The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #22

Taking a Break

After numerous local interviews, the students relaxed and drank a toast to "a good day." Heather, obviously pleased with the way the project was shaping up, suggested that they spend the evening unwinding. "A very good first day," she proclaimed. "We'll go over an equipment check, and I'll call my mom. Let's be relaxed, because we've got a really, really long day tomorrow. Today was cake compared to tomorrow." 

Ghost Rider (2007) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - February 17, 2007]

I remember seeing this, but little beyond that. The little I do remember consists of the late Peter Fonda's serviceable turn as Old Scratch and my being unsettled at how Sam Elliot's five o'clock shadow seemed to reach all the way up to his freakin' eyeball sockets. Beyond that, nothing...

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #19

After conferring with 'Mother', Dallas reveals that the "Nostromo" is on and unexpected course.

Destination: a small asteroid from where unearthly signals are apparently emanating. 

Diary of the Dead (2007) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - February 16, 2008]

When Diary of the Dead got a paltry theatrical release in 2008, I hoofed it over to the Landmark on Shattuck Avenue, in Berkeley, so I could see it on the big screen.

While I found plenty to admire and enjoy about the film, I also found the found footage conceit somewhat clumsy and distracting in its staging. It worked in bits and pieces for me, just not as a whole.

My hope, which was soon dashed, was that the movie would get a solid enough positive critical and commercial response that Romero could have the opportunity to make something other than yet another zombie movie.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #21

Mary Brown

Considered crazy by local residents, Mary Brown recalled an encounter with the Blair Witch: "It was like a woman, only on her arms, on her hands and everything, it was like hair, like a real dark, almost black hair. Like a horse... like horse fur. Then (on) her arms, she had like a shawl, a wool shawl. She didn't say anything, but she just kept staring. And then she opened up the shawl... and under it there was hair on her body, like a horse - and her legs, you could see she was female." 

Mary Brown was played by Patricia DeCou (1934 - 2007). She was the only person that responded to flyers that were hung at a local college, asking for people to help the low-budget production.

Friday the 13th (2009) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - February 15, 2009]

I remember taking my son to see this on opening weekend. Hell, it might even have been opening night. I wore my What Would Jason Do t-shirt and we had a blast.

The Baytown Outlaws (2012) - Soundtrack

A completist impulse purchase that paid off nicely. 

I have been a fan of Christopher Young ever since Hellraiser (1987) and, I am reasonably certain, I recognized Kostas Christides thanks to my having the soundtrack for the After Dark Horrorfest entry Dark Ride (2006).

This is a score written for a rock band and the music does, in fact, rock.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #18

"Nostromo" crew members are surprised to discover that they are nowhere near their native planet. Have the ship's preprogrammed computers malfunctioned in some way? 

The Stepford Wives (1975) - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner- February 14, 1975 ]

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #20

About the Cabin

"I've heard stories about her from people and neighbors and stuff like that, but also I saw a documentary on the Discovery Channel or somewhere, once about her, about ghost and legends of Maryland. The creepiest (child tries to stop mother from talking)... the creepiest story that I ever heard was that two men were camping near the cabin or something that she's supposed to haunt... and they disappeared of the face of the Earth."