B-MOVIE HOSTESS ELVIRA’S MOVIE MACABRE: SEASON ONE

As Halloween Month rolls along, I will take a movie-by-movie look at the opening season of Elvira’s show Movie Macabre (1981-1986). Her massive success kicked off an even greater proliferation of Movie Hosts and Hostesses in the 1980s. I covered Elvira herself back in 2012, so this time I’m taking a look at her debut season. 

GRAVE OF THE VAMPIRE (1972) – Psychotronic icons Michael Pataki and William Smith starred in this twisted flick about a vampire (Pataki) who rapes a woman (Lyn Peters) who subsequently gives birth to an abnormal infant. The baby will drink only blood and grows up to be James Eastman (Smith). James goes on a quest to kill his father for the pain he brought into his mother’s life. Ultimately he does, but becomes a full vampire himself. (Just go with it.) Aired Sep 26th, 1981.

SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT (1972) – One of the pre-Halloween examples of a slasher film. A young man inherits the family mansion which years earlier was turned into an insane asylum. He starts the process of selling the place, but on Christmas Eve a former inmate of the asylum goes on a killing spree. THE John Carradine, Mary Woronov and Patrick O’Neal star along with many Andy Warhol fringies like Candy Darling. Also with Philip Bruns of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.   Aired Oct 3rd.

THE HOUSE THAT SCREAMED (1969) – This Spanish horror movie was set in an 1800s French boarding school for girls. The students begin disappearing one by one. Lilli Palmer starred as the sinister Headmistress Señora Fourneau. It turns out the girls are getting killed and their most perfect body parts removed in order to construct the killer’s idea of a “perfect” woman. Aired Oct 10th.

HOUSE OF USHER (1960) – Roger Corman’s flick adapting the Poe story about a family whose disintegrating sanity becomes reflected in their house. Vincent Price, Myrna Fahey and the OTHER Mark Damon. Aired Oct 17th.

THE DUNWICH HORROR (1970) – The H.P. Lovecraft story about a woman who mated with one of the monstrous Old Ones conjured up via the Necronomicon and gave birth to twin males – one human and one demonic. Fun cast includes Dean Stockwell, Sandra Dee, Talia Shire, Beach Dickerson and Lloyd Bochner. Aired Oct 24th.

BLACULA (1972) – The schlocker that kicked off the Blaxploitation Horror trend which included Blackenstein, Dr. Black & Mr. Hyde and many more. African Prince Mamuwalde (THE William Marshall), who was turned into a vampire by Dracula in the 1700s now stalks the present day as Blacula. Also with Vonetta McGee, Ketty Lester and Elisha Cook, Jr. Aired Oct 31st.   

THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1963) – Jacques Tournier himself directed and Richard Matheson wrote this dark comedy about cheap morticians who recycle the same coffin over and over again to save money. To do so, they must rob it from the grave of their most recent “customer.” On top of the recycled coffin there are poisonings and more. Vincent Price, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Basil Rathbone starred. Aired Nov 7th.

THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (1972) – Surely everybody knows what this flick is about by now. Anyway, a scientist experiments on a black prisoner who volunteered for it. He places the head of a dying white millionaire onto the black prisoner’s healthy body. Mayhem results. Starred Ray Milland, Rosey Grier and Chelsea Brown. Aired Nov 14th. 

THE WEREWOLF OF WASHINGTON (1973) – Unfunny and unscary horror comedy which tried satirizing the unfolding Watergate Scandal. It was released in February of 1973, long before the scale of the scandal was fully known, further robbing the film of true relevance. The president’s press secretary (Dean Stockwell) survives a werewolf attack and begins turning into one himself. Slayings result all over Washington DC leading to a coverup. With Michael Dunn. Aired Nov 21st.   

CRY OF THE BANSHEE (1970) – Lots of whipping and torture in this tale set in Elizabethan England. Vincent Price stars as Lord Edward Whitman, a regulation obsessed Witchfinder. Anybody and everybody gets tagged as a witch at some point. You know how these flicks go. Dungeons galore and depraved sex. Aired Nov 28th.

COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1970) – Robert Quarry starred as the title character in this first of three vampire movies he made in the 1970s. Count Yorga poses as a modern-day hypnotist in Los Angeles and feeds on the hippie chicks and surfer girls of the area. The beau of one of his victims wants to kill Yorga. Aired Dec 5th. 

MURDERS IN THE RUE MORGUE (1971) – Despite the title, this film is half Phantom of the Opera ripoff and throws in the real 1800s detective Vidocq in place of Poe’s Auguste Dupin. Starred Jason Robards, Herbert Lom and Christine Kaufmann. Aired Dec 12th.

BARON BLOOD (1972) – Mario Bava himself directed this movie. The title figure is Baron Otto von Kleist (Joseph Cotten), an evil man who is long dead. In the baron’s castle, one of his descendants (Antonio Cantafora) and his girlfriend (Elke Sommer) bring the baron back from the dead via the spell of a witch (Rada Rassimov). Bloody carnage ensues. Aired Dec 26th.

DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE (1971) – Hammer was in its “we’ll try anything” mood for this twist on the usual Jekyll/ Hyde story. This time around, in what is NOT a comedy, Henry Jekyll’s (Ralph Bates) formula turns him into Edwina Hyde (Martine Beswick). The plot throws in ties to Burke & Hare PLUS Jack the Ripper. Aired Jan 3rd, 1982. 

THE CRIMSON CULT (1968) – Loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s The Dreams in the Witch House. Robert Manning (Mark Eden) searches for his brother Peter at Craxted Lodge but finds a coven of witches led by the spirit of a female ancestor. Christopher Lee, Boris Karloff, Barbara Steele and Michael Gough also star. Aired Jan 10th.

THE MURDER CLINIC (1966) – In the 1870s, a mad scientist (William Berger) uses the patients at the insane asylum he runs as human guinea pigs. He wants to restore his sister-in-law’s beauty. Meanwhile a slasher preys on other patients. Aired Jan 16th.

HORROR EXPRESS (1972) – “Who loves ya, baby?” Telly Savalas stars alongside Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. On a train traveling the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1906, an alien whose mind inhabits the body of a recently unearthed frozen caveman begins killing the passengers. The caveman was being transported for scientific study. Aired Jan 23d. 

THE INCREDIBLE 2-HEADED TRANSPLANT (1971) – One year before The Thing with Two Heads came this schlocker about a mad scientist (Bruce Dern), who puts the head of a drooling murderer on the body of the simple-minded son (John Bloom) of his gardener. That gardener is played by Larry Vincent, the iconic Movie Host Sinister Seymour. Pat Priest from The Munsters and the one and only Casey Kasem co-star. Aired Jan 30th.

NOTE: Years after Sinister Seymour died, Elvira took his place hosting the Knott’s Berry Farm Halloween festivities.  

HORROR HOSPITAL (1973) – A failed songwriter checks into a faux Health Resort (the hospital of the title) where the patients are experimented on to try creating zombie slaves who ride motorcycles. Cast included Michael Gough, Robin Askwith, Vanessa Shaw and Skip Martin. Aired Feb 6th.   

RATTLERS (1976) – A 1970s “animals strike back” movie about toxic waste from a military base causing rattlesnakes to go berserk en masse and start killing everyone they come across. Cult actor Sam Chew led a very obscure cast. Aired Feb 13th.

DISCIPLE OF DEATH (1972) – British DJ Mike Raven starred as a Devil Worshiper who poses as a priest in 1700s England, the better to tempt and seduce naive virgins for ritual sacrifices. Also with Ronald Lacey from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Louise Jameson from Doctor Who and Tenko. Aired Feb 20th.

FRANKENSTEIN (1973) – Dan Curtis of Dark Shadows and Night Stalker fame churned out this made for tv version of the Mary Shelley classic. Robert Foxworth starred as Dr. Frankenstein and Bo Hopkins played a version of the Monster who got to develop intelligence as the story went on. Susan Strasburg, Willie Aames and John Karlen also star, with a brief appearance by a young Leif Garrett. Aired Feb 27th.

THE DEVIL’S RAIN (1975) – William Shatner, John Travolta, Ernest Borgnine, Tom Skerritt, Joan Prather, Ida Lupino, Keenan Wynn and the idiotic Anton LaVey starred in this tale of Satanists out west. Souls bound for Hell are trapped in a bizarre bottle. Aired Mar 6th. 

PSYCHIC KILLER (1975) – This flick is often confused with The Astral Factor, which came out in 1978. Jim Hutton stars as a man framed for his mother’s murder and locked up in an insane asylum. A fellow inmate gives him an amulet which lets Jim project his astral body to kill off the villains responsible for his plight. The cast includes Julie Adams, Neville Brand, Aldo Ray, Nehemiah Persoff, Della Reese, Whit Bissell and the one and only Greydon Clark. Aired Mar 13th. 

NECROMANCY (1972) – Bert I. Gordon, called “Mr. B.I.G.” because of his initials and his production of many, many B-Movies about gigantic menaces, directed this movie. Lori Brandon (Pamela Franklin) and her husband Frank (Michael Ontkean) move to the town of Lilith, CA. The place is run by the sorcerer Mr. Cato (ORSON WELLES) and every citizen belongs to his cult. He wants to use Lori to raise his son Timothy from the dead. Also with Lee Purcell and THE Brinke Stevens. Aired Mar 20th.

