The Enchanted World: Night Creatures

 I wanted to have more of these done by now, but I fell out of the habit and it became easier not to do them. Well, how about I restart them. 

There are three books in the Enchanted World series that would be good for Halloween, but given my October Horror Movie Challenge is all about the monsters of my youth, this one is the most appropriate. 

Night Creatures

by Editors of Time-LIFE Books, 1985 (141 pages) 
ISBN 0809452332, 0809452340  (US Editions)

This one is also divided into four chapters. 

Chapter One: Perilous Paths through the Dark

We start out with a tale of Beowulf and Grendel, though from the point of view of Grendel and how it roamed the lands of Denmark for countless years at night. I am struck by the similarities between Grendel and Gollum to be honest. It also make Grendel's Mother seem more like some sort of Hag as well. It has a similar description to the Black Annis featured later in this chapter. A connection I have often explored.

We switch to tales of Nyx, and vampire bats, Hecate, and other creatures of the night. This chapter covers all sorts of night creatures. There is even a bit on Trows, which would have been great to have back in 1985. 

A Reckoning with the Fianna's Ancient Bane is the story of a young Fionn MacCumhal slaying a shadow creature on Samhain.

Chapter Two: Visitations from the Realm of Shadow

These creatures are the returned dead and ones from beyond the world of mortals. Smoke like ghosts and spirits and other minor phantasms to returned corpses bent on murder. The Night Hag, or Nočnitsa, of Eastern Europe plagued children at night threating to eat them. Their favorite meal was new born babies. Similar creatures were found in Scotland. 

There was also the Dream Lover, the Mara, who prefered to feed on men. All these creatures though are harmless compared to the mother of demons, Lilith.  Though I don't think Lilith was ever a blonde.

Even young women had to fear the dead's return with dream lovers of their own coming back to claim them as their brides. 

Chapter Three: Blood Feasts of the Damned 

Vampires are found in the myths and tales of every culture.  Tales from Iraq, Greece, Germany, Scotland, the Ukraine,  and more are detailed. Along with the various guises of the vampire. 

As varied as the vampires are all over the world, so are the means in which to dispatch them. A stake in the heart for some, an iron stake in the forehead for others. Sunlight for most. 

All of these creatures seek the blood of the living and often, the blood of those they loved.

This vampire chapter might some of the most well known material in the series to be honest. 

Chapter Four: The Way of the Werebeast

It is possible that shape-shifting humans to animals are the oldest sorts of monsters we know. Far more ubiquitous than ghosts, night hags or even vampires, the lycanthrope or werebeast is know all over the world.

Werewolves seem to be the most feared of Europe, likely due to the fear of wolves. In other parts of the world where other large predators live we find other werebeasts. In Scandinavia warriors would don bear skins and fly into a rage. We get the word berserker from this meaning "bear shirt." Likewise men of the Volsung clan would do the same with wolf skins. There is a bit here about shamans, but I wanted more.

In Japan the tales were a little different with wise creatures taking on the form of humans, or at least human like. There were also women who could transform into foxes. 

I am a little surprised there wasn't a significant amount of text on some of the shape-shifting monsters of India. But when you share a chapter with werewolves, werebears, and fox-women, expect lower billing. If any at all. 

Many of these tales are well know to anyone who has played RPGs, especially any horror RPGs. But a few might be new. Still I find little tidbits of information here and there that are wonderful to have. I must investigate the nočnitsa some more, and I am certainly going to revisit my own take on Trows. 

One thing that gets lost in the vampire and werewolf love of the last two chapters is all the varieties of hags mentioned here. Grendel's mother, night hags, mara, Lilith. Just great stuff honestly. Again, I should go back and challenge my notions on my Lilim demons. 

I also noticed how much this book looked like a Ravenloft book from the AD&D 2nd Ed era. Could be coincidence, but at one point I had this sitting on my freezer to take pictures and I had to double take to make sure it was not my Realms of Terror book. Too bad they are such odd sizes. I would buy and extra one and put it on my shelf of Ravenloft books.

