Spooky Season At Zayre

October Sales Circular
Zayre (1987)
This page from a Zayre sales circular was shared by Dinosaur Dracula last month.

The highlight for me is the ad at the bottom left corner for Friday The 13th, Deadly Friend, Fright Night, The Believer, A Nightmare On Elm Street 3, and Halloween on VHS for $16.99.

This is the candy that we all wanted to find in our bag after we were finished trick or treating... except maybe for the Smarties, which had about the same flavor as the packets of sugar on the table at the Blue Comet.  Also, I still say that Reese's Peanut Butter Cups tasted better when they came in a paper wrapper.

The Count Dracula Chocolate Flavored Candy at the top left of this part of the ad is the kind of thing that savvy kids would trade to their friends for their old boring Hershey and Snickers bars.  The package may be awesome, but they didn't usually taste very good.

Once in a while, there would be a seasonal goodie that you didn't want to give up, like these Alma Skull Crushers which oozed strawberry blood when you bit into them.  I don't think these are still sold in stores in the United States, but I was able to find them for sale on UK eBay and other online retailers under the name Hannah's Skull Crushers.

I was more of a rubber mask kid when it came to Halloween, but makeup was always a solid option.

These cardboard wall hangings sold for a buck and a half back in the 80's,  My grandmother used to wait and buy things like this when they went on sale after the holiday to put away for next year.  These old decorations are considerably more expensive when you can find them on eBay, especially if they're in good condition.

The last thing that caught my eye were these Halloween pinatas.  I can't say I ever remember seeing pinatas out for a Halloween party when I was a kid.  The witch in the center is giving off Viola Swamp vibes.

Frightful Fun

Halloween Body Stickers
Mello Smello (90's)
These were scanned and shared by Dinosaur Dracula earlier this year.

Listen To The Fear That's Gone

Picture Book
Simply Red  (1985)
The debut album from British pop group Simply Red was released forty years ago today.  It's not an album that I ever owned or that I'm overly familiar with, but the second song on Side B of the record is one of my favorite songs of all time.

Holding Back The Years is the kind of song that I love to hear on the radio while driving at night or sipping a cup of coffee at a donut shop.  It was written by singer Mick Hucknall in 1977 as a stream of consciousness exercise.

Mick has stated in interviews that he wasn't sure what the song was about as he was writing it, but after it was finished, he described it as being about a moment in time when you realize that you need to leave home and make your own way in the world, but you're not ready.  It reminds me of college when I hear it these days.

Holding Back The Years

Simply Red  (1985)

Holding back the years

Thinking of the fear I've had so long

When somebody hears

Listen to the fear that's gone

Strangled by the wishes of pater

Hoping for the arms of mater

Get to me the sooner or later

Holding back the years

Chance for me escape from all I've known

Holding back the tears

Cause nothing here has grown

I've wasted all my tears

Wasted all those years

Nothing had the chance to be good

Nothing ever could

I'll keep holding on

So tight

Well, I've wasted all my tears

Wasted all of those years

And nothing had the chance to be good

Cause nothing ever could

I'll keep holding on

Holding, holding, holding

That's all I have today

It's all I have to say

This Is Jezebel In Hell

Hello
Poe  (1995)
The debut album from singer/songwriter Poe was released thirty years ago today.

Angry Johnny
Poe  (1995)

Johnny, angry Johnny

This is Jezebel in Hell

I wanna kill you

I wanna blow you away

I wanna kill you

I wanna blow you away

I can do it you gently

I can do it with an animal's grace

I can do it with precision

I can do it with gourmet taste

But either way

Either, either way

I wanna kill you

I wanna blow you away

I can do it to your mind

I can do it to your face

I can do it with integrity

I can do it with disgrace

But either way

Either way

I wanna kill you

I wanna blow you away

Johnny, angry Johnny

This is Jezebel in Hell, Johnny

Johnny, angry Johnny

This is Jezebel in Hell

I can do it in a church

I can do it any time or place

I can do it like an angel

To quiet down your rage

But either way

Either, oh either way

I wanna kill you

I wanna blow you away

I can do it in the water

I can do on dry land

I can do it with instruments

I can do it with my own bare hands

But either way, either way

You know where it stands

I wanna kill you

I wanna blow you away

Johnny, angry Johnny

This is Jezebel in Hell

Johnny, oh my Johnny

Where did your pleasure go

When the pain came through you?

Where did your happiness go?

This force is running you around now

Getting you down now

Where is your pleasure now Johnny?

Where has your pleasure gone now?

Johnny, angry Johnny

This is Jezebel in Hell

Johnny, angry Johnny

This is Jezebel in Hell

Johnny, I wanna blow you

Oh Johnny, away

Johnny, I wanna blow you

Johnny, everybody really doesn't feel okay

He Just Made The International Sign Of The Donut

Mars Attacks
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA

Tonight's Thursday Thread-Up screening is a mashup of sci-fi, horror, and comedy with an all-star cast.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Show poster designed by Tom Bifulco

We saw Mars Attacks earlier this year at The Gap, but it's one of those flicks that plays best at a drive-in theater.  It's so damn silly and over the top that you can't help but to have a good time watching it.

 

And there's no better way to close out a night at the Mahoning than a barrel fire.

Hennibal Lecter

Chicken & Egg Dinner

Lucia Heffernan  (2024)
I'm mildly disturbed by this painting that was hanging in the chicken and rabbit building at the Bloomsburg Fair.

Santa Claus Of The Subconscious

Strange Days
20th Century Fox  (1995)

This Kathryn Bigelow cyberpunk neo noir masterpiece premiered across the United States thirty years ago today.  Strange Days was underappreciated in its time, earning just $17 million back of its $42 million budget, but it's one of my favorite movies of the decade.  I saw this for the first time when it was released to the rental stores, and it hasn't popped up yet at the Mahoning or The Gap, so it's on the list of movies that I most want to see on the big screen.

Dutch Meatballs and Classic Horror

Vincent Price Twice: Scream and Scream Again / The Raven

Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Show poster designed by Tom Bifulco

Sunday night's double feature at the Mahoning was the third annual Vincent Price Twice event.

The special at the concession stand was inspired by a recipe in the Mary and Vincent Price 1965 cookbook: A Treasury Of Great Recipes.

The cookbook is available to read at the Internet Archive.  The recipe for Dutch Meatballs is at the bottom of page 128.

The meatballs we had aren't exactly the same as the the recipe (for one thing, there's no ground veal in ours), but they were pretty darn tasty!

 

While I think Vincent Price was an incredible actor and a very cool human being, I can't say that I was in love with either of tonight's films.  The 1970 British film Scream And Scream Again started off strong, but the story sort of goes all over the place and doesn't really make a whole lot of sense; at least to me.  I enjoyed the 1963 Roger Corman film The Raven more than the first film, but it's pretty dull if I'm being honest.  Now that I think about it, I wasn't especially crazy with either of the films shown at the Vincent Price Twice double feature last year either.  Maybe next year's films will be a little closer to my tastes.

Spinning A Web On The Big Screen

Webs Of Horror: Tarantula / Arachnophobia
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Before I get to last night's tribute to arachnids on the big screen at the Mahoning, the picture of Wes, Alex, and I at the top of this post was generated using AI.  Alex made it and sent it to Wes and I to commemorate our work as Team Spider to put the photo op together on the stage outside of the concession building.  Apparently, the robots think I'm far more attractive than I really am.

We went a little crazy with the spiders, but it was a lot of fun setting it up on Wednesday night.

The first movie of the night was a digital presentation of the 1955 sci-fi monster classic Tarantula.  I don't remember ever seeing this movie before last night, but it was a fun flick.

Tarantula also happens to be the first feature film performance of Clint Eastwood.  He's only in the film for a few seconds, and his face is covered by an aviation oxygen mask, but it's him.

There was a nice introduction by actor Stuart Pankin after the intermission between the two films.  He played Sheriff Lloyd Parsons in Arachnophobia and has had a long career with memorable roles in The Dirt Bike Kid, Fatal Attraction, Love At Stake, Mannequin 2, Congo, and Striptease, but his biggest role was probably when he voiced the main character, Earl Sinclair, in the ABC series Dinosaurs.

Arachnophobia was shown on 35mm as the second half of the double feature.  This movie premiered when I was ten years old, and I saw it for the first time when my grandfather and I rented it after it was released on home video.  It's a very cool film with a cozy vibe that you don't often see in horror movies, and it had the opposite of its intended effect on me as a child.  Instead of giving me a fear of spiders, it made me grow to appreciate them.  This reaction is entirely due to one line that Julian Sands (as Dr. James Atherton) says to Jeff Daniels (who stars as Dr. Ross Jennings) during a phone call about halfway through the film:

"Did you know, doctor, that on every suburban acre, there are at least 50 to 60 thousand spiders, and that each spider eats about 100 insects per year.  That means at least five million insects are consumed per acre annually.  Think about it, doctor.  Perhaps man might find the planet uninhabitable without spiders."

That line really stuck with me.  I was never really scared of spiders or insects, but I'm not too keen on the idea of a swarm of anything, so the fact that spiders keep the insect population in check this effectively is pretty awesome.  To this day, I won't kill a spider when I find one.

One of the other things that stuck with me about this film was the Jimmy Buffet song Don't Bug Me which plays over the end credits and is sung from the prospective of the spider.

After the double feature, there were spider-themed films played as secret features throughout the night.  I stayed for two of them, and headed out a few minutes into the third.  I would have stayed, but I was pretty tired after four films.

Do You Prefer "Fashion Victim" or "Ensembly Challenged"?

Mean Girls / Clueless
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
One night after screening one of the goriest movies of the 21st century, the Mahoning takes a sharp turn to two iconic teen comedies.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

This was my first time seeing the 2004 film Mean Girls and I was pleasantly surprised.  I've always thought that Lindsay Lohan is a talented actress who doesn't get nearly as much credit as she deserves, but this film also has excellent performances from Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan, Tim Meadows, Tina Fey, and Amy Poehler.  This is a genuinely funny movie that is more than worthy of its reputation.

The second feature of the night is a movie that I saw the week that it was released on home video; the 1995 comedy Clueless.  I had a crush on Alicia Silverstone since I saw her for the first time when I was 12 years old in the Cryin' music video.  She had two breakout film roles that showed off her range three years after she first worked with Aerosmith with Clueless premiering on July 19th, 1995 and The Babysitter on October 17th.  I don't think that I saw either of these two movies since they were on the new release wall at Blockbuster Video, but I enjoy them both, and I'm very glad to have gotten to see Clueless on 35mm.

When The World Is Running Down...

Zenyatta Mondatta
The Police (1980)
The third studio album from The Police is turning forty five years old today.  Practically every song on this record was a hit, including Don't Stand So Close To Me, Driven To Tears, Canary In A Coal Mine, and Man In A Suitcase.

My favorite one of all, and probably my favorite song that the band ever put out, is the third song on the album.  When I listened to this song in my 20's and 30's, it reminded me of Roland describing Mid-World in The Dark Tower by saying that "the world has moved on".  When the pandemic began, and the effects of global climate change became harder to ignore in the years after the pandemic, it started to remind me of our world because all we can really do is make the best of what's still around.

When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around

The Police (1980)

Turn on my VCR

Same one I've had for years

James Brown on the Tami show

Same tape I've had for years

I sit in my old car

Same one I've had for years

Old battery's running down

It ran for years and years

Turn on the radio

The static hurts my ears

Tell me, where would I go?

I ain't been out in years

Turn on the stereo

It's played for years and years

An Otis Redding song

It's all I own

When the world is running down

You make the best of what's still around

When the world is running down

You make the best of what's still around

Plug in my MCI

To exercise my brain

Make records on my own

Can't go out in the rain

Pick up the telephone

I've listened here for years

No one to talk to me

I've listened here for years

When the world is running down

You make the best of what's still around

When the world is running down

You make the best of what's still around

When I feel lonely here

Don't waste my time with tears

I run Deep Throat again

It ran for years and years

Don't like the food I eat

The cans are running out

Same food for years and years

I hate the food I eat

When the world is running down

You make the best of what's still around

When the world is running down

You make the best of what's still around

Howdy Folks! You Like Blood... Violence... Freaks Of Nature?

House Of 1000 Corpses
Mahoning Drive-In Theater - Lehighton, PA
Tonight's screening was one of the most well-attended Thursday events that I've ever been in attendance for at the drive-in.

Show banner designed by Andrew Kern

Show poster designed by Tom Bifulco

House Of 1000 Corpses was Rob Zombie's first film.  I'm a fan of White Zombie and his solo work, so it was a movie that I was looking forward to this movie and went to see it at the Regal Cinema in Hazleton on its opening weekend.  I loved it when I saw it on the big screen for the first time, but it's kind of fallen out of favor for me in subsequent viewings.  The characters are awesome and creepy as hell, but the plot is a little sloppy.  Watching it feels a bit like going through the Haunted Mansion at Knoebels... it's just kind of taking you from scary moment to scary moment without ever really tying any of it together in a way that makes sense or tells much of a coherent story.  It's definitely worth watching, but this falls well short of the horror classics that served as its inspiration.