The 8 best werewolf transformations

Werewolves are a perfect monster for the movies, because the very thing that makes them monstrous–turning into a friggin’ wolf–also makes for a kick ass special effects sequence.

But a werewolf transformation isn’t easy to pull off. You’re dealing with the human body, not a man-made machine or building that can be replicated in miniature or recreated digitally. That’s one reason why werewolf transformations in films are usually better when done the old-fashioned way–with camera tricks, spirit gum, makeup, and lots of latex.

Here, then, are eight of the best werewolf transformations from the movies.
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July 18, 2008 | Filed Under Arts & Entertainment, Features, Lists, Monsters, Movies, Multimedia, Online, werewolves | View Comments 

Review: “John Dies at the End”

John Dies at the EndRecommended – The book “John Dies at the End” by David Wong is a metaphysical horror splatter comedy that’s written like a movie treatment. It’s all surface and action with almost zero internal dialogue, very little exploration of motivations or relationships, and not much of any of the stuff “appropriate” or “good” fiction is supposed to have. And yet it’s really good.

Partly that’s because of Wong’s imagination: every single chapter conjures up some new horrific development, far too many of which have to do with the destruction of the human body, or the manifestation of an otherworldy evil invader, or frequently a combination of both.

The book feels like the sum of about a hundred influences from books and movies, including “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,”, John Shirley’s “Demons” and “Wetbones”, “It”, “Videodrome”, “The Evil Dead”, “A Wrinkle in Time”, “Ghostbusters”, and Lynda Barry’s “Cruddy”. The narrator, a man in his early twenties, tells a skeptical reporter about the time when the world almost came to an end–or started the long journey towards ending, since it may still be going on–because of a strange, metaphysical drug called Soy Sauce that allows possibly hellish creatures from another dimension to enter our world through the human body.

The narrator and his friend John receive help from a dog who, depending on the situation, can be useless, or drive a car, or be a channel for voices from another dimension, or be violently evil (as in floating three feet off the ground and ripping out throats). They also encounter an heroic police officer who’s determined to stop the invasion even if it means resorting to unheroic things like arson and murder, a fake Jamaican douchebag small-town drug dealer, and a hilarious possessed teenager who talks trash, punches everyone in the balls, and calls himself “Shitload” because “there are a shitload of us in here.”

And that’s all in the first half of the book.

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May 6, 2008 | Filed Under Arts & Entertainment, Books & Writing, Features, Movies, Reviews | View Comments 

The Zombie Anthology Showdown!

With the pop culture zombiepocalypse still in full swing, although maybe finally waning a little bit, it’s no longer a pleasant surprise to walk into a comic shop and see a zombie staring back at you. Everyone is publishing zombie crap now. It’s a proven niche, apparently. Or maybe this is just what happens when two generations grow up on Romero, Fulci, and the others; the zombie is our monster, from our modern era, and so our love for it won’t die until we do.

…Well, unless so much crap is published that it kills off the public’s appetite for good, well-written zombie stories. That’s why I’ve decided to review two zombie anthologies at the same time, to separate the fresh brains from the maggot-infested ones. It’s time for a littler arbitering of taste for busy consumers of zombie comics–like you!

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February 17, 2008 | Filed Under Books & Writing, Comics & Graphic Novels, Features, Monsters, Reviews, Zombies | View Comments 

8 Ridiculous Deaths That The “Nightmare on Elm Street” Reboot Had Better Not Try

Freddy drowns someone

Everyone knows that with Michael Bay involved in the so-called “reboot” of “Nightmare on Elm Street,” there’s a high probability that some stupid decisions are going to be made—and it’s almost certain that some of those decisions will be about the deaths.

“What crazy things can we do this time around?” they’ll ask themselves as their prostitutes bring them espresso and cocaine. “How bloody should they be? How elaborate? Should they be funny?” But the worst question they’ll ask will be, “How can we update the deaths so that a modern audience will identify with them?”

We can’t stop Hollywood from making bad decisions any more than we can stop freckles from appearing on the Irish, but we can at least try to minimize the creative damage by listing some of the stupidest ideas now, well before the script is even written, in an attempt to prevent these deaths from making it into any film. In other words—and for only this reason and no other—these scenarios are copyrighted all to hell. Don’t touch them, Bay!

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February 2, 2008 | Filed Under Features | View Comments 

Review: “Rotting In Dirtville”

“Rotting In Dirtville”
Writer: James Callahan
Artist: James Callahan
Published by Gigantic Graphic Novels (www.giganticgraphicnovels.com)

Cover of Rotting In DirtvilleThere’s a lot to like about James Callahan’s “Rotting In Dirtville,” beginning with the painted-velvet intensity of the cover art, and extending to the back-of-book copy–which, instead of a long-winded, cliché-ridden synopsis, simply says, “It wasn’t human! It ate the dog’s face and started vomiting these little robots!” Now THAT says “Buy me!” better than any full paragraph of blurbs.

This short, black-and-white comic is chock-full of weirdness, cruelty, quirky humor, and a bizarre combination of teenaged angst, small town bullies, thwarted young love, 1950s teen movies, atomic monster movies, 1990s skateboard culture, killer robot-cyborg things, and of course the living dead. Oh, and it veers off into Boschian levels of fantasy violence and horror near the end. It’s pretty awesome.

Callahan has done a great job creating a cohesive world that looks peculiar but familiar, like something from Ray Bradbury’s short stories crossed with Stephen King’s warped sense of “funny.” Everything has a slightly cartoony, exaggerated shape to it, which makes the whole thing veer on the edge of “too kooky” at times, but it works.

It’s bleak and violent, and the violence is brutal and comes unexpectedly. The main character suffers some real brutality, both emotionally and, halfway through the story, physically (there’s a reason he’s got bandages all over his face on the cover), and yet he remains a compelling, sympathetic character who never crosses over (too far) into action movie territory.

I think the last quarter of the book is a little harder to enjoy–either you like where this story takes you, or you go “you’ve lost me, sorry” and start rolling your eyes. As over-the-top as the graphics get, they follow a consistent logic for the story–if aliens are using alien technology in alien ways to turn us and our machines into weapons, there’s no reason to think that they’d obey our rules of aesthetics or sense of scale, for example. Still, trying to imagine a full-sized helicopter made out of a giant skull is so strange that it can tire your inner cinematographer after a while. Especially if your inner nerd is fighting for attention by wondering just where in the hell the aliens found that much calcium, and/or whether the density of these oversized organic creations are the same as their smaller counterparts.

Copyright 2008 by Chris Walters
Do not re-use without permission!

 

 

January 8, 2008 | Filed Under Arts & Entertainment, Comics & Graphic Novels, Features, Reviews | View Comments