Up from the Depth (1979) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 29, 1979

I remember being freaked out by this artwork for Up from the Depths, but the movie was not booked at any venues I would have been able, much less even allowed, to go to in order to see it on the big screen. If I had even dared to. This ad made the movie look pretty darn scary to me.

The co-hit for the film at the Eastmont Four was Piranha (1978), a far better film than Up from the Depths turned out to be. At the Lux Up from the Depths would be sharing the screen with The Great Train Robbery (1978) and Fast Charlie...the Moonbeam Rider (1979), making this creature feature the cinematic fish out of water of the three. The Nimitz and San Ramon drive-ins would also have Up from the Depths coupled with Piranha, like the Eastmont Four.

Alien (1979) - Sticker #1

 

Prom Night (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 28, 1980

I saw Prom Night (1980) on the big screen, on home video, and watched its network television debut. I am also reasonably certain that I even watched it, once or twice, when it aired on HBO. Maybe. Which means that, of all the date-themed cash grabs that were pumped out in the money-making wake of Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1980), Prom Night is the one I have watched the most. Go figure.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #15

Tomcat

Tommy guns and white walls seductively mask bad Kitty, the newest Chaos! tomcat. 

The Last Exorcism (2010) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 27, 2010

Rather than struggle with writing some commentary on the film being advertised, I will just share that the only things I remember from it are the Banana Bread recipe bit, Ashley Bell's wonderful performance as the possessed Nell, and Cotton Marcus clutching a cross and praying while walking into what just might be his last battle against Evil.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #84

Kane, Lambert, Parker, Brett, Ash, and Captain Dallas... all dead. Only officer Ripley survives, along with Jones, the cat, now purring in her lap. Ripley's going home.

And it will be a very long trip, Ripley.... 

Catch Me If You Can (1989) - Soundtrack

The liner notes for this limited edition release from BSX Records is rather light on any and all information about this 1989 feature film that, prior to seeing this album being made available, I had never heard of. Not that my ignorance of its existence means anything about the quality of the film.

Catch Me If You Can (1989) served as the feature film debut of Stephen Sommers, who I know best for writing and directing monster-laden fare such as Deep Rising (1998), The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), and Van Helsing (2004).

My reason for purchasing this album was simple. Tangerine Dream provided the score and I have been a fan of the group since 1981, when Michael Mann's Thief (1981) first exposed me to their unique and addictive sound.

Although I still have yet to see the actual film, I am enjoying listening to the peppy music Tangerine Dream composed and performed for it.

Night of Terror (1933) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 26, 1933

The capsule review in John Stanley's Revenge of the Creature Feature Movie Guide describes Night of Terror as a "creepy Columbia chiller" that is "aged, but not vintage."

This appears to be yet another semi-serious "Old Dark House" story. A group of potential heirs arrive to hear the reading of a will and attend a seance, only to be murdered one by one. Although Lugosi was top-billed for marquee value, he actually plays more of a supporting role here.

You can watch it on You Tube, if you dare...

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #14

Relationship

A vampire assassin falls victim to a vampire hunter. Chastity is in a compromising position here. Mister Mischief and Psychotica have her right where they want her. 

Hero and the Terror (1988) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 25, 1988

While Hero and the Terror (1988) may not have been as enthusiastic in its use of slasher film tropes and set pieces as Silent Rage (1982), the film nonetheless gave star Chuck Norris a second round with a threatening boogeyman of a serial killer.

There are a few interesting pieces of trivia that further sync it with the overall vibe of this blog. One is that it was based on a novel of the same name by actor-writer Michael Blodgett. I knew Blodgett best for his flamboyant turn in Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) and his titular role in one of the better Night Gallery segments, The Dead Man. He also starred in The Velvet Vampire, which I have yet to see.

But I have seen two other movies that Blodgett had a writing credit on. One was the Burt Reynolds/Liza Minelli action-romance Rent-A-Cop, the other was an early Tom Hanks action-comedy called Turner and Hooch.

Blodgett's writing partner on all three films was Dennis Shryack. A familiar name to me because, with Michael Butler, Shryack had written the scripts for The Car (1977), The Gauntlet (1977), Flashpoint (1984), Code of Silence (1985), and Pale Rider (1985).

