Night 24 of the Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween

 

Welcome to night 24 of the 3rd annual Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween. Make sure to stop by our Giveaway Post and enter to win a $400+ Prize Pack full of frightfully good treats from 24 spooktacular shops! Tonight we have the next movie from the Halloween Movie Marathon. Follow along for an extra 10 entries in the giveaway and play the Guess The Movie game for even more. We also have the next clue in the Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt. Gather clues for daily entries and a surprise at the end of the giveaway. But that's not all! Keep reading to find the next feature on one of our participating shops. Visit us each day during October so you do not miss any of the fun.

The Giant Leeches Compact  $15

Purchase any item(s) from Laughing Vixen Lounge through October 31st and get 10% off your order. Use code OTOBER10 at checkout.

Dark Beauty Collection ~ Compact Mirrors

ENDS TODAY ~ Win your choice of Compact Mirror from our new Dark Beauty Collection. This giveaway is being hosted by our friend at Pagan Culture blog and ends tonight at 5:13pm EST.

ENDS OCTOBER 31st ~ ROCKtoberfest Giveaway Hop Giveaway. This is a music themed giveaway and you can enter to win a Custom Mystery Grab Bag from Laughing Vixen Lounge. These grab bags are custom made to suit your style and have been very popular prizes! Enter here on the LVL Blog.

ENDS OCTOBER 31st ~ Spooktacular Giveaway Hop Giveaway. This is a book themed giveaway and you can enter to win a Custom Mystery Grab Bag from Laughing Vixen Lounge. If you win I will create some fun designs just for you. Bags have at least a $50 value and can include bracelets, necklaces, earrings, compact mirrors, purse holders and more. Enter here on the LVL Blog.

Scares That Care
In addition to having lots of fun we want to try and do a little good too Many of our shops have chosen a charity to fund raise for. A certain percentage or dollar amount of each sale made through the participating shops, during the giveaway, will be donated to the charity of their choice. You will find each shops details on the main Giveaway Post and on their shop feature.

Laughing Vixen Lounge will be donating $1 from each item sold during October to Support Supernatural to help A Dog's Life Rescue. The amazing gals at Support Supernatural (as in the TV show) have been fundraising for A Dog's Life Rescue since 2009 and have raised over $100,000 to help animals in need.    

Murder Mystery Scavenger Hunt - Night 24
Our scavenger hunt will work like the game Clue this year. Every week you will be looking for clues to a different part of the mystery ~ Settings, Suspects, Rooms, Weapons and Escapes. They will be hidden within an item listing inside one of our participating shops. On each daily post you will be given a hint as to where the main clue is hiding. Once you find the clue go to the main Giveaway Post and find that night's entry on the Rafflecopter widget. You must leave the clue through the Rafflecopter! Do not post the clue anywhere on the blog. If you do it will be deleted and will not count. If you have any questions just ask.

Make sure to keep a list of all the clues as you collect them. On the last day of the giveaway you will be able to submit your guess of how the murder happened. Anyone who actually guesses correctly will win a Surprise Goodie Bag from Laughing Vixen Lounge. These goodie bags are made to suit your taste and usually end up being at least a $50 value! You can start the scavenger hunt game at anytime during the giveaway and go back to find past clues. Clues will stay posted through the entire giveaway.

Night 24
An object lay on the ground.
This week you will be collecting clues to the weapons of the crime.

Tonight's clue is hiding in Junkmill.
Need a little help finding the clue? It's like a mix of Rock 'n Roll and Hillbilly music, Daddy 'O.

Featured Shop - Zombie Supply Company

Zombie Supply Company is run by Melinda from Mount Airy, North Carolina. Her shop is filled with everything you need for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Zombie Survival Bracelet  $15.50

Why did you choose to make/sell what you do?
"Because Zombies are awesome. But really, I love to create items and feel like having a theme really helps me stay on track. Items should have the ability to be used in a variety of situations. I like multipurpose."

Small Zombie Survival Kit Storage Box  $29.99

What inspires the designs/creations you make?
"I try to keep to a survival theme. Most items are things have I have made for the last several years. I try to tie it into how it can also serve you in a survival situation -- although I hope you're never in the situation where you have to use it"

Candle in a Can  $4.50

What new items would you like to add to your shop in the future?
"I am planning on adding more bath/spa related items and branching out into more shirt designs."

Zombie Brain Soap  $7.99

You'll have a chance to win a set of Zombie soap and hand sanitizer from Zombie Supply Company. Enter now on the main giveaway post. 

Zombie Survival Hand Sanitizer 2oz  $3.75

Visit Zombie Supply Company on Etsy.

Since it's Halloween I asked the shops to share their favorite spooky movie.
"The Lost Boys. It is where I fell in love with vampires and Keiffer Sutherland. I also base most of my vampire lore off of this movie."

 

Attack of the 31 Nights of Halloween Movie Marathon.
Follow along with us for a month full of classic and modern spooky movies. For something a little different this year we have decided to do themed weeks. Week 1 ~ Zombies, Week 2 ~ Werewolves and Vampires, Week 3 ~ Stephen King, Week 4 ~ Classic Double Features and Week 5 ~ Lounge Favorites.

On each daily post there will be a review of the next movie in our movie marathon. Leave a comment on each post with your opinion of that movie. On the last day of the giveaway you will find the Magic Phrase you will use to unlock the entry on the main Giveaway Post worth 10 entries. You must comment on each movie post to qualify.

Guess The Movie Game
This year we decided not to post the movie list in full so we can play a fun game instead. Each daily post will have a clue to the next night's movie. Leave your guess on the Rafflecopter widget, on the main Giveaway Post, for 1 entry in the giveaway. Please do not post guesses anywhere else on the blog or they will be deleted and not count.

