We can't help but love the monsters that want us for our brains...

This blog entry is of course referring to zombies. Those creepy, decaying, unthinking beings whose favorite fast food us, the living.

Pop culture has truly been taken over by a zombie outbreak, but instead of running from these flesh eating monsters on our t.v. screens, we embrace them with open arms.

There may be a few reasons for our new found love of the decaying, bitey dead. My own hypothesis reflects on the reason we have names for monsters in the first place; a fear without a name and face is undefeatable and therefor terrifying. So we name our fears and call them monsters, because monsters we can confront, defeat and destroy.

We can not confront death.

We can not defeat the pain of losing our loved ones.

We can not destroy all the diseases that weaken us and take our loved ones.

Right now, some of our biggest fears involve disease, outbreaks, pandemics. That's what scares us right now. Not long ago news of Swine flu had people running to the doctors for flu shots. Before that we dreaded the bird flu, and it seems there's always one more disease or pathogen for us to catch.

So I believe that to quiet these fears, we use zombies.

This wasn't always the case, as zombie movies started out with zombies rising from the dead because of a strange space dust that reanimated the dead. One such movie was Night of the Living Dead, a 1968  black and white American film where the dead came back to life from space dust that came off of a satellite returning from Venus. This is in line with the Space Race going on at the time between the United States and the Soviet Union, where the fears of what lies in space were lurking in the minds of people at the time.

A fun zombie history side note: Zombies get their origins from Haiti, where voodoo witch doctors used specific drugs to make a person seem dead. Their mouths were sewn shut so they could not talk, and they were burried. Then these supposedly dead people were "brought back to life" when the drug wore off. There is one movie, called White Zombie made in 1932. It stars Bela Lugosi (Famous for playing Dracula) and is one of the few movies that reflects on these true origins of zombies.

Zombie movies have evolved and changed from Haitian voodoo, to space dust, to currently having a pandemic cause.

The cause of zombie popularity aside, there are a lot of reasons to enjoy these monsters. They can be slow or fast, they can retain some of their humanity (as we see a little bit of in Shaun of the Dead) or they can become truly monstrous (like the zombies in 28 weeks later). They might be loved ones, who are painful to face and destroy, or they may be those we hated in life, and we finally have justification for giving them their "just due."

It's strangely fun to imagine how we might react in a zombie apocalypse  how would you stay alive, where would you go that's "safe" and what weapons you might carry around.

There are Zombie preparedness kits being sold on Amazon.com, websites dedicated to preparing for a zombie apocalypse, and there are even people out there with entire actions plans written out for such an event.

Some top shows and movies I recommend for zombie lovers:

-The Walking Dead (T.V. series)
This show is a little slow moving at first, and some might even say that there's more arguing than zombies. This may be especially true in the second season, but I think the show is addicting and engaging enough to watch despite that. I have also heard many rave reviews for the comic book, and though I have not yet gotten a hold of it myself, it looks like a great read.

-Shaun of the Dead 2004.
This movie takes a more humorous take on the zombie pandemic, but still holds some serious overtones. Being a fan of Simon Pegg I am more biased to like this movie, but even if you are somehow not a fan of his, the movie is still worth watching.

-Fido 2006
This movie seems to be pretty unknown, but it's one of the best zombie movie's I've seen. Despite being a newer movie it uses the old premise of why the dead came back to life; space dust. I think this makes sense because the movie takes place in the town of Willard, which is a reference to the 1968 Night of the Living Dead movie. The movie has a 50's feel, and instead of being chased by zombies, these zombies have been tamed by Zomcom.

-Night of the Living Dead 1968
This black and white movie is a classic, and might be one of the movies that really made zombies popular. The famous line "They're coming to get you, Barbara" is from this movie. Even if you don't like old movies, I still suggest watching this. Watch it with friends and make fun of it if you need to, because it can be a little slow, and the special effects just aren't what they are today...but if you like zombies, at least once in your life you should watch this classic movie.

-Zombieland 2009
This movie is like Shaun of the dead, in having both serious and comedic overtones. I don't think the cause of the dead rising is explained in this movie, but at this point we all know what zombies are and what they want. Brains. Who cares what caused them?

These movies happen to strike a special cord with me, but there are many other good zombie movies worth watching that I haven't mentioned. (I am, admittedly new to the world of zombies).

