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"I have seen things in this world that would make Isaac Newton crawl back into his mother's womb! We are not so enlightened as we are blinded by the gaseous light of science. I have wrestled with the Devil as Jacob wrestled the Angel in Penuel, and I tell you that if we are to tame darkness, we must first face that it exists!"

In 1922 during the final decade of the Silent Era director F.W. Murnau conspired with screenwriter Henrik Galeen to do a film based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. The problem was that the work was copyrighted and a protected work. They decided to change the name of the vampire to Count Orlok and do the film anyway as Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror. The case ended up in court when the Stoker estate sued the filmmakers for copyright infringement. The court agreed and ordered all copies of the film to be destroyed. Of course, everyone complied, and no one ever saw or heard about the film today. Yeah, well ... not exactly. Eventually copies of the film turned up, and film historians managed to piece the film back together. The only issue was that various translations of the original title cards were missing. An East German collector finally discovered the copy most of us have seen today. From a picture ordered destroyed, it has become one of the most important horror films in the history of the industry. By strange coincidence, the actor who played the wonderfully designed vampire creature was named Max Schreck. He wasn't terribly known, and that last name translates to terror. All kinds of myths and urban myths have floated around since then, some claiming Murnau found an actual vampire to play the role. Shadow Of The Vampire was released in 2000 with none other than Willem Defoe as the actor/vampire. It treated the myth as if it were true. It's a wonderful film, and there have been literally hundreds of films remade from Nosferatu: A Symphony Of Horror since then. There was even a Nosferatu remake made as recently as 2023, with Doug Jones playing Count Orlok. Dracula has long since entered public domain, and anyone is free to interpret the material today. So it's kind of nice that filmmakers are still doing the Nosferatu version of a film that isn't supposed to exist at all. Isn't life strange?

"You know, we've got a lot to be thankful for. And looking around this table, I gotta say I couldn't be more proud or grateful." 

It's the end of a tour of duty for the cast and crew of Blue Bloods. On Friday, December 13^th, the show aired its last episode. It's time to say goodbye to the Reagans ... maybe not forever, but for now. After 14 years and 293 episodes, the show comes to an end. It wasn't because ratings had dropped. They most certainly have not. The show was actually still growing after 14 years. It wasn't because the actors wanted out. Not a single cast member wanted out. More on my thoughts later. For now Paramount is releasing Blue Bloods: The Final Season on DVD so you can complete your collection. 

"Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It has been 40 years since my last confession. I had a drinking problem, and that became a drug problem, and I ruined my life ... There's this thing that has come up. It's a job, and it's coming to me off the back of someone else's tragedy. But maybe work will be good for me, you know? Give me a sense of purpose. Make me stronger. Maybe make my daughter proud of me."

It's the confession of a desperate man, and that's the center of The Exorcism. This year there's a new Gladiator film out, but Russell Crowe isn't going to be fighting again in the arenas of ancient Rome any time soon. Instead he has been spending some time lately doing battle with Satan himself and some of his minions. The Exorcism was actually his first tour of duty in the genre. That film actually wrapped in 2019 but took nearly five years to make it to the box office, were it came and went with little more than a whimper. Later Crowe also starred in The Pope's Exorcist, where he played the top exorcism man in the Vatican. The crazy thing is that film came first, so to most people it looked like The Exorcism was just a cheap redo. That doesn't mean, of course, that this isn't a kind of redo. It is, and no one is really hiding the fact. You'll understand in a minute.

"Don't hate the player. Hate the game."

When it comes to The Killer's Game, there's a lot to hate and just not enough to love. I happen to like Dave Bautista. He has the physical skills to play incredibly intimidating roles, and he actually has a good bit of comedic timing. The Guardians Of The Galaxy films gave him the perfect place to put all of that on display. He's an entertaining part of an ensemble cast, and he more than pulls his weight in a crowd. He's been showing up in some very important films of late, but up until this point none of these roles required him to step out of the comfortable settings where he can pretty much be him and it works on multiple levels. So we already had a pretty good idea where Dave Bautista's strengths were to be found. It had to happen sooner or later. It's obvious the wrestler-turned-actor has been having a good time in this actor's game, and it was only a matter of time before he might want to see just how far his chops could take him. Could he take on the weight of being a leading man? He chose a pretty safe film, anchored in those things we already knew he could do, with an expanded role that put him at the top of the call sheet for the first time in his career. The evidence has been presented, and the defense has rested its case. The jury is going to be the audience of The Killer's Game, and I think it's safe to say the verdict is in. You might call it a hung jury, but that was because some of decided to take the easy way out and end the misery there. I stuck with it. No suicidal thoughts going through this juror. But I find the defendant Dave Bautista guilty on all counts. Taking on a leading man role is absolutely criminal, and if you have the patience to read on, I'm going to give you my reasons. Just understand this guilt is beyond and reasonable ... forget that. This verdict is beyond a shadow of a doubt. Dave Bautista has been found condemned to going back to making the kinds of films he is good at. Call it community service.

"My, what big teeth you have."

Werewolf stories go back to Little Red Riding Hood, and likely even farther than that. Lon Chaney, Jr.'s performance as Larry Talbot, the haunted soul who bears the burden of The Wolfman, is the version that still remains the standard. Before that Werewolf Of London in 1935 started Universal's dip into the Lycanthrope waters, and there have been a few classic retellings of the plights of these men plagued by the sight of the full moon. John Landis was the first to use modern technology to give us a most horrifying transformation in his iconic An American Werewolf In London back in 1981. The Underworld films have been my most recent favorites, and the Universal film is about to hit the box office with a remake of The Wolfman from the team that brought us the clever reimagining of The Invisible Man. Warren Zevon sang about them, and soon you'll be able to ride a Wolfman roller-coaster at Universal's new Orlando theme park, Epic Universe, with an entire universe land dedicated to the classic monsters. In the meantime, Mark Polonia has decided to mash-up the werewolf legends with the recent outbreak of "junkie" creatures. It's not just the Wall Street wolves and the elite soccer moms getting high on cocaine anymore. Forget your trendy addict rock stars. Lately everything from bears to sharks have been tooting the white powder, and the results have been ... well ... more amusing than horrifying. Now we have a Cocaine Werewolf, and it's all downhill from there. Downhill, yes, but somewhat amusing all the same.