HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021: Curse of The Doll People (1961)

Today our sponsor is known as The Beast.  He's one half of the Schmoedown Tag Team Deep Thirteen and one half of the massive Voltron of Film Criticism that is the Critically Acclaimed Podcast Network, William Bibbiani!  William also designs soaps for his partner M. Lopes da Silva's Salt Cat Soap, so check that out if you need to clean yourself up!  William is representing The Los Angeles LGBT Resource Center!

Bibbs has chosen for me the 1961 Mexican horror film Curse of The Doll People.  While I am unfamiliar with the film's director, Benito Alazraki, I am extremely familiar with its writer, Alfredo Salazar.  Mr. Salazar wrote and/or directed a slew of Mexican spook shows from the 50's on through the 70's that made their way here as part of an American-International TV package, and I've seen a number of his films, particularly the notorious Wrestling Women vs. The Aztec Mummy.  Hell, I saw his brother Abel Salazar's masterpiece The Brainiac, on the big screen at the downtown Thalia back in the 90's...you know, back when there was room for two Thalia revival houses in the New York market!

As part of a party of four people on a trip to Haiti, some dumbass steals an idol that looks suspiciously like an embryonic Jar-Jar Binks from a voodoo bocor.  Said bocor curses them to die in 'thirteen moons' time' and, sure enough, they start dropping dead from mysterious causes thirteen moons later.  While the local...police? (the script, as with most Salazar joints, isn't very clear at all as to what this particular trio has to do with this situation) are perfectly happy to write things off, local doctor Karina (Elvira Quintana) is convinced this is the bocor's handiwork and she's right--the priest is utilizing dolls animated with the souls of the murdered men delivered by a zombie to wreck his vengeance.

Now, this film is more typical of the Salazar Brothers' output than the glorious weirdness that is Brainiac.  It is trim seventy minutes (the reason I suspect AIP picked them up for television distribution, as they'd fit smoothly into a ninety minute time slot), yet it drags badly.  The special effects are primitive, being confined to a rubber mask for the zombie and little people in admittedly creepy plaster of paris masks standing in for the dolls.  And even though everyone else is dressed in 50's chic, the bocor is dressed like a 'yellow peril' villain from a WWII serial and lives in a basement filled with scientific equipment, cemetery stuff...and a disco ball.  This is not a good film a'tall.

...and I say that to say this.  There is something compelling about this film in its presentation.  Even though this was made in 1961, a point where cinematic horror was slowly starting to change, the style of Curse of The Doll People is firmly entrenched in Universal Horror.  The shadow-drenched cinematography seems right out of one of those films, and some of the compositions and blocking seems straight out of their playbook.  There are a couple of shots, like the ones of our zombie friend returning to his master's house, that are really remarkable in the context of that influence.  I found that strange dissonance between the modern world and a storytelling style with it roots of an early age of the medium enough to pull me through even at those points where I was beginning to zone out.  

Curse of The Doll People is not that difficult to see--I found it on Tubi for free, where the ad breaks actually helped, as this is how AIP intended these films to be seen.  A casual fan of horror would find this insufferable, but people like me with an interest in the history of horror as a whole might find this an interesting curio...and at seventy minutes, it can't hurt.

Tomorrow, our sponsor is West Coast Film Critic and Christmas Movie Authority Alonso Duralde!  And not surprisingly, Alonso has decided to bring a little flavor of his favorite holiday to the Horrorfest with a 1972 Long Island shot, Massachusetts set obscurity that tends to be forgotten in the shadow of another Holiday Horror that was released two years later, Silent Night, Bloody Night.  Alonso will be representing The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

There are presently fourteen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film.  However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.

HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021: Basket Case 2 (1990)

Today on the Horrorfest, I began viewing the first of three films sponsored by my film critic friends on the West Coast.  Why I have so many friends who are film critics on the West Coast, I will never know....

Anyway, our sponsor is one half of the Critically Acclaimed podcast network, which brings us such gems as the titular survey of recent movies, the weekly dig into film history Critically Reclaimed, and the delightful study of TV shows that lasted only one season or less, Canceled Too Soon, as well as a proudly self-proclaimed cinema snob and audio drama writer/director/actor, the great Witney Seibold!  Witney is sponsoring The Trevor Project, which provides suicide prevention help and counseling to young LGBTQ+ youth!

Witney has chosen a film from a director I discussed in last year, Frank Hennelotter.  Back then I discussed Hennelotter's last film to date, Bad Biology.  Today I'll be discussing the sequel to one of the pioneering midnight movies, Basket Case 2!

(And here's where I once again extend an open invitation to Hennelotter to guest on my podcast The Honeywell Experiment to discuss a nudie cutie or roughy of his choice.  If you know Hennelotter, let him know we'd love to have him!)

Immediately after the climax of the original film, Duane (Kevin Van Hentenryck) and Belial are rescued from the hospital by a former doctor calling herself 'Granny Ruth' (jazz singer Annie Ross) and her granddaughter Susan (Heather Rattray).  Ruth runs a halfway house for mutants like Belial, and welcomes the twins into her home.  However, when a journalist for the tawdry newspaper Judge and Jury figures out where Duane and Belial are hiding, Granny Ruth turns from caregiver to cult leader, urging the twins and their new friends into protecting their homestead by any means necessary.

There are two things that struck me in my rewatch of this film, which got a limited theatrical release.  The first is that this--along with Frankenhooker, which was filmed at the same time for the same producers--marks when Hennelotter seems happiest.  Here he's got a budget that, while still low, allows him to indulge in his every whim and a special effects man in Gabe Bartalos who's able to visualize those whims.  This allows him the equivalent of free reign, and the joy he has in having that is apparent in every scene.  The second is that in its way, Basket Case 2 is the precursor to the works of Clive Barker, especially Nightbreed...like that flick, it's a story about monsters defending their homeland where the monsters are the heroes.

I have to take some time to single out the glory that is Annie Ross' performance.  She could have easily half-assed Granny Ruth, but this woman digs in with both hands and creates a credible character with both a sweet and a mean side, skipping between the two effortlessly.

There are moments in the script that are a little ropey, and I have to wonder if many of the performances are intentionally arch to recreate the atmosphere of the original entry.  But let's give credit where credit is due--when Rattray's Susan claims she and Duane belong with the freaks, I thought I knew what to expect (especially since her statement comes after the introduction of Belial's female counterpart, Eve)...but I was still taken aback by how what to expect was expressed.  And what flaws there are in this are minimized in the face of Bartalos' work on Granny Ruth's 'children', which are spectacularly insane.  Supposedly, Bartalos was told he could make whatever he wanted, and he went all out.

This is a fun, excellent film that makes the most of its ninety minutes run-time.  I enjoyed every minute of it and I recommend it to you...Hell, people curious about Hennelotter's unique work may find this an easy entry point before, you know, moving onto some of his more extreme--but equally compelling--films...like Bad Biology.  I certainly recommend this.

Tomorrow, Witney's podcast brother and Schmoedown Superstar William Bibbiani takes the spotlight with a black and white film from Mexico about voodoo, zombies, an idol that looks like Jar-Jar Binks and an evil bocor with both a wicked wardrobe and a disco ball.  It's time for me to dive into the wild and wooly filmography of Alfredo Salazar with 1961's Curse of The Doll People!  William will be representing The LGBT Resource Center!

There are presently fourteen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film.  However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.

HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021: Night of The Demons 2 (1994)

And so the Gauntlet Begins!

For this, the fourth year I've done this, I've decided to give the opening day position to a man who I reached out to on a whim and who I now call a friend, Ozploitation Legend Brian Trenchard-Smith!  Brian has chosen a film from his own filmography, Night of the Demons 2!  Brian is representing Paralyzed Veterans of America which helps disabled veterans to live independent lives.  I strongly encourage you to pick up his meaty, entertaining and vastly informative memoir, Adventures in The B Movie Trade.  It's available on Amazon--free to read on Kindle Unlimited--and is a vital text for anyone interested in working in the movie business.

Now this is the first time I watched this direct-to-video entry...but I have vivid memories of seeing its predecessor, Kevin S. Tenney's 1988...epic?..Night of the Demons, on VHS.  That film could have been a boilerplate 'kids-trapped-in-a-haunted-house-by-let's-call-them-demons-even-if-they're-really-zombies' if it wasn't for a couple of really striking moments, including an amazing shot where each of the main characters are reflected in a different piece of a broken mirror and a make-up gag featuring Linnea Quigley and a tube of lipstick that still ranks as one of my favorite 'what the Fuck?' moments in all my years of watching film.

