"The Call of Cthulhu" DVD Review

"The Call of Cthulhu" DVD Review

Title card from the film set in the 1920's aesthetics.

PREFACE:

"The Call of Cthulhu" is a short story written by horror/fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft in 1926. This story is the main element in his "Cthulhu Mythos" arc of writing during his lifetime.

Film makers since that time, have deemed that the story is 'unfilmable' because of the way that Lovecraft wrote his stories. No one had ever even tried to adapt it to the big screen because of this reason.

Then along came Sean Branney & Andrew Leman, founders of the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. They believed that it could be adapted, but the approach would be non-conventional in nature. They overcame many of the technical issues of adapting the work by filming their screenplay in the style of films during the period in which Lovecraft himself would have been alive & written the story. Thus the movie is in black & white, silent and employs stop-motion animation (a la "King Kong"). In this manner they were able to stay true to the core material and present a movie made by Lovecraft fans for Lovecraft fans.

So, this film isn't for everyone. Being a member of the HPLHS myself and being very familiar with the written work, I can say that it is by far, the most accurate adaptation of any of Lovecraft's work.

Now, I will say that it is by far not the best or most successful (Re-Animator, From Beyond, etc).

THE MOVIE:

The movie was adapted for filming by Sean Branney and is quite faithful to Lovecraft's source material. The movie comes in at 47 minutes, so the narrative is very compact and moves swiftly. This is accomplished by the use of montages, flashbacks & the odd "dialogue card or inter-title card" a la 1920's silent era films. The music is very well done and captures the mood of the film in a very unique way. The film was shot in glorious "Mythoscope" to boot!

This isn't a big budget picture, but the way it's presented is nothing short of a Lovecraft lovers dream.

I'm not going to go into great detail regarding the plot here as there is already voluminous information regarding readily available across the web. It will be  suffice to say that one mans journey into piecing together a maddening cosmic truth leads to an incredible conclusion.

The movie itself was an official selection of the Slamdance Film Festival, the Grand Prize Winner of the Avignon Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Film at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival.

The 2005 DVD cover (Front & Rear).

THE DVD

The animated menus are pretty cool with in-jokes galore in certain areas. Some features include the official movie trailer, a "Behind the Scenes" segment chocked full of some of the funniest anecdotes I've seen in quite a while. (The HPLHS motto is "Ludo Fore Putavimus" which means "We thought it would be fun"). A replica prop newspaper can be printed out through Adobe Acrobat, some deleted material and inter-titles in 24 languages!

Lovecraft reading will rejoice in seeing this story on screen and done with such passion and accuracy.

If you are interested Lovecraft, then get this film! If you've never watched a silent-era film, then it takes a few minutes to get used to actually "watching" a movie!!

                   Cthulhu rises from the sea.

Next, I'll review HPLHS Motion Pictures second Lovecraft adaptation (and far superior film) of the monster laden "The Whisperer in Darkness"!

For more information please visit www.cthulhulives.com                      

"Hobo with a Shotgun" Collectors Edition Blu-Ray Review

"Hobo with a Shotgun" 

Released on May 6th, 2011 

Directed by Jason Eisener

PREFACE:

Man, I love the old exploitation films of the 70's! As a kid, I saw such films as "Shaft", "Super Ninjas",  "Dolemite", "Blacula", & "Blackenstein" on late night local TV channels. The action was over exaggerated, the acting was campy & there was plenty of run & gun action. 

This style of film making has made a come back thru such efforts as "Planet Terror", "Machete", "Machete Kills" & "Death Proof". 

"Hobo with a Shotgun", just like "Machete", began as a fake trailer for a Grindhouse competition. The response was good enough that an entire movie was made on the premise. 

THE MOVIE:

Rutger Hauer as the "Hobo".