This reminds me I really need to get back to covering these books.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Ghostbusters

 Got a chance to check out the two new(er) Ghostbusters movies and I had a blast with them. The two questions that come up here are "Are they horror?" and "What do they have to do with D&D?" The first is "who cares, they have the trappings of horror" and the second, "yeah, for me they do."

Given that the two movies have the same cast and are continuations of the original Ghostsbusters (1984, 1989) I will talk about them together.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)

This series follows up on the original 1980s with the estranged family (daughter and grandkids) of Egon Spengler (the late Harold Ramis). They move out to Oklahoma, where Egon had been hiding. There is a prophecy about the return of Gozer. The plot is a bit silly to be honest, but the story is a lot of fun.

What really sets this movie apart is the cast. Yes, we get Ray, Peter, Winston, and Janine back, all played by their original actors. Even a bit of CGI and Ivan Reitman playing Harold Ramis as the the now dead Egon. But the real stand outs are the new cast, especially McKenna Gract as Phoebe, the granddaughter of Egon. I have seen her in a lot of movies since Gifted (2017), where she played a seven-year-old math genius.  Here she is not far from that. She is a genius and the spitting image of Egon. 

We also get Finn Wolfhard as her older brother Trevor. He is sorta the comic relief here and that works. Paul Rudd is here playing seismologist turned science teacher. Carrie Coon plays mother (and Egon's daughter) Callie Spengler. New characters include the entertaining Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O'Connor). 

They have to battle Gozer again, but that is fine. Gozzer this time is played by Olivia Wilde and her voice is done by Shohreh Aghdashloo. I mean, what a combination. 

The most fun of this movie is watching all the references to the first two movies and other horror movies/shows, including Stranger Things. Lots of cameos; stick around for Sigourney Weaver. And special cameo/casting of  J. K. Simmons plays Ivo Shandor, looking and sounding just like Ketheric Thorm. 

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

This one is not quite as good, but it has some fun moments. This one expands on the Ghostbuster myths and makes the case for more sequels. Winston Zeddemore, now an entrepreneur, funds all sorts of Ghostbuster related technology and keeps the whole place funded.

The cast is the same with the additions of Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt. We even get the return of William Atherton as Mayor Walter Peck. For the record I have heard from people I know that William Atherton is actually one of the nicest guys you can ever meet.

There are good moments, the battle at the end is a lot of fun. The big bad, Gahraka is rally scary looking and that is great. Nice to see Dan Ackroyd is still crazy. 

Confession, I thought it was great that McKenna Grace's Phoebe was the hero of both movies. 

The first movie was dedicated to Harold Ramis and this one was dedicated to Ivan Reitman.

Featured Monster: Ghosts and Ghostbusters

These movies, even the originals, had no influence on the D&D books, but they had a huge effect on my games. I loved playing undead hunting clerics and even created special gens to fight and trap ghosts. Yeah, they're not original, but hey, I was 14. 

There are lot of ideas here for a game. Maybe a "Ghost Hunting" game for NIGHT SHIFT! 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 39
First Time Views: 19

October Horror Movie Challenge: Land of the Minotaur (1976)

As longtime readers will know I am a fan of Greek Mythology, it was my "gateway drug" to D&D. So to find a movie that combines horror, Greek Myths, and stars such luminaries as Donald Pleasence and Peter Cushing, all before the Monster Manual was published (1976) sounds like solid gold for this year's theme. And it could have been...but I could not find on any streaming service under this name of the longer cut titled "The Devil's Men."

So today I was weeding through some of my boxed sets of questionable horror DVDs when I found it. Donald Pleasance even has top billing on the cover. Sadly the movie itself doesn't hold up the search I have been on for it.

