thenightling - Tumblr blog

[thenightling]

You're perpetuating exactly what's wrong with the house system.

First. Real schools don't divide up houses by personality traits at age eleven. They don't do personality quizzes even if they have dorms or houses in the boarding school. Second, you just accidentally stated the problem. The Ravenclaw entrance encourages problem solving, something they seem to innately already like. The ones that would need to be encouraged for that sort of thing are the ones who don't already have that desire. Also desires and drives and interests change all the time with kids, especially at age eleven. I know eleven-year-olds who want to be stunt drivers and then later realize they want to be a doctor. You should never stagnate the definition of who a person is and what they are interested in based on what they were into when they were eleven. That's the problem. It doesn't allow for growth and assumes the main interest will always be perpetual for each student.

[thenightling]

I won't stop telling everyone how much fun Monster Mash is. I know Sharknado is Asylum's most popular movie but I feel this deserves the same level of cult status for Gothic horror fans. This is my new favorite bad movie.

[thenightling]

A question about Asylum's Monster Mash. This is, hands down, my favorite Asylum mockbuster but how come there was no aquatic monster? They had The Mummy, Invisible Man, werewolf, Dracula, and Frankenstein's monster but no aquatic monster. No love for The Creature? I know the specific title "Creature from The Black Lagoon" is under copyright but not the idea of an aquatic monster, himself. (See: Shape of Water.)

[thenightling]

Code Orange

If you are new to Halloween (seasonal) collecting as a hobby you may have recently heard or seen the term "Code Orange" In regard to Home Depot getting a limited supply of their popular twelve foot tall skeleton, Frankenstein Monster, and other new, large Halloween decorations, being put on sale to celebrate the half-way mark to Halloween. Code orange is a term for Halloween collectors to alert other Halloween collectors that a well-known store is putting out Halloween merchandise for sale in the off-season or early part of "Spooky Season" / Halloween season. This is usually for big stores like Walmart and not tiny local shops. It's a way saying "Heads up, Boils and Ghouls, this store that might be in your own neighborhood has Halloween merch."

[thenightling]

Abigail review

A few nights ago I watched the new vampire film Abigail. It was a good vampire movie. There were some predictable moments and tropes that bordered on cliche but sometimes cliches are good. They're familiar and comfortable and it's fun to see those sort of trope-like manifestations in new or different situations from the norm. Cliches aren't bad by default. They can be fun. It all depends on how they are used. Abigail was a good popcorn movie. It reminded me of vampire movies from the late-80s to early-90s. Abigail deals with the little daughter of a crime boss who is implied to be Dracula himself. The hints of this fact are more subtle than in The Invitation (2022) but they are still there. The child is kidnapped by a ragtag group of would-be criminals eager to get rich quick. Little do they know this is actually a trap and they are the intended victims of this child vampire / hitman ...hitwoman. The most sympathetic character in the movie is a recovering drug addict we come to know as Joey. She has an estranged relationship with her young son and she is actually very maternal and sympathetic to the vampire. She also has a Sherlock-like skill at deduction that is combined with genuine empathy for the emotions and situations of others. It's a cliche but it is so seldom used that it is has become a refreshing combination. The ending is (to me) as strange yet satisfying as the Grandfather showing up at the end of Lost Boys. And there are a few funny quips in the movie. I liked Abigail, I find little I would change about it other than be brave enough to acknowledge that the vampire father is Dracula and not just leave tiny breadcrumbs about it. I liked Abigail but I must confess I actually had more fun watching the Asylum mockbuster of Abigail, Monster Mash (2024 film) which was more of a low budget cross between Abigail, House of Frankenstein, and League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or eve Avengers. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Abigail, Monster Mash... I am delighted to see so much spooky fun at the half-way -point to Halloween. This is usually the off-season for those sort of films. And I'm not complaining. As a Gothic Horror fan I love this. I love that they were brave enough to release these films in the spring instead of using the Halloween season as a crutch. I am grateful for these films and the thorough end of the Twilight backlash. The annoying polarization of the pretty boy boy emo vampire vs. the mindless killing machine vampire has calmed down and returned to the traditional depictions of characters like Dracula in The Invitation, Renfield, Last Voyage of The Demeter, Monster Mash, and Abigail. Characters that are charming yet fiercely predatory. I am grateful for this shift back in the vampire-sub genre of Gothic Horror. And also the return of acknowledging Dracula's more traditional powers such as shapeshifting into a bat or wolf or mist. I am finding all of these new movies very satisfying. And I will likely watch Abigail again with friends to enjoy the vampiric (and slightly ham-fisted) allegory on Then There were none. Credit where credit is due, I previously came across a werewolf version of "And then there were none" (The Beast Must Die from 1974) and a previous vampire version of And then there were None novel "Dying of the Light" by William Massa.

