Another Year in the Twilight Zone

Well Another Holiday season has come and Gone and I have to say that it was not a bad one This year. Usually I am in quite a mood during this time of year but I am feeling in a mood to celebrate this past year. There are many plans that I have and small successes and wins that I am quite proud of

I have Goals that I mean to accomplish and a new business plan to work and a series of projects to bring you in the coming year.

Let us face It I have had some rough ones lately and it is no time to dwell in the past but to look forward to the future.

Now it is ironic that I make that statement considering that I am looking forward to one of my favorate traditions.

For the Past two decades the Sci-Fi Channel now known simply as SyFy has been showcasing their annual marathon of another world created by Rod Serling, the 5^th dimension known as The Twilight Zone.

The Zone has been a pioneer in the Sci-Fi/Horror Genre for half a century and has showcased works from the greatest writers and actors in the industry featuring established stars as well as up and comers who are now industry leaders The Twilight Zone is often imitated but despite two attempts at revival has never been duplicated.

A former Boxer and WWII Soldier himself before becoming a pioneer in television writing, Rod Serling has taken us to a universe with tales of an Airman searching a town where he is the only living being wondering “Where is Everybody” to a Bewitching Pool that is the portal for children feeling unloved can find a place to belong and thrilling us with tales of passengers seeing monsters on the sides of planes in a Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, and beauty in a world of ugliness which is all in the “Eye of the Beholder”.

This year the marathon is changing as it goes to a new format covering four days and all episodes of the zone in the order of airing. Granted I admit I prefer the older format with the shuffling of episodes but this is a treat for fans of the zone.

I feel the need to give you my Top 10 Favorites of Zone episodes Submitted for your approval. I know that there will be some shocking picks in my list as these are my episodes that I love the most and I am sure that many of you have your own.

I am not going to go into too much detail in theses episodes as I will recommend the Twilight Zone Companion by Marc Scott Zicree for your reading pleasures.

I will begin with the second episode in the series One for the Angels starring Ed Wynn and Murray Hamilton where a street pitchman meets Death himself and takes on the task of saving the life of an 8 year old girl.

My next pick is Mr Bevis also from the 1^st season. Following Henry Bevis the local “Oddball” after a bad day in his life he meets his guardian angel who seeks to give him a better life and adventages by molding him into someone that he does not want to be.

Walking Distance takes on a theme that Serling often visits is the nostalgia of the past where an Add executive running from his life in the city walks to his hometown and transports back intime to a summer of his childhood.

What you Need where a man that can see the future is bullied by a man who wants to exploit his abilities for his own gain.

Another pick is Two where Charles Bronson and Elizabeth Montgomery are two wartime rivals who are the last man and woman on earth after the fallout of a war.

The Masks where a wealthy Dying man puts his greedy family in their place by showing them their real faces.

The Hunt where a man and his loving dog die while on a coon hunt and while reacting to their families and friends have to go on Eternity Road to meet their destination.

The Shelter which features no Science Fiction element just the primal instincts of human nature at it’s worst where a Doctor and his family have to face their friends and neighbors inside their bomb shelter.

Passage on the Lady Ann which also feature no Science Fiction element where a Married couple find romance once again onboard a cruise ship and their elderly passangers who seem to not want them there.

Finally No Time like the Past starring Dana Andrews as a time traveling scientist who after failing to stop events in history resides himself to a small town in the past but can’t avoid history.

Do you agree with my choices please feel free to comment with your picks. 

Krampus

I am getting pretty tired of this damn so-called "War on Christmas"!

If I want to say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or Happy Life Day it is my right. I feel the need to point out that when people say Merry Christmas no one says anything but if you say Happy Holidays to someone who even slightly resembles your stereotypical Right Winger I get yelled at where they say “NO, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!”  Then I say Get a Life.

Just when you think it can’t get any lower then comes this recent deal with Starbucks where people are complaining that because there are no Snowflakes or Reindeer on the Red cups that it is an Attack on Christmas.  This actually gets on my nerves because are they that desperate to find an excuse to complain that they have to just complain that something isn’t Christmas Enough to appease these Bullies.

