Extraterrestrially Inebriated, Social Media Monstrosity, Space Spouse

On July 8, 2023, we celebrate the 76th anniversary of America’s most famous UFO story: The Roswell Incident. That’s when in 1947, rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel discovered wreckage from an illegally parked flying saucer on his remote ranch just outside of the municipality of Conspiracyville, or “Corona, NM.” (Note to purists: Mac actually found the extraterrestrial debris field on July 6, but his mechanical horse ran out of petrol coming into town to report it.)

Since that time, one billion million UFO sightings have been reported, some even sober. That’s right — according to the National UFO Reporting Center™ (located in Washington State, where I live and see alien spacecraft ALL THE TIME), statistics suggest these reports are made by…drunk people. According to The Economist, “The National UFO Reporting Center receives tens of thousands reported sightings of UFOs, with the majority happening on Fridays, in the West, and during…drinking hours.” (See official-looking graph.)

In an article in The Atlantic, journalist Derek Thompson presents his theories: “Utah, the state with the lowest beer consumption by far, has a higher share of UFO sitings than North Carolina, the state with the highest beer consumption. Washington, the state where you’re most likely to report a UFO, drinks less alcohol than all but six states. It’s plausible that people don’t see UFOs while they’re working or sleeping because they’re working indoors and completely unconscious.”

So while we crack six or more tall boys and stumble outside during prime time UFO viewing hours and submit our Happy Hour sightings at the top of our lungs to the NURC™, here are a few upcoming horror/sci-movies that may or may not be made better by drinking…

MEAN SPIRITED February 27, 2023 (VOD)

“After receiving an invitation to his estranged friend’s mountain cottage, a wannabe vlogger aims to bury the hatchet with their now-celebrity friend who isn’t quite himself anymore.”

Social Media Horror [ soh-shuhl mee-dee-uh hawr-er ] / noun, stu·pid·er, stu·pid·est. Tediously dull, especially due to lack of meaning or sense; inane; pointless; annoying or irritating.

STATIC CODES / June 1, 2023 (VOD)

“A man’s wife was abducted by aliens 10 years ago during a car accident which left him paralyzed from the waist down. Given up on life, he has become consumed with only one mission: finding his wife.”

Why?

THE HOUSE AMONG TREES / Release pending 2023 (VOD)

“A hybrid of modern crime fiction and classic horror story, The House Among The Trees follows three low-level burglars who accidentally uncover a small town’s dark secrets after breaking into a secluded house.”

All small towns have dark secrets, some darker than others. For instance, the dark secret in my small town is…ME.

THE GRANDMOTHER / Release pending 2023 (VOD)

“Susana must leave her life working as a model in Paris and return home to Madrid after she learns that her grandmother Pilar — who raised her as her own after her parents died — has had a cerebral hemorrhage. Upon returning home, Susana attempts to find a long-term caretaker for Pilar, but what should be just a few days ends up becoming a genuine nightmare after Susana notices Pilar start to act strangely.”

If I needed a caregiver, I’d want it to be a Parisian supermodel. That would make me hemorrhage…but not in the cerebellum.

Witch Whisky, Cash For Killers, Sheriff Wendigo

Cask 88™ is globally known for their pursuit and curation of rare and old whisky, or “fancy fun juice.” Adding to their impressive catalog comes their Scottish Witchcraft Series: Daemonologie™. I can’t spell that, but can certainly drink it.

Here’s their marketing pitch: “Introducing the second release in a new series that is taking whisky collections to another world – one with a darker side. The latest bottle in the Scottish Witchcraft Series goes back in time to offer artistic illustrations based on the book of the Daemonologie written by King James VI. Our modern conceptions of witches owe much to what was written this book, assisted by Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Macbeth, whose depictions of witchcraft are drawn directly from Daemonologie. Don’t miss your chance to own another of the most feared whisky releases of all time, order today.”

A bottle of their witch whisky, which glows in the dark (the bottle and you after drinking it), goes for a shot glass-breaking $108.69 + tax + $38.78 standard shipping. Spooky — watch your money disappear.

