Napalm Death covering Slab. With backup singers! This shit is nuts. A big, thick slab of sonic knuckle in your face to kick off Wednesday.
From 2022's Reesentment is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes). I don't know how it's taken me until age 50 to get into Napalm Death, but it happened.
NCBD:
A couple of "Maybes" I'm including today for various reasons. I'll explain as I go. Big week if I bring all this home.
So, apparently, I'd been buying this off the shelf, neglecting to sub, so I never ended up with issue 3. I dig it, but the books are starting to add up, so I'm tempted to let Thundarr go. We'll see.
The end of the series. I can't say I've completely followed everything that's happened in Liam Sharpe's Spawn: The Dark Ages, but it's been profound to say the least. The homage to Wrightson's Frankenstein really helped win me over, but really, this man just makes beautiful, challenging art. Who would have ever thought you'd find that in a Spawn book?
Condon and Adlard? Take my money.
Misommar meets Green Room? Really? That sounds insane. Add to it that Tynion is writing it and I'm in.
Okay, I've seen this "Dire Wraith" technology or whatever it is (The Hallucinatory green stuff on the cover there) in the solicitations for some of the recent figures - all passes for me - and I'm curious to see how this goes down in the pages of GIJOE. I'm also loving the idea that Crystal Ball will be yet another independent faction in this total melee of factions. That's this book's strong point. It's not just Joe and Cobra. It's at least half a dozen agendas if not more by now (Arashikage, Dreadnoks, Raptor, Blud, etc).
One of the funest books of the year, and one that has such a 'Summer vibe." Why? I don't know - maybe because when I was a kid in the 80s, summer sometimes meant hanging out at an arcade with friends, playing Double Dragon, and if there's one major pop culture entry in Death Fight Forever's DNA, it's Double Dragon. Jeez - just saying Double Dragon brings on a super strong nostalgia. No wonder I love this book. Which, incidentally, is SO much more insane than DD could ever hope to be.
Writer Pornsak Pichetshote's graphic novel Infidel from a few years back was one of the genuinely frightening comics I'd read in years, so to see his name attached to the Absolute Green Arrow series being described as "A Horror book" really piqued my interest.
Read:
Last night I drove up to the Belcourt in Nashville to see Taratoa Stappard's Mārama.
I knew zero about this going in. Mārama takes place in 1859, North Yorkshire, where Mārama has traveled from her native New Zealand, the home of her Maori ancestors, to meet a man who claims to know her origins. Mārama is an orphan who never knew her parents, so the pull is strong.
I have seen this described online as a Maori Gothic Horror, and that pretty much hits the nail on the head. This is a gorgeous film, but it is also infuriating. Colonialism is ripe for remembering, with so many in our modern age eager to either celebrate the worst history has to offer or ignore it. Ariāna Osborne is magical and intense as the lead; her unshakeable identity and fury are a balm for her would-be oppressors.
Definitely support this on the big screen if you can - the costumes, sets and camera will work pay off dividends if you do.
Playlist:
Émilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
Atticus Derrickson - The Black Phone 2 OST
Tangerine Dream - Sorcerer OST King Woman - Celestial Blues
The Sword - Age of Winters
The Doors - L.A. Woman
The Bangles - All Over the Place
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Palesketcher - Jesu: Pale Sketches Demixed
Jesu - Lifeline EP
Jesu - Silver EP
M83 - Hurry Up, We're Dreaming
Blackbraid - Celestial Womb EP
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Burial - Untrue
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• 20: Judgment
• Nine of Cups
• 17: The Star
Renewal and fulfillment. I feel this after last. Genuinely - driving up to Nashville later at night is a pleasant drive, and sitting in a theatre I love watching a film I knew nothing about really helped put me back in my preferred perspective. Top that off with a short but powerful writing session beforehand, and yes, today I feel renewed.
I think I first discovered Mascara via The Cinematic Void podcast, where, if I remember correctly, Nick Vance - whose band Double Life I adore - mentioned them in a year-end episode a few years back (maybe more than a few at this point). Anyway, I ended up with their 2025 album Going Postal on my phone, but couldn't remember how it got there. I gave a perfunctory listen a week or three back, but yesterday, holy shit. These guys HIT me. I blew through the album and a handful more of their releases (see below). All of them are fantastic.
Mascara's Bandcamp is HERE, so head on over and give 'em a listen. Great independent band that deserves as much support as we can rally.
Watch:
Tim Plester and Rob Curry's new documentary, The Archivist. I'm not entirely sure what this has to do with Weird Walk zine, but I came to the trailer via their YouTube channel, and I generally pay attention to everything they do. This is no exception.
