Creepshow 2 (1987) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - May 1, 1987]

Considering that Creepshow 2 was made by the same creatives that were grinding out weekly episodes of Tales from the Darkside, it comes as no surprise that this film feels more like a collection of Darkside episodes spliced together than it does a sequel to Romero's visually kinetic Creepshow.

While not an altogether bad film, it does lack the narrative and visual zest of the first film. Old Chief Wood'nhead, the opening tale, is the weakest of the three live-action segments. The Raft is my favorite segment, and even scared me the first time I saw it, because it is a faithful-to-decent adaptation of one of my all time favorite Stephen King short stories.

But the best segment of the film is its final live-action tale, The Hitch-hiker. You might be muttering, or wanting to say, "Thanks for the ride, lady," well after the film has ended. According to an article, or interview, I read in Fangoria, King had written The Hitch-hiker for Creepshow as a possible replacement for the "They're Creeping Up on You!" segment, should it be considered too difficult to film. This might explain why this segment seems to have a tad more energy to it than the segments that preceded it.

The wraparound, like the first film, is animated. But this time there is an actual story being told. One featuring Venus Fly Traps. "They eat meat." Heh.

Deranged (1974) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 5, 1974

Although there is a great deal to interest me about this fictionalized dramatization of the Ed Gein story, I have yet to see it. Scuttlebutt about the film is that it hews pretty darn close to the facts of the actual case. The same cannot be said of a more recent, and therefore somewhat controversial, one.

Screenwriter and co-director Alan Ormsby, who was coming off of Children Shouldn't Play With Death Things, would go one to have a pretty successful career as a screenwriter. Penning the scripts for Bob Clark's films Dead of Night (also 1974) and Porky's II: The Next Day (1983). In addition to those, he would also write My Bodyguard (1980), the remake of Cat People (1982), and The Substitute (1996).

I know Roberts Blossom, who played the Gein inspired character of Ezra Cobb, best for his brief and quite memorable appearance in John Carpenter's Christine. "And there'll be no bringing her back here, cause I'm sellin' this shit to buy me a condo." Oh, and he was also in some pretentious arthouse flick called Home Alone (1990).

This was also an early project for future special make-up effect legend Tom Savini.

Friday the 13th (1980) / Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - November 13, 1981

Seeing that November 13, 1981 was a Friday, there was no way that Paramount would pass on the opportunity to rake in even more cash with a double-header reissue of the first two Friday the 13th movies.

I am sure this re-release made them a fair bit of extra cash that, more the likely, helped power the green lighting of the more or less inevitable Friday the 13th Part III (1982).

Day of the Dead (1985) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - September 29, 1985

I love Day of the Dead, it is my favorite Romero movie. Debate can and will rage and continue as to what his best, or most important, film was, but Day of the Dead will always be my favorite.