I always envied David Selby’s sideburns and long hair. Now more than ever. This movie, Night of Dark Shadows, less so. Then again, I wouldn’t mind having Grayson Hall’s hair, either.

La Patrulla Fantasma Mexican Lobby Card with Peter Cushing.

El Fantasma De La Rue Morgue Mexican lobby card with Karl Malden.

Last night Chicago horror host Svengoolie (aka Rich Coz) received a huge compliment on national Television. Glee co-creator Ian Brennon played a character on the show that was a direct tribute to Sven – called Svenboolie, the character was a judge for a Regionals Competition. Ian grew up watching Sven, and wanted to pay tribute to his host. As my good buddy Bob Burns would say – How Cool Is That?!

Boris Karloff and Elisha Cook Jr. En Isla De Sortilegio Mexican lobby card.

The inimitable German Robles and a colorful, sophisticated illustration provide the menace in another beautiful example of Mexican lobby card movie promotion.

There are moments in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance when Johnny Blaze (Nicolas Cage), as the demonic Ghost Rider, forces men to gaze into his big, dark, empty eye-sockets with his penance stare. The penance stare makes his victims experience all the suffering they’ve caused. During those long staring matches, I anticipated seeing pinpoints of red that would slowly grow to become like eyes, filling his dark skull-orbs with crimson light. The pinpoints never come. Someone in production should have noticed how dull it can be looking at someone else looking into dark, empty, eye-sockets with little else happening. Other moment’s in this second, more pyrotechnically intense, yet more oddball, franchise entry should also have received notice. Watching Ghost Rider’s magical chain, whipping around to char-broil assailants into glowing embers and ash, and his flaming touch consuming everything is more exhilarating than the first movie, but everything else is underdone.

In the latest Ask Ormsby, Ormsby takes on a “Pick Up Artist”.

Until Next Time,

Stay Insane!!!

One of the nominees for Best Short Film in the 10th annual Rondo Awards comes from writer/director Joshua Kennedy.  It is a black and white movie called ATTACK OF THE OCTOPUS PEOPLE that is a loving tribute to the giant monster movies of the 1950s that also gives a knowing nod to the film noir detective genre. The plot involves strange octopus creatures attacking mankind. Oh, and did I mention Joshua is 16 years old?

Listen folks, this is what the Rondo Awards are all about. A 16 year old kid who has an obvious love of classic horror made his own movie that references Harryhausen, Corman, Castle and more. Yeah, it’s shot on video, made with no budget and features a cast of mostly kid actors – but so what? That is exactly the charm of it.

How awesome is it that a kid would go out of his way to make something like this, especially in today’s attention deficit society? Is this kid going to win? Probably not. But just having his work nominated has to be a huge morale booster for Joshua, and rightly so. Keep up the good work Joshua! I understand you’ve already started on your next film, CURSE OF THE INSECT WOMAN. I look forward to it! Best of luck and by the way, folks, this film is available on Alpha Video packaged with another short called Frankenstein vs. Hitler. Support a rising young dirwector and go pick up a copy today and kudos to Alpha for distributing this!
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