Season One of Elvira's Movie Macabre

On September 26, 1981, Elvira's Movie Macabre aired for the first time on KHJ-TV in Los Angeles. The debut movie, Grave of the Vampire, might be seen as an odd choice in retrospect in that it was legitimately gory and violent, whereas many of the subsequent episode feature more tame, even campy or schlocky films with far more humor and much less violence.

Movie Macabre replaced the popular Fright Night that had been hosted by Larry Vincent, who had died six years earlier. The show was an immediate smash, resulting in a lawsuit by Maila Nurmi, who had hosted a similar show in the 1950's as the character Vampira. Although Vampira had originally been tapped to consult for the revival, she bailed out when her choice to succeed her, Lola Falana, was not hired. Cassandra Peterson was instead cast out of a cattle call of 200 applicants, and when chosen quickly began to work on her Elvira character, portraying her as a smart-alecky valley girl type who was generous with her jokes and her cleavage.

Season one of Movie Macabre spanned 46 episodes, featuring such movies as Deathdream, The Brotherhood of Satan, The Baby, Blacula, and The Devil's Rain. The series ended after 140 episodes in 1986, ending in a bang with Nightmare City. Movie Macabre originally aired on KHJ-TV channel 9 Los Angeles 8-10 PM Saturday and was rebroadcast 4-6 PM Sunday.

By 1985 Elvira, Mistress of the dark was a household name, and marketing force, appearing everywhere from Coors Light commercials, Wrestlemania 2, The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, and during the week of Halloween was virtually ubiquitous, appearing nightly at Knot's Berry Farm. Thriller Video decided to capitalize on the popularity of Elvira by releasing 24 title hosted by Elvira. These were movies not shown on Movie Macabre, and included The Monster Club, The Silent Scream, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, and Alabama's Ghost. Many of the tapes had been fifty minute episodes of Hammer's House of Horror series, often with some deleted material not seen by the British audience.

The cancellation of Movie Macabre did nothing to hurt the popularity of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, as she has released two movies, a series of records, and Movie Macabre was revived in syndication and ran 26 public domain films in 2010-2011.

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Why USA Network's Night Flight Was So Important In the 1980's

USA's Night Flight aired from 1981-1988

MTV debuted on August 1st 1981. USA Network's overnight video and music show Night Flight debuted June 5th 1981, featuring not only a healthy dose of videos from alternative bands, but B movies, interviews with artists and cultural figures, cult movies, short videos, cartoons, and stand up comedy. It was a lifeline to those of us living in small towns where there was little to no access to anything alternative or weird. In fact, in the town I lived in MTV was banned until 1985, but since they couldn't ban an entire network I looked forward to Friday and Saturday nights and Night Flight. 

The show began at 10 p.m. Central time, and lasted four hours. It was then reshown at 2 a.m., and the rising sun often found me sitting there watching that second showing in its entirety even though I had also watched the earlier showing. 

There was no "host" in the early years, just the voice of Pat Prescott doing an introduction to the individual pieces. It was the first place I encountered the Church of the Sub-Genius in the segment Love That Bob, and most likely the first time I saw the Devo video for "Whip It." other segments included New Wave Theater, featuring punk and New Wave bands, Atomic TV, featuring Cold War era videos, The Video Artist, and Tales From Tomorrow. No doubt about 99% of it was going right over my head at 13 years old, but I knew I liked it and longed for a world that was more like Night Flight than the small town reality of conformity and Revenge of the Nerds type bullies I existed in. The 80's really were a lot like the high school John Hughes' type movies about cool kids and jocks and freaks and geeks. Despite current fashion standards that geek is sheik, and being a nerd is cook, it sure wasn't in 1983. And that's what made Night Flight such a lifeline to geeks like me who were so outnumbered and so isolated in small towns across America.

Night of the Living Dead, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Dementia 13, Eraserhead, and The Terror were shown in their entirety on Night Flight. There was nothing like it. MTV was nothing like it. Nothing like it existed before, during, or after its original run from 1981-1988. I guess you had to be there and know what it's like to live in a world without 24 hour access to every cool and new and interesting thing, and social media blasting out and sharing it all so we all virtually instantaneously can share in every new zeitgeist to understand what it meant to have just that one source of connection to someplace out there that contained people who thought and believed and created the way you did, and weren't punished or ostracized for it, they were revered. 

By the time Night Flight left the air in 1988 the era of grunge was about to sweep out the long national nightmare of Reagan, hair metal, and blind conformity. By 1990, everyone in America was cool, and  Night Flight was just one of dozens of ways one could access what was cool and hip and new. It was there for those who needed it at a time where there was almost no alternative. 

