Monthly Archives: October 2018

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My Top 10 Favorite Horror Films (Redux)

Happy Halloween, True Believers!

In the spirit of the holiday, I figured my blog this week should be a top five or top ten list for my favorite horror films. I put a list together—and remembered I’d done this in 2014. My list has changed a bit since then, but all five of those films are still on it in a different order. So, the entries with asterisks after the title were copied from the previous blog. Regardless, enjoy the new ones! Admittedly, it was hard to rank many of these, since they’re all great films. They’d make excellent additions to your Halloween festivities. Enjoy!

#10: The Exorcist (1973)

It might surprise you that I have this low on my list. It’s usually regarded as one of the scariest films ever made. (AFI would say that). My appreciation, though, has more to do with its place in history than anything else. I wasn’t allowed to see it growing up because it so terrified my mother as a teen that she forbade her kids to see it. When I finally did watch it, I saw why it’s become an icon of not only horror films but cinema. This is tale of a Catholic priest struggling with his faith while trying to save a little girl (Linda Blair) possessed by a demon. It’s simple, profound, and terrifying. Younger viewers spoiled on CGI laugh at the special effects, which is a disappointment because I think they hold up. It doesn’t help that the film has been parodied to the point that its potency is reduced on the younger crowd. For those who believe the spiritual warfare dramatized in this film is real, or those who have any sort of empathy, this is one of the greatest horror films in movie history.

#9: Suspiria (1977)

Amongst fans of Italian horror films, the name Dario Argento ranks as one of the greatest in the genre. The visionary auteur creates unique, mesmerizing horror movies, and Suspiria is considered to be his masterpiece. This story of an American dancer who joins a German ballet school that seems to be a front for a sinister force after a series of heinous murders is high on style. Argento’s cinematography and incredible use of color creates an unnerving atmosphere and a rich visual language full of symbolism. One of Argento’s trademarks is the use of creepy rock music created by the band Goblin, which makes the film like a commercial haunted house. If you’d like to see a film that feels like an Edger Allan Poe story, check this out!

#8: 28 Days Later (2002)

I had to include this since it was an influence on my first novel, Pandora’s Box. It’s still one of the most unique zombie films ever made. Although, I’d argue that it almost doesn’t count as a zombie flick, at least in the traditional sense. This follows a young man (Cillian Murphy) who wakes up after a 28-day coma to find London empty—except for vicious people infected with a virus that’s essentially rabies on steroids. (For those who’ve read my novel, you’ll understand why I felt like the filmmakers beat me to one of my ideas in the novel). Well before the Infected appear, the film plays on the fear of isolation with an empty city. The characters are the film’s greatest strength, something often lacking in horror movies. Interestingly, three endings were filmed and one considered in the scripting phase. Two of them were shown theatrically. The one used originally in the film is best, I think, since it’s the happiest. (Tragic endings are a bit overused in the genre). Check it out if you’re looking for a taste of British horror.

#7: Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)*

Wes Craven’s classic is a variation of the then popular (and overused) slasher movie: a killer who attacks victims in their dreams. Freddy Krueger became an icon with his trademark sweater, hat, claws, and dark wit. The film has an otherworldly quality to it thanks to the dream sequences. Plus, in a rare treat, it features a strong heroine who refuses to become Freddy’s next victim. Interesting bit of trivia: this is Johnny Depp’s first movie. He plays the heroine’s boyfriend.

#6: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was a game-changer in 1968, but it’s remembered more for its place in history than anything else. Romero’s first sequel is a classic because it’s a great film. Set in the early years of the zombie apocalypse, a group of survivors take refuge in a mall—until the zombies manage to get in. The characters and world-building would become the template all other zombie apocalypse movies would copy, but they lacked this film’s potent social satire on consumerism. Tom Savini’s gore effects get a lot of attention, but they serve the larger whole. The Italian version put together by Romero’s friend Dario Argento has a score by Goblin (the original film had no soundtrack), which actually complements the film well. A must-see classic for any horror/zombie fan!

The original Japanese poster and the U.S. DVD cover.

