31 Days Has October: Anniversary

Early in the movie The Crow, a character asks, "Who the f*ck gets married on Halloween?" Well, my wife and I tied the hangman's knot eleven years ago today. It still astounds me that I found someone to marry me at all, and that she's hung around this long still surprises me. Yet, here she remains, and we're still remarkably happy. Sure, life could be better - money and medical issues cast an omnipresent pall over our day-to-day existence - but our union remains strong and passionate.

So to my beloved Brandi - and to all who chose this haunted holiday to marry -- Happy Anniversary!

31 Days Has October: Our FRINGE Binge

One thing that's been eating into our Halloween horror film watching has been the fact that the Blu-rays of the second season of Fringe have been showing up this month from Netflix, and Brandi and I keep binging on episodes. We didn't catch the show when it premiered - we didn't (and still don't) have cable - but a year or so ago, we found the first season on Blu-ray new at Wal-Mart for a ridiculously low price. As Brandi was a huge fan of Lost, and Fringe was from the same creator, (J.J. Abrams) we decided to pick it up.

We really enjoyed the show, but subsequent season sets were priced beyond our means. Eventually, we put the show on our Netflix DVD queue, and they started showing up in our mailbox a few weeks ago. We've just finished watching Season 2, and Season 3 discs should start showing up next week.

It's a fun show with a fascinating premise and a good cast. My particular favorite is John Noble as Dr. Walter Bishop. I love the fact that he's a mad scientist; a direct descendent of the characters that Boris Karloff played in all those Columbia B-movies back in the 1940s. In fact, I think the reason I like the show so much isn't because of the weird X-Files-like mysteries or the "alternate universe" mythology, but because it's the only TV show where a mad scientist is (essentially) the main character.

And although it's taken our attention away from the scary movies I'd intended to concentrate on these last few weeks, the show contains enough creepy and spooky stuff to still qualify as legitimate Halloween viewing.

31 Days Has October/Wednesday Cover: TOMB OF DRACULA

"Gaze into the eyes of Dracula, human fool...!" A delightfully psychedelic cover by Gene Colan and Tom Palmer, from Marvel's Tomb Of Dracula #55.

31 Days Has October: Decorations

This is the Halloween wreath created by my beloved wife Brandi for this year's holiday. Each year, she spends hours decorating the house for Halloween, coming up with her own creations, carving pumpkins, and planning outdoor displays, basically imbuing this old place with the spirit of the season.

This weekend - weather permitting - we'll be putting up the Styrofoam cemetery in the front yard and hanging the ghouls from the trees...

31 Days Has October: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Over the weekend, I watched the new Phantom Of The Opera (1925) Blu-ray from Image Entertainment. I still have to work my way through the other features (including the 1929 re-release versions of the film) before I can write my full review (for DVD Late Show), but the restoration of this silent film classic is really quite amazing. It's impressive how engaging and thrilling a cinematic experience it is, even now, after nearly a century.

31 Days Has October: GHOSTBUSTERS

One of the least-scary but most financially successful "spooky" comedies of all time is Ghostbusters, but that was our Countdown to Halloween movie tonight. Neither of us was in the mood for anything heavy, Brandi had to go to bed early, and we hadn't watched the Ghostbusters Blu-ray we bought a few months ago yet. So.... anyway, sometimes it's relaxing to just revisit a movie that you know by heart.

31 Days Has October: VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED

Tonight's Countdown To Halloween movie: Village Of The Damned, from 1960. Earlier today, we re-watched Halloween III: Season Of The Witch. Boy, even with Tom Atkins and Dan O'Herily, that film was a complete misfire. Intriguing premise, but unfortunately lackluster execution. Still - I can't get that damned Silver Shamrock jingle out of my head.

William Castle week didn't really go all that well, unfortunately - Brandi's been having a rough time at work lately, and she really wanted to burn our way through the Fringe season 2 Blu-rays that we've been renting from Netflix. So most of the week, we concentrated on those episodes, and she tried to get to bed earlier than usual. This left no time for our nightly fright features.

On Friday night/early Saturday morning, I did watch the new Blu-ray edition of the 1925 Lon Chaney Phantom Of The Opera. It looks great, and the film still holds up as a remarkable cinematic experience.

31 Days Has October: MR. SARDONICUS

Trailer for William Castle's 1961 Gothic horror film, Mr. Sardonicus.

31 Days Has October: Bela Lugosi Day

Remembering the immortal Be'la Ferenc Dezso Blasko on the anniversary of his birth. Hollywood's boogieman supreme, now and forever.