I recently came across this exceptional short film about a father and his daughter in the zombie apocalypse. It's very emotional so you may have to prepare yourself for tears.

Note: I do not own this short video, I just thought it was amazing and wanted to share!

http://io9.com/one-of-the-most-beautiful-things-was-the-balloon-for-471095083

Troll 2. A movie so awful it's good.

Troll 2 1990

Supposedly ripping off the 1986 Trolls movie, trolls two is not related to this movie, and doesn’t even have trolls in it. Without giving away too much of the plot, (I would hate to spoil such a terrible movie for you) the movie focuses on a small family from the city, who partake in a ‘house swap’ with a family from out in the country. However, when they head into this “middle of nowhere” town of Nilbog (Goblin spelled backwards, how original), the town folk stare at them eerily and the food is suspiciously green. They end up being more or less hunted by goblins, a vegetarian eating folk who want to eat humans badly enough they feed them some strange concoction of plant material that turns people into…plants.

So there you have the basic premise, and if you’d rather not waste your time in watching this movie, I will give a more detailed account, but beware, there will be spoilers.

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Look into the face of evil....

The family in this movie is a mom and dad Diana and Micheal Waits, a teenager daughter Holly, with atrocious acting skills, and a young son, Joshua, who talks to the ghost of his dead grandfather, grandpa Seth. The movie opens with the grandfather creepily reading the boy a story about goblins, and how they trick people into drinking their plant material goop so that they can eat them. (Again, because they’re vegetarians. Somehow this all makes sense).

I guess that's another way to have a "green thumb"....Ba-dum TSH!

The daughter in this movie is having boyfriend issues, in which everywhere the boyfriend goes, he brings his three BFF’s, even when he sneaks into her room at night, they’re outside waiting for him.

When the family drives to Nilbog to exchange houses with this other family, they arrive in daylight, but there’s no one around. The dad says “well in a farmers town everyone goes to bed by this time at night” even though by the daylight it’s closer to the after noon. Also, for a farmers town, it seems strange that there was only one farm.

They meet the family they are doing a house exchange with, to which they are creepily told “they’re late” and the Nilbog family solemnly leaves in a hurry, with the Nilbog kid throwing a baseball at Joshua which reads in what looks like green cake decorating gel “Eat, before we eat you”

They go into the house and find a suspiciously green food array waiting for them at the table, and Grandpa Seth warns Joshua that it’s the work of evil goblins, and Joshua has 30 seconds to do something about it to stop his family from eating.

So, Grandpa Seth froze time. He only does this once, and despite Grandpa Seth saying Joshua only had 30 seconds, he stands there, stares out the window, stares at the food, walks around contemplating what to do, and surely goes over his time limit. However, the plot gives him extra time, to stand on a chair, and chanting to him self “I have to, I HAVE to” he unzips his pants…and pees on all of the food.

Time unfreezes and his dad angrily takes Joshua up to his room, yelling about how you can’t “pee on hospitality.”

Meanwhile, Holly’s boyfriend followed the family to Nilbog in an old motor home, and camp out near the woods, where they start getting picked off by goblins.

One of the boys saw a frantic looking woman running through the forest. So he chases her, even though she looks terrified, and leaps on top of her. Yup, that’s how you meet girls…

She admits that the goblins made her drink some of the veggie material, and points dramatically as these poorly masked goblins walk casually over caring crude wooden weapons. Presumably showing off for the lady, the guy scolds the goblins, before one throws a spear at him, which hits him in the chests where he falls down.

A chase scene ensues, and the teens run into a suspicious looking church-house thing, where we meet the most dramatic character yet. Waving her eyebrows and squinting a lot, the actress entices them to have a drink, which of course turns out to be the goblin plant material stuff.

The girl, gasping and crying, while green pours out of her hairline, drags herself upstairs where she turns into a steaming pile of algae, which the goblins come out and eat.

The boy realizes he can’t move, (Though I think he takes this fact really well) and loudly proclaims “They’re eating her…and then they’re going to eat me…OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!”

So for the rest of the movie follows young Joshua with the help of Grandpa Seth, who is trying to convince his family to get out of Nilbog. They finally manage to succeed, convincing that Nilbog really DOES have goblins, when Joshua and his grandpa set one of them on fire. The dad sees the goblin corpse, and the other goblins become angry.

