Has it really been 143 years?! Time does fly! Bela Lugosi was born on 20 October 1882.

You know what that means? Lugosi was almost 50 years old when he starred in Dracula.

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of research on Bela Lugosi — including reading a couple of biographies. He’s one of those people I’ve long thought I should love.

But here’s the thing: I don’t. I mean, he’s good. And I enjoy seeing anything that features him. The truth is, he lived a fascinating life. He started as a political radical fleeing the right-wing Horthy government in Austria-Hungary. Then he saw success for his acting in the US. Next came his inevitable decline and work in low-budget horror his final years. And I love all that!

But on screen? He was no Boris Karloff! And I own that. I’m a Karloff fan. The voice? The look? Whatever it is, it works for me.

But Lugosi’s accent really hurt him. Sadly, he doubtless never would have become a star outside of horror. This was strange! The man was seriously good-looking (see the photo above). And in Austria-Hungary, he played leading roles. But once in America, he was limited to “European ambassador” type roles.

I guess what this all means is that horror is best for the facially delinquent. As such, Lugosi was kind of a tragic figure. I think it is sad that his decline is so often dismissed as due to his addictions. In fact, this is backwards. His drug use was the result of the decline.

Today, we tend to think everything worked out well for Karloff. But it didn’t! By the 1960s, he was making AIP films, going to Europe to make films, doing spoken word recordings, and working in TV. That’s all fine but hardly what would happen today to such a culturally important actor.

But the two men made 8 films total (every one of them pretty good):

1. The Black Cat (1934)
2. Gift of Gab (1934) — cameos
3. The Raven (1935)
4. The Invisible Ray (1935)
5. Son of Frankenstein (1939)
6. Black Friday (1940)
7. You’ll Find Out (1940) — supporting roles
8. The Body Snatcher (1945).

So the worse outcome for Lugosi is more an issue of timing. Ten years younger, and he would have fared like Karloff. Forty years later, he would have died on a beach in Anguilla surrounded by supermodels.

Bela Lugosi added so much to film history — psychotronic film history most of all! As with Karloff, much of his best work was done because of the decline of his career. But I think we should celebrate his birthday by watching a film from his prime, White Zombie.

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Bela Lugosi via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Tor Johnson was born on 19 October 1903. Or 1902. His tombstone says 1903. But tombstones are not authoritative. My grandfather’s tombstone is wrong, for example.

Johnson was a big guy. He stood three inches over six feet. He is widely reported to have weighed as much as 440 pounds. But he appeared on You Bet Your Life in 1959. And at that time, he said he was “387 pounds… soaking wet.”

He was born in Sweden. But it appears that he immigrated to the United States in 1919. At that time, he was already wrestling. By the early 1930s, he was a successful professional wrestler in Southern California. For this role, he shaved his head. He apparently had a full head of hair. This was a good idea since it allowed him to leverage his act into a decent career as a bit actor and extra. This included the role of Strongman in the Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh film Houdini.

But we remember Tor Johnson today for a handful of low-budget films in the 1950s and early-1960s. In three of these films, he played the same character, Lobo: Bride of the Monster, The Unearthly, and Night of the Ghouls. He is also remembered for his starring role in The Beast of Yucca Flats and his part as Inspector Daniel Clay in Plan 9 From Outer Space.

I assume everyone has seen Plan 9. (But revisit it! It’s always better than I remember.) So let’s watch Yucca Flats to celebrate the life of Tor Johnson. It’s a surprisingly good film. A lot of it seems more like an art than exploitation. Of course, we don’t get to hear Tor speak. The entire film was shot MOS with some dubbing and voice-over. But it works!

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Tor Johnson via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Empire International Pictures released Re-Animator to the US market on 18 October 1985.

Re-Animator is arguably the greatest horror-comedy ever made. But it’s hard to say why. It was Stuart Gordon’s first film. And it is easy enough to give him the credit. But I frankly think the film is over-lit and this would be catastrophic if it weren’t for everything else that works in the film. It looks a lot like Gordon’s later Space Truckers.

Jeffrey Combs is a huge part of why the film (and its sequels) works so well. He went on to have a great career as a character actor. But he seems to have been born to play Herbert West. He behaves exactly as he should.

Of course, there is another reason the film works. And it has to do with that over-lighting I mentioned above. The special effects and gore are great. And this is notable in a film where you can see everything.

But Re-Animator is one of those films that defies words. It just is a ton of fun. And everyone should watch it. Even the people who don’t like scary movies. Because it isn’t scary! It’s just fun. With lots of green goop!

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Re-Animator poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Beverly Garland was born on 17 October 1926.

Garland had a great career. Regular people probably think of her as a TV actor. But she starred in a number of iconic psychotronic films.

She starred in 5 Roger Corman films over the course of 2 years:

1. Swamp Women
2. It Conquered the World
3. Gunslinger
4. Naked Paradise
5. Not of This Earth.

But she was in a lot more than that! One of her earliest roles was in The Neanderthal Man. In the middle of her Corman phase, she starred in Curucu, Beast of the Amazon. And her best-known film (outside the Corman catalogue) is The Alligator People.

She also starred in some 1950s psychotronic television. For example, she played a nightclub singer in “The Four of Us Are Dying” episode of The Twilight Zone.

She was the perfect heroine for this period. She was pretty and even delicate but she could also be a badass. And she did all this without ever acting in a way that would make an insecure man worry.

Gunslinger is a great example of this. I can’t watch it without thinking, “Incels would love this film!” After her sheriff husband is murdered, she takes his job because the town is filled with a bunch of beta men. But don’t worry, boys! After she cleans up the town, she’s back in her dress and headed out of town for a new life that will doubtless not include pants.

My favorite film that features Beverly Garland is It Conquered the World. But the film doesn’t give her a lot to do. Besides, it’s mostly the monster that I love. It’s up there with Ro-Man from Robot Monster in terms of ridiculous monsters.

So I think the best way to celebrate Garland’s birthday is to watch The Alligator People. Also: another ridiculous monster!

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Beverly Garland via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Republic Pictures released Barracuda on 16 October 1978 in Sweden. It didn’t make it to the United States (or anywhere else) until the following year.

I love Barracuda. Sadly, I have yet to see any “critic” who understands it. It combines two great trends at the time. First, it is a Jaws ripoff. Second, it is a 1970s paranoia film. (Thank you, Richard Nixon!) The film starts as a standard monster movie with environmental elements. The conspiracy stuff comes later.

But just the monster element is enough. The attacks are visceral. They hit me stronger than those in Jaws, for example.

The film is co-written and directed by Harry Kerwin, the younger brother of iconic psychotronic actor William Kerwin, who also stars in this film. Wayne Crawford co-wrote and directed the underwater sequences. Kerwin and Crawford worked together quite a lot. (Crawford went on to mainstream success with Valley Girl.)

Besides William Kerwin, the film stars a couple of psychotronic actors. These include Cliff Emmich and Jason Evers, the mad doctor in The Brain That Wouldn’t Die.

“Critics” hate this film. At least they do when they consider it at all. Mostly, the film has simply been forgotten. The fact that it premiered in Sweden says a lot.

So this 47th anniversary of the film’s release is a great time to watch it. That’s especially true since even most psychotronic fans have never seen it. If I’m wrong, I’ll give you all your money back from this free copy I dug up!

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Barracuda (1978) poster via Wikipedia under Fair use.

The Redford Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, premiered The Evil Dead on 15 October 1981. New Line Cinema didn’t agree to distribute it for a year. And they released it only on 15 April 1983.

I love the film. But it is one of those films that has a large and annoying fan base. What’s more, there is even a break-off movement of people who claim all the later films are not canon.

To be clear, I agree with them! Evil Dead II is not a sequel. It is a comedic reboot of the original. And all those films and TV episodes don’t have anything to do with this original film. (But to be extra clear, I love all that stuff too — especially Ash vs Evil Dead, which is pure fun.)

I see why people prefer the funny later stuff. Ash as an idiot is great. But I do prefer The Evil Dead because Ash is just a regular, sweet guy. As such, I’m invested in the story in a way that I’m not with the later stuff. Again: one isn’t objectively better than the other. But I’ve long felt that horror-comedy is a tightrope act with the net; pure horror doesn’t have a net and works better when it works. And it works here.

There isn’t a lot to say about The Evil Dead. It’s hard to say why it works so well. It certainly isn’t because the direction is particularly innovative. The acting is good but nothing you can’t see in lots of other films. And frankly, the “camera on two-by-four” shots haven’t aged especially well. But the film is good. It is engaging. It is committed. Above all, it works.

Any time is a good time to watch The Evil Dead. But its 44th birthday is a particularly good time to watch it!

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The Evil Dead (1981) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Jack Arnold was born on 14 October 1916.

He is probably the best director you have never heard of. Why do I say that? Because you have heard of his films. The earliest ones were produced by William Alland:

• It Came from Outer Space (1953)
• Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
• Revenge of the Creature (1955)
• The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
• The Mouse That Roared (1959).

He also directed two blaxploitation films starring Fred Williamson. The first was the action film Black Eye. The second was a comedy western, Boss Nigger, which was also written by Williamson. It seems that both these films are rather good. But I haven’t seen either. I hope to do so soon.

I like every film I’ve seen from Jack Arnold. But my favorite is Tarantula. It is one of the best giant creature films. I prefer Them! But that’s a very high bar.

The film suffers a bit in that the lab is clearly just a house. It’s similar to the “lab” in The Brain That Wouldn’t Die. But the reason I prefer Them! is its portrayal of scientists. There was a strong tendency in the 1950s to portray scientists as evil, fatuous, or both. For example, The Thing from Another World. Given how many problems scientists have solved, this tendency strikes me as particularly unwarranted.

In Tarantula, a scientist creates the problem. But he isn’t presented as a bad guy. Still, it is a film where a scientist creates a problem and the military solves it. Not exactly my experience of the world.

But it’s still a lot of fun. And Jack Arnold’s birthday is a great excuse to watch it!

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Jack Arnold via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Box Office Spectaculars released Color Me Blood Red on 13 October 1965. This was in Baltimore, Maryland. I assume at the Bengies Drive-In Theatre.

It is the last of the Blood Trilogy. I think it is the best of the films. The first, Blood Feast, is so silly. And the second, Two Thousand Maniacs, is so cruel. As a result, I enjoy this film about a twisted but likeable artist.

The story is simple. Critics dismiss an artist because of his bland use of color. So he uses his own blood for red. And the critics love it! But you can only bleed yourself so long. So he kills his models and uses their blood. What’s not to like?

The cast is led by Gordon Oas-Heim in the central role of Adam Sorg. Oddly, Oas-Heim used “Adam Sorg” for his screen name in the other Herschell Gordon Lewis film he was in, Moonshine Mountain. Here he is Don Joseph.

He gives a spirited, idiosyncratic performance. And this really sells the whole film.

According to producer David F Friedman, the demand for gore films faded. It didn’t make sense to produce more. It’s also worth noting that both Friedman and Lewis must have been wealthy at this point.

But Color Me Blood Red delivers. It is still very much a Lewis-Friedman production with ugly design, mostly amateur acting, and lots of gorgeous gore. All psychotronic fans should watch it at least once. And today is the day given it was released exactly 60 years ago!

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Color Me Blood Red (1965) poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Paramount Home Video released Puppet Master on 12 October 1989. It was one of the earliest Full Moon Features releases. At that time, they weren’t distributing films. But they would soon.

I’ll be honest. I’m not a huge fan of the original Puppet Master. Puppet Master II is better. The third film, Toulon’s Revenge, is the best. And it created a franchise of 15 films — every one of them at least watchable. I know of no other franchise that is so dependable. But Full Moon is good at that. The reason I’m not fond of most of their other franchises is that I don’t much care for the bases of them. That would include Evil Bong and The Gingerdead Man.

But Puppet Master does a great job of setting up the base characters: the puppets. Blade, Jester, Pinhead, and Leech Woman are iconic. The only really memorable one who wasn’t in the first film is Six Shooter (who appeared in the third film).

The problem with Puppet Master is that they kill off André Toulon (William Hickey) at the beginning of the film. Unfortunately, he’s a great character. And the franchise has spent a great deal of energy to bring him back from the dead — either by creating prequels or through metaphysics.

The plot of the film is pretty simple. It is basically an Old Dark House film. People come to a remote place and start dying. (I know that isn’t what happens in the original or remake, but it’s what the format has become.) And all the murders are done by adorable puppets. What’s not to like?!

So let’s celebrate the first film of this amazing film franchise by watching it! After that, watch the third film. Then watch the seventh film. And you’ll be golden!

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Puppet Master poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Bryanston Distributing Company released The Texas Chain Saw Massacre in the United States on 11 October 1974.

This was unfortunate for the filmmakers, Bryanston, mostly due to incompetence, squandered the vast majority of profits. As I recall, Gunnar Hansen only ended up with a couple of thousand dollars. But such is the business of filmmaking. It ain’t pretty.

The film went on to spawn at least 8 other films. Most of them marginally successful. But they really don’t make a lot of sense. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre wasn’t great because of the amazing characters and backstory. In fact, I find these relatively weak. I’ve spent decades trying to figure out just why the film works so well.

I still don’t really know. There are two things that I return to.

1. The production design is fantastic. The house alone is creepy in the extreme. It really couldn’t be better.
2. Leatherface is a wonderful character because of his consternation. People keep coming to his house and he has to deal with it. Imagine a butcher who has random cows coming into his house and you get the idea. His behavior later in the film is far less interesting but that section has a lot of dramatic momentum.

At this point, I don’t watch the film. I’ve seen it a lot. See my article, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre vs The Happening: Comparison of Two Scenes. But now? I still love Tobe Hooper. But if I’m in the mood, I’ll watch The Funhouse or Spontaneous Combustion. And sometimes Eaten Alive. (I sometimes think Eaten Alive is his best film. There are times when nothing else but it satisfies.)

My point is that there are far too many derivative works. And not enough people have seen the original. And if you have managed not to see it on its 51st birthday, now is the time!

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Texas Chain Saw Massacre poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.