Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 30, 1981

Georgetown Productions and Paramount Pictures wasted zero time making a sequel to one of their biggest moneymakers of 1980, Friday the 13th. This short and simple retread was rushed into theaters and drive-ins before the first anniversary of the first film's release.

Friday the 13th Part 2 was my first Friday the 13th movie and thus is something of a personal favorite of mine, warts and all.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #24

Datalog: Approx. 0:1500, Day 2

Just when we thought we were safe, the Alien appeared from an overhead air duct. Junior quickly lured the Alien into the Toxic Waste Disposal, sacrificing his own life. And Dillon reached the control box just in time to close the triple doors and trap the Alien - and Junior - inside.

The New Man by Barbara Owns [Tales from the Darkside - Season 1, Episode 1] - Review

Alan Coombs steps off the bus from downtown and out into a cold winter’s night awash with stinging flurries of snow. Waiting for him amongst the others at the stop is a young boy, maybe twelve, with sandy hair, a slight frame, and a narrow freckled face.

“Hi, Dad.” The boy says to Alan. “I came to meet you. Surprised?”

Without realizing he is doing so, Alan takes a slow step back. He does not know, or even recognize, the boy. After telling him that he is mistaken, Alan turns to leave and the young boy, who has said his name is Jerry, reaches out and touches Alan’s arm.

Even though the fabric of his coat, Alan finds Jerry’s touch repugnant.

And so Barbara Owens’ unsettling short story The New Man begins. First published in the March 1982 issue of Twilight Zone Magazine, The New Man was also adapted for the direct-to-syndication anthology series Tales from the Darkside.

Alan returns home to find his wife, Sharon, and his son, his real son, Pete, just as he knows and remembers them. Until the kid who calls himself Jerry rings the doorbell and Sharon lets him in and then chastises Alan for locking the boy outside. “Look at him - he’s freezing. What made you do such a cruel thing, Alan?”

Sharon and Pete know Jerry and treat him as if he were a part of the family. But Alan knows the kid is not part of the family. He never has been and he never will be. Sharon and Pete both suspect that Alan has started drinking again…

But Alan knows he is sober. Has been sober. FOR A YEAR. He also knows that they DO NOT HAVE A CHILD NAMED JERRY!

So why is Alan's den now Jerry’s bedroom?

Determined to seek out the truth, Alan starts spiraling. He gets angrier, more distant, more abusive, and all the while Jerry watches, eye gleaming, and smiles. And smiles and smiles and smiles.

The story is told in the first person, by Alan, so one must take everything he tells us and claims to experience with certain wariness. As he could be, and is, an unreliable narrator. As much as he claims to be a New Man, he is fast to slip into the aggressive and accusatory behavior of a practicing alcoholic. Too fast, it seems.

The episode, which stars Vic Tayback, as Alan, and Chris Herbert, as Jerry, hews pretty darn close to its source material. A lot of dialogue is verbatim from the story, but there are still some major differences.

Unlike the story, all locations are interior, taking place either at Alan’s workplace or in the Coombs home. A scene where Alan visits his ailing and dementia suffering mother is excised and, truth be told, not really necessary for the episode.

What Jerry is, or what he is supposed to represent, in both versions, is left up to the reader or viewer to interpret. Is he the implacable embodiment of addiction, or the unaddressed, or unresolved, scars of psychological or emotional trauma.

Because the short story is entirely from Alan’s point of view, the ending, and its meaning, varies greatly from the episode. Alan is the observer and narrator until the end of the story, seeing what happens after his own story is resolved. Which is not the case with the episode. As the ending is restructured into a kind of circular bookending. With the beginning of the episode being recreated with another 'New Man". A changes that adds another potential layer to the story. Was Alan in some kind of purgatory? Was Jerry a spiritual test for Alan, before he would be consigned to either Heaven or Hell, depending on his actions and decisions?

I have no idea. What I can tell you is that my own life experience living with an alcoholic who drank herself to death, both the short story and its episode adaptation made my heart ache, even as the slightest of chills ran up my spine.

So, a recommendation from me and, until next time, try to enjoy the daylight….

