These Are The Scares of Our Soaps! (Liam’s Death)

Published May 14, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Who knew a green thumb could be this deadly?

“He keeps on coming back. He’s like a zombie.” – The rattled Nicole re: the murderous Liam, Days of Our Lives.

All the cool kids know that daytime dramas are more than just love triangles and twisted diva antics. Just like our favorite slasher flicks, our afternoon serials give us plenty of pretty people dying in (often) gruesome ways.

Case in point: While on Days of Our Lives, prime baddie Nick Fallon has just taken several bullets to the chest and died – his demise wasn’t the most brutal on that daytime delight over the last few weeks. In case you’re (tree) stumped, it was the villainous Liam Frasier (played with cool resolve by handsome Mark Collier), who recently took a very deadly, forest strewn fall.

Of course, this is a soap opera, so just like Jason or Freddy, Frasier, whom had been stalking the show’s prime heroine, Jennifer (Melissa Reeves), could soon be back for more.

Here’s to branching out with hope!!!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Sharkbait Retro Village: The Curse of the Black Widow (1977)

Published May 2, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Those who have reluctantly sat on the sidelines will know how half of Hollywood felt upon the 1977 television debut of the Dan Curtis’ horror feast The Curse of the Black Widow. The cast, headlined by perennial television sweetheart Patty Duke and future Knots Landing vixen Donna Mills, featured many familiar faces both from the boob tube trenches and glamorous Hollywood films.

Here, Duke and Mills, as sisters holding a dark and venomous secret, were supported by the likes of famed comedian Sid Caesar, the sassy Roz Kelly (of Happy Days and New Year’s Evil fame), tough guy Vic Morrow, Barney Miller’s Max Gail, Curtis’ old Dark Shadows favorite James Storm and such feminine silver screen royalty as June Allyson and June Lockhart. Now, that’s a party anyone would have wanted to been invited to!

The film that emerges isn’t as quite as fun as the cast would have you imagine – but still has plenty of old school charm and bold amounts of cheesiness. While other directors of television nail biters (like Curtis Harrington) tried to use Val Lewton subtleties for their over-the-top offerings, Curtis goes whole hog. In the final act, he not only showcases major cast members encased in very thick, fake looking webbing, but he also brings out a very clumsy, unnatural looking arachnid to cause tremulous amounts of doom and gloom. And, why not? If you are going do it – do it all the way, baby! Or should I say ‘Spider Baby’?

Further distinctive pleasure can be gained by the continual comic antagonism provided by Kelly, as (private eye) Tony Franciosa’s secretary, and Caesar as her neighbor, a cold blooded lawyer. The sight of Duke in a dark wig sporting a truly mysterious European accent, as her character’s hungry alter-ego, provides a multitude of viewing joy, as well.

Most importantly, Curtis and writers Robert Blees and Earl W. Wallace give the piece a nod to golden suspense flicks such as The Dark Mirror (which starred Olivia de Havilland as siblings suspected of murder) and Dead Ringer (featuring a pair of vengeful twins enacted by Bette Davis). The slow uncovering of the sisters’ mysterious past, while slightly predictable, does ultimately result in a nice feeling of femme powered noir.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

R.I.P to Seedpeople’s Dane Witherspoon

Published May 1, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Witherspoon in Seedpeople.

Proof that the acting is one of the most strangely difficult and completely unpredictable professions comes from looking at the career of the quietly compelling Dane Witherspoon, who died at the age of 56 on March 29th, 2014.

Witherspoon, best known for a duo of soap roles on Santa Barbara and Capitol in the mid-80s (and, as noted often in his obituaries, as the first husband of Robin Wright) was the youngest person ever accepted to study theatre at ACT in San Francisco. Afterwards, he spent a year performing at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. A couple of guest shots on nighttime favorites came before his daytime fame but his credits were very sporadic after that.

Thankfully, lovers of cheesy horror flicks can claim him as one of their own due to his upstanding performance of Sheriff Brad Yates in that toothy 1992 monstrous tumbleweed majesty known as Seedpeople. Full Moon’s often silly attempt at an Invasion of the Body Snatchers reimagining found Witherspoon a long way from Tennessee Williams. But for those who can’t resist a cheesy little yarn featuring goo flinging creatures that can transform into weedy bowling balls to capture their prey, Witherspoon definitely entered hero status with this, his last major credit.

Poignantly, Witherspoon can be found on the official DVD’s VideoZone feature accessing his role with flirtatious good nature, making his early passing all the more sorrowful.

R.I.P., to the original Joe Perkins!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Doug Jones Talks Buffy!

Published April 30, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Liza Minnelli crooned It’s a Quiet Thing on Broadway but the amazing Doug Jones proved being silent was the ultimate with his appearance on the 4th season Hush episode of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.

Here, Jones reminisces a bit about his iconic appearance on that cult favorite.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

(These Are…) The Scares of Our Soaps!

Published April 4, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Adams in Lurking Fear

While, it is easy to spot such daytime legends as Melody Thomas Scott (The Young and the Restless‘ long running Nikki) in pre-soap genre fare as The Car, (the original)Piranha and The Fury, now and then those who are known, primarily, for their genre work show up on afternoon serials, as well.

Blake Adams, who played rowdy cowboy types in such Full Moon fare as Lurking Fear (94), Head of the Family (96) and The Killer Eye (99) recently popped up on Days of Our Lives as Cyril, a New Age style guru who almost threw a wrench into daytime television’s first gay male wedding.

Refusing to issue a license to wed to the couple’s chosen minister (the illustrious Dr. Marlena Evans, played for decades by stalwart Diedre Hall) because the energy wasn’t right, Adams/Cyril was paid a visit by the manipulative EJ DiMera.

