DAY THREE of the William Castle Blogathon & Goregirl’s Dungeon on YouTube: Vic Mizzy & Alex North

Welcome to DAY THREE of The William Castle Blogathon! I hope you are all enjoying the Castle madness! Personally, I think our guests deserve a standing ovation! Day three may be low in quantity but it is HUGE in quality!

Now playing at The Midnight Monster Show: A William Castle Double Feature! Homicidal (1961) & House on Haunted Hill (1959).

You’ll go crazy over Films From Beyond The Time Barrier’s review of Strait-Jacket (1964).

Don’t squeal on The Last Drive In but they are reviewing Johnny Stool Pigeon (1949). And don’t forget to visit The Last Drive In for EVEN MORE Castle Hijinx!

***Goregirl’s Dungeon on YouTube: VIC MIZZY and ALEX NORTH***

Vic Mizzy – The Night Walker

Vic Mizzy has 33 composer credits listed on IMDB beginning in 1960 with two episodes of the television series Shirley Temple’s Storybook with his final credit being the television movie The Munsters’ Revenge (1981). Vic Mizzy composed the theme music for The Addams Family and Green Acres; two of the most recognizable television themes of all time! He also composed the music for the lovable The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)! Vic Mizzy composed the soundtracks for three William Castle films; The Night Walker (1964), The Spirit is Willing (1967) and The Busy Body (1967). The Night Walker was Mizzy’s first composition for a feature film. Vic Mizzy’s music for The Night Walker compliments the film nicely; it is sneaky, mysterious and wonderfully waggish.

Music and images from William Castle’s 1964 film The Night Walker. Music by Vic Mizzy; Main Title/Prologue.

Alex North – Shanks

Alex North has 79 Composer credits listed on IMDB. Alex North was nominated for an Oscar fifteen times for A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Death of a Salesman (1951), Viva Zapata! (1952), The Rose Tattoo (1955), Unchained (1955), The Rainmaker (1956), Spartacus (1960), Cleopatra (1963), The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Shanks (1974), Bite the Bullet (1975), Dragonslayer (1981) and Under the Volcano (1984). North was the first composer to ever receive an honorary Oscar. North also composed a soundtrack for Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey which was scrapped by the director. I am a little ashamed I wasn’t familiar with Alex North before discovering him via Shanks. I spent a little time checking out his various soundtracks on YouTube. I especially enjoyed the pieces I heard from the The Bad Seed (1956). I am enjoying the hell out of North’s soundtrack for Shanks and I will definitely be exploring more of the music of Alex North in the immediate future.

Music and images from William Castle’s 1974 film Shanks; Main Title theme from Shanks composed by Alex North.