Halloween Time Machine 🎃

 WARNING! Caution: Contains Corgies

 That happiest black catty-ist time of the year!

                    Nothing like getting a 'bird' of a Halloween! I finally figured out that this witch rides a  

                    pumpkin, with squash wings, a broom tail and small pumpkin head, to create said: 'bird'...
                                                       

Aren't they a pair?  How sweet it is!

 

It has been rather a fine time for perusing the past this season...

Have been seeking out old Stephen King books/films, Hammer Horror, and Dark Shadows...

Watched all 3+ hours of Salem’s Lot recently. Could stand some evisceration…the book is much better. I love Stephen’s sense of humor. The kid with all the Universal monster posters  was autobiographical I am betting. ‘Why are you so interested in magic and monsters?’ Asks dad.I recall my mom asking ‘Why can’t you be like the other little girls?’ When I was caught reading a book on Zen Buddhism at age 11. 

                                                              Not Like The Others…

                                                         Stephen loves his Corgies….

It seems that the time-tested classics are always best. And, true, while the old Universal Monsters was where my esoteric education began, there is still nothing like that chilling thrill that can only be ascribed to:

And, Christopher Lee...my favorite Dracula...

                           Truly...is it any wonder?
 

                       Lee's autobiography is a wonderful read. Such a droll sense of humor!

                       Chris, you were never 'too tall or too foreign looking' for your many fans!

                       Waiting in the dark of midnight, there was just something about seeing the

                       opening credits with those eternally blood-tingling words:                                                                    

                                            https://www.hammerfilms.com/

Horror of Dracula…Christopher Lee, Peter Cushing as Van Helsing and Michael Gough

                                                                   +  +  + + + +          

            Which brings us, of course, to Dark Shadows and Jonathan Frid's Barnabas Collins...

                                                                          

                                 Indeed, the sudden appearance of Cousin Barnabas, so like that of his

                          'ancestor', was like a shot of old world culture to the jaded denizens of Collinwood.

                                                                     

                       Barnabas at The Old House, with portrait of his ageless love, Josette...
                       Where else on 60s television could one find such gothic romance?

                                                         Dark Shadows: The Beginning

                                       One of the most frightening things of the 60s, The Tent Dress!    

                                                                               +++++++++

             But wait! We cannot forget the stunning performance of Frank Langella's Dracula --

                                                   on both stage and screen.

                                                                     

                                                                

                         Featuring the odd and uniquely shuddersome art of  Edward Gorey   

                                      Langella and Lee, both of Italian heritage. Indeed...

                                                          Frank with Kate Nelligan

                                              He:  "May I offer you a glass of invisible wine, my dear?"

                                             She:   "Aren't you partaking?"

                                             He:   "No. I never drink...invisible wine..."

                                                                     

                               This 1979 production was also enhanced by the skills of

                                         Donald Pleasence and Sir Laurence Olivier

                                                                    

                                                                    + + + + + 

                              But what of the ladies of the house? The House of Hammer?

The reigning Queen of Horror during the heyday of Hammer was of course Ingrid Pitt, as Carmilla, in the singularly sinister Vampire Lovers.

Ingrid was perfect for the role of the lady vampire as imagined by the Irish writer Sheridan LeFanu.

            Peter Cushing getting cushy with Ingrid in Vampire Lovers.

                                                                            + + + + + + +

Although not benefiting from a Hammer budget, House of Filmtexx produced a couple of bizarre and offbeat miniscule budget shorts featuring Anne Ra as the vampire Avanka in that much-overlooked and undervalued film Fix My Gas…

                                            + + + + + + + + +

               Would you believe...*Snow*? A week before Halloween?