13 GALAXY OF TERROR / New World Pictures - 1981

2012-01-30T06:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Monster Monday wif' Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's offering is another ALIEN inspired movie produced by Roger Corman and New World, FORBIDDEN WORLD being the other. Budget estimated at $400,000, stars Edward Albert, Erin Moran and Ray Walston. And, get this, James Cameron only gets unit director credit at the bottom of the credits and Bill Paxton is uncredited for set decoration!

Music for this one is by Barry Schrader, who has only 9 composing credits. I think that music meant sci-fi sounds in 1981. Barry also plays himself in the 2010 documentary, TALES FROM THE LUMBER YARD: THE MAKING OF GALAXY OF TERROR. I actually visited Corman's lumber yard studio in 1984.

Letz bring in our Dungeon helper and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Bueno, Ralphie. The lil' guy is here to start our show, sooo, push the big red 'GO' button there by the pinball machine, now, Ralphie! Here's some spacey noise from... GALAXY OF TERROR!

The story's about a rescue space ship crew that encounters horrors projected by their own imaginations, once they reach their destination in space. The same as in JOURNEY TO THE SEVENTH PLANET.

You'll never be able to travel through interstellar space without your old hyper-jump! Trust me.

And, this is what they thought a hyper-jump looked like in 1981? What morons...

Once they land on the distant planet, well, they see that things ain't goin' so great there.

Eegah!! and I grew up watching the most far out comedy on TV at the time, MY FAVORITE MARTIAN. Ray Walston plays Kore, the Ash character from ALIEN. Edward Albert is Cabren. They must have had some fun choosing names for the characters, here's a few more... Alluma, Baelon, Dameia, Quuhod and Cos.

They're drawn to a mysterious pyramid in the distance, so, explore it...

It just don't get no more Alienish than that there!

Sid Haig is Quuhod. He gets his arm sliced off by a flying star, then, it's a smorgasbord for the maggots at the Arm Pit BBQ Joint! Yeah, the flick gets kinda gross... But, they did stuff like that for SHE BEAST with Barbara Steele in 1966, fifteen years earlier. Those are mealworms, anyway.

One of the worms grows to an enormous size...

And, slimes the living crap out of sexy Taaffe O'Connell, who plays Dameia. You can see more of Taaffe in NEW YEAR'S EVIL, CAGED FURY, HOT CHILI, DISMEMBERED and SPORK.

Oh my goodness, sakes alive!!!

You know, what the Hell, might as well throw in a bit of THE BLACK HOLE! Wouldn't want the viewers getting the idea that the flick was only ripping off ALIEN!

Zalman King, you're next to face your worst fear.

Robert (Freddy Krueger) Englund, as Ranger, has to face off against his evil twin. Robert recently did the voice of Deerman on my favorite TV cartoon, THE REGULAR SHOW!

Then, Erin Moran gets ripped apart by some creepy cave vines! When will the fun end?!

Cabren confronts Kore, who has been controlling the mayhem all along.

Cabren is a space policeman, and, kills Kore. At my son's wedding, someone told me not to stand with my hands clasped in front, because, that's what you do at a funeral! Hands behind the back was the proper wedding position. By the way, now, Cabren turns into TRON!.. Help, Mr. Wizard!!

For some bizarre reason, I find the artwork for these two Corman weirdies, charming!

THE HOUSE THAT DRIPPED BLOOD - Michael Dress - "A Vértöl Csöpögö Ház" (1971)

2012-01-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

Just got back from a couple of days in Computer Hell, and you know that's never any F'n fun! Now on the other hand, what IS fun are compilation films! "The House That Dripped Blood" is a right fine example! "A Vértöl Csöpögö Ház" is the title in Hungarian!

How many times have you said, "that would have been a pretty good movie if it would have only been about 20 minutes long?" This film is just that, and is more like four short stories, three of them having been written by one of THE top writers ever, Robert Bloch! IF you don't know who Robert Bloch is, I only have one word to say to you,"PSYCHO !"

The good thing about movies like this is that there's no time to waste!

An author of horror stories and his wife are the first victims to move into the "House That Dripped Blood."

The author's sketches of his character have come to life, and come to get him!

Everybody has a skull, it's just that most people choose to keep them inside their head!

For a guy with crappy makeup and a bad haircut, this dude really creeps me out!

Michael Dress is the composer of the music for tonight's feature, and is a mystery unto himself! Do a search for Michael Dress, and all you're going to find are sites about Michael Jackson dress up dolls! In fact, we've never had a reason to write about Michael before tonight either! Michael died at the early age of 39, but still, in that time, he managed to chalk up 9 credits that included "The Mind Of Mr. Soames" and "Quackser Fortune Has A Cousin In The Bronx!"

The second story features Peter Cushing, and was written by Russ Jones. Out of gazillions of pics, this might be the best portrait of Peter Cushing ever!

The second tale revolves around Jackie's Museum of Horror, the wax vampire is in the image of who else but Christopher Lee?

Peter is mesmerized, and falls in love with this wax figure. I don't really get it, she looks like Ozzy Osbourne to me!

The madness ensues! There were too many great shots, I probably should have done this film in four separate posts!

After teasing you with a wax version, the third story stars Christopher Lee! It doesn't hardly seem possible, but Chris Lee has more than twice as many credits, at 274 and counting, than Peter Cushing, who still had a massive amount at 131.

Chris is having some problems with his kid, he's not really that great of a parent!

Chloe Franks was twelve when this film was made! Chloe came down with rheumatoid arthritis in the 90's and is now the Director of Leadership Programmes for The Disability Partnership, an organiztion that helps out folks with disabilities!

If your kids get into drugs, it can be pretty bad, but if they get into witchcraft, it can be even worse!

The last story is about an aging actor played by Jon "Worzel Gummidge" Pertwee and his co-star, the comely Ingrid "Marcilla-Carmilla-Mircalla Karnstein" Pitt!

Jon is not happy about all the cheapness involved in his latest film, including this guy's makeup, so he goes out and buys himself an authentic looking Dracula cape! Speaking of, in the picture up there of Forry Ackerman, you see that he has on a Dracula cape! That was one of THE original capes that Bela wore in his role as Drac! I don't know who owns it now!

I glanced at this the other day, and because of that funny hammer shaped R, my mind read this as Curse of the Buttsuckers!

As it turns out, this cape is just a little too authentic, and turns Jon into a vampire!

If you didn't guess, this last tale is pretty much a comedy! I love the title of this book, "The Vampire: His Kith and Kin!"

You used to be able to rent "The House That Dripped Blood" on Netflix, but for some reason, it's no longer available! Another one bites the dust!

FUNERAL HOME / Canadian Film Development Corporation - 1980

2012-01-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

Tabonga here... Tonite's feature is about a girl who arrives at her grandmother's house to help her turn it into a bed-and-breakfast inn, the place actually used to be a funeral home. After they open the inn though, guests begin disappearing or turning up dead! Original title is CRIES IN THE NIGHT, and, sounds like a typical stale old tale from the eighties...

The music is by Jerry Fielding, and, Jerry had a very decent career with composing credits for films like FOR THOSE WHO THINK YOUNG, MCHALE'S NAVY, THE WILD BUNCH, SUPPOSE THEY HAD A WAR AND NOBODY CAME?, STRAW DOGS, CHATO'S LAND, THE MECHANIC, DEMON SEED and THE BAD NEWS BEARS. He also worked on these TV shows... THE LIFE OF RILEY, THE BETTY HUTTON SHOW, TELL IT TO GROUCHO, THE RIFLEMAN, THE FARMER'S DAUGHTER, HOGAN'S HEROES, STAR TREK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, MANNIX, THE BRIAN KEITH SHOW, POLICE WOMAN, KOLCHAK: THE NIGHT STALKER and THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN!

Letz bring in our littlest Dungeon helper and button pusher, Rufus The Gnat! Rufus is here to start our show, so, push the big red 'GO' button there next to the magazine rack, now, Rufus! Here's our Eariffic Soundclip for... FUNERAL HOME!

Heather comes to help her grandma set up a bed-and-breakfast in her old, ex-funeral home...

Barry Morse gets 3rd billing as Mr. Davis, big time fisherman. Just check out this partial list of his work on TV... HAUNTED STUDIO, SUSPENSE, THE UNFORSEEN, 'WAY OUT, TWILIGHT ZONE, THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR, THE OUTER LIMITS, THE INVADERS, THE STARLOST, JOURNEY THROUGH THE BLACK SUN, ALIEN ATTACK, SPACE: 1999, DESTINATION MOONBASE-ALPHA, THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES, SEEING THINGS, THE RAY BRADBURY THEATER, DRACULA: THE SERIES, TEKWAR and SPACE ISLAND ONE!

Of course, there's a creepy mentally challenged grounds keeper, which always make me think of SCREAMING SKULL.

Girls finishing a canoe, people jumping from strange looking cliffs in unison, welcome to Ontario, Canada!

And, when's not a good time for teasing the hired help?!

There's a stench of mystery in the air!.. Other stuff, too.

Mr. Davis lets Maude, Heather's grandma, know that he suspects her of the recent disappearances of some of the inn's tourists, and, well, you can see what happens when he goes out fishing that night!

Ooo-la-la!

While this girl is diving, she discovers one of the missing tourists!

And, it's one Hell of a spectacle when they retrieve her and the car from the water...

Brainiac is there so that the viewer keeps thinking that he could be involved.

But, before long, he's out of the running as a suspect!

Yep, it's the grandma, old Maude Chalmers!!

Heather finally gets to meet her dead cousin, Phil!

Put this in because it looks like my kitty, Boo, like if you tried to mess with her.

Please come with me, you crazy old lady, you!

TOWER OF LONDON - Frank Skinner - "A God Unto Himself" (1939)

2012-01-25T17:13:00.000-08:00

You've had over 60 years to see "Tower Of London!" The movie was made in 1939, and is just as classic as "Frankenstein" or "Dracula!" Why this film is not shown in classrooms across the globe is anybody's guess, because in a sane world, it would be mandatory, but we don't live in a sane world, now do we?

A time when forward was actually backward, not so different from today! Watch this movie and you'll never ever wonder again why the masses hate the rich, the politicians, and the royalty of the world! "Tower Of London" comes right out and says it, they're all a bunch of cutthroat evil bastards of the lowest kind, and yet they wield all the power!

Workhorse composer Frank Skinner has some 266 composing credits, and the vast majority, like this film are uncredited. Frank did get credits on "Hellzapopin'" but on movies like "The Invisible Man Returns," "The Mummy's Hand," and "The Wolf Man," he was sinfully just 'the guy' who provided the music!

Boris Karloff is Mord the executioner and the dude in charge of the torture dungeon! Check out the raven perched on his shoulder!

Mord decides this guy ain't hurting enough, so he adds on another weight! Look how he has different size weights, so he can distribute the discomfort and pain to his liking!

Boris! What a piece of work!

The King is dead! Long live the King! Just a little bit unclear on the whole royalty concept! Miles Manders is King Henry VI.

Leo G. Carroll has the role of Lord Hastings! Leo has a permanent spot in The Dungeon Hall of Fame, not only for his archetypal role in "Tarantula," but also for his masterful TV caricatures in 53 episodes of everybody's favourite ghost show "Topper," and for another 102 episodes of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." as the man in the know, Alexander Waverly!

One of the first squared circles has an early Gorilla Monsoon doing the blow by blow commentary!