Man, Rutger Hauer, owns this movie! I was impressed as a young movie goer when I first saw him in "Blade Runner". He takes this role and runs with it. This movie is not intended to make a statement regarding the homeless nor is it pretentious to even try to. This movie is pure horror/action and it's fun to watch. It reminds me of a mix of "Falling Down" (1993; Mike Douglas) & "Planet Terror"

 (2007;Rose McGowen). 

A solitary Hobo (Hauer) rides the rails into "Scum Town" to try & make himself a new life. He finds out quickly that the town is nothing but a cesspool of crime, corruption and degradation. The atrocities he witnesses are simply to give the viewer something to hate- stereo-typically; a pedophile, prostitution, robberies, murders, etc. The Hobo tries to raise money for a lawnmower in a local pawn shop for $49.99. Having no luck, he has to degrade himself for a videographer (a la "Bum Fights") to gain the money to buy it.

When he enters the pawn shop to buy the lawnmower, masked thugs are in the process of robbing the place; threatening to kill a mother & her infant child. The Hobo makes the choice- a lawnmower for $49.99 or a pump shotgun for $49.99. The Hobo, fed up with all of what he has seen & endured, grabs the shotgun & kills the criminals.

Afterwards, the Hobo goes on a vigilante killing spree. He begins killing every criminal he comes across, usually with a smart ass comment before dispatching the evil-doer.

Of course, any splatter film wouldn't be complete without outrageous villains - so we have the evil towns leader "The Drake", his two sons "Slick" & "Ivan" as antagonists. However, the movies best villains are the two henchmen employed by Drake known as "The Plague".

Garbed in armor and having unique weapons, the Plague captures the Hobo to be taken to The Drake for execution. These two guys are weird, cool, unemotional and a little on the supernatural side. I mean one shot, as the Hobo is in the lair of the Plague, he sees the two fighting off some sort of tentacled creature in another room. I mean, it's never explained or has any relevance to the story at all. But the tentacled creature obviously wasn't something natural! Weird, but I like it!

The movie is a kind of throw back that is cool and fun to watch. A revenge story told within outrageous parameters. I'd recommend this movie to fans of the genre, that's for sure.

"The Plague"

THE DVD:

The Blu-ray itself comes with a lot of special features that are sure to please movie buffs. I was impressed with the packaging as well. The artwork is also in the 70's exploitation style and is stylized to reflect the films aesthetic.

So, being the strange-movie guru that I am, I give this film a great recommendation.

Till next time-------- Later.

Cannibal Holocaust DVD Review (Grindhouse 2-Disc Special Edition)

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST DVD / MOVIE REVIEW

Grindhouse 25th Aniversary 2 Disc Special Edition Cover Art.

PREFACE:

OK, after many, many years of reading about this film (and many, many years of avoiding it)- I finally bought Grindhouse Releasing's 25th Anniversary Edition 2 disc set, one of only 11,111 DVD's released. 

I'm no stranger to Italian gore films, as I've enjoyed such fare as Dario Argento (Tenebrae, Deep Red), Lucio Fulci (Zombie, The Beyond), Mario Bava (Twitch of the Death Nerve), Umberto Lenzi (Make Them Die Slowly), & Luigi Cozzi (Contamination). 

I've kinda of avoided the whole 1980's Italian cannibal genre because I really wasn't fond of the sexual content of such films. I don't like the way those Italian horror films chose to show violence against women. That's just the line I draw. 

After much debate with my horror friends, I decided to give it a chance and watch the granddaddy of the Italian cannibal films - "Cannibal Holocaust". This film spawned numerous imitators and is considered, even by today's standards, as truly horrific in content - bordering on the obscene in it's graphic depiction of the subject matter.

After viewing it, I can tell you that it does, indeed, live up to and greatly surpasses it's reputation.

PLOT:

 An anthropologist, Harold Monroe (played by Robert Kerman) goes to the deepest jungles of the Amazon in search of a missing documentary team of young filmmakers. After witnessing several atrocities of the various tribes, he finds the remains of the crew.  He is able to negotiate with the leader of the "Tree People" for the film canisters belonging to the missing documentary crew.

