Music Video of The Day: The Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg by Iron Maiden (2006, directed by ????)

Posted on October 12, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

When Iron Maiden released this song, they knew that their fans would try to find out who Benjamin Breeg was so they created a website about Breeg. According to the site, Breeg was a painter of disturbing images who later found work in a cemetery and then as a paranormal investigator. He disappeared in 1978. Of course, this was all fictional. There was no Benjamin Breeg. The “Breeg” painting that was displayed on the site was actually a painting of Eddie, the band’s mascot.

The video features footage of Iron Maiden performing mixed in with a montage of early band pictures.

Enjoy!

Great Moments In Television History #44: Nightmare At 20,000 Feet

Posted on October 11, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

It was 63 years ago today that America watched as William Shatner played a nervous man on an airplane who looked out the window and saw something on the wing!

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was the fifth episode of the fifth season of The Twilight Zone. Written by Richard Matheson and directed by Richard Donner, it starred William Shatner as Robert Wilson, a man who had just been released from sanitarium and who was taking a flight with his wife (Christine White). When he spotted a gremlin (Nick Cravat) on the wing, he couldn’t get anyone to believe him until, finally, he was forced to take an extreme action to save all of the other passengers. I remember the first time I saw this, as a kid, I was actually relieved when Rod Serling told me that, even though everyone on the plane thought Robert was crazy, they would eventually find evidence that there had been a gremlin. That’s how good a job Matheson, Donner, and Shatner did with this show. If Robert hadn’t been exonerated, viewers would never have never recovered.

Nightmare at 20,000 Feet was one of television’s best scary programs and it aired 63 years ago tonight, on October 11th, 1963.

Previous Moments In Television History:

Leprechaun 3 (1995, directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith)

Posted on October 11, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

This time, the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) is in Las Vegas! At the start of the movie, he’s been turned into a statue but that doesn’t last long. This time, his lucky coin is found by a college student named Scott (John Gatins) who has stupidly gambled away all of his tuition money. What I always wonder with these films is why the Leprechaun is so careless with his coins. They’re the only thing that he really cares about but he’s always dropping one and leaving it behind. Scott and Tammy (Lee Armstrong), herself a recent Vegas arrival, are pursued not just by the Leprechaun but also by a host of other greedy humans who all have wishes of their own to make. It’s Vegas and everyone has a game going.

Yesterday, I stated that Leprechaun 2 was the best of the Leprechaun films but Leprechaun 3 is a close runner-up. Leprechaun 3 has the strongest sense of humor of the series and some of the best and most creative kills. Scott starts to turn into a leprechaun himself, complete with a craving for potatoes, which adds something new to the proceedings. Leprechaun 3 may not have as good a lead as Jennifer Aniston and Shevonne Durkin but it does have the great Caroline Williams as a casino employee who makes the mistake of wishing for a younger, more voluptuous figure. Thanks to Warwick Davis and director Brian Trenchard-Smith, this Leprechaun film is mean, humorous, and more fun than it probably should be.

Music Video of the Day: Spellbound by Siouxsie and the Banshees (1981, directed by Clive Richardson)

Posted on October 11, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

Spellbound was the lead single off of Siouxsie and the Banshee’s fourth studio album, Juju. In later interviews, Siouxsie would describe Juju as being an accidental concept album as all of the songs dealt with dark themes and subject manner. Juju was a horror-themed album but the horror was psychological and not supernatural. As a sign of that theme, Spellbound was named after an Alfred Hitchcock film about a man who is troubled by disturbing dreams.

Clive Richardson directed several videos from Siouxsie and the Banshees. He also worked with Depeche Mode, Steve Winwood, Big Country, and Tears for Fears.

Enjoy!

Leprechaun 2 (1994, directed by Roman Flender)

Posted on October 10, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

The Leprechaun (Warwick Davis) is back! He’s abandoned North Dakota for Los Angeles, and now he’s looking for Bridget Callum (Shevonne Durkin), the descendant of a woman to whom he was promised centuries ago. The Leprechaun knows how to hold a grudge. Bridget already has a boyfriend named Cody Ingalls (Charlie Heath), who gives tours of celebrity cemeteries for Morty Ingalls (Sandy Baron).

Leprechaun 2 is significantly better than the first Leprechaun, if only because dark and grim Los Angeles seems like a better location for the story than North Dakota. Leprechaun 2 doesn’t get as much attention as the first one because it doesn’t feature Jennifer Aniston, but it does feature Shevonne Durkin, and any ’90s kid can tell you that’s almost as good. The Leprechaun is even nastier in the second film than he was in the first, and Warwick Davis continues to show an admirable dedication to bringing the character to life.

This film is also gorier than the first Leprechaun. The first Leprechaun was made with a younger audience in mind, even if it was an R-rated movie. Leprechaun 2 was clearly made to appeal to the type of teenagers who have always wondered what would happen if someone mistook a lawn mower for a Shevonne Durkin. For me, the most memorable scene is Morty making the mistake of wishing for a pot of gold and then discovering that it’s in his stomach. The Leprechaun offers to dig it out. That scene really stuck with me when I was a kid.

The Leprechaun would have more adventures, but this one was the best.

Music Video of the Day: I’ll Bite Your Face Off by Alice Cooper (2011, directed by ????)

Posted on October 10, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

To quote Alice Cooper himself:

“This is my tip-of-the-hat to early Rolling Stones. Like in 1964/65 when their songs were very Chuck Berry orientated. They just feel so good, in the pocket. This song was begging to be in the live show. We’ve done it in four different continents now and no one had ever heard it. By the second chorus, the whole audience is singing ‘I’ll Bite Your Face Off.’ It’s the perfect little 3 minute hit single.”

I’ll Bite Your Face Off was the first single to be released off Welcome 2 My Nightmare, Alice Cooper’s 26th studio album and a follow-up to Cooper’s 1975 album, Welcome To My Nightmare. Each song represents a different aspect of a bad dream. In I’ll Bite Your Face Off, Alice dreams about being introduced to the devil.

The video was filmed at several different live venues. One of these performances was at the 100 Club in London, where actor Johnny Depp joined the band on guitar.

Enjoy!

G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987, directed by Don Jurwich)

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

“G.I. Joe is the code name for America’s daring, highly trained special mission force. Its purpose: to defend human freedom against Cobra, a ruthless terrorist organization determined to rule the world!”

Actually, you only thought that Cobra was a ruthless terrorist organization. In G.I. Joe: The Movie, it is revealed that Cobra is actually the brainchild of Golobulus (voiced by Burgess Meredith), a human/serpent hybrid who is the ruler of Cobra-La, an ancient civilization hidden away in the Himalayas. Golobulus not only recruited Cobra Commander, but his servant Pythona implanted the dream that led to Dr. Mindbender creating the Cobra Emperor. Despite having the power to do all that, Golobulus still has to steal G.I. Joe’s latest weapon so that he can launch and open a bunch of space spores that will turn all of humanity into snakes. It’s up to G.I. Joe to stop them. Everyone thinks that new recruit Falcon (Don Johnson) is just Duke’s irresponsible kid brother, so, of course, it will be up to him to save the day.

G.I. Joe: The Movie is actually not bad as far as 1980s animation is concerned. Cobra-La may have a silly name, but it’s a memorable location, and the scenes involving Cobra Commander being put on trial while trapped in a giant Venus flytrap are actually pretty impressive. Cobra Commander was turned into a snake in this movie, and his hissing “I was a man” is a hundred times more effective than it should have been. Since the original G.I. Joe animated series was canceled around the same time this was released, G.I. Joe: The Movie actually does wrap up the show. After fighting an ancient civilization of flying monsters and talking serpents, what was really left for G.I. Joe to do?

There are a lot of battle scenes and, again, no one dies. Originally, that wasn’t the plan. When G.I. Joe: The Movie was animated, Duke was killed while saving his brother’s life. However, when Transformers: The Movie underperformed at the box office, it was decided to release G.I. Joe: The Movie straight to video and not to kill off anyone in the cast. Dialogue was added to indicate that Duke was actually just severely injured, despite the fact that he obviously died in battle. In the movie, Duke passes out and everyone looks away with tears in their eyes. Falcon defeats Cobra-La and then says, “That was for you, brother,” while looking up at the star-filled sky. It was just a flesh wound!

