Perhaps I have no one to blame but myself for my chronic sleep deprivation issues. After all, they probably began when I was a wee-young laddie in Petaluma, staying up till all hours every Saturday night to catch KTVU's Creature Features.
Hosted by the late, great Bob Wilkins, Creature Features shined a bright light on the finest camp horror films of the 50's and 60's. Seriously, the weekly show specialized in some of the amusingly worst of the worst.
However, Wilkins was able to book some pretty awesome guests on the show, including Ray Harryhausen, who passed away last night at 94. Harryhausen was responsible for the special effects of such films as Jason and the Argonauts, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Mighty Joe Young, etc. Below are some clips that may look primitive by today's standards, but this was before CGI. Each of these action scenes was painstakingly created via a process called Stop Motion Animation.
There is no denying his place in Hollywood history and his influence on such directors as George Lucas, Peter Jackson, and Steven Spielberg, to name a few.
So long, Ray, you did good. Reel good.
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