Posted on Oct 25, 2009 under Musings |
For this final week of high lighting alternative Halloween viewing choices I have decide to focus on live action children shows.
Adventures of Superman: The Deserted Village-A real creeper from the classic George Reeves show. Lois Lane and Clark Kent go to visit Lois’ hometown and find it virtually deserted and a masked man trying to kill the few residents who haven’t left yet with a poison gas.
Flash Gordon: The Forbidden Experiment–One of the better episodes of the syndicated 50’s show. Dr Zarkov is called away from Earth by an old friend and doesn’t return. Tracking him down they discover Zarkov’s friend had started changing a lion into a man, but died with only half the process completed and the creature is forcing Zarkov to finish the job.
The Ghost Busters: The Maltese Monkey–One of the all time great Saturday morning adventure/ comedy shows. Forest Tucker and Larry Storch of F Troop fame team up with Bob Burns in a gorilla suit to track down ghosts and send them back where they belong. This episode has two gangsters bringing back the ghost of their old boss, who looks just like Storch, to pull a big heist. Slap stick mayhem ensues when both Strochs are mistaken for the other.
The Sarah Jane Adventures: Eye of the Gorgon–Best of the Doctor Who spin offs and starring one of the most popular companions in the show’s history. This adventure has Sarah and her teenage friends investigating the strange happenings at a nursing home, where they discover that a secret order of nuns are guarding the ancient Gorgon, an alien entity stuck on Earth, who has decided Sarah will be her next host body.
The Secrets of Isis: Lights of Mystery Mountain–Before Wonder Woman or The Bionic Woman, there was Isis, TV’s first live action, female superhero. In this episode Isis and her teenage friends investigate the strange sightings of glowing UFOs spotted around Mystery Mountain which are causing residents to move away.
Posted on Oct 18, 2009 under Musings |
Having done modern movies and classics, this week I am going to high light episodes of various TV shows that I think would make great alternative Halloween watching.
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Space Vampire–Now before you start rolling your eyes at the hokiness of the episode, most notably the title character looking like Max Shreck with a glandular disorder, the actual episode isn’t too bad, especially the first half where Buck and Wilma investigate a series of strange deaths on a space station, with lots of shots of them creeping around dimly lit corridors, and a true shocker when the “dead bodies” suddenly get up and attack Buck.
Doctor Who: Tooth and Claw–The Tenth Doctor and Rose land in 1879 Scotland, where they end up having to save Queen Victoria from a werewolf.
The Hardy Boys: The Mystery of the Haunted House–First episode of The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries highlights the sibling sleuths investigating their PI father’s disappearance which leads to a night club made up like a haunted house and overseen by Richard Kiel in Frankenstein makeup and ends with the boys saving their father and his client at a graveyard, where older brother Frank and the bad guy both end up falling into an open grave.
The Incredible Hulk: The First–A great two parter from the fourth season with Banner having finally found a cure only to lose it to a man who was a Hulk decades ago and wants to be one again. After the older man becomes another Hulk and goes on a killing spree, Banner is forced to abandon his own cure to take on this dangerous Hulk in a knock down drag out fight to the finish.
Star Trek: Wolf in the Fold–Scripted by the great Robert Bloch, Enterprise engineer Scotty is accused of a horrendous murder while on leave. While investigating to prove his innocence Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock stumble onto what Jack the Ripper really was and where he is now.
Posted on Oct 11, 2009 under Musings |
This week I am going to high light five classic movie alternatives to the usual Halloween classics of Frankenstein (1931) and Psycho (1960).
Dangerous Crossing (1953)–Based on the work of locked room who done it master John Dickson Carr, a young woman and her newly married husband board an ocean liner for their honeymoon. The husband disappears just after the ship leaves port and no one aboard has any memory of him. Is the the young woman crazy or is something more sinister at work?
The Jade Mask (1946)–A fast paced old dark house Charlie Chan mystery from Monogram. The great sleuth is called in to investigate the murder of a scientist working on a formula to make wood as hard as steel. Things get complicated when a dead man is seen walking around.
Narrow Margin (1952)–One of the all time great nail biter B programmers from RKO. Cynical cop Charles McGraw has to transport an important murder witness on a train filled with hit men searching for the hidden woman. Things take a dramatic turn when he discovers the woman he has been guarding is a decoy and he has inadvertently fingered the real one for the killers. Ten times better than the Gene Hackman remake.
Panic in the Streets (1950)–Its a race against time for Richard Widmark when Jack Palance and Zero Mostel kill a man infected with a plague virus and unknowingly become carriers themselves. While Widmark desperately tries to find them to keep an epidemic from erupting, Palance, a three time loser, is just as determined not to be caught.
Strange Illusion (1945)–Cult fave Edgar Ulmer reworks Hamlet in this low budget PRC noir thriller. A post Henry Aldrich Jimmy Lydon suffers from strange nightmares showing his father didn’t die in an accident but was murdered. Things take a dark and eerie turn when Lydon finally meets his mother’s new boyfriend, who turns out to be the man in his dream.
