I've written about Monster Mansion twicebefore, and those two posts provide a good introduction to what it is and why I care about it.
To sum up: it's an exclusive dark ride at Six Flags Over Georgia, with over 100 animatronics, a bunch of 4D effects, and a catchy, catchy theme song.
Rather than repeat anything else from what I just linked to, I'll just say this: I've only gotten to ride it once this year, and found that this soundtrack CD is no longer for sale at the park.
I'm not terribly surprised by that, really -- it was a niche product, and frankly they probably sold as many as they could, realistically. (I was also impressed with the physical item -- the CD booklet folded out to make that attraction poster, which I kinda wanted to frame.)
So I decided I would make this available to download for you. A lot of you who aren't theme park nerds won't care, but the rest of you might. So I zipped up the CD with all the artwork and a few extra things I've collected here and there. (If you like theme parks and aren't following the Goddard Group on Facebook, you should fix that immediately.)
If any of the owners or creative folks behind this are upset with my sharing, I'll pull it down immediately. Obviously, I own nothing and am just a huge fan of this unlikely, weird, wonderful achievement. I'd hate awfully to upset any of you. (If your contracts allow, you should consider making the music available digitally -- low overhead, and it can stay in print forever.)
Space Ghost is interviewing Michael Norman, a ghost "expert." Norman admits this is his first actual encounter with a ghost, and takes the opportunity to pepper Ghosty with a few questions. Dangit, as a skeptical-know-it-all-jerk, I wanted to hate Michael Norman, but he seems to have a good sense of humor about the show and himself. It's fun to watch him probe Space Ghost with questions, even to the point of blasting.
Then, one of my favorite knowing skeptics, Bill Nye, shows up for just a moment to remind us there is still much science has to learn, like how a ghost can live in space. And then it's over.
My favorite Zorak moment in this episode is, of course: "Blast him! Blast him! Blast him!"
As an episode of SGC2C, I rate this 8/10. Zorak's "Blast him!" is iconic, and the scratch-audio joke at the end is perfect.
As a Halloween show, I rate this 6/10. Plenty of ghost talk, and Tad even gets to go "OooooOOOOOooooo."
Well, I sat through it, so I might as well talk about it. It's 1973's cheaper, more insulting, less competent answer to Blacula. It's Blackenstein (The Black Frankenstein).
I dunno, maybe I was expecting too much from this movie. My memories of Blacula were of a movie that was, yeah, a little slow, but at least technically competent. At worst, I figured this would be a hilarious collection of 70s fashion and wah-wah guitars and "jive sucka" dialogue. And I got none of those things.
Let's run down the list of things the movie does wrong: First, and most importantly, it's technically a mess. It's poorly edited, both in picture and sound. The music seems to be stock horror music (there are a couple original songs, which are good enough, if you like that sort of thing, and I do), but it just jumps into and out of scenes, sometimes literally from shot to shot. The dirty, scratched, faded film print used for this DVD does nobody any favors either. Much of the film is way too dark. Watching this in a darkened room, on a nice big TV, I shouldn't have to squint to see if anything is happening (frequently it wasn't).
The script is a poor excuse for a first draft. We're told the white Dr. Stein (Do ya get it? Huh? Do ya?) won "The Nobel Peace Prize for medicine." There's a lot of talk about DNA and RNA, which nobody seems to understand. Despite all the DNA talk, they pull out the same old Van de Graaff generators to perform Eddie's operations. (I'm assuming the rental of those machines took up a large portion of the budget, since they get waaaay too much screen time.)
Eddie is a disabled Vietnam vet. That's an important, interesting topic, and for a few minutes, we think the movie has something to say about it: the attendant at the VA has an ... interesting monologue about it, but the movie's just setting him up to be the first victim. For this film, Vietnam is only a plot device to disable a man, so he can become a monster and the producers can make some money.
