Friday's Choice Cuts: Horror in Pro Wrestling

WCW's The Yeti... not really a Yeti, more of a TP monster

Let's all be honest here.  If you're a horror fan then odds are you're also a pro-wrestling fan.  I don't know of many people that don't have that cross-over.  "Sports entertainment" has evolved from just the standard heel/face battles into developed characters with costumes.  I still remember being a kid and The Undertaker coming out with Paul Bearer.  We had Paul's spooky high pitched voice talking about the dead man returning from the grave with the Undertaker rolling his eyes back.  It was creepy.

There's Kevin Sullivan who embodied the role of a satanist at a time when that was unheard of.  Stables like the Dungeon of Doom, the Brood (existing because White Wolf worked with WWE to create the wrestler Gangrel to go with their LARP game), and the Disciples (which crucified the owner's daughter by the titontron) created an ominous presence.

 

In modern times we have Bray Wyatt speaking of supernatural powers, a spirit known as Sister Abigail, and practically crab-walking around  the ring.  He also was the reason we had the amazing "House of Horrors" match which involved the shittiest Halloween haunted house and a KO-by-refrigerator.  I wish every gimmick match was as awesomely bad as that.

Speaking of gimmick matches, sometimes you don't even need the characters to keep things evil.  Barbed wire, cage matches, hardcore matches, backyard wrestling, Japanese Death Matches, "C4" matches, all things that push the limits.  While WWE has pretty much banned any blade-ing (when a wrestler uses a concealed razor blade to cut their forehead during a match), there are still matches in other federations where you can catch some insanely bloody scenes.

Before I forget, there's Lucha Underground which is essentially everything you could want with wrestling and strange story lines.  Mil Muerte was introduced as having the souls of 1000 dead men inside of him.  Their plots blur the lines of reality in a way that we haven't seen since the late 80's/early 90's.  We also have New Japan Wrestling which literally has a character that is just named Evil and comes out holding a scythe and a stable of crazies.

I could go on and on.  I was going to post the video of Sandman vs. The Zombie from ECW (when they got picked up by the Syfy channel) because it's hilarious, but Hulk Hogan meets the Dungeon of Doom is so much funnier.  Plus it's a tiny B-movie in its own.

Friday's Choice Cuts: The Splatterhouse Video Game Series (Namco/Namco Bandai)

That magazine ad started it all.  I was on the cusp of turning 10 and flipping through a Gamepro magazine when I saw it: Splatterhouse.  The lower left screen shot had the main protagonist (Rick) shooting a shotgun at a guy with chainsaws for arms and a bag on his head.  I thought that was the coolest looking thing ever.

Unfortunately, my local arcade never got a cabinet of Splatterhouse, and the only person in my town with a Turbografx 16 had the game but they were older than me and the few times I asked if I could try Splatterhouse he always said he didn't want anyone playing his Turbografx.  It didn't help that the system was fucking insanely expensive.

Luckily I had a Genesis and they eventually made Splatterhouse 2 and 3 for that system.  When I became an adult and learned of emulators I was able to play the arcade and the Turbografx port.  Then I even tracked down a Famicom rom with its chibi art style.  In 2010 (20 years after the original port) a reboot was put released and as you completed the game it unlocked the arcade game as well as 2 and 3.  If nothing else it's worth the money for that.

Now that I've dragged you on my nostalgia journey, what is Splatterhouse?  It's a horror game where your girlfriend Jennifer is kidnapped (a lot) and Rick dons something known as the Terror Mask which grants him intense strength to fight everything from poltergeists to severed heads controlled by an inverted cross (or tombstone if it's the TG port).  You get all the typical weapons such as a 2x4, a shotgun, a giant meat cleaver, etc.  I think the only thing that's missing is getting your own chainsaw.  All of these, with the exception of the reboot, are side-scrollers.  You do have moments where you interact with some background elements depending on the level.

