I don’t have a clue what my reader demographics are these days. I’ve been a more or less constant horror blogger for a while now, but before that I was a comics blogger, and I still read a lot of comics blogs myself. So consider this a little bit of ADDTF ecumenicism: One of the two best comics bloggers alive, Jog of Jog the Blog, has posted lengthy reviews of two recent zombie comics, Night of the Living Dead and Return of the Living Dead progenitor John Russo’s Escape of the Living Dead and semi-superhero impresario Warren Ellis’s Blackgas. Fine writing on genre from a blogger some of you horror folks might not be familiar with. Go and enjoy!
(WARNING: SPOILERS ahead, sorta, for Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. I don’t name names, but I do give away what happens and who makes it happen, in broad strokes at least.) Speaking of comics bloggers gone all horror-like, a while back I noted that semi-comics blog Ringwood’s Ken Lowery (now of Dark But Shining infamy) wrote a comparison between Woody Allen’s two musings on infidelity, murder, and guilt, Crimes and Misdemeanors and Match Point. Ken’s thesis is that insofar as C&M‘s protagonist was fairly tortured about his decision to kill whereas MP seemed to dive right in, C&M is the more optimistic movie. I disagree, strongly in fact, both because I don’t buy Ken’s reading of the protagonist of MP (who seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown during the entire day of the killing, both before and after), and because, as Ken actually points out, C&M‘s protagonist eventually forgives himself for his unforgiveable act; he no longer feels any guilt for his crime. MP leaves us with a lingering close-up on the killer’s face as he sits separated from the ideal family his murder has enabled him to maintain; Allen’s implication is that he will never be able to be happy with the fruits of his crime, which to me is actually an optimistic view of human nature. The fact that Crimes & Misdemeanors‘s murderer is able to smile and smile and be a villain, guilt-free, absolving himself of a wrongdoing it should not be up to him to absolve himself from–that is what makes that film one of the most haunting and disturbing and pessimistic movies this horror fan has ever seen.
Speaking of disturbing non-horror movies (and comics, for that matter), Fluxblog’s Matthew Perpetua reviews Dan Clowes & Terry Zwigoff’s Art School Confidential. I saw a sneak preview of this movie a while back, and it gets a big ADDTF thumbs up–hilarious and black, black, black. As I’m sure you’ll hear a million times, if you have any experience at all with art school or the art world, it is an absolute must-see.
Shifting gears down to the lowbrow for a moment, Final Girl’s Stacie Ponder posts a teaser poster for an upcoming film called Hatchet. The tagline: “It’s not a remake. It’s not a sequel. And it’s not based on a Japanese one. Hatchet: Old-school American horror.” Stacie’s verdict: “Sold!” My verdict: slow down. There’s obviously a good deal to complain about when it comes to remakes and sequels and now-quotidian American revamps of Asian horror films, but I’m always wary of any work of art that makes the equivalent of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock & Roll” its mission statement. I don’t think the answer to a surplus of retreads is just a retread of a different color.
Finally, my water-monster-loving self was thrilled to receive word from my ATF compadre Ken Bromberg that Nahuelito, the lake monster of Argentina’s Lake Naheul Huapi, has been “photographed.” The original report is here, and famed cryptozoologist Loren Coleman has the pictures here. Looks like another case of FBA: Fake, but AWESOME!