SPOOKY TELEVISION!
11We got into a slightly in-depth discussion of scary televsion shows in the thrift store scores thread, and it’s put me in the mood for broadcast-suitable terror!
Night Gallery, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone, Ghost Story/Circle of Fear, Thriller, One Step Beyond, Tales of the Unexpected, Tales from the Darkside, Tales From the Crypt, Friday the 13th–what’s missing from the list? Which is your favorite? Do you have a weird obsession with the episode of Thriller where Lloyd Bochner buys the mirror of Count Cagliosto and discovers it’s been painted over for a very good reason? Do you think the best episode of Night Gallery is anything other than The Return of the Sorcerer* with Vincent Price and Bill Bixby (you’re wrong, if so)? What’s your favorite spooky episode of an otherwise non-spooky show?
Post anything you like here, I’ll start off with Mork & Mindy’s A Morkville Horror, just because I was lucky enough to attend the taping (I used to swear you could hear me cough briefly, and pinpoint the moment, but I haven’t watched it in decades and can’t do it now. If you hear what sounds like a 7-year-old coughing, assume it’s me). The nice thing about this youtube video is that it’s the Chicago broadcast, so it’s exactly what we saw when we watched it on tv in '79.
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Yeah, I’m gonna post here all the time even if nobody else does, here’s the Thriller episode Prisoner in the Mirror from 1961, with the caveat that these old shows are SUPER-SLOW by today’s standards so have some crochet work ready:
So sad, the best ever Night Gallery isn’t on YouTube, and neither is the Ironside where Jodie Foster thinks she murdered someone through black magic with supplies she bought from groovy occult shop owner Rod Serling. At least as far as I can tell.
/image night gallery return of the sorcerer
/image ironside rod serling
@mossygreen Um.
/image night gallery return of the sorcerer Vincent Price bill Bixby
/image night gallery return of the sorcerer goat
@mossygreen Oh cool!
In the Ironside photo, I like Rod’s necklace.
@Kyeh It’s a great episode, Jodie (as always) brings WAY more gravitas to the role than any other child actor could/would, Rod’s cameo is ridiculous and delightful, and the murderer turns out to be John Schuck.
@mossygreen Thanks for the Night Gallery reference. I watched (bits of) that episode as a teen on New Years Eve in the 70’s. I was staying over at a friend’s house and his parents were out for the evening. The details are hazy (yes, we were dipping into the parents’ liquor cabinet
), but I recall the scene with the goat at the table.
Night Gallery occasionally airs on the Comet network but I’ve never seen that episode turn up. Now I know the title to watch for.
@mossygreen The Night Gallery episode that I remember as most disturbing to me at the time (as a teen) was “The Dead Man” (“A physician’s experiment in hypnosis comes to a terrifying conclusion.”)
With all the zombies staggering around on screen these days, it seems pretty tame now.
@macromeh @mossygreen The entire run is $27 on dvd. You guys are making me want to buy it.
@mossygreen Was it an Ironside where someone got a demon or bad juju exercised using an egg that then had something black inside? Sorry, vague childhood memory. Also one with a jumpscare of an inflatable clown punching bag in a closet?
@macromeh I saw that Comet actually lists the next time it’s showing, which is apparently Saturday, September 24th at 11:34 am ET/PT . While I was trying to refind the page, I discovered it’s been uploaded to archive.org (may it be blessed forever):
https://archive.org/details/the-return-of-the-sorcerer
What a time to be alive! Also, I’ve never watched Night Gallery drunk and now I want to. Also, yes, The Dead Man is also a great episode, apparently based on a Fritz Leiber story (which explains it).
@mossygreen Thanks for the link! I will be watching it soon.
@walarney Sadly, I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of Ironside, and those don’t sound familiar, but whatever tv show they are I totally want to see them both as soon as possible. I know there was a great episode of Ironside where Raymond Burr is kidnapped and held in an allegedly haunted house where someone is trying to drive him insane to the point of suicide (hey, kind of like that Night Gallery episode with Leslie Nielsen).
@macromeh @mossygreen
“Kiss the toad.”
