Here's another of my favorites from the long-running "Jesus and Mo" strip.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Horror in Shades of Gray
With Halloween almost here, here's an index of horror movie reviews here at Shades of Gray (so far... there are many more reviews to come in 2011).
Studies in Terror
A Bucket of Blood
Attack of the Giant Leeches
The Amazing Mr. X
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Best of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff
Black Sunday (with Barbara Steele)
Bride of the Gorilla
Dementia 13
The Devil-Doll
The Devil's Hand
The Ghost Breakers
The Giant Gila Monster
The Ghoul (with Boris Karloff)
Horror Hotel (with Christopher Lee)
House on Haunted Hill (with Vincent Price)
I Bury the Living
The Industructable Man (with Lon Chaney, Jr)
The Invisible Ghost (with Bela Lugosi)
Isle of the Dead (with Boris Karloff)
Three Tales of "The Lodger" (with Jack Palance)
Mark of the Vampire (with Bela Lugosi)
Nightmare
Nightmare Castle (with Barbara Steele)
Night of the Blood Beast
The Old Dark House (with Boris Karloff)
Psycho
The Screaming Skull
Scream of Fear (with Christopher Lee)
The Seventh Victim
Sound of Horror
Strangers on a Train
Tormented
Universal Pictures kinda-sorta adapts Poe (with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff)
The Vampire
Voodoo Island
The Walking Dead (with Boris Karloff)
The Wasp Woman
X the Unknown
Vampires and Other Walking Dead
Bela Lugosi as Dracula (with Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr.)
Dead Men Walk
I Walked With a Zombie
King of the Zombies
The Last Man on Earth (with Vincent Price)
The Return of Dracula
Return of the Vampires (with Bela Lugosi)
Revolt of the Zombies
Zombies of Mora Tau
Frankenstein and Other Mad Doctors
The Ape (with Boris Karloff)
The Ape Man (with Bela Lugosi)
Atom Age Vampire
Before I Hang (with Boris Karloff)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Captive Wild Woman
The Corpse Vanishes (with Bela Lugosi)
Dr. X Double Feature (with Fay Wray and Humphrey Bogart)
Frankenstein 1970 (with Boris Karloff)
Mad Love (with Peter Lorre)
The Mad Monster
The Man Who Changed His Mind (with Boris Karloff)
The Monster Maker
Three Tales of Frankenstein's Monster (with Boris Karloff)
The Vampire Bat (with Fay Wray)
Voodoo Man (with Bela Lugosi)
Wolfmen and Other Hairy Beasts
The Abominable Snowman
The Werewolf
Werewolf of London
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| From "Blood on Black Satin"by Gulacy and Moench |
Studies in Terror
A Bucket of Blood
Attack of the Giant Leeches
The Amazing Mr. X
Arsenic and Old Lace
The Best of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff
Black Sunday (with Barbara Steele)
Bride of the Gorilla
Dementia 13
The Devil-Doll
The Devil's Hand
The Ghost Breakers
The Giant Gila Monster
The Ghoul (with Boris Karloff)
Horror Hotel (with Christopher Lee)
House on Haunted Hill (with Vincent Price)
I Bury the Living
The Industructable Man (with Lon Chaney, Jr)
The Invisible Ghost (with Bela Lugosi)
Isle of the Dead (with Boris Karloff)
Three Tales of "The Lodger" (with Jack Palance)
Mark of the Vampire (with Bela Lugosi)
Nightmare
Nightmare Castle (with Barbara Steele)
Night of the Blood Beast
The Old Dark House (with Boris Karloff)
Psycho
The Screaming Skull
Scream of Fear (with Christopher Lee)
The Seventh Victim
Sound of Horror
Strangers on a Train
Tormented
Universal Pictures kinda-sorta adapts Poe (with Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff)
The Vampire
Voodoo Island
The Walking Dead (with Boris Karloff)
The Wasp Woman
X the Unknown
Vampires and Other Walking Dead
Bela Lugosi as Dracula (with Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney, Jr.)
Dead Men Walk
I Walked With a Zombie
King of the Zombies
The Last Man on Earth (with Vincent Price)
The Return of Dracula
Return of the Vampires (with Bela Lugosi)
Revolt of the Zombies
Zombies of Mora Tau
Frankenstein and Other Mad Doctors
The Ape (with Boris Karloff)
The Ape Man (with Bela Lugosi)
Atom Age Vampire
Before I Hang (with Boris Karloff)
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Captive Wild Woman
The Corpse Vanishes (with Bela Lugosi)
Dr. X Double Feature (with Fay Wray and Humphrey Bogart)
Frankenstein 1970 (with Boris Karloff)
Mad Love (with Peter Lorre)
The Mad Monster
The Man Who Changed His Mind (with Boris Karloff)
The Monster Maker
Three Tales of Frankenstein's Monster (with Boris Karloff)
The Vampire Bat (with Fay Wray)
Voodoo Man (with Bela Lugosi)
Wolfmen and Other Hairy Beasts
The Abominable Snowman
The Werewolf
Werewolf of London
Friday, October 29, 2010
Rushing toward 'Nine Days of the Ninja'!
