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What I’ve Been Watching: November 2024

What I’ve Been Watching: November 2024

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Wow. It’s been a year since I did a What I’ve Been Watching. I did do those two Ten Things I Think I Think, covering Marvel movies, but that’s it. So, let’s talk about a few things I liked.

WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

Our own Goth Chick has talked about this show a couple times – including here.

This is a vampire show, running on FX. Based on a previous movie (which had a different cast). Its about a group of four vampires who live in NYC. They originally came to the New World to take over, but got sidetracked over the years. This show is both wrong, and hilariously funny. Season six is currently running, and will bring the episode total up to sixty-one.

Nandor the Destroyer is in charge, and he’s more the classic Transylvanian-style vampire. I LOVE Matt Berry in The IT Crowd (he reunites with Richard Ayoade in voicing Krapoplois), Year of the Rabbit, and Toast of London. He’s probably my favorite British actor. He makes me laugh as Laszlo. Nadja is his fellow-vampire girlfriend and equal to the two men. They all ‘look like’ vampires. Colin Robinson is an energy vampire – he feeds on negative energy and exhaustion, not blood. It’s a fantastic bit, as we’ve all unknowingly worked with energy vampires in the past. Nandor also has a nerdy little vampire-wannabe apprentice, Guillermo

They’re likable vampires, though they certainly have no compunction in killing humans. There are laughs every episode, and the dynamics of the household shift. Guillermo’s longing to be a vampire is amusing and a little sad. And it owned me when Nandor, trying to explain the origin of the Universe, had a drawing of three elephants standing on the back of a great turtle. If you don’t get that reference, we can still be friends, but you REALLY need to read some Terry Pratchett!

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Alien Overlords, Part I

Alien Overlords, Part I

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Battle in Space: The Armada Attacks (Allied Vaughn, 2021), Creature (Trans World
Entertainment, 1985), and Femalien: Cosmic Crush (Full Moon Pictures, 2020)

A new, 20-film marathon. The rules:

Must include aliens
Cannot take place on Earth
I haven’t seen it before
Free to stream

Battle in Space: The Armada Attacks (2021) Prime

Aliens? A couple of decent, bipedal bullies.

CGI heavy? Fairly — some decent, some not so decent.

Any good? I got tricked. Going by the title and poster, you would expect this to be a fun romp about a band of plucky rebels fighting against an evil alien empire, right? Wrong.

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Goth Chick News: 13 Questions for Filmmaker Jake Jarvi

Goth Chick News: 13 Questions for Filmmaker Jake Jarvi

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If you check in here often, you know the only thing we love more than a blended adult beverage is an independent film. This one, entitled Haunt Season, came to me by way of the local paper and combines a whole lot of my favorite things: haunted attractions, Halloween, and horror, with the added bonus of being a very local endeavor.

To get you warmed up, check out the trailer…

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I Rewatched Kindred: The Embraced So You Don’t Have To

I Rewatched Kindred: The Embraced So You Don’t Have To

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This show is so old, there are hardly any images of a suitable size to share. Ah… the memories!

Good afterevenmorn!

On the 15th of this month, or thereabouts, a book of mine celebrated a publishing anniversary. I don’t really keep track of these things, though I should, so I’m very grateful to Renaissance Press (who published it) for the reminder. Human celebrates a birthday this month.

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Nine Things I Think I Think

Nine Things I Think I Think

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Clearly, the Black Gate-verse wants to know some more Things I Think I Think, since it’s been three weeks since that last time I shared that. I mean, The Bob View is certainly nerd-centric and somewhat….different. So, without further ado (and leaving out a couple numbers…)

1) I LIKE MURDER IN A SMALL TOWN

This is a brand new Fox shows, four episodes in. The lead is Kiefer Sutherland’s brother, Rossif. I recently watched him on the excellent Three Pines (a show that TOTALLY deserved a second season). I’d never guess he was Donald’s son, looking at him. But I think he’s REALLY good as a former big city, divorced dad, being sheriff in a small, waterfront town. I didn’t watch Smallville, but Kristin Kreuk (Lana Lang) is the other lead. I did see her in season one of Reacher.

I really like that I can play ‘I Know that Actor’ (if you follow me on Facebook, you’ve seen that game MANY times) with the great guest stars, ala Columbo, Monk, Suits, and so many other shows I enjoy. So far, I’ve seen James Cromwell (LA Confidential), Erica Durance (a Hallmark favorite), Stana Katic (Beckett in Castle!), and Jason Gray-Stanford (Monk’s Randy Disher). My favorite new show so far.

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Goth Chick News: The Route to My Little Black Heart

Goth Chick News: The Route to My Little Black Heart

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I had to go check to discover the last time I mentioned Mr. Goth Chick here in my weekly posts was back in 2012. It isn’t that I avoid mentioning him. Instead, it has everything to do with the adage that “opposites attract” and somehow, I ended up with someone who has little to no interest in anything scary. For the entirety of spooky season Mr. Goth Chick has always been conveniently busy during any of my typical celebratory events. Though he has indulged my desire to visit cemeteries while on vacation, and has accompanied me on the occasional ghost hunt, he is more than happy to send me off with Black Gate Photog Chris Z, along with his, Mr. GC’s, heartfelt thanks.

Between us, I can tell you Mr. GC absolutely hates a jump scare, leading my mother to speculate that it was nothing short of black magic which brought us together.

But even though he loves hot temperatures and direct sunlight, Mr. GC still understands that “my time of year” must be celebrated – mostly with nights out and presents – and this year he outdid himself.

This week Universal Pictures Home Entertainment sent out a press release announcing Alfred Hitchcock: The Iconic Film Collection, which will collect six of Hitchcock’s classics on 4K Ultra HD + Digital: Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, and The Birds. And though this collection isn’t releasing until November 26th, it’s available now for preorder on Amazon, which is precisely what Mr. GC did especially for me.

*Sigh*
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Operatic Evil: The 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Operatic Evil: The 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

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We are now well into autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness (according to John Keats) and what’s more, we are well into October, the month of shrieks and gore, according to Prime and Hulu and Netflix and the other streamers, all of which are offering up full slates of horror movies in preparation for the bacchanalia of fright, candy, and cosplay on the 31st. (The Roku collection is called “Stream & Scream”, naturally.)

The horror movie — thanks in large part to those aforementioned streaming services — has apparently never been in better health, at least if we’re measuring nothing more than quantity. Quality is of course an up-and-down, hit-and-miss attribute in any era, but the never-ceasing torrent of “content” (hate that word) simultaneously issuing from so many different “platforms” (another ugly expression) may make it harder than ever to discern the diamonds among the detritus.

But that’s what Black Gate is for, right? We’re here to lift the burden from your tired shoulders and make life easy for you! Therefore, may I suggest for your Halloween season viewing… drumroll, please… a creaky, black-and-white warhorse that’s damn near a hundred years old?

No, I’m not kidding. I am here to seriously assert that the best horror movie you can watch right now is not some newly-minted fright-fest flung fresh from the gaping maw of the Entertainment-Industrial Complex, but the 1931 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. …

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Goth Chick News: Scared Sh**less – Now I’ve Seen Everything

Goth Chick News: Scared Sh**less – Now I’ve Seen Everything

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This last weekend Black Gate Photog Chris Z, Mrs. Black Gate Photog and I spent an evening doing my favorite Spooky Season activity – visiting a new haunted attraction.

During our pregame dinner we regaled Mrs. BGP with stories of our thrilling BG adventures like driving five hours in a blizzard to cover the Haunted Attractions Association show, doing Fireball shots from the trunk of the car before covering Cedar Point Amusement Park’s Halloweekend, and being freaked out by meeting a low-talking Norman Bates-y guy who made lamps out of old doll heads.

It was no wonder the people at the next table with the kids asked to be moved.

One of the topics was all the truly disturbing B-movie horror films we’ve come across, specifically the ones Chris Z. tried to coerce me into writing about. All the BG staff have heard the lecture from Big Cheese John O. about how we’re family-friendly and no, you can’t cover something called Zombeavers, and what the heck were you thinking trying to post about Zombie Strippers, etc., etc.

Actually, I’m probably the only one who has heard that lecture.

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Goth Chick News: Frankenstein’s Monster Gets One (Maybe Two) Loving Tributes

Goth Chick News: Frankenstein’s Monster Gets One (Maybe Two) Loving Tributes

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Just in time for Spooky Season, I have two bits of exciting news about one of our favorite classic monsters.

For over a year I’ve been talking about Guillermo del Toro’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for Netflix. News has been incredibly scarce from the jump, to the point of rumors coming and going that del Toro had shelved the project as he has so many other others (over 30 to be precise).

However, in January quite a lot of very specific information came out about Frankenstein including a cast list, a brief description of project details, and the fact that in March 2022 Netflix optioned the visual representation of Frankenstein, owned by Elizabeth S. Wrightson. This is the imagining of the monster that American artist Bernie Wrightson (1948-2017), Elizabeth’s husband, developed in 1983. This seemed to indicate that del Toro would be delivering a reimagining of Frankenstein rather than simply a retelling of Shelly’s work.

And this is all important as the first exciting announcement comes from our friends at Centipede Press.

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Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Dragons and Wolveses

Ellsworth’s Cinema of Swords: Dragons and Wolveses

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Wolfhound (Russia, 2006)

The Barbarian Boom of the ‘80s was the first normalization of fantasy as a mainstream genre for the movies. As the boom faded in the ‘90s (Xena notwithstanding), it seemed as if fantasy film had been just another passing phase. But then, in the early 2000s, along came The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean series: the Second Normalization of Fantasy Film had arrived, and as we’re still living with it in 2024, it looks to be permanent.

So, now we’re livin’ large and eatin’ good, right? Absolutely — as long as you’re something of a picky eater. Because along with normalization comes mediocrity and commercialization. I kid you not: Behold the KFC promotional toys for eragon!

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