IS DAMON LINDELOF STILL HAVING TO DEAL WITH THIS???

OFF THE SUBJECT OF HALLOWEEN FOR A MOMENT ...

The video immediately under this post is fascinating.  It finds Damon Lindelof once again being asked to "explain" the ending of LOST by possibly one of the most annoying, ill-informed and plain dopey interviewers I've ever seen -- in fact, the interviewer doesn't let Lindelof answer his first question until after he's been rambling for 2 minutes!  Be that as it may, we have yet another dopey individual who was "disappointed" with the ending of LOST because it was "ambiguous" or "unclear".  Whereas anyone who was remotely paying attention knows that the ending of the series could not have been more clear -- if you were paying attention which sadly many people "disappointed" with it clearly are incapable of doing.  The interview is fascinating not only in the jaw-droppingly stupid things said by the interviewer (more on that in a moment) but in the almost saint-like patience Lindelof displays in reiterated what was stated clearly yet poetically in the finale.  For instance, the dunderhead interviewer actually looks at Lindelof and complains he felt like the finale of LOST made him think "what was the point" since everything we saw never actually happened.  Where even a cursory glance at ANYTHING shown during the final episode shows quite clearly that everything (except the so-called "flash sideways" events in season 6) very definitely DID happen.  As Lindelof quite rightly (and with infinite patience) points out to the interviewer, Christian Shepherd tells Jack, when Jack asks if any of it actually happened, that everything ABSOLUTELY DID happen.  Far from being unclear or ambiguous, the LOST finale couldn't have been more clear about it.  How is it that, 2 years later, there are still idiots (like this interviewer) who missed this clear statement?!?!  It boggles the mind.  Anyway, despite the incredible annoyance of the near braindead interviewer, this interview is still very interesting to watch as Damon Lindelof very caringly and gently tries to clear up these wrong-headed misconceptions people disappointed with LOST's so-called "ambiguities" and "failure to provide answers" seem to still be holding on to.  I guess sometimes some people DO need a smack upside the head to get them to see what was put right in front of them all along.  Especially if you're an interviewer who has apparently never read a book nor contemplated anything more subtle or nuanced than an episode of "FULL HOUSE".  So if you have any interest in LOST at all, I think you'll find the video below very rewarding.

HALLOWEEN: THE HAPPY HAUNTING OF AMERICA is a fairly well-known documentary (among horror fans, at least) which took an affectionate look at the holiday and various horror-themed attractions across the country. Created (like a Frankenstein's Monster) back in 1997 by busy actor/producer/director Chuck Williams and LOST explosion victim Daniel Roebuck, the documentary features everything from the Universal Monster Tour, Dr. Lady's Horror Hotel, classic Don Post Halloween latex masks and the venerable Witch's Dungeon. Also featured giving their opinions and reminiscences of Halloweens past are such horror titans as Angus Scrimm, Robert Englund, Alice Cooper, Tony Todd, Tom Savini and Doug Bradley among others. Daniel Roebuck, who grew up in Pennsylvania, created his TV horror host character "Dr. Shocker" for this documentary as a tribute to the late, lamented Philly horror host Dr. Shock (Joe Zawislak). I also grew up watching Dr. Shock's Mad Theater and Horror Theater on Channel 17 during the 70's so I can appreciate the loving tribute more than most. After the "Shock Theater" B&W opening, Roebuck sheds his makeup and tours the country's Halloween attractions accompanied by beloved horror fan Bob Burns (who appears in the Dr. Schocker segment in his patented gorilla suit). The documentary itself is a pleasant affair combining Halloween haunted house attractions with brief explorations of Halloween origins and folklore. The documentary itself is a little on the "cursory" or "lightweight" side and has now been far outshone by the more recent "THE WITCH'S DUNGEON: 40 YEARS OF CHILLS" dvd. Nevertheless, HALLOWEEN: THE HAPPY HAUNTING OF AMERICA is well-worth catching; especially in it's newer 2-disc 10th anniversary dvd which includes a brand-new 2007 documentary which is basically H:THHOA Part 2. Roebuck takes up residence in California's Magic Castle (the scene of Boris Karloff's recording of his classic LP "An Evening with Boris Karloff & His Friends"). The second installment of the documentary does boast higher production values (since the original seems to have been shot on video and is a little blurry). Also included on the second disc are a welcome grouping of special features including a live on stage magic performance by Roebuck in his Dr. Shocker guise which attempts to replicate the early 20th century Spook Shows of lore. Besides "Dr. Shocker's Halloween Spooktacular", the dvd also boasts a photo tour of Roebuck's personal horror museum "Dr. Shocker's House of Horrors", and a round table discussion about horror called "Raw Talk" featuring Roebuck, Williams, Tony Todd, Christa Campbell, John Gulager and Don Coscarelli.

