October Movie Challenge: The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (2006)

 Every October Challenge I like to do a Doctor Who episode. It has to be at least two full episodes of new Who or a complete series of old Who. And it has to "hide behind the sofa" scary. Since it is my kid's birthday, we let him choose. 

The Impossible Planet / The Satan Pit (2006)

Ok this is one of the all time great Doctor Who stories.

The 10th Doctor and Rose land on a planet (later they learn it's called "Krop Tor" the bitter pill). There is writing that the TARDIS can't translate (bad sign #1), there are odd creatures (the Ood), oh the planet is orbiting a giant black hole (bad sign #2), and the TARDIS is lost in a quake (bad sign #3).

The Ood start acting strange, talking about the Beast Rising from the Pit and people start hearing voices. Interestingly the voice of "The Beast" is Gabriel Woolf, who was also the voice of Sutekh for the 4th Doctor and the 15th Doctor.

The astronauts are drilling into this Impossible Planet to see why is it still here, not falling into the black hole, and sending out a signal. 

Then the really weird stuff really starts. Toby Zed, the archeologist, becomes possessed.  He lures another out on the planet to kill her. The drilling stops and the Doctor goes down. The Ood begin attacking everyone and speaking of the Beast.

On the planet, the Ood are attacking everyone with Toby Zed as their secret master. In the pit the Doctor and scientist Ida find an even deeper pit with a seal. Down in that Pit the Doctor finds The Beast, a giant Devil creature chained to a wall. It reminds you of one of the Daemons.

Not to spoil the ending, but it is nearly 20 years old, The Beast is trapped and he has sent his mind into Toby. Toby is escaping and the body of the Beast is stuck in the Pit with the Doctor. The Doctor springs the trap (on purpose) and the planet, the Beast, his mind, and Toby with Rose the other survivors falling into the black hole.  The Doctor escapes, finds the TARDIS, and rescues Rose. The Beast, along with Toby, gets sucked into the black hole.

I am not doing this episode any sort of justice. It is late and I am still over-stuffed with birthday Indian food. 

NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D Ideas

The Devil as a great cosmic monster is just too good to pass up really. Especially if you consider this beast is the source of all of them. Sorta like how "God" was supposed to be the source in Star Trek: The Final Frontier. This Doctor Who answers the question "What does the Devil need with a Starship?"

I have talked about this episode here before as well. So I'll end this here before I fall asleep. 

This obviously is a rewatch and only counts as 1.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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First Time Views: 25

Mail Call: Aquelarre

 Treated myself to a game I have been wanting for some time now. The Spanish RPG Aquelarre.

This is the English version, but it is still a great RPG.

And it is massive. Can't wait to dig into it.

October Movie Challenge: Deadly Blessing (1981)

 Another attack of opportunity tonight and another American Horrors pick. Of course I had to chat with my siblings about it.

Deadly Blessing (1981)

Here is my original review from 2018.

A young Sharon Stone forced to eat a spider by an Incubus? Hell yeah! That's nightmare fuel for decades.   And a real spider was dropped into her mouth for this scene.  How's that for dedication?

Ok, where to start on this movie?  Well, it features a young Sharon Stone in one of her very first roles.  It also features Battlestar Galactica's Mara Jensen in her very last role before disappearing from public life.  Also appearing is 80s horror mainstay Michael Berryman, TV star Lisa Hartman, and the last film for Susan Buckner before she left public life as well.

The movie features a group of people called the "Hittites" (no relation to the ancient Mesopotamians) who are supposed to be some sort of ultra-Amish.
Our demon-de-hour is an Incubus, but one that decides to possess women.  I guess "incubus" sounds cooler than "succubus" in this case.

Anyway. Lots of creepy stuff. Murders happen. Mara Jensen takes a famous bath with a snake. And it a fashion that predicts A Nightmare on Elm Street, we think we have the murderer and everyone goes back home.  Except for Martha (Mara Jensen), who pulled into hell by the Incubus in his full demon form.

Ok. Let's be honest. The movie doesn't hold up.  In truth, it wasn't that good to start with, but my memories of it are tied up in watching it with my family.

Sharon Stone is great really.  You get a feeling for the sort of actress she will become later.  Maren Jensen is fine, but I think had she not be diagnosed with Epstein-Barr Syndrome she would have naturally left acting.  She was good, but didn't have a lot of range.

Update: Mara Jensen seemed better to me this time around.  

NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D Ideas

Dragging now. What will I do with this? Likely to drop some spiders in my player's mouths. I mean characters. Yeah. Characters.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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First Time Views: 25

October Movie Challenge: The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

It has been YEARS since I have seen this one. It came up on the Roku Channel, American Horrors, so I thought I would catch it again. I had forgotten that this was Dario Argento's first movie as a director.

The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970)

aka L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo

This is the one that started it all. Before Suspiria, before the neon nightmares and supernatural witches, Dario Argento gave us a razor-sharp modern fairy tale dressed as a murder mystery. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage isn’t just a giallo, it’s the giallo that kicked open the doors for everything that followed. You can't be a fan of Italian Horror and not see this one at least once.

Tony Musante stars as Sam, an American writer living in Rome who witnesses what he thinks is an attempted murder inside a modern art gallery. He’s trapped between two glass doors, helplessly watching as a woman struggles against a black-gloved assailant. It’s a haunting image, clinical, voyeuristic, and painfully symbolic of how Argento would frame horror as both spectacle and paralysis.

From there, Sam becomes obsessed. He’s convinced he saw something that doesn’t quite fit, a visual clue just out of reach. It’s classic Hitchcock territory filtered through late-'60s/early-'70s Italian cool; bright mod interiors, bizarre suspects, and Ennio Morricone’s unnerving, almost childlike score whispering through every frame.

What makes this film fascinating, especially looking back from Suspiria or Inferno, is how mundane its horror initially seems. There are no witches here, no covens, no occult conspiracies, just art, memory, and madness. But that’s where Argento’s dark alchemy comes in. He takes the language of realism and bends it into nightmare logic. The killer’s psychology is grotesque and tragic, a fractured reflection of trauma and repression, a kind of proto–Lucifer Rising through the lens of pop modernism.

And that title! The Bird with the Crystal Plumage. I have to admit it always made me think of the movie as a half-remembered dream. A play maybe you had heard someone refer too or maybe a book. You half-expect a witch’s curse or a magic talisman, but instead, it’s just one more symbol of distortion and misdirection, an exotic bird whose song contains the clue to everything. Argento always did love his twisted fairy tales.

Visually, it’s pure 1970: glass, chrome, and blood. The camera lingers like an artist obsessed with his own canvas, and even now, you can see the DNA of future horror. De Palma, Carpenter, and even Fincher ("se7en") all owe something to this.

Watching it today feels like finding the first sigil in Argento’s cinematic grimoire. It doesn’t yet glow with the supernatural madness of his later works, but the geometry of fear is already here: art as ritual, obsession as invocation, and violence as creation. And of course Argento's near trademark of blood, screams, and sexploitation.

NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D Ideas

Looking back over Argento's career, this one can feel like an aberration. A remarkably mundane killer, even one you might pity. 

For NIGHT SHIFT I have thrown this idea out before. The killer can seem like a supernatural creature, but instead the PCs discover it is only a normal, if troubled, human.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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Monstrous Mondays: Dragon, Purple (Arcane Dragon)

Not all purple dragons are found near apple trees.
This one, though, is. 

 Tomorrow is my oldest kid's birthday. Over the weekend, he had his annual D&D birthday bash. Seems fitting then that I do a dragon today since they are his favorite (and he got like three of them for his birthday from his D&D group).

This is a repost, updated to better fit my "Occult D&D" project.

