monsters – Page 3 – Savior Gaming

Monster Friday- The Jabberwock

Welcome back to Monster Friday, and today I bring you an interesting Monster: The Jabberwock. This one is interesting because most people think it has some sort of amazing lore behind it or that it dates back to some ancient period. The fact is, it was just a poem written by Lewis Carroll. It first appeared in his 1987 book Through the Looking Glass, and the first part of the poem he written even before that. In the book, Alice basically calls it pretty and says the poem doesn’t really make any sense beyond that; something was killed.

Since then, people have of course expanded on the creature, for example, most agree it is the cousin of dragons, it can fly, lays eggs, you know, with typical dragon-like behavior.

In a strange twist, however, the Jabberwocky has become quite terrifying in its own right. Being the ancestor of dragons, people have given them all sorts of insane powers, from speed to strength. Some variations are said to be able to speak any known language, which includes the ability to talk to other dragons. Of course, they can supposedly also take human form. Not bad for a creature that didn’t exist until Alice went to Wonderland. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Friday: The Beast of Bray Road

To set the stage, a long time ago in the 1930’s maybe even longer, reports started coming in of people occasionally seeing something. Even once hit something with their car and were chased back to it when they went to check on what it was. This was in the great state of Wisconsin near Elkhorn. A creature with red eyes and a canine-like face.

The Beast of Bray Road has a long history and has been featured in movies, books, and documentaries. It is described as being between 6 and 7 feet tall and can move either on all 4 or more like a human walks. Either way, it sounds much more like a traditional werewolf than its own type of creature. Perhaps a family of them has been living in the area over the years, since the most recent reports are from 2020.

There are also more plausible and mundane explanations. Grey wolves, while uncommon, are known to live in the area, as are black bears, and one living with mange would closely resemble what people have described, except for the eye color, which a simple trick of the light would account for.

While we will probably never know what it truly is, it is an interesting possibility. With so many sightings, it would be silly to think there isn’t something living out there in Walworth County. If it’s a cryptid or a common animal, we will never truly know. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Friday- Frankensteins Monster

This one is weird for me to write, because I always thought it was common knowledge until this past weekend when discussing it at work, when I was the only one in a group of 6 people that knew this, 3 of whom were college educated. Back in 1818 Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein. In this story, Victor Frankenstein creates a monster out of spare human parts and brings it to life. He is described as being 8 feet tall and having pearly white teeth and lustrous black hair. His skin was yellow and tight to the point it barely concealed the inner workings of his muscles and arteries.

He also does not have a name. They simply referred to it in the abstract by calling it, well, “it” or ” monster” and things like “creature” and “demon,” but it doesn’t truly have a name.

Now I say all that to point this out, calling him Frankenstein isn’t actually wrong. Universal Studios has been doing it for over 100 years now. Hell there is even a movie called The Bride of Frankenstein.

I think, in all honesty, it is time to admit, we are basically just calling this dude by his last name. His creator’s (dad’s) name is Victor Frankenstein; he never gave him a first name, so we call him by his last name. I just never realized so many people knew there was a book, but didn’t know he didn’t have a name in it. Enjoy monster Friday, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Predator: Badlands teaser.

The year has been a major surprise in terms of nerd movies and I’m all for it. Badlands has been promising a different vibe to the series- a Yautja protagonist, new monsters, mankind not the main prey. I’m super excited by what I see here and I’m excited as hell for more. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Alien Day 2026

Happy Alien Day, one and all, from us to you. If you followed us at all, you’ll know I’m a humongous Alien fan. I ran over 2 miles to see Prometheus opening day and I even went to Romulus for the midnight show, not to mention owning multiple copies of each movie.

Our latest installment in the saga is Alien: Earth coming to Hulu this summer. Am I nervous it’s going to be a TV series? Oh hell yeah! But there is some great talent behind the lens, and so far they the setting and creature designs are spot on. To end off this post I’ll leave you with some recent tastes we got of it and I wish everyone a safe Alien day, show some love to Ripley, David, Rain and Andy and stay the hell away from large leathery

Monster Friday-Djinn-Jinn-Genies

Monster Fridays continues with a very misunderstood one. Genies, Djinn, Jinn. They are all based on the same creature that most people assume takes one of two sides. The Disney, rub a lamp and get three wishes, or the Djinn evil screw you over type. If you want a vast overview, Britannica has a great article to get you going that goes into great depth about its Islamic and pre-Islamic history. I am just here to give a brief rundown of what it is.

Djinn aren’t truly good or evil and are much similar to humans than people think. While humans were believed to be created from the Earth itself, Djinn were created from smokeless fire. They can live and die just the same as humans can and even have the same free will. Djinns, on the other hand, can’t normally be seen and take the shape of trees, animals, or other inanimate objects. This is probably where the myth of rubbing lamps comes from.

This also may be where the confusion of them granting wishes and screwing people over comes from. They do have a massive amount of power and could, in theory, grant wishes if they chose or cause great harm. They would also harm humans who hurt them. Trying to cut down a tree that was actually one of these creatures would probably get you punished; worse, killing one of their children, even by accident, could conceivably cause one to cast a plague on a village.

