Pastor Z's Horror Blog

Always Be Prepared

2011-05-20T10:32:00.002-04:00

House of the Wolf Man

2011-04-04T08:22:00.012-04:00

As you probably already know, I rarely discuss films outside the public domain, VLB-movie genre (as in Very Low Budget); but fan that I am of classic horror and scifi I would be remiss if I didn't share my thoughts about House of the Wolf Man.

Click the link, watch the trailer. Go ahead. Check it out!
So...what did you think? IMO, the trailer alone is so well done that I could leave it at: "click the link, watch the trailer, 'nuff said!" but I've got to got to at least say a little more about this loving tribute to the classic Universal monster films of the past.

Here's an extension of the review I posted at www.getglue.com

House of the Wolf Man is a loving homage to the original Universal monster films of which it quite faithfully presents itself as the missing 3rd film of the "House of..." trilogy (preceded, of course, by House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula), right down the the DVD packaging.

Filmed in grainy black & white and starring Ron Chaney, the grandson of original Universal Wolf Man Lon Chaney Jr, the film shows an amazing attention to detail with regards to scenery, musical score, film style and character roles - bad acting and all. Outside of the occasional scene bordering on spoof, I had no trouble accepting the illusion that this truly was a film from the 1940s rather than a movie filmed in 2009 and released in 2010.

If you're a fan of the original Universal monster franchise, or the 1930s to early 1960s, black & white B-Movie genre in general, I guarantee you are going to dig this film like a cemetery worker with a brand new shovel!

It's Christmastime Again

2010-12-08T14:12:00.004-05:00

Yep, it's that time of the year again and since we ain't got a new episode to run, I've got our old 2006 Very Low Budget Christmas Special playing at http://www.tftos.com/

Our video equipment at that time left something to be desired (thus the show being called Pastor Z's Very Low Budget Horror Cam); but it's a fun and festive episode featuring Pastor Z, Skull Shaver and film critic & historian Nielsen.

Before Santa threatened to retire and cancel Christmas (Year Without a Santa Claus); aliens threatened to take the jolly fat guy away from us. Yes - the movie for December is Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and with a title like that, I guess you can figure out how it ends. LOL!

So if you're bored or feeling nostalgic, click on the old television console at http://www.tftos.com/, buckle your seatbelt. sit back and enjoy the ride.

Again, we're talking Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, featuring a very young Pia Zadora along with a bunch of unknowns. This episode, btw, features a lot of silly gags and inserts by yours truly.

ENJOY!

Tales from The Other Side Episode 10

2010-06-27T15:17:00.001-04:00

Click to Play

Mark Cutimup, MD and I.M. Balm co-host the Roger Corman Classic Little Shop of Horrors starring Jonathan Haze as Seymour Krelborn and guest appearance by Jack Nicholson as the masochistic dental patient.

Little Shop of Tragedy

2010-06-27T12:26:00.008-04:00

I just got done watching the original Roger Corman classic Little Shop of Horrors and - btw, you can catch my edited Littler Shop version online right now at http://www.tftos.com/ - but, I'm watching a movie which I have seen so many times but it never struck me just how much LSoH plays out like a Greek Tragedy.

Beginning with our cast of characters:

We've got our very own Oedipus Wrecks (sic) in Seymour Krelborn. A simple young man and a bit of a mama's boy, Seymour is devoid of malice, greed or any self-serving agenda who, in spite of his childlike innocence, finds himself a perpetrator of horrific crimes.
Audrey Fulquard serves as our love interest, apparently both for Seymour as well as Mr. Mushnick. The epitome of an Innocent, Audrey's naive and pollyannish worldview slowly unfolds into cognitive dissonance.
Not quite as innocent is Audrey and Seymour's boss, Gravis Mushnick. Mr. Mushnick witnesses firsthand the evil brought into his shop; but rather than do that which he knows he ought to do, he chooses profit over conscience resulting in further death and tragedy.
And of course we've got Audrey Jr. A plant of somewhat unknown origins, hybridized by our very own Seymour and named after his love interest, Audrey Jr. serves as a plot device tying together a string of tragic deaths with our primary characters.
With death comes mourning, which brings us to Mrs. Shiva. Sitting Shiva is the Jewish practice of mourning 7 days, and describes our dear Mrs. Shiva as she visits Mushnick's Flower Shop for her daily funeral bouquets. Like Audrey Jr., Mrs. Shiva also ties many of the tragedies in our story together as nearly all of the victims, as well as minor characters in the story, appear to be related to or associated with her (including Jack Nicholson's character Wilbur Force who "has done some undertaking for her relatives").

