Doctor Who — The Sea Devils (1972, directed by Michael Briant)

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

Having been captured by UNIT at the end of The Daemons, the Master (Roger Delgado) is now a imprisoned on a small island in the English channel. He claims that he is reformed and he now spends most of his days watching the BBC. (Has he not been punished enough?)

When the Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and Jo Grant (Katy Manning) visit the Master to try to learn the location of his TARDIS, they come up empty. They do, however, learn that several ships have gone missing and, understandably, they suspect that the Master is involved.

They’re correct. The Master has duped his warden, Trenchard (Clive Morton), into helping him steal electrical equipment so that he can contact The Sea Devils, a race of bipedal reptiles the live under the sea. The Sea Devils, much like their cousins, the Silurians, were the original inhabitants of Earth. They’ve now woken from hibernation to discover that mankind — who they last knew to be a collection of barely evolved monkeys — have taken over the planet. And they’re not happy about it.

The Silurians and the Sea Devils appeared in three serials during the original run of Doctor Who and all of them followed the same basic plot. The Silurians or the Sea Devils woke up from their hibernation. The Doctor tried to broker a peace with humanity. Humanity reacted by blowing them up. The Sea Devils were usually more reluctant to make peace than the Silurians. In The Sea Devils, the Doctor himself is forced to sabotage their base to keep them from attacking humanity but that’s nothing compared to the atomic bomb that the British government wanted to drop on them. Whenever a Silurian or a Sea Devil shows up, it means that the Doctor is going to disappointed in humanity once again.

The Sea Devils is a serial of which I have fond memories because Malcolm Hulke’s novelization was the first Doctor Who book that I ever read. (Malcolm Hulke also wrote the serial itself.) I read the book before I even saw the show. The novelization was my introduction to the Doctor, UNIT, and especially the Master. Hulke was one of the best writers of the Doctor Who novelizations, taking the time to add depth to the characters. This was especially true of Trenchard, who is portrayed far more sympathetically in the novel than he was on the show.

The Sea Devils also features one of Roger Delgado’s finest turns as the Master. This was the Master’s first appearance during the ninth season of Doctor Who and Delgado shows that, even when imprisoned, the Master never stops manipulating and scheming. This episode shows why Delgado’s Master was such a classic villain and truly a worthy opponent of the Doctor. Delgado does such a good job in the scenes where The Master pretends to be reformed that it’s easy to understand how he managed to trick Trenchard. At the end of the serial, The Master makes another escape, again by fooling the humans around him. Delgado made The Master into a magnetic and compelling villain.

Roger Delgado appeared twice more as the Master before his untimely death in an auto accident. Jon Pertwee later said that Delgado’s death was one of the reasons that he decided to step away from the role of the Doctor. The Master would eventually return and he would be played by several different actors. For me, the true Master will always be Roger Delgado.

Barbarian Queen (1985, directed by Hector Olivera)

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Jedadiah Leland

The forces of the evil Lord Arrakur (Arman Chapman) raid a peaceful Barbarian village, disrupting the wedding of Queen Amethea (Lana Clarkson) and Prince Argan (Frank Zagarino). Along with slaughtering almost the entire village, Arrakur also kidnaps Amethea’s sister, Taramis (Dawn Dunlap). Amethea survives the attack and, with her handmaiden Estrild (future director Katt Shea) and the warrior Tiniara (Susana Traverson), sets out for Arrakur’s realm to rescue her sister and to take vengeance on him.

In Barbarian Queen, there’s much violence, much nudity, and much time spent in a dungeon with a pool of acid. This may sound like pretty standard fantasy stuff and it is, except for the fact that almost all of the warriors are women and Arrakur and his forces are even nastier than the typical sword-and-sorcery villain. Arrakur uses rape to terrorize his enemies and his subjects and, while that may be historically correct, it’s not easy to watch. By the time Arrakur and Amethea are facing off in the gladiatorial arena, most viewers will be ready to see Arrakur defeated in the most extreme way possible.

Barbarian Queen was released by Roger Corman’s Concorde Picture and it was filmed in Argentina. Today, it is best-remembered for the presence of the tragic Lana Clarkson in the role of Amethea. Lana Clarkson starred in several Corman-produced fantasy films before she was murdered by Phil Spector in 2003. At the time of her death, the media often dismissively described Clarkson as being a “former B movie starlet” but anyone who caught Clarkson’s movies on late night Cinemax knows that she was always the best thing about the films she was in and that she had a likable and sincere screen presence that made you root for her, whether she was fighting off an army with a sword and hiding in a tree with a bow-and-arrow. Lana Clarkson’s performance in Barbarian Queen is always strong and sympathetic. She endures even the movie’s most exploitive scenes without sacrificing her dignity and when she fights back, she refuses to surrender. Her determination to have her vengeance and to free the people from a tyrant is the thing that makes Barbarian Queen worth watching.

