In the 'Poltergeist' Remake Gets Director (Modern Monster Movies forum), some of the gang was talking about feeling "old" because of seeing some flicks in the theater ;D. Man - that hit home! I feel blessed that I was able to see some pretty cool movies back in the day. I'll have to add to the list a little at a time, but here are a few.
Drive-In
The Mad Doctor of Blood Island, paired with Blood Demon.
Last House On The Left
Wrestling Women vs The Aztec Mummy
Werewolves On Wheels
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Theater
Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors paired with Crack In The World
King Kong vs Godzilla
Seventh Voyage Of Sinbad
Jason And The Argonauts
Jack The Giant Killer
Man - those were magical times. Okay, old-timers - what are some of your favorites?
Well I'm a little younger than you Mark, but I caught the tail rnd og the drive in era-the late 70s and early 80s, although there are still 3 drive-ins within 50 miles of me today!
Drive-in:
Godzilla vs Megalon paired with Giant Spider Invasion (which terrified me! I was 5 at the time)
At the Earth's Core
People That Time Forgot
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
SSSSSS
Orca
Manitou
Poltergeist with Raiders of the Lost Ark
Clash of the Titans
Return of the Jedi
Theater:
Star Wars
Godzilla vs the Cosmic Monster (twice!)
Godzilla On Monster Island
King Kong 76
Star Trek(I've seen all the original series cast movies theatrically except 3, but I was only a kid for 1 and 2)
The Black Hole
Quote from: Unknown Primate on March 11, 2013, 08:01:01 PM
In the 'Poltergeist' Remake Gets Director (Modern Monster Movies forum), some of the gang was talking about feeling "old" because of seeing some flicks in the theater ;D. Man - that hit home! I feel blessed that I was able to see some pretty cool movies back in the day. I'll have to add to the list a little at a time, but here are a few.
Drive-In
The Mad Doctor of Blood Island, paired with Blood Demon.
Last House On The Left
Wrestling Women vs The Aztec Mummy
Werewolves On Wheels
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Man - those were magical times. Okay, old-timers - what are some of your favorites?
I remember like it was yesterday seeing the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in a drive-in theater in Orange, California (near Anaheim Stadium). That film was
so terrifying (especially in 1974) that my girlfriend was crying and we had to leave -- of course I went and saw it at a later date. Years later, at various conventions I shared that story with Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface), Edwin Neal (Hitchhiker) and Terry McMinn (the girl on the meathook), and they all said that they have heard many similar stories over the years. They're amazed at the following that movie still has. TCM is still horrifying today -- and with very little blood/gore, just sheer terror!!
Drive-In theatres--I miss them!!! As a kid in the Chicago area (Griffith In.) watching at the Ridge Road theatre:
War of the Gargantuas
Godzilla's Revenge
Monster Zero
The Lost Continent
Island at the Top of the World
And at the Lancaster (California) Drive-In
The Omen
Halloween
The Fog
The Shining
Without Warning
Terror Train
And hours of others
Nothing can match the sound from the speakers at the drive-in.
Quote from: McDougals House of Horror on March 11, 2013, 09:15:21 PM
I remember like it was yesterday seeing the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in a drive-in theater in Orange, California (near Anaheim Stadium). That film was so terrifying (especially in 1974) that my girlfriend was crying and we had to leave -- of course I went and saw it at a later date. Years later, at various conventions I shared that story with Gunnar Hansen (Leatherface), Edwin Neal (Hitchhiker) and Terry McMinn (the girl on the meathook), and they all said that they have heard many similar stories over the years. They're amazed at the following that movie still has. TCM is still horrifying today -- and with very little blood/gore, just sheer terror!!