Well, the lipstick is back, as is Amelia Kinkade, who once again plays Angela Franklin, the goth girl who threw open the Gates of Hell at Hull House in the original.  It's been six years since that incident, and Angela's sister Melissa (Merle Kennedy) is attending St. Rita's Catholic School.  She's...well, kinda bullied...into attending a secret Halloween party run by Shirley (minor scream queen Zoe Tapping, who looks like Daphne Zuniga mashed together with Reese Witherspoon and given Meg Foster's eyes).  A number of factors--including resident occult freak Perry (Robert Jayne) conducting a ritual in the school's sacristy--results in Angela escaping Hull House hidden in the aforementioned lipstick and being brought back to the school.  It's up to Sister 'Ghoulie' Gloria (Jennifer Rhodes) and some of Melissa's friends to stop Angela from going all Abraham on poor Melissa armed with a ruler, holy-water filled balloons and super-soakers and faith.

Now I'm not going to lie--this is a low budget after-the-fact sequel to a film that was pretty low budget to begin with.  I don't think Brian would disagree on this.  The script, by writer of the original Joe Agustyn, isn't going to set the world on fire.  But there are moments of bliss to be had here thanks to, I suspect, Brian knowing what he was doing and trying to have some fun with this job...

...starting with Jennifer Rhodes' portrayal as Sister Gloria.  I have to admit I have a softness for Kick-Ass Clergymembers and, from the moment we see Rhodes practicing her fencing (Brian is an accomplished fencer) with her ruler standing in for her epee, it's obvious where this character is going.  While Rhodes never goes as nuts as the kung-fu priest in Dead Alive, she obviously is relishing the role and engages in some fun set pieces; my favorite involves her using her rosary as a nunchaku.  I just wish she was in more of the film and we didn't spend so much time with some of the other characters.  I also have to say I liked Kinkade's s performance when she wasn't slathered in make-up, and I was constantly amused by the presence of future Brady Girl and wife of Ben Stiller Christina Taylor as one of Shirley's sidekicks.

Augustyn's script is competent if a little too convoluted for its own good--while he manages to gives us a credible reason for bringing Angela to the school, he almost immediately nullifies it by bringing the action back to Hull House.  The motivation for Angela causing this present round of havoc is presented well into the third act, and I get the nagging sense that it was added as an afterthought.  And maybe Augustyn should have established the holy water twist earlier.  But still, Trenchard-Smith tries his best to elevate the script with a sense of style and humor.

This is not a great film, but it is a watchable one with a couple of things to really like about it.  It doesn't overstay its welcome, even if the second act drags at moments, and contains a couple of striking set pieces that stand out; while it's no Linnea Quigley playing with her lipstick, I enjoyed the bit involving Shirley....ummm, leading with her bosom.  This is one of these films where you will already know if you're going to have fun with it by what I've disclosed in this entry.

Tomorrow will see the day sponsored by my friend, film critic/cinema snob/sometimes voice actor Witney Seibold!  Witney has chosen another sequel, one directed by a director I heap some praise during last year's Horrorfest, Frank Hennelotter.  It's time to visit Belial with Basket Case 2!  Witney will be representing The Trevor Project, which provides counseling and help to trans and nonbianary youth.

There are presently sixteen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film.  However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.

HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021 Pre-Show: The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (1992)

Tomorrow begins my annual Ghoulish Gauntlet For Altruistic Purposes, as I endeavor once again to watch 31 horror movies in 31 days and write about each one.  This year, the default charity I personally will be raising money for is The Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Support Campaign.  If you make a donation ($10 is suggested, but any amount is good) and forward me the receipt, you will get to sponsor one of the sixteen slots still open.  There's also other ways you can get yourself into the Halloween Horrorfest spotlight--just take a look below.

But first, some unfinished business....

Last year, I came up one day short.  The last day--some would say the most important days of the festival--I failed.  The sponsor was Mike Blanchard, and the film was an entry in the small but noteworthy sub-genre of 'Yuppie Horror'...namely, Curtis Hansen's The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.