RIP, Lana Clarkson. She was so much more than just “a B movie starlet.”

Horror Scenes I Love: Friday the 13th Part II

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today is a significant day for fans of Friday the 13th Part II. Today is the birthday of both Warrington Gillette and Tom McBride. Gillette was one of two actors to play Jason Voorhees in that film (he plays Jason without the mask while stuntman Steve Daskewisz played Jason whenever he was wearing a mask) and he is 65 years old today. Tom McBride, who passed away in 1995, played Mark, whose death was one of the films most shocking moments. Today, he would have been 72 years old.

Today’s scene that I love comes from Friday the 13th Part II, which I think is a genuinely underrated horror film. Whenever I see this scene, I roll my eyes at Vicki (Lauren-Marie Taylor) running outside in her underwear just to look for something in her car but then I remember all of the times that I’ve done the exact same thing and I realize that I probably wouldn’t survive a horror film.

Horror Novel Review: Killer On The Road by James Ellroy

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

First published in 1986 and considerably shorter than the typical James Ellroy novel, Killer On The Road takes the form of the memoirs of Martin Plunkett, a child genius who grew up to be a prolific serial killer.

The book starts with Plunkett already serving a life sentence at Sing Sing. He’s a killer who is now off the road and his memoirs are less about his plans and more about his own struggle to understand how he became the killer that he became. There are plenty of possible explanations, going all the way back to his dysfunctional childhood and the trauma of his parent’s divorce. He may be brilliant but he spends all of his time wishing that he could turn invisible like a comic book character and spy on people in their homes. He comes to idolize Charles Manson but is disappointed when, while in prison, he meets the actual Manson and discovers that he’s just a rambling loser. The book is written in Plunkett’s own words and, in typical sociopath fashion, he thinks very highly of himself but careful readers will look between the lines and see someone who is just as confused by what he became as everyone else. For all of his intelligence and his nonstop speculation about the human condition, Plunkett ultimately seems like an empty vessel. Plunkett’s years on the road are full of unexpected detours. A meeting with a cop definitely do not go the way that anyone would probably expect it to go. Even though the story is narrated Plunkett, people like FBI agent Dusenberg come across as fully developed characters as well.

It’s a disturbing and sad but compulsively readable book. It may have been written before Ellroy developed his signature style but it stills shows his strengths as a storyteller. Interestingly enough, Ellroy later stated in My Dark Places that he based Martin Plunkett’s dysfunctional youth on his own, which definitely leaves one happy that James Ellroy discovered writing as an outlet for his emotions. Unlike Martin Plunkett, James Ellroy went on to become one of the best writers of our current era.

October True Crime: In Broad Daylight (dir by James Steven Sadwith)

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

On July 10th, 1981, Kenneth Rex McElroy was gunned down in Skidmore, Oklahoma. He was shot while sitting in his truck. Over 40 bullets were fired into the truck but only two actually hit McElroy. His fourth wife, Trena (who Kenneth first met when she was 12 and he was 35), was sitting beside him at the time but was not hit by any bullets. McElroy was 47 years old when he was gunned down in broad daylight. There were reportedly 46 witnesses who saw the shooting occurred. When interrogated by the police, not a single one said that they saw anything. Quite a few did mention that Ken McElroy had gotten exactly what he deserved.

Ken McElroy was a high dropout, a barely literate career criminal who rustled cattle, burned down houses, raped his fourth wife when she was just 12, and then killed her family’s dogs in order to intimidate them into not pressing charges against him. He was known as the town bully, a surly man who had 17 children with 6 different women and who would shoot anyone who disagreed with him. Whenever he was charged with a crime, he would intimidate the witnesses into not testifying against him. In 1980. he got angry at a store owner after one of his kids was accused of shoplifting candy. McElroy shot the man and was put on trial for attempted murder. For once, he was convicted but he was freed on bail while awaiting appeal. When it become apparent that McElroy would not be going to prison for a while, the citizens of Skidmore….

Well, I should probably chose my words carefully. The truth of the matter is that no one has even been charged with or convicted of killing Ken McElroy. It is known that several citizens did have a meeting a few night before McElroy’s death and that they discussed what they could best do to keep McElroy from hurting anyone else. It’s also knoqn that, a week before he was shot, McElroy walked into the local bar with his rifle and dared anyone who wanted him dead to come get him. Does that mean that a group of concerned citizens took it upon themselves to dispense vigilante justice? That’s what Trena always claimed but again, no one was every charged, indicted, or convicted. The death of Ken McElroy remains officially unsolved.

