Tag Archives: Halloween season

WAXWORK (1988) HALLOWEEN MOVIE

WAXWORK (1988) – I’m often surprised at how comparatively overlooked Waxwork is when it comes to 1980s horror films. It’s played straight, packs in a variety of menaces, fun Easter Eggs and sufficient scares and gore for that decade of Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees and Pinhead. A sequel followed in 1992.

The cast includes Zach Galligan, Deborah Foreman, David Warner, Michelle Johnson, Clare Carey, Eric Brown, Dana Ashbrook, John Rhys-Davies, Patrick Macnee and Miles O’Keefe. As the title indicates, this movie involves a wax museum with deadly exhibits, but far more elaborate ones than similar films feature.

Virtually overnight, a nearly completed Wax Museum appears in a midwestern town. It’s still being prepared and won’t officially open for a few weeks, but David Lincoln, the smooth-talking owner played by the great David Warner, offers several curious teens special free passes to a preview the next night. Continue reading

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BAD MOVIE: DEAFULA (1975) FOR HALLOWEEN SEASON

Deafula BalladeerFrom 2011, this is one of my most popular Bad Movie reviews, so here it is again, 14 years later. Deafula is yet another of those bad movies that has such a bizarre premise that many used to believe the film to be an urban legend, like the turkey-monster flick Blood Freak. Get ready for a deaf vampire, a very odd witch and the most joyously goofy hunchback in cinematic history.  

Deafula 2DEAFULA (1975) – Category: A neglected bad movie classic that deserves a Plan 9-sized cult following

Good intentions go horribly wrong in this film. Much like with Blood Freak, there were people who insisted this film was just an urban legend and that it didn’t really exist. Those people were wrong. This horror film is in black and white and, as the title suggests, the vampire as well as everyone else in this movie’s world are deaf and communicate through sign language, billed as “Signscope” in the movie posters and in the opening credits, as if this was a pioneering technical gimmick on a par with Sensurround. (Although considering how lame Sensurround was there may be something to that)

Never fear, though, there is also voice-over narration provided by different people for each actor so that people who don’t know sign language can follow the story. Obviously this is all very noble, and in fact Peter Wechsburg, who produced this film and stars as Deafula, was responsible for an all-sign language newscast for the hearing impaired. That newscast originated in Portland, OR which is also where Deafula was filmed. Continue reading

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HORROR HOST: MAD MARVIN (1957-1959)

Halloween Month continues with this look at a Movie Host from the 1950s – Mad Marvin. For several more Movie Hosts from the 1950s to the 1980s click HERE. You’ll find Moona Lisa, Svengoolie and Son of Svengoolie, Stella from Saturday Night Dead and, of course, The Texas 27 Film Vault.

Chicago’s own Mad Marvin (Terry Bennett) was part of the First Wave of B-Movie Hosts and Hostesses of the 1950s. From 1957 to 1959 Terry (joined by his wife Joy soon after the show launched) entertained the Windy City late on Saturday nights with that metropolis’ version of Shock Theater.

Described as a “Mad Beatnik” and a “Mad Hipster”, Bennett’s Mad Marvin character had a macabre sense of humor that has made him a legend with Movie Host fans. In fact, television station management in Chicago and from around the country soon realized that, as with the likes of Vampira and Zacherley the Cool Ghoul, audiences were tuning in just as much (if not more) to watch the antics of Mad Marvin as they were to watch the movies. Continue reading

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HALLOWEEN HEROES AND ANTI-HEROES FROM MARVEL

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog looks at Halloween-themed characters from Marvel during the 1970s.  

GHOST RIDER – Daredevil biker Johnny Blaze makes a deal with the devil: Johnny’s soul in exchange for Satan curing the cancer in the body of Blaze’s mentor “Crash” Simpson. We all know how deals with the devil go, and not only does Crash die anyway, but Johnny Blaze is cursed to periodically transform into the flame-headed monster called Ghost Rider.

This horror figure outlasted all of the other 1970s Marvel horror characters, lasting until June of 1983 in his initial run. Along the way he and Roxanne faced Satan himself, a long line of demons, a Native American witch-woman, the eyeball-helmeted biker called the Orb and even other Marvel figures like Son of Satan, Hulk, Black Widow and Dr. Druid.

FIRST APPEARANCE: Marvel Spotlight Vol 1 #5 (Aug 1972) Continue reading

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UNIQUE HALLOWEEN NOVEL: ISABELLA OF EGYPT (1812)

Isabella of Egypt Alraune and the GolemHalloween Month rolls along. Here’s a tale set in Europe despite the title and involving a Mandragore, a She-Golem, a Barenhauter and Gypsy mysticism. 

Isabella of Egypt is a very obscure 1812 Gothic Horror novella by Ludwig Achim Von Arnim. Under the more evocative title Alraune and the Golem it was to be filmed as a silent movie in 1919 but unfortunately it was never completed or is one of the countless silent films that have not survived to the present day (sources vary). 

The story is set in the 16th Century and features the real-life Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, but in his teen years, right before he assumed the throne first of Spain and later of the H.R. Empire.

The novella is not a horror classic per se but is very eerie and features an odd variety of horrific supernatural figures in Monster Rally fashion.  Continue reading

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GANJA & HESS (1973) UNUSUAL VAMPIRE FILM

GANJA & HESS (1973) – Duane Jones, immortalized as “the black guy who got screwed over at the end of Night of the Living Dead“, also starred in this offbeat, artsy vampire film which was also released as Blood Couple and many other titles.

Back in 2011, when I reviewed Nine Blaxploitation Horror Movies from the 1970s I mentioned leaving out Ganja & Hess because it was a serious film, not a quickie exploitation flick like Blacula, Blackenstein, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde and many others. I said I’d review it in the future. Well, 14 years later, here we go!

Duane Jones portrayed Dr. Hess Green, an anthropologist who has discovered the ancient ruins of Myrthia, an African settlement populated by vampires. Green’s assistant George Meda, played by Bill Gunn (this film’s writer and director), becomes possessed by the evil spirit of Myrthia’s ancient queen (Mabel King of What’s Happening!!). Continue reading

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THE SCARECROW (1972) FORGOTTEN TELEVISION HALLOWEEN TALE

THE SCARECROW (1972) – Gene Wilder, Blythe Danner, Nina Foch, Pete Duel and Will Geer starred in this Hollywood Television Theatre production that first aired January 10th, 1972. Long time readers of Balladeer’s Blog may recall my remarks on previous Halloweens about how underused I feel scarecrows still are in Halloween movies. 

The Scarecrow, from the 1908 play by Percy MacKaye, was based on Feathertop aka Lord Feathertop, the 1852 short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tale deals with a witch who brings a scarecrow to life to do her bidding. In the past I’ve reviewed silent film versions of Feathertop and pointed to it as an overlooked scarecrow tale.   

Percy MacKaye stretched the story out and altered some of the themes, so The Scarecrow is an adaptation of Feathertop, not a faithful dramatization of it. Gene Wilder portrays the scarecrow.

Nina Foch plays the witch Goody Rickby (Mother Rigby in the short story). She despises Will Geer’s character, the supposedly “respectable” Justice Gilead Merton (Hawthorne’s Judge Gookin).

Twenty years earlier, Goody Rickby had a fling with Justice Merton and even bore his son, who died as an infant. (In Feathertop the affair and child outside of marriage are hinted at rather than stated outright.) Continue reading

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EERIE TALES (1919) SILENT HORROR FILM

HALLOWEEN MONTH CONTINUES. 

EERIE TALES (1919) – Conrad “Major Strasser from Casablanca” Veidt is, in my opinion, the most neglected figure from silent horror films. In this German work Veidt co-stars with Reinhold Schunzel and Anita Berber. The three portray various characters throughout the film.

In recurring bits, the trio play Death (Veidt), the Devil (Schunzel) and the Strumpet (Berber), figures who step out of the paintings in an antique book shop and provide the wraparound segment to the anthology of horror tales that follows. Continue reading

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THE WEREWOLF (1896) HALLOWEEN STORY OF A FEMALE LYCANTHROPE

WerewolfTHE WERE-WOLF (1896) – By Clemence Annie Housman. Halloween month continues at Balladeer’s Blog! This neglected story features a female author writing about a FEMALE WEREWOLF so that makes it a bit special right there.

The Were-Wolf is set in 1890s Denmark. Amidst a white-furred werewolf’s attacks plaguing the countryside a Danish family finds itself being charmed by a sultry, seductive woman who calls herself White Fell.

The woman travels alone by night so is obviously the werewolf at large. Unfortunately, her potent beauty allays suspicion and even pits brothers Sweyn and Christian against each other.   Continue reading

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HACK/SLASH: THE EARLY STORIES OF THIS HALLOWEEN HEROINE

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at Cassie Hack, the horror superheroine who battles a long line of slashers as stylishly as Buffy fought vampires.

In Hack/ Slash stories, slashers are their own breed of monsters just like werewolves, vampires, etc. Tim Seeley created the series, which has been published by various indie outfits over the years.  

HACK/ SLASH Vol 1 #1 (Apr 2004)

Title: Euthanized

Villain: Bobby Brunswick

Synopsis: This very first appearance of Cassie Hack starts off with a few-page synopsis of her origin story. In school, Cassie was often bullied by the other students. This caused her mother to snap and become a slasher called the Lunch Lady, who took to carving up the teens who had bullied Cassie and mixing their remains in with food at the school cafeteria. Our heroine was forced to take action, saving her mother’s last victim. The Lunch Lady killed herself but rose again as a slasher. This time Cassie had to destroy her personally.

Readers are now dropped into the main story, set years later when Cassie Hack has established herself as a roving heroine who battles living and undead slashers alongside her African American sidekick – the hulking, gasmask-wearing Vlad. He views Cassie like a daughter and wields meat cleavers and butcher’s knives in battle.

In this adventure, Cassie and Vlad clashed with Bobby Brunswick, a veterinary assistant killed by the boyfriend of the female vet he worked for. Bobby came back from the dead for revenge and also preyed on the city with the army of dead animals that he controlled. Continue reading

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