New Weird

Benny Davis

New Weird

I think perhaps my favorite New Weird story would be H.P. Lovecraft’s “From Beyond”. Simply because the movie absolutely scared the hell out of me.

I watched it late one night when I was 15 years old and it was deeply disturbing. I think most of what made it so disturbing was not the eerie science fiction that was in it, but the antagonist’s never-ending, unquenchable, absolute lust for sexual fulfillment. It is a lust that is truly from beyond the grave, and that is what made it so disturbing. Also, the fact that he was a huge disgusting monster by the end of the movie certainly didn’t help.

-Benny Davis

Future Tense

Benny Davis

Future Tense

Once I read a very interesting book called Feed. It took place a hundred years or so from now, where the moon is a commercial vacation spot, and every human being is born with a tiny computer chip implanted in their brain. This chip is called your feed, and is basically a social network hub in your mind. Accessible at any time, anywhere. The main character at one point uses it to communicate with his brother between the moon and the earth.

One day, the protagonist meets a girl who doesn’t have a feed. She is the odd one out in this world. Her family couldn’t afford to give her a feed, so she is alienated from society. So, out of love, our protagonist tries to protect and help her.

I believe that the future is very much shaping up to be just like Feed. With the addition of smartphones into the current norm of technology, and Google glass and other augmented reality devices, it looks as though we may be getting closer and closer to a feed-like device. I believe that this book, currently science fiction, will become a reality by the year 2080.

-Benny Davis

Satire and Sci-Fi

Benny Davis

Satire and Sci-Fi

My absolute favorite sci-fi satire would be, not The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, while that is quite a great story. But it is, of course, “Spaceballs”. I am a huge Mel Brooks fan. I would even go so far as to say he is the reason I got into filmmaking in the first place.

When I was about 11 or 12 years old, I saw “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” and subsequently went through a long-lasting Star Wars phase. During which, I stumbled across a little film called “Spaceballs”.  It was all my friends at summer camp could talk about. So my cousin and I watched it at home one day, and suddenly we were obsessed with making parodies. We started making our own Star Wars parodies with Legos and claymations. For me, this evolved into a never-ending passion for comedic storytelling and filmmaking. All thanks to Mel Brooks and his genius idea to parody Star Wars.

-Benny Davis

Literary Speculation

Benny Davis

Literary Speculation

I have two ultimate, absolute favorite parts of speculative literature that fall into separate categories. One being time travel, and the other being mythology. Mostly Greek mythology, but other mythologies are also interesting.

Don’t ask me why I like either, because I wouldn’t be able to tell you. All I know is that both have interested me, above all others, since I was a small child. All my favorite movies have to do with either time travel or mythology. Some of them have both combined, such as a little film called “Time Bandits” by Terry Gilliam. That is one of my ultimate favorite movies.

Gilliam really has a way of getting into his audience’s imaginations. When I was in high school, I wrote an extensive paper on Terry Gilliam as an auteur. I was the only one in my film class who knew who he is. Shameful, isn’t it?

I like Gilliam a lot because most of his films have to do with either time travel or mythology, or both. “12 Monkeys” is about time travel, “Baron Von Munchhausen” is very mythological, and “Time Bandits” is both, pretty much.

-Benny Davis

Diverse Position Science Fiction

Benny Davis

Diverse Position Science Fiction

I am not the greatest fan of this genre of science fiction. Upon reading Bloodchild, I was very confused and deeply disturbed by the subject matter. What baffled me the most was at the end, when Gan confesses that he is in love with the alien that is currently laying eggs in his stomach!

Not particularly my idea of romance, but who am I to question the writing of Octavia Butler, a well renowned sci-fi author? I usually like some of these kinds of sci-fi stories, such as the Ridley Scott film “Alien”. While that is not quite strict to this specific genre, I think the artistic work of H.R. Giger brings it much closer into it.

One of my favorite disturbing stories of science fiction would have to be “Planet of the Apes”. When I first watched the 1968 film as an 8-year-old-boy, that shot of the statue of liberty nearly traumatized me. The image of the shriveled up dead crewmember on the spaceship did traumatize me. So did the image of one of the crew dead and taxidermied as a museum exhibit. I shudder just writing about it.

So you could imagine my interest and excitement about the recent prequels to the franchise. Personally, I thought “Rise” was way, way better than “Dawn” but that’s just me. I hear up next, it will be “War of the Planet of the Apes”. I am pumped for that!

-Benny Davis

Cyberpunk and Steampunk

Benny Davis

Cyberpunk and Steampunk

There have been many films, books, and most especially video games that have found their roots in ___punk genres.

One videogame of note would be “Bioshock: Infinite”. While I myself never played it, I did take note of its intense visual mastery and attention to detail. It really hit the steam-punk look on the nose.

Other punk genres would include things such as diesel-punk, which has a very 1940’s American look to it. One such film that has a diesel-punk look would be “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”. While it is not a very good movie, it is certainly a visual marvel of its time.

A videogame series that defines itself in the atom-punk genre would be the “Fallout” series. It takes place in a strange parallel universe, in which all technology is strangely stuck in the 1950’s, but also has a futuristic twist on it.

An example of a cyber-punk film would probably be “The Matrix”.

-Benny Davis