The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 8, 1976

I remember seeing some television spots for this big bug throwback's theatrical release and being freaked out by them. Surely The Giant Spider Invasion would shock and terrify me beyond all measure.

Twenty-three or so years would pass before I would actually see The Giant Spider Invasion and, well, whatever horrors I imaged the film containing at age eight or so turned out to be far, far worse than what was in the film itself. But it did provide fodder for what just might be my all time favorite episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

"GILLETTE, THE BEST A MAN CAN GET!"  "PACKERS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!" "MOSES, MOVE THE BIKE!"

Quoting it only makes me want to watch it again.

As far as the film's co-hits go. The Alameda Showcase had The Giant Spider Invasion on a double-bill with 1972's Tales from the Crypt. The Eastmont Four had it showing with a different feature from 1972. The Hit Man, which starred Bernie Casey and Pam Grier. At the Roxie, The Giant Spider Invasion was paired with yet another different feature from 1972, Eddie Romero's Philippines lensed The Twilight People. That same double-bill was also unspooling at the Coliseum Drive-in. But the Nimitz bucked the trend of dusting off features from 1972 by pairing The Giant Spider Invasion with 1973's cheapie science-fiction thriller The Clones. Pleasant Hill's Motor Movies Drive-In did not buck the trend, as it had Spider, like the Alameda Showcase, paired with Tales from the Crypt.

United Artists in Berkeley had to have had the most thematically appropriate pairing, though. There it was paired with the William Castle production Bug. The Plaza, the eighth and final venue listed, also had it showing with 1973's The Clones.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #73

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors (1987)

 

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - June 5, 1977

Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger might be the only Ray Harryhausen effects movie I saw on the big screen. While this June 5, 1977 ad clipped from the San Francisco Examiner listed the Alameda Theatre, I remember seeing it at the ever reliable Southshore.

While the film has a bevy of stop motion beasties to enjoy, the only big screen moment that lodged in my memory was the antagonist bemoaning there was not enough magic potion to fully complete her transformation from bird back into human form. "Not enough! Not enough!"

 

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #37

Datalog: Approx. 0:300 Hours, Day 3

From out of the shadows came Bishop. The company had sent a Bishop look-alike to gain my trust. He said the company wanted to remove the Alien inside me and destroy it. He said they wanted to help me. But what if he was lying?
 

Alligator (1980) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 4, 1981

This newspaper ad is all that stuck with me for the brief theatrical run of what became the modest cult/sleeper hit Alligator. Blessed with a solid cast that got to work with a tongue-in-cheek script by John Sayles, who claims to have wrote this on a plane flight from the New York to Los Angeles. Alligator is a fun, unpretentious, and, at times, downright nasty monster movie.

For whatever reason, this is one that slipped through my fingers and I did not see it until it debuted on network television. I think the film's infamous "walk the plank" scene made it to the airwaves intact, but that first viewing has been mixed and muddled with countless follow-up VHS and DVD viewings that it no longer matters. But I did know about the scene well in advance, because someone at school that had seen it on the big screen talked about it.

A check of Friday's "Theatre Guide" revealed that the Roxie would have Alligator on triple-bill with Shogun Assassin and Planet of the Dinosaurs. The Southshore had it paired with the action film High Risk. The Coliseum Drive-in was showing it with Humanoids from the Deep, while United Artists in Berkeley had it coupled with Windwalker. If you went to see Alligator at the Festival Cinema in Hayward, you could watch it with Excalibur. The Cooper Twin in San Pablo also had it with Humanoids from the Deep, while the Regency in Pleasant Hill paired with the Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin historical action flick Death Hunt.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #72

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Another Fright Flicks card with Vengeance: The Demon title on the back of the card, rather than that actual title of the film, which is Pumpkinhead.

This image is from late in the film, when the true cost of summoning the vengeance demon Pumpkinhead begins to manifest.
 

Ghostbusters (1984) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - June 3, 1984

Ivan Reitman and Dan Ackroyd, with the assist of Bill Murray, Sigourney Weaver, Rick Moranis, and an almost unacknowledged Ernie Hudson, captured lightning in a bottle that, despite numerous repeat attempts, was never truly been recaptured.

This might have been my favorite film of the summer of 1984, although it did receive stiff competition from the even darker and actually scary at times Gremlins. Which just so happened to have been released on the very same weekend as Ghostbusters.

I was visiting friends and family in the states at the time, which meant I got to see it during its theatrical run while it was enjoying massive business and the Southland Cinema in Hayward. At least that is where I remember seeing it.
 

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #36

Datalog: Approx. 0:300 Hours, Day 3

I could see them across the way; they had finally arrived. The Weyland-Yutani Commando team charged up the stairs, ready for battle. They were outfitted in full military uniform and each of them carried a pulse rifle. May question was: Were they here to rescue us... or the Alien?
 

Phantom of the Paradise (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - June 2, 1976

While Brian De Palma's cult oddity Phantom of the Paradise was first released in late 1974, I did not see it on the big screen until this 1976 re-release.

One of the things I truly enjoy about clipping and sharing these vintage ads is learning and processing the difference between when something happened versus how I remember it having happened. Sometimes the history and the memory align, sometimes it does not. This is an example of the former.

I remember sitting in the Alameda Southshore, which was still called the Showcase at this time, and recognizing Rod Serling's distinctive voice speaking the opening narration. A voice that I recognized as the host of Night Gallery, not The Twilight Zone. Because I would not see an episode of The Twilight Zone until 1978 or 79. Maybe? Oh, and my I remember my first ever Twilight Zone episode being the Charles Beaumont scripted A Nice Place to Visit, which remains one of my all time favorite episodes.

Phantom of the Paradise would also serve as my first ever Brian De Palma movie. And a wonderful and memorable introduction it was, I think.

As far as actual history differing, or merging, with personal memory goes. A check of the theatre listing revealed...

That Phantom of the Paradise was double-billed with another, far less stellar, childhood memory of mine. The painfully unfunny (at least that is how I remember it) Old Dracula. Which means that I saw them on this double-bill, although I did not remember that as being the case.

But... my memory of where I was seated, and thus how the screen image was positioned before for me, for both films were identical. Why I do not remember seeing these two together, I have no idea. But see them I did. Together, at the Alameda Showcase, in 1976. At the tender age of eight or nine.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #71

Day of the Dead (1985)