After viewing the "lost footage", we discover that the documentary crew were cruel, sadistic people willing to do anything to obtain the shots they wanted. The cannibal tribe turned on them, killed them & ate them.

There are scenes of tribal rape & torture, gang rape of a native girl by the film crew, the actual killing of several animals, be-headings, genital mutilations, an impalement of grotesque proportions  and, of course, graphic cannibalism.

THE MOVIE ITSELF:

When "Cannibal Holocaust" was released in 1980, the director was arrested and charged with several crimes. He actually had to prove that no actors were killed during the production of the film because the scenes were so realistically portrayed! Of course, he was not prosecuted after the actors had all been accounted for.

The film does, however, show the actual killing of several animals- the most revolting was a large river turtle that the missing crew would cook and eat. These scenes are un-nerving as the camera does not pan away for reaction shots, it focuses strictly and closely to the graphic deaths of the animals.

The rape scenes are horrific and repulsive and leaves very little to the imagination as to the brutality of the acts. The deaths of the missing film crew are especially graphic and I can see how some might think that the deaths were real. 

The infamous impalement scene.

I think it's realism comes from the fact that it's a "movie within a movie", shot documentary style. The missing film crew as they were portrayed to the audience were totally unsympathetic and unworthy of any concern an audience member might have had for them if they were of innocent character. Oh no, these characters were despicable, sleazy, low life criminals. Their deaths were no surprise, but the depictions of their deaths are what is haunting.

Here's my observation regarding the films construction: By setting up the viewer to see actual animal deaths on screen, the viewers mind is prepared to take whatever happens next as being real as well. This is why I think the deaths depicted later in the film are so powerful to a viewer on such a guttural level.

However, the film has great cinematography, music and a well-organized narrative. The film used real Amazonian natives to play the three tribes depicted in the film: the Yanomamo and the Shamatari and the Yacumo. 

I'm not usually shocked or repulsed by horror films- but this one did the trick for me. I almost grimaced throughout the entire run and actually was repulsed by several scenes in the movie. I can see and understand how the film was banned & censored in several countries.

The Special Edition was restored and  presented uncut, as the director had intended. 

If cannibalism & sadism is your idea of horror, then "Cannibal Holocaust" is for you. If you like being repulsed and having to turn away from the realistic depiction of graphic violence - "Cannibal Holocaust" has it in spades.

Would I recommend it? That depends. I waited 30 years to watch it. Now that I have- I probably will never watch it again. Not because it's a bad horror movie, but because it's too good of a horror movie. It portrayed violence, gore & taboo subjects in an all to real manner - that truly horrified & repulsed me. If that's the goal of a horror movie, then "Cannibal Holocaust" is one you would want to see.

One viewing was enough for me. 

If you want to know more regarding this film, you should go directly to the source:

http://www.cannibalholocaust.net/ 

Other films in this genre include: "Cannibal Ferox", "Jungle Holocaust" and Eli Roth's upcoming "Green Inferno". 

Dragon*Con 2014!

NOTE:  I'm sorry it's taken me so long to blog and catch up on things, however I've had several health problems/hospital admissions/sicknesses that have kept me from being able to attend any of the filming of TWD this year.Hopefully, I'll be good to go by next filming season. If this weekend was a test, then I should be ok by then.

DRAGON*CON 2014

Well, another year and another Dragon*Con notch on the belt. This time, I had the opportunity to stay for 3 days (Thanks to good friend, D. Melton!) and the number of people attending were up again this year. On Saturday, the talk was up around 75,000 to 80,000 people, however that's not an official estimate.

