Cushing & Lee: Outside the Hammer-Verse

James and Dan Day, Jr. each pick three essential horror films featuring Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee that came from outside the Hammer-verse. 

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CREDITS

Talking Heads:

host: James David Patrick (@007hertzrumble)
guest: Dan Day, Jr. (@CushingLee)

Music Contained in this Podcast:

Preacher Boy – “Shamedown” <– Support our house musician

Recorded in October 2021. Copyrights are owned by the artists and their labels. Negative dollars are made from this podcast.

Cinema Shame/Hoop-Tober Watchpile/Shame-a-thon 31 Days of Horror 2017

Halloween brings out the best and the worst of us as obsessive moviewatchers. I can only speak for myself, but I imagine my experience mirrors many of yours. When October rolls around (now mid-September because the 31 horror movies in 31 days doesn’t jive with adult schedules), horror movies dominate all channels. The wife shrugs her shoulders. Hide the more elicit DVD cases from the kids. You start arguing about sequels and franchises and Argento vs. Bava vs. Fulci.

My wife joins in when I can find a nice, palatable mid-grade horror film. In recent years, she’s joined me for films like Tremors and The Fog and comedies like The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. (Though, she still tells me she’s nervously scanning the mist for ghost pirates whenever a nice fog rolls through the Pittsburgh hills.)

Each year for the past four years, I’ve embarked upon the journey to watch at least 31 horror movies by the end of October. Last year I joined @ElCinemonster’s Hoop-Tober challenge on Letterboxd.com. Each year he lays down a few challenges to help guide the viewing of his monstrous minions. This year I’m again combining my Cinema Shame Horror Shame-a-thon with the Hoop-Tober Challenge 4.0 to perpetuate the most unwieldy title in the history of movie blogging and watching.

Welcome to the @CinemaShame/Hoop-Tober Watchpile/Shame-a-thon 31 Days of Horror 2017

Let’s lay down some rules for any lunatics that might want to play the home version of the 31 Days of Horror 2017.

Pick 31 never-before-seen (or unwatched DVD purchases) horror movies — “horror” is broadly defined as anything containing elements of the horror genre. So, for example, I’ve count the Abbott & Costello monster films in the past because of the classic movie monsters. Watch as many as you can stomach during your “month” of October.

I’m air-quoting “month” because, as I mentioned earlier, I’m borrowing @ElCinemonster’s notion that we’re busy goddamn people and 31 days is just not a reasonable duration for busy people to watch 31 horror movies. He’s beginning his “month” on September 15th. I plan to do the same. I hit 33 last year(!) and while I don’t expect to top that total I aim to match.

I’m going to pluck as many movies as possible from my Watch Pile (any film I already own that hasn’t been watched). I’ve been making a more concerted effort to watch more movies than I buy. The worthy remain. The ones I don’t see myself watching again hit Half.com or eBay. I’ll note the outcome of each disc in my blurb.

And speaking of blurbs… after each movie, I’ll toss up a mini-review and a 30Hz rating that will correspond to my review on Letterboxd.com. The review may or may not contain any actual insight. The reviews are the part of this project that will leave you a quivering pile of bloody goo. And now for the more specific Hoop-Tober demonic hurdles, courtesy of @ElCinemonster.

6 sequels (mix-and-match. 6 total)
6 countries
6 decades
6 films from before 1970
6 films from the following: Carpenter, Raimi, Whale, Browning, Craven, Tom Holland (mix-and-match, or all one)
3 people eating people (non-zombie)
1 Hammer Film
1 Romero film
1 terrible oversight aka OVERT SHAME! (use the following link, filter out the films you’ve seen and picked the highest rated film from the list that you can get ahold of)

And 2 Tobe Hooper Films (There must ALWAYS be a Hooper film)

-review them all.(eek)

Clearly one film can satisfy multiple criteria. Viewing and reviewing will begin at 12:01am CST on Sept 15th.

I plan to call some audibles when spur-of-the-moment cravings strike, but here’s my blueprint for the 2017 31 Days Of Horror CinemaShame/Hoop-Tober Watch Pile Shame-a-Thon.

Past #31DaysOfHorror Shame-a-thons: 2013 | 2014 | 2015 Part 1 | 2015 Part 2 | 2016 

*rewatch

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
2. A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
3. Brain Damage
4. Caltiki: The Immortal Monster
5. Cannibal! The Musical
6. Christine
7. Death Walks in High Heels
8. Eating Raoul
9. Friday the 13th
10. Friday the 13th Part II
11. House*
12. House 2*
13. House 3
14. House 4
15. Fox with the Velvet Tail
16. Invaders from Mars
17. Mill of the Stone Women
18. Posession
19. Prince of Darkness
20. Shocker
21. Spontaneous Combustion
22. Suddenly in the Dark
23. The Devil Doll
24. The Dismembered
25. The Green Butchers
26. The Hound of the Baskervilles*
27. The Wife Killer
28. Spider (Zirneklis)
29. The Velvet Vampire
30. What Have You Done to Solange?
31. Two Evil Eyes
32. The Initiation
33. The Fan (Der Fan)
34. The Invisible Man (familiar comfort horror)*

What’s your list? What’s your plan for horror movie watching this year? If you’re keeping a list or participating in the Hoop-Tober challenge, I’ll link you in the header for my posts. Just leave a note with a link in the comments. Together we shall overcome… or we’ll be the loser pumped off in the first act to establish indomitable menace. It’s more comforting to know you’re not doing this alone.

So it’s October and it’s time to watch Horror Movies

I love coming up with lists of underrated flicks for Brian Saur’s www.rupertpupkinspeaks.com page because I revisit old favorites and explore oddballs I’d always meant to watch. It focuses my attention and simplifies the selection process. When a movie collection reaches a certain size, the wall of potentiality paralyzes. When it comes to horror films, there’s no better reason to binge on spooks and slashers than Halloween. The last couple of years I’ve approached my 31 Days/Night of Horror with a kind of reckless schizophrenia, loading the DVR with TCM horror flicks and throwing in an odd DVD when I’ve got the chance.

This year, inspired by the Cinema Shame method, I’ve created a list of 31 movies that fall in the “Shame” category (How have I not watched you, Texas Chainsaw Massacre?!?) or ones that I own and I need a good excuse to watch (I picked up Inugami at a Hollywood Video liquidation sale six years ago and still haven’t tossed it in). Will I watch all 31? Probably not. Absolutely not. But it’ll be a helluva lot of fun trying to sneak in as many as possible until the clock strikes midnight on October 31st.

I’ll toss a short write-up for each flick along with a snap judgment rating on the Hz Record scale. Commence the 31DaysOfHorror.

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1. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
2. Re-Animator
3. Nightmare on Elm Street 2
4. Bird with the Crystal Plumage
5. Night of the Devils
6. Lair of the White Worm
7. Wicker Man (1973)
8. House on Sorority Row
9. Piranha (1978)
10. Without Warning
11. Night Train to Terror
12. Fascination
13. Stage Fright
14. The Fly (1986)
15. Romasanta
16. Vincent Price Wildcard
17. Vincent Price Wildcard
18. The Whip and the Body
19. Lifeforce
20. Countess Dracula
21. Killer Party
22. Cat People (1982)
23. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
24. Inugami
25. Ticks
26. Night of the Comet
27. Scream of Fear!
28. Black Belly of the Tarantula
29. Nosferatu (1979)
30. Vampyr
31. The Mystery of the Wax Museum

Alternates (aka spur of the moment pop-ins and TCM happenstance)

1. The Man Who Could Cheat Death (Blu-ray)
   
2. The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (TCM)
3. The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism (DVD)
4. Transylvania 6-5000 (DVD)
   
5. Massage Parlor Murders (Blu-ray)
   
6. The Mummy’s Shroud (TCM)
   
7. The Blob (Blu-ray)
8. The Uninvited (Blu-ray)

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#1: 10/2 – Fascination (1979, dir. Jean Rollin)

“Allow me to examine you like I would my horse.”

My first Jean Rollin. I’d been meaning to dig into the Rollin catalog of artsy naked vampires for years now. I even picked Fascination up on Blu-ray thinking that would finally provoke me to take that first step. Well that didn’t work… until now. That pang of guilt resulted in Fascination being added to this list and a watch on Day One of my #31DaysOfHorror Shame-a-thon list. Rollin is a true aesthete, an appreciator of color, contrast and vamp-on-vamp action. This film might boast more memorable images than lines of dialogue. Rollin definitely doesn’t want dialogue to get in the way of his other interests. I just don’t know if the above scene featuring Brigitte Lehaie wielding a scythe can really be topped. The last third of the film grows oddly chatty, but the lusty vampire girls doing the philosophizing are all wearing transparent gowns and capes, so I really can’t be too critical.

#2: 10/2 – The Mad Magician (1954, dir. John Brahm)