Monday, December 28, 2020

A New Chapter For Giallo Meltdown

 
Once upon a time (five years ago), I released a badly edited and pitifully written book called Giallo Meltdown: A Moviethon Diary. Since that day, I've continued collecting films and discovering important titles that I'd accidentally (or intentionally) left out of the book. The plan to make a new edition with bonus chapters quickly grew into a second book. Now that I've finally begun work on Giallo Meltdown 2 in earnest, I wanted to share the occasional chapter because I am so damn excited about this project.

My wife LeEtta and our cats, Gorgon and Spasmo, are truly terrified because they know what this means. Not only am I looking under the bottom of the barrel to scavenge for more Italian and Spanish examples of my favorite sub-genre, I am going even farther. This time around, I'm looking for the giallo's influence in films from every corner of the globe. I did a little of this the first time around but now I'm going whole hog on the British, American, German, and Asian markets where audiences couldn't get enough of these bloody thrillers. 

So anyway, before I get back to it, here is what will be the third chapter of Giallo Meltdown 2. I call it Thirteen Boogers in a Black Cat's Eye, a title inspired by a delightful medical condition of our cat Gorgon, who was born without inner eyelids. I won't elaborate too much since I can see that you're eating dinner while reading this post. I'll update you on the progress of this project as it goes on. See you in the new year.

 

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Films I Watched: November 2020

* means a first time watch!

Shock Treatment (1981)
A Dirty Shame (2004)
Watchmen (2009)
Pacific Rim (2013)
Picasso Trigger (1988)
Miami Connection (1987)
The Nightshifter AKA Morto Não Fala (2018)*
Yummy (2019)*
Slumber Party Massacre II (1987)
Inception (2010)
Bad Inclination (2003)
Squillo (1996)*
The Monster of Florence (1986)*
Tulpa: Demon of Desire (2012)*
Almost Blue (1996)*
The Vanity Serum (2004)*
Massacre (1989)*
Delitti (1987)*
Appuntamento in nero (1990)*
Obsession: A Taste for Fear (1988)*
The Scorpion with Two Tails (1982)*
The Murder Secret AKA Non aver paura della zia Marta (1988)*
Formula for a Murder (1985)
Doctor Sleep (2019)
Eyeball (1975)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
Blood Rage (1987)
Madman (1982)
Addams Family Values (1993)
The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow (2015)
Blood Freak (1972)*
Shock (1977)
White Christmas (1954)
Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)*
Blood Beat (Video 1983)*
Time Walker (1982)
Deep Red (1975)
Jack Frost (1997)

Total Films Watched:
40
First Time Watches: 16

Monday, November 30, 2020

Films I Watched: October 2020

To check out our Halloween TV viewing, which was pretty massive this year, check out these posts: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

* means a first time watch!

My Mom's a Werewolf (1989)*
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
Halloween: Resurrection (2002)
The Diabolical Dr. Z (1966)
Deadtectives (2018)*
Prevenge (2016)*
My Best Friend Is a Vampire (1987)
Ghost of Dragstrip Hollow (1959)
Hack-O-Lantern (Video 1988)
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (1986)
Corpse Bride (2005)
ParaNorman (2012)
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001)
Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988)
Scare Me (2020)*
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)*
Bewitched (2005)
The X from Outer Space (1967)
May (2002)
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000)
Wisconsin Death Trip (1999)*
Legend of the Witches (1970)
Tales of Halloween (2015)
Idle Hands (1999)
Nightmare Cinema (2018)*
Host (2020)*
The Halloween Tree (1993)
The Head (1959)*
The Mummy's Hand (1940)*
The Mummy's Tomb (1942)*
The Mummy's Ghost (1944)*
Hocus Pocus (1993)
Hell Fest (2018)
The Mortuary Collection (2019)*
Trick 'r Treat (2007)
Halloween (2018)
Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
The Crow (1994)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Berberian Sound Studio (2012)
Dracula 2000 (2000)
Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween (2018)
Haunt (2019)
The Witches (1990)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)
Ernest Scared Stupid (1991)
Dracula 3000 (2004)*
Scary Movie (1991)*
Freaky Farley (Video 2007)
Night of the Demons (1988)
Night of the Demons 2 (1994)
Vengeance of the Zombies (1973)
When Good Ghouls Go Bad (2001)
Cemetery of Terror (1985)
The Child (1977)
The Slumber Party Massacre (1982)
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Halloween (1978)

Total Films Watched: 63
First Time Watches: 15

Friday, November 20, 2020

Films I Watched: September 2020

* means a first time watch!

The Midnight Hour (1985)
Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)*
Ed Wood (1994)
Aenigma (1987)
Mikey (1992)*
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
Pandemonium (1982)
Katalin Varga (2009)*
The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
The Caller (1987)*
Neverknock (2017)*
Demonia (1990)
The Beast Must Die (1974)
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
Hollow Gate (1988)*
The Lost Boys (1987)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The Hollow (2004)
Cursed (2005)
Trick or Treat (1986)
Robowar (1988)*
Shocking Dark (1989)*
Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1980)*
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001)
Haunted-Ween (1991)*
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)

Total Films Watched: 31
First Time Watches: 10

Thursday, November 5, 2020

Films I Watched: August 2020


* means a first time watch.

Suburban Gothic (2014)*
The Beach House (2019)*
Superstition (1982)
Superstition 2 (1989)*
Thir13en Ghosts (2001)
A Study in Terror (1965)*
The Psychic (1977)
The Devil's Honey (1986)*
Zombie (1979)
The Black Cat (1981)
City of the Living Dead (1980)
The Beyond (1981)
Hot Fuzz (2007)
Millennium Actress (2001)*
Arang (2006)
Terrified (2017)*
I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016)
Abrakadabra (2018)*
American Rickshaw (1989)*
FleshEater (1988)
Scare Package (2019)*
Spider Forest (2004)*
Doppelganger (2003)*
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1942)*
Sherlock Holmes and the Woman in Green (1945)*
Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943)*
Murder at the Baskervilles (1937)*
Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943)*
Without a Clue (1988)*
Ghost Snatchers (1986)*
Exte: Hair Extensions (2007)*
Retribution (2006)
Nightmare Detective (2006)
Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Virtuosity (1995)
Fulci for fake (2019)*
Shining Sex (1976)*
House (1977)
The Visitor in the Eye (1977)*
The Drifting Classroom (1987)*
Devil Fish (1984)
Undertaker (2012)*
A Snake in June (2002)*
Carved: A Slit-Mouthed Woman (2007)
Ringu (1998)
The Eye 2 (2004)*
Satan's Slave (1982)*

Total Films Watched: 48
First Time Watches: 28

Monday, November 2, 2020

Halloween TV Specials and Episodes 2020 - Part 3

I’ve always felt that Halloween should be New Year’s Eve because I get so hyped up around this time of year that November 1st consistently feels like the New Year’s Day to me. It’s true, All Saints’ Day is so weird and refreshing that I feel like I need to get my Schmidt together like time will slip away from if I don’t get something huge done. So here I am bloggin’ up a storm for ya.

It’s hard to believe how much spooky stuff my wife and I squeezed in between the cracks of the movies this month. We managed to watch all this stuff AND sixty or so films. Jeez Louise! We are such cool people. The biggest disappointment in this list right off the bat is that Grace Under Fire episode. That show made me so angry. All of the supporting characters are great but Brett Butler’s unthinkable sarcasm made me want to throw a skull at my TV.

I have to take a moment to say thanks to my pals and podcast co-hosts, Jeffrey and Simon, for hooking me up with some seriously cool specials that I was having trouble getting my greedy claws on. I finally got to see the Halloween episode of Pete & Pete that’s been eluding me forever. That was one of the best and I will definitely be adding it into my yearly rotation. And somehow, I’d never seen an episode of Clarissa Explains It All before. Needless to say, I loved both of them in this list. One booboo that I keep making is that “Monsters in my Room” episode of Tales from the Darkside. LeEtta has to keep reminding me that it’s a Christmas episode. Woops!

