Horror Host Icon: Zombo

Posted on August 4, 2024 by bloodlinematt

For many Monster Kids something that was near and dear to them was getting home in time to catch their local Horror Host on TV, and better yet when that Host seemed like their friend who made them laugh to ease the scares of the film of the night. And for me watching the likes of The Creeper of Moraine Playhouse Theater or Dr. Creep of New Shock Theater (and so many more) while a thunderstorm raged outside are some of my favorite memories of watching TV when I was a kid. And for little Eddie Munster, that strange kid who lives in that rundown house on Mockingbird Lane, his favorite Horror Host was Zombo who hosted the show House Of Zombo! For this Horror Host Icon update, we will be taking a look at Zombo and have a quick look at this Horror Host that was part of the sitcom The Munsters from the 1960’s and who helped inspire a generation of Horror Hosts in just one TV appearance! So sit back and be ready to be chilled to the bone as we enter the House Of Zombo!

Zombo is the host of House Of Zombo that aired in the late afternoon, and he was a host who was filled with wise cracks, had a sinister look and hosted from his creepy home. Zombo is a pale faced warlock with massive hands and thick fingernails. He has dark circles around his eyes, a long nose with a wart, long white hair and teeth almost like a vampire. He also has a very iconic sounding laugh as well dresses like a vampire sometimes and other times like a demented wizard. His catch phrase is “You Kill Me”, and this phrase has been quoted by his fans for decades now and is also always on his autographs. Zombo connected with his viewers and made them not only laugh but also makes them feel like they are his friends. A truly talented and funny Horror Host who is Eddie Munster’s favorite Host and even his role model. Actor Louis Nye was Zombo and was a well loved comedic actor who had a very long career in film and TV and who is known for roles on such TV Shows as The Beverly Hillbillies, Needles An Pins, The Love Boat, Curb Your Enthusiasm and did voice work for cartoons like Inspector Gadget, Foofur and The Real Ghostbusters. Sadly Louis Nye would pass away at the age of 92 due to lung cancer in 2005. And in 2022, an uncredited actor played Zombo for the made for streaming film The Munsters that was directed by Rob Zombie.

Growing up, I was always a fan of The Munsters and can remember watching classic episodes on reruns on TBS as well as watching Grampa Munster host Super Scary Saturday who had Grampa hosting Horror and Sci-Fi films, as both where must see TV for me. And I mean let’s be honest, most Monster Kids had a crush of Lily Munster! So as you can see, this show and its characters have always been a big part of my life growing up and one of my favorite episodes of all time is “Zombo” as I have always been a fan of Horror Hosts and could understand why Eddie had a fondness for Zombo as growing up for me Commander USA was one of my favorite people on the planet and his show was something I had to watch. And I think what is really cool for Zombo is that he only made one appearance and only had a few moments on screen, but he made such a big impact and has truly inspired many to pursue becoming a Horror Host and that truly make him an Icon in my book. And let us not forget also that the character has inspired artwork as well as other Horror media showing just how impactful he was, and for some I am sure he also acted as a gateway to introduce some folks to Horror Hosting much like Count Floyd and Alister Cookie have as well. Say what you will about Zombo, but to me he really has made a big impact to the art of Horror Hosting.

So now we are at the point of this Horror Host Icon update that we take a look at the episodes I own and with Zombo we will be taking a look at the episode of The Munsters he appeared in. I will be taking the episode’s plot from our friends at IMDB, and I will be then writing about the antics of Zombo from the episode. And like always, I will not be rating or grading the show as these updates are not to review as much as they are to respect the history of the hosts and their episodes. So with that, the doors of the House of Zombo are open and that’s our invite to come in and see what he is all about.

The House Of Zombo!
Starring – Fred Gwynne & Yvonne De Carlo Not Rated 1966

Host: We open with an old abandoned house, the place that Zombo lives who welcomes us to the show and makes a few pun filled jokes, and then tells the viewers that today they will be picking the winner of the “I Like Zombo Because” contest! He then howls and reads another chapter from the book “Mark Of The Werewolf” and then a little later talks about Crumble Creature Crackers and how you smash them to eat them and then drown the pieces in milk! After that he announces the winner of the contest that is a young lad by the name of Eddie Munster. We then join Zombo later behind the scenes and he is out of costume as he meets Eddie and his mother Lily, and they watch as he gets made up in his makeup and costume, and sadly Eddie is very disappointed by this as he thought Zombo was real. Later on the House Of Zombo show, he sits with Eddie and introduces him to the viewers, but Eddie snaps and grabs and removes Zombo’s wig and fake nose showing the viewers at home that Zombo is just an actor and not a real ghoul and as Zombo tries to hid his real appearance Eddie runs wild on the set and the show ends due to technical difficulties. Back behind the scenes, the producers say that the Zombo show is done for good due to this, and Zombo thanks Eddie for his help as he wanted out of the show for months and tells Eddie to grow up to be like his Dad and not Zombo.

Movie: Eddie is under the spell of Zombo, the host of a television horror show, who he considers to be a hero. Herman feels neglected by Eddie who hasn’t got time for his dad anymore and is jealous of Zombo. When Eddie has won a contest and gets to go to the studio and meet Zombo in person, Herman tries to become just like Zombo so Eddie will consider his dad a hero again.

Zombo is a “Host” that really did leave his mark on the world of Horror Hosting as I have spoken to many hosts who have said he was a big influence on them and help inspire their characters and desire to became a host, so to me that is very impactful and I truly see him as a fully fledged Horror Host as his show inside The Munsters sitcom world has become one of the most iconic episodes in the series’ history. And with the 2022 Rob Zombie film reintroducing Zombo to modern viewers, let’s hope he inspires a new generation of Horror Hosts like the original’s appearance did all those decades back. And again I want to stress in the world of Horror Hosting there are all types of Hosts, and Zambo is one that in one appearance on a sitcom has become a truly iconic Horror Hosts. So with that our next update will take us out of the world of Horror Hosting and will take us to the baseball diamond, as we will find ourselves at the Rotten Ink Stadium to take a look at the rest of the Cincinnati Reds Mascots! So until next time, read a Horror Comic or three, watch a Horror Film or two and as always support your local Horror Hosts! And I hope you are ready to chat about Schottzie # 1 and 2!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Creepshow (1982)

Posted on July 14, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink! Since I have started doing the “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates, there is one comic that I have been requested to do and that’s Creepshow as so many of you readers love this classic graphic novel and wanted to see it get the Rotten Ink treatment, and well here it is! Creepshow is one of those films that seems to gain more and more of a following as the years pass as newer horror fans discover it and ultimately fall in love with it as it could be one of horror cinema’s most prefect anthology films. Plus The Creep, who is the film’s storyteller and guide through these tales of the macabre, is a true horror icon and has become so popular that he has even sparked action figures as well as has appeared on t-shirts and posters. For this update, not only will we be taking a look at Creepshow the film and the graphic novel, but we will also be talking a little about Monster Bash 2023 as Juliet and I also attempt to visit at least one of the filming locations of Creepshow while we are in the Pittsburgh area. So with that, a thunderstorm is brewing outside and there is a tapping at the window as The Creep says it’s time to talk about Creepshow!

Let’s first start off taking a look at The Creep, who is the main villain in Creepshow, and talk about his ways of helping dealing death to mankind. The Creep is a creepy looking rotting skeleton ghoul with long white hair who is also very much ghostly in nature and loves to share his horrific tales of horror with those who will listen. His grotesque appearance could easily frighten a person to death, as could his sinister toothy smile because his undead look makes him very frightening on the human eyes. He also has the ability to fly and hover around, making him also very dangerous, as he can get at least two stories high. He also seems to have a kind of control or at least can encourage wicked youngsters into committing acts of violence by using voodoo and black magic on their parents or bullies, and this power can make him very evil as he also seems to feed off of fear and even hate that people have for one another. He also is able the spread his messages and gruesome tales via the pages of a comic book he is the host of. And at this time it is very unclear if The Creep has any true weaknesses and what, if anything, can kill him as he mostly stays in the shadows and pulls the strings like a puppet master. While The Creep is more of a spooky storyteller than a killer, he still is very bad as he can help lead people to do very bad things that lead to being severely harmed to even death.

So now that we have taken a look at The Creep, the twisted storyteller, I think it’s now time we take a look at Creepshow, the cult classic anthology film that truly is a masterpiece of 80’s Horror cinema that he is the star of. I want to first remind you that, like always, we will be taking the film’s plot from our pals at IMDB, and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts about the film. So if you are ready, let’s dive into the world of Creepshow.

Creepshow (1982)

“Five tales of terror are presented. The first deals with a demented old man returning from the grave to get the Father’s Day cake his murdering daughter never gave him. The second is about a not-too-bright farmer discovering a meteor that turns everything into plant-life. The third is about a vengeful husband burying his wife and her lover up to their necks on the beach. The fourth is about a creature that resides in a crate under the steps of a college. The final story is about an ultra-rich businessman who gets his comeuppance from cockroaches.”

George Romero was working with his own Laurel Entertainment and United Film Distribution and after Dawn Of The Dead, Martin and Knightriders, his next film was to be a team up with horror writer Stephen King for Creepshow, a spooky anthology film that was a love letter to the classic EC Comic series like Tales From The Crypt, Vault Of Horror and Haunt Of Fear. While George A. Romero would be the director, the script would be handled by Stephen King who would also appear in the film in one of the segments as a simple minded farmer. The film would have a budget of $8 million and with that they brought in Tom Savini for the film’s special effects and some bigger name actors to join the cast with names like Ted Danson, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Richard Gere, Ed Harris and Tom Atkins, to name a few. The film would mostly be filmed around the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area with some parts also being filmed in New Jersey. The film was very heavy on the special effects as many creatures, monsters and deaths depended on them to look good and be the main punch to the gut for the stories being told. And at one point in the film, over 20,000 live cockroaches were used on screen to deliver some chills as well as be the killers for their features segment. And once done, the film would be scored by John Harrison who would go onto do the music on such films as Day Of The Dead and Tales From The Darkside: The Movie. Laurel Entertainment, who were having money issues at this time, ended up selling the films distribution to Warner Brothers who would release the film on November 10, 1982 and would go on to make around $21 million. The film would be very well liked by critics and fans and would get even a bigger fan base once released on home media. The film would be released alongside such other horror films in 1982 as Friday The 13^th Part III, Basket Case, Poltergeist, The New York Ripper, Night Beast, Halloween III: Season Of The Witch, Slumber Party Massacre, Swamp Thing and The Thing ,to name a few showing that 1982 was a great year for horror in the cinema. The film would spawn two sequels as of this updates posting as well as a TV series.

Creepshow was a film that was a must watch at our household as both my brother and I were big fans, and we used to watch it all the time when it aired on HBO as well as on VHS. I can remember telling all my friend on the playground at school about the film as well as how cool The Creep was. I think for me why this film works so well is that each of the five tales are very different and each have their own twists and turns that can bring out fear. Creepshow also brings the viewer many types of horror “killers” as it features zombies, a monster, roaches and even a killer alien fungus and this makes it feel like a pick your poison of what really scares you kind of film. The film has that true comic book feel to it and moments in the film takes inspiration from the shocks of comics as backgrounds change and make you feel like the characters are really trapped in a comic book world. As a kid, one of the things that also stood out to me was the toys in Billy’s room as he had some amazing toys like a Mego Incredible Hulk, the Shogun Warrior versions of Godzilla and Rodan, a Remco Universal Mummy as well as he had Krusher the growing green monster! Plus let us not forget that he also had a Universal Dracula poster on his wall…Billy was awesome! Growing up I think my favorite story was “Fathers Day” as when I was a kid the look of the zombie version of Nathan was so well done and the twist ending of him having a head as his cake was so shocking and stuck with me, but as I got older, I think that “The Crate” became my favorite story in the film as I love the flesh eating monster who unknowingly helps a man get rid of his over bearing wife. Oh and yes, my brother and I would also talk about the fact that Bob Backlund makes an appearance in the film as the Stephen King played character Jordy is watching a WWF match on TV. One other memory I have of the film growing up is that my mom hated the segment “They’re Creeping Up On You” as the roaches busting out of the rich old man in the end grossed her out. Creepshow is one of those films as that I upgraded from VHS to DVD when it was released as well as over the years have the film’s score music on CD as well as have some t-shirts that showcase characters from the film and it really is one I have seen so many times as it truly is a classic fright flick and one that I recommend that everyone should watch. I just cannot say enough on how great this team up is of Romero and King two of the 80’s biggest horror icons really is.

So now that we have talked about the film Creepshow as well as The Creep who is the storyteller in the film I think that it is time that we take a look at the graphic novel that was released around the same time as the film in order to help promote it. I would like to thank Game Swap Kettering for having this GN in stock and making this update possible. I want to also remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, let’s open the pages of Creepshow # 1 and see what The Creep has in store to share with us when it comes to spooky tales.

Creepshow GN # 1 ***1/2
Released in 1982 Cover Price $6.95 New American Library # 1 of 1

The Creep welcomes us to Creepshow and then ushers us to the first tale “Father’s Day” that is set at the Grantham House as family members are in the parlor for Father’s Day waiting on Great Aunt Bedelia who was said to have killed her abusive father. Family is telling Henry, a man dating one of the Grantham’s all about the rumors and dirty secrets of the family. Aunt Bedelia arrives at the house and heads to the family cemetery and sits by her father’s grave and remembers back to the death of her lover that was ordered by her father to look like a hunting accident. She also remembers the day she killed him with an ashtray as he banged his cane against his wheel chair screaming about wanting cake! As Bedelia sits and remembers back, her father rises from his grave and kills her as well as Henry who was sent out to find her when she was late for dinner. In the end after killing another of his kin and making her head into a cake, The Father finally got his cake to the horror of the remaining Grantham family members. The next creepy tale is “The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill” goofball Jordy Verrill watches as a meteor falls from the sky near his farm and when he finds it he by accident burns himself by touching it, he thinks he can sell the meteor to the local college and make some money but when he pours cold water on it the meteor splits and green goo comes out of it and as well gets on Jordy who ends up slightly defeated in his dream of getting money after he cracked the meteor in half. But things gets worse for Jordy as the goo in the meteor makes his body grow a mold that takes his skin over and as well his farm land, in the end Jordy ends his own life but the growing mold is spreading even outside his farm. The next terror tale is called “The Crate” Henry Northrup is a Professor who hates his wife Billie and who gets a call from his friend Stanley after the night janitor finds an old crate hidden under the stairs, that ends up housing a very hungry creature that eats the janitor as well as a student! And Henry comes up with an idea that will solve his wife issue as he will lead her to the creature have it eat her and then he can chain up the crate and drop it into a body of water and things will be better for them both, so Henry drugs Stanley with sleeping pills and after this plan happens we see that the creature is still alive even at the bottom of the water. The next spooky tale is “ Something To Tide You Over” that has Richard Vickers capturing his wife Becky and her lover Harry in the act of cheating and takes them both to a private beach and buries them in the sand with only their heads out, and waits for the tide to come in so they both can drown and even video tapes it and makes Harry watch as Becky drowns just to be even more cruel before the water comes for him. In the end Richard is at home cocky and happy about his double murder when he is visited by his now zombie victims who take him to the beach in order to suffer the same fate as they did. The final tale is called “They’re Creeping Up On You” Upson Pratt is a very rich man who lives in a very nice apartment and he is mad when he finds a cockroaches are all over his living area and demands that the exterminators get their within an hour, but things turn bad for Mr. Pratt when the city has a blackout and thousands of roaches come out to play and cause him to have a heart attack! When the lights finally come back on we find that the roaches have hidden in the body of Mr. Pratt and all escape via his mouth.

