The Tuesday Top 3: Cults!

 

 

Greetings Insomniacs! Welcome to the Tuesday Top 3! Just about every week I count down my top three movies, characters, or something that equals three. We’ve covered Apes and Bugs so far! This time around Cult movies! And by that, I mean devil cults. This is one of, to me, the scariest subgenres of the horror world. Because these things exist! Maybe not quite to the extreme of these movies but they are out there! Let’s see what three scare me the most…

3. ROSEMARY’S BABY

Now, I am betting some of you are saying, “Why isn’t this number 1?” I am actually a late bloomer for Rosemary’s Baby. I remember it being on when I was kid, and thought it was too long and boring. I wanted monsters back then. And a slower developing story was just over my head. As an adult, I finally sat down and watched it. It had been a few viewings now and it is chilling.

The story is so creepy! Rosemary and her husband move into their new apartment. Rosemary finds herself pregnant. Her husband starts getting all these cool offers. And the other tenants in the building make this movie so much fun. I think the reveal at the end feels a touch out of place with the rest of the film but it is a lot of fun. It’s neat watching Rosemary slowly peel back the layers of her new life, and the horror that she finds herself in. Mia Farrow leads an all star cast. This movie grows up me more each time.

2. THE SEVENTH VICTIM

This one might not be as well-known as the other films on the list but it still leaves chilled. I do not know if it is because of the movie or the events surrounding it. It’s a 1943 horror noir film released by RKO. Val Lewton produced it. It’s an eerie film. Jean Brooks plays Jacqueline a young missing woman. Her sister comes searching for her and discovers that she is captive of a cult. She reveals the cult after she is saved, and the cult condemn her to death, being the seventh victim to do so. It’s actually a pretty dark and depressing movie compared to some other ones that I have seen from that time.

Charles O’Neal who co-wrote the script based it on a satanic society he had met in New York City. The story of Jean Brooks is a sad one. She had appeared in many films for RKO. That came to an end after a series of drunken public appearances. She made her last film in 1948. She fell into a state of alcoholism and passed away at the age of 47 in 1963. She was great in this film but totally disappeared by 1948. For years, no one even knew what her fate was. This actually mirrors some of the movie, and Jean’s character towards the end of the movie. Still a dark, eerie movie to watch.

 

1. RACE WITH THE DEVIL

That brings us to this week’s number 1. And it is a dozy! Not only is this a great drive-in thrill ride, but the story keeps you in your seat, the edge of it! We have some folks camping in their RV and one night they see a cult sacrifice not far from where their RV is parked. They are discovered and spend the rest of the film trying to escape the cultists. Peter Fonda leads a great cast. I had seen this for the first time as part of the Secret Cinema group I was a part of on Yahoo, and the movie just blew me away. This was my introduction to great 70s drive-in fun. And what a tagline, “When you race with the devil, you better be faster than Hell!” Love it!

And the cultists will stop at nothing to get them! Motorcycles, climbing on the RV! Old folks at the different camping spots! It’s just crazy. You don’t know who to trust and everything just goes to hell, literally! The ending is by far one of my favorites, and leaves you with a chill up your spine. I would love to actually see this at a drive-in and I am putting the call out there to all the drive-ins left, get this movie to play this summer! We do a lot of camping. And the night that they see the sacrifice reminds me of nights we’ve had sitting around the fire and talking. Who knows who is at the next site over, and what are they doing?

That’s it for this week’s Top 3! Next time around we will be looking at my top 3 Dinosaur movie picks! Start thinking about yours! As always, thanks for taking the drive-in wherever you are!

 

Would love to hear from you! Email us at monstersandmemories@hotmail.com if there is a subject you would like us to cover for the Tuesday Top 3 or just to say hi!

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Dark Forest Review! A Fresh Stab for the Slasher Genre?

 

Greetings Insomniacs! Two of my favorite things to do are watching slasher movies and going camping! So, when the chance arises to watch a movie combining the two, I can’t wait to enjoy the ride. Slasher movies have always felt right at home in the woods. I was able to sit down and check out Dark Forest recently. How well does it fit into the slasher in the woods subgenre? Let’s find out!

Dark Forest is the first full length film from Zellco Prodcutions based out of Winipeg, Canada. Shot in Manitoba, the cinematography is beautiful. The colors are crisp and from the very first shots, it feels like you are not watching your standard smaller budget horror film. The story centers on Emily, who is in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Peter. Emily’s friends are going camping for the weekend. When they come to pick up Emily, Peter in full on control mode is able to prevent Emily from going. He almost gets into it with Emily’s friend, Michelle. After the girls have left, Emily decides that she is still going on the trip. Good for her! She sneaks out but Peter discovers and slowly slips into nutzoid mode!