The movie has a serious problem with women. Eddie only kills women (he attacks several men, but only women die on screen). I'm disturbed that, like a lot of cheapo exploitation movies from the time, this confuses sex with violence -- we see the breasts of three women, of whom two die violently onscreen, and the third barely escapes with her life. Oh yeah, and there's a LOT of sexual assault in this movie. Our heroine is victimized by a madman (who also altered the DNA formula which changed Eddie into Blackenstein, if you were wondering), and another random woman walks away from a date rapist only to die at the hands of Blackenstein. There's a third sexual assault in an alley, and Eddie kills both parties.
And, believe it or not, that's not the worst part of the film. As far as I can tell, none of the makers of this film were black, and it shows. The movie spends NO time talking about the politics of race in 1973 America, which would make sense if the film addressed those issues as metaphor. Frankenstein is RIPE for the metaphorical plucking, but this movie can't be bothered. This movie doesn't understand what it looks like when the "good" white man beats a savage, imprisoned black man with a chain. This movie doesn't understand what it looks like when police set dogs on a black man, and the dogs literally rip his guts out onscreen.
Sidebar: there is a scholarly book out there which addresses these issues in the film very seriously. I've scanned a few pages on Google Books, and I'd LOVE to read the whole thing. Take a look (if you can, skip to page 196 for the relevant passage).
I'd like to give the filmmakers credit, and think they knew these things meant something. I'd like to think these decisions were deliberate and thought-through. Unfortunately, the technical ineptitude and lack of effort in every other part of the movie convince me that the whole thing is a slapdash money grab.
I always give you a buy link, but don't buy this. Don't watch it.
Others have said it, and I'll agree: Clay Croker was a weird comedic genius: one of the founding minds behind Adult Swim, and one of the primary voices in my beloved Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In his honor, we're watching three four episodes of the show, with some spooky guests. (None of the eps are embeddable, though they're all currently free-to-stream, so click on through. I'll wait.)
Episode the first is from Season Two, entitled "Girlie Show."
Spacey has arranged a tribute, of sorts, to Women in the Entertainment Industry. Moltar shows us a montage of womanly arts, thanks to the Turner/MGM film library, (Zorak, of course, wants a tribute to Jack Klugman instead, so he goes on strike.) Fran Drescher appears, and Space Ghost, naturally, falls in love with her.
And after Ghosty learns that Fran is married, and Zorak taunts him with the idea of her (speculative) marriage to The Professor from Gilligan's Island, Carol Channing attempts to bolster his spirits with her upbeat, sparkling joy. (It doesn't work, partly because she also turns down his advances.)
So, naturally, determined to charm his way into the third beautiful guest's heart, he calls for the lovely Alice Cooper. Yep, sometimes Thaddeus Ghostal doesn't know much about anything at all. Alice tells us that he was born wearing eye makeup, though he never killed or bit anything on stage, really. And then he's gone too, and Zorak takes over with a montage of Klugmania.
My favorite Zorak moment from this episode: I love that when Space Ghost warns Zorak to watch his mouth, he can't, since "it's too ... underneathy." (Also, like so many other episodes, there's a bit where Zorak and Moltar both laugh at Space Ghost, and the two laughs are very very distinct, even though they're both Mr. Croker.)
As an episode of SGC2C, I rate this 6/10. It's a great early show, with plenty of banter between Space Ghost, Zorak, and Moltar.
As a Halloween show, I rate this 3/10. Alice doesn't get to do any scary stuff, but Zorak does mention The Twilight Zone. (The answer to his trivia question, by the way, is four!) The underscore to Zorak's Klugman montage is properly nightmarish, but short.
Holy crap, y'all. It's taken weeks for me to corral my thoughts about this movie, but it's stuck with me all that time. And I imagine it'll stay with me forever.
In the Austrian countryside, twins are playing that special summer play, the kind with long stretches of both inventive exuberance and drawn-out boredom. Then their mother comes home. She's had surgery (which kind? we're not sure) after an accident (which kind? we're not quite sure) and her face is swathed in terrifying bandages. As she issues orders for her recuperation, the boys start to wonder -- can this be the same person they love and trust? (We're not sure.)
As the film progresses, we watch the boys entertain themselves as best they can, while teasing out the mysteries of their mother -- why is the family album missing so many photos? Why are Mom's eyes a different color? And who is that other woman in the picture who resembles their mother so strongly?
As a boy and brother myself, I found myself watching most of the movie from the twins' point of view, though a lot of scenes do justice to the mother. As the film's POV switches from one to the other, we question almost everything. Dreams mesh with the surreality of the true world of this film, and until the last half-hour we're almost in a suspended, Poe-like reverie of wonder and apprehension.
Sidebar: I'm three years older than my brother, and apparently I spoke for him for almost two years. I can't imagine I always got his feelings right, but until our doctor deliberately separated us, I was his mouthpiece to the world. (Speaking to another friend who's a big brother, I learned this is more common than I expected.) During the scenes where the twins interact with the outside world, I could only think of my own family history. Sure, my parents were great, but it must've been hard for them, and him, to put up with me talking even more than I normally do.
Like Carnival of Souls, this film uses dreams to heighten suspense and trick us with reassurances that the worst, most supernatural things are only a dream. Like The Shining, it uses cold, stylistic discipline and an oppressive score/sound design to remove any hints of cozy domestic happiness from family scenes. And like Eyes Without A Face, its unflinching, clinical fascination with pain is a study in anguish. And like each of those, it contains moments of sly dark humor, though it's a different stripe of uncomfortable laughter.
The film is so spare that it's almost expansive, and it supports any number of readings. Here's a great essay from the mother's point of view, and one that reads it as a study in national guilt (which seems pretty unfair to me, mainly because I didn't even consider that framework while watching). Of course, a more general review can touch on all those themes and more. This movie is kind of a litmus test -- people who can't stand the squishy horror parts recoil after the third-act tonal shift, while actual fans of torture porn will probably not enjoy the first hour of storytelling. Me? I loved the hell out of it, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.
(A note on the buylink here: the movie is currently free-to-stream for those with Amazon Prime.)
For someone who claims to be writing about media and culture, I sure do spend a lot of time talking about food. Well, no matter.
This year, the Peeps people (Peeps peeps, I suppose) put out their threeflavors from last year, plus a new retail exclusive, Maple Brown Sugar. When you open this package, it smells like you just spilled maple syrup all over your shirt. The smell alone is amazing, and the flavor combination in the actual marshmallow chick is flawless. I don't think the white fudge here is actually needed (in fact, of the four dipped Peep flavors I've tried, only the caramel apple was truly justified), but it doesn't wreck the rich, dark sweetness of these.
I know it's late in the Halloween candy-buying season, but my local Target still had quite a few of these left, so you may be in luck if you still want to try them. As I mentioned, these can only be purchased at brick-and-mortar stores, but the other three seasonal flavors are still for sale:
Today we're looking at a few of Young Frankenstein's ancillary products (where, of course, the REAL money is made).
This is from a line of gorgeous Sideshow Collectibles figures from 2001. Until today, I'd never taken mine out of the box. He's gorgeous, and looks just like Gene as Frederick.
His accessories include operating tools and a stethoscope, his lightning goggles, a nice textured stand, and a copy of his grandfather's book.
He has all the expected points of articulation for free posing (including a full range of motion at the ankles, which is nice) and stands about a foot high.
Sadly, I don't have the other two figures in this set (they also made an Igor and a Monster, of course) but you can look at them, and maybe even buy one, at this eBay link.
If I have a little extra time and energy before the month is out, maybe you'll see some more of this guy.
Also sadly, I don't have any of the more recent Funko toys. As you can see, they've chosen the same character lineup, but with a more stylised, cutesier design. (Well, ugly-cute, but that's in keeping with the franchise.)
They're shorter, too, so maybe I only want the Igor to keep my Sideshow Frederick company. Luckily, these guys are still widely available, and I just added all of them to my Amazon Wishlist.
As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't seen or read Mel's new book about the film yet, but I hope to very soon. And of course, there have always been T-shirts and soundtrack albums and tie-in magazine covers and the Young Frankenstein Flame Thrower ("A Children's Toy").
