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Spooky Movie Night

  • Island of Terror

    Presentation for Friday 02.13.15
    Alex missed a good one tonight. The Amazon UK blu-ray looks great – even revealing some monster-operating wires that no one would notice in old VHS copies. Peter Cushing, as always, brings charm and charisma to the proceedings as he and another scientist travel to a small island off Ireland to investigate a dead body found with (wait for it) . . . no bones! Seems some reclusive scientists on the other side of the island have accidentally bred "silicates" – slimy, crawling slug-like creatures that divide & multiply like cells – who inject a substance that melts down the bones of their victims. One gruesome scene caught us all off guard. Summer was not happy. Still, an overall enjoyable SMN!
  • Forbidden Planet

    Presentation for Friday 02.06.15
    Revisiting a classic of the sic-fi film world this week. Great film with grand ideas, space dudes brimming with testosterone, cute Anne Francis strolling around in her space age mini skirts, an invisible id monster and, of course, Robby the Robot. Only the annoying drone of some of the "futuristic" sound effects detract from an otherwise stellar evening of classic cinema!
  • The Living Coffin

    Presentation for Friday 01.30.15
    13 years into SMN, and I'm always looking for something new that's been off my radar. Enter, the Mexican horror film. Hey, it's a Mexican-western-mystery-horror film – what's not to love! It's a reworking of the classic Mexican legend of the crying woman. Fun and entertaining. Some good creepiness, all while not taking itself too seriously.
  • The Magnetic Monster

    Presentation for Friday 01.23.15
    Curt Siodmak. Really, that's all you need to know. One thing I've learned in 13+ years of Spooky Movie Night, is that Mr Siodmak was kinda The Man. He wrote screenplays for classics like The Wolfman, House of Frankenstein and I Walked with a Zombie. Here he tells a gripping tale of two A-Men (Atomic Men) who are investigating the presence of a strange magnetic field that appears suddenly in a small town. The source is eventually traced to a new atomic element that uses the magnetic field to convert energy to matter. As it grows out of control, it threatens to throw the earth off it's orbit. Classic 50's post-war end of the world potboiler!
  • Dead of Night

    Presentation for Friday 01.16.15
    Now THIS is why I bought that region-free blu-ray player!! Without it, we would have never seen this absolute gem that's unavailable in the US – which would have been a crime! An architect shows up at a country manor for contracted work only to find that the house – and everyone in it – have been appearing in his recurring nightmares. He knows some bad mojo is afoot as he keeps predicting people who enter the story and events that eventually unfold. Several eerie tales unfold in anthology style, shifting in tone without taking you out of the film's grip. The kids and I were blown away. Simply fantastic!
  • Unearthly Stranger

    Presentation for Friday 01.09.15
    Another win for the region-free player as we load in the UK blu-ray of an amazingly intellectual treatment of the same sort of concept explored in the fun, but ultimately less satisfying, "I Married a Monster from Outer Space". Had never seen this one and I was surprised by it's depth of emotion for what is essentially a B movie. I chalk it up to the Brits, who prove again that they can do creepy sci-fi in a though-provoking way that transcends the genre. Certainly earned our applause as the credits rolled.
  • The Quatermass Xperiment

    Presentation for Friday 01.02.15
    The American title of this British classic was "The Creeping Unknown"– and a fitting title that is! This is a creeping, slow-burn of a chiller. A rocket returns from space with one survivor and only empty clothes left of his two crew mates. To make matters worse, there seems to be something very wrong with the survivor...and he's getting worse by the day. Crotchety Professor Quatermass throws his scientific weight around while trying to get to the bottom of what became of the missing astronauts. Tension builds steadily in this cerebral alien invasion film – Fun stuff!
  • The Phantom Carriage

    Presentation for Friday 12.26.14
    Summer was asleep early, so Corbin, Alex and I opted for a rare silent film. The plot sounded compelling: Every year, the last soul to die before the clock chimes in the new year is forced to drive death's carriage for the next year, picking up all the lost souls who have died. The special effects from this 1920 Swedish film were impressive for the period. Sadly, at 107 minutes, the film goes on too long (some editing was needed). What was unexpected was that this ended up a pretty potent tale of redemption. Obvious Christian undertones gave us a good post-film discussion. Would been about perfect if it'd just been about 20-or-so minutes shorter.
  • Planet of the Vampires

    Presentation for Friday 12.19.14
    Beautiful blu-ray transfer of a classic Italian sic-fi that's a bit on the deceptive side where it's title is concerned. Let me say this up-front: This is NOT a vampire film. What it is, however, is some pretty engaging space opera fun. A race of bodiless aliens mess with the minds of space explorers, causing them to violently turn on one another. The dead come back to life, and things start to feel more like a zombie film than anything having to do with vampires. Fun stuff though...lack of actual vampires notwithstanding!
  • The Reptile

    Presentation for Friday 12.12.14
    Last year's Christmas gift of a region-free blu-ray player has led to GREAT fun as I'm able to find stellar Amazon UK discs to replace my washed-out, scratched up, taped-from-TCM copies. Case in point, this week's pristine blu-ray of Hammer's 1966 classic, The Reptile! The film is just some great, creepy fun, and it looked & sounded better than I've ever seen! The story is sort of a werewolf-vampire-creature from the black lagoon mashup. While the kids may not appreciate its technical aspects – they really dug this classic gem from the Hammer House of Horror!

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What a Relief Indeed!

Speedy

 

Down, down, down the stomach through

Round, round, round the system too

With Alka-Seltzer they always say:

Relief is just a swallow away!

 

Speedy



As someone who is a complete geek for retro advertising in general – and advertising characters in specific – let me officially give a big welcome-back hug to Speedy, the Alka-Seltzer mascot!

While watching my beloved Colts let one slip away again this year (oh, please don't get me started on that) my wounds were soothed during commercial time when our happy little friend started bouncing across the screen extolling the plop-plop-fizz-fizzy merits of the product that comprises the main part of his body.

Maybe it's just me getting older, but I love that innocent charm that is inherent with these kinds of characters.

Maybe I've just seen one too many commercials with the Colon Lady spouting off (maybe a pour choice of words) about all manner of unfortunate gastrointestinal manifestations in ways that would get my son in trouble if he were to use the same language around the table at Steak-n-Shake.

Either way, I welcome his return and can only hope that his reemergence heralds a return to a more innocent, and fun way of getting our message out; and that it opens the floodgates for the reappearance of more of his classic advertising character brotherhood.

Which classic character would you like to see get a new lease on life? Leave a reply in the comments below.

Meanwhile, enjoy some of Speedy's glory days . . .

 

 

 

 

 

And even though it's not Speedy, how could I not share Fred Flintstone selling out to the man!

 

 

 

Posted at 02:35 PM in Design in Pop Culture, Retro Design, Television |

Tags: advertising, alka-seltzer, born to design, character, classic tv ad, commercial, flintstone, innocence, mascot, retro, sharing my crayons, speedy

Comments

Jim

I don't know if it's in the category but I'll vote for Uncle Pennybags from Parker Brothers' Monopoly. I think they could do so much better with that icon.

Posted by: Jim | January 25, 2011 at 06:48 PM

Janice Crago

I can't top Mr. Speedy's sweet face. I don't have indigestion but he's already got me singing "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz; oh what a relief it is"

Posted by: Janice Crago | January 25, 2011 at 09:04 PM

Todd Adkins

Jim: I agree - would be great if he came back front and center. Would love to an animated version of him hopping across the spaces on the board. Think how much fun that could be if every space he landed on came to life when he hit it. Hotels springing up. Trains speeding by. Big faucets and light bulbs popping up. Not to mention some of the Chance or Community Chest cards. I think they're missing an opportunity. Thanks for the input!

Posted by: Todd Adkins | January 25, 2011 at 09:22 PM

Todd Adkins

Janice: I know, too much catchiness in that one. Still worlds beter though than the one a few years back where they plugged things like gas, bloating and diarrhea into the Christmas Carol "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen". That's just wrong a=on many levels. I'll take plop-plop-fizz-fizz over THAT any day. Thanks for your feedback!

Posted by: Todd Adkins | January 25, 2011 at 09:25 PM

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