If you're into horror and video games then I definitely recommend seeking these out.  I know the Namco collection on the Nintendo e-store has the original port but if you e-Bay a copy of the 2010 game for PS3 then I recommend that.  I paid something like $5 for mine but in truth, it'll be priceless to me because I finally get to play all of the Splatterhouse (no thanks to you, Billy!  Fuck your Turbografx!)

Friday Choice Cuts: Haunted House season!

The House of Shock (New Orleans) from NOLA.com

When I was a young kid I always wanted to go to the haunted houses or whatever there was going on during the season.  The few times I did get taken to them I made it to the first scare and from then on had to be carried through while I hid my face in a family member's shoulder.  I liked the idea of being scared but wasn't able to grasp the concept of these ghouls will not harm me.

As I got older though I still kept an interest every October when you'd see signs for corn mazes or haunted hayrides or whatever.  As a young adult it was worth it to get a group of friends together and see who would get scared and who wouldn't.  Hell, even as an older adult I still love going with a group of people and watching them get scared.

While I've matured quite a bit from the crying child clinging to someone's neck, I learned to love a good scare.  I don't react to most things in haunted houses now.  In fact, a lot of times I'm the person that will walk up to an actor and just say "do you need a hug," but I've learned that these scares are controlled.  It's still worth it though, come every October, to go through the cobwebs and fake blood even if it's just for the laughs.

From fire departments, to community organizations, to full blown haunted house companies, there has to be something going on somewhere for you to go to.  So go have fun!

Friday's Choice Cuts: Tokyo Ghoul (JAP2014/US2017)

This is probably fitting as I had just recently attended Mechacon (the local anime convention here in New Orleans).  Although I didn't do cosplay for it this year, I was thinking of doing Faust from the Guilty Gear fighter series but... maybe next year.  Anyway, back to the matter at hand.

I became aware of Tokyo Ghoul in ways that no 36 year old probably should: Tumblr and Hot Topic.  The combination of these had kept me away from it until I decided to finally take a chance and watch it.  The story itself revolves around Ken Kaneki, a boy that happens to have an encounter with a very dangerous Ghoul which attempts to devour him.  In the process though the Ghoul is killed by an outside force and Ken is on the verge of death.  He ends up surviving because the doctor transplants parts from the Ghoul into his body.

At this point you're probably thinking "da' fuck is a Ghoul?"  A Ghoul is a creature that looks human but must live by eating flesh.  They can regenerate, have a greater speed and strength than humans, and also contain a special "organ" known as a Kagune.  This organ can manifest and be used to attack or defend.  It can also be severed and used as a weapon against Ghouls, as the special "dove" forces do this to fight on the side of humans.

I thought this was going to be much more of an action/horror anime but it really ends up being a drama/horror one.  Most of it revolves around Keneki's internal struggle with trying to maintain his humanity despite suddenly being a Ghoul.  Unlike vampirism, one isn't turned into a Ghoul, they are their own species.  He just happens to be a rare case once he was given Ghoul parts, the main one being his left eye which shifts to black and red when he gives himself over to his darker half.

There are political tones as well.  Similar to the Professor X vs. Magneto views that exist in the X-Men comics (fuck those movies though...), there are Ghouls that wish to wipe out the human threat and those that wish to just exist among them.  In a way, and this could just be me reading into this too much, it has a tone of the civil rights struggle in it.  Maybe I'm applying the X-Men analogy too much though...

This is the first "season" or series as the follow up is Tokyo Ghoul √A which picks up at the end of Tokyo Ghoul.

Friday's Choice Cuts: Monsters In the Closet: Homosexuality and the Horror Film (1997: Manchester University Press)

I've tried starting this post three or four times now.  It's not working.  So this, in turn, becomes the beginning.  Monsters in the Closet dives deep into celluloid history and lays bare its darker underbelly.  Starting with the early days of film and working its way to the 1990's.  This book dissects everything from the Universal classics, to the exploitative Hammer Films, and rounds out with the homoerotic ties of Clive Barker.

