Horror, She Wrote: Alice Krige

Published November 17, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

Alice K 1

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.

Show business is full of complications…professional jealousies, Napoleon complexes, cold blooded killers. The sweet Nina Cochran (Alice Krige) definitely discovers this to be true on Murder in the Afternoon, a second season episode of Murder, She Wrote.

The niece of the series’ stalwart Jessica Fletcher, a mystery writer who continuously finds herself solving real crimes, Cochran is accused of offing Joyce Holleran (Jessica Walter, Play Misty For Me), the evil head writer of the soap on which she appears. Of course, Cochran isn’t the only suspect for doing away with this callous doom bringer. Holleran has threatened the jobs of many of the show’s beloved cast, including the indulgent, adulterous Bibi Hartman (Tricia O’Neil, Piranha II: The Spawning).

Capped by a double red herring, this episode, nicely, allows Krige to display a full range of emotions. Fear and anger, naturally, figure prominently here. But true movie buffs may delight most to Krige’s sweet scenes with Lansbury and golden age character actress Lurene Tuttle (Psycho, Niagara, Don’t Bother to Knock), who plays Krige’s devoted grandmother with a daft charm.

Krige, who gave sophisticated and passionate performances in such horror offerings as Ghost Story, Sleepwalkers, Silent Hill and Stay Alive, also works well amongst the vindictive environs of Walter and O’Neill. She, wisely, plays off their characters’ inherent selfishness with a firm and determined resolve of her very own. …and while that surely doesn’t provide much love in the afternoon, as those daytime ads in the flashy ‘80s always proclaimed, it most certainly allows for plenty of delicious, lightweight fun!

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Lisa Wilcox

Published August 4, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

Lisa solo

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.

Beware the snakes and spiders that slither within the psyches of young maids. Granted, that’s a line that Shakespeare never composed, but he might have if he was around to write about the fair Lori Graham, as initially enacted with sweet as pie energy by A Nightmare on Elm Street veteran Lisa Wilcox, on the Murder on the Thirtieth Floor episode of Murder, She Wrote.

On this 10^th season outing of the estimable series, Wilcox plays the recently discovered niece of a successful book publisher, Edward Graham (Robert Desiderio). Graham is in the process of editing the latest mystery of Jessica Fletcher (the legendary Angela Lansbury), the focus of the series, and he is also slowly losing his sanity to frequent nightmares revolving around the beckoning voice of his recently deceased wife. Familiar territory for certain cast members, huh? Lisa and Angela 2

Naturally, Graham winds up dead and Jessica immediately begins her comfortable brand of prying. The gentle Lori seems far off the seasoned sleuth’s radar until the final moments when it is revealed that she may not only provide the clues to all that has happened, but be much more sinister than originally expected.

Nicely, Wilcox gets a number of scenes here with Lansbury. She also gets to apply a little vinegar and spite to the confident tones she supplied as Alice took charge of her life and brought down the insidious Freddy Krueger in both A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: Dream Child.

Even the Bard might be impressed!

Lisa and Angela

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Jennifer Runyon

Published April 5, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

jennifer 1

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.

Blessed with a radiant presence, Jennifer Runyon brought a delightful grace to the screen in such terror themed projects as the girls’ school slasher To All A Good Night, renowned comedy Ghostbusters and the Roger Corman produced Carnosaur. This purity made her a natural to play innocents accused of wrongdoing in two episodes of Murder, She Wrote.

In 1989’s Seal of the Confessional, Runyon is Kelly Barrett, a frightened native of Cabot Cove, the fictional town where many of Jessica Fletcher’s adventures took place. Sure that she has murdered her abusive stepfather, Barrett takes refuge in a church with a handsome priest (soap opera stalwart Hunt Block). Determined to cover up her crime, she ultimately resists the clergyman’s offer of help and runs away. Of course, Fletcher eventually discovers that the culprit is not the frightened young woman, but not before Runyon gets to play, thoughtfully, in the fields of wide emotion, enacting everything from elusive terror to steely determination.

Scripted by Lynne Kelsey, this storyline actually is one of the long running show’s most poignant. Graced with the series’ usual down home charms and lighthearted mystery, it also reflects, subtly, the emotional damage inflicted by parental misadventure. Runyon’s bruised portrayal aids greatly here, allowing the audience to feel, fully, for her character and proving that she would have been perfect to play tortured heroines in those gloomy noir epics of the 40s.

Nicely, 1991’s Murder, Plain and Simple has more of a soap opera edge. Focusing on an Amish community ruled over by an extremely evil patriarch (Michael Sarrazin), this episode also reunites Runyon and Block. The two play former sweethearts torn asunder by Sarrazin’s devious Jacob Beiler. Naturally, Beiler winds up dead, found by Runyon’s Rebecca, a pitchfork shoved deep in his chest. Jennifer 4

Runyon glows with resigned dignity here, relieved to be out of Beiler’s controlling grasp, but glad, once she is no longer considered a suspect, to be free of him, as well. Sarrazin, who imbued such projects as The Reincarnation of Peter Proud and Frankenstein: His Story with the gravity of his deep set eyes, nearly steals the show, though. He is obviously having a ball being so heartless and the scenes where he twists logic and decorum to get his needs met would make any arch daytime drama baddie proud.

Meanwhile, fans of the series should be sure to check out Murder She Wrote Fans: https://www.facebook.com/Murder-She-Wrote-Fans-120892357995729.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Stacey Nelkin

Published August 5, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

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.

What goes around most certainly comes around. Perhaps, cinematically, no one found this to be truer than the glorious Ann Blyth. Immortalized as the devious Velda in the classic 1945 adaptation of Mildred Pierce, Blyth eventually found herself on the other end of the victimization scale in the second season Reflections of the Mind episode of Murder, She Wrote.

As Francesca Lodge, one of Jessica Fletcher’s oldest and wealthiest friends, Blyth reacts with royal emotion as her character begins to behave erratically and soon appears to be losing her mind. Naturally, the deductive Fletcher soon begins to suspect that someone close to Lodge has watched an old VHS copy of Gaslight one too many times.

Enter Lodge’s daughter Cheryl, played with concerned enthusiasm by the radiant Stacy Nelkin. Best known to loyal fright freaks as the spunky Ellie in Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Nelkin combines levels of true sympathy with a carefree, rock-n-roll nature here, making her seem the least likely suspect in this shady narrative.

But the terror Nelkin experiences, one rainy night, may point to a possibly sinister direction, especially considering that Cheryl’s comrade-in-arms, Carl, is played with smooth tempestuousness by Wings Hauser, well known for his psychotic portrayals in such cult efforts as Vice Squad, The Carpenter and The Wind.

While this marked Blyth’s last acting appearance, the eclectic Nelkin would go on to play the deliciously demented Christy Russell on the short lived soap Generations and the notable Rita in the Academy Award winning Bullets Over Broadway before embarking on a successful career as a relationship expert.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Lee Meriwether and Michelle Johnson

Published July 18, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

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.

Of all the things that an excess of television viewing can tell you, to never get on a ship with Lee Meriwether may be the most important!

A co-starring role in the 1978 television film Cruise into Terror found the luscious, amber waved Meriwether seduced by a devilish sarcophagus. Her 1993 appearance on the Ship of Thieves episode of Murder, She Wrote, meanwhile, allowed her to indulge in even deadlier circumstances. As the sophisticated Leslie Hunter, Jessica’s old college pal, Meriwether appears to be aglow with love for the captain of a soon to be retired ship. But the closing circumstances reveal very sinister edges to Hunter’s character, facets that Meriwether embraces with clipped intensity.

Nicely, on this voyage, Meriwether is joined in mercenary activity by the equally stunning Michelle Johnson (Waxwork, Dr. Giggles, Blood Ties, Werewolf). Johnson provides smoothly evil emoting, as well, making this particular outing a delicious excursion for those who like their femmes with a dubious edge.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Lar Park Lincoln

Published February 13, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

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.

For better or worse, it all comes down to the mother!

Nobody knows this better than the vibrant Lar Park Lincoln (Friday the 13th 7: The New Blood, House II), a devoted parent, herself, in real life, who guest starred on Incident in Lot 7, the 13th (h-m-m…) eighth season episode of Murder, She Wrote, which featured a throwback to the spookiest matriarch of all time, Mrs. Bates!

As Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher navigates the devious world of filmmaking here, it is Lincoln’s kind and spunky Caroline Pryce who offers her eager assistance. But as an unexpected murder darkens Caroline’s world, Lincoln skillfully shows both her character’s accusatory nature and overriding frustration, ultimately, making Caroline one of this mystery’s most well rounded characters.

Nicely, Lincoln is joined by several other terror regulars including Stuart Whitman (Welcome to Arrow Beach, Vultures, Ruby, Night of the Lepus, The Monster Club) as a kindly executive, Michelle Johnson (Waxwork, Dr. Giggles, Blood Ties) as a power hungry mistress and Paula Prentiss (The Stepford Wives, Saturday the 14th) as an agitated actress. Of the three, Prentiss, perhaps, has the most fun. Her Leonora Holt is a self-centered movie star, determined to learn every nuance of the flustered Fletcher, whom she is set to play (a variation of) in a movie adaptation of one of the legendary sleuth’s books.

Nicely, as the majority of the action takes place on the Universal movie lot, the iconic Bates Motel is used as a primary location. It’s a striking choice with echoes of both Norma Bates’ cackle and Milton Arbogast’s arm wheeling fall haunting every frame.

Be sure to keep up with Lincoln, a respected acting teacher and co-star in the upcoming, deliciously titled Sky Sharks, at http://www.larparklincoln.com.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Cherie Currie

Published November 20, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

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).

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.

All 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!

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Lynda Day George

Published August 13, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

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.

I swear I never hit Aunt Agnes over the head to steal her aging Southern beau! But, at least, I am not alone when being falsely accused.

Indeed, on My Johnny Lies Over the Ocean, a first season episode of Murder, She Wrote, the divinely scrumptious Lynda Day George finds all eyes on her as the series’ grand dame Jessica Fletcher (winningly acted by the legendary Angela Lansbury) wonders if her character, Diane Shelley, might be gas lighting her fragile niece on a rocking ship of horrors.

