Halloween 2020 Reading and Watching List!

Stop me if you've heard this bit before, but... Halloween 2020 isn't over until I say it is!  

And I promised a return to "Happy Stuff" the day after Election Day, so here we go! 

Whether or not you were satisfied with the results, or even if the results are still up in the air (Oh, I hope not... I can't take anymore! ...And *I* don't know myself, because I'm writing this BEFORE Election Day - so Good Luck, USA!), you're probably all wondering...

...What did Joe read and watch for Halloween 2020?  

...And, if you aren't wondering that, you SHOULD, because it's a darn sight more pleasant than the NEWS was on that day!  

In my opinion, I did a remarkable amount of partaking in Halloween-themed entertainment for one day - especially as much of the day was taken with domestic and outdoor chores... two loads of wash (wash, dry, put away), gathering and storing all the outdoor furniture and equipment, removal of outdoor plants which will not survive the winter, gathering the week's recycling, cleaning the backyard fence of dirty smudges... and, believe it or not, washing-down the front of my house (at least the parts I can reach without a ladder) by hand!  Whew! Puff-Pant! 

It was during those activities, particularly the house hand-washing, that I observed no kids trick-or-treating - as discussed in a previous post! 

That I found ANY time at all for Halloween-themed products of entertainment, is a tribute to the "hold" this particular holiday has on me.  

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But, yes... there were two comics, and two items on DVD, in the following order... (David Gerstein will be proud of this first one!)

DELL FOUR COLOR #46: FELIX THE CAT AND THE HAUNTED CASTLE (Dell Comics, Cover Date: June, 1944)   

In this 48-page collection of Felix the Cat daily newspaper comic strips from the great Otto Mesmer, Felix has a (typically) disjointed adventure of non-sequiturs that include:

In Fairyland, helping "Little Betty Blue" attend the Fairyland Ball, thwarting the efforts of her wicked stepmother.  If this bit sounds familiar, it seems odd that Cinderella herself, as well as Little Bo Peep, and Little Red Riding Hood, have no trouble getting dolled-up and attending the Ball!  ...No wonder Betty's so (sorry, but I gotta say it) blue! 

Meeting a group of four "Magical Midgets". 

Evading "Bruto", the wicked stepmother's executioner.   

And finally helping a poor shoe-shine boy, when the larger "Simple Simon" muscles in on his territory!  

However, somewhere between besting Bruto and snookering Simple Simon, a larger part of the story takes place in the titular "Haunted Castle" where Felix must escape from a family of ghosts who have pressed him into service as both a pet and a slave.  

A nice, long romp that never gets dull! 

HERE'S the GCD link for it! 

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Then, on to BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY #13 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date. March, 1966) With all the recent Blog activity about BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY of late, how could I NOT read one of these for Halloween!

This issue is highlighted by it's lead story, "The Five Casks of Greed", a haunting tale of the corruption and utter consumption of a man by avarice. 

Archaeologist Andrew Lake recounts the his woeful tale of the discovery of five sealed casks below the surface of Crete. The casks are said to each hold great riches... BUT only one must be opened within a ten-year period - and, in order for a cask to magically open, one must commit a designated act of evil that is stated on the cask!    

Would you commit acts of evil, which incrementally increase in severity, in exchange for riches?  And would you be willing to wait the prescribed duration before claiming the treasures in the remaining four casks?  

Those are the questions facing Andrew Lake in this magnificent 12-page tale!  

Making it all the more special, Boris Karloff appears, not only as the "host", but is also a participant in the story as the person to whom Lake tells his tragic tale!  

There's Unca Boris, as "host" in the splash panel, and as "listener" in Panel Two.  (Click to Enlarge)

In keeping with my penchant for casting "era-appropriate actors" as the characters in the Boris Karloff and Twilight Zone comic stories, and "hearing their voices" as I read, I cast Mark Richman (also known as Peter Mark Richman) as Andrew Lake.  Yeah, the "hair color" doesn't match up but, if you've seen him in anything, you'll know why he's my choice! 

