THE CORPSE VANISHES (1942)

 "IT'S SENSATIONAL!  ANOTHER KIDNAPPING OF A DEAD BRIDE!  WHAT A STORY!"

How many times have I seen this movie?  Zillions.  I think I first saw clips from it in that Good Times VHS tape of Zacherley's HORRIBLE HORROR back in the mid-1980's.  I found that video at K-Mart.  I'm also pretty sure I found the actual full movie videotape at K-Mart as well -- in one of those bargain VHS dump bins.  So I've been watching this movie ever since the mid-80's and I'm just now watching it again.  This time it's in the purdy metallic green steelbook from Pop Flix called HEROES OF HORROR COLLECTION. 

My doddy Cheeks got this dinged-up for 3 bucks.  I had all the movies in it (as well as THE VEIL TV show) many times over but, as I said, the metallic green steelbook is purdy so I had to have it.  And mine's NOT damaged, thank you very much.  Yes, I paid full price for it and do I regret it for a single second????  No sir!  But enough about the purdy green steelbook.  Among the 4 DVDs of Bela and Boris poverty row movies (and Boris' aforementioned TV show THE VEIL) can be found THE CORPSE VANISHES.  Directed by Wallace Fox (the auteur that brought us the blah BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT and the better INNER SANCTUM movie PILLOW OF DEATH with Lon Chaney Jr., THE CORPSE VANISHES is probably my favourite Wallace Fox film - - if there IS such a thing.  The wonderful premise is that brides standing at the altar drop dead at the moment they get married.  Then someone masquarading as the ambulance service steals the bodies.  I wonder who could be behind this all?!?!?  Yep, it's our old friend Bela as Dr. Lorenz.  But he's a sympathetic nutcase in this one.  His poor wife  Countess Lorenz (the magnificent Elizabeth Russell) can only be kept alive by the juice from dead brides' glands.  Sounds like a typical Saturday night for Bela.   Our intrepid Lois Land reporter discovers that each dead bride had an orchid corsage delivered right before they died.  Dr. Lorenz is knocking out the brides so he can spirit them away back to his secluded house of horrors and extract all the bride gland juice he needs to make a smoothie for his wife.  Elizabeth Russell really sells the intense pain she is in before Bela administers his antidote.  

Endlessly entertaining, this just-over-60-minutes poverty row quickie has always been a fun watch as far as I'm concerned.  There's also a string of awesome character actors who have long been favourites of mine due to their constant appearances in poverty row quickies like this.  There's Bela, of course, and Elizabeth Russell who was so memorable in every movie in which she appeared such as CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE, THE SEVENTH VICTIM, CAT PEOPLE, BEDLAM, the INNER SANCTUM film WEIRD WOMAN and HITLER'S MADMAN.  Luana Walters (from the terrific serial DRUMS OF FU MANCHU as well as co-starring with Bela in the serial SHADOW OF CHINATOWN) plays go-get'um reporter Patricia Hunter; whose quote at the top of this post shows her being thrilled each time a bride croaks because it's worth a story.  Tristram Coffin is another fave -- not only for his very name but also for his many appearances in faves like the Frankie Darro/Mantan Moreland team-ups IRISH LUCK, UP IN THE AIR,  CHASING TROUBLE and ON THE SPOT, THE BARON OF ARIZONA with Vinnie, Boris Karloff's Mr. Wong movies THE FATAL HOUR and DOOMED TO DIE, Mantan Moreland's COSMO JONES, CRIME SMASHER, the SPY SMASHER serial and THE BRUTE MAN with Rondo Hatton. 

