Monthly Archives: January 2024

FRIGHTMARE THEATER (2015-2022)

frightmare theaterFRIGHTMARE THEATER (2015-2022) – Over the years, Balladeer’s Blog has examined plenty of Movie Host Shows, old and new. Frightmare Theater is another hostess-themed film show created, written and directed by Joel Stephens, just like Dark Jungle Theater, previously reviewed here.

This effort from Stephens and his team is another of the countless programs saluting the tradition of late-night bad movie shows that presented – and often mocked – some of the worst or campiest horror films ever made. Remember ladies like Vampira, Moona Lisa, Crematia Mortem, Macabra, Elvira, and of course Stella! from Saturday Night Dead?

frightmare theater ladiesFrightmare Theater delivers an entire coven of hostesses, led by Mistress Scarlet (Scarlet Ryan), the red head who rises from her coffin to host the bad movie proceedings. Some of her assistants are Original Cyn (Cyn Renteria), Sister Jane (Jane Victoria Colley) and Sister Monalisa (Monalisa Davinci). Stephens himself appeared as Boris the Butler for a while.

As regular readers know, I’m a sucker for just about any Movie Host Show dedicated to laughing at Psychotronic classics from any decade, but for viewers who may not give all such programs a free pass, I feel obligated to point out a few downsides to Frightmare Theater: Continue reading

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Filed under Bad and weird movies, Forgotten Television, Movie Hosts

CHUCK NORRIS IN A FORCE OF ONE (1979)

a force of oneA FORCE OF ONE (1979) – Fresh off the success of Good Guys Wear Black, Chuck Norris starred in this action film directed by Paul Aaron in only his second directing effort. The prolific Ernest Tidyman wrote the screenplay.

The Story: In a fictional mid-sized California city, a drug operation is thriving, helped along by bad cops who funnel confiscated drugs right back to the head of the narcotics pushers after pretending to have destroyed the seized goodies per department policy. The drug ring uses a sporting goods store as their front and use an aspiring karate champ as their chief enforcer.

             That enforcer is a deadly human weapon and when cops keep turning up dead at his hands the department hires a local karate dojo master to teach the police better techniques of self-defense. That dojo master falls in love with a lady cop and winds up helping the police to battle the drug ring.   

The Characters:

CHUCK NORRIS is in the role of Matt Logan, a former special forces man from the United States Army. He’s the defending Middleweight Karate Champion and also runs a karate dojo on the side. One of his students is his black adopted son Charlie (Eric Laneuville), whose late mother he had platonically befriended when … oh, don’t worry about it. They might as well have saved time by just having him be one of Matt’s students, PERIOD, since his only purpose is to get killed by the drug dealers, thus giving Logan a personal stake in the crusade to bring them down. Continue reading

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NEWS, MEMES AND POLITICAL CARTOON ROUNDUP: JANUARY 22nd

stop that auFrom Independent Voter site Balladeer’s Blog. As always, everyone is welcome here no matter who they vote for.

one of the mostBIDEN REGIME CAUGHT USING A “COUNTER-TERRORISM” GRANT AGAINST POLITICAL OPPONENTS. Joe Biden is utter filth.

DOJ ADMITS TO COVERUP IN LYING ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN’S LAPTOP WHICH EXPOSED BIDEN CRIME FAMILY SCANDALS. For those few people still idiotic enough to pretend the revelations were “Russian disinformation.”

BIDEN REGIME’S FBI DEFIES ANOTHER LEGAL RULING AND REFUSES TO  TURN OVER MORE EVIDENCE IN ANOTHER CASE.  

jack smith picFOUR JUDGES ON DC CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS BLAST PRIOR COURT WHICH LET CORRUPT PROSECUTOR JACK SMITH VIOLATE TRUMP’S RIGHTS IN UNPRECEDENTED WAY. More HERE.

EVEN THIS ANTI-TRUMP COLUMNIST AT THE DEMOCRAT OUTLET THE NEW YORK TIMES ADMITS TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Some excerpts: “Arguably the single most important geopolitical fact of the century is the mass migration of people from south to north and east to west, causing tectonic demographic, cultural, economic and ultimately political shifts. Trump understood this from the start of his presidential candidacy in 2015 …

        “It said something about the self-deluded state of Western politics when Trump came on the scene that his assertion of the obvious was treated as a moral scandal, at least by the stratum of society that had the least to lose from mass migration. To millions of other Americans, his message, however crudely he may have expressed it, sounded like plain common sense.”

