This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post looks at the sidequels to Hugh Jackman’s 2004 movie Van Helsing.
FROM BENEATH THE RUE MORGUE (2004) – This Dark Horse comic book companion to the Van Helsing film is set in between scenes in the movie. After the death of Mr. Hyde in Paris, we see that Van Helsing winds up arrested for murder.
The monster slayer is ultimately found guilty and sentenced to death, but priestly agents of the Vatican (for whom Van Helsing works in his crusade against unholy forces) engineer an escape. Our hero flees through the catacombs beneath Paris.
Soon, he is forced to abandon his plans to escape the city when an unseen force abducts a female spiritual medium. Van Helsing follows the screaming woman and her invisible abductor to a secret laboratory beneath the Rue Morgue.
That lab is the lair of THE Dr. Moreau in his younger years. The mad scientist has created a number of beastly man-monsters that are barely controllable, unlike his later experimental creations.
Van Helsing learns that the invisible being which abducted the medium was made so by a process that Moreau stole from England’s Invisible Man, whom he double-crossed. The unseen figure is made visible and is a Moreau creation that resembles the much later Creature from the Black Lagoon. Continue reading
CROSS OF THE SEVEN JEWELS (1987) – This Bad Movie Classic may be my favorite non-
THE MONKS OF MONK HALL aka THE QUAKER CITY (1844-1845) – Written by George Lippard, this strange and macabre story was originally serialized from 1844-1845 before being published in novel form. This bloody, horrific work was America’s best-selling novel before Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 
Think of Monk Hall as a combination of Twin Peaks establishments like the Black Lodge, One-Eyed Jacks and the Great Northern all rolled into one. The vast, multi-roomed Hall is honey-combed with secret passageways and trap doors. Beneath the mansion are a subterranean river plus several levels of labyrinthine catacombs filled with rats, refuse and the skeletal remains of the Monks’ many victims from the past century and a half. 
Institution: ATLANTIS UNIVERSITY 
A BLACK MASS (1966) – This short horror/ mythological play was written by LeRoi Jones aka Amiri Baraka and has nothing to do with Satanism. The writer played on words, meaning “black” as in his skin color, not as in the Satanic masses enacted by larping geeks trying to be edgy. (Longtime readers may remember my contempt for the fools who call themselves Satanists.)
THE RESURRECTED MONSTER (1953) – Directed and co-written by the trailblazing Chano Urueta, this film is regarded as Mexico’s first sci-fi/ horror blend. A plastic surgeon named Dr. Hermann Ling (Jose Maria Linares-Rivas) has been driven mad by a lifetime of scorn over his grotesque, misshapen (yet hilarious) appearance. He has spent years working in isolation at a remote castle. 
LIBERTY VS LYNX: GAME FIVE – The NEW YORK LIBERTY hosted the MINNESOTA LYNX as this series went the full five games. 
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER ONE – In NCAA Division Two, the 11th ranked OUACHITA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY TIGERS played host to the nation’s number 1 team – the HARDING UNIVERSITY BISON. A 7-7 1st Quarter tie became a 13-10 Halftime edge for the Bison. After the break, the Tigers scored the only points of the 2nd Half to win the game 17-13. 
DOWN GOES NUMBER SIX – In NCAA Division Three, the 16th ranked UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT OSHKOSH TITANS took the field against the visiting number 6 WISCONSIN-PLATTEVILLE PIONEERS. The Pioneers were on top 10-3 by the break, but the 3rd Quarter ended in a 17-10 Titans lead. The 4th saw UW-Oshkosh triumph 24-17. 
NUMBER SEVEN TAKES A FALL – Back up in D2, the CALIFORNIA (PA) VULCANS welcomed the number 7 team in the land – the SLIPPERY ROCK UNIVERSITY ROCK. The Vulcans led 7-0 in the opening Quarter and 17-7 at the Half. From there Cal (PA) shut out the Rock while adding 11 more points for a 28-7 Upset win. 
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