Tag Archives: monster movies

Monsters on Monday, What’s Not to Like?

Posted on June 5, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had a couple of authentic Mohawk Valley adventures I was going to write about,  but I’m tired.  Sorry, folks, I’ve had a rough weekend and a tough Monday — oh, I KNOW other people work much harder than I do and have a much harder time.  I’ll stop whining, I really will.  My point is, as I was idly scrolling down Facebook, trying to work up some ambition, I came across an awesome still from The Invisible Man, and, well, you know me and monster movies.  We are having another Monstrous Monday.

“But, Darling, I never loved you for your looks!”

Claude Rains and Gloria Stuart, what’s not to like?  Naturally I kept scrolling to see if I could get lucky and find a couple of more pictures.

They don’t do newspaper ads like this any more!

I LOOOOVE The Raven!  I only recently saw it for the first time, having DVR’d it from TCM.  I feel certain my husband will give me the DVD for my birthday or Christmas sometime.  Maybe on a boxed set of Roger Corman movies.  I like Roger Corman almost as much as I like William Castle.

I think this also works as a depiction of the popular conception of Monday.

This is one out of my Media Library.  Since I mentioned William Castle, I just had to include a picture of House on Haunted Hill (the 1959 original, of course), one of our go-to movies.  So entertaining!

Alas, one cannot enjoy Percepto while watching this on DVD!

Oh, how silly of me.  I went looking in my Library for William Castle, completely forgetting that I had just downloaded a movie poster from one of his flicks!  It just goes to show how truly tired I am.  I’m leaving the other picture in, though, because who couldn’t like to see a scary ghost and a screaming woman on Monstrous Monday?  No promises, but I’ll try not to be so tired on Tuesday.

 

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George Zucco on Monstrous Monday

Posted on May 8, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had vague hopes (not high hopes, as you see) of making a real post, perhaps writing it while on break at work.  I also had what I thought were firm plans to exercise after work.  I should have known better.  Now here I am, in a monstrous mood, typing off the top of my head and hoping for a Monstrous Monday post.  I do like monsters.

“Y’see, dock, it hurts right about here…”

Here is George Zucco and… a friend (I bet you thought I was going to say his mummy) (you know who you are).  I had seen a picture of George Zucco and a gorilla in one of my movie groups earlier and thought I might download it.  I went back to Facebook and searched “Geroge Zucco.”  There it was!  At the last minute I thought, what if it belongs to somebody and I was supposed to get permission?  So I changed my search to “George Zucco public photos.”  I kind of like the mummy better anyways.  It is more monstrous.

I was introduced to George Zucco (it just feels right to use his entire name every time) in our 50 Horror Classics DVD collection.  He is described as “marvelously theatrical.”  I’m sure I’ve written blog posts about some of his movies.  I really must start doing movie write-ups again.  They are such fun.  For me, at least.

Spoiler alert: they do more than just walk in this flick.

I think this is one of the movies I wrote about.   If I was better about tagging, I could probably find it and link back to it.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me.

I still don’t know why the monster was so mad.

I actually do not remember if I saw this one or not, but I thought it would be nice to include another picture with George Zucco.  My new ambition for the week:  to watch a movie featuring George Zucco and write about it.  It is good to make a big plan on a Monday.

 

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Various Movies on Monstrous Monday

Posted on May 1, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I’m sure nobody expected me to get my act together overnight.  If you did, well, you realize you were setting yourself up for disappointment, do you not?  No matter.  We all have foolish expectations from time to time.

All this by way of introduction to another Monstrous Monday.  My only decision now is whether to use repeat monsters or search for new pictures to share.  I think I’ll look for old and try to think of new things to say about them.

Here’s a double bill I never thought of.

I do not remember why I downloaded this shot or when I used it.  Trog, for the uninitiated, is Joan Crawford’s last movie.  It is not my favorite cheesy horror movie featuring Crawford.  And before anybody hazards a guess, neither is Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.  I don’t think I have ever seen Taste the Blood of Dracula, although I have seen a few Hammer Dracula movies starring Christopher Lee.  I understand he kept saying each one was his last, but the studio would talk him into the next, often by pointing out how many people would get work thereby.  If that is true, it gives me quite a good opinion of Lee, even outside of his acting prowess.