#5: Matango (1963)

As the co-creator and season one co-host of Kaijuvision Radio, I almost feel obligated to include this Japanese classic. (My collaborator, Brian Scherschel, will be covering it in the podcast’s current season). Crafted by the creative team behind Toho’s original Godzilla series, this trippy film was made in the tradition of 1930s Universal horror movies. I can best describe it as a story that begins like Gilligan’s Island (though it predates that show), turns into Lost, and ends like The Twilight Zone. Inspired by the short story “A Voice in the Night” by William H. Hodgson (though it’s equal parts Lord of the Flies), it follows a group of shipwrecked rich people on a bizarre island who are beset by mushroom creatures. The film was released on American TV under the unfortunate title Attack of the Mushroom People, which undoubtedly gave a bad impression. The creature effects might be considered quaint by today’s standards, but the real horrors are the characters who slowly turn on each other as the film progresses, giving into whatever vices they suffer from. The ending leaves the viewer with a gut punch of a social commentary. It’s a bit hard to find, but well worth seeing!

#4: John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)*

This terrifying remake of a ‘50s B-movie is one of the smartest horror films I’ve ever seen. It has none of the stereotypical idiot characters. While it does have gross gore and freakish creatures, the real terror comes from the isolated Antarctic location and the paranoia that rips a tightly-knit science team apart as a shapeshifting alien organism takes over each of them.

#3: Fright Night (1985)*

A horror/comedy that is both genuinely funny and scary, it is a film with a perfectly simple concept: a teenage boy thinks his new next-door neighbor is a vampire, but no one believes him, so he desperately seeks help from a washed-up horror movie actor. The best characters aren’t the teenage hero, but the old actor–played by Roddy McDowall of Planet of the Apes fame—and the vampire (played by Chris Sarandon). The former is a cynical yet likable fellow with sharp, sarcastic wit (who’s not afraid to take jabs at the current horror movie trends), while the latter is a man whose often mesmerizing charm masks a powerful evil. Add in a cat-and-mouse game being played by the desperate teenage boy and his undead nemesis, and you have a fun (and frightening) night out.

#2: Jaws*

The movie that launched director Steven Spielberg’s career, created the summer blockbuster, and arguably inspired Sharknado. While based on the novel by Peter Benchley, it’s one of the rare times, I’d say, that the movie is better than the book (the novel was padded with an unnecessary subplot where Brody’s wife has an affair with Hooper). My favorite character is Quint, played by the scene-stealing Robert Shaw, a grizzled sailor with a Captain Ahab complex. He might be mad, but you can’t help but like his gruff attitude. Spielberg famously kept the anomatronic shark’s screen time to a minimum because he thought it looked fake. By doing so, he increased the film’s tension and gave the monster a stronger presence. Throw in classic lines like, “We need a bigger boat!” and you have an instant classic.

#1: Alien*

“In space, no one can hear you scream.” (One of the best taglines ever!)

If I had to choose a film that would be the blueprint for crafting the perfect horror movie, it would be Ridley Scott’s classic tale of gothic science fiction. It has powerful atmosphere, a terrifying and unique monster, and strong characters (including a countercultural heroine). The set design is incredible. The Nostromo feels both safe and claustrophobic. It plays upon multiple types and levels of fear, including, shadows, the unknown, and even rape. And it includes only one truly gory scene, but it both shocks the audience and adds to the story. It’s too bad that only one of its sequels, James Cameron’s Aliens, even comes close to equaling it.

Honorable Mentions: The Universal Horror Series (too many to include or choose), Night of the Living Dead (1968), Halloween (1978)

What are some of your favorite horror movies/stories/authors?

News, Poetry, Appearances, Announcements

‘Bards Against Hunger’ Indiana Book Launch

(Yeah, an announcement blog hardly seems substantial, but I do need to start promoting this).

The cover of the anthology. (Great job making it my favorite color). 🙂

I’m excited to remind everyone that Bards Against Hunger: Indiana Edition will have a book launch party from 1pm-3pm November 17, 2018, at the Elwood Public Library. It features over 100 poems from over 40 authors—including yours truly—from across the state. The book will be available on Amazon for $15.

