The Time Warriors and Beyond

Forgotten Monsters: Doctor Who’s Haemovores

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright Doctor Who

I was recently made aware of just how many movies and television shows the younger generation have never heard of, never mind seen. So to that end, we look back at some characters you really need to see before you kick the bucket.

The Curse of Fenric is one of my favourite Doctor Who stories ever. It takes multiple genres and weaves it into a pseudo historical tale of epic proportions that towers over a lot of other stories even from the new era. It has monsters and villains galore giving a classic movie monster a new twist.

The Haemovores are vampires.

But these vampires are different from the versions we know that have appeared in the show over the years. The First Doctor, William Hartnell, faced Dracula in a robotic funfair while the eleventh faced vampires in Venice. In the fourth Doctor story, the State of Decay, we discover that vampires are ancient enemies of the Time Lords. These were giant vampires and fought a long and bloody war. The Time Lords built bow ships which pierced the chests of the vampires killing them. This history is hidden in every Tardis core in the event any Time Lord finds any survivors which the Doctor does in E-Space.

Here a single badly wounded vampire has survived and being cared for by three converted humans. The Three Who Rule are the captain, navigation and science officer of the spaceship Hydrax. They take peasants from the villages surrounding their palace and use them to feed themselves and the Great One. These three, Aukon, Camilla and Zargo are the traditional vampires. They drink the blood of the living, cannot stand sunlight and have telepathic abilities.

The Haemovores however have no fear of sunlight. In the Curse of Fenric, they are the remains of humanity from a future Earth soaked by pollution. They live in a world with an ocean of toxins and slime. They have been brought back through time by the formless Fenric as part of his revenge on the Doctor along with the very last Haemovore Ingiger more commonly known as the Ancient One. Upon summoning the Ancient One for the final battle, Fenric has complete disdain for him. His nournful comment that his word is dead brings forth contempt from Fenric who scorns him for being the worst evolution has to offer.

This brings up an interesting point as Curse of Fenric brings us three different types of Haemovores. We have the Ancient One who is large and bulky and can verbalise. He is a sympathetic figure as you can feel his sorrow at the world he has been born to. Could it be he was human before being turned into the Ancient One? His garb certainly gives the impression of a warrior of sorts evocative of Viking or Celt.

The other Haemovores are silent and hunt using fog and mist. It remains unclear if they generate this as a cover much like the legends or follow weather patterns. It is clear they have been living in the oceans for a while now given the garb of their victims. This is in part reflection of their environment in the future of chemical oceans. Their bodies are covered in barnacles from living under the sea and when they rise from the depths, they are dressed in various outfits all throughout history. Their faces in their original concept drawings were those of leeches with a sucker like mouth which would have looked like the Flukeman that Mulder and Scully faced in their second season. They can hunt underwater and attack two young evacuees from London, Jean and Phyllis.

The girls have been assigned with a Miss Hardaker who is very prudish and looks down on the girls. They are teenagers who are going through a sexual awakening just like Ace which is one of the themes in the story,

Once fed on, they emerge just like the traditional vampires. They are pale, create metal with their bare hands for some unknown reason, have fangs with elongated fingernails although why they need these is uncertain. It is implied that these nails slice the jugular located in the neck but for me it is more aesthetic appeal. They can speak and reason, taunt and scheme. Using their new found status the girls immediately murder the old busybody Miss Hardaker they have been staying with. But all three versions serve Fenric’s every whim.

As far as defences go, bullets do not seem to stop them. They overwhelm the British forces when they invade en masse. They attack the church where the Doctor, Ace and Reverend Wainwright (guest star Nicholas Parsons) are deciphering the Viking legends. From the church tower, Ace watches the vampires flood through the graveyard. The Doctor and Wainwright fight inside the church itself proving the vampires are not stopped by holy ground or crucifixes.

There is only one thing that stops them; complete and total faith in something or someone. This faith generates a psychic barrier that causes the Haemovores to drop to their knees in agony allowing their intended victim to escape.

For the Doctor it is his companions. He recites all of their names driving the vampires off. Wainwright had faith in God but children being bombed in cities has destroyed his faith which ultimately results in his death at vampire hands. This occurs when Jean and Phyllis taunt him about his lack of faith in the face of cities being bombed and children dying. How could he devote himself to a God that would allow this to happen? For Ace it is the Doctor and for her love interest, Russian soldier Captain Sorin, it is his duty to his country. While this works against the Ancient One too, he is also killed by the same gas he uses to kill Fenric when he sacrifices himself.

Having multiple levels of one species in a story is a wonderful means to explore them especially when this is the only time the Haemovores ever appeared. I know more about the Haemovires in one story that I know about companion Ryan in the Jodie Whittaker era. Incidentally Reverend Wainwright says that where they are is where Dracula came aground in the nook adding to the gothic atmosphere. At Fenric’s command, the Ancient One uses his psychic powers to destroy all the Haemovores as they has served their purpose. Ace watches in horror as the teenage girls dissolve into slime right before her eyes.

Legend says that when the ancient enemies meet in battle, nothing will be left alive. Maybe like all good monsters some Haemovores survived and returned to the sea where they still stalk and feed amid the mist. So if you are taking a walk along the beach and see a fog rolling i n, quickly turn back and begin reciting something you have complete faith in.

TW Visit Marmaris Safari Buggy Trek

By Owen Quinn author

They say that every writer should wrote about their experiences but the problem with that is that if you don’t go anywhere or do anything then you can’t write about things. Now while I have never met an alien, zombie, time travelled or seen what lies at the bottom of our oceans, I can imagine and wrap it all up in a story. Like a good cake you add ingredients from your life time, experiences, human condition elements, to make it connect with the reader.

But when I say Marmaris Buggy Safari, anyone that has done it knows exactly what i am talking about. As well as the buggies, you can also hire a quad biker.

