Halloween Havoc! Extra: A Centennial Salute to FORREST J ACKERMAN


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If you’re of a ‘certain age’ (like me), you’ll immediately recognize the gentleman in the above photo. Forrest J Ackerman (affectionately known as Uncle Forry) was the long-time editor of FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND, the official magazine for Monster Kids of the 60’s and 70’s. FJA was the world’s #1 science fiction fan (and was given a Hugo Award to prove it!), writer, literary agent, actor, collector, and so much more. He would open his “Ackermansion” to fans who made the pilgrimage to Los Angeles, allowing them access to view his 300,000 piece collection of incredible horror and science fiction movie memorabilia.

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Ackerman was born in L.A. on November 24, 1916, and remained a life-long resident. He was enthralled by sci-fi (a term he coined) early on, always stating his favorite film was Fritz Lang’s silent epic METROPOLIS. As a young man he worked as a…

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Halloween Havoc!: THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW (AIP 1959)


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Hey all you Halloween hepcats and creepy chicks! Are you ready for THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW? And by ready I mean prepared to watch a really lousy movie redeemed only by the in-joke twist ending that’s sure to please horror fans. All you’ve got to do is slog through the rest of this nonsense… so let’s slog on!

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THE GHOST OF DRAGSTRIP HOLLOW is a sequel of sorts to HOT ROD GIRL, and  starts off as your basic hot rod drive-in flick.  Pretty young Lois Cavendish is a member of the Zenith Club, a group of hot rod enthusiasts being interviewed by magazine writer Mr. Hedley. Lois gets busted drag racing against her rival Nita, and her parents (who just don’t understand) ground her. This means she’s gonna miss the big wing-ding at the club Saturday night, but not to worry… Mom suggests moving the party to their house…

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Halloween Havoc!: ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (Allied Artists 1958)


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“HAAARRRY!!!”

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It’s hard not to like ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN. Sure the premise is ridiculous, the script’s way over-the-top, the acting’s hammy, the direction’s practically non-existent, and the special effects flat-out stink. Yet the movie has an endearing, ragged charm in its unintentionally funny way that, like PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE  , sucks the viewer right into its bizzaro world. Plus, it’s got two of the 1950’s hottest sci-fi/horror babes, Allison Hayes and Yvette Vickers!

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A giant space ball lands smack in the middle of Route 66 in the California desert. Heiress Nancy Archer swerves to avoid it, and next thing you know a giant hand grabs her! Meanwhile at Tony’s Bar & Grill, her louse of a husband Harry is living it up with local floozie Honey Parker. No one believes Nancy’s wild tale, as she’s known for being a boozer and has spent time in a sanitarium. Sheriff Dubbitt and…

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“Surgeon X” Commits Medical Malpractice


Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarTrash Film Guru

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I have to admit, of all the end-times scenarios I’ve imagined — and there have been many, I can assure you — the idea of a “medical apocalypse” due to the over-prescribing of antibiotics is one that never occurred to me. But maybe that’s just because I’m allergic to penicillin —

Still, it goes to show that there is, in fact, a pretty unique premise at play in the pages of Sugeon X, the latest Image Comics series to debut with a what’s-fast-becoming-commonplace (not that I’m complaining, mind you) extra-sized first issue for the standard $3.99 cover price (are you paying attention to how this works, Marvel? Because you really should be). Sadly, a gripping premise alone isn’t enough to salvage a comic.

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So, yeah, this is a less-than-stellar review that I’m cranking out here, and of all the less-than-stellar reviews I’ve written over the years, this one hurts…

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Hottie of the Day: Sharon den Adel


SHARON DEN ADEL

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Today’s mini-trifecta of Sharon den Adel ends with her as the latest “Hottie of the Day.”

We started this trifecta with the latest “AMV of the Day” (Moonlight Requiem) with an anime music video using the Within Temptation song “See Who I Am” which she sings. Then followed up with the song itself as the latest “Song of the Day” (already profiled has been two past Within Temptation songs: “Faster” and “A Demon’s Fate”).

Now we have Sharon den Adel herself. She joins the other two metal songstress featured before with Simone Simons of Epica and Doris Yeh of Cthonic.

Sharon is not just a beauty, but a classically-trained mezzo-soprano which lends Within Temptation it’s overall melodic sound. She’s more than able to hold her own in the male-dominated heavy metal scene. She’s also one of the band’s main songwriters (her longtime partner Robert Westerholt being another) and an accomplished fashion designer. Her fashions lean toward the gothic and one can see her wearing any one of said designs onstage during their global tours.

Sharon den Adel is another example of the gems one can find in the raw and brutal world of metal.

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PAST HOTTIES

From “Seven To Eternity”


Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarTrash Film Guru

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It’s the general consensus among comics fans these days that Rick Remender is absolutely killing it on his various and sundry creator-owned Image titles, and while his unique combination of four-color personal psychotherapy session/homage to fill-in-the-genre is a bit more hit-or-miss for me as a reader (Deadly Class being the only one that, for my money, never misses) than it is for many , even at their most clunky and heavy-handed titles like Low and Black Science remain thoroughly readable affairs whose earnestness is, at the very least, honest — even when it’s laid on a bit too thick. And he always gets the best artists to work with him, doesn’t he?

The recent wrap-up of Tokyo Ghost (and speaking of the best artists, how about Sean Gordon Murphy’s work on that book?) has left a gap in Remender’s apparently-24/7 production schedule, but fear not : no sooner does…

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Documentary Sidebar : “Who Took Johnny”


Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarTrash Film Guru

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The recent, tragic resolution to the Jacob Wetterling case here in Minnesota got me thinking back to other, dare I use the term, “famous” missing children stories of years gone by, and when I noticed that Netflix had recently added the 2014 documentary Who Took Johnny (I know, I know — I think the title should have a question mark in it, too, but it doesn’t), which focuses on the 1982 disappearance of then-paperboy Johnny Gosch while on his morning delivery route in West Des Moines, Iowa,  to their streaming queue (which is probably your only way to see it given that it’s not, to my knowledge, available on either Blu-ray or DVD), I decided to give it a go the other night. The idea that anyone would abduct or otherwise harm a child is anathema to most of us, I would hope, and the plight of any missing kid’s…

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International Weirdness : “Apartment 143” (A.K.A. “Emergo”)


Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarTrash Film Guru

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You know how it goes — you hear reasonably decent things about a film for some time, but for whatever reason, you just never get around to watching it. There’s always something else to see, read, or otherwise pay attention to, and something that you know you really should check out just ends up getting buried further and further down in the old baket of priorities.

Such was the case with me and Apartment 143 (or, as it’s known in its native Spain, Emergo), a Barcelona-filmed “found footage” number from 2011 directed by then-first-timer Carles Torrens and written by Buried director Rodrigo Cortes that’s been available on Netflix (as well as Blu-ray and DVD) for some time. Plenty of folks whose opinions I generally respect have had plenty good to say about it, but it never worked its way to the top of my “must-see” list for whatever reason…

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International Weirdness : “Jeruzalem”


Ryan C. (fourcolorapocalypse)'s avatarTrash Film Guru

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I suppose it was inevitable at some point : having emptied the respective wells of every single “found footage” framing device well past the point most of us would consider to be bone dry,  a couple of enterprising young indie filmmakers — in this case Israeli low-budget would-be auteurs Doron and Yoav Paz (who have upped the ante in the self-branding department by capitalizing their collective “handle” of “The PAZ Brothers”) — have gone and given us the first “mockumentary” horror filmed through a pair of Google Glasses with their 2015 effort Jeruzalem. It’s a clever enough conceit (that will certainly be done to death within a few years) to keep you watching , to be sure — but is what our protagonist is seeing through her prescription-specific toy worth keeping an eye on? I’ll give you the particulars and you can decide for yourself :

Vacationing students Sarah…

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Boldly Going Indeed! : PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW (MGM 1971)


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Gene Roddenberry’s post-STAR TREK career  had pretty much gone down the tubes. The sci-fi series had been a money loser, and Roddenberry wasn’t getting many offers. Not wanting to be pigeonholed in the science fiction ghetto, he produced and wrote the screenplay for PRETTY MAIDS ALL IN A ROW, a black comedy skewering the sexual revolution, with French New Wave director Roger Vadim making his first American movie. The result was an uneven yet entertaining film that would never get the green light today with its theme of horny teachers having sex with horny high school students!

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All-American hunk Rock Hudson was in the middle of a career crisis himself. After spending years as Doris Day’s paramour in a series of fluffy comedies, his box office clout was at an all-time low. Taking the role of Tiger McGrew, the guidance counselor/football coach whose dalliances with the cheerleading squad leads to murder…

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