Playing With Horror, Cow Trauma, Space Toilet

When I was a foundling, the popular games of my day were “Spin The Bottle Rocket”, “Watching Paint Dry” and the gripping, “Chase A Parked Car”. But today’s kids are more sophisticated and need games that not only entertain, but engage the impatient mind as well. And game maker Steven Rhodes has just the thing for picky little brats who will never know the elation of playing “Rats In My Pants”.

From Cryptozoic Entertainment’s website: “From the mind of Steven Rhodes, a graphic artist and illustrator best known for his offbeat re-imagining of children’s activity books from the ’70s and ’80s, these three games immerse you in these hilariously dark retro worlds.”

“In Let’s Summon Demons, only the savviest (and luckiest!) player — the best Demon Summoner — will walk away a winner! In Don’t Talk to Strangers, navigate your kids from school and score as many points as you can before the neighborhood is completely overrun by otherworldly strangers!”

The best of the bunch is Let’s Call The Exorcist: “Dad has brought home a collection of rare artifacts from his latest excavation, and now pesky demons have possessed the children! The priest has devised a scavenger hunt to cleanse the house, but those dastardly devils won’t make it easy! Deduce your way to victory in this fast-paced game featuring secret roles and hidden cards. Reveal Holy and Cursed Artifacts, beneficial Blessings for instant points, and malevolent Mischief cards that mix things up!”

Individually, these games are $19.99 each (click here). But hey, why not go all in and get one of several sets of three for $59.97? I just ordered the set containing Cryptozoology for Beginners, Living Well Is the Best Revenge and the aforementioned Let’s Call The Exorcist. Can’t wait to let my friends watch me play ‘em.

While you replace your once treasured checkers with these new board games, here are a few upcoming horror/sci-fi movies that may or may not be as stimulating as strip chess…

SICK / January 13, 2023 (Peacock™)

“When the country locks down due to the pandemic, college student Parker and her best friend decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone — or so they think.”

Hope the slasher in the house keeps his face mask on, or else he might make the girls sick and die.

IN DREAMS / January 17, 2023 (Screambox™)

“A woman experiences a psychological spiral in the wake of her grandfather’s murder.”

I define a psychological spiral as watching the intestinal contents of an epic drinking binge swirl colorfully while being flushed. Wash all of life’s little problems down the drain. 

DAWNING / January 31, 2023 (VOD)

“A trauma therapist is forced to face her family’s darkest past when she returns to her childhood countryside farm to console her heartbroken younger sister.”

If I lived on a farm I’d need a trauma therapist, too. Those pink things dangling full on commando under a cow gives me recurring nightmares.

THE ARK / February 1, 2023 (SyFy™/Peacock™)

“The remaining crew of a spacecraft known as Ark One must become the best versions of themselves to stay on course and survive after experiencing a catastrophic event that caused massive destruction and loss of life.”

Catastrophic event — the space toilet got clogged and the wrongness overflowed all over the spacecraft. And they made a series out of this riveting storyline. Can’t wait for Season #2. Heh.

El Chupacabra vs. The Law

Jack B. Quick is a space sheriff, whose job on Earth, is to eliminate that pesky sucker of goats, the legendary Chupacabra. He’ll have his Jack hands full; this Chupacabra is six-feet tall, looks like a cross between a seafood platter entree and Japanese pro wrestler, and is actually the presumably housebroken pet of Lord Invader.

Sent by the Queen Bee and King Allmedia (are you groaning out loud yet?), Jack has to be Quick around the Chupacabra in order to not get his goat blood sucked or admonished by the Queen, whose shirt stuffers are metaphorically the size of orbiting planets.

Jack chases Chupacabra around in his spacecraft, an early model Plymouth. To assist in his quest, he packs a shotgun (easily purchased throughout the galaxy). He also has to slap Lord Invader upside the head for letting his pet go outside his interstellar front yard. And if all of this doesn’t leave you gasping for logic, rocket ranger Dan Danger (now would be another good time to groan audibly) shows up to verbally walk us through this land mine-ridden story line. If Jack B. Quick succeeds, he’ll be knighted. If not, food stamps.

Working on a budget so low, the actors themselves paid for it (in more ways than one). Guns of El Chupacabra (1997) is a sci-fi comedy with a half-decent monster costume, wincing dialogue/references, and Julie Strain, who I would pay to just see stand there for 90 or so minutes.

200 Year-Old Monsters, Unfriended Bigfoot, Women Horror

Classic horror fans already know this Mary Shelley, the author/creator of the immortal Frankenstein was 20 years old when the book was published on January 1, 1818. That’s, like a million years ago! (Okay, more like 200, but still…)

To commemorate, Rockport Publisher’s Classics Reimagined series presents Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: The 200th Anniversary Edition, releasing on January 16, 2018. From the press release: “With detailed and evocative imagery, renowned artist David Plunkert takes readers on a dark journey into the greatest novel in the monster genre.”

“The 256-page hardcover book features an 8-page vellum insert detailing the doctor’s designs, and a stunning, full bleed, double gatefold image of the monster. Finished with printed endpapers and painted book block, this masterpiece volume is perfect for book lovers and art lovers alike. The Classics Reimagined series is a library of stunning collector’s editions of unabridged classic novels illustrated by contemporary artists from around the world. Each artist offers his or her own unique, visual interpretation of the most well-loved, widely read, and avidly collected literature from renowned authors.”

I read the book a million years ago before I could afford a TV. But if you’re like me and have a semi-functioning television portal leading to multiple universes, here are a few now available horror/sci-fi movies that may or may not make you wanna take up reading…

BIGFOOT COUNTRY (available now/VOD)
“Some say Bigfoot is just a hoax but when a group of hikers go deep into the woods after being warned by a guide that has encountered a Sasquatch, they decide to ignore him and go off trail, but the deeper the go into the woods they realize that they are not alone. Becoming hysterical as night falls, the group is terrorized to their core and accidentally shoots and wounds a Sasquatch. Legend says the Bigfoot species simply want to be left alone but when provoked, they will protect their territory and in this case the damage has been done and there is no turning back.”

You encountered and then decided to ignore Bigfoot and then later shot him? What’s next — unfriending him on Facebook™? Hikers can be so socially cruel.

DEATH ISLAND: PARANORMAL RETRIBUTION (available now/VOD)
“A team of supernatural researchers set out to shoot a documentary about hikers who vanished on a remote and desolate island in the Great Lakes, an island whose only inhabitants are 3,500 Native American graves. Despite repeated warnings from locals, they provoke the spirits of the dead and find themselves stranded and trapped in a vortex of paranormal retribution.”

3,500 graves on one island? That leaves very little room for a paranormal resort hotel and casino. I bet they have priests instead of parking valets — just in case you park on one of the graves. (They should really mark ‘em better — and not with yellow paint, which can easily be mistaken for a parking spot.)

7 FROM ETHERIA (available now/VOD)
“Etheria is the world’s most respected showcase of the best new horror, comedy, science fiction, fantasy, action, and thriller films made by emerging women directors. Terrifying home invasions, unexpected carjackings, and hilarious jelly wrestling are just the start: before you’re through watching this anthology, you’ll visit a Tasmanian penal colony in 1829, prove Kurt Gödel’s time-travel theorem, be victimized by strange alien substances, and dare to venture out into a devastated nuclear wasteland.”

They had me at jelly wrestling. 2018 is the Year of the Woman, so best to rent this and when it comes to the ladies, best to keep our male yaps shut for once — unless when asking them to buy you a refreshing adult beverage without conditions.

MAGELLAN (available now/VOD)
“When NASA picks up three signals of extraterrestrial origin coming from within our own solar system, the space agency expedites a mission to investigate the sources. As Earth’s lone emissary, they send Commander Roger Nelson, the test pilot for an experimental spacecraft called the Magellan, assisted by an onboard A.I. named Ferdinand.”

So a robot and an astronaut walk into a solar system. Sounds like a set-up of a great joke, the punchline being that  they end up picking up the bar tab for the aliens. Why else would they signal us? Earth suckers.

Independent Aliens

If you’re an older sci-fi fan, you no doubt watched the patriotic UFO invasion mega blockbuster, Independence Day (1996). If you’re younger and/or have not seen it, read as though your life depended on it. Or not.

An alien spacecraft 1/4 the size of the moon is headed our way. Hard to miss. The mothership spits out a few dozen “smaller” ships 15 miles across. The ships strategically position themselves over high value targets like Washington, D.C. and Hollywood, with the intent to dead kill us all with devastating beams of doom.

Before the military can respond in kind, the aliens have turned major cities all over the world into urban fire pits. Our weapons are as useless as non-alcoholic beer, with the aliens launching even smaller UFOs to further rub our faces in it.

A highly-believable plan is devised: fly the recovered UFO that double-parked in Roswell, NM in 1947 (kept in storage), into space, dock with the mothership, upload a computer virus that renders the alien’s deflecto shields inoperable, (all the while hoping an Apple™ computer can seamlessly interface with alien technology), deliver a nuclear device as a last “f*ck you,” then undock and fly home in 30 seconds without getting blown up. This all sounds like a booze dream I once had.

The alien’s arrival is stunning, as is the air combat scenes and the blowing up of entire cities. Where it slows down is with three love stories interwoven into the plot. But hey, if we didn’t have the love angle, all we’d be left with is exciting extraterrestrial action, flying saucers, bombs, and the blowing up of cities.

Still, Independence Day is one of the better alien invasion/love story movies out there.

Extraterrestrial Hooptie

Two trailers and four international ad posters were just released to honk the marketing horn on the upcoming big-budget sci-fi alien invasion movie, Arrival (November 11, 2016). I’m giddy in anticipation, although a bit disappointed in the Uber™ the extraterrestrials use to get to this toilet Earth.

Not resembling what we’re used to seeing as a UFO, this spacecraft looks like a giant black potato chip, possible a Pringle™. Or is it Queen Kong’s diaphragm? Or Godzilla’s heel pad to help relieve his nagging plantar fasciitis, a painful condition a result of decades of stepping on sharp edged buildings/screaming citizens? Or perhaps one of those Julep Konjac Cleansing Sponges™ you can get on QVC.com for $12?

While you mull these propositions, here’s what Arrival wants us to buy into…

“When mysterious spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team – led by expert linguist Louise Banks – is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers – and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life and quite possibly humanity.”

Man, that’s a weak press blurb. How can you address the arrival of aliens without even once mentioning probing? I think the movie’s marketing team needs to do a bit more homework. I suggest starting in the locker room of the YMCA.

As alien spacecraft go, I’m voting for the one in District 9 (2009). Man, I’d trade my car for one of those sweet rides.

Mammoth Mammaries

Can’t blame rich socialite Nancy Archer for being so upset over her philandering husband’s ways, that she almost runs her speeding car into a recently landed UFO with a giant alien in it.

At first, no one believed Nancy’s story about the spacecraft. Harry – her husband whose been hanging out at the local bar with the sexilicious Honey Parker – used this to his strategic advantage, given that Nancy has a pronounced drinking problem, is prone to hysterical mood swings, has a jealous streak as wide as an airport runway, and was recently under the care of a mental health facility. In other words, a normal chick.

Harry figures if he can get Nancy’s ball of yarn to further unwind, he can have her re-committed, thereby putting him in charge of all that sweet dough, and then go get some Honey on his stinger.

Nancy’s encounter with the extra-extra-extra-large alien eventually causes the mentally distraught woman to grow to the size of two telephone poles stacked on each other. When Nancy super-sizes herself, all of her mental issues balloon proportionately.

While I can buy the science fact behind alien encounters whose space radiation makes normal Earth people exponentially expand, I call party foul on making the clothes grow. So the 50-foot tall Nancy, in a tight bikini top and mini-skirt, goes after her husband, yelling “Harry!” loud enough to shake the surrounding buildings.

Once Nancy locates Harry and Honey (at the bar, of course), she becomes the ultimate party crasher, and brings the roof down. In all, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman (1958) is a simple but entertaining love story with a smidge of radioactivity, a giant extraterrestrial, a shameless hussy, and some all-purpose booze.

LOL Horror & Sci-Fi

Three new horror hopeful hits headed in this general direction. There’s probably more movies coming out, but I need to spend the day combing my hair YET AGAIN, so three is all you get from me on this 23rd day of the third month of the year 2016.

First up is The Snarling. Cool title. It could be in reference to anything from a werewolf or mad raccoon, to a bitter bear or my neighbor lady whose facial muscles are botoxed to the point she looks like her stretched skin is gonna pop.

Anyway, here’s the skinny on The Snarling, already screened in the U.K., but not here. I don’t know why: “When a cursed new horror film is being made in their village, locals Les, Mike and Bob see their chance to cash in and get famous. As the local Detective Inspector and his hapless sergeant Haskins eventually trace a link in recent bloody mutilations to the film, the race is on to stop the killings before our local heroes get caught up in the real blood and guts.”

Bloody mutilations is an oxymoron.

Next up is First Man on Mars, a spoof on The Martian (2015). In this one the send a guy to Mars, but he comes back infected with space gunk, turning him into a “crazed, savage monster with an unquenchable thirst for human flesh.”

Here’s the splashdown on First Man on Mars (release pending 2016): “In 2003 billionaire astronaut Eli Cologne began his journey through space to become the first man on Mars, but something went horribly wrong. The space craft crashed undetected in a remote part of Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, and he’s been hunting both human and animal prey in the swamps for years. For small town sheriff Dick Ruffman, it’s a race against time to find the man-turned-monster before he kills again in this horrifying and hilarious satire of low budget drive-in grindhouse creature features from the 1970s.”

Crazed, savage monster with an unquenchable thirst for human flesh is an oxymoron.

Lastly, the brilliantly punned Australiens (releasing June 14, 2016) is a comedic take on an alien invasion set in the Land of Roo: “An extraterrestrial armada launches a nationwide assault on Australia. Seems the other nations of the world are far too insulted by their exclusion from the attack to come to Australia’s aid. Car-chasing spaceships, martial-arts aliens, giant killer robots and more.”

Australia doesn’t need our help – they have tasty beers. And you can never lose when you have tasty beers.