I've always said the overall quality of the Gold Key Comics of 1964-1966 was unsurpassed.  Boris Karloff Tales of Mystery #13 is just one more reason why!  

HERE'S the GCD link for it!  

This is the first time I have read either of these comics and both, in their own unique storytelling were perfect Halloween reads!  

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For DVDs, on the other hand, nothing new - just familiar, tried, and true! 

At Scarecrow33's suggestion I went for the 1964 Woody Woodpecker TV special "Spook-a-Nanny", on the DVD set "The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Cartoon Collection" 

Woody unsuccessfully tries to blow up party balloons for "his boss" Walter Lantz, then heads off to a Halloween party attended by the various Lantz characters (largely voiced by Daws Butler), and encounters a rock band of ghosts with Beatle-wigs! 

The special also features one of my favorite Woody theatrical cartoons, "Under the Counter Spy" (1954), a parody of "Dragnet" in which Woody encounters "The Bat" a (perfect for Halloween) villain who resembles The Phantom Blot! ...At least he did to me in 1964!

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Finally, does anything say Halloween like a SIMPSONS "Treehouse of Horror" show?   ...No! Nothing does, so let's just get on with it!  

"Treehouse of Horror XIV" leads off the DVD set THE SIMPSONS: THE COMPLETE FIFTEENTH SEASON, and originally aired on November 02, 2003 (literally SEVENTEEN years to the day, as I write this!)  And, yes, they DID do a joke about a Halloween Special airing in November!  

Homer becomes "Death", and actually enjoys purging the world of various folks... until his next assignment is to expire Marge!  Will Death take a holiday?  Or a donut break?  Or will Homer use (or lose?) his head to get out of his predicament?  

Professor Frink re-animates his dead father - who is very appropriately voiced by Jerry Lewis! 

And Bart and Millhouse possess the ability to stop and start time... What could possibly go wrong? 

Unlike the two comics, which I hadn't read previously, these shows are "comfortable old friends"... or as "comfortable" as you can possibly be with Homer Simpson in the role of "Death"!  

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BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! 

...Don't bother counting, the clock doth strike-eth TWELVE, and Halloween be-eth over for another year-eth! 

But, we sure packed a lot of housework, chores, and Halloween reading and watching into this one didn't we-eth?  

Oh, wait, Halloween's still not over until I say so... but it IS winding down, so stay tuned, or blogged, or whatever it is you do-eth! 

Unconventional Self-Quarantine Looong DVD Review: The Uncanny (Blu-ray, 1977)

The Uncanny (1977)

(Released on Blu-ray May 28, 2019 by Severin)

Another Looong DVD Review by Joe Torcivia

...Gosh, it FELT GOOD to write THAT!

Summary: Fear, kitty, kitty! 

As many of you know, I attend a "Thursday Night Film Group", in the basement of a friend and independent film maker, whom Esther and I met as a adult-ed college lecturer.  

Weeeelll... We can't really do that anymore!  So, what did I do on a Thursday night?  Decided to watch a horror film, of course.  

Looking through my shelves for something I bought a long time ago, but never watched (I've got quite a few of those!), I stopped on "The Uncanny" (1977), and popped it in the player.  

Here is the review I submitted to the group... 

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Being self-quarantined, I honestly don’t miss all that much. 

The person I love is self-quarantined with me… The places I love, should (hopefully) still be there when it’s over – and it’s not like I can go to them anyway right now.  And the things I love are mostly locked up in here with me as well. 

So, what do I miss?  Averi aside, I’d have to say PIZZA!  Yeah, I know I could go out and get some but, somehow, it doesn’t seem worth it to me.   But, last Thursday night, when our group would normally have met… I decided that I missed… Peter Cushing!  …Talk about your strange cravings!