This is where the real fun begins! Peter, played by Dennis Scullard brings a great, new psychopath to the screen. He just has a certain danger about him that is easy to feel the moment he comes on the screen. I would compare his role much to that of Michael Shannon’s descent in Bug. Yet, he is also doing his own thing, and that come through in this role. He attempts to get his two buddies to help him in his plan. They think they are just going to scare the girls. Nope. Peter is hoping to make them pay taking Emily away. Trevor Kristjanson plays Jake and our first victim! I think it was filmed with some cool edits, teasing us enough for what’s to come. Matthew Steffanson plays Roy who with great trepidation goes along with the plan. What choice does he have? He just saw his friend killed. As Peter comes back into the shot, he is splattered with blood. I though they did a great job with what they used. The blood looked real and we do get generous amounts of it throughout the fim!

So, the girls are going camping. And we really have great casting here. Laurel McArthur plays Emily. Looking at the press kit, she appears to not be a full time actor. And that is a shame! She’s very natural in the role and the camera loves her. Let’s hope that we see more of her in future productions. Jalin Desloges and Veronica Ternopolski play sisters Francine and Michelle. Michelle is a tough cookie and has Emily’s back. She definitely would fit the final girl mode well in a film of her own. And I thought Jalin had a lot of fun with her role. Weronika Sokalska plays their other friend Jolene, and she brought back memories of Tracie Savage as Debbie in Friday the 13^th part 3, she just had that charisma to her.

Meanwhile, we are also introduced to another set of campers. This was cool. From watching the trailer, I had assumed that all of this characters knew each other and were camping together. No, we get two sets of campers. I haven’t seen this is a slasher film in a while. Two different storylines going on with the same psychopath interwoven. It was very refreshing, and some other horror films should take their ques from this. This foursome played well on what you would expect from a slasher film. Here, you get the dynamics that built the roadmaps for characterization in this genre. You have the kind of jerk boyfriend played by Graham Silver. I imagine his character, a jock back in high school. His girlfriend is played by Alyssa Wyspianski. Both of them play the long dating, bickering couple well. We are also introduced to Kim played by Genevieve DeGraves and Frankie played by Jesse Lang. She is just getting over a boyfriend and he seems to be digging on Kim. They both had great chemistry, and I was sad to see them taken out.

Let me mention now, the acting in this film is above what you would normally see in a smaller budget horror film. I easily became invested in the characters, and was rooting for some to make it. Casting can make or break a picture, and I thought it was spot on throughout.

Back to Peter and Roy, they have made it to the forest and come across a couple making out in their car. They make easy fodder for Peter. The kills are simple and the effects, both CGI and practical look great. Sometimes the CGI is very blatant and tough to marriage what is on the screen. I thought they kept it at a minimum and I had to rewind one or two kills to see if it was CGI or practical. Too much CGI is used in indie productions sometimes, and take away from the experience. I thought the balance was perfect here.

Peter and Roy make their way to the site of our second campers. There are some eerie shots of Peter melting in and out of the dark forest (Hey, the title!) and it is very effective. I will be looking over my shoulder the next time we go camping! Unfortunately, these campers stand no chance. Two of our campers are picked off together! And you kinda know the other two aren’t going to make it either. Alyssa’s character Sally is left by herself at the campsite for hours by herself. She seems to think the others are playing tricks on her. I think I would have been out in the woods looking for my friends after a certain amount of time. But, she is most likely scared and not thinking in her right mind frame. There is a great shot of Peter coming up to the site behind her, and boom we have 4 less campers in the woods!

Things take an interesting twist when Peter gets to the girl’s camp. I don’t want to reveal too much more about the movie. We do make a switch from slasher flick to revenge flick here, and it’s really fun. Peter and Michelle get to finish their encounter from earlier in the picture, and I actually vocalized my excitement over one part of their confrontation. It was a cool trick involving a hammer and a knife. It was a cool moment.

I think my only question, in this part of the film involves Emily realizing Peter is at the campsite. She doesn’t seem surprised that he is there. Maybe she was expecting him to follow her there. I guess I would have liked to see a little different reaction to him being there. But, it didn’t take anything away from this ride. And the ending is quite enjoyable. The film is a satisfying experience all around.

Roger Boyer and David Zellis wrote and produced a great little film. It feels very comfortable in it’s 80s slasher roots, and I can see myself watching this again, sharing it with some of my other horror friends. This was Roger’s directoral debut and I thought he had a great grip of the story and the shots he wanted. None of it felt out of place. I read that there were more shots added after the initial filming. The flow is seamless.

I also can’t say enough about James Hofer’s score. It is the perfect synth piece. It soars and keeps the pace. It just puts you in the, “yes, I am watching a cool horror flick” mode. I don’t what else to call it!

