My Bloody Valentine (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 13, 1981

This Canuxploitation slasher craze cash-in, and beloved minor cult classic, got a delightful two-for for its holiday themed release. You see,Valentine's Day would fall on a Saturday in 1981, just like it is in this year of our mythical-lord 2026, which meant the film would open on the very appropriate, and ironic, date of Friday the 13th.

Legend has it that the film was butchered by the MPAA in order to get that mandated R-rating. Some (if not most) of that cut footage was restored by Scream Factory. So if you are interested, check it out. 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #35

The Fly (1986)

 

Dracula's Bride (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 12, 1981

Judging by the cast list, I thought this was a re-release of Dracula Sucks (1978) under a different title. However, according to its trivia page at the IMDB, Dracula's Bride is a different movie. One constructed from "separate footage" that was shot by William Margold. An alternate title for this film seems to be Lust At First Bite, although that has also been cited as the alternate title for Dracula Sucks, as well.

My ill-informed guess is that this is the hardcore version, while Dracula Sucks (1978) may have been a soft core version. I think.

I have not seen either version, from beginning to end, but I do know that Reggie Nalder (who played Mr. Barlow in the first Salem's Lot mini-series and was the henchman of Dracula's Dog) was mortified to learn that the scenes he had filmed for what he had been told was a soft core sex comedy were also used in the hardcore version.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #70

Chastity

Chastity is a master of martial arts and an expert assassin. Those who know of her cringe and those who do not, but meet with her have little time to reflect.

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 11, 1970

Considering the amount of pre-release tampering that is alleged to have been done on Frankenstein Must De Destroyed, I was surprised to read that, when asked which of his own films were his favorites, Terence Fisher (in an interview in Vol. 4, Issue 3 of Cinefantastique magazine) said this was one of them. That, of all his films, Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed was the one he most enjoyed making.

As far as that supposed tampering goes, I heard there was a "last minute" decision it "spice up" the film with a sexual assault that, according to an interview with Veronica Carlson that appeared in (I think) Fangoria magazine, had both Cushing and Fisher apologizing to the actress throughout the filming of the scene.

Another ill-advised "last minute" inclusion was the comedic investigating carried on by Inspector Frisch (Thorley Walters). One could excise both the assault and Frisch scenes from the film and be left with a tighter, leaner, and far better paced movie, I think.

My favorite hammer Frankenstein's remain The Revenge of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Created Woman.

Double-billed with Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed is Dracula Has Risen from the Grave, the middle section of Hammer Film's trilogy of direct sequels to [Horror of] Dracula. While an interesting and entertaining enough follow up to Dracula Prince of Darkness, picking up more or less where that film ended, and leading directly into Taste the Blood of Dracula, I have to say that I prefer and enjoy both Prince and Taste a great deal more than Grave.

It is not bad, I just find it a tad slow and, because of that, it has tested of my patience at times. Other times, not so much.

Fright Flicks - Trading Cared #34

Alien (1979)

"Hello my baby, hello my honey, hello my ragtime gal!"
 

Clash of the Titans (1981) - Soundtrack

One of the few Laurence Rosenthal scores I have in my collection. The other one, also from Intrada, is the soundtrack for Meteor.

Turns out there was a solid reason for why Rosenthal's name and work is not all that familiar to me, then and now. Most of his work appears to have been for television and period dramas. Which is not my usual viewing of choice. Although he did compose the theme to Fantasy Island and the score for the 1977 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

His score for Clash of the Titans is superb and has me wishing he had been able to work in the arena of fantastic cinema more often.

Nothing But Trouble (1991) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 10, 1991

Although I had a certain morbid curiosity about this film when it crashed and burned at the box office in the early months of 1991, I did not see it until it was on home video.

Nothing But Trouble is an utterly bizarre and bonkers horror-comedy. Think National Lampoon's House of 1,000 Corpses. Really.

It tries, and fails spectacularly, at being something very weird and very different. Outside of Dan Ackroyd, who wrote and directed, I think only John Candy and Taylor Negron seemed to understand the assignment and role with it. Chevy Chase and Demi Moore both seemed stiff and embarrassed about being in the movie and I don't blame them.

All that being said, I do revisit the Mr. Bonestripper scene every so often.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #69

Smitten

If her looks don't smitten you then the swords will. If you need an assassin, look Chastity up.

When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 9, 1972

Of the four prehistoric fantasy films that Hammer Film produced, this is the only one I have seen from start to finish. An entertaining little piffle that not only shows dinosaurs and humans co-existing, but that also postulates the moon was birthed from the area that would become the Pacific Ocean.