Now I am a firm believer in something that Bill Maher said last year that the best way to save Christmas is to make it something that we don’t have to endure but just enjoy.

That is why I have made the decision to give my best effort to enjoy this season.

I have my Mondo Friday the 13^th Christmas sweater that I won at a Friday the 13^th Screening and I have been keeping busy shooting for HauntShooter and The Video Creep among others.

Bri, Anjanette, and I have been shooting for The Krampus Sociaty as well as some videos for The Dark Hour Haunted House in Plano.

The Dark Hour is a Year-Round Haunt that opens occasionally for special Holiday Events such as the Creepy Christmas themed Wreck The Halls that I will be shooting.

Naturally with all the Krampus themed events that I have been doing I decided to keep up the theme as well as my decision to enjoy the holidays I decided to check out the new film that has been released in theatres.

So I called up Alan and we headed over to The Alamo Drafthouse to catch the flick.

Krampus is helmed by none other than Trick R Treat’s  Michael Dougherty creating yet another yearly tradition for me to enjoy Krampus takes a look at what the Christmas holiday has deteriorated to for many of us with the shopping Savages, the corporate commercialism and the ignoring of traditions.

Following a family in their holiday misery with an awkward reunion the young son frustrated with the events tears up his letter to Santa which attracts the attention of Krampus.

Soon the family finds themselves trapped in a Blizzard that has them cut off from the rest of the world with the beast outside hunting them.

Now for those of you that are unaware Krampus is the henchman of Santa Clause who punishes the naughty children and drags them to hell.

 Well Krampus is not alone as he has an assortment of Demonic Toys, Impish Gingerbread Men and Elves aiding him in the torment of his victims which adds an element of creepiness to the flick.

The cast is great ranging from Toni Collette to comedians Adam Scott and David Koechner with character actress Conchata Ferrell providing much of the comic relief for the film.

I have often stated that Horror and Comedy if properly used can go together like Peanut Butter and Chocolate and this flick is a great example with the use of comedy and the creepiness of the effects for a great 1-2 Punch.

The Effects are a combined use of Practical Effects and animation to add to its factors and I particularly like the use of one simple location to give us a claustrophobic feel and the coldness of the situation.

The movie keeps you entertained however it does fall to one of the standard pitfalls of the horror film which is when the characters do the opposite of what they should but if they do…Well there would not be too much of a Movie.

13 Dead Bodies

0 Breasts (PG-13)

9 Beasts

Creepy Gingerbread Men

Child Eating Toys

Flames of Hell

Killer Elves

Christmas Fu

Child Fu

4 Stars

Check It Out as it is a New Holiday Tradition.

Creed

It takes a real man to admit that he was wrong. I am a real man and I can at least admit when I was wrong. 

Yes I am a Rocky fan. Have been since I was a child and was introduced to Rocky III and was soon introduced to the WWF through Hulk Hogan’s appearance in the film as well as become a fan of boxing and MMA and have closely followed the series through all of the films.

The films have greatly influenced my life as well as the lives of many others.

When I first heard the announcement for Creed I was none too happy to find out about the plot as I thought that Rocky Balboa was the best way to finish out the series. I thought that the film would suck.

I was also not happy to find out that Burt Young and Tony Evers would not be in the film. Next to Stallone these characters are main stays in the franchise as they have been in all of the films.

Now on the plus side I always felt that there was much to be done with the character of Apollo Creed and when the character was killed in the fourth installment at the hands of Ivan Drago the character and his legacy was all but dropped, with the exception of a few mentions in the next two films.

I apparently was not the only one.

Hot off the success of Fruitvale Station director Ryan Coogler pitched the idea to Stallone of a spinoff film that followed the son of Apollo Creed as he starts his fighting career and is trained by Balboa.

Fruitvale Station also starred Michael B. Jordan in the role of the ill-fated Oscar Grant and would take on the Title Role of Adonis “Donnie” Creed.

We soon learn that Donnie is the illegitimate son of Apollo and after the death of his biological mother found himself falling thru the  cracks of the system and getting into fights landing himself in Juvenile detention until one day he is found by Mary-Ann Creed and raised as her own.

Now where many people will think that this is history repeating it’s self we soon learn that Adonis has been given the best education and has a great life lined up before him but wants the path of a championship boxer.

Being spurned by Mary-Ann and Apollo’s Academy including the son of Duke,  Donnie travels to Philadelphia where he seeks out Rocky Balboa.

Rocky is pretty much where we left him nearly a decade ago running his restaurant and visiting the grave of his late wife and now his best friend Paulie and soon decides to take on Donnie as his protégé.

While Donnie is romancing a young singer Bianca Rocky soon finds that he is ill and fighting his most deadly opponent…Cancer.

This was an amazing story that while watching with a packed house and hearing the reactions of the attendees who were all into the flick from beginning to end with the humor and highs and lows in emotions in the flick. There was even many with tears in the theatre.

The Camera work was amazing and I am going to get many dirty looks but this was probably the best fight in the sequels from a technical and story perspective.

The film also maintains continuity to the Rocky series and answers the question as to who won the third fight between Rocky and Apollo in the end of the third film. 

There is also a scene where Rocky shows a picture of his son and it is of Sage Stallone who played the character in Rocky V. Sadly Sage passed away in 2012.  

I want to say that I was impressed with Stallone but I have always had him pegged as a great actor and filmmaker but I was more impressed with Jordan who could stand next to Stallone playing the character of Rocky Balboa and still maintain to keep the focus on the film on the Creed character.

Credit also needs to go to Tessa Thompson for her performance as Bianca.

There is already talks of a sequel.

5 Stars

Check it out

25 Years of The Undertaker: The Rise

Being that this upcoming Thanksgiving marks the 25^th anniversary of Mark Calaway’s  tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment with the debut of his character The Undertaker and that he is by far my favorite Wrestler and one of my heroes from childhood to now and I have to honor him in this series of blogs that are to follow the different eras of “The Phenom”.  

I was first familiar with Mark Calaway due to his time as Texas Red in World Class Championship Wrestling and his time in WCW as Mean Mark Callous with the Sky Scrapers with his soon departure “Up North”.

In the 1990 4^th annual Survivor Series featuring the 4 on 4 Team elimination matches as always one of the top villains was The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase’s Million Dollar Team facing off against The American Dream Dusty Rhoades, Koko B Ware, and Bret “The Hitman” Hart and his tag team partner Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. The rest of the Million Dollar team consisted of The Honky Tonk Man, and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and a mystery partner.

There was much speculation of the identity of the Mystery Partner ranging from Macho Man Randy Savage to Virgil and there was in fact a giant egg that was in arenas at the time and many speculated that the mystery partner was inside the egg.

DiBiase soon announced the identity of his 4^th competitor “led to the ring by his manager Brother Love, Weighing in at 320lbs From Death Valley, I Give You…The Undertaker”

A Somber funeral march began to play as announcers Roddy Piper and Gorilla Monsoon reacted to a 6ft 10in man in black that grimly strode to the ring and started off the match against the Future Champion and Hall of Famer Bret Hart. 

Soon Koko was tagged into the ring and flew off the ropes at his opponent who was soon caught in midair by the pale destroyer who quickly turned him upside down and dropped him on his head in what Monsoon instantly labeled “A Tombstone” and Koko was pinned and rolled out of the ring.

The Undertaker would also eliminate Dusty Rhoades who would then attack Brother Love resulting in Taker coming to his aid being counted out and therefor eliminated from the match. For the brief time that he was in the match he left a large impression on the crowd and the millions watching at home.

Soon it was announced that Brother Love would soon relinquish his managerial duties of the Undertaker and his new manager was announced to be William Moody aka Percy Pringle III but to WWE fans he would always be Paul Bearer.

Paul would lead The Undertaker to the ring carrying a mysterious Urn that The Undertaker would draw his power from and would make quick work of the Jobbers in squash matches before placing them in a Body Bag.

I have to admit that there was a slight fear that I had of The man and I can tell you that I had been ringside during this time and The Undertaker had a presence and when he would walkout it was all silence. 

It was announced that at Wrestlemania VII that The Undertaker would face Superfly Jimmy Snuka and at the event the crowd was amazed during the match at the short work that The Taker made of the future Hall of Famer and legendary wrestler.  

This was the beginning of the Streak at 1-0.

The Undertaker continued his dominance of the WWF Superstars leading to a feud with former Champion The Ultimate Warrior after locking him in an airtight coffin.

Warrior seeking to learn the secrets of death turned to Jake Roberts to get over his fear of the Deadman only to be betrayed by “The Snake” who was revealed to be in with The man in Black all along.

This storyline was quickly dropped after The Warrior left the WWF in 1991 and Jake the Snake was soon locked in a feud with Macho Man Randy Savage after Taker and Jake destroyed his wedding reception.

However The Undertaker was soon announced in the Main Event of the 1991 Survivor Series as Hulk Hogan’s “Gravest Challenge” for the WWF title.

The feud leading up to the event found Hogan facing off against The Undertaker and soon Ric Flair found himself involved in the storyline and interfered in the match with a steel chair costing Hogan the match and giving The Undertaker his first WWF title.

This reign was short lived as Hogan won the title back at the Tuesday in Texas event 7 days later using controversial methods to defeat the Deadman resulting in the vacating of the title.

It was soon after the 1992 Royal Rumble on Saturday Night’s Main Event that while Jake The Snake was about to attack Randy Savage and Elizabeth with a Steel Chair that The Undertaker turned face by stopping the assault.

 Facing off against The Snake at Wrestlemania VIII making his streak 2-0.

It was after Wrestlemania that The Undertaker and Paul Bearer began to feud with the Monsters of the WWF such as the Berserker, Papa Shango, and The Ugandan Giant Kamala. It was the feud with Kamala that came to an end of the 1992 Survivor Series that was the world’s first introduction to The Casket Match.

The purpose of the Casket Match is simple and that is to place your opponent into a casket and close the lid. This was the beginning of many of these matches to come.

At the 1993 Royal Rumble was attacked and eliminated by a The Giant Gonzalez  who gave the undertaker his first real “beat down” resulting in a match at Wrestlemania IX in Las Vegas.

Coming to the ring with a funeral chariot with a large vulture the undertaker took what Gonzalez had to dish out and then gave it back to him and Gonzalez then chloroformed The Taker getting himself disqualified and Taker was soon carried to the back of a stretcher leaving Gonzales celebrating for “Killing The Undertaker”…That is until the bell tolled again and the Undertaker emerged from the back rejuvenated and beating the Giant back to the Back and with the DQ making the Streak 3-0.

While The Undertaker was continuing to feud with Gonzales and Curtis Hughes to Summerslam with Yokozuna dominating the WWF as the champion stating that there was no competition, a feud was inevitable.

While Lex Luger was Captaining the American team with the Steiner Brothers against Yoko’s Fanatics of Ludwig Borga and the Quebeckers  and after teammate Tatanka was put out of action following a beating from the team it was announced that The Undertaker would join Team USA.

The Feud with Yoko resulted in yet another Casket Match and with the advantage in the Undertaker’s corner The champion had some tricks to his advantage.

With the match won and the champion soon being placed in a Double Wide Double Deep Casket The Undertaker soon found himself being attacked by a large amount of heels from the locker room area and after Yoko Smashed Paul Bearer’s urn Taker was placed in the Casket and was wheeled to the back Broken and defeated.

Again the Lights went down and The Undertaker appeared on the screen declaring that he will return and all mankind will witness his Rebirth and that he would not “Rest in Piece”.

Soon the Undertaker would be seen rising to the sky with all wondering if he would ever be seen again.

He would Rise again

In our next Chapter.