Don't Be Afraid of the TV!

What were you watching this week, 37 years ago?

Like a step into the Time Machine, I can tell you exactly what I was doing 37 years ago this week. I happened upon a bunch of old TV Guides at a household sale I was helping out with. Amongst the many issues, which spanned the decades of the 60s through to present day, I found one dated Oct. 6-12, 1973, and took a look see to find if I could recall what I watched on the tube that particular week. I almost spit out my Fruity Pebbles when I came across the listings for Wednesday night, October 10.

And that's exactly what this 11 year old kid was doing that very night.  It would become one of my all time favorite TV Movies.  What a blast.

Then, a flip of a couple pages brought me to Friday night, Oct. 12.  This is the the treat that was in store for a creepy little kid, who was looking for more Halloween season treats:

Surprisingly, the write up doesn't mention that this little monster flick was produced and directed by Dark Shadows creator Dan Curtis.  Jack Palance seems an unlikely candidate for the role of the Casanova of all monsters, but I don't know that I even recognized him back then.  I may have seen him in some westerns or something, but hell, it didn't matter.  The guy was absolutely creepy (but not as creepy as the 1968 version of Dr. Jekkyl & Mr. Hyde, also directed by Curtis).

I think maybe I'll put my DVDs of these movies in the Time Machine and experence them all over again.

where's the leg warmers at!

I’ll tell you this much, Mr. Miller enjoyed the chance to once again watch a PYT prancing around in clinging high waist jeans, a plaid blouse and rockin’ a feathered Farrah hair-do. It brought me back to my days (the 70s, that is).

I was hoping to catch a glimpse of some leg warmers and a pair of lady workboots, too, but no luck this time.

Can't be too picky...

80s fashion isn’t the only retro-action going on in Dark Sky’s much anticipated THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL. Writer/director Ti West (previous of the THE ROOST) not only modeled his film after the pre-HALLOWEEN/FRIDAY THE 13^TH era of 70s horror, but he also physically placed the story in the early 1980s, before the modern age of communications – you know, back when you used to have to let the phone ring a dozen times before anyone would answer. No cell phones, no Internet, no texts messaging, and barely even an answering machine could be had. What’s a girl to do when she’s stranded in a creepy old house out in the middle of nowhere? Why, snoop around, from room to room, until you find trouble!

After committing to renting an apartment she can’t afford, Samantha (played by relative newcomer Jocelin Donahue) finds a babysitting job posted on a job board outside her dorm. When she arrives at the creepy old house on the outskirts of town, she questions her good luck. Her paranoia is fueled once she meets the people inside: the insanely tall and quiet Mr. Ulman (played by the insanely tall and quiet Tom Noonan – the original Hannibal Lector from MANHUNTER), and his wife (cult icon Mary Waronov). It isn’t enough that they’ve lured Samantha out there under false pretenses – it’s not a baby she’s being asked to sit for, but an elderly mother locked away upstairs – or that the well-weathered Mrs. Ulman tries to seduce her, but there have been reports on the radio of weird goings on around the area. But none of that is cause for concern after Samantha is offered a couple hundred bucks for the job. Bad idea!

Up to this point West keeps the pacing admirably old school. He expresses his appreciation for Polanski’s genre films, and he’s attempted to model his own after ROSEMARY’S BABY and REPULSION. But the pacing of those tap more into the inner turmoil of the characters, whereas HOUSE rather adeptly reflects the pacing of many of the other suspense flicks from the era. Films like PLAY MISTY FOR ME , or TV movies like BAD RONALD and THE SCREAMING WOMAN that would offset the approaching nastiness by grounding the first act in real world minutia, instead of pouring on the gloomy foreshadowing .

It gets fairly tedious in the middle act. The characters, though well played, never develop beyond their archetypes, and, let’s face it, the fear of murderous cults and Satanic slayings may have added to the audiences unease back in the days of the Manson Family and Son of Sam, but it doesn’t really work up much but nostalgic spookiness for todays audience. Fear not horror fans (and gore fans, you get the payoff you deserve in thecrazy, bloody climax.

It’s a treat to see a film that isn’t afraid to be just plain creepy. There’s none of the not-so-clever twists or any over analysis of stuff that doesn’t need analyzing. THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is great late-night viewing, just like you used to enjoy.

And check out the great 70s style zooms and freeze frames in the HOUSE trailer! This flick is sure to be a treat for all fans of retro horror.

a friday the 13th treat

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! There's nothing like an extra day of doom and gloom in the month that harbors Halloween. To celebrate the excessive creepiness I wanted to steer you towards some great links.

Over at Tomb it May Concern David has a couple excellently warped and twisted -- not to mention bloody -- monster finds. Two full comic books based on the stories of Frankenstein and Dracula!

And as a bonus, here's a link to the fantastic site Bubblegum Fink, where the curator likes to make his own bubblegum cards out of the craziest movies. They've done them for Logans Run, A Clockwork Orange, and a bunch of other cool flicks.

Here's his latest, appropriatly designed from the slasher classic Friday the 13th!

Enjoy! And may all your good luck be bad on this most gruesome day.