AS WE ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK UPON THE FINAL SEASON OF LOST, I wouldn't be surprising a great many people by making the statement that LOST is very likely the greatest television drama ever made. This is no idle claim. Sure there have been classic TV dramas out the wahzoo but I really don't think they can hit all the bullseyes that LOST has in 5 seasons. THE TWILIGHT ZONE, for instance, is a stone classic; however, it is an anthology program which features episodes which vary dramatically in quality. OK, let's keep it in the "science fiction" vein for the moment and consider STAR TREK; certainly a classic but also containing wildly varying amounts of quality (remember the "Kirk turns into a woman" episode?!?) and also one that was abruptly cancelled and was prevented from providing a complete story arc. This is probably the most remarkable thing about LOST. Before the first scene of the pilot episode was shot, the creators of LOST had the entire story arc fixed and determined and there was a definite goal in sight. Always meant to be a "limited" series, LOST is in fact more Dickensian than Roddenberrian (to corn a phrase). Charles Dickens famously serialized many of his novels a chapter at a time in periodicals which the reading public devoured. Chuck knew where he was going too and GREAT EXPECTATIONS was never going to be an endlessly continuing series but a finite storyline. LOST shares this in common with Dickensian fiction: it is a TV series with a definite beginning and an end and the entire show has been working towards this final season. This is perhaps one of the major accomplishments of the series: the acknowledged successful return of true serialized fiction to television. Unlike 99% of TV dramas which start with a good premise and then expand upon it season after season meandering without an end point in sight, LOST is more novel-like in its use of serialized fiction in pursuit of a definite end.

At the risk of belabouring a point, another commonality between Dickens and LOST is the vast VAST array of incredibly complex characters populating the series. Practically every character on LOST, however small, is incredibly well-drawn with complex and sometimes contradictory sides providing internal battles which make for compelling viewing. This brings me to the flip side of the storytelling: the characterizations are equally as solid as the plot. This is no small feat because usually one or the other takes precedence: an incredibly intricate and entertaining plot featuring rather cardboard characters or an intensely detailed character study in which not much happens. Here on LOST we have the best of both worlds: an endlessly fascinating storyline populated by a host of character we care deeply about. The amount of emotionally wrenching moments are balanced by the amount of intellectually electrifying plot-twists and revelations. I honestly can't think of another TV drama which has ever managed to combine both aspects so monumentally well while still maintaining a series which has a definite final goal in sight. It's truly that impressive.

LOST is also extremely rewarding when watched and re-watched and re-re-watched. It never grows tired no matter how many times one watches the entire series. And trust me, I've rewatched everything up to now quite a few times. LOST always rewards continual revisits. An incident occurring in season 1 or 2 might go completely unnoticed until sometime in season 5 when it suddenly becomes significant. This is another of the strengths provided by a complete story arc which was worked out before the first episode went on the air. The tapestry of LOST in richly interwoven (even moreso than the one Jacob was weaving in his sanctum sanctorum) with a seemingly unending cache of riches. And this is another plus of the show. LOST takes the audience seriously and never talks down to it. LOST has a respect for its audience which, in this day and age of MTV editing and 5 second soundbites (apparently 15 second soundbites are too long, now), may be a little too optimistic but for which I am very grateful. If you feed the public pap, they will come to subsist on nothing else. Perhaps this tactic inevitably leads to the absolutely idiotic contention that LOST is somehow "confusing" or "too hard to understand". Nothing could be further from the truth. Each and every thing that happens in the show is perfectly intelligible and will always be fully explained -- sometimes you might have to wait a couple years, it's true, but do you really want ALL your mysteries served up to you on a paper plate?!? And since, from the moment I first became aware of LOST I was also aware that this was a finite series which would come to a complete conclusion, I have always been completely trusting of the writers. And that trust has never once been let down.

And so we come to the eve of the final season. Since every one of the 5 seasons so far has never varied in quality, I find myself immensely confident that LOST will arrive at a satisfactory conclusion; one in which all our questions will be answered and our emotional need for closure will be met. I am not one of those people who is sad at the series coming to an end. I in fact can't wait to have a complete LOST saga under my belt because the first thing I'm going to do when the last episode airs is watch the entire series all over again. For LOST is indeed an epic in the truest sense of that much overused and weathered word and, I believe, will lend itself to repeated viewings for the rest of my life. On a purely personal note, this final season itself will hold extra significance for me. I will be watching it for two because my dear friend Peg is no longer here to watch it with me. I was responsible for getting her into LOST and we had a ritual each winter, as the new season DVD was released. I would bring it over to her house and we would watch it together and prepare for the new season airing a month or so later. As a matter of fact, when my pre-ordered Season 5 DVD of LOST arrived in the mail this past December, I unwrapped the box set and found myself crying unexpectedly because, for the first time, I would not be bringing it over to Peg's for us to watch together. I had to watch it by myself. Peg didn't live to see the conclusion to the series so, as the final season begins on February 2, I will be watching for the both of us.

