Ghost Story by Peter Straub - San Francisco Examiner - April 22, 1979

San Francisco Examiner - April 22, 1979

Peter Straub's fourth published novel, and third involving a supernatural threat, was the one that put him on the popular culture map. I would not read the book, from start to finish, until 1981, or thereabouts. When it was a paperback bestseller for Pocket Books.

I don't think it has ever been out of print.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #21

Datalog: Approx. 0:1300 Hours, Day 2

We had no leader, no weapons, no way to fight it. Our only hope was to trap it inside the huge Toxic Waste Disposal. It was the only place without air ducts. But we had to get the Alien out of its hiding place and into the disposal room.

From Beyond the Grave (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 21, 1976

The seventh, and final, anthology film from Amicus Productions ended the cycle on a high note. Although the film's source material was a selection of stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, the thematic core of moral retribution for wrongdoing (lying, cheating, stealing, et al.), makes it feel like a continuation of the E. C. horror comic adaptations (Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror) that had preceded it.

This might be my favorite one of the entire run, though. It is just a rock solid 'little movie' that works and is well worth seeking out.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #56

The Fly (1986)

 

Confessions of a Puppetmaster by Charles Band with Adam Felber - Review

On page 125 of the hardcover edition of Confessions of a Puppetmaster that I just tore through, Charles Band describes meeting Dino De Laurentiis in a very telling, warm-hearted way:

"I didn't know Dino, but I knew Dino. I'd grown up knowing Italian men cut from the same mold - expressive, warm, clever old guys, with just a hint of scoundrel underneath. My kind of people."

Telling because, after inhaling his fast-paced and breezy narrated autobiography, I have zero doubt that quite a few people would describe the gleefully indefatigable and unstoppable Charles Band the same way. 

Because while he presents himself as being warm, expressive, and clever, Band also glistens with the sometimes alluring, sometimes off-putting, snake oil sheen of a true huckster. One that is self-aware of his many and considerable faults, but also bubbles with an infectious and delightful energy about what he has done and, for both better and worse, accomplished. 

Charles Band loves what he does and, truth be told, that he has managed to land on his feet, even with the occasional shirt losing or arrest warrant inducing obstacle, and keep making multiple movies year in and year out for decades. Well, that is an impressive feat in and of itself.

In the early 90s I took to describing Charles Band as "an amalgamation of Roger Corman, Stan Lee, and George Lucas." An instinctual observation proven true while reading this bright and breezy book. Band has the unapologetic exploitation film production mindset of Corman, the four-color and cartoonish imagination of Lee, and the merchandising instincts of Lucas.

What Band lacks in ability, be it artistic or financial, he more than compensates for with exuberant tenacity. Something this brisk and breezy 275 page read illustrates with gusto. To this day Charles Band seems incapable of slowing down or resting on the laurels of his b-movie legacy. Because there is always some new gimmick or concept to exploit and explore.

So I tip my hat, raise a glass, and fervently hope that the Puppetmaster's Full Moon Empire might lasts just a tad longer. While some may grumble and bemoan Band and his output. I think the entertainment world and film industry is brighter and more interesting place because his glorious and oddball output.

Read and enjoy these Confessions of a Puppetmaster.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 20, 1984

Although it had been on home video for a few years, thanks to Charles Band's Wizard Home Video label, New Line Cinema dusted off Tobe Hooper's seminal and harrowing horror classic for a theatrical re-release. Tagging along with it seems to be another re-release, the surreal melding of Alien with Kramer vs Kramer that was Xtro. Although this newspaper ad misprints the film's title as Extro. So it goes.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #20

Datalog: Approx. 0:1100 Hours, Day 2

Somewhere in the intricate maze of air ducts and passageways lurks the Alien. The installation is over ten miles square with over 600 air ducts. So many places for it to hide. Too many. But it won't go far - it likes to be near its food supply.

This still image looks to be from the end of film, when the xenomporh is lured into the smelter. At least I think it was a smelter. They doused it with molten ore or metal in order to kill it, so I am guessing it was a smelter.

Wonder what the producers, or studio, thought when the very same thing was done to the dueling Terminators in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which hit theaters and drive-ins the year or less before Alien 3 was slated to be released.

Mad Max (1979) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 17, 1980

This was another film whose soundtrack I received in a Christmas package in the early 80s, without having seen the actual film. It would be years before I watched the first Mad Max, long after I had seen both The Road Warrior [Mad Max 2] and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Both of which are superior to this admittedly modest rogue cop action thriller in every way.

But it all started here, with an attention grabbing snarl of dystopian angst.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #55

Fright Night (1985)

 

The Thing from Another World (1951) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 16, 1951

A movie that really does not require any introduction. Also one whose DNA can be seen in just about every subsequent monster movie that followed it. One many levels I do not think it is a movie that ever can be surpassed. Equaled, yes. Surpassed. No.