MARIA MARTEN, OR THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN (1936)

 "YOU SHALL BE A BRIDE . . . . A BRIDE OF DEATH!"

  Time for a long overdue visit with horror saint Tod Slaughter.  It's been quite a while since I've watched ole Tod let loose with his fiendish cackle and this movie is one I've had for a long while but never watched.  Of course, the film is based on the stage melodrama of the same name which Slaughter barnstormed around the country (the UK that is) endlessly and the film even starts with an interlocutor standing on a stage in front of the candle-lit floodlights introducing the players in the forthcoming melodrama.  I'm assuming this is much as it must have happened during the live stage play.  But more to the point, the case of Maria Marten and the Murder in the Red Barn is actually a true crime murder which actually happened way back in 1827 at the beginning of Penny Bloods and broadsheets which took the country by storm at the time.  This gives this hoary old melodrama the true crime English edge which is so nicely brought to life recently in the series of THE SUSPICION OF MR. WHICHER tele-films which deal with true crimes around this same time period (roughly).  Tod Slaughter was and remains the cackling king of this type of horror/crime melodrama; most famously portraying on stage and screen the likes of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street. 

Sweet and innocent Maria Marten (Sophie Stewart) is being courted by the gypsy vagabond Carlos (Eric Portman [!]) but has fallen under the lecherous eye of Squire William Corder (Tod Slaughter).  One night he waylays Maria to his manor house and has his wicked way with her -- is there any OTHER way that Tod Slaughter has with people??? -- and poor Maria finds out she is up the duff.  Maria's puritanical father (who assumes Carlos knocked her up) throws Maria out of the house and she flees to Corder.  Unfortunately, Corder is a profligate gambler and is drowning in overdue bills and unpaid gambling debts so he has announced his impending marriage to a homely but rich spinster.  Threatening to tell her father it was really Corder who put the bun in her oven, the Squire promises to marry Maria after all.  Just meet him in the Red Barn later that night and they will fly to London and marry.  Do you think it's a good idea for Maria to show up for that meeting???  If so, you've never seen a Tod Slaughter movie!

As much as I love Tod Slaughter, his movies occasionally can be a little slow going as these very old stage plays can spend an inordinate amount of time on non-horror niceties and romantic subplots; so I was on my guard for that possibility when I began watching MARIA MARTEN.  Gladly, I didn't have to worry about that as this film kept my interest throughout.  Tod Slaughter, even when he isn't killing someone, is delightful as he has a mischievous twinkle in his eye and wicked line deliveries

Eric Portman as Carlos

throughout the movie which even made me laugh out loud a couple times at how unabashedly evil the Squire was being.  Slaughter also is hilariously cowardly when the townsfolk converge on the red barn and demand he dig up the floor.  I was floored when I realized that Eric Portman plays Carlos; Portman being a famous and well-established British actor in the coming years and starring in one of my top 10 favourite films A CANTERBURY TALE by the Archers.  The rest of the cast is unknown to me but Portman shows the leading man chops he would use to make him a well-known leading man in years to come.  Director Milton Rosmer does a nice job keeping things interesting; even with a running time of just over 60 minutes, things could STILL get dull but not here.  Rosmer also directed one of my favourite early British horrors THE SECRET OF THE LOCH two years before this so I guess I kinda like his work.    

The actual film and the legend on which it is based bares little commonality with the actual murder case.  The tale was embellished for puppet shows, broadsheets and stage plays.  Maria Marten herself wasn't quite the virginal innocent as she has already had two children by two different men out of wedlock before conceiving a third child with William Corder.  Corder himself wasn't the village squire either; only the rather well-to-do son of a farm owner.  The red barn itself was actually behind the property of Maria Marten's molecatcher father.  Corder did, however, murder Maria and bury her under the dirt floor of the barn.  As Tod Slaughter movies go, this one is right up there with my favourite THE FACE AT THE WINDOW.  Either of these two films would be a great place to start for Tod Slaughter novices.  

SUBSPECIES V: BLOODRISE (2023)

 "FLEDGLINGS . . . . KNEEL BEFORE YOUR MASTER!"

  At long, long last the new SUBSPECIES movie was released this year after debuting first on Full Moon's streaming service as one of the 'Deadly Ten'.   The poop is that, despite the script being written as far back as the late 90's, Full Moon wasn't able to make the film "as intended" and took the patient approach not to make it until they could do it the way they thought it should be done. 

