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Tag Archives: The Tingler

One Sunday with Triple Cheese, Please!

I said earlier I might try for a Sunday Cinema Post,  and here I am, on Sunday, having watched a few movies, and ready to make a blog post.  My husband, Steve, graciously agreed to watch cheesy horror movies.  Accordingly, I located a VHS cassette I picked up at a rummage sale of Monster from Green Hell.  I could not exactly remember how the plot unfolded but hoped it would not be too slow.  That is Steve’s usual problem with that sort of movie: too slow!  I fear he is often right.

And I think I have insect problems!

A scary scene, no?  Yes, it is.  Unfortunately, we had to sit through HOURS of guys walking through Africa, stock footage of animals panicking, and various other slow scenes explaining what was or was about to happen.  And, yes, it felt like hours, even though the whole movie clocks in at 71 minutes, according to the box.  My bad!  I should have remembered.

“Scream! Scream for your lives!”

I knew we would have better luck when I put in The Tingler.  William Castle and Vincent Price, there could be no possible objection.  It is one of my favorites.

It is really not so romantic as all that.

We moved on to a Vincent Price/Agnes Moorehead vehicle, The Bat.  That is a fun movie too, although it does not pay to think too hard about it.  I don’t want to say it has plot holes, but you could probably strain spaghetti through the script.

It was a very relaxing Sunday afternoon.  I feel a little bad that I got almost nothing useful done, but you’ll have that.  At least I’ll have that.  In the meantime,  I am over 250 words,  posting on time.  Score!  Bring on the week!

 

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Crawling Through a Creepy Week

How about a Mid-Week Monsters post? I could use a few creepy-crawlies to cheer myself up. My only problem is, will I be able to find some good ones to share?

It’s creepy! It’s crawly!

This is only a shadow, but it is The Tingler (1959), a terrifying creepy-crawly from the brilliant oeuvre of William Castle. I love that movie, but Steven is less of a fan. We have it on DVD, which is a delightful thing for me.

“It creeps, and leaps..”

This is more of a creepy than a crawly, The Blob (1958). I think you need feet to be a crawly, and the more feet you have, the creepier. I should do a study of these things. Maybe a master’s thesis. I could get a PhD in Monster Theory.

Incidentally, we do not have this movie on DVD, although we would like it for the collection. It is a classic. I am especially fond of the theme song.

EEEEEEEE!

Here is a definite crawly, using all six legs to terrorize Joan Collins in Empire of the Ants (1977). I have not seen that movie in years. This is why I miss movie rental places.

As this week continues to creep and crawl towards Friday, I guess I have cheered myself up somewhat. I hope my readers have found my monsters equally as cheering.

Yes, It Was Monday

Every Monday is another chance to have a fabulous, productive week. And every Monday evening I feel Just Too Tired To Do Anything. I don’t even know if I can manage a Monstrous Monday Post.

An embarrassingly common emotion.

Oh crap now I am having trouble with this WordPress editor. I couldn’t get the cursor to the left to start a new paragraph; it wanted to stay center. Now I am two to three lines below the picture and afraid to try to erase the space. And why does autocorrect only want to correct some of my typos? These are the questions that haunt me on Monstrous Monday.

Now the bastard won’t let me add another picture! What the hell?

Maybe it would help if I screamed.

Regarding the caption above, in The Tingler (yes, autocorrect, Tingler, not Tingles. Sheesh!), directed by William Castle and starring Vincent Price, only screaming could save you from the terrifying Tingler. I am not sure screaming out my frustration would have a similar effect, although I know some find such behavior helpful.

It was, my friend, it was.

I close with a ghoul I downloaded some years ago but rarely share. I confess my day was not as bad as some. However, I found it tiring. But at least I managed a 200 (or so) word blog post. Happy Monday, everyone.

New Year’s with Vincent

I interrupt my New Year’s Eve celebrations to make a blog post. It was easy for my husband, Steven, and I to heed the calls to stay home and not gather for the holiday, because that is what we usually do for New Year’s Eve. Sweat pants, wine, and movies. What more could we ask?

I could ask that my Media Library be more organized, for one thing. We are watching familiar movies, and I know I have pictures of them. Movie pictures add so much to a post like this.

The master at work.

Our first movie was House on Haunted Hill, the original starring Vincent Price, directed by William Castle.  It is one of our perennial favorites. 

Me, trying to scroll through all my pictures.

