Public Domain Drive-In: Halloween Double Feature

Sometimes - just sometimes - I think that Night of the Living Dead is to Halloween what It's a Wonderful Life is to Christmas - because it's public domain, it gets played repeatedly, and well, kind of loses something in translation.

However, since I love Night - and in the interest of helping provide some guidance to those few unfortunate souls who may not like zombie movies....well, they're screwed. These are two public domain, kinda sorta zombie movies that have a little bit of creepiness of them, are some prime examples of early 1960's atmosphere...and although neither is perfect, both are well worth a view.

First is a movie that came from the same book that inspired a recent Will Smith movie...The Last Man on Earth is the first film version of I Am Legend (complete with a screenplay written by the novel's author, Richard Matheson. Granted, Vincent Price is seriously miscast, but the film is a kind of mix of creepy noir, some traces of Italian film style, and an inability to decide whether it is about zombies or vampires. Or both. In the then-futuristic year of 1968! (Remember, when that plague nearly wiped out humanity? Yeah, that one). But quite frankly, it's a film that's worth checking out as a pretty good alternative...

...as well as the slightly lesser-known Carnival of Souls. Made for an almost zero budget at an abandoned amusement park, there are times when Carnival of Souls reaches almost Serling-esque heights of oddness. (Of course, at times it looks laughably cheap, but the former always outweights the latter). Of course, it is a rather brisk movie, and the twist comes straight out of Ambrose Bierce. (Warning: Clicking the link will spoil the ending). But thankfully, it's one of the few movies that is really worth checking out - in fact, Hulu is featuring it as one of its "watch online" features.

So this Halloween, if you're looking for some really creepy movies - safe (yet scary enough for the young 'uns), or you're looking for something to test your torrent downloading software, please feel free to check out this double feature.

We now return you to your regular blog.

Torrent Download - The Last Man on Earth

Torrent Download - Carnival of Souls

Internet Archive - The Last Man on Earth

Internet Archive - Carnival of Souls