Beverley Price's Blog

When I was 15/16, I first saw The Craft, and it was like coming home. It was at that point I thought I am going to be a witch. 

The thing was I was always a witch that film just gave me a name for what I was. Wiccan. Now twenty years later, I still follow a Wiccan path. And I am also a horror fan. The representation of witches in movies and TV series have been very hit and miss.  

This article looks at some of my favourite witches and some of the more damaging ones. I do have to say that this is my opinion only and other witches, Wiccans etc. may have different views on how witches are represented and which one they see as favourable and which ones they see as harmful.  

Best Representation of Witches

5. Halliwell Sisters – Charmed 

Charmed follows the lives of three sisters, Prue (Shannon Doherty), Piper (Holly Marie Coombs) and Phoebe (Alyssa Milano) Halliwell as they learn to kill and sometimes love the demons that have entered their lives.  

The good thing about Charmed is that it uses a lot of Wicca elements as accurately as they can within a context of the drama.

There are references to spell casting, potions, Hereditary Book of Shadows and we even see a handfasting (pagan wedding) and wiccaning ceremony (a naming ceremony). Halliwell Sisters always try and use their magick for good, but they are shown as human and do make mistakes.

One of the downsides of Charmed is not a complaint about their representation as witches but their representation as women. The romance was too much of a plot device in these series.

When the Halliwell Sisters are single, they bitch and moan about it. When they are not trying to save the world, they are trying to get laid.  

4. Sabrina The Teenage Witch 

Here I am talking about the Melissa Joan Hart Sabrina and not the remake which I have yet to explore. Sabrina is a witch struggling to come to terms with her new powers. As it is something that comes to her as she reaches her 16th birthday, so could be a metaphor for puberty.  

What I enjoy about the Magick used in Sabrina is that it does not always “work”. For example, Sabrina turns bitchy cheerleader Libby into a geek to see what it is like to be picked on.  

But Libby’s personality is the same. She now has a different group of people to be bitchy with. It is also right that Aunt Hilda and Aunt Zelda was shown as strong independent women and not exacerbated by their childless status. In fact, while they talk about relationship it is not the be all and end all for them. For them, they have other things in their life to make them happy. 

Again the downside to Sabrina is about the representation of “others”. Like Charmed, Sabrina is white and straight centric. Apart from the fact that she is a witch, they is not much to set Sabrina apart from the rest of the school mates. 

There is not a lot of Wiccan symbolism and history involved in the series. Sabrina’s pointing her finger for the magick to happen is only a step up from Bewitched’s Samantha’s nose wiggle. At least a finger is like a wand. This was a fun and harmless series. Ultimately the reason why Sabrina sticks in my mind as a great show is Salem the talking cat, the familiar we all secretly desire.  

3. The Craft 

After mentioning that The Craft made me the witch that I am today, they should be no surprise that it is here, what might surprise you in the placement. The Craft knows its Wiccan roots. We see a ritual that involves calling quarters that can be used as part of a sabbaths celebration. And it shows the threefold rule. How everything we put out in the world comes back to us threefold. For example, Sarah puts a love spell on Chris as punishment for him spreading lies that they had slept together. The spell backfires as he obsesses with her to the point that he nearly rapes her. All of the characters want to improve their situation but are not thinking of the more comprehensive picture, which is easy when you are a teen.  

For once we do have some non-white characters and looks at the racism that they face. It is important that in many ways what they want are deep.

Looking back on the film now I find the climax of the film uncomfortable. It is meant to be that eternal battle of Good and Evil between Sarah and Nancy, but I think this is a cruel way to present Nancy, especially as it ends her up in a mental hospital.  I am not sure where that leave Bonnie and Rochelle. They are stripped of their powers but the end of the film but they are punished as strongly as Nancy.

2. Practical Magic 

Sally (Sandra Bullock) and Gillian (Nicole Kidman) Owens play two witch sisters, and their eccentric aunts battling prejudices and a curse that prevents them from finding everlasting love.  

Practical Magic is primarily about sisterhood, and while not all covens are female only, they have that same sense of closeness that you have with our own family.  

As well as spellcraft and herbal magick, this film shows not only the issues that witches face when they come out of the broom closet but learning to accept who you are. Again, the film is a love story, and the magick is used as a quick fix to solve a problem which ends up making matters worse.  

As an adult, I can not help but think that there is an underlying sense of Queer Guilt to this film.

Interestingly there are rumours that this film was cursed by a witch who was not happy about the way that Wiccans were being represented.

Sandra Bullock becomes interested in Wicca after the film. Not sure how true either of these is.  

Honourable Mention: Belladonna of Sadness  

It is hard to place this film, a 1973 experimental Japanese Anime film about a peasant Jeanne who was raped and then calls upon Satan to help her revenge those who have wronged her. Belladonna of Sadness is achieved through witchcraft, herbs and magic to get revenge and adapted from Jules Michelet’s La Sorcière (a history of witchcraft published in France in 1862, the same year as Les Misérables). Jeanne will also use her newfound power to help the commoners fight the plague, but she is ultimately burnt at stake.  