This amazing graphic novel was released around the same time the film was released in theaters and once more proves my point that comic books are a great tool to help promote as well as give fans of the films a little something more to collect. And let’s be honest, Creepshow is a graphic novel that almost everyone who reads horror comics has in their collection. The graphic novel has five twisted tales and each bring a different type of horror to the readers, and as you can guess they are the same tales from the movie and these comic versions of the stories do the ones from the film justice and bring some truly memorable chills. The one change that the comic has is that The Creep is the main focus of the segments between the tales and all the parts of young Billy and his father are missing that make up the films over all story arch. And while the film is clearly inspired by EC Comics, this graphic novel is even more so as The Creep truly acts like The Crypt Keeper with his dark humor puns to take us along the journeys of these twisted tales. All five of the stories are very good and well done with many of them having some very impactful moments with Jordy being covered with that mossy mold killing himself and the undead father holding his head cake; they all spark a feeling of dread. I think if I had to choose my favorite story from this graphic novel I would go with “The Crate” as I am a sucker for a good creature and this one delivers as he eats humans and looks very mean and scary, and if I had to choose my least favorite I would say “The Lonesome Death Of Jordy Verrill” as the story is great and all but does not pack as much of a scare as the others, but it does have one of the most impactful downbeat endings. There is lots of blood, death and gross moments in this GN and that will surly please those readers who like the red stuff spilt in their horror comics. The cover for this GN is amazing and very eye catching, and I would also say very iconic, the interior art is done by the master of the macabre Bernie Wrightson and for those who know his style, you know just how great it is, as I love the way he drew the undead as well as the Crate Monster in this book. Over all this is a truly amazing graphic novel and truly is apart of the Creepshow legacy and could even be a bigger part than the sequels and Shudder series in many fans eyes. Check out the artwork bellow to see the style of Wrightson used in this book.

Creepshow is a great film as well as a great graphic novel and both should truly be in every horror fan’s collection. But as you can see, our look at Creepshow is over ,and now it’s our time to take a brief look at Monster Bash 2023 as this was the year that Juliet and I went on a quest to find ata least one shooting location used for the film Creepshow, and we found it as we went to the house that was used for the prologue exteriors. It was great as it looked just about the same as it did in the film…but sadly we were not able to get a picture as the home owner was doing yard work and we did not want to be rude and bother him, but it was a very cool experience of seeing it. But as you can see, we have come to the end of the update and that means we have to leave The Creep behind and head to the Rotten Ink Theater as we talk silent cinema and take a look at the film Speed Spook! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror Fflm or two and as always, support your local Horror Host. And again sorry I wish I could have gotten that picture of the Creepshow house for you guys to have seen on that day.

Horror Host Icon: The Night Watchman (WGN)

Posted on June 23, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink! I am wondering how many of your readers out there remember Movie Underground, a hosted movie show that featured The Night Watchman bringing viewers some of the best films he could find in the film vaults he was hired to protect? This short-lived Host and his show are the topic for this Horror Host Icon update as I feel that all hosts should be remembered! Plus this show was on a big station out of Chicago, Illinois and had a pretty loyal and large following as Illinois is also another state that has a rich history of late night Horror Hosts. But we are not here to talk about the others as we are here to celebrate the career of The Night Watchman and go on his rounds as he protects the film vault and shares a movie with us.

The Night Watchman is the host of Movie Underground and is the night guard at the Fortress Of Television and is also very much into movies and wants to delver the best he can offer to the viewers. He is a super goofy and is a fun loving, jokey kind of guy who looks like actor and comedian Drew Carey in a guard outfit. He also seems to love to chat about the night’s film given facts as well as joking about parts of the film and sometimes playing off what characters say. His jokes are silly and have a “Dad” quality to them and that is part of his charm that built up his connection with the viewers as he seems like he is watching the film along with you, and most of the time he has his trusty popcorn ready for a snack while he watches. He is good friends with his co-worker and co-host The Nightie Watchman and loves joking with her about the night’s film. While he is not the zaniest nor flashiest of Hosts he is a good one who entertained his viewers with his antics and jokes show after show. Marc Chase was the actor who played The Night Watchman who had a background in Radio and worked for Tribune Media.

WGN Movie Underground was a weekly show that would air on WGN America on Friday Nights at 8pm and would have host The Night Watchman and his co-host Nightie Watchman hosting a single movie and they would fill the time with facts, trivia and jokes. The set was an area outside the vault that had a big comfy chairs, table with a bucket of popcorn, a lava lamp and movie posters hanging on the walls behind them. The show had a good fan following and the hosts were well liked by viewers who also would participate in the Swap Shop segments of the show that would have viewers try and trade for an item that the hosts had up for grabs most of the time props from the show. Movie Underground would start in 2008 and sadly by 2010 it was off the air as WGN decided to renew it for another season. Most of the shows segments was written by Michael Walter and they were produced and directed by Paul Crossey. While the show was short lived it was well loved by its viewers and still has a cult following on tape trade lists to this day.

The Nightie Watchman is the beautiful co-host of Movie Underground and she as well wears her guard outfit and loves to chat about the movie that they host, and by all accounts she as well is the more knowledgeable about the movies and is the better at hosting between the two when it comes to that. Her name is Henrietta or Henrie but she goes by Nightie Watchman and she was one of the most popular parts of the show, not just cause her stunning good looks but because of her personality and fun nature. The shows official website use to even have a Nightie Watchman photo gallery for fans to bask in her beauty. Nightie Watchman was played by model April Rose Maydock who was also an actress as well as a MAXIM Magazine lady. She is a great co-host who at times really did outshine the shows main.

WGN was a station that I can remember watching when I was a kid as it was a station we could pick up from time to time and they would always be airing weird movies and shows in reruns. I am not sure when this happened but at some point our Ohio cable provider dropped WGN from the lineup so in 2008 when Movie Underground was airing I had no clue about it as I would have watched the show and would have really enjoyed it as it has a great vibe and a host who was silly and goofy and added his own touch on the art of hosting, plus lets be honest Nightie Watchman was very eye catching with her beauty. Plus I must say that it’s great when a host and a co-host have great chemistry on the screen and I feel that these two have that magic. I wish that more major broadcast stations would do this type of show and that is why we fans of Horror Hosting should be grateful for METV for airing Svengoolie!

The Night Watchman and Nightie Watchman are a great team when it comes to being Movie Hosts who could also be called Horror Hosts as they have hosted their fair share of Horror, Comedies and Sci-Fi films over their run. And I would like to thank Horror Host Dr. Pureblood for getting me episodes of this show and making this update possible as well as B-Videos 101, I also want to thank our friends at IMDB for the movies write ups. So if you are ready it looks like The Night Watchman is about to start his patrol and that’s our cue to tag along for the zany ride. Oh and before we start our movie watching and protecting patrol I want to also remind you that I do not rate or grade the episodes and I do write about the zany antics of the host. So lets get patrolling.

Movie Underground: Alien
Starring – Sigourney Weaver & John Hurt R 1979

Host: Night Watchman and Nightie are sitting on the station couch and give a few fun facts about the night’s film and Watchman even lets water pour from his mouth as Nightie continues on looking a little disturbed, and then the usher us into the first part of the movie. When then rejoin them as they talk about how profitable the film was for 20^th Century Fox at the box office before once more taking us back into the film. Still chilling on the couch they cut a quick joke about the fate of one of the characters before we head back to the movie. We next see them as Nightie tells us not to try this at home as we see a scene from the movie of the acid blood eating through the floor and Night Watchman acts as if he has a face hugger on his face. We then are treated to the SwapShop segment that has them putting up a double drink holder hat up for trade and tell the viewers to send it what they are willing to trade for it, they then go back to the movie. We next see them and Nightie is asking him to draw a picture of a creature that attaches itself to a person and the Night Watchman is drawing and when he turns the board around it’s a picture of actress and singer Miley Cyrus, then back to the movie. Next time we see them Night Watchman is messing up the classic Phrase used to promote the film Alien as Nightie alerts the viewers how to send the show an email by given out the address and then its back to the movie. In the end Night Watchman hits a glowing read button that will not allow the alien to escape as Nightie questions him about sequels and then they say they will see us next week as smoke and the siren goes off.

Movie: In the distant future, the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo are on their way home when they pick up a distress call from a distant moon. The crew are under obligation to investigate and the spaceship descends on the moon afterwards. After a rough landing, three crewmembers leave the spaceship to explore the area on the moon. At the same time as they discover a hive colony of some unknown creature, the ship’s computer deciphers the message to be a warning, not a distress call. When one of the eggs is disturbed, the crew realizes that they are not alone on the spaceship and they must deal with the consequences.

Movie Underground: Bill & Ted
Starring – Keanu Reeves & Alex Winter PG 1989

Host: Night Watchman and Nightie Watchman welcome the viewers to the show and they talk briefly about the nights movie as Night Watchman makes a fool of himself acting like he is talking in the lingo of Bill and Ted before he go to the movie. We next join them as they talk about musician and actor Clarence Clemons and they fake play instruments before we go back to the film. Night Watchman has ice on is eye as the idea of the phone booth saying reach out and touch someone backfired as Nightie punched him in the eye for touching her. Next time we join them they are goofing on how a Twinkie is what tricked Genghis Khan into the phone booth, they then make a joke about playing doctor with each other before back to the movie. Next they are holding a contest to win a red bra if you email the first name of The Night Watchman and get it correct, then back to the movie. The they make a joke about the size of a man’s corndog and head back to the film. In the end Night Watchman says Nightie should be respected for her beauty and her punches, and she then uses a wireless phone to zap them out of the vault ending their segments of the show.

Movie: Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate historical presentation with the help of a time machine.

Movie Underground: Brothers Grimm
Starring – Matt Damon & Heath Ledger PG-13 2005

Host: The shows opens with The Night Watchman holding the film can for Brothers Grimm and pokes fun of it as he explains all the stuff it has in store for us before ushering us into the film. We next join him as he makes a poop joke and then we see some commercials, and once back he is cramming cold pizza into his mouth and then back to the movie. Once more when we join Night Watchman he pokes fun at the film and it’s lack of Oscar wins, and then claims he is going to show people how to do the Popcorn trick during the next break. The Popcorn trick is Night Watchman shoving the remaining popcorn into his mouth and then back to the movie. Once back Night Watchman makes a fart joke about beans and then makes a joke about a werewolf before its back to the movie time. And after a few more really bad jokes The Night Watchman reads a fan letter and then ends the show.

Movie: Will and Jake Grimm are traveling con-artists who encounter a genuine fairy-tale curse which requires true courage instead of their usual bogus exorcisms.

Movie Underground: Gremlins
Starring – Zach Galligan & Phoebe Cates PG 1984

Host: Night Watchman and Nightie are very happy to bring you the nights film as they are even using Gremlin toys to showcase this, and they want the parents at home to pop some popcorn for the kids and to sit back and have a great family movie night with this film, Nightie also keeps saying “Screaming” as she moves her Stripe bobble-head around, before they usher in the movie. We join them back on the couch and they talk about a fun fact that Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold also starred in “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” before this film, and then its back to the move. Next The Night Watchman soaks the camera with a water gun to see if the viewers will multiple like the Gremlins do, as Nightie uses an umbrella to block the water before they go back to the movie. Next is a trivia question on who voiced the character Gizmo in the film. Night Watchman next alerts that they need to call housekeeping do to the men’s bathroom being so bad. The end the show saying sorry for scaring the kid viewers with this film and Nightie gives the camera a kiss as the show ends.

Movie: A young man inadvertently breaks three important rules concerning his new pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on a small town.

Movie Underground: King Kong
Starring – Jeff Bridges & Jessica Lange PG 1976

Host: Night Watchman and Nightie start the episode off by playing charades and Nightie has to guess the nights film, and after some silly back and fourth its clear the film is the 1976 remake version of King Kong. We next join them as they chat about how the critics hated Jessica Lange and her performance in the film, and then Nightie is in a towel and Night Watchman asks if he can use it to get the popcorn butter off his fingers, the answer is no and to the movie we go. Next they are both hiding behind the couch and make fun of a photo camera one of the cast is using as it uses film still. Then they make fun of some of the flubs of the film like the trees not being knocked down in scenes before its back to the film. We next briefly join them as Night Watchman is tied up and gaged as Nightie shakes her head. They then answer a fan question about the nights film and after the answer Night Watchman of course delivers a cheesy joke. Next the make fun of the mechanical Kong that was used in the film as a bad idea. In the end Night Watchman falls from the ceiling as he was monkeying around and Nightie says she will watch over him and that they will see everyone next week.

Movie: When a research ship is sent to explore an island thought to be rich in oil, paleontologist Jack Prescott sneaks aboard, having heard strange rumors about the island. En route, the crew rescues Dwan, the sole survivor of a shipwreck. When they arrive, they find native people living in fear of a monster called Kong. The natives kidnap Dwan and sacrifice her to what turns out to be an enormous ape. Dwan is eventually rescued, and the ape captured for a gala exhibit.

Movie Underground: The Mummy
Starring – Brendan Fraser & Rachel Weisz PG-13 1999

Host: The Night Watchman is playing with toilet paper and asks Nightie what it reminder her of and she says a crappy movie? And he alerts her that the film tonight is The Mummy and then flings the TP as she runs away. We next join them as Night Watchman has wrapped himself in the toilet paper so that he looks like a Mummy as Nightie ushers us back to the movie. Next still wrapped up Night Watchmen tells a terrible Mummy dad joke and Nightie gets us back into the movie, but when we see him next he once more makes a bad joke this time about the toe of a camel. Next segment they both use puns in order to get us back to the movie, and Nightie does mention the original 1932 film. Next up Night Watchman has a camera and is taking pictures of Nightie and the plug her photo gallery on the WGN website. Nightie next tells us about the special effects of the movie and how George Lucas’s company is who handled it. They end the show by talking about how successful The Mummy was for Universal and how it spawned sequels, roller coaster and even spin –offs.

