Chadwick H. Saxelid's Blog: Ghoulies, Ghosties, and Long-Leggedy Beasties, page 35

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #33

Tree of Rocks
After a day of difficult off-trail hiking, Heather and her crew finally arrived at their objective. "This is like an Indian burial ground," offered Joshua, taking in the bizarre sight of the primitive cemetery. There were several piles of rocks ritualistically arranged on the ground and in the trees. Heather tried to remember what Mary Brown had said about the significance of these Paganistic rock piles, recalling that they were mentioned in the Bible. 

The Birds (1963) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 31, 1963

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #30

 

Willard (2003) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 14, 2003
Although broadcasts of the original Willard (1971) were a television viewing staple of my childhood and early adolescence, I have yet to watch its 2003 remake. There are a variety of reasons and excuses for my avoiding it. The most current one is what happens to that poor cat. The first Willard (Bruce Davison) at least had the decency to take the one he got to a shelter.

Black Scorpion (1995) - Soundtrack

Soundtrack for a movie I have not seen, despite its subject matter and being a Roger Corman production placing it well within my sphere of interest. Just another one of a woefully countless number of movies, shows, books, and whatnot that, for whatever reason, I have overlooked or missed out on. So it goes.

Although the film itself is described as a "superhero comedy in the erotic thriller variety" in Randall D. Larson's liner notes, Kevin Kiner's score is rather straight forward "in the manner of a standard detective thriller." There are no cartoonish embellishments or flourishes knocking and pinging about here. An approach that I appreciate.

I also feel the need to point out that, while this is the soundtrack for the first Black Scorpion outing, the artwork used is from the film's sequel, Black Scorpion II: Aftershock (1997).

The Blair Witch Project (1999) - Trading Card #32

Rough Terrain
The three filmmakers had to carefully make their way up rocky hills and through dense foliage, a task made infinitely more difficult by the clumsy backpacks and heavy equipment they were carrying. Crossing streams by cautiously walking across logs was especially hazardous. "If I never cross another stream on a log for the rest of my life, I will die a happy girl," Heather commented after several crossings.

Copying the above text from the back of the card brought to mind something I learned in a Celtic Literature course and that lodged in my own creative and critical DNA. That bodies of water are considered pathways or borders to the region of the dead. If you are near a body of water, or if you cross a river or stream, you are entering the realm of the dead...

Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show(s) - Newspaper Ad

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953
March 13th fell on a Friday in 1953 and, once again, the Fox West Coast Theaters held a bunch of Friday the 13th-themed Midnite Jinx Shows throughout the East Bay. Just as they done the previous month, when February 13th had also fallen on a Friday. What did they show?

Kind of hard to say, this time. When I checked the listings for the California, the Fox, the Grand, and the Senator theaters, the only information given was: "Chills! Thrills! Gifts and Surprises on Stage and Screen." Okay.

A small blurb for the event did say that, "Learned masters of ceremonies (or jinx hosts) will inform patrons of such facts as those pertaining to Woodrow Wilson who was born the 13th, married on the 13th and has 13 letters to his name; that stars such as Kay Francis, Judith Evelyn, Sidney Blackmer and many more were born on the 13th and that drama critics will not be in the audience."

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953

A second ad, on the same page, states that the Friday the 13th Midnite Jinx Show at the Grand Lake will be showing a double-bill of The Walking Dead, starring Bela Lugosi, and Terror House (1942), starring James Mason. 

Although I suspect that the Bela Lugosi feature is retitled film, I could not (at time of writing) find any information about it. So it goes.

Oakland Tribune - March 13, 1953

A third and final ad, again on the same page, hypes a double-bill of the melodramas Tower of London (1939) and The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934). Russ Byrd returns as Master of Ceremonies, with Tiny James once again at the organ keyboard.

Alien (1979) - Trading Card #29

After various difficulties, the "Nostromo Tug" sets down on the mysterious world from where bizarre alien messages are originating.

A poster version of this image was in an Alien Poster Magazine that I bought. It hung in my bedroom for an indeterminate amount of time.

The Beast Within (1982) - Newspaper Ad

San Francisco Examiner - March 12, 1982
If the jumbled memories of my troubled adolescence are in anyway accurate, I would have read Edward Levy's novel The Beast Within in October or November of 1981. The film adaptation, which I remember reading about in Fangoria magazine (maybe issue #13, but definitely issue #15), was something that I looked forward to seeing.

Which is how and why I have come to know just how jumbled and co-mingled my memories of this time period have become.

You see, The Beast Within opened in theaters in and around the San Francisco Bay Area on March 12, 1982. But I know I saw The Beast Within on a double-bill with Night Warning (aka Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker) at the Southshore Twin Cinema in Alameda.

Yet, when I went through the local listings to find that double-bill in the newspaper archive, I could not find it. The Beast Within did not play at the Southshore Twin Cinema in 1982. But I also remember it feeling as if it had taken an eternity for me to be able to see The Beast Within on the big screen.

Turns out that double-bill of The Beast Within and Night Warning opened on Friday, January 7, 1983 and played for all of a week. Which means I probably saw it on the night of the 7th, 8th, or 9th. But I was certain it had to have been in the summer or fall of 1982, not the winter of 1983. Hell, it might have been on home video by then, because I remember watching it as a VHS rental at one point.

Another thing I remember is there being a rather raucous crowd in attendance at the Southshore Twin. There was plenty of jeering, laughing, and talkback throughout both movies. But the biggest laugh came during the "tragic" ending of The Beast Within, when some doofus in the back shouted, "He couldn't handle it!"

No spoilers, but if you have seen the movie, I think you can figure out just what moment that was that I am talking about here...

The Black Hole (1979) - Soundtrack

While the original soundtrack album was a suitable digital download for me, I was ecstatic at the opportunity to upgrade to this CD of the complete score.
Jeff Bond's liner notes describe John Barry's music for The Black Hole as one of the storied composer's "most unusual and audacious" scores. 

One example given is the film's main title, "a strange, dizzying piece," Bond writes, "half-waltz, half death-march, driven by a swirling ostinato for synthesizer." It was that particular ostinato (a repeated musical phrase or rhythm) that compelled me to add the score to my collection.
Something The Black Hole shares with other science fiction soundtracks of the time period is its utilization of a device known as The Blaster Beam. The Beam's distinct, ominous rattle punctuates the ending of the film's overture, which audiences may or may not have heard prior to the film's start. It is put to effective and evocative use in the film itself during the track That's It.
Another choice example of a great score for a less than great, but not that bad, movie.