The Keep (1983) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 15, 1983

I read The Keep while living in Hong Kong and, if the ever questionable timeline of how I remember things is at all accurate, it was after I had read about the film adaptation in the pages of Fangoria. Maybe. The book had been out for quite some time, as I recall, and The Tomb had also been published by this time. Perhaps even The Touch. I don't really know. I was living life and not taking notes. Ah, if only I had journaled (and thought to keep said journals), the fact checking I could be doing right now.

The film adaptation had come and gone by the time I watched it on home video. Although I was a tremendous fan of Michael Mann's Thief, the alterations and liberties he had taken with The Keep irked me to no end. I think I am just going to stick with F. Paul Wilson's source novel.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #50

Beauty and the Other Beauty

Purgatori's secret - long ago, she was a mere mortal named Sakkara. Thanks to arcane magicks, the two were separated for a time, now Sakkara calls the shots, summoning Purgatori at will. 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 37

Chinatown (1974) - Soundtrack

I have come to theorize, and feel free to poke as many holes in this as you might deem necessary, that just about every film contains a clarifying mission statement that explains, or defines, its core themes to its attentive viewer(s).

Chinatown's mission statement might be when Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) tells Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), "I was trying to protect someone from being hurt, ended up helping her get hurt."

Reading Kevin Mulhall's liner notes for this compact disc re-issue of the original soundtrack album offered some interesting facts and trivia.

Jerry Goldsmith was a last last-minute replacement and had all of ten days to spot, write and record a score for the film.

"I got a flash of the orchestral fabric," Goldsmith says in the notes. "I had no idea musically what it was going to be but there was a sound... I wanted strings, four pianos, four harps, two percussionists, and a trumpet."

Oh, what a trumpet...

Being the original album, this release combines cues and/or uses alternate takes different from those used in the film for 'better' listening. Although the complete film score has been made available, I have yet to make an upgrade. I am satisfied with this presentation.

The Dreamshattering by Mary Kittredge - Review

Terror (1978) / Dracula's Dog (1977) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 12, 1979

Although I had become much more attentive to the movie adverts in our daily newspaper by this time, I do not remember this double-feature release. It happens.

Yet there are things I do remember about both films, from back in the day. One was that the trailer for Terror was shown, along with one for The Dark, on KTVU's Creature Features. The other being when Dracula's Dog aired on television at some point. Although we had seen Salem's Lot, neither my brother nor I recognized Reggie Nalder as the actor who had played Mr. Barlow. We also made fun of the movie and, I am saddened to admit, Nalder's appearance.

This ad also shows how film distributors had begun phasing out Wednesday as a routine opening day in 1979. For some twenty to thirty years movies opened on either Wednesday or Friday. That changed in 1979 and, from 1980 onward, Wednesday openings became infrequent and, for the most part, holiday date dependent.

There is a novelization of Dracula's Dog out there and, maybe, I might part with some coin to acquire and read it. Maybe.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #14

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

As much as I adore Jerry Goldsmith' score for Poltergeist II and admire H.R. Giger's artistic contributions to the film, I have only watched this first sequel once, from start to finish.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) / Ghidrah: The Three-Headed Monster [San Daikaijû Chikyû Saidai no Kessen (1964)] / Dr. Who and the Daleks (1965) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 11, 1968

Now this a triple-bill the manages to encapsulate my overall viewing and collecting habits and tastes. Its got a horror movie, its got a Japanese monster movie, and its got a British genre movie. I have each of the advertised movies on physical media, so I can replicate this triple-bill, if ever I am so moved to do.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #49

No Barriers

Those who stand against Purgatori all meet the same fate. Death administered by a vision of lusty, insatiable passion and fury. 

Dracula - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 10, 1978

The tour production of Edward Gorey's popular Broadway revival of Dracula arrived just in time for the holiday season, with Jeremy Brett playing the role of Dracula. Brett is perhaps best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in a long-running series of episodic and feature length television programs for Britain's Granada Television. He died in 1995.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #13

Fright Night (1985)

Ah, 'Evil' Ed. Another example of the vampire story trope of the misfit, loner, or minion whose dreams of eternal glory as one of the undead are almost comically (or tragically) short-lived.

Or are they...?