THAT WAS SPECTACULAR. Thanks for finding it.
@macromeh @sammydog01 Right? It has everything!
The scariest thing on television was any television after I saw Poltergeist in about 1983.
Especially how they’d keep glowing after you turned them off in a dark room. Especially with the static between channels.
When we finally went to digital broadcasting and there were no more CRT monitors in my life, it was like I’d finally beaten the spectre of that damn movie.
@kostia UGH POLTERGEIST. I had the whole movie described to me on a school field trip, and was basically like, I am never going to see this movie. They’re bringing it back to theatres at the end of the month for it’s 40th anniversary, still not going. I think I watched it edited for tv once and that was enough.
@kostia @mossygreen I never saw it. I found an article titled “Poltergeist’s PG rating was a crime against kids of the ’80s” written by someone traumatized for life by seeing it.
https://www.polygon.com/2020/10/3/21497819/scariest-pg-movies-poltergeist-scenes-clown-tree-pool-skeletons
@kostia @Kyeh My sister went to see it by herself, she must have been 14, it seems insane to me now. We were with our grandmother, I didn’t want to see the movie, so my sister went by herself and we wandered around the mall until it was over. I had a good time, I don’t know about anyone else.
@kostia @mossygreen
Did she regret seeing it?
@Kyeh @mossygreen PG-13 was annoying at first (I was carded at the door to Ferris Bueller, as if I could somehow prove I was thirteen), but it definitely filled a gap that needed filling.
And Jack Valenti always cared much more about “protecting” children from sex than from violence and terror.
@kostia @mossygreen That’s still true of most of our society today! OMG, kids might have gotten a brief glimpse of Janet Jackson’s nip-tip in the halftime show “wardrobe malfunction!” But a bunch the primetime TV dramas are so gory I won’t watch them.
@kostia @Kyeh We have never discussed it. I feel vaguely guilty and don’t want to bring it up.
@kostia @Kyeh @mossygreen
9 years old? It scared me at 20-something.
It’s good to know ratings have always been for sale. I’ve heard a lot of stuff about Jack Valenti, none of it good.
@kostia @Kyeh @mossygreen What was particularly weird to me about the “wardrobe malfunction” episode is that Justin Timberlake was literally singing the words “Gonna have you nekkid by the end of this song” immediately before ripping off part of Janet Jackson’s costume.
IMO, that’s way more sexual than the resultant brief glimpse of a nipple.
IIRC, that was also the half-time show where Kid Rock ripped a hole in an American flag and wore it as a poncho.
@kostia @Limewater @mossygreen
I KNOW! I wasn’t watching the game, just happened to turn the TV on and there was the halftime show, and all the dancers, though clothed, were pretty much dry-humping all around the stage, and then this sudden little “yank!” And then IIRC they cut away real fast and didn’t talk about that at ALL, until after the game, when they went on about it for days. But I thought the whole show was like a simulated orgy.
@kostia @Kyeh @Limewater @mossygreen I had it on my vcr and went back to see what all the fuss was about. Damn that was a long time ago.
@kostia @Limewater @mossygreen @sammydog01 You still had it?!! Wow!
How did it look this time around? And what did you think at the time?
@kostia @Kyeh @mossygreen @sammydog01 Yeah, were you inspired by their messages of empowerment and voting?
@kostia @Kyeh @Limewater @mossygreen Nope I watched it the day after. My VHS equipment is long gone.
@Kyeh @Limewater @mossygreen @sammydog01 don’t get me started on The Day After!
@kostia @Limewater @mossygreen @sammydog01 Oh, I see.
@kostia @Kyeh @Limewater @mossygreen Have you seen Fail Safe? Scary.
@kostia @Kyeh @mossygreen
We had a small 2 screen theater in town owned by a old man who was at least 150 years old! He’d make us bring our parents to tell him our age before he’d sell us a ticket for any PG-13 movie! I remember my mom sending me in with a written note and also our phone number. Can you imagine? Lol
How about Dark Shadows?