31 Days Has October/Wednesday Cover: TERROR TALES

31 Days Has October: THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL

Confession: the wife and I did not watch any scary movies tonight. Brandi was really tired, and we kinda got hooked on watching Psych episodes on Netflix.

But, as I'm determined to post something Halloween-related every day this month, here's the original theatrical trailer for William Castle's classic, The House On Haunted Hill, from 1958. I love this movie, and I even like the 1999 remake. In fact, I'm thinking we'll probably watch a double feature of both versions on Friday night. Maybe....

31 Days Has October: THE TINGLER and William Castle

We kicked off the third week in October - which I have deemed "William Castle Week" - with the producer/director's 1959 chiller, The Tingler, starring the great Vincent Price. I'm a huge fan of Castle's gimmicky spook shows - he brought old fashioned showmanship and a sense of tongue-in-cheek gallows humor to his productions, a combination that seems very much in the spirit of the Halloween holiday to me.

Tomorrow night, I'm thinking we'll be watching The House On Haunted Hill or maybe Mr. Sardonicus....

31 Days Has October: NOSFERATU

Tonight I'll be digging out my old Image laserdisc of F.W. Murnau's 1922 unauthorized silent adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Nosferatu, and giving it a spin in my old LD player. For some reason, I never picked up any of the DVD versions of this film over the last decade or so. I'm looking forward to seeing how the picture holds up on our HD big screen television.

I first saw the movie in high school, a 16mm print rented by the library. I don't remember why - I don't think it was Halloween, and we definitely didn't read Dracula in class - but even then I wasn't turned off by a silent film. I really enjoyed the nightmare quality of the imagery, and to this day, Nosferatu remains one of my favorite vampire movies... and the pseudonymous Max Shreck remains one of the best Count Draculas - even if he's operating under the alias of "Orlok."

31 Days Has October: THE MAN WITH THE HEX

Brandi and I have been watching the 2002 animated series, What's New Scooby-Doo this week on DVD (I picked up the complete first season for $3 at Big Lots). While it's not as innovative and/or clever as the newer Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated series that we've been enjoying, it's not bad - a decently written and animated modern updating of the original 1969 series. One thing that's interesting is that it incorporates lots of contemporary (circa 2000) pop songs by real bands (including The Ramones!), and I'm actually discovering some artists I was previously unaware of.

In one episode, the Scooby Gang is chased around a New Orleans amusement park by a couple of Civil War phantoms, accompanied by the tune "The Man with the Hex," performed by the jump blues/swing band, The Atomic Fireballs. I loved the song. Apparently it's been featured on a number of film soundtracks, but hey... I don't watch stuff like American Pie.

In any case, it's a great Halloween tune...

31 Days Has October: THE WEREWOLF

We're wrapping up Week 2 (Werewolf Week) of the greatest month of the year with The Werewolf, a 1956 Sam Katzman production that puts a Fifties, Atomic Age twist on classic lycanthropic lore. Ordinary businessman Duncan Marsh (Steven Ritch) becomes a bipedal, bloodthirsty werebeast not through any sin of his own doing, nor through an unfortunate, violent encounter with a rabid wolfman, but through the machinations of a couple of remarkably irresponsible scientists. This pair of geniuses take this survivor of an automobile accident, and impulsively decide to test their latest experimental "radioactive wolf blood" serum on him. Obviously, these guys skipped the ethics class.

Anyway, though produced by the notoriously cheap Katzman, The Werewolf is a nifty little monster flick, that benefits from some picturesque natural location work, shot around Big Bear Lake in the San Bernadino National Forest in Northern California. The werewolf make-up is cool, too; created and executed by Clay Campbell, it is nearly identical to the one he created for actor Matt Willis  a decade earlier for the 1944 Bela Lugosi chiller, The Return Of The Vampire, just a little shaggier.

The script is exciting and even thoughtful, populated by a cast of characters that come across as real people. The characters evince sympathy for the tortured human within the monster, and try to take him alive with the intent of trying to get him help. It's only when the body count gets too high and the wolf overcomes the man that the townspeople, led by the compassionate sheriff (Don McGowan), realize they have no choice but to shoot to kill. And that's another cool thing about the movie - as this werewolf is a creature of science, there's no need for silver bullets or full moons or any of the other traditional trappings.

The Werewolf is not a horror "classic," but it's a much better-than-average 50s B-monster flick, and one of my favorites.