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

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
 

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 

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

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

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