Autumn of Terror: Horror Anime

By Geeky Gem

Hello there, How have you been? I have been trying to tink of things I can tell you about during Autumn of Terror. Then I remembered I like horror but I also like anime so way not share with you something that combines the two? Horror anime it is then, here are some of my favourite ones with pictures and videos you lucky people.

Hellsing

Hellsing was given to me by a friend under instruction that I watch or else, so as I didn’t want to mess with him I went home and watched it. It is a brilliant show that is dark and edgy but with some lights bits in it. The story is about Alucard who works for the Holy Order of Protestant Knights, whose job it is to search and destroy those that threaten the safety of the Queen and Country. This can be anything from undead and other supernatural forces. Alucard is a powerful vampire, I should have mentioned earlier right? Oh well he is and he is awesome and his sidekick is former police officer Seras Victoria,  Alucard turns her into a vampire fairly early in the show, she is the light part I was talking about as she her get used to becoming a vampire is funny. If you havent seen the show here are the opening credits for you to enjoy.

Blood +

Blood + is based on the early life of the central character from the movie Blood: The Last Vampire, Saya Otonashi a seemly ordinary girl is going about her life when she is attacked by a Chiropteran, it is then that she learns she is the only one that can defeat them. Armed with her katana, well what other weapon would have to fight beats of the night. She travels around hunting them down, see a simple story I feel. This is a really good anime and a perfect build up after the Blood: The Last Vampire, which you havent seen it you really should.

Death Note

Death Note is ones of those gems that you find when you aren’t really looking for anything at all. I found this one when I was looking for movies that stared Tatsuya Fujiwara, other than Battle Royale. Then I noticed he was going to be a movie called Death Note, it kind of went from there, first I read some of the manga then moved onto the anime, which blew me away. I loved it, the story follows Light Yagami, a high school student. Who one day finds a mysterious book called a Death Note, inside are number of rules for the use of the book. The book was dropped on Earth by Ryuk a Shingami or god of death. Who was bored and wanted to see what a human might do with his Death Note. The Death Note allows the user to kill anybody whose name they write within its pages. Light decides this could be used for the ower of good, but is that what really happens you will have to watch it to find out.

Elfen Lied

Elfen Lied is another anime I fond when I wasn’t really looking for anything, once I saw the opening few minutes that was me hooked, it’s a really brilliant show. It centres around Lucy, who is no normal girl she is Diclonius she is a mutant, she looks human to a point but then you notice that she des in fact have horns. Diclonii have special powers they can use telekinesis, Lucy who has been rejected by human’s wants revenge and so the show follows her as she try ‘s to get it.

High School of the Dead

As Caelrona mentioned High School of the Dead in a earlier a blog I wont linger on it for long. It is however thanks to her blog that I sat down an watched this show, I mean it has zombies in it who doesn’t want to see a zombie anime. Caelrona is right its a brilliant show and if you get time to watch it then do so. All you really need to know is in the title of the show, its a hifh school that is now over run with zombies and the last of the stuents nw have to surivie. Here are the opening credits just for you to see, if this is the show for you.

There you have it folks some horror anime for you to enjoy.

Autumn of Terror: My Favourite Monsters Part 1

By @hmsbeefnuts

You may have noticed that around All Geek To Me, we like our monsters, we like them quite a bit in fact. As this month is our celebration of all things that go bump in the night, I thought that I couldn’t really let it pass without a look at my favourite monsters, so I wrote something about that very thing. I have picked my favourite iteration of each of these monsters, and as they have been put on screen many times, I hope this adds variety, as I could just choose the Universal or Hammer film versions, but I will try my very best not too. These choices are based on the look alone, film quality does not enter into my choices here, just this is my prefered version of the different monsters mentioned. So with that out the way, lets get on with some monsters.

WEREWOLF

I know the remake of The Wolf Man was not well received, but I liked it, I liked it a whole lot. Now yes, there is some dodgy cgi, but the main Wolf Man suit is quite simply spectacular. I loved it. It takes the look of the Lon Chaney Jnr. version and ups it to new super fearsome and crazy levels. This for me, is the finest example of The Wolf Man, all claws, jaws and ripped clothing. I will always have a soft spot for the 1941 original, but I don’t think you can argue that this design is far more awesome.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Van Helsing is another movie that everyone thought sucked. Well for all the cheese and bad acting, I still liked it. The Wolfman from Van Helsing is supersized, really huge and powerful, but once again, I really dug the design, I would definitely not like to meet this beast on a dark night.

