This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. It's the final Thursday in October, so we get one more horror-themed edition of the blogathon. Also, as the last Thurdsay of the month, it means another TV-themed edition, so unsurprisingly the theme is TV Horror. This wouldn't be too difficult if it weren't a theme every year, so the tough part was coming up with stuff that a search of the blog claims I haven't used before:
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (1969-1970). Four twentysomethings and their talking dog ride around in a "flower power"-decorated van, solving mysteries of a supernatural nature, almost always perpetrated by a masked person running props like a bad community theater production. Amazingly, the original animated series only ran for a season and a half, but it spawned a franchise that resulted in several animated shows, live-action movies, and an incredibly obnoxious nephew for Scooby. And of course, Velma is hotter than Daphne.
Tales from the Darkside (1984-1988). Generic horror anthology series #205902450; there's not that much more to say about it. Actually, it sprung from the 1983 movie Creepshow, a horror anthology movie, but the production company making the TV show didn't have the rights to the "Creepshow" name so they changed it and this is what we got.
Mega Python vs. Gatoroid (2011 TV movie). A group of animal activists including 1980s pop icon Debbie Gibson release a bunch of giant pythons into the Everglades, where they start to wreak havoc. A park ranger played by 1980s pop icon Tiffany decides to deal with the invasive species problem by feeding the alligators a growth hormone that turns them into mutant alligators. Unsurprisingly, both sets of mutant animals escape the Everglades which is really bad for mankind. Don't expect much of a story with gimmick casting like Tiffany and Debbie Gibson.
2 comments:
I watched Scooby Doo off and on when it I was a kid. I'm sure I found it scary then but when my sister's kids watched it and I happened to see an episode here and there it was pretty dumb.
Tales From the Darkside is one anthology that I never bothered with. I think it was on the wrong night back in those pre-DVR days to be able to see enough episodes to tell if I would have enjoyed it or not.
I'm unfamiliar with your last one.
I went with all anthologies that managed to pull in cast lists that were better than the shows often deserved.
Hammer House of Horror (1980)-British anthology series created by Hammer Films consisting of thirteen hour-long episodes featuring various kinds of horror-witches, werewolves, ghosts, devil-worship, voodoo etc. The stories were populated with some of the leading performers in England at the time-Peter Cushing, Denholm Elliott, Diana Dors-as well as future stars like Pierce Brosnan who were just starting out.
Circle of Fear aka Ghost Story (1972-73)-Similar in construction to House of Horror but produced in America offered tales of the supernatural horror with an astonishing list of talent-Jodie Foster, Gena Rowlands, Jason Robards, Patty Duke, Patricia Neal, Tyne Daly, Helen Hayes etc. every week.
Thriller (1960-62)-Anthology series hosted by Boris Karloff originally was conceived more in the mystery/thriller vein of Alfred Hitchcock Presents but moved more towards Gothic horror shortly after its debut. Again, the cast list is packed with future stars-Mary Tyler Moore, Elizabeth Montgomery, William Shatner, Leslie Nielsen and Cloris Leachman to name only a few.
Interesting selection this week, Ted - very varied!
Scooby-Doo... is an inspired choice. I'm not sure whether I'd enjoy Tales from the Darkside, as I don't like modern horror anthologies like American Horror Story, but Wikipedia tells me it's a comedy horror so I may be okay with it.
Mega Python vs. Gatoroid sounds quite a trip!
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