Perhaps that’s why the names were changed for the 1991 made-for-television movie In Broad Daylight. Brian Denney may be playing a character named Len Rowan but, for anyone familiar with the case, it’s obvious that he’s playing Ken McElroy just as Marcia Gay Harden is obviously playing Tena McElroy, even if her character is called Adina. The film doesn’t change the name of the town and it doesn’t change the circumstances that led to McElroy’s death. W watch as McElroy intimidates the owners of a grocery store (played by Cloris Leachman and John Anderson) and even attempts to bully the local police (represented here by Chris Cooper). The film features a gun-toting crowd surrounding Len Rowan’s vehicle but it’s shot in such a way that their faces are blurry.

In Broad Daylight was filmed in Texas and it definitely captures both the beauty and the potential danger that comes with living in a rural community. Everyone in town knows everyone else. There’s a strong sense of community but, because the community is so small and isolated, it’s easy for a man like Len Rowan to bully the entire town. Some of the actors lean a bit too hard into their country accents. (Lord protect us from Yankees trying to sound Southern.) But the main members of the supporting cast — Cloris Leachman, John Anderson, Chris Cooper, Marcia Gay Harden — all give convincing performances. As for Brian Dennehy, he’s absolutely horrifying as the astoundingly cruel Len Rowan. Dennehy plays Len as being a man who might not exactly intelligent (the real Ken McElroy dropped out of school early) but who is positively brilliant at intimidating people. Dennehy plays Rowan as if he has a death wish. All of his threats and his speeches make it clear that he’s just daring someone to shoot him. Even when he realizes he’s about to get shot while sitting in his truck, he sit there and accepts the inevitable. Perhaps even he was getting sick of dealing with himself.

After watching In Broad Daylight, it’s easy to understand why no one came forward as a witness. By his own actions, Ken McErloy was destined to die violently. A few people just decided to speed things up a little. Who knows who?

Horror Song of the Day: Demon by Claudio Simonetti

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Demons (1985, dir by Lamberto Bava)

For today’s horror song of the day, we have Demon, a track from the soundtrack for the 1985 film, Demons. This song was composed and performed by Claudio Simonetti, who is best known as the keyboardist of Goblin.

The music video, incidentally, was directed by Michele Soavi, who also appeared in Demons as the mysterious masked man handing out free movie tickets.

4 Shots From 4 Horror Films: 1930s Part 2

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This October, I’m going to be doing something a little bit different with my contribution to 4 Shots From 4 Films. I’m going to be taking a little chronological tour of the history of horror cinema, moving from decade to decade.

Today, we continue with the 1930s.

4 Shots From 4 Horror Films

La Llorona (1933, dir by Ramon Peon)

The Invisible Man (1934, dir by James Whale)

The Invisible Man (1933, dir by James Whale)

Maniac (1934, dir by Dwain Esper)

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935, dir by James Whale)

Horror Film Review: The Pit (dir by Lew Lehman)

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 1981 Canadian film, The Pit, tells the story of a creepy little jerk named Jamie Benjamin (Sammy Snyders).

Now, admittedly, Jamie is only twelve years old and, usually, I make allowances for bad behavior from people who aren’t old or mature enough to know better. But there’s just something off about Jamie. He comes across as creepy from the first minute he shows up, with his intense stare and his blonde bowl cut. He spends a lot of time in the woods, where he has discovered a hole in the ground. The hole is full of hungry creates that Jamie calls Trogs. Jamie regularly takes raw meat to the hole and tosses it in. Unlike all of the kids at school and his own parents, the Trogs are always happy to see Jamie.

It may sound like a bad idea to give meat to a bunch of monsters that you just happened to find in the woods but Teddy thinks it’s a good idea. Teddy is Jamie’s teddy bear. Teddy talks. Teddy has all sorts of ideas for how Jamie can get back at everyone who has ever made fun of him or left him feeling insecure. Why not just toss them into the pit? Is Teddy real or is he just in Jamie’s mind? The film tries go for some ambiguity. That said, the Trogs are definitely real so it’s not that difficult to go from accepting the idea of carnivorous monsters to buying into a talking teddy bear.

Jamie is entering puberty and his hormones are going crazy. When his parents leave for a trip, they hire a psychology student named Sandy O’Reilly (Jeannie Elias) to keep an eye on Jamie. Jamie develops a crush and soon becomes obsessed with Sandy. Jamie is the type of kid who pretends to drop something just so he can look up Sandy’s skirt. (Bad Jamie!) Despite Jamie’s crush on Sandy, he still steals money from her so that he can buy raw meat for the Trogs. When he can’t get any more meat, he starts tempting real people out to the woods and pushing them in. When he tells Sandy about the Trogs, she doesn’t believe him. He takes her to the pit and that’s when things really start to get bad….

