Bride of the Gorilla, 1951, Starring Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney Jr., and Raymond Burr. Directed by Curt Siodmak.

Today's movie in review was lent to me by a fan! It is pretty exciting to see movies from the 1950's I haven't watched before. Tonight I am excited to report my findings on "Bride of the Gorilla"!

This movie has a pretty all star cast and a good premise, well ok,the premise is o.k. 

The first thing that made me excited to watch this movie was that in the beginning it was narrated. (You all know how much I love film noir movies.) How ever, after the first scene the narration ended, boo. It was kind of a let down, but then there was a TON of stock footage of animals, so I am guessing they really wanted up to know we were in a jungle. 

Then enter the pretty lady, you know she is going to be trouble, but then surprisingly she isn't really.  She is just the common theme through out the movie, just like the sweet little old lady who just happens to curse the pretty lady's husband. 

I am still yet to figure out if she was just poisoning him or if it was an awesome curse, either way it has some interesting effects. Speaking of effects, this movie is pretty sparing on them, but it was made in 1951, so it is not the end of the world. The hands morphing was basic but still well done for the time period.

I also like that they had the little elements of folk lore, when they thought he was a certain monster, which again I am still unclear of weather we was that monster or if he was just a gorilla. 

I have to say all in all, this movie had great pacing (I was surprised when it was already over), a great cast, and a decent story, even if it was sort of confusing to me.  I would say if you enjoy other movies from this era check it out!

Finally photos!

The first mail segment of the season! Robyn and I both got a lot of great gifts. We always love viewer mail!

Often times when I am trying to remember the hilarious things I am suppose to say, I end up staring at the Mossy, which makes me go cross eyed of course.

Here is a sneak peak of some of the fun of this seasons first episode. You'll see ;)

A blast from the past! This is the only episode I actually threw up from, not from the gore in the movie, but because of the spam on the table in front of me. I can not handle canned meat.

One of the first pieces of mail Robyn delivered to the Mausoleum!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to stop back tomorrow for some fun facts from our pasts! Yay nostalgia!

Roving Reporter Robyn Graves here...

Helloooo old friends & future friends!
Welcome to Robyn's ramblings :DOn Friday September 11th I got to attend my first Riot Fest in Chicago! Music Festivals were one of my biggest fears for years (sunshine, walking, mud, huge terrifying crowds, #gothgirlproblems) but now I have found my comfort zone in the one day experience. Lollapalooza 2012 I learned how to battle the sun with spf 100 & big floppy hats and how to drink just enough that the crowds don't seem so bad. Lollapalooza 2013 I embraced the mud & spent most of my day barefoot. Now, this year at Riot Fest I learned Friday might be the best day to attend a festival because the porta potties are not completely destroyed yet.

I will definitely be attending again next year! The tickets are cheaper than Lollapalooza & the stages were such a nice little distance apart I managed to make it to all of them & see NINE different bands. That's right NINE! The Eagles of Death Metal, Coheed, White Mystery, Prayers, Alkaline, Faith No More, NoDoubt, Motorhead, & Ice Cube. Never in my life did I think I would see Gwen, Lemmy, & Ice Cube in the same day. Fittingly we ended the night with "Today was a good day".
I know festival season (&summer) is now coming to an end but while it's still fresh on my mind here's a few more tips if you're scared to let loose & leave the comforts of live streaming from youtube on your couch like I was.

• Fanny pack. Bags are a pain in the butt & everyone you go with will have something they need you to carry, don't be the pack mule be the cool dude rocking a fanny pack.

• Sunblock. Sunblock. Sunblock.

• Drink lots of water. (ok, mom.)

• Plan a meet up spot. If you bring Wandering Wanda with you make sure to plan a meet up spot. Someone is going to get lost & that someone always seems to have a dead phone. If you don't want to waste your day waiting around or looking for someone plan to meet at the end of the night.

• Give the small stages a shot too!

