Monster Scholar

I didn't realize it until now but I've reached 100 posts! When I started this blog last summer I had no idea I would stick with it for this long, but I'm glad I did. But that's enough back-patting for now, let's get down to business. I finally succumbed to the pressure of popular demand and got my first look at Dexter this week. My expectations were high as I plopped down on the couch and watched the first and second seasons of Showtime’s latest hit show. The opening credits are arresting in a way that I haven’t seen since HBO’s True Blood . Just as True Blood mingles images of sex and death in the Deep South, Dexter makes the average morning routine into something sensually sinister. The show opens on a mosquito as it makes a meal out of the sleeping Dexter. Dexter quickly retaliates by squashing the offending insect and smiles. In a split second, this scene sets up the premise for the entire series as it reveals the main character’s enjoyment of murder, even at t

Meet and converse with them Marvel at their pale skin Wonder how they chew on their pointy... Teeth and hair are beauty They know it's their duty To be countess in their hearts and their... Minds that have to whisper See in them a sister Look into their eyes and you'll become Transylvanian Concubine. —Rasputina When reading Bram Stoker’s Dracula , it’s hard to forget his trio of mysterious and threatening concubines. Dark, seductive and hungry, the brides of Dracula first appear in an encounter with the hapless Jonathan Harker. Harker has ignored Count Dracula’s warnings against exploring the castle by himself, and walks straight into the arms of the tree beautiful brides: They came close to me, and looked at me for some time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes, that seemed to be almost red when contrasted with the pale yellow moon…The other was fair, as fair as can be, with great masses of gold

I was asked by Robyn Lass of HorrorBlips.com to contribute to another opinion article on the Achilles heel of horror bloggers--the one thing that freaks us out in horror movies no matter what. That said, my one true freak out would have to be vivisection. This fear has a long and tortured history with me. It started when my best friend dragged me to a showing of House of a Thousand Corpses . I watched the entire movie from between the fingers of one hand and clapped the other firmly over my mouth to keep from screaming uncontrollably as Dr. Satan performed surgery on his teenage victims. I don’t remember getting home or crawling into bed as I lay awake half the night petrified that Dr. Satan was going to strap me to his operating table. But the fear of Dr. Satan’s scalpel soon receded into my subconscious and didn’t surface again until college. I taught a Biology II lab at the university where the students had to cut open frogs, worms, crustaceans. Dissection didn’t bother me, and I ac

I was asked by the Vault of Horror’s B-sol to contribute to the mega list of horror fiction awhile back. Through some weird alchemic ritual, B-sol finds the most popular picks from contributions by the Cyber-Horror Elite to compose his compendium of horror fiction . Here are the picks I submitted and my geeky reasons why. The Castle of Otranto Horace Walpole’s Ortanto is the one piece of literature that kickstarts the entire Gothic genre. It chronicles the story of Manfred, a gothic anti-hero who pursues Isabella, the fiancé of his son Conrad. After Conrad is crushed to death by a giant helmet, chase scenes through spooky castles and damp catacombs ensue. Frank enstein How could I call myself a monster scholar and not pick one of the seminal texts of monster literature? What continues to fascinate me about Shelley’s text are the differences between the 1818 and 1831 versions. In the 1818 edition Shelley is much less forgiving of Frankenstein’s dabbling with the stuff of life, while in

To preface this review, I saw Zombieland last Thursday after an exhausting day of work and school. As I settled into my seat, I feared that I might fall asleep in the cool dark interior of the Movie Tavern if this newest zombie comedy didn’t live up to the wonderful reviews I’d read. I’m here to tell you, that Zombieland did not disappoint me. To start, I have never seen a zombie movie that was less about the zombies and more about the people. Unlike Day of the Dead , where Romero’s depiction of Bub encourages empathy, the zombies of Zombieland are the most inhuman creatures imaginable. Their hungry screams are a cross between a bird of prey and a velociraptor as they sprint after their victims at amazing speed. But despite their fearsome appearance, the zombies of Zombieland are merely a backdrop to the film’s central concern with human relationships. The zombie plague has left the remaining human survivors wary of making connections with each other. The film’s protagonists never g

Thanks to wonderful friend who writes for RedCarpetCrash.com, I was able to attend a screening of the much hyped Paranormal Activity . Though it was called the “scariest movie of the year” by LA Weekly, I'm sorry to say that my expectations of this film may have exceeded the reality. Paranormal Activity documents the experiences of Katie and Micah, a happy couple haunted by a demonic spirit and capitalizes on the success of its handicam horror predecessors, such as the Blair Witch Project and [REC] . When I first saw Blair Witch and fell for the whole “this is a true story” malarkey, it scared the bejesus out of me. But knowing that this film isn’t the found footage of true life events; the effect was less than true terror. Another reason for this let down is that most of the film’s scarier moments are given away in the trailer. The moving sheet, what we later find out is Micah’s body hitting the camera, the cloven hoofprints and slamming doors are all revealed before you step

My hubby and I have been kicking ideas around for this year's Halloween costume and we decided on the dynamic duo of Stretch, the disc jockey from Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and Leatherface. The decision was inspired by my husband's nine to five gig at a local deli, where he slices meat all day. TCM 2 is one of the films cited in Carol Clover's theory on the final girl and also features that unforgettable scene where Stretch keeps Leatherface at bay by doing a bump and grind with his saw. ("How good are you?") I need to freecycle for a non-working chainsaw (we can remove the motor and the chain) and I can get rest of both costumes at the local thrift store. The entire thing really hinges on finding the chainsaw at this point. If that falls through our back-up costumes will be a pair of zombies from Dawn of the Dead. Some torn clothing, pasty blue makeup and a couple of ghastly head wounds should do the trick. Oh, and here's yet another bad costume I forgot t

For most Halloween is a time of make-believe, where people can dress up and become the thing they've wanted to be all year. But sometimes the misguided support of friends, family and the local Kmart causes things to go horribly awry. So, here's a sampling of the good, the ugly and the just plain worst Halloween costumes ever... Rock Lobsta There is nothing funny about pretending to cook a baby dressed as a lobster! Okay maybe it is a little funny, but who would do that to their child!?! Plug me in baby ... As a married woman there is nothing I hate more than those kitschy, tacky couples outfits I see hanging on the rack at my local Party City. The nut and bolt, lock and key, bacon and eggs, salt and pepper, and the list goes on ad infenitum. Not only are these costumes boring and unimaginative, their effectiveness hinges on sexual innuendo that borders on sexism. If I were ever to wear one of the ghastly outfits, I would purposely switch gender roles just to jazz it up. Toight

After months of waiting it’s finally October, that magical time that justifies my obsession with monsters, the one month no one looks at me askance for wondering who is the better killer, Freddy or Jason? As I’m sure it is for most of you out there in Monster Land, Halloween is my refuge. The one day out of the year that I can enjoy what I love most with ghoulish delight. Here are some snapshots of my Halloweens past to let you know what I mean. Click here to see other bloggers who are participating in the countdown.