The Son Also Rises Late

They meet, he in black, she in white
They greet with a smack in the night
Though her neck would be grand
Just a peck on her hand
Discretely they'll shack up, then bite.

Lon Chaney Jr. and Louise Allbritton in Son of Dracula (Robert Siodmak; 1943). Stay tuned for Drive-In December!

Interred Sandman

When you sleep in the grave, do you dream?
Counting sheep would be brave, it would seem
When you find you're interred
Does your mind become blurred?
Buried deep, do you rave, rant and scream? 

David Cairns

Ray Milland stars in The Premature Burial (Roger Corman; 1962), which was based on the story by Edgar Allen Poe. 

Turkey Shoot

It's slipshod and rotten, not keen
Both scripting and plot are pre-teen
But by golly gee!
It's sci-fi 3-D!
Folks flipped when stuff shot from the screen!

George Nader stars in the "Golden Turkey" winner, Robot Monster (Phil Tucker; 1953). Happy Thanksgiving from the not-ready-for-rhymetime team at LimerWrecks. We hope you all get stuffed.

Counting Scarecrows

Two movies were made out of this,
And both are too juicy to miss.
One's Disneyfied glamour
One's horror from Hammer
So which do you choose: Syn or Bliss?

Donald B. Benson



Patrick McGoohan and Peter Cushing play the same character in two films. Hammer's Night Creatures (aka Captain Clegg) and Disney's Doctor Syn, Alias the Scarecrow were both released in 1962, and both derived from Russell Thorndyke's tales of a smuggling vicar. Of course lawyers got involved, so Hammer renamed Dr. Syn as Dr. Bliss. Disney turned the vicar into a masked hero, while Hammer offered a much darker tale. Both are worth seeing.  --Donald Benson

Lon's on First

The studio figured before
They closed up the old monster store
They'd clear out the stock
For comics to mock
And make a last box office score.

Some say that the movie is great
Because all the scaries played straight.
But comedy due
to clowns Bud and Lou
Determined the franchise's fate.

Donald B. Benson


It was hard to take the monsters seriously after Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948); with Glenn Strange, Lon Chaney Jr., and Bela Lugosi.

Graveyard Shiftless

In sequels from Meets through each House
He weakens from creature to mouse
Lying flat on a slab
He grows fat, puts on flab
Stops seeking a sweet monster spouse. 

David Cairns with Surly Hack

In House of Frankenstein (Erle C.Kenton; 1944), Glenn Strange's lumbering dolt is a far cry from the complex character created by Karloff.

Little Lady in the Lake

How crippled the line of his thinking...
One dip and the tiny girl's sinking
Where'd he get the idea
When he met young Maria--
Was Ripple the wine was he drinking?

Boris Karloff and Marilyn Harris in Frankenstein (James Whale; 1931). James Finn Garner slam dunked the title.

New Life With Father

In error a "son" he has wrought
A terror begun without thought
From frightening parts
With lightning it starts
From this heir he would run but he's caught.

Colin Clive and Boris Karloff in the daddy of them all, Frankenstein (James Whale; 1931).

Rehab of the Vampire

At housing of Drac you're restored
No longer despised and abhorred.
Whatever your curse,
You'll see it reverse.
For monsters, it's like Betty Ford.

Although of the cases we've had,
Our doctor himself is quite sad.
A minor amount
Of blood from the Count
Turned him mad, I tell you! He's MAD!

Donald B. Benson

Jane Adams and John Carradine give Onslow Stevens a confusing transfusion in House of Dracula (Erle C. Kenton; 1945).

A Child Shall Bleed Them

Drac's offspring is dressed all in black
And in coffins she rests on her back
Which means Vlad did the deed
Undead cad spread his seed
But who'd boff that old pest in the sack? 

Gloria Holden is Dracula's Daughter (Lambert Hillyer; 1936).

Night of the Eagle has Landed

Don't sneer at Jamaican occult
With seers who wield snakes don't consult
Their horrible potions
Are more than mere notions
Steer clear or your wake's the result.

Janet Blair is caught with her magic totems by Peter Wyngarde in Night of the Eagle aka Burn, Witch, Burn (Sidney Hayers; 1962), based on Fritz Lieber's novel Conjure Wife, which was previously filmed as Weird Woman (Reginald Le Borg; 1944).

Second Terminal

A meathead and bellicose boor
Each tweet some new smelly manure
The unspeakable worm
Now seeks one more term
Defeat him, or hell we'll endure. 

I forgot to post this one during the campaign, but when I heard talk of another run in four years I had to update it and post it here. Will this nightmare ever end?

Bashing the Bishop

 

Re-brained was the Monster, egad!

When chained, his response was: get mad
Broke free and then fled
But seeing deep red

Profaned, "Sacred monuments...BAD!

Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein (James Whale; 1935). Thanks to David Cairns for the smashing title.

Wrist Cure

A maniac's dining on gland
Why chain the guy minus one hand?
He gets fresh and frenetic
With flesh that's synthetic
Which explains how the swine can expand.

 David Cairns

Preston Foster in Doctor X (Michael Curtiz, 1932), a twisted pre-code horror gem, eerily hued in two-strip Technicolor.

Blond Bombshells

His will to the children eroding
This villager filled with foreboding
Outside, he's unblinking
To hide what he's thinking: 
To kill and be killed by exploding.

George Sanders contemplates the endgame in Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla; 1960). Title by Joseph Bryl.

Learn, Witch, Learn!

He's fatigued teaching college, poor souse
But in league with dark knowledge, his spouse
She's cast spells, summoned forces
Raising hell with his courses
Now the eagle will call at his house.

David Cairns

Peter Wyngarde in Night of the Eagle aka Burn, Witch, Burn (Sidney Hayers; 1962), a film which is compared to those by producer Val Lewton.

Damned If You Do...

 

Math problems mere playthings at school
For this mob bent on alien rule

You've bred them, each one

They're led by your "son"

Your job is to slay them you ghoul! 

George Sanders must destroy the alien offspring in Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla; 1960).

Moppets From Space

The cuckoos of Midwich will hatch
From the book come these kids who all match
While their hamlet was sleeping
Some damned thing came bleeping
Now these spooky sprogs come in one batch.

David Cairns

Martin Stephen leads a band of creepy kids of questionable origin, born prematurely in the English town of Midwich, aka Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla; 1960). The film is adapted from the novel The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham.

Non-Native Son

He's a wonder, your very bright boy
But a bundle of terror or joy?
Yes, you smiled at his birth
But your child's not of Earth
Knuckle under or...dare to destroy!

George Sanders is worried about his "son" in Village of the Damned (Wolf Rilla; 1960).

Demon Rune Yen

He's a wizard known all over town
Who, in risible false nose, turns clown
When he trades his balloons --
I'm afraid -- for some runes
He's invisibly mauled up and down.

David Cairns



Satanic sorcerer Dr. Julian Karswell (Niall MacGinnis) in Night of the Demon (aka Curse of the Demon; Jacques Tourneur; 1957). Many compare this supernatural thriller from Tourneur to his films with producer Val Lewton. Unfortunately the producer of Demon insisted on inserting shots of the title monster, the first of which undermines the story's battle between skepticism and belief.

Halloween is over, but not the horror film fun at LimerWrecks.

Conway to Hell

Dr. Louis Judd's cat-girl attack
Left him chewed-up and spat out, a snack
He was visibly slain
But he's risen again
A gloomy if natty old quack.

David Cairns


Tom Conway plays creepy psychiatrist Louis Judd in Cat People, and the character returns from the dead for The Seventh Victim (pictured).

Over and Donne

The die cast, the hour late, I'm no fun
And it's fast to my fate I will run
A peculiar goth gal
I'm so ghoulishly pale
While I last I won't wait in the sun.



Jacqueline Gibson (Jean Brooks) waits out her days in The Seventh Victim (Mark Robson; 1943). The film opens with the quote from John Donne, no doubt the touch of producer Val Lewton.