The Grim Reaper [Antropophagus (1980)] - Newspaper

San Francisco Examiner - January 8, 1982

Way, way back in 1982, Daly City's Geneva Drive-In had the kind of double-bill Joe Bob Briggs loves to lionize in memoriam. 

The Grim Reaper was an easier to sell retitling of Joe D'Amato's infamous cannibal slasher opus Antropophagus. It would also be the very first movie Briggs ever reviewed for his quick to be popular, and thus syndicated, Drive-In Movie Review column. If you have a strong stomach, you might enjoy it. Many have. Some have not. So it goes.

Coupled with The Grim Reaper was a re-release of 1979's Don't Go in the House, a nasty 'little' riff off of Psycho that featured a psychotic momma's boy (Dan Grimaldi) incinerating women with his trusty flamethrower. Ouch.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #59

Surprised

It's a cold day in Hell when someone can get the drop on Chastity. If they do, they are as good as dead - her vampire instincts will take over, replacing her gentle nature with that of a ferocious hunter.
 

The Inn of the Dove by Gordon Linzner - Review

Super Fuzz [Poliziotto Superpiu (1980)] - Newpaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 7, 1982

All I remember about Super Fuzz are a smattering of cartoonish and slapstick heavy TV spots for it and catching what I believed to be the film's ending on HBO. If it ends with a wedding and star Terence Hill breaking the fourth wall whilst kissing the bride, then yes, I have seen the ending of Super Fuzz.

The word around school (High or Middle, don't remember which) was lackluster to scathing, but what did they know? Maybe what the movie needed was Bud Spencer rather than Ernest Borgnine.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #23

Aliens (1986)

This one did get the tiniest snort of a laugh out of me, when I first saw it.

Creature Features: The Evil of Frankenstein (1964) - Promo

San Francisco Examiner - January 6, 1974

The San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle's Sunday TV Week supplement had this modest promo for an episode of Creature Features featuring Hammer Film's third Frankenstein movie, 1964's The Evil of Frankenstein. This would be one of two entries in the famed company's series of Frankenstein films the was not directed by Terence Fisher. Nope, this one was helmed by Freddie Francis. The other would by the 1970 Jimmy Sangster helmed horror-comedy The Horror of Frankenstein.

This episode aired on Saturday, January 12, 1974 and, being all six or seven years old, I would not have been allowed to stay up and watch it. So it goes.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #58

Heat of Battle

It's when Chastity is most alive. Lightly dancing around her opponent, her blades and fangs reflecting the light, Chastity is a vision of terrible beauty in battle.

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

Oakland Tribune - January 5, 1986

I do not share the implied opinions given by Janet Maslin, of The New York Times, or Joel Siegel, of ABC TV, stating that Freddy's Revenge was "scary" and "as much fun as the original." One must always keep in mind that a sarcastic comment could have been clipped from a less than glowing review and made to appear as if the film were being praised. 

While I did think Freddy's Revenge an entertaining enough movie, at no point during its runtime was I ever scared or unsettled by it. But I did find the film's in no way whatsoever subtle gay commentary to be equal parts amusing and interesting. 

Perhaps I should revisit this movie...

Also, I love Christopher Young's score for the film, but that is a subject for a soundtrack collection post.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #22

The Fly (1986)

This image reminds me of an unrelated, yet still related, clip I saw of Liam Neeson talking about when he took on the role of Darkman for the Sam Raimi film of the same name. Neeson shared that he was still a relatively young and inexperienced film actor who learned the importance of inquiring about the amount of time he would be spending in a make-up chair during filming before agreeing to take the role.

Looking at Jeff Goldblum here, I wonder if he found himself wondering, or learning, that very same lesson here. The above pictured effect must have taken an entire workday to apply, and that does not include all the time eaten up between the takes for effect touch ups and such. It also does not factor in the time spent making the head and body molds. Just how not claustrophobic do you think you are?
 

Night Warning [Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (1981)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 2, 1983

The Sunday Examiner/Chronicle Datebook had this ad hyping the January 7, 1983 release, or re-release, of Butcher Baker, Nightmare Maker under the title Night Warning.

Although no theaters or drive-ins are listed in this teaser ad, I did see Night Warning on Saturday, January 8, I believe, at the Alameda Southshore, where it was on a double-bill with the equally memorable The Beast Within. That was one raucous and lively night at the movies. The crowd, and it was a crowd, went wild throughout both movies.

I do remember being taking aback by Bo Svenson's bigoted 'Detective Carlson' character. He was so over-the-top with his homophobia I remember leaning over to a friend and whispering in his ear, "This has to be an act, he's protesting too much." Which was pretty progressive thinking for a 14 year-old kid in 1983, I think.