While the film is beautifully shot, it is difficult to get over the fact that there is a lot of bare breasts, torn clothes and naked lithe figures within this film. There is an almost sadistic pleasure that is enforced upon this character including her being ripped in half during a rape scene which can be uncomfortable viewing  

Another issue with Jeanne is that she gets her power from Satan. Many witches know there is no Satan within Paganism or Wiccan traditions, that Satan is a Christian concept. 

Yes, Belladonna of Sadness should ultimately come with a trigger warning, but there is something about its beauty, it’s water coloured imagery that tugs at the heartstrings. But this is not the perfect representation of witches.

One of the exciting takes of this film has is that Jeanne believing her anger would make her a hag. Jeanne is disappointed to discover that she has become beautiful as Satan explains to her you can be angry and beautiful  

Maybe that’s another way that we can look at a witch, and she doesn’t have to be a hag she can be beautiful and a witch.   

What happens to Willow is something that a lot of witches going through, changing from meek schoolgirl to a commanding force. 

But Willow was always represented as “other”. Willow is Jewish, and a lesbian, covering many bases often misrepresented by the media.

In many ways, she is more relatable, not just as a witch but as a human being. The most exciting part is that they show Willow’s dark side when she lets emotions get the better of her and her magick.

Witchcraft is shown as both the establishment and loss of power and control. Even when Willow loss of control of her skills and becomes corrupted, she is referred to as dark Willow and never evil Willow. The problems came from portraying Willow magick lust as an addiction that comes and goes over one season.

The following season sees Giles and Willow trying to gain a healthy relationship with magick, which is difficult to achieve with an addiction.

Most addicts tend to relapse which we do not get with Willow. Willow’s magickal journey is an integral part of Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s storyline and not just there for ratings.

Willow’s magick is flawed by only being shown in mystical terms. But it is great that it shows a journey, that can go to dark places. Willow is an essential feminist symbol of empowered women.  

Worst representation of Witches 

 5. The Wicked Witch of the West – The Wizard of Oz. 

The wicked witch of the West played by Margaret Hamilton is a green-skinned, wart covered evil woman. She would be dressed completely head to toe in black, literally from shoes to her pointy hat and then cackling laugh apart from the obvious that Witches do not tend to have green skin.  

She also uses her power to make herself appear better than the others. Interestingly the book by L. Frank Baum does not say what colour her skin is, meaning the green-skin is the creation of the film.

Wicked Witch of the West is a folklore representation of witches put on the screen and therefore does not have a connection of pagan “tropes”. 

The use of a crystal ball to scry into the future is the one pagan image. The film uses this to spy on the intended victim, in this case, Dorothy.

Of course, the book and run away musical of Wicked gives more flesh to the reasoning behind The Wicked Witch’s wickedness. The Wicked Witch of the West is usually the first exposure to a witch and then cements the idea that Wicked Witch image as described as above.  

Dorothy is even told that “Bad witches are ugly.” Especially when you contrast it with the fair-skinned complexion or what is seen as “normal standards of beauty”. Not a great message if you are not much of a looker, you are not in the flush of youth anymore or not white.

4. Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows 

Blair Witch Project was not the most excellent representation of witches, with the titular witch being an evil child munching monster. But the Blair Witch could be nothing more than a local legend.

Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadows, not only uses a known Wiccan term with the subtitle of Book of Shadows, but one of the characters identified as a Wiccan and she is not a significant representation.

This film seems to confuse Satanism with Paganism as the characters are told to murder the campers and turn their corpses into a pentagram.

The message that this film tells the audience that practitioners of Wicca are just possessed Satanic murders. Of course, there is no need for me to point out that most Wiccans are not interesting murdering people. Blair Witch Project 2: Book of Shadows is not the first film to equate witches as Satanist, but it seems more out of step following films that came out before this showing witches in a much more personal stance rather than out and out evil.

Witchcraft as a commodity in Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadow is there to mislead and continue the negative stereotyping of the Wiccan religion and its followers.

As for the Book of Shadows in the subtitle, it is not mentioned at all in the film; it seems that it is nothing more than a sign saying, we know a Wiccan word.  

While doing the research, I did come across an interview with Joe Berlinger, co-writer and director of Blair Witches Project: Book of Shadows at WitchVox, which is a witch based website and see below for a link to the full interview.  

Berlinger had spent time with Wiccans, and the individual that is interviewing Berlinger had advised on the film, so it is not coming from ignorance. What Berlinger was going for was that evil is a human emotion and not a religious concept. For me, it is a case of lost in translation.

All of the other films and TV series on this list are considered ok or significant but Blair Witch Project: Book of Shadows is often considered one of the worst film and the confusion within the film makes the intent to the Wiccan character muddled. Maybe if the film was better produced then the good intent may have been better

http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=media&id=3052 

3. Bell, Book and Candle 

Bell, Book and Candle focus on bad magick. She places a love spell on the man of a girl she hates to “steal” him, even though she has no interest in him herself.  There is an issue about consent here and forcing someone to love you is not a romantic notion, no matter how the film tries to portray it.  

The witch is depicted as hateful and vengeful. They are incapable of love as witches if they revoke their witchiness than they can find love.  

The idea that love can only be found once you have shed your “otherness” is a very harmful one. Now it can be argued that it is the representation of women at the time as much as witches. 

2.Elaine – Love Witch  

This film looks at love, sex magick and murder through the shimmer of 60s retro chic. The film sees to know about witchcraft, and it is shown in a pure form. 

The problem being that Elaine uses her “gifts” to find the perfect man, using her magick for her own selfish needs which are not something that is encouraged in the Wiccan traditions.

The styling of the film makes modern witchcraft look dreamy and silly. In this film, it is not just Elaine that is a poor representation of witches, but the highly sexed high priest is not the most excellent look at male witches.

The indication scene in the coven looks more like abuse than a view of empowerment. Now I am not saying that they don’t exist, I have met one while on my pagan journey, but the film seems to suggest that all men in the position of power will use it to have sex with young girls.

Again this is as much about the way women are viewed as women as much as how they are seen as witches.  

Elaine is an outsider by the nature of her being a witch, but she still wants the norms of a housewife and eternal love, even if it means losing who she is.  

Dishonourable mention: Pay The Ghost 

This film does not have a “witch” in it as such. But it has a strong misunderstand of pagan imagery and myths that make this a dishonourable mention.  A scene shows one of the characters carve the Triple Goddess symbol into her arm.

When Nicholas Cage comes across a coven preparing from Samhain, they explain that the symbol is a negative one and a sign of bad things to come. Which it is not. 

The “Ghost” is a crone who had witnessed her three children burnt at stake before being killed herself. Therefore at Halloween/Samhain, with the veil between the two worlds being at it thinnest the crone takes children to replace those that she lost. Again this is another film that seems to state that being ugly and old, i.e. a crone is a negative thing, that you are an evil force. 

The only good thing about this film is that it is not Nicholas Cage butchering The Wicker Man.

1.The Sanderson Sisters – Hocus Pocus 

As representation goes, there are several issues with Hocus Pocus. One of the hardest parts to overlook is the fact that the Sanderson Sisters having a connection to The Devil. As mentioned, the devil has no connection to Paganism.

But more importantly, these supposedly powerful witches still have to be subservient to the male patriarchy.

It is almost like they could not pair together power and independence. Another thing that it’s jarring against many other witches film is that they are not a “happy family.”  

Whether or not it is intentional but the Sanderson Sisters seemed to be a representation of the Triple Goddess. Tripe Goddess imagery would make Winfred the crone aspect and therefore perpetuate the misunderstanding that the crone is something to fear.  

Of course, the main issue with The Sanderson Sisters is the fact that they are child killers which is not a representation that real witches want to be associated with. It could be argued that the threefold rule gets them in the end, ironically by the very children that they thought that they were superior to.  

When it comes to movies getting a successful sequel it can be difficult but getting that magic third is sometimes a miracle.

Of course there is The Godfather trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy but I am looking at horror films, cos that I what I love. For me, there are three films that show strength even in their third instalment, Friday the 13th 3D, Scream 3 and A Nightmare of Elm Street: Dream Warriors. So I am going to have a little look at all three to prove that three can be the magic number.

Friday the 13th already had two success film in two years but they were now fighting against a wave of copycat slasher movies riding the coat tails of Friday the 13th and Halloween. Because of this, it needed a new gimmick to put it above the rest and convince people to return once again to Crystal Lake. It was eventually decided that a return to 3D would be the answer, something that had fallen out of favour since the 50s. This did mean that the screenplay, the acting, everything took second place to getting the 3D right. Because the aspect of 3D it was not an easy movie to shoot. Long technical reshoot made the scenes feel mundane as they tried to get the 3D perfect. There is a whole load of pointless scenes just to give the audience the 3D effect. But because of this it has become an influential film.

On the surface there does not appear to be a lot to love with Scream 3. Scream is a sleepover staple, Scream 2 was decent but Scream 3 seems weak especially compared to the other two. Scream 3 does have good practical effects. When it blows up a house, it literally blows up a house, no CGI or anything. It scores high with me as it has a cameo in it with Roger Corman. As well as Roger Corman, Parker Posey is great as fake Gale Weathers. If you think of Posey and Cox teaming up in a buddy film style, it this makes this a great film.

A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warrior took one of the best aspects of the first film to make the third film shine. Nancy Thompson (Heather Lagenkamp) returns as an older wiser mentor for a new group of kids. The action of this film takes place at psychiatric hospital for troubled teens and Freddy powers have been greatly strengthened. It is the teens at Westin Hills Institute that makes the film. Dream Warriors also elaborates on the Freddy backstory, that fact that he is a bastard child of a nun who was raped by a 1000 maniacs. As the budget expended for this film so does Freddy’s kills, including Freddy turning into a puppet to kill puppet obsessed teen Philip. The roots of Freddy as a “comedy villain” starts here, but it is a nice balance here. Ok, Freddy has also been quipping but his humour starts to take on a sick element. It is this film that gives us the Freddy the horror icon that we know and love today. What Dream Warriors try to teach remakes that audiences do not want a rehash of what made a film popular, that they want growth. The only franchise that I can think of in modern times that understands that lesson is The Conjuring films (not the spinoffs, they are a different entity).

