dark-asylum.co.uk/forum

Horror :: Rape-Revenge is Back With Run! Bitch! Run!

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:23 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Rape-Revenge is Back With Run! Bitch! Run!
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Rape-Revenge is Back With Run! Bitch! Run!

wil

NEWS

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:15:16 +0000

The 70s are back with a vengeance! Yesterday we told you about the new cannibal film Isle of the Damned and now we got word about a new rape/revenge movie called, Run! Bitch! Run! that looks just as great. Its stars Christina DeRosa and the little girl-boy from Rob Zombie's Halloween. You can watch the censored trailer below or go to the official website to see the XXX version.

[u]Synopsis:[/u]

Written by Robert James Hayes II and Joseph Guzman. RUN! BITCH RUN! tells the story of Catherine and Rebecca, two Catholic School girls going door-to-door selling Religious paraphernalia in order to pay for their education. Things go horribly wrong when they knock on the wrong door in the wrong neighborhood. After she is brutally raped and left for dead Catherine awakes with one thing on her mind, REVENGE.

Run! Bitch Run! is a throw back to the classic 1970's Rape and Revenge films like Last House On the Left and Ms. 45. The film takes place in the late 1970's where the lack of modern technology made the world a more vulnerable place. This is an original story that has not been explored in recent films. Its uniqueness and chilling subject matter lends itself to horror/thriller audiences looking for something new.

Run! Bitch Run! Trailer from Freak Show on Vimeo.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Last House on the Left DVD Art

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:23 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Last House on the Left DVD Art
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Last House on the Left DVD Art

wil

DVD RELEASES

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:53:46 +0000

Here is the DVD art for the new MGM Last House on the Left special edition DVD available February 24th, 2009.

- Audio commentary with actors David Hess, Marc Sheffler and Fred Lincoln

- Wes Craven featurette

- Celluloid Crime of the Century featurette

- Scoring Last House featurette

- Tales that Will Tear Your Heart Out featurette

- Deleted Scene: Mari Dying at the Lake

- Never-before-seen outtakes

- Wes Craven's annotated shooting scripts

- Photo Gallery

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Johnny Depp Mad Hatter Picture

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:22 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Johnny Depp Mad Hatter Picture
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Johnny Depp Mad Hatter Picture

wil

Not Horror But...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:16:52 +0000

Below you can see a picture of how Johnny Depp will look as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland.

Burton's version of the Lewis Carroll book will utilize the same motion capture technology used in Beowulf to bring the exotic world on Wonderland alive. The cast includes; Mia Wasikowska as Alice, Anne Hathaway as The White Queen, Helena Bonham Carter as The Red Queen, Alan Rickman as the Caterpillar, Michael Sheen as The Cheshire Cat, Crispin Glover as The Knave of Hearts, Christopher Lee , and Matt Lucas as Tweedledee / Tweedledum.

Some rumored additions are; Eleanor Tomlinson as Fiona Chataway, Frances de la Tour asAunt Imogene, Tim Pigott-Smith as Lord Ascot and Jemma Powell as Margaret Kingsley.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Heather Locklear Charged With DUI

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:22 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Heather Locklear Charged With DUI
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Heather Locklear Charged With DUI

Gossip Biznitch

GOSSIP

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:43:43 +0000

You may remember that we reported that Swamp Thing star Heather Locklear was arrested for suspicion of a DUI. You may also remember that our sista site 2Snaps.tv reported that she was setup by a "disgruntled Us Weekly employee". Well now The L.A. Times reports that she "was charged today with misdemeanor driving under the influence of legally prescribed drugs, stemming from her arrest two months ago in Santa Barbara County."

Santa Barbara County Deputy Dist. Atty. Lee Carter said: "There was no alcohol and no illegal narcotics in her system, only prescription medications."

Locklear brought me countless joy as Amanda on Melrose Place and starred in Jim Wynorski's 1989 The Return of Swamp Thing, so I hope she gets off easy because she deserves it.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Twilight Tickets Are Selling Out

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:22 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Twilight Tickets Are Selling Out
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Twilight Tickets Are Selling Out

Gossip Biznitch

GOSSIP

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 13:24:31 +0000

I don't know why this is big news today, we all knew Twilight was going to be a huge hit. Anyway The Hollywood Reporter reports that Twilight ticket presales are off-da-hook.

"Online ticketers Fandango and MovieTickets said Monday that the Summit Entertainment film has sold out hundreds of performances four days before its Friday opening in about 3,400 locations. Fandango has sold out almost 700 shows -- including 500 or so midnight Thursday screenings -- and MovieTickets counted more than 400 sellouts of various showtimes. 'Twilight' accounted for more than 85% of presales in recent days, the ticketers said."