So while you’re weighing rent money on this rare bourbon versus $23.99 for Budweiser, 30 pk (12 oz. cans), here are few upcoming horror movies that may or may not take 10 years to ferment…

MISSING / November 4, 2022 (Theaters) / November, 28, 2022 (VOD)

“Depressed and in debt following the death of his wife, Santoshi tells his young daughter Kaeda he’s found a way out. Pointing to a reward note, he vows to find the infamous serial killer ‘No Name’ and cash in, claiming to have seen the man in the flesh a few days earlier. Kaeda cannot take her aloof father seriously.”

A serial killer named “No Name.” There’s marketing for you. So what is a serial killer bounty worth? $1.99 + tax.  

FRIENDSHIP GAME / November 11, 2022 (VOD)

“A group of teens come across a strange object that tests their loyalties to each other and has increasingly destructive consequences the deeper into the game they go.”

In my day this was called “Spin the Bottle.” Had different rules, though — instead of donkey smooching the person the bottle pointed to, you had to drink whatever was in the bottle. Yeah, I totally rigged the game.

ASTONISHING TALES OF TERROR: ROCKTAPUSSY/ September 27, 2022 (Canada), 2022/2023 (US)

“Astonishing Tales of Terror follows a group of everyday heroes after they unwittingly awaken an ancient monster. When an intrepid reporter bumps into a down-on-his-luck miner, the duo join a rag-tag bunch of survivors as they attempt to fend off mind-controlled zombies, possessed medieval knights, and a gigantic demonic demigod: The Rocktapus!”

This Rocktapus you speak of — I wish to audition for his band. How many guitar solos do you want me to do — eight? Is it eight?

THE WENDIGO / Pending release, 2022

A malevolent Algonquian spirit resides in the wilderness of Northeastern America. Described as a stag-headed beast with hooves and antlers, the creature possesses hapless souls who break certain taboos. After a social media star disappears in the woods of North Carolina, his friends are set to figure out what happened to him. Ignoring the legend of the cursed land was their first mistake.”

I’ve broken so many taboos, it’d take two or more duly deputized Wendigos to bring me to justice. Warning to Wendigos: I will not go gentle into that good night.

Bad Ghost Parenting

Dana Barrow, an architect, is suffering from severe mental goon-out after her market-fresh daughter died. So she moves out of Brooklyn with her not-dead 5-year-old son and husband David (I forget what his last name is) into the aptly named Blacker Estate in backwoods North Carolina. Good luck finding a decent taco truck there. The Blacker Estate, while previously full of mansion-y grandeur and tragedy back in the 19th Century, has sat for decades, abandoned, if you will. Something to do with the death of its owners.

Doesn’t take long before Dana, already dealing with more than a few burnt out bulbs on the ’ol mental marquee, starts “seeing” things, like a her son Lucas soaked in blood and a German Shepherd dog that may or may not bark with a foreign accent. Then she sees a light in the attic. Since they haven’t been up there and the door is perma-locked, it can only mean one thing — there’s a ghost squatting, rent-free.

She checks the house blueprints and sees no indication of that room even being there. Scooby Doo-ing the crap out of this mystery, she finds the entrance to the ghost room blocked by an armoire, or “big ass cabinet.” She cleverly finds the key, goes in and gets psyched by visions of a young girl being parentally bullied. This causes Dana further reality-functioning failure.

After shaking off the burn, she does some research and discovers the house was owned by Judge Ernest Blacker, and that his daughter Laurie died the same day as Dana’s daughter. You can see where this is going. The Judge used the attic as a “disappoints room,” a place where money-flush socialites hid away their children who were born with deformities/abnormalities. (Yes, the parents were Republicans.)

Dana stops taking her meds and soon has more icky visions. Then a grave with Laura’s deformed body is discovered by the handyman. The Judge manifests, clobbers him with a shovel (all ghosts pack garden tools) and leaves him hanging from a tree. Dana then notices the light again in the attic, not smartly goes back up there, and “sees” visions of the Judge murdering his handicapped daughter with a hammer. I don’t care which side of the Law you stand — this was not cool.

The ghost of Judge Blacker moves on Dana’s son, but she grabs the tool and decides its hammer time. David arrives to see Dana bashing the memories out of her son’s memory foam bed. Thankfully, no one was in it at the time…or was there?

