Alien (1979) - Trading Card #77

With Jones locked in her cat box, Ripley races to the escape craft Narcissus and locks the door behind her. Can she, the last member of the Nostromo team, escape the cruel fate of her companions? 

Destroy All Monsters [Kaijû Sôshingeki (1968)] - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - August 6, 1969]

While the entirety of 2019's Godzilla King of the Monsters had me grinning ear-to-ear from near the very beginning of that marvelous monster mash. Seeing a protestor waving a sign declaring "DESTROY ALL MONSTERS" pulled a good-natured chuckle out of me. One that I punctuated with a small fist pump of approval.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #7

Allies

Together with Cremator and her sister Vandala, the mortal Lady Death let nothing stand against her, including those who saw her mortal nature as a weakness. As Cremator and Vandala found out, she was stronger than ever!

Arsenic And Old Lace - Newspaper Ad [San Francisco Examiner - August 5, 1943]

When I saw that Bela Lugosi was allowed to take a break from playing Dracula on the stage with this production of Arsenic and Old Lace, I rooted around to find a review of this production. Just to see if the play's famous running gag of Jonathan being made to resemble Boris Karloff (because the character of Jonathan had been played by Karloff, both on and off Broadway) had been changed or rendered even 'funnier' by the irony of having Bela Lugosi hamming up his rage at being said to resemble Karloff by any and all who saw him.

Well, the Examiner review only mentions a distressing amount of flubbed lines and technical errors. Lugosi was described as being "big, intense, and mean" and that his performance, while differing from Karloff's famous turn, was nonetheless effective.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #76

"The problem between you and the Alien," Ash concludes, "will produce a simple and elegant solution. Only one of you will survive." Lambert and Parker are the next victims. Only  Ripley remains... 

The Food of the Gods (1976) - Newspaper Ad [Oakland Tribune - August 4, 1976]

While there were all kinds of newspaper ads and television spots that would unnerve or frighten me, only two managed to out and out terrify me. One was the television spot(s) for the 1977 re-release of Larry Cohen's It's Alive (1974). The other was the poster art and television spots for today's subject, Bert I. Gordon's film version of H.G. Well's The Food of the Gods.

I do have a memory of being in the back seat of our Ford Pinto station wagon and spying a theater marquee displaying The Food of the Gods and commenting about. Chances are it was the Lux theater in Oakland.

It would not be until a truncated version of the film debuted on The 3:30 Movie, with Gordon's 1977 follow-up feature Empire of the Ants airing the very next day, that my jaw would drop at how silly the movie whose ad campaign had terrified me so turned out to be.

Lady Death: Dark Alliance - Trading Card #6

Unlikely Friends

Both drawn to the same mystery, the street smart Chastity joined forces with Lady Death. Forever young met forever old, and the two women realized they shared a bond of tragedy in their lives, and had both overcome it. 

Buried somewhere in my comic book long boxes is an issue featuring Chastity battling it out with, I think, Purgatori. I might dig it out and post about it at some point in the future, whenever I get around to unboxing, scanning, and re-reading my comic book collection. Right now I will continue to concentrate on trading cards, newspaper ads, and my soundtrack collection.

Dan Da Dan, Vol. 2 - Review

The first volume of Dan Da Dan ended with Momo and Okarun being attacked by a giant spirit crab unleashed upon them by the yokai known as Turbo Granny.

No surprise that the first two chapters of this second volume are a prolonged chase sequence. One that culminates with a rather unique method of exorcism. 

Momo and Okarun's victory celebration is a short-lived one, however. The restoration of Okarun's, um, manhood turns out to have been incomplete. While he has his frank back, his beans are still missing. Where are they?

The defeated and weakened Turbo Granny, who now resides inside of a maneki-neko figurine, has no idea. But she does agree to help them with their search, for reasons I will not spoil here, and more exciting and hilarious spiritual shenanigans ensue.

This second volume is not marred by presenting the potential sexual assault of a young girl as something to be laughed at by its readership, while also having it empower the threatened character. Here writer-artist Yukinobu Tatsu manages to balance and blend the horror elements with the rom-com tropes to create an engaging and entertaining story that is equal parts sweet and spicy, spooky and silly.

All that Dan Da Dan is doing is dressing raging, confusing, contradictory, and frightening teen hormones in scary costumes, allowing for all that rage, confusion, contradiction, and fear to manifest in delightfully weird and entertaining ways. For the moment, I am loving it.

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. 

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #75

Being a day that ends in Y, here is another card with a dynamic image that I believe is narratively out of sequence with the card that follows it. There might be a slim chance I am wrong about the continuity this time around, but I think not.

Only nine or so cards left in this set to scan and post.