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.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #3

Day of the Dead (1985)

The inclusion of the maligned Day of the Dead in the Fright Flicks trading card set only endeared it to me all the more, as Day is one of my all-time favorite movies. I saw it twice on the big screen and this image, which was also a Scream Greats poster in Fangoria magazine issue #48, was used as a visual guide for how to make look like Bub, the zombie with a soul, for Halloween in 1985. Great fun, that. Although taking the make-up off took a great deal of time and effort. Still it was worth it. So very worth it.

Snagov Monastery - Romania

Celebrating Halloween at Bran Castle

Halloween Midnite Shows - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 31, 1946

The Fox West Coast Theatre chain held a series of late night screenings of Halloween appropriate fare to celebrate All Hallow's Eve in 1946. I have no idea what that 'Sneak Spook Preview' being screened at the Paramount was, but it might have been a marketing bait and switch. No idea.

House of Frankenstein (1944) is a fun little romp that plays like two episodes of a television series have been edited together to form something that resembles a feature length movie. The Vampire's Ghost (1945) is an above average cheapie boosted by a somewhat decent script, co-written by Leigh Brackett, and enlivened by a solid performance from John Abbott, who plays the titular vampire.

I have yet to see Voodoo Man (1944), but seeing that it was directed by William Beaudine and stars both Bela Lugosi and John Carradine, I just might check it out some random, rainy morning when I am in the mood to watch an old school grind-house programmer.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #38

Tender Beauty

When her armor comes off, and her sword is laid down, Lady Death's true self is revealed - through and through, she is a woman, with the needs, wants and desires of any other. Her path keeps many of those wants forever denied. 

Old Dracula [Vampira (1974)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 30, 1975

It might have been Halloween, but this retitled 'comedy' served some of 1975's Thanksgiving turkey early that year. I do remember seeing this on the big screen, at the Alameda Southshore Twin, and finding it a painfully unfunny chore to sit through.

The blistering racial insensitivity (i.e. racism) of the central conceit, having a blood transfusion change Countess Dracula from white to black and thus 'forcing' Count Dracula to try and figure out a way to 'fix' her, went over my head. But I do remember my shocked reaction to seeing David Niven in blackface.

Although director Clive Donner would go on to helm the underrated made-for-television gem Spectre (1977), a failed pilot for Gene Roddenberry, he would also make two more dubious and disastrous big screen comedies. 1980's The Nude Bomb and 1981's Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen. Ouch.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #2

Fright Night (1985)

The jump scare reveal of Amanda Bearse's character's new vampiric visage was supposed to be a surprise shock for the audience. But the distributor decided to put it front and center on the film's theatrical poster and newspaper ad artwork, thus 'spoiling' the horrific reveal for most, if not all, of the film's potential audience. So it goes.

Halloween II (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 29, 1981

I believe I saw Halloween II on Saturday, October 31st, at the Hayward Festival Cinemas. Two things stand out in my memory. When we arrived at the multiplex there was a line around the theatre, but no line at the ticket window. Turns out the line was for Halloween II ticket holders. I was both shocked and delighted.

My second memory is of the moment Carpenter's 'chase music' started pounding and the packed house erupted with enthusiastic cheers.

While this first sequel to Halloween does not warrant a spot on my exalted Favorite Movies of All-Time List, I cannot say that I dislike all that much. While it does suffer from a certain lack of imagination and energy, I do not think it is the abomination John Carpenter himself has dismissed it as. So it goes.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #37

The Cup of Victory

And never has it tasted so sweet than when it is filled with the blood of her enemies. Trained in the ways of war on the plains of Hell itself, Lady Death will not stop until the last of her enemies is dead. 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 33

The Blob (1958) / I Married A Monster from Outer Space (1958) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 28, 1958

The Blob was a beloved viewing staple of my youth and remains one of my all-time favorite monsters and monster movies.

I have yet to see I Married A Monster from Outer Space, but it is supposed to be quite good and well worth seeking out. At time of writing I know star Tom Tryon only as the author of The Other, Harvest Home, and The Night of the Moonbow.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #1

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

In 1989, while working at liquor store in the Marina district of San Francisco, I lamented to a co-worker about the amount of money it would take to get every one of the cards in the Topps Fright Flicks series. As you have to buy dozens of packages in order to get the 'rare' one(s).

He told me it would be cheaper, and easier, to just order another box, as each box contained every card in the series. So I had him order an extra box for me and I got my first ever complete set of trading cards. I was quite happy about that.

Stuff of the Month - October 2025

X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes (1963) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 27, 1963

The always reliable Roger Corman, with the assist of two talented screenwriters, delivered an engaging and entertaining little science fiction picture. Due to my having a black and white television in my bedroom, I had no idea this was a color feature until much later.

No idea if the second feature here is any good, as I have not seen it. Before clipping this ad, I had never even heard of it. 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #36

Mean Button

While Ernie may be the muscle, Smiley has enough attitude for both of them, and can do - and does - everything. Watch out for his mouth - he'll tell you off six ways to Sunday before you can get a word out. 

Filoli House - Nightfall 2025

Witches' Brew - A 1000 Piece Puzzle from Vermont Christmas Company

The Mutilator (1984) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 24, 1985

I always remembered seeing The Mutilator as part of a double-bill with Re-Animator, but it turns out that was not the case. While I did see both The Mutilator and Re-Animator at the Empire Cinema, in San Francisco, it was not as a double-bill.

Silver Bullet was the movie paired with The Mutilator and chances are better than average that, even though I had already seen the Stephen King scripted werewolf flick on its opening weekend, I chose to sit through Silver Bullet for a second viewing on the big screen. Just because... 

Alien (1979) - Sticker #21

 

Bad Ronald (1974) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 23, 1974

I remember being freaked out by a promo for a broadcast of Bad Ronald, but do not remember if I actually watched said broadcast. So this is yet another gap in my viewing history that might be in need of filling.

Fathom Press has reprinted the source novel, written by Jack Vance, of this production. Might be getting that for a read, at some point. 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #35

The Old Man in the Mine

When a Hollywood cast choose to shoot a film in an long-abandoned gold mine, they didn't realize they'd have an additional cast member - the Dweller - the furious ghost of the long-dead prospector!

That sounds like a fun read! 

Final Exam (1981) / Graduation Day (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 22, 1981

Here is a double-bill release that made zero blips on my pop culture radar back in 1981. I was laser focused on the upcoming release of Halloween II.

But I did read the Final Exam novelization, which I devoured in lieu of doing my homework. So when I did get around to seeing Final Exam, there was little about it that I did not already know. Not that there was that much to know to begin with. An unknown killer stalks a college campus, nothing more than that. Bare bones as can be.

I have yet to see Herb Freed's Graduation Day. Which is weird, as it features Christopher George and I would watch just about anything he was in, back in the day. I think Linnea Quigley is in it, as well.

Alien (1979) - Sticker #20

 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 32

Halloween III Season of the Witch (1982) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 21, 1982

Met with critical and audience derision, Halloween III Season of the Witch failed to launch the planned anthology format producers John Carpenter and Debra Hill hoped to follow their commercial success of Halloween II (1981) with. So it goes.

Although a modest money maker in its own right, Halloween III did nowhere near the business of the previous films and, for a few years, was perceived as something of a franchise killer. Which is too bad, as the movie is undeserving of that reputation.

Being a John Carpenter fanatic at that time, I saw Halloween III on the big screen and, during the end credits, my father, who was sitting beside me, muttered, "No wonder this was no good, Dino De Laurentiis had something to do with it." Ouch.

I liked it, though... Still do. It has become one of my perennial Halloween season viewings.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #34

War Room

Every two-bit player in Hell wants a bigger piece of the pie. Even though they are all fiercely independent, alliances are formed - with neither side trusting the other as far as they can see them. Power is Hell's ultimate prize. 

March of Dimes Haunted House - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 20, 1978

The March of Dimes Haunted House attraction at "the old jail behind Alameda City Hall" was available to all who dared to enter during the latter half of October, way back in 1978. I would have been all of eleven years old at that time. Old enough, but not brave enough, for sure.

While child me might have been a tad too scared to wander past a torture chamber, a werewolf, a swamp monster, a mad scientist's lab, ghoul's mortuary, or morgue, adult me would be all over this. I do enjoy a good haunt attraction, just as long as it is not too intense or gross, that is...

Alien (1979) - Sticker #19

 

The Eyes Are The Best Part by Monica Kim - Review

When I began The Eyes Are The Best Part I thought I would polish it off in two or so days, perhaps three, after cracking it open. It was only 278 pages, after all.

What I did not expect was just how triggering this book would be for me. I had to put it down and take some time to recover after every other chapter, it seemed. I saw way too much of my more embarrassing and discomforting attitudes, behaviors, and experiences reflected back at me from both the deeply troubled Ji-Won as well as her toxic, obsessive, and entitled stalker classmate Geoffrey.

Despite there being sections and interactions that had me cringing and suffering flashbacks to moments when I lashed out or behaved poorly, not once did I consider the option of stopping. I had to see how it played out and, well, all I can say is that the blurb describing the book as "visceral, disgusting, [and] glorious" was accurate.

The Eyes Are The Best Part is a harrowing, unsettling, and, at times, pretty damn gross read that I am glad to have powered through. I will be keeping a wary eye out for Kim's next book. 

Child's Play 2 (1990) - Slideshow

The Hearse (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 17, 1980

I have vivid memories of seeing the commercials for The Hearse on our local affiliate or syndicated television stations (usually during episodes of Captain Cosmic and/or reruns of either Star Trek or Gilligan's Island). 

While I did read the novelization, written by one Henry Clement, who may or may not have been a pseudonym, and see the film when it was released on home video, via Media Home Entertainment, I have no memory whatsoever as to its story or central premise. It did have a cool looking hearse, though.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #33

Killing the Undead

The debut title of Black Label Graphics, The Undead featured the return of Homicide to the world of Chaos!, in an all new, totally uncensored story. Blood and gore liked never before and Homicide was in the thick of it. 

Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers (1988) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - October 16, 1988

It took six years, but another Halloween sequel "course corrected" the perceived creative misstep of Halloween III Season of the Witch (1982).

Picking up ten years after the events of Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981), this sequel introduced Laurie Strode's orphaned daughter Jamie (Danielle Harris). When a comatose Myers (George P. Wilbur) learns that he has a relative he has yet to kill, he awakens from his ten-years long coma and sets off once again to Haddonfield, Illinois. Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasance) is quick to pursue, of course.

Competently directed by Dwight H. Little and sporting a solid enough for what it is script by Alan B. McElroy, Halloween 4 gave audiences more of the same, but with just the slightest bit of difference to make it appear fresh, and, for the briefest of moments, it revived the moribund franchise from the shackles of its years long inactivity. 

Alien (1979) - Stricker #18

 

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (1969) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - October 15, 1969

I have vague snippets of memory regarding seeing this on television, way back in the day. Had no idea it was from the creative team responsible for Space: 1999 and other stuff. That was a cool thing to discover when I gave the film's IMDB page a glance.

Two things I remember. A scene where a post spaceship crash Roy Thinnes makes an astonishing discovery whilst looking in a mirror, the other is a wheelchair bound Herbert Lom racing towards a mirror. That's it...

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #32

Bloodlust

While he may be calm and reflective at times, when Ernie is enraged, nothing can stop him - not a wall, a priest, or even an army. Woe to those in his way.