“Did you think I would not pop in?”

What’s a Monstrous Monday without my favorite guy, Nosferatu?

He only looks harmless.

I end with a monster of the human variety, Robert Walker as Bruno in Strangers on a Train, on the right.  The other guy, looking a little apprehensive (and no idea yet how right he is to be so!) is Farley Granger as Guy Haines.  Good movie.  I’ll have to give it another watch soon.  But not on a double bill with Trog.

 

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What’s In a Lame?

Posted on March 10, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

Get it?  Like “What’s in a name?”  I came up with the title after I wrote the following:

No, this is not my date for Friday night.

I didn’t have any bright ideas for this week’s Friday Lame Post, but when I was on Facebook, somebody on one of my monster movie pages shared this picture of Max Schreck as Nosferatu.  I immediately downloaded it, and you know my motto (one of them, anyways): waste not, want not.

Incidentally, every time I mention Max Schreck, I have to look up the spelling of his name.  I feel certain I am getting it mixed up with a certain green ogre voiced by Mike Myers (another name I must look up).

“What do you mean, you’ve never seen the movie?”

Shrek.  That is how the ogre spells it.  And it’s Myers not Meyers, Mike not Michael.  I guess Michael Meyers is the bad guy from the Halloween movies.  Full disclosure:  I have never seen any of the Shrek movies, and it comes as no small disappointment to me to find out it is spelled differently from Max Schreck.  I’ve heard the Shrek movies are full of pop culture references.  I think a reference to an iconic silent horror movie would have been nice.  Perhaps they did mean it as a reference but changed the spelling.  If I was a real cinema writer, I would research these things (and once again, we come to the ugly truth about me).

“No, I was not a regular on Saturday Night Live.”

I just looked up Halloween, the movie, and found that Michael Myers spells his name the same way Mike Myers did.  I’m glad we got that cleared up.

 

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Snapped then Swoon?

Posted on January 22, 2018 by mohawkvalleygirl

I pause in my Sunday activities to make a Wrist to Forehead post.  I am not currently posing with my wrist on my forehead (about to swoon on a chaise lounge, of course), because it is so far a pretty good day.  But I’m thinking this will not be a very good post, so perhaps I will swoon after I hit publish.  No matter.  These things happen, and we must make the best of them.

The 1920’s, Julie Andrews, what’s not to like?

My husband Steven and I watched this movie last night and earlier this afternoon. I purchased it at a garage sale over the summer.  Last night after watching Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Steven suggested we put in something silly we would not mind turning off.   In fact, we got into it and did mind turning it off.  Luckily, there was an intermission, because Steven had to be up early to get to work this morning.  When one reaches a good leaving off place, one likes to take advantage of it.

I made spaghetti sauce and meatballs earlier, the way my mother and grandmother used to make, although I forgot to add the tomato paste so it was not thick.  Nobody is perfect, after all.  Now Steven (dear, sweet man) is dong the dishes, and I am looking at Snapped, my usual Sunday guilty pleasure. And I thought, Ooh, it would be a good idea to make my blog post.

Naturally they are only showing episodes I have already seen, but you’ll have that. Especially as often as I watch Snapped.

When Steven is finished doing the dishes, I would like to watch a monster movie.  I am rather obsessed with monster movies.  I wonder which one we will choose.  Not knowing, I will close with a random monster movie picture from my Media Library.

I imagine he hates to be interrupted when he is eating.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

 

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Inspired to Run

Posted on November 10, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

When I was at work, I realized I was looking forward to running later.  That felt good; usually I must psyche myself into it and hope to enjoy it once I’ve started. Full disclosure:  the run did not feel as good as the anticipation, but you’ll have that.  I confess, now I am more in the mood to write a silly post with monster movie pictures than a Running Commentary.  Then I thought, it’s Non-Sequitur Thursday.  Maybe I can combine the two.

A dramatic conclusion to a scary movie.

This is a scene from Horror Hotel, which I was reminded of on a recent run.  I was coming out of Brookfield Park and saw a t-bar in a neighboring back yard, possibly part of a clothesline or a holder for a bird feeder.  To me it looked like a cross, and if it was only crooked, it would look like the cross wielded by a character in the movie as he uses it to break up a satanic ritual.

After I downloaded that photo this evening, I wondered what other pictures I could find that had to do with running. Some people say they only run if something is chasing them, so I looked for one of the villagers chasing Frankenstein’s monster.  The only ones I saw showed the villagers moseying along, carrying torches.  That is actually a pace I might be able to outrun.  Unfortunately, my computer would not let me download any of those photos.  I am so unadept at these things!

“Now you have everything…”

OK, this lady does not run.  She foolishly backs away, screaming loudly, like a typical useless movie female of that era.  But I just couldn’t resist using a photo from House on Haunted Hill, the original William Castle production starring Vincent Price, OF COURSE.  It is one of our favorites.

He is bad, yes.

I close with a picture that could certainly inspire one to run and run fast.  I imagine I would.  This, of course, is the great Christopher Lee, a definitive Dracula to many.  I confess Bela Lugosi is the real Dracula to me, but there is room in my heart for many vampires.  I admire that Lee’s interpretation is so different from Lugosi’s.  There is probably a great scholarly article to be written comparing the two Counts, relating the characterizations to the respective decades in which the movies were made.  I’m not saying I intend to write it.  I write a silly blog.  Happy Thursday, everyone.

 

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Creature of the Lame Blog Post

Posted on October 21, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

It was love at first sight, for him at least.

When in doubt, lead with a picture of a monster and a beautiful girl.  This, of course, is the titular Creature of the Black Lagoon and Julie Adams. Official Julie Adams is a Facebook page I follow, and not just because of my love of classic movie monsters.  Ms. Adams seems so gracious and loving towards her fans.  A real class act.  I need all the good examples of class I can get.

So it’s Lame Post Friday.  Steven and I have reached the sweats on, bra off (for me anyways), movie watching portion of the evening.  We are drinking champagne, because it is our 27th wedding anniversary.  Yay us, we still like each other!  I do love to watch a monster movie, on my anniversary and the rest of the year.  But one must make one’s blog post (when one is me, that is).

I totally missed this episode, and I used to watch this show every week!

I add this photo purely because I had it in my Media Library and it amuses me.

That is not the Avon lady calling.

Here is another from my Media Library, under the heading Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

“What’s your sign?”

Since my readers deserve something new as well, I found this nice one of Julie and the Creature.  And I shall close with a more recent picture of the gracious Ms. Adams.

Isn’t she lovely?

I hope it is all right that I downloaded these photos from the Facebook page.  If it is not, I hope some of my readers will come visit me in jail.  Happy Friday, everyone.

 

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Graveyard, Nosferatu, What’s Not to Like?

Posted on October 5, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

I was feeling better than I felt yesterday, so I went running.  I was going to do a Running Commentary post, but in the first place, the run was not that memorable.  In the second place, my headache is back and I have to start thinking about dinner.  As I was looking through Facebook, hoping for a little inspiration (oh, don’t give me that hoary cliche that inspiration follows writing, sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes you do so get it before you write).  Where was I?  Ah yes, I found a monster movie picture, and you know how I love to make a post of monster movie pictures.

SO atmospheric! I love it!

It is from the James Whale Frankenstein.  It reminded me of another picture of a cemetery in another horror movie.  I knew I had seen it on Facebook at some point but could not remember what page.  I went to The Golden Age of Monster Movies, a group I am in, and began scrolling through their photos.  Of course I could not find the one I was looking for, and I do not have all night to search for an obscure picture.  However, I soon found a shot of my favorite guy, Nosferatu.  I must share Nosferatu.

I remember this shot from the first time I saw this movie, when I was in the sixth grade. I was scarred for life, but, you know, in a good way.

So I gave up on doing a graveyard theme and just looked for a couple more pictures I liked.  I soon found the following:

We recently watched this one. I should write a blog post about it. I haven’t written about a cheesy horror movie in a long time.

 

I have no idea what this is from, but Peter Lorre, Vincent Price, a severed head, what’s not to like?

So this is my Wuss-out Wednesday post for the week.  I don’t say I won’t have another day of monster movie pictures and silly commentary, but at least I won’t call it Wuss-out Wednesday.  As always, thank you for tuning in.