The contributing authors have all been invited to attend the party and read their work. I haven’t decided if I’ll be able to attend yet. Stay tuned for more updates. I admit I’m tempted because these are the first poems I’ve had published (aside from one that was in Pandora’s Box).

The proceeds from the book will be donated to the Homeless Advocacy Center of Anderson and Madison County, which is set to open soon. So, I highly recommend buying a copy to support this charity!

According to their official website,

Bards Against Hunger was founded in 2013 by the Bards Initiative, a poetry group on Long Island, NY that hosts many readings and publishes local anthologies. The leaders of this group came up with the idea to host a poetry reading that would gather food for the hungry around Thanksgiving time as a way for poets to give back to their local community. The poets of Long Island loved the idea and flocked to help organize, read at the event, and gather food.

The event was such a success that the group decided to make it an annual event–and keep the tradition strong and growing each year.

This should make one of my professors at university happy since he’s a poet himself.  🙂

If you’d like to have a copy, let me know so I can preorder one for you!

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Double-Minded: Christian Culture’s Diametrically-Opposed Views of Marriage and Singleness

Buckle up, True Believers. It’s about to get real!

I am a Christian. In fact, as a child I did everything in a church except be born there. While I love the Bible and its theology and doctrine, Christian culture annoys me. Trust me when I say there are huge differences. It’s one of many reasons why I love The Babylon Bee: Christian culture is a frequent target of their satire. As it should be.

Image taken from www.trumpet-call.org.

While there are many problems with the Christian subculture (which I will refer to as “the church” from here on), one of the most egregious, in my opinion, is that it is double-minded when it comes to marriage and singleness. To put it succinctly, if you’re already married, it sings the praises of marriage and family, but if you’re single, it does little or nothing to help you get married and tells you singleness is superior to marriage.

I’m sorry, church, but you can’t have it both ways.

Go to any church and you’ll see how it’s family-centric. There are programs for parents, spouses, kids, and teens. Some offer programs for college students and recent graduates, but they seem to assume that everyone gets married by their mid-20s—if not sooner—so little is offered for those who aren’t. There are frequent sermon series on how to have a good marriage or be better parents. It’s hard to not go a week without hearing the theology of marriage; how it’s an earthly echo of Jesus Christ and his “bride,” the Church. (This is something that isn’t meant to be taken literally, by the way). In other words, most of the Christian subculture is centered on marriage and family.

Just don’t expect it to help you get married, like I said.

When it comes to taking steps toward marriage, in my experience, the church is mostly famine and little feast. Generally it seems to think relationships happen by osmosis. It rarely facilitates opportunities for young people—who frequently express their desire to be married—to meet each other and fall in love. Yet in the rare instances when they speak on the issue, they say the church is the best place to meet someone special. All that “unequally yoked” stuff, right? But there are hardly any programs for singles beyond college. And don’t even think about being single after age 30! You’ll be a misfit among misfits. The church won’t have any idea what to do with you. The rare times anyone in the church does try to help singles get to marriage, they’re obnoxiously overzealous or have nothing to offer but empty platitudes.

But then there’s the insult added to singles’ injuries.

The church’s praise of marriage ceases with singles. No longer is it this wonderful, covenantal portrait of Christ’s love. No, it’s a distraction. Instead of Ephesians 5, singles get 1 Corinthians 7. They’re told that marriage will narrow their scope, distract them from serving God, and even make them preoccupied with “earthly” things (there is no marriage in Heaven, after all). The only benefit they might mention is it can help curtail sexual sin, and even that seems like a concession they wish they didn’t have to make. In other words, marriage is a detriment to the single’s faith. This implicitly condemns the institution of marriage, ignoring the fact that it was created by God before Adam and Eve sinned. It wasn’t a byproduct of the Fall that God had roll with. This mindset also ignores the personal and societal benefits of marriage, many of which are being missed because of the culture of protracted singleness (to which the church has contributed some, but that’s a blog for another day).