Long before "All The Young Dudes," Ian Hunter has the role of King Edward The IV, and Basil Rathbone is his brother, Richard - the Duke of Gloucester, or as Frank Zappa would say, "The Duke Of Prunes!" It's a dog eat dog world, and the play fighting is fun, but Richard really doesn't like playing second fiddle to his brother, and has some grandiose plans for his family members! Indeed, Richard is a real Dick!

The brothers were so busy playing around that the King is almost late for the execution, that's what kind of a caring person he is! His wife, Barbara O'Neil as Queen Elyzabeth makes an appearance, but doesn't really like these kinds of events, and would much rather be home with her kids!

John Rodion as the about to be executed Lord Devere, and his pal John Sutton as John Wyatt, the Queen's cousin, are added to the basic tale of Shakespeare's "Richard the III" to flesh out the tale a bit! John Sutton was also in two classic Vincent Price films in 1959, "The Bat," and "Return Of The Fly!" John Rodion was only ever in one other film, "The Dawn Patrol," made a year earlier! John Rodion's birth name was actually Basil Rodion Rathbone! That's right, he was Basil Rathbone's son, but raised by his Mother, because they split up when he was two!

Mord and Richard make quite a couple! Richard is a hunchback, and Mord has a clubfoot, but together, they plan to rule the world!

While not exactly a true horror story, "Tower Of London" is pretty creepy, especially this little dollhouse that Richard has of his family. One by one he knocks them all off!

Dungeon Hall of Famer Vincent Price is Richard's younger brother, George, the Duke of Clarence. This was only Vinnie's third appearance on the big screen!

The combination of Boris's chrome dome, and those helmets, makes this scene where they take John Wyatt down, look like it could have come from some Space Ranger serial!

Richard is the master bastard of working both sides, or maybe even three sides at the same time!

These people are unscrupulous and will stoop at nothing to set themselves up, including forced marriages of children and even killing them when they become the next heir to the throne!

This would be a good candidate for one of those 'Come up with a caption for this picture' contests! I don't know why, I just like this shot! Everybody just looks so suspicious!

Richard tells George he can beat him in any kind of contest, so George challenges Richard to the only thing he knows he can win, a drinking contest!

It's a great piece of cinematic history after many rounds of wine, George does beat Richard who is totally passed out, and is just getting the last laugh when.......

......Richard miraculously comes back to life!!

After knocking him out, Richard and Mord stuff George in a vat of wine, and put the lid on it!

Sorry Basil, the secret is out, "Tower Of London" is not history, but it is a great story! I don't even particularily like period pieces, but this is a good one! Last time I checked, it was still available on Netflix!

BLOOD OF DRACULA / AIP - 1957

2012-01-23T06:55:00.000-08:00

Tonite's feature is about bad girls at a a girl's boarding school. Their science teacher tests her theory that there is a power within humans that is beyond that of the atom! Using hypnosis and a special amulet, a new troubled student becomes the subject of her experiments and results in a series of full-moon murders. Herman Cohen produced this and I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, both have similar storylines. This is a redo of a post from 2007.

It's always great when a fifties monster flick has a hit tune in it, and, this one, "Puppy Love," is probably the best! The song was written and performed by Jerry Blaine. He also wrote the great tune in Teenage Werewolf, "Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo!" Jerry died in 1973 at the age of 36!

Lettuce bring in our fuzzy little Dungeon helper and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Hello, Ralphie! The lil' dude is here to start the show, so to speak. So, push the big red 'GO' button there next to the chartreuse loveseat, now, Ralphie! Here's our awesome soundclip for... BLOOD OF DRACULA!

This has a typical fifties theme of troubled youth in conflict with the parents, especially the new mom. Jean Dean (she's hot) plays the new mom, she was also in RADAR PATROL vs THE SPY KING, HOT ROD and GOG! Sandra Harrison plays the daughter, Nancy. The dad is played by the familiar face of Thomas Browne Henry, who had 187 acting credits. We loved Henry in THE BRAIN FROM PLANET AROUS!

It's all fun and games at Sherwood, School For Girls! I enjoy watching girlies running around in their jammies! WEREWOLF IN A GIRL'S DORMITORY is probably the best flick for that kind of thing, though.

Here's stud grounds keeper and everybody's boyfriend, Eddie, played by Don Devlin. Don played Moe in ANATOMY OF A PSYCHO.

The science teacher, Miss Branding, singles Nancy out to try her weird theories of evolution on. Teach is played by Louise Lewis, she can also be seen in I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF, THE VAMPIRE and was in an episode of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER.

PAR-TEE TIME!!..

Jerry Blaine plays a guy named Tab, a very cool fifties name!

Stylish, too!

During the full moon, Miss Branding calls out Nancy's primal rage to manifest itself...

The cops come snooping around, asking lots of questions. That's Richard (WAR OF THE SATELLITES) Devon there as the detective there on the left.

Time for an nighttime outdoor treasure hunt during a full moon, the perfect place for somebloody to get killed!

...Know whut I mean?!

Nancy even takes out Tab!.. And, not on a date!

As Miss Branding works in her lab, Nancy comes close to attacking her boyfriend who's there to see her for the first time.

Miss Branding tries to control Nancy, but, now realizes that she's created a monster that can't be controlled...

And, Nancy chokes the crap out of the old bag!

Nancy falls back onto a metal shard, game over...

Pretty messy, teach and her medical journal end up in a big puddle of acid!

LORD SHANGO - Howard A. Roberts - "The Color Of Love" (1975)

2012-01-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

This one's for Joe, wherever the Hell he is! It's called "Lord Shango" and it's not a comedy, a parody, or a satire, it's a tale of traditional African religion and it's clash with Christian religion! "The Color Of Love" was the video release title! I think this just might be the cheapest lookin' title card I've ever had the pleasure to present to you!

The reason I wanted to see "Lord Shango" was because I read on IMDB that guitarist extraordinaire Howard A. Roberts composed the soundtrack, you know, the same Howard A. Roberts that played the guitar riff in "The Twilight Zone" theme, and Howard A. Roberts DID compose the soundtrack, it's just that it's a completely DIFFERENT Howard A. Roberts! The music is still cool, because this is an equally talented Howard A. Roberts, who not only was the music director for the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, he was also a dynamic musician and record producer who worked with amazing talents like Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis!

The movie itself is a completely different story! Mr. Cool, Lawrence Cook is Jabo, and as you might guess, he's also Lord Shango! Lawrence was all over the TV in the 70's and 80's, and he was the star of a weird flick in 1973, "The Spook Who Sat By The Door," where he plays a token black CIA agent, who gets fed up and starts a revolutionary race war!

They're getting ready to baptize Avis McCarther as Billie, but her boyfriend Bill Overton as Femi doesn't want it to happen, so he disrupts the service!

The next thing you know these two priests are holding on to Femi like they're going to baptize him instead....

.....and then Wally Taylor as Memphis jumps into the fray.......

Damn! They drowned the kid!! WTF!?

Billie and her Mother act as would be expected under the circumstances! This is a very unsettling sequence of events, and guess what, it's going to get even worse! Lots worse!

Billie and her Mom, Marlene Clark as Jenny, attend Femi's funeral! You might remember Marlene from "The Beast Must Die," or "Beware!The Blob" for starters!

Jenny works at the Hurricane Club! Yep, that's Jabo hanging out on the front porch! The omnipotent Jabo is everywhere, even though he's a washed up drunkard musician, he seems to know all, and see all!!

Inside the club, the drinks are cool and the music is hot! Actually, this little old dude bipping around to the music, and just chillin' in general is my favourite part of the movie! That's how cool I want to be in a couple more years!

Here's where it gets REAL strange! After Femi's death, Billie breaks out in a cold sweat, and has a dream that Femi comes back and enters her!! Unfortunately it was Memphis, Jenny's boyfriend who was doing the entering! Now Billie is pregnant by one of the killers of her boyfriend and her Mom's boyfriend, and Jenny IS pissed!!!

Wally Taylor should look pretty familiar to you, besides a lot of 70's TV, he was in some big films like "Escape From New York," "Rocky III," "Crossroads," "Night Of The Creeps," and "The Golden Child!"

Well, you sure can't blame Billie for wanting a change of scenery after all she's been through!

It just gets worse for Memphis, as the priests involved in Femi's death start dying off one by one! The sacrificial ceremonies include chickens and dogs, and are not for the weak of heart!

Jenny has an encounter with the spirit of Femi! I'd be willing to bet that out of the 92 minute run time for "Lord Shango," a good 37 minutes or more is ceremony, ritual and drums, aka filler!

Meanwhile, back at the club, the old dude is still rockin' the joint!

Jabo is keeping tabs on every detail!

Jenny told Memphis he had to marry Billie who has returned and is now quite pregnant! Jabo cuts in and starts slow dancing with Billie, and then starts twirling her around in circles like a whirling dervish and Billie passes out!

Femi reappears again!

This is a great shot of Jenny with Billie's baby!

In the end, Memphis is almost killed on the job, Billie and Femi go off dancing together, Jenny finally smiles, and her and Jabo/Shango walk off into the sunset with an amazing gospel choir wailing in the background! Any questions, go find Shango and I'm sure he'll be glad to explain it all to you!

THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN / Cinematográfica ABSA - 1969

2012-01-20T06:32:00.000-08:00

Hello everbloody, Tabonga here, tonite we have a great little horror flick from south of the border with the original 1963 title of "La maldición de la Llorona." This is the K. Gordon Murray, Englishified version, and, it stars Abel (THE BRAINIAC) Salazar and is directed by Rafael (THE HELL OF FRANKENSTEIN) Baledón. Abel was also producer.

The story's about a young woman who inherits a mansion, only to discover that it's haunted by a witch and evil spirits after she arrives there. This really is an above average, hair-raising production. Written by Rafael Baledón and Fernando Galiana.

The music is by the fantastical Mexican composer, the great Gustavo César Carrión, who we've featured many times before, here at The Dungeon!

Lettuce bring in our puny litle Dungeon helper and button pusher, what ellus, Rufus The Gnat! How ya doin' Rufus!.. We can start the show, so... Push the big red 'GO' button there by the escape hatch, now, Rufus! Here's our Eariffic Soundclip for... THE CURSE OF THE CRYING WOMAN!

The woods are haunted by night is how the legend goes... Jaime and Amelia are glad to finally get to their destination, Amelia's recently inherited haunted mansion!

It doesn't take long before Amelia starts seeing some pretty freaky stuff! That's what appears in the mirror while she's looking into it.

Then, she has to deal with this bitch.. err, witch!

Jaime goes exploring the creepy place, looking for some clues to the strange goings-on that are taking place...

Only to get grabbed by some infernal hands, then, fall through the railing and get knocked unconscious!.. Sheesh!!

The witch conjures up some evil spirits to do her bidding... Killer sets and props!

Then, the bitch.. err, witch, well, she hypnotizes Jaime with one of her hallucinogenic spells!..

And, he goes on a bad trip, big time!

Let's give a shout out to Carlos Grandjean for the awesome sets he created for this film!

This is the crazy thing in the dungeon cell that attacked Jaime. The witch's big brute helper likes to mess with it.

It escapes from it's cell, jumps off the upstairs railing and lands standing up on the floor below!! Wowzers!!!

The police show up to find out what's going on only to be attacked by the large killer dogs!

This dirty son of a bitch, the witch's helper, totally rivals Leo Gordon for being big, mean and scary!

The mansion begins to crumble under it's own evilness!

The huge bell in the tower breaks loose and falls directly on the witch's trapped helper, finally putting an end to his evil existence! The still shows the heavy bell on it's way down.

The thing then attacks the witch and the metal chandelier also breaks free and scores a direct hit.

