Count Your Rainbows: 7 More Irish Heroes

 

I know with all that’s happening today in the world, it probably feels like we are in a giant hurricane but when things get low, that’s when we have to think about-what are we thankful for-it’s the only bright thing that can keep us going in the dark times. I don’t know what all of you have going on in your life, but I hope there is at least one rainbow in your life.

So today is Saint Patrick’s Day and I have previously been doing 17 heroes, but last year I switched to 7-it’s just easier.

They are just random, coming from books, films, or TV shows that I happened to read or watch throughout the year. So let’s get started with this year’s picks:

7) Clara Kelly from Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict

Clara is an Irish immigrant traveling to America. When she reaches the shores and steals a dead girl of the same name’s job, she finds herself working as a maid in Andrew Carnegie’s mansion. The two grow closer and closer together-will Clara recieve a Cinderella ending, will she remain “downstairs”, or will her life take another path?

This was an engrossing novel as it presents an interesting view of immigration, the life of a servant, the Gilded Age, and the duality of one of America’s most impressive businessmen. I highly recommend it.

Why Clara is awesome:

Clara is an amazing character full of grit and bravery as she travels across the ocean alone with no clue what will await her on the other side. When she sees an opportunity, she grabs it and becomes a maid in the Carnegie household. She’s intelligent, loves to read, has great business sense, and can hold her own against Carnegie. I liked that this book didn’t have a typical “romantic ending”, and I really enjoyed the way Clara went as I felt that any other ending wouldn’t have been as good.

6) Keara Buckley from Together in Pinecone Patch by Thomas F. Yezerski

In this picture book poor families from Ireland and Poland travel to the United States for a better life. They end up in Pinecone Patch, Pennsylvania (a mining town), and live a harder life than what was promised. The only thing that makes them feel better is to pick on the other race. But could that all change when Irish Keara Buckley and Polish Stefan Pazik become friends?

Why Keara Buckley is awesome:

Keara is awesome as while she starts off the story making fun of Stefan, but when he says something nice to her one day-everything changes for her. Afterwards she invites him into her home for tea, and begin having tea and talking to him every day. When the two fall in love and decide to marry-she ignores the racism of her parents and the town, and continues to see him and marry him anyway.

5) Tommin from The Gold-Son by Carrie Ann Noble

It is the 19th century, and all 16-year old Tommin wants to do in life is make shoes and take care of his grandmother. Unfortunately, he is constantly getting into trouble as he can’t stop himself from stealing items. When he can’t help himself one day, he finds he picked the wrong pocket as he tried to steal a leprechaun’s gold and gets himself kidnapped. Underground he and Lorcan’s “niece” are trained in being magic “gold-children” as Lorcan the leprechaun has a huge evil plan. The gold children try to escape from underground, but when they finally reach the surface they discover years have gone by-and they are now in the 21st century. Can they survive the “real” world after magic? Besides that, Lorcan is not easily defeated and he will not let his evil plan be stopped by time or distance…

Why Tommin is awesome:

Tommin is an incredibly sweet boy with a kind heart that is doing the best he can. He wants to help his grandma out, he wants to do the right thing, but he has this weakness he can’t stop. Even underground in the Leprechaun land, he tries hard. His soft, sweet, sensitive soul-is a perfect foil for the other main character Eve-who is hard, tough, and steely.

For more on The Gold-Son, go to Shame Book Tag

4) Alvirah Meehan from The Lottery Winner & Other Stories by Mary Higgins Clark

Alvirah and Willy are just average people-a cleaning lady and plumber-from Flushings, NY who win the lottery. They take the money and make a few changes-new clothes, new place to live-but the biggest changes are that Alvirah starts crime solving. It seems she has a knack for it-wherever she and her husband go.

Why Alvirah is awesome:

Alvirah is one of those people that you can dress up in $10000 dresses and she’ll stay exactly the same. Which is a reason why I love her! She is kind, fun, caring, hilarious, intelligent, resourceful, and solves countless crimes. She is willing to do anything to help anyone and is just all around one of the best “cozy mystery” sleuth characters that have ever been created. If you haven’t read this yet, then you need to.

For more from Mary Higgins Clark, go to Kissing the Blarney Stone: 7 More Irish Heroes

3) Father Malone from The Fog (1980)

Antonio Bay, CA is celebrating its 100th anniversary, but what should be a day of fun and food-turns out to be one of nightmares as an unearthly fog rolls into the town, ghosts descend on the town, strange occurrences occur, and people are murdered. Can they stop the fog? Or when it lifts will all be dead?

Why Father Malone is awesome:

Father Malone isn’t a big part, but I found him to be truly memorable. He discovers a journal from the priest in the parish 100 years ago and the truth of the night and the founding fathers-he wants to reveal the truth but is outvoted. Later when the ghosts attack, he does all he can to help and care for his people. I love at the end when the ghosts attack and he brings the cross out, begging the ghosts to spare everyone and take him instead. Like none of the others were likable but him and he planned on sacrificing himself for others, to set things right.

For more on The Fog (1980), go to There’s Something in the Fog!: The Fog (1980)

2) Charles Adare from Under Capricorn TV Series (1983)

So this is a remake of the Under Capricorn (1949) movie, and I liked the original better (you all probably saw that coming) except-I preferred Charles Adare in this version.

Charles Adare has traveled from Ireland to Australia as his family’s fortune has depleted and he’s heard that fortunes can be made quickly in Australia. He meets Samuel Flusky, a former convict turned wealthy man, and enters a business deal with him. He is invited to their house for dinner and meets Flusky’s wife, Lady Henrietta-someone he knows from his childhood. He grew up with her being close friends with his older sister, until she ran off with the stablehand. Henrietta has had a hard time of it, and Charles tries his best to bring her back to her old self-but there are dark forces at work. Someone wants to get rid of Henrietta-will Charles be able to help her?

Why Charles Adare is awesome:

So in this version Charles is not romantically interested in Henrietta at all, but is only helping her because he remembers how beautiful, elegant, and graceful she was-and wants to get her back to her former glory. He works on her-getting her to remember how things were done, tells her what duties she is supposed to do-but breaks it down, step-by-step so she can regain who she was. He provides the upper class she was used to, memories of old, and with him being from her hometown that she can never return to, it’s like having a little bit of home again. He also being from an upper class family knows how Henrietta should be treated and picks up on the power plays happening between her and the staff-along with picking out the ones who are against Henrietta.

For more from Under Capricorn, go to With a Little Luck of the Irish: 17 More Irish Heroes

1) Detective Lieutenant John McClane from the Die Hard Series

So I had wanted to include him last year, but when I looked up McClane it said it was a Scottish name. However, in Die Hard 3: Die Hard with a Vengeance, Simon Gruber called Jon McClane “an Irish flatfoot” so I guess he is Irish, not Scottish, and that means I get to add him.

John and his wife have been having problems-he’s a cop in NYC and she has a high ranking job at the Nakatomi company in LA. He is coming out this Christmas to try and mend fences-see if they will stay together or end the marriage. But Nakatomi Christmas party is invaded by German terrorists/bank robbers. McClane the only one who can do anything, but can he stop them?

In Die Hard 2, it’s another Christmas but this time John has to face off against ex-military, a dictator from another country, and trying to save the airport and the plane coming in-the one that his wife is on. In Die Hard 3 John is back in NYC, he’s suspended, but brought in when a madman threatens NYC, and wants John to solve his riddles to stop him from blowing up the city. Live Free or Die Hard McClane is sent to pick up hacker Matt Farrell and keep him alive and in A Good Day to Die Hard McClane heads to Russia to help his son, an undercover CIA agent.

Why John McClane is awesome:

John McClane is an amazing tough guy, who is extremely intelligent, resourceful, and can take any situation thrown at him and try to turn it to his advantage. He’s quick witted, easily pieces things together, and just awesome as he takes the terrorists and any villain out. He’s not great with his words (like sharing how he feels), but he would do anything to protect his family. We see in film after film-that he puts his life and body on the line (blood, sweat, and tears) in order to keep them alive and well.

So that ends my list for this year. You all know what I’ll be doing with the rest of my day. Eating some Irish soda bread I made (although there is not much left). Unfortunately, thanks to Disney+ I cannot continue my yearly tradition of watching the Disney Channel Original Movie: The Luck of the Irish as they took it off Youtube.

So I’ll have to choose another Irish themed film…good thing I have a few to choose from with all these past lists! (Counting them rainbows!) I hope you all have a wonderful Saint Patrick’s Day!

For the 2013 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to Pot o’ Gold: 17 Irish Heroes 

For the 2014 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to At the End of the Rainbow: 17 More Irish Heroes

For the 2015 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to Lookin’ Over a Four-Leaf Clover: 17 More Irish Heroes

For the 2016 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to The Wearing of the Green: 17 More Irish Heroes

For the 2017 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to With a Little Luck of the Irish: 17 More Irish Heroes

For the 2018 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to Top O’ the Morning: 7 More Irish Heroes

For the 2019 Saint Patrick’s Day post, go to Kissing the Blarney Stone: 7 More Irish Heroes

There’s Something in the Fog!: The Fog (1980)

So I don’t know about you all, but I love the fog.

I actually like driving in it, walking in it, just foggy days in general. I went to school in the bay area and loved mornings (not evenings-as that is a killer’s delight) when the fog would roll in. It just makes me want to drink tea, make cookies, bake or cook something, curl up with a good book, etc.

I hated having to bike in it though-soooo scary. When I went to university, I used to work at a music hall and they used the hall as a class some mornings. The class started at 6, and we had to be there at 5:30.

It was sooo scary biking to work every morning. The way to go from my apartment to the hall I had to bike up the highway. All I could do was pray every morning, please let no one hit me. The fog there was really bad-like mushroom soup bad.

I hope I can do it.

Where I live now we get really bad foggy days and nights too. Back in the 1800s the whole area used to be underwater, the winter rains would come and create a lake on the land, that would recede in the spring. Years later, the area my nieces live in are full of houses but still retain the bog-like quality they used to have hundreds of years ago-so when the fog comes it is really bad.

I like driving out there, as it is peaceful in a way-it almost feels as if you are the only one in the world. However, it is also still dangerous. There were a ton of accidents, a semi completely blocking the road, and I was almost in an accident when someone’s car broke down and they just left it in the road! Seriously, dude. Anyways…with all that in the especially in October-it made me think of:

There’s something in the fog!

Years ago my sister brought The Fog (2005) home for us to watch. It had Tom Welling from Smallville, that girl who was the bipolar superhero in Heroes, and the girl that Elle gets dumped for in Legally Blonde. It was kind of confusing, the effects were blah, and I remember not getting into it at all.

The whole time we watched it, my mom kept saying how she loved the original. Because of that, I have always wanted to watch it, but just never got around to it-until someone donated it to the library.

My time has come!

So this film starts off with a ghost story-no one knows its connection to the town, but we will.

The community Antonio Bay, CA is about to celebrate their 100th anniversary. That morning (12:00am) strange things begin happening. The first is that the minister, Father Malone (Hal Holbrook) in the old church discovers a piece of masonry falling off-for no logical reason-and a diary is discovered and with it an ancient curse!

That’s not good.

Meanwhile, fisherman are out at sea when the fog rolls in-it brings an 1880s ship and ghostly, creepy creatures that attack the ship.

Nick Castle (Tom Atkins) is driving home when he spots a young girl hitchhiking (Jamie Lee Curtis). She is weird.

I know blunt, but she is just so strange. If it was me, I would have kicked her out of my car.

Elizabeth Solley: Listen, I never hitchhiked before. I just really want to be careful. Can I ask you something?

Nick Castle: Sure

Elizabeth Solley: Are you weird?

Nick Castle: Yes, I am. Yes, I am weird.

Elizabeth Solley: You are weird. Thank God you’re weird. The last one was so normal, it was disgusting.

Yes, she basically has no character other than being nothing like a normal person. Like she does not react normal to anything, it’s almost as if Jamie Lee Curtis got a different script, like she thought the movie was about an alien pretending to be human going to a town with paranormal occurrences and trying to figure out “how” to do that without giving themselves away.

The two go to Nick’s place and sleep together. After they re done, something knocks on the large windows that Nick’s place has.

Now that I love-the way Carpenter creates these monsters in the fog-sooooo creepy.

As I mentioned above, I like walking in the fog, but not at night. It is so creepy as you can’t see anything, you don’t know if there is danger lurking there. When I was at university, I hated having to walk across campus at night. There was always that fear when turning a corner or passing an area thick with foliage-could there be someone waiting? Especially creepy when you hear footsteps, but can’t tell who or where they are coming from-or if the person coming your way is planning on hurting you.

I think Carpenter captures those feelings perfectly in his monsters/ghosts. Watching it, brought back all those feelings again.

Spooky…

So Nick is worried when the next morning, the fisherman aren’t back. He sets out, with-ugh-Elizabeth, in tow. When they get on the boat they found the corpse of Dick Baxter, while the other fisherman are missing. While there it seems as if everything is after Elizabeth?

Why? Who knows. She’s from “Pasadena”, maybe, but that’s all we get from her. We know nothing else and she is really bland. Why did Nick even take her along? Or even better, why does he continue to take her along when everything is after her.

Meanwhile, D.J. Stevie Wayne (Adrienne Barbeau) finished up work and visits with her son. He found a piece of driftwood with the word “DANE” on it. He gives it to his mom, who has to go back to work to listen to some tapes, taking the driftwood with her. It begins to seep water, and her tape player playing a gravely voice saying that revenge must take place. The wood spells out that “Six Must Die”. Then everything catches on fire! Stevie puts it out and the wood goes back to Dane.

Back with the fishermen, the doctor reviews the one body they have and discovers a mystery.

Dr. Phibes: [the pathologist has just examined the body of Dick Baxter] What the hell happened out there?

Nick Castle: There was rust all over everything. It was like the boat had been out there a long time, taking on water. He was down below, near the bunks.

Dr. Phibes: Nick, his wounds are covered with algae, his lungs are full, and there’s silt under his fingernails. I tell ya, I saw Dick Baxter three days ago in Salinas. Now he’s lying there on the table looking like he’s been underwater for a month!

That’s not the only weird thing. While the men step aside to talk, Elizabeth waits by the body. Suddenly, Dick’s body reanimates and attacks Elizabeth. What a Dick move! (LOL sorry, couldn’t resist).

When the men return he is dead again, with the number 3 carved into him.

Kathy Williams (Janet Leigh) is overseeing the centennial celebration, and is worried about her husband’s-one of the fishermen-disappearance. As she moves forward with the celebrations she stops by the church. The pastor is freaking out as he has stayed up all night reading the journal he found and frenzied by lack of sleep and what he discovered!

Father Malone: [reading from Patrick Malone’s journal] “December 9: Met with Blake this evening for the first time. He stood in the shadows to prevent me from getting a clear look at his face. What a vile disease this is. He is a rich man with a cursed condition, but this does not prevent him from trying to better his situation and that of his comrades at the colony. December 11: Blake’s proposition is simple, He wants to move off Tanzier Island and re-locate the entire colony just north of here. He has purchased a clipper ship called the Elizabeth Dane with part of his fortune and asks only for permission to settle here. I must balance my feelings of mercy and compassion for this poor man, with my revulsion at the thought of a leper colony only a mile distant. April 20: The six of us met tonight. From midnight until one o’clock, we planned the death of Blake and his comrades. I tell myself that Blake’s gold will allow the church to be built, and our small settlement to become a township, but it does not soothe the horror that I feel being an accomplice to murder. April 21: The deed is done. Blake followed our false fire on shore and the ship broke apart on the rocks off Spivey Point. We were aided by an unearthly fog that rolled in, as if Heaven sent, although God had no part in our actions tonight. Blake’s gold will be recovered tomorrow, but may the Lord forgive us for what we’ve done.” I couldn’t read any further.

Sandy Fadel: You’re grandfather had a way with words.

Father Malone: The celebration tonight is a travesty. We’re honoring murderers.

Yes the story that was told in the beginning, the truth has been revealed. These lepers cursed the town and have waited 100 years to exact their revenge. They have come to kill the descendants of the six men who murdered them. The six are:

1. Al Williams
2. Other Fisherman
3. Dick Baxter
4. Father Malone
5. Tommy Wallace
6. Mrs. Kobritz

At least that is what I am assuming-the problem with this film is it isn’t really clear on who are those involved and those that aren’t. They kill the other fishermen who were on the boat but if I include him, that would make seven-when there were only six. So did they just kill him for fun?

Hmmm?

The other problem is that no one knew about this secret. It makes it not as interesting in my opinion. Now the 2005 film was really bad, but one thing it does do much, much better is clearly state who the descendants are. That was a much needed improvement-I also liked how the descendants all knew about the murder. I think that made the film more…fulfilling then having the ghosts kill people who have no knowledge and are paying for a crime they had nothing to do with.

So as the night picks up, so does the fog. Stevie sees it and how it is going against the wind. She warns everyone and begs someone to save her son-urging all to flee to the church.

The ghosts kill the nanny, Mrs. Korbitz, and go after Andy (why as he isn’t a descendent), but Nick saves him. Elizabeth is just there, why? Who knows. Why is she even in this film?

I’m done

Now I know this is a small fishing town, but where are all the people? The only ones at the church are Kathy Williams, her assistant Sandy, Father Malone, Nick, Andy, and Elizabeth. Where is the rest of the town? Are they alive? Are they dead? There were a lot at the celebration, but what happened to them?

I really feel like John Carpenter wanted to copy The Thing from Another World (1951), where you have this small group of people being attacked and trying to overcome it-there it made sense as they were on a small research center in Alaska. Here you have a whole town! Where are all the people? What happened to them? Obviously they are not attacking just the descendants as they were going after Andy-yet they left Nick alone? Just doesn’t seem very thought through.

Hmmm…

Anyways, the gang hide out below the church in the room where there is a giant gold cross, a cross made from the stolen gold.

That’s not good.

So the ghosts attack Stevie in the lighthouse-why as she is not from there but moved there. She isn’t a descendent, why are they after her?

Hmmm

And they attack the people in the church. Malone feels the guilt and brings the cross out, begging the ghosts to spare everyone and take him. As he offers the cross-it and the ghosts disappear.

All seems to be fine.

Stevie Wayne: I don’t know what happened to Antonio Bay tonight. Something came out of the fog and tried to destroy us. In one moment, it vanished. But if this has been anything but a nightmare, and if we don’t wake up to find ourselves safe in our beds, it could come again. To the ships at sea who can hear my voice, look across the water, into the darkness. Look for the fog.

But later, Father Malone is thinking over what happened. Why didn’t they take him? Then we have a fantastic twist!

So yeah, I didn’t love it. But I think it was way better than the new one. There was a lot in this film that just didn’t make sense, I mean there were so many unanswered questions.

I also hated the Elizabeth character. She makes no sense! Why is everything after her? Who is she? She doesn’t add anything to the plot and if she wasn’t there, it really wouldn’t change the film.

I do have to give the 2005 film credit for trying to make there be a reason why everything wants Elizabeth, and giving her a reason to be in the film. Even though it was still dumb.

I think the only thing I would watch it for are the ghosts, those are just done so well.

To start Horrorfest VIII from the beginning go to, Count Dracula the Propagator of This Unspeakable Evil Has Disappeared. He Must Be Found and Destroyed!: Horror of Dracula (1958)

For more John Carpenter, go to China is Here Mr. Burton. The Chang Sing, The Wing Kong, They’ve Been Fighting for Centuries: Big Trouble in Little China (1986)

For more Janet Leigh, go to We All Go a Little Mad Sometimes: Psycho (1960)

For more on Jamie Lee Curtis, go to Everyone’s Entitled to One Good Scare: Halloween (1978)

For more horror films with fishermen, go to You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat: Jaws (1975)

There’s Nothing Out There. Nothing in the Mist: The Mist (2007)

David, there’s nothing out there. Nothing in the mist.

So The Mist was an okay movie. I thought it was doing really good and totally creepy until the end. The end was totally screwed up as the director had to go and change the story. What a loser!

So this is based on a story by Stephen King. And I know y’all know that a Horrorfest would not be complete without one. It is also not a complete rip-off of The Fog (the new or old film), as everyone thinks it is. There are quite a lot similarities, but they are extremely different in the motive and what the “monster” that is attacking is. In the different versions of The Fog, the creatures are it is supernatural, while in The Mist…well, you’ll see.

So the film starts the day after a huge thunderstorm has hit a little town (of course) in Maine (the usual). A thick, unnatural mist starts to descend on the town, and at first they don’t realize that something far more sinister is lurking within it.

So, that day David Drayton (Thomas Jane), a graphic artist, decides to go to the local grocery store to buy supplies, bringing his eight-year-old son, Billy (Nathan Gamble), and his neighbor, Brent Norton (Andre Braugher) along. You know, just a normal average day.

So while they are at the store, another storm comes and hits the the town. This time it severely engulfs the area in a thick mist. (Whenever I bike to work early in the morning I always think about this movie and The Fog.)

They do notice something very strange. It seems as if there is a plethora of military roaming about the area.

That’s strange

When they get to the supermarket, they find it packed with people stocking up. A military policeman, goes after the soldiers in the supermarket, telling them to pack it up as their leave is over and they need to head out. Everything is normal until a local townsperson runs into the store covered in blood.

He begins screaming that there is something out there in the mist, killing and attacking people. People go to look out the windows to see what is out there, but the mist is so thick that they are unable to spot anything.

Several people rush, out and everyone hears their screams…then nothing.

The decide to seal the doors in order to keep “everything” out. One woman is worried about her children and decides to risk trying to go home. She asks for someone to accompany her, but no one volunteers.

She leaves and we never see her again.

So as you can guess, just like Night of the Living Dead, this film becomes more of a survivor story/deconstruction of humanity than an actual monster movie. You have a group of people trying to survive in a confinied area and while some rise to the challenge, others do not. This film has all the usual Stephen King clichés, like an deeply religious psychotic person who wants to kill/punish all who tries to control every one.

Of course

It couldn’t be a Stephen King film without it.

At one point the group tries to go check on their clogged generator. A couple men go to open the loading dock door to see what the issue is when large tentacles come reaching out and kill them.

This is just the beginning in monster attacks, as they face giant insect, pterodactyl -like creatures, and many more.

In a raid for medicine vis-à-vis The Day After Tomorrow, they run into the military supervisor from earlier hanging from a gigantic spider web. He tells them to question the men in the store for the true backstory of the mist.

In the end it turns out that military are to blame as they opened a portal to another world.

Yes. In an ending as disappointing as Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull aliens just leaving. (Although the worse is yet to come.)

Eventually the section of the group that is run by the psychotic women, has increased that it outnumbers the other group lead by David. As she tries to get Billy to be a sacrificed, David’s team decides to leave, risking the unknown.

They are able to score a car and the group drive as far as the SUV will take them. They take stock of their options and decide it is better to end their lives, rather than be torn apart by whatever the things are. David shoots everybody in the car, including his son. Right before he turns the gun on himself, a military tank comes charging through proclaiming that they have defeated the monsters.

Yes. Yes. He has just killed his child and everyone when he didn’t need to.

Now I could forgive everything else. The stupid plotholes, the crazy clichés, the other dimension monsters, ANYTHING; but that ending? Really? Really? It’s just dumb.

Duh!

Did you guys have to that? It is so horrible! First of all as he murdered his child when he didn’t need to. And secondly, it is extremely anti-climatic! I mean come on, it would have been so much better if they just had them driving off, no one knowing what will happen to them or whether they will survive. You know, like how it ended in the book?!

Yep you guys really messed up there.

See Hook agrees with me.

To start Horrorfest III from the beginning, go to Even a Man Pure of Heart

For the previous post, go to The Past of a Man

For more on Stephen King, go to He Who Walks Behind the Rows

For more films based on books, go to You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

For more quotes, go to Part X: The Movie List That Would Not Die