Things finally come to a boil that is Dana’s saucepan head, and the secret to her mental throw-downs are revealed — and it has less to do with the Judge and more to do with her daughter’s death. Pretty harsh.

In all The Disappointments Room (2016), based on real things our not-so great grandfathers/mothers did for the sake of staying in high society’s haughty graces, is thematically ugly, but lacking any real scares. (Ghosts with hammers — yawn.) Still, the twist at the end will stick in your mouth like polter-peanut butter.

Lake Monsters, Killer Snowmen, Hometown Exorcisms

Lots of reports of fresh sightings of the Lake Norman Monster (his name is “Normie”). Located in North Carolina, Normie’s been gooning out tourists by flashing his hump lately in public. While sightings go back 50 years, some think the creature is  a giant catfish, others an actual leftover from the prehistoric era. I’m theorizing it’s a Loch Ness monster shaped log someone threw in the lake. (Okay, it was me. Are you happy?)

Lake Norman is just under 20 miles from Uptown Charlotte. I know her; she’s kind of a floozy. If you go on LakeNormanMonster.com, there isn’t much in the way of compelling photographic evidence (mostly testimonies from drunk fishermen), but a virtual roadside stand of Normie books, posters, art, T-shirts and coffee mugs. I’ll give this to North Carolina — they know how to market a the snot out of this “creature” whose “sightings” are the stuff of tourist dollar dreams.

So is there an actual lake monster living in a North American lake that people swim, fish and pee in? With no physical evidence whatsoever, all signs still point to yes. And speaking of things you might want to keep an eye out for, here are a few upcoming horror and sci-fi movies/TV series that are more or less proven to exist…

TEMPLE (September 1, 2017)
“Three Americans on a trip to Japan are fascinated by a haunted temple, and, despite warnings from the villagers, decide to spend a night there.”

That’s Americans for you, never listening to anybody else other than the voices that come from the bottle you have a death grip on. Heck, show me a haunted temple/house/condo/dive bar and get out of my way. But know this — I won’t go all the way to Japan to party in a ghost-filled temple. Too expensive and I’d probably end up sitting next to a spirit of a coach class traveler the whole way there and back. The flick sounds fun, though it’ll probably look a LOT like one of my home movies.

THE EXORCIST SEASON 2 (Friday, September 29, 2017)
“Across the Atlantic, Father Bennett attempts to weed out those within the Vatican who have turned against God. Ultimately, Tomas and Marcus are led to Andrew Kim, a former child psychologist who runs a group home for five at-risk foster children on a secluded private island off the coast of Seattle. When one of the children under Andrew’s care is targeted by a powerful force, the two priests head west, setting themselves on a collision course with Hell.”

Two things: Watched season one and was blindsided with the story’s sweet twist. Secondly, season two takes place on a private island off the coast of Seattle? Well, double sweet, as the Emerald City is where I dwell. However, I do take issue with the “private island off the coast of Seattle” part; there is no such thing. There is, though, Vashon, Bainbridge and Whidbey islands, all of which are wide open to the stinky public and are only short ferry/paddle boat rides to go stink up the place. There’s a bunch of small islands (San Juans, Camano) within seagull reach. Maybe it’s one of those damned places. Heh.

THE SNOWMAN (October 20, 2017)
“When an elite crime squad’s lead detective investigates the disappearance of a victim on the first snow of winter, he fears an elusive serial killer may be active again. With the help of a brilliant recruit, the cop must connect decades-old cold cases to the brutal new one if he hopes to outwit this unthinkable evil before the next snowfall.”

Total stock serial killer plot, but with one exception — Michael Fassbender is the lead detective. He was Magneto in a couple X-Men movies and the android David/Walter in Alien: Covenant (2017). Also — and this is no joke — his character’s name in this one is Harry Hole. (I can’t even type that without LOL-ing.) But it’s true. You can’t make up stuff like this. Okay, I could. But no one else.

CHARISMATA (2017/2018)
“As a rookie detective struggling to find acceptance in a police department defined by a culture of bullying and intolerance, things go from bad to worse when the chief suspect in a series of brutal ritualistic murders takes a personal interest in her. A game of cat and mouse ensues which sees Rebecca’s grasp on reality beginning to spiral out of control, leading to a terrifying climax where she needs to fight for her sanity, her life and maybe even her soul.”

