Better Luck Than Chuck - A Horror Trivia Game Show

Just ahead of spooky season, Better Luck Than Chuck, a new horror trivia game show, arrived on YouTube.

  

Hosts The Widow and her corpse of a husband Charlie, invite three contestants into their basement to compete in a trivia game show that tests their insight into fright. The Widow is a weird mix of Elvira and Peg Bundy, while Chuck's self-pity and sense of humor make them quite the darling duo. It's a fun twist to have the woman hosting while the man is the "sidekick" even though Chuck often steals the spotlight.

 

  

 

Contestants will need to put their brains to the test over two rounds to answer questions in categories like Holiday Horror, 80s Slashers, and Creature Feature. Also sprinkled in are occasional questions presented via video from notable horror icons. The winner gets to rummage through Chuck's workshop to try and find iconic horror items against the clock for a trip to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. 

 

 

 

While watching the first episode, I couldn't help but think of my other favorite game show that takes place in a basement: MTV's Remote Control. It's got that same kind of indie vibe to it where it feels like you're hanging out with friends instead of watching a corporate polished presentation. There's a good spread of difficulty in the questions. I consider myself a casual, but enthusiastic, horror fan and I think some of these will give hardcore fans a challenge.

 

If you want to shake up your October scary schedule with something a little different, head over to Better Luck Than Chuck's YouTube channel where new shows drop every Thursday. 

Hitch a ride with the ghostly gentleman to see the participating Countdown to Halloween blogs. 

 

Halloween Videos

  

Sometimes you just need a filler post as it gets near the end of the month.

 

 

The Ill Advised Records Retro Halloween Video Special clocks in at almost 4.5 hours. It's quite the compilation of animation, local and national commercials, and television clips. I haven't watched the whole thing but what I have skimmed through, it's a blast!

 

Ultra Halloween VHS is more compilation gold featuring Halloween themed episodes of Simpsons Treehouse of Horror, Raggedy Ann & Andy, Bobby's World, and more. It also includes the live action The Halloween That Almost Wasn't starring Judd Hirsch as Dracula. Between each show are vintage Halloween commercials.

 

 

 

 And just in case you've made it to this point in your life without seeing the Paul Lynde Halloween Special, here you go! If you weren't around in the 70s, I can't overstate who prevalent the variety show/special was on TV.

 

 

Lastly, here's the Bugs Bunny Howl-o-ween Special from 1978. If you grew up with Loony Tunes, this will no doubt bring back some good memories.

 

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Halloween con Luli Pampín

 In my annual searching for Halloween music, I somehow stumbled on to Luli Pampin and her Halloween album. I could have fit her into a Now Hear This post but after going down a rabbit hole, decided she needed her own post.

 

Luli is an Argentine content creator and children's entertainer that got her start by uploading homemade videos to YouTube and now has over 20 million subscribers!

 

I put her album on while I was working on some posts for this month to check it out. I've been known to enjoy the occasional kids Halloween album, but would I enjoy one in Spanish, where I wouldn't know the lyrics? It's never really occurred to me that there might be Halloween music in other languages.

 

Some of the songs suffer from being "kids music" and just aren't for me, which is okay because I'm not the target audience. But some of the songs I did like and a couple actually got stuck in my brain for a bit. 

 

What really sold me though was seeing her videos of the songs. There, the fact that they're made for kids only helps because it keys into my favorite part of Halloween. As much as I love horror, Halloween for me will always be about the child-like sense of wonder and that anything can happen. It should be more magic and spookiness than blood and guts.

 

 

If you view this on YouTube, the comment section has shortcuts to each of the 16 songs in the video. My personal faves are Noche de Halloween, Bien es Halloween, and Chumbala Cachumbala.  

 

If you can't get enough Luli Halloween, there's more on this Spotify playlist. 

 

 Click the image to see the full list of Countdown to Halloween blogs!

 

Freddy Friday - Enter the Slasherverse

You may have traveled the Spider-verse but are you ready for the Slasher-verse?

I accidentally stumbled into this while looking at Freddy fan films. I don't know why fan films are a particular rabbit hole I never jumped into before but there's a lot out there! Slasherverse is an ambitious project by Conrad Studios that tries to weave a tale the crosses over into some of the most popular horror franchises.

Above is a playlist that will take you across the five short films.

It started out pretty good with Elm Street and then went on to Halloween. The Friday the 13th and Scream entries were the low point for me. Both feature voice over dialog which doesn't fit the vibe for either franchise. I'm not a huge F13th fan but Jason just didn't feel right. The series bounces back with the Texas Chainsaw finale.

Be sure to check out the complete list of Countdown bloggers by clicking below.

 

The KidsTime Zone Halloween Special (WTXX, 1986)

 A huge thanks to The Haunted Drive-In on YouTube for posting this gem.

WTXX was local station 20 in Waterbury, Connecticut from 1982 to 2010. KidsTime with T.X. Critter was your typical Sunday morning kids show featuring a live host and puppets. Puppet co-host T.X Critter was created by Paul Fusco who would go on to create ALF a few years later!

This special hits that magical Halloween childhood sweet spot. It gives me nostalgia feels even though I'd never seen it. There's just something about it being a product of the 80s and the charm that only comes from a locally produced show. 

The school kids are just *chef's kiss* 

 

Did I mention it also has the original commercials?

 

 Click below to see the list of participating Countdown blogs!

Freddy Friday - Tales from Elm Street Series

It might be Friday the 13th, but there's no Jason on Freddy Friday!

 

This week is not just one, but a series of six short fan films under the title Krueger: Tales from Elm Street. Most of them are prequels to the events in the movies but the last one gives us the dream Freddy we all know and love.

The creator Chris R. Notarile (aka Blinky500) has done an amazing number of fan films not just for horror properties but also comics. Definitely check out his video page.

This is a 40 minute supercut of all six episodes.

Grab some snacks and enjoy!

Click below to see the full list of Countdown blogs!

Free Spirit (1989) - Halloweenie

 Last month, the Retroist posted about a sitcom from 1989 that I had never heard of called Free Spirit. It originally premiered during TGIF on ABC and then moved to Sundays. It was only on for four months which is probably why I don't remember it!

The premise is that a 10 year old boy summons witch Winnie Goodwinn via a wish. The boy's father, recently divorced, hires her as a live-in housekeeper. His three kids know she's a witch but dad doesn't. Magical shenanigans ensue.

Sharp eyed viewers will recognize Alyson Hannigan (above right) years before she made her way to Sunnydale. She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for Best Young Actress Starring in a Television Series.

But why am I bringing up this obscure sitcom? Sure the main character is a witch but the real reason is that among their 14 episodes, they had a Halloween show. How could you have a show about a witch and not squeeze a Halloween ep in there? 

 

While you're enjoying this Halloween sitcom, keep an eye out for Maia Luisa Brewton who was in Adventures in Babysitting as the young, Thor-obsessed Sara Anderson. I did watch this episode and now I know why I wasn't aware of it. Overall, the show epitomizes the cheesy sitcom. I wasn't expecting much and I got it!

A few other notable guest stars during the shows run include: Seth Green (ep 4), Florence Henderson and Robert Reed as a divorced couple (ep 10), and Dave Coulier as Winnie's warlock fiancee (ep 13).

Click below to see the full list of Countdown blogs!

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Arcade Game

 Whew, this is quite possibly the longest post title in the blog's history. All June, we'll be counting down the days until the man in the hat comes back for one more hurrah with posts about everyone's favorite archeologist, Lara Croft. No, of course it's Indiana Jones! You ever notice when the phrase "everyone's favorite" is used it's almost always the only one that comes to mind?

Anyway, set your Dial of Destiny (or WABAC Machine) to 1985!

Video game adaptations of movies usually get a bad rap in the home console arena, but arcade games based on movies are on the opposite end of the spectrum. I was lucky enough to be able to play Temple at my local arcade and would keep coming back for more adventures.