This years guest list was pretty good (as far as my interests go):

Peter Weller (RoboCop; Star Trek Into Darkness)
Colin Baker (6th Doctor Who)
Stephen Collins (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Gil Gerard (Buck Rogers)
Terry Gilliam (Monty Python; Zero Theorum)
James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy & Dawn of the Dead 2004 writer)
Grant Imahara (Mythbusters; Star Trek Conitnues)
Walter Koenig (Chekov- Star Trek)
Lloyd Kaufman (Troma)
John Ratzenberger (Cheers; The Empire Strikes Back)
Jeri Ryan (Star Trek: Voyager)
Tom Savini (FX Master)
Patrick Stewart (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Dana Snyder ( Voice of "Master Shake")
Karl Urban (Star Trek 2009; Dr. McCoy)
Garrett Wang (Star Trek: Voyager)


To name just a few of the great guests there this year! Many more guests, artists & creative types and nuts in general were out in full force!

RIGHT DOWN TO IT!

OK, most of you know I'm old & therefore, "old school".. I grew up in a different fandom setting than today's ultra-chic, esoteric fan-based commercialized trappings, so take what I'm about to say with that in mind.

I know that things change & change is good. However, things have changed so drastically within the last 20 years within the convention world that's it's almost unrecognizable. That would be good if the change wasn't directly centered upon commercialism instead of simply the love of the genres. Hey, I completely understand that people gotta make a living, but to me, this is getting really crazy.

Everyone is out to make a buck on anything they can regarding gullible fans and their willingness to pay anything to get whatever hokey crap is being peddled as popular at the moment. Money is the motivator & it gets the nerds motivated, that's for damn sure. As soon as the established TV & movie industry realized the untapped potential of this, the gloves were off! What was once an exclusive niche for genre fans to meet, discuss, see and greet the stars of their favorite shows & movies (& allowed them to make some cash as well) has turned into a great, big moving advertisement that one PAYS to go and experience.

Now, that's not to say that socialization doesn't occur at cons anymore, it certainly does, however the medium in which it has taken on has a completely different connotation to it as compared to days gone by. LARP (Live Action Role Play) has boomed over the past few years and, for some, takes the place of actual social interactivity. Some of it is, in fact, purposed for that exact reason. What happened to talking to people? It's being replaced by the anonymity of behind a furry mask as to create a barrier for the wearer to not feel responsible for any awkward social interactions that a they may encounter under "normal" circumstances.

Hey, you do your thing & I'll do mine is what I've always said, but we don't have that luxury any longer when the tide totally turns against those of us who have moderate interests in genre subjects. It's we who have to modify our way of interacting or be lost to the tide of steam-punk furries posing with total strangers like they're being pumped in the arse just to try & gain "convention notoriety".

That's another aspect of Cons that has crept into the scene, I call it "Convention Notoriety". It's the propensity for certain costumed convention goers to gain as much "popularity" as possibly by posing & taking pictures with every single person that they possibly can. Some of these folks will do anything to get attention. Although nudity is strictly prohibited, I'm here to tell you that line is regularly crossed and is more often "hovered around" by the female con-goers. Again, it's your thing- do what you wanna do. I would point out that this is probably why there are hardly any kids attending conventions nowadays (6-17 years of age). Just my opinion....the parents need a way to escape their reality and what better way than to put on a mask, leave the kids with a sitter & go partying with other people wearing an Oscar the Grouch costume, huh?

 I, for one, make a special note to the change in dealers & dealers rooms. I mean, come on, each year with increasing veracity the people of the convention are literally herded into, around & back out of the dealers room exactly like cattle. If you stop for one second, you better be buying something or there'll be someone telling you to keep it moving! Plus, the dealers rooms are filled with things that really aren't that collectible- just expensive!

 The experience of being herded like cattle was off-putting enough. DC has far outgrown the venues it currently employs. It needs to change venues or expand, which has an opposite effect on patrons trying to get to where they're going in time to participate in whatever event they wish to attend.

I know, I know...too preachy. Anyway, my way of fandom is on the way out (if it's not gone already) and the next generation has firmly settled itself into the center throne.

