Category Archives: Halloween Season

October 1, 2015 · 4:55 pm

ASH VS THE EVIL DEAD ARRIVES ON HALLOWEEN

Army of Darkness CthulhuOctober is Halloween Month! And this Halloween brings the extra treat of Bruce Campbell’s character Ash Williams returning to fight even more Deadites in the Starz cable show Ash vs (the) Evil Dead.

The series looks to be in the spirit of the various Army of Darkness comic book series’ that came and went over the years so I will periodically post a few covers until the 31st arrives. Regarding this first cover it’s only appropriate that Ash tangles with Herbert West, Reanimator and even more appropriate that his clash with that graduate of Miskatonic Medical School leads to an encounter with Cthulhu himself! (I’m sure you’ll recall Miskatonic University possessed one of the few surviving copies of the Necronomicon.)  Continue reading →

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October 1, 2015 · 12:01 am

GOTHIC HORROR: ISABELLA OF EGYPT (1812)

Isabella of Egypt Alraune and the GolemHalloween Month begins! In addition to covering all of my usual topics I spend each October sprinkling in neglected horror movies, stories and novels.

Isabella of Egypt is a very obscure 1812 Gothic Horror novella by Ludwig Achim Von Arnim. Under the more evocative title Alraune and the Golem it was to be filmed as a silent movie in 1919 but unfortunately it was never completed or is one of the countless silent films that have not survived to the present day (sources vary). 

The story is set in the 16th Century and features the real-life Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, but in his teen years, right before he assumed the throne first of Spain and later of the H.R. Empire. The novella is not a horror classic per se, but is very eerie and features an odd variety of horrific supernatural figures in Monster Rally fashion.  Continue reading →

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September 9, 2015 · 7:29 pm

ASH VS THE EVIL DEAD – DEBUTING ON HALLOWEEN

Ash vs the Evil DeadBruce Campbell, Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert are launching a cable television continuation of the movie that first brought them fame and big bucks – The Evil Dead. The Brucemeister General returns to his role of Ash Williams with tongue firmly in cheek  for the type of self-deprecating humor and gross-out fun that fans have loved for decades now.

In the new Starz series Ash vs the Evil Dead the dark forces unleashed in the original film have returned 30 years later to plague Ash and various supporting characters – including one played by Lucy Lawless (Tapert’s wife), who has grown almost as pudgy as Bruce Campbell himself. That’s not meant in a nasty way, by the way. I point it out because a lot of people fail to recognize Lawless in the series trailer I link to below.

Ash vs the Evil Dead debuts on Halloween of this year. The series’ approach seems to reflect the ghoulishly fun spirit of the Army of Darkness comic book series which saw the man with the chainsaw hand and boomstick battle legions of Deadites while plagued by his frequent bad luck. Enjoy the trailer, but be warned – for some reason NOBODY says “Join us … Join us”.  

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE TRAILER:  Continue reading →

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April 23, 2015 · 9:03 pm

MALDOROR 2:9 – PRAYERS TO THE GODS CALLED LICE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

PRAYERS TO THE GODS CALLED LICE

head liceThe supernatural being Maldoror devotes this stanza to waxing rhapsodic about lice. Yes, actual lice. For the most part the demented yet brilliant figure does this as a wry mockery of religion itself but mixes in some of his own depraved acts of violence for some extra spice to the story.  

His first prayer to the gods called lice praises them as powerful deities who could grow to the size of elephants and crush all animal life on earth if not for the offerings of blood that lice are given from the hair or fur of us beasts. This prayer calls lice the most esteemed of life forms, worthy of using the heads of mankind as their thrones. Continue reading →

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April 11, 2015 · 5:01 pm

MALDOROR 2:6 – THE JUSTICE OFFERED BY THE LAW IS WORTHLESS

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE JUSTICE OFFERED BY THE LAW IS WORTHLESS

Tuileries gardens at nightThe supernatural being Maldoror, fresh off his sadistic murder of a 10 year old girl in the previous stanza, this time around turns his attentions on an 8 year old little boy. Our vile protagonist first spots the child sitting on a bench in the Tuileries Gardens. Maldoror sits down next to the boy and engages him in conversation. 

The conversation consists of the monstrous figure peppering the child with questions about his beliefs and his dreams for the future as well as his barely-developed notions of right and wrong.  Continue reading →

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April 7, 2015 · 10:58 pm

MALDOROR 2:5 – INDELIBLE BLOOD GLITTERING LIKE A DIAMOND

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

INDELIBLE BLOOD GLITTERING LIKE A DIAMOND

Maldoror 2 5Back to the insane, taciturn and blood-thirsty Maldoror we’re used to this time around. The supernatural being has been strolling through a particular narrow Paris alley as part of the ground he covers while taking his walk. A slender ten year old girl, oblivious to the danger she’s courting, takes to following him each time until he gets to the end of the alley where she and her mother live.

Growing bolder she even takes to playfully blocking his way sometimes. On occassions when Maldoror tries to walk through at a brisker pace she speeds up her own gait to keep pace with him. On occassions when he goes slowly through the alley the little girl matches that pace, too. When she tries to start a conversation with the monstrous figure by asking him what time it is he coldly replies that he has no watch. 

