Grim Reviews

Baltimore Sun: Poe Returns (Plus 2010 Events)

2010-01-06T13:00:00.001-06:00

A snippet in The Baltimore Sun has summarized the triumphant bicentennial that raged throughout 2009 for Edgar Allan Poe. "Poe Makes His Return" clarifies the immense popularity Poe enjoyed in this notable year, and the possibility of a more lasting influence. More importantly, though, the article provides a peak at Poe based events scheduled for early 2010. Perhaps the most interesting, Jeffrey Combs' "Nevermore," which stars the actor himself as Poe (this is a guy who was lucky enough to have played both Lovecraft and Poe in his career), will see another performance late this month at Baltimore's Westminster Hall.

-Grim Blogger

Weird Anxiety Depicted: Portraits of Guy de Maupassant

2010-01-05T11:30:00.006-06:00

Across the length and breadth of the internet, images of the Guy de Maupassant are rare. This weird writer has yet to receive the wide span of treatments ranging from comical to gorgeous given to more well known authors like Poe and Lovecraft. Still, the unassuming visage of this French master of psychological horror is honored in several quarters. Interestingly enough, the casual explorer would be hard pressed to find Maupassant portraits differing little across the centuries. A few notable exceptions to the trend, however, are revealed below.

This black and white sketch appears on the University of Adelaide's web page devoted to Maupassant: a fine place to read many short works by the man. It's an old and fairly stereotypical scan of the 19th century portrait, probably inspired by one of his photos.

Almost a political cartoon, this one shows off Maupassant's prodigious literary themes and output. It doesn't take an understanding of French to appreciate the colorful charm here.

The image above represents a modern, stylized contribution from an admirer of Maupassant, deviantart.com's Monsterofid. Note that it is he who takes his place in center, a deserved place French literature, which he plastered with contributions from many genres (though his works of weird fiction concern us here). Maupassant is flanked by Theophile Gautier on the left, and Gerard de Neval on the right.

-Grim Blogger

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Silver Key" on Film

2010-01-03T13:00:00.002-06:00

This short film by Gary Fierro and Conor Timmis offers a cinematic ending to H.P. Lovecraft's story, "The Silver Key." It's a silent sequence, depicting Randolph Carter using the titular key to regain entry into the world of dreams. The special effects are adequate, and one can observe the Yellow Sign as well as the Derleth version of the Elder Sign light up. From the Youtube description, it doesn't appear that this scene is a segment from a longer film.

On the other hand, it easily could be, if its makers so desired. There is definite room for Lovecraft films based on the Randolph Carter trilogy (comprising "The Silver Key," "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath," and "Through the Gates of the Silver Key"). HPL's dreamworlds have received little treatment on film to date.

-Grim Blogger

Hypnogoria on the Christmas Ghost Story

2010-01-02T11:30:00.004-06:00

The fascinating Hypnogoria blog has done an exhaustive overview on the traditional Christmas ghost story and its media adaptations, especially on television. Particular attention is rendered to the haunting and wintry works of two weird fiction masters: M.R. James and Sheridan Le Fanu. "Ghost Stories for Christmas" is a veritable exhumation of the weird's public face, seasonally appropriate even as this year's prime holidays are being buried.

It is almost equally as thought provoking when considering what the article doesn't say. The migration of the purely spectral weird onto television is the main place it continues to flourish, securing James and other artists a sort of immortality. This comes well after the classic ghost story peaked under James, then blurred into stranger territory, New Weird motifs, and psychological horror with Robert Aickman and his successors. Today, Reggie Oliver is one of the sole literary exceptions who continues to produce tales resembling the classic ghostly model.

In any case, Hypnogoria's post is a stimulating catalog that touches on weird literature and its expansion into new mediums. A real gem amid the rich and growing community of online scholarship on the outre.

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: High Belief in the Paranormal Among Americans

2009-12-31T11:30:00.003-06:00

Belief in ghosts, paranormal phenomena, and mystical awakenings appears to be relatively high according to this polling report and its accompanying op-ed piece. It's easy to imagine that this might also be contributing to the increased interest in weird fiction--some of which is seen already in the rising demand for small press works of the weird. In fact, waltzing into the weird is barely removed from the strange mysteries of the real world. If the poll is to be believed, then the unseen oddities of life are already very much an intimate part of living for many Americans.

Paranormal Flexibility

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a report on Wednesday that is bound to stir conversation about the increasingly complicated cacophony of spirituality in America — a mash-up of traditional faiths, fantasy and mythology.

