The big night is upon us, and what fun we've had getting here! I hope you've enjoyed this year's Countdown to Halloween, both at my blogs and all the blogs that have participated this year. Special thanks once again go out to John Rozum for orchestrating this magnificent event! He's the true Pumpkin King!
If, like me, you're upset you haven't done all the groovy things you wanted to do this season, you can always stop by here and check out the archives for whenever you need a shot of spookiness. In this way, it can be Halloween whenever you want it to be.
Have a great night, stay safe, and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
This is the last weekend before the big day! There's no time to waste. It's right now or wait 11 long months. Put the petal to the metal of your Dragula and get in gear!
But before I get to today's topic, some sad news.
Zacherley has died. If you're a fan of Halloween at all, you probably already know who Zacherley is, so I won't get into his life and history. As sad as this news is, you can't deny he's lead a long and fulfilling life, passing at a staggering 98 years old. He's so associated with his character, you almost expect him to keep on being Zacherley, as what is death to the undead? It seems kind of fitting that he would go at this time of year. Goodnight Zacherley, wherever you are!
We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.
With Halloween being this Monday, most Halloween parties will take place tonight and tomorrow night. If you're stuck on exactly what to wear and how to behave, simply take a few cues from the following footage of Halloween parties from the past. There's also a parade!
The first party is from 1956, and the second party and parade footage are from 1969. I don't know who any of these people are, but it's a lot of fun to see them having fun. I love old footage like this. It takes one back to a (supposedly) simpler time. It just give me the feels for so many reasons I don't have the time or words to expound upon now.
Enjoy! Please have a great and safe weekend! Party hardy! And I'll see you Monday for--*sniff*--the final post of this year's Countdown to Halloween!
The last Thursday of each month at the blog brings us that month's Underappreciated Music to spotlight, well--underappreciated music. For the Countdown to Halloween, boy do I have a good one!
See that album cover above? Is that not the coolest thing you've ever seen? Until earlier this month, I didn't know it existed. From the first moment I saw it, I had to know everything about it.
Philly Joe Jones was a noted jazz drummer from my hometown of Philadelphia and is most remembered for his work drumming for Miles Davis and Chet Baker, among others. He also led groups of his own, this sextet being one of them. Blues for Dracula was his first release as a leader, and what a way to make a debut!
The titular first track is the only one that ties into the Dracula theme, which is a shame, as that track is joyfully weird, with Jones speaking in character as Dracula over his band's music. I would have loved to have heard an entire album of that. The remainder of the album, however, is straight-ahead jazz, which is in no way a bad thing. It's a solid jazz album, even if not doing the entire album in character seems like a missed opportunity.
I've featured "scary" material from Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and The Muppet Show several times before, and today is another one of those times. Only one of the two clips I have for you this year is actually connected to the Children's Television Workshop, but who's keeping track?
First up from Sesame Street: there are mysterious moans coming from an old deserted house--is it haunted? Billy Joe Jive, super crime fighting ace, and his partner Smart Susie Sunset are on the case!
Next, from Jim Henson's pre-Sesame Street series Sam and Friends, a parody of Edward R. Murrow's celebrity interview series Person to Person, slyly named Poison to Poison. The interview subject is an Alfred Hitchcock spoof. Enjoy!
Today is the last Tuesday of the Countdown to Halloween, which means today is the last Tuesday's Overlooked Film for the Countdown, and that film is the 1974 Peter Weir-directed film The Cars That Ate Paris.
The story involves the fictional town of Paris, Australia, a rural town set in its old-fashioned ways and insular attitudes. How insular? The town hobby is staging fatal car accidents for outsiders so their cars can be stolen and customized into terror machines. If a person does survive a crash, they are taken to the local hospital to be lobotomized and used for experimentation.
I do NOT want to see the town's ratings on Yelp.
I haven't seen the film, but I've heard much about it and it looks very intriguing. In addition to the carnage, there are also themes of the obsession with cars and the conflicts between older and younger generations. Cars is different from the other "killer car" selections I've written about this month in that these cars aren't possessed by evil spirits or alien gas, but they are in fact possessed by evil human beings--and aren't they the scariest monsters of all?
The film was a big hit at the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, but didn't make much of an impact on Australian audiences. It has, however, become a cult classic today. It was released in America in 1976 under the misleading title The Cars That Eat People (wouldn't that be something?). Director Peter Weir would go on to bigger and better things directing films such as Witness, Dead Poets Society, and The Truman Show, among others.
HOLY HANNA, HALLOWEEN IS A WEEK FROM TONIGHT! We only have that long to get our Halloween on. "The clock is ticking--it's almost time!"
Today I present an episode of the short-lived animated series Spider-Woman, which aired for one season on ABC's Saturday Morning schedule starting in the fall of 1979. In this episode, Spider-Woman faces off against Dracula himself (a major Marvel Comics villain in the 70s), who has been freed from his tomb by dimwitted villagers. Dracula exacts his titular revenge by turning people into vampires--NOT by biting them, but by shooting lasers from his fingers.
Wait, it gets better.
Later, the Wolfman appears and turns people into werewolves--by shooting lasers from his eyes.
Wait, it gets better.
Frankenstein's monster also appears and turns people into monsters just like him--by shooting lasers from his neck bolts.
It doesn't get better than that!
The episode is as ridiculous as it sounds, and that makes it well worth the 20 minutes. Enjoy!
Monsters, Madmen, and Machines is a breezy documentary from 1980 that takes an informal look at the history of science fiction on screen, from the silent era right up to Star Trek and Star Wars. Hosted by Gil Gerard, who starred in NBC's popular Buck Rogers revival at the time, this is a fun, if surface-level, look at the genre as it appeared in movies and TV up until that time.
I don't know the exact origin of this special, but I know it aired on Halloween Night on HBO in 1980 and was released on home video at some point. If you have a fondness for cheesy B-movies of the 50s and 60s, you'll find this special particularly fun.
