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.
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.
Mac is a Southern lawyer, even though it’s been a while since he practiced. After his wife and children were killed in a car accident, Mac decided to retire from practicing law but he never surrendered his license. A judge (Rance Howard) reaches out to him, asking him to serve as a public defender for Pete Thomason (Randy Wayne), a young man who has been accused of murdering his girlfriend. The evidence is stacked against Pete and there are plenty of wealthy people who, for various reasons, want Pete to quickly be convicted. Mac takes the case because he can tell that Pete is being railroaded. When he discovers that Pete will possibly be facing the death penalty if he’s convicted, the case becomes very personal for Mac.
The prosecuting attorney (Bob Gunton) has managed to find a doctor (Brett Rice) who is willing to testify that Pete is a sociopath. (The doctor has a reputation for finding just about anyone on trial to be a sociopath.) Mac finds a doctor of his own, Dr. Anne Wilkes (Clare Carey), his testifies that Pete is nowhere near being a sociopath. The problem is that Pete has no memory of what happened the night of the murder. Mac may believe that Pete is innocent but can he convince the jury when the evidence all seems to suggest otherwise?
Like The List, The Trial was based on a novel by Robert Whitlow and it was directed by Gary Wheeler. I was pretty hard on The List in last night’s review but I actually rather enjoyed The Trial, which was a solid and well-made legal thriller. (The film’s status as a faith-based film largely comes from a scene in which Mac quotes the Book of Provers in regards to how, during a trial, it’s easy to believe the first person who speaks but it’s equally important to listen to how the accused replies.) I enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot and the film’s ending worked well. Though the film had a a made-for-television feel to it (despite having been a theatrical release), it still held and rewarded my interest.
It helped that the cast was well-selected and everyone gave good performances. Matthew Modine, in particular, gave a strong performance as Mac, playing him not as being a saint but instead as being someone who was just determined to give his client the defense he deserved and to ultimately do the right thing. Robert Forster played Mac’s brother-in-law and lead investigator and he brought his own brand of world-weary determination to the part. Nobody plays a smug prosecutor as well as Bob Gunton, though it should be noted that the character himself never became a caricature. Rance Howard was the ideal judge, tough but fair. Randy Wayne was sympathetic as the confused Pete. The cast really brought the film’s world to life.
I always enjoy a good legal thriller and The Trial was certainly that.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Highway to Heaven, which aired on NBC from 1984 to 1989. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi and several other services!
This week, Mark is a disappointed again.
Episode 4.20 “Aloha”
(Dir by Michael Landon, originally aired on March 2nd, 1988)
Jonathan gets Mark all excited by saying that their next assignment is a Hawaiian mission. Mark says, “We’re going to Hawaii!” He’s looking forward to it and who can blame him? After a countless number of assignments that found him working in crummy jobs and depressing neighborhoods, Mark thinks that he’s going to be most beautiful place on Earth.
Nope, sorry, Mark. You’re going to a rundown apartment complex called the Hawaiian Sands. The complex is managed by Aulani (Mokihana), a singer who found fame in Hawaii but not in Los Angeles. Instead, in L.A., she was hit by a truck and left in a wheelchair. Now, she spends her days bitter, constantly yelling at her handyman and former partner, Alvin (Danny Ing). Alvin loves Aulani and Aulani loves Alvin but she’s too angry and scared of opening up emotionally to admit it. When Alvin learns that he doesn’t have much longer to live, he plans to return to Hawaii. Aulani refuses to admit that she cares. Luckily, her new tenant Jonathan is there to set her straight.
As I’ve often said, the main strength of this show was its nonstop earnestness. Even at its most sentimental, it still worked because the show was just so dang sincere. That’s ultimately the case here. Danny Ing gives a very touching performance as Alvin. Your heart breaks for him. Mokihana overacts in the role Aulani, to the extent that she actually becomes pretty annoying. But, despite that, the show itself was so sincere and well-intentioned that it was impossible not be touched by the end of this episode.
Add to that, Hawaii — there’s no place more beautiful to visit. I wonder what Halloween is like in Hawaii. Maybe I’ll find out next year!
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.
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
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!
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!
Through the Shattered Lens 