FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER: MARVEL STYLE

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at the way Marvel incorporated the Frankenstein Monster into their 1970s horror comics.

MONSTER OF FRANKENSTEIN Vol 1 #1 (Jan 1973)

Title: Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Villains: Mutineers

Synopsis: This loose adaptation of the Mary Shelley classic starts out in January of 1898. Readers meet Captain Robert Walton IV, descendant of the Captain Walton who encountered Dr. Victor Frankenstein in the frozen north roughly one hundred years earlier.

This Robert Walton has been searching for any sign of the remains of the Frankenstein Monster sighted by his ancestor. He and his crew at last find the being and carve out the huge ice chunk in which its body is held.   

That chunk is brought on board Walton’s vessel and stored in the hold. While the captain relates to a crew member the tale told to his ancestor about the monster’s creation and history, the rest of the crew plot a mutiny over being kept in the frozen north for so long just to recover a monstrous corpse.

Captain Walton is only partway through his tale about Dr. Frankenstein and his monster when the mutiny erupts and in the fighting a fire starts. The fire starts to melt the ice encasing the Frankenstein Monster. Continue reading

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Filed under Halloween Season, Superheroes

THE WORST MICHAEL MYERS STYLE SLASHERS FROM BAD MOVIES

masc graveyard newCan you believe it’s just one week until Halloween!

In a nod to So Bad They’re Good slasher films Balladeer’s Blog has examined some of the worst Michael Myers imitators as well as a few forerunners. FOR 13 HEAVY METAL HORROR MOVIES CLICK HERE.

horror-house-on-highway-5BARTHOLOMEW

Movie: Horror House on Highway Five (1985)

Lore: Bartholomew wore a Richard Nixon mask while slicing and dicing his victims. He was a simple-minded man transformed into an unstoppable killer by a Nazi mad scientist … A Nazi mad scientist who, strangely enough, wore a yarmulke. With a swastika on it. (?)

FOR MY FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE

Mr RabbeyMISTER RABBEY

Movie: The Psychopath (1975)

Lore: Mister Rabbey was a child-minded nutcase who hosted a Mister Rogers-type kiddie show. When he discovers that some of the children he visits at the local hospital have been abused by their parents he sets out to kill those abusers. He kills by strangling one victim with his security blanket but also uses weapons like a baseball bat, garden shears and a lawnmower in his deadly crusade.

FOR MY FULL-LENGTH REVIEW CLICK HERE Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season, humor

OCTOBER TWENTY-FOURTH NEWS ROUNDUP

Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog does another current events roundup from an America where Democrats are so low they are now pretending renovations to the White House are “destruction” when President Trump does them. A historical timeline of White House renovations HERE.

EVEN TRUMP-HATER MARK CUBAN HAS SEEN THE LIGHT AND WANTS TO JOIN PRESIDENT TRUMP’S PRESCRIPTION PRICE HELP FOR AMERICANS. Have I mentioned lately that Trump is the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime?

INDIA AND CHINA CURB RUSSIAN OIL PURCHASES AFTER PRESIDENT TRUMP SANCTIONS ROSNEFT AND LUKOIL. More pressure on deranged war criminal Putin.

DEMOCRATS, WHO CALL EVERYONE ELSE NAZIS, ARE DEFENDING THEIR CANDIDATE GRAHAM PLATNER’S NAZI SS TATTOO. More HERE. And HERE. 2025 Democrats are such hypocritical garbage.

CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS LAUNCHING HUGE DOXING ATTACKS ON ICE AGENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. As we’ve seen, the Democrats’ violent hate mobs will take it from there.

UNHINGED DEMOCRAT HAKIM JEFFRIES THREATENS DONORS FOR THE WHITE HOUSE BALLROOM

TRUMP EFFECT: WALMART THANKSGIVING MEAL BASKET AT LOWEST PRICE IN YEARS. Have I mentioned lately that Trump is the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime?

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT CHILD RAPIST IS THE LATEST ILLEGAL EXPOSED FOR RECEIVING MEDICAID BENEFITS. Hey, he epitomizes the people the Democrats shut down the government for. Continue reading

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THE OMEGA FACTOR (1979) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION

THE OMEGA FACTOR (1979) – This eerie BBC series combined the best elements of Doomwatch with Department S and injected supernatural scares that anticipated the much later series Twin Peaks and The X Files.

