Elvira Thriller Video Standee

I feel like this item might just be a myth, like the Monster's Genealogical Chart. 

Elvira Thriller Video Standee

"It was in an estate we bought out. He was a paper collector and had tons of movie, video posters, standees and magazines. He had video store and movie house connections and his son worked for Peaches record stores in the 70s and early 80s. That's about all I know on this item.

That's all I need to know. Maybe there's not another one of these in tact in the whole Universe.

If you don't own a video store in 1985 where the hell do you put something like this?

What lies behind the Elvira Thriller Video Standee? 

2026 Update: I sold this and my complete Thriller Video collection on Ebay a few years ago when I became a Zen Buddhist. I hope it all brings whoever bought it as much happiness as it brought me. But also that when the time is right they'll let it go and find its next destination. 

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Thriller Video Hosted By Elvira, Mistress of the Dark: Alabama's Ghost

Alabama's Ghost is one of the Thriller Video releases that was not also an episode of Elvira's Movie Macabre. Although I have the movie on both VHS and Beta, I've never seen it before, so I found it on You Tube and am about ten minutes into watching it right now. And I don't have one damn idea or another what is happening. Like all the Thriller Videos, Elvira does do an into and outro but does not appear to comment during the movie, unfortunately.

"And it's me again, the video beauty with the cute little booty, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. And I'm just the gal who can't say no. Well, actually, I did say no once, but only when asked if I had said no before. Oh, golly. How do you like my outfit? (Voices off) Shut up, sister. If I want your opinion I'll beat it out of you. She's just jealous because she's always trying to impersonate me. Nice try, sister. You can pad the bra all you want, but you'll never get your hair as high as mine. So, there, nnn. Well, I've got a great movie for you tonight. I mean, great that is if you're into Surrealism. I tell you, it has got everything. Ghosts, robots, vampires, voodoo, and vanishing elephants. Not to mention drooling idiots. Tonight's movie is called Alabama's Ghost. No, no, no, it's not about some cotton picking poltergeist, it's about this guy who's name is Alabama, which makes a lot of sense because his sister's names are Virginia, Georgia, and Wisconsin. Anyway, don't let this scare you, but Alabama is being haunted by a ghost. Well, if you're ready, I'm ready. And it looks like Alabama's just itching to begin. Enjoy the movie, and I'll see you at intermission."

It's entirely possible there's some sort of plausible plot to this movie, which I entirely missed while I was typing out Elvira's introduction. Perhaps something like an aspiring jazz musician/forklift driver mistakenly drives his forklift through a wall and finds the secret stash of a dead magician, who shares the secret of his magic, asking only that Alabama doesn't reveal any of the secrets he has learned. Does he? No idea yet. 

After meeting this groovy promoter who's mind is blown by his act, Alabama takes it on the road, all leading up to a final performance where he will perform Carter The Great's most famous trick: a disappearing elephant. There are long scenes of dancing Hippies. I'm actually watching Night of the Comet on another screen and have only looked over three or four times and it all seems like a weird mess. 

Then another musical number with go-go dancers. This is actually a pretty good musical number reminiscent of Sly and the Family Stone, then Alabama takes the stage with his overblown voice. 

But all arcane secrets come with a steep price, and soon Carter the Great begins to haunt Alabama. "I am the spirit of Carter the Great. And I come to warn you. Heed my warning before you die." Then something about robots and vampires. "I just met an old white racist ghost." Whoa, the woman he was in bed with just turned into a vampire. He's making a run for it. Then there's a scene where the vampire chick chases him through an abandoned little village in makeup reminiscent of Demons and he somehow comes to a door where his mother takes him in. 

You were promised voodoo, and Alabama's Ghost delivers. Rejuvenated after a voodoo ceremony, Alabama is back on the road. What, what? What the hell was that scene about? His promoter is striking a deal with a futuristic media conglomerate type who wants to use the vanishing elephant act as a springboard for his mind control network. Or something like that might have happened. With a little more effort this movie could have been really bonkers. 

