Friday, May 17, 2013

Friday Night Video

Tonight's video is another stroll down memory lane. This clip is from a double feature I went to see at the Paramount Theater back in my old home town on a Saturday afternoon- over forty years ago (yikes!). It was one of those days that my older brother was forced to spend some time with me- most likely because Mom and Dad wanted to get us out of the house.

The double feature was the classic "House of Wax", coupled with that family favorite: "The Man With the X-ray Eyes". This seems a little odd to me now, as I was known to be kept awake at bedtime by "Bad Thoughts", as Dad called them. These Bad Thoughts kept Mom and Dad awake too.

The Bad Thoughts were a result of all of the stresses of the day and all of the fears of the coming night, coupled with an overactive imagination, a predisposition to be a worrier, plus the heightened emotions that tend to present themselves at bedtime. So sending this kind of a little kid to a double matinee of horror movies doesn't seem to be the best move to me. I can only guess that for Mom and Dad, the gamble was worth the risk.

Anyway, "House of Wax" played first. The clip below is a decent representation of the only things I remember from that movie. This is probably due to the fact that I spent almost the entire afternoon cowering on the floor of the movie theater, too scared to enjoy my Juji Fruits, Jaw Breakers and Fire Balls.

At some point, when I felt it was finally safe enough to see what was going on, I slowly and carefully peaked over the seat in front of me- just in time to see scenes like those below (sans the awful muscic that the poster felt the need to dub in). I immediately went back to hugging the floor.

By the time I summoned enough courage to look at the screen again, it was near the end of "The Man With the X-Ray Eyes". I was just in time to see Ray Milland pluck his eyes out... But that's a clip for another night.

For now, turn the volume all the way off (I have no idea what that music is all about), then sit back and enjoy with me a fond childhood memory  ...


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