Here's the solicitation blurb from the YouTube post:
"Following in a noble lineage of Great British nonconformists, David ‘Doc’ Rowe has spent the last 60 years tirelessly documenting the rich tapestry of mysterious folk customs that continue to thrive in forgotten corners of this Island Nation. THE ARCHIVIST follows this indefatigable man through the wheel of a year like no other; capturing not only his efforts to get back on the road despite health issues and Covid lockdowns, but also his crusade to find a permanent home for his one-of-a-kind collection."
This is making its world premiere at a film fest in Sheffield at the end of June, so not sure when we'll see it stateside, but I'll be watching for it from here out.
Read:
Back into my Stephen King reread this weekend with my favorite of the Dark Tower novels, Book Three: The Wastelands.
I'm not very far yet, but I'm both shocked and not shocked at how well I remember this one. Not shocked, because I carry quite a bit of it in the daily ether that comprises my 'surface' mind. You know, those books, songs, movies, comics, whatever that are so much a part of you, that made such an indelible impression upon first contact that bits float up apropos of nothing at any given time on any given day. That's this book. Shocked, because even though I've read this three times prior (Once when it came out, once during a reread before Book IV came out, and once before embarking on the full series reread I did when the final three books began to release), I still always blanket assume my memory is not as good as I think it is (for many things, it is not). But no, I fell right in the opening scene with Mir, the 18-story guardian of the woods, like I was rereading yesterday's material.
This very much excites me, because with this proof of memory, I'm eager for certain other key scenes in the book, especially Jake in the 'haunted' house.
Playlist:
Anthrax - Worship Music
Anthrax - For All Kings
Anthrax - We've Come for You All
Rock Burwell - Obsession OST
Abby Sage - Smoke Break (single)
Napalm Death - Resentment Is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes)
Mascara - Hla-11Tf
Mascara - Cameo Blue Estate EP
Napalm Death - Apex Predator - Easy Meat
Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures
Abby Sage - The Rot
AC/DC - For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Ten of Wands
• Five of Cups
• Seven of Swords
Wasting time mulling over disappointing results is of no use. Take the negative and turn it into a positive. Or, to quote Alfred, "Why do we fall down Master Bruce? To pick ourselves back up."
I knew this was coming today, but I had no idea how great it would be! These guys really just don't slow down. I love the track, which is the lead single from their forthcoming first record in over a decade, Cursum Perficio, due out September 18th. No pre-order yet, but it's coming.
I love the track, especially the production. First listen was on headphones and I recommend it - you can really hear all the instruments and voices in their own space, but expertly mixed. And Frank Bello's bass - man! Sounds so good.
Watch:
I knew nothing about Curry Barker or his feature film debut, Obsession, going in. All I'd seen was this trailer and an announcement that A24 had tapped him to helm their upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Obsession is a deeply unnerving film. There's definite DNA here from the first Smile film - of which I am definitely a fan - but Barker has a knack for thwarting expectations and really doing something different with some of the tropes you'll think you recognize, but won't. Also, I am a huge fan of sustained tension, and once this film kicks into the tense stuff, it never relents. There aren't many exhales, and there are times when, by manipulating those aforementioned tropes in different and unexpected ways - like say someone standing in a dark corner watching someone else - Barker creates these delirious ripples in the anxiety, to a greatly disorienting effect.
I walked out of the theatre feeling like I needed to smoke a cigarette (I don't smoke) or take a shower in order to put something between myself and what I'd just endured. That's something special.
Read:
After the first episode of The Terror: Devil in Silver last week - which we are reviewing weekly on The Horror Vision, first episode HERE - I picked up the source material and blew through it in just a few days.
Victor Lavelle's The Devil in Silver is an absolute masterpiece; as much an exploration and reflection on humanity, mental health and the failing system we have in this country for Mental Health. It touched me in ways I'm not sure anything has ever. Also, there's a helluva monster involved, but it is kind of secondary to the mental health themes, which Lavelle really shows insight into. He builds extremely strong characters, and I was hooked; I couldn't put it down. I found myself reading while lying around on the couch with the TV on at night, or until I was falling asleep face-first in my iPad. This one derailed me from my Dark Tower for a few extra days after finishing, as it's still echoing in my head. Great feeling.
Playlist:
Napalm Death - Resentment is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes)
Blood Mother - Night Fires (single)
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Emilie Leviensaise-Farrouch - Censor OST
Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast
Iron Maiden - Killers
Mascara - Going Postal
Mascara - Hla-11Tf single
Mascara - Cameo Blue Estate EP
Mascara - Eponymous EP
Flower Language - Thrown Into Air
Electric Wizard - Super Coven
Helmet - Aftertaste
Boy Harsher - Careful
Double Life - Indifferent Stars EP
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Page of Wands
• Four of Swords
• Four of Wands
Will and Intellect. A strong power base or foundation for creating something lasting. A spark from which something sustaining can be created.
