Monster of the Day #2006

Updated on September 30, 2019 By Ken Begg 14 Comments

Sigh, I guess I had to return to the real world at some point. T-Fest 2019 was successful as usual, we really have this down after 15 years (and 25 shows counting the spring editions). The first movie was Hanging for Django, which proved the first of several Euro genre films we watched while I was down there that suffered from severe pacing issues. Lots of stuff happened, but nothing seemed to move forward in any way. It was honestly a bit of a slog. However, things picked up significantly with the second film, the silent old dark house flick Cat and the Canary. That one movies very well indeed for a silent film, and everyone seemed quite entertained.

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  • I may be in the minority, but I actually find this one rather tedious (and I am generally well-disposed towards silent cinema), the “comedy” is so forced as to irritate the heck out of me. Then again, I mostly find the whole old dark house genre to not be to my taste, so that may play into it.

  • bgbear_rnh

    Title card : “Scream!”

  • Gamera977

    Is he supposed to be a monster or in a costume to gaslight the young lady?

  • zombiewhacker

    Speaking of movie festivals, it’s October now, and that means horror movie marathons on Turner Classic Movies.

    What’s particularly newsworthy is that this time around TCM is dedicating October to its Star of the Month…

    Godzilla!!!

    Starting October 4th, expect new Godzilla and Toho flicks every Friday night, starting off with Godzilla, King of the Monsters. In coming weeks, rarities like Godzilla Raids Again and War of the Gargantuas will accompany the usual Rodan/Ghidrah mashups.

    Also scheduled this month are plenty of cult items like Suspiria, Sugar Hill, Blacula, and Black Sabbath. I know this announcement probably means less to Ken, who IIRC cut the cable cord many years ago, but to anyone else out there who’s an occasional TCM watcher like me, this month is a good time to check your TV listings.

  • zombiewhacker

    Does that include haunted house flicks, too, or just killer-in-a-dark-house movies like this one?

  • Depends on the movie, I suppose, but so many haunted house movies turn out to *really* be old dark house movies (welcome to the Scooby Doo plot, years early) that they fall into a lot of the same traps. I like the ones that take themselves seriously, I adore The Haunting and thought The Conjuring was a pretty nifty film as well.

  • October is about the only time I miss cable. Although Comet ran a big Godzilla marathon just this weekend, and we get that OTA.

  • Mike Weller

    If ya can tolerate the commercials…more than Godzilla has enemies!

  • joeybot

    The funny thing about TCM and the other channels showing horror marathons is, I own most of the stuff they’re showing, I could watch them at any time and in better quality and no commercials. But there’s something to just turning on the tv and letting the programmers do their thing and let the shows play that I still like.

  • zombiewhacker

    Fortunately, TCM is commercial free and most films shown are in their proper aspect ratios. Still, given the choice between TCM and my own DVD collection, I prefer my DVDs for what should be obvious reasons.

    For example, even though TCM will be showing The Gorgon, Night of the Demon, and Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein this month, I needn’t bother myself there, since I already have those bases covered.

  • joeybot

    Oh yeah, TCM is but also doesn’t even show HD if I recall…and I gots the Blu Rays. But I wasn’t even just talking about TCM, I was meaning even AMC and stuff like that. Although for MY money, sometimes even better than the horror movies is watching like the Travel Channel and their Halloween programming, like about weird spooky places or the ones about different spook house attractions.

    But I guess to me it’s kind of fun to watch tv and just turn it on and leave it for six hours while I do other stuff and not have to change anything, and sometimes movies come on that I wouldn’t have thrown in myself.

  • Eric Hinkle

    I must somewhat grudgingly admit to liking The Conjuring and its sequels myself. I forget if I recommended it but you may like their latest film ‘The Curse of La Llorona’. Good film with some well-done scares. I also like their using an old Mexican ghost story for what feels like the first time in an American film.

  • Sounds like something I might enjoy. Thanks!

  • To not pay for it (directly), I’m usually willing to tolerate ads. Then I’m old enough (and country enough) to well remember the 3 networks and a PBS station on the rabbit ears era and watching all movies with ads, no exceptions except Matinee at the Bijou.

    I watch a lot of Pluto these days, ads or no. Completely free cable? Sign me up!