Friday, August 13, 2010

CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA In Color / Roger Corman - 1961

Whellcome everbloody, to a Special Colorized Friday The 13th Friday Night Drive-In here at The Dungeon, wif' yer host Tabonga and lil' Dungeon hunchback helper pal, button pusher, and all around good bug... Ralphie The Tarantula!

Our colorized feature is that Roger Corman favorite... CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA! This little germ was written by Dungeon fave Charles B. Griffith. Roger even has an uncredited boom operator credit for this shoot! With the same cast and crew, this flick was shot back to back with LAST WOMAN ON EARTH in 1960, but released the following year... Also, one that Eegah!! and Tabonga! saw in 1961 at the Sierra Theater after they teamed up!!

What we have for your listening pleasure tonite is Betsy Jones-Moreland singing the song "Creature From The Haunted Sea," written by Carole Eastman for the scene where a distraction is needed when they're confronted by an armed Cuban military speedboat. You can reminisce as you browse the fun stills of memory lane! Enjoy... Hit the button, Ralphie!.. CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA!

Before the credits roll, there's the scene where Renzo and Happy Jack receive the stolen loot from the government of Cuba, and are then chased by manical Cuban soldiers in a Volkswagen as they make their getaway! Monte (BEAST FROM HAUNTED CAVE) Hellman gets a Second Unit Directing credit for this part.

Safe at sea...

Renzo and his gang of misfits, Pete Jr., Happy Jack and Mary-Belle!.. Italian born Antony Carbone was the perfect Renzo Capetto, and was also the perfect Leonard de Santis in A BUCKET OF BLOOD!

Renzo is pure slick!..

Robert (LAST WOMAN ON EARTH) Towne plays Sparks Moran, he's infiltrated the gang and is there to spy on them for the American government. Beach Dickerson plays Pete, Jr. He walks in on Sparks as he's transmitting a report to Washington. Sparks must then relinquish a pickle with a transmitter tube hidden in it to Pete, as to not raise suspicion!

Beach was also in some cool flicks like ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, ROCK ALL NIGHT, WAR OF THE SATELLITES, TEENAGE CAVEMAN, T-BIRD GANG, VISIT TO A SMALL PLANET, THE TRIP, THE DUNWICH HORROR and CRAZY MAMA!

Sparks spends most of the movie trying to save Mary-Belle from herself!

After the fake monster attack, Renzo and the gang see if they can get their Cuban guests to swallow it. And, they do! The guy sitting in the chair there is General Tostada!

In order to get Pete to fully understand and then repeat the plan back, Renzo gets his attention by waving a Tootsie-Pop in front of him!

Renzo and the boys capsize the boat near an island and toss the treasure overboard to save it for later, while they come up with their next strategy...

Renzo and Mary-Belle talk about all the things they're going to do with their cut of the loot.

Corman used a lot of underwater scenes. These are great here!

Two excellent group shots!!

In the end, Renzo gets his and the monster wins... Yay!!

Beach was responsible for designing and building The Creature, but I don't think we'll ever know who was inside the suit!!

*** If anybloody cares or wants to know, Tabonga has lost his accent because Rodan's brain was recently transplanted into Tabonga's skull. Done mainly to save space!!

6 comments:

  1. I would have never thought I'd care if this movie was in color or not, but it really does look exceptional in color, thanks!

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  2. Way Cool post!
    Who did the colorizing?
    Cheers.

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  3. GuMmBy GoNe WiLd!!
    The Renzo guy reminds me of Bogart in To Have And Have Not.

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  4. Exeter - Legend Films!

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  5. FYI, guys: Sparks was played by Robert Towne who wrote "Chinatown," "Shampoo" and a few, "Mission: Impossibles," among others. He's the biggest name there!

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  6. For once, colorization of an oldie looks great, thanks to Legend Films!

    This flick is wacky, but always felt weak-y to me when compared to Griffith and Corman's other two horror comedies, BUCKET OF BLOOD and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Still, there are laughs to be had here. Yay, Griffith and Corman!

    (And hubba-hubba-hubba: Betsy Jones Moreland is beautiful as always!!!)

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