October Horror Movie Challenge: Humanoids From the Deep (1980)

This would have done well with all my Dagon / Deep Ones movies last week. It certainly fits in with the whole humans becoming sea monsters theme.  I am a little surprised I had never seen it to be honest. It's a fairly notorious Corman flick, know more for him adding more gore and nudity after director Barbara Peeters was done with it.

Humanoids From the Deep (1980)

A small fishing village is dealing with the scarcity of fish and the prospect of a new canning factory moving into town.  While fishing a couple of fishermen catch what appears to be some sort of monster.  His sun falls into the ocean and something kills him.  The boat then explodes. Yes there is a reason, but this is Corman we are talking about. 

Later something is going through the village killing and mutilating all the dogs.  Oh, and there is not so casual and fairly overt racism to the village's Native American character.  Also, why is Dr. Susan Drake referred to as a "great little scientist" especially since actress Ann Turkel stands at 6'0" easily towering over everyone here?  We are a third of the way through the movie and we have had more racism and sexism than we have had of monsters.  Or when Doug McClure's Jim Hill is asking for men to help him and Ann Turkel volunteers? "No, I don't need you." Well, it was the 1980s, but even this one seems a little more than the usual stuff.  

Speaking of explosions. Why does one Molotov cocktail blow up an entire cabin?  Oh and cars. When they hit the sea. 

We learn that Dr. Drake has known about these creatures for a bit.  They are caused by the growth hormones that Canco (did they spend all day coming up with that name?) has been injecting into salmon.  These salmon then infected other fish till they "evolved" to humanoids.  They are driven to kill the men and mate with the women.  Totally makes sense.

There is the local Salmon fest going on that night and as expected the sea monsters attack, killing and raping their way through town.  The gore scenes are fun, some special effects people must have had a blast doing this one.  Kudos to Sally, Miss Salmon, for the wherewithal to bash a rapey fishman in the head with a rock.

In the end the monsters are dead (we think) and Peggy who had been raped before gives birth, well..., a monster cuts its way out of her.

So it dawned on me that there is a whole sub-genre of Fishmen movies that I have never really explored. I mean I have had no reason, but I kinda wish I had before running Isle of Dread to the Shrine of Kuo-Toa. Maybe I should check more of them out. I mean I have not seen any so far that I am like "yeah, that's my new jam" but maybe someone, somewhere did one right.

I could not find the 1996 remake anywhere to watch.

October 2021
Viewed: 26
First Time Views: 13

October Horror Movie Challenge: Mars Night

What is it about Mars that both fascinates us and horrifies us at the same time?  Even long before H.G. Welles and "War of the Worlds" Mars has had a hold on our collective consciousness.  

Doctor Who has visited horror on Mars many times, most recently with "The Waters of Mars" (2009) and "Empress of Mars" (2017).  Notably, one of the few times we see the Doctor truly afraid is when he learns he is facing the Martian Grand Marshal Skaldak in "Cold War" (2013).  

Even the optimistic Star Trek is not immune, with one of the greatest terrorist acts committed against the Federation happening on Mars' Utopia Planitia. 

Mars has gotten to us. 

So it is not a big surprise that there are still today sci-fi horror movies featuring Mars.

The Angry Red Planet (1959)

One would assume I would start with War of the Worlds. At least the classic or maybe even one of the remakes.  But I want movies ON Mars and for better or worse, this is a classic. I have seen it before, but it is a good one to start the night and it is on every streaming service I have.  This one takes place sometime after the first moon landing. No date is given but you can assume it is the 1970s as seen through the eyes of the 1950s (Time Delta, 11 or so years).

Again, while I typically avoid movies from the 1950s, there are exceptions.  A couple of things make this one stand out.  The giant wolf-bat-spider creature being one and the "CineMagic" effect used when they were on the surface of Mars was another. The CineMagic could look cheap by our standards of today, but I actually thought it had some charm to it. 

The acting isn't bad, though it suffers from all the casual sexism of the time, though to it's credit it has Naura Hayden as biologist Dr. Iris "Irish" Ryan. She isn't so much there as eye-candy (plot wise) and has a role.  It is also noted that only Americans seem to bring guns into space. It does avoid the trope of one of the scientists being secretly evil or wanting to establish his own empire on Mars. 

The film is a bit silly for our times, but there were what appeared to be some good (for the time) scares.  The CineMagic effect really covers up a lot of special effects shortcomings. 

I am sure I have seen this one before, but there are a lot of parts I don't remember.  I am only giving myself ½ a credit for this one.

Star Crystal (1986)

I actually started this one first. Stopped it because it was just not  good and came back to it tonight. While there is 30 years between this one and Angry Red Planet, it sure has improved much in attitudes.  This one takes place in the year 2030 to 2033 (Time Delta 44 to 41 years).