Entitled “Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths,” the report points out that many Americans are now choosing to “blend Christianity with Eastern or New Age beliefs” and that “sizable minorities of all major U.S. religious groups” said that they have had supernatural experiences, like encountering ghosts.

For the first time in 47 years of polling, the number of Americans who said that they have had a religious or mystical experience, which the question defined as a “moment of sudden religious insight or awakening,” was greater than those who said that they had not.

(Question: Does the first time I saw Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video count?)

Twenty percent of Protestants and 28 percent of Catholics said they believe in reincarnation, which flies in the face of Christianity’s rapture scenario. Furthermore, about the same percentages said they believe in astrology, yoga as a spiritual practice and the idea that there is “spiritual energy” pulsing from things like “mountains, trees or crystals.” Uh-oh. Someone’s God is going to be jealous.

Surprisingly, in some cases, those who identified themselves as Christian were more likely to believe these things than those who were unaffiliated. (It should be noted that unaffiliated is not the same as nonbeliever. Many are spiritual people who simply haven’t found the right church, synagogue, mosque, coven, Ouija board club, or whatever.)

Furthermore, 16 percent of Protestants and 17 percent of Catholics said that they believe that some people can use the “evil eye” to “cast curses or spells that cause bad things to happen.” I have to say that based on the looks my mother used to shoot me when I was misbehaving, that evil eye thing might have legs.

Since 1996, the percentage of Americans who said that they have been in the presence of a ghost has doubled from 9 percent to 18 percent, and the percentage who said that they were in touch with someone who was dead has increased by nearly two thirds, rising from 18 percent to 29 percent.

For those keeping political score, Democrats were almost twice as likely to believe in ghosts and to consult fortune-tellers than were Republicans, and the Democrats were 71 percent more likely to believe that they were in touch with the dead. Please hold the Barack-Obama-as-the-ghost-of-Jimmy-Carter jokes. Heard them all.

The report is further evidence that Americans continue to cobble together Mr. Potato Head-like spiritual identities from a hodgepodge of beliefs — bending dogmas to suit them instead of bending themselves to fit a dogma. And this appears to be leading to more spirituality, not less. Cue the harps, and the sitars, and the tablas, and the whale music.

-Grim Blogger

Massive Lovecraft Art Thread from Tor.com

2009-12-30T13:00:00.002-06:00

An article on Tor.com and the comments users made has become one of the largest online art galleries of Lovecraftiana. Irene Gallo's "Show Us Your Tentacles: A Lovecraft Art Meme" highlights artwork and commentary from about a dozen of the best Lovecraftian artists. Article users also contributed images below the main article, forcibly evolving the page into a thread of eldritch horrors. Check it out for your viewing pleasure, or contribute your own Lovecraft art.

-Grim Blogger

Dan O'Bannon RIP and Alien as Lovecraftian Film

2009-12-29T13:00:00.003-06:00

Screenwriter Dan O'Bannon passed away this past December 17. This is a notable name in the memory hole of fledgling H.P. Lovecraft inspired cinema. O'Bannon was, after all, a noteworthy cog in the great production machines that drove movies like The Resurrected, Bleeders, and, most famously, Alien. All of these sci-fi and horror extravaganzas owe a debt to HPL's dark fiction for their hideous monsters and cosmic themes. Twitchfilm.net has the full scoop on O'Bannon's lengthy and involved career in film making.

Speaking of Alien, an excellent article on the movie and its elegant Lovecraftian facets appeared on the Grognardia blog last week. James Maliszewski traces the shadow of Lovecraft in what remains, arguably, science fiction's dreariest film to date. The failure of science, the indifference of the creatures (and by extension the universe itself) to mankind, and the stark realism previously mirrored in stories like "At the Mountains of Madness" are identified by Maliszewski with precision. Although, somewhat curiously, no mention is made of the blatantly Lovecraftian artist H.R. Giger, who was heavily involved with design for the first film. Check out this post for an updated look at what may have been HPL's biggest cinematic transmission to date.

-Grim Blogger

The End of Most H.P. Lovecraft Tales?

2009-12-27T11:00:00.002-06:00

A cynical and Cutethulhuvian look at the formulaic end of most Lovecraft stories:

Actually, to be fair, much great weird fiction relies upon this type of subtlety, forcing the reader to allow the horrors a stage in his own mind. There's nothing like one's private dreamscape to conjure a unique and personal monster with every reading of the words. Lovecraft is just notable for explicitly stressing that the unspeakable demons of his fiction are, in fact, unspeakable demons.

