A GHOST STORY FOR CHRISTMAS (1968, 1973, 1976) – Episode 231 – Decades of Horror 1970s
Decades of Horror | Horror News Radio
Release Date: 01/01/2025
Decades of Horror | Horror News Radio
“Lucifer! Lucifer! Barabas! Barabas! By Santanica, Santanica! Come! Come! Etcetera?” Keep it down in there! Sounds like you’re trying to raise the dead. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they discuss (1974), a microbudget Canadian horror flick with a micro-release. Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 240 – Corpse Eaters (1974) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! Decades of Horror 1970s is partnering with the WICKED...
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“Ah, my friend. Our theory of glandular stimulation through electrical impulses was correct. A few days ago, you were as small as your companion, and now look at you!” Glandular stimulation? Is that a thing you can get? Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Chad Hunt, Bill Mulligan, and Jeff Mohr – as they all go sans-after-shave while investigating (1940), starring Bela Lugosi! Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 202 – The Devil Bat (1940) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to...
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“You play a good game, boy, but the game is finished. Now you die.” Sounds very familiar, doesn’t it, B-O-O-Y-Y-Y? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they cover this legendary franchise-starter, Don Coscarelli’s (1979). Balls of steel, anyone? Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 239 – Phantasm (1979) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! Decades of Horror 1970s is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL () which now...
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“The son of a b**** was strong as hell! Like a demon with an iron club! I was sure I’d wind up as rust on that club.” Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guest Dirk Rogers – as they take in this Japanese classic from writer and director Kaneto Shindô, who brought us Onibaba (1964). The film is Kuroneko (1968, Black Cat), also known by its original title, Yabu no naka no kuroneko. Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 201 – Kuroneko (1968) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube...
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“One hundred years before this story begins, it was a time of darkness in Transylvania, a time when Dr. Abraham Van Helsing and a small band of freedom fighters conspired to rid the world of vampires and monsters and to save mankind from the forces of eternal evil. … They blew it.” Will the Monster Squad blow it, too? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Crystal Cleveland, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they follow the battle between the young monster fighters and the pseudo-Universal Monsters in (1987). Decades of Horror 1980s Episode 282 – The Monster Squad...
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“Are you trying to say that Abby has… flipped out?” Uh, pretty much. Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Gregory Crosby, and Jeff Mohr – as they cover the oft-mentioned, discussed at last, William Girdler’s (1974), featuring William Marshall, Carol Speed, Terry Carter, Juanita Moore, and Austin Stoker. Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 238 – Abby (1974) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! Decades of Horror 1970s is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV...
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“There are certain unseen things that are more real than those which you can see and touch. I know that.” This episode’s opening is a recording from in which It!, a golem movie starring Roddy McDowall, is discussed. It’s the Grue Crew’s introduction to Chad’s talents. Sounds just like Roddy, right? Join this episode’s Grue-Crew – Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guests Bill Mulligan and Joseph Perry – as they discuss their favorite films from each decade of the Classic Era. They’re calling this episode Grue Crew...
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“I’m running this monkey farm now, Frankenstein!” Who wouldn’t want to run the monkey farm? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Crystal Cleveland, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they discuss George A. Romero’s (1985), a film worthy of sitting alongside Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). Decades of Horror 1980s Episode 281 – Day of the Dead (1985) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! Click the alert to get notified of new content! Gruesome Magazine is partnering with...
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“They celebrated a ceremony last night. All that blood indicates the procession by the devil Balujaru.” “All that blood,” you say? What about all the drums? No one could get a wink of sleep! Join your faithful Grue Crew – Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, Jeff Mohr, and guest Jerry Chandler – as they again discuss some European horror, this time from Spain, with Amando de Ossorio’s (1974). Decades of Horror 1970s Episode 237 – The Night of the Sorcerers (1974) Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get...
info_outline“Ghosts? That’s a rather sticky one, isn’t it? I’m not quite certain what you mean, I mean, I’m never quite certain what we are invited to believe, I mean, when anybody asks me a question like that. I’m not even quite certain what I’m being invited to disbelieve.” Ah, yes. British ghost stories. And on Christmas. What could be better? Join your faithful Grue Crew – Doc Rotten, Bill Mulligan, Chad Hunt, and Jeff Mohr – as they create a makeshift anthology from the 1970s BBC series, A Ghost Story for Christmas!
Decades of Horror 1970s
Episode 231 – A Ghost Story for Christmas (1970s)
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Decades of Horror 1970s is partnering with the WICKED HORROR TV CHANNEL (https://wickedhorrortv.com/) which now includes video episodes of the podcast and is available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, and its online website across all OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop.
A Ghost Story for Christmas
- “Whistle and I’ll Come to You,” Omnibus S1.E17 ( May 7, 1968)
- Synopsis: A skeptical professor on vacation in Norfolk finds a cursed whistle.
- Directed by: Jonathan Miller
- Writing Credits: M.R. James (story “Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad,” ); Jonathan Miller (adaptation)
- Selected Cast:
- Michael Hordern as Professor Parkins
- Ambrose Coghill as Colonel
- George Woodbridge as Hotel Proprietor
- Nora Gordon as Proprietress
- Freda Dowie as Maid
- “Lost Hearts” (Dec 25, 1973)
- Synopsis: A young orphan, Stephen, is sent to live with his strange, much older cousin at his remote country house. Once there, Stephen experiences terrible dreams in which he sees a young girl and boy.
- Directed by: Lawrence Gordon Clark
- Writing Credits: M.R. James (story); Robin Chapman (dramatization)
- Selected Cast:
- Simon Gipps-Kent as Stephen
- Joseph O’Conor as Mr. Abney
- James Mellor as Parkes
- Susan Richards as Mrs. Bunch
- Christopher Davis as Boy
- Michelle Foster as Girl
- Roger Milner as Vicar
- Carina Wyeth as Girl – Flashback Scenes (uncredited)
- “The Signalman” (Dec 22, 1976)
- Synopsis. A lonely Signalman is visited by a stranger.
- Directed by: Lawrence Gordon Clark
- Writing Credits: Charles Dickens (story); Andrew Davies (adaptation)
- Selected Cast:
- Denholm Elliott as The Signalman
- Bernard Lloyd as The Traveller
- Reginald Jessup as The Engine Driver
- Carina Wyeth as The Bride
The Grue-Crew assembled their own anthology for this holiday episode and cheated a bit on the decade. They discuss three ghost stories from the United Kingdom. Two are based on stories by M.R. James and one by Charles Dickens; two tales are taken from the 1970s BBC series A Ghost Story for Christmas and the third is the 1968 inspiration for the series. The subjects of this episode are:
- “Whistle and I’ll Come to You,” Omnibus S1.E17, M.R. James ( May 7, 1968)
- “Lost Hearts,” A Ghost Story for Christmas, M.R. James (Dec 25, 1973)
- “The Signalman” A Ghost Story for Christmas, Charles Dickens (Dec 22, 1976)
The 70s crew are divided on one of the shorts but unanimously enthusiastic on the other two. The Brits do ghost stories very well, don’t they?
At the time of this writing, all episodes of A Ghost Story for Christmas (1970s) are available to stream from Shudder. They are also available on physical media on six Blu-ray formatted discs contained in Ghost Stories for Christmas, Volumes 1 & 2, from BFI (may not play on most DVD/Blu-Ray players sold in the US due to region encoding incompatibility).
Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror 1970s is part of the Decades of Horror two-week rotation with The Classic Era and the 1980s. In two weeks, the next episode, chosen by Chad, will be Eyes of Laura Mars (1978), with a script co-written by John Carpenter and starring Faye Dunaway, Tommy Lee Jones, Rene Auberjonois, Brad Dourif, and Raul Julia. Hmmm. What will they think?
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