A-Z Blogging Challenge: G is for Grendel

G is for Grendel

Grendel was a monster of the fen (marshland) featured in the epic Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf, which was written sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries A.D and set in Denmark and Sweden. Although Beowulf was a great hero from Danish mythology, Grendel appears to be an original character created within the poem only, rather than an adaptation of a creature from other Beowulf tales.

Illustration by Mary French, from A Dictionary of Monsters and
Mysterious Beasts by Carey Miller

Grendel lived with his mother in either a cave underneath the marsh or actually within the marsh, which was close to the settlement of Herot. The settlement was the stronghold of the Danish king, Hrothgar and Grendel was enraged by the noise and singing coming from its people. 

One night, Grendel left his dwelling and ventured to Herot, in order to see for himself what was causing the disruption. He arrived and found a hall full of drunken guards, who had fallen asleep after a lavish banquet. The sight apparently enraged the monster further and he pounced on the guards, devouring thirty of them. The experience was a pleasant one for him and Grendel continued to return to feast on the people of Herot for the next twelve years; King Hrothgar could not find anyone strong enough to defeat him.

Crispin Glover as Grendel in Robert Zemeckis' 2007 motion-capture film Beowulf

However, after the years passed, Beowulf's ship arrived on the shores of King Hrothgar's land and the warrior and his men agreed to help the people of Herot. He formed a plan to ambush Grendel the next time he came to the town, consisting of he and his men pretending to be asleep in the banquet hall, when in fact they would be prepared for battle. 

When the creature arrived the next night, he found the doors open and the guards seemingly asleep. Once again, the sight of them infuriated him and he ate one of them men by the door. Next he tried to consume Beowulf, but instead was engaged in a battle with the warrior, someone whose strength he had not encountered the like of before. After wounding Grendel fatally in the shoulder, Beowulf allowed him to return to his cave to die. Although this marks the end of Grendel in the poem, his mother and then the dragon that eventually kills Beowulf, also battle him later. 

This post is part of the A-Z Blogging Challenge, 2013.

And Monster Monday!

Monster Monday: Alien

"In space, no one can hear you scream", but on a spaceship, everyone can

Partly to make up for the lack of a Science (Fiction) Sunday post yesterday (thank you internet connection! -.-) and partly because it's a fantastic monster, today's Monster Monday scarer is The Alien from the, er...'Alien' franchise. I'm just going to focus on The Alien (or Xenomorph as it's sometimes referred to) from the original 1979 movie, because they develop and change over the course of the series, taking on the traits of their various host species. So, that said, on we go...

After the crew of a freighter spaceship answer a distress call eminating from an unknown moon, following which a member of the crew, Kane, is then attacked by a parasitic alien that attaches itself to his face (hence the name 'Facehugger') via a tube the it inserts into his mouth. Following this, he goes into a coma for hours, but then, seemingly of its own accord, the Facehugger releases him, dies and Kane then seems perfectly fine.

However, the Facehugger had not, in fact, released him as the crew had previously thought, but had instead implanted a different parasite into his lungs. During a rather gory, and extremely memorable dinner table scene, this new invader, the Chestburster, explodes out of Kane's chest and scuttles away.

The Chestburster

This Chestburster then goes onto become the gorgeously disgusting and overtly sexual androgynous adult Alien. Dripping in copious amounts of goop, bleeding acid and sporting razor sharp teeth, it does huge amounts of damage to both the ship and any crew members caught in its path. The Alien is both scary and awesome and the same time; a "perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility" (Ash, 'Alien').  

A less dripping, but still fascinating, lifesize
Alien suit that I saw at Torquay Museum

Credit for the design goes to surrealist artist H.R. Giger, who came up with the initial Alien design based on his 'Necronomicon IV' work, as well as the Facehugger, Chestburster, Space Jockey and alien ships. (If you've never seen Giger's work before, you need to. It's amazing! He also did the designs for the extraterrestrial in 'Species' too). However, some the praise for the long-limbed, phallic-headed alien also needs to go to director Ridley Scott and the effects team that helped to realise Giger's artistic visions of the creature on film, as well as 7'2" tall Bolaji Bodejo, who was the eponymous 'Alien' for the movie.

Super reviling, but somewhat alluring, The Alien is an aesthetically stunning, bizarre and merciless monster. Excellent!

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!

Monster Monday - Jiang Shi, the Hopping Zombie Vampires

Today Madame Luciel and myself bring you...the Jiang Shi!

Still from 'Encounters of the Spooky Kind', via Aluajala's sampler video

Jiang Shi (Geung Si in Hong Kong) are supernatural beings from China. They are also called Kyunshii in Japan and Gangshi in Korea and are brought back from the dead for many different reasons, some of which include: improper death, suicide, trouble-making personalities in life and being raised from the dead by a necromancer. 

Although Jiang Shi are somewhat similar to Western vampires and zombies in the respect that they are undead, can be in various stages of decomposition and hide in caves or coffins during the daylight hours, but rather than feasting on brains or blood, Jiang Shi breathe in the lifeforce (Qi / Chi) of their victims. Depending on how advanced their rotting was at the time of their resurrection, Jiang Shi differ in appearance; some are pale white with relatively in-tact bodies, whilst others have parts missing and a green moss growing on them. 

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Jiang Shi however, is the way that they move. Big, jumping hops, with their arms outstretched like a zombie! This unusual movement is said to come from the difficulty the corpses have moving, due to the onset of rigor mortis (hence the meaning of their name "stiff corpse"). The clip below illustrates their movement very well, and is from the movie 'Encouters of the Spooky Kind' from Sammo Hung:

For a list of more movies with Jiang Shi-like creatures in, visit the Latarnia Forums. There is also a boss called Jiang Shi, in the Castlevania game series, which is also based on this mythology.

Information via: Mythical Creatures & Beasts Wiki and The Castlevania Wiki

Monster Monday!

Welcome boils and ghouls to Horror Shock Lolipop's first Monster Monday! We'll be featuring a different monster (from movies, books, games, mythology etc.) every Monday from now on, because honestly, who wouldn't want to kick their week off by reading about scary creatures!

Previous Monster Monday Posts

We'd also love to see submissions from everyone else as well, so if you want to take part in Monster Monday at your blog, let us know and we'll link to your post or feature your contribution on HSL! Posts can be about anything monster themed - movie reviews, art, cupcakes, game trailers, fiction, cryptids, figures & dolls etc. All we ask is that submissions are in by the preceding Sunday so that we have time to compile the list. To submit a link or ask a question, please post a comment on this entry, or e-mail us at: 1x15x5@gmail.com

If you want to be kind and link back to Monster Monday, please use the banner below:

Happy chest-bursting, building stomping, blood-sucking posting all!