So, you should definitely track down this one to watch! They are all over social media!

facebook.com/darkforestmovie

Twitter @darkforestfilm

Instragram.com/darkforestfilm2015

The movie is also streaming on Amazon Prime.

I will be watching it again! Next time, I just need to figure out what to double feature it with!

In conclusion, yes this feels right at home in the slasher in the woods subgenre. So nice to have another good one out there. And support these films. Go see them, watch them at home, and give feedback. You should like stuff on social media and share. There are so many other choices out there from the big studies and lots of good films waiting to be discovered. This is one of them!

Thanks for stopping by Insomniacs! As always, thank you for taking the drive-in wherever you are!

Would love to touch base with you all.

We can be found at:

Facebook.com/InsomniacDriveIn

Twitter @InsomniacDI

We are on YouTube under The Insomniac Drive-In!

AND now Instagram Instagram.com/eddavisj

And you can also drop us some mail at monstersandmemories@hotmail.com!

We will talk soon!

— Ed Davis, Curator of The Insomniac Drive-In

I just want to give a thanks to David Zellis, the producer and co-writer of this film for bringing it to my attention. Look forward to whatever Zellco Productions does next!

All photos courtey of Zellco Productions.

The Tuesday Top 3: BUGS!

Welcome back Insomniacs to the Tuesday Top Three! This week we are looking at our favorite creepy, crawly, large, and small bugs of the screen! And up until just before I was writing this, I thought I had my three picks locked in. I then saw some pictures from a fellow Kaiju friend, Scott Martin and reminded me of something and knocked a movie out of the top three! See, this list thing is only going to get tougher every week! Let’s dig into it! Starting with number 3…

 

3. KAMACURAS FROM SON OF GODZILLA!

We talked last week a little bit about my love of Godzilla. And we may see a lot of kaiju influence in these lists. Son of Godzilla is a good film. I got to view it a few years ago during It Came From Schenectady’s Godzilla Kaiju Battle, and it had been a good while since I saw it. It seemed to be on a lot when I was a kid and then disappeared. It’s one of the few Showa era films not readily available to the masses. I was lucky enough to find a copy at a show not long ago, completing my Godzilla collection. And watching the above clip, brought back some memeories. What a fun time to be a kid on Saturday afternoons watching that unfold. Let’s take a better look at it!

Kamacuras is scary! It is a giant praying mantis thing that terrorizes Minilla’s egg, and there is more than one! They always gave me the hibby jibbies! I don’t want to touch them, and I don’t want them to come near me with their spiky claws. And they can fly! So, where are you going to hide from these things! And here’s a fact, their roar is the same as Ebirah, the Sea Monster! Luckily, Godzilla takes care of these big-eyed nasties! And he doesn’t even need any raid!

2. THEM!

When I first got a DVD player, this was one of the first movies I bought when I discovered so many of the giant monster movies I had grown up with were available. I was overwhelmed by how many were out there to get. And I made it my mission to collect every movie that ever appeared on WLVI’s Creature Double Feature. And I have done pretty well with that list. A few still elude me. But this is one of the most of the most influential movies of my childhood. If anyone ever wanted to check out some giant monster movies of the past, I would put this one near the top of the list.

 

The Ants in this movie was scary! Kudos to the sound design led by Francis J. Scheid for the terror he created, signaling the arrival of these giant ants. You heard them before you saw them! And you didn’t want to see them. I can still see the one coming over the hill for the big reveal. So darn cool! J. Leslie Asher, Dick Smith, and Robert Turner are uncredited for all of the props. Their ants were different from the man in the costume monsters of that time. I still love to watch it.

1. BUG

Here is another movie that I just love to watch. It came out in 1975 and I am pretty sure I saw this in the early 80s as part of Commander USA’s Groovy Movies. But, I could be wrong. This was the last film William Castle was involved in before his death. What a genius this guy was. I am slowly discovering more of his work. And enjoying the hell out of them. Even the trailer for this movie is so much fun!Anyway, these little bugs are icky to look at! And don’t pick them up! And check the phone before you put it to your ear.

The film is based on a novel called The Hephaestus Plague by Thomas Page. I have never tracked down a copy, but love to read it someday. These little buggers literally come from Hell when the earth splits from an earthquake. This hiss, light things on fire, and continually evolve as the film progresses. And I think that was one of the draws for me initially. I had never seen anything like this before. Kaiju and other monsters have transformed before. These things seemed like they could really be out there. Bradford Dillman keeps trying to get them to mate with each other. And I just scream at the screen, “Stop messing with them! It’s just getting worse with each generation”. They become smart, spelling out words with their bodies. Nasty! And I love that the Brady Bunch house set is used in this film. The movie was shot soon after the Bunch had finished their run on television. I always wondered how the Brady family would have dealt with this mess. Alice, we seem to have an infestation problem!

So, there you go! The Tuesday Top Three Bug list. Do you have some favorite bug movies? Drop us a line! Just don’t drop off the bugs! Thanks for taking some time with us today. We will be back next week with another list! We will looking at movies about cults next week!

The Tuesday Top 3: APES!

Hey Insomniacs! Welcome to a new, hopefully weekly feature here at the drive-in! It’s called The Tuesday Top 3! Each week will be a different topic and my top three for it. Seems easy? Let’s see how it goes. This week’s subject: APES!

3. My 3^rd favorite Ape movie is the original Planet of the Apes from 1968. I really wanted to include one of these films from the franchise. I knew it would not be the Wahlberg one. I really like the first two in the recent re-imaging. I love the world that they were creating, it felt real. Like it could happen. I wasn’t super excited by the third one. The second one was tough to top. So, I turned my head to the original films. I will admit, I showed up late to this ape dance. But, I am a true fan of these movies. I even got to go to a 5 film marathon hosted by It Came From Schenectady a few years ago. But, which film to pick? The second one is actually the first one I saw! Beneath the Planet of the Apes with their big nuclear missle and people peeling their faces off! What was I watching? Scared me, and I flipped back over to the safety of Godzilla on Monster Island. Escape From the Planet of the Apes resets everything and sets it up all at the same time. Conquest has the most awesome ape speech towards the end, and Battle is tough. These movies seem to be tough for me to end. Not satisfied with them. So, after going through all that, LOL. I am picking the Original Planet of the Apes as my number 3 choice.

It started it all. It was so new. Apes riding horses hunting men! Roddy McDowell and Charton Heston in roles that cemented them to sci-fi history. The beautiful Linda Harrison as Nova and Kim Hunter as the curious Zira. It’s just a great film. Great sets, and so many damn apes!

2. I have to include this next movie on the list. I just couldn’t decide if it was number 2 or number 1. It’s King Kong vs. Godzilla! I am a huge Godzilla fan. He was one of my best friends growing up. And King Kong is…different from his previous appearance. His arms are strangely elongated. He can harness electricity, and he looks somewhat off. But, this movie is so much fun! It’s just a bonkers monster fight, played very much as a comedy.

It was a cosmic shift in the tone of Godzilla films and would start to set up what would be an epic run of Showa period Godzilla films. I remember being very sick as a kid, and in the hospital. And my parents and the nurses scrambled to find a television to make sure I got to see the film. And they wheeled a red TV in and I got to see it. I remember that it was a kid ward. A big room with maybe six beds? Not sure if any of the other kids watched with me, but it was Godzilla day at the hospital. So, this film with forever hold a special place in my heart.

And that brings us to numero uno! It is the 1933 King Kong! He is the seventh wonder of the world. And it has to be this film. Without this giant monkey, there are no giant monkeys!! I cannot tell you how many Thanksgiving days I spent watching the Kong marathon on WWOR. Even now, I try to watch it as close to Thanksgiving as I can.

Fay Wray is absolutely stunning. The rest of the cast, Robert Armstrong and Bruce Cabot give good performances. And the work of Willis O’Brien on the stop motion, incredible! I think it still holds up today against those CGI monkeys. The story has action, romance, and an Ape tearing up the jungle and the city. The sequence on the log is still frightening to me. And Kong tussles with other dinosaurs. And you believed it. The movie is just a great work of art. Kong is King! And the sorrow felt over Kong’s fate still hurts my heart. Love this film, and watch whenever I can.

 So, there we go! We made it through our first top 3 list. What are your 3 favorite ape films? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Also, start thinking for next week when we take a look at – BUGS!

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 1931 Reviewed!

 

We continue our look back at Monsters and Memories!

Hello again, Groovy Ghoulies! 1931 was a great year to be a blooming horror fan as many terrors were unleashed upon the scream…I mean screen. One of them was Paramount Picture’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. It was based on the 1886 novel “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and also incorporated elements of the 1887 stage play. Once again, Hollywood at the time was relying heavily on stage adaptions for this silver screen offerings.

Honestly, I didn’t have much knowledge of Jekyll and Hyde going into this. I knew a Mr. Hyde from Marvel comics, and that was a much different villain. The only screen Hyde I remember comes from “Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”. But, that’s for a different article. So, I jumped in with both feet.

For those unfamilier with the story, Dr. Heny Jekyll (what is it with doctors names Henry in these movies?) believes you can seperate the good and evil in people. He’s created a serum that will release the evil side of yourself. And like any doctor in this situation, tries the serum on himself. He goes on a rampage through London drinking, fighting, and becomed entranced by the prostitute, Ivy.

This is a problem as Henry is engaged to Muriel. Soon, The Doctor turns into Hyde without the Serum and things get worse as Mr. Hyde murders! It comes down to a confrotation in Henry’s lab and like most of these movies, it doesn’t turn out well.