As was the case with the previous Thursday’s choice “The Return of the Living Dead” (1984), I walked over to my DVD shelves… and (if you’ll forgive the expression) “scratched that Peter Cushing itch!”  And did so with…

“The Uncanny” (1977)” …Or, as *I* would have titled it: “Fear, Kitty, Kitty!” 

“Years ago, people used to believe a cat was the devil in disguise!  I’m beginning to think they were right!” – Peter Cushing as writer Wilbur Gray, in “The Uncanny”.

Not only do I get the great Peter Cushing, but the also-great Ray Milland, and the equally-and-also-great Donald Pleasance. 

Co-produced by Milton Subotsky (formally of “Amicus Films”, or as I call them “Hammer Film’s Little Brother”), “The Uncanny” follows the Amicus formula of separate and distinct, but thematically-linked, stories within a surrounding story framework.

That “surrounding framework” being that nervous and paranoid Montreal writer Wilbur Gray (Cushing) is delivering a manuscript to his publisher Frank Richards (Ray Milland).  Gray’s manuscript warns of the dangers posed by ordinary cats, as exemplified by his quote above.

Richards is naturally skeptical and dismissive of so baseless and fearful a work, forcing Wilbur to produce and discuss in gory detail his research notes – which form the three “cat-horror” vignettes that make up the bulk of the picture. 

Wilbur and his notes! 

LONDON 1912: A wealthy old cat lady changes her will to leave her money and property to her herd of cats, rather than her irresponsible spendthrift nephew.  The nephew’s girlfriend is Janet, the old woman’s housemaid, who tries to get the copy of the new will and destroy it, so that she and nephew-dear will be rich.  The cats beg to differ… playing into Wilbur’s narrative. 

QUEBEC PROVINCE 1975:  Poor little Lucy’s parents died in a plane crash, leaving her with little more than the clothes on her back, her black cat “Wellington” … and her mother’s set of books on magic and the occult.  She is placed in the care of her Aunt Joan, to live in her prissy and snobbish home, where the quiet, introverted girl just wishes to be left alone with her cat.

Aunt Joan did not anticipate her niece arriving with a cat, and her mean, spoiled daughter Angela did not anticipate ANYTHING that would take even the slightest attentions away from her.  While Joan’s husband likes the girl and treats her as fatherly as he does Angela, Joan merely tolerates Lucy, and despises the cat (whom Joan views as a needless distraction and inconvenience).  The less nuanced Angela hates both Lucy and Wellington.

Angela is mean and dangerous to Lucy, going as far as to repeatedly buzz the girl and cat with the propeller of a flying radio-controlled model plane. (She must have seen “North by Northwest”!) When Angela blames house messes and breakage on Wellington, Joan decides the cat must go – and has her husband “take Wellington away” while Lucy is asleep. 

I’ll spoil no more, save to say that Lucy and Wellington have their horrifying and satisfying revenge on Angela – tying in to Wilbur’s fear-based theories on cats.   

As a totally delightful aside for me, copies of THE FLASH # 246 (January, 1977) and BATMAN # 283 (also January, 1977) can be seen in this segment! Yes, I have them both, and yes – even at a filmed distance – I could tell which issues they were on a big screen TV with DVD clarity, using freeze frame! 

HOLLYWOOD (1936):  Egotistical ham-actor “Valentine De’ath” (Donald Pleasance) and his wife Madeleine are the “First Couple” of 1930s horror movies, until Madeleine, imperiled beneath a swinging pendulum blade, is killed by a real blade where a prop-blade should have been used!  Val takes this… er,  “opportunity” to have Madeleine’s stand-in (and Val’s mistress), Edina Hamilton (Samantha Eggar), replace her in the role – that would lead Edina to certain stardom. 

When Val takes Edina to his large and ornate home to begin the rest of their lives (...mark those words) together, Edina is surprised to find that Madeleine had a cat!  As they were privately discussing Madeleine’s death at the time, Edina feels that the cat “heard” the details of Madeleine’s death.  

True or otherwise, the cat, who was so quiet that Val didn’t even know its name (or gender), began to become a problem for the happy couple – and finally had a litter of kittens.  (Val even thought it was a “he”!)