I think Hero and the Terror was one of the better, if not one of the best, movies that Norris made with Cannon. While it has dramatic and storyline weaknesses that prevent(ed) it from becoming a beloved cult classic along with the Missing in Action trilogy or the campy as hell Invasion U.S.A. The movie really deserves a little attention and love thrown its way.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #83

With a sudden burst of fury Ripley kicks the locker room door open and hurls the steel shaft straight through the Alien's midriff! Then, she blows open the rear hatch, sending the writhing, screaming beast into the blackness of space...!

While the card text differs a great deal from the events portrayed in the film, I do like the action hero beat of having Ripley kick open a door and stab the Alien, as if she were Van Helsing dispatching Dracula from this mortal realm.

Obsession (1976) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 22, 1976

Full page ad hyping the upcoming release of Obsession, the first of two impressive feature films from Brian De Palma in 1976. The second would be Carrie, which would open just a few months after the release of Obsession.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #13

Fighting Fury

Her fangs bared, Chastity is at her deadliest when she's cornered. Once her bloodlust is awakened, she's not stopping until the last body hits the floor. 

The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 21, 1959

Sandwiched between a Tarzan adventure (his greatest, it seems) and a Civil War period western sits The Man Who Could Cheat Death, a lesser known Hammer Film offering.

While it does not have the vibrancy of, say, The Curse of Frankenstein or Horror of Dracula, The Man Who Could Cheat Death nonetheless delivers an engaging story and is well worth seeking out.

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure was directed by John Guillerman, who I know as the director of The Towering Inferno (1974), King Kong (1976), King Kong Lives (1986), and Death on the Nile (1978). Future screen icon Sean Connery also appears in the film, as does character actor Niall MacGinnis, who I best remember from Curse of the Demon (1957), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and Island of Terror (1966). I really need to seek this one out.

Edward Bernds helmed Quantrill's Raiders. Although Bernds might be best known for his work directing The Three Stooges short subjects, feature films, and television episodes, I know him best for directing Return of the Fly (1959). Bernds also directed a few science-fiction offerings that I have yet to get around to watching: World Without End (1956), Space Master X-7 (1958), and Queen of Outer Space (1958).

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #82

 

Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp - Review

While I was not the biggest fan of Godzilla's Revenge [Gojira Minira Gabara Ôru kaijû daishingeki, aka All Monsters Attack] growing up, I found that I warmed to it more and more after becoming a parent. So much so that I now consider that maligned black sheep entry in the Godzilla franchise to be something of an underrated movie. 

One that dares to acknowledge and even critique one of the most immutable rules of any and all fandom(s). "After a monster or villain, no matter how heinous or cruel, becomes popular enough, a version will emerge that will be a fierce protector/defender of puppies, kittens, and children."

Which is my rather long-winded explanation as to why, while browsing Things From Another World at the Universal City Walk, I took one look at Godzilla: Monster Island Summer Camp and, with a big grin and hearty chuckle, knew I had to read it.

Aspiring artist Zelda wants nothing more than to spend a summer at camp creating all manner of art while meeting and befriending many a like-minded camper and, maybe, future collaborator. Her hopes and dreams of an idyllic summer camp experience are dashed, though. After she arrives and learns that the camp's new owners have changed its focus from art to sports. Ugh...

After meeting her cabin mates Weezy and Rumiko, and asserting her independence from being forced to adhere to intense rounds of physical activity, Zelda discovers a portal that takes her to Monster Island.

That is where she meets Minilla (aka the Son of Godzilla) and learns that something is driving the other monsters on the island into violent fits of rage and destructive behavior. Something that just might be linked to clandestine activities being undertaken by the new owners of the summer camp, More Inc.

Six Shōwa era monsters appear in Monster Island Summer Camp, but only two of them have recognizable marquee names. Those are Godzilla, of course, and Mothra. The other three, not counting Minilla, will be familiar to anyone that, like me, grew up watching Godzilla's Revenge, or the films that it took most of its monster footage from, as well as the very first Godzilla vs. MechaGodzilla (1974).

Although Monster Island Summer Camp stumbled a wee little bit during the final confrontation, it did not diminish the fun I was having the slightest bit. I smiled the moment Minilla appeared and kept smiling all the way to the very last panel.

When I closed the book and set it down, the only thought that came to mind was, "Damn, I wish I could go to Monster Island Summer Camp!"