Movie: At an archaeological dig in the ancient city of Hamunaptra, an American serving in the French Foreign Legion accidentally awakens a mummy who begins to wreak havoc as he searches for the reincarnation of his long-lost love.

Movie Underground: Three Amigos
Starring – Steve Martin & Chevy Chase PG 1986

Host: The pair are relaxing and having popcorn when they chat a little about the nights film and Night Watchman confuses the film with “Three Men and A Baby” before Nightie corrects him and takes us to the first part of the movie. We next join them as they are wearing sombreros and are dancing around and send us back to the film. Next Night Watchman is taking a nap and Nightie takes us back to the film and Night wakes up and is mad as he feels she took his lines! Next Night Watchman does a big promo of watching College Football on WGN and talks about teams and games that are coming up, and before he get back to the movie Night Watchman is asking if they have anymore chip dip. The next few breaks they bring us in and out of the film and commercial breaks. Night Watchman makes a joke about the character Dusty Bottoms and Nightie just shakes her head, and they end the show with Night Watchman having a stomachache and running to the restroom and Nightie says she will see us next week.

Movie: Three out of work silent movie actors are accidentally drawn to a Mexican village that is being harassed by a gang of outlaws. The three, ‘Ned’, ‘Lucky Day’ and ‘Dusty Bottoms’ play ‘Lone Ranger’ types in their movies, but must play their parts for real now.

WGN Movie Underground and it’s hosts Night Watchman and Nightie are really solid and made their mark on Horror Hosting and is a show that I feel still could be on TV today and WGN should bring them back as these types of movie hosting shows are lacking on broadcast TV. And I truly do thank that Night Watchman and Nightie made a great duo and did a fantastic job of not only entertaining the viewers but also educating them on the films. But our time with The Night Watchman has came to an end as his shift is over, but before we end this Icon update I would like to tell you that our next update will be the July 4^th update and will feature a comic book American Hero as it will be about the youngest elected President in America Prez! So until next time read a comic or three, watch a movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update for a firework in the sky good time.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Man From Planet X (1951)

Posted on June 13, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink where today we will be taking a look at the sci-fi horror film The Man From Planet X and the comic adaptation made about it! This classic film was released in the 1950’s and was during the big alien invasion boom that filled cinemas and packed drive-in theaters across America. And even back then both comic companies and moviemakers knew that comics was a great way to promote the film. The Man From Planet X is a one of those B-Movies that has gained a cult following, and the first comic book version was released by Fawcett and worth a pretty penny, so we will be reading and reviewing the reprint that was released by Planet X comics. So let’s get out of this fog and try and avoid this alien from Planet X as I heard he is not such a nice guy! It’s time for From Horror Movie To Horror Comic The Man From Planet X.

Let’s take a look at The Man From Planet X Alien and his way of dealing death to the Earthlings that get in his way of leading an invasion of our planet. The Man From Planet X is from Planet X, a planet that is dying due to super cold temperatures, and he has been sent to Earth to check it out to see if his people could live there or even maybe get help from the Earthlings…but while friendly at first, his attitude changes when he is attacked and now he is out for revenge. The Man From Planet X speaks in a musical tone and this can confuse his victims and his odd appearance of strange humanlike face, bowl over head and alien clothes can also cause major fear in his human targets. He also has a ray that allows him to take control over the minds of humans that he can shine it on, these mindless slaves will do whatever the alien asks and that includes doing hard work but more importantly he can have them attack fellow humans and capture them in order for him to mind control them as well, in other words he could build an army of mindless Earthlings that would work for his cause of taking over The Earth. The Man From Planet X is also very smart and can uses his mind to come up with strategies for his cause and even uses such natural Earth things like fog to his advantage to sneak and attack humans. He also has a starship that allows him to enter and exit space and its appearance as well can cause fear and cause terror to those who see it. The Man From Planet X’s main tool to deal out death is his ray gun that with one blast will kill a human dead. But while The Man From Planet X has tools and the brains to be a bringer of death to mankind, he can be defeated like any living thing. The Man From Planet X’s main weakness is that he cannot breath our air and if you take out his gas tank he will die from suffocation. He can also be shot or blown up, and this will also end his life. He also while can be dangerous seems to not have a full killer instinct unless he is pushed and feels threatened and this could also lead to him being attacked and killed if someone can set him up. He is also not very big and this causes him to be over powered very easily, and he is not skilled in a hand to hand fight. The Man From Planet X might not be the most dangerous of aliens, but when push comes to shove he can kill with ease.

So as you can see, The Man From Planet X is a true alien on a mission to either get help from the Earth or take it over! So I think that it’s now time for us to take a look at the film as it is what spawned him and like always I will be taking the film’s write up from IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts. So if you are ready, let’s take a walk on the foggy moors and see if we run across The Man From Planet X.

The Man From Planet X (1951)

“To study a rogue planet heading for a near-miss with Earth, Prof. Elliot sets up an observatory on the foggy moors of a remote Scottish island, with his pretty daughter and Dr. Mears, a former student with a shady past. Soon after arrival of reporter John Lawrence, a ship from Planet X just happens to land near the observatory. Is the visitor (who actually looks alien) benevolent? What are Mears’ real motives for trying to communicate with it?”

The Man From Planet X was a cheaply made sci-fi horror film that was produced by Jack Pollexfen and Audrey Wisberg and was written by the pair as well who had a history of making cheap films in different genres. Audrey produced such films as Hercules In New York (1970)”, “Son Of Sinbad (1955)” and “Captain Kidd And The Slave Girl (1954)” with Jack working on such films as “Indestructible Man (1956)” and “The Neanderthal Man (1953)” showing that the pair knew how to make fun cheaply made films. They would bring in Edgar G. Ulmer to direct the film, who was himself a veteran of making horror and sci-fi films including for Universal as in 1934 he directed the film The Black Cat that starred Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff and John Carradine. Actors hired for this film included Robert Clarke, Margaret Field, Roy Engel, Raymond Bond and Charles Davis to name a few. The film started filming on December 13, 1950 at Hal Roach Studios out of California and they would reuse the sets from the film Joan Of Arc that was filmed in 1948 by Ingrid Bergman and would wrap filming in only six day’s as the budget was only around $51 thousand. The film would be scored by Charles Koff and distributed by United Artists and would be released in theaters in 1951 and would make around $1.2 million dollars at the box office. The film was met with pretty positive reviews from critics as well as fans and has gone on to gain a big cult following and would later be released on home media to entertaining a new generation of viewers. The film in 1951 was released with such other films as The Thing, The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Strange Door, Abbot And Costello Meet The Invisible Man, Bride Of The Gorilla and Two Lost Worlds to name a few.

In the 1950’s the horror films were pretty much sci-fi films as that was what was popular at the time and bringing viewers into the cinemas and drive-in theaters as the Space Race was in this decade and the thought of man walking on the moon and stepping foot on other planets filled the minds of everyone. Not to mention, people were also scared of the unknown from space like aliens and UFO’s. And of course cheaper Hollywood producers cashed in on this trend and cranked out spooky Alien invasions films and The Man From Planet X was one of those cheapies that was made during this time but was one of the more entertaining ones made on that lower level. And I want to say the first time I ever saw the film was on either TBS or TNT when I was a youngster and it might have been on a classic MonsterVision episode that would have been hosted by The Moon and Narrator. I remember always thinking that the Planet X Alien was very cool looking and the use of the fog in the film gave it a very spooky feel. And the plot of the film had that already very familiar feel for this era of Sci-Fi Horror. But sadly I think that while it had a cult following, it was ultimately lost in the shuffle as the year it hit theaters the films The Thing and The Day The Earth Stood Still were released and it took a back seat to those at being some of that decade’s best films in the genres of horror. And of course when this film was released on DVD I made sure to get it for my collection and if you have not seen this film make sure to check it out.

So as you can see, The Man From Planet X is a very entertaining film and the Planet X Alien is pretty dangerous! And I have to once more stress that this film is lots of fun and deserves the cult classic status it has. And it is really cool that Plant X Comics did this cool reprint of the Fawcett Comic adaptation of this film as the original comic sells for hundreds of dollars with the reprint selling for a few dollars. I would like to thank Bell Book And Comic for having this comic in stock and making this update possible. I also want to remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that if you are ready, let’s grab some pitchforks to keep Earth safe as the Alien from Planet X has landed and he doesn’t look happy!

The Man From Planet X # 1 ***
Released in 1987 Cover Price NA Planet X # 1 of 1

Newspaper reporter John Lawrence is with astronomer Dr. Blaine, and they are talking about a new planet called Planet X that is heading towards Earth. John has a message from Professor Elliot, the man who discovered Planet X to come meet with him on a fog covered island near Scotland, and John does just that and is picked up by Professor Elliot’s daughter Enid Elliot and quickly gets a crush on her. When at Prof. Elliot’s lab John learns that Planet X is getting even closer to Earth and it looks like there are living beings on it! John also learns that the creepy and conman Dr. Mears is helping Prof. Elliot on his research of Planet X, and when on a late night walk with Enid the pair find a strange device sent from Planet X to test our planet’s atmosphere and all take a look at this light weight metal and wonder what is next. Enid then drives John into town and once coming back home she gets a flight tire and also sees a spaceship with a strange Planet X Alien inside it, and when Prof. Elliot goes to investigate and learns that The Man From Planet X has a ray that can control the minds of humans and if Enid did not guide her father away who knows what his fate would have been. The next day John and Prof. Elliot have another run in with The Man From Planet X and at first it goes terrible as the alien pulls a gun on them but after they save his life when his breaking tube for his helmet is leaking the alien becomes friendly and follows them home. While back at the lab The Man From Planet X tries to talk to them but is language is like that of music and Dr. Mears thinks that his math skills might be able to break down a sort of dialogue between the two. As Prof. Elliot falls ill all of a sudden, John heads to town for medicine as Enid stays by her fathers side. Away from the others, Dr. Mears attacks The Man Of Planet X and turns off his breathing gas knocking him out and this causes The Man From Planet X when he is awake again to think all humans are bad, and he kidnaps Enid back to his ship as John forces Dr. Mears to go along with him to get her back, but things get out of hand when The Man From Planet X uses his mind control ray on Enid, Dr. Mears, Prof. Elliot as well as others from town to be his mindless slaves as John is forced to get the police and military to the island to prepare for war as the alien is about to send a message to his home planet to start the invasion. Before the military bombs the alien ship to end the terror, John is able to sneak to the ship and save the lives of all of the humans under control and even fist fights and knocks down The Man From Planet X! Dr. Mears regains his senses and rushes to the alien who in turn shoots and kills him just as the military bombs the ship and kills The Man From Planet X and this also stops the invasion. And in the end as John and Prof. Eliot watch the ship burn they talk that they learned that Planet X was dying and all they wanted to do is find place to stay…and Dr. Mears ruined the peace with his greed and aggression.

This is a really fun comic that does a great job of bringing the film alive on these pages and while the comic can be a little wordy in spots the over all spooky and fun nature comes through. The plot is very simple and has an alien from another planet come to Earth only to find that all humans are not nice and one mans actions causes what could be the war of the worlds, and only a newspaper reporter, an old scientist and his daughter can save the Earth from the invasion. Let’s first start off talking about Dr. Mears, a true scumbag who even when at college was being looked at for shady doings and for some reason Professor Elliot trusts this man and his math skills to help him look into Planet X as well as The Man From Planet X and of course his shifty ways causes major issues as he attacks the alien and has ideas to use him to force respect, power and to gain an advantage in the world of science… Dr. Mears is truly the bad guy of this comic as well as film. Plus the comic has The Man From Planet X kill Mears when in the film it’s the military that seals the doctor’s fate. Professor Elliot is super smart and is the one who noticed the approaching planet and is the one trying to figure out why and at what coast it will have on Earth, his lovely daughter Enid Elliot is very sweet and nice and is doing what she can to help her father in his research as well as finds herself falling in love with John. Speaking of John Lawrence he is a good reporter who is the true hero of the day even more so than the cops and military as all they want to do is use bombs to stop the alien, while John wants to save all the innocent human lives that are under mind control and he does just that! The Man From Planet X is sent to Earth in order in order to try and get help to save his planet that is turning to ice and is willing at first to trade science secrets with us for help, but after being attacked he turns bad and now is going to send word that Earth needs to be invaded and even takes over the minds of Earthlings to do his bidding. The comic does not feature blood just like the movie don’t and only has two kills and that is Dr. Mears being shot and The Man From Planet X being blown up. While by today’s horror standards, this comic would not be scary, but in the 1950’s when original released I am sure it was spooky stuff! The cover for this reprint comic is pretty cool and features elements of the film’s poster as well as uses bright yellow that makes it eye catching. The interior art is done by…well that is the thing many different artists over the years have been given credit for it but we will say Unknown Artist and is fantastic stuff and I really dig how they draw The Man From Planet X! This is such a great read and does the source it’s based off of justice and is well worth a read for fans of the film or those who like classic Sci-Fi Alien Invasion stories. I do also want to say that the comic does change some elements in order to keep the comic a fast read and fit in the page count given. Checkout the artwork below to see the art style used in this issue.

You have to love those old 50’s low budget B-Movie sci-fi horror films as there was something so special about many of them from that time. And I think that The Man From Planet X is a very underrated film that should be looked back on just as fondly as many of the other films from that time. Plus I love those old horror films that were shot on sets and have that eerie creepy feel to them that they mask the limitations of the studio set by the use of fog machines. And I really do have to say a big THANK YOU to Planet X Comics who back in the late 1980’s made this reprint edition of the comic as finding an original copy is super heard and expensive. But as you can see, this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update has came to an end and before we part ways I would like to let you readers know that our next update will take us to the world of Horror Hosting as we chat about The Night Watchman, the host of WGN Movie Underground! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you next update as this will surely be a fun one as The Night Watchman is so zany.

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Wolf Blood (1925)

Posted on May 2, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink and to another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update. This time around we will be taking a look at a silent horror film that is also very much a romantic drama that was made in 1925 and is the oldest surviving werewolf film known as of this update’s posting. I am talking about Wolf Blood, a film that is often overlooked when people speak of early silent horror cinema. Now this update is going to be a little different as Blood Scream Comics the company I own and am the editor-in-chief of is the one who released this comic series, so I will not be giving the issues any kind of star ratings as I feel that would be very cheesy of me to do so. So instead I am just going to talk about the plot of the issue and “review” what is going on after as well as some of the twists that we added to spice it all up. So with that, let’s hike ourselves into these woods and let’s talk about a werewolves and people who get blood from wolves!

Before we dive too deep into this spooky update, let’s take a look at the “werewolf” named Dick Bannister! Dick is the foreman at Ford Lumber in the woods of Canada and is kind of new at his post but does have the respect of his men as he shows them respect and gives them chances even after they make mistakes. He also knows some basic medical care, and when his men are injured, he cares for them or sends for help in order to truly treat them. He is a skilled fighter with his fists and he very loyal to his co-workers as well as his boss Edith Ford who he gets a crush on, even though she is set to be married to her doctor boyfriend soon. But after a bad fight that leaves Dick almost dying, he has the blood of a wolf transfused into him to stay alive and this is when he starts having some mental issues as people fear him when word gets out. He also starts to get more angry and violent as he thinks the wolves of the woods are calling to him. But even in his state of madness, he is not dangerous and does not kill a living soul and is more of a danger to himself as he almost leaps off a cliff! Not a danger to a living person at all and not a werewolf, Dick Bannister is just a normal man who for a brief time has a mental break and can be killed like any normal person from shooting, stabbing, beating or burning making him one of the weakest killers or monsters we have covered on a From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update…but while he might not be a killer, he does throw a mean punch and that has to count for something.

So while Dick Bannister might just be a man with a mental breakdown for a short time, he still made his mark on werewolves in cinema. And now let’s take a look at the film that he is from and that’s the 1925 film Wolf Blood. Like always, we will be taking the film’s write up from our pals at IMDB and after I will write about the film’s production and my thoughts. So if you are ready, let’s wander into those woods and keep our eyes open for wolves as we chat about this underrated silent horror classic.

Wolf Blood (1925)

“In this tale of the great Canadian forest, Dick Bannister, the new manager of the Ford Logging Company receives a transfusion of wolf blood, followed by strange reactions that he begins to think he is neither beast nor man.”

Wolf Blood is a silent film from 1925 that was produced by the Ryan Brothers and was released by Lee-Bradford Corporation. It was based on the story by Cliff Hill with the screenplay by Bennett Cohen. The film is set in Canada and is about two feuding lumber companies that lead to a man being injured and to save his life he gets a blood transfusion from a wolf and this causes people to think that he will turn into a werewolf after false rumors are spread around and this drives the man mad. The film is a mix of drama, horror and romance and directing the picture was the team of Bruce Mitchell and George Chesebro, who would also play the lead role of Dick Bannister. And sadly the horror aspect is really cut down as they focus more on the romance aspect. Other actors brought into the cast include Marguerite Clayton, Raymond Hanford, Milburn Morante and Frank Clark. The main star George Chesebro was known for being a western actor and would have a very long career in Hollywood and would pass away on May 28, 1959 at the age of 70 and was pretty much active almost to his death. The film, while a werewolf film, more plays up on the mental madness of a man after getting some wolf blood to stay alive. He thinks that he is becoming a wolf even chasing after phantom wolves that act as his pack, so those who are looking for a transformation will be disappointed. The film was met with mixed reviews, and to this day it has that same reaction as many enjoy the simple story of love finding a way, while others wanted more scares with their horror. The film was released with such other horror films in 1925 as The Phantom Of The Opera, The Lost World, The Monster and The Unholy Three to name a few. While not a full fledged horror movie, thanks to home media this film as gained a cult following over the decades. And at some point I will be doing a Forgotten Reels update about this film.

I am going to start off saying that I am a big fan of Wolf Blood and can see what impact it had on early werewolf cinema as it deals with the mental strain that a person goes through when they fear the moon and what they may become once the beast side takes over. Actor George Chesebro plays the role of Dick Bannister so well that you believe his confusion and pain throughout his mental breakdown. I really think that George Chesebro is a silent actor that should get more credit as he was fantastic at his art and had that classic Hollywood leading man look. Actress Marguerite Clayton plays Edith Ford in this film, and she has that classic beauty to her. She does a great job in the film as many of the film’s key moments also fall on her performance, and she knocks it out of the park as she and Chesebro seemed to have good chemistry on the screen. And yes, I would have loved to have seen an early transformation from man to wolf in this film, but I can also step back and enjoy that the film plays more up on the mental disease of lycanthropy as well as the power of persuasion of how planting a seed in someone’s mind can grow to truly affect them and others around them as they might believe a little white lie that will grow into a full fledged nightmare. While the horror elements of the film are pushed to the back in order to play up the romance aspect of love can conquer all, there are still some truly great moments that are spooky for the time like Dick’s decent into the madness and even the phantom wolves that run around the woods can add a classic chill to viewers of the more early horrors of the world. One aspect that makes me laugh when watching this film that Edith Ford and Doctor Eugene Horton are slated to be married and quickly Edith falls for Dick Bannister and by the end of the film Edith acts as if Eugene owes Dick the apology for telling a lie that the wolf blood might effect him to her that Dick overhears…when in this film Dick steals Eugene’s lady, chokes him and without Eugene he would be dead…owed an apology indeed! The film’s finale is also very well done as Dick who is filled with madness after thinking he killed a man who was found dead in the woods runs with his phantom wolf pack to the edge of a cliff. If not for Edith, the crazed man would have fallen to his death, but it is she who holds him back and risks her own safety. This is such a fun film that is a quick watch as it only runs a little over an hour. While it’s not as iconic as many other silent horror films, I do think that it is one that is often over looked. If you have interest in seeing it you can find it on YouTub,e but I would suggest watching it on Physical Media as you can get it on DVD from Alpha Video or Grapevine Video. While not fully horror, I feel the aspects are there and because of its ties to early werewolf cinema it’s worth a watch for sure.

Now that we talked about not only the film Wolf Blood but also Dick Banister, the man who thought he was cursed to become a wolf, I think it’s time we talk a little about the comic based on the film by Blood Scream Comics that was written by me! That’s right, I wrote the story and along with artist Jeff Potter, did the dialogue. And boy did we make some changes, but I will save that for the “review” part of this update. Like I said before and just like with The Giant Gila Monster, I will not be giving these comics any kind of star rating as that just seems silly as I worked on the comic. But I wanted to cover this comic for two reasons: I am a fan of the film and wanted to chat about it and the other being that I had a blast working on this comic series and wanted to share it with you readers. I would like to thank Jeff Potter for creating this comic alongside me for Blood Scream Comics and making this update possible. I should also warn you that this will spoil some of the big surprises we have in this comic adaptation so you have been warned: read on at your own risk. So of you are ready, let’s head into the woods of Canada and see if we can find the old Ford Lumber Company so that we can talk about the tale that is known as Wolf Blood.

Wolf Blood # 1
Released in 2022 Cover Price $3.99 Blood Scream # 1 of 2

The Ford Lumber Company and Consolidated Lumber Company are at war with each other in the woods of Canada as they are very close to one another and their mangers Dick Bannister and Jules Deveroux have different ways of dealing with the job as Bannister wants his people to work safe and Deveroux is giving orders to his men to sneak into the woods and shoot to wound the lumberjacks that work for Ford. After another attack and having to give the camp’s guard, Pop Hadley who has a track record of drinking too much and passing out, another chance, Bannister sends a message to the Ford Company’s owner that they need help as well as need a doctor to take care of these bullet wounds. And meanwhile in a small town bar Deveroux and his men celebrate the attack and even attack an old man looking for work and his son at the bar just to be cruel. The call for help is answered as Ford Lumber owner Edith Ford, her doctor fiancé Eugene Horton as well as her Uncle head to the camp and start helping the wounded. This is when Bannister sees that his boss is a beautiful young woman, and he falls in love with her fast. Bannister at this time also is almost stabbed and crushed by a tree by Jacques Lebeq, who is a bootlegger and has been entering the camp and selling his liquor to his workers, and this makes the two men truly hate one another. Late at night Edith Ford also hears the howls and growls of the wolves that are all around in the woods, and this frightens her as it reminds her of a time in the city when an unknown man stalked her in the streets until she got home, and this is a story she shared with Bannister the next day after they toured the camp. As Bannister and Edith head into town with the camp’s Cook, the wolves attack and slaughter one of the Consolidated Lumber Company’s lumberjacks. In town Edith tells Bannister that she is to be married to Eugene and that their attraction needs to stop, and this breaks Bannister’s heart as once back at the camp he goes alone to investigate the Consolidated Lumber Company and learns that they are building a dame to block the Ford lumber on the river. When Deveroux sees Bannister, he orders his men to kill him, and after a big fight, Bannister is beaten badly and then tossed off a cliff where he is then bitten by wolves! When Bannister does not return, Pop and the lumberjacks set out to find him and it’s Eugene that finds Bannister who is dying from blood loss and is able to get the wounded man to a cabin that is owned by Jacques Lebeq who refuses to give his blood to save Bannister and the Doctor has to make the decision to use the blood of a wolf to save his life. The next day Eugene is able to get Bannister back to the Ford Camp where he is able to recover and tells Edith that he is in love with her! The next day Edith, Eugene and Pops all head into town when Jacques Lebeq enters the Ford Camp and spreads the rumor that Bannister is a werewolf due to the wolf blood, and this causes the Lumberjacks to riot and armed with axes they kill the Uncle and as the moon gets full Bannister turns into a werewolf and busts out of a cabin looking to kill!

This was such a fun issue to work on, and the plot is simple as we have two feuding lumber camps at war with one another and things get out of hand when attempted murder comes into play and that act causes a good man to have to get wolf blood in his veins and this turns him into a beast at the Full Moon! You also have a love story brewing as Edith Ford must choose her doctor fiancé or her new love, the rugged lumber boss that works for her company. And we leave you on a big cliffhanger as the Ford Lumberjacks are armed with axes and are worked up into a fearful rage of their boss who now is a werewolf with bloodlust in his eyes. Dick Bannister is a good man that is a great boss as well as will fight for the rights and lives of his men. He also is tough as nails and is a good fist fighter and has the heart of a champion…he also has a soft spot and that is his boss and the lumber company owner Edith Ford who seems to be all he can think about after meeting her. Bannister also proves he has the will to live as after being beaten badly, thrown from a cliff, bitten by wolves and getting a blood transfusion from a wolf, he still lives…but he is also now cursed to live his life as a werewolf! Edith Ford is a kind hearted woman who owns a big company and has a fiancé that is a doctor, but while her life sounds perfect, it is not as she is confused as she finds herself loving Bannister who is her employee. She is also living with a secret that she does not share with many and that is she fills her life with late night parties with friends out of fear as she was one night stalked by Nosferatu! Pops Hadley is a drunk that is trying to change after he failed at his job and allowed workers to be shot. Eugene Horton is a good doctor who helps the wounded and saves Bannister’s life, and Cook really loves talking about the deals he got on food from town! The comic has three real “bad guys” as first you have Jules Deveroux, a scumbag who is a bully and also a coward who gives orders to hurt and kill others that stand in his way. You have the bootlegger Jacques Lebeq who sells his liquor as well tries to kill Bannister and sets up the Ford workers to turn on their boss. And lastly you also have to say that the wolves are one of the biggest dangers in those woods as they kill anyone that they can surround and rip to shreds. The comic is very bloody and the kills are gory with my favorite kill in this issue being the death of lumberjack Henrique who is ripped apart by a pack of wolves! The cover is really cool and the art was done by Jeff Potter with the colors by Jason Gilmore and the interior art is done by Potter and is 100% what I was looking for when I wrote this adaptation story. To sum it up, this was a blast to write and is one of the Blood Scream Comics projects that I am the most proud of! Now let’s talk about the second issue in this series and see how this twisted tale of love, horror and lumber ends!

Wolf Blood # 2
Released in 2022 Cover Price $3.99 Blood Scream # 2 of 2

Dick Bannister is now a werewolf and is killing all the Ford Lumber Camp workers and his howling has also brought the wolves to join in the bloodshed. Giovanni is a lumberman who runs past the bodies of his friends and finds an old train freight car in the woods and uses it as shelter to get away from the werewolf and his wolf minions. While at the cabin of Jacques Lebeq the bootlegger has a visitor; he is selling Deveroux the boss of Consolidated Lumber tons of whiskey as he wants to have his workers to celebrate the downfall of Dick Bannister, but the two are quickly greeted by the werewolf who bites the head off Deveroux and then burns the face of Lebeq on the stove before throwing his body to the wolves to be ripped apart. The next morning Edith Ford, Eugene Horton and Pop Hadley arrive back at camp to find the massacre, and when Eugene finds Dick still alive and asleep in bed, he tells the others the truth about the wolf blood flowing through the veins of Dick and that maybe he did turn and cause all this death! Pop does not want to hear it and heads into the woods to hunt the wild animals he thinks did the killing while Edith tells Eugene that she is in love with Bannister and wants to be with him, and the confused lumber man hears this all and runs into the woods as he does not want to change in the coming full moon and hurt anyone else, and Edith goes after him. Meanwhile a lumberjack from Consolidated rides up and says that they are closing down for good after they found the mangled bodies of Deveroux and Lebeq and he warns Eugene and Edith that they should leave as well. As Giovanni takes supplies from the now dead Lebeq’s home in order to survive and wait for help in the rail car, while Eugene thinks of his life without Edith and decides to end it with one bullet. Meanwhile in the woods Edith runs into Pops, and they two are surrounded by wolves. As Pops tries to fight them off, he is overwhelmed and ripped to shreds as Edith runs from them and ends up meeting the werewolf and she knows that her love Bannister really is a beast now…she tries to talk to him to bring the human side back…she fails and gruesomely pays with her life. The next night Dick Bannister is back human and is about to leap off a cliff to end his life when he is stopped by Nosferatu himself, Count Orlock, who informs him that he has need of a man with his talents.