Stranger Things - A 2- sided 500 piece puzzle

Who Done It? (1942) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 9, 1942

Although there is a ghost-like figure just above Abbott's head that is pointing at another ghost-like figure lounging stage-right to Abbott, there are no supernatural-themed shenanigans in the film itself.

Nonetheless Who Done It? earns its posting here, rather than over at The Newspaper Ad Archive, because its murder mystery plot and old time radio setting have it brushing up against the outermost fringe of whatever it is that I deem an appropriate topic for Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties.

KBHK seemed to have a dedicated Saturday afternoon time-slot for Abbott & Costello movies and there were a solid half dozen of them I never passed on the opportunity to watch. All of them had some tinge or touch of horror, suspense, science fiction, or fantasy to them, of course. 

There were the pairs meet-ups with the Universal Monsters, the time they went to "Mars" (Venus, actually), or whenever they ran afoul of a variety of killers. Who Done It? is one of the latter, obviously.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #48

Cornered

Never helpless, Purgatori often toys with her prey, pushing them into battle to taunt them for her own pleasure. Oncer her back is to the corner, beware - Purgatori has you exactly where she wants you. 

Mansion of the Doomed (1976) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 8, 1976

Prolific actor Michael Pataki made his directing debut with this unsettling and unsightly riff on Eyes Without A Face (1960). Only this time around it is more like A Face Without Any Eyes.

Richard Basehart stars as Dr. Leonard Chaney, an ophthalmologist whose guilt at blinding his daughter drives him to experiment with eyeball transplantation. Although he is successful, at first, that success is short lived and another new set of eyes are needed.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Oh, and there are a few more issues regarding those transplants. These are not cadaver eyes. Each and every donor is a living person that has not volunteered, or even knows that they are about to, donate their eyeballs.

Although Chaney states his intention to restore eyesight to all who have "aided" in his experimentation, he does not seem to be giving all that much thought on how and where those unfortunates will be getting their donor eyes from. He will deal with that only after a transplantation proves permanent. Something he is certain will happen, this time...

Mansion of the Doomed is also notable for giving character actor icon Lance Henriksen one his first substantive onscreen roles, as well as giving future make-up effects icon Stan Winston the opportunity to create all those unsettling eyeless donor effects.

What was it showing with? Well, moving from left to right and top to bottom: The Roxie had Mansion on a triple-bill with The House That Screamed (1969) and Sugar Hill (1974). The Coliseum Drive-In had it paired with Night of the Living Dead (1968). The Alameda 3 had it with The Devil Within Her [aka Sharon's Baby and I Don't Want to Be Born (1975)]. Hayward's Festival Cinemas showed it with Embryo (1976), while Oakland's Eastmont Four had it coupled with Death Machines (1976). I also discovered that the Eastmont had a double-bill of the not at all similar Sparkle (1976) and Assault on Precinct 13 (1976). That was a fun to uncover.

Pleasant Hill's Regency Cinemas also showed Mansion with Embryo, while Richmond's Hilltop Drive-In, as well as the Union City Drive-In, offered another pairing with Night of the Living Dead.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #12

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Wes Craven really knocked it out of the park with A Nightmare on Elm Street and this jump scare moment knocked me out of my seat, I am happy to share.

I will also share that, although I was all of eighteen at the time, the very first night after my very first viewing of A Nightmare on Elm Street was a sleepless one. Because that movie, and its smart and simple premise, scared the daylights out of me.

Filoli House - Holiday Lights 2025

The Assignment by Mitch Potter - Review

White Zombie (1932) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 5, 1932

There are only five days left to see Bela Lugosi in White Zombie, because something called The Last Mile will be opening and taking its screen.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #47

Hunter

The most savage and feral of all Lady Death's enemies, Purgatori becomes truly animalistic when she fights, pulling no punches with her claws, and ripping with her teeth. She is truly a thing to behold when her bold boils in battle. 

Child's Play 2 (1990) - Soundtrack

Although I had gone and seen the first Child's Play movie on the big screen, it had not impressed me all that much. So when Child's Play 2 arrived between Halloween and Thanksgiving in 1990, I gave it a pass. On the big screen, at least. But when I snagged a look on home video, I was made to regret skipping that big screen viewing. Because screenwriter, and Chucky creator, Don Mancini and directer John Lafia had delivered a sequel that, unlike the first film, was both entertaining and surprising. Until Seed of Chucky popped out, I think Child's Play 2 might have been my favorite entry in the franchise.

