Monster of the Week: Artificial Intelligence

Sarah Connor: You're terminated, fucker.

Machines, A.I, Robots. They all tend to fall in this category, and there are plenty of films and shows that showcase them. Like Aliens, they tend to border the worlds of Sci-fi and horror. When done well, it can be a terrible but awesome marriage, showing us our fears of technology. When done horribly, we get some laughable examples.

They aren't exactly monsters in the traditional sense, because they aren't made of living tissue. they can transform, but not by morphing anything resembling flesh. It can be argued they are constructs, but because the origins of what makes robots or A.I possible, I put them in their own category. There are quite a few examples of their appearance being monstrous in stories. I just don't think they are traditionally thought of as monsters. But when people fear something, they can turn anything into a monster. Just look at Killer Clowns. You can take anything normally harmless and twist it in your mind. You're toaster might be trying to kill you.

There are a couple of tropes used with A.I's. One is they are the ultimate peasant uprising. A warning not to make the mistake of the past and treat someone with a mind as if they did not have one. Another horrific trope is the creation of your own god, also known as making your replacement.  In a lot of ways, the build your own god trope is an extension of the Golem trope. They are very close in proximity. We made them, and now they are so much better than us. In a mechanistic world, we are obsolete and thrown away. And of course the common one used: Fear of the other, which I have already touched on. Because they just don't think like we do.

Usually when people fear A.I's it's because something has gone wrong while they were created, or because they have such an "alien" way of thinking, they don't know that humanity cannot handle their motivations. Some stories told show humanity warping the robot mentality by being cruel to it, or it observing our cruelty to a degree it adapts to project what it sees, or by threatening the "life" it has been given. Movies like The Animatrix show this beautifully. That we created our own demise because we took advantage of the robots we made, turning them into slaves, and worse. Another is Terminator. Skynet made the killer robots to protect itself.

In the end, the fear of technology is what the monster of the A.I represents. We create them with science, and when science goes wrong it can destroy more than mere human life.

Here is a nice sampling of some of my favourite horrific tales about robots and A.I gone wrong. A lot of these you might not even considered to have horror elements in them:

The original Terminator movie was a horror movie back in it's time. I know a few people would argue it, but think about it: A robot out of no where who has no reservations about cutting his own eyeball out and killing people for their clothes comes after you. And he wants to kill you. You don't friggen know why, you don't know how to stop him, and no one believes you until it's too late. Oh, and he can appear human looking.

Freaky shit. And it was done to BE freaky. The other movies later became more action-oriented, but the first one was a scary movie.

As I mentioned above, The Animatrix. Not all of it, but the story about what made the machines turn, is horrific .This story is called The Second Renaissance and it's in two parts. The torture scenes are particularly gruesome when the machines operate on people they've captured from the battle field. War is horror folks. Real horror. I never watch a war film and think anything different.

Here's a movie people might not consider horror, but I think still qualifies and is very dark. It's called 9 and it's a Tim Burton film. While it's so much more, the terrible reality of that universe that these cute little robotic puppets live in is scary. And the robots who take the souls of the puppets...not the nicest creations I've ever encountered.

And the classic 2001: Space Odyssey has one of the scariest A.I's of them all. Everyone remember's Hal 9000 right? How he goes a little loopy and no one knows why, but he starts to try to kill everyone on the ship. That's some classic techno-fear right there.

So, what's your favourite horrific A.I tale? Do you ever wonder what you'd do if a robot you lived with went crazy and tried to kill you? Do you think they should be treated as people if we give them enough intelligence to feel pain, and even love?

Monster of the Week: The Construct

It's ALIVE!!! ALIVE!!!!

Homunculus. Golem. Simulacrum. Gargoyle, depending on the myth. Some forms of Reanimated Dead. These are a few of the many forms that a Construct can take. One of the defining characteristics of constructs is they must be created by someone else. Human or inhuman hands must fashion them. (Re) animating them, usually artificially. It is a minion of a sort for some dark scientists will, an experiment. A wizard might create a hommunculus, or a simulacrum to do his nasty will. They can be made from many different things. Some are made from a Wizards own hair, flesh and secretions. Like a homunculus or golem. A simulacrum will be made to replicate the wizard himself, made from more abstract components, like the wizards own soul. Gargoyles (otherwise known as grotesques) were these hideous beings created to protect churches, and were made from stone and pipes. Non-magical or religious constructs like re-animated dead are made from dead tissue, and given only the barest of intelligence by the makers own desire.

