Big Hero 6 (2014) - Soundtrack

I have little to no comment to make about this collection entry, other than it is an energetic and peppy score that is fun to listen to.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #25

 

House (1985) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 28, 1986

1986 was not a good year for me, truth be told. There was a lot of unpleasantness and upheaval in my life at that time, but there are also a handful a good memories.

One such memory is my seeing a sneak preview of House at San Francisco State University, when I was an undergraduate student there. While I thought it was pretty decent, the biggest laugh this horror-comedy got was when a boom mike slipped into a shot and somebody in the crowd shouted, "Hey, nice boom!" So it goes.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #27

Rescue Party Massacre

Heather Donahue at the infamous Coffin Rock site: "They went into the woods prepared to find death. What they found was a desecration of humanity at a site which trappers have often referred to as Coffin Rock. On the top of the rock formation, the story of the torture inflicted on these brave, five men unfolded. Each was bound to the other, each man's hands bound to the next man's feet. In the torso of each man the intestines had been torn out crudely..." 

The Twilight Zone - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 27, 1995

Ah, so many pleasant memories of watching and enjoying the early days of the Sci-Fi Channel, back when it had a heartfelt and geeky character to it, burbled and bubbled up within me when I stumbled across this ad in the Oakland Tribune. Good times, great memories.

The image used in this ad is taken from The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank, of all things. It was the 23rd episode in the series third season. The IMDB lists the original broadcast date as February 23, 1962. That means this ad ran just four days after the episode's 33rd birthday.

This year The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank turned 63...

Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) - Soundtrack

Jerry Fielding's score for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, as solid and admirable as it is, cannot salvage this atrocious and laughable sequel to The Poseidon Adventure. 

Jeff Bond's liner notes describe Fielding's score as a "fiery, boldly dramatic work." I guess. As distinctive a stylist as Jerry Fielding was, his score just doesn't have the kind of pulse-pounding and bombast verve that John Williams' scores for The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, or Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Swarm, had. 

Album producer Douglass Fake noted how Fielding embellished his score for Beyond the Poseidon Adventure with phrases from his scores from both The Killer Elite and Lawman. I will have to take Fake's word for that, as my untrained ear, coupled with my unfamiliarity with The Killer Elite's score, prevents me from hearing them.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #24

A sudden electrical blaze rocks "Nostromo" crew members, immediately after their tug's descent to the asteroid surface. 

The Crazies (2010) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 26, 2010

I remember being somewhat excited about seeing this remake of George A. Romero's The Crazies (1973). That excitement was dashed and stomped flat when I sat through this unimaginative, by-the-numbers film, though. Better to just watch Graham Baker's Impulse (1984) instead.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #26

Heather's Journal 10.20.94 Part 2

I think this is a good project. But how the hell do I start in charge of it? Why do they insist on making me a third grade teacher when I just want to relax every bit as much as they do. Every bit, it's supposed to rain all weekend. I know there will be (complaining), and I can understand it, I just can't accept it, I can feel myself becoming paranoid in just the last few hours. Josh does not listen to me at all and he's supposed to be my friend. Mike is more respectful and I don't know (anything) about him. Money would help so much, I think.

According to the film's IMDB trivia page, "Despite what the filmmakers had planned for Mike and Heather being constantly antagonistic towards each other, with Josh as mediator, it was Heather and Josh who fought almost constantly during filming."

This "Heather's Journal" entry might be a meta-acknowledgment of that issue. Another example of just how well The Blair Witch Project manage to blur, even erase, the line between fact and fantasy. 

