Movie Review: Near Dark (1987)

Near Dark (1987) co-written and directed by Kathryn Bigelow

Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) is trying to wheedle a beer out of his friends outside an Oklahoma honkytonk when they spot a cute blonde just down the street. Caleb goes to flirt with her. Mae (Jenny Wright) loves the nighttime and can hear sounds and see things that Caleb can't. She's worried about it being late and asks for a ride home. Caleb is more than happy to oblige. The drive is a long way as Caleb tries to find out more about Mae. They pull over for a bit and, in the throes of passion, she winds up biting him on the neck. She runs away, faster than him. He tries to drive back home but the pickup won't start. He walks back to the farm where his dad (Tim Thomerson) and young sister (Marcie Leeds) are worried about him. Before he can make it home, a winnebago comes by and snatches him, which is probably good since he is starting to smoke all over from sunlight exposure. The kidnappers are Mae and her group of friends. They are vampires in all but name and most are unhappy to bring him on board. Mae really likes him and wants to take care of him. The other vamps expect him to step up and start killing his own food or he can't be with them. The weirdest, most violent love story spins out from there.

Nobody in the film uses the term "vampire" though it's very clear that's what they are. They enjoy their destructive lifestyle, killing people and burning down places as they make their way across the country. Caleb becomes a problem for them since he isn't so aggressive aside from his romantic side. The story is mostly bleak though entertaining. Bill Paxton chews the scenery with glee as one with a sadistic sense of humor. The central relationship is not so well developed but the actors sell it. Viewers root for Caleb and maybe for Mae. The movie makes for an interesting, dark urban horror with some road trip vibes. The score definitely puts it in the 1980s which viewers might or might not appreciate.

Mildly recommended--you could do worse for a vampire movie.

TV Review: Salem's Lot (1979)

Salem's Lot (1979) directed by Tobe Hooper based on the Stephen King novel

Ben Mears (David Soule) returns to his home town of Salem's Lot, a small, isolated town in Maine. He's a novelist and wants to write his next book about the local Marsten House. His aunt used to work there and died under mysterious circumstances. The house itself has a bleak history. When he gets to the local realtor (Fred Savage), he finds out the house has already been rented to Mr. Straker (James Mason) and his not-yet-arrived partner Mr. Barlow (Reggie Nalder). They are opening an antique shop in town with Straker doing the set-up. A late-night delivery of a large crate to the house is the harbinger of a lot of grief and horror as various townsfolk disappear or slowly die from anemia-like problems. Ben's strong feeling that the house is a lightening rod for evil puts him on the front line of fighting an unthinkable threat--vampires.

The story goes through a lot of small town drama (romantic affairs including adulterous ones) before it gets to the vampire stuff. Those bits set up a lot of the characters but not all of them last very long. The direction is tight and effective, creating the uneasy atmosphere as the small town falls apart. The vampire makeup is unnerving, especially when paired with sinister visuals like the famous window scenes. The actors all do a good job. The pacing is slow by modern standards and many of the townsfolk stories could probably be cut or pared back to make a leaner product. This was originally shown as a two-part miniseries on television in the 1970s, so the gore is very limited which probably works in favor of the show.

Recommended, highly for vampire fans. I haven't read the book but maybe I will give it a go if the library has it.

Book Review: Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu

This early vampire novella (25 years before the publication of Dracula) starts in a non-dilapidated castle in Eastern Europe. Laura lives there with her widowed father (a retired English soldier), mostly isolated from the rest of the world. Laura had a nightmare once as a child of a visitor in her bedroom who attacked her. The house staff and her father passed it off as a bad dream. Now, a carriage comes racing by and crashes. A mother and daughter are inside. The mother needs to rush off on an urgent mission and wants to leave her daughter Carmilla with Laura and her dad. The dad is caught a little flatfooted and agrees. At first, the situation is agreeable. Laura has a friend to hang out with. But Carmilla is very aggressive with her affection, to an uncomfortable degree. And she sleeps in, coming down from her room in the afternoon. And she has an uncanny resemblance to the nightmare visitor of Laura's childhood. Laura confides this and finds out that Carmilla had a similar dream with Laura in it, so it is sort of a bonding experience. But nightmares return for Laura and the larger neighborhood starts reporting deaths of young women. How much bad stuff is going on?