One thing all these constructs have in common is they are created by someone else's will. Not a god, or a higher power, but usually a man or being with slight powers or super intelligence  These "people" who create the creatures think they are superior to normal folks, and even to the divine itself. These beings known as constructs usually tell us tales of man's hubris  his desire to conquer death, the unknown, and have control over forces that are usually considered beyond him. Hell, sometimes it's a woman making these creatures.

I personally have always had a soft spot for the construct, especially The Monster in Frankenstein. He and his mate The Bride are two of the most tragic, yet terrible creatures in the classic monster collection. They are made outside of the normal laws of life, created by a man who thought he could conquer death. His grief over the loss he felt by deaths hand, and his hubris to overcome deaths design created these poor, flawed creatures. I still read the Frankenstein novel sometimes, just like Dracula and other classics I adore. There is something so profoundly painful and horrible in Frankenstein that I relate to for some reason. Perhaps it's the way Dr. Frankenstein cannot let go of his grief, and in so doing destroys all he loves, including himself. Perhaps it's also that the construct, especially in this tale, is a dark mirror of the man who made him, as if Dr. Frankenstein made his own shadow self manifest. There is so much beauty in The Monster too, so much sadness and rage. A tortured spirit unable to connect to a world it just wants to be a part of.

Emotions play a huge roll in good horror. Some monsters represent concepts like repression, sin, greed, violence, lust. But the construct is about the abuse of power and control. No matter if it's made by magic or science, in the end if one abuses any of their gifts that grant them power, they can create their own monsters.

So with that said, here is a sample of some of my favourite construct subject matter:

Sometimes Disney is known for making a few really awesome things. Gargoyles was a TV series I enjoyed as a kid, that had deep story lines and amazing characters. they have brought it out on DVD, much to my joy, and now I can squee as Demona acts like a dick to Goliath. It's a good show, and if you can get your hands on it, I highly recommend it.  

This anime, Full Metal Alchemist is full of awesome occult stuff. Alchemy is in the title. The thing that makes me bring it up here is that one could argue that Alphonse (who's soul is trapped in the suit of armor you see in the picture) is now a Simulacrum. It's a really good show, has an offshoot show called Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood and deals with some interesting concepts. Of course, the use of control and power is a big concept focused on here too.

And of course, anything with this big lug in it. He's my favourite of all constructs. I'm also a huge fan of his wife, The Bride. I did convince my husband and I to do costumes of them for Halloween because of my huge love for the story and the characters within it: 

What are some of your favorite constructs? Would you create life by magical, religious or with the use of science? And if you did, how well do you think you could control it? 

Monster Of The Week: Demons

Evil Spirits. Devils. Hell Beasts. The Damned. Legion. These are just some of the many names for creatures who rule the hell realms, Demons. We see them a lot in horror. They have a tendency to be linked to the Christian belief of hell and The Devil, but the word Daemon was of greek origin, and meant something completely different. When Christianity went about converting other faiths, it took many ideas from those faiths. Daemon went from being something of a good-natured spirit guide, to the hideous creatures known as demons.

Demons are servants of hell. They can come in many forms and many sizes, and can possess human souls, twisting them to their will. Some are terrible, horrific creatures, while others are kind of laughable at first glance. Never underestimate a demon though. They are usually cunning creatures who will use any means necessary to achieve their goal, and even if they are not cunning, they are ruthless and determined to take what they want.

What is their goal you ask? Stealing your soul for their dark master of course!

Usually stories that contain demons as the main baddie involve a formula that goes something like this: Someone finds a way to open a rift to hell or to summon a demon(s), Maybe they stumble on an evil book. A grimoire of sorts. Maybe it's an "evil witch" who does it, like in the Warlock series. In it the main bad guy is a witch (not in any way like REAL witches, but more like what Inquisitors thought witches were during the burning times) summons The Devil Himself through a seer. The Devil is the king of demons. He's the big boss of their kind.

