During my prolonged absence from these
pages, your friendly ol’ Unimonster relocated the Crypt, and this move afforded
me the opportunity to once again join the world of subscription TV service. In other words, for the first time in nearly
ten years, Uni’s Crypt is hooked up to cable.
In addition to discovering the Robertson clan, of A&E’s Duck Dynasty, a program with which I
immediately fell in love, Man v. Food
(honestly, you have to admire a man who’ll attempt to wrestle 74 oz. of steak
into submission), and having the question, “what the hell is a ‘Honey Boo-Boo’”
answered, I found a wealth of programming choices of which I had been ignorant. Shows that appealed to the history-lover in
me, shows that appealed to my inner ‘foodie’, even two networks devoted to guns
and hunting. Of course, me being me, a
large number of the programs that captured my attention have reality-based
horror or paranormal overtones.
I’m not referring to fictional Horror
series, such as FX’s American Horror
Story or AMC’s The Walking Dead. Both are superb examples of horror
storytelling, especially The Walking Dead,
which takes the skin-ripping, gut-munching zombie genre and elevates it to a
level of which Romero, Fulci, and O’Bannon could only dream. Those series deserve an in-depth look in
these pages, and will, in time, receive it.
But this month we look at the shows that are factually-based, or at
least claim to be. Those series that
examine the paranormal world around us with, if not an open mind, then at least
one that is a little less dead-set against the idea of the supernatural.
Such programs are hardly new. The mid-1970s were a time when America’s
interest in paranormal activity, especially UFOs and cryptids, those mysterious
beasts such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster, was at a fever pitch. There was a spate of movies examining such
unexplained phenomena as the Bermuda Triangle, and the possibility that ancient
extraterrestrials had been responsible for wonders such as Stonehenge and the
Pyramids. Among the most notable (or
perhaps notorious would be more fitting) of these was 1973’s The Legend of Boggy Creek. Filmed in a pseudo-documentary style that is
now referred to as a ‘docudrama’, the film purported to examine the legends of
the Fouke monster, a bigfoot-like creature said to inhabit the woods and swamps
of southwestern Arkansas.
In addition to spawning movies and
documentaries, this interest in the paranormal gave birth to a series created
by Alan Landsburg, a prolific television writer and producer. Landsburg, who had previously produced the
biographical documentary
Kennedy, the
First Thousand Days, which was screened for the 1964 Democratic National
Convention, was inspired by the success of three made-for-TV documentaries on
the paranormal that he had produced beginning in 1973 to turn the concept into
a weekly syndicated series. Debuting on 17
April, 1977,
In Search Of… examined
an incredibly diverse collection of topics during its five-year run, ranging
from the possibility that Earth had been visited in ancient times by aliens
(also the topic of the first made-for-TV documentary), to the disappearance of
Amelia Earhart, to the prospect that North Vietnam was secretly keeping American
MIAs prisoner nearly a decade after the end of US involvement in the Vietnam
War. Hosted by Leonard Nimoy, formerly
of
Star Trek fame, the series had a
built-in appeal for those lovers of Sci-Fi that would form the series’ most
devoted fan base. The show’s original
run ended on 1 March, 1982, after 144 episodes, though it was briefly revived
in 2002, with
The X-Files’ Mitch
Pileggi as host. This incarnation of the
series lasted only eight episodes.
On 17 April, 1992, fifteen years to
the day that In Search Of… premiered,
the Fox Broadcasting Network launched Sightings,
a similar program presented in an investigative news magazine format, a sort of
Inside Edition on the world of the
paranormal. Hosted by journalist Tim
White, the series wasn't as wide-ranging as its predecessor, though it was
nearly as successful, lasting until September, 1997. Following the end of the series’ regularly
scheduled run, a number of Sightings
specials were produced, as well as a fictionalized, made-for-TV movie, Sightings: Heartland Ghost. Reruns were shown on the Sci-Fi Channel (now
SyFy) until April, 2003.
