Prom Night (1980) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - August 28, 1980]

 

Race with the Devil (1975) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - August 26, 1975]

Race with the Devil offered one of the more memorable big screen movie attending experience of my youth. An energetic melding of Deliverance with 70s era cult conspiracy paranoia, Race with the Devil is as an exciting and entertaining ride.

Squirm (1976) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune]

August 24, 1976

The most vivid memory I have of the theatrical release of Squirm was of seeing and thumbing through the film's novelization while browsing the Books & Magazines section of our local Gemco. All the way back in 1976.

I did not see the film until it made its network television debut and, well, I cannot say if it was worth the wait. Although I did not know it at the time, I had already heard Don Scardino's voice on a few episodes of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. What I did know at the time it aired was that the film featured early special effects make-up by Rick Baker. Effects that were trimmed into invisibility for television, of course. It would not be until I rented the film on home video that I would be able to observe the worms burrowing into some poor hick's face in all its ghastly glory.

Writer-director Jeff Lieberman was rather dismayed at the film being shown on Mystery Science Theater 3000, just not for the reasons one might think. He was more irked at the lowball price paid to secure the film's rights, more than it being made fun off. Seeing that the former did more financial harm to the film's earning potential than the latter.

"It's a movie about killer earthworms, after all," Lieberman said in an interview. "People have been making fun of it ever since it first opened."
 

Blade (1998) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune]

August 20, 1998

Although the official kick-off for what would become the Marvel Cinematic Universe would take another decade to appear, the success of Blade helped pave the way for it. Showing that there was plenty of box office gold to be mined from the comic publisher's 'lesser known' characters (in regards to general audience awareness of said characters at that time) than believed possible.

This movie was a fun and entertaining introduction to the character of Blade that, most likely, will never be surpassed in my lifetime. I think part of the problem is that the current regime at Marvel Studios seems reticent to lean too far into the bronze age horror stuff with the necessary and unapologetic zeal. Which is one of the many things that made Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness such an underwhelming and chaotic mess.

One would have thought the success of the R-rated Deadpool trilogy (at time of posting) would have given the regime's backbone some much needed calcium, but that did not happen and the long-delayed introduction of Blade into the Marvel Cinematic Universe withered and died on the creative vine. So it goes, unfortunately.

Wolfen (1981) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 23, 1981]

After having been beaten to the box office punch by Joe Dante's tongue-in-cheek The Howling and John Landis's only ever so slightly more serious An American Werewolf in London, both of which featured jaw dropping transformation sequences. The former designed by Rob Bottin and the latter created by Rick Baker, who won an Academy Award for his efforts on that film. Wolfen suffered unjustly in comparison. Because the titular creatures are just wolves with some minor optical effect overlays giving them a somewhat otherworldly look and feel.

In all honesty, Wolfen kind of looks and feels what a werewolf movie made by Christopher Nolan might look like. Make of that what you will.

Although the film does retain the setting, structure, and concept of Whitley Strieber's bestselling source material. It also creates all new storylines and characters to populate the setting and navigate the twists and turns of the somewhat underdeveloped narrative.

While some may have been disappointed at the lack of a more monstrous looking pack of creatures hunting the almost post-apocalyptic appearing Bronx neighborhood where most of the film was set. The movie worked for me.

I saw it on a double-bill with Escape from New York at the Parkway, in Oakland, and they paired perfectly. I could even envision them taking place in the same universe.
 

The Leopard Man (1943) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 21, 1943]

The Vaudeville Stage Show surrounding The Leopard Man takes up most this ad, making it a crowded cacophony of appearances. I am also suspect that the quiet thrills and iconic door sequence might have jolted viewers that watched the stage show first. Or did the movie get screened first and then the stage relaxed everybody's jangled nerves? No idea, but there had to have been a little something for everybody to enjoy here.
 

The Giant Spider Invasion (1975) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune]

June 8, 1976

I remember seeing some television spots for this big bug throwback's theatrical release and being freaked out by them. Surely The Giant Spider Invasion would shock and terrify me beyond all measure.

Twenty-three or so years would pass before I would actually see The Giant Spider Invasion and, well, whatever horrors I imaged the film containing at age eight or so turned out to be far, far worse than what was in the film itself. But it did provide fodder for what just might be my all time favorite episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

"GILLETTE, THE BEST A MAN CAN GET!"  "PACKERS WIN THE SUPER BOWL!" "MOSES, MOVE THE BIKE!"

Quoting it only makes me want to watch it again.

