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Author: Sue Granquist

Goth Chick News Reviews: Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural by Insha Fitzpatrick

Goth Chick News Reviews: Hanging with Vampires: A Totally Factual Field Guide to the Supernatural by Insha Fitzpatrick

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As you likely already know, I’m a superfan of Quirk Books. If you put this publisher’s name in the Black Gate search bar, you’re going to come up with a whole list of articles about previous works they’re responsible for; all of which live up to their name. One of their newest tomes fits perfectly into my recent run on vampire news, so please indulge me while I cover a couple of different topics along this this line.

First, in a previous blood-sucking discussion, I was getting excited about Nicolas Cage’s recent outing as Dracula, in the comedy/horror movie Renfield. Cage was pitching it as one of his dream roles, and the premise of a modern-day Renfield, tortured by an awful boss and in therapy over it, seemed like a perfect match up of talent with story. Yes, Cage is weird and over the top, but a vampire film with a sense of humor put me in the mind of What We Do in the Shadows, so I was looking forward to seeing it.

So, how was it?

Meh.

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Goth Chick News: An Upcoming MCU Movie I’m Excited About

Goth Chick News: An Upcoming MCU Movie I’m Excited About

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It alarms quite a few people when I say I’m hit and miss on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As far as the hardcore fans I’m acquainted with, it seems I must be either in or out, and my spotty fandom is definitely not something they approve of.

For example, in a convo with the guy that cleans my office aquarium, I discovered he was super excited when I said one of my favorite films was Iron Man, but was super put out when I had no plans to see Doctor Strange. I also loved Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire, but have been only so-so on the Spider-Man’s since. Yes, I’m missing out on all the cool, interconnectivity of the stories, and no, I’d agree I can’t say I’m a true MCU fan. I just like what I like in the standalone films and frankly do not have the attention-span to take my viewership much further.

At this point I’m lucky my fish aren’t dead.

When it came to comics, it’s no surprise I was more of a DC fan, from Wonder Woman, to House of Secrets and The Unexpected. It’s probably also no surprise that if there was an MC character I consistently enjoyed, it was Blade.

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Goth Chick News: A24 Films Is Scaring the Snot Out of Me Again

Goth Chick News: A24 Films Is Scaring the Snot Out of Me Again

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Long ago A24 Films become my personal favorite independent film production company. Founded in 2012, they didn’t hit my radar until I discovered their 2015 horror hit The Witch, followed by Hereditary in 2018, then Midsommer in 2019. What I would call A24’s next-gen type scares ruled the company’s top box office earners until 2022 when Everything Everywhere All at Once and The Whale became this year’s Oscars darlings.

Just in case you’re wondering how A24 can crank out box office biggies like EEAaO, here’s the downlow. It’s less about the money than it is about the general principals guiding the company. A lot of what makes a production an “indie” movie is the director’s complete control over the creation and art of the final piece. Independent movie companies like A24 tend to work more on the funding, budget, and distribution of the movie, leaving the directors to be “independent” of studio content control.

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Goth Chick News: Can Someone Please Help Me Understand Anime?

Goth Chick News: Can Someone Please Help Me Understand Anime?

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Last Friday, Goth Chick photog Chris Z and I once again had the pleasure of a press invitation to the annual Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (or C2E2 for you cool kids). If you haven’t heard of this event, C2E2 is a Chicago fan convention dedicated to comics, pop culture, graphic novels ,video games, toys, movies, and television.

The inaugural C2E2 was held in 2010 at the McCormick Place in Chicago and hosted roughly twenty-eight thousand people over three days. Thirteen years later and according to our inside sources, all three individual days were sold out, as well as the three-day passes. Though C2E2 show runners have been tight-lipped these last few years as to attendance numbers, estimations I’ve been able to gather put the total in the 110K neighborhood for 2023, making C2E2 in the top five largest comic conventions in the US.

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Goth Chick News: Nicolas Cage as Dracula? Yes, Please

Goth Chick News: Nicolas Cage as Dracula? Yes, Please

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I recently enjoyed one of my periodic, cathartic rants about the state of vampires on film in the past couple of decades. Having had it with the very liberal license the entertainment industry has taken with my favorite classic monster, I was happy to share that Hollywood was finally going to give us a seriously violent throw-back version in the form of The Last Voyage of the Demeter. However, though I took exception to vampires being depicted as angsty, flannel-wearing mopes who despised their own blood-sucking nature, I never mentioned believing that vampires should not have a sense of humor.

I mean, if you had to hang around watching humans for roughly 590 years, you’d have to be able to laugh at stuff, right?

If you think about it, Dracula must appreciate the irony of his situation. Certainly director Chris McKay (The Tomorrow War, The LEGO Batman Movie) screenwriter Ryan Ridley (Ghosted, Rick & Morty), and comic book writer Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead, Invincible) gave it a lot of thought, which is why you should mark your calendars for April 14th.