The bitch decomposes right before our very eyes!..

THE TOMB OF LIGEIA - Kenneth V. Jones - "She Is Not Dead To Me" (1964)

2012-01-18T17:13:00.000-08:00

"Ligeia" was a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe, and first published back in 1838! This film is more like a combination of elements from "Ligeia" and one of Poe's other classic masterpieces, "The Black Cat!"

"The Tomb Of Ligeia" was Roger Corman's eighth and last Poe adapatation. It was written by Robert Towne and was based loosely on Poe's original story! Robert Towne among his stack of credits, also wrote the screenplay for "Last Woman on Earth," and wrote "The Chameleon" episode of "Outer Limits." He is also the writer for the great Jack vehicle, "Chinatown," and is writing the screenplay for a TV show now in production called "Pompeii."

Composer Kenneth V. Jones has got some good horror credits that include "The Brain," "Psyche 59," "The Projected Man," "Who Slew Auntie Roo," and "Horror On Snape Island!"

Here's the basic premise, take a good solid story, and find a cool atmospheric place to shoot it! How can you lose?

"That motley drama!..Oh, be sure, It shall not be forgot! With its Phantom chased forever more, By a crowd that seize it not, Through a circle that ever returneth in To the self-same spot, And much of Madness and more of Sin And Horror the soul of the plot." - Those were words from the poem that Ligeia wrote called "The Conqueror Worm," that four years later would be the title of another Vincent Price movie known as "Witchfinder General." - Don't you think she looks like she just stepped out of a spaceship?

These days "Castle Acre: Castle Acre Priory" is a Norfolk tourist attraction! It dates back to 1090, and is one of the largest and best preserved monastic sites in England! Just in case you're ever in the neighborhood, stop by and check it out!

Elizabeth Shepherd has the role of The Lady Rowena Trevanion, and also that of The Lady Ligeia! Elizabeth doesn't have a lot of horror in her bountiful portfolio, but she did have a gig in a weird short lived 1966 TV show called "The Corridor People," as the evil Syrie Van Epp, and she was also Joan Hart in "Damien: Omen II."

The viewer is led to believe that the soul of Ligeia lives on in this black cat, and Rowena is just about to find out that Ligeia is quite jealous!!

The always amazing and amusing Vincent Price is Verden Fell, Ligeia's Ex, and Rowena's future husband!

Castle Acre, King's Lynn, Norfolk - PE32 2XD - Find out more about it right Here! Isn't this an awesome shot?!

Here's an equally amazing interior shot! Great cinematography from the eye of Arthur Grant!!

Many people consider Edgar Allen Poe's original story to be satire! Poe only wrote two other pieces of prose in the same year, and they were both Gothic styled satires, "Siope - A Fable" and "The Psyche Zenobia." Great titles!!

Edgar Allan Poe's version of "Green Eggs and Ham!"

Now tell me where else can you go and get back to back references to Dr. Seuss and Edgar Allan Poe?

You'd have to own a cat to know that it's not difficult to train them to take over your spot when you move, it's just something they do naturally!

Don't go snooping around if you don't want to find out what's creepy!!

I'll get you, you son of a b...........!!!

The final showdown ensues between man and beast!!

The end result was inevitable beyond a shadow of a doubt!!!

Edgar Allen Poe, Roger Corman, and Vincent Price, a power trio to rival Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker, no doubt!!

SPACE MASTER X-7 / Regal Films - 1958

2012-01-16T07:45:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite we have a real rarity in monsterdom, a little blob flick from the producers of SHE DEVIL, KRONOS and THE UNKNOWN TERROR and directed by Dungeon favorite, Bernard (QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE) Bernds! It even had a whopping budget of $125,000 and was paired with THE FLY for release. When I saw THE FLY (freaked me out) with my dad in 1958, Space Master was not the second feature.

The story goes like this... A space probe returns to Earth covered with a strange fungus. The fungus is then accidentally tinged with human blood and transforms into an ever-growing blob, dubbed "Blood Rust." It's up to two government agents to find the one woman who can stop the thing from spreading and taking over the world! One tagline sez... Satellite Terror Strikes The Earth!

The stock music is by Harry Bluestone, Emil Cadkin, Geordie Hormel and William Loose. You can recognize music from THE ATOMIC BRAIN in the theme.

Letz bring in our fuzzy little Dungeon helper and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. He's here to start the show, so, push the big red 'GO' button there by the acid pit, now, Ralphie! Here's our soundclip for... SPACE MASTER X-7!

After the rocket, Space Master X-7, returns to Earth, it has some unknown substance from space attached to it, so, they take it to a lab to be examined.

Doctor Numbnuts takes the stuff to his house for the weekend, then, gets in a big fight with his wife over the kid, as they're separated. The dude really is a total ass!

He manages to get some blood on the sample and it starts mutating!

So, the contamination squad has to show up and torch the place to assure that there is no remaining trace of the ever-growing menace!

Then, they get to take a decontamination shower!

Moe Howard never even seen that lady before, he's all by hisself, nudge, nudge, wink, wink... Trouble is, she has some of that goop in her suitcase because it got on her dress in the lab!

Then, they find even more contamination!

Time to break out the flame throwers again...

The cops finally get Moe to cooperate and he discribes her to the sketch artist.

The lady with the suitcase watches as they show her sketch on TV and explain that the authorities are trying to locate her for national security reasons!

She has dyed her hair dark so that she can evade detection as she boards an airplane.

They find the suitcase, full of yetch!

Here's a little reminder that we're stuck up in the air with a monster, like in IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE.

Major Tom checks in with ground control.

If you're trying to get some info out of a hot chick, it helps to look cool, so, you light one up!

Just like in THE TINGLER, it's really scary when something creepy gets under your seat!!

But, do you really need a Regalscope shot of this lady? It's hard to explain that $125,000 budget!

Hey, at least this poster is decent!

STRANGE BEHAVIOR (1981) Dead Kids Say the Darndest Things!

2012-01-14T17:13:00.000-08:00

Greg Goodsell here -- Quick! You're on "Jeopardy" and Alex Trebek asks you under the "Obscure Horror Movies" category, "Name a New Zealand film set in the United States with a soundtrack that features legendary New Age Noodlers Tangerine Dream and 'Lightning Strikes' by Lou Christie?" If you say STRANGE BEHAVIOR, you'll be sure to score -- but if you said DEAD KIDS, you might win as well, as this film went under that moniker as well where I'm sure it generated very little business! Although I’m sure there are a few stray people who would pay to see a movie called DEAD BABIES – let’s not go there…

Kids ... don't smoke! It could cause the lights to go out in a big empty house and a person could waltz in and kill you!

We're just a few minutes in, and this teenager bites the big one! Don't worry; this isn't a generic slasher film where kids are brutally slaughtered for laughing at some poor girl's silly hat! STRANGE BEHAVIOR has a lot more on its mind than just hoary old chills. Keep watching!

Ah, bucolic, uncomplicated New Zealand stands in for small town America -- and everything is JUST OFF. It just adds to this film's off kilter allure!

Actor Michael Murphy plays the film's erstwhile hero. Murphy is a stateside acting heavyweight remembered mostly for his work in the Seventies. He has quite a resume -- WHAT'S UP DOC?, SHOCKER, MASH, BREWSTER McCLOUD, and MANHATTAN -- the list goes on and on! Directors and actors Murphy HASN'T worked with would make for a more manageable list.

Here you go -- Dan Shor plays Murphy's son, and he's your typically morose, rebellious teenage son itching to go to college and leave this domestic situation behind -- but he's going to need cash!

... so, he meets up with his buddy, see, and he gets wind of some quick money to be made at the local college, experiments in psychology or what not …

… and here we come to the REAL star of the show, Fiona Lewis, as a dominatrix slash scientist Gwen Parkinson. Lewis lent her considerable presence to such gems as THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN, THE FURY and INNERSPACE. What did Nietzsche say about women? "So God created woman. In the act he brought boredom to an end." The same applies for Lewis and this movie at hand.

Who wouldn't want to stay after class for Fiona? secretly, Fiona is in league with the town's former mad scientist, Dr. La Sange, who did lots of tricky brain manipulations before he came to a mysterious end. Hold that thought.

Our boys take time out for a costume party. Cue "Lightning Strikes" by Lou Christie, and more pop references than you can poke a stick at? The door is answered by none other than the Flying Nun -- and hold on to your hat, Quentin Tarrantino –

Lily Munster and Jeannie from "I Dream of Jeannie" (unseen) frugging away in the background! I imagine American TV is omnipresent in New Zealand!

And check this out! The party is broken up by a mad killer wearing a TOR JOHNSON mask! If pop culture was sugar, we would have all died of a diabetic coma at this point!

A retro car has its door torn off in a scene that is highly redolent of PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE!

While going for a "retro" look in some scenes, STRANGE BEHAVIOR finds lots of futuristic eye candy to sample as well.

The complex with various rooms conducting experiments on teenagers and young people summons forth the image from the classic young adult science-fiction novel, "A Wrinkle In Time." Remember the Man with Red Eyes and the cubicle with the little boy who earlier couldn't keep time with all the other little boys bouncing a ball in front of his house getting a nasty shock whenever he literally "dropped the ball?" SHUDDER.

Great atmospheric shot. A little disorienting but still great.

Uh oh! Looks like one of those psychotic kids -- the subjects of the local college experiments, are at it again!

Selfish kids! Leaving the bathroom in such as state like that and not cleaning up after themselves!

AAAAAAAAAhhhhhh! Dead body, in deference to the film's original title, DEAD KIDS!

Here's the REALLY scary part. This gal isn't FINISHED YET!

And yet another person falls prey to the crazy kids!

Say what you will, but I'm digging on the compositional beauty of all these shots! Fiona Lewis is a big help.

Another futuristic backdrop to some VERY nasty business about to go down! You folks may want to get up for a bathroom break for the next five minutes!

"Now, tell me if this hurts. On second thought, don't tell me. I know very well this will hurt --"

Fiona can work that hypodermic -- but you DON'T want to see what happens next.

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! I told you people not to look!

Love this shot! You can just tell that this burger joint is right across the street from THIS IS IT in BLUE VELVET (1986)! Speaking of which, this film out Lynches David Lynch in many creative ways …

The one withering shot that traumatized a much younger Stephen King when this feature first came out! King would rhapsodize about this scene in the annals of gonad-grabbing terror. GAAAAAAHHHHH again.

Right after wining an Oscar for Nurse Ratched in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, actress Louise Fletcher would appear frequently in horror films! FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, DRACULA’S MOMMA, INVADERS FROM MARS (the remake) and FIRESTARTER. Here, Fletcher is in yet another horror picture, but in a more sympathetic part, where she gives some needed exposition about a long-ago rival between Murphy and the town’s mad scientist.

So we have this stark shot of Dan Shor, under the control of the mad scientist, about to do some finishing up here! Will Murphy survive?

We'll take Fiona in black and white OR color, thank you very much.

Ever notice how Stanley Kubrick had a fetish for evil men in wheelchairs? Peter Sellers in DR. STRANGELOVE, Patrick Magee in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, the precept in BARRY LYNDON ... Not that this film was directed by Kubrick, but you see a lot of wink-wink-nudge-nudge going on here.

SURPRISE! I am the prick mad scientist everyone presumed was dead! HA!

OH NO! Is patricide going to take place right now? Well, what do you think?

NOT!