This is just a snippet of what makes all of these films great. I could easily write a review on each of them but for now, take this bite size reasons and go check out this films.

We know that horror and sci-fi can be delighted bedfellow, but Doctor Who has used well-known horror villains, including werewolves (Tooth and Claw), vampires (The Vampires of Venice) and even giant insects (The Unicorn and The Wasp) but some of the scariest moment comes from some of the new monsters.

Here is my list of the five scariest episodes.

5. Human Nature / The Family of Blood

This episode is a two part that shows David Tennant’s Doctor Who becoming human. A group of aliens called the Family of Blood (including Harold Lloyd as a character that is reminiscent of The Master), who are chasing the Doctor are a gruesome foe.

Because the Doctor never wants to hurt anyone he goes to the extreme length to hide his identity from The Family. However, it is the more mundane object that is the terrifying part of the episode – The Scarecrows.

A recurring theme of Doctor Who is taking every day items and making it scary, but it is the almost clown-like aspect of the scarecrows that causes that hair to rise. The episode is of a gentler pace, it almost feels like a Catherine Cookson romantic drama.

The scarecrows are a perfect addition to this story. They are alarming, mysterious and en-masse feel like an army. The scarecrow is moving, despite them being nothing more than straw and clothes, due to “molecular fringe animation”. The explanation falls flat, but we do see the Family animate other people, which they do well but not explained how they do it. The Family of Blood are an alien race that needs to be investigated more, and we are not giving enough about them in this episode, although there are still exciting and distressing enough to hold your attention. Due to the Doctor Who as a human, literally, makes this episode both unparalleled and spellbinding.

4. Horror of Fang Rock

Tom Baker’s Doctor Who was often infused with Hammer style Gothic horror, and while this is one of the last to dabble in that style, it goes out in a blood bath. Fang Rock is a lighthouse surrounded by fog (sound familiar?).

Electrical failure at the lighthouse causing a yacht to run aground and the survivors camp out in the lighthouse. However, something is picking them off one by one with the power of electricity. The killer turns out to be a shapeshifting alien race called Rutan.

Another thing that makes this episode scary is the fact that Doctor Who shows vulnerability. We are used to him being more arrogant, so to see this weakness makes us worry about ourselves. Like Van Helsing, Doctor Who is just one person protecting us for the monsters, and sometimes we need to remember that.

However, the actual monster are subject to the constraints of the time and are not particularly scary once revealed, and the lack of emotion and moral resonance means this episode is lacking. However, Tom Baker’s performance and atmosphere makes it horrific.

3. The Girl in the Fireplace

When clocks become terrifying, then you must be in a Doctor Who episode. We see David Tennant’s Doctor Who using a time portal to enter the bedroom of a young girl called Reinette in 18th Century France.

Years later Doctor Who becomes reacquainted with Reinette (aka Madame du Pompadour, the real-life mistress of King Louis XV) and must save her from clockwork droids from the 51st Century. The clocks are broken but still ticking; this is the droids lying in wait to attack. Robotic stalkers are nothing new in Doctor Who but there is something about their absurdity that makes them frightening.

Their obsession with Madame du Pompadour is a breathtaking revelation as the camera pans away to an outside view of the ship. While Horror at Fang Rock was filmed like a horror, the Girl in the Fireplace is filmed like a period drama. This make the Robots more unerring. As seems to be the case in many Steven Moffat episodes, technology comes across as stupid.

With a romance simmering beneath the surface between the Doctor and Madame du Pompadour, it makes these a more rounded episode.

2. The Robots of Death

Some episodes titles are ambiguous about what they are promising, and then there is “The Robots of Death.” Tom Baker’s Doctor Who seems to find himself trapped in an Agatha Christie novel as this is essentially a murder mystery. The Doctor is on a sandminer with a dodgy group of humans, and soon a couple of the crew die.

The culprits are robots glide silently through the ship, as if they are floating on air, and there are committing their revolution without any expression change, which is the eerie part.

The robots themselves are incredibly human like, but with cold dead voices that makes them genuinely creepy.

Robots of Death is a claustrophobic nightmare interwoven with Asimov robotic tales of man and machine detectives.

Honourable mentions:

Terror of the Autons – We are now with John Pertwee’s Doctor Who, and in this episode, we are introduced to The Master, another Time Lord, who is almost the evil twin to Doctor Who. And more robots. You sensing a theme yet?

Dark Waters – There is nothing scary, at least visually about this episode. The unsettling notion of humans continuing to have consciousness even after death in an episode filled with Cyberman make people uneasy. This is an episode were the words are more powerful than the monsters – “Don’t Cremate me.”

Empty Child – Using childhood fears is suppose to make it scary for children but this episode terrified adults. Fears of abandonment, zombies and clockwork monkeys are played for horror, and it works. As mentioned the mundane is once again made creepy. Gas masks that suddenly appear, replacing people’s faces is disturbing.

1. Blink

This being number one is no great surprise. Not only is this one of the most terrifying episodes but one of the best episodes full stop. This episode is a contradiction in horror; we are to observe the fear, we are encouraged not to look away. When things get gory, we almost automatically cover our eyes, in Blink we can’t.

Blink is explicit in telling us not to. David Tennant’s Doctor Who is not the main focus of this episode, but Carey Mulligan who is playing Sally Sparrow, a wannabe Scooby Doo gang member.

Interestingly the episode is shot in such a way that we never see the Weeping Angels move because we are observing them, even if the characters are not. It is only when the lights fade, or the camera moves that they make their move and that is what makes them terrifying.

But it is the way that they despatch their victims once they get them is unconventional, but that human fear of just disappearing is a basic fear. It is a shame in later incantation of Weeping Angels drops this method of “killing”. Like the Scarecrow, the fact that any statue could be a potential Angel is frightening.

As the end of the calendar is fast approaching us, I thought I would look back at some of the fun things I have done this year and what I have planned coming up in the next year. This particular post is looking at the fabulous events and holiday I have got to go to this year. All with the help of my lovely partner who was there for me when my anxiety started to be an issue, which was not that often thankfully.  All the way back in March we went and saw Dara O’Briain live.

This was a wickedly funny night and Dara is an amazing comedian who I would definitely go and see again. It was made funnier by the fact that when he picked on people in the front row there were not that responsive. He laid the seed of a punchline that he would return to later and they never felt forced. Although the commentary around why VR is not used for porn was both witty and thought-provoking.

Soon after we went to An Evening with style event for Brian Blessed. Although not a comedian as such you still found yourself laughing along with his tales. The man is clearly a born performer and storyteller. Tales that you knew were coming, like his time filming Flash Gordon and his adventures. You even got tales that you were not expecting, like his friendship with Patrick Stewart. While we made sure that e was not too close to the stage as we would be deafened by that marvellous booming voice of his. There was no way to escaping it as he sang Nessum Doram. For a man in his 80s he recall is mind-blowing, as he would quote lines for performance that he had done over 30 years ago. You left the theatre with his mantra literally ringing in your ears – “Don’t let the bastards get you down”.

And then there was the event that I was both looking forward to and dreading in equal parts – London Film and Comic Con. I had done a couple of Horror Con in the past but this far exceed those in sheer size. This was the part that I was dreading. I did burst into tears once over the weekend due to the stress of getting there but overall I coped fairly well. My reward for that was getting my photo taken with Meatloaf and Caroline Munro, and going to a talk by Meatloaf in the similar vein as Brian Blessed’s. Both Meatloaf and Munro clearly have a love for their fans, but Meatloaf stole my heart. The photo shoots overran because he was too busy talking to all of his fans. I had cosplayed as Alice Cooper in Wonderland and he told me I looked rocking.

Then there was the holiday where we went to Weymouth and Glastonbury. This was a birthday treat for my partner but he still wanted me to go to something that I would love while we were away hence the two destinations. So for my partner the holiday started at Monkey World and the Jurassic coast fossil hunting via The Tank Mueseum. The work done at Monkey World is superb and the Tank museum was a surprising highlight.

For my part we went to the Chalice Well. This is always a cleansing experience for me and more so every time I go. A last-minute decision to go to Wookey Hole due to the change in the weather was an awesome decision. The caves themselves are breath-taking. The experience was marred slightly by a small child who insisted on crying all the way around the tour which meant it was difficult to hear what the tour guide was saying. After the tour you come out to a myriad of plastic dinosaurs and a giant gorilla. There was nothing wrong with the display, it did seemed jarring after the caves. As we went off-season a lot of the “main events” was not on.

The year ended as it had started with a comedy gig. This time Jason Manford. And while he gave me a term for my class identity, Muddle Class, the comedy did not resonate with me as much as it had with Dara. I have no children, so I do not have to worry myself about them being posher than me and I am an only child, so I do not have the sibling anxiety that occurs when a sibling appears to no longer be in the same class as you. Do not get me wrong, Jason was amusing and likable, it was just not for me. Although I could get behind his commentary on Disney’s obsession with killing parent(s) of the hero of the piece.

His imagined conversation between the Disney rep and the writers, with the Disney rep seemingly to have the same voice as a 70s Northern Stand-Up comedian putting his morbid stamp on the writer’s happy tales of heroes. However Jason did end the show by telling everyone, but especially thr men that it was okay not to be okay. With Suicide being the biggest killer of young men that there should be less stigma around men opening up and this is clearly a statement that everyone can behind.

So plans for next year. Confirmed so far is that we will be going to the Whitby Goth Weekend and I am an officiant for a friend’s handfasting which is a real honour. I will being going to another Con at some point, whether or not it will be London will depend on who the guests are and some more shows are going to in there as well. Here is to more adventures next year.

Regularly readers of my blog post knows that I am the writer behind Blood Bound, and while I am still plodding through the next book in the series, I thought I would give an introduction to the antagonist of the overall series – Puppet Master.

Puppet Master is a mystery and a contradiction. Puppet Master is a myth and legend. Puppet Master is a God and flawed. Puppet Master is a fighter and lover. Puppet Master is a demon and an angel.

What do we know so far? He could have been the poster boy for the Dorian Grey lifestyle. We know that he was turned into a vampire the eve of his wedding night and that left him bitter and angry.

Who is around him? In his rage and need for companionship to replace the bride he never got to love he changed Marianne. However, Marianne become the less than ideal companion. Puppet Master soon found he had little compassion for Marianne and felt that he was never capable of love again.

Did that change? Yes and No. The Puppet Master still held on to the Dorian Grey persona that had been part of him before he become a vampire and continued to destroy many people’s lives through sex and obsession but every now and again someone would come along to re-ignite the human in the monster. From this springs the Jekyll and Hyde battles.

What does the future hold for the Puppet Master? Who knows? Especially when you are a vampire. As Marianne’s obsession grows what will that mean for the Puppet Master? Will he finds someone who will finally put the beast inside him to sleep? And what will that mean for the man who may no longer know how to be human? What makes you think I know the answers?!

The Puppet Master is such an important figure and I do have some idea on how his story ends but I am not going to spoil that here. To find out what happens to the Puppet Master you will have to read the other books, when I get round to completing them. Believe me I am not dragging my heels on purpose.

As well as writing under my own name I also write under the alias name Stormy. I have always thought of Stormy as separate from me, mainly because Stormy writes about my past and I can pretend that what I went through did not happen to me, it happened to Stormy. But also Stormy can talk about the extreme emotions that are associated with a troubled past. With my own personal experiences, I have also found Stephen King’s The Dark Half interesting.

The book I read several years ago, but I recently watched the film so I thought I would talk about these and connect it to my own experiences. The main character is Thad Beaumont who is a writer, who has had a more successful career writing as George Stark, who writes trashy “gangster” style thrillers. When Thad is blackmailed to hide the fact that he is George Stark, he decides to out himself and “kills” off the alias, including a fake funeral. From the staged grave rises George Stark bent on revenge starting by beating up a local man who sparks the interest of Sheriff Alan Pang-Born. King’s novel is full of psychological tropes from whether or not Thad and George are telepathically linked, and the psychopomp in the form of sparrows. The book is slick and scary but King has written better books, especially if you compare it to Misery, which also has a writer as the main character, dealing with a nightmare scenario

The film stick closely to the novel, although we are not show the violence that is described in the novel. Research has shown that film was plagued with problems. Tim Hutton who plays Thad/George did not get on with George A Romeo. Overall I found the book better than the film.

This is partially an auto-biography for King who had written under the alias Richard Bachman, who was going to be outed as this writer and so he did it first. I am not sure that King was as disturbed by what he wrote as Bachman as Thad is about George’s novels. It may have also been a metaphor about King’s own demons. It is common knowledge that King’s writing has been fuelled by cigarettes, alcohol and cocaine, to the point that King has spoken about not remembering writing certain novels. This is highlighted in the fact that George will drink and smoke when writing but Thad does not.

I suffer from depression, anxiety and OCD’s which has got worse over the years, especially after a particular terrible relationship. After this relationship Stormy was born. While King was worried that he could not write without the additions, I am worried that I can not write while taking the pills I probably should for my mental health. So do I want Stormy dead? Not at the moment. I am in a happy relationship but I still want Stormy to be a part of my life. A remainder that life can be bad and that it is ok to not being ok, and while Stormy exists, she can still talk about the pain, while I can write about monsters.

So I have recently been reviewing the film Compulsion for my A Year in Horror book and it reminded me of my love for Dean Stockwell. As a child of the 80’s my first introduction to him was through Quantum Leap, which was prominently a sci-fi show but it had a wonderful mixture of humour, romance and social commentary. Stockwell played a womanising U.S Naval Officer, who made good after a terrible start in life, growing up in an orphanage. It is weird that as a child I latched on to this character.

In one of those rare moment that instead of stifling me, my mother introduced me to Stockwell’s early films, and I mean early films. Kim, Gentleman Agreement, Secret Garden etc. But one of my favourites was the Boy with the Green Hair. A film that looks at war orphan whose grief had turned his hair green. They was something about the innocence and serious of the character who starts by being known simply as “The Boy” that captured my heart.

As I mentioned at the beginning the film that brought me here was Compulsion and that is for me his best performance, proof that he knew how to play creepy, with that all charm. A role that I believe lead Stockwell, nearly thirty years later, to Blue Velvet and the character of Ben, another infeminate male, whose creepiness is barely concealed. The power of the role is that the character is often remembered from the film despite only being in one scene. What is most interesting about that role is that David Lynch give Stockwell no character description meaning that the whole persona was created by him only, and boy did he make it memorable.

While Stockwell does serious very well, he can do lighthearted as well. Married to the Mob is one such film. A film were he was only meant to be in a supporting role, he steals the show, as Tony “The Tiger” Russo. To me, the contradictory role of henpecked Casanova was played perfectly by Stockwell. Ok, every film is not a hit, films like The Langoliers. A film that can be described as full of awful CGI, overlong and terrible conclusion. And for a great actor Stockwell’s acting in this film seems to be a mixture of Sherlock Holmes and William Shatner. Not his finest moment, but there is something still interesting enough to keep us (me) following the film.

But what makes me the happiest is when you see Stockwell back with his old pal Scott Bakula, in either Enterprise or NCIS: New Orleans. Maybe it is because this was my first introduction to Stockwell, that makes his cameos in these series special, or that these two seem to have a strong friendship that goes beyond just staring in a show together, and they work well together, even when they are not both on the same side. There are so many more films and tv series that Stockwell have been in that it would take several posts to explore them all. But all that have been mentioned are good starting points, if you have not see a Stockwell film. Stockwell is now in his 80s but I would love to see him back on the screen.

One of several pieces that I am working on at the moment is a book looking at my journey though re-establishing my love for horror. Predominately it is an excuse to watch horror films and judge them. So most of the time is just me on my own watching these films. But part of the joy of these films is sharing them with others. This seemed so clear to me with a recent lot of films that I watched. The first was a film called “The Open House”, a 2018 film created by Netflix’s. This was a film I watched on my own. The premise of this film, a mother and her teenage son are terrorised by an unsettling forces when they move to a new property. This was an average film, with nothing new and no real ending. A strange town full of stranger people who talk about the house that they have moved into with hushed tones. Once settled into the property, odd things start to happen, things that the police can not or will not help them with, stating that it can not be nothing more than kids frightening the newcomers. This is not a film I would recommend to anyone, mainly due to the ending which does not tell you who is causing the problems. It was giving a 3.6 out of ten from me.

The next two films, Things and Night Train to Terror, were watched with a group of friends. This is why something different happened to watching a film alone, you have people to laugh along with you. This is the sheer joy of watching “bad” movies. you can talk about it with your friends and it does not change the enjoyment of the movie. This works the best with several layers of “WTF” attached to it.

Things from 1989 is a low-budget Canadian film about an impotent husband, whose desire to become a father, sets his wife up for an experiment. The ultimate outcome of this, the birth of several monstrous things. In many respects this is one of the worst horror films in existence and yet I enjoyed watching it. Much of which is amplified by the banter it caused amongst us. It is hard to talk about the plot of the film as most of it made little sense. The interaction between the two brother Doug and Don is so terrible it becomes good again. Although Amber Lyn’s role as a reporter caused the most comments, due to the fact that she was clearly reading her lines from cue cards, which for some reason seemed to be kept a fair distance from the camera. Overall this film got a solid 4 out of ten.

Night Train to Terror’s plot is God and Satan are on a train discussing the fate of three individuals, that are shown as short stories within the film. One is in a lunatic asylum, one in a “death club” and one is the tale of one of Satan’s servants. This is a weird little curiosity but still gives us enough to work with for my friends and I. Like the absurdity of a guy falls in love with a woman he has only seen in a porn movie or why a mental hospital is full of dismembered arms and legs. Mainly, why was there an 80’s band on the train which we kept cutting to through the movie, and why were they playing the same annoyingly catchy song every time we cut to them? This film wins the award for being the best of the three at 4.2

I don’t think this would work with a heavy going horror film that you need to out attention on, maybe those should be saved for those days and nights that I am alone. And there was not enough to Open House that could have saved it if shared with friends. But a film that has a little crazy madness can be elevated when shared with others. On a side note, both Things and Night Train to Terror was brought to my attention by youtuber Brandon Tenold. If nothing else I would seriously recommend checking out his reviews, especially if you like your films to be off that beaten track.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBrandonTenold

At a book fair I brought a job lot of “pulpy horror” book, many of them being books by Guy N Smith. They were called Thirst, Two of the Crab series of books and Throwback. I had read the other books and was left wanting. The premise was ridiculous and I was not expecting Shakespeare but it was written in such a way that I found it not enjoyable and almost patronising. But a book brought is a book that needs to be read, and although I vowed never to buy another Guy N Smith book, I still had Throwback to go. And I actually enjoyed the book. I finally viewed this as a summer holiday book for those of a twisted mind.

Throwback is about a full-scale germ warfare that meant that people regressed to a primitive state. The book follows a handful of characters, some who was only there to be killed and those that are fated to survive. Now, this book is not perfect, the thriller style of the writing is a counterpoint to all the over the top gore and rivers of blood that is inserted through the novel. The ending is a good one, and not quite as downbeat as some of the other books of his that I have read. The book is fun but also stupid. But unlike the other books I had read, when I finished it I did not want to set it alight for wasting my time. What did frustrate me somewhat, was the inconsistencies amongst the levels that people had regressed by. Some were sheer animals, barely more than apes,  others were able to reason, talk and do washing up! I am guessing this is to show the difference that they were as humans, but this is not explained or explored enough in the novel.

Most of the novel seems to be centred around the married couple of Jon and Jackie Quinn, who have a small holdings in Shrewsbury. The unlucky lovers are separated when the virus strikes, Jackie quickly succumbs to the virus effect within the opening chapter of the novel. Jon, who was enjoying the company of sexual charged Sylvia, is now trapped with her in this new world and is left pining for his lost wife. Jackie, now going by the easier pronounced name of Jac, is taken as the partner of Alpha male, Kuz. It is clear through out the novel that Jac seems to have kept her womanly figure and made her an object of desire. But life is not all roses for Jac, as her Alpha male “husband” is a prick and interested in her now further than a spot of rough sex. Therefore Jac escapes with a human prisoner by the name of Phil.  In a twist of fate, one of the other side characters is Sylvia’s husband Eric who like Jackie, has returned to a primitive state. Despite the changes that had been thrust upon Eric, he yearns for his lost wife, mirroring Jon’s own yearning. When he does track her down by her scent alone, he brutally fucks her on the kitchen floor. So rough is the coupling is that he nearly knocks her out cold on the leg of kitchen table. This alone is enough for Sylvia to abandon Jon.

As I stated this a good novel, a survival horror novel, with close similarities to zombie movies, with more than a fair share of sex scenes. However, the narrative is weakened by trying to be told from too many point of views, and is bleak in tone, but for me, the best of his books that I have read.

It is strange because Guy N Smith reminds me of someone, in fact one of my favourite TV characters, Garth Marenghi. And while I enjoy the show, which includes an episode were the some of the cast devolve into apes, it seems odd that I can not enjoy the same in novel form. Would I read another Guy N Smith? Maybe

Should religion be a sexual experience? I am not talking about sex magick or orgies that are the part of some covens (or so I am told). I am talking more about the same energy or emotions associated with a sexual experience and should these or are these part of a religious experience? Like many questions associated with a pagan experience, this answer is my own and not the answer for all pagans.

The first question should be “What do you see as a sexual experience?” For some it is nothing more than a means to an end, either procreation or orgasm. There is no real depth to the experience. Maybe it is not an experience, just a fuck. Something to squeeze into their lives. The individuals remain individuals. For others it is something more intimate and is often much deeper than a quick fuck. There is no end goal, just a sense of togetherness. the couple almost becoming one in their experience. But both have a feel of escapism, whether it is in carnal happiness or in someone else.

The second question should be “What do you see as a religious experience?”. For some it is nothing, an empty grace at meals, and aimless session at church on the Sabbaths. For others religious experience is a life experience, a badge that they wear proudly.

Thinking about my own experience, religious and sexual, it is interesting to find that they mirrored each other.

I have only now realised that my deflowering and spiritual awakening was within a year of each other.

However, my inexperience in both, meant that I left myself open to attack from sexual and religious predators, being damaged by both influenced to how I approach these experiences.

In my early teens, I found that both sex and religious practice was best completed as quickly as possible, in case I “got caught”, which meant I was getting little from the experience. But I was getting something, a brief flame of desire, that I wanted to fan that fire. I kept plugging away at both trying to find the right fit, either with others or on my own. In my early twenties, I found both a stable relationship and coven, and for several years was happy and found what worked for me. Unfortunately, what I wanted was soon drowned under more powerful voices and I soon found that I was getting the best experience alone. By the time I hit my late twenties I was unhappy by my relationship and coven and felt I was faking emotions in both.

In the thirties it seemed the two experience disentangled themselves from each other. I found another coven from the ashes of the old one, where I was allowed to have my voice but a relationship took a lot longer to find. I suppose in my thirties, I was reaching maturity, I realised that what was missing was intimacy. It was not able the end goal of orgasm or completion of the ritual but the journey of getting there and afterwards.

I had found some of that in my twenties, but I still did not understand its importance. The fact that the orgasm or completion was not the end, there was still the “grounding” of the energy built up during the experience.

So should religion be a sexual experience? Maybe that is not the correct question. For many they have one without the other. Some people have no “religious experience” or “sexual experience” and are happy with their lives. If you are experience one or the other, neither or both, and that is your choice then you are doing well.

Maybe the question should be should religion be a pleasurable experience? Of course pleasurable is suggestive term, but ultimately your experiences should be making you happy and satisfied. In both sexual and religious terms, if you are feeling, coerced, uncomfortable or awkward in these experience, then you may want to consider leave these experiences behind.

For me, the two have seemed to have been part of my life. As I have grown, my sexual and religious experience have matured with me, and I have learnt that there is no quick fixes to get the best and adequate pleasure from these experience. What could be interesting as I get older, will these still continue to mirror each other. Especially as I enter my crone years, where the sexual experience could diminish, could the same happen to my faith, only time will tell.