VAMPIRES

For me Bela Lugosi owned the voice, but Christopher Lee owned the physical manifestation of Dracula, and so, as the Lord of all Vampires, he has to be my top pick for best Vampire. Hammer vampires were much scarier than Universal ones, all blood shot eyes and dripping fangs. Christopher Lee was just such a badass as Dracula, the embodiment of evil, however, Hammer did also show a talent for other types of vampires too, as we shall see below…

HONOURABLE MENTION

Hammer ruled the roost in terms of Horror sexiness, and thus any female vampire, bride or victim of Dracula, instantly becomes very appealing, especially Ingrid Pitt. I know it’s shallow and a bit sexist, but fuck it, vampire chicks are hot, and lesbian Hammer vampires are the hottest.

THE MONSTER

The Monster, not Frankenstein, has never been bettered since 1931 and Boris Karloff’s portrayal. The make up is stunning, the acting is amazing, the Universal Monster is the greatest that has ever been, and ever will be. Can’t really say any more than that.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Yes it’s Van Helsing again, but I thought this design of the Monster was unique, I liked the steam punk legs and the glowing brain. He may be a bit theatrical, but then wouldn’t you be if you had been cobbled together from a few dozen other guys?

GHOSTS

Ghost? Demon? Well it’s responsible for Paranormal Activity anyway, so I think it counts. I absolutely loved Paranormal Activity 3, and especially the bit from the picture above. I love how usually the invisible force is scary enough, but I couldn’t resist this sight gag, amazing. Paranormal Activity is so scary because it happens in normal houses to normal people. Those are my favourite kinds of spooky stories, the other being the classic Victorian ghost story.

HONOURABLE MENTION

The Woman in Black was a great return to form for the bleak and depressing Victorian Ghost Story, and is a great example of such a ghost. Vengeful, scary, and a bit of a dick.

SWAMP CREATURE

Universal’s Creature From The Black Lagoon, or Gill Man, if you prefer, is the classic beastie from the depths. It’s a great look for a sea monster, webbed feet and claws, and slimy skin. Enough to make you think twice about swimming in that lake or river.

HONOURABLE MENTION

Maybe not a typical Gill Man, however, the Fluke Man is disgustingly scary. One of the most memorable monsters from the X – Files, Fluke Man was horrendous. Just look at him. That shit is fucked up.

Autumn of Terror: Halloween Movie Marathon

By @hmsbeefnuts

I love Halloween, I’m not quite sure why, but I love it. When I was a kid, we obviously went trick or treating, and it was fun, but it also made me incredibly sad. Why you ask? Well you see, where I lived, Halloween was never that big a deal. My parents tried their best and they always made it fun, but what I wanted to experience was that Halloween amazingness that every American child has every year. I was majorly jealous. There is something heart-warming about the entire community coming together, dressing up as monsters and ghouls in order to eat sweets and more importantly, ward off the dead for another year. It seems strange that the Americans take All Hallows Eve far more seriously than us Brits, because originally, it’s our bloody festival!! But anyway, good luck to them, I’m just a bitter, jealous man who can no longer dress up as a werewolf, or vampire and go knocking on doors for sweets, people thought I was weird last year for some reason…

 

I have then, been forced to find different outlets in order to have fun this Halloween. I have considered Ghost Walks, and Ghost Tours, but I imagine that the worst day to attend one of these is on Halloween, far too busy, I’ll go the day after. There are costume parties of course, but to be honest, I don’t drink, and the thought of being trapped in a house with fifty odd pissed up monsters, beloved characters and slutty vampires (wait, maybe I will have a party), is a bit of a nightmare. I couldn’t get anyone to attend a Black Mass at the local grave yard, and it’s hard to find the local Witches Coven in the Yellow pages, and the Google search I did, whilst visually stimulating wasn’t really what I was after. Time to rummage through the DVD shelves, invite a select few friends, slutty vampire costumes optional, but preferred, make some themed food and drinks, and sit back and get our scare on in a Halloween Movie Marathon.

I’ve tried to get a good varied selection together for today’s Marathon, so we don’t get bored, or feel the need to do something productive, as enthusiasm is at its peak, I have gone for Nosferatu. Yes it’s a silent movie, and black and white, but the eerie feeling that the film exudes is a good Omen (see what I did there?) for the films to come, we are all drawn into the nightmare unfolding on screen, and it is a great way to kick off this night. Oh by the way, I won’t be reviewing these films, but this will be more about the atmosphere and general mood of the evening. The film holds us in a sort of rapture, halfway through, the snacks stop being snacked and we are drawn into the silent horror. Once the film is over we snap out of the trance, and everyone says how surprised they are that they liked it and how creepy it was, score one for me I think.

