When Monsters Ooze!

Before I launch into a month-long celebration of the works of the "Father of the Blob" it might be salient to take some time and look at the long history of blob-like monsters. We'll start with the debut issue the esteemed Weird Tales from over one hundred years ago in 1923 which showcased as its first cover feature "Ooze" by Anthony Melville Rud. 

"Ooze" was apparently a favorite story of H.P. Lovecraft, and I can see why. The structure of the story is very much Lovecraftian, in that we get the information in a backhanded fashion. The primary participants are either missing and presumed dead or insane. And it's left to a family friend to unravel the mystery of what lies behind the hastily erected wall around the demolished house deep in the mysterious and rather nasty swamp. 

Apparently, a scientist found a way to grow an amoeba beyond microscopic levels and things got out of hand, almost quite literally. The locals involved in building the wall aren't talking and it's only when he finds a singularly drunken inhabitant that he's able to decipher the gruesome tale. I rather enjoyed reading it again. It's available online at this weird link. 

On a side note, the story "Ooze" puts in mind of Marvel's classic monster comic tale "Sporr, the Thing that Could Not Die!" from the pages of Tales of Suspense in 1960. Sporr seems a little bit more aware of its surroundings and is attracted to sugar, whereas the Ooze is just hungry for meat. 

I love the Quatermass stories. I didn't always know about them, and when I did learn of them there was little practical way to access them. But in recent years both the original BBC serials and the feature film versions have become available. The first of the series is The Quatermass Xperiment, which was dubbed The Creeping Unknown in its American feature length release and it compresses the story of a three or so hour serial into a brisk hour and a half or so. In this one case we do not have the original serial which did survive the rigors of time and disdain.

The creator of Quatermass and writer Nigel Kneale posited three methods that the Earth might encounter extraterrestrials -- we find them, they find us, they've always been here. In the three main Quatermass yarns he explores each of these scenarios. With The Creeping Unknown he explores what happens when man ventures into space and brings home something dangerous.

Of course Quatermass refers to Dr. Quatermass, the leader of a rocket group dedicated to getting mankind off the planet and into space. To that end of course dangerous missions are undertaken and one such mission ends tragically when the rocket returns to Earth in a farmer's field. The only survivor, in fact the only man aboard the vessel is overcome with some sort of infection which is steadily stealing his mind and transforming his body as it has more swiftly done to his compatriots.

The Creeping Unknown is on one level a classic science fiction monster movie with an eventual giant creature threatening the population. On a second level it's also a horror film following the slow and inevitable destruction of one man's self as he is transformed. What makes this transformation so potent in many respects is that the man himself never speaks but only communicates through posture and through his eyes the desperation.

It's well documented that Nigel Kneale's opinion of Brian Donlevy, the American selected to portray Quatermass, is quite low. It's equally documented that Val Guest, the director of the cinematic verson of the story found Donleavy with his abrupt surly attitude to be an excellent choice. The disagreeable combative nature of Quatermass reminds me of Arthur Conan Doyle's second great creation Professor Challenger, the often agitated protagonist of The Lost World and The Poison Belt among other tales.. I'm always impressed with the professional craftsmanship of British monster movies and always know when I'm watching one the story will make sense.

X the Unknown was to have been the sequel to The Creeping Unknown, but Nigel Kneale refused to allow Hammer to use the Quatermass names, so Jimmy Sangster and the gang at Hammer just finagled it a bit, dropped the Quatermass references and produced a nifty little monster movie. This time the menace erupts from inside the Earth itself. Dean Jagger is our protagonist, a Quatermass-like scientist with a less grumpy attitude. Dean Jagger as the resident scientist who leads the defense against the strange enemy is good deal less histrionic than he might have been if he were portraying Quatermass. 