The Pit is an odd little film, one that never quite settles on a tone. In the original script, the Trogs and Teddy’s advice were all meant to be in Jamie’s head and Jamie himself was only meant to be 9 years old. The horror elements were meant to be products of Jamie’s disturbed imagination and one can still see elements of that in the completed film. However, director Lew Lehman decided to make Jamie older, to leave no doubt that the Trogs were real, and to add a small amount of humor. As such, The Pit is a film that veers from being a horror film to being a somewhat depressing coming-of-age film to a somewhat mean-spirited comedy. Sammy’s behavior, which might have been understandable for a 9 year old, becomes even more creepy now that he’s a twelve year-old who still takes orders from a teddy bear.

It’s a confused film but Sammy Snyders gives one of the best creepy kid performances of all time and there’s something undeniably satisfying about the ending. As Jamie discovers, he’s not the only kid with a pit and teddy bear can only protect him for so long.

Horror Film Review: Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster (dir by Robert Gaffney)

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Despite the title, 1965’s Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster is not actually about Frankenstein or his monster.

Instead, the Frankenstein of the title is Frank Saunders (Robert Reilly), an astronaut who happens to be an android. Frank was created by Dr. Adam Steele (James Karen, in one of his first film roles). Frank is designed so that he can go into space without making any of the mistakes that a human astronaut might make. He’s the next stage in the space program! With Frank sitting in a rocket, America will have rightfully conquered the Moon in no-time flat!

(Don’t waste my time with any of the international treaty crap. I don’t care how many other countries go to the Moon, it belongs to America because we landed their first. It’s the 51st State and someday, we’ll probably end up moving the federal government to the moon. Hopefully, we’ll just leave it there.)

Unfortunately, no sooner has Frank gone into space then he gets shot down by the Martians. Frank crashes in Puerto Rico and, with his face horrifically disfigured, starts to malfunction, Soon, he’s creating chaos all over the island and it’s up to Dr. Adam Steele — what a name! — to put a stop to it. However, before Frank is deactivated, he needs to meet the Space Monster (a mutant named Mull) and defeat the Martians.

Why are the Martians on Earth? According to a short, pointy-eared dwarf Martian named Dr. Nadir (Lou Cutell), an atomic war has led to the death of all the women on Mars. Personally, I think Dr. Nadir is lying because he came to Earth with a Martian woman named Princess Marcuzan (Marilyn Hanold). I think it’s more a case of almost all of the Martian women faking their own deaths so that they could get out of having to talk to Dr. Nadir. Seriously, Dr. Nadir is a little creep. Add to that, his Martian name actually sounds like an insult in English. Personally, I think he should come up with a new name if he wants people to listen to him. I would suggest calling himself Adam Steele but that name is already taken.

Soon, Martians are abducting bikini-clad women off of beaches in Puerto Rico. Can the Martians be stopped? Can Frank be restored? Will James Karen go on to have a distinguished career as a beloved character actor? Spoiler alert: the answer to the third question is yes. Indeed, one of the joys of this film is getting to see James Karen in a rare leading role. He commits to giving as good performance, even though the film itself is pretty silly.

Another joy of this film is the soundtrack, which is surprisingly good for a film of this budget and caliber. Just try to get That’s The Way It’s Got To Be out of your head! (In the film, this song plays as Frank prepares to go into space.)

That’s the way it’s got to be!

As for Frankenstein Meets The Space Monster …. I just can’t help it. I like the damn thing. It’s just so ludicrous and silly that it’s impossible for me not to enjoy. The film’s producers decided that they didn’t just want a robot terrorizing an island. They also wanted Martians and a mutant, as well! And we’re all better off for it.

Get In The Mood For Halloween With These Horrifying Comic Covers!

Posted on October 7, 2025 by Dazzling Erin

Once upon a time, horror comics were all the rage. In the 1950s, impressionable young readers were told scary stories by hosts with names like The Cryptkeeper and The Old Witch, and the Vault-Keeper. That all changed when Congress got involved and held a series of hearing on whether or not horror comics were leading to juvenile crime. All of the horror comics were canceled and the comic book industry agreed to tone things down with the Comics Code.

Trying to suppress horror comics only made them even more popular amongst readers and collectors. Who could have seen that coming? Teachers and juvenile court officers may have hated them in the 50s but now, they’re some of those most valuable comics around. Here are a few classic covers from the 50s horror comic era.