In today’s film, Boris Karloff plays a brain surgeon who makes the mistake of trying to save a friend’s life by performing an experimental procedure that involves combining bits of a gangster’s brain with the brain of an otherwise meek English professor. Bela Lugosi plays a rival mobster.
First released in 1940, Black Friday is an entertaining combination of sci-fi horror and gangster action. Originally, Lugosi was going to play the mad scientist and Karloff was going to play the mobster but Karloff, who felt he had been typecast as a villain, reportedly requested to be given the more sympathetic role. This noir-tinged fright flick was the last of the movies that Karloff and Lugosi would make together,
Today would have been the 82nd birthday of the great German actor, Udo Kier.
Today’s scene that I love features Kier in the only version of Suspiriathat matters, the original one directed by Dario Argento. In this scene, Kier discusses witchcraft with Jessica Harper.
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 lets the visuals do the talking!
110 years ago today, future director Jack Arnold was born in Connecticut. Arnold started his film career making documentaries and he ended it directing episode of The Brady Bunch and The Love Boat. In between all of that, he directed some of the best-remembered “creature” films of the 1950s. Anytime you see a movie featuring giant monsters, you’re seeing a film that owes a debt to the work of Jack Arnold. Arnold also directed the classic Creature of the Black Lagoon.
Today, in honor of Jack Arnold, TSL is proud to present….
4 Shots From 4 Jack Arnold Films
It Came From Outer Space (1953, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: Clifford Stine)
Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: William E. Snyder)
Tarantula (1955, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: George Robinson)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957, dir by Jack Arnold, DP: Ellis W. Carter)
After a stint as lead guitarist for KISS, Vinnie Vincent went on to form Vinnie Vincent Invasion. Though the band was only together for four years before the members split up to pursue their own projects (two members of the band would go on to form Slaughter), Vinnie Vincent Invasion had a number of minor hits during its existence.
Love Kills was featured in Nightmare On Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and Freddy repaid them for the song by appearing in the music video. This video was directed by Nigel Dick, who I think has directed at least one video for every band that has ever existed.
“Dead Skin Mask” is one of Slayer’s creepiest and most effective songs, and it’s easy to see why it has become a Halloween-season staple. It comes from the band’s 1990 studio album Seasons in the Abyss, and instead of going full blast from the first second, it slowly builds this cold, uneasy atmosphere before the riffs start hitting hard. It’s classic Slayer, but with a more haunting, horror-movie kind of menace.
The song is written from the viewpoint of Ed Gein, the infamous Wisconsin killer, grave robber, and necrophile whose crimes inspired characters in films like Psycho and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Slayer doesn’t just name-drop him; the lyrics put you inside his twisted head, with Gein speaking to a victim as if he’s welcoming her into his home. That first-person approach is what makes the song so unsettling—it’s not just about a monster, it’s about being trapped in the same room as one.
On the studio version, the guitar solo after the second verse is a great example of why the Kerry King/Jeff Hanneman partnership worked so well. King kicks off the solo section with his fast, aggressive, almost chaotic lead playing, and Hanneman answers with his own darker, more melodic lines. They trade leads back and forth, and the whole thing feels like the musical equivalent of a horror scene spiraling out of control.
What really sells the song is the mood. The opening clean guitar part is eerie, Tom Araya’s vocals sound genuinely disturbed, and the final moments—where a childlike voice pleads with “Mr. Gein”—are absolutely chilling. It’s one of those metal songs that understands horror is often more effective when it’s slow and creepy rather than loud and constant.
That’s why “Dead Skin Mask” is perfect for October. Whether you’re putting together a Halloween playlist, watching slasher movies, or just want something appropriately grim for a dark autumn night, this track fits right in. It’s heavy, unsettling, historically inspired, and packed with that classic Slayer sense of dread—basically spooky-season metal at its finest.
Dead Skin Mask
[Intro] How I’ve waited for you to come I’ve been here all alone Now that you’ve arrived Please stay awhile And I promise I won’t keep you long I’ll keep you forever…forever…forever…
[Verse 1] Graze the skin with my fingertips The brush of dead cold flesh appease the means Provoking images delicate features so smooth A pleasant fragrance in the light of the moon
[Chorus] Dance with the dead in my dreams Listen to their hallowed screams The dead have taken my soul Temptation’s lost all control
[Verse 2] Simple smiles elude psychotic eyes Lose all mind control, rationale declines Empty eyes enslave the creations Of placid faces and lifeless pageants!
In the depths of a mind insane Fantasy and reality are the same!
[Solo @2:19]
[Verse 3] Graze the skin with my fingertips The brush of dead warm flesh pacifies the means Incised members ornaments on my being Adulating the skin before me
[Verse 2] Simple smiles elude psychotic eyes Lose all mind control, rationale declines Empty eyes enslave the creations Of placid faces and lifeless pageants!
[Chorus] Dance with the dead in my dreams Listen to their hallowed screams The dead have taken my soul Temptation’s lost all control Dance with the dead in my dreams Listen to their hallowed screams The dead have taken my soul Temptation’s lost all control
[Outro (young woman’s voice)] Hello? Hello Mr. Gein? Mr. Gein? Let me outta here Mr. Gein Mr. Gein? I don’t wanna play anymore Mr. Gein Mr. Gein this isn’t fun anymore I don’t wanna play anymore Mr. Gein Mr. Gein? I want out of here Mr. Gein! Let me out now