In this scene the voodoo priest has returned to save Alabama from the ghost of Carter the Great, to which Alabama says "He's a racist. Tell him to go away." Then everything goes a little apeshit and there's a Dr. Caligula and a conveyor belt of chicks that vampires in dark hoods are feeding on and some mumbo jumbo about converting the whole thing into some sort of digital broadcast that can be used to control the minds of the world's population. 

"He's got twin Frankensteins, and they're trying to kill Alabama." This movie has officially crossed over into WTF land. 

"This is an out of sight experience."

Sort of.

For some reason that makes no sense, this movie reminds me of Phantom of the Paradise, a movie that was released a year later. 

I'm about ten minutes away from the end of this film when i realize I'm watching something truly unusual and completely idiosyncratic, and apparently that was evident in all four films by director Frederic Hobbs. Hobbs wrote, directed, and/or produced four highly distinctive and idiosyncratic films: Troika (1969), Roseland (1971), Alabama's Ghost (1973), and Godmonster of Indian Flats (1973), none of which I have ever seen before, and all of which I will soon be watching. I don't do reviews, per se, I just do reactions, and one of my favorite reactions when I encounter a piece of art is "What the fuck did I just see." 

What the fuck did I just see?

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Thriller Video, Hosted By Elvira: The Turn of the Screw

Thriller Video was a short-lived distributor of VHS and Beta tapes who began releasing tapes in February 1985, and released tapes through 1989. They were notable for their big box format, and securing the rights to distribute what are now considered classic horror movies, such as: zombie master Lucio Fulci's Seven Doors of Death and the cannibal classic Make Them Die Slowly. Perhaps their greatest coup was securing horror movie host Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, to present 24 tapes that they would begin releasing bi-monthly at the beginning of 1985. Unlike the aforementioned gory movies, Elvira refused to do hardcore horror movie, cruelty to animals, or gore for the sake of gore, so it was perfect that she would introduce the 24 Thriller Videos she did that were mostly episodes of a British series titled Hammer House of Horrors, with some B movies thrown in.

As I get closer to finishing my collection of Thriller Videos hosted by Elvira I have learned some of the titles are much more difficult to find than others. For instance, in over five years of active collecting, I have only seen titles like The Turn of the Screw, NATAS: The Reflection, The Human Duplicators, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde les than three times, usually only once, and I unfortunately was not able to secure them for my collection when I saw them. But I can do the next best thing: write about them.

Turn of the Screw Thriller Video

Turn of the Screw is a tape I have seen listed for sale one time in five years. I did not win that auction, so I'm still waiting for it to come up again. 

I also haven't seen the 1974 made for tv movie, but after watching a Kolchak: The Night Stalker a thon a few nights ago, and being a big fan of Trilogy of Terror and Dark Shadows, I'm always happy to watch a Dan Curtis production. 

In the 1898 novella written by Henry James an unnamed narrator listens to Douglas, a friend, read a manuscript written by a former governess whom Douglas claims to have known and who is now dead. The manuscript tells the story of how the young governess is hired by a man who has become responsible for his young nephew and niece after the deaths of their parents. He lives mainly in London and is uninterested in raising the children. The two children turn out to not be exactly what they appear.

This production starts Lynn Redgrave as the governess, Miss Jane Cubberly, oh, I'm just discovering this as I type, James "Shadmock" Laurenson as Peter Quint. Thriller Video fans will of course remember Laurenson as the tender-hearted Shadmock in Thriller Video's The Monster Club

There's almost no chance I'll take the risk of putting this tape in a VCR when I eventually do get it, so if I ever watch it most likely I'll do it on YouTube. 

Good luck with your own Thriller Video collection, and good luck next time this one comes up for auction on Ebay.

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Thriller Video: The Human Duplicators

The Human Duplicators is on Ebay for the first time in the four years that I have collected Thriller Videos hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. I have never seen the movie, and it's unlikely I'll watch it on this tape as the bidding is already at $76.00 with an entire week left in the auction.