James Hazeldine, remembered as the snarky butler from The Musgrave Ritual episode of Jeremy Brett’s Sherlock Holmes, starred as Tom Crane. Tom was a reporter whose untapped psychic abilities bring him into conflict with an Aleister Crowleyesque villain named Edward Drexel (Cyril Luckham) and an organization called Omega.

Crane’s wife is killed through Drexel’s machinations, motivating him to give up journalism and join Department 7, a secret British government agency which researches the supernatural and the paranormal.

Louise Jameson, famous from Tenko and as Leela on Doctor Who, is Dr. Anne Reynolds, a physicist colleague of Tom Crane’s. She was a friend of Tom’s late wife and through her he discovers that he has been under Department 7 surveillance since he was a boy because of his nascent psychic powers. Continue reading

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FIVE AMBROSE BIERCE HALLOWEEN STORIES

ambrose-bierce

Ambrose Bierce

Halloween Month continues with Balladeer’s Blog’s look at some seasonal stories by the one and only Ambrose Bierce. I think we’re all sick of Owl Creek Bridge so here are a few lesser-known tales from “Bitter Bierce.”

THE SPOOK HOUSE (1889) – In pre-Civil War Kentucky a pair of traveling politicians take shelter in a notoriously haunted house which was once the site of a bloody massacre. The eerie abandoned house features a room from which an unearthly green glow emanates … a room in which lie all the corpses of the missing massacre victims and of all those foolish enough to stay in the house ever since.  Continue reading

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NEWS ROUNDUP: OCTOBER TWENTY-SECOND

Time for a mid-week current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

SECURITY CAMERA FOOTAGE HELPS IN ARREST OF ANTI-TRUMP FASCIST FOR FIRING HIS GUN AT A HOME OVER A TRUMP FLAG ON THEIR VEHICLE. Intolerant animal.

BULLETS INSTEAD OF BALLOTS: THE TARGETING OF VICE PRESIDENT VANCE’S HALF-BROTHER CORY BOWMAN’S CHURCH IN CINCINNATI. “We will not be intimidated or deterred by any obstacles,” Bowman concluded. “Our life’s work is to positively impact the people of Cincinnati, and that commitment remains unwavering.” More HERE.

EVEN DEMOCRAT SHOESHINE BOY JONATHAN STEWART POINTS OUT THAT DEMOCRATS’ OBAMACARE SUBSIDIES JUST MAKE INSURANCE COMPANIES RICH. Jason Smith does, also HERE. The rest of us pointed this out years ago – Obamacare was a unilateral favor to insurance companies that donated large amounts to Democrats.

BIDEN-HARRIS REGIME FEMA EXPOSED FOR TARGETING AND IGNORING NON-DEMOCRATS DURING DISASTER RELIEF. Even more evidence has surfaced. More HERE.

CENSUS BUREAU UNDER BIDEN ADMITTED TO OVERCOUNTING SEVERAL DEMOCRAT STATES AND UNDERCOUNTING SEVERAL REPUBLICAN STATES, RESULTING IN DEMOCRATS CURRENTLY HAVING SIX MORE CONGRESSIONAL SEATS THAN THEY SHOULD REALLY HAVE. President Trump is up against an entire bureaucracy of corrupt and biased administrators.

DEMOCRAT PARTY

DEMOCRAT DISTRICT ATTORNEY IN PHILADELPHIA LET ANOTHER REPEAT OFFENDER LOOSE AND NOW THAT OFFENDER HAS KILLED AN INNOCENT WOMAN. The Democrat war against the rest of us continues.

CHICAGO “TEACHERS” AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS CALL FOR SHOOTING ICE AGENTS AND MORE

HEART-WARMING: MEMPHIS CHILD THANKS PRESIDENT TRUMP FOR RESTORING SAFETY TO THE CITY SO HE CAN PLAY OUTSIDE AGAIN.

TRUMP TRIUMPH: GAS PRICES DROP TO LOWEST IN OVER FOUR YEARS. Continue reading

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WAXWORK (1988) HALLOWEEN MOVIE

WAXWORK (1988) – I’m often surprised at how comparatively overlooked Waxwork is when it comes to 1980s horror films. It’s played straight, packs in a variety of menaces, fun Easter Eggs and sufficient scares and gore for that decade of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Pinhead. A sequel followed in 1992.