One last thing...while my daughter & I were waiting on the ground floor elevators at the Hilton, a middle-aged man was harassing a couple of older women who were handicapped. This was in a crowd of about 20 people all dressed as superheroes. As the bully went back to the women for a second round- I told him "That's enough! Leave them alone. I'm not scared of you, so be quiet & leave them alone."

He smarted off to me and began yelling at me. When he saw that I actually was not scared and was willing to stand my ground. He ran off. Here's what pissed me off about the entire thing: during this 5 -7 minute ordeal; NOT ONE of these "superheroes" even bothered to help the two women or even acknowledge what was happening around them. They want to dress the part, play the part, but when it comes down to HELPING someone else- well, that's too much.

 My 11 year old daughter who witnessed this entire event beamed with pride at me. I told her to never let someone else be victimized in your presence.

So, in her eyes, who's the real superhero now, nerds?

-Nash

TWD Season 5 Filming & Coverage! 4-21-14

TWD SEASON 5: Here We Go Again

Well, well, well - here we are again, folks! As the rest of fandom who are not lucky enough to live in the filming areas are waiting until October to get their TWD fix, we are within days of being able to begin going to filming to get ours!

We all now know that the first 8 scripts are completed, a lot of pre-production has been done by the various departments & the read-thrus are most likely already underway. So as location filming begins, you know that I'll be there- along with the usual local group of fans.

This all depends, as it has in the past, on where they shoot & what/who we can see when we arrive. Last years Plant Yates shoot (see previous blog entries regarding that fiasco) was pretty sealed up, as was a number of others compared to years past, so it's a crap shoot as to what we see & who we'll get to meet.

I let up a little last year on releasing pics & videos from our set visits because so much had changed between Season 3 location security & Season 4's. Also, we had a lot of goofball fans pulling idiotic shenanigans it kinda pissed me off to be around some of those dummies. I mean, past locations are still being stolen from, broken into, trespassed upon and many other equally stupid acts.Believe me when I tell you that there's a lot of people getting in trouble that you never hear about (except locally)!

This year for me will be a little more generous with pics & videos again. I say this because I see a lot of fans posting on Youtube  "insider" information & speculations in which most is incorrect. One of the more popular TWD Youtubers lives in California and he reports about filming locations & fan pics of filming...but he's usually  way off base or fail to actually talk to someone who is on-the-spot & is straight up wrong- but he presents it as if it was fact or he was there. Silly. Why say something along the lines of "TWD is allegedly filming at ________, but I don't know for sure." right after people who are at the location begin sharing pics & videos of the locations & interactions? This has led to a lot of his viewers to regard his statements as "fact" and then the info get's distorted into something far different. As an aside, his report is usually off by a couple of weeks and is by no means "real time"!

I like "real time" relaying of information, however this jump-the-gun approach can be misleading as sometimes we don't really know what we're looking at in terms of context. So, I'm going to go back into my "Season 3 Mode" and go to as many location sets as possible this year & get as much visual information as possible to relay to the fans. I'll do so respectfully (and legally) to the production. I'll go ahead and tell you this: the main Terminus building is up in Atlanta, but a lot of the Terminus stuff will be filmed in/around Senoia.

 I'm not going to cover the Atlanta shoots because of the sheer amount of people that will be gawking & that lessens the potential of actually seeing something or meeting the cast & crew. The smaller the crowd near a location shoot, the better the chances they'll stop & take time to talk, give autographs & just talk to you.

Regardless, I'm glad to be going back & actually releasing more like I used to do. It might help clear the air about certain locations & which actors are there. Plus it's fun!

Am I glad that I get to get a TWD fix year round? Hell yes! What are you, stupid?!!!

The Season 3 Set Gang rides again!

TWD Season 4 Finale!

