Monster Mania Day 12: The Walking Dead Season 4 Premiere

Written by Stu Cooper

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Unless you live under a rock you've probably heard that "The Walking Dead" came back to television this week. Following the tradition of previous years they released the new season just in time for Halloween. At the end of the last season we lost a few memorable cast members...Merle and Andrea come to mind. The loss of Merle was particularly sad for me. I'm a huge fan of Micahel Rooker and I really wanted to see more of The Dixon brothers as a team. Andrea was hit or miss for me so I'll be alright without her. And unfortunately for the group, the Governor got away. But as the last season closed we saw Woodberry residents piling into the jail, becoming part of Rick's community.

The new season opens 6-7 months later and the community has absolutely flourished! We see shots of a garden, pigs being raised, children being read stories (and taught how to use weapons), and a routine that seems to be keeping the group safe. There is a great shot of Rick going out into the garden and there is some music playing while he kind of smiles and reflects on his life at the prison. It turns out Rick had headphones on and when he takes them out, the music stops and the constant howls of the zombies come back. This moment really symbolized Rick's attempt at escaping reality for a second, only to come crashing back into it. We also see a few teases that Maggie may be pregnant, and Darryl is also now a hero of the community. It seems like life has moved on for most of the cast and has evolved into a home of sorts. Sadly for the group the happiness is doomed to end. The group runs into some zombie trouble during a run and loses Beth's boyfriend almost immediately after we are introduced to him. We are also introduced to a new member of the group is apparently an ex-soldier with a serious alcohol problem. After Beth's boyfriend is killed we see her flip the calendar in the jail from "30 days with no accident" to "0 days". The sad part is that she has almost no reaction because she has become numb to the death surrounding her. I really like the Beth character. Aside from her being cute, you really want to side with her because she went from being suicidal, to becoming a staple of this group and always kept fighting. So as the episode passes we see that pretty much everyone has evolved and moved on.

There is a side story during the episode where Rick encounters a woman in the woods who swears she is good and needs his help. So he says he must ask her three questions that the group will ask every outsider from now on...and that's "How many walkers have you killed? How many humans have you killed? And Why?". Which is a pretty cool moment and makes sense. If Shane was still around he would be having none of that! The woman says she has nothing left to lose and that she wants Rick to meet her husband. What unfolds is a creepy series of events that leads to a surprise, which I don't want to spoil. If you can watch for yourself, I'd suggest that. Meanwhile back at the prison we are introduced to a nerdy little guy named Patrick. Patrick thinks Darryl is a hero, loves storytime, oh and he is apparently carrying some type of bacterial infection/virus upgrade that ends up killing him by the end of the episode. Also for all you germaphobes out there, he takes the time to cough all over the water supply. This is where the episode closes and we are left with a lot of questions. Where is the Governor? What killed the farm animal? What killed Patrick? Why are the zombie numbers around the prison increasing? They introduced a lot of great ideas in this first episode and a lot of it showed maturity. The show is totally different than it was a season or two ago. There is a whole new sense of family amongst the characters and i'm really excited to see what happens next. After 3 seasons I've grown to care about a few of the characters (Rick,Hershal,Maggie and Glenn,Daryl) and I really hope they make it out of this mess alive! I guess we shall find out soon enough. According to the executive producer it's going to get "a lot worse" before it ever gets any better. I've got Walking Dead fever and the only cure is MORE COWBELL! Wait that's not right...the cure is MORE WALKING DEAD! I think it's about time for me get into the comics as well. From what I hear, this point in the series is A LOT different in the comics, and a lot more violent. So I'm itching to read them. I'll probably check back with you guys throughout the season with my thoughts. Enjoy the rest of the season and if you missed the first episode, DVR the repeat and get caught up! Netflix also still has seasons 1 and 2 up. As for where to find Season 3, I'll leave that up to you.

