Who Needs Another Tie When There’s Ray Harryhausen?
I love my family. I just have to get that out the way right now. If I were to say that I’ve never gotten anything I wanted for birthdays or Christmas it would be a lie. However when it comes to Father’s Day I’m not quite sure they’ve ever listened, and of course that may indeed be my fault. This year is an exception, and I just thought I’d spend a few minutes this lovely Monday morning indulging myself by telling you fair Halloween and Horror Readers just how wonderfully this past past Father’s Day weekend turned out for me. I scored big time, and yes, I am bragging.
Back in my lost and high school days I was a big Blue Öyster Cult fan. You’ve probably heard “Don’t Fear the Reaper” unless you happen to be a reformed Amish who has just gotten on the internet for the first time and stepped into the greater American culture that has surrounded your horse and buggy for the last 200 plus years. This is especially true if you happen to be Halloween and Horror fan, which I’m assuming you are since the images present on this website haven’t scared you into praying for salvation for both your soul and mine. Anyway, awhile back my daughter Ashley, who just happens to be into the old stuff, got an email from the State Theater in Uniontown, PA about their upcoming events. Now just how she got on the list is beyond me and her, but she got the email just the same. The events included a Blue Öyster Cult concert, and after I got over the shoch of realizing all the original members aren’t dead I bought us tickets and waited for the big day to come.
For a bunch of old guys - well, two old guys at least - they did a pretty good job of rocking the State. There were a couple of snafus in the beginning, but it was really pretty good, and brought back alot of memories. I enjoyed the one-on-one time with my oldest kid too, and I’m wearing the BOC t-shirt right now to prove it.
And so the next morning - Dad’s Day official - the wife makes me a wonderful breakfast and some presents are bestowed. I received a great array of DVD’s to make any Halloween and Horror fan green with envy. First off is the Ray Harryhausen collection “The Fantastic Films of Ray Harryhausen - Legendary Science Fiction Series (It Came from Beneath the Sea / Earth vs. the Flying Saucers / 20 Million Miles to Earth / Mysterious Island / H.G. Wells’ First Men in the Moon) (1956)”
In case you’re not familiar with these classics here’s the blurb from Amazon.
Five classic movies from Ray Harryhausen in a stunning collector’s box.
First Men in the Moon: The film begins with a team of United Nations astronauts planning an upcoming moon mission. The astronauts are both confused and intrigued by a man (Edward Judd) who claims he, his fiancée and a scientist journeyed to the moon 65 years ago and were attacked by “Selenites,” grotesque, human-like ant forms that live in immense crystal caverns. Now it’s up to the U.N. team to attempt a lunar landing that could be more horrifying than ever believed possible. Directed by Nathan Juran (”Attack of the 50-Foot Woman”), “First Men in the Moon” also stars Martha Hyer and Lionel Jeffries.
20 Million Miles to Earth: Dazzling special effects by Ray Harryhausen highlight this thrilling sci-fi extravaganza about a Venusian monster who wreaks havoc in Italy. On its way home from Venus, a U.S. Army rocket ship crashes into the sea of Sicily leaving Colonel Calder (William Hopper of “Rebel Without a Cause”) the sole survivor…or so it seems. A sealed container is also recovered from the wreck and, when a zoologist (”The Mark of Zorro”’s Frank Puglia) and his granddaughter (Joan Taylor) open it, the gelatinous mass inside escapes. Overnight, it grows into a horrific monster that has doubled in size. In desperation, Calder calls in the Army to help fight the monster, which has taken refuge atop the Coliseum in Rome. But it will take more than man’s weapons to fight the evil forces of the unknown and save the world from destruction.
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers: Relive the exciting days of sci-fi movie matinees with the cult classic “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.” Featuring extraordinary visual effects by cinematic genius Ray Harryhausen, the film pits earthlings against alien humanoids in a violent battle for Earth’s survival! When the zombielike aliens arrive at the U.S. Army base in search of help for their dying planet, they try to make friendly contact with scientist Dr. Russ Marvin (Hugh Marlowe) and his recent bride Carol (Joan Taylor). But the military greets their fleet of saucers with gunfire, and the aliens are forced to retaliate. Can Marvin invent the ultimate weapon in a deadly game of beat-the-clock to save the human race? Hold on to your seat for an intergalactic flight into fantasy with ” Earth vs. the Flying Saucers.”
Mysterious Island: Based on Jules Vern’s classic novel, “Mysterious Island” is the story of five men escaping from a Confederate prison in an observation balloon. When they land the balloon, they find themselves on a South Seas island where they encounter pirates, a giant bird, a giant crab and even Captain Nemo.
It Came from Beneath the Sea: The action is wet and wild in this sci-fi thriller that pits man - and woman - against a giant octopus. Submarine commander Pete Mathews (Kenneth Tobey) and scientists Lesley Joyce (Faith Domergue) and John Carter (Donald Curtis) battle an angry sea monster driven from the depths of the ocean by an H-bomb explosion. In search of non-contaminated food, this tentacled tyrant counts among its victims a fishing trawler and its passengers, a family sunning at the beach, several San Francisco skyscrapers and even the Golden Gate Bridge! A daring attempt by the scientists to destroy the monster while saving themselves is a gripping finale to this aquatic adventure. The riveting special effects were created by Ray Harryhausen.
I celebrated with a viewing of “Earth vs. the Flying Saucers”
And yes there was more! Now I’ve been wanted to collect the Legacy Collections of the classic Universal Horror monster for awhile now. I have the Dracula edition, and really loved all the extra little goodies - especially the Spanish version which was filmed at night on the same sets at the American version with a totally different cast. Very cool. Well for Dad’s Day I got:
Feature titles include: The Bride of Frankenstein, Frankenstein, The Ghost of Frankenstein, House of Frankenstein, Son of Frankenstein
Feature titles include: Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, She-Wolf of London, Werewolf of London, The Wolf Man
Featured titles include: The Invisible Man/Invisible Man Returns/Invisible Agent/Invisible Woman/Invisible Man’s Revenge
Wow, what a cool buch of videos for my collection. Now of course you can buy those from Amazon at the links above, but my wife found most of them at our local FYE on the bargain rack for an embarassingly low $9.95 each. I also got a cool collection of Alfred Hitchcock movies and some low budget horror I have yet to explore.
To finish it all off my son got himself out of bed for a matinee of the new Fantastic Four movie. I’ll try to give a review for this one soon, but suffice it to say that I liked it. It was much better than the first one. All in all a good Father’s Day for me, and event though I got some cool stuff I wanted it was even better to spend some one-on-one time with my kids. So here’s the Barrow-Wight hoping your Father’s Day was a good one too.
June 18th, 2007 at 10:24 am
Sounds like you got a great family. Almost makes me wish I had kids of my own, just so I could score some classic Harryhausen and Hammer films myself.