@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 4/08/88 -- Vol. 6, No. 41 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 3A-206; MT meetings are in the cafeteria. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 04/13 LZ: THE SKYLARK OF SPACE by E. E. "Doc" Smith (Space Opera) 05/04 LZ: THE WAYFARER TRILOGY by Dennis Schmidt (Symbiotic Life, Alternate History, and Zen Buddhism) 05/25 LZ: THE MAKING OF 2001 by Jerry Abel (The Creative Process) 06/15 LZ: The Oz Books by Frank L. Baum (Oz) _D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C. 04/15 Con: I-Con, Stony Brook, Long Island, NY. GoHs: Clement, Ellsion. -04/17 (Info: I-CON 7, POB 550, Stony Brook NY 11794; 516-632-6460 1-5pm 04/16 New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA (phone 201-432-5965 for details) 05/14 Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA (phone 201-933-2724 for details) HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 mtuxo!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 957-5619 mtgzz!leeper HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3M-420 949-5866 homxb!tps LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-6142 lzfme!lfl MT Librarian: Will Harmon MT 3C-406 957-5128 mtgzz!wch Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. When _T_h_e _T_e_n _C_o_m_m_a_n_d_m_e_n_t_s was on recently Evelyn and I were discussing what actor would have taken the part of Moses had there been no Charleton Heston. My suggestion was to have Robert Armstrong. I laughed it off at the time, but the more I think about it, the more I can actually picture it. Of course, some of it would have to be re-written. consider this conversation with Edward G. Robinson: "All right, Moses, we followed you across the Red Sea. Now, where are we going? You promised us some information when we got out of Egypt. Now which way?" THE MT VOID Page 2 "Northeast." "Northeast!?! Why, there's nothing...nothing for thousands of miles!" "Keep your robe on, Dathan. We're not going thousands of miles; we're going to Mt. Sinai." "I don't see it on the map." You won't find that mountain on any map. The Arabs hide it, keep it secret. There's something on that mountain--something they fear." "A hostile tribe, perhaps." "Dathan, have you ever heard of 'I AM'?" "'I AM'? Yes, an Arab god, isn't it?" "Well, neither man nor beast. Something BIG...all- powerful...holding the Arabs in deadly fear! I tell you, there's something on that mountain...something no Hebrew has ever seen...but me. I saw it when I was out in the wilderness. I tell you, this I AM is the biggest thing. people would pay money to worship a thing like that...." Well, you get the idea. 2. Thanks to the generosity of Pat Palmer, the Holmdel library now has copies of the following books: Anthony, Piers MACROSCOPE Bear, Greg BLOOD MUSIC Bova, Ben FORWARD IN TIME Cherryh, C. J. CUCKOO'S EGG Donaldson, Stephen R. THE MIRROR OF HER DREAMS (Mordant's Need) Donaldson, Stephen R. A MAN RIDES THROUGH (Mordant's Need, vol. II) Donaldson, Stephen R. THE WOUNDED LAND (Thomas Covenant, vol IIa) Harrison, Harry THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT FOR PRESIDENT Heath, Peter THE MIND BROTHERS Norton, Andre DREAD COMPANION Norton, Andre FORERUNNER Mark Leeper MT 3E-433 957-5619 ...mtgzz!leeper DOLLS A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1988 Mark R. Leeper Capsule review: Often charming little horror piece done to near-perfection further establishes Empire Pictures' reputation for being _t_h_e creative horror film maker of today--perhaps a latter-day Hammer Films. Rating: high +1. Back in the mid-1950s while the science fiction film was first blossoming, the horror film was foundering. The Universal cycle that started in 1930 had gone into unconscious, then self-conscious self- parody and died a decade before. Horror films meant shoddy productions in which neurotic teenagers turned into vampires or werewolves or Frankenstein monsters. Then in 1957 budget studio Hammer Films tried some radically new approaches to horror films and turned out well-made products and the horror film was reborn. Today the horror film is foundering in self-parody, in teen-age films, and in innumerable repeats of being chased by a bogeyman whom you cannot kill. Knock him down and he just gets up (_H_a_l_l_o_w_e_e_n 1 and 2, _F_r_i_d_a_y _t_h_e _1_3_t_h _P_a_r_t _n, _T_h_e _T_e_r_m_i_n_a_t_o_r, _T_h_e _H_i_t_c_h_e_r, etc., etc.--even the final sequence of _F_a_t_a_l _A_t_t_r_a_c_t_i_o_n). The one-time rip-off producer who _i_s exercising different nightmares and making some of the most creative horror films today is Charles Band's Empire Pictures. That is the company who made the _H_o_u_s_e films, _T_h_e _R_e-_a_n_i_m_a_t_o_r, and _F_r_o_m _B_e_y_o_n_d. Among their most creative is _T_r_o_l_l which started as a film about a troll running around murdering people. When the decision was made that the film had to be rated PG, the gore was eliminated, the horror toned down, and both were replaced by a heavy dose of high fantasy. _T_r_o_l_l is uneven but often charming and surprisingly entertaining. More recently they have released _D_o_l_l_s. a sort of horror fairy tale in the tradition of A. E. Merritt that is also creative, charming, and entertaining, but with a much better sense of mood and atmosphere than _T_r_o_l_l had. During a storm six people are stranded in an old house with a mysterious old toymaker (one-time British swashbuckling star Guy Rolfe) and his wife. The house is full of toys and especially dolls. The two visitors who are young in heart enough find all the dolls enchanting. The other four find being surrounded by toys _d_e_a_d_l_y _d_u_l_l. Of course, as the evening wears on they find it less and less dull and more and more deadly. Like an episode of the old _T_w_i_l_i_g_h_t _Z_o_n_e episode it is not very surprising where the story is going, but the telling of the story is nicely and originally done with enough special effects to capture the imagination but not so much as to distract from the people. Dolls April 3, 1988 Page 2 _D_o_l_l_s is a gentle film with a gentle message and just a tad too much gore--as if it is walking a line between EC Comics and _T_w_i_l_i_g_h_t _Z_o_n_e, but in a market where filmmakers are retreading each other's ideas, _D_o_l_l_s recently released to cassette, is something different. The story is fairly (not entirely) new and done with high production values. The same could have been said of Hammer Films' first big success, _C_u_r_s_e _o_f _F_r_a_n_k_e_n_s_t_e_i_n. Rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.