Monday 24 April 2017

AtoZ2017 - T is for The Thing & Tony #AtoZChallenge


Welcome to Day 20 of the AtoZChallenge and the letter T. Every day in April (except Sundays) I will be making a post about shapeshifters of all kinds. Check back to see my choices and, from time to time some flash fiction too.

T is for 

The Thing

My shapeshifter today gave me the heebeejeebees for years. For T I have chosen The Thing. It is an alien which has been frozen in the permafrost of Antartica for an age, but which was discovered and dug up by a Norwegian research team.

It is a parasitic lifeform, absorbing other lifeforms and then using their characteristics to continue the hunt. It retains all their memories and abilites and if able to perfectly reproduce anyone or any lifeform it desires. All parts of it are as alive as the rest, just in a different form. The only thing is seems to fear is fire.

When we first meet it, it is in the form of a dog, which the Norwegians are trying to destroy. However, it then proves it is quite capable of becoming any human it chooses as well.

The part that really freaked me out was when it is discovered in the body of one man, so divides. His  head drops off, sprouts legs and runs away.

Werewolf of the Day

Tony (Waxwork)

My werewolf today is from one of my favourite 80s horror films, Waxwork. Played by Dana Ashbrook. Tony, is a smart mouthed, cigaret smoking player, who goes to school with the hero of the piece, Mark Loftmore.

China and Sarah meet a strange man when walking to school, who invited them to a private showing at his Waxworks. When their group have nothing to do that evening, they decide to attend the event.

The 18 waxworks are incredibly detailed and all horror based, and, unbeknowst to the group, they also eat people.

The creator of the waxworks is David Lincoln, a madman who has used items belonging to the 18 most evil beings to have ever existed to create them in wax, and parts of their environments to create the scenes around them. This makes each display a trap for the unwary who step into it. Once each trap has a victim all the waxworks will live again, along with their possessed victims, contaminating the world with evil.

Tony has the unfortunate luck to step into the werewolf display. He thinks he's tripping, so goes with the story, which is his mistake. He meets a man, just as the man begins to transform into the werewolf as the full moon rises. He is attacked and begins to turn himself, only to be shot by a werewolf hunter, thus killing him and completing the display.

No one has much luck in my choices today, do they? :)

  • What would you do if faced with a perfectly camoflagued alien, panic or reach for the flame thrower?
  • What would be your worst nightmare waxwork to end up in?


Click here and here to find other AtoZ posts.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Tasha - not keen on the Thing -even less so on that Waxworks display - nasty thought ... I think I'd rather stay away from converting to any waxwork! Cheers Hilary

    http://positiveletters.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/t-is-for-turkey.html

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  2. The Thing is beyond creepy. I have visited some wax museums where the exhibits were so frighteningly real, I had nightmares. Find me here. LINK

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  3. The Thing was a great movie at the time. I remember feeling so bad for that poor dog. The head falling off, euw. Yeah good stuff. Unfortunately for everyone near me, I'd reach for the flame thrower. Self preservation is strong with this one.
    Discarded Darlings - Jean Davis, Speculative Fiction Writer, A to Z: Editing Fiction

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  4. For some reason when I saw the title of your post I thought it was going to be The Thing from Fantastic Four. He was also a shapeshifter (kinda), turning from a regular guy into a rock monster (and back again, when it was convenient for the story!)

    T - Toronto's Ill-Fated First Hanging

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  5. The Thing always gave me the creeps, still does, not a movie I enjoy watching! I love Waxwork, though, and I always feel sorry for Tony.
    Sophie
    Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - Dragon Diaries

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  6. Waxwork sounds like a remake or retelling of Waxworks, a 1924 horror film in the German Expressionism genre.

    Faced with a camouflaged alien, I'd immediately begin screaming! I've had a terror of aliens since age eight, when seeing a Time Life commercial that creeped me out so badly I saw a tall alien with glowing eyes advancing towards me in the dark that night.

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