Hellsing

I remember , long ago, when comics and animation (or, manga and anime, if you will) from Japan were a rare find. Now there's aproliferation of this Japanese entertainment form here in the States...there are shows on saturday morning, tons of product in comic book stores, and even big chain booksellers such as Barnes and Noble have shelves and shelves of digest-sized manga volumes, ready to be read. These days, I don't read as much manga or watch as much anime as I have in the past, but every once in a while a title pops up that interests me...and such a title is Hellsing, created by Kohta Hirano.

The series is named after a British organization, which is in turn named after the family that has run it...yes, it's that Hellsing family, famous for hunting monsters. Also known as the Royal Order of Protestant Knights, the group is like a secret service that goes after supernatural entities such as ghouls, vampires, etc, also referred to as Midians. Integra Wingates Hellsing is the leader of the group, a tough, no-nonsense lady, who isn't afraid to take up gun and sword and get her hands dirty to get the job done. Integra's ace in the hole, however, is an agent known as Alucard ( spell it backwards). Alucard is a vampire who hunts other Midians. He is unaffected by sunlight ( 'I just hate it', he says in vol. 3 of the manga) and holy relics ( he often has a cross in his teeth, like a toothpick). he's a very powerful vampire, and how the great Dracula ened up working for his enemies' family is a mystery that is unraveled as the series progresses. The third main character is Seras Victoria, a young policewoman, who wounded unto death, is offered unlife by Alucard, and accepts it. She takes a job and residence with the Hellsing agency, trying to adapt to being a vampire. It has its advantages ( she can now wield huge ordinance easliy), but she is reluctant to drink blood, not wanting to completely lose her humanity ( '..if I do drink the blood, it feels like something will have ended forever', she says in vol. 2). Other supporting characters of note are Walter, the butler, aka The Angel of Death, who helped Alucard fight Nazi Midians in WWII; Captain Bernadette of the Wild Geese, mercenaries hired by Hellsing in their war against evil; and Father Anderson, an Irish priest who works for Iscariot XIII, a Catholic anti-Midian branch of the Vatican, who is good with blades and has regenerative abilities.

One aspect of Japanese manga/anime that I like is the creators' ability to take a genre or character that's been around for a long time, and put a radically different spin on it. Hellsing definately fits the bill here. Not only do we have Dracula working for his enemies, but his character is interestingly writen by Hirano. Our vampire protagonist goes about his business with a sort of detacthed amusement, which is probably how a powerful immortal may view life, or un-life , as the case may be. As the series goes on we see more in -depth Alucard's feelings and why he feels the way he does.

Alucard is also a visually striking character. Tall, lean, with long black hair, usually smiling with a mouth full of fangs, he is typically dressed in a red trenchcoat and wide-brimmed hat over a black suit, with heavy boots on his feet and red/gold sunglasses on. He can go from charming to bloodthirsty on a drop of a dime, his grin going from sly to crazed. Emotions and feeling notwithstanding, Hellsing is primarily a horror/action story, and our hero is as bloodthirsty (literally), if not moreso, than the monsters he battles...a scene in vol. 3 illustrates this well. While in South America searching for their enemies, Alucard and company are staying in a posh hotel, where they are besieged by commandos. They are made short and bloody work of, and from outside the hotel, onlookers witness bodies hurled out of top-story windows, to land atop the flagpoles in front of the hotel, after which Alucard calmly walks out the front door, grisly corpses dripping above. This scene harks back to one of Alucard's earlier titles-The Impaler.

Besides being inhumanly strong and fast, Alucard is alsao armed with a pair of guns made specially for killing Midians- the .454 Casull, which fires 13mm rounds made of alloyed steel and silver from a cathedral cross; and the Jackal, whcih fires 13mm armor piercing explosive rounds with Macedonium silver casings tipped with blessed mercury ( 'The ultimate anti-freak combat pistol...this isn't something a human could handle'). The Jackal is black with the inscription 'Jesus Christ Is In Heaven Now' along the barrel. Needless to say, like many other Japanese manga/anime, Hellsing is very violent, so it's most definately not for young kids.

Another aspect of the story I find interesting is the way the main religious groups are portrayed. The Protestant Knights use Christian iconography ( the Jackal is a good example), but seem to have a pragmatic view of stopping evil, finding the best method is to fighht fire with fire. The Catholic Iscariot XIII gruop hates the Hellsing group, mostly because they have an unholy creature as an agent, but in later volumes the Iscariot group , and other groups of religious knights, are shown to be fanatical, and a bit power hungry. I don't know if Hirano was expressing opinions when writing this, or was merely trying to have a lot of conflict in his story, but for whatever reason, it does make for a good tale.

