AGATHA CHRISTIES "POIROT" - "The Hallowe'en Party" (2011)

This Countdown To Halloween Saturday Night Special is a great story by one of the masters, Agatha Christie, titled "Hallowe'en Party" that was published in 1969.

"Poirot," also known as "Agatha Christie's Poirot," was on the air in the UK from 1989 to 2013. If you were lucky, you might have caught it on PBS or A&E in the United States.

Agatha Christie's murder mysteries are just as twisted as Edgar Wallace's, and there is no way I'm going to try and explain this story to you! I don't know enough words!

But here are the basics.....................There's a Halloween party going on!

Have you ever heard of or played the game Snap-Dragon? Apparently they would fill up a bowl with brandy, and then put raisins in it, and set it on fire, and people put them in their mouths to extingush the fire. I guess it's common in Europe and I read that it was played in the U.S. on Halloween. Sounds like a good way to burn the crap out of your mouth to me.

During the game, one young lady blurts out that she had once seen a murder!

 

Next thing you know, somebody has drowned her in the apple-bobbing barrel!!

Time to call for help from the Belgian super sleuth, Hercule Poirot!

This show is absolutely stunningly classic to look at with shots like this!

I'm colorblind and see things different than most, but to my eye, this color and beauty of this shot looks like a classical painting!

But this show isn't just about beauty, it's also creepy as Hell and yet still manages to be kid friendly, and that's a difficult task!

"Trick or Treat!"

Killer garden, literally!

Memories of happier moments from the past can also be clues if you're Poirot.

Another gorgeous shot..................

......................Just leads to more death and despair!

What a great Halloween story, and once again, you can thank The Lord for finding it for us!

"Lights Out Kiddies!! 

 

 

"The Hallowe'en Party has been published so many times, and almost all the books have cool covers like this!

 

Feeling the need? Okay then!

Why? Because we like you!

RETURN OF THE BLUE DEATH / Monster Kid Home Movies - 1965

Nothing says Halloween more than some Monster Kids! So, today we have the sequel to THE BLUE DEATH by Bruce Tinkel which I posted a while back. Of course I had to make them a decent title card because they moved the camera around with theirs... Stupid kids!

In this scene, a kid holds up a special sweat shirt and the Blue Death appears, and he kills the poor little guy by chocking him out.

Then we see the monster creeping around on someone's roof. He sees some kids goofing around in the swimming pool...

Blue Death strips down to his bathing suit (why was he wearing a bathing suit?) and jumps in the pool only to toss the two boys around and kill them before he splits.

Okay, it's summer here, right?

Well, the next scene takes place in the fall! Guess the crew was on hiatus, anyway, Blue Death shows up out of nowhere and chases this guy in his own yard.

The maniac follows the dude into his house and ends up choking him out too!! So, if you see a guy with this sweat shirt on, RUN LIKE HELL!

Next, he grabs a hatchet and chops away on this unsuspecting guy, reminds me of the last guy to get killed in our movie, THE CREEP. Except, our guy gets an ice pick through the soft spot on the top of his head!

This scene is so silly. Looks like Blue Death is coming down a telephone pole, and there's some kid driving small nails into to roof. He doesn't see BD because he's so darn absorbed in whatever the freakin' Hell he's up to! Use your imagination to figure out what happens to him.

Yeah, and after he deep sixes another guy, he beats his chest like an ape and gestures what a great crazy person he is!

When this kid goes up against the human side of BD, he changes into the monster and what else, he choke's the kid out!

In one nutty scene, this boy is supposed to be getting run over by Blue Death, but, you can plainly see that the gear shift is in park!

Beware all of you out there, the Blue Death is on the prowl...

And the WTF! doesn't end there! Some guy's out grilling on the barbeque, using a fencing sword to, I guess, flip the burgers?  BD tries to attack him but the guy runs the sword through the bad guy's gut... Wow, kids and their imaginations! Who in the Hell would ever grill using a sword?!

Like in the many Universal horror films, the Blue Death changes back to his human form after dying, but goes one better by disappearing into thin air!

And this actor just shrugs his shoulders, signifying... Wha' hoppin'?

Tune in tomorrow as we keep on trucking down that old Halloween Countdown trail, here at The Dungeon!!..

THE TWILIGHT ZONE - "The Howling Man" (1960)

Let's venture off into "The Twilight Zone" for this Wednesday's offering on The Countdown!

I was looking at a list of Halloween TV shows on Wikipedia, and this "Twilight Zone" episode was on it, but I'm still not quite sure why. I guess because it has a scary guy in it, but there definitely ain't no trick or treating going on!

The story begins with H.M. Wynant as David Ellington, telling the story you're about to hear!

 H.M. might not be a household name but this guy has been acting on TV for seven decades, so I'm sure you've seen his face before. H.M.'s last appearance was in 2018, and if I did the math right, he should be 94 next February! Active in not just stage, TV, and film, H.M. also has a twenty year old daughter named Pasha.

Out taking a nice walk when the weather goes South in Europe somewhere, David Ellington stumbles on this shelter from the storm, and you know what that means, he just entered "The Twilight Zone!"

The welcoming committee is anything but welcoming, and tell him that he needs to leave.

Immediately, but he keeps hearing this howling sound.

The truly amazing John Carradine has the role of the boss of the joint, Brother Jerome!

Brother Jerome reiterates what the other fellow told David, but after David asks enough times, he finally gives in, and says he can spend the night!

Not a whole Helluva lot else is going on, but the howling continues, and everbody else acts like they don't hear anything!

Instead of staying in his room as told like a good boy, David goes out to try and track down the noise, and he finds this guy who seems fairly normal penned up and wanting out really bad!

Robin Hughes as 'The Howling Man" was also in "The Son Of  Dr. Jekyll," "The Maze," "Dial M For Murder," and "The Mole People."

David was warned by Brother Jerome, but if he had listened, we wouldn't have a story, so the stupid, dim-witted numbskull releases the prisoner!

It's not more than a few seconds before he realizes that he screwed up really bad!

What a moroon!!

The poor falsely imprisoned man is indeed The Devil himself!

Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, or Mephistopheles, whatever you want to call him, he's just evil!

David really feels stupid now, but the damage is done, and this evil genie is not going back in the bottle!

"Trick or Treat!!"

 

After David says that he didn't recognize that it was The Devil, Brother Jerome tells him 

"That is man's weakness and Satan's strength," and I'm willing to say that is a problem we still have to this day!