Chadwick H. Saxelid's Blog: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties, page 26

Audrey Rose (1977) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 20, 1977
Frank De Felitta's novel Audrey Rose seemed to be a staple of paperback racks in the late 70s and early 80s. I attempted to read it at one point, but bounced off it. So it goes.

The same can be said of this film adaptation of the bestselling supernatural melodrama. I have no memory of the film's theatrical release, but I do have memories of seeing snippets of the film during a television broadcast at some point.

Never have watched it from beginning to end, though.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #50

Heather's Journal 10.25.94 Part 1
It is freezing and we are still out here. We're completely... lost now, we've decided basically to just keep heading south, but it doesn't seem to be getting us anywhere fast and weird (things) keeps happening which is, to be totally honest, sitting her with gloves and sweaters in a cold tent in the middle of nowhere with guys asleep - beginning to scare me. I'm hungry. I'm cold. I want to see what we shot. We didn't light a campfire tonight because we wanted to lay low. Not that's there's anything left to cook on it anyway. I feel like we are bound to cross a road or something soon, it's not like Maryland has wilds that go on forever... 

In 1999 one of our neighbors hung a bunch of Blair Witch Stickmen from the trees for Halloween. It was awesome to see one of the only tactile 'manifestations' in the film get a shout out on the spookiest night of the year.

Godzilla (1998) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - May 19, 1998
In 1998 I took a day off work so I could see Godzilla as soon as possible. It was a fanboy indulgence that seared a stinging disappointment into memory.

The moment occurred after Zilla (the titular creature's official Toho Studios moniker) arrived in New York City. Video footage of a Japanese fisherman calling the monster Gojira is broadcast and newscaster Charles Caiman (Harry Shearer) confidently and enthusiastically mispronounces the word as Godzilla. 

That was the moment I remembered I was supposed to be watching a Godzilla movie. My heart crumpled and sank into my stomach, where it sat with a nauseating weight. How had I managed to make myself forget that I was watching a freaking Godzilla movie!?!

I had brought my oldest Godzilla doll with me, to commemorate the event, and I made sure to hide it underneath my jacket when I left the theater. That is how embarrassing and humiliating the experience was.

Twenty-seven years have passed since that painful day and, at time of writing, three stateside film productions featuring an accurate and recognizable Godzilla have been released. Which makes accepting this bloated misfire of a monster movie somewhat easier.

I do not hate the movie. As I stated elsewhere on this blog, I accept it as the bloated and mediocre remake of The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms it truly is.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #47

 

The Strange House, Volume 3 - Manga Review

Now there is a third strange 'murder' house? Just how many of these houses are there?

Volume 2 revealed that Yuzuki had lied about being the wife of one of the potential victims of a murder house. Turns out she is the sister of a former, and currently missing, resident of both the Tokyo and Saitama houses.
This revelation not only further complicates an already baffling and labyrinthian mystery, it also muddies the waters of trust and perception of both the narrating writer and Kurihara, said writer's speculating investigative assistant.
The opening portion of this volume felt incredibly talky. While this talk did answer a few questions, the characters wasted no time hammering those supposed answers with a volley of all new questions. The who, what, and why of these strange 'murder' houses and the mysterious people that have lived, and killed, in them remains unexplained and unexplored.
Most, if not all, of what Kurihara has hypothesized remains unproven, for now. But this volume does place both the narrator and Yuzuki inside the third house, where they can run Kurihara's theories through a testable reality.
The pacing here is meticulous and slow, which drapes a palpable and smothering sense of dread over the narrator and Yuzuki as they make their way through the dark and seemingly deserted third house. 
Once more I was moved to the edge of my seat, precariously balanced between wanting the narrator to learn what is really going on and thinking it might be best if said narrator dropped the whole thing before something terrible happens.
Still loving that I am both hoping and dreading whatever does or does not come next...

Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror - Edited by Jordan Peele - Book Review

Of the nineteen Black authors collected here, I recognized six names. Of those six, I had read four prior to cracking open this anthology. Not too bad for an 'old' white guy, I think. Being aged some 57 years, at time of writing, qualifies as old, right? Because I am starting to feel it.