        “Enforcing control at the border — whether through a wall, a fence or some other mechanism — isn’t racism,” Stephens wrote. “It’s a basic requirement of statehood and peoplehood, which any nation has an obligation to protect and cherish.

NEVADA GOVERNOR ENDORSES DONALD TRUMP.

ANTI-TRUMP JANUARY 6th COMMITTEE FOUND TO HAVE DELETED OVER 100 ENCRYPTED FILES BEFORE THEY WOULD HAVE HAD TO TURN THEM OVER TO THE INCOMING REPUBLICAN MAJORITY. Continue reading

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BALLADEER’S BLOG’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL RESULTS FROM JANUARY 20th

NCAA DIVISION THREE

trinity bantamsCLOSE CALL FOR NUMBER FIVE – The number 5 team in the nation – the TRINITY (CT) BANTAMS – took it on the road against the WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY CARDINALS. At Halftime the Cardinals were on top 36-29, but after the break the Bantams forced Overtime by tying things up 70-70 to end Regulation. In the extra session Trinity College prevailed 79-77. Ben Callahan-Gold notched 25 points to lead the Bantams.

christopher newport captains logoCENTURY CLUB – The (25) CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY CAPTAINS welcomed the WARREN WILSON COLLEGE OWLS and proceeded to fold, spindle and mutilate them 111-48   ###   Meanwhile, the THOMAS COLLEGE TERRIERS won 101-67 at the LESLEY UNIVERSITY LYNX   ###   And the MORRISVILLE STATE MUSTANGS routed the CANTON (NY) KANGAROOS 105-71. Continue reading

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JULY 2020: A LOOK BACK

FOR PART ONE (2016) OF THIS RETROSPECTIVE FROM INDEPENDENT VOTER SITE BALLADEER’S BLOG CLICK HERE.

vernon jones picLIFELONG DEMOCRAT AND OTHER BLACK VOTERS BASH BIDEN AND SUPPORT TRUMP – Some excerpts: “Jones has pointed out that President Donald Trump has done more for the black community than any other Washington politician, all while Biden hides in his basement. Vernon also criticized hysterical Democrat plans to defund police.”  

         “The black unemployment rate under Biden and the Obama administration averaged a horrific 12.8 percent … By comparison, more than double that number – 350,000 black Americans – were lifted out of poverty during just the first two years of the Trump administration.”

we are not our parents        “Jones also reminded voters of color about Joe Biden’s THIRTY-SIX YEARS of pushing horrifically strict bills against black offenders (sometimes in conjunction with Hillary Clinton, who notoriously called black men “super-predators”)

        “Joe Biden is directly responsible for the mass incarceration policies of the 1980s and 1990s, which decimated the black community. Biden authored the 1994 crime bill which imposed mandatory minimum sentences, disproportionately putting hundreds of thousands of young black men in prison.” CLICK HERE, and HERE

trump is fdrTRUMP’S NEW EXECUTIVE ORDERS SAVE WORKING CLASS AND POOR FAMILIES BIG MONEY ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS – And Big Pharma never forgave him. Many of us had loved ones who benefited from these moves by Trump. CLICK HERE.

EXPLAINING DEMOCRATS’ DISASTROUS “DEFUND THE POLICE” POLICY FOR OVERSEAS READERS – CLICK HERE.

carmen best picCARMEN BEST TELLS THE TRUTH ABOUT THE DEMOCRAT RIOTS IN SEATTLE – “Democrats continue to egg on the riots and the hatred of police by pretending these are “peaceful protests.” CLICK HERE. HERE. and HERE.  

CAMPUS DEMOCRATS CALL A STATUE OF ABE LINCOLN “WHITE SUPREMACY” – CLICK HERE.

Melissa Tate and TrumpBLACK VOTER RECALLS DONALD TRUMP’S LOANS TO BLACK BUSINESSES WHEN BANKS WOULDN’T LEND TO THEM – Read about it HERE.

DEFY DEMOCRAT TYRANTS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON – Having a good time drives the primly disapproving jackasses crazy. CLICK HERE. Continue reading

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BRITISH SUPERHEROES FROM THE 1940s

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at British-made comic books from the 1940s in the same spirit as my examination of Canadian-made superheroes from the 1940s

wonderman from englandWONDERMAN

Secret Identity: John Justice

Debut Year: 1948

Origin: A lifelong wealthy playboy, John Justice enlisted in the army during World War Two and rose to the rank of captain. A few years after the war ended, his scientist father’s atomic experiments granted him superpowers with which John fought the forces of evil as Wonderman.

