Classic Horror on TCM!

Well...  Good job, Turner Classic Movies.  I'm not going to have much room left on my DVR after October!

I don't know how many of you have access to the TCM channel, but I thought I would share a portion of their programming schedule for this month which is dedicated to classic horror films!  TCM is celebrating Halloween all month long with a great selection of vintage movies, including films from the silent era, the original Universal classics, and the Hammer films as well!

Friday, 7th
Nosferatu (1922) @ 8pm
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) @ 9:45pm
The Unholy Three (1925) @ 11:15pm
Phantom of the Opera (1925) @ 1am

Saturday, 9th 
Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) @ 8pm
Frankenstein meets the Wolfman (1943) @ 9:15
House of Frankenstein (1944) @ 10:45pm
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) @ 12:15

Sunday, 16th 
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) @ 8pm
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958) @ 9:45pm

Monday, 17th 
Horror Hotel (1960) @ 8pm
Horror Express (1972) @ 9:30pm
The House that Dripped Blood (1970) @ 11:15pm
The Creeping Flesh (1972) @ 1:15am

February, 21st 
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941) @ 8pm
Eyes Without a Face (1960) @ 10:00pm
The Body Snacher (1945) @11:45pm
Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) @ 1:15am
Machabre (1958) @ 2:45am

Saturday, 22nd 
The Killer Shrews (1959) @ 6:45am
The Devil Bay (1940) @ 8am
The Seventh Victim (1943) @ 9:15am

Sunday, 23rd 
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967) @ 8pm
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1970) @ 10pm
The Phantom Carriage (1922) @ 12am
Epidemic (1987) @ 2am

Monday, 24th 
The Gorgon (1964) @ 3:15pm
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) @ 4:45pm
Rasputin, the Mad Monk (1966) @ 6:15pm
House of Dracula (1958) @8pm
Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965) @ 9:30pm
Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1969) @ 11:15pm
Taste The Blood of Dracula (1970) @ 1am
The Scars of Dracula (1970) @ 2:45am
Dracula A.D. (1972) @4:30am

Wednesday, 26th 
The Robot vs The Aztec Mummy (1965) @ 6am
The Time Machine (1960) @ 7:15am
Time After Time (1979) @ 9am
The Ice Pirates (1984) @ 1pm
Satellite In the Sky (1956) @ 2:45pm
Logan's Run (1975) @ 4:15pm
Soylent Green (1973) @ 6:15pm

Friday, 28th 
Dracula (1931) @ 8pm
The Mummy (1932) @ 9:30pm
The Invisible Man (1933) @ 11pm
THE Wolfman (1941) @ 12:15am
The Black Cat (1934) @ 1:30am
The Uninvited (1944) @ 2:45am
Island of Lost Souls (1933) @ 4:30am

Saturday, 29th 
The She-Doll 1936 @ 6am
Bedlam (1946) @ 9am
The Black Scorpion (1957) @ 12pm
The Blob (1958) @ 1:45pm
Village of The Dammed (1961) @ 3:15pm
The Thing From Another Would (1951) @ 4:45pm
Earth vs The Fling Saucers (1956) @ 6:30pm
Blood and Black Lace (1964) @ 8pm
Carnival of Souls (1962) @ 9:30pm
It's Alive (1974) @ 11pm
The Baby (1973) @ 12:45pm

Sunday, 30th 
The Tingler (1959) @ 12pm
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) @ 1:30pm
The Abominable Dr. Philbes (1971) @ 6pm
Young Frankenstein (1974) @ 8pm
Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1947) @ 10pm
The Monster (1925) @ 12am

Monday, 31st 
Mark of The Vampire (1935) @ 6am
Walk With A Zombie 1943) @ 8:30am
Dementa 13 (1963) @ 9:45am
House of Wax (1953) @ 11:15am
Black Sabbath (1964) @ 12:45pm
Dead of Night (1945) @ 2:30pm
House on Haunted Hill (1958) @ 4:30pm
The Haunting (1963) @ 6pm
The Devils Bride (1968) @ 8pm
The Mummy (1959) @ 9:45pm
The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1961) @ 2:45am
To The Devil, A Daughter (1976) @ 4:30am

The Monster of the Launching Pad

Spoiler alert!  Oops, too late... You read the cover!

Here's some great cover artwork from an old Horror anthology comic presented by none other than Boris Karloff!

"Die Monster Die!"

Unfortunately, I have not seen this film...  But based on this great poster artwork, it looks like that needs to change soon!  

I really dig the composition with the sensational tagline at the top leading to the diagonal axe (with floating disembodied hands!) which draws your attention to the female victim and the movie's title.  I also love the color choice for Boris Karloff's face and his exaggeratedly stylized white, soulless eyes.

