Halloween '26: Group Photo #25

    I was surprised to find the soundtracks to 1975's Deep Red and 1977's Suspiria on LP at Half Price Books last January. These are from Cinevox's economical "Ciak" soundtrack line. Ciak is Italian for "clapperboard," hence the jackets' artwork. The music's score was written and performed by the Italian progressive rock group Goblin.

    

    I was also surprised that I hadn't updated my Suspiria media to a Blu-ray. Apparently I'm still rocking the three-disc DVD set from Anchor Bay. I'll have to fix that. But I'm keeping the Bay set. It has the soundtrack on CD.

    The third surprise was find a media press book inside the Suspiria sleeve. There is ten pages of black and white promotional materials including poster artwork, stills from the movie, and ad copy. Maybe the LP was part of the promotion? You never know. what you can find inside a used LP. 

    Also, whoever came up with the creepy veiny-heart letter font was a genius. 

Halloween '26: Group Photo #24

    In this movie from 1988, the Black Roses are a  group of demons posing as a heavy metal band. They put on a show at their hometown high school and prove that the protesting PTA was right and that metal music really is evil… umm… what?

    From IMDB’s trivia: "Sir Patrick Stewart said in an interview that when he finished reading the script [for 2015’s Green Room] at his country home in England, it was so terrifying, that he locked up his house, turned on the security system, and poured himself a Scotch.” I’ve said this before. Stewart’s performance is absolutely evil in this movie.

    1988’s Lady in White is an independent film that was directed, produced, written, and scored by Frank LaLoggia. Set in upstate New York in 1962, the film does a great job of giving off a small town Halloween vibe. "The New York Times movie critic Caryn James praised the film stating that: 'Here are the bones of an ordinary ghost story. But the writer and director Frank LaLoggia brings them to life with exceptional vitality... The extended Scarlatti family—warm, funny, so real they make the characters in Moonstruck seem like impostors... Mr. LaLoggia creates an unusual, effective child's-eye-view of a sinister wide world, a restless afterlife, and the comforts of family.’” (Wikipedia).

    2015’s The Blackout’s Daughter is the directorial debut of Osgood Perkins, son of Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates in Psycho). This movie was featured the “Hidden Gems” episode in Shudder’s second season of “Horror Greatest.” 

    Today’s theme is "more movies with colors in the title," and yay!, today is also National Horror Movie Day. I got a halftime marching band show to help with tonight, but I'll find something to watch when I eventually get home.

Halloween '26: Group Photo # 23

    Black Sunday is the directorial debut of the great Mario Bava. Directors Francis Ford Coppola (1992’s Dracula) and Richard Donner (1976’s The Omen) both incorporated recreated scenes from Black Sunday into their films in honor and homage to Bava. Director Tim Burton has stated in interviews that Black Sunday is his favorite horror film.

    AIP renamed Mario Bava's 1963 Italian film Black Sabbath hoping to recreate the success of Black Sunday. Hoping to recreate the crowds that this scary movie was bringing in, the British band Earth renamed themselves Black Sabbath, decided to make scary music, and the rest is heavy metal history.

    Mario Bava basically invented the giallo genre with 1964’s Blood and Black Lace. 

    1971’s Black Belly of the Tarantula is a giallo with quite a few connections to the Bond films. The film features Claudine Auger (Thunderball), Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me), Barbara Bouchet (1967’s Casino Royale), and Giancarlo Giannini (2006’s Casino Royale and 2008’s Quantum of Solace).

 
    1981’s The Black Cat is a loose interpretation of the short story by Edgar Allen Poe. Spoiler Alert! The cat wins… sorta.

    Today’s theme is Italian movies with black in the title. Why Not? It's National Color Day, and in my world black is a color.

Halloween '26: Group Photo #22

     I’m still quoting Jim Vorel’s article, “The 25 Best Werewolf Movies of All Time”.

 
    2014’s Wolfcop is ranked at #15, "More than anything, you feel a very genuine love for the utter ridiculousness of the premise. It’s a film that people clearly enjoyed the hell out of making, which makes that fun infectious to the viewer."—Jim Vorel
 
    2017’s Another Wolfcop (“Dirtier. Hairier.”) didn’t make the top 25 list, but it’s still low budget fun. A Kevin Smith cameo is always a plus.
 
    2020’s Wolf of Snow Hollow is ranked at #10, "The wry, snappy banter gives The Wolf of Snow Hollow a prickly skin, and the restrained application of FX gives it tension. At just under 80 minutes, that economy is key. It’s not so much that the horror is elevated as controlled." —Jim Vorel
 
    1989’s The Wolf's Hour is a World War II horror novel by Robert R. McCammon. Michael Gallatin is a British secret agent who goes behind German lines to stop a secret weapon from being launched against the Allies. Oh, Gallatin is also a werewolf who can change at will. (Robert R. McCammon also wrote 1991’s Boy’s Life, and for that I will be eternally grateful to him.)

    Today's theme is werewolves and uniforms.

     You can click on the title of the article to read the complete descriptions for each film. 

Halloween '26: Group Photo #21

  I enjoy reading Paste magazine. I had an actual magazine subscription before they went completely online, and I still get their newsletters. They posted the article/ list "The 25 Best Werewolf Movies of All Time" last October, and I wanted to see where some of the movies I own ranked, if at all. 

    All the following quotes were written by Paste staff writer Jim Vorel

The Wolfman in yesterday’s post is ranked #17, “…an absurdly large $150 million budget pushed it into being the marketed as the blockbuster it should have never attempted to be. But you can still do far worse in the werewolf movie canon.”

             Bad Moon in last Sunday’s post about “Final Dogs” is ranked at #9, "Why the filmmakers used any of the atrocious CGI you’ll see in the transformation scene is beyond me, given how spectacular the actual suit looks. Don’t sleep on Bad Moon—it’s the best werewolf movie you’ve never heard of."

            Last Friday's An American Werewolf in London is at #1, and deservedly so, “The film lulls you into comfort with its witticism before springing shocking, gory dream sequences on the viewer, which repeatedly arrive unannounced. The key moment is the protagonist’s incredibly painful, traumatic full transformation, set to the crooning of Sam Cooke doing “Blue Moon,” which is still unsurpassed in the history of the genre. 

            Here’s four more movies from the top 25:

           1974’s The Beast Must Die (on laserdisc) is ranked at #24, "Near the end, this goofy flick even features a 30-second “Werewolf Break,” where the audience is asked to guess the wolf’s identity."

           1943’s Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (on DVD) is ranked at #8, "It can’t stand up against the better entries in the Frankenstein series, or the original Wolf Man, but there’s no substitute for seeing two of the original monster icons go toe-to-toe.” 

           2002’s Dog Soldiers (on DVD) made it to #4, "If someone ever asks me to venture an opinion on the best-looking practical effects/full-body werewolf suits used in a feature-length horror film, the choice of Dog Soldiers will be an easy one to make.”

           1981’s The Howling (on DVD) is up at #3, "1981 happens to be the best year in the history of werewolf cinema, thanks to three films: An American Werewolf in London, The Howling and Wolfen. Of those, The Howling can’t quite compete with the macabre humor and budget of John Landis’ British werewolf classic, but it still ranks among the best lycanthrope movies of all time.”

    You can click on the title of the article to read the complete descriptions for each film. 

Halloween '26: Group Photo #20

    2010's Wolfman disappointed at the box office despite earning Rick Baker another Academy Award for Best Makeup (his first was for An American Werewolf in London) and using David Lee Roth and Gene Simmons for some of the Wolfman's howls. 

    Had Wolfman earned better numbers, Werewolf: The Beast Among Us would have been a theatrical prequel. It was retooled into a stand alone, direct-to-video release. That's too bad, but this is still a very watchable film.

    Dean Koontz's 1973 novel, A Werewolf Among Us, is mystery/ science fiction mashup. Not really horror, but with that title, c'mon, I had to put it on the shelf.

Halloween '26: Group Photo #19

     Today's shelf theme is "final dogs*." I'm not even sure if that's a thing.

    In Bad Moon (1995) Thor is a very good boy.   

    In Crawl (2019), Sugar is a very good girl.

    In Good Boy (2025), Indy is a very good boy.

    In The Lost Boys (1987), Nanook is a very good boy.

    *No fictional dogs were harmed in the making of this post.

Halloween '26: Group Photo #18

    We had TWO different marching band competitions to help with today, and right now I'm spent. It's 12:17 AM in Johnston, Iowa. So, I'm giving myself a softball shelf tonight. No movies and no comments. Maybe I'll add comments tomorrow... doubt it.

Halloween '26: Group Photo # 17

    When it comes to horror/comedy, 1981's An American Werewolf in London is a masterclass in both.

  "A naked American man stole my balloons." is one of the best lines of dialogue in cinema.

    Obligatory inclusion of Warren Zevon's album, Excitable Boy, on CD. It contains his only top 40 hit "Werewolves in London". Zevon wrote it in 15 minutes with some friends. I plan to use this album again in another group photo.

    "Will the Wolf Survive?" is a song from 1984 by Los Lobos. In literal terms, in regards to the movie, no, he can't. 

    

    The DVD's insert sports a really popular image for the film.

    I like how the Chicago band, Local H, paid homage to the that picture on one of their Pack up the Cats concert posters. This hangs in my basement. It looks better in person.

Halloween '26: Group Photo #16

  1997’s Mimic was directed by Guillermo del Toro. I was surprised to learn that. I thought the movie was okay when I first saw Mimic back in the day. It's certainly nothing like his other productions that came later. Turns out Miramax had really messed with the final edit, like adding all kinds of secondary unit scenes, and the end result was disowned by the director. Fifteen years later del Toro used the original footage to reassemble the film into something close to what he had envisioned. This is that version: Mimic “The Director’s Cut” on Blu-ray. 

Mimic 2 came out in 2001, and Mimic (3): Sentinel was released in 2003. Both films were direct-to-video productions. Of the two, and neither is great, I think #3 is more interesting. That can happen with B-movie trilogies. The second film tries to be more of the the same, but by the third one the filmmakers feel like they can throw out the rulebook. #3 is basically Rear Window but with giant cockroaches. AND #3 stars Lance Henriksen. AND he’s awesome.

The soundtrack for Mimic was released on Record Store Day in 2022. The LP’s fold-out jacket opens to reveal a giant Judas Breed insect hiding inside. The vinyl is a dirty, dark green, of course.

One of the unintended consequences of organizing these group photos is that it gives me the chance to make some space on my shelves. I’m looking at the DVDs of Mimic 2 and 3 and thinking, Yeah, you were fun to find, but it is time to let the next person have that fun. Into the donation box you go.