The box design of the Human Duplicators is one of twoI know of that differ from the other 21 boxes in the series. The other is Natas:The Reflection. 

The back of the box isn't much different from the other videos in the series. This copy, the only one I've ever seen, appears to be in good shape. The movie is about an alien from a distant galaxy who comes to Earth to take over by creating an army of zombies shaped like pottery. I guess that description sounds kind of interesting, but I doubt I'll rush out and try to find a way to watch it after this. 

The movie was released in 1965, and I see Hugh Beaumont is in the cast. How awesome is that? Probably not 150-250 dollars worth, which is what I estimate this video will go for. 

The Human Duplicators on VHS

Between VHS and Beta versions, I have 21 of the 46 movies released on Thriller Video and hosted by Elvira. My favorites are The Monster Club and The Silent Scream. Many of them come from episodes of Hammer House of Horrors, which was a one hour television series, so they had to pad those with additional footage. The Silent Scream was actually one of those episodes, as well as The Thirteenth Reunion and Guardian of the Abyss. These are generally high quality stories and well-written and acted. 

Almost all the movies in this series are PG13 or tamer, and Elvira refused to host any movies that had graphic violence or animal cruelty, but as I type that I realize the topic of The Silent Scream was animal cruelty. Nonetheless, the movies are all rather harmless and good fun. The Monster Club is no doubt the most fun movie in the series. I'll write an update about this video in seven days.

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Watching The Monster Club Again

The heat and humidity has returned in force, and I'm here at the apartment again for the night, and after five hours the air conditioner has barely put a dent in the humidity. It's enough to make a Shadmock whistle. 

We went to the fireworks display at Davis Park last night. Dragged Jack the entire way there in a wagon. At first he wasn't interested, but he ended up thinking it was awesome. We have to be vigilant about his ears because he has hearing loss in one ear. Had a taco, then we headed home. 

Watching The Monster Club again. tried to watch Dead Pit earlier, and I remember liking the colors in the past, but it was a German dubbed version and I couldn't get into it. I feel like I should read the book by R Chetwynd Hayes some time. Probably could be done in an evening. This is the only blog I'm working on today, and it has no point.

An unexpected thunderstorm would be nice. But I don't expect it.

If my mammy was a shammy, and my daddy was a raddy, I wonder what kind of monster I'll turn out to be. Saw some Thriller Video tapes on Ebay today that I don't have in my collection, but I'm strapped for cash. 

The Two Faces of Evil was the one I wanted the most

The Two Faces of Evil from Thriller Video

This is the only blog I still use the font Arial on. I was once quite fond of it. Now I'm largely indifferent. I really circled the drain this afternoon. All the gravity was sucked from my Universe and I almost went down the hole. But I held on. A few days ago I could have floated away, but I stayed here. I may have another cup of tea. 

oh, someone bought five copies of The Blood Dark Sea today, the book of outlaw poetry I just published, and I thought it was a mistake, so I contacted the customer and he said it was a legitimate order, he intends to give them away as gifts. A fine gift of a great book. 

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The Monster Club: There's a Two Drink Minimum, But That's Not the Bad News

The bad news is Count Dracula is the bartender!

Monsters rule OK.

I usually play The Monster Club on an almost continuous loop when I'm at the apartment. I have had the same VHS tape since 1991 when I made a copy of the Thriller Video at Video Outlet on Riverside Blvd. It was then a Taco Bell for a long time, and now, like every other building in Rockford, it is a payday lender. Also, Taco Bell was voted Rockford's #1 Mexican restaurant in a poll conducted by the biggest newspaper, and I couldn't make that up. 

Apparently this is a blog about the movie The Monster Club. This monster's genealogical chart I posted above is a holy grail collectible item for me as a Monster Club collector, and a couple of years ago I almost managed to buy it. I contacted the artist's wife, who also acts as his agent, and asked her if it still existed, and she said they had found it in the basement a few months previously after believing it was lost, and sold it to a private collector. I didn't have the heart to ask for how much because I probably would have been heart broken. She then added there were some original sketched of the ghouls used in the third story in the movie. I should have bought those, but I was so crestfallen that I had missed the chart by maybe weeks after so many years of no one caring that I went away in dejection.