Is there even any other movies opening this week? Yes, Bolt a kids animated comedy, what a stupid move by Disneyfor going up against this. However, it is not as stupid as the big Hollywood movie studios that passed on Twilight, including Paramount and Fox Atomic. Read how they lost out here.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Tales From the Darkside DVD Release Date

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:22 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Tales From the Darkside DVD Release Date
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Tales From the Darkside DVD Release Date

wil

DVD RELEASES

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:53:27 +0000

By now you should have collected all the Tales From the Crypt DVD sets, so start saving your pennies again, because Paramount is releasing Tales From the Darkside on DVD February 10th. There are no additional details, but we will keep you updated. UPDATE: I got the DVD art, see it below.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Bruce Campbell Not Interested in Evil Dead Sequel or Remake

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:21 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Bruce Campbell Not Interested in Evil Dead Sequel or Remake
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Bruce Campbell Not Interested in Evil Dead Sequel or Remake

wil

NEWS

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:34:21 +0000

The cult surrounding Evil Dead has ruined the film for me. The obsessed fans have made it less about the films and more about wearing them as a badge identifying who they are, and I couldn't care less about a sequel or remake. It is really time to end the Ash worshiping and move on. Even Bruce Campbell seems to agree...Well unless a paycheck is involved, but I don't blame him for that.

When asked by Horror Yearbook's Molly Celaschi "If you had your chioce, Would you prefer the sequel following up where the third left off or you coming back as an older Ash? Or would you rather have the remake of the original featuring younger actors?"

Campbell replied, "I would rather... NEITHER one. Look, there's a simple logic to it, if the opportunity presents itself. If there is a good story and Sam wants to do it and I want to do it, then sure, we'll do a Part 4. A remake, I'm not interested. Maybe if it was done in a retro fashion like the original... You have to understand that the older we get and the more we do other movies, we think about that movie less and less. You have to understand that there is no ill will, that's just life."

Read our full Bruce Campbell interview tomorrow.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: New Cannibal Film: Isle of the Damned

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:21 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: New Cannibal Film: Isle of the Damned
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

New Cannibal Film: Isle of the Damned

wil

NEWS

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:42:02 +0000

In the spring of 1979 Italian filmmaker Antonello Giallo began production of Pleasures of the Damned, by mid-Summer the film was released and was met by outrage from the Italian government. When criminal charges were brought upon Giallo, he fled to the jungles of South America to dodge public obscenity charges, thus began the production of Isle of the Damned. The film has been long out of print, but is now available in a digitally remastered form.

Okay not really a true story, but it is the fun, fictional back-story for Mark Colegrove's homage to the cannibal film Isle of the Damned, currently searching for distribution. Check out the two trailers below to see why you will not want to miss out when it is finally released.

[u]Synopsis:[/u]

In Antonello Giallo's follow up to the notorious Pleasures of the Damned, private investigator Jack Steele is hired by a mysterious treasure hunter to help find the lost treasure of Marco Polo. Along for the trip is Jack's adopted son, Billy. Their search brings them to an island off the coast of Argentina... and into the clutches of a primitive cannibal tribe, the Yamma Yamma. Alexis Kinkaid, a mysterious recluse who has made his home on the island amongst the cannibals, may hold the key to unlocking the island's secret...

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Madhouse (1981) and Psychic Killer (1975) Coming to DVD

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:21 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Madhouse (1981) and Psychic Killer (1975) Coming to DVD
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Madhouse (1981) and Psychic Killer (1975) Coming to DVD

wil

DVD RELEASES

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 16:07:13 +0000

I spotted this DVD news on Retro Slashers, but there wasn't much info. After a little digging I discovered that Dark Sky Films is releasing Madhouse and Psychic Killer on DVD November 25th...Movie info and pre-order links below.

Madhouse (1981)

Director: Ovidio G. Assonitis

Cast: Trish Everly, Allison Biggers, Dennis Robertson

[u]Synopsis:[/u]

Beautiful do-gooder Julia (Trish Everly) and her insane, hideously deformed twin sister Mary (Allison Biggers) have a hard time occupying the same room, let alone the same town, without Mary either brandishing a butcher knife or letting her giant killer dog come out to play. Their uncle, Father James (Dennis Robertson), presses for reconciliation but to no avail. With their mutual birthday fast approaching, Mary escapes from the local asylum. Soon thereafter, the bodies of Julia's friends and students mount around her. But is Mary actually the killer?

[u]Special Features:[/u]

New featurette with writer-producer-director Ovidio G. Assonitis (Beyond the Door, Tentacles)

Still Gallery

English subtitles

Psychic Killer (1975)

Director: Ray Danton

Cast: Julie Adams and Whit Bissell (Creature from the Black Lagoon), Neville Brand (Eaten Alive), Paul Burke (Valley of the Dolls), Aldo Ray (Riot on Sunset Strip) and Della Reese (Touched By an Angel)

[u]Synopsis:[/u]

Before CARRIE... before PATRICK... there was Arnold.

Jim Hutton (Don't Be Afraid of the Dark) stars in his final feature film as Arnold Masters, a gentle recluse wrongfully convicted of murder and confined to a snake pit mental institution. When his elderly mother dies from neglect during his incarceration, Arnold devotes his hard time to mastering the voodoo art of astral projection... and remote control revenge. Death by concrete slab... by scalding shower... by meat slicer! No court could convict him because he was never there!

[u]Special Features:[/u]

TV Spots

Trailers

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Jill Schoelen of The Stepfather Naked!?!