The second issue of Wolf Blood is all about the slaughter as our hero Dick Bannister truly loses control and becomes a werewolf and slaughters almost all his workers (minus one who escapes and hides away in a steel trail freight car) and after he is done making Ford Lumber a slaughterhouse who makes sure to swing by his enemies home and kill both of those who wished him death as a man with that being Deveroux and Lebeq who are both killed very brutally. And even a little later in the issue the werewolf rips apart his true love and allows his wolves to attack and kill his best friend Pops! And all of these werewolf and wolves attacks are done super gory to truly show you the savage nature of these creatures as their bloodlust is out of control and it also shows that once the moon is full the caring and hard working Dick Bannister is not longer in control and in his place is a killing machine that wants to annihilate all that’s in his path. And poor Doctor Eugene Horton is another victim of Dick Bannister and while he is not killed by razor sharp teeth and claws he is broken spiritually as his whole world is taken away by Bannister as he steals his lady love away, and she cruelly has fallen out of love with the man who has given her everything…and he thinks his only way to find a way to end his pain is by a self inflicted gunshot to the head. Deveroux and Lebeq are truly two scumbags who enjoyed trying to not only take Dick Bannister’s life but also try to ruin everything about him, but they really do get their comings when the werewolf comes howling around and they find themselves begging for their lives to the one person who is now a creature that they never showed any mercy to. Poor Pops Hadley stays loyal to his friend Bannister and does not believe the tales of him being a werewolf, and even before dying by a pack of wolves, he still tries to save the life of Edith…poor drunk old fool. You have to also feel bad for Cook as he is killed during the slaughter at the Ford Lumber Camp, and by the looks of it, he really was ripped apart! And for those wondering about the fate of Giovanni, you will find out what comes of him in a future comic as his tale is not yet finished and his fate is yet to be shared. This issue really was a blast to work on as artist Jeff Potter and myself were able to showcase the idea of Bannister becoming a fully fledged werewolf, something sadly the classic silent film did not do as they played up more on the aspects of it all being in his feverish mind. And while the first issue was bloody, we upped the gruesome level to 11 with this second issue! I am sure you also have noticed that in the Silent Film Universe by Blood Scream Comics, the one and only Count Orlock has been appearing and is almost recruiting people for some sort of sinister plan, and this will unfold in every issue of these comics based on Silent Horror Films. The cover for this issue showcases The Werewolf as well as Edith Ford and the colors by Jason Gilmore make it pop! The interior art is done by Jeff Potter who is a fantastic artist and who has brought many comic alive for Sparkle and Blood Scream Comics as his work includes such titles as Adventure Man, Curse Of The Beast, Spring Heeled Jack, Eternal Sleep, Farmer Joe and Shocking Macabre Theater, to name a small few. The way Potter draws the werewolf is fantastic and reminds me of the classic Creepy and Eerie Magazines, and the gore we draws rivals that of the indie horror comics from the late 80’s and early 90’s. While Nosferatu # 1 started the Silent Universe for Blood Scream Comics the Wolf Blood series is amping up the chills and blood spills, and this is just the start as you readers have not seen nothing yet. Check out the art work from Potter below to see his style in this series.

So as you can see, we truly put the horror first in this reimagining of Wolf Blood as we have Dick Bannister turning full force into a werewolf and he ends up killing everyone at the Ford Lumber Camp and also his true love Edith Ford, and by the end is taken away by Nosferatu himself Count Orlock as this is just one of several issue we have in store for you as Jeff Potter and I have more twisted tales in our Silent Universe to bring you! We released “Haunted House 1908” for Halloween 2023, and we screened the movie with a new score by musician Todd The Fox at Horrorama! If you have interest in ordering Wolf Blood # 1 and 2 you can do so here, while it remains in print that is. And yes, I will also do a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update for Haunted House 1908 as I love sharing my love for silent horror cinema with you readers. Well as you can see, this update has come to an end and for our next update we will be heading to the world of cartoons as we will be talking about the 1966 Captain America series. So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a silent horror film or two and as always support your local horror host. Oh and remember when Captain America throws his mighty shield, All those who chose to oppose his shield must yield!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Screaming Skull (1958)

Posted on January 23, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. As you can see, you find yourself reading another “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update here on my little slice of the internet, and for this one we will be taking a look at the 1958 fright flick Screaming Skull that got the comic book treatment thanks to Blood Scream Comics in 2017. Screaming Skull is one of those horror films that was a drive-n theater favorite for many, and now that it is in the public domain can be found on all types of home media as well as many uploads on sites like YouTube. This update will be different as we will not be giving the comic a star rating as my connection to Blood Scream Comics makes it very silly for me to do so, but I really want to talk about The Screaming Skull plus these “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” updates are a great way to showcase just how cool Blood Scream Comics is and just how cool our comics based on films are! So if you are ready, I can hear the skull screaming so let’s get spooky!

Let’s start by taking a look at The Skull, a cursed and haunted piece of a murdered woman’s body that has its own way of dealing death. Marion Whitlock was a woman who died after slipping on some water and cracking her skull open on the concrete base of a fountain pond found her estate, and then falling into the water and drowning. And now as her husband has taken a new wife, a Skull starts to appear around the home and estate making noises as well as seeming to move objects, and that trio is something that can truly be scary and haunting to the living as the skull’s look, noises and seeming supernatural powers could frighten someone too death as well as drive them mad. The Skull’s other power seems to be to freak someone out so badly that they are plagued with nightmares and are jumpy to every sound they hear, and make such items as paintings seem haunting and scary when they can be connected to Marion. The Skull also seems to be able to move on its own and the shriek it can give off is ear piercing and spooky. It seems to only have the purpose of driving its victim insane with the hopes of death. The spirit of Marion Whitlock is in the Skull and it is seeking justice for her death as it was no accident, and she wants those around to pay. The Skull can also appear as a headless ghost and give chase to its intended victim or for those it wants to warn of danger. And as a Skull, it can also fly and shriek through the air causing pure panic for its victim, and cause them to flee in madness. The Skull will also fly up and use its teeth to bite at your neck causing you extreme pain and in some cases death. The Skull does have weaknesses as it really is just a “haunted” skull and seems to be bound to the Whitlock Estate, as it is the scene of the crime of Marion Whitlock’s death. One would also have to guess that if The Skull was crushed the curse might be broken and this freeing the victim from its wrath. And this is if you truly thank that The Skull is real as many think it was all part of Eric Whitlock’s idea to cover up his first wife’s murder and drive his second wife crazy. But real or fake, The Skull of Marion Whitlock has the ability to drive a person crazy and that is why it’s so dangerous. And if you ask me, while in some moments was fake a tool used by Eric I think most of the time The Skull is real and acted as a way to get ride of Eric and warn his new bride of the danger.

So now that we have taken a look at The Skull, we should take a brief moment to also take a look at the film it’s from and that’s The Screaming Skull from 1958. I will be taking the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB, and then I will write about the films production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s take a walk around the Whitlock Estate, but let’s avoid that concrete pond as it has bad vibes around it.

Screaming Skull (1958)

“A newly married couple arrives at the home of the husband’s late wife, where the gardens have been maintained by a gardener faithful to the dead woman’s memory. Soon, eerie events lead the new wife to think she’s losing her mind.”

In the late 1950’s cheaply shot horror and sci-fi films were very popular at theaters and drive-in’s. Supporting film actor and Broadway actor Alex Nicol wanted to try his hand at directing one, and Screaming Skull is what he choose to be his test as the film was based on a real urban legend of a cursed skull that once belonged to a slave that is said to make screaming noises. A story that was written by Francis Marion Crawford, and the script would be written by the films producer John Kneubuhl, who had written the film “Hart Of Honolulu” before this. The film would cast Peggy Webber, John Hudson, Alex Nicol, Russ Conway and Tony Johnson and would take about six weeks to film and would be filmed on the Huntington Hartford Estates and would have a very small crew to pull it off. When the film was finished, Ernest Gold would come in to do the score and American International Pictures would be its distributor. The film would be released in August 1958 and would have a disclaimer that would promise a free burial if a moviegoer died of fright watching this film. Over the years, the film was met with very mix reviews as many fans and critics found it to be very cheap and cheesy while others find the simple spooky story to be a frightful watch. The film would end up falling into the public domain and over the years would be hosted by many horror hosts that include the likes of Halloween Jack, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Sammy Terry. In 1958, the film was released alongside such other films as Horror Of Dracula, The Fly, The Blob, IT! Terror From Beyond Space, I Bury The Living and The Revenge Of Frankenstein to name a few, so as you can see it was released alongside some true classics.

I can remember seeing Screaming Skull for the first time when I was a teenager as the film was in the public domain and was being released by many different companies. My brother had bought a DVD that had it and “Werewolf Vs. The Vampire Women” together, and we got some snack food and watched the double feature and had a blast with both films. After that, I saw the film a few more times being hosted by Horror Hosts during the Horror Host Underground boom on Public Access. What has always stood out about this film for me is that it does a good job of making the viewer wonder if The Skull is real or if it was always just terrible husband Eric Whitlock being a scumbag and trying to push his new bride into madness. The film also has a great cast as actors John Hudson, Russ Conway, Alex Nicol and Peggy Webber all do fantastic in their roles. Plus you cannot go wrong with a film that makes a normal everyday Skull the main villain of a horror film, and they are able to mix in great supernatural elements to show that The Screaming Skull’s reign of terror was real, and the highlight of the film is when The Skull of Marion is able to get revenge on her husband who clearly is the one who murdered her and made it look like an accident showing crime does not pay. In fact the film works for me as when you see it for the first time you think that all the spooky events and noises from The Skull were just a set up from Eric, but by the end you see that most of the terror truly was this cursed Skull on a rampage. The final moments of the film that have the ghost version of Marion running around and then her ghostly skull flying through the air screaming is pure cheesy horror goodness. Over the years, thanks to such shows as Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Screaming Skull has gotten a reputation of being a bad film, and while it’s not the best film from the 50’s, I can say that the film is not nearly as bad as people say it is. So if you have not seen Screaming Skull, make sure to give it a chance and a watch, and Hell even watch the MST3K or another horror hosted version as it’s a fun watch and is a perfect late night watch.

So I had to share this: as I was working on this update my brother was getting rid of some of his DVD’s as he had upgraded many of his films to Blu-Ray and in the stuff he was getting rid of was the copy of The Screaming Skull on which I saw the film for the first time that I had just written about so I had to take a picture of it and add it to this update as seeing the copy again brought a smile to my face and made me feel like a youngster again. So checkout the picture below to see the DVD in all its glory!

The Screaming Skull is a very strange supernatural horror crime thriller film that does a great job of entertaining the viewer. Now is the time when we do the review, and I would like to thank Theresa Daniels and Stephen Alexander, the creative team behind this comic for making this comic for Blood Scream Comics and making this update possible! I would then also like to say a big THANK YOU to all those who have read this comic or any other Blood Scream or Sparkle Comics over the years as because of you readers of these comics is why our company is around and is able to make comics like this to entertain and frighten you. I would also like to once more remind you that I will not be giving this comic a star rating due to my connection to the company that released it. So if you are ready, let’s scream out loud with The Screaming Skull in the year 1888!

Screaming Skull: 1888 # 1
Released in 2017 Cover Price $4.99 Blood Scream # 1 of 1

In 1888 Victoria Brown is walking home alone when she is attacked by a killer who slits her throat and guts her in a back ally. The police think it was another killing for Jack The Ripper. A year later her husband Reginald Brown is running a hat shop to honor the memory of his late wife, and while working one day he meets Edith Springdale, a woman who is wanting to get a new hat, and once she finds out his tragic story, the two become friends that quickly turns into a relationship and shortly they get married. Shortly after the marriage, Reginald is visited by Inspector Peter McNally who is investigating the Ripper killings and finds the death of Victoria a little off from the other killings in the Ripper case. This causes Reginald to get nervous and usher the Inspector out of the shop. From there Reginald starts to hear a screaming and even starts to see a Skull, and it’s driving him mad. His strange behavior is noticed by not just by the Inspector but also Edith who notices that he also seems to get angered very quickly when asked about the crime and the law looking to ask him questions about his wife’s death. More and more Reginald is seeing and hearing things and goes insane at one point beating Inspector McNally to death when thinking he was his dead wife! Later after covering up the murder he just committed, Reginald snaps again and tries to kill Edith but the Screaming Skull that is possessed by Victoria’s vengeful spirit comes to her rescue and causes him to fall backwards and impale himself. In the end Edith has had enough of all the bad things she lived through in England and is now heading to America for a fresh start and in her bag is The Screaming Skull!

The Scream Skull 1888 is a comic that acts almost as a prequel to the 1958 film and shows another cursed skull that belonged to a murdered woman who gets revenge on her husband who was the cause of her death. And this time around our setting is in England and during the time of the Jack The Ripper murders adding more horror to our already supernatural tale of terror. Reginald Brown is a man who owns and works in a hat shop, who appears to be a grieving widower that tries to keep doing his best after his wife’s murdered, but in reality he is very evil as he is the one who killed his wife brutally and weirdly enough we never find out his motivation. The best thing is that Reginald gets what he deserves and pays for his crime with his life. Inspector Peter McNally is clearly a good officer who is looking to solve the rash of murder cases in the Whitechapel area, and to him Victoria’s case just doesn’t seem right and not like a Jack The Ripper victim, but while his hunch is right, he ends up being brutally killed when his head is bashed in! Edith Springdale is a caring woman who is worried about her new husband’s mental health, and lucky for her while being attacked by her crazed husband the spirit of his deceased wife comes to her aid as a screaming skull and saves her and causes Reginald to finally meet his maker. The comic has that creepy classic horror feel to it and plays up on mood building and a downbeat atmosphere all the while given us some bloody moments of carnage. It’s a good mix of horror, thriller and even slight crime making for a solid quick read that will make you wonder what is next for The Screaming Skull as in the end of the issue the cursed thing is making its way to America. The cover for this issue is great and has a kind of indie comic gothic look to it, with Theresa Daniels doing the interior art and her style is very cool as to me it has a Rick Geary feel to it. For those who don’t know, he is an artist who does graphic novels about killers and crime from the past. And I have to also point out that the story for this comic was written by Stephen Alexander, who is also known as horror host Baron Von Porkchop and is also an indie actor who was in films like Bark At The Moon: Scars, Amityville No Escape and Wolf Hunter 2.5 to name a few. This is a really cool take on the Screaming Skull legacy and was supposed to be the start of a series that would have taken place over the years with the final issue being an adaptation of the film. Will this ever happen? Only time will tell. Checkout the artwork bellow to see the style that Theresa used when making this comic, and make sure to get your copy from the Blood Scream Comics online store.

The Screaming Skull is one of those films that I think made for a great comic book as I think Theresa and Stephen did a great job of adding to the film’s story by showcasing another tale of a murdered wife getting her revenge. And once more I have to say, who knows if more issues are coming, but one thing is for sure we have this one entertaining one to keep the Screaming Skull alive…or is that undead? With this From Horror Movie To Horror Comic update coming to an end, I think it’s time for me to tell you about our next update as it will be the start of Dog Month here at Rotten Ink with the first K-9 to take the spotlight being Top Dog, the amazing original character created for Star Comics! So until next time, read a horror comic or three, watch a horror movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host. Before you go, I have to say I am very much looking forward to talking about Top Dog!

