Live Tweet Alert: Join #FridayNightFlix for Witchboard!


Witchboard (1986, dir by Kevin S. Tenney, DP: Roy Wanger)

As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in a few weekly watch parties.  On Twitter, I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday and I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday.  On Mastodon, I am one of the five hosts of #MondayActionMovie!  Every week, we get together.  We watch a movie.  We tweet our way through it.

Tonight, at 10 pm et, I will be hosting #FridayNightFlix!  The movie?  1986’s Witchboard!

If you want to join us this Friday, just hop onto twitter, find Witchboard on Prime, start the movie at 10 pm et, and use the #FridayNightFlix hashtag!  I’ll be there happily tweeting.  It’s a friendly group and welcoming of newcomers so don’t be shy.

See you there!

6 Roger Corman Trailers For Halloween


Happy Halloween!  Today, in order to celebrate, we have a special Roger Corman-themed edition of Lisa Marie’s Favorite Grindhouse and Exploitation film trailers!  Here are 6 Roger Corman trailers for Halloween!

1. The Day The World Ended (1955)

2. Bucket of Blood (1959)

3. Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

4. The Terror (1963)

5. The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

6. Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

Music Video of the Day: Welcome to My Nightmare by Alice Cooper (1990, directed by Nigel Dick)


What better way to celebrate Halloween than with the original horror rocker himself, Alice Cooper?  Welcome To My Nightmare is one of Alice Cooper’s signature tunes.  This video comes from the 1990 concert film, .Alice Cooper Trashes The World.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!

Great Moments In Television History #41: Christopher Lee Introduces Meat Loaf


On March 25th, 1978, the host of Saturday Night Live was horror actor Christopher Lee.  The musical guest was Meat Loaf.  It led to one of the best introductions in the history of the show, even if Meat Loaf himself was reportedly not amused by it.

Previous Moments In Television History:

  1. Planet of the Apes The TV Series
  2. Lonely Water
  3. Ghostwatch Traumatizes The UK
  4. Frasier Meets The Candidate
  5. The Autons Terrify The UK
  6. Freedom’s Last Stand
  7. Bing Crosby and David Bowie Share A Duet
  8. Apaches Traumatizes the UK
  9. Doctor Who Begins Its 100th Serial
  10. First Night 2013 With Jamie Kennedy
  11. Elvis Sings With Sinatra
  12. NBC Airs Their First Football Game
  13. The A-Team Premieres
  14. The Birth of Dr. Johnny Fever
  15. The Second NFL Pro Bowl Is Broadcast
  16. Maude Flanders Gets Hit By A T-Shirt Cannon
  17. Charles Rocket Nearly Ends SNL
  18. Frank Sinatra Wins An Oscar
  19. CHiPs Skates With The Stars
  20. Eisenhower In Color
  21. The Origin of Spider-Man
  22. Steve Martin’s Saturday Night Live Holiday Wish List
  23. Barnabas Collins Is Freed From His Coffin
  24. Siskel and Ebert Recommend Horror Films
  25. Vincent Price Meets The Muppets
  26. Siskel and Ebert Discuss Horror
  27. The Final Scene of Dark Shadows
  28. The WKRP Turkey Drop
  29. Barney Pops On National TV
  30. The Greatest American Hero Premieres
  31. Rodney Dangerfield On The Tonight Show
  32. The Doors Are Open
  33. The Thighmaster Commercial Premieres
  34. The Hosts of Real People Say “Get High On Yourself”
  35. The 33rd NFL Championship Game Is Broadcast In Color
  36. The Sopranos Premieres on HBO
  37. Eisenhower Hosts The First Televised Press Conference
  38. The Twilight Zone Premieres On CBS
  39. The Wolverines
  40. Johnny Carson Talks To Vincent Price

Great Moments In Comic Book History #43: The X-Men Meet Frankenstein’s Monster


Back in the early days of the X-Men, before Wolverine and Nightcrawler and Storm, when the comic book was an acclaimed but perennial low seller, the X-Men celebrated 1967’s Halloween by meeting Frankenstein’s Monster!

He wasn’t actually the Monster.  He was a robot who looked like the film version of the Monster and he was destroyed by the end of X-Men #40.  Still, this was the first reference to Frankenstein in the Marvel Universe.  The “real” Monster would officially join the Marvel Universe a few years later.

Cover art by George Tuska, Marie Severin and Sam Rosen

Previous Great Moments In Comic Book History:

  1. Winchester Before Winchester: Swamp Thing Vol. 2 #45 “Ghost Dance” 
  2. The Avengers Appear on David Letterman
  3. Crisis on Campus
  4. “Even in Death”
  5. The Debut of Man-Wolf in Amazing Spider-Man
  6. Spider-Man Meets The Monster Maker
  7. Conan The Barbarian Visits Times Square
  8. Dracula Joins The Marvel Universe
  9. The Death of Dr. Druid
  10. To All A Good Night
  11. Zombie!
  12. The First Appearance of Ghost Rider
  13. The First Appearance of Werewolf By Night
  14. Captain America Punches Hitler
  15. Spider-Man No More!
  16. Alex Ross Captures Galactus
  17. Spider-Man And The Dallas Cowboys Battle The Circus of Crime
  18. Goliath Towers Over New York
  19. NFL SuperPro is Here!
  20. Kickers Inc. Comes To The World Outside Your Window
  21. Captain America For President
  22. Alex Ross Captures Spider-Man
  23. J. Jonah Jameson Is Elected Mayor of New York City
  24. Captain America Quits
  25. Spider-Man Meets The Fantastic Four
  26. Spider-Man Teams Up With Batman For The Last Time
  27. The Skrulls Are Here
  28. Iron Man Meets Thanos and Drax The Destroyer
  29. A Vampire Stalks The Night
  30. Swamp Thing Makes His First Cover Appearance
  31. Tomb of Dracula #43
  32. The Hulk Makes His Debut
  33. Iron Man #182
  34. Tawky Tawny Makes His First Appearance
  35. Tomb of Dracula #49
  36. Marvel Publishes Star Wars #1
  37. MAD Magazine Plays Both Sides
  38. The Cover of Green Lantern/Green Arrow #85
  39. LBJ Stands Up For The Hulk
  40. Chamber of Chills #2
  41. Tomb of Dracula #41
  42. Tomb of Dracula #27

Horror on TV: The Night America Trembled (dir by Tom Donovan)


Filmed in 1957 for a television program called Westinghouse Studio One, The Night America Trembled is a dramatization of the night that Orson Welles terrified America with his radio adaptation of War of The Worlds.  

For legal reasons, Orson Welles is not portrayed nor is his name mentioned.  Instead, the focus is mostly on the people listening to the broadcast and getting the wrong idea.  That may sound like a comedy but The Night America Trembled takes itself fairly seriously.  Even pompous old Edward R. Murrow shows up to narrate the film, in between taking drags off a cigarette.

Clocking in at a brisk 60 minutes, The Night America Trembled is an interesting recreation of that October 30th.  Among the people panicking: a group of people in a bar who, before hearing the broadcast, were debating whether or not Hitler was as crazy as people said he was, a babysitter who goes absolutely crazy with fear, and a group of poker-playing college students.  If, like me, you’re a frequent viewer of TCM, you may recognize some of the faces in the large cast: Ed Asner, James Coburn, John Astin, Warren Oates, and Warren Beatty all make early appearances.

It’s an interesting little historical document and you can watch it below!

So, I Watched Psycho Party Planner (2020, Dir. by Jake Helgren)


Kayla Anderson (Lindsey McKeon) wants to give her daughter, Kerry (Cathryn Dylan), a sweet 16 party that she’ll never forget.  She hires a party planner but unfortunately, Lindy Shores (Katrina Begin) is a psycho party planner!  Lindy only gets the job because she murdered the party planner that Kayla really wanted to hire and then she starts trying to corrupt Kerry.  Lindy is who she says she is.  This party is going to be murder!

You know what’s really psycho?  Throwing a big 16th birthday party when you’ve still got an 18th birthday party, a high school graduation party, a college graduation party, an engagement party, a wedding reception, and a divorce party to plan for.  Save your money!  My 16th birthday, I got a cake with one candle and I had to beg my sisters to at least let me have the part with my name on it.  And I was happy to have it!  I didn’t a planner to know how to party.

I liked Psycho Party Planner because the daughter looked like she was 30 but she was still only celebrating her 16th birthday.  It’s good to start denying your age early.  Even though the Psycho Lindy turned out to have a lot of bad things up her sleeve, Kerry still got to have a party.  It didn’t look like a great party to me but it was planned by a psycho party planner so I guess it was as good as it could be.  The high school drill team performed and they were terrible.  They’re not going to get to State with those moves.  “If you can’t handle a birthday party, how are you going to handle the pressure of keeping everyone’s spirits up when our guys are losing to Lake Highlands?” as my old cheerleading coach used to say.

Psycho Party Planner was dumb but fun in a “What did I just watch?” way.  Who would have guessed planning a party could be so dangerous?  I’m going to plan all of my future parties myself so if they turn out to be psycho parties, I’ll know exactly who to blame!

Moments #30: Casper The God


I wanted to share one last picture from my mom’s doll collection before Halloween.  I can’t remember when or where she got this Casper doll but I know that I always felt happy whenever I saw him.

It was always wondered who wrote “CASPER THE GOD” on him and also why they decided he was a god instead of a ghost.  Maybe his original outfit got lost and they labeled him so they wouldn’t forget who he was.  But how can you forget Casper?

Happy Halloween, Casper.  I’m glad that we were able to give you a home.

Previous Moments:

  1. My Dolphin by Case Wright
  2. His Name Was Zac by Lisa Marie Bowman
  3. The Neighborhood, This Morning by Erin Nicole
  4. The Neighborhood, This Afternoon by Erin Nicole
  5. Walking In The Rain by Erin Nicole
  6. The Abandoned RV by Erin Nicole
  7. A Visit To The Cemetery by Erin Nicole
  8. The Woman In The Hallway by Lisa Marie Bowman
  9. Visiting Another Cemetery by Erin Nicole
  10. The Alley Series by Erin Nicole
  11. Exploring The Red House by Erin Nicole
  12. The Halloween That Nearly Wasn’t by Erin Nicole
  13. Watchers and Followers by Erin Nicole
  14. Visitors by Erin Nicole
  15. Fighting by Case Wright
  16. Walking In The Fog by Erin Nicole
  17. A Spider Does What It Can by Erin Nicole
  18. Downtown Richardson, In The Rain by Erin Nicole
  19. Me, our kids, and ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD! by Bradley Crain
  20. The Statues of SMU by Erin Nicole
  21. Exploring the Back Yard Of An Abandoned House by Erin Nicole
  22. The Ugly Old Swing by Erin Nicole
  23. The Fourth of July In My Town by Erin Nicole
  24. A 4th of July Tradition: Blurry Firework Pictures! by Erin Nicole
  25. That Doll by Erin Nicole
  26. Invasion of the Dolls by Erin Nicole
  27. The Dollhouse by Erin Nicole
  28. Jake and Max by Erin Nicole
  29. The Morning of October 26th by Erin Nicole