SCTV, Monster Chiller Horror Theatre, "Dr. Tongue's House of Cats"

 

Welcome to Week 2 of the Countdown to Halloween! Please be sure to check out all of the great sites participating in the event by clicking on the main site here.

I'm starting off the week with this fun clip from the Canadian comedy sketch series SCTV. It stars Joe Flaherty as Count Floyd hosting the horror movie series Monster Chiller Horror Theatre. His feature this particular segment is "Dr. Tongue's House of Cats," starring John Candy as the titular Dr. and Catherine O'Hara as his unwitting "victim." Eugene Levy is the Dr.'s gortesque servant Bruno.

This appears to be the first appearance of the Dr. Tongue character, who would appear numerous times throughout SCTV's run. He's a spoof of the cheesy horror movie villains of the 50s and 60s with ridiculous premises and even cheesier 3-D. It's a lot of fun!

Enjoy!

Midnight Offerings TV-Movie (1981)

 

I'm back to round out the first week of the Countdown to Halloween 2023. And as I try to do on Fridays during the Countdown, I'm featuring a long-form program for you to enjoy over the weekend. This week, it's the 1981 TV-movie Midnight Offerings!

According to IMDb, "Vivian has magic powers. She doesn't hesitate to save her boyfriend David from failing in school by murdering teachers. However, David has gotten tired of her and is putting his charm on a new girl in school, Robin. Robin discovers that she also has magic powers, and it comes to a mental showdown between the two women over David."

It kind of sounds like Mean Girls but with witchcraft.

Oh, and supporting cast members include Marion Ross (Happy Days), Gordon Jump (WKRP In Cincinatti), and a very young Vanna White!

To be honest, I haven't seen this yet myself, but I'm fascinated by made-for-TV horror films, particularly since broadcast standards in the hayday of TV-movies were pretty stringent compared to today, and horror can be a challenging genre to make work with strict content guidelines. I'm always curious to see how the creators tell their horror stories under those conditions. Let's find out how the creators of this movie tell theirs!

I want to thank Joe Mello, one of my oldest social media buddys and the author of fellow Countdown blog Hellowe'en Horror, for bringing this movie to my attention!

I've embedded the movie into the blog below, but if you prefer to watch the movie directly on YouTube. the link is here.

Enjoy! Have a great first full weekend of October! Do spooky stuff! Drink pumpkin beer! Hang up decorations! Read old Halloween articles of my blog!

Halloween TV Commercials 2023 Edition!

 

Hello again! Today's post is a Countdown perennial: it's time for this year's batch of Halloween TV Commercials! I post at least one round of spooky-themed commercials each and every year. Commercials are one of the earliest signs that a holiday or season is around the corner, so I think posting several Halloween-like commercials early in the Countdown sets the mood for the whole month. Let's get to it!

First up, this rad commercial for Hallmark's Halloween fare from 1987. I love the old school GCI graphics on this one. Very 80s!

Next up, Casper The Friendly Ghost helps Target welcome shoppers to their stores in 1991!

Who is Mr. Fright? I have no idea, but he had a local 976 number here in the Philly area in the 80s, as can be deduced from this commercial. No other details are available, and I have no memory of this guy whatsoever. But he seems cool!

Goodwill is always a popular and inexpensive way to create a great homemade costume. Visit your local store today! This commercial aired in central Texas in 2014.

Pharmacies have long been Halloween necessity destinations, and Walgreens is no exception. Check out their offerings in this commercial from 1992!

I believe I've featured this next commercial before, but this is a much better copy. Enjoy this delightful commercial from the 70s for the Weebles Haunted House!

I'm sure every kid who had this was considered the coolest kid on their block. From 1984, it's Play-Doh's Count Creepyhead!

Finally, I can't believe I haven't featured this commercial until now, as this ran pretty extensively during the 80s. Here is a commercial for the king of all Halloween candies, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, featuring a generous but misunderstood Frankenstein!

I hope you enjoyed those. Stay tuned this Friday for a movie presentation. Thanks!

Amazing Stories, "Mummy, Daddy" (1985)

 

Hello again! Welcome to the first "real" post for this year's Countdown to Halloween. To start off the event properly, I present an episode of the 1980s fantasy anthology series Amazing Stories.

Amazing Stories, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, was a series on NBC that presented a different story of the fantastic every week: some scary, some sweet, all featuring a story of the supernatural, otherworldly, or scientific.

In this episode, "Mummy, Daddy," a horror movie actor, in full costume as a mummy for his latest movie, is trying to find his way to the birth of his new baby. However, a real mummy coincidentally makes his moves on the town the same night as the actor is on the way to his baby's birth. Confusion and hilarity ensue.

I was a fan of this series during its run, and this episode, which first aired October 27, 1985, is one of my favorites. Thanks to Twitter/X user Retro Art Blog for reminding me of this.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 2023 Countdown to Halloween!

 

Welcome one and all to the 2023 Countdown to Halloween!

Yes, boils and ghouls, it's time to rise from our musty coffins after 11 months of very deep sleep, and celebrate the feast of All Hallows E'en. How do we do that? With commercials, cartoons, movies, music, and anything else that fits the Halloween spirit. They'll be hardcore stuff, cutesy stuff, grown-up stuff, kid stuff, and many other kinds of stuffs.

As always, a grave, er, great thank you to Dex, Naila Moon, and everyone behind the main Countdown to Halloween site. Please please PLEASE check that site out for dozens of other great Halloween sites full of tricks and treats.

I hope to entertain you every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday between now and the big night with maniacal marvels sure to tickle your fancy.

Without further ado, let the 2023 Countdown to Halloween begin!

[WARNING: GORY VIDEO BELOW!]

My First Halloween Shopping Trip of the Season

 

Hello everyone! I hope you are getting back into the post-summer groove easily and smoothly.

October is less than two weeks away, and I'm sure you are already prepping for Halloween. I'm a late bloomer compared to most out there, as I don't start celebrating Halloween hardcore until October 1st. I'm a slacker, I know! But I did make a couple of shopping excursions for the big night, only one of which bore any fruit, but I'm happy with what I bought.

First up, a family-size box of Carmella Creeper (Walmart, $3). I still have plenty of Monster Cereal I didn't eat from last year, but I couldn't pass up the first new Monster Cereal character since Fruity Yummy Mummy in the 80s. I've heard mixed reviews on the cereal, but I enjoy caramel apple flavor, so I'm looking forward to trying this next month. Until then, I need to eat last year's cereal!

Next up, a 3-DVD collection of Beetlejuice, Gremlins, and Gremlins 2: The New Batch in a new glow-in-the-dark slipcase (Walmart, $9.96). Even though I already have Gremlins on a VHS tape my wife bought me 20 years ago, and I have Beetlejuice on a not-so-great dubbed VHS tape from the late 80s, I thought the DVD upgrade was worth it, especially since I don't have Gremlins 2 in any format. Plus, the entire collection was less than $10. The new slipcase was just a fun bonus!

Next, a pair of skeleton gloves (Dollar General, $2). My wife bought a skeleton costume from Target on clearance last year, and I thought these gloves would complement it. They're a bit snug, but they'll do.

Finally, the pièce de résistance: a very cheap, off-model Michael Myers mask (Dollar General, $8). It's made of vinyl, it's only a half mask, and the hair is also vinyl, but considering how many bad Michael Myers masks there are out there, if I'm going to buy one, I'd rather pay $8 than $20 or more for one.

In a separate outing, and without even looking for it, I found a bottle of Fanta's foray into the "mystery soda flavor" gimmick, What The Fanta? (Wawa, 2 20 oz bottles for $4). I got the zero sugar version, and the artificial sweetener seemed to throw off what the intended taste should be, so I have no guesses, just something fruity. I want to try the sugar version for a better taste test.

So, what do you think? Is this a decent Halloween haul for my first trip of the season? It's still early, so I plan on doing more scary shopping in the coming weeks. If I find more good stuff, I'll share it with you.

And remember, the Countdown to Halloween starts here at the blog on Sunday, October 1st!

Thanks!

Happy September 1st!

Happy September 1st! Welcome to the best four months of the year! And I must start them off as I do every year. I must maintain the natural order of things. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

Let's make it a great rest of the year!