A cold nip in the air. You breath it in. Crisp, clean, just burning your lungs slightly. A wind that sends a flutter of leaves, gold, red, brown, scattering at your feet. A full, bright, white moon lights the sky, that has been dark since dinner time.
A slight warm breeze. You breath it in and smell fresh cut grass, fragrant flowers. You look up and feel the sun warm your face. A sun that is still up in the sky, hours after dinner.
No, I haven't gone crazy. I haven't been reading poetry or sniffing the backing glue off a set of flowery postage stamps. Just making a comparison.
I'm sure you can tell that the first images are describing a fall night. Particularly October. OUR time of the year. A time when all our thoughts turn to monsters...or maybe a little more so than usual.
Some people think it's Halloween all year round. Bully for you. I'm really not scoffing at this notion. Horror Hosts DO keep Halloween alive all year round for the fans.
But I am talking AS a fan. Most will still stick with scenario number one.
Not me. Horror is Summer. No, I don't mean all the crowded highways with tourists who are killing themselves just to have a good time, I mean, Summer time means "horror" to me almost as much, if not more so than October.
Let's look at this logically...or my way.
All these great new shows would start in fall. You would get the "Fall Preview" TV Guide and drool over the schedule of upcoming horror/sci-fi based shows that were debuting. Not to mention the Saturday morning cartoons. Remember the Friday night preview of the cartoons starting the following morning? Got you so worked up you could hardly sleep?
How on or leading up to Halloween night, they would show continuous late night horror films. Or those double even triple horror features that would play at the local cinemas.."Big Horror-ama! Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday only!" "Halloween night...dusk to dawn."
Wow. A virtual cornucopia for the die hard horror fan...but...
If you were an adult, all of this was cool. Sure you had to go to work, but if you wanted to stay up...you could! The thing that stood in the way of all the little horror fans was something scarier than all the horror films put together. The big "S."
SCHOOL!!
All the cool TV shows and cartoons debut AFTER school started. So here you were trying to enjoy life, enjoy what you really dig on...but you always had to cope with school being at the back of your mind. Whether it was trying to not get beat up by a bully, or a bully having to pick his target for the next day (hey, they didn't have it easy either) homework, looking cool, trying to be cool, failing at being cool...yeah...there was a lot going on.
Sure, every seven years or so Halloween would fall on a Friday or Saturday night, but who the hell could stay up...who could keep their eyes open after a week of getting up at 6 in the morning?
And forget going to the movies that were run during the week. Or seeing any of the cool new shows, if they were on TV any day during the week after 9.
Hey, I am surely (there you go again, calling mer Shirley) not putting down the holiday that gave me my name. No way. Halloween will always be the pinnacle to me...a feeling in the air that cannot be described. A passion that is shared yet personal to each individual.
But summer holds so many great monster memories for me. Getting to stay up ANY day of the week to watch a horror film. And the networks seemed to notice that, because aside from Halloween, there seemed to be a plethora of horror on TV in the summer. "Creature Feature" even repeated the previous Saturday night's film at noon the following week. I could actually stay up until 2 in the morning on a Saturday night and watch "Fright Night" which is the place where I was first introduced to the Universal "Mummy" films.
Staying up that late to see a horror film and have the crap scared out of you, in your darkened room, while your parents slept and the house was vulnerable to all kinds of monster attacks. There was no feeling like it in the world.
Ok, what did it take you to shake off the effects of getting up early for school, to where you could fight off the urge to sleep and stay up late and watch some films? Two, maybe three weeks?
Not missing those "3 day engagement only" films on a weekday? As long as you went during the day with a friend.
They say in the Spring time a young man's fancy turns to love.
But in my case, Spring time is the prelude to Summer and that's when my favorite memories of being a monster fan begin.
Well, at Halloween too. And then there is Christmas, when I got all those neat monster toys. Then there was Thanksgiving when they had the "Godzilla" marathons.
Hmmm...guess my monster memories take place all year round. Especially if you are a true monster fan.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY
May 11
births
1982 - Jonathan Jackson, who co-starred in the films "Skeletons In The Closet," "Insomnia" and "Venom."
1977 - Matthew Newton, who co-starred in the film "Queen Of The Damned" and appeared on the TV show "Farscape."
1935 - Doug McClure who appeared in the TV movie "Satan's Triangle," and the films "At the Earth's Core" and "The People That Time Forgot."
1927 - Bernard Fox who was most well known for playing "Dr. Bombay" on the TV series "Bewitched." His film appearances have included "The Bamboo Saucer," " Munster, Go Home" and the 1999 version of "The Mummy."
1911 - Doodles Weaver who appeared in "The Birds" and "The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock," as well as many appearances on TV shows such as "Batman" and "Land of the Giants."