Mad Doctor of Blood Island (1968) - Blood Demon [Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel] (1967) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 25, 1970

Bryan Senn, in his entertaining and compulsively readable "Twice the Thrills! Twice the Chills!" Horror and Science Fiction Double Features, 1955 - 1974, offered this slam-dunk description of this bizarro drive-in double-feature: "Filipino jungle wackiness meets German Gothic craziness in this unlikely but entertaining double-bill from Hemisphere Pictures, their second of three terror tandems." [P.313]

Mad Doctor of Blood Island is the middle film in a "Blood Island" trilogy. The father of one of my oldest friends knew star John Ashley, back in the day. They were schoolmates. This led to a humorous anecdote. At a function of some kind, my friend's father was talking with a filipino woman and John Ashley was mentioned. The woman said Ashley was considered to be, "The Marlon Brando of Filipino cinema." My friend's father commented that was an admirable accomplishment. The woman smiled and told him, "You have not seen Filipino cinema!"

Ouch.

Blood Demon, also known as either The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism of The Castle of the Walking Dead, appears to have been the first gothic horror film to be made in Germany since the end of World War II.

The production made up for lost time, it seems, by cramming the film with, as Senn writes, "horror hokum by the coffin-full," making it "a tasty piece of ghoulish eye candy."[P.314] Just as long as you don't try to take it the least bit seriously, that is.

Critic and one time TV Horror Host John Stanley, in Revenge of the Creature Features Movie Guide, agreed, somewhat, stating that, "Good atmosphere and expressionistic settings offset" the weak script and lackluster performance by horror superstar Christopher Lee.

The Berlin Affair (1985) - Soundtrack

I have never seen The Berlin Affair, I got this soundtrack simply because the music is by Pino Donaggio.

The liner notes for this limited edition release from Kritzerland describes the score as "Donaggio at the top of his game. With its sinuous, swirling, hypnotic melodies capturing all the underlying complexities of the characters and the story, the music is like a symphonic fever dream in the film, and a wonderful and completely satisfying listening experience away from the film." Again, not having seen the actual film, I can only agree with that last part. This score is a wonderful and satisfying listening experience.

Evidently the sound mix for the music in the film was quite low and, as is the case with a great many scores, the music was often truncated. This release allows the complete recordings, including a great many tracks not included on the LP release that coincided with the film's original release, to be heard and appreciated with clarity.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #23

 

The Devil Commands (1941) - Man Behind the Mask [The Face Behind the Mask] (1941) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 24, 1941

The Devil Commands, the "top half" of this so-called Double Terror Show, stars the legendary Boris Karloff as a scientist obsessed with communicating with his dead wife. I have never seen it. The same goes for The Face Behind the Mask, which the ad changes the title of to Man Behind the Mask for some reason. That has Peter Lorre playing a disfigured watch-maker whose rage at society drives him to a life of crime.

The former was directed by Edward Dmytryk, who might be best known for directing 1954's The Caine Mutiny. The latter was directed by Robert Florey, who also directed the Marx brothers in The Cocoanuts, Bela Lugosi in Murders in the Rue Morgue, and Peter Lorre, once again, in The Beast with Five Fingers.

Florey also directed two banger episodes from the first season of The Twilight Zone. Perchance to Dream (Episode 9) and The Fever (Episode 17). His final directing credit was for a first season episode of The Outer Limits. Moonstone (Episode 24).

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #25

Heather's Journal 10.20.94 Part 1

Excellent day of shooting, horrible night of fighting. Trust is essential for this project, I need these guys. They need a project to work on. They may both think I'm anal - but who saved the money to make a movie? Josh got trashed and didn't feel like checking anything. Mike volunteered to shoot an interview and decided to get creative with the camera, which he doesn't even know how to turn on. I have the floor (for sleeping). I am trying, I need this to work. Even though I'm not paying them, I have still sunk a lot of money in. I need to feel us working together, but I feel so alone. Maybe I truly am a weirdo. But I don't think so. 

Black Sunday [La Maschera del Demonio] (1960) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 23, 1961

While I have seen a great many Mario Bava films, I have yet to see the debut feature that put him on the Gothic Horror map. I need to fix this oversight, pronto. 

Cats & Kittens Vintage Puzzle - A 1000 piece puzzle by Cavallini Co.