Little Shop of Horrors is quite simply a comic tragedy (or tragic comedy) of epic proportions epitomized in our tragic antihero Seymour, who's bungled attempts to make things right and please everyone around him results in 5 deaths (including his own).

In my opinion, Little Shop is a work of genius in both the storytelling as well as the acting. The story is simple with regards to plot and yet deeply complex in the telling. This is one of those films which benefits from multiple viewings to pick up on all the nuances in the character relationships and events in the story. Pay attention to how many people and events are connected with Mrs. Shiva. "Oy! That was my cousin!" So many of the little jokes which contribute to the overall dark humor of Little Shop of Horrors fly under the radar the first time through; but under those laughs is a story filled with pathos and worthy of acclaim.

With massive kudos to Roger Corman, I highly recommend this film to my readers as one of his best (although, for me, it is hard to choose a fav Corman flick).

You can watch the edited Littler Shop at Tales from The Other Side or seek out the full feature at your favorite video rental, download site or department store; but regardless how you watch it, watch it a 2nd or 3rd time as well and drink in the tragedy of Little Shop of Horrors!

Storming the Dark Tower

2010-05-24T16:24:00.013-04:00

A few days ago I installed the Final Fantasy app on my BlackBerry. It's basically the original NES version; but how cool that I can play it on my cellphone!

As I begin my quest again with a new party of light bearers on my BlackBerry 9700, I'm feeling nostalgic about fantasy and the role it's played in my life and speaking of roles, " Roll the dice, please..."

Back in the late 70s, early 80s I bought myself a Dungeons & Dragons starter kit. I remember trying to get a campaign going with a few of my neighbors; but for whatever reason, we never got very far and everyone else (other than me) lost interest.

Unfortunately, D&D is not a game you can play alone and my adventures came to a grinding halt. That changed in 1979 with a game called Adventure. Designed for the Atari 2600 home video game console, the graphics were kind of lame but the concept was very cool.

You were a little square block traveling through a series of mazes in your quest to find the golden chalice all the while avoiding dragons (whom you had to kill) and that rotten bat that would steal your sword or that key you just recovered! Now, video games are cool (obviously I still play them); but even cooler than Adventure was a board game created by Milton Bradley called Dark Tower. It came out in 1981 and it was an incredible mix of RPG and computerized adventure game.

Dark Tower was essentially D&D with a computer playing the DM. Instead of rolling multi-sided dice, you pushed a button on the tower in the center of the board and the computer cranked out your answer. This was no Magic 8-ball answer, either. The primitive computer inside the Tower remembered each of the 4 players stats and was random enough so that gameplay never became stale or predictable. You haggle with a shop owner in the bazaar - does he lower his prices or close up shop? You stumble across a horde of brigands - do you fight, and maybe win or do you retreat before your band of warriors are all but wiped out? And then there's that moment when you storm the Dark Tower. You cannot enter unless you know the correct order of the keys, and don't count on it being the same as it was last time.

Although it was definitely more fun with 4 players, you could play Dark Tower all by yourself which was an added bonus if you were alone in your nerdiness, like me.

New and even newer technology eventually led to me purchasing an NES for the sole purpose of playing The Legend of Zelda; which eventually led to other fantasy/adventure games and bigger and better video game systems with more complex, intense and exciting RPG and advenure games with unbelievable graphics.

