"Bone Tomahawk" (2015)DVD Review

"Bone Tomahawk" DVD Review

I've read alot of great things about this movie since it was released. I finally had a chance to watch the film this week.

"Bone Tomahawk", written and directed by S.Craig Zahler is a rare gem of a film. It's an unusual Western, one that deals with cannibal troglodytes killing citizens in the small town of "Bright Hope" in the late 1890's.

The cast:

Kurt Russell plays Sheriff Franklin Hunt. Russell is one of those rare actors who is always fun to watch. He shines in this role.

Patrick Wilson, Matthew Fox, Richard Jenkins, Sid Haig & David Arquette round out the perfectly cast ensemble.

Each character is as fleshed out  with authenticity by the actors in such a natural way that it's nearly impossible to dislike any one of them.

The troglodytes are horrific, both in appearance & action. The local indigenous tribes refer to the forbidden area as "The Valley of the Starving Men". A local Indian guide known only as the "Professor" tells the Sheriff about the troglodytes but refuses to take them. He instead shows them where they are on a map.

The design of the troglodytes provides a new twist to the "cannibal native" trope. These cannibals implant bones in their throats that penetrate the windpipe. They use the horrific sound to communicate & warn each other. A truly creepy sound that adds to their monstrous appearance.

The film does not flinch from the gore of the kills, whether it be a gun shot or a slaughtering of a living human being for food by the troglodytes, they show it all.

I recommend this film for many reasons: story, acting, action, horror, locations...just a great film.

If the old addage of "never judge a book by it's cover" is true, then "Bone Tomahawk" proves it.

"H.P. Lovecraft: Posthumous Victim of Political Correctness"

I've often written about my lifelong fascination with the writings and personal life of famed weird fiction writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

One aspect of his life that I have never written about is his "racism". I have not written of this because it is always a hot button of serious debate amongst fans & scholars alike. These debates never solve or even further the understanding of the man's writing's or his life. Useless as it is to debate whether his work loses meaning because of his personal beliefs, I am finally going to join in this quagmire to offer my own thoughts & feelings regarding this topic.

Oh, I am quite sure that some of you reading this will be gnashing your teeth & railing against your smartphones at what I am going to say. I first say to you this: be patient & thoroughly read this blog entry to it's conclusion.

There is little need for an introduction about Lovecraft as undoubtedly if you've had the interest to read this far, you already know who he was & have read at least some of his writings. It would be an unnecessary and redundant exercise.

So, let's get to the heart of the matter.

H.P. Lovecraft had racist views that spilled into his writings. Yes, indeed he did. There is no argument that this is true.

Lovecraft was a frail & faulty human being, as we all are. The era in which he was born & raised cannot bear the full responsibility in the creation of his feelings - as not all people at the time held the same feelings as he did. The era certainly had a part in it, although I believe it was only partially responsible.

Many factors make people feel as they do. Humans are a vastly intricate, almost incomprehensible, conglomeration of many different things. Many aspects of which will never be understood. No one on Earth is exempt from this most basic realization.

Every single one of us have feelings that we share & some that we don't. All of us.

We all internalize those feelings that we have been told are undesirable concepts for "normal" people to possess.

All feelings that a person has is valid. It is how one acts upon those feelings that make them right or wrong.

That was true in Lovecraft's era & it is true today.

To look back in time & condemn this man for his thoughts & feelings is ridiculous. To strip away his work & posthumous notability is wrong for us to do.

Our current "enlightened" status is systematically destroying or rewriting the past. Lovecraft is a victim of retroactive political correctness.

Great works, like Lovecraft, must be preserved as they were written & left untouched. We can derive meaning from the work in all of it's ways, good or bad. Determining the "worth"  of written work is totally up to the reader and not the imposition of a moral judgement from a group of people acting retrospectively.

"Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Stowe has been heavily edited. "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Twain suffered the same fate.

Why? Because some of the words in the books are condoned as offensive by modern society. Are the words offensive? Yes. Should the works be edited? No. Have Twain & Stowe been stamped as bigoted racists? No.

So why has Lovecraft not been afforded the same luxury as Twain & Stowe?

Lovecraft's image has been removed from literary awards, essays written condemning the man for his views, his work pulled from school libraries...

Lovecraft was simply a man. A man with faults. A man who created the greatest science fiction and horror mythos ever written. His personal feelings crept into his work as alien hybrids, strange invaders, mysterious forces & incomprehensible madness.

He was a flawed human being as we all are. No better, no worse.

Slaves to Technology?

As the millennium drew to a close, the cellular phone was advancing at a pace that equalled the advancement of computers.
By 2018, the "smartphone" reigned supreme as both a phone, a computer, a personal organizer, game console, tv, dating service, newspaper, video camera & just about everything else you needed or wanted it to be.
Therein lies the problem. Humans have become addicted to this marvel of the technological age. Their faces absolutely glued to the screens of their alter-ego identities streaming across the ether at the speed of light...as they walk out in traffic and get ran over by a bus. Alot of good that smartphone did for those people but I'm sure they'll make an app for that soon...for a price.
I'm not against technology at all. In fact, I'm writing this on my phone right now from the comfort of my recliner. No, technology is a good thing except for when it has unintended consequences that are deterimental to the human condition.
Smartphones are deterimental to humans. They take away one of the most basic human need: the need to be in the presence & company of other living, breathing human beings and has replaced it with a "virtual" connectivity that allows the user to be whoever they wish to portray. Often that portrayal is in direction opposition to reality.
In creating this false reality, the user find themselves in a real physical world that they cannot relate to after long exposure to the virtual world.

You see this everyday. How many people stand in a checkout line at a grocery store and instead of talking to their neighbor in line, we see them with their face in their phones so they don't have to engage with another real person? This creeping, addictive and ultimately destructive, psychological modification is going to be irreversible at some point in the future as technology will eventually create a body interface with the virtual machine. People will no longer be people but rather an avatar.

I see technology as a tool and nothing more. I prefer to remain totally human, thank you very much.

Of course, I remember a time when there were no home computers at all. Everyday technology was quite a bit different.
It was 1982 and I was 12 when my family bought a "Commodore Vic 20" and that was the first time I had ever saw a computer in person & not on an episode of "Star Trek" or "Space:1999"!
The phones that we had were either mounted on the wall of the kitchen or on the nightstand in my parents room. Both were rotary dial phones.
Cable TV? Forget it. Bigger cities had cable but not the best majority in the rural countryside of my home state - not at that point in history anyway. Satellite TV was available but it was more limited in availability than cable.
No, my family had a huge tv antenna that had to be pointed to the northwest, towards Atlanta, to receive 5 channels. The reception, oddly enough as it is today, was dependant on the weather. That really wasn't an issue after we bought our first VHS VCR. We could pop in a tape & check out a movie - after we drove 13 miles to the nearest video store where we were a member & rented one for overnight viewing. God help you if you didn't rewind the tape when you returned it or you'd catch that fee on your rental account.
I will admit that it was fun to go to the video store. As a horror & sci-fi buff, it was amazing. The colorful posters, the memorizing box art & the shock of the price of movies on VHS that we're just released - if you wanted to own one!

What did we do before this age of technological marvels? We talked. Yep. Face to face. We ate dinner together in the evenings & talked about our days, our dreams & aspirations for our futures. We connected in a way that few families do today. We had a familial bond that ran deep and was immutable. We had no virtual reality to run to in order to escape our problems & worries. We talked about them, helped each other. We created real memories with each other. Lasting memories that are stronger than any mere machine can simulate.

I see parents giving their 10 year old kids smartphones. These kids will be socially stunted. How do I know? Ever seen a parent try to take away that kids phone? Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.

Parents have forgotten how to tell their kids "no" & mean it. Often, the parents provide the technology to the kid so they don't have to parent the child. Just let them melt into their game world & you won't hear from them for hours.

The smartphone, in particular, is and will continue to become a threat to human development. Human nature always leans toward the darker elements of life when those elements become so eadily accessible.

The smartphone has already changed the family units basic behavior. You know it's a problem when a company offers a phone dampening field to be used around the kitchen table so no one can use their phones instead of talking to each other.

The only reality that humans should be able to create is the one centered squarely around their family with technology tethered & limited to it's use as a tool.

There'll come a time when humans will regret ever inventing these devices & we'll move on to something else. That's what history has taught us...and we should listen with to history.

Eibon Press "Zombie" #6

Issue number six of Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" by Eibon Press is out & on the gory rampage!
This issue is crazy, man!
The continuing sequel story fleshes out Dr.Menards story and continues the utter mayhem in New York!
You thought the shark vs Zombie scene was crazy in the movie?
Eibon Press ups the insanity by putting ape vs zombies!
You gotta see it to believe it!
By now, anyone reading my little blog about these comics should know that Eibon Press comics are all about the quality of their products. The same applies to this issue.
I bought the limited collectors edition of which only 1,000 copies we're printed.
Eibon Press, you guys rock! Keep these incredible comics coming!!

Eibon Press "Zombie" #5

Here it is! The 5th issue of Eibon Press adaptation of  Lucio Fulci's "Zombie"!
The issue actually starts the sequel story in motion as our protagonists arrive in New York to find the city a wreck.
The artwork is, as usual, fantastic & gruesome. There's also an appearance from our favorite director!
The book itself continues the tradition of quality set by Eibon Press by including fantastic extras & the ingenious "Eibon Sleeve"!
I bought the "Trading Card Inferno Edition", limited to 1,000 copies.
Keep 'em coming, Eibon Press! I love 'em!!