fear. I'd also like to talk about monster pop culture, with emphasis on the four most popular monsters at the current time; werewolves, witches, vampires and zombies.

As I write more and more in this blog I hope to learn more about monsters and even the human psyche, and hopefully anyone who reads this will enjoy and even learn something about monsters.