Hello kiddies...boils & ghouls...ladies and mentalmen...it's
your old friend Halloween Jack coming to you from the
basement of the Haunted Theatre. An old song once said that
"there ain't no cure for the summertime blues." Well, it
seems that theater owners didn't feel that way. Long before
we had the "summer blockbuster" season, theaters offered you
to sit in cool comfort and enjoy the best and not so best
that Hollywood had to offer. And what a selection to choose
from. some weekends there were 5 to 6 horror/sci-fi films to
pick from. Oh...and there was some important birth dates
too, this week in Horror History......
July 25
births
1987 - Michael Welch, who plays "Mike
Newton" in the "Twilight Saga" and also appeared in "Star Trek:
Insurrection" and the 2008 remake of "Day of the Dead."
1967 - Matt LeBlanc, best known for playing "Joey" on the TV series
"Friends." He starred as "Major Don West" in the 1998 remake of
"Lost In Space."
1965 - Illeana Douglas who appeared in the films "Otis," "Stir of
Echoes" and "The Adventures of Pluto Nash."
1943 - Irwin Yablans who was executive producer for the first three
"Halloween" films, "Hell Night" and "Fade To Black."
1929 - Actor/producer/director Al Adamson, who's credits included
"Horror of the Blood Monsters," "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" and
"Blood of Ghastly Horror."
deaths
2003 - John Schlesinger, who directed the films "The Believers"
and "Pacific Heights," passed away at the age of 77.
2000 - Don Weis who directed for such TV shows as "Kolchak: The
Night Stalker," "Freddy's Nightmares" and the TV films "Back to
the Planet of the Apes" and "The Munster's Revenge," passed away
at the age of 78.
1979 - Eric Pohlman who appeared in the film "The Scarecrow of
Romney Marsh" and provided the voice for "Ernst Starvros Blofeld"
in the film "From Russia With Love," passed away at the age of
66.
films released on this date
The Lost Planet Airmen 1951
Scared Stiff 1953
Haunted Honeymoon 1986
Maximum Overdrive 1986
GoatSucker 2009
July
26
births
1973 - Kate Beckinsale who starred in
"Underworld," "Underworld: Evolution," "Vacancy" and "Van Helsing."
1964 - Sandra Bullock, who starred in "Premonition," "Murder By
Numbers" and "The Demolition Man."
1959 - Kevin Spacey who starred in "Se7en," "K-Pax" and as "Lex
Luthor" in "Superman Returns."
1950 - Susan George, who appeared in the films "Village of the
Giants," "The Sorcerers" (with Boris Karloff) and "The House Where
Evil Dwells."
1945 - Linda Harrison who played "Nova" in "Planet" and "Beneath the
Planet of the Apes," and also appeared in the films "Cocoon" and
"Cocoon: The Return."
1944 - Celeste Yarnall who played "The Velvet Vampire."
1931 - Robert Colbert who co-starred in "The Time Tunnel" TV series
and appeared in "Amazon Woman on the Moon."
1928 - The late Stanley Kubrick, who directed "The Shining," "A
Clockwork Orange" and "2001: A Space Odyssey.,"
1926 - James Best who was best known for playing "Roscoe P.
Coltrane" on "The Dukes of Hazzard." He also appeared in the films
"The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms" and "The Killer Shrews."
1922 - Jason Robards who appeared in "Something Wicked This Way
Comes" and "A Boy and His Dog."
1894 - Aldous Huxley who wrote the novels "Brave New World" and "The
Devils of Loudon."
deaths
2009 - Clayton Hill who appeared in "Knightriders,"
"Hellraiser III" and as the "escalator" or "sweater zombie" in the
original "Dawn of the Dead," passed away at the age of 78.
1984 - Serial Killer Ed Gein passed away at the age of 77. He was
the inspiration for the films "Psycho," "Deranged" and "The Texas
Chainsaw Massacre."
films released
on this day
Mission Mars 1968
The Night Evelyn Came Out Of Her Grave 1972, filmed in 1971 as La
Notte Che Evelyn Uscģ Dalla Tomba
The Dark Backward 1991
Deep Blue Sea 1999
Bikini Girls On Dinosaur Planet 2005
The Hazing 2005
July
27
births
1982 - Cascy Beddow who
appeared in the TV movie version of "Carrie," played "Jason" on the
Showtime series "Dead Like Me" and played a young "Shaggy" in
"Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed." He also appeared in "Blade:
Trinity."
1968 - Cliff Curtis, who appeared in "The Last Airbender," "Virus"
and "10,000 B.C."
1968 - Julian McMahon, who plays "Dr. Christian Troy" on the TV
series "Nip/Tuck." He played "Victor Von Doom" in the "Fantastic
Four" films and co-starred with Sandra Bullock in "Premonition."
1963 - Donnie Yen who has appeared in the films "Blade II,"
"Highlander: Endgame" and "666 Devil Reincarnates."
1961 - Rebecca Staab who played "Daphne Collins" in the 1991 TV
version of "Dark Shadows," and "Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl" in
the as of yet unreleased 1994 Roger Corman version of "The Fantastic
Four."
1949 - Susan Gordon, daughter of writer/producer/director/special
effects wizard Bert I. Gordon. She appeared in his films "Attack of
the Puppet People," "Tormented" and "Picture Mommy Dead."
1947 - Ilya Salkind who produced the "Superman" films and the "Superboy"
TV series,
1930 - Tadao Takashima, who appeared in the Toho films "Godzilla vs.
Mechagodzilla II," "Son of Godzilla," King Kong vs. Godzilla" and
"Frankenstein Conquers the World,"
1916 - Perennial character actor, Keenan Wynn, who has starred in
such films as "Dr. Strangelove," "The Devil's Rain" and "Piranha."
1911 - Lupita Tovar who appeared in the 1930 version of "The Cat
Creeps" and the 1931 Spanish version of "Dracula."
deaths
2003 - Comedian Bob Hope who
starred in the 1939 version of "The Cat and the Canary" and in "The
Ghost Breakers," passed away at the age of 100. He made an unexpected,
twist cameo at the end of Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis film "Scared Stiff."
If you have never seen it, check it out. It's worth it.
1984 - James Mason who appeared in the TV movies "Frankenstein: The True
Story," "Salem's Lot" and the 1959 theatrical version of "Journey To the
Center of the Earth," as well as "20,000 Leagues
Under the Sea," passed away on at the age of 75.
films released on this date Seven Doors To Death
1944
Mighty Joe Young 1949
The Amityville Horror 1979
Evil Altar 1989
Scanner Cop 1994
Halloween H2O 1998
Planet of the Apes 2001
I Know who Killed Me 2007
Dark Mirror 2007
July 28
births
1985 - Dustin Milligan, who
appeared in "Final Destination 3," "The Messengers" and "The
Butterfly Effect 2."
1954 - Bruce Abbott who played "Dan Cain" in "The Re-Animator,"
"Bride of the Re-Animator" and "Beyond the Re-Animator."
1916 - Laird Cregar who starred as "Jack the Ripper" in the film
"The Lodger" and appeared in the film "Hangover Square."
1915 - Frankie Yankovic who wrote and performed the song "Who Stole
the Keeshka." Any fan of horror hosts and Ghoulardi in particular,
will know why I included him here. If not, you get a one way ticket
to Parma!!
1914 - Carmen Dragon, father of Daryl Dragon (The Captain of The
Captain & Tenille). He composed the score for the original film
version of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."
1911 - Ann Doran who appeared in the TV movie "The Werewolf of
Woodstock" and in the films "It the Terror From Beyond Space," "The
Man Who Turned To Stone" and "The Indestructible Man."
1892 - Comedian Joe E. Brown who appeared in the film "Comedy of
Terrors."
deaths
1996 - Bryant Haliday who starred as "The
Projected Man" and appeared in the films "Tower of Evil" and "Curse
of the Voodoo," passed away at the age of 68. He was co-founder of
Janus films, who were instrumental in bringing many foreign films to
the United Sates.
