It's Me, Esme

My latest review is up on Trisk, with a return to Subspecies, with the third flick in the franchise, Bloodlust: Subspecies 3.

There's nothing quite like Full Moon films in the 90s.

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My site has updated with a new review, taking a look at a bizarre slasher from the turn of the century, called Head Cheerleader Dead Cheerleader.

It's baffling, it's almost a bottle episode, and it's just...what was that, even?? But check out all the words for all my ramblings.

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My site has updated with it's latest deep dive into horror, and to take a break from this month's really terrible low budget silliness, and because it is the movie's 30th anniversary in the next few days, I decide tot ake a look at the 1995 remake of Village of the Damned!

Hmm, wonder why I might have opinions on this movie...

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My review site has added it's mid April review, continuing the April Foolishness with a look at a mid 2000s silly vampire movie called Revamped.

It's not very horror, but it's more fun than it has any right to be.

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It's the Transgender Day of Visibility (er it was, I exist outside of time), but as usual, I do not want to be perceived.

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I love when comics do silly little connections that make little continuity nods, and maybe answer questions that aren't that big of stakes.

In NYX a few weeks ago, my namesake's sister, Sophie Cuckoo, got called out for playing video games a lot to take her mind off her ongoing plot, and she got overly defensive, in the "Methinks the lady doth protest too much" sense.



I never really gave it much thought, but did briefly go, "Oh, I wonder who that is? Ah well!" But in this week's issue of Exceptional X-Men, the charactrer Axo gets a few texts and le gasp!



Just a fun little way to answer that, and a tease for things to come? Although, Axo was just grousing about how he's not sure if people really like him, or trust him, and all that fun stuff, because of his empathic control powers. Makes sense why he's in a potential relationship with someone he only knows on the phone. But, hooboy, for someone worried if he's using his powers on people unintentionally, being involved with a Stepford Cuckoo is either the best thing, or the worst.

My money is on worst. 😄

Also, I really like Sophie's screenname being "Just_Sophie". It pairs well with my "It's me, Esme".

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I just posted my latest in depth review, and it's not exactly horror, but the fantasy filled low budget flick Way Bad Stone, filmed in the mystical forests of Florida in the early 90s is worth talking about

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Trisk's last review for February is now up, and it's an odd little zombie? martial arts? slasher? movie called Mutation.

It's one notable feature is that it is the feature film debut of Katie Featherston.

It's definitely in that "not bad for a low budget flick" but it ain't good, either.

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So I'm gonna try and post a bit more here, and at the very least that means sharing my movie reviews.

Anyone who knows me from my former life knows I am a fan of horror movies, and I have developed a special affinity for the really cheap, bad, ridiculous ones, over the course of the last 15 years, for my website Triskaidekafiles.

If you're familiar with Joe Bob Briggs, Elvira, and Mystery Science Theatre 3000, you can kinda guess the sort of vibe I go for, even though I do this in text, with a bit of a sense of humour.

With all that said, my latest review is up, and every year around this time, I try and do a movie that I can describe as "just wrong kinda love" in honour of the holiday.

This year's victim is an obscure little slasher flick from the late 90s called Bloodletting, and you can read all my rambling about it at this link.

So, as I have said many times, I am a nerd. No no, a Nerd. Capital N. I love comics. I make no secret, no bones, about that. So it should be no further surprise that I watched the Arrowverse. It's *probably* in my interests, and if not, I know there's a buncha other CW shows in there.

Being a comic fan, like many comic fans before me, I have always wanted to see my faves in live action. But there was always something...lacking. Even going as far back as the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeve when things really began to head in the right direction...while that came SO CLOSE, there is some goofy-ass shit in that movie. And they just got goofier (And I say this as someone who loves 3 and 4. But I don't deny what they are.)

The two biggest problems were always money, and special effects. Most of the superpowers needed effects we just didn't have available until relatively recently. (Arguably, we still have a ways to go.) To really translate comics, you needed both, and if you could ever get past those hurdles, then you had to get past how everyone saw comics as Biff! Pow! Batman '66 silliness. Batman '89 was a HUGE step forward. It had the money, and being a largely grounded character, they could keep the effects simple and limited to stuntwork (broadly speaking), and they treated the source material with respect.

There was a few good moments, but still they struggled. Trying to distill decades of comics to a two hour story (If you're lucky!) makes things difficult.

Around the time of Spider-Man 2, I hit on a main thing that really bugged me; movies fail to capture the real feeling of comics of those ongoing stories. You get a movie, you wait a few years, you get another chapter, and you MAYBE get three, and then it's been ten years, and well...I walked out of Spider-Man 2 saying something like, "You get three movies, and then they reboot, starting from scratch with a whole new origin story, and the same old villains! You never make any progress!"

And I am SO SO SORRY WITH HOW RIGHT I ENDED UP BEING. Three movies and reboot has almost become a cliche, and I saw it coming, but I digress.

I knew what I REALLY wanted was a weekly comic TV SERIES, that could capture that done in one story, leaving on cliffhangers, building to something big. Buffy did it, in their way! But again, if movies struggled to have the money and technology...LOL good luck with tv! There was always attempts, like Batman, and Wonder Woman, and as good as they were for their time, again, they just couldn't go all the way.

And then along came Heroes! That was it! That's what I've been waiting for!! Welll...the first season, at least. It captured the feelings of comics so well, it brought powers to the small screen, and it was SO good, and almost everything I wanted...except it wasn't an adaptation of anything. It was familiar, but it wasn't the same as seeing the Jean Grey on tv. But for the first time, it felt possible to some day see comics as tv series!

Sure, there was Smallville, and that was definitely a foundational show, but it was a bit too "Dawson's Creek" for me to get THAT into at the time. The more comicbooky that show got as it went on though, the more interested I became.

And uh, that got longer than I planned, before even reaching the Arrowverse. I think I am going to draw a line under this post as building context for the next one.

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