Upcoming junk and stuff

I don’t like the Giants and I wasn’t rooting for them, but they played a great series so congratulations to them. It is sad to have no more baseball for months. Halloween is of course tomorrow which is great although I am not thrilled by the cold front that is coming in on my area now. I am thinking that I won’t get around to one more First Fright Friday post tomorrow. However I am going to make next week Halloween leftover week which will include the posts I didn’t get to in October which will include the above First Fright Friday, a Sleepy Hollow Sunday on Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, a TV terror on the Munsters and maybe one more post.

Take care!

TV terror Thursday-Green Acres

  

The ballad of Molly Turgis

1966

Mr. Douglas and Eb get into a conversation about folk songs and zzzzzz oh wait I better wake up and hope the episode gets better. Eb starts to tell Mr. Douglas about a legend of a person named Molly Turgis not Turdgis because the second one would stink. Anyways Eb says her name and a lantern breaks and says he shouldn’t have said her name. Mr. Douglas says her name and a pitchfork falls behind them although they didn’t see it. Mr. Douglas goes on to his wife Lisa about his folk songs blah, blah, blah. Later at Drucker’s store Mr. Douglas mentions Molly Turgis and boom a pickle barrel falls apart. Mr. Douglas wants to know the story of Molly Turgis, but no one wants to tell him. He sings some of his folk songs in the living room about people being beaten and killed and stuff-real uplifting toe tappers don’t you know. Meanwhile he says her name while shaving in front of the mirror and an old hag appears only in the mirror and then quickly vanishes. Finally Mr. Douglas finds out that Molly Turgis lived around the area 100 years ago and was so ugly that she was run out of town, but she vowed to come back and haunt the area. Mr. Douglas keeps saying her name and causes more damage. He tells the story of Molly to his wife Lisa. Lisa calls for Molly through the mirror and offers to do her hair and skin to make her look better if she promises to stop haunting people. Meanwhile Mr. Douglas decides to write a folk song (or solk fong as the ongoing joke in the episode goes) about Molly and he has no fear of saying her name now since Lisa said Molly promised no more haunting. So Mr. Douglas sings his song. Meanwhile Molly shows up slightly less hideous and in non-spirit form to thank Lisa and ask to do one more trick. She then causes Mr. Douglas to get whacked on the head by his own guitar. He kind of had it coming since he called Molly ugly as sin multiple times in his song.

The negatives- No Monroe brothers in this one, they are always a hoot.

The positives-This was a quirky often crazy show and this episode is part of that. I like the idea of a legend come to life in this one.

The haunted tent-The plan

In a previous post I mentioned that my kids wanted a haunted room to walk through. I suggested doing a haunted tent so between now and Friday night I have to get it set up so are I have been digging out stuff we have, bought some things and been thinking of a plan.

So here are the items I already had…

tent, sleeping bag, bed sheets and clothespins for making walls, old clothing for making monster bodies, flashlights , extension cords, various string lights-red and yellow, mason jars and lids, duct tape, rope, string, large mesh hamper, small tables, wooden benches (already outside), CD player and I’ll likely burn a CD of selected tracks from the sound effects discs I have on the computer.

Stuff I found in the kid’s rooms or the basement-

plastic skull, rubber bats, rubber bugs, jack o lantern mask, foam sword, glowing eyeballs, rubber hand, five plastic trick or treating pumpkins, two metal candle holder lanterns just right for battery tea lights.

Stuff I bought at the Dollar Tree-

battery run tea light candles, mini strobe lights, rubber cockroaches, plastic severed fingers, plastic severed hand, Caution plastic strip,Beware hanging sign, cheap zombie mask, creepy cloth-like a shredded curtain, rubber bat, big plastic rat, spider on a web-the web is about basketball size.

Things I need to make-

Monsters made out of zombie mask, jack o lantern mask and old clothes.

I have these giant googly eyes that just scream to be put on a big monster. I was thinking a big spider made out of garbage bags but I’ll see how hard that will be to make.