You're right on the money! I was 18 & my girlfriend was 16. We sat in the back seat while my little brother and
her little brother sat up front. It was all we could do to keep them from climbing over the seats to get in back with us! My girl was nearly traumatized by TCM and I had to put up a brave front, LOL! A few months later, I saw TCM with a couple of friends in a small indoor theater, double billed with THE MANITOU. Saw it, probably 3 or 4 more times at midnight matinees. NEVER lost it's punch!
Well, scads in the theater. A few that come to mind:
King Kong Escapes ~my first big screen monster flick, & it's been a favorite every since.
Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster/Hedora
Godzilla vs. Mecha-Godzilla
Scrooge (1970) ~my favorite movie
Sinbad & the Eye of the Tiger
Most of the Star Trek films
Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back
Halloween (original)
The Sentinel
Jaws
The Creature From The Black Lagoon~at a revival house, in 3D!
Drive-In:
The Exorcist
Friday the 13th (the 1st film)
Dracula AD 1972
The House That Dripped Blood
Battle For the Planet Of the Apes
It's Alive
Alien
Halloween
Friday the 13th
Last House On the Left
I Spit On Your Grave
Tales From the Crypt
The Incredible Melting Man
Evil Dead
Dracula(1979)
Godzilla vs. Megalon
Star Wars
Legend Of Boggy Creek
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
Humanoids From the Deep
House Of Dark Shadows
Dracula vs. Frankenstein
Zombie
The Omen
Shock Waves
The Devil's Rain
The Land That Time Forgot
At the Earth's Core
The Golden Voyage On Sinbad
Sinbad & the Eye Of the Tiger
Race With the Devil
Scars Of Dracula
Empire Of the Ants
Island Of Dr.Moreau(1977)
Squirm
Incredible Two-Headed Transplant
The Devil's Triangle
Valley Of Gwangi
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth
The Mutations
The Bat People
The Funhouse
Dawn Of the Dead
Phantasm
Raiders Of the Lost Ark
The Giant Spider Invasion
Westworld
Logan's Run
Quote from: McDougals House of Horror on March 11, 2013, 09:15:21 PM
I remember like it was yesterday seeing the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in a drive-in theater in Orange, California (near Anaheim Stadium).
TCM was one of those movies that seemed constantly in release in drive-ins in the 70sand early 80s, as part of a triple (or quadruple) bill. Others were Night of the Living Dead, House of Psychotic Women, Don't Look in the Basement and Torso.
My list:
The Monolith Monsters (Drive-In)
Curse of Frankenstein
Horror of Dracula
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Horror of Party Beach
Scars of Dracula (Drive-In)
Exorcist
King Kong (1976)
Alien
hmjfym
Great thread , Mark.
As I recall.
Drive-in:
Dawn of the Dead
Alien
The Prophecy
Piranha
Well, I hit 60 last November and have been fortunate enough to dine on a steady diet of horror films since 1958, thanks to my older sister (she was 11, and I was 5 back then).
Theater: partial list!
From Hell it Came (my very first horror film ever)
House on Haunted Hill
The Tingler (missed the beginning--didn't see it until the DVD)
Brides of Dracula
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane (the beginning of my 4th grade)
The Birds (4th grade again)
Premature Burial
The Raven (Price version)
The Sentinel
The Nanny (7th grade)
Masque of the Red Death (64)
The Gorgon
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (multiple times, 1966)
Rasputin, the Mad Monk (9.6)
Plague of the Zombies
The Reptile (double bill with Rasputin)
Phantom of the Rue Morgue
Bluebeard's Ten Honeymoons
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
Queen of Outer Space (I remember the unmasking vividly)
Earth vs. The Spider (scared me crapless)
Tarantula!
Monster on the Campus (another scary pic!)
Last Man on Earth
Planet of the Apes
House of Dark Shadows (senior year)
Night of Dark Shadows
Let's Scare Jessica to Death
Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine
The Blob
Attack of the Giant Leeches (I was five in November of 57, so all of the 50s movies were seen before I was eight!)