[thenightling]

I watched Abigail last night. There were supposedly hints that her father was Dracula but mostly they were just hints that her father is a vampire, a very powerful and high ranking vampire, mind you.

The biggest overt clues that he's Dracula, himself, are as follows.

The Mural in the house depicts either Poenari or Bran Castle in Romania. I forget which. Poenari is the real Castle Dracula that has fallen into disrepair. Bran Castle is the "Castle Dracula" used for tourism in Romania because it's pretty and easy to access. The real Vlad lived in Poenari, not Bran. He may have stayed in Bran briefly when he was a hostage at age eleven but it wasn't voluntary. That would be like calling a hotel room you stayed in once when you were eleven your home.

There's hints that Abigail could turn into a rat at will. Dracula, in the novel could turn into a rat, bat, wolf, mist, etc.

Her father is called the anti-Christ at one point. This is VERY subtle. The Anti-Christ is supposed to be the son of the Devil. Son of the Devil is one of the two ways you can translate Dracula though Son of The Dragon is more accurate.

He has the same teeth as Nicolas Cage as Dracula in the Renfield movie. As well as similar fashion sense. I guess that's going to be a thing now. Dracula and all of his teeth being pointed instead of just the eye teeth, one apart from the front teeth. But the biggest clue is just the blink-and-you'll-miss-it mural depicting one of the two real Castle Draculas in Romania. (As I said, I forget which one they used). I thought there would be more since there were many. may clues that Walter Deville was actually Dracula in The Invitation (2022). They practically spelt it out for you in tat one. This one was a LOT more subtle.

[thenightling]

My review of Asylum's Monster Mash: How Asylum managed to do what Univeral Studios Dark Universe could not

Last night I watched the new Asylum mockbuster, Monster Mash. What is Asylum? And What is a Mockbuster? A Mockbuster is a low budget knock-off movie of a film that is either already a blcokbuster hit or anticipated to be a hit. When Pacific Rim came out Asylum released a Mockbuster called Atlantic Rim. When Dracula 2000 came out, Dracula 3000 aired on The Scifi Channel. When Morbius came out, Asylum made Dracula: The Original Living Vampire. Sometimes the connection to the blockbuster they were "inspired by" is very slim. Asylum was founded twenty-five-years-ago to make mockbusters of high budget, blockbuster, and mainstream scifi and horror films. A lot of Asylum's creations have been released on Syfy (Formerly the Scifi Channel) as Syfy original movies. Most Asylum movies are either made-for-TV or direct to DVD / Blu Ray / Streaming. One season of the Netflix incarnation of Mystery Science Theatre were all Asylum mockbusters. This year there was a highly anticipated vampire movie called Abigail. The plot was about the daughter of a crime boss (heavily implied to be Dracula all along). The daughter gets kidnapped and it turns out her kidnappers are actually her intended victims. So Asylum released their own Mockbuster called Monster Mash and managed to release it two weeks before Abigail came out.

