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Posted on 10.23.11 by Widge @ 11:57 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Another bit of original audio for tonight's selection. We go back to the apocalypse with "Shock Messiahs." Hope you enjoy it. Find it directly here. Or subscribe to the feed to get all the 32 Days audio. If you're already subscribed to our Needcoffee.com general podcast feed, you already get them, so you're good. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween and Podcasts
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Posted on 10.23.11 by Widge @ 7:40 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  It's a free form night for movies, and I think it's time for a change of pace. And by that I mean let's go with The Mole People, which kicks off with an opening that looks every other opening featuring a made-up science-y type talking head giving you the lowdown on what's to come. Compare this talking head to that of Criswell from Plan 9 From Outer Space. Except in this case he's an actual English professor, Frank C. Baxter--who would go on to star in a series of education films for Bell Labs. You also have Hugh Beaumont, Mr. Cleaver, and Alan Napier, Alfred from the 1960s Batman TV show. Just remember: "in archaeology, all things are possible." Enjoy! Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween
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Posted on 10.23.11 by Widge @ 4:37 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  The thing about pop culture (and film in general) is that it's just too big a subject. You can't know everything. Well, maybe you can--I know I sure as hell can't. And I get excited when I see things I've never seen before. For example, since we're at Day 24 now, which has morphed into the day we showcase short silent horror films. And that led me to 1903 and a couple of films by Georges Méliès. You know Méliès even if you don't know him, since "A Trip to the Moon" was his in 1902. Or, as it's known to most folks, "That weird silent movie in which the moon gets a rocket in the eye" (I think that was the literal English translation of the title.) I had never seen the two short horror flicks I'm about to share, however. But what I can't get over is that these were both from 1903. We have 3D digital FX that would make Méliès salivate today, but back then this was all new. How must audiences have reacted? The first film of a train speeding at the camera may or may not have freaked everybody the hell out when first shown, but still, it must have been amazing. So let me just add these two films as an addendum to my moments in cinema history I wish I had been there to see list. And honestly, am I the only who when watching these can't stop thinking over and over again: These films are 108 years old! Seriously, Willard Scott would have said happy birthday to these films in 2003, for crying out loud. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween
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Posted on 10.22.11 by Widge @ 9:00 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Time to go back to our friend Saki for a classic bit of short fiction. It's "Sredni Vashtar." Hope you enjoy it. Find it directly here. Or subscribe to the feed to get all the 32 Days audio. If you're already subscribed to our Needcoffee.com general podcast feed, you already get them, so you're good. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween and Podcasts
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Posted on 10.22.11 by Widge @ 7:00 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Tonight's the night where we bring on the zombies. And by that, we stick to films that aren't very subtle about the undead's inclusion in their festivities. Every year we've managed to find a film that contains, in its title, "...of the Zombie(s)." Or just zombies in some form or fashion. And you know our rule: if it's undead and bleeds, it leads. So here we go. This time around it's Blood of the Zombie, also known as The Dead One. A woman uses voodoo to bring her dead brother back upright in order to kill those she believes are usurping her claim to the family estate. Don't be confused at the opening sequence: it is a voodoo ceremony of some sort and not a beat poetry night, although I have seen the same quality of recitation in both circumstances. Enjoy! Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween
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Posted on 10.22.11 by Widge @ 7:19 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Day 23 is reserved for creepy, evil, killer children. I mean, children are pretty damn creepy to begin with, if you think about it (you probably shouldn't think about it). But a good example of taking creepy to 11 is the wide-eyed apparition in this trailer for Mario Bava's 1966 horror flick, Kill, Baby, Kill! A baroness is having the local villagers killed so her dead daughter can have their souls. The obvious answer to the question of "What do you get the young girl who has everything?" The baroness must be stopped or...bad things. Very bad things. Very bad things that have creepy child laughter--the worst kind. The opening bit about "Shiver and shake, quiver and quake" makes me think if the film was made here in America, somebody would have made a swingin' theme song for the film, a la The Blob. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween
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Posted on 10.21.11 by Widge @ 10:00 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Today was supposed to be the revised Rapture, i.e. destruction of the world and stuff. A bit disappointed since there was a chance I could still grab a Chick-Fil-A restaurant. But I thought we would go with an appropriate bit of Apocalyptic poetry by Stephen Crane. Enjoy. Find it directly here. Or subscribe to the feed to get all the 32 Days audio. If you're already subscribed to our Needcoffee.com general podcast feed, you already get them, so you're good. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween and Podcasts
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Posted on 10.21.11 by Widge @ 7:40 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  It's Peter Cushing Night! That means there's a better than average chance we're going to vampires...or maybe Frankenstein? Nope, you had it in one. Vampires it is. And specifically, we're talking the 1970 film The Vampire Lovers (we've post the trailer in our sexy vampire trailer roundup previously). Instead of Dracula, however, Cushing and company are facing off with Carmilla, the original female vampire (novel published in 1872). Cushing is "The General." And that would be Ingrid Pitt in the Carmilla role. Enjoy the mayhem. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween
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Posted on 10.21.11 by Widge @ 7:02 am
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Today is our day for Peter Cushing. And in poking around to try and find something new to share with you, I found this: an array of guest appearances Cushing made on Morecambe & Wise. For those on our side of the pond who don't know, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise are probably the biggest Brit comedy duo ever. They are referenced by modern comedians all the time and some of their bits have moved into the stuff of legends. They had a show, named after themselves, which aired for nearly ten years on the BBC and then moved to Thames Television. One of the longest running jokes they had was that of Peter Cushing, who first made a guest appearance in 1969. And then...never got paid. Though he kept coming back every so often...for years...trying to get the money the two owed him. Just brilliant. I've created a playlist of six appearances. The first is 1969...the last one is 1980. Enjoy. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween
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Posted on 10.20.11 by Widge @ 11:05 pm
Comments on this: none yet. Add your own.  Back for another original for tonight's audio. I honestly did not realize until recording this that it's a ghost story. "The Widow's Interview." Hope you enjoy it. Find it directly here. Or subscribe to the feed to get all the 32 Days audio. If you're already subscribed to our Needcoffee.com general podcast feed, you already get them, so you're good. Categorized as: 32 Days of Halloween and Podcasts
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