Saturday, April 24, 2010

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM CASTLE!







The man who brought us such wonderful horror film gimmicks such as "Emergo", "Percepto" and "Illusion-O", was born William Schloss (which means "Castle" in German) on April 24, 1914. William started out working behind the scenes on Broadway, then worked his way up to films, then eventually became one of Hollywood's most famous director/writer/producer of horror and thriller films, with such classics as "House On Haunted Hill", "13 Ghosts", "The Tingler", and possibly his biggest hit, the Roman Polanski-directed "Rosemary's Baby". Castle was a genius at promoting his films with clever gimmicks, sometimes having the gimmicks outweigh the popularity of the films themselves. There was no doubt that William Castle was a successful filmmaker. Read about William and his films on his Wikipedia page. Happy Birthday to the Master of Horror Gimmicks!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

MONSTER SPOOKSHOW RADIO No.23, SCI-FI SPECIAL!




Hell-o there boils and ghouls!

Welcome to the 23st installment of

MONSTER SPOOKSHOW RADIO!

This month we blast off into outer space once again for our annual
Monster Spookshow Sci-Fi Spooktacular! Fear not, I will not be changing the name to SyFy....gag....
That would clearly and utterly be disrespectful to Mr. Forrest J. Ackerman, the man who coined the phrase
"Sci-Fi"! So climb into your space suit and strap on your rocket boosters, we're about to blast off!

This month's space-tacular songs are:

THEY CAME FROM OUTER SPACE - Left For Dead
INTO A TIME WARP - The Phenomenauts
ROBOT - The Tornados
SPACE INVADERS - Kitty In A Casket
TELSTAR - The Ventures
I TURNED INTO A MARTIAN - The Misfits
MARTIAN HOP - The Galaxies
BLAST OFF! - The Stray Cats
THEME FROM DR. WHO - Peter Howell
REVENGE OF THE CYBERMEN - The Prisoners
PLANET OF THE APES - The Goddamn Gallows
ALIEN VISITORS - Man Or Astroman?
THE SCREEMIN' MEEMIES FROM PLANET X - Merv Griffin
HIGHLY ILLOGICAL - Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy)
MYSTERY PLANET - The Bomboras
THE MARTIAN BAND - The Wild Tones
FLYING SAUCER - Hans Conried
MAN FROM MARS - Butch Paulson
OUT OF LIMITS - The Marketts
HUMAN REMAINS FROM OUTER SPACE - Horror Of 59



Just click on the image above to get the latest installment of

MONSTER SPOOKSHOW RADIO!

Enjoy......Happy Haunting!

George Van Orsdel

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LON CHANEY Sr.!







Leonidas Frank Chaney was born April 1st, 1883, to deaf parents, and went on to become one of silent film's greatest actors and one of horror film's biggest superstars. Lon Chaney, nicknamed "The Man of A Thousand Faces", worked on stage and vaudeville, before settling into a career as a film actor. Starting off in small bit parts, Chaney soon established himself as a great actor and a master of make-up, creating some of the most memorable and elaborate make-ups ever seen. Chaney's most famous make-ups, those of Erik in "The Phantom of The Opera", and as Quasimodo in "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" are the stuff of legends. Lon Chaney's career lasted for over 160 films, before his life was cut short due to lung cancer at the age of 47. Read all about Chaney's amazing life and career on his Wikipedia page. Happy Birthday to the Man of 1,000 Faces!!

Happy April Fool's Day!



I was contemplating playing an April Fool's Day joke on everyone, but I decided against it. Instead I am posting this video of one of the funniest pranks I've ever seen. The clip is in another language, so I don't really know what they are saying, but ultimately the video speaks for itself. Watch it, enjoy it, and have yourself a fun April Fool's Day!