All's well that ends well. Kooky and campy, STRANGE BEHAVIOR is a solid guarantee for a fun night at the movies! You know what's really strange? Michael Laughlin, the director, went on to helm the equally zany 1950s-style alien invasion film STRANGE INVADERS and one other feature before he gave up directing altogether! You may know this flick's screenplay author Bill Condon from the highly acclaimed James Whale biopic GODS AND MONSTERS, among many others. Strange bedfellows indeed.

ATTACK FROM MARS / Wade Williams Productions - 1988

2012-01-13T06:20:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a special Friday the 13th, Friday Night Drive-In Theater with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's total trainwreck sadly stars Robert (THE MAN FROM PLANET X) Clarke and Ann (THE WAR OF THE WORLDS) Robinson. One of the reviews on IMDb cracked me up, the reviewer was upset that you cannot give a film zero stars!

The 'story' goes about like this... A Martian begins to attack the patrons and staff of a movie theater as a 'Republic' sci-fi serial plays there one night in the fifties. Original title is MIDNIGHT MOVIE MASSACRE.

The original music is by Bill Crain, who has 4 composing credits, but, no telling where the tunes in the movie came from...

Lettuce bring in our littlest of all Dungeon helpers and button pushers, the lover of rotten fruit and vegetables, Rufus The Gnat!.. Howdy, Rufus! The little weirdo is here to start our soundclip, so, push the big red 'GO' button there by the box of dynamite, now, Rufus! Here's some noise from... ATTACK FROM MARS!

If you ever want to see the biggest nerds ever, then, this is the flick for you!

Here's the skinny dude with the fat chick gag. That's a jumbo 3' x 5' tray they're filling with confectionery, carbonated and popped delights from the snack bar... Of course, he has to come back for more stuff later!

A little warning for Eegah!! and Tabonga! before the show begins...

...Yeah, no grunt, what it is!!

In the soundclip they say they're in Long Beach, but seriously, it looks like Bakersfield to me!

Okay, now we're watching the SPACE PATROL serial, happening some place in outer space.

Here's Robert as Colonel Carlyle and Ann as Dr. Sylvia Van Buren. Looks like they're on a hot date!

The Martian parks it's spaceship on top of the theater!

The first thing it does is deep red six the lady in the ticket booth!

The SPACE PATROL sets and miniatures look decent, but, no Republic serial was ever in color. Although, Republic did colorize ZOMBIES OF THE STRATOSPHERE and THE CRIMSON GHOST features.

The evil Martian Brain!

I'll leave it up to you to make what you can of what's going on here.

Now, what could be better than a fifties flick with a dude in a seventies space suit?!

Did I mention that this movie is totally gross at times? This girlie pulls crap like that out of her nose the whole time!! UGH!! Curse you, Wade!.. Like, even, what is it?.. She needs to see a doctor, you know, that might be contagious!

Now, that's what I call entertainment!.. By the way, where in the Hell are they?

I'd be a bit remiss, if I didn't show you this!.. Sweater Girl without her sweater!

The projectionist gets his head ripped off... What a maroon!!

Look at that mess of Republic serial killer robots!!

Here's more of how gross the flick gets, the 300 pound fat chick has just demolished a giant try of snacks and sodas, and, she cannot help herself from stuffing the Martian in her big mouth and start gobbling away!! But, guess what?.. She saves the day by doing so!

Even her boyfriend can't believe that she ate the whole thing!!

THE BODY STEALERS - Reg Tilsley - "Thin Air" (1969)

2012-01-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

It's truly amazing what people find interesting these days! Take a movie like "Port Sinister" for example! It took me almost four years to track down a copy of that sucker, and sure, it wasn't the greatest movie in the world, but it was a lot more exciting that a soccer match or a soap opera! I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, I guess we're just latent historians, but tonight's feature is another one of those kinds of films, not that great, but from a historical perspective, pretty damn interesting!

There's a big air show, but there is one little problem, three guys in parachutes never came back down, hence the alternate title, as they vanished into "Thin Air!"

If you check out the detail and nuance of this shot, then you will surely agree that it's one of the best damn crowd scenes you've seen lately!

All the big chiefs and cheeses have a big pow wow, and come to the conclusion that they need help from an outside source, enter our hero, Patrick (Island of the Burning Damned) Allen as major horn dawg Bob Megan!

Of course, George (The Man Who Could Work Miracles) Sanders is in on the action as General Armstrong!

Sean Connery's baby brother grabs the role of Jim Radford! Believe it or don't, Neil Connery's first film, this was his second, was a spy flick titled "Operation Big Brother!" Yeah, they were really pushing it!

Bob was out standing in the field where the empty chutes came down, and has found a fascinating and mysterious buckle that holds the answers to a lot of questions!

They couldn't come up with a room at The Hilton, so Bob has to be satisfied with staying at a coastal inn, and while walking on the beach at night, he happens on a young lady who catches his eye, and even though he's in charge of finding out what's going on, a mysterious woman named Lorna on the beach would be the last thing to set his radar off!

Bob's libido is a different story! Bob meets a gal, and he's ready to get it on, right then and there! He's a real, wham, bam, thank-you mam, kinda guy!

Back at the inn, it means nothing to him when Shelagh Fraser as Mrs. Thatcher, the local barkeep, tells him that she knows everybody in the area, and there's no woman by the name of Lorna living around these parts! Shelagh, now that's a cool name you don't hear too often! Shelagh was also in "The Witches," and had the role of Aunt Beru in "Star Wars!" Mrs. Thatcher is the only babe Bob doesn't try and bed, not that she wasn't willing!

Lorna was portrayed by none other than herself! Lorna Wilde has only seven acting credits to her name, and the last one was as Countess Dracula in "Son Of Dracula" in 1974!

Here's a look at Bob's first encounter with the gorgeous Hilary Heath as the scientist Julie Slade! This cat doesn't give up!

"So, how does it feel to be walking around in the shadow of your brother all the time?"

The talent in this film is endless! Here is Maurice Evans as big shot know it all Dr. Matthews. Maurice Evans was The Puzzler on the "Batman" TV series, he was Hutch in "Rosemary's Baby," and underneath all that makeup, he was Dr. Zaius in the series of "Planet Of The Apes" movies!

If this shot doesn't say "Stalemate" then I don't know what to say!

Of course the #2 guy in charge of the whole operation, who is supposed to be working late, is also another horny bastard! To his credit, his secretary has had enough, and walks out on him! Allan (Performance) Cuthbertson is two-faced big shot Hindsmith!

Meanwhile, Bob and Lorna meet on the beach again! The swingin' music throughout "The Body Stealers" was composed by Reg Tilsley who in the same year composed the music for the Frankie Avalon slasher flick "Horror House!"

I've read that people think this film is boring! What's so boring about a guy who is going to make a parachute jump to replicate what happened to his buddies, and still finds time to meet up with a strange woman right outside the security gates! It's really hilarious!

Well, that whole parachute thing did work out so well after all!!! At least somehow he lived through it!

Great scene! "No, I don't know anything, why are you calling me?"

Julie finally comes face to face with the dreaded creature from outer space!

Well, DAMN! It's her boss, Dr. Matthews!

The creature from space is not exactly Dr. Matthews anymore, as his body had been taken over by an alien some time earlier! "Body Stealers" get it?? Check out the ray gun, it looks like a video camera!

If you sense a bit of "The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers," you probably wouldn't be very far off, as a matter of fact, another alternate title is "Invasion Of The Body Stealers!"

Time for the mothership to show up, and take everybody back to where they came from!

"The flying saucer is gone, there is no threat of an invasion, however, the flying saucers are still around!" - Buchanan & Goodman

THE WASP WOMAN In Color / Film Group Feature - 1959

2012-01-09T05:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. I'm pulling out all the stops with this colorized redo of a post we did back in 2007! Eegah!! and I actually saw this one when it came out, we even gave it a bad review in our self published monster rag in 1964, Dwrayger Dungeon. It stars Susan (WAR OF THE SATELLITES) Cabot, Anthony (THE NAVY vs THE NIGHT MONSTERS) Eisley, Barboura (A BUCKET OF BLOOD) Morris, Michael (RETURN OF THE FLY) Mark and William (NOT OF THIS EARTH) Roerick with Bruno (DEMENTIA) VeSota and Frank (BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE) Wolff, and, the screenplay was written by Leo (THE HAUNTED PALACE) Gordon! It looks sooo cool in color, too!

The beginning theme for this flick is a real favorite of mine, it's by the inimitable Fred Katz, and, we remember his work in A BUCKET OF BLOOD, BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE, THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS and CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA. We Love Fred, here at The Dungeon!!

Letz bring in our fuzzy little Dungeon helper and button pusher, you know him, you love him, Ralphie The Tarantula! He's joined us for one reason, to start our Eariffic soundclip. So, push the big red 'GO' button there next to the hamster wheel, now, Ralphie! Listen to some sounds from... THE WASP WOMAN!

Nice shot of LA traffic and architecture in the late fifties.

These were typical secretaries back them, it wouldn't fly today... "How'd you like to have this phone wrapped around your ear, wise guy!"

Janice Starlin hires mad scientist, Eric Zinthrop, to help try and save her cosmetics company with his wacky ideas.

He injects her with his special queen bee serum, which is supposed to start reversing the aging process.

But, things begin to go wrong, like, this experimental kitty cat has not only grown younger, it's become an attacking nightmare!

Stunned, dazed and confused, Zinthrop wanders aimlessly into the street only to be hit by a car. That's Roger Corman as the doctor, and, there's Frank (MONSTROSITY) Gerstle, too.

Janice continues taking the serum as Zinthrop has lost most of his memory from the accident. Co-worker, Arthur Cooper, snoops around in the lab to try and find clues to the recent mysteries in the company...

And, becomes her first victim!

Hey, Bruno, watch out, yer next!!

It doesn't just end there, that night, when she trys to get some answers about what's happening to her...

She gets upset and changes into the monster, then, takes care of the nurse!.. Get it?

Mary tries to help out but she rattles Janice into yet another transformation!

No telling who's responsible for creating the monster head.

Bill and the old man wait impatiently for the elevator to come down to their floor... Bill finally gets fed up and takes the stairs.

The shadows here, as Wasp Woman drags Mary down the dark hallway, are both weird and mesmerizing.

Bill has to quickly defend himself from the charging creature, she's quick as Hell!!

Zinthrop picks up a bottle of carbolic acid and scores a direct hit on Wasp Woman's head just before he keels over, dead!

Then, Bill uses his stool to push her back through the lab window on the 46th floor!

"And... Wasper Woman was dead!" *Hermanos Guzanos quote from their 'tune' of the same name.

This half hour colorized version is from Elvira's ATTACK OF THE KILLER B-MOVIES. It also features shortened colorized versions of KILLERS FROM SPACE and MONSTER FROM GREEN HELL along with THE NAVY vs THE NIGHT MONSTERS!

We'll end with this very desirable Mexican lobby card... Oh yeah, Eegah!! used to have the 1 sheet poster.

THE CREMATORS - Albert Glasser - "Goodness Gracious" (1972)

2012-01-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

Wow! I was really looking forward to this one, cool title, "The Cremators," and another cool soundtrack composed by Dungeon Maestro Master, Albert Glasser, what could go wrong? Well, it just so happens that this film is not the worst film I've ever seen, but it just might well be one of the boringest! Even Albert Glasser's soundtrack is not that exciting, but it's probably the best part of the movie!

Here we go, La, la, la, lalala, la, la, la la lo!

Reflections ala Henry David Thoreau - "As in geology, so in social institutions, we may discover the causes of all past changes in the present invariable order of society."

