Classic Horror: Scream (1996)

“There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie.”

While it may not immediately come to mind whenever people think of classic horror, Scream definitely deserves to be considered as such. Directed by a legend of horror, Wes Craven, and written by Kevin Williamson, who would go on to write and/or create successful films and television shows such as Dawson’s Creek and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream reignited the dead genre of horror by satirizing the genre, including some of Wes Craven’s own work.

The film had a ton of star power, a rarity of the horror genre, that included Drew Barrymore (Poison Ivy, Boys On The Side, Bad Girls), Courteney Cox (Friends), Skeet Ulrich (fresh off of his role in The Craft), and Neve Campbell (Party of Five, The Craft). The film also featured a number of actors whose careers were about to take off including Rose McGowan (Charmed, Jawbreaker), David Arquette (Ready To Rumble, Eight-Legged Freaks), Matthew Lillard (SLC Punk!, Scooby-Doo, Good Girls), Liev Schreiber (The Sum of All Fears, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse), and Jamie Kennedy (Malibu’s Most Wanted, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment).

In the film, a serial killer terrorizes the town of Woodsboro, CA. The first murder takes place in the film’s opening sequence, as the killer (who has become known as Ghostface) calls Casey Becker (Barrymore) and begins asking her questions about horror movies. The film then begins to focus on Sidney Prescott (Campbell) as the one year anniversary of her mother’s murder by Cotton Weary (Schreiber) is approaching and her father becomes a prime suspect for the murders at the beginning of the film. Reporter Gale Weathers (Cox) arrives in town hoping to get a juicy bit of information from Sidney that will put her on the media map. She then sees the serial killer as a potential way to gain fame and begins following Sidney, her boyfriend, Billy (Ulrich), and others, hoping to catch the killer in the act. As the film rolls along, the killer (or killers) is revealed and we get to watch as Sidney battles the killer.

The movie winks and nods its way through numerous horror cliches, including referencing the “rules” of surviving the film as presented by Sidney’s friend, Randy (Kennedy). Those rules include never having sex, never doing drugs or alcohol, and never say, “I’ll be right back.” All of these rules are broken during the film to varying degrees of success. A fourth rule spoken by Randy, which mentions that a killer always comes back, is broken as Sidney shoots the killer again to ensure that he is dead. She replies to Randy after taking the shot, “Not in my movie.”

The film triggered a ton of copycat films including Williamson’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. It revived the horror genre as a whole a breathed new life into older franchises that had lost their bite like Halloween and Friday the 13th. The film spawned three sequels and a fourth one is in the works. It also gave life to a television series on MTV.

Despite its use of numerous horror cliches, the film did manage to throw in a few new twists. In particular, the use of two killers and only one real motive was something that hadn’t been done before. Sure, plenty of killers in slasher films go on a murdering spree just because, but in the case of Scream, only one of the killers had a personal motive in mind. Ultimately, the film was just as cliched as its predecessors, but more than happy to laugh at the familiar tropes of the genre while letting the blood flow during the film.

I really enjoyed Scream. I vividly remember seeing it with a group of college friends and then going back to the dorm to talk about the movie for a couple of hours. It was a fun horror film with decent scares and kills. What made it impressive is the fact that it let the audience in on the joke.

Thanks for reading my post. I’ll see you all again real soon!

A New Adventure

Cliffhangers: The Serial Talk Show!

I’ve recently begun a new adventure with Patrick Bennett of Pop Ninja! We recently released the first episode of Cliffhangers: The Serial Talk Show! In the series, Patrick and I will be taking a closer look at classic serials from the 1930’s, 40’s, and beyond, including some serials made in recent years! In the first episode, we have a general conversation about serials, who our favorite actors are, and chat with Bill Necessary, Serial Cosplayer and the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to serials. Here’s the first episode for your enjoyment:

Future episodes will focus on serials featuring characters like the Phantom, Superman, Zorro, Flash Gordon, and more! If there are any particular serials that you want us to cover, let me know in the comments. I’ll be sure to post each episode here at Ken’s Alternate Universe and you can also find them on YouTube. Be sure to follow Pop Ninja on Facebook and on YouTube and be sure to follow Ken’s Alternate Universe on Facebook as well! Along with Pop Ninja, Louisiana Film and Video Art, Inc. also sponsors the series. Be sure to show them a little love on Facebook.

