Mr. Lobo is the host of the late night movie program Cinema Insomnia—a cult sensation for almost 19 years. He is the emcee for film festivals, like BLOBFEST, and provides background on the films, with comedy, games, and prizes. In the first half of the show, he talked about classic horror and science fiction movies, other horror hosts and personalities, and the importance of physical media in the streaming age. A friend had their digital copy of 1984 vanish from their Kindle due to a rights dispute, Lobo explained. "sometimes it's nice to have that hard copy," he suggested, noting how content in the cloud could be lost. Streaming services such as Disney+ sometimes present re-edited movies, which means the only way to see the original is to have a physical copy of it, he added.
George offered a rapid-fire round of movie titles on which Lobo commented. Monstrosity (1963) tells the story of an old woman who plots to have her brain implanted into a younger body. "It's a pretty spooky movie... it's pretty low budget but it's got good atmosphere," Lobo admitted. He described Australian film The Babadook (2014) as more of an allegorical tale than a horror movie but pointed out it is very well made. In Carnival of Souls (1962) a woman is drawn to a mysterious carnival after surviving a fatal car accident. "It's one of my all-time favorites," Lobo said. He also reflected on Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow (1999) which is not on his list of favorites. "If you give the headless horseman a head, you fail," Lobo declared, adding Disney's animated feature The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949) is much better.
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Open Lines followed in the latter half of the program. Michael from St. Louis brought up TV horror movie program Svengoolie. The long-running show named after its creepy host still airs in various markets in the U.S. on Saturday nights. "I'm 64 years old but I feel like a kid at heart every time I watch [it]," Michael said.
Ed in Sierra Madre, California, told George about one of his favorite childhood films, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945). Based on the story by Oscar Wilde, the movie tells the tale of a man who sells his soul to remain young while a painting of him ages and records his misdeeds. "I had to run out of my seat and up to the back of the theater, and peer through the curtains, Ed recalled about a pivotal but scary scene in the film.
Cathy from Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, claimed she came up with idea for biometric retina scans as a form of security to indentify terrorists. "I was the one that went to the patent lawyer with that in Canada here, and he stole the idea," Cathy said, estimating her idea to be worth billions of dollars.
The final half hour featured a replay from 10/5/2018 when Mary Ann Winkowski talked about curses and earthbound spirits.
News segment guests: John Curtis / Peter Davenport / Tim Binnall