 

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Now I Would Like a Drink

Posted on September 22, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Sorry, folks, my malaise continues and I can’t manage any other kind of post than one with monster pictures.  I really like monster pictures.

Now there’s a man, someone who will carry you to the bar!

I stole this gem from Monster Movies and Creature Features, a Facebook group I enjoy quite a bit.  As I searched for others, I saw on one of the groups or pages I followed (can’t remember which one), somebody had posted about 50 times that it was Stephen King’s birthday.  He’s 70.  I don’t know if the person who posted it hit the wrong button or was just really, really excited about Stephen King’s birthday, but it was on there more times than I cared to scroll through.  I went on to a different monster page/group, but I thought, ooh, there’s a perfect excuse to post monsters: Stephen King’s birthday!

Only, I’m not a big fan of Stephen King.  Oh, he is an excellent writer, very skilled, very talented.  I have enjoyed several books and stories of his (I prefer novels to short stories, but I also like the novelettes).  I gotta say, the movies, not so much.  His movies were made in the bloody ’70’s and beyond.  I like the older, more circumspect flicks.  There are exceptions, of course.  As I trolled around looking for other pictures, I remembered I shared one recently from a movie based on a Stephen King novel.  Steven my husband (note the different spelling) and I pop in Carrie periodically.  It is a time-honored favorite.

My prom was so boring!

A movie based on a Stephen King novel which I did not enjoy was The Shining.  Yes, yes, I know many people love it.  One part I liked which was not in the book was “All work and no play make Jack a dull boy,” typed over and over, when Pathetic Wife thought he was working on his novel.  The other part I kind of liked, also not in the book, was the very end, with the haunting shot of Jack Nicholson in the ballroom

Ooh, it was in 1921. I love the ’20’s.

This is the cover photo from the group Haunted Ballroom.  Very appropriate, no?

As I was downloading that photo, I remembered there is another movie based on a Stephen King novel I don’t mind: Shawshank Redemption.  I reference that movie all the time.  As a result of spending too much time (for me) in dry, dry Arizona, I enjoy rain so much that sometimes I do Shawshank Redemption:

I usually have my shirt on when I do this, for which I am sure bystanders are grateful.

Full disclosure: after the flood of 2013, I did not do that gesture for a while.  I don’t do it every time it rains anyways, only sometimes for effect, for example, when we had rather a deluge after a Shakespeare performance in Little Falls last summer (perhaps you read my blog post about it).

Be all that as it may, this has been my Thursday Non-Sequitur post for the week.  I hope to see you all again on Lame Post Friday.

 

 

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I Like Monsters

Posted on September 16, 2017 by mohawkvalleygirl

Hello, and welcome to Lame Post Friday.  I went running earlier, hoping to offer a Running Commentary Post.  Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, depending on how your tastes run, I just don’t feel like doing that.  I feel like posting pictures from monster movies.  Since I indulge myself on Fridays (and most other days when it comes to this blog) (don’t judge me), here is Bela Lugosi in a publicity shot from The Wolfman.

This is how I will look on Sunday, contemplating the approach of Monday.

I actually had been scrolling down Facebook trying to talk myself out of my monster movie picture cop-out when I saw this picture of Bela and I just couldn’t resist.  I went on to see what else I could find, skipping around to my favorite movie groups and pages.

Icons in coffins, what’s not to like?

I believe this is Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price and Peter Lorre (in the back).  I’m almost sure I’ve seen this before and cannot believe I have not used it in a blog post yet.  If I repeat myself, well, some things are worth repeating.

This is probably what he would look like riding a subway.

When we think of monsters, especially movie monsters, naturally we would think of Frankenstein’s monster, one of the first and one of the best.  I shall conclude with a less literary monster in another publicity shot.

I never knew that magazine had centerfolds.

Full disclosure:  I am not that familiar with the Planet of the Apes movies.  I think Steven and I watched the first one once, but I don’t remember that much about it.  I think we saw the remake and were unimpressed.  Then again, one could argue that these movies are more sci fi than horror.  But why argue on Lame Post Friday?  I’m going to have another glass of wine.  I hope you’ll tune in again for my other weekend posts.

 

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