I have the British quad poster, and the French poster, which has a snake on it even though there's no snake in the movie. The Thriller Video in Beta and VHS, the soundtrack, and the original book. Another item I recently passed on and regret is the graphic novel of the screenplay given to crew members at the wrap party. This one happened to be signed by Vincent Price. A bad choice not to buy it. We never remember the money, only the things we let slip away.

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Attack of the Swamp Creature From Thriller Video on Beta

Attack of the Swamp Creature is one the more rare and hardest to attain of the Thriller Videos hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Two weeks ago I saw a listing for four Beta format Thriller Video tapes, including the first time I had seen Attack of the Swamp Creature available on Ebay at all, so I immediately bought the lot, knowing it could be a year or more before I ever saw another copy of this available. It arrived today, and is in good condition. Not immaculate by any means, but the only one I've ever seen. 

Attack of the Swamp Creature from Thriller Video, hosted by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, on Beta. There's a good chance I'll never watch this movie on this tape, or anywhere else, but look at that wild cover art. 

I now have 19 of the 48 tapes required to have a full collection of Thriller Video hosted by Elvira on both Beta and VHS. I have more Beta tapes than VHS. Maybe I'll get my Betacord off the shelf some night and test a few of these out, but more likely I'll never open any of them. 

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Attack of the Swamp Creatures From Thriller Video

A mad scientist (and apparent former Nazi) unleashes his master plan: to transform himself into a mutated walking catfish, gain revenge on those who have spurned him, and kidnap nubile young women to similarly transform so that he can breed. 

Attack of the Swamp Creatures. A Thriller Video hosted by Elvira.

Attack of the Swamp Creatures, and why it's plural I can't explain, has one of the more colorful and interesting of Thriller Video boxes. The movie, also known as Zaat, is one of the harder to find Thriller Video titles. It's possibly the worst of all the 24 titles, but who cares? I have yet to see one of these come up for sale on Ebay, but eventually I'll catch this stinker in my net.

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NATAS: The Reflection On Thriller Video

Sort of a bummer of a night compared to expectations. Duke winning another NCAA championship is like the jockos winning in every 80's movie. Then I was slightly disappointed in the season finale of Better Call Saul. To make things worse, I lost out on an Ebay auction for the only copy of Thriller Video The Human Duplicators I've seen available in over a year. I actually came in just two seconds too early because I thought $105 would be enough to buy a VHS tape of a movie no one has ever seen or cared about. It wasn't. But it's not much fun even if you do win one of those auctions when you have to pay top of the line prices. Most of the fun of assembling my Thriller Video collection is the hunt, and I know I'll see this tape again, and probably not have to pay $105. Anyway, as soon as I lost that auction I had a feeling if I looked immediately I would find a previously unseen Thriller Video for sale. And I did. I found a copy of NATAS: The Reflection, a Thriller Video I haven't seen up for auction at all in the year I've been looking. The seller's pictures and description were vague, but it was only $18, and I knew if I didn't press the buy it now button immediately I'd regret it. So I took a chance at $18 without any real pictures or description that this could be a solid copy of...

Natas: The Reflection

It's one of two of the 24 Thriller Videos hosted by Elvira that don't have her prominently featured on the cover. The other one, ironically, is...

The Human Duplicators

So, maybe in a week or so when I get NATAS: The Reflection, I'll be pleasantly surprised that I scooped up one of the rarest Thriller Videos for a great price, but I don't expect that. Either way, I can use it as a placeholder until I get a stellar copy. Eventually, my ridiculous plan to collect all 24 Thriller Videos in both Beta and VHS will come to fruition, then I'll have to come up with some other idiotic way to waste my money and time. 

I'll post a picture of NATAS: The Reflection when I get it. 

Thriller Video ad circa 1985

April 23, 2015: It turns out the tape was a later release by Avid Video. Completely worthless, but in very nice condition. Mostly because no one has ever actually watched this movie. The hunt continues.

