Final Women

Ghost Story, a.k.a. Circle of Fear, was a horror anthology television show, produced by William Castle, which ran for two seasons, beginning in 1972. The first season, under the name Ghost Story, was hosted by Sebastian Cabot. For the second season, the name was changed to Circle of Fear, and the wrap around segment featuring Cabot was canned. It's a charming show, if a bit dated. Below I discuss two of my favorite episodes. Touch of Madness (Season 1) Touch of Madness begins with Janet arriving at the house she has just inherited from her mother, who died while staying in a mental institution. There she meets her eccentric aunt and uncle, played by Geraldine Page and an aged-up Rip Torn (!!!) and convinces them to allow her to help fix up the house, which she has been informed, to her surprise, is in danger of being condemned. While Janet is at first completely in the dark, the audience knows early on that something is not quite as it seems with the house and the seemingl...

Demons  and Demons 2 are bat-shit insane Italian monster movies directed by Lamberto Bava (son of Mario) that rank among my all time favorite horror movies. Neither feature very much plot or character development, but they make up for it with outstanding practical effects, gnarly gore, and colorful chaos. Giallo master, Dario Argento is a writer on both, and by many accounts, was also a mentor to the young Bava, as Bava Sr. had been for him. Demons begins when a young woman, Cheryl (Natasha Hovey), receives an invitation to a movie screening and drags her friend, Kathy (Paola Cozza) along. They are joined at the cinema by a motley crew of film goers, including a pimp (the impressive Bobby Rhodes), two prostitutes, a blind man, and two young gentlemen (filling the roles of love interests). Chaos soon breaks out when events in the theatre begin to mirror events in the movie, and people rapidly start turning into seriously gruesome demons (like zombies, they are able to pass alo...