31 Days of Horror Day 04 Svengoolie's Twilight Zone marathon

Title-Svengoolie's Twilight Zone Marathon
Source-DVD-r recording of the original TV airing.

It was  few years ago I finally got to see Svengoolie for the first time. Sven has been a horror host in the Chicago greater area for decades now. And thanks to him getting a slot on MeTV,Saturday nights at 8pm central,Svengoolie is one  of the few horror hosts that has nationwide TV. Until earlier this year I didn't MeTV.Dish network wasn't carrying it in my area. And I would have to spend a bit over 100 bucks for an antenna to get the channel. So I had a friend that got the show that would record the episodes to DVDs then mail me boxes of DVDs a few times a year.

Ever since I have been watching Sven on MeTV he shows horror films from the Universal library. Which I do enjoy cause Universal has made some great horror films. I know that before Sven was on MeTV he was airing films from many different studios. But until I was sent this DVD I had no idea he had ever did a Twilight Zone mini marathon.

The show starts off like most episodes of Svengoolie does. We get some info about what we are about to watch. Sven cracks some bad jokes and the movie starts. This time instead of a film we get 4 episodes of from the original run  of the science ficiton anthology classic The Twilight Zone.

Growing up my parents would tell me all the time about the Twilight Zone. Even at a young age I was into horror. Not long after Twilight Zone the Movie had come out one of the local UHF channels started airing the classic Twilight Zone episodes every night at 10pm. Even though at the time my bedtime was 10pm,my parents would most nights let me stay up to watch Twilight Zone. It wasn't long after this that the 80s Twilight Zone series started up. And I was so happy. Not only did I get 5 episodes off the classic show each week,but I  also got a new episodes each week.

So what episodes is Sven showing us the loyal viewers? The first one is the infamous "Wish you into the cornfield" episode. Starring a young Bill Mumy this one is about a young boy who has God like powers. It is considered one of the best episodes of the original run. And was even remade as part of the previously mentioned Twilight Zone the Movie.

The second episode is one that I don't remember seeing as a kid. I think the first time I saw it was during one of SyFy Channels New Years Twilight Zone marathons. It is titled,I think,Beauty is in the eye of the Beholder.Our lead has her head wrapped in bandages. And we find out she has had surgery to "make her no so ugly". Of course near the end of the episode the bandages are removed and we see our lead is played by Ellie May Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies who is far from being an  ugly woman. It  is after this reveal that we noticed that all through out this episode we never saw anyone's face. They  were always in shadow or blocked by something. When the other peoples' faces are revealed we see that everyone has this weird deformed pig like face.

The third episode is another one that is considered a classic. Starring a pre-Star Trek William Shatner it is about a man who has had some mental issues. He is flying and sees what at first he thinks is a man on the airplane wing. But this is no man. It is one of the gremlins some fighter pilots in the big war claimed to have seen. The Shat starts freaking out cause he is sure this creature is damaging the planes wing and engine. Like the first episode in this Sven mini marathon this one was also redone in Twilight Zone the movie. It was the last story in the film. With John Lithgow in the role Shatner played. It is one that I saw the original episode after having seen the film. Which explains why while I get why this episode is considered a classic to me cause of how cheesy the suit the gremlin is wearing I prefer the version from Twilight Zone the Movie.

The final episode is another I didn't see until the Syfy marathons. We got a group of older men that hang out at the local general store. One of whom is Floyd the Barber of Andy Griffith fame. The lead guy is able to weave a fairly entertaining tall tale about his time in the war. He ends up getting kidnapped by some aliens. Then discovers a weakness the aliens have. Lets just say that I get the feeling Tim Burton got the idea for the Martians in the Mars Attacks film's weakness from this episode.

Out of the four episodes included in this Svengoolie Twilight Zone Mini Marathon 3 of them are episodes I would consider some of the best the original Twilight Zone produced. But that final episode is just not that good. It has a decent cast and a good idea. But the execution fails.

