TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: A VALIANT SPREE

 

AN ALTERNATE REALITY: I SAW SPIDER-NOIR

"With great power comes 

great responsibility."

Though my arduous schedule made it tricky, I did manage to experience Amazon Prime's Spider-Noir. Did I like it? You bet, and against the odds, I wedged in the black-and-white and color versions, preferring the former, but digging the latter almost as much.  

Nicolas (Ghost Rider) Cage plays P.I. Ben Reilly as this saga's Depression-era (1933), friendly neighborhood Spider-man. The Peter Parker variant has been featured in comics and was voiced by Cage in the ambitious, animated feature, Into the Spider-Verse.  

Reilly gained his mutation by being bitten by an experimental, super-soldier "Man-Spider" in the Great War and is managed by Dr. Farber (Amy Aquino) and Mr. Otto (Andrew Robinson/Kai Caster) to quell his heightened skills. He's also reminiscent of an time-honored, pulp character named the Spider. The Amazon series captures the former's flavor, though pulls as well from the nostalgic stylings of Sky Commander and the World of Tomorrow, the Sin City set, The Shadow '94, The Green Hornet '40/'41, Agent Carter, The Untouchables (any acclimation) and on occasion Batman '89, Dick Tracy '90 and Darkman, though with each audacious nod laden by Sam Spade/Philip Marlowe, film-noir/literary tropes. 

This version's Spider (this Noir) is (in light of his other incarnations) a to-the-point, stick-to-it sort, even if packed by impulsion (and a sarcasm to match, as his Edward G. Robinson impersonation proves). To a great, disgruntled degree, his behavior results from the death of his ever-on-his-mind lady, Ruby Williams (Amanda Schull), for whom he holds immense love and guilt (as his damaged dreams invoke), but his secretary, Janet Ruiz (Karen Rodriguez), and Bugle reporter, Robbie Robinson (Lamorne Morris), are there to guide and console him, even as he stays hardheaded at heart. 

Scrambled-minded Mayor Alfred Morris (Michael Kostroff) seeks re-election in the tale. He's no Wilson Fisk. That's for sure. Even so, there's something shady brewing behind (or is it against?) his campaign, someone who bleeds from the margins of crime. His name is Finbar "Finn" Byrne, aka Silvermane, "the man with the mane of silver" (Brendan Gleeson), and he's assisted by his henchman, Winston (Lukas Haas), the investigating confidant, Patrick Donegal (Cameron Britton) and the ridged-skinned informant, Lonnie Lincoln, aka Tombstone (Abraham Poopola). The gang's hands are caked in dirt, with Reilly pledging to wash that grime away, except there's Jimmy Addison (Jack Mikesell) to contend with (if only early on), whose fiery punch would make Johnny Storm blush, not to mention the Electro-fying Dirk Leyden, aka Megawatt (Andrew Lewis Caldwell), who aspires to give Reilly a fatal shock. 

Lovely, lounge singer Felicia "Cat" Hardy (Li Jun Li) fuels the Vought-leaning, super-villain rise, representing the exploit's generous glamour (for the record, stemming from Marvel's long-term, Black Cat mythology). She's the mayor's secret squeeze, but also mistress to Flint Marko, aka Sandman (Jack Huston). Despite the amorous intersection, our nocturnal crusader wins her favor and secures his Spidey-sense fate, swinging high to make all eight episodes stick with impassioned virility and romantic derring-do.  

I like how the concept was handled, maybe because it's not some conceited, allegorical ruse like Daredevil: Born Again, Season 2, The Boys or Preacher. (Spider-Noir even holds a selfless, Casablanca deed toward the end.) In any event, I've had my fill of all that irredeemable stuff, and Spider-Noir gave me what I needed and wanted: a grim but hopeful departure. And yep, you've guessed right. I'm itchin' for more. Bring it on, man! Bring it on!

TERRIFIC TEAM-UP IMAGE: QUARTET OF FRIGHT (BATTLE OF THE FIENDISH GHOULS!)

 

SOMETHING TO CONSIDER: STEPHEN KING MAY DISAGREE ...

BUT THIS tattooed pundit 

IS THE REAL 

GREG STILLSON. 

FOR THE FUN OF IT:

 

SALLY THE ZOMBIE CHEERLEADER'S SCHOOL OF HORROR: GALLERY OF HORROR

Sally the Zombie Cheerleader's School of Horror presents the offbeat, EC-aimed ("giant shock show") anthology, Gallery of Horror, aka Dr. Terror's Gallery of Horror, aka The Blood Suckers, aka "the world's weirdest movie." 

Directed and produced by David L. Hewitt and written by Gary R. Heacock, David Prentiss and Russ (Creepy magazine) Jones, this 1967 oddity stars John Carradine (as a wraparound, Serling-esque, pre-Night Gallery narrator and a character in one of tales) and Lon Chaney Jr. in a prominent role. (BTW: Hewitt holds a significant spot in the annals of cinematic thrills, having directed/produced The Wizard of Mars, based on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Lucifer Complex, aka Hitler's Wild Women, The Great Gorga, Monsters Crash the Pajama Party, The Girls from Thunder Strip, Hell's Chosen Few and Journey to the Center of Time, as well as having contributed to The Time Travellers, Stargames, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Willow and Inspector Gadget 2.) 

Gallery's stories include a young couple haunted by a witch-cursed grandfather clock, overseen by Carradine's "casual" handyman; the frenetic search for a Saucy Jack vampire in Victorian London; a murdered man rising from the grave to gain revenge on his unfaithful spouse and her lover; an electrifying, Frankenstein sequel with Chaney as a professor fixated on reanimation; and a retelling of Dracula, with quite a clever twist. (Mitch Evans plays the commanding Count Alucard, and the multifarious Roger Gentry plays Jonathan Harker, in addition to other personas throughout the production.) 

As Sally mentions in her enlightening seminar (underscored by detailed liner notes), the episodes hold an uneven, anachronistic but fun flow. (Some parts invoke such Amicus' productions as Dr. Terror's House of Horrors and Torture Garden, while other parts reference such A.I.P., Roger Corman/Richard Matheson, Poe adaptations as House of Usher and Tales of Terror). The clashing (stock-footage bracketed, Flash Gordon music-cued) segments do, indeed, give the movie a quirky, cult vibe. (Carradine and Chaney's headlining participation doesn't hurt, either.)

Gallery of Horror is one to enjoy for its low-budget ambition and grim, child-like charm, made all the better by Sally's instructional lead, with generous help from that ever sarcastic SkeleKat, wiseacre dolls, fan-submitted, Cool Ghoul Art and nostalgic commercials.

Class commences at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuVGOHyqHIM

HAPPY WORLD DRACULA DAY 2026 (5/26)