So here I am playing FF on my BB; but Dark Tower will always hold a special place in my heart as the closest thing to D&D that I could play all by my lonesome self. (that's a little bittersweet, isn't it? but it's a good memory and thinking about it makes me smile)

Tales from The Other Side Episode 9

2010-02-24T02:49:00.001-05:00

Click to Play

HYBRID hosts another episode of Tales from The Other Side, this time featuring Japanese B-Movie classic: Destroy All Planets, also known as Gamera vs. Viras! Watch Gamera battle aliens and the giant squid-monster Viras, as well as some great flashback footage of former battles from the previous 2 Gamera flicks!

All Hallows Palooza 2009

2009-10-20T00:07:00.001-04:00

Click to Play

Episode 8 of Tales from The Other Side kicks off with a first in the history of the show (and possibly in the history of horror hosting). Instead of showing a lousy, public domain horror movie we're showing a new movie made up of bits and pieces of 5 other lousy, public domain movies. Brace yourself for Night of the Last Carnival on Earth, aka: Yucca! There's a Gila in My Soup!

Phantom from Space

2009-01-20T16:58:00.005-05:00

It was the 1950's, and the Cold War was a chilling threat to patriotic Americans. The fear of a possible nuclear attack led to an illogical distrust of anyone culturally different from us. This distrust was a continuation of culturally-induced fears seen a few years earlier when we placed Asian Americans (keyword AMERICANS) in concentration camps because, we reasoned, they might be spying for the Japanese. This was also the pre-Civil Rights era: Racism was strong throughout the land and Jim Crow laws were violently enforced in both the North and the South.

Out of this troubled era arose the Science Fiction B-movie, so many of which had a social or political moral embedded into an otherwise mediocre screenplay.

One such film is Phantom from Space.

Like many SciFi movies of the 50's, the plot of Phantom from Space revolves around a UFO landing on earth and the resulting reactions of the public, police, scientists and the news media.

The initial eyewitness reports are sketchy and frightening. Two men were attacked, one was killed, an oil plant was vandalized and others were just plain scared-off by an odd-looking creature in a deep-sea diving suit.

Under these circumstances, it's natural to fear the alien as a hostile invader --- however, if you shoot first and ask questions later you'll never get any answers.

Well, they don't shoot our visitor from space (they shoot at him but they miss). Eventually, the alien comes face to face and attempts to communicate with the Earthlings. Before we can figure out what he's telling us, he runs out of gas (literally!) and we, the audience, come to realize he never meant to harm anybody. He was just trying to survive.

End of plot, beginning of moral lesson. Whether consciously intentional or not; movies like Phantom from Space addressed the issue of our fear of the unknown - a local unknown which dwelt amongst all of us. Whether it was fear of a different skin color, religion or nationality; that fear was palpable and often resulted in evil. Evil perpetrated against the innocent, because too many of us thought it prudent to shoot first and ask questions later.

From the outset, this movie attempts to instill fear in the audience. All initial reports tell us the alien is bad and wants to harm us. We wait with growing anxiety to see what new evil this monster will perpetrate against our neighbors, our co-workers, our family and our nation and in the end, we find that the true evil was really inside of each of us...

I'm actually going a little too far for this particular movie. In Phantom from Space, the alien ran out of gas. He wasn't actually killed by the Earthlings. He died before they could save him and they would have saved him if they had the opportunity.

However, the moral issues are still there as we see the alien attacked, chased, shot at and treated with fear and suspicion. Perhaps we could have saved him if he hadn't wasted all his gas running from us.

The movie doesn't go there, so I guess we'll never know.

Phantom from Space seems content to leave us with the simple moral that not everyone we fear needs to be feared, not everyone we hate needs to be hated and that in the end we're really not all that different from each other - whether the alien we're talking about is legal, illegal or from outer space.

Check out Phantom from Space as hosted by our own favorite alien HYBRID. Now playing at www.tftos.com.

iTunes Podcasts

2008-06-14T16:14:00.003-04:00

Hey - our videos are available for download to your iPod. What a perfect way to watch Tales from the Other Side!

Tales from The Other Side VEOH iTunes feed.

