FINAL GIRL explores the slasher flicks of the '70s and '80s...and all the other horror movies I feel like talking about, too. This is life on the EDGE, so beware yon spoilers!

May 21, 2009

and now for a musical interlude...

...courtesy of the sensational 1976 film Track of the Moonbeast.



By "sensational", of course, I mean "craptacular". But it's borne of a craptacular ilk of which everyone should partake once in his or her lifetime- I really only recommend once, as this movie is really, really bad. But still.

I also recommend traveling back in time so you can watch it when you're about 8 years old; when I was about 8 years old and I saw Track of the Moonbeast, I was oblivious to its atrociousness. As such, the scene where the dude hears a noise outside and he goes to check it out and the dude's wife is all "Noooo!" because duh, the noise is coming from the Moonbeast, but the dude goes anyway and he totally gets killed outside and we know because his blood comes oozing in under the door totally scared the mental pants right off of me. I still think about that scene and how it moonrocked my face off like a lunar Mount Rushmore.

Now I like to pretend that "California Lady" was written just for ME!

7 comments:

Verdant Earl said...

The film may have been released in 1976, but it was made in 1972. Problems with finding a distributor and all.

So while it may have been technically awful for 1976, it was semi-amazing for 1972. A whole 4 years passed, fer crissakes!

said...

I would never have heard of this film if not for it being featured on MST3k's final (and shapeshifter-plagued) season.

I have to say I could totally see myself enjoying the film if I had caught it during my childhood- after all I have fond memories of ASSIGNMENT TERROR and THE ALIEN FACTOR.

Oh and if you liked that craptacular musical interlude let me share one from the sublime POINT OF TERROR. A film so bad one of my frieds left town without notice a few weeks after I made him watch it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsUFBEnW1nc


Ah... the 70's...

Richard Doyle said...

The moonbeast was played by FX man Joe Blasco, best known for inventing air bladder effects for Cronenberg's "Shivers" at the same time as they were being invented by Dick Smith for "The Exorcist"

Stacie Ponder said...

I love the idea of a movie being SO BAD that it causes someone to pack up and flee town...presumably in the middle of the night! :D

Great Track trivia, guys...way more interesting than the film itself.

Anonymous said...

"I need something to induce vomiting...-sings- California Laaady....BLAAARGH!!!"

Of course, every time I listen to "Take It Easy" by the Eagles, I think of that song...

Topsyjane said...

Do you think the "Moonbeast" folks knew they were stealing the 'blood oozing under the door" scare from THE LEOPARD MAN (1943), or not? There are differences - the LEOPARD man scene involves a mother refusing to let in her shilly-shallying daughter (the lazy girl took too long to buy flour! Bitch.) instead of a drunk husband coming home yet again after a-drinkin' with sleepin' on his mind. And LEOPARD MAN is a good movie, directed by Jacques Tourneur, who also did the original CAT PEOPLE. Meow, y'all.

The Man-Cave said...

Haven't had the pleasure to see this one. but thanks for the song clip. Now I am going to go pop my eardrums!