THE SPECTRE OF EDGAR ALLAN POE (1974) – Remember how Time After Time depicted H.G. Wells having a “real” time travel adventure and how Hammett depicted Dashiell Hammett solving a “real” murder mystery? Well, this flick starred Robert Walker Jr. as Poe in a “real” adventure of his own. His beloved Lenore is almost buried alive and goes insane from the experience. She is confined to an insane asylum which Edgar later breaks into and discovers secret horrors. The cast included Cesar Romero, Carol Ohmart from Spider Baby, Tom Drake and Dennis Fimple. Aired Mar 27th.

PEEPING TOM (1960) – Carl Boehm and Norma Shearer starred in this early slasher movie. A voyeur kills women after peeping on them and films their dying moments to watch later for “stimulation”. Aired Apr 3rd. 

LEGACY OF BLOOD (1971) – The usual shenanigans about weird heirs of a weird man (John Carradine) and the lengths they go to to knock each other off in the family mansion. John Russell, Merry Anders and Jeff Morrow also star. Aired Apr 10th.

DEATHDREAM (1974) – Before Porky’s, Bob Clark did this horror movie in which a soldier in Vietnam is killed, but his mother refuses to accept that he is dead. Powered by her obsessive belief, Andy shows up at his family’s doorstep, so they think the news of his death was a clerical error. Anyone who’s read The Monkey’s Paw knows what’s up and the undead soldier unleashes horrors on his family. Aired Apr 17th.

DEATHMASTER (1972) – Robert Quarry starred as a vampire who leads a Manson Family type of cult from which he chooses his victims. The opening, with a coffin washing up on the shore summoned by a flute player is great but the rest is typical Quarry. Bobby “Boris” Pickett and Brenda Dickson star along with Kolchak’s Gordie the Ghoul John Fiedler. Aired Apr 24th.

BEWARE! THE BLOB aka SON OF BLOB (1972) – Larry Hagman convinced his producer neighbor to finance this Blob sequel based on Hagman’s story. The metal container from the end of the 1950s film is found near the North Pole by Chester (Godfrey Cambridge), who takes it home with him. The Blob inside it thaws, escapes and goes on a somewhat more graphic killing spree than last time around.

Notoriously, Hagman and a long list of his actor friends made the flick for fun. It starts out emulating 50s B-Movies but with modern violence, only to become a proto-Police Squad/ Naked Gun straight-faced parody by movie’s end. My favorite gag is the bowler in a wheelchair trying to fend off the Blob with a crucifix. When this film was re-released in 1981 it was tagged “The movie J.R. shot!” as a joke about “Who shot J.R.?”  Too many stars to mention. Think 70s disaster movies. Aired May 1st.

GOOD AGAINST EVIL (1977) – Made for tv pilot movie that was not picked up as a series. Actually it plays like what would have been the first two episodes slammed together given the abrupt change of storyline, locale and new supporting cast in the latter part. Magazine writer Andy (Dack Rambo) falls in love with Jessica (Elyssa Davalos) who is the designated future bride of the demon Astaroth and must be kept a virgin.

Richard Lynch as Mr. Rimmin leads the evil cult that has been secretly controlling Jessica’s life since her Rosemary’s Baby type birth in the cult’s clutches. Jessica disappears part way through the story and is searched for by Andy, who winds up in another city helping a priest (Dan O’Herlihy) exorcise the possessed child of Kim Cattrall. Aired May 8th.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF SATAN (1971) – A family arrives in Hillsboro, CA where they are treated with suspicion because 26 children have recently disappeared. Many of the citizens turn out to be members of a co-ed witchcraft cult, with the family not figuring that out until it’s too late. They abduct children in order to mystically transfer their minds into the childrens’ bodies, thus extending their lifespans. With L.Q. Jones, Alvy Moore, Ahna Capri and Strother Martin. Aired May 15th.

THE MAD MAGICIAN (1954) – Elvira put on some 3-D glasses in honor of how this movie was originally released in 3-D. Other Movie Hosts of the 1980s showed different 3-D films, for instance Sven on Son of Svengoolie and Randy & Richard on The Texas 27 Film Vault. Vincent Price played a stage magician wanting out of his claustrophobic contract, so he kills his leash-holder. That leads to additional killing to keep his guilt a secret. Cast included Eva Gabor, Patrick O’Neal and Mary Murphy. Aired May 22nd.

TURN OF THE SCREW (1974) – Another Dan Curtis telefilm, this time adapting the Henry James story. It starred Lynn Redgrave as Jane Cubberly, John Barron & Eva Griffith as the children, and Kathryn Leigh Scott & James Laurenson as the ghosts. Megs Jenkins from previous adaptations played Mrs. Grose. Also aired May 22nd.

COUNT DRACULA’S GREAT LOVE (1973) – A Paul Naschy schlock treasure. In the 1800s the vampire Count Dracula (Naschy, of course) poses as Dr. Wendell Marlow, who runs an insane asylum. One night a horse & carriage breakdown forces several beautiful women and a hunky man to spend the night in the asylum. Aired May 29th. 

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