October 11

Tales From the Crypt 1972, & Vault of Horror, 1973 Double Feature

Welcome back to week two of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers’ 2019 Horror Movie Extravangza! Dion and Blake are back and trying to fill a tall order, doing an old double feature this Saturday Night. They’re heading back to the well, tackling the films that bred life back into the historic EC Comics property–the Amicus classics Tales From the Crypt from 1972 and Vault of Horror from 1973!

Blake and Dion jump right in, laying out the lengthy and fascinating history of EC Comics, and how a British Company named Amicus reinvigorated a forgotten franchise that’s still going strong, almost 70 years on. They also utilize both novelizations to help breakdown these incredible double-features. So gather round your streaming devices as the fellas act as pseudo “horror hosts”, to take you through this week’s spooky and ghostly installment of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

Extras!

Here are the boys last year visiting New York City’s Society of Illustrators exhibit of the art of EC Comics, MAD Magazine and William Gaines!

Check out William Gaines testifying in front of Congress in 1954 during the Dr. Fredric Wertham hearings.

Have a look at the lobby card from the Vault of Horror and its lost shot from the 1973 film.

July 1

Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, 1984

It’s that time once again… Welcome back to another, exciting edition of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers! This week Dion Baia and J. Blake are covering a true epic, a film that was meant to return a property back to its original source material, and also reinvigorate a franchise that had been around (at the time) close to seventy-plus years. This go around the boys are taking on Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, from 1984.

Greystoke- The Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes

Blake and Dion have a lot on their plates to get through: first laying out the backstory that legendary writer Edgar Rice Burroughs set up in his original 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes when creating the title character, and the bigger role Burroughs played as one of the original pillars in the Pulp Tradition. They give an overview of that groundbreaking genre, and explain the vast influence it still has on the entertainment we seek out today. They also discuss sci-fi writer Harlan Ellison‘s scathing review of this film Greystoke, and use that critical essay as a template in comparing this 1984 version to Burroughs’ original work, and if it is indeed appropriate to label this work “the definitive version“- is it a fair criticism? The lads also go into depth about Rick Baker‘s groundbreaking contribution to this project, and how his help specifically was the key in getting this production off the ground. But what was the reasons for having the screenwriter, Robert Towne who penned this script, sacked as director of this adaptation? What other problems did a production like this run into while trying to get this project off the ground? What exactly is the Wold Newton Family, and how is it connected here? And is Dion really a Lord ? Well come on and have a listen as the fellas match an epic movie with an epic cast as they attempt to answer all the questions in this all new episode of Saturday Night Movie Sleepovers!

EXTRAS:

Read Edgar Rice Burroughs1912 book, Tarzan of the Apes, absolutely free!

As talked about in the podcast, here is a link to some of the Rick Baker props that went up for auction that were specifically from Greystoke.

Check out the original trailer for the film!

Have a listen to composer John Scott‘s overture!

For further writing on sci-fi writer Philip José Farmer‘s Wold Newton Universe, click here.

Also created by writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, here is concept animation from an never-produced 1936 animated John Carter of Mars series, which was helmed by legendary animator Bob Clampett.