This rock looks like it might be made of some harmless turquoise and some fool's gold, but in this movie's reality, it is the root of all evil!

What a fantastic Mad Lab!A bunch of stuff piled on a table, two terrariums, one with a large tin can in it, with some cords, tubing, and a cardboard box. Cool vintage knotty pine paneling and a folded map in one corner!

Homie's also got himself a vintage "Fix Or Repair Daily" pickup! They spared no expense on this film!

He's not a complete loser, those 45's he bought from me on eBay finally arrived! Too bad they were all broken when they got there!

The locals are a lively bunch, but I'm not too sure about the guy in the dress!! Meanwhile, the Sheriff is busy off drinking beer!

Did I forget to tell you about the glowing rocks? I didn't take the time to do the exact math, but I'm willing to guess that out of the 75 minutes this film is running, there is at least a minimum of 15 minutes of nothing but shots of glowing, and sometimes not glowing, evil rocks!

Maria De Aragon has the role of The Doctor's girlfriend Jeanne! Somebody on IMDB finds her to be a "beguiling brunette knockout," but then that is the same site that when you use their search engine, it won't auto-fill any titles that are more than like 20 years old, unless it's a mega-classic! Believe it or not, Maria was behind the Greedo mask in "Star Wars!"

Marvin Howard has the role of Dr. Iane Thorne, and it's basically a 'who cares' situation!! This was to be Marvin's only film role, but he did reappear once as a gunman on a TV show 8 years later! Dude is not exactly a baller!

Bill Haley and the Comets' "Don't Knock The Rock" would be very appropriate right about here!!

"The Cremators" was also known as "Dune Roller!" A Dune Roller is a large mass of energy that is attracted to those weird rocks, rolls over people and turns them into piles of ashes while absorbing their life energy! "Dune Roller" should not be confused with another movie also made in 1972, "The Unholy Rollers," that starred Playboy playmate Claudia Jennings, and was all about Roller Derby!

ROCK!

DUNE ROLLER!!

ROCK!!!

LAMP!!!!

Jeanne was out on the lake doing some karaoke with her frog friends, when The Dune Roller shows up and tries to put a damper on the whole thing!

The budget was so small, this was considered a wide shot, a double-wide shot!!

Help, I got Space Shit on my hands!!

Here's why I don't like Rocket Surgeons! This one is so intelligent, he thinks he's going to be able to shoot and kill the Dune Roller!! What a Brainiac!!

Now the rocks are getting organized! Next thing you know, they'll be making political contributions!!

Here it comes, rolling down the street, it gets the funniest looks from every one it meets, hey, hey, it's a Dune Roller!!

Dr. Thorne and Jeanne lure the Dune Roller to a spot where he's hidden some explosives!! "Great Balls Of Fire!"

That's it! The Dune Roller has rolled it's last dune! Blown sky high! How about that?

You could only dream that "The Cremators" would be anywhere near this exciting! Apparently false advertising laws don't apply to movie posters!

MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM / Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 1933

2012-01-06T05:42:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Friday Night Bijou Theater with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. What a great movie we have tonite, it stars the great Lionell Atwill and the beautiful Fay Wray in this classic tale of horror filmed in early two-strip Technicolor! As a kid in the fifties and sixties, you'd never know it was in color because, basically, everything was broadcast in b/w.

The uncredited stock music is by Cliff Hess, the end theme is by Bernhard Kaun. Hess was a composer, songwriter, author, publisher, pianist and Irving Berlin's secretary between 1913 and 1918. Kaun had 224 music department credits and worked on PLATINUM BLONDE, THE MIDNIGHT SUN, THE HATCHET MAN, DOCTOR X, THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME, THE OLD DARK HOUSE, KING KONG, HAUNTED GOLD, THE MAYOR OF HELL, THE SON OF KONG, THE WALKING DEAD, FLASH GORDON, SECRET AGENT X-9 and THE RETURN OF DOCTOR X.

Lettuce bring in our littlest Dungeon helper and button pusher, it's... Rufus The Gnat! Howdy, Rufus... He's here to start our show, so, push the big red 'GO' button located there by the espresso machine, now, Rufus!! Here's our soundclip for... MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM!

Here's the great Lionel Atwill as Ivan Igor, master sculptor, in London. It doesn't take long to see where HOUSE OF WAX came from, which is also a WB production...

Ivan's damn good at his work, his pieces are stunning!

Bad news comes via his business partner... Here's $50 for your crap, I'm going to burn the place down and get all that insurance money!

It only takes a few minutes to set the place completely ablaze with just one match! Which reminds me, I'll never forgive AIP for what they did to Paul Blaisdell in HOW TO MAKE A MONSTER!

It's now New Year's in New York, Ivan has moved to the United States to continue his work...

And then, bodies start disappearing from the morgue! I smell A BUCKET OF BLOOD!!

This is Glenda Farrell as fiesty girl reporter, Florence Dempsey. She tells the editor and boyfriend that she's getting creepy vibes from Mr. Igor.

There was no way in Hell that I wasn't going to show this great pulp magazine cover!

Ahhh, the artist's studio!

When I see shots like this, it makes me want to spit on modern movies, no offense.

Fay Wray plays Charlotte Duncan. Ivan imagines her as his Marie Antoinette figure.

It doesn't get much more atmospheric than this!

Florence gets a good scare in the basement as she tries to find some clues to the mystery.

Love this part where one of the sculptors rises up, looking like his was a wax head.

Ivan surprises Charlotte when he springs up from his wheelchair and grabs her in an embrace!

She accidently cracks off his mask, revealing a twisted monster!

The police finally break Ivan's helper and he spills the beans about what his boss is up to.

It's time to dip Charlotte in the wax, to become his next exquisite creation!

Ivan notices that the police have discovered his hidden lair and have him surrounded.

After some terrific fight scenes, the coppers shoot Ivan on the cat walk, and, of course, he falls head first into the hot wax! It's always a sad story, genius turned madman due to circumstances out of his control, in this case, greed was the culprit...

A MAN CALLED DAGGER - Steve Allen - "Danger X-13" (1968)

2012-01-04T17:13:00.000-08:00

Here you go, here's what's brewing, my first entry into 2012 fulfills the personification of the duality of my multiple personalities, and then some!!! Here's Dolly Dagger's half brother, "A Man Called Dagger!" "It'll make you stagger!" "He's got a jagged edge!"

Let's just get one thing straight, "A Man Called Dagger" is a WEIRD movie, with moments of near brilliance, and also some of the most horrid film making you've ever seen in your life, and sometimes all at the same time! Great shot right out of the box!! It's not the best print, but good luck finding a better one! Want a copy? Go to the "Green Door" and tell 'em Joe sent you!!

A chick sitting in the airport reading a "Batman" comic.........

......Okay, she's got Eegah!!'s, I mean Richard Kiel's attention!!

One of my favourite TV game shows from the 50's was called "Treasure Hunt," and the host was a Jewish comedian named Murray Janofsky, or Jan Murray! I never really thought of Jan as an actor, and I'm still not too sure, but one thing, he was game! In "A Man Called Dagger" Jan has the role of the evil Nazi mad scientist Rudolph Koffman!

Paul Mantee has the role of, are you ready, DICK DAGGER!! Say it any way you want, it still comes out DICK DAGGER! Paul was only in two handfuls of movies, but you can't hardly name a 60's TV show, excluding the comedies, that he wasn't in, "Dragnet," "Hawaiian Eye," "77 Sunset Strip," "The Rifleman," "I Spy," "Time Tunnel," and "Batman" just to name a few, but of course down here in The Dungeon, Paul will always be remembered for his starring role in "Robinson Crusoe On Mars!" Too bad back in the day, nobody thought of pairing Paul Mantee with Buddy Hackett, they could have given Abbott and Costello some competition peforming as Cloak and Dagger!!

The very cute Terry Moore was Jill Young in "Mighty Joe Young" in 1949! What else do you need to know? Terry's got a film in post-production set for release in 2012 called "Mansion Of Blood!" I'll bet they have a cool dungeon in that pad!! Maybe not, it stars Gary Busey!

Terry's character is Harper Davis, another spy and Dick Dagger's ex-lover, watching Rudolph Koffman's meat packing operation, so she can make enough money so her and Dick can make love in the Sewers of Paris again!

Rudolph Koffman's former self was Kapitan Hans Leitel! I'm willing to bet having a Jew play a deranged Nazi is not something that just happened by chance, and that's the whole deal with this flick, just what the heck were they up to?? Director Richard Rush's two previous ventures before this film were "Hells Angels On Wheels," and "Psych-Out!"

Interesting way to prune a bush! There's no way "A Man Called Dagger" can be seen as a bad movie, the cinematography was done by the genius of the eye, László Kovács! László's work bounced around all the time from titles like 'A Man Called Dagger" and "Blood Of Dracula's Castle" to "Easy Rider" and "Five Easy Pieces!"

Dagger has a lot of love interests, Maureen Arthur is aptly named Joy! Maureen was also a singer, and in the 1958 film "Hot Rod Gang," Maureen performed "Choo Choo Cha Poochie"

Dagger turns up the heat to get some information out of Sue Ane Langdon as bad girl Ingrid! Sue Ane was also all over the TV, and had reoccurring characters in quite a few shows like Kitty Marsh in 16 episodes of "Bachelor Father," or as Lillian Nuvo in 48 episodes of the 70's show "Arnie."

The 7' 2" Richard Kiel puts in another Oscar deserving performance as Otto! I didn't do the math, but I'm sure over 50% of Richard's credits are for a character with one name, like Irving, Norman, Laszlo, Animal, Eddie, Jaws, Golob, Duke, Drazak, Grimm, Reace, Malak, Iggy, Loach, Tiny, Cracks, Beany, and let's not forget Eegah!!!

Another reason why "A Man Called Dagger" can't be considered a bad film is that the music is by another 60's fave that we've never had the opportunity to write about before, Mr. Steve Allen! The extremely multi-talented Mr. Allen was not only a serious jazz musican, he was also an amazing comic, who surrounded himself with the talents of Louis Nye, Don Knotts, and Tom Poston on his TV show! It was hilarious!!

As Richard Kiel reconfigures Dick Dagger's face I'd like to mention the fact that it's possible that the producers of this film had access to the fountain of youth! Every actor and actress I've spoke of so far, except for Jan Murray who lived to be 89, is still alive!! They should have a big "Dick Dagger" convention!!! I can just see it!!

This could have easily happened on "Treasure Hunt" or "The Steve Allen Show!"

The "Trilogy Of Trippy," left to right Bruno VeSota, Jan Murray, and Richard Kiel! What a party of talent!!

How important is Bruno VeSota? Let me just put it to you this way, without Bruno, this blog wouldn't exist! He only lived to be 54, but in those 54 years Bruno was in "The Wild One, "Dementia," "Carnival Rock," "The Undead," "Daddy-O," "A Bucket Of Blood," "The Wasp Woman," "Attack Of The Giant Leeches," "The Devil's Hand," "Invasion Of The Star Creatures," "The Wild World Of Bat Woman," AND he was the bartender in freakin' 21 episodes of "Bonanza" to boot!

They're just about ready to pop Dick Dagger's mind,........

........ but I forgot to tell you he has a bunch of gadgets at his disposal, and so somehow he miraculously escapes!

Dick Dagger turns the tables on Rudolph Koffman! Jan Murray kind of looks like a cross between Jerry Lewis and George Bush Jr. when he is at his manic frantic best!

It wasn't easy by no means, but Dagger takes the BIG man down!

