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Victim of The Night
I come bearing gifts!

These are all background cells from the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You! from 1969-1970.
I use them as background during October, running as the screen-saver on my big TV, cycling through all of them. So spooky!
You do with 'em what you want.
















This one has a werewolf in it, see if you can spot him.

And my personal favorite, cause it's in a swamp, which is basically where I live at this point, and it's got a witch in it!...



Scooby Doo was one of those things which played irregularly on my television networks so when I stumbled upon it, it would hit me like drugs.


But because I was a patriotic Canadian, and it played more regularly, this was my fix. I feel deep sadness for all the children in other places that didn't have access to it





BillyVan4Life



Victim of The Night
Scooby Doo was one of those things which played irregularly on my television networks so when I stumbled upon it, it would hit me like drugs.


But because I was a patriotic Canadian, and it played more regularly, this was my fix. I feel deep sadness for all the children in other places that didn't have access to it





BillyVan4Life
What. The. F*ck. Man.

How long have we shared space together and you're just sharing this with me now?!



What. The. F*ck. Man.

How long have we shared space together and you're just sharing this with me now?!
Us Canadians like to keep our little cultural secrets to ourselves.


It is the greatest of the great. This and Monty Python were like the only things that mattered to me when I was a kid.



One of the great tragedies is that because of licensing rights, they've cut out a lot of the Wolfman jack stuff.


He would play all sorts of badass rock and roll on it. But that isn't allowed anymore supposedly.





THE CAT GIRL (1957)


The premise of this film is very similar to Cat People. A woman inherits a family curse that causes her to turn into a leopard when she becomes angry or distressed. There's an unfaithful husband and a fixation on the therapist that's trying to help her. Also, this happens--



So I was thoroughly prepared to dismiss this as a rip-off, but it's actually it's own thing and I kind of loved it. Our Cat Girl (future Hammer star Barbara Shelley) is summoned to her childhood home by her creepy uncle.



Once there the uncle explains to her that for years he's been turning into a leopard thanks to the family curse, and now it's time for him to pass the curse on to her. Sorry, them's the rules. From here we settle into the standard routine where the woman tries to convince everyone that she turned into a leopard and killed so-and-so, while they all tell her she's crazy and give her pills for her "nerves". So nothing really special when it comes to plot, but what sets this apart from Cat People is that it's much more of a spook show.



The house is creepy, there's constant thunderstorm sound effects punctuating the action, the uncle walks around in a black robe and reads ancient books by candlelight. Fun Halloween stuff, in other words. I'm not calling this a lost classic, but definitely filing it under "exceeded expectations". Available in a decent print on Tubi.
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My Collection



Victim of The Night


THE CAT GIRL (1957)


The premise of this film is very similar to Cat People. A woman inherits a family curse that causes her to turn into a leopard when she becomes angry or distressed. There's an unfaithful husband and a fixation on the therapist that's trying to help her. Also, this happens--



So I was thoroughly prepared to dismiss this as a rip-off, but it's actually it's own thing and I kind of loved it. Our Cat Girl (future Hammer star Barbara Shelley) is summoned to her childhood home by her creepy uncle.



Once there the uncle explains to her that for years he's been turning into a leopard thanks to the family curse, and now it's time for him to pass the curse on to her. Sorry, them's the rules. From here we settle into the standard routine where the woman tries to convince everyone that she turned into a leopard and killed so-and-so, while they all tell her she's crazy and give her pills for her "nerves". So nothing really special when it comes to plot, but what sets this apart from Cat People is that it's much more of a spook show.



The house is creepy, there's constant thunderstorm sound effects punctuating the action, the uncle walks around in a black robe and reads ancient books by candlelight. Fun Halloween stuff, in other words. I'm not calling this a lost classic, but definitely filing it under "exceeded expectations". Available in a decent print on Tubi.
This actually sounds like I would enjoy it more than Cat People.
Also, our were-person theme is strong.
I am about to sort of cheatingly continue it.



