In my last blog post I wrote about Dracula A.D. 1972, which had Hammer bring Dracula into the present day. In America back when the film was released a short was shown before the movie where a vampire sworn everyone in the theater into the Count Dracula Society. This was back when they still did fun stuff before the movie, not just show commercials.
The actor playing the the vampire under the caked on white makeup is Barry Atwater. Horror and SciFi fans will know him as Janos Skorzeny, the vampire from the Night Stalker TV movie and as the vulcan Surak from the the original Star Trek series among other appearances.
This video clip is from Zacherley's Horrible Horrors (from what I hear currently unavailable), which had The Cool Ghoul play host to film clips and trailers of classically bad movies.
Enjoy, and as always...
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Friday, October 9, 2009
Dracula A.D. 1972 (1972) - One Fan's Memory
Long ago (1979 or 1980) CBS showed late-late movies, and one dark cold Friday night they showed Dracula A.D. 1972 , so being about ten years old and a monster fan I snuck down stairs and watched it on the only color TV in the house. My memories of that watching consists of being scared (but that was the fun of it) and wanting to see more of Christopher Lee as Dracula.
Now, in my late-late thirties, I decided to re-watch the movie for the first time since that dark and cold Friday night many moons ago. Of course I'm viewing the movie through a different lens now. The time of 1972 is 38 years in the past now, where it was only eight years in the past when I first watched it. The culture shock is more pronounced today after seeing those 1970's fashions and hearing the music of the Stoneground.
Also, after studying horror movies and the people that made them I have more insight into the movie and can place it in it's proper historical context. That's fancy talk for I know more than I did then.
The movie has Dracula, Lord of the Undead, in the hip and happening London of 1972 after his ashes were buried in unsanctified soil next to a church a hundred years before. Wanting revenge on the Van Helsing family, he seeks to make the great great grand daughter of the Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham) who killed him his vampire bride.
The great Peter Cushing plays both Van Helsings (1872 grandfather and 1972 grandson). He would play Van Helsing two more times, in The Satanic Rites of Dracula and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Lee would be a Hammer Dracula only once more for Hammer (in the Satanic Rite of Dracula). Christopher Neame is devilish as the disciple of the Dracula Johnny Alucard (get it, Alucard) who raises him using a satanic ritual. There's a police detective character who does nothing but supply exposition to Van Helsing, which is a waste. Also wasted with too little screen time (but looking sexy in a black dress) is Caroline Munro, who should of been used more in this film.
So why did Hammer put Dracula in 1972? Much has been written about it, but here is my thoughts on the subject. First, coming into the 1970's Hammer was starting to loose money, a situation which would eventually shut them down (although they, like Dracula many times before, they have been resurrected recently). As a matter of fact I think they did only three more period movies before going into their long slumber from making films. It's more cost effective to set a movie in modern times than period settings, I'm sure the producers were thinking about that.
On the creative end, I'm sure they were running out of ideas of what to do with Dracula. Putting him in (then) contemporary London makes sense if you want to rejuvenate the franchise. Unfortunately, they never take advantage of it. All Dracula does is hang out in an abandoned church the whole time. Neame has to bring him victims to suck, you never see Dracula going out and hunting down Londoners in the streets or in the trendy clubs like Blackula or Count Yorga did. Why bring Dracula to 1972 if you're not going to make the most of it?
On this my ten year old self and I agree, we needed more Dracula. My late thirties self also thinks we needed more of Caroline Munro in a skimpy black dress, but we'll address that at a different time.
The band the Stoneground, who I didn't think were a real band until I looked this film up on Wikipedia, actually serve a purpose in this movie. After the opening set one hundred years before, they help set the movie in 1972 for the audience, then and now. And man do we know it's 1972 from the scenes after the opening credits. Oh, that early seventies music! Oh, those early seventies fashion! What was probably hip then is cheesy now, but ads to the charm of the film.
One scene I remember well, is of the modern day Van Helsing racing through the streets of London to save his grand daughter. At ten, this was a thrilling sequence that made me root for Van Helsing. Today I found myself yelling at the TV, upset that they made poor frail Peter Cushing run in the cold streets at his age. Poor, poor, Peter.