Star Trek The End Of The Kirk Generation

Posted on January 13, 2024 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink. This update is something very special as it will be the final update about the Star Trek films that featured members of the original cast, and of course, the film is Star Trek: Generations that was released in 1994 and featured Captain Kirk along with a few other members of his crew in small rolls as they passed the silver screen torch to Captain Picard and the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I have had a very fun time covering these adaptations of the Star Trek films as they were ones I grew up watching and they kept Captain Kirk and his crew alive in media as their show was long over with on TV. So I think it’s time that we come aboard the Enterprise and set off with the final film adventure of Captain Kirk as this is truly the end of the Original Star Trek cast updates here at Rotten Ink, and I hope that you readers enjoy it.

Okay before we get to deep into this update, I want to also now take a brief moment to introduce the crew that made up “Star Trek: The Next Generation” as they are the main focus of this film as well as comic adaptation. First up is Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a very smart and strategic Captain who comes off cold at times but is truly a caring person. He is played by Patrick Stewart. Commander William T. Riker is second in command on the Enterprise; he as well is very smart, is a ladies man and has a sly attitude. He is played by Jonathan Frakes. Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge is the ship’s chief engineer and is blind and must use a visor to see. He is played by LeVar Burton. Lieutenant Worf is the ship’s chief of security and is a Klingon and is the muscle of the crew. He is played by Michael Dorn. Commander Data is the operations officer and is an android that battles with wanting to be more human. He is played by Brent Spiner. Lieutenant Deanna Troi is the ship’s counselor. She is half human and half Betazoid and is the love interest of Riker. She is played by Marina Sirtis. Doctor Beverly Crusher is the ship’s chief medical officer and semi love interest for Picard, and she is played by Gates McFadden. Other returning characters include Wesley Crusher, the annoying son and acting ensign for the Enterprise played by Wil Wheaton. Guinan, the ship’s bartender and advice giver played by Whoopi Goldberg. Lieutenant Tasha Yar was the original chief and security before the character was killed and she was played by Denise Crosby. Miles O’Brien was the ship’s conn officer and transporter chief; he would be later transferred to the Deep Space Nine base and he was played by Colm Meaney. And lastly Doctor Katherine Pulaski who was the ships doctor for a short time when Crusher was away, and she was played by Diana Muldaur. This is just a really fast crash course of the crew of the USS Enterprise-D as to really dive into each crew member would be a massive update of its own.

So now that we have briefly talked about the crew, let’s now take a look at the 7^th film in the Star Trek movie series and the final movie voyage for the Original Star Trek cast. Like always, I will be taking the film’s plot from our friends at IMDB and then I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts about the film. So if you are ready, let’s beam up to the Enterprise and take a look at Generations.

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

“With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.”

The films starting the Original Star Trek cast were coming to an end due to them all getting older as well as the box office dropping for them, but on TV, Star Trek: The Next Generation was a big hit and fans wanted to see Captain Picard and his crew on the big screen and so did Paramount Pictures and plans began to make a film staring them in production. Paramount Pictures ended up having Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore write the screenplay for the film as they both were working on Star Trek: The Next Generation at the time and were the perfect pair to handle this task. And when the story was coming about, the studio had some requests as well: the film had to have a funny Data subplot, that the film have an epic bad guy and that the original cast only appears shortly at the start of the film with Captain Kirk being the one that would come back in the end as well. The film’s plot went through many different ideas that also included having at one point a member of The Next Generation Crew dying, and one of the early ideas would have had Captain Kirk and Captain Picard along with their crews at odds with each other and having to battle one another with one Captain having to die…this would have been an epic film and would have really ruffled the feathers of many Trekkies as it’s clear that Kirk would have lost as Paramount wanted Picard and crew to be the new stars of the films. But after going back and fourth, the script was locked and a budget of around $35million was given, with David Carson coming on to direct after Leonard Nimoy turned it down. The cast of Star Trek The Next Generation Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis and Whoopi Goldberg made up the main cast with Malcolm McDowell being cast as the main villain named Soran and Jacqueline Kim playing Demora Sulu the daughter of Hikaru Sulu a crewmember of Enterprise-B. The original cast brought in was William Shatner playing Kirk and James Doohan returned as Scotty with Walter Koenig once more as Chekov. The filming took place toward the end of Star Trek The Next Generation’s run on TV, and this allowed them to rough up the set more as the set was planned for demolish to make way for Star Trek Voyager that was on its way to TV. Once done the film was scored by Dennis McCarthy who worked on the music for such shows as MacGyver, Dynasty and V to name a few and also did the score for the 1980 Bigfoot Horror Film called Night Of The Demon. The film would be released in theaters on November 18, 1994 and was meet with good reviews from critics and fans as many liked that blending of the Original Cast with that of the Next Generation…plus Trekkies loved seeing Captain Picard with Captain Kirk fighting to save the Universe. The film ended up making over $118million worldwide and would rank at # 15 for the year. The film would also beat out such other films as Ace Ventura Pet Detective, Stargate, Wolf, Beverly Hills Cop III, The Shadow, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare to name a few. The film would also be a big hit when released on home media and would gain even more of a fan base.

When Star Trek Generations was first announced I was both excited and also a little sad as this was clearly the sign that Captain Kirk and the original crew’s film series was truly at an end and that the films were now in the hands of Picard and his crew. Now keep in mind, I grew up a big fan of the original series thatI can remember watching in reruns with my Dad and Brother, but I also have great memories of watching Star Trek: The Next Generation on a small black and white portable TV I had when I was a kid, as the show would air before reruns of Tales From The Crypt on FOX. Many critics and even some fans for years had been mocking the age of the original cast and this became more and more of a chatter and it was clear that the box office drop of the films as well as the age chatter was sealing the fate of Captain Kirk and his crew…and this was gearing up to be their final adventure on the big screen. In 1994, I was super busy at school and was also at this point moved to a new school so I was not able to see the film in the theater and had to wait for the film to be released on home media and rented it from the local small video store and can remember enjoying it as I liked that the film made Captain Kirk the hero in the past as well as the future and they worked around any limitations that William Shatner had and delivered one heck of an entertaining film and a fitting send off for Captain Kirk. While I enjoyed the film, I also have to say that I was a little disappointed that Spock, McCoy, Sulu and Uhura did not appear in this film as it would have been great to have seen them all together that one last time. The film is one I would end up buying on VHS and later would upgrade to DVD and is one I have watched at least every three years or so. I will say that also when this film was released in 1994 it had a buzz going as the Trekkies I knew seemed to be really excited about Captain Picard being the new focus of the films, and for me while I was looking forward to seeing Picard, I cannot stress just how sad it was to see Kirk go away. Over all I am a fan of Star Trek: Generations and have to say that it was a nice send off for the original cast even though not all of them appeared in the film. I will get more into my thoughts in the review of the comic so be prepared for that.

Like all Star Trek films that came before it, Star Trek: Generations had a great amount of cool merchandise released for fans to collect. Such things as books, magazines, posters, home media, toys, model kits, trading cards, shirts, soundtrack, stickers, buttons, pins, comic book and so much more! And of course over the years I have had many of these things in my collection as of course I have the comic book, the film on VHS and DVD, the soundtrack on CD, action figures and I had some of the trading cards. So if you are a big fan of Star Trek: Generations, make sure to track down some of this merchandise as they are worth having if you are a collector.

So as you can see, Star Trek: Generations was Paramount’s attempt to try and breath new life into the feature length film series for Star Trek and you can tell that while they cheaped out on the budget, they really did want these Star Trek films to continue with this new cast. Now for those wondering, Juliet has reviewed this comic before on her big update about Star Trek: The Next Generation and if you have not read it, make sure to do so here. I would like to thank Bell, Book And Comic for having this comic in stock and making this update possible, and I would also like to remind you all that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comic stays to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So with that, let’s head to the bridge and see how Captain Picard and Captain Kirk will save the galaxy this time.

Star Trek: Generations # 1 ***
Released in 1994 Cover Price $3.95 DC Comics # 1 of 1

Captain Kirk has jumped from a ship and as he lands he meets up with Scotty and Chekov and the three the next day the three are at a press event for the new Enterprise and meet the new Captain named Harriman as well as Demora Sulu, the daughter of Hikaru Sulu who is a member of the crew. And as the Enterprise heads off into space they get a distress call from The Lakul, a ship holding refugees and among these refugees is Guinan and Soran who are among those able to be saved and beamed aboard, but Soran seems to want to go back to the ship that is being ripped apart by time…and worse the Enterprise is being torn to shreds, but Captain Kirk comes up with a plan and saves everyone on board besides himself. Now 78 years later, the Enterprise is run by Captain Picard and he and his crew are on the Holodeck as they are promoting Worf and doing so via a classic navel way, but the fun is cut short when they get a distress call and find Soran as one of the survivors who informs them that the attacks was so quick and he has no clue who did it. Meanwhile the android Data is having an Emotion Chip implanted in order to understand humans better and gets the help of La Forge to install it. Once more Soran is wanting to head back to the destroyed lab ship and begs Captain Picard to let him return to it. Meanwhile the crew have discovered that Trilithium might have been used to blow up the ship, and when Data and La Forge are on the wreckage looking for it they are attacked by Soran. Picard seems very distracted and his crew has noticed and Counselor Troy speaks to him and learns that his brother and nephew have died in a fire and he is now thinking of death and legacy. But things quickly turn deadly as Soran has caused a Level 12 wave that will destroy everything in its path and as Worf and Riker beam down to the destroyed lab and are attacked by Soran who has La Forge hostage. We learn that Soran is working with the Klingons to create a weapon of mass destruction and as Picard learns about Soran from Guinan as well as a place called the Nexus that once you enter you do not want to leave as well as an event called The Ribbon that will rip through the galaxy. Meanwhile Soran is forcing La Forge to tell him all that the Enterprise knows. Picard and Data figure out that Soran wants to use The Ribbon in order to get back to the Nexus but this will also cause another shockwave that will kill nearby planets and they have to stop this and head to the projected planet that the event will hit. At the planet The Enterprise and The Klingons are at a standoff as Soran and Picard are on the planet having talks to try and stop this destruction as La Forge returns to the Enterprise and later the Enterprise must destroy the Klingon Bird Of Prey but they also suffer some serious damage and must split the ship in order to save lives and they crash to the planet below banged up but alive. Meanwhile Soran is able to set his plan in motion and Picard is taken into the Nexus and there he has a family of his own and they are celebrating Christmas together, but while there he sees Guinan who breaks the Nexus’s hold on Picard who ends up finding Captain Kirk and talks him into leaving the Nexus as well to stop Soran and close the Nexus for good. Captain Kirk and Captain Picard do just that and stop Soran as well as The Nexus opening via The Ribbon…but Kirk passes away being the hero. In the end the Enterpirse is gone but Picard and his crew live on and will get a new ship to have more adventures.

I have to say it first thing DC Comics and the creators of this adaptation did a great job of bringing this film to comic pages and keep the story going fast and showcase all the main characters from the cast. The plot has Picard and his crew responding to a distress call at a starship lab only to pick up a survivor who is really a madman and wants to use a natural solar event as well as a powerful bomb to open a path to another dimension, but in order to do this millions of people will die! And it’s up to Captain Picard and his crew to stop it as well as find Captain Kirk who was lost in the other dimension for over 70 years! The issues villain is Soran a brilliant scientist who has turned mad after his family was killed by The Borg and after finding a place called The Nexus were time does not matter he is willing to kill millions to return to it after being taken away from it via Captain Kirk in the past. He is cold very cold and does not care who he has to kill to get what he wants and is even willing to work with the Klingons by building them a weapon of mass destruction in order to get to his destination. The Klingons this time around are lead by The Duras Sisters who want to cause war and bring the Klingons back to their glory of being feared around the galaxy. Captain Picard is a great leader to his crew, but his a little shaken when he learns that his brother and nephew have died in a fire and this causes him to question death and how we all die, but he like always fights through his mental struggle and is able to save millions of lives with his quick thinking. The rest of the crew as well do what they can to help stop this massacre as well as help Picard, and Data himself has some major issues when his Emotion Chip goes wrong and causes him to have breakdowns and overloads with feelings. The true hero of this story is Captain Kirk who in the past saves many lives from an explosion even though he was retired from Starfleet, and his heroic act causes him to be stuck in the Nexus for over 70 years and once talked out of the Nexus by Picard he ends up given his life to stop the explosion…showing once more that Kirk is the best Captain. The comic also features Scotty and Chekov as they appear in the past events along side Kirk and it was also cool to see the daughter of Sulu. The cover is very eye catching for fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation as it showcases Picard and his crew and the interior artwork for this issue is really good and captures the likeness of the actors who played these characters and the artist behind it was Gordon Purcell. To sum it up this comic adaptation is very well done and does the film justice. Checkout the art bellow to see the style used by Purcell.

Star Trek: Generations is truly the passing of the torch from one crew to another and after this film Captain Picard and his crew would have three more films before they would end up being replaced with a reboot series that would feature a younger version of Kirk, Spock and McCoy. And I am not sure what Rotten Ink has in store for the future when it comes to Star Trek as I might end up covering the Next Generation movie series and the comic adaptations of them or I might even just cover the comics based on Deep Space Nine and Voyager, or does the Enterprise dock for good here at Rotten Ink…but only time will tell really on what I choose to do. But one thing is for sure is that I had a blast covering all these Star Trek films as they were apart of my childhood and it was fun revisiting not only the films but also the memories of the films and re-reading the comics. Our next update will take us away from space and will instead take us to the world of Horror as we take a look at The Screaming Skull. So until next time read a comic or three, watch a Star Trek film or two and as always support your local Horror Host. See you soon as I am sure this skull has lots to scream about!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

Posted on November 23, 2023 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink, and Happy Thanksgiving. For this update we will be taking a look at The Giant Gila Monster, a cult classic film from 1959 that was an early b-movie giant monster film or better yet a Kaiju film, and is considered a Turkey of a film by those who are not educated in the art of B-Movies! This update we will also be taking a look at the Blood Scream Comics adaptation of the film, and for the first time on a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update we will not be giving the comic a star rating as I feel that would be lame as I am part of Blood Scream Comics and even edited this comic when it was released. But if you are ready, let’s head to the sock hop and dance the night away and wait for that Turkey to cook in the oven as we also dodge a very Giant Gila Monster.