Still this was a fun watch. I got to see 3 great episodes of TZ. Plus got to see the ads and stuff from Sven's non-MeTV show. There is even a commercial for the midnight airings of Sven's old shows. If anyone reading this has copies of the pre-MeTV episodes of Svengoolie please leave a comment. I am more than willing to pay you for copies of these episodes.

Svengoolie's Twilight Zone Marathon gets a A-.

2016 Comic Challenge 213 Blue Bolt Volume 07 Issue #02

TITLE-Blue Bolt Volume 07 issue #02
PUBLISHER-Novelty Press

I got this issue at the same time as the other issue of Blue Bolt. Now the cover up at the top is from the scan of the issue at the Digital Comics Museum. Here is mine.

As you can see their copy is in much better shape. I did post both my issues covers at their forum. Mentioned what I paid and got told I got a good deal normally it would be 2 to 3 times what I paid per issue for the shape my copies are in.

But back to the cover. Pretty sure that is Blue Bolt with the blonde hair and red hat on the cover. As I said in the other issue review by this time Blue Bolt had gotten rid of his costume and his powers.This cover is signed by Tom Gill. Never heard of him before but I do like this cover. Hell my copy is already framed and hanging on my wall.

This issue starts off with the first part of a new Dick Cole story. Him and Simba Karno are going with Ted Todley to an island in the Caribbean.Where Ted's millionaire father has a castle.

Jim Wilcox handles the art chores and it is damn good. This feels a bit like a slightly longer weekly comic strip.

Krisko and Jasper are dog catchers. And this is a fairly short humor strip. The humor has aged fairly well. The art is by Jack A Warren,no clue who that is,but it looks decent for the era and a comedy strip.

Blue Bolt is now a pilot for a magazine. And this is a storyline called "Mystery of the Vanishing Totem Poles".Tom Gill handles the art. I like that this is set iin British Columbia.

Sniffy is a one page gag strip about what appears to be a homeless mutt of a dog. Think Benji's great great grandfather. The strip is signed by a Milt Hammer. I guess that is who wrote and drew it. But that is just a guess.

Up next is Fearless Fellers. A boy gang strip. Kind of like say the Newsboy Legion or any of the other youth gang strips Kirby created. No clue who does this. The art is decent. I was a bit surprised at how ,considering the time this issue came out in,good the one African-American member of the Fellers is written. But then there is the villains in this issue. Who are all Chinese. With yellow skin. And all the other racial tropes of that time.

Now it's time for my favorite strip in this issue. Sergeant Spook art by Don Rico. This ghost cop fights crime with the help of his living teenage sidekick. In these later issues of Blue Bolt Sergeant Spook is the closest you will get to a real superhero. The art is really good. I like the story. But your enjoyment of it will depend on how much you can handle all the golden age comic cliches.

Edison Bell is a Tom Swift like boy genius. It has no signature,but whoever did the art well... it is the worst of the art in this issue. It isn't bad really. But it has this flat plain look that some Golden Age art will have.

After that there is a one page Sniffy strip and a few ads and the issue is over. 52 pages,including covers,for 10 cents back then. Shit I got this for less than a 50 page comic from DC or Marvel would cost you now.

So is it worth buying? For me it is. Even though I can goto Digital Comics Museum----Free public domain comic scans and download a legal scan of the entire issue,the comic geek in me just gets too much enjoyment of owning a comic that is 70 years old.

Blue Bolt volume 07 issue #02 gets a buy.

2016 Comic Challenge 160 Boffo Laffs #01

TITLE-Boffo Laffs #01
PUBLISHER-ParaGraphics

Yep the first comic book with a hologram on the cover. Coming out in 1986 with a $2.50 cover price I bet this didn't sell that well. And now after reading it I see why it is only remembered for it's cover gimmick.

The insides are your standard mid 80s B/W comic boom humor anthology shit. Nothing is really that funny. The art is kind of shit. And it really feels like they were sure the cover would sell this book.