Land of the Minotaur (1976)

I mentioned it is also The Devil's Men, was a Greek/British production starring Donald Pleasence and Peter Cushing. In a turn around, Pleasance plays the good guy Father Roche and Peter Cushing plays our bad guy, cultist Baron Corofax.

The movie centers around the idea that a Minotaur is still somehow alive and worshipped as a god. OR it is really demon. OR it is just a statue what has jets of fire coming out of it's nose. Hard to say really.

A group of Archeology student go missing and Father Roche calls up his friend private detective Milo Kaye (Kostas Karagiorgis) to help him and survivor Laurie Gordon (Luan Peters) investigate.

They discover a cult lead by Cushing who sacrifices outsiders to the minotaur.

Standard cult fare really. There is confusion as to whether or not this minotaur is a minotaur or some manifestation of the Devil. Father Roche is able to keep the cultists (most of the village) at bay with a cross. Note: Father Roche is an Irish Catholic priest, but uses what looks like an Eastern Orthodox cross. 

They find the cult, and Father Roche blows up the minotaur (stone on the outside, soft squishy guts on the inside) using holy water.

Yeah it is not great, but not a bad little cult movie. The American version is 8 minutes shorter than the European version, as can be expected really. There is a whole scene I guess where Milo and Laurie have sex that is not on my DVD.

Featured Monster: Minotaur

The Minotaur of Greek myth was a unique creature. Thus it had certain gravitas or even a god-like quality about it. It was the monster in the labyrinth, whom sacrifices had to be made. Multiple minotaurs in a game make them just ogres with bull horns.

BUT the thing this movie does do well is show how terrifying a single minotaur can be to a group 0-level Humans. The factor in the whole Minotaur as a god thing and getting damaged by holy water, just make him into Baphomet. Now suddenly the movie makes much more sense.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 37
First Time Views: 17

October Horror Movie Challenge: Living Dead Night

 I can't say for sure that the zombies in the Monster Manual are based on the zombies from Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," but so many of modern zombie lore is based on them it would be very difficult to tease apart what was Romero and what is say voodoo myths.  So tonight I am doing the original Romero classic and the new unofficial sequel. 

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

I have lost track how many times I have seen this movie. I mean, let's be honest there would be no "Walking Dead," no "Evil Dead," and certainly no "All Flesh Must Be Eaten" without this movie.

I don't think I really appreciated how much this movie had an impact. This is not even mentioning the casting of Duane Jones as Ben. You can see the DNA of this movie in nearly every single zombie/living dead movie made since.

The acting could be better, but it works. 

Festival of the Living Dead (2024) 

This one is billed as a sequel and an homage to the 1968 movie. It attracted me for a few reasons. First, it is a Tubi exclusive, so that is great. I love Tubi, and it has been great for me. Second, it was directed by the Soska sisters (who also make a cameo), and that is always a plus in my book. And it stars Camren Bicondova, who played Selena Kyle in the series Gotham.

This movie takes place 55 years after a huge zombie outbreak (that goes nameless). It is Ash's (Ashley Moore) birthday (and she seems related to Ben), and she wants to go to the Festival of the Living Dead with her boyfriend but has to stay home to babysit her little brother Luke (Shiloh O'Reilly). Her best friend Iris (Camren Bicondova) agrees to watch him. Ash goes to the festival with her boyfriend Kevin (Gage Marsh), his friend Ty (Andre Anthony), and twins Lindsey and Destini (Maia Jae and Keana Lyn Bastidas). Interesting that the Soska twins also hired another set of twins for this film.

Kevin drives but is doing drugs while the girls watch a livestream video of the festival where people are snorting metro dust. They nearly hit someone in the road, a zombie, it turns out, and they crash the car, and Linsey breaks her leg. 

Back at home Iris's friend Blaze comes over to get high and they decide to go the festival and use Balze's delivery truck to sneak in. 

Ash, Kevin, and Ty go to the festival to find help, but soon, it becomes obvious that there are more zombies. Some scenes are obviously inspired by the Romero movie, and even a couple that I swear was inspired by Stranger Things.

Iris, Blaze, and Luke find Destini walking on the road, and it is revealed that the zombie got Lindsey and bit her as well.

Zombies run rampant throughout the festival. Iris manages to find and rescue Ash. They all regroup in the medical building. 

Luke starts panicking and we find out he has lost his insulin, prompting Ash to go out to find some in an ambulance they saw on the way in. Iris joins her. 

Ty freaks out wants to kill Luke. Zombie Destiny attacks Kevin and Ty shoots him instead of her. Ty runs off and finds the glowing meteor. Zombies seem to avoid. Blaze grabs Luke and heads out. They are covered in zombie blood, so the zombies ignore them. 

More zombie craziness. Ash distracts the zombies so Luke, Blaze and an infected Ty can get to a and including Iris, leading all the zombies to the large burning man-like structure. Well. Buring Woman really. Ash saves Iris. 

Daylight comes and Luke, Ty, and Blaze manage to find the car, and zombie Lindsey.  She attacks Blaze and Ty runs off with Luke.  Ty drives off, but Luke grabs the gun and shoots Ty.  Lindsey bites Blaze, so he distracts the zombies so Ash and Iris can run away.

The army flies drones in to blow everything up. 

Ash, Iris, and Luke drive home. 

Okay, this was a fun flick. I wanted to see it because of Camren Bicondova, but Ashley Moore's standout performance was worthy of being Ben's granddaughter.  

Featured Monster: Zombies

Zombies in the Monster Manual are not as scary as the ones here. However, they are more akin to those in Night of the Living Dead, moving slowly.

The "living dead" of both movies and the ones in most movies are typically the "hungry dead" and more akin to ghouls. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 36
First Time Views: 16

October Horror Movie Challenge: Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966)

 I hate it when I queue up a movie to watch, only to discover I had already seen it. I mean, I should have guessed, really. Mario Bava directed and starring Erika Blanc. It just didn't show up in my search here. But yeah, I have seen this one.

Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966)

Also known as Operazione paura (Operation Fear) and Curse of the Living Dead. Dr. Paul Eswai (Dr. Paul Eswai) is summoned to a 1900s village in the Carpathian mountains to perform an autopsy on a girl suspected to have been murdered. He gets help from local nurse Monica Schuftan (played by the always wonderful Erika Blanc). He soon runs into a village full of superstitious locals who all fear the Baroness Graps and a strange ghost girl named Melissa (we later learn is Melissa Graps).

There is also a village witch, Ruth (Fabienne Dali) and her lover the local Burgomeister Karl (Luciano Catenacci), who tries to protect those targeted by Melissa. 

We learn that Melissa died while trying to get help and has since cursed the village with her dying words.

The sightings and the fear continue and people die all over the place. Monica wants to get out, but Paul is still convinced there is a logical reason for everything.

We learn that Monica is also Baroness Graps' daughter and Melissa's younger sister. Ruth confronts the Baroness Graps and kills her for allowing Melissa to kill her beloved Karl. Monica, the new Baroness Graps, leaves with Paul.

Well. I was hoping for a new one, but not tonight. But seeing Erika Blanc is always a treat. It was also nice seeing the village witch as someone everyone went too for help.

Featured Monster: Ghosts, Spectres

One of those. Melissa is a vengeful spirit. She will keep killing until the conditions of her undeath are met.  In this case the death of the medium, her mother, who summoned her back from the grave.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 34
First Time Views: 15

October Horror Movie Challenge: Gill-man/Gill-woman Night

 A classic and an unofficial sequel tonight. Been a bit since I have seen either, but longer for the first.

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

This is another classic I watched with my dad. The Gill man is one of the very few Universal Monsters that was not directly tied to old world myths or classic novels. As such, as far as I can tell, he is one of the few monsters where Universal holds all the copyrights. Now, that being said, the copyrights are on "Gill-man" and "The Creature from the Black Lagoon." There have been other amphibious monsters to appear in movies, and I am covering one later tonight.