The big memory of this movie is the Resurrection ceremony in the old church the group of friends unwittingly attend, thinking it will be a far out scene to dig (oh, that early seventies slang!). That creepy music (White Noice's Black Mass: an Electric Storm in Hell ) stuck with me for a long time.
So, after all is said and done, ten year old me loved being scared and loved the movie. And you know what, for all it's faults it's still a fun movie.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Now, in my late-late thirties, I decided to re-watch the movie for the first time since that dark and cold Friday night many moons ago. Of course I'm viewing the movie through a different lens now. The time of 1972 is 38 years in the past now, where it was only eight years in the past when I first watched it. The culture shock is more pronounced today after seeing those 1970's fashions and hearing the music of the Stoneground.
Also, after studying horror movies and the people that made them I have more insight into the movie and can place it in it's proper historical context. That's fancy talk for I know more than I did then.
The movie has Dracula, Lord of the Undead, in the hip and happening London of 1972 after his ashes were buried in unsanctified soil next to a church a hundred years before. Wanting revenge on the Van Helsing family, he seeks to make the great great grand daughter of the Van Helsing (Stephanie Beacham) who killed him his vampire bride.
The great Peter Cushing plays both Van Helsings (1872 grandfather and 1972 grandson). He would play Van Helsing two more times, in The Satanic Rites of Dracula and The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires. Lee would be a Hammer Dracula only once more for Hammer (in the Satanic Rite of Dracula). Christopher Neame is devilish as the disciple of the Dracula Johnny Alucard (get it, Alucard) who raises him using a satanic ritual. There's a police detective character who does nothing but supply exposition to Van Helsing, which is a waste. Also wasted with too little screen time (but looking sexy in a black dress) is Caroline Munro, who should of been used more in this film.
So why did Hammer put Dracula in 1972? Much has been written about it, but here is my thoughts on the subject. First, coming into the 1970's Hammer was starting to loose money, a situation which would eventually shut them down (although they, like Dracula many times before, they have been resurrected recently). As a matter of fact I think they did only three more period movies before going into their long slumber from making films. It's more cost effective to set a movie in modern times than period settings, I'm sure the producers were thinking about that.
On the creative end, I'm sure they were running out of ideas of what to do with Dracula. Putting him in (then) contemporary London makes sense if you want to rejuvenate the franchise. Unfortunately, they never take advantage of it. All Dracula does is hang out in an abandoned church the whole time. Neame has to bring him victims to suck, you never see Dracula going out and hunting down Londoners in the streets or in the trendy clubs like Blackula or Count Yorga did. Why bring Dracula to 1972 if you're not going to make the most of it?
On this my ten year old self and I agree, we needed more Dracula. My late thirties self also thinks we needed more of Caroline Munro in a skimpy black dress, but we'll address that at a different time.
The band the Stoneground, who I didn't think were a real band until I looked this film up on Wikipedia, actually serve a purpose in this movie. After the opening set one hundred years before, they help set the movie in 1972 for the audience, then and now. And man do we know it's 1972 from the scenes after the opening credits. Oh, that early seventies music! Oh, those early seventies fashion! What was probably hip then is cheesy now, but ads to the charm of the film.
One scene I remember well, is of the modern day Van Helsing racing through the streets of London to save his grand daughter. At ten, this was a thrilling sequence that made me root for Van Helsing. Today I found myself yelling at the TV, upset that they made poor frail Peter Cushing run in the cold streets at his age. Poor, poor, Peter.
The big memory of this movie is the Resurrection ceremony in the old church the group of friends unwittingly attend, thinking it will be a far out scene to dig (oh, that early seventies slang!). That creepy music (White Noice's Black Mass: an Electric Storm in Hell ) stuck with me for a long time.
So, after all is said and done, ten year old me loved being scared and loved the movie. And you know what, for all it's faults it's still a fun movie.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Dinner with Drac TV Perfromance by Zacherley 1958
I'm assuming this is the American Bandstand performance from 1958 (if I'm wrong please let me know) since the announcer says Dinner With Drac is a current hit when introducing Zacherley.
