// Category Archive for: Retrovirus

Theatre Of Blood: The Stage Is Set . . . For Murder!

By Aila Slisco

There is a space between comedy and horror which some people call black humor. If a movie can inhabit that space, it will likely be a favorite of mine. While this has certainly been used in movies up to the present day, the golden age of this kind of horror comedy film arguably happened in the UK several decades ago. Theatre of Blood is not only a great example of the horror comedy, but my favorite film of the subgenre.
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Fate And Fault In A Ford Pinto: The Everyday Horror Of Cujo

By AJ Wood

On a recent warm summer night I was re-reading my favorite Stephen King novel, Cujo, by the open window. Just as King was describing how the foamy-mouthed mangy dog was munching into a man’s throat with quite serious OM NOM NOM gusto, my cat decided to come to the window and play a little joke on me.

“Meow?” he said in his meanest, growlingest voice (at least as I heard it).

“AHHHHHHH!” I replied, my body jolting, nearly tossing my e-book across the room.

Two important things I learned that evening: 1) the same stuff I use to clean up the cat’s pee works well at cleaning up my own accidents and 2) exactly what it is about Cujo that really scares the bejeezus out of me.
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The Haunter Of The Dark: Horror In Radio

By Paul Casey

“It. Is. Later. Than. You. Think. Lights Out brings you stories of the supernatural and the supernormal, dramatizing the fantasies and the mysteries of the unknown. We tell you this frankly. So if you wish to avoid the excitement and tension of these imaginative plays, we urge you, calmly, but sincerely to turn off your radio, now. And now, Lights Out, everybody.”

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Hungry For Love, Part Three: More Music Videos So Bad They’re Good

By Jim R. Clark

This is Part Three in our series on bizarre videos you may have forgotten about or never seen. Don’t forget to check out Parts One and Two.

Yes friends, it’s time for another installment of horribly bad music videos that I have combed the web to find for you. Suffering in obscurity no more, these videos will leave you humming some new tunes. In addition to the usual weird New Wave videos I include in these lists, this edition features a Beatles tribute band from India and a special Goth section at the end! Please enjoy!
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The Comfort Of Familiarity: Five Classic Canadian Public Television Idents

By Emily Carney

Many television-philes like myself are obsessed with classic station identifications, or idents, from our childhood years. Whenever I hear the old PBS ident music from the 1980s, immediately I hearken back to the days when I used to watch Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood before taking my Dukes of Hazzard Big Wheel out for a leisurely spin.

In the last few years, I’ve familiarized myself with some Canadian TV idents which are as cool, diverse, and strangely comforting as their American counterpart’s idents. Here’s a small list of the very best Canadian idents from the past few decades.
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A Day On The Tube: 35 Clown-Hating, Sponsor-Trashing, Kid-Riot Years With Wallace And Ladmo

By Cait Brennan

From left to right:
Wallace, Gerald (the “spoiled rich kid”), and Ladmo

In the spring of 2011, PBS’s acclaimed series Pioneers Of Television presented a special on the lost world of locally-produced kids’ TV shows. The names and faces were familiar, giants like Fred Rogers, Willard Scott as Bozo, Romper Room, Bill Cosby, Jim Henson. And among them—taking up almost half of the hour-long show—were names unfamiliar to most of the nationwide audience, but known and beloved in the Southwest for generations: The stars of the subversive, satirical sketch-and-cartoon show Wallace and Ladmo. On the air five days a week for a staggering 35 years, the show broke every rule in the kids’ TV book, and earned a legion of fanatical fans.
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How You Can’t Do That On Television Changed Kids’ Television

By Emily Carney

Like many kids, I was obsessed with Monty Python’s Flying Circus growing up. Python was featured on America’s Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), usually sandwiched between Doctor Who (with Tom Baker!) and a terrible British sitcom called ‘Allo ‘Allo. It had a great classically-rooted theme song, and was completely hilarious.

It should be explicitly stated, however, that Python was not, in any way, shape, or form, a kids’ TV show. It presented a lot of adult situations (“I LIKE TITS!” is actually a quote by Terry Jones, the Welsh member of the troupe). I would NEVER let my nephew and niece watch Python, as I don’t want to be collared for child abuse. So, when my parents were actually watching me, I’d switch the channel to Nickelodeon (a relatively new cable offering at the time) and watch the Canadian TV show, You Can’t Do That On Television. YCDTOT at its best was the preteen version of Python, and possessed its own brand of surreal, controversial humor. It also had a great attention-getting classical theme song.
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The Crystal Maze And The Magic Of Richard O’Brien

By Paul Casey

The Crystal Maze was a game show which aired on British television in the 1990s; for four of its six series it was presented by Richard O’Brien, who as you may know, wrote that grand love letter to Sci-Fi and B-movies, The Rocky Horror Show, as well as its film adaptation.

As host Reckless Rick, O’Brien guided a group of frustrated working stiffs through themed “zones”; the goal was to capture the titular crystals in order to win a trip to a B&B 30 minutes up the road (or something equally miserable). Each zone came with its share of mental, physical, skill, and mystery challenges. Reckless Rick ain’t here, I’m afraid, so I’m your guide. And if you’re smart, or very, very lucky, you will discover wonderful televisual prizes. GOGOGO!

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From True To False And Back Again: Go Ask Alice

By Less Lee Moore

“This motion picture is based on the authentic diary of a 15-year-old American girl. The only alterations have been those necessitated by considerations of length and acceptability for family viewing.”
—Opening credits of Go Ask Alice

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Just For Fun: Memories Of SCTV

By Emily Carney

Growing up in the early 1980s, television comedy was all about Saturday Night Live on NBC. Television sketch comedy was still in its infancy. SNL underwent sort of a strange period between 1981 and 1982 with the addition of entertainers like Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, who elevated the show from being utterly boring and routine after the departure of the “Original Prime Time Players.” However, another television comedy show entered the canon in 1981, imported from Canada. Second City Television (or more commonly known as SCTV) became the “cult” antithesis of SNL, featuring mainly Canadian performers. In many ways, SCTV was “smarter” and more hilarious than its American counterpart, and here’s why.
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