Friday Night Frights: Nosferatu (1922)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is the silent classic Nosferatu (1922), based on the story "Dracula". It was directed by F.W. Marnau and stars Max Schreck as Count Orlok.

Let the Right One In

A fragile, anxious boy, 12-year-old Oskar is regularly bullied by his stronger classmates but never strikes back. The lonely boy's wish for a friend seems to come true when he meets Eli, also 12, who moves in next door to him.

But Eli's arrival coincides with a series of gruesome deaths and attacks. Though Oskar realizes that she's a vampire, his friendship with her is stronger than his fear and he cannot forsake her.

However Eli knows that to continue living, she must keep relocating. But when Oskar faces his darkest hour, Eli returns to defend him the only way she can...


One of the best novels of any genre I've read in the past several years, it's not just a terrifying and gripping vampire story, but a tender tale of friendship between two lonely children as well.

This 2004 novel is the first by Swedish writer John Ajvide Lindqvist. The book was a bestseller in the author's home country of Sweden and has been translated into Danish, German, Russian and English. Lindqvist also wrote the screenplay for a Swedish language film version by the same name, directed by Tomas Alfredson, which was released in 2008 to widespread critical acclaim. An English language remake, to be directed by Matt Reeves, is scheduled for release in 2010.



THE MOVIE

Let the Right One In was directed by Tomas Alfredson and stars Kåre Hedebrant as Oskar and Lina Leandersson as Eli. The highly acclaimed film was awarded 43 wins and 6 nominations.

"A CHILLING FAIRY TALE. As delicate, haunting, and poetic a film as you're ever bound to see." - Guillermo del Toro (director of Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy)

Here's the trailer:

The Joe Pitt Casebooks

I've been reading this series since I discovered author Charlie Huston from his books in the Hank Thompson trilogy (more on that trilogy at the end of this post).

You can learn more about Charlie Huston, whom Stephen King calls "one of the most remarkable prose stylists to emerge from the noir tradition in this century", at the author's website - Pulpnoir.com.

The Joe Pitt Casebooks are an ongoing series of supernatural noir thrillers. Each casebook chronicles Joe Pitt's life as well as his struggles in the underground of vampire clans of New York. At first Pitt is an unaffiliated vampire, living in between the cracks by doing jobs for various clans in exchange for blood and freedom. However, as the series progresses, this shifts and Pitt's life evolves with each book.

As of this posting, there are four books already published in this series:

1. ALREADY DEAD
2. NO DOMINION
3. HALF THE BLOOD OF BROOKLYN
4. EVERY LAST DROP

Here's the synopsis of the first book, Already Dead:

"Those stories you hear? The ones about things that only come out at night? Things that feed on blood, feed on us? Got news for you: they’re true. Only it’s not like the movies or old man Stoker’s storybook. It’s worse. Especially if you happen to be one of them. Just ask Joe Pitt.

There’s a shambler on the loose. Some fool who got himself infected with a flesh-eating bacteria is lurching around, trying to munch on folks’ brains. Joe hates shamblers, but he’s still the one who has to deal with them. That’s just the kind of life he has. Except afterlife might be better word.

From the Battery to the Bronx, and from river to river, Manhattan is crawling with Vampyres. Joe is one of them, and he’s not happy about it. Yeah, he gets to be stronger and faster than you, and he’s tough as nails and hard to kill. But spending his nights trying to score a pint of blood to feed the Vyrus that’s eating at him isn’t his idea of a good time. And Joe doesn’t make it any easier on himself. Going his own way, refusing to ally with the Clans that run the undead underside of Manhattan–it ain’t easy. It’s worse once he gets mixed up with the Coalition–the city’s most powerful Clan–and finds himself searching for a poor little rich girl who’s gone missing in Alphabet City.

Now the Coalition and the girl’s high-society parents are breathing down his neck, anarchist Vampyres are pushing him around, and a crazy Vampyre cult is stalking him. No time to complain, though. Got to find that girl and kill that shambler before the whip comes down . . .and before the sun comes up."



THE HANK THOMPSON TRILOGY

This was my introduction to the author. Not horror, they are an engrossing example of pulp noir. Great reads, each one!

You can learn more, and even read each of the books in the trilogy online, by clicking here.

Vampire

The movie Twilight opens today, so it seems appropriate to post a painting of dark romance.

"Vampire" was painted in 1893-4 by Edvard Munch, whose works also include "The Scream".

This painting was originally titled "Love and Pain". A critic mistakenly interpreted it, and the painting became commonly known thereafter as "Vampire". The woman in the painting is actually consoling her lover, not sucking his blood. Although...

Dark Shadows

"My name is Victoria Winters... my journey is just beginning..."

On 27 June 1966, those words began the journey of a young governess to the remote coastal town of Collinsport, Maine, which for the next five years would be the home of the assorted supernatural forces inhabiting the world of ABC-TV's Dark Shadows, the first gothic soap opera.

Created by Dan Curtis, this show ran for 1245 episodes. As a kid in the 60's, I'd hurry home after school so I wouldn't miss the beginning. The show featured vampires, witches, werewolves - everything that kept me glued wide-eyed in front of the set.

Here's a scene in which Willy Loomis, handyman, discovers a secret room in the Collins Mausoleum.