Let's be entirely upfront about this.  This one is bad.  I spaced (heh) out a lot writing other things.  Here is the gist.  Two dufuses bring back some rocks from Mars expecting some of them will give them a good payday.  One of the rocks cracks open and something slimy comes out.  Fast forward to NASA on Earth in the later 2030s where everyone is smoking like it's...well 1986. The first crew is dead so they send another crew after them.  

After some not-scares and other nonsense we learn the alien, named Gar, used the computer to learn about humanity including reading a Bible, and has decided to depart in peace.  What the actual fuck? Anyway, that's the movie.  There is more like the shitty effects, the toy Millennium Falcon used for close-up shots of the starbase and the misspellings on the computer screen.  An aside, here in the real 2021 I am using more computer power than they displayed in their fake 2033 just write these words. I also have the benefit of a spell check.

Anyway, I am embarrassed I watched this movie. 

By the way, this site Explore Mars wants us on Mars in the 2030s. I don't think they saw this movie.

John Carpenter's Ghosts Of Mars (2001)

2001 should have been a bigger year for sci-fi movies.  Just saying. This one takes place in 2176. The Time Delta on this is 175 years now.  As we move further and further away from the Apollo missions our optimism about colonizing nearby space is waning.  Or maybe we just have a better understanding of how bad the void of space really is. 

I also admit this is the one I was looking forward to.  I mean John Carpenter right?

Well...

The pluses. The film stars Natasha Henstridge, Ice Cube, Jason Statham, Pam Grier, Clea DuVall, Robert Carradine, and Joanna Cassidy. All of whom have delivered good performances in the past.  The key with any movie with Ice Cube and Jason Statham in it is you never take their characters seriously. Jason Statham has more or less likened all his characters to cartoon characters.  

The soundtrack is great, if for no reason other than the inclusion of Stevie Vai whom I have been a fan of since his days with Frank Zappa. 

Some interesting bits.  Mars' government appears to be a Matronage or rule by women.  The Mars here reminds me of Total Recall or Doom before the Demons arrive.

The story revolves around a group of police officers attempting to do a prisoner transfer of James 'Desolation' Williams, played by Ice Cube.  They get to the boomtown to find him but instead, they find everyone dead and Williams still locked up.  They find a couple of people still alive but possessed.

Turns out the ghosts of dead Martians are possessing people thinking the humans had killed all the Martians.  They decide to blow up the nuclear reactor thinking they can nuke all the spirits.  Sure. Why not.  

The ghosts just repossess other humans and attack the city.

The Martian possessed humans reminded me a lot of the Futurekind from the Doctor Who episode Utopia.  In fact, the scenes of Mars at night also remind me of the planet Malcassairo at the end of the Universe. 

October 2021
Viewed: 25
First Time Views: 12

Science Fiction and Horror

This week I am working my way through a bunch of Sci-Fi/Horror movies.  I thought then that today would be a good day to see how I use both genres together.

Science Fiction and Horror have had a long-standing relationship.  Where horror stories are some of the first stories ever told, Science Fiction, or Science Romances, are newer.  

For me, and many others, the Modern Age of Science Fiction began with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's "Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus" in 1818.  While considered by many to be a Gothic Horror novel, it only has the trappings of a true Gothic Horror. The work is pure science fiction of a brilliant man, the titular Dr. Frankenstein, and his attempts using science to reanimate dead tissue resulting in the creation of his monster, who is NOT named Frankenstein. 

Like all good science fiction, it is far looking and attempts to tell us something about our society or morals.   Which is why when people ask "When did Sci-Fi become so woke?" I say "In 1818 when it was invented by a Regency-age, teenage feminist."  This was 10 years before Jules Verne, the so-called Father of Science Fiction was born and almost 50 years before H.G. Wells was born.

It would be disingenuous to ignore the horror elements of Frankenstein in favor of its Sci-Fi elements.  They go hand in hand.  The story was conceived from a nightmare, the same night that John Polidori gave us "The Vampyre."  

Almost a century later we would get another popular horror/Sci-Fi mix in H.G. Wells War of the Worlds. This give us the popular and potent combination of Sci-Fi, Horror, and Mars. 

Sci-Fi tends to organized into two large camps; the hopeful and the dystopian.  YES there is more, I am not talking about ALL of sci-fi right now.  But you make some clear demarcations alonge the line of Hope.

Star Trek for example tends to be on the side of hope.  Hope for what the future can bring and be.  Again "Woke" since 1966. Star Trek is about hope in the face of all sorts of diversity.  But what about hope in the face of fear?

"Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence."
 - Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, Star Trek (2009)

The goal of Star Trek: BlackStar very early on was the horrors of space.  Often times, especially in the TNG days, space travel was depicted as fun, and easy (ish), and the horrors were the ones we brought with us.  While that made for great TV in the 90s, I was still left wanting something more.  Star Treks Voyager and then Enterprise got back to the idea that space travel was not easy nor always fun.  BlackStar I hope delivers on the "in space no one can hear you scream" angle.  I opted for mythos monsters and settings with the idea that "in space the stars are always right."  Even though that was also the same time I was lamenting you can't just slap Cthulhu on something to make it sell.

Well. I am not "selling" anything with BlackStar save for my own home games. Still, I feel I owe it at least to myself not to "just slap Cthulhu onto Star Trek." 

On the flip side of this I have my Star Trek: Mercy.  Which is nothing if not about hope.  A Starfleet full of various species from across the Galaxy, even ones the Federation are not allies with, all working together to run a hospital ship to save lives. Not that I can't run into horror elements, that is not the goal here. 

I have, thanks to many of the October Horror Movie Challenges had the chance to watch some great Horror/Sci-fi.  I have also had the chance to read a lot of horror sci-fi over the years, but sadly nothing recently.

It is a topic that I would love to explore more in depth and find stories that are unique to this combined genre.   Much like how Sci-Fi lead me to Fantasy and Fantasty lead me to Dark Fantasy and Horror, Horror is bringing me full circle back to Sci-Fi.  

I think it would be fun to get back to some sci-fi games.  Even if I have to add horror to them. 

I am not sure where this is taking me, but I am looking forward to finding out.  Hopefully I'll have some more insights later this week.

October Horror Movie Challenge: Saturn 3 (1980)

This is one of those movies I have wanted to go back and see to see if it was as bad as I remembered. Was it? Oh yeah.

Saturn 3 (1980)

Kirk Douglas seems underutilized here.  Farah Fawcett is, well..., I have a better opinion of her now than I did then, but she is still not very good here. She seems to be here only as eye candy and to scream.  I can't even tell you what it is her character was supposed to be doing here.

Harvey Keitel has called this movie the "nadir of his career" and he certainly seems like he is only going through the motions here. He has even been redubbed for this.  I didn't even remember he was in this, to be honest.

The plot is super simple.  Harvey Keitel brings an experimental robot to an outpost near Saturn (Saturn 3) and he passes on his crazy to the robot. 

The outpost is researching new food alternatives for Earth and is run by Douglas and Fawcett who are also a couple. Yeah, he was twice her age in this.  

They have trouble with Keitel from the start and then trouble with the robot, and then everyone is fighting everyone else.  Despite being newer than 1979's Alien, the sets look more like a 1970s sci-fi movie. 

 I remember seeing this one on TV a while back, I thought it had some other scenes.  Checking good old Wikipedia there were other scenes when it aired on NBC. 

The movie is, or could have been, an Alien rip-off, but there are not enough people on the station and thus not a high enough body count.  It could be remade today an would be much better.

October 2021
Viewed: 22
First Time Views: 9.5

Monstrous Monday: Doppelgänger, Pod

Again today's monster seems like the logical choice. There was a similar creature in Ravenloft for AD&D 2nd Ed, but I am going to ignore that one in favor of something a little different.  

Doppelgänger, Pod
Medium Plant (Shape-shifter) 

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1d6 (2d6)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 120' (40') [12"]
Armor Class: 8 [11]
Hit Dice: 6d8+6*** (33 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 10 (+9)
Attacks: 2 claws or by weapon
Damage: 1d6+3 x2 or by weapon+3
Special: Charm, regeneration, shape-shift, telepathic communication, only harmed by fire
Save: Monster 6
Morale: 8 (10)
Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 1,250 (OSE) 1,280 (LL)

Str: 18 (+3) Dex: 18 (+3) Con: 14 (+1) Int: 14 (+1) Wis: 14 (+1) Cha: 5 (-2)

The doppelgänger is known and feared by many veteran adventurers, but it is usually a single creature at a time.  The Pod Doppelgänger, named for the giant pods they grow out of, is a different sort of danger altogether.

While not related to the common Doppelgänger, these creatures share many of the same characteristics.  They use their shape-shifting powers to impersonate others.   The pod doppelgänger will lure unsuspecting creatures to where their seed pods lie.  

They will attack and attempt to subdue, but not kill, humanoid creatures (humans being their preferred targets). Once they have these humans they will place them into a pod where they are absorbed to feed the mother plant.  The pod will reopen 8 hours later and the new doppelgänger will walk out, a perfect copy of the human that was absorbed.  They will have their memories, their knowledge, and even combat skills. Doppelgänger cannot cast spells, they do not have the necessary connections to the magic that other living creatures do.  Likewise, they cannot lay on hands like a paladin nor Turn Undead as a cleric.  

