October Challenge: Teeth

There are plenty of horrors out there in the land of myth of legend. Some are more popular than others. The Vampire and werewolf obviously take the lion's share of stories, there are others.  Some of these are so unique that when a movie about them comes along I have to check them out.

Teeth (2007)

Teeth is fun little movie.  The premise is simple really.  Dawn is a high school student and a bit naive.  She is a member of a teen abstinence group and is generally afraid of sex.  This is a good thing really since Dawn has an odd "adaptation".  Maybe it has something to do with living near a nuclear power plant her whole life. Dawn has a problem.  She has an extra set of teeth in her vagina. This turns out to be very useful when she is sexually assaulted by a fellow student from her group.
Dawn tries to find out what is wrong with her.  She  goes to see a gynecologist to discover what is wrong.  When he gets a bit improper with her she reacts by biting off four of his fingers.
Distraught, she heads home only to find her mother collapsed on the floor while her brother ignores her cries.
Dawn discovers that the police are looking for the first boy she was with and she decides to turn herself in.
She ends up at another guy's place who liked her.
Distraught and newly loaded with sleeping pills she ends up having sex.  Everything seems to be going fine, she even has sex again, till she discovers that she was part of a bet.  One quick chomp and she leaves.
Her mother died the night before so Dawn returns home to take her revenge on her step-brother.  She goes to his room to have sex with him, something he has wanted for a long time, and she puts the bite on him.
She tosses out the left overs and his dog promptly eats it.
Dawn, hitchhiking is picked up by an old man that tries to make advances at her.  She refuses at first and then gets a grin on her face and turns to the old perv.

The interesting thing about this flick is that is does take an old myth, one not many people may be familiar with, and turns it into a "monster" movie.  Dawn is a sympathetic monster to be sure, but she kills at least one guy and maims three, potentially four, others.  Still though it is hard to blame her for what she does.

Some images from movies are iconic.  Bela Lugosi descending those stairs, Count Orlock standing in the doorway for some of the older ones, Freddie with his razor blade gloves.
The iconic image here though is not what you think it might be.  It is Dawn's home, an idyllic single story ranch with the nuclear power plant cooling towers in the background.

If you get a chance, please check it out.  It is a fun one.

Tally: 17 movies, 15 new.

Game Uses
Well, I can think of dozens really.  But are they good for a game??
For an adult game (or more to the point an older adolescent game) this could be a good "fix" to that One Guy that always is looking to score with whatever female humanoid he sees.
I am tempted though to say this is the way the various Hag races are.  Like Dawn they can control it so the can get what they want (offspring) and then when done they bite off the male's penis (great way to do a lot of HP in damage).
Defiantly hags and not say Succubi since the Hag is supposed to be a perversion of the female ideal.

Kickstarter Conspiracy X

Eden studios, producers of such fine games as Ghosts of Albion and WitchCraft is launching a kickstarter to get their book printed.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1801360072/conspiracy-x-rpg-the-extraterrestrials-sourcebook

The Extraterrestrials Sourcebook is the agnet's guide to the ETs of the ConX world: The Greys, the Atlanteans and the Saurians.
Written by Dave Chapman who gave us Conspiracy X 2.0 AND the Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space RPG.  So you know he knows his stuff.

If you want to check out the PDF version then that has been up for a while.
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=62417&affiliate_id=10748&

But the print version will help get other products funded.

Check it out. Pledge some cash and get a book.  Books are good.

October Challenge: Let The Right One In (2008)

The other day I reviewed "Let Me In", today I want to talk about the "original" movie version, based on the book.  And let me say this.  Movies like this give me hope for the vampire movie.

Let The Right One In (2008)

A lot about what I said for Let Me In holds true for this movie. Oskar seems less bullied than Owen was and there is certainly something more "off" about Eli than Abby (this is made clearer in the book).
I felt the gore was less and there were next to no "vampire" effects.  But the story is still fantastic and I think more that any other vampire movie in years (maybe even decades) the really shows the horror of these creatures and the loneliness.

