tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post3282613567066074020..comments2023-12-16T02:39:56.603-06:00Comments on Gordon Grice: Classic Story: The Terror of Blue John GapUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-55937451528823905542012-10-06T23:06:39.931-05:002012-10-06T23:06:39.931-05:00Hm. I may give it a shot. Hm. I may give it a shot. Gordon Gricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13068980330242909601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-88555454636806506882012-10-06T12:15:29.677-05:002012-10-06T12:15:29.677-05:00Depends on what you mean by good. Cheese factor hi...Depends on what you mean by good. Cheese factor high; eastern woodland Indians are shown living in tipilike lodges (and none of the main Indian parts are even played by real Indians.) My mother, who could never remember the name of the movie when I was a teenager, used to call it "Great Dialogue"--a sarcastic reference to the fact that growling, grunting, screaming and cursing comprised most of the dialogue. And it very clearly has an agenda.<br /><br />With that said, it's well worth watching if you get a chance--the brooding forest, the slow buildup to the realization that a monster is roaming the wilderness, and a priceless scene of a mutant tadpole the size of largemouth bass (Stephen King says in a review of the film that by the end, we're very glad that killer whales are not freshwater mammals)--all make for a good evening with some popcorn, beverage of choice, and the movie. Just don't come to it expecting a cinematic masterpiece. It might not be bad as a remake, though, if someone did it over today with CGI and better-researched American Indians.James Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-5116030940501897252012-10-05T23:36:23.852-05:002012-10-05T23:36:23.852-05:00Is Prophecy any good? I keep meaning to watch it, ...Is Prophecy any good? I keep meaning to watch it, but then I come across bad reviews. Gordon Gricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13068980330242909601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-31375111805419376012012-10-05T23:02:37.760-05:002012-10-05T23:02:37.760-05:00Never read the Chatwin books, though I've hear...Never read the Chatwin books, though I've heard of him. Funny also how, ages before people were too concerned about the environment (other, maybe, than the people looking to get the feather trade banned--a serious issue in Doyle's day when incalculable numbers of birds were slaughtered for the hatmaking business) Doyle produced here a monster vaguely like a beast from an overtly environmentalist work of horror--the John Frankenheimer film "Prophecy" which features a beast called Katahdin and which is generally understood--but never specified to be--as a horribly mutated bear (though the Terror has fur and Katahdin has a sort of raw-looking leathery hide.)James Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-64376190990381307692012-10-05T00:17:32.155-05:002012-10-05T00:17:32.155-05:00Never got my claws- sorry, hands on that book U-U ...Never got my claws- sorry, hands on that book U-U Croconutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-82927850981722303492012-10-04T22:47:25.595-05:002012-10-04T22:47:25.595-05:00A cave bear's skull, I mean.A cave bear's skull, I mean. Gordon Gricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13068980330242909601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-91911003981804061972012-10-04T22:46:31.264-05:002012-10-04T22:46:31.264-05:00For what it's worth, that's a photo of a c...For what it's worth, that's a photo of a cave bear I put at the top. I think Doyle was going for that, but he made the smart decision not to get too specific. Like a lot of great horror writers, he leaves room for each reader to imagine what seems most plausible to him or her. <br /><br />On the subject of giant sloths, have you guys read Bruce Chatwin's Patagonia books? Bit of sloth-cryptid action there. Gordon Gricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13068980330242909601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-65152961518765347052012-10-04T20:41:04.949-05:002012-10-04T20:41:04.949-05:00That's an intriguing thought. I for one am con...That's an intriguing thought. I for one am convinced that there's still tons to be learned :>Croconutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-51440588864356652232012-10-04T20:37:42.320-05:002012-10-04T20:37:42.320-05:00Oh, no question--in the period during which Doyle ...Oh, no question--in the period during which Doyle was writing, giant sloths were perceived as essentially too stupid and defenseless to keep out of their own way. But it's amazing to me how, in aiming for one prehistoric villain for his piece, he actually got in the broad strokes of a totally different critter.<br /><br />An intriguing point about cryptozoology is that it often seems to proceed on the assumption that all the players are "prehistoric holdovers"--while that might account plausibly for some, I often wonder what, really, would prevent the more acceptable crypto-beasts from being newly-evolved species or transitional forms. I don't know--probably this is my desperate need to believe that we don't know all of Nature's secrets yet talking. :)James Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-15312427411801666552012-10-04T20:16:38.775-05:002012-10-04T20:16:38.775-05:00Actually when it comes to cryptozoology, the giant...Actually when it comes to cryptozoology, the giant sloth in the Amazon seems more credible than bigfoot IMO. :D Even if the Mapinguari is said to be vegetarian, there are reports of it killing people once in a while...<br /><br />But I seriously doubt that is what Doyle had in mind...Croconutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-40064208720999934152012-10-04T18:54:11.767-05:002012-10-04T18:54:11.767-05:00That's the general impression of most people w...That's the general impression of most people who have read the story (though Doyle's character merely suggests a cave bear as a possible ancestor and describes the beast as "bear-like".) But--and perhaps as a fellow prehistory buff you might agree with me--there are elements to its description as regards size, coat and claws which bring more readily, to my mind, a native of the New World, one which has coincidentally been theorized recently as a bearlike omnivore who might have taken a slow, defenseless prey item like a domestic sheep in addition to vegetarian fare: the Megatherium. Of course, the story is fiction and just good fun, but it still gives me a shudder when I read it and I always envision a ground sloth with big, blind eyes and unslothlike fangs rearing up over some dapper-looking little guy in a tweed suit at the climax!James Smithnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8049832311913108906.post-59354606162095011162012-10-04T17:57:34.029-05:002012-10-04T17:57:34.029-05:00I didn´t know this story. I'm guessing the cre...I didn´t know this story. I'm guessing the creature was meant to be a cave bear of sorts?Croconutnoreply@blogger.com