This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at several obscure characters from around the world whose horror-tinged natures make them ideal for Halloween Season.
THIS FIRST ENTRY IS FROM BRAZIL. For Brazilian superheroes who aren’t horror-based click HERE.
PENITENTE (Penitent)
Secret Identity: Not revealed as yet.
Debut Year: 2006
Origin: This character had been a professional hitman for organized crime in Brazil for several years. One night he was killed in his sleep on orders of his own bosses, but Heavenly forces offered him a chance at redemption. In exchange for them allowing this figure’s soul to animate his now dead body they would grant him supernatural abilities.
To redeem himself in the eyes of Heaven, the Penitente had to save seventy times seven the number of innocent victims he had killed while alive. As part of this purgative servitude he would also be periodically pitted against dark forces which had escaped from Hell.
Powers: The Penitente pursued his activities in his own dead body, which was now unstoppable, albeit bearing many, many scars. He was immune to much physical pain, and his greater than human strength and uncanny skill with guns and other weapons were crucial to his mission.
Comment: Our hero rose from his grave and masked his decaying, scarred face behind a red cloth like those worn during Brazil’s Procession of the Penitents.
And yes, I know this character’s general origin is, uh, reminiscent of an American creation of the 1990s but at least the Penitente’s power set is more grounded, and his “look” is pretty cool. Continue reading
Halloween Month continues as Balladeer’s Blog takes an anticipatory look at Terrifier 3, which hits theaters tomorrow, October 11th. Despite making his first appearance in 2008, Art – the blood-and-gore-soaked supernatural killer of the Terrifier franchise – still gets hailed as a “new” figure because general audiences were unaware of him until 2016. 
The previous installments of Fool Killer lore have seen the neglected 1800s folk figure in a variety of roles: 
In honor of the Halloween season this post will look at the Fool Killer as a 1980s slasher. 
THE FOOL KILLER – As we all know, Anthony Perkins starred in the eerie 1965 movie The Fool Killer as an amnesiac Civil War veteran who came to believe he was really the legendary title figure. A 1980s slasher version of the Fool Killer could feature a deranged killer who has similarly come to regard himself as the “real” one.
EZRA PEDEN – This was Allan Cunningham’s tale about the deeds of Scottish Presbyterian Minister Ezra Peden and his encounters with the forces of the supernatural in Scotland from the late 1600s to around 1706. It makes for nice Halloween Season reading and practically makes you feel the chilliness of Scotland in late October as Cunningham depicts the brave, if humorless, Ezra adventuring in the moonlight. 
SWAMP THING Vol 1 #3 (March 1973) 
Alec’s body was dumped in the swamp, where the bio-restorative chemicals his body had been soaked in interacted with his own anatomy, the mud and the plant life in the swamp, letting him rise from the dead as a murk-monster. The Swamp Thing retained Alec Holland’s intelligence but could not speak for the first several issues. 
Halloween Month at Balladeer’s Blog continues with this look at Mexican horror figures who haven’t had a truly striking movie in decades. Well, outside of La Llorona, who still gets featured every few years. 
DOCTOR M
The image of the returned Dr. M in his hideous new body playing a mournful tune on a violin to prove his identity to a friend is a scene worthy of the greatest Gothic horror films. Even better would have been a scene of him later playing the same tune over his own grave. 
The Halloween Season has rolled around once again! For newcomers to Balladeer’s Blog let me point out that I post about more than just horror topics in October. I also cover my usual recurring subjects but throw in reviews of neglected, centuries old novels and short stories from around the world in a Gothic Horror equivalent of my Ancient Science Fiction blog posts. I also review horror films throughout the month. 
A NOVA CALIFORNIA (1921) – This short horror story from Brazil was written by Lima Barreto. The tale is set in a fictional Brazilian town called Tubiacango after the river along whose banks it stood. Tubiacango’s population was roughly 4,000. 
NOTE: Something I’ve been struck by as I read more and more Brazilian literature is how even the smallest towns could boast an international population. There will be native Brazilians, newly arrived Portuguese, white Europeans, and – as the literature itself points out – every shade of dark colored people from all over the world. 
TALES FROM THE QUADEAD ZONE (1987) – The second and – to date – final movie written and directed by Chester Novell Turner. The man’s films became so renowned for being legendarily bad that in 2014 a documentary about their making was released under the title Return to the Quadead Zone. 
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