And what a treat this Monster Mash was! It was so delightfully corny! So wonderfully bad. I actually loved it. This was a so-bad-it's-good movie. There are other films called Monster Mash, including a semi-Juke Box musical. This is the only one from 2024. I think I liked Asylum's Monster Mash more than the 2012 Dario Argento's Dracula, which until now, was my favorite campy, bad Dracula movie. My nickname for Dario Argento's Dracula is Mantis Drac because Dracula transforms into a giant female preying Mantis at one point with very low quality CG effects. In Monster Mash, Dracula's daughter is kidnapped by Boris (A rather simple minded but sweet hearted Frankenstein monster) serving the evil Dr. Frankenstein, who wants to use Dracula's daughter as bait to lure out Dracula. Dr. Frankenstein is dying and wants to transfer his consciousness to a new monster, an utterly indestructible monster- supposedly. Dr. Frankenstein wants to use the parts of all the classic monsters including blood from Dracula, skin from The invisible Man, the heart of Rameses The Mummy, and the limbs of an immortal werewolf. Werewolves in traditional folklore, and the original Universal monster movies actually were immortal except when it came to silver.

The movie has minimum gore and suspense (except perhaps where Dracula almost kills his daughter's slave girl). It's tame enough where I think it could work for a child's first introduction to the classic monsters in a horror setting. (You know, outside of cartoons like Hotel Transylvania). I liked it a lot. For an Asylum film there was limited low-quality CG except once Dr. Frankenstein's creation came to life. That's when Asylum brought it its trademark low quality SFX.

The movie was not just a mockbuster of Abigail. It also felt like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but with the classic monsters. There were aspects that reminded me of House of Frankenstein. Dracula's daughter even had wanted a cure for her vampiric condition, like in the Universal monster movie, Dracula's daughter. There are a lot of nice, subtle, homages to classic monster movies. You realize pretty fast that the classic monsters are the heroes of the story (even though Dracula does occasionally snack on a hapless damsel). And I found myself delighted through the corny cheese. THIS is what Universal studios should have give us with their promised Dark Universe. THIS was a classic monsters version of Avengers and with the campy cheese of an asylum mockbuster it was actually fun. It was charming. I usually have difficulty sitting through an Asylum mockbister, let alone want to watch it again. This one I would happily watch again. It was fun. It was cheesy, good, fun. I liked it. I liked it a lot. Honestly, the actor who played Dracula was so much fun in this, Asylum doesn't deserve him. He deserves to be in something better but man, he made the movie. It was the sort of corny movie you might imagine Peter Vincent from the 1985 Fright Night starring in. Much like a classic Hammer Horror movie you can't quite tell what country it's set in or even what time period. There's almost a fairytale-like quality to it. An agelessness that is nostalgic and also refreshing.

This is, hands down, my favorite Asylum Mockbuster. Honestly, I loved it. If I had kids I'd have probably used it as their first horror film exposure to the classic movie monsters, not too scary, yet also well paced and the characters are likable. It was cheesy, corny, fun. I want to see more monster movies like this. THIS is the sort of film Universal Studios Dark Universe should have produced for us. Somehow Asylum managed to give us what Universal should have. It's rare that I say something like this but Universal Studios take note. The low budget mockbuster did what you wanted to but could not. I liked this so much I want Asylum to make a whole franchise out of it or even a TV series. I'd watch the Hell out of Dracula and his team of monsters trying to be the heroes. This was some damn good brain candy. My harshest complaints are that I prefer articulate and intelligent Frankenstein monsters like in Mary Shelley's novel but as this creature was named Boris he's obviously a homage to the zeitgeist Universal Studios tropey idea of the Frankenstein Monster. Also there's an odd moment where Dracula's daughter (named Elisabeta as a nod to the Bram Stoker's Dracula movie) comments about how she can read minds (with the aid of psychometry) but Dracula cannot read minds. I find this particularly odd since psychic abilities are some of his more common powers, even in films where they forget his ability to turn into Bat, wolf, and mist. Other than these petty details I loved this movie. It was very bad but very fun, a deliciously cheesy monster movie.

[thenightling]

@you-go-too-slow-for-me I can't answer for Neil and it's been a long time since I read the book but I'm pretty sure their wings ARE functional for flight. Also if I remember correctly Crowley's wings were still white.

Can Aziraphale and Crowley actually fly with their wings? Or are they basically like Penguins

"Poets are like penguins. Their wings are to swim with." E. E. Cummings.

