Daily Archives: October 30, 2024

For Your Halloween Eve Viewing Pleasure: Swing You Sinners

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

The much-missed Gary Loggins loved Halloween and he loved the old, frequently subversive cartoons from the 1930s.  He was a particular fan of the Fleischer Brothers so it only seems right that today, on Halloween, we should share one of those cartoons.  Here is 1930’s Swing You Sinners.

In this bizarre cartoon, a dog named Bimbo attempts to steal a chicken.  After the police chase him into a cemetery, Bimbo is confronted by ghosts, demons, and apparently death.  Shockingly, there is no escape offered in this film.  Abandon all hope!

I guess chicken theft was a really huge problem in 1930.

Here’s The Trailer For September 5th!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

This trailer has been out for a few days but, with all the activity surrounding Horrorthon and Halloween, I’m only getting a chance to watch and share it.

September 5th is a film based on the true story of the murder of 9 Israeli athletes by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics.  It’s a tragic story, one that already served as the basis for Steven Spielberg’s Munich.  September 5th appears to focus on the coverage of the hostage situation and the ethical question of whether or not terrorist scum should be given free air time.  It’s not a question for which I have an easy answer.  Obviously, covering terrorism can inspire other terrorists.  At the same time, people do need to know what’s going on.  The trailer also mentions (and I hope the film will explore) the fact that the games continued, even with athletes being held hostage and subsequently being murdered by their captors.

The trailer impressed me.  I’m hoping that the film lives up to the trailer.  This is an important story and one that feels very relevant today.

Retro Television Review: The Love Boat 5.3 “Two Grapes On The Vine/Aunt Sylvia/Deductible Divorce”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Wednesdays, I will be reviewing the original Love Boat, which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986!  The series can be streamed on Paramount Plus!

This week, The Love Boat hosts a special event!

Episode 5.3 “Two Grapes On The Vine/Aunt Sylvia/Deductible Divorce”

(Dir by Bob Sweeney, originally aired on October 17th, 1981)

This week, the Love Boat is hosting a wine tasting competition!

Basically, the contestants sit in the ballroom.  They take a sip of wine.  They then write down what type of wine they think they just tasted.  All of the members of the crew and the majority of the passengers watch them.  Seriously, it looks like the most boring thing ever.  I mean, I get why the competitors are into it.  The winner gets a lot of money.  But why would you want to watch people drink?  I mean, if you’re crazy into wine, it seems like you’d want to drink it yourself.  What fun is there in watching other people drink something?  I’ll just say that, if I was on a cruise, I would want to do other things.  I would want lay out by the pool or look at the ocean or maybe solve a murder.  What I would not want to do would be to spend hours watching other people drink and then spit.

Also, I have to wonder about the wisdom of hosting a wine tasting competition on a ship that’s captained by a recovering alcoholic.  Did the show forget this key part of the captain’s character?  Merrill Stubing is a recovering alcoholic and he lives his life with the rigorous discipline of someone who is trying to avoid falling back into old habits.  It would seem like Captain Stubing would at least mention his alcoholic past in this episode, especially after Vicki says that she wishes she could take part in the contest.  Wouldn’t this be a good time for Stubing to explain that an addictive personality can be hereditary?

I know, I know.  I’m overthinking.  It’s just because I found this episode to be remarkably dull.  I mean, I love The Love Boat but this episode was just boring.  The whole wine tasting thing just put me to sleep.

It didn’t help that the three stories weren’t particularly interesting.

Robert Guillaume and Leslie Uggams played the two finalists in the wine tasting competition.  They each lied to the other about why they needed the money.  Then they fell in love and they each threw the competition so the other could win the money.  But since they both got the last wine wrong, no one won and no money was awarded.  Wow, wine tasting is a harsh sport!

Tanya Tucker and Michael Goodwin played a married couple who got divorced every year so that they could get a tax break.  This time, they sailed to Mexico for a quickie divorce.  Tucker’s ex-boyfriend, Robert Walden, was on the cruise and Tucker was tempted to stay divorced.  However, she and Goodwin eventually decided to get married a sixth time and to never get divorced again.  I liked this story solely because it was about screwing over the IRS.

Finally, Betty White wanted to marry Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. but he instead fell for Betty White’s friend, Carol Channing.  No worries though!  Fairbanks gave Betty White a job so that she would no longer have to marry for money.

