Movie MonDAVEs: Halloween Edition 2022 (Part One)

It’s October again, friends. It’s the time of year when all movie geeks turn their attention towards the macabre and creepy. Here on MonDAVEs we will be doing the same thing, though perhaps in a different way.

This month I shall be focusing on some of my favorite independent horror/sci fi B movies from the early to mid 1960s. These are films that fall outside of the studio system, made by a ragtag bunch of hopefuls with limited funds and resources, but fueled by the desire to make their own movie. Sometimes the results are good, sometimes…not so much. I will give equal time to both. Join me as I discuss the stories behind the films, and the movies themselves. Then, by all means, watch them for yourself…if you dare.

PART ONE: CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962)

Carnival Of Souls has become a cult classic, though it was virtually ignored upon its release and was kept alive (barely) by late night television. It has since been praised for not only its Twilight Zone-ish storyline, but the acting, cinematography, and unique soundtrack.

As per usual with these types of films, the story behind the movie is almost as interesting as the movie itself. The film was directed by a gentleman named Herk Harvey, who sparked the whole idea off when, while driving through Salt Lake City on the way to Kansas, passed an old, run down pavilion on the shore of the lake and decided that it would be a great location to shoot.

Herk Harvey worked at a production company in Kansas called Centron, which made industrial films for schools and corporations. He began discussing the idea with colleague John Clifford and before you know it, the two had a script, and were ready to begin. Filming was completed in three weeks in both Lawrence, Kansas, and Salt Lake City, Utah with Herk Harvey directing. Shot for a budget of $30,000, Harvey used his skills to make the most out of his limitations.

The cast consists of newcomers and amateur actors, notably Candace Hilligoss as our heroine, Mary, Sidney Berger as shady guy next door John Linden, Stan Levitt as the stoic Dr. Samuels, Frances Feist as housekeeper Mrs. Thomas, and ol’ Herk himself as a ghoulish figure known in the script simply as The Man. While the cast may not be world class names, they are better than one would find in most low budget features, and in this particular film, any odd performances merely add to the otherworldliness of the proceedings.

And now for the movie itself. Carnival Of Souls tells the story of Mary Henry, who mysteriously survives an automobile accident. She moves to Utah to take a job as a church organist. Upon arrival, Mary finds it increasingly difficult to relate to the locals, and begins to have peculiar visions of a man that seems to follow her everywhere she goes. She begins to have strange feelings of isolation accompanied by hallucinations, and starts to question what is real. All the while, Mary is inexplicably drawn to an abandoned carnival on the outskirts of town, which she is sure will provide the answers to what is going on in her waking nightmare.

Watching this movie is an interesting experience. The movie feels very much like a German expressionist film, wrapped up in horror movie packaging. It is a film that relies more on an eerie feeling than straight out scares (though there are a few). The viewer is kind of swept away into an intriguing, dream like world that is harshly beautiful yet full of dread. The fact that the movie is shot in black and white only adds to this effect.

One of the key parts of the film’s atmosphere is its soundtrack. The movie is almost exclusively scored by the organ. It is odd and unsettling, but it works well and it never gets tiresome. In fact, the instrument plays a large part in Mary’s story and one of the film’s most effective scenes involves her playing in church and getting lost in a playing a piece that starts off as a standard hymn and becomes more deranged as it continues. The combination of eerie visuals and music that is at once both beautiful and unsettling gives this movie a very unique feel.

Carnival Of Souls is a horror movie, but it is also an artistic movie. It is about the thin line between the natural and the supernatural, between the waking world and the dream world, between life and death. It is not a perfect movie. There are some technical hiccups along the way and a few questionable decisions in the storytelling, yet these flaws seem to add to the horror overall, and not detract from it as happens with so many other low budget scary movies.

Herk Harvey wound up making a film for the ages, and it’s too bad that this is his only feature. It seems a shame that his talent was used in industrial shorts instead of giving us a full catalogue of cinematic treats. The same can be said of the principal cast as well. There’s no reason why Candace Hilligoss couldn’t have gone on to bigger and better things and been at the very least a B movie Queen, if not a full fledged star. As for Sidney Berger, he should have rightfully been one of those “that guy” actors that fill so many of our favorite films. Although I say it’s a shame that these folks never went on to any other films of note, it does sort of add to the creepiness of watching Carnival Of Souls, knowing that you may never actually see these people again.

