"From ghosties and ghoulies and long leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night, dear Lord, deliver us."
--An old Scottish prayer
Tis the season to be wary. As summer recedes into fall, the days grow shorter, the nights longer and the leaves begin falling from the trees. It is only September but you can already feel the change in the air, it's almost Halloween. My favorite time of year.
Even as a kid, I loved everything about the holiday. The colors;
As a child, I imagine Christmas was my favorite holiday. It makes sense, if you think about it from a ten year olds point of view. A bag full of candy is nice but a bicycle next to the Christmas tree beats a handful of Smarties any day of the week. It's economics. The season of getting.
I do not watch horror movies through the majority of the year. From November through August I am just not interested. But September and October are a different story. Soon after Labor Day, I begin to get the itch.
Now when I mention horror movies, most people think I am
So what type of horror movies do I like? The old ones. The black and whites. The classics. The ones that haven't scared anyone since LBJ was President. But they are still a lot of fun to watch. So that being said, here are my top five Horror movies for Halloween that won't scare you at all. In fact, when you go to bed, you'll sleep like a baby.
5. The Ghost And Mr. Chicken
Directer: Alan Rafkin
Cast: Don Knotts, Joan Haley, Dick Sargent, Liam Redmond
Release Date: January 26, 1966
Don Knotts plays Luther Hedges, a typesetter at a small town newspaper, who aspires to be a reporter. He agrees to spend the night at an alleged haunted house and write a story on the house for the paper. Hilarity ensues.
Yes, "The Ghost And Mr. Chicken" is a comedy. There is nothing even slightly scary in this movie, even by 1966 standards. But if you like the sort of slapstick humor Knotts sometimes did on the "Andy Griffith Show" you will enjoy this movie.
Weird & Interesting Facts
--There are a lot of connections between this movie and "The Andy Griffith Show". The idea for the plot came from an episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" called "The Haunted House". In addition to Don Knotts, three other actors from Mayberry appear in the show including Hal Smith (Otis Campbell), Hope Summers (Clara Edwards) and Burt Muslin (Judd Fletcher). The movie's director, Alan Rafkin, directed 27 episodes of the "Andy Griffith " while the screenwriting team of Everette Greenbaum and Jim Fitzell wrote 29 episodes of "Andy" along with the "The Ghost And Mr. Chicken" script.
--A slew of other sixties and seventies TV stars appear in the movie including Dick Sargent (the second Darren in Bewitched), Sandra Gold (the second Gladys Kravitz on Bewitched), Ellen Corby (Grandma Walton) and Charles Lane and James Millhollin (two names you probably don't recognize but who appeared in dozens of TV shows in the sixties and seventies.)
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| The Old Simmons Mansion |
--Joan Staley, who plays Alma Parker, Don Knotts love interest, was Playboy's Miss November in a 1958 issue of the magazine. Normally a blonde, she wore a brunette wig in the movie to make her look more wholesome and less sexy.
--The musical score was written by Vic Mizzy who scored many TV shows in the sixties and seventies. He also wrote the theme songs for both The Adams Family and Green Acres.
--"The Ghost And Mr. Chicken' was shown at many theatres and drive-ins as a double feature with "Munsters Go Home".
4. The House On Haunted Hill
Director: William Castle
Cast: Vincent Price, Richard Long, Carol Ohmart
Release Date: February 17, 1959
Vincent Price plays Frederick Loren an eccentric millionaire who invites five people to a haunted house party. The "party" takes place at an old abandoned mansion. Anyone who can spend the whole night at the house will be awarded $10,000. Though a B grade horror movie, it was probably fairly scary for 1959 but it is pretty corny and amusing by today's standards. The film contains a giant vat of acid in the cellar, a falling chandelier, a human head inside a suitcase, party favors that consist of loaded pistols in tiny coffins, two creepy servants named Mr. and Mrs. Slydes, a hanging, blood dripping from the ceiling, an organ that plays by itself, a homicidal skeleton and more. It is a fun movie and it wraps up in less than an hour and a half.
Weird & Interesting Facts
--The movie was directed by William Castle. Castle was known as "King Of The Gimmicks" because he always had some sort of gimmick or publicity stunt to help sell his movies. In the 1958 film "Macabre" he gave each movie goer a certificate for a $1000 life insurance policy from Lloyd's Of London in case they should die from fright while watching the movie. He also stationed women dressed like nurses in the lobby and parked hearses outside of the theatre. For "House On Haunted Hill" he had theatres rig up glow in the dark plastic skeletons to pulleys that would fly over the head of the audiences at the same time the skeleton appeared on screen. He called this effect Emergo and it worked, audiences loved it.
