Happy 2nd Halloween everyone! Confused? It's an idea I gleaned from The Oatmeal a while back and it has helped me to make it through the holiday season since then. This way, you get all the food...and yet the mayhem of Halloween! Join me!
Well, we've come to the end of another rollicking romp through the madness of First Halloween. Day 32, so you know what's coming...but before we get to that, we go to some classic audio. First, 1944 for Vincent Price appearing with Ida Lupino in an episode of Suspense. Then...a more recent recording, that of Christopher Lee reading a tale of Ambrose Bierce.
Ah, the glorious gimmickry of William Castle. Don't know what I mean? Before we get to tonight's film, which has a "Punishment Poll," here's the man himself to explain some of the shenanigans his productions would get up to. Castle was one of the pioneers of audience participation, so to speak.
Okay, normally I don't mention the feature film until after whatever short subject we're doing--but--the Count really is fascinated by that woman's ass, isn't he?
Ahem. We open with the surreal and disturbing world of William S. "Uncle Bill" Burroughs. This is an animated short based on his readings from the album Dead City Radio...and I could have sworn we posted this before. But apparently not. It's "Ah Pook is Here" and it's marvelous.
Well, if we're going for sci-fi tonight (and we are) and specifically Mars (yes, that too), I think there's an obvious choice for what we open with. And we've made it.
Kids today...I don't think they appreciate how far we've come with Halloween costume technology. As you will see in what we have below, a Woolworth's commercial from 1977, you weren't so much going as the thing you wanted to go as...but more the idea of it. And in some cases, you weren't even really going as it...notice the Superman costume has a cheap red mask involved. The Toys R Us commercial from 1985 isn't much improvement.
So all you kids with your tiny muscle outfits and your molded plastic (that doesn't slice your eyeballs) and such, watch these and appreciate living in the future.
To begin tonight's festivities, we go to a very disturbed thing: a selection from Silence! The Musical, which we've praised before. The brainchild of Jon and Al Kaplan, it's exactly what you think it is: a parody of Silence of the Lambs. From the original cast recording, please enjoy this NSFW selection, "Put the Fucking Lotion in the Basket."
To kick tonight off, let's go to a story from your friend and mine, Boris Karloff. It's from his series Tales of the Frightened. This is "The Deadly Dress."
Vincent Price was a true renaissance man. In addition to acting, he was a connoisseur of art and also of food. I believe we've discussed before the series of albums he released going over various world cuisines and providing recipes. Here, however, is a completely different sort of recipe: for a nice dish called "The Hand of Glory."
Tonight is the Season 7 premiere of The Walking Dead. It is going to be rough, as somebody is going to be Lucilled, presumably out of the starting gate. If you're not up for that level of violence, may we humbly recommend watching this instead: the 1936 The Walking Dead, starring Boris Karloff as a convict brought back to life in order to seek out those who framed him. This is barbed-wire-laced-baseball-bat free. Enjoy.
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