Surveying the Gen X landscape and the origins of geek
Says the poster, via the Rebelscum Forums:
Homemade costumes, put together by my mom. I’m the relatively tall jawa, my lil brother was the relatively short stormtrooper. The stormtrooper costume was basically made up of a plastic mixing bowl (top of helmet) and white garbage bags.
There’s a Chewbacca costume made out of garbage bags here.
Probably the most powerful and unique animation sequence I’ve ever seen. It had such a lasting effect on me that I cannot watch it, listen to it, or read the accompanying narration without getting emotional. Some films will actually influence your course in life. This is one of mine.
American animator John Hubley created the opening sequence and was the original director of the film. He died in 1977 and Martin Rosen took over. Hubley’s indelible work is, for some unaccountable reason, uncredited.
Thanks to Lemedy for the GIF(t)s.
The A.V. Club just ran a feature called “21 Horrifying Moments from Children’s Entertainment” and did not include anything from Watership Down, easily the most horrifying children’s movie ever made. General Woundwort demands an apology.
(Image via Bren Jay/Flickr)
I’m not sure the Hot Dog editors understood the punk ethos (bright blue eyeshadow and silver glitter?) all that well, nor does Genevieve look anything like Cyndi Lauper, but the innocent failure sure makes a fun article.
(Images via AnnainCA/Flickr)
More beautiful toy art.
(Images via From Zombos’ Closet, Church of Halloween, and Crypt of Wrestling)
Highlights from the week of October 28 through November 3, 1978, via Garage Sale Finds, where you can see a lot more.
Kiss Meets the Phantom is actually Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, and it’s one of the more notorious TV productions of the 1970s. Produced by Hanna-Barbera, it plays like a demented, less well-acted, live action Scooby-Doo episode with a hard rocking soundtrack, and for all those reasons is a must watch. A slightly different, slightly more coherent version titled Attack of the Phantoms was released in theaters outside the U.S. in 1979, and you can watch it (as of now) here. Incidentally, if there’s a place to put your “Get Your High School Diploma” ad, it’s underneath a Kiss promo.
I talk about Devil Dog: Hound of Hell here. Stranger in Our House is a fun chiller directed by Wes Craven about a satanic, teenage witch who infiltrates and terrorizes a suburban family, with Linda Blair playing the good girl. (1981’s Midnight Offerings was another TV movie with the same theme). Both films aired on Halloween night.
Blessings upon you, Larami, for these and your many other contributions to my wasted and wonderful childhood.
(Images via Horrorpedia and eBay)
There are more, thankfully, and I’ll do a follow-up post when I have better images. The transfers were probably meant to coincide with the 1980 release of Remco’s massive Universal Monster toy line.
Lots more iron-ons and Roach Studios here.
There were three horror-themed LPs in the BBC’s long-running sound effects series: Sound Effects: Death & Horror (Vol. 13, 1977), More Death and Horror (Vol. 21, 1978), and Even More Death and Horror (Vol. 27, 1982). Some editions of the second title (Vol. 21) were released “in blood red vinyl,” as advertised on the LP cover. These are not, you may have guessed, your standard “chilling sounds,” including tracks such as “Arm Chopped Off,” “Red Hot Poker Into Eye,” “Death By Garrotting,” “Body Put Into the Acid Bath,” and “Self Immolation,” to name just a few. The gruesome cover art on the first two records is by Andrew Prewitt, who talks about the project at Horrorpedia, where you’ll find a good write-up. Many of the sound effects on the albums are available on iTunes.
There are lots of other interesting volumes in the BBC sound effects series, including Disasters (Vol. 16, 1977)—“Erupting Volcano With Lava Whooses,” “Radioactive Burn,” “Reprisal Air Strike,” etc.—and the extraordinary Out of This World (1976), a compendium of sci-fi, fantasy, and “supernatural” atmospherics. Hewitt did the covers (below) for those volumes as well.
2 Warps to Neptune 