1. "Where is Everybody?", The Twilight Zone, 1959.

Ah, the classic Twilight Zone. The Definitive Collection was a birthday gift to myself. We needed to start somewhere, so the first episode seemed like a good place. Although for some reason, I had always thought "Nothing in the Dark" with Robert Redford was the first episode. I don't know where I got that from. But that was actually from the third season. And Ken thought "Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" was it, but that wasn't until Season 5. So we're all mixed up. They still hold up, though. The bit with the mirror is fantastic.

2. Dracula, 1931.

A perennial for the Film Fest, I still haven't figured out what's up with the opossum and the armadillos, although they do explain them (if I remember correctly) in the commentary for the most excellent Legacy Collection edition.

3. The Frozen Ghost, 1945

I just love Lon Chaney, Jr. I really do. He just seems like a big (well, no, he is big), likeable guy. The kind you'd want to buy a cup of coffee. It's funny–I thought just now that he would make the perfect Lennie–and he apparently was the perfect Lennie in 1939. I need to go find a copy of that. Anyway, these Inner Sanctum movies are just a great time. And as for Martin Kosleck, is it just me, or was he one of the prototypes for Campbell Scott in The Impostors? Also, how do we know Chaney is cool?

*SPOILER – swipe to see* Because not only does he save the day, but he gets his old girlfriend back and picks up another young lady for his troubles. As the three of them happily march out of the museum at the end, you can't tell me that's not what's up there. Lucky bastard.

What's going to be very funny is that in a few months when I change the theme of the site, the background probably won't be black, and so that will stick out like a sore thumb. Oh well.

4. "The Ripper," Kolchak: The Night Stalker, 1974.

Although he's probably best known to folks of my generation as the Old Man in A Christmas Story, McGavin as Kolchak just rocks. The character is the perfect cynical goofball. He goes after the Ripper in all seriousness, trying to dispatch the bastard–and you buy it. But he also gets arrested in a humorous situation trying to hide and setup watch for the Ripper–and you buy that too. In fact, he makes you believe that you could have somebody like the Ripper running around and getting perforated and still ticking–and that nobody could see it but for him. What a great show, and Moonstone's continuing adventures of Kolchak are actually pretty dead on.

5. The Creature From the Black Lagoon, 1954.

The thing that strikes me now, rewatching this, is how much of this film lacks dialogue. Anytime you're underwater, they're in the old school aqualung gear, so dialogue can't happen. Such a heavy reliance on the film score and the fact that the Creature still looking pretty good (especially when submerged). This is a Legacy Collection edition as well, and I haven't watched the bonus bits to see if they take you through the suit itself (which is pretty impressive for the time, I would think), but I need to do that.

Next…Succubus from 1968.