Shark Bait Retro Village: Midnight’s Child (1992)

Published June 7, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

While, in reality, far too many women are still being sex shamed – I do believe if your nanny is a satan marrying, husband seducing bad-ass with a fake accent then maybe she deserves all the names that you can call her!

Sneaking on Marcy!

Such is the case when (former) soap opera diva Marcy Walker (playing Kate, a harried businesswoman) and the nubile Olivia D’Abo (as the pouty mouthed mistress of the devil) come face to face in 1992 television film Midnight’s Child. As D’Abo’s manipulative, murderous Anna lures Kate’s husband away from her while simultaneously making plans to turn her young daughter into the dark master’s newest conquest – Walker unleashes her verbal fury and is soon teaming with Anna’s distraught father in an attempt to bring the horn loving minx down.

Leaving the fire behind!

Of course, since this was made for the Lifetime Network, the more lurid aspects of the plot are played down here to concentrate on Kate’s guilt (as a woman having it all) and Anna’s sharp eyed plotting. Action sequences are, also, infrequent. Although, the opening moments efficiently portray a murder and an explosion at Anna’s Swedish convent school, helping to establish the sinister motives at play. Lovers of dark soap opera antics and devilishly infused plot lines should find that things move quite quickly and enjoyably despite the severe lack of bloodshed, though.

If anything, Midnight’s Child may even help raise social awareness- reminding employers to check the scalp lines of their potential in home employees to get the 666 on whether things are bound to have a distinctly fiery end.

The End?

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Andrew N. Shearer Invades Up All Night!

Published June 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

The Gorilla!

I once invented a happy dance and did it all up and down Halsted Street in Chicago. Once I got out of jail, I vowed never to do it again!

The Andrew!

But, the news that (vibrant, beloved) femme fatale Rhonda Shear is reintroducing (the classic) Up All Night on WTTA (Channel 38) in Tampa, FL this week (with plans up for upcoming syndication) and that she has chosen wildly inventive Athens, GA director-writer Andrew N. Shearer’s Bikini Gorilla as one of her initial films to present makes me want to do that happy dance all over again – handcuffs, be damned.

Of course, Shearer, known as one of the forces behind popular compilation Faces of Schlock , has plenty of amazingness to offer up at http://www.gonzoriffic.com/ and he is sure to be posting UAN airdates (and the like) at https://www.facebook.com/gonzorifficfilms, as well.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Piper Laurie in “Murder at the Oasis”

Published May 27, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

(Exploring the horror film actors who, happily, dominated episodes of Murder, She Wrote, the show that featured everyone’s favorite 80s/90s female detective, Jessica Fletcher.)

Even when covered in pink frosting and wearing a strawberry tutu on my head, I aim for a regal nature. Funny, somehow it never quite works out.

Maybe I should take some lessons from that magnificent theatrical dame known as Piper Laurie (Ruby, Possession, Dario Argento’s Trauma and Twin Peaks). Playing the distinguished Peggy Shannon on the first season Murder at the Oasis episode of Murder, She Wrote, Laurie practically drips with royalty. Unlike her more famous counterpart, Margaret White in 1976’s Carrie, Laurie/Shannon also beams with understanding compassion for her children, here, each thought to be responsible for their aggressive comedian father’s murder.

Said children are, also, played by actors with a number of terror credits to their names. Most fun is Linda Purl (Visiting Hours) who clearly is relishing playing the seductive and willful Terry, a lass who dates bad boys (such as Saturday Night Live’s Joseph Cali) just to anger (her soon to be dead) poppa. Supernaturally handsome Joseph Bottoms (The Intruder Within, Blind Date) counters Purl with more sensitive instincts as a musician who never quite got the needed paternal seal of approval.

With a cast of supporting Rat Pack like characters and obvious nods to Frank Sinatra’s nefarious dealings, the episode, as a whole, is a mildly enjoyable one. Although, a little bit more involvement from the distinguished Laurie (who virtually disappears in the second half of the proceedings), would have definitely helped this one along.

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! (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