This week on SVENGOOLIE...

[RedRiver]

Western Guy, you are right. INVISIBLE RAY is not bad at all. Quite creepy, in fact. I like the "angels" standing in for the murder victims, the mother's difficult choice, Boris bursting into flames. (That man had the most macabre death scenes!) All of this carried, of course, by the most magnetic of personalities! I might have confused this with another old horror film. I'm not even sure I had seen this one before. It didn't feel real familiar. I'm glad I've added it to my experience.

Wonder what's on next week.

[Western Guy]

Glad you enjoyed it, R.R. Next to THE BODY SNATCHER (which really isn't much of a Boris/Bela teamup outside of that one scene but is my favorite "horror" film, period), I would say THE INVISIBLE RAY is my favorite among their teamings. They play well together; there is even a hint of a genuine friendship between Rukh and Benet before Boris goes mad. And their final scene is a gem.

[RedRiver]

I won't repeat all I said last year. But William Castle's delightful I SAW WHAT YOU DID is on again tonight. Most people don't have this offbeat TV channel. But anyone who has the chance to watch this exciting camp classic should make time for it. It may or not be the producer/director's best work. But I think it's the most fun!

[RedRiver]

Giant Locusts, meet Peter Graves! I had not seen the awkwardly titled BEGINNING OF THE END in thirty years. What a pleasure it was last night. When somebody says, "so bad it's hilarious," this is what they're talking about. Melodramatic dialogue, victims who decline the opportunity to run (No thanks. I''ll stand here and be eaten by a bug!), and the absolute worst special effects I've ever seen! This camp classic has it all.

Scientist Pete has been experimenting with, what else, radiation. (Don't they ever learn? 1950's research has no business messing with this stuff!) Some locusts get into it and...holler and hoop all through The Loop! Like King Kong, the bugs like to climb tall buildings. Unlike the precise animation of Willis O'Brien, these creatures are merely drawings super imposed on photos. It looks ridiculous!

Effects are attributed to the director, Mr. Bert I. Gordon. I'm assuming there was no Oscar nomination, but I could be wrong. The "drawings on photographs" method is used primarily in the climactic rampage. For most of the story, it appears they simply shot footage of grasshoppers, then coupled that with live action. The result is a brilliant and exciting piece of...Sorry. I couldn't even get that out!

Where THEM! is presented as a serious story with well drawn characters, this one is a laughable mess whose focus is on its own shortcomings. For any filmmakers out there, that's probably not a good choice! Mr. Graves, Giant Locusts!

[RedRiver]

It's finally happened. A bad movie fan's dream come true. This week on Svengoolie...MUNSTER, GO HOME! That's right. The feature length film of Herman, Lily and the gang. My friend Dave calls this his favorite movie. He's joking, of course. But that's the point. He considers this movie the ultimate joke!

Dave, this is for you!

[moira finnie]

Hey, Svengoolie seems to have cheated the Grim Reaper once again. He apparently is launching a new season of good-bad films on most Me-TV stations on Saturday nights starting at 10pm (ET) in September:

9/7
The Mad Ghoul (1943-James P. Hogan)
(first appearance of the new coffin!)

"Curious about the effects of an ancient Mayan nerve gas on humans, a scientist exposes his young assistant and turns him into a mindless ghoul that must have human heart substance to live."
Cast: George Zucco, David Bruce, Turhan Bey, Evelyn Ankers and co.
I've never seen this one, and find Turhan Bey kind of odd but interesting.

9/14
Phantom of the Opera (1943-Arthur Lubin)
(okay, so we flash back to the OLD coffin...)

"Academy Award-nominee Claude Rains gives a moving performance in this suspenseful, lyrical update to Gaston Leroux's macabre classic. As the tale goes, Rains plays the famously disfigured musician who haunts the Paris Opera House and kidnaps the beautiful young soprano whom he has trained. Featuring gorgeous music and elaborate sets, this "Phantom of the Opera" is a more-than-worthy version of a much-interpreted and beloved story."
Cast: Claude Rains, Susan Foster, Nelson Eddy and co.
Even with a mask on his face for much of the movie, Claude brings home the bacon, so to speak.