Adams and James Scott on Days

Cyril, of course, eventually relented while Adams (who used the surname Bailey for many of his fright credits) clearly enjoyed embellishing such an oddly off character.

Keeping a little blood in the soap until next time….

SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Tom Atkins: The Television Diversity of a Genre Icon

Published April 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Personally, I like to get well rounded by visiting the donut section at the 7-11 one too many times.

Others, thankfully, show their versatility off in other ways. Honored genre actor Tom Atkins (The Fog, Halloween III, Night of the Creeps), for example, proved his elastic mettle in a couple (early career) made for television movies.

With Hesseman in Tarantula

As Buddy in 1977 nature-gone-wrong horror Tarantula: The Deadly Cargo (which was actually nominated for 2 primetime Emmys for sound design), Atkins provides an easy going joviality to his party happy pilot. He works well off of (fellow character actor) Howard Hesseman and their early demise, nicely, sets up the terror-ific, multi-legged antics that follow.

With Brooks and Tanya Roberts in Murder

Meanwhile, Atkins is given much more to do as Jack Vance in the 1983 Mike Hammer flick Murder Me, Murder You. Vance, a notorious arms dealer, provides our silver haired gent with the chance to intermingle masculine bravado with an almost childlike neediness. Atkins’ tender scenes with the sexy, surprisingly eclectic Randi Brooks (TerrorVision, Looker), whom plays his secretary/lover Arla, are almost creepy in their sensitivity and he, also, handles the character’s vocal handicap (an intense stutter) with natural ease, as well.

Atkins will be appearing the weekend of April 4th – 6th, 2014 at Cinema Wasteland, the true film buff’s paradise, in Ohio.

http://www.cinemawasteland.com

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Films By: Neon Trees, “Everybody Talks”

Published March 30, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

While its awesome that Neon Trees singer Tyler Glenn has come out of the closet…it is maybe even cooler that the splatter-ific video for (energetic pop nugget) Everybody Talks (which was, also, given the musical stamp of approval by Glee) proves that Glenn is a lover of monster movies and drive-in flicks, as well.

Fun!

Be sure to keep up with all the New Wave style antics of Glenn and Neon Trees at their official website, http://www.famesisdead.com and/or http://www.facebook.com/neon.trees!

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Anne Baxter: Ritual of Fabulousness!

Published March 20, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

In grade school, two (supposedly) darling twin sisters used to regularly manipulate me out of my place in the lunch line. Too bad I didn’t have the divine Anne Baxter (1923-1985), who smartly outmaneuvered diva-licious Bette Davis in the 1950 classic All About Eve, around to give me some (nail sharp) pointers.

Baxter, who won an 1946 Oscar for her performance in The Razor’s Edge, had plenty of practice in devilishness, though. Six years before Eve in the deliciously outrageous Guest in the House, Baxter worked her poisonous magic as the sinister Evelyn Heath. Determined to win over the artistic Douglas Proctor (Ralph Bellamy), Baxter/Heath rids herself of her rivals with glorious stealth. A wise maternal character ends this prime villainess’ run of good luck, though. In a move of operatic goofiness, Baxter’s character goes over a cliff due to her character’s major downfall, a supreme fright of pet birds!

In 1970 television flick Ritual of Evil, Baxter shows her universality. Here, she shades her character Jolene Wiley with fine layers of sensitive hopelessness. A faded Hollywood icon, Wiley drowns herself in drink and the wrongheaded notion that a Satanic cult might restore her former glory. With a voice crackling with whiskey undertones, Baxter reigns with sexy glamour and emotional empathy. While Louis Jourdan’s erudite psychiatrist uncovers the mystery behind the coven and, ultimately, saves the day here – it is Baxter’s eternal smokiness that steals the show.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Music to Make Horror Movies By: Barbara Dane, “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”

Published March 9, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I’ve tasted the gritty – especially after that psychotic killer clown pushed my face into the ground when I was 10!

But there is nothing as earthy (and fabulous) as the vocals of legendary folk, jazz and blues artist Barbara Dane! Even cinema’s master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, would have to agree with me on that one. (Although, he agrees with me on so little, nowadays. Pesky, I tell you. Just plain pesky!) He included the magnificent Dane in the 1962 episode Captive Audience (starring the distinguished James Mason of Salems Lot and Frankenstein: The True Story fame) on his own Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Don’t believe me? You can check it, here, yourself:

Then be sure to hang with Dane, often, at http://www.barbaradane.net. This politically charged dynamo is still performing and highly worthy of your support.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Sharkbait Retro Village: The UFO Incident (1975)

Published March 8, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I know something is out there. They have contacted me. Bill collectors, student loan officers…b-r-r-r, scary!

Similarly, in 1975 television film The UFO Incident, respected thespians Estelle Parsons and James Earl Jones dove into the story of Betty and Barney Hill, a couple who, also, was touched by the beyond. With the help of a kindly analyst (played with understated commitment by Barnard Hughes) the duo eventually recalls their kidnapping at the hands of some Roswell style aliens.

While the light bulb white space creatures almost add an air of comedy when revealed, director Richard A. Colla and writer Hesper Anderson nicely concentrate mainly on the emotional implications of the abduction. This allows Parsons and Jones to revel in their arsenal of acting skills. While Jones/Barney commiserates, deeply, about the physical torments (including a herpes like outbreak on the character’s genitals) endured, Parsons/Betty finally relates some moments of light hearted bantering with the otherworldly creatures.

Based on a real life situation, the piece’s most effective moment occurs, though, when Betty recalls the love and puzzled affection that she feels for Barney. Noting that she is not a pretty woman, she wonders at his devotion to her. Parsons fills her character with such honest questioning, here, that outsiders everywhere can relate to her plight and love her all the more for it.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan