macabre

The question of whether Luc Besson has got his groove back is only going to annoy those who dispute any former groove-ownership. Besson himself might contend that box office success is in any case the sole criterion for assessing groove. At all events, this bizarre and macabre drama-thriller is watchable and Caleb Landry Jones gives an oddly engaging performance as Douglas Munrow, a wheelchair-using “Dogman”, questioned by police psychologist Evelyn (Jojo T Gibbs) after being arrested in full drag gear, smeared with…

In the National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, violinist Joshua Bell and conductor Dalia Stasevska are on an intensely focused mission to get the opening bars of a concerto just right. The work begins with a series of exposed chords from the woodwind, from which rises a declamatory flourish on the violin that fades into a lyrical phrase so intimate and hushed that it steals the breath. The musicians are recording the piece, so the passage is repeated over and over, then critiqued, with the finest of adjustments made.You…

A group of misfit circus performers, led by bewhiskered father figure Israel (Giorgio Tirabassi), tour the backwaters of early 1940s Italy. But the troupe falls foul of the occupying Nazi forces – Israel for his Jewish heritage, the others due to their powers (to label them superpowers rather overstates the usefulness of these unique but niche skills). Cencio (Pietro Castellitto) has the ability to wrangle insects. Part-man, part-shagpile carpet Fulvio (Claudio Santamaria) possesses unusual strength. Grinning simpleton…

C.O.T.D. usually stands for Catch Of The Day. What does it mean in the world of Moon Knight? No idea. But Jed MacKay has a 12-chapter story.Published Tue, 30 May 2023 09:57:11 -0500 by Rich Johnston | Last updated Tue, 30 May 2023 10:57:41 -0500 | C.O.T.D. usually stands for Catch Of The Day. What does it mean in the world of Moon Knight? No idea. But Jed MacKay has a 12-chapter story for Moon Knight #25, and Mafrvel editorial have made their notes in this ad for the comic in question at a very meta level, showing us the…

The Chuckling Whatsit Writer/Artist: Richard SalaPublisher: FantagraphicsOriginally Published: 1997New Hardcover Edition: January 2023 The Chuckling Whatsit by Richard Sala — for the uninitiated — is a comics classic. It is an idiosyncratic and deeply weird murder mystery of a book, one that is very much a brilliant cartoonist’s singular vision. In fact, when Sala passed away in 2020 not long after the start of the pandemic,  the book was among the many reasons The Beat praised him as one of our favorite horror…

Madison Karrh’s booth at Summer Game Fest 2022 was on the far right side of the demo area, hugging a wall at the front of the small industrial space in downtown Los Angeles. Her game, Birth, was one of the first projects you’d see after grabbing a swag bag, but it was easy to overlook in a sea of neon pixels and mainstream names like Street Fighter, Cuphead and Sonic. Birth is a thoughtful game of bones, puzzles, loneliness and decay, rendered in earth tones and captivating, hand-drawn vignettes. In a Day of the Devs…

In December 2010, a 76-year-old man burned to death on his living room floor in Ireland.Nearly a year later, a coroner officially ruled that he'd died of a peculiar phenomenon, the Irish Independent reported – spontaneous human combustion.This phenomenon, as it has been understood over the centuries, involves a body suddenly bursting into flames without being ignited by an external source.Coroners typically walk into a scene where the victim's hands and feet are intact, while the torso and the head is burned to ashes,…

| "Allen Hardy Associates, Inc… needs the unusual, says the August 1953 edition of Writer's Digest. "Artists and writers who don't have a hackneyed approach to comics. "Art Director Jerry Feldman says, "If you got it — you get it." Better known today as Comic Media, Allen Hardy Associates did indeed have an unusual and deceptively sophisticated approach to comic books during its brief lifespan.  The publisher is remembered for its stand-out and notorious horror and romance output, as well as the character Johnny…

Why did people think cannibalism was good for their health? The answer offers a glimpse into the zaniest crannies of European history, at a time when Europeans were obsessed with Egyptian mummies.  Driven first by the belief that ground-up and tinctured human remains could cure anything from bubonic plague to a headache, and then by the macabre ideas Victorian people had about after-dinner entertainment, the bandaged corpses of ancient Egyptians were the subject of fascination from the Middle Ages to the 19th…