I liked this movie. I loved Dr. Jekyll’s lab. If I was a mad doctor, which I am not contrary to popular belief, this is the lab I would have. It reminded me of some of Dr. Frankenstein’s labs in the Hammer Horror classics years later.

The cast is great! Frederic March plays Dr. Jekyll very conservative and Mr. Hyde with such gusto that it’s hard to believe the same person is playing both characters. When he becomes Hyde for the first time, and stretches as if he is coming to life after a long sleep, I felt the same amount of energy. The two female characters were also portrayed well. Miriam Hopkins played the Prostitute Ivy Pearson who falls under the madness of Mr. Hyde. I thought she was feisty, and a lot of fun to enjoy on the screen. She later auditioned for the part of Scarlett O’Hara but the role ended up going to Vivian Leigh. Rose Hubart played Dr. Jekyll’s fiancee Murial Carew. She was stunning in this picture, and her eyes seemed to twinkle in every scene. No wonder the good doctor was in love with her.

The special effects for the transformation scenes were really good for their time, and I wondered how they were able to have Jekyll transform without appearing to edit anything. Well, they used a make-up process that was layed on March’s face in layers and then when different filters were removed from the camera lens, he appeared to transform before our eyes!

Frederic March tied to win the best actor role for this film, tying with Wallace Beery for “The Champ”. Great film to check out!

I was wondering what Jekyll and Hyde toys there were out there. The first thing I found I thought would be a good match for this. There was a company in the ’60s named Aurora who did models you could put together and paint yourself. Being a monster kid of the 70s, I didn’t see many growing up but I am envious of those with these models, they are gorgeous! They did a Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde one in 1964 and you can find more information and pictures here:

http://members.cox.net/auroramonsters/jekyll.htm

That’s going to do it for now, my Ghoulies! If you’d like to leave me comments, questions, or just to say hi, drop me a line at: Starwarzed@hotmail.com. Looking forward to talking with you! Until next time, remember to watch the skies!

Monsters and Memories Revisited!

 

 

Hello Insomniacs! It’s been awhile since I’ve had a chance to do any writing! So, while we try to get that back up and running, I thought it would be fun to revisit one of my older columns that I had written for Horror Haven and The Fright Channel. So, here is my first ever article! Enjoy!

Greetings Groovy Ghoulies! My name is Ed Davis and I love horror and sci-fi movies. Good ones, bad ones. They are a great escapism. It’s hard to believe it has been nearly 80 years since Bela Lugosi first donned the cape in the screen adaption of the play Dracula. It changed the world and set the horror genre on fire.
I grew up in upstate New York on a steady diet of Creature Double Feature, The Movie Loft, comic books, KISS, and Alice Cooper.
I remember setting an old wind-up alarm clock to watch some horror movie that would going on at 2am. And either the clock wouldn’t work right, or I would make it through the credits. But every once in awhile, I would make it through a whole picture.
As I grew older and cable television changed, we lost a lot of those films to infomercials. But, thankful with the arrival of DVDs, we can now relieve so many of those films.
With this forum, I plan to start around 1930 and work my way through as many horror and sci-fi films I can get my hands on. From Abbott and Costello to all of those zombies, no movie will be left behind! If I can find it, you’ll hear about it. We’re going to start with 1930’s “The Bat Whispers” and go from there.
The 30s were a golden time for Universal. The main creatures were introduced then. Stars were made of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi and so many more.
The theater going world were introduced to the 12 part science fiction serial and new things were tried.
I hope you all enjoy the journey with me.
I had never seen “The Bat Whispers” before, and I was not disappointed. It was adapted from a 1920 stage play, and it is a great early talkie. The plot revolves around a criminal named The Bat trying to steal $500,00 hidden in a country mansion somewhere. We are introduced to a cast of colorful characters. And I thought the mansion itself was an interesting character. A secret room, winding staircases, just a great atmospheric setting.
I was impressed with the early special effects used in the film. A great use of miniatures sweeping over city streets, train tracks, and the mansion itself. I think there might have been some early animation in the opening sequence. There is also a cool sequence involving a fire playing in the distance and it seems to dance off the side of the house, as if it was really there.
One scene that really stuck out to me involved the Bat and the daughter of the spinster who owns the mansion. The young woman looks up and sees the shadow of the bat on the wall and it seems to melt away in front of us to reveal the Bat himself. He starts to crawl towards the camera and right into your lap, my heart skipped a beat!
Watching this, I couldn’t help noticing how much the Bat reminded me of Batman and I wondered how much influence this had on Bob Kane’s creation. Doing some searching around the net, I discovered “The Bat Whispers” did play a role in the development of the caped crusader.
Do yourself a favor, and hunt this one down. A nice mix of laughs and scares to get you through the night.
Speaking of Batman, I was trying to find some toy or something to tie into this movie as I hope to do with all of my reviews. And I found this awesome play set from Mego that I always wanted, The Wayne Foundation seen at this address:
Isn’t that cool? It had a working elevator for your Megos and even the giant penny from the Batcave itself! Anyone out there still have one of these? Anyone still have their Megos?
That’s all for now. I’ll be back soon with another review and more monster toys! Until then, remember to watch the skies!