Hellsing is published in the U.S. by Dark Horse in digest-sized volumes, nine of which have been put out here. There are two different anime miniseries out, one simply called Hellsing, the other called Hellsing Ultimate, which I think is more faithful to the original manga from which it's based on. I reccomend the Ultimate series for watching, and I highly reccomend the manga for readers. Like other manga artists, Hirano's art improves with each volume, and there's some dark humor in the story as well as pop-culture references,drama, horror, action, and blood-lots of blood, actually. But, what did you expect from a Japanese vampire comic...this ain't no Twilight. Hellsing gets a hearty Beast's Seal of approval. Check it out.

'The Bird Of Hermes Is My Name,

Eating My Wings To Make Me Tame' -

inscription on Alucard's coffin

The Beast's Movie Cave- Eraserhead

I have a fridge magnet that I picked up in Las Vegas years ago(at least I think it was Vegas...anyway...) that depicts the poster for the David Lynch film Eraserhead, with the blurb from Newsweek stating "The most original horror movie in years". It got me thinking about the film, and how I hadn't seen it in years. I got home early from work yesterday and checked what was on the free movies on demand channel, and on Sundance was none other than Eraserhead! Life is strange sometimes...and in the world of Eraserhead, it's very strange, indeed. I suppose I do agree with Newsweek's assessment of the film as horror, although it's not what one would typically think of as horror...there's no big scares, no killer on the loose, nothing of that sort. There are what could be considered supernatural forces at work, however. What the film does have is a pervasive feeling of dread and fear, an atmosphere of surreal creepiness that sets in from the very beginning and doesn't let up at all. If you've read my reviews of films like The Beyond or Phantasm, you know that I enjoy films with a dream-like feeling to them. Eraserhead is probably the most dream-like, or rather nightmare-like film that I can recall seeing. It's overall feeling is like that of a dream that's creepy , and you want to wake up, but nothing quite bad enough to make you jump up awake screaming happens, so you keep on going through this weird, unsettling dream, and things happen that you don't understand, and you're getting more and more freaked out...this is Eraserhead.

Eraserhead is about Henry Spencer (Jack Nance), a fellow with a strange hairdo, who goes about in an equally strange world. He goes to have dinner with his girlfriend Mary (Charlotte Stewart), who he hasn't seen in a while. He meets Mary's family and finds out that Mary has had a baby, and claims that Henry is the father. Mary and the baby move in with Henry in his small apartment. The baby is sick, and cries almost constantly, which takes its toll on Mary, who leaves.

Now, reading the above paragraph, you may think that this all sounds fairly normal...oh boy, are you wrong. While the plot, when boiled down to its basic core, may seem ordinary, it's how it's presented that makes it a living nightmare. Meeting your significant others' parents and finding out you're a father can be distressing enough, but in Lynch's hands the situation becomes horrifying. Matter of fact, nothing in Lynch's world of Eraserhead is normal or reassuring. Henry, from the first time we see him, always seems apprehensive at best, or downright scared at other times. Nobody that Henry encounters acts what one would call normally...and then there are characters such as The Man in the Planet and the Lady in the Radiator...who, or what are they, exactly? And the 'baby'...definately not what any parent wants to see in the nursery at the hospital, trust me.

Though this was Lynch's first feature-length film, he set the bar high for extreme cinematic weirdness and surreal horror. If you've ever seen any of his other films, such as Lost Highway (1997), or Mullholland Drive (2001),or his TV series Twin Peaks(1990-1991), you know that he's a master of the bizarre. None of these hold a candle to Eraserhead, in my own humble opinion. Everything about the world Henry Spencer inhabits is strange and a bit terrifying. As I stated above, Henry is always nervous and apprehensive, as if he dreads whatever this weird world has to throw at him next. The film is in black-and-white, which adds to the atmosphere, making it like a demented film noir, but instead of crooks and dangerous dames, we have mutant babies and bleeding chickens. Strange touches in the background are also present, like the framed picture of an atomic bomb mushroom cloud, and the tree growing out of a pile of dirt on the nightstand in Henry's apartment. Sound also plays an important part in the film. There's usually something going on in the background, sonically speaking...either distant jazz music, as if from an apartment window far away, or more ominously, wind blowing or loud industrial sounds . These background sounds keep the viewer unsettled, wondering what's going to happen next...much like Henry, I suppose.

I could go into greater detail about the strangeness that abounds in Eraserhead, but I want you, if you've never seen it, to discover all of the nightmarish goodies for yourself. There are lots of opinions on what the film is about...anything from fears of fatherhood to fears of domesticity in general. Lynch , as with most of his films, isn't forthcoming on what he had in mind when he made it, though I believe I remember reading that he said nobody's gotten his interpretation correct yet. Most people either love this movie or hate it...if you haven't guessed yet, it's one of my favorite films. With films like Eraserhead or Mullholland Drive, part of the fun is figuring out what it's about, or at least your own interpretation . It's a creepy, challenging , nightmare on celluloid, and if you haven't seen it yet, I think you should. After seeing it yesterday, I wondered why the Hell I don't own a copy...I think I'm going to get one this weekend.