I have also been considering a ghost, but don’t have any white bed sheets so I’d have to cut up and old white shirt-maybe I have one.

The plan-

I’ll have extension cords out to the tent and a power strip. I’ll use that for any electric lighting and the CD player. I’ll have a bench outside the tent with one the masked monsters and some pumpkins on it. Whatever monster I make with the googly eyes will likely be attached to the top of the tent. I hope to use sheets to separate the tent into three section and the kids will enter on the left go around in a circle and exit the same way. So for the three sections I am thinking the first will be covered with body parts-severed hand and the eyeballs and fingers in jars. The second section will have animals-the spider web, rat, rubber insects and the biggest piece will be the mesh hamper with rubber bats hanging in it-this will either be on a table or maybe hung from the ceiling. The last section will be the sleeping bag with a monster with one of the masks on hopefully sitting up in the bag. I have three mini-strobe lights so I can use one of those for each section and I have a hanging battery powered lantern and maybe a dozen battery tea lights to light things up as well where needed.

Suggestions? I have never done anything like this before so if you have let me know of any ideas you have.

TV terror Tuesday-Remington Steele

We only have this one scene so let’s laugh it up.

 

Steele Crazy after all these years

1983

Murphy goes to his college reunion and runs right into some nasty business. One of his classmates Dan is found dead and hanging from a flag pole. I’ve heard of hanging around but well anyways a former hippie girl Annie (a pre-Ghostbusters Annie Potts) tells Murphy that the dude was hung from the same pole where this other classmate was killed ten years ago. She also said she saw Dan from a distance running and screaming that someone was after him, but she saw no one. Murphy calls in Laura Holt, but Remington Steele comes along as well. Annie tells the story about the dude Tom and how he died ten years ago. He died from an explosion, but Annie doesn’t know all the details because she was outside on watch while the others broke into a building. They were just supposed to vandalize the offices and set off fireworks because they were anti-war or pro-fireworks or something, but some part of the plan went wrong. Later Murphy, Annie and Laura meet with Hector who was also with this group ten years ago. He is scared and tells them his story from ten years ago which is similar to Annie’s. Then they see a figure watching them that they believe is the ghost of Tom so they follow him, they lose him then run back to find that Hector has been killed by a falling or pushed bookshelf- so two down. Not long after this somehow the killer get’s Hector’s body and hangs him from the same flag pole. Wow what a popular hang out-get it oh nevermind. Meanwhile Remington goes to investigate Dan’s room and doors close on him, blood fills the tub and a mirror explodes. Guess he just wasn’t meant to use the bathroom. The others don’t believe him and when they all go they discover wires and devices used to cause the effects that Remington saw-oh man punked. Soon they run into Nat another member of the group who shares a little more of the story from 1973, but doesn’t know exactly how Tom died. They run around, chasing and finally get Lynette the last member of the group. She reveals that Tom went over the edge and was going to blow up the building with a bomb and make martyrs of the others. She whopped him on the head and ran to get the others out so Tom died from his own bomb ten years ago. However Lynette said she didn’t kill Dan and Hector so case not yet solved. Remington, Laura and Murphy are stumped, but they keep searching. Laura finds a picture and realizes the homecoming queen Jillian (Sharon Stone) is Tom’s younger sister and she must be the one who killed the others because she blamed them for Tom’s death. At about the same time Remington is looking at an earring they found at one of the crime scenes and he sees a picture of Jillian wearing those earring and knows shes the one. Laura, Remington and Murphy race to get her and they arrive at the same time to knock her into a pile of balloons. Case solved, maniac stopped. It’s also revealed that the ghostly Tom that was seen was Jillian wearing a mask, wig and his old jacket.

I don’t anything about this mystery business so just go ahead and confess.