Now don’t make the assumption like I did that you are going to see any lions, tigers and bears…oh no! but the safari adventure lies in the terrain you will be driving through. A really exotic bird flew right out in front of us at one point which was the closest we got to any animal life bar the numerous cats.

So as an amputee I had to leave my leg behind as leg room as a passenger in one of the buggies meant taking my prosthetic off to be comfortable on the bumpy ride to come which the great staff took care off.

if you liaise with your hotel or one of the vendors to book your tickets or go online yourself but I can safely say you will have a ball. You will be picked up at your hotel and taken through the scenic landscape of Turkish mountains to the park. Once there you ill be debriefed, sign a couple of forms and be assigned a buggy.

Be aware that you should dress in old clothes and trainers as it will get very messy but that is all part of the fun. You will also need to purchase a bandana to cover your nose and mouth and a pair of goggles to protect your eyes. These cost extra but this wasn’t disclosed beforehand. so if you bring your own, you can save yourself some money. You can put your stuff in lockers and I would advise to bring nothing on the buggy ride not even a phone as you will be drenched to say the least.

Each buggy has a water tank and you can indulge in water fights along the way but we were too focused on staying in the buggy. Your moves are monitored and the staff take great care of you joining the buggies on the course to ensure participants safety.

Now while the beautiful 30 degree sunshine kept you sweltering it didn’t protect you from the ice cold water that you-drive through. Nor do you expect to drive through a massive mud puddle which covers you from head to toe. It is a virtual mud bath and the reason you need old clothes when taking part. You are literally drenched from head to toe in mud. I looked like walking diarrhoea and the goggles and bandana didn’t entirely protect me. I think I can still taste the Turkish mud to this day. But the craic was ninety.

You go for ages across the sun-baked terrain, stopping for a break where you can water fight if you wish. If like me, your leg was miles in the opposite direction then a water pistol would come in handy if you so wish. Each buggy holds two people so if you want to swop drivers you can do so during the trek.

The final part sees the convoy take off again with even more drenchings and mud baths before you are swallowed in a mass of foam before parking up, very wet and very muddy but with a big smile on your face.

This is a great excursion when you are in Marmaris. If you wish to shower and change clothes you can do so. We sat in the refreshment area and we bought the obligatory photos from the trek. The nice thing was you can download all the photos to your phone but we bought some too. I dried off in the sun in the refreshment area where you can enjoy drinks and food and meet the local cats.

This is a great trip out which is worth every penny. As I say you can bring your own goggles and bandanas and the drinks are reasonably priced. The staff do a lot for their guests and the interaction with the guests was great. As a disabled person I worried of I could do this even as a passenger but do not let that put you off. I wasn’t able to drive but if I go again i will certainly give it a go. I went go karting and it turned out I was able to do that and use my prosthetic to hit the brake.

Everything we did in Turkey was a therapy I never knew I needed and the buggy safari was just a part of it. It is fun for all the family and a laugh and a half.

On the way back to the hotel to get showered and changed the bus will usually stop off so you can get photos of the beautiful mountain high scenery of the land below. It is spectacular and a fitting end to a fun filled morning.

Book the Marmaris Buggy safari when you go; you will not be disappointed.

TW Reviews Emperor Dalek Davros Action figure

By Owen Quinn author

Character Options have long been producing good quality action figures for the Doctor Who and the latest addition is not only long awaited but a very welcome one.

The 25th anniversary story Remembrance of the Daleks cemented the return of the show as epic adventure back in the 80s but as we know the BBC didn’t care and just wanted it gone. Andrew Cartmel came in and along with John Nathan Turner brought the show back to a level fo quality story telling we had not seen in a while. It is a firm fan favourite as the seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) and new companion Ace (Sophie Aldred) face a Dalek attack in London in the sixties. It is tied beautifully to the first episode An Unearthly Child. The mystery of the Doctor’s true identity is explored as we discover that the first Doctor was laying a very elaborate trap for the Daleks. We revisit the junkyard in Totter’s Lane and a lot of the action takes place in Coal Hill School where Ace fights a Dalek with a baseball bat and handles the same book on the French Revolution that the Doctor’s granddaughter Susan did in the very first episode. We got a fledgling UNIT of sorts, a story that dealt with racism and prejudice and scenes that are references to this day as recently as the 13th Doctor finale, The Power Of The Doctor which also saw Ace’s return to the show.

At the climax of the story the Emperor Dalek is revealed to be Davros himself encased in the cream and gold Dalek unit with a retractable top.

Now he is available as a stand alone action figure and a great addition he is too. I do have a problem with the packaging as it obscures part of the figure. This has been a problem for a while for me as seen with the History of the Daleks series and the recent Fugitive Doctor and Tardis set. We need to return to the days of a clear window where you can look at the figure in its entirety eg The Doctor and Tardis sets.

My other issue is the availability of these releases. B&M do not have a buy online option so to get your hands on any release and be there when the doors open first thing in the morning. if there are multiple stores in the area you may need to visit them all. But you are competing with collectors that will do the same thing, buy up all the stock and sell it on at sometimes extortionate prices.

But the actual figure itself is divine in its simplicity. I have always liked the gold and cream colour scheme of these Daleks. There is something elegant about them. This one comes with a retractable dome as in the episode which allows you to practice your rice pudding speech.

When the dome is closed it is visually beautiful right down to the last detail. When you allow Davros to show his face the figure still holds its own. His facial features and expression are intricately done evoking his character as well as reflecting the mass of wires that encased him as seen below in the photo.

This is a great figure and cracking addition to any collection so grab yours before it goes sky high on eBay.

Horror Legend Tony Todd Passes

By Owen Quinn author

Usually when someone writes about the passing of a celeb then it is to get hits but not me. I only write about those people that have been part of my life in this crazy sci fi and horror world I love so much.

And the sad news of the passing of the legend and I mean legend, that is Tony Todd is one such person. Everybody will talk about Candyman but for me that wasn’t the highlight. Not that I particularly want to meet a man with a hook for a hand any time but Tony seemed to be everywhere.

With that amazing silky voice and those eyes, he elevated even the most meagre horror movie to a new level. He had an intensity about him that sang from the screen no matter what the genre he appeared in.

While his Star Trek connections are well known and well loved especially as Worf’s brother Kurn in multiple episodes of both TNG and DS9 but especially his debut, Sins of the Father still stands as one of his best performances. I love the ending where he has no choice but turn his back on his brother and send him into disgraced exile to cover the crimes of another. Beautifully done without saying a single word. You can feel Kurn’s pain and anger as he is forced to sacrifice his brother for the sake of the Klingon Empire.

While he is perfect as the first Hirogen warrior, seven foot giant hunters that go up against Voyager, it is his portrayal of an adult Jake Sisko in the episode The Visitor that stands to this day as a fan favourite. When Captain Sisko is lost in time, Jake dedicates his life to finding a way to find his father and bring him back. He recounts the tale to a young writing student and a fan of his even though he has only ever written two books. It is a stormy night and the night he knows he will be able to save his father after decades of failure. He knows because somehow his father is tethered to him in time and only by Jake killing himself will the tether break and send his father back to the day of the accident and restore their timeline.

It is a disgrace sci fi is ignored in award ceremonies performance wise because the scenes between Avery Brooks and Tony Todd as Jake lies dying to save his dad are electric. it highlights the love between father and son in a way never seen before on Star Trek and is still as emotionally powerful today as it was back then. If you line up all the characters Todd has played in Trek, you can see his versatility and just how good he is at commanding the audience to look in his direction.

But for me the role I love him in was Reverend Zombie in the Hatchet 1 & 2 movies but in the second one he took centre stage as the slippery reverend that did illegal boat tours to the land of Victor Crowley in Honey Island swamp. It doesn’t matter if punters come back as long he gets their cash. But his performance is so good as the film reunites nearly all the horror iconic actors we know and love into a hunting party to bring down Victor Crowley and end the curse. We get to see Tony’s full on comic timing as literally Candyman goes against Victor Crowley. It is brilliantly done and Zombie is perfect as he realises he has underestimated Crowley played by Kane Hodder who also plays Crowley’s tragic dad as well as Jason Vorhees. It is the crossover you never knew you needed and Tony Todd revels in the whole thing. He holds it all together with a charm and mischievous wink to the audience so perfectly that you will never see the likes of this ever again.

Now he has died at the age of 69 and fans all across will watch something he was in. For me it will be the Visitor and Hatchet 2 but Tony Todd will always be alive for those of us that loved his work and those of you that were lucky enough to meet him will remember what a gent he was.

Rest easy sir. Your legacy will be around for a very long time.

Forgotten Villains: Doctor Who’s Fenric

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Fenric is the last great villain of the classic era of Doctor Who. He appeared in the story the Curse of Fenric in season 26, the final season of the classic era. What was great about him was that he was behind everything in the seventh Doctor’s era from season 24’s Dragonfire and we never knew it.

The new era of Doctor Who have taken several ideas from classic Who, one of which is a running theme each season etc Bad Wolf or Donna Doctor but we know in advance that this is happening. When Andrew Cartmel took over as script editor of the show in its final days, he instilled the mystery of exactly who the Doctor was.

Suddenly we discovered that he had many adventures off screen which we were not privy to and knew more than we initially thought. The Doctor was suddenly a figure we didn’t know at all, keeping secrets and driving Ace bonkers with his covertness.

While a lot of fiction has expanded who and what Fenric supposedly is, we will stick to the television and novel versions to avoid complications.

With a story so drenched in myth and legend such as Fenric, the images evoked by the revelation of the Doctor and Fenric’s last meeting are conjured up in sentences that drag the viewer right into the scenario. But before we get to that, let’s see what we know so far.

Fenric is a sentient force similar to the Great Intelligence faced by the second and eleventh Doctors. He is evil, seemingly born from a time that was out of balance. At some point the Doctor managed to trap him in a flask like a genie in a bottle in an off screen adventure. It is clear the Doctor is wary of Fenric and the extent of his power yet for all this malevolence, Fenric is something that can be defeated by taunting his hubris and arrogance. He sees himself as superior to all forms of life which are his playthings to do with as he wishes. That’s a trait shared by many creatures such as him and seems to be a common cog in their downfall.

However, the thing about being ancient and apparently timeless is that with every defeat you have the time to scheme and learn. Being defeated by beings you once thought insignificant playthings is bound to be a shock to the system.

The battlefield shall stretch a 100 leageues and at the end of the day not one living thing shall be left alive. The ancient enemies will seek each other out and all shall die!

Such a shock that Fenric is royally pissed off to go to such great lengths for a rematch in which he can defeat the Doctor. Such is his power he can see across time and space much the same way as Time Lords can. Could it be Fenric is some sort of Gallifreyan demon from the Dark Times which is why it is so personal with the Doctor? Whatever it is, such is his power that he can manipulate people across eternity to manoeuvre them to where he needs them to be. He uses human frailties and weakness to ensure things come together.

To exist he needs a body and has chosen the crippled Dr Judson, creator of the Ultima machine to be his vessel for the battle with the Doctor. Millington is responsible for Judson’s condition as per the brilliant novelisation by Ian Briggs so Fenric plays on this to use the machine, not to break German codes but to break the chains keepng Fenric from possessing a body by translating the ancient Viking runes. Indeed it breaks the chains of disability also but the price for Judson is too high.

Millington like the others as it would turn out was descended from the Vikings who transported the flask containing Fenric’s essence and was obsessed with getting into the Nazi mind. His obsession with Fenric we can only assume was planted and goaded by Fenric’s influence. Nothing could be allowed to stop the return of Fenric so even their Russian allies were a threat to Millington. In some ways he was an acolyte for the entity, a helpless puppet much in the same vein as Fendelman in the 4th Doctor story Image of the Fendahl. It’s in their very being so they cannot help it.

While Fenric’s control over others is not as obvious, he is able to ensure they come together so he and the Doctor meet. Once he possesses Judson’s body he almost revels in being able to hear hs voice again. He talks about the quality versus quantity of death. He snaps at Millington for interrupting him and it is almost as if he needs to use a human voice to vent his hatred and anger about how the Doctor was able to imprison him.

As I said earlier, the writing here evokes us to places unseen and never dreamed of in the Doctor’s travels and this is the prime example. It is so rich, we see in our minds how Fenric was trapped. In the novel it is implied that it was in fact the first Doctor was responsible for this. Fenric revels in death and likes it fast or slow so something bad must have happened for the Doctor to step in.

For 17 centuries I was trapped in the shadow dimensions because of him, He pulled bones from the desert sands and carbed them into chess pieces. He challenged me to solve his puzzle. I failed. Now I shall see him kneel before me before i see him die.

This dialogue asks so many questions and fully stamps the seventh Doctor as a super master manipulator. Is Fenric a god? Did he reduce a civilisation to dust? Was there someone there the Doctor cared for? If he could retrieve bones from desert sands was Fenric defeated using the remains of his victims? Where are the shadow dimensions and how did he escape? There is an entire story here never before seen yet we see it clearly from just a few sentences of dialogue.

The seventh Doctor has gone down in history as a master manipulator intent on seeking out injustice and stopping it. Is it any wonder given he knew Fenric was coming for revenge and would use any means to do it? The Doctor knew Ace was what Fenric calls one of Wolves of Fenric when he heard about the time storm placing her on Ice World so she would meet the Doctor. The Daleks and Cybermen were all distractions from the main game but the chess set in Lady Peinforte’s study clued the Doctor in that Fenric was very much active and on the hunt.

That is what is eating away at Fenric; he could not solve the Doctor’s riddle on the chessboard. Now amid all this chaos and room full of nerve gas bombs, Fenric has set up a chessboard to win but he knows he cannot and uses subterfuge. Ace sees the solution straight away and tells what she thinks is Sorin the answer. The chess pieces join forces solving the impasse. But Fenric has jumped bodies and possessed the Russian killing him instantly. Now that he has won the game, he will unleash his fury upon the world while the Doctor watches helplessly.

Sorin and his men are all descended from the Vikings who transported Fenric in the flask and have been manoeuvred here to this time and place. Fenric takes his body destroying Ace’s love for him before revealing that the baby in the camp Ace rescued was in fact her own mother and created her own future by saving both the baby and her grandmother by sending them to London before the vampires invade. Ace would grow up hating her mother but loves the baby causing hard emotions within her that torment her all her life. Fenric is so twisted that he takes great delight in seeing pain and suffering, what he calls the sound of dying.

His wolves extend from across time and he draws back the vampiric Haemovores that will be what man evolves into when the Earth is a wasteland of toxins and chemical destrucion. These too are victims of Fenric and are of no consequence to him. Indeed bringing the future to the past could have lethal consequences for the timeline but he doesn’t care. Even the dead and dying are his toys to feed his amusement. The Ancient One also known as Ingiger has been brought back and seemingly tasked to be his main puppet here firstly by killing Ace. When they first meet, Fenric seems to have control over him. Fenric comments another of the wolves of Fenric have arrived to play their role. The Ancient One says his world is dead and Fenric snaps it is no loss if he is the best evolution has to offer.

It seems the Ancient One is the last of the Haemovores as the rest have all died out due to starvation. There is no compassion or feeling for anyone or anything,just the fulfillment of his own desires. Fenric will use Millington’s plan to bomb Moscow with poisonous gas, sit back and suck in the death and destruction as the world tears itself apart in flame. This will also trigger the polluted Earth that brings forth the Haemovores. Virtually everyone is dead now and Fenric just intends to spread the nerve gas to the rest of the world using the World War as a springboard. That way he triggers the Earth the Haemovores come from long before it should be.

Fenric is so above the rest of us in his deluded mind that he gets the Ancient One to kill all the other Haemovores via telepathic signal. They dissolve on the spot including the recently turned human vampires. Fenric fails to see the pain the Ancient One cafries. Not only is the future Earth dead, the Ancient One has now been forced to murder the last of his species. However the Doctor does and uses it to save the day. He knows that the fury of the Haemovore will make him dangerous and take that anger out on Fenric. Fenric cannot see that he no longer has a hold over the creature because by forcing him to commit genocide and making it clear just how much contempt he holds the Ancient One and his like the being will not allow history to repeat itself. If he kills Fenric, then the future Earth will never happen and humanity will be spared such a horrible fate.

It is fitting then that it is the Ancient One that kills Fenric by trapping him in a test chamber where the last Haemovore smashes a gas cannister and kills them both. It isn’t clear if Fenric is dead or if killing the body plunges him back to drifting in the void as a formless entity.

The twelfth Doctor with companion Bill would face Fenric again in comic book form this time involving Vikings, the Flood from the Waters of Mars and Ice Warriors. In the Wolves of Winter which acts as a prequel to the Curse of Fenric, the formless entity’s scheme is grander and intent on changing the future in which he is defeated. It also sees the return of the Great One and we meet the Vikings mentioned in the television story.

Fenric is still out there and elevated the Doctor from simple time traveller to galactic guardian who now sees the universe through eyes that sees evil as much more than a chuckling villain twiddling their moustache.

TW Reviews R Plaice & Absolute Pizza, The Newest Eatery In Town!

by Owen Quinn author

A new and exciting culinary experience has just opened in the coastal town of Millisle situated between Donaghadee and Bangor and it’s one not to be missed.

R Plaice has opened its doors bringing its wide menu of food for all the family to experience. Serving everything from traditional fish and chips to burgers to butties, you will not fail to enjoy the food they offer. Their pasties, goujons and chicken fillets are all homemade and the fish are battered to order ensuring that personal touch that will keep you and the family coming back for more. Add to that it is great value for money including pensioner discounts and you will leave with money in your pocket and a full belly. If you don’t fancy fish and chips then you can get a delicious pizza from Absolute Pizza, prepared and freshly made right before your eyes at even more great prices. And if it is miserable outside you can take advantage of the seating area.

We were invited to sample the food and we were not disappointed. Now I will be up front and admit I not a fan of fast food in general but after our visit to R Plaice and Absolute Pizza, they may have shown me that I need to raise my expectations of so called fast food {and I hate to use that term} given what we ate. I’m not even sure that the term fast food applies as it was cooked with an attention to detail the friendly staff genuinely projected.

Our party had a range of dishes from two types of pizza, steak burgers, chicken burgers, gravy chips, cod, sausages and chips. I have to say the chips were cooked perfectly and there wasn’t as much as a crumb left over. The steak burger was succulent where the taste lingered in your mouth. The cod in batter wasn’t at all greasy and the pizzas were to die for. Trust me when I say I am not blowing smoke up anyone’s ass here because you know I’m as blunt as a hammer but I can honestly say that if this is how fast food is cooked then my new diet regime could well be out the window. It wasn’t greasy, you could taste the food you were eating and it was filling.

Thanks for that Jeff; jelly belly may be around longer than I anticipated. Think bananas, think rice, think tuna…dammit I can’t get over that steak burger , chips and meat feast pizza!

What makes me excited by the opening of R Plaice and Absolute Pizza is the fact it is located in the Main Street literally feet from the beach. There are plans to let you sit outside at picnic tables come the summer where you can sit and look over the ocean and enjoy your food. The R Plaice ice cream range is coming too! Given how close the caravan parks are this is just a great addition to Millisle. Now if I can come away from this welcoming environment on a cold winter night happy then how cool is it going to be when the bright evenings return and you can sit and dine in the beautiful coastal family environment.

This new venture I am genuinely excited for because I’m counting down to the summer so I can go explore Millisle with its beach, sea view and windmill knowing I can sit and enjoy good food in this picturesque environment at the right times, open at 12 o’clock and closing at 9 o’clock as the sun sets. If you’re a local of Millisle then you are lucky people. Yes, there’s even a delivery service in case you’re in the middle of Eastenders and it’s too exciting to tear yourself away from.

Check R Plaice and Absolute Pizza out and enjoy food as it is meant to be cooked.

Forgotten Villains: The Fog’s Captain Blake

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

In hindsight it is not really fair to call Captain Blake a villain. He is a victim of other men’s greed and wants revenge for the murders of his fellow travelers and the theft of his gold. His presence also opens up discussion as to is his thirst for revenge powerful enough to bring them back after a hundred years for revenge or did he make a deal with some other primal force we have no idea existed. There are many places all around the planet built on bloodshed and treason where innocents were preyed upon by more powerful people to maintain their own ambitions.

it is the centennial of the coastal town of Antonio Bay and preparations are well under way to celebrate it. However none of the townspeople know that the legacy they are celebrating is in fact soaked in the blood of the innocent. At the stroke of midnight strange almost poltergeist like events start to happen. It is only the herald for the arrival of the ghosts of captain William Blake and his crew eager to take 6 lives to appease their thirst for vengeance for being betrayed.

Fisherman Nick Castle narrowly escapes being skewered at this front door by one of the ghosts when the clock strikes one o’clock in the morning.

Then the Fog comes and people start to die. Nick along with a hitchhiker he picked up, Elizabeth (Jamie Lee Curtis) discover three of his friends boat with a single body aboard. There is evidence of the ship being aged due to rust and the body once autopsied has been under the water for a long time. This is impossible as it has only been the night before. However when the corpse gets up, takes a scalpel and scores the number 3 into the floor, things change. But 3 what?

Father Malone finds his centenary celebrations tainted when a mini earthquake opens part of a wall in his church. He finds an old diary belonging to his grandfather. To his horror, he discovers the town of Antonio Bay was founded on the murder of Blake and the people on his ship, the Elizabeth Dane. Local Dj, Stevie Wayne’s son finds a piece of driftwood on the beach that initially caught his attention as a gold coin before transforming. It is emblazoned with the name Elizabeth Dane and when Stevie takes it to her radio station it leaks water and unearthly voices come over the radio triggering a fire. Is this Blake reaching out to herald his return? All of this happens in broad daylight so what supernatural force is Blake tapped into or is it the collective rage of his crew causing these things to happen?

Father Malone is found by town celebration coordinator Kathy (Jamie Lee Curtis’ real life mother Janet Leigh) and her assistant Sandy, drinking alone in the church where he reads them the diary. Blake made a deal with the council consisting of 6 members for a plot of land on which to settle with his people. He paid in gold, some of which was used to fund the town of San Antonio while the rest was melted down into a giant cross and hidden in the walls of the church. They lit a beacon for the Elizabeth Dane to follow but instead it led the ship to rocks where it broke apart and sank killing everyone on board.

Everyone on board suffered from leprosy and the council did not want a leper colony nearby. So they swindled Blake them murdered them all under the guise of accident at sea. Now Blake is back to claim 6 lives to represent the number of council members. Malone’s grandfather was tortured by his conscience so hid the rest of the gold in the walls of the church. Malone is devastated but Blake has already set his plan into motion. Stevie’s son Andy and his babysitter, Mrs Kobritz are trapped as the Fog hits the town cutting it off by taking down the telephone and power lines. Weatherman Dan who has a crush on Stevie is also killed. What is cool is that the dead are hidden by the fog, showing as silhouettes.

It is only when Nick and Elizabeth rescue Andy, they see the dead crew in the flesh. They are decayed but intact slowly moving with their weapons whether it be a hook or sword to take their lives. They walk rather than run as if they know they have all the time in the world. Stevie is trapped in her lighthouse radio station desperately broadcasting to save anyone that can hear her and can see the whole town from her vantage point. She is able to warn people before the lines are cut and the ghosts attack her too.

But the church is the place of the final attack. Trapped inside, Nick and the others realise that Blake is back for the treasure that was stolen and demands 6 lives in return. With the three fishermen, Mrs Kobritz and Dan already dead, that leaves one. Wracked by guilt at what his ancestor did, Malone grabs the golden cross and goes alone to face Blake. The imagery is very evocative as the church is filled with low level fog and the crew standing amid it. Malone calls to Blake and one steps forward eyes red. This is Blake fully in control of the situation. He is an enemy that cannot be defeated and has the town on his knees. He grabs the cross which blazes with a golden light. Nick pulls Malone away as the light fades.

The fog pulls back seemingly having gotten what it wants leaving the survivors to count their blessings. However when Nick and the others leave, Blake returns and murders Malone as the final part of his compensation.

The Fog leaves us to speculate as to how Blake and his crew were able to reach across one hundred years to take revenge. The human mind is a powerful thing and it may well be their unified terror and rage at being betrayed caused some sort of manifestation. Or there is the belief there are forces out there dark and mysterious that have spawned dark magic and legends. Could the Fog be an entity all of its own that sympathised with Blake’s cause? The cause may be just but he should have gone after descendants of the original 6 rather than innocents. That would tip him into the villain camp. Whatever happened, the movie rightly does not explain how. I’m ignoring the 2005 remake as it was just tripe. Blake will forever be a man that stood up against evil across time but whose methods failed in taking the right culprits.

TW reviews Salem’s Lot 2024

By Owen Quinn author

So I left for a long deserved holiday in Turkey on the day Salem’s Lot was broadcast so with limited internet I couldn’t resist checking YouTube for clips and to see what people thought.

Now we all know that this almost never got released due to so many issues and sad to say they are plain for all to see on screen. Everyone knows Salem’s Lot is like a favourite child to me. The original mini series is just perfect and terrified me as a kid. Those fears continue to this day especially the scraping at the window and the “Look at me ” scene. The Rob Lowe version is weak and we are not even going to talk about the woeful Return To Salem’s Lot movie. The David Soul version is terrifying and told beautifully by director Tobe Hooper.

So when this delayed version was announced for transmission, I was excited. Could they match the terror of the original? Would a noise at the window make me slip even further under the quilt?

Sadly, no.

Anyone approaching this project surely knows that this story is too big for a two hour movie. The original was edited for a DVD release and lacked any impact it had on first viewing. It was chopped to bits losing the character nuances and flow of the story. Salem’s Lot should have been handled like It; two movies or a four hour mini series. The story is too big and complex for two hours. And it shows.

The editing and rush to broadcast is so obvious leaving me scratching my head at parts. Everyone came to the firm conclusion that vampires were real very quickly. The characters are mere ghosts of what they should be and we simply do not care. Some are reduced to mere cameos. The only exception is teacher Matthew Burke whom seems to be a three dimensional figure until he decides to go and research Barlow by going into Barlow’s basement. Bill Camp does a great job of making Matthew the most human character in the entire movie yet his end is steeped in dumbass. There he meets Mark Petrie who from the outset seems a little violent for a boy his age. Beating the bully is one thing but torture is something else. Before you know Burke is dead and Mark is out as a one boy killing machine whose research for killing vampires comes from his comic books. But as a horror fan, he would have already known all vampire lore. This scene makes it look like he only became interested in horror the week before transmission.

But before I tear it apart I will admit there were some great attempts at originality and making it scary.

Ralphie’s abduction by Straker is almost Tim Burtonesque in nature via the silhouettes. Similarly Ralphie seeing Barlow creep towards him from inside the sack is unnerving but why do Barlow’s reveal so early and so matter of factly?

Mike Ryerson and Matthew Burke in the bar. Sickly Mike on the verge of becoming a vampire is scary thanks to the lighting and direction. When you think he has turned is a genuine heartstopper as you fear for Matthew Burke’s life. You’re waiting for the rocking chair scene in his house and those words that haunt horror fans since the original transmission.

“Look at me teacher!”

The new battle is almost as good as vampire Mike shows a cunning side to the vamps but it fails to match the original.

Seeing the vampires on the rooftops is freaky but that shot in the trailer is really it.

The drive in with coffin cars was clever and scary, a good idea that wasn’t used to its full potential.

But for fans the most iconic scenes from the original were when Mark receives a midnight visit from his buddy Glick. This was the first scene I saw on holiday and immediately shook my head.

The scare factor of a vampire invasion is the fact it is insidious and silent. It happens in the night leaving us thinking there is a bad flu going round. Do we really check on our neighbours as much as we talk of how we carer about our friends and neighbours? No we don’t which allows Barlow to infect so many so quickly. In the original Danny Glick is whispering to Mark to open the window, lightly scratching with those nails. If you were in a deep sleep in the same room, you wouldn’t even know it was happening. Silence, stealth and hiding behind normality because we would never believe such a thing as vampires was possible is how the town falls.

But not here.

Ralphie bangs on the window so loudly it’s like the bailiffs are at the door and shouts at Mark to let him in. If that were our house, everyone would be up asking what the hell all the noise was. Even vampire Glick entering the room is too fast; there is no tension, no horror, no drama as this thing enters the room. Then it gets a cross in the face and screams out the window. All I can say is Mark’s parents are a pair of really deep sleepers, bless them.

But this again is the rushed editing and loss of story that cripples this scene. There are moments where even the audience were saying “Oh come on!”

In the climatic drive-in vampire emergence, Ben Mears is bounced on by three vamps and yet doesn’t get bitten once. What are they waiting for? His neck? Oh no, we can’t bite any other part of your body bar the neck.

Ben and Mark drive out of the town as all the vampires apparently burned when Mark collapsed the big movie screen catching the vamps in the sunlight. The impression is that all the vampires are dead and they drive off to who knows where. Really? I didn’t see any kid vampires there and we know there are lots of them as demonstrated by the treehouse scene. It’s just over and that’s it. First thing I’d be doing is dropping Maniac Mark off to the nearest rehab for counselling. That kid went super-killer too fast for my liking.

The bottom line is, aside from Matthew Burke, I didn’t care about these characters at all. Speaking of which, I am quite sure that James Mason is turning in his grave with the version of Straker presented here. Who on that team thought this was a good move? He talks like he’s trying to revive Young Frankenstein. I actually cringed at how Straker was portrayed. He is so OTT it is laughable; e.g. the scene where he tries to get the Glick boys into his car. The acting of Pilou Asbaek is so shockingly bad as Straker is reduced to a mere caricature. The beauty of the character when James mason played it, is that Starker is so friendly and seemingly open, that you cannot help but be drawn to him. He is the quintessential gentleman that you would happily have tea and scones with. Yet beneath that exterior, you can see his malevolence especially when dealing with the police. He knows full well the fate of everyone in the town and is smugly seething with triumph that he has served his Master so well and delivered the townspeople literally into Hell. This Straker is mere pantomime to the point of embarrassment.

I don’t mind the new Barlow and his death didn’t seem as easy as the original. For me it was very 30 Days Of Night but his scare factor was ripped away with poor direction and an all too early reveal.

Salem’s Lot 2024 is simply a rush job that was made by people that hoped the name alone would bring in the bucks. They failed to understand what makes Salem’s Lot so scary. They failed to understand how big this story is and while they took some parts of the original as templates for this new version, it fails due to rushed editing. Take the scene where the heroes enter the Marsten House and it is the morning. They are no sooner in the house that they run out of it. It is suddenly night.

The inconsistencies are there for all to see. When Doctor Cody stabs vampire Mrs Glick in the face with a scalpel, she says that there is no blood yet when Ben Mears falls on top of a vamp, it explodes in a shower of blood. Come on guys, is it any wonder that they were hesitant to release it?

As it stands now, there is nothing to match the terror and pure genuine, palpable fear generated by the original. Maybe it is time for James Wan to put his spin on it. In the meantime, David soul and James mason can stand undefeated champions of childhood terror.

Forgotten Villains: Hellbound’s Dr Philip Channard

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Hellraiser explores human lust and base needs and those individuals that crave more than basic sex and loving relationships. They want to go deeper than anyone else to push the boundaries between pleasure and pain . The key to this is solving the puzzle cubes that confound like Chinese puzzle boxes.

Once solved the desperate individuals tortured by needs that scream at them to fulfill, are fatally caught in the Cenobite web that takes them to literally Hell from which they never come back. They quickly learn there is a deeper truth to the old saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” Perhaps this was invented by some other poor soul lost to the Cenobites as a wasted warning to others.

Dr Philip Channard played by Kenneth Cranham is a man driven by such needs. He is in a position of power which allows him to indulge and use any and all means to get those answers. He has created the Channard Institute where he uses his patients as guinea pigs. At some point he somehow discovered the cubes but cannot solve them.

He learns of the events of the first movie when a traumatised Kirsty is admitted to his Institute and tells them what happened. She begs them to destroy the mattress Julia died on. She brought Frank (Sean Chapman) back by feeding him victims to consume allowing himself to regenerate and escape from the Cenobite hell. They had a steamy affair the night before her wedding to his brother Larry and she still lusts after him.

However Larry’s daughter Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) discovers their secret and steals the cube. Terrified that she will somehow alert the Cenobites to Frank’s location, Larry Cotton (Deep Space 9’s Garak and Dirty Harry star (Andrew Robinson) is murdered by Julia, allowing Frank to wear his skin. Kirsty however made a deal with the Cenobites to deliver both Frank and Julia to them. This is what Channard has been waiting for.

Channard now has the bloody mattress used by them and is feeding patients to it. It reanimates Julia who has been skinned. That doesn’t matter to Channard as he kisses her fleshy body. She is the key he has been seeking and his base needs want her because she has no inhibitions. So he feeds her patients in order for her to regenerate fully. He also gives a puzzle box to a young mute girl Tiffany whom Kirsty befriends. At Julia’s urging, Channard gave Tiffany the cube to solve in order to open the gates to Hell. Channard has a massive collection of cubes and relics detailing Hell and its secrets.

With the mattress successfully installed in his home along with Julia Channard thinks he is full control. However once in Hell, Julia and Channard find the god Leviathan the god of flesh, hunger and desire, Lord of the Labyrinth. But Julia reveals she has only one task; to deliver souls to Leviathan and it wants Channard.

He is transformed into Doctor Cenobite, a malevolent being that acts out all of Channard’s deepest sickest fantasies. His is probably one of the best Cenobite designs. He is dangling from a pronged tentacle like tendril attached to his head, his skin blue and wrapped in wire. It has drilled into his skull making him an extension of itself.

Such is the depth of Channard’s new power as part of the Leviathan, Pinhead and the other Cenobites take him on. Channard wants to rule Hell and needs rid of the others so they can be remade. He reverts them back to human form including Pinhead. He played god in the Institute and now he intends to rule Hell itself. He has worshipped from afar for so long and wanted to know its secrets, he intends to make it in his open image. Or could it be he is channeling the wishes of the Leviathan? Is Chananrd’s thirst for the darkest experiences mirror the Leviathan’s so closely they are one and the same?

He tries to stop Tiffany from solving the puzzle by turning her into a Cenobite but Julia enters distracting him. Despite her betrayal, he still wants her but it is really Kirsty using Julia’s skin. While distracted Tiffany solves the cube triggering Leviathan to turn into a massive cube, killing Channard in the process.

To have a Cenobite god to scare even Pinhead was a great idea and Channard was the perfect choice. As a doctor who has sworn to do no harm, he has no feeling for his patients, willingly killing and abusing them to further his own gains. He only cared for himself and even his lust for Julia was only to satisfy one of his sick fantasies. There have been many villain doctors over the years but Doctor Cenobite has to rank near the top.

If you can scare Pinhead to the point he protects humans then the threat is very real.

Forgotten Villains: Angel’s Daniel Holtz

By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues

Photos copyright WB

Some of the most dangerous things in the world are a wounded animal, a cornered animal, a woman scorned and a man with nothing left to lose. In Angel season three, Angel went up against his most dangerous foe ever. He was not a supernatural being; he was not all powerful. He was a vampire hunter from the 18th century on a mission of vengeance. He had chased Darla and Angelus across Europe but failed to catch them. Having been exposed to the dark world thanks to Angelus and Darla, Daniel Holtz used dark forces to execute his plan. He was going to kill Angelus for murdering his entire family. The problem was that Angelus no longer existed; he was now the hero we know as Angel. But Holtz doesn’t care. Everything and everyone Angel holds dear was going to die but as fate would have it Holtz managed to destroy Angel in a way he could never have planned for.

Back in the past, Holtz had a family so to put him off tracking them, Darla and Angelus decided to enter Holtz’s home. They murdered his infant son and wife. When Holt got home, his daughter had been turned. Distraught Holt had to put her in direct sunlight. Instead of breaking him, it only fuelled his hatred and determination to bring them both down. He almost did it by trapping them in a burning barn but Darla left Angelus to die but he too escaped. No matter how many times he tried, Holtz failed to kill them. In a final humiliation, he tortured Angelus for hours in Rome. Darla freed him but they mocked Holtz saying they would not kill him as he was like family to them. This sent the hunter into a seclusion.

But Angel made a lot of enemies over the years and Holtz was offered a lifeline by the demon Sahjhan. Sahjhan put him in a state of suspened animation until 2001 when Sahjhan showed Holtz the new world and what had happened in the years since he slept. The demon even gave him a army of grappler demons with which he took out Wolfram and Hart’s SWAT team. Holtz was shocked to learn that Darla was pregnant and that Angel now had a soul and worked for the good of the people. Sparing him, Holtz decided on a new plan. He would hurt those that Angel loved and began recruiting humans who hated monsters as much as he did. His first recruit was Justine Cooper whom had lost her sister to vampires. Focusing her anger, Holtz gave her a new purpose.

He trapped Fred and Gunn in a vampire’s nest but they survived. Wesley began to notice Angel’s behaviour change around Connor as if his blood lust was rising. To his horror, he discovers a prophecy that Angel would kill Connor so along with Justine, he took Connor. However the prophecy was false, planted by Sahjhan who was manipulating the entire situation because in reality, the prophecy showed that Connor would grow up to kill him. Justine slit Wesley’s throat leaving him for dead.

She and Holtz would keep Connor raising him as their own renaming him Stephen. This triggers a four way battle as Wolfran and Hart, Angel, Holtz and Sanjhan fight for the baby who Holtz is clutching. Sanjhan reveals the truth and opens a portal to a hell dimensio Quir’toth. It is nowhere anyone should be. It is a standoff and realising that Connor will never be safe with him, Angel lets Holtz raise his son who would never know who his father was. In a stunning end to the episode, Holtz jumps into the portal with the baby robbing Angel of his son.

Time moves at a different pace in the hell dimension and a few months later Connor returns with an elderly Holtz. This Connor is a teenager with a deep hatred of Angel and as skilled a fighter as any slayer. Holtz is killed by Justine at his request. They make it look like Holtz has been killed by a vampire by using a pickaxe to fake fang marks. Connor wrongly blamed Angel and tgether with Justine, buries him at sea as punishment.

Angel season three was the best for me personally. It had such strong storytelling ad jaw dropping moments you couldn’t fail to be hooked. Whether it was Darla’s staking herself so her baby can be born, Holtz seeing Angel holding the newborn in the rain, Wesley’s betrayal and getting his throat slit to Angel trying to kill him in his hospital bed, Holtz smashed the world of Angel almost beyond repair. Even lounge lizard singing demon Lorne being attacked by Wesley as he takes Connor is an act too horrible to comprehend. Sanjhan to save his own life, used Holtz as a pawn to bring Angel down and team Angel are turning on each other. Keith Szarabajka played Holtz flawlessly. He was cool and calculating driven by the pan of the muder of his family. Seeing an opportunity, he wanted to turn Connor against his father which is worse than killing him just as Angelus did with his children. He was a master manipulator with a plan that Sanjhan knew nothing of. When a demon underestimates a vampire hunter that speaks volumes about the character of the hunter and lack of foresight on the part of the demon. You completely agree with Holtz and his cause but you have to keep in mind that people can chnage.

That entire season stands today as a gripping drama that hurts us as an audience as surely as it hurts our heroes. Great stuff.