Design Meme

John ‘the Cool Ghoul’ Zacherley is still going strong at 88, and updated his site with a message for the holidays:

...
It’s been busy for me. I spent some time digging up old relatives in Transylvania. It’s so difficult putting them back. They just don’t like to stay buried.
Then My Dear and I went on a second honeymoon to tour the pyramids of Egypt . . . from the inside. She wanted to see her mummy again, and, well, I’m too nice to tell her, “No.”
...

I never got to see Zacherley’s show on TV, but he collaborated with Rob Zombie on the Halloween Hootenanny CD—which remains one of my all time favourites.

I think it would crazy fun to host a monster chiller movie show, full of campy costumes and spooky old films. I have an second-hand tuxedo from when I hosted the screenings when I was in film school, and a box full of monster masks and halloween stuff. If I ever decide to try my hand at video podcasting, maybe I’ll do that. A monsterific version of RocketBoom. Until then, in honour of the coolness that is Zacherley, here are 13 spooktacular films you can download for free from archive.org. If you want to get them on DVD, the pictures will take you to Amazon.

Enjoy the show… whatever you are.

1. 

   The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (1962)
   Starring: Jason Evers, Virginia Leith
   Director: Joseph Green
   After a car crash, a man keeps his wife’s head alive in his laboratory. As if this weren’t enough, an evil beast pounds and screams from a locked room adjacent to the lab.
   More Info

2. 

   Bride of the Gorilla (1951)
   Starring: Barbara Payton, Lon Chaney Jr.
   Director: Curt Siodmak
   The owner of a plantation in the jungle marries a beautiful woman. Shortly afterward, he is plagued by a strange voodoo curse which transforms him into a gorilla.
   More Info

3. 

   The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1921)
   Starring: Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt
   Director: Robert Wiene
   Dr. Caligari’s somnambulist, Cesare, and his deadly predictions.
   More Info

4. 

   Carnival of Souls (1962)
   Starring: Candace Hilligoss, Frances Feist
   Director: Herk Harvey
   After a traumatic accident, a woman becomes drawn to a mysterious abandoned carnival.
   More Info

5. 

   City of the Dead (1960)
   Starring: Patricia Jessel, Richard Barlow, Christopher Lee
   Director: John Llewellyn Moxey
   A young coed uses her winter vacation to research a paper on witchcraft in New England.
   More Info

6. 

   Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)
   Starring: Antony Carbone, Betsy Jones-Moreland
   Director: Roger Corman
   American crook Sparks Moran sees a chance to make a bundle when a Caribbean island has a revolution. He plans to help loyalists (and the national treasury) escape on his boat, then kill the men and blame their deaths on a mythical sea monster. Trouble ensues when the real monster shows up!
   More Info

7. 

   The Mad Monster (1942)
   Starring: Johnny Downs, George Zucco
   Director: Sam Newfield
   Dr. Cameron has succeeded in his expierments with a serum which will turn a man into a wolf-like monster and is ready to avenge himself on the men who caused his professional failure.
   More Info

8. 

   Night of the Living Dead (1968)
   Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea
   Director: George A. Romero
   A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.
   More Info

9. 

   Nightmare Castle (1966)
   Starring: Barbara Steele, Paul Muller
   Director: Mario Caiano
   A woman and her lover are tortured and killed by her sadistic husband. The pair return from the grave to seek vengeance.
   More Info

10. 

    Nosferatu (1922)
    Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim
    Director: F.W. Murnau
    Vampire Count Orlok expresses interest in a new residence and real estate agent Hutter’s wife.
    More Info

11. 

    Prehistoric Women (1950)
    Starring: Laurette Luez, Allan Nixon
    Director: Gregg C. Tallas
    See the invention of fire! See the world’s first swan dive! See the prehistoric beauties battle the giant caveman!
    More Info

12. 

    Rogue’s Tavern (1936)
    Starring: Wallace Ford, Barbara Pepper
    Director: Robert F. Hill
    The body count rises, the phone lines are dead, and the visitors discover that they are trapped inside the inn with no way to escape.
    More Info

13. 

    The Wasp Woman (1960)
    Starring: Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley
    Director: Roger Corman
    A cosmetics queen develops a youth formula from jelly taken from queen wasps. She fails to anticipate the typical hoary side- effects.
    More Info

Filmography links and data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database.