Seems like a writing pull, but I'm having trouble matching it up with... oh. Actually. No. I'm not. Can't talk about it yet, but this is a good reminder about a project I'm working on.
Big decision to make today. Am I going to jump work 30 minutes early and drive up to Eastside Bowl in Nashville to see Deadguy and Napalm Death at my favorite local venue? I'll report back tomorrow. In the meantime, here's a track from the latter's 1987 album Scum.
I'll admit I'm fairly new to Napalm Death fandom. Not that I've ever had anything against them, but my exposure over the years has been minimal at best, and it wasn't until their recent collaboration with Melvins became available from Ipecac earlier this year that I became intrigued at what I'd missed. So far, while the albums I was faintly aware of and slightly exposed to back in the day - 1990's Harmony Corruption and 1987's Scum - are about what I've always thought they were and albums I would not have 'got' back in the day but fair much better now that I've grown into a bit over the years and absorbed influences and offshoots Crass and Godflesh, some of their newer stuff really strikes a chord with me. In particular, 2022's Resentment Is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes) has made quite the impression on me in only a handful of listens.
NCBD:
Super excited for today's pull. Let's get into it:
The cover says it all: Shockwave is back! Hell yes! Can't wait to see what's been happening on Cybertron since Alita One took over as Prime, leaving Optimus de-primed a few issues back. Kirkman is killing it in this series!
One more issue of Simon Birks and Willi Roberts' adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft's The Thing on the Doorstep, and so far, for a story that's received a fair amount of attention in the last few years, this is probably my favorite interpretation. Birks keeps it true to the story but also streamlines things, and Roberts' art is fantastic. Especially his knack for showing us the evil intentions of some of the characters.
With the giant, magic Kaiju running around at the end of last issue, this one can't get into my peepers soon enough. Gene Luen Yang, Fero Peniche and Freddie E. Williams II have really found a way to keep this book evolving, not easy to do after Jason Aaron's run and all its reamapping of the cast.
Creeping closer and closer to issue 50 and I'm pretty sure some pretty major events for SIKTC.
From the solicitation blurb on League of Comic Geeks:
"THE SECRET OF SNAKE-EYES REVEALED? As Dawn infiltrates the Terror Drome, she learns a shocking secret about Snake-Eyes from their time in Springfield...one that could doom their future!"
Wait, what now? Holy cow, I didn't realize something like this was even on the horizon! Also, look at that cover art! Wow!
I'll confess, the Dawn Moreno character has never really intrigued me, but this? Based on the fact that the current Snake Eyes is a clone of the original (who died at some point when I was not reading this series), I'd say this could be a pretty huge development. Can't wait to find out more!
Watch:
K and I saw Mortal Kombat 2 last night, and I am here to tell you this flick is SUPER fun!
I have zero history with Mortal Kombat. Obviously, I was aware of it when it came out, but I don't think I ever played it, and the first movie I saw was 2021's, which I enjoyed as a pretty fun popcorn flick. This sequel ups the ante by adding Karl Urban - always a plus in my book - and really getting into the lore of the games. Again, I knew nothing of this, and it wasn't really until I heard our recent episode of The Horror Vision that my cohosts Anthony and Missi did on the flick (HERE) that I understood how much story has been built into this.
I will say the fighting choreography is good, but everything feels like slow motion since I saw The Furious last month at Beyond Chicago. So, no offense to MK2, but it still just can't hold a candle to Kenji Tanigaki's film, which I cannot wait to see again in wide release on June 25th!
Playlist:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor -
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
The Monks - Black Monk Time
Steeve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Drug Church - Prude
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Double Life - Indifferent Stars EP
Napalm Death - Scum
Napalm Death - Resentment Is Always Seismic (A Final Throw of Throes)
Melvins & Napalm Death - Savage Imperial Death March
Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: The Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts
Card:
My first pull with Jonathan Grimm's Eldritch Lace Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Ten of Wands
• IV: The Emperor
• Nine of Wands
It takes strength to overcome the rules that thwart our growth.
A lot of what I'm interpreting as work pulls lately.
I saw Drug Church at Nashville's Basement East this past Saturday. Fabulous show! I'd been to this venue once before, back in 2023, and I forgot it's one of the easier Nashville locations to get to, so I'm going to stop being so gunshy about hitting shows there.
The driving here is really prohibitive. There's so many exchanges to get to some locations, and traffic is as bad or worse than LA (believe it!), so there have been a few events I purchased tickets to in the last year that I ended up not going to, simply because, on a week night after a day's work, the thought of doing these drives is daunting, to say the least. Good to know The Basement East is pretty painless.