I goofed up and did not film the final session in time lapse, so this video is abbreviated.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #22

Disembarking from the Mineral Ore Refinery is the "Nostromo Tug", a smaller vehicle used for shuttling to planets. With the mysterious asteroid now in sight, Dallas readies his make-shit landing party. 

Prom Night (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 22, 1981

The Canadian slasher cash grab Prom Night debuted on network television a mere six months after its being shown at theaters and drive-ins around the San Francisco Bay Area. It might even have been on home video by then, I have no idea.

My first time seeing it would be at the Alameda Southshore Twin. I did not remember it having a co-feature, so I thought it best to double check the listings and it did not. But the other screen at the Southshore Twin had a double-bill of Battle Beyond the Stars and The Big Brawl. Heh, I am really sorry that I missed out on seeing that.

I also remember watching this broadcast and dreading all the cuts that would no doubt have been made in order to sanitize the film for TV.

The Monkey (2025) - Review

"Everybody dies..."

Having plumbed the disturbing depths of familial dysfunction and generational trauma for the unsettling and effective horror-thriller Longlegs, writer-director Osgood Perkins returns to those very same dark and fertile depths for a good, morbid, and cathartic laugh at the cruel absurdities of life with The Monkey.

Although Perkins takes a great deal of narrative liberties with this ostensible adaptation of Stephen King's short story of the same name, the basic conceit and framework of both are, by and large, the same. A young boy discovers that a toy monkey can and will kill whenever it starts whaling away at its cymbals (in the original story) or its drum (in the movie). Beyond that...

King played it straight with his story, managing to invoke both horror and dread via the nightmarish absurdity of a killer toy monkey somehow being both real and very dangerous. It also seemed to be both sentient and incredibly vindictive. That is how I remember it, at least.

But what might work as words on a page meant to be translated and played out in the reader's theater of the mind, might not work all that well when dramatized for the screen. So Perkins leans into the absurdity and inherent silliness of the concept and the carnage. There were several hilarious and gruesome over-the-top kills in the movie that had both myself and the audience around me howling and cackling.

Yet, even as all that carnage played out, I also noticed how Perkins did not shy away from how traumatic these events were for his protagonist(s). There were quite a few moments when the movie not only acknowledged this trauma, it also weaved it into the narrative tapestry, allowing for some interesting and challenging character development.

The result is a movie that is both laugh out loud funny and also a somber meditation on the longterm effects that grief, trauma, abuse, and neglect can have on a person. Which makes The Monkey a thematically potent gem of a horror-comedy. Maybe even a classic...

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970) - Soundtrack

Since Jerry Goldsmith was busy composing the score for Patton (1970), Leonard Rosenman was brought in to work on Beneath the Planet of the Apes. It was a wise choice, as the composer's distinct style proved to be an excellent thematic fit for this bleak and uneven sequel.

"I felt that it wasn't as good as the first one," Rosenman explains in the liner notes, "but at the same time it was different and it gave a more interesting idea for music."

Rosenman's approach is described by Doug Adams, in the liner notes, as being "so densely complicated and multifaceted that it almost [feels] unwritten at times." The music consists of "oddly voiced brass, woodwind and string choirs acridly sifting back and forth between one another without ever establishing a repetitive melodic snippet."

Okay, that description is a tad convoluted, but it is also an accurate one. Rosenman's score for Beneath the Planet of the Apes is, for the most part, an atonal soundscape of unique and unnerving power. One that elevates the film it underplays to heights it might have otherwise failed to achieve.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #24

Fisherman's Warning

Ed Swanson (left) and his father-in-law, Bob Griffin, were the last people to see the three student filmmakers before their fateful trek in the Black Hills. "I've heard the myth," scoffed Swanson when they interviewed him, while Griffin had unshakeable views of his own: "Anybody worth their salt around here knows that this area's been haunted by that old woman, for years, (you) darn fool kids will never learn."