Fed up with the inconveniences, Val flushes the kittens down the toilet (!) and vows to get rid of the cat in the morning.  Comes the dawn, the cat is nowhere to be found… until it turns up in the “catwalk” of the studio where Val and Edina are continuing their horror film roles. 

The cat’s opening shot of revenge is to chew through the ropes supporting a heavy stage-light and having it crash down upon the two actors.  And that is only the beginning… leaving Wilbur more frightened by felines than ever, and Richards all the more disbelieving in Wilbur’s crackpot cat-demon claims.

This segment, so totally carried by Donald Pleasance, has its share of humor in Val’s slapstick-ish attempts to catch the cat up to and including the use of a “wind-up toy mouse” – something I have never seen outside of a cartoon!

The cartoon influences are also felt in Edina’s line upon first laying eyes on the cat: “Oh- I though I saw a pussy cat! I did! I did!” – spoken without Tweety’s endearing speech impediment.   

And considering the year depicted was 1936, when Warner Bros.’ only animated star was Porky Pig, she would have originated this classic line! 

We’ll stop short of ending-spoilers here.  But I will point out that “Janet”, the maid in the “LONDON 1912” sequence was played by Susan Penhaligon, whose name might not be immediately familiar to you (as it also wasn’t to me) but she played the young nurse at the center of one of our group-collective favorite films… “Patrick”!  

The DVD also had a 11:47 feature on her, produced in 2019!  …YAY, DVD! 

  

I give “The Uncanny” a “10”!  …Surprised?  Naahh!  You knew it all along!  

Will I continue do this on other Thursday nights?  Still undecided... But, perhaps my decision will be revealed in the form of another "Self-Quarantine Looong DVD Review"!
 

...If the cats don't get me first! 

Unconventional Self-Quarantine Looong DVD Review: "The Return of the Living Dead" (1984)

Dear Readers... Please indulge me a bit of "Self-Quarantine Blog Therapy" during these strange days, and bear with what follows.  More of our regular and more typical content will be back next post. 

As many of you know, I attend a "Thursday Night Film Group", in the basement of a friend and independent film maker, whom Esther and I met as a adult-ed college lecturer.  

Those sessions, which I've attended since 2012, are presently suspended in view of... Aw, you know what!     

There, we gather (Oops! Can't do THAT anymore!) to watch a film, with background provided by our host, and later go around the room to critique it.  The primary genre of focus is "Horror/Sci-Fi", with side trips into "Spaghetti Western", "Giallo", and "Film Noir".  You can see, this is right up my alley! 

It's been a few weeks since we've done this and, as I see it, it will be MANY weeks more (perhaps  even many months), before I'm willing to return in safety to this communal activity I've enjoyed so thoroughly!  

But, in the spirit of "this Thursday thing", I did the following and e-mailed it to the group.  Others have since followed suit.  

Here are the basic ramblings I sent, posted here as I sent 'em, with no cleaning up, and no more background detail than was required.  In other words: The OPPOSITE of my old standard "Looong DVD Reviews"!  

But, I've wanted to get back to DVD reviews for a while - but comics related posts are both fun and easy to do, and so they tend to dominate.  Some of you have also asked that I return to DVD reviews, so why not just turn this post into a great big "Self-Quarantine Blog Therapy" session!  

And did I every pick a doozy of a DVD (Blu-ray, actually) to share with my film group - and now with you!  Ready? Set? Go!  

So, what did I do on a Thursday night?  Decided to watch a horror film, of course.  

Looking through my shelves for something I bought a long time ago, but never watched (I've got quite a few of those!), I stopped on "The Return of the Living Dead" (1984), and popped it in the player.  

Okay, so it's NOT "Night of the Living Dead" (1968)... but, then again, WHAT IS?   

What we have here is a film heavy on the comedy, yet still with its gruesome moments.  

It is an odd melding of many different things, but primarily The Three Stooges (as warehouse workers) meet (actually they inadvertently resurrect the...) zombies, meet Scooby-Doo (if there were no dog and the kids were freakish, punk-like, sociopathic '80s misfits).  

The Three Stooges and their '80s horror-film counterparts! 

Freakish, punk-like, sociopathic "meddling kids"!

Not exactly "The Mystery Machine", is it? 

There's a lot of bumbling by the warehouse workers, a lot of running, jumping, and screaming by the kids (hence the Scooby-Doo influence) , and a lot of brain-eating by the zombies - all done to a (Shudder!) '80s synth soundtrack.  Though, the tune "Surfin Dead" was kinda fun!  

...I mean, how do you not love a song called "Surfin Dead" ?  Huh?   

Oh, and there's a good part for a funeral director - with the twist being that the dead now walk in on their own, without an appointment!    

Left to right: Matthews, Karen, and Gulager

Steady veterans Clu Gulager and James Karen are quite entertaining as the two head warehouse guys, with Thom Matthews thrown in as the warehouse newbie and "third stooge", and just as good was Don Calfa as the funeral director. 

 Don Calfa 

The kids?  Ehhhh?  But there was one female punker that spent most of her time running around nude - even before she became a zombie, so props to her.  

"Daphne warned me about messing around in graveyards... But, did I listen?  Noooo!"  

Gulager and Calfa's characters were old friends and business associates called "Burt" and "Ernie", respectively.  Bringing the chain of character-naming events full circle from "It's a Wonderful Life" - to "Sesame Street" - to "The Return of the Living Dead"!  

Some of the movie looked more like video tape than film, and maybe that flaw was enhanced by Blu-ray.  (Yes, "Blu-ray"!  You don't thing I streamed the thing, do you?)  And the '80s style credits looked typically cheap 'n' cheesy. 

"Send More Cops!" (A zombie delivers the film's iconic line!)  

With the synth scoring added to the general look of the film... if you played this straight, and dumped all the comedy bits, this could actually pass for an Italian horror film!  

Characteristically, there would be a lot of things for me not to like, if we were to do a "paper checklist", but that's not so!  I liked it more than I expected to for an '80s film, scored by synthesizer, with an inconsistent narrative that veered between horror and comedy.  

I give it my genre-solid-like rating of 9.8!  

I may give this a try every Thursday night... until we meet again in 2024!  That's a lot of unwatched DVDs to catch up on!  :-) 

  

PS:  It this where the Zombie-cry of "BRAINS!" came from, or was that one of the later Romero films?  (Joe's Note: Yes, it was!)  

Maybe I should look into the sequel?  (Joe's Note: Yes, he will!) 

On the other side of things I should also mention that "Night of the Living Dead" (1968) is my all time favorite horror movie!  Essentially the "Casablanca" or "Citizen Kane" of the Horror genre.  

Add Scooby and Stooges influences to the mix, and I was predisposed to liking this more than your average '80s horror flick.  

Will I do this again on other Thursday nights?  Still undecided... But, perhaps my decision will be revealed in the form of another "Self-Quarantine Looong DVD Review"!

Additional Note: Sean Murray, another member of the film group, offers a correction to my description of the freakish kids as "Goth".  They are not "Goth" despite my concentration on some of the black attire.  I have substituted the term "Punk", hoping that to be a more suitably accurate description.  

"SPACE" Just Got Wider!

"Well, it's a small universe!" -  Judy Robinson, from "Space Beauty" (LOST IN SPACE Season 3, Episode 21)

But, that "small universe" has just become wider in scope thanks to this TRULY UNEXPECTED item from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment! 

Dropping literally from the sky (or, if you prefer, from SPACE) - particularly so for someone like me who would make it his business to know, this sudden and unforeseen gift package corrects what might very well be the final "wrong" that was done to LOST IN SPACE on home video that you can OWN (as opposed to stream [that is "merely rent someone else's property"]  ...Property that they can take away from you at any time and on any whim!) 