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Three New Thriller Video VHS Tapes Added To My Collection

I was so excited to receive The Cyclops, Children of the Full Moon, and The Monster Club in Thriller Video big boxes last week. I now have 9 of the original 24 Thriller Video releases. I've had to cool off my collecting for Christmas, but I hope I can get the other 15 in 2015. I see a couple, like Alabama's Ghost are probably going to be difficult to find. 

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The Picture of Dorian Gray: Thriller Video

Dorian Gray is the subject of a full-length portrait in oil by Basil Hallward, an artist who is impressed and infatuated by Dorian's beauty; he believes that Dorian’s beauty is responsible for the new mode in his art as a painter. Through Basil, Dorian meets Lord Henry Wotton, and he soon is enthralled by the aristocrat's hedonistic worldview: that beauty and sensual fulfilment are the only things worth pursuing in life. Understanding that his beauty will fade, Dorian expresses the desire to sell his soul, to ensure that the picture, rather than he, will age and fade. The wish is granted, and Dorian pursues a libertine life of varied and amoral experiences; all the while his portrait ages and records every soul-corrupting sin. That's what happens in The Picture of Dorian Gray. In The Picture of Jonas Gray, a plodding running back who barely possesses enough talent to make his football team as the season begins rushes for 201 yards and four touchdowns during the only game he will ever play significantly in, whilst beating my fantasy football team The Dirty Tricks Squad, with the help of Coby Fleener, who also sucks except for this one time. I haven't watched this movie, or read the book, but I do own the beta version of the Thriller Video. I picked up Latavius Murray in most of my fantasy football leagues this week, then did some squinting when I realized he plays against five top ten run defenses to finish the season. Therefore I just stashed him on my bench, but tonight he is a star, running for two touchdowns already in the first half. Next week, when I put him in, he'll suck again. Anyway, Thriller Video, Dorian Gray, Jonas Gray, George Bernard Wilde, whatever. This is still new in the box, and will remain such as I never intend to open it. 

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Rude Awakening: Thriller Video

In the Thriller Video episode Rude Awakening, Denholm Elliot plays a British real-estate broker who is plagued by disturbingly vivid dreams. Soon Elliot can't separate his dreams from reality, and vice versa. His shattered emotional state has a negative effect on his family, but that's nothing compared to the pull-out-the-rug finale. James Laurenson is in this episode, and he played Raven Shadmock in The Monster Club. 

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Thriller Video: The Silent Scream

Many of the 24 episodes of Thriller Video, hosted by Elvira, were originally episodes of Hammer House Horror, but not all the episodes of Hammer House of Horror were episodes of Elvira's Movie Macabre, as The Silent Scream was. That's why it's probably my favorite of the Thriller Video releases hosted by Elvira, and the first one I bought. If that rundown sounds confusing, try living inside my head. I believe there were 13 episodes of Hammer House of Horror, all dependably good. The Monster Club was shown on Movie Macabre, and is in the Thriller Video collection hosted by Elvira, but was not part of the Hammer House of Horror. Now that I look at the episode list of Movie Macabre, I realize The Silent Scream was never shown on Movie Macabre. Scream, Baby, Scream, Scream and Scream Again, and Now The Screaming Starts were, but not The Silent Scream. and None of the Hammer House of Horror episodes were. That makes sense, considering the Hammer House of Horror episodes were less than an hour long. I think because for 23 years now I have been watching a tape of the Monster Club with Elvira at the end hawking other Thriller Video releases that I conflated The Silent Scream with Movie Macabre, and The Monster Club with Hammer House of Horror. However, what is clear to me at this moment is that I own The Silent Scream in Beta from Thriller Video, and it is spectacular. 

November 21, 2014: Just unboxed this for the first time when I realized the Sanyo Betacord I bought two months ago actually works. In the first five minutes you get the IVE graphic and sound drop, iconic Elvira, Mistress of the Dark intro, and Hammer House of Horror show intro. It's playing smooth as bourbon. 

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