Mental Hygeine Films

While the old Mental Hygeine classroom education films are not horror shorts per se, they do have an air of the horrible about them. Namely horrible writing, acting, directing and camera work.

I had purchased a whole bunch of these types of films from Something Weird video several years back after reading the classic text MENTAL HYGEINE, a book that provides the definitive chronicle on all things education scare film related.

Recently, I sat through a bunch of classroom scare films that dealt with drug abuse and a few that dealt with atomic attack. As weirdly disturbing these films are, there is an oddball charm about them. It is pretty shocking that people took them seriously because these 'classics' are so overblown and melodramatic; but, as I said before, these oddball films have theur own unique, oddball charm.

Staring at the Russ Cochran Complete EC Library

They were huge slipcased boxes featuring salacious covers promising shocking violence and social commentary. They were shocking when I first discovered them in 1982. They are still shocking today. Can you imagine how shocking they were when first released in the 1950's?

The EC Library of comic titles (TALES FROM THE CRYPT, THE VAULT OF HORROR, TWO FISTED TALES, CRIME SUSPENSE STORIES, WEIRD SCIENCE, ETC) were among the most visionary and trend setting horror comics of the 20th century. They were still selling well when a backlash against violence in comics led to their demise. The final issue of TALES FROM THE CRYPT was, ironically, originally designed to he the first issue of a FOURTH horror comic entited CRYPT OF TERROR. (Well, actually, the fifth since there was also a special 3-D comic entitled TALES OF TERROR that saw a few issues released)

In the 1970's, several stories were reprinted in the collection HORROR COMICS OF THE 1950's. Then, in the 1980's, a small press publisher and life long fan of the books named Russ Cochran acquired the rights to reprint the comics. Rather than release monthly issues, Cochran reprinted ever issue in a series of hardcover volumes and placed them inside a cool slipcase. These were NOT cheap. I distinctly remember VAULT OF HORROR retailing at $150.00

Of course, I never did purchase one of these volumes because to even think I could afford them was laughable. But they did leave a huge impression upon me when I would walk into the old (now defunct) store THE COMIC INVESTMENTS on Bustleton Ave in Philadelphia and stare at them. I would wonder what was inside their pages and wished I could read them.

For whatever reason, this left a huge, indelible impression upon me as a youngster. Maybe it is because there was a desire to have something that I couldn't afford created a certain attachment to the volumes. Who knows. But is was such a surreal feeling to stare at those volumes that were strategically placed high above the store on shelves way out of the reach of little kids destructive hands. (Would you want a little kid fondling a $150 book?)

Mercifully, Russ did bring the price down and release a magazine version that reprinted 8 issues per volume for the much more affordable price of $6.95. More on that in later installments.

The Complete EC Library is Back!

Ah, those hardcover books reprinting the old EC Library are once again gracing the shelves of comic shops these days. Gemstone Publishing released reprints in 'regular' comic book form a decade or so ago and now they are releasing cool hardcover versions of WEIRD SCIENCE, SHOCK SUSPENSE STORIES and TALES FROM THE CRYPT.

It is cool to see them on the shelves as they are reminiscent of the old Russ Cochran "Complete EC Library Collections" of the 1980's. (I wonder what happened to Russ. He had also released magazine version reprints of the EC Library under the Russ Cochran Publishing monicker prior to Gemstone acquiring the rights.)

The books sell for $39.95 a volume. Well worth purchasing

Lost GI Joe Short Film

No, this is not an entry about the old GI Joe cartoon of the 1980's. Nor is it an entry about a lost pilot for a TV series from the 1960's. What this entry is about is a strange 16mm film that appears to have been made in the late 1960's and ultilizes clips from a TV commercial for GI Joe dolls and intersperses the commercial with choreographed sequences of the soldiers in battle. While this may seem somewhat 'cool,' the film is strange, scary, unnerving and disturbing.

Titled with the generic monicker "Toys," the short film is bereft of any credits so the origins of this film are a complete mystery to me. (Was it a student film?) I stumbled across this oddball feature after purchasing a what was supposed to be a benign collection of GI Commercials on DVD from Ebay, but this weird short film proved to be an unexpected entry on this DVD.

Let us define unexpected as completely unnerving. After all, my purpose of watching the DVD was to bask in the glory of the old adventure team commercials. (Granted it was painful to watch the horrific Sci-Fi GI Joe commercials that spelled the deathknell for the toy line, but that is another story)

The creepiness of this short film is magnified by the fact that it uses an old commercial featuring kids who could not be more than 7 years old as part of the backdrop to the horror that unfolds. The message here is clear: war is violent and little kids are not presented with an accurate depiction of battlefield carnage in the sanitized version of the GI Joe toy line. While the social commentary present is biting, it is also somewhat deconstructing. In society, soldiers are heroes and the GI Joe line did portray a patriotic and wholesome image of American heroes. In other words, soldiers are role models to children. This short, in a way, undermines that image of the soldier as a role model. For some, this is a good thing. For others, this is a very bad thing. War and military service is, after all, a polarizing subject and people who sit on either side of the fence will command that their ideology is the only ideology that is accurate. Regardless of where one sits on the ideological fence, one can not deny the eerie power of this short.

