Dracula vs. Frankenstein!
#1: I made my main site deadline with like ten seconds to spare, so if you missed it, there’s a new all-spooky edition of Five Random Action Figures!
#2: Since I’m already a few minutes late, I’m not going to be particularly choosy with tonight’s movie. Give me a sec.
…
Okay, I’m back now. Let’s go with Dracula vs. Frankenstein, because with a title like that…
Looks like it’s from 1971. Enjoy!
Kingdom of the Spiders.
I had to force myself to include this one, because as much as I love the film, many spiders died — really died — to make it happen. But man, before I knew that, I was all about this movie.
Kingdom of the Spiders came out in 1973, long before I was born. I rented it in the early ’90s, probably not long after Arachnophobia came out. I love Arachnophobia, but this movie is way creeper.
Starring William Shatner, the film is about a small town overrun by killer tarantulas. (Yes.) I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that so many tarantulas died during filming, because this movie is absolutely full of them.
I’ll leave this one up to you, and will totally understand if you take a pass. If you think you can stomach its worst offenses, good luck! There are a few shots in here that I still haven’t shook off. (And that ending! My God, that ending!)
Enjoy, but with an asterisk.
Communion!
My childhood fear of (and fascination with) space aliens didn’t begin with Unsolved Mysteries. Actually, I’m pretty sure it took root with this old book:
Communion, by Whitley Strieber. I’ve never read it (not even a word of it), but my older brother used to carry around a copy for what was probably a week but felt like six months. The book remains famous, and much of that fame is thanks to its haunting cover. It should come as no surprise that the me-of-1987 was TERRIFIED of that alien.
I’d later learn that they made a movie about it, or at least somewhat about it. Communion, starring Christopher Walken, came out in 1989 and was apparently a dismal failure. Even Strieber has written it off. Bad press aside, I’m still super curious. Let’s dive in!
The Elephant At The Prom.
So I’ve missed quite a bit of site time during one of the only months when it really matters, and yeah, that sucks. As most of you assumed, I wouldn’t have missed site time in late October unless it was impossible not to. Life, uh, gets in the way. I appreciate your patience and understanding!
I’m going to finish out the Countdown as strongly as I can, though I’ll be honest and say that I’m not 100% where I’ll be landing on videos and the podcast. (In the case of both, they’d be back in November anyway… and yes probably even Madd Matt, because it’s no big deal to put a Santa hat on him.) Still, I have a bunch of “bigger” topics left to cover on the written side, so this should be a good week!
FYI: Throughout my absence I was still on top of the Funpacks and Envelopes of Evil, so everyone who ordered something (barring one or two late orders) should have it by now. Thank you, and hope you enjoyed the goods!
…now, as for Dino Drac After Dark, we’ll just pick up where we left off and make the most of the time we have left! Though I did want to mention that I’m toying with the idea of just letting DDAD go on “forever,” since it actually wasn’t conceived as a “Halloween” feature to begin with.
It’s hard to predict if it’ll still work after Halloween, but I guess it’s worth a shot? Like in November and December, we can still do horror movies, but mix in a bunch of holiday films and specials, too. Any interest?
And that brings me to tonight’s movie…
Get a load of Prom Night III: The Last Kiss, from 1990. I’m gonna be completely upfront: I know NOTHING about this movie. I haven’t even read a one line synopsis. Might be okay, might be good, might destroy you. Only one way to find out.
