#the people who own the dark

[weirdlookindog]

Último deseo (1976)

[starry-bi-sky]

I am loudly pushing the batdad agenda i am loudly pushing the— DPxDC Prompt

“Woah. You look like shit."

Granted, that’s probably not the first thing Danny should be saying to the guy that just bit the curb, but in his defense; he’s not running on 100% right now either.

The man -- tall, towering, and broader than Danny is tall -- whips around on his heel, black frayed cape flaring out impressively. Danny would've whistled in appreciation, but he takes the time instead to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood running from his nose across his cheek.

"Sorry." He blinks widely, not even flinching as the man with the horns zeroes in on him. "That was rude of me. I have a really bad brain-to-mouth filter; Sam says its what always gets me into trouble."

And she's not wrong either, per say. His smart mouth is what landed him in this situation -- with blood blossom extract running through his veins and cannibalizing the ectoplasm in his bloodstream. Thanks Vlad.

The man grunts at him; a short, curt "hm" that shouldn't make Danny smile, but he does because he's somewhat delirious and probably concussed. The man keeps some kind of distance, sinking towards the shadows of Gotham's alleyway like he dares to melt right into it.

If it's supposed to scare Danny, it doesn't work. Danny's never been afraid of the dark; he's always been able to hide himself in it. He blinks slowly at the mass of shadows.

"You look hurt." The shadows says, blurring together around the edges. Danny squints, and licks his lips to get the blood dripping down his chin off. Ugh, he hates the taste of blood.

"I am." He says, "My godfather poisoned me. M'dying." The agony of the blood blossom eating him from the inside out looped back around to numbing a while ago, so all he feels is half-awake and dazed.

"Hey," Danny stumbles forward towards the man, a bloodied hand reaching out to him. "You-- you're a hero, right? You're not attacking me; which is more than I can say for most costumed people I've met." Maybe it's a poor bar to judge someone at, but he's already established that Danny's not in his right mind.

The man makes no change in expression, but Danny realizes blearily that it's hard to tell with the shadows on his face. He stays still long enough for Danny to latch onto the cape -- stretchy, but almost soft under his fingers.

He looks up blearily into the whites of the man's eyes. "Can you help me? I don't-- I don't wanna die." Again. He doesn't wanna die again. He blinks slow and lizard-like. "I mean- I'll probably get to see mom and dad again, but I told them I'd at least try and make it to adulthood."

There's a clatter down the street, and Danny's ghost sense chills up his spine and leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. He immediately knows who it belongs to even before the deceptively gentle; "Daniel?" echoes down the way.

"Daniel? Quit your games, badger, Gotham is dangerous for children."

Danny's mouth pulls back, and blood spills against his tongue. "Please." He rasps, and grabs onto the shadow's cape with both hands. "Please. He's going to kill me. Please--"

"Daniel? Is that you?"

His lips part, dragging in air to plead with the darkness again. He doesn't need to, the whites of his eyes narrow, and the cape whirls around him before Danny can blink. Soon swaddled in shadows, the Night lifts him up, and steals him away.

[petty-crush]

Notes on the New Bev Horror a thon 2022

Once again, one of my favorite times of the year has arrived. Where I go into a theatre for 12 hours and coming out full of mirth and spookiness.

For the first time since COVID, the full six mystery horror films are back. It is a dizzying high.

But there is also a variant; instead of the usual 7pm-7am schedule, this year it was 2pm to 2am.

I personally loved this change. I could go and eat at a diner and talk the films with my friends and not feel half dead.

-/-/-/——//-/-

The films were

1-Nightmare Beach (Umberto Kenzi, 1989)

2-The People who Own the Dark (Leon Klimovsky, 1976)

3-The Black Scorpion (Edward Ludwig, 1957)

4-I, Madman (Tibor Takacs 1989)

5-Hell of the Living Dead (Bruno Mattei, 1980)

6-Sorority Row (Stewart Handler, 2009)

-/-//—/

Of course there is a different vibe to watching these all in a row (with no idea what the film is before it unspools) then watching them individually

“Nightmare Beach”, for example, has a largely silent intro (with no film company credits) that bursts into a totally jarring girl power song. It had us all in disbelief, and was a great way to start the night.

“Sorority Row” now has the title of most recent film to be included (beating by one year last marathon’s excellent “Ruins” from 2008), and it was beyond strange to see trailers for 2000 remakes after all the 70s/80s grind house goodness.

Even the co presenter Phil noted “There is some discussion over this film. I’ll just say..it’s good!” (I agree)

-/-/—-

One of the great moments was when this trailer had praise for the film from Tobe Hooper ... but pronounced his name wrong!