Not really an answer to your question but too beautiful a quote to be forgotten.

[thenightling]

I'm pretty certain this is also true with The Sandman.

Hello Mr Neil Gaiman sir,

I was just wondering, because I’ve put all of Good Omens into chronological order, whether Crowley actually slept through the 19th Century or if he just liked to think he did. Because in the 1800’s he both assisted a few grave robberies and asked Aziraphale for holy water.

Or are the series and book only canon within themselves?

Thank you for you time :)

When they contradict each other they are canon to themselves.

[thenightling]

Knowledge is empowering

[thenightling]

Oh, no! The Good Omens curse! It's spread to The Sandman fandom!

I read some rumors that Sandman season 2 will also adapt Brief Lives, is it true?

Wait and see.

[thenightling]

A variation of it even comes up in Ray Bradbury's The Halloween Tree, not the animated movie from 1993, the original novel.

I don't know if you've come across the discussion already, but do you know where the trope (to quote op of the discussion i found)

"a deity's power directly corresponds to the number of their believers / the strength of their believers' faith?"

comes from?

(I think that's in American Gods, if I read the book right)

It's in American Gods. I ran into it in lots of places, from Harlan Ellison's Deathbird Stories to Richard Garnett's Twilight of the Gods (1888).

It's also an accurate observation about the power of specific religions.

[thenightling]

@yanzinator Some of hi finest writing is in its thirties. Maybe that's what confused you. :-P

You're 63??? I thought for sure you were in your thirties!

I've been writing professionally since 1982ish.

[thenightling]

Cain and Abel. From SANDMAN and HOUSE OF MYSTERY. Brush and ink.

[thenightling]

Okay, I'm done watching Asylum's Monster Mash and... I liked it. It's really, really, corny, but I liked it. I thought it would be a mockbister of Abigail but it's actually also a mockbuster of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

If Asylum makes a film series of the classic monsters as a hero team ...Yeah, I'll keep watching. This is fun. I think Asylum just pulled off the Monsters shared universe that Universal couldn't.

[thenightling]

I left MeTV on and the old 60s Batman is on. It's one of the ones where John Astin is The Riddler. John Astin was the original Gomez Addams so it just looks like Gomez snapped and ran away to Gotham for a life of crime. I'm sure he'll calm down and go back to Morticia later. :-P

[thenightling]

The first Artificial Jack-o-lanterns:

German papier-mâché JOLs (Jack-o-lanterns) were some of the first artificial Jack-o-lanterns ever made. They were molded out of papier-mâché and on the inside, (viewable from the eyes and inside of the mouth), was a translucent paper insert. This gave an eerie glow when a small candle in a little metal holder, was placed inside the Jack-o-lantern and the candle light shown through the paper insert in the eyes and mouth.

These early artificial jack-o-lanterns were not very durable and the paper inserts were extremely flammable so they are highly sought after by vintage Hallowe'en collectors, especially if they still have the paper insert (which is semi-rare).

These German JOLs often didn't have a date stamped on them so reproductions and forgeries are pretty common. Collectors are advised to look for wear on both the inside and outside, and other telltale signs of age when trying to buy originals that are worth a lot more than the reproductions.

The reproductions are nice but should never cost as much as the originals.

Most German papier-mâché or "paper pulp" JOLs were made in the late nineteen teens into the nineteen thirties but some were made as late as nineteen sixty.

They were usually made for the US market. Germany didn't start celebrating "American style" Halloween until the 1990s after the success of films like Nightmare before Christmas.

German JOLs had different faces, mostly inspired by the artwork on UK and American (New England) Hallowe'en post cards from the nineteen teens.

Some German JOLs weren't Pumpkin headed but actually black cat heads. The black cat was named Enock by Patrick McHale for his Over The Garden Wall animated mini-series.

The orange JOL with a mouth making an O shape is known by collectors as "Coir Boy."

Here's an interesting article for collectors and would-be-collectors.

I don't actually own any of these but I find them fascinating.