Horror Bites - Meteor Madness

COLOR OUT OF SPACE (2019)

Reading H.P. Lovecraft's work is a weird experience to say the least, and I'm not just saying that because of all those negative attitudes towards miscegenation. What I mean is that a lot of the time it's all about the unknowable, the unmentionable. And of course the indescribable. Horror on the page in his terms is more of a mood and less a physical presence, a sense of dread which filters through in vague dream-like passages. It induces madness and has to be recoiled from and not studied in detail. So it's strange that the most famous film adaptations of those stories are all very explicit. The lurid colours and extreme violence are what everyone remembers from the likes of From Beyond after all. The intangible is brought to life for the screen with striking detail.

Weird Weekend - Dripping with Goo

PART ONE - Splatterhouse

It's movie marathon time once again. Which I guess it's hardly surprising looking back at the usual review format here. But it's time to settle down in the dark with the strange and unusual, and it's time block out the outside world of bland mainstream blockbusters and tepid jump scare horror nonsense. Time to warm the cockles of our hearts with a lot of grotesque violence and nightmare visions. As ever there is quite a selection to choose from whether it's Italian gore or madcap visions of 1980s America. There's never a short supply of features that include pouring blood, dissolving skin and eye popping effects. So come on down; the nightmare has only just begun.

Scorecard

APRIL

FILM OF THE MONTH: First Reformed ☆☆☆☆

Horror Bites - Black Cats and Marble

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964)

Part of the Vincent Price Blogathon with Cinematic Catharsis

What's wrong with sticking to a formula? Dead wives who have influence over the living, Vincent Price playing a character slowly coming apart at the seams, strangely familiar stock footage of a house on fire... yes that's right it's a Roger Corman film based on Edgar Allan Poe. If you've ever seen one of these you probably know the drill; they'll be strange goings on in a gothic house, a few spells of memory loss, and probably a nightmare scene for good measure. But after so many outings of this nature is there really any gas left in the tank? Or does migrating the production from AIP to Britain give it a new lease of life? It's from the same year The Comedy of Terrors poked fun at the whole thing after all. Let's take a peek inside the crypt and see if there are any signs of life.

Monster Bites - Time Slides

GODZILLA VS. KING GHIDORAH (1991)

Is it possible for a film to contain some of the best and worst scenes in a series? Godzilla's third movie in the Heisei series dares to pose that question. It's a bold move to be sure, but then it's a bold kind of movie. Reckless, striking and even sometimes blundering just like the title character. In some ways it's a greatest hits collection because of the way it re-introduces old concepts and creatures, but then in other ways it's a big radioactive mess. An initial viewing of the story is quite an experience and it gains a lot of kudos just for being so outlandish. But in retrospect it's an uneven story that doesn't really hold up in the same way as the previous instalments. But let's take a closer look into this prehistoric soup and see what exactly is going on.