Okay...

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #33

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

 

The Sentinel (1977) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 6, 1977

My memories of when I first became aware of The Sentinel, versus when I first saw it, are as murky as the film's narrative. I know that I saw a static image of the film during the Science Fiction Film Awards ceremony that was broadcast in 1978. Where The Sentinel was nominated for Best Horror Movie and up against The Hills Have Eyes, Dogs, Kingdom of the Spiders, and The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. The winner was the very deserving The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane.

I also know that I first saw The Sentinel on broadcast television, but I do not recall it being broadcast on a major network. The film might have been a tad too sleazy and off-putting for one of the big three. That it had not been all that successful at the box office also did not do it any favors in selling to ancillary markets, either. Even with some minor edits for content and, most likely, time, the movie still proved unnerving and unsettling. It also traumatized my dad, of all people.

In 1979 or 1980 I read a book by Jeffrey Konvitz called The Guardian, which turned out to be a sequel to his novel The Sentinel. Which was the source material for this movie. I did not read The Sentinel until 1981 or 82.

I do know that when MCA Home Video released the film, I did rent it and watch it. But that had to have been in 1987 or 88. I think.

Scream Factory released the film on blu-ray, which I just so happen to own. So I give it an occasional watch. Like every other film directed by Michael Winner, it is blunt, uneven, violent, gross, sexually graphic, and exploitative. This is one of those movies that leaves its viewers feeling in need of a shower or cleansing bath.

Great score by Gil Melle, thought. That, along with counting the bonkers number of recognizable and underutilized actors in the cast, is the best thing about the movie.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #68

Jade

Jade was turned by the Blood Goddess Purgatori a long time ago. She now has chosen her role and place in the world. She's endured much, caused much death and destruction, but now wishes to make amends with the world.

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 5, 1988

After the creative misstep that was Deadly Friend (1986) Wes Craven returned to form with this atmospheric and effective horror film interpretation of the nonfiction book of the same name by Wade Davis. Although, yet again, the studio (this time Universal) insisted that Craven jazz up the scares with some nightmare sequences.

While not a huge hit at the box office, it did do modest to effective numbers, but nowhere near enough to give Craven the industry capital to make something outside of the horror genre. So it goes.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #31

The Fly (1986)

Videodrome (1983) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 4, 1983

I have taken to referring to Videodrome as Q-Anon: The Movie, not because there is any sort of tangible connection between this 1983 cult classic and the Internet conspiracy theory that radicalized and inflamed people from various walks of life.

No, it was more the thematic similarities between Max Renn's self-destructive search for the information about the mysterious program called Videodrome and how it warped his perception of reality to the point he became a controllable avatar for powerful forces he never came close to understanding.

Videodrome, whether it was consciously intended to be or not, is a film about radicalization and delusion. Of losing one's self in another's constructed and contrived presentation of reality. It has aged beautifully well into the perception melting and distorting world of the Internet and social media.

Long live the New Flesh, same as the Old Flesh.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #67

Morgana

Morgana was Death's servant before Lady Death. When she and the Diva of Death meet the body toll will be high. Only once can hold the mantle of Death's Avatar.

The Entity (1982) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - February 3, 1983

The Entity is the other Frank DeFelitta novel I can recall seeing in numerous, if not every, bookstore or spinner rack, back in the day. Just as was the case with Audrey Rose, I have yet to crack it open and give it a read.

And, just as was the case, yet again, with its film adaptation, I have yet to actually see it. I do remember seeing the TV and newspaper ads, as well as reading some lackluster reviews and hearing the indifferent word of mouth around school.

Sidney [J.] Furie, the film's director, has had quite the eclectic career, though. His most infamous film might be Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987).

Quentin Tarantino used a snippet from Charles Bernstein's score for the film to excellent effect in Inglourious Basterds (2009).

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #31

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

The Freddy Franchise, as it was quick to become know as, returned to form with this stellar sequel that expanded the mythology in an interesting way that, sad to say, was never adequately explored or exploited in the subsequent entries.

Wes Craven being involved, albeit in a somewhat limited fashion, in the creative process no doubt helped, as did the hiring of Chuck Russell and Frank Darabont. Of all the Freddy sequels, I think Dream Warriors is the best.

The Mummy (1932) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - February 2, 1933

Boris Karloff's second iconic monster for Universal is poised to shamble into San Francisco Bay Area theaters. Although the programmer-style sequels are interchangeable retreads - telling the exact same story over and over, beat-for-beat - the first movie is actually quite good. A superlative and subtle performance by Karloff (The Uncanny) making The Mummy all the better.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #66

Victoria Noble

Victoria Noble is an unassuming librarian who's just been invited to a parallel universe that exists within NYC. She has yet to learn who is friend or foe and why she, but not others, is able to see another plane of existence.
 