The negatives-I loved this show, but there were times when the mystery part wasn’t as great as the character development. This one had some holes for me. Maybe it’s possible that Remington was fooled by the room tricks because he was still learning the PI business at this time. The ghostly Tom sure didn’t look like a woman in a mask so maybe I’ll stretch my imagination and say she moved fast enough that they only got glimpses and thought it was Tom. Could she have escaped Murphy, Laura and Annie in the library and doubled back to push the shelf and kill Hector? Seems like a stretch, but maybe she knew the room better than they did and pulled it off. At the beginning of the show when Dan is running outside in fear it could be assumed that Jillian was chasing him in her Tom the ghost costume. It doesn’t show or tell how Dan died. Could she have surprised and killed him? Possibly because he was spooked and she could have gotten the jump on him. Now I’ll stretch my skeptical nature and grant them the parts above. However the parts I have real trouble buying are how did Jillian get Dan and Hector hung on the flag pole on an upper floor? She had no accomplice, no machinery and she would have had to haul the bodies up there and get them tied up out on the pole. I particularly have problems with the death of Dan because he went from running outside to hanging dead on the pole in a short amount of time. I don’t see how she could have done that part and that bothers me.

The positives-Any time we get to see Annie Potts is a plus. Murphy was only in the first season, but I liked him and was glad to see a story showing a little of his past. I liked the horror/ghost elements of the episode.

What do you mean I won’t be on this show next year?

I’ll bet she never went on to do anything worthwhile.

The go to horror movies by decade

Some times I want to see a movie I have yet to see or have not seen in while. Other times I want to see a film I have seen, but don’t mind seeing it again and so I watch them fairly often. I think of those as my go to movies. So I decide to churn out a list of my top two go to horror movies by decade from the 30’s -80’s. That doesn’t mean they are for sure my top two of their decade because those choices change, but rather these are films I could watch at any time. Here you go.

1930’s

Top pick-Dracula-The monster, the mood and the sets are all top notch.

Runner up-King Kong-A great adventure with a legendary monster.

1940’s

Top pick-The wolf man-A monster movie with a great legend behind the transformation.

Runner up-Cat People-Another transformation film, but the suspense is strong here too.

1950’s

Top pick-The creature from the black lagoon-Okay, yes another Universal film, but  the creature, the girl and the fight to survive all make this one great.

Runner up-Godzilla-One of the best giant monster films ever made.

1960’s-

Top pick-Black Sunday-Mario Bava’s classic film was so stylish all the way through.

Runner up-Frankenstein must be destroyed-One of Peter Cushing’s best performances as he plays the Baron at his ruthless best.

1970’s

Top pick-Halloween-One of those films where every step is perfectly done.

Runner up- Psychomania- This film is like a restless dream with everything swirling around without making a great deal of senses, but it’s very entertaining.

1980’s

Top pick-Fright Night-Not every decade has a film where they do a good job putting a classic monster in their decade, but the 80’s has one in this film.

Runner up-Friday the 13th part 2-That’s right I did it, I took a sequel. One of my favorite slasher films ever.

1990’s

Top pick-Army of darkness-The most hyper horror comedy ever.

Runner up- Jacob’s Ladder-It’s a weird one at times, but it works.

Halloween activities

Friday we went to the Halloween party we have been going to for years that’s at a local Fire Hall. They have a costume contest, a magic show, pizza and treat bags. It was awesome as always. My kids went as a chimp and a ninja this year.

Yesterday the largest town in our county had trick or treating at local stores on main street. That was followed by a Halloween parade. They have the parade every year but  always on a week day and it always seem to hit when we had something else going on, but this year we went. The trick or treating was cool and lots of shops participated. The town library did some haunted rooms for the first time and extended their hours. This is not the library that I work but it’s in the same system. The kids went through it once before the parade on once after. Wish we’d gotten some clearer pictures of the parade but here you go.

My daughter waiting for the parade to start. The local music shop across the street was blasting Halloween themed songs before the parade like Ghostbusters, Thriller and others.

One of our favorites were the three guys dressed as a gorilla, Luigi and a giant banana who were riding little motorcycles around and doing wheelies. Here’s the gorilla.

 

Lots of people entered in their homemade costumes. Here are some Lego people.

