ROGER CORMAN and CHEESE, part XIII: "The Wasp Woman" and Stranger Things Palace Arcade Pepperoni Pizza

A few years before Roger Corman found a reliable home on the SciFi channel, he produced a series of features for Showtime, under the banner Roger Corman Presents. While technically still "TV Movies", the lack of limitations on a premium cable channel environment allowed the traditional graphic Corman content to thrive. This "series" was definitely a high point in the filmography. 

A lot of the Roger Corman Presents movies were remakes of his older stuff (they actually made a third version of Not of This Earth) and in 1995 Jim Wynorski directed an "update" of 1959's The Wasp Woman. In this one, Jennifer Rubin plays an aging cosmetics mogul/model who feels she no longer has the beauty or the youth to be the face of her own company; in her profession she's constantly surrounded by a slew of bimbos in tight dresses (because Roger Corman, but mostly because Jim Wynorski) and so there's a bit of catty competition at play. Out of desperation she volunteers to be a test subject for an anti aging/rejuvenation serum made from wasp hormones. The experiment works, making her beautiful -- and bad; not surprisingly she turns into a giant wasp. Not in a gradual Jeff Goldblum kinda way but more like a werewolf back-and-forth deal, and she can seem to turn it on and off whenever. The transformation process employs 90s morphing technology, which may've been the lowest period in all of visual effects, but as a giant wasp (that maintains human female cleavage) the costume is just menacing and awkward enough to be unironically creepy. There's a predictable climax involving a cave and cocoons and an explosion and all the stuff you'd expect, but there's a true comfort in that predictability. 

The full name is Netflix Stranger Things Surfer Boy Palace Arcade Pepperoni Pizza. (In the time it takes to say it Season 5 will have finally begun.) They previously released Surfer Boy Pizza as a tie-in to Season 4 but these are a legitimate upgrade, with artwork that's unique to the upcoming finale, as well as a sticker(!) inside each box. Yes, that's right, Pizza Box Prizes! That's enough to boost the experience a whole letter grade, but even without novelty adhesives we award bonus points for the generous helping of pepperoni -- no redistribution of the toppings was necessary before it went into the oven. Which brings us to the oven. If you've kept up with this series you may remember our temperamental oven that requires a blowing-up-the-Death-Star level of timing -- one minute too soon or too long and we end up choking down triangles of disappointment. We burnt the bottoms a bit too much on these so the crust became somewhat of a chore, though we try not to deduct for faulty equipment. We can't say it's entirely Surfer Boy quality, but it's definitely better than just about anything else Netflix puts out. 

The Movie: B

The Pizza: A-

STATIC SHOTS

Sharknado (2013)

MY FAVORITE EPISODES part ten

It's been nearly two years since we updated this series, but holidays usually seem like the best excuse to dust it off -- particularly now that we're in the midst of a literal boob tube binge. And I'm sure I've said it before many times in many ways but when a TV show celebrates the same time of year that I'm currently celebrating it creates a sorta cerebral role-play that makes me feel the season in in my heart and my pants; there's magically no more walls between my harsh reality and TV Land. And depending on the age of the program, they can often times transport me back to my own seasons past; fake cobwebs and plastic fangs feel generic on their own, but when they're on Home Improvement they have much more context. 

- Paul 

ALF

"Some Enchanted Evening" (season 2)

Much to the dismay of Willie and Kate, ALF throws a Halloween party in the Tanner home, which he himself attends in the guise of... himself (but with a zipper down his front to give the impression of an "ALF" costume). The point of the party was so Willie could get in good with his boss to secure a promotion at work, but really it's because ALF was desperate to experience Halloween in any possible capacity (he was denied trick-or-treating with Brian). It's prophetic that ALF's likeness actually did become a very popular Halloween costume throughout this era. 

Hey Dude

"Ghost Stories" (season 2)

During a dark and stormy night on the Bar None Ranch, the gang is confined to the boys' bunk, playing Pictionary - which soon turns to ghost stories. Ted legitimately freaks everyone out with a story about his great grandfather, visually aided by some hokey props. The remainder of the episode is everyone trying to get back at Ted with attempts to scare him as much as he did them. Nothing about this bright and sunny series ever hints at anything in the neighborhood of Halloween, but no one ever said that all macabre material is chained to a holiday. 

Night Court

"Come Back to the Five and Dime, Stephen King, Stephen King" (season 7)

Harry finds a 50 year old case file for a defendant who dropped dead during his own trial. This starts up angry poltergeist-type activity and everyone assumes they need to commence with the trial for the angry ghost. I like Halloween episodes (and also Christmas episodes) where actual supernatural stuff is part of the plot (even if it ends up being a misunderstanding). Night Court had a ton of Halloween episodes and they were always great - specifically because of Harry's infectious enthusiasm for the festivities. 

Friends

"The One With the Halloween Party" (season 8)

Monica and Chandler throw a Halloween party in the apartment -- cue funny costumes. "Mistaken identity" is a familiar trope with a setup like this, but this one is more layered as Phoebe's twin sister's fiancé (Sean Penn) mistakes her for Ursula (the crossover character that Lisa Kudrow played on Mad About You). Get all that? Obviously a show like this wasn't gonna lean into the anything spooky but at least there's a trick-or-treating subplot (which involves Rachel writing checks to kids). 

Hunter

"City of Passion" (season 4)

This epic 3 part(!) episode plays like an Altmanesque Crime Thriller with a hundred speaking parts in several intricate plot threads that all meet up eventually. In perhaps the most integral storyline we learn of a secret society of lawyers and judges and powerful people who wear masks and robes and sacrifice prostitutes to Satan. So, there's that. But during the investigation Hunter visits an occult store owned by Carel Struycken (of Twin Peaks and Addams Family fame) and I swear to you I wish we coulda spent all three episodes in this establishment; it's like Mario's Magic Shop from Pee Wee's Big Adventure combined with The Magic Mansion from Are You Afraid of the Dark? combined with some abstract third element that makes it cooler than all the others. Maybe it's because Lurch works there(?).