Happy Baturday!

In celebration of International Bat Night and the 75th anniversary of Batman,

I've invited my Batman fanatic friend Jason Ghoulscout here for a Bat chat!

(Perhaps the first of many!)

Hi, my name's Jason....and I'm a Bataholic.

Holly wanted me to talk a little about myself, 

so I hope I don't put everyone asleep by my rambling. 

First I have to start off by saying I am a huge fan of Batman, 

and even though the official day of his 75th Anniversary has passed, 

I'm too much of a geek to not celebrate for the rest of the year...

so lucky you, it's show and tell day. lol.

I buy A LOT of batcrap, things like figures, deco, mugs, 

and of course, too many t-shirts.

Batmom and I. As you can see, it runs in the family.

One of my most recent purchases was an ebay listing of some goodies

they were making available at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con;

a swag bag with an image of Adam West and Burt Ward on it from the 1960's Batman TV show, the Jim Lee produced Batman cover souvenir book, Batman car decal,

one of the Ryan Sook designed paper bat masks (still need to buy the other three),

and what has to be one of my favorite items in the package,

a 75th Anniversary poster made up of Batman comic book covers over the years.

Hey! Do I hear snoring?

Most of the exposure to my favorite detective has been through TV and movies, 

so it was inevitable it would lead me to getting involved in some field of entertainment.

I ended up creating "The Velvet Coffin", which went through a few incarnations - 

everything from a webseries, to a movie, and now to a web-comic.

It's genre can be described as a "dark horror comedy".

Not exactly a superhero kind of story, but I'm sure we will have some bats show up. ;)

Moving in that particular direction of making it a web-comic,

lead me to creating a Facebook group called "The Bat-Lantern RV" 

where I post anything and everything comic book character related

(yea, usually about Batman), but it's also a place for other members to share

their interests or info on their favorite characters.

Because everyone should have a place to get their geek on.

So I invite you all to join me there, well here!

Monster Monday: Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice! Beetlejuice!

Since today is the brilliant Tim Burton's birthday

and Spectember (more on that soon) is on the way,

I've decided to post about the ghost with the most!

I know you've all seen that fake photo before,

but it gives me an excuse to post this:

Twerking Bobble Butt Figure

That's definitely a creepy curiosity, eh?

You can buy it here. (Yes, really!)

Back to Beetlejuice!

He and I have a lot in common actually,

which you can read about here.

I don't know what else to say,

except Michael Keaton is the man!

The Batman too!

Speaking of which, 

this Saturday will be Baturday here,

in celebration of International Bat Night!

Ghostbusters will be in theaters this weekend too!

You can find out where it's showing here.

I must know which is your favorite 80's ghost flick,

between these two terrific ones, so I created a poll.

Cast your vote!

Monster Monday: Chiller Theater

I first discovered Chiller Theater, thanks to my Mom,

during the show's second week on the air in September 1963

via WIIC (now WPXI) channel 11 in Pittsburgh.

It was a single feature then at 3pm Saturday afternoon.

Bill Cardille was just heard not seen in that first year. 

The show and Mr. Cardille proved to be so popular that it was moved to a double feature,

at 11:15 Saturday night in September 1964, and Bill Cardille became the onscreen host.

I was there every week for Chiller Theater's 20 year run. 

Dubbed "Chilly Billy" early on by the son of channel 11 sportscaster Red Donley,

Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille became a legend in Pittsburgh TV, 

and would go on to appear in the original Night of The Living Dead (1968).

"Are they slow moving, chief?"

Bill Cardille quickly became my idol, and thanks to Chiller Theater,

I saw over 1,000 first run monster movies.

Chiller was a major part of my horror film education.

Rather than play a character,

Chilly appeared as himself at the beginning and end of the show,

and between the movies, there would be a number of skits

such as Captain Bad and The Pittsburgh Subway Report.

Captain Bad!

Chiller Theater was a party every Saturday night,and the show and the man, Chilly Billy,

are fondly remembered by all of us who tuned in each week.

Bill Cardille, a true class act, now 85, still lives in Pittsburgh.

Bill and daughter Lori Cardille (Sarah in Day of the Dead) in 2007

In October 1976, Chiller moved from the Lab set, 

which had been there since 1965, to the Castle set, 

and a Chiller Family was introduced.

Halloween 1977

Norman the Castle Keeper (Norman Elder) joined the show first,

followed by Terminal Stare (Donna Rae), Stefan the Castle Prankster (Steven Luncinski) 

and Sister Susie (Joyce Sterling). She left the show in early 1978 though,

and was replaced by Georgette the Fudgemaker (Bonnie Barney).

The Chiller Family was dropped in February 1982,

thanks to the poopy headed management at channel 11!

Terminal Stare (Donna Rae) and Joyce Sterling (Sister Susie)

Terminal Stare ( Donna Rae), Stefan (Steve Luncinski), Bill Cardille (Chilly Billy),
Georgette (Bonnie Barney) and Norman (Norman Elder)

Sadly, Norman Elder and Steve Luncinski passed away.