1985 - Grant Williams who played the title role in "The Incredible
Shrinking Man" and also appeared in the films "The Monolith
Monsters" and "Brain of Blood," passed away at the age of 54. He
also played "Dick Prince" in the "Sleeping Cutie" episode of "The
Munsters."
films released on this date
The Canterville Ghost 1944
The Cyclops/Daughter of Dr. Jekyll 1957
Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. 1989
Waterworld 1995
Deep Blue Sea 1999
The St. Francisville Experiment 2000
Dark Fantasy 2005
A Scanner Darkly 2006
July 29
births
1982 - Allison Mack, who
plays "Chloe Sullivan" on "Smallville."
1980 - Rachel Miner, who starred in "The Butterfly Effect 3:
Revelations," "Penny Dreadful" and "The Black Dahlia" (2006).
1973 - Stephen Dorff (must have been hell in school having that
last name). He has appeared the films "The Gate," "Alone In The
Dark" and "Blade."
1972 - Wil Wheaton who starred in the films "Stand By Me," "The
Curse" and played "Wesley Crusher" on the TV series "Star Trek:
The Next Generation." He currently does a lot of voice-over work
for cartoons and video games.
1949 - Leslie Easterbrook, who appeared in "The Devil's
Rejects," Rob Zombie's "Halloween" and "Dismembered."
1941 - David Warner, who starred in the films "Time After Time,"
"Necronomicon: Book of the Dead" and "Star Trek VI: The
Undiscovered Country."
1923 - Gordon Mitchell who appeared in "Evil Spawn,"
"Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks" and "Frankenstein 80."
1921 - Richard Egan who appeared in the film "Gog."
1892 - William Powell, who played "Nick Charles" in the original
"Thin Man" films.
1876 - The late great actress Maria Ouspenskaya. I would have to
use this whole page to list her accomplishments. She is best
known for her role as "Maleva" the gypsy woman in the films "The
Wolf Man" and "Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man."
deaths
2001 - Alex Nicol,
who appeared in the films "The Clones" and "A*P*E,"
passed away at the age of 85. He frequently appeared on
TV in episodes of "The Twilight Zone," The Outer Limits"
and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
1983 - David Niven who appeared in the films "Eye of the
Devil," "Old Dracula" and "Murder By Death," passed away
at the age of 73.
1983 - Raymond Massey who appeared in the films "The Old
Dark House" (1932 version), and "Things To Come," passed
away at the age of 86.
1982 - Harold Sakata who played "Oddjob" in "Goldfinger"
and also appeared in the film "Dimension 5," passed away
at the age of 62.
films released on this date
A Scream In The Night 1935
The Amazing Mr. X 1948
The Batman (1943) 1954 re-release
The Tingler 1959
Castle of Blood 1964 originally titled La Danza Macabra
Monster Zero 1970 filmed in 1965 as Kaijū Daisenso/War
of the Gargantuas 1970 filmed in 1966 as Furankenshutain
No Kaijū: Sanda tai Gaira
Heavy Metal 1981
Krull 1981
Monkey Shines 1988
The Mask 1994
Signs 2002
Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat 2003
July 30
births
1977 - Jaime
Pressly, who starred in "Poison Ivy: The New
Seduction," "Death To the Supermodels" and "Demon
Island."
1974 - Hilary Swank who appeared in the films "Buffy
the Vampire Slayer," "Sometimes They Come
Back...Again" and starred in "The Reaping."
1970 - Producer/writer/director Christopher Nolan,
whose work includes "Batman Begins," "The Dark
Knight" and "Inception."
1969 - "The Mentalist," Simon Baker, who starred in
the films "Land of the Dead," "The Ring 2" and "Red
Planet."
1964 - Vivica A. Fox who appeared in the films "Idle
Hands," "Batman & Robin" and "Independence Day."
1963 - Scream Queen Monique Gabrielle, who appeared
in the films "Return of the Swamp Thing," "Evil
Toons" and "976-Evil 2: The Astral Factor."
1961 - Laurence Fishburne who starred in "A
Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," "Event
Horizon" and "The Matrix." films . He also provided
the voice of "The Silver Surfer" in the film "The
Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer."
1948 - Carel Struycken who played "Lurch" in the new
version of the "Addams Family" movies and appeared
in the films "Men In Black" and the "Vampire Hunters
Club." He also played the "Giant" on the TV series
"Twin Peaks."