 The odd Minerva Urecal appeared in the wonderful MURDER BY INVITATION, GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE and THE APE MAN with Bela, THE APE with Boris, THE LIVING GHOST and a few Charlie Chan and The Whistler flicks.  Good ole Angelo Rossitto was, of course, a munchkin in THE WIZARD OF OZ but more importantly appeared with Bela in SCARED TO DEATH and SPOOKS RUN WILD, with Boris in MR. WONG IN CHINATOWN and DOOMED TO DIE, with Vinnie in THE BARON OF ARIZONA, FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM and CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM EATER, Tod Browning's FREAKS, Al Adamson's BRAIN OF BLOOD and DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN with Lon Chaney Jr.,, MESA OF LOST WOMEN as Jackie Coogan's lab assistant, and Ray Bradbury's SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.  Pug-nosed pugilist Frank Moran was also in THE LIVING GHOST as well as GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE and RETURN OF THE APE MAN with Bela and the Jack Benny & Fred Allen vehicle LOVE THY NEIGHBOR.  Then there's Joan Barclay who appeared with Bela in BLACK DRAGONS and SHADOW OF CHINATOWN, the Val Lewton produced THE SEVENTH VICTIM, and as the leading lady in one of my favourite serials BLAKE OF SCOTLAND YARD with Ralph Byrd.   I go into such Cv detail because I love these character actors and their movies and they should be shouted out more than they are. 

But back to Bela and his bride-corpse business.  This movie has so many unintentionally (I think) funny moments that you have to love it.  I mean, there's that iconic shot of Bela nearly swallowed up by the cloth lining inside a coffin with his eyes bugging out.   The cops are stopping all suspicious cars and, when they stop Bela's car THIS is how he chooses to look inconspicuous!!!  

There's the mother who tells her soon-to-be married daughter moments before the wedding:  "Do you feel all right, dear?" followed by her daughter's line:  "You should forget all that silly nonsense about those brides dropping dead!".  At one point, Luana Walters' reporter sees a corpse in Dr. Lorenz's sub-basement and faints.  The almighty crash you hear on the soundtrack as she hits the floor is hilarious; makes her sound like she weighs 200 pounds.  I think you can even hear the set shake.  Later the next morning, Tristram Coffin's Dr. Foster knocks on Ms. Hunter's guest room door and she answers in her dressing gown.  "Oh, I'm sorry," says Dr. Foster, "I thought you were up." "Up?!?!?" she says ,  "I've been up all night with dead people!".  This is the movie that first springs to mind whenever I think of Bela Lugosi's poverty row horror movies and it's one of the most fun.

THE REPTILE (1966)

 IN A RECENT VIDEO, TERRY FROST COMPARED HAMMER HORRORS "THE GORGON" AND "THE REPTILE".  

His points were very well-made and interesting to this guy who has seen both movies more times than he can remember.  THE GORGON is one of my all-time favourite Hammer Horrors while THE REPTILE was thought by me to be good but unremarkable.

Part of Hammer's quartet of horrors shot back to back reusing sets and casts for economy's sake:  DRACULA, PRINCE OF DARKNESS and RASPUTIN, THE MAD MONK plus the "Cornish" duo of PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES and THE REPTILE.   In double features, DRAC was paired with PLAGUE and RASPUTIN teamed with REPTILE; obviously so people wouldn't see the same cast and sets back-to-back.  THE REPTILE, I believe, was shot last and had to make due with whatever budget was left after the first 3.  Despite this, THE REPTILE was always a really great Hammer Horror anyway; it was only in comparison with other Hammers that it came a little farther down the pecking order as far as my affections were concerned.  However, I always really liked it.  Terry Frost, however, makes the case in his recent yootuberz video that, not only are THE GORGON and THE REPTILE basically the same plot but also THE REPTILE is the superior film.  I'm not sure I buy that conclusion -- I adore THE GORGON and have rewatched that at least twice as many times as I have THE REPTILE -- but I thought a new rewatch was in order to see if THE REPTILE went up in my estimation.  Charles Spalding (David Baron) enters the manor house of Dr. Franklyn (Noel Willman) and is attacked and killed by a reptilian creature.  Brother Harry (Ray Barrett) and his wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel) come to the Cornish village to take over Charles' bequest.  Harry enters the village pub and his very appearance clears out every single punter in the place!  Publican Tom Bailey (the glorious Michael Ripper) comes out from the back and is stunned that his entire pub has been cleared out of customers. 

He explains that Harry is a stranger and the locals don't like strangers in these parts.  "You're not thinking of living there permanently, are ya?" asked Tom, who advises him to take his advice and sell his brothers cottage 'Larkrise' and leave.  You've seen enough Hammer films (and Universal ones, for that matter) that you can write this dialogue all by yourself.  But the absolute integrity and conviction with which Barrett & Ripper play the seen sells it!  Superb acting.  The stern and tyrannical Dr. Franklyn has a daughter Anna (Jacqueline Pearce) whom he rules with an iron fist.  The Spaldings take a liking to the young lady and befriend her.  Unfortunately, the village is plagues by more murders.  The victims have two puncture marks widely-spaced on their necks and their faces turn black while they froth at the mouth.  Nasty. 

Of course, everyone watching knows exactly who the culprit is; as they do in THE GORGON as well.  Perhaps not so coincidentally, John Gilling (who directed THE REPTILE) wrote the screenplay for THE GORGON.  I never realized that until Terry Frost pointed it out so there is little wonder why the two movies do appear to be two sides of the same coin. Australian Ray Barrett does a fine job as Harry but the main joy of this (and many other Hammer Horrors) is the superb supporting cast.  Noel Willman you will remember from KISS OF THE VAMPIRE; here he gives a suitably burdened and cursed portrayal of Dr. Franklyn while Jacqueline Pearce (most famous for her time on BLAKE'S 7) is sympathetic and likeable as Anna.  Frost is quite right also in pointing out that THE REPTILE features perhaps the biggest role Michael Ripper ever had in a Hammer Horror and he takes full advantage.  Always the consummate actor, Ripper usually stole every scene he was in (no matter how small).  Christopher Lee once noted during an interview that he and Peter Cushing used to joke about being supporting players in a Michael Ripper film. 

The magnificent John Laurie appears and a doom and gloom Chicken Little character proclaiming that the village is evil and cursed.  Indian-born Marne Maitland as 'The Malay' (British imperialism apparently doesn't require his character to have a name) fulfills the same 'mysterious/sinister Asian' role as George Pastell's Mehemet Bey in Hammer's 1959 THE MUMMY.  Maitland, who isn't given practically any dialogue to work with, offers a gravitas and authority in the role which is both threatening and commanding.  George Woodbridge is also here once again (as he is in many Hammer Horrors) as Old Garnsey; he usually played innkeepers and publicans.  Jennifer Daniel (who was also in KISS OF THE VAMPIRE) is also quite good and likeable as Valeric Spalding; her other memorable horror credit is in the excellent THRILLER witchy episode "SPELL OF EVIL" -- an old favourite.  The Roy Ashton makeup for the Reptile often gets trashed but I find it really good and quite effectively shot; the makeup for The Gorgon wasn't quite so effective (but I'm still fond of it).   Of course, there's the reptilian elephant in the room; that is, how much of an influence (conscious or not) on Ken Russell's LAIR OF THE WHITE WORM.  I mean, that and THE REPTILE make a perfect double feature, don't they?  Alike but not at all alike.  All in all, Hammer's THE REPTILE is a excellent movie. . . . but is it better than THE GORGON after all?  Sorry, Terry, but I can't go along with that.  Despite all it's embarrassment of riches, THE GORGON is still I think a better watch.  The atmosphere of dread and spookiness is non-stop in THE GORGON but it only comes and goes in THE REPTILE.  John Gilling is a fine director but he's no Terence Fisher (who helmed THE GORGON).  Gilling's direction is more workmanlike while Fisher's is drenched in gothic atmosphere.  The swirling wind and blowing autumn leaves in the moonlight is pure chef's kiss!  Then there's the powerhouse case of Peter Cushing, Barbara Shelley, Christopher Lee and Shakespearean actor Richard Pasco (as well as character actors Michael Goodliffe and Patrick Troughton) which tip the scales towards THE GORGON.  Be that as it may, THE REPTILE is still a fine mid-period Hammer Horror and should not be missed. 

TOY STORY OF TERROR (2013)

 A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL FROM THE TOY STORY FRANCHISE.

Continuing with my (unplanned) tour into things I've never ever seen before, we have the TOY STORY franchise.  And yes, I've never seen a single TOY STORY movie.  I own them all.  In a box set, I think.  But no, I haven't watched them yet.  So, never having seen any TOY STORY movie, what could be smarter than to watch a TOY STORY Halloween special!  Well, I don't think I really need to have seen the movies since this was quite 'stand alone' and I quite enjoyed it.  The toys are confined to the trunk of the car in which their little girl owner and her family are on a road trip vacation.  They stop at a Sleep Well Motel for the night.  Mr. Pricklepants (a hedgehog toy voiced by Timothy Dalton) warns the toys that a roadside motel is a frequent scene of horror movies. 

After warning that the next thing that usually happens in a motel horror movie is that someone goes missing; almost immediately Mr. Potato Head (voiced by the late great Don Rickles) goes missing.  The toys go on a search for their missing friend and encounter the G.I. Joe-like Combat Carl (voiced by the late great Carl Weathers) who laments he was spirited away from his owner which happens a lot in this motel. 

Turns out, the motel manager is swiping the toys of kids who stay at the Sleep Well if they are valuable and is selling them to collectors online!  What a twat!  The toys must all work together to defeat this evil motel manager and gain their freedom before they end up boxed and mailed. 

The voice cast is wonderful.  Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are here as Woody & Buzz Lightyear, of course.  Besides Timothy Dalton, Don Rickles and Carl Weathers, we also have Joan Cusack, Kristen Schaal, Wallace Shawn, Stephen Tobolowsky, Kate McKinnon and Laraine Newman.  There's quite a nice job at evoking spooky atmosphere in this one as well as some geuuinely funny gags.  My favourite is probably the Cat Pez dispenser who throws up by ejecting a pez candy. 

TOY STORY OF TERROR is genuinely funny and makes me want to dig out the TOY STORY movies and watch them -- although apparently they specialize in making you cry so . . .  Also of note, the blu ray comes with an optional feature to watch the show with "vintage" fake commercials and they were awesome too.  .   

Courage the Cowardly Dog - King Ramses' Curse (1999)

 RETURN THE SLAB!" 

I'm on a roll here watching cartoons that I never saw before.  That's not quite true with Courage the Cowardly Dog, though, since I'm pretty sure I saw one or two episodes back in the day -- or at least bits of 'em.  This is another cartoon recommended in that video about Halloween cartoons to watch I posted below.  A couple of criminal foxes (at least that's what they look like to me) are being pursued by a police helipcopter after stealing an ancient Egyptian artifact from King Ramses' tomb.  Near Courage's house, they bury the slab in a secret place planning to come back later when the heat is off.  Unfortunately, there is a curse on it and a spooky CGI Ramses ghost mummy appears belowing "Return the slab!" or else. 

The foxes don't and they and their car are devoured by a plague of locusts.  The next morning, Courage digs up the slab and brings it into the house.  Eustace throws it out the window as garbage until he hears on the radio that the artifact is worth a million bucks.  Now he's going to be rich and can buy his dream purchases:  new lawn chairs and a new light bulb in the attic!!!  Of course, Ramses' ghost appears floating outside the house demanding "Return the Slab". 