Powers: Wonderman possessed massive super-strength and invulnerability, could fly, had x-ray vision and super-hearing as well as limited telepathy.

Comment: During his superhero career, which lasted into 1951, Wonderman continued to pretend to be merely a good-timing playboy in his John Justice identity. Nobody recognized him as Wonderman despite his lack of a mask and not even his girlfriend Jan Barrie knew about his double-life.

acromaidACROMAID

Secret Identity: Christine McCall, Surgical Nurse

Debut Year: 1947

Origin: After fighting off a criminal who invaded the operating room to try killing the patient, Christine McCall wanted more action. She adopted the costumed identity of Acromaid and fought crime.

acromaid 2Powers: Acromaid was in peak physical condition and excelled at unarmed combat. She was as agile as an acrobat and was also very skilled at knife-throwing. In addition, Acromaid carried vials of truth serum with her so she could inject it into criminals she was interrogating.

Comment: This superheroine was another crimefighter who wore no mask yet maintained a secret identity with no problem. Her roommate and fellow nurse was named Penny.    Continue reading

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GOVERNOR BENT SLAIN: JANUARY 19th, 1847

charles bentJANUARY 19th, 1847 – With the Mexican War (April 1846 – February 1848) still raging, New Mexico Territorial Governor Charles Bent was killed, scalped, and stripped naked at his home in Taos, NM on this date. Five others were murdered along with him, including a female Native American.

Bent had foolishly eschewed military protection and had just arrived in Taos from his office and business headquarters in Santa Fe. In December of 1846 wealthy and influential New Mexico families had been exposed for acting as agents of Mexico and plotting violence to bring down the American authorities. Continue reading

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DICK TURPIN (1925) – SILENT MOVIE

dick turpinDICK TURPIN (1925) – Western star Tom Mix took a break from his Wild West movies by starring in this highly romanticized film about the real-life English thief and highway robber Dick Turpin. John G. Blystone directed the movie for Fox Film Corporation. Tom swapped his six-guns and rifles for a sword and pistols in this flick.

The story in this 70-minute movie starts out in the mid-1730s. In this version of events Dick Turpin is already well-known for committing masked highway robbery against the carriage trade of well-to-do passengers. Among his men is burly Tom King, played by Alan Hale after his 1922 turn as Little John to Douglas Fairbanks’ Robin Hood.

tom as dickThe main villain of the film is Lord Churlton (Philo McCullough), who not only resents having been robbed by Turpin, but abuses his power and influence by menacingly trying to force Lady Alice Brookfield (Kathleen Myers) to marry him. 

Out and about without his mask on one day, Dick spots a rival gang of highway robbers attacking the carriage of said Alice. Smitten with our heroine’s beauty, Turpin comes to the rescue, single-handedly driving off the bandits and flirting with the young lady. Continue reading

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STANTON UNIVERSITY: COOL NAMED SPORTS TEAM

Balladeer’s Blog takes its latest look at a college whose sports teams have a nickname that is out of the ordinary.

STANTON UNIVERSITY Continue reading

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THE BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG (1907) – ANCIENT SCIENCE FICTION

boats of the glen carrigTHE BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG (1907) – Written by horror legend William Hope Hodgson, whose works The House on the Borderland, The Ghost Pirates and the Thomas Carnacki short stories were all reviewed previously here at Balladeer’s Blog. 

Though Hodgson’s usually associated with horror, The Boats of the Glen Carrig gets classed as science fiction because its nightmarish creatures seem rooted in science, making them more akin to the Xenomorphs in Alien than to the undead buccaneers in The Ghost Pirates or the cosmic supernatural entities of The House on the Borderland

another boats of the glen carrigIn 1757 the story’s main character, John Winterstraw, is telling his son James Winterstraw about the horrific adventure that brought John together with the boy’s mother. (How I Met Your Mother: The Prequel Series) John and other sailors were on board the Glen Carrig when it struck a rock near the surface of the waters and sank.

All hands evacuated in the lifeboats but were soon mired in a mass of seaweed in the Sargasso Sea. Their troubles were just beginning, as mutated life-forms began to assault them. Continue reading

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