Who Done It? (1942) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 9, 1942

Although there is a ghost-like figure just above Abbott's head that is pointing at another ghost-like figure lounging stage-right to Abbott, there are no supernatural-themed shenanigans in the film itself.

Nonetheless Who Done It? earns its posting here, rather than over at The Newspaper Ad Archive, because its murder mystery plot and old time radio setting have it brushing up against the outermost fringe of whatever it is that I deem an appropriate topic for Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties.

KBHK seemed to have a dedicated Saturday afternoon time-slot for Abbott & Costello movies and there were a solid half dozen of them I never passed on the opportunity to watch. All of them had some tinge or touch of horror, suspense, science fiction, or fantasy to them, of course. 

There were the pairs meet-ups with the Universal Monsters, the time they went to "Mars" (Venus, actually), or whenever they ran afoul of a variety of killers. Who Done It? is one of the latter, obviously.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #48

Cornered

Never helpless, Purgatori often toys with her prey, pushing them into battle to taunt them for her own pleasure. Oncer her back is to the corner, beware - Purgatori has you exactly where she wants you. 

Mansion of the Doomed (1976) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 8, 1976

Prolific actor Michael Pataki made his directing debut with this unsettling and unsightly riff on Eyes Without A Face (1960). Only this time around it is more like A Face Without Any Eyes.

Richard Basehart stars as Dr. Leonard Chaney, an ophthalmologist whose guilt at blinding his daughter drives him to experiment with eyeball transplantation. Although he is successful, at first, that success is short lived and another new set of eyes are needed.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Oh, and there are a few more issues regarding those transplants. These are not cadaver eyes. Each and every donor is a living person that has not volunteered, or even knows that they are about to, donate their eyeballs.

Although Chaney states his intention to restore eyesight to all who have "aided" in his experimentation, he does not seem to be giving all that much thought on how and where those unfortunates will be getting their donor eyes from. He will deal with that only after a transplantation proves permanent. Something he is certain will happen, this time...

Mansion of the Doomed is also notable for giving character actor icon Lance Henriksen one his first substantive onscreen roles, as well as giving future make-up effects icon Stan Winston the opportunity to create all those unsettling eyeless donor effects.

What was it showing with? Well, moving from left to right and top to bottom: The Roxie had Mansion on a triple-bill with The House That Screamed (1969) and Sugar Hill (1974). The Coliseum Drive-In had it paired with Night of the Living Dead (1968). The Alameda 3 had it with The Devil Within Her [aka Sharon's Baby and I Don't Want to Be Born (1975)]. Hayward's Festival Cinemas showed it with Embryo (1976), while Oakland's Eastmont Four had it coupled with Death Machines (1976). I also discovered that the Eastmont had a double-bill of the not at all similar Sparkle (1976) and Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). That was a fun to uncover.

Pleasant Hill's Regency Cinemas also showed Mansion with Embryo, while Richmond's Hilltop Drive-In, as well as the Union City Drive-In, offered another pairing with Night of the Living Dead.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #12

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Wes Craven really knocked it out of the park with A Nightmare on Elm Street and this jump scare moment knocked me out of my seat, I am happy to share.

I will also share that, although I was all of eighteen at the time, the very first night after my very first viewing of A Nightmare on Elm Street was a sleepless one. Because that movie, and its smart and simple premise, scared the daylights out of me.

Filoli House - Holiday Lights 2025

The Assignment by Mitch Potter - Review

White Zombie (1932) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 5, 1932

There are only five days left to see Bela Lugosi in White Zombie, because something called The Last Mile will be opening and taking its screen.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #47

Hunter

The most savage and feral of all Lady Death's enemies, Purgatori becomes truly animalistic when she fights, pulling no punches with her claws, and ripping with her teeth. She is truly a thing to behold when her bold boils in battle. 

Child's Play 2 (1990) - Soundtrack

Although I had gone and seen the first Child's Play movie on the big screen, it had not impressed me all that much. So when Child's Play 2 arrived between Halloween and Thanksgiving in 1990, I gave it a pass. On the big screen, at least. But when I snagged a look on home video, I was made to regret skipping that big screen viewing. Because screenwriter, and Chucky creator, Don Mancini and directer John Lafia had delivered a sequel that, unlike the first film, was both entertaining and surprising. Until Seed of Chucky popped out, I think Child's Play 2 might have been my favorite entry in the franchise.

Composer Graeme Revell, flush from his success scoring Philip Noyce's breakout hit Dead Calm, had emigrated from New Zealand to the United States, in the hope of launching a career as a film composer. It was Don Mancini that brought Revell to the attention of producer David Kirschner.

And it was Revell that suggested an orchestral score for the film. When asked if he had any experience composing for orchestra, Revell lied and told them, "Yes!"

"When the orchestra played [the Main Title] the first time," Revell says in the liner notes for this La-La Land release, "it was a total mess." Dismayed at how the composition sounded nothing at all like he had intended, Revell thought, "my career was over."

Walker conducted another read of the Main Title and, this time, it sounded perfect.

While I don't find this score to be as memorable as some others, it nonetheless does find a way to balance between the serious aspects of the film and its tongue-in-cheek self-awareness. Even if Revell himself had his doubts, back in the day.

"At times I felt like I was trying to be [Looney Tunes composer] Carl Stalling and failing," he says in the liner notes. Well, he did not fail. He nailed it.

The Horrible House on the Hill [Peopletoys (1974)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 4, 1974

The Horrible Hose on the Hill, also known as Peopletoys and best known as Devil Times Five, is a delightfully nasty entry in the killer kid sub-genre. It can also be considered a Christmas film. Look out for Sorrell Brooke, who would go on to play Boss Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard, in a small role. Ditto Joan McCall, who would go on to play Christopher George's love interest in Grizzly (1976).

The movie was paired with something called The Night God Screamed (1971), which I have yet to see, but it sounds both unpleasant and intriguing enough to perk my interest.