Monsters in the Closet made me take a deeper look into scenes I saw as nothing more than entertainment.  For example, in Frankenstein two men (the Doctor and Igor) work together as a couple to create life.  While the reanimating of dead tissue is a horror in and of itself, the idea of life coming from a non-heterosexual "couple" can play in on homophobic points of view.  Other moments of monsters wrestling with shirtless men in an attempt to break up a straight couple are rampant in those older films.

I learned a lot from this book too.  For instance, in the 30's there was a ban put on using the term homosexual or having an outright gay character in your film.  There were a lot of tongue-in-cheek references though.  It became almost a game to code characters actions and dialogue so that only those knowledgeable would be in on the joke.  Slip it under the censors that didn't know any better.  In fact, the homophobia that was so rampant in Hollywood over time was fascinating as well.

Just as a heads-up, this book does lean on the academic side.  It's not textbook dry but I could see this being on a required reading list for a course in film or human sexuality.  Each chapter ends with at least four pages of footnotes which add more info to what you've already digested.  I did find myself excited to hit those though because it let you have that expansion of the history or the author's thoughts.  He does a great job of showing how the art reflects the times, even if the times didn't want to face some things.

Friday's Choice Cuts: Harley Poe

Let's skip straight past The Misfits as far as horror-punk goes.  We all know of them and how they're kind of a shadow of their former self.  Of course, so is "no-photos" Danzig right now.  Let's jump straight to a modern band with Harley Poe.

Sounding like a slightly more folk-punk version of The Violent Femmes, I was was introduced to them by chance back when I was spending a lot of time checking in books at the library I worked at.  At that time I was listening to a lot of Pandora or Spotify and this happened to just pop up on a random playlist.  Since then I've tracked down most of their albums except for one of their last releases which was put out by Fangoria and is a group of seven 7" all tied to one of the deadly sins.

The albums are a good mix of horror and humor.  With topics ranging from vampires, to werewolves, to hating their small town of Kokomo (not the place the Beach Boys song is about), it's fun sing-a-long type stuff.  Although I wouldn't recommend it in the car with your three-year-old.

Here's one of my favorite songs.  It's called Time of the Month and ties in a woman's cycle to be about her full-moon werewolf transformations as opposed to menstruation... although blood will flow.  MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Friday's Choice Cuts: Castlevania (2017: Netflix)

I've been a fan of Castlevania since I was a wee child.  In fact, from where I'm sitting right now, I can see my NES cartridges of Castlevania and Castlevania II, as well as my wall scroll of the box art of Castlevania hanging on my wall.  I've used this blog before to mention horror related video game things, but this time we get to talk about the animated series of Castlevania that Netflix has put out.

Spanning only four episodes (because they didn't want to take a risk on it and fail horribly), a majority of this "season" is mostly to establish plot and characters.  If you've ever played Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse for the NES then you're no stranger to most of the general things.  Trevor Belmont is your Belmont for this (although, I'm always partial to Simon), and along the way he picks up Sypha and the season ends with them acquiring Alucard to their party.  I don't think I've seen any signs of Grant Danasty yet, so they might just leave him out.

The setting is Wallachia, an area cursed by Dracula where, after returning from his travels, he finds the Church (capital C there) has burned his wife at the stake for witchcraft.  She was a woman of science and a healer but fear and superstition lead to her death.  After  giving the people one year to make their peace before the curse arrives, they instead ignore it with the thought the Church will protect them.  They're wrong and blood and gore ensue.  There were no tiny hunchbacks jumping around or floating Medusa heads...  I better see that shit!!