I have some even better pictures of that movie, but it is too difficult to find them.  Perhaps I will make a New Year’s Resolution to find out how to better organize my photos.

We continued with both Price and Castle with The Tingler.

He’s feeding her a line, and she’s got him on a string.

I paused in my making a blog post to watch Carolyn Jones’ scenes in House of Wax, starring Vincent Price but not directed by William Castle. 

Now that I am over 200 words, I shall feel free to return to my holiday libations and movie viewing.  Happy New Year, everyone!

 

William Castle, Can You Help Me Now?

Hello and welcome to another Monstrous Monday Post.  Once again I intend to pull monster pictures from my Media Library and hope to find something new to say about them. We shall see how successful I can be.

Who will win?

Full disclosure: I have never seen this movie.  I can’t help wondering if they are running out of ideas when they have to combine monsters.  Then again, I can’t judge, as I am suffering from a dearth of ideas myself.

A director who truly loved his work.

Here is a fellow who never seemed to run out of ideas, William Castle on the set of House on Haunted Hill.  Perhaps I can find some inspiration from a man who lived to entertain.

Scream! Scream for your lives!

In my search for inspiration,  I find a shot of Vincent Price in The Tingler, another Castle masterpiece.

Mine is not this big.

Not a Castle film, but one of my favorite pictures to share when I am feeling brain dead: The Brain From Planet Arous.

Great side eye, and totally deserved.

For my final picture,  I show the opposite of brain dead: The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, one of my all time favorite cheesy movies.

Yes, this is what I do when I feel unable to write: share pictures and spew nonsense.  Perhaps tomorrow I will be able to write something better, even without a brain or inspiration.  As always, I hope you will stay tuned.

 

Monday Movies

How about Monday Movies instead of Monstrous Monday?  For one reason, we watched a couple of movies I think I have pictures of in my Media Library.  But can I find them?

And you thought you had some strange bedfellows!

Our first feature was Straitjacket,  a William Castle movie starring Joan Crawford.  Steven was feeling down, and I thought a sweet, uplifting story about ax murders would cheer him up.  Who doesn’t love a good ax murder?

Is all permissible for Science?

Our second feature was The Tingler, another William Castle, this one starring Vincent Price.   Who doesn’t love Vincent Price?

Another questionable act of Science.

And here is another scene from that movie.  After The Tingler we took a break from movies to fix and enjoy dinner.

Speaking of murder…

Monday, of course is Dateline Day, with multiple episodes airing on OWN.  I have in fact lost track of The Valentine’s Day Mystery while I wrote this.

I like cake, too.

Looping back to Straitjacket,  here is Joan Crawford again.  She sure takes the cake, doesn’t she?  Any way you slice it, she is sweet.  I ax you, is that a star or what?

Now all the pun hating readers are groaning while all my fellow punsters are coming up with further plays on words.  And that gives me an idea for another feature:  Monday Punday.  Sunday Punday could work to.  I hope you’ll all stay tuned.

 

Snapped or Cinema, Happy Sunday!

I think I can manage a Sunday Cinema post.  Can I manage to find proper illustrations?  That is another question altogether and one that may lead to a Wriet to Forehead Sunday post.

Who doesn’t love Snapped on a Sunday?

Of course the first thing we tuned into was Snapped.  We looked at an episode or two between movies as well,.  However, our primary concern today was movies.

A pretty unsavory pair.

At last I come across a picture from Double Indemnity, our second feature.  I cannot for the life of me find anything from Being Julia, the first movie we watched. How annoying!  I know I had some picture from it in  my Media Library!  That is what I get for posting on the Tablet.  On the laptop I could have downloaded a new picture.  Can my readers forgive me for being so low tech?  I can only hope so.

No wonder some people have trouble sleeping at night!

Being unsuccessful at finding a photo from Being Julia,  I share a picture from a movie I would like to watch next: The Tingler with Vincent Price.  Steven is falling asleep on the live seat, so perhaps I can put in whatever movie I like next.  Then again, why would Steven not like to watch  William Castle classic?  We shall see.  Happy Sunday,  everyone!

 

Scream! Scream For Your Lives!

This doesn’t happen to me when I take a nap.

I just finished watching The Tingler after watching The Fatal Hour, which was not the thrill I was hoping for, and a couple of episodes of 20/20 on OWN.

I guess this is going to be a Non-Sequitur Thursday post,  although the title does have something to do with at least the first paragraph (if you don’t get it, watch The Tingler).  That is, I am making a post pretty much just to make a post, so I will blather on for 200 words or so and hit Publish.  At least I will try to be amusing.