Composer Graeme Revell, flush from his success scoring Philip Noyce's breakout hit Dead Calm, had emigrated from New Zealand to the United States, in the hope of launching a career as a film composer. It was Don Mancini that brought Revell to the attention of producer David Kirschner.

And it was Revell that suggested an orchestral score for the film. When asked if he had any experience composing for orchestra, Revell lied and told them, "Yes!"

"When the orchestra played [the Main Title] the first time," Revell says in the liner notes for this La-La Land release, "it was a total mess." Dismayed at how the composition sounded nothing at all like he had intended, Revell thought, "my career was over."

Walker conducted another read of the Main Title and, this time, it sounded perfect.

While I don't find this score to be as memorable as some others, it nonetheless does find a way to balance between the serious aspects of the film and its tongue-in-cheek self-awareness. Even if Revell himself had his doubts, back in the day.

"At times I felt like I was trying to be [Looney Tunes composer] Carl Stalling and failing," he says in the liner notes. Well, he did not fail. He nailed it.

The Horrible House on the Hill [Peopletoys (1974)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 4, 1974

The Horrible Hose on the Hill, also known as Peopletoys and best known as Devil Times Five, is a delightfully nasty entry in the killer kid sub-genre. It can also be considered a Christmas film. Look out for Sorrell Brooke, who would go on to play Boss Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard, in a small role. Ditto Joan McCall, who would go on to play Christopher George's love interest in Grizzly (1976).

The movie was paired with something called The Night God Screamed (1971), which I have yet to see, but it sounds both unpleasant and intriguing enough to perk my interest.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #11

Aliens (1986)

[Former] Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) shouted these very same words, minus the and, just before the charging shark chomped down on the power line at the end of Jaws 2. Sure it was no, "Smile, you son of a bitch." But nothing could rival that.

If you have seen Aliens, and if you are visiting this blog I will assume you have, then you no doubt can hear what Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) had just snarled at the Queen xenomporph between the before and after images on this particular card.

Psycho (1998) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 3, 1998

While I do remember Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho being released, and giving it an emphatic pass, I thought it was a summer release.

Nope, it was lump of cinematic coal dumped into the holiday season for... reasons. While there are those that will defend this 'artistic exercise' as being a scathing statement on, or indictment of, remakes, I doubt I will ever become one of them. I have zero interest in ever watching this.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #46

Raw Power

One constant in Purgatori's life of change? Her quest for power. Desiring godhood, she'll kill, corrupt, or sleep with anyone who can aid her in her lust for more power. 

The Cloisters Unicorn - A 1000 Piece Puzzle

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) - Promo

Oakland Tribune - December 2, 1979

With its theatrical release looming on the horizon, Star Trek The Motion Picture gets the cover of the Oakland Tribune's Sunday supplement At Ease.

Although I did watch Star Trek re-runs on the regular, and also sampled the Saturday morning animated show, I did not see The Motion Picture on the big screen until it was re-released on a double-bill with the far better Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. So it goes.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #10

Fright Night (1985)

 

Mr. Sardonicus (1961) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 1, 1961

Although I have not seen every movie William Castle foisted upon the world, I can say that The Tingler and Mr. Sardonicus are pretty much neck-and-neck at the finish line for the "Favorite" crown. Both unnerved and delighted me, back when they made the rounds on either KTVU's 'Chiller Diller' or KBHK's 'Monstrous Movie' Saturday programming. I also have zero doubt that both were shown on 'Creature Features' at some point.

A 'few years' back (it was 2018, actually, I just checked my Goodreads shelf) I read Haunted Castles: The Complete Gothic Stories by Ray Russell, which contained the source material for this film. Since Russell himself penned the adaptation, Castle's film version remained rather faithful.

A few images from the film did lodge in my memory... the henchman placing leeches on some poor woman's bare feet, the rictus grin of a corpse laying in a coffin, the shock reveal of Sardonicus's grinning visage, and the final shot of the film.

About that final shot... while Russell's short story makes clear the ultimate of fate of Sardonicus, while the film implies that might be avertible...