 

This picture doesn’t do this group justice. It was a baton twirling troupe of about 30 kids and a couple of instructors all dressed as Wizard of Oz characters. Note the character on the far left is Toto. Being that the Wizard is my favorite film of all time I thought this was great.

Other parade entries of note was a Zombie baton twirling troupe. There was a local high school band playing the Addams family theme and everyone in that group got to pick their own costume so they had everyone in there from Darth Vader to Waldo (of Where’s Waldo fame) to the Cookie Monster. There was a cub scout group of twenty some kids and their leaders all dress in Teenage mutant ninja turtle characters.

These above pics are from the haunted rooms at the library which was designed and put together by teen volunteers. They had a ghostly checkout desk, a body parts room, a crime scene, a really creepy doll bedroom, a giant bat, a spider web, lots of skulls, rats as well as  people dressed as Freddy Krueger and a headless guy. They did a great job.

 

Sleepy Hollow Sundays-The legend of Sleepy Hollow

 

I nose what I’m doing.

It chops, it dices, the headless horseman swordawhacker does it all!
1949

So this Ichabod Crane fellow is the new school teacher. He also loves food, money and music plus he has a tendency to draydream and has aspirations of being more than just a teacher. Wait, this isn’t the dating game, what else is going on here. Well there’s this Brom Bones guy who talks loud and gives beer to dogs and horses (yes, he really did that). He likes this girl Katrina who has tiny feet and a love for umbrellas plus her old daddy has money. Now Brom Bones liked Karina too and uh wait maybe this is the dating game. Anyways Ichabod has eyes for Katrina and apparently her money. She returns the attention although it’s implied by the narrator that she may be doing this to make Brom jealous. Wait a minute is this horror story or a soap opera? Ichabod Crane shows us that it’s okay to keep chicken legs in your coat pocket and sit on a cake although not at the same time. Brom tries to get at Ichabod, but ole Icky is smooth and lucky enough to beat Brom multiple times. At the Halloween party the school teacher appears like he will win over Katrina. Brom spies that Ichabod has a fear for bad luck and spooks. So Brom tlaks up a tale of a headless horseman and shakes Icky up. Crane has to ride home through the woods after the party and he is all nerves now. So he heads out on the goofiest looking horse ever. It’s all going fine until the headless horseman shows up..hooray some action! He chases Ichabod on the meanest looking horse ever..how’s he sees to navigate? Oh anyways Ichabod believes is he gets to the other side of the covered bridge he’ll be safe. He goes through a crazy chase and makes it only to have a flaming pumpkin thrown at him kaboom! The next day they found the busted pumpkin and Crane’s hat, but nothing else. Brom and Katrina got hitched. Some say Ichabod survived and married a wealthy widow somewhere else, but others say the horseman got him wahahahaha!

I think I just wet my self.

 

The negatives-Not so much.

The positives-For me even though it clocks in a mere 34 minutes this is still the best movie/show version of this story. The songs and narration by Bing Crosby are great. The animation is very well done in particular the use of shadows in fact any horror film could learn a thing or too from watching this one. Just a classic that still stands up as a great piece of visual storytelling.

Take that, Brom Bones!

What to watch on Halloween

I first started picking something to watch on Halloween in maybe the mid-1990’s and not too surprisingly it was the first Halloween. I pulled out the VHS tape oh maybe three years in a row on Halloween. Then around 1999 I switched over to watching the 1931 Dracula every years on the holiday for maybe six or seven years. Since then I have not had as much of a ritual of watching the same film every year on Halloween. I watch some kind of kid’s Halloween special like Peanuts, Garfield or something with my kids. Then once they go to bed I may put something in although some recent years I may not have seen anything due to getting the kids in bed and then needing to get in bed early to get up for work early. This year I don’t have work on Novemebr 1st, but the kids do have soccer playoffs with the first starting at the ungodly and likely frigid time of 8:00 AM-yikes. I have a number of films I’d like to watch on Halloween and a number of horror films I have but have not yet seen. So at some point I have to decide what to watch on Halloween.

