From Batman to Beetlejuice, Michael Keaton has played them all…and if there’s one movie sequel that he’s wanted to make, it’s been of The Ghost With The Most. Well, in September our long wait will be over with Beetlejuice 2 due to arrive! Our favorite bio-exorcist will again thank heavens be played by Michael Keaton, who after 35 years can probably play the role with less makeup.- -Yes, Beetlejuice will finally be back, and “more juicier than ever!”I’m in…
In the sequel which acknowledges the passage of time, the goth girl Lydia from the original movie has grown up, and had children of her own. Jenna Ortega, titular character from the Netflix series Wednesday has been brilliantly cast to play the daughter, which should be right up her alley.
In Beetlejuice 2, we will again return to the strangely bureaucratic world of the afterlife, although plot details have been few and are tightly under wraps. Presumably we’ll get to hear more of Harry Bellafonte’s Calypso music score. There has been reference made not only to Lydia’s daughter, however, but also to Beetlejuice’s WIFE, so we know that Beetlejuice is truly a soul in hell…
I’m really looking forward to revisiting the dark and at times grotesque world of this fantasy/horror/comedy, and can’t wait to hear Beetlejuice once more announce, “It’s showtime!”
Stop-motion animation has progressed a lot since the days of the 1960’s Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, and The House on Netflix, like Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, illustrates this beautifully! The House is a trio of stories loosely centered around a house occupied by different parties, the house itself seemingly morphing in both size and location. Presenting as kind of a surreal, seductive nightmare, The House at times is quite charming before luring us into disturbing reality violations and explorations of themes like frustrated ambitions and appearances versus realities.
The first family to inhabit the house are human, and are rather whimsical, Muppet-appearing creatures, with something quite British about them. Living a happy but lackluster lower middle-class existence, they essentially buy into the plans of a mad architect to live in a house he builds for them, ultimately falling prey to their own greed and ignorance.Nothing is as it appears to be in The House…
Segments two and three involve anthropomorphic animals in the house, with the second chapter detailing a kind of rat real estate agent who tries to sell the house while battling the bugs that infest it. There is a musical song and dance extravaganza involving the “fur beetles,” the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the dancing cockroaches of the movie-version of Cats. It’s utterly nauseating, but you can’t look away from it, either. Horror mesmerizes…
Segment three, my personal favorite, is for the felines, with hard-working calico cat Rosa seeking to convert the house into rental units, dealing with constant setbacks and non-paying tenants. One of her renters tries to pay Rosa with a fish, whereas the other, a very new-age type of cat, offers a crystal in lieu of rent. Eventually the property is flood-inundated, and Rosa must join her tenants in a makeshift flotilla of boats, some crafted from timbers of the house. This actually represents a kind of liberation from the entrapments of possessions and materialism. The cats really don’t know what lies ahead, but really, do any of us?
Although heavy on anthropomorphic animals, The House is adult animation, not for children who might find its contents disturbing. Although it’s cute and cozy at times, The House has horrific elements, and kind of sneaks up on you at times. The best subtle horror can do that. The House will make you think, but you wouldn’t want to live within its walls, because it’s a stop-motion nightmare…
Many will talk about love this Valentine’s Day. Here, we will talk about werewolves!Kissing don’t last, bitemarks do…
I’ll have to admit that I was initially put off this film by its title of Viking Wolf, as well as by its premise that the werewolf in question was a 17-year-old girl. I didn’t want to see some dreadful teenage first date movie, or see my beloved werewolf horror subgenre messed with. Happily, I got around my reservations to find that Viking Wolf was worthy werewolf horror, and bites in a good way…
Now as for the Vikings, it seems Iike in 1050 they raided a monastery, cutting down the hapless monks who implored them not to break into a sealed room wherein resided the hound of hell, embodied as a wolf pup. Vikings like wolves, so they took junior on their ship back with them, which was a big mistake as he slaughtered them all on route, and established the werewolf bloodline in Norway.
Then almost a thousand years later, big city girl Thale transplanted to a small town with her police officer mother goes to a teen party in the woods where the werewolf bloodline member active selects dinner from the partygoers, and Thale gets ashoulder wound in the fracas…uh oh! She becomes increasingly wolfy and out of control, leading to memorable moments like the slaughter of a bus load of passengers when the moon triggers the transformation of Thale riding on the bus. Bless her heart, she wolfs out while still wearing her hoodie!
Well, it takes a grizzled old werewolf hunter missing an arm to get Mom to realize that her daughter is hopelessly a werewolf, and that a silver bullet is the only remedy for the “infection.”- – Talk about tough love!
Some people have called this “the best werewolf movie that they’ve ever seen,” but I wouldn’t go that far although the film is worthy of the traditions it invokes, tweaking them in an innovative way. The film does drag a bit in its earlier parts, and the werewolf design is less humanoid than what I like to see. This is basically a big, mangy wolf. There are missed cinematic opportunities, possibly due to time and budget restraints. We don’t get to see the actual blitz on the bus, for example, but only its aftermath. Still, this is a serious, well-acted and suspenseful film that shows us that the female can be the deadlier of the species…ARROO! RAWRR! 🐺
(…and Happy Valentine’s Day to all you young suckers in lovefrom the resident fox anthro!)
Not everyone is a fan of the CloverVerse, but Cloverfield has been called the best Godzilla-type movie done by Hollywood. The original 2008 Cloverfield movie was commercially successful, although in my case it was an acquired taste due to the “found footage” format of the film as filmed by the shell-shocked, ground-level perspective of the young people who attempted to survive a monstrous attack.
10 Cloverfield Lane from 2016 was a different kind of offshoot of the franchise, anchored by the star power and acting of John Goodman, and set in the paranoid and claustrophobic setting of an isolated survivalist rather than in the big city. We did get to see some actual aliens in the closing segments of the film, and they were worth waiting for, having advanced technology and biomechanical ships…
Then there was 2018’s The Cloverfield Paradox, a muddled and confusing installment set on an orbiting space station where an international team of scientists attempted to solve Earth’s critical energy crisis using a particle accelerator but unintentionally opening a rift in space to an alternative dimension from which flowed monsters to our reality. Rifts in space…where would science fiction tales be without them?! This device however explains how Earth received the Cloverfield monster (code name, “Clover”) in the first place, and so is a necessary link in the CloverVerse. As the sole surviving scientist returns to Earth, the enormous monster is already here, and rears its hideous head into the heavens, roaring in the last moment of the film. The Cloverfield Paradox was relegated almost immediately to Netflix, and may largely be seen only there today…
There is little that is presently known about the next planned Cloverfield movie, other than that it intends to be a direct sequel to the 2008 original, and may pick up from where the creature, having thoroughly trashed New York, has survived a tactical nuke. Reportedly the “found footage” viewpoint of the original film will be abandoned, so the monster won’t be shown just in fleeting partial glimpses again. Rumors are rampant; we may see the whole of human civilization plagued by multiple monsters, or perhaps a new creature will be introduced to fight against the original. Kaiju type films have been known to do those kinds of things, and it should provide a fine spectacle in any case… RAWRRR! 🙀
I hope that you’ll indulge me one more time if I expand my previous post to elaborate a bit on Wednesday Addams’ catsuit as she memorably wore it in team competition during the Netflix series. The catsuit is leather-like, pieced-together, and evocative of that worn by Edward Scissorhands in the Tim Burton movie of the same name. Wednesday wears it well, Murrr! Sorry, she’s bringing out the feral in me…
Copies of the outfit are presently selling briskly! Actress Jenna Ortega had to request that the outfit be modified to allow for…err, bodily functions, as originally there was no provision for that in the suit’s design. Once you were in the catsuit, you were in it for the day’s filming…
And in addition to gravedigging, performing autopsies, and staring uncomfortably, Wednesday enjoys dancing, performing this memorable turn in the series as seen below. I’ve heard the dance compared to an elaborate mating dance by a Bird of Paradise. Notice the claw-like hand movements, and the “broken neck” pose at one point in the video. Wednesday gives us all freedom to be weird, and I appreciate her for that, even if she is a bit dead inside. I guess I’ve always had a “thing” for bad girls like Catwoman, Cheetah, and Wednesday. Yeah, I know that good girls go to heaven, but bad ones go everywhere, and Wednesday will make her own way… 😸
(Now if Wednesday was an anthropomorphic fox performing her dance, you might have something like this…) 🦊
I’m sad to note that Lisa Loring, who portrayed the original Wednesday on the old 1960’s The Addams Family, has died of a stroke at the early age of 64. She assumed the role of Wednesday at the age of five, taking the character from the nameless little girl portrayed first by Charles Addams in his memorable cartoons.