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In Search of Blood Mania's Elusive Peter Carpenter

Pull up any reviews for either of Peter Carpenter's 1970/1971 movies Blood Mania and Point of Terror, and you'll see the same rote review. Carpenter was a bad Tom Jones impersonator, the music was bad, the stories were incomprehensible, the women were hot. What's the point if you're just writing the same idiotic blog fifty other people have already cut and pasted from the central hive?

First of all, of course the movies were bad. Rumor is Carpenter had to hustle just to put together the money to keep the productions afloat. But to say Peter Carpenter was untalented, or didn't have enough sex appeal to carry a production is foolish. No, he didn't leading man talent, but he sure as hell had more than sufficient sex appeal to make an independent about a guy who was handy with the ladies. I didn't doubt for a moment in either one of these movies that Carpenter couldn't have bedded these women on, or off screen.

The songs in Point of Terror are bad? No shit, Sherlock. But they're not much worse than any song I would hear if I turned on the radio right now. The three original songs Carpenter supposedly performs in the movie are titled "This is...," "Drifter of the Heart," and my favorite, "Lifebeat." I enjoy all three songs, and if Carpenter performed them he's better than 90% of the standard fare out there. Let me know when you write, produce, star, and sing the songs in your first movie. Carpenter was reportedly a jazz dancer in Las Vegas in his earlier years, and as far as recognizing that his act was semi-ridiculous and campy, co-star Dyanne Thorne stated that everyone was aware of that on set and playing it up. 

Let me get this straight: though. Peter Carpenter was talented and driven enough to write, produce, star in, sing in, and generally carry two entire movies in a twelve month period, but for every other writer on the internet that deserves mockery, not a "hell ya!." ???? 

Almost nothing is written about Peter Carpenter's life, career, or death. If IMDB is to be believed, he died in December 1971 in Malibu, California, of a massive cerebral hemorrhage, although co-star Leslie Simms states in an interview she remembers him dying in the late 70's or early 80's of pneumonia. What an odd enigma Carpenter is. No clear record of either his birth or death. How is it possible he might have made these movies back to back for Crown International, then disappeared altogether for up to a decade before his death? With the advent of the internet we assume all the information in the world is right here at our fingertips. It's strange, and I must confess somewhat exhilarating, that there are still some mysteries out there.   

Lounge singer Tony Trelos (Peter Carpenter, BLOOD MANIA, VIXEN!) spends his evenings performing at the Lobster House, waiting for his big break to crack the Billboard's Top 10.  He has a chance meeting with the beautiful older Andrea (Dyanne Thorne, ILSA SHE WOLF OF THE SS, ILSA HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHIEKS) who happens to be the wife of a powerful record producer. She takes Tony under her wings, offering him opportunities and success in his singing career.  However, things take a deadly turn as Tony is soon enveloped in a twisted web of murder and adultery.  Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get what you wish for!  Featuring Carpenter singing his big hits "This Is...", "Lifebeat", and "Drifter of the Heart", POINT OF TERROR is an exercise in suspense in which there may be no escape! - 

If you want more of Peter Carpenter you're almost out of luck. He had a role in Russ Meyer's Vixen, and starred in one other movie, "Love Me Like I Do," which is out of print. So, if you're one of those with an odd fascination about Carpenter, Blood Mania and Point of Terror are your only road maps.

It's possible the marketing of Blood Mania and Point of Terror helped to elicit the vitriolic response by some reviewers and fans of horror. You see, neither is what we would strictly classify as a horror movie. They're more accurately described as soft porn soap operas with some action and horror. The movie posters and trailers didn't help matters by promising "the outer limit of fear." Rhino didn't do anything to allay the confusion when they included "Point of Terror" in their Horrible Horrors collection. Nonetheless, if you go ahead and pull up any one of the other blogs about Point of Terror or Blood Mania on the interwebs, the second sentence will be an angry declaration that these are not horror movies. No shit, huh, Sherlock?

But I am far from being Peter Carpenter's biographer. I have more questions than answers. The main one being if Carpenter did not die in 1971 why didn't he make any more movies? What happened to him. I'm curious why almost nothing is written about him.

Actor/dancer/writer/singer/producer Peter Carpenter circa 1971, on the shoot of his movie Point of Terror. After the movie was released there is no clear record of what happened to Carpenter. He never appeared on film again. 

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Class Reunion Massacre

Class Reunion Massacre T.G. Finkbinder

You wonder why some movies were ever made. The ones that perplex me most are the one-off movies made by a team of directors, writers, and actors who never tried to make another movie again. Electraglide In Blue is a recent example I saw. There are dozens of others. When the movie happens to be good it just adds to the question "Why did they just make one movie?" I have friends who make movies, and I know the process is so brutal and exhausting that it seems impossible anyone could ever do it without a passion for the process. The Redeemer: Son of Satan is far more than just a competent first movie from a creative team that got lucky: it's a good movie, period. So why did writer William Vernick and director Constantine Gochis never even attempt to make another movie again? I have no idea.

Only two members of the crew of Redeemer: Son of Satan went on to work in the business at all. Actress Jeanetta Arnette, who plays Cindy, and T.G. Finkbinder, who plays the Redeemer himself. Finkbinder found his was into a couple of roles as an extra, but soon gave up the movie business and is now an English teacher. He's the one pictured in the scene above, my favorite, which demonstrates a couple of the factors that make this movie enduringly successful. The setting is perfect, and not at all wasted by the director and art direction. It was shot in a military academy, and although the school is supposed to have been abandoned for a decade in the film, it has a perfectly maintained grounds, Olympic sized pool, and auditorium. 

This is Redeemer, Jr. He stars in a concurrent storyline involving kids who sing a church choir. Overall the story is pretty standard, and doesn't allow facts or continuity to get in the way of the fun. It has been pointed out elsewhere this movie has a meanstreak, and I suppose that is true. The six people singled out in the beginning for punishment of their sins by The Redeemer might be jerks, or worse, but probably are no better or worse than everyone else on the planet. They really haven't done anything that would warrant being sentenced to summary execution by a religious nut, and it if it's even explained how this guy even knows them to have known who they were or what sins they were committing ten years after graduation I didn't see it. But those are the quibbles. And if you're a fan of B genre horror of the 70's you have to see this movie.  Pin It

Night Train To Terror Derails Spectacularly

Let me tell you something about the 1985 load of shit anthology story movie Night Train To Terror: if more load of shit hundred million dollar budget movies had as much good shit in them as this piece of shit I'd watch those pieces of shit, because by load of shit I only mean AWESOME when describing Night Train To Terror. I don't even know if I can get all this good shit into a review this short. Let me try. The wrap-around premise of this steamer is that God and Satan are on a train haggling over souls. Then a dance number breaks out. Apparently there's a refugee break dancin', pastel wearin', bad 80's music playin' troupe of mental patient escapees in one of the car who's souls God apparently thinks are worth saving (despite the visual evidence) and Satan thinks the whole Universe can (correctly) do without.

God, played by Ferdy Mayne of the 256 IMDB credits and the face you know you know you know but where do you know it from and  Satan, played by some double douche, haggle over...

This dicksmack, who you will instantly despise and want dead, but God says no, so we have to watch the entire damn movie. This actor is Byron Yordan who ended up having less IMDB listings than I do, and I can't act for shit if that gives you an idea of how much you will want him dead just from these interstitial bits. But on to the stories.

Those are Richard Moll's, Bull from Night Court's, hands about to do some booby squeezin'. He's in all the stories I think trying to pretend like it's not the same actor. A sure sign of a high quality production. He dies in this story, but he comes back later as another character. 

Richard Moll, who I found out is a devout Mormon (is there any other kind?) does some foul shit in this first story. I think this clinic is harvesting parts. He likes to bang up the chicks first then dismember them. 

Then this munch returns and after you have to sit through the second musical number you'll not only see it Satan's way, you'll consider converting to The Church of Satan to help make that happen, but mercifully you'll be saved by the second story.

About a society of smacks who get their rocks off by cheating death. Or not. As this dude finds out. He didn't look like at the beginning of the scene. But he goes through a Jimi Hendrix electrocution metamorphosis that it's kind of groovy. Other people die in the second story, then, ya, you know...

Back it up, back it up, I just found this. Before and after . You get the idea.

Monkey face. Probably turned out to be a councilor working with troubled teens in Modesto so I'll feel bad but dude I just can't deal with you.

Just when you want to put your head in the microwave you get this cocksucker to deal with. He's a NAZI demon vampire guy who likes to kill chicks (but don't they all?). Story three is bizarro. Bull comes back.

There's an insanely cheesy but unbelievably cool stop motion interlude out of nowhere, then

The train crashes.

Jewish character actor God guy intervenes. And (you guessed it)...

These human artifacts return to finish off whatever will to live you have left.

Listen, more shit than even happens in this movie. It's insane. It's terrible. It's probably criminal. But it's AWESOME.

March 29, 2013: I have an entire weekend with no plans and no real tasks to watch as many crummy movies as I can. If I can find The Brotherhood of Satan that will be first on my list, followed by Class Reunion Massacre, and Mansion of the Living Dead. But Night Train To terror is on the short list for another watching. 

December 2,2014: Night Train To Terror Soundtrack released on vinyl.

I never realized that the soundtrack to Night Train To Terror had actually been released as a 500 copy limited edition in 1985 on the Vinegar Syndrome label.  I have to buy this now. I believe it has also been recently -re-released in vinyl. The things that people don't forget amaze me, but I saw for sale on Ebay last night a Dark Night of the Scarecrow Halloween mask. 

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