Lots of interesting stuff to talk about today; The Dark Knight, my little sister’s upcoming wedding, a new addition to the Where the Long Tail Ends family and maybe even a review of Petey Wheatstraw: The Devil’s Son-In-Law. Now normally I would have a totally self indulgent opening to bump up the word count before I go into my review, but today I feel like changing things up a bit in honor of the unconventional Petey Wheatstraw. For a brief moment in time I even considered rhyming the review, but I’m quite certain that would have driven me, and possibly you, insane.

But like I said earlier, I have other matters to discuss before I tackle Petey Wheatstraw. First up is the incredibly thick cloud of hyperbole surrounding The Dark Knight. Now I liked the film, quite a bit actually, but for people to make this out like the second coming of The Godfather is more then enough to choke a donkey. Yes Heath Ledger is outstanding in possibly one of the first great performances of the year, but could we hold up on the Oscar talk until, I don’t know, the year is over with? (more…)

Living in the Tampa Bay area as a kid, I had three possibilities to watch horror movies on Saturday afternoons: Shock Theater, Creature Feature, and Commander USA’s Groovie Movies. Shock Theater was on the ABC affiliate and started with some psychedelic graphics accompanied by an ominous voice over. It was pretty simple and to the point, and a great introductory show for little kids like me who wanted desperately to watch horror movies without losing sleep later. While it wasn’t the most exciting way to spend the afternoon, I credit Shock Theater for educating me with what seemed like the entire Universal Pictures library.

After a couple of years watching Shock Theater, I finally managed to change the channel to start watching Creature Feature. This local show was hosted by Dr Paul Bearer – as played by the affable Dick Bennick – a crazy-eyed pall bearer who drove a hearse and had a creepy laugh. Before and after commercial breaks, Dr Paul Bearer would have short skits and discuss the movie – sometimes mocking, sometimes pointing out the good stuff. The movies shown were usually Hammer and Godzilla movies. While these movies weren’t exactly the most frightening movies ever seen, they were in color and appeared far more contemporary than the movies I was used to over at Shock Theater. Even better, unlike Shock Theater, Creature Feature usually showed two movies instead of one. And while that was great and all, eventually I didn’t find Dr Paul Bearer’s movies to be scary enough.

And this is how I discovered Commander USA’s Groovie Movies on USA.

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