Grace Under Fire - “The Ghost and Mrs. Kelly” S4 E6 (1996)
Are You Afraid of the Dark? - “The Tale of the Twisted Claw” S1 E4 (1992)
Clarissa Explains It All - “The Darling Wars” S3 E2 (1992)
Clarissa Explains It All - “Haunted House” S1 E6 (1991)
Party of Five - “Personal Demons” S3 E7 (1996)
Saturday Night Live - “Halloween Special” (199?)
Home Improvement - “Crazy for You” S3 E6 (1993)
The Simpsons - “Treehouse of Horror” 5, 6, 7 and 12
The Fall Guy - “October the 31st” S4 E7 (1984)
Tales from the Darkside - “Halloween Candy” S2 E5 (1985)
Tales from the Darkside - “Monsters in My Room” S2 E12 (1985)
Bewitched - “To Trick-Or-Treat or Not to Trick-Or-Treat” S6 E7 (1969)
Bewitched - “A Safe and Sane Halloween” S4 E8 (1967)
Midsomer Murders - “The Magician's Nephew” S11 E5 (2008)
Psychoville - “Halloween Special” S2 E0 (2010)
Hey Dude - “Ghost Stories” S2 E6 (1989)
Salute Your Shorts - “Zeke the Plumber” S1 E2 (1991)
The Adventures of Pete & Pete - “Halloweenie” S2 E7 (1994)
The Secret World of Alex Mack - “The Secret” S2 E4 (1994)
The New Lassie - “Dangerous Party” S1 E6 (1989)
The Lawrence Welk Show - “Halloween” S4 E7 (1958)
Witch’s Night Out (1978)
Over the Garden Wall (2014)
How To Carve Great Faces For Halloween with Gordy Falk “The Pumpkin Man” (1988)
Basic How-To Halloween Makeups (2007)
The Jeffersons - “Now You See It, Now You Don't” S6 E4 (1979)
Square Pegs - “Halloween XII” S1 E5 (1982)
The Facts of Life - “The Halloween Show” S5 E6 (1983)
Roseanne - “Boo!” S2 E7 (1989)
NewsRadio - “Halloween” S3 E5 (1996)
NCIS - “Murder 2.0” S6 E6 (2008)
NCIS - “Code of Conduct” S7 E5 (2009)
NCIS - “Thirst” S9 E6 (2011)
Garfield in Disguise AKA Garfield’s Halloween Adventure (1985)
Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular (2003)
Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy (2005)
The Angry Beavers - “The Day the World Got Really Screwed Up” S2 E10 (1998)
Hey Arnold! - “Arnold's Halloween” S2 E7 (1997)
Rocko's Modern Life - “Sugar-Frosted Frights/Ed Is Dead: A Thriller!” S3 E3 (1995)
Jem - “Trick or Techrat” S2 E16 (1987)

Friday, October 9, 2020

Halloween TV Specials And Episodes 2020 - Part 2

Be sure to check out part one of this witchy extravaganza if you haven’t already. So yeah, LeEtta and I continue to attempt to overdose on the Halloween spirit because life in 2020 is so awesome and fun (sarcasm). A few favorites this time around from The Lawrence Welk Show and Ned’s Declassified Survival Guide, which would’ve been my favorite show of all time when I was 10 years old. It’s frickin’ brilliant. I saw my first ever episode of The Commish and well, I’ll never do that again. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention how astonishingly dull the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula episode was. Not even the legendary Paul Williams could save that snoozer. It’s a two-parter! Why?! I don’t know. More treats to come, folks.

