Tag Archives: Horror

How to Satisfy a Halloween Craving with Graphic Novels

20 Oct

Neil Gaiman's Snow, Glass, Apples : Gaiman, Neil, Doran, Colleen: Amazon.ca: BooksBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Halloween 2021 can still be about staying at home with a good book to read because of the pandemic, or going out and wearing a ghoulish face mask up since it’s appropriate to. After a year of being told by health boards about what to do and not to, I’m sure a revolt will happen. Events are taking place with restrictions in mind. All of that is fine and dandy, and for those who just want to be safe, I have the following book recommendations. The links provided go to Amazon USA, to which I’m an affiliate with, for those interested in purchasing.

Snow, Grass, Apples
Dark Horse Comics

This graphic novel adaptation of Snow White retells the tale from the point of view of the stepmother. It’s an eerie gothic style take which then steps into the realm of high romanticism. We are introduced to her as though she’s the heroine, rather than the wicked witch. She fell in love with the king, and he in turn took her in to be one of his many lovers. When we finally meet the daughter–who has vampyric tastes–the tale takes on a unique look at the tale most readers should be familiar with.

What makes this tale horrific is in how it ties to the seasons. The events take on various feelings of melancholy, cheer and rebirth. Colleen Doran’s art is exceptional in this piece as it plays with the motifs. The pictures’ mosaic-like quality looks like it should belong in the Sistine Chapel!

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Frank & Zed are Alive! A Conversation with Jesse Blanchard

16 Oct

frank n zed interview jessie picBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Frank & Zed is one of those perfect Halloween styled movies as it gets into the darker aspects for gorehounds to appreciate. The bloodshed is incredible, and despite the adult styled destruction, there’s love for the two characters who get caught up in this massacre. And thankfully, there is more story to tell according to creator Jesse Blanchard of Puppetcore Studios. He’s still writing it and preparing for his next film.

Parts of this graphic novel can be found online, on Instagram, and the talent pool involved behind it are vast! He said, “There’ll be three different stories about Frank. And I’m exploring some other monsters that are in the same universe.”

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A Demigod or A Demogorgon? Who’s Knocking in Mile Doleac’s Latest?

14 Oct

1By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Oct 15, 2021
Seattle-Tacoma at Varsity 3 and select theatres nation-wide (USA)
Coming to VOD 

The Black Forest in Germany cannot be any deadlier in Miles Doleac’s Demigod. There are a lot of simple constructs to like, and even a terror that’s appropriately nuanced at the start before needing to make a full on screen appearance. This actor and sometimes director have a few films made under his wings. Although similar to Hallowed Ground, what’s changed is that the protagonist meets up with an inhuman rather than Native Americans protecting their sacred land.

Robin (Rachel Nichols) and Leo (Yohance Myles) are headed to her grandfather’s cabin to take care of a few things since he’s passed away. Unaware of this woodland’s history, they don’t realize that there could be trouble. After a tense encounter with a hunter (Doleac) and his daughters, they’re suddenly dealing with witches. They summoned the beast some years ago. It’s easy to see he’s mightier than Hercules, and those red piercing eyes… 

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Autumn’s Not the Right Time for the Addams Family Sequel

12 Oct

The Addams Family 2 poster.pngBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Spoiler Alert

The sequel to the animated 2019 Addams Family reboot will not click with everyone. It has the feel of not adhering to the style and satire Charles Addams crafted. Instead of focussing on the ooky, it’s more like a regular teen angst drama where Wednesday (Chloë Grace Moretz) is more of the star than ever. She believes she isn’t a genuine Addams. This has Gomez (Oscar Isaac) fearing she wants nothing to do with her kin anymore. He hatches a plan to take the entire family on a summer vacation!

As a result, this movie could’ve worked more for Summer than Fall. When considering this movie is one of many works with a rescheduled release date, it suffers from the dilemma of when it can be released in countries attempting to restart within a pandemic. I would’ve been okay for an even longer wait to maximize interest, and perhaps changing up the focus on who the stars are.

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Comparing the Old with the New: Universal Classic Monster: Icons Collection in 4K

10 Oct

Universal Classic Horror Monsters Scaring 4K UHD Blu-ray October 5th | High-Def DigestBy Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Available to purchase on Amazon USA

The Universal Classic Monsters will shine this Halloween. All the icons from the Golden Age of Cinema from this studio–Dracula, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and The Wolfman–have been given a recent restoration, and now they’re in 4K! The quality is beautiful, and the hard slipcase booklet is a sweet way to keep the discs intact. It features the poster used when the film first came out.

There’s some film grain and audio buzz, which is to be expected, in the product. I’m glad some of the celluloid feel is kept, while the frame rate is increased.

Anyone who collected these older works from one medium to another over the years knows the challenges involved. Whether that’d be from VHS to DVD to Bluray and now 4K, there’s only so much the preservation team can do before putting the original negatives back in the vault. Dracula will be glad, and The Invisible Man can rest in peace.

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