Blackbeard's Ghost (1968) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 30, 1976

This is one of those movies that I have no memory of, yet still have this feeling that I did see it, at some point. I think Dean Jones plays a down on his luck coach, or teacher, that meets/befriends the ghost of the pirate Blackbeard (Peter Ustinov), which leads to said ghost helping the school team win the "big game" (i.e. by cheating) and thus Jones' character's career. I think...

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #30

Day of the Dead (1985)

This is one of my favorite scenes, of many, from George A. Romero's Day of the Dead. The moment when Bub grabs Logan's arm and Logan flinches, realizing that he might have just walked into his own grave, and what followed got my jaw to drop just the slightest bit. Great movie. One of my all time favorites.

Deep Rising (1998) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 29, 1998

Being a monster movie fan, I was, of course, super excited about there being an other sea monster movie opening at a theatre near me. In this case, it was Brenden Concord 14. That is where I saw Deep Rising for the first time.

While my expectations were not throughly met, I was far more satisfied and entertained by the film than my brother, who thought it was terrible.

My primary complaint with the film was that Rob Bottin's monster design was created via CGI, not with practical effects. Granted that the option they went with did give the creature a range of visual motion that would have been a time-consuming struggle to achieve via miniatures or stop motion. But I sure would have loved to see them try.

At least the monster's partially digested leftovers were on step practical effects.

I also love darkly comedic the tagline featured in the trailer: "Women and children first. You're next."

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #65

Vandala

Vandala, Lady Death's valkyrie sister, is resplendent in glory. She's just single-handedly resurrected the shinning [sic] realm. It will be called Newgard.
 

Dragon Castle Books in Las Vegas - Visit and Book Haul.

Evilspeak (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 28, 1982

Evilspeak might have been the first horror film I saw on the big screen in 1982. It played at the Southshore Twin in Alameda on a double-bill with the inane and insane killer hand flick Demonoid. What an energetic one-two punch of supernatural shenanigans and slaughter those turned two out to be.

What made that particular Saturday even better was that John Carpenter's second (and first professional) feature film, Assault on Precinct 13, was aired, complete and uncut, on Channel 44 that night. I made an audio cassette recording of that broadcast and listened to it over and over for months. Until the tapes started wearing out.

Last year a ginormous feral pig, who I named Wilbur, was captured on our trail camera and the moment I saw him (and he is most assuredly a him) Evilspeak came to mind. Because of course it would. The ending of this movie is just hog wild.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #29

Stuff of the 'Week' - January 17 - 21, 2026

The Fog (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 27, 1980

The Fog was the first John Carpenter movie I would be hyper-focused on and obsessed with seeing after getting the top of my head blown off by Halloween. I believed there was no way this would not be another classic from the man (i.e. creative team) responsible for Halloween.

While fog banks might not be as iconic as, say, the holiday of Halloween. They do serve as a vital backdrop, or set dressing, in the creation of an ominous, threatening, or mysterious mood. What could go wrong with letting a ghost-laden fog take center stage?

Although the end result was just a "tad" unfocused, underdeveloped, and uneven, thanks in very large part to Carpenter's eleventh hour reshoots to ramp the film's scare factor way, way up, I still loved it.

The days of my thinking The Fog to be another flawless classic are long past, but The Fog remains one of my personal favorite Carpenter films.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance #64 - Trading Card #64

Celia

Celia, one of the gifted "Haunted", will be confronted by things that she never imagined and be thrust amongst those whom she never imagined associating with. Will she and the others be able to team-up to defeat the evil that is encroaching upon them?

The Corpse Grinders (1971) / The Undertaker and His Pals (1966) / The Embalmer (1965) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 26, 1972

Of the trio of gruesome shockers getting hyped up in this lurid ad for a horrifying triple-bill, I believe I have only seen most, but not all, of The Undertaker and His Pals. It is a stilted and rather labored horror-comedy about an undertaker that supplies a neighboring diner with human meat.

Being a fan of genre and exploitation cinema ephemera, I really should check out Ted V. Mikels' notorious The Corpse Grinders, but I wonder at the animal treatment in the film. For those that do not know the film's central plot concept, enterprising ghouls grind up human remains to use as cat food. Something that drives the animals to then attack and devour their owners. I doubt the Humane Society was on the set, if you know what I mean and I think you do...