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #45

Resplendent

Captured in simple black and white, Lady Death's beauty shines through, her pale skin a stark contrast to her costume. Utter beauty, but containing terrible power. 

The Stuff of the Month - November 2025

Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride [The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 26, 1978

Although the poster for this retitling of The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973) promises that 'The King of the undead marries the Queen of the Zombies" at some point, it would not be in this movie. Not that anybody would have cared, or noticed, at this point in time.

This would be Christopher Lee's final performance as Dracula for Hammer Film. Lee, when embellishing the reasons for Dracula having no dialogue in Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1966), would often cite terrible lines, such as, "I am the Apocalypse!" Silly trash that the character from Stoker's novel would never have uttered, according to Lee.

The thing of it is, this line is from The Satanic Rites of Dracula. The movie that 'convinced' Lee to stop, step away, and distance himself from the role that had grown to define and shackle him.

I do enjoy this movie, though.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #9

The Fly (1986)

 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 36

Alien Resurrection (1997) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 25, 1997

Hindsight has me questioning why I was ever excited about there being a new Alien movie. When I sat down in the (sadly no more) Century 5 Dome Theater in Pleasant Hill, I anticipated an entertaining thrill ride of a movie. That geeky anticipation was also fueled by the teaser trailer for the upcoming X-Files movie! 

Then Alien Resurrection started and the excitement just leaked out of me as the movie played out. Oh, there were things I liked, such as any scene with Brad Dourif, and... well, the Newborn was an interesting concept, but not all that well handled or introduced. I also liked seeing Dan Hedaya in a small role.

Other than that, though, I remember, round about when the swimming xenomporhs showed up, thinking, "This feels like The Poseidon Adventure meets Aliens." Now that is a mash up that should, and might, have worked, but the movie just sat there. Listless and lifeless.

The only Alien franchise entry I consider to be worse, and even less entertaining, than Resurrection is Alien Romulus.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #44

Radiant

Basking in power, Lady Death soon found that being alive was taking its own toll. Her memories and emotions of former self coalesced into their own being which haunted the mortal Lady Death to the ends of the earth.

The Jaunt by Stephen King - Review

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 24, 1976

I did not see Assault on Precinct 13 until it was broadcast, complete and uncut, on KBHK Channel 44 (Cable Channel 12) on Saturday, January 30, 1982. By that point in time, I knew (and idolized) who and what John Carpenter was. The audio cassette recording I made of that broadcast got played every bit as much as the audio cassette recordings I had made of the network television premiere of Jaws and a pay television broadcast of The Fog.

But when Assault on Precinct 13 opened in a minuscule number of theaters in November of 1976, nobody knew who John Carpenter was or what he was capable of. I do envy the people lucky enough to see this movie on the big screen. Before John Carpenter was John Carpenter.

At the Coliseum Drive-In, Assault was coupled with the action-thriller Killer Force (1976), which starred Telly Savalas and Peter Fonda and was directed by Val Guest (who had helmed The Quatermass Xperiment, Quatermass 2, The Abominable Snowman, The Day the Earth Caught Fire, and many, many more).

The Hayward Automotive and Eastmont Four had it paired with Switchblade Sisters (1975). While the Lux in Oakland had it as part of a triple feature, alongside Take A Hard Ride (1975) and something called Kung Fu Master. That latter film might be a Shaw Brothers offering better known as The Master of Kung Fu [Huang Fei Hong (1973)]. Who knows.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #8

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Here the labored gag actually syncs with the film image(s) being used for the card.

"I'm your boyfriend now Nancy..."

Although the Phone Tongue prop was only on screen for a few seconds, the grotesque image, and the defilement it represented, made for quite an effective marketing image. Nice BTS shot of the prop, too.

Parts The Clonus Horror (1979) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 21, 1979

I remember seeing, and being fascinated with, the newspaper ads for Parts The Clonus Horror, but I did not see the actual movie until it aired on the CBS Late Movie. But when would that have been? I checked a CBS Late Movie broadcast database, to see if I could pinpoint when I might have first watched Parts The Clonus Horror.

Well, it seems very likely that occurred on Friday, April 9, 1982. There was another broadcast, on Wednesday, August 11, 1982. But my dedicated CBS Late Movie viewing was relegated to Friday nights, more often than not.

There was another listing, for Friday January 15, 1982, but Stanley was airing on Creature Features that night and I remember watching it. The Hammer fantasy adventure The Lost Continent was what aired on Friday, April 9, and I know for a fact that I did not watch that on Creature Features. Because I watched it for the first time a year or so ago.

Most people today might know Parts The Clonus Horror from its appearance on Mystery Science Theater 3000. That was one of the episodes I skipped, because I remembered really enjoying the movie and did not wish to see it mocked. It happens.

I checked to see what the 'co-hit' at the Granada Theatre was and it turned out to be The Legacy. An oddity that I discovered, when checking the listings, was that while this ad states that Halloween (1978) is the film's co-feature at the Serramonte Six theatre, the showtime listing says that Alien (1979) is its co-feature. So, which was it?

I think it's fun to share these weird trivial hiccups I uncover in the nooks and crannies of the rabbit holes I fall into whenever I start fact checking my jumbled and fuzzy childhood memories.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #43

Innocence Lost

When she lets her guard down, Lady Death can show a side that few have ever seen and lived to tell about. Vulnerable to only a select few, Lady Death's heart is still her own. 

The Boogey Man (1980) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 20, 1980

This cinematic turkey was the last horror film to get a substantive theatrical release in the year 1980. While it did okay as an exploitation cash grab, there was not enough creative or financial juice in the tank to launch a franchise of its very own.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #7

Vengeance: The Demon (1988)

As stoked I was to see Pumpkinhead, opening weekend on the big screen, I was somewhat dismayed by how underwhelmed I was by the creature design. I thought it looked a tad too much like a xenomorph and was nowhere near 'pumpkiny' enough for my tastes and desires. So it goes.

Still, it is terrific 'little' monster movie that I wish had done a whole lot better at that box office. It really deserved to have a larger, more appreciative theatrical audience.

But it was not to be...

Side note of trivia. This Topps card series lists the film title as Vengeance: The Demon, which I think was either its original title or a brief retitling intended to make the film easier to market. Need to do some research regarding that.

The Big Show - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 19, 1963

Five years after five days after debuting as the second-half of a double-feature with Bert I. Gordon's superior giant bug flick The Spider, the time travel thriller Terror from the Year 5,000 aired on Channel 7's pre-primetime filler program 'The Big Show'. A rerun of an episode of The Rebel followed thereafter.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #42

Maid to Order

Quickly on her way to becoming a pinup icon in her own right, Lady Death has been shown in thousands of poses and costumes. Need some help lighting your Jack-O-Lantern? 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 35

Amityville 3-D (1983) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 18, 1983

In 1983 my dad got transferred to Hong Kong, so we pulled up roots and relocated. So I missed the American theatrical release of Amityville 3-D, but I did manage to see it on the big screen in Hong Kong, in 3-D.

I am somewhat certain that this was an occasion wherein I had read the film's novelization, written by Gordon McGill, prior to seeing it. I recognized his name from reading the novelization of The Final Conflict and its goofy tie-in novel sequel, Omen IV: Armageddon 2000. He also wrote a goofier tie-in sequel to Omen IV titled The Abomination: Omen V. I also read that, but all I remember about it is a gross leper joke.

Amityville 3-D was first film in the unconnected and scattershot franchise that fessed up to being entirely fictional. One not based on or inspired by either a real life tragedy or a fabricated huckster haunting. The movie neither bored me, nor did really impress me, either. It is just an inoffensive time waster, nothing more.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #6

Day of the Dead (1985)

The Major Cooper make-up effect in Day of the Dead was one of several that had me wondering how the hell they had managed to pull it off. The decapitation of Torres was another. Tom Savini really deserved an Academy Award nomination for his work here.

Dracula [Blood for Dracula (1974)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 17, 1974

Here we have a Dracula (Udo Kier) suffering the ravages of the sexual revolution. Seems that the Count can only drink the blood of virgins and, well, they are in an agonizing short supply. Considering the one-two punches of Herpes and HIV-AIDS were forthcoming, this black comedy of sexual suffering might have aged well.

I think I might revisit this one, maybe...