"IF NOTHING ELSE, THERE'S APPLAUSE . . . LIKE WAVES OF LOVE POURING OVER THE FOOTLIGHTS!" Oh dear, I'm so unworthy but it seems I've won an award! The Premio Dardo Award! Given to me by my surrogate Daddy Pax over at horror blog "BILLY LOVES STU", the award is, well, in his own words: " The Premio Dardo Award is a nifty sort of meme thingy, in that the recipient of the award must then bestow the same upon five other bloggers". Ah, my readers! The great unblushed! You all make it worthwhile! After all, I hate this house! I hate these walls! I hate that sofa! The only part of this dump that doesn't make me puke is my loyal readers! And I promise you I'll never desert you again because after 'THE LAND OF CERPTS AND HONEY' we'll make another blog and another blog. You see, this is my life! It always will be! Nothing else! Just us, the blogosphere, and those wonderful people out there in the dark! All right, Mr. DeMille . . . I'm ready for my required 5 blog awards (and to be fair, I won't award Daddy Pax's blogs since he's already won and this could go around and around):

• CHEEKS' THE DHARMA (AND GREG) PROJECT -- for copiously analyzing, explaining, extemporizing and theorizing each and every episode of LOST for us. There is always something you didn't know or something you didn't notice to be found here.
• FLEAPIT OF THE MIND -- You can't beat the extensive knowledge and exquisite taste in all things cinema on Weaverman's phenomenol blog! Whether it's a Bergman classic or a trashy crime movie, the Fleapit is the place to be! We can only wish that, some fine day, his late lamented other blogs The Fleapit Annex and Ghosts in the Library will be resurrected.
• PALEO-CINEMA -- Terry Frost spends his time, between herding his capuchin monkeys out of his estate's fountains, creating the greatest movie blog out there. Combining encyclopedic knowledge with personal reminiscences, Terry Frost's Paleo-Cinema debuts about every three weeks with another audio excursion into the world of film pre-1980.
• SCRAPS -- My dear Star has been keeping journals of odd everyday events, quotable quotes and cosmic coincidences even BEFORE we got married! She has finally put it all into a blog which entertainingly shines the spotlight on us everyday humans and shows we are nothing as dull as mere "everyday"!
• WE ARE THE MOVIES -- Aaron White provides a movie blog which displays all the love and energy of a true cinephile focusing on the movies and directors who make the most of their art!

THE RESURRECTED (1992) is actually fairly closely adapted from H.P. Lovecraft's famous novella "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward". That's no mean feat since most movies bear little to no resemblance to their source material. There are some major differences, however. The story takes place in the present day (1990's) and introduces the trope of a private investigator and a not-really-femme fatale. This film gets raves in the indispensable book "LURKER IN THE LOBBY" which spotlights films based upon Lovecraft's work and led me to seek out the movie several years ago since I'd never heard of it. THE RESURRECTED is sadly only available on DVD in a bare bones format in full screen yet. Be that as it may, the movie is well worth seeking out and costs next to nothing (under 10 bucks). I can heartily recommend the movie; even if I don't quite hold it as highly as "LURKER IN THE LOBBY".

A welcome note to LOST fans is that the film stars John Terry; known to Losties as Dr. Christian Shepherd. Of course, this is 15 years before that TV series so we're looking at a young John Terry rockin' the mullet, as it were. Terry placed aforesaid P.I. John March. The film (directed by Dan O'Bannon) starts off and continues as something of a mystery movie so anyone looking for a slam-bang horror fest will be slightly disappointed. The horror is there in the film, and there quite effectively, but the film nicely builds the mystery without catering to those with a 10 second attention span. Into March's office comes Jane Sibbett (whose acting is alternately quite effective and flirting with the atrocious) as Claire Ward. Mrs. Ward wishes to hire March to find out what the hell her husband is getting up to. Her husband, Charles Dexter Ward, is played quite nicely by Chris Sarandon. Ward is a chemical engineer who is experimenting with human remains (which gets him into trouble with the law) and an obscene amount of slaughterhouse meat and blood. He does this in his remote cabin in the wilds of Providence, Rhode Island (Lovecraft's beloved home city) which has been in the family since the pre-Revolutionary War days. A strange and mysterious "Dr. Ash" has appeared at Ward's side who is suspected of forging Charles' checks (shades of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) but when questioned Ward confirms that the checks are legitimate -- he's just suffering from some disorder that affects his hands.

