Tag Archives: Horror

Horror On TV: Twilight Zone Ep. 123 “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I first decided to feature old, horror-themed television episodes this month, I knew that I had to include Nightmare At 20,000 Feet.

This is perhaps the most famous episode of Twilight Zone. William Shatner plays a man on an airplane who is both terrified of flying and who has spotted a gremlin out on the wing. As Shatner desperately tries to convince his fellow passengers that he’s not crazy, the gremlin cheerfully goes about his destructive business.

This is one of the few episodes of The Twilight Zone not to have been downloaded onto YouTube and, at first, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to share it. Fortunately, site subscriber and frequent commenter KO tracked it down on Hulu for me and, as a result, we are very happy to present the classic fright fest Nightmare At 20,000 Feet!

This episode was written by Richard Matheson and directed by Richard Donner, who would later direct such films as The Omen, Superman, and Lethal Weapon. It originally aired on October 11th, 1963.

 

http://www.hulu.com/watch/440824
(Incidentally, originally an episode of Goosebumps was scheduled to be featured tonight. However, the YouTube account that was hosting that video has been suspended. The episode in question was The House of No Return, which many people believe features an early performance from Ryan Gosling. Having seen the episode before it was taken off YouTube, I can assure you that Ryan was nowhere to be seen.)

Horror On The Lens: The Demons of Ludlow (dir by Bill Rebane)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Demons_of_Ludlow_posterWhen I decided I wanted to do this Horror On The Lens feature for October, I knew that I wanted to include at least one film directed by Wisconsin’s own mini-film mogul, Bill Rebane.

And that movie was The Great Spider Invasion.

Unfortunately, The Great Spider Invasion was not available on YouTube so, instead, I ended up going with Rebane’s 1984 film The Demons of Ludlow.

You can read my review of the Demons of Ludlow here.  The gist of the review is that The Demons of Ludlow is good for a Bill Rebane film.

Horror On TV: Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction Episode 1

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier this month, we featured an episode of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction that was hosted by Jonathan Frakes.  What I did not mention, in that post, is that Frakes was not the 1st person to host this show.

The first season was hosted by veteran scenery-chewer James Brolin.  Whereas Frakes brought a bemused appreciation to the absurd to his role of host, Brolin’s approach was far more earnest.

And, in appreciation of that earnestness, here’s the very first episode of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?  This originally aired on May 25th, 1997 and it’s worth watching just to compare Brolin’s blandly sincere approach to the far more snarky approach of Jonathan Frakes.

Horror On The Lens: Tormented (dir by Bert I. Gordon)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Tormented

Halloween is the perfect time for a good ghost story and, with that in mind, here is today’s movie.

Released in 1960 and directed by Bert I. Gordon, Tormented tells the sad story of Tom Stewart (Richard Carlson).  Now, Tom might look like a pretty regular guy but we know that he’s a little bit crazy because he’s a jazz pianist and you know how dangerous those beatnik-types are.  Tom is happily engaged to Meg but one day, his ex-girlfriend Vi shows up.  Vi is obsessed with Tom and swear that she’s going to end his engagement.

So, naturally enough, Tom throws her off of a lighthouse.

Problem solved, right?

Not quite.  Vi may be dead but she’s not out of Tom’s life.  Instead, her disembodied head tends to pop up at random moments and taunt Tom.  Meanwhile, Tom is having to deal with Meg’s suspicious sister and a beatnik (Joe Turkel, who years later played Lloyd the Bartender in The Shining) who is determined to collect the $5 that he claims Vi owes him.

Between the beatniks and the raging ocean and the disembodied head popping up whenever it’s least convenient, Tormented is a lot of fun and the perfect film for some retro Halloween fun.

