Piranha II: The Spawning!
Happy September, everyone! Here’s a big long movie to help ring it in…
Tonight’s pick was suggested by the always-reliable Jugendsehnsucht, who as I understand it recently celebrated his 666th birthday. Happy birthday, Juge!
From 1981, it’s Piranha II: The Spawning. Yessss. The film was (partly) directed by James Cameron, and Juge thought I should mention this interesting trivia bit, yanked from Wikipedia:
“Ovidio G. Assonitis took over the editing when Cameron was stricken with food poisoning. During his illness, Cameron had a nightmare about an invincible robot hitman sent from the future to kill him, giving him the idea for The Terminator, which later catapulted his film career.”
So in a roundabout way, you can thank Piranha II for The Terminator!
If you’re not sure about watching this, here’s a Piranha II WPIX promo from the ‘90s. If this doesn’t make you wanna see it, nothing will:
Enjoy the film, or just chat about whatever ya want.
The Tonight Show: 10/31/85!
By the time most of you see this, it’ll be September. Yes!
October is undeniably the most important month as far as Halloween goes, but let’s be real — September often ends up being more fun.
It’s when we’re first exposed to all of the new candy and trinkets, and it’s just so awesome to embrace Halloween for a whole month while knowing that we still have another whole month left when it’s done!
Tonight’s video was suggested by ~Spike~. Enjoy the 10/31/1985 broadcast of The Tonight Show, hosted by Joan Rivers. (I really love the idea that Johnny didn’t want to work on Halloween.)
I get that The Tonight Show is out of After Dark’s usual wheelhouse, but guys, the guests include Pee-wee Herman AND Elvira. It’s pretty freakin’ great.
It’s the weekend, so this doubles as a Free-For-All Thread. Talk about whatever you want! (Maybe name some of the things you’re hoping to see, do and eat this September!)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Cartoon!
Things got busy today, but I was determined to make it through the Countdown’s first official “work week” without missing a day. Thank God for forty gallons of coffee. If you missed it on the main page, Classic Creepy Commercials is back!
Tonight’s video makes me extra glad that I solicited suggestions from you guys, because y’all are finding awesome stuff that I’d never even heard of before.
Suggested by Jason H., here’s a mysterious and obscure Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde cartoon from the late ‘80s.
I know nothing about its history, so I’ll let Jason handle that part:
“Back in the late ’80s, before the original Nicktoon trio got debuted, Nickelodeon had a bunch of random Canadian and British imports playing all the time. Among them was an odd series of book and story adaptations. I don’t know if they ever had a formal name, or if they were just a series of hour long mini-movies.
“Here’s a pretty straightforward adaptation of ‘The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ that I remember playing a lot at the time. This one always stuck with me for including Hyde getting poisoned to death at the end.”
I think I’m gonna dig this!
Mutant! (1984 Film)
Tonight’s video probably isn’t a great choice for a lousy Wednesday, but I’m so tickled that it’s on YouTube:
This one was suggested by Justin P., aka CosmicSparky. It’s MUTANT, the 1984 film that I assume only a small percentage of you have heard of.
I’ll let Justin describe the treasure:
“A woefully unappreciated horror flick about road-tripping brothers — one played by the wonderful Wings Hauser — who stumble into a small town with a monster problem. Local pollution is turning residents into bloodthirsty mutants, and Wings must team up with the sheriff, Bo Hopkins, to make things right again. The pair would later star in an unofficial action-centric remake called Nightmare at Noon.”
Mutant isn’t one of those movies you can pick up on the fly and immediately embrace. (Well, it isn’t for most people, at least.) You gotta be in the right “rainy Sunday, I ain’t moving” kinda mood. Save it for when you are!