There really cannot be any higher praise than that, right?

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 20, 1981

 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #12

Chastity's Challenge

Mister Mischief saw the lovely vampire Chastity as an easy target for himself and his partner Psychotica. Appearances can be very deceiving, as Mischief and Psychotica learned in Chastity: Crazytown. 

Space Raiders (1983) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 19, 1983

While I did see Howard R. Cohen's feature film debut Saturday the 14th on the big screen, his second feature film, also made for Roger Corman, eluded me. Most likely because I was no longer living in the United States when it was plopped into theaters.

Judging from what little I have seen of Space Raiders, this looks to recycle a whole lot of special effects shots from Battle Beyond the Stars, intercutting it with new footage that looks to have been shot in a Southern California warehouse.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #81

With Ripley trapped in the storage compartment the Alien turns its murderous fury on the sleep chamber containing Jones. Ripley, meantime, grasps a long metal rod and peels off the rubber tip... 

Godzilla 1985 (1985) - Promo

San Francisco Examiner - August 18, 1985

As nice as it would have been to see Godzilla 1985 on the big screen, I missed out. Nope, not until the release of Godzilla 2000 in 1999 would I see an actual Godzilla movie on the big screen since sitting, or suffering, through Godzilla vs. Megalon, way back in 1976.

Yeah, I still do not count taking the day off to see 1998's Godzilla on its opening day as my seeing an actual Godzilla movie on the big screen.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #11

Deadly Kitty

Catch most women in their underwear, and they're just about helpless. Not Bad Kitty - that's when she's at her deadliest. The prettiest roses always have the sharpest thorns. 

Hugh Jackman Live: From New York With Love - 1000 Piece Puzzle

The Fly (1986) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 15, 1986

This makes for a terrific double-bill with Together, of course.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #80

 

The Shark Is Broken by Ian Shaw & Joseph Nixon - Review

As much as I would have loved to have seen a performance of The Shark Is Broken during its limited Broadway run, it was not to be. 

A long planned international trip in the late summer of 2023 necessitated that our more or less annual Broadway crawl take place in July that year. The Shark Is Broken would not open on Broadway until August. The best I could manage was to take a photo of the marquee of the John Golden Theatre, where the production would be housed during its painfully brief (for me, at least) engagement.

New York City - July 8, 2023

Two years later a friend gifted me The Shark Is Broken book for my birthday. A celebration that not only coincided with the 50th anniversary of my favorite film of all time, but also the 50th anniversary of my seeing it for the very first time.

Yeah, I am that old.

Over the last two or three decades I have read a good baker's dozen or so books detailing the film's trouble-plagued production. Troubles that have become the stuff of legend and myth. So I cracked open The Shark Is Broken eager to see what facts made it into this fictionalized and comedic interpretation of Jaws notorious production woes and personality clashes, versus what creative licenses would be taken by writers Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon to ensure an engaging and entertaining 90 or so minutes.

Well, from my admittedly limited perspective and foreknowledge, that answer seems to be six of one and half dozen of the other. 

At the very beginning of The Shark Is Broken, the fictional Roy Scheider repeats something that the real Roy Scheider said in a behind-the-scenes interview during the making of Jaws, "It's not the time it takes to take the take that takes the time... It's the time it takes between the takes that takes the time to take the take."

Translation: Behind every second of screen time rests hours, days, weeks, and perhaps even months of work. Work that devours time and patience. 

That means every production set, no matter how smooth or chaotic it might be, will have actors sitting and waiting, struggling to fill that time between those takes. It is within those long, boring stretches of time that The Shark Is Broken takes place. Right smack dab in the center of that ever widening gulf of 'free time' between takes are three frustrated, bored, and often overwhelmed actors trying to maintain their sanity.

The dynamic between the trio mirrors and echoes the dynamic of the characters they are playing in the film. Robert Shaw (Quint) is an irascible and sharp tongued drunk, quick and relentless in doling out scathing comments capable of drawing blood. Richard Dreyfuss (Matt Hooper) is a young and hungry talent, who vacillates between outbursts of prideful determination and neurotic self-doubt. Between the two sits Roy Scheider (Martin Brody), who, by default, becomes something of a stabilizing everyman tasked with anchoring, or reining in, the volatile Shaw and Dreyfuss during their intermittent emotional outbursts.

