Above Average Joe Blogs

A Shared (Collapsing) Universe  One happy family A "shared universe" is the hip new cool thing to have. Everyone's got one, from the Avengers and the Justice League, to Godzilla and King Kong, and now Universal is banking on The Mummy being the tentpole film for their Dark Universe. The Dark Universe is set to comprise of resurrecting the vintage Universal monsters of the black and white period. This means, pending good box office returns (not so much critics, sorry The Mummy) we are set to see Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, Invisible Man, and The Creature of the Black Lagoon return to the silver screen.  But doesn't this beg the question: aren't we a bit fatigued by this whole shared universe idea though? Can't a film just stand on its own two feet, propelling its own narrative forward without having to make concessions to another 6 potential movies, some that many years off too? Whilst Marvel's cinematic universe has proven fertile gro...

But for the fact that I have seen Alien: Covenant and Get Out within the space of a few weeks I don't think I could find another excuse to cram review of both films into one blog post. The closest other link I can get to is the strange paradox I put in the title. Get Out tackles racism, albeit in a way that isn't the norm for film, whilst Alien: Covenant continues the cycle of fear in relation to its titular antagonist, formally named Xenomorphs, thus it is a film about xenophobia but not racism. Clear as mud, yes? Alien: Covenant - No Spoilers Review I will try to avoid spoilers for the majority of this part of the review. Unfortunately a combination of trailers and some stupid reviews have already given away a few key aspects.  High Alien Art Alien: Covenant is a sequel to the seemingly divisive at the time Prometheus (I rather liked it back then, like it a lot more now), which itself is a prequel to Alien. Director Ridley Scott plans two more Alien films which w...

Kinder very surprised  On the 6th of December 1979, John Hurt got a little bit too friendly with a randy space spider resulting in one of the most awkward dinner scenes in movie history. Whilst the tag line promised that in space no one can hear you scream, the crew of the Nostromo, including the iconic Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), certainly did scream, as did, I imagine, the majority of moviegoers when they saw the Chestburster rip and tear through John Hurt's chest and skitter off into the darkness of the vessel to grow and torment the crew. If you are this close to an Alien you are in trouble. The alien, or to give it its technical term "Xenomorph, boarded the Nostromo when Kane (John Hurt) decided to enjoy his space Easter a little bit too eagerly, opening an oozing egg, and got a face full of legs and other unsavoury parts down the gullet. Ash, the not at all suspicious science officer, overrides Ripley's orders to maintain quarantine and keep Kane and t...

Loving Lovecraft So life gets in the way every so often and the again planned review of Under the Shadow has fallen by the wayside again (I will not promise to make it the next blog entry's topic as I can't seem to keep it!) but in its place is something I hope you will find equally entertaining.  He looks friendly... When I was around 14 or 15 a video game for Xbox came out call Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. I was instantly intrigued a) by the fact that this was touted as a horror game without zombies or ghosts and goblins but instead about unknowable horrors for the depths of space and the ocean, and b) how on earth to pronounce its title (try Cu-thu-lu). Good luck When I finally got my hands on the game I was not disappointed. The game was set in the early 1900s, following a private investigator investigating (as private investigators a want to do) the disappearance of a boy in the seaside town of Innsmouth. Naturally when he goes looking for the...

Horror and Terror - Two letters difference in spelling, a world of difference in practice The difference between horror and terror (bar the first two letters of each word) when put into practice provide very different results. Terror is best described as the skin crawling dread you feel as you slowly climb the creaking staircase, your mind telling you to run away from the unknown sound upstairs, whilst your body continues its shaking zombie like march up the stairs, desperate to know what is making that unearthly sound. Horror is when you open the door to your bedroom and see that it is your mother shrieking at the pornography you've left playing on your laptop (not a true story, I promise). In simple terms, terror is the feeling preceding the horror. Terror is the foreplay on the way to the big messy climax of bodily fluids all over the walls. The majority of horror movies, rush through the terror, desperate to get to the horror (I think the foreplay and sex metaphor still hol...