The plot is, well, the same a King Kong really. Scientists go to a remote area, this time the Amazon, find a creature, try to take it back. It falls in love with a beautiful woman, they have to kill it.

There are some good scenes in this one and I am a little surprised by how much of it I remember once watching it again. Not scary by today's standards, but still effective. It has a charm. Also the rubber suit doesn't get better looking with age, but I can ignore that.

The Shape of Water (2017)

Guillermo del Toro's love letter to the Creature from the Black Lagoon is an unofficial sequel. It picks up the events nearly 10 years later where the creautre (or one like it) is being held in a US facility in Canada. Mute cleaner Elisa Esposito (played by the amazing Sally Hawkins) discovers the creature and they fall in love. There were other standout performances by Michael Shannon and Octavia Spencer, as expected. They are both fantastic. Special shoutout to Doug Jones (Saru in Star Trek Discovery) playing the Creature.

Yeah, not your typical horror flick.

It was fun, though, watching them back to back. You do feel like these movies were made for each other.  I would love to see Guillermo del Toro do a remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon, with Doug Jones back as the Creature. 

When the Screaming Stops (1973)

While reading up on these movies I also came across this one, also called "The Loreley's Grasp." In this during a full moon a woman (played by Helga Liné, in one of her many horror roles) "reverts" back to an earlier form, a reptilian river monster that looks related to our Gill-men here. 

The implication is that all of our Gill-men are somehow related to humans.

This one is a German flick playing on the myth of the Lorelei. A Nymph of the River Rhine. There is a nearby boarding school for girls, so naturally, they are the prime target of our monster. 

It's not a great flick, but it is a new one to me.

Featured Monster: Locathah and Sahuagin

There are no lack of sea-people monsters in D&D. The trick is finding the ones with Gill-man DNA and the ones with Deep Ones DNA.

Since I am watching Gill-Man movies, I think the Locathah and Sahuagin fit best, and the Kuo-toa are more "Deep Ones."  Though the implications of The Shape of Water show that there might be only one species here and they are linked back to humans.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 33
First Time Views: 15

October Horror Movie Challenge: King Kong (1976)

 King Kong, the original from 1933, holds a very special place in my heart. I watched it with my dad when I was very young and it was the start of a love affair with "monster movies" that lives on to this day. I have seen it honestly hundreds of times. Anytime it was on and my dad and I were near a TV we would watch it. 1976's remake, the first also holds a special place for me, but not for all the same reasons. It was, even in my young mind then, supposed to be "my" King Kong, the one I was watch and think back on when I was older. Did it do that? Well...not really. I am watching it tonight for the first time in many years, decades even.

King Kong (1976)

This first remake features many stars who were not quite big, well, at least not yet: Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, René Auberjonois, Jack O'Halloran, Ed Lauter, and a newcomer, Jessica Lange. This remake takes an environmental angle with an expedition by an oil company, Petrox; they suspect there is an island in the middle of an uncharted sea, and that island is filled with oil.

The rest. Well, it pretty much follows the original movie and movies after that. 

There are a few unique things about this movie. First, WOW, Jessica Lange was really young here. Her acting is not great, but it is much better than I remembered.  Though they do spend a lot of time on her in the early part of the film. Granted, she is the only woman in the film. 

Seeing the Twin Towers again in a movie is really odd. 

The film was produced by the legendary Dino De Laurentiis for Paramount, which got them into some issues with the original Kong studio Universal. 

Rick Baker, the special effects genius of the 1980s, had an uncredited role in the Kong suit. 

Rewatching the movie now, so many years later, I judged this one unfairly. Jessica Lange, too. In some ways, it is better than the 2005 Peter Jackson remake.

It has been so long that I forgot a lot of details. Lets be honest, though, there are three remakes, I have seen this one a lot.

Featured Monster: Giant Creatures, Dinosaurs

There is no doubt that the original King Kong had a huge effect on the monsters found in D&D. Module X1 The Isle of Dread, is practically Dave Cook and Tom Moldvay's love letter to King Kong.

The notion of a lost island filled with monsters is such a compelling one that D&D did it again with WG6 Isle of the Ape. It might be well-trodded ground, but it still works.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 23
First Time Views: 12

Monstrous Mondays: The Ravenloft Monstrous Compendiums

 I have been covering the AD&D 2nd Ed version of Ravenloft all this month. I have also been covering the the Forgotten Realms and currently in the AD&D 2nd Edition era. One thing they both have in common is that a few of the books feature new monsters in AD&D 2nd Monstrous Compendium format.

I reviewed the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendiums sometime back. Since I have been reviewing the various books I have been printing out the Monstrous Compendium pages and adding them to my three-ring binder for Ravenloft.

As I run across a monster page for these reviews OR from Dragon magazine in my This Old Dragon feature, I print them out (or cut them out as the case may merit) and add them to my binder.

It has taken 30+ years but I feel that the Monstrous Compendium concept is finally living up to its potential for me.

I have been doing the same thing with my Forgotten Realms monsters as I talked about a while back.

Again, I might start mining my other MCs to see what would fit here. I already have one filled with demons and devils, so I wont add those, but I am considering taking the Death Knight from Krynn and putting in this one.

The truth is I am not likely to play AD&D 2nd ed Ravenloft again. BUT my son is running his 5e group through Castle Amber using AD&D 1st ed. So it is possible I could run an AD&D 2nd Ed game again one day. I have mentioned that I am running an AD&D 2nd Ed Forgotten Realms game with my oldest, though we have not played in a while. So I guess never say never.

Despite my concerns with Ravenloft under AD&D 2nd ed, it was my game for the 90s. 

In any case I feel like an archivist in some dusty library, collecting tomes for my own pleasures. 

This is another entry for my RPG Blog Carnival for October!

October Horror Movie Challenge: Equinox (1970)

 I was supposed to watch this one last night for a night of devils, but honestly I am run down with a cold and couldn't stay awake. 

Equinox (1970)

This one starts with David Fielding (Edward Connell) running away from something. He is then hit by a car with no driver. A year later he is still in a psychiatric ward. In flashback David tells us about his trip to visit his old professor along with his friends Jim (Frank Bonner, Herb from WKRP), Susan and Vicki. 

The movie is essentially the same plot as "Evil Dead." Group of young people go into the woods, encounters an evil tome, and all hell breaks loose. Literally.  Soon they encounter a park ranger named Asmodeus, as in THE Asmodeus.

The find Dr. Waterman's cabin in the woods, but it is destroyed. Then of all things they find a medieval castle in the distance. 

Much like "The Sentinel," this film deals with a gateway to Hell.  This time, the portal is opened when Dr. Watermann's book is read, and the demons are summoned. So yeah, like Evil Dead done by Ray Harryhausen instead of Sam Rami. 

The plot is thin, and the special effects look more like those of the 1960s than those of the 1970s (no surprise), but they are pretty much on par with what I'd expect for early 1970s pre-Exorcist.

Featured Monster: Devil

This one is obviously a devil in both form and deed and quite possibly even a good Asmodeus. This film was very popular in the midnight Drive-Inn circuit, so it is possible this flick was a possible influence on the Monster Manual, but it is more likely that both Gygax and the film's writers were drawing on the same sources popular at the time. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 13
First Time Views: 6

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Sentinel (1977)

 This movie very likely did not influence anything in the AD&D Monster Manual, but it certainly has the right vibe of the movies I would have been watching at the time and altering the printed monsters to fit my needs. Plus, this one has a solid cast. More to the point, I can't believe I have never seen this one despite my desire to watch it back then. 

