Barrymore Tebbs's Blog

Teddy Emerson leads a simple life. Within the four walls of his one room walk up atop Telegraph Hill, he reads his books and listens to his radio. Four nights a week he plays piano at Rayburn’s Supper Club, dreaming of a concert hall career that will never come to pass. Teddy is as normal as any other guy struggling to get by in a world that is often unkind to the creative, sensitive soul. But a

Filming Location: THE INNOCENTS (1961) - not far from HELL HOUSE!

As my fiction writing takes up most of my spare time these days and
I’ve become increasingly negligent with blog updates, I’m officially opening
the blog as a forum for others to submit guest posts. Topics can range from
fiction to film, art to music – anything that may be of interest to Midnight
Roommates with a focus on (though not limited to) classic works from the past
with an emphasis on

One of the many things I love about this late 50s shocker is how unapologetic it is about its belief in demonology and the supernatural. Dr. Holden may not believe in witchcraft, but the film – and all the other characters in it – do. Right from the beginning, a somber voice over tells us, “It has been written since the beginning of time, even unto these ancient stones, that evil

The reputation of Eye
of the Devil came to me via books on classic horror movies years before I
saw the movie. To my knowledge it was never released on VHS, and it was not
until TCM acquired the rights to MGM’s film library that it began to show up on
cable TV in the wee hours of the morning, usually as part of a David Niven or
Deborah Kerr film festival. A DVD format was not available until

Folks at my day job love to talk about TV shows and give me
stink-eye when I tell them I don’t watch TV. Sorry I can't discuss last night's episode around the water cooler - I have books to write. I can
squeeze in Downton Abbey once a year,
but I’ve pretty much lost interest in True
Blood. Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire just aren’t my thing.



Then along comes Bates
Motel, and a trusted,

With my fondness for the late Victorian/Edwardian period of
British history, I’m as addicted to Downton
Abbey as the next guy. I fairly inhaled the Season Three DVD set in one
snort. Weeks later, I am still feeling the after burn. It helps that I brought
new lambs to the fold at my day job and get to relive the first two seasons
vicariously through their excitement of discovery. But being a

When fans and scholars of classic 60s horror films mention
the Italian Gothic strain, two names invariably surface: Mario Bava, the
director who spearheaded the Italian movement with the 1960 film, Black Sunday, and its star, the
black-eyed goddess, Barbara Steele who also starred in Black Sunday. Even beyond the horror genre, Black Sunday is hailed as a classic. But to me, Black Sunday is

Not my favorite Barbara Steele movie (that would be The Horrible Dr. Hichcock, coming to The
Midnight Room next week), but any way you slice it Nightmare Castle packs an awful lot of bang for your buck. This is
another one I originally purchased on VHS from Sinister Cinema years ago. The
censored version as originally released in the US is in public domain, so there
are numerous DVD editions

Bridging my mini-series on ghosts at the movies with a
mini-series on Italian Gothic Cinema comes Mario Bava's bizarre bit of S&M
Gothic, Whip and the Body. Barbara
Steele turned down the role of Nevenka, here played by the stunningly beautiful
Israeli actress Dahlia Lavi. Nevenka has recently married Christian Menliff,
but as the story opens, Christian’s brother, Kurt, played by the menacing