This week’s movies!

Hello fellow insomniacs! I was contacted this weekend by a fellow Insomniac, John J. Bossong III. And he was wondering where he can watch my movies each week?

And I was quite honored by that question. Here at the Insomniac, we try to recreate a fun, drive-in atmosphere. And I would love nothing more to have some kind of actual outlet for these movies some day. To do the actual Insomniac Drive-In, maybe even stream somewhere! But alas, right now we will continue the reviews and great trailers each week.

But, it did get me thinking! I am going to share the week’s movies on Mondays from now on, in hopes that those that would like to watch along are welcome!

So, here we go!

Tonight: A Creature Double Feature of Daimajin AKA Majin, Monster of Terror and Return of Daimajin AKA Return of Giant Majin

Friday: The first of the season! An old school Dusk till Dawn Movie Marathon!
It will feature: Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster, Return of Mechagodzilla, Dear God No!, Frankenstein Created Bikers, Count Yorga Vampire, Devil’s Hand (1961), Devil Times Five, Don’t Look In The Basement (1973), and City of The Dead AKA Horror Hotel

Then back around to Saturday night for another Creature Double Feature with Reptilicus and Yongary, Monster From The Deep

So, there is the list for this week! We hope to catch up with you on some reviews this week! And hope you find something on this list to enjoy as well!

And if anyone has some streaming knowledge and wants to point in the right direction, welcome aboard!

SPECIAL! A Conversation with Butch Patrick, TV’s Eddie Munster!

 

All photos courtesy of The Official Munsters Fan Group on Facebook

Hello fellow insomniacs! We have a great treat for you all this time around. I was very luck recently to talk with one of my favorite TV stars growing up. His onscreen family brought many smiles and laughs. Butch Patrick came into our homes as Eddie Munster on the Munsters! I was nervous when I found out he’d be calling me to do the interview. He called me from the road, and I was honored that he took some time from his busy schedule to talk Munsters, Lidsville, ghost hunting and more! So, grab your Woof Woof and take Spot out for a walk. Then, settle in for my conversation with Butch Patrick…

Ed Davis: First, I would like to say thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you for a little while tonight. I was a huge, and still am a huge Monster Kid growing up in the late 70s, early 80s. The Munsters were practically on every day back then. And me being a kid named Eddie thought it was so cool that there was another monster of TV named Eddie. I really enjoyed the show and the character, thank you for that.

Butch Patrick: You’re welcome.

ED: How did you end up getting the role of Eddie?

BP: The people had already cast someone named Happy Derman. If you get a chance to buy the DVD box set, you’ll see the color pilot. And they had a different woman as Phoebe, the name of the Mother character, not Lilly. Her name was Joan Marshall and Happy Derman was playing Eddie. At the last minute before they went into full blown production, they decided to exchange…Joan Marshall for Yvonne DeCarlo. And they thought the character being played by Happy was more of an aggressive little guy. They wanted a normal, even though Eddie Munster was a werewolf, a normal kid playing him. They flew me out from Illinois to California to do a screen test. I went to the studio to do the screen test, and got the part. So, I looked at it as just being in the cards.

ED: Wow! That’s awesome. What was the atmosphere like on the set? Did the family dynamics that played so well on screen, continue off-screen?

BP: Yeah, pretty much. Everybody had kids. They all had families of their own. It worked well. When we got together on stage to do the script reading on Monday morning, it was a good, fun gig.

ED: Just watching the show was always a trip. The house and the set, it must have been a lot of fun being on it.

BP: It really was.

ED: Do you have a favorite episode?

BP: I have several! I’ll narrow it down to three for you. Zombo, Eddie’s Nickname and Hot Rod Herman.

ED: Awesome! I tried to narrow it down myself this afternoon. I got it down to two: Grandpa’s Call of The Wild and Happy 100^th Anniversary. I love that one! Such a good episode.

(Butch laughing in the background)

ED: Years later, you ended up back on TV, playing Mark on Sid and Marty Krofft’s Lidsville. This was a lot of fun also. How different was that from working on The Munsters.

BP: Well, it was totally different. The Munsters were shot on film and we did a few pages a day, like seven pages a day. Lidsville was eighteen pages a day! Shot of videotape with multiple cameras, and chroma key. A whole different dynamic, Saturday morning vs. a film style series. They were literally night and day differences.