Maybe her soul? C’mon — make that part happen. No one cares about anybody’s sanity anymore as we’re all pretty much insane (except me). But when you throw a soul into the spiked punch bowl, then it’s time to grab a cup and start bailin’ like the darn thing sprung a leak. I do like the movie’s title — sounds like a freshly showered/powdered stripper or an ‘80s superheroine whose costume is nothing but stain-resistant spandex.

Horror Clowns, Black Superheroes, Meaty Godzilla

Every month they change the fresh sheet at JaK’s my fav steakhouse of all time and space. (My accountant looked at my receipts and asked if I owned stock in the place. By now I should.)

June’s fresh sheet came out and right there in print was the…Rib-Eye Godzilla. This is no joke — and get this, it comes with a side order of screaming citizens! (Okay, that part was a joke.) Wonder if it comes with an order of Tokyo? Regardless, you now know what I’ll be eating for the next 30 days,

Speaking of tasty, here’s some upcoming horror and sci-fi that may or may not satisfy your city-crushing hunger…

BEHIND THE SIGHTINGS (October 2017)
“Based on over 112 hours of footage recovered from the personal belongings of aspiring filmmakers Todd and Jessica Smith. The husband and wife filmmaking duo were investigating the 2016 creepy clown sighting epidemic. The first clown sightings occurred in August 2016 in Greenville, South Carolina. Authorities were alerted to reports by neighborhood kids stating that creepy clowns were appearing in the woods near an apartment complex. The clown sightings spread to all 50 states and across Europe. Todd and Jessica were attempting to track down clown sighting witnesses and the clowns involved in a rash of creepy clown sightings that plagued an eastern North Carolina community.”

A little late on the clown sighting social phenomenon, which I though was a clever promo for the new It (2017) movie. The funny part here is that people who took part in the clown sightings were in fact already clown themselves. Think this goes in the “already seen it” file, which is right next to the “stupid dumbasses” folder.

MIDNIGHTERS (2017/2018)
“Midnight, New Year’s Eve: when all the hopes of new beginnings come to life — except for Lindsey and Jeff Pittman, whose strained marriage faces the ultimate test after they cover up a terrible crime and find themselves entangled in a Hitchcockian web of deceit and madness.”

Hitchcockian web? Hitchcock was a spider? Now his movies all of a sudden make sense.

BLACK PANTHER (February 16, 2018)
“Black Panther springs into action when an old enemy threatens the fate of his nation and the world.”

Marvel’s Black Panther was a hugely welcome debut in Captain America: Civil War (2016). That cat had some sleek moves. So it’s with some sort of glee I’m looking forward to an entire movie devoted to his sleek moves. Of course, African-American superheroes have been around for some time, but not nearly as much as their counterparts. For a recent example watch Luke Cage (Netflix). He also hooked up with Jessica Jones in her TV series. Lucky guy. Off the top ‘o my noggin is Hancock (Will Smith) Storm (Halle Berry) Spawn (1977) and yep, I’ll through in Asgard’s Heimdall (Idris Elba). But if you wanna go really obscure, try The First Black Superman, released back in 1977 when hippies ran free and personal hygiene was dubious at best. Fun watching how your parents acted when they were young and stupid.

ANGEL (pending crowd-funding)
When a brutal massacre plagued the isolated and peaceful town of Raven Rock in 1986, the remaining residents fled, leaving the once tranquil community behind. For thirty years the town has been chained and walled off from the outside world while deteriorating and crumbling. However not all has been quiet as disappearances have been attributed to the supposedly haunted town. Now a headstrong journalist and her team venture to Raven Rock to investigate the town, its history, and the missing persons. What they will discover is sometimes the truth is more disturbing than myth and Raven Rock is still being occupied.”

Sounds like a direct lift of 2006’s Silent Hill. That one had really cool weirdo monsters in the abandoned town. Ghosts, too. You’d think that be a tourist attraction instead of, say, a Ferris Wheel run amok. And don’t get me started on that possessed Tilt-a-Whirl, the only amusement park ride that makes you pay to reverse vomit.