Anyway, great show, great crowd. I watched a bunch of younger dudes doing full-on stage-dive cartwheels from the stage back into the crowd, and it was amazing. At a high-energy show like this, I miss the pit, but I especially miss surfing. I learned quite some time back, though, that the ramifications to those activities now can be pretty substantial. At 50? Maybe I'm buying my own pity story, but it's best to err on the side of caution, lest I remove myself from the flow of my daily life with crutches or a cast.
"What a drag it is, getting old."
Yeah, but also, I'm mostly okay with it. I mean, I did all that shit when I was younger (never stage dove - it's far more acceptable today. Back in the Aragon Brawlroom days, bouncers would throw your ass out of the show for that shit), and it's cool to see the younger gen do it while I sit back, bang my head and drink my beer.
Watch:
After 8 years, I canceled Shudder. It wasn't easy, because I've really been a huge supporter of them since I signed up back in the spring of 2018. But they had it coming after canceling The Last Drive-In. Ultimately, I understand that Shudder and the folks that run it aren't to blame, that it's the parent company AMC. I also understand that by canceling that and taking the $30 AMC+ deal for a full year, I basically just made the opposite statement I wanted to make.
Here's the deal, though: I've known for a few years that AMC is shitty to Shudder. I mean, you can pay for Shudder, or you can pay for AMC+, which includes Shudder. Not only that, but the Shudder portal on AMC+ actually has more Shudder material than Shudder does.
That's just messed up.
This has been stuck in my craw for a while now. I want to watch a particular movie with Joe Bob, it's not on Shudder, but it is on AMC+'s Shudder. WTF? I held off as long as I could, but by doing that, I've already made my statement. Now, I'm looking at my pocketbook. So it's backward, but it's what I need to do at the moment.
And the first movie I watched on AMC+'s Shudder portal? Nothing I couldn't see on Shudder, but still... Oily Maniac had been on my list for a while, so I dialed up this batshit crazy Shaw Brothers Horror flick and fell down a rabbit hole of whatthefuck.
So really, not much has changed, except I saved myself $69. I would have rather not canceled Shudder, but this is where we are.
Read:
I blew through Brian McAuley's latest novel, Breath In, Bleed Out, over the weekend and loved every twist and turn!
Equal parts a Slasher and a Mystery, this book had me guessing and wincing almost all the way through. The writing is crisp and lean - no fat here, so the plot pulls you right through. The characters, too, who are fantastic, are a great mix of folks you root for and folks who, well, maybe deserve the awful deaths they get. And the deaths? Breathe In, Bleed Out has some diabolical kills. One in particular, which I'll just say involves heat and a rattlesnake, really impressed - and disgusted - me.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Jimmy & Stiggs OST
Sleep - Sleep's Holy Mountain
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
High on Fire - Electric Messiah
Converge - The Dusk in Us
Converge - Love Is Not Enough
Nun Gun - Mondo Decay
Drug Church - Hygiene
Drug Church - Prude
Adam Egypt Mortimer - The Obelisk
Drug Church - Paul Walker
Geoff Barrow & Ben Salisbury - Drokk
Vitalic - OK Cowboy
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Three of Swords
• Five of Cups
• Five of Pentacles
Not gonna lie, I'm a little freaked out by this pull. We'll see.
I'm on the fence on this one. While I love Loathe's 2020, I Let It in, and It Took Everything, the album cuts its Nü Metal elements with enough atmospherics and melody that I don't really notice them. This on the other hand, while being insanely heavy, feels a little more outside my Nü tolerance.
We'll see. As usual, it's never a good idea to make a decision about a single without the context of the full album informing that decision.
That said, I just realized that this is actually the second track released from the upcoming album, A Stranger to You, out July 17th. You can pre-order the album HERE, and the previously released track, "Gifted Every Strength," is actually a lot more promising in my opinion. So the verdict is still out.
Watch:
You know, there are more and more shark movies every year, and although they terrify me, I guess I'm the guy who just has trouble taking any shark movie seriously other than Jaws. That's not entirely true, but it's not entirely untrue either. Giant squid, though?
Holy f*cking nightmare fuel!!!
I really hope this hits a theatre near me. I think seeing this great big honkin' Kraken (CG, yes, but that's fine in this case, as I'd hate to think of the animal wranglers or, for that matter, actors having to deal with an actual giant squid.
Playlist:
Mountain Realm - Stoneharrow
Type O Negative - Life is Killing Me
Type O Negative - Dead Again
Low Cut Connie - Tough Cookies: Best of the Quarantine Broadcasts
Low Cut Connie - Livin in the USA (pre-release singles)
Primus - Tales from the Punchbowl
Various - The New (playlist from Jacob)
Nun Gun - Mondo Decay
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯ A♯ ∞
Bryce Miller - City Depths
Living Nudes - My World Exploded
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Wasteland
Drug Church - Prude
Amigo the Devil - Born Against
Them Are Us Too - Part Time Punks Session
MadLove - White With Foam
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Card:
One card from my Thoth deck:
A reminder that the only good reason to do most things has a root cause analysis of Love.