Mausoleum (1983) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 29, 1983

Cool ad for a really trashy (i.e. 'bad') movie. Its biggest selling point for me is that the late John Buechler provided the special make-up and creature effects. Other potential selling points, for others, might include star Bobbi Bresee going topless and co-star Marjoe Gortner getting gnawed to death by a pair of demonically imbued breasts.

Yeah, that happens.

I also recognized Norman Burton, who plays a well-meaning psychiatrist, from his small role in 1974's The Towering Inferno. LaWanda Page, best known to me for playing Aunt Esther on Sanford & Son, shows up for a cameo. Maybe she owed somebody a favor, or lost a bet, or something.

This is Ed Wood level exploitation cheese that few will find entertaining and most an unpleasant and amateurish chore to sit though. One viewing of it was enough for me, it seems.

I checked the listing for the Roxie and discovered it was part of a banger of a triple-bill. For one ticket you Mausoleum, Funeral Home, and The Gates of Hell. Although the paper misprinted Funeral as General.

Oops.

The Parkway had it paired with just The Gates of Hell, while the Four Star was showing it alongside... E. T.!?!

WTAF!?!

Although that double-bill of Xtro and The Gates of Hell looks mighty sweet... 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #59

Aliens (1986)

 

Congo (1995) - Soundtrack

Despite my having purchased the mass market paperback edition of Michael Crichton's Congo, when it first hit the shelves of our local Waldenbooks, way back in the fall of 1981, I would not read the novel until the mid-90s. Well after having devoured both Jurassic Park and, I think, Sphere. So it goes.

Congo was a fun read and this long-gestating film adaptation, on paper, looked to be just my thing. Director/producer Frank Marshall, who had produced Jurassic Park, was coming off of both Arachnophobia, which I had seen on the big screen and loved, and Alive, which I had seen on home video and enjoyed. The script was penned by John Patrick Shanley, an Academy Award winning writer. Creature creator extraordinaire Stan Winston was tasked with creating both Amy and the albino gorillas. The score was composed by one of my all time favorite composers, Jerry Goldsmith.

Oh, and Bruce Campbell also had a small role in the film. How could this movie miss?

Well, if the lackluster to scathing reviews are to be believed, Congo missed by a country mile. Oops. So I passed on seeing it on the big screen and, because of the non-ending distractions of life, never got around to seeing more than a few clips from the film. What little I saw gave me the feeling that I was not missing out on all that much. Could be wrong, though. Might still give the movie Congo a shot. Maybe. I have no idea.

But I did nab this expanded release of Jerry Goldsmith's score for the film and am very grateful for having done so.

The liner notes penned by Jeff Bond detail Goldsmith's long history of collaborating with Crichton. Goldsmith scored Crichton's first film as a director, a 1972 TV-movie titled Pursuit, as well as two popular theatrical releases from 1978, Coma and The Great Train Robbery. Bond also notes how Goldsmith's score for Congo reflects the composer's conscious decision to work with directors new to him, to better invigorate his creative process and output.

Goldsmith was brought onboard when James Newton Howard was forced off the project by a scheduling conflict. South African composer and performer Lebo M, who had done some preliminary work with Howard, stayed onboard to work with Goldsmith and the result is a bright opening theme. One that Bond describes as being "counterintuitive" to a quasi-monster movie about mutant gorillas.

"...the choice reflect[s] Goldsmith's desire to avoid the obvious," Bond opines. "[To] find the lyrical element of a genre film."

While there is ample warmth surrounding the character of Amy, the intelligent ape that both anchors and bridges the adventure yarn's fantastical elements, Goldsmith does not skimp on the action-adventure sonic fireworks.

The end result is an entertaining listening experience that makes me think I should sit down and watch the damn movie.

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant (1971) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 28, 1971

The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant was the first of two films about noggin grafting released in the early 70s. The second would be 1972's The Thing with Two Heads, which I still have not seen. But I have seen The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant, several times.

For whatever reason, most likely the cast including a young Bruce Dern as well as radio and voice actor icon Casey Kasem, The Incredible 2-Headed Transplant seemed a syndication station broadcast workhorse. I know it aired a few times on KTVU's Saturday afternoon Chiller Diller and late night Creature Features programs, as well as KBHK's Saturday afternoon Monstrous Movie. Making it one of the "those" movies I remember as always being on one station or the other with some degree of regularity.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #23

Datalog: Approx. 0:1400 Hours, Day 2

A huge fireball tore through the passageways when one of the prisoners dropped a flare onto the flammable Quinitricety. The Alien rose up in front of us from out of the flames, its huge shape distorted by the heat. Fire didn't seem to harm this one. Eric was right, it looked just like Satan.

