Chadwick H. Saxelid's Blog: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties, page 27

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #46

 

Dead & Buried (1981) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 14, 1982
The memories I have regarding Dead & Buried are both vivid and murky. I remember being excited that an all-new horror movie from the writers of Alien was on the way. But the wait proved interminable, so I read the novelization, written by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, before the film got around to unspooling at theaters and drive-ins near me.

It is when the film was playing theaters and drive-ins near me that my memories get a tad jumbled. I know for a fact that I saw a double-bill of Dead & Buried and Nightmare with a group of friends at the Southshore Cinema. But I also remember seeing it with my brother and father, also at the Southshore.

A quick check of the Tribune's theatre guide confirmed that, when it opened in May of 1982, this would be when I saw the double-bill.

I have no idea when the other time I saw Dead & Buried at the Southshore might have been, but I do have a reasonable amount of certitude the film was the second half of a double-feature with a first run movie. Maybe. Because, at time of writing, I do not remember the other movie. Perhaps a memory will be jogged or unearthed at some point in the future, when I feel compelled to check a theatre guide for confirmation.

The movie was also a frequent flyer, viewing wise, when it aired on HBO and I do remember renting it on home video. So this was a feature I seemed to enjoy watching quite a bit, back in the day. 

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #48

Mike Loses Control
Mike had never appreciated Heather's need to shove a camera in his face at every opportunity; it was all part of her super-dedicated filmmaker persona, an annoyance he agreed to put up with. But when tempers flared following Mike's "I kicked the map into the creek," admission, he and Heather nearly came to blow as he tried to wring the video camera away from her. 

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) - Soundtrack

To prepare for the job of composing the score for The Wild Bunch (1969) Jerry Fielding undertook a serious study of the music of Mexico. This study, John Takis observes in his liner notes for this Quartet Records release, turned out to be "better preparation for the more contemporary setting of Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia than it was for The Wild Bunch."

The reason being that "the music he heard was very much the music of Mexico during the late 1960s, not [The Wild Bunch setting of] the 1910s," W.K. Stratton observes in The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film.

Jerry Fielding's underscore for Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia amounts to less than a half an hour of music, the rest of his work being source music for the production (i.e. music heard from sources in the film itself).

A Variety review of the film, quoted in the liner notes, described Fielding's score as "spare but dramatically haunting," and I agree. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia can be a harsh, unpleasant, and melancholic viewing experience. One that, as John Takis notes at the close of his liner notes, was "captured by Jerry Fielding in a ballad of exquisite pain and imperfect love."

The Car (1977) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - May 13, 1977
I was a few months shy of turning ten when The Car first drove into theaters and drive-ins around the San Francisco Bay Area. Although was unable to see it at that time, I was able to read the first chapter of the film's novelization while my parents were shopping at our local Gemco.

Check out The Car's co-feature at the St. Francis, though. It was Death Race 2000!?! Man, do I envy the audiences that were able to enjoy that double-bill of vehicular carnage.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #45

 

The Manitou (1978) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - May 12, 1978
The only memory I have regarding the 1978 release of William Girdler's final film (he had died in a helicopter crash in January of that same year) is of picking up the paperback tie-in edition of the film's source material and being unnerved by the color stills contained therein. At least that is how I remember it.

I would not see The Manitou until 1983 or 84, I think. Maybe. I am pretty sure it was while we were living in Hong Kong, I think. 1984 would also be the year that I tore through a bunch of Graham Masterton novels. Devouring The Pariah, The Manitou, The Djinn, and The Wells of Hell in quick and delighted fashion.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #47

At Each Other
Without the benefit of a map, the three young filmmakers packed up their equipment and resumed their excruciating hike through the woods, heading south. Weak, hungry and giddy, Mike began to laugh like crazy, and this led to a revelation he later regretted. "I kicked the map into the creek, man - it was useless!" At first, Heather and Josh thought he was joking. But Mike wasn't. Half-crazy himself, Josh was on the verge of beating his friend to a pulp. 

Friday the 13th (1980) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - May 9, 1980
45 years ago the first entry in what would quick become a formulaic franchise synonymous with 80s horror opened nationwide. This movie led me to create what I call The Betsy Palmer Rule.

In 1979 Betsy Palmer needed some cash and took a minor role in a crappy horror film she assumed would only play for a week in Times Square movie grind houses and in rural drive-ins. Nobody important would notice or see it.

But that did not happen. Paramount Pictures bought Friday the 13th and gave it, as stated above, a nationwide release. It was a huge hit and Betsy Palmer became forever known and beloved as Mrs. Voorhees, Jason's mom. 

That crappy, embarrassing job taken just so a payment could be made? That job just might turn out to be the one that immortalizes or defines your pop culture imprint. One should alway proceed with equal parts humility and caution, because you will not know until it happens. That is The Betsy Palmer Rule.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #44