They’ve Always Been Dead: The History Of Elementals

This video [from Strange Brain Parts] does a deep dive into the origin, history and tragic, exploitative decline of The Elementals, created by Bill Willingham and published by Comico from 1984-1997.

The initial volume of The Elementals was a foundational work for Steve and I during our early Villains & Vigilantes superhero games back in the day, because of the Bill Willingham connection to the game.

He wrote - and illustrated - two of the system's first adventure modules: Death Duel With The Destroyers and The Island of Doctor Apocalypse. Several characters from these scenarios would then appear in The Elementals.

It was only later that I discovered that Villains & Vigilantes' co-creator Jack Herman also wrote some issues on The Elementals.

The first edition of V&V came out in 1979, followed by a revised and improved edition in 1982.

Around that time, the game's creators Jack Herman and Jeff Dee were onboard to create a back-up feature for Willingham’s Elementals, when it was coming out from Texas Comics, but the company dissolved and Bill moved Elementals to Comico.

In a 2011 interview with Ain't It Cool News, Jack explains that his feature would have been based on "my first original V&V character, a superhero-versus-supernatural-horror sort of thing".

When Elementals took off at Comico, Bill Willingham started looking around for in-universe support features. Jack submitted a story which was turned into a full-length issue and he began writing for the title regularly.

Again, quoting the 2011 interview, Jack said: "So, here's this guy who is now rightfully recognized as one of the best comics writers in America, and I was writing scripts for him!"

The Elementals Fight Saddam Hussein, Elementals #17, May 1991, script by Jack Herman,
pencils by Mike Leeke, inks by Dan Schaefer, colours by Julia Lacquement, and letters by Pat Williams

The Nun (2018)

In 1952, news of the apparent suicide of a nun at a cloistered abbey in darkest Romania reaches The Vatican.

They call upon one of their elite 'miracle hunters', Father Burke (Demian Bichir), to investigate, as the abbey has a 'chequered' reputation.

He is paired up with a young novitiate, Sister Irene (Taissa Farmiga), that the Church feels may be of assistance to him because of her history of "visions".

Arriving in Romania, the holy duo meet Frenchie (Jonas Bloquet), the French-Canadian courier and guide who discovered the body of the dead nun, and recruit him to their cause.

Together this threesome probe the mysteries of the haunted abbey, and try to get to the bottom of the site's unholy - and demonic - secrets.

To all intents and purposes, the set-up and plot of The Nun is a grand Dungeons & Dragons adventure, with three mismatched adventurers plunging into a 'dark underworld' of tricks, traps, and monsters (complete with a demon-warding holy relic) to try and solve a puzzle.

As a rule, I'm not a big fan of either prequels or jump scares, but as the latest entry in The Conjuring Universe of movies, the film cleverly weaves itself into the backstory of The Conjuring 2, by providing a kind of 'supervillain origin story' for the titular demonic Nun (again portrayed by Bonnie Aarons) aka Valak.

As to jump scares, there are only really a couple and they're handled surprisingly well, delivering cathartic releases from moments of escalating terror.

Directorial tools such as foreshadowing and atmospheric lighting are quite on-the-nose, but help give The Nun a pulpy feel that mixes elements of modern movies with those of the classic Hammer era.

Once our heroes are entrenched within the confines of the abbey, the story quickly devolves into a surreal rollercoaster of mental torments and ghostly visitations.

It's not worth trying to attach too much logic to much of what unfolds, instead wallow in the psychological torment of the main characters as they battle the evil forces at work within the abbey.

However, for all the smoke and mirrors, the script is intriguing enough that its real power is to compel you to want to rewatch both it - to catch what you missed the first time - and The Conjuring 2 to see where the two stories intersect.

There's also the nice meta-connection that Sister Irene is portrayed by the younger sister of Vera Farmiga who plays Lorraine Warren in the main Conjuring flicks, and has a couple of brief cameos here in some 1970's scenes lifted from the previous movie.

Ultimately, it's not required viewing, and isn't that informative on Valak's backstory, but The Nun is an entertaining funhouse flick with quite an old school vibe to it.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: I Don't Know Much About Art, But I Know What I Like

One New Year's Eve - at a virtual gathering of Rachel's friends during COVID - the discussion came up about what "arty posters" people had on their walls at university, with Klimt's The Kiss and Kandinsky's Concentric Circles proving to be the highbrow hits.

I didn't really go for "art" per se, my final university digs having up a Manic Street Preachers poster and a Star Wars one.

However, I vividly recall that in my 'cosy', downstairs room in our previous Bournemouth residence, Len & Jenny's House, the wall over my bed was decorated with the classy cherubs poster (a doctored version of Raphael's pair of chubby cherubs) pictured above.

Honestly, I have no idea why. I guess I must have thought it was funny. Or some kind of satirical statement on university life!

I also remember the cupboard in that room that I decorated. One door was coated in pictures of Shirley Manson (from Garbage), while the other had a full-page advert cut out of a newspaper that featured the lyrics of R.E.M.'s Everybody Hurts (one of the most beautiful songs ever written and guaranteed to bring me to tears).

I have a feeling that the advert was probably for the Samaritans - or a similar organisation - and was thus a wholly inappropriate use of their public service announcement to have it pasted to a student's cupboard door as a kind of 'rock poster'.

Between that and the random cherub poster, I start to realise what a messed up soul I can be at times.

My tiny downstairs room in the house we rented from Len & Jenny

The Curse of La Llorona (2019)

It's 1973 and widowed social worker Anna (Linda Cardellini) is raising two kids of her own, Chris (Roman Christou) and Samantha (Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen) when she attracts the attention of child-murdering demon-ghost, La Llorona (the Wailing/Weeping Woman).

Having 'rescued' two children from what she believes is an abusive mother, Anna is horrified when the children turn up dead the next day, drowned in the city's river,

The grieving mother, Patricia Alvarez (Patricia Velasquez) babbles something about La Llorona, and when strange marks - akin to those found on the recently drowned children - appear on the arms of her own children, Anna starts to investigate.

Her local priest, Father Perez (Tony Amendola) advises her to look outside the church for a speedy resolution to her concerns, sending her to renegade faith healer, Rafael Olvera (Raymond Cruz).

Ultimately, The Curse of La Llorona is a very pedestrian action-horror, hamstrung by a disappointingly generic "demonic ghost" with powers that range from near-omnipotence to total impotence, largely depending on the demands of the script. Sometimes she can fly, sometimes she can't, sometimes she can magically appear in a room, sometimes she can't etc

Unfortunately, the film quickly writes itself into a corner by focusing  La Llorona on Anna's family so early on, as then there's no one outside of a small circle of characters who can be drawn in and you know the ghost isn't going to kill Anna or her kids - certainly not before the finale anyway.

Then we're just left with a lot of threatening gestures, but no real threat. Admittedly, some of La Llorona's appearances are rather well thought-out (such as when she becomes visible through Sam's umbrella), but there's never any sense of verisimilitude to her ghostly appearances.

It's difficult to say too much else about The Curse of La Llorona because it's so formulaic and mediocre. We've all seen worse and we've all seen better.

Coming in at just over 90 minutes, with a bit of trimming this could easily have been reworked into a solid episode of Supernatural - as Olvera, and his clever bag of 'anti-evil spirits' tricks (love the bit with the eggs), fills the role we're used to seeing Sam and Dean Winchester take in similar yarns.

Except, Supernatural is way better at defining what its paranormal antagonists can and can't do.

Through Father Perez, who also appeared in Annabelle, The Curse of La Llorona has its marketing connection to The Conjuring Universe, but, as yet, there's nothing deeper. Certainly nothing to tie this film to The Warrens.

Great play is made in the film's introductory scenes about Anna's encounter taking place exactly 300 years after the creation of the ghost, but then this is never addressed again.

Given that La Llorona is a genuine Latin American folktale, it's a shame that it was treated so generically.

Maybe, like the demon doll Annabelle herself, the cinematic La Llorona will be redeemed in a future film. Or perhaps we'll never return this haunted spin-off cul-de-sac.

What Would You Sacrifice For Greatness?

What would you sacrifice to become the greatest of all time?

From Oscar winner Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, producers of the landmark horror films Get Out, Us, Candyman and Nope, comes a chilling journey into the inner sanctum of fame, idolatry and the pursuit of excellence at any cost, featuring an electrifying dramatic performance from Marlon Wayans (Air, Respect).

Former college wide-receiver Tyriq Withers (Atlanta, the upcoming I Know What You Did Last Summer) plays Cameron Cade, a rising-star quarterback who has devoted his life, and identity, to football. On the eve of professional football’s annual scouting Combine, Cam is attacked by an unhinged fan and suffers a potentially career-ending brain trauma.

Just when all seems lost, Cam receives a lifeline when his hero, Isaiah White (Marlon Wayans), a legendary eight-time Championship quarterback and cultural megastar, offers to train Cam at Isaiah’s isolated compound that he shares with his celebrity influencer wife, Elsie White (Julia Fox; Uncut Gems, No Sudden Move).

But as Cam’s training accelerates, Isaiah’s charisma begins to curdle into something darker, sending his protégé down a disorienting rabbit hole that may cost him more than he ever bargained for.

The film features a dynamic supporting cast including alternative comedy legend Tim Heidecker (First Time Female Director, Us) and Australian comic Jim Jefferies (The Jim Jefferies Show), plus MMA heavyweight fighter Maurice Greene and hip hop phenoms Guapdad 4000 and Grammy nominee Tierra Whack, all three in their feature film debuts.

HIM is directed by Justin Tipping (Kicks) from an acclaimed Black List screenplay by Zack Akers & Skip Bronkie (creators of the sci-fi crime series Limetown) and by Justin Tipping.

Annabelle Comes Home (2019)

Annabelle Comes Home is a masterclass in teen horror movie making.

While, on one hand, not much scarier than the best episodes of Supernatural, nor even as gory, on the other writer/director Gary Dauberman concentrated on escalating tension, menace, and atmosphere.

You always suspected a jump scare was coming, but, in truth, there were only a couple in the film, the majority were red herrings, but you never know which were which until the final 'boo!'.

The film opens with the backstory of how Annabelle came into the possession of The Conjuring's protagonists, Lorraine and Ed Warren (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) and a succinct explanation of the doll's powers (she isn't possessed, as demons don't possess objects, instead she acts as a beacon and a conduit for dark forces).

Then the story jumps forward a year, to 1972, and Annabelle is safely squirrelled away in the Warrens' locked room of evil artifacts.

The Warrens are heading out on another case, leaving their young daughter Judy (Mckenna Grace) in the care of Brady Bunch-like babysitter Mary Ellen (Madison Iseman).

At first I felt a bit cheated when I realised that the Warrens themselves would just be bookending the story of Annabelle Comes Home, but as it turns out I should have trusted Gary Dauberman to know what he was doing.

Having learned what the Warrens do for a living, Mary Ellen's best friend, Daniela Rios (Katie Sarife) drops in to surreptitiously check out the "room of cursed objects".

She is wracked with guilt over the recent death of her father, and is hoping to find a way to contact his spirit.

Instead, she is tricked into releasing Annabelle, who, in turn, unleashes as many of the trapped entities in the Warrens' secure room as she can.

The variety of spooky objects that come into play reminded me of a cross between the Friday the 13th TV series (nothing to do with Jason Voorhees) and the wonderful Warehouse 13, with the predictive television set being a particular visual highlight.

The climax, which draws in May Ellen's would-be boyfriend, Bob Palmeri (Michael Cimino), is a funfair thrill ride of spooks, monsters, and mind-trickery as a demon uses Annabelle to try and steal one of the young women's souls.

Ultimately, Annabelle Comes Home is Buffy The Vampire Slayer level teen drama and urban fantasy scares, but on a bigger budget, with enough atmosphere and misdirection to keep the audience on the edge of its seat throughout.

As always with this franchise, the film capitalises on its period setting to heighten the verisimilitude, making the jeopardy and threat wholly convincing for both the audience and the teenagers trapped inside the haunted house.

Balancing out the jump scares, there's also some laugh out loud moments, and Dauberman has a great knack of making full use of the screen, so you always have to keep half-an-eye on what's going on in the background.

Beyond question, Annabelle Comes Home is delightfully creepy and simultaneously thrilling and unnerving, making it one of my favourite entries in the ever-expanding Conjuring Universe.

While Universal may have failed to launch its Dark Universe, reinventing their classic characters for 21st Century audiences, Warner Bros and New Line Cinema were quietly building an impressive, interconnected, universe around the mythology of The Conjuring movies.

They're not all hits, but the winners outweigh the duds. Long may it last.

Annabelle - Creation (2017)

It's the little things that can make a good movie.

During the first act of Annabelle: Creation, before the expected ghostly horrors begin, Sister Charlotte (Stephanie Sigman) is sharing a photograph of her fellow nuns and, at one point, she tilts it at a certain angle and, briefly, a face appears in the shadows of the picture, lenticular-like: it's Valak (from The Nun and The Conjuring 2).

It's never mentioned again, never referenced, but it's a marvellous Easter Egg tying this film - beyond the presence of its titular antagonist - to the wider Conjuring Universe.

Director David F Sandberg (who also directed Shazam!) makes great use of light and shadows in this creative origin story for the demonic doll, Annabelle, that far exceeds her disappointing first 'solo' film for scares and coherence.

Written by Gary Dauberman (who was also responsible for Annabelle, Annabelle Comes Home, The Nun, IT: Chapter Two, and developing Swamp Thing for DC Universe), Annabelle: Creation sees melancholic, former toy maker, Samuel Mullins (Anthony LaPaglia) and his bed-bound wife, Esther (Miranda Otto), opening their isolated home to Sister Charlotte and half-a-dozen orphan girls.

Twelve years earlier, in the mid 1940s, their young daughter, Annabelle (Samara Lee) had been run over and killed, and despite the generous nature of Mr Mullins, there's a definite creepy cloud of gloom hanging over the house.

