Category — Horror

As I was setting the dvr to record “Sanctuary” this morning, I saw that SciFi Channel* was showing Reign of Fire beforehand.

I thought to myself that was weird, where’s the usual Stargate re-runs? Turns out it’s October already (funny how it creeps up on ya) and they’re showing horror movies and tv series all month in honor of Halloween.

The Halloween marathon ends with a special live episode of “Ghost Hunters”, a show I found dreadfully boring. The wannabe ghostbusting duo will investigate ghost sighting at Fort Delaware in Delaware City, Delaware. I probably won’t be tuning for that special, but I’m sure I’ll wind up watching a few of these horror flicks. Put on Night of the Demons 2 and I’m glued to the screen. No lie.

B-movie horror at its best.

Source: Pop Candy
*I swear this blog is not a commercial for the SciFi Channel. The television remote just always seems to land there when nothing else is on tv.

Do you remember “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” on Nickelodeon? I remember watching that show when it premiered in 1991.

“The Tale of the Thirteenth Floor” episode clip:

It was like a wonderful jumble of tv serial theatrics reminiscent of “The Twilight Zone” and themes from the Goosebumps book series. Didn’t you just get chills when they threw that dust onto the fire?! Granted, as an adult re-watching these episodes, some of the thrills have gone. Still, I think “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” was a pretty decent original kids series.

Each week they had new characters and stories to tell, sometimes with a twist of horror, other times more science fiction based. This serial format helped keep this tv show on air for 5 seasons! That’s a pretty big feat for a darkly themed kids show. Definitely longer than what most primetime sci-fi shows get these days! Look at “Moonlight” for example. Mick St. John’s dashing looks and vampire charisma couldn’t keep it on air past one season.

Alan Ball, the creator of “Six Feet Under”, has a new HBO show about vampires living openly in the present day called “True Blood”.

From Alan Ball’s interview on HBO.com:
“It’s based on a series of books written by Charlaine Harris, and it takes place in a world where vampires have made their presence known to humans. They’ve come out of the coffin, so to speak, because of the development by a Japanese biotech firm of synthetic blood for medical purposes, which the vampires claim fulfills all of their nutritional needs. So they’ve organized, and they’re struggling for assimilation and for equal rights.”

The series focuses though on Anna Paquin’s character, Sookie Stackhouse. She’s a telepathic waitress who befriends one of these newly outed vamps in a small Louisiana town. Hmm, I guess that could prove interesting. However, those faux TruBlood beverage ads confused the heck outta me until I realized it was plugging HBO’s new show. Will viewers be able to tell when Ball is being serious or funny? Will he be able to balance the horror elements with the satire of society?

All I know for sure is vampires are no stranger to the television series format, see “Angel”, “Forever Knight”, or CBS’s now cancelled “Moonlight”. Thus, I’m sure a few fans of the genre will be tuning in on September 7th when the series premieres to weigh in on Ball’s take on the vampire mythology.

BBC America is finally premiering their sci-fi/action-adventure television series, “Primeval”, this Saturday at 9pm.

I watched an episode when I visited London and first thought I’d stumbled upon a strange episode of “Land of the Lost”. The place I stayed at had one of those Sky One tuners and a weird HDTV rear projection set ups (so many cords, I tell you!), so navigating the channels was a bit challenging. As such, I just left the channel as is and went along for the ride. Little did I know, I was watching the next sci-fi show that BBC America would be promoting here in the states!

“Primeval” tells the story of scientist, Nick Cutter (Douglass Henshall) who discovers a few dinosaurs walking around alive and well in present day. Apparently some crazy space-time rift is wreaking havoc (enter the sci-fi angle) and creatures from various periods and places start popping up.

From BBC America:
“Cutter, his research assistant Stephen Hart, zoologist Abby Maitland, and student paleontologist Connor Temple race to understand what’s happening, while government bureaucrats James Lester and Claudia Brown insist they have to keep the danger secret from the public. As the past threatens to invade the present and destroy the future, Cutter’s crew faces a life-and-death race against time.”

Sounds fun, right? I’m giving it a shot since it’s still summer and the lastest season “Doctor Who” just ended. Gotta fill the void somehow.

I awoke this morning to a “Kingdom Hospital” marathon on SciFi channel.

It took me quite a few minutes to realize what I was watching. At first, I assumed it was just some whacked out episode of “The Outer Limits” that took place in a hospital. It was a really eerie scene of homeless men cackling at a doctor parking his car. But then in the next scene, I saw Andrew McCarthy’s doctor character appear and I knew exactly what it was. No TiVo information button necessary. =)

“Kingdom Hospital” is Stephen King’s take on the danish television mini-series, “Riget” and “Riget II” , which was created by Lars Von Trier. Trier later went on to garner international exposure from his next project, Breaking the Waves, which probably led to King discovering the series. King’s adaptation was criticized by viewers of the original. Apparently he trimmed all the humor bits and emphasized the mystery/horror elements. But would you expect anything less? I suppose not.