TWD SEASON 4 FINALE EPISODE

OK folks, it's over & done with for this season! Here's what I thought about the series finale episode:

It sure wasn't what I expected, but not in a bad way. I think they way they edited the episode to underscore Ricks evolution (or de-evolution as some might say) wasn't really necessary as we all know what Rick has done. It doesn't make sense to do it that way from the perspective of a new viewer either, as the flash back scenes wouldn't help them at all to understand the transformation without more context.

 Regardless, the episode picked up ques from the comics in the Hunters finding Rick & the gang, which I liked. I really liked the way Rick approached Terminus. That's the way I would have done it. As I stated in my last blog, the other gang just meandered all up in Terminus without a second thought! I was also glad to see that my speculation regarding the memorial room was right, looks like the name of all the people that they've sacrificed or have died are written on the floor.

Further, we know that the cannibal hypothesis seems to be correct, as we saw bloody bones of what appeared to be human remains in one area as the group is being shot at and "herded" to the box cars. Also, the clue of the powered milk and the faint yelling of others in the other train cars can be heard as well. Cramped up, fattened up & slaughtered.

The rear door was obviously the "right" way in, as Mary stated that she thought that Rick and company were smart and could be one of them. Looks like the "dummy" way in is a test to weed out potential members from meals.

Could we finally be seeing the start of Carl's dark descent into that "dark place" that execs, writers & the actors keep alluding to? He's seen his father go there and keep it together, perhaps it's foreshadowing that promised story arc.

Now, the "brutality" part that was highly touted, to me, wasn't there. There has been more brutal moments than Rick biting Joe in the neck and going ape-shit on Dan. To be honest, Dan did deserve everything he got...and more. There's nothing more sickening than a pedophile rapist. Rick flipped the switch and punished him as his conscious would allow. Now, the scene itself put me in an uncomfortable position, as I did not know how they were going to show the act itself upon Carl. I can't watch scenes like that without squirming a little- I just don't like sexual violence in any form- especially when it involves children. However, they conveyed the danger without going to far and for that I'm glad.

As an aside, during filming the box car scene, there was one take where Rick walked up the steps alone, entered the rail car and then we hear him scream. Maybe they shot different things and saw how it played out during editing maybe. Who knows? Maybe they shot something now that will be used in Season 5? Just guessing.

Overall for Season 4? Here's my top four moments:
                                                                           1) Prison attack by the Governor.
                                                                           2) Death of Herschel.
                                                                           3) Carol murders Lizzie.
                                                                           4) Rick inside Terminus.

OK, so with that said, I'm waiting on April/May so we can start going back to watch them film season 5 and get some pics! No hiatus for us here in Georgia for TWD!

TWDSeason 4: Just One Episode Left!

ONCE MORE UNTO THE BREACH, DEAR FRIENDS

Well, here we are again folks! One more episode left in this season and the wait begins for filming of Season 5 sometime in April (rumored).

This season has been a little unbalanced, in my opinion. It really has. Character inconsistencies, contradictions and a seemingly rushed-to-tie-up-loose-ends situations. There are certain things within the show that just don't add up. So many questions and observations had to be addressed!

 So, a couple of us fans got together and had a healthy discussion regarding the series as it is currently, speculation regarding future events, and all those little details that geeks discuss when talking TWD. Our discussion brought up a lot of different views and pointed out certain things that, I think, should be talked about.

Our round table discussion (sometimes debate!) began with a general consensus that this season has been unbalanced in its narrative and characterizations. The first half of this season has only one redeeming event: the Governors final attack upon the prison & the death of Herschel. Now, I've already posted a blog regarding this first half of S4, so we'll forego any further dissection of it at this point.

Let's move on to the back 8. Where to start? We started with the obvious: the painful fact that about 80% of the episodes consists of the characters walking around in the woods & endlessly talking until a few walkers (or other threat) show up and a scramble ensues. Were there meaningful character developments? Any real surprises about the characters? Not really. Great acting to be sure, but how are we as an audience supposed to try & relate to our heroes when they become downright unsympathetic? How are we supposed to root for our favorite character when they act totally contrary to their growth (their ESTABLISHED character) within the story since the beginning? Especially without being provided a reason!

   The first few episodes were typical of the TWD pattern: a series of "moments" with a wrap-around story. The narrative is not pushing forward constantly and furiously, as it should be within the scenario- but rather it crawls to a predictable resolution without the characters changing. I say they don't change because they may step out of their known characteristics and go nuts or do something totally contrary to what they have learned, they always return to their established characterizations. It's like a character takes a detour, only to arrive right back where they were.

   Carl & Ricks situation is a prime example of this. Carl nuts-up, spews out vileness towards his unconscious father (who had saved his life on many occasions prior) only to tell him that if he died, that he'd be fine with that. The whole "Carl descends into a dark place" promised by Kirkman in Season 3 seemed to have been set up, but then discarded. He simply turned into an arrogant, ungrateful little asshole for one episode. He ate some pudding and he was back to his old self. That's some powerful pudding right there folks.

   The entire set-up of the prison walker feeder was put in place, clues given, Lizzie & Mika alluded to aaaand...well, they wrapped that story up rather quickly. Almost like they had to hurry up & get them girls out of the way so a new direction could be taken. It was a shocking episode, but it wasn't unexpected. Carol & Tyreese wrapped up their situation neatly & cleanly without even a good argument. .

   I mean, why would Lizzie (Borden? A real subtle clue from the jump by the way.) be saving her sister from walker attacks one moment and disemboweling her the next? Feeding walkers one moment & shooting them the next?I agree that the girl was confused and obviously psychotic, which was pretty obvious. Carol admitted she should have known, she saw the signs- while Tyreese had no clue whatsoever about any of it. How could they both be so clueless?

   Again, a series of "moments" until a shock or action sequence. Seemingly endless (and ultimately useless) talking between characters seems like filler material until the next gag. Was new revelations or other character developments introduced through this dialogue? No, ultimately Carol was still able to kill like she did Karen & David. She really didn't change, despite all the crying.Was there another option regarding Lizzies murder? Probably. Tyreese obviously agreed with Carols idea of putting Lizzie down as he did nothing to prevent it, which is against his established nature! No, Lizzie's murder was out of necessity of the writers to get out of that story line and do it with some shock value. Once those sisters were gone, the new story line can be pursued.

Which brings us to the whole "Terminus" story line. We knew from the first second we saw that damn sign that something wasn't right! Somehow, our heroes (even though they had just gotten out of a conflict with Woodbury & the Governor) totally forget about it & follow the signs without too much fuss or thought! Didn't they learn anything? Hell, they walked right in without so much as even checking the place out first. Someone should have questioned their trip to Terminus before even going! I've seen these same characters talk endlessly about matters much less serious than this!

The whole Abraham, Rosita & Eugene scenario are just as ludicrous. I mean, really, Glenn & Maggie were at the CDC for Pete's sake- they know more about the virus than anyone else, so why take old mullet head at his word that he can "save the world" so easily? After they all re-united, someone should have (& would have, if they maintained their established characterizations) stood up & questioned the good doctor & his companions regarding it.

No, the characters are following an automatic course set by the writers to go to Terminus so a new set-up can be established. So, they cut a few corners in wrapping things up at the sake of the characters lack of growth.

I admit that Terminus is intriguing in it's potential. We all suspect that the people there are cannibals or something as just as evil. We know what will happen, we just don't know how or when.

Then again, we were promised the Prison would be an incredible story line, a "new" zombie threat       ( zombies with a flu, btw, where are those zombies now? Seems that was wrapped up without explanation too.)- only to be shown a series of "moments" connected by walking in the woods or corridors talking.

At least Denise Crosby (Tasha Yar, Star Trek: TNG) was there to greet them. That was the biggest surprise of the entire episode!

I'm holding out that the promise that this season finale will be brutal and shocking. It better be, they've got some catching up to do.