 

X the Unknown hits all the marks. It's a slow build to a larger menace. We follow a group of soldiers which include a very young Antony Newly as the run up against a strange radioactive enigma. Michael Ripper is on hand as the Sergeant barking orders in fine fashion. After a little boy dies, Dr. Adam Royston (Jagger) gets involved. He's soon assisted by Leo McKern as "Mac" McGill a cop from London and Peter Elliot the son of the stuffy project director. This critter rises from the depths of the Earth seeking sources of radiation. Anyone caught between the creature and its radioactive goal gets burned, sometimes even melted. 

This is a movie in which I rather liked all the characters more or less and it was rare for the story to pick a victim and make the deserving of their demise The deaths of true innocents always elevates the concern of the viewer. A dandy flicker indeed. 

I'm not sure when my consciousness was properly invaded by knowledge of Caltiki The Immortal Monster, but it hasn 't been all that long. This is a 1959 Italian black and white movie set in Mexico and featuring one of the more intriguing of the amorphous monsters which were a bit popular at the time.

The trend began with The Quatermass Xperiment  which had a oozing monster come down from space to threaten mankind by absorbing many individuals before getting fried with electricity. It continued with X the Unknown which had a creature bubble up from beneath the Earth to irradiate and kill many a man before being sent packing. 

This movie feels amazingly like a filmed version of one of Marvel's monster stories from its heyday. An ancient Mayan site is being explored and a mysterious pool is found and before you can say "Run" a giant monster is up and oozing all over everyone. The "heroes" make a getaway but not before getting a sample. One of the team is killed outright, another is infected and goes mad becoming a dangerous murderer, while the third member tries to save himself and his buxom wife from the crazy guy and the monsters at the same time. Innocent bystanders are killed and many toy tanks and trucks are sacrificed to end the threat. If you like monster movies I cannot see how you cannot like this one. It's got ancient menace, radioactive monsters, crazed maniacal killers, and a big old finale with tanks and guns and havoc galore. 

Thanks to TCM I discovered viewed four of the five "Gamma-1" movies. The best of these, and technically not really part of the series I guess is The Green Slime, a 1968 Japanese sci-fi effort starring Robert Horton and Richard Jaeckel. The Gamma-1 series was produced in Italy by Antonio Margheriti under the named "Anthony Dawson". I was first attracted to this oddball series when I discovered that Batman co-creator Bill Finger had a hand in the scripting of some of these. The movies are strictly low-budget, but with some surprisingly interesting special effects in places (the jet cars are impractical but pretty cool). 

The four movies - Wild, Wild Planet, Battle of the Planets, Battle Between the Planets, and Snow Devils - were all produced at the same time and were prepared for television presentation in the United States. All the movies feature many of the same actors and some the characters as the Earth is assaulted by various alien threats. For examples, four-armed androids abduct humans a madman seeking a perfect race, gaseous aliens occupy the forms of humans and link them in a hive mind, and the legend of the Yeti is inspired by aliens seeking to alter Earth's climate to suit themselves.

Part of the same scenario, though produced in Japan by the Toei Company for MGM, The Green Slime is a great improvement on its predecessors with brisk pacing, much more deliberate and focused acting, and a goofy if dangerous alien threat. The Earth is threatened by an oncoming asteroid which threat must be met by Jack Rankin (Robert Horton) and Vince Elliot (Richard Jaeckel), two former partners who have had a falling out over leadership styles and the obligatory women, a sexy doctor played by Luciana Paluzzi. They work together and use the resources of "Gamma-3" to stop the asteroid, but the space station is then overrun by a green slimy life form which proves exceedingly dangerous and damned difficult to remove.

This movie is helped by really excellent pacing throughout, and an actual back story of animus between the two leads which gives some vigor to the proceedings. The Toei special effects are dandy and up to the task of telling the story effectively, and while the monsters themselves are pretty hilarious, they nonetheless are pretty lethal too. The Green Slime is a surprisingly effective movie. 

I close with Larry Cohen's The Stuff seems to be a movie that wants to hit a number of the same notes as the The Blob, but with perhaps a bit more pointed humor and a little sharper satire. The Blob came from outer space, but the 1980's Stuff seems to come from the depths of the Earth itself.