You may notice a difference with the lyrics you're probably use to (at least I'm use to) and this version used for the show. Apparently Dick Clark and other DJs thought the original was too violent so a toned down version was recorded. Fans wanted to buy the Bandstand version so it was released as Dinner With Drac part 2.
I think it has nice production values for 1958, but I'm a Zach-ophile so I'm bias.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
You may notice a difference with the lyrics you're probably use to (at least I'm use to) and this version used for the show. Apparently Dick Clark and other DJs thought the original was too violent so a toned down version was recorded. Fans wanted to buy the Bandstand version so it was released as Dinner With Drac part 2.
I think it has nice production values for 1958, but I'm a Zach-ophile so I'm bias.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Horror Hosts Segment on E.T. (1984)
I remember this segment on Entertainment Tonight from when I was 14 years old. People my age growing up on Long Island missed the heyday of Zacherley and didn't have a horror host for our late night delights until Elvira got syndicated to a little UHF station we could barely tune in.
Up until I saw this I didn't know there were still horror hosts on local TV stations, I thought Elvira was the only game around. I remember watching this report and getting very jealous that people in other states got the joy of having a weekly local horror host. How lucky they were!
Now today we have the Internet, and we can get a glimpse of the greatness of local hosts from all over the country via classic clips on Youtube, and see what the new generation is doing with web shows.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Up until I saw this I didn't know there were still horror hosts on local TV stations, I thought Elvira was the only game around. I remember watching this report and getting very jealous that people in other states got the joy of having a weekly local horror host. How lucky they were!
Now today we have the Internet, and we can get a glimpse of the greatness of local hosts from all over the country via classic clips on Youtube, and see what the new generation is doing with web shows.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Dracula A.D. 1972 Trailer (1972)
I'll post a retrospective on Dracula A.D. 1972 at a later date. Even though it's not my favorite Hammer Dracula film, mainly because Christopher Lee just stands around in an old church the whole time and does nothing, I'm a fan of trailers and this one is pretty good.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
From Beyond The Grave (1973)
(Correction 10/10/09 -I mistakenly attributed The Monster Club as an Amicus Production in this blog post, which I thought it was for years. After doing a little research for an upcoming blog on the movie I discovered it was in fact NOT an Amicus. Amicus dissolved in mid seventies and The Monster Club came out in 1980. I think the fact that Milton Subotsky made The Monster Club threw me off. Sorry for the confusion.)
From Beyond The Grave from 1973 ended a run of anthology movies put out by Amicus that started with Dr. Terror's House of Horrors in 1965 (The Monster Club didn't come out until 1980 so I don't consider it part of this cycle of movies). Now I remember seeing it back in the high school, either on TV or from the video store, but I didn't remember it all that well. So I sat down, lights off in the middle of the night, to watch it again.
This movie, like Monster Club, takes it's stories from R. Chetwynd-Hayes for it's four main segments. I can sum up the each part like this:
1)The Gatecrasher-It was okay. I liked the idea of a soul trapped in a mirror making a person commit murder to free him. Part of it was badly edited out of sequence in one spot, having David Warner laying in bed wearing a bloody shirt before he's actually murdered the woman whose blood covers it.
2)An Act of Kindness-Confusing. Donald Pleasence is wonderful along side his daughter Angela Pleasence, who is just creepy in this. But the story's payoff doesn't make sense, and I went back and watched it three times to make sure I didn't miss something.
3)The Elemental-Below average. The story, about a man who has a dangerous invisible demon on his shoulder that wants to take him over, is the humorous story to cleanse the palette after the other frights. Felt like an episode of Tales From The Darkside towards the end of their run when they were running out of A type material.
4)The Door- This was actually my favorite segment out of all of them. A man buys a demonic looking door that can open a doorway to a evil man's castle. A negative is it felt too rushed and I wished it could of been developed more, but still out of all of them this was the best.
