05 May 2022

Jack Pierce

 Jack Pierce was born on May 5th, 1889 in Greece. 

Jack Pierce (1889-1968)

Known for creating some of the most prolific monster effects of the classic Universal era. 

Boris Karloff in Frankenstein (1931)

Boris Karloff as The Mummy (1932)

Lon Chaney, Jr. as The Wolf Man (1941)

Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (1939)


04 May 2022

Mary Beth McDonough

Mary Beth McDonough was born on May 4th, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. 

Mary Elizabeth McDonough

The Waltons (1972-81)

The Love Boat (1982-83)

Lovely but Deadly (1981)

Mortuary (1983) with Lynda Day George
 
Snowballing (1984)

Funland (1987) with Bruce Mahler
Starring David L. Lavin as a clown
who shoots up an amusement park

03 May 2022

Amy Steel

 Amy Steel was born on May 3rd, 1960 in Pennsylvania. 

Amy Steel

Friday the 13th part 2 (1981)
with Tom McBride, Walt Gorney 
and Betsy Palmer

April Fool’s Day (1986)


02 May 2022

The Curse of Frankenstein

 The Curse of Frankenstein premiered on May 2nd, 1957 in London, England. 

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

The First Hammer horror film to be released in color. 

Directed by Terrence Fisher. 

Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing
and Robert Urquhart

Hazel Court



01 May 2022

30 April 2022

David Manners

 David Manners was born on April 30th, 1901 in Halifax, Canada. 

David Manners (1901-1998)

With Helen ChandlerDwight Frye,
Edward Van Sloan 
and Bela Lugosi  
in Dracula (1931)

With Boris Karloff in The Mummy (1932)

With Julie Bishop in The Black Cat (1934)


29 April 2022

The Hunger

 The Hunger was released on April 29th, 1983 in US theaters. 

The Hunger (1983)

Catherine Deneuve


Susan Sarandon 

David Bowie

The Hunger


28 April 2022

Massacre at Central High

Massacre at Central High (1976)

Led by Dutch director Rene Daalder this low budget exploitation flick stars Derrel Maury, Ray Underwood, Kimberly Beck, Andrew Stevens, Rainbeaux Smith and a young Robert Carradine. Massacre at Central High was a part of the early wave of high school related slasher horror that we started to see around that time. Massacre, Carrie (1976) and Horror High (1974) all precede the break out hit Halloween (1978). Although there are some great, over the top death scenes Massacre is not a slasher movie as much as it is a commentary on social and economics issues. 

There are a lot of similarities and plot comparisons to draw to this movie and Heathers (1988). Daniel Waters, the director of the latter has stated that he hadn't seen Massacre at the time he wrote the script but had read a review of it Danny Peary's book Cult Movies. Still, the similarities are certainly there. 

Massacre was released theatrically in the UK as Blackboard Massacre. In Italy it was released as Sexy Jeans and was edited with pornographic inserts. I'd love to get a copy of that Italian version though just out of curiosity. Massacre was released on DVD by TCB in 2001 and later by Black Horse in 2004 and finally Desert Island Films in 2012. I haven't yet seen it on any subscription or ad based streaming services but it is available on youtube. 

I was exposed to it at an early age when cable was introduced in the early 80’s. The cable companies were scrambling for content and this played quite frequently. 

Massacre at Central High was released on April 28th, 1976 in US theaters.