**Guesses must be posted the same day as their clue to receive the entry** Rafflecopter runs on Eastern Standard Time. You can only post 1 guess per 24 hour period. So if you miss a day you can not make it up.  

NEW ~ This week is Classic Double Feature Week. 2 classic movies that have something in common. So you need to guess 2 movies and you can try to guess what their common link is. Some of these will really test your B movie/classic monster movie knowledge. Good luck!

Tonight's Clues ~
Movie #1 ~ You do not want to be on the guest list to the party at this house.
Movie #2 ~ Scream! Scream for your lives!


Week 4 ~ Classic Double Features


Night 24 - When Animals Attack - The Giant Gila Monster and The Killer Shrews
  

First Feature ~ The Giant Gila Monster
 

Tagline - Only Hell could breed such an enormous beast. Only God could 
              destroy it!


Directed by Ray Kellog (The Killer Shrews) and released on June 25, 1959 by McLendon-Radio Pictures Distributing Company (Not rated). A giant lizard causes havoc in a small Texas town and it's up to a couple of hot roddin' teenagers to stop it. Uh oh... that does not sound promising.

The 1950's B movies were filled with lots of things that grew to abnormal sizes. Tonight's 2 films are some of my favorite mutant animal monsters. The lizard in this film is absolutely adorable and too funny that it is supposed to be scary. While there is no real explanation of why he is large it is suggested that he is left over from long ago. The teenagers are completely annoying and you do not mind one bit when our lizard friend eats them. Top it all off with bad effects, bad acting and some really bad songs and you have a great bad movie!

This Vixen has been a long time fan of the show Mystery Science Theater 3000. If you are not familar with it they showed bad movies and the little guys silhouetted on the bottom of the screen made jokes about the film. It was brilliant and still my favorite show ever. Both of tonight's movies are some of the best episodes they made. I highly recommend checking these movies out on MST3K. You can find many episodes on Netflix through their DVD service.

Some people guessed the link between tonight's movies was that they are both directed by Ray Kellog. You all get extra gold stars!!! I was not even thinking about that when I picked these two. 


Take a look at the original trailer.



Some trivia about the movie.
1. Ken Knox, who plays disc jockey Horatio Alger "Steamroller" Smith, was a real disc jockey working at radio stations in Texas owned by Gordon McLendon, the uncredited executive producer of this film.
2. This was one of two features produced by an independent company in Texas and meant for release as a double feature. The other feature was The Killer Shrews. Unlike many such features produced in the South, these films received national distribution.
3. The "Gila Monster" in the movie is actually a Mexican Beaded Lizard.
4. Gordon McLendon, who owned a number of radio stations and theaters in Texas, was the uncredited executive producer and financier of this film. Some members of the McLendon family were given roles in this film.
5. Chase is seen taking white wall tires off of a wrecked car and putting them on his own. In the next scene he has black wall tires on his car. The white wall tires change back and forth several times from scene to scene after that.
6. As the freight train crashes, you can plainly see the string pulling the engine off of the tracks. Once it goes off, the rest of the train follows.


Second Feature ~ The Killer Shrews

Tagline - All that was left after...THE KILLER SHREWS!
             Your skin will crawl with fear at their nearness


Directed by Ray Kellog (The Giant Gila Monster) and released on June 25, 1959 by McLendon-Radio Pictures Distributing Company (Not rated). On an isolated island, during a hurricane, a group of people fight to escape genetically altered shrews that are now dog sized and nasty tempered. Nothing that a lot of drinking and shooting of guns can't fix!

In our second feature the giant monster is a result of man playing God. Many of the giant monsters in these films were the result of scientist messing around with things or the ever popular effects of radiation and the atomic bomb. These common themes were a result of the nations fear and anxiety of life with the atom bomb in a world that was not far from the end of World War 2 and now entering into the Cold War era.  

This film is filled with people who drink like fish, monsters who are way more laughable than scary and so much bad movie making it is fabulous. It also stars James Best who some of you may remember as Rosco P. Coltrane, the dim witted side kick to Boss Hogg on The Dukes of Hazzard TV show in the early 1980's. He was in a lot of these old movies. I also just read that there was a 2012 Return of the Killer Shrews movie. It again stars James Best and his Dukes of Hazzard costar John Schneider (Bo Duke). I must find this now!!! 


Take a look at the original trailer.



Some trivia about the movie.
1. This film and its companion piece, The Giant Gila Monster, marked the directorial debut of veteran special effects man Ray Kellogg.
2. Coon dogs were used to play the killer shrews.
3. For its Germany release the film was titled Die Nacht der unheimlichen Bestien, which means "The Night of the Uncanny Beast."
4. Close-ups of the giant shrews were filmed using hand puppets. The wider shots used dogs made up as the shrews.
5. The man playing Dr. Baines is Gordon McLendon. He was the uncredited executive producer and financier of this and its companion feature The Giant Gila Monster. He owned radio stations and a chain of theaters in Texas.
6. This low budget feature is still regarded as one of the most successful "regional films." Unlike other regional films, it not only received national distribution, it also had some foreign sales.
7. This was one of two features produced by an independent company in Texas and intended to be distributed as a double feature. The other feature was The Giant Gila Monster.
8. The original release version contained a brief prologue explaining what a shrew is. This prologue has been completely removed except for the final line of narration ("There were reports of a new species...the giant killer shrew.") which introduces the main title.
9. A colorized version was released in 2007 as part of a double feature with _Giant Gila Monster, The (1959)_
10. At one point Thorne and Jerry walk past an apparently undamaged rowboat, which would get everyone off the island. When they return to the house they never mention it.
11. At one point the camera pans across the interior of the house and reveals the top of the set walls.