Friday Drive-In Fun on THIS

Today, THIS TV presents an ALL DAY marathon of great drive-in movies! Set the DVR or call in sick because some great movies are on tap for today.

Here's the schedule (all times are CST):

9:30 a.m. "Monster from the Surf" - This is a VERY low budget beach thriller. It's kind of like a violent eopisode of "Scooby Doo."

11 a.m. "Food of the Gods": This is a classic 1970s nature-gone-wild horror flick with giant rats and other enlarged animals. It stars former child evangelist Marjoe Gortner.

1 p.m. "The Thing with Two Heads" - What happens with Ray Milland's head gets put on Rosie Grier's body? Here's your chance to find out!

3 p.m. "The Bat People" - Before "Twilight," 1970s moviegoers experienced this bloodsucking movie.

5 p.m. "The Beast with a Million Eyes" - Every optometrist's nightmare!!!

7 p.m. "Death Wish 2" - Classic Bronson. This is a very violent follow-up to the original "Death Wish" with a score from Jimmy Page!

Hammered! Thor on the Tube!

Fanboys are geared up for this year's big budget "Thor" movie. This Marvel epic hits theaters May 6.

A few days later, Asylum mockbuster "Almighty Thor" will be available on DVD...starring Richard Grieco and wrestler Kevin Nash.

If you can't wait until then to see the God of Thunder kick ass, tune in to SyFy at 11 a.m., March 7 for "Thor: Hammer of the Gods." This was on recently during a werewolf movie marathon. Apparently, the Viking stud takes on some wolf men in this B-flick (that stars Zachery Ty Bryan from "Home Improvement" as the title character).

Of course, Thor made his live action debut more than 20 years ago in "The Incredible Hulk Returns." This TV movie served as a pilot for a possible Thor series. Unfortunately, it never happened.

Happy Birthday Will Eisner!

Today, comic god Will Eisner would have turned 94 years old! Thank goodness for the cool folks at Google for alerting me to this fact. The site is boasting a pretty cool logo in honor of the Spirit creator.

Eisner was a storytelling visionary and an excellent artists back in the day. Unfortunately, his iconic character the Spirit never received fair treatment on the screen. Tonight (and this month) on The Movie Channel, you can see Frank Miller's (the guy who revitalized Batman)film version of "The Spirit." I was not a big fan of this movie, but judge for yourself.

I did, however, think ABC's TV pilot for "The Spirit" was awesome! It starred Sam "Flash Gordon" J. Jones. This had the potential to be cool show in the tradition of "Batman" or "The Green Hornet." Unfortunately, it only aired once. It's on YouTube though. Check it out and celebrate the creative legacy of Will Eisner.

Sunday Night Scares on IFC!

Not quite ready to close your own weekend drive-in. Tune to IFC for a pretty cool double feature.

Underrated western vampire flick "Near Dark" kicks things off at 5:45 p.m. (CST). This cinematic bloodbath is pretty much the anti-"Twilight." A group of roving vamps travel to small towns in a sun-proof van for feeding frenzies and fun. Along the way, they turn unsuspecting farm kid Caleb (Adrian Pasdar) into a blood sucker. The gang includes "Aliens" stars Jenette Goldstein, Bill Paxton (now the star of HBO's "Big Love") and Lance Henriksen. It also stars B-movie king Tim Thomerson. It's directed by Oscar winner Kathryn Bigelow.

Next up is Brian DePalma's classic "Carrie" at 7:45 p.m. Sissy Spacek plays the telekinetically gifted and socially awkward title character. She's treated terribly by her nutcase mom (Piper Laurie) and even worse by her high school classmates (including John Travolta and William "Greatest American Hero" Katt).

Saturday Snakefest on SyFy!

Love snakes? If so, slither over to SyFy for a marathon of serpent cinema.

Here's a schedule of today's scaly film fest. All times are CST:

8 a.m.: Copperhead
10 a.m.: Basilisk: The Serpent King
(Directed by Stephen 'Flounder' Furst
Noon: Snake King
2 p.m.: Vipers (Starring Tara Reid! I'm already scared!)
4 p.m.: Boa vs. Python
6 p.m.: Anaconda 3(Starring The Hoff!! Nuff said.)
8 p.m.: Anacondas - The Hunt for the Blood Orchid
10 p.m.: Anacondas - Trail of Blood
Midnight: Sea Snakes
(Luke Perry kicks snake ass in this one. Tom Berenger also stars.)
2 p.m.: Megasnake

Star Trek Sunday on SyFy!!

Today is indeed a holy day for Trekkies. SyFy is celebrating Star Trek today with a marathon of movies.

The journey begins at noon with "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" at noon (CST). I clearly remember the hype surrounding this film when it was release. Thanks to "Star Wars," fans were hungry for sci-fi movies. "Star Trek" was still super popular even though it had been off the air for a decade. So, people went nuts when this cerebral G-rated epic was released. I loved it, but many audiences were mixed. There wasn't a lot of action and the plot is recycled from the original series episode "Changeling." Check out and let me know what you think.



Next up is "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" at 3 p.m. This was a huge hit in the 1980s. It's pretty kooky, but audiences loved seeing Kirk, Spock and crew stumbling around the 20th century trying to save whales.



"Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country" at 5:30 p.m. was the last film to feature all of the original crew. It's one of the least memorable Trek movies, but it's still pretty good. Shatner gets to make out with one last alien chick in this one.



The Trek marathon concludes with "Star Trek: First Contact." This is the only 'Next Generation' movie that fans love. It's pretty awesome and pits the Enterprise crew against the Borg (depicted here as robotic zombies).

Late Night Fright Fest on THIS TV

Get ready for some old school creature features on THIS.

Actually, it's more of an early morning fright fest that kicks off with Roger Corman classic "The Raven" at 2:30 a.m. (CST). This is not aired very often, so set the DVR or get the coffee brewing. The cast alone is worth it: Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, Peter Lorre (the "titans of teror") and Jack Nicholson. It's loosely based on the Edgar Allan Poe work and focuses on three rival sorcerers.



Next up is voodoo flick "I Eat Your Skin" at 4 a.m. as part of Elvira's Movie Macabre. The Mistress of the Dark is worth watching alone, but it's a Del Tenney movie ("The Horror of Party Beach"), so it has to be great.

The film had a few other titles including "Zombies," "Zombie Bloodbath" and "Voodoo Bloodbath." According to Wikipedia, the movie was part of a double bill with "I Drink Your Blood." Classic.