No word on the new album yet, but this track is rad!
NCBD:
Big week. Let's get into it.
Perfect timing! I usually hang on to these Savage Sword issues until I have a chance to really sit down and enjoy them, and I just did that last weekend with issue 13 and was left wanting more.
This pretty much speaks for itself if you're a SIKTC fan. Looks like this is a three-issue mini-series that will no doubt help spin off big changes coming up in issue 50 of SIKTC, and as much as I've enjoyed these last few "young Erica" storylines in the flagship book, I'm pretty anxious to see how the whole thing is going to evolve. Thinking that starts here.
I know nothing about this new number one for Excommunicated, other than it's on Vault, and I miss Vault! Here's the solicitation blurb:
"When a faithful nun and a festering demon are each excommunicated from the church — and from hell — because of a botched exorcism, they must work together to uncover a sinister plot that endangers their lives and the world."
Definitely sounds like a 'me' book, so I'm giving it a shot!
I loved the setup of the first issue of Estuary: A Ghost Story, so I'm back for more. Nothing like an underwater ghost story.
As I mentioned, I wasn't able to score the free one last week for FCBD because I don't go anywhere near a comic shop on FCBD. Looking forward to this enough that I have no problem paying for it.
This is the issue we've been building to, and funny how it kind of dovetails with the current season of Daredevil: Born Again, which wrapped up last night (but which I haven't watched yet at the time I'm writing this).
I love this Fraction and Jimenez Batman series, and I love that they're playing the GCPD against them.
Watch:
llimage/textsddj
I'm putting this new Evil Dead Burn trailer here for posterity's sake, but I won't be watching it of my own volition.
Most likely, I'll see this a number of times at the theatre, but I'm really going to attempt to minimize exposure to the film before it's release, lest what happened with Evil Dead Rise happen here. As of now, I am very excited for this film! So excited, in fact, that I started re-watching Ash vs. Evil Dead from the beginning the other night. I know this is a completely different side to the Evil Dead Universe than anything with Ash (as it should be), but I never did get around to Ash vs Evil Dead season three, so now's the time.
Playlist:
Cristobal Tapia De Veer - Smile OST
sunn O))) - Loser
Art Brut - Brilliant! Tragic!
Killing Joke - Eponymous
Blood Mother - Eponymous (pre-release singles)
Converge & Chelsea Wolfe - Bloodmoon: I
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Mind Control
Type O Negative - October Rust
Tyler Bates & Chelsea Wolfe - X OST
Flying Lotus - 1983
Pepper Adams - Encounter!
Cage & Aviary - Migration
Vitalic - OK Cowboy
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
I realized recently that I never posted anything from Gylt's latest album, In 1000 Agonies I Exist. You can grab this over on the band's Bandcamp page. Both this and 2024's I Will Commit A Holy Crime: Tandem are fantastic records that infiltrated my regular rotation last year after my trip back home to L.A., when friends first played these guys for me. I would very much like to see Gylt live at some point.
Watch:
I caught the late show for Damian McCarthy's Hokum last Thursday night. I've been all but salivating for this one. Here's the 'final' trailer, released last week.
So how was it? Did I get what I wanted? Oh my god, yes!
Hokum is an excellent ghost story, and it's about haunted people as much as it is about a haunted place. The locations, as with all McCarthy's films, are gorgeous beyond compare. There are some legitimately frightening sequences here. One in particular, involving a circle around a four-poster bed, was the first example of a filmmaker creating a sustained sequence of fear in years.
That's my favorite, and it is rare. It's just really difficult to scare an adult with a ghost or monster movie when just living in this world means we operate with a low-grade level of sustained fear 24/7. But McCarthy pulls it off beautifully.
There are also some really great jump scares here. One in particular really got me.
Playlist:
John Cale - Fear
John Cale - Slow Dazzle
The Dream Syndicate - The Days of Wine and Roses
Portishead - Third
The Atlas Moth - Coma Noir
The Soft Moon - Criminal
The Misfits - Walk Among Us
Electric Youth and Pilot Priest - Come True OST
Corrosion of Conformity - Good God/Baad Man
Frank Black and the Catholics - One More Road for the Hit
Metallica - Ride the Lightning
Beach House - Bloom
Ghost - Ceremony and Devotion
NIN - The Slip
Gylt - I Will Commit a Holy Crime: Tandem
Slow Crush - Thirst
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• XV: The Devil
• Eight of Cups
• King of Wands
Adhering to your own dogma will drain your vitality, so have the presence of mind to recognize your own bullshit and subvert it.
Direct reference to a new project I've dubbed Film50.
Not gonna lie, I'm missing the weird Veils I fell in love with on Total Depravity. These last few releases have been so... heavy. And yet... damn. These guys have so much emotional gravitas in each song... it's always breathtaking. The comparisons to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are unavoidable, but also, those comparisons most definitely sell The Veils short.
Watch:
I don't know very much about Resident Evil, so I am uninvested. I saw a handful of the previous cinematic adaptations and liked them as popcorn Action/Horror flicks. This is Zach Cregger's take, and, although the trailer starts with a deja vu moment to Barbarian, it has me.
I appreciate that those invested in the games and their lore might not appreciate his self-professed 'different' take on the material. I'm just hoping for a good flick. I was originally bummed that he made two outstanding original films and then got quickly co-opted to do a pre-existing IP. This trailer is making me feel better about that.
Read:
I took a brief detour from my Dark Tower reread to burn through an advance copy of Jessica Lacy's (i.e., the author formerly known as Ivy Tholen) newest novel, Fatally Yours, this week. This is the new version of Mother Dear, and I can say, while Jessica didn't change much, she definitely tightened this one, and I cruised through in just a couple of days, laughing and wincing all the way.
The thing I find so interesting about what Jessica does is, she takes 'chick lit' or 'chick flicks' and subverts the genre by splicing in Slasher DNA. And, as Stephen Graham Jones famously said about Tastes Like Candy, she doesn't go light on the gore."
There are images in Jessica's books that stand a head above anything I've seen in a Slasher flick in 20 years. Sure, there's also a lot of wedding stuff and fashion stuff in Fatally Yours that I either had to shrug off or look up (I kind of wish I could wear Louboutin combat boots), but that's also part of the fun.
I'll recommend this one to anyone who loves a great slasher, or anyone who loves a great laugh, or anyone who wants to see what Father of the Bride* would look like if it were remade by Damien Leone.
* I've never seen Father of the Bride, but I'd definitely watch a remake of it if helmed by Mr. Leone. Just saying.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas OST
Genghis Tron - Dream Weapon
Genghis Tron - Dead Mountain Mouth
Flying Lotus - Yasuke
Dreamkid - Daggers
Electric Youth and Pilot Priest - Come True OST
Genghis Tron - Board Up the House
Beach House - Bloom
The Soft Moon - Exister
Card:
I felt a pull to my Thoth again, but remember, you can grab Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot HERE.
• I: The Magus
• 7 of Disks: Debauch
• 6 of Disks: Success
This new idea might seem like it falters, but stick with it and something will come of it. Words of encouragement as I continue a fairly productive stint of days working on Shadow Play Book 2.
I've felt drawn back to several 90s female artists recently, and PJ Harvey is a big one. I don't remember when I first heard To Bring You My Love, but I know it was an instant "all-timer" for me. That said, it's also one that takes me to a very specific inner place, a place I don't often necessarily find myself drawn to these days. Lately, though, I'm all about it.
NCBD:
Another fabulous Wednesday pull from Rick's Comic City in Clarksville. Let's take a gander at what will be waiting for me after work:
For whatever reason, it feels like it's been months since the last issue of Thundarr. Excited to get back into this, as there's potentially some really interesting stuff going on in this book.
Here's a surprise - the unreleased "Swamp Thing meets Jesus" by Rick Veitch and Michael Zulli finally sees the light of day as a four-issue series starting this week and published monthly for the next three months. Reminds me a bit of when Vertigo made a big deal about finally releasing that Constantine story that caused Warren Ellis to bail on the book after only two thin trades worth of what could have been a long and completely brilliant run. For as groundbreaking as they wanted to be perceived as back in the late 80s, I don't think DC had fully acquiesced to Karen Berger's autonomy until after Sandman proved the brand.
We come to the end of the Sssilent Missions event with a Firefly issue. No better way to end things, in my opinion. Like Copperhead, another of my all-time favorite characters.
Another facsimile edition for Larry Hama's original ARAH series, this time issue 14, which I believe is the first appearance of Laird Destro!
One thing I learned years ago is to stay the hell out of comic shops on Free Comic Book Day, which is this coming Saturday. So I'm not sure I'll actually be able to walk away with this, or if I should just wait for the not-free version that drops next Wednesday.
J.G. Jones and Phil Bram's dustbowl epic Dust to Dust finally comes to a conclusion with issue 8, and I'll be jumping in and rereading this one from the start sooner rather than later. I reread the first half a few months ago, but have held off on the subsequent issues due to publishing delays. I want a full-on, one-sitting reread on this one.