The cast includes Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, David Warner, Michelle Johnson, Clare Carey, Eric Brown, Dana Ashbrook, John Rhys-Davies, Patrick Macnee and Miles O’Keefe. As the title indicates, this movie involves a wax museum with deadly exhibits, but far more elaborate ones than similar films feature.

Virtually overnight, a nearly completed Wax Museum appears in a midwestern town. It’s still being prepared and won’t officially open for a few weeks, but David Lincoln, the smooth-talking owner played by the great David Warner, offers several curious teens special free passes to a preview the next night. Continue reading

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COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM: CARTERET COLLEGE

Here’s the latest educational institution to launch sports teams with a nickname much more creative than the overused Eagles, Tigers, Bulldogs and Wildcats.

CARTERET COLLEGE Continue reading

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BAD MOVIE: DEAFULA (1975) FOR HALLOWEEN SEASON

Deafula BalladeerFrom 2011, this is one of my most popular Bad Movie reviews, so here it is again, 14 years later. Deafula is yet another of those bad movies that has such a bizarre premise that many used to believe the film to be an urban legend, like the turkey-monster flick Blood Freak. Get ready for a deaf vampire, a very odd witch and the most joyously goofy hunchback in cinematic history.  

Deafula 2DEAFULA (1975) – Category: A neglected bad movie classic that deserves a Plan 9-sized cult following

Good intentions go horribly wrong in this film. Much like with Blood Freak, there were people who insisted this film was just an urban legend and that it didn’t really exist. Those people were wrong. This horror film is in black and white and, as the title suggests, the vampire as well as everyone else in this movie’s world are deaf and communicate through sign language, billed as “Signscope” in the movie posters and in the opening credits, as if this was a pioneering technical gimmick on a par with Sensurround. (Although considering how lame Sensurround was there may be something to that)

Never fear, though, there is also voice-over narration provided by different people for each actor so that people who don’t know sign language can follow the story. Obviously this is all very noble, and in fact Peter Wechsburg, who produced this film and stars as Deafula, was responsible for an all-sign language newscast for the hearing impaired. That newscast originated in Portland, OR which is also where Deafula was filmed. Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, Halloween Season

OCTOBER TWENTIETH NEWS ROUNDUP

Here’s a Monday current events roundup from Independent Voter Site Balladeer’s Blog.

MINNESOTA IS THE LATEST STATE EXPOSED FOR ALLOWING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS TO VOTE. Democrat Governor Tim Walz first okayed driver’s licenses for illegals, then let driver’s licenses be enough to vote. As we’ve all seen, Democrats rely on illegals voting which is why they are so upset about enforcing immigration laws.

FEDERAL RESERVE BANK IN DALLAS SAYS PRESIDENT TRUMP’S POLICIES ARE LEADING TO HIGHER WAGES FOR WORKERS AND MORE JOB OPPORTUNITIES. I believe I’ve mentioned before that Donald Trump is the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime.

DEMOCRAT ILLINOIS GOVERNOR J.B. PRITZKER CLAIMS HE WON ONE POINT FOUR MILLION DOLLARS PLAYING BLACKJACK IN LAS VEGAS. That’s how he’s explaining this windfall. Uh. Yeah. And I’m sure Jabba Pritzker would believe that from President Trump, right?

DEMOCRAT “SANCTUARY STATE” ILLINOIS SPENT MORE TAX MONEY ON FREE HEALTHCARE FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS THAN IT SPENT ON THE ELDERLY, FOSTER CHILDREN, ROADS AND THE ARTS COMBINED. It’s still “Illegal immigrants uber alles” with Democrats.

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT IN ILLINOIS CAUGHT EMPLOYED BY CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT AS A COP

KAROLINE LEAVITT OUTMANEUVERS DEMOCRAT HAKIM JEFFRIES AND HIS CALLS FOR VIOLENCE.

DHS ARRESTS ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WHO OFFERED TO PAY $10,000 FOR ANYONE KILLING AN ICE AGENT.

VIDEO: WHITE DEMOCRAT SHOUTS RACIST SLURS AT BLACK FEMALE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR GOVERNOR WINSOME SEARS AT JMU FOOTBALL GAME. Repulsive hypocrites.  Continue reading

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