Just in time to save yet another one of the beautiful women in the movie, Eileen O'Neill as Erica! Eileen was Millie Second in two episodes of "Batman" and was on all the best shows, "Bewitched," "My Favorite Martian," "The Munsters," "Get Smart," and "I Dream Of Jeannie," and she also had a regular gig as Sgt. Gloria Ames in 33 episodes of "Burke's Law! with Gene Barry!

The big meat locker showdown at the end leaves Rudolph Koffman hanging high and dry! Now you tell me this is a comedy!

Small minded people might think "A Man Called Dagger" is just another crappy James Bond ripoff, but open minded people will do whatever is humanly possible to seek the real truth!

It's the beginning of a new year, but without a doubt, this is "The End" of all time!!

VOODOO WOMAN / American International Pictures - 1957

2012-01-02T05:56:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first Monster Monday with Tabonga in 2012, here at The Dungeon!.. We're going back to 1957 for a redo of a post we first did in 2007! It has the perfect tagline ~ A woman by day... a monster by night! And, you can't go wrong with keywords like Jungle, Mad Scientist, Voodoo, Witch Doctor, Murder, Acid, Molotov Cocktail and a Monster played by Paul Blaisdell!!

The story... Deep in the jungle, a mad scientist is using the natives' voodoo for his weird experiments to create an indestructible being to serve his will. When a party of gold seekers stumbles upon his domain, he realizes that the expedition's evil leader is the perfect subject for his work...

The music is by John Blackburn and Darrell Calker. This was John's only composing credit. Darrell started out working for Walter Lantz, composing music for cartoons, for which he has tons of credits for all the work he did in the forties.

Okay, letz bring in our fuzzy lil' Dungeon fiend and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Hello dort, Ralphie! He's here to start the show by rolling our cool soundclip, so, push the big red 'GO' button located directly behind you, now, Ralphie! Here's... VOODOO WOMAN!

Geez, it's always something with this broad!

Doesn't anybloody realize how ridiculous Tom Conway looks here?!.. Anyway, Tom plays Dr. Gerald, the dude trying to create his army of superhuman voodoo creatures. He can also been seen in CAT PEOPLE, I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE, 12 TO THE MOON and was The Falcon in the forties.

Actually, this is where the real tail begins!..

So, what do you think of my kid's drawing, he wants to be an artist!

Paul Dubov plays the bartender, we remember Paul from THE FLYING MISSILE, HIGH NOON, THE ATOMIC KID, DAY THE WORLD ENDED, THE SHE-CREATURE, THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE and SHOCK CORRIDOR! Not too bad!

Here's Mike 'Touch' Connors as Ted Bronson and Marla English as murderess, Marilyn Blanchard. Mike was also in THE DAY THE WORLD ENDED and Marla was in THE SHE-CREATURE.

Lance Fuller plays Rick Brady, Marilyn's jealous boyfriend. Lance was in FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN, THIS ISLAND EARTH, THE SHE-CREATURE and GOD'S LITTLE ACRE, but, I'd say that his claim to fame was being married to the blonde bombshell, Joi Lansing, for two and a half years. He was not a favorite of Paul Blaisdell's.

The Doc keeps up with his little experiments!

Now, where have I seen that symbol before?..

The doctor realizes Marilyn's potential!

And, Ted and the Doc's wife really hit it off!

Marilyn volunteers to be the next Voodoo Woman! Marla also became the She-Creature!

The Doc sics Marilyn on his wife!!

The Doc's playing with fire as he keeps ordering Marilyn around...

Then, numbnuts gets exactly whut's comin' to him, in spades!!

The gold idol lures Marilyn over to the pit, only to cause her to slip and fall into it! Gee, I wonder if that idol was made by Paul Blaisdell?

The molotov cocktail part is where Ted makes this one here and tosses it at the hostile natives, to get rid of them. It works, big time.

The first thing Ted needs after they get back to semi-civilization is a good stiff drink!!

Here's another great Mexican lobby card that was once in my possession.

The classic ending has Voodoo Woman climbing back out of the pit. Pleasant dreams, everbloody!..

Tune in Wednesday for who the Hell knows what Eegah!! may have brewing in his kettle!

2012-01-01T08:05:00.001-08:00

PORT SINISTER - Albert Glasser - "Beast Of Paradise Isle" (1953)

2011-12-31T17:13:00.000-08:00

After all this time, I can't believe we haven't run out of titles yet, but believe it or not, 2012 might just be the weirdest set yet, and to give you a taste of what I'm talking about, let's usher out the old, and in with the even older, a relatively obscure flick from 1953, with the very cool name, "Port Sinister!"

So you got to figure, it's 1953, kind of a transition period for horror and sci-fi flicks trying to break away from Universal Frankenstein and Dracula in some new form of terror. Sometimes it didn't really work all that great! In theory or legend, it seems there's a mysterious sunken island place called Port Royale, that resurfaces every so many years that has hidden pirate booty on it!

As I finished writing this, I just read this news article, some 58 years later, I don't know if they'll find any pirates's booty or giant crabs, but a new island is forming right now as we speak, very similar to the concept of Port Royale, and you can read all about it right HERE!!! Freakin' Amazing!!

James Warren is Tony Ferris, the scientist who predicts Port Royale's next appearance, and he's looking for a backer! James wasn't really that familiar of a face to me, but with credits like "Ding Dong Williams" and "Slightly Dangerous," it's no wonder! It turned out that James had quite another talent, and after he finished acting, he turned to painting, and did quite well with it!

Lynne Roberts is Joan Hunter, the skeptical doctor who is forced to go along to find out if it's true or not! Lynne's career went back all the way to 1936, and included stuff like "Circus Girl," "The Mysterious Miss X," "The Bride Wore Crutches," and "The Phantom Speaks!"

The bad guys catch wind of the whole situation and give Tony a big headache, so that he misses the boat!

Then they have to explain the whole cock and bull story to Dr. Hunter, so she alone sets off to sea with them!

The marvelous Marjorie Stapp has a small role as the technician who tells Tony Ferris where he might just be able to find a guy who is crazy enough to fly him out to the general area where he thinks Port Royale is set to surface! Marjorie went on to be in some awesome flicks like "Indestructible Man," "The Werewolf," "Kronos," and "The Monster That Challenged The World!"

The iconic House Peters Jr. is the drunken pilot without a license who is the guy to get the job done. How's House for a cool name? It's even cooler that he's House Jr. His only regret after running out of gas is that he didn't bring more booze! If you're old enough to remember the Mr. Clean TV commercials of the 60's, you recognize House as the guy who played the immortal bald musclehead! Back in 1936, House was a Shark Man in the "Flash Gordon" series, and in 1949 he was Henchman Earl in the "Batman and Robin" serials! He's got a ton of great credits like "King Of The Rocket Men," "The Day The Earth Stood Still," "Red Planet Mars," "Target Earth," and "Rebel Without A Cause!"

The face that you've seen a zillion times, but probably can't put a name to is none other than William Schallert as Collins! William just might actually be THE hardest working man in show business, and this low-down role might just be the evilest of all his 360 appearances! Where do you start or end with a guy like this? I could devote a whole blog to his body of work. In "Mighty Joe Young, " he was a gas station attendant, he was Dr. Mears in "The Man From Planet X," he was in "Gog," "Them," "Tobar The Great," and "The Incredible Shrinking Man!" He was on "Space Patrol" and "The Twilight Zone," and he had the recurring role as Mr. Leander Pomfritt in 24 episodes of "The Many Loves Of Dobie Gillis," and was also in 104 episodes of the Patty Duke Show, and that's all only up to 1966! William is still kickin' and was still doing stuff on TV as of this year! Standing ovation, please!!

Paul Cavanagh is the other evil bastard John Kolvac. Paul was no slacker himself, even though he passed away back in 1964, he still chalked up 148 appearances in such classics as "The Gorilla Man," "The Babe Ruth Story," "The Son Of Dr. Jekyll," "Bride Of The Gorilla," "The Strange Door," "Francis In The Haunted House," and "She-Devil," just to scratch the surface! Kolvac and Collins have just spotted Port Royale for the first time, hence the looks on their faces!

The music for "Port Sinister" was composed by another Dungeon Hero,what a gasser, Albert Glasser!! If you try out our search engine, you'll find Albert's name comes up about 18 times, because of all the Mr. B.I.G. movies he's worked on. For movies that are really about monsters, Albert Glasser was the go-to guy! "Monster From Green Hell," "Earth Vs The Spider," "The Cyclops," "The Amazing Colossal Man," "War Of The Colossal Beast," "Beginning Of The End," and the list goes on and on.

After they go ashore on Port Royale, Collins and John Kolvac get the rest of the crew drunk, so they can go find the treasure for themselves!

Okay, here's a giant crab!!!

Dr. Joan Hunter finds out the hard way that unlike Elvis Costello, this bunch of rogue pirate's aim is anything but true!

This is a very dark print, so I wasn't able to really see the intricacies of the smoking Port Royale set or the fine tuned action of this puppet crab! It's dark, and they don't show them very long, that's the trick!

Tony Ferris and the pilot Jim Garry managed to somehow float directly to Port Royale too. It's like a miracle I tell you! Not the kind of place you want to be standing around with your hands in your pockets!

They manage to rescue Dr. Hunter before the giant puppet crab had it's way with her! Nobody ever seems to be very surprised about anything, but now they have to find a way to get off the island before it goes down again!

Dr. Hunter volunteers to be a decoy!

The chase leads them across a very scary steaming thin lava crust with quicksand underneath it that they have to traverse very carefully! These rogues are all a bunch of cutthroats, so when one goes down, nobody ever volunteers to help! You know that "All for one, and all for one!" kind of deal!

Port Royale goes down for the final count!

Don't bother looking back folks, it's not set to resurface for another 600 years!

Even with that massive array of talent, "Port Sinister" barely manages to sprout wings, but it's still worth checking out! If the movie was half as good as this poster, it would have been great, but unfortunately, the poster is at least 13 times better! Before I forget, Big Thanx to everybody who has contributed to this place in any form, Happy Nuke Year Ya'll!! 2012 should be a gas!!!

TICKS / First Look Pictures - 1993

2011-12-30T06:25:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Friday Night Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's feature is a decent little creepfest filmed at Big Bear Lake and Big Bear Valley in the San Bernardino National Forest. Some of the actors are Ami Dolenz, Seth Green, Alfonso Ribeiro, Peter Scolari and Ron Howard's dad and bro, Rance and Clint!

The music's by Daniel Licht and Christopher L. Stone. Daniel has worked on CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT, SEVERED TIES, INSIDE OUT II, CHILDREN OF THE CORN: THE FINAL SACRIFICE, HELLRAISER: BLOODLINE and the TV movie HENDRIX. Christopher worked on FOREVER AND BEYOND, COVERGIRL, SWORD OF HEAVEN, PHANTASM II and FELIX THE CAT: THE MOVIE. Get this, in 1965 Christopher was the youngest member of ASCAP, having written the score for three motion pictures by the age of 12!

Lettuce bring in our littlest helper and button pusher, what else, Rufus The Gnat!.. Hey-yo, Rufus! He's not here to bug us, but rather, to start our show, so, push the big red 'GO' button there right in front of you, now, Rufus! Here's some... TICKS!

A typical story from the early nineties... Problem teens in Los Angeles join an inner-city wilderness project in an attempt to get back in touch with their priorities, but, when they get to the camp, they begin having problems adjusting to the wild. Local marijuana growers using herbal steroids to accelerate plant growth create mutated ticks because of their leaky delivery system! It actually sounds possible. Alternate titles are INFESTED, C2 - KILLERINSECT and PARASITES.