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman...The Honeymooners and DARK SHADOWS!

I was five years old or so, but I remember syndicated TV UHF line ups better than anything I learned in school.

Yes, I remember the late night TV syndicated line ups of yesteryear and I remember my first exposure to the classic series Dark Shadows. It popped up on TV around midnight. 11pm was Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (great show!) and 1130 was The Honeymooners and then at midnight....DARK SHADOWS.

It was a super creepy program and checking it out on late night airings made it even creepier.

There was an oddness to watching this programming and that oddness left an impact on me strong enough that I can remember snippets of my life as a little kid absorbing the oddness.

Its been 30 years and I still remember it. Sometimes, I wonder why? What was it about these classic programs that still resonate with me so many years later? Is it a love for the actual programs or is it a love for a simpler time in my life when childhood came with a decided lack of strife or stress?

After all, when you're a little kid, things are simple and adults give you a pass on all your flaws and transgressions.

Maybe we (you and me) love these classic programs because they allow us to get in touch with a part of out lives that are lost to history. We can never be kids again, but we can get into that 'zone' that reminds us of what things were like back during the era that was...long ago.

I remember very little about those late night airings, but I did enjoy the program every night at 6pm in 1983-1985 when it aired on New Jersey Network PBS. But that is an entry for another day.

Hills Have Eyes 2 - I Saw It

And I wish I didn't.

This reminded me of the old GURPS roleplaying system where players would combine different games into one. In this case, we get GURPS Horror and GURPS Special Ops. Unfortunately, we do not get an engaging film. What we get are dull, cardboard characters with no clear goal and a lot of needless sadistic sexual violence that we could all do without.

This was a wretched film. Zero Stars.

Grindhouses

The Erik's Place. The Arcadia. The Bristol Pike Drive In. And, yes, The Duke and Duchess theater. These were the classic grindhouses of Philadelphia.

This weekend I had the joy of checking out the upcoming trailer for Tarantino and Rodriguez's new film GRINDHOUSE and it got me thinking about those glorious grindhouses that I spent a wee bit of time in in the 1980's.

It was at the Duke and Duchess that I saw Jaws 3-D and it was the Erik's Place that I saw a double feature of THE HERO AND THE TERROR and THE BLOB remake.

Other popular run down theaters included the Devon where I saw the Charles Bronson B-movie MURPHY'S LAW and the New Line "classic" HOUSE (this was a HELLACIOUS night with a very out of control crowd)

I can't remember the actual name of the third rate theater I saw DEATH WISH THREE but the screen was held together with DUCT TAPE! (This was in South Philly and it was a very rowdy and sold out crowd)

Yes, I remember seeing COMMANDO in 1985 with my brother at the Mayfair theater. (Now a Drugstore)

I remember seeing the incredibly bizarre Brian Bosworth film STONE COLD at the Bucks Country Drive In where lance Henriksen said the classic line "I'll leave you with my father's last words. Don't son, that gun is loaded." (BLAM!)

Thank you Q and R. Thanks for bringing the grindhouse back.

Hills Have Eyes 2

No, not the 1984 version...the new remake of the sequel is coming out in theaters this weekend and I will go see it...ANYWAY.

I liked the remake somewhat and consider the original film a masterpiece. (the original HHE Part 2 was a horrific film that played briefly at the late, lamented Duke and Duchess grindhouse in Philly)

For some reason (premonition?) I am not looking forward to seeing the sequel, but that would be unpatriotic. I mean I used to see EVERY horror movie that came down the pike. So, I will check it out for the team this Sunday

Dom's Video 2

Speaking of the Grindhouse.....

Yes, Dom's video and an number of the independently owned video stores of the early and mid 1980's basically picked up where the grindhouses left off becoming the proverbial dumping ground for low budget horror and exploitation.

While these shops made tons of money, they didn't invest their income into making a clean store. As mentioned in my previous entry, the first thing you noticed when you walked into Dom's Video Store was the HORRIFIC SMELL OF DEATH.

I mean, this place literally stunk to high heaven. It was a weird smell that just can not be adequately described. Imagine mold mixed with napalm and you kind of get the idea of the type of dive this place was.

Dom's Video

It stood there staring at me: the box cover to the old Wizard Video (remember them?) VHS release of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Yes, it was promptly on display in the window of Dom's Video Store in Philadelphia. This was way back in 1983 and VHS tapes were something magical. I couldn't rent them because my family didn't even own a VCR yet. We didn't even have cable. No one in Philly did. We did get 2 Pay TV Channel's Select TV (which ended up being replaced by PRISM local Pay TV) and for a whort while WHT-TV.

But Dom's Video was the revolutionary store that was sweeping the city. It RENTED those $79.95 videotapes for a mere $3.00 for 2 days. (They gave you a dollar back if you brought the tapes back after one night)

But I would have to wait until spring of 1984 before renting any tapes because it would not be until then that we would end up in buying a VCR.

And when I walked into Dom's, oh man, did the SMELL of that place really hit me. The place was a rodent infested hell hole. It was the source of a great deal of mind warping as I would wallow in B-Movie mayhem of renting all kinds of former grindhouse fare.

TO BE CONTINUED

The Fanzines of Yesteryear

Slimetime. Deep Red. The Gore Gazette. I remember ye.

In today's world, we have the internet to thank for the great accessibility of a myriad of blogs and websites devoted to pop culture, nostalgia and horror. When I first sat down in front of the internet in 1996 the first thing I typed in a search engine category was (and don't laugh) the word GODZILLA. I was a huge Godzilla fan since age 5 and had recently rediscovered the Big Green Guy by way of bootleg subtitled videos presenting unedited versions of the Toho classics. After typing in the G word, I was pleased to discover a number of excellent sites covering the Toho legacy. Of course, I was also contributing to the end of the small press fanzine world.

I had discovered the wild and wooly world of B-Movie fanzines in the late 1980's when I stumbled across a magazine that listed a number of fanzines for sale, most of which cost under a dollar. I shelled out some loose change, dropping them in envelopes and sent off for my issues. For five years, I would receive a ton of small press magazines that were notorius in their ranting, politically incorrect style of singing the praises of those B-Movies that the mainstream seemed to ignore.

These crude fanzines were typewritten and photocopies and bereft of any decent layout, but they were funny and enterianing. Most of all, they showed that for fifty cents, you could be delivered top quality and funny writing that existed on a quality level FAR ABOVE what was being delivered in the nepotistic realm of lazy newsstand magazines. Yes, with the fanzines came the revealation that when it came to writing, the talent at the top was not as good as the talent at the bottom.

If I owe the fanzines anything, it owe them great thanks for exposing me to entertaining and funny writing that existed as an alternative to the boredom of large press entertainment publications.

Sadly, rising postage and printing costs have all but killed the fanzine. (Or, more accurately, have moved the fanzine to the world wide web) It is still great to read talented and irreverant writing on the 'net. But, man, do I miss discovering a host of bizarro publications in my mailbox.

Upcoming Horror Films

While I usually dedicate this space to older horror and exploitation movies, I thought I'd give a plug to the folks over at Upcoming Horror Movies at www.upcominghorrormovies.com

This is a great site that provides tremendous information on horror movies that are coming to a theater near you (or a rental outlet or, dare I say it, a Sci-Fi Channel premiere)

If you want to get good info on upcoming films that is delivered by fans who love the genre, then this is clearly the site that you will want to check out.

Kolchak TV moment continued

I got way off topic on that previous blog and never actually got to the memorable moment.

Of course, the memorable part of that Kolchak episode was when Kolchak tracks the sleeping Zombie down to the junkyard and must put salt in the creature's mouth and sew its lips shut while it sleeps. This is REALLY suspenseful as McGavin brings a believability to this scene that is sadly missing from what we see on TV these days.

Kolchak nervously sews the creature's lips shut and...then....the Zombie's EYES OPEN!

Great, great, memorable scene

It still creeps me out even after 26 years have passed since first seeing it.

Favorite Horror Moments...Part One

I'm feeling nostalgic tonight. For some reason, I want to mention the classic Darren Mcgavin series KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER.

Now, I have A GREAT DEAL to say on the subject of this classic series, but tonight I will keep my mention brief as I'd like to mention the series in light of recalling glorious horror movie moments of the past. (Or in this case, weekly episodic horror television)

The year was maybe 1981 and THE NIGHTSTALKER was airing on THE CBS LATE MOVIE, which was never a movie but really old TV show reruns. On Friday nights, two programs aired back to back: THE AVENGERS and THE NIGHTSTALKER and watching these programs on CBS as a child forever left an incredible impression on me.

The first Kolchak Episode I saw was ZOMBIE and it had one of the all time classic endings.....

World Stage and Pop Culture

Zombie '73

No, this is not a look at a new zombie comedy nor is it a look at a 1970's zombie epic. It is a brief look at a classic Marvel Horror Magazine entitled TALES OF THE ZOMBIE.

In the early 1970's, Marvel sought to capture the older audience demographic of horror comic magazine fans that Warren Publications had successfully snagged with CREEPY, EERIE and VAMPIRELLA.

Marvel launched a number of horror magazines that centered mostly around vampire themes such as DRACULA LIVES and its brethren.

Curiously, Marvel launched a title called TALES OF THE ZOMBIE which centered on the life and times of, you guessed it, a ZOMBIE! And this was no ordinary Zombie, this was a silent, lumbering, ummm, slow, ummmm...ok....this Zombie was about as ordinary as a Zombie could get.

Yet, this was one EXCELLENT horror magazine. What made it so good? Details to come in the next installment.

CONTINUED
World Stage and Pop Culture