Category Archives: paranormal

Another Five Choices For A Halloween Marathon Movie Day/Night

When you get right down to it, there are a ton of potential choices for Halloween movie viewing marathons.  For the sake of brevity, I am choosing just five selections which will still take you a good day to get through so plan ahead to take the day off from your work or school grind!

  1.  Wolfen (1981) – a cop is assigned to investigate a series of animal attacks.  Is there a pack of werewolves on the loose in modern day New York?  Some creepy situations and a suspenseful story should keep you entertained throughout.  Albert Finney and Gregory Hines are the stars of this one.
  2. Attack Of The Mushroom People (1963) – OK.  This one is really freaky.  A group of young folk out on a boat trip have an accident and are stranded on a mysterious island.  They take refuge in another landlocked but larger ship.  The ship’s journal is examined and a warning is discovered:  don’t eat the island’s ample mushroom supply.  In order to survive, they’ve got to eat and it’s just easier to grab some of the island’s main staple.  That, as you will find out, is a big mistake.  Dripping with atmosphere and garish color, this is a must see shocker.
  3. The Thing (1951) – Science fiction film cornerstone that still maintains its freshness to this day.  An alien spaceship is discovered buried in the ice by an American military team stationed in a remote arctic outpost.  Although the ship is destroyed, the craft’s only surviving occupant is accidentally reawakened and is in a thoroughly pissed off frame of mind.  A last stand ensues as humans battle a formidable alien foe to the death.  Essential viewing!
  4. The Lost Continent (1968) – More whacked out material as a group aboard a doomed ocean freighter become stranded in the Sargasso Sea, a place of strange clogging and rampant seaweed and some cool matte painting shots of a ship graveyard.  Yes.  There have been others who have also unfortunately succumbed to the deadly area.  Attempting to find a way out of the morass, the ship’s inhabitants have a run in with a population of lost in time Spanish conquistadors who rule the region by force.  Also thrown into the mix are some oversized creepy crawlies who see anything on two legs as there next meal.  This is all great fun.
  5. Lifeforce (1985) – A huge alien ship is investigated by a team of astronauts from Earth and three seemingly human survivors from the other worldly ship are brought onboard the astronaut’s space shuttle.  One by one the human crew succumb to some bizarre malady with only a sole survivor who incinerates the shuttle and takes an escape pod back to Earth.  A rescue mission recovers the three aliens from the wrecked shuttle to the detriment of the human population as they come out of a dormant state and seek out our life sustaining energy or lifeforce.  A plague ensues on Earth as these energy vampires plunder our planet.  Epic destruction and carnage result.  Pretty entertaining!

So there are another five fine films that I would personally take a day/night to sit through consecutively for a perfect Halloween viewing experience!

Vincent Price’s Dracula (1982) – Good Halloween Fare

A documentary detailing the history of the vampire character Dracula, assembled using various movie clips and the narration of horror icon, Vincent Price.  You’ll see clips from the silent “Nosferatu” and other cinematic appearances featuring the ancient blood sucker such as Lugosi in “Mark of the Vampire”, and the 1950’s alternative vampire film, “The Vampire” .  “VPD” is a good flick to curl up by the fire to watch as we come upon the Autumn season and move closer to Halloween.  Heavy on the garlic fries.  Hehe.

Theodore Roosevelt’s book “The Wilderness Hunter” Contains Scary Bigfoot Story – 1880’s

I have come across this story a couple of times and see it as a truly chilling account of hunters turning into prey.  Hunters off in a very remote wilderness “trespass” across an unknown creature’s domain.  Things go very downhill from there. This story is given an air of credibility when it is discovered that this tale was relayed to Theodore Roosevelt by an old Mountain Man and included in Roosevelt’s book, “The Wilderness Hunter”.

After reading it several times over the years, it has yet to loose its fearsome, chilling effect.  Probably my favorite old time Bigfoot report.  Of course, come to find out that there are so many more stories of a related nature waiting to be told both modern and antique.  A little frightening when you think about it.

Well, pull up a blanket and prepare to have your flesh crawl as you listen to this vocal recital of Bauman’s story as presented by You Tuber Bob Gymlan.  My hat’s off to you, Sir.  A nice choice of material and a well done reading.

 

Are These The Worst Horror Films?

Hello.  Back after a long absence of laying around.  So as not to strain myself too much, I am sharing a link for an article I found which talks about what the article considers the worst horror movies of all time.  I have to agree with a lot of them and then there are the many that I haven’t seen so I can’t really comment on those.

For one, I thought “The Darkness” was not that terrible.  I thought it had some good sequences which built up the tension of an unexpected demon settling in to a family’s home.  Slightly gave me the creeps.  It’s no “The Grudge” but then not every movie can make you shit your pants.

Go look at this:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/gallery/50-worst-horror-films-of-all-time/ss-BBHSTlH?ocid=spartanntp

The actual video featured here is a very cool compilation of some of the most terrifying horror films.  If that makes any sense.  I haven’t done this for awhile.