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:20 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Jill Schoelen of The Stepfather Naked!?!
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Jill Schoelen of The Stepfather Naked!?!

wil

Classic Horror Titties

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:41:01 +0000

Horror movies are known for having 20-somethings play teens, it is necessary because that is the only way you can legally have them naked. While some of the actors may have looked a little too old for their roles, Jill Schoelen was one of the few who looked the part. The problem is, I'm not 100% sure if she got naked in The Stepfather or if it was a body-double, so I never added her to our Classic Horror Titties Archives.

Then I got a thinking, movies are a fantasy, especially horror movies, so what the hell. If its not really her, just pretend it is, because I know I did when I was 15.

People over the age of 18 and not at work can see Jill Schoelen naked here.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Aaron Eckhart to Battle Aliens in Next Flick

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:20 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Aaron Eckhart to Battle Aliens in Next Flick
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Aaron Eckhart to Battle Aliens in Next Flick

wil

Not Horror But...

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:47:55 +0000

Two-Face also known as Aaron Eckhart is going from the superhero genre to Sci-Fi with his new film Battle in Los Angeles. Hollywood Reporter: reports:

"Aaron Eckhart is attached to star in "Battle: Los Angeles," a sci-fi actioner that Jonathan Liebesman is directing for Columbia. Neal Moritz and his Original Film are producing.

The story, written by Chris Bertolini, revolves around a Marine platoon's encounter in the battle on the streets of Los Angeles against an alien invasion. Eckhart will play the platoon leader in the film, which has yet to set a start date."

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Feast III Details

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:20 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Feast III Details
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Feast III Details

wil

NEWS

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:40:28 +0000

There is not much going on in the horror world right now, so here is the synopsis for Feast 3: The Happy Finish, courtesy of Shocktillyoudrop:

"Picking up moments after the end of Feast II: Sloppy Seconds, the survivors are saved by the mysterious prophet, Shot Bus Gus, who seemingly has the ability to control the beasts. He leads them into the sewers as they travel to the big city. Along the way they get help from karate expert Jean-Claude Seagal and learn that the beasts originate from a place called "The Hive." Armed with this knowledge, they decide to fight back and destroy the beasts once and for all."

So I guess this will be the last Feast film? How will the Gulager family feed themselves?

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Horror :: Not Horror But... Shiver (2008)

Bagamas — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:20 GMT

Author: Bagamas
Subject: Not Horror But... Shiver (2008)
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Not Horror But... Shiver (2008)

Kelsey Zukowski

MOVIE REVIEWS (ALL) Movie Reviews NEW (2000 & Up)

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 12:32:10 +0000

Shiver

Starring: Junio Valverde, Mar Sodupe, Blanca Su�rez, Jimmy Barnat�n, Roberto Enr�quez

Directed By: Isidro Ortiz

Written By: Hern�n Migoya, Jos� Gamo

DVD Released: October 28, 2008

Grade: B+

Shiver is a Spanish thriller following a sunlight-phobic teen, Santi (Valverde). This isn't your average phobia though, because it is not such an irrational fear. The sun actually is great harm to him since he has a disease where the more sunlight he gets the more he is exposed to blindness, cancer, and other diseases. His condition is constantly worsening and it seems that he is never safe. Even at night he has terrifying nightmares where he fails in his desperate attempt to be free from the sun as it quickly burns and deteriorates his skin.

Constantly being hooded and having his sunglasses on, Santi draws attention and not in the best way. From the precautions he has to take and him obviously being different from his classmates, he has become a loner. The one friend he has, Leo (Barnat�n) works the night shift with him at an arcade. Santi really has no one else and feels he is living a very empty life. His doctor advises his mother, Julia (Sodupe) to move him somewhere where there is less sunlight, telling her that his life could depend on it. Julia is hesitant but when Santi begs her to do the same, they move to the country where the valley blocks much of the sunlight. They stay in a dark, old house there and Santi starts school. Unfortunately, he seems to get the same treatment from his classmates when he tries to help someone younger who is being picked on.

When Santi helps two others find a ball in the woods, some monstrous creature attacks the boy who was picking on him. This just makes things worse for Santi as the boys' friends, family, and even the detective (Enr�quez) believe Santi to be the killer. Although, his DNA wasn't found on the victim, when he is found at a second murder even his mother who was so sure of his innocence before begins to doubt him. It seems the only person who truly believes him is �ngela (Su�rez), the detective's daughter and really the only person who has befriended Santi. Soon Santi is haunted by the creature who is killing those around him. He fears that it will rip him apart and suck out his blood just as it did to the others. As his last chance to save his life, Santi works with �ngela and Leo to figure out exactly what this beast is and along the way discover just how dangerous of a hunt they are about to embark on.

The performances were wonderful especially by Junio Valverde as Santi. He brings a loneliness, immense fear, and a desperation to truly have a life. He communicates all of this with great strength even when he isn't talking. He gives us a sense of really knowing his character and forms a very strong protagonist because of it. Mar Sodupe also does well as his mother Julia. She is worried about him, as she should be, and has to go through some major questioning herself to decide weather she should believe her son no matter the evidence against him or believe that it is possible that she raised a vicious murderer. Blanca Su�rez had great chemistry with Valverde. Both of their characters were different and they were okay with that. �ngela wasn't afraid to stand up for what she thought was right and wouldn't be bullied by those around her. She saw that Santi was different from those around her in that he was actually a good person who was just going through a lot and he was thrilled that a girl like this would even be able to see this in him. Jimmy Barnat�n played the fun, best friend, who was actually pretty knowledgeable on the topic of monsters. Roberto Enr�quez was the hard and disbelieving detective that seemed to be causing a bigger mess of the horrors going on even though he believed he was bringing some justice to them.

As a film that deals a lot with the concepts of fear in lightness and darkness, it is no surprise that the cinematography worked a lot with this as well. Award winning production designer, Pilar Revuelta of Pan's Labyrinth, added great shading and atmosphere to the film. During some of the lighter shots we are given a sense of burning panic and victimization. Sounds are more distant as if the characters aren't fully there, being too taken away with chaos and fear. This is not just the case for the sun fearing Santi, but for others as well including his mother. There are many shots where the screen goes completely black. These darker shots really represent the unknown and how scary that can be as well. There is a great sense of fear in both of these, suggesting that there simply is no safety; the world is full of danger no matter what the time of day.

The one minor complaint I have about the film is that the storyline feels very different when it ends than it does at the beginning. At the beginning it is all about Santi's disease that makes the sun so fearful to him and even more so the isolation that this puts him in. As the film proceeds, it is much more focused on trying to prove his innocence and him making sure he is not the next victim of the woodland creature. The film takes on a suspenseful turn when Santi and his friends study and investigate to find out what this creature is, what it is capable of, and why it might be doing what it is. You could argue that the film was at risk of almost being two films within one, but the script very subtly saves it from this. There are a few occasions where Santi is forced in to the sunlight and has to save himself from this as well as the monsters that he is dealing with, as more than one seem to be threatening to his life. One attacks during the day with no fear of being caught, just as determination to kill. The sun issue isn't completely dropped as it tests his survival limits, but there is just a much larger focus on the living dangers. The isolation is even there for awhile as most kids treat him as a murderer, but he just happens to keep the faith of two friends that help him through everything.

In the beginning of the film, Santi is playing a video game with Leo where he kills monsters. He tells him that he likes it because killing these monsters distract him from the fact that he is one himself. Being a creature of the night and treated so horribly he accepts a monstrosity inside of him. Yet the creature that he deals with later proves to be much more so. Santi has been nicknamed vampire, but this creature actually does suck blood from its' victims. In a way this is a reassurance that Santi is not what he has been labeled. With the attacks, the story takes on a seemingly more simple storyline. There is great mystery in just wondering exactly what this creature is though. The time that is spend on the discovery of it is not wasted. Even a sense of understanding is given to this creature in the end. It is viewed as a brutal devilish murderer and in many respects it is. However, it isn't simply left at that. There are things that made it what it is including upbringing and the environment around it, wrongdoings, a plight for revenge, and just the beastly nature that is embedded in it. Shiver is a visually and emotionally defined film that shows that night and day are equally terrifying.

-

horroryearbook.com

Horror Movie News, Reviews, Original Articles and Interviews

Necromag Magazine :: Album review "The New Game" by Mudvayne

xasewtuil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:15 GMT

Author: xasewtuil
Subject: Album review "The New Game" by Mudvayne
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Album review "The New Game" by Mudvayne

Oxking

News

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:19:37 +0000

-

Necromag.co.uk

All Naked, All The Time....

Necromag Magazine :: Discuss.......

xasewtuil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:15 GMT

Author: xasewtuil
Subject: Discuss.......
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Discuss.......

Oxking

Film News dragonball z movie

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 14:23:36 +0000

-

Necromag.co.uk

All Naked, All The Time....

Necromag Magazine :: William Control, "Hate Culture"

xasewtuil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:15 GMT

Author: xasewtuil
Subject: William Control, "Hate Culture"
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

William Control, "Hate Culture"

Oxking

News

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:01:07 +0000

-

Necromag.co.uk

All Naked, All The Time....

Necromag Magazine :: A Rebours interview.

xasewtuil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:15 GMT

Author: xasewtuil
Subject: A Rebours interview.
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

A Rebours interview.

Oxking

Music News A Rebours goth interview rock

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:19:01 +0000

-

Necromag.co.uk

All Naked, All The Time....

Necromag Magazine :: "The Age Of Nero" by Satyricon.

xasewtuil — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:14 GMT

Author: xasewtuil
Subject: "The Age Of Nero" by Satyricon.
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

"The Age Of Nero" by Satyricon.

Oxking

Music News satyricon the age of nero

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:22:50 +0000

-

Necromag.co.uk

All Naked, All The Time....

Horror Comics and Art :: A Lack of Illumination: the difference between the author/

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:07 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: A Lack of Illumination: the difference between the author/
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

A Lack of Illumination: the difference between the author/illustrator and the illustrator

I vaguely remember J.K Rowling talking about an on-screen version of a character from one of her books, and saying, in response to someone who said "that's not how I imagined him" that he may not be how they had imagined him, but it was how she imagined him.� It is, I think, a good [...]

Rod

Books Comics and cartoons Art and animation Rod's musings

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:07:08 +0000

I vaguely remember J.K Rowling talking about an on-screen version of a character from one of her books, and saying, in response to someone who said "that's not how I imagined him" that he may not be how they had imagined him, but it was how she imagined him.� It is, I think, a good point, well made.

Of course in some circles of Literary Criticism we are encouraged to ignore any input from the author and work directly with the words on the page, because once a text (a story, a painting, a cartoon, an illustration) is presented as "public art", that is to say that it is intended for an audience, it is open to an infinite amount of interpretations and should not be limited to any one in particular, even that of the author..

There are, to be sure, many good examples of a text running counter to the author's intentions, but there are also some terrific examples of the Lit' Crit' business racing away with possible interpretations that accord huge significance to ideas that� the author has a very different spin on.� One example would be the ending to Robert Frost's famous poem, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1922), where the repeated last line seems to suggest that the "I" of the poem has drifted off into possible hypothermia, which will undoubtedly lead to certain death.� According to Frost's letters to a friend though, written around the time he wrote Stopping by Woods, the poem was annoying him because he couldn't think how to finish it and so he decided on the wizard wheeze of simply repeating the last line.� Another example, this time from TV, would be the debate around the significance of the form, the shape, the size and even the colour of "Rover", the balloon-type guard from Patrick McGoohan's celebrated serial, The Prisoner.� McGoohan had actually planned a very different "Rover", a mechanical one, but it sank like a stone in the waters of Portmeirion and because they were already shooting, panic set in, until someone else on the set looked up and spotted a weather balloon, which was immediately cast in the role (6,000 balloons in total).

Such events are very inconvenient truths, and we have created a way to ignore such things by applying a psychoanalytical tactic, and delivering a Freudian analysis of the text.� We say then, that behind her back, the author's subconscious has been at work and there is no such thing as chance or coincidence, and we should just ignore any biographical details about the author, and work with the words on the page - within reason, of course, for instance the word "gay" had entirely different denotations and connotations in 1930.� I have to say, I do often find this view that the empirical author is some kind of gormless automaton practising a form of automatic-writing a little troubling at times.

For a couple of reasons then, I find I largely agree with the points John Carey makes in his review of Jenny Uglow's new book, Words and Pictures, Writers, Artists and a peculiarly British tradition (Faber) in last Sunday's Times (09/11/2008).

It's not that I'm against book illustrators per say, or for that matter the people publishers now tell us are "graphic novelists", but I am against the needless illustration of texts, especially when� those illustrations run counter to the author's intentions or even instructions, and serve only to place limits and boundaries on the reader's imagination.� Far from helping to illuminate the text, which was once free-floating and open to an infinite amount of interpretations, the possible meaning of the text is now fenced in by, not the author's vision, which we have been encouraged to ignore, but the illustrator's vision.� And often, by the illustrator's lack of knowledge about not just the text, but the witting and unwitting testimony of the text, what the text does not say because of the rules and institutions at the time of production, and of the illustrator's lack of knowledge of the signs and symbols at work.� My favourite examples of this is the illustrator who was knocking out very literal illustrations to accompany poems; to him Yeats "Wild Swans" were "just swans" but Ted Hughes's poem, The Thought Fox, was more promising because he wanted to draw a sort of "computer game/manga-type fox, in a "sort of Middle-Earth type forest".

"I imagine this midnight moment's forest:

Something else is alive

Beside the clock's loneliness

And this blank page where my fingers move."

Extracted from The Thought Fox by Ted Hughes.

This is on my mind at the moment because one or two posts and reviews over the last couple of days tie-in with some issues I touched on when I wrote about illustrating The House of Usher on my own blog.� Many of the points John Carey raised about how unnecessary and even redundant or counter-productive some illustrators are, certainly had some resonance for me, despite the fact that I am an illustrator to trade, because I have always been uncomfortable with the view that any "classic" or any out-of-copyright work, is fair-game for an illustrated "re-imagining".� Although I do wish Carey had worded some of his article a little better because his main point, that the illustrators concerned often had little or no familiarity with the particular work they were illustrating, comes over, at times, as a snobbish put down:

"That is a trivial matter, though, compared to Uglow's uncritical acclaim for book illustrators as a species, and for those who applied their dubious talents to illustrating Milton in particular. He had been dead for 14 years when the first illustrated edition of Paradise Lost came out in 1688, and even if he had still been alive his blindness would have prevented him perusing it, which is just as well. The engraving Uglow reproduces from Book I, which depicts Satan rousing his legions from the burning lake, shows the archfiend as a sort of gnome in a miniskirt, with pixie ears and a small curly horn poking out of his forehead. Milton did not suffer foolish artists gladly. He had disapproved of the portrait frontispiece prepared for the 1645 edition of his poems, and requested the artist to engrave a Greek epigram under it. The wretched limner complied, unaware, since he knew no Greek, that the epigram denounced him as a rotten artist."

The point is not lost on me though, and I remember a cartoonist who had drawn a comic about a meeting of Joyce and Proust in a Parisian caf�, happily declaring that he had read nothing by either author.� I'm not suggesting that in order to draw a one-page comic about a meeting of these two giants one should first read Ulysses and perhaps just volume one of A La Recherch�, but I am suggesting that by a certain age, say twenty five, you should at least have tackled Dubliners or a story from that collection, and at least be familiar with the importance of the symbolism of a piece of Madeleine cake in the story you are drawing.� Something one can probably achieve by reading two sets of York or Cliff Notes, or the excellent Icon Critical Guides - tax deductible for an illustrator, in this sort of instance, as essential research.

There were no such handy cheat guides around during William Blake's day, of course.� And it is clear, in Carey's article, that he feels that Blake's unfamiliarity with Milton's work, or misreading of it, meant that he should never have been allowed anywhere near Paradise Lost:

"Worst was William Blake, who responded to Milton's epic with a series of his usual dead-looking muscular nudes. His illustration for the temptation of Eve shows her with a snake wound round her naked body, holding what looks like a yellow plum in its mouth and thrusting it into hers. This is a vulgar travesty of Milton's poem, where Eve's temptation is quite specifically intellectual, not sensuous - the result of a debate between her and Satan."

I have to admit that in this case Carey has a point.� I personally like Blake's illustrations, but I think they are clearly doing their own thing, and they are not adding anything other than eye candy to Milton's text, which as Carey points out Milton warned his reader was intended to be writing about things above "the reach of human sense".

Some publishers, of course, are all over the classics like a bad rash because they are out of copyright and they can simply dial-up a work-for-hire illustrator, who will deliver them a book that effectively repackages their "free" story.� That book of course will be a "graphic novelised" or "re-imagined" version of an established, even Canonised, book, that has perhaps, like Alice in Wonderland or The Wind in the Willows, already been helpfully tagged with illustrations of characters eager to be transposed to comic strip form.

In some cases those illustrations will be exactly what the author had in mind, either because the author actually drew them, or insisted that his ideas were accurately illustrated.� Lewis Carroll's sketches were nowhere near as expertly executed as John Tenniel's, but he knew what he wanted his characters in the Alice stories to look like, and he insisted that Tenniel remain faithful to his vision. As Carey points out Uglow's argument that "despite the author's bullying, Tenniel's brilliance shows through (in the illustrations)" is as wrong-minded as it is impudent.� Tenniel did not dream up the characters or tease the form of the drawings from some crudely formed text, he was given the job of a lifetime, that of illustrating a work of exceptional brilliance.� But whilst I do agree with Carey that without Carroll's brilliance there would be nothing for Tenniel to illustrate, I prefer to think that Tenniel's excellent job of illustrating the book was made easier because Lewis Carroll had already largely painted the pictures with his words.� Without the drawings, the Alice stories are still brilliant, and the drawings often serve, at best, as a one-dimensional aid to the imagination-challenged reader - or so that a helpful adult reading the story to a very young child, can point to the picture, after reading the text.

I have to say, I think Carey's example of Henry James, who said "he would regard the attempt to impose "a picture by another hand on my own picture" as a "lawless incident" is an excellent example of the very real and correct fears an author might have about the interpretation of the text by the illustrator imposing artificial boundaries on the text.� It is something that Charles Dickens, like Lewis Carroll and Henry James, was rightly determined to avoid.� I don't mean to suggest that the fate of Dickens's first illustrator, Robert Seymour, who blew his brains out after an argument about one of the illustrations for The Pickwick Papers, should be the norm, but surely if there is to be only one version of what Samuel Pickwick or Mrs Bardell should look like, that version should be the one Charles Dickens wants.

I think the problem with the two positions though, Uglow's over-emphasis on the brilliance of some key illustrators, and Carey's dismissal of many of the same as lesser talents than the wordsmiths, is that, as is always the case, things are never that simple.� Mervyn Peake, for instance, features in the book, and Mervyn Peake happens to be one of my favourite illustrators, whether he is painting a picture with words or a brush.�� To complicate matters I draw no distinction between Peake's drawings for his own books, Mister Pye or the Gormenghast trilogy, and his drawings to accompany the writing of others, including Coleridge - they are all brilliant.� The reason for this is two-fold, and I make no apologies for saying this, author/illustrators are simply different.� In their own work they create a symbiosis of words and pictures, and their understanding of how texts work carries on over to the work they do for other authors.� In other words, put simply, they create pictures that work with the text.�� I'm not saying that illustrators who don't write are somehow lesser illustrators than those who do, or that they are necessarily less sympathetic to a text, but it seems obvious to me that illustrators who write will be more likely to have studied the process of writing, and they will understand that simply mirroring the words on the page, no matter how beautiful the drawing, will not add anything to the reader's experience.

As Paul Gravett points out, there is currently what he describes as a "vigorous trend, notably among new British graphic novel publishers", for "stylish strip adaptations of the works of Shakespeare and those of other literary giants".� It is something he celebrates, and I do wish I shared his enthusiasm for the development, but having seen how badly the great Will Eisner delivered "Hamlet on a Rooftop", featuring a gang member with a flick-knife, and no idea of the weight of possible sin on Hamlet's slender shoulders, I can't say I hold out a lot of hope.� I do appreciate his faith in what this renaissance could be, but from what I have learned of Paul Gravett, I am inclined to think that he is welcoming this "vigorous trend" as a champion of more work and recognition for cartoonists, a cause he has lead for decades, than for the literary merit of what might be being produced.� Although he does, correctly, highlight the Government and almost every parents concern at the depressing decline in reading levels and the literacy rate as a good reason for making books, any books, more accessible, I'm not convinced that these books will be picked up by kids who are not even interested in comic books.� As someone who has studied and taught Literature in English, and History, I'm not convinced at all that "Boys Into Books" is the panacea that we would all like it to be.� Like Paul, I suspect, I would be delighted on a number of levels if indeed it was the answer, but I honestly think is unlikely that an 11 year-old child, acting as primary carer for his drug-addicted lone parent, will have any time to polish his reading skills no matter how much more attractively the words are packaged.