Peter Cushing is the old proprietor of "Temptations", a sort of antique shop with item that come with a surprise with every purchase. Cushing, who mourned the death of his wife in 1971 to the day he died, looks gaunt and skeletal. You can tell he wasn't taking care of himself, and he even admitted later that he thought of committing suicide out of grief. Still, ever the trooper, he ties these uneven tales together and gives a great performance.
This is not my favorite Amicus anthology, as a matter of fact it probably is towards the bottom of the list, but not as bad a The Deadly Bees. Re-watching it made me realize why I didn't remember it that well, I didn't want to. I collect my favorite movies so I can watch them over and over again, this one isn't going to make my collection.
Just so you know, this DVD doesn't come with any extras, just the movie and the trailer. Something else, like a documentary or commentary, would have been nice. Warner Bros. really went cheap on this, not even having the a original poster as the DVD cover, instead opting for a generic skull that says nothing about the movie.
Below is the trailer from the movie from Youtube.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
From Beyond The Grave from 1973 ended a run of anthology movies put out by Amicus that started with Dr. Terror's House of Horrors in 1965 (The Monster Club didn't come out until 1980 so I don't consider it part of this cycle of movies). Now I remember seeing it back in the high school, either on TV or from the video store, but I didn't remember it all that well. So I sat down, lights off in the middle of the night, to watch it again.
This movie, like Monster Club, takes it's stories from R. Chetwynd-Hayes for it's four main segments. I can sum up the each part like this:
1)The Gatecrasher-It was okay. I liked the idea of a soul trapped in a mirror making a person commit murder to free him. Part of it was badly edited out of sequence in one spot, having David Warner laying in bed wearing a bloody shirt before he's actually murdered the woman whose blood covers it.
2)An Act of Kindness-Confusing. Donald Pleasence is wonderful along side his daughter Angela Pleasence, who is just creepy in this. But the story's payoff doesn't make sense, and I went back and watched it three times to make sure I didn't miss something.
3)The Elemental-Below average. The story, about a man who has a dangerous invisible demon on his shoulder that wants to take him over, is the humorous story to cleanse the palette after the other frights. Felt like an episode of Tales From The Darkside towards the end of their run when they were running out of A type material.
4)The Door- This was actually my favorite segment out of all of them. A man buys a demonic looking door that can open a doorway to a evil man's castle. A negative is it felt too rushed and I wished it could of been developed more, but still out of all of them this was the best.
Peter Cushing is the old proprietor of "Temptations", a sort of antique shop with item that come with a surprise with every purchase. Cushing, who mourned the death of his wife in 1971 to the day he died, looks gaunt and skeletal. You can tell he wasn't taking care of himself, and he even admitted later that he thought of committing suicide out of grief. Still, ever the trooper, he ties these uneven tales together and gives a great performance.
This is not my favorite Amicus anthology, as a matter of fact it probably is towards the bottom of the list, but not as bad a The Deadly Bees. Re-watching it made me realize why I didn't remember it that well, I didn't want to. I collect my favorite movies so I can watch them over and over again, this one isn't going to make my collection.
Just so you know, this DVD doesn't come with any extras, just the movie and the trailer. Something else, like a documentary or commentary, would have been nice. Warner Bros. really went cheap on this, not even having the a original poster as the DVD cover, instead opting for a generic skull that says nothing about the movie.
Below is the trailer from the movie from Youtube.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Friday, October 2, 2009
The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman Trailer (1971)
Ah, The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman, what a title!
This little gem is brought to you by Paul Naschy, the Spanish Lon Chaney, who also wrote it. As a kid I never got to see any of Paul Naschy's films, either because my local stations didn't show them or the video stores didn't stock them to rent. Believe me, if I saw this title in TV Guide or on a video store shelf I would have watched it. So the only way I knew of his movies were from the few entries in various books I had on monster movies.
I finally got a DVD of this very movie and got to watch Mr. Naschy in action, and I may have to dig it up (no Acker-Pun intended) tonight and watch it again now that I found the trailer on Youtube.
I really love the flashing red and white silhouette shots they sprinkled in here and there in the trailer. Nice touch.