 

THE SHINING – 1980 – TRAILER

Stanley Kubrick’s visually stunning interpretation of Stephen King’s novel.  I guess the two follow different plot trajectories.  I never sat through the entire King tome.  A cursed family moves into a rambling hotel to act as its caretakers during the winter.  Seems the Overlook Hotel has some dark secrets of its own that start to manifest during the family’s stay.  Expect a LOT of unsettling, frightening moments.   The movie takes on the tone of a nightmare.  Events, circumstances keep building up and piling on the dread factor.  Famous Nicholson over the top performance.  Amazing use of Stedicam during filming to move things along nicely.

THE MEPHISTO WALTZ – 1971

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Juicy, supernatural soap opera featuring the fabulous Jaqueline Bisset as the wife of an aspiring concert pianist who has her world turned upside down by a gaggle of satanic cult members.  Plenty of post Flower Power saturated colors, soft focus lenses and semi risqué goings on.  Very enjoyable time waster that plays like the cinematic equivalent of a melodramatic romantic novel.  Featuring a cast of great character actors including Willian Windom, Bradford Dillman, Curt Jurgens, Alan Alda and Barbara Parkins.

15 Creepy Unexplained Photos You Won’t Believe – That’s Entertainment

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Freak Cam

 

Here are some creepy examples of unexpected, ghostly patrons photobombing the living’s photo ops.  Plenty of examples provided here to get your hackles up.  Another frightening element to this video is the narrator’s robotic, sing song tone.  The entertainment value of this post just went up!

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK – TRAILER – 1973

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1970’s TV movies offered up a plethora of weird subject matter the net result being that it left deep psychological wounds on young, impressionable viewers which I am sure, myself included, they carry with them to this day.  I remember the exhilaration of braving some of this creepy TV material and then spending sleepless nights terrified by the experience.  This unpleasant little story included these hideous, shriveled up, doll sized demons you see here.  You see, there is a lady, actress Kim Darby, who spends quite a lot of time in a dark house filled with these beasts.  They only want her to join their infernal ranks.  Let the drama begin!

THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE – TRAILER (1973)

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A lovely, wet weather, stay inside creep fest to indulge in and then pay the price by looking over your shoulder or seeing things out of the corner of your eye when the movie does what it’s supposed to do and scares the Hell (House) out of you.  A scientist and his hand picked psychics and sensitives venture to a sprawling estate long rumored to be infested with ghosts.  The investigators’ purpose is to gather evidence and finally prove that there is a form of life after death: that ghosts really exist.  Heavily atmospheric and unsettling.  Good performances from Roddy McDowall and Clive Revill.  Nice, frightening electronic music score.

STRANGE AND UNUSUAL CREATURES – WTF?

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With all the recording devices out there capable of capturing video and digital pictures, it may be but a short time before some substantial evidence of something truly weird will be available.  Have evidence of Bigfoot, aliens, sea monsters and the like already been obtained?  Check out this creepy little compilation of freaky, pixelated pixies of all stripes.  So many monsters, so little time.

OVERLORDS OF THE UFO – 1976 – BOSS!

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Until Ken Burns comes around to create the definitive UFO documentary, whet your appetite for extraterrestrial visitation speculation with this 1970’s compendium of still photos, film footage and witness interviews. A lot of zooming and panning across still images of alien abductions and weird encounters taking place are in full representation in this film.  Very serious narration bolsters the claims of pilots, military personnel and civilians that they have been in the presence of other worldly beings and craft.  Nice, electronic music flourishes, combined with canned orchestral passages provide the musical bed for this piece.  It all has a very ’70’s feel which can be attractive or repulsive according to your tastes.  For a historical refresher course on the state of UFO research up until the 1970’s, this one is worth checking out.  But be warned that the film’s mellow pace may lull you to sleep as well.

 

THE ILLUSTRATED MAN – 1969

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An attempt to bring to the silver screen a work by author Ray Bradbury.  Three futuristic stories are “illustrated” through the conduit of a mysterious wanderer whose body is covered in tattoos.  Rod Steiger plays the tattooed man who explains the story behind various of his body art.  Steiger and Claire Bloom appear in the three episodes playing different characters.  Very brooding, dark film that wears it’s ’60’s era influences on its sleeve sometimes not so well.  I must say that this is not one of my favorite films and not one I would readily return to.  Trippy at times and trying at others.  Maybe a film best viewed loaded.  The ’60’s are calling!

20 OF THE CREEPIEST PLACES IN THE WORLD

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Danger Dolan is at it again with a smashing documentary on 20 of the creepiest places to visit in this strange world of ours.  There are segments on Chernobyl, Winchester Mystery House, and Prague among others.  I tend to observe these type of locations from afar.  Safer that way.  I have been to the Winchester Mystery House, though.  Hehe.