We’ve already shot a few episodes and Patrick is hard at work editing them and making them look great. Hopefully you’ll have as much fun watching the series as we did making it.

As always, thanks for checking out my post. I’m still working on Classic Horror, Focus On, Throwback Thursday, and all of my other standard blog posts. In fact, I’ll be posting a new Throwback Thursday post this week! Hopefully I’ll get to see a few of you out in the real world once this COVID-19 mess gets straightened out. Stay safe!

Extra! Extra!

While writing my post, Patrick contacted me to let me know that Episode 2 is up and running on YouTube. In it we cover the Batman serials and the more recent serial, Mystery of the Bat-Man by Ryan Bijan. Be sure to check it out as well. Heck, there might even be a certain “Discount” hero popping up for the show! Here’s the video:

Throwback Thursday: Dracula Untold (2014)

When The Bad Guy Is Actually Pretty Nice…..

Dracula Untold (2014) is many things to many people. Some folks hate it because it humanizes one of horror’s most iconic monsters. Others hate it because they feel that the story is too bland, too drawn out, or just plain dumb. Many others (like myself) enjoy it for what it is: an action yarn that turns Dracula into a superhero.

The film opens up with a quick recap of everything that we already knew about Vlad the Impaler. He was a brutal ruler that stopped at nothing to protect his people. Then we are told that Vlad decides to hang up his stakes and wants to give peace a chance. Thanks to Mehmed II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, that peace is short-lived. Mehmed demands one thousand boys from Vlad as tribute to the Ottoman Empire. Vlad refuses in a most violent way and Mehmed sends his army to punish Vlad’s people.

Having faced off against a demonic being earlier in the film, Vlad returns to the creature and asks it to give him its power so that he can save his people. The creature complies, warning Vlad that if he can resist drinking human blood for three days, he’ll return to his old self. Vlad accepts the gift (or curse), and wages war against Mehmed II.

After single-handedly wiping out Mehmed II’s first wave of soldiers, Vlad instructs his people to seek refuge in the Cozia Monastery. While there, the people uncover the fact that Vlad is now a vampire and nearly turn on him. Vlad’s wife, Mirena, convinces them that what Vlad has become was a necessary evil and that he only became a vampire in order to save all of there sons. Soon after, Mehmed arrives with thousands of troops and attacks the monastery. Does Dracula save his people? Does he remain a vampire? You’ll have to find out for yourself.

Yes, I know that making Dracula a noble being sort of drains the blood out of the character, but when viewed as an action film, Dracula Untold is on par with most of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In fact, it has a much more interesting villain than most of the villains in the MCU. Luke Evans stars as Dracula and gives a sound performance as a likeable guy trying to do what’s right. Would I have loved it if Evans was allowed to portray the character as evil? Sure, but that’s not what this version of Dracula is supposed to be, so don’t fault him for doing a good job at being a nice guy. Dominic Cooper delivers a fine performance as Mehmed II, showing both intelligence and a lust for power. Charles Dance portrays the evil vampire that Vlad finds in a cave. According to IMDb, the character is called the Master Vampire. Sarah Gadon does well as Mirena/Mina as does the rest of the cast.

The screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless is just fine if taken as an action film. Director Gary Shore keeps the story interesting and moving at a quick pace. The music, composed by Ramin Djawadi, is excellent and adds to the story. The special effects are primarily CGI but do not come off as too fake. In fact, many of the scenes of Vlad transforming into a mass of bats and then back into a human are quite captivating. Overall, this film has so many more pros than cons IF and only if you look at it as an action film.

