AMC Fearfest 2009 Schedule

American Movie Classics’ Monsterfest Fearfest returns again! I’m actually quite pleased with what they’ll be offering in October. Take a look.

10/23
Alien
Aliens

10/24
The Return of the Living Dead
Jack the Ripper (1959)
The Brain Eaters
The Fly (1958)
Dracula (1979)
Exorcist: The Beginning
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection

10/25
Wolf
The Beast Must Die
The Frighteners
Raising Cain
Wolf
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection
The Shining

Hattytown Tales

Hattytown Tales was a stop-motion animated show that originally aired in the UK from 1969-1973. It was created, written and narrated by Keith Chatfield. but will be more fondly remembered by us American kids as one of the many shorts that Nickelodeon’s Pinwheel program would show throughout the ’80s.

I was kind iffy on Pinwheel, too many random cartoon shorts I had no interest in, but I always loved Hattytown Tales (even though I thought there was a bit of British weirdness to it). So what is Hattytown Tales? Well, it’s hats living in hats and everyone has a British accent, even Sancho the sombrero!

I liked Bobby the policeman a lot, because I aspired to be a cop when I was a kid. Sancho was always my absolute favorite though. I loved his look. He reminded me a lot of a superhero with the bright blue and yellow. You know what? It just hit me. He reminds me of Dr. Fate!

Other characters included Posty (mailman), Mr. Wimple (mayor), Milko (milkman) and Mr. Bun (baker).

I haven’t seen the show since it was a part of Pinwheel, but I’d love to sit down and view some of these episodes again. Unfortunately, the show has only been released on DVD in the UK.

Do you have any Hattytown memories you’d like to share?

I Heart Robots: 1980s Edition, Vol. 2

Seems like it was only five days ago that I talked about ’80s ‘bots… Let’s do it again.

Alphie II

Alphie II I’ve touched up on before, but he still deserves a mention here. He’s a learning robot! As you probably could tell, he’s not the first version of Alphie, but he’s the coolest version.

Horde Trooper

Another Masters of the Universe character/toy. Horde Troopers were awesome and the grunts for Hordak and his Evil Horde. If you don’t believe they were awesome, just check the listings on eBay. It’s not uncommon to see one of these going for around $100. I never owned one, I remember playing with one. Hm… I should try to remember what childhood friend that was and ask if he’d be willing to sell! The toys were marketed as part of the “Masters of the Universe” line, but when it came it came to animation, they were stuck on She-Ra: Princess of Power because the planned third season of Masters of the Universe was canceled in favor of starting up that new franchise.

SyFy’s 31 Days of Halloween 2009

Another October and another round of the usual B & C-movies you can expect from SciFi Syfy, including a bunch of TV show marathons.

The thing with Siffy is this — because the schedule concentrates almost exclusively on modern horror, most, if not all, of these movies are heavily edited/censored in order to pass as TV14 or whatever. That’s something the classic horror movies don’t really have to worry about when/if they pop up on Turner Classic or AMC.

If you want to see any of these, you’d just be better off renting the DVD, where you can see them in their full-frontal gory glory. I guess if you’re a fan of the show marathons they’re doing, you’re a winner though.

Still, should make for some decent background noise, I guess.

10/01
Tales from the Darkside marathon
Pitch Black
The Mummy
Russel Mulcahy’s Tale of the Mummy
Critters

10/02
Twilight Zone marathon
Pitch Black
The Mummy
Beneath Loch Ness

10/03
Crazy Eights
Dark Ride
Rest Stop
Perkins 14
Slaughter
From Within
Wrong Turn 2
See No Evil
Dead Men Walking
Reptilian

Turner Classic Movies October 2009 Schedule

I guess posting this in the middle of September is going to be the norm from now on because people like me like to search early and know what’s coming on waaaaaaay before October 1st. So here’s the movies of interest for us Halloween & horror freaks that TCM is playing in October:

10/02
TCM’s Night at the Movies: Thrillers (2009)
Rear Window (1954)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

10/03
White Zombie (1932)
I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

10/04
Beast with Five Fingers, The (1946)
Mad Love (1935)
Earth Vs. The Flying Saucers (1946)

10/08
Black Moon (1934)

10/09
Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn (1987)
Horror House (1969)

10/10
Tales Of Terror (1962)
Pit And The Pendulum (1961)

10/11
Body Snatcher, The (1945)
Isle Of The Dead (1945)
Unknown, The (1927)

10/15
Son Of Kong (1933)
I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958)
War Of The Worlds, The (1953)

10/16
Gaslight (1944)
Picture of Dorian Gray, The (1945)
TCM’s Night at the Movies: Thrillers (2009)
Lured (1947)
Lodger, The (1944)
Videodrome (1982)

10/17
Freaks (1932)
Devil Doll, The (1936)
Time Machine, The (1960)
20 Million Miles To Earth (1957)
2010 (1984)
Ghost Ship, The (1943)

10/20
Mr. Sardonicus (1961)
Strait-Jacket (1964)
Tingler, The (1959)
13 Ghosts (1960)
Old Dark House, The (1963)
Old Dark House, The (1932)
Festival of Shorts #11: In The Tell-Tale Heart (1942)

10/24
Corpse Vanishes, The (1942)
Mark Of The Vampire (1935)
Twonky, The (1953)
Son Of Kong (1933)
Land That Time Forgot, The (1975)
Poltergeist (1982)

10/25
Doctor X (1932)
Mystery Of The Wax Museum, The (1933)
Blob, The (1958)
Die, Monster, Die ! (1965)
Riders To The Stars (1954)
Nosferatu (1922)
Diabolique (1955)
TCM’s Night at the Movies: Thrillers (2009)

10/26
Festival of Shorts #9: Killer Dogs & Jonker Diamond

10/27
Poltergeist (1982)
Power, The (1968)
Haunting, The (1963)
Village Of The Damned (1960)
Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)

10/30
Mask Of Fu Manchu, The (1932)
Ghoul, The (1933)
Black Room, The (1935)
Walking Dead, The (1936)
Man They Could Not Hang, The (1939)
Man With Nine Lives, The (1940)
Before I Hang (1940)
Ape, The (1940)
Devil Commands, The (1941)
Isle Of The Dead (1945)
Gaslight (1944)
Night Must Fall (1937)
Psycho (1960)
Zaat (1972)
Swamp Thing (1982)

10/31
Dead of Night (1945)
Haunting, The (1963)
Abominable Dr. Phibes, The (1971)
Diary of a Madman (1963)
Martin Scorsese Presents, Val Lewton: The Man In The Shadows (2007)
Cat People (1942)
Curse of the Cat People, The (1944)
Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1941)
Murders in the Zoo (1933)
Body Snatcher, The (1945)
Circus of Horrors (1960)
Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1932)
Son of Dr. Jekyll, The (1951)

So Friday, Oct 31st, is a Boris Karloff marathon, which is all well and good… Except WHERE ARE MY UNIVERSAL AND HAMMER HORROR MOVIES !!!????!!!! Will no one touch those movies and put’em on TV these days?

5 years ago, TCM was all about Hammer in October, now we don’t get anyway. It’s a shame because with the modernization of American Movie Classics (Really, what does constitute a “classic” in their eyes these days?), TCM is our last hope for the preservation of the oldies.

Nothing really jumps out and makes me go “OOOH!”, but I know on lazy days & nights I’ll switch over and watch whatever is on. Worked out pretty well for me last year.

As always, check out TurnerClassicMovies.com for a more detailed schedule.