Now prior to the classic TV show, Wednesday didn’t even have a name, prompting Charles Addams himself to name the character, drawing from the rhyme that “Wednesday’s child is full of woe.” Now the early Wednesday character wasn’t as much full of woe as she celebrated it, walking around the mansion with her headless dollthat was often identically attired as herself…
It was Christina Ricci who really made Wednesday Addams a breakout character in the two Addams Family movies, however. Her Wednesday was a dynamic, insurmountable force rich with the potential for almost infinite darkness. I really loved Ricci’s Wednesday, who was actually darker than her mother, Morticia.
Jenna Ortega is a worthy successor to the character in the Netflix series simply called, Wednesday. Having been thrown out of eight schools in five years, teenaged Wednesday is sent to Nevermore Academy, where she is depicted as being extremely bright, quite articulate, and of course, dark. She is also quite adept in fencing, archery, and the martial arts, plus plays dark pieces on the cello. Nevermore Academy itself is kind of like a darker version of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts, the student body consisting of vampires, werewolves, sirens, and those with extraordinary psychic abilities. Wednesday fits in there perfectly, and rises to the top of the crop. And yes, Thing is also well represented in the series as Wednesday’s defender and collaborator. Even Wednesday needs a hand sometimes…
Here is an image of the central Addams Family characters in the Tim Burton Wednesday Netflix series. I think that Gomez here actually comes closest to that character’s portrayal of him in the Charles Addams cartoons. Previous film versions were fun and memorable, but Gomez was simply too attractive, continental, and suave…
I’ve always felt that there’s been something a bit “off” about the character of Peter Pan. I mean, an ageless boy with elvish ears who can fly without wings, hangs out with “The Lost Boys” on an island called Neverland, and consorts with a fairy called Tinker Bell? Should we call the authorities now, or later?!
Well, the venerable 1911 children’s story by J.M. Barrie has now fallen into the public domain, and is going to get the same creative, horror-styled remake that Winnie the Pooh and Bambi have or will have coming to them. Peter Pan was always somewhat dark and sketchy, even in the original story. I mean, he practically kidnapped Wendy, and had broken into her house on a previous occasion in search of his shadow! Is that trippy, or what?! He almost killed the Darling children by forgetting to give them the pixie dust that conferred the powers of flight…
And don’t get me started on Tinker Bell! Sure, she looks innocent and cherubic, but she got jealous of the attention that Peter Pan was giving to Wendy, so much so that she might have done something. I think that Tink could be a real Prima Donna…
The Lost Boys are kinda interesting too, and very arguably furry. I mean, they are often depicted as in the image below, wearing fursuits, animal costumes to the uninitiated. Not great ones, to be sure, but fursuits nonetheless. According to the source material, the Lost Boys fell out of their prams while their Nannies were looking the other way in English places like Kensington Gardens. If unclaimed for a week, they were spirited off to Neverland to be with Peter Pan. There, they would fight with Peter Pan against pirates like Captain Hook. It was a good life, really, and you got to wear a fursuit. Pirates and a fursuit would have worked for me. Color me envious… *sighs* 🦊
So what can we expect out of the Neverland Nightmare as directed by Rhys Frake-Waterfield? It will be a very dark tale, like the Winnie the Pooh and upcoming Bambi adaptations. You know good ole Captain Hook, who supposedly lost a hand to a crocodile? Well, perhaps Peter Pan just might have cut that appendage off! I do so love “bedtime stories for childrenyou hate… “ 🙀
So while this Neverland Nightmare might give us Peter Pan as a mini-psychopath, things could get really interesting in 2024, when the character of Mickey Mouse will supposedly fall into the public domain. We do live in interesting times, ‘ya know…. and now, I’m wondering if Peter Pan Peanut Butter contains pixie dust. Should we call the FDA? Eating peanut butter has always been a natural high for me, as well as a guilty pleasure. Perhaps unintentionally consuming pixie dust is why I write this blog. And does pixie dust contain actual pixies?- – Urg, gagg! 🦊
If you’re tired of annually getting Xmas drummed into you from late October through New Year’s, you just might be in the right mood to appreciate The Mean One, a parody of Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Xmas. Tag line: “First he stole Xmas…now he’s back for BLOOD!”
Forget the Grinch being redeemed, this is the Dark Grinch, or as Stephen King might say it, “Full dark, no stars.” This is Krampus as opposed to St. Nicholas, the Grinch as horror movie Xmas slasher.
Forget Scrooge, who got all soft and wimped out on us. This Grinch means business. It seems that he killed little Cindy Lou-Hoo’s mother during the daughter’s encounter with him, and now twenty years later, she’s back like Sarah Conner after the Terminator with an accompanying skill set..
The Grinch always did seem to have horror star potential, but hey, as Kermit the Frog famously noted, “It isn’t easy being green.” There are leavening notes of dark humor in the premise and available trailer footage, because after all this is a parody and satirical in nature. Memorable lines by Cindy Lou-Hoo; “It’s time to roast this beast!,” and “You’re a dead one, Mr. Grinch!”
Just color me green with envy for this dark Grinch, with battle scenes against Santa figures reminiscent of ShapeshiftersAnonymous! Cindy’s weaponry includes an illuminated Walking Dead “Negan-esque” bat, and some kind of wonderful candy cane shotgun. So let’s all go on a slay-ride, everyone! 🦊
With October and spooky season here, it’s great to get into a Halloween-related post or two. I have to admit, however, that I was never a great fan of the 1960’s TV sitcom The Munsters, far preferring The Addams Family, which not only survived but thrived in its transition to movies, and brought us Wednesday Addams as a breakout character.
Now Rob Zombie absolutely loved The Munsters, and his film is a labor of love to them, described as a prequel that brings the characters of Herman and Lily together. Herman, a Frankenstein monster clone, is sewn together from body parts that include those of a bad comedian. Lily, a vampire, becomes romantically involved with the big guy much to the dismay of her vampiric father. This all becomes tiresome rather quickly, and the film is criticized as being overly-long and thin on plot.
Endeavoring to make a family-friendly horror movie is a difficult mission, and it tends to ultimately become more irksome than successful. The genres are not readily compatible, and the bright colors used in much of the film are hardly gothic. Filmmaker Rob Zombie is best known for far gorier cinematic fare, and he is rather out of his element here, even if he does love The Munsters. The characters here are all fish out of water, masquerading as everyday citizens whereas they are in reality stock-monster types. This plays better as a brief TV sitcom than it does as an extended movie where it gets wearisome.
From a furry perspective, I do like Lilly’s brother, Lester the Werewolf, portrayed here as an entrepreneurial werewolf who confidently makes really bad business decisions. Lester’s recessive genes are why Eddie Munster is a werewolf rather than a vampire or Frankenstein clone…
At any rate, diehard loyalists may find The Munsters a treat, whereas to many of us the movie is a pointless ordeal. Sometimes, dead television should be allowed to rest in peace…
Terror in the Woods isn’t a bad show, although it’s largely for entertainment value, with documentation sparse and scientific rigor non-existent. The episodes vary from ho-hum to compelling, and if you select the episodes of your viewing carefully, you may find them worthwhile and even compelling to watch…
Season 3, Episode 3 of the series first aired in September 2021, and it’s hard to resist the luring title of one segment, “I’m looking at a (bleeping) werewolf, and it’s trying to kill me!” Well, it turns out that the werewolf in question is kind of the Louisiana bayou variety, which stands about 7′ to 8′ tall, and has larger-than-human-like features with a wolf-like head. Known as a Rougarou, such shape-shifting creatures appear human if sickly in the daytime, reverting to a werewolf form at night with a thirst for blood. ..
Now there are as many ways to become a Rougarou as there are ways to spell it, with methods involving the classic bite to a witch’s spell. The cultural background of the creature is rich and diverse, originating from tales told by French Canadians in Louisiana to keep their kids in line, and out of the woods at night! – – Gotta keep the little buggers scared to get them compliant, ‘ya know!
While Rougarou have some commonalities with both vampires and traditional werewolves, they differ as well. They’re unbothered by silver bullets or religious artifacts, and to kill one usually requires decapitation and preferably burning or severe mutilation of the body.
In the series episode, a young guy hits on a strangely feral girl at the clothing store where he works, booking a date with her that evening. The hours pass but the girl never appears at the appointed site, so the guy plays basketball with other guys at the site for four hours before leaving with them at midnight when the court automatic lights go off. Hearing an unnatural noise behind them, the guys perceive something threatening and inhuman, and attempt to run away. One slips and falls, and the creature is upon him. Seeking to save their comrade, one of the others pulls a .38 from his pack and fires at the beast, because this is ‘Merica, after all! The presumed Rougarou is driven off but not killed, and the narrator of the tale suffers from nightmares thereafter…
So if you’re Louisiana-bound, enjoy some cool jazz and hot Cajun cookin’…but beware of the Rougarou, especially if you unknowingly arrange a date with one!
FOXSYLVANIA 
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