All posts by Patti PaulterGeist

Owner, operator, and fuzzy retro feelers giver at NightmareNostalgia.com. Worshipper of our Lord and savior Boo Berry, Patti is a seasoned pro having written for the top horror websites and magazines over the past few years until she decided to go balls to the wall and make her own focusing on pure feel-good nostalgia. Mom to two humans and three furballs.

Home Video Releases

“Dr. Death” Footage Found and Restored For Scream Factory “Halloween 5” 4K Release!

Image August 31, 2021 Patti PaulterGeist 1 Comment

It’s been nearly 32 years since the release of Michael’s revenge on Haddonfield, and what seems even longer, two years since the long-lost Dr. Death footage from Halloween 5 were finally found. Now, with the release of Scream Factory’s Ultra 4k and Blu-Ray Halloween disc collection, it’s been confirmed that said footage will be included in The Revenge Of Michael Myers!

In case you need a refresher, the original opening scenes of the film found Michael Myers swept under the care of a young occultist in lieu of the hermit in the theatrical cut of the film. This guy, who has been adorned Dr. Death, was the one who initially gave Michael the symbol of Thorn, which is also seen in the awaking of Myers in the hermit’s lair for the first time, with ZERO explanation. The “Dr. Death” scene was later scrapped in editing and was replaced with the hermit version we all know.

Here are the full features for the new Scream Factory release

NEW 2021 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
NEW 2021 Dolby Atmos Track
Audio Commentary With Actor Don Shanks And Author Justin Beahm
Audio Commentary With Director Dominique Othenin-Girard And Actors Danielle Harris And Jeffrey Landman
HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS (1989) DISC TWO (BLU-RAY):
NEW 2021 4K Scan Of The Original Camera Negative
NEW 2021 Dolby Atmos Track
Audio Commentary With Don Shanks And Justin Beahm
Audio Commentary With Dominique Othenin-Girard, Danielle Harris, And Jeffrey Landman
NEW Long-Lost Alternate Opening Sequence Featuring The Appearance Of Dr. Death
NEW Extra Snippets Of Gore Cut To Obtain An R-Rating
NEW “Of Darkness And Shadows – The Cinematography of Halloween 5” – An Interview With Cinematographer Robert Draper
“Inside Halloween 5”
“Dead Man’s Party – The Making Of Halloween 5” – A Two-part Featurette
“On The Set: Behind-The-Scenes Footage”
Horror’s Hallowed Grounds – A Look At The Original Filming Locations
Halloween 5 Original Promo
Theatrical Trailer
TV Spots
NEW Newspaper Ad Still Gallery By Drive-In Asylum
Still Gallery

Scream Factory has the first five films up for pre-order with a release date of October 5th, 2021. Get your Dr. Death order on by heading over to Scream Factory’s website above or a la carte here at Amazon!

Retro Toy Corner

The Downfall Of The My Buddy Doll Thanks To A Good Guy Named Chucky

Image August 30, 2021 Patti PaulterGeist 12 Comments

Without skipping a beat, 80s’ kids know that My Buddy jingle- and we also know without a doubt, THIS, without a doubt, is the true inspiration behind the Child’s Play franchise. Sure, the Cabbage Patch Kids as originally stated, served as some inspiration for good ol’ Chuck. But My Buddy was in itself, was inspired by the Xavier Roberts’ line. Also, looking at this pair side-by-side, it’s beyond obvious we know where he got his look from.

In the earlier part of the decade, Cabbage Patch Dolls rules the ugly doll market with a mighty fist; crushing any and all competitors that stood in their creepy, cabbage-dwelling way. Although considered non-gender specific, the dolls were mostly marketed towards little girls. The boys had their GI JOES and HE-MAN, and that seemed to be the way it just was. Up until Hasbro launched a market campaign with a doll, directly marketed to boys as, “A little boy’s special friend! Rough and tough, yet soft and cuddly.”

The My Buddy doll was officially stocked on store shelves in 1985 and actually sold fairly well – ranking in eighth place officially as the top-ten selling toys for that year. But it didn’t last long. And neither did his off-shoot Kid Sister either- which I TOTALLY HAD.

And intro the theme song that will probably be stuck in your head the rest of the day. In which case, was most certainly the biggest selling point of this doll. It truly was the perfect combination for creating a memorable identity for a toy while cleverly referencing the doll’s name throughout the “earworm” so much so, all kids’ would remember the name My Buddy or Kid Sister when asking for an oversized bundle of plastic and stuffing with sewn-on clothing.

Then, 1988 happened and in comes Chucky to permanently bury that pussy My Buddy/ Kid Sister duo forever into the hallowed grounds of unwanted toys.

