Wednesday 10 March 2010

H is for.......


Come in, come in, take off your coat, sit here in this chair, no, not that one, that's MOTHER'S chair. Well now that I have lured you, little innocent that you are, into my strange blog (you really would have thought that you would have known better) and now that the door has closed mysteriously and of its own accord behind you, I will tell you that H is for........

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, ooops, sorry, forgive the maniacal laughter

H is for Hammer Horror Films

Don't worry, you are quite safe, you are the heroine so you will survive, albeit traumatised for a minute or two. You only have to worry if you are second billing, the friend of the heroine, or the slightly dozy servant girl from the village, then you will be what is known in the trade as an STBT character (soon to be toast)

When I was in my teens I had a little black and white television in my bedroom, on which I would watch late night films. In those days television still went off in the early hours, none of this 24 hour stuff, and on a Friday night there would be a good old fashioned horror film that went on until after midnight. Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing were the three main protagonists, although you will find it difficult to name a film in which all three appeared. (As far as I am aware there are only two) The formula was pretty straightforward. Innocents abroad have to spend night in creepy location for whatever reason and are either preyed upon by monster/vampire in situ or provide the means for said m/v to travel to a more populated location and cause havoc among the friends and relations of said innocents. Or mad scientist experiments with electricity and soft tissue, or strange virus from space and creates something nasty in the laboratory which then escapes and causes havoc among his friends and relations.

Dracula featured heavily in my favourites but the thing about them was that they were not gory or horrific, they were just a bit spooky or scary and lots of fun. Identifying the STBTs was a good game, continued into my Star Trek days when they became STBTEs (soon to be toast Ensign) They were also great fun for spotting people in their younger days who became famous later on. That game was called "Good heavens it's him/her"

So there I would be in my little bed watching my little B&W tele in the wee small hours in my formative teenage years and you wonder how I grew up to be the well balanced intelligent individual that you see before you now? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Other more sane people will have posted their H's for Alphabe-Thursday at Jenny Matlocks Blog, now that the US has caught up with us HERE is the link

29 comments:

  1. I painted a Vincent Price! I don't know if links work in comments... probably not.... but it's from The Last Man on Earth. Yay for scary movies!

    http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27655132

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay. I never could/can watch horror movies; but my son is totally hooked on the old ones. And would probably love to go in to details, actors, stories..... Anyway, I enjoyed being held hostage in your harrowing post.

    ReplyDelete
  3. HYSTERICAL!!!!!! Heaps of harrowing and horrifying visions.......

    ReplyDelete
  4. I almost left and glad I did not!
    You have outdone yourself!

    Happy Thursday!

    hugs

    shakira

    HOPE FOR GREAT LAKES NOW!

    THEME THURSDAY-HATS

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh the horror!

    I watched a lot in my youth (Alfred Hitchcock, Twilight Zone) but don't have the stomach for what they currently classify as horror these days!

    Enjoyed your post!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Love your "H" post...we must be two peas from the same pod with Horror movies late night and a segue into Star Trek. Quite crafty Haiku as well:-) Peace

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh these were great films to watch with a boyfriend too.
    I once heard Vincent Price on a talk show, (Parkinson?)say that he sometimes sat behind a young courting couple in a darkened cinema and went "Boo!" at a scary part of the film.
    ~Maggie~

    ReplyDelete
  8. Never had TV growing up. I remember going to my grandmothers house and watching Johnny Carson once a year.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I remember watching The Blob when I was little with my grandmother. We were both scared.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't watch horror movies very much. If I watch any on TV, I'm usually switching it back and forth LOL. I just can't stand suspense. One of my mom's favorite stories is when she went to see a dracula movie and she was coming out. For some reason, I'm thinking maybe to promote the movie, Bela Legosi was in town and she saw him walking down the street. I can't count how many times she's told me the story.

    ReplyDelete
  11. ha ha - love the maniacal laughter :D

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yes I'm one of those sane ones *sarcasm* lol Hello Never liked horror movies to be honest . But I like the word "Havoc" . That reminds me of Hammock Oh well I already posted my H word but I have a pic of my son in a hammock looking like he's going to kill somebody . Anyway Bluvi movies anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  13. To this day I don't watch horror movies. I'm the type of person that closes her eyes during scary parts of TV shows, so horror movies wouldn't be my cup of tea. I did see Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds when it first came out and was scared stiff!

    ReplyDelete
  14. I remember when I was little....I was terrified of the witch in the Wizard of Oz!

    ReplyDelete
  15. hahahaha ... love the horror and laughter! I remember those days too ... well nights ... watching creepy black&white movies while babysitting!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Fun H post! :)
    Blessings,
    Catherine :)

    ReplyDelete
  17. i wish the horror films of today were thrillers like the old ones...i can't stomach the gore of "horror" films today. My hubster loves them though...so i spend a great deal of time with my eyes covered!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I was in the basement, black and white set flickering, watching "House of Wax" and shivering - it was long ago, but it still makes me shiver.

    ReplyDelete
  19. great post, read every line, never been a fan of horror movies but I suppose the ones that are made in the old days aren't as frighten as today's

    thanks for your visit

    ReplyDelete
  20. I watched horror movies on Saturday night and then had nightmares for a week. The scarest one was the invasion of the body snatchers. I didn't have my own t.v. but watched in my mom's and dad's room.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Hey, thanks for stopping at my H blog today...
    And I'm so glad I came here...I LOVED Vincent Price.."The Pit and the Pendulum" and all the others. I too watched them alone at night only I was still a kid and would get so scared...but I still watched. I remember "Nightmare" where the guy would kinda sing the work then laugh the hideous laugh (o:
    Thanks for the memory jogger...Great H post!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Not a horror films fan. I am quite a scardy cat. I always liked more of the adventure films on Saturday afternoons like Sindbad.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thanks for visiting my H blog, and directing me here! I love horror movies, but noone will watch them with me, so I have to watch them alone. I do remember being a child, and "sneakily" watching Salem's Lot. My dad was watching it on tv (I think it was in mini-series form back in the day) and I would sneak down the hall, on my belly, just close enough to see the tv but where he couldn't see me...and watch it. But it backfired b/c I got too scared to go to sleep, even with my homemade crosses all around me...and had to confess what I'd done. Luckily, Daddy was amused and sympathetic and talked me into a calm so I could sleep!
    but I do, to this day, love scary movies!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Oh no! I Hate Horror films.

    They scare me witless. Perhaps that is what is wrong with me on some days!

    I can't even hear the scary music without freaking out!

    You should definitely hang out with Julie. She loves the horror stuff, too!

    Scary H post!

    But an A+ anyway!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Oh Mr Posh adores all the old Hammer Horrors

    ReplyDelete
  26. I remember these! Great H post.....where I was, they called them sinister cinemas...they were on late Saturday nights......melinda

    ReplyDelete
  27. I'm with Jenny on this one, even the music creeps me out. Give me comedy, life is horrible enough sometimes.!

    ReplyDelete
  28. I definitely do not like scary shows...when I was little, I was afraid of those hairy creatures from the land of the lost....no scaries for me...I just don't like the feeling of being scared and stressed out!

    ReplyDelete
  29. I love old scary movies. Can't stomach the newer ones, I don't like gore! But the old ones were fun and campy and just spooky enough! What a fun post that brought back alot of good memories. Kathy

    ReplyDelete