Halloween Countdown: The Invisible Man (1974)

If you follow my blog you know I have a love for Wonderland Records (see here). They seemed to put out two types of records...music and stories. Today's post is the story of The Invisible Man. I never owned this record but I always wished I did as I studied the backs of other Wonderland records (they always advertised their other releases on the backs of their LP's). So I was very happy when I found this record on
Azathoth's Abode on the Plateau of Leng blog last year. He runs a pretty cool Halloween blog...check it out.

[DOWNLOAD] The Invisible Man (1974)
01- The Invisible Man - Side 1
02- The Invisible Man - Side 2

Charles Thomas Sierra, Where Are You? ...or... Charles Sierra, Where Are You?

Sorry to treat this blog like a missing persons ad...but I'd like to reconnect with an old childhood friend – Charles Sierra. I have a lot of fond memories of Tommy (he didn't go by Charles back then) and I'd just like to know what he's up to. So on the chance he may Google his name (because we all have), he may stumble upon my blog. Hope to hear from you Tommy.

- Frank

Halloween Countdown: A Scooby-Doo Halloween (2002)

I went to the KISS concert at Madison Square Garden this past Saturday night. I know that wasn't Ace and Peter...you don't think I know that wasn't Ace and Peter?! I know they're imposters...stop giving me a hard time!! They were free tickets...box seats...so I couldn't say no!!! (Actually, it was a good show, even without Ace and Peter.)

KISS has always been associated with Halloween for obvious reasons (see KISS on The Paul Lynde Halloween Special...here) so the band showing up on a Scooby-Doo Halloween special is expected. Actually, it's just Paul Stanley who supplied his voice for this episode, but the rest of KISS is represented in animated form. Usually Gene's the one who does these extra curricular "Hollywood" type things, but in this case it's Paul...good for you Paul.

Check out Ace's close-up below. He's somehow missing half his costume...
I didn't even know they were still making Scooby-Doo cartoons? It wasn't till I had a kid that I noticed. You'd think since every episode is basically the same episode – the gang comes to town...the gang runs from a ghost...the gang catches the ghost...the gang unmasks the ghost – the show would've gotten stale and abandoned decades ago. But no...it's still going strong. And Casey Kasem is still supplying the voice of Shaggy – though he sort of has that old man whistling of his "S's" thing going on.

Anyway, here's KISS' scene (performing "Shout It Out Loud") from A Scooby-Doo Halloween...



What's New, Scooby-Doo? "A Scooby-Doo Halloween"
Original Air Date: 24 May 2002 (Season 1, Episode 14)

Casey Kasem - Shaggy
Frank Welker - Fred / Scooby-Doo
Mindy Cohn - Velma
Grey DeLisle - Daphne
Stacy Keach - The Mayor
Julia Sweeney - Aunt Meg
Jenny McCarthy - Marcy
Rhea Perlman - Agnes
Paul Stanley - Himself

Halloween Countdown: Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968)

This year my Halloween Countdown will be sporadic...unlike last year's (click here). Dracula seems like a good topic to start things off with. There are a ton of Dracula movies out there, but only one has stuck in my mind for years. Actually, just the ending of one...Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968).

Now I guess I should warn you that from here on out I'll be talking about the ending of Dracula Has Risen From The Grave...so...SPOILER ALERT! But come on...like you don't know Dracula dies at the end! It's the way he dies in this one that's haunted my memory for years (haunted in a good way, not the bad way).

I also say haunted because for years I didn't know which Dracula movie it was? I first saw the movie on TV when I was just a boy. It's a pretty slow movie so I'm sure I only half watched it as I played with Legos or something. But the ending got my attention. Dracula (this time played by Christopher Lee) falls off the cliff of his castle and gets impaled in the back by a large cross!...cool!! A quick google search yielded the title of the movie and I immediately added it to my Netflix queue...then uploaded the ending to YouTube for your enjoyment.

Here's the ending to Dracula Has Risen From The Grave...(YouTube tends to make scenes darker than the original source, so it's a little dark...but watchable)...