Let’s first talk about The Giant Gila Monster and the creature’s way of killing those pesky humans that get in its way. The Giant Gila Monster is around 70 feet long and weighs multiple tons, and his size alone strikes fear into the hearts of humans who happen to be in his path of destruction. The Gila Monster can also use his massive size to crush humans into paste under his size or to bulldoze and get into buildings and places that his human prey might try and hide. He also has sharp claws that he can use to rip into places and things and has massive jaws with teeth that pack a deadly poison to normal size humans. The Giant Gila Monster also eats humans and can eat up to one third of his body weight, and that is a lot of humans and animals to stop his hunger! And because his size small weapons like guns cannot hurt Giant Gila Monster as his skin is kind of tough due to his scales. But while he is massive in size and is super dangerous, The Giant Gila Monster does have his weaknesses with his biggest being that he cannot survive massive explosions as they will kill him, and this weakness would make him hurt or killed by tank fire and other big weapons and bombs for sure. But without having those major weapons on hand The Giant Gila is one dangerous Kaiju that can deal death with the best of them.

So as you can see, The Giant Gila Monster is a massive killing machine who not only crushes his victims but also eats them! But now it’s time for us to take a look at the movie he is from and like always I will be taking the film’s write up from our friends at IMDB and after that I will be writing about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on it. So let’s head to Texas and make sure to look out for a Gila Monster, that might be looking for a late night snack.

The Giant Gila Monster (1959)

“A couple of teenagers are reported missing in a small Texas town, and it is thought they eloped. Sheriff Jeff turns to his friend Clarence Winstead, a garage mechanic and leader of a hot-rod gang, for help. After a series of tragic motor accidents, it becomes apparent that a giant Gila monster is roaming the area depleting the town of its citizens and visitors, including two hot-rodding teens, and planning to attend the BIG record-hop party.”

The Drive-In Theater marker was huge in the 1950’s and Sci-Fi and Horror Films was all the rage with the teenage crowd who would flock to see them on weekend nights. Gordon McLendon was the film’s co-producer and a man who had a vision of making extra money on making his own films for the many southern Movie Theaters and Drive-In Theaters he owned. You see, he was a jack of all trades: radio, oil and even wrote books and was all about entertainment and making money. And with this idea of making movies, he produced two back to back to show as a double feature one being “The Killer Shrews” and the other being “The Giant Gila Monster” and he would also bring on B.R. McLendon and Ken Curits to help produce Gila Monster, and Jay Simms wrote the script with Ray Kellogg directing as well as doing the special effects. A real Mexican beaded lizard was used at the Gila Monster and they would used scaled down landscapes to show his massive size. Ken Knox a real life Dallas, Texas DJ for KLF was brought in to play Steamroller Smith, a DJ, and Don Sullivan was hired as the lead Chase Winstead. Other actors brought on board include Shug Fisher, Fred Graham, Gay McLendon and the stunning Lisa Simone who was a Miss Universe contestant in 1957. The film had a budget of around $138,000.000 and was filmed around the Dallas, Texas area, as they wanted a fast turn around between filming and getting it onto the silver screen. Once the film was done, Jack Marshall, who is best known for his work on the TV Show The Munsters and the film Munster Go Home!, was brought on to score. The film would get released not only in America but would go on to have a run in foreign markets and was a semi hit and turned a profit. The film was met with a mostly positive remarks from fans and critics and would over the decades would gain a cult following that would even get a remake film in 2012 called “Gila!” from director Jim Wynorski and would also be hosted by Mystery Science Theater 3000 in season 4 along with many other Horror Host over the years. In 1959 The Giant Gila Monster was released along such other Horror Films that year like “Night Of The Ghouls”, “The Tingler”, “The Giant Leeches”, “Return Of The Fly”, “House On Haunted Hill”, “Plan 9 From Outer Space” and “The Giant Behemoth” to name a few. While the film has fallen into the public domain, it still remains a favorite for many classic monster movie fans.

The Giant Gila Monster is a film I can remember seeing many, many time over the years from watching it on VHS to DVD but mostly seeing it hosted by Horror Hosts like A. Ghastlee Ghoul, Halloween Jack and of course MST3K, and it has always been one of my favorite cheesy films from the late 50’s as the effects are great for the time. The musical numbers are out of place and yet so fitting for that time in cinema. Lisa Simone was so beautiful and she should have gotten way more work in Horror and Sci-Fi films. I mean Lisa did star in the film “Missile To The Moon” from 1958 as Moon Girl, and this was released a year before Gila Monster. The special effects were well done for the time and the use of a Mexican beaded lizard as the Gila Monster was a fun touch as it clearly was more easy to work with and made some of the slow movements look good on camera. The film is also filled with deaths as well as really has the small town feel as all the citizens seem to know each other and both young and old meet up and have sodas at the shop. Now that I am thinking about it creator and director Ray Kellogg should have made a film that pitted The Giant Gila Monster against the Killer Shrews…or even maybe radiation cases a Killer Shrew to grow giant and they two could have fought, now that would have been a great film to see on the big screen! Say what you will about this film, but you know that if you have seen it you were entertained and some of the songs are stuck in your head even to this day…My Baby She Rocks…She Rocks And Rolls.

Giant Gila Monster really is one of those classic Drive-In cheaply made B-Movies that I think is over looked when it comes to the early days of Giant Monster or Kaiju Cinema. While the acting might be very cheesy, in my opinion one, it’s of the best late 50’s Horror Films that must have been a great experience in the Drive-In Theaters. I want to of course thank Blood Scream Comics for making this comic and making this update possible, and I want to remind you that I will NOT be grading these comics on s star scale as like I said I was involved in this comic being made. So sit back, relax and while we wait for Thanksgiving Dinner, let’s see how Chase and the teens can survive this giant monster attack.

The Giant Gila Monster # 1
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Blood Scream # 1 of 2

Pat and Liz are a couple in love and are on a date. They decide to pull over near some woods in order to make out when they hear a noise and soon see a Giant Gila Monster who attacks and eat them. The next day at the Soda Shop Chase and his girlfriend Lisa show up and ask about the missing couple and none of their friends have any news and are puzzled by their disappearance. As Chase and his friends continue to chat Old Man Harris enters the shop and turns down some of the kids who want to buy his old care, and Chase tells the shop workers that if they see Pat and Liz to tell them the gang is going to the Drive-In. Sheriff Jeff heads to the home of Mr. Wheeler who is the rich father of Pat and he wants answers on finding his son, and Liz’s parents have faith in their daughter and think she will return home soon. Meanwhile Chase is at work being a mechanic and gets a shock when his boss comes to work with jars of Nitro in his trunk that Mr. Wheeler is having stored outback in a shed. Later that night the Sheriff finds a wrecked car and Chase is called to come tow it away, while a poor hitchhiker down the road gets killed by the Giant Gila Monster who eats him. Later Chase and The Sheriff find the suitcase of the hitchhiker and are puzzled to why someone would leave it at the side of the road. Chase does get bad news as his lovely lady Lisa alerts him that Mr. Wheeler who is her sponsor to be in our country for school wants her to stop seeing him as he blames him somehow for his sons disappearance. The next day Chase is called out again and helps repair a wrecked car as well as gives it’s driver Radio DJ Steamroller Smith a place to sleep off being drunk, and also hears Chase singing as he did the repairs and likes what he heard. Steamroller tips the youngster for his help and also gives him a business card. That’s night Chase and his friends find Pat’s car and bring it back to the garage as the owner of the garage is on the road to deliver an oil shipment and is killed by The Giant Gila Monster. Chase gets home to find that Lisa has bought the leg braces his sister Missy needed to walk and he is so touched that he sings her a song.

The Giant Gila Monster was made for comic books as the characters themselves come off as characters you would have found in comics at the time. This first issue’s plot has people going missing from a small town that are not connected and the only law in the town is one Sheriff who gets the help of the towns youth to try and crack this case. Our main character is Chase, a youngster who drives a Hot Rod who works hard for his money at a repair garage and gets money to help his younger sister who has a disability that makes it hard for her to walk. But Chase also has a great life as besides loving his family he has a beautiful foreign exchange student girlfriend as well as a singing voice that was popular in the pop music of the time. Not to mention that his kindness towards others always seems to work in his favor as he is well liked by the town and the law. Lisa is Chase’s girlfriend and she as well is a very kind person who saves up all her money to buy the braces her boyfriend’s kid sister needed, and even goes against the wishes of the sponsor that allows her in this country showing that she truly loves Chase. And out last hero of the comic series this far is Sheriff Jeff who has lots on his plate when it comes to these missing people and the town’s most wealthy man Mr. Wheeler breathing down his throat for answers as his son in one of the missing! The Giant Gila Monster is dangerous as its massive size and equally big hunger make any man, woman, child and beast in it’s way food on the menu and it has no issues chomping down on flesh to fill it’s belly. And man does Giant Gila Monster eat as it snaps people in half. The comic adds way more blood, gore and violence that the film was lacking as we get to see the Monster chomping down on the humans. The cover for this issue is very eye catching as the yellow helps bring out the Gila Monster. The interior artwork is done by Don Stephenson and captures the cartoonish horrors of the film really well, and his detail on The Gila Monster is top notch. Over all this first issue does a great job of staying true to the film and yet added a more bloodstained modern touch. Let’s see what issue two has in store for Chase.

The Giant Gila Monster # 2
Released in 2020 Cover Price $3.99 Blood Scream # 2 of 2

As Chase is at home with his family and girlfriend, he gets a call from the Sheriff to meet him at the garage and gets the news that his boss’s might have passed away as the truck he was driving the gas delivery has blown up. Meanwhile The Giant Gila Monster is on the prowl for more humans and even causes a train wreck and starts eating the survivors as they try and flee. Old Man Harris sees the attack and reports it to the Sheriff and even more calls start coming in and he thinks that these people have to be drunk or their town really is under attack by a giant lizard. Chase after dropping his mom and sister off at a friends house heads to a barn dance party that is being hosted by Radio DJ Steamroller Smith with his lady Lisa and he even gets a chance to sing in front of all his friends as he is brought up on stage to perform. Meanwhile Mr. Wheeler is super mad and goes to The Sheriff and demands that he arrest Chase as he blames him for his son’s disappearance and also threatens to remove the officer from his job! As Mr. Wheeler and The Sheriff show up to the barn dance party the Gila Monster as well appears and goes on the attack busting through the wall and starts his rampage of terror, Chase and Lisa jump into his hot rod and head to the garage and gets the nitro and Chase wrecks his car into the beast and blows it up killing it! In the ends Chase meets back up with Lisa, his baby sister Missy, Mr. Wheeler and The Sheriff and they are all so happy to have this terror come to an end. We then flash to the future (2020) and The Undertaker from the now closed down Shady Rest Funeral Home is looking over giant Gila Monster eggs, and this leaves the question when these three eggs hatch, what horror awaits the world.

This second Issue has The Giant Gila Monster meeting his end at the hands of a hot rod car packed with nitro and the explosion from the two colliding blows the massive creature into chunks of meat and bone! But before this Giant Monster dies it does cause death and destruction and just imagine if it was able to make its way to a bigger city like New York or Los Angeles, now that would have been Godzilla level Kaiju destruction! Chase is our hero as not only is he a good singer and mechanic, but he is also very smart and uses his wits in order to stop the giant monsters rampage. As he knew the dangers of the nitro and even places himself in danger in order to bring and end to the terror and save the lives of all his fellow towns people. Lisa, The Sheriff as well as Mr. Wheeler and Old Man Harris as well do their parts of trying to save lives as well as piece together the truth of the giant creature and if it was real or just town gossip among the heavy drinkers. The feeling of a small town is still very much present in this issue, and I also feel Don did a great job of following the film as a blueprint but also adding his own touches to it to make if feel familiar but also new. The issue has some blood and gore with the death of the Gila Monster being the most gruesome, and is one of my favorite panels in the comic. The cover for this issue is pretty cool and the light blue background once more made it standout on the comic shelf when released. The art by Don is also very cool and has a cartoonish nature to it and that is why the more detailed monster and bloody moments standout. And I can’t not talk about the fact that The Undertaker from the 1966 film Undertaker And His Pals makes a cameo appearance in this comic and shows that for decades he has been watching over giant eggs of The Giant Gila Monster and we all know that he his crazy so no one knows what will happen once they hatch…well some know with one being Don Stephenson who will be working on this story arc soon! Say what you will, but the film The Giant Gila Monster but I have to once more say that it makes for a great comic book series. Check out the artwork below to see the style of Don used in this comic series.

It was such a blast working alongside Don Stephenson to bring The Giant Gila Monster to the world of comic books and for those wondering for Blood Scream Comics The Giant Gila Monster ties into a few other comic releases including “The Giant Skunk ”, “The Undertaker And His Pals” and “Raiga God Of The Monsters” and who knows if The Giant Gila Monster will rise from the grave it’s self for another comic rampage via Blood Scream Comics! Well I am sure that the Turkey, Ham, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes and all the other sides have hit the table and you readers and your loved ones are gearing up for a feast and good conversation. So thanks for spending some of your Holiday with me here at Rotten Ink, and I hope this update added to your Turkey Day. Before we part I want to tell you our next update will take us away from giant monsters and will once more take us back to the world of Pro Wrestling as we step into the squared circle with one of the sports most legendary big men Haystacks Calhoun! So until next time, read an Indie Horror Comic or three, watch a B-Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Hosts. Oh and I enjoyed talking about this Blood Scream Comic release and who knows in the future I might cover a few more of them here at Rotten Ink, and make sure to have one more scoop of mashed potatoes and gravy for me.

Horror Host Icon: Angus

Posted on November 9, 2023 by bloodlinematt

Horror Hosts come in many forms. Some are Horror Hosts that live in the world of other TV Shows. For example Count Floyd and his Monster Horror Chiller Theater show started on SCTV, Zombo and his House Of Zombo show was part of the sitcom The Munsters, and Alister Cookie and his Monsterpiece Theater was part of Sesame Street. Today’s host was on a Public Access show from New Jersey called Meadowlands Showcase Presents, and the host is Angus! That is the thing I really want to stress, when it comes to the world of Horror Hosting is there is no too small or too big host as they all have their own fans and have made their own impact to the genre. I think many of you readers will not know of Angus, but I also think some of you will know about him and his short time on TV. So if you are ready, let’s take a short trip to New Jersey and take a spooky walk with Angus and his Horror Show as this is going to be a fun Horror Host Icon update.

Angus was a smooth talking ghoul who at first wore no make up and later would rock grey face paint while hosting short films on his show The Horror Show as well as The Meadowlands Showcase Presents. While Angus was smooth he also had a dark side as hosting spooky movies was in his blood and he would use his dark powers to scare off as well as brain fry those normal people that stand in his way. He was more of a darker host, and while he had some chuckles, he was more straight forward bringing the viewers the frights. Angus wears all black clothing and had long hair and would give spooky looks to the viewers at home. Angus also had a laugh that was oddly creepy and also had a dash of stage acting sound to it. Angus was played by David Weber, a local actor from New Jersey who also stared in the 1989 Horror Film “The Basement” as Mr. Adelman. David sadly passed away in the late 90’s and from what his friends say, he was a very nice person and was a joy to be around. While Angus only made two appearances, he truly made his mark on the world of Horror Hosting and has his own fan base.

