ABC, 3-D, and More…

We’ve been having a great time with our Halloween weekend- with our radio visits with Garry Meier and Nick Digilio on WGN, and the fun events at Parker’s “Bark-o-ween” and the “Nightmare on Chicago Street” in Elgin (more about that soon!)- and- it’s not over yet! Today, we’re headed for the Muvico Theaters in Rosemont, for a special 4K 3-D digital projection of “Creature from the Black Lagoon”! Yes, it’s the current style of Polarized 3-D, not the old green and red system- and it’s a digital restoration of the 3-D film, from the original 2 strip 35mm elements, so I’m guessing you’ll see the 3-D effects even BETTER than the audiences in 1954 did! I’ll be there to sign autographs and take photos with ticket holders for this event from 2 to 4 pm (and, we WILL have Sven t-shirts and button sets for sale- just what you need to wear to the office on Halloween, or to answer the door for those trick-or-treaters!) then, at 4 pm, ChicagoFilm.com critic Lee Shoquist will talk about the movie- followed by your truly giving a brief introduction to the film! This is definitely a family affair- because the Flashback Weekend folks running this event will have a children’s Halloween party with games, arts and crafts and a costume contest for kids from 2 to 4- and, on screen, they’ll have a collection of classic Halloween short subjects! For more info, you can go to www.muvico.com – and you’ll find the theaters just off River Road at 9701 Bryn Mawr Avenue in Rosemont! I hope you’ll get to experience this one-of-a kind presentation! Media-wise- rumor has it that I may just show up on ABC 7’s “190 North “ show tonight…in a special Halloween edition… and, I have it on good authority that the folks at WGN radio (720 AM) are still not sick of me yet- I’ll be on with Bill Leff Monday night just after midnight! And, back at our home stations- I wouldn’t be surprised if I show up on Halloween day itself on the “You and Me This Morning” show on WCIU, the U- right after 7 pm… A few kind viewers pointed out that, in my talk about the werewolf as our “Halloween Horror of the Day” yesterday, I neglected to mention, among some of the screen wolf men, Michael Landon’s unforgettable “Teenage Werewolf”! Good call- this 1950s fright was indeed a worthy representation of the werewolf- as the varsity-jacketed teen wolf caused a great many nightmares for viewers of “I Was a Teenage Werewolf”. Can anybody forget the upside-down image of the wolf boy, as seen by the sweet teenaged gymnast miss hanging upside down from the parallel bars? This werewolf, though, does not change when the moon is full- an experimental serum, injected into the teen by a doctor trying to cure his attacks of rage, makes the young man “regress” to a primitive state-that of the animalistic werewolf. As long as we’re discussing the 1950s “teenage” monsters- why don’t we name our “Halloween Horror of the Day” for today- and bestow the title on the other half of this teen double-feature- the Teenage Frankenstein of “I Was a Teenage Frankenstein”?! This creation, by a contemporary Dr. Frankenstein, is made up of sewn together body parts the doctor has collected- including the body of a young man who was in an auto wreck. Discarding any useless body parts in a tank where an alligator snacks on such refuse, the doctor puts all the “good” parts together, and uses electricity to bring his hideous teenager back to life…prompting him to speak by saying “I know you have a civil tongue in your head- because I sewed it back myself”! The teen fright has a horrid disfigured face- so the doctor sets him to a new task- killing another teen to get a new face for himself! This high school horror gets high enough marks to be named to our honor roll as “Halloween Horror of the Day’!