Gifrific: To Catch An Alien

Source: Wavelength (1983)

IYKYK

Feb 26th Horror Screening Guide

To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.

Byzantium (2012)

I Bought A Vampire Motorcycle (1990)

Hard Candy (2006)

Battle Royale (2000)

The Gift (2001)

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Horror Noire (2019) 

The People Under the Stairs (1991)

His House (2020)

Ganja & Hess (1973)

Ma (2019)

Scream Blacula Scream (1973)

Bones (2001)

Slumber Party Massacre (1982)

Castle Freak (1995)

Trilogy of Terror (1975)

What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? (1962)

XX (2017) 

The Invitation (2015)

Jan 29th Horror Trivia Screening Guide

To all those who came here from the event or Storm Crow's FB page, welcome! I am Jay, one half of the horror trivia quizmasters and this is my humble blog. Here's a selected list of titles mentioned at the last event. Click on the titles to be redirected to their Imdb listing. Horror Trivia Night happens at Storm Crow Manor in Toronto. If you're in the area, come on down! Register here.

Scanners (1981)

Doctor Sleep (2019)

Eraserhead (1977)

Planet Terror (2007)

Death Proof (2007)

Thanksgiving (2023)

Eaten Alive (1976)

The New York Ripper (1982)

City of the Living Dead (1980)

Basket Case (1982)

Blood Feast (1963)

Two Thousand Maniacs (1964)

Color Me Blood Red (1965)

Inside (2007)

The Descent (2005)

Happy Death Day (2017)

The Sadness (2021)

Under The Skin (2013)

Cat's Eye (1985)

Black Sabbath (1963)

Tales From the Darkside (1990)

Body Bags (1993)

Nightmares (1983)

Holidays (2016)

House of the Dead (1978)

Death By Emoji, January Trivia Round.

R.I.P. David Lynch 1946-2025

Sad. sad news. We lost one of the last great auteurs today. Director, musician, aritst David Lynch passed away today. He was 78. I'm gutted. Even though his health was in decline due to a lifetime of smoking, he seemed like someone who would live forever - as if his penchant for transendental meditation made him somehow immune to death.

David Lynch 1946-2025

His contributions to film and culture were immeasurable and was one of the few directors whose surname is often used as a verb. Often imitated, but never equalled, there will never be another like him. His filmography speaks for itself, as well as his iconic, game-changing series Twin Peaks and his kickass forays into music. I'm listening to Crazy Clown Time as I type this out.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lynch. Wherever you end up, I hope it is a place both wonderful and strange.

Never Trust the Doorman.

Well, another year. Another attempt to keep a regular VHS post schedule. We'll see how this shakes out, maybe I'll even get back to the Horror Movie Guide watch-through. Anyhoops, the next VHS off the pile was Tony Lo Bianco's lone kick at the can, 1984's Too Scared To Scream.

Tenants at a Manhattan high-rise are turning up dead and the gentlemanly doorman (Ian McShane) seems to be at the center of it.

Shot in 1982, but not released until a few years later, Too Scared to Scream was originally intended to be a TV movie, but never ended up finding a network. It was then that some new footage was shot (read: tits and gore) and it was sent out into the video market. I could tell Lo Bianco was trying to ape Hitchcock here, but any strength of this piece is not in the filmmaking or the story, but in the cast.

Ian McShane as Vincent in Too Scared To Scream.

In addition to the younger McShane, who still commands his usual presence and reminded me a little of peak Oliver Reed, there are many other notables here. Mike Connors of Mannix fame does the cop duties, the original Tarzan's Jane Maureen O'Sullivan shows up as McShane's wheelchair-bound mother and a young John Heard is a guy named “Steve”. Even Creepshow's Carrie Nye shows up as a fashion designer.

Tops in my mind though, is Anne Archer as Connors' partner, Kate. She is a real charmer, right on the cusp of stardom before such memorable thrillers as Fatal Attraction, Narrow Margin and (to an admittedly lesser degree) Body of Evidence. Val Avery also appears as the coroner and his one-liners are gold Jerry! Gold!

 

Too Scared To Scream is for the most part pretty standard, but the dialogue is what kept me engaged. I can't tell how much was scripted or improvised, but I have to admit it did have me chuckling quite often. Like when soon to be murdered Cynthia (Victoria Bass) addresses her pet bird, “you better shut up or I'm going to get arrested for molesting a Mina.” Like I said. GOLD! 

At the very least, this is one of those films that gives us plenty of Midtown Manhattan during the early eighties and I'll never get tired of that. I wanted to climb in the TV and go see that screening of The Burning being advertised on one of the marquees.