No movie tonight because I am awaiting another shipment from The Libe, and I don't wanna pound all my new Sci-Fi flicks one after another; wanna dole 'em out so they last at least a few weeks. Tonight was a TV night therefore, and I watched one episode each of "High Chaparral" and "Ghost Story". The GS ep was not as scary as most of the others in the series but it did have a quaint and even touching storyline the might be appreciated by fans of horror cinema. John Astin plays a security guard at an old defunct film studio that is soon to be torn down. He works the Graveyard Shift, which is also the title of the episode, haha. Lately, the security crew has had trouble with a neighborhood gang of white surfer dudes who are breaking into the lot and sneaking around the sound stages, donning old horror costumes to scare the guards.
Astin vows to shut 'em down and run 'em off the property, but when he tries to do so, something goes wrong. The gang themselves are running off the lot before he even gets to them. They have been spooked plenty bad. Astin will soon see why.
Meanwhile, Astin's real life wife Patty Duke Astin - better known as Patty Duke - shows up in the middle of the night while all of this mayhem is taking place. She is pregnant and wants hubby John to be home with her, but he is staying long hours at the studio and seems to be harboring a secret.
Early in the episode, we learn that Astin was once an actor at the studio he now guards. It was a small operation that specialized in horror movies. Monsters were their stock in trade, and 25 years past, John Astin played supporting roles in all the hit films from the studio. But then he had an on-set accident that ruined his leg and finished his career; then he became a security guard, the job he's held ever since. And now the studio is out of business and is scheduled for imminent demolition.
And the noises Astin is hearing at night, coming from the sound stages, aren't from the gang members. They've all run out in a panic, remember?
When he investigates, he sees that the noise is from the Monsters themselves, the ones that made the studio famous. They are on set, trying to make a new film. They even have a director and cameraman, but everyone looks tenuous and ephemeral. You can see right through them - they are ghosts.
Initially they seem pitiful, sad in their attempt to avoid being forgotten. Their home - the studio - is about to be torn down, and the poor monsters just want one more chance to scare the fans. Horrormeister William Castle, the creator of "Ghost Story", even makes a cameo as the owner of the studio who shows up to reminisce with Astin about the good old days of terrifying an audience.
But the movie monsters aren't as benign as they seem. They aren't merely nostalgic for the old days, but want to live on, literally, in real life. They want to become alive.
You knew Patty Duke's pregnancy was going to have some reason for being in the script, and this is it.
That is all I will tell you. As noted, the episode is not as frightening as some of the others, and some fans at IMDB have bagged it for that reason. I, however, enjoyed it for it's true purpose, which is to celebrate The Monsters of Cinema, who have given us so much pleasure in life by scaring The Bejeezus out of us, as William Castle recalls in his cameo scene. ////
I have also started a novel : "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" by the legendary master of science fiction Robert Heinlein. This is my first book by him. Though I am a huge fan of sci-fi movies, I'm not normally a big reader of science fiction books, and in hindsight I think this is because the ones I have tried in the past were all written in what I will call "the language of sci-fi", where you have to adjust to a whole new world - not of this Earth - and thus the writer creates a whole lot of technical lingo to go along with it. This is in contrast to horror fiction, which - even though equally fantastic as compared to real life - happens right down here on Terra Firma to real people, so no New World Lingo is necessary and hence the reading is easier, for me at least.
However, even though the Heinlein book typifies this style of writing (the lingo starts from Page One and the main character speaks in a Russian/English slang), I am finding it to be a page turner, much to my surprise. I checked the book out from Northridge Library after reading a recommendation from Dr. Joe Farrell, whose every book I have read. You all know Dr. Joe, so when he makes a recommendation I tend to listen. Obviously, Robert Heinlein is the Dean of sci-fi writers, this is known even to newbies like myself, but if I can finish this book and train myself into the unorthodox style of writing, I may have a new treasure trove of material to delve into when I am in between Conspiracy Books, or should I say Truth Books........(that's what I should say, because "conspiracy" is just a put-down term for small minded folks who place blind trust in the government version of given events and who can't believe anything out of the ordinary could ever happen).
Well anyway, I also got in the mail a much coveted copy of "Demon Entrails", the two CD album of Hellhammer's complete demo tapes, remastered and released in 2007 by Tom G. Warrior and Martin Ain. The CDs are a collector's item, out of print and selling for 40 bucks and upwards online. I was unaware of "Demon Entrails" until I read about it in Tom G's book, which I've recently reviewed and called a "must read" for any fan of metal, or music in general, or for any artist.
Once I read about the availability of these Hellhammer demos, I knew I had to have them. I had the original Hellhammer album on vinyl in 1986, long since lost unfortunately.
But now I have acquired this double CD of the original demo tapes, the official release on Century Media and not a Russian bootleg, and I was lucky enough to score it for just 12 dollars plus shipping from a record store in Arlington, Texas.
Thanks, guys! I listened to the first CD tonight while I was working on my Howard Schaller drawing, and though the recording is only garage band quality, it has nevertheless got to be The Heaviest Metal I Have Ever Heard.
If you read Tom G's book and hear this music in conjunction it will all make sense. I am so grateful to have gotten a copy of the album for a basic price and not through the extortion of scalpers.
I am going to play the Hellhammer out of it! :):)
Hope you had a good day. See you in the morn when Summer starts. xoxoxoxoxxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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