- Turner Classic Movies’ “Creepy Cinema” series continues on Oct. 17 with the airing of six titles. Two of these center on “Handsome and Homicidal” young men: Tim O’Kelly in Targets, Michael Biehn in The Fan. The other four are British efforts: The Wicker Man, The Lair of the White Worm, The Reptile, and The Plague of the Zombies.
TCM’s ‘Creepy Cinema’ series continues with 2 titles centered on ‘handsome and homicidal’ young men, plus 4 British releases
Turner Classic Movies’ Halloween-themed series “Creepy Cinema” continues on Thursday, Oct 17, with the presentation of six suspense/horror features.
Two of these fall into the subcategory “Handsome and Homicidal”: Targets and The Fan. The other four titles are British productions or co-productions of varying degrees of prestige: The Wicker Man, (the Anglo-American) The Lair of the White Worm, The Reptile, and The Plague of the Zombies. (See TCM’s “Creepy Cinema” movie schedule further below. Most titles will remain available for a while on the Watch TCM app.)
As in previous “Creepy Cinema” evenings, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz will be joined by comedian and Sex and the City actor Mario Cantone.
Note: Both The Fan and The Lair of the White Worm are TCM premieres.
Below is a brief glimpse at TCM’s “Creepy Cinema” offerings (in chronological order).
The Reptile (1966) & The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
Directed by John Gilling, whose credits include Old Mother Riley Meets the Vampire and Odongo, Hammer Films’ The Reptile and The Plague of the Zombies aren’t among the studio’s better known or most admired releases.
Both titles are set in plague-plagued 19th-century rural Cornwall, where you’ll find sinister scientists, reptilian humans, hard-working zombies, and deformed yet serene corpses.
Targets (1968)
Notable as Peter Bogdanovich’s first feature and Boris Karloff’s final prestige effort, Targets interconnects the lives of a veteran horror film actor (played by veteran horror film actor Karloff) and a handsome and wholesome insurance agent (Tim O’Kelly) living in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley.
The catch: The insurance guy also happens to be a gun-loving psychopath who is about to go on a murder spree akin to what had taken place – in real life – in Texas in 1966.
And to think that nearly six decades after Targets was released – and long after the U.S. became the mass-murder capital of the world – the issue of keeping weapons of mass murder far, far away from the mentally unbalanced remains unresolved. But there’s hope: With a Democratic-led Senate and House of Representatives on her side, Kamala Harris, the soon-to-be 47th President of the United States, has vowed to tackle the issue once and for all.
The Wicker Man (1973)
Written by Anthony Shaffer – with elements from David Pinner’s 1967 novel Ritual – Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man is often found on lists of the Best British Movies Ever Made.
But is it?
Well, whether or not you’ll agree with that assessment, there’s a good chance you won’t forget the film’s final sequence.
Edward Woodward plays a devoutly Christian police officer investigating the alleged disappearance of a young girl on a remote Scottish island inhabited by hippiesque practitioners of Celtic Paganism. The alluring female cast includes Oscar nominee Diane Cilento (Tom Jones, 1963), Britt Ekland, and Ingrid Pitt.
A 2006 remake directed by Neil LaBute and starring Nicolas Cage was an all-around disaster.
The Fan (1981)
A critical and box office dud, Ed Bianchi’s The Fan is a good-looking psychological horror thriller – with musical numbers – that for the most part lacks suspense and compelling characterizations. Not helping matters, the musical numbers themselves aren’t all that impressive either.
Michael Biehn plays a handsome and demented New York City record-store clerk and inveterate admirer of a veteran Broadway star played by veteran Hollywood and Broadway star Lauren Bacall, whose characterization of a stage diva is a tad underwhelming.
Also in The Fan are veteran James Garner, wasted as the Broadway star’s former husband and potential “love interest,” and Maureen Stapleton, who overplays as the star’s tough-talking secretary. That same year Stapleton had better luck in a radically different release, Warren Beatty’s political drama Reds, which ultimately earned her the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award.
The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
Loosely based on Bram Stoker’s 1911 novel, Ken Russell’s poorly received commercial flop The Lair of the White Worm chronicles the (comically?) eerie occurrences that take place at an English manor and surrounding areas once an archaeologist (Peter Capaldi) unearths what appears to be the skull of a giant snake.
Or could it be the remains of a mythical oversized “worm” of centuries past?
Hugh Grant is the handsome lord of the manor, Amanda Donohoe is an oddly clad serpent-cult priestess, and Catherine Oxenberg is a bed-and-breakfast co-owner who should exercise extra caution when touching crucifixes.
And here’s where we note that The Lair of the White Worm does have its die-hard (though hopefully not psychopathic) fans.
Immediately below is TCM’s “Creepy Cinema” schedule.
‘Creepy Cinema’: TCM schedule (EDT) – Oct. 17
8:00 PM Targets (1968)
Director: Peter Bogdanovich.
Cast: Tim O’Kelly, Boris Karloff, Nancy Hsueh, James Brown, Arthur Peterson, Tanya Morgan, Mary Jackson, Sandy Baron, Monte Landis, Peter Bogdanovich, Frank Marshall, Mike Farrell.
90m9:45 PM The Fan (1981)
Director: Ed Bianchi.
Cast: Lauren Bacall, James Garner, Michael Biehn, Maureen Stapleton, Hector Elizondo, Anna Maria Horsford, Kurt Johnson, Feiga Martinez, Reed Jones, Kaiulani Lee, Charles Blackwell, Dana Delany, Griffin Dunne, Liz Smith.
95m11:45 PM The Wicker Man (1973)
Director: Robin Hardy.
Cast: Edward Woodward, Christopher Lee, Diane Cilento, Britt Ekland, Ingrid Pitt, Lindsay Kemp, Russell Waters, Aubrey Morris, Irene Sunters, Walter Carr, John Hallam.
97m1:30 AM The Lair of the White Worm (1988)
Director: Ken Russell.
Cast: Amanda Donohoe, Hugh Grant, Catherine Oxenberg, Peter Capaldi, Sammi Davis, Stratford Johns, Paul Brooke, Christopher Gable.
94m3:15 AM The Reptile (1966)
Director: John Gilling.
Cast: Noel Willman, Jennifer Daniel, Ray Barrett.
90m5:00 AM The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
Director: John Gilling.
Cast: André Morell, Diane Clare, Brook Williams.
90m
“Creepy Cinema: Handsome & Homicidal” notes
“Creepy Cinema: Handsome & Homocidal” movie schedule via the TCM website.
Michael Biehn The Fan image:
“Creepy Cinema on TCM: 2 Handsome & Homicidal Young Men” last modified in October 2024.