Hercules Against the Moonmen

2008-06-10T10:45:00.002-04:00

Hercules battling aliens? Can it get any weirder than that?

Well, first of all, the original title of this movie was Maciste and the Queen of Samar; but since nobody outside of Italy is familiar with Italian hero Maciste, the international distributors decided to rename the lead character with a name pretty much everyone knows - HERCULES - and let everyone in on the real plot - the wicked plans of the evil Moonmen!

Maciste? Hercules? It really doesn't matter. Either way, the story takes place around the same time as the ancient Greek myths, and although Maciste is merely a superhuman dude and not the son of Zeus; calling him Hercules or Maciste doesn't do anything to make this spaghetti-myth any more or less believable.

Here's the gist of the story: Ages ago Moonmen invaded the Earth, setting up headquarters outside the village of Samar. Initially, all they did was demand child sacrifices; but their real plan is to revive their dead queen and take over the Earth - an act which will make the Earth uninhabitable for humans.

With Samara, the queen of Samar, on their side it's only a matter of time before the Moonmen have their way.

Ahhhhh --- but they didn't reckon on having to deal with HERCULES (or Maciste, if you prefer)!

No human or mythical beast can match the cunning and strength of our hero, so what makes the Moonmen think they've got a chance?

Watch Hercules Against the Moonmen online at http://www.tftos.com/. Hosted by Nonek, the Barber of Crimenya, this is a low-budget fantasy flick sure to keep you in stitches!

The Brain Machine

2008-04-15T15:30:00.005-04:00

Imagine, if you will, a time when movies about government conspiracies were merely fiction. Ahhhhhh...feels nice, doesn't it? Of course, there have been government conspiracies as long as there have been governments - so don't fool yourself!

The Brain Machine, aka Grey Matter, is kind of a pre-1984 (as in George Orwell's 1984) film. This is the lead-up to the Thought Police, the story behind their story.

It's sometime in the near future (near to 1977, that is) and a U.S. senator has decided that the best way to protect our freedom is complete disclosure of every citizen's thoughts. Thus, the Brain Machine.

Cool idea for a movie, huh? Unfortunately, the movie poster is far more interesting than the movie. It's slow, confusing and just plain weird at times. But hey, it was the 70's, right?

If you're into govt. conspiracy movies, go watch The X-Files.

If you're into laughing at stupid movies, check out Dr. Mark Cutimup's treatment of The Brain Machine.

First Teletubbies on Venus

2008-03-08T15:25:00.002-05:00

Whaaaat?

Watch the current episode of Tales from The Other Side and you'll know what I'm talking about ;)

Actually, the title of our current movie (hosted by HYBRID - his very first show!) is the 1960 film First Spaceship on Venus (released in the U.S. in 1962).

In spite of HYBRID's opinion of this movie (and really, as an alien HE is the expert), I found the movie to be fairly enjoyable and very similar in plot to Mission to Mars.

The basic plot is that a stone has been found in the Gobi Desert which obviously is not of Earth origin. Upon closer investigation, it is discovered the stone actually functions as a recorded document containing information from Venus. Having translated a little bit of the message, the scientists of Earth first try to contact Venus using radio signals and when this fails a team of the very best from the global scientific community decide to go straight to the source in their newly-built spaceship - the Cosmo Strata.

On the way there, they translate the rest of the document and discover that Venus was planning on destroying the Earth with a nuclear weapon. Now they have to decide: Do we continue with our mission? Or turn back to Earth?

The special effects used in this movie, while not up to par with 21st Century CGI or even George Lucas' bluescreen FX, are still pretty impressive; especially considering the time period. The film was shot in vivid technicolor instead of the typical B&W used in most low-budget films, and if you can find a good print it's actually quite beautiful.

From a socially conscious aspect, this movie is fairly groundbreaking. 4 years before Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, First Spaceship on Venus presents us with an international crew made up of men and women (well, actually only one woman unless Omega the robot is female as well), a man of African origin, an Asian and an Indian (as in "a man from India") along with the other caucasian characters from America, Russia and France.

So check it out. Click this link to watch our edited version hosted by HYBRID, or if you prefer the original, uncut movie, look for it in the cheapo DVD department at WAL-MART. You can also download it or watch it online for free at www.archive.org

1940's Human Sacrifice?

2008-02-02T15:00:00.002-05:00

This month's movie is The Corpse Vanishes - directed in 1942 by Wallace Fox and starring Bela Lugosi as Dr. Lorenz, somewhat of a mad scientist (or a "mad botanist" - as I.M. Balm calls him) - who keeps his old and decrepit wife looking young and beautiful by injecting her with a serum made from fluid drawn from the glands of young virgins.

He does this by kidnapping brides on their wedding day, and he has an interesting way of doing this: He delivers a corsage laced with a poison which makes the young lady appear to die - right there at the altar. Then he sends his own van to take her away before the undertaker can show up. Once back at his lab, he removes the necessary fluid from her glands, mixes it with a little chemistry magic and injects his wife.

We find out later that his wife is about 80 years old. Funny, the serum apparently makes her look young on the outside but does nothing for her internal organs!

While the movie is slow in spots, it does carry that general air of creepiness found in other mystery/horror movies of the period. Some things are obviously thrown in just for effect - like Dr. and Countess Lorenz sleeping in open caskets; but overall the combination of classic props like secret passages, a deformed giant and his sadistic midget brother, along with the creepy soundtrack make this movie rather enjoyable - even though it's not really all that scary.

What struck me as I was editing the movie for the show, was how the plot of using brides-to-be to treat Dr. Lorenz's wife wasn't all that different from uncivilized tribes sacrificing young virgins to appease their gods. The "god", in this movie, is vanity; but the cost of an innocent human life is still the same.

Human sacrifice? Unfortunately, yes. The innocent in place of the guilty. The righteous in place of the wicked.

And of course, this is where my review gets spiritual. For who is really innocent enough to die in place of the guilty? Who is really righteous enough to die in place of the wicked. I can think of only One.

The Corpse Vanishes

2008-01-25T18:20:00.001-05:00

1st episode of Tales from THE OTHER SIDE, featuring the 1942 Bela Lugosi thriller THE CORPSE VANISHES hosted by I.M. Balm - director of Virtua Funeral Parlor.

Tales from the Other What??

2008-01-16T19:27:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's official. Pastor Z's Very Low Budget Horror Cam has evolved into Tales from the Other Side. New hosts and some old, same old movies (yay!) and same bad sense of humor (boo!)

We'll be up and running very soon and I'll be posting my thoughts on another public domain B-movie as soon as we're LIVE!

Hint, Hint: We'll be showing a movie from 1947 starring Bela Lugosi. Can you guess the title?

NOSFERATU: Eine Symphonie des Grauens

2007-09-10T10:50:00.000-04:00

Though it may not have been the first vampire movie, Nosferatu is certainly the most famous from the early silent film genre.

Nosferatu: Eine Symphonie des Grauens (Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror) was filmed in 1921 and released in 1922 (first released in the U.S. in 1929). It was obviously based on Bram Stoker's Dracula novel, with a few changes here and there. Director F.W. Murnau was unable to secure the rights to the Dracula story, so he attempted to work around the law by changing the names of the characters and twisting the story a bit --- but not so far that anyone familiar with Stoker's novel couldn't see the obvious connections.

As a movie, Nosferatu is dark and gloomy which brings a consistent level of edge-of-your-seat suspense throughout the entire film. Murnau artistically paints his scenes using long, distorted shadows as his medium; and patiently takes his time showing us the face of the Count, creating within the viewer a feeling of impending horror gradually building to its final realization as we look upon the face of the vampyre.

That face, the face of Count Orlok, is the first noticeable difference between this version of Dracula and all the films which followed. Orlok is UGLY, both inside and out. This is no wolf in sheep's clothing, no devil masquerading as an angel of light. This is not a monster that charms his victims into embracing evil; but a hungry beast that pursues its prey acting more upon instinct like the wild animal which he has become.

