DOOMSDAY

As indicated in the last post, people have barely broken the surface when it comes to horror films and pick a few of the most popular horror films for their Halloween viewing. Some are only exposed to the Hollywood blockbuster horror films that have been released to theaters in recent years. This reviewer became pretty aggravated when trying to explain to someone that the 2003 version of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is a remake, and NOT a new concept. Keeping with our theme of “perfect” Halloween marathon picks, here are a couple of horror compilations worth seeking out:

Terror on Tape - Shot on video and hosted by a ghoulish Cameron Mitchell (Haunts, The Demon), this compilation was released by Comet Video/Continental in 1985 to promote their oversized-box video releases. Three patrons visit the Shoppe of Horrors to get recommendations for their Halloween viewing. Mitchell, the shop owner, is happy to supply the clips while feeding his pet monsters. Films covered in this compilation include Herschel Gordon Lewis gems Blood Feast, Color Me Blood Red and Two Thousand Maniacs; Frozen Scream, Umberto Lenzi’s City of the Walking Dead (aka Nightmare City), Exorcist rip-off Cathy’s Curse, Vampire Hookers, Return of the Aliens: The Deadly Spawn (or quite simply, The Deadly Spawn), Romano Scavolini’s Nightmare (aka Nightmares in a Damaged Brain), The Slayer, Scalps, Madhouse Mansion and a host of others.

Terror in the Aisles - This 1984 film contains clips from memorable horror films such as John Carpenter’s The Thing, Alone in the Dark, When a Stranger Calls, Saturday the 14th, The Shining, An American Werewolf in London, Scanners, The Fury, Dressed to Kill, The Howling, Ms. 45, Alligator, The Omen, Halloween, The Exorcist and many more. It’s narrated by Nancy Allen (Dressed to Kill) and Donald Pleasance (Halloween), and made to sound like a study in psychology. The film is a bit mainstream, but worth a view (and a bit hard to find in recent years).

Next up: Part Three!

With the coming of one of the most popular holidays, many people in today’s polite society (who are not particularly horror fans, or are just getting into the genre) often wonder what movies are perfect for viewing on Halloween.

Being a horror movie collector (who is now entering his 20th year in collecting) and a viewer with a wide range of tastes, this dark webmaster can easily get irked when someone with very little exposure to the horror/science fiction genre names Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th (you know, the one where Jason, the axe murderer goes around in a hockey mask), and The Exorcist as movies that are the best movies for the darkest night of the year. To be fair, those movies have their own merits, and quite possibly hold a rank among the best horror films of all time. However, they are the tip of the iceberg, the “surface” of horror films (much like the “Iron Man” of the Black Sabbath catalogue) that is rarely broken by the masses.

The following is a list of films that may or may not be too popular, but do have a wonderful atmosphere when it comes to Halloween viewing. Viewers will find old castles with long, dark corridors that need to be lit with torches, evil histories and a few familiar names…..

Web of the Spider stars the immortal Klaus Kinski (Nosferatu: Phantom Der Nacht, 1979) as Edgar Allen Poe, arranging a wager between Alan Foster (played by Anthony Franciosa), a reporter, and Lord Blackwood. Mr. Foster must spend the night alone in Blackwood Castle. He must emerge from the estate at dawn in order to win the wager. However, Mr. Foster finds that he is not alone…..

Christopher Lee is back as the sinister Count Regula in Castle of the Walking Dead (aka The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism). The evil Count was sentenced and quartered for the murder of 12 maidens. Decades later, he has been resurrected by his servant in order to claim his 13th victim and complete a religious rite that will give him everlasting life. However, he is met with resistance by a band of people who are intended to be his final victims.

Boris Karloff (Frankenstein, 1931) and Jack Nicholson (The Shining, 1980) are the dramatic force behind The Terror, a film about an old castle, an aging baron, the resurrection of the dead, and witchcraft. Nicholson is a lost French soldier in the early 1800s who stumbles across a mysterious woman, an old witch, and the reclusive Baron Von Leppe (Karloff). Both the witch and Von Leppe deny the existence of Helene, the mysterious woman, but the French soldier is insistent on finding her. The deeper he digs into the past of the Baron and the harder he searches for Helene, the more entangled he gets in a web of horror and deceit.

These three films make for a great marathon with appropriate set/location lighting, sound effects, lots of fog and some familiar character actors. Stay tuned for the rest of the list of atmospheric haunts that may be just what you’re looking for to make your Halloween viewing a little different this year…..

Welcome to Doomsday, a running journal by this horror/cult film reviewer and the collective critical voice of my network of dark sites.

This reviewer has been writing reviews of horror and cult films/DVDs for several years at DoomsdayDVD.com. The site aims to help inform genre fans about films that may suit their tastes. Even though the website reviews films, whether it be a high-budget modern horror film such as John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness or a low-budget European production like Zombie Lake, the site strives to review films with a critical approach that does not merely point out the films’ limitations. That would be too easy and too simple - a one-dimensional approach. In a typical review, the site simply gives a synopsis, a little insight as to the film’s place in film history, and a breakdown of the audio-visual quality of the disc it resides on. There are further comments made on extra features, if any. Finally, the review informs the reader as to who would appreciate the film (vs. who would not).

Another site that this writer webmasters is DarkExistence.com. Dark Existence is a free-form website dedicated to members of the gothic community, consisting of artwork and dark poetry, and even a gateway to gothic social network sites.

Readers of this blog should be informed that this writer is a nostalgist. Although new technologies have been embraced over the years (DVD, the ‘net and Monsters HD), sorely missed by this writer are the days of local television horror shows (complete with a horror host - which will be re-lived this Saturday, as Chiller Theatre returns to New York area television), oversized VHS boxes (such as the Wizard Video releases of the mid-80s) and drive-in theaters. The readers of this blog should expect mini-reviews of both popular and obscure genre films, oddball genre efforts outside of film, and general commentary on the bizarre.

† ∏ †† ∏ Stay tuned!

Watching: The Last Man on Earth (1964)