THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD - Ray Harryhausen - "The Miracle Of Dynarama!" (1973)

 Welcome to another Wild and Woolly Wednesday in The Dungeon! 

How's this for a cool Zodiacal poster?

There were four Sinbad movies from 1958 to 1977. "The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad" was number three. The second film in the group titled simply "Captain Sinbad" in 1963 was done by a completely different production company from the other three, and is the only one that has no connection to Ray Harryhausen! Four different good looking guys played Sinbad in those four movies, Kerwin Mathews, Guy Williams, John Phillip Law, and Patrick Wayne!

"The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad" is basically a 15 year old sequel to the 1958 feature, "The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad!" 

There's lots of hocus pocus mumbo jumbo, because otherwise, there would be no story!

"The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad" has a solid cast that includes Tom (Dr. Who) Baker as Koura, an evil man with the power to create life like this little fellah!

"The Golden Voyage Of Sinbad" is basically a puzzle story used to showcase the talents of the master of stop motion animation, Ray Harryhausen! Ray also co-wrote and co-produced the film, so it all makes sense!

Dungeon Prom Queen Caroline Munro as slave girl Margiana, is more than happy to leave her master and go out on the high seas of adventure with Captain Sinbad! This movie came right in between "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," and "Captain Kronos - Vampire Killer" in Caroline's career, so now you know why she's the Queen! Caroline has two films set to be released in 2017, "Cute Little Buggers," and "315 Wicked Way!" We hope they slay the box office!

I'm sure the conversation went something like this: Ray Harryhausen says, "Wouldn't it be neat if the wooden figurehead on the front of the ship came alive?" and everybody else says, "Hell Yeah!!"

This is the kind of shot I set as my wallpaper on a regular basis!

Marvel decided to take a chance on Captain Sinbad too. Their "Worlds Unknown" was set to feature science fiction stories, but when it got to number seven, they totally switched gears and went with a Captain Sinbad story! The number eight issue of "Worlds Unknown" also featured a "Golden Voyage Of Sinbad" story! That's as far as it went! There was never an issue #9 or any other titled "Worlds Unknown!"

This comic came from down under, and that explains why it's so much more wild than the other one!

This is one of the most unbelievable group of  'natives' I've ever seen! Looks more like a meeting of the local chapter of the "Alice Cooper Fan Club!"

 

Douglas (Nayland Smith) Wilmer is a cat named Vizier, and his burden is that he has to wear this metal mask all the time because his face was horribly disfigured  in a fire!

Out of nowhere, Sinbad needs a distraction from the natives, so he tells Vizier to take off the mask, and it scares the living crap out of everybody!

Kali, a real Hindu Goddess, does a mean boog-a-loo at the hands of Ray Harryhausen!

The six-armed Goddess cuts a pretty mean rug, but the fun and games are all over when she sprouts six swords too!

More royal creds for Caroline are "The Abominable Dr. Phibes," "Dracula A.D. 1972," "At The Earth's Core," "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Starcrash," "Maniac," "The Last Horror Film," and "Slaughter High!"

As this Cyclops Centaur lusts after Margiana, I think it's safe to say in retrospect, that this movie was made in 1973, and The Sex Pistols hit the scene in 1975.........

........................and I'm pretty sure this is where Sid Vicious got his hair style from!

Let's have one last round of applause for a damn fine looking couple, John Phillip (Diabolik) Law, and Caroline (Stella Star) Munro!

Ray Harryhausen changed the name of his effects company from Dynamation to Dynarama because I'm sure it sounded more dynamically dynamite! He did the stop motion effects in two more movies after this, "Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger" in 1977, and "Clash Of The Titans" in 1981!" He passed away in 2013, and that's it! There will never be another!

TOTAL RECALL / Carolco Pictures - 1990

Arnie's back today with a story that goes like this... Douglas Quaid (Arnie) is haunted by a recurring dream about a journey to Mars, he hopes to find out more about the dream and buys a holiday at Rekall Inc., where they sell implanted memories! Of course, something goes wrong with the memory implant and he remembers being a secret agent fighting against the evil Mars administrator, you know, Cohaagen!! That's when the story really begins, and, it's a wild ride to the final moments...

Wow, this has to be the weirdest title card we've ever presented! Now you can tell your grand kids that... You was there!!

So, looks like Douglas is having a fun time at Rekall Inc., where he accidentally gets knowledge of his secret agent past!

Sharon Stone plays his supposed 'wife.' First, her and Doug fight it out hand and fist, then, they make up and he lets her live. Later, she gets a visit from her boss, Cohaagen!! He wants Doug, dead! Ronny Cox plays... Cohaagen!!

Anywho, Doug safely gets to Mars, and, that's what it looks like up there!..

It's a freak show on Mars because everyone's a damn freak!! Doug's in disguise to top it all off.

Honestly, the make up on that dude is just plain... Disgusting! What's wrong with people?!

But, probably the most remembered scene from the movie is the girl with three boobs!

Oh yeah, and, don't forget about them yucky Martian Mutants!!..

Ffffuuucccckkkiiinnggg!!!.... OOOUUUUCCCCHHHHHH!!!!!

The ending is pretty freakin' weird, where they exploit bulging eyeball, tongue and face special effects... We'll be back on Wednesday with our final post in November, 2016, Yo!

DRACULA - "Horror Of Dracula" (1958)

Just like this poster, tonight's Saturday Night Special is a classic! The original title was "Dracula" but most people know it as U. S. title, "Horror Of Dracula!" Sometimes, I don't think "Horror Of Dracula" gets the respect it deserves, because it's a remake, or essentially a cover tune! There were earlier vampire movies, but Bela Lugosi was the first "Dracula" back in 1931. Sure, there were other vampire and Dracula movies after that, and before this, but "Horror Of Dracula" was the first real reincarnation of the character in a completely different sense!

So what in the Hell am I talking about? This Dracula some 27 years after Bela's classic portrayal besides being evil, is really mean-spirited! He's younger and sexier, he's a loner that no longer needs a little buddy like Igor who eats bugs, and changing into a bat is beneath him!

This Dracula is just pissed off all the time!

In 1957, Hammer released "The Curse Of Frankenstein" starring Christopher Lee as the Frankenstein monster, and in 1958, Christopher Lee was starring in "Horror Of Dracula" as Dracula! Somehow Chris had literally taken away the crown worn for a couple of decades by both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff in the course of just two years, and there was no turning back after that!

Pop Culture of the past 60 years or so has taken quite a hit in the movie and music industries the last couple of years! The world has lost people of an ilk that most likely will never repeat itself, but we've become so numb, and lost, that the talents of people like Christopher Lee, David Bowie, Prince, Leon Russell, Glenn Frey, Paul Kantner and Signe Anderson, Maurice White, Dan Hicks, George Kennedy, George Martin, Frank Sinatra Jr., Patty Duke, Gato Barbieri, Merle Haggard, Lonnie Mack, Muhammad Ali, etc. etc., who we have just lost in the last year alone, will be nothing more than just names in some stupid trivia game in the not too distant future!!

Nice matte painting!

What you want to do, is not go down there!

So, who cleans up after Dracula, and why is this place so clean? It's disturbing!

Not too ominous, drinks are on the house!

And then this guy shows up!

As Reverend Tom Frost would say.........
"I'm gonna gitcha, gitcha, gitcha....."

"Aw Shee..it! This is exactly what I was trying to avoid!!"

And then Dracula gives out a little smirk.........!

The "Gilroy Garlic Festival" happens between July 28th and the 30th, and has been going on for some 38 years now! There have never been any known vampire sightings in the town of Gilroy, California for some reason!

Time for Peter Cushing as Dr. Van Helsing to step in and take control of things! I'm counting five movies that Peter played Val Helsing in, and another 11 TV shows and movies where they used his footage in some archival form! It's gotta get kind of frustrating after you kill Dracula three or four times, and somehow that evil bastard always seems to make it back!

"Horror Of Dracula" has a great cast that includes Melissa (Crucible Of Terror) Stribling and the always intriguing Michael Gough! It looks like this was Michael's first role in a horror movie, but after this, he put it in high gear making dark films like "Horrors Of The Black Museum," "Konga," "Black Zoo," "Dr. Terror's House Of Horrors," "The Skull," "Berserk," etc., etc. Speaking of dark, some 20+ years later Michael would be in four Dark Knight movies as Alfred Pennyworth! What an amazing career!

"Okay, I'll admit I'm a vampire, now would you quit using my forehead as a Crucifix Grill?"

There are some things that never change!

There is only one tried and true way to dispose of vampires, and that's the good olde fashioned wooden stake through the heart!

"You messed up my hair, and now you must die!!"
This is what Jerry Lee Lewis would have looked like if he was a vampire!

"Oh, God Damn, that really hurts!"

The music in "Horror Of Dracula" was written by Hammer workhorse James Bernard, and is just as Gothic and ominous as you would expect, and is the antithesis of why I started doing this blog in the first place, just like all the great Universal horror films, that's the reason it's taken me so long to get around to this fantastic film, but have no fear, because there will be lots more classic blasts from the past as long as there is a future!!

All these Amazing posters are just some of the images you can find at the spectacular Wrong Side Of The Art website! It's a great museum to hang out at if you've got some time to kill!