The four authors whose work I knew prior to reading Out There Screaming, in order of their appearance in the anthology, are N.K. Jemisin, Tananarive Due, Nnedi Okorafor, and Nalo Hopkinson. I am also going to boast that I got to meet and talk with Hopkinson at a 2015 Writing Excuses Retreat.
Wait, it has been a decade since that happened? Damn...
Okay, back to the anthology.
I am not going to mention, much less critique or discuss, every story in this anthology. But do not let my failure to mention or highlight a particular story be construed as a negative. Not one of the nineteen stories in Out There Screaming struck me as a clunker, which is high praise for any anthology. 
That being said, the following stories are the ones I felt moved to write some kind of comment about.
Reckless Eyeballing by N.K. Jemisin - An unsettling character study spiced with a discomforting splash of ACAB that features a zesty ending worthy of Tales from the Crypt. This yarn launches the collection with a potent and appreciated bang.
Eye & Tooth by Rebecca Roanhorse - A financially strapped brother-sister monster hunting team are hired to venture out west of Fort Worth, Texas and take care of a bothersome predator that is lurking in a cornfield. This one was tense and fun as hell.
Wandering Devil by Cadwell Turnbull - Another character study, this one centering on the emotional and spiritual price that one must pay for not putting down roots in this world.
The Rider by Tananarive Due - Patricia and her sister are traveling to join the Freedom Riders in Montgomery. Individuals of ill-intent try to divert and stop them, but an angered force from beyond this world intervenes. An American Fable by Chesya Burke, which appears later in the anthology, offers a splendid variation on this very same theme.
Pressure by Ezra Clayton Daniels - Familial, societal, environmental, and economic pressures collide in unexpected and disturbing ways in this story told in the second person. As was the case with The Rider and An American Fable, some of the core themes in Pressure are echoed in another story in the anthology, Flicker by L.D. Lewis.
Dark Home by Nnedi Okorafor - The 'Old World' ways collide with the 'New World' ways, offering up unexpected and unnerving results. I loved this story.
The Most Strongest Obeah Woman of the World by Nalo Hopkinson - When Yenderil dares to try and battle and banish a devil lurking in a local water hole, things do not go as planned for the young girl. I was slow to warm to this story, but by the time it was over, I did not want it to end.
A Bird Sings by the Etching Tree by Nicole D. Soniers - Part ghost story, part zombie story, and wholly entertaining and engrossing, this is another tale I flat out loved. It ties with Dark Home for being my favorite story in the anthology.
Your Happy Place by Terence Taylor - Good mythical-lord, this story... It reminds me of a certain episode of Black Mirror, although this offers a far better version of the brutal and harrowing 'twist' ending that is 'spoiled' by the story's opening line. Because this story is not about the twist. It is not about what is happening, but why it is happening. Damn, this hit hard.
Hide and Seek by P. Djèlí Clark - This last one struck me as what it might have been like if Shirley Jackson had been able to collaborate with Stephen King. It was another story that, while it ended where it needed to, I was not ready for it to end. I wanted, needed, to know what happened next.
There you have it. I hope this whetted your appetite to crack open Out There Screaming and give it a much deserved read.
Pleasant dreams...

Invaders from Mars (1953) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 16, 1953
Although I have seen Tobe Hooper's maligned remake of Invaders from Mars numerous times, I think I have seen the original all of one time. I remember it as being on an episode of KTVU's Creature Features. John Stanley must have been hosting the show by this time, as it would have to have been in the early 1980s.

At least that is how I remember it. I could always check the television listings in the Oakland Tribune (thank you newspapers.com) to see when that was, but that will take a great deal of time and effort.

My mind being wired the way it is, know that information will be forthcoming in a future post. Because, why not? The idea has been planted, let the obsession grow...

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #49

The Stickmen
Following Josh and Mike, Heather was warned of "voodoo stuff" up ahead and couldn't figure out what her friends could be talking about. She soon stood in a veritable garden of crossed figures - weird, hanging symbols made from sticks and broken branches. "No redneck is this creative," Mike grimly observed as Heather shot the ominous stickmen from just about every angle, in both video and 16mm. 

Bubba Ho-Tep (2003) - Soundtrack

In his liner notes for this 'Signature Edition' writer-director Don Coscarelli (one of the edition's signees) shares how, at the premiere of the film, star Bruce Campbell leaned over to tell him, "Great soundtrack." I agree, it is.

Brian Tyler (the other signee) also chimes in with some notes of his own. He shares his desire to "compose a score that integrated the Elvis music of the 1950s, 60s, and 70s against a celebration of horror film music and Egyptian overtones." He also states the importance of having "a strong aspect of emotion while leaving room for the comedy."
Understanding the film's need for a music underscore emphasizing its emotion, not the broad, bawdy, and pitch-black comedy being splashed and splattered across the screen, is what makes it great. Tyler's score blends strains of aching sadness and loss with time-worn tatters of dignity and the final vestiges of inner strength. There are also dashes of playful nostalgia for the energy of vanished youth. This is a score that offers an incredible and colorful tapestry of complicated emotional color.
I am also thankful that Tyler's music does not ever utilize cartoonishly broad or overtly comedic musical stylings or stingers. No sad trombones, kazoos, or keyboard tickling. Because the movie was not in need of that style of music. What it needed was something that made its aching heart audible to the audience. Which is what Brian Tyler's music does so incredibly well.
"All is well," indeed. 

Happy Birthday to Me (1981) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - May 15, 1981
The most memorable thing about Happy Birthday to Me, for me at least, had to be its derpy newspaper ad campaign. Despite the promise that film would contain six of the most bizarre murders you will ever see, I only remember the bonkers plot twist at the end.