A change of pace perhaps, and our first vote of the night. Well our contenders are Paranormal Activity, The Last Exorcism and An American Werewolf in London. We vote American Werewolf 5 – 3, and so off to the moors of England we go, beware the moon. We have all seen this before, and so a different atmosphere descends, not the eerie silence of Nosferatu, but a jovial talkative atmosphere, joking about when we first saw it, our favourite bit and Jenny Agutter in the shower. The energy levels in the room are at a peak, and everyone is having a great time with John Landis’ masterpiece. The film seems to fly by, considerably more crisps are eaten and drinks are drunk, and before we know it Jenny Agutter is crying and the werewolf isn’t a wolf any more, this doesn’t dampen our spirits though, onwards to….

The losers of the vote demand Paranormal Activity, and so we slip it in to the DVD player and off we go. Once more discussions range from, ‘Is the girl attractive?‘ we decide yes of course she is, and ‘how much of a dick is her boyfriend?‘ The men decide that they would be better boyfriend material then the dick in the film as the girls tut, and the first half of the film passes in this manner. The second half is a different matter, watching Paranormal Activity at home, is a different thing all together than in a cinema, this movie was made for DVD. Once the shit really hits the fan we are all jumping and going along with the action on screen, one member of the group, who has not seen it before is quite scared, this is defiantly the way to watch this movie. During one of the security camera montages, the door bell rings and some of the more unstable members jump, but it wasn’t a Demon, merely the Pizza Guy.

A short break is the order of the day as the sun goes down outside and the night begins proper. The X-Box gets turned on and a few games of Nazi Zombies later, and a few toilet breaks, we are ready to continue. I decide that I should choose the next film, and go for the little known Trick ‘r Treat. No one has seen this before, I had heard good things online, and so this is the first film tonight no one has seen. Wow, it is great. A myriad of stories all take place in a town on Halloween, and nasty things happen. This film has a bit of everything in it and it once more energises the room. Hot girls, nasty surprises, and spooky pumpkin headed kids all add to the fun, it is a worthy addition to the marathon, and will be a Halloween staple from now on.

 

Its dark now, and we have the sweets out ready for any Trick or Treaters, we have all eaten rather a lot, so the food is relegated to the kitchen for the time being, and we decide that a change of genre is needed. A classic we can all agree on and love is the order of the day, and vote number 2. Scream, Scream 4, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Alien. An eclectic mix. The winner? A draw between the two Screams, a further round knocks out the latest one, so we put on the original and best. Boisterous may be the best word to describe how this film went down. We all try an approximation of the Scream Voice and ask each other what’s your favourite scary movie? And do you want to die Sydney? All part of the fun. What a great film Scream is a classic. However, after five films, fatigue is starting to seep in, it’s time to end the fun for one October night.

Autumn of Terror: Top 5 Hammer Horror Films

By @hmsbeefnuts

If you like your Horror films with a massive spoonful of gothic, a healthy dose of sexiness and some of the finest British character actors ever produced, then you surely are in love with Hammer Horror films. I have loved these films for ever, they are responsible for my love of evil women in corsets, and they are fantastic examples of good old fashioned gothic horror. I have a large collection of these films on DVD, but my fondest memories of these films must be when I first caught them on the TV. I was at the right age, hormones raging, cleavage unbearably exciting, and the thought of a film called The Vampire Lovers was all a bit too much. Needless to say I tried to watch as much Hammer as possible, and although the chance of bear female flesh was initially the draw, I soon realised that the films were great too. So here, are my top 5 Hammer Horror films, I hope you enjoy…

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

This just happens to be one of my favourite films of all time. I love The Hound of The Baskervilles, and this version is my very favourite. Perhaps not a typical Hammer Horror, it definitely deserves it’s place on this list. Peter Cushing is the great detective, with Christopher Lee reduced to the smaller role of Sir Henry Baskerville. What we have here is a bit of a change of pace from our usual Hammer fare, there isn’t much sexiness going on here, but this film is all about atmosphere. Baskerville Manor is suitably dreary and gothic, and the moor is desolate and foreboding, and the howl of the Hound is heart stopping. I love the beginning, showing how the Curse of the Baskervilles came to be, and Hammer manage to add some occult overtones to the story. All in all, this is a sure fire hit for me, and I am bound to be slipping it in to my DVD player in the run up to Halloween.

CAPTAIN KRONOS VAMPIRE HUNTER

Not a success when first released, I had a few problems tracking this one down, but I have to say, this film is rather fantastic, and a whole lot of fun. Captain Kronos is a Vampire Hunter (obviously) but not really in line with Peter Cushing’s Van Helsing. He is more of a proto Hugh Jackman Van Helsing. In this film, Vampires suck the life out of victims, literally turning them into old haggard husks, when once they were beautiful women. As a former soldier, and ‘expert swordsman’ Kronos and his hunchback assistant travel the country dispatching vampires in a far more swashbuckling type manner than Professor Van Helsing, and this puts a unique spin on vampire hunting in the Hammer canon. Perhaps not for everyone, there are a distinct lack of Hammer Stars in this, however, the film, planned as the first of a franchise, deserves to be seen and appreciated. Highly recommended.