Another change is the connection between Nosferatu and the plague. Orlok's kills are interpreted by the locals as a health epidemic rather than the work of a vampyre. And with Orlok's arrival came rats and disease which has led some film reviewers to suggest actor Max Schreck was made-up to resemble a rat with his long face and nose, his multiple jagged teeth (rather than the standard elongated canines), his pointy ears and his long, taloned fingers.

If there really was a plague in Bremen in 1838 (and I have yet to confirm or dismiss that) Murnau's fictional interpretation of this event elevates the Dracula story from myth to historical legend.

SPOILER ALERT!

Perhaps the most subtle and yet most important change Murnau made to the Dracula story involves how Count Orlok meets his demise. Rather than a stake through his heart, head cut-off and mouth stuffed with garlic; Orlok is seduced by the charms of the beautiful Ellen Hutter (the "Nina Harker" character).

Having read in The Book of the Vampires that "Only a woman can break his frightful spell--a woman pure in heart--who will offer her blood freely to Nosferatu and will keep the vampire by her side until after the cock has crowed" Nina opens the windows of her house, inviting Nosferatu to feast upon her, and patiently awaits his arrival. Nosferatu accepts her invitation, drinking freely and deep thus guaranteeing both Ellen's as well as his own death.

In Ellen's act of self-sacrifice reverberate the words of Jesus Christ: "There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends...". This, by the way, is just one example of the spiritual symbolism in this movie as well as the greater Dracula myth which parallels Judeo/Christian doctrine.

My special edition of Nosferatu, with ongoing commentary by myself and Skull Shaver, can be viewed online at 320 x 240 resolution in The Sanctuarium

It can also be downloaded at 640 x 480 res from VEOH.com

If you would like to see the original silent version (without the running commentary/jokes), you can view or download it from archive.org

Note: This movie is in the public domain.

The Monster Makers

2007-05-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

Where do monsters come from?

Some are born...
others become...
some are transformed...
and others are made...

This month I want to talk about the monster makers -
MAD SCIENTISTS!

The geniuses who in their zeal for their work, or perhaps their vision for humanity (or the small slice of it which they consider worthy), cross ethical and moral lines and as a result bring havoc into our world.

But where do we draw that line? Doesn't it shift from one generation to another, driven by the winds of public opinion and religious dogma? And isn't every scientific genius suspect in his own generation?

Dr. Bill Cortland, the visionary medical genius in The Brain that Wouldn't Die, has convinced himself that his experiments are for the good of mankind. Indeed, as we watch this story filmed in 1959 (and released in 1962) the argument between Bill and his father over limb and organ transplants seems rather archaic in a day and age when such procedures have become commonplace.

On a side note - I was surprised by Jan's quip about test-tube babies - a procedure which wasn't successful until 1978; but upon doing some research (WIKIPEDIA rules!) it appears the term had been in use at least since the 1940's - which again points out that fine line between that which was once considered scandalous being now accepted as the norm.

Dangerous Extremes

To make all of your life choices based on public opinion is to lose sight of yourself as an individual; but to ignore public opinion entirely is to lose sight of everyone else except yourself (egomania).

Egomania + power & resources leads to megalomania and voila! - there's your MAD SCIENTIST!

But are ALL Mad Scientists EVIL?

In my opinion, the difference between an evil megalomaniac and a good-hearted but eccentric scientist (e.g. Fred MacMurray's Absent-Minded Professor), is a matter of a functioning vs. a defective conscience; much the same as the difference between an average person and a serial killer.

WHAT prevents most people from crossing that line?

I would sum it up as fear of reprisal, a clear understanding of right and wrong and an attitude of "do unto others as you would they do unto you."

But the mad scientist, the serial killer and the evil dictator ignore that still, small voice inside. They posit their own, personal vision as the highest authority in their lives: higher than commonsense ethics, higher than the law of the land, and higher than God.

Dr. Bill's assistant asks him where he will find a body on which to transplant Jan's head? Dr. Bill icily replies: "There are ways..."

In Dr. Bill's case, his desire to keep Jan alive (whether truly driven by love or his need to prove his medical skills to the world) supersedes Thou shalt not kill. In affect, he has short-circuited his conscience by justifying to himself and others that, although what he plans to do might be wrong - it's NECESSARY.

But are there ever Necessary Evils?

Pretty black and white, right? Actually, that's the problem - there's an awful lot of gray areas here.

I already mentioned Dr. Bill's good intentions. Likewise, Dr. Frankenstein had high hopes of making the world a better place through his experiments. I don't know that either of them qualify as EVIL in the same sense as real-life mad scientist Dr. Josef Mengele. But all of them, Mengele included, exhibit signs of a conscience calloused by an arrogant self-justification of their not-quite-so-moral deeds.

That particular weakness is common to most if not all of us: excusing our own sin while judging others on the basis that we're different from those other folks --- we HAVE to do what we do --- we don't have a choice like everyone else. But that's not true, is it?

That constantly shifting line in the sand...

Truth to be told, what was regarded as unethical or sacrilegious a few years ago is accepted as normal today (e.g. Test Tube Babies). That's not to say there are not, in fact, absolute morals; but a recognition that our personal and corporate idea of morality is often skewed by ignorance and prejudice.

Far too many don't take the time to examine ALL the facets of these complex issues, and quite frankly it's easier to let someone else feed us their opinions than for us to think for ourselves.

As a Christian I believe in absolute Truth; but I also recognize that as human beings we are incapable of absolutely comprehending that Truth (the whole seeing through a glass darkly scenario...)

So where DO we draw that line between Evil and Good --- between Mad and merely Eccentric?

And on what basis?

I'd like to know what you think!

Shocktoberfest 2006 - Condensed Version

2007-04-20T19:44:00.001-04:00

Click to Play

These are a few outtakes from my Very Low Budget Shocktoberfest Extravaganza originally shown in October of 2006.

The Ballad of Jan and Bill

2007-04-01T14:53:00.001-04:00

Dr. Bill with his girlfriend Jan
found himself in a bit of a jam
driving too fast down highway 8
hit the brakes just a little too late

Jan lost her head in the accident
but that didn't sever their relationship
'cuz Dr. Bill's a mad scientist
and there ain't nothing that he can't fix

now Jan and Bill were engaged to be wed
but Bill wants more than just a talking head
gotta' find a new body for Jan
'cuz all he wants is to hold her hand

Bill leaves his lab in search of chicks
Jan wakes up and she's really ticked
such a cruel way for a girl to find
he loved her body more than he loved her mind

I won't tell you how the story ends
Just watch the movie and then tell your friends
andÂ here's the moral, so be forewarned
hell hath no fury like a headless woman scorned

Dr. Bill with his girlfriend Jan
found himself in a bit of a jam
driving too fast down highway 8
hit the brakes just a little too late

Let's Have Tea

2007-03-18T13:42:00.001-04:00

Another clip from Pastor Z's March episode of his Very Low Budget Horror Cam featuring F.F. Coppola's DEMENTIA 13.

Dementia 13

2007-03-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

Check out this month's horror cam, featuring DEMENTIA 13

Fishy, fishy in the brook
Daddy caught you on a hook...

DEMENTIA 13, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola, is an interesting story about a family in Ireland and their annual memorial to a family member that passed away as a child.

The plot is a mix of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and William Castle's House on Haunted Hill with an unidentified murderer stalking the property and the still-intact body of a girl who had died 7 years earlier repeatedly turning up in some unlikely places.

The setting, in an old Irish castle, is wonderfully creepy while somewhat downplayed and the soundtrack is guaranteed to send chills up and down your spine. This is the kind of movie that could give you nightmares if you're the sensitive type.

Just what does it take to push someone over the edge and turn him or her into an axe murderer? Watch the film and tell me what you think!

Werewolves and Vampires, Oh My!