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Goth Chick News: Let Me Tell You a Story About Frankenstein

Goth Chick News: Let Me Tell You a Story About Frankenstein

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Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, illustrated by
Bernie Wrightson (Gallery Books, Illustrated edition, April 27, 2021)

Gather round horror fans, I have a dreadfully interesting tale to tell you.

We start in the year 1818, when Mary Shelley brought to life an iconic monster, touching upon many human failings and fears in the process. Frankenstein’s creation (we sometimes forget the monster did not have a name, although he does call himself, when speaking to his creator, Victor Frankenstein, the “Adam of your labors”) reminds us what can happen when we tamper with nature, and the horrors we are capable of creating. These themes have remained endlessly compelling, giving rise to roughly seventy-five Frankenstein-like movies, and more books and short stories than we can count.

Fast forward to 1983 when a 35-year-old artist named Bernie Wrightson, concluded a seven-year passion-project-tribute to his favorite monster. Originally published by Marvel Comics, Wrightson painstakingly created 50 detailed pen-and-ink illustrations to go alongside Shelley’s original Frankenstein novel. Wrightson (creator of Swamp Thing in 1971) often reminded fans that Frankenstein wasn’t a project he was being paid for, and that his illustrated version was a labor of love which he worked on in between paying gigs.

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Goth Chick News: We’re Definitely Tuned to TPub’s Latest Twisted Tale

Goth Chick News: We’re Definitely Tuned to TPub’s Latest Twisted Tale

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It was way back at the 2014 Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo when we were first introduced to a fine British lad Neil Gibson and his fledgling comic company TPub. Gibson was there to promote volume one of TPubs inaugural graphic novel, Twisted Dark. At the time Gibson described the comic as a psychological thriller which contained horror with dark (at times demented) twists, incorporating every human emotion, illegal activity, and brutal social commentary.

Nine years and twenty-two publications later, including a total of seven volumes of Twisted Dark, Gibson’s original description of TPub’s first offering seems to have transformed into a mission statement. Often exploring the darkest depths of human nature within their storylines, I have devoured each and every TPub comic since the first. But frankly, no matter how intriguing the story, we all know the visuals make or break a comic. TPub also excels on this front by employing incredible artists to augment every frame with rich detail and cinematic viewpoints.

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Goth Chick News: The Count Returns to His Fangy, Blood-Sucking Origins

Goth Chick News: The Count Returns to His Fangy, Blood-Sucking Origins

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Courtesy Wallpaperflair.com

If you’ve read GCN for any length of time, you’ve probably come to understand that as it pertains to vampires, I am a solid purist. I mean, I’m not at all against imagining them in modern society, as in Blade or Blood Red Sky, and I positively love alternative takes such as Let the Right One In and The Lost Boys. It’s also hard not to be a fan of What We Do in the Shadows because it’s just so darn wrong.

But what is absolutely a no-go for me are vampires who literally ignore all the rules of the genre such as sparkling, or going to high school (if only on cloudy days), etc, etc. If that sounds like the only vampires I don’t like live in Washington state, then you may well be right.

But the vampire stories I adore the most are those which cater to all of Bram Stoker’s original tropes, number one of which is that vampires are scary, blood-sucking monsters. And that’s why what I’m about to share is decidedly good news.

It appears that The Last Voyage of the Demeter, due out later this summer, could be the movie that brings my beloved legendary vampire back to his dark and sinister roots.

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Goth Chick News: Stokers, Stokers, Everywhere, But Still Not One For Me

Goth Chick News: Stokers, Stokers, Everywhere, But Still Not One For Me

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Another year has passed without a single Bram Stoker Award appearing for sale on eBay. I really thought my time had come when I I told you that the Horror Writers Association (HWA) announced it had expelled a member from its ranks, who had been the recipient of multiple Stokers. As the recipient was entirely unrepentant, I felt sure he would make a statement by publicly unloading his awards, but alas. As my only hope of having one is to buy one on the open market, my mantle remains bereft of the pinnacle of all awards.

The Bram Stoker Awards have been presented annually since 1987, and the winners are selected by ballot from the approximately 1800 active members (in good standing) of the HWA. Several members of the HWA, including Dean Koontz, were originally reluctant to endorse such writing awards, fearing it would incite competitiveness rather than friendly admiration. The HWA therefore went to great lengths to avoid mean-spirited competition by specifically seeking out new or overlooked writers and works, and officially issuing awards not based on “best of the year” criteria but for “superior achievement,” which allows for ties.

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Goth Chick News: Please Do Not Talk About the Contents of This Post…

Goth Chick News: Please Do Not Talk About the Contents of This Post…

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If you’re wondering why I’m giving this whole thing any additional oxygen, that makes two of us. But sometimes the universe deals up such general absurdity that I can’t let it pass.

Case in point, the latest buzz-generating horror flick, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey.

First, I need to point out (if it wasn’t obvious) that the said buzz isn’t good; though Hollywood has always maintained all publicity is good publicity. In general, even hardcore horror types are expressing outrage that director Fyse Frake-Waterfield has crossed the line. If you didn’t see my original write up on this gem back in November, let me get you caught up.

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