An old man finds a bit of the Stuff in a mine and finds the white goo tastes surprisingly good. We cut forward many months and discover that The Stuff is a popular food product which is taking the nation, if not the world by storm. We are treated to some well-designed ads for The Stuff and then we meet our hero, an industrial spy with a wild wit and perverse attitude. (To put this movie within a very narrow time frame of pop culture awareness, Clara Peller of "Where's the Beef?" fame has an exceedingly appropriate cameo. )He quickly finds that this Stuff is something which has a profound effect on people, even to the point of making them not people anymore. Those who have come under its spell fight mightily to keep it safe and to keep its secret.

The only problem with this movie is that its got some dissonance in tone, with some characters played too broadly to fit in with the overall scheme of biting satire. But that aside, the movie still lands many punches not the least of which is how modern culture is addictive to pleasure at its core and all too susceptible to the whims of modern marketing.

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Novembris!

It's an important month for us all. We all know that the fate of the free world hinges on the next American election for President. If we as a nation choose wisely as I anticipate we will, then stability will be maintained, and we can look to improvements. If otherwise, then we'll cross those bridges when they are required. I intended this past year to eschew large monthly themes and keep the blog more diverse. I've largely failed, and I won't try that anymore. I love themes. I just do. It structures both my reading, viewing, and my writing, and it's just fun to organize. Here are the themes for this month. 

I find Jack H. Harris to be a fascinating figure in vintage cinema. He was the man behind The Blob, a surprise hit from a truly independent outfit during the height of the monster-movie mania in the late 50s. He quickly produced two more sci-fi monster movies before fading away. He reappeared as a packager of other people's movies, sometimes with some of his input. He continued to show up as a producer mostly until 1991. There are thirteen movies listed in his filmography for which he was responsible for directly or indirectly, and I'm going to take a look at all of them this month. Some I've already reviewed over the years, and I'll get those reviews out and dust them and spruce them up. But many of these movies I'd never seen and more than a few I'd never heard of. I'll let his book Father of Blob help guide me. 

C.S. Lewis wrote a masterpiece for kids and the rest of us with his Narnia stories. The stories are intentionally a bit heavy-handed at times when it comes to Christian theological interpretation. But despite Aslan standing in for Jesus Christ in the mythic realm of Narnia, the stories can be read sans that, but don't get riled if I bring those elements up from time to time. I plan to read the books in their internally historical order and not in the order of publication, which has always been my default. I have also procured some of the companion book or two to assist in a deeper understanding of the Lewis saga. 

Expect more Neal Adams material. I've spent the whole year of 2024 to this point showcasing his work and this month will be no different. 

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And all sorts of other stuff as well. 

And as I mentioned before, we have an election we have to survive. If this doesn't go well, I might have to take to my bed, and all bets are off. 

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Weird Tales From Cross Plains!

Robert E. Howard is one of the most successful pulp writers of an era filled with great talents. His production is epic in its scope and scale. And he only had an effective writing career of a mere decade. 

He sold his first story "Spear and Fang" to Weird Tales in 1925 and sadly killed himself in 1936 before many of his later works were even published. 

In that span he created a powerful array of heroes such as King Kull, Solomon Kane, Breckenridge Elkins, Turlogh Dubh O'Brian, James Allison, Steve Costigan, El Borak, Cormac Mac Art, Bran Mak Morn,and of course Conan the Barbarian. His work was popular in its day, and he created not only heroic fiction in sundry categories but horror as well in the manner of H.P. Lovecraft, a correspondent and to some degree mentor. Howard's fame diminished with his death and the passing of the pulp genre, but never did his work disappear. 

Many of his tales were collected in hardback by Gnome Press. But it was in the heat of the paperback phenomena of the early 1960's that Howard's fame was well and truly fashioned when his Conan stories were collected by Lancer under covers rendered by the great Frank Frazetta. These sold remarkably well and inspired Roy Thomas to try to license the character for comic books. Conan the Barbarian became Marvel's most successful new comic of the early 1970's and created sufficient interest for a movie to be made starring a young Arnold Schwarzenegger later in the decade. 