Apart from being a bona-fide cult classic, Carnival Of Souls has gone on to influence may other artists, from having its dialogue sampled by musicians to directly inspiring directors like David Lynch and George A. Romero. In fact, you can almost draw a direct line from Carnival Of Souls to Night Of The Living Dead. Almost.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

See you next week for Halloween Movie MonDAVEs part two.

These Sodas Are Rank(ed)!

Anyone who has ben paying attention over the past few years will have realized that Zero Sugar sodas have become all the rage. The so called “diet colas” have more or less been replaced by these new soft drinks on grocery and convenience store shelves all across America. Upon first glance, this would seem to be a healthier, or, at least a less-bad-for-you alternative to the regular drinks we all know and love. But is it a scam?

Very probably. Diet soda was a scam, so why shouldn’t this be one too? However, this is not the focus of the blog post today. Let’s face it, Americans love our sodas, and if this is a way we can fool ourselves into thinking we are making a better decision for bodies, then this is a scam we’re going to fall for willingly. I know I’m on board.

The real question is, “Are these sodas any good?”, and that is what I am going to attempt to answer here today. Taste is subjective of course, but for the sake of argument, let’s just assume that my opinions are unequivocally correct.

For this experiment, we are sticking only to the major national brands and to the original flavors only. So no cherry, cream, or berry flavors will be included. I am also not going to get into specialty sodas, small batch, or anything like that. I am purposefully keeping it simple.

Okay, so here’s the rundown on the sodas I have personally tasted. It should be noted that all zero sugar sodas have a bit of an aftertaste, but you get used to it fairly quickly. Therefore, aftertaste is not part of the equation.

DAVE RANKS ZERO SUGAR SODAS

8. Mountain Dew Zero:
Actually, I haven’t tried this one. Sorry. I am just offended by its existence. Nobody has ever drank a Mountain Dew in any situation in which they have even remotely been thinking about their health. This is a stupid product that deserves to be dead last.

7. Gold Peak Zero Sugar Sweet Tea:
Come on, Gold Peak, you’re cheating here. This is pretty much the same thing you make at home with Sweet & Low or Splenda or whatever. Look, it actually tastes really good, and I like it, but I can make it myself so it’s back towards the bottom of the list for you.

6. Sprite/7 Up/Sierra Mist Zero:
So, these sodas are all more or less the same anyway (I know, I know, let it go) and they already don’t have caffeine so I just kind of find this to be a fairly useless idea. They’re okay, I suppose, but it just tastes like watered down versions of clear soda. You may as well drink water. Or sparkling water, which is gross, so…meh.

5. Orange Fanta/Sunkist Zero:
Why? Why with this? Both sodas have no caffeine and no sugar. I suppose it’s all right if you have a kid who loves orange sodas but gets a little too hopped up on it and just goes nuts, then yeah, maybe. Otherwise? No. Still, I suppose it’s nice to have a change up in the sugar free soda department now and again so these guys just barely beat out the clear sodas in my ranking. Barely.

4. A&W Zero Root Beer:
I love a good root beer, and when I heard about the A&W I approached it with cautious optimism. It’s okay. Kinda feels like somebody didn’t close the cap properly on a two liter. So it tastes a little flat, even though it’s not. If you’re jonesing for some root beer and need the zero sugar option, it’ll do.

3. Coca Cola Zero:
This kind of surprised me, that of the big three Coke would take third place. I have been a regular Coke drinker for ages, so I expected it to be really good. Turns out it’s just pretty good. They did change the formula a while back to make it taste more like Coke Classic (with nary a Max Headroom sighting to be found!), and that did help quite a bit. It’s good, I like it, and I reach for it often, but it just falls a little short.

2. Pepsi Zero:
Again, a surprise for me, because I have always preferred Coke over Pepsi, but Pepsi just got it right here, man. Their zero version tastes a lot more like Pepsi than Coke’s tastes like Coke. My objection to Pepsi was always that it tasted a little too sweet. Yet they have pretty much managed to mimic that sweetness in the sugar free version. I still don’t buy Pepsi very often, but I have voluntarily had more Pepsi Zero sodas over the past couple of years than I ever drank of the original, so that says something.

