Television

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Get Scared TV: Riggor Mortiss Presents

Published January 7, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Werewolfgirlsdormitory
Billed as “A New High in Horror” 1961 Euro cult masterpiece Werewolf in a Girls’ Dormitory could have probably saved my Deadhead friends a lot of weed money with just a single viewing!riggormortiss

Thankfully, gravelly voiced horror host Riggor Mortiss is here to rectify that damage with his ghoulish take on this swinging terror fest – and this latest episode of ghoulery can be seen for free on Get Scared TV.

So, get out your mini-skirts and pink Nair bombs and head on over to getscared.tv now!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Get Scared TV

Published December 26, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

thescreamkingdom
Broke after all that Christmas spending? Well, lucky for you that Get Scared TV offers free horror programming, all year long.

Recently uploaded programs include episodes of The Scream Kingdom (featuring interviews with indie scream queens Chainsaw Sally and Melantha Blackthorne), The Angry Brothers Ohama Shock O Rama and Bobby Gammonster’s Monster Night. Now, how can you refuse programming with titles like those?

Be sure to check them (and so much more) out at http://getscared.tv, pronto!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: Suzi Quatro

Published December 14, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

suzi
If rumors are to be believed – and why shouldn’t they be? – it seems that leather bound rock goddess Suzi Quatro was originally slated to play Sheryl Ann, Lori’s flirty acquaintance, in Clive Barker’s Nightbreed.

While her absence (despite Debora Weston’s exemplary work in the role) may definitely provide an ache for terror clad rock fans, at least Quatro, best known to American audiences for her stint as Leather Tuscadero on Happy Days, employed some fun and frightening imagery in her early 70s hit Devil Gate Drive.

Choreography to truly make one happy, no???

Be sure to keep up with the exceptionally cool Quatro and all her tight dance moves at http://www.suziquatro.com.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Retro Shark Bait Village: Sweet Dreams (1996)

Published December 11, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

tiffani wind
A baby face can land you in a lot of trouble. Just ask Tiffani Amber Thiessen. As a Jane Doe in 1996 television thriller Sweet Dreams this perennial cutie-pie finds herself in a wet world of trouble. Washing up on the shore of a tiny water ringed hamlet, Thiessen’s character soon finds herself wracked by occasionally erotic memories and as people start dying around her, she soon discovers her life is in a truly fiery kind of danger.tiffani naked

Thankfully, Doug Harrison, a hunky sheriff portrayed by veteran performer A Martinez (Curse of Chucky, Mega Python vs. Gateroid) is on hand to help out – that is when he isn’t inadvertently reminding Thiessen’s stressed damsel about her unconscionable fear of fire. Daughter of Frankenstein, anyone?!?

Unfortunately, where the real heat is concerned, Thiessen is a bit too perky to truly bring it, especially as the audience discovers the dark and possibly twisted layers that her character might possess. But would anyone really want to watch a movie like this with a layered Jennifer Lawrence type? No, you’re watching this to see the princess of 90210 and Saved By the Bell react to a little danger.

tiffani aStill, director Jack Bender (Child’s Play 3, The Midnight Hour) brings a fair degree of haunted mood to the proceedings. He is aided, greatly, by the use of a hypnotically moody score by Pray for Rain and what sounds like the frequent use of the Marilyn Manson’s spooky version of the Eurythmic’s hit which functions, fittingly, as the title song here.

Meanwhile, television regular Amy Yasbeck does bring the histrionic goods as a big haired vixen whom most probably holds the key to Thiessen’s redemption. She is wild-eyed and dramatic, adding just the right amount of spice to this slightly boiling cinematic stew.
sweet dreams amy
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Bad CGI Friday’s: Nightmares and Dreamscapes (2006)

Published November 28, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

CGI2
If there is anything more shocking than a half naked John Boy in the Autopsy Room 4 entry of Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes, it has to be the sight of an obviously computer generated snake as it strikes out at its prey in that very same episode.

