From the creepy open where the bundled up stranger treks thru the snow and makes his dramatic entry into the inn- to the  chilling moment when he reveals himself to the locals- through his rampage of murder and madness- this 1933 presentation of the H.G. Wells tale  has always been a favorite of Sven viewers.

We learn of the experiments of Dr. Griffin,  his fiancee’s worries about his welfare, and his quest to undo what his discovery has done- until the side effect of the formula upon his brain begins his descent into evil and insanity.

This is one Universal horror film that follows the original novel more closely than most- and Claude Rains pulls off  a brilliant performance that relies mostly on his expressive vocal talents , as well as the then state of the art special effects that still hold up well enough today. We’ll talk about how these effects were done,as well as discussing the cast members, and bringing you the Sven shtick you’ve come to expect in each week’s show!

“Invisible Man” appears (yeah, I’m still doing those jokes…) tonight on Me-TV at 10 pm eastern and pacific- 9 pm central- and please check your local listings for the time in your area. In Chicago, you get the replay of “Brides of Dracula” this morning at 11 am on WCIU, the U.

I did want to mention that my Rondo award as favorite horror host of 2013 will be presented late this afternoon, along with all the other Rondos,  at the WonderCon convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Although I am not able to attend, due to not doing any travel at this time- doctor’s orders- I have sent a recorded acceptance speech. When the award is brought to us here in Chicago, we’ll be proud to show it to you on an upcoming program! Again, we thank all of you who voted for us. Be watching here and under the “appearances” tab on our site- we WILL be doing some public appearances coming up this summer!

In this Sven viewers’ favorite full color Hammer film from 1960, we get the great Peter Cushing as legendary vampire hunter Van Helsing- who is summoned to a small village when an epidemic of vampirism among the young female residents has reared its ugly fangs. At about the same time, a beautiful young teacher named Marianne has  arrived from France for an new job at a girls’ academy near the Transylvania area (any red flags there?)- but ends up spending the night, in spite of the worried looks of the locals, at the castle of the aged Baroness von Meinster- where she is stunned to find a young man held a chained prisoner in one room. She covertly helps him to escape his bonds- not realizing why he has been chained up in the castle. After fleeing into the night, she is rescued by the afore-mentioned Van Helsing- who accompanies her to the academy to help explain her tardiness in arriving. He then returns to the village to investigate the latest death of a young woman-and discovers he is again facing the undead- and that young Marianne may be in danger!

Peter Cushing is excellent, as always , as the vampire hunter- and Yvonne Monlaur is gorgeous as the young teacher.Martita Hunt is a rather frightening baroness- and David Peel gives us a change from the usual dark-haired vampire type , but is just as terrifying! The brilliant Hammer colors and locations make this a real feast for the eye- and, we’ll fill you in on some info about the cast, as well as why a certain Hammer stalwart vampire DOESN’T appear!

“Brides of Dracula” hits the Me-TV airwaves tonight at 10 pm eastern and pacific, 9 pm central time, and please check your local listings for the runtime in your bitten neck of the woods.For our Chicago viewers, you’ll get another look at Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in “The Raven” on our sister station, WCIU- the U- at 11 am.

One final word- we were saddened by the death of the great filmmaker Ray Harryhausen this past week. regretfully, though we’ve shown his films in the past, we do not have the broadcast rights to them currently- but I have often stated that his movies have always been among my favorites, and the amazing creatures he brought to life- from those dueling skeletons to the Cyclops to Medusa- are among the reasons why I got hooked on horror and fantasy movies. I worry that his passing truly closes the door on the  hands-on art of stop-motion animation, especially since computer generated effects have pretty much replaced the old ways- but nothing will ever replace the incredible work of Harryhausen, which will live on.

Bela is a retired doctor who’s obsessed with Edgar Allan Poe- and is convinced by an old friend, Judge Thatcher, to operate on his daughter, a young dancer who has suffered a terrible accident. Bela saves her life, but becomes infatuated with the lovely woman.When the judge expresses his disapproval, Bela orchestrates a plan to eliminate any obstacles to his possessing the dancer- and recruits criminal Boris to help pull off his plan- using a horrid scheme to ensure that the thug must obey his commands. When his obsession with Poe is revealed by his construction of artifacts from Poe’s stories- and his eagerness to use them on his enemies- will  he make the poor woman his own personal “Lenore”?

This 1935 Universal classic- the second to combine the talents of Bela and Boris as headliners- once again shows the creepy richness of atmosphere of that era’s horror films from the studio.We’ll fill you in on the cast- and also bring you a BIG bonus feature this week- a huge chunk of the old “Flash Gordon” serial done completely in”Svensurround”!

Please note- as many of my Facebook and twitter fans have failed to do- this is NOT the Vincent Price/ Roger Corman “Raven” horror comedy we have shown a few years ago. We do not currently have the broadcast rights to that one.

This “Raven” will run tonight at 10 pm eastern and pacific time, 9 pm central, and please check for the time we’ll run in your area. In our Chicago market, you get an encore run of “The Creature Walks Among Us” this morning at 11 am on WCIU, the U.

I again want to thank everybody who came out to visit me at the C2E2 convention last weekend. I wrote about it in our monthly newsletter (didn’t get that? Sign up for free here on our site, and your subscription will start with the next one!) We’ll try to show some of the photos in an upcoming show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter – @svengoolie – and our Facebook Fan page-https://www.facebook.com/pages/Svengoolie/127241433996722  !