Watch:
While I now approach all YouTuber-turned-Filmmaker Horror movies with a certain degree of trepidation, I finally saw the trailer for Kane "Pixels" Parsons' Backrooms from A24, and I have to say, I'm excited and hopeful. This looks fantastic. I've expressed my fascination for the YouTube version of Backroomshere previously, and this film looks like the consolidation the admittedly sprawling episodic series needs to really lock in its power. Also, the inclusion of such a top-tier actor like Chiwetel Ejiofor adds significance, as does having Mark Duplass on board.
John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
Deafheaen - Lonely People With Power
The Cure - Pornography
Cold Cave - Cherish the Light Years
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• IV: The Emperor
• Two of Pentacles
• VIII: Strength
Structure, collaboration on a project, and instinct.
I have lingering questions about a particular collaboration, and I think I just got my answer. Well, the cards don't answer questions; they just point you to the answer you already know.
From their 2013 masterpiece Tomorrow's Harvest, which, to my ears, plays like the sweetest soundtrack to an 80s Horror film that never existed.
All this talk of the upcoming album has me excited to dip back into all the BOC music I love, and I love this one the most.
Watch:
After swearing off Lee Cronin's The Mummy for almost two weeks, I ended up seeing it last Thursday, and I actually really liked it. I hate the trailer and pretty much every single piece of art released for the film, which was a large part of why I swore the film off to begin with, but here's something that's not too obnoxious:
To crib directly from my Letterbxd review:
"Lee Cronin suffers from publicity that seems bent on ruining his films. The trailers take the weakest, most trite scenes from his films and blow them up as if they were the entire movie. It happened with Evil Dead Rise, "Mommy's with the maggots now," and it happened with The Mummy, "Don't worry, grandma, it's fun to be dead."
Both of those scenes are cringe-inducing in my opinion. Especially when they've been forced down our throats for months on end at the theatres. But against all the odds, The Mummy actually turned out to be fun and pretty intense at times. Kinda “Evil Dead Exorcist.” In fact, I almost wish it could have just been another Evil Dead flick, so they could have shaved 30 minutes of setup.
Jack Reynor did a great job. His performance buoyed some of the more goofy stuff. He sold me on his grief, anger and frustration. And Natalie Grace… I didn’t care for the makeup they used for her, but she did a really good job. Creepy movements. Nightmare fuel."
Seeing and liking The Mummy (for the most part) put me in mind to revisit Cronin's Evil Dead Rise for probably the third time since I bought the Blu-Ray. And at least a year has passed since my most recent viewing, and two since the movie came out, I find that, as I originally suspected, I can honestly say I really like this one. None of the things about it that bugged me at the time it came out still do, except, of course, I really wish the trailer hadn't ruined some of the imagery centered around Lily, as trying to see it with new eyes definitely makes me think it would have been far more effective had it not been ruined by that same inundation The Mummy just suffered.
Also, EDR has probably the best opening of any Evil Dead film to date. Just my opinion, but it's pretty freaking epic.
Playlist:
Steve Moore - Christmas Bloody Christmas
Electric Youth & Pilot Priest - Come True OST
Radiohead - Kid A
Telefon Tel Aviv - Immoliate Yourself
sElf - Gizmodgery
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd - Animals
Marilyn Manson - Antichrist Superstar
Big Business - Here Come the Waterworks
Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love
Gnarls Barkley - Atlanta
sunn O))) - Pyroclasts
Blackbraid - Blackbraid II
Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• King of Cups
• Knight of Wands
• King of Wands
That's a lot of masculine energy. Let's look at some overviews here:
King of Cups - Emotional upheaval or conflict
Knight of Cups - Controlling those emotions with Will
King of Wands - Sometimes, to get control, aggression is required.
Being smart enough to recognize when my emotions are getting the best of me, and being strong enough to prevent my response to those emotions from getting out of control.
Total work pull. People piss me off all the time, and sometimes I get worked up enough where I want to say something. Here's the reminder not to say something. Grin and bear it. Stay dressed in the fatigues of the enemy. They pay your bills.
More new music from Low Cut Connie ahead of their new album, Livin in the USA, out July 3rd. You can pre-order a copy directly from the band HERE.
Watch:
Tuesday night, I rewatched Marcus Nispel's 2003 Platinum Dunes remake of Tobe Hooper and Kim Henkel's seminal Horror film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. For context, I actually owned this movie when it first came out on video. I didn't buy it - an ex bought me a two-pack DVD set of the original film and this. I no longer remember if that was how I first saw Nispel's film, a blind gift given to me. I will say, back then, before my feelings about Michael Bay had solidified, I still regarded this film as a mixed bag. It's also important to note that 2003 was also before we'd become completely inundated with remakes. So take all that into consideration, and I find that, despite ranting and raving about how bad this film is for years, my feelings remain pretty much the same today.