Taken as is, Dracula Untold is pretty good. It is better overall than 2017’s The Mummy and is, at least in my opinion, would have been a better film with which to kick off Universal’s now defunct shared Dark Universe. Universal has supposedly decided to end the shard aspect of their Dark Universe and will instead apply the name as a blanket term for all of the reboot films based on classic Universal Monsters starting with Dracula Untold.

I’m hopeful that we’ll get to see Luke Evans portray Dracula in a modern setting or at least in a period film somewhere between the events of Dracula Untold and present day. Unfortunately I don’t see such a project happening any time soon. Be sure to check out this film if you haven’t seen it, but don’t expect it to be a true horror film.

As always, thanks for reading. This is an underrated film and I’d really love to see more people embrace it for the visually stunning action yarn that it is.

Superman (1948)

He’s one fly guy!

Despite some questionable and rather cheap special effects, 1948’s Superman is a very enjoyable serial. It starts with the story of Kal-El’s exodus from his home planet of Krypton just prior to its destruction. The first three chapters establish him as both Clark Kent and Superman on Earth. From there, we are introduced to the sinister Spider Lady and her plans to maintain control of Metropolis with the powerful Reducer Ray. Superman must battle the Spider Lady and her henchmen in order to save Metropolis over the rest of the chapters in the serial. Is he successful? You probably already know the answer, but it’s definitely worth your time to check out this serial.

Superman manhandles two of the Spider Lady’s henchmen.

Kirk Alyn stars as Superman in this serial. With a background in dance and musicals, Alyn had the physique for the character and also did an excellent job of portraying Clark and Superman as two different personas of the same person. The rest of the cast was pretty solid, especially Noel Neill as Lois Lane and Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen. They worked will with one another and with Alyn, giving solid comedic and dramatic performances. The weakest link in the film was, sadly, the Spider Lady (Carol Forman). Forman’s delivery was very rigid at times and seemed forced.

SUPERMAN, Noel Neill, 1948

The special effects were also poor, especially when compared to Republic’s 1941 serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel. That serial used both a seven foot long model of Tom Tyler (who portrayed Captain Marvel) and suspended him from wires for certain flight sequences. This was done by the famous Lydecker Brothers, who would go on to create effects and miniatures in multiple successful projects including Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. Columbia Pictures and Superman‘s producer, Sam Katzman, were notorious for slashing budgets on their projects, and opted to use animation for Alyn’s flight sequences. Thankfully the story and performances of the majority of the cast were strong enough to lift the serial above this miscue.

Kirk Alyn as Clark Kent and Tommy Bond as Jimmy Olsen.

The serial proved to be very popular and would result in a second Superman serial in 1950 entitled Atom Man Vs. Superman, which would bring Lex Luthor to the big screen for the first time. Alyn, Neill, Bond, and Pierre Watkin as Perry White would reprise their roles from the first serial.

Carol Forman as the Spider Lady, an original villain introduced in Superman (1948).

Superman is by no means a masterpiece, but the actors are so likeable, especially Alyn, Neill, and Bond, that you just can’t help but enjoy it. Better Superman films would eventually make their way to the big screen, but few actors would manage to portray Superman/Clark Kent as well as Kirk Alyn in my opinion. In fact, he’s probably my third favorite Superman behind Christopher Reeve and Brandon Routh.

Be sure to check out 1948’s Superman. You won’t be disappointed. As always thanks for reading my post. See you again real soon!

Horrified!

The Stakes Have Been Raised!

Regular readers of my blog know of my great love for the classic Universal Monsters. From the Wolf Man to Dracula, I love them all, so it’s only natural that I picked up Ravensburger’s Horrified game when it was released in October of last year. Between work and family, however, it wasn’t until just this week that I’ve had time to sit down, study the rules, and play the game a few times.

The board features a nod to Frankenstein as soon as you open the box!

