Mummy (Terror at the British Museum)

For today's countdown to Halloween, an old horror classic. It's not Halloween without at least one mummy. This one comes from the gamebook Terrors Out of Time, one of my go-to book for interactive horror stories. But truly, the creature comes from the British Museum and has been animated by Baron Ausbach to cover his escape from the hero (hero played of course by the reader). The mummy here is little more than a glorified zombie, an undead doing its master's bidding. Nevertheless, it's always cool to have a mummy in a horror story, especially in a cool setting like the British Museum. Tactical advice if you ever play the book: use the knobkerrie against it, not the sword-stick. Otherwise, the blade might get stuck in it and you end up weaponless.

The Hunchback Servant

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I thought I'd blog about a classic horror trope, at least in old movies: the Hunchback Servant, which TV tropes calls the Igor. They are often seen in adaptations of classics, however they generally do not have an equivalent in the source material. The Igor is conspicuously absent of the original Dracula and Frankenstein, but a hunchback does appear briefly in Carmilla, albeit he is not a servant of the Karnstein family (gotta blog about the Karnsteins one day, by the way). I took this image from the gamebook Terrors Out of Time, from the tragically short lived Forbidden Gateway series. Of course, the writers were not shy of using such classic stock characters. His presence gives a nice bit of foreboding to the scene. Like other Igor types characters, this hunchback has a foot in both worlds: a human himself, but a servant of supernatural forces, in this instance the sinister Baron Ausbach. Now, I understand using someone with deformities as a villain's servant can give some unfortunate implications for contemporary readers and audiences, but I do like old tropes and I must confess I like this stock character.

Zombie Siege

 For today's countdown to Halloween post, I want first to qualify what I said on my Thursday post. I said I never liked zombies much as antagonists in horror stories. Too one note, too gross, too slow. Maybe I am being unfair. As I enjoy a good zombie attack, which can create genuine suspense as much as terror. Zombies are good for minions, if nothing else. The zombie attack, or zombie siege, was used to great effect in Where the Shadows Stalk of the Forbidden Gateway  gamebook series. Okay, so they are called mutants, but they truly are zombies, in any way, shape or form. There is one episode of the gamebook where these creatures attack the house of Professor Charles Petrie-Smith in the middle of the night. It's a great moment in the game, scary and tense. And it also brings back the zombies to their initial function in tradition: they are not the main antagonists but servants of evil entities. One of the many reasons why I love the Forbidden Gateway gamebook series, which was tragically short lived.

The old man fighting the Forces of Darkness

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I wanted to talk not about the monsters and devils of horror stories, but about the heroes fighting them. I took this picture from Where the Shadows Stalk of the Forbidden Gateway  gamebook series. This is Professor Charles Petrie-Smith, one of these heroes. In the gamebooks, he is the one asking your character for help when the story starts and he is a provider of vital information regarding the mysteries and dangers you must face. He is, in essence, the Van Helsing character of the series. He has many equivalent in other stories: Baron Vordenburg, Dr Samuel Loomis, the Persian, etc. Sadly, you don't see them much anymore in modern horror stories, in films or in literature. And I think it's a loss. Our fictitious world needs more Petrie-Smiths, especially when there is someone or something hiding in the shadows.

Changelings and Dopplegängers

 I took this picture from Where the Shadows Stalk of the sadly short lived Forbidden Gateway  gamebook series. This is a monstrous humanoid made of vegetals that is turning into a copy of your character. A sort of dopplegänger, although they call him a Changeling. It is the first adversary you fight in the book and it truly sets the tone for the kind of horrors you will face during the rest of the adventure. I find dopplegängers and changelings scary and unsettling (you can be replaced by an usurper, someone you love and trust may not be who they are, etc.), but is it me or are they seldom used nowadays in horror? They deserve a comeback. Anyway, if you know of any stories involving them, let me know in the comments section.

Knobkerrie (against the Forces of Darkness)

Okay, one last countdown to Halloween post before bedtime. A spooky one because let's remain macabre. I know I blogged recently about the Forbidden Gateway gamebooks serie. In it, you play a psychic investigator (whatever the job entails on a normal day is never explained) fighting supernatural forces. And your weapon of choice is, rather originally, a knobkerrie. My long time readers may remember that about a decade ago I mused on the weapons to use against the forces of darkness. It struck me that a knobkerrie would be pretty useful: it is strong, sturdy, it could easily crush the skull and break the bones of of a living dead (orthe jaws of a monster!) and in the meantime it could pass as a mere walking stick. So yes, if you fear you miht come face to face with a supernatural fiend, if this creature is material and not epheral, a knobkerrie is a pretty good weapon.

Baron Ausbach

For today's countdown to Halloween post, I give you another trip down memory lane as well as a villain. All good stories need a good antagonist and horror stories are no exception. You may remember that I am found of the Forbidden Gateway gamebooks, a horror series that sadly had only two titles: Where the Shadows Stalk and its sequel, Terrors Out of Time. The first book ends on a cliffhanger, where an artifact your character brought is stolen by a mysterious figure. In the next book, this figure is introduced: it is Baron Ausbach. He is the main villain of the story and a really cool one at that. Not a vampire, although he does share some characteristics with them, but a sort of undead who looks like a mummified corpse(later on he also sports a pair of giant bat wings). What I like about him is that he is very much like classic horror monsters of old: as smart and resourceful as he is repulsive. He is not a mindless beast or a dumb zombie, he has a plan and he knows what he is doing. And his scheme involves world domination, of course. There should be more villains like Baron Ausbach in horror.

Dark and sinister London

For tonight's countdown to Halloween post, I have decided to muse about the biggest city in Europe. I was in London last Monday and it was a dreary, ugly day and London looked as it often does dreary and ugly. I would even say sinister. The day before, I had flickered through Terrors Out of Time, which I blogged about here. It may have been because of it, but I half expected to see the sinister figure of Baron Ausbach from the gamebook (the one you see on the cover), or even Dracula walking by. We often forget that, while Stoker's most famous work starts in a Transylvanian castle, a lot of it is set later on in Victorian England, including London. It is basically a hunting ground for Dracula. The same happens in the gamebook I am so fond of: the story kickstart with a theft in London that leads the hero/player character into the British Museum, on the pursuit of the burglar. The burglar being... Baron Ausbach, pictured left.

So, while I love a good eerie forest, an abandoned castle, a haunted house in a village or simply a dark road in the countryside, modern cities have some appeal in horror stories. All urban violence aside, a city like London allows modernity to clash with the ancient, whether it is from its own history or foreign. In Dracula, London has among its dwellers an Eastern European aristocrat who is of course a vampire. The lights of the modern world are threatened by the occult, civilization by animal savagery. Baron Ausbach is also an Eastern aristocrat whose monstrosity is not even thinly disguised: he is reptilian in appearance. Oh and he brings back to life mummies in the British Museum. The cover of Terrors Out of Time is a perfect illustration of this clash between modernity and primitive evil. So next time you walk in a big city, thing about what may be dwelling in its sewers, its undergrounds, its parks, its buildings, old or new. And if you don't get a chill, go to London.

Terrors Out of Time

Tonight, I finished Where the Shadows Stalk. It was an enjoyable read and game, albeit I do it the easy way, by not rolling the dice and thus dropping the chance elements. Still, I read it more for the atmosphere than anything else. It was great fun, with lots of Lovecraftian elements and a supernatural that was going very often into the realm of sci-fi. Which I don't like as much, but hey. We had plenty to go on: dreams that have effects on reality, a nightly attack from zombie-like creatures, expeditions in mine infected with minions and mutated minors, a few dopplegangers (one trying to kill you to take your identity, one passing as a helpless child crying for help), supernatural fog, ghost hunters from ancient times, etc. Oh, and a trusted knobkerrie as a weapon.

Interestingly enough, it ends with a cliffhanger, as the artifact the hero brings back to his London flat from his adventures gets stolen from his desk, on the second floor, by a reptilian hand belonging to... Well, I will (re)discover it in Terrors Out of Time. I say rediscover it, as I played this adventure once. I remember having a few pleasant chills reading it, there is less action in it, but a few more gruesome deaths and a more sinister adversary in the "person" of the Baron Ausbach (the toad-like, bat winged fiend on the front cover, much more unlikeable than some far away extraterrestrial entities). As Halloween is coming, I am getting myself in the right mood with this read. I strongly recommend. Hey, there are still some copies available on Amazon!

Where the Shadows Stalk

It is getting closer and closer to Halloween and I am putting myself in the mood. I bought another gamebook from Amazon, this time Where the Shadows Stalk and its sequel. It is from the Forbidden Gateway series, which sadly only had two titles. When I was a child, I had read and completed the sequel, which I might blog about in the upcoming months, but I never finished Where the Shadows Stalk, in fact I had barely started it. I remember now that it had strong Lovecraftian elements, which I had never seen before as I had not read Lovecraft yet. But it was also heavily influenced, I think, with classic Gothic horror tales and old Hammer movies. The action is set in Wales, in a little village. This is a perfect atmospheric setting.

I have started reading it yesterday and it is already a pleasure. You play a "psychic investigator" (whatever that is). Your primary weapon is a knobkerrie (which made me discover them, thank you Google, and isn't it a neat little bit of exotism), but you find others throughout the adventure, including some magical items. It is not as good as reading a good horror story, but it is an enjoyable interactive read, mixing adventure with horror. It reminds me of the old games of Call of Cthulhu I used to play, but (so far) without the sci-fi influences. The gamebook displays a more classic type of horror. And because the character is played by you (or, in that instance, me), it makes the reader/player more involved in the story as "normal" fiction. On a cool autumn evening, waiting for Halloween, it is a great read, as chilling as it is entertaining.