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In the time that has passed since that fateful afternoon in 1985, some of the cast is still with us, like Christopher Lee who went on to became an icon in the business and works more than anyone else from the film today. Sybil Danning broke away from Dacy, got married, and at this very moment has a new film coming out called JUMP. Her website is up and running, filled with information just for her loyal and diehard fans.

Philippe Mora returned to Australia where he still makes oddball little films that sometimes showcase Barry Humphries, better known to you as “Dame Edna.” Mora even went back two years after this film and made another HOWLING film, and that one came off a bit better because it is supposed to be a comedy, and we all know now that Philippe works best down under…. And what became of the evil Scott Constantine Dacy? Well, he finally got his comeuppance as one would-be actress too many got fed up with his shit and he was turned over to the police for stalking, and was under investigation later after being exposed on national television by a crime show about celebrity stalkers. Scott Dacy was found dead in a rooming house in Hollywood where he had been living alone.

Perhaps the film will find a life after all in the weird wacky world of “so bad it’s good” films that grace our screens at midnight on Halloween. Let our punk band “Babel” speak directly from the soundtrack of “werewolf bitch” as they intone so meaningfully in their song “HOWLING”

IN THE…PALE… PALE.. LIGHT ….PALE …PALE ..LIGHT OF THE MOONGLOW…I’VE GOT AN EMOTIONAL HUNGER…A HUNGER I CANNOT CONTROL.. I”M ALONE NOW IN MY ROOM AGAIN….ON THE PROWL NOW THROUGH YOUR DREAMS AGAIN….HOWLING….HOWLING…SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN. AND THE FOREST LOOKS SO GREEN AGAIN AND I WORSHIP AT YOUR FEET AGAIN…HOWLING…HOWLING….
SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN…….

HERE TELEVISION NETWORK IS NOW!

There is a new kid on the block and he likes men, lots of hot men, doing what hot men do, and that appears to be making cable television. What brought them to my attention was the news that a revisionist version of the old chestnut “Dark Shadows” was being released with a decidedly gay bent, the result being DANTES COVE. Well I have just finished watching the first season and what can I say: it is if FALCON STUDIOS was doing a Gothic soap where one does not dare drop said soap unless buggery is your game. The guys are very hot and the sex is great fun to look at and very trippy in the context of vampires and witches giving curses and voodoo rituals in between the blow-jobs.

I know director Sam Irwin and he was a huge horror fan growing up, and even edited his own monster magazine, and I am sure that watching Dark Shadows as a young gay man, the whole concept of a middle-aged vampire wearing loads of pancake make-up while living in an old mansion filled with antiques, not to mention a loyal slave/manservant named Willie, was high on Sam’s gaydar. This show is the network’s first real hit and has been picked up for a third season, defiantly following in the tradition of the old Dark Shadows that ran forever. Besides DANTE’S COVE, the network has created a series for a gay detective named Donald Strachey played by openly gay Chad Allen. The first installment is THRID MAN OUT and it has a nice pace with talented actors, so let’s hope the second installment A SHOCK TO THE SYSTEM, proves the show to be a series. The Network is also showing films by gay filmmakers, the first up being HELLBENT, a west Hollywood slasher flick with cute guys and a buff psycho in a devil’s mask.

This network has the power to rock the small screen if they can get this going a bit more mainstream and, most importantly, get SEEN by its target audience as well as the hip college crowd that would also like to watch a network that is not afraid to push the envelope of sexuality. Good luck to HERE, and keep those hot guys coming…so to speak.

THE HAUNTED HACIENDA MEETS CASA NEGRA

During THE HAUNTED HACIENDA photo exhibit of Mexican Horror films we showed at the Dark Room Gallery in Los Angeles last June, I became aware of a super new DVD company CASA NEGRA ENTERTAINMENT. I received a very kind note of praise for the show from a great guy named Michael Liuzza who acts as the company’s vice-president. Casa Negra is dedicated to restoring the classic Golden age horror films of Mexico to their original form in Spanish with English subtitles allowing us to see these films as they were meant to be seen, uncut and free of incomprehensible dubbing.

I am the first to admit that I was introduced to these films as a kid on television and they were reedited and dubbed by a man called K. Gordon Murray. Now as entertaining and funny as these dubbed horror films were, they lost much of their dignity to a fractured flicker style of humor, plus trying to make sense out of a film with ten to twenty minutes rearranged with American dialogue can make even the most outré plot downright surreal.

Well… we can all rejoice as Michael very kindly sent me the first batch of their new titles and they are superb restorations, beautifully packaged with original trailers and special feature that makes each title a keepsake for the connoisseur and collector alike.
The films at hand include the first two vampire films THE VAMPIRE and the sequel
THE VAMPIRES COFFIN. These are packaged as THE VAMPIRE COLLECTION and are a must have for any true fan of these amazing films. My personal favorite THE BRANIAC is finally available as it was meant to be seen…now it is still the silliest film ever made but I love it even more now that I know it was meant to be that way from day one. THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN which is like watching Mario Bava work in Mexico with much of the same atmosphere of his own first feature in blackand white, THE MASK OF THE DEMON. THE WITCHES MIRROR is a revelation, part EYES WITHOUT A FACE with a dash of SNOW WHITE – very trippy.

CASA NEGRA is releasing the seldom seen THE MAN AND THE MONSTER next and I for one can not wait to see it as it is one of the few I missed…last but not least they found a print of the rare and strange THE BLACK PIT OF DR.M and have made this part of the current collection. I cannot impress on my readers too strongly to go on the CASA NEGRA’S website at info@casanegrafilms.com and order these classic’s while they are still available.

Lastly a special thanks to MICHAEL LIUZZA and all the good folks at CASA NEGRA for their dedication to film preservation in making these classic horror/fantasy films available for all of us to appreciate for the first time… a job well done amigos.

UNTIL NEXT YEAR

MAY ALL YOUR NIGHTMARES BE HD AND 16X9 ENHANCHED

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