 

The Headless Horseman Rides Off

 Can you believe it's already the last Monday before Halloween?

The Headless Horseman is riding out for another year.

While he "heads" off, here's a playlist of 13 versions of his song, starting off with local legend Dr Gasp (aka Dan Blakeslee)! You can get his cover of the Headless Horseman on the album Halloween Special which is one of my all time favorite spooky season soundtracks.

Click below to go to the Countdown to Halloween site and visit the other participants!

Halloween with the Addams Family (1998)

Not to be confused with the 1977 made for TV movie Halloween with the New Addams Family, this Halloween episode was the first of a new series launched in 1998 after the success of the movies. Although this is a new series and cast, the pilot episode (along with several others) recycled storylines from the original 1960s Addams Family series.

Until I watched the horrible The New Addams Family movie last month, I wasn't even aware of this live action reboot. I've watched a handful of episodes and while the comedy doesn't feel quite right sometimes, it feels a lot more Addams than that movie did. The gentleman playing Gomez has said he modelled his performance on John Astin's and he's definitely doing his best impression!

Speaking of Mr. Astin, he pops up in a few episodes as Grandpapa Addams!

Wednesday, who returns from the movie, and Pugsley have bigger roles than they did in the original series. They're also a bit darker than they were on the original show and that's totally fine with me! If you've ever seen the Charles Addams cartoons, you know they're a little edgier than their TV counterparts were.

One thing I'm not a huge fan of with this series is that they changed the theme song! 

Who in their right mind would do such a thing?!?!

If you want to check out this version of the Family, it looks like the entire 65 episode run has been put together in a YouTube playlist. And if you'd like to watch the original Halloween with the Addams Family episode...enjoy!

Click below to visit the main Countdown site to see all the participating blogs.

Headless Horseman Cartoon (1934)

 Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow has been around for over 200 years and while almost everyone is somewhat familiar with the story, they also probably imagine the incarnation from Disney's 1949 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad with his flaming pumpkin head. 

 

 

But this was not the first animated appearance of the infamous ghost. In 1934, Ub Iwerks created an animated short film called The Headless Horseman. Iwerks also worked on the Disney shorts The Skeleton Dance and The Haunted House. If you're a fan of classic animation, you'll definitely get a kick out of this.

Click below to go to the Countdown to Halloween site and visit the other participants!

Trick or Treat Short Film

 While poking around YouTube for other Halloween related things, I fell into this wonderful 14 minute horror short and just had to share it! Just a quick note, this is not family friendly.

What I love about the Magician's costume is that the individual pieces are relatively simple but look amazing when put together. There's also something to be said about the menace of silence. I take advantage of both these things with my own Halloween costume.

If you enjoyed this, they did a "Making Of" video that's almost as long as the short.

Swing by the Thinking Art Entertainment YouTube channel for more horror shorts!

Click below to go to the Countdown to Halloween site and visit the other participants!

Archie's Weird Mysteries - Halloween of Horror

Archie's Weird Mysteries was an animated series that ran for 40 episodes between 1999-2000. It was distributed in the US by DIC Entertainment and first aired on the PAX network. Remember the PAX network? Yeah, I don't blame you.

The series focused on the Riverdale teens encountering all sorts of strange stuff like zombies, ghosts, and even UFOs after a lab accident goes wrong and turns the town into a weirdness magnet! It also spawned a tie-in comic series in 2000 that ran for 34 issues, although it eventually dropped the "Weird" and switched to mundane mysteries.

 

 

Among the 40 episodes were a few multi-part story arcs including a 3-parter called Vampire Night where the climax takes place at a Halloween Party!

Disney's Haunted Mansion

 Well, today was supposed to kick off Halloween Hot Wheels Wednesday. Despite the cars shipping out on Sept. 25th, they just arrived last night. Not enough time for me to pull a post together. In the meantime, enjoy this hastily put together post featuring Disney's Haunted Mansion stuff. 

 

 

Last year, I posted about a Haunted Mansion read along book/record set that was used in schools. 

The post has a link to download the audio and book.

 

Thanks to a recent episode of the Purple Stuff Podcast, I found out about this rocking cover of Grim Grinning Ghosts. The video is pretty fun for Mansion fans, there's plenty of visual references in addition to ride audio in the song.

This is one of my favorite behind the scenes/making of videos on the Mansion. Before there was the internet as we know it, I bought this on DVD. Not only is it a great history of the ride but there are plenty of interviews with the people that made it happen.

Lastly, the Internet Archive has the 1975 Disneyland Haunted Mansion standard operation procedures handbook for cast members. As a Disney park fan, I find this stuff fascinating because it's a peak behind the curtain at how things work.

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Gremlins Theme Park Rides

Did you know that at one time there were two different Gremlins theme park rides operating? Did you also know that depending on which one you visited that you would also encounter Beetlejuice or Alf?

This isn't exactly breaking news but it's something I recently discovered thanks to the Expedition Theme Park YouTube Channel. I highly recommend it if you're interested in theme park history. Oddly enough, while researching this post, it seems a lot of big sites have picked up on the "news" from this video being recently released.

Check it out.

I found full ride-thru videos from each attraction. Both rides closed in the early 2000's so the video quality may not be great but these are the best ones I could find.

Here is the Australian version with Beetlejuice.

And here is the German ride with ALF. I'll be honest with you, this ALF creeps me out. Not only is he speaking German but he really needs a haircut!

If you had to choose, which one would you ride? As odd as it is to see "Old Man" ALF speaking German, I'd probably go with that version. I mean, it's ALF and Gremlins!

Rick Astley in Concert

I went to see Mr. Astley this past Sunday night at the House of Blues in Boston. I saw him last February when Mrs Dex needed someone to go to the show with her. Even though I didn't know most of the songs, I liked them and enjoyed the show because Rick puts on a great show. It's not a huge production, but he's got such a great stage presence you can't help but have a good time.

When he came back around, I was looking forward to going. We got there early and were much closer to the stage for this show.

Of course, he did the hits, some new songs, and some older ones. 

He even covered Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You."

Last year's show was the final one of that tour and things got a bit crazy when they went into an insane cover song medley. He mentioned that because they were just getting this tour started, he was going to reign it in and stick to the set list. He, and the band, did a shot to toast that show.

And they closed the show out with Rick playing drums and covering AC/DC's "Highway to Hell!"

What? You didn't think you were going to read a Rick Astley post and not get Rickrolled?
But seriously, they did close out with "Highway to Hell."

If you haven't check out anything from his latest album, I highly recommend "This Old House."

Now Hear This - The Pipettes

Have you ever gone through your music collection and stopped to think "When or how did I first discover this band?" I do it pretty frequently and usually can't remember. The Pipettes are no exception.

Click to listen or buy on Amazon

The Pipettes were a British female-fronted pop group that started out in 2003. While the girls are always front and center with their polka dot dresses, the are backed by an all male band called The Cassettes. Their sound takes the best of bubblegum pop and combines it with the doo wop of the 50s/60s. The result is some insanely catchy, upbeat music.

Now normally, my taste tends toward rock, metal, and punk but I do love the music of the 50s/60s and consider bubblegum pop a guilty pleasure so this is like a peanut butter cup of musical styles for me.

Their debut album, We Are The Pipettes, hit 41 on the UK charts and gave them their biggest hit  "Pull Shapes" which topped out at 26. As part of their US record deal, the album was completely remixed, given two additional songs and a new cover inspired by Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (above). In the US, the album hit 18 on the Top Heat Seekers chart, which I had no idea was even a thing.



You can check out the whole album below. My personal faves here are Dirty Mind and
Your Kisses Are Wasted On Me.

Along with various singles and a pair of EPs, they also released another album in 2010, Earth vs The Pipettes. The sophomore effort fizzled and sadly the girls disbanded shortly after its release. But that's no reason to not check them out so go ahead and spin a couple tunes and see what you think.

