Dentata Errata

She thinks she belongs in a zoo
and legend of cat curse is true
So, fighting the fate
of biting her mate
fellatio she will eschew


Simone Simon and Kent Smith in Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942). The Countdown to Halloween just coughed up a hairball. Poster found at Wrong Side of the Art.

All of you horror fanatics should crawl over to Arbogast on Film for his annual October-long feature, 31 Screams.

Cat Scratch Fever Dream

The feline inside of her gnaws
In nightmares it scratches and claws
By terror she's gripped
To shreds her bed's ripped
The fear she's a cat is the cause



Simone Simon has a rough night in Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1944). "I detest the expression 'horror film,' " Tourneur told Positif. "I make films on the supernatural because I believe in it." There's more ahead in the Countdown to Halloween.

Bridal Cower

By honeymoon he wasn't thrilled
Their marriage she never fulfilled
When horniness stirred
inside something purred
and mood in the boudoir was killed


Simone Simon and Kent Smith in Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942). The Countdown to Halloween will scratch your eyes out. Image source: Wrong Side of the Art.

Cat Nappy

When meeting this Serbian kitten
the fellow is suddenly smitten
But after they wed
she won't go to bed
She's worried by her he'll be bitten


Kent Smith marries a troubled Simone Simon in Cat People (Jacques Tourneur, 1942). Today is 10/10/10, but the only numerology we're concerned with is the Countdown to Halloween.

Zombie Apocalypso

A story is told in the song
of troubadour strolling along
He sings in each verse
of family's curse
and how they done islanders wrong

Calypso singer Sir Lancelot in I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943). From Arbogast on Film: "Does he even have a name in this movie? He's credited as "Calypso Singer" but he's pretty much Sir Lancelot. I love that he plays it all Jim Crow but then he goes around the island with his guitar singing whatever-the-f*** he wants and telling Whitey like it is. It's like he can't help himself, which is what I love about the character." Image source: Arbogast on Film. Another post in our ongoing Countdown to Halloween.

Run, Don't Walk

At night, when most islanders nod
a nurse takes a late promenade
The voodoo drums talking,
the gal goes out walking,
and bumps into something quite odd

Darby Jones as the zombie Carrefour in I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943). The Countdown to Halloween keeps walking all month.

Living Dead Man Walking

I Walked With a Zombie sounds scary
Its story is sort of Jane Eyre-y
A spirited nurse
ignores island curse
Of voodoo you'd think she'd be wary



Frances Dee (above, right) and Christine Gordon in I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943). Handed the title by his boss, producer Val Lewton decided to create a west Indian Jane Eyre, but the connection is tenuous. Image source: dvdbeaver.com. We're only one week into our month-long Countdown to Halloween.

Have Pun, Will Travel

Brochures on the islands extol
vacations on tropic atoll
Though all mention beaches
not one of them teaches
that zombies at midnight will stroll

A nurse travels to a Caribbean island in I Walked With a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, 1943). Stay tuned for more zombies as we venture into Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur territory in the Countdown to Halloween.

If He Reads, It Bleeds

Our reader's a fellow named Lorre
Sit back and he'll tell you a story
A doctor goes mad
and does something bad
The ending is horribly gory

It's story time with Peter Lorre, seen here as Doctor Gogol in Mad Love (Karl Freund, 1935). We're just starting the month-long Countdown to Halloween.

Hyde and Seek

Through science the doctor had tried
to prove that we're beastly inside
Ingesting a serum
while testing his theorem
he found he had something to hide

A panel from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Wally Wood, from This is Suspense #23, 1955. Read the entire story at The Horrors of it All.

Rated X-Ray

They x-ray the poor monster's spine
It's Igor's they should realign
A kink in his neck
was giving him heck
since hanging around on the Rhine


Edgar Norton, Boris Karloff, Basil Rathbone and Bela Lugosi in Son of Frankenstein (Rowland V. Lee, 1939). The Countdown to Halloween continues.

Oedipus Hex

It stuck in Doc Frankenstein's craw:
His creature had cranial flaw
A criminal brain
would partly explain
But mostly, it's who was his paw

As Frankenstein (1931), Colin Clive tries to reason with Boris Karloff's monster. The mad doctor is in the Countdown to Halloween. Visit Countdown to Halloween headquarters to find links to all of the many, many participating blogs.

Rue Pall

Mad doctors in film are perverse
These psychos are sadists or worse
When medical peers
reject them with jeers
to vengeance they aren't averse

Image: Murders in the Rue Morgue (Robert Florey, 1932). Source: Only the Cinema. This kicks off the Countdown to Halloween, a month-long internet blogathon with dozens of participating blogs and sites.