“Dagon” (2001) – American Lovecraftian Aquatic Horror

Can’t really do a proper Mermaid themed Review Festival without visiting some of the quaint antediluvian submarine horrors of H.P. Lovecraft’s Deep Ones, now can we? Although our “little mermaid” in this one has more resemblance to Ursula the Sea Witch than Princess Ariel, I’m thinking Stuart Gordon 2001’s Lovecraft inspired film “Dagon” fits in just fine. But then I’m a sucker for romance and even freaky octopus girls need sweet forbidden love too, now don’t they? Hehehehe!! 😉

Our synopsis reads like this: “Paul Marsh is yachting along the Spanish coast with three companions when a freak storm causes their boat to founder on the rocks. With the ship sinking, and one of his friends trapped in the wreckage, Paul and his girlfriend Barbara take a small boat to a nearby village to find help to free them. But the town of Imboca and it’s locals seem odd and freakish, and their behavior grows increasingly strange and threatening. Soon it’s clear that Imboca is a place mired in a shadow of evil that threatens them all unless they can somehow get away. But… once Paul meets a local girl, who has appeared in his recent nightmares as a mermaid, he realizes that the fearful world of his dire dreams is now a deadly reality… a reality which he may never escape.”

So, if you, like a wee Catgirl, also have a taste for the icky cosmic horrors that inhabit Lovecraft’s tales of terror, then “Read On” o’ Gentle Visitors and lets all find out some of those secrets “man was not meant to know…”

“La Sombra Prohibida” (2011) – Spanish Horror

Time to finish the eerie journey your Favorite Catgirl took watching the Spanish horror goodie “La Herencia Valdemar” by taking a look at it’s recent sequel, “La Sombra Prohibida” aka “The Forbidden Shadow”. Lots of evil goings on… forbidden lore… twisted freaky monsters… the last film appearance of the great Paul Naschy.. and Cthulhu too!! Yep. It’s a “no brainer”… Neko is sooo there.

Our synopsis? It goes like this: “The disappearance of Luisa Llorente and the Curse of the Valdemars have become the events that will cause the fates of an eclectic group of people to cross and become entangled with the goals of a shadowy Cult of fanatics who seek to unleash on Earth that “Which Sleeps Eternal”… Cthulhu, most evil of the Great Old Ones. At last all will be revealed as the fragile veil between Reality and “the Beyond” is torn asunder by foolish Mortals. Some will live… some will die… when they are forced to look upon “The Forbidden Shadow”.

By now, you are probably wanting to get on with it and see if the wait for this one is worth it… or… as can sometimes happen, they blow it badly and fail utterly to finish the story properly. That’s happened before.. and it’ll happen again. Neko’s seen her share of movie catastrophes… but, please let’s not be the case this time!! Still… as always, the truth is in the watching, so let’s get on with it then… “Read On”!!

“La Herencia Valdemar” (2010) – Spanish Horror

It’s October!! Time for us to begin our annual celebration of all things spooky movie wise. So…. how about starting off with a Spanish horror film… featuring the weird fantastic mythos of classic horror author H.P. Lovecraft? Writing back in the 30’s, he was pretty much the Father of all the “Pulp Era” stories about such weird horrors from beyond Space & Time. He’s had lots of imitators over the years since then and every now and again, somebody tries to capture on film all those freaky “unspeakable things” he was always writing about in his stories….  usually without much real success. So… when I heard about a new Spanish horror film inspired by Lovecraft and his writings, called “La Herencia Valdemar”, I was initially somewhat skeptical.

Our synopsis, short and sweet, goes like this: “Luisa Llorente, an assessment expert of old properties, travels to the mysterious Victorian mansion of the Valdemar Family to conduct an inventory of property ownership for her company in preparations of selling the property. Once there, she soon discovers the grisly fate of the previous assessor only to then mysteriously disappear as well. Maximilian, the president of the company she works for, engages the services of private detective Nicholas Tramel to try and locate her. But he soon finds she is not the first disappearance in the old Valdemar mansion… nor will she likely be the last….”

Haunted houses, creepy family curses, and ancient Eldritch evil… sounds like I’ll be a happy Lil’ Catgirl alright. If… that is, they finally manage to actually get it right. Can’t say I’ve been too happy with a Lovecraft style horror film since Brian Yuzna’s “Reanimator” and his equally gooshy and horrifying “From Beyond”. Will this one catch the right “vibe” of overwhelming, mind numbing Cosmic Evil? Guess you’ll have to “Read On” and find out…..