Friday Favorites – Kolchak: The Night Stalker

One of my favorite memories growing up was watching the seemingly bumbling reporter Carl Kolchak meet a different mystery or monster (or both) each week on Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which ran from September 1974 to March of 1975. Of course, the series was a spin-off from two successful TV movies, The Night Stalker (1972) and The Night Stranger (1973), produced by Dan Curtis. Curtis was done with the character but the studio and star Darren McGavin wanted to continue so the series started without Curtis. It only lasted one season but for us young monster kids, it made quite the impact. The charm about Kolchak was that he was just as scared about what was going on as anybody else, but knew he had to do what was right. Also, nobody ever believed him! As a kid, that really hit home because parents would never believe what their kids told them. Here was this guy that was trying to tell people there really was a monster out there, only to be laughed at. Continue reading

Friday Favorites – Edgar Allan Poe!

Once upon a midnight dreary… Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19ty, 1809, and has become one of America’s greatest known writers. And for someone who wrote very dark and troubling tales, and the way the “normal” public likes to shy away from that genre, it is even more amazing that he is still popular today, to the fact that he is still discussed in schools. Continue reading

Friday Favorites: Holiday Horrors?

Everyone has their traditional horror movie titles they bust out every Halloween, from Night of the Living Dead (1968) to Trick ‘r Treat (2007), to so many other fun flicks. But we know us horror fans do the same thing for Christmas, don’t we? So with the holiday just a couple of weeks away, we want to know what Holiday Horrors you always watch this time of year? While others might be decorating the tree with It’s a Wonderful Life on, you’ve got Silent Night Deadly Night (1984) playing! What are some of the other seasonal favorites for this time of year? Gremlins (1984)? Rare Exports (2010)? Sint (2010)? Krampus (2015)?

Let’s here you!

Friday Favorites: John Carpenter

Since I just started reading Troy Howarth’s latest book, Assault on the System: The Nonconformist Cinema of John Carpenter, I thought it might be an interesting (though probably an easy one to call) question to see what your favorite John Carpenter film is. Now, as I said, I know there is going to be a lot of answers for the obvious choice, which would be Halloween (1978), which is fine because you can’t be wrong in what is your personal favorite. I’m sure The Thing (1982) is going to be up there as well. But I am curious to see if there will be any other titles named, such as The Fog (1980) or maybe even In the Mouth of Madness (1995). Continue reading

Friday Favorites: Friday the 13th

Seems only appropriate, on this actual Friday the 13th, that we take a day to reflect on this long running series, to get your thoughts. While some might not be a fan of Jason and his exploits, most fans growing up in the ’80s could help but be a fan of these movies. Right or wrong, some of them are pretty fun, even today. 

So… to celebrate today, what is your favorite entry in the Friday the 13th film series? Doesn’t have to have Jason in there, meaning it could be the original or even part 5, but one that you like the best.

Friday Favorites: A Time for Teaching

In an email conversation with a friend, Mark Turner, a fellow writer and horror fan, he asked me a question about starting the younger generation on older and classic films, and how do we go about it. He gave me a couple of examples on how he’s tried to pass on the love of some films, especially in the black and white variety, and whether it was successful or not. And it got me thinking. I’ve already told him I was sort of stealing his idea, so a quick thanks to Mark for planting the seed! Continue reading

Friday Favorites: What Sacred You the Most?

As we’re only 1 day away from Halloween, for this week’s Friday Favorite, I want to you to dig into your deepest, darkest, depths of your soul and let us know… what film scared you the most? It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t get to you now, but during that first time, at whatever age you were at the time, it just reached into your soul and cut down deep. Maybe it was one that just terrified you, maybe even so much that you couldn’t even finish it the first time around. Or one that kept you awake that night, haunting your dreams if you dared to fall asleep? Or maybe it wasn’t a particular film as a whole, but one scene that did the trick. Continue reading

Friday Favorites: Here There Be Monsters!

This is going to be one to let roll around in your head for a bit before answering. Continuing in our celebration of Halloween and all things horror, we thought it might be fun to hear some of the favorites out there of the good old fashion monsters. You could answer this two different ways. You could point out your favorite monster from the usual suspects, such as vampires, werewolves, science experiment gone wrong, a mummy, or any of that ilk. Or, you could pick a specific monster that just blew you away. Such as the Deadly Spawn, or Pumpkinhead, Critters, or any of the countless other creature terrors that has come our way over the last 100+ years of cinema. Easy enough, right?

So let’s hear it.

Friday Favorites: Count Dracula

Count Dracula came to life in 1897, with the publication of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. As horror fans, we know not only are there count…less (pardon the pun) film adaptations of this novel, it would be a never-ending and never-winning argument to even try and say which is the most faithful, mainly because those silly opinions get in the way! But it is those opinions as to why we are here.

For this Friday topic, I would like to hear YOUR favorite adaptation of Dracula. It doesn’t have to be accurate, or even close, as long as the character of the good Count is in there. But let’s try to bite a little deeper than just which version is your favorite, but why is it your favorite? Is it because it was the first version you remember seeing? Was it that the actor playing the most famous vampire in history just put you under a trance? Whatever the reason, lets here it.

Let the bloodletting begin…