The Bat
The Space Children
13 Ghosts
The Mummy (Hammer)
Phantom of the Opera
Circus of Horrors (never forgot the knife in neck sequence)
The Exorcist (multiple times)
Exorcist II: The Heretic
Exorcist III: Legion
The Omen
Damien: Omen II
Omen III: The Final Conflict
The Howling
The Changeling
The Shining (multiple)
American Werewolf in London
Jack the Giant Killer
Tom Thumb
The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (multiple)
Jason and the Argonauts
Quatermass and the Pit
This is exhausting!
Drive-in:
Blood Feast (5th grade)
2,000 Maniacs (sophomore year)
Bloodthirsty Butchers (senior year)
Giant Spider Invasion (1976)
Empire Strikes Back
Last House on the Left
Don't go into the Basement!
I gotta take a break!
The very first film I saw in a theater was the 7th Voyage of Sinbad. Suffice to say it changed my life.
My parents took my brother and me to see At the Earth's Core (1976) at the Commack Drive-In here on Long Island when I was six years old. After 1978 the drive-in became too much of a place where teens hung out to get drunk, and families stopped going.
Quote from: yendor1152 on March 13, 2013, 10:49:12 AM
Drive-in:
Blood Feast (5th grade)
I can't imagine what that would have done to me in the 5th grade!!
I watched the crater lake monster at the drive in
John Woodcox
Planet of the Apes.
JP
I saw Up From The Depths
Terror
Battle Star Galactica
Right now that is all I remember
John Woodcox
I saw lots of horror movies in theaters and drive ins in the late 70s and early 80s, but the most memorable was seeing a double feature of The Crazies and Martin at the Harold Clurman theater in NYC on 42nd between 9th and 10th Ave. Not so much for the movies, but for the experience of walking up 42nd on a hot summer friday after midnight at the dawn of the crack era.
I saw Beware The Blob at the drive in
I also watched a lot of Godzilla movies at the drive in too
John Woodcox
Somehow we got mom to take us to the Albion, Nebraska drive-in to see The Thing in 1982. I would have been 12 and my brother 16 ( unless we left sis home alone she'd have been 8 ). Don't think the movie was quite what mom was expecting. As a young horror-kid I relished in the gory FX; mom not so much.
(http://wearecinemaniax.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/thething.jpg)
(http://moviesfilmsandflix.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/the-thing-autopsy.jpg?w=537&h=227)
Beneath the Planet Of the Apes/Battle For the Planet Of the Apes (double bill)
The Land That Time Forgot
Jaws
The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad
Sinbad & the Eye Of the Tiger
Alien
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Dawn Of the Dead (Three times)
Phantasm
Raiders Of the Lost Ark
The Howling
The Fog
The Shining
American Werewolf in London
The Thing (1982)
Prom Night
Good list!
8)
Dr. Cyclops, really awesome list. Plus, great viewing of some cool films.
My cousins and I saw Zombie on a very cold winter night around 1980. We all got hot dogs and cokes at the snack bar. It was so cold in my junky car we brought blankets but ended up using the hot dogs as hand warmers until they got cold, too. My cousin Jeff ended up holding his until the "splinter through the eye" scene and got so queasy he couldn't even eat it. Classic case of "use it or lose it". 'Course, he might have lost it anyway. :laugh:
Quote from: marsattacks666 on July 25, 2013, 08:31:47 AM
Dr. Cyclops, really awesome list. Plus, great viewing of some cool films.
Thanks,I missed quite a few.
These ones I saw with my Dad/Parents(I was just a kid):
Beneath the Planet Of the Apes/Battle For the Planet Of the Apes (double bill)
The Land That Time Forgot
Jaws
The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad
Sinbad & the Eye Of the Tiger
Close Encounters
Raiders Of the Lost Ark
Star Wars/Empire/Jedi
These one I saw with my older brother and his friends:
Earthquake
Towering Inferno
Poseidon Adventure
Rollerball
Billy Jack and the Born Losers(Elizabeth James=my 1st crush)
These ones I saw with my best Bud Paul in an old Grindhouse all before I turned 16:
Alien
Halloween
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (The nightmares I had from this one :-[)
Dawn Of the Dead (Three times)
Phantasm
The Howling
The Fog
The Shining
American Werewolf in London
The Thing (1982)
Prom Night
Nightwing
I know there's more I'll post when I remember.
