THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER (André Øvredal, 2023)

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Went into this one more skeptical than it deserved - no doubt because of how much I loved the second episode of the Moffat / Gattis DRACULA that covered the same chapter of the novel - and came out satisfied. Nothing spectacular, but not a bad film by any means: solid performances throughout, some great shippy-atmosphere, and an Orlock-infused Dracula. That being said, all of the above deserved a less pedestrian direction; can only imagine what a more visceral, artistic director would have made of it. Can’t stop thinking that DEMETER would have been a perfect fit for John Carpenter or Ridley Scott (especially given its ALIEN inspiration). (*** / *****)

links/2024w07

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At around age 60, with her 3 children all grown up and out of her hands, Sugiyama decided to relocate from Saitama up north to Iwate prefecture where she had relatives, and was closer to her birthplace of Aomori. She obtained her chiropractors license and opened a small practice where she served the local community for over 10 years. 

One day, Sugiyama found a pack of discarded colored markers near a dumpster. Noticing that they were still in good shape, she decided to take them home and begin doodling. Soon, images of trees and rivers all inspired by the nature of Aomori began pouring out of her and onto the pages of a sketchbook. After a year or so of sketching with the markers, Sugiyama remembered her mother’s colorful kimonos that had been stored away. There was no use for them in storage so the artist, whose creative juices were now flowing, decided to begin incorporating them into her work, which eventually led to a style she has coined as “Kimono Reborn Art.”

the collection: recent additions

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Been in a bit of a collecting lull of late, mostly sticking with new comics releases and the occasional “ok I can’t pass this up” splurge, this sheet of Walter B. Gibson’s memo paper being among them…

Been on a Spectre kick lately, too…

spectre action figures

Scratch one off the “comics I must own before I die and even then” list…

With No. 6, DICK TRACY SMASHES THE BOMBING RACKET, I’ve now only one more to go to complete my set of the 1934 Goudy Big Thrill booklets…

And, finally, in “I’m sure I’m now on a list somewhere” additions...

on Carradine’s Dracula

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(Recording this now because I've had the thought in my head for at least a year and a half and probably longer than that and kept telling myself that I'd write something more in depth about it or use it as a follow-up interview question but that probably won't happen so):

John Carradine is my favorite of the Universal Draculas (and the closest to Bram Stoker's original) and I wish he'd had a chance to play the role in better films than HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN / HOUSE OF DRACULA – not that those entries aren't lots of fun, the MCU before Marvel as we know it ever existed – but I'm talking about a DRACULA '31 (though my opinion of that film – with the exception of Dwight Frye's Renfield – and of Lugosi's Dracula degrades with each rewatch; I FAR prefer the Spanish version) or level of import.

John Carradine entrances Martha O'Driscoll in HOUSE OF DRACULA

There's a coldness to Carradine's portrayal matched only by Christopher Lee's first appearances in HORROR OF DRACULA (before he unleashed the feral sex-bomb Hammer Dracula that we all know and love): can't help but wonder what Carradine would have done with the role had he played Alucard / Dracula in Robert Siodmak's SON OF DRACULA instead of the woefully miscast (and clearly aware of it) Lon Jr. – can't think of a film Carradine's incarnation would have been more suited for than the Southern Gothic / noir curiosity that is SON OF – or in the announced-but-never-made follow-up to HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, WOLF MAN VS. DRACULA that was, purportedly, to feature Lon Jr. in both roles before it became a Lugosi return before morphing entirely into its final form as HOUSE OF DRACULA.

Anyhow, thought duly recorded; if nothing else, I got to write the phrase “feral sex-bomb” so I’ve got that going for me.