Sometimes the demon is summoned by accident by mere mortals like in The Gate. In that movie, idiot kids summon the demons and nearly tear the universe apart because of it. And those demons are kinda laughable at first, until their big daddy is released.

It seems summoning is the key to bringing forth a demon plague upon your house. They follow rules, and very specific ones. (Though most supernaturals do.) But Demons can be frightening because they make us reflect on what evil means and what could happen if it really does exist.

Now, for me traditional demons aren't so frightening. I need them to be explored in a creative way, an interesting way. I want my demons to be more than monsters summoned by opening a gate to hell. I want the nature of what evil and good is to be blown apart. This is why I love Clive Barker's take on demons. In a way, the Cenobites can be considered demons, though they are also so much more than that. Many times I've heard them described as mere demons, but they themselves even say they are explorers of experience. "Angels to some, demons to others." They are each modified uniquely until they are no longer recognizable as human. Most demons have this in common. That once they may have been human. Some though claim they were never human at all. But they have one thing in common: they are beyond human experience. They are alien in their own right and connected to something darker, sinister, and evil.

Here is a sample of some of my favourite demon subject matter:

Mister B. Gone is a story about a demon named Jakabok Botch, who talks to the reader throughout the book. He even tells the reader to burn the book right from the beginning. It's a very quirky, dark story but highly enjoyable. It's Jakabok's life story about his terrible life in hell and the things he did to keep himself sane. He eventually escapes hell...and that's when the real fun begins.

And of course...HELLRAISER. If you haven't read my review of the series yet, you are missing out. But yes, this has to be here, because well...they are demons to some...

Next is Event Horizon, which could be considered a ghost story, but I think it's more than that. I think if you look at all the things that are said about the ship that comes back, it is a gate to hell. So it could be considered a demon ship. "Where we are going, we don't need eyes to see." It's a really well done film and I highly suggest it. It could just be a demonic ghost ship story at it's core. Best of both worlds!

And for some good campy fun I suggest The Demons series of movies. They are horribly awesome, and have some of the dumbest demons going. Hell, you could even follow this series up with The Gate movies and get more bang for your buck!

What about you readers?  What are your favourite damned demonic baddies? Do you believe in evil? In Hell? In the things that lurk in that dark realm of brimestone and suffering?

"You're suffering will be legendary even in hell!" ~Pinhead

Monster of the Week: ALIEN BEINGS

As I did last Halloween Countdown, I will have my Monster of the Week segment reborn from it's slumber. Other monsters I've written about last year were The Werebeast, The Vampire, The Zombie and The Ghost. Very famous and easily recognizable monsters, so now I need to dig deeper to find more creatures to talk about. Lucky for me, I am a monster-seeker, a lover of creepy crawlies if you will. I am sure I'll find more monsters to talk about. Haven't even touched constructs, demons, artificial intelligence and ALIENS...

Today's post is going to be about the beings from another world. Planetary Invaders. Space Beasts. Alien Beings. Just some of the many terms we use to describe these creatures. They are other, and in horror we sure love our monsters to embody the darkest parts of our fear of other. Anything we cannot understand, cannot wrap our brains around we peg as other. You see it all the time. People being ostracized for your skin tone, beliefs, sexual orientation, etc. We call these people freaks, monsters...Alien.

And in our fiction and movies, we love to play with the idea of what the word alien truly means.

Aliens in horror are a very malleable creature to play around with too, from a writing perspective. Because of their unknown origins, and the place they come from [spooky voice] Ooouter Ssssspace [/spooky voice] they   give lots of wiggle room for any kooky, whacked out idea about what they are and what they want. Lots of room for questions to be answered by the story, or to just leave questions for the reader/audience to mull over. If written well an alien being can inspire you, even if it's just to have nightmares about some pod people stealing your skin while you sleep.

