When I was growing up, I was never really big on horror movies for the most part, but I remember I had to see Burnt Offerings, so my sister and I dragged our dad to the drive-in to see this rare horror gem. The Rolf family, Oliver Reed, Karen Black and Lee Montgomery along with Aunt Elizabeth (Bette Davis) take up residence in a mansion over the entire summer at a bargain price of just $900. It pretty much included everything: food and horror.

While blood and gore weren’t the rage in the latter half of the ‘70’s, psychological terror was the in thing and many movies of the time reflect it. These horror films were designed to make you think and hold your attention. Rarely were they the 85 minutes as you see in today’s markets. This comes in just under two hours and holds your attention.

While vacationing at the Allardyce home, Marian (Black) takes care of the never seen “Mrs. Allardyce” and won’t allow anyone into the special room she watches over. It’s her job to see she receives three meals a day while taking care of her family and the house. There are a few odd jobs which need to be handled around the estate and everyone kind of helps out but it’s Marian who becomes obsessed with details around the place.

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During the ‘80’s when horror movies were at their height (thanks to video) all of the victims were virginal women fleeing from the masked, crazed killer. In a twist, 1989’s Clownhouse shifted the story to three young boys as the victims.

It begins with a nightmare young Casey Collins (Nathan Forrest Winters) is having. In the dream, he climbs out of bed and a flier of the Jolly Brother’s Circus is swept up to his bedroom window and sticks there for a moment. The flier has a picture of a clown on it which lets us know he’s afraid of clowns.

The following morning we meet his other siblings: eldest Randy (Sam Rockwell) and middle brother Geoffrey (Brian McHugh). Their mother is going to be away for the night and gives them permission to go to the circus. She asks Casey if he wants to go with her, but he declines the offer of visiting an old aunt.

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It’s the night before Halloween in WeHo (West Hollywood) and Jorge and Mikey are alone in a cruising park when they decide to have a little “fun” in the car. Just as things are heating up, Mikey finds a more comfortable position by hanging a quarter of his body outside the passenger side window only to meet up with a sickle to the head.

Thus begins HellBent, a slasher/horror film aimed at a gay audience. The movie didn’t do too well at the box office and rumor has it this was supposed to be a sequel to the Halloween franchise. (Late producer Joseph Wolf was an executive producer and had executive produced Halloween II and Halloween III: Season of the Witch.)

HellBent takes all of the elements of previous thrillers and loads them into this 85-minute scare fest.

Everyone in WeHo is getting ready for the annual carnival and friends/roommates Eddie (Dylan Fergus); Joey (Hank Harris); Chaz (Andrew Levitas) and Tobey (Matt Phillips) are all in the Halloween spirit. Eddie, an assistant at the police department, learns of the murders from his sister who is a cop.

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In the ‘70’s, made for television movies were all the rage. Each appeared to be “controversial” on certain subjects and when it came to a horror movie they pretty much delivered for the era. However, it was 1975’s Trilogy of Terror, which set the bar on future horror films made for TV. Even today this little masterpiece is still a good shocker.

Karen Black stars in three short movies as different characters in each one. The first short, “Julie” has Black as an English professor at a college who’s seduced by one of her students. After the seduction ends, the student starts to blackmail her. That’s about all I can say about the first film without revealing the entire plot.

The second story, “Millicent and Therese” is sort of a let down and very predictable, but it is the third story “Amelia” which will definitely have you glued to your seat.

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Since I thought Camp Classics Vol. 3 was such a hoot, I couldn’t wait to get Cult Classics Vol. 2 - Women in Peril. Talk about disappointing.

In this Warner Brothers pack we’re treated to The Big Cube, Trog, and the women’s prison drama Caged. Believe it or not, the latter was nominated for three Academy Awards in 1951. This would hardly make it a camp classic, but according to most people, it’s the queen bee of all women in prison films.

Eleanor Parker stars as Mary, a nineteen-year-old is sent to Women’s State Prison for armed robbery. The young Mary Allen is a widow (since her husband was killed during the robbery) and while in prison only a mere few hours, she discovers she’s also with child. Mary’s determined to make it out of the pen by the time the baby’s due, but her parole is turned down.

Once inside, she meets the kindly warden, Ruth Benton (Agnes Moorehead), and hopes to help the JD make it on the inside amidst the common criminals roaming through the cage. Young Mary also has to deal with tough as nails matron Evelyn Harper (Oscar nominee Hope Emerson). The best scene is when the 6’2” matron gets gussied up for a date and she looks like a big guy in drag.

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There’s one neighborhood in Oakland County about to get terrorized by Tom Nardone. It’s nothing to be afraid of…or should the neighbors be afraid? They should be very afraid.

