October Movie Challenge: The Neon Demon (2016)

The Neon Demon is another one that has been on my list a for bit.  I admit I am a fan of Jena Malone.  This is more of a psychological thriller-horror than horror-horror.  Though there are some serious horror elements; necrophilia, murder, cannibalism.  You know, family fare.

At the core this movie is about the horrors of the modeling world and what happens to the "disposable" women of this world. 

Elle Fanning plays Jesse, a 16-year-old would-be model. She has beauty and natural talent which of course puts her in the cross-hairs of current models Gigi and Sarah and the obsession of make-up artist Ruby (Jena Malone).

As Jesse gets deeper and deeper into this world and more and more narcissistic the thin veneer of everyone's sanity (or if there was any) peels away. Ruby tries to rape Jesse, but is rebuffed.  So Ruby heads to her other job as a morgue make-up artist where she violates the corpse of a woman.   
When Ruby comes home to the house she is letting Jesse stay at she pushes Jesse into an empty pool where she breaker her leg.   Ruby, Gigi, and Sarah descend on her and butcher her.  Gigi and Sarah eat her and Ruby bathes in her blood.

And it gets weirder from there.

The film is arty and maybe a little too long, but a fun little descent into madness.


Watched: 31
New: 24

Monstrous Monday: Children of Twilight for Basic-era games and Night Shift

It's time for another Monstrous Monday!  Today I have something "special" for you all. A monster I know you will all love to fight and really something perfect for the Pumpkin Spice Witch.

They might not sparkle, but here are some VINOs for you.
The Children of Twilight for Basic-era Games!

Artist: LetzteSchatten-stock.  Model: Alice Spiegel.
Photographer: A.Gavrish

Vampire, Children of Twilight
No. Enc.: 1d2 (1d8)
Alignment: Neutral 50% Chaotic (evil) 50%
Movement: 180’ (60’)
Armor Class: 0
Hit Dice: 9
Attacks: 2 (claw, see below)
Damage: 1d6+6/1d6+6, drain constitution
Save: F9
Morale: 11
Hoard Class: XVII
XP: 8,000

The vampire is one of the most dreaded undead.  Twilight’s Children, though, are less terrifying to behold but still powerful undead creatures. Twilight’s Children share many of the same strengths that weaknesses as the common vampire. They are strong (they have strength scores of 21), undead, immune to mind-affecting spells such as sleep, hold, and charm. They are also immune to having their minds read.  Twilight Children also cannot enter personal dwellings without an invitation and are barred from holy ground.  In particular, they are prohibited from Druid’s groves and any Witch’s covenstead.

Twilight Children cannot change to bats, animals, or mist. Nor can they summon animals of any sort.  They avoid direct sunlight but are not harmed by it.  Mirrors, holy symbols, and direct sunlight will keep them at bay because when presented with them they reveal what they truly are, reanimated corpses.  A stake through the heart will kill them, but decapitation is always best.

The biggest weakness of the Twilight Children is a general malaise.  As they age, they become less and less interested in the world around them. This manifests as a flat affect; they never show emotions because they longer have them. As they continue after 100 years or so their alignments even drift to Neutrality.  Eventually, they also lose the desire to feed and waste away to nothing.  A Child of Twilight will rarely be more than 200 years old.

The Children of Twilight attack via claw, but their bite attack is reserved for when they are feeding.

They drain blood to feed, but usually only once per week.  When they feed, they must consume at least 3 points of Constitution from a victim.  This can be spread out over many victims over a feeding period.  A Child of Twilight can live among humans for years and never be suspected of anything save for being a recluse.
Children of Twilight can be turned as 9 HD undead.

Children of Twilight
(Night Shift)
No. Appearing: 1-3
AC: 2
Move: 40ft.
Hit Dice: 10
Special: 2 attacks (2 claw), constitution drain.
Weakness: Vampire strengths and weaknesses. Cannot enter hallowed ground.

DON'T FORGET: NIGHT SHIFT is in it's LAST 3 Days at Kickstarter!

Edited to add: Now available, Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars. You can get the PDF from DriveThruRPG and both the standard and special edition hardcovers from Elf Lair Games.

October Movie Challenge: Housewife (2017)

This one has been on my list but I debated because I saw some fairly poor reviews. But I wanted to see it so tonight was the night.

The movie starts with Holly and Hazel, young sisters, playing with dolls.  Hazel is drawing, including a very strange one with tentacles coming out of the clouds.   Hazel notices that she is getting her first period so Holly calls for their mother who is going on about "visitors".  The mother tells Holly to stay behind while she takes Hazel.  Holly goes to see where they went and she sees her mother drowning Hazel in the toilet.  Her mother chases her through the house to catch Holly, but her father comes home.  Holly's mother kills him but Holly manages to escape.

Fast forward to today and Holly is a bored housewife.  Holly and her husband Tim get invited to a cult meeting, UML, where they find their former lover Valery is now a "family member" of UML.
The cult's leader seeks out Holly and manages to read her mind and learn about her pain.

Holly, Valery and Tim head back home where they rekindle their love affair.

But things are not that simple.  Holly begins to question reality.  Did they come home? Did she meet up with Bruce the UML leader again?  Is she seeing her mother and sister?   A session with Bruce makes her think she killed her sister.

Then it gets weird.

I won't ruin the ending for you, but in truth I kinda liked it.  Weird, surreal and frankly a lot of fun.


Watched: 30
New: 23

October Movie Challenge: Dead Space: Downfall (2008)

Part Alien, Part Zombie movie and dash of Event Horizon, I had higher hopes for Dead Space: Downfall.  Sadly it was not to be.  Based on a video game, I should have known it wasn't going to be great, but I  had hoped for a bit more.

A group of interstellar miners find an artifact on a dead planet and decide to take it back to Earth along with a big chunk of the planet.

The artifact begins to make people crazy and they begin killing each other.  The dead being to rise, transformed into monsters that kill more of the crew and thus making more monsters.

Fairly predictable.







Watched: 29
New: 22

October Movie Challenge: Voice from the Stone (2017)

I will admit, I like Emilia Clarke. I think she is a good actress and I like to see her in more roles other than the Mother of Dragons.  This movie was a late afternoon pick.  A slow-burn thriller at my wife's request (she is not a horror fan normally).

This one was not so bad.  Clarke plays Verena, a pediatric nurse that specializes in helping families.  She is summoned to Tuscany to help a mute child after the death of his mother.
The child Jakob listens to a crack in the wall where it is assumed he hears the voice of his mother.  Verena works with him to get him to talk.
As the movie goes on we begin to question Verena's perspective on things.

The movie reminds me a bit of "The Others".  The creepy atmosphere and the not knowing what is happening actually. Well...actually part of it was pretty easy to figure out.  The "twist" at the end leaves a little open to interpretations.

Still though, a nice little creepy movie.



Watched: 28
New: 21

October Movie Challenge: The Witch Files (2018)

What do you get when you cross "The Blair Witch Project", "The Breakfast Club", with "The Craft"? Well, the producers were hoping you would answer "The Witch Files."  Sadly that is still not the correct answer.

That is not to say the Witch Files doesn't have it's moments.  It does and there is some fun to be had here, I just can't quite figure out what it is missing or what else it needs to do.

The five girls, Julia, Claire, MJ, Brooke, and Greta, fit all the needed stereotypes for a teen movie so that is covered.   The town has a spooky history, check and there is some neat displays of magic.

I really wanted to like this movie more.  Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy it, it just wasn't great.









Watched: 27
New: 20

Featured Artist: Silveztra

Today's Featured Artist is another one I found at the D&D Fantasy Art Facebook page AND on Twitter.
Silveztra is a great artist and has such a cool style I knew right away I needed some art from her.

Here she is in her own words.

Hello! I am Silveztra a 24-year-old self-taught freelance artist who is inspired by fantasy characters. I am an avid video gamer, anime watcher, and D&D player! I love drawing both cute characters, the threatening and powerful, monstrosities and also delve a lot in drawing pinups! I mainly draw females. I actually have a four-year degree in applied communications, which may seem useless, but I attribute it to a lot of my success in building my customer basis! In the future, I hope to get more commissions and be part of projects bigger than myself in the gaming, art, and rpg communities.

And here is some of her art!

Of course first up is her Pumpkin Spice Witch version of my OC Larina.  This is going to be the cover of my new Pumpkin Spice Witch Tradition book.

She has a lot more, some NSFW, but all really good.

Check out all her links including her commission rates.  Twitter is her main site, but she has all the usual ones.

• Twitter, https://twitter.com/silveztransfw
• Commission Information, Google Doc
• Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/Silveztra/
• Patreon, https://www.patreon.com/silveztra
• DeviantArt, https://www.deviantart.com/silveztra/
• KoFi, https://ko-fi.com/silveztra

Be sure to check her out!