Which begs the question, after all this time, was it worth the wait?  Frankly, any chance to see Radu again is worth the wait but it helps that this fifth film in the franchise is pretty good. If you don't already know, this film is a prequel and shows us who Radu was and how he came to be the nasty vampire we know and love!  Of course, from the previous films we know Radu is the son of vampire Vladislas and the witch Circe (or 'Mummy' as we've come to know and love her).  The movie opens with Circe giving birth to the little demon.  Fighting knight/monks burst in, stake Circe with a giant cross and take the baby to raise in the church.  Thus Radu becomes a Crusader Knight! 

Radu and his sidekick Brother Marius are on a mission to vanquish the vampire Vladislas when they discover the vamp's 'consort' Helena and her son Stefan by Vladislas.  You remember Radu's half brother Stefan from the first movie?  Anywho, Radu rescues Helena and Stefan and takes them away; not knowing quite for sure if Helena has been bitten.  Examining her neck, Radu sees no bite marks on Helena -- but she DOES like to stay in a darkened cave during the daytime.  I don't think it's THAT much of a spoiler to find that Helena DOES have a vampire bite SOMEWHERE on her person.  Helena eventually vamps out and puts the chompers on Radu thus making him a vampire too.  I'm not really going to go any further into the plot as it's still a very new movie and not everyone may have watched it yet.  However, though he's getting a little long in the tooth (pun intended), Anders Hove returns as Radu and it works.  Hove spends the first half hour of the movie as the human Crusader knight and the fact that he's a little old still works.  I mean, no one said Radu was young when he became a vampire. 

And naturally, Hove owns the screen every minute he's on it.  But another really nice thing is that Denice Duff is back as well; just not as the same character we've loved as Radu's fledgling Michelle from the second film on.  Because this is a prequel, she couldn't be.  But she too owns her new role as Helena and it's a nice twist that it's Denice Duff who makes Anders Hove into the vampire Radu; reversing the two actors' previous relationship.  But old home week doesn't end there as Kevin Spirtas returns from the other SUBSPECIES movies but this time he place Prince Vladislas (who was previously played in the first film by PHANTASM's Tall Man himself:  Angus Scrimm). 

Here, Vladislas looks entirely different -- more of a 'Nosferatu'-faced vampire rather than Scrimm's cotton-topped old man.  But hey, Vladislas was younger here, wasn't he.  And then we also get to see Ash & Ariel -- Radu's first fledglings -- whom we first encountered in the SUBSPECIES-adjacent VAMPIRE JOURNALS.  Here Ariel & Ash are played by new faces Staša Nikolić and Marko Filipović respectively.  They both look great in the parts; first as painfully naive and innocent musicians and then as corrupted, decadent and evil vampires.  Then there is Olivera Peruničić who is wonderfully kickass as new character Diana.  Ted Nicolau, of course, directs SUBSPECIES V as he has all the others and ain't that fitting?  And (super)naturally, the Bloodstone itself is back.  As someone who has been watching Full Moon flicks since the very early 1990's, I've always said that the SUBSPECIES movies are the best Full Moon has to offer; no matter how much I enjoyed wacky stuff like SEEDPEOPLE, DOCTOR MORDRID and DEMONIC TOYS, it was the SUBSPECIES movies where the actual quality lay.  Now, in the present day of enjoying the ridiculousness of GINGERDEAD MAN and EVIL BONG, SUBSPECIES V:  BLOODRISE still stands above all Full Moon's other output in terms of quality. 

This is a legitimately good movie which pays fan service to those of us who've been with the franchise since the beginning but also manages to be a great watch in its own right.  I was admittedly a little tentative during the first hour of 'human Radu' but things kick into high gear when the first 30 minutes are behind us.  When I first learned Full Moon was making a fifth SUBSPECIES movie, I had no desire or wish for a 'prequel' but, having seen this, I'm on board for HOPEFULLY more SUBSPECIES movies in the future.  I don't know if Full Moon plans to make any more but, if this film is anything to go by, I really hope they continue.  

ICED (1988)

 "HOT BLOODED COUPLES FALL PREY TO A COLD BLOODED MANIAC!" 

Whoa Nellie, you want 80's, you got 80's on steroids here, folks!  A group of yuppies go skiing.  A guy named Jeff thinks he has a girlfriend (Trina) but he's wrong about that; she's boinking another guy (Cory).  Jeff goes off in a huff (and a ski jacket and tinted ski visor) and goes for a night ski.  I'm still not sure if his intention was to go off a ski jump and crash through the window of the room where the other two are boinking or not but, unfortunately for Jeff, he careens off a ski jump and lands with a big rock to the chest.  One dead Jeff.  Four years later, the same 'other two' are now married and they and the group of friends are invited by a real estate guy to a new ski resort.  One of the group, a guy named Ed, has car trouble on the snowy road.  He gets out and is promptly ground down into blood jam under the wheels of a snow plow.  The killer wears a ski outfit and a tinted visor (which is jaggedly smashed horizontally across the eyes) and we get POV shots from the killer's shattered visor all through the film.  This is good. 

Uh oh...Ed's gonna be a road smear in a minute...

Ed is the boyfriend of Jeanette -- one of the group -- who all have arrived at the ski cabin.  Jeanette is worried because Ed hasn't shown up yet. 

But not SO worried that she doesn't throw herself at the real estate guy.  Jeanette is played by Lisa Loring; most famous for playing Wednesday Addams on THE ADDAMS FAMILY television programme.  Yes, she gets naked.  Yes, she recently died.  Do with that what your conscience will.  In fact, there is quite a lot of bathtub-frolicking in the first hour of the film.  In fact, there's very little else besides this and some recreational drug use and some bickering and some 80's fashions paraded around.  Besides the aforementioned ground-into-the-asphalt Ed sequence, there is absolutely no killing or slashing or horror hijinx at all.  And this is only an 86 minute movie.  However, after sitting through an hour of absolute 80's cheeziness and Cinemax-style naked bodies grinding against one another, the kills are actually worth waiting for.  Does it make slogging through an hour of dopey nonsense with a heavy 80s vibe?  Well, that kinda depends on your tolerance of dopey nonsense with a heavy 80's vibe.  For me, it was all so ridiculous and hokey that I was OK with it.  And there is the hint that dead ole Jeff has come back from the grave as either a ghost or a revenant to exact revenge so there's that going for it. 

Look!  There's even an icicle stabbing!!!

But mostly, what ICED really has going for it is that final half hour when the over-the-top kills and bonkers ending makes it all worthwhile.  For the life of me, I can't understand why Vinegar Syndrome hasn't released a 4k/blu ray with slipcover of this movie because it's right up their street!  Lisa Loring is the only 'known' actor in the cast, really, but there are a couple others you might recognize from other horror flicks:  there's Debra De Liso and Joseph Alan Johnson who were both in SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE,  Doug Stevenson was in THE PROWLER and Elizabeth Gorcey from TEEN WOLF.  The only real standout is Debra De Liso as Trina, who does a really nice job of acting in the final reel.  I've also gotta hand it to her; De Liso spends a lot of time running around in the snow wearing nothing but a shirt and white jacket on her top half and a pair of panties on her bottom half.  I hope she got a pay raise for that!  So yeah, all in all, I ain't mad at this one.  The first hour is a patience-tester but the end payoff made it OK for me.

SHE CRIED MURDER (1973)

SEVENTIES MADE-FOR-TV GOODNESS.

  This is more like it, after the rather disappointing 70's TV movie DEATHMOON.  SHE CRIED MURDER is from the golden year of 1973 when they made the hell out of these TV flicks.  Only perhaps horror-adjacent, nonetheless it's just close enough to count during this countdown.  Widowed mother and model Sarah Cornell (Lynda Day George) is riding at the front of a subway train when she sees a woman pushed onto the tracks by a man in a trenchcoat and hat. 

As she disembarks the train, we (and she) see that man is none other than Telly Savalas.  Later that day, the police come to interview her and one of the policemen is none other than Telly Savalas; the man Sarah saw murder the woman.  Fearful and feeling threatened, Sarah tells Inspector Brody (Savalas) and Inspector Stepanic (Mike Farrell) that she really didn't see the man enough to describe him.  Later, Sarah takes her little boy out to lunch.  She is called to the phone and when she gets back, her son is missing.  Brody has snatched the kid and lured Sarah to an abandoned theater and tells her that, if she knows what's good for her and her son, she will keep quiet about what she saw.  Sarah manages to send a backdrop careening down onto the stage.  Brody must jump out of the way and he falls apparently dead into the orchestra pit.  Sarah calls the police and reports the dead man but, when the cops arrive, there's no dead Brody.  Now we venture into familiar horror territory of the "Ray Liotta in UNLAWFUL ENTRY" psycho cop with Inspector Brody hot on Sarah's trail in order to silence her.  The woman Brody murdered was a hooker blackmailing Brody with incriminating photos.  Fortunately, Stepanic searches the dead woman's apartment and finds heroin packets in a bowl of jelly beans and the aforesmentioned blackmail photos of she and Brody in flagrante.  Stepanic informs his boss and the police begin a manhunt for Brody.  But Brody now is a wild wolf on the prowl and off the grid using all his police connections to track down Sarah.  Will Stepanic and the police be able to stop Brody and save Sarah in time?  