The Sentinel (1977)

Alison Parker (Cristina Raines, who was a model in real life) is a model in love with her lawyer boyfriend, Michael Lerman (Chris Sarandon). He wants to get married, but she wants to live on her own for a bit. She finds a new apartment and moves in. She meets her neighbors, Charles Chazen (Burgess Meredith), Gerde (Sylvia Miles) and Sandra (Beverly D'Angelo who barely speaks in this), and encounters the blind priest Father Francis Matthew Halliran (John Carradine).  Alison has serious migraines and a history of suicide attempts, once after she caught her father in bed with two other women. 

The movie is slow to start, building up by showing us the collection of odd inhabitants living in the building. Alison has all sorts of weird visions and nightmares. We also learn from the landlady that aside from the Priest and Alison, no one else actually lives in the building. When the landlady takes her to each apartment, she learns that none of them has been lived in for years.  We later learn that all of the people in the apartment are, or were, all murderers who were killed years ago. 

We learn that Michael's previous wife killed herself. We also learn that Michael hired private detective Brenner to kill his first wife and now scare Alison, only he ends up dead in the exact same way Alison hallucinates that she killed her dead father. The film has a real "Gaslighting" feel to it, both the movie and the term, with actual supernatural overtones. 

Michael breaks into the priest's office and learns about all these priests and nuns who, in life, attempted suicide and then were given a new name. There is a list going back hundreds of years and Alison's name is next on the list, to become Sister Theresa. These names are all Sentinels, the guardians of Gates of Hell tasked by the Archangel Uriel. The only time a Sentinel can be stopped is if they kill themselves before taking over their post. So Micheal (now dead), Charles and the other lost soulstry to drive Alison to suicide. 

Father Halliran shows up at the end to help Alison and gives us a great demonstration of cleric turning.

The building is demolished and new one is put up. In Apartment 5a we see a now blind and older Alison, now Sister Theresa, standing her vigil. 

Additionally, this movie features Christopher Walken, Jeff Goldblum, Jerry Orbach, with Tom Berenger, and a young Nana Visitor as the couple at the end.

David Caradine is barely in this, but he still shows us why he was one of the big names in horror. 

The 1970s were a great time for demonic and satanic themed horror and this one is still good example. Not the best example, but a very good one all the same. 

Featured Monster: Devil

While there are no overt devils per se in this film, I would argue that Burgess Meredith's Charles Chazen was not so much a damned soul as a devil. Not an Archduke, but certainly a higher-ranking one. I ran his name through an anagram program and created Charnazel Sech or Sharcazel Chen as possible diabolic names. 

Game Content: Sentinel

A Sentinel is a Theosophist (in NIGHT SHIFT) that has somehow lost their way. Their holy task is to keep demons and devils from escaping hell. They no longer advance as a Theosophist and now advance as either a Survivor or as a Veteran. Their task, much like the Paladins of old, is to guard one of the many gates of hell.  They position themselves near the gate to fight the demons, devils, and other lost and evil souls who might escape. 

A Sentinel works best as an NPC or PC, if they don't mind not traveling too far from the Gate of Hell they are supposed to guard.

Does this sound like Buffy the Vampire Slayer? Yeah, it does, but this movie predates that movie by 15 years, and the book even more than that (1974).  It is also similar to the idea of the Wynonna Earp. 

This shows that there are not any new ideas. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
Viewed: 12
First Time Views: 5

October Horror Movie Challenge: Night of the Demon (1957)

Another crossover of movies from The Classics of the Horror Film and the Monster Manual. Again, I have no proof other than supposition, but I am sure this movie had some influence on the demons of the Monster Manual. 

Night of the Demon (1957)

There is something quintessentially British about this one. Black magic, witchcraft, even a meddling American.

Despite being almost 70 years old this movie is still rather effective. The special effects, ie the demon, are a bit dated, but still looked good and great for the time. Heck, they are not really terrible for now.

It mixes up a lot of demonology and witchcraft myths, but that is also fine really. 

We get demon summoning, spells, storm-raising, a seance, and even an Indian spirit guide. A little bit of everything here.

It would have been interesting if they had embraced some of the new ideas from Gerald Gardner and the growing Wicca movement, but that connection would not be featured in movies until the 1970s.

Oh. The plot. The scientific community denounces witchcraft and black magic, so a pissed off occultist demonstrates his power by summoning a giant demon to kill key members. I suppose if it were redone today there would have been more deaths, but it still works.

Featured Monster: Demon

Again, while I can't say for certain this movie had any effect what so ever on the demons (and devils) in the Monster Manual, they are drawing from all the same sources.  The demon here looks a bit like the Nalfeshnee or Type IV demon. The demon in this movie is much larger than I expected, making close to the same size as the Nalfeshnee.  

When I was reading The Classics of the Horror Film, I saw this picture and thought it would make a great "Cat Demon." It was the ears and the nose. There was a cat demon in this movie, but it looked like a regular cat.

The movie is also a good example of a wizard in his castle with his magic books and our virtuous rogue (or, in this case, psychologist) investigating. 

Night of the Nalfeshnee

The more I think about it, the more and more I think that this movie demon was the inspiration for the Nalfeshnee's look.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024
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First Time Views: 3

October Horror Movie Challenge: Mummy Marathon

Pretty much any Hammer Horror movie has a Universal Horror predecessor.  Dracula, Frankenstein, Werewolves, and of course, the Mummy.  And all of these movies have led us to the mummy as we encounter them in fantasy RPGs.

I lined a bunch of these up so I figure tonight is as good of a night as any!

The Mummy (1932)

I have often said that I knew the names Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, and Lon Chaney long before I knew who the president was (Ford at the time). This movie is one of those reasons. 

Boris Karloff gave us some fantastic performances during the era of the Universal Monsters, but few were as good as his turn as Ardath Bey / Imhotep the Mummy. So good that this movie was the blueprint for every Mummy movie to follow.

It falls under the horror sub-trope of "The Immortal Beloved." Something they are always trying to shoehorn Dracula into (see "Bram Stoker's Dracula" as a prime example) but actually works best here. In this case Imhotep finds the reincarnated Ankh-es-en-Amon and tries to make her into his immortal bride. It's a formula that is repeated in the 1959 version and the 1999 versions. 

The Mummy (1959)

Not to be outdone, Hammer did their own version. Like the Universal 1932 version, this one also has a former Van Helsing in the cast. Edward van Sloan in 1932 and  Peter Cushing for the 1959 version.

This one follows the Universal one in general plot, it is actually much closer to the Universal The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, and The Mummy's Ghost.  The notion of the resurrected love is still there. 

In this movie the Mummy, aka Kharis, played by Christopher Lee is in love with Princess Ananka. Lee is always great, and his Dracula is still one of horror's best, but he is under-utilized here as a mummy.

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)

Here is good drinking game. Every time someone tells Annette Dubois (Jeanne Roland) to "stay put" or keep her from seeing something take a drink. You'll be dead by the end of the movie. 

The plot here is familiar. British Egyptologists dig up a mummy against the protests of the locals. There is a curse, and the mummy walks again. 

While my love for Hammer is never-ending, this one is rather predictable, to be honest.

Featured Monster: Mummy

The mummy of the Monster Manual is beyond a doubt influenced by these movies. Granted, the pulpy fantasy the creators of D&D were fond of and had plenty of tombs and dungeons to rob, so a mummy seems like a no-brainer.

Couple this with the Ravenloft: Masque of the Red Death which actually has Imhotep as a mummy, then the influences are are even more apparent.

Are You my Mummy?

There are a few items in these movies that resemble the AD&D Lich phylactery. The Scroll of Thoth/Life, the amulet of life. These are central to these movies, but not so much the AD&D monster mummy. They are central to the Lich though. 

I had considered doing the 1999 Brendan Fraser Mummy, but I am getting tired. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2024

Viewed: 9

First Time Views: 3