No matter what else might be said, the animated G.I. Joe: The Movie was better than any of the live-action films that came out thirty years later.

Leprechaun (1993, directed by Mark Jones)

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

Teenage Tory (Jennifer Aniston) is visiting her family’s new North Dakota farmhouse when the dimwits hired to paint the place accidentally set free the Leprechaun (Warwick Davis), who had been trapped in the basement ten years earlier by the former owner. The Leprechaun wants all of his gold. It’s too bad the painters already found the gold and one of them somehow swallowed a piece. This Leprechaun gets all of his gold back except for that one piece. Leprechauns don’t stop until they get all the gold. It’s the Leprechaun code.

The very first Leprechaun film is actually a pretty simple affair. I am surprised the movie was given a theatrical release, because everything about it feels like something that would go direct-to-video. The puns are bad and the kills are unimpressive, though this might be the only movie to feature a deadly pogo stick. It also features a Leprechaun in a go-kart and a kid saying, “Fuck you, Lucky Charms!” because the cereal company decided they didn’t want their product in the film. That earned Leprechaun an R-rating. It would probably have been a PG-13 otherwise.

Warwick Davis is at least having fun as the Leprechaun. After Return of the Jedi and Willow, this film was his chance not only to be bad but also to head a franchise, and you can’t blame him for taking advantage of it. Jennifer Aniston is cute beyond words, and this is probably her liveliest film performance. The movie would probably be forgotten if it hadn’t spawned so many sequels. Remember Leprechaun in the Hood?

Music Video of the Day: You Could Be Mine by Guns N’ Roses (1991, directed by Andy Morahan, Stan Winston and Jeffrey Abelson)

Posted on October 9, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

In this video, Arnold Schwarzenegger is sent to the past to eliminate Guns N’ Roses but ultimately decides that it would be a waste of ammo. Obviously, he knew that fulfilling his mission would change history and the world would never get to hear Chinese Democracy.

This song (and this video) were used to promote Terminator 2: Judgement Day.

Enjoy!

G.I. Joe: Arise, Serpentor, Arise! (1986, directed by Ray Lee)

Posted on October 8, 2026 by Jedadiah Leland

With their numerous victories over Cobra, the Joes have been getting pretty cocky. When they’re nearly defeated in a surprise Cobra attack, General Hawk brings in Sgt. Slaughter to whip them into shape. Sgt. Slaughter, the wrestler? More or less. He’s never identified as being a wrestler. Instead, he’s supposed to be a real, tough-as-nails drill sergeant. But he’s voiced by the wrestler, and he looks just like the wrestler so he is the wrestler whether he admits it or not.

Meanwhile, some members of Cobra think that it might be time for a change in management, seeing as how Cobra Commander has yet to launch a single successful operation. Dr. Mindbender decides to steal DNA from the tombs of the world’s greatest conquerors and use it to create a Cobra Emperor. Since this is the ’80s, it requires a full-scale military operation to get DNA. The Joes can’t stop Cobra from getting the DNA of Napoleon, King Tut, and Rasputin, but they do keep them from getting Sun Tzu’s. The new Cobra Emperor has determination, strength, and whatever Rasputin was supposed to provide, but he doesn’t have Sun Tzu’s patience. He still manages to briefly take over Washington, D.C., which indicates that Sgt. Slaughter was right about G.I. Joe needing to shape up.

G.I. Joe is being commanded by a pro wrestler, and Cobra has perfected human cloning? What the hell is going on? It’s a cartoon about soldiers and battles where no one ever gets injured or killed. I guess they can get away with the Cobra Emperor. I liked that, even though the Cobra Emperor was loud and determined, he didn’t know the basics, like how to keep from running out of fuel and weapons in the middle of a battle. It turns out Cobra Commander was more on top of things than anyone noticed.

Who joins Cobra anyway? There are always hundreds of them, even though they never win a battle. This episode features Zartan recruiting new members. Cobra must have a good dental plan.