Aliens are insidious in their own right, because they have such variety in their guises. Sometimes, they look exactly like us, and try to present a smiling, benevolent face. Watch out for these guys. they may be aliens possessing your friends or your dog:

Or they may be space people from the stars who promise cures for cancer and shit, but just wanna do evil things to you:

But often, they are weird-looking. Freakishly formed beings that are so bizarre to our human brains, we cannot see them as anything but monsters. Sometimes they are so fascinatingly strange it's hard to not stop and stare, until you see one rip the stomach out of a colleague:

Or they turn out to be...well...these adorable, yet hungry little buggers. Some you might not want to feed after midnight:

(and yes, Gremlins actually count as aliens, though you wouldn't know that unless you read the book. Lord Bearington schooled me on this. I'm not surprised he read the book actually...)

And the wonderful, yet horrible thing about alien beings is that their powers vary as much as their shape. As I said, some can possess humans, or just outright mimic our forms. They do this sometimes by consuming us, other times with their fancy tech. A lot of them have fancy tech too. They can come down in flying saucers and abduct us, or probe us with weird devices. Many people claim that they really have been abducted by aliens and probed for information by the creatures. Why do you think Mulder was so obsessed with alien lifeforms in X Files?

Do you want to believe? If you do find one, you may wish you hadn't. Especially if it rips from your chest or tries to absorb your form!

Here's a couple of my favourite alien life forms to spook your Halloween dreams. I won't name all of them, but consider the ones I've posted pictures of already, you know I have a wide range of taste in space beasties:

Lord Bearington and I are huge fans of the Alien/Predator franchises. They really capture the sentiment of, "It's a big universe and we are pretty puny." Because a lot of the horror that is dealt with when alien beings are brought into the picture deals with this issue. Also, especially with the Alien franchise, the fascination with the series I find steams from the Aliens themselves. They are intelligent, but not in a human way. The way they think is so beyond human comprehension, and yet somehow we can still imagine these things as real beings. They do horrible things, yet we constantly want to know more about them. For every answer we get, more mysteries are uncovered.

(I love this ad)

And yes, you can play games based off of the Alien vs Predator franchise. Are they any good? You'll have to tell me. I didn't get a chance to play them.

I'm a big fan of the ABC reboot of V. It has an excellent plot, as well as good acting. I think what draws me the most to this series is that these beings come to our planet in the guise of friendship, but as the series progresses you see their sinister side. Even before we see their true faces, we know by their secret actions they are monsters, here to conquer us. Invasion is a big theme with movies dealing with otherworldly visitors.

And of course, John Carpenter's THE THING. I cannot forget this one! Of course there are other stories out there about Alien possession such as the classic Body Snatchers, (another good one to watch for sure) but I find The Thing does it better. There's more mystery in it, and I like how it plays out. Plus the creature effects are amazing in it.

What about you readers? What's your pleasure? Cute but deadly aliens, or walking in human skin, or something so weird your brain instantly wants to make you run from your seat when you view the creature and hide? I personally like any and all of those options, as long as they make me think about the possibilities of what could lurk out there in space.

Day 27: Monster of the Week: The Ghost

Spirits. Poltergeists. Apparitions. These are some of the many terms used to describe a creature that literally haunts our lives as ghosts. They are a type of creature caught between the living and the dead. Be they vengeful or sorrowful, they strike terror into our hearts.

We fear them living beside us. We fear them possessing our things, and literally our selves. They invade, they take control. They are undefinable and hard to reason with. Because they can do so many things, be so many of our fears, they are the prefect creature for any horror story. Before the vampire, before the werewolf and even long before the zombie ever struck fear into our psyches, we had stories of ghosts.

Why are they so potent? Why do their tales still get told even to this day? Why is it they strike such fear and fascination? Perhaps because of the questions they make us face. Sure, vampires and zombies are of the undead class, and they make us face the grisly face of death, but spirits take a different angle on this question. They make us ponder life after death, but unlike the shambling hordes or the blood drinkers, more people than not can actually believe more readily in ghost stories. Those of us tied to the idea of having a soul, believe after death it goes somewhere. Or that it should. The idea that it could be trapped here and that there is no peace, especially if something terrible trapped you on this plane, is a horrible concept to a lot of people. Especially those of us who are spiritual. The very word spiritual relates to spirit, and to be a spirit, you must have a soul.

Most horror stories told about ghosts involve such things as possession of an object, such as a house. Then there are the possession of a person tales. Usually some unruly poltergeist is tired of tossing around plates and decides he wants to get "in" on the action. Ghost stories are so versatile they can be done a million different ways. Ghosts speak to a primal part of us that fears what will become of us when we die. They also speak to the parts of us that fear being trapped. Ghosts are usually unwelcomed guests, party crashers and bad reminders of the past. They are the incarnation of our shadows. The best ghost story plays on things such as the trauma of being trapped in a terrible event in time, reliving it over and over, and never finding rest. To be held within a never-ending state of rage, pain, sorrow or fear. The best ghost stories weave those emotions into the tale, making them live again.

And now, on with my selection of a few of my favourite ghostly goodies in the horrorverse...

This book and all it's predecessors were my first taste of well told ghost stories when I was a kid. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark was an amazing young adult series, that still holds up to this day. The artwork alone in these books was chilling. I highly recommend them, if you can get your hands on a copy.

Now I know the image above is from the American remake (which I will add I thought was okay) but the original Japanese version is better of the The Ring. I just think Asian ghost stories are friggen scary as hell. Their ghosts are so vengeful, and so unforgiving. As they should be. I mean, they are usually horribly created through terrible murders, so why wouldn't the spirits be angry and want to drive people mad? And the imagery in Asian ghost stories is creepy shit. I think I wet myself the first time I saw the Japanese version of The Ring.

This lovely lady is from the movie Event Horizon, one of my favourite haunted object stories. Ghost ships can make awesome stories when done right. I'm real picky about my sci-fi, so when sci-fi blends with horror I am all over it. This is one freaky movie. I mean just looking at the picture of this bitch makes me wanna crawl under the covers until she goes away.

It admit it, I liked this movie. I don't love it, but the premise was so neat I just tried to ignore things like the terrible acting on the parts of the living cast and such things. 13 Ghosts was almost an excellent movie. I mean look at the art! I love shit like that. And the house was kinda neat. Some of the ghosts even made me crawl inside my skin for comfort.

And of course I can't forget the original Poltergeist. If we are gonna talk about things that made me stay up all night as a kid, this movie is on that list. I LOVE this movie. It is creepy, and it made me afraid of my TV for days. I got over it eventually when I started getting bored. TV pretty much raised me.

Ghost stories are always going to be around to haunt our lives. They are reminders that emotions have the power to trap us, that the past doesn't stay dead, and that we all fear being stuck on this plane after death. I suppose another round on this rotating ball isn't everyone's idea of a good time. Especially without a body.

Though you could always just steal someone's body...

Day 19: Monster of the Week: The Zombie

The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless

Shambling Hordes. Walkers. The Restless Dead. These are some of many terms used to describe a specific kind of undead creature that we know universally as The Zombie. They are rotted corpses somehow reanimated. They are never conventionally beautiful (but sometimes they are alluring despite the fact they will eat our brains), and more often than not inspire dread and repulsion because they are slowly decaying. Fast moving or slow, the fact remains that Zombies are always hungry and always relentless.

Now is the time of the zombie. Zombies have become The Monster of the Decade. They are more popular than even vampires in my opinion, and the growing hordes of media that is spreading through the genre related to them only proves my point further. The dead have risen and they demand to be fed. They are in our movies, our music, our tv shows, books and comics. They are everywhere. They even have Zombie Walks across the country, which is something you don't see any other monster getting.

What draws us so heavily to them? They never need to sleep. They shamble about mindlessly, with only limited intelligence at best. They have no real power other than to feed and to rot. They were once your wife, your husband, your kid, your best friend...

That's just it isn't it? Anyone can be a zombie. Zombies are the common man. Sure you could say the same thing about any supernatural, but it's more likely and easier to become a zombie than it is to be say, a vampire. Most supernaturals don't "spread their curse" as widely as zombies do, probably due to the fear that they would run out of food. Since zombies don't usually retain intelligence enough to understand or care about that fact, they just keep on eating. So within the realm of zombie-possibility we can all be zombies.

 And that's part of the fear they generate too. They are mindless. For some of us, to loose our ability to think, to feel, to care about anything but eating, is horrible. Zombies make great statements on our society too. The consuming of everything. The fact they EAT anyone living, regardless of what you make, where you live, what color your skin is, etc. They are the grand equalizer. The weak will become dead, and the strong will survive. That's the only defining line.