I tried to watch a few episodes when it premiered on NBC in 2004, but I ended up distracted and bored. Now, thanks to SciFi channel, viewers can give “Kingdom Hospital” another go. I swear if it’s got anything to do with sci-fi or horror, that channel will add it to their programming, even if it didn’t make the cut on network television. Sometimes I love their choices, while others I’m just kind meh about like this show.

You can rent or buy “Riget” and “Kingdom Hospital” on dvd today, if you’re curious to find out more.

Was I the only one confused with last night’s episode of “Fear Itself” called In Sickness and In Health?

I usually don’t like serial type shows like “The Outer Limits” or “Masters of Horror”, but when I saw that Maggie Lawson and James Roday from “Psych” were featured, I gave in.

It was also quite curious to see them play a bride and groom, especially since I just learned they are dating in real life. The episode was quite eerie and broken up with abrupt scenes of humor. Maybe that’s director John Landis’ influence? His movies to have a aura of camp to them.

*SPOILERS*
The episode follows their wedding, which is tainted by a note given to the bride (Lawson) claiming that Carlos (Roday) is a serial killer. Throughout the ep, she gets increasingly more freaked out and paranoid, especially when Carlos starts acting weird and hurting her. So at the end of the ep, the audience believes the note is true. But the twist is, the note was meant for Carlos! Meaning…she’s a serial killer? WTF?

If she was the killer, why did she act so freaked out by the note until she realized the mistake? Was it cause she thought he might actually be one too? Did it hit too close to home? I dunno, but it didn’t really translate on screen. We got the twist and she just smiled. The End.

And what was with her brother being the one who passed on the note (but in DRAG)? That was just plain creepy, esp since his apartment was filled with body parts in jars. If the brother is a killer, along with his sister, why would he warn the groom? Why not just kill him if he gets too close? Maybe he just wanted his sister to himself.
*END SPOILERS*

The whole thing assumes the audience can figure all this out in less than 30 seconds. Not sure if this an easy task for the summer viewer. I don’t think I’m going to be watching next weeks episode. Maybe this horror is simply too cerebral for my tastes.

Watch the episode on NBC and decide for yourself.

Sad but true, I’ve been keeping up with “Moonlight”, a vampire detective show starring Alex O’Loughlin.

It’s not very good, actually some of the dialogue is down right terrible, but it’s a guilty pleasure that I can’t seem to shake. I’m not like those crazy fans giving blood or anything. I can relax and laugh at this show instead of how serious I need to be for “Lost”.

I’d mostly forgotten about it due to the strike gap, but yesterday, I noticed two episodes waiting for me on my Tivo DVR. As it turns out there’s only two more eps left to go. CBS has been quite mum on saying if it’ll be renewed. But hey, didn’t it win a People’s Choice award? That’s gotta count for something. Plus, Mick St. John is pretty easy on the eyes (despite his Criss Angel wardrobe), so I’m sure it’s doing well with the female demographic.

“Moonlight“, a thinly veiled “Angel” rip-off, airs Fridays at 9pm on CBS.

I suppose I can’t out and out disagree with Stacey’s love for the second season of “Buffy”. But calling it one of the best seasons of the last 20 years, now that’s a stretch. Still, since I love “Angel”, I’ll let Pajiba have their fangasm.

I’ve always had this love/hate thing going on with “Buffy though. I loved the original movie with Kristy Swanson. Like memorized all the lines (and cheers) kind of love. So I gave the first season a looksie. Sarah Michelle Gellar wasn’t so annoying during the first three seasons and did a pretty good job with the humor. But after they sent Angel to Los Angeles, I jumped ship for the “Angel” series.

After that, I never really watched the rest of the Buffy seasons. But once F/X started showing the heck out Buffy, I managed to watch almost every episode without even trying very hard! I’m no Joss Whedon worshipper, but if there’s nothing else on, an hour with the Buffy gang kills the time quite well.

Through the wonders of netflix, I was reminded of “Forever Knight“. I didn’t actually watch it when it was on network television. The Sci Fi Channel was where I saw most of the episodes, and typically out of order. Thus, it was news to me that Rick Springfield starred in the original tv movie from which the series was based upon. And only until I saw the dvd boxes did I learn that there were three seasons, thus it being dubbed “The Forever Knight Trilogy”.

“Forever Knight” tells the tale of the vampire detective, Nicholas Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies). He’s an 800 year old vampire, hailing from France, who wants to make amends for his violent ways by solving murders. He even seems to think at some point he can become mortal again. This mortality dream is strung along for the lifetime of the series.

Nick’s arch enemy is Lacroix (Nigel Bennett), the vampire who sired him. Lacroix finds it completely unacceptable that Nick does not embrace his vampiric instincts. And thus, they play an endless game of cat and mouse.

It’s not the best vampire genre show, “Angel” is much much better since that show tried to expand on the myth. Forever Knight plays up all the vampire stereotypes and simply interweaves them into the standard murder procedural outline. Nevertheless, it is entertaining to watch, even if the effects seem a bit cheesy now. Davies excels in the role and really gets the viewer to empathize with his plight.