I do think there is a brutal honesty fueling The Shark Is Broken. Underneath the mundane and day-to-day grind of the film's trouble-plagued production lurks an existential dread. The trio of actors cannot help but start to feel that they have become trapped by the difficult film shoot and, as the days drag on and on and on, begin questioning, and oft times regretting, their decision to work on this stupid film. 

Shaw's contemptuous dismissal of the film as a shallow, meaningless, and quick to be forgotten cinematic trifle serves as an ironic reminder to its audience that there was a period of time when few, if any, that worked on Jaws would dare to think it could be anything more than a goofy thriller about a giant shark.

I do not know when, if ever, I will be able to see The Shark Is Broken performed on stage. But, having read it, my desire to do so remains undiminished.

Don't Go in the House (1979) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 14, 1980

Here was a release that managed to provide a memorable blip on my pop culture radar in 1980. That blip consists of my making a comment on how scary the ad made the movie look, to which my mother shot back it was just about torturing women in horrible ways and not the least bit scary. Just gross and cruel.

My mother's scathing commentary only made the concept of Don't Go in the House all the more frightening and disturbing to my thirteen year-old mind. What the hell was happening in that house? When I did manage to see the film on home video, it served as an example of a movie living up to the hype and hatred surrounding it. It was a genuinely unsettling film.

On a side note, this was one of a plethora of Don't titled movies that inspired my favorite fake trailer from 2007's Grindhouse.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #10

Birds of a Feather

Bad Kitty and Chastity - one uses weapons, the other is the weapon. Both born pain and tragedy, these two ladies have learned that they have more in common than either ever imagined. 

Cat's Eye (1985) - Soundtrack

After his score for Romancing the Stone (1984) garnered positive attention, and just before his score for Back to the Future (1985) would make him a sought after A-list talent, Alan Silvestri was hired to score Cat's Eye (1985). "[Silvestri] was getting his start at the time that we did this," director Lewis Teague points out on a DVD commentary track. "Which is the only reason we could afford him!"

While there was a soundtrack album released by Varèse Sarabande in 1985, it did not make into my collection. Not until 2015, that is. When Intrada released this expanded presentation of Silvestri's original two-track stereo session recordings.

Massive changes were made to Silvestri's score during post-production, of course. Album producer Douglass Fake, in his liner notes, shares how several cues were disassembled, chopped into disparate pieces, and then reassembled, spliced together with unrelated cues.

Rather than attempt to recreate the film's score presentation in exacting detail, Fake and company sequence these original recordings "in the overall picture sequence." Which works for me, since I have not watched Cat's Eye in decades.

For the temperamental purists out there, like me, who might notice the absence of four chords connecting Track #1, Cat's Eye - Intro, to Track #2, Cat Chase, the film edit version is included as a bonus track.

The Skeleton Key (2005) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 13, 2005

Sometimes I get excited for a movie and look forward to seeing it on the big screen. Then it opens and my excitement deflates. This happened with The Skeleton Key. A movie that seems to have all the spooky shenanigans and gothic trappings I enjoy in partaking, yet I just could not motivate myself to get out and see it.

Still have yet to watch it, to this very day.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #79

 

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) / Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 12, 1958

I remember reading comments and commentary, some positive and some negative, about the obvious debt that Alien (1979) owed to It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958).

If I were to dig back into the fanzines of the late 50s and early 60s, would there be comments and commentary about the obvious debt that It! The Terror from Beyond Space owed to The Thing from Another World (1951)? The chances of that having been the case might range from "Perhaps" to "More than likely." Because if there is one thing fandom loves more than enjoying and engaging with genre output, it is bitching and moaning about how that very same output is being done wrong.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #9

Alive? But for how long? After returning to her mortal form, Lady Death found that all of her old enemies wanted her dead. Guided by a ghost of police officer, and watched over by Death itself, the Diva of Death took on all who challenged her. 

Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 11, 1971

Growing up I was somewhat of a staunch contemporist when it came to my viewing preferences. I preferred watching movies that featured indoor plumbing, paved roads, automobiles, and electricity.

Which means that, for a short period of time, my favorite entries in the first Planet of the Apes saga were Escape from the Planet of the Apes and Conquest of the Planet of the Apes. No desert vistas. No sweaty, stanky people in loin cloths. No horses. Just the beloved and familiar creature comforts of the world I was oh so lucky enough to enjoy, and take for granted, as a child.

After destroying the world, at Charlton Heston's request, in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, there was only one way for the franchise to go... back to when it began.

It amazes me at just how well this movie pulls off its ludicrous storyline and the insane levels of mythology-building necessitated to have these events start the ball rolling toward the what, where, and when of the first and second films.

The whole affair is strange, silly, and satirical... until, all of a sudden, it turns dead serious and sticks a downbeat ending that works. Making Escape from the Planet of the Apes, arguably, the best of the four sequels to the original film.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #78

The Alien - awesome, nightmarish has been hiding in the Narcissus shuttlecraft all along! Instantly, Ripley whirls into the spacesuit storage container as the relentless Creature peers through the locker window...! 

Weapons (2025) - Review

Having been surprised and delighted at being so thoroughly thrown for a loop by Barbarian, I walked into the earliest matinee showing of Zach Cregger's follow up feature, Weapons, with high expectations. I walked out of that matinee showing satisfied with what I had just experienced, even if it had not thrown me for as big a loop as Barbarian had. So it goes.

If you have read the ad copy on the poster, or seen one of the trailers for the film, then you will know every bit as much as I did going in. Which might be for the best, as this movie, for the most part, is structured as a mystery focusing on finding out the why, what, and where regarding the disappearance of Mrs. Gandy's class.

Why did they run out of their homes at 2:17 in the morning? What made them do so?  Where on earth did they go?

The manner in which Cregger answers those questions might try the patience of some viewers and leave others a bit confused. Because, just as he had done in Barbarian, Cregger takes a non-linear approach to his story. 

Breaking the narrative into character titled chapters can and does result in shifts in point of view, motivation, pacing and even tone. While the tonal shifts in Weapons are nowhere near as jarring as the first one in Barbarian was, they still occur. 

The changing of the narrative point of view, coupled with the need to start over every twenty or so minutes, necessitates the repeating of several scenes from a different perspective. These moments shed no light or nuance on the mystery. They exist so the viewer gets a narrative grounding point for where and when in the timeline these intermingled storylines and characters intersect in the Big Picture.

Whether or not the film actually needed these chapter breaks and shifting points of view at all will no doubt be the subject of many an online argument or critical discussion. As messy as they were, they made a rather outlandish concept feel more grounded and human than it otherwise would have.

Weapons may have fallen a tad shy of reaching my too high expectations. But it still managed to hold my interest, keep me in suspense, and even scare me a time or two, right up until its cathartic, albeit a tad too abrupt, ending...

The Fury by John Farris - Newspaper Ad

I saw the film adaptation of The Fury long before I managed to crack open its source material and make it all the way through to the end. No slight to author John Farris, but the film's source material was rather lengthy, convoluted and dense. Far too advanced for an eleven or twelve year-old with an undiagnosed form of what, in 1978 or '79, would have been called attention deficit disorder. 

While the movie is fun for what it is, the novel is so much better. I have never gotten around to reading the sequels to it that Farris wrote. Although I have read his books All Heads Turn As the Hunt Goes By, Son of the Endless Night, Wildwood, and The Axman Cometh.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #8

Both having wandered the various worlds and realms of reality, Lady Death and the skull-faced Bedlam found they had much in common. And considering the power each had at their disposal, may the gods help anyone in their way. 

Cat People (1982) - Soundtrack

Although I was somewhat familiar with Giorgio Moroder's work via its radio play, thanks to the ubiquity of Donna Summer's I Feel Love on our local radio stations in the late 1970s, as well as The Chase from Midnight Express making the occasional appearance. It was not until 1982's Cat People that I became familiar with his name.

I think this soundtrack also served as my first introduction to David Bowie, who sang the film's longing and lust fueled song of a love doomed to be denied for all eternity. Of course my teenaged and hormone addled heart and brain vibed with it. How could it not?

Although it has been several decades since I have watched Cat People from start to finish, listening to the pop song interpretations presented on this soundtrack bring the film's sumptuous images to vivid life in my mind.

Track 2, The Autopsy, pulls forth the memory of that bloodied arm raising out of the guts of the dead leopard carcass. 