The Guardian (1990) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 27, 1990

As entertaining a raconteur as the late William Friedkin was, The Guardian reveals his amusing hurling of verbal brickbats at John Boorman's Exorcist II The Heretic were being thrown from the porch of a fragile glass house.

Because The Guardian stinks. It is a movie that serves as a great of example of "just because I suspend my disbelief does not mean you can insult my intelligence." I walked out of an opening day matinee screening mad as hell at this movie. I hated it.

When it came out on home video I think I gave it a second chance. At least I have a fuzzy memory of giving it second chance. Or maybe I just want to see the scene where the tree kills a trio of miscreants.

No matter, though. It still stunk and was just as insulting to the intelligence as when I sat through it at the Kabuki Theatre in San Francisco, on April 27, 1990.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #58

Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986)

The H. R. Giger infused 'Tequila Worm' scene is one of the technical highlights of Poltergeist II The Other Side.
 

Carrie by Stephen King / The Swarm by Arthur Herzog - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 24, 1975

Finding this ad for the source material for two seminal movies of my youth was a pleasant, even chuckle inducing, delight.

While I do not remember seeing either of these particular editions on bookstore shelves, or nestled in drugstore spinner racks, I do remember picking up one for The Swarm in a used bookstore in Berkeley, way, way back in the day.

The two editions I remember, and actually read, were the movie tie-ins. 

In 1976 I was equal parts fascinated and frightened by the black and white stills in the center of the Carrie tie-in. My interest was fueled somewhat by John Travolta being in it. Because he was one of the beloved Sweat Hogs in the popular sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.

While I did read Carrie, two or three times, it might not have been until 1979, or maybe even 1980. It was long after I had seen the film's broadcast debut on network television. Which was the first time that I saw it.

The Swarm, which I was obsessed with in the first half of 1978, was my "birthday movie" for that year. Like a great many books at that time, I struggled to get through it. It would not be until 1980 or 81 that I would actually manage to read the entire book, from start to finish.

While not a great book, The Swarm could have made for a pretty good movie. If the person making said movie had understood the kind of movie they were making. Which had not been the case with Irwin Allen. So it goes.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #22

Datalog: Approx. 0:1400 Hours, Day 2

We were all armed with flares, hoping to flush the Alien out into the open. One of the prisoners was high up in the vertical air duct before he realized the Alien was up there too. That's when he dropped the flare and the passageways exploded into flames. 

Fear No Evil (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 23, 1981

Last year, on April 24, I posted the opening day ad, also clipped from the Oakland Tribune, for Frank LaLoggia's debut feature Fear No Evil. In that post I shared a clip from Creature Features that featured LaLoggia doing a promotional interview for the film.

Having done that, I thought it might be cool to track down one of the TV spots I remember seeing on television. I know that it featured Andrew (Stefan Arngrim), a birthday cake, and Andrew's father screaming "My son is the devil!"

This appears to be the one.

I feel the need to qualify this with the phrase "appears to be" as April 1981, at time of writing, is a whopping 45 years in my past. While the ad does feature what I remember, watching it did not trigger the dopamine hit response of, "Ah, that's the one! That's it!"

But it has been 45 years, man. That means a whole lot of memories smashing, mixing, or blending together. I think that it lodged in my memory at all is something of pop culture win.
 

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #57

Aliens (1986)

 

Ghost Story by Peter Straub - San Francisco Examiner - April 22, 1979

San Francisco Examiner - April 22, 1979

Peter Straub's fourth published novel, and third involving a supernatural threat, was the one that put him on the popular culture map. I would not read the book, from start to finish, until 1981, or thereabouts. When it was a paperback bestseller for Pocket Books.

I don't think it has ever been out of print.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #21

Datalog: Approx. 0:1300 Hours, Day 2

We had no leader, no weapons, no way to fight it. Our only hope was to trap it inside the huge Toxic Waste Disposal. It was the only place without air ducts. But we had to get the Alien out of its hiding place and into the disposal room.