This Rumiko Takahashi drawing of fierce Ninja Chicks rushing through the autumn landscape captures the urgency of Ninja everywhere over Nine Days of the Ninja!
The Nine Days of the Ninja Blogathon will take place November 1 - 9 across many of my blogs. I hope some of you out there will participate with posts of your own. Click here for more information.
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| Join us for the deadliest of Blogathons! |
Monster Week with Chris Samnee
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Mohammed Monday: Big Mo and Halloween
With his love of terror, gore, dismemberments, and beheadings, can there be any doubt that the Prophet Mohammed (may peas be upon him) would have LOVED Halloween?
And given that his modern-day followers love to dress up in all sorts of costumes, can there be any doubt that the Blessed Messenger of Allah would have celebrated October 31 with a costume of his own?
Friday, October 22, 2010
'Luana: Jungle Girl' by Frazetta and Manning
In 1968, the promoters of an Italian jungle flick with a cute little Asian actress as a female Tarzan-type character took the unusual step of creating a daily newspaper strip drawn by artist Russ Manning to promote the film. At the time, Manning was the lead artist on the Tarzan daily and Sunday newspaper strips, and to this day, few comic book artists are as closely associated with the character of Tarzan than Manning. This approach undoubtedly created additional interest in the film from fans of Tarzan. In addition to Manning, famed artist Frank Frazetta--who had painted numerous iconic covers for paperback editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels--was hired to produce additional promotional art. (One of Frazetta's pieces can be seen at the top of this post.)
To read the "Luana" strips, click on each one for a larger version. The story isn't all that--with the last three strips being a summary of the movie--but Russ Manning's art is as gorgeous as always.
You can read my review of the "Luana" movie at Movies You (Should Die Before You) See, but you've already seen the worthwhile version with the Manning strips. For some exposure of another jungle-dwelling babe, click here for a little "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle".
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Extra Picture Perfect Wednesday:
Marcos and the Monsters
Marcos and the Monsters
Pablo Marcos is one of the many underrated and under-appreciated artists who made the Marvel Comics horror magazines of the 1970s worth reading. Here are samples of his artwork, in which he draws every major Marvel horror character save Ghost Rider and the Werewolf.
The final two illos relate to Marcos' horror masterpiece "Tales of the Zombie," a strip that was primarily written by Steve Gerber. Click here to read my review of it (and I can't encourage you enough to follow the Amazon link and buy your own copy if you're a fan of well-done horror comics).
As always, click on the illos to see larger versions. Check out more artwork by Pablo Marcos at his website.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
'The Ghostbreakers' features a great cast,
great cinematography, and a weak script
The Ghostbreakers (1940)
Starring: Bob Hope, Willy Best, Paulette Goddard, Paul Lukas, and Anthony Quinn
Director: George Marshall
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A risk-taking radio reporter (Hope) and his butler Alex (Best) set out to protect an heiress (Goddard) when it seems a sinister Cuban businessman (Lukas) is going to try to scare her out of her ancestral home with a fake haunting.
"The Ghostbreakers" is a fast-paced, messily plotted horror comedy that has Bob Hope playing an oddly contradictory character--one who constantly talks about how scared and cowardly he is, but who invariably chooses the most direct and dangerous path toward problem solving at every opportunity. He is ably supported by Willie Best, who plays his man-servant and is slightly more prone to fear than his boss but who also seems to be a little smarter; and by Paulette Goddard, the chipper and stubborn heiress who refuses to be intimidated and who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no." This trio of performers play fabulously off each other, each displaying fine perfect timing and switching back and forth between the roles of "straight man" when the jokes are flying.
The comedic performances of the stars is both enhanced and contrasted by stylish and moody cinematography and great sets that puts a number of straight horror movies from the 1940s to shame (including some of Universal's later Mummy pictures and all the "House of..." monster mashes). A number of sequences would be perfectly at home in a horror film, such as when the characters arrive on the island housing the haunted castle, and the one where Paulette Goddard is stalked by a zombie.
Unfortunately, the excellent cast and crew are laboring in the service of a badly done script. While each joke and comedic set-piece are funny by themselves, the plot that links them together is so badly constructed that it can't even be described as flimsy. Several of the red herrings obscuring who the true bad guy is are left to just flop around on the floor without any tie-in whatsoever to anything else that's going, and no explanation is offered as to how the weird caretaker of the castle and her zombie son fit into things. Presumably, they are in league with the villain, but that's never made clear, nor is there any sort hint provided to whether the son truly is a zombie or not. Worse, the zombie is the object of one of films pure moments of slapstick when within this space of a few minutes it manages to put on (or be placed in) a suit of armor and ambush Hope and Best with a morning star. Did the zombie disguise himself? Did his mother? Did the villain? It's just one of many disconnects in the film that cause its second half and conclusion to be less-than-satisfying.