It was all pretty boring.  As I said, I love this show but this episode tasted as flat as a French wine from 1178.

Bonus Song of the Day: Mr. Sandman by The Chordettes

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Thanks to the one and only John Carpenter, the version of this sweet little song that The Chordettes recorded in the 1950s will be forever associated with the Night He Came Home.  Sadly, none of the Chordettes are with us anymore and I haven’t been able to find any interviews about how they felt about their song of teenage love being used in Halloween.

I’d like to think they would have appreciated it.  Michael Myers may not have had hair like Liberace but he did have a mask that looked a lot like William Shatner.

 

Horror Scenes That I Love: Dan O’Herlihy Tells Us What Halloween is All About in Halloween III: Season of the Witch

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight’s horror scene that I love is from the 1982 film, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, a film that has finally started to be recognized for being the horror classic that it is.

In this scene, Conal Cochran (Dan O’Herlihy) explains not only the origins of Halloween but he also discusses how he’s going to make Halloween great again.  This scene is probably the best in the film and it’s almost entirely due to O’Herlihy’s wonderfully menacing performance as Conal Cochran.

“….and happy Halloween.”

A Bonus Horrorthon Blast From The Past: Vincent (dir by Tim Burton)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Vincent Price was born, at the start of the 20th Century, in St. Louis, Missouri.  When he first began his film career in the 1930s, he was promoted as a leading man and he was even tested for the role of Ashley Wilkes in Gone With The Wind.  (Imagine that!)  However, Price would find his greatest fame as a horror icon. 

Among the fans of Price’s horror films was a young animator named Tim Burton.  In 1982, Price and Burton would work together for the first time, with Price providing the narration for a short, stop motion film that Burton had written and directed.  Called Vincent, the film was about a seven year-old boy named Vincent who wanted to be — can you guess? — Vincent Price!  The six-minute film follows Vincent as he gets involved in all sorts of macabre activities.  Of course, as Vincent’s mom points out, Vincent isn’t actually a monster or mad scientist.  He’s just a creative child with an overactive imagination.  (To say the short feels autobiographical on Burton’s part would be an understatement.)  The animation is outstanding and full of wit but it really is Vincent Price’s wonderful narration that makes this short film a classic.

Both Price and Burton would later call making this film one of the most creatively rewarding collaborations of their respective careers.

On Halloween Eve, enjoy Vincent!

Here’s The Trailer for Lake George, Which Does Not Feature A Giant Crocodile

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I first saw that this trailer was for a film called Lake George, I automatically thought of Lake Placid and assumed that this was another film about a giant crocodile.

Well, it’s not.  Apparently, it’s a film in which Jeremy Renner Shea Whigham plays a criminal who is forced to do one last job.  However, when he falls in love with the woman he was supposed to kill, they go on a road trip instead.

ROAD TRIP!  That sounds like a good idea.

Anyway, here’s the trailer for Lake George.

4 Shots From 4 Horror Films: Special George Romero Edition

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

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.

Today’s director is one of the most important names in the history of American horror cinema, George Romero!

4 Shots From 4 George Romero Films

Night of the Living Dead (1968, dir by George Romero, DP: George Romero)

Season of the Witch (1973, dir by George Romero, DP: George Romero)

Dawn of the Dead (1978, dir by George Romero, DP: Michael Gornick)

Creepshow (1982, dir by George Romero, written by Stephen King, DP: Michael Gornick)

Here Is The Trailer For Marvel Television, including Daredevil: Born Again

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Yesterday, Disney+ released a trailer for all of the new Marvel shows that will be coming out later this year and in 2025.  The majority of the trailer highlight Daredevil: Born Again.

Admittedly, we’ve gotten used to Marvel and its movies and its show and, as such, a new Marvel trailer is no longer the big event that it used to be.  (The Marvel trailers that excite us usually involve characters like Deadpool, who comment on and satirize the conventions of the comic book movie.  We love Deadpool’s jaded perspective because we’ve all gotten jaded ourselves.)

That said, the Daredevil: Born Again footage looked cool.  The animated stuff was a bit of a mixed bag.  (Jeff tells me that Marvel Zombies have been around for a while but I still laughed when they showed up in the trailer.)  Ironheart looks insanely boring.  But Daredevil, I’m cautiously optimistic about.

Here’s the trailer.