Our friend Jen has brought us a semi-forgotten Rankin-Bass Halloween movie that features racially-tinged zombies, sexual harrassment, and a bad Jimmy Stewart impression. Maybe there’s a reason this doesn’t often show up on TV.
Starring Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller, Allen Swift, and Gale Garnette. Written by Arthur Rankin Jr., Len Korobkin and Harvey Kurtzman. Directed by Jules Bass.
Welcome to the Mary Versus the Movies newsletter! I swear, we’ll get back on schedule soon.
This week: 10/18/2024
We’re well into Halloween now, and with that comes back-to-back episodes with guests:
EPISODE 161 – NICK KNIGHT (1989)
Rick Springfield is a vampire detective in Los Angeles hunting a serial killer. What more do you need? Though not a success at the time, there’s a low-budget late-80s/early 90s charm to this movie, which asks the question—what if a vampire was a cop?
This failed t.v. pilot went on to become the Canadian-produced cable series Forever Knight, which, despite that title, is shockingly not another D.C. Batman series. We also watched a bit of the pilot, which is a shot-for-shot remake, while changing the setting to Toronto.
We welcome back frequent guest and contributor Alana Phelan to the show, and thank her for having brought us this wonderful little paranormal t.v. movie. Check out Alana’s work at https://polyamorouslibrarian.wordpress.com
Starring Rick Springfield, John Kapelos, Laura Johnson, Robert Harper, and Michael Nader. Written by Barney Cohen and James D. Parriott. Directed by Farhad Mann.
EPISODE 162 – MAD MONSTER PARTY? (1967)
An elderly Doctor Frankenstein, living on the Isle of Evil with his assistant Francesca, the Monster, the Bride, and a henchman named Yech, has found the secret formula for destroying all matter. Naturally, he decides it’s time to retire and turn the work over to his successor, and so invites a host of Not Entirely Public Domain Monsters to his home in order to choose that successor. Dracula, the Wolfman, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dame (who, hey, not a monster—literally the point of that novel), the Creature from the Black Lagoon, King Kong, the Mummy (again, not actually a monster), and Frankenstein’s nerdy nephew Felix all vie for the crown against the wily Francesca.
Our friend Jen has brought us this semi-forgotten Rankin-Bass Halloween movie that features racially-tinged zombies, sexual harrassment, and a bad Jimmy Stewart impression. Maybe there’s a reason this doesn’t often show up on TV—though a surprising number of people have told us they remember this movie fondly. All I know is that I never, ever saw it growing up, and am pretty sure it wasn’t shown on tv in Philadelphia.
Guesting on this episode are our friends Jen Quinn and Mishelle Spiegelmeyer.
Starring Boris Karloff, Phyllis Diller, Allen Swift, and Gale Garnette. Written by Arthur Rankin Jr., Len Korobkin and Harvey Kurtzman. Directed by Jules Bass.
HOLLWOOD AVALON – MERLIN: THE DRAGON’S CALL (2008)
This month, we check out the pilot for the British t.v. show Merlin from 2008, which rewrites the Arthurian story in some pretty significant ways, some of which really rub us the wrong way. Why is Merlin so young? Why is Arthur living with Uther? And why does the dragon look so terrible?
We know a lot of people really enjoyed this show, and pilots of course are often uneven, but I really couldn’t quite get into this one. Maybe it’s my dislike of teen-oriented t.v. shows, maybe it’s the cheap mid-Aughts production, maybe it’s the way it plays too fast and loose with Arthurian lore in the service of making a show that looks too much like that heartthrob Robin Hood show or Torchwood, both from the same time period.
Well, anyway, everyone is mad at me for this one, and you’re all wrong.
Starring Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Angel Coulby, Anthony Head, Richard Wilson, and John Hurt. Written by Julian Jones. Directed by James Hawes.
What else are we up to this week?
Mary: I can’t remember what prompted it, but I put on The Blob the other day, letting it play in the background while I worked. I know it’s not necessarily a great movie—it’s pretty bare-bones when it comes to plot and acting, with a nearly-thirty-year-old Steve McQueen playing a teenager who looks fifty. But as far as the spate of low-budget monster movies of the 1950s go, it still holds up pretty well, with a decent monster that looks like the insides of a jelly doughnut. And while I certainly do love those old movies (I was raised on MST3K after all), that’s not the main reason I watched it.
Of course I watched it because it was filmed in Phoenixville, Valley Forge, and Downingtown! For those who don’t know, Phoenixville isn’t that far from where I live (and Valley Forge is even closer); my mom worked at the Phoenixville Hospital for years, which is what prompted us moving out of Philly when I was a kid. The Colonial Theater, made famous in the scene where the Blob takes over the projection booth, causing patrons to run out screaming, has long been a great place for seeing films and live acts; I’ve seen everything from Being John Malkovich to Caligula to Glen or Glenda(presented by “the Mads”, Frank Conniff and Trace Beaulieu) there.
I’ll still say The Blob, while maybe not as good as The War of the Worlds or The Day the Earth Stood Still, is still a cut above Bert I. Gordon movies (which I do genuinely enjoy) like Beginning of the End (in which radioactive grasshoppers destroy Chicago), or Village of the Giants (in which child scientist Ron Howard turns his older brother Beau Bridges and his friends into annoying teenage giants—Ron Howard has a lot to answer for in this life).
Dennis:
NEXT EPISODE: I scream, you scream, we all scream for Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon in the sexy vampire flick The Hunger!
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