The Embalmer is the oldest of the three. It is an Italian shocker about a crazed killer that holes up in the catacombs of Venice, where he keeps a collection of his preserved and artfully displayed female victims.

So, all in all, this seems like a pleasant way to waste five or six hours at your local grind-house or drive-in. I... guess?

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #28

Pumpkinhead (1988)

Here is a nice shot of the true star of Pumpkinhead, which is correctly attributed on the back of this particular card. Why Topps went with Vengeance: The Demon on some other the cards in this set is a trivia factoid as of yet unknown to me. So it goes.

No spoilers, but Pumpkinhead's visage here suggests this might be from when he is just starting to whoop the asses of the victims he has been dispatched to destroy in the most torturous of manners.

 

Ghost Talk (2020) - Short

Death Valley (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 21, 1982

Although jazzed up with an occasional intense murder, just to make it competitive with the highly lucrative slasher film craze of the time, Death Valley aims more at building the kind of tension that will have the audience on the edge of their collective seats, rather than jumping out of them.

While not that bad of a movie, this was also one I did not regret missing out on the big screen. We watched it on HBO and it was.. fine.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #63

Combining East Asian occultism with her own formidable vampiric powers, Jade is like nothing the earth has ever seen before - a force that cannot be stopped, and quests to control all of the Asian continent! 

Our Trail Cam - Vol. 39

CBS Radio Mystery Theater - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 20, 1974

At one point in the late-seventies the family television started emitting smoke, resulting in my mother calling the fire department. Turns out our only television had become an electrical fire hazard and needed disposing of.

How long we were without a television is everybody's guess. But it was a long enough period of time to allow my mom and dad to introduce my brother and I to the glories of Old Time Radio.

One of our local AM stations, KSFO, broadcast a complete line-up of 'prime time' radio programming. The eight o' clock hour would feature shows like Lum n' Abner, Boston Blackie, The Shadow, The Whistler, Our Miss Brooks, Burns and Allen, and many, many more. 

The nine o' clock time slot was taken by an all-new Old Time Radio show, The CBS Radio Mystery Theater, which fast became a fascination and addiction of mine. Fueling that fascination and addiction was how the program's use of the descriptive mystery in its title was both literal and figurative. 

Because each and every night was a delightful and frustrating coin toss as to what that particular episode would or could be. Yes, there were lots of mysteries. But there were also a lot of gothic melodramas, comedies, spy stories, ghost stories, monster stories, historical dramas, and even quite a few science fiction and fantasy stories. There was no way of knowing unless you listened.

My all time favorite episode remains Hickory, Dickory, Doom. You can give it a listen here.

The remainder of KSFO's evening line-up was a ten o' clock comedy hour, which played selections from stand-up or skit comedy albums. The eleven o' clock hour offered the likes of Lights Out, Inner Sanctum, Suspense, or Escape.

The witching hour featured a repeat of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. Good times and wonderful memories.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #27

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors (1987)

I do like the whimsical High School Prom photo vibe New Line's marketing team indulged in with this entry. Fangoria would also use a photo from this shoot for the cover of issue 62.

 

Shogun Assassin (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 16, 1981

Shogun Assassin was the Americanized edit of the first two Lone Wolf and Cub movies, Sword of Vengeance and Baby Cart at the River Styx, into a single feature. While I have the first two films, I do not have a memory of seeing this version. Even though I do remember its release and the excoriating review Gene Siskel gave the film.

But I do have the limited edition soundtrack of Shogun Assassin that was released by BSX Records in 2022.

Being a New World Pictures theatrical release, it comes as no surprise that it was coupled with a re-release of 1980's Humanoids from the Deep at most venues. Although the Balboa Theatre, which I once lived three blocks from, had it coupled with a re-release of 1977's The Hills Have Eyes.

The debt The Mandalorian owes to Lone Wolf and Cub, or to Shogun Assassin, is quite obvious and acknowledged. I got quite the geeky giggle when the first film's "Choose your destiny" scene was restaged in, of all things, and episode of The Book of Boba Fett.

 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #62

Nemesis!

In the hopes of killing the Asian vampire called Jade forever, the mysterious Progeny sent the Iron Racer to kill her. A perfect mixture of science and magic, the Racer is no match for Jade's rage.
 

Home Box Office - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 15, 1978

Of the six films listed in this Home Box Office ad, I have seen two. Those would be Futureworld (1976) and Empire of the Ants (1977). But I had, or have, some pop culture awareness of another three of them. The novel Audrey Rose was a bookstore staple in the late 70s and early 80s, and I think I watched the first Sounder at some point in 1989 or 1990, and I had heard of, but still have yet to see, Bugsy Malone.