-Grim Blogger

The Horror of the Eve: Christmas 2009

2009-12-24T11:00:00.001-06:00

If I had to choose three images representing weird fiction's titans this holiday season, then it would definitely be these. In a disturbing, but perhaps appropriate twist of fate, it seems only right to give Poe some attention over Lovecraftian Christmas items as he closes out his bicentennial year. The stunning ornament above is an impressive tribute to the literary explorer, whose mind was bleak and warped enough to go beyond passe Gothic fiction, and into the territory of recognizable weird fiction, helping to launch a new sub-genre.

That's not to say Lovecraft should be ignored this Yuletide. Indeed, his online presence has only grown in artistic collisions of cosmic horrors with the biggest holiday in the Western world. The strange atmosphere of the season was famously picked up on by HPL himself in tales like "The Festival." Now, his admirers carry on the tradition by attempting to pinpoint the same sense of terrible wonderment by injecting this season with Lovecraft's creations. No longer confined to Cthulhu, images like "Old One's Christmas" by Deviantart.com's YikYik push the boundaries of Lovecraftian holiday horror. Meanwhile, CapnSkusting (another Deviantart denizen) features a near perfect amalgamation of Lovecraftian and traditional Christmas imagery in the tentacled being creeping up a Christmas tree.

In the end, the Frankenstein-like operations attempting to sew Christmas with weird motifs in a monstrous symphony of creation are almost natural. But whatever frightful things are lurking just outside your frosted window or inside the shadows of your festive mind, allow me to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and a strangely spectacular holiday season!

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: Octopi Confirmed Tool Users

2009-12-23T11:00:00.002-06:00

Man's place in the universe (and on our own planet) slips a bit more with realizations like these. The high probability of squid, octopi, and other tentacled beings as intelligent tool users was perhaps a long time in coming. One wonders whether it was weird literary atmosphere or fate that caused H.P. Lovecraft to appropriate squid-like features for Cthulhu and his cosmic spawn. Discoveries like this one suggest a multitude of terrifying possibilities on this point, some too terrible to contemplate...

Coconut-Carrying Octopus: Tool Use in an Invertebrate

ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2009) — Scientists once thought of tool use as a defining feature of humans. That's until examples of tool use came in from other primates, along with birds and an array of other mammals. Now, a report in the December 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, adds an octopus to the growing list of tool users.

The veined octopus under study manages a behavioral trick that the researchers call stilt walking. In it, the soft-bodied octopus spreads itself over stacked, upright coconut shell "bowls," makes its eight arms rigid, and raises the whole assembly to amble on eight "stilts" across the seafloor. The only benefit to the octopus's ungainly maneuver is to use the shells later as a shelter or lair, and that's what makes it wholly different from a hermit crab using the discarded shell of a snail.

"There is a fundamental difference between picking up a nearby object and putting it over your head as protection versus collecting, arranging, transporting (awkwardly), and assembling portable armor as required," said Mark Norman of the Museum Victoria in Australia.

Julian Finn, also of the Museum Victoria, said the initial discovery was completely serendipitous.

"While I have observed and videoed octopuses hiding in shells many times, I never expected to find an octopus that stacks multiple coconut shells and jogs across the seafloor carrying them," he said.

In recalling the first time that he saw this behavior, Finn added, "I could tell that the octopus, busy manipulating coconut shells, was up to something, but I never expected it would pick up the stacked shells and run away. It was an extremely comical sight -- I have never laughed so hard underwater."

After 500 diver hours spent "under the sea," the researchers observed the behavior of 20 veined octopuses. On four occasions, individuals traveled over considerable distances -- up to 20 meters -- while carrying stacked coconut shell halves beneath their body.

"Ultimately, the collection and use of objects by animals is likely to form a continuum stretching from insects to primates, with the definition of tools providing a perpetual opportunity for debate," the researchers concluded. "However, the discovery of this octopus tiptoeing across the sea floor with its prized coconut shells suggests that even marine invertebrates engage in behaviors that we once thought the preserve of humans."

The researchers include Julian K. Finn, Museum Victoria, in Melbourne, Australia, Zoology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia, Tom Tregenza, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn, UK; and Mark D. Norman, Museum Victoria, in Melbourne, Australia.

-Grim Blogger

Cinerati on Bierce's "The Damned Thing"

2009-12-21T13:00:00.002-06:00

Cinerati's Christian Lindke has posted an insightful piece analyzing Ambrose Bierce's classic weird tale, "The Damned Thing," and its potential influence on Lovecraft. Lindke's article breaks down the surface content and deeper themes of Bierce's story to a level rarely seen outside outside formal (and scant) journals of weird fiction. Later, Lindke looks at how "The Damned Thing" may have influenced H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space," a noteworthy connection when considering how both writers' chief monstrosities in these tales are malevolent beings barely detectable to human senses.

This post is well worth a read for churning questions on two weird writers who are often not placed under the lens simultaneously.

-Grim Blogger

Murray Ewing's Alice at R'lyeh Reviewed

2009-12-20T13:00:00.003-06:00

Given the strangeness of Lovecraft and the surrealism of Lewis Carroll, it was probably inevitable that some Lovecraft adoring Mad Hatter would attempt to pair the two together. Murray Ewing is that Hatter, impressing his dream of an encounter between Alice and H.P. Lovecraft onto the pages of Alice at R'lyeh. The odd rhymed story that results is available as both a slim illustrated booklet and a free online project.

Ewing's knowledge of his fictional and non-fictional subjects provides an authentic backdrop to an otherwise playful setting. Mercifully, this does not venture into full blown "Cutethulhu" territory--despite the potential for it. Instead, Alice at R'lyeh drifts out as a whimsical, lighthearted piece spotlighting collisions between Cthulhu and the Cheshire Cat as much as the clash between the worldviews of Alice (or is it Lewis Carroll?) and H.P. Lovecraft. Ewing effectively conveys this philosophic disconnect best in this passage:

"But this monster is merely the mask of what's worse —

"The faceless monstrosity of the cold universe!

"The meaninglessness of our bleak situation

"The smallness of Man amidst dark obfuscation!"

"What you say," ventured Alice, "may be true, in its way,

"Though with 'nonsense' for 'meaninglessness', if I may

"And for 'bleak', I'd put 'curious', for it seems so to me

"That the world's full of wonders, not monstrosity.

This ideological depth appears sparsely in the booklet, but it is sufficient to qualify the work as a lightweight tract on the Cosmic and the mundane, a humorous weighing of Lovecraft's mindset against the ultimate surreal whimsy. Fascinating philosophical diversions aside, Ewing is a careful writer who never strays too far from his main presentation: a comedic meeting of Lovecraft and Alice.

It could not have been an easy task to authentically blend the language of Lewis Carroll with that of HPL. Somehow, however, Ewing does an adequate job. Lovecraft's mannerisms and diction are right out of real life, while Alice is a convincing transplant straight from the world of her creator. For the bulk of the work, the quasi-juvenile tone of Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland dominates. This will not appeal to devotees of serious, sophisticated weird fiction. On the other hand, those who appreciate a good Cthulhu joke, the lighter side of Lovecraft, or Carroll's rich surrealism should glean much enjoyment from Ewing's stanzas.

As much as Murray Ewing is to be applauded for conspiring and compiling this odd little treat, it is not flawless. One need only pry their own mind for rhymes to words like Cthulhu, chortlewidth, or Jabberwock to see what I mean. Ewing's bold diction and his dedication to upholding the Victorian niceties of Alice as well as the long-winded speech of Lovecraft results in some choppy lines throughout the narrative. The poem also feels like it could be a bit longer, if Ewing so chose. The story rapidly halts not long after the main action occurs: a rising of Great Cthulhu and the appearance of the Cheshire Cat. Still, these minor drawbacks can be dismissed without too much trouble when remembering that this is intended to be an in-joke for fans of HPL and Lewis Carroll more than anything else.

Several black and white illustrations by Ewing round out Alice at R'lyeh, pushing it into the realm of multi-media project rather than mainline poem. Though all of its contents can be enjoyed for free at the author's website, serious thought should be given to purchasing one of the physical copies. In the years to come, Ewing's creative volume will continue to be a humorous and unexpected collectible in the broadening universe of Lovecraftiana, and may one day take on a not-so-funny price tag as a highly sought curio of whimsical weirdness.

-Grim Blogger

BBC Radio 7: M.R. James at Christmas

2009-12-19T13:00:00.003-06:00

Britain's BBC 7 Radio channel is about to begin another seasonal run of ghost stories written by the prolific M.R. James. Five selected tales are up for offer this year: "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad," "The Tractate Middoth," "Lost Hearts," and "The Rose Garden," "Number 13." The shows run from December 21-26. Catch them on your local radio if you're in the U.K., or stream it with the Listen Live link at the BBC 7 website.

As many know, the British Isles have a strong history of the holiday ghost tale. M.R. James himself frequently read his works to friends as bells began to jingle and snow drifted down from gray skies. It's nice to see a touch of horror still riding on the caboose of the Yuletide. The dead winter ghost story is a past time non-Britons should be glad to appropriate for their own seasonal festivities. And the BBC radio adaptations make that a little easier to do, year after year.

-Grim Blogger

Make Your Own Cthulhuvian Specimen

2009-12-18T11:30:00.003-06:00

Tor.com's Jason Henninger is offering up instructions on how to make your own jar bound tentacled horror. Anyone who remembers the aged, grotesque specimens of college biology may find this project an appropriate diversion to pass the time. Fortunately, unlike the shriveled flesh and formaldehyde of real specimens, this one is only made of polymer clay, distilled water, and a few other ingredients.

So, why not build a new idol, or a hideous paperweight to rival Miskatonic's science storeroom?

-Grim Blogger

Fishmen (Dagon Scenes)

2009-12-16T11:30:00.003-06:00

It's easier than ever to get into the holiday spirit with a Lovecraftian touch, thanks to music videos like these. Will carols ever be the same after this blasphemous taint? This rendition of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fishmen" is set to scenes from Stuart Gordon's film Dagon. See here for another animated music video with this song that I posted last winter.

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: The Mystery Spiral of Tromso

2009-12-15T11:00:00.001-06:00

Chances are good that you've seen it elsewhere online by now, but this story is too strange not to re-post here. The reaction of various individuals and outlets to the bizarre spiral sky phenomenon above Tromso, Norway is nearly as fascinating as the great whirl itself. Conspiracists immediately dismissed claims by the Russian government that it was caused by a failed missile test, leaning toward New gs Agey and UFO driven explanations instead. Others wondered if a new type of weaponry was responsible.

Despite its stunning newness, the Tromso spiral again engenders the old triad of awe, fear, and mystery that always sprinfrom the suffocating well of the unknown and the weird.

Flying Saucer Over Norway? No, Just a Missile Shooting Itself Down

For UFO spotters it was all very exciting, for a while at least. An eerie spiral of blue and white light was seen in the clear night sky over Tromso, in northern Norway, on Wednesday, sending alien watchers into a frenzy.
Witnesses described it as a blue light that seemed to emerge from behind a mountain, while others said it stopped in mid-air and began moving in spirals.
Local resident Totto Eriksen told the Norwegian paper VG Nett the apparition looked like "a rocket that spun around and around and then went diagonally across the heavens".
The Australian Herald Sun said UFO watchers were "buzzing after video footage emerged overnight of what they believe is the strongest proof yet that were are not alone in the universe".
But it appears the explanation for the giant spiral is much more prosaic – a new Russian nuclear-capable missile suffered a failed test launch.
Russian submarine the Dmitry Donskoi test-fired the Bulava missile from the White Sea. It failed at the third stage, the Russian defence ministry confirmed.
It was seventh failure of 12 test launches, according to the news agency Interfax.
Pavel Felgenhauer, a Russian defence analyst, said the latest failure was a major embarrassment for the military and dealt a blow to Russia's bid to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent.
"The Russian defence industry has disintegrated to such an extent that it simply cannot make such a complicated system work. Technology and expertise have been lost," he said.
Felgenhauer said the dazzling lights over Norway were typical of a missile failure. "Such lights and clouds appear from time to time when a missile fails in the upper layers of the atmosphere and have been reported before," he said. "At least this failed test made some nice fireworks for the Norwegians."

-Grim Blogger

Rare Poe Book Sets Bank Busting Record

2009-12-13T11:30:00.002-06:00

Scarce books by Reggie Oliver and Thomas Ligotti can command eyebrow raising sums these days. So can Stephen King first editions, or multi-page letters by H.P. Lovecraft. However, an exceedingly rare copy of Edgar Allan Poe's Tamerlane and Other Poems has set a new record in the world or horror, trumping all previous ones in weird fiction by near mythological levels. The website Popfi.com reports the details:

Book expert for auction house Christie’, Francis Wahlgren, described the book as “the black tulip of U.S. literature.” Not bad for a book that was published without an author attribution! Tamerlane and Other Poems, written by “a Bostonian,” is actually the first published book by Edgar Allan Poe. There are 12 copies known to exist, out of an original print run of 40-50 books. That’s why it’s one of the world’s rarest books, and that’s why the book went for a record $662,000 at auction!

Poe, arguably the most well renown and successful of weird literature's dark personalities, continues to tower among his fellow weirdscribes from beyond the grave. This auction should banish any doubts about his lingering commercial success. It also serves as a fine capstone to 2009, which has celebrated the bicentennial of his birth since last January.

-Grim Blogger

Lovecraftian Places Google Map

2009-12-12T11:00:00.004-06:00

Poking around on Google Maps led me to this fan generated atlas of Lovecraftian places. It's rather embryonic, containing only about ten or so locations described in the Cthulhu Mythos. Luckily, the locations of these haunted regions appear to be placed very accurately based on the descriptions from H.P. Lovecraft's fiction.

It's a fantastic idea, and with a little added effort, might produce a nice resource for a Lovecraftian world tour or an aid for gaming. Let's see if anyone out there can do this map one better, or add further Cthulhuvian sites to this one. If you're up for the challenge, do e-mail me and I'll gladly link to your Lovecraftian google map. Of course, any and all other maps related to weird fiction are welcome too.

-Grim Blogger

Dirt Dauber Reviewed

2009-12-10T13:00:00.003-06:00

Dirt Dauber (trailer available here) is a short film directed by Steve Daniels. The approximately half hour production lets viewers eavesdrop on a creepy conversation between a strange, crude driver and his exponentially weirder passenger. Visceral imagery centering around a fish hatchery, an old railway tunnel, and a backwoods drive promotes a Lovecraftian atmosphere that fully materializes when the film focuses on a Thing With a Thousand Young--an obvious reference to Lovecraft's Shub-Niggurath.

Although Cthulhu Mythos entities have appeared before on film in myriad shapes, Daniels' interpretation of HPL's cosmic fertility horror is refreshingly new. The director wisely shies away from explicit appearances by the chief monster itself in favor of cultivating an overarching atmosphere of weird horror. Further, the revelation of Dirt Dauber's main mystery at the end is far more unsettling than any CGI generated depiction of Shub-Niggurath could be. With that said, it should be noted that monsters do appear in several forms. The passenger's murky origins are quite monstrous from the movie's outset, long before Daniels resolves the mystery of his existence. Meanwhile, the driver's macabre worldview presents him as a dark creature in his own right, a boisterous horror who haunts the fish hatchery universe he relates in dialogue throughout the film.

Vicious little anecdotes dropped throughout the story aid Daniels and company in sketching a thoroughly eerie picture. A conspiracy theory in which the Titanic is brought down by an otherworldly leviathan is a fitting binder for a short that spotlights horrors on the surface, below the sea, and beyond the stars. This also allows Daniels some cinematic liberty later in the narrative, when "Nearer My God to Thee"--the very song the Titanic's band allegedly played--blasts in the background as the two men approach a network of caves, a brooding funeral march to mystery and personal undoing. Images and verbal descriptions of bloody fish processing repeatedly rise in Dirt Dauber. However, an otherwise gory enterprise is brilliantly held up as a mirror for both humanity and Shub-Niggurath, from the meekness of hatchery raised fish to their mindless spawning and splashing.

With most horror films of any sub-genre these days, it is cinematic technique as well as story that brands a movie with a truly unique identity. Luckily, Dirt Dauber does not disappoint at all on this account. Despite its short length, the film effectively balances the use of color, black and white scenery, and animation for a stimulating visual ride. A notable sequence using papery looking puppets is introduced to illustrate a story told by the driver. These models spring to life from simple looking construction, a visual treat showing the grisly circumstances surrounding a work crew assigned with tunneling through the mountains long ago.

Black and white is the lens of choice for most of Dirt Dauber. It provides just the right kind of creepiness for most of the film's length. The shift to color, when the pair enter the climactic and cavernous railway tunnel, is equally well received. Rather than ruining the mystery and slightly archaic cinematic feel of earlier scenes, the splash of color is balanced by the blackness of the cavern, giving the final scenes a dreamlike vividness.

With Dirt Dauber following his previous Lovecraftian production, The Gibbering Horror of Howard Ghormley, there can be little doubt that Steve Daniels is one of the most promising new directors of weird horror. His latest offering is a potently brewed cup of chilling strangeness that should immediately secure its place as one of the best made and most original Lovecraftian shorts of this decade. Luckily, the picture is a hopeful sign for further dark productions by Daniels. Yet, there is perhaps one bittersweet caution: both Dirt Dauber and Howard Ghormely establish a high standard for both further shorts and the new challenge of a full length feature from the mind of Daniels.