@Kyeh I’ve caught bits and pieces when it’s a Decades Weekend Binge (I really do spend a lot of time watching the Decades channel). I love the solarization effects on the old video stock. Always thought I should start from the beginning and watch the whole damn thing, it’s on Amazon freevee, but it feels like such a commitment. And I need a good, long crochet project for it.
I have an early '70’s issue of Tiger Beat that includes in its birthday section information for the woman who played the psychologist. Apparently her shoe size was 8N if you wanted to send her something.
@mossygreen Huh, I never knew fans sent shoes to their idols. Barnabas Collins was the one who fascinated me. But I only got to watch it one summer when I spent a month with my aunt because we didn’t have a TV until I was a teen. (My parents thought I’d read more that way, and they were right.)
(Oh, Tigerbeat! I had a few issues of that…)
@Kyeh Allegedly she preferred interesting recipes, but they gave her shoe size. Sounds like you and Dark Shadows are like my 1980 week-long crush on Erik Estrada when he co-hosted the Mike Douglas Show which we only watched because we were visiting my grandparents in California.
You can watch the whole series here
(Dark Shadows, not the Mike Douglas Show or CHiPs):
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B0031ZNGGQ/
@mossygreen Oh, thanks! Geez, I’m not sure I should watch it. What if it’s unbearably cheesy now? Or what if I get so drawn in that I do even less of what I need to do around here?
@Kyeh It will definitely be both! Plan accordingly!
@Kyeh @mossygreen I have a little echo show in the kitchen. I watch stuff while cooking and try to find shows I don’t have to pay attention to.
A few years ago I started on Dark Shadows. I had watched a lot after school back in the day so I was familiar with the plot. I started pre Barnabus (I think they call it Dark Shadows: The Beginning) and made it through about episode 470. When I couldn’t take it anymore.
Here’s the guide I used when I missed an important plot point (plus it’s funny and full of anecdotes).
https://darkshadowseveryday.com/episode-guide/
@Kyeh It was on after school, perfect timing!
@Kyeh @mossygreen That’s funny, i watched Dark Shadows with my aunt whenever i stayed over at her house as a kid. She was always the coolest/weirdest (in a good way) member of my family! Good times. Thanks for reminding me of that, i miss her.
@ircon96 @mossygreen
Did you think Barnabas was fascinating, too?
@Kyeh @mossygreen Didn’t everyone find him fascinating? At least as a kid… I only have a vague recollection, though, since i was pretty young. Idk what I’d think of the whole thing now, not everything ages equally!
@ircon96 @mossygreen I know - I do fear that if I watch it again the magic won’t be there anymore.
@ircon96 @Kyeh A few years ago I bought a (seemingly) intact volume of Richard Lamparski’s Whatever Became Of at Goodwill. When I got it out to the car and took a closer look, one entry had been neatly cut out. I checked the table of contents to see who it was, and–no surprise, it was Jonathan Frid. I should have known it would be missing.
Are clowns scary? How about Klingon clowns?
From the last episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
Lower Decks & Strange New Worlds are some of the best Trek ever.
@blaineg Looks scary to me.
Trilogy of Terror, the doll story (I can’t remember the others at all). 7pm on a weeknight. What was anyone thinking?
@blaineg Likewise TV Movie of the week: Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (starring Kim Darby)
@blaineg The whole movie is on youtube.
@blaineg Love it!
For the last three days I have had a tab open with the Thriller episode Masquerade, starring the always delightful Elizabeth Montgomery and Tom Poston as a young married couple stopping during a storm at a dark and dilapidated house whose inhabitants seem up to no good. Once I post the episode, I can close the tab.
@mossygreen And John Carradine! That was great, thanks for posting it.
Whenever i think of these kinds of shows, for some reason, the Hammer House of Horror anthology series pops into my head, even though i can’t recall any specific episodes. I’m sure i would recognize some of it if i rewatched them, though. Luckily, they are currently free on PlutoTV & also available on Peacock. Damn, like i needed MORE stuff on my endless watchlist!
Lol
@ircon96 I think they’re available w/commercials on amazon, too. Some pretty good stuff there! A nice doppelgänger episode, a haunted house episode that apparent traumatized a generation of British children…
@mossygreen
Keep calm & therapy on. 