As far as the film's co-hits go. The Alameda Showcase had The Giant Spider Invasion on a double-bill with 1972's Tales from the Crypt. The Eastmont Four had it showing with a different feature from 1972. The Hit Man, which starred Bernie Casey and Pam Grier. At the Roxie, The Giant Spider Invasion was paired with yet another different feature from 1972, Eddie Romero's Philippines lensed The Twilight People. That same double-bill was also unspooling at the Coliseum Drive-in. But the Nimitz bucked the trend of dusting off features from 1972 by pairing The Giant Spider Invasion with 1973's cheapie science-fiction thriller The Clones. Pleasant Hill's Motor Movies Drive-In did not buck the trend, as it had Spider, like the Alameda Showcase, paired with Tales from the Crypt.

United Artists in Berkeley had to have had the most thematically appropriate pairing, though. There it was paired with the William Castle production Bug. The Plaza, the eighth and final venue listed, also had it showing with 1973's The Clones.
 

Alligator (1980) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune]

June 4, 1981

This newspaper ad is all that stuck with me for the brief theatrical run of what became the modest cult/sleeper hit Alligator. Blessed with a solid cast that got to work with a tongue-in-cheek script by John Sayles, who claims to have wrote this on a plane flight from the New York to Los Angeles. Alligator is a fun, unpretentious, and, at times, downright nasty monster movie.

For whatever reason, this is one that slipped through my fingers and I did not see it until it debuted on network television. I think the film's infamous "walk the plank" scene made it to the airwaves intact, but that first viewing has been mixed and muddled with countless follow-up VHS and DVD viewings that it no longer matters. But I did know about the scene well in advance, because someone at school that had seen it on the big screen talked about it.

A check of Friday's "Theatre Guide" revealed that the Roxie would have Alligator on triple-bill with Shogun Assassin and Planet of the Dinosaurs. The Southshore had it paired with the action film High Risk. The Coliseum Drive-in was showing it with Humanoids from the Deep, while United Artists in Berkeley had it coupled with Windwalker. If you went to see Alligator at the Festival Cinema in Hayward, you could watch it with Excalibur. The Cooper Twin in San Pablo also had it with Humanoids from the Deep, while the Regency in Pleasant Hill paired with the Charles Bronson and Lee Marvin historical action flick Death Hunt.

Alien 3 (1992) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune]

May 21, 1992

The excitement for Alien 3 deflated pretty quickly, once this muddled and downbeat film was unleashed on audiences eager for Aliens 2. Not whatever the hell this movie was trying to be.

While I did like and appreciate some of the creative swings taken by the project. It was also quite clear that the film's story and characters had not been worked out. Another draft or two of the script, ones that would have whittled down the cumbersome and indistinguishable supporting cast (and xenomorph fodder) to a more manageable and identifiable number, was in dire need of being hammered out.

Couple that with the mistrust both the producers and the studio had with their chosen director, David Fincher, which led to bothersome creative second guessing and tinkering that did far more harm than good. It comes as no surprise that the film was deemed a disappointing misfire.

But I still like it far more than whatever the hell Alien Resurrection was supposed to be. For me the Alien franchise remains a closed and ended trilogy.

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.

Psycho (1998) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - December 3, 1998]

While I do remember Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho being released, and giving it an emphatic pass, I thought it was a summer release.

Nope, it was lump of cinematic coal dumped into the holiday season for... reasons. While there are those that will defend this 'artistic exercise' as being a scathing statement on, or indictment of, remakes, I doubt I will ever become one of them. I have zero interest in ever watching this.

Amityville II: The Possession (1982) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - September 23, 1982]

San Francisco Examiner - September 23, 1982

While opinion as to which film exploiting the so-called Amityville Horror qualifies as "best" can and will differ, I doubt that there will be much, if any, disputing that Amityville II: The Possession is the sleaziest of the bunch. Unless there is a pornographic variation floating around somewhere, that is.

I am hesitant to call this entry my favorite, but I do appreciate the unapologetic and over-the-top melodramatics and graphic shock tactics that Italian director Damiano Damiani infused it with. I think the only other director that could have surpassed him in that regard might have been Lucio Fulci. Maybe.

Despite my not being all that big of an admirer of the even sleazier Death Wish II, I am compelled to tip my hat at the Geneva Drive-In for coupling the two films. What a grimy, gritty, ugly double-bill that was. They probably had to hose down the screen during the day.

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) / Curse of the Faceless Man (1958) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - August 12, 1958]

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.

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. 

The Brood (1979) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 31, 1979]

Earlier this year I posted an ad for The Brood that appeared in the August 1, 1979 edition of the Oakland Tribune and what a memorable piece of kindertrauma that ad was for me.

This was down before I started syncing the edition date with the post date, though. So now we have this blog's first repeat. It will not be its last, obviously. 

Maximum Overdrive (1986) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - July 24, 1986]

San Francisco Examiner - July 24, 1986

I was in Dallas, Texas, of all places, visiting a friend. That friend and I went to see Maximum Overdrive on its opening day and we had quite the memorable experience.

Although King had made a promise to scare the hell out of his audience in the film's infamous trailer, Maximum Overdrive plays more like a parody than it does as a sincere attempt at "doing a Stephen King movie right."

King's writing, at times, suffers from his indulging in lowbrow humor. In Maximum Overdrive he did not just indulge in it. He both gorged and wallowed in it, like a pig in slop.

One can both laugh at and laugh with Maximum Overdrive. King himself has gone on record stating that he was coked out of his mind, and no doubt drunk off his gourd, during the production and no idea whatsoever of what he was doing. It shows in every single frame.

But I still love it and have zero problem watching it over and over and over again...

Arachnophobia (1990) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 17, 1990]

Producer Frank Marshall, a longtime collaborator with Steven Spielberg, made his feature film directing debut with this entertaining creepy crawly opus. One that parent company Disney, via its short-lived Hollywood Pictures branch, had a difficult time finding a way to market to the general public. 

I do not know if the term "thrillomedy" was coined for this particular film's release, but the ratio of scares and laughs are very well-balanced. It's a horror-comedy that works because, by and large, the horror aspect is treated dead serious, while the humor comes from how the characters react to said horror.

One thing I do regret is deleting the film's soundtrack album from my collection. That was dumb.

The Devil's Rain (1975) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 15, 1975]

Oakland Tribune - July 15, 1975

I think I was first made aware of The Devil's Rain by its being mentioned/lambasted in the Medved's notorious tome The Golden Turkey Awards. As I seem to remember it, John Travolta was one of the nominees for the Most Embarrassing Movie Debut award, because The Devil's Rain was his first movie. So it goes.

Whether or not that memory is an accurate one is debatable, though. Because verifying whether or not my memory was correct took me down a rabbit hole of magazine databases and archives, as well as newspaper television listings, that reminded me that the memory of an event and the historical record of said event are two very different things.

I do know that I watched some of The Devil's Rain on late night television. There were several potential dates for when this might have happened. The first would have been on November 2, 1979, when The Devil's Rain aired after a rerun of the Kolchak The Night Stalker episode The Youth Killer on the CBS Late Movie. I also learned that It Came from Beneath the Sea was airing on Creature Features, over on Channel 2, at the same time as The Youth Killer.

The Devil's Rain would wash across the CBS Late Movie two more times in late 1980, maybe. First on August 12, which was a Wednesday, and then again on the more appropriate date of October 24, which was a Friday. That is according to this CBS Late Movie database, at least.

But when I checked the television listings in the Oakland Tribune. The Devil's Rain was only listed for broadcast on August 12. The October 24 time slot says that the 1960 drama Sunrise at Campobello was being aired.

Oh, I also learned that the 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake was also broadcast on Friday, October 24, 1980. Which might coincide with a memory of my buying the novelization of The Hearse. The reason for this lodging in my memory was that I had to borrow a nickel from my uncle in order to complete the purchase. He actually barged into my bedroom to make sure he got the promised reimbursement. Dude tracked me down to get his fracking nickel back.

My only memory of The Devil's Rain consists of its opening with scene, wherein Ernest Borgnine and William Shatner engage in some theological fisticuffs, and the film's typical for its era downbeat ending and closing credits.

Escape from New York (1981) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 9, 1981]

I was so stoked to see this. Sure, it was not a horror movie, but it was a new John Carpenter movie and Debra Hill Production. The dynamic duo responsible for Halloween and The Fog. Adrienne Barbeau was in it, too! And Lee Van Cleef! And Ernest Borgnine! And Harry Dean Stanton!

Man, what a cast. What a concept. What a fun movie it turned out to be. I loved it then and still do today.

Big Trouble in Little China (1986) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - July 1, 1986]

Having recovered from the stinging rebuke of 1982's The Thing, John Carpenter suffered yet another stinging rebuke with the disastrous under performance of Big Trouble in Little China.

As much as I was looking forward to seeing this on the big screen, I was unable to. I believe I might have been overseas at the time, in Hong Kong, visiting family when it opened. By the time I returned to the United States, Big Trouble in Little China, having sunk like a stone at the box office, had vanished from theaters. So it goes.