So the family traps themselves in the house. Awesome.

Meanwhile one of the goblins seduces a guy with a corn on the cob, (we never find out what really happens to him...) and eventually, somehow, the family manages to defeat the trolls/goblins/whatever, and get out of Nilbog and put the nightmare behind them. But is it reaaaaallly over?

This scene is really, really weird. 

Dancing zombies to a rockin' tune

For the last three years my friends and I have celebrated Zombie Easter. This holiday is not meant to be offensive, as our group of friends have a mix of people who are christian, agnostic and atheists.

This year using some new found fake blood recipes, 6 of us put together a (very) short zombie movie. While that is still in the works of being edited for sound and such, I made a music video to the tune of Family Force 5, Zombie.

I hope you enjoy.

Zombie Music Video

Fake blood recipes

My friends and I are big on making and using fake blood; for props, for photos, and for videos.

After having a mini rendition of the Hunger Games this fall, we decided we needed something new as opposed to our usual fake blood.

Normally we use corn syrup and red food dye. It's simple, easy to make (so simple you can even make it right in the corn syrup bottle) and relatively cheap. But the downsides include it being sticky, the color is a little difficult to wash off, and if you have a scene with blood in your mouth...well..it tastes awful. It's 100% edible, but still pretty gross.

Red Corn Syrup Mix: 

  How it looks on:

Pros:
-Simple formula, red dye (maybe a drop or two of blue) and corn syrup.
-Good color
-Drips well, but can also stay pooled in one location
-Cheap
-Edible

Cons:
-Sticky
-Tastes bad
-Hands might be stained pink for a day or two

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The next blood mix I tried was a simple mix as well, with the addition of only a few more ingredients.
This recipe calls for:
-Corn syrup
-Red dye (plus maybe a few crops of blue or green)
-Cocoa powder
-Flour

I got a great red with this color, and it was fluid enough to even put in a spray bottle, to get a blood spatter effect. On the downside, it was harder to get the right ingredient ratio. I didn't think to write down the amounts used to get my results, which I will amend the next time I make this mix. I added corn syrup and red dye first, a small amount of cocoa powder, and several spoonfuls of flour to thicken the mix.

* I remade this mix, and the ingredient ratio I used was: 1 cup of corn syrup 2/3 cup water 1/2 cup flour 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Pros:
-Good red color
-Edible
-Great for dripping blood, and you are in control of how thick you want to make it by simply adding more flour.
-Washes off reasonably well
-Not as sticky as straight corn syrup

Cons:
-Still doesn't really taste great. Maybe adding sugar will fix this, but I'm not sure how that would look
-More expensive, you have to buy flour and cocoa powder
-You still might have pink hands a few days after using, but it's not as bad

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This next recipe was a complete experiment. Mio water enhancer liquids seem to be everywhere, and I was curious if you used them in place of food coloring, if they would be easier to wash off.

I found this a difficult concoction to put together, it was very very runny, and adding flour ruined the dark red color, changing it to a weird bright red. After dumping in the entire Fruit punch Mio and adding corn syrup to fix the runniness, I came out with something that worked as fake blood, but wasn't great. I would say don't bother trying this recipe unless you really want to experiment.

Pros:
-Consists of few ingredients
-Cheap
-Smells and tastes delicious (if you like fruit punch)
-Washes off hands well

Cons:
-Difficult to make
-VERY runny
-Still a chance of having pink on your hands after washing off
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The last fake blood I made was the easiest, and my favorite. I simply used red velvet cake mix and water. This stuff is great, because with less water you get a thick, chunky look, and with more water you get a runny fresh blood mix. The shade of red was pretty good too, and the taste was great if you like cake.

Pros:
-Cheap
-Easy
-Diverse, can be runny or thick
-Tastes good
-What's better than just adding water?

Cons:
-Might have pink on your hands after washing. (I didn't have this issue, but my roommate did. I think it depends on your skin chemistry etc. It's not very noticeable though, even if it had been on her face.)
-A little on the light side as far as color, and it may be difficult to change the color red if you don't like the shade that the cake mix is.

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I hope this helped people! Happy horror movie making!!

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!