@ircon96 @mossygreen
Was this The House that Bled to Death? Watched it last night. NOOOOOOOOOO.
@mossygreen @sammydog01 Ooh, that sounded promising to me before, now I’m DEFINITELY gonna have to put that at the top of my endless watch list! Lol
The Outer Limits was one of my favorite TV shows because it added some science fiction to the stories, which I liked a lot.
@heartny
I especially liked that creepy intro, it sucked you right in!
Here’s one that scared the crap out of me as a kid. Plus I love Janet Leigh’s jammies.
Do made for TV anthologies count? The last segment of this show really made an impression on me so I dug it up. It’s called Dead of Night, from 1977.
https://tubitv.com/movies/499484/dead-of-night
@sammydog01 YES.
I hate the fact you have to have HBO(max) for this, but it was excellent and parts were very scary
Is EVERY doppelgänger episode of every show amazing?
Tonight’s Kolchak is Firefall, and is great.
https://www.nbc.com/kolchak-the-night-stalker/video/firefall/3980762
I can’t find The Twilight Zone episode Mirror Image free anywhere, but it’s probably the best episode. Vera Miles is so good, so is Martin Milner.
I can’t say the Circle of Fear episode The Ghost of Potter’s Field is technically good, because while I love Tab Hunter very much he is not a convincing actor (he’s typing, and I’m like, I don’t buy it). But it does play to his strength of being extremely photogenic, as he spends most of the episode being blankly concerned or blankly menacing.
I can’t think of any other doppelgänger episodes right now, but they’re probably amazing too.
@mossygreen
Re Tab Hunter - if you’ve got a character with a doppelgänger, it’s nice if that character is good-looking! (Twice as nice!)
@Kyeh On the one hand, yes. On the other, he’s just so bad at acting. I’m not actually familiar with most of his work, but my favorite is his cameo monologue in The Loved One, because his mannered, slightly overemphasized delivery is exactly what the script calls for and fits in with the other performances (you don’t get Jonathan Winters for subtlety).
/youtube tab hunter the loved one
@mossygreen Hah. Is that how he performed all his roles, then?
@Kyeh As far as I know, sometimes he widens his eyes more and sometimes he shouts.
@Kyeh @mossygreen Although I’m enjoying it, I don’t have anything salient to add to the discussion of Tab Hunter as thespian, but i was able to find the Twilight Zone episode you mentioned for free on PlutoTV right now. (The Mirror Image is season 1, episode 21.)
https://pluto.tv/on-demand/series/the-twilight-zone?utm_source=plutotv&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=1000201&utm_content=1000735
@ircon96 @Kyeh You’re magic!
@Kyeh @mossygreen Yes, and i call my crystal ball IMDb…
@ircon96 @Kyeh @mossygreen Just watched it. I love Martin Milner and watched Adam-12 every week. Turns out I bought the entire run of Twilight Zone on Vudu one day.
I started watching Ghostwatch on YouTube and realized that I had to stop because I’m moving this week and 1) I still have an insane amount of packing/washing/moving to do (because I don’t want to move) and 2) NO HAUNTED HOUSE STUFF WHILE MOVING TO A NEW HOUSE. I’m almost entirely sure the new house is not haunted, but why freak myself out? Also there’s a crawl space and something a little weird happened with it last week (I’m more worried about mice or other small mammals, but still…).
@mossygreen
What happened???
@Kyeh It’s not that exciting. I went down to empty the dehumidifier and noticed the doors were pushed out just a little bit, and when I went to check it out, there was a sprung mousetrap upright at the bottom between the doors and the doorframe. I didn’t see any mousetraps in the crawlspace before (never looked that carefully, but it’s empty) and if the trap had been there before it would have fallen down when I opened it last. An animal is more probable than anything else, but it was weird. And today there was an old nylon guitar pick sitting on top of a shelf that no one remembers seeing before.
@mossygreen
Yeah … that’s a bit creepy!
@Kyeh @mossygreen THEN I HAVE THE PERFECT MOVIE FOR YOU. I just watched House again from the mid 80s. It’s on Amazon Prime. And it’s still amazing.
