Enterprise S1E2 - "Fight or Flight"

The Enterprise meets a floating derelict in space with all its dead crew having their blood drained to make space drugs, so of course they stick around because there are no horror movies in the 22nd Century.

RATING: 64%

A Bucket of Blood

Awkward busboy Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) wants nothing more than to fit in among the beatniks at the Yellow Door Cafe. His first attempt to win them over with his art ends with his landlady's dead cat covered in clay. His "sculpture" Dead Cat becomes a hit with the freak scene, but Walter's rising profile comes with a rising body count. After Walter debuts his second piece, Murdered Man, some people begin to suspect that Walter's lifelike sculptures might just be a little too lifelike. Made in the late 50s, A Bucket of Blood is a charming little B movie from Roger Corman's early period with American International Pictures. Made quickly (and cheaply), the movie has a morbid sense of humor about itself and features a great performance from Dick Miller. In his 50+ year acting career, Miller would go on to play characters named Walter or Walter Paisley more than a dozen times, but A Bucket of Blood has been, so far, his only lead performance in a film.

Rating: A Bucket of Fun%

(Image from scootermoviesshop.com)

Grendel: Red, White, and Black

I bought this for $2 at a garage sale along with every other graphic novel there, and I wasn't expecting much more than a Spiderman/Daredevil/ninja thingie that I could keep in the classroom for my students to read. It's actually a very dark book with experimental, superb writing and art—even the "extra" characters are interesting and sympathetic enough that you're kinda bummed out when they get introduced and chopped to sashimi in 3 or 4 panels. The main character is a sort of villain and eloquent nihilist, and when he got killed in the end by that werewolf (spoiler) I was probably sadder than I was when my pet mouse died on Christmas Day when I was a kid. Time's a holocaust, eh?

RATING: 88%

(Image from comicmastersonline.com.)