Oddly enough this movie is "brighter" in terms of cinematography.  The 2010 Hammer version was very dark in terms of lighting.  I think that is part of the reason why, despite nearly an identical script, that Owen comes off as more fragile than Oskar.  Owen and Oskar are both "damaged goods" but Owen is more victim here, Oskar seems more like a killer in training.

The performances are fantastic though.  It would be unfair of me to compare the actors to each other.  I don't understand Swedish to be able to truly compare them.

I have to admit while watching this I kept thinking back to two other Scandinavian imports I have seen recently, Trollhunter and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Girl in particular since it is also due for a big American remake.

In the end both movies are great and like my friend Jason Vey says they are everything Twilight is not.  Abby/Eli does not sparkle.  Nor though is she a rabid killer.  She kills because she has too, because she has forgotten everything else.

Tally: 16 movies, 14 new.

Game stats.  Since I did Abby for Ghosts of Albion, I thought maybe Eli would work well in Witch Girls Adventures.

Witch Girls Adventures

Eli, Vampire
Rank: 3

Body: d6 Mind: d6 Senses: d6
Will: d6 Social: d6 Magic: d8

Life Points: 14 Reflex: 9
Resist Magic: 11 Zap Points: 16

Skills: Athletics +4, Basics +1, Fighting +3, Games (Puzzles) +5, Hear +2, Hiding +2, Look +1, Mundane Etiquette +3, Mysticism +1, Mythology +2, Scare +1, Streetwise +3, Urchin +4

Abilities: Devious, Tough
Heritage: Vampire
Common Vampire Abilities

October Challenge: House on Haunted Hill

Been on a Haunted House kick lately.  So I figured I'd watch this one as well.  I had seen it years ago and I was always confusing this one with other movies.  This one is the unique one of the bunch since all the "ghosts" were fake in the movie.

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

What do you need to know about this film?  Well it is wonderfully campy.  It almost plays as a parody of haunted house movies.  Vincent Price is campy, creepy and suave all at the same time.  There are lines of dialogue that frankly I just can't  anyone else pulling off.  He managed to be scary and funny in the same breath.
The elements here are familiar,  people come to a haunted house to stay, if they survive they get money.  Only this time it is a "game of murder" and that game is Price's character vs his 5th wife.  They are trying to off each other and hopefully use the guests as patsies/witnesses/alabi's.

The plot doesn't really work so well, but it is grand fun in almost a Scooby Doo way.  I half expected Velma to come out and demonstrate how the walking skeleton worked with Scooby dancing with it.

Of course I have seen this one before, but given the fun with Hell House and the Haunting, I could not resist it.

Tally: 15 movies, 12 new.

Zatannurday: Zatanna as an RPG Character

Magic using characters are interesting, but in comics their powers tend to be all over the place.   Zee is no different, but at least she is not as bad as Scarlet Witch.

I have been thinking about magic using characters a lot of late.  Partially as I wrap up my new Witch books and as I look forward to maybe working on my own system/modern system.

So here are some of the links I have been using of late to help research her character for various games I might want to add her to.

Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatanna
Comic Vine, http://www.comicvine.com/zatanna/29-5691/
DC Wikia, http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Zatanna_Zatara_(New_Earth). This has a good list of her powers
DCAU Wikia, http://dcanimated.wikia.com/wiki/Zatanna
Smallville Wikia, http://smallville.wikia.com/wiki/Zatanna_Zatara. I'll need to talk about Smallville soon.
Her IMDB page, http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0035273/

Interestingly enough, while in some comics Zee is seen to need to use her voice to cast spells (or be rendered helpless if she can't talk) sometimes, like the above screen shot, she can do magic without needing to vocalize at all. Or, as in the past Paul Dini run, she can write the word backwards.

The DC Adventures game has all her spells as "vocal" ones. But even recent comics has shown her writing a spell backwards to get the desired effect.

I'll spend some time looking over her RPG stats for DC Adventures and Mayfair's old DC Heroes.