-Grim Blogger

H.P. Lovecraft's "The Silver Key" Read by Charles Bryant

2009-12-09T13:00:00.001-06:00

Charles Bryant has thrown an exquisite reading of H.P. Lovecraft's tale "The Silver Key" onto Youtube. As in his other video readings, Bryant excels at wrapping his voice around the prose and selecting fitting background music to heighten the atmospheric effect even further. This is Lovecraft reading at its finest, verging on the border of art form. Unfortunately, this is only Bryant's rendition of the first few paragraphs of the story. Perhaps at some future date he will provide Lovecraft fans with a full course, in addition to this short, but satisfying appetizer.

-Grim Blogger

Creepy Images: Winter Horror

2009-12-07T11:30:00.005-06:00

Now, much of the world dons its icy shroud again. Nature crams us into its temporary casket, like an exhausted vampire whose coffin fills galactic proportions. We prepare to partake in the mysteries of the half-remembered yuletide, while trees take on the appearance of a plucked bone yard. Winter has come. And with it follow the usual horrors.

This hazy pseudo-photo says it all. Beneath the branches is a bizarre quality that's barely tangible, let alone describable. By some trick of the light (or is it deliberate technique?), the skies of this photographic world--our own realm--appear to unleash black snow.

Algernon Blackwood's infamous Wendigo--probably weird fiction's most feared northern terror--is depicted in this fan art by Deviantart's Moonshadow01. This portrait envisions an unholy amalgamation of possession, death, and northern symbolism. The bones and antlers of familiar animals lose their earthly connections completely in a Gigeresque tail. Moonshadow presents the monster in the same way Blackwood intended long ago: as an unstoppable force of nature.

Winter's frights would be shallow if not for ruins like these mingling with the cold. The darkness and environmental peril shielding an ancient church or an abandoned cabin makes each structure far more ominous and exponentially more mysterious than they would otherwise be. Mystery--the purveyor of the great unknowns--feeds on the cold just as the arctic draws back on it, forcing a parasitic cycle into existence.

-Grim Blogger

Weird News: Shangri-La Rediscovered?

2009-12-06T13:00:00.002-06:00

The possible (re)discovery of fabled Shangri-La in these remote Himalayan caverns does not fail to delight. Amid the skulls and riches is a renewed sense of mystery. Weird fiction has a rich history of references to the occult practices and suspected geographic horrors of Nepal and Tibet, and it certainly relies on an ethereal air of mystery. This discovery should yield piles of new material for the infinite mills of the bizarre.

"Shangri-La" Caves Yield Treasures, Skeletons

A treasure trove of Tibetan art and manuscripts uncovered in "sky high" Himalayan caves could be linked to the storybook paradise of Shangri-La, says the team that made the discovery.

The 15th-century religious texts and wall paintings were found in caves carved into sheer cliffs in the ancient kingdom of Mustang—today part of Nepal. (See pictures of the "Shangri-La" caves and their treasures.)

Few have been able to explore the mysterious caves, since Upper Mustang is a restricted area of Nepal that was long closed to outsiders. Today only a thousand foreigners a year are allowed into the region.

In 2007 a team co-led by U.S. researcher and Himalaya expert Broughton Coburn and veteran mountaineer Pete Athans scaled the crumbling cliffs on a mission to explore the human-made caves.

(Get Coburn's impressions of the challenges of reaching the Shangri-La caves in the December/January issue of National Geographic Adventure magazine.)

Inside the caves, the team found ancient Tibetan Buddhist shrines decorated with exquisitely painted murals, including a 55-panel depiction of Buddha's life. (See a picture of one of the Buddhist murals.)

A second expedition in 2008 discovered several 600-year-old human skeletons and recovered reams of precious manuscripts, some with small paintings known as illuminations.

The sacred hoard seems to match descriptions of treasures to be found in Buddhist "hidden valleys," which served as the basis for Shangri-La in British writer James Hilton's popular 1930s novel Lost Horizon.

Looters have raided the caves over the centuries, cutting valuable artwork from the ancient texts. In addition, religious pilgrims have damaged the cave walls to collect souvenirs.

Still, the researchers were able to collect and document manuscripts from about 30 volumes, which were then moved for safekeeping to Mustang's central monastery.

