Scarecrow's Blog From the Darkside

The 60s classic sci-fi series was revived twice, once in the mid 80s and later in 2002-2003. While I can briefly recall a memory of the show’s return to television and my excited knowledge of it, it wasn’t until 2009 (I had assumed it was earlier, but just the same…), when it debuted on Chiller, that I could truly get an idea of how it compares to my favorite television show of all time. I will also be watching the 02-03 revival for the first time. Tragic, heart-wrenching episode of the 80s revival of Serling’s Twilight Zone has the great Richard Mulligan (Empty Nest) offering a sympathetic agonized father of a special-needs kid dealing with a child-like mind, equipped with the power to summon objects using brain power. If the kid looks at a book with images, all he has to do is mentally yearn for them and they appear!  Mulligan’s weary and tired wife, played by Anne Haney (many of us 80s/90s kids know her quite well; my own most memorable part of hers came i...

The 60s classic sci-fi series was revived twice, once in the mid 80s and later in 2002-2003. While I can briefly recall a memory of the show’s return to television and my excited knowledge of it, it wasn’t until 2009 (I had assumed it was earlier, but just the same…), when it debuted on Chiller, that I could truly get an idea of how it compares to my favorite television show of all time. I will also be watching the 02-03 revival for the first time. “If she dies…” is part of a double-story episode first season (along with “Ye Gods”), fifth overall. I’m a fan of Tony Lo Bianco from the wonderfully odd Larry Cohen film, God Told Me To.  Here he’s a widower facing the horrible possible inevitable loss of his daughter after a kid doing a wheelie on his bike in the middle of a street causes Tony to swerve into a parked car in a neighborhood on the way to work/school. While she lies at the point of death, comatose, Tony’s girl (Andrea Barber, the annoying pa...

Normally around mid-to-late August, I start developing ideas for which movies I'll bundle together in October. Watching biographical docs on Manson and his victims, sadly a special on Sharon Tate inspired one of my first choices to open October this year: Fearless Vampire Hunters. I'm thinking about getting back into the old Dark Shadows soap, so I decided on perhaps House of Dark Shadows as a second film. In the past, as tradition, I watch Dracula's Daughter, but not this year. I'm thinking House of Dracula or House of Frankenstein. I had intended to revisit Dan Curtis' Trilogy of Terror and Dead of Night in June, but never got around to it. Now I'm thinking they would be ideal for October this year. Last October was the shits. Working night shift, I was unable to fully appreciate the month as so planned. Still, I did watch a lot of movies. Two newbies I thought about including this year: The Midnight Hour & Trick or Treat, both cult 80s movies I've...

To understand the depths Joffrey sink, she sends her guards (the same guards who slaughtered Ned's entourage) to massacre children/infants possibly bastards to her dead husband, the murdered king, so his place as royal of King's Landing would be unencumbered. Stannis Baratheon is motivated by the letter Ned provided to him detailing an incest breed currently considered the next king, fully prepared, however he must, even if that means abandoning the gods he once served in favor of another, brought to him by a witch named Melisandre. "The North Remembers" features these details while "The Night Lands" shows how Tyrion understands how critical a mistake killing Ned and butchering innocent babies are, wholly realizing that his sister will stoop to horrible lengths in order to have her child on the throne and in charge. Even if the little creep takes a slap after insulting her and his father's numerous affairs, warning her of the consequences if it happens a...

Game of Thrones episode one, season two

The obvious thought came to me as I was taking a shower regarding the poor Stark family, split apart across Westeros since their patriarch lost his head in first season's "Baelor" at wicked Joffrey's command: in Game of Thrones, pain and anguish befalls the honorable and the wicked. In "The North Remembers", you have Robb and mother, Lady Stark, arranging a possible trade/exchange with Lannister-ran King's Landing. The daughters, Arya and Sansa, returned and Winterfell granted independence from the seven kingdoms. Arya is sought after for her value as a bargaining chip while Sansa is betrothed to Joffrey, obedient and cautiously subservient. Sansa rescues a drunk from execby convincing Joffrey he'd be better served as a fool to laugh at for the king's amusement. Sansa disavows her surviving members as traitors when returning Tyrion offers condolences to her for Ned's execution. What other choice does she have? Robb has Jaime as a prisoner and...

I'm kicking off a Game of Thrones bender, starting with second season opener, The North Remembers. Damn good beginning to the slate of episodes, methinks! Westeros, the seven kingdoms, up for grabs with Lady Stark opining that everyone's a king these days. The power struggle, with whore parlor magnate, Lord Baelish, doting to Cersei about what knowledge (her incestuous love affair with brother, Jaime, starting to gain momentum outside (and, frankly, inside) King's Landing) has, with her threatening his life through son Joffrey's guards a significant demonstration in itself.

Sometimes a vacation can cleanse the pallet. A break from the norm. A means to separate one's self from how awful things are at the moment. On the last leg of our family vacation, we went by Jackson, Tennessee's Hollywood 16. Horror--especially PG-13--in the Summer has become quite an investment. We were in the mood for hopefully a chill or two and checked out Warner Brothers / New Line's new release, Light's Out (2016), a disposable but moderately diverting chiller which is over in a hurry (80 minutes). A ghost (well, I'd say evil entity), that uses the dark to eliminate anyone who threatens her existence, destroys a business owner of a textile company and we soon learn that it is tied to a clinically depressed mother with a history of mental illness. Her estranged daughter is forced to revisit a troubled past which includes a father who seemed to have left her and mom behind. Teresa Palmer returns to the horror genre after a near three year absence, last s...