Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vampires. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

CoronaVirus Captain's Library CRACKED "O'Meagre Man"

Much like Blacula, The Omega Man is one of the few 1950s-1970s genre films...
...that didn't have a "straight" comics adaptation!
For those who don't "get" the dated punchline, the final reveal shows the leader to be the primary character of the politically-incorrect 1970s TV series All in the Family.
Illustrated by John Severin (with an assist on likenesses by his sister, master caricaturist Marie Severin), this story from Major Publications' Cracked #100 (1972) is the only adaptation and only spoof of the movie, which itself is the second movie adaptation of Richard Matheson's novelette I Am Legend!
(The first was 1964's Last Man on Earth, starring Vincent Price!)
All three versions specify that a virus kills most of the human population and mutates almost all the survivors into creatures (ghouls/vampires/zombies depending on which version you're watching)!
Note: two of the three cinema versions specify that the disease is man-made!
(Thr original novella indicates it's a natural mutation of rabies and carried by animals!
In the Will Smith movie, it's called the "Krippen Virus" and was intended to destroy cancer cells.
In the Charlton Heston flick, it's nameless biological weapons used by Red China and the USSR in a border conflict which gets out of control!
In the Vincent Price movie, the plague's cause is unspecified.
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I Am Legend/Omega Man
Which features both the recent Will Smith version and the 1970s Charlton Heston version!
(But not the 1960s Vincent Price adaptation.
That one, you can get here...)
Last Man on Earth

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Captain's Library SPOOF "Blechhula!"

There are some movies that deserved comic book adaptations...
...but all they got were things like this never-reprinted, extremely-faithful parody from Marvel's Spoof #4 (1973)!
(BTW, the doctor on the cover was Robert Young as tv sawbones Marcus Welby M.D., also the subject of a parody in this issue!)
Indeed!
There was a Blackenstein, as well as a Blacula sequel, Scream Blacula Scream (co-starring Pam Grier), but the Blaxploitation trend died down before more classic monsters could be adapted to the genre!
Shakespearean actor William Marshall, already familar to genre fans as Dr Richard Daystrom on classic Star Trek, took what could have been a mediocre potboiler and gave it gravitas and panache, creating a memorable addition to the ranks of cinematic creatures of the night!
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Friday, October 7, 2011

Captain's Library: LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES Conclusion

Art by Brian Lewis
While lecturing at a university in Chunking,  Professor Van Helsing mentions a legend about a Chinese village terrorized by vampires.
He is then approached by a student, Hsi Ching, who tells him the story is true, that the bloodsuckers still rule the region, and requests that Van Helsing aid in destroying the menace!
Van Helsing, his son Leyland, Vanessa Buren (their financial benefactor), plus Hsi Ching and his siblings (including his beautiful sister) begin their journey.
But, there are those who do not wish them to reach the village...
The comic adaptation was written by Steven Moore and illustrated by Brian Lewis (who also did the cover painting).
The movie has gone thru several incarnations including radically-different running times and titles including The Seven Brothers (and Their One Sister) Meet Dracula and Seven Brothers vs Dracula and running times ranging from 72 to 89 minutes.
Plus some versions have scenes of topless virgins being drained of blood, in others, the women are clothed.
The now-OOP DVD from Anchor Bay has the uncut (89 minute) version as well as one of the shorter (72 minute) releases.
It also has the audio for an lp story album (with music & sound effects) narrated by Peter Cushing.

Next week:
More Monster-themed movie/tv adaptations!

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Captain's Library: LEGEND OF THE 7 GOLDEN VAMPIRES Part 1

What happens when the top horror movie studio and best kung fu flick studio co-produce a film?
They create a cross-genre classic, that's little-remembered today!
And you'll need to be here tomorrow for the astounding conclusion!

In the mid-1970s, with diminishing returns on their once-popular horror films, Hammer Studios began experimenting with new elements to attract the audience back, including nudity and, in this film, kung fu!
It was also Hammer's first co-production with another studio, in this case, Shaw Brothers, who were already doing co-productions with several other European studios.
Taking elements of both European and Asian vampire lore, writer Don Houghton (no stranger to genre material with credits including the Dr Who tv series and several Hammer Dracula films) created a cross-genre story that combines the disparate (and sometimes contradictory) elements of two cultures' myths and makes it work logically (for the most part).
More details tomorrow!