What this does to Christian singles is it leaves them silently shamed. They desire marriage, but they’re told it’s a detriment to their faith and potential. If it’s a hindrance, why would they desire it? Should they? Why would Christ allow them to desire something that would distract them from serving Him? Yet the church tells the married majority that matrimony is sacred and powerful and must be protected. Why do you think Christian churches are always the ones fighting for the definition of marriage being “one man and one woman”? The irony is they’re just as likely to tell singles it isn’t worth it. Maybe for the sake of consistency they should tell married couples to all get divorced so they can have “undistracted service” for Christ. Oh wait, God says He hates divorce, so they hate divorce.

This is a catch-22 full of knots that the church keeps chewing in the mouth from which is talks out of both sides.

Singles aren’t second-class citizens nor are they inherently superior because they’re unmarried. Their desire for marriage is a good thing. It should be respected, nurtured, and encouraged. The pain they feel from this unfulfilled desire should be met with compassion and understanding and not lectures on contentment and 1 Corinthians 7. Doing that is no different than telling someone whose grandmother has died that he shouldn’t mourn because she’s “in a better place.” This is a pain most singles don’t just “get over.” To be alone (and rejected) when you desire a spouse is a form of widowhood. The Bible frequently commands Christians to care for widows.

What the church needs is consistency. Celebrate marriage with everyone. Help singles maximize their lives where they are and don’t shame them for desiring a spouse. For those rare few who’ve been called to singleness, give them opportunities not afforded to married people. Modes of service don’t decrease with marriage—they just change.

Marriage is hard, but so is singleness. Depending on the person, one or the other will be more difficult. Someone should never be forced into either one if God didn’t create them to be that way. It’s a simple concept. But the church has trouble grasping such things.

Are you a single who’s been hurt by these conflicting mindsets? How so? What do you think can be done to remedy these problems?

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Why We Love Caricatured Villains

“I’m sorry. I don’t remember any of it,” said the dastardly dictator M. Bison.

“You don’t remember?!” blurted the heroic Chun-Li, having just told him the story of how he killed her father.

“For you, the day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me…it was Tuesday.”

As a friend once said, that is the perfect troll response.

In case you didn’t know, the 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme Street Fighter is one of my favorite bad movies. Ming-Na Wen is well-cast as Chun-Li; it’s funny intentionally and unintentionally; and while his accent is way too thick, Van Damme at least fights well as Guile.

But the biggest reason I love this flick is Raul Julia’s M. Bison. It takes an exceptional actor to make a speech about the “Pax Bisonica” and do it with such conviction. He actually researched real dictators like Mussolini to give what could’ve been a one-dimensional, cartoonish Bond villain a bit more depth and sophistication. He also had the charisma to chew the scenery and make it entertaining. (It’s sad that he died shortly after the movie was released).

Have you ever noticed that audiences tend to love over-the-top villains more than over-the-top heroes? Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars films. Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Batman. Dr. Doom in Roger Corman’s unreleased Fantastic Four movie. Heck, even my own Marcus the Morally-Dubious from Ninjas and Talking Trees. But if you try to google “over-the-top heroes,” you’ll be hard-pressed to find examples (though they do exist).

Why is this?

I believe it goes back to something that has been said by several famous Christian thinkers:

“The devil…that proud spirit…cannot endure to be mocked.”
-St. Thomas More

“The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.”
-Martin Luther

“Above all else, the devil cannot stand to be mocked.”
-C.S. Lewis

The last one is my favorite because it comes from The Screwtape Letters, an epistolary novel written by Lewis. It’s a satire where an elder demon, the titular Screwtape, writes letters to his nephew Wormwood on how to secure the damnation of the human he’s been assigned. It is laugh-out-loud funny at points. (My favorite part is where Screwtape gets so angry, he stops writing and his letter is completed by another demon, who says that Screwtape transformed into a giant insect in his rage).

While M. Bison and these other over-the-top villains are hardly the Prince of Darkness, they’re certainly caricatures of evil. Some aren’t necessarily meant to be taken seriously, but it’s clear that their actions are evil. These exaggerations make their evil more palpable, and when used as satire, they make the audience ponder the nature and meaning of evil. Lewis does this with Screwtape.

