The Whistler - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 26, 1943

"I am The Whistler and I know many things, for I walk by night..."

The Whistler was more Inner Sanctum than The Shadow, as he was more of a commentator/host for the episode's story than a recurring character.

I do remember seeing an album containing two episodes of The Whistler in the Old Time Radio LP section at, I believe, Gemco. That would have been the late 70s or the first year or so of the 1980s. When I was really into listening to OTR. I had a collection of Lum and Abner cassettes, a Burns and Allen LP, as well as one for The Shadow. No idea why I passed on nabbing The Whistler, but it was a decision I came to regret. So it goes.

While there are a great many episodes of The Whistler archived on various websites, this particular episode appears to be one of those that was lost to the ravages of time and circumstance. I could not find it anywhere...

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #19

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

Freddy (Robert Englund) makes another grand and memorable entrance. 

City Hall (1996) - Soundtrack

Although I do remember the theatrical release of this 1996 melodrama, I have not seen it. Film's like City Hall were just not in my interest wheelhouse at that particular time. Just one of countless examples of films that slipped through the cracks and were fast buried underneath the sands of time. So it goes.

When Varèse Sarabande released this deluxe edition of Jerry Goldsmith's score, I picked it up. Yes, Goldsmith might have grumbled (good-naturedly or otherwise) about my desire to collect every note of his score like bottle caps, but I like what I like and I want what I want. So it goes.

Tim Greiving's liner notes reveal that Goldsmith drew his inspiration from Leonard Bernstein's only film score, for On the Waterfront (1954). Greiving describes that score a featuring a "lonely, bluesy French horn and a percussive rumble." Elements that Goldsmith put to very good use for his brief 34 minute score for City Hall.

The Bat - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 25, 1921

Just the other day I posted the ad for the second film adaptation of The Bat, The Bat Whispers (1930). Turns out that nine years to the day before The Bat Whispers opened on Christmas Day, the source material itself also opened at the Century Theatre in San Francisco on Christmas Day.

The San Francisco Examiner printed a review on the 26th, Boxing Day, which raved The Bat was "merry melodrama. Mystery and laughs; surprises and laughs; complications and laughs. Thrills all the time. And laughs all the time." Sounds like it was a lively and entertaining evening at the theatre. The review ends with the statement that The Bat "is a play you must not miss."

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #54

Reflection

After thousands of years of unceasing forward motion, Purgatori rarely takes time to pause and reflect on when she has come from where she is going. Caught in a contemplative moment, the goddess reveals her inner beauty. 

Abby (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 24, 1974

One year after The Exorcist opened on Christmas Day, William Girdler's knock-off cash-in is poised to open on December 25th as well. Because nothing says Christmas better than demonic possession, right?

While I know about the legal dispute and such, I have yet to see the actual movie. I need to change that.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #18

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Not much to say about this image, or the strained 'joke' the writer(s) came up with, other than it makes me notice the burn make-up only went to Englund's collarbone, at most.
 

The Bat Whispers (1930) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 23, 1930

The second of three film adaptations of Mary Roberts Rinehart's 1920 mystery play The Bat is poised to open on Christmas Day. The first film adaptation of The Bat was made in 1926 by Roland West, who also helmed this 1930 version. Bob Kane also wrote, in his autobiography, that the titular villain of this piece was an inspiration for Batman. Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead starred in the third film adaptation, which was released in 1959. 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #53

Tower of Pain

Skull by skull, life by life, Purgatori has clawed her way to where she is now, a succubus goddess with an insatiable thirst for blood. Blood brings power and life, and she can never get enough. 

Kolchak The Night Stalker - Promo

Oakland Tribune - December 22, 1974

The Oakland Tribune's 'Entertainment Calendar' Sunday supplement informs readers that a repeat of The Vampire, Kolchak The Night Stalker's fourth episode, would be airing on Friday, December 27.

Although the vampire was from Las Vegas, no serious connections or references between the first film and this episode were made.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #17

Fright Night (1985)

This image is linked to one of the more memorable movie going experiences of my misspent youth. I took a female friend, who I quite liked considerably more than just as a friend, to see Fright Night while it was screening in Hong Kong.