Nardone is the author of the book, Extreme Pumpkins: Diabolical Do-It-Yourself Designs to Amuse Your Friends and Scare Your Neighbors, now available at your favorite bookstore by Penguin books.

Thirteen years ago, Nardone started his pumpkin carving after buying his first house and as a single guy he liked to scare the kids that came through the neighborhood on Halloween. “I had bought all this candy and figured the more kids I frightened away the more candy I would get to eat in the end.”

When he started to carve the pumpkins he sat down and thought about what could be really scary. He didn’t like the idea of the “cartoony ghosts” since they weren’t really scary, but wanted something which actually frightened people. One of the pumpkins he carved was of the movie character “Carrie”, complete with pulsating blood and tiara, which brought her public humiliation.

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I wouldn’t say recent Emmy winner (for Outstanding Reality Series) Kathy Griffin has ever really been on the D-list. I’d say she always hovered somewhere in the B range.

For those of us who don’t have cable television (yes I admit it) or a satellite dish (again I admit it) and want to know what all of the fuss is about, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List Season One is now available on DVD.

What’s disappointing about this two disc set is there are only six episodes of the reality show. It’s probably one of the best shows around and it would have been nice if Bravo! Television had done more with the show.

I’m also confessing that I’m not a fan of reality television, but I do like the behind-the-scenes type of shows. This series does a great job at showing Griffin working for a living. One minute she’s at her (what I wouldn’t do for her house!) home then it’s off to New York, Las Vegas or Chicago for a show. It’s a repeated process but you get the idea of what life’s like in her shoes (and you can almost feel her exhaustion).

There are three main events which we get to witness: her yearly Toys for Tots fundraiser; the red carpet arrivals at The Grammys and the tension just before The Oscars when she can’t find her credentials.

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When one of my friends saw the article in the paper about campy movies she immediately cut it out and gave me the article. Am I glad she did.

The first set I watched was Cult Camp Classics Vol. 3 - Terrorized Travelers, which includes Zero Hour! the basis for Airplane! Along with this high flying drama are Skyjacked and my new favorite Hot Rods to Hell (aka 52 Miles to Terror). The latter is so bad that when my mom watched it she nearly peed her pants.

Beginning with Skyjacked, the friendly skies aren’t so friendly when a hijacker takes over a Boeing 707 piloted by disaster favorite, Charlton Heston. Remember Heston took control of another famous doomed flight in Airport ‘75 (taking over from Karen Black at the controls) and made a safe landing in Salt Lake.

This time he’s forced to fly to Russia with a limited manifest as most of the passengers were released earlier in the film. Those taking a detour to Russia include head stew Yvette Mimieux; pregnant Mariette Hartley; Vietnam vet James Brolin; The Shaws (Jeanne Crain and Ross Elliot); Roosevelt Grier; Susan Dey and Sen. Arne Lindner and son (Walter Pidgeon and Nicholas Hammond). While Heston has to contend with the hijacker, Mimieux and passengers have to deal with the early arrival of Hartley’s baby.

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So Halloween is closing in on us soon, which means everyone will be looking for a good scary movie to watch. If you happen to see Satan’s Playground on the video shelf of your favorite rental store, it’s best to keep on browsing.

Here’s the plot in a nutshell. A family is on their way for a vacation. Their car breaks down and one by one they head towards a house to use the phone. No one comes back to the car. So, if you were in their shoes, don’t you think you’d stay where you were?

Based on the legend of The Jersey Devil, which is said to haunt the New Jersey Pinelands region, writer/director Dante Tomaselli’s film stars Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp); Ellen Sandweiss (Evil Dead) and Edwin Neal (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) but the real stars of the movie with by far the best performances are Danny Lopes who plays Rose’s 18 year old autistic child and Christie Sanford as Judy.

While they don’t have many lines, Lopes’ performance physically is excellent, but based on the screenplay he too is in trouble when he leaves the paneled station wagon. Sanford as the deaf and dumb Judy Leeds adds a creepy effect to the already creepy Leeds house.

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Quite by accident I came across the recent release of Armistead Maupin’s Michael Tolliver Lives, which is “not” a continuation of Maupin’s successful Tales of the City series.

Regardless of what the author says this is indeed an installment of the series. While I was disappointed after the original book, this latest entry has made up for a lot of what the series lacked.

Michael Tolliver Lives picks up in the now and along the way we’re either reintroduced to previous characters or they’re briefly mentioned. But what disappoints me the most about the book (along with a lot of product placement) is Michael Tolliver has a lover.

Sure everyone deserves a love interest, but Michael should have remained single in his life. When we were introduced to him in Tales of the City, he was a hopeless romantic who eventually met Jon, fell in love and then was dumped by him. They would eventually reunite in More Tales of the City, but I liked Michael’s independent lifestyle. His loneliness could be felt by both men and women.

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