The Swarm (1978) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - July 13, 1978

Irwin Allen's production of The Swarm is one of the crown jewels of my childhood. The pre-release hype and ballyhoo was impressive, causing the "killer bee" fear mongering of the late-seventies to reach a fever pitch. I had the movie-tie edition of the Arthur Herzog novel and examined each and every black and white photo, wondering if this movie would do for bees was Jaws had done for sharks.

Then the movie opened and, well, the rancid stench of flop sweat and fresh turkey manure filled empty theaters across the nation. Ineptly made and poorly written, The Swarm is a bombastic mess of a movie that was woefully out of touch with the era in which it was made and set. The meandering plot wanders and drifts at a pace that makes a glacial seem like a speed run.

Allen seems to have spent most of his big budget on wrangling an all star cast that, despite all having done solid to great work elsewhere, give performances here that range from wooden to operatically over the top. I think Michael Caine and Richard Widmark, who spend a majority of the film arguing with each other, made bet as to who could chew the most scenery and boy do the splinters fly when they  go at each other.

One of the many joys this film has given is the gleeful delight whenever I take the Warner Bros Studio tour. Being able to see and walk around the raw material with which "Marysville, Texas" was created on the Burbank backlot is an intoxicating joy that will forever have me wanting to take just one more tour and just a few more pictures.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #83

Alien (1979)

 

The Fly (1958) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - July 10, 1958

A rather impressive roster of 'Hollywood Ghouls' will be attending tomorrow night's Studio Sneak Preview of The Fly. I have a suspicion that the Invisible Man was the subject of a "no show" joke of some kind. Unless they had some dude wrapped in bandages milling about.

Although The Fly would be released as part of a double-bill with the killer space fungus flick Spacemaster X-7, this sneak preview substitutes for Beautiful But Dangerous. Which was the co-hit for the Gregory peck starring western The Bravados, which would could watch before or after The Fly.

 

Alien (1992) - Trading Card #47

Behind the Scenes - Sound Stage

The sets - Lead Works, Toxic Waste Disposal, Morgue, Infirmary - were housed on this huge sound stage in London, England. Norman Reynolds, famed British production designer, gave the sets of Alien 3 continuity with the other Alien movies. Dirty, rough, crude, and eerie.
 

Humongous (1982) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - July 9, 1982

Having struck a modest vein of box office gold with the 1980 Halloween cash-in Prom Night, director Paul Lynch made a somewhat quick return to the same exploitation well for this 1982 monster-themed slasher.

While not a 'bad' film, in that it looks like a film made an actual filmmaker, it is hampered by a paint-by-the-numbers body count script that mashes together Friday the 13th Part II with The Grim Reaper. The only things missing here are some gnarly and inventive deaths and an impressive looking visage for the titular Humongous. Which leaves little to nothing of interest left to hold the viewer.

Between Prom Night and Humongous, Lynch directed four segments for the short-lived Night Gallery styled anthology series Darkroom, which was hosted by James Coburn and ran on ABC. Those segments were Stay Tuned, We'll Be Right Back, Needlepoint, Daises, and Who's There?

Lynch would move between theatrical features, such as the 1986 drama Bullies, and episodic television. Of interest to me would be the six segments he directed for the mid-80s return of The Twilight Zone - Examination Day, A Message from Charity, Wong's Lost and Found Emporium, Need to Know, Shadow Play, The Storyteller, and The World Next Door. As well as the three half hour episodes he directed for the syndication package - The Crossing, The Hunters, and Crazy as a Soup Sandwich.

I also need to seek out the two episodes he directed for The Ray Bradbury Theater - Marionettes, Inc. and The Long Years. There were also two episodes of the short lived return of Dark Shadows in 1991. Five episodes of Star Trek The Next Generation - The Naked Now, 11001001, Unnatural Selection, A Matter of Time, and The First Duty. Five episodes of RoboCop - The Future of Law Enforcement, Parts 1 and 2, Trouble in Delta City, Officer Missing, and Faces of Eve. Two episodes of the 90s reboot of The Outer Limits - The Second Soul and Dark Matters. Eight episodes of F/X; The Series, four episodes Poltergeist: The Legacy, two episodes of Xena: Warrior Princess, and three episodes of Sliders - Net Worth, Please Press One, and Requiem.

An incomplete list of some of the films and television work that screenwriter William Gray is credited with include the classic 1980 ghost story The Changeling, the aforementioned Prom Night, the Chuck Norris action flick An Eye for an Eye, The Philadelphia Experiment, and Black Moon Rising. Two episodes of The Hitchhiker - Joker and Fashion Exchange. Two episodes of that 90s relaunch of Dark Shadows and three episodes apiece for RoboCop and BeastMaster.

At the Roxie, Humongous was on a triple-bill with The Seduction and Beyond the Fog [which was retitled reissuing of 1972's Tower of Evil, aka Horror of Snape Island]. The Parkway had it paired with Escape from New York. Humongous rampaged solo at both the Festival Cinemas in Hayward and the Regency Cinema in Pleasant Hill.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #82

Fright Night (1985)

 

Dracula (1979) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - July 8, 1979

Thanks in very large part to the massive success of the Edward Gorey designed revival of the Dean/Balderston penned play, both on Broadway and as a national tour, Universal dusted off the gothic horror property that launched its famous monster line-up and released this "all-new" cinematic version of the classic story in 1979.

There were also three or four Dracula movies that came out during the summer of 1979, depending on whether or not you count (heh, "count") Werner Herzog's Noserfatu the Vampyre. Love at First Bite, a rom-com take on Dracula that starred George Hamilton as the Count, preceded this film's release by 3 or so months. The 7 Brothers Meet Dracula, a delayed by five or so years retitled release of Hammer Film's Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires, would open the Wednesday before this film's release.

Because the movie looked "old" to me, in that it was set in the 19th century and 12 year-old me preferred movies and stories set in time periods with electricity, indoor plumbing, and motor cars, I was disinterested in seeing this on the big screen. Too bad for younger me.

I did catch up on during a Halloween night sleepover with a whole bunch of friends. An independent pay TV outlet had an awesome marathon lined up. What I remember being shown that night was the animated film Wizards (1977), followed by The Amityville Horror (1979), Halloween (1978), The Fog (1980) and Dracula (1979). There may come a time when I might be able to fact check this, by checking the Oakland Tribune's TV listings, but who knows if, or when, that will ever occur.
 

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #46

Behind the Scenes - Alien Puppet 2

An Alien rod puppet is used to film the fast-moving chase scenes. Here, two crew members control the Alien to give it a character of its own. The Alien puppet scenes were done in a California studio and matched up with the live action scenes done in London.
 

Phantasm II (1988) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - July 7, 1988

One of several 1988 summer horror films that underperformed at that box office.

As fun and atmospheric as Phantasm II is, general audiences were just not all that interested in seeing a spooky carnival ride of a movie in July. Maybe, just maybe, if the film had been pushed to late September or early October? Maybe. But who knows, really? I don't.

But what I do know is that this movie is fun. The higher budget, an estimated 3 million, not only allowed for better special effects and production design, but may have given writer-producer-director Don Coscarelli a tad more of the old shooting schedule.

And it shows, because the movie also looks great. I was able to see this opening weekend and had a blast. The friend I was with, however, did not. He hated the movie. So it goes.

The one downside is that Universal wanted a more established actor to play the lead character of Mike. So A. Michael Baldwin was switched out for James Le Gros. The one and only time Baldwin did not play Mike.

 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #81

The Fly (1986)