Kenny & Company (1976)

As a Halloween treat, presented here is a favorite coming-of-age movie of mine from 1976, Kenny and Company. Produced, scripted, and directed by Don Coscarelli; this film features several folks who would also go on to work with the director again in his career making horror classic from 1979 Phantasm. Perfect for this time of year and universal in appeal, this movie will especially resonate with those of us whose childhood included the 1970s.

Kenny and Company highlights a chunk of time in the life of Kenny (Dan McCann) leading up to Halloween. Along the way this comedy/drama finds Kenny interacting with his family, neighborhood bullies, first crushes, nerdy tagalong neighbor kid Sherman, his sympathetic teacher (Reggie Bannister), a foreign transfer student, an ailing beloved pet, and his mischievous best pal Doug (A. Michael Baldwin) plus his fun loving Dad Big Doug. The boys get into all sorts of other escapades culminating with an exciting Halloween night in which they get revenge on their tormenting bully by involuntarily involving the neighborhood scary/cranky old man played by Phantasm's big bad Angus Scrimm.

 the trailer

the feature

MST3K – Squirm (1976) - Re-post

Director Jeff Lieberman's worm revenge tale Squirm (1976) is one of those movies that I could watch a zillion times (and probably already have) and still dig it, so adding the ongoing commentary from our MST3K pals adds to the entertainment factor. Enjoy!

The Evil (1978)

Directed by Gus Trikonis (who was married to Goldie Hawn from 1969 to 1976), The Evil was produced and distributed in 1978 by Roger Corman's New World Pictires. Trikonis directed several exploitation films for Corman, including The Swinging Barmaids (1975), Nashville Girl (1976), and Moonshine County Express (1977). After working on the feature film Take This Job and Shove It (1981) he moved on to prolific directing work for television on series such as Baywatch, Hunter, Wiseguy, and Quantum Leap.

In The Evil, a psychiatrist and his wife (Richard Crenna and Joanna Pettet) ignore old stories and bad vibes when they purchase a long empty mansion with the intention of refurbishing it for use as a rehab center. Once the pair and their crew are inside the house the bad feelings increase until they stumble upon a trap door in the basement. Of course they open it which causes the house to seal them inside as the conflict with unknown forces increases with frightening and deadly results. Victor Buono hams it up (as does an increasingly unhinged Crenna) as the personification of the evil.

the trailer

the feature

From a Whisper to a Scream (1987) aka The Offspring

This horror anthology was directed and co-written by Jeff Burr. Burr went on to direct numerous horror movie sequels, such as: Stepfather II (1989), Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990), Puppet Master 4 (1993), Puppet Master 5: The Final Chapter (1994), and Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (1994).

The film's stories are introduced by horror icon Vincent Price, a Tennessee town historian speaking to a reporter played by Susan Tyrrell. Familiar genre faces Clu Gulager, playing a grocery worker with an eye for his female boss, and Cameron Mitchell, as a Civil War era Union soldier, are found in two of the film's segments. Martine Beswick, Rosalind Cash (who would make her final film appearance in the 1995 horror anthology Tales from the Hood), and Lawrence Tierney (known to many as gangster Joe Cabot in Reservoir Dogs) also have roles in the movie.

the trailer

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Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters (1965)

Originally released throughout Mexico in 1962 as Caperucita y Pulgarcito contra los monstruos it was directed by Roberto Rodríguez as a sequel to two earlier Little Red Riding Hood children's films. Then in 1965 K. Gordon Murray picked up the film for U.S. distribution, dubbed it in English, retitled it Little Red Riding Hood and the Monsters, and added it to his stable of bizarre matinee fillers from South of the Border.

the trailer

the feature