Scenes like this are what The Cabin in the Woods was referencing when Sitterson (Richard Jenkins) explains the function of a Harbinger as a character that "practically wears a sign, 'YOU WILL DIE'" and the protagonists "have to choose to ignore..."

Granted Bob Griffin is not as theatrical as, say, Crazy Ralph in Friday the 13th, but he nonetheless serves as the final warning before Donahue, Leonard, and Williams venture into the Black Hills and disappear.

You got to have that final moment where the story asks the protagonists, "Are you sure you want to do this?" Before it can continue.

Because, as Sitterson and Hadley explained, if they don't transgress, they can't be punished.

A Journey to the Beginning of Time [Cesta do Pravyeku] (1955) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 21, 1970

Somebody decided to dust off this Americanized version of a 1955 Czech film for a trio of weekend matinee screenings. Judging by the date, my guess is the Saturday-Sunday-Monday matinee screening schedule was meant to coincide with either the (now defunct) Washington's Birthday or Lincoln's Birthday holiday weekend. I remember being really salty about losing two back-to-back three day weekends when the two were combined and became just President's Day.

The movie concerns four boys riding a raft down an otherworldly river and observing various stages of prehistoric life, until they reach the beginning of time. Seeing that Cesta do Pravyeku was a Soviet Era film, I am reasonably certain the "beginning of time" might have been altered to reflect a more theologically founded worldview for American audiences. Or maybe not, I have yet to see either version of the film.

But I would watch it, because... dinosaurs! And anything with dinosaurs will never be NOT awesome.

Killer Known from Outer Space - A 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle from Toynk

This one was a blast to assemble. Bought it at Son of Monsterpalooza.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #21

This card features a production design illustration by science fiction artist Chris Foss. It is a rejected design for the proposed exterior of the ore refinery that the Nostromo is towing through space.

While an excellent piece, it is nonetheless an odd choice. As there was no "asteroid colony" ever mentioned or even shown in the film. Still cool, though.

The Monster - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 20, 1932

The 20th of February fell upon a Saturday in 1932. A day that saw the final performance of a revival of Crane Wilbur's popular "old dark house" play The Monster.

The production opened on Sunday, February 7th and ran for two successful weeks. Lloyd S. Thompson, in a glowing review that appeared in the Examiner on Monday, February 8th, described The Monster as "a good old standard shriek-opera." One that called for "dimmed lights, mysterious sounds, eerie smells, trapdoors and clutching claws." 

Thompson also shared how the Sunday matinee "audience howled with alternate glee and fright" and that "a squad of uniformed nurses flitted hither and yon looking for fainting ladies upon whom to demonstrate their nostrums."

Sounds like it was one hell of a fun show to attend.

Beetlejuice (1988) - Soundtrack

As big as a hit as this horror adjacent fantasy-comedy was, I just could not muster the interest or energy to go and see it on the big screen. I had not seen Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), either. So I was unaware of Tim Burton's rather unique blending of gothic and whimsy.

At time of release there were two things about Beetlejuice that got me interested enough to give it a watch on home video. First was that author Michael McDowell was credited as a screenwriter. I had devoured McDowell's novels The Amulet, Cold Moon Over Babylon, Gilded Needles, and The Elementals, back in the day. That alone was enough to get me interested in giving Beetlejuice a watch.

But then there was the fact that Danny Elfman had done the film's music score. Not only was I an Oingo Boingo fan, I also had Elfman's electronic score for Wisdom (1986) in my collection. What would he be doing here?

Crafting what many consider to be his signature orchestral sound, it seems. Elfman's music for Beetlejuice is a jaunty and jarring carnival ride of a score for a cartoonish nightmare of a film. One that's is impossible not to bounce along to whenever giving it a listen.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #23

Mike Relaxed

"The last time I saw him he was excited," offered Mike's brother Tom Williams in a filmed interview. "He really didn't know too much about (the Blair Witch legend); that's what they were going to find out. But it was something he loved doing, doing the sound equipment stuff..." 