The opening of Track 4, Night Rabbit, got a lot of play, if only because, if I wish casted hard enough, I could pretend it was the opening beats to the electronic version of Ennio Morricone's theme to The Thing (1982). Because I did not have access to the soundtrack to the latter, yet.

Track 5, Leopard Tree Dream, brings forth the image of a shirtless Malcolm McDowell striding across a desert dreamscape to deliver necessary exposition regarding the sexual curse of the cat people. 

Track 6, Paul's Theme (Jogging Chase), calls forth the low angle image of McDowell sashaying up a flight of stairs and/or Annette O' Toole jogging through a park.

Track 7, The Myth, served as the film's main title and oozes and throbs with sultry energy. That energy builds and builds until it gets a gorgeous and vibrant release. Perfection.

Tracks 8, To The Bridge, is a wonderful pop expansion of a cue the underplays John Heard's driving to a bridge.

Track 9, Transformation Seduction, underplays Nastassja Kinski's character's first, and therefore quite traumatic, transformation into a leopard.

Track 10, Bring the Pod, is another expansion on music that underplays what was one of the most vivid and memorable scenes in the movie. Listening to it can still make me clutch at my shoulder in empathetic dread. Ouch.

It is a great soundtrack for a great movie. One that I really should give another look. Looks like it might be time to finally add that Cat People blu-ray from Scream Factory to my collection.

Raising Cain (1992) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 7, 1992

As much as I would have liked to have been able to see Raising Cain on the big screen, it was not to be. It was a home video viewing for me. 

When I did catch up with it, I found it a delirious and chaotic mess of an entertaining movie. One that, just like Body Double, walked the line separating self-awareness and self-parody. All of De Palma's movies have elements of black comedy and camp to them. Some are more restrained than others.

I remember Raising Cain as being utterly unrestrained. De Palma just wanting to have fun with his tropes and obsessions. I had fun watching him do so.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #77

With Jones locked in her cat box, Ripley races to the escape craft Narcissus and locks the door behind her. Can she, the last member of the Nostromo team, escape the cruel fate of her companions? 

Destroy All Monsters [Kaijû Sôshingeki (1968)] - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 6, 1969

While the entirety of 2019's Godzilla King of the Monsters had me grinning ear-to-ear from near the very beginning of that marvelous monster mash. Seeing a protestor waving a sign declaring "DESTROY ALL MONSTERS" pulled a good-natured chuckle out of me. One that I punctuated with a small fist pump of approval.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #7

Allies

Together with Cremator and her sister Vandala, the mortal Lady Death let nothing stand against her, including those who saw her mortal nature as a weakness. As Cremator and Vandala found out, she was stronger than ever!

Nightmare by Michael Gingold - Review

The doctors and administrators field testing a new mental health treatment protocol believe they have made a significant breakthrough with George Tatum, a man once driven to commit depraved acts of sexual violence by a horrific, confusing, and vivid nightmare. Tatum, aided by medications, appears to be seizure free and is responding well to therapy.

Those appearances are deceiving, however, as the vivid nightmare that drove him to violence still plagues him...

At the very end of Romano Scavoloni's Nightmare (1981) Susan Temper (Sharon Smith) wails out an explanation as to what motivated George Tatum (Baird Stafford) to travel all the way from New York City, down to Florida, just to menace and traumatize her three children.

This explanation, to be honest and fair, does not hold up to much, if any, scrutiny. What should make a first time viewer's eyes widen and jaw drop instead might cause said viewer's brow to furrow and have them thinking, maybe even saying out loud, "Wait... WHAT!?!"

My curiosity as to how, or even if, author Michael Gingold might attempt to weave some kind of foreshadowing of this revelation into the cult film's transcribed narrative was my primary motivation for purchasing and reading this novelization. 

The short answer is, he did not. So it goes.

Gingold's most obvious, to me, additions were a few extra killings. One that explains how Tatum came to be institutionalized. Another takes place in the restroom of a New York City grindhouse that just so happens to be showing William Lustig's Maniac. Which is a beautiful use of irony. Then there is one that occurs after an anachronistic cameo appearance of an Alamo Drafthouse style theater, which offers a nice, knowing nudge and wink to this book's readers. I doubt there are any potential readers of a novelization of Nightmare that would not know what is, or have never been to, an Alamo Drafthouse.

Although there is some minor reinterpretation of the film's climax for this novelization, most of it remains unchanged. Which is as it should be, I guess.