9/21
Monster on Campus (1958-Jack Arnold)...don't miss the trailer for this one!

[youtube][/youtube]
(Sven greets special guest Lisa Maire Varon, WWE's Victoria, TNA Impact's Tara...whoever they are??)
"The blood of a primitive fish exposed to gamma rays causes a benign research professor to regress to an ape-like, bloodthirsty prehistoric hominid. "
Cast: Arthur Franz, Joanna Moore and...Troy Donahue (no, he can't be the monster, can he?).
This looks like great fun!

9/28
The Leech Woman (1960-Edward Dein)

"An endocrinologist in a dysfunctional marriage with an aging, alcoholic wife journeys to Africa seeking a drug that will restore youth."
Cast: Coleen Gray, Grant Williams, John Van Dreelen, and one of the '50s more waspish (and ubiquitous) actresses, Gloria Talbott.
I find it hard to picture Coleen Gray as a femme fatale, much less a femme leech, but maybe this is worth seeing?

[RedRiver]

Thank you, Moira. I look forwad to this line-up. Especially tonight's showing of THE MAD GHOUL. If I've seen it, it was a LONG time ago. I sure don't remember!

[RedRiver]

Well...I won't call THE MAD GHOUL a bad horror film. But I could be charged with perjury if I deemed it a good one! A Universal classic is always fun to watch. Fun in a campy way; as nostalgia. A reminder of a simpler time: the 1940s, which few of us remember, or the 1960s, when we watched most of these films on TV. But where Frank, Drac and Wolfie stand on their own merit, Dr. Zucco and his mop-headed protege need a good tail wind!

The plot is actually a lot like FRANKENSTEIN. Mad scientist robs graves for body parts, brings dead monkeys back to life. The young assistant and romantic lead fills the role of Ygor, though not through free will. Zucco injects him with "zombie fluid" ($9.99 plus shipping and handling), placing him under his murderous control. This invites investigation by police, press and people in funny hats.

The movie is not dull. It's not ridiculous, at least not within the accepted parameters of grave robbing zombie lore! But neither is it exciting. It just exists, without enriching or offending. It's one to watch on a Saturday night program, with a silly Horror Host making jokes during the breaks. In other words, Svengoolie!

[moira finnie]

LOL, Red! Your comments about this movie are spot-on.

Okay, maybe I should have known during the first five minutes that this film may have been a slightly slap-dash B movie, not an intriguing look at mythic human yearnings and lots of fun like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man and other Universal franchises. However, looked at in the context of the wartime period, perhaps the underlying anxiety audiences may have felt about the inevitable (and irreversible) changes taking place in those who went to war was part of the inspiration for this story of transmutation. The direction was by James P. Hogan, who was not exactly a hack, but a solid B movie filmmaker responsible for many Bulldog Drummond & Ellery Queen movies. He was also at the helm of a few near A productions, including Last Train From Madrid (1937). Poor Hogan kicked the bucket from a heart attack at age 53 just after The Mad Ghoul wrapped up; ending a long film career that began with a job as a property man for Mary Pickford in 1916.


When chemistry professor Dr. Alfred Morris (George Zucco) started showing his class those comical-looking imitation Aztec paintings of a ritual "cardioectomy" and transplant, while hinting at his research into this field, I should have known this was not exactly an epic, not that I minded. Naturally, a naive but oh, so sincere student hung around after class long enough to get sucked into the Prof's web of strangeness. The student was played by (apparently) one of the few men left in Hollywood during WWII, David Bruce, who was quite good in The Sea Hawk & Lady on a Train in this same period. Soon, thanks to exposure to some kind of ancient Mayan swamp gas, the poor sap is staggering around looking exceedingly pale, decayed, and in need of a regular fresh heart transplant. Ironically, his engagement to the up and coming singer (Evelyn Ankers, looking less composed than usual) is about to be terminal too. It seems that she has fallen for the dark charms of her suave, piano-playing fellow musician, Turhan Bey. In a further twist, Zucco thinks that Ankers should stop fooling around with these young pups and turn her attentions to a mature, worldly, and freaky man--himself (though he might want to look into an acquiring a real heart too). Yes, despite beginning in a college setting, Ankers appears to be one of the few females on the sunny side of forty in this movie.


Turhan Bey as Eric, Evelyn Ankers' accompanist, looked more bored than usual as he pretended to tickle the ivories and Ms. Ankers' fancy. I enjoyed George Zucco's dry underplaying and intellectual superiority in the beginning of the film, but as the story progressed his character became less interesting and more obvious. Was Evelyn Ankers' very old-fashioned singing style (even then) supposed to dovetail on the much hyped Phantom of the Opera (1943) released just a few months before this movie?

Best moments: The unexpected (I missed the credits) appearances of several likable actors whose careers before and after this bread and butter job were much better than the movie deserved: Rose Hobart, Robert Armstrong, Charles McGraw and Milburn Stone. Other times in the film, especially when David Bruce's creature has moments of clarity, and struggles to cope with his jilting, his living death, and his increasingly adversarial relationship with his former mentor, there is a bit of poignancy amid the gruesomeness of the story.


"What am I? Alive or dead? Man or Ghoul?" asks David Bruce's character in The Mad Ghoul.

[RedRiver]

"And what the hell happened to my hair?"

[moira finnie]

"And what the hell happened to my hair?"

He fell asleep on a pillow of flour?

[RedRiver]

Phantom of the Opera (1943-Arthur Lubin)

This is not a bad little Phantom movie. The famed silent is better, though it's really hard to compare them. A story about music, with no sound, is unique, to say the least. In fact, if there's anything annoying about the Lubin film, it's the incessant warbling. But given the setting, that's a forgiveable flaw! And some of the most suspenseful moments are timed directly to the singing on stage; played with impressive precision, I might add. The film benefits from near flawless timing throughout.

Except for the masterful Claude Rains, this is not a feast of great acting. Nelson Eddy, my dear mother's heartthrob, could belt out an Indian love call. He's not remembered for his skills as a thespian! The same applies to the female lead. I've already forgotten her name. The chills and thrills in this adaptation come in the "Less is More" package. We see The Phantom's shadow more than his actual form. As a nine year-old, for my first viewing of this classic, I found that frustrating. Now I appreciate it. What this maniac MIGHT do is much scarier than the action in front of us.

This Phantom is not one of the greatest of Universal horror fare. Mr. Rains himself has appeared in better. But it's solid storytelling; well-crafted suspense. A night at the opera with The Marx Brothers may be more fun. But this one is worth the ticket!

[RedRiver]

I'm a little late with this news, but the ORIGINAL Svengoolie died this week. Jerry G. Bishop created the role in the early 1970's, on one of Chicago's Saturday night horror programs. I've never seen his work, as it preceeded my time in the city. But his namesake, around whose antics this thread centers, speaks of him with obvious affection. Rich Koz, the current fruitcake, worked with Bishop before assuming the horror host position himself. In fact, for a few years, Koz called himself and his show "Son of Svengoolie." Given the campy, macabre format of the movies featured, that was an appropriate name.

From what I hear, Jerry G. Bishop was a talented broadcaster. I'm sure he will be missed by many.

[moira finnie]

I like the "Son of Svengoolie" moniker better too, Red. Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune about the late Mr. Bishop aka Svengoolie Sr. Please click on image to see the article:



Better have an extra cup of joe to stay up and catch Svengoolie's Tonight is The Monster on Campus, which promises to be engaging camp of a sort, esp. since I like the off-kilter quality of Arthur Franz (The Sniper, Invaders From Mars).

[RedRiver]

Fan of Jack Arnold that I am, it's hard not to like this ultimate B-feature. Hard, but not impossible! This is no "Shrinking Man," no "Black Lagoon." It promises more thrills than it delivers. In the end, it's a lot of talk. Still, it's Saturday night. My dog and I will be watching!