Dragon, Purple
aka Draco Arcanis Occultis, Arcane Dragon

FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1 (rarely 2)
ARMOR CLASS: 0
MOVE: 9” / 24”
HIT DICE: 9–11
% IN LAIR: 55%
TREASURE TYPE: H, S, U, Z
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1–8 / 1–8 / 3–28
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapon, spell use
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Resistance to magic (see below)
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Standard + bonus vs. arcane magic
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-Genius
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (Evil)
SIZE: L (45’ long)

CHANCE OF:

• Speaking: 90%
• Magic Use: 90%
• Sleeping: 25%

The Purple Dragon, also called the Arcane Dragon, is a rare and dangerous creature whose origins are cloaked in myth. Its scales shimmer in deep violet, often pulsing faintly with unseen magical energy. It is most frequently found in ancient ruins, planar nexuses, or near ley line convergences. Some scholars claim that Purple Dragons were once guardians of the primeval flows of magic itself.

Arcane Dragons are solitary and philosophical by nature, prone to periods of deep contemplation and magical experimentation. Their mastery of eldritch forces and unpredictable moods make them dangerous when provoked. Don’t however mistake this attitude for benevolence. Their contemplation of these eldritch and occult forces put them above the concerns of most mortals.

The Purple Dragon may employ the standard claw/claw/bite attack or its breath weapon, a beam of raw magical force:

• Breath Weapon: A beam of pure arcane energy, ½” wide and 12” long, affecting all in its path. This energy deals damage equal to the dragon’s current hit points, half with a successful saving throw vs. breath weapon. Victims struck must also save vs. spells or be stunned for 1–4 rounds due to arcane backlash.

Spell Use: All speaking Purple Dragons with magic ability cast spells as Magic-Users of 9th level, improving to 11th level at ancient age.

• 1st–2nd age categories: 2 × 1st-level spells
• 3rd–4th: +2 × 2nd-level spells
• 5th–6th: +2 × 3rd-level spells
• 7th–8th: +1 × 4th-level spell
• Ancient: 3 spells per level from 1st to 4th

Purple Dragons gain a +1 bonus on all saving throws vs. arcane magic, and a +3 bonus on saves vs. Illusion or Enchantment/Charm spells. They are also immune to magical effects that alter time, space, or probability (e.g., time stop, maze, wish, limited wish, temporal stasis).

Arcane Dragons are usually encountered alone, though some ancient tomes speak of mated pairs guarding planar gates or hidden vaults of magical lore. They construct elaborate lairs filled with wards, illusions, and enchanted guardians. Their hoards often contain rare magical scrolls, potions, and tomes in addition to treasure.

They may form tenuous alliances with powerful witches, warlocks, or archmages, often in exchange for secrets or artifacts. 

Connections to the Scaled Sisterhood

Though the Scaled Sisterhood reveres the great dragon Patrons, Tiâmat, Bahamūt, Vritraxion, Lóngzihua, and Anantanatha, there are outlier dragons, revered by certain covens, that operate on the mystical rather than the primordial axis. Chief among these is the Arcane Dragon, Draco Arcanis.

Mystic Patron of Knowledge and Spellcraft

The first Arcane Dragon is honored by a coven of the Scaled Sisterhood known as the Order of the Violet Flame. These witches believe that while the elemental dragons represent the forces of the world, the Arcane Dragon embodies magic itself; pure, ineffable, and transcendent.

Witches of the Violet Flame often act as archivists, seers, and ritual specialists within the Sisterhood.

Their robes are trimmed in violet and silver, and their focus items are often made of crystalline dragon-scale or polished amethyst.

Their magical circles often incorporate symbols of sacred geometry, representing ley lines, runes, and arcane currents.

Dragon of the Nexus

The Arcane Dragon is drawn to leyline confluences and interplanar gates, making them ideal Patrons for witches who serve as gatekeepers, wardens, or planar navigators. The Scaled Sisterhood refers to such sites as Dracogates, where the breath of the Arcane Dragon is said to thin the veil between worlds.

Some believe the first Arcane Dragon was a child of Lóngzihua and Bahamūt, combining order and mysticism into a unique being beyond the elemental hierarchy, but was cast down or out for some long forgotten crime. This is the reason Purple Dragons in general are never recorded in official histories and bestiaries. 