Well they can't all be winners.And I got this for basically cover price. It is a neat piece of comic history to own. But nothing to go out of your way to get.

Boffo Laffs #01 gets a PASS!

2015 Reading Challenge Book 082 Mirrorshades

TITLE-Mirrorshades
AUTHOR-Various
FORMAT-Hardback
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
PRICE-50 cents

This is a collection of cyberpunk short stories. It came out in 1986,right about the time the cyberpunk genre was starting to take off. Before finding the book I had never heard of this collection. But once I saw it had a story by William Gibson I had to get it.

The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson
A fairly short story about a photographer that is going around the USA taking pictures of stuff that was designed with a "futuristic" look back in the 30s and 40s. And he starts seeing visions. All full of stuff that was common in the science fiction stories of the 30s and 40s. I really enjoyed this story.

Snake-Eyes by Tom Maddox
A man who underwent having a cybernetic implant is having issue with it. So he is sent to a space station and taught how to live with this implant. This story has that dark grimy feel that all good cyberpunk fiction has.And is the first thing I have read from Tom Maddox.

Rock On by Pat Cadigan

This really short story is a dark look at how music has evolved in the near future. Really dark and kind of disturbing.

Tales of Houdini  by Rudy Rucker

Not good. Not good at all. What I got from this is in the future someone has brought Houdini and his mother into the future. And they keep setting up more and more elaborate deathtraps. Each of which Houdini manages to escape from.

400 Boys by Marc Laidlaw

This makes up for how bad the last story was. It is a futurist version of West Side Story or the Warriors. Trapped in a bubble that surrounds part of the city a gang of male youths tries to survive. Once they discover a new threat they end up teaming up with a few other youth gangs to combat this new enemy.


Solstice by James Patrick Kelly

Set in the near future,where designer drugs have taken over. This is a tale of a man that has created a bunch of the now legal designer drugs. And how he just wants what is best for his clone/daughter. She is dating someone he doesn't like. So he plans on making sure this relationship doesn't last.


Petra by Greg Bear

Wow this was boring and made no sense. Besides being set in the future I see no cyberpunk stuff at all in this story. Took me 4 nights to finish reading it.

Till Human Voices Wake Us by Lewis Shiner

Sent on a vacation by his work,a man discovers what secret stuff his company has been up too.

Freezone by John Shirley

An aging rock star loses is band. Then joins up with a gang of criminals. All while stuck in on the floating city of Freezone.

Stone Lives by Paul Di Filippo

A man from the slums of NYC gets hired on to spy on a big corporation. And is shocked when he finds out why.

Red Star,Winter Orbit by Bruce Sterling & William Gibson

Set on a space station orbiting the Earth. A Russian ends up being the savior of a bunch of humans.

Mozart in Mirrorshades by Bruce Sterling and Lewis Shiner

A group of people from the future travel back to the past to steal artwork and treasures. When it all goes to hell an Army of Mongolians on motorcycles comes to save them.


So 2 horrible stories and the rest are at least decent.

Mirrorshades gets a 3.98 outta 5.

31 days of Horror Day 31 The Willies

The Willies
1990
Echo Bridge 10 movie pack DVD

I never heard of this made for kids horror anthology. Then in the late 90s I was at my local Hastings,looking for something to rent. I saw the cover and took a chance.

Really not much stands out from this film. It is like they wanted to make an all ages version of Creepshow. The FX work is decent. The acting is pretty good. The only people in the film I had heard of were,Sean Astin,James Karin.Doug Bensen and Michael "Donkey Lips" Bower.

We get a bunch of kids in a backyard camping. And telling each other spooky stories trying to scare each other. The one story that sticks in my memory is the one with Donkeylips. He plays a kid that captures and kills flies and we get your typical short horror story/film O.Henry like twist at the end.