To close out the tempestuous year of 2023 I want to spend a cool wintry month revisiting many of those Robert E. Howard classics. I'll be revising and updating posts from across the years as well as creating new ones as I read through the entire Conan the Barbarian color comic book series as recently collected in Marvel's Epic series before the license drifted over to Titan. Sadly, this will not take me all the way through the Thomas years, but I might just leap to my Dark Horse reprint volumes and finish that as well, though I doubt I'll be able to report on all of that. 

I also plan to read as many of the original prose Conan stories by Howard as I can during the course of the month. My preferred way to enjoy now is to read them in chronological order as they were published in three handsome volumes some years ago now by Ballantine. These are the stories minus the amendments and adjustments made by L. Sprague DeCamp and Lin Carter among others when the series was first revitalized for Gnome and later for Lancer. And there are the other Howard heroes as well. Conan's inspiration Kull of course, as well as Howard's first hit swordsman Solomon Kane. 

And then there are the other projects inspired by Howard's creations in comics and films and elsewhere. Robert E. Howard was a somewhat famous writer of pulp entertainment when he decided to end his life in 1936, but he and his creations have become an industry in the intervening decades, supplying entertainment in all sorts of venues from cinema to video games. 

But all that aside, when you read a pulsating REH story from long ago, filled with tough dames and bloody-handed heroes it's difficult not to get a rumble deep down in our psyches from when some forgotten ancestor once had to fight just to keep a hard-scrabble life. 

Sharpen your broadswords and wipe the sweat from your brows, amigos, the battle doe the sweeping territories of the Hyborian Age is about to be joined here at the Dojo. 

Note: Throughout this post you will see all nine of the Weird Tales covers featuring a story about Conan by Robert E. Howard. Conan himself doesn't always make the cut, as the artist Margaret Brundage loved to showcase damsels in degrees of distress, particularly in various states of undress. Apparently, that's what sold. 

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The Fires Of Asshurbanipal!

"The Fire of Asshrbanipal" by  Robert E. Howard appeared in Weird Tales. It's the story of American Steve Clarney and his giant companion Yar Ali. Unlike many of Howard's heroes, Clarney is described as "lean and wiry", but he's no less bold for that.

The story is significant for a couple of reasons. First it's an outstanding blend of vintage Howardian blood and thunder action alongside some very effective horror in the Lovecraftian mode. The Necronomicon gets name-checked and the ultimate threat is a monster mindful of C'Thulhu.

The story which you can read in all its creepy splender here, is one of those well worth the time and energy.
 

The story has two distinct versions. The supernatural version is collected in Ballantine's The Horror Stories of Robert E. Howard.

Another version, minus the other-worldly elements is found in the back of El Borak and Other Desert Adventures. This one was the original and the monsters were added later. Reading both versions back to back, the supernatural one is the most effective, though both are rip-snorting adventure yarns.

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Big Book Of Monsters!

The Baen's Big Book of Monsters is an absolute hoot. I snatched it off the racks when I first clapped eyes on it. It's full of vintage stories of giant monsters with new material sandwiched between. The new stuff I can take or leave, but the old stories, many from Weird Tales are some I've long wanted to read.

Highest on that list was "Ooze" by Anthony Rud, which appeared in the very first issue of Weird Tales. This yarn which slowly reveals its menace is well crafted though any monster fan will see it coming a mile off.

Many of the stories in this collection seem to have been written to order because of an evocative cover. That's certainly the case with Curt Siodmak's "The Eggs from Lake Tanganyika".

That seems to be the case with Murray Leinster's "Planet of Doom" also.

Henry Kuttner's "Beauty and the Beast" works hard to create a story which will justify this cover of a dinosaur crashing into the Captiol. What I didn't realize is that this story almost certainly inspired Ray Harryhausen's 20 Million Miles to Earth, though there is no mention made of that here.

Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" is included and I'm always ready for another go at this seminal and potent monster story. Likewise "The Valley of the Worm" by Robert E. Howard which is on hand.

