DREAM DATES GONE WRONG - part 3

A version of this series originally appeared in MY DREAM DATE WITH A VILLAIN.

Fascinator, from THEY LIVE

 Sleestak, from LAND OF THE LOST

Phantom of the Opera

NERD GRAFFITI

Related Posts:

Frankenstein & Me

Growing up as a tall kid, I was always forced to be Frankenstein whenever my friends played monsters.  I'm sure other tall kids had to put up with this. 


This continued as an adult, when my old sketch group was developing a TV show called MONSTERS ON THE RUN, I was to play the fugitive Frankenstein Monster (framed for a crime he didn't commit.  He was framed by a rich Kennedy-esque Playboy Mummy and lost his trial when a William Kunstler-esque lawyer used the case as an opportunity to blame society, saying, "You're the monsters! YOU are the monsters."  I wish we'd made that.) 


One Halloween I was the monster, my wife was the bride, my kids were the Doctor and Igor.  (You can make a cute baby look spooky by adding a unibrow and hunchback.) 

One of the first KEVIN GEEKS OUT shows was dedicated to FRANKENSTEIN.  Mary Shelly's novel is the most adapted work of literature (in your face, Madame Bovary!)  So there are so many odd interpretations to look at.  


We screened clips from Frankenstein Vs. Baragaon, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein, TV's The Monster Squad (at 1970's TV series in which Frankenstein, Dracula and the Werewolf team up to fight crime, aided by The Love Boat's Gofer and a super-computer.)  and more. 


We listened to an excellent radio adaptation by the Quicksilver Radio Theatre. 


We also watched Thomas Edison's Frankenstein film (from 1910), which I'd first seen at a Frankenstein film festival in New Jersey.  It was introduced by a religious old kook, who owned the film print and because he was letting the theater screen his movie, he insisted on speaking before the film and speaking out against evolution.  (Which, he believes is at the heart of Edison's adaptation, because the monster is not a re-animated corpse, but a man made from the earth.)  


Throughout the night we saw some radical interpretations of the classic character, and the audience really got excited seeing Boris Karloff, it's like he's THE ONE.  This PSA parody was a big hit at the show, and it still holds up. 


Here's an old AMC video I made looking at some of my favorite adaptations: 

Here's a collection of 50 Posters from various Frankenstein Movies

And in this new video Rusty Ward and I look at FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND, featuring several great clips from the movie. 

And in my newest video, I use one of my all-time favorite gags about the monster: 

(Hey, be sure to donate to the kickstarter campaign HERE)

Frankenstein is always showing up in popular culture. 

DC's WEIRD WAR TALES ran a great series of stories about CREATURE COMMANDOS, in which the Mosnter, teams up with Dracula and the Wolf man to battle Nazis.  (I don't know why writers are always pairing these three up.  I mean, in real life they seem like they wouldn't get along at all.) 

In Dickie Goodman's novelty song FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE BEATLES, the monster becomes envious of the band's popularity, so he forms a rock quartet to compete with the Fab Four.  The Liverpool lads end up feeling sorry for him and invite him to join the band, though it's never clear what instrument he plays. 

The new anthology horror-comedy CHILLERAMA features a very funny segment about THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN, but as an internet nerd it's my duty to point out that the gag was made a decade earlier by Michael O'Donoghue.  (Click here to read his SPIN magazine piece, "Six Hit Movies.") 

The influence of Mary Shelley's story shows up in the oddest places, here's some holiday-themed pop-tarts that seem to play out a theme from the novel: 

"'I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create.'"  ~ The Monster, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

Happy Halloween everybody. 

 related posts: 


King Kong and Me

Friend, Good!

"'I am alone and miserable: man will not associate with me; but one as deformed and horrible as myself would not deny herself to me. My companion must be of the same species and have the same defects. This being you must create.'"  ~ The Monster, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

FRANKENSTEIN Night!

Get ready for a video cavalcade like no other -- this Monday is FRANKENSTEIN Night!

With Special Guests Monster Creature Feature, Tom Blunt, Will Carlough, Jay Stern, Tom Carrozza, Maura Madden, M. Sweeney Lawless and MORE!

There'll be cheap drinks, trivia prizes, music, poems, and Frankenberry Cereal.

Monday October 27th
7 PM
at UNDER St. Mark's. (94 St. Mark's Place, between 1st & A, NYC)

tickets at $7 ($5 if you come in a full costume -- not just a hat)


SEE clips from Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, Frankenstein Conquers the World, and Dracula Vs. Frankenstein.



AND the second feature of the night (included with admission) is the Quicksilver Radio Theatre's production of Mary Shelley's original story.

Everything You Wanted to Ask About the Sci Fi Screening Room, But Were Afraid to Know...

January’s HULK Night! featured nearly every version of the animated Hulk (1966 - 1996), plus clips from the 1977 pilot movie and the climax of 1990’s Death of the Incredible Hulk. Our feature presentation was Metamorphosis, an amazing 1979 live-action episode packed with glam rock, death fantasies, an indictment of the music industry and an LSD freak-out (Banner hallucinates that his alter-ego is chasing him across the desert, only to morph into a stoned Hulk!) Live entertainment included Hulkus (Hulk haikus) and a Hulk piñata smashed by an actor as the Green Goliath.



Thanks everybody who came out to KISS NIGHT!
For March’s KISS Night! Kevin (and co-host Rob Gorden) donned face-paint to present the 1978 made-for-TV movieKISS Meets the Phantom of the Park. The screening included clips of Gene Simmons in the futuristic thriller Runaway (1984). Audience members were challenged to a beer-guzzling contest against Rob’s robot-clone. Kevin read KISS-ku (KISS haikus.) The after-party included KISS make-overs, a KISS tribute Band (Creatures of the Night), a costume contest and DJ Joey Nova.



In April, Kevin and co-host Raven Snook covered themselves in glitter for THE APPLE Night! The feature film, The Apple, is a flamboyant, dystopian Adam & Eve story set in a nightmarish future of 1994 (as imagined in 1980.) Raven led the crowd in a sing-a-long and gave an audience member a futuristic glam-rock make-over. After the screening DJ Joey Nova hosted a glam-rock party at Beauty Bar with apple-flavored drink specials, glitter manicures and lots of David Bowie music.








May welcomed BATMAN Night!, showcasing everything from the 1943 serial to 1998’s New Adventures of Batman (with an animated version of Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight.) The feature presentation was a rare 1978 Challenge of the Superfriends episode where Batman and friends get turned into Hobbit-like trolls. Co-host Nick Nadel interviewed Batman Strikes writer Matthew K. Manning. Kevin shared poetry as he’d collected over 400 original Batman Haikus for the event. (He hopes to publish a Bat-ku page-a-day calendar.) There were Batman-themed trivia games and a dramatic reading of fan fiction. The after-party, at The Hangar Bar, served Batman-inspired cocktails.



Die hard fans turned out for June’s ROCK & RULE Night! when Kevin (and co-host Dekker Dryer) screened 1983’s Rock & Rule. The film was preceded by a retrospective on Nelvana animation (including the Boba Fett cartoon sequence in The Star Wars Holiday Special and clips from The Care Bears Movie.) Trivia prizes included CDs by artists from the movie, including Debbie Harry, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed. DJ Joey Nova kept the evening going with an all-night after-party at Beauty Bar.

DAMNATION ALLEY Night! was a September screening of the second-greatest fantasy film from 1977, Damnation Alley. The post-apocalyptic adventure paired Jan Michael Vincent with George Peppard and futuristic Winnebago known as The Landmaster. Clips included an episode of ARK II and the episode of Get a Life where Chris faces off against Paperboy 2000 (a paper-delivery robot played by the Landmaster.) The evening featured only one haiku (about George Peppard’s moustache) because Kevin had never seen the movie before.



October’s FRANKENSTEIN Night! was a 3-hour bonanza starting with a video cavalcade including clips from Frankenstein Vs. Baragon (1965) Blackenstein (1972) and Thomas Edison’s original 1910 Frankenstein. Tom Carrozza sang Mel Torme’s "Monsters Lead Such Interesting Lives" and Marian Brock read an epic poem about the Creature. Kevin showed a 1976 view-master reel and Maura Madden (author of Crafternoon) provided tips for Halloween crafts and costumes. The video show was followed by the Quicksilver Radio Theater Company’s 60-minute adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original novel.

November was BIGFOOT Night! a delightful evening which brought out skeptics and honest-to-God Bigfoot fans. Co-host M. Sweeney Lawless treated the crowd to eyewitness accounts, original folk art and M&Ms. We screened clips from Bigfoot: Man or Beast?, The Legend of Boggy Creek, Bigfoot & Wildboy and the episode of The Six Million Dollar Man featuing Andre the Giant as the Bionic Bigfoot. (This is widely regarded as the best episode in the series. No duh!) Our feature presentation was the award-winning short film Skunk Ape!? Special guests included lecturer Doug Skinner and Australian journalist Dan Ziffer. M. Sweeney Lawless put together a kick-ass booklet of bigfoot haikus, true stories and fun-facts. That alone was worth the price of admission (it was $7 for believers, $10 for non-believers.)

Watch this clip.

Upcoming Shows:

In December Raven Snook returns to co-host SCI FI MUSICALS Night! It’s a collection of songs and clips from Sci Fi Musicals ranging from Phantom of the Paradise (1974) to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog (2008). The evening will celebrate the best numbers from cult favorites like Forbidden Zone (1980) and Xanadu (1980) to lesser-known films like the Alan Arkin super-hero parody The Return of Captain Invincible (1983) and the Pia Zadora-Craig Sheffer oddity Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1987). Plus TV clips like the episode of Buck Rogers that featured space rockers Andromeda -- and the overlooked Donnie and Marie Star Wars Special.

2009 will include:
VIDEO-GAME MOVIE Night! and GODZILLA Night! and SUPER-HERO Night!