That video puts a happy spin on Mel's followup to his Producers bonanza, but the reviews and grosses weren't nearly as good. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a Broadway musical guy. (For some reason, the sound of a modern pitband grates on my nerves.) I saw The Producers (on a later tour, and then the movie version, which I preferred), and I enjoyed it well enough. But I didn't feel the need to ever see it again, or even rewatch the film version. I prefer the original film so much to either adaptation that, at least until Mel leaves us, I probably won't even relisten to the songs (which I remember as okay, but they didn't inspire me to buy the album).
Over on my Twitter feed, I compulsively notate every album I listen to, and this month I've done a lot of Halloween-themed listening. I heard this for the first time right after the Addams Family musical, which I enjoy whole-heartedly. I'm afraid Young Frankenstein pales in comparison, though.
A lot of the movie fits well into a musical-theater structure, and a lot of the movie's most important moments are well-represented in song (I really enjoyed the full treatment of "Roll In The Hay," based on just five seconds of the movie). But, while the songs work well musically, a lot of the lyrics aren't particularly clever. So much time is spent on innuendo that we don't get a lot of wordplay, or even much emotion or character development.
Sidebar: on the topic of "Deep Love," the part of the movie that has dated the worst is the Monster's rape of Elizabeth (to be fair, this was hinted at way back in Whale's 1931 film, but playing it for laughs is deeply troublesome). I get the impression (just from the songs, since I haven't seen a production) that they attempted to soften the blow of this by having Elizabeth be a recovered slut (which is, to my mind, just as troublesome). I know the movie is beloved, and any big change will alienate a lot of the core fanbase, but I think a change was possible that could avoid slut shaming and victim blaming in this case.
I don't think I'll ever love this musical adaptation, and I'm sad it's not better. I can't imagine a better film than Young Frankenstein. I can certainly imagine much better musicals made from it.
Today, we're all about Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks' best movie by far. Sure, Blazing Saddles may be funnier, but this one is stunning to look at, full of heart, and even the score is gorgeous. (Why oh why is the soundtrack out of print? I don't even have my LP copy to listen to anymore.)
200 years ago, Mary Wollstonecraft had a dream about a scientist creating a human, and that led to her invention of science fiction. Some 150 years later, also inspired by a dream, Gene Wilder sat down with a yellow legal pad and wrote a few pages of story about the grandson of Frankenstein. Once the ideas were developed, Mel Brooks brought the story to life (with help from a lot of the same cast and crew from Blazing Saddles).
Sidebar: How weird is it that both those films were released in just ten months? I'd argue that no director has ever had a better year in film history than Mel's 1974. (Okay, Spielberg's 1993 was pretty amazing.)
I've probably seen this one 20 times, so the movie holds no surprises for me anymore (though I was still sad I didn't get a chance to see it during its recent, brief revival on the big screen). While almost all the jokes hold up to repeated viewing, today I was amazed at how emotional the film can still make me.
Reading obituaries and tributes to Gene Wilder, I kept reading that he made things funny by keeping them real and heartfelt. I hadn't put that together, since I saw most of his best work during my most formative years and wasn't always paying attention to emotions in hilarious comedies. But even with something as early as The Producers, Leo Bloom is hilarious only because we can care about him. This movie takes the time to let us sympathize with the characters (otherwise the frenetic jokes would be less funny, like a Scary Movie-type spoof). The scene with the creature in jail, being tormented by his keepers, has no laughs at all -- it exists just to stir our hearts.
The movie also takes the time to set scenes. Long, moody shots of the village and castle, and plenty of time for us to hear the score, not only ground the jokes, but make the whole conceit funnier as a specific parody of James Whale's movies about Frank. (The funniest scenes, for me, are particular burlesques of scenes from Whale.)
Sidebar #2: Like a few previous entries here, Greg Proops presented this film at his film club, where he recorded a podcast of jokes and commentary. He also relates his memories of Wilder and Marty Feldman. Listen to it here.