--Carolyn Craig plays Nora Manning, a young woman invited to stay overnight at the house for a chance to win the $10,000. Nora spends the entire movie terrified and helpless and screams so much through out the movie I couldn't help laughing each time she started to scream. On a sad note, Carolyn Craig died of a self inflicted gun shot wound in 1970. She was only 34 years old.
--Lance Schroeder, the suave young bachelor, is played by Richard Long. He was a very successful actor through the early seventies starring in "77 Sunset Strip", "Big Valley" and "The Nanny And The Professor". Long also died young. He passed away at the age of 47 in 1974 following a heart attack.
--The main reason to watch this movie is the performance of the great Vincent Price. The Merchant Of Menace plays Frederick Loren, the diabolical millionaire who puts this party together. As always, Price plays the part with grace, class and style and pronounces the word party as "pah-tee" throughout the movie, which is kind of cool.
--The exterior shots of the house were filmed at Ennis House located in Los Feliz, California. The house has been used in a number of movies and TV shows including "Blade Runner" and was filmed in several episodes of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer".
3. "Frankenstein"
Director: James Whale
Cast: Colin Clive, Mae Clark, Boris Karloff
Release: November 21, 1931
A mad scientist decides to create a human being out of the parts of a dead human being. Very bad idea. Mayhem ensues. This is one of Universal's greatest horror flicks and it still holds up today. The sets and locations where the movie was filmed perfectly set up the gothic atmosphere. Boris Karloff, remarkably, makes the monster seem human. The scene where the father carrys his dead daughter into the village still gives me goose bumps.
Weird & Interesting Facts
--The movie is based on the 19th century novel written by eighteen year old Mary Shelley. It is considered by many to be the first science fiction novel.
--Director James Whale also directed the sequel, "Bride Of Frankenstein" and a number of other classic horror movies including, "The Old Dark House", "The Invisible Man" and "Dracula's Daughter".
--Boris Karoff's role as the monster was very physically demanding. The costume was bulky and difficult to move in and the boots were four inches high and weighed eleven pounds. He reprised the role of the monster in the sequal, "Bride Of Frankenstein" .
--Bela Lugosi was originally going to play the part of
Frankenstein 's monster but after several unsuccessful make up tests he quit the project. He would later play the monster in "Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman".
--Colin Clive, who played Dr. Victor Frankenstein, died at the age of 37 from tuberculosis. A chronic alcoholic, Clive was often intoxicated during filming. He was often seen napping on set and was sometimes so drunk that he had to be held upright for over the shoulder shots.
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| Dwight Frye As Fritz |
--Dwight Frye played Victor Frankenstein's hunchbacked assistant Fritz. Frye acted in many horror films including, " Bride Of Frankenstein ", "Dracula", "The Invisible Man", "The Vampire Bat", "Son Of Frankenstein" and " Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman". Around Hollywood, he was known as, The Man With The Thousand Watt Stare and The Man Of A Thousand Deaths. Alice Cooper recorded a tribute to him called, " The Ballad of Dwight Fry".
--Other than the opening and final credits and a scene where a band plays, there is no musical soundtrack in the movie.
--The character of Frankenstein 's Monster has appeared in over sixty films, in addition to this one. The first was the 1910 silent era film, "Frankenstein" starring Charles Ogle as the monster and the latest was 2018s computer animated "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation". Kevin James was the voice of the monster. In addition to Boris Karloff, the monster has been played by Bela Lugosi (" Frankenstein Meets The Wolfman"), Lon Chaney Jr. ("The Ghost Of Frankenstein"), Peter Boyle ( "Young Frankenstein"), Robert De Niro ( "The Creation") and Randy Quaid
( "Frankenstein" , a 1992 TV adaptation of the novel).
2. "The Wolfman"
Directed by Curt Siodmak
Cast: Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Raines, Evelyn Ankers
December 12, 1941
"Even a man who is pure of heart and says his prayers by night, can become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright. "
I was first introduced to this movie as a kid growing up in Cleveland, Ohio. Every Friday night, the CBS affiliate had a local late night movie program called, "Hoolihan & Big Chuck". Hoolihan and Big Chuck were a couple of local TV personalities who hosted the show. In addition, to comedy skits and other local content, they always featured a full length movie and they often showed some of the old Universal classics, including this one.
