Sharktopus premiered on SyFy on 25 September 2010. Roger & Julie Corman produced two shark-themed films for the channel that year. Dinoshark was the other, which premiered six months earlier.

CGI shark films more or less started with Deep Blue Sea, a mostly forgettable film except for the scene where Samuel L Jackson almost gives his great rallying speech. This led to Shark Attack and its two sequels. And then there were roughly yearly TV or direct-to-video films.

As far as I know, Sharktopus is the film that sent the monster shark film in a new direction. Nothing was off the table! And this led directly to Sharknado and Sharkansas Women’s Prison Massacre.

What’s annoying is that these films are generally pretty boring. Sharkansas is an outlier but these films tend to feature stock characters with dusty plots rendered with minimal design and uneven acting.

Sharktopus suffers worse than most in this regard. The romantic subplot makes me want to gouge my eyes out. Eric Roberts really shines here, but that’s hardly surprising. Kerem Bürsin was at the start of his career but was already excellent. The rest of the cast is weak and made to look all the weaker compared to these two.

On the plus side, the film uses its CGI monster a lot. So you are never far from seeing another attack. And its final explosion is pretty great. The problem is that the CGI that worked well at the beginning of the film becomes increasingly less believable. And its size changes a lot from shot to shot.

But it’s such a ridiculous idea that you can’t help but find it entertaining. And just imagine as the hero and heroine leave that in a year they will have a very nasty divorce and both wish they had been killed by the sharktopus.

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Sharktopus poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Rogue Pictures released Shaun of the Dead in the United States on 24 September 2004. It premiered six months earlier in London.

It is a great film. But I’ve never adored it the way my friends do. I’m not quite sure why it doesn’t excite me. I can make a great case for it. And I can make no case against it. But don’t get me wrong. I like it. That’s also true of The World’s End. So it may just be that I am crazy for Hot Fuzz. Everything Edgar Wright did pales in comparison to Hot Fuzz.

Shaun of the Dead started it all. Wright did make a feature film ten years earlier, A Fistful of Fingers. But it didn’t get distributed. And it didn’t make it to the US until after the success of Shaun.

It may just be me, but Shaun of the Dead is mixed up in my mind with Dead Alive. Obviously, the films are very different. But the tone is the same. And they are both kind of sweet in their ways. But I’d love to hear from others. Maybe I’m just a bit twisted.

Anyway, I don’t have that much to say about the film. It’s about as good as any horror comedy. And I still really enjoy it. I just don’t rant about it like some people I could name. Here’s a free copy to watch!

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Shaun of the Dead poster via IMDB under Fair Use.

Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta was born on 23 September 1917. We know him as El Santo. That is “The Saint” in English. He was a classic babyface in professional wrestling. Of course, we never saw his face! We care about him because he starred in over 50 films — over half of them with his name in the title.

El Santo pumped out the films. He made 22 in the 1960s alone. He increased this to 26 for the next decade. But he only managed five films in the 1980s — largely because he died in 1984.

Wrestling pictures were popular in Mexico in the 1950s. Filmmakers first combined wrestling with the supernatural in The Curse of the Aztec Mummy, as far as I know. But the sequel The Robot vs the Aztec Mummy didn’t repeat the gimmick. And that left the door open to El Santo to dominate the genre starting 4 years later.

Almost all El Santo films unfold the same way:

1. Something strange and frightening happens
2. The authorities are flummoxed and so ask the masked wrestler for help (as you do)
3. Santo investigates and also continues to wrestle because… Priorities!
4. He gets into a sticky situation that he escapes from
5. He confronts the villain and generally wrestles them.

If this is giving you serious Batman TV show vibes, well, exactly! It’s just that Santo’s costume is much less ridiculous!

Sadly, only a handful of El Santo’s films were dubbed into English. And even more sadly, I haven’t been able to find any of them. Not that it really matters. You don’t watch these films for the dialogue. To celebrate El Santo’s birthday, let’s watch Santo vs the Zombies.

The film starts with the requisite 12 minutes of straight wrestling. Then we learn about Professor Rutherford who was studying zombies in Haiti before he disappeared. Some zombies show up and steal a bunch of jewelry. At that point, there is nothing for the authorities to do but call Santo. But first: 5 more minutes of wrestling! It only gets more exciting from there. And you will never believe the surprising ending! (That’s sarcasm; it’s obvious from the start.)

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El Santo via Gobierno CDMX. It is in the public domain.

New Line Cinema released Seven (or the unfortunately stylized Se7en) internationally on 22 September 1995. It premiered a week earlier in New York City.

New Line was skeptical of it based on test audiences. But it came out of the gate at the top of the pack its first weekend — at least partly because it was up against Showgirls and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. But it stayed at the top for four weeks, besting some strong competition like Devil in a Blue Dress and Assassins.

I really like Seven. I’m kind of surprised that it was so popular. Those underwhelmed test audiences were probably right. This film isn’t even a mystery but, like a mystery, it works largely as a puzzle. Of course, the Envy piece doesn’t work. It is tossed off with a line of dialogue. And ultimately the ending makes no sense. But it seems like it does!

Why do I like it? Probably the life in Hell feel of the whole thing. I’m not a huge David Fincher fan. But he has a great eye. I’m a big defender of Alien 3. It’s masterful and a wonderful film.

And Kevin Spacey is perfectly cast as the smug little psychopath. Morgan Freeman played the kind of role we white people just love to see him in since he busted out of The Electric Company. And Brad Pitt is, well, a very believable cop.

While I still think most people like it because of the clean ending, Seven is a film for all psychotronic fans to cherish. It is a very compelling film.

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Seven image taken from Wikipedia under Fair Use.

Ricki Lake is 57 today. She was born on 21 September 1968.

Today, people think of her as a TV host. She hosted Ricki Lake for 11 seasons from 1993 through 2004. And later she hosted The Ricki Lake Show for one season starting in 2012. I haven’t seen either. That’s just not my kind of thing.

I know Lake because of John Waters. You couldn’t miss her in Hairspray. She made that film work. It never would have worked without a charismatic lead. She had smaller roles in Cry-Baby and Cecil B Demented.

But I’m highlighting her for one reason: she was in my favorite John Waters film, Serial Mom. What’s not to like?! She kills her son’s math teacher because he complains about the boy’s “unhealthy obsession with sick horror films.”

The film makes me feel seen since most of my friends do not understand my obsession with horror. I don’t have a simple reason for why I like them. But the thing is: no one expects anyone to justify their love of comedy, romance, art, or any other kind of film. I’m not sure why people think horror needs an excuse.

Sadly, the gore in Serial Mom is tame in the extreme. The goriest thing in the film is on the TV where the son and his friends are watching Blood Feast. It also features the opening of the Doris Wishman classic Double Agent 73, starring Chesty Morgan. Say what you will about Waters, he is a psychotronic fan!

Lake has a relatively small role in the film, but she takes a part without a lot of potential and turns it into something special.

Ultimately, I’m glad Serial Mom exists. It is a film that provides a tiny amount of insight into why people love odd films. Part of it is so we can mock how bad the blood looks in a gore film. And part of it is enjoying the fake blood in a gore film.

But if you’ve never seen it, you should watch Serial Mom now:

You can listen to the commentary featuring Kathleen Turner and John Waters.

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Ricki Lake via Wikipedia. It is in the public domain.

Character actor William Finley was born on 20 September in 1940. He died at the age of 71 in 2012.

The weird thing about William Finley is that most people know his face. He had a very distinctive face. But he was in relatively few films. It’s just that he played notable characters in interesting films.

Two notable directors are strongly associated with Finley: Brian De Palma and Tobe Hooper.

He was in three of Hooper’s films: Eaten Alive, The Funhouse, and Night Terrors. He has small but notable parts in each. His role as Marco The Magnificent in The Funhouse is my favorite. Shout Factory released this scene to publicize its release — which is excellent. (It includes a 3-minute audio-only interview with Finley.)

Here is the scene:

(I don’t know why Shout Factory labels this video, “The Worst Magician Ever.” This is an effective trick with an outstanding performance. I love it!)

But William Finley had a much closer relationship with Brian De Palma. He was in eight of his films — mostly (again) small but notable roles. The major exception is Phantom of the Paradise, where he plays the title character.

What can I say about this film that I haven’t already said? I know! The music is much better than it was in Rockula. Now there’s a hot take!

So let’s celebrate William Finley’s birthday (and De Palma’s just eight days ago) by watching Phantom of the Paradise:

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William Finley cropped from image at Celebrities Pictures under Fair Use.

Adam West was born on 19 September in 1928. He died back in 2017 at the age of 88.

People know West almost exclusively for the 1960s Batman show. People still thought of that character when they saw him doing guest appearances on TV or hearing his voice as the mayor on Family Guy. But he did have an impressive career outside of the show.

He played small guest roles on various TV shows during the late 1950s and early 1960s. This led to a regular part on The Detectives in its third season. His career continued on after that as it had. And then came Batman.

William Dozier was the creator of the series. He wanted to make a feature film to generate interest in the show. That was not unheard of in those days. But he didn’t get his wish. Rather, during the first run of the first season, the film was shot. It was released shortly after the end of the first season.

When I was a kid, I watched Batman every day after school. But I wasn’t a huge fan of it. I thought it was pretty silly. It was only as an adult that the silliness became a positive. What’s more, as superhero films and TV have become so big, I see Batman as a kind of eternal critique of the genre:

Superheroes are fundamentally silly and trying to make them serious makes them stupid.

Unfortunately, I don’t find free copies of the Batman TV series sitting around on the net. So let’s celebrate Adam West’s birthday by watching the 1966 movie, Batman. It’s a lot of fun!

Want to see Adam West as a bad guy? Check him out in Zombie Nightmare!

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Image cropped from Adam West at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con by ovoviviparous under CC BY-SA 2.0.

The Addams Family premiered on 18 September in 1964. The Munsters premiered just six days later.

This means The Addams Family was on Friday nights and The Munsters was on Thursday nights. The networks (ABC and CBS) seem to have been careful not to compete with each other. What’s more, it appears that neither show was copying the other. But the creators of The Munsters were partly inspired by the Charles Addams cartoons.

When I was a kid, I liked both shows. But I preferred The Munsters. This is hardly surprising. It’s a kids’ show. Herman is effectively a kid (as all the best TV dads are). Of course, things were different when I revisited them as an adult. My prior favorite was so broad and silly that it just didn’t connect. But I love la famille Addams to this day. And frankly, I don’t think any of the films quite capture it — even though many of them are wonderful in their own ways.

Our societal opinions about the shows are the same as mine. The Munsters did much better in the ratings. But over time, it’s The Addams Family that everyone loves.

It is true that Rob Zombie made a filmed version. And he did a good job! He really understands the source material. But that doesn’t mean it’s terribly enjoyable. Meanwhile, there have been a number of excellent Addams Family films.

Note: Don’t talk to me about Wednesday. I started watching it. The opening at the pool was great. The rest?! The show seems based more on Jenna Ortega’s red carpet appearances than on the original show. The producers clearly had an idea of what they wanted to do and so they grabbed some existing intellectual property to sell it.

I’ve owned The Addams Family: The Complete Series on DVD since it came out. But you don’t need to. The entire show is available on Archive (season one and season two). Unfortunately, I can’t embed it. It defaults to the Russian language track. So go there, download the AVI files and you should be good.

Here is an embed with the first episode “The Addams Family Goes to School.”

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The Addams Family DVD cover via IMDB under Fair Use.

Roddy McDowall was born on 17 September in 1928. He has almost 300 credits on IMDB. Of course, he started young. But he worked a lot.

To me, and to most people, McDowall is the Planet of the Apes films. He was in all of the films but one. And he starred in the TV series.

What is that missing film? Sadly, he wasn’t in the best of the films: Beneath the Planet of the Apes. Instead, he was off directing The Devil’s Widow. It’s not bad! But McDowall must not have enjoyed the experience. He never directed again.

Outside of the Apes films, I know Roddy McDowall for playing smart but villainous characters. For example, he was great as Bookworm in the 1960s Batman TV universe.

But he also got more normal roles. Psychotronic fans should definitely check him out in The Twilight Zone episode, “People Are Alike All Over.”

But as I’ve indicated, I’m all about the apes. So today, we will watch the original Planet of the Apes. But here are links to everything:

• Planet of the Apes
• Beneath the Planet of the Apes (Does not feature McDowall)
• Escape From the Planet of the Apes
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes
• TV Series

Happy birthday Roddy McDowall!

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Roddy McDowell by Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Anne Francis was born on 7 September 1930 in western New York. She died 80 years later of cancer in a retirement home in Southern California.

It’s hard not to hear the name Anne Francis and not think of Forbidden Planet. For one thing, the song “Science Fiction/Double Feature” explicitly mentions her. But it isn’t much of a role. She was the love interest for Leslie Nielsen. On the other hand, for the time, her character has an edge. And Francis is excellent in the role.

Despite some leading roles, she never really became a star. She had a fairly typical career for a character actor. This included roles in film and television. She was a very capable actor with a great screen presence. She performed on pretty much every TV show you could name from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s: My Three Sons, Gunsmoke, Columbo, Cannon, Ironside, Kung Fu, Barnaby Jones, Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Quincy, ME, Dallas, Fantasy Island, CHiPs, Simon & Simon, The Love Boat, Matlock, The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, Home Improvement, The Drew Carey Show, and so many more.

Anne Francis was truly a star once. She played the title character in the short-run TV series Honey West. It wasn’t short-lived for bad reasons. John C Fredriksen, author of Honey West, gave an interview with The Rap Sheet where he said there were two reasons the show was canceled:

The first was programming. The biggest hit on Friday nights turned out to be none other than Gomer Pyle, USMC — it literally clobbered all the competition. The second was money: ABC decided that they could dress Diana Rigg up in black leather and have her beat up guys for less money than they were shelling out for Honey West.

ABC apparently replaced the show with The Avengers from the UK.

The show is fun. Francis plays Honey West, a private detective who is a sexy badass. Shows like this always make me smile because for years I’ve been hearing manosphere/incel types complain every time there’s a film with a powerful woman. They really do think this is all new. But shows like this have existed for a very long time. And the same kind of reactionaries back then said the same things.

Archive provides the entire series (including the character’s introduction in an episode of Burke’s Law). Here is the first episode of the show:

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Anne Francis photo via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.