Last Monster/Horror/Sci-Fi Movie/Show You Watched

[Anthony Caranci]

What area of the country are you in?

Hello Adam. I'm in the Pacific Northwest. Washington State. Things haven't been as bad as they thought -- at least not where I am. I'm in the capital city of Olympia. A lot big Evergreens around my 2 bedroom apt. Plus, the place is all electric. Winds & power outages are scary. However, I'm still in one piece, and very grateful.

Saturday night:

Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers 1988.

Sunday morning:

Halloween 5 The Revenge of Michael Myers 1989.
Halloween 6 The Curse of Michael Myers 1995.

[Memphremagog]

The Nanny(1965)
The Vampire Lovers(1970)
Dr.Jekyll & Sister Hyde(1971)
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb(1971)

[Anthony Caranci]

Sunday afternoon:

Halloween H20 1998
Halloween Resurrection 2002

Have now departed Haddonfield.

[Anthony Caranci]

The Nanny(1965)
The Vampire Lovers(1970)
Dr.Jekyll & Sister Hyde(1971)
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb(1971)

Thank for posting this Memphremagog. I think that Blood From the Mummy's Tomb is the one I always have a hard time understanding. I should give it another viewing.

[Mike...In 3-D!]

Salem's Lot (1979)
Mad Monster Party (1967)

[geezer butler]

Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III (1982)

[Monsters For Sale]

Halloween (1978)
Halloween II (1981)
Halloween III (1982)

'tis the Season.

[Howler]

Trick 'r Treat
Documentary on Boris Karloff
The Man With Nine Lives

[Memphremagog]

Thank for posting this Memphremagog. I think that Blood From the Mummy's Tomb is the one I always have a hard time understanding. I should give it another viewing.

You're welcome! It is the kind of film that sort of grows on you after repeated viewings. 

[Anthony Caranci]

You're welcome! It is the kind of film that sort of grows on you after repeated viewings. 

I decided to give all my Hammer Mummy films a run through.

Monday morning:

The Mummy 1959.
The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb 1964.

[Anthony Caranci]

Monday afternoon through the evening:

The Mummy's Shroud 1967 - Hammer.
Blood From the Mummy's Tomb - 1971.

[Monsters For Sale]

Refuge of Fear - 1974

My pick for worst ripoff of Corman's "Day the World Ended".

[Anthony Caranci]

I thought that I  would view all my Hammer Frankenstein & Dracula films.

Tuesday night Triple Feature:

The Curse of Frankenstein – 1957 – Hammer Films.
Dracula 1958 - or as I came to know it the United States - Horror of Dracula – 1958 – Hammer Films. The restored version. Just beautiful!
The Revenge of Frankenstein – 1959 – Columbia/ Hammer. 

I can only speak for myself on this but, I consider it such a gift to be living in this "day & age" of film restoration and preservation. I had never seen the original UK opening titles for Dracula (Horror of Dracula) before, let alone that missing few seconds from Dracula's death. It's such a wonderful time to be a Monster kid all over again!

Just look at the treasures we have today. I won't mention them all, but just look at what's been done with Dracula 1931 & Frankenstein 1931. I remember reading William K. Everson's book: Classics of the Horror Film and "just reading" about what the complete King Kong was like. Now, I have the complete Kong on my shelf, and in color to boot - if I so desire. The Mystery of the  Wax Museum 1933 was another we could only read about . Mr. Everson told me in his book that the film still existed intact; but it was not available to consumers. In fact - this was in the days before Beta Cassettes.

Many lost treasures have been found, but unfortunately, some still remain out of reach. Watching Universal Horror films on television in the 1960s was a true test of love - for the films were: dirty, faded, noisy, butchered and in some cases - almost unwatchable. I'm a Monster kid all year round, but naturally, October really brings the little boy to the surface, and watching some of the trailers on the Legacy Collections reminds me of the previous condition of some of these films and what we had to endure at one time.

Okay, so maybe Universal is "milking it dry" with set after set - but we are getting better and better. Naturally, they're not perfect in some cases, but still, what we've been given today is truly a gift! So speaking for myself -- I am very grateful to have been given beautiful versions of the horror films that I have grown up (and old) with! Being a Monster kid today is better than ever!

[Monsters For Sale]

...I can only speak for myself on this but, I consider it such a gift to be living in this "day & age" of film restoration and preservation....

Many lost treasures have been found, but unfortunately, some still remain out of reach. Watching Universal Horror films on television in the 1960s was a true test of love - for the films were: dirty, faded, noisy, butchered and in some cases - almost unwatchable.

...Being a Monster kid today is better than ever!

Watching TV in the 50's and 60's was pretty hit and miss. 

The TV stations often bought their own 16mm copies of films that had made the rounds for years to small theaters in small towns where they were mishandled and sometimes censored by local theater owners  (Ever see "Cinema Paradiso"?)  A few theater owners would even fake a "break" to remove a frame or two of desirable images to be copied.  Of course, once a TV station had their own faded, heavily scratched and spliced copies with enlarged sprocket holes, they would play them as often as possible as cheap fillers.

To make matters worse, some TV stations would actually edit down running times to make room for commercials.  Hell, some of them actually allowed the film to run while switching to a commercial and rejoin the movie somewhere down the line.  Stan Laurel learned that this was being done to his films and offered to re-edit them for free - but the stations turned him down.

TV's in those days were usually much smaller, had very limited bright/dark range and sound systems that were only tolerable when watching the show being broadcast.  Widescreen movies were squared up to fit screen dimensions and color films could only be seen in black and white.  Anyone who copied the sound alone was struck by how bad it actually sounded (muddy with LOTS of hiss) when they were not being distracted by a picture. 

The TV's of the time would need tweaking frequently enough that picture adjustment knobs were mounted right on the front of the sets.  Atmospheric conditions would cause "snow" on some days.  Wind would sometimes make the picture jump about a bit.  And birds resting on the forest of spindly antennas (all facing the same way) could make the loveliest zig-zag patterns on the screen.

Add all these conditions together, and what early home viewers saw would seem laughable to today's audiences.  Still, it was good enough to keep rugrats of the day riveted to the boxes that were the focal point of all the living room furniture.

Yeah.  Today's DVD/Blu-Ray discs are an incredible boon to old farts like me.  I am really seeing and hearing some of these films clearly for the first time.  Great time to be a fan.

[long live kong]

I've been watching a classic monster movie each Friday night with my two daughters who are 7 and 5. Last week was Son of Frankenstein, they absolutely loved it!