There was a wave of disbelieving laughter, then a lusty smattering of boos (and a few “Fuck you!”’s)

—-/-//-/—-

I really enjoyed “people who own the dark”. It was creepy and unnerving, and had scenes where I had no idea where it was going.

Spanish horror through and through

-/-/—-

In truth, “Nightmare Beach” and it were the two strongest films (to my palette) and the high point of the evening.

[The rest were mostly fine, but these two I will revisit and easily recommend]

Which was extra funny because, since the earlier start time, an associate of mine missed them both.

Oh well, so it goes.

-/-/-/—-

“Black scorpion” was marvelous in that it contained Willis O’Brien stop motion, and had a fun lead from the human villain of “Creature from the black lagoon”.

Something about watching that stop motion in dream flurry after two other films really made it stood out

-/-/-/—

“I, Madman”...is a film about what is reality and what is fiction.

I always respect these kind of films more than I actually like them. “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare” also is like this to me, I just can’t absorb it, and it keeps me at a distance.

It’s clearly well made but passed through me with no effect

-/-/—-

“Hell of the living dead” had two purposes to me

The first to underline how fucking awesome “Dawn of the Dead” is.

Because this had a similar premise, even the same Goblin score, but had none of the impact to me.

The second was to make me grateful the marathon was not overnight, because I still fell asleep at times during this film. It just largely bored me.

Maybe it was the dubbing, because so much situational dialogue repeated in a super irritating way, with no personality.

-/——-/

Honestly, if it was four film marathon, “madman” and “hell” would have been cut by me.

Others like them though, so I recognize my taste is my own.

-/-/-

“Sorority Row” ended the night strong. The programmers have a thing for slashers and this one really held up. It was notable how it was the extras (not the meads) showing all the boobs though.

-/-/—

As I left, I received a pin saying “I survived”

Despite some sleepy points, the experience was truly special. It had laughter with friends I’ve now known from that theatre for years and delicious food snacks (one of the regulars had their girlfriend make us all sourdough pesto grilled cheese, which was fucking delightful and really need 2/3s of the way through)

No film, let alone six, are all high points, and to go on this wild boat ride with ups and downs was something I look forward to every year for a reason, it’s just a blast.

[hraeesvelgr]

so.. costume epsilon, huh?

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage - Main Road

[pineappical]

would calling this something like "the sun to his earth" be a little bit too cliche? maybe...

[zykamiliah]

i love it when fandom infantilizes characters to the point of denying them their own agency.

"if people in cang qiong had treated shen jiu differently-" do you have any evidence that they mistreated him? or is it too hard a pill to swallow that shen jiu was the one who decided to close himself off and be an asshole. that cang qiong treated him just fine, that his martial siblings tolerated him to the point that even when he was suspected of murder nothing was done to him?

who forced shen jiu to abuse luo binghe? to abuse other disciples? those were his decisions, that was him acting in a position of power.

the moral of the story is not "shen jiu was misunderstood :(" the moral is: the person who was abused can also become an abuser. the one who suffers violence can be violent towards others. you, despite what you've gone through, have the capacity for kindness and cruelty. so be wise on how you decide to act, because your pain doesn't justify hurting others, and your actions will have consequences.

you have agency, you have whatever amount of power you have over your own life and the things you do have and impact in the lives of those around you and yourself. so maybe try being at the very least neutral to the world and yourself, if you can't be kind.

but no, shen jiu's mentality was "since I suffered, they deserve to suffer too". and by taking that path he perpetuated the cycle of abuse.

bingge is the same, because he could have stopped at taking revenge on shen jiu, but he decided to involve the whole sect and the rest of the world, no matter who was innocent. he was unnecessarily cruel, but so was his master.

both shen jiu and bingge had the capacity for some form of "niceness" (in the way they treated women), so it wasn't as if they'd never known some form of love. at some point in their lives, they stopped being abused children and became abusive adults.

and that's an expression of human behaviour that we have to accept as possible. the svsss narrative invites us to examine ourselves in this light, to witness our capacity for both love and hate, to realize that even in the most adverse of circumstances, there's always a small sliver of agency over how we feel and how we act. that, despite the things that defines us from birth through childhood, our decisions also define what we'll become in the future.

[jojo-schmo]

I wish I could tell the original artist that this drawing permanently changed the entire direction of my life in 2009. I want to shake their hand, look them in the eye, and admit I would not be who I am today if this drawing didn’t exist.

EDIT: Original artist is @ivynajspyder !!!!