At the same time, helping one of these that was in trouble could see someone instantly become a king, recover their health, or any number of seemingly great wishes come true, and it is easy to see why they became known for granting wishes.

Djinns are very oddly misunderstood. Some of this is because of Western media and Disney, and some of it is because of time itself just passing. They are still a rather interesting thing. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Friday -The Squonk

Welcome back to Monster Friday,today’s monster is The Squonk. The Squonk is a strange one, as it is basically the ugliest thing imaginable. It is said to be covered in warts with skin that is way too big for itself. As such it is wrinkly.

Worse,it knows it is ugly so it is constantly crying. The Squonk is said to be nocturnal by nature specifically because it doesn’t want to be seen so much so that it avoids water so it won’t see its own reflection.

Like many such creatures it even has a built in mechanism as to why one has never been captured. This one turns into a puddle of tears when scared or cornered. Which is pretty handy I must admit. This seems pretty implausible to me but there is an entire festival dedicated to it in Johnstown PA in August. They usually have a lot of cool shirts at least. Best wishes,and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Monster Friday-Mothman

Mothman is a very specific monster in that it only exists in one place, during a very specific point in time. In a small place, Point Pleasant, West Virgin,a from around November 1966 until December 1967, there were reports of a humanoid creature known as Mothman. It even has its own Museum.

That is a live YouTube camera, by the way, that shows the giant Mothman statue that is very popular at the Mothman museum. The sightings themselves have been explained by things such as the migration of birds in the area that don’t normally come through there such as sandhil cranes.

As you can see, the sandhill crane is a rather large bird with red/orange eyes, which lines up perfectly with what the Mothman reportedly looks like, a large creature with Red eyes and wings. If you were to see one at night out of season, you could, while scared and surprised, possibly confuse it for being humanoid.

Mothman has appeared in movies such as The Mothman Prophecies and is a staple in the Fallout games, and while I honestly belive there is nothing to this one, it is one of the more fun ones out there. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Near Dark

So Caleb is a good-looking country guy working on his dad’s farm with his little brother, living the typical boring farmhand life. When he and a buddy go into the city looking for chicks, beer, and a good time, Caleb finds it. Mae is hot, quirky, and likes Caleb a lot…so much she nearly bites his throat out getting some hanky panky. Understandably Caleb freaks out and heads back home, bleeding out and feeling his skin burn the closer morning comes. Before he can reach his home, he’s snatched by a gang layered in thick blankets who speed off with Caleb in an RV with all blacked out windows. Odd. Turns out Mae is part of a nomadic gang of anarchist vampires, feeding and raising hell by night while laying low come dawn. Caleb is drawn between his budding love for Mae and the comradery he begins slowly forging with the maniacs but is he willing to destroy his soul for love and immortality?

Ok, this movie is a gem and I’m utterly pissed its a pain in the ass to find. There’s some legal rights dispute bullshit with it so finding it physically is going to cost you a hell of a penny, and streaming is a headache. I found it on Tubi- once- after trying for over a decade to track it down.

If you loved Aliens the gang will look extremely familiar; Henrickson, Goldstein, and Paxton did Near Dark right after Aliens actually. Bill Paxton (RIP) steals the show as a menacing, hilarious, and awesome villain. The acting all around is great. I love that the movie is a terrific balance between a western and a horror movie. I weirdly found many themes from Twilight as far as Caleb’s pathos when he has to fight the cravings to keep his humanity, just obviously much better and effectively done, reminding me much of Kaneke’s arc in Tokyo Ghoul (season 1) . I do like how they came up with a clever means to a happy, albeit badass ending. In the end, I implore you to go find Near Dark and experience this super underrated, near-forgotten gem for yourselves. May the gaming gods bring you glory Mr Pig Knuckle.

Salem’s Lot (2024)

You know, this is one of those damn movies I never thought would see the light of day (hehe lame vampire pun). It was announced, delayed, then disappeared for a few years before getting dumped on HBO Max like a dead carcass at the slaughterhouse. Years ago I reviewed the novel for Salem’s Lot and since then I’ve read it at least twice and I can say it is a damn good book and a pretty solid vampire tale. While I never saw either mini-series, the trailer for 2024 was enough to make Savior and I at least excited for a flaming dumpster fire. Did we get it?

Sadly no. Salem’s Lot 2024 is not a garbage fire. That’s not to say it’s particularly great or even good. The cast gives decent performances given a pretty crammed script. Much of the soul, the suspense, and characters of the book are crushed, compacted, and repackaged into a forgettable vampire romp. It’s the kind you can forget the same day you watch it which honestly is a shame given how good the book was. The vampires are more like zombies. Barlow isn’t a nightmarish ghoul like in the 79 mini-series but a parody of that memorable design. There’s not even as much gore or hilarious jumpscares as I thought there’d be in the trailer. In the end, read the book or seek out another vamp movie because good or bad, you’ll remember it more than this thing that should’ve stayed in the development grave. May the gaming gods bring you glory.