Detective Shows

All posts tagged Detective Shows

Shark Bait Retro Village: The Snoop Sisters

Published February 15, 2022 by biggayhorrorfan

Helen Hayes was one of the most respected actresses of her generation, winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and a Tony. The rarity of being bestowed with such honors earned her the distinction of being referred to as the First Lady of American Theatre. Despite these accolades, she was decidedly not a snob, consigning herself to only strictly highbrow fare. Case in point: In the early ‘70s, she and the equally respected Mildred Natwick starred as The Snoop Sisters in a series of mystery-thriller television films. A good decade before Murder, She Wrote first aired, these veterans attacked the scenarios written for them, as accidental crime solving authoresses, with gusto and heart. Plotlines often found them in various forms of danger – being dragged across rooms, climbing atop moving vehicles and being caught on runaway boats – and these veteran performers proved to be strikingly adept at handling every situation that the writers threw at them – including tangling with certain horror legends.

In The Devil Made Me Do It! teleplay, the two get embroiled in the shenanigans of a Satanic cult. This offering, ultimately, finds Hayes witnessing the musical conjuring of Alice Cooper’s Prince, in a serious fish out of water moment. Meanwhile, in the final film, A Black Day for Bluebeard, the two attend a festival of comically bad fright flicks starring Vincent Price’s vocally robust Michael Bastion. Playing on Price’s real life culinary skills, Natwick’s Gwendoline nearly steals the show during a drunken dinner sequence with him. Counterbalancing this, Hayes’ most frequent scene partner here is Roddy McDowall, the youthful, classic Hollywood star who found continued fame for his latter-day work on such projects as the original Fright Night & Planet of the Apes films and such other lesser-known genre-fare as Pretty Maids All in a Row, Laser Blast, Mirror, Mirror 2 and Dead of Winter.

Of course, Hayes’ appearance on an episode of Circle of Fear, a short-lived anthology series, and Natwick’s multiple guest shots on Alfred Hitchcock Presents surely prepared them for all the deadly mayhem that their alter egos faced here. With age, these two legends seem to acknowledge by their participation in these projects, the chills just tingle the spine a little more, ultimately leaving lasting memories for audiences, worldwide.

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

http://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 10th 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

When Wez Met Jason

Published April 28, 2017 by biggayhorrorfan

 

Hunter 4

Wells and Crew attack.

What happens when two titans of injustice and mayhem clash? Well, unfortunately, one is eventually going to have to take a premature visit to that great and grisly powder room in the sky.

Such was the case when Vernon Wells, the massively frightening Wez from The Road Warrior, tangled with Ted White, the ferocious, almost unstoppable Jason from Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, on War Zone, a second season episode of the beloved 80s detective show Hunter.

Hunter 3

White retaliates.

When Wells’ Sonny Zajak and crew invade a warehouse guarded by White’s Manfred T. Royce, explosives detonate, shots ring out and soon Royce goes flying, downward, in a hail of fire. Royce hangs on by a thread, in the aftermath, causing Zajak a moment or two or distress. But, Royce’s balance on the beam of life is too shaky and soon he breathes his last.

Thus, it appears when apocalyptic action meets classic slasher, the former reigns victorious – for the time being, at least.

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

www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Horror, She Wrote: Kim Darby

Published July 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

darby grinning
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.

coco & darbyIn 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.coco head

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