Scary TV: The Horror Show

Damn - I wish I had this on VHS tape. Anthony Perkins (who I once had the pleasure of meeting) hosts at look at 60 magical years of movie monsters, madmen and creatures of the night. Imagine of the networks still had the moxie to program stuff like this?

Selections from My Library: MAHOGANY

Do you know where you're going to?

A story so tempestuous and spectacular it took THREE writers to tell it.

One of my all-time favorite bad movies...broken down in the most the most questionable way possible. Keep on truckin'? Swivel-hipped? An aging god Pan? A young black activist fighting for black rights? Hanging tough?
Ah, the 70s.

Rima, the Jungle Girl

BACK ISSUE magazine just ran a great article on RIMA, THE JUNGLE GIRL, similar to this piece I posted back in March. Here it is again, cause I did it first. 

Comic book fans were treated to a one-page reappearance of Rima, the Jungle Girl in the pages of THE FIRST WAVE a six-issue DC Comics miniseries. THE FIRST WAVE by writer Brian Azzarello and artist Rags Morales is set in an alternate universe that brings together "the first wave" of pulp fiction heroes (Doc Savage, The Avenger and The Spirit) with such DC stalwarts as Batman, The Black Canary and The Blackhawks. Coming along for the ride is the aforementioned Rima, the Jungle Girl.

But who EXACTLY is this Jungle Girl and where did she come from?

Look no further than the 1904 romantic novel, The Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson based on a South American legend about a lost tribe of mountain-dwelling caucasians.

In the novel, Rima is called "the Daughter of the Didi" and considered an evil spirit who has magical powers. She is eventually burned alive by the tribesmen. Yikes! Luckily the character lived on after the novel.

Rima first came back to life in a 1951 CLASSICS ILLUSTRATED adaptation of the novel.

The character was depicted as a beautiful blonde. Not sure if she made it out alive.

A MGM film adaptation of GREEN MANSIONS followed in 1959.

The film was directed by Mel Ferrar.

Beautiful, dark-haired screen goddess Audrey Hepburn was cast as Rima in the film.

Anthony Perkins was cast as her lover.

The film is not as fondly remembered as Hepburn's other work.

Though it was translated into French.

 

Out of print for many years, the film is now available on dvd through the Warner Archive Collection.

Rima turned up next as the star of her own DC Comics series, RIMA THE JUNGLE GIRL in the 1970s.

The series ran for only seven issues, but is well-remembered by fans of the jungle adventure genre.

The series began in May 1974.

The book featured art by the talented Nestor Redodno.

And was graced with gorgeous covers by legendary Joe Kubert.

Rima never interacted with any other characters in the DC Universe in comics.

The series ended in May of 1975, and we thought we saw the last of Rima.

That was until 1977, when Rima showed up on TV!

Yes, Rima joined the cast of Hanna-Barbera's ALL-NEW SUPERFRIENDS HOUR!

Rima appeared alongside new created-for-TV and much-maligned heroes like Apache Chief and Black Vulcan.

But Rima also got to co-star with some of the A-Listers in various episodes - like Wonder Woman and Batman!

And, now over 20 years later Rima will once again be part of a storyline involving Batman!

I'm truly looking forward to the next exciting issue of THE FIRST WAVE and the further exploits of Rima, the Jungle Girl!

HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN

Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Olivia DeHavilland, Shelley Winters, Agnes Moorehead, Tallulah Bankhead, Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon - these were the women of Grand Guignol - macabre cinematic tales of subtle terror and sudden shocks starring faded Hollywood stars who were ripe for a comeback vehicle. But what if a man starred as the victims in one of these twisted tales?

That would bring us to Anthony Perkins starring in HOW AWFUL ABOUT ALLAN, directed by Curtis Harrington ( also WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH HELEN? and WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO?) and produced by Aaron Spelling for the ABC MOVIE OF THE WEEK.

Perkins plays Allan, who has been blinded in a fire that killed his brilliant father and left his sister Katherine (Julie Harris) disfigured. Allan is in a hospital and declares that he doesn't want to see anyone. Has he forgotten about his blindness? After 8 months, he's released from the hospital and goes home to live with Katherine, who wears a big pink plastic patch over her burn scar. She tells Allan that she has been renting out rooms to students to help pay the bills. She has closed off the room where Daddy got cooked. Allan begins recording a diary about all the fun he's having since his return home. He seems to spend most of his time drinking coffee and modeling pajamas for his ex fiancee Olive (Joan Hackett from THE LAST OF SHEILA - dressing like Eliza Doolittle here).

Allan's sight still isn't perfect (he sees things as if he were looking through a bumpy piece of frosted glass) and the new whispering "roomer" Harold Dennis makes him as uncomfortable as the wallpaper in the house makes us. I've decide to nickname this film I HEARD A ROOMER.

Allan decides to find out more about this college student, so STILL PARTIALLY BLINDED, he gets behind the wheel of his car and drives to the nearby campus, causing a few accidents. Back home, Allan figures out that the student isn't real , but maybe he's Katherine's lover Eric Walters! Lots creepy shadows appear inside the house (ghosts?) and then Allan cuts his hand on a carving knife. Olive the ex comes to his rescue.

Later, there is a storm and blind Allan winds up outside in the rain - and pinned under a downed tree. We now flashback to his childhood and witness the abuse and torment foisted upon him by his father and sister! What a couple of evil bastards those two are!

The whole thing leads to a climax that is a homage to PSYCHO - right down to the swinging light fixture -and the killer and his/her motives are revealed. Shocking! Not.

ALLAN is fun little footnote that is worth watching (if you can find it). It probably would have been a lot more fun with a old woman in the lead role, but I guess Aaron Spelling hadn't hooked up with Joan Collins yet. I'll give it 7 out 10 "Huhs?"