Monster Scholar

These two reptilian babes are taking each other on in this special Women in Horror Recognition Month edition of Monster Smackdown. Who will be the victor? A once beautiful maiden cursed by the gods or the daughter of a mad scientist? Lethality: The Reptile packs a pretty powerful bite. Her victims die within minutes, foaming at the mouth as their flesh turns black with her venom. She racks up a body count in the small village of Clagmoor Heath in Cornwall where locals blame the rash of deaths on the Black Plague. While the Reptile's venom is powerful, she still needs to get close to sink her fangs into her victim. Medusa can literally turn her victims to stone with a glance. Medusa was once a beautiful maiden who defiled Athena's temple by having an affair with Poseidon. In revenge, Athena transformed Medusa's hair into writhing snakes and made her face so horrible to look upon that it would turn onlookers to stone. Medusa's lethality is more powerful than poison,

We’ll tear your soul apart!--Pinhead Hellraiser is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Clive Barker creates his own mythological world of horror that is both seductive and cruel and keeps you wanting more. In this first film of the series, Barker introduces us to the realm of the cenobites, god-like beings with a taste for your pain. They are released when someone solves an intricate puzzle box and, like some nightmarish jack in the box, they pop out and tear you to pieces. Larry and his wife Julia are moving into their old family home in the opening of the film. There is no sign of Larry’s brother Frank except for a pallet bed, some risqué photos and piles of rotting food in the kitchen. The final member of the family is Larry’s daughter Kirsty who turns down her father’s offer to live with them. All three have no idea they will soon be pulled into the horrifying world of the cenobites. Hellraiser is preoccupied with the horrors of sex in a new and complex way. In one scene,

Most of the horror tribute clips you find on YouTube are plagued by poor editing and even poorer quality. This is not the case with ClaraDarko2, whose YouTube compilations are a feast for the eyes and ears. These are some of my horror themed favorites, but you can check out her entire channel for a smorgasbord of devoted fan awesomeness. And my personal favorite...

I picked this book up on a whim at my local book store and was glad I did. This anthology of female vampire tales combines old classics like Carmilla and Clarimonde with more contemporary tales by Stephen King and Richard Matheson. Here's a run down of some of my favorites. In One for The Road , Stephen Kings gives us a short vignette of what would become Salem's Lot.  Here the dreaded place is Jeru salem's Lot and it's the site of many unexplained disappearances at the hands of vampires who live on that unhallowed ground. In this story two natives of a nearby town try to help a city fellow who leaves his family and their car mired in a snowbank in the Lot.   The Cloak by Robert Bloch is a fun little number about a man who desperately needs a custume for a high end Halloween Party. He gets more than he bargained for when his authentic cloak begins working vampiric changes on him. He also chances to meet another cloak owner at the party.  

From what I hear around the blogosphere this film has many divided. Some think it’s absolute crap--to quote my favorite Netflix review: “Frozen is a documentary about how stupid people die,"--or think it's horror gold. For me, Frozen presents a new and terrifying concept, but unfortunately does not go all the way. Hatchet director and writer Adam Green gives us a film about a trio of skiers trapped on a skilift in the middle of a blizzard. I agree the concept is scary, and rightfully so. Green builds the suspense with eerie shots of the skilift machinery in the film's opener. The stark images are punctuated by the high pitched squeals of metal on metal and the creaks of the chairs as they swing out of the gate. The machinery continues to play this silent yet threatening role. In one shot, we get a bird's eye view of Parker flirting with the skilift operator through the swirling gears of the machine. This is pretty much where the suspense ends. The victims of thi

In case you've been living in a coffin, February is Women in Horror Recognition month as decreed by Hannah Nuerotica, editor of AxeWound magazine. This 2nd Annual celebration of Women in Horror Recognition Month means all kinds of goodies for fans of females in the genre here at Monster Land. My homage to this very important month will include reviews of horror films by women and for women, shout outs to female authors of horror fiction, a look at the changing face of the final girl, female monster smackdowns, and more bloody dames than you can shake a stick at. So stay tuned monster fans as I prepare to show you my brains for Women in Horror Recognition Month 2011.