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #41

Which Witch

Like pop icons of decades past, Lady Death has taken her place in the pantheon of femme fatales drawn in different styles and settings by top artists. So what are you after, a trick... or a treat? 

The Spider (1958) / Terror from the Year 5000 (1958) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 14, 1958

My first ever viewing of Earth vs. The Spider provided a memorable jolt to my childhood psyche. One moment this dude is just driving along a road at night, the next his blood-spattered face is screeching in close-up. Wow. I was not expecting that.

The rest of the movie does not deliver anything close to that opening shock, but it does have a slumbering spider getting snapped out of its DDT-induced nap by a rock band's practice session... and the impromptu dance party that it has started.

Also, all the "teenagers" in this movie look to be in their mid-to-late 30s. Which is fun.

Bits and bobs sprinkled across the last 20 or so minutes of Terror from the Year 5,000 also lodged in my childhood memory as being terrifying. I guess that the image and sound of a sparkling woman lunging from the shadows and squealing like a terrified piglet was just outlandishly weird enough to give me a confused case of the willies.

Hey, I was seven or eight. What do you expect at that age, critical thinking?

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #5

"He's an ugly little spud, isn't he?"

"I think he can hear you Ray."

Now I want to watch Ghostbusters again. 

The House of Hammer - Issue 9, June 1977

Friday the 13th (1980) / Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 13, 1981

Seeing that November 13, 1981 was a Friday, there was no way that Paramount would pass on the opportunity to rake in even more cash with a double-header reissue of the first two Friday the 13th movies.

I am sure this re-release made them a fair bit of extra cash that, more the likely, helped power the green lighting of the more or less inevitable Friday the 13th Part III (1982).

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #40

Her sword a constant reminder of the paths of Chaos!, Lady Death wields it with horrible beauty, like a force of nature. If she stands guard and swears that none shall go by her, rest assured, the field will be littered with corpses by the end of the day. 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 34

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 12, 1974

Being all of seven years old at the time of its original release, it should come as no surprise that I have zero memory of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. My introduction to the film came post Salem's Lot (1979), The Funhouse (1981), and Poltergeist (1982). 

The first time I watched it was on home video, that grainy and somewhat fuzzy looking transfer courtesy of Wizard Home Entertainment, and found the film to be every bit as unnerving and intense as its lurid title implied it would be. Although that spell was broken when my dad strolled into the living room, just as Sally Hardesty jumps through a window and gets chased across the front lawn by Leatherface, and asked me, "What the hell are you watching?"

"The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," I told him.

He sighed, shook his head, and muttered, "Figures it'd be Texas." Then he turned and walked out of the room.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #4

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985)

A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) was almost the first Nightmare entry I saw on the big screen, but I wound up changing my mind at that last minute about seeing it. So it goes.

Brasov, Romania - Halloween 2025

The Legacy (1978) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 11, 1979

The images from the TV spots for The Legacy that stuck in my memory were of a woman discovering that she has become trapped under the water in a swimming pool and a pair of withered, skeletal hands slipping a ring onto one of Katharine Ross's fingers. That is pretty much all I remember.

It was years later that I finally saw the film and, well, the swimming pool bit, Roger Daltry choking on a chicken bone, and those withered hands clasping and forcing an evil ring onto Katharine Ross's finger are all I remember about it. Well, there was also a nun, or nurse, that might also have been a cat. I think.

Three trivia things that I do know about The Legacy. 1 - this was movie where Katharine Ross and Sam Elliott met and fell in love. They married in 1984 and are still together. 2 - the script was written by Jimmy Sangster, who I know best for all the classic Hammer movies he wrote, as well as for penning one of the best Kolchak The Night Stalker episodes: Horror in the Heights. 3 - that director Richard Marquand when on to make bigger, better movies, like Return of the Jedi and Jagged Edge.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #39

Power Women

Collectively, the women of Chaos! control enough power to rip reality asunder, from the savage ferocity of Purgatori to the cunning street smarts of Chastity, these are not women to trifle with. 

Peleș Castle - Romania

Halloween (1978) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - November 10, 1978

The holiday may have come and gone, but the first ever theatrical release of John Carpenter's Halloween was just around the corner in the San Francisco Bay Area. Here we have a handful of sneak preview screenings hoping to generate some positive word of mouth for the film's opening on Wednesday, November 15th.