The Willies gets a C.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 20

Drive In Horror Show
2011
Midnight Releasing DVD

Heard about this film thanks to Night of the Living Podcast's crew. Was gonna rent it from Netflix but it seems it is streaming only. So I took a chance and bought the DVD. This is a low budget horror anthology. Luis Negron is our host and does a great job introducing each segment.

The first segment is titled "Pig". It is about a woman that was slipped a roofie at a frat party and date raped by a frat boy douche bag. Well she gets her revenge by gluing him into a tub and turning on the water so he will drown. OK acting in this segment with well done FX work.

Up next is "The Closet". This is a fun tale about a young kid who wants to be an astronaut but his family is against that. He discovers a creature in his closet and it helps him get his revenge. While some of the acting in this segment is not that great the premise and FX work are well done.

"Fall Apart" is the third segment. And has the best FX work of the entire film. It kind of reminds me of the old EC horror comics.

"Meat Man" is up next and it is really the worst segment of the film. The acting by the two kids is really bad. Some OK FX work but not enough to make up for the bad acting. And the twist at the end is one I called 4 minutes into the film.

The last segment and I want to say the longest is "The Watcher". Two couples go camping out in the woods and get slaughtered by some crazed inbred. Great FX work and the acting is well done.

Drive In Horror Show is a nice low budget anthology and is more than worth renting. Drive In Horror Show gets a B-.

31 days of Horror 2012 day 14

Chillerama
2011
Image Entertainment DVD

Four horror directors came together and created a anthology film. Set at a drive in theater,that is having a marathon of rare films,during it's last night in operation. Richard Riehle is the owner of the drive in and gives a fun performance.

The first "film" shown is by Adam Rifkin. Titled "Wadzilla" it is a throwback to 60s era giant monster run amok films. Adam plays the lead who gets an experimental drug to raise his sperm count. Which causes him to produce this giant sperm AKA Wadzilla.This is a fun and silly way to begin the anthology.

Up next is Tim Sullivan's "I was a Teenage Werebear". This is a spoof of the AIP beach films plus "I was a Teenage Werewolf". This segment seems to divide people. Either you love it or you hate it. It is a musical about a teenage guy who gets bit by a werebear and starts killing people. The musical numbers are a good blend of serious and silly.

The third segment is directed by Adam Green. "Diary of Anne Frankenstein" is a nice parody of the old silent films. Joel David Moore is good as Hitler and Kane Hodder as Meshugannah. Meshugannah is a Jewish Frankenstein's monster. And Kane plays up the comedy of the character. Overall this is the best segment of the film.

Last we have "Zom-B-Movie". Directed by Joe Lynch,this segment happens at the drive in. When some zombie goop gets into the popcorn. While not horrible it could have been better if given more time to develop.

Chillerama is one of the better anthology films to come out in years. The dvd has a fun commentary Some deleted scenes and director interviews. Chillerama gets a B.

31 days of horror Year 2 day 5

Fangoria Blood Drive II-Koch Vision DVD

In 2005 Fangoria magazine put out a second collection of short horror movies. This one is hosted by the super sexy Mistress Juliya,of FUSE TV fame. There is 8 shorts in total. And also a nice featurette on Bruce Campbell. In the featurette Bruce is interviewed in his home and talks all about his career and what his plans for the future are. While all the shorts on the DVD are worth a watch ,two of them stand out. The Gibbering Horror of Howard Ghormley by Steve Daniels,is a kind of Moebius strip of a man that seems to be either stuck in a time warp or slowly losing what is left of his sanity. Filmed in black and white and silent,except for some background music,this short left me feeling very uneasy and the ending was stuck in my mind for days after viewing. Means to an End by Paul Solet and Jake Hamilton,is about two horror fans that do special effect work for lots of low budget films. After a bad experience on a job,they decide to make their own film. But since they have almost no money they will have to use "inventive" ways to get the gore needed for any horror film. Very very humorous and fun short that has a nice coda. The rest of the shorts are good,but the above two stand head and shoulder above them. I give this DVD a solid B.