Five Million Years to Earth [Quatermass and the Pit (1967)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 20, 1968

I remember Five Million Years to Earth scaring the daylights out of me, back in the day, when it aired on The 3:30 Movie. While I also remember being somewhat impatient for the 'bug monsters' to show up and wreck havoc upon the populace, I was in no way disappointed with what happened in the movie.

That would be the only time I would see what I now know as Quatermass and the Pit, the third Hammer Film feature adaptation of a Nigel Kneale BBC serial. Because, just as was the case with Terence Fisher's monster movie Island of Terror, the damn thing never seemed to air again. At least that is how I remember it.

This is my favorite Quatermass movie/story and the creative impact it had on the filmmakers that I grew up watching is blatant. The one that comes to my mind the quickest is, of course, John Carpenter's 1987 Quatermass homage Prince of Darkness. There was also a noticeable homage to it in the 2006 animated feature Monster House.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #12

Datalog: Approx. 0:800 Hours, Day 2

I finally found Bishop - or rather part of him - buried in a mound of rusting debris. Back at the infirmary, I was able to connect Bishop's battery pack to the flight recorder. He reported some disturbing news. There had been an Alien with us all the way. On the Sulaco, on the EEV, and now here, on this planet.

If my memory is correct, Lance Henriksen voiced some regret at being roped into doing this particular cameo in the film during an interview with, I think, Fangoria magazine. It was a pretty pointless scene that, had it been excised, would not have impacted the storyline or characterization one bit. Couple that with the hours Henriksen no doubt had to spend in the make-up chair, so he could match with the prosthetic prop pictured above, and, well, is it any wonder as to why he was a tad grumpy about it?

The Final Conflict (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 19, 1981

Although there was a failed television pilot titled Omen IV: The Awakening broadcast in 1991, and two media tie-in novel sequels published in the early-to-mid-80s, I consider The Final Conflict to be the official end of The Omen trilogy.

While it falls far short of crafting the ominous dread of the first film, and lacks the ghoulish bombast of the first (and superior) sequel's over-the-top death scenes, The Final Conflict does manage to have some redeeming elements. No pun intended.

First is Sam Neill as the adult Damien Thorn. Although not given much, if anything at all, to work with in the script, Neill nonetheless imbues Damien with such a powerful charismatic presence it makes the squandered opportunity here all the more noticeable and lamentable. Come on Damien, do something!

Second is Jerry Goldsmith's terrific score. It is a powerful and, at times, beautifully bombastic work deserving of award consideration.

And that is about it... really. While they pulled off the Final part of the film's title, any and all expecting, or hoping, for some cataclysmic Conflict will come away disappointed. Even though I can understand, and to a somewhat limited extent even appreciate, leaning toward a quieter and more psychological, perhaps even meditative, approach to the End Times. The creative team assembled here did not pull it off. So it goes.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #47

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

 

Phantom of the Opera (1990) - TV Week - March 18 - 24, 1990

San Francisco Chronicle TV Week - March 18 - 24, 1990

What makes this NBC mini-series noteworthy is that it was the first production that was allowed to film in the famed Paris Opera House. This will no doubt make it interesting to more than a few Phantom enthusiasts. I might check this version out at some point, but that point is not happening this week.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #11

Datalog: Approx. 0:400, Day 2

Murphy was a victim of the Alien, not a freak accident! I'm almost sure of it. What else could cause such a burn mark in solid concrete? It had to be from the acid Aliens spit at their victims just before they attack.

Bug (1975) - Soundtrack

New addition to the collection.

Although I recognize the name Charles Fox, I think his atonal electronic score for the William Castle produced and Jeannot Szwarc directed "killer bug" movie might mark his official entry into my ever growing collection of horror, science fiction, and fantasy centered movie soundtracks.

That a composter renowned for crafting memorable melodies such as the 1972's chart-topper "Killing Me Softly With His Song" and catchy themes for numerous television series, such as Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, and Happy Days, could and would compose something as strange and otherworldly sounding as the music for Bug only serves as another fine example of his sizable and inarguable talent.

The alien soundscape Fox crafted for Bug is a chilling experience in un-easy listening. Relaxing this is not...

And now I want to watch the movie again.

Return from Witch Mountain (1978) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 17, 1978

Although I had a great deal of cultural awareness of the Witch Mountain movies, the only one I have a solid memory of actually seeing on the big screen was 2009's Race to Witch Mountain. That they got Whitley Strieber to make a cameo in that film was an unexpected and giggle inducing delight.

But my memories of the original films are fragmented and spotty, at best. But the simple fact that this film features Christopher Lee, Bette Davis, and Anthony James as the menacing antagonists, and that it was directed by John Hough, means that I will no doubt revisit it at some point in the future. No idea when, though.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #46

Aliens (1986)

Commando (1985) - Soundtrack

Jeff Bond's liner note describes James Horner's score for Commando as "exchanging the thematic, leitmotif aspect of his symphonic scores for a style that was as single-minded as John Matrix's pursuit of his daughter..."

The core elements of Horner's score for the film are used to great effect in the film's robust and memorable Main Title. Bond lists those elements as "pulsating electronica riffs, crashing Simmons drums, a growl of no-nonsense orchestral menace from low brass, a calypso-like steel drum tune, an undulating, almost breezy saxophone riff and the exotic sound of Japanese shakuhachi flute."

One thing I feel compelled to note, or point out, is that the score's "no-nonsense brass" and "calypso-like steel drum" textures and flourishes sound very much like the brass and steel drum textures and flourishes Horner composed for 1982's 48hrs. Something not at all surprising considering Horner's well known, and self-admitted, habit of reusing his past compositions. That observation is in no way meant to disparage Horner's superlative work here and elsewhere. It was part of his process and good music is good music, period.

The Main Title also contains a brief and gentle melody, played by the orchestra's string instruments, heard during a montage of scenes showing the loving bond between father and daughter. It only appears here and nowhere else in the movie.

What follows the Main Title is some fifty-plus minutes of gnashing and grinding action cues. "Horner's score becomes the musical equivalent of Schwarzenegger's stone face as the movie progresses," Bond observes in his notes. "It is largely unvarying, but it gains power through sheer repetition, reinforcing Matrix's unstoppable determination."