"A REALLY INTELLIGENT INTERVIEWER." -- Lance Henriksen
"QUITE SIMPLY, THE BEST HORROR-THEMED BLOG ON THE NET." -- Joe Maddrey, Nightmares in Red White & Blue

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Sunday, November 8, 2009

Random Ramblings from the Vault...

  • So who are today's equivalents of Price, Lugosi, Karloff, etc.? Is it Englund? Campbell? Henriksen? Anyone?
  • Am I the only who always got profoundly annoyed at Stephen King's propensity for introducing dumb little catchphrases into all his novels and having the characters repeat them ad nauseum? They all float down here, indeed.
  • I never remember so many women being into horror as there are these days. If it had been like this 20 years ago, I might have had a better time in high school.
  • FACT: Every person who grew up in the mid 1970s to early 1980s has been permanently traumatized by viewing Don't Be Afraid of the Dark on TV.
  • Greatest thing about The Mad Monster Party? Those Jack Davis character designs. Phenomenal.
  • Important Question: Who was the coolest horror-themed pro wrestler? Papa Shango? Mortis? The Boogeyman? Mankind? Waylon Mercy (gotta love a gimmick inspired by Max Cady)?
  • Since we're lucky enough to have Ray Harryhausen still among us, shouldn't someone give the old man a chance to shine just one more time? Show them CGI punks what's what...
  • Was any major-release horror film this year met with more general apathy than the Stepfather remake? This decade, for that matter?
  • And finally, keep your eyes peeled for more Ms. Horror Blogosphere developments. Candidate interview questions go out later this week...

12 comments:

Anna said...

I wasn't a big wrestling fan, but I always liked the Paul Bearer character. Undertaker was pretty creepy back in the day, but lately he doesn't scare me.

It's sad we don't really have the same horror icons we used to back in the 30s - 70s. I would have to say Robert Englund is maybe the one, but even then, he's not a household name. Back in the day, everyone knew who Karloff was, everyone knew Price. These days, you have to be a genre fan to recognize Englund, Campbell or anyone else like that. It's just sad.

Christopher Zenga said...

Oh Papa Shango, now the God Father, keep your pimp hand strong baby!!

Later days,

Christopher

Chuck Conry said...

Onryƍ from FMW in Japan was pretty creepy. He has a "belt of curse" he lost once, then the person who beat him for the belt would be taken over by the curse and slowly die from having the belt...good stuff!

Zachary Kelley said...

I used to watch wrestling a good bit before Mike Foley hung up the tights so my vote goes to Mankind, but really wasn't Cactus Jack really the scary one. Mankind was crazy, but not evil. I wouldn't want to be in the same room as Jack.

As far as horror icons, I have to agree with Anna. Horror has been relegated to genre fans, and the casual viewer wouldn't know any of the big names. Just the other day I brought up John Saxon in a conversation with some mainstream movie buffs.They had no idea who he was. That's just sad.

Anonymous said...

I think (as Anna said) that most of today's Horror Icons are really only know by fans of the genre. If anything, it may be that Directors are today's equivalents: Tim Burton, Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, as well as John Carpenter & George Romero seem to be known outside the genre.

I grew up in the 70's, but never found Don't Be Afraid of the Dark to be traumatizing. Beyond The Door scared me though, because I expected to see my mother floating into my bedroom to kill me.

I am all for Ray Harryhausen returning to the screen with his unique magic & remind everyone that today's creature effects (CGI, etc.) would not even exist were it not for Ray's imagination & skill.

Anonymous said...

I already placed my vote for Henriksen and Campbell, which is how I'm guessing this discussion got started. I forget about Robert Englund...but then again, he doesn't make nearly as many appearances these days as he once did.

--J/Metro

Rhonny Reaper said...

Im biased as hell here, but stephen king can do no wrong in my eyes. Again im biased as hell.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark...Guess whats getting remade :/

The undertaker wins hands down but i loved the boogey man and his worms :)

B-Sol said...

How could I forgot 'Taker? Of course! As for Boogeyman, Rhonny, you might be interested to know that I worked for WWE for a number of years, and they actually had a "worm wrangler" backstage who took care of the little critters before Boogeyman went out there with them. And yes, he really did eat them.

Doruk said...

I think at the time of 'We all float down here, Georgie', it wasn't THAT annoying yet, but yeah, it got that way a bit.

Rabid Fox said...

I used to be a wrestling fan, and I always thought Mick Foley's Mankind character was one of the most well crafted characters to appear in wrestling. Granted, the bar was never set very high, as I recall.

As for "The Stepfather", that looked about as predictable and uninspired as a Hallmark movie-of-the-month.

MissRedrum said...

Undertaker by far and long! I am sure many were disturbed by Doink as well, haha. I know my nephew used to be scared of Kane.

B-Sol said...

I'm glad you brought up Doink, MissRedRum. He was indeed a very creepy character, specifically in the beginning, when he was evil. Brrrr.....

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