As it was ending its run, the stage
was being set for a new pattern of paranormal television, a style of
programming that owed as much to Oprah Winfrey and Jerry Springer as it did to In Search Of… and Sightings. The prototype of
these shows, and one of the Unimonster’s personal favorites, was Haunted History, which began its run on
The History Channel with the special, Haunted
History: Charleston, in October of 1998.
Though it suffered from a relatively low number of episodes produced
(only two specials and twenty-five regular episodes aired between 26 October,
1998 and 11 August, 2001) and erratic scheduling, the series featured high
production values, interesting locales, and real efforts to capture, in-depth,
both the legends and the facts behind the legends. It also eschewed the sensationalism and
tabloid-style approach of later programs.
The series enjoyed a brief revival in the fall of 2013, with eight new episodes
being produced. These bore little
resemblance to the original version, and were generally inferior to it.
At approximately the same time as the
original run of Haunted History was
winding down, a new program was getting underway on, of all networks, MTV. Using the then-innovative concept of a
competition, with the participants filming themselves with handheld cameras,
night vision equipment, and static cameras placed strategically around the
location to be investigated. MTV’s Fear debuted in 2000, the first
episode placing a group of young adults inside the recently closed West
Virginia State Penitentiary at Moundsville.
The six ‘investigators’ were locked in the prison overnight, staying in
a prepared ‘safe room’ base of operations, from which they would be dispatched,
in one or two-person, color-coded teams, to explore areas of supposed
paranormal activity. After the location
had been thoroughly examined, then any participants who hadn't quit the
challenge would share in a cash prize.
Subsequent episodes would take place
at the Ideal Cement factory (renamed the Duggan Brothers Cement factory for the
show) in Castle Hayne, North Carolina, on board the World War II aircraft
carrier USS Hornet, moored in Alameda, California, and at Eastern State Penitentiary
in Philadelphia. Though the series was
one of MTV’s most popular shows, the high costs of producing it doomed the
program, with only sixteen episodes having aired over two seasons. However, while the show was short-lived, it
was one of the most influential of the early paranormal reality series,
especially the look and style of the show.
While MTV drew some fire for the obvious stage management of the
so-called investigations, no one was claiming that this was a serious
examination of paranormal phenomena. The
fans of the show accepted it at face value, realizing that it was nothing more
than Survivor … with ghosts.
In 2004, with the phenomenon of
“Reality TV” at its peak, the granddaddy of the paranormal reality genre
premiered on the SyFy network. Ghost Hunters, which chronicled the
activities of a pair of plumbers from Rhode Island who headed a paranormal
investigating group in their off hours, first aired on 6 October, 2004, and
soon became a huge success. Featuring
Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson, Roto-Rooter employees and the co-founders of The
Atlantic Paranormal Society, or TAPS, the show followed the organization’s
investigations into allegedly haunted locations. Though the team’s efforts in the first season
were limited to the northeastern US, by the second season the program’s success
had led to investigations being conducted throughout the US, as well as the
beat-up old TAPS van being retired for new rolling stock, and the team
relocating from the trailer that had been their headquarters to rented offices.
While critics have found fault with
the team’s investigative techniques, and fans have remarked that, despite the
promotional hype each new episode brings they never seem to encounter anything
of note, the series has continued to grow, despite Wilson leaving the show in
the middle of the eighth season, and still enjoys good ratings. What’s more, it has inspired a host of
imitators across the cable landscape.
Following the success of
Ghost Hunters, it seemed as though every
cable network worth its licensing fees had to have a paranormal investigation
program on its schedule. At the higher
end of the spectrum, at least in terms of seriousness and credibility, and of a
completely different style was the Discovery Channel’s
A Haunting. Featuring a
combination of interviews with the actual witnesses to the activity in
question, as well as filmed reenactments,
A
Haunting never developed the massive amount of media attention that
Ghost Hunters garnered, despite being
the better of the two series, in the Unimonster’s humble opinion. It did help popularize the reenactment type
of paranormal series as opposed to the investigative style of programming. Another excellent reenactment series is the
SyFy channel’s
Paranormal Witness. Superficially similar to
A Haunting, it manages to convey, even better than the latter
series, the frightening aspects of the cases being examined.
Crowding the viewing landscape at the
lower end of the paranormal spectrum we have haunted animals (Animal Planet’s The Haunted), haunted hillbillies (Ghostland, Tennessee, also on Animal
Planet, and SyFy’s Deep South Paranormal),
haunted collectibles (Deals from the Dark
Side and Haunted Collector, both
on SyFy), even a haunted gold mine (SyFy’s Ghost
Mine). While all are interesting, to
varying degrees, all are lacking the key ingredient that makes a program of
this type work, at least for me. They
just aren't scary.
Granted, it can be difficult for these
programs to be overtly frightening, whether investigative- or reenactment-based. Programs such as
A Haunting lack the real-time element and familiar cast that can
draw the viewer into the location, making them feel a part of what is happening
on-screen. Conversely, the investigative
series try so hard to establish their credibility that it seems they seek to
avoid anything genuinely frightening.
This is the greatest flaw in the otherwise interesting
Ghost Hunters. Each week, SyFy airs commercials hyping the
upcoming episode, giving it the appearance of the most terrifying spectacle
ever to air on television. As the
program airs, however, we are left with scenes of the TAPS team wandering
through some darkened hallways, seeing vague shapes uncaptured by any camera,
hearing faint noises that could be ghostly voices, or could be a crewmember’s
stomach rumbling. Just as something
mildly interesting seems to be getting underway, that’s the cue for Hawes to
call it a night, telling his team to pack it in. Then the episode ends with the lead
investigators sitting down with the ‘client’ to review what evidence they have
collected, and proclaim that they can’t say, with any degree of certainty,
whether the location is actually haunted.
Two series, however, manage to achieve
that rare mix of credibility and excitement that quickly made them favorites of
the Unimonster. The Travel Channel’s
The Dead Files features a retired NYPD
homicide detective and young female medium who travel to a new location weekly,
at the request of someone who is experiencing what can only be described as
spectral attacks. Conducting their
investigations separately, never interacting until they meet with the
homeowners to reveal their findings, Detective Steve DiSchiavi, NYPD (ret.) and
psychic Amy Allen each bring their talents to bear on the case, DiSchiavi by
interviewing the clients and researching the background of the location, and
Allen by conducting a night-time ‘ghost walk’ through the property (without the
residents being present), in which she not only sees dead people, but interacts
with them. Despite their differing
styles of investigation, both bring a sincerity and compassion to their work, a
concern that speaks to their experience with horror in their own lives. What makes the show so enjoyable to me is the
degree to which the separate investigations dovetail once the pair comes
together for the reveal. Unless one
totally discounts the reality aspect of the show, then that level of
synchronicity between the two is impressive.
By far my favorite show of this type,
however, stars three thirty-something guys who roam the world picking fights
with ghosts, poltergeists, and assorted other supernatural entities, locking
themselves into the most famous haunted locations imaginable, without any crew
other than themselves and an occasional guest investigator, and experiencing
what comes across as genuinely terrifying situations.
Ghost
Adventures, also on the Travel Channel, is the brainchild of 37-year-old
Zak Bagans, a Las Vegas-based documentary filmmaker. It stemmed from Bagans’ desire to capture
proof of the paranormal on camera.
Previously skeptical about the existence of spirits, he reportedly
changed his mind following an encounter he had with the specter of a suicide
victim in his apartment in Michigan. He
and 34-year-old Nick Groff filmed a documentary in 2004 examining haunted sites
in Virginia City and Goldfield, Nevada.
38-year-old Aaron Goodwin is the third member of the team, or, as they
refer to themselves, the “GAC,” or
Ghost
Adventures Crew. He and Groff met at
UNLV as film students and he joined the crew after the initial documentary was
produced.
Though critics deride the show’s
confrontational, aggressive style of investigation, Bagans defends it, claiming
repeatedly that it’s done only to provoke those spirits with a demonstrated
propensity to attack the living. It does
seems to get results, with the team’s documented success in gathering
photographic, audio, even video evidence of paranormal activity. It also makes for damn good television, as the
trio explores such historic sites as the Winchester Mansion; the Villisca, Iowa
home in which two adults and six children were brutally murdered in June of
1912; and Bobby Mackey’s Music World, a night club in Wilder, Kentucky that
might be the most malevolent location the series has investigated in what is
now nine seasons on the air. After
touring the site with the owner / caretakers, reviewing the history of the
site, and giving us a glimpse of the local attractions (remember, it is the Travel Channel), our intrepid
investigators are locked inside the location for the night, with only their own
cameras to record the night’s events.
Though occasionally the investigations
fail to deliver much in the way of spectral activity, some are truly
frightening. The ninth season premiere,
which aired on 15 February, 2014, featured an investigation of the David Oman
mansion, in Hollywood, California. The
house, located in Benedict Canyon, at 10050 Cielo Drive, is built on the
location of one of the most infamous crimes of the 20
th Century …
the Manson family murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, and three others in the
early morning hours of 9 August, 1969.
The original house was torn down in the 1990s, and the current home was
subsequently built by producer David Oman.
Soon after the home was built strange events began to occur, and Oman
soon came to realize that he had inherited some,
tenants, from the former home.
The Ghost Adventures Crew had one of their most terrifying
investigations to date in that house, and while I’ll do nothing to reveal any
spoilers, I will say this much: While I
would love to join in with the GAC on one of their adventures, and would enjoy
touring many of the locations they have visited, you couldn't pay me to visit
the Oman house … even in the daylight.
I’ve only touched upon a few of the
paranormal television series that currently populate the cable landscape, and
more are sure to come. The occult and
the paranormal have always drawn an audience, and that isn't likely to change
now. Also not likely to change is the
cable networks willingness to profit from it.
5.)
Kaijû: While
I love giant bugs and monsters in general, the Kaijû of Japan’s Toho studios
are by far my favorites. Godzilla,
Ghidorah, Rodan, Mothra, and the rest have been friends and companions of the
Unimonster almost from infancy. Near
constant exposure during the late ’60s-early ‘70s completely inoculated me with
a love of foam rubber monsters stomping miniature Japanese cities to
rubble. Forty years on, that love is
still going strong, and with new offerings such as last year’s Pacific Rim and Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla [see review below] scoring huge
at the box office, it’s apparent that I’m not the only one who feels that way.
6.)
Comic Book Movies:
Comic books have always been a passion of mine, and the fact that
Hollywood is now embracing them as well, combined with the technology that
allows filmmakers to convincingly create worlds as diverse as Asgaard, Oa,
Krypton, and Sin City, makes this the best era ever for the Comic Book
Movie. And with the upcoming Batman /
Superman film set to go head to head against the second Avengers film, things
can only get better.
7.)
1970s Exploitation Film Pressbooks: Collecting ephemera (advertising paper,
posters, lobby cards, etc.) from our favorite films can be a great way to
celebrate and display your love of movies, but it can be expensive. An original 1954 one-sheet poster for
Universal’s Creature from the Black
Lagoon is worth about $25,000, and a Frankenstein
Meets the Wolf-Man lobby card approximately $10,000. Pressbooks, however, can generally be had for
a fraction of that, around $30-50. And
what, you may ask, are pressbooks?
Pressbooks are the advertising circulars the film distributors sent out
to theaters and drive-ins giving them the information they needed to properly
promote the films they would be exhibiting.
From the pressbook, they could select which posters and lobby cards to
order, select newspaper ads, and order radio and television spots. They are fascinating documents, a look behind
the screen, so to speak, into the world of the motion picture business. My personal favorites are from the 1970s, the
pressbooks of the exploitation films that fed drive-ins and grindhouses with
the movies that kept the fans coming back.
My collection may be small, but it’ll continue to grow … without wiping
out my meager budget.CeBQWlKVCkSQ~~60_35.JPG)
