FRIGHT NIGHT - J. Geils Band - "For Real" (1985)

 Halloween might be over, but as you well know, the horror never stops down in The Dungeon! So tonight I'm going somewhere that I'm usually too scared to go, the year 1985, and a fun little flick called..........

"FRIGHT NIGHT!!!"

 "Fright Night" is almost two hours long and is filled with frightening eye candy, and I've had to reduce it down to 20 pictures and two minutes! It was a daunting task! Although it doesn't sound much like it to me, the title song was performed by the J. Geils Band! The entire soundtrack is great with tunes by April Wine, White Sister, Devo, Ian Hunter, Sparks, Brad Feidel, Autograph, Evelyn "Champagne" King, Bert Kaempfert, and  the Fabulous Fontaines! Good freakin' luck finding a copy on vinyl or cd! The movie itself streams on Netflix!

There's no time to dilly dally around, so let's just cut to the chase! I've said it before, the really good thing about 80's and newer movies is that most of the people who made them are still alive! This is William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster in only his second film outing. William had his own TV series from 1991 to 1994 called "Herman's Head!" He has been a staple on TV ever since! Charley has just casually noticed some nasty going-ons through the bedroom window of his new neighbor!

That's it! It's on! He's been spotted, and Charley's troubles are just about to go full throttle!

Oh, shit!!!

Chris Sarandon is the especially evil Jerry Dandrige! I could tell you many things about Chris, but all you really need to know is that he is the voice of Jack Skellington!!

The always entertaining Roddy (Planet Of The Apes) McDowall is everybody's hero, the vampire killer Peter Vincent! Too bad his talents are only in the movies! Despite the hopes of everyone around him, in real life, he's a sniveling coward!
 

Charley's best friend is nicknamed Evil Ed, but it was just supposed to be a joke and not rise to this level. Evil Ed is played by Stephen Geoffreys who has had a very strange career going from "976-EVIL," to off Broadway, to a stint in the 90's in gay hardcore flicks like "Butt Blazer," and "Cock Pit!"  After taking a few years off after that, Stephen currently has at least four films in either pre or post-production!

When the wolf's eyes turn red, it's time for the fun to really get started!

Jerry Dandrige's best buddy, and all around evil bastard Billy Cole is played by Jonathan Stark, who probably never has to work another day in his life after creating and writing 182 episodes of the very popular TV series, "According To Jim" that ran for eight years 2001 to 2009!

When it comes down to the final play, the undead Billy Cole turns out to be just another dead wimp!

The big stained glass window in Jerry's house is used to good extent over and over!

Literally, all Hell starts breaking out!!

From "All My Children" to "Married With Children," Amanda Bearse as Charley's girlfriend Amy turned eternally evil has never looked sexier!!

I can just imagine Peg/Gemma saying, 'My Gawd Marcy, you need to brush more often, even Al's breath isn't that bad!' Just in case you don't know, Amanda was Marcy in a stunning run of 10 years from 1987 to 1997 on "Married With Children!"

Evil, Evil, Live, Evil, light good, light bad, depending on which side you're on!

And just about when it looks like Evil is going to persevere......

Hell No!! Die Scum OF The Earth!

Nothing like a good horror host ending! "Be sure and return on Monday when Tabonga! will rise again!"

THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED / Studio One - CBS - 1957

Welp, here's our last Halloween Countdown of 2014... Whew!! I saved this one for the last day, it's an episode from STUDIO ONE that is a recreation of the broadcast by the Mercury Theatre of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and the panic that followed because some listeners thought it was an actual invasion from Mars! Oh yeah, Happy Halloween Everbloody!!

Eegah!! sent over a little sound clip from this program for our approval, sooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button over by our air raid siren, NOW, Rufus The Gnat!.. Here's a taste of... THE NIGHT AMERICA TREMBLED!

Our story begins with an introduction by Edward R. Murrow and his cigarette, as heard in the sound clip, he also narrates throughout the hour program.

The Mercury Theatre warms up before they go live, as also heard in the sound clip.

At the bar, it's all in your face politics and talk about the rise of Hitler in Europe.

Here's a shot from the newsroom with John Astin in his very first acting role!! Man, we love John as Gomez Addams, they could have never cast a better actor than him for that part, and, he's still working today!!

And, in this scene, there are Warren Oates and Warren Beatty (on the right) playing cards before the radio program starts. This is Oates third acting credit and Beatty's second credit!

If you didn't hear the intro to the show where they announce that it' a reenactment of H. G. Well's story of a Marian invasion, a listener may get the bejesus scared out of them!

Blogger The Gremlin has screwed up my photos once again, when will the insanity end?!!

Here are some of the actors in the middle of the show, that's Ed Asner there on the left.

Back at the newsroom, the editor keeps getting calls from panicked citizens!

This babysitter, played by Susan Hallaran, is really getting creeped out with the parents gone out to dinner!

And, this scared couple riding in their car just after they decide to get married!

The babysitter can't take it anymore, she calls the parents and begs them to come home!

Some of my favorite parts involves these policemen trying to deal with the non-stop calls from freaked out citizens!

By the time the play is ending, the producer's worried about all the potential law suits!

The parents get home just as the program ends, it was just a play, the babysitter feels a lot better now! And, there's James Coburn as the dad in his very first acting role!

This poor guy tells the police that he was so panicked that he drove hundreds of miles away and is now stranded without any money!

Tune in tomorrow when things will be back to normal!.. Normal?!

TRICK OR TREAT - Paul Smith - "Donald Duck" (1952)

With two more days to go until Halloween, this Donald Duck cartoon title says it all!

TRICK or TREAT!! 

My two favourite Donald Duck jokes are that Darn Old Duck, and the Mad comic where Donald is running away, and the guy throws something at him and says, "Hey Donald, duck!" but he doesn't because he just thinks they're calling out his name, and proceeds to get banged in the head!

Seems like all these cartoons have this same type of opening scene, and why not, it works perfectly every time!

This funny little character was known as Hazel the Witch, and Hazel's voice was done by another queen of cartoon voices, June Foray, the voice of Rocket J. Squirrel and Natasha Fatale, and the list goes on and on and on after that!!!

This whole story starts off innocent enough, with Huey, Dewey, and Louie off to do some trick or treatin' on Halloween! The composer of the "Trick or Treat" song was Paul Smith, longtime Disney workhorse responsible for the music on tons of shorts, and some full feature Disney classics like "Pinocchio," "Cinderella," and "The Shaggy Dog!"

First stop is Uncle Donald's house, who is patiently waiting for the happy kids with his big bowl of candy!

I had forgot what a mean-spirited duck Donald really was!

He gives his own nephews lit fireworks instead of candy!

Nice guy!!

If that wasn't bad enough, he then douses them with a big bucket of water!

Well, Hazel the Witch was watching the whole scene, and tells the boys she thinks she can help them out!!

Donald ends up dumping more water on Hazel than he did on the boys!

Hazel's mad, Donald has crossed over the line and now is going to have to pay for it! With the boys help, she conjures up a big batch of magic potion and fills a spray gun with it!

Cool potion! Spray on a Jack-O-Lantern, and ...........

 

........Next thing you know, Donald would have crapped in his drawers if he had any on!!

The potion changes inanimate objects into scary ghosts!!

Then for the big crescendo, Witch Hazel sprays the potion on Donald's feet and they turn blue!

Donald wouldn't give up the key to his pantry, so Hazel is now in complete control of his every move!

Hazel commands the blue feet to back Donald's bare posterior right into the fire!

Hazel commands the feet to run out the front door for about a mile, then turn around and head back full steam as a human battering ram!

It works, and afterwards, the kids are able to help themselves to anything they want! Moral of the story, don't be a stingy tightwad on Halloween!! That's it for me! Tabonga! will be back on Allhallows Eve to wrap up this 2014 Countdown, hope you had as much fun as I did!