Halloween is ever a time of spooks and goblins. Even the pranksters and the tricksters love to come out to play. But sometimes, the murderers also get out. And we cannot have that, can we?
At times like that you want the sharpest minds and eyes at work. Through the falling leaves, the rapid dusk, and along the forgotten paths, the sleuths will make things right.
So today let's enjoy the efforts of one such sleuth. Hercule Poirot. Drawn out in the wake of a Halloween tragedy in...
It's time to delve back into TV movies for some more early 80's horror. And what better to mess with than more vampires.
And, hey, this time it is perfectly named movie, with no confusion whatsoever.
Vampire.
But not to worry, when it was first shown in October of 1979 (Hey, what a great time for a movie like this!) it had an ad and opening that helped make it look like a torrid romance...Oh, ad people.
UPDATE: I forgot to mention in this review that IFC will be having a marathon of Stan Against Evil Season 1 this Halloween, October 31, 2017, as a run up to the new season.
I am one for enjoyable horror comedy. It is a subset that some seem to forget, and some seem to look down on it. But for the rest of us, it is a chance to laugh and be startled.
An enjoyable new series started last year on Halloween.
Sitting down for some early morning nourishment. Have to head out on a trip. Perfect time for some Halloween Captain Crunch. I need to fill up on my...green.
Yeah, I know Scotty...
...but it's my cereal.
Anyway, with this I need something else curious. A more recent superhero take. A chance to ride with Batman...and his robowolf...
On the one hand, I think we all need some more toons. But on the other hand, have we had enough zombies? I don't know. This Halloween needs some more more cartoons, but how can I work zombies in? In a fun way.
Halloween special episodes of TV shows have come and gone in waves over the years. And in this Binge Age it's strange to have any holiday themes when the show will likely come out at a different time in the year. But, once, Fall was a big time for TV entertainment. And some producers were determined to have their big October episode.
Not every special has been as memorable as one would like today, with our long pop culture memories. But some specials do stand out. Community, in it's run on NBC, liked to play with it's sitcom and TV world rules. The paintball episodes liked to push their world to breaking points. But Halloween was always interesting. In particular their second season Halloween episode is quite memorable to this day.
The show follows a collection of people looking for second chances in their lives, so find themselves at the small and unimpressive Greendale Community College. Jeff the conman/lawyer, is looking for the easy way out. Britta is a self-styled rebel out to help, but struggling with herself. Shirley is a single mom that dreams of opening her own business as to restore normalcy to her life. Annie is a smart kid that struggled with an addiction that derailed her parent's plans, but freed her to find her own way. Abed is a somewhat disconnected young man who likes to see the world through the lens of TV and movies. Troy lost out on a football scholarship when he got hurt senior year, but it's meant he's been able to reexamine his life and find his other passions. And, then, we have Pierce who is a rich older man who enjoys being among the young people and college life. He also likes to push and provoke people to justify his negative opinions, like too many people on Twitter.
So let's all head to class and crack the books on... Epidemiology.
Black comedy is always a pleasure, the macabre can do more than just make you scream. It offers many access to different emotions and different perspectives.
The 60's offered a number of black comedies from production companies like American International Pictures. So let's return to a follow up to The Raven. An opportunity to unite Vincent Price, Peter Lorre, Boris Karloff, and Basil Rathbone on screen.
It's Halloween, we are looking at Dracula. Do we need to say much else? Well, yes.
The stories of vampires, and the story of Dracula, prove to have many branches. We see vampires in general, and Dracula himself, in many ways. For Dracula we have the debonair count that so many think of. And then there's that creepy figure, the man who does not seem entirely human.
Nosferatu, a take on Dracula where his less than human characteristics of the books remain and are enhanced. This take started in the famous silent film of the 20's. Then it returned in a major way again in 1979 with...
I have already covered the pilot of the new series Ghosted. So how can I resist coming back to look at the second episode of the series? Particularly when it's a Halloween episode?
I always enjoy a new discovery in the world of horror films. And among 70's and 80's TV movies one can find a number of small scale and interesting stories. We've already taken a look at a favorite of mine, The Midnight Hour. Now let's look at one I missed back in 1982
Another weekend, and another chance for some cartoon fun. So let's head back to see how Phineas and Ferb are handle one year's Halloween fun, or rather some Drusselsteinian Halloween fun.
"Druselsteinoween"
And I know what your thinking. "But everyone knows Drusselstein is spelled with 2 S's not 1. What the hell?" I know, man. It's bugged me for years to.
It being Friday the 13th, it would be hard to not include some Friday the 13th into any marathon. And it is tempting to turn to Jason Goes to Hell, as it stars John LeMay, who also starred in Friday the 13th the Series.
But it's hard not to go back to the classics first. And everyone owes it to themselves to start at the start. So it's back to 1980 and...
It seems we've reached another Friday the 13th. And it's in October! What?!
So we have to return to a forgotten tradition on this site. A return to Friday the 13th the Series. More fun with Jack, Micki, and Ryan, as they chase down cursed antiques before the bodies begin to pile up.
Last time we were facing a time traveling vampire. Now we have a seedy seaman, and his evil lamp.
The modern age offers us many paths to horror. Some it may be better to leave untrodden. But online the web of paths can be confusing. But also sometimes rewarding.
In 2014 Michael Balif started a production company. The Witching Season. The intent was to use it to create a horror anthology consisting of short films. The result has so far been 5 such films. Scary tales to light our way through a dark marathon night.
This trailer, while revealing nothing about the shorts, is such a great snapshot of how most of us like to imagine Halloween. The pumpkins. The mist. The leaves. The pagentry of Halloween. And the music evokes such a great John Carpenter vibe.
And being at most 15 minutes long, you have few excuses to not plunge in for the grim and gorey goodness being put out for you. Feast on the dread.
The Witching Seasons productions can be enjoyed though their website or their Youtube channel.
Horror arises from many places. Horror entwines itself amongst our various fears. Horror comes from the living and dead. So call out with me my friends.
Come! Come! Rise again! Seek you vengeance, our Pumpkinhead!
Halloween has had many classic periods. We each have our preferences. 1820's. 1640's. 1930's. But among the periods that mean a lot to me is the 80's. Good horror themed videos. Good horror movies. And a selection of good horror anthology TV shows.
One of the classics of that period was Tales from the Darkside.
The shows opening and closing are iconic (Composed and written by Donald Rubinstein and Erica Lindsay.).This music helps set up a frightfully wonderful mood of foreboding and dread. It demands you start thinking on the looming nightfall, or just how far away daylight really is. It's exactly the thing, anytime of the day, to set the mood for horror.
The show is an anthology series in the vein of Twilight Zone and the Outer Limits, though it focused far more on monsters, magic, with the occasional alien or techno terror stories. It ran for 4 seasons in the mid 80's.
It was created by George Romero and others to showcase these creepy stories. Among the stories used are Stephen King's and other luminaries of horror and science fiction.
The first story they chose to do was a Halloween tale, which is all so nice for us. And I was pleased to see it actually premiered just days before Halloween in 1983. Now that is how you open a horror series.
So let's see what treat the 80's has saved up for us.
You can only hope that networks will try to bring in some new shows that will fit in nicely during the Halloween season. They are not often obliging. Then again, I am all for a more year round Halloween vision.
And like an extra fun size chocolate at the bottom of your bag, FOX has an interesting little show for us to try out this October. And the name is wickedly fitting.
Once more we find ourselves on the precipice of the final frontier. Ready to join a new crew of Starfleet officers as they plunge into the unknown. But instead of a series at the edges of Star Trek history, we find ourselves at a midpoint of sorts. Between Enterprise and the original Star Trek.
Some people ask me, "Jack? What's this whole thing about?" And I tell them the truth. The hell if I know.
But sometimes you are on a sugar high. And you take some nerdiness. And you take some geekiness. And you grab some politics. And then you stuff some skepticism into it...and you crash.
When you make up you don't know what it is, but it's attached itself to your jugular, and you decide it's best not to fuss.
A curmudgeon and soft-heart. A pessimist and optimist. A loner and joiner. Even I get sick of me.
I'm...
A Neophyte Negotiator of all the Nonsense. An Ornate Opponent of…Oh, you know. A Lover of Levity and the Lectern. An Irreconcilably Irate Idyllist. The Eternal Enemy of Erratum. Just a Solitary Serrated Soul. I'm sorry, what was the question?
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