Flea Market and Thrift Store Finds August 2015

I'm pretty sure I said I wouldn't use that header photo again, but screw it, I've been way too lazy to make a new one. Sorry. I know it's an awkward eye sore.

So it's been a little over a month since the now infamous "50 Mile Yard Sale" and in that month, I decided to take a small break from flea marketing and yard sales. I mean, why not? I struck it pretty big down in Montezuma. I had a hard time believing I'd top that trip. But I was wrong. Dead wrong. It started with finding THIS at a local thrift store for only 6 bucks(7 including tax):

Yup. You know EXACTLY what that is. An almost complete(just needs the Ecto Plasm) Ghostbusters house with instructions and the promo poster. Neat huh? Now, I'm sure after this, I could've retired. But I'm too greedy for awesome finds. So I took a chance today, preparing to fail and headed out.

Boy, am I glad I did.

VHS LOT($6):

Ghoulies 1-3, a movie called Karate Cop, Howard the Duck, Mortal Kombat Annihilation, I come in Peace and a weird video called When Mom and And Dad Break Up hosted by Alan Think are just some of the beauties I found. A very solid lot. As far as VHS hauls this year, it's great and may be my best. I have most of this week off, and I plan to devote as much time to this pile as possible.

Now, one tape is being excluded from this pile for a reason...

A vhs tape filled with nothing but Tales From The Crypt. I haven't watched this yet, but I'm guessing it could be a copy of the vhs volumes from the 90s or syndication. One thing's for sure, I'm gonna look forward to watching this and finding out!


LOOSE FIGURES($4 Entire Lot):

I've been slowly building my Dick Tracy collection so finding Steve The Tramp and Dick for only a buck? Success. Especially since I've been eyeballing lots on eBay lately. The other two, a Hasbro Ted Dibiase and an LJN bendable Big John Studd, are just for when I vend at a flea market later on in the year. Although, I may just keep Dibiase. That's a pretty good representation of him from that era, despite being my least favorite Hasbro mold/pose/action mechanism.

ET Glass($1):

I've seen a lot of these out and about at the thrift store and flea markets and being a huge fan of the movie, I always wanted one. But, the prices are usually ludicrous. I'm sorry, I'm not paying close to 10 bucks for this glass, as nice as it is. So when the guy who sold me the figures above offered this for a buck, what was I gonna say? "No way, turd, you look like that weird blonde guy from Hootie and the Blowfish, so shove it.". No! I had to jump on this. It's pretty tall and sturdy, so it'll be washed and join my Demolition glass in the cupboard. I bet it'll be pretty good with warm apple cider filling it up...



DICK TRACY FLATTOP UNPUNCHED($5):

Holy cow. This.

This may be my personal favorite from today's search. I've always wanted to get one of these signed by actor William Forsythe, but the usual asking price of close to 30 bucks is downright silly. As fun as these guys were, they never really sold well and just kinda...floundered. So, once again, when the vendor who sold me to me asked for 5 FREAKING DOLLARS I had no hesitation throwing an Abe Lincoln at him and almost danced away with joy.

Finding a figure like this is common, but to find a figure 25 years old with an unpunched card? Shoot son, that's not common. I can't want to have this signed. It's gonna look great.


So that was my pre-birthday flea market excursion. Not bad, eh? This year has been my most successful flea marketing season yet. And we're still NOT DONE!!!!!!!!!

-Chad

Student Bodies Review

For a while, I've always been told that if I really wanted a fun, tongue in cheek horror movie parody, to forgo the Scary Movie series and pick up Student Bodies. Well, after years and years of putting it off, Olive Films hooked me up with that opportunity.

And boy am I happy they did.



First off, this was at a time when slashers were in their so called "golden age", after Halloween, Prom Night, Friday the 13th, and whatever other slashers we got, so it's fun to see how Hollywood perceived some of the slasher of the day. Which, considering how popular and cash-cows they were,

Second, every cliche of slashers are tackled in this movie. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. From the "Body Count-er" in which the body count number appears on the screen itself(my personal favorite gag), to the ditzy and sometimes stupid characters we've come to see in every single slasher film at the time(and since, really). Oh, and worry not, the creepy and pervy Janitor IS in this one...

Third, the acting. Ok, you're not expecting a lot in a parody, but believe it or not, the actors in this one make you believe they actually are auditioning for a real slasher. It's a pretty fun cast, no one who's gone on to anything much bigger, but hey, they at least put out their best effort and get good laughs in exchange for their efforts.

Fourth, the one liners. In a movie like this, you'd expect great lines. Well, good news, skippy, you get them. Here's one of my favorites:

"Why do they always run away from me? It's the galoshes. They're a dead giveaway. Why do I wear them? It isn't even raining!"

Silly, yes, but the movie has even goofier and funnier one liners that you'll enjoy.

This movie gets a solid recommendation from me. Chances are if you're a slasher fan, a parody movie buff or a fan of any 80s throwback, you've seen it. In that instance, I'm envious you've seen it before I did! If you haven't, this is a great chance for you to see a great parody movie. Toss out those Scary Movie dvds and pick up a bluray of Student Bodies from Olive Films here.


-Chad

The Babysitter Review

Remember back in the 90s when you could make a movie about some young teenager obsessed with their neighbor or teacher or mom's sister or something weird like that? We had a lot of those movies. And they're pretty awkward(in a funny way) to watch now. The Paperboy, being my favorite, of course, then you have Devil In The Flesh with Rose McGowan and a few others that are downright terrible. But today, I'm gonna give you the 411 on 1995's The Babysitter.

Starring Alicia Silverstone, hot off Clueless, as Jennifer a local teenage babysitter, hired by the Harry and Dolly Tucker for a night while they attend some fancy, rich person shindig. Now, this is where it starts getting weird because, Harry, played by JT Walsh, spends a lot of time fantasizing about Jennifer. A lot. Like, someone needs to check his computer for this behavior, because it's pretty unnatural and quite creepy. Well, that's hardly the worse problem(well, maybe not) with this family, because Dolly herself, played by Lee Garlington, finds herself attracted to a much older gentleman, Bill, played by George Segal, and constantly hits on him.

Essentially, most of the men in this movie are drunk and horny and fantasize about Jennifer. And, um, that's essentially the whole movie. Drunken horniness, a London Brother, Lois Chiles is there, Tuesday Knight in a small role, some goofy drunkeness, a terrible fight scene, and other hallmark Lifetime Movie-like behavior.

Now, for someone like me who loves terrible Lifetime movies, this is a very welcome addition to my collection next to the previously mentioned Devil In The Flesh and Paperboy(which would make great bluray releases from Olive). I'm sure there's others out there who like a good, over the top melodramatic movie like this. If you're one of them, stop over at Olive to pick this up, right here.

-Chad

The Sender(1982) Review

I have a tendency to review movies I've never heard of or seen before. Mainly because, when I review them, I really want to go into them with an open mind. If I haven't seen it before, what better way to have an open mind? The Sender is a good example of one of those movies. Until I received a PR list featuring the Sender, I had never EVER heard of it. So I took a gamble and placed the order. Glad I did too, because this movie is a VERY interesting.

It starts off haunting off with a young man(later to be known as John Doe #83, played very well by Zeljko Ivanek), assumed to be dead, in the middle of nowhere. When he gets up and starts walking around though, is when things really get haunting. Admitted after a failed suicide attempt, it turns out John believes his dreams are the root of all his problems. After being assigned treatment by Dr. Gail Farmer, played by Kathryn Harrold, who starts to believe him after she starts experiencing a few strange visions herself. While at this point, this movie is already a giant roller coaster of insanity, add John Doe's mother to the mix and things start to get stranger...


If you've never heard of this one, I can't tell you to go out and buy it enough. It's like a David Cronenberg movie with a semi-Italian twist. For the horror fan, there's a lot to love including a memorable decapitation, an almost Carrie-like moment featuring the doctor and my favorite, a crazy scene involving brain surgery. This movie also has the distinction of being Quentin Tarantino's favorite horror film of 1982, and quite frankly, after watching it for the first time, I can totally see why.

So pick this up, landing on bluray for the first time ever, from our friends at Olive Films, here. It'll definitely be a good choice to add to your collection.

-Chad

The Hardees Gremlins Flicker Button!

So my awesome girlfriend got me an awesome early birthday present. So what's the natural thing to do? Share it with the world!

So I'm a promo button collector and a Gremlins fanatic. So naturally, I've always needed a Gremlins button for my collection. But, other than custom buttons, there aren't a whole lot that I liked. But then, I found, after a fun eBay search, there was a Hardees employee button that I wanted. I had gone to Hardees plenty of times as a kid, it made perfect sense! But, the seller was asking way too much. I'd look for one a few more times, but again, too much. As great as it looked, I'm not spending 35 bucks for it.

Then, it happened.

My girlfriend loves to give me an early present for my birthday. She's given me some nice stuff, and usually it's with the quote "You probably already know what it is", when in reality, I never do. So, I open the little package and there it is. THE GREMLINS FLICKER BUTTON:

Yup. Thar she blows! With just one flick of the wrist, you can turn Stripe in Gizmo and vice versa. Sweet gimmick, eh? 1980s technology at it's finest! Now you see why I think I have the best girlfriend ever. She's so very thoughtful and she knows what I like.


Now, I know what you're asking. Why the heck would Hardees celebrate Gremlins? This relationship makes NO sense! Well, around the time Gremlins came out, Hardees sold special book and record sets detailing events from the movie in beautiful 1980s storybook fashion as well as a fun record read by some 50 year Hardees employee who probably never seen the movie but was being paid enough to put out a valiant effort. Here's a sample of one of the stories.

This was at a point when Hardees was pretty popular. Hardees was pretty wide spread in Maryland and Virginia, so I was able to go there a lot with my dad, as I've gone into in a previous entry about their Halloween offerings, so this button does hold some sort of weird, 9 degrees of nostalgia.

Better not get it wet though.

Chad

Remembering Rowdy Roddy Piper

So, there I was buying a sub for dinner at Wegmans yesterday. It had been a very long and strenuous day of moving to my new place and all I wanted was to finish my day, eat some food and watch Wet Hot American Summer. But that wouldn't happen. Right as I was about to pay, my phone went off with a text from my friend Tanski of UnderScoopFire saying that my lifelong hero, wrestling icon and overall nice guy, Rowdy Roddy Piper had died.

Well...to say this was a blow was an understatement. After reading this text, I immediately scrambled online , hoping it was just a hoax or a joke or something. No. Sadly not. This time it was true. Still in Wegmans, I began to tear up. This is not something I was ready to handle right now or ever.

Roddy has been my hero since I was a young child. After my father died in 1989, I looked for a lot of heroes to look up to. Roddy fit the bill. He was rough, he fought for pride and much like my father, Roddy was from Scotland. He reminded me so much of my late father, it was almost like everytime I heard the bagpipes and saw him come out, it was like I was watching my dad. Now, they don't resemble each other in the least, but the Scotland connection was enough for me. When he won the IC title in 1992, I was so happy. He finally, after all these years, got what he deserved.

Well, obviously, he deserved the world title...

After losing the title to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 8(my favorite Wrestlemania of all time), he left and would make a few random appearances. Even more fun, on Fathers Day 1994, he made an appearance at King of the Ring in Baltimore to take on that loudmouth Jerry The King Lawler! My mom and I attended but had to leave early as she had work in the morning, so I didn't get to see him get the victory of the King. But knowing he had his first match in 2 years in Baltimore, is still awesome.

Roddy showed up a few more times in both WWF and WCW, and I'd always get excited to see him. Even to the his last appearance on WWE, whether it was yelling at Vince or a Pipers Pit. But what left the biggest impact on me would happen in 2004. When I got to meet the ICON himself...

Chiller Theatre 2004 was an important show. It was my first horror convention. You always remember your first and boy was it memorable. I got to meet Adam West, Julie Newmar and Frank Gorshin from the legendary Batman 66 show but most importantly, I got to meet Roddy for the first time. He was happy to shake everyones hand, get to know them, joke around and tell stories. It was the highlight of my weekend. I even bought the legendary "HOT ROD" shirt from the man himself!

At my first Monster Mania in 2008, I also got to meet him with my friend at the time Tony. Tony took up most of the conversation, which was ok. My mindset was "Well, Tony has never met him, so let him have some fun". But, hey, hey put me in a headlock! You can see how excited I am!

In 2011, I got to meet for what would be the last time at Horrorfind, which was my birthday weekend as well. I've always wanted to tell him how much he reminded me of my father and I finally got to. At one point I actually started tearing up in doing so. He grabbed me, gave a huge hug and told me he loved me and how honored he was. We talked more about my father as he was genuinely interested, which meant a lot to me. I'd run into Roddy later and introduce him to my girlfriend Laurie and he was very kind to her and even took a photo with one of her dolls! The fact that I had such a great experience and he was so kind to me and my girlfriend meant the world to me. I mean, I hadn't had a bad experience in the three times I met him but this was my favorite meeting.

The world won't be the same without Roddy. Plain and simple. He was one of a kind, in and out of the ring. While Hulk Hogan was a hero to plenty of people, for people like me who wanted to believe in someone more down to earth, Roddy was our guy. He fought for what he believed in and took no crap.

And now, it's time to say goodbye. It just sucks  realizing that I'll never be able to see him on tv or even meet him again. Which sucks. At the same time, it makes me realize all the great times I spent watching him and meeting him were worth it. Those memories make me smile more than they do make me sad.

Thank you, Roddy. For everything. Whether it was in the ring or on the movie screen in one of my all time favorite horror movies, They Live, you were the hero and role model I needed at a time when everything was just so terrible. You may not have won that world title, but to me, you will always be the greatest champion in my mind. I love you, Roddy.

-Chad