Comparison of the two versions of 1931's Dracula

On September 29th, 1930 - Production began on Tod Browning’s Dracula.



On October 10th, 1930 - George Melford’s Spanish Language version began it’s production.



This would be the last time Universal would shoot a foreign language version of a film.

Over the years there’s been a belief that the Spanish version is technically superior to the English language version. In truth, the English version has 43 camera moves, while the Spanish has only 37. The English version has 28 camera pans, while the Spanish only has only 13.

The Spanish version is 29 minutes longer, but it just makes the movie more slower paced, without adding much to the story.



Both versions have one scene that the other doesn’t have. In the Spanish version, there is no killing of a flower girl. Without this scene, it doesn’t make sense when another victim is referenced later on.



The English version doesn’t have the killing of Lucy, which leaves people to assume that she’s still out there preying on young children.



The Spanish version uses some shots from footage filmed for the English version. This creates a goof, when they show 2 different trios of Dracula’s brides, giving him 6 brides in the Spanish version.





In my opinion, a lot of the scenes are better staged in the English version. When Renfield meets Dracula in the castle, Dracula is more menacing towering over him. In the Spanish version, they end up face to face compressed into the same shot.



For the reveal of the cross, in the English version Van Helsing brakes Dracula’s mind control through sheer will, as opposed to the Spanish version, where it’s peek a boo style to avoid Dracula’s control while bringing out the cross.



Cutting away from Renfield as he creeps towards the maid in the English version is a lot creepier than the fly gag that was left in the Spanish version.



The descent down the stairs is a lot smoother in the English version. In the Spanish version,  you get an awkward start and stop as he sets her down, and then picks her up.



The book “Tod Browning’s Dracula” is a good account of the making of the two versions of Dracula.



Both movies are available on DVD/Blu ray.

Halloween theme music used in the non horror world

John Carpenter is best known as a director, but he also has a second career as a musician. He composed many of his early movies, and has gone on to release non movie specific songs in his two "Lost Themes" albums.



His most famous song is the main theme he composed for his 1978 film “Halloween”.



The iconic music is a staple in horror film history, but it’s also found it’s way into the non horror world.

In the late 1980s, the Halloween theme was used as entrance music in World Championship Wrestling for the tag team The Samoan Swat Team (SST). What the horror theme has to do with Samoan pro wrestlers is beyond me, but they looked pretty bad ass walking to the ring with that music blaring.



In 1991 rapper Ice T remixed the theme for his song “The Tower”. The slowed down Halloween theme works well with the lyrics about violent prison life.



The SST ring entrances and “The Tower” music video can be found on Youtube.

The other creator of the modern day zombie

“Night of the Living Dead” (1968) was the creation of the modern zombie. No longer were they  henchman to choke people out, this was an apocalypse of undead cannibals. And if you died, you became one of the creatures you were fighting against.



A lot of people credit George Romero as the sole creator of the new breed of zombie. But in fact he was only half the equation. John Russo co wrote the script of “Night of the Living Dead”. It was a combination of Romero’s variation on “Last Man On Earth”, (the first adaption of “I Am Legend”),  and Russo’s story of flesh eaters. And it was Russo who’s idea it was to start the movie at a cemetery.



In my opinion, “Night of the Living Dead” was the best of the Romero directed zombie films. After that they became too satirical, and too on the nose with social commentary.

“The Walking Dead” has best realized the potential of the zombie subgenre created by “Night of the Living Dead”.  It’s not trying to make fun of it’s creatures or push heavy handed politics. It simply shows what the world could become as the zombie apocalypse wears on. A world where man is equally as dangerous as zombies.



In 1978 Russo wrote a novel for his idea of a “Night of the Living Dead” sequel called “Return of the Living Dead”. The title would later be used in an unrelated 1985 horror/comedy, but this story was a straight forward follow up to Night. The situation of Night had been contained, and everything was back to normal, until ten years later when it started up again. In this world it was still something that could be contained, not the post apocalypse zombie world that's the norm nowadays. But this story felt like a “Walking Dead” story in that man was the bigger threat, and the protagonists had to deal with a group of killers and rapists.



If you’ve never seen “Night of the Living Dead”, or haven’t watched it in awhile, it’s definitely worth viewing where the modern day zombie first came to life.

Horror stories in the original Star Trek

The original “Star Trek” series is considered one of the greatest science fiction shows of all time, launching a franchise that continues to this day.

Two of the episodes in that landmark sci fi show very much fell into the horror category. Both written by none other than “Psycho” author Robert Bloch.

The first was “Catspaw”, which aired October 27, 1967.



Captain Kirk and his landing party beam down to Pyrus VII, where they encounter witches, zombies, and even a black cat.

The second was “Wolf In the Fold”, which aired December 22, 1967.



On the planet Argelius II , Scotty is accused of Jack The Ripper style murders.
Bloch had previously written two Jack the Ripper short stories, “Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper” and “A Toy For Juliette”.

So if you want some horror in your Star Trek stories, check these two episodes out.

Horror movies on USA Network in the 1980s

A lot of people look back fondly at the video store days of the 80s, being drawn to a horror movie they’ve never heard of by a really cool box cover. But for me cable was the more accessible way to discover a new horror gem. Looking to fill airtime in a new medium, cable was a gold mine for horror fans.

USA network nowadays is just another mainstream channel, but back then it was more like youtube. There was a wide ranging of programming during the week, but the weekends were loaded with horror.

First up was the Friday night show “Night Flight”. Created by Stuart S. Shapiro in 1981, the show would run until 1988.  The signature bumper was the Night Flight graphic flying over the city, while narrator Pat Prescott would give information on what we were about to watch.

Night Flight mostly showed alternative rock videos and offbeat shorts, but they’d also show horror movies like “Night of the Living Dead”, “Phantom Creeps”, “Invisible Ghost”, etc.



On Saturday afternoons there was “Commander USA’s Groovie Movies”. A horror host show which debuted in 1985. Actor Jim Hendricks played the part of Commander USA, a retired superhero showing movies on his psychotronic screen. He’s similar to The Comedian character from the 1986/87 comic “Watchmen”.



He showed a wide range of horror movies, from dubbed Mexican horror movies like “Vampire’s Coffin” to the first three “Friday the 13th” movies. Leading into or coming out of commercial breaks, he’d do a comedy segment, sometimes doing a parody of the scene that just played.

In 1986 he did a tie in contest promotion with “Psycho 3” where people who called a 900 number could potentially win an overnight stay at the Bates Motel.




The format for Commander USA’s Groovie Movies started as double features, but eventually it was only a single feature as time went on. The show lasted until 1989.

And then on Saturday night was “Saturday Nightmares”, which ran from 1984 until 1994. It would start off with a horror movie, and then show one or two anthology shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Hitchhiker, etc.



All three USA network programs can be found online. Commander USA and Saturday Nightmares lives on only from people who happened to tape it off TV. Sadly all the masters were tossed by USA network years ago.

In closing, as Commander USA always signed off with: “Keep your nose in the wind, and your tail to yourself. See ya pilgrim”.