Rubber Monster Reviews Tackles 'Boys From County Hell'
Plus: Fangers and Horus In Hell return to Kickstarter!
What’s the buzz from Bad Bug central this week? On top of a brand new installment of Rubber Monster Reviews, we have Bunnies and Vampires and Dinos…
With Fangers #2 and Horus In Hell #3 launching this week, I Googled “bunnies + vampires + horror movies”, and would you believe that there isn’t a flick that features all of the above? Unless you count Bunnicula, but that’s a little tame for you gore hounds. Ah well…I settled for just vamps.
Boys From County Hell (2020)
This was another fun find on Shudder/AMC+ and I couldn’t help but draw parallels to one of my all-time-faves, Shaun Of The Dead. I know, I know…those are some pretty big shoes to fill. But hear me out: a group of friends who aren’t shy about having a pint (or five) down at the pub? Check. Tongue-in-cheek humor balanced by an obvious love for horror keeping it from getting too silly? Check. Practical FX that don’t shy away from true horror gore? Super check! Granted, it’s Ireland instead of England and bloodsuckers instead of brain chompers…but I stand by my comparison!
This is a flick that gets right to the monster-at-hand: their little town of Six Mile Hill gets tourists from all around, coming to see the supposed burial spot of the vampire Abhartach, under a mound of stones in a local field. A couple fellas from the pub take some tourists there, setting up the history and remarking how fellow Irishman Bram Stoker stole Abernach’s tale to craft Dracula. Most of the locals now hate the author…but not enough to stay away from using his name to drum up tourism, since their watering hole is named The Stoker.
One of the reasons this movie works so well is that they set up a likeable group of friends from the get-go. Claire (Louisa Harland of Renegade Nell, Derry Girls) is the affable bartender, and love interest to William (Fra Fee of Rebel Moon and Disney Plus’ Hawkeye)…the local undertaker’s son (dun-dun-DUN!). Filling out the quartet are Eugene (Jack Rowan of Peaky Blinders and Hulu’s Wreck) and loveable oaf SP (Michael Hough of Chapelwaite). This whole crew work for Eugene’s dad doing road construction that will need them to…of COURSE…dig up the burial mound. As you can imagine, things quickly go off the rails once the digging starts.
The other reason Boys From County Hell works so well is that it doesn’t follow all the usual vampire tropes (stakes, garlic, holy water) to the letter, and you can tell they had a blast forging a new mythos. Some traditionalists may poopoo such new ideas, but it made this old horror fiend giddy! New ways to sire vamps, seeing them figure out how the hell to kill them, a TON of goopy blood FX, and one of the most brutally inventive takedowns I’ve seen in years. This is absolutely chock full of B-movie goodness!
LAUNCHING THIS WEEK!
FANGERS #2 brings you further into the chaos with this super spicy story about a heavily secured vampire community erupting into mayhem when human tourists end up trapped inside overnight. We’ll have variant covers from Sorah Sung, Bill McKay, Brian Miroglio, John Royle, and more.
NOW ON KICKSTARTER
HORUS IN HELL #3 - The further adventures of everyone’s favorite murderous pink bunny…in Hell! And good gravy, you’re gonna need one of these collector’s boxes:
Just look at those figures! Cari Salviejo had fun making this vid to show them off (with some edits by Kris Jerome):
VANYA: THE LOST WARRIOR #8 - The first official Bad Bug Midnight series continues its marathon of prehistoric madness with this new entry that’s TRULY action-packed with some spice thrown in for good measure.
“A time traveling soldier finds herself stranded in a prehistoric world, forced to battle for survival against a ruthless alien species.”
That’s all for now!
Bugs and Kisses,
John and the Bad Bug crew