So every year the good folks over at Turner Classics put together an impressive Halloween marathon. With an ungodly spate of dreck hitting DVD every damn week, it’s nice to see programming that favors uncut, golden age studio horror. And such is certainly the case this year, as we now have a look at TMC’s October 31st lineup.
Kicking off the day of fright is the 1948 classic THE WOMAN IN WHITE (Air Time: 6:00AM). Written by Stephen Morehouse (from the Wilkie Collins novel), directed by Peter Godfrey, THE LADY IN WHITE picks up when: In the dark of night, Walter Hartright (Gig Young) disembarks from a train and proceeds on foot, along a country road, to Limmeridge House where he has been hired to teach drawing. Upon his approach, he is surprised by the sudden appearance of a strange and terrified woman who warns him away from his destination. Before he can question this apparition in white, she vanishes into the darkness. Later, at Limmeridge, he meets Laura (Eleanor Parker), a beautiful young woman who bares an uncanny resemblance to the woman who accosted him previously. The flick also stars Alexis Smith.
Next up is the 1945 horror anthology DEAD OF NIGHT (a title reused by Bob Clark in 1974 – Air Time: 8:00AM). Based on an H.G. Wells story, the flick finds Architect Walter Craig, seeking the possibility of some work at a country farmhouse, soon finds himself once again stuck in his recurring nightmare. Dreading the end of the dream that he knows is coming, he must first listen to all the assembled guests’ own bizarre tales. Directors include Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, and Robert Hammer.
In the three hole we find Robert Wise’s seminal 1963 spook-fest THE HAUNTING (Air Time: 10:00AM). Certainly as famous as any other on the roster, THE HAUNTING sees Dr. Markway, doing research to prove the existence of ghosts, investigate Hill House, a large, eerie mansion with a lurid history of violent death and insanity. With him are the skeptical young Luke, who stands to inherit the house, the mysterious and clairvoyant Theodora and the insecure Eleanor, whose psychic abilities make her feel somehow attuned to whatever spirits inhabit the old mansion. As time goes by it becomes obvious that they have gotten more than they bargained for as the ghostly presence in the house manifests itself in horrific and deadly ways. A great, groundbreaking film!
What’s a horror marathon without Vincent Price? Batting clean up is the 1971 schlock-party THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (Air Time: 12:00PM). Robert Fuest directs a story in which doctors are being murdered in a bizarre manner: bats, bees, killer frog masks, etc., which represent the nine Biblical plagues. The crimes are orchestrated by a demented organ player with the help of his mute assistant. The detective is stumped until he finds that all of the doctors being killed assisted a Dr. Vesalius on an unsuccessful operation involving the wife of Dr. Phibes, but he couldn’t be the culprit, could he? He was killed in a car crash upon learning of his wife’s death…
Had enough? Fu*k no, it’s a MARATHON!
Click Here to scope the second half of TCM’s kickass Halloween day lineup.
Also, Click Here to check out their October 30th 24 hour Boris Karloff celebration. It’s quite a doozy!