Because today would have been Bela Lugosi’s birthday, it seems appropriate to showcase him in a bonus horror on the lens!
In the 1940 film, The Devil Bat, the owners of a company in the small town of Heathville are super-excited because they’re going to be given their head chemist, Dr. Paul Carruthers (Bela Lugosi), a bonus check of $5,000. However, since Carruthers’s inventions have made millions for the company, he is offended by the small check and decides that the best way to handle this would be to sue in court and demand fair compensation …. just kidding! Instead, Dr. Carruthers sends his army of giant bats to kill the families of his employers.
The Devil Bat was produced by Production Releasing Corporation, a poverty row studio that specialized in shooting quickly and cheaply. Going from Universal to PRC was technically a step down for Lugosi but The Devil Bat is actually an excellent showcase for Lugosi and he gives one of his better non-Dracula performances as the embittered Dr. Carruthers. Indeed, one can imagine that Lugosi, who played such a big role in putting Universal on the map, could relate to Carruthers and his bitterness over not being fairly rewarded for the work he did to make others wealthy.
Enjoy The Devil Bat, starring the great Bela Lugosi!
If you’re new to Iron Maiden and want to experience a melodic metal song that doubles as a horror anthem, “Fear of the Dark” is a must-listen. Written and composed by Steve Harris, Iron Maiden’s bassist and primary songwriter, the song vividly captures that feeling of walking alone at night with the uneasy sensation that something might be lurking just out of sight. It’s a powerful exploration of a common fear—the discomfort and paranoia that darkness brings—which makes it feel like a spooky bedtime story set to powerful music.
What really makes this song stand out is how the music and Bruce Dickinson’s dramatic vocals work together to build tension and then release it. The guitars start slow and eerie, setting a creepy atmosphere, then shift into faster, catchy melodies that ramp up the excitement and nervous energy. Dickinson’s voice is full of drama and really sells that feeling of fear mixed with urgency. It’s not just heavy music; it’s storytelling with heart and melody.
Plus, the lyrics reference classic horror themes like watching scary movies and ancient folklore, which makes the song feel timeless and accessible. It’s a perfect gateway into how metal bands can blend melody with horror themes, making it approachable even if you’re not usually into heavy music. Overall, “Fear of the Dark” showcases Iron Maiden’s skill at creating music that is not only thrilling but also emotionally gripping and narratively rich.
Fear of the Dark
I am a man who walks alone And when I’m walking a dark road At night or strolling through the park When the light begins to change I sometimes feel a little strange A little anxious when it’s dark
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a constant fear that something’s always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone’s always there
Have you run your fingers down the wall And have you felt your neck skin crawl When you’re searching for the light? Sometimes when you’re scared to take a look At the corner of the room You’ve sensed that something’s watching you
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a constant fear that something’s always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone’s always there
Have you ever been alone at night Thought you heard footsteps behind And turned around, and no one’s there? And as you quicken up your pace You find it hard to look again Because you’re sure there’s someone there
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a constant fear that something’s always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone’s always there
Watching horror films the night before Debating witches and folklore The unknown troubles on your mind Maybe your mind is playing tricks You sense, and suddenly eyes fix On dancing shadows from behind
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a constant fear that something’s always near Fear of the dark, fear of the dark I have a phobia that someone’s always there
When I’m walking a dark road I am a man who walks alone
A lot of that is because I’ve never been stung by a wasp so I have no idea whether or not I’m allergic. Considering that I’m allergic to almost everything else, it just seems likely that I would be allergic to wasps as well.
Another reason why I dislike wasps is that, opposed to hard-working honey bees, wasps just look evil. They fly straight at you. They get tangled in your hair. They try to build their nests right next to your air conditioning unit. They’re the worst!
1957’s MonsterFromGreenHell is all about evil wasps. A group of scientists, working with the space program, come up with the brilliant idea of sending wasps into space. When the wasp rocket crashes back to Africa, it leads to giant wasps and paralyzed victims. Can the scientists who created the problem fix things? Or will nature have to take care of itself?
Watch and find out! This film is one of many “giant monster’ films to come out of the 50s but it’s perhaps more interesting as an examination of the fears of what would happen when mankind finally went into space. Today, we take space exploration for granted. In 1957, it was very exotic and, I imagine to some, very frightening.
