BUMPKIN and BATVIS

Bumpkin



Batvis

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I lost my "pumpkin partner" for this year. I also decided to paint a couple of smaller pie pumpkins rather than carve a larger gourd as in many prior years. Even so, I had a lot of fun with these two.

Both were inspired by cartoons.

Bumpkin was influenced by the artful craziness of John Kricfalusi, the creator of The Ren and Stimpy Show.

Batvis was influenced by the character design of Beavis and Butthead by Mike Judge.

I didn't use any photos or images as reference. Instead, I just let what I remembered about these cartoons and characters and their worlds to manifest in acrylic paint on a couple of pumpkins.

Bumpkin is just a hyped-up country pumpkin, who I could easily imagine running around with the Shaven Yak or Stinky.

Batvis is a mash-up of Beavis (the name), Butthead (the look), and a bat. He has ears, tiny wings, and a forked tail; although you cannot see them in the photo above.

Happy Halloween!

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UPDATE: We had zero trick-or-treaters, so no one was able to gaze upon the glory of these two in person. Sad.

HELLRAISER

I introduced The Wife to the original (1987) Hellraiser. I'm not sure exactly what she thought of it, but, as far as I'm concerned, it has held up well. It's one of my favorite horror films.

Actually, I introduced The Wife to an iteration of Clive Barker's 1986 novella The Hellbound Heart. She hasn't read it, but this is probably as close as she's going to get. The movie is fairly faithful to the novella, since they share the same writer and Barker also made his directorial debut with the film.

What I love about Hellraiser is how low-budget it is, yet the special effects in this are amazing. The scene of Frank's "return" to the room where he first summoned the Cenobites is spectacular, visceral, and stomach-churning. The only effects that haven't aged well are the hooks snagging flesh (it seems too rubbery) and the flashes of light when the puzzle box brings forth or sends away one of the Cenobites. But, otherwise, the effects and makeup are top notch, and still work.

If they had ended Pinhead's run with this novella and this film, it probably would have been better. But other filmmakers tried their hand at sequels. Then Barker decided he needed to delve deeper into the background of the Hell Priest (Pinhead). Barker's work is better than the films, but he still should have just let everything end with one novella and the one film it inspired.

Streaming on Tubi.

RE-ANIMATOR

I've probably seen 1985's Re-Animator more than thirty times. It's campy, but I think it still holds up. This is Lovecraft's homage to Shelley's Frankenstein. The brilliance of the film's story is that there is no attempt to explain the re-animation reagent and how it works; we just know that it does.

It's apparent that someone on the film's creative team (writer? director?) likes naked ladies. We see a lot of naked bodies. We see naked bodies being objectified and treated as playthings. We see perversions galore. We see some crazy things being done with a decapitated head and the object of said head's desire.

Ultimately, this is a zombie film, but a great variation on the genre. Go see it!

Streaming on Tubi.

THE VOID

The Void ratchets up fast! It starts with a hint of David Lynch, small town darkness, a la Twin Peaks or Blue Velvet, and is quickly in territory of The Thing and then The Walking Dead. Cultists? Check. Cosmic horror? Check. Weirdness galore? Body horror? Check and check!

I acknowledge this won't be everyone's cup of tea. But for aficionados of Lovecraftian horror, this is excellent. The visual special effects in this are spectacular. I'm assuming most of them are physical effects, with very little CGI. They look and feel physical.

Streaming on Tubi.

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There are a few scenes that I'm pretty sure are nods to Re-Animator. They didn't go where I thought they would, and I'm glad they didn't.

I believe the protagonist Daniel Carter, an officer of the Marsh County Police Department, is a reference to Lovecraft's alter-ego fictional character Randolph Carter. (A descendant perhaps?)

OLDER GODS

Older Gods is Lovecraftian cosmic horror with the faintest dash of Hellraiser thrown in. Gorgeously shot. Excellent sound design. Music that rachets up the tension. The descent(s) into madness of the two protagonists, Billy and Chris, are told through modern technology the way Lovecraft did through print media. We never see too much, but rather just enough. I loved it.

Streaming on Tubi.

TROY'S WORK TABLE

Meet Troy's Work Table 2.1, discovered on my morning walk.

In the neighborhood next to mine, there is a "micro nursery" and they had this table sitting out at the road. I've been looking for something sturdier than TWT 2.0, which has seen better days. This barely fit in my car when I returned for it, but I'm glad it did. I expect that we're going to have grand adventures with one another.

Here's to more art-ing!

DAB

DAB, a Dortmunder Export Lager by Dortmunder Actien-Brauerei.

500 ml/16.9 oz. can served in my "giant" Sam Adams glass • 5.0% abv. • ****.

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A little DAB will do ya! (But a full pint is better.)

Leafy, floral, light pepper. A hint of biscuit and leathery yeast. A good balance of hops, malts, and yeast. Very enjoyable.

REPTILE

Reptile, directed by Grant Singer, is a tense crime thriller. It builds psychological tension throughout by keeping us as viewers off-kilter. Stellar performances by Benicio Del Toro, Alicia Silverstone, Eric Bogosian, and others help us connect to complexly written characters. Everyone is suspect. 

 Highly recommended. Streaming on Netflix.

HEX and HEN

TWT reading his short story "Hex and Hen" at The Mill by J+A. Photograph by EV.

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I was invited to participate in the 2023 Creative Colloquy Crawl. I was a featured reader for one of the events, "Spooky Tails," that took place during the first hour.

When I agreed to read, I didn't really have anything in hand to present. I asked if poetry was okay and was told that it was. So I worked on a few poems, but nothing seemed to really capture the spirit of the reading. 

Then I was attacked by a German Shepherd. I don't know why that called forth a short story (!) about a chicken stalking a neighbor living near its coop, but there it was. I wasn't sure this foray into genre fiction, and Lovecraftian cosmic horror at that, really worked, but everyone seemed to connect with it. The Wife declared it "pretty creepy." As I left the stage, one of the other readers told me, "Troy, that was disgusting." I took that as a compliment!

EL CONDE

I heard a film critic review El Conde and knew I needed to see it. It imagines Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a vampire who fakes his own death in order to leave his life of leadership behind. It's political satire meets family farce, coated with a veneer of vampire film and Greek tragedy. It's shot in gorgeous black and white. It takes a surprisingly delightful and unexpected twist toward the end. I recommend it.

It's an art house foreign film. Keep the subtitles on since it shifts between Spanish, French, and English throughout. Streaming on Netflix.