From Beyond the Grave (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 21, 1976

The seventh, and final, anthology film from Amicus Productions ended the cycle on a high note. Although the film's source material was a selection of stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes, the thematic core of moral retribution for wrongdoing (lying, cheating, stealing, et al.), makes it feel like a continuation of the E. C. horror comic adaptations (Tales from the Crypt and Vault of Horror) that had preceded it.

This might be my favorite one of the entire run, though. It is just a rock solid 'little movie' that works and is well worth seeking out.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #56

The Fly (1986)

 

Confessions of a Puppetmaster by Charles Band with Adam Felber - Review

On page 125 of the hardcover edition of Confessions of a Puppetmaster that I just tore through, Charles Band describes meeting Dino De Laurentiis in a very telling, warm-hearted way:

"I didn't know Dino, but I knew Dino. I'd grown up knowing Italian men cut from the same mold - expressive, warm, clever old guys, with just a hint of scoundrel underneath. My kind of people."

Telling because, after inhaling his fast-paced and breezy narrated autobiography, I have zero doubt that quite a few people would describe the gleefully indefatigable and unstoppable Charles Band the same way. 

Because while he presents himself as being warm, expressive, and clever, Band also glistens with the sometimes alluring, sometimes off-putting, snake oil sheen of a true huckster. One that is self-aware of his many and considerable faults, but also bubbles with an infectious and delightful energy about what he has done and, for both better and worse, accomplished. 

Charles Band loves what he does and, truth be told, that he has managed to land on his feet, even with the occasional shirt losing or arrest warrant inducing obstacle, and keep making multiple movies year in and year out for decades. Well, that is an impressive feat in and of itself.

In the early 90s I took to describing Charles Band as "an amalgamation of Roger Corman, Stan Lee, and George Lucas." An instinctual observation proven true while reading this bright and breezy book. Band has the unapologetic exploitation film production mindset of Corman, the four-color and cartoonish imagination of Lee, and the merchandising instincts of Lucas.

What Band lacks in ability, be it artistic or financial, he more than compensates for with exuberant tenacity. Something this brisk and breezy 275 page read illustrates with gusto. To this day Charles Band seems incapable of slowing down or resting on the laurels of his b-movie legacy. Because there is always some new gimmick or concept to exploit and explore.

So I tip my hat, raise a glass, and fervently hope that the Puppetmaster's Full Moon Empire might lasts just a tad longer. While some may grumble and bemoan Band and his output. I think the entertainment world and film industry is brighter and more interesting place because his glorious and oddball output.

Read and enjoy these Confessions of a Puppetmaster.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 20, 1984

Although it had been on home video for a few years, thanks to Charles Band's Wizard Home Video label, New Line Cinema dusted off Tobe Hooper's seminal and harrowing horror classic for a theatrical re-release. Tagging along with it seems to be another re-release, the surreal melding of Alien with Kramer vs Kramer that was Xtro. Although this newspaper ad misprints the film's title as Extro. So it goes.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #20

Datalog: Approx. 0:1100 Hours, Day 2

Somewhere in the intricate maze of air ducts and passageways lurks the Alien. The installation is over ten miles square with over 600 air ducts. So many places for it to hide. Too many. But it won't go far - it likes to be near its food supply.

This still image looks to be from the end of film, when the xenomporh is lured into the smelter. At least I think it was a smelter. They doused it with molten ore or metal in order to kill it, so I am guessing it was a smelter.

Wonder what the producers, or studio, thought when the very same thing was done to the dueling Terminators in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which hit theaters and drive-ins the year or less before Alien 3 was slated to be released.

Mad Max (1979) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 17, 1980

This was another film whose soundtrack I received in a Christmas package in the early 80s, without having seen the actual film. It would be years before I watched the first Mad Max, long after I had seen both The Road Warrior [Mad Max 2] and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. Both of which are superior to this admittedly modest rogue cop action thriller in every way.

But it all started here, with an attention grabbing snarl of dystopian angst.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #55

Fright Night (1985)

 

The Thing from Another World (1951) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 16, 1951

A movie that really does not require any introduction. Also one whose DNA can be seen in just about every subsequent monster movie that followed it. One many levels I do not think it is a movie that ever can be surpassed. Equaled, yes. Surpassed. No. 

