Vampires, Werewolves, & Zombis Oh My!

Another film where they got it right was The Mists of Avalon. Juliana Margolies’ portrayal of Morgaine was superb, even if she was a little long in the tooth for the early scenes of Morgaine. Hollywood got it right again with Practical Magic[sic].

We had positive if a little over dramatized portrayals of Wicca in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Charmed. Another series that treated Paganism in a positive light was Roar, about Ireland (Hibernia) towards the end of the Western Roman Empire. But more often than not they get it wrong. An example of this is the movie The Craft. Stephen calls it “The Crap.” It doesn’t acknowledge the Goddess. Sure there’s the Horned God but there is also the Goddess. Without Her, there is no Craft. The only part I liked was the soundtrack. Doc used to play just the song “How Soon is Now?” by the Smiths. The only character, adult or teen, who had any sense at all was the proprietress of the magick shop. They completely ignored the Wiccan Rede. The Wiccan community would have censured them for ignoring the Rede. In most cases we are either completely ignored or maligned. Another positive example was Battlestar Galactica, and Caprica, where most people were Pagans, and the monotheists were seen as terrorists, which they are. In Xena Warrior Princess, R.J. Stewart was the consultant. He was also the creator of The Merlin Tarot.

Not all monsters were evil. Some were just monsters because they were born that way. “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolfman is tortured by his transformation into the Wolfman. His conditiob forces him to rip people’s throats out when he is a werewolf, but he doesn’t enjoy it when he goes back to being human. In the modern version of The Wolfman, the Wolfman, played so skillfully by Benicio del Toro, the condition is inherited from his father (played by Anthony Hopkins). When Larry Talbot was human, which was most of the month, he lived with deep remorse for the mayhem he wreaked during the full Moon. To make a long story short, he was basically a nice meek guy when it wasn’t the full Moon. I hadn’t seen much of Benicio del Toro until he was interviewed on my favorite reality show, Inside the Actor’s Studio. James Lipton did a very able job of interviewing him. Afterwards, I started seeing him in everything. Then he starred in the Wolfman in 2008. The entire cast was stellar. Stephen thought it deserved more than 2 stars.
The Swamp Thing was a monster whose chief concern was how the environment was being despoiled. He found much of value in the bayou, and hated the way the swamp was being exploited. His friends were a small group of humans who felt the same way he did. His main enemy was a representative of a large corporation who wanted higher profits through exploiting the swamp.

To sum up, Hammer Films played a major role in the horror genre of film. From its inception as a low budget thriller and horror film studio in the mid-30s, through its height in the 60s to its demise in the late 70s and early 80s, Hammer Films supplied films for a generation that grew up in the automobile, and cultivated a taste for the drive in movie theatre. But in the late 70s to 80s, tastes had changed, and the drive-in theatre declined. But Hollywood has continued to churn out monsters. Our favorite monsters are vampires; Stephen’s favorites are the supervamps of the Underworld trilogy, and mine is Count Dracula, as played by Gary Oldman.

After an 8 year separation, Stephen’s old friend Lizet Freeman has surfaced again, and has started working with us to make Abbott’s Inn International School of Magick more marketable. It’s kind of funny how this happened. We had gone to our bank, Chase Bank, to get cash, and ran into her there. Unfortunately, Debbie was also there, and I wondered if the two would get into a cat fight right then and there. But they behaved. Later we did a kick ass reading for Lizet, and as payment, she came over the next day, and on my new computer, and designed a third website for us. It’s http://abbottsinn.wordpress.com don’t forget our other two websites http://abbottsinninternational.com/ and http://abbottsinn.com/ . Also call our toll free number 1-888-611-7982 for a reading, class, or research.