Monster Mania Day 11: American Horror Story Season 3: Coven

Written by Stu Cooper

The past two seasons of "American Horror Story" have made for some incredible horror television. The series brought a much needed horror feel to mainstream TV. Without anthology series, we are left with stuff like True Blood, which is fine but really lacks the balls and creepiness that horror fans deserve. Shows like that and the other vampire shows (even Hemlock Grove) seem to focus more on the actors and how sexy they are, rather than forming any type of actual scary storytelling. "American Horror Story" has knocked it out of the park the past 2 seasons. It's been established at this point that each season tells a dramatically different story that has nothing to do with the prior season. The catch is, they use the same actors, but put them in different roles. I do wish there was at least one re-occuring character to tie the universe together, but that's my only gripe. Jessica Lange seems to be the center piece for most of the storytelling, but I think that's because of how good of an actress she is, and her ability to play a crazy woman. Season 2 was a bit convoluted and had too many stories going on at once, but it appears the show has learned it's lesson. The writers said that this season will be a bit more laxed, and has a bit more humor to it. I think them saying that is an attempt to redeem themselves for taking on too many stories at once last time. With that said, let's get into the detail of this season.

This season of the show follows a young girl (played by Taissa Farmiga) who discovers that everytime she has sex with a guy, the guy's head basically explodes. Yep, you read that right. It's like watching what would happen if Rogue decided to just bang Ice-man without preparation. It doesn't end pretty. After she is mortified by this experience, she discovers it's actually part of her powers. She is a witch. The girl is soon enrolled into an academy that looks like an all girls boarding school, but in reality is actually a school for witches. When she arrives to the school we are introduced to the main teacher played by last season's star Sarah Paulson. She is apparently the leader of the "good witches". She is supposed to instruct and overlook the other witches and make sure they aren't misusing their abilities, but are still embracing witch culture. We are then introduced to a couple of the other witches. The two new actors this season are Emma Roberts, who plays a bitchy Mean Girls type witch named Madison Montgomery, and the comedic Gabourey Sidibe who plays...a goofy black woman, not much else to her character. I really don't like that they brought a mainstream comedic actor into the main cast, but her role seems to be minimal, so i'm ok with that. The school is kind of like a group of misfit girls, trying to learn to cope with their abilities and life as witches. Jessica Lange is actually the mother of Sarah Paulson in the series, and is a good example of a "bad witch". She actually has powers like The Vulture from Spider-man. She is obsessed with maintaining her appearance, and as a result she literally sucks the life out of younger people. Some pretty cool powers being displayed in the first episode. The level of power these women have surpasses anything we've seen in the previous seasons. We are also introduced to Kathy Bates who i'm guessing is the main villain for the season. She is a old ratty witch who thinks by sacrificing slaves (this is a flashback) she can maintain her looks and power. She tortures and brutally abuses several slaves. That was actually the most brutal part of the episode. She is truly a nasty character and i'm looking forward to seeing what happens there.

Overall they introduced A LOT of characters in the first episode, but the story is pretty easy to keep up with so far. The pacing is a bit cooled down and that is something they definitely needed to work on after last season. Jessica Lange shines as usual, as well as Taissa Farmiga and Emma Roberts. Those three characters were especially intriguing and I'm excited to see where their path takes them. I would definitely recommend this season of the show if you are into horror and if you enjoyed the past seasons. It's also nice to have a serious horror story on television as opposed to the live action Tiger Beat Magazine that is "True Blood". It's great for the halloween mood and with a new episode on every week throughout the month, there is no reason to skip this one!

Monster Mania Day 10: Tales From The Crypt Quick Picks

Written by Stu Cooper

My favorite type of television is anthology based TV. It is actually a dying artform at the moment now that episodic story arc television is popular. But back when I was younger we had shows like The Twilight Zone, Tales from The Darkside, Are you Afraid of the Dark?, and of course the king of anthology shows...Tales From The Crypt! When I was young my family actually had HBO for most of the 90's and I was fortunate enough to see some of the episodes very early on, before they started airing on FOX. Of course I probably shouldn't have been watching it given the mature content (the sex, violence, etc). But that certainly didn't stop me. The host of the show is originally what attracted me to it. The Cryptkeeper is about as memorable as it gets with his cackling laugh and stupid jokes. He also often gets into a funny situation in each episode, or in some cases interacts with celebrities. The character ended up evolving into a symbol of horror in the 90's. It is hard for me to narrow down my favorite episodes because I'm sure there are ones I've forgotten, so I'm going to post a few of the ones I remember the most. The DVD's are pretty cheap so I would recommend picking up the whole series. I keep hoping and praying that HBO will revive the series one day. It's still a great format for a show and there is already a huge audience for it. The cartoon and comics are pretty great as well if you get the chance to check them out.