Happy Halloween to all who visit WitD

Cinema's original witching hour

Sam and Allan wish everyone a happy Halloween tonight.  May you be scared out of your wits as much as your heart desires.  Sam will be spending the evening, as usual, on his porch, giving out candy bars to the sugar-deprived moppets of Fairview, while Allan will be at home preparing to scare the little bleeders to death who dare knock on his door asking for cash (curmudgeonly swine!).

Viewing for both tonight will have a themed look to it.  Sam will make up his mind when he recovers from his strenuous few hours sitting down.  Allan has already decided two of his viewings, one of which heads this piece, and the other is his review of the day (his numerical countdown for the 1930s will resume over the weekend).

Now, Sam must prepare his kids’ costumes, Allan must prepare his meanest look (will take him around 9 seconds).

Fantasia - the Night on Bald Mountain - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

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‘Boris Karloff’s Thriller’ Television Horror Anthology Series Extraordinaire

by Sam Juliano

     The late 50’s in television ushered in a bevy of television anthology shows, of which The Twilight Zone, its sixties successorThe Outer Limits and Alfred Hitchcock Presents were the most famous and most durable in later reruns.  These programs were invariably committed to fantasy, science fiction and the supernatural, and they forged careers for many actors who sought to make their mark in shows that featured different actors every week.  At around the same time, NBC was putting together their own entry, and the venture was initially assigned to network executive Hubbell Robinson.  One of Robinson’s most vital decisions-one that would later determine the eventual direction of the series-was the choice of host.  Since an anthology series presents a different cast of characters each week, the host is the only continuing “character” as such, and thus provides a strong thread of continuity.  Alfred Hitchcock of course embodied the essential concept of his series, as did Robert Montgomery in another program, so Robinson was led to believe that a “name” star would give his show the proper launching and sustaining ‘hook.’  In this respect, Robinson made a superb choice.  He selected Boris Karloff.  By selecting Karloff as host of Thriller, Hubbell Robinson immediately provided the series with a warmly remembered screen icon whose very name was synonymous with horror.  Karloff’s introductions established the proper mood of mystery and intrigue from the outset, and his tag line “As sure as my name is Boris Karloff, This is a Thriller!“ became a memorable catch-phrase.  The show was intended to be a ‘mystery anthology’ but, as Gary Gerani and Paul H. Schulman recount in their book Fantastic Television, this was the first of several mistakes.  Robinson’s description of Thriller, though high-sounding was actually vague.  Consequently there developed between Robinson, producer Fletcher Markle and associate producer-story editor James P. Cavanaugh a running ideological battle over the nature of the series.  Where, for example, does a thriller end and a horror tale begin?  What about black comedy?  Is graphic violence necessary to a crime story?  There were many differences in taste and concept, and as the production deadline drew nearer, tensions escalated.  A bright producer named Fletcher Markel, wanted to make the show a film noir, and wanted to follow the style of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  After just a few episodes Markel was replaced and the show’s concept was then to go in two directions: the ‘crime story’ and ‘the horror tale.’  Maxwell Shane took over the crime episodes while Bill Frye handled the horror.  Frye, of course directed the classic Thriller episodes remember today, losing none of their power in close to 50 years.  The show, which ran for a season and a half from 1960 to 1962 was called by Stephen King “the greatest horror series ever to air on television,” and it was Frye’s episodes that gave cause for such extravagent praise.

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Night of the Demon ****½

Julian Carswell - no clown he

 

by Allan Fish

(UK 1957 96m) DVD1

Aka. Curse of the Demon

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe…

p  Frank Bevis  d  Jacques Tourneur  w  Charles Bennett, Hal E.Chester  story  “Casting the Runes” by M.R.James  ph  Ted Scaife  ed  Michael S.Gordon  m  Clifton Parker  art  Ken Adam

Dana Andrews (Dr John Holden), Peggy Cummins (Joanna Harrington), Niall McGinnis (Dr Julian Carswell), Athene Seyler (Mrs Carswell), Brian Wilde (Rand Hobart), Maurice Denham (Prof.Henry Harrington), Ewan Roberts (Lloyd Williamson), Liam Redmond (Prof.Mark O’Brien), Reginald Beckwith (Mr Meek), Charles Lloyd Pack (chemist),

“It has been written from the beginning of time, even unto these ancient stones, that evil supernatural creatures exist in a world of darkness.  And it is also said, man, using the magic power of the ancient runic symbols, can call forth these powers of darkness, the demons of hell.”  The opening words, spoken over a shot of Stonehenge, may slip ever so slightly into the over-emphatic world of the corny, almost into the realm of the straight-faced spoof.  Yet the director whose name comes up on the opening credits should be ample enough warning that this is no spoof.  Here was the great Jacques Tourneur’s last dip into the black light of night, the world that had so dominated his earlier horror classics for Val Lewton, Cat People and I Walked With a Zombie, and it deserves its place in any list of the great horror films produced in the British Isles, indeed in the world as a whole.

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Hammer Horror Presents The Plague of the Zombies

by Marco Tremble

Another of Hammer’s firsts was it’s 1968 feature The Plague of Zombies, their one and only film to deal with these creatures immortalised by another horror maestro George A. Romero in his ongoing and often badly copied Living Dead saga.   Originally issued as the “B-Feature” to one of their other better known 1965 efforts Dracula Prince of Darkness and having no recognisable star, this film is superior in every way. Directed by John Gilling who was responsible for the other Hammers The Reptile, which was incidentally filmed back to back and used some of the same sets as The Plague of Zombies and another of Hammer’s Mummy saga The Mummy’s Shroud, and some of the classic 60’s TV shows The Saint and The Champions.  

Starring Andre Morell, Watson to Cushing’s Holmes in The Hound of the Baskervilles, Brook Williams the ill fated Sgt Harris from Where Eagles Dare and Jacqueline Pearce, better known to British viewers for her ongoing role of Servelan in the long running British Science Fiction series Blake’s 7 and Hammer perennial Michael Ripper. The villain of the piece is provided by John Carson, a veteran of British television who also starred in one of the later Hammer offerings Captain Kronos: Vampire Killer.  

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