A mixed bag.
First, you have to ask, right? Why would anyone remake a classic like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a film that, by its very mangled, outsider nature, you'd have no hope of repeating its cultural impact? Well, because, like the proverbial mountain, it's there. Hollywood has something of a 'pave the world' ethos; they can and will remake everything.
My reaction to this film over the intervening 20+ years has been one of general disdain, primarily for two reasons: Final Girl Jessica Biel's performance, which, true to form, starts and stops at looking great in a pair of low-rise jeans, and the melodramatic fashion flavor to much of the violence is off-putting at best and downright laughable at worst. Biel stabbing Mike Vogel's Andy through the chest is among the most melodramatic Horror deaths I've witnessed this side of Hammer.
And yet, I saw this pop up on Shudder recently and something moved me to give it another go. This is something I do quite often with films I don't like. Because I can and often am wrong. So I reevaluate.
This time, I felt a little better about Nispel's film. Honestly, I've realized that part of my issue with Jessica Biel isn't about this film at all, but more a combination of disdain for her performance in this film and in another, Pascal Laugier's bafflingly bad The Tall Man from 2012, a film that, to this day, I still cannot believe came from the same man as Martyrs 2008 and 2018's Incident in a Ghostland. I'm not going to eat crow and say I think Biel's performance in TCM is good, but it's certainly not nearly as bad as some others I've witnessed in Horror from the 00s (Prom Night remake, I'm looking at you).
Biel is adequate, and so is pretty much everyone else. I've been a fan of Eric Balfour since his role on Six Feet Under as Clair's troubled boyfriend Gabe, and I've always thought he should have lived a lot longer than most of the cast. Also, after roles on Justified and Hannibal, Jonathan Tucker has become a recent favorite character actor of mine, and he shows a bit more range outside of 'deluded psychopath' here.
The elements to really love about this film are the lighting and the camerawork. There are something like five or six wide shots of the Hewitt house during various parts of the day/night, and each one is a thing of majestic beauty.
Now, that's not really enough to hang a movie on, but there are some other things about this one that work for me. I like the structure of the family and the town, which appear to be one and the same. Like the original, we meet various people in various places that seem like they might help, only to find out they're in on it, too. Here, though, those tendrils of malevolence feel like they stretch farther. Maybe it's the inclusion of R. Lee Ermey as the Sheriff, a position that makes the Hewitts' reach feel more omnipotent, or maybe it's the trailer with the two women, a scene that might pack the most creep factor in the whole movie. Either way, the conspiracy - and it has always been a conspiracy in this franchise, hence why Henkel goes so far as to add the Men in Black to part four - feels way deeper and, ultimately, perfect for a Horror film: inescapable.
*That probably didn't happen until around the time the first of his Transformers movies came out; I had not seen any of his 90s films, so M.B. was basically unknown to me when I saw this TCM
Read:
l Jane Schoebrun has a novel up for pre-order! Public Access Afterworld will be released by Penguin-Random House on October 27! You can pre-order this now wherever you get your books.
The "visionary director" moniker gets bandied about pretty loosely these days, so I'm usually hesitant to add to that quagmire. Schoenbrun is one where the term is appropriate. No one else has been able to translate the weird flavors of the post-millennial liminal space occupied by Hauntology in the early-to-mid 2000s the way Schoenbrun has, and it speaks to my soul. Those were weird, dark years - hilarious by comparison to now - and something We Are All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw The TV Glow have both helped me process and even reconnect with.
Wow. It occurs to me more of my life has been lived in 'dark times' now than light. But I digress. Here's the solicitation, which thankfully tells us gloriously little, but just enough to stoke the flames of my anticipation:
"A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell."
Can't wait.
Playlist:
John Carpenter w/ Alan Howarth - Prince of Darkness OST
Steeve Moore - Bliss OST
White Reaper - Only Slightly Expanded
Grotus - Mass
Flogging Molly - Live at the Greek
Me and That Man - New Man, New Songs, Same Shit, Vol. 1
Carter Burwell - Blood Simple OST
Atticus Derrickson - The Black Phone 2 OST
Meat Puppets - Dusty Notes
Tossers - In the Valley of the Shadow of Death
Tar - Roundhouse
Grotus - Slow Motion Apocalypse
PJ Harvey - To Bring You My Love
Poe - Hello
Card:
From Jonathan Grimm's Hand of Doom Tarot, which you can buy HERE.
• Two of Pentacles
• King of Wands
• Queen of Swords
The Two of Disks, followed by the King of Wands, might suggest imbalance. The Queen of Swords reminds me that intellect, not emotion, will serve as the appropriate antidote.
I'm thinking this is a direct nod to an imbalance in my life regarding creative pursuits. I.E., too many podcasts, not enough writing.