[bigskydreaming]

Imagine if you were a gay or bi man who tried a certain firefighter show because of all the attention it was getting for one of its mains having a later in life bi awakening.....and between seasons you ventured into its fandom in search of material to tide you over til the next one. And you're greeted by a deluge of posts and fics that are just cheerfully homophobic towards one half of the newly out bi character's canon relationship on the basis of 'well he's not the RIGHT gay guy' and pushing the idea that actually its fine to cheat on him because Reasons and he's sexually predacious based on......behind the scenes implications people have divined like they're reading fucking tea leaves.

But don't get it twisted....this fandom, like all fandoms, really cares about representation!

Sorry not sorry, but we really need to kill this idea that fandoms are welcoming and inviting and inherently progressive when they're frequently insular and reductive as fuck. Every single fandom I've been in has had major trends of people doubling down on their own headcanons and fanon interpretations of the characters and willfully enacting trends aimed at running off people who like the 'wrong' characters (usually characters marginalized along one or multiple axes), like the characters in the 'wrong ways' or other bullshit.

Scott is a Bad Friend fics overtaking Teen Wolf fandom was not incidental, it was a FEATURE of the fandom, because the vast majority of that fandom did not want to share its space with anyone who had the nerve to like its main character. Survivors complaining about or criticizing the prevalance of rape fics in a certain fandom has in my experience always led to a reactionary UPTICK in those fics, with gems like 'this character can, will, must be raped' in the tags making it crystal clear that some of these fics exist because how fucking DARE anyone try and push forth a narrative not agreed upon by Fandom Main.

I could cite examples for so many other fandoms, with the commonalities always being that vast majorities in these fandoms are explicitly reacting defensively to being asked to be more mindful of fandom trends revolving around or exacerbating racism, homophobia, transphobia, rape or abuse apologia, ableism, etc....

With the most prolific fucking rallying cry across countless fandoms being "No the fuck we will NOT be doing that," because lolololol.....

Fandom is an inherently progressive space, didn't you hear?

[southfarthing]

(this isn't about characters who weren't included in the films in the first place)

[ari-dark-raiden-simp]

I hate fake a** bit**** the most when we talk about Raiden 🙄✋😒

[gh-0-stcup]

Daniel and Armand spent four years meeting up and having long, intense conversations about philosophy, culture, and history before they officially got together.

They had a very active social life and seemed to spend several years doing a wide variety of interesting activities together.

Daniel mentions how he grew increasingly bitter over the years. Things between him and Armand fell apart due to Armand not being willing to turn Daniel.

Daniel is free to leave at any time. Armand won't try to chase Daniel down if Daniel doesn't want to be there.

Daniel's alcoholism spirals out of control when he isn't with Armand. Daniel has been on the verge of death because of his alcoholism multiple times prior to this chapter.

[blue-eli]

Skuld in quantum design :)

[aromanticasterisms]

no but actually. the parallels to other Twins in different nations of teyvat in relation to the traveler and their desire to reunite with their own sibling makes me a little bit bonkers. like.

diluc and kaeya as what the traveler has and fears, after we will be reunited [separation born from conflict that seemingly cannot be mended; they both care for each other but ultimately their opposing ideals mean they cannot be at each other's side in the same way that they used to, and no longer have the close bond they once did]

ei and makoto as what the abyss sibling experienced [a crushing loss not just of one's twin but the last remaining friend they had and the safety and security of their nation, coming out the other side traumatized, cold and jaded and making decisions that will ultimately hurt the people they claim to want to protect for the sake of an unattainable goal]

and lyney and lynette as what the traveler and the abyss twin used to have before they were separated [never apart for long, home is wherever we are together], what the traveler wants [their separation brief and quickly amended, continuing to be inseparable after they reunite], and also the choice they'll have to make [the twins being together in an organization the traveler inherently doesn't trust - does the traveler want to be by their sibling's side badly enough to throw their lot in with the abyss, and turn their back on everyone else they've met on their journey so far?]

[uncanny-tranny]

It's weird how people paint "daddy issues" and even "mommy issues" as, like, a joke or a failure on part of the person who has those issues, rather than recognizing that daddy and mommy issues stem, for so many people, from abuse. What this all is is just abuse apologia, and nobody seems to either notice or maybe even care.

When somebody with daddy or mommy issues opens up about the "why," I can't ever seem to shake the fact that they tend to have gone through a ton of abuse and bullshit as a child. It's just crazy that other people would look at that and see a joke or a failure of the once-child who was abused.

[moeblob]

OC again gomen ... (her name is Yuma)