Art Profile: The Covers of Terror Tales


From Wikipedia:

Terror Tales was originally published by Popular Publications. The first issue was published in September 1934.   One of the most successful horror magazines, it was joined shortly afterwards (1935) with its sister horror pulp, Horror Stories, also from the same publisher. Some of the writers whose work appeared in Terror Tales included E. Hoffmann Price, Wayne Rogers, Wyatt Blassingame (who later wrote nonfiction books for children), Ray Cummings, Paul Ernst, Arthur Leo Zagat and Arthur J. Burks. Rudolph Belarski provided several covers for the magazine. Terror Tales ceased publication in March 1941.

Below are just a few covers from Terror Tales.  When possible, the cover artist has been identified:

by John Newton Howitt

by John Newton Howitt

by John Newton Howitt

4 Shots From 4 Films: Special Roy Ward Baker Edition


4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films is all about letting the visuals do the talking.

This October, I am going to be using our 4 Shots From 4 Films feature to pay tribute to some of my favorite horror directors, in alphabetical order!  That’s right, we’re going from Argento to Zombie in one month!

Today’s director is Roy Ward Baker, one of the masters of Hammer and Amicus horror!

4 Shots From 4 Films

Quatermass and the Pit (1967, dir by Roy Ward Baker)

The Vampires Lovers (1970, dir by Roy Ward Baker)

Asylum (1972, dir by Roy Ward Baker)

The Monster Club (1981, dir by Roy Ward Baker)

Horror on the Lens: Robot Monster (dir by Phil Tucker)


Today’s horror film is a true classic of its kind, the 1953 science fiction epic Robot Monster.

Now, I should admit that this is not the first time that I’ve shared Robot Monster in October.  I share it every year and, every year, YouTube seems to pull the video down in November.  That sucks because Robot Monster is one of those weird films that everyone should see.  So, I’m going to share it again.  And, hopefully, YouTube will let the video stay up for a while.

As for what Robot Monster is about…

What happens with the Earth is attacked by aliens?  Well, first off, dinosaurs come back to life.  All of humanity is killed, except for one annoying family.  Finally, the fearsome Ro-Man is sent down to the planet to make sure that it’s ready for colonization.  (Or something like that.  To be honest, Ro-Man’s exact goal remains a bit vague.)

Why is Ro-Man so fearsome?  Well, he lives in a cave for one thing.  He also owns a bubble machine.  And finally, perhaps most horrifically, he’s a gorilla wearing a diver’s helmet.  However, Ro-Man is not just a one-dimensional bad guy.  No, he actually gets to have a monologue about halfway through the film in which he considers the existential issues inherent in being a gorilla wearing a diver’s helmet.

Can humanity defeat Ro-Man?  Will Ro-Man ever get his intergalactic supervisor to appreciate him?  And finally, why are the dinosaurs there?

All of those questions, and more, are cheerfully left unanswered but that’s a large part of this odd, zero-budget film’s considerable charm.  If you’ve never seen it before, you owe it to yourself to set aside an hour and two minutes in order to watch it.

You’ve never see anything like it before.

Enjoy!

Cleaning Out The DVR: The Wrong Bed: Naked Pursuit (dir by Monika Mitchell)


(Lisa is not just devoting all of her time to horror movies this month!  She is also trying to clean out her DVR.  She has recorded over 170 movies this year and she needs to watch all of them before January 1st!  Will she make it?  Keep checking this site to find out!  Lisa recorded The Wrong Bed: Naked Pursuit off of the Lifetime Movie Network on June 2nd.)

Now, this is just frustrating!

When you sit down to watch a movie called The Wrong Bed: Naked Pursuit, I think you’re justified in thinking that the majority of the movie is going to take place in a bed (perhaps even the wrong bed, which I guess would mean that it has a lumpy mattress or a lice-infected pillow something).  I think you’re also justified in expecting that everyone’s going to be naked for the majority of the movie.  As for the pursuit — well, pursuit can mean anything.  Maybe the two naked people in the wrong bed are pursuing pleasure or enlightenment.  Maybe they’re pursuing the ultimate high of sexually decadent ennui.  Who knows?

Well, The Wrong Bed: Naked Pursuit does open with Stella (Jewel Statie) and Owen (Corey Sevier) waking up naked in bed and handcuffed together.  However, it’s not the wrong bed.  It’s just a hotel bed and it looks like a pretty nice hotel, too!  Both Owen and Stella are naked but that only lasts for about ten minutes.  Eventually, they get out of bed and manage to get partially dressed.  And while I appreciate the fact that the film is honest about the difficult of putting on a bra while handcuffed to another person (because, seriously, it’s not as easy as the movie’s usually make it look), that still doesn’t change the fact that the title specifically promised us a naked pursuit in the wrong bed.

Now, I should admit that the title is honest about the pursuit part.  When Owen and Stella wake up, they have no memory of how they met or eventually ended up in bed together.  However, they do know that someone is chasing them.  They spend the entire movie running around Canada, trying not to get caught by the usual collection of men in suits and uniforms.  Occasionally, Stella has flashes of memory.  She sees herself strapped down to a gurney with a scientist named Larissa (Lisa Berry) preparing to give her a shot.  She realizes that she and her best friend tried to earn some extra money by taking part in some sort of clinical study.  However, something went wrong…

Stella and Owen try to retrace their steps.  It turns out that they both got pretty wild the night before they woke up in the not-so wrong bed.  They ever started a riot at a bowling alley.  Even more importantly, they find the time to stop by Owen’s house.  Owen, who says that he’s a fireman, lives in an impressively big house.  That’s Lifetime, though.  Everyone gets a mansion, regardless of what they do for a living.

Anyway, once I got over the misleading title, The Wrong Bed turned out to be a pretty entertaining little movie.  It was directed by Monika Mitchell, who has done several Lifetime movies and who can always be depended on to keep the action moving quickly.  Things got a little bit silly once Owen and Stella discovered why they were being pursued but no matter! Jewel Statie and Corey Sevier had chemistry and Sevier looked good without his shirt on.

It all worked out.

Music Video of the Day: Dracula’s Tango (Sucker For Your Love) by Toto Coelo/Total Coelo (1982, dir. ???)


To my knowledge, this is the last Toto Coelo video out there. I can’t imagine why this song didn’t do as well as I Eat Cannibals and Milk From The Coconut. Some of these lyrics are priceless:

‘Cause your castle is a nightmare
You’ve got batty friends who live there
Oh please, just squeeze
I go insane don’t tap my windowpane

……

Got to get my teeth in you
Necking is the thing to do
Even though they never know it
Positive or not

You and I coagulate
Vitalize a dying rate
Vladimir my dear
You know I’m after every drop

Get into a different vein
R.I.P is all the same
I was bitten now I’m trying
Transylvania

You’re the coffin I’m the key
We tune up in harmony
I’ll do anything for you
Except for mania

Then you have the video. I love this video. There’s something goofy in almost every shot.

They also make sure to pound it into your head that the song has something to do with sex. It’s a little difficult to miss that when you watch the video.

The dance isn’t the best part, but it’s pretty great. You can find numerous videos of people doing their own dance to the song:

They even performed this live for the German TV Show WWF Club:

Something tells me this song is what people think the Twilight films are until they’re unfortunate enough to sit through them.

I have terrible taste. Enjoy!