1947 - Arnold Schwarzenegger who starred in "The
Running Man," Total Recall," "The Terminator" and
"Predator."
1947 - William Atherton who appeared in the films
"Ghostbusters," "Grim Prairie Tales" and "The Crow:
Salvation."
1939 - Director Peter Bogdanovich, whose film
credits include "Targets" (w/Boris Karloff) and
"Voyage To the Planet of Prehistoric Women."
1929 - Producer Sid Kroft of the Sid & Marty Kroft
production team.
1927 - Victor Wong who appeared in "Tremors" and
"Prince of Darkness."
1927 - Richard Johnson who appeared in the films
"Zombie," the original version of "The Haunting,"
"Beyond the Door" and "The Monster Club."
deaths
2007 -
Director Ingmar Bergman whose international
masterpieces include "The Seventh Seal," "The
Magician," "The Devil's Eye" and "Hour of the Wolf,"
passed away at the age of 89.
2000 - Max Showalter who appeared in "The
Indestructible Man" and "The Monster Who Challenged
the World," under the stage name of Casey Adams,
passed away at the age of 83. He appeared as Molly
Ringwald's grandpa in the film "Sixteen Candles."
1992 - Joe Shuster who created "Superman," passed
away at the age of 78.
1980 - Charles McGraw who played "Chief Ed
Masterson" in the TV movie, "The Night Stalker,"
passed away at the age of 66.
films released on this date
The Bells 1926
Ghosts On The Loose 1943
Goliath and the Vampires 1964
Batman 1966
Flesh Gordon 1974
Squirm 1976
Swamp Thing 1982
The Secret of NIHM 1982
So I Married An Axe Murderer 1993
The Blair Witch Project 1999
Thunderbirds 2004
The Village 2004
July 31 births
1966 - Dean Cain, who played
"Superman" in the TV series "Lois & Clark:
The New Adventures of Superman."
1962 - Wesley Snipes, who played the title
role of "Blade" for three films and also
starred in "The Demolition Man."
1956 - Michael Biehn, who starred in "The
Terminator," "Aliens" and "Planet Terror."
1935 - Geoffrey Lewis (father of Juliette),
who appeared in the TV movies "Moon of the
Wolf" and "Salem's Lot" and the films "High
Plains Drifter,""Wicked Little Things" and
"The Devil's Rejects."
1932 - Ted Cassidy who played the original
Lurch and made many guest appearances on TV
shows such as the original "Star Trek,"
"Batman" (where he played "Lurch"), and "The
Bionic Woman" where he played "Bigfoot.". He
also did the voices for many cartoon series
such as, "Space Ghost," "Frankenstein Jr.,"
"Dino Boy," "The Herculoids" and "Birdman."
1929 - Don Murray who appeared in "Conquest
of the Planet of the Apes."
1914 - Italian director, Mario Bava, who's
film credits include, "Caltiki, the Immortal
Monster," "Black Sunday" and "Black
Sabbath."
1902 - Robert Griffin who appeared in the
films "Monster From Green Hell," "I Was a
Teenage Werewolf" and the 1968 TV movie,
"Jack the Ripper."
deaths
2009 - Prolific producer Harry Alan
Towers, whose films include 1970's
"Count Dracula," "Edge Sanity" and "The
Mummy Lives."
2004 - Virginia Grey, who starred in the
films "The Black Zoo," "Unknown Island"
and "Target Earth," passed away at the
age of 87.
1993 - Lénore Aubert who appeared in the
films "Catman of Paris," "Abbott &
Costello Meet Frankenstein" and "Abbott
& Costello Meet the Killer: Boris
Karloff," passed away at the age of 75.
1987 - Jospeh E. Levine, who was
responsible for bringing "Godzilla" to
America, and also produced the films
"Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" and
"Mad Monster Party," passed away at the
age of 81.
1980 - Bobby Van, who appeared in "The
Navy vs. the Night Monsters" and "The
Doomsday Machine," passed away at the
age of 51.
films released on this date
Invisible Agent 1942
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire
Strikes Back (1980) 1981 re-release
The Lost Boys 1987
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 1992
Death Becomes Her 1992
The Iron Giant 1999
Out For Blood 2004
Indestructible 2009
The Collector 2009