Bugmaker

There's a dude (as his profile says: I'm male and taken) out there called Bugmaker and as the name implies, he make bug like creatures. He's a gifted sculpter as you can see from his Flickr account.

Also, he seems to have a penchant for C'thulhu, which we don't really mind here at MiM. There's no mention on his account that you can order any of his creations though, it's a shame really 'cause I'd really like to get my hands on a few. I mean, who doesn't want a Cephalopod creature in a jar?

Enjoy!

Resident Evil

RE has been a focus for the evolution of horror into games. Back in 1996, when the first one came out on the Playstation, the mind of gamers were blown away by the quality and the ambience it brought to a medium that was never really ‘’horror-friendly’’.

Off course, it’s not the first horror themed game but it’s one of the first that really put you into it and scared the crap outta you. It was a true homage to western cinema, with references to George A. Romero’s zombie trilogy (Night/Dawn/Day of the dead), House of haunted hill and even Psycho. Sadly though, it also spawned movies based on the games, as the first was written and directed by Paul W. Anderson, which turned out an ok flick but not as good as it could’ve been, the only really good thing about it was the soundtrack composed by Marilyn Manson. Sequels (Apocalypse and Extinction) were released after that, both still written by Anderson but this time directed by his Second Unit Director, Alexander Witt and Russell Mulcahy respectively.

Mediocre at best as you can imagine but it doesn’t seem to stop the franchise, as the 4^th installment is in the pipes as they say. The rumors go as the return of Paul Anderson’s behind the camera and with a tentative title; Afterlife. Yep, the guy who made Mortal Kombat the movie is the man trusted with this huge franchise. So it kills me to see it go that way when Mr. Romero was first attached to write and direct the first on to begin with. As a matter of fact he did write a script but the producers refused it because it was too gory. Which is hilarious considering it’s about walking decomposing dead people eating the flesh of the living. Anyway, if you never had the chance to read the script Romero wrote for the movie, I strongly urge you to read it.

Very different, yet familiar with the game; the characters are there with slight changes as Chris is a Native American and Barry being an Afro American. The hunters are there along with Wesker’s Tyrant, heck if I remember right; even the Rocket Launcher is used to kill it at the end. It has cheesy dialogues but I seriously think it’s a direct homage to the now infamous voice acting from the first game.

Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft

As you probably noticed, we're all big fan of H.P. Lovecraft's work here at Meat is Meat. I recently got an application on my Itouch that is basically all the stories, short and long, he wrote. It's really practical and interesting since I'm able to read some of them almost everywhere I go. Plus it's about a hundred stories for 3$ but lately, I've been meaning to read a comic that I had bought for some time but never got around to it.

The comic is called Haunt of Horror: Lovecraft by Marvel, it's on their ''MAX'' lineup so it means it's for mature readers. Richard Corben, a respected artist in the comic medium decided to adapt short stories of Lovecraft in this format and I gotta say, he did it perfectly.

Corben has a unique style, he's capable of creating an atmosphere like no other in the business. He uses the black and white standard with a touch of grey that just add to the ''foggy'' setting that always seem to dominate in Lovecraft's damp world. On top of that, Corben is a master when it comes to a grainy look, which just enhance the perception that everything is dirty.

The collection (Hardcover of the comics 3 issues) starts with probably the most known of his stories, Dagon. A man, sitting at his desk writting his last moments before taking a dive trough the window to escape some seamen. (His word, not mine - personally, I find fish-dude-monsters way more modern)

What follows is called The Scar, based on the short Recognition. The story is about an old man lost in the woods and upon meeting a young man, they both realize that they're not really alone in these woods and the young man eventually leave the older one to go faster. It's fascinating sometime how H.P. wrote often about humans worst flaws; in this case abandonment.

What I really enjoyed though about the comic is that at every end of the adaptation, the original text is printed so that you may compare the work of Corben with the storytelling of Lovecraft. A nice simple ''extra'' that adds flavor to the comic.

There's eight stories in all, which are about 5 pages minimum each, so for fans of H.P. or comics, it it definitly worth picking it up, I got the hardcover for 20$ and it's the second of a series of Haunt of Horror. The first one being about Edgar Alan Poe.

Dead Space

There's a game out there that 3 million people played but only 1.5 of them actually bought it and when you think about it, it's a damn shame 'cause Dead Space is good fun. It's a Sci-fi horror that borrow heavily on the movie Event Horizon and the myth of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu.

The game came out in October last year and it's bizarre 'cause it's only recently that everyone seem to realize how good it is; better late than never I guess. This past week-end, at the San Diego Comic Con, the game became a franchise... Comics are on their way, a possible movie by DJ Caruso and rumored game sequels are in production. Not bad for a game taht was a huge risk to start with.

There's already an animated movie out called Downfall, it's not that bad if you can go over bad animation. It's a direct prequel to the game, where the end is the start of the game.

The developper were called EA Redwood Shore at the time, but they recently changed their name to Visceral Game and their logo is basically an X-Ray of a cracked skull. It really show promises as a game company that may just specialize in horror games. That, is rare. Their next game is called Dante's Inferno (yes, ''based'' on the Italian poem but loosely would be an understatement) it's basically an action game in hell... which mean weird creatures, sounds and weapons.

Here's a preview with chessy dialogue and all.