The story provides a lot of classic chills and horrifying moments as it proceeds. Le Fanu doesn't waste words and keeps the story moving at a good pace. Since it is narrated by an older Laura, readers know she will come out okay, but still it is a harrowing experience for Laura and the reader. 

Recommended, highly for vampire fans. I mean, fans of vampire stories!

Book Review: Marvel Masterworks: The Tomb of Dracula Vol. 1 by M. Wolfman et al.

Marvel Masterworks: The Tomb of Dracula Volume 1 written by Marv Wolfman and others, and art by Gene Colan and others

In the interests of expanding from their kiddie-friendly superhero lines, Marvel started a comic book about Dracula in the early 1970s. The story starts in contemporary times with a descendent of Count Dracula, Frank Drake, who is not a vampire and does not even know he is a descendent. He finds out when he inherits Dracula's castle in Transylvania. He brings to castle his best friend Cliff Graves, who thinks they can cash in on the tourist-attraction appeal of the castle. Also traveling with them is Drake's girlfriend Jeanie, who formerly dated Cliff. Once they get to the castle, mayhem ensues as Dracula rises from his coffin, bites and converts the girlfriend, and plays mind games on the friend (using the newly-vamped girlfriend). The action moves to England, where Drake joins a group of vampire hunters lead by a wheel-chair-bound Quincy Harker (son of Jonathan and Mina Harker from Bram Stoker's novel) and featuring Rachel van Helsing (granddaughter of Abraham van Helsing from the novel). They have various skirmishes with Dracula and his minions.

The book went through a series of writers before settling on Marv Wolfman (yes, it is his real name!) who made the serial his own. Main artist Gene Colan does a great job presenting a horrific, fog-drenched atmosphere, emphasizing the danger and menace throughout. The story also introduces an independent vampire hunter, Blade, who went on to become a Marvel staple in his own right. The stories keep things moving along. The collection includes some black and white stories from Dracula Lives, a short-run side magazine from Marvel cashing in on the sudden popularity of Dracula. 

Recommended for horror/Dracula/comic book fans.

Movie Review: The Bride! (2026)

The Bride! (2026) co-written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal based on work by Mary Shelley 

In the 1930s, Frankenstein's Monster (Christian Bale) seeks out Doctor Euphronius (Annette Benning) to make him a bride. He suffers intensely from loneliness, though the doctor thinks his wants are more carnal. He finally convinces her to pursue the project, digging up a Chicago socialite (Jessie Buckley) who has both mob connections and corrupt police connections. She's also being possessed by the disembodied spirit of Mary Shelley (also Jessie Buckley), who wants to craft a new horror story, one that she couldn't write back in the early 1800s. The flipping between identities led to the socialite's death. When she's revived in the lab, she has no memory of who she is. "Frank" and the doctor convince her she is Frank's bride which she has a hard time dealing with. They go off and have lots of sordid adventures across America trying to work out their situation.

The movie starts off with a strong feminist vibe as Shelley asserts herself in the narrative. The possession is an interesting idea that is well performed by Buckley. She switches between accents and mannerisms effortlessly, so viewers know who is talking. But the gimmick contributes more to the theme than to the narrative. Much like Bruce Banner/Hulk character in the Marvel movies, the Shelley/Bride dynamic changes to fit what the story needs, it does not have a coherent through line. Other characters fit the feminist vibe, especially when the Bride inspires a social movement for women that turns out to be very violent with little questionable value. The feminism is very wobbly.