Of course, with roles in such films as Mortuary, Pieces, Beyond Evil, Day of the Animals and Ants, George is definitely one of the high priestesses of horror for certain generations. Here, as in most of those films, she is, once again, a victim of circumstance. Her quietly gracious Shelley is merely escaping a bad love affair hence her mysterious appearance as this boat’s latest purser.

Slightly reminiscent of Cruise into Terror, the 78 television film she starred in, George is joined on this outing by her Animals’ co-star Leslie Nielsen. As Jessica’s grieving charge, one of many relatives of the mystery loving maven that would be introduced over the years, actress Belinda J. Montgomery (best known to terror fiends for starring in sleazy 84 slasher Silent Madness) is on the receiving end of this story’s horror archetypes (shadowy attacks, ghostly callings and shaky pleas of sanity). She handles these chores with a liquid grace. Still, one wonders what would have occurred if she and George had switched places. Reimagining, anyone?

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Kim Darby

Published July 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

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.

Oh, paranoia! If you are anything like me, then you are eternally certain that when that office door closes, your managers are always talking about you.

In the 7th episode of Murder, She Wrote’s first season, We’re Off to Kill the Wizard, poor Kim Darby (Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, Halloween 6, Teen Wolf 2, Circle of Fear) actually does have a boss that is out to get her. In one of that initial season’s best episodes, Darby plays Laurie Bascomby, the quivering secretary of the maniacally mean Horatio Baldwin, enacted with confirmed gusto by beloved character actor James Coco. (While mostly known for comic fare, one of Coco’s last roles was as a kindly, if misguided, social reformer in the 1988 prison based horror flick, The Chair.) While imbued with the trembling mousiness that viewers often expect from a Darby role, this veteran actress also supplies some layers of spine and a mild sense of humor to her role, here. Her character, ultimately, connects with the series’ grand dame Jessica Fletcher, who gladly assists her when her character is accused of murdering Coco’s.

Taking place in a haunted theme park, owned by Baldwin, this quickly moving story has plenty of shadowy encounters – and one of the best set pieces of the entire series, a huge prop head of Coco as a grinning vampire. One can only hope that item is still floating around the storage vaults of Universal Television!

On an interesting side note, this spooky jaunt also features a young Joaquin Phoenix as Fletcher’s great-nephew – but this show truly belongs to the sensitive Darby and the devilish Coco, who appears to be truly having a blast being so incredibly nasty.

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

http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror She Wrote with Caroline Williams!

Published February 1, 2013 by biggayhorrorfan

Growing up in a small town was murder for Big Gay Horror Fan. Of course, murder in a tiny hamlet takes on a totally different meaning when one considers Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher and the long running television series Murder She Wrote (1984-1996).

Based around a spunky mystery writer who uncovers crimes in her small seaside burg, the show revitalized Lansbury’s career for a second time. (British Lansbury had kicked around Hollywood in the 40’s, portraying everything from damsels in distress to deadly femme fatales, without ever establishing a significant niche. Her Broadway portrayal of eccentric, loving Mame in 1966 finally gave her an iconic role to stake her name upon.) The show’s extended run eventually allowed her character many adventures in such locales as New York City, Los Angeles, England and Ireland, as well.

What is most interesting about the show for terror titans, though, is the amazing number of actors known for their work in horror who found themselves under Lansbury/Fletcher’s watchful suspense writer’s gaze.

The end of the show’s 8th season and the beginning of the 9th found eclectic sequel queen Caroline Williams (Texas Chainsaw Massacre II, Leprechaun III, Stepfather 2, and Rob Zombie’s Halloween II) outlining two very different roles.

On Murder on Madison Avenue (Season 8, Episode 22), Williams portrays Amanda North, an ambitious ad executive who is wooed away from her neglectful but faithful partner-boyfriend. As Williams works with a sensitive determination here, genre fans will also rejoice in the participation of Leo Rossi (known for his steamy death with Pamela Susan Shoop in the original Halloween 2) as a semi-bumbling detective who investigates the murder of a high powered media queen involved with creating a board game based on the seemingly tireless Fletcher’s novels.

Family Secrets (Season 9, Episode 2), allows Williams more creativity, though. With only one episode separating her appearances on the show, Williams is virtually unrecognizable to those who only knew her from her previous stint on the series. As well-to-do Janet Weymouth, she not only changes her hair style but modulates her speech pattern significantly. Her tones here are softer, seductive and very controlled, creating a truly unique character.

Playing the daughter of a regal Cabot Cove resident named Emily, portrayed by 50’s movie and television maven Phyllis Thaxter (No Man Of Her Own, Alfred Hitchcock Presents), Williams has more to do in this scenario, as well. As one of Jessica’s former writing students uncovers secrets in the Weymouth family, Janet loses her composure in one explosive moment, proving beyond a doubt what a varied performer she is – something those on the fright circuit have known all along.

Be sure to check back in the future for further explorations into Horror She Wrote!

Big Gay Horror Fan is always welcoming crime solvers at http://www.facebook.com/#!/BigGayHorrorFan, as well!

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