Preserved by the mountain region's cool, arid climate, the ancient manuscripts contain a mix of writings from Buddhism and Bön, an earlier, native Tibetan faith, Coburn said.

This combination suggests that Bön beliefs survived for at least a century or two in this region after the Tibetan conversion to Buddhism, which began in the eighth century, Coburn said.

The team suspects the kings of Mustang abandoned the Bön sacred texts in the caves as a respectful alternative to destroying them.

Mark Turin, of the Digital Himalaya Project at the University of Cambridge in the U.K., also thinks this was a possibility.

But it's also possible the finds tie in with the Tibetan tradition of deliberately hiding religious texts, said Turin, who wasn't involved in the National Geographic Society-funded expedition. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)

"There's a real sense of discovery in Tibetan tradition," he said. "People discover hidden texts, or they discover hidden cultural knowledge that is lost or secreted away."

Today Mustang is depicted as "the end of the world" and is culturally isolated from Chinese-occupied Tibet, Turin added. (Explore how Tibetan traditions have endured under Chinese rule.)

The new discoveries now show that Mustang was "for many, many hundreds of years absolutely central—a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich, and religiously diverse settlement."

The unusual treasures have led Coburn and his team to suggest that the Mustang caves could be linked to "hidden valleys" thought to represent the Buddhist spiritual paradise known as Shambhala.

"Shambhala is also believed by many scholars to have a geographical parallel that may exist in several or many Himalayan valleys," Coburn said.

"These hidden valleys were created at times of strife and when Buddhist practice and principals were threatened," Coburn said. "The valleys contained so-called hidden treasure texts."

Elaine Brook, author of Search for Shambhala, said the hidden valleys of Mustang indeed "have some of the characteristics of the mythical land of Shambhala."

For his 1933 novel, Hilton used the concept of Shambhala as the basis for his "lost" valley of Shangri-La, an isolated mountain community that was a storehouse of cultural wisdom.

But Brook, like the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, thinks that "nowadays, no one knows where Shambhala is." Shangri-La or not, the Mustang caves are in dire need of preservation, according to Coburn, Athans, and their colleagues.

Besides looters, Coburn said, the 6,000-year-old caves face threats from souvenir collectors, erosion, earthquakes, and infrequent but torrential rains.

-Grim Blogger

Tychy: A Portrait of Algernon Blackwood

2009-12-05T11:45:00.000-06:00

The Tychy blog is running a longish and detailed look into the life and works of Algernon Blackwood. No mere biography, the first Tychy article (of a probable six) on the writer appeared last week, armed with a sharply critical edge that takes issue with both Blackwood and previous biographers. This is all conducted in the hopes of unraveling some of the man's mystery, a call for objectivity in a field of Blackwood research dominated by rosy views of the subject.

Tychy's piece is hopefully the first in a full series of explorations on Blackwood. It's also further evidence that the internet--and blogs in particular--is picking up the slack in today's weird fiction scholarship. With the demise of many small press publications offering an outlet for observations on the weird, many researchers are throwing their work out on the web for free. Though it lacks the formality and pomp of physical print, the ease of access is a boon to admirers of the weird.

-Grim Blogger

The Other Lovecraft Film Festival (in England)

2009-12-04T11:30:00.002-06:00

Most Lovecraft readers know about the great H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival held in Portland, Oregon every time October rolls around. It's only a tiny elite, however, who have heard of a smaller gathering across the Atlantic. Lovecraft fans recently gathered in England's Little Storping-in-the-Swuff for an evening of weird film, drinks, and stories. This appears to be their first assembly. The Lord Bassington-Bassington Chronicles records the full story, with a detailed rundown of the Lovecraft festival's venue and cinematic lineup.

-Grim Blogger

The Drummer's Revenge on Lovecraft's Battle with Elsa Gidlow

2009-12-02T11:00:00.003-06:00

The Drummer's Revenge blog has an informative article about English-Canadian writer Elsa Gidlow, which mentions an obscure battle between her and H.P. Lovecraft. It occurred in the heyday of Lovecraft's involvement with the amateur press, during a time when the original United Amateur Press Association of America split into rival groups. As President of one faction, Lovecraft fired some uncharacteristically bitter bullets at his rival Gidlow.

This is an unusual incident in the biography of Lovecraft that hasn't garnered much attention from scholars. Some might wonder if this is because it presents Lovecraft in a bad light. Whether this is the case or not, it does show that he occasionally broke from the gentlemanly air he was later acclaimed for, especially on the battlefield of the intellect.

-Grim Blogger