I went out adventuring earlier, and had a couple of good ones, at least one of which I hope to write into an article for Mohawk Valley Living magazine (preview of coming attractions).  Then I had a headache and took a nap.  I hoped to get together with my friend Kim,  which no doubt would have made a decent post, but alas, that did not work out.

When it became clear I was home for the night, I poured myself a (second) glass of Pinot Noir and put in a cheesy movie, The Fatal Hour with Boris Karloff.  I don’t have a picture of it, but you are not missing much.   It is not a horror movie,  it is a detective story.  I only stuck with it because it featured an intrepid girl reporter.  I just love an intrepid girl reporter.

Another shot from The Tingler, just to have another illustration.

 

 

Just Enough Brain for Monstrous Monday

You would not think I would need to resort to a Monstrous Monday on the fourth day of a four day weekend.  Then again, I’m going back to work after a four day break: how can I NOT feel monstrous?  And feel monstrous, I do.  I have suddenly been hit by a huge wave of I Can’t Do This.  Regular readers may recall that I have a bit on my plate these days.  However, I am well aware that other people have more, often with fewer resources than those which I enjoy.  What the hell am I complaining about?

I kind of feel like I’m being strangled.  I wonder if it would help to scream.

I thought it was time to throw in a monster.  This is the titular monster from The Tingler (1959), a William Castle masterpiece starring the wonderful Vincent Price. Here’s a Freudian typo:  when I went to Google the movie to find the year, I put “Thingler.”  That would be a combination of the Thing and the Tingler.  If it was a Christmas movie, it could be the Jingler.  If it could fly, it would be the Wingler.  If unmarried, the Singler.  I could go on.

The answer to feeling overwhelmed, other than remembering to breathe, which a good idea under any circumstances, is to do one thing.  Then you often find you can do another.  Soon you are on your way to Getting Stuff Done.  The One Thing I am working on now is my blog post, in case you haven’t guessed.  I think it’s time for another monster.

Why is she screaming? She can take him!  He has no muscles!

Here is a scene from House on Haunted Hill (1959), another Castle/Price delight.

I need a brain this big.

I looked for another monster picture, because I could not think of anything else to say.  This is The Brain from Plant Arous (1957).  I wish I had my usual brain, but since that seems not to be functioning, I would take one from any planet.  Hmm… my plan of Doing One Thing does not seem to be working.  I will hit Publish on this (if I can possibly think of a title), but I am not feeling inclined to move on to something else.  Oh dear.  Well, tune in tomorrow to see if I did.

 

Ready for the Sweats and the Wine

I can’t have Sunday Cinema; I’ve only watched two movies so far and I’m on to Snapped.  I suppose I could watch a third movie and then post, but I want to get this done.  As  I mentioned yesterday, I have knitting to do.  I also want to get back into my sweats.  Well, that is silly of me; I could put the sweats on and then make the post.  No, make the post now before I talk myself out of it.

Some might advise me to stop being a daily blogger if it is such a chore.  I would argue (if I was any good at argument, which I am not) that some things are worth doing even if they are a chore.  They would no doubt reply (I told you I was no good at argument) that most of my posts are probably not worth the effort.  I advise them to seek out more worthy blogs and to leave me alone.  Yes, I have numerous arguments with imaginary critics.

As you may have guessed, it is Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

Sometimes I feel like this when I try to sleep.

Earlier, before I was ready to swoon on the chaise and was actually having a pretty good day, we watched The Tingler (1959), produced and directed by William Castle and starring Vincent Price.  I LOOOOVE William Castle movies!  I do not have enough of them on DVD.

She has got his number!

After The Tingler, Steven suggested His Girl Friday (1941).  Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant, snappy dialogue, a fast moving script, it was an excellent suggestion.  I missed parts of it while I fixed us something to eat then made my salad for the week’s lunches, but I have seen it many times before and will no doubt watch it again.

After the movie, I wrote some post cards and walked to the post office with them.  I felt quite virtuous doing this, since I had gone for a long (for me) run this morning.  Come December, I will OWN that Reindeer Run 5K.  And by “own” of course I mean shuffle along toward the back of the pack and enjoy myself.

So I am feeling moderately less wrist-to-foreheady since I see I am over 350 words and I don’t feel this is too heinous of a post.  I think I deserve to put on my sweats and maybe have a glass of wine.  Happy Sunday, everyone.