NETHERWORLD Monster of the Month: June 2012 Atomic Mutants!

July 16, 1945. The Trinity site, located in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, at the new White Sands Proving Ground. The first occurrence of a nuclear detonation, an implosion-design plutonium device nicknamed “The Gadget”.

The beginning of the Atomic Age.

The fear that Nazi Germany was developing atomic bombs, coupled with a growing awareness of various fascist threats from European countries, prompted the United States to further explore plans to develop its own nuclear-based weaponry. Thus was born The Manhattan Project, and the arms race was forever changed.

With the threat of the atomic bomb came the fear of nuclear fallout in the atmosphere, and the potential for injury and mutation. Paranoia spread among the population. Bomb shelters were constructed as a precaution to protect people from the impending nuclear doom of the cold war, allowing citizens to exist underground until the effects of any fallout had diminished to a safe level. With the danger over, they could return to the surface unharmed. In 1963 the Partial Test Ban Treaty restricted all nuclear testing to underground nuclear testing, to prevent contamination of the atmosphere and surface from nuclear fallout.

But what of those who were not fortunate enough to take safe haven? What about the humans and creatures that may have been exposed to the few tests that did take place above ground? Speculation arose as to what the possible effects of radiation exposure could be. And Hollywood was happy to provide a few theories…

Such classic films as “Them” and “Godzilla” grew out of our fascination with the Atomic Age and spawned an entire generation of motion pictures warning of the catastrophic effects of nuclear weapons. In these two movies, mutated giant ants and an awakened prehistoric reptile are the result of man’s flirtation with the atom. “The Amazing Colossal Man” tells of a gigantic rampaging army officer who grows to a height of 60 feet and goes insane after exposure to plutonium radiation. Oddly enough, the exact opposite happens to a vacationing businessman in “The Incredible Shrinking Man” – lending credence to the unpredictability of radioactive mutation! B-movies abounded, detailing the disastrous results of the Atomic Age. Yet whether humongous insects or miniscule men, one message was abundantly clear: man’s arrogance and thirst for power would prove his undoing.

Over the years the threat of irradiated mutations has intrigued and entertained us in a wide variety of interpretations. While the popularity of massive rampaging creatures has never really waned, it seems to be the effects on man that have the greatest impact on us. 1985’s beloved “Return of the Living Dead” details the horrific (yet comically charged) events that unfold when a failed military experiment unleashes brain-eating zombies. Following the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster in Ukraine in 1986, we discovered the all-too-real repercussions of nuclear crisis. Numerous illnesses and deformities have been reported, the imagery of which is still staggering some 25 years later. This seems to have played a huge part in the birth of the contemporary template of mutation we find prevalent in science fiction and horror today. “The Hills Have Eyes” features a traveling family at the mercy of mutated cannibals living in a nuclear testing zone. And while the catalyst for mutation may not always be a direct result of radiation, the idea of mutated people hunting humans (such as the backwoods villains from the “Wrong Turn” films) continues to intrigue us. The prospect of physically-deformed humans among us, driven insane and prone to prey on an unsuspecting population still sends shivers down our spines. Our basic belief that there is good in everyone flies out the window when gazing into the hollow eyes of an atomic attacker.

Atlanta’s Netherworld Haunted House is no stranger to the chaos brought about by the deranged and maddened mutant. As the primary retailer for the infamous Zombie Rampage energy drink, the very halls of this haunted attraction were overrun by crazed cannibals and reanimated corpses when a tanker truck transporting the potent elixir overturned in nearby Whyshburg Cemetery. The toxic beverage contained Necromuten 7, developed by bioweapons defense contractor Necrotech as a means of producing stronger, more powerful soldiers. The end result was a faster, more durable undead killing machine, capable of holding its own against even the most diabolical Netherspawn.

Numerous experiments and scientific studies performed behind Netherworld’s bolted doors have resulted in unimaginable radiation-bred horrors. The building is infested with deformed animals, abnormal insects, flesh-hungry fiends and abominations heretofore unseen by normal human eyes. Slavering zombies amble aimlessly throughout its corridors, seeking relief from their never ending craving for living victims. Hideously disfigured creatures – both human and inhuman – dwell within, eagerly awaiting each evening’s delivery of innocent vict…errr…visitors.

The threat of atomic danger may not seem as overpowering as it did decades ago, but the rumors of leftover mutants holding out in the dessert hidden away from prying eyes will perhaps always linger in the back of our minds. So the next time you take the family on that remote camping trip – or a Halloween excursion to Netherworld Haunted House – you may want to download that geiger counter app to your smart phone. Simply for peace of mind.

The HORROR returns with In The Mouth Of Madness !

Sunday June 10th 8pm Studio Movie Grill Holcomb Bridge

A reality is just what we tell each other it is.

Upon the release of his new novel, “Horror in Hobb’s End”, writer Sutter Cane has disappeared without a trace. Responsible for a rash of unusual side-effects in his readers, Cane is believed to have perpetuated the vanishing act as nothing more than a publicity stunt, prompting his publisher to hire an investigator to track him down.

Master horror director John Carpenter (“Halloween”, “The Thing”) has pulled together an incredible cast for his 1994 release “In the Mouth of Madness”, including Sam Neill, David Warner, John Glover, Jürgen Prochnow, and Charleton Heston. An obvious homage to the works of H.P. Lovecraft, this mind-bending tale sends insurance investigator John Trent (Neill) and Cane’s editor (Julie Carmen) into the supposedly fictional town of Hobb’s End – brought to life by a powerful dark force which warps the perception of reality of Cane’s readers.

Hobb’s End, it seems, is populated by living characters from the writings of Sutter Cane, and the town is comprised of landmarks pulled from his books – including the infamous Black Church, a horrible spawning ground of evil. Drawn into the twisted happenings, insurance investigator John Trent (Neill) comes face-to-face with Cane’s true intention: the end of humanity. Is Trent himself merely a product of Cane’s imagination? Is the life he is living truly his life at all, or simply a minor plot point in a much larger story?

Mutations, nightmares, face shreddings and axe murders abound in Carpenter’s film, the final chapter in his “Apocalypse Trilogy” (following “The Thing” and “Prince of Darkness”). “In the Mouth of Madness” proudly wears its love of Lovecraft on its sleeve, with obvious references to story titles and characters. Building its stage on the back of insanity, this stylized movie unfolds like one of H.P.’s tomes, told in flashback from the perspective of a (possible) madman on the brink of collapse. Written by former New Line Cinema President of Production Michael De Luca (“The Lawnmower Man” and “Freddy’s Nightmares”), it was produced for an estimated $14,000,000 – a far cry from the $320,000 production cost of Carpenter’s ground-breaking horror classic “Halloween”.
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NETHERWORLD Haunted House Presents: Banshee!

The ancient evil city of Ys has risen from the ocean off the coast of Ireland bringing with it a plague of Banshees! These foul eyeless winged monstrosities feed on the dark energy of dying humans, seeking battlefields and natural disasters where life hangs in the balance. When there is no death and war they create their own by releasing mind shattering howls that summon evil from the NETHERWORLD! Thus the wail of the Banshee has always meant death to those who hear it, as it rips apart the wall between worlds and releases monstrous Fomorian warriors and other fell Celtic beasts to plunder and destroy! Drawn by the flickering pumpkins and falling leaves of the autumn season, the Banshees circle ever nearer, destined to create the most terrifying Halloween the world has even seen!

New Features for 2012

The Massive Bloody Crawling Eye! Crushed by the Primordial Giant! Portraits of the Undying! The Slime Crawler! Mauled by Crows! The Underwater City! The Beast From the Abyss! Mermaids and Tritons! The Formorian Hordes! The Wail of The Banshee! The House of the Dead! The 21 Foot Tall Tree Beast! The Moray Pits! Feel the horrors of a Halloween gone mad as the sunken city rises and Banshees fill the skies! More repulsive monsters, shocking scares and wild special effects than you have ever seen!

Banshee – Its Scream Means Death!

The FULL Story…

Listen my student as I tell you of the new doom that has befallen us even as we celebrate our victory over the Nightmare Kings. It is why you must now go to the ruins of our stronghold and find the passageway to the noxious island of Ys!

At the hands of the Illuminati the Blood Night was at last ended. As the dark clouds melted away to reveal the suns rays, the creatures of the NETHERWORLD, caught unaware were blasted into dust! Armies of gargoyles and hideous war beasts vanished instantly in the blazing burning light. But the damage had been done – ruined cities, crushed armies and charred corpses filled the landscape. But the nightmares of the NETHERWORLD were not all destroyed…some escaped into dark basements, dank sewers and abandoned dungeons emerging again at sundown to continue their foul predations. Nighttime would never be safe as these fiends continued to stalk us from the shadows only fleeing back to their hidden lairs at dawn’s first glimmer. A new class of paranormal investigators and warriors would rise, seeking to hunt and destroy these remaining beasts and expose them to our suns cleansing warmth.

But the shattered remnants of the NETHERWORLD army was not the only threat in these troubled times as new horrors rose from the depths of the primal sea! The use of the mysterious powers expended by the Illuminati in ending the Blood Night had caused other complications. Eons ago the ancient city of Ys, a place of unending horrors and primal evil had been sunk beneath the waves off the coast of Ireland. The vast positive energies depleted to stop the darkness that had enshrouded the earth had loosened the bonds that held Ys under the cleansing ocean and once again it surged to the surface! Obscene ruins where unspeakable rites were held in olden times now lay exposed to the open air as millions of birds circled the island to feast on dead fish, rotted vegetation and even stranger fare. Many and varied were the horrors of Ys but the foremost immediate threat was the freeing of the Banshees!

The Banshees had long been remembered as spectral beings whose mournful screams heralded doom. But the truth behind the nature of these dread angels of death was far more insidious. Trapped in the flooding of Ys they had gone into a dormant state paralyzed but forever undying. Now free the ancient Banshees took to the night skies once more to spread their particular form of terror as the flickering lights of Jack-O-Lanterns long remembered from the dark holidays of ancient times drew them like moths to a flame. Thus these winged eyeless horrors followed by the bloated crows of Ys came calling on the cities of man. For when a Banshee finds a Jack-O-Lantern on a cold October night it remembers its master whose dread flame filled Jacks first hollowed Turnip so long ago. Reminded of the treachery of Jack, it screams in rage! This horrid sound is more than just an audio aberration as it rends the very fabric of time and space to release twisted horrors from the NETHERWORLD! Dark Celtic spirits escape into our world as do the Fomorians – hulking monstrous savages in many forms all eager to spill human blood! The truth is that the Scream of a Banshee most certainly foretells of doom – as evil nightmarish goblins, ogres, Krampus and even Primordial giants are released by its call, to hunt and slay all the humans they can find.

The ancient Banshees now freed will soon fly to all corners of the globe to not only scream and free Formarians long banished, but to lay eggs and hatch their especially noxious offspring. It was known from moldy tomes of yore that the old Banshees of Ys fed mainly on the fleeing life forces of dying humans but that the wingless hatchling Banshees were known primarily as voracious eaters of human flesh!

Now my apprentice you must go to the Mansion of the Prophet and find the dark portal to the cadaverous island of Ys. Most of the Banshees will have fled but Merrows and other worse things from the oceans depths now dwell there and guard its secrets! You must find a way to sink the island and free us from the Banshees! This must be done at once, as even darker forces dwell in Ys – let us hope the King in Yellow has not yet risen!

NETHERWORLD Haunted House Presents: The HIVE!

During the height of the Cold War in 1962 Robert Wellington-Hughes, a filthy rich genetics researcher, sealed up his staff and followers in an underground bunker called the HIVE. Eager to create a utopian society and a radiation survival vaccine based on insect DNA he disappeared beneath the earth for almost fifty years. Now we have discovered his horrifying plot to mutate all mankind into insect based life forms and to destroy all who dare resist him! You and you team must descend into the HIVE and discover the awful truth!

New Features for 2012

The twisted gore in the Dark Basement of NETHERWORLD grows even more vile with an invasion of giant bugs! Can you face – The Bone Snapping Crimson Hulk! The Colossal Writhing Centipede! The Flesh Shredder! Wasp Warriors! The Unstable Cobalt 99 Missile! Cocooned Horrors! Giant Spiders! Live Arthropods! Attacking Maggots! The Hideous Human Blob! More crawling, skittering, bloody insect nightmares than you can imagine!

The FULL Story….

Background Information:

Many of you may have heard of Robert Wellington-Hughes. In the 50’s he was a very outspoken genetic researcher terrified that atomic war would soon lead to the total extinction of the human race. What set him apart from the rest of the scientific community was the fact that he was filthy rich. His family, the Wellington-Hughes, had billions, mostly in chemical and pharmaceutical company stock and were deeply involved in the defense contracts. Thus Robert didn’t have to come to the government or industry to fund his crazy ideas or research, he just did what he pleased. In 1957 he wrote his most well known monograph The Way of the Insect espousing his theories: insects’ abilities to survive atomic warfare and how their DNA could be developed into a vaccine to resist radiation. The hardcore research he put forth at the time turned more than a few heads, but his lunatic ravings about the superior moral quality of “insect” societies made Robert a laughingstock among his peers. He did however amass an almost cult like following of researchers and like minded scientists.

The HIVE:

After his very public humiliation at the hands of the scientific community he began in secret the creation of the HIVE or the so called Human/Insect Vaccine Experiment. In an undisclosed location he built a massive underground bunker designed to survive nuclear attack equipped with the most modern of late 1950’s comforts and technologies. There he developed a utopian society cut off from the rest of the world, a self sufficient research facility focused on an insect DNA based radiation defense drug. At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 he sealed up the HIVE’s massive doors, certain of the impending doom of mankind. Attempts to locate the base failed and all signs of Robert Wellington- Hughes and his missing staff of 157 people were lost to time, one of the biggest unsolved mysteries of the Cold War era. He was 43 years old.

Recent Developments:

All of this happened over 50 years ago, so it was rather unexpected when our latest threat detection AI program ALVIN began flagging seemingly unrelated data that correlated back to the Wellington-Hughes incident. It seems as though a series of shadow companies had been outsourcing massive amounts of research on insect based DNA, unusual weapons technology and dirty bomb radiation dispersal methods for decades. We put a team of our top agents on the case and made some terrifying discoveries. Apparently Wellington-Hughes had been working all this time in his underground bunker on these projects but his motivations had taken a darker turn. He felt that a “new” mankind genetically altered to resemble insects and immune to radiation should be the new masters of the earth. He has created a new HIVE drug that he intends to unleash on the world to cause massive insect-like mutations in anyone exposed to it. These new “men” would then fall in line with his utopia structured around Insect Society. But it gets worse. He has developed a massive warhead the Cobalt 99 Bomb that he plans to detonate and wipe out the rest of life on earth if anyone should attempt to thwart his plans. I know this is some far out stuff – I couldn’t believe the briefing when I first read it either!

Your Mission:

We have located his facility at last. ALVIN did this by discovering a spike in missing persons ( Test Subjects?) cross referenced with unusual technology shipments and powerful radiation readings. Advance agents have located the tunnel and access shaft to the HIVE. You are to enter the facility and reveal the truth behind these allegations. Will you discover mutated insect people with a sinister advanced technology and a Cobalt 99 warhead? Or will you find a spry 93 year old man kicking back in his easy chair watching reruns of the Donna Reed show? Be prepared for anything! You and your team leave at once…