JOE BOB BRIGGS is Back, TRUE BLOOD Memorabilia, and More!
In this Issue:
- Horror History: Why The Blob Endures
- Image of the Week: The Taste of Terror
- Tiny Bites – This Week’s Best Horror Headlines
- The A to Z of Subgenres: X is for XXX
- Things We Love: Miniature Monsters
HORROR HISTORY: WHY THE BLOB ENDURES
By Sam J. Miller
Sixty years, a sequel, a remake, and an annual Blobfest convention later, we still love The Blob. Few of its B-movie peers have stood the test of time (six decades!) so well. But why did this goofy premise work when so many equally weird low-budget horror movies didn’t?
For one thing, The Blob made good decisions. Filmed on location in Pennsylvania, the movie so effectively captured the ambience of a small town thatGremlins quoted it years later — down to an inversion of The Blob’s movie theater scene, where this time it’s the monsters who are menaced by humans while trying to enjoy a Disney sing-along. Plus having a sexy young Steve McQueen on hand to provide decent acting and pretty blue eyes didn’t hurt The Blob.
But the true secret to The Blob‘s success is the Blob itself. Ridiculous as it seems, it worked perfectly to the limitations of 1950s’ practical special effects. Too many of its cinematic peers relied on monster suits or scale models that just didn’t convince. But as the Blob consumes matter; it gets bigger; it gets more dangerous. We grasp the threat immediately. Think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) — it works, and it scares, because the monsters don’t need big-budget make-up or stop-motion effects.
The design of the Blob was itself a masterstroke — its dark red wet pulsating surface implies the gore and blood that movies of its day couldn’t show. It’s the same reason that the 1988 remake is also far more successful than a schlocky remake of a schlocky original has any business being — the monster concept was even scarier once the special effects envelope had been pushed.
The first remake was released 30 years after the original, and it’s been 30 years since; the world is probably ready for the return of the Blob. After all, the original film ends with the frozen monster being airdropped to the Arctic, with one character saying that the world is safe “as long as the Arctic stays cold.” Now climate change is creating the perfect conditions for thawing out the Blob. We’re ready for more.
IMAGE OF THE WEEK
The Taste of Terrror
Sure, Pumpkinhead is terrifying, but there’s something out there even scarier — and that’s the annual return of Pumpkin Spice. (Art by M. R. Kessell.)
TINY BITES
DARIO ARGENTO SOUNDTRACKS, SINGING ZOMBIES & MORE
Shudder (hey, that’s us!) is bringing back horror host Joe Bob Briggs for two holiday specials this year, with plans for an ongoing series in 2019. Our friends atBloody Disgusting have the news.
In praise of Demon Wind.
So many Stephen King stories are connected to so many other Stephen King stories, it can be difficult to spot every Easter Egg. Here’s some help.
There are three months left in 2018, but here’s an updated list of the best horror movies of the year (so far).
Speaking of Halloween, critics who saw an advance screening over the weekend at the Toronto Film Festival (while the rest of us were enjoying the tense new trailer) called it “a faithful, fundamental sequel (and funny too),” described it as “an act of fan service disguised as a horror movie,” and cheered it as “the best Halloween since the original.”
For Dario Argento’s birthday on September 7th,Waxworks Records is releasing the scores of three of his most famous films — Profondo Rosso, Inferno andPhenomena — on vinyl.
If you love horror and the theater: You’ll soon be able to see an Off-Broadway adaptation of the classicFright Night. It hits the stage a week before the Beetlejuice musical.
The trailer for Anna and the Apocalypse feels like a combination of Shaun of the Dead and La La Land. Yes, that means it’s a zombie musical, and yes, we’re excited about that.
George R.R. Martin interviewed Stephen King and wondered: “How the f**k do you write so many books so fast?” (We wondered that, too.)
When it’s time for Secret Santa around the Shudder offices, we’re hoping to score a Stranger Things Chia Pet.
The original manuscript for Misery — signed by Stephen King to Rambo author David Morrell — is on sale if you have $10,000-$15,000 you’re willing to spend.
Yes! The Black Mirror episode “USS Callister” (which is a horror movie couched as a Star Trek homage)won an Emmy for Outstanding TV Movie.
THE A TO Z OF SUBGENRES: X IS FOR XXX
The films of XXX are united less by theme or setting, but content. Strong sexual content. You know, the hardcore kind that would define a film as “pornography.” Like last week’s Western, XXX horror crossovers tens to be adult films first, as elements and ideas of horror seep in. When horror and pornography have met, the two genres—both widely generalized and often linked in conversation—have fascinatingly produced work much more resembling arthouse cinema or true cult madness. Often filmmakers with broader ambitions in adult film are crossing over with horror and adding stylish flourish, experimental ideas, political or societal themes, and wholly unique playfulness. Take the wild, near-indescribable old dark house romp of Thundercrack! Or the subversive howl of Bruce LaBruce’s zombie tale, Otto; or Up With Dead People. Or the truly angry and challenging N***** Revenge, by Dick Wadd. Of course, more pure exploitation also exists here, in the case of the incredibly wrong and truly not-for-everyone enema slasher (you heard that right), Water Power and Joe D’Amato’s Porno Holocaust.
If you’re feeling adventurous, see: Thundercrack!, Erotic Nights of the Living Dead, Water Power, Necromania, LA Zombie
THINGS WE LOVE: MINIATURE MONSTERS
Let the rest of the world have their mundane terrariums. We prefer TERRORiums — such as this miniature glass-enclosed scene depicting Eddie meeting Pennywise in It. Check out the artist’s other creations from The Ring, Insidious and a particularly creepy one based on The Babadook.