Night Court - Halloween II: The Return of Leon (Season 4, Episode 4) (1986)
Highway to Heaven - The Devil and Jonathan Smith (S2, E5) (1985)
WMAQ Channel 5 - Kidding Around - Halloween '82 (1982)
Magnum, P.I. - The Woman on the Beach (S2, E3) (1981)
Hunter - Killer in a Halloween Mask (S2, E5) (1985)
iCarly - iScream on Halloween (S1, E7) (2007)
The Fairly OddParents - Scary Godparents (S2, E12) (2002)
Growing Pains - Happy Halloween (S6, E7) (1990)
Charlie’s Angels - Haunted Angels (S3, E6) (1978)
The Lawrence Welk Show - Halloween Party (S24, E6) (1978)
SpongeBob SquarePants - Scaredy Pants (S1, E13) (1999)
Tales from the Darkside - Trick or Treat (Pilot) (S1, E0) (1983)
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide - Halloween & Vampires, Werewolves, Ghosts and Zombies (S3, E3) (2006)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It (S2, E7) (1997)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Episode LXXXI: The Phantom Menace (S4, E6) (1999)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - The Halloween Scene (S5, E6) (2000)
Sabrina the Teenage Witch - Murder on the Halloween Express (S6, E4) (2001)
Clueless - Trick or Treat (S2, E6) (1997)
Beverly Hills, 90210  Halloween (S2, E13) (1991)
Clueless - Scream Again Murray, Scream Again! (S3, E5) (1998)
The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)
Happy Days - Haunted (S2, E6) (1974)
Halloween Safety (Centron Corp.) (1977)
Halloween Safety (Updated) (Centron Corp.) (1985)
Halloween Party (Encyclopedia Britannica Films) (1953)
The Carol Burnett Show - Episode #6.11 (S6, E11) (1972)
EastEnders - Episode #1.74 (S1, E74) (1985)
Poirot - Hallowe'en Party (S12, E2) (2011)
21 Jump Street - Old Haunts in the New Age (S4, E6) (1989)
The Commish - The Witches of Eastbridge (S2, E5) (1992)
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XII (S13, E1) (2001)
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XXIII (S24, E2) (2012)
The Simpsons - Treehouse of Horror XXVI (S27, E5) (2015)

Friday, October 2, 2020

Halloween TV Specials and Episodes 2020 - Part 1

Since September 1st of this year, my wife LeEtta and I have been watching a whole mess of Halloween stuff because damn it to hell, we wanted to do things right for a change. So, for these installments of spooky ooky scary hairy witchy gobliny whatever stuff posts, I’m listing them by the order in witch we watched them. I’m not including movies this time since those will be in a separate post. I have included season number, episode number, and year released to help you track this stuff down. There are a few that I just have no clue when they aired or what the actual heck is up with them. Anyway, good luck and have a haunted time. If you have any TV specials or Halloween episodes you love to watch every year, throw them in the comments!

Halloween Crazy (2011)
Halloween Crazier (2012)
Halloween Craziest (????)
The Trouble with Miss Switch (1980)
Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Meet Dracula (Season 2, Episode 1) (1977)
Cybill - Halloween (S4, E7) (1997)
Beverly Hills Teens - Halloween in the Hills (S1, E12) (1987)
The Wickedest Witch (1989)
The New Addams Family - Halloween with the Addams Family (S1, E1) (1998)
Recess - Terrifying Tales of Recess (S6, E1) (2001)
Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977)
Ghostbusters - Shades of Dracula (S1, E36) (1986)
DIY Halloween Fright House: Secrets Revealed (2010)
Home Improvement - A Night to Dismember (S7, E5) (1997)
Invader ZIM - Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom (S1, E12) (2001)
Benson - The Stranger (S7, E4) (1985)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - All the Way (S6, E6) (2001)
Doug - Doug's Halloween Adventure (S4, E4) (1993)
America's Funniest Home Videos - Halloween (2007?)
Sabrina The Teenage Witch - A Halloween Story (S1, E5) (1996)
Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Romania (S4, E8) (2008)
Highway to Heaven - I Was a Middle Aged Werewolf (S4, E5) (1987)
Party of Five - Wrestling Demons (S6, E4) (1999)
7th Heaven - Halloween (S1, E6) (1996)
Sweet Valley High  The Curse of Lawrence Manson (S1, E7) (1994)
The Haunted History of Halloween (1997)
Halloween Tricked Out (2012)
3rd Rock from the Sun - Scaredy Dick (S3, E5) (1997)
The Beverly Hillbillies - Trick or Treat (S1, E6) (1962)
Martha Stewart - Halloween Episode (2009?)
My So-Called Life - Halloween (S1, E9) (1994)