In response to the bit in my Land of the Dead review where I discuss the zombie’s comparative lack of vampire-style formal conventions (wooden stakes, sucking blood, nocturnal, that sort of thing), Tom Collins has decided to show me up by creating an absurdly comprehensive post chronicling just how many variations both the vampire and zombie myths have in the movies. Truly a masterpiece of linkblogging.
Courtesy of the indispensable Bryan Alexander comes a project close to my heart: a werewolf blog. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout, people. Actually, I haven’t read much of it yet, but flipping through the final few entries I appreciate that the blog doesn’t really have an ending in the style of a traditional narrative; the writer understands that blogging is not just writing a novel in daily installments.
Shhhh, big secret: I’ve never seen a single Italian zombie movie. Not even Zombi 2, for pete’s sake! (And I’ve also only ever seen one giallo—Deep Red. My Italo-tyro status is one of the things that make me a lousy horror fan.) So I’m happy to hear (from Steven at Corpse Eaters) that all of the Tombs of the Blind Dead movies are coming out on DVD. They sound nice and hideous.
Finally, file this under horror in unexpected places: “Four Kicks,” the latest video by hipster redneck-rockers Kings of Leon. Previously best known for their dubious insistence that they’ve never listened to Creedence Clearwater Revival, they’re likely to make quite a splash with the graphically violent brawl depicted here. The video’s innovation is to freeze the action whenever the lead singer is singing, allowing the viewer to see brightly lit close-ups on a woman’s face just before it’s about to be pounded with the butt of a fire extinguisher, or an exploded lamp the second after it’s been smashed over a man’s head. Unfortunately I can’t find a nice-and-easy permalink to direct you to–RCA’s music video page appears to be one where old videos are cleared away to make room for new ones, Kings of Leon’s official website is all Flash so I can’t actually link directly to their video page, and in a display of fuckheadery typical for the network, MTV.com’s copy of the video is not Mac-compatible. But it won’t take you more than five seconds to find the video either of the first two sites. Note that I actually recommend you watch the Real video version rather than the Quicktime one–even in hi res, the QT video is a blurry mess. Check it out, and if you like what you see keep your eyes peeled for it on your better music-video TV shows for a crystal-clear version.