THE HORROR OF DRACULA

Hammer’s take on Bram Stoker’s original story, The Horror of Dracula is the daddy of Hammer Dracula films. We have Christopher Lee as the Count, perhaps the greatest person to ever play him, and his arch nemesis, Van Helsing, played by Peter ‘the man’ Cushing. This doesn’t quite match the original story, as Hammer took some liberties with the plot, but as a film, this is just fantastic. Seeing Cushing and Lee face off against each other is worth the price of the DVD alone, there simply aren’t many more Hammery Hammer Horror Films one can see.

COUNTESS DRACULA

OK I’ll admit it, this choice is based on Ingrid Pitt alone. She is one of the most devastatingly beautiful and downright sexy women ever to drain the blood from sexy virgin girls and bathe in it. The fact that I have also had a long fascination with Elisabeth Bathory, The Bloody Countess, which true story this film is based on, also helps a bit, but by all that is holy and innocent, Ingrid Pitt looks like a Goddess and could be forgiven for any crime, even the murder of a few hundred maids, as long as she looked that good. I feel at this point I must apologise, as this isn’t really a review as such, and I’m not really giving many reason why anyone should watch this film beyond ‘Ingrid Pitt is banging’. Well… does it help that Hercules himself, from Jason and the Argonauts, is in it? Or there is copious amounts of nudity? No? Well unlucky, Ingrid Pitt is hot as hell, and she is naked a lot in this film, and the story is fascinating, so, all in all, this movie is full of win.

CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF

The only werewolf film Hammer made, and quite a good entry in the genre. Werewolves are my favourite monster, and Universals The Wolf Man is one of my favourite movies of all time. Whilst Hammer’s take on the werewolf doesn’t quite reach the heady heights climbed by Lon Chaney Jnr, Oliver Reed gives a tragic performance as the man wolf. Hammer’s version of the monster is a mix between the Lon Chaney Wolf Man, and the earlier Universal film Werewolf of London, another film worth checking out Horror fans. There is quite a bit of werewolf myth going on here, particularly in the way werewolfism is passed on, or created. Set in Spain, this film is very atmospheric, and a perfect cap to any Hammer Horror Marathon.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

 By Geeky Gem

Back before vampire’s sparkled and two vampire brothers fell in love with one girl, there was a television show that marked my teenage years. Buffy the Vampire Slayer first aired in 1997 after a film of the same name came out.

  

This show was the brain child of Joss “The Avengers” Wheadon, and like I said, was pretty much the only show I watched in my teenage years apart from Friends. As I said, it aired in 1997 and ran until 2003, Wheadon brought Buffy to us through his production company Mutant Enemy Productions. The series follows Buffy Summers played by Sarah Michelle Geller, the latest in a long line of young women known as Vampire Slayers, or simply Slayers. In the series Slayers are well chosen to battle vampires, demons and all other kinds of nasty beasties and forces of darkness. As with every Slayer, Buffy is entrusted to a Watcher, a mentor that trains them in order to fight the darkness. Buffy’s Watcher is Rupert Giles played by the fantastic Anthony Stewart Head, unlike the other Slayers, Buffy has friends who are in the know about what she gets up to at night. They are nicknamed the Scooby Gang, Xander Harris, Willow Rosenberg are the founding members of the Scooby Gang but other character’s dip in an out of the gang. Xander and Willow are played by Nicholas Brendan and Alyson Hannigan.

 

The series then follows them as they try to defeat the army of darkness, as well as having relationships and trying to be normal teenagers. Each series always had what came to be known as a Big Bad, that the gang had to find and kill, if needs be, along with other stories going on. Each episode was different, it was never the same show twice.

Some of my favourite episodes are ones that dont centre around Buffy, but the other members of the Scooby Gang. There is one episode where Giles wakes up to find he has turned into demon. There is another fantastic one where a a group of demons have stolen all the voices of the people of Sunnydale, meaning the whole episdoe relys heavily on the casts facial expressions and the music.

Buffy was everything to me, I never missed a show and when I was going to miss it, my parents or my friends would tape it for me. The Soundtracks were pretty much always in my CD player and I carried a copy of my Watcher guide book with me nearly every where I went. As you can tell, I was even a geek back then. I wasnt the only one thank goodness, I had plenty of friends who also watched the show and sometimes we would gather at someones house and watch the show together.

It was, and still is, an awesome show. Joss Wheadon really hit the nail on the head with this one. It’s just a shame Firefly never took off in the same way as Buffy. Which was a real shame, however Buffy was a fantastic show and if you have never seen, I have to ask why? And that you go find a copy of it and watch it. These vampires dont sparkle they kill and that’s what makes this show awesome.