Something you're going to learn about me this year is how vividly I remember where I see so many movies.  Before the turn of the century, Manhattan was a literal cornucopia of movie theater.  Going to college at Hunter CUNY in the 80's gave me access to literally a dozen movie theaters--some of which were multiplexes--in slightly longer than walking distance.  I remember seeing this film buoyed by my appreciation for Mr. Hansen's previous film, Bad Influence, and my crushing on one of its stars, Annabella Sciorra.  This was before I learned that Rebecca DeMornay, the other female lead, was the paramour of the exceptional singer/storyteller Leonard Cohen, but if I had known, that would also have entered into the equation.  I saw it during its initial run at a theater on 59th Street just off 3rd Avenue.   I would give you the name, but there were two on that one block between 2nd and 3rd, plus two on 3rd close enough to 59th Street to count...

So this is the first time I've revisited this film and...it's not exactly subtle, is it?

Claire (Sciorra) is expecting her second child when she is molested by Dr. Mott (John DeLancie, who played a similarly sleazy character in Bad Influence...what did he do to Hansen?).  Claire reports Mott to the Seattle Medical Board, which prompts other patients to come forward and sue him.  This leads to Mott committing suicide, leaving his pregnant wife (DeMornay) to miscarry and enter a world where she is without status or money to support herself.  Six months later, Claire is looking for a nanny so she can...build a greenhouse?..and who happens to rock up but Mrs. Mott, calling herself Peyton.  She's got revenge on her mind and plans to take everything away from her--her husband, her child and her status as someone of affluence.

You see what I mean about this being 'Yuppie Horror'?  While there is violence and death in this film, it's implied by Amanda Silver's script that Mrs. Mott's greatest transgression is...trying to get Claire's newborn son Joey to imprint on her by sneaking into his room and breast feeding him.  This is not about people in jeopardy, but social class.  Mrs. Mott doesn't want to kill Claire--who seems a bit odd as a focus of her rage, as the totally irresponsible newscast that names her and shows her photo on television for Mrs. Mott to see goes out of her way to point out she wasn't suing Mott--but kick her out of the affluent nest Claire lives in so she can have All The Nice Things.  Dropping a whole crapton of glass on Julianna Moore's foul mouthed head is just gravy to what our villain really wants...status.

Watching this almost three decades later with an older man's eyes had its moment of cringey-ness.  Making the only non-white member of the cast (Ernie Hudson as Solomon) mentally disabled is fine, I guess, even though it skates towards the 'magic negro' trope that should've died a long time ago...but having DeMornay yell at him for being 'a retard' is winge-worthy to say the least, especially when DeMornay has already effectively conveyed her contempt for the character solely through facial acting.  DeLancie is a much better actor than the broadly melodramatic character he's asked to portray in one of his two scenes, resulting in a scene that is uncomfortable but not in the way the film intended it to be.  The fact that Claire's husband, played with the ultimate white-bread-blandness by Matt McCoy, is pretty much a null save for being one of the things Mrs. Mott wants to deprive Claire of, does not help make this film breathe.  I never got lost in these characters as, you know, characters, and in a genre where empathy for our heroes and victims is very important, that's death.

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle is not the worst or most hamfisted of the Yuppie Horror films--I draw your attention to Pacific Heights, made two years earlier, where Michael Keaton rents out an apartment in Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine's building and Just. Won't. Leave.--and I think almost everything that elevates it lies in Hansen's direction.  This film seems to be determined to do everything it can to make it look as generic as possible, but Hansen finds some moments in amongst the Rustic Swank Porn to let his style come through.  And the cast is game, but it's hard for them to actually bring to life what has no life to begin with...which results in some of them, especially DeMornay and Moore deciding to force life into them by overacting.  And when an actor tries the opposite take, like Hudson, it only emphasizes how cardboard-y the character and the world is.

Sadly, this is a film that was built on a rotten foundation in Amanda Silver's script.  Silver seems to reach for the easy cliche far too often, and those cliches have aged badly.  DeMornay may be giving her role a energy it doesn't deserve, but her performance only throws how lacking in life her character is.  Admittedly, there's something fun in watching Mrs. Mott bully a ten-year old, but when she manipulates things so that Solomon is accused of child molestation, it leaves a real bad taste in my mouth.  I don't know if a better script would have lessened the awfulness I felt watching it--it's hard to feel sympathy for the protagonists in Yuppie Horror films--but as is, I'm not surprised it slipped off the radar.  I cannot recommend this.

So tomorrow begins the Horrorfest in earnest as this year's grandmaster, Director and Fire Stunt Aficionado Brian Trenchard-Smith, presents me with a horror sequel he helmed.  Join me tomorrow for Night of The Demons 2!

There are presently sixteen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film.  However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.

The First Week of HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021--including RATAPALOOZA--has been scheduled!

 

You can feel the anticipation in the air, can't you?

This will be the fourth time I've challenged myself with the task of viewing and writing about 31 horror films, one for each day, that were chosen by celebrity sponsors, my Patreons, and by random...it's also the first time we have a sub-festival celebrating one of my hometown's biggest claims to fame, Ratapalooza!  A number of films this year focus on our rodent friends who own the subways of New York, and when I turn to the Randomizer this year, it will be chosen from a list of rat-themed horror films.

As we approach this august event, the first week has already been programmed.  Here's what you can look forward to in 2021's Cavalcade of Cinematic Chills!

Sept 30th: There's some unfinished business on the horizon first...last year I fell short by one day, so I didn't get to review and discuss Mike Blanchard's pick, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, directed by the great Curtis Hanson and featuring Annabella Sciorra and Rebecca DeMornay!  We're going to correct that next week!

Oct 1st: My friend and Ozploitation Icon Brian Trenchard-Smith ushers in the ghoulish, gaudy gala with his own Night of The Demons 2, the sequel that tells you what happens when the demonic Angela decides she wants to play some more!  Brian will be representing the Paralyzed Veterans of America.

Oct 2nd: Film critic and proud cinema snob Witney Seibold drops by to choose the Frank Hennelotter classic Basket Case 2, which continues the saga of Belial and his non-deformed twin brother in style!  Witney will be representing The Trevor Project.

Oct 3rd: The suave and charming film critic William Bibbiani presents the Mexican obscurity Curse of the Doll People, an...unauthorized...adaptation of the classic Fritz Leiber tale Burn Witch Burn directed by Alfredo Salazar.  William will be representing The Los Angeles LGBT Resource Center.

Oct 4th: Film critic and expert on all things Christmas Alonso Duralde come by to give us a little early holiday haunting with the obscure Long Island shot chiller Silent Night Bloody Night, featuring the magnificent Mary Woronov!  Alonso will be representing the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.

Oct 5th: Ratapalooza officially starts here, as esteemed filmmaker Greg Lamberson presents the great George Cosmatos story of a man, a brownstone, and the rat that becomes his obsession, Of Unknown Origin!  Greg will be representing the American Diabetes Association.

Oct 6th: The rats keep coming as my own personal lab rat, Chris Honeywell, gives me a chance to talk about the greatness that was Glen Morgan and James Wong's remake of Willard featuring the unique Crispen Glover, who may very well be the film's greatest special effect!

Oct 7th: More rodent hijinxs as Rich 'the Monster Movie Kid' Chamberlain lets loose the legendary lunacy that is The Killer Shrews!  Rich will be representing The Mid American Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society.

...and the rampage of rodent fear will continue throughout the month with such films as Rats: Night of Terror (sponsored by Dread Media's Des Reddick), Gnaw: Food of The Gods 2 (sponsored by Nicholas Kaufman), Deadly Eyes (sponsored by my Patreon subscriber Sean Taylor) and The Abominable Dr. Phibes (sponsored by Jim and Theresa Moon)!

There are presently seventeen open slots for this year's festival, and if you'd like to be included, there are four ways to get your share of the spotlight:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

It is not necessary to choose a rat-based horror film.  However, if you do, I will forward you a special Ratapalooza banner you can display on your website.

It looks like it's going to be a great Horrorfest, so don't miss out on all the action.  See you on the 30th!

You Know What’s Coming Up....HALLOWEEN HORRORFEST 2021--including RATAPALOOZA!

Banner by Chris Honeywell

It’s almost September, which means it’s time for me to pull myself up by my bootstraps, gird my loins and settle my stomach for the fourth annual Halloween Horrorfest 2021!   

Once again, I will be watching 31 horror films and writing about them throughout the whole month of October, one film for each day!  And as with last year, we’ll have celebrity guests picking some of the films, and on those other days, you can choose what I watch!

And, as if that wasn't enough, the choices some of my celebrity guests made have been horror films with rats in them...which means I have declared a mini-festival within this festival, Ratapalooza!  Whenever I have to go to the Randomizer, I'll be choosing from a list of rat horror movies, and people who choose to program rat horror films will get a special treat.

