Monday, July 2, 2012

THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON / Clarke-King Enterprises - 1959

It's Monster Monday with Tabonga, here at The Dungeon!.. Our feature is a flick that I saw back in 1959 at the theater, this time, actor Robert Clarke decides to cash in on the fifties monster craze by coming up with this 74 minute low budget story of a man turned into a lizard-like demon after a nuclear accident in a lab where he was working. That reissue poster looks to be from the eighties, dropping the adjective, 'hideous.'

Eegah!! made us a sounsclip all about the bar scene where Nan Peterson sings the monster classic love tune... "Strange Pursuit." Soooooo, you can push the big red 'GO' button located there next to the exhaust port, NOW, Ralphie The Tarantula! Here's a tune sans the fly from... THE HIDEOUS SUN DEMON!

After being rushed to the hospital for radiation contamination, Dr. Gilbert McKenna, Robert Clarke, amazes everyone because of how quickly he seems to have recovered after the accident!

But, the first time he tries to catch a little sun, he freaks out the old biddy sharing the space with him! Pearl Driggs played the "Convalescing Woman on Roof," she was Robert Clarke's mother-in-law and also the mother of the singing King Sisters!

..LEAPIN' LIZARDS!!

Wait, this guy who's trying to help Gil is pointing to a freakin' whale! Dude, no, lizard!

Here's the "Strange Pursuit" part in the soundclip... Even monsters need love (and cigarettes)! The decorations on the wall blow my mind!

Boys will be boys, so, Gil and singer Trudy's boyfriend, George, fight it out in the back room. Peter Similuk plays George, this was his last movie with a total of 10 acting credits. He also played a Russian pilot in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL.

After Gil leaves Trudy half naked on the beach, running off in his sportscar because the sun was rising, he goes back to the bar to apologize. But, George and his pals are there, so, they take him out back and beat the snot outta him! It's amazing how many bad bras got under tight sweaters of dames in the fifties, seriously!

Then, George finds Gil at Trudy's place in the daytime and makes him go outside, bad idea!

Richard Cassarino was the creator of the monster. The suit looks awkward on Robert as he lopes along, it riding up in places.

Back home, he discusses his hoplessness to his doctor friends.

I dig this photo the most with the gas station and classic '55 Caddy! That was the price of gas into the mid-seventies.

After getting a cookie from the little girl, he has to then listen to her tell him about the tea party she had with her stuffed toys!

His mind numbed, he has to get away before he punches her and runs directly out into the sun, what a maroon!

I did us all a big favor and only show him coming at you, if you know what I mean!! This last scene is hard for me to watch in spots because of my acrophobia, and, I did not enjoy being on top of the Space Needle in 1968 either...

Where I come from, we call that a mess!..

6 comments:

Douglas McEwan said...

Ah, The Hideous Sun Demon. This happened to be the last movie that beloved 1970s TV horror host Larry "Seymour" Vincent ever ran on his TV show. I wrote that final episode around this movie, so it is always a bittersweet movie for me.

At the time, Larry had just finished shooting a small role in Disney's movie The Apple Dumpling Gang. He told me of one day on the set finding a dead mouse, and taking it up to various employees saying: "There's been a tragedy, Mickey's been killed!"

This inspired a bit I put in that last show. These's a shot in The Hideous Sun Demon where the Sun Demon catches a rat and strangles and squishes it to death in his bare hands, rat blood flowing through its fingers. (Ew.)

I had Seymour tell of how he'd been shooting this new movie at Disney, and how, while he was working there, there had been a tragedy on the lot. Then we ran the clip of the Sun Demon catching and killing the rat while Seymour said: "A new securtity guard didn't recognize Mickey Mouse without his little pants and gloves."

Stendek said...

Welcome back! I have been remiss in not contacting you before now. I absolutely revere your site. I am a horror movie-monster magazine enthusiast of over half a century so I am very familiar with Mr Monster Forrest Ackerman. Thanks for keeping the memory of this wonderful man alive. The stills you provide enable me to view the flick in my mind. Many I am unfamiliar with. Many I search out online. God bless you. Sorry about recent problem. I do not get along well with modern technology myself. Still enjoy turntable with vinyl. Thought blue tooth was dental concern. So it goes. Thanks again. Welcome back. :)

TABONGA! said...

Thank you Stendek, you comment is appreciated, here at The Dungeon!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Madison,
We're not really that social, but if you send a link to your site in a comment, we will then decide!

MDG14450 said...

I've got a real urge to get me an old fusebox and dress it up like that first still.

Josef Méndez said...

Awesome blog !!

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