Tales of the Frightened - Boris Karloff

"Are you one of the frightened...?"

Boris Karloff is best remembered for his silver screen portrayals of monsters and madmen.  For crying out loud, the guy will forever be remembered in cinematic history for having not one but two of the iconic Universal Monsters roles under his belt in Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy!

But Karloff was also recognized for lending his vocal talents to spoken word work.  He was a regular performer on radio dramas.  If you've ever enjoyed the How the Grinch stole Christmas cartoon around the holidays, it's Karloff's vocalization that serves as voice of the Narrator and the Grinch.

From what I can gather, at some point in his career, Karloff did syndicated radio work for Reader's Digest Magazine sometime in the late 50's, producing brief segments that eventually became Tales of the Frightened.  "These radio spots were not necessarily horror stories, but with Karloff you could never be sure..." according to Old Time Radio Catalog.

In 1957, a collection of these segments were compiled to create an album that was released by Mercury Records.  Michael Avallone, an author famous for writing thrillers, mysteries, and secret agent stories authored the stories Karloff read in his signature tones.  Sound effects and experimental electronic music (a genre still very much in its infancy at the time) was provided by the group the Electrosoniks.  The combination of all this talent results in an album of thrilling, chilling tales of terror that are as genuinely creepy as they are fun (Well... in the morbid, macabre sense...  What else would you expect?).

The liner notes from the album:

"Are you one of the frightened...?"

These six simple words, innocuous at first glance, serve as a mocking prelude to one of the most gripping narrative performances in the history of spoken word recording.  For it is none other than Boris Karloff posing the simple question in all of his spine-tingling, low-voiced perfection.  Acknowledged for thirty years as the undisputed master of the mysterious, the sinister-sounding Mr. Karloff is at the peak of his storytelling powers as he guides you through a world's library of terror.  The haunting teals rendered here for chilling enjoyment were personally selected by Mr. Karloff, who is a connoisseur in the field of the bizarre and terrifying.

Which was your favorite Karloff performance?  The Frankenstein Monster?  The Mummy?  The Body Snatcher?  Fu Manchu?  The mad butler in The Old Dark House?  Perhaps the very sight of this stooped, superbly gifted performer of the grotesque has been sufficient in the past to ensure your rapt attention.  Then a surprise is in store for you.  This remarkable actor (who is easily one of the world's most identifiable faces) will amaze and astound you with the sheer evocative power of his speaking voice.  Although it has been thirty years since the Frankenstein Monster electrified the world of entertainment from New York to Siam, it is not too late to underscore the simple truth that the Karloff voice is as much a part of his magical presence as his photogenic make-up.

The ominous voice, the rising suggestion of imminent doom, the haunting caress of terror, the suggestive hush of horror unfolding are all here in a veritable garden of evil.  Mr. Karloff rakes up the dead leaves of fear's history with the zest and zeal of a true believer.  Whatever a frightened human being has conjured up in his mind to combat the darkness of the unknown is here at hand.  Werewolves, vampires, haunted houses, superstition, psychic residue, the undead, the unspeakable, the manifest destiny of death - these the Elder Statesmen of the Eerie brings you with unforgettable relish.

All of these uniquely Karloffian tales were authored by Michael Avallone, long a Karloff fan himself and equally devoted to the terror tale.  Mr. Avallone, one of the nation's finest mystery writers, has surpassed anything he has ever done before.  "Tales of the Frightened" will long be remembered as a highlight in the career of Michael Avallone.  The feeling persists, as you listen to the tales, that he must have been born to write them for the great performer who speaks the words.  Mr. Karloff has rewarded him with his finest vocal effort.

"Are you one of the frightened...?"

Then pull up a chair and prepare yourself.  Make sure the doors are bolted, the windows locked and the fireplace roaring with blazing logs.  There must be no dark corners, no murky shadows, no questionable areas where no light falls.  You are about to go on a thrilling journey into the undiscovered country of the outre'. A land where a man cannot escape his fate, where a cat can terrify a human being, where a woman is capable of lifting her head off her shoulders to re-do her hair, where a curious man with a strange umbrella follows you down the street... and the great unknown of uncertainty is poised at every turn of the road.

Years ago, at another yard sale of course, I found a paperback book called Boris Karloff Present Tales of the Frightened also written by Michael Avallone.  Apparently this was a tie-in book that contained the same stories from the album.  There was also a second volume of Tales of the Frightened in the vinyl format as well at some point with more stories.

Just today I received my vinyl copy of Tales of the Frightened that I recently won on an online auction.  I can't wait for the sun to set here at the Cryptic Corridor so I can fire up the turntable and listen to Boris Karloff read these classic stories of terror!