Alligator (1980) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 4, 1981

This newspaper ad is all that stuck with me for the brief theatrical run of what became the modest cult/sleeper hit Alligator. Blessed with a solid cast that got to work with a tongue-in-cheek script by John Sayles, who claims to have wrote this on a plane flight from the New York to Los Angeles. Alligator is a fun, unpretentious, and, at times, downright nasty monster movie.

For whatever reason, this is one that slipped through my fingers and I did not see it until it debuted on network television. I think the film's infamous "walk the plank" scene made it to the airwaves intact, but that first viewing has been mixed and muddled with countless follow-up VHS and DVD viewings that it no longer matters. But I did know about the scene well in advance, because someone at school that had seen it on the big screen talked about it.

A check of Friday's "Theatre Guide" revealed that the Roxie would have Alligator on triple-bill with Shogun Assassin and Planet of the Dinosaurs. The Southshore had it paired with the action film High Risk. The Coliseum Drive-in was showing it with Humanoids from the Deep, while United Artists in Berkeley had it coupled with Windwalker. If you went to see Alligator at the Festival Cinema in Hayward, you could watch it with Excalibur. The Cooper Twin in San Pablo also had it with Humanoids from the Deep, while the Regency in Pleasant Hill paired with the Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin historical action flick Death Hunt.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #72

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Another Fright Flicks card with Vengeance: The Demon title on the back of the card, rather than that actual title of the film, which is Pumpkinhead.

This image is from late in the film, when the true cost of summoning the vengeance demon Pumpkinhead begins to manifest.
 

Ghostbusters (1984) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - June 3, 1984

Ivan Reitman and Dan Ackroyd, with the assist of Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and an almost unacknowledged Ernie Hudson, captured lightning in a bottle that, despite numerous repeat attempts, was never truly been recaptured.

This might have been my favorite film of the summer of 1984, although it did receive stiff competition from the even darker and actually scary at times Gremlins. Which just so happened to have been released on the very same weekend as Ghostbusters.

I was visiting friends and family in the states at the time, which meant I got to see it during its theatrical run while it was enjoying massive business and the Southland Cinema in Hayward. At least that is where I remember seeing it.
 

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #36

Datalog: Approx. 0:300 Hours, Day 3

I could see them across the way; they had finally arrived. The Weyland-Yutani Commando team charged up the stairs, ready for battle. They were outfitted in full military uniform and each of them carried a pulse rifle. May question was: Were they here to rescue us... or the Alien?
 

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 2, 1976

While Brian De Palma's cult oddity Phantom of the Paradise was first released in late 1974, I did not see it on the big screen until this 1976 re-release.

One of the things I truly enjoy about clipping and sharing these vintage ads is learning and processing the difference between when something happened versus how I remember it having happened. Sometimes the history and the memory align, sometimes it does not. This is an example of the former.

I remember sitting in the Alameda Southshore, which was still called the Showcase at this time, and recognizing Rod Serling's distinctive voice speaking the opening narration. A voice that I recognized as the host of Night Gallery, not The Twilight Zone. Because I would not see an episode of The Twilight Zone until 1978 or 79. Maybe? Oh, and my I remember my first ever Twilight Zone episode being the Charles Beaumont scripted A Nice Place to Visit, which remains one of my all time favorite episodes.

Phantom of the Paradise would also serve as my first ever Brian De Palma movie. And a wonderful and memorable introduction it was, I think.

As far as actual history differing, or merging, with personal memory goes. A check of the theatre listing revealed...

That Phantom of the Paradise was double-billed with another, far less stellar, childhood memory of mine. The painfully unfunny (at least that is how I remember it) Old Dracula. Which means that I saw them on this double-bill, although I did not remember that as being the case.

But... my memory of where I was seated, and thus how the screen image was positioned before for me, for both films were identical. Why I do not remember seeing these two together, I have no idea. But see them I did. Together, at the Alameda Showcase, in 1976. At the tender age of eight or nine.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #71

Day of the Dead (1985)

 

Invaders from Mars (1986) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - June 1, 1986

I was on summer break from SFSU, and thus in Hong Kong, when Invaders from Mars was released at selected theaters and drive-ins to a less than spectacular reception from both audiences and critics. So I missed out on seeing it on the big screen. Which is too bad, as I thought it was a nifty 'little' movie when I saw it on home video.

While not as chaotically bonkers as Hooper's delightful cult classic Lifeforce, which had cratered at the box office the year before, Invaders from Mars, despite looking and feeling ever so slightly choppy and uneven, has a colorful charm and a dreamlike sense of wonder to it. Elements that make it pair really well with Joe Dante's 1985 box office flop Explorers, which also, despite looking and feeling ever so slightly choppy and uneven, has the same kind of colorful charm and dreamlike sense of wonder to it as Invaders from Mars.

I think this movie is well worth seeing for the Martian ship set design, the Stan Winston creatures, and Daniel Pearl's gorgeous cinematography. There was an interesting essay, that was attributed to director Tobe Hooper, that was in John Russo's book Making Movies. It detailed some of the baffling meddling Hooper had to contend with while making this movie and should be sought out and read.

One anecdote I heard was that Golan/Globus, and the Cannon Group, were disappointed that the film was not scary enough. They wanted a scary monster movie, an alien invasion variation of Poltergeist. But Hooper was intent on making more of an E.T. style adventure.

And I think it succeeded, for the most part. This is one of those movies I really wished had done better at that box office. It would have been great if it had at least broken even at the box office and not lost a ton of cash for the struggling studio/distributor.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #35

Datalog: Approx. 0:300 Hours, Day 3

The Alien was trapped in the lead mould. But so were Dillon and I. There was a huge gantry overhead; our only chance was to climb out and onto the platform with Morse. I made it to the top and clung to one of the overhead pipes, helplessly watch as Dillon tried to climb to safety.
 

Drag Me to Hell (2009) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 29, 2009

After a near two decade long hiatus from the horror genre, director Sam Raimi returned to the genre from which his career was birthed with the zesty Drag Me to Hell. At time of release I remember a smattering of online complaints about the film. One being that its PG-13 rating would rob it of any and all visceral thrills. Another being that it was not Evil Dead 4.

Being a Sam Raimi film, Drag Me to Hell blended visceral shocks with Three Stooges inspired splat-stick comedy to great effect. Longtime fans were also rewarded with an ending every bit as upbeat and optimistic as the ones for the first two Evil Dead movies had been.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #70

Alien (1979)

For some reason my memory of these card got shuffled together whilst they were in storage. I thought this image was used in the trading card set Topps released for Alien in 1979.