Carrie by Stephen King / The Swarm by Arthur Herzog - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 24, 1975

Finding this ad for the source material for two seminal movies of my youth was a pleasant, even chuckle inducing, delight.

While I do not remember seeing either of these particular editions on bookstore shelves, or nestled in drugstore spinner racks, I do remember picking up one for The Swarm in a used bookstore in Berkeley, way, way back in the day.

The two editions I remember, and actually read, were the movie tie-ins. 

In 1976 I was equal parts fascinated and frightened by the black and white stills in the center of the Carrie tie-in. My interest was fueled somewhat by John Travolta being in it. Because he was one of the beloved Sweat Hogs in the popular sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.

While I did read Carrie, two or three times, it might not have been until 1979, or maybe even 1980. It was long after I had seen the film's broadcast debut on network television. Which was the first time that I saw it.

The Swarm, which I was obsessed with in the first half of 1978, was my "birthday movie" for that year. Like a great many books at that time, I struggled to get through it. It would not be until 1980 or 81 that I would actually manage to read the entire book, from start to finish.

While not a great book, The Swarm could have made for a pretty good movie. If the person making said movie had understood the kind of movie they were making. Which had not been the case with Irwin Allen. So it goes.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #22

Datalog: Approx. 0:1400 Hours, Day 2

We were all armed with flares, hoping to flush the Alien out into the open. One of the prisoners was high up in the vertical air duct before he realized the Alien was up there too. That's when he dropped the flare and the passageways exploded into flames. 

Fear No Evil (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 23, 1981

Last year, on April 24, I posted the opening day ad, also clipped from the Oakland Tribune, for Frank LaLoggia's debut feature Fear No Evil. In that post I shared a clip from Creature Features that featured LaLoggia doing a promotional interview for the film.

Having done that, I thought it might be cool to track down one of the TV spots I remember seeing on television. I know that it featured Andrew (Stefan Arngrim), a birthday cake, and Andrew's father screaming "My son is the devil!"

This appears to be the one.

I feel the need to qualify this with the phrase "appears to be" as April 1981, at time of writing, is a whopping 45 years in my past. While the ad does feature what I remember, watching it did not trigger the dopamine hit response of, "Ah, that's the one! That's it!"

But it has been 45 years, man. That means a whole lot of memories smashing, mixing, or blending together. I think that it lodged in my memory at all is something of pop culture win.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #57

Aliens (1986)

 

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.