The smell of sin hung foul on them; the mire About their roots was trampled filth of flesh Horrid with rottenness, and splashed with gore Curdling in crimson puddles;
where there buzzed And sucked, and settled,
creatures of the swamp,
Hideous in wing and sting, gnat - clouds and flies, With moths, toads, newts, and snakes red - gulleted; And livid, loathsome worms, writhing in slime Forth from skull - holes and scalps and tumbled bones.57
Batman Returns re-establishes that chill in its opening moments,
where a woman in a snow - covered mansion gives screaming birth to an unseen, presumably
hideous penguin
creature.