1907 - Kent Taylor who appeared in the films "The Phantom From 10,000 Leagues," "The Day Mars Invaded Earth" and "The Crawling Hand."
deaths
2007 - Bernard Gordon, who wrote the screen plays for "The Man Who Turned To Stone," Earth vs The Flying Saucers" and "The Zombies Of Mora Tau," passed away at the age of 88.
2006 - Byron Morrow, whose extensive TV work included apperances in episodes of "The Wild Wild West," "Night Gallery" and the original "Star Trek." He also co-starred in the films "The Mysterians" and "Colossus: The Forbin Project," passed away at the age of 94.
2001 - Douglas Adams, who wrote for TV shows such as "Doctor Who" and "The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy," based on his series of books, passed away at the age of 49.
1997 - Howard Morton, who played "Grandpa" in the series "The Munsters Today," passed away at the age of 71.
1995 - John Phillips, who appeared in the films "The Mummy's Shroud," "Village Of The Damned" (1960), and "Torture Garden," passed away at the age of 80.
1985 - Chester Gould, creator of the "Dick Tracy" comic strip, passed away at the age of 84.
1979 - Joan Chandler who appeared in "How To Make a Monster," passed away at the age of 55.
films released on this date
Dracula's Daughter 1936
Dracula's Daughter 1936
Bride of the Monster 1955
Revenge of the Creature 1955
Nightmare 1956
Firestarter 1984
The Crow 1994
Witchcraft VI 1994
Bloody Moon 1999 filmed in 1997 as Lycanthrope
Biohazardous 2001
28 Weeks Later 2007
May 12
births
1986 - Emily Van Camp, who co-starred in the films "The Ring 2" and "Carriers."
1978 - Amy Wheaton, who appeared in the film "The Curse" (1987), and the TV series' "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Sliders."
1962 - Emilio Estevez, starred in "Nightmares," "Freejack" (sounds like my kind of movie) and "Maximum Overdrive."
1962 - Ving Rhames who co-starred in "The People Under the Stairs" and "Jacob's Ladder," the 2004 remake of "Dawn Of The Dead" and the 2008 remake of "Day Of the Dead"
1950 - Gabriel Byrne who has appeared in the films "End of Days," "Stigmata," "Ghost Ship" and "Gothic."
1930 - Jesus (or Jess) Franco who directed the films "The Awful Dr. Orloff," "Bram Stoker's Count Dracula" and "Ilsa, the Wicked Warden.".
1913 - Hugh Latimer who appeared in the films "The Strange World of Planet X," (a.k.a. "The Cosmic Monsters") and "Ghost Ship."
1912 - Don Blackman who appeared in the film "Scream Blacula, Scream."
1903 - Wilfrid Hyde-White who appeared in the TV series "Buck Rogers" and "Battlestar Galatica," as well as the film "Chamber of Horrors."
1898 - Edward Halperin who produced the films "White Zombie" and "Revolt of the Zombies."
1892 - John Barclay who appeared in the 1941 version of "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," "Soylent Green" and "The Brotherhood of Satan."
deaths
1995 - Arthur Lubin who directed the 1943 version of "The Phantom of the Opera," "Hold That Ghost" and "Black Friday," passed away at the age of 96.
1971 - The one and only Mighty Tor Johnson, passed away at the age of 67.
1957 - Erich von Stroheim who appeared in the films "The Lady & the Monster," "The Mask of Dijon" and "Alraune," passed away at the age of 72.
films released on this date
Cobra Woman 1944
Earth Girls Are Easy 1988
Hell High 1989
Night Visitor 1989
The Return of the Swamp Thing 1989
Battlefield Earth 2000
May 13
births
1986 - Robert Pattison, who played "Cedric Diggory" in "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" and "The Order Of The Phoenix."
1985 - Corey Hawk, who co-starred in "Knight Of The Living Dead" and "Class Of Nuke 'Em High 2."
1939 - Harvey Keitel who has appeared in the films "Two Evil Eyes," "From Dusk To Dawn," "Red Dragon" and "Saturn 3."
1939 - Zohra Lampert who played the title role in "Let's Scare Jessica To Death," and appeared in "The Exorcist III."
1936 - Rafael Campos who appeared in the films "Astro Zombies," " The Doll Squad" and the TV series "V."
1922 - Don Weiss who directed such TV shows as "The Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "Batman," " Kolchak: The Night Stalker," "Planet of the Apes" and the film "The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini."
1907 - Daphne Du Maurier who wrote the story "The Birds."
deaths
2001 - Jason Miller, who starred in "The Exorcist," "Exorcist III" and "The Dain Curse," passed away at the age of 62.