There is nothing really special or original about SHE CRIED MURDER but it's immensely enjoyable to watch.  It really is the epitome of how great 1970's TV movies (of the horror persuasion) could be.  At an incredibly tight 74 minutes, the movie barrels along without a pause.  Lynda Day George is very effective and sympathetic as Sarah Cornell; feeling like a fish out of water but determined to keep her son (and herself) safe as well as doing the right thing.  She's really terrific in this.  Telly Savalas is just about to embark on his TV series KOJAK and is also in top form in his villainous persona.  Mike Farrell (who I've never been THAT keen on) is also very good; underplaying his role as good cop Stepanic wonderfully.  Kate Reid has a small role as Sarah's friend/co-worker who lends Sarah her apartment in which to hide from Brody.  And a small role that should please horror fans occurs late in the film.  Sarah is once again on a subway train being stalked by Brody.  She attempts to ask help from a passenger.  That man is played by James Edmond who, a year later, would play Lynne Griffin's Dad in the classic BLACK CHRISTMAS!  The entire movie plays like an extended 70's cop show (in the vein of COLUMBO, THE ROCKFORD FILES or MCMILLAN & WIFE) and that's a great complement coming from me.  Director Herschel Daugherty helmed another made-for-TV horror/thriller the year before with the Elizabeth Montgomery starrer THE VICTIM and here he has a tight control of the pacing.  Another wonderful thing is the evocative 70's score which I found wonderful.  And now I know why.  When I looked at the credits, the score was composed by John Cacavas who, the year before this, composed the music for the classic HORROR EXPRESS also starring Telly Savalas.  This is way more enjoyable than it has any right to be and I had a blast. 

DEATHMOON (1978)

 "THERE'S A PRETTY GOOD ASSORTMENT OF WAHINIS AT THE POOL TODAY!"

  Hark all ye to the seventies TV movie and bow down!  Here we have a 1970s made-for-TV werewolf movie.  What could be better than that?!?!?  Well, DEATHMOON could, actually.  A cold open features a wacky waikikian cult ceremony by the full moon in which THIS is present: 

Don't ask me, I just work here.  It later turns out to be a mask worn backwards by a 'cult member' so I guess that makes some sense.  Anyway, next we have executive Jason Palmer (Robert Foxworth) vacationing at a hotel  in Hawaii.  A guest's room has been broken into and hotel 'handyman'/security guy Rick (Joe Penny) is asked to sleuth around.  Stewardess Sherry Weston (Debralee Scott) is staying at the hotel on her layover (snicker snicker) and looking for some action.  She did play Hotsie Totsie, after all.  Jason Palmer lounges by the pool and a Hawaiian woman (I'll refrain from using the 'wahini' moniker used in the film) looms over him blocking his sun. 

WHAAAAT?!?  You're HOW old?!?!?

When he opens his eyes, she's not there.  A singer warbles a song she got from Casablanca Records in a 'hula lounge'.  I'm giving you the salient points here, folks; at least judging from all the screen time such stuff gets in DEATHMOON.  Ooo, don't let me forget to tell you about my favourite line of dialogue!  A woman named Diane (Barbara Trentham) asks Jason "And how's the vacation?" and Jason replies, "Oh, very vacating.  I've emptied my mind . . .".  That smooth talker!  There's also a point where Diane admits that she's 30 years old and Jason blurts out "You're not THIRTY!" like he's shocked she's so damn old.  Other than that, chit chat happens amongst the cricket-chirping and frog-croaking sound effects.  But the real upshot of DEATHMOON is that Jason's bloodline has been cursed by the 'natives' (because that's what Hawaiians go around doing, I suppose) that make Jason go all wolfy. 