Initially Maldoror toys with the idea of sparing the child’s life by simply avoiding the alley from now on. Unfortunately as his disturbed mind continues mulling over the situation he slowly convinces himself the child has dark motives and might even be a youthful prostitute like the 12 year old runaways from England. Maldoror convinces himself the mother could be the child’s Madam. At the very least if the little girl lives she will eventually turn out like the rest of the human race that our vile narrator loathes so deeply.  Continue reading →

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April 4, 2015 · 5:25 pm

MALDOROR 2:4 – THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE MIDNIGHT OMNIBUS

Midnight strikes in Paris. An eerie double-decker horse-drawn omnibus bursts forth from the ground and begins making its way through the nearly empty, night-darkened streets.

A few late night wayfarers regard the unusual omnibus with a shudder as it goes by. The vehicle carries the full passenger load of twenty-four but all of the travelers on the upper deck appear to be lifeless corpses leaned against each other.

The top-hatted driver looks like another corpse, and the whip he uses to urge on his horses seems more alive than he is. That whip appears to be what animates the arm of the otherwise lifeless driver, not the other way around. Even the passengers on the inner deck remain mute and still and are likewise as pale as ghosts.   Continue reading →

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April 2, 2015 · 2:31 am

MALDOROR 2:3 – AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

AND NOW MEN FEAR YOU NO MORE

Maldoror 2 3The enigmatic supernatural being Maldoror opens this stanza by reflecting that he hopes the day never dawns when he and Lohengrin unknowingly jostle each other side by side and elbow to elbow in a crowded city, then each continue on their separate paths, as oblivious to their near encounter as strangers who pass in a crowd. 

Yes, as that opening would indicate our vile protagonist now ties himself into esoteric Grail lore as he provides us once again with hints at his real nature. As always these hints contradict the previous hints he has given us about himself. 

First, however, Maldoror addresses God-as- Demiurge in an accusatory manner again, pointing out that as quickly as Maldoror used a hammer to bash in the brains of his most recent victim – a woman this time – the Creator could share with humanity the secret wisdom that he forever withholds from his creations. He further implies that God no longer converses with humanity as he did in the long distant past because now mankind has grown sophisticated enough that they would shout defiance at him and “fling all their shame back in God’s face.”  Continue reading →

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March 28, 2015 · 3:28 pm

MALDOROR 2:2 – THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE LASH OF LIGHTNING ACROSS MY BROW

Maldoror 2.2We now move on to the 2nd Canto of The Songs of Maldoror. For the benefit of newcomers I’ll point out that prose translations of this work are plentiful for those who don’t like poetry. I’m continuing my practice of assigning unofficial titles to each part simply to make cross-referencing easier since otherwise we have just the numbers to go by.

The first part of the 2nd Canto (or Maldoror 2:1) is simply an address to the reader from the author Isidore Ducasse, the self-designated Count de Lautreamont. I’ll pick up with the second part of the 2nd Canto, or Maldoror 2:2.  

The supernatural being Maldoror opens this part by recounting how God tried to prevent him from continuing with his bizarre, blasphemous writings. At first the deity attempted to paralyze our vile protagonist’s hands whenever he would try to put pen to paper. Maldoror overcame those efforts so God tries a more direct approach and unleashes a thunderstorm on our main character’s home.  Continue reading →

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March 25, 2015 · 12:22 am

MALDOROR 13: THE GREAT TOAD-ANGEL

Balladeer’s Blog resumes its examination of the macabre 1868 French language work The Songs of Maldoror.

THE GREAT TOAD-ANGEL 

Maldoror 13This stanza opens up with the supernatural being Maldoror contemplating the worms he pulls from the swollen belly of a dead dog. Slicing the worms into small bits he philosophizes on how human beings should learn a lesson about their own mortality from the state of such dead, worm-riddled bodies. 

Night is falling. In the distance he spies a horse-sized toad with white wings flying down from the sky and landing on the road he is traveling. As the two draw nearer to each other Maldoror senses something familiar about the creature and reflects that its face is “as beautiful as suicide”. He resents the being over how beautiful it looks even in its massive ugliness and the halo over the toad’s head tells him it has come from Heaven and his archrival God. 

Maldoror being Maldoror he tells the Toad-Angel how much he loathes it and berates it for the manifest unfairness and injustice of the world that God has created. He taunts the being that it is only what Maldoror perceives as the deity’s “might makes right” attitude that lets him inflict so much punishment on hapless humanity while feeling no regret.

bufo alvariusAt length the Toad-Angel reminds Maldoror that the two have met before. Once he was an ordinary bufo alvarius (a species of toad whose skin secretions are hallucinogenic and usually fatal) that Maldoror used to lick for psychotropic inspiration. Just as our vile protagonist received mind-altering visions from oral contact with the toad the eldritch chemicals in Maldoror’s mouth eventually elevated the common toad into the higher being it is now.   Continue reading →

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