I cannot, and will not, fault Gingold for not writing the kind of novelization I hoped, or wanted, to read. But I can and do commend his turning a sleazy oddity of early 80s exploitation cinema into a novel that held my attention until its ominous and, it seems, sequel teasing conclusion.

Arsenic And Old Lace - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 5, 1943

When I saw that Bela Lugosi was allowed to take a break from playing Dracula on the stage with this production of Arsenic and Old Lace, I rooted around to find a review of this production. Just to see if the play's famous running gag of Jonathan being made to resemble Boris Karloff (because the character of Jonathan had been played by Karloff, both on and off Broadway) had been changed or rendered even 'funnier' by the irony of having Bela Lugosi hamming up his rage at being said to resemble Karloff by any and all who saw him.

Well, the Examiner review only mentions a distressing amount of flubbed lines and technical errors. Lugosi was described as being "big, intense, and mean" and that his performance, while differing from Karloff's famous turn, was nonetheless effective.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #76

"The problem between you and the Alien," Ash concludes, "will produce a simple and elegant solution. Only one of you will survive." Lambert and Parker are the next victims. Only  Ripley remains... 

The Food of the Gods (1976) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - August 4, 1976

While there were all kinds of newspaper ads and television spots that would unnerve or frighten me, only two managed to out and out terrify me. One was the television spot(s) for the 1977 re-release of Larry Cohen's It's Alive (1974). The other was the poster art and television spots for today's subject, Bert I. Gordon's film version of H.G. Well's The Food of the Gods.

I do have a memory of being in the back seat of our Ford Pinto station wagon and spying a theater marquee displaying The Food of the Gods and commenting about. Chances are it was the Lux theater in Oakland.

It would not be until a truncated version of the film debuted on The 3:30 Movie, with Gordon's 1977 follow-up feature Empire of the Ants airing the very next day, that my jaw would drop at how silly the movie whose ad campaign had terrified me so turned out to be.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #6

Unlikely Friends

Both drawn to the same mystery, the street smart Chastity joined forces with Lady Death. Forever young met forever old, and the two women realized they shared a bond of tragedy in their lives, and had both overcome it. 

Buried somewhere in my comic book long boxes is an issue featuring Chastity battling it out with, I think, Purgatori. I might dig it out and post about it at some point in the future, whenever I get around to unboxing, scanning, and re-reading my comic book collection. Right now I will continue to concentrate on trading cards, newspaper ads, and my soundtrack collection.

Dan Da Dan, Vol. 2 - Review

The first volume of Dan Da Dan ended with Momo and Okarun being attacked by a giant spirit crab unleashed upon them by the yokai known as Turbo Granny.

No surprise that the first two chapters of this second volume are a prolonged chase sequence. One that culminates with a rather unique method of exorcism. 

Momo and Okarun's victory celebration is a short-lived one, however. The restoration of Okarun's, um, manhood turns out to have been incomplete. While he has his frank back, his beans are still missing. Where are they?

The defeated and weakened Turbo Granny, who now resides inside of a maneki-neko figurine, has no idea. But she does agree to help them with their search, for reasons I will not spoil here, and more exciting and hilarious spiritual shenanigans ensue.

This second volume is not marred by presenting the potential sexual assault of a young girl as something to be laughed at by its readership, while also having it empower the threatened character. Here writer-artist Yukinobu Tatsu manages to balance and blend the horror elements with the rom-com tropes to create an engaging and entertaining story that is equal parts sweet and spicy, spooky and silly.

All that Dan Da Dan is doing is dressing raging, confusing, contradictory, and frightening teen hormones in scary costumes, allowing for all that rage, confusion, contradiction, and fear to manifest in delightfully weird and entertaining ways. For the moment, I am loving it.

Dr. Phibes Rises Again (1972) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - August 1, 1972

Here is the more gruesome advertising artwork for the quickie sequel to the previous year's The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Although not as beloved as the first film, Dr. Phibes Rises Again does have enough dark humor and grisly methods of torturous dispatch for the various supporting characters to maintain interest until its memorable and hilariously satisfying ending. Long live PHIBES!

I recall reading somewhere that director Robert Fuest said he preferred this film over the first, because he was given more creative control, so there was less pushback over the black comedy, and thus was able to enjoy the process of making the film.