During the chit chat with Diane, the full moon starts affecting Jason and he appears to be having an attack of diarrhea and excuses himself from table.  But it's NOT diarrhea, it's an attack of the woof woofs and Jason transforms into a werewolf amongst the palms -- frightening away a smooching couple.  We hear growls but don't actually see the werewolf.  Yeah, this pissed me off too!  Rick comes to investigate and when he looks amongst the palms where the couple heard growling, Rick finds a pile of werewolf poop.  Ok, not really but that would've been awesome.  Instead, he finds claw marks scratched into a palm tree.  This happens 20 minutes into the film.  The werewolf himself isn't glimpsed until the 37 minute mark -- and at that, we only get a flash of fang and eyes. 

The next morning, Jason apologizes to Diane and invites her shopping but she insists he see a doctor.  That diarrhea can be a bitch, you know.  The doctor tells Jason that he's overworked and suffering from the "too muches" (a cute little term Jason uses for overindulging) while Diane goes to a shop whose white condescending owner scoffs at the stupid native superstitions involving the tiki idols HE SELLS!  Jason and Diane encounter the mysterious woman whom we saw earlier looming over Jason's lawn chair by the pool.  Later, there's a luau.  I'm sorry but when the Brady Bunch went to Hawaii, there was more action and more scares.  DEATHMOON drags on and on and on without much to recommend it.  Something could've been made of the skeleton of a plot here but that doesn't happen in DEATHMOON.  Whereas, if this had been made for TV in the EARLY 70s then I'll bet it would've been great.  The late 70's seems to have lost the magic of what early and mid-70's TV horror movies seemed to know how to do.  There's too much of the 'nighttime soap' about DEATHMOON.  This was, of course, the heyday of DALLAS and DYNASTY so I guess they thought they were being "up to date".  Granted, when we finally DO see the werewolf, he doesn't look half bad but the dull script and personality-less characters can't carry the film on their own without some (admittedly television-censor friendly mild) werewolf action.  Even some non-gory shots of the werewolf lurking or running would've made a big difference.  All that time and effort making up Foxworthy as a werewolf and there's very little of him on camera.  Now, it must be said that the final act does finally have some werewolf semi-action; by that I don't mean the werewolf has a semi but instead that he is seen chasing people around and pointedly NOT attacking them.  The werewolf will snarl at people and flash his teeth and eyes and gesture his clawed, furry hands in their general direction but never does he attempt to pounce on them or but them in the throat or any of the other things werewolves are wont to do if they're not stuck in a made-for-TV movie from 1978.  A little case of too little too late.  Not the best example of my beloved seventies TV horror movie.  Shame.  Oh I forgot Dolph Sweet is on hand too, as Lt. Russ Cort, who is brought in to investigate the werewolf munching deaths when they finally do occur.  I like to think that Dolph Sweet's character moved from Kauai to the American continental shores and hired Nell Carter to take care of his daughters.  Hey, sue me.  It makes watching DEATHMOON more worthwhile.  Gimme a break!

WELCOME HOME (1971)

 "WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?  YOUR NAME?"

  Dr. Frank Bowers has been in hospital after recuperating from a car crash.  He is released and goes home to his country cottage to surprise his wife Penny on his discharge from the hospital.  Unfortunately, when Frank goes into the cottage and sneaks up behind Penny to give her a hug, she shrinks away in terror. 

Calling for her husband, a man comes into the room and asks Frank who the hell he is and how he got in here.  Confused, Frank says, "It's my HOME!  Who the hell are YOU?!?!?".  The other man replies he's Dr. Frank Bowers.  It soons becomes clear that no one recognizes him as Dr. Frank Bowers -- including his wife -- and another man is living his life. After freaking out a tad, the 'other' Dr. Frank Bowers wrestles Frank down to the couch and gives him a few CCs of something to knock him out.  Frank is put to bed to sleep it off as the Bowers have guests for dinner:  Mr. & Mrs. Sherwood.  During dinner, Frank wakes up and calls the coppers then crashes the dinner party in the dining room pleading with the Sherwoods to recognize him as Frank Bowers.  They too have no idea who he is.  Det. Sgt. Greene arrives and tries to make sense of what's going on.  Of course, there's more going on here than a retread of 'William Wilson'; in fact the initial setup is where all similarity ends.  There are sinister goings-on . . . . uh . . . . going on.