The Boogens (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 19, 1982

On Friday, February 19, 1982, The Boogens finally opened at a theater or drive-in near me and I could not wait to see it. Lucky for me, as you can see in the center right of the listing, the movie had been booked at Alameda's Southshore Cinema. Even better, it was on a double-bill with John Carpenter's The Fog.

The Boogens is one of a number of films that I "spoiled" for myself by reading the novelization prior to seeing the film. The others include Alien (1979), Dead & Buried (1981), Final Exam (1981), The Funhouse (1981), The Thing (1982), and Poltergeist (1982).

It would also be the second time I would be confounded by the creative liberties I assumed were taken by the novelization's author. Because, at that time, I did not know that the shooting script for The Boogens was not the same script that had been given to Robert Weverka to novelize.

As caught off guard and confused by the differences between what I had read and what I was seeing, that paled in comparison to the running commentary being made by two chatterboxes seated directly behind me. This was the second time they had sat throgh the movie, so they kept talking about what was coming up. It got so bad that I moved to another seat, so I could finish the movie in peace.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #20

 

Hannibal (2001) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 18, 2001

I have yet to see Hannibal for the same reason I have yet to watch Doctor Sleep - reading the source material was an unpleasant enough experience for me, thank you very much, and I have zero desire on my part to see a live action version of certain events played out before me.

This might change, but it might not. No idea.

The Beast Within (1982) - Soundtrack

The liner notes for this Intrada release describe Les Baxter's score for The Beast Within as being "doom-laden" and awash with "darkly percussive effects, lurching orchestral movements and buzzing electronic atmospheres..."

What I did not know, at time of purchase, was that Baxter's rousing main and end title music had been discarded and replaced with a section that underplayed the film's iconic transformation scene. It seems the studio did not think Baxter's grand and tragic approach was unnerving enough.

Same thing that happened to Jerry Goldsmith and his original main and end title music for Alien (1979).

Douglass Fake, Intrada founder and album producer, who passed in 2024, noted that Baxter's unused titles were "the most tonal and harmonically accessible cues" of a score that was "scary, angry, [and] intense." All true.

This is almost a full hour of dark, intense, and bone rattling music that only Les Baxter could compose. It is a cherished part of my soundtrack collection.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #22

Taking a Break

After numerous local interviews, the students relaxed and drank a toast to "a good day." Heather, obviously pleased with the way the project was shaping up, suggested that they spend the evening unwinding. "A very good first day," she proclaimed. "We'll go over an equipment check, and I'll call my mom. Let's be relaxed, because we've got a really, really long day tomorrow. Today was cake compared to tomorrow." 

Ghost Rider (2007) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 17, 2007

I remember seeing this, but little beyond that. The little I do remember consists of the late Peter Fonda's serviceable turn as Old Scratch and my being unsettled at how Sam Elliot's five o'clock shadow seemed to reach all the way up to his freakin' eyeball sockets. Beyond that, nothing...

Rechiato No. 6612 - A 1000 piece puzzle with a missing piece

Gah, I hate when this happens.

There is no way of knowing if it came this way or if I, or one of our three cats, knocked that piece onto the floor, where it got vacuumed to oblivion. Either way, this one will most likely be tossed into the recycling bin. So it goes.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #19

After conferring with 'Mother', Dallas reveals that the "Nostromo" is on and unexpected course.

Destination: a small asteroid from where unearthly signals are apparently emanating. 

Diary of the Dead (2007) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 16, 2008

When Diary of the Dead got a paltry theatrical release in 2008, I hoofed it over to the Landmark on Shattuck Avenue, in Berkeley, so I could see it on the big screen.

While I found plenty to admire and enjoy about the film, I also found the found footage conceit somewhat clumsy and distracting in its staging. It worked in bits and pieces for me, just not as a whole.

