Then, still at the V&A, we get a tour of some of their fantastic memento mori skull jewelry:

Tonight, Flesh Feast: a scientist developing special maggots while at the same time helping Nazis to revitalize a certain special someone. Sort of ridiculous and only for a particular sort of bad movie aficionado. And Veronica’s Lake final film. Oh dear. Enjoy?

Wired brings in a folklore expert, Tok Thompson, to answer questions from the internet about ghosts and ghost stories. I knew most of it, but the bit about “ghost babies” was…different.

While I was looking for a later film called Fear in the Night, I came across this one from 1947. It stars a quite young gentleman by the name of DeForrest Kelley. It answers the age old question: what happens when you kill someone in a dream…and it increasingly seems like the dream was real? Enjoy.

There was a radio series back in 1939 called The Black Chapel. It ran for quite a while, racking up over a hundred episodes. Today, this is only one of two that are extant. It’s “The Mahogany Coffin.”

And for tonight’s feature, we have another apocalyptic jaunt: The Day The Earth Caught Fire from 1961. Humanity has some bad luck as the United States and the Soviet Union both run an atomic test at the same time, knocking Earth out of its normal rotation and sending it careening toward the Sun. It was co-written and directed by Val Guest (The Quatermass Experiment) and the other writer was Wolf Mankowitz (co-writer on the original Casino Royale). It also stars Leo McKern (Help!), Janet Munro (Darby O’Gill), and has Michael Caine in a small uncredited role (from early in his career, of course). Enjoy.

Raven:

Now we have an episode of CBS Radio Mystery Theatre: “A Coffin for the Devil.” It’s hosted by E.G. Marshall and stars Keir Dullea (2001).

Unwittingly, four humans wind up shooting into space on a rocket. No, this isn’t Fantastic Four. They don’t encounter cosmic rays. Instead they encounter giant spiders, rock monsters, and a remake of Cat-Women of the Moon. It’s enough to try anyone’s soul. It’s Missile to the Moon. Enjoy.

The British Museum’s Curators Corner series is exactly what it sounds like: put a curator in front of a camera, have them talk about something they know a boatload about. In this case, we have Irving Finkel (according to Wikipedia, which is always right, he is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures in the Department of the Middle East) discussing Mesopotamian demons and ghosts.

Finally, today’s feature film: The Dungeon of Harrow aka Dungeon of Horror and also aka Dungeons of Horror, which sounds like the James Cameron-directed sequel to the first alternate title. A shipwreck leaves people on an island inhabited by a Count de Sade (no, really, that’s his name) who has terrible plans for them. You know, the usual. What I found interesting is that the co-writer and director of this was Pat Boyette, who would later go on to draw for Charlton Comics and co-create Peacemaker. Yeah. Enjoy.

Okay, normally unless I can figure out how to embed a video exactly how it needs to be setup for you to watch it, I’ll skip that video. But this is…too cool and so I make an exception. This is in Japanese and there is an auto-translate which will render it in English (or whatever other language it has). It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it will let you get the gist: which is Toho trying to figure out how to do a kaiju movie (Dogora) where the monster wasn’t something they could just make a rubber suit out of and slap it on somebody.

Hit the CC in the lower right to turn on subtitles and then in the settings (gear icon), go to Subtitles/CC > Auto Translate > and then English (or whatever). The video is pretty great.

And finally, we have tonight’s feature: The Flesh Eaters. There’s an island surrounded by microbes that will strip the flesh from your bones. And to make matters worse, people seem to keep getting shipwrecked or planewrecked and winding up on said island. And to add insult to injury, there’s a mad scientist who wants to use the titular critters as biological warfare. Hijinks, as you might imagine, ensue. Enjoy.

Adam Savage often visits the Propstore in order to show us things that are fun to look at but we couldn’t possibly afford. As is the case here, with Alien/Aliens material. As an example, I have no idea what I would use Bishop’s laptop remote device thingy for, but I damn sure would use it for something. I checked–it sold for over $50K.

Tonight’s feature: The World of the Vampires from Mexico. You might think this was the name of an EPCOT feature from the alternate reality of the movie Daybreakers. But no. Also, please note: the piece of music you can use to kill vampires is not “Puberty Love.” IYKYK. Enjoy.

Next, someone used Unreal Engine to animate the Hate Speech from “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” the Harlan Ellison short story. You might recognize his voice as that of AM, the psychotic sadistic computer here. I find it interesting that Ellison performed the voice of AM on at least three different occasions, including the video game adaptation from 1995.

Finally, our feature film is The Medusa Touch from 1978. Is there a novelist out there with telekinetic (and beyond) powers who can wipe people out for, you know, reasons? You’re here, so you probably already know the answer is Yes. It was adapted by John Briley (Oscar winner for scribing Gandhi). It stars a helluva cast: Richard Burton, Lee Remick (The Omen), Harry Andrews (Watership Down), Alan Badel (Children of the Damned), Jeremy Brett, Michael Hordern (Theatre of Blood), and Derek Jacobi. Enjoy.

And I can’t mention Robyn Adele without posting her cover of “Psycho Killer.” It is high quality material.

Next, one of the recent videos by Insolitum, from their Quiet Apocalypse series. It’s an Earth where ginormous creatures suddenly appeared one day, doing everything from wreaking havoc to just…inexplicably standing around, looking like they’re praying. It’s pretty great.

Finally, tonight’s feature: from 1996, The Vulture. Take a bigass menacing bird, a curse, a murder from long ago, and wacky science, stick in a cauldron and stir vigorously until congealed. It stars Robert Hutton (Invisible Invaders), Akim Tamiroff (The Black Sleep), Broderick Crawford (The Black Cat 1941), and Diane Clare (The Haunting 1963). Enjoy.

Next, Follow That Goblin! This is not, in fact, a sequel to Follow That Bird…I checked. A brother and sister befriend a goblin who can’t scare anybody anymore and they all team up to save the local haunted house from being torn down in favor of an arcade. Haunted house or arcade. That’s a tough choice, honestly.

And finally, tonight’s feature: Frankenstein’s Daughter from 1958. Directed by Richard E. Cunha (She Demons), it concerns a descent of the Frankensteins working on transforming a woman into a monster and/or creating a new monster from scratch. It stars John Ashley (Black Mamba) and Sandra Knight (Tower of London). Enjoy.

Okay, this horror short is called The Littles, and just to state up front (for anyone my age or so) that this is not, in fact, some weird retelling of the DIC Saturday morning cartoon from the 1980s. At least as far as I know.

So for tonight’s feature, I ran across this while looking for another film called The Bride. There are several. This one is quite recent from 2017 and hailing from Russia. Hence the so-so English dubbing. But here we have the importance of family photos, especially when they need to be destroyed. Enjoy.

Next, the trailer for Blackbeard’s Ghost, a live action Disney flick from 1968 that is just as silly as you might imagine, what with Dean Jones and Peter Ustinov joining forces. Suzanne Pleshette is in the cast as well as (you get a glimpse of her in the trailer) Elsa Lanchester. Yes, the Bride of Frankenstein herself.

For tonight’s feature, the classic (?) film The Beast From Yucca Flats, starring Tor Johnson as the titular monster. You might notice some nudity is censored at the beginning of the film…normally I’m not big on having nudity on the site–or censored/pixellated stuff–but apparently the scene was added entirely to have some nudity in the film so I don’t think we’re missing much by avoiding that. Enjoy.

One of the many reasons I find it worthwhile to be on Threads is because I get to see firsthand how The Oatmeal trolls the official Quaker Oats account.

Next, an episode of Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. It’s “The Three Ravens,” starring John Hurt as the titular character, plus Miranda Richardson, Joely Richardson (they are sisters, yes), and Jonathan Pryce. The episode is scribed by Anthony Minghella. Nice.

For tonight’s feature, we head to Canada for 1961’s The Mask. When an Aztec mask finds its way into the hands (and onto the face) of a psychiatrist, he starts to have hallucinations that get so crazy one might mistake them for sequences that were originally 3D. (This would be no mistake.) It stars Paul Stevens (Battle for the Planet of the Apes) and Claudette Nevins (Electra Woman and Dyna Girl). Enjoy.

I tried to find this film to feature one night but unfortunately could not. But I had no idea that The Wandering Earth had happened before. I am looking forward to check this out. This is the trailer and I made certain it had the walrus monster in it, because I understood that had been cut before it reached the States. Check out: Gorath.

For tonight’s feature film, we are back in Italy for: I pianeti contro di noi or Planets Against Us. Although I keep wanting to call it Planets Among Us, which would probably mean it was very hard for them to be sneaky. I’m close, because here in the U.S. it had (according to Wikipedia, which is always right) the titles Planets Around Us, Hands of a Killer, The Man With the Yellow Eyes and The Monster with Green Eyes. Aliens have taken one guy (chosen no doubt for his epic hair) and made duplicates of him, who are putting into motion things that will conquer the world! Enjoy.

Next, The Passenger. Music sometimes does not soothe the savage beast but unleash it. But that can still work to your advantage.

Finally, The Slaughter of the Vampires, aka La strage dei vampiri, aka released stateside as Curse of the Blood Ghouls. A 19th century newlywed couple have a party at the castle they just acquired (as you do) and apparently should have vetted the guest list better…because among them is now a vampire! Enjoy.

From there to a different “Sting of Death,” this one from the CBS Radio Mystery Theatre. Instead of an apiary bent, this has an explorer wanting to play matchmaker for his daughter and his assistant…despite the fact they’re both already married. “Details, details!”

For tonight, our film is The Projected Man. It stars Mary Roach (the Albert Finney Scrooge from 1970), Bryant Haliday (Devil Doll), Norman Wooland (Olivier’s Hamlet), Ronald Allen (Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death), and Derek Farr (The Dam Busters). So…a cast with pedigree to be certain. It’s about a device that uses lasers to teleport matter. Now, if this were a couple of decades later, it could be used to put Jeff Bridges inside a computer. Instead, it just mangles half of the scientist’s body and gives him extraordinary powers. As such things did in the 1960s. Enjoy.

This evening, we start with a classic bit from The Electric Company, in which a witch places a sandwich order from Morgan Freeman.

Next up, Sheldon Allman reads a story off of his Horror Tales album, released between (I think) 1960 and 1962. The story was written by album producer Joseph VanWinkle…and that’s one time honored method for getting your fiction published. Produce the damn thing yourself. Especially if you get to put yourself in with stories by Poe and Ambrose Bierce. I respect that. This is “The Lower Depths.”

This is one of those where we’ve been doing this so long, I could’ve sworn we’d posted this one before. But apparently not. Thus, tonight, the battle you’ve been waiting for: The Robot vs. The Aztec Mummy! It’s quite disturbing how many films have been about The Aztec Mummy trying to either help or hurt people (Mexico’s Godzilla, but much smaller?) considering Aztecs didn’t actually mummify people. But no matter. Enjoy.

The delightful Tiny Angry Witch has decided she’s going to be scary. Eventually.

For today’s feature film selection, we go to 1958 for The Astounding She-Monster. It sounds like the setup for a very strange joke: a geologist, some gangsters, and an heiress go into a mountain cabin. But instead of a penguin showing up or there being a bartender inside, they’re soon visited by the titular extraterrestrial…who can kill just by touch. Oh dear. Of course, hijinks ensue. It stars Robert Clarke (Frankenstein Island) and Kenne Duncan (The Sinister Urge).

