Salute Your Shorts: Liberator (2012)

Once the country’s most beloved superhero, Al Migliocetti aka “Liberator” (Lou Ferrigno) has really hit rock bottom. After being set up by the government for a crime he did not commit -- which resulted in a lengthy prison sentence -- Al is ready to set the record straight and finally get his life back together. As wonderful as this all sounds, Al has one major roadblock in his road to redemption, and that is the very people who set him up to take the fall. This gives Al only one option, and that’s to dust off his old costume and make a return as Liberator!

Directed by Aaron Pope, Liberator is less of a short film and, in true comic book nature, more of a first installment. The film is bookended by comic book panel sequences that help to give some exposition as well as fill in certain aspects that are well out of budgetary reach for such a modest project. Despite being a low-budget affair, however, Liberator is quite ambitious, featuring some moderately admirable special effects.  

There are moments where the filmmaking is a tad amateurish, specifically with some staging. On the other hand, however, there are also a handful of wonderfully crafted action sequences featuring impressive continuous shots and solid editing, which help to create a smooth and comprehensive flow of action that is quite exciting to watch. Some of the performances are awkward at times, and this includes Lou Ferrigno himself. Though, in the case of Ferrigno, his less than perfect performance is balanced out by a genuine level of sympathy and sincerity that the ever massive man brings to the table.

Liberator ends on a To Be Continued… note, which comes just as Al is going back to his Liberator roots to face off against his enemies, leaving the viewer with an exciting cliffhanger and a reason to look forward to a future installment. Regardless of whether or not that ever comes, Liberator works as a fairly entertaining comic book inspired short that is worth twenty minutes of your time, so long as you are a fan of such subject matter. If not, maybe the Don “The Dragon” Wilson cameo will be enough to sell you on the project.

If you’d like to check it out, you can rent or purchase Liberator on Amazon for $2.99.

CNAMB Presents: Monster of the Week!

Hey, remember this segment?! It sure has been a while since I've done a Monster of the Week…maybe I should change the name to Monster of the Quarterly! Aww jeez, just how silly would that be?! Not that I ever really did Monster of the Week every week per say, but it has been far too long since I have done one, so for that, I apologize. So, in it's long overdue return to what will hopefully be a more normal rotation, I have what would be an interesting monster for this edition of Monster of the Week. This is a creature that draws mixed reviews from horror fans for it's celluloid incarnation, but for me, it is a monster that scared the corn right out of my ass when I was a kid and one that I still have a soft spot for.

Alright, lets get this long overdue show on the road and introduce our Monster of the Week… 

Rawhead Rex!

Rawhead Rex is a monster to be reckoned with – this massive madman has appeared in print, film, and even a handful of graphic novels. My first introduction to Rawhead Rex came via the 1986 film adaptation of the short story from Clive Barker's third volume in the Books of Blood series. So, while some may say the movie is awful (including Barker himself), at the time I saw it, it was pretty damned scary, mostly due to how monstrous and toothy Rawhead was. Plus, the Ireland setting is a fantastic one and there is a very appealing and natural atmosphere about the film due to it's dark and gloomy setting. Granted, I was pretty young when I saw the movie, so that of course factors heavily into my fear of the creature quite heavily.

Now, whether or not I enjoy the movie, I know it's not all that great, something that came to me when I first read the short story some years back and was blown away by how good it was in comparison to the film. However, even as I read the story, all I could think was how difficult a story it is to translate to screen, mostly due to the inner thoughts of Rawhead himself. Anyways, the film is not a good one, but it is a fun one for being cheesy and completely out there (that baptism scene?!), and you gotta love that big dopey Rex with his crossed glowing red eyes and intense fear of the female flow.    

I really wish Rawhead Rex would see a rerelease on DVD again someday. Lions Gate Home Entertainment owns the license, but still no plans are in place for a release, which is unfortunate. Either way, I still love me some Rawhead (wait, what did I just type?) and I think he makes for an interesting and fun return to Monster of the Week! 

CNAMB Presents: Monster of the Week!

Every week I'm looking to bring you sexy bitches a pick for a "monster of the week," whether it be a creature, a mutant, a zombie, or even a serial killer. Criteria for monster of the week will only require one thing, that I think said monster is dope. No other criteria is necessary if you ask me!

The first monster of the week is...

Swamp Thing!

Created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson in 1971, Swamp Thing is originally a comic book character, but over the years has graced many different media outlets. Most notably and the main reason for his appearance this week is for the 1982, Wes Craven directed pulp horror film classic, simply titled, Swamp Thing. There was an eventual sequel in 1989, The Return of Swamp Thing, and of course Swamp Thing: The Series TV show that aired on the USA Network from 1990-1993.

A great character and a classic horror monster, who really isn't so much of a monster outside of his moist exterior, Swamp Thing is a creature that I will always be found of. The only thing I have always wondered though, does Swamp Thing ever get a chapped ass like I do when I get swampy in the summer time? If so, what is his remedy?

Tales of Rocky Point Park

I just so happened to watch 1981's The Funhouse within the same two days I decide to read the first two issues of Tales of Rocky Point Park. As I was in the midst of this, I realized that both the carnival location of the film and the amusement park setting of the comic were very similar to one another, so I thought why not review both the comic and the movie! So, in a joint effort with that awesome blog, Paracinema...The Blog, I will do my review of Tales of Rocky Point Park here, while The Funhouse will be posted over at Paracinema.

Illustrated and written by Jason Mayoh, Tales of Rocky Point Park is a three part independent comic book that mixes rumors and urban legends with facts about the now long gone Rocky Point Amusement Park in Rhode Island. I only have the first two issues, so I cannot speak for the entire Rocky Point saga, but each of these issues are independent from each other for the most part and each issue focuses on a different aspect of the legendary amusement park.

Rocky Point opened its gates way back in 1847 and officially closed in 1996. It sat there after closing, rusting and rotting away till 2007 when the park was finally demolished, leaving behind quite the legacy for the many people that enjoyed the park throughout its long history. It was the most popular attraction in Road Island and one of the biggest and most beloved in all of New England. Being open as long as it was, Rocky Point built up many memories - and sitting for as long as it sat, abandoned and rusting away, those stories were to be passed on from generation to generation...stories that over time, evolved into legends.

That is the focus of Tales of Rocky Point Park, Mayoh takes the facts about the parks history, most of which are fascinating, and mixes them with the urban legends that have developed over the years. In the first issue, the main focus is The House of Horrors and the many sordid tales that the parks very popular haunted attraction brought. It also introduces The Viking - a figure that was an abused fixture of the haunted house that is turned into a sort of protector of the grounds in this morbid tale. In the second issue, Mayoh concentrates on the Skyliner, a sort of ski lift that carried passengers from one end of the park, to the other. With a great view of the entire park, people loved the Skyliner, but for some, the Skyliner was a trip to their doom as there were a few accidents, some of them even fatal.

Heavily inspired by E.C. comics, these Tales of Rocky Point Park are a lot of fun, while being more than just a bunch of made up stories. There are a ton of great anecdotes to be told about the park and to have those stories mixed with the urban legends that generated from the location is a recipe for informative success. Each issue includes about two pages of memories and recollections from a slew of people, from ex-employees to city council officials. The black and white artwork is solid and Mayoh uses a very classic comic book style that works well in this genre of storytelling.

I had picked these issues up a long time ago now and I'm happy that I finally got to reading them...I am very interested in learning more about the park itself and incidentally there is a 2007 documentary about Rocky Point titled You Must Be This Tall. I have known about it for some time and I have always wanted to check it out, but even more now I would like to see it after reading Tales of Rocky Point Park. I am not sure if the doc gets into any of the "stranger occurrences" of Rocky Point, but there is a lot of history to be learned about this one time place of joy and happiness that filled so many with an unlimited amount of nostalgia.

You can pick up Tales of Rocky Point Park from the official website here - you can buy each of the three issues separately, or in a collected graphic novel style book that contains all three stories. If anyone out there in Baby Eating land has ever seen the documentary, I would love to hear a little about it. Now in the spirit of haunted amusement parks, I would like to invite you to head over to Paracinema and check out my review of The Funhouse! The Funhouse and the Rocky Point comics went so well together and the accidental pairing gave me an excuse to do a comic review, which most of you may know, I have never done before, so I hope it was aight!



Enjoy the review!

An Update, News and the Secret of My Ooze

Big news in the comic world - Nickelodeon just recently bought the rights to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Global property from The Mirage Group and 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. for a whopping $60 million dollars! While it may be good news in a way, it is kind of a bummer to me. What many people probably do not know is that the Turtles were not originally set in NY; they were actually based and created in North Hampton Massachusetts, which is only about 30 minutes from where I grew up. I have all of my Mirage Studios TMNT comics to this very day (actually, I have all of my comics still), most of them signed by many of the artist and writers involved with the original series, including Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird, the creators of the Turtles and founders of Mirage Studios.

I used to go to a comic store called Altered Earth Arts everyday when I was a kid, and that comic store was owned by Craig "A.C." Farley, someone who at the time had been doing covers for the compilation issues that came out every so often - a best of TMNT if you will. So anyway, he went on to do a few of his own issues (writing and drawing) for the series, and the very first one he did was clearly set in Chicopee center (where I'm from), and one of the main young characters had a striking resemblance to yours truly (right down to the lines shaved on the side of my head)! There was even a moment where a bully beat up "my" character and that bully happened to look exactly like a guy that used to work at that same comic store. He was a big dude that would rough house my friends and I when we came in to buy comics, in playful (and non-sexual way...I think!) way, so it was fitting that he be the bully to punch "my" characters lights out.

So as you can see, I have a soft spot for the Turtles property (Totally Tubular Trailers?), and even if the movies and TV series were never nearly as cool or dark as the original Eastman and Laird creation, they were still a ton of fun. Knowing that such a majorly successful franchise/property was thunk up and created near where I grew up, and is now all but completely sold off is a little sad to me. Especially when I had some personal connections to that franchise/property in a lot of ways, so I feel like it's kind of mine. I am pretty selfish, however.

I also wanna mention - the Dario Argento book by Mr. James Gracey that I just recently posted about has unfortunately been pushed back to an unknown date. Seems to happen with all the good shit, doesn't it? Anyway, hopefully it will be out sooner rather than later, and I will update you skanks if I hear anything else about a release date - as will James on his blog. If you are a fan of dope, or if you like bad-ass, and you are a fan of Argento, then head over to Amazon and give this little bitch a pre-order in support of dope, bad-ass, Argento-ness!