Exploring a room in the house she was forbidden to enter, one girl, Janice (Talitha Bateman) is attacked in the night by some kind of demonic entity. Already hobbled by polio, this attack leaves her in a wheelchair, and the other girls start to believe her stories of 'ghosts', especially when Janice's behaviour takes a turn for the worse.

Although the climax of the main plot is slightly jumbled, even feeling a bit rushed, overall Annabelle: Creation is tightly scripted and delivers on most counts.

For the most part it avoids cheap jump scares, and instead oozes unnerving, "it's behind you", tension and atmosphere.

Taking a lesson from the first Annabelle flick, director David Sandberg doesn't dwell too long on the static doll, instead drawing the story's terror from what goes on around her.

The all-important "creation" of the central demonic doll is surprisingly interesting and clever (although I don't understand why no one ever suggested pouring a can of petrol over the doll and setting it alight, especially once it became clear how evil it was).

Towards the end of the film there's a nice nod to the "real Annabelle doll" in a sequence that dovetails neatly into the first Annabelle movie.

Besides the fantastic Easter Eggs, a strength of many of The Conjuring Universe movies has been their period settings, and that's ever-prevalent in Annabelle: Creation, with its story eventually spanning spanning three decades.

And, I know I came to this franchise late, but I love the way it really is a "cinematic universe" - in the style of the Marvel movies - with its stories not focusing on a single demonic entity or ghostly group simply repeating the same narrative over and over through unending sequels of ever-decreasing quality and budget.

Annabelle (2014)

In late '60s suburbia, ultra-square couple doctor John Form (Ward Horton) and his doll collector wife Mia (Annabelle Wallis) are expecting their first child.

John presents Mia with a vintage porcelain doll we shall call Annabelle for the sake of expediency (even though no name is actually used for the doll in the film).

Soon after this, their neighbour's house, and then their own, is attacked by a pair of crazed Satanic cultists, the female being shot dead by police while clutching the doll we now call Annabelle.

Mia begins to think their house is cursed, a belief given strength by a fire that nearly claims her life, but does lead to the birth of their child, Lia.

The family relocates to an apartment building, but the demonic forces follow them and Mia finds herself hounded by an assortment of evil creatures.

All the time, they are being watched by Annabelle; even though John had thrown her in the trash before the fire gutted their first home, she finds her way into their belongings when they move house.

Annabelle is a prequel to The Conjuring, supposedly fleshing out the backstory of the haunted doll, but really only cobbling together a story to explain how she got into the hands of the nurses who appear in the opening sequence of The Conjuring.

Unfortunately, this early expansion of The Conjuring Universe isn't written or directed by anyone connected with the original movie, and lacking the presence of the Warrens or analogues, Annabelle is a much more mundane and mainstream horror movie.

The film's problems are compounded by the fact that while the demonic entities in the actual Conjuring movies obey a kind of logic that makes them convincing in the context, Gary Dauberman's script - under the direction of John R. Leonetti - for Annabelle just throws special effects-heavy creatures at our protagonists on a whim.

While frequently dipping into the same well of horror movie clichés, Annabelle lacks the internal consistency and strong characters of The Conjuring.

Instead, it's a hodgepodge of ideas, with allusions to the Manson Family murders (the film starts with the trial of The Family as a backdrop), and stereotypical Hollywood black magic and Satanism, mixed in with The Conjuring's take on ghosts and demons, all somehow tied in to this evil doll.

And what can be said of the demonic doll herself? Well, firstly, mint, straight-out-of-the-box, she's a frakking evil looking creation so I can't understand why any sane person would want her in the house in the first place.

But, secondly, even once she starts acting as a conduit for dark forces, she actually does very little.

If she moves at all it's off-screen. In fact, for the longest time she's not even on screen, and her connection to the various ghosts and monsters that appear seems tenuous at best.

Imagine if Chucky had never actually moved during Child's Play and you'll get some idea how naff the doll is as a source of jeopardy.

Although she looks terrifying, she's a lot more effective as a tool of menace when people are talking about her than when we actually see her... doing nothing.

As much as I welcome the idea of a shared universe for The Conjuring franchise, Annabelle really adds very little to the joint mythology.

The film's almost like a self-contained horror movie that was tacked on to The Conjuring bandwagon as an afterthought. 

Call Me A Sucker, But My Interest Is Piqued!

A scientist's string theory experiment goes wrong when his brane explodes. Corey Harlan must find him and the brane's core in a mysterious house where doors lead to other worlds, guided by the dimensional being Aclima.

I guess I'm a sucker for punishment, but Bulk really intrigues me - despite the fact that I have never seen a film by British auteur Ben Wheatley that I liked (and it feels like I've seen quite a few).

Every time I promise myself that 'enough is enough' and I won't be lured into watching his next offering... and then I do, and inevitably I utterly hate it.

However, I'm hoping the Lynchian Bulk will be different...