My hope, which was soon dashed, was that the movie would get a solid enough positive critical and commercial response that Romero could have the opportunity to make something other than yet another zombie movie.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #21

Mary Brown

Considered crazy by local residents, Mary Brown recalled an encounter with the Blair Witch: "It was like a woman, only on her arms, on her hands and everything, it was like hair, like a real dark, almost black hair. Like a horse... like horse fur. Then (on) her arms, she had like a shawl, a wool shawl. She didn't say anything, but she just kept staring. And then she opened up the shawl... and under it there was hair on her body, like a horse - and her legs, you could see she was female." 

Mary Brown was played by Patricia DeCou (1934 - 2007). She was the only person that responded to flyers that were hung at a local college, asking for people to help the low-budget production.

Friday the 13th (2009) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 15, 2009

I remember taking my son to see this on opening weekend. Hell, it might even have been opening night. I wore my What Would Jason Do t-shirt and we had a blast.

The Baytown Outlaws (2012) - Soundtrack

A completist impulse purchase that paid off nicely. 

I have been a fan of Christopher Young ever since Hellraiser (1987) and, I am reasonably certain, I recognized Kostas Christides thanks to my having the soundtrack for the After Dark Horrorfest entry Dark Ride (2006).

This is a score written for a rock band and the music does, in fact, rock.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #18

"Nostromo" crew members are surprised to discover that they are nowhere near their native planet. Have the ship's preprogrammed computers malfunctioned in some way? 

The Stepford Wives (1975) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 14, 1975

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #20

About the Cabin

"I've heard stories about her from people and neighbors and stuff like that, but also I saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel or somewhere, once about her, about ghost and legends of Maryland. The creepiest (child tries to stop mother from talking)... the creepiest story that I ever heard was that two men were camping near the cabin or something that she's supposed to haunt... and they disappeared of the face of the Earth." 

Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show(s) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 13, 1953

Fox West Coast Theaters held a bunch of Friday the 13th-themed Midnite Jinx Shows throughout the East Bay on Friday, February 13, 1953. What did they show?

Richmond's Fox theater, along with its Grand theater, showed a double-bill of The Cat Creeps (1946) and She-Wolf of London (1946).

Berkeley's California theater offered a questionable double-bill of Kansas Pacific (1953) and Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla (1952).

East Oakland's Eastmont had The Black Cat (1941) and something called Phantom of Paris, which might be a retitled Mystery of Marie Roget (1942).

North Oakland's Senator theater had the best of the bunch, though. A triple-bill of Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931), and The Monster Walks (1932).

Although both the Grand Lake and the Paramount are named in the ad, there were no listings for either theater. So it goes.

But there was a separate ad for the Friday the 13th Midnite "Jinx" Show at the Paramount Theatre:

Oakland Tribune - Friday, February 13, 1953

It appears the Paramount had a double-bill that included a major studio preview. Might this have been a sneak preview of The War of the Worlds (1953)? No idea.

The live show was hosted by one Russ Byrd. Not recognizing that name, I did a quick search of the Oakland Tribune's archives and learned Byrd was a well-regarded entertainer and show host. He passed away in 1995.

Another search revealed that "Tiny" James was an absolute legend of a pipe organ performer. He died in 1989.

Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) - Soundtrack

This fifth and final entry in the first set of Planet of the Apes films is, for the most part, considered to be its weakest, cheapest, and most uninteresting installment. Which is true. Battle for the Planet of the Apes was the last gasp of an empty creative tank. But even those fumes had something to recommend for a diehard Planet of the Apes fan.

First were all the thematic and storyline "Easter Eggs" that tied the series continuity together into a self-contained unit. Second is Leonard Rosenman's score for the film. A score that Lukas Kendall's liner notes describe as being "driven by a four-note motif expressive of the concept of 'battle' itself." Okay.

Rosenman's score for Battle is all-new music, save for one artistic flourish. The track March to the Dead City contains "the same rising, oppressive brass and winds, along with harp doubled by piano, that characterized his Forbidden Zone music [for] Beneath the Planet of the Apes." Rosenman understood the assignment,

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #17

Shortly after rising from hyper-sleep, Captain Dallas disappears into the recesses of his spaceship to investigate a transmission from 'Mother' - the ship computer. 

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 12, 1970

The Solano Drive-In still exists and is open for business. I saw Tenet (2020) there, back when drive-ins were getting a pandemic fueled boost in business.

Battle Beyond the Stars (1980) - Soundtrack

Long ago, during the Before Times, I was listening to a Torture Cinema episode of the Skiffy and Fanty Podcast wherein one of the hosts made a snarky comment about James Horner's score for the 1983 science-fiction/fantasy mash-up Krull. This person commented that significant portions of Horner's score for Krull were repurposed sections of his score for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

"Wait just a damn minute," I thought so hard that I stopped the podcast and had to start conversing with myself, "Horner's score for Wrath of Khan repurposed sections from his scores for both Battle Beyond the Stars and Wolfen! He repurposed his compositions all the time!"

But great music is great music, repurposed or not, and Horner's robust score for Battle Beyond the Stars is an entertaining blast to listen to.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #19

About Mr. Parr

On their first day, Heather and her filmmaking crew stopped several Burkittsville locals for quick interviews. Some of the younger people had never even heard of the Blair Witch, and a few old-timers were steadfast in their refusal to accept the supernatural as a possible explanation. A few brought up the case of serial killer Rustin Parr. His bizarre, ritualistic slaughter of children "practically tore this community up," according to one resident.

Jaws by Peter Benchley - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 10, 1974

Before the movie there was the novel. Producer David Brown once said that if he and Richard Zanuck had stopped to think through the budgetary logistics of actually making a movie adaptation of Jaws, they might never have done so.

I tried and tried to read the novel, having seen and loved the movie, but just kept bouncing off it. It would not be until late 1980, or maybe even early 1981, that I would manage to get through the entire book, from start to finish. 

The movie was better. Much, much better.

M3GAN - A 500 piece puzzle from Aquarius

Companion (2025) - Review

"Iris, wake up."

Although I saw Companion on opening day, I wanted to let my thoughts about the film settle and marinate in my mind for a bit. During this time I saw all manner of reactions and critiques of both the film and its marketing campaign. 

Regarding the latter, I think I favor an observation that argued the reveal of Iris (Sophie Thatcher) being a robot in the film's trailer was not all that different of a spoiler, storytelling wise, from the trailer for Terminator 2: Judgment Day revealing who was the 'good' terminator and who was the 'bad' one. Even though the "first act" of both films play out as if the audience does not know this information.

Which leads me to another comment, this one made by a longtime friend, lamenting how the film's opening narration spoiled its ending. A complaint so literal minded it left me baffled.

I hope I am not alone in thinking Companion is not about what happened between Iris and Josh (Jack Quaid). It is about how and why it happened. 

Knowing that Iris is a robot, that she is eventually going to kill Josh, is just a variation of Hitchcock's Bomb Theory. The difference between surprise and suspense.

Nothing in Companion's trailer made the film any less suspenseful or, in a truly shocking surprise, laugh out loud funny to me. There were surprises and shocks throughout the film's brisk runtime that both thrilled and delighted me. One moment I would be laughing, the next I would gasp in horrified shock. I loved every minute of it.

The Batman (2022) - Soundtrack

Michael Giacchino's score for The Batman captures and embodies the film's brooding gothic-noir vibe perfectly. There are, at least, three separate themes at play in his score. First is the dark and brooding theme for Batman himself. Second is the creepy and almost lullaby like theme for the Riddler. Third is the slinking, slithering theme for Catwoman.

One might not have left the theater whistling or humming any of those themes, but hearing them on the soundtrack returns you to the dark and borderline spooky world of The Batman.

Then there's the action cue Highway to the Anger Zone, which underplays the almost monster movie style reveal of the batmobile, followed by an almost apocalyptic car chase with the Penguin. Great stuff.

Now I want to watch The Batman again, go figure.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #16