The Gargyle Podcast - Event Horizon

What do Happy Death Day, Event Horizon, Knoxville Horror Film Festival, and Chattanooga Film Festival have in common??  Well, aside from horror, they are all talked about on tonight's episode of The Gargyle Podcast!!

The majority of the podcast is an analysis/review of Event Horizon, but Eric and I also have a brief discussion about Happy Death Day and talk about how awesome the Chattanooga Film Festival and the Knoxville Horror Film Festival are!!

Eric and I both agree that Event Horizon is an awesome sci-fi movie with some absolutely horrifying elements...that aren't quite actualized as well as they could have been.  So, join us as we dive into what worked, and what didn't, in Event Horizon!!




If you enjoy this episode, be sure to keep checking back for more analysis and discussion!  And if you enjoy movies, festivals, conventions, comics, games, cartoons, horror, or just about anything geeky...be sure to check back soon for all things geekery!!  In the meantime, follow me here, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flickr, and YouTube.  And be sure to subscribe to my podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and/or Stitcher for more geek coverage!!





Music for The Gargyle Podcast by Bensound

Steampunk Expo and Gothic Con 2016

The Missus and I had a chance to go to the Steampunk Expo and Gothic Con 2016 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo and we had an absolute blast!!  We were able to meet some amazing vendors, see some awesome art and creations, and had an all-around great time!!  We also had a chance to talk to some of the vendors to get to know a little bit more about what steampunk reaaaally is.

So if you love steampunk, or are just curious and want to know more about it, sit back and enjoy!!  And if anything in the video catches your fancy, get out there and support the arts and the artists!!



Thank you to all of the vendors, artists, guests, and volunteers for their talent, their love of steampunk, and for being all-around awesome people!!

Special thanks to the following artists, vendors, and guests for taking the time to talk steampunk:
James Neathery:  Starboard Sky Industries
M.N. Henschen
Karianne Gottschalk:  Versidian Treasures
Jennie & Bruce Cole:  Steam Powered Arts
Lizi Campbell:  Geek Needs
Emma Knapp:  The Iron Angel
Larry & Nancy Page:  Nan's Ribbons and More
Rubiee Tallyn Hayes:  Dryad Tea
Amy Huntley:  Le Loup Garou Alchemy
Sydney Enecks:  Tailey Bones
Kat & Dave Helms:  K & D Studios
Kathryn:  Milton's Emporium
Seth Tucker:  Radioactive Rabbit Ink

And a very special thanks to Alan Darr for putting on an awesome show and making the Steampunk Expo and Gothic Con 2016 so much fun!!


If you enjoy movies, conventions, comics, games, cartoons, Star Wars, horror, or just about anything geeky...be sure to check back soon for all things geekery!!  In the meantime, follow me here, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 


music:  www.musopen.org

Untapped Geekery - collector profile: Brett Black

Welcome to the first episode of Untapped Geekery - where I will be tapping into geek culture and sharing the splendor with all of you!!  Up first is a collector profile of Brett Black, who was captivated by Star Wars at a very early age and as he grew, that fascination developed into the largest Star Wars collection in Tennessee...possibly one of the largest in the United States.  My friend Joe and I were able to go to Knoxville to get an in-depth look at Brett's massive collection and to peer into the mind of a collector...and now, we share it with you!!



If you enjoy movies, conventions, comics, games, cartoons, Star Wars, horror, or just about anything geeky...be sure to check back soon for all things geekery!!  In the meantime, follow me here, on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Untapped Geekery - collector profile: Brett Black (trailer)

Along with all of the other projects that I am working on, I have something new in the works.... Untapped Geekery - where I will be tapping into geek culture and sharing the splendor with all of you!  Up first is a collector profile of Brett Black, who was captivated by Star Wars at a very early age and as he grew, that fascination developed into the largest Star Wars collection in Tennessee...possibly one of the largest in the United States.  My friend Joe and I went to Knoxville to get an in-depth look at Brett's massive collection and to peer into the mind of a collector.  I am still working on putting together the full video.  But, for now, here is a preview of things to come:

If you enjoy movies, conventions, comics, games, cartoons, Star Wars, or just about anything geeky...be sure to check back soon for all things geekery!!  In the meantime, follow me here, on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Retro and the Girl

One day, I came home from a very long day at work wanting nothing more than to just spend a relaxing night at home with my wife.  Unfortunately, she was working that night and I knew that I was returning to an empty home.  However, before she left for work, my amazing wife had strategically arranged a couple of my action figures (nothing dirty...just amusing).  This inspired the creation of the resulting video, Retro and the Girl.

Thank you to Adam Collins of Lost Well Productions for help in creating the video.

But, most importantly, thank you to my amazing wife for having a playful spirit and a loving heart!



- The Gargyle

Halloween Movie Month: Curse of the Swamp Creatue

Curse of the Swamp Creature (1966)

not rated

Curse of the Swamp Creature is about a mad scientist performing experiments on people in an attempt to create a more evolved creature to do his bidding.  The doctor also has a swimming pool full of alligators where he disposes of the failed experimental creatures.

If the brief synopsis and cover picture are not telling enough, this is an absolutely terrible movie.  But, the question is "what kind of terrible is it?"  Is it the kind of terrible that is almost painful to watch?  Is it the kind of terrible that is so bad it's good?  Is it the kind of terrible that you have such low expectations that you actually end up being pleasantly surprised by it?

From the very beginning, Curse of the Swamp Creature is pretty fantastically terrible.  There is incredibly cheesy acting, poor video quality, minor voodoo subplot, loose plot, loose transitions, and skinny mad scientist with a deep "ominous" voice.  However, because all of this terribleness is captured in the mid 60s, there is something endearing about it.  Each decade has it's own brand of terrible movies, but there is just something about late 60s/early 70s terrible movies that just makes them so much more fun than recent terrible movies.

While there is the endearing aspect of 60s B-movies, that is not the final verdict.  This movie is called Curse of the Swamp Creature, but until the very end of the movie, you really only ever see the hand of the creature (with good reason...that costume is comically terrible).  Even the dead, rejected experiments are thrown into the gator pit wrapped in a white sheet so that you do not see them.  If there had been more cheesy horror, it might have been worth multiple viewings.  But, as it is, this movie feels like it is all set-up without any payoff.  There is a sense that this movie would be more on the horror side, as opposed to the sci-fi side of things, but there are still a lot of classic sci-fi aspects.  This movie is somewhere between horror and sci-fi, but without ever really fitting into either.  There are some movies that are able to walk that balance in a way that breaks down genre walls.  However, this is not one of those movies.  

Rating and Recommendation:  1.5/5.  Curse of the Swamp Creature started out with an abundance of (terrible) potential, but it never really went anywhere.  There is over an hour of act one and then about 15 minutes total of acts two through five.  For the general audience, this one is a definite pass.  However, there is a caveat.  I watched a lot of Mystery Science Theater 3000 growing up, so I have a fondness for terrible movies.  There is something that can be a lot of fun about terrible movies, especially when watching with friends with whom you can joke throughout the movie.  So, if you are like me and enjoy riffing movies, then this one is worth adding to a riff list.  Definitely not worth spending money on - but you can find the entire movie (at the time of this review, at least) on YouTube.

Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month!  In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!

- The Gargyle

Halloween Movie Month: Proteus

Proteus (1995)
R

Proteus is about a group of drug smugglers who board an oil rig after their yacht explodes.  Once on the oil rig, they discover that it is a secret base of horrifying experiments.

Proteus is a terrible B-movie and that is made abundantly clear within the first 3 minutes.  Terrible acting.  Horrible sound mixing.  Plot holes.  Scenes jump around without segue or explanation.  Characters know how to do things without any logical explanation for their knowledge.  There are scenes that are obviously rip-offs of other movies (specifically, the mess-hall scene from Alien).  Inconsistent physics of when/how people get hurt.  Pretty much all of the things that you would expect from a crappy monster B-movie from the mid-90s.  The movie is so bad that it is almost funny enough on its own.  Almost.  But, it is primarily the kind of movie that you need to watch with friends so that you can riff it.

Outside of the ridiculous factor, it's actually not a completely horrible movie.  Obviously, there are so many things that make it atrocious.  However, at its core, it's a fun little monster movie on a remote island - in this case, the island just happens to be an oil rig.  It's just hard to get past all of the faults and truly enjoy it as a good movie.  All of that being said, if you can get past some of the initial things that make this movie hard to watch, it starts just being ridiculous in a fun way.  One of my favorite lines from the movie:  "maybe after you blew it up it crawled into the ventilation system and died."  My other favorite line:  "you're a f***ing fish with a drug habit!"

Rating and Recommendation:  2/5.  Taking everything into account, it actually ended up being a better B-movie, sci-fi, monster flick than what I initially expected.  You just have to get past the horrible (horrible) first half.  I think that it works best as riffing fodder, but there are times when it is enjoyable in it's own right.  Not worth buying.  Not especially worth seeking out.  But, if you are with friends and one of them suggests you watch it, it won't be the worst decision of your life.  Just make sure that they are ok with jokes being made during the movie.


Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month!  In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!



- The Gargyle

Halloween Movie Month: The Fly

The Fly (1958)
Netflix instant

A scientific experiment on teleportation goes horribly wrong when the scientist attempts to transport a human.  The Fly starts out with a murder using a piece of industrial machinery.  Even though it doesn't show it in detail, it showed a little more than I expected for a movie from 1958.  The man was allegedly murdered by his wife, but there is something that seems a bit off in how she describes what transpired at the factory.  Eventually, the wife says what really happened leading up to her husband's death.  At this point, almost the rest of the story takes place as a flashback.

Overall, I enjoyed The Fly.  However, I think that I would have enjoyed it more if I had been in the mood for a classic sci-fi movie, rather than a classic horror movie.  That being said, once the half-man/half-fly creature showed up, it had some pretty spooky parts.  Not only because of the horror of the creature, but more specifically because of the torment that the scientist is going through.  It deals with more than just a monster.  It deals with a suffering existence and existential (and actual) suicide.

My biggest complaint is that it too long to actually get to the fly creature.  Rather than having to get to the point where a flashback was used to tell the story, I think that the pacing would have been much better if it had just started where the flashback started.  There were a lot of great elements, but I think that too many of them were underutilized.

Rating/Recommendation:  3/5.  I saw Cronenberg's version many, many years ago.  I was unaware at the time that it was a remake of this film from 1958 by Kurt Neumann.  While it is technically a remake, there are some drastic differences from Neumann's version to Cronenberg's version.  I was pretty young when I first saw Cronenberg's version, so there were a lot of scenes that I had to either close my eyes for or leave the room for.  However, I still remember that it was pretty intense.  With that version in mind, this version was incredibly tame.  I think that going into this film with Cronenberg's version in mind probably affected my perception.  Rather than being able to watch it for it's classic sci-fi elements, I kept waiting for the fly to show up - and I ended up waiting much longer than I expected.  While it might not have lived up to my expectations, it was still enjoyable.  I recommend watching it, but maybe not for Halloween Movie Month.  If I do a classic sci-fi month, then The Fly might get a higher recommendation..


Be sure to check back soon for more reviews in Halloween Movie Month!  In the meantime, leave comments on this (or any other) review, follow me here and on twitter (@GargyleReviews), and let me know what movies you'd like for me to review for Halloween Movie Month!



- The Gargyle