House On Bare Mountain (1962) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1964

I have yet to see this nudie-cutie, and probably won't, but if I were ever to subject myself to one it would be this one. Because... it features a bunch of familiar and beloved monsters.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #45

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

The Funhouse (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 12, 1981

My memory of this film is that it seemed to take forever and a day to reach theaters and drive-ins near me. Even then, I failed in seeing it on the big screen. Because, by that time, I read the novelization by Owen West (Dean Koontz), which I had not cared for all that much.

It turns out that Dean Koontiz himself had not cared for it either and had taken some liberties with the script, in regards to backstory and motivation and so on and so forth. This would also be the only novelization that Koontz would ever write.

The film itself is not all that bad, really. Tobe Hooper's oh-so-unique brand of southern fried insanity pulses in just about every frame and, despite some effect moments of outlandish and over-the-top theatrical bombast, this movie really works well in its quieter, creepier moments. Of which there are quite a few.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #9

Datalog: Approx. 0:200, Day 2

An Alien can develop very quickly. I've seen chestbursters grow with amazing speed, shedding their skin with each phase of development. After the chestburster phase comes the quadruped phase - the four legged creatures. They always seem to be growing - and eating.

With each new entry in the franchise the gestation, birth, and growth of the 'Alien' (as it is called in this card series) shortened and quickened, because audiences knew what was coming and the filmmakers, or producers, felt it better to speed run through the established lore. More of than not, this was to the detriment of the film over all. So it goes.

The Beast Within (1982) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 11, 1982

I had torn through, and enjoyed, Edward Levy's fast paced source novel, so I walked into a 1983 screening of The Beast Within with some degree of high expectations. I also knew/recognized actor-turned Poe scholar Paul Clemens from his reoccurring role on Quincy, M.E., where he effectively (at least as I recall it) played a young man that suffering from the misunderstand and misrepresented condition known as Tourette's Syndrome. Which just so happened to have captured the attention of both online discourse and, inevitably, outrage from reasons that have nothing to do with the condition and everything to do with the spectacle.

Actor turned screenwriter Tom Holland, who would go on to pen the better than it has any right being Psycho II, as well as writing and directing Fright Night, among others, struggles to craft a coherent and understandable cinematic story from Levy's multi-viewpoint and multi-generation novel. It almost works, and might have worked, if director Philippe Mora had handled the material with a more serious attitude and less tongue in cheek contempt.

Although it falls short of being impactful as a straight horror film, it still has an energetic and atmospheric vibe that will keep the more forgiving viewer(s) entertained and somewhat engaged.

It also has a terrific score by the late, great Les Baxter.

Fright Flicks - Trading Cards #44

Fright Night (1985)

Evil Ed living his best vampiric life, albeit for only a night or so. Maybe...?

Isle of the Dead (1945) / Zombies on Broadway (1945) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 10, 1946

RKO double-bill featuring Boris Karloff headlining another fine offering from producer Val Lewton, Isle of the Dead. Bela Lugosi is the selling point of the second feature, which, despite the blurbs shouting EERIE! and SCAREY!, was actually of comedy featuring the duo of Brown and Carney. A pair of Abbott and Costello wannabes that never quite made it. So it goes.

Isle of the Dead was directed by Mark Robson, who I know best for directing Earthquake (1974). Zombies on Broadway was directed by Gordon Douglas, a journeyman workhorse who would go on to helm the better received, and far more fondly remembered, giant ant feature THEM! (1954).

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #8

Datalog: Approx. 0:200 Hours, Day 2

An Alien grows inside a living organism, then explodes from its chest - a chestburster. If it was gestating inside Newt or Hicks, then this would be the end of the species. But if an Alien somehow got inside someone or something else...

In the theatrical cut the 'something else' is a dog, in the assembly cut I think it might have been a cow. Or maybe it was still the dog. I don't remember...

But, man, they offed a kid and a dog in this movie? No wonder audiences turned on this supposed 'final' entry.

Demon [God Told Me To (1976)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 9, 1977

While I think The Stuff might be my favorite Larry Cohen movie, apologies to both Q: The Winged Serpent and It's Alive, it is God Told Me To that gets my vote for his absolute best. Although it is sporting its alternate title of Demon here. This movie is smart, challenging, and abrasively, almost shoddily, off-kilter as only writer-directer-producer Larry Cohen at the very top of his game could be. 

A series of mass killing events plagues New York City. Although the perpetrators do not know one another, each and every one share the same calm, cool, and almost serene demeanor during and after their killing spree. They also give the same reason for what made them decide to start killing people... "God told me to."

One can understand why the distributor opted for a title change.

Tony Lo Bianco is the deeply religious cop on the case and what he learns is, well, earth shattering. The calm ambiguity of the film's final line of dialogue and fade out image might sooth one viewer's nerves every bit as much as it will shatter another's.

Yeah, God Told Me To is Cohen at his absolute best, I think.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #43

Poltergeist (1982)

Co-written and produced by Steven Spielberg, DIRECTED by Tobe Hooper.