The fun starts a little early this year, as I cover The Hand That Rocks The Cradle this September.  This was supposed to be the closing film of last year's festival, sponsored by Mike Blanchard of Geek Cast Radio.  I never got around to it, but I will now.

There are a couple of ways you can program a day in the Halloween Horrorfest this year:

1) You can become a Domicile of Dread Patreon at any level.  Patreons always get a free slot, as well as advance access to podcasts and other goodies!

2) You can buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi.  Suggested donation is $3

3) You can make a donation to Queens Community House Covid-19 Relief and Recovery Campaign.  Suggested donation is $10.  Please forward your receipt to me as proof.

4) You can choose to make a donation to the charity chosen by a sponsor on his/her/their day. Like with the third possibility, please forward me proof of donation.

There are 26 slots presently open at this point, although that number will be reduced as some of my lovely sponsors submit their choices.  And if, by some strange reason, I end up with more than 31 films for my Gauntlet of Ghoulishness, I will be going into overtime!  No film will be spared.

For your edification, the (lengthy ) list of movies already covered is below.

So join me in one month and see if I survive for a fourth year!  See you then!

Covered During Prior Horrorfests:

A Bay of Blood, Malatesta’s Carnival of Blood, Await Further Instructions, Cat People (1942), The Mist, Zombie Hunter, Venom (2005), Mayhem, The Whip And The Body, Hello, Mary Lou: Prom Night II, Blue Sunshine, American Psycho, American Mary, Howling II: Your Sister Is A Werewolf, The Mummy (2017), Blood on Satan’s Claw, Witchboard, Tourist Trap, Johnny Gruesome, Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman, See No Evil 2, Sleepy Hollow, It Follows, Rabid, Q The Winged Serpent, Frightmare (1983), The Car, The Lords of Salem, Marebito, Rockula, The Haunting (1963), Dark Age, The Blood Drinkers, At Midnight, I’ll Take Your Soul, Onibaba, Captain Kronos, Vampire Hunter, Misery, Horror Express, The Night Stalker, The Exorcist, Bliss, Voodoo Man, The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations, 28 Days Later, The Intruder Within, Creepshow, Tragedy Girls, Theater of Blood, All About Evil, Pontypool, Ticks, The Beast With Five Fingers, The Prowler, In The Mouth of Madness, The Exorcist III: Legion, Cat People (1982), City of the Dead, The Devil’s Rock, Freddy’s Dead: The Last Nightmare, Mystics In Bali, The Old Dark House (James Whale Version), Black Sunday, Gargoyles, Host (2020), Mansquito, Bad Biology, I Saw The Devil, Hell House LLC, Martin, The Devil's Rain, The Thirsty Dead, Below, Friday The 13th, Supernatural (1931), House of Mystery, Pumpkinhead, The Unborn (1991), The Seduction (1982), Cure (1997), Food of The Gods, The Thing (1982), The Man Who Laughs, The Babysitter, The Creeping Flesh, Vampyr (1932), The Raven (2012), Another Kind, Random Acts of Violence

A Journey Of A Thousand Eons...: 57.5 1963 (Doctor Who Short Trips Volume 2, Big Finish, 2011)

Shortly after picking Vickie up, the Doctor seems to have finally gotten Barbara and Ian back to London on November 23rd, 1963--the day they left.  Unfortunately, time seems to have frozen around them.

As I mentioned earlier, at this time the Short Trips range were meant to be short audiobooks that someone could listen to in the span of a train trip.  But even with those restrictions, this tale comes off as very odd.  I'm very puzzled by how the story utilizes Barbara as its POV character, yet has William Russell narrating--I would think Maureen O'Brien would have been the natural choice, even thought Vicki is barely in the story proper.  But that just might be my old man personal preference....

But the thing that nags me about this story is...well, it's not much of a story.  Writer Niall Boyce is making a point about how life goes on in London after the series starts, and ties it in with the fact that the series debuted on the day President Kennedy was assassinated...but there's no connection to said point and our characters.  I felt weirdly disconnected from the whole story, and as a whole it left me...unsatisfied, which is a bit of a surprise given how effective most of the other stories are in this particular box set.

Write this one off as a bit of a misfire, I'm afraid.