2007-02-08T20:57:00.000-05:00

This month's movie is La Noche de Walpurgis - WALPURGIS NIGHT! - better known to American audiences as Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman.

For a low-budget flick, it's actually pretty good - although a bit slow in spots (I cut most of those scenes out in my edit ;-)

Paul Naschy makes an excellent werewolf in the Lon Chaney Jr. / Larry Talbot tradition and this isn't his first nor his last appearance as the werewolf Waldemar Daninsky; it's merely one in a series of 12 films spanning a total of 35 years!

Werewolf vs. the Vampire Woman follows the traditional werewolf and vampire legends fairly close. As is usual in these legends, the werewolf is somewhat a victim of circumstances whereas the vampire is cursed by her own choices...well, sort of.

The Vampire Woman of the title, Countess Wandessa d'Arville de Nadasdy, is referred to as a witch; but not in the Harry Potter or even the Wiccan sense of that word. She is a full-blown Satan worshiper with upside-down crosses, black masses, human sacrifice, blasphemy, dogs and cats living together in sin and everything else that comes with selling your soul to the dark lord. And in the end it is her vanity which leads her down the path of no return.

However there is another woman in the film named Genevieve who becomes a vampire; not because she is especially evil, but because she succumbs to Wandessa's seduction.

In all likelihood, there would've been a THIRD vampire woman in this story as well; but the movie's heroine, Elvira, overcomes evil with a little help from her friend, a silver cross and what that cross represents.

Which means it's time to dig into the spiritual implications of this film...

I've already discussed the idea of werewolves as victims and vampires as victimizers in two previous blogs; but what I want to draw out of this film is the need for community and the power of faith.

Community in this film is represented by Waldemar's friendship with Elvira. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us that "two are better than one for if one falls, the other can pick him up..." and so it is multiples times with Waldemar. He serves to encourage, instruct, admonish, correct and more than once physically rescue Elvira from the clutch of evil. And so it is with us. It's hard enough to walk the straight and narrow in this life as it is; but how much more difficult when we try to do it alone, without friends, without counsel, without anyone's help.

Faith is represented in this film by the silver cross and there's a really good scene I'd like to point out. After successfully scaring off the vampires a number of times with the cross, Elvira falls asleep and knocks a piece of clothing on top of it. With the symbol of her faith temporary out of sight, she succombs to Genevieve's attack and then complains to Waldemar that the cross didn't protect her. Well, technically she DID have the cross; but like Peter walking on the water, when she lost sight of the symbol of her faith her fears took over and down she went.

That's how it is for us, too. We want to believe in a God who is bigger than all of our problems; but sometimes we take our eyes off the Savior and focus instead on our current crisis and find ourselves saying "where is God when I need Him?" and the truth is He was there all along but we were too busy worrying about circumstances instead of looking to Him for relief.

You know, a copper penny is NOTHING in comparison to the Golden Gate Bridge and yet, if you hold that penny in front of your eye you can block out the bridge, the sun in the sky and the entire horizon for that matter. None of these things have vanished - you're just allowing a little penny to obscure the much bigger picture.

Soooo...if you haven't watched the movie, check it out while it's still online. And if you're feeling like Elvis has left the building - or more importantly that God has checked out of your life - take a step backwards and remember just how big the God of Creation - the God who created the Universe - the God who created you and me - really is.

And last but not least, if you're walking the journey alone, see if you can't connect with one or more like-minded souls. Formally. Informally. It doesn't really matter. Two are better than one any given day...make that every given day.

Well, that's it for now. Join me next month for Dementia 13, written and directed by Francis Ford Coppolla. Until then...pleasant dreams!

That House on Haunted Hill

2007-01-15T15:00:00.000-05:00

The Telltale Heart

2007-01-13T21:43:00.000-05:00

Here it is - my very first Podcast.

The Telltale Heart
It's a dramatic reading of the short story by Edgar Allan Poe.

Kind of a tip of the hat to old time radio, and something to listen to while you're waiting for me to post my first Low Budget Horror Cam of the New Year - The House on Haunted Hill (coming soon!)