Real fun to read your drive-in classics!
I'm a 1980's kid (born 1976) but did catched some fun double bill in my youth at the theater:
Star Wars double bill with Empire Strike Back
Krull double bill with La guerra del ferro: Ironmaster (1983)
Also saw Gremlins and E.T. on their first run.
My first horror movie at the theater would be later in my teen:
Leprechaun (1993)
Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993)
Even later for the drive-in:
Dawn of the Dead (2004) as second feature
The Final Destination (2009) double bill with Orphan (2009)
In revival house I did saw:
A matinee of It Came from Outer Space (1953) and House of Wax (1953) in 3d
Las momias de Guanajuato (1972) - french dub at midnight screening
The Devil Rides Out (1968)
Jason and the Argonauts followed by a q&a with Ray Harryhausen
Metropolis - 145 min 2010 restored edition with a live orchestra
A Jess Franco all night triple bill: The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962), Al otro lado del espejo (Le miroir obscène / Inside a Drak Mirror) (1973) and Faceless (1987)
My first was Forbidden Planet.
Others I remember seeing first run are:
- Black Sunday
- Jason and the Argonauts
- Twice Told Tales
- The Absent-Minded Professor (a precursor to my eventual career!)
- Comedy of Terrors
- The Raven
- King King vs. Godzilla (drive-in)
- Mysterians
- First Man into Space
- Fabulous World of Jules Verne
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
- Journey to the Center of the Earth
That last one was hosted on stage by our local horror movie host, Bestoink Dooley. Talk about audience participation; it was pandemonium.
Free Popsicles for all, so the packed theater was hopped up on sugar. When the duck died, It seemed like the angry crown of kids would rush the stage!
Of course, I saw many more later, but I decided to keep it to the ones I saw early on. I'll probably recall a few more after I post this.
My older brother saw EVERYTHING. He once described the big fake grasshoppers in the lobby as ballyhoo for The Beginning of the End.
Quote from: dlhenderson on August 25, 2013, 08:59:20 AM
That last one was hosted on stage by our local horror movie host, Bestoink Dooley. Talk about audience participation; it was pandemonium.
Free Popsicles for all, so the packed theater was hopped up on sugar. When the duck died, It seemed like the angry crown of kids would rush the stage!
When I was around 3 or 4 we lived in Athens Ga. in the early '60s. I loved to watch monster movies on Bestoink Dooley's show. In 2001 when I went to my first Monster Bash I was talking to Dennis Druktenis and Kent Daluga (the Kookster) and Kent asked me who I grew up watching. Well, of course I mentioned Dr. Shock (Tom Reynolds) from Chattanooga, but also I told them about Bestoink Dooley from the Atlanta area. To my surprise they knew about Bestoink and Kent later mailed me a copy of the movie Bestoink did called Demon Hunter. It was filmed around Stone Mtn. Ga. (I think) sometime in the '60s or '70s, but not released until the '80s. Man, it was great to see Bestoink Dooley again. I wish some footage of his show would surface, maybe some kinescopes.
Good memories. Thanks for mentioning Bestoink dlhenderson. BTW, I'm a little fuzzy on the actual title of the show he hosted since I was so young. Was it Shock Theater, Science Fiction Theater, or something else?
Hi horrorhunter. It's great to hear from someone who remembers Bestoink Dooley!