Like "Frankenstein" , "The Wolfman" has great sets and loads of atmosphere. The woods and the fog, the Gypsy camp, Talbot Castle, the village. There is also a B-movie quality to a lot of the acting, the special effects are pretty dated and parts of the story don't make sense (The action seems to take place in Eastern Europe but some of the villagers have a strong British accent while some have an American accent and, other than the Gypsies, nobody has an Eastern European accent)
But it's fun to see Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi in the same movie. Claude Raines is great and Maria Ouspenskaya steals the show as the Gypsy fortune teller.
Weird & Interesting Facts
--The poem that is recited throughout the movie ("Even a man who is pure of heart... ") was thought for many years to be an old ancient rhyme but was actually an invention of the screenwriter. When my kids were little, I would recite the poem anytime we were out in the woods or walking at night. It got to the point where all I would have to say were the first three words, "Even a man... " and they would freak out.
--Lon Chaney Jr. starred as The Wolf Man. Legend has that it took five to six hours to apply his make up and an hour to remove it. He reprised the role of The Wolf Man in four more films. Chaney was the only actor to play all four Universal monsters; The Wolfman, Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy.
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| Bela The Gypsy |
--Bela Lugosi wanted to play the part of The Wolf Man but didn't get the role. He did however play the Gypsy fortune teller's son, Bela, who turns into a wolf and bites Lon Chaney. That is some kind of revenge, anyway.
--In a deleted scene, Lon Chaney wrestled a six hundred pound bear. The bear was kept chained to a pole on the set and once broke free and went after actress Evelyn Ankers who climbed up a ladder and was pulled up to a scaffold by an electrician. The bear was eventually subdued.
1. "The Tingler"
Director: William Castle
Cast: Vincent Price, Judith Evelyn, Daryl Hickman
Release: July 29, 1959
Have you ever felt a tingling up your spine when you're very nervous or afraid? What causes that sensation? Is it simply your nerve endings or is it something more sinister?
That is the premise of this B-movie masterpiece. When I say masterpiece this movie has everything a great B horror movie should; a ludicrous plot, bad dialouge, lots of over-acting, a mad scientist and a cheesy looking monster (the tingler looks like a giant centipede). The most fun you will ever have watching a horror movie.
Best Line In The Movie:
"This silly pistol can make a hole in you the size of a medium grapefruit".
--Dr. Warren Chapin
(Vincent Price)
Weird & Interesting Facts
--Almost all of William Castle's movies had a gimmick and "The Tingler" is no exception. "Percepto" was a gimmick where Castle attached buzzers underneath several theatre seats. At different times during the movie, the buzzer would be activated giving the person sitting in the seat a tingling feeling. He also paid a movie goer to stand up, scream and faint and then be taken away on a stretcher. The highlight of the movie is when the action on the screen stops and Vincent Price addresses the audience directly and says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the tingler is loose in the theatre! Scream, scream for your lives!" at which point The tingler is shown crawling across the screen. Then, just as abruptly, you hear Vincent Price's voice inform everyone that the tingler is gone and the movie returns to the story. This is fun to watch on your TV set at home but imagine how much fun it was to watch in a movie theatre. It must have been total bedlam.
--"The Tingler" is the first major motion picture to depict an acid trip. Vincent Price's character is shown reading a book called, "LSD: Fight Effects Induced by Injection of Lysergic Acid LSD25". Later In the movie, he injects a dose and does not have a good trip. Robb White, the screenwriter, had experimented with acid at UCLA. At the time LSD was still legal.
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| The Tingler |
--Daryl Hickman played Price's lab assistant in the movie. He had been a child actor appearing in many TV shows and movies including, "Our Gang", "The Grapes Of Wrath" and "The Many Lives Of Dobie Gillis". He later married his co-star Pamela Lincoln who, incidentially, played his girlfriend in "The Tingler".
--As always, Vincent Price does a great job of rising above the material. You have to wonder what Price really thought of some of these crazy B horror movies he made. He seemed to be having fun making this one. Besides, it beats working for a living.
Written by Casey Redmond
September, 2019
Casey's Website
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