TBBYANR: Thoughtcrime Inc.

Once again it is time for another entry of The Best Blog You Are Not Reading.
Which really is an excuse for me to tell you about blogs that I like that off the beaten path of what you normally see around here.

This time around I want to draw your attention to Thoughtcrime Inc.
Run by artist David Reynolds of Shadowgirls fame it features his art and thoughts on cartoons, animation and comics.

If you are a regular reader here then you have seen David's work.

and this

D.Rey has been talking a lot about the DC 52 and some of the issues going on there.
Plus he has an undying love for the Batgirls and that is ok in my book.

He has been talking about a faux comic/fan comic "Batgirls: Hope Prevails" which has all the Batgirls in it.

• http://thoughtcrimeinc.blogspot.com/2011/08/batgirls-aka-if-i-had-my-way.html
• http://thoughtcrimeinc.blogspot.com/2011/09/batgirls-hope-prevails-character-cards.html

As well as a favorite of mine, Power Girl,

• http://thoughtcrimeinc.blogspot.com/2011/10/last-daughter-of.html

I like his purely Atlantean take on her.  Or Lemurian.  Which also has lead to the creation of his own character: 

• http://thoughtcrimeinc.blogspot.com/2011/09/intrepid-verisimilitude.html
• http://thoughtcrimeinc.blogspot.com/2011/08/lemurs.html  (names are Marcia and Shampoo according to DA)

I like her, and the lemur is a nice touch.

He also has a Deviant Art page. http://machsabre.deviantart.com/ and his Journal there talked about a lot of the same things he talks about on his blog.

If you like comics, comic art and thoughts on cartoons, then Thoughcrime Inc. is a great place to start.

October Challenge: Let Me In (2010)

The modern vampire movie has very little that can surprise me.  Then we get this little treat. Based on the Swedish book and movie, Let the Right One In, this marked the return of Hammer to the American screens.

Let Me In (2010)

Let Me In is the fantastic Swedish vampire movie starring Chloë Moretz (Hitgirl from "Kick-ass") as the vampire girl Abby.  She is only 12, but she has been 12 a very long time. Abby befriends Owen, a scarred boy that is getting picked on a lot a school.
The relationship builds slowly between the two main characters and it seems obvious that these two broken and lost children need each other.  That is to me the most interesting part of this film.  I can get gore and vampire angst from 10,000 movies, this one is different.  It is better.

There are some traditional vampire elements here.  Abby can't come in unless invited (hence the name), she has   a vampiric form, and is burned by sunlight.
Owen discovers Abby is a vampire and in his own child like innocence he accepts her for what she is.

I feel this film is never going to get it's due.  It is a good film, but a touch slow for American audiences. While it gets rave reviews, I don't think many people have seen it to be honest.

Also Chloë Moretz is fantastic.  She is a great actress now and will only get better as she improves her craft.  I am looking forward to seeing her in the new Dark Shadows.

Tally: 14 movies, 12 new.

Game Material: This is really a good one to use.  The movie took place in 1983 with a 12 year old Owen and Abby.  Now it is 2011 and 40 year old Owen moves in with his 12 year old daughter Abby and strange deaths begin.   Of course Abby is last person your players would suspect, right?



Abby
Life Points 44
Drama Points 15

Attributes
Strength 3
Dexterity 3
Constitution 4
Intelligence 3
Perception 5
Willpower 4

Qualities
Attractiveness +1
Hard to Kill 2
Fast Reaction Time
Situational Awareness
Vampire (Ghosts of Albion type)

Drawbacks 
Dependent (co-dependent Owen)
Love (Owen)
Teenager (from Buffy/Angel)

Useful Information
Actions 1
Perception 1d10 + 8

Skills 
Acrobatics 3
Art 1
Crime 1
Doctor 1
Driving 0
Getting Medieval 2
Influence 2
Knowledge 3
Kung Fu 2
Languages 1 (English)
Notice 3
Occultism 3
Science 1
Sports 1
Wild Card, Puzzles 3