***Do you watch a certain movie on Halloween? If so then what is it?

First fright Friday-Lady Frankenstein

1971

I’d been wanting to see this film for some time. Not because I heard it was any good, in fact I’ve largely heard the opposite. However it is a gothic horror about Frankenstein that was made in the early 1970’s so all of those aspects appeal to me. So I finally got around to watching it, but when it came time reviewing it I was hesitant to try to decipher the plot. While it starts out with sort of a story it quickly goes in other directions. Plus I’m lazy so I’ll do this one as a list.

Ten things I learned from this film.

1-Dr. Frankenstein can actually be killed rather by a monster.

2-Dr. Frankenstein didn’t want his daughter to take up the family business.

3-He must have wanted her to be something practical rather than being a mad scientist.

4-The old Dr. Frankenstein didn’t have an eye for beauty judging by the monster he made.

5-Even an old lab assistant may have a chance with a young woman…if he’s willing to have his brain transplanted.

6-Killing a slow dude while he’s making love is apparently an okay practice in the mad scientist business.

7-Simple, out of control monsters seem to have a pretty good sense of direction.

8-Grave robbers seem to be a dime a dozen or whatever the going rate is.

9-Morals have no place in the world of mad science.

10-Apparently a guy mad scientist does his business in the lab while a woman does it in the bedroom or something like that.

Overall is was worth seeing, but just expect it to fall apart and make less sense as it goes along.

 

 

 

TV terror Thursday-The Saint

 

1966

Laurence Payne (Vampire Circus, The Tell tale heart and the Crawling eye) as Noel Bastian a local guy and author. His wife and others think he is fooling around with Ann.

Suzanne Farmer (Dracula-Prince of darkness, Die monster die!) as Ann Clanraith a young who works helping Noel Bastian with his book. Her dad and Noel’s wife thinks she fooling around with Noel

Caroline Blakiston (Scoop, Return of the Jedi) as Eleanor Bastian wife of Noel. She think the above, but she also believes in the Loch Ness Monster and hopes to prove it exists.

The Saint Simon Templar shows up in the Loch Ness area in Scotland just in time to find a dead dog and some huge footprints of perhaps a monster?  Some people think there is  a monster and some don’t. There is no shortage of other drama either as all of the above about suspected fooling around is going on as well. Local scruffy neck Willie insists the monster exists. Then he shows up buying drinks with big bills that no one has ever seen him have. Simon questions him and Willie sets up to meet with him that night and tell him something. Simon gets Ann to go with him but they find Willie dead so no new information for them-denied. So the monster talk heats up. Believer and former big game hunter Eleanor sets up a monster watch and with herself, her husband, local dude Angus (who likes Ann) and Simon taking shifts. Eleanor takes the first shift. Around this time Simon stumbles upon an underground tunnel that leads to a cave near the water. In the cave are oxygen tanks, a boat, a bloody spiked club and big thing used for making monster footprints. Uh, oh someone has been playing monster. Simon gets out and back to let Noel know that he is late in relieving Elanor on the monster watch. So Noel runs out to relieve his wife and she fusses at first but give him some coffee. Fog rolls in and Noel looks to be slumped over at his watch. A boat comes a shore and a trenchcoat wearing person gets out carrying that big spiked club. They walk up on the slumped Noel and swing the club and strike one-he dodges the club. Of course it’s not Noel it’s Simon who has been in wait for the killer. They struggle and the killer is indeed old man Smithers and he would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids-oh wait no it’s actually Eleanor. She hated her husband and set up this monster business to kill him plus she killed the dog and Willie. Before Simon and Noel can grab her she races back to the boat and goes back out into the fog of Loch Ness. The others call for her to come back, but bubble come up in the water, she screams and they later find her dead body believing the monster got her. Roll those credits.

The negatives-The monster is a little silly for the Saint although being the bright dude he is he knew all along that something was up.

The positives-Glad to see monster movie veterans like Farmer and Payne in this one. While the monster idea seems slightly out of place for the Saint I always welcome monsters. The mystery part of the episode was played well enough. Overall an entertaining episode.