Ghost Story (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 16, 1981

Universal Studios released a ghost story for Christmas in 1981. Based on the acclaimed best-seller of the same name by Peter Straub, the film deviates just a tad from the novel's sprawling narrative, but still manages to capture some of its source material's wintery chills. Even if it did choose to downgrade the almost cosmic horror level threat to a woman's spirit seeking revenge upon the elderly men responsible for her tragic death many, many years in the past.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #15

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

As it approaches, or hits, its 40th anniversary, I still feel a tinge of regret at giving a theatrical viewing of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge a pass. So it goes.

The Keep (1983) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 15, 1983

I read The Keep while living in Hong Kong and, if the ever questionable timeline of how I remember things is at all accurate, it was after I had read about the film adaptation in the pages of Fangoria. Maybe. The book had been out for quite some time, as I recall, and The Tomb had also been published by this time. Perhaps even The Touch. I don't really know. I was living life and not taking notes. Ah, if only I had journaled (and thought to keep said journals), the fact checking I could be doing right now.

The film adaptation had come and gone by the time I watched it on home video. Although I was a tremendous fan of Michael Mann's Thief, the alterations and liberties he had taken with The Keep irked me to no end. I think I am just going to stick with F. Paul Wilson's source novel.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #50

Beauty and the Other Beauty

Purgatori's secret - long ago, she was a mere mortal named Sakkara. Thanks to arcane magicks, the two were separated for a time, now Sakkara calls the shots, summoning Purgatori at will. 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 37

Chinatown (1974) - Soundtrack

I have come to theorize, and feel free to poke as many holes in this as you might deem necessary, that just about every film contains a clarifying mission statement that explains, or defines, its core themes to its attentive viewer(s).

Chinatown's mission statement might be when Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) tells Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), "I was trying to protect someone from being hurt, ended up helping her get hurt."

Reading Kevin Mulhall's liner notes for this compact disc re-issue of the original soundtrack album offered some interesting facts and trivia.

Jerry Goldsmith was a last last-minute replacement and had all of ten days to spot, write and record a score for the film.

"I got a flash of the orchestral fabric," Goldsmith says in the notes. "I had no idea musically what it was going to be but there was a sound... I wanted strings, four pianos, four harps, two percussionists, and a trumpet."

Oh, what a trumpet...

Being the original album, this release combines cues and/or uses alternate takes different from those used in the film for 'better' listening. Although the complete film score has been made available, I have yet to make an upgrade. I am satisfied with this presentation.

The Dreamshattering by Mary Kittredge - Review

Terror (1978) / Dracula's Dog (1977) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 12, 1979

Although I had become much more attentive to the movie adverts in our daily newspaper by this time, I do not remember this double-feature release. It happens.

Yet there are things I do remember about both films, from back in the day. One was that the trailer for Terror was shown, along with one for The Dark, on KTVU's Creature Features. The other being when Dracula's Dog aired on television at some point. Although we had seen Salem's Lot, neither my brother nor I recognized Reggie Nalder as the actor who had played Mr. Barlow. We also made fun of the movie and, I am saddened to admit, Nalder's appearance.

This ad also shows how film distributors had begun phasing out Wednesday as a routine opening day in 1979. For some twenty to thirty years movies opened on either Wednesday or Friday. That changed in 1979 and, from 1980 onward, Wednesday openings became infrequent and, for the most part, holiday date dependent.

There is a novelization of Dracula's Dog out there and, maybe, I might part with some coin to acquire and read it. Maybe.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #14

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

As much as I adore Jerry Goldsmith' score for Poltergeist II and admire H.R. Giger's artistic contributions to the film, I have only watched this first sequel once, from start to finish.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) / Ghidrah: The Three-Headed Monster [San Daikaijû Chikyû Saidai no Kessen (1964)] / Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 11, 1968

Now this a triple-bill the manages to encapsulate my overall viewing and collecting habits and tastes. Its got a horror movie, its got a Japanese monster movie, and its got a British genre movie. I have each of the advertised movies on physical media, so I can replicate this triple-bill, if ever I am so moved to do.