31 Uncanny Bits of Terror for October - Day Twenty One: Hilarious Halloween Horrors - Part 5

The conclusion of the postings regarding films that mix humor with horror ends with a splattering of selections that are worth checking it out if you have the right amount of beer to make them enjoyable.

Boys of the City (1940)

The East Side Kids (later Bowery Boys) met ghosts, monsters, gangsters, killers and Bela Lugosi on numerous occasions.  They even met Glenn Strange (he played Frankenstein's monster in the Abbott and Costello romp) in the typically ridiculous Master Minds (1949).



Unfortunately the powers that be have not yet made it possible to easily see the bulk of The Bowery Boys' films.  Not a one has been released on DVD.  The earlier films (East Side Kids) are very easy to find.  You could probably spot a film of them in the check out aisle next to the candy, batteries, energy drinks and magazines at your local grocery store.

Even though Ghosts on the Loose (1943) and Spooks Run Wild (1941) are the more obvious choices for viewing on Halloween - mainly because Bela Lugosi appears in both - why not pull up a chair, sit down and feast your orbs upon the cheap, haunted hooey of Boys in the City (1940).  The film has a special spooky something.

Dig it here.


The Horror of It All (1964)

I find it odd that this is the second time this month I have mentioned Pat Boone in this blog.

This film was not the obscure gem I was hoping it was going to be.  Even with Terence Fisher (who knew his way around a graveyard or a sinister laboratory) at the helm this one does not quite cut it at as a horror film or a comedy.  Boone is supposed to be a Milquetoast sort of American who is meeting his bride-to-be's beyond eccentric (murderous, even) relatives in a old, dark house in England.  In that regard, he is well cast, but as I watched this film, I found myself wondering what Anthony Perkins would have done in the role.  I think he would have been able to throw the proceedings off-kilter - the way they should have been in the first place.

Imagine Perkins (who could carry a tune) singing this number:



The movie remains unavailable (officially) on DVD, but it plays often via the usual sources on your boob tube.  It is worth checking out.


The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966)

In all honesty, this film was a thousand times better when I was ten years old.  There are three reasons to see this film:  Boris Karloff, Nancy Sinatra and Basil Rathbone


Also, there is a guy in a gorilla suit.


Saturday the 14th (1981)



I love the late, great Severn Darden.



He had a flair for playing loony intellectuals, professors and mad scientists.   He brings that air of wackiness to this film!


Student Bodies (1981)



This film was the second to last word on slasher film parodies.  Hilarious, absurd and brilliant.

 Pandemonium (1982)



This film was the last word on slasher film parodies. Mostly hilarious, absurd and brilliant. 


Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)



Norman Fell steals this film in the five minutes or so he is on the screen.


Elvira, Mistress of the Dark (1988)



This film is based solely on Elvira's wisecracks and her breasts.  If you are a fan of any of these three elements you will dig this film.

Have a Hilarious Halloween!