Others claim the first Arcane Dragon is a former consort of Tiamat, who was cast out for refusing to align with chaos or tyranny, choosing instead the neutral perfection of the arcane.

All other purple dragons are the offspring of this first Arcane Dragon. 

October Movie Challenge: Vampire Weekend

 Hit a few Vampire movies this weekend. 

Fright Night (2011)

The remake of the classic 1985 Fright Night.  This time staring Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell and David Tennant. I watched this one way back in 2014. My wife was looking for movies to watch and this came up. She had not seen it, and she LOVES David Tennant. So I watched it again. Maybe it was the rewatch, but I actually liked it better this time around. Imogen Poots was also much better than I remembered her.

The music for this one was done by Ramin Djawadi of later Game of Thrones fame. 

Fright Night (1985)

We watched this one right after the remake. My wife never saw this one either, but she didn't like it. I thought it was still fun. Chris Sarandon made for a great vampire. Loved his cameo in the 2011 version. 

Amanda Bearse as Vamped out Amy was not the first time I ever said "going evil makes you hotter," but it was an archetypal example for me.  

I am not afraid to admit it, but this movie shaped how I ran vampires in my AD&D games for a while, at least until Lost Boys came out two years later.

We also snuck in the 2nd season of "An Interview with a Vampire" on Netflix. It doesn't follow the book directly but damn is it really good. I don't think I can really count it though. 

NIGHT SHIFT & Occult D&D Ideas

Fright Night (any version) is practically a NIGHT SHIFT adventure as is. It takes place in suburbia, the vampire hunters get their ideas from watching a fake vampire hunter on TV. Craziness ensues. 

Come to think of it, the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie (1992) owes a lot to the original Fright Night and Lost Boys.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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First Time Views: 25

October Horror Movie Challenge: Akelarre (2020)

 Another rewatch tonight, but I have been wanting to rewatch it for some time.

Akelarre (2020)

I watched this one back in 2022. Tonight I rewatched it in the original Spanish.  I learned two things. First, this is a great movie and a lot is going on here. Secondly, my Spanish is still rather terrible.

Here is my original review; it still stands.

Also known as Akelarre and Coven of Sisters it is not to be confused with the 2019 movie Coven.

This one just sneaks in with the theme. Maybe Great-Great Grandmothers of the Craft is a better descriptor for this one. 

This one is horror, but not for the reasons the first two are. 

In 1609 in the Basque Country of Spain five girls are all arrested and charged with witchcraft.  One of their friends tries to rescue them and she is captured too. At first, the girls are afraid but then they begin to joke about it, not believing that this is happening to them.  Then the torture begins.    

It's all rather horrible to be honest.  Worse, because you knew this sort of thing happened all the time.  

Amaia Aberasturi stars as Ana and she is the real stand-out here. She keeps stringing along her accusers to drag out the proceedings to help save the other girls. Ana easily strings along the horny men till the full moon. 

The girls decide that in order to delay their execution longer they tell the judge they will re-enact the Black Mass, or the Sabbath, for his records. They do so and get him all involved as Lucifer.  Once they had frightened the men, or turned them on, enough they run into the woods. They are chased by the men and soldiers till they get to the edge of a cliff over the ocean.  The other women, the ones not accused of witchcraft, sing a song about the full moon and the high tide.  Ana, realizing the message, tells the other girls they can jump. 

They jump over the side, not knowing if they lived or died.  

I thought this movie was great honestly. Not the typical sort of horror, but also not exactly what I thought it was going to be either.  

Occult D&D and NIGHT SHIFT

The Occult D&D influences are obvious: witch cults, witch hunters, and scared townsfolk. The biggest issue here of course in D&D magic and demons are real, and in movies like Akelarre they are not. 

While it might not work so well as a "witch trial" idea, I love the idea of exploring more about Spanish and Basque witches.  This would be a good way to add in my demon Akelarre. 

October Horror Movie Challenge 2025
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First Time Views: 25