@mossygreen @sammydog01 Oh, yeah - just what she needs to see.
@Kyeh @sammydog01 I mean, it’s not a ranch and William Katt can be soothing? George Wendt, certainly. I haven’t seen House since Svengoolie showed it (in the ‘90’), so I may have it confused with whichever Troll movie had Gary Sandy in a small role.
@mossygreen @sammydog01
Oh, okay.
@Kyeh @sammydog01 I’m probably not going to watch it any time soon, but am pleased to know it Amazon prime.
@Kyeh @mossygreen I dunno, does your new house have closets?
@Kyeh @sammydog01 And how!
@mossygreen @sammydog01
Here’s a shirt for you:
https://shirt.woot.com/derby/entry/126787/if-one-door-closes
@Kyeh @mossygreen I like it!
@Kyeh @mossygreen
Did you check to see if there’s any dust around the guitar pick?
Me; always in detective mode!
Lol
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer I should have specified, I found the guitar pick on something I brought into the house. And we were in the middle of moving, so it’s entirely within character that I could have randomly picked it up somewhere and put it down somewhere else, neither of which would make logical sense, but. I don’t remember ever seeing it.
@Lynnerizer @mossygreen
Do you know the history of your house?
I’ve never had a true ghostly experience, but I’ve gotten feelings from places a couple of times. One was nice - my first night in a college apartment I felt this marvelous sense of happiness; the couple who’d lived there before me were newlyweds, so maybe?
Another time, a very nondescript, ordinary place we rented in an English village just gave me a creepy feeling. I have no idea about its history but it just felt bad.
@Kyeh @Lynnerizer I do! It only had two owners before us and was built for the first owners, who were my junior high math teacher and her family. I have no reason to believe it is haunted in any way.
@Lynnerizer @mossygreen Oh! Well, that’s fun - your junior high math teacher! When we moved here, the woman next door told me she’d been the student teacher in one of my junior high math classes. I didn’t remember and I was shocked that she did.
She’s turned out to be a wonderful neighbor, too.
@mossygreen. I just watched that Mark and Mindy episode. I forgot how good Robin Williams was. I love your story, how exciting!
@sammydog01 I know you just mistyped, but I’m obligated to post this:
@mossygreen I blame not paying attention to autocorrect. And I love that clip.
@sammydog01 Robin Williams was amazing, I remember sobbing uncontrollably watching Jumanji on tv because he really conveyed the deep sadness and alienation of a man who had spent his entire life trapped in a jungle-themed boardgame realizing that everyone he knew and loved had died (pretty sure I was premenstrual, but still…).
Re: taping, we tried to get into Happy Days but they were full, so Mork & Mindy it was. I have a vague memory of thinking we were turned away because I was too young, but no one else remembers it that way, so maybe it was that we would have had to split up our group in an inappropriate way. In any case, it had never occurred to me that there would be a spooky episode being taped in August, so I was thrilled.
Say this on TV (let’s just say a long, long time ago) when I was 6 to 8 yo. Scary then with brain eating crabs. Campy now. But it had The Professor (aka Russell Johnson). Hmm, also a shipwreck (seaplane), so maybe not going on any cruises with him!
Creature from the Black Lagoon (when young as well). But the first Alien movie was scary as $hit when it came out in theaters.
Loved Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, and Kolchack!
/youtube RA12RHnYIA
Saw … saw it.
@MarkDaSpark Svengoolie just showed It Came From Outer Space and I was like, oooh, this has Russell Johnson in it! And when he was onscreen I was like, IT’S RUSSELL JOHNSON! We are a pro-Russell Johnson household.
@mossygreen … But are you Pro Mary-Ann or Ginger?
Russell Johnson was great, but the Professor …
for 20 years?
@mossygreen
I can still sing the song! Both versions!
@MarkDaSpark As is right and proper.
@MarkDaSpark My understanding regarding the Professor’s scientific prowess is that, as an attractive, single man stranded with two beautiful women, and whose only rivals for their attentions would be Gilligan and the Skipper, there wasn’t really a huge rush to leave?
