John Stanley Meets Jack the Ripper Plus 25 Other Deadly Encounters DVD 2 Disc Set :
For the first time, collected under one roof – that of the San Francisco Wax Museum at Fisherman’s Wharf – are all the "MINIMOVIES" that John Stanley produced during his six-year run as host of CREATURE FEATURES at KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland, CA. The Wax Museum becomes Ground Zero for new footage shot for this 4-hour, 2-disc extravaganza as Stanley "bumps into" the notorious London knife murderer (portrayed by San Francisco actor Carlos Tabarez) and is taken on a journey through the Chamber of Horrors. With Jack’s help, Stanley relives those short but impactful films that spoofed genre movies and sometimes featured all-star casts. Chuck Norris, Robert Bloch, femme fatales Lee Grant and Carol Kane, "Tall Man" Angus Scrimm, and director Don Coscarelli are among the participants.
Relive such unforgettable classics as NIGHTMARE IN THE CHAMBER OF HORRORS (cut into two chilling halves), THE MUMMY RISES (Stanley gets all wrapped up in this one) and HAUNTED MINE OF LOST SOULS, with a shaft awaiting everyone. Each was filmed in the atmospheric, oft-tingly Wax Museum, considered to be one of the best in the world.
TAKEN FOR A RIDE (aka JOHN STANLEY MEETS E.T.), MEETING AT MORNINGSIDE (with an ensemble "Phantasm" cast) and THE STANLEY CAGE (filmed at the San Francisco Zoo with shapely Lee Grant and Carol Kane) are all reminders of the unique attraction CREATURE FEATURES had on a generation of Bay Area viewers as Stanley tried to break out of the studio-bound mold to entertain his loyal Saturday night audience.
Martial-arts fans will chuckle and gasp as Stanley faces off against Chuck Norris in GOOD TV HOSTS WEAR BLACK. After getting pummeled by Norris, Stanley makes a comeback in RETURN OF THE CHANNEL 2 DRAGON, and then has a third spectacular encounter with Norris in the two-part REVENGE OF THE CHANNEL 2 DRAGON. This remarkable minimovie was made on location in Orinda where Norris was making AN EYE FOR AN EYE in 1981, and features a guest appearance with Norris’ costar Richard Roundtree, who holds Stanley at .45 caliber gunpoint in two near-deadly encounters. Then there’s S*Q*U*A*S*H and SQUASH II when Stanley has two encounters with karate champion Toru Tanaka.
Stanley takes on the garb of a hardened private eye in LITTLE SHOP OF MURDERS (with two shapely dames luring him into the depths of their feminine wiles), then transitions into Sherlock Holmes garb (complete with magnifying glass) in ADVENTURE OF THE PERSIAN SLIPPER. helping a distressed beauty at a Holiday Inn. He also enters a sinister, dangerous world in RETURN TO CASABLANCA, paying homage to Humphrey Bogart’s Rick Blaine. And faces formidable opponents in REVENGE OF THE TIGERS. It’s one slam-bam jarring smash after another.
Other deadly encounters: CHRISTINE THE KILLER CAR: ALL REVVED UP (Stanley trapped in the fast line) . . . THE DEMON STRIKES BACK (a roller coaster ride into another dimension) . . . ALL HEART (Stanley is abducted by black-market organ stealers).
One of the most spectacular minimovies is the two-parter, ATTACK OF THE INCREDIBLE KILLER SCARECROW, in which a corncob demon terrorizes Stanley and private detective Don Herron, of Dashiel Hammett walking tour fame. He’s even attacked by a Mexican bandido in NO STINKIN’ BADGES.
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