Also included are "The Shining Ones" by Arthur C. Clarke, "The Island of the Ud" by William Hope Hodgson, "The Monster God of Mammurth" by Edmond Hamilton (his first published tale), and "Greenface" by James Schmitz.

Highly recommended.

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The Valley Of The Worm!

"The Valley of the Worm" by Robert E. Howard is an odd one. It's a story of vigor and punch, but for some reason lacks the atmosphere I often associate with Howard's most effective stories.  There's no doubt I read the story first in its Marvel Comics adapted form in Supernatural Thrillers #3 by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway with lush Gil Kane and Ernie Chan artwork. Flush with success in Conan, Thomas was quick to try and turn the pulps into a primary source. This story is rock solid throughout and offers a barbarian properly in the Conan mode.

John Jakes and Richard Corben a few years later did their own version of this story titled "Bloodstar" which was serialized in Heavy Metal after being published as a complete tale.

This story first appeared in Weird Tales.

The story begins in the "now" as a man named James Allison ponders past lives. These lives stretch back into dim and forgotten times and Allison once upon a time was a hero named Niord who was a mighty warrior among the Aesir, the white-skinned blond-haired dominant race of the era who were inveterate nomads and find themselves entering into an unknown land inhabited by some of Howard's ubiquitous Picts. One Pict named Grom  finds alliance with Niord, who is famed for single-handedly having slain a sabre-tooth tiger.

Spoilers beginneth.

Niord eventually learns of the the Valley of the Broken Bones, a place where antique ruins mark the passing of an even more ancient people. The Picts steer clear of this dangerous place because of the hideous monster, an enormous white worm which is called forth by sinister music played by a shaggy manlike creature. Some of Niord's people try to settle there and meet their grisly demise. Seeking vengeance Niord first slays a giant serpent in order to get venom to kill the even more dangerous monster of the valley. He kills the monster but dies himself, ending one of many lives he will have over the centuries.

Spoilers endeth. 

The story is unfortunately marred by some of the more overt racism Howard was capable of. There are some demeaning comments made toward black races, suggestions of a degenerate nature which while sometimes hinted at in his better stories is a little bit too on the nose in this one.

Nonetheless it is a pretty good adventure yarn, though the hero is a bit of a lout.

To read Howard's original story go here.

To read Marvel's excellent adaptation go here.

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Kull - Exile Of Atlantis!

I've said before that of all of Robert E.Howard's creations, King Kull is perhaps my favorite. Having recently re-read the slim canon of adventures from the pen of REH titled Kull - Exile of Atlantis, I can confirm that opinion. There's something magnificent about Kull, that alas never quite attaches to the personality of the more realistically portrayed Conan. Kull is a cooler head by a mote, and while of barbaric origins seems a bit more comfortable in his royal persona. If I had to separate the two, I'd say that Kull is smart and even reflective, while Conan is savvy with sharp instincts,  Kull is noble while Conan is brave.You might even refer to Kull as a Philosopher-King, but you'd never hang that tag on Conan.

Perhaps the best story Howard ever wrote was "The Shadow Kingdom" which appeared in Weird Tales and debuted Kull, and created (in the minds of many) the genre of sword and sorcery. If so, it's a mighty beginning and remains at least the most atmospheric of Howard's S&S stories. Kull's adventures.  This story along with "The Mirrors of Tuzun Thune" and "Kings in the Night" are the only three Kull stories published in Howard's lifetime and the unpublished "By this Axe I Rule" became the template for Conan's debut story "The Phoenix and the Sword". The former is a better story I think, though with little or no magic but fuller characterization for the conspirators.

A lot of Kull's canon didn't find an audience until the 60's in the Lancer paperback which appeared after the enormous success of the Conan series. Under an evocative Roy Krenkel cover these yarns have a real potency and are rife with potential.

Years later, I read them in this Bantam collection which largely reprints the earlier Lancer effort. Ballantine's collection from 2006 is handsome and sturdy and offers up more fragments and drafts. The artwork by Justin Sweet is exquisite and runs throughout the book.

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