Speaking of zombies and disconnects, this is one of those films I've heard is supposed to be racist through and through, because Willie Best plays a character that is a spooked black servant who is the butt of a number of jokes from Bob Hope. However, if one actually watches the movie, one sees that Best's character actually gives as good as he gets--lobbing more than just a few zingers Hope's way--and is no more or less cowardly or scared than any other character in the film. Yes, he's a clear-cut comedic figure in the film, where Hope swings between comedic and heroic, but he stands watch over the lady in distress even while knowing a killer is on the prowl, and he joins with Hope in a physical fight against the zombie. I had the same reaction to this film as I had to "King of the Zombies", another film featuring a supposedly horribly racist portrayal of a black character, but in actually watching the film, the black servant turns out to be the brightest character in the film. (Admittedly, the Mantan Moreland-portrayed character in that film is the stereotypical "scared negro servant" who happens to be working for a racist moron.)
And in both those supposedly racist films, the racist stereotypes are mild when compared to black characters in modern films, such as the over-sexed, loudmouth cop that Chris Tucker portrayed in the "Rush Hour" series, or just about any film you care to mention that has featured a rapper or former rapper trying his hand at acting. It seems to me that some commentators should actually try watching this movies instead at coming at them with preconceived notions.
Despite its flaws, "The Ghostbreakers" is an entertaining comedy in the "creepy old house" vein that lovers of that sub-genre would do well to check out. Bob Hope fans will likewise find the film interesting, as the character he portrays is a little different from what emerged later once his comedic film persona was firmly established. All in all, it's a movie that should bring extra fun to the Halloween season.
Starring: Bob Hope, Willy Best, Paulette Goddard, Paul Lukas, and Anthony Quinn
Director: George Marshall
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
A risk-taking radio reporter (Hope) and his butler Alex (Best) set out to protect an heiress (Goddard) when it seems a sinister Cuban businessman (Lukas) is going to try to scare her out of her ancestral home with a fake haunting.
"The Ghostbreakers" is a fast-paced, messily plotted horror comedy that has Bob Hope playing an oddly contradictory character--one who constantly talks about how scared and cowardly he is, but who invariably chooses the most direct and dangerous path toward problem solving at every opportunity. He is ably supported by Willie Best, who plays his man-servant and is slightly more prone to fear than his boss but who also seems to be a little smarter; and by Paulette Goddard, the chipper and stubborn heiress who refuses to be intimidated and who doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no." This trio of performers play fabulously off each other, each displaying fine perfect timing and switching back and forth between the roles of "straight man" when the jokes are flying.
The comedic performances of the stars is both enhanced and contrasted by stylish and moody cinematography and great sets that puts a number of straight horror movies from the 1940s to shame (including some of Universal's later Mummy pictures and all the "House of..." monster mashes). A number of sequences would be perfectly at home in a horror film, such as when the characters arrive on the island housing the haunted castle, and the one where Paulette Goddard is stalked by a zombie.
Unfortunately, the excellent cast and crew are laboring in the service of a badly done script. While each joke and comedic set-piece are funny by themselves, the plot that links them together is so badly constructed that it can't even be described as flimsy. Several of the red herrings obscuring who the true bad guy is are left to just flop around on the floor without any tie-in whatsoever to anything else that's going, and no explanation is offered as to how the weird caretaker of the castle and her zombie son fit into things. Presumably, they are in league with the villain, but that's never made clear, nor is there any sort hint provided to whether the son truly is a zombie or not. Worse, the zombie is the object of one of films pure moments of slapstick when within this space of a few minutes it manages to put on (or be placed in) a suit of armor and ambush Hope and Best with a morning star. Did the zombie disguise himself? Did his mother? Did the villain? It's just one of many disconnects in the film that cause its second half and conclusion to be less-than-satisfying.
Speaking of zombies and disconnects, this is one of those films I've heard is supposed to be racist through and through, because Willie Best plays a character that is a spooked black servant who is the butt of a number of jokes from Bob Hope. However, if one actually watches the movie, one sees that Best's character actually gives as good as he gets--lobbing more than just a few zingers Hope's way--and is no more or less cowardly or scared than any other character in the film. Yes, he's a clear-cut comedic figure in the film, where Hope swings between comedic and heroic, but he stands watch over the lady in distress even while knowing a killer is on the prowl, and he joins with Hope in a physical fight against the zombie. I had the same reaction to this film as I had to "King of the Zombies", another film featuring a supposedly horribly racist portrayal of a black character, but in actually watching the film, the black servant turns out to be the brightest character in the film. (Admittedly, the Mantan Moreland-portrayed character in that film is the stereotypical "scared negro servant" who happens to be working for a racist moron.)
And in both those supposedly racist films, the racist stereotypes are mild when compared to black characters in modern films, such as the over-sexed, loudmouth cop that Chris Tucker portrayed in the "Rush Hour" series, or just about any film you care to mention that has featured a rapper or former rapper trying his hand at acting. It seems to me that some commentators should actually try watching this movies instead at coming at them with preconceived notions.
Despite its flaws, "The Ghostbreakers" is an entertaining comedy in the "creepy old house" vein that lovers of that sub-genre would do well to check out. Bob Hope fans will likewise find the film interesting, as the character he portrays is a little different from what emerged later once his comedic film persona was firmly established. All in all, it's a movie that should bring extra fun to the Halloween season.
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