George A. Romero brought zombies out of the realms of magic and voodoo and turned them into accessible creatures. He used them to make statements, accidental or not, on our modern world. Sometimes people like to explain where zombies come from, be it magic, virus, mutation or whatever. But in the end, the point really is that the dead fascinate us. There is a need these days to play with the fantasy of the zombie. We want a monster we can kill. A monster who's anonymous enough we can put whatever we want on it, and a monster who is prefect fodder to propel us into thinking about the big questions. The zombie is a catalyst, and a great one, because he is easily molded into whatever we need him to be. Hell, gender doesn't matter either. As long as it was human once.

Because in the end we all will die. We all will rot. We all wonder were our spark goes when we die, and if anything is left behind. What if only the most primal aspect of our natures is the only thing left to reanimate? What if in the end, all we really are is animals when you strip everything else away?

Okay I'll shamble off my soapbox! Here's a list of some of my favourite Zombie stuff out there:

This is an awesome book. It doesn't just look at zombies, there's a bit on vampires too, but it's a great book for giving you things to ponder when it comes to the undead. Such questions you might find in it's pages are:

"Are some of the people we know really Undead—and how could we tell? If the Undead have been programmed to hunt the living, can we blame them? Are vampires more morally responsible than zombies? Is an Undead individual the same person as before his Undeath? Do zombies have minds? Do the Undead have a right to Undeath under the Ninth Amendment, or would it be murder to Unkill them?"

If you want something entertaining, and that will make you think, pick up this book.

Speaking of books, I also enjoyed: 

Not only is this book filled with beautiful colorful images of the shambling masses, the writer really knows her stuff. She covers everything from when zombies first entered western culture to the growing movement of zombie walks! It's pretty through. But what do you expect from and X-Editor of Rue Morgue Magazine.

Of course, since the Premiere happened a couple nights ago, we cannot forget this show: 

This is the show zombie fans have been waiting for. It's full of zombie win. Everything is well done in this show. I'm kinda unsure how I feel about the deviation they did from the comic in season 1, but I know my husband hated it. He wants his zombies to stay in the realms of the "unknown" and I have to agree. I like my zombie stories to be about the people dealing with the zombies, and one of the neat things to watch is when the living try to figure out why the dead walk. I loved the comic because it never tries to explain why the zombies rose. All you get are the livings questions about it.

And if I had to choose my all time favourite zombie movie (just so you folks don't have to read pages of my favourite zombie stuff) I'll choose the original black and white Night of the Living Dead:

Not only is it a classic, it made very potent statements for it's time. The fact that Romero didn't even intend to make those statements makes it better. In several interviews I've heard him say how he just chose the black man as a lead because he was a good actor. Not because of his skin color. He wasn't trying to make a statement, but despite that he did. There is a sort of innocence about that. To hear him say he chose a man based on his talents alone warms my heart. If only more people in Hollywood did the same.

The Living Dead make us face our own humanity. Forcing us to face ourselves, before they devour us whole. When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth. ~Dawn of the Dead

What about you readers? Do you like your zombies fast or slow? Brain-eating or just all around flesh-eating? I like all of the above myself. I like variety, and I am mostly drawn to a good story when it comes to my zombies over anything else. I want a REASON to be hanging out with the dead. If you give me a good reason, I'll read your book, watch your film, or shamble with you in a Zombie Walk.

Day 11: Monster of the Week: The Vampire

Listen to them. Children of the night. What music they make.

~Dracula

Vampyre. Bloodsucker. Prince of Darkness. Nosferatu. Just a few terms the horror genre has used to describe a specific undead creature with a thrust for blood. Vampires are stuck between the land of the living and the realm of the undead. Sometimes beautiful, other times hideous. Other than the rare exceptions, vampires usually are predatory, preternatural monsters.

Why are vampires as popular as they are? It seems every so often one of the main monsters of the genre takes the center stage. Some would argue right now it's the time of the zombie. Zombies are definitely getting a lot of attention. In my last post about the Werebeast, someone brought up that maybe werewolves don't fit into today's society. I think werebeasts are due for a revival of their own. Vampires had one, and it's petering out a bit thanks to half-assed contributions to the myth by writers like Stephanie Meyer. Fuck you Stephanie Meyer for neutering a legend!