Donna Rae and Joyce Sterling both still live in Pittsburgh.

Bonnie Barney lives in Florida, hopefully still making Fudge!

There was a Sunday night show, too, called Son of Chiller,

which was hosted by Bill Cardille from January to June 1966.

For more on Chiller, visit the official site here.

This post was written by my fangtasic friend Conrad Widener,

who will be sharing his monster memories here every Monday!

So please give him a warm welcome!

Happy Birthday, Julie Newmar!

Thanks to my batty buddy Jason for helping make this pic!

Join me in celebrating my favorite Catwoman's birthday! 

I thought it was so fitting that it fell on a Saturday

and the day before Black Cat Appreciation Day!

So I hereby decree this to be Caturday!

Art by Mike Fisher

Catwoman was always after Batman,

and looks like she finally got him!

More photos of the cake here

I wish I had those figures of them!

I do have these though:

Tommy as Batman and Kelly as Catwoman

Julie also played a cat witch in an episode of Bewitched,

which you can watch here!

Can't blame Darrin for staring!

And she was Ultra Witch in Monster Squad.

Eat your heart out, Endora!

Her most important role is being a Mother though,

which she talks about in this touching video:

I'm planning to get her book she mentioned,

The Conscious Catwoman, off her site here.

I plan to get more of her comic books too.

Check out my review of the first issue here.

Orgy of the Living Dead

My pal Conrad is back here to spread more fear!

Last time I wrote about Mario Bava's Kill, Baby, Kill 

and mentioned the "Orgy of the Living Dead" triple bill, 

released to drive-ins in the Summer of 1971.

Well, rounding out the "Triple Avalanche of Grisly Horror" were the following: 

Revenge of the Living Dead aka The Murder Clinic (1966)

starring William Berger (Mario Bava's Five Dolls For An August Moon)

And

Fangs of the Living Dead aka Malenka the Vampire (1969)

starring Anita Ekberg (as seen in The Cobra, among many films)

Revenge of the Living Dead, directed by Elio Scardamaglia 

(better known as a producer, Revenge was the only film he directed),

has yet to see an official DVD release in the United States under any title.

Fangs of the Living Dead is available on a number of DVD labels,

both as Fangs of the Living Dead and Malenka the Vampire. 

Fangs is directed by Amando de Ossorio of the excellent Blind Dead films fame!

The Orgy of the Living Dead triple bill represents a number of lost arts in movies,

such as its humorous ad campaign about

poor John Austin Frazier (New York actor Victor Bumbalo)

and the mouth watering posters, all favorites of mine.

I also vividly remember this TV spot for Orgy featuring our buddy John,

being taken away to the mental institution:

Movie ballyhoo just isn't quite the same.

"Poor, John."

Check out Conrad's post on the second film in this trilogy here.

(If you dare! ;)

Kill, Baby, Kill (1966)

This post was written by my super sweet friend Conrad Widener.

It's in celebration of Mario Bava's birthday, which was Thursday, 

and National Doll Day, which was yesterday!

Without further ado, his review...

A series of strange deaths rock a turn-of-the century Carphanian village.

Inspector Kruger (Piero Lulli from Duel of the Titans) asks Dr. Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, also in The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave) to perform an autopsy on one of the victims and help him search for answers.

To reveal more would spoil your viewing of this masterpiece, 

skillfully directed by the late, great Mario Bava.

The film oozes rich Gothic atmosphere in every scene,

with excellent acting from a fine cast which includes Erika Blanc (Operation Atlantis, among others) and Fabienne Dali (The Erotic Touch of Hot Skin). 

Bava even adds some pretty awesome dolls to the affair!

I was fortunate enough to see Kill, Baby, Kill twice at the drive-in.

When first released in 1966 and then again in 1971 as part of the "Orgy of the Living Dead" triple bill under the title Curse of the Living Dead! I urge you to seek out this gem.

I would like to thank my ultra cool friend, the beautiful and talented Holly B. Strange,

for the honor of being part of her wonderful blog, and I dedicate this review to her!

Mizna Wada and One-Eyed Doll

They're two of my favorite artists 

and they collaborated on this doll:

You can get Mini Kimmy and her Junior doll here,

if you have 299 bucks to spare!

Sadly I don't, so I'll have to settle for these stickers:

You can get the 3 pack at Mizna's shop here!

I'd also love to own her Trash doll,

which is available here for $250!

For those unfamiliar with the character,

she's from Return of the Living Dead.

And was played by Linnea Quigley,

who's sadly going through a hard time.

You can read her story and help out here.

Mizna doesn't just make cloth dolls though.

She also makes vinyl figures, like my Lollipop Girl:

I'll end this post with One-Eyed Doll's Envy video.

Since it features an abused Barbie 

and Sunday was Barbie In A Blender Day!

P.S. I've decided to extend the Doll Days of Summer to August 10th.

So if you're a doll creator or collector,

you still have time to submit yourself.

Get all the details here!