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.
 

Damien Omen II (1978) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - May 28, 1978

Considering how The Omen both raked in copious amounts of cash (on an admittedly modest budget) and ended with an ominous promise of biblical torments to come. It is no surprise that Omen producer Harve Bennett and distributor 20th Century Fox decided to craft a series of films about Damien Thorn (aka The Antichrist) growing up and coming to power.

Not a bad concept, in theory. In execution, though? [Execution, get it? Hahaha] Not so much.

Even with the obvious and inevitable workings of the Law of Diminishing returns on display here, Damien Omen II remains my favorite of the trio. This might have to do with how Damien himself is characterized in the film. The film has the most tantalizing glimmer of an idea regarding Damien having a degree of personal autonomy about this whole Antichrist gig. What if he did not like the idea? What if did not want to do it?

It was just a glimmer though. A brief and tantalizing flicker of an interesting concept that helps elevate this weird twist on the coming of age trope ever so slightly above the humdrum. Couple that with some truly operatic death scenes, another terrific score by Jerry Goldsmith, and some well utilized production value, and it is easy to see why this middle entry is my Omen comfort viewing of choice.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #34

Datalog: Approx. 0:300 Hours, Day 3

Dillon rounded the corner just as I was confronting the creature. As the Alien crept closer to us, Dillon knew I was his only chance for survival. He grabbed me, holding me hostage. He used me as his shield as we inched back to the main corridor, leading the Alien closer to the lead mould. 

Transcribing the text from the back of the cards onto this blog's pages had been both an education and reminder of just how muddled and up in the air the plot of Alien 3 truly was. This series glosses over some things, reinvents others, or just makes weird stuff up. Whether you had seen the movie before getting the cards or not, the fractured 'story' being told here feels as if it were being improvised from card to card.

The Andromeda Strain (1970) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 27, 1971

What my first exposure to the work of Michael Crichton was is buried deep beneath the smothering Sands of Time. But I do remember watching this film adaptation when it made its network television debut. Being an enthusiastic fan of morbid fare, I loved the film's unsettling opening sequence. Yet everything after that seemed a tad sterile and, well, lifeless. 

The end result was a film that kept my attention, but not my interest. I kept holding out hope that there would be a tad more devastation. Something that would make the threat a bit more palpable. Something more akin to The Color Out Of Space, I think. But that did not happen. So it goes.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #69

Day of the Dead (1985)