Darkman TV Pilot!
Oooh, this sounds interesting. It’s the unaired pilot for what would’ve been a Darkman television series, from 1992:
Very curious to see this. I loved the original movie, which was sort of like the dopey son of Batman and The Crow.
For reasons I still can’t fathom, we rented the video upon its release, and the whole family watched it together. We never watched movies as a family, and I can’t think of anyone who would’ve been pulling that hard for Darkman. It just sort of happened.
It’d later become one of those flicks that was always on cable. At this point, I’ve probably seen Darkman more than 50 times, despite the fact that I’ve never once purposely set out to see it.
…which brings me to tonight’s survey:
Name a movie (or a few movies) that you ended up seeing all the time almost on accident. These probably wouldn’t be your favorite movies, but once you see anything a hundred times, your heart makes a place for it.
Spill it, in the comments!
Johnny Sokko!
One of my brothers used to be obsessed with Johnny Sokko and His Flying Robot, which premiered as Giant Robo in Japan back in the ‘60s.
I assume that the series was a touch more coherent in its original Japanese, but the English dub is hilariously offbeat. Pair that with cheap effects and goofy monsters and you have the makings of THE BEST THING EVER.
Love love love this ridiculous show. Every episode features a new monster for this big ass robot to kill, and there’s even an octopus version of Cobra Commander leading the bad guys. (Complete with a Destro stand-in as his second-in-command — an extra impressive feat when you remember that neither character had been invented yet.)
I think this point might sum up the show best: There’s this one random villain with sunglasses and a beard. He’s just sort of a background soldier. He dies at least five times during the series.
Here are a few random episodes of the show. Totally worth your time.
Enjoy!
The Chilling!
Here’s The Chilling, from 1989:
I haven’t seen it, but it stars Linda Blair and is apparently about defrosted cryogenic zombies. Count me in!
…and since we’ve been having such a good run with the surveys lately, I’ll add one of those, too:
Growing up, what was the one videocassette you could *never* stop playing? (Both official releases and taped-off-tv things count!)
Tell everyone, in the comments!
The Making of ALIENS!
Here’s a super long documentary about the making of Aliens, from 1986:
I was much too young to see Aliens when it was in theaters, but that didn’t stop my parents from dragging me along with them. I’d have to call that the scariest in-theater experience I’ve ever had… possibly excluding the time I saw The Shining while stoned at some arthouse theater in the early 2000s.
So let’s turn that into a survey:
What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen IN THEATERS? Doesn’t count if you watched it at home!
Spill it, in the comments!
