Amanda Norman
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Legends of the Night TV Series
Recently, I was contacted by Karl White regarding a new television series that focuses on the old legends and classic monsters of long ago.
I was so excited to hear that someone is focusing on the tales that made classic horror what it is, that I decided to interview Karl to find out more about him and his TV show, Legends of the Night.
Please introduce yourself to my readers.
My name is Karl White, and I am the creator/writer of Legends of the Night. I have a BFA in Film Directing and have worked in TV for the last 5 years. I’m an avid movie fan, any genre as long as it has a compelling story and well developed characters. Of course I am a horror fan as well, but tend to lean a bit more towards the classic monster movies of the 1930’s and the Hammer films of the 50’s and 60’s.
I have a love of Gothic Horror and essentially films/stories that focus on the unknown and whether or not creatures and ghosts exist. I personally believe that a lot of modern horror concentrates on torture, blood and gore and I hate to think that future generations will be brought up on this material and lose out on the old legends. Do you agree?
I absolutely agree! There seems to be no subtlety any more in storytelling. It IS all blood and gore and somehow that’s representative of what horror is supposed to be. Horror, at it’s core, comes from oral histories, folk tales and cautionary tales. Hundreds even thousands of years ago people would sit around and tell stories about things that lived in the dark. It was a way to explain things, a way to keep people in check and as time went on it evolved. Horror turned into entertainment and as we sit today, it is just a way for movies studios and TV networks to make money. They don’t care whether the story entertains or if there is a message or meaning behind it. I guess I take issue with that. I don’t just want cheap scare after cheap scare. I want stories that build, characters that jump off the screen at me and something compelling that I walk away from thinking about the next day. There is nothing like that being made right now.
What are your influences and inspirations for Legends of the Night?
I’ve been inspired by so many things, it’s hard to fit it all into one answer. I looked to other anthology series as templates: The Twilight Zone, Tales from the Crypt, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Amazing Stories and of course Hammer House of Horror. But what has influenced the writing of Legends of the Night the most is my love of movies/stories outside of the genre of horror, carefully crafted dramas, tension inducing thrillers, intelligent and suspenseful sci-fi, if it’s good, it has influenced LOTN. What I’ve tried to do is build stories that blur the lines between the genres with the horror/creature element being the one thing that unifies them. There’s no chronology to the stories and each one takes place in different periods in time, set in locations all over the world. One episode could be the story of a person under control of a Vampire, force to do unspeakable things, set in contemporary Los Angeles. The next week’s show could take place in 15th century England with villagers trying to defend themselves against murderous Red Caps. The week after that could be a Samurai in Feudal Japan who is attacked by a werewolf and now faces the struggle that he is slowly becoming one himself. Those are just a few examples of show stories; I have 90 episodes laid out as of right now so I’m sure you can image the depths of subject matter and themes that I explore.
Legends of the Night is a television series, but what channels/networks will it be available on and will it be worldwide?
LOTN is still a written product, I am seeking a network. I would love for it to be a worldwide phenomenon, but that is where it gets tricky. Cable networks like HBO or Showtime are good platforms for that and they treat anthology shows pretty well. But I’ve also entertained the thought of producing it with Microsoft X-box or Netflix or Blockbuster or Amazon and make it a platform show for them – available to an international audience instantaneously. On-demand is where TV is heading so why not make that a starting point.
Any well-known personalities on board?
No one yet, but the undeniable quality to previous anthology series that cannot be ignored, is a host to provide insight to storylines and mythology. It would also help brand Legends of the Night as a unified entity, despite the changing subject matter, much as Alfred Hitchcock did with Alfred Hitchcock Presents. My short list includes: Rob Zombie, Danny Trejo, Josh Brolin, Tom Savini, Ving Rhames and Brian Cox.
Who will be writing the material?
The source material has all been written by me, I think that will help with keeping the stories a consistent quality. As far as the episode scripts, I would love to explore new and emerging writing talent or veteran screenwriters out of the horror genre who want to work on projects outside of their expertise.
Where do you see yourself in 1 years time?
Hopefully preparing to air the first season of Legends of the Night!
How can people get involved with your work and find out more?
Well first and foremost go to the website www.legendsofthenight.com
Sign the online petition, tell your friends, help make the show a reality. I am also working on a graphic novel series to act as a companion to the show. It will explore some of the mythology of behind LOTN and possibly spin-off some of the characters filling in their back stories. Don’t have any date on that, but keep a look out.
