Universal Monsters in Our Midst

Frankie even pops up in the daily newspaper:

This September 1st comic strip depicting a monster mash turned maudlin reminded me of a terrific short story by David J. Schow.  At once witty and wistful, "Last Call for the Sons of Shock" traces the modern-day existences of the classic Universal Monsters (Frankenstein, Dracula, and the Wolf Man--here dubbed Blank Frank, the Count, and Larry).  The trio of legendary figures (Schow's conceit is that the monsters in the Universal films were real, not made-up actors) have gathered for their annual reunion at the nightclub ("Un/Dead") where Blank Frank works.  They drink and catch up on each other's lives, but reminiscence about the old days casts a pall over the present get-together (leading to a fiery climax).  The story, a must-read for monstrophiles, can be found in Schow's collection Black Leather Required.

Most Gothic Place Names in the United States--Utah

For previous entries, click the "Most Gothic Place Names" label under Features in the right sidebar.


You've got to hand it to Utah when it comes to Gothic place names.  The Beehive State presents us with Bone Valley (a lowlands golgotha), Coal City (where all the naughty boys and girls are disappointed on Christmas morning), Hardup (congregation of the downtrodden), Arsenal (favorite hideaway of the militia move-ment), Heist (dedicated to elaborate scheming), Borden (an axing you shall receive), Shadow Run Estates (darkness in charge), Dragon ("Floating" or "Red"?), and American Fork (arming angry mobsters all across the country).  Head and shoulders above all these appellations, though, is...

Sleepy Hollow Two.  A town haunted by a Mormon version of the Headless Horseman?  Or perhaps the ideal location for the filming of the sequel to Tim Burton's movie.  You can't help but picture a fog-shrouded scene, filled with rustic houses and fenced by dense woods.

Valley Ghouls

It has the format of COPS, the irreverent sensibility of Reno 911, and the monsters-in-our-midst premise of True Blood.  And it's a successful mix, judging from last night's premiere of the new MTV series Death Valley.  An embedded TV news crew tracks the exploits of the Undead Task Force--the officers charged with protecting the general public from the hordes of vampires, zombies, and werewolves that have descended upon the San Fernando Valley area.  Kill shots and one-liners abound in the pilot episode, but comedy ultimately trumps the macabre.  There are some inspired bits of wittiness here (e.g. a confrontation with a werewolf couched as a D.U.I. stop) that hopefully can stay fresh over the course of a full season.  Perhaps the long-term success of Death Valley hinges on the development of a story arc and the presentation of the monsters as villainous characters and not just grisly targets.  Safe to say, though, I will be tuning in again next Monday night at 10:30 to watch the UTF at work.

Dark Passages: "The Wind"

The wind: welcomed when moderate, dreaded when it whips.  Invisible (manifesting only in its effects on other objects) and howling mouthlessly, it has an undeniably ghostly quality.  Ray Bradbury captures this perfectly in his short story "The Wind."  The following passage illustrates the author's unique ability to develop an uncanny premise (as he posits a supernatural undercurrent to a force of nature).  It also showcases Bradbury's knack for trans-forming a mundane situation (here, a telephone conversation between friends) into something macabre and haunting...

"So far, so good.  I'm locked in the kitchen now.  Part of the front wall of the house blew in.  But I planned my retreat.  When the kitchen door gives, I'm heading for the cellar.  If I'm lucky, I may hold out there until the morning.  It'll have to tear the whole damned house down to get to me, and the cellar floor is pretty solid.  I have a shovel and I may dig--deeper..."

It sounded like a lot of other voices on the phone.

"What's that?" Herb Thompson demanded, cold, shivering.

"That?" asked the voice on the phone.  "Those are the voices of twelve thousand killed in a typhoon, seven thousand killed by a hurricane, three thousand buried by a cyclone.  Am I boring you?  That's what the wind is.  It's a lot of people dead.  The wind killed them, took their minds to give itself intelligence.  It took all their voices and made them into one voice.  All those millions of people killed in the past ten thousand years, tortured and run from continent to continent on the backs and in the bellies of monsoons and whirlwinds.  Oh Christ, what a poem you could write about it!"

The phone echoed and rang with voices and shouts and whinings.  (207-208)

Work Cited

Bradbury, Ray.  "The Wind."  The October Country.  New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.  199-210.




Note: I had planned to post this Dark Passage yesterday, but the gusting winds(!)  from Hurricane Irene knocked out my Internet connection.

Irene Iterations

Category 1: Jim Carrey's comedic variation on Jekyll & Hyde

Category 2: Poe moroseness

At midnight, in the month of June,
I stand beneath the mystic moon.
An opiate vapor, dewy, dim,
Exhales from out her golden rim,
And, softly dripping, drop by drop,
Upon the quiet mountain top,
Steals drowsily and musically
Into the universal valley.
The rosemary nods upon the grave;
The lily lolls upon the wave;
Wrapping the fog about its breast,
The ruin moulders into rest,
Looking like Lethe, see! the lake
A conscious slumber seems to take,
And would not, for the world, awake.
All Beauty sleeps!--and lo! where lies
(Her casement open to the skies)
Irene, with her Destinies!

--from "The Sleeper"



Category 3: The Goodnight Irene, famous finishing maneuver of "Adorable" Adrian Adonis (whose wrestling trunks might be the most unnerving image ever to appear on this blog)