Friday Night Frights: Willard (1971)

Where your nightmares end...WILLARD begins.


Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is the 1971 film Willard, directed by Daniel Mann and starring Bruce Davison, Elsa Lanchester, Ernest Borgnine, and Sondra Locke. It was based on the novel "Ratman's Notebooks" by Gilbert Ralston (under the pen name of Stephen Gilbert), who also wrote the screenplay.

A sequel called Ben (after one of the rats in the original) was released in 1972, and a remake of Willard, starring Crispen Glover, was released in 2003.

A social misfit, Willard is made fun of by his co-workers, and squeezed out of the company started by his deceased father. His only friends are a couple of rats he raised at home, Ben and Socrates (and their increasing number of friends). However, when one of them is killed at work, Willard goes on a rampage using his rats to attack those who have been tormenting him.

This is the full movie, from a playlist. It hasn't been released on DVD.

Zombie: Dawn of the Dead (1978)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!


Last Halloween we featured Night of the Living Dead.
Tonight we feature Dawn of the Dead.

Director George A. Romero's epic sequel to his legendary Night of the Living Dead has firmly established itself as the equal of its ground-breaking predecessor. Though shot in 1978 -- ten years after the first films' release -- Dawn's story begins as if the events in Night had happened only a few months before: after shambling armies of the recently-dead take over every major city -- seeking warm human flesh for food -- the U.S. government imposes a state of martial law, sending in special National Guard units to attack and destroy zombie infestation where they find it.

This is the faster-paced European/Italian version edited by overseas distributor Dario Argento. It's the full movie, from a playlist.

Friday Night Frights: Burnt Offerings (1976)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is a chilling offering from the 70's I made reference to in a previous post about Karen Black.

Burnt Offerings (1976) was directed by Dan Curtis and stars Karen Black and Oliver Reed as summer caretakers moving into a gothic house with their young son. The catch? The house rejuvenates a part of itself with each death that occurs on its premises.

Check out the creepy chauffeur, and beware an ending that will give you nightmares.

Here's the full movie, in a playlist:

Friday Night Frights: Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is Colossus: The Forbin Project, directed by Joseph Sargent. The cast includes Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, and Gordon Pinsent.

An artificially intelligent supercomputer is developed and activated, only to reveal that it has a sinister agenda of its own.

Here's the full movie, in a playlist:

Friday Night Frights: Theater of Blood (1973)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is Theater of Blood, directed by Douglas Hickox and starring Vincent Price as Shakespearean actor Edward Lionheart, who takes poetic revenge on the critics who denied him recognition.

Here's the full movie, in a playlist:

Friday Night Frights: Suspiria (1977)

Welcome to tonight's episode of Friday Night Frights.

Tonight's feature is Suspiria, directed by Dario Argento.

A newcomer to a fancy ballet academy gradually comes to realize that the staff of the school are actually a coven of witches bent on chaos and destruction.