The Last Exorcism Review by Amanda Norman
It freaked me out!
The last time I was freaked out after watching a horror movie was when I was about 12 years old and I was introduced to Mr Barlow from Salem’s Lot. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you will know by now that I have a bit of an obsession about him. I begged my sisters and my mother to sleep in their bed with them after seeing him and I cried when they told me to grow up.
27 years later and I watched The Last Exorcism the other night and thankfully I wasn’t alone otherwise I would have totally freaked out.
Horror films that have a theme of blood, gore and torture don’t do it for me. In fact, the tension and horror is too much that I have to turn them off. I can’t stand them and I wonder what future generations will be like when they don’t have horror movies that rely on your imagination to terrify.
The Last Exorcism has had mixed reviews and I think that it’s one of those films that either you love or hate. Personally, I enjoyed it, though at first I did have doubts with the shaky camera and documentary style of the phony priest telling us why exorcisms are mostly scams, why he scammed people and the offer of showing us all how easy it is to con people in distress.
The priest, Cotton Marcus is played by Patrick Fabian and funnily enough he reminds me of a real life individual who I won’t name. He’s so cheesy and such a con artist that you sit there waiting for him to get what’s coming to him. The more involved he gets with his final exorcism, the more you find yourself beginning to feel sorry for him and then you find yourself wishing he would just leave. Then he leaves, but he makes the mistake in turning around and heading back. This is such good character writing!
The whole idea of being possessed by a demon scares me, because I don’t want to find out if it’s true. The only way I would find out for sure is if I experienced it and quite frankly, you can forget that! I don’t want my head to spin and be in the flames of Hell while a demon makes my body bend in unimaginable ways and makes my throat bulge to the point of almost bursting.
There’s one scene in the film where the demon starts breaking the girls fingers, one by one. Oh God NO!
Yes, I’m such a mard arse, but it’s films like these that I really enjoy. Films that play on your mind, allowing the viewer to scare themselves or as much as their imagination will allow. The scenes of being hacked to death in the film, you don’t need to see the evidence of being hacked do you? Let your imagination do that.
Some say that the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre was so good due to the psychological element of it. Ask yourself a question, do you actually see the chainsaw cutting into the bodies? Tobe Hooper the director was skilled in allowing the viewer to imagine that.
Actress Ashley Bell who plays the possessed teenager Nell Sweetzer is astonishingly scary. Her eyes and evil expression unnerved me to the point where I did almost chicken out and switch off the film. She’s a brilliant actress and I reckon there’s more to come from her. I wonder if she scared herself playing the role of a possessed teenager?
Oh well, as I write this I’m on my own and it’s dark. Wish me luck as I’m about to walk out into the long dark hallway…
ON MY OWN!
Please visit the films official website for lots more information http://www.thelastexorcism.com
A Christmas Shocker from Drew Daywalt
The wonderful Drew Daywalt has provided us with two shockers in time for Christmas. I wonder what Christmas is like over at Drew’s place?
The first titled New Toy cracks me up
The second is Drew’s vision of Father Christmas titled My Name is Kris Kringle, which is exclusively hosted by Fangoria.com.
Black Christmas (1974)
I finally got the chance to watch the 1974 movie Black Christmas and I really enjoyed it.
Although the film isn’t frightening, it sure is filled with tension that mounts and continues to mount right until the very end when you’re left with the thought of Olivia Hussey’s character Jess not surviving.
This film works because the viewer is kept in the dark about the killers identity and motive. You hear his mental and alarming ramblings on the phone to his potential victims who are unfortunately in the same house as him and you know exactly when the killer is on the prowl due to the creaking floorboards and the doors closing. I hate to think what the killer did to the body of his first female victim who we see throughout the film, sat at the attic window with a clear polythene bag covering her shocked expression and contorted face as she must have struggled for her last breath of air. Do the police and victims father ever find her body?
Watching this film reminded me of the Scream movies except this movie had more class and wasn’t a comedy.
I haven’t watched the 2006 version, but as with all remakes, I doubt they will keep the tension and suspense that this film delivers. In fact, I bet its just a blood fest for gore fans, but the question is, should I watch it to find out?