Banshee’s butler
There’s always a monster of the moment – whether it was the vastly popular zombie of last year or the re-emergent vampire of this… but all fail to compare to the omnipresent greater evil that is Cthulu.
Which is why I chose to make my next animation zombie-based:
OK, so my timing isn’t great, I’m at least a monster behind, but that’s no reason to worry. I recently received a great item of great evil through the post – A Cthulu tentacle scarf:
It’s made by the wonderful Rebecca from Creeplings (and thanks to Calan of Gingerdead for putting me in touch). I suggest that you check out the shop, it’s very good.
OK, back to the monsters. I nearly bought Pride and Prejudice with Zombies the other day. Then I had the idea that as one thing leads to another it wouldn’t be long before I ended up reading We The Undead by Ayn Rand… and no one wants that.
But I have been thinking that really zombies and vampires have dominated the media in terms of creepies in the last few years, decades even, and Cthulu has had a massive Internet following for a fair while too… perhaps it’s time we support an underdog. So my question is, which is the most neglected agent of darkness? Think of The Flowfield Unity as being like a donkey sanctuary, except for something that stalks in the night
my favorite monster has to be the rokurokubi; a Japanese monster that looks like person, but gains the power to stretch it’s neck at night.
*just* it’s neck.
Excellent!
The giraffes of the demonic world. OK, they’e in.
Not exactly terrifying though, and I suspect more handy than anything.
handy? maybe. but it might be a little creepy to find some stranger’s face pressed up against your second story window.
Oh, that happens all the time… I hadn’t considered rokurokubi.
I was telling someone about them last night, and that you had brought them to my attention, and we decided that actually, they’re a lot creepier than I had given them credit for…
I also figured that should I be attacked by one, my weapon of choice would be an axe.
What about a garrot?
Ben´s last blog ..Hopping Mouse
That would make far more sense… Piano wire is the natural enemy of rokurokubi.
i thought garrotes only worked when you had the element of surprise?
i wonder if it’s a coincidence that i have a sore throat today.
Well, the dude is busy checking out things thru a second floor window, I’m sure he’ll be surprised.
Actually, what is so bad about the guy? He has a long neck, at night only, which is really not so bad.
Ben´s last blog ..Hopping Mouse
well, for one thing, some of them eat people. but i think that’s mainly held in the Zen Buddhism tradition, these were people who went around breaking religous laws until they got themselves turned into demons.
it seems like on the whole the original Shinto-based monsters were more benign than the stories that sprouted up after Buddhism came in, it’s ironic when you think about the kind of reputation it has here in America, at least.
But there are so many different kinds of Zombies! You can have a different one for every day of the week!
I guess if they’re out and so are vampires (who are passé anyway) the only other monster I can think of worth mentioning was that thing from The Thing. Shape-shifters are the WORST. Also maybe Audrey II, who gets extra credit for his winning personality and soulful singing voice.
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That’s true, there are plenty of types of zombie… someone should do some sort of family tree for easy classification.
Audrey II! Oh yes, but I doubt she (she?) needs our help. When you have the funk, you don’t need much else.
I was reading about the original, alternative ending for LSoH… one where she spawns millions of mini-Audreys, sounds ace.
Shape shifters are a pain to look after.
What’s aggravating is that they shot the alternative ending to the LSoH film but have never released it properly. Also interesting is that Jim Belushi was called in at the last second to appear in the new ending, his role was played by Paul Dooley in the original. Clearly the decision to change the ending was orchestrated by Belushi to weasel his way into the cult classic, but what larger part the cameo role plays in his world domination plans is as yet unseen…
The Great Joe Bivins´s last blog ..PITCHER: You’ve Got Unpopular Blog!
I didn’t know that!
And that Belushi chap, god bless his drug-riddled soul, can always be considered the lesser of two evils:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Belushi
vs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Belushi
do cryptozoological (is that a word?) creatures count? ’cause i vote for El Chupacabra.
Yes it is, yes they do and good call.
I like the elusive nature of Chup’ despite the fact that a quick trawl of the internets provides hundreds of different pictures supposedly showing one.
Sounds like a mutant dog with superpowers to me.
Succubi
The 327th Male´s last blog ..Xenophon’s Wager
Incubus
I have been reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and it’s enjoyable (especially so if you are familiar with the original, zombie-free work). I hear Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters (I kid you not) is coming out in September.
I love your new scarf.
Courtney Gibbons´s last blog ..Wedding Season Tip
“Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters”
OK, subthread: Can anyone think of any further monster related titles for the following works?
# Mansfield Park
# Emma
# Northanger Abbey
# Persuasion
I quite like the idea of Mansfield Jurassic Park.
Creepy sweater!
While I sometimes feel that I haven’t read enough of HP Lovecraft’s prose to talk about him as frequently as I do, I’m always shocked when I meet people who have never heard his name. I like to tell strangers and friends alike that HP Lovecraft was terrified of fish (I’d read it somewhere–I don’t recall the source), hence the antagonistic forces in his stories were often of the maritime sort.
sitting pugs´s last blog ..Pre-S 09: the Falcons fraction off the Rams
Again, this thread is turning out to be really educational. Lovecraft’s fear of things nautical would explain an awful lot… though not perhaps his slightly rampant racism.
Maybe it’s racism of the sea…
That scarf is fantastic! As is the animation
I am all about monsters so my two nominees are:
Bloody Bones. Kind of the Boogeyman of the South. “Be good, kids, or Bloody Bones will get you”. His appearance can vary greatly depending on the telling, though my favorite version is of a blistered old man. He drags bad kids to the water (or just the water pipes) to drown them.
The other is Yara-ma-yha-who (a creature that should win for name alone)- a monster from the folklore of the Australian Aboriginals. Yara, etc. is a four foot tall red “man” that hides out in trees waiting for victims to step beneath. It makes a rather large spectacle of killing its victims:
1. Drain most of the blood from the person using its octopus-like tentacles.
2. Take a stroll to work up an appetite
3. Do a snake wiggle to eat the person whole.
4. Chill out for a bit.
5. Regurgitate the victim (who is sometimes still alive).
6. Poke the victim with a stick/tickle them to make sure they are dead (it can be tricked if the victim is really, really good at playing dead).
7. Take nap (at which point an alive enough victim can escape).
8. Eat victim, regurgitate again. Repeat process until the victim is either dead, shrunken to four foot height, or (if regurgitated enough) transformed into another Yara, etc.
That’s some monster dedication.
I didn’t make Bloody Bones’ origins clear in that. He started in Ireland and the UK, then moved over here. But he’s become “popular” in the US South.
Grr.. meant Ireland and England.
That’s it. Going to bed.
Ireland and the UK is right though… technically the UK is called “United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”, which is basically a long-winded way of saying ‘and not Southern Ireland’.
So, let’s get this straight, to escape from this particular monster you have to be drained, dragged on a stroll, eaten whole… then you sit it out for a bit in the monster’s stomach whilst it chills… be puked up and prodded with a stick?
You know, that seems like a lot of effort not to be eaten by a monster.
Fairly accurate…except you don’t get to go on the stroll. He goes on the stroll without you, having weakened you first, but keeps you mostly in visual range.
No stroll? Well, that just sucks… I mean, the draining of the blood would be just about acceptable if it were followed by a nice jaunt, but just being left there all weak and feeble… no thanks.
I had not heard of that particular monster before. Tentacles and snake like movements?? Weird.
I’ve long wanted to make a game set in Aus, seated firmly in the horror/action genre, featuring lots of dark underground caves/mines and vast open spaces. The enemies were to range from typical humans to aboringinal monsters/myths.
Now, if only I had the time and dedication.
Imagine coming across a 4′ red man with tentacles while he was trying to eat someone?
Ben´s last blog ..Hopping Mouse
“Imagine coming across a 4? red man with tentacles while he was trying to eat someone?”
It would probably be an awkward moment for everyone involved.
Particularly the person covered in digestive juices.
so glad i finally happened upon the evil knitter and you got your tentacle scarf. i hope you realize that you might end up strangled, but maybe you dig that kind of thing.
love love love the flash shorts. the zombie one filled me with this awesome feeling i get when art moves me…it’s like a stomach flu only way better.
<3 calan
calan ´s last blog ..the invisible tenant
There’s something better than stomach ‘flu?
Thank you, for all of that, the kind words, getting me my scarf sorted and insinuating I like tentacle-based bondage play.
Another cool animation there Adam.
And thanks for the heads up: I have now taken down my wind chime!
Sean´s last blog ..Digital Pola(d)roids.
A great band with a really bad singer.
Bah, this browser is throwing my comments around at random.
Ben´s last blog ..Hopping Mouse
Dropbears.
Ben´s last blog ..Hopping Mouse
well i think the graboids certainly deserve a mention in here… it’s a perfect fit for what you are looking for (‘an underdog’ and an ‘agent of darkness’) – because they are subterranean creatures, they dwell ‘under’ground and it sure is ‘dark’ down ther-…… ok that’s an excruciatingly lame point but i always thought they were cool, so….