• Leave the camera at home. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you probably won't be close enough to get a good picture. But who cares?! you spent good money to be there, dance your butt off and with those looooong beer lines  you should probably be double fisting cans of tasy cold beer. So HEY check it out! no hands for taking pictures anyway!

• But don't drink too much. No one wants to be the person passed out in the grass under a tree alone because their friends came to have a good time & decided they'd just come back for you later.

• Ladies: if you must carry a bag put some pocket tissues in there, good chance by the end of the night you will end up in a porta potty without toilet paper.

• Clear your schedule the following day, you might need to recoup.

Well, this is the longest thing I've written since school. Thanks for making it this far.


Do you have a crazy funny festival story?! I love funny stories!
(Not naming names or anything..... buuuut someone I was with peed their pants during NIN in 2013.)

The Omen, 1976, Starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick. Directed by Richard Donner.

When I am feeling sick like I am today, I tend to reach for comfort movies. Much like comfort food, they are those movies, no matter how much you see them you can always watch them one more time; which brings up to tonights movie review of "The Omen". A true staple of my comfort movie collection.

Some things you should know about this movie if you already don't, it has moderate, but awesome fakey, gore scenes. It is in color, it won an oscar and there apparently was a lot of bad luck for most of the people associated with the making of the movie.

I think one of the many reasons I love this movie so much is it starts out on a creepy/ wrong note, and just keeps getting even more messy. When you start a movie with a still birth and sneaky baby switching, you know you are going to be watching a horror masterpiece! Of course they have to lower your guard, so for awhile it is all just lovey, dovey, family cuteness, with even a promotion, but you know all good things have to come to an end. 

Since I have seen this movie a few times, there weren't really many surprises, but the jump scares still held up pretty well and I still love the beheading accident, very favorite scene in the movie. What gore there is in this gem is there for the right reasons and isn't as over the top as it could be, but it is there. 

The locations they shot at were all very beautiful, but that is the benefit of shooting in Europe and the Middle East. A lot of the indoor locations were pretty fantastic also, especially the priest's apartment, inside the first house they live in and when they are in the abandoned city that is being excavated.  

One of my disappointments with this movie is the graveyard scene. It looks extremely fake, and then when it gets to the big shocker moment, well it is just more of a WTF than a revelation moment. Also, the dogs...

Apparently Italy has a really big issue with stray rottweilers, I know, I get it, they are a tool of Satan, just like the Tricycle, but, I don't know, they weren't scary. Further more, I think 4 would have been plenty to incapacitate 2 men in an abandoned cemetery. That is just my two cents though of course, I am sure there are a few people who are forever terrified of large dogs thanks to that scene.

All and all this movie still can easily hold it's own next to some of todays horror thrillers. It has good pacing, some pretty terrific plot twists, pretty locations, and a healthy dose of gore. If you are a fan of other 70's horror, and you some how have not checked this one out, do your self a favor and check it out!

Brain malfunctioning... please wait!

Evening every one! It's 8:15 pm and I said I would blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and I am going to keep that promise, however I am pretty under the weather. In light of that, I am going to make this post about you! (Well sort of.)

I would love to get some feed back on what you all think so far?

I plan on trying to finish the "about" page this Sunday. Are there any specifics you all want on there?

I also am planning to try to figure out the best way to update the "news" page. Calendar of events maybe?

I am trying to get Robyn to drop in every week or two and post something. She said she might write about her weekend, so make sure to message her on Facebook and tell her you all want to read about things she writes about!

When I post photos on Wednesdays, do you guys prefer them just all on the same page, or would it be better if there was a scrolling gallery or a thumbnail gallery? Also, would captions be better? I think when it isn't just 20 pictures of my mug, they might be helpful, that again will have to wait for my new phone, hopefully with in a month or so I'll be able to get one.

Bloglovin seems to be working ok as far as an email subscription right? I am still pretty new to this all, so I am still trying to figure the best options for everything. I have had a lot of people recommend that I use MailChimp, but I am very unfamiliar with it, so it is going to take me a bit to figure it all out. Technology + Marlena= Very slow learning.