Eustace refuses and they suffer 3 plagues.  First, it starts raining inside the house and the entire house fills with water.  It's like the underwater scene from ALIEN RESURRECTION . . . only scary.  Courage swims down to the basement and uncorks a stopper letting all the water out.  The 2nd plague is horrible music.  Courage searches and finds an old Victrola playing a cursed record and smashes it.  The last plague is the locusts again who eat their entire house.  Eustace finally relents and throws the slab back to Ramses' ghost -- but then relents again and steals the slab back.  Ramses is not happy and summons back the locusts.  The next thing we know is the slab has been returned to the pyramid of Ramses for all eternity.  And Eustace is trapped in the slab. 

That video is quite right -- the early, primitive CGI Ramses' ghost is really creepy and effective.  Apparently, the cartoon often employed this primitive CGI spliced into the traditional cartoon art to evoke that uncanny feel and I think it works.  After this one episode, I'm still not sure how much of a COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG fan I am.  Back in the day when it was first on TV, I didn't connect with it and consequently never watched it.  I'll have to check a few more episodes (especially the ones name-checked in that video below) and see if my mind changes.  

BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA (1952)

 "WHAT AN INTERESTING CRANIUM!"  

Yesterday I was at the domicile of Cheeks DaBelly & Dee Dee Deelite for our (increasingly more infrequent and that's my fault) Faerecheek Film Festival and we watched that old chestnut BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA. 

I've seen this a bunch of times over the years and I was sure I already posted on this movie during a Halloween Countdown YEARS AGO!  I went and soiched and nope, I never did.  I was thinking about the post I did back in 2009 about the 4 movie Karloff & Lugosi dvd set which included ZOMBIES ON BROADWAY and I guess that's what I was thinking of.  So yes, William Beaudine directed this poverty row Bela film.  Beaudine was the guy you brought in when you couldn't afford a real director.  OK, that's mean and not at all fair because he toiled at the low end of Hollywood studios and cranked out movies like a journeyman.  And the truth be told -- I always kinda liked this movie.  It's so dopey that you HAVE to love it and it never drags.  It's a helluva lot more entertaining that AVATAR.  Two nightclub performers Duke Mitchell and Sammy Petrillo (doing their best Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis impression) are shameless in their aping of that at-the-time red hot comedy duo.  I'm sure they were brought into this movie hoping people would see the trailer and not pay attention thinking Martin & Lewis were in this film.  They're not.  And that's not a bad thing.  While I adore Dean Martin, I always hated Jerry Lewis.  As someone once said, Jerry Lewis is not funny . . . EXCEPT when he's trying to be dead serious.  But yeah, Jerry Lewis had the comedy instincts of a clam.  And that's the thing I discovered with this umpteenth re-watch and that is that Sammy Petrillo is a helluva lot funnier than Jerry Lewis ever was.  He has some terrific line deliveries that show a natural comic timing.  My particular favourite was, some time after Bela Lugosi's mad scientist Dr. Zabor stares at Sammy admiring his skull, Sammy does a Bela impression sarcastically repeating Bela's sinister words:  "What an interesting cranium!"  It's hilarious.  Duke Mitchell as the Dean Martin clone is less affective but still hilarious endlessly shoving his song "DEED I DO" down our throats.  It's such a stupid but catchy song which, in the fifties, could well have become a hit.  I'm surprised it didn't.  After all, the score for that other poverty row classic KING OF THE ZOMBIES was nominated for an Oscar, after all!

So I suppose I should briefly touch on the plot of the film . . . the film itself only briefly concerns itself with any plot whatsoever.  Duke & Sammy fall out of the sky onto a remote tropical island where they find a bunch of WASP natives and a sinister mad scientist Dr. Zarbo with his clutch of monkeys in a mad lab.  Sammy is so alluring that not only does a chimpanzeeRomona fall in love with him but also a . . . shall we say 'Junoesque" native girl named Saloma (Muriel Landers).  My dod Cheeks pointed out that Muriel Landers played Joe Besser's singing sister in a Three Stooges short.  Damned if he ain't correct; once he said that, I recognized her face.  Of course, this being the type of movie it is, Bela eventually turns Duke into a gorilla --

or more accurately Ray "Crash" Corrigan in a gorilla suit.  All the 'old dark house', 'mad scientist', remote island tropes are here in full.  In his later years, Duke Mitchell would film his passion project MASSACRE MAFIA STYLE and, the much-later posthumously completed GONE WITH THE POPE; both of which I own but still haven't managed to watch after all these years.  I have to rectify that lapse!  William Beaudine, as mentioned, directed a helluva lot of movies and TV including such gems as JESSE JAMES MEETS FRANKENSTEIN'S DAUGHTER and BILLY THE KID VS. DRACULA, the Lugosi poverty row flicks VOODOO MAN, THE APE MAN and GHOSTS ON THE LOOSE, a handful of Charlie Chans and, a personal favourite of mine, the Mantan Moreland vehicle LUCKY GHOST!  BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA is way more entertaining than I had a right to expect and now I remember why i re-watched it periodically over the years.  It doesn't disappoint.

FRANKENSTEIN MOVED IN ON THE FOURTH FLOOR by Elizabeth Levy

 HERE'S A SHORT LITTLE MIDDLE-GRADE HORROR BOOK THAT LOOKS A LOT LIKE A SCHOLASTIC BOOK BUT ISN'T.  

I picked this up because it gave me serious THE GHOST ON SATURDAY NIGHT vibes which was a Scholastic book I bought when I was a kid back in the 70's.  I posted about THAT book several years ago during a previous Halloween Countdown and you can see that post HERE.   This book here was published in 1979 by Harper & Row (at least MY copy was) and features a ton of great illustrations by Mordicai Gerstein. 

Two young boys and their mom live on the 19th floor of a high-rise apartment building and a new tenant moves in on the fourth floor.  The boys catch sight of the guy (who's named Mr. Frank) moving in with wires and things sticking out of his head and they immediately assume he's Frankenstein.  The monster, not the doctor.  This distinction is indeed made by one of the boys; Frankenstein was the mad doctor and not his creation.  However, Mr. Frank appears to them to be something of a melding of both.  The first thing that happens is the elevator is stopped on the fourth floor and the boys & their mom have to hoof it up 19 flights of stairs.  Mr. Frank has some of his moving boxes blocking the elevator door so it won't close because, he says, they're full of delicate equipment which needs to be moved about slowly. 

Later, all the electicity in the building goes out and the landlord calls an electrician who traces the outage to room 4E -- Mr. Frank's room.  He must be using a helluva lot of electicity in there.  In the building's basement, every tenant has their own storage unit walled off with chicken wire and the boys decide to sneak into it and take a look around.  Mr. Frank might have spare body parts in there to make a new monster!  The boys get scared and run; however, the youngest leaves behind his Dracula action figure (with only one fang).  He's shown the Dracula around to a lot of people in the building and Mr. Frank will find it and know they were in his storage unit.  Mr. Frank is very rude, grumpy & brusque and no one in the building likes him. 

Mr. Frank does find the Dracula and stomps up to the kids' apartment where their Mom tells them the shouldn't poke around in other people's stuff but basically tells Mr. Frank to go scratch.  The next thing they know, Mr. Frank is moving out.  People in this building are two nosy.  The cool thing is, though, that all this could just be the wild imagination of some little kids who like horror stories.  However, we are never actually told or shown what exactly Mr. Frank is up to in his apartment that requires boxes and boxes of 'delicate' scientific equipment and uses so much electricity that he blacks out an entire high rise!  After Mr. Frank moves out, the kids go look at his now unlocked storage bin and it's empty. . . except for the Dracula action figure . . . with one arm torn off.  After all, Dr. Frankenstein DOES require body parts . . .  

THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS - WHEN HALLOWEEN WAS FOREVER (1986)

 "HEY SLIMER!  PIZZA!"  

Here's another cartoon I never saw before now.  I guess I had stopped watching Saturday morning cartoons by the time I was 21.  But after watching The Story Weaver's video about great cartoons to binge for Halloween (I have another of his videos posted below about Halloween TV Specials but you really should go look at his channel), I thought I should give THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS a try; particularly this Halloween episode. 

Broadcast on November 1st, 1986, this 8th episode of Season 1 was only the first of 3 Halloween episodes.  A 7th century Irish ruin is brought to America and with itcomes Samhain:  the spirit of Halloween.  They pronounce his name "Sam Hayne" but we'll let them slide because this was an 80's kids cartoon. 

Samhain unleashes his 'army of the night' consisting of all the Halloween spooks he can lay his claws on.  His goal is to make Halloween last forever and for night to never end.  Our 4 Ghostbusters (and their pal ghost Slimer) intend to thwart that wart's progress.  After the sugary Smurf Halloween special, this episode is more like it.  Kinda a little dark for a Saturday morning kids cartoon and I approve.  The design of Samhain is really just what he SHOULD look like; a tattered brown robe and a Jack O'Lantern noggin. 

And wow, in the voice cast of the Real Ghostbusters appear legendary Frank Welker (Freddy & Scooby-Doo), Lorenzo Music (Garfield) and Arsenio Hall.  Wow, Lorenzo Music plays Venkman in THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS and Bill Murray would go on to voice GARFIELD in that terrible movie.  There's a really awesome clock which develops a demonic face when Samhain is released.  Ray Parker Jr.'s GHOSTBUSTERS song is, of course, all over the episode; instrumentally and vocally.  There's another similar-sounding song "Frankenstein's groovy . . . Midnight Action" or something which gets a lot of play as well.  Since this is the first and only episode of THE REAL GHOSTBUSTERS I've seen so far, I don't know if that second song appears all throughout or only in this episode.  But yes, this was a whole lotta fun. 

Light Show Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne - Medley of Ozzy with Mr. Crowley, B...

I love this so much.  We miss you, Ozzy!

MANTIS IN LACE (1968)

 WHAT BOOK WAS IT IN WHICH I READ ABOUT THIS MOVIE???

Actually I think it might've been the first issue of REALMS OF NIGHT.  Anywho, it sounded intriguing enough to make me seek out an old DVD snapper case copy from Something Weird Video which was at least 20 years old.  But I got one (for pretty cheap) and watched it.  Am I glad I did?  Weeeeeeeeeellllllllllllll that's a little difficult to pin down.  Yes, I'm glad I saw it.  No, it's not even remotely good.  It's terrible, in fact.  But I knew it would be going in.  William Rotsler is the director and he specialized in soft core and hard core sleaze which probably played in grindhouses on 42nd Street in the 70's.   So this is the perfect movie for Something Weird to have released on DVD. 

It's alternate title is "LILA"; unimaginatively after the lead character.  Lila (Susan Stewart)  is a stripper.  We know this because the first 10 minutes of the film is a striptease number.  Topless only, of course.  This was followed by YET ANOTHER topless dancer for another 5 or so minutes.  I suppose this was hot stuff in 1968 but now it's just boring.  Where's the murder and mayhem?!?!?!  Well, we do eventually get there.  Lila takes a randy guy home to a warehouse she either lives in or merely frequents a little too often.  Lila is a fan of LSD and she and her guy imbibe.  After quite a long while of teasing the guy, they finally get down to it but halfway through Lila suddenly starts having a bad trip and murders him with a screwdriver.  I'm not quite sure if it was a flat-head or a Phillips but I'll look closer on a rewatch. 

She chops the guy up and dumps him out on a riverbank inside a cardboard box she got from the warehouse.  This is, in its entirety, the plot of the film.  Topless dancing, Lila takes a guy to the warehouse, they get it on and she murders the guy with another garden tool halfway through.  One guy she kills with a hoe (without any sense of irony here).  There are a couple of cops who are basically incompetent but keep on investigating each dismembered corpse in a cardboard box they come across.  Actually, the two guys who play the cops are the best actors in the movie and I really enjoyed their scenes.  Other than that, this was quite a slog and the silly, DRAGNET-like assumption that LSD causes you to murder people was typically laughable.   Nope, I can't recommend this one unless you're morbidly interested in endless scenes of tame topless dancing with a little murder interspersed.  

Retro 80s Halloween Specials

Oh dear. There's that Smurf Halloween Special I was talking about below. But fear not -- it's paired with the updated 1985 short for HALLOWEEN SAFETY!!!

Halloween 2025 extravaganza: books, movies, activities 🎃

🎃 Top 10 Animated Halloween Specials 👻 Cartoons That Still Haunt Us!

The Smurfs Halloween Special (1983)

 NOPE, I NEVER SAW THE SMURFS BEFORE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE (NOT COUNTING AVATAR) UNTIL I WATCHED THIS SMURFY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! 

Of course, there's a reason for that.  Mainly because, when this cartoon came out, I was already in college.  That's no real reason, of course, since I still watch cartoons to this day.  But mainly it's because they seemed MUCH too squeaky clean for me.  So, I figured -- since this video was on youtube -- I might as well start with their Halloween special and meet the Smurfs halfway. 

Well, it turns out I was right in my assumption.  If this hadn't been a tad bit about Halloween, I never could've sat through it.  I'm diabetic, you see, and there was STILL much too much sweetness for me.  Turns out Mother Nature (I think that's who she is) grabs her 'red wand' (that's NOT a euphemism!!!) to turn all the tree leaves red for autumn; unfortunately a Smurf named Lazy is asleep under a tree and gets turned red by mistake.  Lazy fears he now cannot return to the Smurfy village because he's not blue anymore and won't be accepted.  Wow, I never knew how racist Smurfs were!!!  Those poor red Smurfs have to pretend they don't exist!  So anyway, stuff happens and stuff and Lazy turns blue again and everyone is once again homogenous and fits in with the mainstream.  At least, that's the message I got from this one.

Yeah, I don't think the Smurfs are for me.  There's a lot of October leaves on the trees but, other than that, there's not much Halloween atmosphere; it's all too bright and pastel-coloured.  On the bright side, there are some awesomely legendary voice actors involved like Don Messick, June Foray, Paul Winchell and Alan Oppenheimer!  Their presence alone raised this WAY higher and makes it totally watchable -- if nothing special. 

Happy 100th Birthday Jules de Grandin

 THE VENERABLE OCCULT DETECTIVE JULES DE GRANDIN FIRST APPEARED 100 YEARS AGO. 

The story was called "THE HORROR ON THE LINKS" and it first appeared in the October 1925 (how apropos) issue of WEIRD TALES.  Created and written by Seabury Quinn, the occult detective would become extremely popular and made Quinn the most popular writer in that ground-breaking pulp.  There would ultimately be 92 Jules de Grandin stories written by Seabury Quinn up until the year 1951 and Arkham House would eventually published a handful of them in book form in 1966.  I have one or two volumes of Quinn's de Grandin stories and they're pretty great and a lot of fun. 

The OG cover from WEIRD TALES October 1925 kinda sucks -- it shows a giant flea chasing a dog -- so instead I'm going to show a later, much better cover which actually features Seabury Quinn's story on the cover.  

Beistle Resurgence

 EVERYONE WHO KNOWS VINTAGE HALLOWEEN, KNOWS BEISTLE.  When I was a kid back in the 70's, my Mom had a bunch of original Beistle Halloween decorations of which I've spoken on previous Halloween Countdowns. In recent years, Beistle has returned with new and reproductions of their old-time Halloween decorations.  I've just picked up a few of them for this Halloween; including the awesome Witch Goblin (the OG of which I still own . . . though it's just a head now and it's lower body has long since disappeared).  Who knows?  I might pick up some more of this stuff but right now, here's what I gotted: