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.

R.I. P. Tony Curtis

In Spartacus togs or a dress
he smelled the sweet smell of success
His accent was "foddah"
for critics but what a
career Tony had nonetheless

R.I.P. Arthur Penn

A Miracle Worker has died
his Left-Handed Gun from him pried
Among little men
walked big Arthur Penn
the guy who shot Bonnie and Clyde

Read Penn's obit here.

R.I.P. Abbey Lincoln

Some jazz singers scat willy-nilly
while busily gilding the lily
But Abbey would swing
like breezes in Spring
and flow free and easy like Billie

Chicago born jazz singer, actor and activist Abbey Lincoln died on August 14th. Billie Holiday was her greatest influence. Learn about the great Ms. Lincoln here and here.