One final note: Barbara Turner, the female lead in this film, is also the mother of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.
As some of our regular readers undoubtedly know, I am involved in hosting a few weekly live tweets on twitter and occasion ally Mastodon. I host #FridayNightFlix every Friday, I co-host #ScarySocial on Saturday, and I am one of the five hosts of Mastodon’s #MondayActionMovie! Every week, we get together. We watch a movie. We snark our way through it.
Tonight, for #MondayActionMovie, the film will be 1974’s Killdozer!
It should make for a night of fun viewing and I invite all of you to join in. If you want to join the live tweets, just hop onto Mastodon, pull up Killdozer on YouTube, start the movie at 8 pm et, and use the #MondayActionMovie hashtag!
In 2014’s Redeemed, Ted McGinley plays Paul Tyson.
Paul is married to Beth (Teri Copley) and is a respected businessman who is in charge of a cybersecurity firm. His latest project is Jericho which, if successful, could revolutionize the way that information is protected online. A Brazilian firm is interested in buying Paul’s company, which could make Paul a very wealthy man.
However, Paul has some secrets. Work on Jericho has not gone as smoothly as one might hope and Paul suspects that it might be due to corporate espionage. Paul is several thousand dollars in debt and the bank has been sending him threatening letters. When Paul’s friend David (David A.R. White, who also directed) splits with his wife, Paul starts to wonder whether any marriage can survive the modern age. How do you keep a marriage strong in an increasingly complicated world? Paul and Beth are supposed to be renewing the vows in the near-future but Paul is preoccupied with both his job and what appears to be a massive mid-life crisis.
Temptation arrives in the form of Julia (Ana Ayora), a beautiful woman who has been sent from Brazil to check out the company. Paul finds himself attracted to Julia and they bond over many a night of corporate intrigue. Paul finds himself growing distant from Beth. Is Paul going to cheat and destroy his marriage?
(Actually, David explains that Paul is already cheating just by spending time with a woman other than this wife. David also explains that he’s not the one who cheated in his marriage. Instead, his wife met some guy in an Internet chatroom and she’s been talking to him nonstop. They haven’t even met but it’s enough for David to move out of his house and into a hotel. So, remember — if you’re married and you have any close friends of the opposite sex, you’re just a cheatin’ whore. Sorry, I didn’t make the rules.)
Will Paul remain faithful to Beth? And will he ever discover who is trying to sabotage Jericho?
On the positive side, Redeemed features Ted McGinley in a dramatic lead role and McGinley does a pretty good job with it. There are a few times when Paul is simply too naive to be believable but that’s due to the script and not due to McGinley’s performance. McGinley does the best he can with the material that he’s been given to work with. I will also point out that the stock footage of Brazil was lovely. Finally, David A.R. White is a pleasant-enough actor and his direction here gives the entire film a comfortable Lifetime sort of fell.
On the negative side …. ugh, that plot. The corporate espionage stuff was hokey and Paul’s indecision about whether or not to commit adultery made his character seem more than a little flakey. Paul’s married to a very tolerant and understanding woman and he has a beautiful family. The fact that Paul was so easily tempted to throw all that away makes it difficult to have much sympathy for his character and it also makes his eventual “redemption” a bit difficult to buy. I think most genuinely good husbands would be able to decide not to cheat on their wives without having to fly off to Brazil to think about it. In the end, the film is very forgiving of Paul but it doesn’t convince the audience to feel the same way.
Redeemed is a film that celebrates marriage and leaves one appreciating divorce.
Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Sunday, I will be reviewing the Canadian series, Degrassi: The Next Generation, which aired from 2001 to 2015! The series can be streamed on YouTube and Tubi.
This week, Emma tries to destroy someone’s life.
Episode 1.10 “Rumors and Relationships”
(Dir by Paul Fox, originally aired on May 20th, 2002)
This episode features Spinner at his best and Emma at her worst.
Let’s get Emma out of the way first. When Emma happens to see Liberty and Coach Armstrong alone in a classroom together, she assumes that Armstrong is hitting on Liberty. She tells Manny about her suspicions. Terri overhears and tells Sean. Sean tells Spinner. Spinner tells Jimmy. Jimmy tells Paige. Paige tells Hazel (Andrea Lewis). Hazel tells Ashley. Ashley tells Liberty. Liberty gets upset. When Emma sees Liberty crying, Emma ask Liberty about her and Armstrong. Liberty swears on her life that Armstrong was not hitting on her. Emma wonders how the rumor got started–
Uhmm, Emma …. YOU STARTED IT!
Emma promises Liberty that she will work her backwards to find the person who started the rumor–
IT WAS YOU, EMMA! YOU STARTED THE RUMOR!
Because Emma is apparently incapable of remember what she said earlier in the day, she goes from Ashley to Hazel to Page to Spinner (she skips Jimmy) to Sean and eventually she confronts Terri. Emma says that the rumor is all over the school and it’s all Terri’s fault.
Terri, quite sensibly, points out that Emma is the one who started the rumor.
Now, in her defense, Emma does feel bad about starting the rumor. When Mr. Raditch calls Coach Armstrong out into the hall to tell him about the rumors, Emma walks up and confesses that it’s her fault. But one thing Emma doesn’t do is really apologize. In fact, when she later talks to Liberty, she instead acts as if it is somehow Liberty’s fault for not telling Emma why she was in a classroom alone with Armstrong in the first place. Liberty finally admits that she had dyscalculia (which is dyslexia but with numbers) and that Armstrong — THE MATH TEACHER — has been tutoring her and helping her not to feel bad about it. Emma again asks why Liberty just didn’t tell her that to begin with.
Hey, Emma — maybe Liberty didn’t tell you because IT’S NONE OF YOUR FREAKING BUSINESS!
The episode ends with Liberty telling Emma that, when it comes to helping people, Emma sucks. And Liberty certainly has a point.
Meanwhile, in the cafeteria, Spinner discovers a bug in his food. “Boycott the caf!” he yells, “it has earwigs!” Unfortunately, no one believes Spinner. So, the next day, Spinner collects a bunch of bugs and takes them into the cafeteria. He thinks that if someone else sees a bug and reports it, they will be believed and someone will call an exterminator. Of course, the only thing that anyone sees is Spiner carrying a tub of bugs. The bugs get free and Spinner is sentenced to work in the cafeteria until he’s paid off the $300 that it’s going to cost the school to have the cafeteria exterminated.
“But it needed to be exterminated anyways!” Spinner says.
This was classic Spinner. Even when he cares about Degrassi, no one listens. It’s a little bit gross that he was carrying around a tub of living bugs but his heart was in the right place.
You had one job! You just needed to win Game 6 of the ALCS. If you had won tonight, you would be going to the World Series and you would have kept the Blue Jays out of the World Series. Instead, you lost and now the ALCS is tied 3-3. The Dodgers only needed four games to win the NLCS. The Mariners and the Blue Jays are having to go to a Game 7!
For me, this has been a frustrating season. My Rangers started out strong and then fell apart before rallying towards the end of the regular season and then falling apart again. Now, I’m depending on the Mariners to keep my least favorite team out of the World Series. And if the Mariners lose tomorrow’s game, it’ll be up to the Dodgers to keep the Blue Jays from winning the World Series.
It’s frustrating but a championship series going all the way to Game 7 is actually what baseball is all about. This is a big moment for both teams. Go Mariners! You’re our only hope! But if the Blue Jays do win, I’ll be gracious because they earned the victory. They went from trailing 0-2 to tying things at 3-3. I’ll congratulate the Blue Jays, right before I start cheering for the Dodgers.
I came across this old cartoon on YouTube. Apparently, it aired in October of 1983.
It’s about bears living in Bearbank. Halloween is approaching and they’re worried about getting invaded by the monsters who live on Monster Mountain. Well, that makes sense. My question is why would you buy a house near a location called Monster Mountain? And really, shouldn’t the monsters be in the houses and the bears in the mountains? This cartoon is weird.
Anyway, the bears are getting ready to feel the city but little Ted E. Bear sets out to confront his fears! Woo hoo!
I don’t know. It’s from 1983. That was a strange year, I guess.
Through the Shattered Lens 