But you have to admit that, as a man in his late 50s (when the show was filmed), actor Richard Thomas (Battle Beyond the Stars and The Waltons, as referenced above) is looking pretty good. Spending the majority of the episode with flanks (etc..) bared on an autopsy table, Thomas fills his role, a war wounded businessman put in a death resembling coma by above said snake, with hard won regret and humor.

Greta romances, Thomas sleeps!

Greta romances, Thomas sleeps!

Thus, Thomas’ efforts and the elegant presence of Greta Scacchi (as a medical official gone giddy with love) help make this one of the better (if comically drawn out) entries in this occasionally lackluster TNT mini-series from 2006. And, of course, there is always that snake!

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Horror, She Wrote: Cherie Currie

Published November 20, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Cherie MSW1
Horror, She Wrote explores the episodes of the ever-popular detective series Murder, She Wrote, featuring Angela Lansbury’s unstoppable Jessica Fletcher, that were highlighted by performances from genre film actors.

It may be fun to go to the dogs every once in awhile, but there is nothing, dramatically speaking, like a good cat fight! Eclectic entertainment goddess Cherie Currie certainly dives into some fur snarling fisticuffs in the first season episode of Murder, She Wrote entitled (appropriately enough) It’s a Dog’s Life and definitely comes out shining!

Best known for fronting the influential rock band The Runaways, Currie, also, had a varied acting career with roles in such horror and science fiction epics like Parasite, Wavelength and Twilight Zone: The Movie. Here, her co-stars include such genre stalwarts as Dallas’ Jared Martin (Aenigma, New Gladiators), Forrest Tucker (The Crawling Eye, The Abominable Snowman), Dan O’Herlihy (Halloween III, The Cabinet of Caligari), Dean Jones (Two on a Guillotine) and James Hampton (Teen Wolf, Hangar 18).Cherie MSW2

Playing Echo, the sarcastic daughter of a spiritually obsessed heiress (Soap’s Cathryn Damon who, also, practiced maternal witchiness in the television flick Midnight Offerings), Currie is obviously having a ball as Echo engages in verbal combat with her drunken aunt (played by soap stalwart Lenore Kasdorf). Currie, also, excellently invests the flippancy that Echo has for authority figures with a subtle comic timing and truthfully petulant sass. On the flip side, Currie and Damon do establish a natural affection between their characters, making viewers long to know more about them.

Cherie MSW3All involved (including the elegant Lynn Redgrave), though, seem to warm nicely to the absurdly fun plotline (which finds a beloved beagle on trial for murder), making this a rather delightful entry in this seminal, femme powered detective series.

Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Retro Sharkbait Village: Fer De Lance (1974)

Published November 15, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

fer cover 2

“Terror Strikes the Trapped Crew!”

A little bit of herb is never a bad thing, right? Well, that is, unless you’re Frank Bonner (who’d go onto television fame playing the obnoxious Herb Tarlek on WKRP in Cincinnati) and you’re playing Compton, an intellectually absent mate on a submarine. Here, Bonner/Compton’s idea of a gag is to smuggle a basket full of highly poisonous fer-de-lance snakes onboard for his next assignment. Naturally, Bonner- Compton and his bunkmate soon wind up very, very comatose. fer 2

Thus begins 1974 television horror-adventure show Fer-de-Lance. Starting out promisingly enough, with Bonner actually supplying plenty of rascally charm, this piece soon turns into more of a choppingly paced action film (as the submarine becomes landlocked between some underwater rock formations) than an out and out source of animal terror. Lead David Janssen even spends a major part of the running time flat on his back in a decompression chamber. fer 4

Best known to terror aficionados for playing the concerned matriarch role in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, the pixie-like Hope Lange does show up as a Naval Commander Elaine Wedell, proving these type of genre flicks did (and do) offer female performers a terrific chance to stretch outside of the typical girlfriend and mom roles. Other notable female roles in this venture include a diving champ (who performs a dangerous rescue mission) and Lange’s trustworthy underling, a lieutenant.

