Category Archives: Horror

Halloween Havoc!: HOUSE OF HORRORS (Universal 1946)

Posted on by gary loggins

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Rondo Hatton (1894-1946) was dubbed by “The Ugliest Man in Hollywood” by Universal for his repulsive visage. Originally a Tampa-based sportswriter, Hatton began developing the disease acromegaly as a young adult, a form of gigantism which distorts the facial features and bone structure (wrestler Andre the Giant suffered from this). Rondo moved to Hollywood and got work as a film extra and some bit parts (he can be spotted in SAFE IN HELL , IN OLD CHICAGO, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (’39 version), and THE OX BOW INCIDENT, among others).

1944’s “The Pearl of Death”

Hatton played “The Hoxton Creeper” in the 1944 Sherlock Holmes entry THE PEARL OF DEATH (with Universal Scream Queen Evelyn Ankers as a villainess, for a change), then proceeded to scare the daylights out of audiences in JUNGLE CAPTIVE and THE SPIDER WOMAN STRIKES BACK. While not a trained actor, his unique looks made…

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4 Shots From 4 Peter Cushing Films: Corruption, Scream and Scream Again, Asylum, Shock Waves

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 lets the visuals do the talking.

Today, we pay tribute to one of the greatest British film stars with….

4 Shots From 4 Peter Cushing Films

Corruption (1968, dir by Robert Hartford-Davis)

Scream and Scream Again (1970, dir by Gordon Hessler)

Asylum (1972, dir by Roy Ward Baker)

Shock Waves (1977, dir by Ken Wiederhorn)

Halloween (On The Big Screen) Havoc!: THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI & YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN Double Feature

Posted on by gary loggins

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Yesterday I took a break from watching every single moment of the World Series (since Friday’s game went seven freakin’ hours!) to attend a Halloween-themed double feature at the Zeiterion Theater here in New Bedford, MA. Despite the fact that a pounding rainstorm was in full effect, I was determined to get my big screen horror fix – in fact, the rain only added to the monstrous mood of the day. I met my friend Rob at the theater, and proceeded to enter the beautifully refurbished 1920’s era movie palace. First on the agenda was a real classic – Robert Weine’s 1920 Expressionistic silent film THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI!

Conrad Veidt & Werner Krauss in “Cabinet of Dr. Caligari”

CALIAGRI is a landmark of the horror genre and the German Expressionist style that influenced the visual styles of both early Universal Horrors and the film noir movement of the…

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Halloween Havoc! Extra: A Double Dose of Alice!

Posted on by gary loggins

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What’s Halloween without a little Alice Cooper , eh, bats and ghouls? The veteran shock rocker has been combining horror with rock’n’roll since I was a young monster, and I’ve unearthed a double dose of Alice’s macabre music in anticipation of the upcoming All Hallows Eve. First up is “He’s Back (The Man Behind the Mask”) from Alice’s 1986 album Constrictor, and used as the theme for the movie FRIDAY THE XIII PART VI: JASON LIVES!:

Oh, how very 80’s! Next we join everybody’s favorite headbangers Wayne and Garth, as they attend an Alice show in 1992’s WAYNE’S WORLD, where the mighty Alice performs “Feed My Frankenstein”:

I saw Alice do this number at a Summer 2017 show, complete with Alice dressed as a ten foot tall Monster onstage! He’s still the Master of Grand Guignol Rock!

What’s that you say, my fiends? You’ve got time for one more…

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Horror on the Lens: How To Make A Monster (dir by Herbert L. Strock)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

You’ve seen I Was A Teenage Werewolf….

You’ve watched I Was A Teenage Frankenstein….

Now, it’s time to watch How To Make A Monster!

Released in 1958, How To Make A Monster is a clever little horror satire from American International Pictures in which the stars of Teenage Werewolf and Teenage Frankenstein are hypnotized into believing that they actually are the monsters that they played!  The main culprit is a movie makeup artist (Robert H. Harris) who has been deemed obsolete by the new bosses at AIP.

Be sure to watch for the finale, which features cameo appearances from several other AIP monsters!  And read my full review of the film by clicking here!

Music Video of the Day: Profondo Rosso by Goblin (1975, dir by ????)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

If you’ve ever watched a Dario Argento film, you know how important music is to his art.

After collaborating with Ennio Morricone on his first three films, Argento used an Italian progressive rock band for his 1975 film, Deep Red.  Argento and Goblin turned out to be a perfect match and the band went on to compose and perform the scores of several other Argento films, most famously for Suspiria.

In this clip from 1975, Goblin performs the main theme for Deep Red on an Italian TV show.  (Sorry, I don’t know the name of the show.)

Enjoy!

Horror on TV: Kolchak: The Night Stalker 1.17 “Legacy of Terror” (dir by Don McDougall)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tonight, on Kolchak….

All across Chicago, people are losing their hearts …. literally!  A string of murders are all connected by the fact that the heart has been cut out of the body.  Could it be the work of an Aztec death cult that’s being led by a centuries-old mummy!?

Carl Kolchak is going to find out!

The episode originally aired on February 14th, 1975.  Wow!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Enjoy!

Vampire Party: An American Vampire Story (1997, directed by Luis Esteban)

Posted on by Jedadiah Leland

When his parents leave to spend the summer in Europe, Frankie (Trevor Lissauer) has the entire mansion to himself.  Frankie wants to spend the time getting closer to his girlfriend, Dee Dee (Daisy Torme), but his best friend Bogie (Danny Hitt) says that it’s time to “party hearty!”  (That’s right.  Someone in a film made after 1991 says that it’s time to party hearty.)  Bogie thinks that the best way to party would be to invite Moondoggie (Johnny Venocur) and his gang (which includes Carmen Elecrta) to hang out at the house.  But then it turns out that Moondoggie is a vampire and once he’s invited in, he refuses to leave!  Even worse, Dee Dee dumps Frankie for Moondoggie!  Luckily, there is one man on the beach who can help Frankie out of his predicament.  They call him the Big Kahuna, he wears a Hawaiian shirt and he’s played by Adam West.

This is really, really dumb but at least it’s got Adam West saying lines like, “Stop that sucking!” and “Holy wipe out!”  The movie is supposed to be a throwback to the old Frankie and Annette beach party movies from the 60s, just with vampires.  (Moondoggie’s real named is Count Erich Von Zipper.)  What the movie didn’t take into account is that there was already a perfectly good Beach Party movie with vampires and it was called The Lost Boys.  Don’t be fooled by that PG-13 rating or the way that Carmen Electra is posing on the poster.  An American Vampire Story is a tame and bloodless vampire story.  The cast is game but most of the jokes fail to land like they should and ultimately, only Adam West keeps the anemic tale alive.

Horror Scenes That I Love: Susie Meets Helena in Dario Argento’s Suspiria

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In this horror scene that I love, from Dario Argento’s Suspiria, Susie Bannion (Jessica Harper) finally meets the Mother of Sighs, Helena Markos (Lela Svasta).

To make clear, this scene is from the original Suspiria.  This isn’t from the remake or the rehash or the reboot or whatever it’s supposed to be that Film Twitter is currently going crazy over.  Don’t get me wrong.  I haven’t seen the new Suspiria yet so it could be brilliant.  It could be the best film ever made, for all I know.  But regardless, Dario Argento’s Suspiria will always be the only true Suspiria for me.