Introductions

"Run-of-the-mill" seems like a modestly accurate way to describe myself in terms of horror fandom. In certain respects I find that valuable, since ideally I can make an appeal to those like myself, to those who may be testing the waters, and hopefully to the hardcore horror fans as well. (And I sincerely encourage feedback, especially from the latter.) It wasn't until several years ago, the present time of this writing being December of '09 to give perspective, that the genre genuinely appealed to me and I owe all that to the film adaptation of Stephen King's 'IT'. After that, it was a slow and steady progression that grew into watching more Stephen King film adaptations, then into watching general horror films. In more recent years it's branched from solely films into different mediums, namely: comics (comic books, manga, graphic novels, webcomics, etc.), purely written literature, and different games.

But let's get to the point, shall we? The Darkley Niche is something I've constructed after the comic-in-progress that a friend and myself plan on self-publishing, an anthology of short horror stories much in the same vein as 'Tales from the Crypt' and similar titles. The series centers around a faceless persona we've affectionately dubbed Alan Darkley, the Niche's namesake, and a cast of storytellers whose tales fall within particular subgenres and sister genres of horror. This site is the drawing board, if you will, where everything posted is either a form of research or a roughing out of ideas. It's all relevant in some fashion. By exploring these different horror stories and their mediums a better understanding and influence of the genre, as well as inspiration, can be put into the comic. Even if you have no personal interest in the project, perhaps you can glean something from the reviews and the like. And if nothing else, the Niche will work to serve my own purposes.

Be sure to browse over the column of banners below if you're looking for posts on a particular topic. (And at the very bottom of the blog, if you would like to consult the complete listing of post labels.) Otherwise, scroll down past them to get to the most recent articles. Likewise, refer to the right side for our latest tweets.

Meet The Darkley Storytellers

Meet The Darkley Storytellers

About Myself

My photo
Well, here's yours truly. The name's Drew, in case you were wondering. The Niche is my personal site, while the comic-in-progress is a partnered effort with Don, a lifelong friend of mine. We collaborate on the stories, but my partner's the writer in the outfit while I am the illustrator. This is currently little more than a side project, but we hope to make something of it.

artwork by yours truly

artwork and artist features

movies, short films, TV, webisodes, etc.

frightful films for your year-round festivities

book reviews: consult the niche's necronomicon

comic-related news and reviews

zed in the head randomness

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Women in Horror Month

The Darkley Niche is still a very young site, but we've managed, at least I hope, to start walking in the right direction by following the example of other horror bloggers. Carla, better known to many as Cool-slayer, runs the blog Nakamura's Place and is essentially what got me interested in starting my own. And while it's not specifically a horror blog, she discusses the genre from time to time and is a much bigger horror buff than myself, garnering my respect. So, getting a foothold, I started referring to the links that she included to find other sites of interest, specifically horror blogs, and eventually came across Rhonny Reaper's Dollar Bin Horror. From here I've found that there is a strong female following in horror fandom, which brings me to the matter of this post.

Started by Hannah of Women in Horror Month, February has been dedicated to the women that have made contributions over the years to the genre and has attracted attention, mostly from the female horror community. Throughout this month, for example, Rhonny Reaper is recognizing fellow bloggers of the fairer sex like herself with the "Cyber Scream Queen of the Day Award". Meanwhile, the gals of ZombieGrrlz are doing "28 Days of Diabolical Dames", dedicating a daily post to a different woman in horror. While I myself might not be of the female persuasion, I can still appreciate this event and at the very least give recognition to a handful of ladies whose talents deserve acknowledgment.

ELSA LANCHESTER
(1902-1986)

Despite her very brief roles as Mary Shelley and the Bride in Universal's 'The Bride of Frankenstein' (1935), given less than twenty minutes of screen time, easily, her performance in the latter part is both eerie and enchanting. This, I'm sure, is why the Bride has become such a classic Hollywood monster.
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ZELDA RUBINSTEIN
(1933-2010)

As many horror fans are aware, the recent death of Zelda Rubinstein brings in the new year on a slightly somber note. Well known as medium Tangina Barrons in 'Poltergeist' (1982) and the sequels that came in succession, she gave a grandmotherly warmth to the role that makes her particularly memorable.
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CASSANDRA PETERSON
(1951-present)

Now, to any of you girls (or guys, for that matter) that guffaw at this third mention, I'll point out that Ms. Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira) has established herself as a horror cult icon on par with others like Bruce Campbell, who essentially live off of their created personality. To achieve the sort of fame as that, I tip my hat to you.
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JODIE FOSTER
(1962-present)

Granted, 'Silence of the Lambs' (1991) and its following sequels fall more appropriately into the thriller genre than horror. Still, there is definite horror interwoven, and Ms. Foster's role as agent Clarice Starling is iron strong in the adversity of two sociopathic serial killers and a discriminative Bureau.
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HELENA BONHAM CARTER
(1966-present)

Lending her talents to several of Tim Burton's films, Ms. Carter more than proves her mettle in such roles as the ever-wistful Emily in 'Corpse Bride' (2005) and grisly Mrs. Nellie Lovett in 'Sweeney Todd' (2007). Thanks to her, I will never look at a pot pie the same way, again.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Andrew! Great post once again. Your blog is always a great read, and being a girl myself, I am happy to see the Women of Horror represented :) I'm glad you're discovering new sites through my blog! Yeah, my blog is a little scattered all over, but there are awesome horror blogs all over the internet. The horror community is very big, and sometimes I forget to include the links for the blogs I read on mine, but I think you're already discovering the many cool blogs. One leads to another, and suddenly you have many great ones to read :)
    Just a couple of suggestions regarding this post: when you mention Jodie Foster you actually put up a picture of Julianne Moore. They both played Clarice, but yeah :) Also, you could add Jamie Lee Curtis. Granted, her work doesn't even fall near the horror genre now, but back in the 80s, with Prom Night, Terror Train, and, needless to say, Halloween, she was one of the biggest horror actresses.
    Great work on the post once again! :)

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  2. Thank you, Carla! I'm glad that you've been enjoying my little ramblings. :) I've noticed that you've done a little yourself with 'The Room'. It sounds awful, but so funny. I'll have to give it a watch, sometime.

    And thanks again for correcting me on the Julianne Moore picture. That one slipped right by me. ^^; I'll have to give Ms. Moore a feature, too, since I liked her performance in 'Hannibal'. Also, I'll be glad to add Jamie Lee Curtis. After doing this post, I thought of a few more women to include, so I'll be doing another feature soon. Be sure that Ms. Curtis will make the cut.

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