Yes, those FOUR GLORIOUS WORDS: "Digitally Remastered in Widescreen", mean that no longer do folks with widescreen HD TVs have to see LOST IN SPACE look like THIS!  (Actual images I've taken off of the prior LOST IN SPACE DVD sets for use at this Blog - "black-sidebars" and all!) 

Now, the image has been remastered to fill the widest of screens!  "Oh, joy!  Oh, bliss!" 

And I couldn't be happier! 

In 2015, I thought I "couldn't be happier" with this amazing Blue-ray set!

All episodes, some with surviving-cast commentaries, and more bonus features, promotional spots for both network and syndication, and other archival pieces than I imagined possible. 

Episodes with optional "original bumpers" and even some original-run advertising thrown in. 

I eat this stuff up, especially as it applies to vintage, or classic, television! 

But, save for a single episode described as a test (and added to the set as yet another bonus feature), none of the episodes were remastered for widescreen!  That one episode sure showed us how great LOST IN SPACE *could* look in widescreen! 

But, I figured this set, specially released for the show's 50th anniversary, would be the ultimate - and FINAL -  manifestation of LOST IN SPACE in the DVD or Blu-ray format!

...And it was certainly a universe better than the original "season volume" releases of 2004-2005! 

As LOST IN SPACE was one of the very first classic TV series to be released when the DVD format was still new and finding its way, the bonus features were minimal, and the transfers were not fully up to the best DVD standard, much less that of the later Blu-ray format.

But, it was also one of the very first TV series to be COMPLETED in DVD release so, even then, I (...all together now) "couldn't be happier"! 

And, having all its episodes complete and uncut, with SOME extra features, and all the elusive "Next Week Previews" - and it being MINE, ALL MINE, with no TV or cable network deciding when (or even IF) I could see LOST IN SPACE, I was satisfied. 

I also figured these sets, released so early in the DVD game, (...all together now) would be the ultimate - and FINAL -  manifestation of LOST IN SPACE in the DVD or (yet-unknown) Blu-ray format!

The final season-volume set of the original DVD run of LOST IN SPACE! 

But, if there's one thing I've since learned, it's to NEVER count LOST IN SPACE out! 

Since those original standard format DVDs, there has been:

The aforementioned "Complete Adventures" Blu-ray release.

A CD Mega-Set of ALL music scores composed for the series by such luminaries as the great John Williams, Alexander Courage, Leith Stevens, Herman Stein, Joseph Mullendore, and others.

A 2016 limited-series COMIC BOOK title.

A new, different but unexpectedly GOOD, 2018 series on Netflix - going into its second season!

A soundtrack CD.

And even a comic book based on the new series! 

Pretty impressive for "The Little Sci-Fi Show that Could", after spending most of its life in the giant shadows of BATMAN and STAR TREK! 

And now, on February 05, 2019 - and with no fanfare that I was able to discern - here is LOST IN SPACE - The Complete Classic Series - Digitally Remastered in Widescreen! 

And, believe it or not and while there IS some overlap, this set offers NEW Bonus Features that were not even on the All-Encompassing Blu-ray set! 

And (presently, at least) it can be had at Amazon for slightly under 30 dollars!  THAT IS REALLY A BARGAIN! 

Now, it is only a STANDARD DVD release (not a Blu-ray), but, if you ever had any interest in owning LOST IN SPACE on DVD, but do not... Or, if you do, but you're a completest-who-loves-his-widescreen-TV like me... THIS IS A MUST BUY! 

It is now my THIRD iteration of LOST IN SPACE in the DVD or Blu-ray format, and I (...all together now) "couldn't be happier"! 

But, for once, I no longer am absolutely certain that this set, will be the (...all together now) ultimate - and FINAL -  manifestation of LOST IN SPACE in the DVD or Blu-ray format!

After all, there is STILL no BLU-RAY that is "remastered for widescreen"! 

...Iteration FOUR, anyone?  

"Yesss, that one is a definite possibility!"