Anyhow, the reason vampires were so popular and still continue to be so is because they reflect a lot of the darkness of sexuality and the horror of surrender against ones will. When a vampire uses it's powers, it uses them to charm and seduce. Even the most fowl, ugly Nosferatu seduces it's victim, using manipulative powers to put him or her into a trance. And the fact that the favourite places to draw blood are in very vulnerable, pulse points, only adds to the sexual nature of this predator. I would argue the reason we love and fear vampires is because we love and fear sex.

There is also the life after death element that vampires make us face with their existence. Unlike zombies, vampires retain their minds for the most part. They are less human than a werewolf, and their flaws can be seen more romantically than a werewolf's. Vampires haven't always been about romance, but even in their more horrible guise they are still more graceful than any of the other monster tropes. Dracula is arguably the most popular vampire ever. But we can say that he was the first vampire to tie romance and sexuality blatantly to the vampire myth. Before him, vampires weren't as snappy dressers, didn't have love stories, and just used their seduction to eat. They didn't need to look like beautiful supermodels, and they were more about the fear of death than the fear of sex.

I like both the ugly vampire and the beautiful one, but within reason. I grew up on them. I loved that they were existential questions dressed in fine ruffles. They made me question my sexuality, my dark desires, my view of life and death. The vampire stories I grew up with were Dracula, Buffy and Anne Rice. While there were not many female vampire role models back then, their were still more powerful female victims/lovers/heroines than friggen Bella! Mina could fight back! And Buffy staked any vamp that got out of line! And Anne Rice at least had some awesome gay sexual overtones in her stuff! So did Poppy Z Brite! Because vampires DARED to touch taboo topics once!

I think vampires are the prefect monster to do so. They are going through a terrible de-evolution thanks to Twlight, but I still have hope for them. There is still cold blood to be channeled from beyond the grave. I just think we need more daring writers to put more dread back into the vampire. To remind people it's an undead creature, not a pretty sparkly boy. That they KILL people, sucking their very essence through the blood. Blood is a potent symbol. It's why horror uses it all the time. It reminds us of our mortality.

Okay I'm off my soapbox now. Here's a list of my all time favorite vampires...

Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles will always hold a special place in my heart. They got me through my teenage wangst (the w is for the whine in your angst) and inspired me alongside Clive Barker. Being sexually active and a touch morbid, I was drawn to books that toyed with dark ideals on sex. I doubt I am the only one in the world who has ever been turned on by a scene with a pretty vampire biting a helpless victim. I'm just not too proud to admit it. I've read almost the entire series of the Vamp Chronicles. I lost steam around Merrick. And if you must watch any movie adaptations of the books, The picture above is from the best one done so far: Interview With The Vampire. Lots of pretty vampires being naughty.

For a bit of vintage you need to get your hands on the black and white classic NOSFERATU. It's a work of art. Just look at how hideous he is. Big ears, long fangs, gnarly fingers. It's amazing. So much is conveyed in the film with little words said. The horror of this creature wrapping his arms around a beautiful woman is fabulous. To be spellbound by his powers, helpless to his pull would seem uttery repulsive to some. Part of the beauty and horror of vampires is that we are helpless to them. They make us face our helplessness in the arms of death.

And sometimes vampires play on other parts of our human frailties. Like our need to protect the young, the innocent. Let The Right One In both in book format and in film is a must experience for any lover of the truly horrifying side of vampirism. I want my vampires to deal with mature, adult topics like perversion and murder. Does Bella deal with those kinds of issues with Edward? I can tell you right now: HELL NO.

Last but not least, there is the Prince of Darkness himself, DRACULA. I love all versions of him pretty much. (with the exception of Dracula 2000. SRSLY WTF was that shit? I almost loved that Judas story but man, the rest of it fell flat) There are so many versions. From Bela Legosi to Vampire the Masquarade. If you want a concise list Wikipedia has one here. (is there anything you don't know Wikipedia?) But if I was to choose a favourite movie adaptation, I gotta say this one here is it:

What can I say? I think Winona Ryder is a hottie, and it had Anthony Hopkins. Seriously, even in the worst movies I've seen him in, the moment he is on screen I am happy. And the effects were just fantastic.

Ah vampires, always tempting us into darkness. Are they spawns of Satan, cursed into eternal life? Or something else? Maybe they are just us working out sexual frustration.

Day 04: Monster of the Week: The Werebeast

For the Halloween Countdown I have decided I would showcase a different Monster every week to go alongside my other random posts. This weeks pick is none other than The Werebeast.

Shifters. Werewolves. Cat People. These are some of many familiar terms within the horror genre that describe a class of monsters that are caught between beast and man. Creatures that have difficulty reconciling their wild sides with their humanity.

Why are were-creatures so popular in stories? What makes them different than other creatures of the night? I'd say it's because they are hot-blooded instead of cold. Their struggle is one of fury and fire. Their plight is one of intense passion and the pull of the wild within. It's about the more primal darkness in the human soul that connects us to the animal kingdom. The need to feed. To hunt. To kill. To fuck. These things are urges that remind us we are no different than animals.

Unlike the other creatures of the night, they are not about the fear of death or being remade into something dead, but more the fear of living too much. The fear of loosing control over ones emotions, passions, and primal urges. The fear of nature gone mad. We are conditioned in Western society to contain our emotions. To only relinquish your "useful" urges in an "appropriate" way. Especially in western society, people are bombarded with conflicting messages about how to deal with feelings.

Of course there is also the conflict between nature vs man. The fear of the natural world can be seen all around us, especially in our modern world. Shifters tend to embody something spiritual in the connection to nature. A lot of legends about shifters show a sort of merging with the animal they shift into, so man and beast are one. This is not the case in horror, where stories of werewolves show us the fear we have of man and beast becoming one. We fear that if we are too close to our animal instincts, we will loose ourselves to the beast within. And in so doing, become monsters.

This is what the plight of the werebeast is about. Some shifter tales have the creature controlling their change, but werebeast tales tend to involve a struggle with the change. I do enjoy a good shifter tale where the shifter can have complete control over their change (because it lends a sense of hope to those of us who relate strongly to werebeasts as our inner monster), but my favorites are those that struggle with their gift-curse. Werebeasts are tales of people who instead of coping with the world by going numb, empty and listless, they have too much emotion. Too much passion. Too much rage. They are too alive in a lot of ways, and were never taught how to ride the wave within them. So instead, the wave rides them, and usually devours them with hungry jaws.

I love all monster stories, because even at a young age I related to the monsters. Different monsters speak to different parts of me. Werewolves were always the most intriguing because of my own struggles with rage issues, gender issues and other such things. Werebeasts are the prefect monster for someone "more human than a human." For someone who sometimes feels out of control within their own body and who BURNS inside with all the overwhelming feelings they don't know how to express.

So, now that I've rambled your ear off, let me present a few of my favorite werebeasts of all time...

Of course, I love me my Ginger from Ginger Snaps. She's a twisted girl to begin with, the turning into a werewolf thing just heightened her darkness. And seriously, that is how I felt about puberty:

Puberty is a bitch.

Then there is Canadian writer Kelley Armstrong's series about werewolves which I highly recommend. She did for werewolves what Anne Rice did for vampires. Her main character is the only female werewolf at the start of the series. It's hawt stuff, and totally worth a good read:

Back to the realm of movies, I present to you the classic An American Werewolf in London. It has one of the best transformation scenes to date:

Worst hair day EVER.

Cat People is another favourite, even though I totally hate cats. It's just such a good movie, and really captures the struggle woman have with their sexuality:

I think I'd die from my allergies before she'd ever get to kill me.

And then lastly, Dog Soldiers. A very interesting take on werewolves. They didn't skimp on the effects either, and there's plenty of gore and brutality:

I LOVE YOUR FACE BRO...TO EAT!

If you need more of a werewolf fix, I found this nifty little site all about werewolves! Are werewolves mere fantasy? Or maybe they are reflections of us. Maybe deep down, we all have a little beast in us. Sometimes, they are not as tame as we think they are. Sometimes they break their chains and run free.