Dr. Pepper Zero:
Admittedly, I am a bit biased here. Dr. Pepper is my favorite soda, but I know a lot of people don’t like it. I get that, it’s not for everyone. However, I truly believe that Dr. Pepper has come closest to making their Zero version taste more like their original flavor than any of their competitors. I’d take them to task if not, trust me. If you used to be a Pepper, but you haven’t been for a while due to giving up sugar, don’t be afraid to try this out. It’s good.

Well, that just about wraps it up for this week. Do you agree with my findings or am I way off? Is there a different flavor I should explore, or a major player in the game that I missed? Let me know in the comments. Just keep it cool and play nice while you’re posting.

See you next week for more MonDAVEs, friends, when I’ll start the October spooky stuff. Bye for now!

Fab!

Hey everybody, let me tell you about a podcast I have become involved with.

I have mentioned before that my brother, Derek, has a podcast he calls “Empty Checking”, in which he talks about various music/books/blu-rays, etc. that he has recently purchased, thereby leaving him with an empty checking account. It’s a fun listen. I have come on a few times in the past as a guest, but recently my role has expanded.

I have become a fairly regular guest for a special group of episodes entitled The Fab 15. Or Fifteen, if you prefer. It doesn’t really mater. Anyway, the idea is that it’s a list show where we pick a topic and we both independently make lists of our favorite fifteen things about said topic, then we share our lists and try to come up with an agreed upon “Fab Fifteen”. “Fab” meaning “Fabulous” of course.

So far, the topics for the Fab 15 have been as follows: Beatles songs, Soundtrack Albums, Summer Songs, Movies of 1989, and Queen (the band) songs. These episodes have been a lot of fun to do, and from what I am led to understand they have been quite popular with the listeners. Therefore I would like to share them with the MonDAVE readership who may not have been aware of their existence.

Do me a favor and check out an episode or two when you get a moment. If you enjoy them, drop me a message and let me know, or message the podcast itself through its webpage. Then share it with others. Who knows, maybe we can get this up and running and make it into a permanent thing. If that happens, I will surely let you all know. If it doesn’t, we’re going to keep doing them anyway because it’s fun. Either way it’s a win for us.

I’ve included some links below so you can check it out nice and easy from right here on the ol’ blog page. If you like what you hear, why not go ahead and subscribe to the Empty Checking podcast? That way you won’t miss a show, and you get to hear all the other cool stuff my brother does too.

Thanks in advance for clicking and listening. I’ll be back next week with more stuff.

Empty Checking Fab 15 Links:

https://emptychecking.podbean.com/e/episode-121-the-fab-15-beatles-songs/

https://emptychecking.podbean.com/e/episode-124-fab-15-movie-soundtracks/

https://emptychecking.podbean.com/e/episode-127-fab-15-summer-songs/

https://emptychecking.podbean.com/e/episode-131-the-fab-15-movies-of-1989/

https://emptychecking.podbean.com/e/epidofe-132-the-fab-fift-queen/

Thoughts On HRH

Like many around the world, I have been thinking quite a bit about the passing of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II over the past few days. Being an American, the actions of the Royal Family have minimal effect on my day to day life, but I must confess that I have a bit more than a passing interest in what goes on in the United Kingdom.

Firstly, I do try to keep up with major world events, even if it’s just to go online and skim the headlines. When I do watch reported news I usually find myself watching PBS shows, and the BBC World Service that follows. I even have BBC News programmed into my Sirius XM satellite radio presets. As you can imagine, the news of Queen Elizabeth’s passing has taken up the majority of air time this week.

Secondly, I am a bit of an Anglophile. Which means that I’m one of those annoying Americans who likes to watch British movies and television shows, listen to British rock bands, read Nick Hornby books, subscribe to the “Lost In The Pond” YouTube channel, and feel like I know a little bit about how things work over in England specifically, and the U.K. at large. It is admittedly a narrow and possibly skewed view, but one I am always eager to expand nonetheless.

This is also how I have formed my image of the Queen. I have seen her lampooned on a few comedy shows, and critiqued, vilified, and ridiculed in punk rock music. I have also seen her staunchly defended, idolized, and loved by her subjects. Sometimes, the very same people who are the loudest naysayers are also quick to claim that they like the Royal Family just fine, really.

