Stacie Ponder brings back Ridiculous Faces of Death.

Nobody can see themselves in Annie — not for one second — and that makes Misery, for all its violence, a very safe film. Norman Bates in Psycho, Alex Forrest in Fatal Attraction, hell, even Hannibal Lecter were granted more humanity. Yes, [Kathy] Bates was just giving her boss what he wanted — but since when is that a defense against complaints that you’ve abetted something despicable?

–Matt Zoller Seitz, “Worst Best Actress, and Best”

The post is on the most and least deserving recipients of the Best Actress Oscar, and there’s a lot more where that came from.

At this week’s Horror Roundtable, I give big ups to the high-school buddy who helped make me the gorehound I am today.

…are apparently on my mind quite a bit as I discuss this week’s issues of Justice Society of America, Thunderbolts, Runaways, Batman Confidential, Mythos: Ghost Rider, Squadron Supreme: Hyperion vs. Nighthawk, and Tales of the Unexpected over at Thursday Morning Quarterback. But not in a creepy way, honest.

Robert Anton Wilson: January 18, 1932 – January 11, 2007

A suspect in the gruesome murders of 17 people, mostly children, near the Indian capital has told investigators he had sex with the dead bodies and ate their organs, a report said on Thursday.

—“Serial killer admits to sex with dead bodies”, Sapa/AFP

(Hat tip: The Daily Gut.)

If the combined praise of the assembled horror-blog cognoscenti didn’t convince you that The Descent would be a must-own DVD upon its post-Christmas release, allow me to add one more element in its favor: the accompanying making-of documentary. It’s every bit as comprehensive and well-edited as one might hope, but the most exciting thing about it for me–besides the fact that everyone, from writer/director Neil Marshall on down, seemed so nice–is that the filmmakers (and actors) were just as steeped in the horror canon as I thought they were. They all seem so unpretentiously in love with horror and with making horror movies, which is delightful. All the references/influences get called out–Alien, The Shining, The Blair Witch Project, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, An American Werewolf in London, Deliverance, The Thing, Nosferatu, The Lord of the Rings…everything I saw and loved in the film was indeed intended to be there. Plus, there’s a whole separate mini-doc on the film’s two different endings, in which Marshall compares the two approaches, explains why the ending was changed for the U.S. release, reveals which was the original intention and which he ultimately prefers, and touches on a fascinating distinction between a hopeless ending and a cruelly hopeless ending. Of course that really revved my engine, and I’d imagine that if you’re reading this blog, it’ll rev yours too.

Somewhere, Edward Woodward is smiling.

Jesus, that was what the wicker man was in this movie? What the HELL was the point?

(Hat tip: Jim Treacher.)

Good golly Miss Molly, but there’s an awful lot of free downloadable avant-garde films available at UbuWeb. Beckett, Borges, Bu

Kristin Thompson analyzes the Internet-fan-driven PR campaign for and interaction with Snakes on a Plane versus the Internet-fan-driven PR campaign for and interaction with Borat and the relative successes thereof, touching on the Internet-fan-driven PR campaigns for and interaction with The Blair Witch Project and The Lord of the Rings on the way. Besides a great deal of insight in terms of the key differences between the phenomena surrounding each of those films, the piece offers another exciting tidbit that I, at least, wasn’t aware of: Thompson is writing a book about the Rings films and fandom called The Frodo Franchise. Hot.

Downtown Austin was shut down after dozens of dead birds were discovered. Probably just something they ate.

Remember those mystery smells that periodically enveloped a city or two a while back? There’s currently a gas-like odor of unknown origin blanketing Manhattan, and I’ve received first-hand (first-nose?) reports from friends who say they can smell it in Jersey City, too. Oh well, I’m sure there’s a logical explanation. You can go about your business. Move along.

“So many babies, not all of them dead, are being dumped in the bush that hyenas have developed a taste for human flesh.”

–anonymous Zimbabwean game ranger, “Zimbabwe, the land of dying children; Mugabe has ruined his country with policies that are killing thousands, writes RW Johnson in Harare,” The Sunday Times

(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.)

But apparently there is a certain type of African fungus that reproduces by driving a certain type of African ant insane. Once the ant inhales the fungus, it infects the bug’s brain, causing it to crawl out of its jungle-floor habitat, climb a tree or vine, latch on with its mandibles, and wait to die. The fungus then consumes the ant from the inside out, then shoots a spike-like appendage out of the dead insect’s brain, which then lets loose spores that fall to the ground and begin the cycle anew.

Video found at Random Good Stuff, courtesy of the great Bryan Alexander at Infocult, who has more information about the process and about the equally gruesome Alien-style life cycle of the ichneumon wasp. Nightmare material all.

Courtesy of the great cartoonist and editor Sammy Harkham comes this old essay on David Lynch and his film Lost Highway by David Foster Wallace. Provided you can stomach Wallace’s almost superhumanly grating tics and have already seen Twin Peaks because THE DUMB BASTARD REVEALS WHO KILLED LAURA PALMER WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A WARNING, it’s worth a read. It’s part of Mike Hartmann’s City of Absurdity, an almost superhumanly exhaustive Lynch fan site, which you should probably also check out. I wrote about Lost Highway here, if you’re interested.

Posting this was inspired by flipping through the channels and discovering that Kyle MacLachlan is a cast member of Desperate Housewives. He also maintains an almost superhumanly adorable website for his dogs Mookie and Sam, did you know that?

“In the last week more Americans have died in New Orleans than in Iraq. Since Dec. 29, there have been eight military deaths. In the Big Easy, there have been 14 murders.”

–Martin Savidge, “Homicides on the rise in New Orleans; City’s murder rate is 30 percent higher than any other U.S. city,” MSNBC.com

Learn what my most anticipated horror event of the year is at this week’s Horror Roundtable!

Learn what I thought of yesterday’s issues of Civil War, 52, Scalped, All Star Superman, Amazing Spider-Man, and Punisher War Journal at this week’s Thursday Friday Morning Quarterback!

“They

Courtesy of Loren Coleman comes a report that a “very fast and aggressive” eight-foot American Crocodile has been captured in the Cayman Islands. The only problem? Crocs have been extinct in the Caymans for two centuries.

Real-life water monsters RULE.

I’ve been hostile to Hostel‘s (and similar films’) attempts to dress up their splatter in the clothing of social critique–I’ve been doing this without having seen them, granted, but it just seems to me like anyone could watch The American Nightmare and say “yeah, me too.”

These photos by Clinton Fein, on the other hand, are another story.

I still feel there’s a certain narcissim posing as bravery in only speaking to evil when it’s going on in your own backyard, but regardless, another story entirely.

(Hat tip: Andrew Sullivan.)