At this particular moment in the film, I leaned over and whispered in her ear, "He should know better than that. You never take a stake out of a vampire's heart, because it can come back."

When the movie was over, as we were leaving the theater to go elsewhere, my friend asked, "How did you know that? Did you see this movie before?" 

"No," I said. "But I have seen or read a lot of vampire stories and I paid more attention to them than Peter Vincent did, it seems."

Christine (1983) - Soundtrack

With no liner notes to crib some kind of commentary from, I am left with an observation fueled by an anecdote.

Way back in the late 80's or very early 90's, a friend shared that he had struck up a conversation with a fellow film student that was studying film composition. The usual suspects were discussed, of course. Some were singled out for praise by this nameless student (Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, etc.), while others were dismissed as being unexceptional hacks (Pino Donaggio and Richard Band).

When my friend brought up the film scores of John Carpenter, this student's response leaned toward dismissal. While some of Carpenter's work might be iconic, overall his compositions were hampered by what he called a lack of musicality. Whatever that meant (or means)...

Which is just my longwinded introduction to help explain why, as much as I adore John Carpenter's iconic themes and soundscapes, I think his score for Christine is one of his most formless and, truth be told, unmemorable works.

Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, The Fog, and Escape from New York were all blessed with themes that, in their own idiosyncratic way, were every bit as memorable as what John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith had been composing during that same period of time. I will even go so far as to put Chariots of Pumpkins from Halloween III Season of the Witch on that list, because it is as identifiable as those other aforementioned themes.

Yet this Carpenter/Howarth joint for Christine lacks a memorable central theme, at least on the original score front. Christine's defining and iconic theme is Bad to the Bone, by George Thorogood & The Destroyers, which fits the feel, tone, and style of the film like a glove. 

So does Carpenter/Howarth's compositions Arnie's Love Theme, Obsessed with the Car, The Rape, and Christine Attacks (Plymouth Fury). Yet, while they are easy enough to recognize as the work of John Carpenter, when in association with Alan Howarth, they also lack a certain creative zest. They sound good, but there is nothing about them that ever stuck in my heart or my memory.

Perhaps this was the result of Carpenter's dour post-Thing temperament, as Big Trouble in Little China, Prince of Darkness, and They Live all had memorable themes. Even if they did lack that pesky element of "musicality" the unknown (to me) film student pointed out, so many years ago...

The Chosen [aka Rain of Fire, aka Holocaust 2000 (1977)] - Soundtrack

Seeing The Chosen on the big screen in 1977 or '78 was one the many memorable experiences I had at the Southshore Cinema in Alameda. The rudiments of the plot were easy enough for my ten-year-old brain to follow, a well-meaning industrialist (Kirk Douglas) becomes plagued by prophetic visions warning that the nuclear power plant he is building will become the biblical beast the book of revelation describes as empowering the Anti-Christ.

This is the literal embodiment of...

If that were not horrifying enough, Douglas learns that his character's beloved son Angel (Simon Ward) is the Anti-Christ itself.

THIS!!!

As far as cash grab knock-offs go, The Chosen is a decent enough one of The Omen. It has a smattering of gruesome, heavy-handed 'accidents' dispatching anyone and everyone that dares even consider getting in the way of the plant's construction. It also beats The Final Conflict (1981) to the mass infanticide punch, with a really twisted sequence set in a maternity ward.

Fabio Babini's liner notes for this expanded release, which are in both Italian and English, lavish praise upon Ennio Morricone's atmospheric, albeit a tad repetitious, score.

Babini describes the "key warning signs of the tonal Morricone: the serial rhythm and pressing of the piano pedal, the minor-key orchestral introductions, yearning to touch the soul but keeping a safe distance from any temptation toward cloying sentimentality, the harmonious crescendo almost it leading [sic] to a clash of sound masses, sometimes supported at a distance by a kicking bass." Damn, that is one hyper-descriptive mouthful of lavish praise there.

Mention is also made of Morricone "retaining the traits absolutely recognizable at first listen." Something to which, as undereducated as I am in the parlance of compositional technique and style, I heartily concur. There are rhythmic flourishes that I can hear echoed in Morricone's scores for The Untouchables (1987) and Phantom of the Opera (1999), as well minor-key orchestral passages that likewise echo sections of Morricone's scores for Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), Orca (1977), and The Island (1980).

I am not saying these echoes feel or sound as if Morricone were reusing or recycling material, an approach that James Horner admitted to, only that I can recognize his compositional style. Morricone's is scores have become as easy for me to identify as those written by either John Williams or Jerry Goldsmith. 

Young Frankenstein (1974) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 19, 1974

1974 saw an amazing one-two punch from Mel Brooks. The first half of the year saw the release of his Western Genre parody Blazing Saddles, while the end of that very same year had his Universal Monster parody Young Frankenstein getting placed under the Christmas tree.

While Young Frankenstein drew inspiration from the first three Universal Frankenstein movies, Son of Frankenstein was the one it 'borrowed from' the most.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #52

Seductress

Magic and savagery are only two of Purgatori's weapons. With a glance, a sway, or a thrust, she can incite the lust of any man or woman, bending them to her will - only after she satisfies her own carnal desires. 

King Kong Lives (1986) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 18, 1986

General audiences were not all that happy with this campy, goofy, and nutty sequel to 1976's only slightly less campy, much less goofy, and nowhere near as nutty King Kong. This thing left a smoking crater at the box office during the 1986 holiday movie season and, most likely, drove the final nail into the coffin of the short-lived DEG production company.

I was working at the Empire Cinema in San Francisco at the time, which is one of the theaters it opened to to empty seats at on the west side of the Bay Area, so I got to see it on the big screen.

Truth be told, I do not think the movie is that bad. If it had been made 20 years earlier, and in Japan, I think it might be a tad more beloved in giant monster movie circles. Maybe. But in the United States in 1986, King Kong Lives was woefully out of touch and out of place for what for audiences wanted and expected from a movie of this kind. So it goes.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #16

Predator (1987)

"You're one ugly motherfucker..." was just the quip an audience needed to hear after 90 or so minutes of nail-biting tension and gruesome violence. My friend and I almost doubled over with laughter and we knew the mano-a-mano fist fight that was about to occur would be a cathartic blast to watch, and it was...

Simple and not the slightest bit overthought, the first Predator remains the best for me. But I have yet to see either Prey or Predator Badlands.

The Fireman's Daughter by Phyllis Eisenstein - Review

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - December 17, 1978

I doubt there was any film that better encapsulated the emotional and intellectual dissonance that occurred as the last vestiges of the counter culture began settling into the banality of middle-aged existence, as the sexual revolution fizzled and cooled, than Philip Kaufman's stellar reimagining of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead is, arguably, a respectable second. Times and people were changing and, well, what we thought we knew, or what we had taken from granted, turned out to have had all the permanence of a wisp of smoke caught up in a strong breeze.

This is my preferred version of the story. Even though it deviates from Jack Finney's source novel about as much as Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining deviated from King's novel, I think those deviations are rooted in an unflinching honesty that both cuts and chills to one's very bones. This move is a classic of its kind.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #51

Wicked Magic

Possessing her own powers and magic, Purgatori wields control over many creatures, including the blood of her victims. Fighting her involves battle on two planes - martial and magical. 

Ghost Story (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - December 16, 1981

Universal Studios released a ghost story for Christmas in 1981. Based on the acclaimed best-seller of the same name by Peter Straub, the film deviates just a tad from the novel's sprawling narrative, but still manages to capture some of its source material's wintery chills. Even if it did choose to downgrade the almost cosmic horror level threat to a woman's spirit seeking revenge upon the elderly men responsible for her tragic death many, many years in the past.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #15

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

As it approaches, or hits, its 40th anniversary, I still feel a tinge of regret at giving a theatrical viewing of A Nightmare on Elm Street Part 2: Freddy's Revenge a pass. So it goes.

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.