There were a whole slew of Werewolf pictures starring Naschy as Waldemar Daninsky, the man with the curse of lycanthropy. I'll write more about him on a later date, but for now enjoy the trailer to The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
This little gem is brought to you by Paul Naschy, the Spanish Lon Chaney, who also wrote it. As a kid I never got to see any of Paul Naschy's films, either because my local stations didn't show them or the video stores didn't stock them to rent. Believe me, if I saw this title in TV Guide or on a video store shelf I would have watched it. So the only way I knew of his movies were from the few entries in various books I had on monster movies.
I finally got a DVD of this very movie and got to watch Mr. Naschy in action, and I may have to dig it up (no Acker-Pun intended) tonight and watch it again now that I found the trailer on Youtube.
I really love the flashing red and white silhouette shots they sprinkled in here and there in the trailer. Nice touch.
There were a whole slew of Werewolf pictures starring Naschy as Waldemar Daninsky, the man with the curse of lycanthropy. I'll write more about him on a later date, but for now enjoy the trailer to The Werewolf vs The Vampire Woman.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Vampire Hunting Kits
File Under Cute: LA Weekly's web site has a cute article about Vampire Hunting Kits. Click the link to read more.
20/20 Report on Monster Make-up from 1982
I remember seeing this 20/20 report when I was twelve and a HUGE monster make-up fan. They teased the segment early in the evening and I begged to stay up and watch it but I got sent to bed since it was a school night(20/20 was on Thursday's at 10:00pm if I remember right, past my bed time). So I did what any kid would do, I turned the volume down low on my little black and white TV and watch it with a blanket covering both me and the tiny set.
Sure the report kind of simplifies the foam latex process, making seem like all you have to do is sculpt something and paint it with latex (in reality a new negative mold is made and foam latex is injected in then baked, and even that explanation is a simplification), but the fact that I got to see Rick Baker, John Chambers and Dick Smith talking about movie monster make-up thrilled me. This was back in the days before Internet video and 24 hour access to information. The only way I knew about these people was through Famous Monsters and a new magazine called Fangoria that just came out. I never really knew what they looked like or how they sounded when they spoke. So it was a surprise to me when I heard Rick Baker talk, that he sounded like a shy kid talking about monsters. It made me realize he was just like me, a monster fan. That was cool to a twelve year old.
With all the advances in computer technology, I still prefer Rick Baker's American Werewolf in London transformation to the CGI ones we have today. My favorite quote from Baker in this piece was when asked if he ever got nightmare from his creations he says, "No, these are my friends". Very cool.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Sure the report kind of simplifies the foam latex process, making seem like all you have to do is sculpt something and paint it with latex (in reality a new negative mold is made and foam latex is injected in then baked, and even that explanation is a simplification), but the fact that I got to see Rick Baker, John Chambers and Dick Smith talking about movie monster make-up thrilled me. This was back in the days before Internet video and 24 hour access to information. The only way I knew about these people was through Famous Monsters and a new magazine called Fangoria that just came out. I never really knew what they looked like or how they sounded when they spoke. So it was a surprise to me when I heard Rick Baker talk, that he sounded like a shy kid talking about monsters. It made me realize he was just like me, a monster fan. That was cool to a twelve year old.
With all the advances in computer technology, I still prefer Rick Baker's American Werewolf in London transformation to the CGI ones we have today. My favorite quote from Baker in this piece was when asked if he ever got nightmare from his creations he says, "No, these are my friends". Very cool.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Alice Cooper's PSA (Keepin' Halloween Alive Single)
Believe it or not, Alice Cooper is my favorite singer. No, really.
So with Halloween coming, I was delighted to see this video he made in the style of a PSA. It's to promote his single Keepin' Halloween Alive, which can be found on iTunes. It's about time the Master of Horror Rock did a song for the best holiday of the year.
I now feel the Halloween Holiday Season has officially begun.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
So with Halloween coming, I was delighted to see this video he made in the style of a PSA. It's to promote his single Keepin' Halloween Alive, which can be found on iTunes. It's about time the Master of Horror Rock did a song for the best holiday of the year.
I now feel the Halloween Holiday Season has officially begun.
Until Next Time, Stay Insane!
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