Seth and Alfonso play Tyler and Darrel, Tyler demonstrates how you can ignite a tick! Alfonso shows off his acting chops by playing a tough guy!! I've become a fan of Seth's lately because of ROBOT CHICKEN!

Wanted posters for marijuana (marihuana) growers hang in the general store.

What a wild career Clint Howard has had! I first remember him from the STAR TREK episode where he played the mini space dude, Balok. He went on to be in these fine films... EAT MY DUST, ROCK 'N' ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, EVILSPEAK, NIGHT SHIFT, TANGO & CASH, THE ROCKETEER, CARNOSAUR, THE ICE CREAM MAN, BARB WIRE and THE DENTIST 2.

He plays Jarvis, the guy in charge of the 'weed on steroids' project. He's just stepped in his own bear trap and is in an extremely vulnerable position. From there, he notices that some of the oversized tick eggs on the ceiling are starting to drop around him!

After the dog dies of unknown causes, the local vet discovers something quite curious... Tick on a stick!

The thing springs to life and scampers away with the needle still stuck in it!!

Darrel gets infected and rips this one off his chest in disgust!

Here's how the beautiful people deal with things.

Some nice moody blue shots.

I think Jarvis is trying to say... "Crappy new year, everbloody!!"

I just think this is a cool looking scene.

The bad guys join the fun only to get a face full o' tick!

This picture of the living room after the van crashes through the wall would make a teriffic painting!

The electrical wiring starts shorting out, creating a strobe effect, so, I captured the brightest images of Darrel as he splits in half!

Then, it's this dude's turn to get whut's comin' to him! Goodnight, sweet slimeball!..

Leave it up to pretty boy to be the big scardy cat!!

They have to use a Scooby-Doo escape method to get out of the cabin.

There's only one solution, blow the damn thing to HELL!!

Tyler picks up any survivors in the van and heads back to LA... Tune in tomorrow for a 'lost' movie that has been amazingly 'found' by Eegah!!

RIDE THE WILD SURF - Stu Phillips - Jan and Dean - "Who Will Be Crowned King Of The Surf?" (1964)

2011-12-28T17:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been holding onto this little oyster for a while, and here's what happened. Netflix said "Ride The Wild Surf" was a William Castle film, but I never knew of a William Castle surf movie, so it piqued my interest. Problem is, they got it wrong, William Castle had nothing to do with this movie, but it is quite a bit different from your normal Frankie and (Sorry Bro, no Annette) surf bash and it fits in between X-Mas and New Years as well as anywhere or anything else, so here you go.....

The main theme for "Ride The Wild Surf" was performed by sidewalk surfers Jan & Dean, and the rest of the music was composed by Stu Phillips, the founder of Colpix Records! If the title song sounds a bit Beach Boysish, it's because Brian Wilson was one of the co-authors along with Jan(Jan & Dean)Berry, and Roger Christian! Stu Phillips also wrote the music for "Hells Angels On Wheels," "Venus In Furs," "Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, and more, plus the TV series "Gidget" and "The Monkees" too! Somewhere in the movie they also stuck in the classic "Sufer's Stomp" by The Marketts!

These opening intro shots look like picture prefect postcards, vintage 1964!

"Ride The Wild Surf" is chock full of 60's pop icons! We'll start with Barbara "I Dream Of Jeannie" Eden as Augie Poole. We went to school with Augie's second cousin, third removed on her Mother's side, Sandra! Teenager Barbara was 30 years old when this movie was made!

29 year old teenager Peter Brown wasn't usually blonde and is probably best known for his appearances in 60's cowboy TV shows like "Lawman," and "Laredo!" Some of his various western characters were Clay Conover, and Chad Cooper, and his name in this film was Chase Colton! Yeah, I know, Weirdsville!!! His initial meeting with Augie Poole is also little awkward!!

Fabiano Anthony Forte aka Fabian has the role of Jody Wallis. Fabian's a little closer to being a teenager at 22!

Next up is Shelly "192 episodes of The Donna Reed Show" Fabares, as Brie Matthews, another piece of cheese that doesn't look quite right as a blonde! Shelley was 20 when they made this movie! Shelley was also in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" titled "Black Leather Jackets," and in both "Spinout" and "Clambake" with Elvis Presley!

Fabian inquires into how perky Shelley is feeling!

The main story centers around a surfin' competition in Hawaii! Hit the surf!!

And get ready for some of the fakiest green screen footage you're likely to ever see! As you can see, another teen icon is the third member of this mighty trio, Tab Hunter! Teenager Tab's character Steamer Lane was 33 when this film was made! Maybe it is a William Castle film after all!

The girls cheer the guys on! Here's something interesting that doesn't usually happen with these 60's movies, every person written about so far is still alive!!! Must have had something to do with all that pure Hawaiian air!

Susan Hart as Hawaiian girl Lily Kilua has been poppin' up all over the place around here lately, try a Susan Hart search over on the sidebar, and you'll see what I mean! On Susan's right is Catherine McLeod as her Mother! Catherine was all over the TV in the 50's and the 60's and in the same year "Ride The Wild Surf" was made, she was in the "Outer Limits" episode titled "Soldier!" Catherine is the only main cast member no longer living!

As much as this looks like the perfect romantic moment, in real life Susan went on to marry AIP president James H. Nicholson, and in his 2005 memoir titled "Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making Of A Movie Star, Tab revealed to the world that he was gay!

There is also quite a lot of documentary style real surfing footage!

It's really a fairly serious story, but there are some aspects that are pretty silly, not Harvey Lembeck silly, but silly nonetheless!

Another fantastic romantic moment with just the two of them on the beach!

Steamer might have had second thoughts as Lilly puts on one suggestive and seductive dance number! I think somewhere around here, I still have Tab Hunter's 78 single release "Young Love" that was at #1 for six weeks in 1957! "They say for every boy and girl, there's just one love in this old world, and I know I've found mine" - "Young Love" was first recorded by Ric Cartey and The Jiva-Tones" in 1956 without much success. Besides Tab Hunter it was also covered by Sony James, and The Crew-Cuts!

Augie was going to set off that huge fireworks rocket they were carrying, and she's the only one who also scared of getting burned! Good thing it was a dud!

As the action on the waves heats up, the girls start to show their concern!

To give the whole thing an air of authenticity, the news media interviews 'real' professional surfers!!

The guy giving the happy trio the most difficulties out on the waves is the iconic Robert Mitchum's son, James Mitchum! If you think he kind of looks like his Dad, well, you'd be 100% correcto! Jim played his Dad's younger brother in the classic thriller "Thunder Road" made in 1958! The title song "The Ballad Of Thunder Road" was both written and performed by Robert Mitchum. It hit the charts in 1958 and again in 1962, and reached #62 on the top 100!

Still more high quality surfin' footage!

Shelley finds the time to look concerned one more time!

And the sun sets on yet another prefect day! "I just hope you understand, I just want to go back to The Islands!" - Leon Russell

THE 27th DAY / Romson Productions - 1957

2011-12-26T07:36:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Tonite's feature reuses the saucers from EARTH vs THE FLYING SAUCERS to their benefit! And, there are no real monsters.

It's a fairly complicated story... Five Earthlings are abducted by aliens and are each given a capsule which can release a weapon so deadly that all of mankind will be destroyed! It's actually a test, if the five can resist using the weapon for 27 days, man will continue to live on Earth. Should any one of them release the weapon, all human life will be destroyed and the aliens will take over the Earth as their new home. When their alien abductor makes the identities of the five known in a world-wide broadcast, government leaders and criminals try and get their hands on the devices for their own use.

The music is by one of our favorite composers, Mischa Bakaleinikoff. His awesome career consisted of 68 composing credits and an unbelievable 459 music department credits!! All hail Mischa!

Letz bring in our fuzzy little fiend and button pusher, Ralphie The Tarantula! Howdy, Ralphie! He's here to start our show, so, push the big red 'GO' button located there by the little green 'STOP' button, now, Ralphie! Here's... THE 27th DAY!

It all starts when mysterious strangers kidnap five poeple from around the world, mainly from super-power nations.

They find themselves out in space in a cool Harryhausen flying saucer!

The Alien informs them of their unearthly situation. The Alien is played by the aristocratic sounding Arnold Moss, who I just confused with James (THE AMAZING TRANSPARENT MAN) Griffith.

It's time for breakfast, so, the Alien fixed his guests ostrich eggs with English muffins.

Not really, those are the the total destruction capsules. Get this, during the height of the cold war with the USSR, Nikita Khrushchev had plans created for his doomsday machine, an atomic bomb built into and the size of a giant ship. The plan was to set it off if they lost the war with the US, that way, no one wins!!!

The Alien spills the beans on the capsule holders by taking over the TV broadcast and telling the whole world who the five people are!

Of course, this is how it goes down in the USSR... Stefan Schnabel plays the Soviet General, Stefan was also in TOWN WITHOUT PITY, NO SURVIVORS, PLEASE, BLOOD BATH and DRACULA'S WIDOW.

Gene Barry plays reporter, Jonathan Clark. We remember Gene from ATOMIC CITY, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS and WAR OF THE WORLDS, and, he was TV's Bat Masterson from 1958-61! Gene died at age 90 in 2009 in Woodland Hills.

He befriends Eve Wingate, who also has a capsule. Eve's played by Valerie French, she did a lot of TV and was in THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE.

American scientists recover one of the capsules and try to figure out how it works. That's Friedrich von Ledebur as Dr. Neuhaus, Friedrich was in VOODOO ISLAND and THE MAN WHO TURNED TO STONE.

Back in the USSR, things get done the hard way.

American hoodlums try to find out where Professor Bechner's capsule is.

The US government has to get involved in this end-of-the-world drama.

Paul Birch plays the Admiral. We love Paul for all his roles, like in BONZO GOES TO COLLEGE, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, THE BEAST WITH A MILLION EYES, DAY THE WORLD ENDED, NOT OF THIS EARTH, QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE and IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD!

Dr. Neuhaus gives his life to make sure the capsule he has cannot be recovered!

The General drops the capsule out a window before he can implement the Houston, Texas coordinates for detonation, and, it will not work now.

It's time to go in front of The United Nations and inform the world that the ultimate danger has been averted!

~ DUNGEON GREETINGS ~

2011-12-25T12:05:00.000-08:00

SANTA CLAUS - Antonio Diaz Conde - "The Fabulous Realm of the Candy-Stick Palaces!" (1959)

2011-12-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

I'm not kidding, "SANTA CLAUS" just might be THE creepiest movie I saw this year. If you have thought that there was some kind of weird correlation between Santa and Satan, well, then this is the film that's going to push you over the edge of disbelief!

First off, Santa doesn't live at the North Pole, Santa lives in heaven!

Santa has a Nativity Scene! Those people who made the Post Man up in Washington state stop wearing a Santa Claus suit because it offended them, should be mandated to watch this film 5 or 6 times in a row while subsiding on a diet of nothing but churros and horchatas!

It looks like the designer's of Santa'a pad were from some place like Istanbul or Baghdad!

Get thee behind me K. Gordon Murray!! The music for "Santa Claus" was composed by the brilliant Antonio Díaz Conde, with a big tip of the hat to James Pierpont, the composer of the original "Jingle Bells." Antonio has at least 269 composing credits to his name! We've written about him many times before because of movies like "Neutron Battles The Karate Assassins," "The Robot Versus The Aztec Mummy," and "El Planeta De Las Mujeres Invasoras" etc, etc forever! K. Gordon Murray himself does the narration!