As always, feel free to discuss this film with me...I'm interested to see what you think of it. As I said, if you have Time-Warner , its on the free movies on demand channel this month, under the Sundance channel. I believe its on Netflix's watch instantly option, as well. I don't know if Blockbuster or Hollywood video stores are enlightened enough to carry a copy, so good luck there. Until next time, good readers...

"In Heaven, everything is fine"

-The Lady in the Radiator

The Beast's Movie Cave- Martyrs

When you watch the director's introduction on a DVD and he tells you that you may have selected the wrong movie, and apologises for making the film, you know that you're in for a cinematic experience that's out of the ordinary. I'd read about French director Pascal Laugier's film Martyrs...it's been described as 'existential torture porn', and that viewers at screenings ran out, vomited, and fainted. After reading all this, I decided this was a film I had to see. The French have been producing some powerful horror films lately( Inside comes to mind), leaving our own U.S. made remakes and kiddie-horror-lite flicks like Twilight looking like the weak-ass efforts they are...comparing them to films like Martyrs and Inside is like drinking a glass of watery Kool-Aid and chasing it with a glass of 100 proof vodka...one is weak and unsatisfying, the other kicks you in the ass and makes you wonder if you should have even drank it in the first place.

Martyrs opens with a young girl escaping captivity...she has obviously been tortured. She makes a friend at the orphanage she is sent to. 15 years later, the former captive, Lucie (Mylene Jampanoi) finds who she believes to be the ones that tortured her years ago, and takes violent retribution, not only on her torturers, but their family as well. Her friend, Anna( Morjana Alaoui), trying to help her, is brought into this bloody scene of revenge . Anna doubts Lucie's judgement in locating her former tormentors, because said torment has left Lucie mentally tortured long after the physical wounds have healed, and her sanity is , well, questionable, to say the least. After yet another tragic and bloody episode, Anna learns that although Lucie's sanity is shattered, there is a dark and disturbing group working in the shadows, and the acts of torture are far from over...perhaps worse, the torture has a twisted reasoning behind it ...to get closer to God.

Martyrs , as the title suggests, works with the old belief that pain and suffering, and being on the precipice of death because of it, brings one closer to God, and through being near such a person, one can possibly catch a glimpse of the other side, and maybe God himself. Near the film's end we are given the definition of the word martyr, essentially being 'witness'. I think that it's this underlying theme that brings the film a few notches above your average 'capture -people-and-torture-them' flick...the director actually had ideas in his head (dark as they were), and I think it shows.

Ideas notwithstanding, Martyrs is an extremely dark and violent film, and much of it it is hard to watch . I don't necessarily enjoy violence done to women, even if it's imaginary...I'm ingrained with a sort of rough chivalry(I think it's due to repeated viewings of old swashbuckler movies as a kid ...so blame Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn), so it was a bit of an excersize in cinematic intestinal fortitude to view a lot of the scenes in this film. Laugier has said in interviews that he was in a very dark place when he made this film, and it definately shows. Even though it was difficult to get through parts, I would much rather be challenged as a viewer and have a director be able to get his vision across, that to sit numbed and bored by the latest sanitized, mindless, PG-13 concoction Hollywood has to offer. Mind you, I'm not against a no-brainer, fun, 'popcorn' movie, but once in a while it's good to watch something that actually makes you think and feel, even if it's not shiny, happy feelings and thoughts.

The acting in Martyrs was very well done. The leads Jampanoi and Alaoui had very intense and physical performances. The sadness, fear, rage, shock, and horror that the young women go through is strong and even heartbreaking at times. A standout scene for me is one where Lucie expresses her rage , hammer in hand...like most of the film, it is not for the squeamish.

If you're looking for a whimsical, carefree, feel-good movie, this is not the one for you...go find the latest Matthew McConeghey celluloid offering instead. However, if you are up to a dark, challenging film experience, give Martyrs a go...and , as always, feel free to come back here and discuss it with me...or curse my existence for even suggesting such a film, heh. Either way, I'll be waiting. Oh, the version I saw was unrated...I don't know if there's an edited version out there, but don't bother with it if there is...if you're going to see it, there's no sense in half-assing it.

" The only thing I can say is that the actual world is so shitty that horror is the perfect genre to express the most honest and concrete things, things that say a lot about our real lives. This is contrary to what television programs constantly do. Doing a feel-good movie right now, considering the state of the world and the brutality of our system, would disgust me. I'd take it as a self-betryal. More than ever, horror should embody the absolute escape from the lies of official society. The genre has a great opportunity to be really countercultural again after years of having been softened by the cynical postmodernism of our times. That's my feeling, anyhow."

-Pascal Laugier, writer/director of Martyrs, from Rue Morgue magazine