Victim of The Night

Stage Fright, aka Aquarius, aka Deliria, aka Bloody Bird

As a rule, I do not do "Slashers" during October since Halloween is very clearly and specifically about the Supernatural.
But, given that this is my 50th Halloween and I'm doing favorites and only watching movies I know are good (with one exception) and some Slashers can actually almost feel supernatural or at least are spooky as hell, there are a handful I'm giving a pass and watching this year, and this was probably the best one to start with.
An independent theater group is rehearsing a new play that is, I swear to god, a Musical about an owl-head-wearing serial killer called The Nite Owl. When the star, Alicia, twists her ankle dancing, she drives off with the stage assistant in the rain to try to find a doctor to help her out. But the nearest "hospital" is actually a Mental Hospital and she makes the terrible mistake of making eye-contact with a real killer who has left a dozen people slaughtered. Upon returning to the theater, not only is she fired for missing rehearsal, but she's brought something back with her in the back-seat of her car.
I put this on, having not seen it in 13-15 years but thought I’d check out the opening scene again and see if it could pull me in. Well, how the hell can you switch movies after THAT?
The opening scene is worth the whole movie.


I mean, it is so wonderfully the best of the European 80s not to mention being batshit crazy simply for being a Musical about a masked killer. The movie, certainly the stage parts, but in general reminds me a lot of Richard O’Brien’s Shock Treatment. Maybe people who’ve seen both will know what I mean (musical, very 80s, the music is SO 80s, Euroish, takes place on very obvious sets, in part because both feature a theater, etc.).
Fortunately, though, that is not all the film has to offer.
I mean, the aesthetic that Soave conjured here, which is so different than Cemetery Man or The Church, is just uniquely of its time and so immersive. Like, why are there mannequins with makeup everywhere?



Because they look awesome, that's why. That's the way the 80s were, I was there.
But this film is a lot more than aesthetic. The film is tense and intense with often grim and startling violence amid all the 80s European Music Video atmosphere. I mean, Jesus, this woman just took a pickaxe in the mouth like 15 minutes into the movie. (Funny thing about Italian horror, there is no explanation whatsoever of where the killer, who just escaped the Mental Hospital and rode over in Alicia's car, got this pickaxe. Does Alicia keep a pickaxe in the backseat in case she accidentally drives into a mine?)
Despite certain forgivable fridge-moments, the film is shockingly competent and coherent, narratively, for an Italian Horror. It's almost as if newcomer Soave said, "What if I made an Italian Horror movie that actually made a lick of sense?" There's even some surprisingly good dialogue at times. But there are also just a number of wonderful shocks. The shower-murder scene, for example, is pretty intense. To have your professional rival gutted right in front of you while you're hiding just a couple of feet from the killer and if you make a peep you’re dead. Yikes.
But, of course, as anyone who has seen the film knows, the centerpiece of it all is The Nite Owl. He is a chilling, totally silent, relentless killing-machine whose calm demeanor and newfound appreciation of the arts, demonstrated by him arranging all the remains of his victims on the stage, as well as his marvelous owl-head, make him a classic for me.


I liked this movie a good bit, despite being pretty new to Italian Horror, when last I saw it back in 2007. But this movie actually feels better than the last time I saw it, certainly just because of how many Horror movies of different genres and countries and budgets I’ve seen in the interim. This is quite good. Really. Soave’s camera placement and editing throughout is really nice, helping to create tension over and over again, and as I mentioned, the aesthetic of the film is really immersive. And it's pretty intense to boot. Despite being a Slasher, this still felt like Halloween to me, and I found this a really enjoyable film that made me glad I broke my Slasher rule.
Not for the last time.



Does anyone enjoy Dick Maas films?

I have seen Sint, it's one of my holiday watches but may check out Amsterdamned.



I haven't seen any of them but Lift looks like something I would enjoy.
Sint is a fun Christmas season watch.



Does anyone enjoy Dick Maas films?

I have seen Sint, it's one of my holiday watches but may check out Amsterdamned.
I thought The Lift and Amsterdamned had an interesting mix of naturalistic drama and schlocky B-horror.



Love Stagefright. That last act ****ing owns. And I like how the stock characters are revealed to be deeper and braver than we initially expect.