Now while, it has already been confirmed via Don Mancini himself that the Cabbage Patch Kids served as some sort of muse for Chucky, along with other things, (NOT that garbage Robert the Doll story that has been circulating for years); it wasn’t until fairly recently that Mancini himself admitted to there being an inspiration from My Buddy as well. This could be due to any possible lawsuits that could have come his way and towards the studios with such an admission. Which, of course, is fair enough. However, we all knew better anyway.

Hell, everything from the look itself, the fake toy box, all the way down to the commercials screamed this was a blatant killer copy-cat. Come on… Even in the original pitched script Chucky’s name was “Buddy”; which of course, was later actually utilized in the reboot of the franchise in 2019.

Now don’t get it twisted. I’m certainly not giving the guy (Mancini) any shit. I’m eternally grateful to have such a marvelous, witty, pint-sized horror maniac in the horror movie legends roster. But, let’s face facts. Chucky was directly inspired by My Buddy- who in turn, had a hand in the down-fall of the doll.

Just like with Freddy, every kid in the late 80s’ early 90s’ knew all about Chucky; and we closely associated the plastic terror with the My Buddy doll. My younger brother had a My Buddy doll prior to the movie coming out, as I did as well with his sister companion. However, shortly after seeing the movie, we got rid of those fuckin’ nightmare inducing wads of stuffing on the fact it resembled it TOO much; and it did give my brother several nightmares. He did NOT want that thing in his room anymore; and unfortunately, that same scenario rang true for many other kids as well. Whether it was the kids themselves, or parents making that association, the My Buddy toy line suffered. Hasbro subsidiary Playskool continued manufacturing the doll into the 1990s, while changing up his look a bit to distance the toy’s legacy away from the Child’s Play series. But, it didn’t have the effect the toymakers’ thought it would and My Buddy went completely off line in the 90s’ due to poor sales.

Prior to the upcoming Child’s Play series coming in October from SyFy, Chucky’s kill count sits at 74. Let’s just make it 75 because My Buddy deserves at least that.

News

Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” Throwback to the 1992 Version

Image August 27, 2021 Patti PaulterGeist Leave a comment

There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes, and the absolute truth that no SANE kid from the 90s’ will actually say Candyman in the mirror five times without pissin’ their pants a little bit.

Candyman, based on a story by Clive Barker titled “The Forbidden”, is a cautionary tale of racism, betrayal, and revenge that formed both into a modern urban legend both on and off-screen. The 1992 film will all know so well that later spawned two sequels, stars the legendary Tony Todd as the “Candyman” and Virginia Madsen as Helen Lyle as his opposite and ultimate “victim”. Helen, a bright student investigating the Candyman lore in rural Detroit for her thesis, discovers the shocking and very real horrors behind the “legend” while also becoming a bit of one herself. In one of the earlier scenes in the film in particular where Helen and her associate Bernadette are nosing around Cabrini Green, Helen takes off by herself in a crawl space and finds an “offering” to what is obviously Candyman- a pile of candy, that has razor blades in it. Yet, another urban legend in itself that was used cleverly in the film, and may have possibly served as the inspiration for Nia DaCosta’s version of Candyman herself.

In this fresh, new take on the story that keeps caused a shit-ton of sleepless nights for me personally in the 90s’, Michael Hargrove takes on the role Todd made infamous, as Sherman Fields, aka Candyman. Fields, before being brutally murdered by police, was a one-handed man who used to give sweets to the children of Cabrini-Green; which actually seems really nice! However, he is later falsely accused of putting razor blades inside the candy, resulting in a death that, especially now, holds a lot horrific truths into our own reality even today in 2021.

While it definitely isn’t a case of foreshadowing here, it certainly feels like DaCosta got some inspiration for the Candyman’s origins from the 1992 film. Kind of gives a new and twisted meaning to “sweets to the sweet”, eh?

Now, a possible SPOLIER. I have NOT seen the film yet, but I have a theory, much like others, that may ruin it for those who haven’t connected these dots yet. So stop here if you’d rather be surprised.

In the 1992 film, Madsen comes across a woman named Anne Marie in Cabrini Green, who has an infant son named Anthony- who is later taken by Candyman and used as a pawn in his game with Helen. Helen essentially saves his life, while sealing her own fate.

In the new film, one of the main characters is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy; a visual artist who becomes obsessed with the Candyman legend. In several plot descriptions of the 2021 film, it has been repeated that he has a connection with Candyman himself. Is it possible that Anthony is in fact, Anne Marie’s child that was in the 1992 film?

It’s a completely plausible theory.