fer 3Still, Lange and Janssen are pretty much just phoning it in here with even the slithery yet jokey final shock scene not playing as well as it should. Dominic Frontiere does do impressive work with the musical score, though. He creates a soundtrack that is aquatically majestic and skin-shiveringly slithery. fer 1

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Music to Make Horror Movies By: David Johansen

Published November 9, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

david jo
Forever proving a connective energy between rock n roll and horror, the outrageous antics of such bands as KISS, Twisted Sister, The Runaways and New York Dolls have always found favor with fans of terror.

Yum! The Dolls!

Yum! The Dolls!

David Johansen, the eclectic lead singer of the glamorous, hyperactive New York Dolls, took the strand even further by essaying roles in such fright flicks as Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990) and Campfire Stories (2001). His 1984 solo album Sweet Revenge (which directly preceded his popular stint as Buster Poindexter), also, featured such ominous creations as the title track, Too Many Midnights (is there such a thing?) and Big Trouble.

Johansen even gave a highly energetic performance of the album’s King of Babylon on the (then) mega-blockbuster television series Miami Vice:

Granted his rap, there, may have some shrieking in terror – but more forgiving souls will believe that, always a consummate professional, he delivers it with gutsy panache.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Night Gallery Vamps: Lorraine Gary

Published October 7, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

lorraine 1
Best known for her powerful yet down-to-earth portrayal of Ellen Brody in the Jaws film series, the versatile Loraine Gary brought a much more sinisterly haughty elegance to her appearance as Barbara Morgan in the 1973 3rd season Night Gallery episode entitled She’ll Be Company For You.

Luxuriating like a film noir femme fatale in turbans and designer dresses, Gary alternatively flirts with and seemingly condemns the show’s main focus, businessman Harry Audon, played with a slowly evaporating confidence by costar Leonard Nimoy. As the best friend of Audon’s recently deceased wife, Gary’s Morgan definitely wants to rip him apart (in a variety of ways), but she leaves such juicy details to her emotional doppelganger, a supposedly harmless cat.lorraine 2

Departing for a trip, Barbara gifts Audon with said pet. But his mild annoyance with his new responsibility soon turns into terror as the present apparently morphs into a viciously clawed supernatural entity. Ultimately, the viewers are never quite sure what the creature really is. But, one thing is for certain, Gary dominates this piece with an ice cold vigor and sensual sharpness.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Sharkbait Retro Village: Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive (1992)

Published September 17, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

grave secretsHm-m…Anyone know the lyrics to Pharrell Williams’ Happy? Supposedly based on a (hard to track down) real life story, 1992 television film Grave Secrets: The Legacy of Hilltop Drive definitely ends on a downbeat note of death, corporate greed and despair.gs

After commissioning a new house to be built on some renovated property, a middle aged couple is soon faced with some dangerously mysterious activity in their new abode. These unexpected tricks range from the silly (a continually flushing toilet) to the spooky (a granddaughter’s preoccupation with some vengeful spirits) to the life threatening (a daughter’s strange cancer outbreak). When the matriarch discovers that their new residence (and all those around them) were built on a burial ground, she tries to sue. When that doesn’t work, she decides to (unlawfully) dig up the bodies in her backyard – with very tragic results.

gs 3Lead with bravura assurance by television horror queen Patty Duke (She Lives, Amityville: The Evil Escapes, Whatever Happened to Rosemary’s Baby?), this combination of Poltergeist and Lifetime weepie features plenty of familiar faces including Starsky and Hutch‘s David Soul, The O.C.‘s Kelly Rowan and Generations‘ Jonelle Allen. None but Duke are given much to do. But as Duke’s husband and equal in the battle, David Selby gives a subtle, restrained performance – ultimately proving he is one of the more underrated actors of his generation.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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