However, these characters are still absurd parodies. The audience can laugh at their grandiose plans, flamboyant gestures, and ridiculous fashion senses. This is because we can’t laugh at real-life evil. Paradoxically, as Screwtape illustrates, by laughing at the Devil, humanity robs him of some of his power. This, in turn, can be extended to these villains. Since, as Christian theology says, the Devil is the source of all evil, these villains are his “children,” his “little devils.” By laughing at them, the audience is laughing at the Devil. It’s yet another thing that illustrates my personal belief that deep within every human soul they remember Eden and the tragedy of losing it. God said in Genesis 3:15a, “…I will put enmity between you and the woman [Eve], and between your offspring and hers.” Buried though it may be under a sinful nature, this enmity toward the Devil is inside all of humanity. The love of caricatured villains is a manifestation of this, and since I believe one can’t believe in the existence of the Devil without believing in the existence of God, I could almost make the argument that the ironic love of Raul Julia’s M. Bison disproves atheism.

Who are your favorite over-the-top villains? How do they serve the same function as The Screwtape Letters? Or, how do you disagree with my notion?

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Moving to the Fortress of Solitude

Once again I’ve neglected my website. My apologies, True Believers. To make up for it, I’ll be giving you two blogs a week for at least two weeks on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Caprice?

Good.

Moving on….

Image taken from www.baruch.cuny.edu.

Speaking of moving (see what I did there?), I just made a major move. If you’ve been following my blog, you know I just started grad school. I’m studying for an M.A. in English with a writing concentration. Along with that, I moved. To Fort Wayne, Indiana, to be specific. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. Call me weird (most people do), but I like this city. I have a lot of connections here thanks to family, college, and growing up nearby. Unlike when I moved to Bluffton, Indiana, in 2007, I have a built-in support network. Plus, this city is the perfect size for me: not too big to overwhelm the rural/small town kid in me, and not too small that it lacks amenities.

It was tough the first two weeks of school. I was commuting or staying with friends while balancing classes, teaching (I’m a graduate teaching assistant), and a part-time job on the side. I survived, obviously.

Then came the move.

I spent all of Labor Day weekend moving into an apartment in a nice little community next door to the university. Unfortunately, I learned again that transitions are messy. Packing was laborious. My parents said they’d help me and not to rent a moving truck. We’d just caravan everything to Fort Wayne. Well, that didn’t work out as well as we’d hoped. It required several trips over the entire weekend. There was miscommunication over whether I needed to drive back every day to help move furniture and transport more boxes. There was even some drama over from who I would get some of my furniture (most of which were “hand-me-downs,” but I feel no shame). This ramped up tensions and led to some…spirited discussions, shall we say? But when it was all said and done, I managed to get 95% of my stuff here.

Moving will make you want to become a minimalist. I never realized how much stuff I own—or how I managed to cram most of it into one room—until I moved. My increased space-consciousness combined with a need for some extra spending cash has inspired me to start selling some things on eBay. (Check out my auctions here). I was inspired to do this by a podcast I listened to recently that interviewed a toy collector who said he would sell pieces he wasn’t in love with to make room for stuff he did love (and to earn what he called “toy karma,” i.e. good standings with other collectors who could help him get other items).

Unfortunately, I still haven’t unpacked or fully decorated my place yet. I want to make it my own.

The Fortress of Solitude. (Image taken from www.Screenrant.com).

Admittedly, while I believe God led to me this community (that’s a story in and of itself), I have a two-bedroom two-bathroom apartment all to myself, so it’s lonely oftentimes. I went on Facebook and asked my friends to suggest names for my apartment. I got many good ones—“Darf’s Lair” and “The Nate Cave” among my favorite runners-up—but I ended up going with “The Fortress of Solitude.” For those who don’t know, this is the name of Superman’s Antarctic “hideout.” It’s essentially the ultimate man-cave (“Superman-cave”?). While it sounds kinda depressing, I thought it fit because Superman usually goes to there alone to get away from things, and it’s full of awesomely cool stuff.

At some point soon, I hope to have an overdue housewarming party. But I want to finish unpacking and decorating first. It doesn’t feel…uniquely me yet. That will be remedied soon, though.

What was the biggest move you’ve made? How did it go? What advice would you offer someone as he settles into a new place?