History of the Gestapo

Last night I finished reading The Gestapo: A History of Horror by Jacques Delarue.

In short, this is the history of the Gestapo from before it's founding to the fall of the Third Reich.

It's important to point out that the author was a part of the French Resistance, so to him it wasn't just an academic question, but an actual part of his life. This affects the book in two ways.

First, a good portion of the book concerns the activities of the Gestapo in France, which is fine, but I would have liked an overview of it's activities in the other occupied countries as well. They are mentioned in passing, but nowhere near at the same level as France.

Second, it gets a bit preachy at times. Ideally a historical work should remain neutral at all times, and let the facts, good and bad speak for themselves. In my opinion, you don't need to state that the actions taken by the Nazi secret police were bad, but seeing that the author was directly affected by the Gestapo, I get it. And it doesn't happen all that much.

I liked this book. I have read several other books about the Third Reich and the S.S. and some have been a real slog to get through. This one is very easy, not just to read, but also to keep track of. The author repeats events and dates just enough to help you understand what happened when and how it affected other events. This makes it all easy to follow.

I also liked the way the book keeps up the bigger picture as this gives perspective. It's easy to think that the Nazi big wigs were a team, but in reality they were a loose confederation of warring chieftains, viciously fighting each other for prestige and power.

If you are interested in the dark chapter of human history that is Nazi Germany, then I would say it's essential to dive into Gestapo's history since it was one of the principal tools used to keep the regime in power. I guess there could be better books out there, but The Gestapo: A History of Horror is absolutely good enough. It doesn't go too deep, it is more of an overview, but this is essential or everything would get hopelessly bogged down.

I guess the take-away here is that I recommend this book.

Until next time, have a great week!

Paper cuts

Where would modern society be without paper?

We use it to share ideas, entertain each other, fine lawbreakers, build things, create art etc. The myriad uses we have for paper are too many to list here, but did you know that you can use it to cut things?

We've all at some point or another suffered that cruelest of cuts, the paper cut. It hurts like nothing else, but yesterday I found a video concerning the mother of all paper cuts: the powered paper cut.

The Youtube channel in question, ZombieGoBoom, is about a small group of guys who test weapons, tools, every day items, even toys to see if they're any good at killing zombies.

They have themselves designed and created a range of zombie heads that are 99% correct analogs of the human head. Since you know, the only reliable way to put down a zombie is to destroy its brain.

The video below is only one of several that you can find online if you're interested in cutting things with paper, but being the lover of the macabre that I am, I chose this one. I suppose the takeaway from this is that if you absolutely must cut something and you have no other options available, you can use paper, card stock, or cardboard.

So enjoy the awesome power of humble paper, and until we see each other again, have a zombie free week!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUsxXQmQnGg

Have a good laugh

One evening, while rummaging around on Youtube, I found a documentary called Laughing at the Eighties.

It's not, as you might assume, a mockery on the eighties itself, but rather a look at British comedy of that time.

It's narrated by Ben Elton, the man who amongst his other accomplishments, co-wrote Blackadder 2-4, The Young Ones and many more. He interviews many of the greats in British comedy, as well as sharing some of his own anecdotes.

Then there's the follow up, Laughing at the Nineties. This is narrated by Jennifer Saunders, of both French&Saunders and Absolutely Fabulous fame, to name her biggest creations. As with the Eighties documentary, it analyzes the comedy of the decade and contains a plethora of comedy stars.

Predictably of course, this is followed up with Laughing at the Noughties, this time headed by Catherine Tate. We get an insight into how British comedy yet again has changed, but in the first decade of the new millennium.

As a life long fan of the British school of comedy, I found this trilogy incredibly interesting as well as entertaining. We see how comedy in the 80's changed from the old ways and became politicized, making fun of the establishment, and the police. Not the nine o'clock news, Spitting Image etc.

The nineties brought a new way of life and thinking and comedy evolved again. If course, the 2000's made comedy change once more. I'm not going to go through it here, watch the documentaries instead.

I do want to share one thought that struck me. In medieval times, kings had jesters who could mock and deride things and people that would get others beheaded. It's said that this was not just entertainment, but a form of social critique that gave the king food for thought. What I came to understand is that the jesters aren't gone. They are on television, instead of the throne room.

That's in for today, go forth and have a good laugh, and until next time, have a fun week!

Laughing at the Eighties: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-6AB08CFM

Laughing at the Nineties:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mgCWxcBkC8

Laughing at the Noughties:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqqCjuV9mSs

The Return of the Living Dead

Last week I talked about The Blob, and I hinted at another 80's horror classic. Well here we are, and today's topic is the original The Return of the Living Dead and it's two sequels. I learned that there are a couple of new additions to the franchise made in 2005, but I have never seen them, so I'm ignoring them.

The original TRotLD was created as a homage/sequel/spoof of George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, but when they wrote the script, back in the seventies, they didn't know that Romero was in fact already working on his own sequel, Dawn of the Dead. That's why he didn't want to direct TRotLD.

In fact, the story uses Night of the Living Dead as a plot point, stating that the film was based on a real event, and that's why zombies are real.

The common thread of the trilogy is that a chemical, 2-4-5 Trioxin, can resurrect the dead. It can also turn living people into zombies if they inhale it. The zombies, however, are pretty interesting from a horror history point of view. As far as I can tell, this is where the idea that zombies shamble around and moan “Brains” comes from. In previous movies, including Romero's classic, the undead said nothing and ate everything, particularly the entrails. In TRotLD they only really care about brains. Whats also noteworthy, is the fact that the zombies can both talk and use tools if they choose to. Further more, a shot to the head is not guaranteed to put them down.

The first TRotLD (1985), is a horror comedy. It's silly and messy, but it has fun with itself, and that's important, as it adds a certain charm to the movie. I can't talk about the plot too much,without running into spoiler territory, suffice to say that the chemical is accidentally released and the dead rise. Chaos follows. All things considered, this is actually a good movie.

TRotLD 2 (1988), is a bit unbalanced. It's more of a comedy than the original, and in my opinion it tries too hard and fails a bit to deliver. It both follows and ignores to first film, which is weird. But it's biggest flaw, is one of the main characters: Jesse. He is the typical 80's heroic know-it-all kid, and man is he annoying. Further more, where the first film's characters weren't exactly amazing, they had personalities. Here they are completely one dimensional, to the point of being suicidally dumb. It also recycles jokes from the original, but without updating them. It's more of a “Hey, here's that joke you liked again. Isn't it funny?” No, it isn't. It's almost as if it tries to be mainstream and kid friendly. But it's still a bloody zombie film. Good choice.

If you're only going to watch one entry in the franchise, watch the original and skip this.

TRotLD 3 (1993) is a very different creature from it's predecessors. There is no comedy to be seen here. It's a dark, cruel horror piece, through and through. It has more in common with Resident Evil or 28 Days Later than its own franchise. Again, I won't spoil anything, just be warned that it's nothing like what came before.

For me, it's a bit of a mixed bag. It has it's moments, but it's not terribly good.

Ultimately, The Return of the Living Dead can stand tall as a formative part of Horror Cinema. All the movies have moments that make you face palm in disbelief over how stupid some characters are, but in the end it's definitely worth it. If you are a horror fan, and you haven't seen these, correct that oversight at the first possible opportunity.

That's that. Until next time, have a great week and stay away from zombies and weird military containers.