ED: Billie Holiday (Editor’s Note: Whoops!) must have been a lot of fun to work with.

BP: Billie Hayes.

ED: Billie Hayes, I’m sorry! Witchiepoo!

BP: Witchiepoo and Weenie Genie were a lot of fun. As were the little people and Sharon Baird, the former mouseketeer who played Raunchy Rabbit. She had also done some work with the Pufnstuf crew. Everyone there had been working through the Bugaloos and Pufnstuf, as well.

ED: They had quite the imagination! Those were a lot of fun!

BP: Oh yes, they were very much into the psychedelic age.

ED: I noticed when I was looking at the Munsters website (WWW.Munsters.com), that it is the 50^th anniversary of The Munsters. You’re doing the Kids and Tribute Car Tour. How did you get involved with that?

BP: I started that a few years ago. September 24^th, 1964 was when the show started and we started 50 years after with Munsters cars and other appearances.

ED: Are the cars still the original ones or are you using replicas?

BP: Yeah, these are called tribute cars.

ED: I was on the official Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/theofficialmunstersfanpage/) last week, and one of the pictures caught my eye. You were sitting with a younger kid watching an episode of The Munsters. What do you think the appeal is still, heading back to 1313 Mockingbird Lane?

BP: I think it’s the same appeal as we had, watching it as kids for the first time. Kids will be kids, still entertained by the same things. You know, Monsters and make-up, and great sets. The same stuff that worked back then, still works now.

ED: It does! I think there’s good family values in it, as well. You don’t get to see that a lot in today’s shows.

BP: That’s one of the special things about the next generation now. Kids watching with their parents and grandparents, that’s wonderful.

ED: What can you tell me about Property Horrors and 1313 Weekends?

BP: Property Horrors is basically a show being developed and being shopped around…It’s about going to people who bought haunted property like I did, and how you come to terms and deal with you ghost tenants or your ghost roommates. Shavaun Avila is the ghost hunter that my production crew paired me up with. She’s wonderful. She lives in Bing Crosby’s haunted house, out at Toluca Lake.

ED: Oh wow.

BP: She has her own issues. She has her little dog, Tiger, who is a ghost hunting dog. A boxer, very perceptive to this kind of stuff. Her and her dog, and myself…hope to go around and visit people in the same predicament that I am in. And as far as 1313 Weekends, I wanted to have the house available for people who wanted to come spend the afternoon, do a little ghost hunting, see the town that I live in, ride around in the Munster Koach. And have a chance to have lunch or dinner with me, depending on whether you book an afternoon or evening tour.

ED: That sounds like a lot of fun.

BP: It should be!

ED: I’ve done some ghost hunting myself, not in a few years since the coming of our daughter, I went into it not believing a lot of it. But, the deeper you get into it, you think a lot of this could be paranormal activity.

BP: I am definitely a believer now. My sister told me about Miss Ruby before I got there. The people who have lived in the house in my absence are always hearing things. The professional ghost hunters who came in got all kinds of readings, I have pictures, I have videotape of the ghost that Leila (Editor’s Note: Butch’s wife) shot while I was watching TV, she went around the house very in tune with this stuff. Yeah, I am absolutely convinced there is activity going on in the house.

ED: So, where can people find you this Spring with the car tour and any other activities?

BP: The best place to go is: www.Munsters.com . You can go to the schedule on the first page and it’s all listed. From there, you can go to the store, 1313 Weekends, the Woof Woof is for sale, and anything else that is Munster related. There are also buttons for the Facebook and official Fan Group. If you get yourself to Munsters.com, you are on your way to everything else about me. The official Munsters Fan Group, my wife Leila runs that. It’s really family friendly and spam free. It’s kept to be pristine, wholesome, and we don’t let anyone in to mess with it. We give away a lot of stuff, do a lot of contests, it’s really a good group. People say it’s the greatest group on Facebook. I’m very proud of that.

ED: The page is great. I have enjoyed the pictures with Pat Priest from the previous weekend, getting the make-up back on and everything. It was a nice trip.

 

BP: We try to document everything we do. Hopefully, we will stay pretty busy! (Laughs)

ED: I really appreciate you taking the time to answer some questions!

BP: Thanks Ed, I appreciate it!

 

So, there you have it, Insomniacs and Munster fans! It was quite the honor to talk to Butch. Make sure you check out the pages mentioned above! Hopefully you can catch up with Butch and Leila as they continue to trek across the states!

 

 

The Monster at the Insomniac Drive-In!

Greetings fellow Insomniacs! We actually have two monsters at the drive-in this time around. One seen and the other not! Let’s delve into our two films.

First up from 1953, The Magnetic Monster. This independent film was released by United Artists. It was a tough film to watch as a monster kid and again as an adult. The monster in this film is a microscopic radioactive isotope. Yep… No actually monster to watch in this one. It is growing and is magnetized. As it grows, it will weigh down the Earth’s rotation, and that’s a bad thing. There’s some good acting from Richard Carlson, King Donovan, and Jean Byron. This movie just didn’t do much for me. The exciting parts come towards the end as they try to stop it using the Deltatron. And that footage is actually from an early German thriller from the 1930s called, Gold. It was good to watch in the context of Creature Double Feature but, may not be too rewatchable  for me.

The second feature is one of my favorite 50s monster flicks. The Monster That Challenged The World is great drive-in, popcorn fun! It was shot in just 16 days for $200,000 and released in 1957, also by United Artists. Giant mollusks are released from an underground earthquake in the Salton Sea. Tim Holt and Audrey Dalton star. We get missing swimmers, Parachuter’s, and Navy men. These mollusks are hungry! The design for these creatures were so scary! And just so cool. When they raise from the sea and smash through the lab, you would be screaming in terror! I always thought the title was a little misleading, as they really just become a nuisance for the naval base. I guess they would be the first line of defense. This movie has held up well, and in this age of remakes, I wonder where all the 50s sci-fi ones are. The pacing of the film gets into it pretty quickly and the usual cool score is in place.

Two very different movies. One trying to take the genre more serious and the other, having a lot of fun for the popcorn crowd. Definitely track down the second before the first one to watch.

No Roku channel to shared this time around. I plan to catch up with another article tomorrow, and will spotlight one there.

Thanks for taking some time to read and we’ll talk soon! 

Creature Double Feature, Prehistoric Planets, and Roku!

Greetings fellow insomniacs! Nice to talk with you again. We are into our second year of the drive-in. We’re reaching folks on Facebook and Twitter, and having a ball in the process. It’s been  fun talking to you all about these films.

Growing up, my exposure to horror and sci-fi films owes a lot to Creature Double Feature. It aired for several years on WLVI out of Boston for several years starting in 1976. I’m sure the movie package was much like those seen in your market. Toho, Hammer, and the Universal monsters brightened up Saturday afternoons.

I recently found the list compiled by Timothy Kenyon (look it up online!) and decided for our second and third years, we would revisit the list on a weekly basis. Time to pay homage to the beginnings!

The first two movies aired were Journey to the Prehistoric  planet and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women. I did not remember them from my youth. Watching them in those early days without the internet may have confused some kids, because they were basically the same movie! Let me explain…

In 1962, there was a soviet science fiction film called Planeta Blur. B movie legend Roger Corman bought the rights to the film, and in 1965 released the film as Journey. He added some new filmed scenes with Basil Rathbone and Faith Domergue. Incidentally, these scenes were shot at the same time Corman was making Queen of Blood, even using thee same sets! The first film is a lot of fun. Soviet astronauts crash on Venus and another group set down to find them. This truly is a prehistoric planet occupied by all kinds of dino monsters! The effects aren’t bad for the early 60s, and quite tame for the children to watch. Some of the dubbed dialogue is quite flat in it’s delivery. Some of the excitement of a Godzilla dub is missing. But, there are some really good shot scenes. And there is a robot! His name is…John? I was expecting something sci- fi and got John. I guess they were trying to humanize him some. One of the characters named Andre is haunted by a mysterious sounding siren call the whole movie. But we never see these females. This leads into the next film!

 Voyage was released about three years later, and honestly, it was tough watching it so close to the first film. It is basically the same film with a few different scenes. We get a new narrative from Andre telling the whole 90 minute story of the first film in about 70 minutes. The other 20 are filled with some new scenes of the Prehistoric Woman led by Mamie Van Doren. It seems they worship this Pterodactyl monster that is killed by our astronauts. Who or what will they worship now? And that is basically that movie!

Both are easy to track down. I believe both are in the public domain. I would recommend for curiosity viewing but not back to back! Maybe a  monster kid in 1976 would have thought differently.

And if you are reading this because you are a Creature Double Feature fan, they are going to have a convention-like event this September in Attleboro, MA. You can find more info at http://www.cdfroundup.org I know I am looking forward to it!

I recently discovered Roku and it is amazing for horror and sci-fi fans. Thought I would shine the light each week on a channel I have checked out. Roku attaches to your TV as a stick and works off your WiFi giving you so many streaming choices! This time around I want to give a shout to B-Movies TV. This channel is great! It’s a live 24 hour streaming channel featuring martial arts, horror, sci-fi, action and other great exploitation films. Zombie Robb’s Metal Music Show is something to behold, as is The Forbidden Zone with Elizabeth Ashton. It’s great watch anytime of the day for cult films! Great selection.

So, that’s all for now. Next week, we have a pair of early zombie films for review! Can’t wait. So until next time, you keep coming to the drive-in and we’ll keep spooling up the reviews!