This made-for-TV little horror flick from the British series 'OUT OF THE UNKNOWN' takes its starting point from the classic Edgar Allan Poe doppelganger story "William Wilson" as an inspiration and takes off from there.  There is nothing better than British TV from the 1970s and this has all the atmosphere and 'feel' of that superb decade. 

Dr. Frank Bowers - One is played by Anthony Ainley whom most people remember as the Master in DOCTOR WHO starting with THE KEEPER OF TRAKEN until the OG series went on 'hiatus' in SURVIVAL.  Ainley famously came from a family of actors and here he does a nice job with the confused hysteria such a character must needs go through.Jennifer Hillary as Penny looks very, very familiar to me and I swear I've seen her in many things but this appears to be her only credit.  Weird.  Maybe SHE has a doppelganger too?  Bernard Brown as Frank Bowers - Two has actually been in many things from CROWN COURT and LOVEJOY to MISS MARPLE:  4.50 FROM PADDINGTON.  Gerald Sim, of course, is a well-known character actor who perhaps I know most as the Rector in TO THE MANOR BORN but his genre credits include DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE and Hitchcock's FRENZY.  Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood are played by John Downer (from the 1979 CASTING THE RUNES) and Margaret Anderson (from THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT).  WELCOME HOME has a lot of twists and turns that keep you guessing.  Just who IS Frank Bowers?  And who is the real Frank Bowers?

TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE - THE CUTTY BLACK SOW [1988]

 "GIVE US THE PEAT TO BURN THE WITCHES, GOOD MISSUS!"

  Great Gran is on her deathbed on the 30th of October and predicts she will die on the 31st:  All Hallows Even.  In the middle of the night, young Jamie (Huckleberry Fox -- I swear that's the kid actor's name) is awoken by Great Gran (Paula Trueman) talking in her sleep.  Jamie records her words on his tape recorder as Great Gran recites the old Scottish legend of the Cutty Black Sow. 

Back in the day on All Hallow's Even, the townsfolk would place stones in the circle of a roaring fire; these stones would represent the souls of every family member.  As long as the stones remained in the fire until morning, their souls would not be taken by the Cutty Black Sow.  But, if a stone fell out of the fire, that person's soul would be taken.  Great Gran wakes and warns Jamie that he must beware especially of the Cutty Black Sow.  Then she dies.  The next day on Halloween, Jamie's parents go to the funeral home to arrange things and ask Jamie to take his little sister Gloria (Mary Griffin) trick or treating.  Jamie enlists Gloria's help in gathering 5 stones to represent each member of the family (including Great Gran) and places them in the fireplace.  Returning from trick or treating, the kids discover that Jamie's stone has fallen out of the fireplace.  Uh oh!

This episode from the fourth and final season of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE is actually one I had never seen before (despite owning the complete series on DVD).  And it is a specifically Halloween episode so wtf?!?!?  Now, we all  know the best part of TALES FROM THE DARKSIDE is the super cool opening.  After that, we all know the greatest episode in the whole series is the very first one "TRICK OR TREAT" starring Barnard Hughes and directed by the maestro George A. Romero.  And the third given is that most episodes range from middlig to meh.  "THE CUTTY BLACK SOW" does not displace "TRICK OR TREAT" as the best episode but it is one of the better ones. 

The episode is a bit of a slow burn (if such a thing is possible for a 22 minute TV episode) but the Scottish folk horror aspect is superb and the Halloween atmosphere is really great.  Trueman's performance as Great Gran does everything required of her and shockingly the child actors are quite good; never cloying or cutesy but realistically played.  The parents played by Sharon Ullrick and Timothy Landfield are also quite adequate in minor roles.  And the ending bumps the episode up even higher in my estimation.  Director Richard Glass has a somewhat odd approach but this apparently is his one and only credit.  However, one of my favourite horror writers -- Michael McDowell (author of the masterpiece THE ELEMENTALS and THE AMULET) -- and gives the show some weight.  I definitely will be rewatching this on subsequent Halloweens.

A BEVY OF KIDDIE HALLOWEEN COVERS

 HERE'S A TRICK-OR-TREAT ASSORTMENT OF COMIC BOOK COVERS.  Instead of the usual superhero Marvel and DC comic book covers or horror comic covers from E.C. etc., this time I thought I'd grab from the younger comix.  Stuff from Harvey or Archie or Dell etc.