If you’re unfamiliar with the classic films and their monsters that this game is based upon, you’ll have a really fun time teaming up with friends to defeat the monsters and save the village. If you are a fan of Universal’s beloved monsters, you’re going to have an awesome time! There are tons of hints, nods, winks, and Easter eggs from many of the films. They begin as soon as you open the box and look at the folded board.

The object of the game is to move about the village collecting items and executing actions in order to defeat each monster. Along the way you may have to face off with the monsters one on one or watch helplessly as they attack the innocent villagers (who all happen to be characters from the classic films). As heroes and villagers die, the Terror scale goes up. Beat the monsters and save as many villagers as you can before you become Horrified!

The process to defeat each monster is unique. For example, in order to defeat Dracula, you have to destroy his four coffins found at the four corners of the board and then face off against him in a final battle. Each monster also has unique attacks and actions. The Wolf Man, for example, hunts a specific hero until that hero is either killed or the Wolf Man is defeated. These different tasks and abilities creates a unique experience no matter which monsters you decide to battle.

The minimum number of monsters that you can battle is two. Add more monsters to increase the difficulty of the game. Frankenstein’s Monster and the Bride of Frankenstein battle as a team. At all times during the game, one of the monsters is in Frenzy mode. The Frenzied Monster may complete more than one action depending on the card drawn from the Monster card pile. Up to five people can play the game at a time, but for a real challenge, battle the monsters in a solo game! Heroes complete a number of tasks based on their own card and also have Perk cards that they can use if and when needed during the game. I won’t go into anymore specifics, just know that gameplay is clearly explained in the rulebook.

The board, game pieces, and monsters are all brightly colored and quite beautiful to look at while playing the game. Even the box has great graphics on it. I am truly in love with playing this game. I’ll be honest and say that I’ve never been much for these types of board games, but Ravensburger has made a brilliant game here that brings fun adventure and classic horror together!

Thanks for reading my post. If you love board games, you’ll really enjoy Horrified. If you’re a fan of Universal Monsters, definitely give this game a look. It’s really fun to play!

Classic Horror: Alice, Sweet Alice (1976)

Unholy Communion

Released in 1976, Alice, Sweet Alice may not be one of the first films to come to mind when one mentions classic horror, but it has definitely found a place in the hearts of many horror fans. Often considered one of the final proto-slasher films before the likes of Jason, Freddy, and Michael Myers took to the big screen, Alice, Sweet Alice combines religion, jealousy, and a creepy mask and raincoat combo to give the viewer plenty of creep scares.

The film starts off by showing us the strained relationship of two young sisters, Alice and Karen Spages (Paula E. Sheppard and Brooke Shields in her film debut). It is quickly established that Karen is the favorite daughter of their mother, Catherine (Linda Miller), who is preparing for Karen’s first communion. We are also introduced to Father Tom (Rudolph Willrich), who is presented in a questionable manner. While he doesn’t necessarily do anything wrong or perverted, the film presents the character (and the local Catholic Church) as somewhat bizarre and a bit too touchy feely.

On the day of her first communion, Karen is savagely murdered by a mysterious person. The primary suspect? Alice. A series of stabbings, some fatal, some not, begin to occur and the police attempt to find the culprit. Alice is isolated from her mother and estranged father, Dom (Niles McMaster), but the attacks continue. Who is behind all of the violence? The answer is quite surprising and revealed fairly early in the film…..or is it? The ending is vague enough that there isn’t a definite answer by the time that the credits role.

The film features a cast primarily culled from the local theater scene in New York and New Jersey. Outside of Shields, none of the cast has made much of an impact in film or television with the exception of Alphonso DeNoble, who featured in a couple of other cult films, Night of the Zombies (1981) and Bloodsucking Freaks (1976). Zombies was released posthumously, as DeNoble passed away in 1978. Some of the cast caused trouble for director Alfred Sole, particularly Linda Miller, whom Sole called “a real nightmare.” Paula Sheppard did an amazing job as twelve year old Alice, especially considering the fact that she was nineteen at the time of filming. Her performance was very convincing, especially as the situation started spiraling out of control.

Many critics and viewers believed that the film was anti-Catholic. As someone who actually is Catholic, I understand why they would believe that, but I also credit Sole’s direction in making the entire film’s setting, especially the moments inside of the church, very unsettling. Yes, Sole was excommunicated from the Church due to another film that he previously made, but I see only vague hints at an anti-religious theme. Ultimately things are left pretty vague, so no one really knows what happened with Father Tom, the Church, or anyone else in the film. I’m intentionally leaving out certain characters, as it would spoil parts of the film.

I really liked Alice, Sweet Alice. It was atmospheric in an unsettling sort of way and just vague enough that you aren’t sure if the killer was really captured. I recommend checking the film out if you’re a fan of early slasher films and especially if you like your horror with a religious spin.

Thanks for reading my post. I’ll see you all again real soon!

Spin Master DC Toys

Surprisingly Fun

Way back in 2018 it was announced that DC Comics and Spin Master Toys had come to terms on a new licensing agreement. Starting in 2020, Mattel would no longer produce the bulk of DC’s toys. I was a bit sad about this, since I grew to love their Multiverse 6″ line as a collector and really liked their 12″ True Moves figures for my kids. Thankfully, Spin Master will continue with their own value priced 12″ figure line and a bevy of other wonderful figures, vehicles, and playsets of varying sizes.

12″ Batman figure

The 12″ line features the same excellent articulation as Mattel’s True Moves figures. Spin Master also seems to lean harder to comic style characters as opposed to some of the more realistic looking toys from Mattel. Spin Master focused on Rebirth Batman with their first wave of toys, but have also introduced a new wave featuring more of our favorite DC heroes and villains.

4″ Heroes Unite Battle Pack

The 4″ figure line features an amazing lineup of characters. Yep, you have your traditional heroes such as Superman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash, and a number of popular villains including Joker, Harley Quinn, and Darkseid, but you also get characters that don’t receive as much attention on the 4″ scale such as Nightwing, Bronze Tiger, Talon, Copperhead, and Killer Croc.

4″ Nightwing

The 4″ figures come with mystery accessories and a few rare chase accessories. There’s a Hammerhead alternate figure of King Shark that is exclusive to Target stores as well. Other figures in the line include Catwoman, Shazam, Cyborg, and Gorilla Grodd. The figures come in single packs, multi-packs, and Mega Gear Packs that features bigger accessories.

Mega Gear Pack

There are also a number of playsets, vehicles, and other toys for children and collectors to purchase that are being released with each wave. Sticking with the popular blind bag trend, Spin Master is also releasing 2″ collectible blind bag figures.

Toy Hype photo of assorted Wave One items.

I really like the fact that Spin Master is focusing on comic inspired looks for the characters. I do hope that they eventually produce some higher end figures for collectors but I love that they are producing tons of figures that provide a lot of playability for children. In today’s world, it seems that more and more companies are focusing on collector items and produce more dull options for children to play with and collect. I think that this will pay off for Spin Master in the long run.

4″ Wonder Woman

So, do you like the new line-up of toys being offered by Spin Master? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, let me know which figures you are looking forward to or want Spin Master to release in the future.

As always, thanks for reading my post. Have a great day!

Classic Horror: C.H.U.D. (1984)

Under The City….

Sometimes a classic horror film takes its time finding fans. Many films that failed to find their audience in theaters often gain a cult following once they are released to streaming services, Blu-ray, DVD, or, in the case of many films released in the 1980’s and 90’s, VHS. C.H.U.D. is one of those films. Although it did turn a small profit, it was only given a limited release in theaters. New life was breathed into the film once it was released on VHS.

The film tells the story of mutated beings (Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers or C.H.U.D.) that are attacking homeless people and anyone who ventures too close to a manhole cover in the Lafayette Street area of New York’s SoHo neighborhood. The problem with the attacks is that they are not being made public due to an official with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission who has placed a gag order on city officials. When a local police captain’s (Christopher Curry) wife goes missing, he starts to dig deeper into the numerous missing persons and homicide reports that are being swept under the rug. With the aid of a soup kitchen owner nicknamed “The Rev” (Daniel Stern) and a local photographer, George Cooper (John Heard), who is doing a photography project on homeless people in the neighborhood, the captain attempts to uncover the truth about what’s really happening under Lafayette Street.

Once the captain, The Rev, and George begin to uncover dirty secrets, the NRC official named Wilson (George Martin) tries to put a stop to them and to the mutated creatures below the city. I won’t tell you if Captain Bosch, The Rev, or George survive the final conflict, but I will tell you to watch this film despite its many flaws.

The film is by no means a stellar production, but the first sixty minutes of the movie are surprisingly well done. It isn’t until the final act that the performance of some of the film’s stars (in particular John Heard’s performance) seem to come apart at the seams. The C.H.U.D. mutants look pretty good and generate some decent scares, but their brightly lit eyes are a bit goofy looking. The music by Martin Cooper is actually very good. It keeps pulling the viewer in once the direction goes off of the rails in the climax of the film.

The film is very entertaining and even though it’s a pretty light romp, it puts a focus on the plight of the homeless and the dangers of hazardous waste. At the beginning of the film, the police aren’t that concerned with a large amount of homeless people going missing. It is only when his wife goes missing that Captain Bosch decides to turn up the heat on the case. This is a serious issue even today. Society doesn’t always care whenever a homeless person is found dead or murdered. While the issue of hazardous and radioactive waste is pushed to an extreme in this film, it does make you wonder about what we are really doing to our planet.

This film features a massive amount of actors who would go on to have prolific careers. Daniel Stern and John Heard would both go on to have successful careers and would appear in two more films together (Home Alone and Home Alone 2). Christopher Curry would go on to have a solid career as a character actor in films such as F/X (1986) and television shows like Huff. Kim Greist already had a successful career as a model before taking on the role of Lauren, George’s girlfriend, in the film. She continued to act in a number of supporting roles in film and television, most notably in the films Brazil (1985) and Throw Momma From The Train (1987) and retired from acting in 2001. We also get early performances from actors such as John Goodman (Roseanne, Kong: Skull Island), Jon Polito (The Rocketeer, Homicide: Life on the Street), Jay Thomas (Cheers, Mork & Mindy, Mr. Holland’s Opus) and Patricia Richardson (Home Improvement, Strong Medicine).

If you haven’t viewed C.H.U.D., I highly recommend giving it a look. It’s a weird film that is very good most of the time but becomes unhinged too often to really lift it above its B-movie cult status. The sheer number of eventual stars in the movie should be motivation enough for you to give it a look, but it’s also a pretty fun flick as a whole. A sequel, C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D., was released in 1989. It takes a much heavier comical turn than its predecessor. I might review it in the future, but don’t hold your breath.

Thanks for reading, I’ll see you all again real soon.

Outpost: Northeast Louisiana

Mounds And Vampires And Corn, Oh, My!

With COVID-19 restrictions loosening up a bit and with my children suffering from hardcore cabin fever, I decided to take my family on a road trip to a corner of my home state that I haven’t had an opportunity to explore. Although I spent quite a bit of time in the Monroe, LA area, and have visited Vicksburg, MS on a few occasions, I never took the time to check out the area between Monroe and the Mississippi River in northern Louisiana. That changed this weekend.

Myself and the kids set out on a 4.5 hour road trip to Transylvania, LA. We traveled up Highway 165 (a highway that I’ve driven on many, many times) and then hit Interstate 49 near the small town of Woodworth. We drove north of Alexandria and turned onto Highway 28. This highway took us by the Frogmore Plantation and the legendary city of Ferriday. Ferriday is perhaps best known for giving the world Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Swaggart, and Mickey Gilley, three men that blazed trails in rock n’ roll, televangelism, and countrypolitan music, respectively. It was also the home of Haney’s Big House, a dance hall where numerous blues and R&B legends such as B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Irma Thomas performed.

In Ferriday, we turned north onto Highway 425 and eventually Highway 65, which would lead us to Transylvania. Along the way we passed through towns such as Waterproof, Newellton, and Tallulah. I highly recommend researching these three towns, as all of them have very interesting histories and a number of notable people are from these towns.

When we finally arrived in Transylvania, we saw the general store (which appeared to be closed for the day), the famous water tower with a giant bat on two sides, the Transylvania Post Office, and the permanently closed and abandoned Transylvania Elementary School. The town is surrounded by corn and cotton fields on all sides and the highways that lead into it (65 and 581) are dotted with prehistoric mounds built by the indigenous people that lived and/or traveled through the area. Some of these mounds predate Stonehenge (3000 BC) by as many as an estimated five hundred years. Many of these mounds are located on private property and can only be observed from the road. Once exception to this is the Poverty Point World Heritage Site. I’ll get to that wonderful place in a few minutes.

By Sinneed – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8050043

After visiting Transylvania, we headed north through Lake Providence and cut across to Oak Grove, LA, home of the Fiske Theatre, the oldest operating theater in northeast Louisiana and the last remaining single screen theater in operation (according to Wikipedia). It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Learn more about the theatre here. From there we headed back towards Transylvania via Highways 134 and 581. On Highway 581, we viewed the Transylvania Mounds and the Juice Mound.

After leaving Transylvania for a second time, we headed south to Alsatia and took Highways 580 and 577 to Poverty Point World Heritage Site. The site features six mounds identified as Mounds A-F. Mound A, also known as the Bird Mound, towers over the rest of the mounds at a height of seventy-two feet. It is 710 feet long and 660 feet wide. It is the largest mound in North America. No one knows exactly what purposes Mound A or any of the other mounds were used for, as they differ from all of the other mounds found in North America as far as found artifacts are concerned.

Many of the artifacts found at the site and on display in the museum are amazing. In particular, I found myself in awe of the plummets. Polished and drilled to be attached to things like nets, this things look like they were manufactured and not made by hand. I also really loved the figurines and and other small carved items on display at the museum.

Visitors are allowed to walk to the top of Mound A. Three types of tours are offered at the site. You can take a self-guided 2.6 mile hike, a driving tour, or a tram tour led by a tour guide. We went with the driving tour considering our late arrival time. You can learn more about Poverty Point World Heritage Site at their website. Be sure to check their website before visiting at this time, since COVID-19 has affected operations at the site.

View from the top of Mound A looking back toward the museum and visitor center.

After our visit to Poverty Point, we decided to head home. Instead of taking the same route we used to arrive in NE Louisiana, we ventured down Highway 17, hopped onto Interstate 20, and then quickly exited in Start, LA. From there, we headed south on Highway 133 (catching glimpses of the Boeuf River along the way), passed through Hebert, and eventually ended up in the lovely town of Columbia on the Ouachita River. In Columbia we hopped back onto Highway 165 and made our way back to the Lake Charles area.

Our trip to NE Louisiana was definitely one that we’ll remember. The small towns in the area appear to be hit pretty hard by poverty, but the history (and prehistory) of the area coupled with the agricultural heritage of the region make northeast Louisiana a great place to visit. I also recommend visiting Monroe and, if you have time, stopping across the Mississippi River in Vicksburg to check out that town which is also loaded with great attractions and history.

Thanks for reading my post. I’ll be hitting the trail again real soon!

All photos by me except where noted.

Outpost: Transylvania?

Northern Louisiana…..

In my last post I mentioned that I had a special surprise coming on Sunday. Well, here it is! I took a road trip this weekend to Northern Louisiana. I visited some really cool places. One of those places is Transylvania!

This is just a teaser for my post. I’ll make my full report either tomorrow or Tuesday. Thanks for checking out my post!