CITY BENEATH THE SEA (1962) – For starters, this is NOT the 1970s movie nor the 1950s movie of this title. This City Beneath the Sea is a seven-part television serial from Great Britain. In the past Balladeer’s Blog has covered similar British tv serials like the original Quatermass adventures, Pathfinders in Space and its sequels, in addition to The Trollenberg Terror, plus Object Z and Object Z Returns.
This was still pre-Doctor Who, but it has that same “stand-still adventure” ambience and the stiff upper lip British characters as in the Doctor’s escapades. The program features the expected lame special effects and outdated science typical of the time period, so it makes a viewer laugh while also providing quaint, old-fashioned entertainment.
City Beneath the Sea stars Gerald Flood as reporter Mark Bannerman and Stewart Guidotti as his photographer Peter Blake. The villains are led by Germans who served in World War Two, like Denis Goacher as former U-Boat commander Kurt Swendler and Aubrey Morris as mad scientist Professor Ludwig Ziebrecken.
For obsessive Star Wars fans let me point out that among the few characters important enough to feature in all seven episodes of this serial is the original Mon Mothma from Return of the Jedi, Caroline Blakiston herself, as Dr. Ann Boyd. British television staple Morris Perry rounded out the regulars as a naval radio operator. Continue reading
Has it really been 31 days already? Happy Halloween from Balladeer’s Blog with this look at some more horror stories that are over 100 years old. They make for a nice Monster Rally feel since they feature a variety of supernatural beings. 
The bronze Venus takes a perverse liking to a prosperous young man and steals a ring the man is supposed to put on at his impending wedding ceremony. When the man goes through with the marriage without the purloined ring, the statue visits him and his bride on their wedding night and kills him. 
THE WHITE REINDEER (1952) – As Halloween Season nears its end, Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at a fascinating and haunting Finnish horror film. First off, let me assure readers that The White Reindeer is, indeed, a serious movie despite the way that some glib descriptions of it make it sound like just another campy black & white monster movie from long ago. 
Blomberg’s best move was just accepting the fact that he didn’t have a big enough budget for convincing special effects so he relies on stylish editing, shadows and every camera trick in the book for the transformation scenes.
KNOCKING OFF NUMBER SEVEN – In NCAA Division Two, the WINGATE UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS welcomed the number 7 team in the nation – the LENOIR-RHYNE UNIVERSITY BEARS. Halftime saw the Bulldogs on top 17-14 but the 3rd Quarter ended in a 20-20 tie. In the explosive 4th Wingate U. won the game 34-30. 
AND ANOTHER NUMBER SEVEN TAKES A FALL – Over in the NAIA, the number 9 GEORGETOWN (KY) COLLEGE TIGERS played host to the 7th ranked LINDSEY WILSON COLLEGE BLUE RAIDERS. This was a defensive epic, with the Tigers leading by a mere 7-0 at the Half before beating the Blue Raiders 10-0. 
NUMBER EIGHT GOES TUMBLING AFTER – This game pitted D2’s 24th ranked VALDOSTA STATE BLAZERS against the number 8 UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA ARGONAUTS. A 21-21 Halftime deadlock remained unchanged in the 3rd Quarter. In the 4th the Blazers pulled off a last minute 31-28 upset. 
EERIE #124 
THE MONSTER-MAKER aka THE SURGEON’S EXPERIMENT (1897) – As Halloween Month hurtles toward its conclusion, Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at one of the overlooked horror tales of one of America’s most overlooked writers – W.C. Morrow. This story depicts a mad doctor dabbling in unspeakable experiments.
Halloween Month rolls along here at Balladeer’s Blog with a look at two notoriously bad horror movies which use Andy Warhol’s name despite him not really having anything to do with them and credit Antonio Margheriti as the director even though Paul Morrissey wrote and directed them. 
ANDY WARHOL’S FRANKENSTEIN (1973) – Also known as Flesh for Frankenstein, this 3-D monstrosity and its sister film, Andy Warhol’s Dracula (aka Blood for Dracula) used to be among the most well-known “So Bad They’re Good” movies. Oddly, they fell pretty much off the radar long ago, but get rediscovered every so often and enjoy a brief surge in notoriety from successive generations of horror fans. 
These two movies are also like 1970s time capsules, too. Recently relaxed standards for what could be shown on the big screen yielded a LOT of cheap films that were clearly made just to see how much gory violence and kinky titillation the creative teams could get away with. 
Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein and Andy Warhol’s Dracula deserve my usual warnings to horror fans who really hate extreme violence and bizarre sex. Don’t go below the “Continue reading” line or you’ll probably regret it. These films are mild compared to 
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