Once someone is copied the pod doppelgänger has all their memories and the original creature will be gone.  

The pod doppelgänger has a limited charm ability effective on humans with a save at a bonus of +1.  Other species such as elves, dwarves, halflings gain a +2.  Goblinoids and orcs and other related creatures gain a +3 to their saves.  Pod doppelgängers have a sort of telepathic communication with all others from the same mother plant.  Pod doppelgängers regenerate 1 hp per round and can even "come back from the dead" of negative hp.

The only effective way to destroy these creatures is by fire.  Damage dealt by fire-based attacks is not regenerated. 

Mother Plant: In the pod doppelgänger's lair lives the mother plant.  She cannot attack, has an AC of 9, and a number of HD equal to the number of pods she has created (determined by the number appearing in lair).  Likewise, only fire can destroy her.  Her "children" will defend her to the very end.  

--

Might need a little more tweaking to make it work a little better.  Plus I should add some horror effect when seeing a pod duplicate a person.  That can't be a pretty sight.

October Horror Movie Challenge: The Fourth Kind (2009)

Going to start my week of Sci-Fi horror with one my wife picked.

The Fourth Kind (2009)

This one seemed like it had a lot going for it. First, we get the notion that this is all based on a true story and actual events.  There is some "found footage" of the "actual people involved" and then we also get Milla Jovovich, who I adore, and Elias Koteas who is always great. 

The movie has some genuine scares involved too.  Even the found footage is good.  The footage of course are also just actors and none of this ever happened.  BUT it does turn out that this area of Alaska does actually have a history of missing persons.

While I went into this one with the idea of mining it for ideas for a BlackStar game (I always wanted to an Alien Abduction plot where humans and aliens are on more equal footing) instead I was given ideas for my NIGHT SHIFT Valhalla, Alaska game.   Valhalla though runs closer to "Resident Alien" than this one's mix of "Close Encounters," "Fire in the Sky," and "Blair Witch."  

The ending left us feeling a little empty. No resolution, but some good jump scares and weird special effects.  

Still, Milla Jovovich is still great. This was one of director's Olatunde Osunsanmi first movies.  He would go on to direct and produce episodes of New Trek and the series "Falling Skies."   So sci-fi is certainly in his wheel-house.

Maybe I should do an Alien Abduction night.

October 2021
Viewed: 21
First Time Views: 9.5

October Horror Movie Challenge: Doctor Who Midnight (2008)

Watching "The Thing" reminded me of another similar story.  Since I always do a Doctor Who episode I thought the start of Sci-Fi/Horror week could use some 10th doctor.  So without further ado, Allons-y!

Midnight (2008)

Again my wife is joining me for this one, though this time I picked.  She was up for it since it is Doctor Who.  In this one the Doctor is going on a tour of the diamond planet Midnight.  The X-tonic sunlight is poisonous to all lifeforms we are told and everyone has to stay behind glass that is miles thick.  Of course, humans, being humans, build a resort there.

The Doctor, minus Donna (Catherine Tate was filming the Doctor-less "Turn Left"), goes on this tour with six other passengers.  They spend four hours talking and enjoying each other's company when their tour vehicle breaks down.  They send for a rescue truck, but not before the driver's section is completely ripped off the truck.  They then hear knocking, which is impossible of course.  And then everything goes quiet. 

One of the passengers, Sky Silvestry, who we established before was lonely having just been divorced from her wife, begins to repeating everything everyone says including the Doctor. Eventually, she catches up and is saying the same thing at the same time.

Everyone is freaking out and they want to toss Sky out of the cabin.  Soon she "gets her voice back" and the Doctor is now repeating her.  They all want to toss out the Doctor.  The hostess realizes that "Sky" has stolen the Doctor's voice when she begins talking like the Doctor.  The hostess breaks the cabin seal and she and Sky are tossed out into the X-tonic light.

As a "bottle episode," it is quite effective and really ups the paranoia of who is what.  It is in many ways the spiritual successor of "Who Goes There?"

My wife was already a Who fan, so getting her to watch this one was easy. We have been binge-watching "Merlin" and I remembered that Colin Morgan played "Jethro" in this and was later "Merlin." What I didn't know was that Alice Troughton (no relation to Patrick Troughton, the 2nd doctor) was the director for this and one of the main directors used in Merlin.  Also, David Troughton, no relation to Alice BUT is the son of Patrick Troughton, played Professor Hobbes.

This episode also featured the use of one of my favorite Pre-Raphelite poems, the Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti.

October 2021
Viewed: 20
First Time Views: 8.5