Bale also gives a good performance as Frank, exuding the loneliness of his previous life and his joy in finding a mate. Frank is also obsessed with a movie star (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), giving his character a little more rounding and providing a way for the cops and the criminals to follow the couple's somewhat unintentional crime spree. They go see the star's movies in every town they visit. Frank copies the language of the star and there is a musical number that is an odd blend of 1930s musical and modern styling. That's another moment that is interesting but doesn't fit well into the rest of the story or theme.

The movie is stuffed with these and some other ideas, too many for a proper resolution or exploration of any one, or even a handful of them. The plot meanders a lot and the tone changes from existential wrestling to romantic moments to comedy bits to shocking violence to the musical number. The various bits don't hang together well, making the film less satisfying than it could be.

Barely recommended--I'm not sure that Frankenstein fans would enjoy this, or feminists would be enthusiastic for this, or horror fans would be on board, or mystery/crime drama fans would be satisfied.

TV Review: Marvel Zombies (2025)

Marvel Zombies (2025) created by Bryan Andrews 

The world is overrun with zombies, including many transformed superheroes like Hawkeye and Captain America. Ms. Marvel (the Kamala Khan version), Iron Heart, and Hawkeye (the Kate Bishop version) are wandering around New York City trying to stay alive since they are still human. They see a Quinjet crash and rush to grab supplies from the wreckage. They discover the pilot has swallowed a gadget that turns out to be transponder that will contact the Nova Corps, an intergalactic law enforcement agency. If activated the Corps will come and help the Earth with the zombie plague. No one has come yet, so they take it to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility to figure out how to activate it. The nearest one is in Ohio, so it's a road trip through the zombie apocalypse to try and save the world.

While this follows the tried and true formula of taking a genre and throwing Marvel heroes into it, the execution here is not satisfactory. Sure, the show has all the current (as of 2025) heroes--the Shang-Chi set, the New Avengers set, the Disney TV show characters. Ms. Marvel is the central character (she is the most popular). Everyone else comes off formulaic with little development. The animation style is a hybrid of CGI and hand drawn that just looks bad to me. They seem to want the gritty realism of zombie films (with plenty of gore) but the family-friendly animation (without being really family-friendly at all). The story runs through a lot of the Marvel universe but almost always with glum results.

I didn't enjoy the show on any level which is unfortunate because I have liked some of the Marvel Zombie comics. At least the show is only four half-hour episodes, so not a big time commitment. 

Not recommended.

As I write (October 2026), this is only available streaming on Disney+.

Book Review: Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft

Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft

Herbert West starts out his career as a medical student at Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts. He has very unusual ambitions. He wants to develop a serum that will bring the recently deceased back to life. He quickly realizes the formula needs to be altered for different species. His desire to shift from animal to human experimentation is forbidden by the school, so West goes underground (sometimes literally) to continue his experimentation. He's aided by the narrator, who drops lots of hints about West's ultimate fate as he goes from an idealistic follower to a horrified assistant.

The story was written over several months as a parody of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. West is a full-on anti-hero, constantly pushing past moral limits and making horrific, zombie-like beings that he can't contain or control. He's a devote materialist, assuming that the biological processes of dead flesh can be reactivated by chemical means. West and the narrator realize that the human brain deteriorates very quickly, so they need very fresh bodies. The morbid pursuit gets worse and worse--West even signs up for World War I just so he'd have access to fresh corpses or body parts (because he started working on reviving individual body parts as well). If that wasn't bad enough, West is very racist dealing with Blacks and Italians. The narrative is a little choppy. Each story has a little recap of what came before, which was okay for monthly publication but is awkward when they are all put together. The stories jump from the university to their first medical practice in a nearby town to the world war to Boston.  The overall story is interesting but could use some streamlining. 

Mildly recommended.

The story was made into a series of movies in the 1980s beginning with H. P. Lovecraft's Re-animator.