I have to admit, and I hope it is clear, that my preference is for, either work that the author illustrates herself, no matter how technically inept the drawings are, or for the sort of team approach that sees the writer and a penciller and an inker and an editor really work and rework the ideas before bringing the lines to life.� I think the best work comes from the author who illustrates their own work, or from the sort of teaming you find with Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky Crumb or Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, or just to prove that I don't think you need to be related or married to one another, Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, or Harvey Pekar and Josh Neufield, or Darwyn Cooke, or Gary Dumm, or Dean Haspiel.� It doesn't matter what the relationship is between the writer and the illustrator, although it undoubtedly helps if they are close and work well together, but it does matter about the relationship between the illustrator and the text.� Simply farming the text out to people who draw figures really well, technically, but have no idea what the text and importantly the sub-text is about, is surely the book publishing equivalent of taking a really good song and hiring a boy band to sing it - it generates product, but the culture, and the art form suffer.

Internationally published cartoonist Rod McKie has a regularly updated blog which you can check out, and for more information and a glimpse at some of his many works visit Rodtoons and enjoy browsing the gallery.

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!

Horror Comics and Art :: From Our Continental Correspondent - Ever Meulen's Cuppa

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:07 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: From Our Continental Correspondent - Ever Meulen's Cuppa
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

From Our Continental Correspondent - Ever Meulen's Cuppa

Life is hard for dedicated Ever Meulen collectors.� Quite often his work is either rare or very expensive, and you'll never even get close to attaining something resembling completeness.

Ever's latest creation, however, is quite readily available, and doesn't cost anything in and of itself.� But it will cost you in other ways - and I [...]

Wim

Merchandise Comics and cartoons From our Continental Correspondent

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:05:56 +0000

Life is hard for dedicated Ever Meulen collectors.� Quite often his work is either rare or very expensive, and you'll never even get close to attaining something resembling completeness.

Ever's latest creation, however, is quite readily available, and doesn't cost anything in and of itself.� But it will cost you in other ways - and I wouldn't think about going on a diet any time soon.

From November 20th until May 20th, twelve restaurants in the Leuven region invite you to come and enjoy a specially created culinary menu, finishing off, as is custom, with a nice cup of coffee.� Afterwards you are free to take home your Royal Boch cup and saucer, which were exclusively designed for this event by Flemish illustrator and designer Ever Meulen.

(the six cups and saucers designed by Meulen and only available by patronising the participating restaurants - beats the hell out of the plastic toy movie tie-in you get with a Happy Meal, doesn't it?)

Ever created a total of six beautiful cups, playing on the themes of eating and drinking, enjoying company and having a good time.� The cups, and their matching saucers are only available via the participating restaurants.� You'll have to make the rounds if you want to complete your collection.� Like I said, it's not the best time to try and lose some weight...

Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium where he is contemplating an Ever Meulen-shaped space on his shelf and the competing needs of his waistline and wallet; you can read more of his work on his own Ephemerist blog.

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!

Horror Comics and Art :: From Our Continental Correspondent - Guy Peellaert dies

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:06 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: From Our Continental Correspondent - Guy Peellaert dies
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

From Our Continental Correspondent - Guy Peellaert dies

Belgian rock illustrator and cartoonist Guy Peellaert (previously profiled here) passed away on Monday, November 17th after a serious heart failure. �He was 74 and still hard at work, creating a series of ten portraits of Belgian rock musicians for the Belgian media weekly Focus Knack.

As editor Karel De Graeve wrote [...]

Wim

Comics and cartoons Art and animation From our Continental Correspondent

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 20:16:08 +0000

Belgian rock illustrator and cartoonist Guy Peellaert (previously profiled here) passed away on Monday, November 17th after a serious heart failure. �He was 74 and still hard at work, creating a series of ten portraits of Belgian rock musicians for the Belgian media weekly Focus Knack.

As editor Karel De Graeve wrote on the Focus Knack blog, only eight of these portraits were published : Jacques Brel (including a cameo of the artist), van Soeur Sourire, Front 242, Soulwax, Arno Hintjens, dEUS, Plastic Bertrand and nineties dance sensation The Confetti's. He had only heard of Brel before, but was very impressed by Soulwax and dEUS, whom he called his greatest discovery of late.

For the final illustrations, Peellaert wanted to portrait two female Belgian musicians - Marie Daulne and Axelle Red. �It was supposed to be a double portrait with two dominating colors, red and black. �He had just started working on the portrait when he broke both ankles in a serious ankles, "le truc le plus con au monde", as he put it himself. �Even then he continued working, but was not able to finish.