Birch Interval is the only one I had never heard of. A quick check of the IMDB revealed why, the film is a fish-out-of-water melodrama about an eleven year old girl spending a summer in the rural home of relatives who live near an Amish community. Not something I would have found as interesting or intriguing as, say, Futureworld or Empire of the Ants, way back in 1978. But today I would more amiable to giving it a look, should I ever stumble across it while scouring a streaming service for something "different" to watch.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #26

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

 

Tremors (1990) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 14, 1990

This scan of an ad for a Sneak Preview of Tremors in the Sunday Examiner/Chronicle Datebook might be a tad murky, and thus hard to see, but what is not the slightest bit murky is my complete and utter love for this delightful 'little' monster movie. I went to see it twice on its opening day and have watched it countless times since.

I have also seen all the sequels and own a DVD set of the complete, albeit very short-lived, monster-of-the-week formatted television series that ran on the Sci-Fi (maybe SyFy by then) Channel.

"Damn prairie dog burrow!" 
 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #61

Comedy and Tragedy

Before her life was changed forever by vampire, Chastity wanted to be an actress and model. Little did she know that the twin masks signifying drama would come to represent her life - a combination of utter comedy and heart-wrenching tragedy.
 

Silent Scream (1979) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 13, 1980

Although I had a friend that would paraphrase Silent Scream's hyperbolic tagline as, "Boredom so sudden, there is no time to yawn." I enjoyed the movie, for what it was. Silent Scream would also be the second time I would see Barbara Steele on the big screen at the Alameda Southshore Twin. The first time having been way back in 1978, when we went and saw Piranha. At least she had dialogue in that movie. In Silent Scream, which also seems to be her final film appearance, I think, she was silent throughout.

I also got a kick out of seeing actor-comedian Avery Schrieber, who I recognized from his Dorito commercials and game show appearances, in a small, and serious, role as a cop.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #25

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 Dream Warriors (1987)

"I said, 'Where's the fucking bourbon!?!"

Not that it needs pointing out, but... The arm and torso visible to Freddy's left, along with his fatigued-glazed expression of indifference, give away that this is a behind the scenes photo and not a still from the actual movie.

Great White [The Last Shark / L'ultimo Squalo (1981)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - January 12, 1982

Sandwiched between screenings of the far superior Raiders of the Lost was this sneak preview for what was fast to become an infamous footnote in exploitation film history.

Universal Pictures was not all that impressed with, nor the slightest bit appreciative of, this blatant Italian knock-off of Jaws and Jaws 2. They filed a legal complaint and got the movie pulled from theatrical release. Although readily available in markets outside the United States territories, and thus available to stream on a variety of online sites, a legitimate release of the film remains frustratingly off the table.
 

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #60

On Guard

Victimized herself by supernatural evil, Chastity now hunts those who seek to prey on others. Under Chastity's watch, none shall hurt the innocent.
 

Thistlewyck at Filoli House (and Rose Wonders)

Stuff of the 'Week' - January 1 - 9, 2026

The Kindred (1987) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - January 9, 1987

The Kindred had to have set some kind of record for the most slime used in a movie, because gallons upon gallons of gelatinous goop douses both the set and poor Rod Steiger at one point.

The Kindred (1987) - IMDB

I did see the film on the big screen and, for all its slime and creature effects, there was not a whole of there to be had there. It was an entertaining enough time waster, I thought, but nothing more than that.

 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #24

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

 

The Grim Reaper [Antropophagus (1980)] - Newspaper

San Francisco Examiner - January 8, 1982

Way, way back in 1982, Daly City's Geneva Drive-In had the kind of double-bill Joe Bob Briggs loves to lionize in memoriam. 

The Grim Reaper was an easier to sell retitling of Joe D'Amato's infamous cannibal slasher opus Antropophagus. It would also be the very first movie Briggs ever reviewed for his quick to be popular, and thus syndicated, Drive-In Movie Review column. If you have a strong stomach, you might enjoy it. Many have. Some have not. So it goes.

Coupled with The Grim Reaper was a re-release of 1979's Don't Go in the House, a nasty 'little' riff off of Psycho that featured a psychotic momma's boy (Dan Grimaldi) incinerating women with his trusty flamethrower. Ouch.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #59

Surprised

It's a cold day in Hell when someone can get the drop on Chastity. If they do, they are as good as dead - her vampire instincts will take over, replacing her gentle nature with that of a ferocious hunter.