POST #100 - MY TOP TEN REVIEWS ON SHUKER IN MOVIELAND

 

Doesn't time fly by when you're having fun? It seems like only yesterday when, in order to stave off the mind-numbing tedium of 2020's restrictive but vital Covid-19 virus lockdowns by pursuing a longstanding home-based interest of mine – watching movies – but which previously I had never done much with from a writing perspective, I launched a new, movie-based blog during late July 2020.

Entitled Shuker In Movieland (click here to access its home page), it enables me to review a diverse range of movies that I've watched recently or in earlier times, as well as a few TV shows of particular interest to me. I also have the opportunity to publicise all manner of lesser-known or forgotten films that I've enjoyed but which may be new to my blog's readers.

I'm delighted to say that Shuker In MovieLand has proved very popular, attracting considerable numbers of visitors and hits each day. As a result, operating in tandem with it, I have created what is now a thriving Facebook group too, FFT&F (Favourite Films, TV, and Fiction), which sees new posts by myself and its many members each day.

Now, scarcely four months later from its launch, I am today marking via this present listing my 100^th Shuker In MovieLand post. And what could be more appropriate for such a momentous occasion than revealing the ten reviews posted by me so far that have attracted the greatest number of hits to date? So here they are, in clickable form so that you can access them directly from this page, together with their respective publication dates on my blog:

#1: The Dark (aka The Relic aka The God Rat) (27 July 2020)

#2: Wolfen (18 August 2020)

#3: Border (29 August 2020)

#4: Sssssss (aka Ssssnake) (5 September 2020)

#5: King Cinder (16 August 2020)

#6: Dragons in the Movies (13 October 2020)

#7: The Asphyx (30 July 2020)

#8: Terror Birds (26 September 2020)

#9: The Lair of the White Worm (Versus The Legend of the Lambton Worm) (2 August 2020)

#10: Thale (4 September 2020)

Scrutinising this list, one trend is instantly evident – my blog's readers definitely favour monster movies and creature features! Indeed, the only entry that isn't from this genre is King Cinder, a nowadays-obscure British TV show from the late 1970s focusing upon the adventures of a teenage speedway motorbike rider. I have no idea why this particular show has proved so remarkably popular among my readers, but I'm very glad that it has done, because it was and remains a favourite TV show of mine, bringing back happy memories of my own youth and biker beginnings.

So there you have it, the first Top Ten reviews listing for Shuker In MovieLand! Will its entries retain their places and positions when I prepare a second listing in another 100 posts' time? Or will some or all of them have been displaced by others? Who can say? The only way to find out is to keep on checking in to my blog, reading its reviews, and awaiting the next list, which I very much hope that you will do.

My sincere thanks to all of Shuker In MovieLand's fans and devotees for giving me the encouragement and support to continue with it. Equally, I hope that you will continue to click on my reviews' links and enjoy reading my thoughts and information supplied concerning an equally varied range of movies and TV shows in the future.

Stay safe, and carry on clicking!

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE!

 

 

THE DARK (aka THE RELIC aka THE GOD RAT)

Three different video/DVD covers for The Dark – the centre picture is on the cover of the DVD version that I own (© Craig Pryce/Lightshow Communications – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 29 November 2019, I watched a long-anticipated cryptozoology-themed movie, The Dark (aka The Relic aka The God Rat – see later), originally released in Italy in 1993. Directed by Craig Pryce, it stars Stephen McHattie as a leather-jacketed, motorbike-riding cryptozoologist (sounds familiar??) named Gary 'Hunter' Henderson. He is seeking a mysterious, scientifically-undescribed subterranean beast akin to a giant carnivorous rodent that excavates huge tunnels underneath a graveyard, feeds upon recently-interred corpses, and secretes a slimy substance that has miraculous, swift-acting healing properties. Filmed in Canada, this unusual movie also stars Neve Campbell, making her big-screen debut, as Hunter's girlfriend Jesse Donovan.

The monster is only seen in brief glimpses, and then only its toothy long-jawed head and long-clawed forepaws for the most part. The plot is fairly pedestrian - a good cryptozoologist seeking to study and preserve the creature for its taxonomic significance as an apparent prehistoric survivor and also for its slime's potentially immense medicinal benefits vs a bad vengeful ex-cop relentlessly seeking to slay it in revenge for its self-defence killing of his police partner when he was still on the force.

However, what has always intrigued me about this movie, which had particularly spurred me on for so long to seek it out on DVD (no easy matter!) and view it, was that its cryptid subject is more than a little reminiscent of a bona fide mystery beast. Reported from Scotland, this latter cryptid is known as the earth hound, and is indeed said to frequent graveyards and devour buried corpses. My book Mysteries of Planet Earth (1999) was the first crypto-book to investigate and document the earth hound, but if you click here you can access a ShukerNature blog article of mine concerning this fascinating mystery beast.

The DVD of The Dark that I own actually has a German-language cover (see centre picture in the trio of photographs opening this present blog post), on which this movie is entitled The Relic (in English) and The God Rat (in German), but the movie that plays on the DVD disc itself is the original English version and is entitled in its opening credits as The Dark.

Incidentally, this present movie should not be confused – but often is – with another cryptozoology-themed film also entitled The Relic. Directed by Peter Hyams and originally released in 1997, its very different plot concerns a monstrous entity inadvertently transported back to the USA from South America, which duly runs amok in Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History. I have this movie on DVD too, but haven't watched it yet – be sure that once I do, however, I shall be duly reviewing here on Shuker In MovieLand!

Last, but by no means least, The Dark is currently available (as of 27 July 2020 anyway) to watch in its entirety free of charge on YouTube (click here to do so). Consequently, if you're a fan of monster movies with a cryptozoology theme like I am, I strongly recommend that you make the most of this golden opportunity to watch this otherwise difficult-to-find movie while you can, in case it is subsequently deleted from YT.

And to view a complete listing of all of my Shuker In MovieLand blog's other film reviews and articles (each one instantly accessible via a direct clickable link), please click HERE! 

Reconstruction of the likely appearance in life of the mysterious earth hound as based upon alleged eyewitness descriptions (© William M. Rebsamen)