Classics for a New Year

Happily all the X-mas joy is finally gone. Sadly though, the end of the previous year called for the ending of the only thing I actually liked watching. So after the last Christmas episode of the season of my newly favorite American Horror Story I found myself looking for solace.

Nothing could comfort me, no books, no games, nothing. There was nothing left to do but turn to the classics, and so I did!

I brushed up on my black and whites starting with my all time favorite Nosferatu!

Excessive make-up, lack of voices and the ever haunting face of Max Schreck in the first attempt of telling a story so unquestionably linked to the horror genre.

I kept on in the same pace with films like The Student of Prague and others... and somehow I ended up with Rosemary' s Baby, remembering how life imitates art..

Time went by and the new year came. Hopefully it will be a creative one book - film - series - gamewise.

How did you fair over the holidays?

Neil Gaiman's Dark and Festive Poem

39 Degrees North Presents: Nicholas Was from 39 Degrees North on Vimeo.

Make that Neil Gaiman's dark, festive and animated poem and you'll have made one more tiny step towards truth. Oh, and do click that play button on the video posted above and enjoy that wonderful thing Morella discovered, for it is indeed a thing of macabre, lyrical and gloriously animated beauty. It might also help make them kids cry a bit.

American HORROR Story

It took me months to get my hands on it, but now that I have finally done so, I don't think I'll ever let go!

Once I got wind of American Horror Story I was mortified to sit and watch because I was up to here with all those second class series claiming to belong to the horror genre. So it obviously took me too long to decide to actually give it a go.

I wasn't expecting much; actually I wasn't expecting anything, so imagine my surprise when I found myself watching one episode after the other. It was daytime when I began and way past midnight when I switched off my DVD player!

Creepy, disturbing, violent, haunting, unexpected, you either love it or love to hate it, but either way there is no forgetting it!

It is a first for me, waiting impatiently for the next episode of any series. But don't take my word for it, seeing is believing so I will be waiting to hear from you, are you lovers or haters?

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?

We all grew up listening under our covers, time and time again, to the same bed time stories. Fairy tales about misunderstood monsters, love scorned witches, hungry wolves and all kinds of dark and troubled creatures, and battles between good versus evil in which good always prevailed.

What if not all of those stories were, indeed, stories? What if there was not only a little, but a lot of truth in them? What if those fairy tales were not the end? What if there was a whole world out there that we have just chosen to forget or even not see? That's a very interesting notion, don't you think?

That is exactly what the brand new series "Grimm" is all about. Taking all those twisted villains who haunted our childhood dreams, giving them not only life, but also a hold of our adult nightmares.

Though it is too soon to decide whether I like it or not, I must say that I am intrigued. . .

Fuck Vampires!

Discovering quality writers in the vast cyberspaces of, err, cyberspace isn't the easiest of tasks and that, dear readers, is where Chamber of Horrors will come in handy by suggesting you read the excellent Fuck Vampires by Jonas Kyratzes. It's a rare short story that attempts to bring horror into the age of the crisis and writing much more about it would only result in spoilers. All you need to know is that it's short, innovative and excellently written. Oh, and very appropriate for our times too.

They' re back!

How long has it been since you saw a good vampire movie? It's been ages for me! Nothing really seemed to quench my thirst for those adorable bloodthirsty beasts. Besides, what has always been a disappointment was the way vampires had been portrayed those past few years.

Why are they always presented with human emotions?

Why is there always an inner struggle to remain as human as possible?

Well, I'm happy to say that I have finally seen a film that treats vampires as it should. Beastly, primitive, relentless! Creatures with only survival in their mind, no love, no fear looking at humans like they ought to ... like dinner!

Based on a series of Korean comics, the Priest finally sets the record straight - they're fast, they're ugly, they're hungry and most of all inhuman. And, yes, they are indeed the vampires.


Far into the future humans are restricted to cities surounded by gigantic walls. The church is the absolute authority. After thousands of years of war between vampires and humans our species has finally eliminated the threat ... or so we thought. The ulimate weapon, humans with extrordinary powers recruited by the church as children and bred for the sole purpose of distraction. The order of the priests, as it is called, is finally dismantled once all vampires were gone, but is it really so?

I know that most of the film critics do not recommend it - but what do they know?

We are not quite dead yet

In fact we can actually post. See the lovely and lovingly animated short movie posted above? It's all the proof one would ever need. And it's all about Lovecraft's horrors too.