 

Horror On TV: Twilight Zone 2.23 “The Obsolete Man”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

I know that some people will claim that The Obsolete Man really isn’t a horror story but consider this:  What’s more horrifying than a world without freedom of thought or expression?  The Obsolete Man takes place in a world where books have been banned.  As a result, librarian Romney Wordsworth (Burgess Meredith) has been determined to be obsolete and, hence, is now scheduled to be executed.  Wordsworth appears to have accepted his fate but, as the Chancellor (Fritz Weaver) discovers, Wordsworth is far more clever than he originally appears.

This episode of The Twilight Zone was written by Rod Serling and directed by Eliot Silverstein.  It was originally broadcast on June 2nd, 1961.

Horror On The Lens: Slugs (dir by Juan Piquer Simon)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Slugs-film-posterFirst released in 1988, Slugs is literally one of the ickiest films ever made.

The plot of this Spanish horror film is pretty simple.  In a rural community, all of the local slugs have mutated into savage, sharp-toothed carnivores.  While the slugs slowly consume the locals, health official Mike Brady (Michael Garfield) wonders if maybe — just maybe — this could all be connected to the nearby toxic waste dump.

Despite some less-than-stellar performances and a plot that makes less sense the more you think about it, Slugs works.  Some of that is because slugs themselves are just naturally creepy.  However, the majority of the credit must go to director Juan Piquer Simon who truly takes this film to its disgusting extreme.  This film is probably most famous for a scene in which one character comes to regret his earlier decision to eat one of the slugs.

Horror On The Lens: The Devil’s Rain (dir by Robert Fuest)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

TheDevilsRain

Satanic priest Jonathan Corbis (Ernest Borgnine) has spent decades pursuing the Preston family.  The Prestons, it turns out, have a book of powerful Satanic magic in their possession.  After Corbis causes the Preston patriarch to melt in the rain, Mark Preston (William Shatner) decides to confront Corbis and his followers…

Released in 1975, the Devil’s Rain was presumably made to capitalize on the success of films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist.  The film itself is a bit incoherent but it’s worth watching just to see shameless overactors William Shatner and Ernest Borgnine acting opposite each other.  The cast also includes Ida Lupino, Keenan Wynn, Tom Skerritt, and Eddie Albert, which means that there’s not a single bit of scenery that doesn’t get chewed at some point.

If watch carefully, you can spot John Travolta making his screen debut towards the end of the film.

Horror On The Lens: Killdozer (dir by Jerry London)

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

killdozerA bunch of manly men are building an airstrip on an island off the coast of Africa.  Two of them come across an oddly glowing meteorite and they make the mistake of trying to move it with a bulldozer.  Needless to say, the bulldozer gets possessed by an alien presence and soon, the men are all being pursued by the … Killdozer!

My boyfriend and I recently sat down and watched this 1974 made-for-TV movie.  Jeff enjoyed it while I thought Killdozer was perhaps one of the silliest films I have ever seen in my life.  That’s not surprising, however.  Killdozer is a guy film all the way, celebrating both the destructive power of machinery and the ability of men to tame that power.

Killdozer may not be a great film but it’s a film that feels rather appropriate for October.

Horror Scenes I Love: Dead Alive aka Braindead

Posted on by Arleigh

DeadAlive“Party’s over!”

[spoilers]

The latest “Scenes I Love” is from a horror-comedy classic from the early 90’s.

Before Peter Jackson traveled and chronicled Middle-Earth he was a Kiwi filmmaker who dabbled and had fun with low-budget splatstick horror. One such film was the horror-comedy zombie flick Dead Alive aka Braindead. The scene in question happens in the extended climactic third reel of the film and has to go down as the goriest and bloodiest film sequence ever shot.

Watching this clip makes one wonder how Peter Jackson was the same person who made this film and the Tolkien films.

Horror On TV: One Step Beyond 2.5 “Night of the Kill”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

John Newland is back with yet another “true” story designed to take us One Step Beyond.  In this episode, a young boy named Dewey goes missing but then shows back up and says that he’s been hanging out with a Bigfoot-like monster.

This episode first aired on October 20th, 1959.