So how to process all this? Well, it seems to me that one has to look at the person more than the title. Having never had a sovereign in my lifetime I can’t pretend to know what that experience is like or how it affects one’s life. We do have career politicians over here though, but that’s not exactly the same thing. All I can do then, is try to be as objective as possible when considering the death of the Queen and what it means.

Look, all governments do bad things. All of them. Sometimes they are done in what they truly believe is for the good of the country, sometimes not. It seems to me that in modern times, the Queen’s role was more of a mediator, or an influencer than one of any real practical power. As I understand it, most of the political power lies in Parliament and not with the Queen.

Can blame be put at her feet for some of the atrocities committed during the early years of her reign, particularly since most of these offences were begun before she officially took power? Yes, to a degree, but how many world leaders have hands that are not stained red in some way?

As far as the Royal Family itself goes, yeah, there have been some problems. The Queen did not get along with her daughter in law Lady Diana, or her granddaughter in law, Duchess Meghan. That is unfortunate, and it happens. It’s just that in this case, it happened while the world’s eyes were watching. Besides, us normal folk love to watch the drama unfold and we love to sit in judgement of those who are considered “better” or “more special” than we are. We shouldn’t be that way, but we are.

Now, this is the part where I can hear many of you yelling at your screens about classism or racism being the culprit in these particular family feuds. Maybe you’re right, I don’t know. None of us do. Perhaps it was all just multiple generations clashing. Any article you read on these subjects is likely to be highly biased in either direction and as the band Extreme said in the early 90’s, “there are three sided to every story: Yours, Mine, and Monday Morning’s.” All families bicker and fight. All families have at least one or two people that everyone else gossips about and are looked down upon in private. trouble is, when you are a Royal there is no privacy.

Which brings us to the ugly story of Prince Andrew. He’s been a very naughty man. He got caught. Look, I’m not going to go into details here, I try to keep things clean around here. Google it if you don’t know, but be warned, it’s not pretty.

Of course you can’t hold one man’s actions against the rest of the family, but you can blame the privilege his position allows. He was stripped of his rank within the Royal Family, but it took a little too long to do so. Theory states that Elizabeth was the one allowing him to stay. Perhaps. If so, then yes, she was wrong, but she did do the right thing eventually. Let’s face it though, folks, it’s hard to find out someone you love is up to some shady stuff-and I can understand why they didn’t want that info getting out. It’s a difficult situation, and one I hope to never find anyone from my family in-and I hope the same for yours too.

I do wonder about the future of the Royals. Things seem to be splintering apart. The case can certainly be made that the monarchy is an antiquated idea that has no room in the modern world, and that the money spent on Royal things could do greater good for the working classes and the poor than to be spent on pageantry. These are worthwhile points of discussion, but they are ones best left for Britain to decide for itself. A lot of Americans have an opinion, though, and there is probably just as much Anti-Royal sentiment as there is Pro.

Which I really don’t understand. As Americans we really don’t really have a say. Well, not for a few hundred years, we haven’t. Besides, we’re all still trying to figure out what’s going on with our own rich family with political power to worry about anyone else right now.

So with all that said, I can say that I am sorry to see her go. Queen Elizabeth was thrown into power at an early age, before she should have been, really. She has seen the world change immensely during her reign. As a figurehead she has needed to steer England from the “stiff upper lip” attitude of old to a more modernized, humanitarian era. She wasn’t perfect, but I think she did extraordinarily well all things considered. She presented herself with a certain stoic grace, but always seemed to let her humanity show through. Her life and her lot were certainly not easy. Through all the negatives however, I have heard countless stories of people who encountered the Queen and were treated not like inferior subjects, but like people. Queen Elizabeth made the people she encountered feel like she cared. That quality alone makes for a great leader, figurehead or otherwise.

May she rest in peace.

Labor Day 2022

MonDAVEs is closed for the holiday. I hope you all had a safe, happy day filled with relaxation, family/friends and food.

Apologies for any inconvenience. I’ll be back soon.

P.S. For my readers outside of the U.S. (which, remarkably there are some of) who may be unfamiliar, Labor Day is a holiday where we celebrate the American worker by not working. Which is pretty much the most American thing ever.