@mossygreen
Although the Professor evidently had a problem, this should explain the 2nd picture …
15 years …
@MarkDaSpark @mossygreen You guys are too funny!
(Btw, I’m team professor all the way, i had a big crush on him in my youth! 
)
@ircon96 @MarkDaSpark @mossygreen The mother of a friend of mine went to high school with Dawn Wells (Mary-Ann). She said she was a snooty cheerleader type (kind of the opposite of the Mary-Ann character).
@ircon96 @macromeh @MarkDaSpark I had a friend whose father went to college with Andy Griffith and said he was an asshole.
@macromeh @MarkDaSpark @mossygreen Who knew these people were such great actors?
Or with Teens!
While it’s not exactly in keeping with the intention of the topic, i think it technically qualifies…? A diva spider taking over one of the weather cameras of my local news channel, presumably in preparation for Halloween.
@ircon96 Wow!!! Giant sky spider!
@Kyeh
@ircon96 @Kyeh
@Kyeh @MarkDaSpark
I loved Night Gallery. When digital broadcasts were first starting up, one big allure for me was old shows being rebroadcast.
I watched a lot of the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show too.
Hm. Maybe I should hook up my antenna again. It’s hard, because there are always new shows/ literature/ music. Even if we lived forever, there wouldn’t be enough time for it all.
@brainmist I love the Burns and Allen show! So much fourth-wall breaking! Hook up your antenna! I don’t know if anyone’s showing that show right now, though.
@mossygreen I love how very obvious George Burns is in handing Gracie Allen straight lines. There’s such an affection of “watch her run with this while everyone is flabbergasted”.
It’s like a much less hostile Taming of the Shrew, where’s it not about taming but joining forces against a world that doesn’t get her brilliance.
I was 11 years old, my older sister and her MUCH older boyfriend (21 yrs old) took me to the movies to see Squirm. It’s about earth worms eating/attacking people and my 11 year old self found it really REALLY graphic! Till this day I STILL sometimes get freaked out when I think that killer earthworms might start coming out the showerhead or burrow their way through my… maybe I should keep the rest to myself.
ENJOY!
Squirm https://g.co/kgs/g4daAk
@Lynnerizer It’s interesting that both the '50’s and the '70’s had big insect-based horror booms, isn’t it? I don’t know if the '70’s boom was significantly more stupid or if I just think it should be less stupid, but I still love it!
@Lynnerizer @mossygreen Maybe if that town had done more composting, they wouldn’t have had that problem!
@Lynnerizer @mossygreen Here’s a movie from the 60s that technically has aliens but they look like giant grasshoppers so I count it as an insect movie. And it scared the bejeebers out of me as a kid. Gotta love Hammer Studios.
Speaking of Jodie Foster,
@sammydog01 Evil Melvyn Douglas!
@mossygreen and I keep babbling about this one but I’m not sure if it’s been posted yet. I’m getting ready to watch it again.
@sammydog01 It’s so great, crafts and the occult. And nothing is explained! And Tyne Daly wears a cape! My phone keyboard auto-completed the entire last sentence after “Tyne.”
@mossygreen
RUN TRUCKER WILL!
Speaking of 70s hunks I just started Salem’s Lot with David Soul.
@sammydog01 I watched it on tv sometime in the '80’s and thought it was OK (I’ve never been a huge King fan), and now I look at the cast and think David Soul, Lance Kerwin AND James Mason?! How did I think this was just OK? But maybe it is? I have no idea. Let me know! Pet Sematary is the one with Fred Gwynne, right?
@sammydog01
@mossygreen And Fred Willard and Bonnie Bedelia and the guy from St. Elsewhere. It night be easier to list the people that aren’t easily recognizable. I just finished it, it’s pretty darned good. The scene that really scared me from the book, with the window if you’re familiar, still scares me in the movie. (And yes I was a HUGE Starsky and Hutch fan.)
Yes Fred Gwynne in the older Pet Semetary with John Lithgow in the same role in the new movie. I took my daughter to see the new one in the theater- she noped out of there after fifteen minutes and hung out at the book store instead. I’m not really a fan of either movie version but the book was fantastic.
@mossygreen @sammydog01 The new big-budget adaptation they made of Salem’s Lot is unfortunately on Warner so no one knows if will actually get released.
I bought a tiny fire pit and have been spending evenings on the deck with my open flames and iPad. Right now it’s time for Critters. Terence Mann is the best thing about it.
@sammydog01 Are you making s’mores on the tiny firepit?
@Kyeh Nope but I’m roasting marshmallows.
Spooky streaming, er, screaming.
If people are looking for older horror, The Changeling is of course a classic, but The Haunting of Julia is a lesser known Mia Farrow horror film which is, I think, her absolute best.
Looks like the versions I was accessing on Youtube are taken down, but here’s a Greek subtitled one…just turn off the closed caption:
I’m rewatching it now, of course, and perpetually entranced by the walkthrough of the house.
@brainmist This one sounds familiar- next on my list. Thanks for finding it online.
@brainmist I watched it last night. Amazing movie. I had seen it before but before I had children. Or pet turtles. It was more horrifying this time. Peter Straub wrote a lot of great books. And some not so great ones. I looked him up and he died a month ago which I somehow missed.
@sammydog01 I had managed to get the LP through Discogs, and then, on Straub’s death, the hardbound through eBay.
I have a lot of hardcover books I wish I’d asked authors to sign. But I still love adding to my library post-mortem.
@sammydog01 I feel like it is most impactful in its brutal depiction of the shattering experience of losing a dependent loved one. The ghost/ madness story is really second to the unrelenting, bare grief of having lost a child.
I definitely feel like this film eclipses Rosemary’s Baby, which somehow receives all the attention. That one hasn’t stuck with me. But The Haunting of Julia? I remembered so many scenes vividly from childhood, and related to deeply as an adult.
Just watched “The Black Phone” which is streaming on Peacock right now. It was really good. Based on a Joe Hill short story, starring Ethan Hawke (creepy af here) as a child-abducting serial killer. The kids’ acting is a little stilted, but once you get into it, it’s a very effective–and affecting–thriller.
I haven’t watched this yet, but you don’t get much spookier than the New York magazine/The Cut article on which this Netflix limited series, The Watcher," is based! I was really creeped out by the true story when i originally read it, so when i heard Ryan Murphy was producing this, i was looking forward to it. The early ratings by a handful of IMDb users looks promising, currently just above 8/10, so it sounds even better, and it stars Naomi Watts & Bobby Cannavale, which doesn’t hurt. For anyone interested in the article (it’s pretty gripping), it’s available for free right now:
https://www.thecut.com/article/the-haunting-of-657-boulevard-in-westfield-new-jersey.html
@ircon96 That story is crazy. I need to check out the shot.
@sammydog01 I actually managed to binge the whole thing yesterday & it was pretty good. I admittedly tend to be generous when rating & gave it a 7 out of 10, but that agrees with the current IMDb score, so hopefully not too far off.
I thought the first few episodes were the best, with a few welcome laughs from Cannavale’s sarcastic delivery & good turns by several well-known character actors, especially Margo Martindale, who’s always amazing.
It got pretty scattered toward the end, like they were trying to stuff too many semi-finished plot points into the last couple of episodes, but it held my attention throughout, so I’d recommend it to anyone in the mood for a creepy psychodrama.
NIGHTSTALKER MARATHON! If you need me I’ll be on the sofa.
Back in the day (I guess 20 years ago?) There was a podcast I absolutely loved called The Zombie Astronaut’s Frequency of Fear. It was old time radio horror shows interspersed with skits. Best podcast ever.
THEY’RE BACK ON YOUTUBE! It’s classic TV shows now. @mossygreen You may be the only one here that will like it but I’m super excited.
Make sure you stick around for the police training video on satanic cults.
@sammydog01 OH!
Edited to add: I accidentally jumped 2/3 in and KENNETH MARS!
@mossygreen Where? I couldn’t find him.
@sammydog01 Nevermind, saw a guy with a big nose and jumped to conclusions without watching or doing any research. It does apparently have Graham Jarvis, though, so that’s something! Love anything Salem witch trials, and when you throw in a Mary Hartman cast member, oh boy!