The Meadowlands Showcase started in 1988 and was a Public Access show that was aired in New Jersey and was the creation of Michael Raso and John Pual Fedele. Angus, along with a female co-host Emily, first appeared on the episode “Creepy Tales” that aired in October 1988 and later in October 1989 Angus would return and take over the show calling it The Horror Show on the episode “The Halloween Takeover”. While Angus only appeared twice on the show in 1988 and 1989, the main show would run from 1988 to 1994 and was a well loved local show as the skits, music videos an shorts brought lots of joy to viewers. Each episode was around 30 minutes long. And while I wish Angus would have appeared on more episodes as well as maybe the creators would have turned Angus into a fully fledged Horror Host show, I would say Angus and his The Horror Show made their mark on the history of Horror Hosting no matter how big or small that mark is.

Angus is one of those hosts whose name has been spoken about by many diehard Horror Host fans for awhile as his name is on Egor’s Chamber Of TV Horror Hosts website and many people started to think that Angus and The Horror Show was a lost public access show that they had to see as many did not realize he was just a character for a non-Horror Host show and only appeared twice on TV. In fact I know that New Jersey host Halloween Jack and myself have spoken about him a few times over the years as we wanted to track him down as Jack wanted to meet a fellow Jersey host. Both of us were very bummed when we found out he passed away as it would have been great to see Angus make a comeback and even maybe host a show alongside Halloween Jack! For this update I have one of the episodes that Angus appeared on and will be taking the show’s write up from our pals at IMDB, and I will write about the antics of Angus in said episode. So if you are ready, let’s sit back and see what The Horror Show and Angus has in store for us.

Horror Show: Halloween Takeover
Starring – John Paul Fedele & Marc S. Lucey Not Rated 1989

Host: Angus starts the episode walking down the road and running into Tex, a man who has been fired from the TV Station, and as they pair head in Angus talks to the man in charge and uses his mental powers to knock him out. Angus then heads to the studio and uses his powers against a host for a workout show and runs him off. Tex then gets to master control and Angus starts his show The Horror Show that has him showing short films and a music video while hanging out with The Grim Reaper. Angus even has the Grim Reaper remove the head of one of the filmmakers who he was annoyed with. In the end the head of the station wakes up and loved The Horror Show and wants to work with Angus as he shoves Tex out of the door as he is still fired.

Movie: David Weber as “Angus”, takes over a local television station using his demonic powers, so that he may have his own show – “The Horror Show”. He is assisted on his show by Marc S. Lucey as “The Grim Reaper”. During this 30 minute show, “Angus” presents the short films “Evil Vision” “Pete Jacelone’s – The Day The Shopping Carts Came to Life”, and the music video “Garbage Man” performed by “The Cramps”. “Angus” convinces Peter Jacelone to join his group. Reluctantly he agrees. “The Grim Reaper” leads Peter away, and loops off his head.

Angus had a charm to him that made him standout and he had that classic late 80’s Horror Host feel and he could have truly been a legend in hosting if he would have lasted longer and spun off into doing his own show. I hope you enjoyed this Horror Host Icon update about Angus, and I hope that this sparked your interest into looking up his appearances on Meadowland Showcase that can be found on YouTube. And for those who do not think that Angus, Count Floyd, Alister Cookie, Zombo and others like them are not Horror Hosts, I understand your standpoint but I and many others do see them as Hosts as they did their parts to bring attention to the art of Horror Hosting. But now it’s time for us to leave the world of Horror Hosting and head into the world of Pro Wrestling again to showcase the fan favorite wrestler Hillbilly Jim! So until next time, read a Horror Comic or three, watch a Horror Movie or two and as always support your local Horror Host! And remember readers, it is very important to archive your local Horror Host shows as well as local Indie Wrestling ones!

From Horror Movie To Horror Comic: Nightwing (1979)

Posted on October 31, 2023 by bloodlinematt

Welcome back to Rotten Ink, and Happy Halloween! For this update, we are heading to the desert of New Mexico and will have to be on the watch out for a pack of wild killer bats as we have a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update about a 1979 Horror Film that got a Fotonovel as well as tanked at the America box office. I am of course talking about Nightwing! This spooky nature Horror flick was slated to be a massive hit but after failing to bring in moviegoers turned into an almost forgotten dud. But here at Rotten Ink we are going to give Nightwing some respect and showcase that even films that are not solid gold should and could have gotten the comic book treatment. So let’s keep our eyes on the sky and head into the desert and look at those killer bats that make up Nightwing.

The Vampire Bats are the death dealers to humans in Nightwing, and these flying creatures have many ways to end lives, so let’s take a look at their methods of killing. The bats’ main source of dealing damage is their razor sharp teeth that can puncture skin and leave bite marks that can make the victim lose blood as they go down to the bone, causing pain and could lead to death. They can fly and are super fast as they catch up to a running human with ease. They can also use sonar hearing to pinpoint the location of their intended victim, and because of this sonar, they can even see in the dark. They drain and drink the blood of their victims and could even spread sickness like the plague that kills humans very painfully. They also attack in massive packs and swarm their victims and keep on biting and causing the human targets to panic and lead to accidents as fear takes over. But while these Vampire Bats are very dangerous, they can be killed easily as they are just living creatures, so you can smash them, burn them, shoot them, stab them, gas them, poison them and any other way you could kill a living animal. Also noises and frequencies can throw off their sonar and cause them to be confused. While they might not be the most deadly or vicious killers we have covered on a “From Horror Movie To Horror Comic” update, one thing is for sure they are mean cold blooded killers that attack in packs and spread sickness and death.

So as you can see, these bats are deadly and are thirsty to murder. Now let’s take a look at the film these little night creatures are from. The film’s write up will be taking from our pals at IMDB and after that I will write about the film’s production as well as my thoughts on the film. So if you are ready, let’s chat about the 1979 fright film Nightwing.

Nightwing (1979)

“A colony of vampire bats terrorize a small Indian community in New Mexico. Standard “Nature goes berserk” plot takes a twist toward the end when supernatural forces are discovered working through the bats.”

Jaws was one of the biggest Horror Movies of the 1970’s, and when it was unleashed on movie goers in 1975, many other filmmakers and writers rushed to cash in on the Nature Run Amok film craze as theaters and drive-ins were flooded with films like Grizzly (1976), King Kong (1976), Orca (1977) and Piranha (1978) to name a few. In 1977, a novel called Nightwing was written by Martin Cruz Smith about killer bats, and in 1979 the novel was turned into a feature film! Martin Ransohoff would produce the film and the team of Martin Cruz Smith, Bud Shrake and Steve Shagan wrote the movie script, and they thought that they could have the next mega summer movie hit on their hands. Columbia Pictures would come on board to distribute the film and Arthur Hiller would direct. He was known for films like The Out-Of-Towners (1970), Silver Streak (1976) and W.C. Fields And Me (1976) and was not known for directing Horror at all. The film was shot in New Mexico and special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi would do the bats for the film, and he had made a name for himself on the films King Kong and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. Actors brought into the cast was Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Ben Piazza, Stephen Macht and George Clutesi and the score was done by Henry Mancini who is known for his work on the Friday The 13^th film series and other music from Kenny Rogers and Crystal Gayle was used in the film. The film would be released in theaters on June 22, 1979 and was such a bomb at the box office that it was taken off screens really fast after its release the film was panned by critics and fans alike. The film in 1979 was released with other Horror Movies like Zombi 2, Alien, Amityville Horror, Phantasm, Tourist Trap, Driller Killer, When A Stranger Calls, Dracula, Savage Weekend, The Brood, Prophecy and many more, and I think that’s why it was lost in the shuffle as 79 was a good year from Horror Flicks! But in more recent times the film is starting to gain a cult following thanks the it getting a DVD and Blu-Ray release allowing fans to rediscover it.

Nightwing is one of those movies I remember watching when I was a kid but over the years had forgotten all about it. I am sure I saw the film on TBS or USA when I first seen it and was always into the Nature Runs Amok Horror Films from that time. The thing about Nightwing is that because it failed so bad at the box office as well as did not get much fanfare when released on home media is just kind of slipped through the cracks for many, I mean most of my friends who are pretty big fans of Horror Films have never even heard of this film showing that over the decades Columbia Pictures has done a really bad job of promoting and getting this film seen by fans of the genre. Bats have always been a symbol for fear in American as they are used in Halloween decorations, horror themed video games as enemies, have been the subject of other spooky films, and are always a symbol of the vampire. That is why it’s shocking that in the 70’s a film like this would bomb at the box office as moviegoers seemed to love the Horror Genre at this time and films based with animals as the killers were all the rage, but then again, this could have lead to this film failing as the market was flooded with these films and it could have been lost in the shuffle or just viewers had fatigue over these films and had enough. And the thing that they did with Nightwing to try and keep it different is add a layer of supernatural horror to the mix and you have to respect that they tried to make it standout from the pack. While Nightwing is not a household name for 99% of fans, those Horror fans that dig deep into the well and love classic Nature Runs Amok fright flicks they know the cheesy delight that is this film. And I watched this film again after not seeing it for decades and I have to say I really enjoyed it, as I liked the characters, the vampire bats and the effects are super silly and yet charming and the score is really great work from Henry Mancini and I made sure to order the score CD that same day.

So now that we have taken a few moments to talk about the film as well as the killer bats in the film, I think that it’s our time to take a look at this photo comic novel based on it. I have to say that I do wish that more companies would take the time to make comics based on Horror Movies and while I would prefer ones that are drawn, even photo comics would do and if you are a Horror moviemaker please get in contact with a comic artist and get a comic made based on your fright flick. And with that I want to thank LaCreeperieBookshop on Etsy for having this Fotonovel in stock and making this update possible. I want to also remind you that I grade these comics on a star scale of 1 to 4 and am looking for how well the comics stay to the source material, its entertainment value and its art and story. So if you are ready, grab a fly swatter as this is bat country and we are taking a walk through it.

Nightwing # 1 **1/2
Released in 1979 Cover Price $2.75 Fotonovel # 1 of 1

Early in the morning Abner, a tribe’s priest calls out for help to protect his people, and he tells deputy Youngman Duran that the old ways need to rise and that people need to die in order to protect them, and because Abner raised Duran like a son he ignores it. Later on a Hopi Indian reservation in New Mexico, a horse is found with bite marks all over its body and the deputy Youngman Duran is called in but quickly leaves when tribal councilman Walker Chee shows up and takes over the investigation with the none tribal law. Duran’s girlfriend is Anne Dillon who works what she can medicine and she might be leaving town to learn more and this stresses Duran who truly loves her. More animals turn up dead and they have the same bites and worse Anne is taking a Missionary Group out into the desert and are going to a rain dance that is happening soon. While Adner is found dead and has the same bite marks, and when buried by Duran he witnesses the body bleeding and later it even goes missing from its grave. And he also meets Phillip Payne, a man whose whole mission is to kill vampire bats as the alerts the deputy that they are what is causing the deaths. Meanwhile Walker Chee and some tycoons want to start drilling for oil and gas on the sacred mountains, even after Payne warns them that the bats are spreading a deadly plague in their bites and Duran wants nothing to do with it and is not told of the danger of the bats by Chee. Anne’s group she is leading is attacked by the bats and three of the members die and one dies later from the bites as Anne is stuck out in the desert during a heat wave, and the tribe council are the ones who dug up Abner and they all pass away from being near the body that had the plague do to the bat bites and are found by Duran who is at odds with Chee over his handling of this situation and his pure goal of getting the gas. In the end Duran finds Payne and the two save Anne and then the three end up stopping the vampire bats in their cave by setting the oil on fire and burning them alive and stopping the drilling as this fire will forever burn.

This is a pretty fun photo comic novel that captures the slow burn pace of the film and delivers the chills of the Vampire Bat attacks and the lore of the Native America legends that fuel the subplot of the story of if Adner has cursed the tribe and mankind and brought the plague and bats that is killing the tribe as well as the animals. Our hero is deputy Youngman Duran a man who is the law and walks a line between modern beliefs as well as that of the old, he even uses the datura root to see into the spirit world and does a ceremony to close a circle around a painting that ends up setting the fire that kills off the bats as well as saves the land from oil drilling. Anne Dillon is a good woman who has a big heart and who loves her boyfriend Duran but also wants to learn medicine more in order to help the tribe, she also does what she can to save lives and even stands with her man in the end against a cave full of blood thirsty plague caring bats. Phillip Payne is a strange man but is also a good man as his goal is to kill all Vampire Bat clan he can as he knows the death and danger they bring, and he as well is a hero who does what he must in order to save lives. Councilman Walker Chee is a man who is more worried about money and power and does not do the right thing when it comes to these Vampire Bat attack and deaths, and this shows that he is driven by greed but hides behind the word that he is doing this to better the tribe. The Vampire Bats are vicious and attack in packs and bite and spread their disease like crazy, and they attack man, woman, child and beast and there is hundreds of them! The story is slow paced and for those looking for lots of Vampire Bat attacks you do not get a lot just like in the movie you get a small amount as the story is more of a character driven movie and is about our main leads and how they all interact with one another during this emergency and matter of life and death. The photo comic novel is pretty much bloodless and the Horror moments come with the attack as well as the shocking deaths of those attacked and infected. This also does a good job of capturing the film on the pages and the cover does not scream Horror at all, but it is still really cool. Check out the photo below to see the style of this novel, and to sum it up if you like the film you should also enjoy this Photo Comic based on it.

Nightwing is one of those forgotten gems of Horror from the late 70’s, and I feel it is overlooked by many do to the fact that it is a very slow moving film and the effects are very dated and cheesy even for that time in cinema. But I do find that it was well acted and the idea of plague spreading Vampire Bats seems fitting for these modern times in the world. And while Photo Comics are not for everyone, I really am starting to warm up to them and have enjoyed reviewing many on this blog and make sure to check out my update for “Love At First Bite,” another Fotonovel release. Well as you can see, we made it out of this bat attack and will be leaving them behind as our next update will take us to the world of Horror Hosts as we spend some time with NJ host Angus! So once more Happy Halloween and make sure to read a Horror Comic or three, watch a Horror Film or two and as always support your local Horror Host! Oh and also watch out for crazed bats as who knows what they are up to this spooky night!