I'd like to focus on one thing, all the childrens of the world are up there too, helping Santa do his thing, kind of like Disneyland's agonizing "It's A Small World" ride! But.......

Isn't all this just too cute? Cute kids, cute sets, but........

......then, WTF!? All the kids are now packing heat!! I really got a little mixed-up at this point, but I guess that's because too many things go smashing into each other all at the same time, and maybe something got a little confused in the translation!!

For some reason, the brats from America are little redneck geeks singing way out of tune!! I could explain all this, but it would obviously be a waste of time.

José Luis Aguirre 'Trotsky' is El Diablo! So, just what the Hell is the Devil doing in a Santa Claus Christmas story? I told you it was an effed up mess!

Is this plastic Santa a dig at commercial values, or just freakin' weird?

"Steal the doll, Lupita, take the doll, it's what you want, and what you need, take the doll Lupita!" Yep, that's right! This innocent child is being tempted and tormented by The Devil himself! Like he doesn't have anything better to do!

Here's how Santa Claus keeps track of who is naughty and who is nice, with a gigantic freakin' telescope!! Can you spell "Big Brother?"

It's hard for me to imagine what life is like in a house that has lighting like this 24/7!! What's in the box Pops, a giant magnum of champagne or a refrigerator?

Satan comes back to torture Lupita in her dreams, this poor girl doesn't stand a chance!

Just when you thought it couldn't get any weirder!!

This shot of Lupita just screams Merry Christmas, doesn't it!! If you can imagine it, this film would be Lupita Quezadas's only appearance on celluloid! Do you think she was possibly emotionally scarred by the whole process?

I like that fact that the people who made this movie seem like they had never heard of Santa Claus, Rudolph and the other reindeer, or "The Night Before Christmas" before! They just made up their own rules as they went along!!

If you really want to, you can find "Santa Claus" streaming on Netflix, or if you just want to watch the trailer, head on over to The Professor's place, "Magic Carpet Burnout!" Merry Christmas to all and to all a freakin' good night!!!

Late Breaking News: "Santa Claus" can be had as a free download at the Internet Archive........Go and get your love right HERE!!!

NUDE ON THE MOON / Moon Productions - 1961

2011-12-23T06:29:00.001-08:00

Welcome to Friday Night Drive-In with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon! This is Tabonga's Xmas present to all you good little Kedsos out there...

The story goes like this... Dr. Huntley and Professor Nichols are able to complete work on their rocket because of an unexpected inheritance. They travel to the Moon and find a lush garden paradise inhabited by half naked, telepathic Moon girls! The Moon Goddess allows the spacemen to continue their experiments and Dr. Huntley begins falling in love with her. The Professor worries that he will not be able to get the doc to return to Earth with him...

Daniel Hart gets a music editor credit for this movie, Daniel also worked on THE DIRTY GIRLS! As you can see, the theme song was written by Judith Kushner, Doris Wishman is producer, Bunny Yeager is still photographer.

Lettuce bring in our little Dungeon helper and button pusher, the one, the only, Rufus The Gnat!! Hello 'der, Rufus! The lil' guy is here to fulfill his Friday Night duty and get this show on the road! So, no more jokes, push the big red 'GO' button once again, now, Rufus! Here's... NUDE ON THE MOON!

Here's the Professor talking to the secretary, Cathy. William Mayer plays the Professor, he was in 4 other nudie flicks and played himself in the nudist documentary, BEHIND THE NUDIST CURTAIN. Marietta plays Cathy/The Moon Goddess, this will be her only role.

Here's dimple faced Lester Brown as Dr. Huntley, who we'll just call Jeff. And, like Marietta, this was his only film role...

Nice shot of this theater that just happens to be showing Doris Wishman's first film, HIDEOUT IN THE SUN!

Jeff has this classic 1960 Oldsmobile convertible that they drive to the launch pad in. In 1960, my older cousins took Eegah!! and me to a drive-in where we got to see NOT TONIGHT HENRY! And, we went in a 1960 Olds!!

They climb the scaffolding in tandem and enter their new spaceship...

After Jeff tells ground control a fart joke, he releases the emergency brake and jams it into first gear!

They quickly travel from the Earth to the Moon. The Earth rotates in reverse and the continents are backwards, whatever.

There's no mention of any prop department, so, no telling where this miniature set and rocket model came from!

The obviously virile space gods emerge from their ship!

Hey doc, check it out, we must'a blown up on the way here and gone to heaven!

The way it was meant to be!

Yeah, no grunt Sherlock, nekkid Moon chicks! Wowzie wowzie woo woo!!

Hello, I saw you on the can earlier, you must be the Queen!

This 83 minute movie was filmed at the Coral Castle in Homestead, Florida.

Jeffie and The Moon Goddess seem to be hitting it off!

Gotta love those Moon Girls, they just do what comes natural!

The Moon Girls wave goodbye to the brave astronuts!

They fly their butane fueled ship back to Earth.

Back on Earth, the Professor walks in on Jeff imagining Cathy in the nude!!

And, I even had that rocket model Jeff's holding!

LUMABAN KA, SATANAS - Ernani Cuenco - "The Killing Of Satan" (666-1983)

2011-12-21T17:13:00.000-08:00

The three wise men delivered gold, frankincense and myrrh, wise guy Professor Grewbeard came through for you with coal, frankenstein, and mirth, and this is what I'm talkin' about, let's get ready to rumble, cause it's time for "The Killing Of Satan" Get thee below me Satan, you evil bastard, because they don't like your kind in The Phillipine Islands!!

For me, I think the weirdest part is that "The Killing Of Satan" is not a religious flick, how's that for a dichotomy right out of the bag?

The Filipino Burt Reynolds, Ramon Revilla, has the lead role of Orlando San Miguel, or as he's better known, Lando! Lando is the one chosen to perform the task at hand! Lando's uncle has died by taking a metaphysical bullet for Lando, and now it's up to Lando to figure it all out! Are you ready for this? Ramon Revilla has fathered 72 children by 16 different women, and he's not even a Mormon! Many of his children are in show business, and have names like Bong, Princess, Strike, and Ram! I guess if you have that many kids, you get pretty creative! Ramon has made a few more films than children, counting 79, and at the height of his popularity, he became a Senator!! The prefect guy to take on Satan, no doubt!!

Lando's given a boat and told to go find his Uncle's grave, but when the boat stops, a floating log starts banging on the side of his dinghy, and then suddenly turns into this thing!

While Lando's out goofing around on the water, the dark one and his crew wreak havoc in the village! The Devil and his pals have some loco powers, like in this stare down sequence!

The big evil dude shifts it into 4th gear! It's great, first they stare you down, then they punch you in the face!

Lando is by told by Renzo the secret words he needs to say to bring out the inner power his uncle has vested in him! Snap! Zap!! Lando was just minding his own business when he got this call to duty, but now it's gotten serious because the dark one and his pals have kidnapped some of the girls!!

So off they go into the unknown in search of truth, justice and the Filipino way! This little Taiwanese Pygmy freak is one of the first things they meet when head down into the Devil's hole!

Lando and Renzo kick ass all over the diabolical place, and the hot and cold colours I learned about in film class abound in the caves!

In your face Devil Dawg! Comoser Ernani Cuenco has 186 titles to his credit, everything from "Psycho Sex Killer" to "Muslim .357!"

In the only PG-13 scenes, all the nude lassies are held captive in this impenetrable cage!

EVIL, EVil, Evil!!!

Renzo teaches Lando about his powers, goes along with him and kicks major Mephistopheles butt all over the place, and still doesn't get any credits!

It's like a really bad nightmare, Renzo finally catches up to and saves his beloved, and she just unexpectedly tears into his face because she is now controlled by Satan! Talk about a rip-off!!

Lando is finally given the eternal fantastic weapon by some cat with weird hair, a really big stick!!!

Welcome to "Dante's Inferno and Espresso Bar!!! Live it, or live with it!

Satan's not tough enough to deal with the massive power of Lando by himself, so he conjures up another 6 or 7 clones of himself to finish off the job!

A massive battle ensues between the forces of good and evil! Jab, punch, parry, dodge, hit, destroy!

"Dim down the lights!" No, Lando won't be swayed by the muses of Barry White!

"You're just a rock and roll queen, you know what I mean, I'm just a rock and roll star!" - Mott The Hoople

Satan's got a few different looks over the course of this film, here he channels Elvis in his final moments!!

"There's going to be a showdown!" - ELO

Freakin' Satan puts 'The Claw" on Lando!! How much worse can it get than that??

So what is a Philistine? A person who is hostile, or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them. And what is just the opposite.......

........The Phillipines, a place overflowing with culture and arts, a place made up of over 7000 islands south east of China, the 12th most populous place in the world, where they speak Tagalog and Spanish too! The name Phillipines is derived from the name of King Phillip the II of Spain because he was in charge in 1542 when the islands were 'discovered!' It all adds up to one Helluva melting pot, good food, wild imaginations, championship boxers, and the balls to take Satan on head first, and kick his ass in the process! Gonna find out who's naughty, who's nice, Satan is going down!!!

So, just remember kids, what the Louvin Brothers said, "Satan Is Real!"

GAMERA '96 / Daiei Studios - 1996

2011-12-19T06:35:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. We deliver the goods with tonite's offering, movie two in director Shusuke Kaneko's awesome Gamera trilogy. Alternate title is GAMERA 2: ATTACK OF THE LEGION.

The story starts a year after Gamera's battle with Gyaos, a weird cluster of meteorites crash-lands in Japan, followed by unexplained phenomenon and disasters. It finally becomes clear that Earth has been invaded by a colony of insect-like creatures from another world. These creatures, known as the Legion, begin to savage the countryside before Gamera enters the scene.

Kô Ôtani composed the music, he worked on the entire GAMERA trilogy and GODZILLA, MOTHRA AND KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK.

Letz bring our fuzzy little fiend and button pusher, that 7-eyed freek, Ralphie The Tarantula!.. Ralphie has joined us so that we can get this show started. Eegah!! gave us a musical soundclip that celebrates Gamera's victory at the end of the film! So, push the big red 'GO' button there next to the bus stop, now, Ralphie! Here's a cool tune from... GAMERA '96!

The Japanese really began to create some great music in the nineties, most notably in their anime series. COWBOY BEBOP is a good example, my favorite piece is the ending theme from OUTLAW STAR.

After the strange meteors hit, creatures begin coming to the surface. This crowd on the subway are the first ones to encounter the things!

Then, this giant unknown structure appears from under the earth!

Some of the soldiers quote verses from the Bible, predicting the appearance of Gamera!!

This movie's all about the monsters, but, there is this cute girl reporter we get to see from time to time.

All Hell's starting to break out in Japan.

Gamera takes a direct hit from the hideous thing from another world! The giant alien creature design is based on an actual giant crab species that inhabits the oceans surrounding Japan!

Then, it unleashes a barrage of destruction on the city!

The military responds to the location of the problem...

Only to be completely annihilated!! Just look at that freakin' thing!

Gamera recovers from injuries sustained in the battle and takes off to relocate it's nemesis!

The special effects are absolutely stunning and totally amazing, unbelievable!!

Some more of the same!

Speaking of nemesis, the thing here looks like 1983 British Quality Comics' NEMESIS THE WARLOCK!

These shots are plain awesome.

Gamera knows what must be done, so, starts collecting electrical energy from the atmosphere...

The power is concentrated within it's body cavity!

Gamera turns the creature into ash with this intense blast!

Portrait of a winner!

Okay, now the kids join in!..