10/26/2006

Since I’ve been doing this daily blog, I’ve been listing a lot of good scary movies for you to enjoy during this Halloween season- and, I just wanted you to know that there are a lot of titles we won’t get to- that are just as much fun to raise goosebumps with! Our daily listing is just a sampling of suggestions that we thought you might like- and, the fact that we haven’t listed, say, “Sixth Sense” or “Scream” or “Army of Darkness” or “Fried Green Tomatoes” (now THAT’S scary!) doesn’t mean we don’t like them, or don’t deem them as quality scares. There are so many scary movies- high budget, low budget, and no budget-that you can choose from; and, if one person doesn’t like gore, but another person thinks they can use more- that doesn’t mean it’s wrong! This is a great time to expand your horror movie library, by the way, because most video stores always put out TONS of horror movies- lots of low-priced dvds- around Halloween. You can stock up on scares to ration out after Halloween is gone! People will often ask me what movies were the first to scare me- well, as a kid, one of the movies that terrified me was (sigh) “the Wizard of Oz!” Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch was absolutely FRIGHTENING to a small child (some people have said they feel even MORE frightened of the flying monkeys- which sounds like a trapeze act starring Davy Jones and Mickey Dolenz.) I also remember being in a movie theater with my great uncle, and there was some film (couldn’t tell you the title) where they were about to inject a woman with a HUGE needle. I need to explain- as a child, I was terrified of getting injections at the doctor’s office. So, that needle on the screen was all it took to get me scared! I also remember being scared BEFORE seeing “King Kong” (just from people talking about it being a monster movie)-but then watching it on tv and liking it. Also, I was really scared, as a kid, by anything that had skeletons in it. Funny- now I WORK with one! If I’d only known how close Tombstone and I would be back then…

You want a scary movie from our “Countdown to Halloween” collection? How about a fabulous 50s fish-faced fright with some water on the side? You know where I’m going- it’s “Creature from the Black Lagoon!” This 1954 creature feature definitely was a landmark film in 50s horror- the story of the search for the astounding and deadly Gill Man in the Amazon- with that amazing creature suit, and the working mouth and gills! Not to mention the appeal of Julie Adams as the damsel in distress- and in a white bathing suit that probably haunted the dreams of young men more than the Creature did! The Creature had two more outings after this first film- the last one having him converted- through surgical alteration- into a land creature- but the first is definitely the best.

And, hey- so are you. Seriously- I mean it. Thanks for checking in here-and come back tomorrow! Speaking of which- tomorrow night, I’m at the Six Corners Monster Film Festival at the Portage Theater –4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. I’ll be there at 7 pm, signing autographs- then host a costume contest (suit up as a character from the movie- you could be a winner!) before a showing of the classic “the Mummy!” Start off your Halloween early with me! # # #