All in all, it's not 100% what I wanted, but it's still in the high 80%-ish range.  The writing is great thanks in part to Warren Ellis (whom I know for because of the Transmetropolitan comics).  It does a good job of bring the game into an action scenario.  Trevor uses a short sword, a whip, daggers, and at one points has holy water become a weapon.  The whip animation is awesome and there are parts where he does things like disarming someone by whipping off their finger or taking out their eye.  Which leads me to the next part, gore.  They seem to know the perfect ratio of having it look awesome but don't let it become overkill for shock's sake.

It's been picked up for a second season which is supposed to be twice as long so I'm looking forward to seeing where they're going with it.  As I mentioned earlier, four episodes of establishing why your characters get together was a long time to spend on that and it did leave me unfulfilled by the end of this season.

Plus... the only other thing we've ever really had was Simon Belmont on Captain N. *shudders*

Friday's Choice Cuts: VHS Massacre: Cult Films and the Decline of Physical Media (2016) 1h 20m

I've made it no secret that I'm a fan of Troma Films.  So recently I was on their website looking through the sale items and I noticed this gem:  VHS Massacre: Cult films and the Decline of Physical Media.

I'm old enough to remember the mom and pop video store.  Originally our local pharmacy had a small video rental section.  After that we had a place called Video and Sound where you could rent Beta and VHS tapes.  It eventually evolved to VHS and game rentals.  Our local grocery store opened their Iggle Video which was a full sized video store in one corner.  I remember turning 18 and getting cards for both of these places as well as the Blockbuster which eventually came to our town.  As of now all these places are closed.

VHS Massacre examines how VHS rentals, and especially mom and pop stores, helped independent film companies during its boom.  I still remember seeing VHS sleeve art like House or Critters and being scared of it as a tiny child, but those stuck in my mind.  Having that availability and visual presence helped to culminate that era of cult film.

This documentary gives us a decent history lesson, bringing up studios, films, actors/actresses, and even personal memories which I had forgotten about.  It also goes into detail about how corporate structures made it hard then, and make it hard now, for the indie companies to get things out or even keep up.  At the same time they tackle how people view things like torrents, where some use the term "piracy" but, in the case of Lloyd Kaufman, he uses the term "file sharing" and claims it has been helpful for people to see the films they put out.

The climax of the film is the actual VHS Massacre which was a competition where the people involved had to find VHS tapes where they would watch any random five-minute section of it to find the worst one.  The winner is well deserved.

All in all, this is a definite watch for anyone that is a fan of cult film.  The people in this film are very passionate about how they fit into this world.  It presents a ton of info that I never even considered and gave me a bunch of directions to pursue to not only expand my knowledge but to find some great movies I would be missing out on otherwise.

"Never give up the fight for truly independent cinema!"

Friday's Choice Cuts: Yakuza Demon Killers (IDW Publishing)

Keeping with the new format, Fridays are going to be a kind of grab-bag day for me to keep myself from getting too swamped with bad films.  Hence, Friday's Choice Cuts, where I going to cover something I like that's horror related.  So for our first entry in the FCCs I'm presenting the comic series Yakuza Demon Killers; written by Amit Chauhan, with the artist Eli Powell, and published by IDW Publishing.

Currently spanning four loose issues (with a hardback version of these on the way), Yakuza Demon Killers ties Eldritch horror with modern day Japan and throws in a sprinkle of Silent Hill-esq character design.  The art style reminds me of the earlier Walking Dead comics but more frantic.  Its sketchy moments add to action of the panels and helps to add a certain sense of "edge" reminiscent of the small publisher comics of the 90's.  Story wise, it's pretty solid.  If they never make a 5th issue then I wouldn't really be too torn up because I always like a good "the villain wins" reveal.  I know that's kind of a spoiler, but without the story you have no clue who I'm talking about anyway.

I bought all four issues at once solely based on the name, covers, and a quick flip through an issue.  I can say that I am definitely not disappointed with my purchase.  I recommend checking it out or at least waiting until the hard bound version comes out because I'm sure it'll have some extra stuff thrown in as well.


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