Archive for the ‘Monster of the Week’ Category:
Hey, there, everyone, and welcome to a brief respite from International Zombie Week. I know that I said I’d do a week’s straight of zombie films, and I intend to keep my word there, but this is Father’s Day! The one day of the year that we honor the male parent in our lives, and I thought I’d take an in-depth look at one of horror’s most underrated fathers, the title character from the film The Stepfather.
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Terry O’Quinn, Lost’s John Locke himself, plays Jerry Blake in the first film, a man obsessed with finding the perfect family. To this end, he’ll do whatever it takes to make his family life work… even if he has to kill his family and take on a new one. In this film, he marries a widow and becomes the stepfather to her daughter, Stephanie, who doesn’t trust him at all. As Jerry tries to build what he sees as the perfect life, events conspire against him until he eventually starts to lose it and tries to start over from the beginning.
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In Stepfather II (aka Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy), he succeeds in finding a perfect family with a son who loves him, but has to deal with outside forces trying to bring his past back to haunt him. This was, I believe, the first Stepfather film I saw (the first one I remember seeing, at any rate), and I enjoyed it alot.
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Stepfather III sees the same character played by a different actor, Robert Wightman (explained as him receiving plastic surgery to alter his looks). This time, he poses as Keith Grant and takes a job at a plant nursery. Wooing another woman with a son, Grant soon marries her but things go downhill quickly for him again as his new stepson starts trying to look into his past. After deciding to just move on to another woman, Grant’s life becomes even more complicated when his current wife and the woman he’s wooing for his next marriage become friends.
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That’s the last of the original run of films, but there’s a new one in the works! That’s right, Dylan Walsh is set to take over the role of the Stepfather when the remake rolls out October 16 of 2009. Only time will tell if this new film can stand up to the original run, but I think it’s looking pretty good. And so, until next time, when we bring you Zombie, this is Red Hawk signing out!
Here’s a blast from the past. A return of my Monster of the Week segment, at least for now. And this week, we have one of the most terrifying movie monsters ever… the dreaded Tomie!
I know what you’re thinking. How is a girl that looks like that a dreaded, terrifying monster? Well, I’ll tell you. The story of Tomie is from a manga from the 1990s about a girl so beautiful that men will do anything to be with her, spending all their money on her, fulfilling her every whim. Eventually, though, they become so obsessed with her that they end up killing her, gruesomely. However, Tomie cannot die, and usually comes back to torment the boyfriend who kills her again. The best way to identify her is to look for the mole under her left eye.
The Tomie storyline has made it into several different movies. Tomie in 1999 gives us the longest version of her resurrection, with her growing from a head into a little girl through to young adulthood again. As the movie progresses, Tomie starts eliminating the friends of our main girl, Tsukiko, who knew Tomie before but can’t remember it, due to temporary amnesia. The second film, Tomie: replay, introduces another aspect of Tomie’s recoveries. In the beginning, a little girl who had a kidney transplant from Tomie is being wheeled into an emergency room for a distended stomach. As the doctors make an incision, Tomie’s head pops up through it, apparently having started regenerating from the transplanted organ. In addition to this, we find that Tomie’s blood can cause her to possess those who come into contact with it, as happens with the doctors who operated, and the little girl, who starts thinking of herself as Tomie.
The third film, Tomie: Rebirth, is my favorite of the series, with Tomie not only resurrecting herself, but also possessing a girl through the use of her lipstick. This film is the first really graphic one of the series, with a scene of a mother and son killing Tomie and dismembering her. I don’t want to go into this one too much, as I plan on covering it sometime soon. In 2002, Tomie: Another Face was released with three different stories, all with two connections… one, Tomie, and two, an eye-patched man who seems to be stalking her. 2002’s Tomie: Forbidden Fruit is the last of the films that I’ve seen. In this one, we find out how ageless she is, as the main girl’s father had a childhood sweetheart named Tomie… he never stopped loving her and even named his daughter Tomie. Soon, a girl with the same name that looks remarkably like the childhood sweetheart appears and weaves a spell around the father. There are three more films, 2005’s Tomie: Beginning and Tomie: Revenge, and 2007’s Tomie vs. Tomie.
The films I mentioned here today are really good, and I can recommend them fully. If you want an example of how beauty can be deadly, you can do alot worse than to look here. Coming up will be my annual triple play: Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween. I might even be tossing in an extra surprise with a lost article. And so, until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
Originally posted: June 25, 2006 @ 9:44am PST
To celebrate Ring Week, I decided to postpone my usual Monster-of-the-Week column so that I could focus on the theme of the week, the Ring
movies. Over the course of the week, I’ve seen some of the movies solely so that I can remain fresh for my reviews and I hope that I can do the three ladies justice in my article here. Unfortunately, time permits me to only cover their first appearances, but I’ll do my best. So, away we go!
Sadako: The original and, some say, the best of the Ring ladies. She’s the one that started it all, the one on which all Japanese horror seems to be tested against, which is amazing considering the small amount of screen time she actually has in Ringu. Her first appearance in the movie was at the psychic demonstration that her mother gave. We see a glimpse of her powers first, though, as the reporter who called her mother a fraud quickly died with a silent yell on his face. Her mother saw what happened and screamed, "Sadako! Was it you?" Then, Sadako steps out from the curtains and runs to Reiko, who’s seeing the flashback as if she were there. Sadako grabs Reiko’s arm (we see her fingernails ripped out even here) and Reiko jumps to the present, with smudgemarks on her arm where Sadako had grabbed her.
Pictured: Sadako from Ringu on DVD
Later, Reiko is in the well, trying to find Sadako in the water. When she finds her, we see another flashback scene, this time of Sadako’s father coming up behind her and hitting her in the head, then throwing her into the well. Reiko believes that their finding her body will beat the curse, a notion that seems to be reinforced by the fact that she still lives past the deadline.
However, this leads to the last Ringu appearance… the apartment attack. Ryuji, Reiko’s ex-husband, is working in his office when his TV flicks on to display a shot of the well. At the same time, Reiko tries to call him. Ryuji sees Sadako emerge from the well and approach the TV screen very slowly. When she reaches the screen, she climbs through (giving us another view of her nailless fingers) and slowly, jerkily, raises up to come after Ryuji. In the end, we get to see the infamous eye, as was shown in my Ringu review.
Pictured: Samara from The Ring on DVD
Samara: We definitely get to see more of Samara than we do of Sadako in her first appearance. Our first glimpse is during Rachel’s dreaming sequence, where she goes upstairs to Aidan’s room and sees a figure sitting in a chair, its back to the door. As Rachel approaches, the camera pans over to the figure’s shoulder… when Rachel’s right next to the figure, a rotted arm reaches up to grabs her arm, waking her out of her dream and leaving burnmarks where she was grabbed. Later, we get to see Samara in video from the psychiatric hospital, where she reveals that she wants to hurt people (though it doesn’t quite sound that way the first time we see it), and that she’s sorry. When Rachel’s in the well (not from her own doing, unlike Reiko), she finds Samara. Rachel sees how her mother had tried to suffocate Samara and drop her down the well. Finally, we see Samara strike at Noah in the end sequence, showing how vengeful she really can be.
Pictured: Tabitha from Scary Movie 3 on DVD
Tabitha: Tabitha is the Scary Movie universe’s analogy to Sadako and Samara, so as such, she has pretty much the same powers as the two. We don’t see her grab anyone’s arm during the movie, so we don’t know what her touch would do. When she first appears (outside of the opening few minutes where we get a glimpse of her), she emerges from the well then approaches Brenda through the screen. Brenda actually does a good job of fighting back at her, but Tabitha gets the upper hand and Cindy finds her friend dead. When next we actually see her (we hear her voice twice on the phone before the end), it’s at the farmhouse near the close of the film, appearing behind Cindy. She does a good job of staying exactly behind her, until Cindy catches her and she grabs Cody. Cindy and George appeal to Tabitha, telling her that maybe all she needs is a mother and a father who would love her. Tabitha morphs to a beautiful little girl who tells them, "Thank you, your love has broken the curse. I’ll never have to kill again." When Cindy asks "Really?" Tabitha morphs back into the rotted version and pulls out a knife, saying, "Nah, I’m just screwin’ with ya!" At that moment, the President pops in and hits Tabitha from behind with the door, knocking her back in the well. Then he tells the two, "I just want to tell you good luck. We’re all counting on you."
In the alternate ending of the movie we see a different power manifest in a more direct parody of The Matrix than just Shaniqua earlier in the movie. In this version, Tabitha takes the place of the multiple Agent Smiths from the second Matrix movie, coming out of abandoned lots, copy shops ("Copies Made While You Wait" reads the sign), and a strip club ("Girls Girls Girls"). As they approach Cindy, a phone rings and all the copies feel for their phone, but only one pulls it out and answers with "Seven days." They then attack Cindy, who manages to beat all of them in a fight.
This concludes my look at the Ring Girls. Feel free to message me if you want me to expand on the girls’ second or later appearances and I’ll get to your request as soon as I can! Now, as for Ring Week, I have one more article planned out for later tonight, and I hope you enjoy it! 