Next, over to J. Draper, London historian/tour guide extraordinaire, giving you the lowdown on how the resurrectionists contributed to our understanding of biology. (You can snag her book, Mavericks, here. Recommended.)

And for tonight’s film, we bring you 1956’s Man Beast. If you need an entertaining read today, I highly recommend the Wikipedia entry for this film. Here’s a sample: top billing is given to Rock Madison for playing the role of Lon Raynon. However, there is no character by that name in the film. So the accepted theory is that the writer/director made all that up to make the cast seem larger. It’s…truly amazing stuff. Enjoy.

IGN turned around and had a chat with Flanagan about the trailer and what we might expect from the film, due out next year.

Then for tonight’s feature, we go to 1958 and Teenage Monster. With a title like that, you might think it was a teen movie set in the 1950s, but no, it’s set in the Old West and is about…well, the title basically says it all. It stars Anne Gwynne (House of Frankenstein), Stuart Wade (Monster From the Ocean Floor), Gloria Castillo (Invasion of the Saucer Men), and Chuck Courtney (Billy The Kid vs. Dracula). Enjoy.

Brilliant! It’s a video of the 2025 Procession of the Ghouls, held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City every year. They put on this spectacle and show a classic silent horror movie. One day…one day I will be there for it. You might want to skip around on this one, they captured a lot of it.

Tonight, it’s the final film in the Black Lagoon trilogy, The Creature Walks Among Us. Ricou Browning returns as the title, well, creature. At least in his submerged form. When the Creature gets injured, he has surgery to be able to live on land…but of course, as you might suspect, hijinks ensue. It was written by Arthur A. Ross (Satan’s School for Girls), and the cast also includes Jeff Morrow (Octaman) and Rex Reason (This Island Earth). Enjoy.

And next, we return to The Veil, the series that became a mini-series when they quit after only a pilot and eleven episodes were produced. It looks like the entire thing (according to Wikipedia, which is always right) has never appeared under its original title. Weird. And did we mention it’s hosted by Karloff? Because it’s hosted by Karloff.

For tonight’s feature, a 1934 Mexican horror film called El fantasma del convento or The Phantom of the Monastery as it was called stateside. Yes, it has subtitles, but holy shit the auto-translated dubbing YouTube put on another version was comical and terrible in equal parts. Anyway, in the movie, three friends get lost and have to spend the night in a monastery and haunted hijinks ensue. As you were probably anticipating. Enjoy.

Yet again, Scott Bradlee’s PostModern Jukebox giving us a cover that in lesser hands wouldn’t work…but here, it does. It’s the jazz rendition of Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand.” It’s pretty damn great.

And for tonight’s film, we have Journey to the Center of Time from 1967. Scientists are confronted by a terror unmatched in the science fiction genre: a lack of funding. This drives them into temporal chaos, and hijinks ensue. It stars Scott Brady (Gremlins), Anthony Eisley (Dracula vs. Frankenstein), and Abraham Sofaer (Twice-Told Tales). It was directed by David L. Hewitt, who brought you The Monsters Crash the Pajama Party. Enjoy.

From your friends and mine at the Victoria & Albert Museum, a tour of Victorian mourning traditions. Including an outfit, hair jewelry, and photography. Yes.

And for this evening, we go all the way back to 1935 for The Crime of Dr. Crespi. Riffing on “The Premature Burial” by Edgar Allan Poe, it stars Erich Von Stroheim (The Lady and The Monster) as the titular doctor, who gives a hated enemy a drug that makes him appear dead although he’s quite alive and aware. Look for Dwight Frye as another doctor. Enjoy.

You can find Edward Gorey goodness for sale here. And The Crime of Dr. Crespi appears to be currently out of print.

I would absolutely drink that.

Next, Wired had the delightful Dr. Juliette Wood on hand to answer the internet’s questions about folklore. A lot of this falls squarely into this month’s jurisdiction.

For tonight’s feature, a bit of an insane science fiction comedy that is certainly more accurate than director Arch Oboler (the head burrito for the Lights Out radio series) probably intended. It’s The Twonky. The lead in this is Hans Conried, and you probably know him from his voice most of all: he was Captain Hook and Snidely Whiplash. Enjoy.

Laurence Fishburne has given many superlative performances. Tonight we begin with one of his most timely, reading a 2018 letter from comedy writer Connor Relyea addressed to the robots that threaten his livelihood and, indeed, all of humanity.

The show QI makes a point of doing a Halloween whenever they get the chance, and here are some high points with quite interesting Halloween-adjacent facts.

And today my first Halloween episode of the Sonic Emporium premiered over on Louder Than War Radio. Two hours of Halloween and Halloween-adjacent goodness:

And finally, our feature film for the evening, the William Shatner-led When Animals Attack classic, Kingdom of the Spiders from 1977. Remember, kids: tarantulas + pesticides = certain doom. It was directed by John “Bud” Carlos (The Dark). Also look for Woody Strode (scads of things, including Ravagers). Has an absolutely iconic ending. Enjoy.

Speaking of which, a facsimile edition of the first edition has a Kickstarter waiting to launch. No idea when it will, but I’ve got it saved for when/if it does.

Also, did you remember there was a dish in the novel Dracula called “Paprika Hendl”? I did not. But the Tasting History YouTube channel did…and they went and made it. They have a link to the recipe in the description of their video.

And for tonight’s feature, we go back into the silent era for 1926’s The Bells. Lionel Barrymore plays an innkeeper with ambitions to enter politics, and also to get out of debt without having to basically sell his daughter’s hand in marriage. However, an opportunity to get ahead presents itself…even though it involves homicide. And things just go sideways from there. Also stars Caroline Frances Cooke (Son of Frankenstein) and Boris Freakin’ Karloff.

Note: They’ve put “Danse Macabre” on top of this over and over again, but it is supposed to be silent, so I figure when you’ve had enough, just hit mute. Enjoy.

First up, Adam Savage goes behind the scenes at the American Museum of Natural History to meet the star of the poster of Jaws. And it’s not a great white shark.

Jaws is available from Amazon.

Next, before it was the theme to The Exorcist, it was just “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield. All Here is Part 1 being performed live on the BBC back in 1973. And this is before the release of The Exorcist (which happened just a few weeks later). The Exorcist, incidentally, was released on December 26, 1973. Merry Xmas!

P.S. Mind your volume…it can surprise you if you’re not careful.

The album, which is pretty great, can be found here.

And then, for our feature presentation, Boris Karloff from 1941 in The Devil Commands. Which Wikipedia, which is always right, informs me had the working title of The Devil Says No. Which I think is a superior title, personally. It also stars Richard Fiske (Boobs in Arms…relax, it’s a Three Stooges short). Enjoy.

The film is available on DVD from Amazon.

It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeeaaaarrrrrrrgggghhhhh…!

Greetings, friends. And welcome back. We made it to another September 30th. And because every other season was creeping and snatching stuff up first, Halloween decided to claim the final day of September for its very own. So I thus, with Clutch just like it was a podcast or something, kick off the Nineteenth Year of 32 Days of Halloween.

Anyway, that’s the title track for Clutch’s new album, Wasted Lands, which is due out in January. You can pre-order it from the lads themselves right here.

Use the following video to remind you to go ahead and mark November 1st on your calendars now, so you can hit all the candy clearance sales.

Today’s feature film is Night of the Creeps from 1986. An absolute classic of the sci-fi-zombie-comedy genre, it is memorable not just for Tom Atkins being a legend, but also Steve Marshall. Marshall plays J.C., who is arguably one of the best horror sidekicks of the 1980s, and definitely at least on the top ten for the 20th century. Enjoy.

You can grab the Director’s Cut of the film on Blu-Ray from Amazon.