Friday, November 30, 2018

THE 'MARK OF THE VAMPIRE' MURDER


One cool December morning in 1938, a man and his mother-in-law ventured out into a lonely, wooded area just north of the City of Oakland, CA to pick mushrooms. What they found instead was the stone cold dead body of young Leona Vlught lying in a ravine. The autopsy revealed three red puncture wounds on her throat. It wasn't long before the term "vampire" was being used to characterize the killer.

Railroad office stenographer Rodney Greig was eventually identified as a suspect by a tip provided to the police, and was thereafter apprehended red-handed with the murder weapon (a knife), as well as a locket that belonged to Miss Vlught. His reason? "Honest, I don't know why I did it," was his answer on the stand.

The story appeared in the August 1939 issue of INSIDE DETECTIVE, just a few years after Bela Lugosi played Count Mora in MGM's MARK OF THE VAMPIRE. The photo in the article used to suggest that the killer was indeed, a vampire is a vignette of Lugosi as Mora. The caption insists that Greig has an "astonishing" resemblance to Lugosi. I'll let you be the judge.

Knowing that the topic would be good copy to sell to readers, there are suggestions that connect the crime to vampirism, including the triangular punctures that further advanced the possibility that the neck wounds were made by fangs (a tri-cuspid?). Setting the scene is a quote "From An Old Carpathian Almanac" regarding vampires that precedes the story. 

Greig turned out to be nothing more than a garden variety human monster, a typical sadistic lust killer that murdered on impulse. Leona Vlught herself is characterized as a bit of a floozy, and she might have unknowingly contributed to at least some of the consequences of her ill-fated date with Greig as she was known as a girl that got passed around by multiple boyfriends. This is an interesting piece of true crime reporting that kept me reading until the end. I suspect it will you, too.










Thursday, November 29, 2018

GOTH COUTURE GALLERY NO. 3


Presented today is another staker's dozen of Goth women, many with a decidedly vampiric theme to their decolletage. Whether adorned in simple lace or decked out in velvet, these ladies represent the epitome of the fashion "vamp".














Wednesday, November 28, 2018

THE NEW WHO AND MORE JAMIE LEE

Photo: The Radio Times
It not too hard to see the dismantling of male-dominated feature roles in media, including news and sports. It hasn't stopped there; complete role reversals are the norm in comics (Thor a woman?), movies and TV these days. Following in the footsteps of the Mighty Marvel, who most recently feminized the character of Capt. Marvel, the newest in a long line of the BBC's Dr. Who is now a woman.

I liked the elfin-faced Jodie Whittaker's character in the detective/mystery series BROADCHURCH, so I was familiar with her talent. She has also been a respected actress in the UK ever since her breakout film, VENUS, with the late, great Peter O' Toole. Admittedly, I have yet to see an episode with her as the new Who, but I have no doubt see is doing a capital job.

The October 20-26 issue of the UK's TV programmer, RADIO TIMES has a look at the new Dr. Who along with the TARDIS makeover.








BONUS POST: We're not quite done with the 40th Anniversary of HALLOWEEN. Here's a two-page spread from RT.



Tuesday, November 27, 2018

THE VAMPIRES OF TERRORLAND


"The fearsome Things had the legs and bodies of men; yet their heads and faces were shaggy, with great pointed ears!

Are you ready for a rollicking boy's action adventure tale? You've come to the right place! This story from the March 5, 1932 Canadian/Australian weekly newsprint magazine, BOY'S LIFE (Vol. 20 No. 522) promises for only 2 pence, a "Eerie Mystery Tale Within" announced on the cover. The story, "The Vampires of Terrorland" is the continuation of a serial involving the plucky "Bottles" and "Master Harry", whose plane bound from London to Berlin (remember this takes place in the early days of Hitler) makes an emergency landing in the Hartz Mountains. The boys are trying to hook back up with their chaperone, Professor Warren Kingswood. While wandering around the fringes of Count Sylvanus von Stelth (!) estate, they are confronted by all manner of weird and menacing villains, including the aforementioned vampires.

Read on, and enjoy!








Monday, November 26, 2018

INTL 'ZINE: PELICULAS DE TERROR


CINE PREMIERE
Special Edition (One shot)
November, 2018
Hachette Filipacche Presse, S.A.
Editor-in-Chief: Jessica Oliva
Editor: Arturo Magano Arce
Graphics Editor: Cindy Whitehouse
Cover: Illustration from "The Ring"
Pages: 52
Cover Price: Mexico - $50.00; USA - $4.00

Mexico has its own movie magazine titled, CINE PREMIERE. It is a long-running publication that covers movies from around the world, en espanol. The November issue is a special edition, "Los Mejores 50 Peliculas De Terror Del Nuevo Milenio", or, "The 50 Best Horror Movies of the New Millennium".

After taking a look, I find it hard to disagree with most of their selections and the runner's up listed on the last page should definitely be off the list of "the best".

This is a beautifully produced magazine and does honor to our beloved monster movies. Page layouts are very creative and, according to my limited understanding of Spanish, there's just enough info on each movie to pique any horror fan's interest.