The Intruders by Pat Montandon - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - July 15, 1975

After an irritated Tarot card reader hurls a curse at both her and the house she is living in, socialite Pat Montandon's life begins to unravel. As online review summarized "[Montandon] began to feel unsafe and uneasy in her apartment. She heard noises, felt dread, felt a presence. Mysterious fires broke out, her apartment was robbed, criminals seemed to be lurking about at all times."

Was it real, or was it just a figment of imagination and nervous paranoia brought upon the very real troubled and troubling times occurring in the city of San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s? I have no idea, but finding this ad buried in the pages of the Oakland Tribune arouses my curiosity. 

Whether real or imagined, this is an interesting foreshadowing of true haunting genre that would arise following the larger commercial and cultural success of Jay Anson's book The Amityville Horror. Which would be published two years later, in 1977.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #84

Vengeance The Demon (1988)

Another card utilizing the discarded alternate title for Pumpkinhead.
 

The Frighteners (1996) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - July 14, 1996

As much as I would have loved to have gone and seen The Frighteners on the big screen, it was released at a time when such luxuries were out of reach.

When I finally was able to catch up to the film when it hit home video, I thought it was a tad unfocused and all over the place. The organizational threads of story and character seemed to have gotten tangled with the distractions of the massive amounts of special effects.

While Jackson was aiming for a PG-13 rating, it became clear that the MPAA, for whatever reason, did not want the film to have that rating. No matter the amount of cuts and alterations made. So Jackson amped up the gore for one character's death, just so the R rating felt earned rather than arbitrary.

This one movie I need to revisit sooner, rather than later.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #48

Behind the Scenes - Lead Works Set

Here, the enormous Lead Works and Blast Furnace set undergo construction on the "007 Stage," the world's largest sound stage located at Pinewood Studios, London.
 

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)