2016 has been a brutal year in a lot of ways (no politics talk here, promise). I was upset to lose David Bowie and Prince, but neither of them hurt me as much as the loss of Gene Wilder. He hasn't been doing much lately, but I love him as a person, and his best work stands as some of the best funny movies ever made. (I haven't seen all his work, but I get the impression that a lot of the 80s stuff is, franky, skippable.) There hasn't been a year since I started high school that I haven't seen, and enjoyed, and been cheered up by, a film of his. On hearing of his death, I didn't do a memorial watch of everything, like I did with Harold Ramis, but so much of Gene's work lives in my heart and inspires my sense of both comedy and art.
I'm glad that Mel is still around (and very much in the public eye) to carry the torch for all the departed friends who made this film, and that he still hangs out with Carl Reiner every day. (As if it weren't bad enough that Mel lost Anne Bancroft, Sid Caesar left us this year too.) I haven't yet read his book about this movie, but I definitely intend to.
This movie is indelible for comedy fans and horror fans, and even just for fans of movies in general. I'd argue that it's the best parody film ever, mostly because of its attention to detail and loving tribute to the genre. Also, it's so beloved that, like Universal's Frank franchise (Frank-chise? probably not), it's spawned lots of peripheral products, like toys and stage productions and such. Tomorrow, I'm talking about two of them.
I know very well that I'm kind of cheating here, counting this in my Frank theme. There are dozens and dozens of Frankenstein movies out there, and this isn't really one of them. But I'd never seen it before, and I was interested in James Whale (though I expected this film to spend more time on the making of his films).
James Whale directed the first two Universal Frankenstein movies, along with The Invisible Man and several other classic films, and this film imagines his final days, befriending a gardener and looking back over his life and memories.
Whale did indeed have a fascinating life, though the main story told in this movie is completely fictional. The film is sweet and sentimental (though not cloying). And, honestly, I feel like it deals with Shelley's original friendship themes better than any of the official Frank movies I've seen.
Sidebar: While watching Whale's memories of World War One trenches, I couldn't help but think about Walt Disney, driving an ambulance in Paris at the same time. The two men both lived through horrors I can only imagine and survived to create warm, humane films which entertained the world.
Ian McKellen is, of course, remarkable as Whale, and it's amazing to think how unknown he was to mainstream movie audiences at the time (Roger Ebert even felt he had to identify McKellen as a well-regarded stage actor for his readers). And Brendan Fraser, who'd follow up on a Universal horror franchise of his own the next year, was best known as a lowbrow goofball. I can't imagine a more unlikely pair of actors to make Oscarbait in 1998. But that's kind of the point, and they click together and create something real. It's touching to watch the two simply interact, and warm to each other.
This movie, as I said, wasn't exactly what I expected, and I don't think I'll feel the need to see it every time I watch Whale's work (as I do with Ed Wood). But it's a sweet, sad piece of work, and it's great to know more about James Whale as a person.
Say hi to Aughra there, my newest spooky friend and this month's official food model.
This is at least the second year TruMoo have put out an orange-flavored milk for Halloween (tied into that Trolls movie now, apparently). I've always had a soft spot for strawberry milk, but my all-time favorite dessert is an orange Creamsicle.
This milk isn't nearly as sweet as you think it will be (a quick calorie count tells us that it only has about half the sugar in, say, I don't know, a Sunkist orange soda), so it's not a rich dessert milkshakey flavor. I'd say it works best to wash down a rich cookie, either vanilla or chocolate.
In fact, I think I'd want the cookie to be heavily vanilla, because this milk doesn't really have enough vanilla in it to hit my perfect spot -- I think I'm actually going to put a drop of vanilla extract into my next glass.
Anyway, we've got more Frankenstein posts coming up, and Aughra and I will tell you about the new seasonal Peeps flavor, plus I'm planning to share a whole album of spooky music before the month ends.
(And since TruMoo doesn't sell anything online -- I got mine at Walmart, though I've seen their stuff in plenty of convenience and grocery stores -- today's buy link will help you get your own Aughra to have dinner with, and then maybe discuss cosmology.)
I've written about Monster Mansion twice before, and those two posts provide a good introduction to what it is and why I care about it.