Peellaert was one of the most important, and least well-known Belgian illustrators of the past decades. �Some of his work for albums by the Rolling Stones or David Bowie have become icons of rock history, and his comic, Pravda,still is one of the best pop-art comics ever created (and still gets imitated up to this day).� He will be missed.

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!

Horror Comics and Art :: Ergot

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:06 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: Ergot
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Ergot

Over on Boing Boing Mark Frauenfelder posts this great pic of Alvin Buenaventura holding up the massive Kramers Ergot Volume 7. No, I don't think Alvin is small, its just that the book is absolutely huge; any larger and it might collapse into a cartoon black hole and suck in any passing cartoonist. Pricey? Sure, [...]

Joe

Graphic Novels

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:00:56 +0000

Over on Boing Boing Mark Frauenfelder posts this great pic of Alvin Buenaventura holding up the massive Kramers Ergot Volume 7. No, I don't think Alvin is small, its just that the book is absolutely huge; any larger and it might collapse into a cartoon black hole and suck in any passing cartoonist. Pricey? Sure, but gods it looks fabulous and something you'll cherish in your collection for years.

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!

Horror Comics and Art :: Dayglo mutates

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:06 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: Dayglo mutates
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Dayglo mutates

Regular 2000 AD and Tank Girl artist Rufus Dayglo has been invited to join the Mutoid Waste Company's Mutate Britain exhibition, which runs in London from the 21st of this month: "I've been asked by the good people at Mutoid waste company to take part in an art show, painting a piece of old aeroplane [...]

Joe

Comics and cartoons Conventions and events Art and animation

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:42:03 +0000

Regular 2000 AD and Tank Girl artist Rufus Dayglo has been invited to join the Mutoid Waste Company's Mutate Britain exhibition, which runs in London from the 21st of this month: "I've been asked by the good people at Mutoid waste company to take part in an art show, painting a piece of old aeroplane like a bomber pinup! Soooo excited!! A lifetime of building Airfix kits finally pays off!" Another 2000 AD alumni, Brett Ewins is also involved. (thanks to Matthew Badham for the link)

John Freeman has an article on Down The Tubes with more links and some background on the Mutoid Waste Company art group, which started in the mid 80s inspired by visuals from 2000 AD and Mad Max (so I'm thinking more than a few of us here would get where they are coming from), normally using found old materials as the source of their art.

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!

Horror Comics and Art :: Ignoring the art is foolish

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:05 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: Ignoring the art is foolish
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

Ignoring the art is foolish

Several sites have recently been reporting that the Canada Council for the Arts made a boo-boo when announcing the nominees for the prestigious Governor General's award for Children's Literature - the graphic novel Skim was one of the books nominated, but in the release they only named the writer, Mariko Tamaki, as the creator, ignoring [...]

Joe

Graphic Novels Awards

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:08:53 +0000

Several sites have recently been reporting that the Canada Council for the Arts made a boo-boo when announcing the nominees for the prestigious Governor General's award for Children's Literature - the graphic novel Skim was one of the books nominated, but in the release they only named the writer, Mariko Tamaki, as the creator, ignoring the artist and co-creator, her cousin Jillian Tamaki. The mistake was swiftly pointed out but the organisers have said that it is too late to update the information. Its nice to see a graphic novel being included on the shortlist, but failing to include the artist in the awards information is a bit of an oversight and then not updating it when a lot of people point it out seems even sillier, frankly.

Now Neil Gaiman, remembering when the Sandman was nominated for a World Fantasy Award and specifically asked to make sure artist Charles Vess was on the nomination too (which they did), adds his comment: "If you give a writing award to a comic and ignore the art, you're being foolish, short-sighted and fundamentally failing to understand what comics are or what comics writing means. And it's never too late to fix things." I don't think anyone is suggesting the organisers are being deliberately mean and if they aren't overly familiar with comics that's understandable, not everyone is (and we forget that sometimes because we are so familiar with the medium), but when you've had a lot of people, including other respected writers and artists, pointing out the mistake and then just not doing anything about it that seems damned silly and a little bit obstinate.

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!

Horror Comics and Art :: "In the end I would wish for death..."

pioneerrr — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:28:05 GMT

Author: pioneerrr
Subject: "In the end I would wish for death..."
Posted: Wed 19 Nov, 2008 14:28 (GMT 0)

"In the end I would wish for death..."

The world of Super-Sam continues to grow darker like nightfall on a winter's eve...

(click the pic to visit full-size version and the complete archive of Darryl's previous Super-Sam and John-of-the-night strips. Art �2008 Darryl Cunningham; if you want permission to reproduce any part of it you should ask him. And you should also check out [...]

Joe

Comics and cartoons Darryl Cunningham's Super-Sam

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 04:30:52 +0000

The world of Super-Sam continues to grow darker like nightfall on a winter's eve...

(click the pic to visit full-size version and the complete archive of Darryl's previous Super-Sam and John-of-the-night strips. Art �2008 Darryl Cunningham; if you want permission to reproduce any part of it you should ask him. And you should also check out Darryl's own site where he has posted an extra Super-Sam tale which is a standalone strip outside the current story arc)

-

The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

The Best In Sci-Fi & Fantasy, News, Reviews, Graphic Novels, comics and more!