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #19

Datalog: Approx. 0:1000 Hours, Day 2

It snatched up Superintendent Andrews right in front of us. Right up through the ceiling. And before that, it was Clemens. Andrews thought I was making it all up. He didn't believe me when I told him that the Alien was here. And it was dangerous. 

The Amityville Horror (2005) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 15, 2005

Just as the 1980s saw a slew of remakes of classic, or just recognizable, films from the 40s and 50s, the early 00s birthed a bunch of remakes of films from my 70s/80s childhood. Which meant I got to see a whole bunch of movies I grew up watching get repurposed, or reinvented, to varying degrees of commercial or artistic success.

I gave The Amityville Horror a pass when it came out, as nothing about it seemed all that different or even interesting. Make Stephen Kaplan's self-published, entertaining and fascinating The Amityville Horror Conspiracy into a movie and, well, I would gladly pay to watch that.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #54

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

This card got flagged and briefly deleted over at Pinterest. Something to do, I think, with David Naughton's position and him being nude, albeit with the frank and beans being absent/erased. Not that kind of movie, after all.

It was restored, though, after I made an appeal.

The Company of Wolves (1984) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 14, 1985

Another gap in my monster movie viewing in dire need of filling. Sheesh. So many movies, so little time.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #18

Datalog: Approx. 0:1000, Day 2

The Alien crept closer to me. So close, I could feel its breath on my face. I couldn't scream, I couldn't even move. Then Galic spoke to it. The beast turned and looked at him, then back at me. Without another sound, it just disappeared into the overhead airshaft.

An iconic image was so powerful it became a centerpiece of the ad campaign and, most likely, one the most memorable moments of the film. The above card text does a little bit of misdirection, though. I do not remember the character of Galic saying anything. The xenomorph just senses, or smells, the embryonic queen gestating inside Ripley and knows not to harm her. So it just leaves... 

The Medusa Touch (1978) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 13, 1978

Another movie that I remember seeing the ads for on television and, I think, the trailer for on the big screen. But I think I did not see the movie itself until it aired on the CBS Late Movie.

While the movie held my interest well enough, and I remember thinking it did not seem as bad or as boring as the scathing reviews and word of mouth I recall hearing in 1978 saying, the undisputed highlights were Burton's telekinetic attacks.

I also thought the ending was really, really cool.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #53

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

Nice shoot of the dead mom effect at the end of A Nightmare on Em Street. The real ending, not whatever it was that gotcha stinger at the end was.
 

Conan The Destroyer (1984) - Soundtrack

While I did not enjoy Conan the Barbarian all that much I did feel something of an obligation to subject myself to its sequel, Conan the Destroyer. What I did not expect was to enjoy it as much as I did.

As dour and colorless as I found the first film to be, this much brighter and far more family friendly entry turned out to be more to my liking. At least at the time of my one and only viewing of the film.

To save money, of course, the production had intended to recycle the first film's iconic score. Yet the tonal differences between the dour seriousness of the first film and the overt comic book adventurism of the second turned out to be a incompatible, so Basil Poledouris was brought back to provide a lighter, zestier score.

While the music for Conan the Destroyer might not be as iconic or impressive as what was composed for Conan the Barbarian, it is still provides a vibrant and entertaining listening experience.

Don't Answer the Phone! (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 10, 1980

While I have no concrete memory of this movie's big screen release, I do remember the numerous occasions I plucked the Media Home Entertainment box off the shelf of our local video store and contemplated renting the movie. 

I never did rent it, though. Just not my thing. Which might strike some as odd, as I did rent and view such sleazy fair as William Lustig's Maniac and Joseph Ellison's Don't Go in the House. Some might argue there is little to no differentiation between these cited examples and Don't Answer the Phone! And that may be true, for some. But not for me.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #17

Datalog: Approx. 0:1000 Hours, Day 2

In a matter of seconds, the Alien attacked Clemens. Everything happened so quickly and quietly, he didn't have time to defend himself. It didn't really matter. He couldn't have defeated it anyway. But Clemens' body didn't seem to be enough to satisfy it. The Alien came after me.
 

The Black Waters of Echo's Pond (2010) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 9, 2010

I saw this on the big screen, opening night, and thought... while it was not all that good of a movie, I did appreciate and enjoy the concept of Jumanji being done as an actual horror movie.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #52

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

Thanks to my having seen Jaws at an early age, being swallowed alive has been a recurring fear of mine. Do not get me started on how either Jaws 3D or The Borderlands (aka Final Prayer) gave me near panic attacks the first time I saw them!

Having shared this factoid, it comes as a surprise to no one that this sequence is one of my all time favorites of the entire series.
 

Virus: Hell of the Living Dead by Brad Carter - Review

Six hundred pages and still no explanation as to how a dead rat turned up in the most sterile section of the module? Come on!

While the lack of a reason, or explanation, being given for what was a running gag between my best friend and I was disappointing on a personal amusement level, it was not all that surprising from a creative standpoint. In his introduction to this comically massive doorstopper of a novelization of Bruno Mattei’s Hell of the Living Dead, Brad Carter explains he is adapting the original concept as drafted by the husband-wife creative team of Claudio Fragasso and the late Rossella Drudi.

What Fragasso and Drudi had envisioned was a large scale cannibal apocalypse that, truth be told, might rival the unmade “Raiders of the Lost Ark with zombies” version of Day of the Dead that George A. Romero had hoped to make.

But, just as what happened with Romero’s costly first pass plans for Day of the Dead, budgetary restrictions would force Fragasso and Drudi’s concept to be whittled down to its barest, most cost effective of bones. 

Those bones would be handed over to the low budget maestro Bruno Mattei, who, in the grand tradition of Edward D. Wood Jr, utilized mismatching stock footage from a couple of mondo documentaries to give his movie some sense of having a larger scale than its paltry budget was incapable of delivering.

Character development and exploration was kept to a non-existent minimum and almost all of the political commentary regarding how the industrialized world cannibalizes the third world, robbing it of it resources while also preventing its peoples from becoming independent and self-reliant, was likewise jettisoned.

The result was a cheap and shoddy exploitation flick that still manages to be entertaining. Only not in the manner intended by its creators.

I first learned about the film now best known as Hell of the Living Dead when it was reviewed in the pages of Fangoria magazine, in a tongue-in-cheek (and short-lived) column titled Zombie of the Month. Because, when the film was released in the United States, as Night of the Zombies, it seemed that there was a ‘new’ gut munching zombie movie being unleashed in theaters and drive-ins every month.

I did not see Night of the Zombies until well after its release on home video and, I think, I watched it all of two times, maybe. While my memory of certain moments were quite vivid, I was not all that inclined to revisit the film prior to cracking open Carter’s “epic” adaptation. 

Doing so turned out to be a wise thing, because, as Carter notes in his afterword, this book departs from its source material “in just about every way.” While all of the significant story beats and scenarios remain, they have also been re-contextualized, or outright changed, to better serve a far larger and a tad more convoluted storyline. 

Which also allows for some robust and biting (no pun intended) political commentary.

Commentary that is in no way subtle and is every bit as on the nose as the commentary in any of Romero’s zombie epics, or in the preachier episodes of any and all variations of Star Trek. Which only made it all that more endearing to me, because there was obvious heartfelt thought put into the book’s just as obvious political and social commentary.

Some of that commentary echoes, or at least reminded me off, observations made by Paul Farmer in his book Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds: Ebola and the Ravages of History.

A lot of the zombie action set pieces, as well as their evolving behaviors and intelligence, echo, or flat out repurpose, ideas and moments from Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Dead. I also spotted a few similarities to Resident Evil (both games and movies) as well as David Cronenberg’s zombie-adjacent thrillers Shivers and Rabid, to name just a few. There is even a healthy smattering of Stephen King's The Stand sprinkled over it all.

Which only made the book all the more fun to read. Because Carter knew what he was writing and why he was writing it. This reads just like the Italian exploitation movie it is based on, gleefully cribbing anything and everything it can to stuff into its sprawling narrative.

Carter also knows when it is best to be serious and when some tongue-in-cheek snark is needed to take the wind out of the narrative's nihilistic sails. A good example of the former is noting that the HOPE portion of Project HOPE is an acronym for Humanitarian Operations for Preserving Earth. Which reads and sounds feasible. But a giggle-snort inducing example of the latter is a political think tank organization calling itself the Foundation for American Reason and Truth. You know, F.A.R.T.

Also notable is how Carter puts in an effort to develop most of the primary characters, who come off as a lot more intelligent and interesting than they were in the movie, which was greatly appreciated.

What I did not appreciate was the frustrating to the point of being contempt inducing number of errors in the book. There were so many missing words and clumsy or repeated phrases (such as “she let herself into herself into the room,” or something to that effect) that I began to suspect the book had not been copy, or line, edited prior to publication. Considering its hefty price, around $25 to $30, I was annoyed and frustrated by the poor editorial oversight displayed here.

Yet, as frustrating as all that was, I still found myself really enjoying this over-the-top and truly epic return to conceptual form for what eventually turned into Hell of the Living Dead. I doubt any fan of the film itself, or fan of the zombie apocalypse genre in general, will finish this book feeling cheated, or all that disappointed.

So, if you want to read a big chonker of a book that is just a cheap and trashy movie at heart, but is also smart enough to keep you engaged for most of its almost 600 hundred pages, I suggest you give it a try.

Besides, any and all that have read this far will already have known if they want it to read it or not, before they even started reading this review. I hope you enjoy(ed) it as much as I did.

Xtro (1982) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 8, 1983

While the E. T. spliced with Alien oddity that was Xtro was only playing at the Roxie in the East Bay, in San Francisco it was screening at a three venues. Those lucky enough to have gone and seen it at either the St. Francis, where I saw many a movie, or the Geneva Drive-In would have the delight of seeing it paired with the every bit as goopy, slimy, and sleazy Alien knockoff Forbidden World. Wow.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #16

Datalog: Approx. 0:1000 Hours, Day 2

Silently, it dropped down from the ceiling of the infirmary. I could only watch in horror as it rose to its full height, poised for attack, just behind Clemens. I couldn't call out to warn him of the danger. I tried to scream but nothing came out, nothing but air.
 

Cat's Eye (1985) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - April 7, 1985

Another movie that I missed out on seeing on the big screen whilst living in Hong Kong. But I don't think I missed out on anything all that special, as this anthology film lacks that charm and creative zest that made Creepshow so entertaining.

Director Lewis Teague (Alligator, Cujo) does what he can with the material, but there is only so much that could be done with the first two yarns. Quitters Inc and The Ledge. Both were taken from the Night Shift anthology, yet neither were all that well suited for the cinematic screen. The first leans way too heavily into camp comedy, while that latter fails to generate the high stakes levels of stress the situation calls for. So it goes.

It is all redeemed with the final story, though. Because The General does manage to capture some of the comic book energy that pulsed throughout Creepshow, when the titular cat does battle with a nasty little breath-stealing troll in order to save the life of an endangered girl. It is pure fun and only makes the previous yarns suffer all the more in comparison.

If you haven't seen Cat's Eye, my advice is to just skip to The General.

Fright Flicks - Trading Card #51

Day of the Dead (1985)

Insert your own Timothée Chalamet snark comment about ballet and opera here.

While I am no fan of opera, I do enjoy going to a ballet every now and then. So there. Proof that I gots me some culture and shit...

They Came from Within [Shivers (1975)] - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - April 6, 1976

I have a very vivid memory of being deeply and profoundly unnerved and grossed out by the poster for They Came from Within when it was displayed at the Alameda 3 Theatre. What was up with that dark, murky bathwater. Was it dirty? Was something in it? Was the water itself alive? I was deathly afraid to find out.

Those questions would be answered when, while living in Hong Kong, I was able to finally see the film, under its original title: Shivers. By this time I had seen both Scanners and Videodrome on the big screen, the former being my formal introduction to David Cronenberg, and Rabid on home video. I had also read the essay about Cronenberg by Martin Scorsese that had been published in Fangoria. So I knew what Shivers was all about.

Despite all that advance cultural and critical knowledge, I was still good and rattled by Shivers. It was cold, weird, and disturbing as only David Cronenberg seems capable of being. I loved it then and love it now.

Alien 3 (1992) - Trading Card #15

Datalog: Approx. 0:1000 Hours, Day 2

I was confined to the infirmary after telling Andrews about the Alien; he thought I was crazy. I didn't want to tell Clemens what I knew - not yet. We were spending quite a bit of time together and I rather enjoyed his company. I didn't want him to think I was insane.