You can find both their albums on Amazon.

Spend 2018 with Vincent Price

Hey folks! It's been a few weeks but I'm still here after an unplanned break. Don't worry, everything's fine here, just had a hard time getting back to the blog after vacation and then the holidays. You know how it is.

I got an email from Victoria Price (ok, I'm on her mailing list) with some exciting news! She's going to be producing a series of monthly videos where she talks about her dad and shares things like family photos. Having seen her speak twice (you can read about those events here and here), I'm pretty confident this something even casual Vincent Price fans will want to check out. Not only is Victoria a great speaker but her dad was a really amazing member of the human race.

I'll let her explain it all for you...

Over the years, so many of you have asked whether I can come speak about my dad in your hometown. This year, I finally have an answer for you.

I have created a way to bring you the photos, videos, and stories that I have shared all over the world  -- along with even more unpublished material. These are images, videos and ideas that you cannot see or hear anywhere else -- and they will stream straight to your computer, tablet or smartphone. You will get one 10-15 minute video presentation each month for 12 months, starting on January 27 and continuing through December 27, 2018.

Each month will be a different download, so be sure to sign up for the January installment, so that you don't miss a single month of these amazing insights into the life of Vincent Price -- family man, art lover, foodie, actor, world traveler, husband, father, horror icon, Yale graduate, and more!

To get a taste of what we will be offering, please see the video below.

To sign up now, please click HERE to join our monthly subscription and receive all 12 presentations. (You can cancel your subscription at any time!)

Everyone who signs up for this subscription series will also be eligible for some unique opportunities for events and products not available to anyone else! I am so excited about this series, and I want you to feel like you are getting an up-close-and-personal glimpse at Vincent Price that very few people will be able to get.

I hope you are as thrilled about this as we are. Please feel free to email me HERE with any questions you may have about the series. We look forward to sharing 2018 with you.

As ever, thank you SO much for all of the ways you continue to keep Vincent Price so close to your hearts.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you all!
 See you in 2018.
 All my best, Victoria​​​​​​​

Chainsaws For Christmas

The Christmas Tree is an integral part of the holiday season so it only makes sense to bring chainsaws into it too, right?

First up is a tune by one of my absolutely favorite bands, Zombina and the Skeletones. It's titled, appropriately enough, Chainsaw for Christmas.

The Texas Chainsaw Mistletoe answers the question on everyone's mind: What happens when you put Leatherface into holiday classic films?

This Santa with a chainsaw prank may be a bit mean spirited but then I remember all the Christmas stuff getting put out before Halloween and it makes me smile.

Be sure to visit all the Creepmas blogs by clicking below.

Boo Halloween Special (1980)

Halloween may be gone but that doesn't mean you have to wait another year to celebrate it!

The Museum of Classic Chicago Television posted the below video to their YouTube page last week. This Canadian Halloween variety show/special was produced in 1980 and aired on WGN in 1982. And like any good variety show, a couple of celebrity guests drop by: Dionne Warwick and Rip Taylor.

It's just as weird and cheesy as you'd want anything from the 80s to be. Plus, there's a healthy does of nostalgia because all the commercials are intact. There's even a Foods International Coffees one with Lea Thompson.

But maybe my favorite part of this whole thing (aside from Rip Taylor because how can you not love Rip Taylor?) are the Star Wars knockoffs. Around the 25 minute mark, the scene moves to The Spook Easy, a monster bar that I guess in in the castle? Even monsters need a place to kick back, right?

It instantly made me think of the cantina from Star Wars. There's a band playing and the monsters look more like Star Wars aliens than creatures of the night. The band looks kinda sorta familiar which only solidifies the Star Wars connection.

And then there's these two bar patrons who are trying to pick each other up, only they're not sure what sex the other one is...awkward.

A big shout out to the Plaid Stallions Facebook page for bestowing this gem into my life.