The show was called BIG MOVIE SHOCKER. I remember how hard it was to stay awake for some of the presentations. Sometimes it would be delayed by a high school football game or something (that seemed to go on forever). Bestoink (George Ellis) was an "intellectual" horror movie host. He used practically non-existent sets to create a minimalist humor that was really unique. I recall the very first BIG MOVIE SHOCKER. It opened with the camera trained on a cardboard box. It just stayed there. Finally a muffled voice could be heard from inside. Eventually, after a couple of station breaks, Bestoink emerged from the box. He wore a long scarf (like early Dr. Who) a flower in his lapel, and a derby hat.
In the late 60s he opened a little repertory cinema called the Film Forum. He sat there selling tickets every weekend. I went almost every Saturday no matter what was playing. He had the greatest voice and a deep chuckle. Most of the films were "art house". That's where I got educated on world cinema. Interestingly, I remember him showing Black Orpheus on BIG MOVIE SHOCKER, so his interest in "art house" stuff was evident even then. Those are treasured memories.
Yea, I would love to see any of that. I wonder if any of it is in the vaults over at channel 2 (or was it 5?). I'd also love to see that title card again with the drippy lettering on black...
Quote from: dlhenderson on August 25, 2013, 01:56:18 PM
Hi horrorhunter. It's great to hear from someone who remembers Bestoink Dooley!
The show was called BIG MOVIE SHOCKER. I remember how hard it was to stay awake for some of the presentations. Sometimes it would be delayed by a high school football game or something (that seemed to go on forever). Bestoink (George Ellis) was an "intellectual" horror movie host. He used practically non-existent sets to create a minimalist humor that was really unique. I recall the very first BIG MOVIE SHOCKER. It opened with the camera trained on a cardboard box. It just stayed there. Finally a muffled voice could be heard from inside. Eventually, after a couple of station breaks, Bestoink emerged from the box. He wore a long scarf (like early Dr. Who) a flower in his lapel, and a derby hat.
In the late 60s he opened a little repertory cinema called the Film Forum. He sat there selling tickets every weekend. I went almost every Saturday no matter what was playing. He had the greatest voice and a deep chuckle. Most of the films were "art house". That's where I got educated on world cinema. Interestingly, I remember him showing Black Orpheus on BIG MOVIE SHOCKER, so his interest in "art house" stuff was evident even then. Those are treasured memories.
Yea, I would love to see any of that. I wonder if any of it is in the vaults over at channel 2 (or was it 5?). I'd also love to see that title card again with the drippy lettering on black...
Big Movie Shocker! Wow, I've been wondering about that for years. Thanks for the info. In that Demon Hunter movie he did Bestoink was great. It was EXTREMELY low budget, but charming the way cheap monster toys are. There was a lot of him running around the park from the monster, which actually didn't look too bad. It was kinda white and furry with weird tentacles hanging off. Dooley wore white spats, which really showed up in the dark scenes. What years was Big Movie Shocker on? Any idea what George Ellis did after that?
Thanks for bringing back some great memories dlhenderson. :)
I think Big Movie Shocker was on for maybe two or three years. Perhaps beginning around '60 or '61. Not sure about that.
After Dooley became popular, he had a fairly brief run with an afternoon kiddie show called Dooley & Co.
They showed shorts (3 Stooges, etc.) and Bestoink would do commercials and stuff. They also ran segments of the syndicated Morgus, the buck-toothed "mad scientist weatherman". I actually won a Remco Herman Munster figure in a write-in contest and Bestoink read my name on the air. That was cool, and I still have the Remco figure (kinda the center piece of my collection).
After leaving TV, George Ellis operated another movie theater (before the Film Forum). I think it was called The Festival Cinema. He got busted once for showing an "adult" film there. LOL
I think he died around 1981 or so.
Nosferatu (1922) (1979)
Quote from: Evermonster on August 27, 2013, 07:45:45 PM
Nosferatu (1922) (1979)
You would have to be an actual vampire to have seen the original one in the theater (outside of revival houses).