Until then, this is Red Hawk, signing out!
Originally posted: June 13, 2008 @ 11:27am PST
Pictured: Mirror-Dimension monster from Jetman (1991)
This week’s Monster of the Week was a bit of a challenge for me. I didn’t want to cover another Toho monster so soon, yet there weren’t any movies I’d seen recently that really had a creature begging, "Show me off!" I racked my brain trying to figure out a monster to cover, when I came across this picture.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to Mirror-Dimension….
He’s one of the enemies that the Jetman team face off against early on in the series and is actually rather powerful. His abilities include being able to fire beams from his eyes, being able to teleport away (fade), or to appear from any reflective surface. He can also fire another beam from his torso that traps people inside the big mirror (he can use this from any reflective surface, as well). I’ll be using both civilian and hero names for the members of Jetman, so here’s a key for newcomers.
Ryu = Red Hawk
Lyta = Yellow Owl
Kaori = White Swan
Gai = Black Condor
Ako = Blue Swallow
The first time we see his actions, he captures a young boy while he’s looking in a mirror. Later, he captures a woman from a fashion store who was trying on some clothes. When the Jetmen first encounter him he’s kidnapped a girl who’d looked into the mirror of her compact. Ryu, Lyta and Kaori go to the bench the girl was sitting on and pick up the compact, only to have explosions go off nearby. Ryu gets knocked near a window and the monster’s arm reaches through the reflection and grabs Ryu around the neck. Lyta and Kaori succeed in pulling the monster out of the window, where he puts up a good fight until the other two appears, then he fades away.
Later, Ryu is talking to the woman that his grandmother tries to match him up with. Suddenly she too gets captured by the monster (they were standing by a lake and it reflected her). The others show up again and this time Maria, the monster’s boss, appears and tells them that if they destroy the mirror its captives will be destroyed along with it. The monster starts trying to absorb the Jetmen when Ryu’s grandmother runs out to intercept the ray with her own compact. The ray bounces back to Maria, instead, who demands to be let out of the mirror afterwards… to let her out, the monster has to let out all of his captives, as well, and they all go free. The Jetmen are free to change into uniforms and try to shoot the monster, but his polished surface reflects their shots right back at them. The Jetmen attack by jumping at the monster with their swords (or in the case of Yellow Owl, a large rock) and shatter his mirror, destroying him.
While not my most favorite monster from the series, he is definitely in my top list. I love the concept of a mirror able to absorb people into itself. This isn’t the only time the concept is used, either. Two years later, in Dairanger, there’s another mirror monster that also absorbs people, but in this case has kept a woman inside it for centuries. Stay tuned for more monsters, both mainstream and sentai, here on Happy Horror!
Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
Originally published: June 8, 2006 @ 4:00am PST
"STOP!"
says the Gatekeeper from Nightmare, the VHS board game
This week’s Monster of the Week may not seem like a monster, really. He looks human, in a way. He’s probably not as scary as Jason or Freddy or any number of other movie villains. He’s the host of a series of games called Nightmare and Atmosfear. The games are played using a VHS tape or, most recently, a DVD. The game will take up to an hour (times vary depending on the game you’re playing), with the tape/DVD acting as the timer.
Sounds easy, you say? Not so fast, not with the Gatekeeper…
"Wave to me, precious. I’m waving to you. I’m waving you good-byyyye. You’re banished."
- The Gatekeeper from VHS board game Atmosfear: The Harbingers
The first game, Nightmare (released as Atmosfear outside the United States) introduced us to the Gatekeeper, who looked relatively normal. As the game progressed, though, he started looking stranger and stranger, until, by the end, he was blacklit, purple-faced and green-eyed. This is very similar to how he appears in the first American Atmosfear game. During the game, he’ll give out commands, ask the players questions, banish people to Black Holes (and release them at certain intervals), and generally do everything he can to prevent any players from winning the game. The DVD game, released last year, introduced a random element to the game. Before, when playing the game multiple times, you could pretty much memorize what would happen when. In the new DVD version he randomly hits you with different commands, making every game played different from the last.
"I’m just trying to picture you with a personality… nope, can’t see it."
- Gatekeeper from the DVD board game Atmosfear: the Gatekeeper
The story behind the Gatekeeper is this: He’s the one that keeps the Harbingers powers in check and keeps them out of our world. If one of these Harbingers… the Vampire, Zombie, Werewolf, Mummy, Witch or Poltergeist… were to escape their terror-tory and enter our world, they would wreak havoc upon us. However, since he’s immortal, it can get pretty boring so he gives the Harbingers a chance to escape… if they can beat him at his own game. So far, at least in the games I’ve played, he’s never lost.
The Atmosfear series of games is really fun and I hope to cover a game of it in a future article for this site. Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
Originally published: May 31, 2006 @ 10:29pm PST
In 1998, after having the rights for five years, Tri-Star released their version of Godzilla to American theaters. Many fans were upset by this new version of Godzilla, as he didn’t have the same abilities or intelligence, as the original. This anger led to the American Godzilla being referred to as GINO (Godzilla in Name Only), Fraudzilla and similar names. I, myself, saw the movie twice at the drive-in and enjoyed it but I CAN understand the unhappiness that some fans felt due to the change.
In the movie, it was stated that Zilla was the result of French nuclear testing in the Pacific Islands, a mutated iguana. The first time we see the actual creature, he attacks a Japanese cannery vessel and the only survivor of it calls him "Gojira. Gojira." The next time we see anything of him, it’s simply his footprints as he crosses over Panama to get to the Atlantic Ocean. Then he brings down three fishing vessels on his way to New York City. All this time, the most we’ve seen of him is his teeth and tail, his footprints, the claw marks he’d left on the Japanese ship…
Soon he’s coming up right outside New York City, smashing through the docks and picking up ships on his back along the way. He tromps right through traffic, smashing through buildings to make his way. After evacuating the city, Nico "Nick" Tatopolous suggests that they bait the creature, using a ton of fish in the middle of an intersection. The plan works, with Zilla first checking out Nick then moving on to pick up the bait. The military opens fire on Zilla, he runs and we see the first example of differences between the Japanese and the American… Godzilla (Japanese) doesn’t run from enemies – he takes them on. At one point Zilla turns, roaring at some pursuers and his roar overturns some vehicles, causing them to explode, giving the illusion of the original’s atomic fire (this happens again later in the movie). Also at this point, the mayor mentions that the military is doing more damage to the city than Zilla is.
Nick realizes later that Zilla has laid eggs somewhere in the city. While nobody believes him after a news report spills the beans on Zilla, an agent from the French secret service (Phillipe) does, so he asks for his help in locating the nest. They find it (in Madison Square Garden, no less) and start to make ready to blow up the eggs with plastic explosive, only there’s not enough to go around since there are WAY more eggs than Nick had predicted. The eggs start hatching, which leads to a large chase around Madison Square Garden that’s really reminiscent of the Raptor chases in Jurassic Park. They manage to get a message to the outside and when they head to leave through the front doors, they find a mob of the creatures there (which reminded me of the end scene of Gremlins 2). The Garden gets blown up, and Zilla returns to find all his babies dead. He starts chasing after the heroes, allowing them to trap him on a collapsing suspension bridge where some fighter jets fire the last of their missiles into his sides, killing him. Everyone thinks the fight is over, but the movie closes with a view into Madison Square Garden, to a room that didn’t get blown up and a single egg that hadn’t hatched yet…
There were originally plans for two sequels to the movie, but because the movie was so ill-received those plans have never come to fruition. However, that’s not the end of the American Godzilla, as around this time an animated series was produced, using the same creature design – in a heroic role. This animated Zilla was the last baby from the movie and in the beginning, it imprints on Nick and sees him as a parent. The series was relatively successful and the only reason it probably didn’t last longer than it did was because it was overshadowed by the Pokemon/Digimon war for the hearts of animation lovers.
In 2001 Toho made a reference to Zilla at the beginning of Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out . Some training soldiers are in a classroom and they’re being briefed on several giant monsters, when one trainee asks about the monster that attacked New York. The teacher said that the Americans thought it was Godzilla, but they were wrong.
In 2004 Zilla made one more movie appearance in the Godzilla 50th Anniversary film Godzilla: Final Wars. Zilla appears in Sydney, Australia and seems to eat a couple people (something that most Kaiju in Toho movies never do) and generally runs around the city until the aliens show up and beam him out of Sydney. When the monsters attack all-out again later and the real Godzilla is being led towards Tokyo to deal with the main threat, Zilla is the first monster to stand in his way, after Gigan (who was last week’s Monster of the Week – you can find him by clicking: HERE). The battle is short-lived, as Godzilla throws Zilla into the famous opera house and lets loose with his atomic breath attack, sending both Zilla and the opera house up in flames. The leader of the enemy yells and says, "I knew that tuna-eating monster was useless," a reference to the bait scene in the American film.
This would be the end of Zilla if not for an advertisement I saw just recently. He made an appearance in a Doritos ad where instead of all the fish, he picked up and ate a whole truckload of Doritos. This was the inspiration for me to pick the Monster of the Week and I hope that the article has been informative. Until next time, this is Red Hawk signing out!
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