2000 - Paul Bartel who appeared in the films "Piranha," " Chopping Mall" and "Escape From L. A.," passed away at the age of 61.
films released on this date
Werewolf of London 1935
A Haunting We Will Go 1949
The Hands of Orlac 1964 filmed in 1960
The Car 1977
Day of the Animals 1977
The House Where Evil Dwells 1982
Mad Max 1983 filmed in 1979
Friday the 13th Part VIII: The New Blood 1988 (on a Friday of course)
Maniac Cop 1988
Prom Night IV: Deliver Us From Evil 1992
Scream Bloody Murder 2003
Mindhunters 2005
May 14
births
1983 - Amber Tamblyn, daughter of Russ Tamblyn, who co-starred in "The Ring," "The Grudge 2" and "Blackout."
1971 - Writer/producer/director/actress and daughter of Francis Ford, Sophia Coppola. She appeared in Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace" and Tim Burton's "Frankenweenie."
1961 - Tim Roth who co-starred in the 2001 version of "The Planet of the Apes," "Dark Water" and the upcoming "Incredible Hulk"
1952 - Robert Zemeckis, who has produced several films including the remakes of "13 Ghosts" and "The House On Haunted Hill," as well as "The Frighteners," the 2005 version of "House Of Wax" and the TV series, "Tales From the Crypt."
1944 - "Star Wars" creator George Lucas .
1932 - Kenji Sahara who appeared in "Godzilla," "Rodan," and "Mothra," to name a few.
1921 -Richard Deacon who is best known for playing "Mel Cooley" on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." His film credits have included "The Birds," the 1953 version of "Invaders From Mars" and "Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy."
deaths
2006 - "Kelton the Cop" a.k.a. Paul Marco, passed away at the age of 78. He played the character in the three Ed Wood masterpieces "Night Of The Ghouls" "Plan Nine From Outer Space" and "Bride Of The Monster."
2005 - Ed Kelleher, who wrote the screenplays for the films "Invasion Of The Blood Farmers," "Prime Evil" and "Shriek Of The Mutilated," passed away at the age of 61.
2004 - Anna Lee, who co-starred with Boris Karloff in "Bedlam," passed away at the age of 91. She also co-starred in the films "Picture Mommy Dead" and "Jack The Giant Killer."
2002 - Ray Stricklyn, who appeared in the original "Lost World" (1960) and "The Return Of Dracula," passed away at the age of 73.
2001 - Peter Griffith, ex-husband of Tippi Hedren and father of Melanie Griffith, passed away at the age of 67. He played "Morgan Strode" in the original "Halloween."
1999 - Buck Houghton who was producer of the TV series "The Twilight Zone," passed away at the age of 84.
1982 - Hugh Beaumont who was best known for playing the Beaver's dad, "Ward Cleaver," passed away at the age of 73. His film credits include "The Mole People" and "The Human Duplicators."
1980 - Hugh Griffith who appeared in "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," "The Legend of the Werewolf" and "Cry of the Banshee," passed away at the age of 67.
1977 - Seamus O'Brien who appeared in "Bloodsucking Freaks," was killed in his apartment by a burglar the age of 41.
films released on this date
King of the Zombies 1941
Nightmare In Wax 1969
The House Where Evil Dwells 1982
Conan The Barbarian 1982
The Nesting 1982 filmed in 1981
May 15
births
1982 - Tatsuya Fujiwara, who co-starred in "Batoru Rowaiaru" and "Batoru Rowaiarui : Chinknoka," better known as "Battle Royale I & II."
1982 - Alexandra Breckinridge, who appeared in "Vampire Clan" and in the TV series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer."
1981 - Alex Burton, who first played "Pyro" in the first "X-Men" film.
1981 - Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who co-starred in "Campfire Stories" and " Dark Ride."
1912 - André De Toth, who directed the original "House of Wax."
1909 - The late James Mason, who appeared in the TV films "Frankenstein: The True Story" and "Salem's Lot," and as "Captain Nemo" in "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."
1905 - Joseph Cotten who starred in the films "Latitude Zero," "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" and "Lady Frankenstein."
1856 - L. Frank Baum who created "The Wizard of Oz."
deaths
2004 - Brenda Joyce, who appeared in the films "Strange Confession," "The Pillow Of Death" and "The Spider Woman Strikes Back," passed away at the age of 92.
1988 - Andrew Duggan who appeared in "A Return To Salem's Lot," "It's Alive" and "Frankenstein Island," passed away at the age of 64. He also played "Major Margaret 'Hot Lips' Houlihan's" father on "M*A*S*H."
1972 - Nigel Green who appeared in the films "The Skull," "Corridors of Blood" and "Countess Dracula," passed away at the age of 47.
films released on this date
Sherlock Holmes 1916
Mad Monster 1942
Red Planet Mars 1952
Phantom From Space 1953
The Mysterians 1959 released in Japan in 1957 as Chikyû Bôeigun
Invisible Invaders 1959
Dr. Blood's Coffin 1961
Peeping Tom 1962 filmed in 1960
This was an extremely controversial film for it's time.
It was heavily censored and edited upon it's release.
Even though some of the scenes were restored for DVD release,
many of the edits are considered lost and a fully restored
version seems highly unlikely.
This was an extremely controversial film for it's time.
It was heavily censored and edited upon it's release.
Even though some of the scenes were restored for DVD release,
many of the edits are considered lost and a fully restored
version seems highly unlikely.
The Black Zoo 1963
Paranoiac 1963
Gorath 1964 released in Japan in 1962 as Yosei Gorasu
Battle Beneath the Earth 1968 filmed in 1967
Targets 1968
The Fan 1981
Happy Birthday To Me 1981
The Matrix Reloaded 2003
Creepshow III 2006
Curse Of The Zodiac 2007
Gothic Vampires From Hell 2007
May 16
births
1971 - Buffy's boyfriend "Angel," a.k.a. David Boreanaz . He also starred in the film "Valentine" and currently stars in the TV series "Bones."
1953 - Brosnan, Pierce Brosnan who has appeared in the films "Mars Attacks!," "The Lawnmower Man" and "Nomads."
1937 - "Batgirl" herself, Yvonne Craig.
1918 - Barry Atwater who played the role of "Janos Skorzeny" in the TV movie "The Night Stalker." He also appeared in many TV series' including "The Invaders," "Voyage To the Bottom Of the Sea," "Night Gallery" and the original "Star Trek."
1905 - The late Henry Fonda, who starred in "Fail-Safe," "The Boston Strangler," "Tentacles" and "The Swarm."
1887 - Bull Montanna, who appeared in the "Flash Gordon" serials.
deaths
1990 - Jim Henson passed away at the age of 53.
1979 - Robert Florey, who directed episodes of "Thriller," "The Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone," as well as the 1932 version of "Murders In the Rue Morgue" with Bela Lugosi, passed away at the age of 78.
1985 - Margaret Hamilton who played the "Wicked Witch of the West" in "The Wizard of Oz," passed away at the age of 82. She also appeared in the 1960 version of "13 Ghosts" and the TV movie "The Night Strangler."
films released on this date
The Blood Beast Terror 1969 filmed in 1967
Demoni a.k.a. Demons 1986 filmed in 1985
The Bare Wench Project 2000 filmed in 1999
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones 2002
May 17
births
1996 - Alexis Llewellyn, who appeared in the Sci-Fi mini series "Tin Man" and the film "The Chronicles Of Riddick."
1973 - The Guinness Book of World Records "Tallest Actor, " Matthew McGrory, who played "Tiny" in "House Of 1000 Corpses" and "The Devil's Rejects." He also appeared in "Men In Black II" and "The Dead Hate The Living."
1965 - Trent Reznor, known as the one man band "Nine Inch Nails," whose music has been used in films such as "Doom," the 2007 version of "The Hitcher" and "Resident Evil."
1936 - Dennis Hopper, whose many film appearances include "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2," "Queen of Blood" and "Blue Velvet."
1955 - Bill Paxton who starred in and directed "Frailty," and co-starred the 1998 version of "Mighty Joe Young," "Aliens" and "Near Dark."
1885 - Roland Pertwee, father of Jon Pertwee ("Doctor Who # 3") and who appeared in the film "The Ghoul" with Boris Karloff.
deaths
2005 - Frank Gorshin who played "The Riddler" on the "Batman" TV series, passed away at the age of 72. He also appeared in the films "Invasion Of The Saucer Men" and "Twelve Monkeys."
2004 - Tony Randall, who played the title role in "The 7 Faces Of Dr. Lao," passed away at the age of 84.
1983 - Victor Halperin who directed "White Zombie," passed away at the age of 87.
1954 - Comedian Arthur Lucan who portrayed Old Mother Reiley in "My Son, the Vampire " with Bela Lugosi, passed away at the age of 68.
films released on this date
Cobra Woman 1942
The Lady and the Monster 1944
The Cat Creeps 1946
She Wolf of London 1946
The Terrornauts 1967
Blood From The Mummy's Tomb 1971
The Believer 2001
Galaxy Hunter 2004
Ghost Lake 2004
Sci-Fighter 2004
Zombiez 2005
Skinwalker: Curse Of The Shaman 2005
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