Monster Monday: The Pale Man

The Pale Man from 'Pan's Labyrinth' (Image from Bits of News)

Get ready to draw eyes on your hands, put them up to your faces and uh...devour children! Alright, maybe not the devouring children part, but for Monster Monday this week, the spotlight falls on the gloriously ghoulish Pale Man, from Guillermo del Toro's Spanish-language masterpiece 'Pan's Labyrinth' ('Laberinto del Fauno' 2006). 

Ofelia and the Pale Man (image from Movie Connoisseurs)

The Pale Man sits motionless, in his underground lair, at the head of a table laden with delicious-looking food. He lies in wait for any hungry children that may find their way into his chamber, with his eyes on the plate in front of him. If the child should give into temptation, and dare to eat from the platters of nourishment before them, they'd better get out of there quickly, the pallid monster will be awakened from his stasis. 

The Pale Man (from jamiesandoval.com)

Against the warnings of her fairy friends Ofelia, the main protagonist of the story, makes the mistake of tasting some grapes on the table, causing the Pale Man to become animate. After killing two of the fairies, he then chases Ofelia, who is forced to run for her life and climb to safety through a magic door she outlines in chalk on the ceiling. 

Even those who don't like the movie surely have to admit that the Pale Man is a fantastic monster. Definitely the stuff of future childhood nightmares!

Movies: Don't Be Afraid of the Dark (2011)

The eerie remake of the 1973 television movie 'Don't Be Afraid of the Dark' is set to be released on August 26th 2011. The plot centres around Sally Hirst's (Bailee Madison) terrifying experience with creatures that stalk her after she moves into a new house with her father (Guy Pearce) and his girlfriend (Katie Holmes). 

The film is co-produced & co-written by Guillermo del Toro and directed by comic book artist / creator of the short film 'Latchkey's Lament', Troy Nixey and, whilst Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce being the adult leads does put me off somewhat, perhaps Nixey can bring out the best in them. The trailers (the one posted below for example) do seem promising,  but I have to admit that a large proportion of my faith in this movie comes from del Toro's involvement in it.

Official Website:
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

Official Trailer:

Books : The Strain Trilogy, by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan

Hello there little monsters~!

Since someone on twitter requested book entries, and I had thought about this one for a long time, today I bring you a post about one of the last books I've read and truly enjoyed!

It's been cowritten by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan and its title is The Strain (Nocturna in Spanish) .

This is the first book of a vampire trilogy, that luckily, has nothing to do with these sparkling vampires that people seem to like nowadays...

In fact, the main vampire reminds me of the old ones like Nosferatu; that's what I call a real creature of the night!!!

Personal thoughts aside, I think you should all give it a try!

To sumarize it a little bit, the book begins with a plane landing at the airport but no-one gets out of it, there are no lights inside, and there's not a single noise either coming from the plane. All the doors and windows are locked. Then, the protagonist, Ephrain, goes to the crime scene to investigate the mysterious plane... and if you want to find about the rest, you will have to start reading :P!

To find out more about this trilogy, visit its official website http://www.thestraintrilogy.com/.

There you can also see the second book is already available for pre-order. It'll be released in September this year, and I personally can't wait for it!

If you've been looking for new quality vampire books, I guess this is your chance ;)!