Monster of the Day #974

Ericb

It seems that Mr. Blaisdell knew how to push my childhood nightmare fuel buttons. Even my adult self finds this and yesterdays monster somewhat unnerving.

Eric Hinkle

I don’t even know what I’m looking at, but it’s revolting. Why do people keep saying that all those 50’s movies were nothing but cheese with no real frights?

bgbear_rnh

No to mention death, fire, loss, disillusionment, the end of everything that’s gone forward.

Beckoning Chasm

I’m guessing that’s an injectopod from the first version of “Zontar, the Thing from Venus.”

Flangepart

Futureama! Brought to you by: INJECTOPOD.

Andrew Kidd

“Why do people keep saying that all those 50’s movies were nothing but cheese with no real frights?”
Because unfortunately, they never bother to watch them in the first place, relying on parodies of them as representative of the real thing.

Rock Baker

Ah, sweet, wonderful IT CONQUERED THE WORLD! Long one of my very top favorites.

For trivia sake, these control devices also appeared in THE UNDEAD.

bgbear_rnh

Sadly, I cannot recall which one I saw first as a child. Being young sheilds you from Buchanan’s “short comings”.

Ken_Begg

To be fair, a lot of it is generational. Monsters don’t seem as big as they were when I was a kid. Children now, and I mean kids under 10, experience horror movies via Jason, Freddy and Michael M. Black and White inherently seems dumb to them, and raised on hyperactive pacing and gruesome but realistic effects, old monster movies seem dull and goofy to them.

I don’t have kids, but I would have made a priority of exposing them to these movies at a young age, as I first saw them, and let them age a bit more before allowing them to watch gorier fare.

Acethepug

Agreed. I don’t recall where I read it, but someone mentioned that a child watching Raiders of the Lost Ark today would find the pace staid and plodding.

I saw it in theaters when I was ten, it was a breathtaking pace — to me. And I also grew up watching the b&w movies on Creature Double Feature (WLVI 56 in Boston).

Heck, my dad would get my younger brother and I up in the wee hours so we could watch the original King Kong with him, such a treat!

Sad that it IS generational like that :(

Rock Baker

Another fallacy this kind of behavior continues to spread is the notion that women in said films were always relegated to some role of subjugation or menial nothingness. In reality, women in 50’s science fiction films tended to be rather feisty, and almost always had a better handle on events than their male counterparts. Indeed, this remains the case for women in all genres during the period.

Eric Hinkle

Yeah, but if you try telling someone that it’s “No, No, they were all sexist, the women in 50’s SF were all screaming airheads, you obviously don’t know anything about it.”

The Rev.

That’s correct, and apparently for no other reason than because Corman wanted to reuse the props. Seriously, they change into actual animals the entire movie…except when they turn into these things. Really odd decision.

Andrew Kidd

Sad but true. Fortunately, my niece (pictured here) will get a good dose of the classics courtesy of my brother and I, despite my sister-in-law’s protests not to have a “nerd for a daughter”.

Andrew Kidd

Yup. Just check out Beverley Garland’s role and performance in this pic and NOT OF THIS EARTH, as well as Gloria Talbott in I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE, Margaret Sheridan in THE THING or even Anne Francis in FORBIDDEN PLANET, who gives a surprisingly excellent, multilayered performance that improves with each viewing.

Flangepart

In short, “Don’t tell me I’m wrong. I’m a GENIUS!”
I liked those gals. Fem but smart. Not all caught up in pretending men and woman are the same, as in identical, rather than just approaching life from another angle.

Eric Hinkle

I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE? Ah, one of the great under-appreciated jewels of 50’s SF. Is it just me or did it n’ot only have some very well done female characters, but an alien invasion presented with greater moral complexity than “those movies” were ever supposed to have? I remember the aliens as being definitely the bad guys, but as showing some hesitation and even remorse at times over what they were doing.

As well as that one cheery alien, who told his reluctant buddies, “You can complain about the plan [to replenish their species by pretending to be humans and marrying earth women], personally I like some parts of it!”

Rock Baker

Or marine biologist Faith Domergue in IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, or electronics expert Mara Corday in THE GIANT CLAW, or research scientist Julia Adams in CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, or ichthyologist Lori Nelson in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE, etc, etc, etc….

Rock Baker

I recall that line ever so well “It CAN be fun.”

Yes indeed, a real gem. The flick also left it’s impact upon my tastes. Growing up seeing Gloria Talbott in that one, I still have a thing for petite brunettes in tight sweaters….

Flangepart

THEM…TARANTULA…Yeah, them gals was cool…and NOT anorexic!

GalaxyJane

My hyperactive 9 year old’s absolutely favorite movies right now are Raiders of the Lost Ark and its sequels, to the point where he is determined to be Indiana Jones for Halloween, so the person who said that was likely talking out of his hat.

My kids love old horror movies, but I’ve raised them on a steady diet of them since they were born, as my father did me.

Seriously, it’s a big deal in our house to stay up and watch Svengoolie on Saturday nights for the old Universal pics.

GalaxyJane

Heck I’d even take it back another generation, my goal is still to grow up to be Glenda Farrell in “Mystery of the Wax Museum”, feisty, fast talking, and hard drinkin’ (though I prefer tequila to gin).

Acethepug

That is awesome to hear, thanks for the smile :)

Petoht

That’s one of the worst things about the shifts I work: no Svengoolie.

GalaxyJane

We’ve only had him out here for a couple of years, since MeTV went national. he kids became immediate addicts.

Before that I hadn’t seen a horror host since Count Gore de Vol went off the air when I was a kid. Richmond just got a new local horror host about a year ago on the local PBS channel, but he’s no Sven.

Ken_Begg

I’m sure it will surprise folks to hear that I was watching the *original* Svengoolie, Jerry G. Bishop, on Screaming Yellow Theater back in the early ’70s. First he joined the show as a voice, then they showed still photos of him under his voiceovers, and finally he went, er, undead.

Rich Koz as a VERY young and thin man eventually resurrected the show as the Son of Svengoolie back when I was in high school. He’s been playing the character ever since, with a hiatus when Channel 32 became a Fox affiliate and his bringing the character to WCIU. He’s now been playing the character there far longer than at the original station.

My friend hooked me up with an antennae for free TV last week, and I’ve been wasting my time even more than usual watching the life five stations that show old TV shows. Also saw Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman on Sven this morning, and the show is EXACTLY the same as it was from the start. Koz obviously grew up just when I did, and like my rather limited appeal site here, his jokes are all references to stuff from 40 years or more ago.

Eric Hinkle

‘The five stations that show old TV shows’. Just so we can have a list, which are these? I think there may be some fans of classic TV around here.

GalaxyJane

I’m just trying to imagine what must be going through his head at this point, after spending 30 years as a strictly local TV phenomenon to going national after all those years, albeit on a fairly obscure channel.

I love all these digital subcarrier channels, they are about all I watch live TV on these days as I far prefer the old shows to the new ones, as do the kids. Although I still don’t know how I ended up with a 12 year old Gilligan’s Island addict living in my house in 2014.

If you get Bounce TV, keep an eye on their schedule, they show some great blaxploitation stuff, particularly on weekends.

Ken_Begg

MeTV, MeToo, UToo, Cozi TV and Antenna TV. Lots of old Westerns and Sitcoms, cop shows, etc.

Ken_Begg

I do get Bounce, and caught a couple of obscure movies already.

GalaxyJane

Yeah, Bounce is the only reason I’d already seen “Thomasina and Bushrod” before B-Fest last year.

Eric Hinkle

Well, we have MeTV around here for sure and I think Cozi and Antenna, so I’ll have to look for them. Thanks.

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