Well I think that wraps up my questions for the night! Thanks for hanging in there and I look forward to reading all your suggestions!

Mid-week photo explosion (because some days words are too much)

As promised here are some photos from last week. I promise as soon as I get a new phone/ camera they should be better!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stoping by!

Witch Hunt, 1994, staring Dennis Hopper & Penelope Ann Miller. Directed by Paul Schrader.

While looking for movies to review today, I stumbled across this piece of history from 1994, "Witch Hunt".

Being as I love movies from the 90's,  I was pretty excited just because of that, but then I thought about it more and I realized I also love film noir, movies about magic/ witch craft, AND Dennis Hopper, the icing on the cake was that at one point in his career Mr. Hopper had said "it was the strangest movie he had been in." It was natural after that, that I grabbed some popcorn and got to watching!

A few things you should know. This movie is in color, it was made for/ by HBO (Yay! Swearing and boobs!), the director (Paul Schrader) also directed "Cat People", and it is 100 Minutes in length.
The first couple minutes of the movie are a little stock footage news report, which I really enjoyed, it's no secret I love vintage advertisements, and it was eye candy for sure. After that I had high hopes, and although the movie didn't let me down, I can't actually figure out why I found it on a list of "40 horror movies I had to see." There was very little horror in it, and what there was, well, it was just awesomely funny.
This movie did make me happy with it's array of corny 1990's physical effects, the raven with the snake being my very favorite.  I am a huge fan of physical effects, I have yet to see a CGI effect that compares with the awesome gross drool of the Deadly Spawn. Don't get me wrong, of course, CGI is a modern staple and can make some awesome things possible in movies, but some times I just need real slime.
There are funny one liners sprinkled through out the story, my favorite being, "This isn't the first time I've been f***ed in a producers office!!" also if you pay attention peoples names, there are a lot of little jokes.
The sets are pretty interesting, very well done, especially the ones that are either in the Ennnis House, or are suppose to be, based on the pattern of the blocks. (For those who don't know, the Ennis House also appears in the 1959 "House on Haunted Hill", "Blade Runner", "The Thirteenth Floor" and a couple David Lynch projects.)


The story is decent but there were times I found myself wondering what was going on or how one part of the movie related to another. I did enjoy their nod the "The Big Combo" when they were at the drive in movie. The story gets a little confusing in the end, but as in all noir movies they sort of explain things in the end,  so all and all not horrible.

Witch hunt was a fun little comedy with hilarious effects and pretty sets. It was light on story and good acting, but it isn't like I could any better, so I think if I had a rating system I would give it a 7 out of 10.

If you like goofy comedies like "Beetlejuice and "Death Becomes Her" but with less gore, Give this a try!

Welcome!

Welcome! Welcome! Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages, to the blog of Marlena Midnite!

Hmm, that didn't sound nearly as epic as I had planned in my head... ah well, the point remains! Welcome to the personal blog of Marlena Midnite AKA me.

This blog will be less about business and more about the day to day around the mausoleum.  I am attempting at adhere to a schedule, 3 days a week (some times more), so please be sure to check back often! I am hoping the weeks will go something like this:

Monday: Movie review and a little extra info on the movie we will be showing on the episode.

Wednesday: Lots of pictures, I am not the best at writing obviously, so I will give you all a break and just post a bunch of pictures from the past week.

Friday: Various posts. I have 46 ideas so far, so hopefully I will be able to come up with more.

There of course might be more during certain weeks, but this is the very least I am hoping for.

Of course I am sure you are asking "why is she telling us all this?" Your answer is because I need you guys (and gals!) of course, I will be needing suggestions for movies to review, things to write about, things you want to read about, books I should be checking out, all that fun stuff! So feel free to drop me a line!

Last but not least, thank you so much for stopping by, if you notice anything weird happening on the blog, please let me know, saying I suck at coding doesn't even start to explain how bad I am, so I will really appreciate any constructive criticism!

Post more soon!