When a neighbour of the cabin complains about the noise and the smell, he eventually turns up dead in his cabin. But not just dead; he looks like he's been attacked by a pack of wild dogs (which have been seen in the area, by the way). The corpse is literally a pile of bones and blood. Ward has also uncovered a painting (wallpapered over) of an ancestor named Joseph Curwen who looks EXACTLY like him! For those of you who are thinking AIP's Vincent Price Poe movie "THE HAUNTED PALACE", that's because it was EXTREMELY LOOSELY based on this same Lovecraft story. As those who saw THE HAUNTED PALACE will also no doubt already suspect, Curwen (master of the black arts) may just be taking over the personality of Ward. I don't think I'll be spoiling anything by saying you might have something there.

The low budget of the film is almost imperceptible in most of the film. The location shooting shows off much of the Providence city and countryside and some shots are eerily beautiful. The cabin location is suitably remote and forlorn and one can certainly believe dark things happen there. A pre-Revolutionary War flashback is particularly well shot with sumptuous candlelight. Particularly effective is a scene lifted verbatim from Lovecraft's story in which heavy rains cause the riverbank to wash away resulting in strange, pink, mishapen "things" that look a lot like bodies floating down the coarsing rain-swollen river. These are the mishapen, botched "screw-ups" of Joseph Curwen in his experiments with "the essential salts" that make up human bodies. This film is also the first time that detail was transferred from the book to the movie; it is usually left out completely. The purpose of these experiments with essential salts and copious human remains and meat products is to develop a way to live forever. The low budget only rarely raises it's showstringed head in some less-than-seamless stop motion animation and other special effects sequences. But thankfully the movie doesn't really depend on special effects for its "effectiveness" and kindly viewers can forgive this and go along for the ride.

John Terry's acting is a solid anchor for the film; his tongue is never in his cheek and he makes us believe everything that's going on. And Chris Sarandon is often spectacular in tour de force performance of a man taken over by another personality; one which not only speaks in an antiquated way but also begins to quite fancy cannibalism.Dan O'Bannon manages to create evocative set piece after set piece: the long trek beneath the earth in Curwen's system of tunnels and rooms exude evil while the final scene between John Terry and Chris Sarandon in the padded cell of a mental hospital is filled with threat and menace and the two actors carry it over masterfully. I only have one problem: I really don't believe that a padded cell heavily locked and guarded would have a window in it -- and not just a window but an UNBARRED and UNGATED window. But hey, we can excuse such things when the movie so lovingly adapts H. P. Lovecraft to the screen; a feat which VERY few movies have ever managed to do. While the film isn't pure Lovecraft (what film IS), it is quite close and done with a respect for the original material, a desire to evoke the "feel" of Lovecraft's writing and the talent to pull it off quite well. For such a modest little movie, I think the succeeded admirably and I'd urge you to track the movie down.

REMEMBER WHEN??? THE PILOT.

If you watch LOST and do not already read my good friend's blog click here you are missing something. Particularly the copious and exhaustive analyses of this past season's episodes which reached new heights and helped immensely with the viewing (and musing about) this past season. It's of course not too late to go read them since we'll be getting Season 4 on DVD December 9th, apparently. So do yourself a favour, if you haven't already been reading them, take yourself over there now.

NOT PENNY'S BOAT.

Perhaps it's Davy's Dinghy then?

ONLY 48 MORE EPISODES TO GO.

GET LOST WITH JULIE ADAMS -- It's taken a while for me to mention this (not being as Lost obsessed as a certain Cheekies) but the season premiere of Lost featured a surprise appearance by one of my favourite people in the first minute or so of the program: Julie Adams. Now, for those of youse not in the know, Julie Adams has had a long and distinguished career in movies and television but is perhaps best known as the female lead in the original Universal horror picture "The Creature From the Black Lagoon". There she is looking hot in her palpitating white bathing suit! Now, I had the privilege of meeting Ms. Adams a couple times in the last couple years and she is a sweetie. I just love her. I always had a crush on her in "Creature" but adored her after meeting her in person. So imagine my surprise when I settled down to watch the season premiere of Lost and, Lo and Behold, who knocks on that "hottie" Juliette's door but Julie Adams herself.

Let's hope we see more of her in the rest of the season. Well done, ABC!

MORE BAD NEWS: OCEANIC AIRLINES SHUTS DOWN ALL SERVICE.

Another casualty of the current economic climate as the venerable Oceanic Airlines suspends all flight service after 25 years due to "financial difficulties in the wake of the Flight 815 tragedy".

THE LAND OF CERPTS AND HONEY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY A GRANT OF MUTUAL COOPERATION BETWEEN THE TORCHWOOD INSTITUTE AND THE DHARMA INITIATIVE.

 

Namaste and good luck.